Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "oh baby" by LCD Soundsystem
Severus Snape interrogated every patrolling Death Eater regarding the whereabouts of Professor Sinistra. None of them had any information, and they were all ordered to search the castle and grounds as a matter of critical importance. Most of them incorrectly assumed that Professor Sinistra was much like her revered late husband and willingly helped out. Snape put Professor Slughorn in charge of informing the caretaker and teachers, who would soon be similarly enlisted for the search. Draco, whose nightly shift was approaching anyway, took pride in doing something other than trying to track Dumbledore's Army and enforcing the zero-tolerance policy for curfew. Whilst Snape tore through the castle alone, Professor Slughorn met with the teachers, Astoria, and Draco to go over search routes. He would search the dungeons and basements, whilst Professor Sprout was in charge of the ground and first floors. The other Heads of House would search their respective towers and the access floors. Astoria noticed that Amycus and Alecto were not present and doubted Snape had interrogated them thoroughly enough.
The house-elves, who could use their own version of Apparition within the castle, were an extremely valuable source of help for covering more ground. However, Winky was too panicked to use magic and started crying about losing her whole family. Another house-elf, who Astoria believed was named something like Dobbin, took care to comfort Winky. Astoria felt guilty leaving her like that, but she and Draco had to hurry. They were in charge of the entire third floor. In the back of Astoria's mind, she doubted that it was a high-priority area. Perhaps Snape and Slughorn had placed them here so that they wouldn't have to be the ones to find Professor Sinistra…
Don't think that.
Astoria wondered how long everyone would search before they would check the Forbidden Forest or the prison under Malfoy Manor. Those seemed more likely than the third floor of the castle, at least. There weren't any suspicious signs as she and Draco searched floor to ceiling. Astoria was struck with an idea that she hoped was not too late.
"Draco, we should go wake up Parkinson. She has memories of talking to Rabastan!"
"What? How do you know that?"
"I — they were on her mind when she was crying next to me. Crying people have really loud memories, okay?"
"Oh, I'm not blaming you for Legilimency! I think that's a brilliant idea. We'll have to really shake her to wake her up from that potion, though. I don't know how Madam Pomfrey will feel about that," Draco mentioned as they went to the Hospital Wing again.
"I haven't been able to get on Madam Pomfrey's good side since I got here, so there's nothing to lose," Astoria said. "I wish I'd thought of this sooner."
"It's all right; you were nervous. I never would have thought… She was actually talking to him?" Draco shivered.
"Well, I'm sure he didn't reveal his grand kidnapping plans to Parkinson, but I would like to extract her full memory to see if there are any clues," Astoria explained. "I know from scratching the surface that she spent time with him whilst he was in front of Astronomy Tower today. That means that he was still trying to get to Professor Sinistra's quarters at that time. So, something must have changed between his conversation with Parkinson and when he showed up in our common room."
"All right. Let me handle this," Draco said, and had to play both the "I'm a Death Eater" and "I have orders from Snape" cards to Madam Pomfrey to get back in and see Parkinson.
He knocked on Parkinson's shoulder with the back of his hand like one might knock on a door. Draco's expression made it quite clear how disgusted he was with her. Parkinson's obsession with Rabastan had been the final straw in their relationship, after all.
"Hm? Wha? Draco? Oh, D-Draco, oh, er," Parkinson stuttered.
She shot upwards and covered the view of her bandages from him.
"Pansy, this is very important. Professor Sinistra has gone missing. Do you know anything about that from your conversations with Rabastan Lestrange?" Draco asked.
"She's missing?" Parkinson said, looking round the room stupidly. "H-How did you know I was talking to… It wasn't what you think! He… I just—"
"Pansy, that's not important right now!" Draco shouted.
Madam Pomfrey glowered at him and cast a Muffliato Charm on the other patients so their rocky slumbers would not be further disturbed.
"Pansy, if you don't tell me what was going on, Astoria is going to have to use Legilimency on you."
"Legilimency! How does she know Legilimency‽ I'm so sick of this mind-reading rubbish! I don't have anything to say — I don't know about Professor Sinistra! All I know is that Rabastan was making noise by Astronomy Tower, and that was how I, er, how I found him the other day… Well, he introduced himself and said she owed him for all the favours he'd done. I thought that was sort of odd, but other than that, nothing!"
