Book 2: Astoria Greengrass and the Haunt of Azkaban
Song rec: "You Don't Care About Us" by Placebo
Astoria needed a rest after the second waltz, for the initial quickstep at the beginning had tired her considerably. Still in his arms, Astoria asked Philippe if he would like to get eggnog with her back in the banquet hall, but he said he did not care for the beverage and decided to take a seat next to Rhiannon, who had not budged since the opening dance. Astoria decided that she had pestered Rhiannon to dance enough and instead asked her to join her for eggnog.
"I… well, I don't like eggnog much," Rhiannon said, wide-eyed.
"I don't either. It is very like eggs with sugar to me," Philippe related.
"Eggs with sugar's about right," said Rhiannon. "But, yeah, I mean, I could get some hot chocolate with you, Astoria."
"Very well. Would you care for hot chocolate, too, Philippe?" asked Astoria, waiting for him.
"No, thank you. I am not thirsty right now," he responded.
The twelve round tables had been Vanished away by Dimsie and Prissy, and the banquet hall now displayed a table with Christmas biscuits, candy canes, and goblets waiting to be filled. Rhiannon and Astoria each took a goblet and announced what beverages they wanted, and delicious cocoa and eggnog appeared in their respective cups.
"I'm very proud of you for eating that caviar," Astoria sniggered.
"Yeah, where's my trophy?" Rhiannon said, holding out her hands. To her shock, a small golden trophy appeared in her right palm and she had to clutch it before it fell.
Astoria's cousin, Orphée Ciel, beamed his pearly whites at Rhiannon in all of his splendour. His trophy trick worked. After swigging her hot chocolate, Rhiannon finally cooperated and went to dance with the older boy, but she had to be nodded on by Astoria first. Astoria took her eggnog into the ballroom with the intent of drinking it whilst she sat with Philippe. He had moved from his spot. Astoria finished her drink and returned the goblet to the table, where it Vanished back to the kitchens. She stood in the threshold between the dining hall and the ballroom, eyeing the line of dance. Philippe was dancing with Lavender Brown. He did not see Astoria as the pair waltzed past her. That was a good thing, she considered, because her face must have looked pitiful. Since her legs were still tired anyway, she took his old seat and tried to reason with herself. Lavender Brown was the girl who was apparently bothering Rhiannon as well.
It must be in her nature to accost boys and drag them off, Astoria thought.
And since Philippe was so nice, he must have agreed to dance with her. He was sitting alone at the time anyway and probably did not want to be the only one sitting in the room. Although, if Astoria was the only one sitting in a room full of dancing, she still would have waited for her date to come back. Why hadn't Philippe done that? Astoria was only gone two minutes. She became the only one sitting alone, watching Philippe and Lavender come round again, but it was still Lavender who was facing Astoria's direction when they went by. Perhaps the next time, Philippe would be the one facing her. He might make a funny face, which would indicate that he was somehow forced into the waltz. Perhaps Zéphir had put him up to it.
Rhiannon and Orphée passed Astoria, and Rhiannon saw her sitting alone. She looked quite surprised and started saying something to Orphée, but the line of dance kept them going. Soon they were gone. Draco and Astoria's cousin Aura were approaching, and Astoria hoped that she would face Aura rather than Draco, who would later remind her that she was all alone during this song. Her wish came true, and then they were gone. Asenath blasted the view of her skulls-and-roses back tattoos as she went by with one of the Bourgs' daughters in her clutch. Even the sight of the monstrous tattoos blended eventually. Then Philippe faced Astoria. He made no change in his expression even as Astoria raised her eyebrows at him. He was gone again.
What had happened during the time Astoria and Rhiannon went to get drinks? Hadn't Philippe just spent the entirety of the previous day with Astoria? Had he not been so eager to dance with her earlier? Was he tired of her already? Astoria felt like shrinking, like hiding under her chair. She needed to hear his explanation for this. She stood when the dance ended and locked her eyes on Philippe. He would come back. He would be over in a minute with an excuse, maybe even a good excuse. Maybe even a story as complex as the feeling Astoria had in that moment.
No. Dancing with Max Lazenby's sister next was not a good excuse at all.
"Astoria, what's the matter? What's wrong?"
Rhiannon came over and placed a hand on Astoria's shoulder. It was a gesture of support, but in that moment, it seemed to push Astoria down even further.
Rhiannon, Philippe kissed me yesterday, and everything felt right again after five months of not seeing him. Rhiannon, I shared my first kiss with somebody who left me on the side of my own ballroom.
