Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "Which Witch?" by Florence + the Machine
"It seems to me at times my blood flows out in waves
Like a fountain that gushes in rhythmical sobs.
I hear it clearly, escaping with long murmurs,
But I feel my body in vain to find the wound."
- "The Fountain of Blood," C. Baudelaire
It took as much concentration for Apparition as for a Patronus, but Astoria tumbled into the grassy valley outside the Hogwarts property. If she had been capable of this feat last summer, she might have left Theodore's dad to fend for himself. At least Rabastan hadn't bothered to pry about Nott Sr with his Legilimency, but was Rabastan right about who Astoria was deep down?
Astoria saw the dim lights of the castle's windows. She was in a predicament. The Hogwarts property was protected by Caterwauling Charms that would sound if anyone walked in from the outside. Though Astoria could use Dark magic to get past Caterwauling Charms on doors and windows, the one surrounding the entire property was impossible to stop. She needed in, though, as it would be her only protection. The Lestranges weren't stupid, so they could easily guess that she had Apparated back to Hogwarts. Astoria had two things they wanted: Rabastan's wand and her life.
After weighing her options and remembering that it was not Draco's patrol shift, Astoria ran forth into the Caterwaul. It made an unearthly scream, but at least for a few moments it would only be a scream. Astoria rounded the approach as fast as she could and Blasted through the gates with surprising ease. However, she didn't know how to properly crack a whip (why on Earth would she?), and it didn't work with smaller spells. She needed water for her bloody face and itchy, bruised eyes, but the wand would not conjure it no matter how she twisted and twirled the leather end.
An unusual amount of commotion came from Professor Hagrid's hut as Astoria zipped past it.
No way.
There were students in there after curfew: Dumbledore's Army! The lights and panicked noises from Hagrid's hut were so obvious that the patrolling Death Eaters dived toward the hut rather than Astoria, who was but one small, dark figure in the grass. Astoria felt so guilty. Professor Hagrid and the students pouring out of the hut would have had a peaceful get-together if she had not set off the Caterwaul. Now they contended with curses from the responding Death Eaters, and even more figures were Apparating beyond the property line. Were they more Death Eaters, or Ministry officials? There wasn't a distinction these days, was there?
Bright orange curses zoomed right over Astoria's head. She had finally been targeted along with the rest of the scrambling students. Astoria cast a Shield round herself successfully by drawing the whip in a circle round her — it seemed like the natural thing to do. Though the wand was not overly cooperative, her own wand had never been either, and she was used to being assertive in order to get any casting done. Despite the unwieldiness of the whip, the wand itself seemed to channel her magic well.
You do the same things I do, Rabastan had taunted her.
No — Astoria wasn't like Rabastan. What an absurd remark. He had meant for those comments to bother her, or more likely, to make himself feel better.
A trio of Death Eaters caught interest in Neville Longbottom as he hurriedly aided younger students up towards the castle. All three foes raised their wands to his head, but Neville couldn't see them from where he stood in the chaos. Astoria flailed that awful whip the way Rabastan did, except this was to save somebody… it was different. She was different than Rabastan.
"DIFFINDO!"
All three Death Eaters dropped their wands and grabbed their backs in terrible pain, blood coming out onto their white hands. They crumpled to the ground, allowing Neville to get the kids. Ministry people were meanwhile trying to take down Professor Hagrid, not unlike they had tried under Umbridge's command. The professor had his dog over his back and looked to be jabbing an umbrella at them, causing shockwaves of magic that tore up the grass. More curses missed Astoria's head. She wished she could maintain a Shield and cast substantial magic simultaneously, but she had to pick. Shield or sword, never both.
Louder than the noise of spells and voices came the footsteps of a giant, whose head was well over the forest's trees. Apparently affiliated with Professor Hagrid, the giant jumbled the Death Eaters and Ministry thugs in a matter of moments, buying the students more time. Astoria saw the distinct red hair of Ginny Weasley jinxing her way through a cluster of cloaked figures, but somewhere behind her, she heard sinister voices.
"Weasleys' bounties just went way up!"
"Oh, that's right! Fifty Galleons a head alive. They're certain to have information on Undesirable Number One! But if she's dead, we'll still get a good bit of the prize!"
Ginny saw the pair lock on her and ran a wider circle away from the castle to avoid them. Astoria changed course and ran after the Death Eaters, who couldn't seem to make up their minds between violent red and lethal green curses. Astoria managed to get a decent enough aim on them from behind, but not enough to trust herself to use the Killing Curse.
"GLACIUS! GLACIUS!"
The two Death Eaters froze solid in thick, chunky ice, and Astoria rushed between them to get to Ginny. They didn't get a chance to talk. Dozens upon dozens of figures were Apparating not twenty feet from them. It was a motley crew of more Ministry people, apparent werewolves, and Snatchers. That was too many. Way too many. Even for the giant and Professor Hagrid.
"GET BEHIND ME!" Astoria shouted, and wrenched Ginny backwards by the robes.
Astoria finally got a proper crack of the whip like she had with the Blasting Curse on the funeral parlour. Actually, better. Much better. Her whole body tingled.
"FIENDFYRE!"
The fire that came from that dread wand rumbled like a landslide down the banks, sending smoke from the dead grass into the air. It was a heat like no other heat, a heat that could contextualise the temperature of stars. It was a bad decision for Astoria's already dry eyes to use elemental fire, but nothing else she knew could get that many people away from them so quickly.
Ginny stared at Astoria from the side, and Astoria was thankful that she could not see beyond the growing tower of deadly flame. The wind kicked up the fire rapidly, and she could hear her enemies suffer on the other side. It was not a sound she wanted. Fortunately, the cracking sound of Disapparition also sounded through the roar of the flames, so perhaps the group would know better and not all get burnt to ash. Astoria didn't want to be a murderer, but both girls and more students would have been dead…
Self-defence, self-defence, Astoria chanted in her head. As Fiendfyre was wont to do, the figures of grotesque animals materialised from the scorching magic. Astoria did not want that part of the spell. She knew it was unnecessary. She had read about this. She could do it. With as much dynamic motion as the living flame, Astoria whipped at the hungry, flaming creatures over and over again to tame the spell. The cracks of her wand met with more cracks of Disapparition from the other side. Good. They were not coming; they were leaving. They were leaving her the hell alone.
Ginny had not stood there uselessly — she was a talented girl. She cast a massive Shield behind them to protect them on all sides. When Astoria looked over her shoulder, it seemed the Shield was getting less and less necessary. Every Death Eater still standing was cowering at the sight of the Fiendfyre. They would try to look for weaker prey than the two girls. Luckily, Professor Hagrid and his companion were thunderously powerful protectors.
Astoria violently beat the disobliging flames all the way down from fifteen feet to five. She was the caster, not the victim. She was the witch, and this was her wand, her tool, her power. With the flames so low, Astoria realised that she had stirred up some confusion amongst the remaining enemy forces as to whether they were fighting one of their own. After all, the butchered shape of her wand was more distinctive than her face between the wrathful flames. They didn't know it was just Astoria Greengrass; they only knew that whoever they were fighting had Disarmed Rabastan Lestrange. More fearful of raising their wands against a victor over Rabastan than of disobeying orders to investigate the grounds, the remaining enemies Disapparated.
Sweating buckets, Astoria thrashed the flames further down whilst Ginny gave her updates on what she could see between the gates. Snape was out on the grounds, along with the Carrows, but Professor Hagrid had made his way into the Forbidden Forest, which was guarded by "Grawp," the giant.
"Hagrid got away!" Ginny said triumphantly. "The Carrows look like they don't know what to do!"
Snape stifled the Caterwauling Charm; it no longer screeched in their ears. Astoria let out a long, dry breath as she snuffed out the last of her own spell. Some help would have been nice, but only the wand that cast Fiendfyre could be the wand to undo it. The grass, topsoil, and subsoil were gone where the flames had reached. It left an amazing, deep exposure of red-hot rock. Being so close to the heat had made Astoria thirsty, and she desired anything cold.
Cold…
With sudden terror, she looked back at the Death Eaters she had frozen — the Fiendfyre was more than enough to have melted them free. Ginny noticed the same moment Astoria did: the pair was right outside Ginny's Shield, slicing Dark cuts into it that could not be reinforced.
"P-Protego Nidhogg!" Ginny screamed, a bit unsurely, and she gasped at the sensation in her arm as the black dome spiralled outward, cracking the fair blue Shield to bits as it pushed wider round Ginny and Astoria.