"What did he say today? Did he do anything differently?" Draco pressed.
"Well, he Imperiused me, so how am I supposed to know anything," Parkinson grumbled. "I bet Sinistra left Hogwarts to get away from Astoria annoying her all the time."
Astoria raised her wand at Parkinson's forehead and cast her spell quicker than the little snot could react. Parkinson was not an easy mind to navigate, and Astoria ended up with second-hand befuddlement from the effects of the Dreamless Sleep Potion in Parkinson's system. The way the protective potion was harshly working against Astoria made her aware of how she had cast the spell, and she tried to soften her approach. A few salient memories about the day's encounter with Rabastan surfaced after extensive, gentle combing.
I find Rabastan in his usual spot by Astronomy Tower. He has a chair drawn up and a softcover book in his hands called Dimensional Magic for Beginners. Without trying to, I chuckle at the title. Rabastan looks up from his book and smiles at me.
"Now, what is so funny, Miss Pansy?" he says softly. "Wait — I know. You think someone like me shouldn't have something for beginners, is that it? Doesn't everyone start somewhere? What do you know about dimensional magic, then, young lady?"
"Oh, well, just means of transportation and the Extension Charm," I giggle. "That's it, though. We don't learn much else in school."
"Exactly. That's because it's tightly regulated by the government. And this is beyond advanced arithmancy. Did you take Arithmancy, Pansy?"
"Er, no," I say, embarrassed because a lot of the smart girls took it.
"I also didn't take that class, so I have to start somewhere, right? Here, ma beauté, let's get you a seat."
"Oh, er, I really —"
I know I shouldn't be here. I have class. The last thing I need is for people to wonder where I am when I'm here. Here again. I don't know why I keep doing this, talking to him. Maybe Draco was right about me.
"Aw, Pansy, you know you want to! Come, have a seat with me. I don't bite. Well, not usually."
I can't stop myself. He's so charming. He's not exactly what I imagined. His voice is higher, and he's so small. It's actually cute how small he is. He's skinnier than me, too. He was in Azkaban so long. I can't even believe he'd talk to me. I'm just a random girl. Rabastan dog-ears his book and looks at me with those amazing eyes…
Parkinson's memory degraded into waxing about Rabastan, so Astoria tried to turn the initial imagery over again between their minds. She focused on Rabastan's book. Dimensional magic? As in, changing the dimensions of the physical world? Is that how he got into Astronomy Tower? Was Rabastan capable of performing something like that after a glance in a handbook? Astoria dropped the spell and tuned out Parkinson's yelling at her.
"Draco, we have to go! Rabastan used some sort of space manipulation to get into the tower. It's the same field of magic as the Undetectable Extension Charm!" she said over Parkinson's angry voice.
Astoria and Draco left the Hospital Wing running.
"I don't get how that's going to help us find her," Draco said. "I mean, we could go tell Snape, and maybe he'll know something."
"That's exactly what we're doing! Rabastan must have used the same sort of spell Professor Sinistra uses on her own house. She rearranges and adds rooms all the time — she does that to prevent Legilimency and that remote Sleep Paralysis trick he can do. I'm thinking he must have wiggled his way into the tower through a created room. Maybe she's in a new room, too!"
Astoria and Draco didn't know where to start on their search for Snape, so they went upstairs. Ahead of them in a fourth-floor corridor, Professors Vector and Babbling were casting Revealing Charms into the rooms.
"Excuse me, have you seen Professor Snape recently?"
"He was checking the bridge last we saw," said Professor Babbling. "Why, did you find anything?"
"No, we're worried Rabastan used dimensional magic," Astoria said.
"Oh dear. Well, Snape might not be there anymore, but we'll look for him, too," Professor Vector said.
Astoria thanked them and changed direction once again. She and Draco were running so quickly that the halls became a loud instrument from their feet. Snape was no longer on the bridge, but they did find him nearby.
"Professor!"
Snape was washed of all colour. He had been very particular about being addressed as "Headmaster" rather than Professor this year, but this time, he was unconcerned.
"Professor Snape," Astoria said again, "We may have figured out that Rabastan entered Astronomy Tower using dimensional magic. We, er, were thinking he might have made new rooms or something."
The more Astoria tried to articulate her idea, the harder it became. It didn't help that she had endured four years of Snape's unimpressed looks before his current one.
