Book 2: Astoria Greengrass and the Haunt of Azkaban
Song rec: "36 Degrees" by Placebo
"Asenath Greengrass!" Hestia exclaimed at breakfast Wednesday morning. "You're really going steady with Asenath Greengrass‽"
"You seem surprised that I am," Rhiannon said smoothly.
"I can assure you that she is only shocked at the fact that Asenath is actually going steady with someone," Astoria inserted. "As am I."
"I don't need your input," Rhiannon shot, exactly as Astoria expected her to.
"See, even Astoria knows about that Asenath!" Hestia stated.
"What is that supposed to mean, 'even Astoria?'" Astoria questioned.
"I mean you haven't been at school this whole time to see Asenath in action, and you aren't into women, and yet you still know that your cousin's a floozy!"
"You better watch your mouth, Hestia," threatened Rhiannon.
"I think you'd better watch yours! If you keep going for people like that, you're bound to end up with… with a vampiress! Or with a Muggle hippie!"
"Well!" Rhiannon said over Hestia. "Now that I made sure that all my friends'll hate me for it, I'll be going to sit with Asenath right now."
"Yeah, have fun at the Gryffindor table, Rhi," Hestia simmered.
Rhiannon left. Astoria stirred her cereal and noted that the other students had made a communal effort to gradually scoot away from her group. Astoria and Rhiannon hadn't talked about Professor Sinistra, Polyjuice Potions, or Azkaban at all after Astoria had gone to Astronomy the previous night. Rhiannon had apparently been on a little date with Asenath whilst Astoria sat helplessly in class. Things evidently had worked out on their date, since they were really coupling up.
Everything felt surreal. Astoria was sitting in the Great Hall — that much she could accept — but as soon as she thought about detail, her mind could only crawl. She was not eating with her best friend. Why not? As it turned out, Rhiannon had never fancied Draco and had instead had feelings for Astoria. As a rebound method, or perhaps out of sheer stupidity, Rhiannon was dating Asenath, whose track record of dumping people and breaking hearts would make even a sailor uncomfortable. So who was Astoria sitting with? Flora and Hestia, of course. They were her friends. They were her roommates. They were even in the band with her. They were also the nieces of Death Eaters.
As unfortunate as it was, Astoria was in a House that had many relatives of Death Eaters. She knew it, but for some reason, the matter had not seemed very relevant to her life until it got this close to her. Yes, Draco's father was a Death Eater, and Draco always seemed to be around, but did Astoria know how that affected Draco? Not really. It did not seem to be a significant factor whenever she talked to him, perhaps because Lucius was living under the charade that he was never a willing Death Eater at all. However, so much of what the twins had said — or had not said — indicated that it was something that affected their social lives, their home life, and even their relationship with each other. Astoria was not intimidated by Flora or Hestia in any way; rather, she was upset because she did not know how to comfort them. Would they want to talk about it? Would at least one of them want to talk about it? Would Astoria be expected to respond when there wasn't really anything she could say? She was powerless to actually help them. What was the point of informing somebody of suspected Death Eaters if Death Eaters could get out of Azkaban anyway? That breakout was another problem as well, but with a much simpler train of thought: "We're all going to die."
One would have thought that some sort of an address would have been given to the students regarding the prison breakout, but it was not so. The only indications that it had happened at all were the anxious looks on everyone's face and the sling that was still on Professor Sinistra's arm. Doubtlessly, this was due to the fact that Umbridge had issued yet another decree that morning, forbidding the staff to speak with students about anything other than class material. Furthermore, far fewer letters were coming in as the woman became stricter about her owl frisking.
That was when Astoria's mind wandered to the subject of Philippe. Astoria had lost his romance, had lost his delightful letters, and had even lost him visually, for he had returned to France. It was not like he was hers for a long time; in fact, he was never truly hers at all, but she considered him something of a bad ear piercing hole that was trying to heal on its own and doing so in an unsightly manner. Not to mention how much it hurt. And now she had no one in which to confide.
"I'm not exactly astonished by the fact that you two seem to be more upset over relationships than you are over the Lestranges' being at large," Flora said as she rustled through her morning paper.
"W-What?" Astoria said as she came out of her daze to find her cereal extremely soggy.
"Well, I know Philippe broke up with you. But we saw that coming," Flora said inconsiderately.
"Excuse me!"
"Well, it's all on your face."
"I'd actually like to hear about that banquet," Hestia interrupted. "When we left school, you liked Philippe, and Rhiannon liked you. Now Philippe isn't even mentioned, and Rhi's with your cousin. And would you believe Tracey Nettlebed's spreading rumours about you and Malfoy spending the whole time together? That's a story I need to hear."
"How did you know Rhiannon liked me?" Astoria asked fervently.
"It was obvious," was the only thing Hestia would say in response.
Flora sighed, "Come on, Astoria, she wrote lyrics about you all the time."
Astoria grumbled. Nothing had clicked in her head that any of Rhiannon's songs had been directed at her.
"Anyway," Hestia said, "Tell us about what happened later."
