Bitterly gripping the railings of the Astronomy Tower, Alice inclined herself forward, until she could see the vast space below that was waiting to swallow her. Moonlight washed over her long, distinctly silver hair that veiled her from her surroundings. She fixed her steely gaze ahead, looking paler than usual. It was typical of her to withdraw her thoughts from others occasionally, such instances made her attractively enigmatic. However, her current thoughts overburdened her, to the extent that it had robbed her to an unfeeling state. She heard the winding steps near her softly creak and her hands clenched until their veins were throbbing.

"Alice?" Astoria's soft voice made resentment scorch her further. She coldly ignored her, hoping that would make Astoria leave. Despairing, Astoria cautiously walked up to a spot next to her and took comfort in the passing wind. "Alice, I—"

"I don't want to hear it," Alice sharply replied. She furiously scowled at Astoria, eyes glinting dangerously.

"Just listen to me—"

"I won't."

"Well, you will." Astoria said obstinately, her impatience flaring up. Shortly after, she forced herself to calm down. "Look, I'm sure your father didn't do it."

Alice stubbornly did not show any reaction to this.

Astoria felt her determination wither but she pressed herself to continue, "He doesn't seem like someone who would do such a thing. And even if he did—"

"So you do think he did it."

"That's not what I mean. I just want you to know, I won't ever think differently of you."

Alice smirked, "If you're sure." She sounded half-hearted, but Astoria felt assured that they had formed a truce at last.

Alice felt herself go numb as her mind hastily spun with calculation.

She wavered before recklessly turning to give a forceful push. She could hallucinate Astoria's legs folding underneath her, sending her into an alluring death.

But Astoria was gone, causing her to give an aggravated scream.

OvO

Sir,

Alice and I have finally sorted it out, which makes me feel much more relieved. Daphne had just sent her first letter to me after all this time. I felt compelled to tear it up into shreds, but I didn't. I'm more decent than that. You must be curious as to what exactly happened to Daphne Greengrass. Let me see…

I apologise for the delay, I rarely think about her.

Oh yes. Now I remember. She gave up on her N.E.W.T and left Great Britain. That coward decided that there was no way she was going to be anywhere near the Second Wizarding War. My parents had much difficulty parting with her. I did not have much of an issue with that, a domineering sister is worth giving away. Daph (or should I say, daft) did not send a long letter. In fact, it was only a sentence long. Something about how she's working in a 'no-maj perfume shop'. I've figured that she must be living in complete, blissful seclusion. Perhaps it's for the best. Attached below is a scented stick from her shop, for your enjoyment.

Astoria Greengrass

OvO

Sir,

It is with elation that I announce that I will be taking Alchemy instead of Divination. Professor McGonagall came to tell me that Professor Slughorn had strongly recommended his elective course as 'deserving' of me. It seems that Professor Slughorn has taken some pity on me to make such a last-minute proposal. I'm extremely glad about dropping Divination. My grades for Divination are slightly better than History, but nonetheless, I hate it almost just as much. I still had to finish today's Divination lesson. I think Professor Trelawney was greatly distressed about her student leaving. She decided to do Cartomancy and drew a tarot card for me. It was rather entertaining spending the whole lesson seeing her shuffle her deck of cards a countless number of times. It was only towards the end of the lesson that she pulled a card out. She read it as 'the four hundred and forty-eighth phoenix', which she said indicated 'wealth upon death'.

I'm not certain as to what that means, but Professor Trelawney was quite happily intrigued by it.

Astoria Greengrass

OvO

Sir,

Today was our Quidditch Captain's birthday, which presented a great problem of sort. You see, our captain has an unidentical twin brother who is on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. We carried boxes of decorations to the Great Hall early in the morning to surprise him. We were about to start putting up some banners when a group of Ravenclaws appeared. They weren't happy seeing the space being taken by us and went to the other side of the hall to decorate. You could see there was ambition burning between the two teams and before we knew it, we were passing around the decorations faster and faster, wanting to dominate our territory. The Ravenclaws were pesky enough to magic-up an enormous Raven stone statue that invaded our space. Some of us ran to get our brooms and we started adding extra decorations to the ceiling. It was an extravaganza that ended up waking the school. We had spectators sitting at the dining table, cheering for us. The whole room was filled with coloured streamers, balloons, piñatas, basically anything that hangs, carpets, sculptures, coloured smoke and confetti. I could barely see through anything.

