Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Aria Potter smiled excitedly as she collected her baggage from the baggage claim area eager to meet Stefan and Damon. Although she wasn't very sure if Damon was in Mystic falls. It has been nearly four years since she has met them directly, making do with video calls. She missed them a lot and was ready to surprise them and was also eager to explore Mystic falls and its surroundings. Although Stefan and Damon spoke a few times about the place and beautiful landscapes nearby she never really got the chance to visit the place. They preferred to raise her in England where they have comparatively less enemies compared to America, where they had tried and successfully pissed off most of the vampiric and witch community and had deemed America unfit for her traveling until she can protect herself against their enemies. Now she is Twenty four years old and considered Woman who lived and conqueror of the dark lord and whatever other titles the Daily Prophet had bestowed upon her she is quiet sure she is more than ready to face whatever the American supernatural community is ready to throw at her and just for precaution she armed herself to teeth with stakes and venomous dagger though they were concealed from muggle detectors.
She spent the next 30 minutes clearing the customs and filing the proper forms she procured from her account manager Ragnor who has kindly made her traveling arrangements. After the tedious process she finally got to meet the Gringotts representative holding a name card with the name card "Aria Salvatore" just to make sure a random witch or wizard doesn't recognize her name.
"Good morning ma'am. I am Langdon. I am the representative from Gringotts sent by Ragnor. I hope you had a pleasant flight ma'am."
Aria smiled at him and nodded her head.
"Here are your car keys ma'am and your new car is parked in the parking lot and other documents Ragnor asked me to give you and wanted me to inform you that most of the manor has been fully furnished except for your personal belongings. If you require anything else during your stay I am to procure it for you and if you require anything else please contact me," said Ragnor handing her a bag with the documents and giving his business card looking eager to do whatever she wished for.
Aria smiled and thanked him and promised to contact him if there is any need.
Just as she slid into her driver's seat she got a group video call from her two best friends. She smiled at her phone and accepted the call.
"Did you reach safely? Are you out of that death machine yet?" Ron asked, looking worriedly for her safety.
Aria nodded her head.
"Ron we literally flew on a dragon and you are worried about her safety in a perfectly controlled aeroplane?" Hermione exclaimed, not understanding Ron's thought process.
"I am just concerned about my best friend's life, can't a bloke be worried when their best friend is traveling alone with hundreds of people in a flying death machine controlled by muggles. I can trust a dragon to not fall off to the ground and kill us. What if the passengers become too heavy or if that driver bloke fell asleep and crashed that thingy?" Ron exclaimed, trying to justify his worries.
"That's not how it works Ron..." Hermione was about to explain the mechanics of a flight and thought better of it and looked towards Aria and asked, "How is America and when will you reach Mystic Falls?"
"Warm and sunny. I'll probably be there in maybe three hours." Aria replied.
"Lucky, do you know how weird it is in Australia? Even after living here for five years I can't get over how it is spring now instead of Autumn," said Hermione while she understood the geography and climate of Australia perfectly well, experiencing it is a very different thing than just reading about it.
"Are your parents still not talking?" Aria asked, still feeling guilty with the fact that she is the reason why Hermione had to obliviate her parents and send them to Australia during the war.
While Hermione was able to find them in Australia and able to restore the memories they were very angry with their daughter for experimenting on them they couldn’t forgive their daughter who made them lose all their memories of her and complained about how distant she had become to them since she had become a witch. While her parents were ok with her being a witch they didn't like how she spent less and less time with them and the memory wiping broke the camel's back. As an apology Hermione spent the last five years in Australia studying in Medical school trying to appease her dentist parents while also doing an apprenticeship secretly under a magical healer saying that what her parents don't know can't hurt them and how she can’t completely give up on her magical heritage.
"I am sure they will get over their anger soon and don't make that guilty face. I would have still obliviated them even if I wasn't your best friend. I am sure the death eaters would have had a field day torturing my parents for having a muggleborn child. I don't regret my actions so stop still feeling guilty about it,"Hermione reprimanded her best friend.
Aria gave a small smile.
