Chapter Fifty-Seven

"I HAVE BRILLIANT news, Snape!" Draco strode into the common room, an unusually chipper grin on his face.

Aria hesitantly lifted her eyes from the History of Magic textbook that lay in her lap and narrowed them towards him. His good mood was suspicious, and she wasn't sure that she liked it.

"That stupid bird has been sentenced, he's to be beheaded soon." Draco fell onto the couch next to Aria in glee. "All thanks to my father."

Aria shook her head in disgust. "You're just a baby. That bird did nothing but scratch your stupid arm." She found his good news to be particularly cruel.

"Excuse me," Draco sat up straight in disbelief. "I'll have you know that that creature is bloody deadly."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say. You're just dumb."

Draco snorted and stood up, muttering a few crude remarks that Aria didn't care to hear as she turned back to her textbook, trying to absorb the information on the page. History of Magic was an interesting subject, this section, however, was not. And it didn't seem to end, at least not for the next ten pages.

Draco clicked his tongue. "I trust you know what your boyfriend's been up to all day."

She sent him a glare. "Yes. I do," Aria would be a fool to trust Malfoy on any topic that concerned her love-life, but she couldn't deny that she was a bit curious as to what was going to come out of his mouth next, even if it was total rubbish.

"Then you know that he was in the library with that brunette girl. The one you were complaining about the other day."

"I never complained about her to you." She snapped-his previous statement had been unexpected, she was taken off-guard and was now silently seething.

"Then I must have heard it somewhere that you don't like her. I can't say the same for Weasley, though. He seems to like her an awful lot and she definitely is... more his speed."

"Oh, what a load of rubbish." Aria slammed her book shut with such force that a younger student who sat on the couch opposite her jumped in fright at the sound. She stood up and made to go to her dorm when Draco did the same.

"Believe what you want, Snape." The blond said as he brushed past her, smirking. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Aria found herself at a loss for words as she watched him disappear up the stairs. Of course, he was speaking total rubbish. Trusting a word that came out of his mouth after his confession would be ludicrous, but still...

Malfoy couldn't have just come up with that rumor from nothing.

Or could he?

She sighed and collapsed onto the couch again.

Aria drummed her fingers on the leather armrest. She had no way of determining if Malfoy had been lying or not now, it was dark out and past curfew.

But Aria couldn't sleep, especially not after what she had just heard, be it true or not, her mind would wander uncontrollably. She would be restless for the entire night if she left things as they were.

Aria decided to leave the common room then. She planned for a walk, perhaps she would sneak into Professor Lupin's class and see what he's been hiding-perhaps discover why he was so obsessed with her.

She needed to be invisible, though, in case someone spotted her. The disillusionment charm was sure to work, but it wouldn't hold for long.

ϟ

Aria had managed the charm. It was weak and she hadn't wanted to wake anyone and alert them of her presence. As long as she remained in the shadows, it would work.

As she walked down the hallways, making sure to use the smallest possible light from her wand (and still getting complaints from the portraits) she heard voices.

"Nox," she muttered and hurried to stand against the wall so as not to be noticed.

Aria quickly recognized the voices as that of her father's and... another familiar one. She wasn't sure who it was.

"How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter." Aria was shocked to find out that Harry too had taken to prowling around the corridors after hours. "He, too, was exceedingly arrogant. Strutting about the castle-"

"My dad didn't strut. Nor do I. Now, if you don't mind, I'd appreciate you lowering your wand."

Aria had the urge to reveal herself and slap Potter right across his smug face. No one disrespected her father like that in her presence. They didn't know she was present, though, and revealing herself would have resulted in even more trouble than she was already in, it was better to stay hidden.

"Turn out your pockets."

Aria moved around the wall so she could get a better look at what was going on, she didn't get too close, though, because even with the charm she could still be seen if one looked close enough.

From within his pockets, Harry produced something that interested Aria very much. It was the Marauders Map. She knew there had been a reason as to why she had left the common room so late, and there it was, right in Harry's hands. She needed to get it immediately. It was the one way she could find out if George was the loyal boyfriend he claimed to be without confronting him and having to deal with lies.

"And what might this be?" Professor Snape ripped the map from Harry's hands.

"Spare bit of parchment..."

Snape raised an eyebrow as if asking Harry if he thought he was stupid. "Really?" He raised his wand, "Reveal your secrets."

Words appeared on the front and Aria silently cursed. There was no way she would be able to get her hands on it once her father discovered what it was.