For all of the questions Astoria had refrained from asking Flora and Hestia about their family, they certainly were not returning the favour. Nevertheless, Astoria conceded, and by five o'clock, the twins knew the general series of events that had occurred over the Christmas holiday. Hestia then advised Astoria to save all of her letters from Philippe so that she would have solid evidence that he was a sneak — it was good advice, considering the fact that Astoria thought she might burn them all when she went back home that summer.
Draco showed up late to Astronomy that night on account of his snogging Parkinson before class (his rumpled uniform gave it away). In their names, a very specific seventeen points were taken from Slytherin — the extra two points due to their being prefects, Professor Sinistra said. Even despite that, for someone who had recently snogged his girlfriend, Draco looked greatly dejected. "Are you all right?" seemed like an inappropriate question, for who could be all right when there were ten infamous Death Eaters on the loose?
Parkinson, who had already transgressed and was evidently unaware of her upcoming faux pas, asked, "Professor Sinistra, I was wondering — how did you get a right-of-entry card at Azkaban? I read it in the paper."
Chairs could be heard squeaking against the floor as the students' heads turned to look at Parkinson. Next to her, Blaise Zabini was entirely indifferent, but Millicent Bulstrode put her head down exasperatedly. Astoria looked back at Draco, who was simply staring at his blank parchment.
Even though it felt like the students could have asked Professor Sinistra a stream of questions, that particular question would not have been very high on anyone's list. Clearly, they gave entry cards to relatives of prisoners. It wasn't that big of a deal. Who cared about something like the right-of-entry card when they were eager to hear the surnames of the convicts Professor Sinistra must have seen so they could gossip about who in the House was related to whom. Who even thought about the right-of-entry card when they all wanted to hear the exciting details of the battle which the professor single-handedly fought against the Death Eaters?
"I think you must have forgotten about Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six, Miss Parkinson," Professor Sinistra said quietly.
There was a collective moan from the curious students.
"A decree," the professor muttered as she made the notes appear on the board, "which was issued to keep me quiet about it all."
Astoria nearly elbowed the motionless young man next to her as she moved to get another glance at Parkinson. Parkinson looked like she had not even heard the professor and was still sitting there with her lips parted, waiting for an answer that wasn't going to come.
Draco wasn't keeping up with the notes. Each time Professor Sinistra changed the words on the board, he simply ended the fragments where they were and continued as if he did not even notice they were incomplete. Being so close to the front, almost everything Astoria said would be heard by the professor, so she decided to write her concerns.
I'll let you borrow my notes later if you tell me why you're upset, she scratched next to her notes. She had to make quite the effort to bring Draco's attention to it, after which he put on an air of confusion as though he had merely been spaced out. Astoria knew better, though, for Draco wasn't one to space out, and he was drumming his fingers as they lay next to his quill unproductively.
Is she really that bad of a kisser? Astoria wrote.
"Ha!" Draco laughed once his eyes focused on the words. The class then looked at him, but Professor Sinistra paid no attention.
No, Draco wrote under the question. Astoria didn't want to see that answer but was glad he was cooperating.
Then what's wrong? she asked out of necessity when he didn't continue writing. He looked at the question and looked away, thinking.
The breakout, he finally scrawled.
Astoria had almost expected a better answer.
Me too. I'd like to know what idiot was in charge that day, she wrote quickly.
How can you give me your notes if you aren't taking them now? Draco wrote, and Astoria could hear his sarcastic voice saying the words in her head.
Only trying to help, she scribbled. Can we talk after class?
Draco stared at the request suspiciously.
I guess.
Astoria refocused on class. Of all the people to try to talk to about her problems, she had picked Draco. Really, she should have asked to talk to Professor Sinistra, who had actually come into contact with the fake Astoria, the Polyjuice Potion user. However, having seen Professor Sinistra so drained and traumatised made Astoria want to leave her alone, especially about something so creepy. A bit before class let out, Draco wrote another note on the parchment.
I'll be with Pansy after class. When exactly did you want to talk?
After class was going to be eleven-thirty, and after midnight by the time they got to the dungeons! Plus, both she and Draco had first-period classes in the morning. Astoria flushed in frustration and embarrassment. Go on and be with Pansy after class, then. Rhiannon was probably with Asenath. No one's getting any sleep.
Yuck. When is your free period tomorrow? Astoria found herself writing.
Why was she trying so hard? Why was she expecting him to help her the way he did at Christmas? Christmas Draco wasn't a real thing. This was getting stupid. She already regretted asking. She had no idea how to tell Malfoy what she saw.
Fourth, he wrote.
Mine too, she wrote back.
That works.
No it doesn't! No it doesn't! This is Draco Malfoy for crying out loud! Astoria needed to get it together and figure out a good time to talk to Rhiannon again, or Professor Sinistra, or even maybe Snape… not take her concerns to Malfoy! With all of this running through her head, it was going to be a long day tomorrow.
Any time of day would have been too early to receive a letter from Mr Mongaby, but receiving it at the stroke of eight in the morning was a truly unsurpassed bother. Hestia grabbed the letter before the other three girls even accepted the fact that it was there at all, and she paraphrased it considerably by saying, "What? We're having a concert at Hogsmeade on the twenty-third of February!"
"Blimey," Rhiannon said with more irritation than enthusiasm.