To change the topic Ron said, "I don't know what you are complaining about. Do you know how hot it is in Egypt? If it continues like this, my face will match my hair soon." as he pointed towards his face which was indeed tanned.
Many were surprised when Ron became a curse breaker after his brief stint as an Auror and was currently on his way to become a senior curse breaker.
"How's your search going?" Hermione asked, looking hopeful that Ron's team of curse breakers were able to find anything new for their research.
"Not good, we didn't find anything new," said Ron looking dejected.
"You know that you don't have to do all that for me right?" Aria asked.
"Of course we have to," exclaimed Ron. "You are my best friend, you did a lot for us, it's the least we can do."
Hermione also nodded her head. Aria, not in the mood to go through the same discussion again and again, said, "Anyway I have to start driving. I'll talk to you later after I reach Mystic Falls." After their goodbyes she disconnected the call and concentrated on driving.
By the time she reached Mystic falls she was hungry and not wanting to spend the rest of the day trying to find kitchen utensils to make food she stopped by the local diner "Mystic Grills".
Meanwhile in Mystic Grills:
Elena, Caroline and Bonnie were interrogating Stefan when Aria entered the grill.
Caroline was annoyed that just as usual all the boys even Stefan was attracted to Elena when she tried so hard to impress all the good looking boys she thought it was unfair that everyone is attracted to Elena even if she isn't trying hard to impress them as distracted by her thoughts she turned towards the entrance of the grill and saw the prettiest woman in a cute dress enter the grill.
"Wow she is pretty, " Caroline blurted out loud which caused others to turn towards the entrance.
"Aria?" Stefan spoke looking confused wondering why he is seeing his favorite person in mystic Falls when she is supposed to be in France.
Aria turned her head towards their direction when she heard her name and grinned brightly when she saw Stefan and went towards him and hugged him tightly.
"Surprise! Missed me?" Aria asked.
"Lots, aren't you supposed to be in France?" asked Stefan curiously.
"Well I did complete my medical school and thought of doing my residency here in the US since you guys are staying here." Aria said looking excited and saw the three girls looking in their direction.
Aria nudged Stefan and pointed in the girls’ direction.
"Oh right, this is my cousin Aria. She actually was studying in Paris so I was surprised to see her. Aria, these are my new classmates Elena, Caroline and Bonnie." Stefan introduced them to each other.
Aria looked excited at the prospect of playing the role of Stefan's "older cousin" when Stefan technically raised her and was more than hundred years older than her.
After a brief talk with the girls she spent the rest of the evening talking to Caroline about fashion and even promised to go shopping with her.
Aria liked Caroline and her personality. She reminded her a lot of Gabrielle Delacour, cute, bubbly and excitable with whom she spent the last four years while she was studying in medical college. Aria would have liked to stay in London but after the war it was hard for her to find relative peace in England without getting mobbed by the wizarding population so she had opted to staying in France after traveling for a while. She stayed for sometime at the Delacour manor before she along with Gabrielle opted to live together in an apartment. Spending time with the quarter veela involved lots of shopping trips and doing other girly stuff she never got the chance to do while at Hogwarts, due to the war and she had loved spending time with Gabrielle when she wasn't busy with med school and taking care of Teddy with the help of Draco, Andromeda and Narcissa. It was there where she learnt how true the statement ‘it takes a village to raise a kid’ is especially when the kid is a cute shape shifting ball of energy. She loved spending time with her little wolf but he got the marauder genes and his own special brand of mischief and the reconciled Black sisters were unwilling to let her become a full time caretaker for Teddy and wanted her to enjoy her life and chase her passion. So she went to Medical school in Paris while being the fun aunt/mother figure to Teddy. The last five years of her life had been blissfully calm but she missed Damon and Stefan and when she heard from Stefan that he is planning to stay in Mystic falls for sometime she chose to spend some time with them knowing that Teddy is safe with Draco, Narcissa and Andromeda.
She hoped to have a similar relationship with Caroline seeing that the other two girls don't seem to be that much interested in doing the activities the blonde seemed to enjoy.
After some time Stefan and Aria left the grill together.