"Er, I was of mind of the way her house is set up, with rooms enclosed on all sides, and—"
"I know," Snape cut her off. "He likely used the castle's changing architecture to his advantage, if that is what has occurred."
Snape either held enough faith in her theory or enough desperation to change his searching method. He drew his wand along the floor, wall, ceiling, and then back down the other wall, creating a glowing threshold through which the other side of the hallway was no longer visible. He heaved a disgusted groan in front of the threshold. It seemed like he was about to step into it but didn't quite want to. Astoria was worried that Snape's venturing into a new dimensional field would be a waste of valuable time and understood his hesitation.
"Professor Snape, is that place the reason the rooms are able to move in the castle?" Astoria asked.
"To call this a 'place' is terribly erroneous. Dimensional magic is one of the most complex arts known to man, combining both charmwork and transfiguration."
Snape might have nitpicked her choice of words, but she had basically figured it out. When he disappeared beyond the threshold and did not come out the other side, Astoria moved to follow him. Professor Sinistra had to be in some hidden, cloistered room. She had to be.
"Astoria, what do you think you're doing‽" Draco said, intercepting her.
"I'm going to look for Professor Sinistra, obviously!" replied Astoria frantically.
"You don't even know what's back there — or in there, or whatever that place is!"
"Well, it's spare magical space in the architecture! That's how the rooms change from time to time."
"Yeah, but what's that mean?" Draco questioned.
"I don't know, but Snape walked in, so he must know how to navigate it."
"All right, first of all, he's playing headmaster, so of course he knows about the moving rooms. Secondly, he's the one who opened this… this portal thing… but you didn't! You don't know what you're doing!" Draco exclaimed, holding her by the shoulders.
"Draco, if Rabastan used a dimensional spell by looking at a beginner's handbook, I'm sure I can manage to at least look round for the professor. I'll be more help in there than on the third floor! Please, let me do this!" Astoria entreated.
Draco's shoulders slumped, and the sateen collar of his dressing gown fell. Both of them were tired and lost in a whirlpool of the unknown. Yet even though they argued different points, Astoria and Draco had not been on different sides for quite a long time.
"You say 'let me do this' like you'd actually listen to me," Draco sighed, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Let's both go, then. Hold on to my hand and do not let go. I have no idea what's in there."
"Well, I highly doubt it's a cliff, Draco," Astoria said, gripping his hand and looking at the glowing light ahead of her.
She put only her free hand through it at first to try to test the waters. All sensation in her hand instantly disappeared.
"Well? Do you feel anything?"
"Er… no, I don't feel anything," Astoria said truthfully, but she crafted her tone to sound more like "I don't feel anything wrong" as opposed to "I have totally lost feeling in my hand." Draco seemed to fall for it, and they walked through the light.
Astoria regained feeling in her hand once her whole body was in the same sort of dimension. The nerves in her feet told her that she was standing on the same floor, but everything round her was pitch-black. She squeezed Draco's hand. There was absolutely nothing to see except the glow from the threshold. It cast no light to anything else, including her own body or Draco's.
"Okay, I don't like this," Draco said.
"Let's light our wands again."
"My wand hand is holding your hand," Draco said, "and I'm not letting go."
"Oh, that's right. I'll just do it. Lumos," said Astoria.
It was very bizarre. Although Astoria saw the light from her wand, she could not see her hand just beneath it. When she moved the light round, she could not see Draco.
"Please don't poke me."
"I'm sorry. I can't see where you are."
"I can't see myself, either. I don't like this. Let's turn back."
"Well, I'm not fond of this, Draco. Let me call for the professors, and then we'll turn back. I only wanted to try," Astoria said. "Professor Snape! Hello! Headmaster! It's Astoria, we're by the threshold! Are you all right? Hello, Professor Sinistra! Are you in here? Professor Sinistra!"
"Greengrass, WHAT are you doing‽" Snape's voice echoed from somewhere, but Astoria had no sense as to whether he was far or close.
Well, you didn't SAY not to follow you, Astoria thought.
"We're trying to help! How do you search this place, sir?" she called.
"It's not a place! Agh!" Snape boomed. "How much have you already walked?"
"We're—" Draco started, but Astoria interrupted.
"We've been walking for a while and wanted to know what to do!" she lied. "We can't see anything!"
Snape said some extremely wrathful words that echoed everywhere. Then he came up with a plan, which functioned as the answer Astoria was looking for.