"Look at what the old sod put in here!" Hestia said, as she removed a smaller slip of parchment from the letter and passed it around. It was a setlist for their concert. Astoria wondered exactly why Hestia was so angry, for every song that was on the album appeared in the schedule anyway.
"What's wrong with it?" Astoria asked as she gave it to Flora.
"He put the songs in order for us!" Hestia complained fussily.
"Looks like we have to perform a cover of a popular song," Flora said.
"Do we now?" Rhiannon said, gaining some interest in the matter. "Do you s'pose he'll let us play Muggle songs?"
"I don't think that's the definition of 'popular,' Rhiannon," Flora responded.
"Who cares? Let's do it," Hestia said. "What do you have in mind, Rhi?"
"'Another Brick in the Wall' by Pink Floyd. Got three or so parts to it, but we can cut out some of the 1970s-style strumming excursions. I thought it'd be somethin' people would relate to about now since the best line's, 'Teacher, leave them kids alone.'"
"That's a beautiful reference to Umbridge," Astoria said.
"Right. And I don't want to cover The Weird Sisters, since everyone thinks we ought to be like them," Hestia maintained.
"He also wants a new song played there," Astoria stated as she peeked at the parchment.
"Eh, we'll come up with somethin'."
Rhiannon had essentially left the conversation as soon as she had started it, as she was listening intently to the chattering at the table. Sometimes, Daphne's various flirtatious endeavours were a topic of discussion at the breakfast table by the gossiping crowd. Yet apart from a few fleeting discussions about the fact that Daphne and Ravenclaw Anthony Goldstein had recently started dating, the main subject appeared to be Rhiannon and Asenath's relationship.
Rhiannon looked at Imogen Shardlow and Diane Carter with great interest as they began scoffing at Asenath from across the room and saying, "Blood-traitor like the rest of them."
"Still can't get over how they ain't even saying I'm a lesbian," Rhiannon laughed up her sleeve before reiterating, "It's not a thing like this with Muggles. I probably wouldn't even be able to sit here at the table."
"I'm so sorry, Rhiannon," Hestia said sympathetically.
"Well, I never got round to dealing with that," Rhiannon replied. "No one knew I was gay in primary. I barely did."
"But now you have to put up with prats like Shardlow, Carter, and the rest of them! You know, sometimes I just hate people," Hestia complained.
"That's not healthy," Asenath said as she arrived at the Slytherin table uninvited.
If Astoria could have photographed the change of expressions on Hestia's face, she would have kept it forever.
"Neither are you," Hestia instantly attacked.
"Hmm! Slytherin girls always have an edge to them," Asenath responded imperturbably.
Rhiannon sneered at Hestia with such force that the latter had grown teary-eyed. She stood up and left, making sure to bump Asenath's shoulder on her way. Flora looked like she dreadfully wanted to leave with her sister, but remained nonetheless and observed Asenath intently. Astoria felt more than uncomfortable as Asenath leaned over Rhiannon's shoulder and started whispering cloying things in her ear. Rhiannon responded warmly enough to make one nauseated; however, she kept glancing sideways at the staff table to make sure the teachers weren't getting ready to take House points away for "P.D.A."
Astoria was not sure of all she heard and knew that that was for the best, but before Asenath left, she asked Rhiannon if she had Astronomy that night. Rhiannon did. Astoria knew that many students used Astronomy class as a means to get around the castle past curfew, and assumed that Asenath was one of those elite few who knew how to avoid getting caught.
"Sit with me at lunch, baby?" Asenath hummed.
"'Course."
"Dinner too?" Asenath said in that awfully stupid alluring tone which was worse than her normally-stupid alluring tone.
"Yeah," Rhiannon smiled sweetly.
Astoria arrived at the Arithmancy classroom before Professor Vector that morning just to get away from those two. She had Potions and Umbridge before she would have to meet Draco Malfoy outside in the rain. (He didn't want Pansy to catch him with her in the common room). Astoria bundled up before the excursion and stood on the stone path outside the greenhouse. Draco arrived ten minutes early. She knew because she was fifteen minutes early. They stared at each other.
"Bit cold," he said.
"Your idea," she returned.
"Yeah, sorry."
They peeked into the greenhouse because it was something to do. Their breath fogged up the glass. They already knew what was in there — it just looked different from the outside. Draco drew a crude stick figure of Astoria in the glass. Astoria breathed more on her own side and drew an unflattering Draco. They were trying not to laugh too much. Laughter seemed dangerous.
"Er, Draco, what do you know about Polyjuice Potion?" Astoria finally asked.
Draco perked right up at the topic.
"Oooh, are you trying to make one, Greengrass? You'll get in big trouble."
"No, no. Listen, this sounds silly, but I think someone made one using my hair. I felt like I couldn't tell anyone," she admitted.
"Shouldn't you tell your parents so they can have the culprit arrested?"
"Aren't you funny. This is really bothering me."
He relented and conjured up a bench, something Astoria wished she could do. They sat on it and instantly realised it was a very, very tight bench.
"Sorry…" Draco coughed, and made the bench longer.
They scooted away from each other.
"So, er… You think someone pretended to be you with a Polyjuice Potion? What happened?"
