Hi all, another chapter! It's a bit strange (but at the same time, not) writing both Part I and Part II at the same time. But they're so tied together that it just works. Astoria's and Tullia's story is really coming together in my head; I hope I'll have more to share with you soon! As usually, please please please leave reviews/comments to let me know what you like about the tale. Thank you for reading!
Chapter 8
"I've got an idea" was the first thing Astoria said to Tullia on the platform at 9 and ¾. Not "How were your holidays?" or "It's so good to see you!"
"Hello to you too! What's that fire I see burning in your eyes? You're always just a little scary when you get an idea like that." Tullia raised a dark eyebrow at her friend.
Astoria was in such a good mood, she couldn't help tease her friend. "Tell me one other time you've seen me with fire in my eyes."
"In my nightmares. When I dream that you've decided we should get an early start on O.W.L. level Potions. Or burn Hogwarts down. Or the like."
"Just so you know, this is your fault." Astoria knew her friend would explode at that accusation.
"What!? What accusations are you lobbing at me now? How in the known universe is this my fault?"
A few of the other students boarding were starting to stare. Astoria looked over her shoulder to find her mother throwing them a disapproving glare.
"Are you at all capable of acting like a normal human being? Or at least a quiet one? I'll show you on the train."
"Show me? SHOW M…" she was cut off when Astoria clapped her and over her mouth.
"Get on the train!" She laughed, and pushed her friend up the Hogwarts Express stairs. She turned back to wave a dutiful goodbye to her mother. As usual, her mother's face was a mask of politeness with a smidge of worry. Just once, she thought wistfully, I'd like to look at Mother and see her be happy when she looks at me.
The two friends found a berth to themselves easily; there were always less students going back after Christmas than there were at the beginning of the year. As soon as the door slid closed, Astoria reached into her pack for a folded up parchment.
"Please tell me we aren't actually studying for O.W.L.s…" Tullia moaned.
"Better. I've invented a secret code."
She waited for Tullia to process the words and was delighted to see her friend's face light up.
"A secret code?"
Astoria nodded. "A secret alphabet, I should say. It's based on astronomical symbols. See, A is the sign for the Aries constellation, and Z is Jupiter, because Jupiter is the Roman version of Zeus. Right?"
Tullia was a supportive friend. That meant that whenever Astoria really got excited about anything, she listened with open ears. "Zeus is Jupiter. Right. But you invented an alphabet?"
Astoria looked at the door quickly to determine no one was going to intrude on their privacy, and then unfolded the parchment she'd hidden in her coat pocket. A whole codex of symbols and letters were written out there, some scratched out and then rewritten.
"It took some figuring, because there aren't constellation or planetary symbols starting with each letter. But the ones I had to fill in the blanks with make some sense. D is for Demeter, which is Ceres in the Roman. It's a doddle, really."
Tullia looked over the sheet carefully. "You are mad as paint. I should call them right now to take you away and lock you up in the Department of Mysteries."
Astoria was determined for her friend to be as excited about this as she was. "I promise it's super easy. It'll just take a while to memorize everything. But we'll be able to pass notes that no one can read. Something for the secret box." She looked at Tullia expectantly. The corner of her friend's mouth finally pulled slowly into a smile. "I told you it was your fault," she couldn't help adding.
"Writing in code. I like it. You're still demented, but I like you anyway."
"Cheers, mate." She rolled her eyes for effect. "Now," she pulled out a quill, "all that remains is for us to choose symbols that mean our names. Like a sigil. I was thinking of just a star for me. Astoria - astra - star… logical, yes?"
Tullia shook her head disapprovingly. "Far too logical. Which means it's perfect for you. As for me… what's left? You've used most of the good ones. Couldn't I just go with the T symbol? What is that anyway?" She started looking over the parchment.
"Taurus, like the constellation." Tullia made a face and Astoria couldn't help laugh. "What's wrong with Taurus?"
"Definitely not me. I refuse to be associated with a bull. Did you use Scorpius? That's my birthday constellation. And it's one of the oldest constellations recorded." She went down the list, checking each symbol. "You used Sun for S, of course. Scorpius it is!" She plucked the quill from Astoria's hand and drew the M-like symbol, adding an arrow to the last minim. "The Star and the Scorpion." Handing the quill back, she looked up at Astoria who was still humming with delight.
"We're going to have so much fun."
They enjoyed every minute of their second term at Hogwarts - including the wet, freezing trips to Care for Magical Creatures, the duller-than-dull History of Magic classes, and the impossible Transfiguration assignments. Astoria kept waiting for the both of them to get sick of spending time with each other, but it was the opposite. The more time they spent together, the better they liked each other. Tullia had a sweet tooth and made Astoria try something called 'halvah'; Astoria preferred sour and salty foods and introduced her friend to putting malt vinegar on their chips. While Astoria still liked Astronomy the best of all her subjects, Tullia grew to love Charms passionately. She said she liked the simplicity of the spells, a strange statement for someone always wanting to complicate things.
