Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "The Garden" by Woodlock

The Greengrasses were still waiting for two more branches of the family to arrive at the estate before they would leave England, and it was clearly bothering Mr Greengrass that the rest of his daughter's O.W.L. scores had not come in yet. He kept only one owl now that Quennell Park had been all but cleared out, so he had to stifle the temptation to write to the Wizarding Examinations Authority.

Daphne was out of sorts at the weekend to the point that even Rhiannon cared. She had asked Rhiannon for advice about what belongings to "send out" Saturday afternoon and which to keep, in case Mr Greengrass wanted to stay and wait for the O.W.L. scores. This timeframe of departure was causing the largest disagreement among the Greengrasses that Rhiannon had ever seen.

"Er, toothbrush, hairbrush, maybe you could try wearing only one outfit each day…" Rhiannon uttered.

Everything was echoing in the mansion without the usual décor. There had to be a spell to solve something like that, but the fact that no one had cast it meant that the family wanted to know of any abnormal noises going on.

"I'm surprised Astoria parted with her hair potions already. There's no telling when we're really leaving. I can actually hear Maman and Daddy arguing downstairs!"

"We're not going out anywhere before leaving. So you can pack up your hair stuff, too, except what you need to shower."

"Oh, I only take baths," Daphne corrected, "so I can soak with extract of—"

"Yeah, okay. The point is if you don't need it to bathe or dress yourself, it's probably safe to send it out today."

Daphne scowled, "You don't have to help me sort anything."

"Listen, I'm sorry, but it's obvious you either brought me here to show off how much stuff you have, or because you think I already know how to live on the bare minimum," Rhiannon declared.

"That wasn't it at all! I asked you because everybody else is busy yelling at each other in the lounge, waiting on Uncle What's-his-Face from Derbyshire."

"Uncle Glen, I think. One of your great-uncle's sons?"

Rhiannon had made a genuine effort to learn the names of the new people she would be travelling with, and Glen was one of the easier ones to remember compared to things like "Eglantine" and "Gyidyr," if she had even heard those right.

"Glen! Oh, yes. He never married, did you know that?" Daphne said pointedly.

Rhiannon gritted her teeth. Daphne couldn't remember the bloke's name but wow, he didn't marry? That's really something.

Daphne spread seven handbags out on her bed, along with seven coordinated pairs of shoes she could have sent away last month.

"Won't be needing that many handbags if you send out your stuff, y'know."

"That's true… I thought… oh well…"

Daphne's cheeks filled with air, and she looked even more doll-like in her deep thought.

"Does the number ten mean anything to you today?"

"Er… no?" Rhiannon said. "Unless I got a ten percent on the History O.W.L."

"Hm. I hoped N.E.W.T. Divination would get me somewhere before I had to transfer. They don't have it at many other schools, you know," Daphne said. "Did you plan on continuing it?"

"No, I probably didn't get the score you need."

Rhiannon was a little surprised that Daphne had paid enough attention to remember that Rhiannon had taken Divination. Rhiannon had no passion for it, but Daphne had reason to be disappointed since Divination was one of the few O.W.L.s she had earned last year.

Rhiannon and Daphne waited until the family squabbling subsided to bring down the boxes to Mr Greengrass. It turned out that he had just disconnected Quennell Park from the Floo Network. He was pacing in the entrance hall and looked happy to have something else to do. Rhiannon had never watched Mr Greengrass send out anything before. He placed his wand over each item and chanted numbers in Latin, which appeared in luminous green lines like twine. Rhiannon thought of how Astoria had to manually wand-write her Arithmancy numbers for things like this and wondered if the N.E.W.T. class at their new school would teach this advanced spell.

"Are those… coordinates?" Rhiannon asked of the numbers.

"No, that would be far too risky," Mr Greengrass said as the boxes disappeared in thin air. "I know what the numbers mean."

Rhiannon later had a snack in one of the many rooms where food was prohibited. It didn't matter now, she would argue if a Greengrass challenged her manner, since the room was completely empty. She wondered if the new place would be so unnecessarily enormous. All of the pitter-pattering that was coming from the entrance wing told Rhiannon that it might have to be. It was odd to think of so many extended relatives living together, not as much now that it was an emergency, but before the first war when it was merely a Greengrass custom. Astoria's grandparents were part of the last generation to live and start families all in the same house. Even if Rhiannon had a family she liked, she couldn't imagine doing that.