"Well, it was last year. I was walking up Astronomy Tower, and I heard someone talking to Professor Sinistra. I didn't think much of it, but they mentioned a lot of things to do with me, like homeschooling and being friends with Rhiannon. Then I saw the person, and it was a mirror image of myself. I was scared to death and ran off."
"Oh, yeah, that's Polyjuice Potion all right," Draco said. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"The person Confunded me. Do you remember that one night I was late to class, and Professor Sinistra sent you to find me?"
"Oh! Yeah, you were in the Music room. I do remember that! Was that the same night?"
"Yes. I hid in the Music room, since the person followed me down the stairs. I thought they were gone, but when I opened the door, they Confunded me. I found out because the spell broke the other night. This whole time, I thought nothing had happened."
Draco was surprisingly respectful of the situation.
"That does sound scary, especially if you didn't think it was Polyjuice at first. So, who do you think it was? Did it happen again?"
"No, no, it hasn't happened again. I don't know who it was. I wanted to talk to you about it."
"Why me?" Draco asked, his nose glowing red in the cold.
Because you know these things.
"I figured if there was Polyjuice in the school, you and your goonies would know about it. Since you like pranking people and being mean in general."
Draco laughed proudly.
"Well, we've never made Polyjuice Potion. I'll tell you who has, though…" he said tantalisingly.
Astoria clenched her jaw in excitement for an actual answer…
"Potter and his lot. I think they've been in Snape's cabinets nicking ingredients."
Astoria sighed, and the cold painted her breath in white. She put her hands in her pockets. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and the Weasley boy might have had the ability to make the potion if they put their heads together, but they didn't have the motive at all. They didn't even know enough about Astoria to effectively impersonate her. Draco just wanted to make them look bad.
"Oh, I get it. You don't believe me. You think The Miracle Boy wouldn't do something like that," Draco scoffed.
He was so fed up with her refusal to take his Potter explanation that he nearly left.
"That isn't it," Astoria said. "I don't doubt that they could make it. I simply don't see why they would use it to be me."
Draco settled back down.
"Oh. I guess that's fair. Well, what was the person doing as you? You said talking to Professor Sinistra?"
"And crying," Astoria added.
"See, that sounds like Potter to me."
"Draco, come off it for one minute, please."
"All right, all right."
"They were saying all these things about wanting to go home, and being a failure. It was like they were out to make me look like a cry-baby. Rhiannon said it might have been Pansy, trying to embarrass me."
"Pansy! Well, I think it was Rhiannon!" Draco argued. "Who else would have that much access to your hair, and your information? And even your clothes, I take it? She's right in your room!"
Astoria was about to spit a response, but this was the most realistic explanation she had grasped to date. It would not only explain how the person knew so much about her, but also why Rhiannon wouldn't talk about it anymore. And, it might even explain why they both felt some magic release from them at the same time! How awful! How could Rhiannon do something like that? Astoria was so close to believing Draco, it scared her, but then Astoria thought more carefully about the impersonator. Really, the point that person was trying to make was that Astoria wanted to go home. It had to have been Pansy.
Rhiannon, quite frankly, didn't have the ability to make Polyjuice Potion, nor did she have the money or opportunity at the time to buy one. And what purpose would it serve to impersonate Astoria to go cry on Professor Sinistra, when she could cry on Professor Sinistra as herself, anyway?
It didn't matter if she dropped all these thoughts on Draco. Really, it didn't matter what Draco thought of the situation. The longer she talked to him about it, the further she was from the truth. Pansy Parkinson had tried to make Astoria look like she couldn't handle the classes, especially her favourite class, so that the teachers wouldn't have any respect for her. They'd all regret that she was put a grade ahead, or accepted into Hogwarts at all! That horrible girl!
"You still there, Greengrass?"
"Yes, sorry. I was thinking. Well, erm, anyway, let's talk about what was bothering you, then," she said, in reference to his concern about the breakout.
"Oh, it's not a big deal. Nothing different from anyone else. I wasn't too thrilled about Azkaban prisoners on the loose. That's all."
"Well, do you want to talk about it? Did you get to talk to your parents about it?"
"No, no, it's fine. I'm good now," Draco lied.
It felt incomplete. Astoria had bared a terrible secret to Draco, and he wouldn't so much as confide in her about a publicly known event. Still, she didn't press him, since she wasn't going to get anywhere.
"Thank you for talking to me, Draco."
"Oh. Yeah."
He sounded mildly surprised that she had cut it short, but Astoria needed to be alone, especially away from Pansy's boyfriend.
At the weekend, Astoria, Hestia, and Flora knew that Rhiannon had decided to put off most things besides Asenath. Rhiannon's neglect of homework and studying were predictable, but things that were important to her friends, such as practising D.A.D.A. in the Astronomy library and songwriting, did not seem to be important to her any longer. The other girls then made up their minds to continue without Rhiannon, and started working on a new song and a new spell. Hestia was adamant that the girls start practising the Blasting Curse, albeit on a very small scale, using only crumpled pieces of parchment. (Some of those crumpled sheets had drawings of Asenath inside). Surprisingly, Astoria seemed to be the one with the most control over the spell, for the twins had made the Water-Making Spell necessary to put out fires that they had let get a little too big.