The spring equinox came and went with another uneventful faint for Astoria. She hadn't told Madam Pomfrey about her conversation with Lyra regarding the content of her healing lessons. She decided that she wanted to live in ignorance of her lessons for as long as possible before Madam Pomfrey chose to tell her. And so each week her time in the Hospital Ward felt like just another class.
It wasn't until they were assigned an astronomy class at half past ten in the evening that Astoria realized the year was almost over. She said as much to Tullia as they walked to the Ravenclaw tower.
"I suppose our next practical Astronomy lesson will be at midnight," Tullia said with a dramatic sigh. "And then we'll be on the Hogwarts Express, on our merry way home… what's wrong Astoria?" She looked to see her friend a little paler and graver than usual.
"It's just… it's going to be a long summer. And I'm going to miss this. Miss seeing you every day, and miss our delicious secrets."
"Like Penelope Clearwater dating that ginger mannequin named Percy? How did you describe him again?"
Astoria giggled thinking about it. "Stiffer than an upright curtain rod. But you really need to keep it down - the portraits will hear you!" She glanced up at the walls, relieved to see the closest portrait was out of earshot.
"An upright curtain rod… it's funny because it's the truth." Tullia sighed again. "I'm going to miss our notes too. And our Charms study sessions. But I think I'm going to miss the stars the most. It's too light in London to see them. And wasn't Mercury stunning tonight? He glimmered through my telescope like quicksilver…" She yelped when Astoria smacked her with her scroll.
"If you're romanticizing Mercury, there's no hope for you." Astoria said dryly, but was, as always, amused by her histrionic friend. "That was the last outdoor Astronomy lesson of the year, though. Didn't you hear Professor Sinistra?"
"Apparently, I was too seduced by the celestial heavens' fleet-footed messenger." Apparently wanting to make her point even more emphatically, she flung herself against a tapestry (the mooncalves on it scattered with a cacophony of disgruntled bleats) and flung her hand to her forehead. "Mercury, you prince and author of the sacred; through you humans gained a deeper knowledge of the sky!" Astoria stood by and smiled politely as some of their classmates shuffled by, looking at them with a mix of embarrassment and confusion. Mostly embarrassment.
"You're making a scene," she told Tullia. "And if that's supposed to be a quote from Manilius, then I think you're taking some rather large liberties with it."
"It's just all so vast and overwhelming!" She then sighed with such despair and theatricality that Astoria finally caved and started giggling. Tullia was able to hold the pause only a few seconds more before joining her friend.
"What is life without drama?" Tullia blew a section of her fringe out of her eyes and pushed herself off the wall. "Fine, then. Be cold-hearted and staid."
"Did you just use the word staid?" Astoria was so used to her friend's outbursts now, that she didn't know what she was going to do in her family's epically silent (and, if she were being honest, staid) home over the summer.
But they hadn't left Hogwarts yet. An interesting prospect started growing in her mind.
"Uh oh. You've got that look again." Tullia grabbed her friend's chin and turned it towards her, inspecting it closely
"Wht lk?" Astoria mumbled through squished cheeks.
"That dangerous, fiery 'I have an idea' look. You had it when we created our starcode, and then again when we paid that fourth-year Ravenclaw girl to bring us Butterbeer from Hogsmeade. What are you brewing in there?" She tapped Astoria's temple. Astoria ducked out of her friend's grip and backed away, grinning wickedly. Tullia made a production of rolling her eyes, but then followed after her. "Fiiiine. Don't tell me."
Due to the hour, the hallways were dim with torchlight. Even in the darkness, the two walked with the confidence of students that had finally figured their way around the castle. It made Astoria proud, and a little sad. How was her first year already over?
"I don't think we should let a lack of Astronomy classes stop us from one last night of star-gazing."
"You want to climb out of our dorm window and onto the roof? We'll plunge to our deaths, and then I'll have to explain why to my mother."
Even the thought of crawling out on to the roof made Astoria shudder. "Not the roof. But I bet we can find a way to get down to the Lake before the end of the year."
Tullia eyed her friend coyly. "I don't know what effect Mercury had on you, but I like it."
They walked up to the Ravenclaw tower door, and the eagle head materialized.
"Ah, you two. Be so kind as to tell me when tomorrow is?"
Astoria and Tullia looked at each other. "I think I have this," Tullia said confidently and turned to the eagle.
"Tomorrow is constantly unknowable and unplottable."
"Just so, just so." The door opened slowly.
"That one wasn't that bad," Tullia mused.
"Maybe you're actually getting smarter," Astoria teased. Her friend shoved her playfully and they headed up to their dormitory.