Faster than Astoria's typically did, the Shield's dragon emerged from the nest of Ginny's spell and sank its teeth into the Death Eaters. The dragon flung them up in the air, and their bodies hit the outside of the Shield with a smack that made both girls gasp. They were, this time, dead. Ginny was markedly disturbed and lowered her wand, eradicating the spell.
"Oh — oh no —" Ginny choked.
"They — they were going to kill you — they were saying — there's bounty on your head, Ginny," Astoria heaved.
"There's… There's a better way than this, Astoria…"
"They're no good, Ginny — they were casting the Killing Curse at your head when I ran down here! It's okay, Ginny, it's okay…"
Self-defence, self-defence.
Ginny tied her hair back with a bright yellow band on her wrist. With wet eyes, she looked Astoria up and down and conjured her some extremely welcome water. Astoria drank it to the bottom. Ginny conjured more water to get the encrusted blood off Astoria's face. Astoria knew she must have looked like a walking hell. Without all the brown and red stains in the way anymore, Ginny noticed something else.
"Oh my God! What happened to your eyes‽"
Astoria couldn't say the words even if she wanted to. The bruises made her entire face hurt, and there was no alleviating the dry, burning itch. Every time she blinked, it salted the cuts. However bad it looked to Ginny, it felt worse.
"Wh-What's that by the way?" Ginny asked. "Isn't that the Lestrange's wand‽"
"About the first foot of it is. The rest is for show."
"What‽"
"He kidnapped me, Ginny. That's how this all happened. I'm so sorry I set off the Caterwauling Charm. I didn't know your group was having a meeting outside. I had nowhere else to go."
"RABASTAN KIDNAPPED YOU‽"
Clearly, people had not been told that she was missing. Astoria wondered what the hell Snape had been doing this whole time. The Carrows had to have known… Were Astoria's roommates okay? They had to know, too; Astoria had never come back inside that evening. Why hadn't Professor Sinistra done anything…?
Astoria was upset, but Ginny was wholly beside herself. She was yammering about whom she could tell, who could possibly help them. That was not relevant anymore.
"Ginny," Astoria interrupted.
"What? We've got to — we've got to get you some—"
"Ginny, no. You need to get out of here. The train for Easter holiday leaves tomorrow morning, but you can't get on it. That's how Luna was imprisoned. You cannot be there. You have to go now. There's a new bounty for your family. They'll do worse than this," Astoria said, waving at her crusty eyes.
Ginny's eyes fell on Astoria's blackened veins.
"I-Is that… is that blood magic, Astoria?"
"Wasn't my idea. Come along."
"But you'll need — a Blood Replenishing Potion — we've got to…"
"Come along, Ginny."
If Astoria's face didn't look the way it did, Ginny never would have listened to her. Some of Ginny's tough-girl exterior whittled, and she followed Astoria round the edge of the volcanic, Fiendfyre-damaged ground.
"Pay attention, Ginny. Easter holiday is from tomorrow to the thirteenth of April. Do not come back on the thirteenth. Do not come back at all. You can Apparate, can't you? You're very good at it in class."
"I—"
"You just picture your destination, and—"
"I know the rules of Apparition, Astoria!"
"Right, then go. Leave your things."
"It's not my things! What about you?" Ginny asked. "They'll come for that wand!"
Ginny just wouldn't leave. The Carrows were bound to investigate the enormous char in the ground. There wasn't time to spare. But Ginny grabbed both of Astoria's arms.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING‽ DON'T BRING ME!" Astoria yelled, wrenching free.
"WE CAN PROTECT YOU!"
"NO, YOU CAN'T!"
Though a one-second fantasy of hiding out with a fellow blood-traitor family touched Astoria's mind, the faces of Hestia, Flora, Professor Sinistra, and Draco were more potent.
"ASTORIA, PLEASE!"
"NO! THIS IS WHERE I HAVE TO BE! YOU HAVE TO GO, GINNY!"
"WHAT WILL YOU DO‽"
"I'LL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT! I HAVE SO FAR, HAVEN'T I‽"
The Carrows passed through the gates and crested the hill, though they halted at the enormous sea of embers carved into the ground. Ginny hit both Carrows with a single, large Bombardment Charm. They were making too much noise to be down for the count, though.
"I need to tell you something," Ginny huffed as her eyes trailed the smouldering ground.
"IS NOW REALLY THE TIME‽"
"I haven't told anyone this! The Sorting Hat — it almost put me in Slytherin! My brothers always said I was supposed to be one of you to tease me, but—!"
"Well, I'm glad for your sake you weren't Sorted here!" Astoria cried out. "Now go!"
"I can't leave you here! Slytherin, it's — it's about sticking together! P-Power in numbers! Brotherhood!" Ginny blethered.
A different breed of brotherhood was making his way down the property. Ginny had supposedly duelled Amycus on the night of Dumbledore's death, but she wouldn't make it against him this time. This time she had struck Alecto. Amycus wasn't interested in the Weasley's new bounty; he wanted a blood offering in exchange for Alecto's minor bruise. Unlike Astoria, Ginny still had a family who thought she was alive, and Astoria wasn't going to let that change on this make-believe hearg to Alecto.
"GO!" Astoria roared at her utmost possible volume.
She had been unafraid to reveal their exact location with the sound of her voice, because it finally, finally forced Ginny to Disapparate. And despite Ginny's fervent attempt, Astoria wouldn't let her grab her for Side-Along. With Ginny finally safe, Astoria turned and faced both Carrows alone.
I only fear what I don't know, she told herself. I only fear what I don't know.
She knew her opponents unhealthily well.
Astoria's crawling skin reminded her that Alecto and Amycus held only infantile magic compared to Rabastan. Or so she had thought. They did not aim their wands at her, but at each other, the sight of which made no sense until Astoria remembered…
Twin wands.
"Flagrante!" said Amycus the exact moment Alecto said "Crucio!"
A dreadful noise filled the grounds like train wheels sparking against metal. The Carrows' spells met in the middle and conjoined like a parabolic rope. Light met light, and the shade bled to gold. The pair's spell-thread continued to splinter until they were surrounded in a netted, gilded Shield, and their feet lifted off the ground…
No way.
Astoria hurried further down the hill because there was no way around that cage the Carrows were making. The twins held their wands with both hands, inched the connected spell towards the damaged pit, and floated over its heat unscathed. They reached the other side of the Fiendfyre damage, and though they still continued to float, they were now wrenching their twofold spell towards Astoria. Alecto had bragged about their wands before, but Astoria had had no idea they were capable of this. She had to Disarm at least one of them, or else she'd get a Cruciatus Curse that felt like burning alive.
"Expelliarmus!" she cast at Amycus, but the gold net round them worked better than any Shield. Astoria couldn't get a single spell in, so she was forced to cast her own Shield again and simply try to sustain the force. The Carrows' spell hummed ever louder, and they finally discharged it towards her like a killer slingshot. It collided with Astoria's black Shield, vibrated like a suffering eardrum, and busted a hole clean through it.
Amycus's and Alecto's feet briefly touched the ground again, and their net vanished for but a moment only for them to do the same thing.
"Fractura maxima!"
"Defodio!"
Astoria's Shield would not withstand a second hit, and even if she cast a new one, she was on the road to tiring out much sooner than they were. But the Carrows dual spell was enormous, glowing, and impossible to miss. If Astoria could just get a good hex right at the heart of the thing, maybe they could properly duel without any other cutesy wand tricks.
The Carrows were having the time of their lives with their sparking gold spell. They must have thought Astoria was brainless the way she dropped her Shield. But that combo they made was enormous — she couldn't miss it. As they wrenched it toward her, she met them head-on.
"PRIOR VENARE!"
Return to sender, bitches.
The gold spell split with the sound of an angered wasp's nest, and the jets of light went back to the Carrows. The magic didn't hit them as hard as it would have hit Astoria. Alecto was Gouged on the shoulder, and Amycus had to switch his wand to his left hand as his right took the Bone-Shatter Curse. They were not finished with Astoria, nor was she finished with them. Like Alecto had always wanted, this had become personal.
All three duellists shouldered a sense of unease, since the lavalike ground ran parallel to the fight unfolding. One false step, and the pain would be at minimum equivalent to the curses flying back and forth. Astoria was grossly disadvantaged by about thirty years of duelling skill and four working eyes, but she kept parrying curses because her heart told her to stay alive with every pounding beat. The Carrows cast their spells alla breve in a march, which was challenging to counter with the waltz time Astoria's magic knew. Each time Astoria tried to cast something that had more build-up, they would leap on the opportunity to unite their magic again and send a double-headed monster of a curse at her. Each one was harder to behead than the last, but she persisted. This whip was terrible to aim, but it snagged spells like a frog's tongue to flies, and the closer she got, the easier to read their movements it became.