Aria turned towards Stefan's direction and looked at him pointedly.
Stefan looked a tad bit defensive. "She is not Katherine."
Aria snorted at that statement, "that I realized."
"She isn't like Katherine, " Stefan continued.
"I could see that. From what I heard from you guys Katherine sounded vastly different," said Aria opening her car door.
"Then what's the problem?" Stefan asked.
"There is no problem Stef. I know you are trying to not project your feelings for Katherine on Elena."
"I don't have feelings for Katherine," Stefan interrupted.
Aria scoffed at that, "you might say that all your feelings for her were because of compulsions. You can't deny that you must have been very fond of Katherine when she entered your lives and now there is Elena who looks exactly like Katherine while also not behaving like Katherine. So you are hoping that she wouldn't break your heart like Katherine did since Elena has this shy, girl next door thing going on and you want to get your happy ending with her. Someone who could give you the best of both worlds Katherine's looks without her personality. Don't you think those are some heavy expectations to be laid on someone you recently met?" Aria asked.
"I am not in love with Elena. I am just curious about her and why she looks like Katherine," Stefan denied.
Aria rolled her eyes and ended the conversation saying, "I hope Elena makes you happy Stef, you deserve happiness, anyway where are you staying?"
Stefan smiled at her glad that at least she understood some of his feelings.
"Salvatore boarding house. I am staying with Uncle Zach. "
Aria laughed at that. "Uncle Zach ha! When does it not get weird calling someone younger than you Uncle? How come I never met or heard about him?" Aria asked.
"It's never going to stop being weird. You never heard about him because he is a bit of a tosspot who thinks he is better than us because he is human and is not big on vampires. Damon and I like to come here occasionally to remind him about our existence and how we technically own everything. It is very fun. "
Aria laughed as she drived.
"Where are you staying anyway? Do you want to stay with me?" Stefan asked hopeful that she would stay with them knowing how annoying and boring it could get with only Zach for company.
"No way I am staying with a random guy I never met. I am going to stay at one of my other properties. The goblins helped in getting it renovated. You could stay with me if it gets tedious at the boarding house." Aria replied.
Stefan smiled and nodded his head.
"Does this Zach know that I am a witch?"
"No, we never told anyone about it. It's your secret not ours to share."
"Do you think he would like me?" Aria asked curious as she didn't have a good familial relationship with anyone that wasn't Damon and Stefan.
"I am sure he is jumping at the chance to meet a Salvatore who isn't a vampire. Even if he doesn't like you it's not going to be the end of the world. We love you."
"Anyway, where is Damon?" Aria asked.
"I donno, he never informed me where he is."
Aria stopped the car in front of the boarding house and looked at it from the window and had to admit that it is a very beautiful place with all the trees and vines surrounding it.
"Come on cupcake, let me introduce you to Zach who technically is your uncle," Said Stefan as he grabbed her hand and led her into the boarding house.
The inside of the boarding house was richly decorated with antique items from various decades.
They met Zach in the parlor.
"Uncle Zach, remember your uncle Joseph? This is Aria, his granddaughter. She was raised in England where I met her recently and I thought you would like to meet her," said Stefan, introducing her to Zach.
After a few moments of painfully awkward talk Zach must have realised that she is in fact very human as she was pursuing a medical career and lightened up a bit and even invited to stay with them which she had politely declined and after saying her goodbye left the boarding house.
Just as Aria left the boarding house Zach shoved a newspaper in front of Stefan showing the death of two locals. After a brief argument with Zach which involved Zach saying how him coming back to Mystic Falls is dangerous and how he is endangering their lives and also Aria's lives presuming that she was unaware of his other identity.
Stefan wanted to roll his eyes knowing that he and Damon would likely stake themselves than endanger Aria who was the only good thing left in their life and family.
Stefan went to sleep wondering if Damon was nearby and whether he knew about Aria's arrival to Mystic Falls.
Night of the party:
"Come on Aria, please join me at the party. It would be fun," said Stefan on the phone with Aria.
