AN: Nope, not me.
1st September 1997
Astoria Greengrass seethed inside as she sat in the compartment with her sister and her sister's friends. She glowered at the lamp above Zabini's head, mentally willing it to blow up and burn his pretty, pureblood face. Didn't these bloody Slytherins notice the injustice of it all? I mean who would be fool enough to decide on the seating arrangements on the Hogwarts express? The train itself was exceptionally quiet; there were no excited greetings after a summer apart. No, chattering and stomping of feet as people flitted from compartment to compartment meeting their friends and house mates. Even the kind and cheerful witch who brought up the food trolley was pale, tired and depressed today. Astoria itched to go find her best friend and dorm mate Stacy Grey who was forced to sit in the last coach of the train. Under the new regime, all purebloods from Death Eater families and neutral families were given preference in choosing their seats in the front of the train, the middle of the train was given to purebloods who were blood traitors and the end of the train was reserved for half bloods, who should be grateful for an opportunity to even go to Hogwarts.
Astoria's thoughts strayed to her other dorm mates who were muggleborn. Where were they? Leah Clearwater, sister of Penelope Clearwater had told Astoria that her family was fleeing to America as soon as she got home for the summer. Penelope had decided to stay on in England to avoid suspicion but the rest of her family had escaped to America via Italy. Astoria had received a short note from Leah a week ago telling her that Penelope was dead. Apparently, they had assured all ministry employees that the Muggle Born register was just a way to keep a head count of the muggleborn population and Penelope had registered herself after much persuasion from her boyfriend Percy Weasley. Once Penelope had submitted her wand for examination, she was arrested under the pretext of stealing magic and Umbridge had sentenced her to a Dementor's kiss for trying to infiltrate the ministry and stealing away ministry's secrets. Nearly all muggleborn employees working for the ministry had met the same fate. Leah and her family couldn't even come back for Penelope's funeral.
Anna had sent a similar note to Astoria telling her that her family was going on the run too. Leah thought about their last dorm mate, Luna Lovegood. Luna was bound to be around here somewhere, Astoria itched to meet that lovable oddity of a girl who had taught them about nargles, wrackspurts and sign language in one night.
"I am going to find my house mates and Stacy. I have had enough!" She declared as she stood up to walk to the compartment door.
"Astoria! Sit back down! You do not want to mix with riff-raff like Grey, this year." Daphne hissed her gaze flickering briefly to Draco Malfoy who was sitting listlessly in his seat, staring out of the window. Astoria shrugged "There are purebloods in my house too, Daphne. I don't need you to baby me." She said icily before opening the door of the compartment and slamming it shut behind her. Riff-raff like Grey? As if her company was stellar to begin with. Astoria muttered angrily to herself as she marched ahead to the middle of the train, not really thinking about where she was going.
"-detention for a week, Weasley. Because you are a blood traitor. You too Longbottom and Lovegood." She heard a soft male voice laugh stupidly after handing out detentions.
"Crabbe." She hissed, as she approached the compartment, "What are you doing?"
"Oh! Hello Greengrass, I was just punishing these blood traitors here because they deserve it." Crabbe said smiling stupidly at her. Astoria narrowed her eyes, "And what authority figure are you?"
"I am a pureblood." He said blinking stupidly again, "That's enough for me to hand them out punishment."
"Sorry to disappoint you, Crabbe. But despite the change in leadership, the authority to take away points and hand out detentions still rests with the prefects and the Heads. Since you are neither, I would suggest you return to your compartment. Now." She added dangerously as he made no attempt to move his body.
His face scrunched up in concentration as his cronies,m glared at Astoria in defiance. "The rules are going to change, little Greengrass." He said softly, stepping forward to wrap his arm around her waist, "If I were you, I would pick my side cautiously." He finished leering at her.
Astoria pulled out her wand and trained it between his eyes calmly. "Be that as it may. I belong to a neutral family which has more social standing than your family does. You might want to think twice about what your master would do, if I write to my father telling him about how someone from a lower social standing attempted to defile his daughter. It won't bid well for you, Crabbe. I can assure you that."
