The Raven and the Snake

Extra - Willa

Ariadne made no extra comments. She made no effort to scold or correct Willa for her failings. If Slytherin house really was the family the school's representative had explained it would be, Ariadne was very much the maternal figure of it.

She had the kindliness of a mother as Willa had always pictured, but never experienced. It was second nature for her to make the younger students feel welcomed and safe. She even seemed to bring out a softness in others. Particularly Professor Snape, the official head of Slytherin house who was about as cuddly as a cactus.

While it felt that every word uttered from Professor Snape was coated with barbs, Ariadne smoothed it out. She had a way of making him seem less formidable. A mere gesture from her could relax all the terrified first year students.

"Professor Snape is really something," Willa once shuddered after a particularly grueling class in which several classmates had been reduced to tears.

"That bad?" Ariadne had smiled sympathetically, fully aware that Professor Snape was not an easy man to get along with.

"He's sort of terrifying..." Willa shuddered again. "He's scary like Hans Gruber from that movie Die Hard."

Few of Willa's classmates were family with muggle movies. Muggle tech didn't tend to work well in wizarding households, but Willa had grown up with a big muggle family. Lots of sisters that had a habit of ogling movie stars.

Ariadne must have also been quite familiar because she had stopped for a long moment before barking out in a surprisingly loud fit of laughter. Exuberant to almost the point of tears and making her already heartbreakingly beautiful face more alluring.

Willa had suspected that there was a magical solution for her problematic voice as well as other changes that might be coming. Approaching her Gruber-esque Head of House was absolutely not an option, so she decided to try the school's matron. To her surprise, she had also found Ariadne there.

As well as being the den mother of Slytherin and top student of her year, Ariadne had taken it upon herself to help Madam Pomfrey whenever possible. When Willa came, feeling awkward and gangly next this ethereal beauty, Ariadne didn't look the least bit shocked.

Nothing about Ariadne's manner changed. In fact, she easily conversed with Willa about her options. Truthfully, things in the wizarding world were far easier than Willa had ever imagined. Not only was there an easy fix, there was a permanent, non-surgical option.

Besides transfiguration which Willa was still a long ways from learning to an acceptable degree, there were potions that Ariadne – an accomplished potions expert - could easily brew and she did so willingly. As though it were nothing at all. A favor she barely needed to be asked for.

While such personal matters were so easily fixed in the wizarding world, there were other problems.

Though Ariadne was a model student and as close to perfect as anything Willa could have pictured, she was not without her own sets of worry.

The fact that she was being seen as a maternal figure to the younger students came with complications. Rumors circulated that she was more just on polite terms with Professor Snape. Indeed, there was a rather chilly atmosphere among several of the staff whenever Professor Snape was present. Ariadne made it seem so natural, it was almost normalized to the first-years that a girl that only just come of age would be so close to her professor, but it wasn't normal.

Ariadne said nothing at all to Willa about the rumors. Whether there was any truth to it, Willa couldn't be entirely sure. She felt that Ariadne definitely had a deep love for Professor Snape who behaved in a protective, almost territorial manner whenever they were together. They had an almost practiced way of moving around each other like it was an ongoing dance to music only they could hear.

It didn't stop Ariadne from being friendly toward others even while they whispered behind her back. She came with such a pleasant atmosphere, it was difficult to say anything truly nasty to her face. Willa felt naturally drawn to the woman whose personal life aside, was admirable.

It became more clear with time that Ariadne's life wasn't simple. There had been no rumors at all of engagement, but when she returned to the school, not as a student, but the wife of the new Headmaster, it was a shock.

Ariadne Black returned in a much colder air. Her status and lineage became more widely known. War was gripping the wizarding world and Ariadne's own grandfather was at the center of it. He was the Big Bad. The monster from under the bed and in every scared child's shadows.

With the death of the previous Headmaster, the school was under a new regime. Ariadne was given the unpleasant task of marshalling, an enforcer to the new rules. Ariadne had approached Willa, offering her an out.

Under a new guise of cold indifference, Ariadne still managed to be a mother to the students. There was only one of her so there was only so much she could do. There were other new changes to the staff that were far less pleasant and Ariadne had to work under tight constraints. Even still, she didn't complain. She had made her peace with living under the rule of her grandfather and continued to do everything she could to ease the fears of the students.

Willa, who'd already felt a deep gratitude toward the kindness of Ariadne Black, found herself eager to help. She was only a second-year student, now living under much stricter rules, but she found that she could be cunning.

Life with xenophobic muggles had unknowingly prepared Willa for the challenges of the new rules of the wizarding world. She found herself unexpectedly, individually equipped to aid Ariadne. Ariadne, who always put the school and its students first.

Even as she struggled with her fear. Even as Ariadne tried to maintain a growing family between her husband and goddaughter. The school was always at the forefront of Ariadne's mind and under her protection.

Author's Note:

I know to some, this may seem a little shoe-horned. It was actually always my intention to have Willa have a deeper backstory. Willa played such a crucial part in the final book when helping Ariadne, she was always meant to be uniquely understanding to the unfairness of the rumors and expectancies placed on Ariadne. It merely never felt strictly necessary to mention Willa's physical status while furthering the plot.

I should also like to point that despite any thoughtless and ignorant statements made by JK Rowling, these are not supported by the vast majority of Wizarding World lovers and certainly no such biases would ever be relevant in the magical community where changing ones out appearance is as simple as waving a wand or drinking a potion.