The statements were so simple, but Astoria could not say them. The situation was not simple — the situation made no sense. At least, it made no sense to Astoria. Her cousin Orphée, however, immediately started calculating upon hearing Rhiannon ask where Philippe was.
"Philippe?" Orphée asked, drawing the girls off to the side of the banquet hall. "Philippe Boisvert? Zéphir's friend? That is why he is here, because of you, Astoria?"
"…That's, that's right," Astoria stuttered.
Orphée made a show of looking devastated. Astoria, who had been trying desperately to ignore the signs up until then, accepted the speech which was about to come.
"Astoria, Philippe tells everybody that he writes to a girl in each of the Hogwarts Houses. I did not know that you were the 'Slytherin girl.' I would have written to you if I knew he was doing this. Zéphir, though…"
"Philippe is just like Zéphir…?" Astoria said feebly.
What a game it all was to Philippe — a "collect them all" game involving Hogwarts girls. Lavender Brown was Gryffindor, Medea Lazenby was Hufflepuff, and Astoria Greengrass was Slytherin. Whoever the girl from Ravenclaw was, Astoria would likely find out soon. But it mattered not. Philippe was not only two-timing, but four-timing — loyal to no one, out to pick the prettiest girl, or perhaps the loosest one, exactly like his best friend Zéphir. Why hadn't Astoria realised that no one could be friends with Zéphir's type without holding the same values? Why hadn't she known something like this would happen when Philippe had not written to her during the first term of school? She had felt that something was wrong, but she had tried to believe Philippe because being with somebody was so wonderful. She did not want to lose him. She had never had someone admire her so much; she had never admired someone quite in that way before. It was an exquisite feeling. Now it was shattered.
Orphée was hugging Astoria as she choked up, but she did not want to be hugged. She did not want to be supported by someone else. She wanted to grow up after seeing the world through a veil of pervasive naïveté. She wanted to rely on herself for once. And so she let her cousin go.
She walked out of the banquet hall and into a room full of the family's holiday donations in the west wing. Rhiannon followed her, but Astoria made no acknowledgement. She had become embittered. Once, Astoria had been a sweet little girl, an unstained mind, something warm and gentle. Where was that girl now? Had she been entirely lost after learning the truth about people? If it isn't abusive parents and racist schoolmates attacking Astoria's best friend, it is dishonesty attacking Astoria. These were all things that she felt she had learnt about too soon. Was facing these conflicts truly necessary in order to grow up? Was there no other way to learn and develop than to lose one's innocence?
Astoria drew her eyes away from the blackness outside the window to look at Rhiannon, and she then chastised herself for complaining about how the world was treating her. Astoria reminded herself that she had everything, and Rhiannon had had close to nothing throughout the most delicate years of her life. Astoria knew that there were worse things out there than being treated like a hooked fish. However, she wished that knowing that would alleviate the awful feeling she had.
"I'll kick his arse. I bet he's a right pansy if he tries fighting Muggle-style."
Rhiannon was removing her pretty gloves to reveal her thickset arms, and it took all of Astoria's willpower to tell her that using them against Philippe would not be necessary. It was plain to see that Rhiannon was eager to retaliate, but Astoria was not ready for any such action. She merely wanted to sit and calm herself. Preferably, she would be alone, but she could not find it within herself to send Rhiannon away. However, she could not find it within herself to cheer up for the other's sake, either.
"Do… do you wanna talk about it? Do you wanna tell me what happened?"
"I don't have much else to say," Astoria said.
"Do, er, do you want me to get you another drink or somethin'?"
"I don't, thanks."
"Erm, if I can do anything to help you—"
"You can't. It's okay. Let it go."
"Right. Right. Okay."
Astoria could actually feel herself souring as she sat there under the perusal of her friend. It must have been at least two more dances — two more of Philippe's other girls. Astoria hoped that Rhiannon could not hear how ragged her breathing was. It would have been so much easier if Rhiannon wasn't there watching her suffer. Not long after questioning the acoustics in the room which resounded her breathing, Astoria heard a vinegary voice laced with a countryside accent travelling in from the room across the hallway.
"Naturally that fool would place a Mudblood at his head table…! Do you know I counted five squibs here? Five!"
Astoria stood and seriously considered removing her gloves as Rhiannon had done for a very similar purpose. Of course other wastes-of-space would have wiggled their way into the estate this Christmas if Philippe had been able to do so.
"Well, you were not expecting differently, darling…"
The second voice was softer; Astoria would not have heard it if she had not moved to the door. Rhiannon was close behind and against the wall as though the pair was on a secret intelligence mission.