"No way, I have no interest in spending time in a party full of horny drunk teenagers with cheap alcohol where I would be the only adult regretting all my life decisions while you make moon eyes at Elena and break the hearts of other girls at the party. I plan to spend my night taking a long bubble bath with champagne and movies and popcorn," said Aria as she prepared all her documents required for her interview at Whitmore college and her future residency at Mystic Falls hospital.
Stefan sighed, "Fine, maybe I will join you for movie night later,"
Aria grinned happily that Stefan will be joining her later. "Disney night?"
"Disney night." Stefan agreed.
As Stefan expected, nothing goes right when you party in small towns like Mystic Falls a town he is very sure is cursed and some girl called Donovan got mauled which he would bet 10 dollars was Damon's doing otherwise he would be having a lot of problems like hunting a stray vampire before he hurts Aria.
Stefan went back to the boarding house with the hope that Damon might make an entrance. He just wants Damon to stop all those attacks so the three of them can have their usual movie nights like the ones they used to have when their cupcake was young. He just wants a peaceful night. Is it too much to ask and maybe spend some time with Elena.
As expected Damon made his big entrance. Stefan thought the crow thing was a bit much.
After their usual greeting which usually involved fighting with each other and Damon goading him to drink human blood Stefan finally asked, "So you want me around Aria when I am on human blood? "
Damon looked confused, "why the hell would I want you around munchkin while you are on human blood, that's the last thing I want. It's not like Aria is here. I want you to try to drink human blood so you could learn to control it so you would be more useful in the fight so we could protect her better if the need arises in the future."
"Well, she is here now in mystic falls," Stefan informed.
Damon looked shocked and excited.
"Munchkin is here? Why is she here? Isn't she supposed to be in Paris? Where is she now?" Damon bombarded Stefan with all his questions.
"Yeah she is. She came yesterday. Apparently she completed her medical school and wanted to do her residency here so she can be closer to us."
"That's not fair. I never got to go to munchkin's graduation ceremony. We were unable to go to her witchy school's graduation too," Damon pouted.
"To be fair I don't think she ever completed her magical studies." Stefan pointed out. "She wanted to surprise us and also invited me for movie night. I am sure she wouldn't mind you crashing it," said Stefan as he wore his jacket.
Damon and Stefan vamp sped towards Aria's place which was a manor which from what he remembered was a gift to Dorea Potter nee Black from her husband. He remembered meeting them when they were just young and married travelling around the world and found Mystic Falls enchanting enough to buy a property and was glad he wasn’t in one of his ripper binges he would have killed them in a fit of jealousy or maybe not since he wasn’t aware of their magical heritage and Charlus according to Aria used to be head of Aurors.
They arrived there in less than a minute and knocked on her door.
Damon frowned at the property and asked,"Why am I not feeling any of those witchy wards that munchkin always uses?"
Now that he thought about it Stefan observed his surroundings properly trying to find the static energy feel he always used to get whenever he visited a magical place where even the air feels different and more potent than the magic of those wiccan nature witches.
Before he could say anything Aria opened the door wearing her pajamas and lunged at Damon to give him one of her signature bear hugs she gives whenever she misses them alot.
Damon as usual lifted her up and rotated her up in circles while she laughed.
"I missed you guys so much," said Aria.
"We know who wouldn't miss me and my charms. I am sad you have to go without the bunny muncher in a few years though. I might have read somewhere that the bunny population is dwindling. Keep it up brother and there would be no rabbits left for you to feed. I don't know how Stefan is going to survive in the future if his favorite food is extinct. "
Stefan rolled his eyes and replied, " I am surprised brother that you could even read."
Aria laughed at that, remembering Draco Malfoy saying the same thing to her while she was Goyle.
Before Damon could retort Stefan asked "anyway why aren't there any wards around this property. "
Aria stumbled at that question and replied, "I forgot to set them up. "
Stefan and Damon knew instantly that she was lying but left the topic alone confident that she will tell them whenever she is ready and knew that she is just as stubborn as her mother and none could force her to reveal information she isn’t willing to give.
