Book 3: Astoria Greengrass and the Legilimens of Hogwarts
Song rec: "Mouthful of Cavities" by Blind Melon

Astoria, Rhiannon, Flora, and Hestia lived in room number 106: a small, architectural oddity wedged into the first curve in the hallway of the Slytherin girls' dormitories. It was never hard to hear noise coming from the common room, but rarely was it so loud this late at night. Astoria put on her dressing gown and grabbed her wand; the noise seemed to oblige that. Flora was already awake, but she had been waiting to see if the commotion would disturb the others. Astoria looked at her shoes. Somehow, it didn't sound like slippers would be enough.

Down the hallway ran Abigail Pugh, the seventh-year prefect. Abigail had her wand fully drawn before her. Astoria did the same. She did not know why. She did not know why she ended up as the leader on this walk down the hall. Usually, Flora was first in their group. Flora was strong. Rhiannon had her nose in the Foe-Shard, frantically talking to Hestia about the figures they saw inside. Hestia kept saying "Alecto and Amycus." Those were not the only names she said.

Astoria was not very tall, so it only took a handful of seventh-year boys to obstruct her view of whatever everyone was facing. They appeared to be looking toward the common room exit. Perhaps they were all trapped. Hestia's claustrophobia swelled; she was sweaty and breathing loud. Flora instructed Rhiannon with gestures to get Hestia as close to the wall away from the crowd as she could. Flora stayed with Astoria. Nobody's words made any sense because everyone was shouting at once. Astoria found her sister and Tracey Davis by the underwater window and contemplated that the throngs really did mean that they were all trapped. Slytherin and Hufflepuff were both below ground.

"Daphne!" Astoria said, touching her sister's arm.

"It's Theodore!" Daphne said, and she pointed into the crowd in vain.

Theodore was not visible.

"Theodore what‽" Flora asked.

"He's locked us in!" Tracey informed.

"Why‽"

Astoria knew deep down that whatever was wrong, she was going to have to be the one to talk to Theodore. Daphne strained her voice shouting over the panicked crowd.

"Sadie, Sourav, and Mildred were cramming for their N.E.W.T.s when they heard all this chaos coming from the hallway! Something about Snape! Something about Death Eaters in the castle! Gryffindors were out there, I think! I'm not sure!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Death Eaters‽"

"In the castle!" said Tracey.

"That must be why Theodore's locked us in!" Astoria concluded.

"Well, he's not being very explanatory!" Daphne shouted. "He knocked out Xander Lofthouse cold when he tried to get out of the common room… if you look past Millicent, you can see him lying against the wall!"

"Has Draco talked to Theodore‽" Astoria asked.

"I haven't seen Draco!" Tracey said.

If Theodore was the one holding them inside, then Theodore was the one with the answers. Astoria had little experience with being so rough except when she practised duelling with her roommates. Still, she pushed her way through that uselessly shuffling crowd with only her elbow, wand still drawn, whilst Flora held her left hand to stick together. Astoria's mental map of the room no longer helped her with everyone in it; she walked right into a desk and stubbed her toe hard. A Numbing Spell… she knew a Numbing Spell from a book… She made room so that she could kneel down. She overheard something.

"I didn't think he'd do it tonight. Bring them in."

"I never know with Malfoy. Does what he wants."

Malfoy?

It was Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, leaning on the desk she had hit with their backs to Astoria. She noticed how calm they were compared to the rest of the students. Goyle was picking a scab on his arm like nothing was happening.

Astoria crawled carefully onto the table and stood up to see. Nobody else must have tried this yet, because her action drew a lot of attention. She did not look at the sea of eyes beneath her save for Flora's. She spotted Theodore. He was shrouded in an eerie black Shield Charm Astoria had not seen before. His wide stance and the magic encircling him made him much larger than himself. Theodore looked at her because she was standing on the table. He was not much concerned with the Reductor Curses being blast against his Shield. Some people were casting those thoughtlessly merely because he did have a Shield. Others looked like they had a purpose. But nobody needed to be leaving that common room if there were Death Eaters about.

"I wonder how long it will take him," said Goyle.

"It's Malfoy. Give 'im another year," said Crabbe.

They had glanced at Astoria and were aware that she was standing behind them, but they did not move their rumps from the table.

"Lucius Malfoy?" Astoria asked.