I'm proud to say that the Slytherins won the non-existent House Decoration Cup. The Ravenclaws were adamant that it wasn't a fair win, but that doesn't bother us. They've always been sore losers.

Astoria Greengrass

OvO

"Going out again…Draco?" Lucius questioned.

"Yes." Draco gritted his teeth, his hand just inches away from the doorknob.

Lucius raised an eyebrow and haughtily folded his arms. Draco was not going to fool him and he was not going to let his son merely slip by. "To do what, exactly?"

Draco groaned to himself. This was already the umpteenth time Lucius had interrogated him. "Nothing."

"Surely you're doing something."

"I'm not."

"Who are you meeting?"

"No one." Draco emphasised and looked straight at him with conviction. "I'm just going out to the streets."

Lucius snorted, "How unlike you."

"Why can't you believe me for once?" Draco sighed in exasperation. His brusque voice grew louder, "Why do you always think I'm doing something behind your back?" Draco briskly walked towards the door before Lucius could ask anything further. "I just want a breather."

There was a resounding slam and Lucius defeatedly slumped onto his armchair.

"What did you say to him this time?" Narcissa worriedly asked as she came over.

"Our son thinks that he should be simple." Lucius sorely drummed his fingers on the armrest, staring at her expectantly.

Confused, Narcissa tried to comprehend, "And what about that?"

Lucius vacantly gazed outside a window, feeling more fatigued than usual. "It just wouldn't do. He would die soon enough."

Narcissa gave a horrified gasp at the thought of that, but sensing that Lucius' patience was dwindling, she hurriedly retreated and left him.

Seeing that he had privacy at last, Lucius inspected his ring and his cane. They were both plated with rhodium and wound into a snake head, glinting with its emerald eyes. Lucius instinctively took out a cloth from his breast pocket and gently polished them, a task he did every day without fail, alone.

His hand trembled badly, pleading with him to stop.

He did not know why he ever made himself do this. He pushed it to continue against his will, until the metal of his prized possessions gleamed brilliantly, without a trace of dust. He gave them a weak smile that immediately dissolved away.

There was a clatter and he bent down, grasping his hand around another ring that had fallen out from his pocket. It was a modest band, plain and unembellished, its former purity rusted.

OvO

There was a swarm of students gathering at the paved grounds and Draco knew that where there were people, there was commotion. He curiously went towards the large group, squinting his eyes as he tried to find Astoria. A hand waved enthusiastically back at him.

"Excuse me…sorry…" Astoria muttered as she jostled through the crowd. "I can't believe you're here again!" she grinned, giddy with an excitement that made his heart skip.

"What's happening here?"

Astoria dismissively waved her hand, "One of those Slytherin prefects is picking on someone."

"Who?"

"Samira Foster."

Draco caught a subtle glimpse of a tall girl who was, admittedly, very beautiful. However, her wand hand was jerking haphazardly and her unblemished face was scrunched up. "She doesn't look like someone who would be picked on."

"That's what I thought."

"STOPE EET, MARRGARRET!" Samira's voice was deafening despite her petite stature. She was quivering from supressed rage and had formidable wrath that made the rest keep a distance.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Margaret smugly twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

Samira was billowing and she gave an uncontrollable scream, launching herself forward. "EEVERRTEE STAHTUM!" A blast of light shot from her hand and threw Margaret backwards. A roar of laughter followed, even Astoria was charmed by this peculiar sight.

Margaret nimbly got up, grunting, sweeping her bluntly cut hair to the side. "You think you're so clever, don't you? Larcanum Inflamarae!"

Samira sidestepped. She narrowly missed balls of flame that whizzed past her. "LARNLOG!"