"Mrs Malfoy?" Astoria said to herself. Rhiannon happened to hear her and nodded.
"So she's having a talk with fussy old Lucius," Rhiannon said. "I was wonderin' when he'd break down here."
"Shh," Astoria said. She had missed some of the couple's discussion.
"That Adam always enjoys sticking thorns into my side—" Lucius Malfoy hissed.
How dare he speak of Astoria's father that way! Indisputably, Lucius deserved all and any thorns that were apparently causing him such discomfort.
"Lucius, dear, be quiet. If they hear you, we can say farewell to the reputation we've worked so hard to repair…" Mrs Malfoy chirruped.
"Is that so‽ I remember when this family would have been a stain upon my reputa—"
"I said let it be."
The Malfoys' footsteps could be heard going in the direction of the two event rooms, and Astoria exhaled the smoke of her anger. It was no wonder why the Malfoys were only present as a result of a hasty decision of Daphne's. Astoria made a mental note to ban them from her property as she fell back into her chair by the window. Philippe was next on the blacklist. She wished to ban Zéphir as well, but unfortunately, he was in the family.
Astoria soon grew tired of the confining walls of the room and decided to return to the banquet hall since showing her face in the ballroom was still unthinkable, but occupants of the ballroom were gliding into the banquet hall like flies searching for food anyway. Astoria was quick to decline a request to dance by who she thought was one of the Humberston boys. Rhiannon felt the need to apologise to him for Astoria's behaviour on account of her being "upset right now." It offended Astoria to hear Rhiannon speak as though the pain Astoria was experiencing was as transient as a pinch on the arm. She took a seat that granted her a view of the ballroom and glowered at Philippe when he passed by with yet another pretty — older — girl in his arms. Why Rhiannon chose to stay there and wait for everything to fix itself, Astoria did not know. She hated when others stared at her, but there was absolutely no way she could tell Rhiannon to leave without sounding nasty. Two more songs had played, and then Rhiannon decided to open her mouth.
"Y'know, a lot of blokes would dance with you. Forget about Philippe. We could get some drinks at that table over there, and you'll probably get asked right away."
"Do you think it is easy to get tossed aside? Do you honestly think I can forget about him just like that, Rhiannon? Last year we—"
"No, no, sorry, I don't mean like that. I just thought if you'd dance, it'd take your mind off him a bit."
"No. They'd all have something to say about my bad mood," Astoria declared.
"Well, clearly you wanna dance. I mean, it's your ball, so what should you care about some French berk? I was thinking dancing would improve your mood, make yeh feel better," Rhiannon continued.
"I do want to dance, but I don't want to dance with anyone who's going to insult me."
As though he was summoned by Rhiannon's unwelcome discussion, Montel Davis approached them on his way back into the ballroom and kindly asked if Astoria would like to join him.
"No, thanks," Astoria said, trying to hide her frustration.
"Are you okay?" Montel asked.
Astoria pretended she did not hear him. Rhiannon used that same "upset right now" line and made some cheerful comment to Montel in an obvious attempt to repair any damage Astoria had allegedly inflicted on him.
"Okay, Astoria, I get that this is terrible for you right now, but Montel's our friend. You know he wouldn't be rude if you still looked a little sad. So what was that about?" Rhiannon pestered.
"He'd ask too many questions, Rhiannon. I just don't want to be asked questions," Astoria said abruptly.
"M-hm. Okay. Well, why don't we go back to the other room, or to the game room or something? You look miserable here, and people are gonna start asking questions any minute now anyway when you got that face on," whispered Rhiannon.
"What face, Rhiannon? I've just been dumped!"
"Okay, you know what? Never mind," Rhiannon said, and went to get a butterbeer. Despite her now obvious displeasure with Astoria, Rhiannon still returned to sit next to her. Astoria wished she hadn't. Rhiannon seemed inappropriately relaxed. Very, very relaxed.
Astoria did want to dance, but she did not want to dance with anybody there. Her original desire was to dance with Philippe the whole evening; now she was spending the time watching him dance with the rest of his doll collection. There was no one else she wanted to dance with. The night was ruined. Rhiannon did not understand.
To make Astoria's awful feeling worse, the Daphne-invited Millicent Bulstrode walked directly toward the two girls and took a seat next to Rhiannon as though she belonged there. Astoria anticipated that Millicent would ask for all of the dirty details of the situation with Philippe so as to report them to everyone in the House, and that the best that Rhiannon would be able to come up with would still be that Astoria was "upset right now," which in no way would make Millicent go away.
