Chapter 11. Selective Hearing
When Hermione asked the young professor to a secret meeting regarding better teaching, this wasn't exactly what Astrid had imagined. Gathered in a decrepit pub on a freezing snowy day with a cohort of students. Astrid had never been to the Hogshead when she had done her weekend visits to Hogsmead, and she didn't ever want too again. The smell was ghastly, and the locals were… strange. The only interesting thing about it was the fact it was possibly the human headquarters for the Goblin Rebellion of 1612, this place would make me want to rebel too Astrid thought to herself.
Astrid was seated near a window, she watched the small town covered in a blanket of white whilst the students arrived, some of them whispered about the professor, others were more brazen.
"Why did you invite a teacher, Harry?" Dean Thomas asked the boy who lived, who was sat at the front with Hermione and Ron.
"Teacher? Don't you know who she is?" Fred Weasley asked the boy.
"She's Mad-Eye Moody's daughter, duh," Geroge Weasley shot Dean a quizzical look.
"She's still a teacher," Dean shot back. Astrid stood from her seat abruptly, holding her hands up in surrender.
"Don't want me here? Fine, I'll leave, and I won't tell anyone about this gathering," Astrid shrugged.
"No, Astrid, Professor Moody, please stay," Harry asked, his eyes pleaded with her, and so she sat down, retaking her place in the window.
"Professor Moody is to be trusted," Hermione spoke up. "Now is everyone here, should we get started?" Hermione asked Harry, the boy just shrugged his shoulders and motioned for Hermione to do her thing. The girl stood and addressed the group nervously.
"Erm… hi," Hermione started awkwardly, "So you all know why we're here, we need a teacher, a proper teacher. One who's had real experience defending themselves against the dark arts," She announced. Astrid sighed awkwardly and rested her fingertips on her forehead, her elbow leaning against the worn sofa back. What was she being roped into now?
"Why?" A boy wrapped up in a black scarf and beanie asked, attitude rife in his voice. Astrid recognised him as Zacharias Smith, a boy who sat at the back of her class and didn't really take much interest in her lessons.
"Why? Because you-know-who is back, you tosspot!" Ron exclaimed, rolling his eyes.
"So he says," Zacharias shot back, narrowing his eyes on Harry.
"So Dumbledore says," Hermione defended.
"So Dumbledore says because he says! The point is, where's the proof?" Zacharias countered.
"Enough Mr Smith," Astrid intervened, engaging the teacher within her.
"If Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed…" Michael Corner spoke up.
"Harry will do no such thing," Astrid shifted, leaning forward as she firmly addressed Corner boy.
"I'm not gonna talk about Cedric, so if that's why you're here, clear out now," Harry told his peers, Astrid nodded proudly at the boy as he stood his ground, but Harry faltered, he turned to Hermione and whispered to her frantically "Come on, Hermione, they're here because they think I'm some sort of freak."
"Wait!" Hermione whispered back.
"Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?" chirped up Luna Lovegood. Astrid smiled at the girl's question, she knew Luna wasn't popular at the school, often being picked on and bullied, but Astrid was fond of the girl, she was far more intelligent and interesting than the most of the students in the room.
"Yes, I've seen it," Hermione confirmed, holding Harry's gaze, giving him strength. "I believe you can too, is that right Professor?" Hermione's gaze, along with everyone else's, fell on the young Astrid, who just nodded yes.
"Blimey Harry, I didn't know you could do that!" Dean Thomas exclaimed. It's true, Harry is exceptionally young to have a Patronus Astrid thought to herself, she was a few years older when her dad taught her and he believed her very young.
"And he killed a basilisk, with the sword in Dumbledore's office!" Neville Longbottom pitched in, Astrid smiled fondly, she had heard the story and it was a magnificent one.
"It's true," Ginny confirmed.
"Third year, he fought off about a hundred dementors at once," Ron said proudly.
"And last year, he really did fight You-Know-Who in the flesh," Hermione added. Astrid wondered why she was even there after hearing all those tall tales. Harry was clearly more experienced than she, all she had done for the order and downfall of You-Know-Who was read books and bed a death eater.
"Wait," Harry sighed, "Look, it all sounds great when you say it like that… but the truth is, most of that was just luck… I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help," Harry sighed.
"He's just being modest," Hermione voiced.
"No Hermione, I'm not. Facing this stuff in real life, is not like in school. In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there… when you're a second away from being murdered… or watching a friend die right before your eyes…" Harry trailed off sadly, "You don't know what that's like," Harry exhaled deeply and took a seat, fiddling with his hands nervously. A pit grew in Astrid's stomach for the boy, he seen so much, been through so much, it wasn't fair.
"You're right Harry, we don't" Hermione agreed sadly, "That's why we need your help, and Professor Moody's," The Gryffindor girl added the professor as an afterthought, Astrid felt as if she'd be comically useless teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts next to Harry, his experiences very vaster, realer. Astrid had only ever used her Patronus charm practicing in her bedroom, never in a life-or-death situation. "If we're going to have any chance at beating… Voldemort," Hermione swallowed as she said the dark wizards name, a name the young professor dare not say herself.
"He's really back?" A young boy asked from the front of the room. Harry gave a small nod in reply, his eyes dark in thought.
"Let's start a sign-up sheet, shall we?" Hermione smiled hopefully. The trio pulled a table over with a screech. The Gryffindor girl rooted through her bag for a pencil and parchment as the students began to form an orderly queue in front of the table. Each student scribbled their name down on the parchment, sealing their fate in slate.
Astrid stood from her perch, ready to retire back to the castle. but first she approached the golden trio, squatting down slightly she spoke to them lowly.