"Greengrass, listen to me carefully. You are to call forth a single room and take a seat in it with Malfoy. You are to remain there until I come to get you. I cannot emphasise enough how much trouble you have got yourself into. You will say Mutata room with your wand up and find yourself there. I assume it will be a classroom or closet of some sort. It doesn't matter. You are to sit your rump down and stay there."
"Understood, sir!" Astoria called.
She tugged Draco slightly outward from the light of the threshold, where they could still see it.
"Mutata room."
As Snape had said, a room did appear around her, which was excellent news for her and Draco. They could see each other and walk about without feeling like they would step into oblivion.
"I think I've seen this room before on one of my patrols — no, I'm certain I have!" Draco said, surprised at the workings of the castle. "Yes, there's that crack in the wall and the old-fashioned desk. I didn't know it was one of the ones that moved about."
Draco took one of the seats available and asked Astoria why she wasn't.
"I'm going to keep going through rooms until we find the one she's in," Astoria said impatiently. "That was the whole point of telling Snape we were already far into the void. I wanted to find out his trick for navigating this place."
"Are you serious, Astoria? When he finds out, he'll kill you!" Draco protested.
"Listen, Draco, I do what's necessary to get things done. Snape won't kill me — your nutty aunt might try after tonight's fiasco, though."
"Astoria, don't say those things! Rabastan wouldn't dare let her know about that dream he gave people."
"How do you think he explained their early departure to her in the middle of the night? They had two more days here!"
"She didn't want to be here anyway," Draco said feebly, apparently not having thought of the long-term consequences of Rabastan's actions on Astoria's safety. "Oh, Merlin… This is bad, isn't it…?"
"Yes, but regardless, I'm going to keep casting, so please stand up and hold on to me. Mutata room."
The room they were in, along with the security of it, ripped like a thread above them and fell away at their sides into absolute nothingness. In its place came another room, which was, as Snape warned, an old broom closet with no space to move. Astoria cast the spell again and ended up in a broken-looking hallway that had a turn at a vertical right angle and an empty window in the floor. She went through these spare areas of the castle so quickly that she started to become motion-sick. It felt like milder Portkey travel, and Draco held her hand so tightly that she got pins and needles. She was about to slow her rate of casting when a short hallway manifested upon them. It had creaky, crooked flooring and only one door.
"Erm, Astoria, this might actually be…"
Astoria noticed she had been holding her breath. She nodded at Draco.
"I think you're right," she whispered.
The floor beneath them was rickety, like it would drop off into the blackness. Astoria placed her hand on the old brass doorknob and twisted it to see if it was locked. It was not. But she didn't open it. All of her determination and optimism had vanished as she pictured the mutilators Rabastan kept as a tool belt. She loved Professor Sinistra. This could not have happened.
"I'll go first," Draco said with a frog in his throat.
He let go of Astoria's hand and stepped ahead of her. With caution, he cracked the door and peered inside. Astoria bunched up her nightgown into a knot just to have something to squeeze now that his hand was gone.
"What's in there?" she whispered.
"Shh," Draco said, and Astoria's spine shook.
He opened the door a little more and shone a wand light in. His eyes affixed to something Astoria could not behold.
"I see her. She's alive!" Draco said with relief.
He swung the door open and Astoria clambered round it. Even though she could see in the dim room, she wasn't sure what she was looking at. The golden embroidery of Professor Sinistra's dressing gown spread out on either side of a tall frame. Her knees were peeking out between the frame's two clawed feet, and she gripped one hand on the gold edge. Based on her lack of a reaction to Astoria and Draco's entrance, and of course, her lack of ability to escape, she must have been deep in a spell. There was a chill dankness to the room compared to the hallway when the pair stepped inside. Carefully, they walked up to Professor Sinistra's side. She was badly spellbound. Her forehead rested against the glass of the huge mirror; she seemed to be looking her reflection directly in the eye. Compared to the violent grip she had on the mirror's frame, the hand she pressed to the glass had a gentle caress. Astoria tried talking to her even with little hope that Professor Sinistra would respond. She was just so happy that she was alive. She would have hugged the professor, but she was afraid it would startle her.
"Oh, when you said her name, she moved her eyes," Draco noticed. "Perhaps keep talking to her? Er. Ahem. Professor Sinistra, it's Draco. Astoria's here, too. We can get you out of this room."