"This is gettin' ridiculous! A teenaged girl! Did Lestrange Imperius her?" Amycus spat.
Alecto breathed, "No. I'd know her eyes anywhere, even through the blood."
"You tellin' me the creep's readin' our moves with Legilimency‽" Amycus protested. "I've had it with all these fucking Legilimens!"
It hardly felt like Legilimency to Astoria when each and every blink of her eyes was a perdition of pain. But now that they brought it up, it didn't seem like a half-bad idea. They couldn't parry or block Legilimency, could they? Astoria took one look at the wrinkles on Alecto's pasty forehead, met her eyes, and cracked her wand hard, arching it back toward herself in its recoil.
"LEGILIMENS!"
The spell collided with Alecto so hard that she fell onto the hot rock, and for a few moments, all Astoria picked up on was her pain. With a cry, Amycus pulled his sister from the burning rock and put out the fire on her smoky nightgown.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ANYONE KNOW‽" Astoria screamed out to Alecto. "YOU KNEW I WAS ATTACKED! YOU HEARD THE HOWLERS RABASTAN LEFT! YOU LEFT ME TO DIE, ALECTO! TO BE MURDERED!"
Alecto's immediate memories started pouring into Astoria with grisly detail. Alecto, indeed, had a bell in her office to alert her to anyone leaving the castle grounds on Hogsmeade days. Upon Astoria's kidnapping, the bell had been particularly loud. When Alecto ran down to catch Astoria disobeying the Hogsmeade ban, she was met with Rabastan's Howlers, which demanded that Professor Sinistra come alone to meet him at the funeral parlour and leave her wand outside. Rabastan's Howlers spoke plenty of lies about sparing Astoria's life under certain conditions. Alecto had intercepted the "ransom" notes before they ever reached Professor Sinistra and kept the kidnapping secret, distracting everyone with the news of Cornelius Fudge's death.
Alecto then Confunded every person who would have noticed Astoria's absence. Thus, Astoria's roommates thought she was sneaking about with Draco, whilst Draco thought she was with her roommates. Professor Sinistra and the other teachers would not have seen Astoria that evening anyway. Regardless, no amount of evidence would have been able to convince the teachers that something was amiss under the hold of Alecto's spell.
Alecto had given up trying to shape Astoria into a next-generation Death Eater, believing Astoria's death would catalyse the bloom of Dark magic in her nieces. Astoria would serve as one more example of what happened to people who defied Voldemort.
Astoria's life mattered nothing to Alecto, so Alecto's integrity mattered nothing to Astoria. The Legilimency became more uncomfortable, but this was how Rabastan did it. Astoria kept digging until it hurt them both, until she collided with a very bad wall that made Alecto scream and grab her head. The memories behind that wall inundated many senses, the way they did when Astoria jolted from her sleep. Alecto shoved the Legilimency out instantly with sheer agony alone.
"Alecto, damn it, get a hold of yourself! C'mon, you been through Legilimency before! Pull it together!" Amycus shouted, bracing her at the shoulders as she continued to squeeze her head and cry.
"She — She —" Alecto wailed, "She made me remember again, Amycus!"
Amycus had been frightening before, but he was a new kind of horror now. After leaving a spell upon Alecto to tend her burns, his hands slid off her shoulders, and he turned around wide-eyed, like someone with nothing left to lose. He traced Astoria's sprint with his wand, brimming with nothing less than a Killing Curse — no, something worse.
"Fractura neurocranium."
Astoria clung to her life and rounded the far edge of the heated rock as Amycus's curse blasted a boulder to a hot pulp. Astoria's eyes acted up again, and she could scarcely see, but that could have been her skull… She had to act.
Got them.
She whipped the aching Carrows into the hot pit, and they fell screaming at the top of their lungs. Alecto hit her head against the hot ground and was out, and Amycus called down all the gods and called up all the devils… He hurried to lift Alecto out of the Fiendfyre ash at the cost of his own skin, and started making his way toward the edge of the damaged ground.
Astoria recalled from the Legilimency dive that Alecto had Astoria's wand on her person and Mobilised her clean out of her brother's arms. She might have stolen a baby from its mother the way he reacted. But the more she was distracted by his noise, the less she'd get done. Astoria scrambled across the muddy grass and reached into Alecto's sweaty robes, finally retrieving her cherry wand. Yet it didn't feel the same as this new one. It didn't quite do what Astoria wanted it to do…
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Amycus seethed through his injuries. "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU WISH YOU WEREN'T BORN, GREENGRASS!"
Astoria ignored him. He was busy trying to get out of the scarred ground in one piece. Astoria hovered over Alecto, the woman who had made her vomit Muggle water and oxtail soup. The woman who abused her best friends. Alecto looked so harmless lying unconscious on the black grass, like someone people would walk up to and ask, "Are you alright, ma'am?" But Astoria knew why Alecto looked so normal: her eyes were closed, and her hands were to herself.
One of those idle hands had a sigil scarred on the palm to match Astoria's. Who would have thought that Astoria could have piqued a Dark witch's interest in practising a new spell? Astoria was almost proud, though it wasn't an honour. She looked into the beady, skin-milk eyes of the double-headed snake tattooed on Alecto's neck. It twisted and silently hissed at her with both mouths.
Based on the proximity of Amycus's noise, Astoria didn't have much time to pick her next spell, and she grew disgusted with herself for stalling. Astoria had never admitted it to herself before, but there had been times she leaned into Alecto's false touch, times the very source of her injuries had been a twisted comfort. To be held and hummed to after all the fucking pain… Alecto knew what she was doing. Was it Stockholm Syndrome? That's what Rabastan would have called it. Astoria would never have that for him, but whatever she may have felt towards Alecto, she had to fight.
How much would it take to turn me into you, Allie Carrow?
It was a foul but powerful thought, triggered by all those times Alecto had begged Astoria for reassurance — "What would you have done?"
Although the ingredients that had made Alecto were vastly different from what made Astoria, the number of those different ingredients was not so vast. A few key variables, and more things could have been wrong with the soil at Quennell Park. There was one big piece that wouldn't change regardless of the situation, though. For all the violence Astoria had recently committed, she didn't embrace it the way Alecto did. Fundamentally, Astoria was a merciful person. She recalled the change Nott Sr had undergone after Obliviating himself. Rashly, she wished the same for Alecto, because what Alecto bore so deeply in her brain was a precipice of ruin.
So she whipped Alecto across the face and said, "Obliviate."
"Wha– NO!"
Wrong move again. Amycus acted like Astoria had killed Alecto. Panicked tears evaporated off the trail they left in the dirt on his face, and his shoes melted away as he climbed out of the near-fire. Astoria readjusted the leather cord, anticipation of her next target burning through all her half-open injuries.
"DON'T! DON'T YOU HURT HER! DON'T YOU KNOW WHEN'S ENOUGH, YOU FUCKING MONSTER‽" Amycus shrieked, unaware of her real intentions.
He got within range to try to kill Astoria again, coming fearsomely too close.
"Obliviate," Astoria said, and the gash from the whip opened on his head.
Something was wrong. She could already feel that she had not saved the Carrows with the Memory Charm. Amycus, having been knocked to his belly, was completely dazed from the aftereffects of the charm and seemed to not know that Astoria was even present. His mind felt the same, though. Everything felt the same.
But it worked on Theodore's dad! Astoria protested the lack of meaningful change.
Astoria lined up the whip again. This wasn't fair to Flora and Hestia. Was her magic too weak for a Memory Charm? Was it this stupid whip? Theodore's dad had forgotten almost everything, but the Carrows lolled between the levels of consciousness the same dreadful people as they ever were. How could they hold so dear the very things that made them so miserable? It was something more painful than a grudge.
Astoria's heart crumbled at her own naïveté. She had not created — could not create — a family for Flora and Hestia as much as a house could not be built from rotted wood. Suddenly, both Carrows Levitated into the air away from the heat and fell safely onto softer grass. Snape was behind them. With the scene at Hagrid's hut finished, Snape walked alone. His expression was illegible. He gruffly handed Astoria a phial of foul-smelling Blood Replenishing Potion. She drank it in one gulp lest she get sick from the taste and threw the phial to the ground. It seemed like Snape thought she was the last of the Dumbledore group. Didn't he know? Couldn't he see it on her mangled face? Rabastan…
"We must inform your Head of House and the Matron about your wounds," said Snape.