She thought she had it all figured out in her head. Voldemort had released the rest of the Death Eaters from Azkaban and had ordered Lucius Malfoy to come here, to bring Death Eaters, and to attack Harry Potter. Had he called upon Draco — that was what she needed to know. Had Lucius Malfoy brought forth his son?

Crabbe turned sideways, his face contorted.

"Lucius? No, you Mudwallower, Draco Malfoy."

No.

"Draco? What do you mean Draco? Draco what?"

Goyle had started to laugh. Crabbe's face was hard. It was so rare that Astoria heard him talk, and the more that he did, the more she hated him.

"'Draco what?'" he mocked. "Guess he never told his new bitch anything."

"CRABBE!" Astoria screamed, for oddly nobody else mattered in that room. "TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING!"

"I don't gotta tell you nothing!"

Before she could fully process what he had said about Draco in the first place, and before she could mull over any other possible course of action, Astoria drove her left elbow down onto his greasy, buzzed head and pulled him backwards with all her might, flat onto the table. Crabbe drew his wand, and she Disarmed it effortlessly. It might have been a toy.

"Astoria!" Flora said from somewhere.

"Legilimens!" Astoria screamed with her wand between Crabbe's eyes.

Crabbe's mind was full of hatred. It contained no pleasing pathways or interesting turns like Professor Sinistra's. There were no secrets like in Gwendela Bagshot's book. It was all plain in there. Plain and violent. Astoria didn't need everything. She knew that she could get what she wanted out of him. He had no Occlumency, so he began to physically fight her, grabbing her legs. Astoria should have prepared for this. She circled around him, keeping her eyes on him. He weakened under her spell. When he reached instinctively to try to catch her again, she stepped on his hands.

"Astoria, stop!"

"That's Astoria Greengrass!"

"Greengrass?"

"Astoria, get down!"

It didn't matter what anyone said because no one forcibly stopped her. Nobody's care for Crabbe outweighed their interest in watching her do this. She had to seize what she wanted. It would only take a matter of moments in his thoughts.

Malfoy's always needing help for his Death Eater mission. Sicko keeps making me and Greg transfigure into girls with Polyjuice. 'Guard me, watch the corridors,' he says. I'm tired of being bossed round by this toff. Dark Lord's not gonna favour him anyway. He's a Malfoy. Malfoy was in charge of the Department of Mysteries and ruined it. My dad just followed his lead. I'm tired of us following these ruddy Malfoys. I'll help for now, but I'm gonna make a name for myself one day soon.

Get out of my head, you slut!

I have no idea what Malfoy's doing tonight letting in Death Eaters. He must have been too weak to do the job himself. I wonder what they're going to do. Maybe he's been ordered to kill Harry Potter. Maybe that's what the Sectumsempra business boils down to. What made the Dark Lord think Malfoy had it in him to kill somebody? Malfoy's all bark and no bite. That's why he's used us all these years.

Astoria finally crawled down from the table. Crabbe was rubbing his blue hands. She Disarmed Goyle to be on the safe side after seeing his attempts to stop her. She didn't want the wand, and handed it off to the aghast prefect, Horatio Pershore, who was not inclined to give Crabbe his wand back, either. Her spells must have set off the violent streak in some of the fourth-year boys. A fight was breaking out. Yet she noticed that everyone shuffled to get out of her way now. No one ran to her now. She looked back at the table, and indeed the path was still cleared behind her as well as forward. Flora stood there in surprise, but she would soon run off and look for her sister.

"That's Astoria Greengrass," said a first-year she didn't know.

"Greengrass?" said the child's friend.

They thought they knew who she was by her last name again. She walked straight to Theodore, whose Shield was still holding up against the attacks of Kestrel Gibbon, Hunter Mulciber, Fiona Rookwood, and Pansy Parkinson. All of them except Parkinson had Death Eaters in the family. All of them stared at Astoria when she approached Theodore. Her arrival reminded them of the girl they called Slytherin's Blot. Mulciber spun round, smiling wickedly at the chance to finally attack Rhiannon due to the chaos. Astoria anticipated this.

"Nocnitsa," she said coldly, and Mulciber dropped to the floor, face up and unconscious.

That was the very curse that Parkinson had used nonverbally on Astoria months before. Astoria clearly remembered those terrible nightmares of Rabastan Lestrange killing everyone. After a long search in the books Flora rented from the library's restricted section, Astoria had found how to cast the curse. It was the perfect time to use it now with Parkinson watching. Having seen their ally fall, Gibbon, Rookwood, and Parkinson all returned to their assault on Theodore's Shield and pretended not to notice Astoria. They had other goals. Astoria's own goal was not common to theirs apart from first getting through this Shield. After that, she did not know what she would do.

