Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than plot and OCs

Sorry its not very long….

The day was a relatively successful one in Ara's book. She had taken Aberforth's advice and met with Albus Dumbledore to talk about job prospects. Albus had explained that in the middle of the year jobs were hard to come by. Ara's face fell; she knew that it would be almost hopeless to work at the castle. She didn't even know why she even tried. Albus however continued "it has come to my attention that several of the teachers would be grateful for a helping hand around the castle? Perhaps a teaching assistant?" she froze. Was this really happening? It did happen and it was after this elation and several drinks with Aberforth in success that Ara found herself only half stumbling to her room. She would need to pack.

It was in such elation that Ara very nearly forgot everything that had gone wrong in her life in the last few months. All elation that was once felt had been thrown out the window however when she opened her door. At first she didn't realize what she was looking at, there was a dark shape in the corner of the room, and she almost didn't notice it right away, it wasn't until it started to move that Ara reached for her wand. Panic washed over her when she realized her wand was nowhere to be found in her robes. The dark figure in the corner held it in one hand whilst the other pulled off the hood that hid the persons face. It was her mother, her real mother, Bellatrix Lestrange. "You should never leave your wand anywhere, this is an object that should always be within easy reach" she held it out for Ara to take "you never know when you might need it" her voice was soft and her stance aloof. It made her look very uncomfortable.

Ara snatched her wand out of her mothers hand before retreating to her bed in the other corner of the room. Drawing herself into a corner she surveyed her mother through narrow eyes "what d'you want" Bellatrix slowly took a seat back in her original spot, her actions were very exaggerated, and yet graceful at the same time. She moved as if she was trying not to frighten a wary animal.

She mulled over her thoughts for a few long moments, never taking her eyes off her daughter, "I thought that we should get to know each other properly." Her words were slow, as if testing the way they tasted.

Ara nodded, it was a fair statement, she conceded. "What do you want to know" her grip on her wand relaxed slightly, and only slightly.

Bellatrix looked slightly uncomfortable, and more than slightly undignified when a perplexed look flittered across her face. "What do you do for a living" she finally asked.

Ara let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding "I used to make spells for the ministry, freelance work mostly for different departments. I also have my certification in curse breaking."

The corners of the Death Eaters mouth turned upwards "so you are good with a wand?"

Ara stared at her mother, it wasn't a question that was asked often, and it was one she wasn't quite sure how to respond. "Uh, I'm good with magic, I mean understanding it, making it, recognizing. I don't know if I'm necessarily good with a wand." The sentence sounded lame to Ara.

Bellatrix was silent again, grasping for something to ask. She never realized how hard it would be to talk to her daughter, there was so much she wanted to know, and yet the million questions that went through Bella's mind only hours ago had suddenly disappeared. "Do you have a boyfriend, fiancé?" she let the question drag on, taking special notice in the way her daughter suddenly looked both angry and distraught.

"Ask Cassandra about that." Her buzz was completely lost between the thoughts of Geoffrey and calling her mother Cassandra. And her day was going so good.

An awkward silence followed the pair, neither really knowing what to ask. Ara finally asked about Bella, her family. She learned about the Blacks and the Lestranges, her sisters and Bellatrix told her daughter stories from when she was in school. Often times they were at the very least slightly amusing to Ara, sometimes she would sit at the edge of her bed listening with rapt attention, and then there were the times where Bellatrix blatantly talked about her obsession with the dark arts and the Dark Lord. The worst part was Ara didn't know if she should feel disgusted when she heard of her mother's bigoted words, or whether she should be feeling the sudden urge to have her mother, the deranged Death Eater sitting opposite the room, proud of her. Suddenly Ara felt embarrassed by the dingy room she had called home for the past weeks, she felt ashamed not having a steady job, and angry by her blind efforts at love. She wanted this woman whom she should hate, like her, she wanted to see Bellatrix's face with a smile, and most of all she wanted to see pride shine in her dark eyes.

The night grew late and finally in the early morning hours Ara felt her eyelids grow heavy. Her mother had long since abandoned her post in the corner to don one on the bed next to her daughter. They sat, Ara leaning into her chest, Bellatrix with her arm around her daughter, her eyes glazed over slightly.

"You have my eyes you know, and my hair." She stroked her daughter's hair softly, pulling her hand through wild curls. "You have your fathers face though, his features I mean." Her voice was faraway as she mulled over it.

"Very beautiful, just like him" she smiled into her daughter's hair.

"Tell me about him" Ara voice was slightly slurred with sleep.

"He was the most beautiful boy in his year at Hogwarts," the rest was lost to Ara because it wasn't long at all before her breathing evened out and she was soon floating in a dream world filled with beautiful boys and Dark Marks.

The next morning Ara awoke to Aberforth pounding on her door. When she tried to roll out of bed she found that instead of the tangled sheets that were the very quickly becoming a norm, she had been tucked in nicely. With a smile she remembered the conversation the night before.

"Yer gonna be late for the first day" Aberforth snapped at her when she arrived tavern fifteen minutes later. "I'll send yer things up after you, don't worry, here eat this and get outta here!" he pushed a sandwich into her hand and shoved her out into the snow unceremoniously.

At the castle gates her transfiguration teacher stood waiting for her. "Glad to see you back in the castle dear" Minerva could be so nice. Ara had the distinct feeling that this was going to be a good day. But then again, her feelings had not been very reliable when it came to the flow of her days.

TBC

Tibys

Thanks again from reviewers who let me know that they want me to continue, I tell you I get a review and im obligated to write something more. To tell you the truth the first chapter was to a completely different story and then im trying to get it back into the Ara I made. The original Ara knew who her mother was and lived in an orphanage for a bit before being adopted by muggles. She also was a musician who adored her mother, even though she is a notorious mass murderer, she still had some memories of her. If you guys have any requests as to what you want to see with this story then feel free to let me know. I literally have nothing to do but to write because university doesn't start for another month and a half! So right now is the time to review and get me writing. We see Bella kinda OOC in this chapter, but im going to make her very in character for most of the story, I just had to kinda put in a lets get to know you chapter to make this Ara into my Ara. Well I feel like im rambling now so im going to stop, hope you like, I apologize for grammar mistakes.