"YOU ARE MY HEAD OF HOUSE!" Astoria raged at him, spit and blood flying from her. "YOU! YOU ARE!"
A vein in Snape's forehead popped with angry tension, but he did not return her screams. His eyes fell on the trailing wand. His face wrinkled once he got a good look at her.
"Your eyes are… Miss Greengrass, I was unaware of your emergency. Much has been happening with the news of Fudge, and I have not been anywhere near Alecto today."
All stupid excuses. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"What are you — afraid of her‽" Astoria scowled. "Go have a look at her, Snape, she's not contagious!"
"Miss Greengrass… my utmost loyalty lies with the Dark Lord. I had no reason to suspect Rabastan Lestrange was not with him tonight based on our orders."
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME WITH THAT 'DARK LORD' RUBBISH!" Astoria screamed, dragging the whip straight onto the ground in front of her, unsure of what she would dare to cast.
"Astoria, drop that wand, and keep yours. You must listen to me," Snape said through his teeth. "Drop that wand."
Ha! She would have sooner sacrificed the cherry. Nothing had made such intricate paths of her magic this way before, except perhaps the silver lime wand her father had sworn against at Ollivander's all those years ago. This wand had taken her mind and her blood. It was as good as her own bones and marrow.
"Astoria! Oh, my heavens, Astoria! Astoria!"
Professor Sinistra's voice was like music. She arrived by Snape's spot with her hands over her mouth.
"Astoria, what's happened to your eyes‽" she cried. "Oh, Astoria, give Professor Snape that wand, dear. It's okay. It will be okay. Come now."
Astoria, too, started to cry, but the tears were like acid and came out the wrong spot. The sting only made her cry more. She dropped her beloved new wand onto the grass and ran to Professor Sinistra's arms, bawling. Snape slinked over and retrieved the instrument, rolling it up and putting it into his pocket. All Astoria succeeded in was getting blood on Professor Sinistra's nice dressing gown. Several other teachers were walking out to the grounds.
"Fiendfyre?" Professor Sprout gasped concernedly upon seeing the damage to the grounds.
"Shh, Astoria, shh. Here, let me see your face. Hold your face up, dear."
Astoria didn't want to. She didn't want Professor Sinistra to use Legilimency and see what all had happened. She couldn't let Professor Sinistra see that. She had to keep her away from that! Professor Sinistra would only blame herself!
The professor's cool hands touched Astoria's cheeks and lifted her face up. For the very first time, Astoria fell into a wavelength with her, and her dark brown eyes felt like home. Professor Sinistra did not use a wand, only her hands, to clean Astoria's face completely. She ran her thumbs very gently under Astoria's lower lashes, magically sealing the damage. The bruises were still dark and painful, but the wounds were gone. The stinging, the blood, the mortification, it was gone.
I'm so sorry, Professor Sinistra thought as she cried too loudly to speak. I am so, so sorry. This is my fault. I was incredibly selfish. If I had not sought your companionship, you would never have had information Rabastan wanted. If I had not forced myself into your life… This is all my fault… I ruin everything I touch…
Stop it! Astoria returned, holding her gaze on Professor Sinistra's eyes. Stop that nonsense! I love you! You're just the same as family! This is his fault. Professor, he WANTS you to think this is your fault. That's who he is! I saw in his head!
Professor Sinistra rested her head atop Astoria's and squeezed her tightly.
Professor, I reached a wavelength with Rabastan, Astoria thought with shame. Why did it happen? Is there something wrong with me?
No, dear. You know the answer yourself. He held that wand against your skin when he used Legilimency. All you did was use it back. You partially disarmed him in January. You developed the power to reach Legilimency wavelengths. It merely acted as your wand, Professor Sinistra confirmed.
But it wasn't her wand anymore, Astoria begrudged. It was in Snape's pocket, going back to its wretched owner. And behind Snape, the Carrows were beginning to stir.
"Am? What happened? You're burned…" Alecto inhaled.
"Aurora," Snape warned aloud.
"I know."
Professor Sinistra's grip became more firm than affectionate, and she started leading Astoria back round the far edge of the rock.
"We must go."
Astoria shut her mouth. She would have been a hypocrite not to, considering the dramatics she had had with Ginny. Professor Sinistra brought her over the edge of the Apparition point. Astoria held on to her arm tightly and shut her eyes, trusting the professor completely.
They journeyed together far through Apparition. Now it was deathly cold and windy. Astoria thought she heard screeches and flapping wings above her. Her eyes struggled to adjust, but just as they were about to, Professor Sinistra cast a Shield charm that was far too bright.
"Hey, girl! Whatcha doing all the way out here?"
It sounded like Ms Glenda Chittock. Astoria squinted past the Shield and saw the woman's big, beehive hair. Her skin looked even bluer through the light of the Shield.
"Whooo! What in Carmilla's closet happened to Astoria's eyes?" Ms Chittock gasped.
"Glenda," Professor Sinistra said sternly.
Astoria blinked and saw the women communicate silently through Legilimency, embarrassed that Professor Sinistra was relaying Astoria's tale of capture.
"Yeah, no problem at all! Come right this way!" Glenda said aloud, and they started walking along rocks. The way the wind was, Astoria knew they must be very high in the mountains.
"Hey, Mama, it's Aurora and her girl," Ms Chittock's voice echoed along the terrain. "I'm not turning them away, so you'd better do your thing with the others."
"Glenda, I swear—" replied the mother, obscured.
"Do your thing and let me know."
Glenda proceeded to cover her pointed ears. Astoria did at first, too, but she didn't hear anything happen. Professor Sinistra was not holding her ears, so Astoria let go. Ms Chittock uncovered her ears moments later and waved the pair onward. Astoria felt an amazing weight of magic on her body even through the Shield. Astoria looked beyond the Shield's light to see a beautiful rockface, full of glittering crystals. Amazing, greenish claws seemed to hang from above them. They were in a cave.
"We've a place set up for Dad and me," Ms Chittock said brightly. "It's not much, but it's kinda like a house on the inside. It took a lot of magic, I'll tell ya that!"
"And the others…?" Professor Sinistra asked.
"Everyone's been ordered to stay away from you two. Mum and my brother might come by, though. Well, Mum definitely will. She lives here. But they won't do anything. You know they're good about that, Aurora."
Ms Chittock laughed, but it wasn't funny to Professor Sinistra. Ms Chittock then addressed Astoria.
"Mum can get that blood magic out of you easily, if you, er—"
"Glenda!" Professor Sinistra gasped, affronted.
"It's all right, Professor," Astoria intervened. "It burns. If a vampire can fix my arm…"
Professor Sinistra shook her head, saying, "There has to be some other way."
"There is no other way! Don't you think I know a thing or two about blood magic, girl?" Ms Chittock said with equal insult. "Look, the poor thing's wound's suffering. She's got magic on it now, but that's not gonna hold. You want her to bleed out overnight or what?"
Professor Sinistra was too fraught with guilt over what had already happened to consider letting a vampire touch Astoria.
"Let's settle in and then take care of it," Astoria suggested. "I don't mind."
Ms Chittock magically opened up a thick, glittering hatch in the cave. They all had to stretch their legs over it to get inside, and then Ms Chittock sealed it tightly. Everything, in fact, was held tightly with magic on the inside. It was warm, with lots of yellow candles and a fire crackling gently in the corner. A few coats hung on the side of the wall, which was rocky, but not wet. The wall circled into an area with shelves carved out of rock. It had cauldrons and lots of canned and dry goods for, well, human tastes. Somewhere in the shadow, there was a stir, and a middle-aged man hobbled out.
"Oh, hi, Glenda. I didn't hear you leave. Is everything all right? Is your mum already off? Oh, hello, Aurora! So good to see you again."
"Mum's still round here somewhere," Ms Chittock said. "Dad, there's a girl in trouble, and she's gonna be staying with us for the spring holiday."
"Oh, from Hogwarts? Oh no, what's happened to her eyes?" Mr Chittock said.
Astoria looked round the room. To the left was a large area with even deeper alcoves carved into the stone. Two of them had mattresses and blankets, and the others were full of storage chests. To the right was a kitchenette, only auxiliary to the hearth, but it had a conjure-style sink and an ice box. There was one door off that area, which Astoria presumed was the toilet. Mr Chittock stopped marvelling at Astoria's injuries and introduced himself.
