AN: Just so you know, as of the end of this chapter, nine people know of the RoR in Astra's friend group: Neville, Luna, Theo, Hermione, Astra, Draco, Blaise, Daphne, Astoria. I will repeat this the end of the chapter.
Another thing - about POVs. So I'm never going to be one of those authors who write ~ #%# ~ above their paragraphs with all sorts of crazy symbols. I don't acknowledge POV switches. I might add a horizontal line to emphasize the change in location or time, but if we're in the same scene, I'm not going to just make giant letters and switch POVs. The switches will just flow, like with Draco's POV in this chapter...An example of how it won't be:
~!DRACO!~
Draco was tired and hungry, but he was locked in the cellar with nobody but Granger for company and it was horrible!(pretend this is a giant paragraph)
~!HERMIONE!~
Hermione hated being stuck in this stupid cellar with Draco sodding Ferret Malfoy of all people. It was absolutely the worst, but there was nothing for her to do but grin and bear it.
(same as above, pretend this is a giant paragraph)
No really, I just made that up. Realistic though, right?
How it would be:
Draco was tired and hungry, but he was locked in the cellar with nobody but Granger for company and it was horrible!
*insert transitional phrase, hehe*
Hermione hated being stuck in this stupid cellar with Draco sodding Ferret Malfoy of all people. It was absolutely the worst, but there was nothing for her to do but grin and bear it.
Next thing! Those of you who have read the chapter one and two that existed before July 19, 2021, reread those two chapters, please(If you're reading this chapter seconds, or even hours after it was published, you're fine, as I updated the new chapters before I updated this chapter). They introduce a new character who is very, VERY important to the story.
Note - Nemesis is pronounced Neh-meh-siss, and Neme is pronounced NEH-may.
Right then, on with the update!
Date updated: July 19, 2021
Words: 2361
Severus Snape sighed as he scribbled a note in red ink on the essay of one Ravenclaw - Anthony Goldstein on properties, uses, and facts of wormwood. Wormwood is used by muggles to prevent fleas and it's also used sometimes by wizards. Wormwood is a plant. Wormwood has lots of healing properties and so sometimes muggles ate it to be healthy.
Over that, Severus wrote: Mr Goldstein, I, and surely everyone else at this school, appreciate your efforts to hide the fact of you obviously using your family's many Galleons to pave the way for you to attend Hogwarts, but unfortunately your abysmal work has given you way. I suggest instead of monotonously listing facts from a textbook, you put that effort into your work instead of quoting pages of a textbook like a parrot.
What a fool! And that boy called himself a Ravenclaw! He sighed, pushed the essay to the side, and moved on to the next. It was two papers attached together. Odd. The lazy dunderheads they were, not many of his students actually wrote more than one page's worth of writing for assignments.
At the top of the first page, it read, A Transcript Of The Night Astra's Friends Helped Astra With The Essay Professor Snape Assigned Her, by Hermione Granger, first-year Ravenclaw
Severus nearly snorted simply because of the title. He idly wondered how long it took that girl to write it - it certainly took up much space!
He read the first line.
Cue DAPHNE GREENGRASS: Okay, I've got one. You acted like an uncouth Gryffindor.
Well, that was certainly true.
Cue DRACO MALFOY: My turn. Gryffindor reincarnate.
ASTRA: I'm not putting that down, brother mine.
DRACO: You have to!
ASTRA: But-
Cue BLAISE ZABINI: Let's vote, all! Who votes Astra writes it down?
Draco and Astra. Severus smirked fondly. Those two were destined to argue forever - well, they were twins, after all. As for the young Mr Zabini, he was certainly an outgoing boy, if a bit annoying.
The vote: eight to three
This time, Severus really snorted. Eight to three!
Recklessly idiotic and mulish.
Severus outright laughed then. His poor almost-goddaughter...how very demeaning that must have felt.
Cue VINCENT CRABBE: Because you are a reckless Gryffindor and all of them die a fiery death. This is yours.
ASTRA: I don't have to write that down, do I?
Cue HERMIONE GRANGER: I already did.
ASTRA: Professor Snape is going to MURDER YOU ALL and I am going to watch and I am going to SMILE while he does it.
He laughed again. It was true, he was ridiculously protective of(his almost- to hell with it, Astra was his goddaughter) her, but he was certainly intelligent enough to recognize friendly banter when he saw it!
Severus was eternally grateful, from the day he met Astra, to probably the day he died, that he had gotten over his hatred for James Potter, his unrequited love for Lily, and his betrayal over their having a child, to be able to see her, smile at her, laugh with her, have her look at him with those eyes with love and adoration - like Lily did, before they went to Hogwarts and the adoration just barely masked disgust.
He couldn't pretend that sometimes, Astra would do or say something that would painfully remind him of Lily - the way her brows creased, the way her green eyes hardened when she was angry - but he no longer saw Lily in every motion - or, thank Merlin, Potter.