"From my experience guys, it's best not to keep lists of secret organisation members around, be careful," Astrid raised her brows and looked to the parchment. The trio nodded silently, heading the professors' words. "And when you have this little group sorted out, send me an owl with the time, date, location. I'll see you in class Monday," Astrid hummed as she took her leave.
Astrid entered her chambers, her cheeks frozen numb from the bitter cold outside. She unravelled her scarf, and approached the fire, ready to warm herself up, but was distracted by a surprising presence. The sigh of Lucius Malfoy rooting through her desk by the bookcase, he was shoving her parchments back in the drawer and closing it abruptly when she spotted him. Astrid held her hand to her heart as she yelped.
"Lucius! You startled me!" She breathed.
"Sorry dear, didn't mean to cause you a fright," Lucius smiled as he turned and approached young woman. She pulled her hat off and discarded it with her scarf onto one of the leather armchairs.
"What were you looking for?" Astrid eyed the man suspiciously as she zipped off her winter coat and added it to the pile of winter items on the arm chair.
"You weren't here, so I thought I'd leave you a note, but I couldn't locate any spare parchment, or a quill for that matter," He schmoozed, wrapping his arms around the young professor's waist and pulling her body to his. He noted her attire, it was unlike her usual choice in clothes. She normally flounced around the castle in beautiful floating dresses and skirts, an ethereal beauty. Today she was much different, in brown jeans and an emerald green sports sweater that drowned her tiny figure.
"For future reference, I keep my parchment, ink and quills in that box on top of my desk," Astrid smiled, but Lucius already knew that, it was the first place he had looked in his ransacking,
"Ah, of course," Lucius smiled, "Where have you been?" He hummed against her cold skin as he placed a kiss on her frozen forehead. "You're chilled to the bone," He commented. Astrid pulled away from him and nestled herself into the sofa.
"Hogsmead," She smiled as Lucius took a seat next to her, wrapping his arm around her form and pulling her to him.
"A spot of shopping?" He asked as he pulled her legs over his and the girl rested her head on his shoulder. He finished the cuddle with a fur blanket, draping it over the two of them.
"Something like that," She murmured as she pressed her icy cheeks into the warmth of Lucius' black robe.
"Did you pick a dress for the Yule Ball whilst you were there?" Lucius wondered aloud as he rubbed her upper arm, trying to muster some heat back into the girl.
"Yule ball?" Astrid asked in a state of confusion, she was unaware of a ball.
"Hogwarts' annual Christmas ball, it's just a few short weeks away, do you even listen in faculty meetings?" Luciu tutted with a cheeky grin as he moved a rogue strand of creamy blonde hair from Astrids face.
"No," Astrid smirked, "Dolores' voice goes straight through me, I can't deal with it, so I just block her out,"
"You dare use a spell to block out Umbridge? Brave girl," Lucius scolded.
"Not a spell," Astrid bit her lip, "Selective hearing, something I developed in my teenage years when my father would rant at me for hours, I just droned him out," Astrid smiled fondly.
"You never speak of your mother, why is that?" Lucius enquired curiously as he found the perfect opportunity to probe Astrids life.
"I never knew her, she died when I was very small, a baby," Astrid explained sadly.
"I'm sorry for your loss, it must be hard for you," Lucius said softly.
"It's harder on my father, I don't know what I lost, but it eats away at him. He never talks about her, banned any conversation about her, all he ever told me was we have a shared heart condition. I don't even know her name, or what she looked like," Astrid revealed as tears pooled in her bright blue eyes. Lucius reached up and caught a falling tear on Astrid's cheek, wiping it away tenderly.
"Well, I can assure you Miss Moody, that you didn't inherit your fathers looks, so your mother must have been a goddess, just like you," Lucius schmoozed as he leant down and pecked the young woman on the lips tenderly. He thought about pulling away for a second, keeping it short and sweet, but his lust for the girl got the better of him and he deepened the kiss. Eventually the two broke for air.
"Thank merlin I didn't take after my father" Astrid giggled as Lucius ripped the fur blanket from the two of them, discarding it on the floor, he proceeded to shift the girl off his knee and onto the springy cushion of the sofa. He shifted himself next, lowering himself down onto the girl, her legs either side of his waist. His long loose hair tickled the young professor's neck as he kissed at her jaw.
"Yes, I don't think I find him quite as attractive as you." Lucius smirked as his kissed moved to her neck where he sucked and bit at the girl's soft supple skin.
"That's a relief," Astrid moaned with a devilish smile as she arched her back into the delectable man between her thighs.
"How about we take this to the bedroom?" Lucius purred into Astrid's ear. Astrid pondered it for a second, she hated herself the last time she gave in to him, gave herself to him. But that was before, her heart told her. Before he said all those sweet things in the shower, before he made her heart flutter. She no longer felt like a fleeting fling, she had an inkling the man truly did care for her, cherish her, only time would tell if he kept his word, if he truly was infatuated with her, if he truly was willing to turn his back on you-know-who for her. And gosh darn it she would have fun in the mean-time and deal with the truth of their love affair later.
"Let's," Astrid smiled as she tightened her legs around the man's waist, feeling his bulge press into her heat. Lucius wrapped one hand under her tight ass, the other under her back as he lifted her off the chesterfield sofa. Astrid looped her arms around his neck as she kissed him deeply. Lucius effortless carried the girl up the stairs to the waiting bed as is she was nothing more than a feather filled pillow. He threw her light wispy form onto the bed with ease.
"Undress," Lucius ordered smugly as unbuttoned his black robes, discarding them to the floor. Astrid bit her lip enticingly.
"Yes, sir," She purred.