"How do you do? I'm Rich Chittock, Glenda's dad. I'm sorry we don't have better lodging. I'm Muggle-born, you see, so I'm in hiding, and on top of that, my partner is a vampire!"
"Thank you for welcoming me here, sir. My name is Astoria. I'm sorry for the short notice."
"What a nice-mannered girl! It's almost midnight. I usually lose my manners round nine o'clock," Mr Chittock chuckled. "Oh, I used to be better at being on my partner's sleep schedule. Now that I don't work night-shift at The Leaky Cauldron anymore, it's hard to stay nocturnal!"
"Dad, she's had blood magic set in her, so we're gonna get her set up for Mum," Ms Chittock said, gently dismissing her father, who was obviously desperate for conversation.
"Oh, yes, Şebnem will take care of you straightaway! I know it might be scary at first, but it will all work out!" said Mr Chittock reassuringly.
Ms Chittock lit more candles with her wand until the hideout was bright enough for Astoria and Professor Sinistra to navigate on their own. As far as facilities went, the cave had a Vanishing-style toilet and a conjure-only bathtub and sink. Astoria sat on the tub's edge whilst Professor Sinistra looked on, biting her nails. Ms Chittock had Astoria take off her tattered uniform to have full view of her arm. It looked much worse in the light, but Ms Chittock didn't make a face. Her lack of reaction made Astoria feel less gross.
"This is going to feel strange," Ms Chittock said gently, and, without a wand, she traced all kinds of patterns with her fingers along Astoria's skin.
It was not painful, but it felt like her arm had become a balloon. Astoria tried to look brave, but when she heard Şebnem come into the hideout, she felt less so. Ms Chittock sneaked past Professor Sinistra to explain the situation to her mother. A row ensued.
"That's Greengrass blood," Şebnem hissed. "Are you trying to give me food poisoning?"
"No, Mum! No one said you had to swallow it! Just spit it in the sink! Stop being so stubborn! She needs help! She's only a witch — she can't heal that wound right!"
"Why do you not fix the girl, then, Glenda?" the mother argued.
"You know damn well I don't have the bite for something like this!"
"And what is in this deal for me?" Şebnem clucked. "This will certainly accrue her debt. What could a small witch offer me, if not her awful blood?"
"Mum, not everything is about debt between us and the humans!"
"They have siphoned our magic for centuries, butchered it into what they wanted, and labelled it 'Dark' to be fashionable! Glenda, you fail to realise that you are the only other thing besides debt between us and the humans!"
"AND WHOSE IDEA WAS I, THEN? YOU KNEW WHAT I WOULD BE!" Ms Chittock screeched in a monstrous voice unlike her usual. "NOW COME OFF IT AND HELP THIS POOR GIRL!"
Astoria poked her nose past Professor Sinistra's protective pose. Şebnem had dark grey skin and wavy black hair. Her pupils were shaped like a Christmas ornament, with slits all the way to the edge of her red eyes and round in the centre. Şebnem's manner was formal and arcane. She had little in common with her bubbly, half-human daughter.
"Ms Şebnem, I'm sorry to have caused trouble," Astoria called. "You don't have to make my arm pretty again or anything, but I am asking that you help me not bleed out overnight."
Şebnem glided past her daughter and met Astoria at the door, with Professor Sinistra standing firmly between them.
"Oh, your eyes…" Şebnem said under her breath. "Very well, Aurora. I will help the girl here. I hate Dark wizards more than any other kind of wizard. This is what happens when humans interpret our magic. Disgraceful."
Like a spirit, Şebnem passed clean through Professor Sinistra, whose whole body shivered angrily.
"I would have stepped aside had I known you meant no harm, Madam," Professor Sinistra snapped.
"Yes, but that way is more fun," Şebnem said.
She held Astoria's gaze firmly until it became obvious Astoria could not look at anything else. Somehow, Şebnem wrapped Astoria in comfort. Then, Şebnem dipped her head quickly and stood up over the sink, into which Professor Sinistra conjured water. Astoria shook her head.
In place of the hastily mended, magical cut in her arm were four little circles over a scar, scabbing already. Astoria hadn't even felt it. The unsightly black web of veins was still on her skin, though. Maybe she shouldn't have told Şebnem she didn't have to make it pretty.
"I can't fix the appearance, Astoria," Şebnem spluttered above the sink, "as you must have used blood magic yourself as well."
Oh.
Astoria rubbed the spot on her arm absent-mindedly. She hadn't had a choice but to use that spell. And really, she hadn't had a choice but to have a vampire suck it out of her. She hoped she wasn't doomed to become a vampire at death.
"That's an entirely different process, you fool," Şebnem said, reading her mind unapologetically. "We aren't filthy like werewolves."
Oh.
Şebnem evidently got the taste of Greengrass blood out of her mouth, because she strode away saying, "Well, Glenda, I apologise for our disagreement. I haven't had breakfast yet. I'll be off now. I will see you in the morning, Richard."
Astoria nestled into an alcove in the cave with a conjured mattress and big, fluffy blankets. For safety, Professor Sinistra set a Crucifix over her bed, but Astoria was certain no vampire would want her blood after Şebnem had thrown her toys out the pram about it. In borrowed robes, Astoria slept from exhaustion, but unfortunately, there was no Dreamless Sleep Potion available. After having a vicious nightmare about marrying Rabastan to break Quennell's curse, Astoria was perfectly awake when Şebnem came into the hideout before dawn. Şebnem's red eyes had not been so bad the other times Astoria had seen them, but in the pitch black, they were outright scary.
"Er… Şebnem?" Astoria asked very, very quietly, for everyone slept in the same alcove of the cave-house.
"You're awake? I've made no noise," Şebnem said certainly.
"I was awake anyway," Astoria said, and she cast the Muffliato Charm on Professor Sinistra, Ms Chittock, and Mr Chittock.
"Watch what you are casting upon my mate and child," Şebnem hissed, though she already knew the spell was harmless.
"I'm sorry, Madam, but I needed to ask what is wrong with Greengrass blood…" Astoria hinted, not exactly ready to release the Fidelius Charm upon a vampire.
"Most humans take no offense if their blood is unappealing to us. Do you wish to become a vampire? My mate has already arranged to join me upon his human death. Of course, since his parents were mortals, he will always be known amongst us as one Created rather than Born…"
"No, no, no," Astoria said irritably. "I need to know why my blood is so infamous that you would already know you didn't like it!"
"Well, it tastes like death. I would say that you should seek a healer, but firstly, I don't give humans advice, and secondly, nothing appears to be wrong with your family."
Yeah. 'Appears.'
"Okay. Thank you, Şebnem."
Şebnem laughed condescendingly at her and sank into bed with Mr Chittock without waking him. Astoria went back to sleep. The next morning, Glenda shapeshifted herself into a more humanlike woman and set out to get humanlike breakfast. She came back with greasy brown bags, which, based on his reaction, was Mr Chittock's favourite. Astoria and Professor Sinistra could barely palate the paper-wrapped stuff, but beggars could not be choosers. Since Şebnem was asleep, Astoria spoke quietly, but Mr Chittock informed her that Şebnem's sleep was trancelike and that "bagpipes couldn't wake her once she's made up her mind to sleep." With nothing better to do, Astoria later waved her hand in front of Şebnem's face. Şebnem slept with her eyes open, but she didn't see.
Professor Sinistra fell into a depression and repeatedly declined Ms Chittock's offers to go for hikes. Ms Chittock had to reach a certain spot in the mountains for her wireless to work even though it was magical. Some days, Ms Chittock convinced her half-brother and his daughter to join her (they could turn to bats). She was always gone a long time.
"She's probably doing Potterwatch, but we're not allowed to know," grinned Mr Chittock.
"What's Potterwatch?" asked Astoria.
"Why, it's the station for the resistance!"
"I, er, didn't know there was a resistance."
"What, have you been living under a rock?" Mr Chittock said, then he knocked a fist against the wall. "Oops, guess you have!"
It was heartening to hear that people were doing something against Voldemort's government somewhere. She would have loved to have told Rhiannon. But apparently, the resistance did not impress Professor Sinistra, nor was it news to her.
"Ted Tonks was killed," the professor said quietly to Mr Chittock later.
"I'll be. I graduated Hufflepuff with him. May he rest in peace," Mr Chittock said.
The Tonkses were family friends of the Greengrasses. Astoria had heard her mother warn Mrs Tonks to leave the country, and she bitterly mourned the Tonks family's loss. They had been, perhaps, too confident that fate was on their side.