"Read it," Snape ordered.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs offer their compliments to Professor Snape and..."

"Go on."

"And request that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business."

If it was possible, steam would have flooded from Aria's ears due to the rage she felt at Potter's words. Whoever those misfits were who created the map, she would find them and deal with them for disrespecting her father like that.

Right in front of her face, Lupin passed by. He had stood right in front of her and was watching the scene unfold. Luckily, she didn't think that he had seen her... yet.

"Professor." He spoke. Snape turned around to glare at him.

"Well, well. Lupin. Out for a little walk in the moonlight, are we?"

Lupin ignored Snape's question. "Harry, are you alright?"

"That remains to be seen. I have just now confiscated a rather curious artifact from Mr. Potter. Take a look, Lupin. This is supposed to be your area of expertise."

Aria internally cringed when he handed the map to Lupin.

Stealing it from Harry would be easy.

Stealing it from a Professor, not so much.

"Clearly, it's full of dark magic."

"I seriously doubt that, Severus. It looks to me as though it's merely a parchment designed to insult anyone who tries to read it. I suspect it's a Zonko product. Nevertheless, I shall pursue any hidden qualities it may possess. As you say, it's my area of expertise. Harry, would you come with me?"

Aria took her chance and walked beside the wall, following Harry and Lupin back to his classroom. She blended in with the wallpaper, or at least tried to and hoped that she hadn't been spotted.

"Now I haven't the faintest idea, Harry, how this map came to be in your possession, Harry, but quite frankly I am astounded that you didn't hand it in. Did it never occur to you that this in the hands of Sirius Black is a map to you?"

So he knew about it. He had lied to her father. Aria cursed him silently, still blending in with the cabinets on the side of his classroom.

"Your father never set much store by rules either. But he and your mother gave their lives to save yours. Gambling their sacrifice by wandering the castle unprotected, with a killer on the loose, seems to me a pretty poor way to repay them! Now, I will not cover up for you again, Harry."

Aria had half a mind to report all of this back to her father. It seemed fitting considering how horrible Lupin appeared to treat him, both now and when they were in school together.

"Professor." Harry stopped and turned back. "Just so you know, I don't think the map always works. Earlier, it showed someone in the castle. Someone I know to be dead."

Lupin didn't appear interested. "And who might that be?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"That's not possible."

Harry shrugged, "It's just what I saw."

Lupin appeared shaken but resumed his normal composure as he watched Harry leave.

Aria's attention went straight back to the map once Harry was no longer an obstacle.

He held the map in his hands. She figured that it was dark and if he hadn't already seen her, he wasn't going to. However, she couldn't exactly just take the map from his grip and wander away with it. He would definitely see her then.

Aria decided she would take her chances and began to tiptoe towards him. He was bound to put it down sooner or later and when he did and he retired to his room, she would snatch it. He would probably blame Harry for it. It was a fool-proof plan.

"Miss Snape. If you honestly think that you are fooling anyone then you are as foolish as your father."

Aria stopped in her tracks and frowned. She felt the charm slowly fall away, her anger rising at his words.

She marched towards Lupin. "How did you know I was here?"

"I'm not blind. I may be careless from time to time, but I see everything."

She placed her hands on her hips, eyeing out the map.

"Did you not hear me?" He lifted the map up. "I said that I see everything. There's no use in trying to steal this from me. I plan to do away with it."

Aria frowned. "Please, Professor. I don't want it for anything sinister. I just want to see if George is cheating on me."

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "Curious, that you're dating a Gryffindor. I would expect that if you're anything like your father, you wouldn't go near them."

Aria sighed. She needed to convince him it appeared, "I don't judge people by their houses." This was untrue and she suspected that Lupin knew that. "I love him very much and you know..." She trailed off and thought of another way to persuade him. "You have been awfully pushy with me and my private business. I won't tell dad about that if you let me borrow the map, for one night. I'll give it back tomorrow, I swear."

"That would go against my rules as a Professor."

"You won't be a professor for much longer if I complain about how you've been pestering me."

"Aah," He forced a smile. "I can see you're your fathers daughter. Not that I ever doubted." Aria ignored his last statement as he handed her the map. "One night."

"Thank you, Professor."

Aria grabbed the map from his hand and ran back out of his classroom before he could change his mind.

Finally, she would have the answer to all her questions. She didn't know whether she was ready, but one look at the map in her hands reminded her that she didn't have a choice. If she didn't get answers, and soon, she would go mad.