Chapter Eighty-Two

"HARRY!" ARIA SCREECHED at the sight of her brother and ran to hug him. She pulled away, holding him at arms reach, and smiled.

"Good to see you too, Aria." He chuckled and patted her back.

The moment passed and a frown appeared on Aria's face. "How can you smile? How the bloody hell did you get expelled?" She crossed her arms. "What are you going to do?"

He shrugged and turned to Hermione and Ron. "So, what is this place?"

"It's the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore formed it back when they fought you-know-who."

"Couldn't have put any of this in a letter, I suppose? I've gone all summer without a scrap of news."

"I was going to write you..." Aria began, trailing off. She hadn't been able to find the right words.

"We wanted to write mate," Ron said. "Really we did, only..."

"Only what?"

"Only Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything."

Aria huffed. She was the least clued in, even less than Harry it appeared. Then again, could she really expect anyone in the room to trust her? There were rumors of her being a Death Eater, after all, more than a few people probably believed them.

George trailed in, followed by Fred. "Harry."

"Thought we heard your dulcet tones." George slung his arm around Aria.

"Don't bottle it up though, mate. Let it out."

George winked at Aria, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out the door. The others followed.

Fred revealed something from his pocket. An ear. "What in Merlin's name is that?" Aria scrunched up her nose.

"Do you all wanna hear something a little more interesting?" The ear descended to the first floor and immediately picked up on a few voices.

"If anyone has a right to know it's Harry." Someone snapped. "If it wasn't for Harry we wouldn't even know Voldemort was back."

"He's not a child, Molly."

"He's not an adult either."

"And the girl?" Another voice asked.

"Snape's little brat?"

"I will not have you speak of her like that." The sound of something being slammed down harshly onto the table sounded through the ear.

"She's Lily's child as well."

"Doesn't make any difference if she's a Slytherin like him."

Aria's frown deepened. "Who's bloody voice is that?" She ripped her wand from her pocket. "I'll end them."

George shook his head slowly, pressing her wand down as they all continued to listen intently to the conversation happening downstairs.

"How touchingly paternal Black." Aria recognized the voice as she began to listen again. "Perhaps Potter will grow up to be a felon, just like his godfather."

"And perhaps Aria will grow up to be a Death Eater just like her father."

"Oh, both of you be quiet."

"Snape's part of the Order?"

"Git," Fred mumbled, earning a nudge from George. Fortunately, Aria had barely been paying attention to him.

The voices began to falter. All eyes went downwards to where a bloody cat was scratching at the ear. "Who's rat is that?"

"It's a cat." Hermione corrected snottily. "Crookshanks." She called repeatedly until the ear eventually slipped off and the voices were once again low mumbles that no one could make out.

There was a series of complaints and Aria was about to tell George something right before he disappeared along with Fred.

She watched them appear at the bottom of the staircase, earning a scolding from Molly.

Aria followed them, trailing down the stairs slowly. She wondered if her dad was still in the kitchen. She hadn't spoken to him since she'd asked for Lily's letter. She was so furious that he hadn't told her when he knew that she was dead.

Aria huffed into the kitchen, greeted by several familiar faces, none of them his. She couldn't decide if she was happy with this or not. Did he not care enough about her to at least try and make amends?

She recognized just about everyone, except one lady with outlandish purple hair. She assumed that the lady was the one who had said those terrible things about her. Aria sent her a glare as she sat down.

A discussion began from all around the table and every time Aria tried to catch up to what was being said, the topic would be changed. It was terrible! She found herself zoning out a lot, as well, thinking of her mother.

George handed Aria the paper and she skimmed over it, watching Harry's picture morph into the minister's. She wondered why she wasn't dragged in this edition, perhaps the minister did that on purpose. He had quite taken to Aria when they met, at least, that's what she assumed.

"We think Voldemort wants to build up his army again."

Aria froze at the statement.

She knew for a fact that this was true. Why else would have requested that she join him? Thoughts of whether to come clean about her knowledge argued around in her head, finally concluding that it would be better to stay silent and just listen.

After all, Aria didn't want to give anyone a reason to trust her even less than they already did.

"Fourteen years ago, he had huge numbers at his command. And not just witches and wizards, but all manner of dark creatures. He's been recruiting heavily and we've been attempting to do the same. But gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in."

Aria focused intently on what was being said.

"We believe Voldemort may be after something."

"Sirius."

"Something he didn't have last time."

"You mean like a weapon?" Harry asked from beside Aria. She glanced at him. 

"No. That's enough." Molly slammed a pot down. "He's just a boy. You say more and you might as well induct him into the Order."

"Good. I want to join. If Voldemort's raising an army then I want to fight."

"Me too." Aria squeezed his hand in solidarity.

Lupin's eyes flickered to her. He looked like he wanted to say something, but turned away before he did.

ϟ

Dinner had finished after an hour or two and Aria helped to clear the plates. She spotted Lupin ambling into the kitchen area and followed him as quickly as she could with a pile of bowls in her hand. 

"Lupin! Professor Lupin!"

"Please, Miss Snape, no need to be so formal. We're not at Hogwarts, Remus will do just fine." He said as he turned to face her, clearly trying to avoid saying what he really wanted to.

She slammed the bowls onto the countertop and stared up at him. "You knew."

He glanced to the side before nodding. "Yes, I knew."

"You and Sirius?"

He nodded again.

"Why didn't one of you tell me? You knew that I wanted to know. You're no better than my father!"

"Now, Miss Snape—"

"Aria." She corrected harshly, not interested in being associated with her father's name at that moment.

"Aria. It wasn't my place nor his to tell you."

She shook her head in disbelief, recalling all the other things he did that didn't concern him.

"But let's say we did." He leaned back on the counter and stared at her intently. "Let's say I told you that I knew who your mother was. Snape would have had my head, first off. And you wouldn't even have believed me."

"That's not true."

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "We both know it is."

"Fine! It is true, but the least you could have done was hinted."

"I tried many times. Of course, I had to make sure first. Your eyes were the first giveaway. I'd spoken to Harry and noticed that his eyes resembled his mother's, when I spoke to you I felt the exact same thing. It was strange, so then I changed your hair to ginger and you looked exactly like your mother."

Aria's breath hitched. "I look like Lily?"

He nodded. "Yes, quite a bit, actually—it was like I was staring at her younger self. It was startling. However, I knew that you had to find out on your own."

She sighed. "I only wish it had been in different circumstances."

Lupin nodded sympathetically. "Yes, we all do, but Aria, you know now and you know what Voldemort has done. You could be a good ally to him, an even greater one to us."

"I would never be his ally."

Lupin smiled, but his expression concealed something that Aria couldn't pinpoint.

He grabbed onto her shoulder as he walked past and patted it. "I know." He mumbled.

Only, Aria wasn't convinced of that, what she knew, however, was that no one in this damn house trusted her and she had to do something about it.