Severus saw flashes, every here and there, of Potter in Astra, but he also caught the odd movements of Astra that resembled two dear friends to him, Narcissa and Lucius. So instead of focusing on the way Astra looked like her four parents, he focused on her, and now, when she smiled like Lily, or laughed like Narcissa, or smirked with James's mischievous expression, he did not think Potter, Narcissa, or even Lily.
He thought Astra, and that was the way it should be.
The next day was uneventful for Astra, who spent her Saturday finishing essays with Hermione(the morning), racing around on a broom with Tori, Draco, Vincent, and Gregory(after lunch), and finally, getting ready with Neville, Theo, Luna, and Hermione to show the rest of their friends the Room of Requirement.
They were currently standing outside the Room with five very confused friends.
"Are you going to explain yet?" Draco asked in that masterfully bored tone of his.
"Give Luna a second," Astra said with a slight roll of her eyes. "She's busy making it appear."
"Making what appear?" Draco persisted.
"I told you already, Malfoy," Hermione glared at him. "The Room of Requirement."
"Ah, yes. That long, boring speech about...about…." He screwed up his face in mock-concentration.
"YOU DIDN'T EVEN LISTEN?!" Hermione shrieked. "You - you - you-"
"What? I, unlike some people - cough, cough, Astra? - know not to listen to a mud-" Draco was cut off when Astoria slapped him right across the face. "Shut UP, you bigoted, stupid, foul little rat!"
Draco, however, instead of shouting, or running, or doing anything he had before, just looked at Tori's pale blue eyes and dark black hair and her fierce expression and decided then and there that he was going to marry her someday. Astoria Malfoy...yeah, that sounded good to him.
"Draco." Astra, who recognized the expression on Draco's face sighed.
"Draco." She repeated, a bit more worried.
"DRACO!" She shouted, fear seeping into her voice.
"I didn't kill him, did I?" Astoria asked uncertainly.
"Worse." Astra muttered.
"What do you mean, wors-"
"DRACO!" A knee to the gut, Draco mused, was certainly an effective way to shock someone out of their reverie, and perhaps render them immobile for the next four minutes. "Astra - bleh - ow!"
"It's what you get for scaring me like that, you great prat!" Astra said, glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest as she kicked him again.
He unsteadily pushed himself up to his feet. "The Room of what now again?"
As Hermione explained, Draco hastened to pay attention this time, because even if she was a mudblood, Hermione Granger was friends with Astoria Greengrass.
"Shall we enter?" Astoria suggested.
Ah, those eyes...Draco thought dreamily.
"We shall." Astra agreed. So, as Luna's ornate door appeared, nine people strode through it, Luna at the front and Hermione at the back.
The place so like the outer Slytherin Common Room was the same as the last time they had entered it. The long table was dark and mahogany and almost immediately Astra made her way over to the Slytherin side of the room - deep emerald green crisscrossed with silver. "Come along," she said.
"What is this?!" An awestruck Astoria was the first to speak.
I want to sit next to her. Draco thought.
Once she and the others new to the Room got over their initial awe of it, they took their seats.
However, something was different this time. Instead of Theodore and Luna - the closest to the door - 's chairs across from each other, they were next to each other, as it was for the rest of the chairs. The Ravenclaws - Neville, Luna, Theo, Hermione, and Astoria - were next to each other, Luna closest to the door and Astoria furthest.
Damn.
Not exactly across from them were the Slytherin chairs. Since there were four Slytherins and five Ravenclaws, the Room spaced out the four Slytherin chairs so that they were halfway between two Ravenclaw chairs.
Astra found herself closest to the door and seated next to Draco, who was obviously still in awe.
Astoria….
"Amazing, yes?" Astra smirked slightly.
"YES!"
In a rush of magic and whirlwinds, Sunday midnight came, and Astra and Blaise were wondering what to do. At around eleven fifteen, their eyes were rather droopy, and Astra and Blaise were playing Card Sneak.*
"Um…" she said a little tiredly, fifteen minutes later. "Three..twos." She dropped three cards on the stack.
"Just'n time.." Astra, who had glanced at her watch, said drowsily. "Ist...I mean...it's...eleven...thirty."
"So...I suppose we should go, then?" Blaise suggested halfheartedly.
"I dunno...staying here...sounds...a brilliant...idea.." She said, shutting her eyes slightly. "Ah…."
"Astra!" Blaise shouted. "Get up!"
"Whyyyy…" she groaned. "Weasel'n'Finn-fart can rot...points.."
"We HAVE to! We said we would!" He insisted.
"Wh-when did that ever...stop us?" Astra asked him, her movements sluggish.
"But-"
"Think about all the ben...fits." Astra continued, her words still slurring slightly. "F'they get caught...lose points...get 'spelled."
"And if they don't?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.
"Then..they're stupider...than usual." She said. Her eyes shut again. "So tired…"
"But…" Blaise tried.
"You can go...iffyou want." She told him. "But I'm...going...to...bed."
