Holding Ginny tightly in his arms, Harry dashed to Aria’s classroom, hoping he could find her so she could tell him about the cursed object to save Ginny. He had no time to wonder about what Aria’s intentions were with the pin. Panting heavily, he was running on adrenalin right now, after having just woken up from a week of unconsciousness.
During the entire week, he remembered being succumbed by a horrible nightmare that would never conclude. His mind was melting away and he had already let go and given up his fight, but he could feel the people around him and hear what they were saying, their encouragement and best wishes. However, he could not open his eyes because he was too tired and weak. He could feel Ginny caring for him the entire week, but he found himself unable to reach out to her; a dark voice kept telling him repeatedly to stop trying because he was not worthy of her.
Everything turned upside down in his fading mind when he heard Ron call for him, telling him Ginny was in trouble. A sense of determination was suddenly ignited in his mind. He dreamt that the doves were fluttering wildly on his chest and singing to him, their songs tingling continuously in his ear, and their tunes and lyrics somehow gave him the energy to fight his demons away, to fight and recover for Ginny, because she needed his help now.
When Harry entered the classroom, he noticed it was in complete disarray and the tables were piled up awkwardly. Peering around desperately, he spotted something on the chalkboard calling for him to come closer. Aria’s writing was flashing dimly on the chalkboard.
Your back is all I see.
I journey by your side,
Our shadows forever apart.
He could sense that Aria wrote this to describe her unrequited love for him but he had no time to ponder about the implications because Ginny was in danger. Not wanting to waste more time lingering about it, he bolted to the mirror that led to Aria’s world. Without thinking, he immediately stepped in, holding Ginny tightly in his arms.
What used to be a beautiful and magical outdoor setting was now taken over by a storm of darkness. The skies were gray and dust clouds were swirling around them. Instead of butterflies and birds, hideous black bats filled the place, screeching loudly. All the trees were bare and there were no animals running about. The pond was dry and the grass was replaced with mud. Aria’s enchanting house was now an abandoned building with no roof. It looked like nuclear winter. All he could hear now were sounds of water coming from afar and the annoying screeching sounds.
“ARIA… WHERE ARE YOU?” Harry called out desperately into the dark skies. But all he could hear were echoes of his own voice, the screeching sounds, and the sounds of the waterfall. There was no answer.
As he stared at the ground, he noticed deep footsteps and they followed a trail up the hill. Wiping the cold sweat off his face, he gripped Ginny tighter in his arms and decided to follow them.
Panting heavily with Ginny in his arms as he marched up the mountain, he immediately stopped his hasty steps when he reached the top because he finally spotted Aria. She was sitting alone, drinking by a table against the dark haunting horizons and the waterfall not too far away. Her long blond hair was flowing eerily with the winds. There was a pitcher and a second glass on the table. Next to her was an empty chair.
Deep down, Harry had a very nasty feeling about all this, even though he was aware that Aria had saved him and Ginny in the passageway. He hadn’t spoken to her since that intimate night they shared together and he remembered he had said some cruel things to her at the time. However, he believed he had no choice. She was the only one who would know how to save Ginny. For her sake, he decided to march ahead.
Aria could hear his tentative footsteps because she quickly turned to him and met his gaze. A faint smile flashed across her face.
“Harry, it’s nice to see you awake again,” she muttered, her voice now sounding soulful again, exactly like it was at the beginning when Harry initially met her.
Suddenly, a chill pierced through Harry’s spine. He stumbled backwards because from the corner of his eye, he spotted Hermione, who was tied up and dangling from a tree not too far away. Her mouth was bounded with a red cloth. Hermoine’s eyes glowed at the sight of Harry and she started struggling to break free.
He stared at Aria and muttered shakily, “What’s going on? Why are you doing this to Hermione?”
He immediately raced towards Hermione and pulled out his wand, wanting to break the strings that were bounding her. But nothing was shooting out of it. His magic wasn’t working. Instead, his abrupt movements caused some of the bats to suddenly swarm her. Staring at her hopelessly, he could hear Hermione’s muffled cries piercing through the screeching sounds of the bats.
“Harry, do you suspect me?” Aria asked in a very echoing tone.
“What?” he hollered distractingly, turning to face her, as a sense of grave desperation emerged inside of him. He really wanted to save Hermione from the bats but he couldn’t let Ginny out of his arms. He didn’t know what to do.
“Do you suspect that I’ll intentionally harm Ginny? That I purposely gave you a cursed object to hurt her?”