On Easter Sunday, the cross hanging over Astoria's bed was the only celebration of the holiday she received. Between the lines of Alecto's mess, Astoria had lost the faith that had once been her comfort. It plagued her that her family thought she was in Heaven. If only she could watch over them like that without being dead.
She ate a brown-bag breakfast and canned soup for dinner. Astoria wasn't afraid of the vampire colony in the mountains, but she had become afraid of being outdoors due to the kidnapping. It wasn't the same as the depression Professor Sinistra had — it was a cauldron mix of anger, fear, and lack of safety. Her night terrors were now adorned with thunderous noises of the collapsing funeral parlour. She didn't want to ask anyone to make a Dreamless Sleep Potion, though. She didn't want to seem needy and damaged. She wanted to be strong, but everything made her jumpy.
After one of many gruesome nightmares, Astoria woke to Şebnem coming back from her long night. The vampire again was offended at Astoria's waking, apparently being proud of her ability to sneak round soundlessly. Astoria reassured Şebnem's pride that she was already awake.
"Madam, I would like to ask you something else," Astoria said nervously, Muffling everyone else in the cave again.
"You are the neediest human I have ever met."
"Please. I haven't been able to find information about what's bothering me. There's a ghost I know who said he used a Horcrux. How do you get rid of a Horcrux and get the ghost to pass on?"
Şebnem suddenly raked Astoria's brain very angrily. When she didn't find anything, she stopped trying to use Legilimency.
"This so-called 'ghost' has turned you into a Secret Keeper?"
"Yes, Madam."
"Well, this 'ghost' is no ghost, and he's trying to kill you. Cut off contact."
"He's not trying to kill me, Madam. Can you please tell me about Horcruxes so I can get rid of it?"
Şebnem was centuries beyond the need for emotions, yet she still showed them.
"Horcruxes are… Well, you see, mortals have been trying to make themselves immortal for eons. Contrary to common belief, there is no such thing as immortal. I am not immortal. A Horcrux is not immortal; it is a pitiful, selfish wish for immortality. Humans who make a Horcrux are no better than vampires who drain someone to death whilst feeding. It prolongs one's life, but it doesn't save it for all eternity. Thus, it is life wasted. Life is a wonderful thing. Several of my kind — the ones who would gladly make a Horcrux if they were born human — have forgotten that life is not to take. They permeate Muggle literature as horrid creatures.
"I have only known a few individuals throughout my long life who have tried to make Horcruxes. The results are worse than if they were to leave well enough alone. Horcruxes are even more powerful than my body. The only way I know to destroy a Horcrux is with basilisk venom. That is almost impossible to acquire. I simply let Horcrux users rot with the fate they have chosen. These individuals work against the interest of all species, of all life."
Recalling what basilisk venom had done to Rhiannon's arm, Astoria believed Şebnem about its effect on Horcruxes. But she was very confused by Şebnem's stance and wondered if what she had learnt about vampires was tainted by popular literature, too. It was not very promising if a vampire found a Horcrux offensive.
"Astoria, we are more powerful than your kind. Although our relationship is necessarily parasitic, to wilfully kill one of you would be akin to the Wizards killing the less-powerful Muggles. I am saying this as the best Death Eater-Eater there is!"
"Y-You eat Death Eaters?" Astoria gasped.
"No, I don't eat Death Eaters, you silly child! I drink their blood, make them weaker! We have been using them for meals since a decade ago. I cannot imagine what sort of havoc they would have wreaked otherwise."
"Well, they are wreaking havoc!" Astoria exclaimed. "C-Can't you… can't you do more?"
"Excuse you, we do not engage in the political affairs of humans. Humans have always killed each other, and they always will. They create arbitrary distinctions amongst themselves for the sole purpose of killing each other again! If we were to target every unjust human, we would gorge ourselves to death, and there would be naught left of the human race. That being said, I have tried many times to sink my teeth into Tom Riddle and his company, but… well, we are Dark creatures, and they have stolen Dark magic from us. It is nearly impossible to fight them. Oh, I suspect many things about that Riddle man indeed. Perhaps he…" Şebnem trailed off.
Astoria sighed. If literal vampires couldn't defeat him…
"Thank you, Şebnem. Thank you for letting me stay here and for talking to me. Everything has been…" she started to choke up, "so hard."
"I know it has, child. Be quiet, now, I am very tired."
Şebnem hummed a few notes, and Astoria was lulled into her first dreamless sleep since before Rabastan. Later that morning, though, Professor Sinistra was locked in a distressed conversation with her friend that awakened Astoria.
"That school is the only place I have besides here to take her. They're attacking everybody. I don't know what to do. She's always trapped. This is no life for a young witch."
"It's no life for you, either! You know, you both can come with me on my hikes. My brother's not gonna bite you. My niece might, though, but she's only one year old… er, teething…"
"Glenda, it's not that. It's this whole situation. We cannot spend the rest of our lives in your mountains. I want a future for her, but I've no idea where her family is."
Astoria would rather live in mountainside caves with a vampire colony and eat Muggle fast food for the rest of her life than ever see the Carrows and Lestranges again. But although Hogwarts was dire, there was so much she had left behind there. She wanted to know her friends were alive. She wanted Uncle Faunus's pipe back. She wanted her Astronomy N.E.W.T. She even dared to want her life back.
On the eleventh of April, news came from one of Ms Chittock's Potterwatch sources. The Lestranges were totally confined to Malfoy Manor after bungling another encounter with Harry Potter. It seemed too good to be true, so Professor Sinistra left the hideout to contact Snape, who lived at a place called Spinner's End. It was the first time in almost three weeks that the professor had moved her body so much, and her absence gave Astoria a surprising bout of separation anxiety.
"She'll be back soon," Mr Chittock comforted her with a smile, but he had no evidence. Astoria wondered how someone so optimistic had ended up the life partner (and afterlife partner) of a cold, saucy vampire.
Two hours later, Professor Sinistra finally came through the magical hatch of the hideout with a sense of triumph about her.
"The Lestranges have been stripped of their titles and are, indeed, confined to Malfoy Manor," she announced, and everyone clapped. "And due to a certain Memory Charm, the Carrows do not remember the circumstances of Hagrid's party, their burns, or of our departure."
Ms Chittock brought in a cake from the outside world for them to enjoy that night. When Astoria asked Professor Sinistra if they would go back to school, though, she unwittingly started an argument. She wanted to go back and be with her friends and Draco. Professor Sinistra had left behind Winky and her pet Doppelvanga at the castle, as well as many students. Astoria argued and whined until Professor Sinistra couldn't stand it anymore and hit her with a Silencing Charm.
It was only an emotional reaction, but it was the wrong thing to do. Astoria had a brutal flashback right at the dinner table, and when she came to her senses, she had knocked over her drink. Professor Sinistra, never having outrun the guilt of Astoria being kidnapped in the first place, was ashamed for triggering the flashback, and she locked herself in the bathroom to cry. Ms Chittock and her dad both tried to soothe Astoria, who regretted having brought up Hogwarts at all. Astoria went to bed unhappy, and her leftover cake dissolved into the sink.
"We are going back tomorrow," Professor Sinistra said the next morning. "Merlin knows that school needs me to watch the students."
At those words, Astoria felt so stupid for not being able to make up her mind. In the mountains, she would resent the fact that she wasn't in school. At school, she would miss the nestled safely of the jewelled mountains. She felt immature for having argued so fervently for Hogwarts the previous night, and apologised to the professor, who wouldn't hear of any "I'm sorrys."
Despite the charm that eradicated the Carrows' short-term memory of one night, they were as bad as ever when Astoria returned to school. The Carrows confabulated fantastical stories about their burns' origins for each other's amusement and indiscriminately blamed whoever caught their dislike each day. Naturally, students ended up in the Hospital Wing with burn wounds. Astoria tried not to blame herself and failed.
Hestia sought a private moment with Astoria when Alexa was off with her friends and Flora was talking to Professor Sinistra about something that wasn't Astronomy. Astoria said utterly nothing about the endless weeks of torture with Amycus and Alecto. She said utterly nothing about Rabastan, vampires, or blood curses. She had barely spoken at all, but Hestia needed a conversation partner.
"When we went home for Easter holiday, Alecto asked me a lot about Rhiannon," Hestia started with difficulty. "And the asking turned into screaming really fast. And the screaming became… well, I had to deny that I was ever with Rhiannon. She seems to think it was you who dated her."
