Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "Bomb" by Bush
Notes: For this chapter, we rewind the timeline a bit to check on a certain witch...
The wizards wore no hats unless they were part of the Order of Merlin. The witches' hats came in all shapes and sizes with black veils attached. Rhiannon pinched her veil by the top and tried to adjust it. It was hard to see where she was walking through the lacy flower pattern. What a stupid invention.
The joint funeral of Astoria, Faunus, Renshaw, and Gracie Greengrass and Bob Page was being held in St Bromundt's Wizarding Episcopal Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Rhiannon and the extended Greengrass family were living in a Muggle-proof mansion in the heart of the city, built in 1897 by a now-extinct pureblood family. The funeral and the church were as elaborate as the house. The only body they had, though, was Faunus's. Renshaw and Gracie's wedding portrait sat at the centre of their shrine. The family had no pictures of her grandfather and had his name on a placard instead. Rhiannon's eyes were stuck on the portrait of Astoria, a bit younger than Rhiannon had ever known her. Though she was wearing that hairstyle with the silly ringlets that Rhiannon recognised. And her green eyes and crooked smile looked the same as always. None of the portraits moved; apparently the Greengrasses didn't "believe in that." Rhiannon would have given anything to talk to even a little painted version of Astoria, though.
The funeral ceremony was extremely long and involved a lot of standing, kneeling, bowing, praying, singing, and other things Rhiannon always seemed to miss the cue for. She tried to copy Daphne, who seemed to know what to do through muscle memory even though her eyes were shut and she sobbed the whole time. Rhiannon wondered why she wasn't crying herself. She was definitely in grief and pain. Maybe it was because she had cried so much already. Maybe it was because there were so many rituals she had to pay attention to. Astoria would understand.
There was a part in the ceremony where everyone had to join hands. Rhiannon was on the side of Daphne's Splinch, though, so she put her hand just behind Daphne's shoulder and tried to comfort her. Daphne had been wearing billowing robes and shawls to try to hide her amputation. She wasn't the only one whose injuries could not be remedied; Faunus's wife, Elly was in a magical wheelchair, and cousin Sofronia Kippling was now blind. Rhiannon wished Astoria had made it out, even if she had injuries. Anything would be better than this. They couldn't even recover the pieces of her body.
Some member of the extended family gave a eulogy for each decedent. Rhiannon had never met him before. He must have been chosen because no closer loved one was able to speak. Rhiannon was not able to pay attention to him; he used a lot of words she didn't know, and it all seemed a bit generic, anyway. The Greengrasses usually buried, but they were no longer on home soil. Faunus was therefore cremated and interred in a fancy-looking vase with golden runes on it and given to his wife. Everyone took the Floo Network back to the new house, where Rhiannon went through Astoria's favourite astronomy stuff. Astoria would have hated it in the city; every night was completely starless.
Rhiannon was only glad to go to school to get away from Astoria's parents, whose marriage was getting rocky. Rhiannon, like Astoria's mum, was also disgusted with Adam Greengrass for prioritising the transfer of his fortune to a new bank, the shipment of their belongings, and the Ministry's O.W.L.s over their safety. These days, Adam was known to spend entire days with his head on his desk in his study, unable to move. He became thin without Astoria.
In September, Rhiannon and Astoria's school-age cousins went to Ilvermorny. It was an expansive castle roughly the same physical size as Hogwarts, but it was full, and there were multiple teachers for the same subject. She had been Sorted into a House called Wampus, which was like beefed-up Gryffindor. It had a wampus cat as its mascot, which made perfect sense, as she still thought Gryffindor should have had a griffin. Rhiannon's ex-girlfriend, Asenath Greengrass, had been a Hogwarts Gryffindor and was also Sorted into Wampus. Adamina went to Horned Serpent, which was like the goth version of Ravenclaw, but Sofronia went to Thunderbird, which was basically a nicer, sweeter Slytherin. No one expected Daphne to end up in hardcore Hufflepuff (a.k.a. Pukwudgie), but she did even though she couldn't pronounce it. Rhiannon knew Astoria would have ended up in Thunderbird. They were oddballs who liked old maps and flower-language and ghosts. Rhiannon sometimes entertained the thought that Astoria might become a ghost like the one in Quennell Park. It'd be even better if she kept Moaning Myrtle company, and Hestia if she was still in school…
Maybe Rhiannon was grasping at straws.