That Sunday was the very first that Professor Sinistra had been in Hogwarts before nightfall since the previous June. Coincidentally, Astoria found in the morning paper that a new column entitled "Astro News" had been added. It featured articles about current research in the Astronomy profession and included trivia at the bottom. Determined to make Professor Sinistra's first morning back a good one, Astoria gallantly walked to the staff table to point out the column to the professor. Professor Sinistra chuckled knowingly. Astoria read the fine print… Professor Sinistra was one of the editors. Astoria had embarrassed herself again.
The night, Rhiannon had returned to the common room at 9:30, the exact moment of curfew, and excitedly ushered her roommates to the dormitory to show them something. The other girls all sat on Astoria's bed whilst Rhiannon was apparently changing clothes in the bathroom. Flora became impatient quickly, followed by Hestia. Then Rhiannon emerged with her pullover, well, pulled over. Rhiannon was keeping her arms at her side so that it covered both her arms and her front. Astoria was glad that the awkward pose did not prompt any questions from the twins, for she knew that Rhiannon was trying to hide her disfigured arm.
"Yes, what lovely bra straps you have. Can I go back and finish my Astronomy homework?" Flora said agitatedly.
"No, you div! I haven't even showed you!"
With that, Rhiannon turned her back to the girls. On it was a massive tattoo of what looked to be a twisted snake skeleton, cut in half at its centre where her spine was. Astoria was admiring the artwork and the detail without calculating the situation until she noticed the love bites on the back of Rhiannon's neck and heard Hestia make disgusted noises.
"You like it? Pretty nice, eh?" Rhiannon said, turning toward them again.
If she expected smiling faces, she must have been greatly disappointed.
"My cousin gave that to you, then?" Astoria said. "The tattoo, I mean. I hope she was decent enough to use the spells that make tattoos removable."
"No, she said it was a lot harder that way, but I didn't mind it being permanent none. That's how it'd be in Muggle ink, anyhow."
Astoria tut-tutted.
"You don't like it," Rhiannon said unhappily.
"The artwork's lovely, but you know our issues with the artist," returned Astoria.
"Would you put your clothes back on over those stupid love bites and come help me with this Astronomy?" said Flora quickly.
Rhiannon, apparently just finding out about her love bites showing, grumpily obeyed and was ushered out of the room by Flora.
"Why don't you get Astoria to help you?" Rhiannon could be heard saying in the hall before it went quiet outside.
At once, Hestia broke into tears. Astoria hurried to get tissues from the bathroom and returned to see that Hestia's mascara was already staining her cheeks and neck. She was crying aloud but did not readily accepted Astoria's comfort or even the tissues. That state did not last long, for she then nearly smothered herself with a tissue before lying down on Astoria's bed. Flora must have wanted Astoria to have a talk with Hestia for a reason, and that reason was probably that she hoped the two would reconcile from their tension. It was, however, a long time before Hestia spoke.
"Why is she with Asenath?" was the first thing that Hestia whimpered. "Is all of this because she danced with her at that banquet?"
"She's being ridiculous," Astoria said quietly. "I've told her Asenath is no good."
"My rotten family wouldn't let us go," Hestia said loudly, tightening her clutch on Astoria's blanket. "I could've been there."
"It probably wouldn't have made a difference," Astoria said. "She was very upset with me. I almost feel like she's doing this as a way to get back at me, since I don't like Asenath much…"
"Thanks for that, then!" Hestia exclaimed angrily.
"Oh, so now you and Rhiannon are both upset at me for not dating her?" Astoria returned. "It's her decision if she wants to get involved with Asenath!"
"No, Astoria, if you liked Rhi the way she liked you, then we'd really have a situation here," groaned Hestia before she blew her nose at full volume.
"…Then you're saying that you fancy Rhiannon?" Astoria realised.
Hestia sat up, and Astoria could see in the light exactly how hard she had been crying.
"You don't get it, Astoria. I love Rhiannon."
"You… you love Rhiannon," Astoria uttered quietly.
The news was not devastating. However, it did add to the already confusing time that Astoria was going through. She began to wonder why people did not simply speak their feelings! Was the fear of getting hurt straight away any worse than getting hurt once the feeling was this deep? Hestia was in love. It had never occurred to Astoria, but she could accept the fact easily. Hestia was the first one to work towards Rhiannon's dream of forming a band. Hestia was the most vicious when she stood up to Rhiannon's bullies. Hestia was a disaster the previous year when the girls could not find Rhiannon; she was not much better when Astoria had given Rhiannon dance lessons. Had Hestia's acts of kindness been overlooked by Rhiannon the whole time because she was busy thinking about Astoria? If Rhiannon had known, would she have been with Hestia instead of Asenath? Was Hestia's family situation part of the reason she never told Rhiannon her feelings? Was it the fact that Rhiannon was Muggle-born and Hestia was afraid Rhiannon would be disgusted that Hestia liked girls?