"I told her that to protect you, Hestia. I was already on Alecto's bad side," explained Astoria.
"No. I'm not thirteen anymore. I'm not on your case about that," Hestia assured. "I'm on my own case about denying that I was with her."
"You had to, Hestia. You have to lie to Alecto," Astoria said, not feeling especially verbose.
Hestia lay flat on Rhiannon's old bed with her hands on her tumbling stomach.
"It hurt to say I was never involved with Rhi. I know she's not here to know I said those things, but it still hurt. I'm proud to be her girlfriend. And if she's forgotten me already, I'm still proud to say that I was her girlfriend. She was always my hope."
"I know, Hestia. I'm sorry you went through that. Really, though, you have to say it never happened. They'll arrest you," Astoria stressed.
She had nothing else useful to add. She had had to deny her love of Draco Malfoy enough times. Hestia needed to get used to this, too.
"Astoria?"
"Yeah?"
"I was scared of them this time."
The girls stared at each other for a whole minute, full of discomfort.
"Astoria?"
"Yeah?"
"What happened to your eyes?"
Astoria invented a fib about the scars and old bruises beneath her eyes and let Flora, Hestia, and Alexa live in blissful ignorance of her disaster with Rabastan. She knew how it felt to conceal something for another's good, a behaviour she had begrudged her parents for. It wasn't only for her friends' protection, though. When Astoria considered how she might have described the experience to them, she relived it internally. It came back in colour vision.
Draco was at school, but he was different. Skinny. Worn. Quiet. He did not come to Astronomy that week, and his absence haunted her as much as Professor Sinistra's blank expressions and slow rate of speech. Apparently, Astronomy N.E.W.T.s were still happening even though the world was imploding. The very last thing to crumble in society would be its standardised tests.
With school ending on the twelfth of June, and her N.E.W.T. on the nineteenth, that gave Astoria some future timeline, but she could not possibly imagine what summer would be like. Would they be able to stay in Professor Sinistra's messy house, or would they go back to the vampires' mountains? How old would Astoria be when she located her family and Rhiannon? They might not even miss her by then.
Astoria could not feel anything different about her arm, but the sight would give her away as a Dark witch to anyone who knew about blood magic and would repulse anyone who didn't. Astoria kept her arm covered at all costs the same way Rhiannon had to for her basilisk wound. But the implications of Rhiannon's injury were different from Astoria's. People would take one look at Astoria's arm and say she was getting busy with Voldemort again.
Throughout the next two weeks, Astoria did not receive a single secret letter from Draco. He avoided her religiously. He wouldn't even look at her. This bothered her, not because she felt slighted, but because she knew this was how Draco reacted to trauma. When would she be able to talk to him? In spite of how difficult it was to cast, she still sent her Patronus out each night. Did that help him at all? Did he still recognise the assurance of her feelings? When she tried, very carefully, to meet him in the common room before his shift, he took off like he was afraid.
Rabastan must have said something to Draco to make him feel like it was his fault for not protecting Astoria. Didn't Draco know what a horrible liar he was? Nothing Draco ever did or didn't do would have changed the events with Rabastan.
During time she normally would have spent with Draco, Astoria sat with her roommates in the Astronomy library to study for Charms. She was so distractible these days that even the simplest parts of her notes were unreachable for her. Every crackle of the flambeaus on the walls drew her attention from her work. Once, a bird flew by the window and cast a shadow that made her jump out of her seat. Flora and Hestia didn't say anything, but Alexa giggled thoughtlessly at Astoria's startle reaction. It did not feel good.
Somewhat bitter, Astoria pulled out her grimoire and the Dark Arts books she had been working through. Dark magic was a shell and a crutch. From her bookmark, she thumbed open Darkness as Element, the one that had taught her all about Fiendfyre, and tried to find a good page in her grimoire to deface. She had filled up Serpentarius's margins and found herself looking at the first page of Scorpius. She really liked that constellation. She didn't want to write curses in that part of the book. She doodled a flower instead.
"What sort of deep, Dark sigil is that?"
Hestia's snoopy joke made Astoria feel better even in grim times.
"I know! It turns a bouquet of flowers into a bouquet of scorpions," Hestia said.
On their way back downstairs, they came upon Theodore, who made a wide frown. Theodore had a few reasons to be in Astronomy Tower: to patrol as Head Boy, to ask Professor Sinistra about class, or to look for Astoria. Since Theodore was doing well in class and it was only four o'clock, Astoria inferred it was the lattermost. Astoria encouraged her roommates to go ahead of her whilst she and Theodore walked back to the library. She had many questions about Draco on the tip of her tongue, but Theodore was bursting with what he had to say.
"The Carrows really hurt Michael Corner today. You know, the Ravenclaw in that club."
"There are many Ravenclaws in that club," Astoria mentioned, unable to place which one Michael was. "Is he all right? Is he in the Hospital Wing?"
"Nowhere else for him to be! I saw him. I feel so awful. He was saving a first-year — that Borgin girl. Her wristband was glowing, that's the only way he noticed her chained up in the dark… I guess her dad had, I don't know, said something—"
"There isn't anything you could have done, Theodore," Astoria comforted, seeing him to a chair. Her eyes watered at the thought of her eleven-year-old admirer in pain. "Michael's part of Dumbledore's Army, so he knows the Carrows are after him. It's not his fault. He did the right thing for Chesna. But it is a risk. It's not like it used to be. Even though you're Head Boy, you're stuck working for the Carrows rather than in the interest of the students."
"No, that's the thing," Theodore said frantically. "E-Ever since the Carrows put me on hunting duty, I've done everything I could to mislead them! They were about to figure out how the D.A. was communicating, and, well, I Confunded them both. And, er, you see, Michael and Millicent and I, we've been, er…"
Theodore's voice lowered to a whisper even though there wasn't anyone round.
"We've been sneaking kids out of the Cruciatus detentions once there's enough absinthe in the Carrows' systems, you know? Michael and his friends know all the secret passageways in the castle, and we send students through those back to their dormitories."
Astoria had trouble picturing Millicent Bulstrode helping out Gryffindors. Millicent had worked for Umbridge, but maybe she had changed her ways and drawn the line now that her crush on Pansy Parkinson was over. Still, Millicent seemed more the type to swing first-years over her shoulders and curse her way through the halls to safety than to sneak round with Theodore and a Ravenclaw.
Astoria stared at Theodore a bit impolitely; she never would have imagined him being so brave. He was really using his craftiness for good! His group must have rescued countless students before they had "served their time." Astoria hugged him. Theodore hated hugs and made a funny noise, but he pressed a hand on her back for courtesy's sake.
"Sorry! Theodore, that's great! I had no idea!"
"Well, it's not that great, is it?" he bemoaned. "I can't believe what they did to Michael. It's all my fault. He wouldn't have been pulling that stunt if I—"
"Yes, he would!" Astoria interjected. "Those D.A. people are mad! They would have started with or without you, Theodore! Do you know what matters? You and Millicent were there to help! You were able to trick the Carrows into thinking you were on their side!"
"I — I don't know. Maybe you're right."
"Of course I'm right! Theodore, I'm really proud of you!"
"I have a bad feeling we won't be doing much of that anymore," he sighed.
"But you have made a difference," Astoria said.
Theodore smiled a bit and said, "Yeah… thank you."
"Now," Astoria said, "you know this is coming…"
"I don't know what's wrong with Draco," Theodore anticipated. "He won't tell me about it, but he's carrying a new wand, so I can only assume things went downhill at his house."
Astoria nodded. She hadn't even seen Draco enough to notice what sort of wand he had. Perhaps there was a battle in which he was forced to participate, or perhaps Voldemort had confiscated his wand. Maybe Draco's wand had cracked from the Dark magic he was forced to cast. There was no telling.
Astoria and Theodore couldn't walk back to the common room together, but if Astoria had learnt anything from being separated from Rhiannon, it was that friendship was greater than distance. The next night, she wrote Draco a letter with invisible ink borrowed from Flora and a quick consultation in the library on how to make the letter self-destruct without setting the whole castle aflame.
Dear Draco,
I have been worried about you. I miss your letters. It has been a dreadfully long time since we have spoken, or, I should say, since we have been able to speak. You are always in my thoughts. One such thought I had was that you might be avoiding me because you heard about Rabastan. Perhaps you heard some adorned version of what happened. You are not responsible for his actions against me. Only he is. I have said this a thousand times over, but it is not your job to protect me. I know you believe that avoiding me is the best way to protect me, but I am here for you if you need to talk about Easter holiday. I can never fathom exactly how gruesome it is to go home to You-Know-Who, but you have my support. If you would prefer for me to cut contact, I will, but I will not be able to stop how I feel. My hope has been shaken, but it can't be erased. I am going through a rough time, rougher than before, and it's your comfort I seek. I miss you. I love you.
