A Very Black Night
Halloween night, 1993.
But Black forcing them all to sleep the night out of their dormitories wasn't all that bad. The students of the school wandering the cleared grounds of the Great Hall excitedly were taking it rather well, conversing in hushed voices and giggling nervously on occasion. Professor McGonagall stood rigidly at the front of the Hall, speaking rapidly to Dumbledore, who was nodding very seriously. Professor Snape skulked at the other end with a scowl painted on his face, and was occasionally barking at students who laughed about the situation. But again, the situation wasn't all that terrible.
"Asteria?" questioned a slightly squeaky voice from behind her. The girl turned curiously, grimacing as she almost tripped over a purple sleeping bag, and saw with genuine pleasure that Wayne Forester from Gryffindor was standing there, looking strained. "You've heard about Black, haven't you?"
"Well…" Asteria gestured dramatically around the Great Hall, amused by his form of conversation starter. "I think he's someone we're hiding from in here, see…"
Wayne raised an eyebrow, looking disgruntled. "Well," he said huffily. "I just wanted to say that I think it's scary how much he wants Harry. We should have made some extra protections for him, shouldn't we?" He seemed exceedingly nervous.
Asteria looked around her, and caught a glimpse of Potter speaking with a mixture of fear and anger to his two friends. "I don't think so," she said dismissively, flicking her gaze around once more towards Dumbledore, where he was lecturing the Head Boy and Girl. "Professor Dumbledore knows what he's doing, doesn't he?"
"But the dementors didn't stop Black!" Wayne pointed out.
"It was the Ministry's idea, actually," Asteria informed him, remembering the Headmaster's speech on the first day. "I'm just surprised he wasn't stopped by all those old protection spells around the school." She looked past Wayne once more and saw to her delight, Emma Reed, Chandler Hughes, and two other Ravenclaws hurrying towards them.
"Hello," beamed Emma, looking out of breath. "We're spending the night here, did you just hear his talk? Yeah…" She nodded sagaciously and suddenly turned to Asteria. "Oh, and is Malfoy really hurt that bad? He looked pretty injured to me just back there."
"Ah…" Asteria could vaguely see Malfoy on the other side of the Hall, propped up mournfully against the wall and surrounded by a gaggle of first and second-years. She wanted to tell Emma that he was most likely exaggerating his most likely nonexistent injury, but then again, that wouldn't be a very wise move if she wanted to emerge alive from the Slytherin common room again. So she settled for a rather lame, "He looks pretty injured to everyone."
"Hm." Chandler now furrowed his brow. "I think I heard a few Gryffindors saying that he faked it just to get Professor Hagrid in trouble." He turned hopefully to Wayne for confirmation.
"I heard Brown and Patil saying that he insulted Buckbeak –that's the hippogriff's name- after Hagrid told them all not to, and that Harry didn't act rude, and he even got to ride one!" boasted Wayne proudly at having gathered information.
"Potter?" Asteria asked coolly, folding her arms. If it was against Potter and Malfoy, she would side with her House. "And if Potter wants Professor Hagrid to keep his job, shouldn't he be doing more efficient things than whisper around how much better he is than other students?"
Emma began to look anxious. "It doesn't really matter," she said hurriedly, cutting in. "He'll get better and everyone can just be happy."
"Asteria!" Daphne pushed through the throngs of annoyed Hufflepuffs, trying to catch her breath without panting unbecomingly; the Greengrass sisters had a thing for appearing smooth and calm at all times. "Come on! Weasley says we all need to get a sleeping bag. You can stay with us over there." She reached her sister and jerked her head towards the same place where Malfoy was now examining one of Dumbledore's newly conjured purple sleeping bags.
"Weasley?"
"Head Boy," said Daphne abruptly, glancing at Emma, Chandler, and Wayne, who were trying to look uninterested in her sudden arrival. For a moment Asteria suspected that Daphne would loftily turn her chin up at them for being in other Houses, but to her great relief, her sister only nodded kindly towards them. "Reed, Hughes, and Forester, am I correct?" she asked, running her eyes over them.
