✧DIRTY CAULDRONS AND FORGED ASSIGNMENTS ✧

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Aria had simply been walking down the familiar hallways that lead to the dungeons, both she and Harper were returning from the dungeons as their Alchemy class had gone fairly well this lecture.

The two had simply been returning their thoughts back and forth before a certain Lestrange and his mates started to come forward at the other end of the hall.

Rabastan hadn't wasted a moment to knocked the books out of her hands, but it caused her to laugh. "Pay up Harper, Four Galleons." Amelia groaned, but it did indeed catch the attention of the given snakes to return.

"Hear that Avery, the birds are making bets about me." Aria rolled her eyes as she summoned her books back into her hands and shrugged.

"Think I've made a fortune based on your actions Lestrange. I thank you."

"Best rack it up now Rosewell, unless you're really desperate?" Now that earned a proper scoff, as he wiggled his brow.

"I don't think I'd ever be that desperate, I can find that without ruining my image." She winked off to the given lot of them and twirled around to continue. However the Slytherins were on their way to potions, a class that was indeed shared with the given Gryffindors.

Causing Sirius to defend a jinx off. "Paying a gal, not even offering her a drink first?" The lion offered, and she shot a backwards glance off to the wizard who failed to make any sort of contact.

"Honestly, you'd think he's trained for proper courting." Sirius hitched up a smirk at her follow up taunt, and it flared Rabastan's anger even further. But a bright smile cocked further as she greeted the potion's master of Hogwarts.

But this would not be the end of it all. It only fueled his desire to continue this game.

And continue it he had.

Whether it was ruining her books, the complete monster, to her assignments. He had no ends, but Aria was starting to grow used to the pattern.
Nor could it hinder her positive outlook, the only time she felt relatively upset was when her American friends were altogether without her. It was times like this where she wished she transferred and join them, everything she heard was simply second-handed as well as identical with each person she spoke with.

Aidan knew well enough that she wanted to switch, but he pushed her to remain in her homeland. Holidays would come eventually and she could wait until then.

Or at least he claimed that he'd make it up to her.

"Come on Ari, you said the matches are better here anyway."

"Yeah! Are we that bad company?" Aria was indeed caught between the land she should've grown up in, to where she wants to go.

"Think I'm just starting to miss Aidan." Sirius stilled, this hadn't been for him to hear. But in the involvement of his mate fancying Roswell, he supposed he could take another listen to— "But moving to Ilvermonry? Come on Aria, Hogwarts is home too. And we're almost done!" It had been indeed a mistake, Sirius instead continued off to the shared dorm of the marauders and fell into a loop of what he was going to do.

He rightly didn't hear that this Aidan was her boyfriend, but with the distance and all...How much could they be involved?

Enough for her to want to move.

From everything he's heard from Remus...He didn't blame her in wanting to move somewhere where she fit in. Sirius felt the same with Hogwarts against his family and home, but she did fit in here.

The student population wasn't awful as it had been their first year, minus the Slytherin group.

But he knew Regulus favored her, even if he had to be mean.

Shite, he thought, how was he meant to break it to Remus that she already had a fancyment to someone else? Nobody would know anything about the bloke because he was off in America.

"You alright mate?" James called out, and the boy sighed in response.

"Yeah, heard something I didn't want to." Nobody could've guessed, but James Potter was the biggest gossiper right beside Sirius himself. The desire to know any and everything about someone caused them to stir and dig until all was solved.

However while the Gryffindor boys goofed off in the safety of their dorm room, Aria had been in the public eye with Regulus. Offering her aid as his tutor, per recommendation from Professor Slughorn.

"Sweet Salzar, I should just give up my losses now Aria. My practical is tomorrow."

"Patience. Reg this is an art, if you don't think you're going to manage then you want. You need a positive attitude." The lad groaned, and it caused her to roll her eyes.