Stefan and Damon looked around the manor while it was fully furnished there were still many cardboard boxes lying around waiting to be opened which they also found very strange knowing that Aria preferred everything tidy and in their proper place one of the unfortunate side effect of her spending around four years in Petunia Dursley's care and being made to act as their maid from the moment she could stand and hold stuff properly. They chalked it off to her just arriving yesterday.
Aria grabbed their hands and dragged them towards the basement which got modified into a home theater so that they could have movie nights.
They spent the rest of the night watching Disney movies and Damon cracking jokes during bambi movie asking Stefan questions like whether he preferred bambi's blood or thumper's blood and making some other stupid jokes to make sure that Aria doesn't end up crying during the emotional scenes which she did end up crying remembering that her father's animagus is also a deer. The three fell asleep on the couch as Brave movie played in the background cuddling each other.
Their peaceful sleep was interrupted by Stefan's stupid alarm going at 6 in the morning.
Aria pushed Stefan out of the couch when his stupid phone doesn't stop ringing and tried to go back to sleep which as anyone who tried to go back to sleep can attest to is a very difficult thing to do.
"Dames on a scale of 1 to 10 how masochistic do you think Stefan is?"
"9 3/4" Damon immediately replied.
Aria chuckled at that.
"I am not masochistic" mumbled a sleepy Stefan.
"You must be one though, why else would a 150 something old guy want to willingly go to high school full of hormonal teenagers and also who in their right mind would want to wake up at 6 in the morning other than you?" Aria asked.
"Styling his hero hair itself will take him at least an hour and you know how he gets now that he is trying to impress Elena Gilbert he is going to spend the whole morning in front of the mirror. "
"Why are you both ganging up on me this morning?" Stefan complained.
"You are the reason we are awake at this God awful time so you get to suffer and wake me again I'll add pink dye into your shampoo. By the way, do you want me to pack you lunch?" Aria asked jokingly.
"I wouldn't mind picking you up from school, little brother," Damon added.
Stefan huffed and got up to get ready and find some spare clothes.
Damon turned towards Aria.
"What are you going to do today, munchkin?"
"Go to Whitmore college first then meet the director of Mystic Falls hospital. I already talked to him on the phone. I'll officially begin my residency today."
"Busy day it is then. What am I supposed to do? I'll be bored without you but be careful at the college it might be full of sketchy people," Damon cautioned not wanting Aria anywhere near the Whitmore family members even though Augustine society no longer exists.
"I'm sure you'll find something to entertain yourself just like you did for the last hundred and some years."
Damon stared at Aria. "You do know that I have spent most of my vampire life emotionless trying to hurt Stefan right. Frankly the most time I have spent with my emotions is the last twenty five or so years even Stefan didn't go on any of his rípper phase that is mostly because of you. You were also the reason why I tried to switch off my emotions when you stupidly went and sacrificed your life and all you did was leave me a voice message that you are planning on dying? "
Aria flinched at that and buried her face "I am sorry. you didn't lift the phone and I took the coward's way out."
"The world should be grateful that by the time I heard your voice message you were already alive and did call me back. Do you know how worried we were?"
Aria looked sad feeling sorry that her actions caused them hurt but she didn't know what else to do at first she thought of not informing them about her dying but she realised that they didn't deserve that. They raised her, took her in when they didn't have to and protected her and loved her. So she called them before entering the forbidden forest luckily for her due to time difference and various other factors Damon and Stefan didn't lift the phone so she left a voice message to them that said about how she was an accidental horcrux and how she had to die to defeat Voldemort. At that time she thought of drinking the vampire blood Damon always insisted she always carry with her just so they don't have to live alone again always fighting and trying to hurt each other. In the end she decided against it not knowing how effective it would be against killing a horcrux since she wouldn't technically die. The first thing she did after winning the war was call Damon who was having a one nightstand and didn't see that his phone is dead and luckily hadn't heard his voicemail and was just happy to learn that their stupid war was over unfortunately for her Stefan who only went for one of his animal blood hunting did listen to it and nearly turned off his emotions and only her phone call had saved him from becoming the ripper of Monterey again. She had to spend an entire week trying to assure them she isn't planning on dying again and only after making her promise that she would at least talk to them every few hours did they allow her to go back to the wizarding world so that she could go to all the funerals and trials. She, Ron, Hermione helped in the reconstruction of Hogwarts and catching the few death eaters who escaped and making sure that the trials were conducted properly unlike the farce of trials that happened after the first war and ensured that Snape, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy were pardoned.