Professor Sinistra's eyelids drooped, as she obviously had no plans to get up. With utmost gentleness, Astoria placed a hand on her shoulder. Professor Sinistra took her hand off the glass and clasped Astoria's hand so fast that it made Astoria jump, but her forehead remained on the mirror, and she did not otherwise move.
"We might have to get Snape," Astoria said with acute dread. "I could pretend this was the first room we found, I suppose."
"Er, maybe that would work, so long as you don't make eye contact with him," Draco said uncertainly. "Isn't there something we could try? Let's look, there's writing on the frame up there."
"Be careful about stepping in front of it, Draco," Astoria said, haunted by Professor Sinistra's rapt expression.
Draco nodded and slowly scooted behind Professor Sinistra to shine light on the golden frame. Astoria tried to get a peek from her angle, but it didn't work well. Draco was doing fine in front of the mirror since he was so focused on the writing, so she joined him. She was a bit confused; she saw herself and Draco in the glass, but they weren't in pyjamas. She tried not to look the glass too long, fearing a curse, and instead looked at the writing. It said:-
Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
"I took Ancient Runes," Astoria yawned. "Perhaps it's a transliteration. In Middle English, stra is straw. Erm, an ube is a sweet yam, but that's a loan word…"
"You know, something tells me this isn't about yams," Draco said, looking at her fondly.
She smiled back at him.
"Fair point."
As they tried to figure out the writing, it became increasingly difficult not to peruse the glass itself. It was a very tricky play on their reflections, indeed. In the glass, they weren't in their pyjamas, and Professor Sinistra was not slouched on the floor. In fact, Professor Sinistra was not even in front of them in the reflection, but somewhere beyond their heads, unrolling beautiful celestial maps. Other figures in between started to become clear as well. Astoria saw her parents all dressed for a portrait and Daphne totally uninjured. Rhiannon waved at her so vigorously that Astoria was nearly tempted to turn round to see her in the room. Hestia and Flora were behind Rhiannon, awake and happy. Was it possible for her three friends to be so happy after such childhoods? She wanted it to be true. The image was so dynamic. All of her other loved ones seemed to be moving in and out of the frame to say hello to her, though she and Draco were still in the front. What was he holding in his arms? A pillow? A cat? When did he start holding something? Astoria looked at the real-life Draco next to her. He was still in his pyjamas and not holding anything except the lit wand to read the writing. Although, he, too, had succumbed to temptation of looking in the mirror.
"It's like a reverse Foe-Glass," Astoria said.
She looked at her wrist to compare the two images, but the Foe-Shard wasn't working on account of her being in a strange dimension. Back in the mirror, though, there were some startling developments. Draco was now holding two pillows in the mirror — wait, they weren't pillows at all! Were those really…? Were those really their…? Oh, God.
Her heart jolted miserably as she looked everything thrice over. Her parents' hair had greyed handsomely, and Daphne was a beautiful woman. Astoria and Rhiannon looked older, too, and were laughing about some joke not yet told.
"Er, Draco…"
"I think you're right about it being a reverse Foe-Glass," he said warmly.
He took her hand again. She nearly cried. In the mirror image, he gave her the older of the two babies to hold whilst he still scooped the younger, and he took her free hand in his. It was so beautiful an image to her that it was eerie.
I'm cursed. I can't have this. I'm cursed.
"It's like my parents are standing there with us. Oh no, not Theodore," Draco laughed.
Astoria didn't see his parents anywhere in the image, but she did see Theodore. She was considerably relieved that Draco wasn't seeing what she was seeing, because her level of interest in it was growing embarrassing.
"Theodore has a pile of books from what I can see," she observed.
"In mine, he has a damn haircut," Draco grinned. "Er… you and I sort of look different as well. Do we, er, seem… er… different when you look at it?"
"We have proper clothes," Astoria said, resting her head on Draco's shoulder. "Come to think of it, my hair is exactly the way I want it."
"It looks like we really have our lives together in mine! We look, er… older. I was almost worried this mirror would make us old if we stood in front of it."
"Oh, it might, if we stay here forever. We'll have to think of something to tell Snape about Professor… Professor Sinistra!"
