Aria Lennock.

Realising it was Aria, a small smirk began to appear upon Alecto’s features as she observed the fallen books all over the floor. “Perhaps if you weren’t so clumsy you wouldn’t have dropped all the books all over the floor. Or better, you wouldn’t have disturbed me from trying to finish something.” It was at this that she began to twist her wand between her fingers, implying that she would cast something unless Aria began to go away.

aria raised her eyebrows at alecto’s statement, and stood straight up. “it’s a good thing my clumsiness didn’t stop me from catching the snitch at last week’s Quidditch game, huh?” she smiled sweetly, “better tell your team to buck up, yeah? it’s difficult when the only thing you excel at is cheating.” aria’s tone had turned very sour. her eyes darted down, observing alecto’s wand, and alerted, she quickly slipped her hand into the pocket of her robe, gripping her wand in preparation. 

rita’s back tensed up after hearing the soft footsteps behind her. it was late at night and she was heading to the astronomy tower, and she was in no mood to have her fun spoiled. she turned around abruptly. “have you been following me this whole time?”

aria couldn’t sleep. it was far, far too warm, and the room she was sharing with the other 7th year girls had no windows opened. of course, she would open those windows if the other girls hadn’t complained. fed up and sweaty, aria made her way up to the astronomy tower, where she longed for the cool breeze. she certainly didn’t expect another person to be here as well. upon nearing the person, she groaned when she realized it was rita. 

“ oh, trying my luck on smuggling some books from the restricted section, as i have been doing for the past years. “ she smiled. ” so how was your researching? did you discover something worthwhile? “

“oh?” aria stiffened a laugh. “what kind of books?” she shrugged indifferently, “i’ve been here for hours, but all the information i’ve found is about animagus, not how to become one. i’m about to give up, but i really feel like it’ll come in handy one day.” she yawned, rubbing sleep away from her eyes. it was late.

aria had been talking a stroll around the school, after finding herself rather restless after completing classes and all her homework. (it didn’t take her very long at all, you see.) she hadn’t gone a long way from the Charms classroom when she heard shouting down a narrow hallway that she hadn’t seen before. her curiosity aroused, she followed the voice into a classroom, where she found the blonde looking rather vexed, and a first year scrambling out the classroom door looking quite terrified.

As Alecto began to settle down in her space of peace and quiet, she was suddenly interrupted by a collision of sound. Whipping her head around, Alecto’s fingers grasped her wand as she asked, “Can’t a girl have some peace and quiet? Or do I need to hex you to get that point across?”

Aria looked up from her position of picking up her books that she had accidentally dropped on the floor, an her facial features arranged themselves into one of annoyance. “well, i’m sorry, i wasn’t trying to interrupt you on purpose, but maybe if you took time to realize what was happening instead of being so self absorbed, you’d be able to see that,”she snapped. 

“ alright, we’ll see— if your reason is one i deem worthwhile enough for me to keep your secret…. then you have yourself a deal. “ septima nodded. if anything, she was just curious as to what her reason would be (and weigh if whether or not she was telling the truth. ) “ spill the beans. “

“fine.” aria had no qualms telling septima what she was doing. “i was doing research on how to become an animagus, because prof won’t tell me. that’s it.” aria looked at septima pointedly. “and yourself?”

Wanting to be one of the top students in her classes was a goal for Emma. A reason why she tended to study hard, even when she didn’t look the part for it. However, what caught her by surprise was someone else being around the restricted area. Raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms, the brunette had a sudden smirk on her face. “Fine, but if it’s not a good reason, then I’m going to have to ask for something a bit more.”

aria narrowed her eyes. “i’m trying to learn how to turn into... something.” aria left it at that. she didn’t know if this girl was trustworthy, and besides, she’d only give the necessary bit of information. “your turn.” aria mirrored emma’s pose, cocking her hips.

“That was not me.”

aria glanced at the mess of spaghetti, meatballs, sauce, cheese, and sausages strewn all along the floor, then back up at the boy.  “so you’re telling me,” she said slowly, “that this mess” - she waved in the general direction of the food - “wasn’t your doing? and i assume there;s someone under an invisible cape or something who did do that?” 

“ better attributes than mine? i’m questioning the validity of your statement. “ he responded with a goofy grin. “ are you, really? then let us see then— shall we not? how about we play a game, lennock. after all being scared isn’t in your vocabulary, as you said. “

“are you really doubting my word, potter?” aria shot back with a grin equally comical as the boy’s. “oh, bring it on. what kind of small game are you thinking of this time?” aria swallowed her nerves and faced the boy, her head held high. 

aria raised her eyebrows. “good thing you don’t play Quidditch,” she murmured to herself, before raising her voice and adding, “well, the fact that you’re hidden in this closet and not using any useful spells to hide from whomever - you know we can use magic, right? or do you not know how to?” aria said this sweetly, but with a sarcastic undertone.

“no, no, i’m not evil.” aria chuckled, and gestured towards a chair that floated by them. “i’m just practicing levitation, and moving objects around,” she explained. “I promise i’ll return him to your care when i’m done!”

aria laughed heartedly, liking the blonde immensely. “you have a deal,” she promised. “so is there anything i can do to help you in return?” she asked.

“ you reckon i am bound to a hour’s worth of captain’s reprimanding? “ septima mused. it’s not that she hated reprimands, she appreciated it as an avenue to learn and improve on herself, but then she could think of plenty other ways she could use that hour in much productive ways. “ that sounds incredible. i always wonder how you seekers do your thing, and you seem to have improved greatly, aria.  “

aria waved her hand dismissively. “don’t worry, he’s too busy training the newcomer to worry about a professional beater like you taking a little nap.” aria twisted to her left to look at their captain near the end of the field talking to a very nervous fourth year. “oh, you flatter me. it’s all that training you made me do at the end of last year! without your help i could never be here now.” aria smiled at her friend.