Harry did not reply because his mind was twisting with all the conflicting events that had happened in such a short period of time. Of course he suspected that she would intentionally hurt her, he thought to himself. After all, Aria was the one who gave the cursed object to him to give Ginny that night after the feast. In addition, seeing Hermione tied up by Aria in her imaginary world reinforced the idea that she was capable of many things. His perception of her as a good person was quickly unraveling.
“Let go of Hermione now!” Harry demanded, his eyes blazing with anger. “Why are you doing this to her?”
“Come. Sit down. Have a drink with me first,” Aria said hauntingly as the bats suddenly disappeared into the horizons.
He shook his head, thinking this was no time to drink. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hermione shaking her head profusely.
“You think it’s poisonous?” she asked painfully. Hermione could be seen nodding her head aggressively.
“No,” Harry grunted dejectedly.
“Is it no, you don’t think it’s poisonous, or no, you don’t want to have a drink with me?” she asked in a very distant tone.
“Please! Let Hermione go and tell me about the wretched cursed object to save Ginny!” he demanded again in frustration.
“Harry, you must be exhausted with Ginny in your arms and running all the way up here. Why don’t you set her down?”
“NO!” he shot back defiantly, taking a few more steps back and gripping her even tighter in his arms, even though Aria was right. His arms were in great pain and his legs felt very weak.
“Have a drink and I’ll tell you how to save Ginny,” she sang eerily.
Despite seeing Hermione still violently shaking her head, Harry felt he had no choice but to comply. He stared at Aria as he marched towards the table, rested Ginny carefully on the empty chair, and without hesitation, drank the entire glass in one gulp. Harry could hear Hermione’s muffled screams from under the cloth, but he ignored her protests. He threw the glass to the ground furiously, rubbed his face, and quickly held Ginny in his arms again. Hermione was in tears now.
“THERE! HAPPY NOW? Now tell me__”
“Once again, you are willing to do anything for Ginny, even though you believe the beer was poisonous,” Aria sighed disappointingly.
“Dance with me… just like that night…” she requested calmly.
“NO! Just let__” he snapped.
“Harry, all I want is for you to give me a beautiful memory to take with me to cherish, of us… together. This will be our final night together. Tomorrow I’ll be no more…” she gazed at him tiredly.
“What are you talking about?” Harry shot back nastily.
“It doesn’t matter what tomorrow is, it could be a mystery. What I care about is tonight with you…
“I know I can’t have you because you don’t love me. I’ve learned… to accept this fact...
“But at least grant me this wish. At least… let me have a memory… an endearing one… of us… tonight, so I can cherish with me…”
“There is no us…” Harry explained. “Why are you doing this?”
Aria poured herself another glass of beer and drank it in one gulp. Setting the glass gently on the table, she stared blankly into the dark skies.
“The beer gives me solace… very good beer indeed…” she said frostily. “But I should not offer you any… After all, you blamed the beer for what happened that intimate night we shared together…”
Ginny’s body twitched slightly. Harry winced and did not reply as he continued to hold her closely in his arms.
“Remember how you felt when you believed you lost Ginny? The hopelessness and despair… You couldn’t face the fact of losing her… it was so traumatic you didn’t want to live anymore…
“It’s because your life was empty until you discovered her…
“She helped you discover love, how beautiful it is… made your life so much happier, you forgot all the pain from your past when you’re with her…
“That’s why you can’t bear the fact of living without her… going back to the way you were…
“Being alone… silence…
“There’s one thing you and I definitely agree on… and it’s this…
“It is one thing to have never had something so wonderful, but once you experienced it, you couldn’t imagine yourself losing it and going back to not having it…
“That’s why you wanted to die…
“Harry, our lives are so similar. We are so similar. You are to me what Ginny is to you. My losing you is like you losing Ginny…
“That’s why now I want to die too…” Aria cried despairingly.
“I…I… “ he stuttered.
“Harry, I can never hurt Ginny. I know she’s more precious to you than your own life. If I hurt her, I know you’ll never forgive me…
“You’ll hate me forever…
“If I truly wanted to hurt her, why did I wait until now? I could have gotten rid of her from the beginning, manipulated your mind to love me, and I’ll have all I want. But what good is living in a world of lies?
“I wanted you to really love me…
“I just… wanted… All I want… is…
“Someone to love me the way you love her…
“I’m not a saint. The idea to hurt her did cross my mind… like the morning you left me… But I could never do it because deep down… I guess it doesn’t matter at this point now…
“Harry, I blame myself for everything that has happened. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Ginny, or anyone…
“I know you lost the will to live while you were unconscious. Dumbledore was right. Ginny is the key to inspire you to recover. I devised a plan to help you…
“But Hermione Granger was about to stop me. So I brought her here to buy me some time…
“I activated the cursed object and rendered Ginny unconscious…”
Aria stared at Hermione, “You may once again call my methods stupid… or dramatic… but as I can see… my tactics have worked again…”
She turned to Harry again, “I know you very well because you are so similar to me. You’ll never let her go… you’ll always be there for her, to save her…
“Just like I will if you are in danger…
“And once again, you don’t disappoint. You have come to save her.”