Astoria couldn't seem to sign her name. Draco knew her handwriting, and he knew that there was only one person who would send such a message. She waited ages to deliver it securely, and when she saw Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini go to dinner before the other two, Astoria darted into the boys' dormitories and flung the letter under his door. He was in there and would be certain to get it before it turned to ash, but she couldn't wait around to see. She was a danger to him, so she hurried to dinner. Draco sat on the opposite end of the table from her. They finally met eyes that night, and no Legilimency was needed to know the feeling Draco was trying to convey.
On the first of May, Astoria made it through the partially-Obliviated Alecto's class without any trouble. The same would not be true for Amycus's class, which started at 4:15. It was her last class of the day, and since it was Friday, her last class of the week. She had been counting the days until school let out, unsure of where the world would take her. She knew she would not be able to contact Flora and Hestia, who sat gloomily next to her, but that was nothing new. Amycus and Alecto had never let them have friends over, even before the war, and they weren't permitted to write anyone, either. Astoria watched Flora run her fingernails through the feather on her quill. The twins would turn seventeen on the twentieth of June. Flora might end up with the Dark Mark, not as a privilege amongst Voldemort's people, but as a replacement for lost forces. Who knew what would happen to Hestia. Astoria tried to stop the parchment full of worries from unrolling in her head.
As he had been recently, Amycus started class by interrogating everybody about Harry Potter. Since Potter had been missing since last June, no one ever had an answer for him, and they often got hit with the Cruciatus out of Amycus's need to assert dominance. After that, the students would be asked up, down, left, and right about Dumbledore's Army, necessarily to the same result. Then, Amycus would make them cast things on each other and take notes. Astoria had filled many of the washed pages of her grimoire that way, but she would never credit Amycus.
Today he cycled back to Flora, his favourite. When her name was called, she exhaled, and her heels clicked to the front of the room. Amycus patted her on the back, and his beady eyes glared at the rest of the students.
"It's always the same ol', same ol' in here, ain't it?" he leered. "Yeah, that's what the lot of you's thinkin'. Well, today, I'd like to try an experiment. Hestia, get up."
Hestia did not move. Amycus's top-heavy girth swayed back to Astoria's table. He stopped directly in front of Hestia, but Astoria could smell his betony-smoke breath, too.
"What do you want?" Hestia scoffed at him.
"Hestia Carrow, I said get UP!" Amycus shouted, and he smacked a spell at her that made her bottom leave her seat.
Hestia held onto the desk so as not to go completely airborne and kicked her way back down to the floor. She went belly-to-belly and glare-to-glare with Amycus on her way up the aisle. He followed her closely behind. Hestia stood opposite Flora and rolled her shoulders. Flora had been aghast the whole time. Her skin was as discoloured as Amycus's burns.
"Don't worry about it, Flora," Hestia said loudly, and she stood with her feet apart and arms crossed. "It was only a matter of time before he would pull something like this."
"Hestia…" Amycus said dangerously, skulking behind Flora.
"Go on, then, let's get this over with!" Hestia exclaimed. "Tell Flora to Cruciate me, Amycus! Is this what you and Alecto used to do as tots for fun? We're all itching to know! Something must have messed you two up, right?"
Through his thin hair, the veins in Amycus's head became visible, and the whole class heard him heave his breath.
"All right, you little Mudsap, Flora's gonna do exactly that! Flora…" Amycus snarled, "Cruciate her, or I'll Imperius you."
Flora was quivering. Her twin sister's pluck could not overshadow the deed demanded of her. All year, Flora had deliberately concentrated on weakening her magic before casting curses on her peers. Even though being un-Imperiused made her the caster rather than a tool, Flora could rest assured that she was delivering the lightest possible version of Dark magic. But Flora was unable to raise her wand against her own sister even with the threat of the Imperius Curse pointed at her skull.
"I can't," Flora mouthed, tears overflowing her wide eyes. "I… I can't. Not that."
"Oh, yes you can. You need to teach Hestia her place if she wants to keep on lovin' Mudbloods and mouthin' off to me. We taught you girls better, we did. And you, Flora. You need to learn the importance of obeying orders now. You can't act this way once you get the Mark. Now, quit your crying and do it, or I'll give you something to cry about."
"Amycus, please. Please understand. My own sister," Flora begged. "You wouldn't do this to Alecto. You wouldn't do this to her even if you were ordered, Amycus. Please."
"Your logic's way off, my little flower," Amycus laughed grimly. "The Dark Lord wouldn't order me to do that in the first place."
"Y-You don't know that."
"I do know that, 'cause unlike you, I have faith in him. But I'm above you, see, and I'm ordering you. Trust me, you need to learn here with me, so you don't learn the hard way with him. Don't think I won't Imperius you, Flora."
"Please. I can't. That's Hestia. Uncle Am, please," Flora wept, perhaps remembering a time long ago when she had loved him. "Please don't Imperius me. My sister."
"Aw, Uncle, pleeeease, that's Hestiaaa," Amycus mocked bitterly. "You gonna bottle out on me too, now?"
Amycus made one final warning at Flora's temple, so she stepped forward and raised her wand at Hestia. Astoria wanted to shut her eyes so that she would not witness the pain on Flora's face and Hestia's body. But if she had blinked, she would have missed it.
"CRUCIO!"
Flora turned at the last second and hit Amycus with the full, uncensored force of the incantation. Amycus's body flew into the window, and hundreds of glass shards fell upon his head. His screams were louder than the cumulative pain he had caused to countless people. Flora's wand extended almost seamlessly from her hand as she clutched it tighter and stepped closer. For Amycus had caused Flora alone a lifetime of pain.
"AAAGH! F-F-F-F-FLORA!" Amycus screamed out.
"OH, SHUT IT!" Flora screamed back.
"F-F-FLORA, LE-LET UP! LET UP!"
"YOU'D HAVE MADE ME DO THIS TO HESTIA FOR MUCH LONGER!" Flora belted.
"I'M T-T-TRYING T-T-TO T-T-TEACH YOU, DAMN IT!"
Flora snorted and twisted the knife of her curse, "I've always been a fast learner."
"AAAAAARGH! A-AFTER ALL WE'VE S-S-SACRIFICED!"
"Oh, quit your effing sob story!" Flora screeched. "You sacrificed nothing! Everything's exactly how you wanted it! Just how long did you think you could keep playing house before you'd make a witch like me‽"
Hestia snapped into action and added another, "CRUCIO!"
Amycus was rendered incoherent, and he convulsed uncontrollably under the force of two wands.
"YOU DO NOT TELL ME TO RAISE MY WAND AGAINST MY SISTER!" Flora thundered.
"YOU TOOK OUR WHOLE LIVES AWAY!" Hestia cried out. "YOU HURT YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD!"
Amycus's back arched against the hard floor as he continued to wail, and he put both his hands in front of his face, cowering, desperate for the spell he gave others to spare him. The twins moved even closer, their wands nearly touching his head. With a floor-shaking crack from Flora's seething magic, Amycus passed out from the pain.
A few Death Eaters on patrol heard the commotion. Several Gryffindors raised their wands to fight, but the House of Slytherin was faster, and when the Death Eaters came through the door, Alexa and Montel dived on them and turned them both to pigs. This was not an inconsequential action, and Alecto was certain to come, so Hestia cast a massive Shield over all the Gryffindors. Flora took the Hufflepuffs, and Alexa took the Ravenclaws. Astoria and Montel jumped up side by side, and when Selwyn and Alecto came in blasting an ugly yellow spell with dark grey smoke, they said together:-
"SERPENSORTIA!"
Snakes sprouted from their wands, and in one fluid motion, they sank their fangs into the Death Eaters, who fell to their knees. Selwyn was down for the count, grabbing his now wandless arm, but even as Alecto bit her lip to blood in pain, she killed the conjured snake and slithered herself over to her unconscious brother.
"Somnodurus!" Astoria cast, though it was much too lenient a spell. Alecto went to sleep as her wound continued to ooze red.
Horatio Pershore cast a Bombardment Charm to open the wall more, and everyone rushed out to safety. Astoria and Montel conjured more snakes for the hell of it, filling the corridors with the emblem of their disgraced House. She had a feeling they were going to miss dinner.