Astoria had spoken calmly at first, but it dawned on her that she had totally forgotten about Professor Sinistra's condition whilst she was looking in the mirror. That was a bad sign. Astoria put her hand back on the professor's shoulder, but she wouldn't budge. Could Astoria and Draco end up in her condition if they stayed longer?
"Astoria," Draco said a bit oddly. "I'm starting to think this shows our future. Have you heard of catoptromancy? Trelawney said it's a type of advanced divination. I think that's what this tool is. Look again, there we are, we… we're… er…"
The future? Was Astoria really going to reunite with her family and survive the war like it showed in the mirror? She studied it again, in spite of herself… Everything was so wonderful and perfect that it was hard to believe it could really be her future. She wanted to know more. She had never taken Divination, and even if she had, she wouldn't have possessed Daphne's skill in it. Was it really this fascinating a subject? If Astoria looked in the mirror long enough, could she divine how to achieve this image?
No, something was not right. Uncle Faunus was in the glass with his whole family, alive and well… The mirror version of Professor Sinistra had set aside her celestial maps and had joined both hands with Barty Crouch Jr, openly and happily, as if he had never once betrayed her trust. The dead were right there in the mirror. Astoria shook Draco's arm in real life, and he responded with an irritated grunt.
"Draco, this is Dark magic!" she panicked. "It's a trap! It's going to hypnotise us if we stay here!"
"What?" Draco protested, but when he backed away from Astoria, he nearly tripped on Professor Sinistra's long gown, and finally came to his senses.
"It's got to be Dark magic! Remember, Rabastan's the one who put it here! Oh, how stupid… we almost fell for it, too! Move Professor Sinistra now!"
Draco cast a Locomotion Charm on Professor Sinistra and moved her away from the mirror. As if Astoria didn't have proof enough, the professor started yelling horrible things at him and reached her arms out to the mirror in fierce starvation of it. Astoria raised her wand to the mirror and found herself completely unable to cast anything. It would be like breaking the image of her family. It would be like destroying her chances at the reality inside the mirror. She could absolutely not crack the faces of her family, whom she would have given anything to be with… of Draco, who smiled back at her, free of all of his pain at last…
Astoria shook hot tears out of her eyes and went to the back of the mirror, where no such ensnarement presented.
"Draco, shut your eyes tight! Actually, cover Professor Sinistra's eyes, too!" she said, and gave him one last moment. "Reducto!"
The huge mirror broke into chunks, and white dust puffed out through the dark room. Chunks of glass were not as good as gone, though, as Astoria had learnt through the many iterations of Moody's Foe-Glass. She held one eye closed as she Vanished all the remaining pieces. Her adrenaline surged, but when it relaxed, she had an insurmountable feeling of dread. Something had fallen from the wall when her curse had shaken the room. It was a piece of parchment, and Astoria brought it up to the light. The letter was written in extremely refined, even script, but had gross errors of spelling.
My dear Aurora,
I hope when I changed your room to this room it was not to scarey. Now I will be abl to reech you but in the mean time I leave you with this leter. You will find your self in front of a meer I found my self in front of many many years ago. It shows you every thing you culd ever want. Do I have to make it obveus? When I was yung here I saw you. I saw you, Aurora. And me. And we were on top of the world. It was a youtopia where every thing was as it shud be. That writing on the frame is backwords. It says 'I show not your face but your heart's desire.' Aurora I have lived my whole life acording to this picture in this meer. It is profetic. I know you are not going to see me in it, not yet, but I wanted you to have this expeerenc. So you understand my drive to have you. I am not crazy. You and me are really in there ruling over the leser peple. You and me do all kinds of things in this meer. Now you know how it feels. I alredy know this is not enuf to get you to take me so I am taking the Green grass girl hostije. I will loor her out with a dream. I have Pansy Parkisn taking out your lucky charms. I know you have given those charms out becuse of me. I'll be here to get you shortly and we can set this strait btween us some where more comferble. I know the dementor isn't very romantic. I just wanted to make sure you hang about here till then.
Rabastan
Astoria drew a deep breath. She stuffed the letter into her pocket as a wet film seemed to descend upon her skin.
The dementor.