Astoria's hunches had, for once, been correct. Hestia cried about how things would not work with her aunt and uncle's being Death Eaters and Rhiannon's being a Muggle-born. She cried about how she could not be sure if Rhiannon was a lesbian. She cried because if Rhiannon had been raised in a Wizarding family, Hestia could have told her. Then she cried because she would have been too scared to admit her feelings anyway. She told Astoria that she had loved Rhiannon "all along," and that when the dormitory arrangements changed the previous year, Hestia wanted to be in Rhiannon's dorm more than anything. She said she wanted to be with Rhiannon more than anything. Then she panicked.
"She's never going to want me now that I've gone and told her about my family!" Hestia suddenly exclaimed.
"Hestia! You would have to tell her about them anyway once you were together!" Astoria tried to reason with the girl.
She gathered a blanket from the bed and covered Hestia's quivering body with it as fast as she could. Hestia's cries still came out as loud as ever. Astoria found the girl's hand and held it in her own.
"That stupid Asenath!" Hestia howled. "That — filthy — slag! She's going to use Rhiannon! Everyone's always out to hurt Rhiannon in one way or another!"
Hestia choked on her words before she stopped speaking entirely. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep, and Astoria had to take Hestia's bed for the night. Astoria heard the other girls come in at eleven o'clock. She shut her eyes.
It was not until Tuesday night that Astoria outright fought with Rhiannon. At the end of Astronomy class, Astoria decided to go to the library in the tower to find books on Canis Major and Canis Minor, which her class was studying. Trying to push through the mob of Astronomy 4 students, whose class immediately followed Astoria's, she stepped on several of the feet of her classmates before reaching the library and opening the door.
Three steps later, she had to run back out of the room.
Flora was walking to class with Manami Ichijō and Alexa Crover when Astoria pulled her aside in haste.
"What? What is it?"
"Rhi and Asenath, they…"
"What? Are they hiding in there snogging?"
"I-I-I think it's snogging…"
"Merlin," Flora said and pushed past Astoria to get into the library. Astoria followed her close behind but stopped by a bookcase so that she might see Flora without seeing the other two.
"All right, break it up, break it up!" Flora said, waving her arms at the two girls who were still on one of the tables. "We'll never be allowed in here again if you get caught! And she's got class in two minutes, Greengrass!"
Astoria heard the sound of Asenath's hands smacking against the table as she moved away from Rhiannon.
"Oh, sorry. I must have lost track of the time," Asenath said tranquilly.
Astoria heard the sound of a kiss, and her cousin said, "I'll see you tomorrow, baby."
"Goodnight," Rhiannon said before Astoria saw Asenath walked by.
"Really, Asenath," Astoria said sourly, "You'd make her miss an important class."
"Astronomy? Important?" was Asenath's retort. She strolled away.
Flora arrived at Astoria's spot soon after. There was not much to say.
"I… I didn't know Rhi's scar was that bad," Flora mumbled distractedly. She left for class.
It was the only comment that softened Astoria's anger, but one likely would not have known that. She emerged from the bookcase and confronted Rhiannon.
"You know that this is the reason why people don't get passes to this room," Astoria barked instantly. "You know that if somebody else caught you, then all of our passes would have been taken away — you'd have ruined it for everybody. Do you know that, Rhiannon? Do you hear me‽"
"Oh, shut it. There was nowhere else to really go," Rhiannon mumbled and buttoned her robe.
"Is that so‽ Well, there's nowhere else for us to practise D.A.D.A.! But I suppose that matters nothing to you!"
"I don't bloody need this from you!"
"And I'm tired of hearing that, too!" Astoria shouted with a force she did not know she had. "Pardon me for not wanting to do whatever that was on a table with you, but you know how much I care about you as a friend! And as your friend, I know when you're doing something that isn't good for you! Gosh, Rhiannon, I can't seem to figure out whether you're doing this to get back at me or if you actually want to be with Asenath!"
Rhiannon did not respond to a thing Astoria said. She gathered up her books and started to leave.
"Fix your damn tie," Astoria spewed.
Rhiannon slammed the door.
Astoria and Rhiannon had not spoken in three weeks. It was the longest silence that the two had ever had, and Astoria went to bed every night wishing that they would speak in the morning. They didn't. Rhiannon sat with Asenath at breakfast so much that the Gryffindors started to get testy about the invasion. Astoria was suffering through nightmares about how she and Rhiannon would never recover. She did not want to believe it was possible, but she felt that Rhiannon had changed, and "change" can be a very bad word for friendships.
Rhiannon couldn't afford to have her marks slip any more, but she let them slip anyway. And there was no way she could keep the band together if she was ignoring the other members. She ignored them anyway. They had to write songs without her. They had to practise D.A.D.A. without her. They had to do everything without Rhiannon. Other students started to notice. Once, Astoria and Rhiannon had been inseparable. Rhiannon was only with Astoria's cousin now. It seemed very strange to everyone.
What had become less strange was the fact that Astoria could actually manage to speak to Draco on a regular basis without wanting to break something. In Rhiannon's absence, Astoria found Draco's presence. They worked on an Astronomy project together, and he even corrected a mistake on one of her assignments about the declination of Canis Major. It became quite clear that he wouldn't let her forget it, but it was something Astoria could own up to. He had been so stressed lately that she was willing to let him have that one. She, Astoria Greengrass, had made a mistake in Astronomy.