Theodore's wand hand was not shaking, but his other hand was. He had something small clutched in it. He was not responding to any of the things the students shouted whilst they tried to break his barrier. His light eyes seemed very dark in the shadow of the monstrous shield.

"Theodore!" Astoria yelled.

She had to get to Draco. She had to bring him down before it was too late and he was lost to her. This was somehow his father's fault. Somehow, this was not Draco's idea.

"Don't even think about it, Astoria!"

Heads turned. It was the first answer Theodore had given since he had set up his barricade. Again, she heard people say it. Astoria Greengrass. The girl making the most commotion.

"I NEED THROUGH NOW!" she yelled.

"YOU'LL DIE!"

"WHERE IS HE?"

She was certain Parkinson had already asked, but it was all she could think about.

"WHERE IS HE, THEODORE?"

"ASTORIA, NOBODY IS LEAVING THIS ROOM UNTIL I GET THE SIGNAL!" Theodore shouted at her, shaking his fist to the side.

Astoria understood. They were in contact somehow, Theodore and Draco. Theodore was trapping them in here on Draco's orders. No one would leave the common room until the Death Eaters were gone. No relatives of the Death Eaters were allowed to join the fight… nor was anyone on the side of good. That was why Xander Lofthouse remained Stupefied against the wall and why Astoria was not permitted through. Theodore's Shield encompassed him, the door, and the fireplace in a half-circle. It glimmered black, constantly in motion, like a celestial globe being spun. Astoria could not hope to break what several other students hadn't been able to. Her friends would not come to her. The twins knew to keep Rhiannon away from the people assaulting the Shield. Astoria thought of her cousins high up in the castle's towers. Death Eaters did not take kindly to Gryffindors or to the children of Squibs. She sat on the step, dazed.

The sound of a coin dropping behind her seemed, at first, immaterial to her shock.

"Prat… you prat… thank heavens…"

It was Theodore again. He released the Shield. Suddenly, the throng ran forward, having been caged and afraid. Astoria had to stand up. She would be trampled otherwise. Even though everyone was moving forward out of the common room, it felt like bodies were colliding with her from every possible angle. A clammy hand grabbed her wrist, then wrapped firmly in her palm.

"I'll explain what I can," said Theodore.

"Let's go," she said.

Theodore and Astoria ran alongside of the crowd, but it did not get them there any faster. When the Slytherins poured out onto the grounds, students from other Houses took note of the delay in their arrival. Slytherin could not do anything right tonight.

"They must have fought here… the Ministry. They have a few people here already."

Astoria's eyes adjusted quickly, for the night was not much different from the dungeons. A heavy scent of smoke hung in the air. Ministry workers were encircling a body at the foot of a little knoll. A much larger crowd had gathered beneath Astronomy Tower.

"Draco said 'don't let anyone out of the common room until we're gone,'" Theodore said breathlessly. "He signalled me with a Protean Charm. That means he got away."

"He got away," echoed Astoria, not knowing whether that was good or bad or safe.

"Draco…" panted Theodore, pulling Astoria behind the stairs they had just descended. "Draco had to become a Death Eater in his father's place. Lucius… the Department of Mysteries… I don't have to become a Death Eater yet. My dad wasn't in charge of that mission. Lucius was. Draco…"

"Draco's a Death Eater," echoed Astoria again.

"Yes, the Dark Lord gave him orders… a suicide mission, but he pulled it off in the end… He got away. The Dark Lord said… kill Dumbledore… recompense…"

"What? Theodore, you're panicking," Astoria said, squeezing his hand.

They could not falter at the same time. They could not falter at the sound of other students' crying ringing across the grounds. The headmaster was dead. Had their dear friend really killed him? Or was it one of the people Draco had brought in?

Theodore choked out, "That's why he went missing all year… to use the Vanishing Cabinet. It let the Death Eaters in. He said four others, but it looks like more were here."

"Four others? Death Eaters?"

"Four other Death Eaters, but obviously more w-were here uninvited."

"It's okay, Theodore," said Astoria meaninglessly; her insides were knotted in pain.

"I think he's okay. I think he did it, so the Dark Lord won't kill his family after all! I'm still moving in with the Goyles. B-But I don't think he'll kill Draco. I think Draco's pulled it off with the others."