"Surely if either one of us head on the pitch with negative thoughts, what's likely to happen?"
"I'll fumble the snitch."
"And I'll surely fumble the quaffle as well." No matter how angry the assignments he came to Aria with, she somehow toned down his rage and made him understand the concept by the end of their tutoring session.

He knew she was making money offering her tutoring through Slughorn for both classes he offers, and he wouldn't be surprised if her Sundays were filled with students like him. But he was surely thankful for it...Perhaps he should get her something for Christmas.

"Getting Ravenclaw secrets Reg? I'm impressed." Rabastan cheered, and Ari just turned her gaze up for a moment and rolled her eyes.

"I'm tutoring, so unless you have any constructive comments, go away." Regulus bit his smile, no matter the fact that they were pureblooded royalty—Ari talked to everyone with the same voice, unless they proved to be difficult.

And apparently, from Regulus memory at least, Rabastan and her never had common or neutral ground.

"Tutoring? Regu—"

"Professor Slughorn assigned me to Regulus and he has been doing very well ever since. You wouldn't want to join, would you Lestrange?" Regulus had kept his head down in an effort to remain out of it but also catch up for the time he has lost.

"I don't need your help."

"Hmm, your last markings surely say otherwise. But then again, potions aren't for everyone." She clapped back, before taking out a worksheet for Regulus she had made, before going over the first problem.

"I hear you make money from this gig."

"Yes, because not all our parents are millionaires Lestrange. Now please go, you're distracting Regulus and aggravating me." She bit back, but just to prove his point he settled down beside Reg, causing the young lad to grimace.

"Mate I have a potion's practical tomorrow."

"And I'm just making sure she's worth what she's getting paid for." Rabastan had started his own assignments. Which, funny enough, was what Aria had been working on just the same.

No matter how many times Rabastan had looked up in an attempt to tease or humiliate her, she simply never allowed him to bother her. Her attention was directed to Reg.

"Next time Regulus we'll meet somewhere else to avoid unwanted visitors, and I'd check over your assignment Lestrange. It's not asking for a description, and if it was...Well you still should check it over." Rabstan Lestrange did not have any self-control over those who found it in themselves to taunt him, and he thought it was a taunt...

When realistically all she wanted was to hint him in the right direction, her time as a tutor was simple and that she didn't just give them the answers. They had to work for it.

As she gathered her books and such, removing herself from the table—Rabastan sent a small jinx to her bag which ultimately allowed all the contents to fall. In previous years her ink bottles were glass and would smash on impact to the floor, but of course the chit has gotten smarter.

Instead she simply bent down picked them up and were on her way, as if it didn't bother her...

But it did.

The second she was out of his line of sight she hid behind a tall shelf of books, her hair turning into her infamous grey locks as she attempted to calm herself down.

"Aria?" The voice spooked her, and Remus was giving her a peculiar look. Her hair had shimmered back into its original brown locks and he retracted all the more confused. "Is everything alright? Your hair was—"

"No I'm okay...Lestrange was just being an arse. Even when I tried to help him with his potions assignment." Remus let out a soft smile, reminding her that he too needed help.

And so she shrugged and said she was free right now, and the two were off to the Gryffindor common room. After whatever happened in the Library he offered it instead, which she was silently grateful for. And in the midst of it, did a study session erupt from her appearance in the common room.

It wasn't a surprise, she's been here dozens of times since her friends ranged from any house to any blood type. Her personal favorite was the Hufflepuff common room as the couches were large and comfy, while the Slytherin's had a stiff and fancy—Reminding her of her dad's study in the states.

It's not meant to be comfortable.

The week in itself were always a whirlwind, and the only calmed days she felt were Wednesday. When Aidan would usually send the parcel of the week while hers managed to get to him by the weekend, her flock would swoon over at the idea of her getting anything juicy as the previous ones were descriptively residing what happened this summer at the lake.

But Wednesdays were a relaxing day of the week, it's when Aria would aid Professor Slughorn for a salary—Sure she got paid for her work in cleaning the labs, brewing for the infirmary, grading assignments and such. But she had the mentality that it would look very good once she entered the potion world, and if she had the ability to correct other's peoples work, then she surely knew the material.