It was a special event when there was a Hogsmeade visit on a Wednesday rather than a Saturday. The event was none other than Valentine's Day. Hestia wholly refused to go, and when the girls went to their dorm to change clothes after class, she merely fell onto her bed. No one argued with her. Even though the crowd of visitors would mostly consist of couples that day, Flora and Astoria wanted to go if only to get out of the castle. Most of the Hogwarts students had castle fever, but they held a fear that if they were to leave the grounds, the escaped Death Eaters would be lurking. Things that day, however, were as normal as they were going to get; one would not have even thought that the names of escaped Death Eaters were haunting everyone.
As Astoria and Flora walked to Hogsmeade, they couldn't enjoy the tranquillity of the February afternoon for very long, for a group of obnoxious girls from their House began promenading alongside of them after having made some comments about Harry Potter and his girlfriend Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. The much-admired faces of Millicent Bulstrode, Diane Carter, Tracey Nettlebed, Pansy Parkinson, Olivia Shardlow, Chiyo Akiyama, and Imogen Stretton appeared, and each girl made sure to stare at Astoria and Flora as she walked by.
"Well, that was weird," Astoria said. "For a moment, I thought I had something on my face."
"That's what they want you to think when they give you the fisheyes," Flora said. "Hmph! I'm enjoying the fact that they're alone on Valentine's Day. They all must think that's everyone else's fault."
Astoria giggled.
"I figured Malfoy would be with Parkinson, at least," Flora considered.
"He said he had to oversee some Ravenclaw's detention this week until five o'clock," Astoria remembered.
"Oh. He told you that?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
Astoria caught a glimpse of Daphne, who was holding hands with somebody as they started scurrying up a small road. She could not get a decent look at who her sister was with, but it was not Anthony Goldstein, her most recent boyfriend. The rain timed itself perfectly — it was the moment when Astoria spotted Rhiannon and Asenath kissing under a lamp post.
"I'm so glad you aren't like your sister or your cousins," Flora said, shaking her head.
"It's only two of my cousins," Astoria reminded.
"I wouldn't be able to put up with you."
"I'm glad you are able."
Astoria and Flora went to the Three Broomsticks, but it was full of couples. They went to Honeydukes, but it was full of couples. It seemed like the only place that was not swarmed with lovebirds was the Hogsmeade plumber's office. Without anything interesting to do and without any shopping list, the two girls ambled round the village talking about nothing in particular. Flora made use of the charmed parasol that Astoria had got her for Christmas; they walked all over in the rain without a single drop blowing into their eyes. Eventually, they stopped to rest in front of the WWN building. Dusk had arrived, and a nearby street lantern made two posters beneath it shine quite clearly.
"It's an advert for our concert," Flora said as the poster on the top lit up in green. "They didn't run the design past us."
Astoria thought it was quite plain for a concert advert. The company obviously put more effort into advertising The Weird Sisters. Her eyes were then drawn to the Death Eaters' mugshots. Apparently, the government would hand over one-thousand Galleons to anyone who had information concerning their whereabouts. Astoria looked at the posters for the lack of anything better to do. In particular, she looked at the Lestrange trio. Rodolphus was twice the size of Rabastan and looked like he could have been half-asleep when the photo was taken. Rabastan, however, looked like he had grabbed the wrong phial in his medicine cabinet. He was so tense in the picture that it seemed like if one were to touch the paper, he would jump out and attack. Astoria saw that the only witch in the entire group, Bellatrix, was swaying back and forth slightly with a look of sheer hubris on her face. Beneath the trio's images read, "Convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom."
Astoria felt unsettled. The woman looked familiar.
"Have either of you seen Pansy?"
Draco was still in his uniform and had his hood up in attempt to protect himself from the rain. Flora jumped at his abrupt arrival, but Astoria could see his nose through the shadows and was anything but frightened.
"I haven't," Astoria said merrily.
"I have," Flora complained. "She's been standing across the street looking at Rabastan Lestrange for about five minutes."
"She—" Draco said confusedly as he glanced at more posters on the lamp post. "Oh."
Astoria's eyes adjusted to the dim light as she looked away from the glow of the street lantern and focused on Parkinson. She was in fact standing there quite still. When Draco met her, she was even more startled than Flora had been, but she started kissing Draco immediately. Astoria looked away.
"Let's go back, shall we?"
Flora agreed. On their way back, they encountered Daphne and Tracey Davis, who had come off of a side road carrying flowers and chocolates in their arms. They were jabbering things like, "Isn't he the sweetest?" and did not immediately notice the other two walking behind them.
"Oh, but I can't believe what happened," Astoria overheard Tracey say.
"I suppose I can," Daphne said. "I mean, Harry Potter's always seemed a bit daft to me, and we all know Cho's as mawkish as my sister. However, I was not expecting it to happen next to me."
"Hello, Daphne…" Astoria grunted.
"Hey!" Tracey said.
"Oh, hello, Astoria. Look at what Roger bought for me!"
Daphne showed Astoria a delicate bracelet with pink stones.
"Roger? What happened to Anthony?" she asked.