Hermione eventually went to Australia to find her parents and Ron did a brief stint as an Auror and hated the bureaucracy and ultimately decided curse breaking is way more interesting. 11 year old Ron would never have wanted to walk in his brothers’ footsteps but 18 year old Ron didn't give a damn. He did things his brothers couldn't dream of and is a war hero and wanted to be away from England for a while. Bill and Charlie invited him to come with them to Egypt and Romania respectively. Ron saying that watching the birth of a dragon and riding one was enough for this lifetime and opted to go with Bill saying that he did have a great time during their vacation to Egypt. Alone without her best friends for the first time and without any particular idea of what to do next she traveled the world for a while Stefan and Damon occasionally joining her, Draco, and the Black sisters as they raised Teddy making him one of the kids who travelled around the world while still in diapers. During her travels she had met an older couple who worked for Doctors without Borders and she had liked the idea of helping those in need and healing them, saving their lives. Didn't Hermione always say that she had a saving people thing? So she joined medical school glad that Stefan forced her to still write her A levels and choose to go to a muggle medical school after learning that magical healing only focuses on the spells and potions.
As Aria was in her mind thinking and feeling guilty Stefan came back to the room with a cup of coffee for her.
Damon tried to grab the cup so Stefan kicked him in the shin "go get your own coffee this is for cupcake."
Aria smiled and took her cup of coffee without making eye contact.
Stefan sighed and took his seat beside her and gave her a side arm hug.
"Cupcake we are not bringing up all those memories up again and again not to guilt you or hurt you. We just don't want you to hurt. Promise us you are not going to get in trouble and that you are not going to get hurt trying to help someone while you risk your life for them. If you do that I am sure Damon will definitely kill the guy you helped and I will help him hide the body. Mystic Falls may look charming but there is always something happening. We want you to be cautious."
"I can hide my own bodies. I appreciate the thought though," Damon chimed in while nodding his head for the statement about Mystic Falls.
"I don't always go looking for trouble. Trouble always finds me. Fine I will try not to get needlessly hurt but what if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Aria asked, feeling bad for not telling them the whole truth about the reason for doing her residency in America.
Damon and Stefan gave her that look.
"Fine, I'll try." Aria mumbled.
"That's all we ask for," Stefan said, kissing her forehead.
Aria eventually got up wanting to make breakfast for Stefan. Damon also got up grumbling under his breath as he started making his signature pancakes. He even added a witch hat for her pancakes using chocolate ganache and made teeny tiny pancakes resembling a cauldron and broomstick for her while she made toast, waffles and omelette.
Stefan came back to the kitchen ready for school in his usual dark clothes and leather jacket.
"Would you look at that Dames, someone is trying hard to impress Elena being all dark, broody and mysterious," Aria joked trying to ruffle Stefan's hair while he pushed her hands away from his hair.
"I am sure teenagers dig it."
"Oh Elena definitely digs it. Stefan playing the knight in shining armor defending her honor."
Damon looked confused not understanding what Aria was referring to.
"How do you know that?" Stefan asked.
"I have my ways." Aria said, trying to look mysterious but failing.
"What are you talking about?" Damon asked.
"Yesterday during their history class their teacher Tanner or something was badmouthing Elena for not getting over her parents death yet and using it as an excuse to not study so Stefan defended her and managed to one up their teacher. Elena was very impressed it seems." Aria explained.
Damon looked a bit impressed while Stefan continued to pester her about how she knew it to which Aria finally gave up and confessed that she talked to Caroline who filled her with all the juicy details.
"By the way Stefan you should have been a bit more gentle when you were letting her down. She is just a teenager," Aria chided, feeling sad for the blonde she thought Caroline and Stefan would be cute together. Caroline with her bubbly personality evening out Stefan's broodiness.