America was a bit strange, since the people were very "Freedom this" and "Potato salad that," but Rhiannon guessed it was all right. Daphne introduced her cousins to Sally-Anne Perks, who had transferred here from Hogwarts after her fourth-year due to the Ministry no longer giving her grants for textbooks. Sally-Anne was pretty helpful in showing them round the school. They each got a handful of pamphlets upon arrival, like "Our Mission," "Castle Map," "Amenities," and "Counseling Services." In spite of what seemed like a service-filled school, Daphne and Sofronia were both in limbo with the accommodations office; they needed to give all of their teachers approved accommodation slips that had not been processed yet. Rhiannon couldn't imagine what the holdup was. It was obvious Sofronia couldn't see, and it wasn't like Daphne was going to grow her arm back like a starfish.
The girls were waiting in the Dining Hall for their schedules. Even though she didn't want to, Rhiannon ended up taking Astronomy because she got an E on the O.W.L., and Astoria would be so sad if she didn't. In America, O.W.L.s were still called O.W.L.s, but "Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests" was putting it much too frankly, so they called them "E.W.E.s" and "E.W.E. classes," which stood for Examinations for Wizarding Employment. When Rhiannon's schedule appeared before her, she was utterly thrown.
Pd. 1 - Apotropaics 600-02
Pd. 2 - Herbology and Brewing 600-02
Pd. 3 - Spellcasting 600-02
Pd. 4 - Magizoology 400-02
Pd. 5 - No-Maj Relations and Culture 400-02
Pd. 6 - Apparition 100-02
Pd. 10 - Astronomy 600-02
More than confused, Rhiannon took a peek at Daphne's schedule. On account of her O.W.L. scores, she didn't have much going on, but it was still baffling.
Pd. 1 - Arithmancy 500-03
Pd. 5 - Spellcasting 700-03
Pd. 7 - Divining and Dowsing 500-03
Only when she looked at Asenath's schedule did anything start to make sense. It seemed like "-02" meant Wampus, and "-03" meant Pukwudgie. That was about all she could gather.
"Am I in fourth-year Magical Creatures? I thought our credits transferred!" Rhiannon exclaimed, startled by Magizoology 400-02.
"No, silly!" Sally-Anne said. "It's because it's your fourth year taking it. The highest level of electives is 500. They're numbered based on the year and house, that's all."
Rhiannon was still flustered. Asenath's "Runology" class was clearly Study of Ancient Runes, but Rhiannon didn't have that anyway. Why was Potions called "Brewing" and lumped together with Herbology? They weren't the same! Hestia would have cried! And what were Apotropaics and Spellcasting supposed to be? Why did she have the same classes every single day of the week? This would be terrible!
"Spellcasting is Charms, right Sally-Anne?" guessed Asenath.
"Yes, and Apotropaics is D.A.D.A. 'No-Maj' is what they call Muggles, and er, Transfiguration's the same. I think that's about it as far as the classes go," said Sally-Anne.
"Right, right, but do you think they'll at least know what I'm saying if I say Charms instead of 'Spellcasting six-hundred O-two?'" Rhiannon asked.
"I don't think they're going to understand what you say either way, Rhi," Asenath shrugged.
Asenath was right. Sometimes it really felt like everyone was speaking a different language. (Who would have thought "biscuits and gravy" was something remotely edible?) Rhiannon got lost as she was looking for her first class and fumbled with the folded map. After having only confused herself more, she figured she'd try the easier way and ask the nearest prefect — no, wait, "castle assistant."
"Hi, hello, erm, can you tell me where, er, sixth-year Wampus Apotropaics is?"
"Huh? Apotropaics?" the C.A. struggled to understand her accent.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm lost."
"E.W.E. Apotropaics for Wampus is on the first floor. You're one floor up. Go down to the first floor, and it's room 190."
As far as Rhiannon was concerned, she was on the first floor. She thought a staircase must have switched on her until she discovered that her class was actually on the ground floor. How confusing! Americans really called the first floor the second floor. At least there weren't any dungeons she'd have to navigate at Ilvermorny. They'd probably call those "the spelunking rooms" or something.
Other than the floor level fiasco, Sally-Anne did a nice job orienting everyone to their new school. In her severe grief, Daphne seemed thankful to meet up with an old friend again. Daphne never once insinuated that Rhiannon had attracted the Death Eaters to Quennell Park by being Muggle-born. Perhaps her baby sister had taught her something after all. Rhiannon, though, lived with guilt every day as she remembered the times Astoria had been by her side, stuck up for her, and comforted her.
Rhiannon hoped that the dead really went up to the sky like lots of people believed, so that Astoria could see all the stars and planets from amazing new angles.