"Anthony? Oh, Anthony was ages ago," Daphne figured.
"As in a month," Flora mumbled.
"Roger doesn't mind my French kissing," said Daphne smugly to Tracey when asked some unheard question.
Astoria had begun to regret joining them for the walk back.
No matter how many times the students wanted to get out early, Astronomy ended at 11:30 on Wednesdays, and Astoria was so tired that night that she considered sleeping in the library rather than walking all the way back to the dungeons. It was not a serious consideration, but she had subconsciously gravitated toward that side of the tower on her way down the steps. She passed the door at first but came back. She was certain she had heard crying.
Astoria entered the room as quietly as possible. Tip-toeing down the main aisle, she looked carefully between each row of bookshelves. She saw nothing, but she still heard the crying. She knew Rhiannon had to be in the room. Astoria approached the study area and saw Rhiannon sitting at the same table on which she had been caught with Asenath. Rhiannon was terribly startled.
"I-I thought you were a first-year."
"They shouldn't be coming in here tonight. Professor Sinistra already put their notes on the board upstairs," Astoria reported.
Her claim was verified by the sound of tinier feet walking up the steps. The first words to Rhiannon since the fight had been spoken, and Astoria exhaled. Rhiannon did not say anything again, so Astoria took a seat next to her and waited for her to stop crying. It was a long wait.
"I came in here like you told me not to," Rhiannon whispered.
Astoria stared at the floor until she heard Rhiannon smack something onto the table. It was the shard of the Foe-Glass, and the clearest image was Asenath. Astoria carefully moved Rhiannon's fingers from the sides of the sharp glass. Rhiannon started crying afresh.
"What did she do?" Astoria asked. She felt herself reaching for her wand even though Asenath was nowhere around.
"Nothing," Rhiannon choked.
"Well, what did she say?"
"Nothing," Rhiannon insisted. "We didn't do anything. Th-That's why. That's why she left. She wasn't happy with where our relationship was going. She's not coming back. She's with Joan Kerridge or Swati Pevekar right now probably. Or both. Or more. I don't bloody know. But I… Well, she… I wasn't ready to, to er, do what she wanted to do… She said that was fine, but she made it out to seem like we weren't gonna be a thing anymore if it wasn't… y'know, going anywhere."
"Why, that heartless—"
"Save it, Astoria. I know," said Rhiannon. "I know."
Rhiannon put her head down and let out a single, painful groan.
"I'm an idiot." Rhiannon tapped the surface of the Foe-Shard and announced, "She's been in there since Christmas Eve, y'know."
"…Then why, Rhiannon?" Astoria asked as gently as she could.
"Thought that's what I wanted," Rhiannon said bluntly. "I guess I just wanted to make you angry. To say I did something without you."
Astoria nodded.
"I really thought about being more with Asenath. I thought maybe I was the one looking at it wrong — I was expecting her to fill in some of the emptiness, like. But I didn't like how she claimed she loved me. There's no way she could have fallen in love like that. She don't even know me! She just wanted in my pants."
"I understand how you feel," Astoria reassured.
It was 12:15 when Astoria and Rhiannon walked into the dormitory, but the twins were still awake. Flora had apparently been deep in a book, and angrily shut it when the other two entered the room. Hestia was effectively buried in her blankets, and when Rhiannon asked the girls why they were still awake, Hestia responded, "I made a mistake!"
"So've I," Rhiannon mumbled. "I dated Asenath Greengrass."
"Dated? You mean you broke up with her?" Flora asked cheerfully.
"I'm thinking she broke up with me, but yeah, I'm rid of her," Rhiannon answered.
"Oh — that's lovely," Hestia said. The girls could not see her but they could tell she was smiling when she spoke. "That's perfect."
"Why don't you get out of those blankets?" Astoria asked.
Hestia wildly threw the blankets off of her. She had a new haircut that she was evidently unhappy with. Hestia had straight fringe that stopped above her eyebrows and long, artistic fringe on the sides. She looked quite nice with it, so Astoria couldn't see the problem. Then Hestia bowed over her lap, and Astoria and Rhiannon gasped. The back of Hestia's head had nothing but fuzz; she had an authentic Chelsea.
"Where is your hair‽" Astoria exclaimed.
"I told you I made a mistake!"
"Were you trying to get the skinhead look, or…?" Rhiannon said.
"No, I swear! I didn't even know what a skinhead was until Flora told me!"
"This is too funny," Rhiannon said.
"I don't think it's funny at all! I just wanted short hair!" Hestia squeaked.
"Well, you can cut off the rest of that fringe and be bald," said Rhiannon.
"Or," said Astoria, "you can use a charm to make your hair grow back."
"Er — er, I don't know," Hestia blabbered. "I thought it might look good for the concert, though, but if people are going to say I'm a skinhead…"
"I don't even know what that is," Astoria said.
"Yeah, only the Muggle-borns will know," Rhiannon said. "And they've gotta know you ain't one. I say go on and keep it."
"…You think so?" Hestia asked energetically.
Flora and Astoria exchanged unconvinced looks.
"Yeah! It's cute," answered Rhiannon.
"Then the hair stays," Hestia resolved.