Remembering | OPEN

Freezing. Drenched. Lungs aching from water aspirated in the frozen lake.

They had made it across the frozen grounds and had started up the steps into the Entrance Hall. Aria looked up at the double doors. But wait.

Someone had been there. She looked back at the steps. Someone - that's right. Arsen had been there, ready to scold her. Aria had looked away, ashamed by her carelessness. She was always getting in trouble. He had put his arms around her.

Then, he was burning her.

The dream - the memory - shifted, and she wasn't at the school at all. He was burning her, sneering at her pitiful pleas and screams of agony. She didn't know what she had done wrong!

Flames bit at her flesh - at her very bones, it felt like - the heat and pain enveloping her, spreading to her heart...

Aria sat bolt-right up in bed, breathing ragged as she clasped a hand against the pain shooting through her chest. She took a moment to slow her breathing, especially since it made the pain in her chest worse. As she did so, she tried to piece together the memory from her dream.

Pain seemed to weaken whatever barrier Djinn had put in her mind to make her forget, so she had been remembering a lot, lately.

The girl forced her mind to revisit that moment, just after Karma had saved her from nearly drowning. She had thought they'd simply gone to the hospital wing, but... Arsen had been there. And he had restrained her and burned her.

Aria swallowed back the panic that tried to rise.

No. That wasn't it. He had put his arms around her, but not to restrain her or hurt her, but to... To help her.

And suddenly, she could remember the gentle warmth of the flames, warming her chilled bones and drying her soaked clothing. Soothing her. She remembered -

Everything.

The blonde choked back a sob. She felt cheated. Robbed. And all because some demon didn't want the loyalty of one of his pets to be to someone else.

Now, her heart ached for a different reason, entirely.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she quietly left her dorm, moving slowly, a hand still clasped against her heart. Making her way down the steps, she halted, staring at the fire uncertainly. She couldn't forget that Djinn had used fire - hellfire, really, but fire - to hurt her. But... being near it made her feel better.

So, hesitatingly, she approached the hearth, kneeling in front of it so she could feel its warmth on her face. Then, she closed her eyes, remembering...

The Baron swept into the Slytherin Common Room, he'd wondered if the common room still had that crisp cool feeling on the air as it did when he was alive, as he flew over towards the fireplace and noticed someone was kneeling down in front of it

His face became stern, students aren't normally here at this late hour, this irritated him in that he took joy like the other ghost of being able to float around the school at night without having to see students. As the Baron moved closer towards the person he suddenly recognised her. He had seen her interacting with the demon boy on many occasions

He then floated next her and looked down on her with a cold face " Your keeping very dangerous company young girl" he said in a disapproving tone

The warmth of the flames had begun to seep into her very being. Energy. Warmth. It began to ease the pain that had woken her...

Aria's mismatched snapped open at the voice, and she leaned back from the fire, just a bit. Turning her head, she glanced up at the ghost, then back to the flames.

"If you speak of yourself, I've nothing to fear from you, shade," she stated. "If you speak of my friends, it is hardly any of your business."

The Baron felt his anger build up quickly that the girl would not take his warning about the demon " You ignorant piece of filth" he shouted at her, the Baron then drew his sword and drove it into the girl's back let out a grunt as he realize it wouldn't physically hurt her but only send a cold shiver through her spine

He then fixed his gaze on her " You don't know how lucky you are that ghost can't kill" he said bluntly before flying through the fireplace with great gusto scattering ash and embers around the floor

Aria shook her head to be rid of the chill the Baron's sword sent through her. She wasn't afraid of him. Her maker was the original fire demon. Few were intimidating next to him, and certainly not some remnant of a man long dead.

The girl leaned forward again, palms against the stone bottom of the fireplace so that her fingers brushed the coals. She flinched expectantly, but apart from heat - warmth, really - she felt nothing.

Normal flames held no harm for her; it was only her fear that had kept her away.

Jet stepped out of the Boys dorm, only in pajama bottoms and running a hand through his hair. It stuck up all over the place, a contrast to his usual hairstyle. "Ree?" He grumbled sleepily. "What are you doin halfway into the fire?" He walked slowly over to her, his eyes tired. He sat beside her. "Was that the bloody baron I just saw?"

Aria shifted her weight back, curling her fingers away from the coals. That would look odd, her sitting there touching the base of the flames. She glanced up at the boy, a small smile pulling at her lips as she noted his rumpled appearance.

"I was cold," she lied easily, sitting back entirely.

Aria nodded in response to his question. "He was criticizing my choice in friends," the girl stated. She rubbed lightly at the fading ache over her heart before resting her hand in her lap, the movement unremarkable.

"Why are you awake?" Aria asked, then rubbed a hand along his bare arm. "Aren't you cold?"

Jet narrowed his eyes at her, but covered it with a yawn. "Well, don't be cold on my behalf." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"Where does the ghost get off on critizing your friends?" He demanded, frowning.

He shrugged one shoulder, watching her arm as she rubbed his arm. "I've lived with and next to Karma our whole lives. Heat was never the best. I'm used to being cold."

Aria shrugged. "He's no life of his own, anymore, so I suppose he feels he must dictate another's," she theorized.

"That sound horrible," Aria concluded. She pushed herself off the floor to go get a blanet someone had left on the back of the sofa. Or maybe it was meant to always be on the back of the sofa. Aria wasn't certain, nor did she care.

Returning to Jet's side in front of the fire, she sat cross-legged next to him and wrapped the blanket over both their shoulders.

"Now, we can both be warm."

Jet shrugged again, blinking the tiredness out of his eyes. "Still isn't his right." he said.

"It wasn't that bad." He said with fond smile at the memory. "It was a good-enough childhood. Lonely, yes, but not the best."

He grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her warm. "Thanks, Princess." he said with a smile. His smile slowly slipped away as he thought though. "That boy you were with... Rhys... is he...?" He couldn't finish, instead looking into the fire.

Aria settled against his side, unbothered by the proximity. The blonde looked up at him, tilting her head inquisitively.

"Rhys?" she said. "What about him?"

"Aria." He sighed, actually using her name instead of a nickname for once. "You're dating him, aren't you?" He kept his face expressionless.


"You completely forget about the Christmas Ball, don't you?" He said softly.

"Yes," Aria responded slowly, brow furrowing. He somehow unhappy about that; no one kept their expression blank when things were as they liked.

Of course, she hadn't forgotten. Aria had an eidetic memory. The only memories she couldn't recall were those Djinn had tampered with, so the Ball (as far as Aria knew) should be unaffected.

Her gaze went slightly unfocused as her mind searched the memories from the Ball, trying to figure out what it had to do with Rhys or her dating him.

Dancing. People. Laughter - the Ball had been great fun.

'Aria. Would you be my girlfriend?'

She had thought it such an odd question. Wasn't she his friend, already? So, Aria had nodded. 'Okay,' she'd agreed.

Aria pulled back from the boy, a bit, eyes widening. "Oh..." she breathed quietly. "I thought you meant friend that happened to be a girl. Jet, I didn't - I wouldn't have... Everything was so confusing for me then. I wouldn't have done anything with Rhys if I'd thought...

"You talk to so many girls. I thought you were being nice," Aria concluded helplessly.