Book 2: Astoria Greengrass and the Haunt of Azkaban
Song rec: "Friends Make Garbage (Good Friends Take It Out)" by Low Roar

"Go back to sleep, Astoria."

Astoria's eyes were dry and heavy, so Rhiannon's instruction was relieving.

"Professor McGonagall's in St Mungo's. All her classes are cancelled. I'm gonna bring you somethin' to eat for when you get up to get ready for block two."

"Oh, Rhiannon, thank you…" Astoria mumbled before closing her barely-open eyes.

The other three girls left the room speaking about what a shame it was that Professor Hagrid was sacked. They had heard of it before Astoria could tell them. She pulled the covers back up to her chin.

Astoria had to take her fourth-year exams in Potions, Transfiguration, and Ancient Runes despite the unfortunate truth that she had not studied for them and was solely relying on her knowledge left over from class. She was tired and lost in thought in the midst of students who could not stop themselves from gossiping about Harry Potter, who had passed out during the History O.W.L. Astoria thought that was very unfortunate; the examiners were going to score whatever he had finished. She had passed out once at school, but it had not been during a test. If she were going to pass out during any of her O.W.L.s the next year, she guessed it would be practical Herbology.

"How do you think you did?" Ginny Weasley asked her after their Potions exam.

"I left four questions blank," Astoria admitted.

"I skipped three of them. I think there were plenty of trick questions hidden in there, too."

"He must not have wanted to disappoint us," Astoria said.

"That's the truth…" Ginny sighed.

Astoria didn't see Ginny in the corridors for the rest of the day.

Astoria and Montel Davis were walking to Umbridge's classroom when Hestia came running toward them.

"Umbridge cancelled too," Hestia smiled.

Astoria could not imagine why, unless Umbridge also had suffered an injury during the fight on the grounds. Good for her.

"Want to go to the library to study for Ancient Runes?" Montel suggested.

Their fingers slid down pages of symbols in their books as they unenthusiastically crammed for their test. With the first glimpse of the exam Professor Babbling gave to her, Astoria wished she had studied more for it. If only she had known how easy the Astronomy O.W.L. was going to be, she would have studied more for other tests and might not have messed up so many translations.

With all of her classes essentially finished for the year, Astoria was left with plenty of time to think of other things. She moseyed round the castle after dinner with Hestia. They spoke of their tests for several moments and skidded across their own awkwardness.

"Professor Sinistra went round the bend today when Peeves smudged all the telescope eyepieces," Hestia said.

"Oh, no…"

"She had the Bloody Baron scare him from ever going back in her classroom again."

"Good."

"Yeah. And Umbridge rounded up the Inquisitorial Squad earlier. I heard someone broke into her office. I haven't seen Malfoy or Bulstrode, or any of them."

"They're probably massaging her feet right now," Astoria said scornfully.

"Yeah."

"Shall we go outside?" Astoria proposed as they walked past the Clock Tower courtyard.

"I'd love to."

A cool breeze tickled their cheeks as they walked out to the dank courtyard. The sun was sinking, but glimmers of it were still peeking through cracked, ivy-ridden stones in the walls. Hestia audibly breathed in the evening air. She stretched out her fingers to let the gentle winds fly between them. Astoria ran to the other side of the courtyard with a splendid sweep of energy. Her eyes adjusted to view the spectacular tower soaring above her, its wrought-iron clock ticking with a deep tone.

"Oh, no one's bothered to thin the pear trees…" Hestia objected.

She dexterously pointed her wand all over the trees, carefully choosing which fruitlets to detach. The plop, plop, plop of the undeveloped pears onto the busted, muddy brick below was louder than the sound of Hestia's spell. Pale yellow light flashed over and over until Hestia decided she was tired. She sat down next to Astoria on the edge of the murky fountain in the centre of the courtyard.

"Watch your head," Astoria warned before Hestia was nearly conked by the wing of a gargoyle.

"Oh, this is a couple's spot, isn't it?" Hestia said, peeking into the fountain water to see a collection of names and initials carved into the stone at the bottom.

"Don't get any ideas," Astoria kidded.

"Very funny! How do you think they get their initials under the water like that?" Hestia wondered, her eyes examining the alphabet-soup-like appearance of the nearby letters of TD ML, AS + JC, and RL + SB.

"It's either a special wand-writing technique," Astoria hypothesised, "or they wait until the water drains in the winter."

Hestia lifted her eyes to the cerulean sky; its clouds became a deeper and deeper plum as the sun fell further. Astoria leaned her head on one of the less mossy parts of the column beside her and waited for stars to start emerging into view. Her thoughts whirled round the conversation she had had with Theodore for what must have been the third time. Somewhere in the castle, Draco was holding a grudge against her for not trying to get her "fair share" of You-Know-Who's power, or something contemptible like that.