"That's who was going to kill Draco? The Dark Lord himself?" Astoria asked, for that was palpably worse than the Lestranges. "Draco was forced to murder someone?"

"Y-Yeah, it was bad. It was all bad. But I think Draco's surprised the Dark Lord with this," Theodore said. "It was a suicide mission, but he'll be okay."

"Dumbledore," Astoria's voice broke.

"Yeah, Dumbledore…" he said, the relief disappearing. "Yeah… he had to do it. That's who the Dark Lord picked. Potter has to be the Dark Lord's, apparently. The idea was to have Draco die by Dumbledore."

"What about you?" Astoria asked wildly, for Theodore was the one in front of her — not Draco, not Rhiannon, not Flora and Hestia.

"About me?"

"Will you have to become a Death Eater, too?" she asked, and her eyes stung tardily.

Control your emotions. Like Occlumency. You've been doing it all evening, she thought.

"I don't know…" Theodore said hoarsely, scanning the grounds again. "I don't know… I couldn't figure out how to do something like this… not even to save my dad…"

"Maybe you won't have to," she said.

Nothing you're saying is making sense. Find your family and friends. Find your teachers. Pray. Go home. Dumbledore's dead. Dumbledore's dead. Oh, Draco, how could this happen?

"Maybe I won't," Theodore repeated.

The airborne Dark Mark glinted over Astronomy Tower with such derision at the mourners below. It made sense, Astronomy Tower. Perhaps Draco had resorted to pushing the poor old man off the edge, reasonably unable to match the old man's magic. How could this happen?

Astoria did not want to see the sickening colour of the Dark Mark. It was a symbol of bloodshed. The thought occurred to her that all she had to offer to anyone that night was to remove the debauched thing from the sky. An Atmospheric spell might at least let gentle moonlight shine down on the fallen's body. She was too far away from the Dark Mark, though, and there was hardly a chance that its substance held anything in common with the troposphere. Still, she wished she could remove the travesty that Draco had had to cast above them as part of some sick business protocol.

"Astronomy Tower… Professor Sinistra!" Astoria jumped, bumping Theodore.

"Sinistra," Theodore gasped in turn. "She could be anywhere. She could have Disapparated with them. They might have forced her to come… And Snape… All old connections! Just like Dad was summoned to the rebirth of the Dark Lord!"

"No!" Astoria shouted.

She could not have her favourite teacher enslaved the way Draco was. It had not happened. Her teachers were both still here. Professor Snape hadn't come to the common room because he might have been trying to catch Draco… Professor Sinistra, she must have put up a good fight in Astronomy Tower… That was in their character. That was the kind of people they were.

"Professor!" she yelled across the grounds.

She and Theodore ran clumsily hand in hand because they could not bear the thought of somehow losing each other. The Death Eaters could regroup and come back, could they not? And who was to defend Hogwarts if not Dumbledore?

Dumbledore really died… Draco really…

"Professor!"

Astoria did not know which of the two teachers she was yelling for, but she did know that she was the only one yelling. The crowd of students were quiet in speech but louder in cries. The Ministry workers talked quietly amongst themselves, already reviewing how this event would look on Scrimgeour's term.

"I'm here, Astoria. I'm right here."

How Professor Sinistra managed to be at this place at this time did not matter. Astoria tried to balance Theodore's hand, her own wand, and Professor Sinistra's embrace all at once and failed miserably. She lay her face on Professor Sinistra's fluffy dressing gown. For a moment, everything was all right.

"Who's all dead?" Theodore asked up front.

Professor Sinistra spoke with gentle composure, but as she turned her head to face Theodore, something warm and wet dripped into Astoria's hair.

"That I know of, our Professor Dumbledore. There are several amongst the injured."

The professor said this as though she was not one of them. However, the blood and tears from her face slowly dripped.

"I believe Tilton Gibbon was here with the Death Eater party and has died. The Ministry's taking him."

That must have been who Kestrel Gibbon was trying to get to from the common room. Astoria wanted her own family. How soon could she see her parents and grandparents?

Flora and Hestia must have walked out with Rhiannon. Astoria could not see them. She needed to see them. She needed them all here to conduct a head count.

"…Professor Snape," said Theodore.

It was not a question.

"Yes," answered Professor Sinistra. "But as you see, he does not tell me everything."

"Where is Professor Snape?" Astoria asked, peeking over the witch's shoulder. Usually he and Sinistra responded to Slytherin crises together.