Rhiannon did not see Astoria until both the house and the arguments cooled down. Astoria walked in with an ease Rhiannon had never felt when searching for someone in the estate. Astoria had two letters in her hand, both already opened.

"O.W.L. scores came with the evening mail, eh?" Rhiannon guessed.

"Yes, we'll be leaving for good in the morning once Renshaw and Gracie get here with her grandfather," Astoria said quietly. "Oh, Father's already inspected our results… sorry…"

Rhiannon didn't care about the letter one way or another. With life as she knew it being ripped apart, whether or not people knew how she scored on a test was irrelevant. Astoria handed Rhiannon both letters at once with an awful look on her face.

"You don't gotta tell me your scores if you don't want," Rhiannon laughed nervously.

"Well, the rest of the family already heard from Father. You're the only one I'm actually willing to tell."

Rhiannon took a quick look at the reports, not quite in the mood to reassure Astoria, but Astoria had reassured her plenty of times. That was friendship, wasn't it?

Rhiannon Nicole Clarke has achieved:

Astronomy - E

Care of Magical Creatures - O

Divination - P

History of Magic - P

Muggle Studies - O

Potions - E

Astoria Nesrine Greengrass has achieved:

Arithmancy - E

History of Magic - P

Potions - A

"Well, it just looks that way because we got two separate letters. Remember you had all those great scores on the last one?"

"I had a scolding for this one, though. It doesn't matter. The suspense is over. We're living through a war… how's that for knowing my history of magic?"

"Exactly!" Rhiannon said. "It's like your dad forgot what it was like to take notes in Binns's class!"

"Because he's snobbish," Astoria concluded, squeezing her nose. "We're all snobbish! Like a big house and good O.W.L.s are the only important things in the world!"

Rhiannon didn't say anything. The Greengrasses had always carried themselves a certain way so there would be no mistaking that they were high society. They were kind people, yet Rhiannon knew all along they enjoyed being perceived as a greater force than others. They enjoyed being set apart from the masses. Rhiannon never thought there would be a way to explain this to Astoria without her getting defensive. The fact that Astoria figured it out for herself was a sign of growth.

Astoria sighed and said, "I still don't know where we're going. If you weren't with me, Rhiannon, I'd lose my mind."

The last time Rhiannon would sleep at Quennell Park felt much like the first. She was the foreigner all over again, with a bad language guide and no money for train tickets. The lack of noise in the woodland house was more unsettling than the constant cry of pain from London's streets, the thudding and talking of tired nightshift workers upstairs. This time, Faunus and Elly Greengrass's knickknacks from their younger days were gone, and there wasn't anything to look at except the tiny Foe-Shard.

"Constant vigilance," the Death Eater had told her, even if only through mimicry.

But Rhiannon needed to sleep, too.

It was always an ugly hour of night whenever things happened, Rhiannon realised as Daphne's screaming woke her from a rare dreamless sleep. Nothing ever happened during the many hours she was awake. Nothing ever happened when it was almost time to get up. What were the Greengrasses fighting for at three in the morning?

"SCRYING, Daphne? Three o'clock and you're bothering me with divination nonsense! If you don't go back to your room THIS instant—!"

"Father, please! I saw them! I swear I saw them! They're coming! PLEASE!"

Not good. Rhiannon groped for her wand and her Foe-Shard. Her blankets hindered her, and she dragged them halfway across the floor with her trapped foot before she got free. She did not recognise anybody in the Foe-Shard, but the clarity of their faces was unanticipated. So the glass really worked when it mattered, didn't it? It was more than just something to make her paranoid.

"Daphne knows what she's doing!" Rhiannon roared.

She shoved the Foe-Shard in Adam Greengrass's tired face and ran to wake everyone up. Adam was too slow. He did not respect either of his daughters for who they were, and it had cost the whole house at least five minutes… at most, the whole year.