Astoria blasted her Lighting Charm at full force into the room, which she should have done first thing. Oh, how stupid she had been, how stupidly and wrongly she had done everything. Above them, almost as if affixed to the ceiling like a mockery of a religious objet d'art, was the creature. Astoria had never seen the precise details of the lamprey face before that moment and could have vomited. How had they not even noticed it? Was it the effects of that mirror? Astoria mustered the magic her life depended on and forcibly moved both Draco and Professor Sinistra from the room, until they tumbled across the rickety hallway. The dementor then descended, and Astoria realised her folly. This whole time it had been still, and it had only been commanded to move upon Professor Sinistra's exit, which would explain how they had all survived this far. Astoria had sharply decreased their chances of surviving any further.
"AGH!" she screamed, enraged as she darted from the room with the dementor in pursuit. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
It didn't work, not even at the incorporeal level. That only made her future attempts less likely to succeed. As the monster drew closer, she started losing her faculties. Corpses, corpses of her family… body parts, a Horcrux beneath the earth of Quennell Park… And Rabastan… his eyes animalistic but full of self-saving excuses. His tongue rolled over his thin upper lip.
"ASTORIA! EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
That was Draco, somewhere off. She would have to leave him come morning on account of her statements against the government. They would never end up the way they were in the mirror, never…
"Expecto Patronum," she must have said as a ditch effort to survive. The hallway was narrow, and the only reason she hadn't changed the room once again was the knowledge that the dementor would come with them, and it would be all black. They wouldn't even see their demise coming in the dimension of no space. They would have been left to float in the blackness, starving to death in vegetative helplessness. And that was her fate now, albeit in a dimly lit, magical hallway. But it just couldn't happen to Professor Sinistra. Astoria had done so much to get her out of here. Was it really for nothing? Was there really so much Dark magic in her body that she could not even cast a Patronus? Rabastan might have accused her of terrible things, but her Dark magic did not mean she was a Dark witch. She was using it to protect people. The people she had seen alive and well in the mirror. Even though not all of it could be true, some of it could if she would just get through tonight…
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Astoria said with the dementor's fabric against her face, and again it did not work, but that didn't matter — Draco and Professor Sinistra were not able to cast the thing, and she had to do it. She, the girl no one expected to be able to go to school. She could do it.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Feathers like the sun's white morning rays spread between her and the wraith, arching into a massive crescent of delicate but frightening design. Dozens of eyes, not unlike Professor Sinistra's nazars, dressed the tips of the feathers, and before the arc stood the beautiful, crowned bird. It was the peacock, Pavo, named for the one in the sky.
The dementor made a sucking noise, though it took in no food from Astoria. It cowered away from the Patronus like a cellar insect with a light shone upon it. Pavo cornered the creature back into the room, and Astoria looked over her shoulder to find that Professor Sinistra had gathered her wits. The professor created an emergency opening, a spell which she alone could do amongst the three of them.
"We'll leave through here!" Professor Sinistra exclaimed.
Astoria grabbed hold of the professor and Draco, and they hurried out into blackness. Professor Sinistra's wand lit up with a magnificent rainbow, which she cast back into the room through the hatch she had created. The room began to dissolve into the abyss.
"Did you get rid of the whole room?" Astoria gasped.
"Yes, and that particular dementor will never resurface in Hogwarts or anywhere else on Earth," Professor Sinistra responded.
They saw the glowing light of the threshold Snape had created and stepped through the illusion of zero-gravity to reach it. Professor Sinistra sent Draco and Astoria through first, then stepped close behind them. Astoria had not realised the extent of her dizziness until she was back in the solid castle once more. Professor Sinistra poked her head back through the glowing threshold, calling for Snape, though no sound came through. Snape could hear it though, and he quickly followed her voice, for he came tumbling out of the barrier like a bat from a cave.
Snape traced a reversal spell across the barrier until it disappeared and then turned back to Professor Sinistra. For once, Severus Snape made absolutely no remarks and asked no questions. He reached his gangling arms round Professor Sinistra and let out a single cry into her shoulder. She tucked the loose hairs on his face behind his ear, and he didn't swat her away, or make a face, or anything. They looked at each other closely, sifting through everything they would never articulate. The longer the professors stayed that way, the more their breathing matched. It seemed they had been so afraid of desecrating the memory of late loves that they were only just now understanding that it was possible to love a dear friend.
Astoria wiped her tear-burnt eyes and slumped onto the floor, glad that it was there. Draco sat down by her side against the wall. Exhausted, she lay sideways and balled herself up as comfortably as possible. She dropped her head onto Draco's knee, stealing another moment.