"Hey, Rhiannon," said Millicent as though the two had been good friends for years.
"Erm, Millicent, hi," Rhiannon said and turned to Astoria as if she had all the answers to getting out of the situation. Astoria did nothing, for there was nothing to do.
"You know, Rhiannon…" began Millicent grippingly, and Rhiannon faced the unusually jolly girl. Astoria took interest as well. Typically, Millicent was a shadow of Parkinson or otherwise acted like an emotionless bodyguard. Astoria might have been convinced that she was really looking at a kindly twin of Millicent's.
"Asenath Greengrass has been wanting to talk to you since this ball started," Millicent informed Rhiannon.
Asenath? The night could not get any worse! Soon, another one of Astoria's licentious cousins would be showing her face at the worst timing to uselessly bother Rhiannon. And, of course, Astoria would probably get dragged into the matter in the blink of an eye when all she felt like doing was closing her eyes and crying.
"Who's that?" Rhiannon asked suspiciously.
"Rhiannon, let's go—" Astoria pleaded, taking her now irritable friend's arm.
"You don't know who she is?" Millicent said amusedly.
"She?" Rhiannon asked earnestly. Astoria was tugging the girl's arm desperately.
"Yes, she. I guess I'll inform her you aren't interested," Millicent shrugged.
It's over. Millicent is leaving. Please let it be over now, Astoria thought.
"Wait a second, who is she, then?" Rhiannon asked Millicent.
"Rhiannon, let's go. Let's go back to the other room," begged Astoria.
"Oh, of course now you want to go back," Rhiannon said quickly.
"You know… the one with all the tattoos," Millicent said languorously.
"…Her? Yeah?" Rhiannon said.
Astoria let go of Rhiannon's arm. Something was not right. Why did Rhiannon look so interested all of the sudden? Perhaps she found it amusing… but that was no reason to snap at Astoria.
"Yes, her," Millicent said with slight impatience. "You know — Asenath Greengrass? Gosh, the name alone should have been enough for you. If you're ever in mind to experiment, Asenath won't mind concluding the experiment for you."
Oh gross!
"You… wh—? Th-That so?" Rhiannon stammered.
Millicent smiled, but Astoria cut in, "Yes, yes, she's the 'Zéphir' from Father's side of the family, Rhiannon. Let's go now. Let's play a game of chess or something!"
"Er, all right," Rhiannon agreed.
Astoria and Rhiannon were leaving the banquet hall at last when Millicent's bossy voice snatched them from close behind.
"Wrong Greengrass, Rhiannon. I wouldn't waste my time on that one if I were you. I made the same mistake with Pansy."
"Wh—? What are you going on about, Millicent?" Rhiannon returned defensively.
Beyond Millicent's rolling eyes, Astoria could see the impending doom approaching. Asenath was swishing a red evening gown behind her and coming in for the kill.
"Always difficult with the Muggle-born ones, Asenath," Millicent said imperiously.
"Nonsense, Millie. They're just surprised," Asenath grinned through her blood-coloured lips. "Astoria, dear, how is Philippe treating you tonight? Not well, I see. May I recommend mister Montel Davis for the remainder of your evening?"
"Shoo, Asenath," Astoria growled.
Both Asenath and Millicent ignored her and carried on with their odd, business-like discussion about getting Rhiannon into their circle.
"This is Rhiannon Clarke," Millicent introduced as Rhiannon herself stood shocked and speechless.
"Oh, I know who Rhiannon Clarke is…" Asenath hummed.
"Don't bother her, really," Astoria cried out.
"Bother her? Let's let the lady speak for herself, Astoria. Rhiannon, am I bothering you already? I've hardly had a chance to say hello…"
Rhiannon heaved a huge breath, and to Astoria's disconsolation, said, "No, you're not."
Astoria could not put up with this any longer. Did Rhiannon not understand that Asenath was not after her friendship? Was Rhiannon really that ignorant? With her fondness of Draco and her action of egging on Asenath, Rhiannon was really beginning to seem socially incompetent.
After a quick glance around to make sure there weren't other relatives, Astoria declared, "Rhiannon, she's got as many girls as Philippe tonight, and she wants you next. That's what this is about. The whole thing. That's the only thing that this is about. Come now — you aren't interested."
Asenath looked bored and unaffected; she even pretended to yawn to get the point across that Astoria was not deterring her mood. It was tacky. Asenath was tacky, and she was apparently ignoring the fact that Rhiannon would have no predilection for her.
"Let the lady speak for herself, Astoria," sighed Asenath.
