Astraea held her books close to her chest as she walked to her next class, potions. Of all her knowledge in magic, potions was frankly the least of her concerns. She saw her magic as practical, if it could save her during a fight, she did not need it. Therefore adding to her lack of knowledge in the subject. Nevertheless, she walked down the final steps leading into the dungeons.
Astraea pushed open the door to the classroom, only to find that it was nearly full and that Snape was already at his desk. She walked into the classroom and closed the door, earning a few glances.
"Miss Glass," Snape drawled as he looked up from whatever he was grading, "is there a reason you've shown up to my class late?"
The truth was Astraea hadn't slept the whole night, her nightmares keeping her awake. So she laid in her bed the whole night and left before anyone woke. She even made the intention to skip breakfast, her thoughts taking over her appetite again. But Astraea made sure to keep these details to herself.
"I got lost," Astraea said, her voice dull.
Her words made Snape stop moving his quill as he looked up at her. Some of the students even stopped what they were doing, feeling the tension rising the room.
"Shall I provide you a map? Or will you lose that too?" Snape growled.
Astraea stayed silent to his remark, only looking at him with a bored gaze. Snape frowned and returned to his papers.
"10 points from Slytherin for tardiness. If this is occur again, it will result in detention," Snape grumbled, "get started on the task for the day."
Without a word, Astraea went to an empty station. She placed her books down next to a cauldron and looked upon the chalkboard for instructions. Taking her book from the stack, Astraea leafed through the pages until she found her desired page. Astraea frowned as she read over the specific details. Is this really necessary? She thought.
"Miss Glass," Snape's deep voice cast over the room once again, causing her to look up at him as he stood in front of her desk, "I believe I asked you to get to work on the task."
Astraea held back her glare. Was this fool going to stand here and talk down at her the entirety of class?
"I think the answer is apparent, sir," Astraea said, staring him directly in the eye.
A few students snickered at Astraea's answer. Snape didn't seem very pleased with her answer or the reaction it received, but this didn't bother Astraea any type of way. If this one wanted to make her stay here even more difficult, she'll play his game.
"And yet you sit there, talking back to your professor no less," Snape grumbled as his eyes cast down to Astraea's hands, "your gloves, remove them."
If looks could kill, the potions master wouldn't survive. Astraea could feel the anger swelling in her chest, the dark thoughts bubbling up inside her head. This man was testing her patience, something that could end horribly. Even so, Astraea forced those thoughts away.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Astraea said calmly.
Snape's eyes narrowed, "that wasn't a question, Ms. Glass-"
"I will not remove my gloves professor, so it will be wise not to waste your time on it," Astraea said, her face completely blank.
The room was consumed by a deafening silence. The first sound to re-emerge was the pound of Snape's hands as he slapped them on the desk, leaning over. Astraea didn't cower but instead stared directly in his dark eyes.
"You will remove your gloves unless you would like to spend the rest of the semester in detention," Snape snarled.
Astraea let out a quiet sigh before casting her eyes back down to her gloved hands. She fiddled with her fingers for a second, letting the silence wash over the room. Before she knew it, a defiant smile appeared on her lips as she looked back up at her professor.
"When do I show up?" Astraea said.
The second the class was over, Astraea was out of the door. Her blood boiled at the thought of spending one more second with that repulsive professor. Detention would become a significant inconvenience to her mission which only frustrated her more. With a frown, Astraea turned the corner without looking. She abruptly ran into someone, the force of her strides sending said person's books to the floor
Astraea was left standing, taking a step back to look at the person. Her body immediately went rigid. It was none other than Potter. Astraea chided herself to be calm and let out a breath as he finally looked up at her. Harry looked equally surprised to see her as well.
"I-I, um, sorry," he finally managed to say.
Astraea cast her eyes down and shook her head, "it was my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going."
"It's fine," Harry said and bent down to pick up his books.
Astraea lowered herself down to a crouch, carefully picking up the strewn around papers. Gently gathering them into a small stack, Astraea stood and handed them to the boy. He nodded in thanks and looked at her with his piercing blue eyes.