"Caroline? I think I heard the name somewhere," Damon tried remembering where he heard the name.
"She is a blonde classmate of Stefan's, a friend of Elena's."
"Ohh! That blonde bombshell. I definitely saw her at the grill and she looked tasty." Damon grinned.
Aria kicked Damon in the shin hard.
"Absolutely not! You are not hurting her or going to use her in whatever plans you have. I consider her my friend. I don't want her or any teenagers to get hurt because of you guys,” said Aria, making it clear to them that Caroline Forbes is off limits.
"Fine fine munchkin spoil all my plans, wouldn't you. I thought of using her to get close to Sheriff Forbes and get some intel on the council and an in with Elena. I don't know why you like her anyway, she looked like an airhead to me."
"First of all, Caroline is great. I don't think sheriff Forbes would be impressed with you if you are trying to get into her underage daughter's pants and I don't think Caroline knows about the shadiness of the council and mainly Caroline is just a normal small town teenager there is nothing wrong with her if all she thinks about is having a good looking boyfriend. spoiler alert that's how most of the teenagers behave," said Aria defending Caroline.
Damon looked confused. "You never behaved like that."
"Apparently having a dark Lord trying to kill you doesn't give you much room for boyfriends. I spent most of it training with you guys. I did date Cedric in my fourth year and I liked showing it in all other girls' faces that he is off the market and I did have fun watching them get jealous. It weirdly makes you feel powerful and after his death I never felt the need to start another relationship. And it's not like all Caroline thinks about is boys. Caroline has goals and plans for life and is doing her best to achieve them. How many teenagers would be that dedicated? Do you know how many clubs she runs and how hard she works? Maybe her goals might seem shallow to some. They are perfectly normal things to want if you are a perfectly normal happy teenager. "
Damon and Stefan looked contemplative for a while. They never thought much about Caroline's personality other than finding her a bit annoying and shallow.
"There is more to Caroline, you just need to know her better. I find her interesting in a way she is similar to you Damon."
"How? "
"For example, if you are in a room full of vampires don't you want to establish yourself as the dominant one, the most powerful one? "
Damon nodded his head while Stefan was indecisive. Stefan preferred being left to his own devices and trying to get his bloodlust under control. Power grabbing and establishing himself is Damon's thing. As Aria would say very Gryffindor of him acting without thinking about the consequences while he thought he thought he belonged to Slytherin those who didn't know that he was "THE RIPPER OF MONTEREY" always thought he was the good brother , unassuming and weak only few knew his capabilities taking his personal choices as him being weakling. Stefan didn't mind it much knowing that them underestimating him meant more power to him. He just preferred peaceful and unassuming life.
"Caroline is similar to you. She is trying to establish herself as the leader working on all those clubs proving that she is better than others and she has all the information you would need to know. She is also on the top of the imaginary pecking order high schoolers usually have and also many still underestimate her, thinking her as just an airhead letting their guard down around her. " explained Aria.
Damon and Stefan were shocked while Aria went to get ready for her day.
Author's note: Question to all the seasoned authors out there: how do you write stories without making them disjointed from what I have observed I have this terrible habit of explaining the background context as part of the character thinking and remembering the moment by the time I complete the memory thing I feel like it has been a long time and I am sure that people have already forgotten the conversation and I think had to go back to remember the conversation which I don't think is a very pleasant reading experience. What to do I really don't want to write flashbacks unless they are absolutely necessary I feel like my story is already large without the flashbacks already. What should I do? Advice is appreciated 😊.
Also, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I did have fun writing it and I'll try posting continuously.
As you might guessed by now the story is going to be slow paced as it's going to be a while since the originals arrive. I wanted to establish her character better and I am not going to mention all the incidents that happen in the series since Aria is older than others and has a career that doesn't involve her spending 24/7 with a bunch of teenagers.
Please comment if you like the story. I would love to read your comments.
btw I am surprised with myself that I have written such a longass chapter with 6k words in a day. I just want to know do you guys prefer longass chapters or short chapters?
Love ❤
Arianna.