Solemn Oaths
Astoria wandered the halls of the manor, slowly walking down to the dinner table as she remained wrapped up in Daphne's old copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Year One. She was so engaged that she rounded the corner without looking, and immediately knocked into someone.
"Astoria!" her mother scolded, stumbling to keep her balance. "Watch where you're going, you almost scuffed my new boots!"
"Sorry, Mother," she replied automatically, trying to suppress a grin. "I guess I just got caught up in reading…"
"What are you doing with that book?" she demanded. "You're not even of age for school yet."
"I'll be going in three months," Astoria reminded patiently. "I really enjoy reading up on all of this, it sounds so exciting."
"I will not have you wrinkling your nose by incessantly sticking it in a textbook," her mother proclaimed, swiping the volume out of her daughter's hand before she could react. "That's no way for you to make friends or find a husband."
"But I thought the point of Hogwarts was to learn magic…" Astoria began to argue.
"You will do enough to get by and stay out of trouble," Mrs. Greengrass decreed. "But you do not need to be a show off and alienate others. Boys aren't interested in girls with brains. Just follow your sister's example."
"Well why can't Daphne be Daphne while I learn as far as I want?" Astoria inquired with her head tilted in confusion.
"Because you're a Greengrass female, that's why," her mother responded. "It's your duty to find a man and continue his Pureblood line honorably, and you're not going to find a way to do that through books."
Astoria watch as her mother speed off in a huff, muttering something about banishing all of Daphne's textbooks. She on the other hand couldn't help but grin, and she made a solemn oath to herself to be the top of her class every year, and damn any boys who thought her worthless because of it.