"Hestia," Astoria said timidly.

"Yes?"

"It's come to my attention that I ought to be scared."

"You mean about…"

"Yeah."

"…Yeah. Yeah, me too. Imogen Stretton was saying earlier that the most foolish thing someone could do was to be a 'blood-traitor.' As if You-Know-Who was going to knight us for being pure-blood or something. Reward our families. Give us clout. I don't know. I've lived with a pair of Death Eaters my whole life, and the only thing I've got out of this Dark Lord rubbish is pain."

Astoria nodded sympathetically. She drifted back to her thoughts as nightfall splashed over her. The weather was lovely, and the sky was beautiful. It was hard to believe that You-Know-Who was out in this same world again, calculating when to ruin everything.

"I can't lose Rhiannon," Hestia whispered.

"I know, Hestia," Astoria said. "I'm worried about her as well."

"I don't know what to, to do, you know? I really don't know what to do."

"You… I don't think there is anything you can do…" Astoria said restlessly.

"That's what bothers me."

Astoria wished that she could ease Hestia's mind at least slightly by telling her that Rhiannon would be protected as much as possible at the estate, but the matter was private, and Hestia was still sensitive about Rhiannon's past feelings. Astoria's mood transitioned from cheerful, to frightened, to bitter. She considered what Draco would have thought about Rhiannon's tenancy at Quennell Park. He probably would have thought Astoria was stupid for protecting her friend, even though Theodore had made it clear that Draco wished he could protect Astoria. Maybe that was the feeling he had about his wish, too — that it was stupid to waste his nerves on Astoria. It hurt to think of the slime inside his heart when Astoria still so clearly remembered all the times she and he had smiled together.

Back in the common room, Draco was telling a vivid story about his doings in the Inquisitorial Squad and how Umbridge had put Professor Snape on probation. Draco had a bloody nose, and Astoria interrupted his wild tale to ask him if he was all right. He puffed out his chest and told her that he was, and Hestia and Astoria retired.

The alarms had gone off, the hair had been fixed, and the make-up had been applied. Astoria, Rhiannon, Flora, and Hestia stepped into the Great Hall, happy to see the absence of Umbridge at the staff table. In an instant, though, Astoria noticed that nobody at that table looked as happy as they ought to have after having misplaced Umbridge. In contrast, the students were cheerfully munching away, and the clamour of breakfast had hardly risen when the owls came in with the post. Astoria saw Professor Sprout folded her hands as if to pray. More people had letters than usual.

Astoria sat next to Theodore Nott, who was sitting with the newspaper folded beneath his elbow, and her friends sat in a line on the other side. Rhiannon tucked in immediately, and Hestia was adding spices to her pumpkin juice. Past them, Astoria could see Flora's head turned toward the staff table. The mood there had not changed since Astoria had last looked. She was about to ask Theodore if he was okay, as he hadn't moved since she had arrived. But somebody elbowed Theodore into her. His eyes fell; his lip quavered as he emitted something less than a whisper.

"Oh no," Draco said; it was he who had elbowed Theodore.

Astoria glanced beyond Theodore's bowed head to see that Draco was holding an incredibly long letter. The bottom edge of it had fallen into his food; he did not even notice. Theodore had begun to nod with his eyes closed, as if he were trying to accept some horrible news.

But it was Draco who had the news in his hand. His lips were nearly white as he was mouthing whatever was in that letter.

"No, no, no, no, no," Draco said as his eyes scanned the oatmeal-soiled end of the letter. "No, no, no…"

Astoria had never seen him so mortified. She was too frightened to ask him what was wrong. Whatever it was, it was big. Rhiannon and Hestia had taken notice. Across the table, Daphne, Parkinson, and Heather Thatcham had taken notice. And Tracey Nettlebed was already leaning over her breakfast to try to get the most out of the scene.

"Draco, what is it…?" Parkinson asked, reaching her hand across the table to touch his arm.

"The dungeons. Go, Pansy, we're going — hmm — now," Draco said, utterly panic-stricken. "Dad, it's Dad… it's Dad… hmm, no, no. Theodore, it's Dad."

Draco nearly fell backwards from his seat. He got up, his back arched; he was scratching one side of his head. His grey eyes were wet and surrounded with red rings. He was ready to break into tears. Theodore stood up quickly, and Parkinson had already started running round the table. Draco escaped to the stairwell, Parkinson had caught up to his side, and Theodore walked close behind. Astoria had not even realised she was out of her seat until Theodore put up a hand that told her to stop. His expression alone said everything she didn't want it to.

You don't belong in this.