"Um, I don't think we've met yet, but I'm Harry, Harry Potter," he said as he held a hand out.
I know who you are, everyone does, Astraea thought as she shook his hand.
"Astraea Glass," Astraea said simply, retracting her hand.
Astraea was about to take a step to walk away when Harry spoke up again.
"You're new to Hogwarts aren't you?" He said.
Astraea nodded, "yes."
"What school did you attend before you came to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
Astraea's eyes narrowed as she frowned.
"So many questions…" Astraea said, her voice low.
Harry blinked in shock as he stumbled over his words, "o-oh, sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Potter," Astraea said, turning the boy silent. "For the sake of both us, it would be best if we'd refrain from all the questions."
Harry awkwardly looked at his shoes as Astraea walked around him. She stopped, a frown on her lips.
"Are you coming?" She finally said.
Harry blinked and turned and looked at Astraea's back. Astraea looked over her shoulder.
"Lunch starts in 15 minutes, you wouldn't want to waste more points for your house would you?" Astraea said.
Harry looked at her in shock, a small blush coming upon his cheeks. He nodded and walked up beside Astraea. They both began to walk to the Great Hall, Astraea keeping her eyes in front of her while Harry keep his eyes on the floor. No one spoke a word as they made it to moving staircases. Astraea looked down from the platform, her eyes watching dully as the staircases rotated.
"So, um, Astraea," Harry tried his best to come up with a topic of conversation. "What do you think of the Tournament?"
"A waste of time and money," Astraea said simply as the staircase finally locked itself in place.
"O-oh," Harry said and followed her down the steps.
Astraea glanced over to him, "your thoughts?"
"Y-you want to know what I think about it?" Harry stumbled.
"That's why I asked," Astraea said.
Harry gulped, "Dumbledore said it would be dangerous-"
"Yes but I asked what you thought about it, not Dumbledore's opinion," Astraea said.
Harry gulped and looked at her in shock. The walked down the rest of the steps until they made it to the Hall. The both of them entered the doors and Astraea immediately left his side and walked to the Slytherin table. Harry was left watching as she walked away, all words taken away from him. He couldn't put a finger on it but something was different about Astraea. It was the same feeling he felt about Quirrell, but he couldn't understand why.
With a defeated sigh he walked toward the Gryffindor table, finding his friends immediately. He threw his books on the table and sat down next to Hermione. Like hounds on a cat, Hermione and Ron were on to Harry.
"What was that?" Hermione fired first.
"What was what?" Harry said.
"You with that girl," Ron noted.
"And?" Harry said.
"Uh, she's a Slytherin? You know, rival house?" Ron said.
"Nevermind that, this goes past house points, Ron," Hermione scolded, "I don't trust her."
Harry huffed, "really? You guys don't even know who she is."
"Nobody does! That's the point we're trying to make!" Ron exclaimed.
The trio gained a few glances as they huddled closer, lowering their voices.
"Look, that girl-"
"Her name is Astraea," Harry interjected.
"You know her name? This is worse than I thought," Ron muttered.
"What we're trying to say is there's some questionable patterns about her," Hermione added.
"Questionable how?" Harry said.
"Um, the fact that her eyes are bloody red is a good start," Ron said.
"And the gloves," Hermione looked over to the Slytherin table, "I have potions with her. Professor Snape told her to take them off and she refused."
"What?" Harry said, eyes widening while Ron laughed.
"Maybe she's not so bad if she can stand up to the dungeon bat," Ron snickered.
"I'm serious, Ron," Hermione glared, "a fourth year who mysteriously shows to Hogwarts after the attack at the World Cup? That can't be right."
Harry frowned and looked Hermione, "you can't seriously think- no, you know what I'm not even going to say it."
"I'm just saying it's strange!" Hermione whispered.
"I'm done with this conversation, can we just eat?" Harry urged.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other and returned to their plates. Harry let out a sigh and began to pick at his lunch, his friends words swirling in his head. Yes, it was true that Astraea was strange, but many students were. It was nothing completely out of the ordinary. He decided not to bother himself with it any further.