But Rhiannon did not utter a single word. She stood there, gaping at the wall opposite, frozen, awkward, and confused. Asenath took the opportunity to ask the poor thing to dance, after which Rhiannon looked round wildly as if she had been surrounded by a squadron of wand-happy Aurors.
"Listen, I don't know what you're playing at, Asenath… Millicent… but you can stop right now, if only for your own damn good," Rhiannon said. "You're just being ridiculous now. People're gonna hear you. All of Hogwarts is gonna know."
"Ridiculous, am I?" Asenath laughed, stupidly flipping her fringe out of her eyes for dramatic effect. "Rhiannon, before you run away, I want you to draw your pretty little eyes into that ballroom and find Astoria's aunt Azura dancing with her wife, both Mr Gautier-Pinots dancing, the Proudhons trying to teach their children how to dance, and any girl I have danced with to pass the time before I could reach you."
"W-Wife?"
Rhiannon uncertainly peered into the ballroom, and after squinting a bit, looked even more surprised than she had. Astoria was now as confused as Rhiannon was. Rhiannon seemed to be giving Asenath a lot of regard… It was Rhiannon who was ultimately keeping them there, not the languid Asenath nor her new personal secretary. But Rhiannon simply could not be interested in Asenath. Rhiannon liked a boy! She liked Draco! If Rhiannon was even remotely interested in women, it was news to Astoria, and Astoria was her very best friend. Although, if people like Draco and Asenath attracted Rhiannon's attention, perhaps Rhiannon was attracted to idiots all round.
"You'll soon find that things are very different in the Wizarding world, Rhiannon," Asenath said, leaning over Rhiannon's shoulder from behind. She dipped lower with her eyes and pate above Rhiannon's shoulder and her nose poking against Rhiannon's back. Astoria recoiled in distaste. How dare Asenath! She was doubtlessly going to treat Rhiannon the way Philippe had treated Astoria — as nothing more than a name on a list.
"I-I don't get this. I don't get this at all," Rhiannon said, twisting round to face the other three girls. She looked so overwhelmed that Astoria wished she could use strong magic to get them away from Asenath and Millicent. But Astoria stood helpless with no decent words to say.
"You come from Muggles," Millicent said a little too caustically. "I hear Muggles make a big fuss about things like race and sexual orientation…"
"A big fuss?" Rhiannon said despairingly. "A big fuss‽ People die because of stuff like that!"
"It's awful, isn't it?" Asenath said, showing the first signs of concern she had yet. "Well, we don't have those prejudices in the Wizarding world. It is my greatest regret to say that we instead have this obsession over blood purity… a nasty deal indeed. Well, I certainly do not care about that. Astoria and I come from a respectable family. I am lucky to be separated from all of those morons that cannot see how beautiful you are in their blind stupidity. Dance with me, Rhiannon. It is but one cage you do not have to keep yourself in now."
Astoria lost her breath. How had Asenath figured out that Rhiannon would be somebody she could ask to dance anyway? Rhiannon had not indicated that she liked girls in that way at all. It made no sense. Christmas Eve had become one shocking eye-opener after another, but Astoria quickly gathered her senses. She was not about to let Rhiannon make the same mistake that she had the previous year with Philippe. Just because there was only one person showing interest did not mean that Rhiannon had to be with that particular person. And oddly enough, both Philippe and Asenath were not even truly interested in the respective two friends. Astoria could not lose Rhiannon in the quicksand that was Asenath Greengrass. She had recently discovered the feeling of getting used, and no one — no one — was going to use Rhiannon.
"Don't, Rhiannon, you don't want this. I know how she works. There are other girls here you should meet. Let's go," Astoria said.
"You don't know what I want," Rhiannon said furiously, stepping away from Astoria unnecessarily. "You've clearly no idea what I want."
"I know you don't want to get involved with my cousin, Rhiannon!" Astoria said, not caring one bit if she had offended the relative in question throughout the entire discussion. Asenath didn't even blink; she knew the statements about her were true. That, if anything, ought to have been a sign to Rhiannon, but she was quickly gravitating toward Asenath like a magnet. Astoria was losing her voice as Rhiannon started pouring buckets of anger onto her.
"You're just jealous 'cos I'm gonna get to have a nice evening whilst you sit here all gloomy and complain you don't have a dance partner! Philippe is over. So you know what, Astoria? If you were so worried about someone else asking you about what happened… if you were so bleeding conflicted about getting to dance again… well, you coulda danced with me."
Asenath took Rhiannon's bad arm.