She had just finished grading Lupin's assignments, and it was surely better when she gave him some pointers. But it seemed like both Sirius and James had copied.
Which now put her in the situation of whether to give them credit or not. So she gave half credit, a star at the end of either of the boy's paper.

If you are working together as a group, remember to use your own words for you own work.

And then returned to Remus worksheet and smirked while she redipped her quill tip with a fresh streak of ink.

Hide your assignments better, I don't like rereading the same essays :)

Professor Slughorn never checked what she wrote on the student's parchments, he knew she was a good student or else she wouldn't have gotten the position she did.

But it was an even better sense of praise when she saw the Rabastan Lestrange's paper before him. Docking her quill did she pull out her hair tie and redo her bun as she began to dig back to previously graded assignments to see Avery and McNair with a similar formatted essay—And the same handwriting.

Biting the inside of her cheek did she huff in aggravation.

"Ah, we get professor Roswell today!" James cheered, and Aria turned to look up to the four lads. Causing her to groan. "Yes, please join me in my suffering."

"You landed detention too?" Sirius asked with a tilted head, which caused her to laugh.

"Yes Black, what do I suppose you think I did?" She questioned out, with landed the room with barely a second of silence before the boys had shouted their predictions

"Curse Lestrange?" Black questioned.

"Write too much on an assignment?" Potter offered.

"Go flying at night again?" Remus honestly questioned, and she scowled at her friend.

"You git. And no, I'm grading assignments..." Remus understood that it was apart of the tutoring gig that she managed to get, he remembered her saying that if potions weren't such a large subject that she'd take on Transfiguration as well and help McGonagal but she rather liked potions more.

"You go out at night Wells?" Aria blew a frustrated sigh and turned to look t the note that Slughorn left for those in detention to do, and since she was a prefect it made perfect sense for her to do it as well.

Even though she's a Ravenclaw.

"So what'd you lot do?... Because cleaning all the cauldrons and utensils by hand without magic, calls for a big detention." She spoke, and scowled when James had mentioned just using magic.

"You're meant to clean them without magic—James, because if leftover magic is in cauldrons I wouldn't want to be in the building if someone is brewing anything dangerous." Sirius narrowed his brows, he hadn't realized that that was an issue, and guilt-wracked his mind as it could've been a catastrophe.

"What happens if—" Aria had simply made an explosion motion with her hands as she rolled her eyes, clearly they had been cleaning with magic before. So all of them gave up their wands in front of them as they began clearing the table.

"Remmy, if you get a chance?" She called out, and he turned from his friends as they were busy gathering the dozens of cauldrons from the sinks. "What's up Ari?"

"I think for Christmas I'm going to get you a locked folder so only you can open it. You can't keep letting them copy Rem."

"I know, but it's...What am I going to say to get them to stop?" She rose a brow and smiled.

"Oi! Potter, Black!"

"Yes Professor?" James teased, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm grading last week's assignments, and if I see you copy Remus' work again it no credit instead of half." The two gawked at being called out and instantly went forward to try and persuade her to not do such a thing.

"Then answer me this, what should I do if three students submitted something in the same handwriting that's clearly not any of theirs?" She called out, raising her glasses to the top of her hand and rubbing her eyes.

"Depends on who it is?" Sirius dwelled, the sound of brushes scrubbing against the dirty metal and she shook her head. "Give you a guess."

"Could you fail the bastard?" She rolled her eyes once again and made a note.

"At least you and James attempt to rewrite what Remus wrote, these three paid someone—Or scared them to do it." It was clearly not their handwriting, not when their names were so heavily different. That and she had a peek to how Rabastan writes before, so this was clearly someone else's work.

"I really don't want to squeal."

"But didn't he jinx you in the library? Come on Ari, he needs some form of Karma." Sirius' attention shot back up in attention.

"He jinxed you?"