They nodded warily, and Chandler blurted out, "Yeah."
Daphne smiled charmingly, and extended her hand towards each of them sweepingly. "Wonderful," she practically purred. "I've heard Asteria talk about you a lot; she thinks highly of you." She gave Chandler, especially, a look that suggested she might think highly of him as well.
Asteria could feel her sister radiating all her Daphne-charm and tried to keep a serene face at her friends' expressions. She had only spoken of them once, the evening of the boat ride at dinnertime. It was apparent that she didn't think much of her acquaintances from other Houses, but she wouldn't have dreamed that her sister would have cared to remember their names. But of course, she somehow had. And Asteria was pretty certain that Daphne enjoyed having first-year boys starry-eyed over her. Her amusement with the whole spectacle did not stop there.
"I'm Asteria's older sister," she said apologetically, as if this was all her fault. "I just thought that she'd be more comfortable over by my friends and I…you wouldn't like to join us over there, would you?" She added courteously.
Chandler gazed almost longingly towards the unofficial Slytherin section of the sleeping bag-spread Great Hall, looking a little cowed by the huge Montague-like older boys all the same. "Er, I-I said I'd stay with the people from my year over by the –the Ravenclaws," he stuttered. Next to him, Wayne was nodding nonstop, also looking a little disappointed. Emma seemed wistful as well, regarding Daphne with admiration.
"Pity," said Daphne swiftly, as if she had not expected the negative answer and then entwining her fingers around her sister's. "I'll just wish you a peaceful night's sleep then. Asteria? Come on; let's go find Pansy and Lil and everyone…"
Asteria's shoulders fell in annoyance at the mention of the pug-faced girl (she had never quite forgiven Pansy Parkinson for screeching in everybody's ear for the entire week of Malfoy's confinement in the hospital wing), but kept a neutral expression as she was led by her sister to the third-year Slytherin gathering. By this time, pretty much everyone had already snuggled into a warm, fluffy sleeping bag, and Asteria and Daphne were basically the only ones left stalking around the Great Hall besides the teachers and Head Boy and Girl.
It was rather unnerving for Asteria, but Daphne seemed to revel in the attention. She looked almost sorry by the time they reached the two empty spots between several Slytherin second-years and, Asteria was grateful to see, Cora White from her year.
"Get into your sleeping bags and sleep now!" Percy Weasley was shouting, striding importantly between rows of flinching students several yards away from them. A little while away, the Head Girl was looking less pompous and more nervous.
Asteria had already tucked herself into her sleeping bag by this time, and she frowned in annoyance at the Head Boy's bossiness, but closed her eyes nevertheless. It wasn't that she was sleepy, though...she didn't see how anyone could possibly be drowsy in these circumstances. There was this general air of what next? all around her. So much expectancy and so much worries...
But the lights had fluttered out with a poof, and Dumbledore now gathered the Heads of Houses at the front of the Great Hall, discussing something in a low voice with them.
A hush had descended on the wide-eyed students, and the furtive whispering that had still sounded fell to a scant minimum. Everyone had, by this time, either fallen asleep, was in the process of falling asleep, vainly straining to hear the staff's words, or fretting over one thing or another.
Asteria inhaled steadily, and would have sounded like she was having fears about Sirius Black breaking in to anyone around her. But of course, that was not the thought on her mind. For the first time in many days, there was a calm, accepted peacefulness around her as her eyelids grew heavier. It was certainly lucky that she didn't have to drift off with Pansy Parkinson's shrilly voice echoing from the common room…Besides her, Cora turned lightly once and stayed still; everyone else had already started snoring softly.
The girl shifted her head again, taking care that her pale blonde hair did not become tangled on the cold floor... who knew how it would look if she woke up in the morning as a frizzhead, after all. But Asteria only smiled at the mental image, snuggled deeper into the covers, and drifted off blissfully to sleep, unaware of the fears of three Gryffindor students lying awake and cold only a few paces away.
And so the students slept, the teachers searched, and outside, the dementors continued to prowl.
