Chapter 26: Greengrass Girl!

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"Where are you off to?" Arianna asked, giving him her trademark warm smile. 

Haydn looked disappointed as he collected the hand he had already dealt for Aries, no doubt upset that he wasn't going to get to win any more of his money.

"Training. Some rather dangerous spells." He didn't want to explain too much, not with the Mayer girl here, but thankful his friends took the hint that he wanted to be alone. Well, for the most part.

"Can I walk with you?" Aries considered Arianna's request. 

It was a risk, in case they ran into Daphne, but the girl was probably smart enough to make some sort of excuse, and he had no real reason to decline the Spanish girl. 

He eyed the forest again as they made their way up to the castle and decided that he would go running tonight. There would be no moon and the added clouds would provide cover for him.

"You've been hanging around the Greengrass girl a lot more lately." He noticed that she changed to her native tongue, Spanish, something she only did when she was nervous. 

His Spanish tended to be a bit rough at times, but he knew enough that the conversation shouldn't be too difficult.

"She's a nice girl. You two might get along if you'd take the time to get to know her." Arianna winced at that, and she tried to hide the hurt look on her face from him, rather unsuccessfully.

"And why would I want to do that? She's rude and you have friends that have known you for years that would better occupy your time." Friends? Or you Arianna? Aries wondered.

"She's my friend, as is Draco. It would mean a great deal to me if you could at least play nicely. You won't lose my friendship just because I made a few new friends." 

She looked like she wanted to say something, and no doubt it would have started a conversation that Aries did not want to have right now, but they had reached his practice room, and he could feel that Daphne was inside. 

Aries reached out to Arianna's mind as she left and was shocked at what he felt. The hurt he understood, but where he expected infatuation he found something far deeper. 

A feeling that threatened to drown him like Sirius' guilt almost had and he pulled from her mind in self-preservation. 

That conversation would need to happen soon, but hopefully it could wait until after the First Task. He placed it at the back of his mind and entered the classroom.

Daphne tended to have a sophisticated and beautiful look to her, but there was only one word to describe her now: seductive. 

Her robe and tie were discarded, showing off her long legs as they ran out of her skirt. The sleeves of her blouse were rolled up to her elbows and the top few buttons were undone. 

Beads of sweat dropped down her forehead and she attempted to transfigure a guinea fowl into a guinea pig. 

It was a few months ahead of what the fourth years were currently learning, but he was not surprised as she at last managed the Transfiguration. 

Her triumphant smile turned into a rather fantastic blush as she noticed his presence, no doubt because of her forbidden appearance.

"Congratulations." Aries offered. "A rather difficult Transfiguration, even more so considering you did not have someone with a mastery in Transfiguration guiding you." Her blush only deepened from his praise. 

"But Transfiguration is not why you are here." A swish of his hand vanished the guinea pig and a chair knocked Daphne's knees out from under her as she landed in it. 

"The Dark Arts are a greatly misunderstood piece of magic. Many believe the Dark Arts are a collection of dark or evil spells and rituals, but that is not entirely true." A flick of his wand created a glass window which he shattered. 

He summoned the pieces to him, and then immediately banished them towards the girl. Invisible chains kept her attached to the chair and she choked out a scream as the shards stopped half a meter from her. 

"A banishing spell could have just killed you. An overpowered stunner could kill you. The Dark Arts, like all magic, are not defined by their result, rather the intent required."

"The Unforgivables are the most known examples of the Dark Arts and yet I could cast the killing curse at you right now and nothing would happen. Intent fuels all magic, and even more so with the Dark Arts."

"It takes the intent to harm, to maim, to cause pain, and to kill by using the spells that have become known as the Dark Arts. And that is where the danger of what I will teach you lies."

"When you push that intensity of feelings and desires into magic as powerful as the Dark Arts, it will affect you. It can change you, if you allow it. Stronger minds than yours have been corrupted by the intent and emotions that the Dark Arts require, as it is against the very nature of the soul, in some ways."

"And it is why you must understand control not only of your magic and your mind, but of yourself. It is why before we begin you will give me a vow that you will not practice anything I teach you without my supervision and you will use none of it unless it is a matter or life or death. Do you understand?"

Daphne had paled considerably, and Aries wondered if she truly understood what the Dark Arts were, rather than a piece of the forbidden fruit. "It. . . it could change me?"

"Yes." Aries answered seriously. "Without my guidance it can, and it will. But I will show you how to control the Dark Arts, so that it does not control you." 

It took a few moments for Daphne to recover, but she gave her vow with a renewed courage. 

Aries was glad, as he would have reconsidered his plans for the girl if she had bowed out so quickly.

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