"Yeah I was tutoring your brother. It's fine, I only dropped my books." She shrugged, putting aside the three essays before continuing off and smiling to see Lily's beautifully crafted easy.

After dismissing the boys she turned back to those three essays and wrote on Lestrange's with a devious grin.

I said to fix it, not get someone else to do it Lestrange.

Thus she left the room and locked the door before continuing off to enjoy the rest of her night—Starting with a solid dinner and a good book.

*

Remus and the rest of Marauders received back the assignments with shit-eating-grins. Especially when the Slytherin prince and his cronies had been called to remain after class, it had caught Sirius' attention and he high fives James to the side. While Lestrange simply thought it was about his prefects duties.

But it ended up with a detention.

"I bloody told you that we should've just copied it down before class, bastards don't listen to me." McNair groaned, while Avery noted the fact that he didn't do it either so it wasn't on either of their faults but one.

Aria Roswell.

Rabastan had looked at the comment she wrote and was beyond livid. How dare that chit ruin his grade, he's managed for most of the semester with simply off those in his year and house to do the bloody work, but now Slughorn was going to pass this off to the other professors to be on the lookout.

And unfortunately for Aria, she was just leaving the Hufflepuff common room with a smile on her face as she continued down the hall. "Roswell!" She turned around rather gracefully, McNair had made a mental commented on that—As he would usually on her arse and such.

But now wasn't the time to make comments. Rabastan had other ideas.

"'Bas maybe don't—" It had been a sudden flash as Aria had been pushed rather violently against the stone wall, being completely closed in by Rabastan's figure as he held her against her will.

"I cannot afford another detention McNair, not when this bitc—"

"Well then you should've done the bloody work yourself." She spit back, and McNair gritted his teeth to remain silent. He couldn't understand why his mate hated this witch specially, but it was surely going to get worse from here.

"And you shouldn't be sticking your beak in other business."

"Well it is! Especially when your fake work threatens my job!" Even without her wand her eyes still held a certain fire that Rabastan smile greedily at, perhaps she should get punished, then she'd never dare to cross him and his mates.

"Who did you lot pay to do it?... As if you have anything better to do with your time." He tightened his hold further against her, and it was close to cutting off her air—But no part of her wanted to give him the satisfaction that he was hurting her.

She remained silent.

"I offered my help Lestrange, and you didn't take it. And then you dragged your mates down with you. Tell me, did you all pay separately or individually?... You lot don't care about money or self-worth, or maybe that's exactly what you pureblooded—"

"ENOUGH! You insolently little bitch, save your speech for someone else. Once Hogwarts eradicates mudbloods like yourself then—" Her laughter echoed, and part of Rabastan had flinched at the sound.

That angelic sound.

"I'm not a muggle-born, so it serves you right. Now get your racist bloody hands off me before I go straight to the headmaster for harassment you pompous git." He instantly let her go, all this time he had assumed that she was a mudblood.

But then perhaps he was going off on the ridiculous vendetta since their first day in their first year.

"I'm not a fool Lestrange, I know what muggles and no'maj's did to our kind. Went to bloody Salem for goddess sakes." Her voice had violently changed, and neither of Rabastan's mates was about to stand in her way as she stomped off in the direction back to her house.

"She's not a mudblood?" Avery whispered out, following her figure down the hall and out of sights. But then he remembered something that Amelia had said, Harper that is.

"Still dirty blood somewhere in her, smartarse she fucking is."

"Hm, but a nice arse...Tell me, how'd it feel to have her pressed against the—" He was instantly silenced by his friend as Rabastsan didn't want to hear another word, another detention was sure to get his father angry. The only thing he could do was owl his mother in warning.

All Rabastan knew was that Aria Roswell was a dead witch walking.

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Date Posted: 01-22-20

Time: 7:55

Words: 3391

Late but I had my first day of class today and I'm so exhausted🙃
So be prepared for late updates

How is this new Rabastan, did it take anyone by surprise?