I apologise profusely for the delay in posts, a couple of annoying little things called 'school work' and 'assessment' and 'my sister' got in the way. I am however only posting two chapters, as I am a little behind on my writing quotient. Thanks for your patience (or not. I know that I would get incredibly mad about the delay!) and I promise that I will try to make it up to you!

Listening to the sounds of her sister eating, Astoria couldn't help but wince. Daphne should have gone home ages ago, but had lingered on, probably more for the thrill that she got out of bullying Astoria. At the moment, Astoria really couldn't have cared less; her heart was at war with her head over the letter that she sent last night.

She was glad that she sent it; it seemed to get something off of her chest. But what if he just thought of her as a dalliance? What if he didn't even realise who it was that sent the note? What if he didn't care?

She was startled out of her reverie by Henwyn flying down to perch on the edge of her bowl. Astoria watched the owl wide-eyed as it sipped milk from her cereal, a small piece of parchment lying discarded next to her bowl. "Mum!" Daphne screeched. "Stori is letting Henwyn drink from her bowl again!" Hannah looked at Astoria sharply. "Really darling, must you? That is so disgusting that I'm not even going to list the things that you could catch. Now," she continued, frowning, "finish up and then take Henwyn upstairs and feed her. Then come back downstairs. I want to discuss your recent behaviour with you." And with that, Astoria was dismissed.

Gently, she scooped Henwyn up and at the same time concealed the parchment square in her other hand.

Please,

Meet me at the Hog's Head at 10pm on Tuesday.

I need to see you.

DM

Astoria felt the breath inside her freeze. So he did care. As if moving in an Unreality, she fed Henwyn and then descended downstairs to talk to her mother. Thankfully Daphne had left the room, so she was able to sit down and talk to her mother without the bitch's sniggering.

It was 8:47pm and Astoria had no idea how she was going to get through the next hour and thirteen minutes without screaming. To calm her nerves, she took a long, hot, bubble bath. When the water started to become cold, Astoria got out and dried herself. She put her PJs on and then went to her cupboard looking for something to wear. Mournfully she stroked the green and silver tie that hung on a hook on the inside of the door; she would never wear it again.

Flicking through the hangers, she looked for something to wear – something that wasn't overstated, but looked nice on her. She decided on her favourite pair of grey jeans and laid them on her bead. She then flicked through her small amount of t-shirts. Her eyes then fell on a dark grey one, with faded beading and writing and red hearts on it, trying to remember how it looked on her. From what she could remember, it clung sharply to her breasts, but fell down from there, not hugging her waist, but making her look slim and curvy, the latter being something that she wasn't.

At 9:50, she went downstairs to bid goodnight to her parents, saying that she was exhausted and wanted an early night. As an afterthought, she then added that she probably wouldn't be downstairs for breakfast, as she was going to take a sleeping draught, in order to recover her full energy, and could they only send the house elves to wake her if she wasn't up by twelve?

She then hurried back up the stairs to her bedroom and shut and locked the door. Pulling on her jeans, a thought from her unconscious told her that she should put on her good bra and panties. Preferring not to analyse that, she removed her jeans and selected the undergarments from their draw before putting them on and replacing her jeans. After she pulled on her t-shirt, she went over to her mirror and did her makeup exactly the same way that she had done it at the party.

When she was satisfied with her appearance, she grasped her wand, turned all of her lights off and then apparated to the Hog's Head.

By that time it was 10:04pm.