"Ignis Retro!"

Samira froze as the spell she cast backfired, punching her in the face. She opened her mouth to retort, but all that came out was nonsensical sounds.

Margaret gave an awfully high-pitched laugh. "Look at you! Your tongue is glued to the roof of your mouth!"

Astoria anxiously tugged at Draco's sleeve. "You have to help her!"

Draco shrugged, "There's nothing much we can do."

Astoria took one look at Draco before yelling, "That's enough Margaret!" A dozen pair of eyes were focused on her as she nervously made her way to the front.

"Really Astoria, did you just have to be part of it?" Margaret sneered.

"Cut it off, Margaret. Samira's disgusting, but so are you." Samira gave Astoria a dirty look, but her eyes widened helplessly when Margaret raised her wand.

"Ventus!"

"Protego!" A shield formed around Astoria, causing the strong winds from Margaret's wand to ricochet off in all directions. There was the rapid flipping sound of pages from textbooks, the other students were trying to pull their robes down. When Astoria saw that Margaret was beginning to wear out, she casted another spell. "Immobulus!"

Margaret found herself stuck to the ground. She clenched her teeth furiously, "How dare you!"

Pleased, Astoria strode up to her, arms behind her back. She bent down such that her face was level to Margaret's. "Are you done, Margaret?"

"Sectumsempra!" There were cries as a force viciously slashed Astoria across the chest. Blood was seeping through her clothes. She felt everything around her go faint.

"Astoria!" Draco ran over. Astoria had fallen unconscious. He gently lifted her into his arms and briskly turned to head to a doorway that led to the Hospital Wing.

He got stopped by a horde of students who were open-mouthed. Some of them giggled and pointed.

Draco roughly pushed through the crowd, "Move off."

OvO

Astoria's vision was blurred, but it gradually restored itself. She tried to sit up, only to feel an intense pain.

"Are you alright?" Draco leaned over from the side of her bed, wrinkling his forehead in concern. Astoria woozily nodded, still suffering the impact. "You took longer to recover than expected. That Slytherin Prefect's spell knocked you out for an hour."

"An hour?" Astoria was sorely upset about her sign of weakness. "Could you get me a quill and paper?"

"You should do it later."

"I'm feeling better."

"You need to rest."

"I'm fine," Astoria replied irritably. She then guiltily conceded. "I suppose I can't write now. But thank you."

Draco felt a little light-headed at hearing that. "My pleasure. I mean…no problem." He was secretly hoping that Astoria would ask him to accompany her to Hogsmeade.

"I'm quite lucky to have someone like you always helping me," Astoria joked.

"Oh. I guess you are."

"That's enough chit-chatting for you, Astoria!" Madam Pomfrey promptly marched over. "Mr Malfoy's already late for his appointment with Professor McGonagall," she remarked, shooing him out.

"Wait, Draco."

"Yes?" Draco turned hopefully to Astoria.

"You can go the Slytherin dormitory and have my…never mind." She thought better of passing him the Drooble gum. She needed it more than he did anyway.

OvO

Samira knelt by the glass cabinet, scrubbing the trophies hard.

Margaret Winters was sullen, repeatedly running her fingers over the collar of her robe, where her Prefect's Badge was missing. "This is all your fault."

Samira nonchalantly disregarded her, already contented that Margaret had landed into trouble. Margaret sat hard against the cabinet to make her point clear. "It's because of you that—"

"Winters! Enjoying yourself, eh? I've got things in my office, you can come in and clean 'em," Filch gruffly barked.

Margaret meekly shook her head. Filch grunted and haggardly slinked off. "As I was saying, it's because of you that Professor McGonagall sent me into detention. Did you hear me?" Margaret rapped on Samira's head. Seeing that her words were not taking effect, Margaret grabbed Samira's jaw and threateningly turned it towards her. She whispered spitefully, "Do it one more time and I'll tear if off you."

"Vy ne mozhete." Samira was rocking back and forth, murmuring to herself.

"That's right. Do it again, and everyone will see you for themselves."

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