Aria slowly poured herself another glass of beer and drank it in one gulp again. She brushed her hair off her face from the swirling winds that were getting stronger.
“I ask myself everyday, why we have to cross paths at the Leaky Cauldron? That night I wanted to waste away… drown myself… with all the beer in the world…
“I thought I should be used to feeling lonely… but then…
“I heard laughter… and giggles… from your table… The four of you… two couples… having so much fun…
“Your laughter… the sounds somehow made me smile… and cry…
“I quickly salvaged myself and left the bar before I lost control of my tears…
“I was crying when you bumped into me at the entrance. You couldn’t see behind your water-stained glasses…
“We talked… and you were so caring towards me… genuinely worried about me and my safety… wanted to give me an umbrella and walk me home. I never had anyone care about me like that…
“I had to run… my tears were losing control… because I could hear your heartbeat warming up to me… I was so moved by your genuine kindness…
“At the feast, I paid all my attention to you because you were the only kind face that didn’t judge me. I scanned the entire hall but you were the only face with no prejudice, no discrimination… you like me for who I am…
“Harry, I remember that night at the feast… all you thought about was Ginny and worrying about what to give her to impress her. I was very impressed by you… a boy so young… yet possessed so much heart and maturity… so much love and loyalty towards his girl that is unmatched even by people ten times older...
“I became fond of you… I wished I was Ginny…
“You agreed to be friends with me. As a friend, I decided to help you with Ginny.
“I went inside your mind that night, to make sure you said all the right things, the sweet things a girl would want to hear when you gave her that pin… so you won’t botch things up with her.
“But during the process, I lost myself in you. I lost control of my telepathic powers and they intertwined with my emotions… I lost my sense of self…
“I suddenly found myself longing for those very words that were coming out of your lips. I found myself wishing you were saying those things to me… That your eyes will only see me… That nothing I do is going to drive you away…
“When I was inside you, seeing you and Ginny so happy in love together, that was the first time I tasted what pure love truly is. It is indeed the most beautiful experience in the world, to love and be loved by someone…
“I never experienced anything like it before…
“I found myself wanting more…
“I guided you to kiss her forehead instead of her lips that night because I became jealous of her. But when she turned back and kissed your lips, I couldn’t handle it. I was so jealous I had to get out…
“I was so attracted to your kindness and love, but going near it became very painful… because your love was meant for someone else…
“So I told myself I will never go inside your mind again… I didn’t want to lose control of my telepathic powers again and risk hurting you…
“That’s why the next day I had to say it. I had to hear myself tell you that I will never invade your mind, because I had to stop myself from falling for you, because it’s wrong and I knew it, but…
“But when I saw you wandering in the halls, I found myself longing to touch your love… to feel your kindness again… I couldn’t control myself from wanting to be with you…
“I unknowingly fell in love with you that night at the feast. And I wanted you to love me the way you love Ginny. In the process, I broke all the rules in the book to pursue the only thing that I wanted…
“Harry, I am truly very sorry,” Aria buried her face with her hands.
Harry was as confused as ever. He felt sorry for Aria but at the same time he was also very angry.
He slowly walked closer to her and pleaded shakily, “Aria, of all people, I am the expert of lonely feelings but… Ginny and Hermione are not to blame. They shouldn’t be hurt because…”
Aria got up wearily and extended her hand to him, “I promise you. Hermione and Ginny are safe. I will never hurt them because I love you too much. I know what these girls mean to you.
“All I want is… to dance with you… one last time.”
Harry stared at her apprehensively because he was still wary of her intentions. He turned to look at Hermione, who continued to shake her head, her eyes filled with tears but they were blazing with rage. Then he gazed at the unconscious Ginny, holding her as tight as he could, wanting to protect her as if she was fine porcelain. His eyes began to water when he noticed a droplet of tear sparkling across Ginny’s cheek.
Aria limped closer to him and gazed deeply into his downcast green eyes. She placed her hand tenderly on Ginny’s shoulder. Harry could now notice her feet were bleeding profusely and one of her cheeks was bruised.
“Tomorrow I’ll be out of your lives… I promise you… by dawn, Ginny will wake up, and I’ll be out of your lives forever,” she whimpered tearfully.
“Dance with me. Please… Spare me one final beautiful and endearing memory of us… for me to cherish, for me to hold on to…”