"Fine!" Blaise grumbled. He stood up. "Come on, I'm going to the dorm now..you best do it as well."
Astra made her best puppy dog eyes. "Help me?" She asked.
"No!" Blaise said, glaring at her as if she had committed a personal offence to him. "Come on, Malfoy, get up!"
"Puh-leeeeeese?" She begged. "I'm so tired.." She let her arms drop to her sides, too sleepy to care about the utter indignity of this situation.
"Fine. But you owe me!" He relented.
"Whaddever." She slurred.
"You sound drunk," He stated matter-of-factly.
"Issit a bad sthing...you know...whazzat sound like?" She muttered.
"Come on, Your Princessy-ness. Let's get you to your dorm," Blaise pulled Astra off the couch and dragged her towards the door to the dorms.
"Oww!" She complained; her foot hit the stairs quite painfully.
"Want me to drop you?" Blaise suggested with a glare.
"No, no, no!" She said quickly. "Thank...you...Blaise."
They reached the door. Blaise wrenched it open and they stepped in. He let go of Astra and turned right towards the sign that read Boys' Dorms.
"This is as far as I go." He told her. "Night, Princess." He said with a cocky smirk.
"Night...Blaise. And...don't call me...that…" she said with a glare as her eyes drooped.
"Whatever you say!" Blaise's laughter echoed off the walls as he opened the Boys' Dorms door and stepped inside.
The next morning, Astra and Blaise were both extremely tired, and despite their efforts, could not hide the dark circles under their eyes. Astra was pleased to see her decision to stay in had paid off quite well. She was, however, astounded to see Finnigan and Weasley looking perfectly fine if not sleepy and horribly tired themselves. She had thought they would at last get expelled!
"Look!" She hissed to Blaise, who was seated next to her with Draco on her other side. "Finnigan and Weasley! How can't they be expelled?"
"Do try not to be such a moron," Theo drawled from the Ravenclaw table. "Quite obviously Dumbledore's Golden Gryffs could never do a poor thing wrong."
"If I'm a moron, I'd hate to discuss what that makes you." Astra shot back. "That's probably true, though. The second part, I mean." She added.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione hissed.
Astra threw an angry look at Draco. Clearly, he had neglected to tell everyone of her and Blaise's late-night adventure.
"Well….you see…." Draco said nervously.
"Come on, start talking," Astoria commanded impatiently.
"Well, Finnigan and Weasley...Astra and Blaise were supposed to duel them...but they got too tired...and so now we're surprised they weren't caught." Draco said.
"Oh, you aren't telling us something," Luna said cheerfully.
Draco glared at Luna. "Thanks a lot, Lovegood."
"You're welcome," Luna said obliviously.
"That was sarcasm-" Draco was cut off by Astra. "Luna, what is he hiding?"
"He can tell you." Luna promised. "He wants to."
Seven pairs of accusing eyes moved to Draco.
"Fine!" He relented. "I tipped off Filch, okay?"
"You what?!" Astra nearly shouted. "If me and Blaise-"
"Blaise and I," corrected Hermione and Theo to the rolls of their eyes from their friends-
"-Had left, we would have lost so many points for Slytherin!" Astra raged.
"Yeah, but you didn't, did you?" Draco asked smugly. "It all worked out in the end."
"You obnoxious little-" She started to hiss, but this time he cut her off.
"Amazing, cute brother of a slightly less amazing and cute girl?" He asked with a cocky smirk.
"I just...ugh…" Astra sighed. "I'm still angry at you," she told him, pointing her finger at him.
"Of course," Draco promised. He grinned. "So I'm forgiven?"
"Not a chance, Dragon." Astra rolled her eyes.
"Mate, I'd say you ticked her off," Neville muttered.
"Marvelous observation," Draco drawled back.
"Hush, Malfoy," said Astoria. "You're still in trouble.
"What?! You too? Betrayal!"
"Okay, what should his punishment be?"
"Maybe…"
And as the friends discussed the punishment of Draco Malfoy, reveling in their innocence, the man(if you could call him that) who made a tattoo hissed softly. "They will die," he whispered, speaking in the language of his ancestors seemingly undetected. "They will all die."
Perhaps he may have gone undetected if not for Albus Dumbledore watching on, regretting the life of Astra Malfoy, simply a child, for soon she would die. And far above, the devils watched his soul, eagerly awaiting for the day it would join them.
Ooo, spooky ending!
About Drastoria, I know it seems spontaneous, but I always liked the way James loved Lily since he first met her, I thought it was adorable. Make no mistake - Draco doesn't love her, he's infatuated with her. Later on, in 4th or 5th year maybe, the ships will start to get moving.
Answer to Do You Support Drastoria?
YESYESYESYES, even though I am a fan of Dramione. Read Isolation by Bex-chan!
One more thing - Card Sneak is basically Bluff, or Liar, or whatever you call it. Look up the rules if you want. :P
Question: Snape versus McGonagall - who do you like more and why. Thought-out answers get a PM from me and possible OC insertion.