"No, no, dear," hushed Professor Sinistra, patting her back.

"'No' what? Where is he?" Astoria uttered, but she was interrupted by the most welcome face of all.

Rhiannon had her wand lit with a red tint, the colour Astoria always lit hers for the sake of stargazing, even when she was indoors. It might have been for the fallen Gryffindor. Rhiannon's eyes were wet, but she had herself under control. She did not look angry with Astoria. Flora and Hestia stood close behind her, terrified.

"It's a good thing we found you, Professor, 'cause we can't find Snape nowhere, and nobody seems to be in the mood to listen to Slughorn right now. People are real panicked."

"He will not be back at Hogwarts," Professor Sinistra said, her hand still firm on Astoria's back. "Minerva will choose Professor Slughorn as the new Head of Slytherin. Heaven knows I've ruined all my chances."

"Not back at Hogwarts?" Rhiannon squeaked. "Where'd he go?"

"You-Know-Who took Professor Snape back?" Astoria asked frantically, having taken cues from Theodore.

"Yes, dear, he did," Professor Sinistra murmured. "He took him back."

Everyone shuffled. Astoria backed up.

"Professor Snape could never afford to tell me everything, but I do know that he saw to it that Draco Malfoy did not murder Albus Dumbledore. Somebody else in the party must have done it. Even still, I suggest to all of you that you simply agree with the popular consensus, even if it does not make sense. Do not talk about Professor Snape. Do not talk about Draco."

Draco didn't kill Dumbledore… Draco didn't kill Dumbledore…

"Don't talk about it?" Rhiannon said, starting to become belligerent.

"That is what I said," Professor Sinistra answered, wiping her bloodied face like it was nothing more than a nuisance.

"You got hit, Professor," Rhiannon noticed.

"I am fine — the ceiling fell in on the first floor of the tower."

"Who all was there?" Theodore asked, and Professor Sinistra knew exactly what he meant.

"Besides Gibbon, there was Thorfinn Rowle, Fenrir Greyback, and Amycus and Alecto Carrow…"

"Greyback? The werewolf?" Theodore asked in horror.

"Amycus and Alecto?" Flora asked like they were worse than any man-eating monster.

"Yes. Oh, and Yaxley's still up there," Professor Sinistra said offhandedly.

"Yaxley's up there?" Theodore exclaimed.

"But everyone's outside!" Flora gasped in turn.

"We need—" Theodore started.

"To alert somebody, Theodore?" Professor Sinistra injected perfectly. "Albus Dumbledore is dead, and you think it is in our best interest to help the Ministry? I can assure you that Yaxley is out of commission for now, and that the Ministry will find him whether we alert them or not. Our smartest course of action is to let the events play out for themselves. What ever would Yaxley report to the Dark Lord if Aurora Sinistra, Nott Jr, and the Carrows sold him needlessly?"

The twins gaped at each other. Theodore started rocking back and forth, almost imperceptibly. The gravity of the situation must have finally weighed upon Theodore for his Occlumency to break.

"Oh, that's the phoenix what saved me," Rhiannon said breathlessly, pointing to the sky. "Back when that basilisk..."

The fallen headmaster's phoenix sang a beautiful requiem over the grounds, and Rhiannon drew Hestia closer. Professor Sinistra swept her robe sideways to miss the mud puddles in the grass, and they all wordlessly followed her to where the crowd of people stood by the headmaster's very real dead body. They were the last ones there and could not see a thing, but at least they would blend in. A touching tribute was underway for the great wizard, for most had lit their wands and raised them to the sky, right under the face of the Dark Mark. The brightness was comforting, although Astoria sensed that some people were convinced that it could remove the profane image from above Dumbledore. Perhaps it was not an Atmospheric charm but light that could take it down… She lit her wand as bright as it would shine with the rest of the crowd…

"Morkredd," Professor Sinistra said under her breath, twisting her left hand and balling it downward into a fist.

And Astoria realised that it was not the light from the crowd's tribute nor their love of Albus Dumbledore that had removed the Dark Mark from the sky. It was Professor Sinistra's quiet, esoteric incantation. She had performed the spell on cue with the crowd's mourning so that the people might think they had had some small part in relieving the chaos, that their tribute somehow tangibly lessened the Dark Lord's power. For once, Astoria would have done better to be ignorant. Light did not overpower the Dark here. It only raised morale, and that alone would not save them.