Serendipity [Book 2]

The Heartwretching Past

Ready for Ariella's revelations? Want to know what happened to her parents? Want to understand the signifigance of the bracelet? This chapter will do it....maybe.

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Severus watched Ariella fiddle with the necklace as she pretended to read a book. She yawned and he saw her eyes sparkle when the lion mimicked her move. A sudden glint on her wrist caught his attention as he noticed a charm bracelet sliding on her wrist. 

“Cross,” he called out as Ariella looked up at him with a smile.

“What is that?” Severus pointed at the bracelet and Ariella looked down at it. A strange look passed across her features before she cradled her wrist (and the bracelet) to her chest.

“It was a present my parents gave me when I came to Hogwarts. I thought I had lost it a long time ago, but Remus returned it to me for Christmas this year,” Ariella explained as Severus watched her eyes swirl with pain and joy all at once before misting over. Stray tears fell down her cheeks as she fingered one of the dangling charms gently.

“Have you visited them lately? Your parents?” He asked suddenly as Ariella looked up and shook her head.

“Not since before I started working at the Ministry,” she answered instantly.

“Why not?”

“Why so many questions tonight, Snark?” she rebutted as she watched his features darken for a brief moment.

“I just realized something,” he replied cryptically.

“And what’s that?”

“I know nothing about you,” he finished bluntly.  Ariella stared at him for a moment, before chuckling softly.

“What is there to know? I’m a pureblood that grew up in a rich family with all of my desires fulfilled. I had wonderful friends and I have a beautiful god son,” she remarked with a shrug. Severus frowned.

“Do you not trust me enough to tell me?”

“Severus, that’s not what I’m implying. However, my past and your past are both bloody and unpleasant and I don’t think it’ll do us any good now,” Ariella explained. Severus paused. Her reasoning made sense; however, he still felt she kept important facts from him and that bothered him immensely.

“You’re upset,” Ariella noticed instantly as she climbed to her feet and made her way across the room to her companion. It wasn’t a question and Severus knew it.

“My parents and little brother were killed when I was 17. I came home for Christmas Break and found them,” she admitted once she reached him. Severus’s eyes widened. Tears sparkled in her eyes as she fell to her knees in front him.

“Voldemort killed them and left me alive,” she continued as Severus slipped to the ground in front of her. Her body shook and she kept her head down. Severus knew she was crying. Ariella buried herself in Severus’s chest as she thought back to that Christmas.

“Need a ride, Elle?” Sirius and James asked as they exited the Hogwarts Express and found Ariella’s family missing from the platform. Ariella quickly shook her head.

“Nah. I’ll just apparate home,” she replied with a simple wave. Her friends nodded and watched her disappear with a soft pop. Ariella reappeared in front of the house the descendants of Gryffindor had called their home for centuries. She looked behind her and saw Godric’s Hollow glowing softly amidst the white snow. She sighed. The land was beautiful. When she looked up toward the house, she noted it was dark and oddly silent. Odd, she thought. Usually at least one light was lit. She shrugged. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she made her way into the house. Inside, the darkness permeated the air around her.