Crabbe stepped back, eyeing her wand, before brushing past her, his cronies trailing behind him. She peered inside the compartment. Luna was sitting there with Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Terry Boot and a couple of other senior Hufflepuffs. "Hello! Luna, Terry. How was your summer?" She asked from the door of the compartment.
"Fine." Terry grunted with a shrug.
"Oh, Hello!" Luna replied, not as dreamily as she used to. "Summer was fine. It was very busy though, the Quibbler has become quite popular these days." Astoria nodded, the Quibbler had for a change been reporting true facts. "Why don't you come in and sit with us, Astoria." Luna added, smiling brightly at her. Astoria looked around doubtfully as everyone stared at her before shrugging and sitting across Luna, next Neville and the Hufflepuff boy.
"Everyone this is Astoria Greengrass. She is in my year and a fellow Ravenclaw." Luna said introducing Astoria, "And Astoria, this is Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones." Astoria nodded at all of them politely before looking at Luna who was smiling serenely at her.
"I was going to meet Stacy, would you like to come with me?" Astoria asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"You can't go to the end of the train. There is a magical barrier." Luna replied calmly.
"WHAT?! But why?"
"It's obvious isn't it? They don't want the purebloods to mix with the dangerous half bloods and get barmy ideas about marrying muggleborns." Terry seethed.
"But- but- but- what about the lunch trolley? Surely, we can pass some messages along."
Ginny Weasley laughed humourlessly, "The lunch trolley can't pass through the barrier either."
"But then what will they eat? It's a long journey, there are little first years-"
"That's the idea isn't it?" Neville said darkly, "They are all being punished for being half bloods. They don't get to have food or meet their friends. They are trying to divide us by giving us supposed special treatment and depriving them."
"Those bastards!" Astoria seethed, "Can't we do something?"
"We have tried everything. It's not working." Hannah said sympathetically.
Astoria looked out of the window thinking, "Have you tried using an owl?" She asked suddenly.
"No. But that's brilliant!" Terry exclaimed. "They have created a barrier on the inside but I don't think the trolls on the platform were smart enough to block access from the outside."
Luna smiled encouragingly at Astoria as nearly all of them shuffled out to find owls. It turned out that owls could reach the end of the train. The lunch trolley lady was readily selling food at a discount rate, so that more and more students could send food to their friends. Neville had been able to contact Seamus. Stacy and Seamus were now responsible for receiving owls and distributing food among students. The middle of the train was again a flurry of activity, with people charging through compartments, talking and laughing excitedly among themselves. After a couple of hours of coordinating and supplying food, Seamus had owled that they had enough food to last them for the journey. The rest of them sighed and plonked down on their seats.
"That was a brilliant idea, Astoria." Neville said beaming at her before looking meaningfully at the others. Astoria smiled, choosing to not comment on their secret looks.
"Astoria! What are you doing?" Daphne all but screeched at her from the compartment door, glancing disdainfully at her company. Zabini peered in curiously while Nott stayed behind looking bored.
"Sitting with people who prefer to talk." Astoria replied cheekily. Zabini gave her an amused look and Nott's lips quirked infinitesimally.
"May I have a word with you in private?" Daphne asked in a constricted voice. Astoria shrugged before following her sister out of the compartment.
"What do you think you are doing young lady?" Daphne seethed, "Do you know how much trouble this could cause our parents? It could even endanger all our lives! Do you want to die after suffering through endless torture?"
"That doesn't scare me enough!" Astoria replied equally angry now, "Did you know that there is a magical barrier between ours and the half blood compartments? Did you know that they were starving the half bloods? There are little children in there, Daph. How would you feel if they punish you for existing? Show some compassion, will you?"
Daphne took a deep calming breath but before she could speak, Nott placed a hand on her shoulder silencing her. "Look little Greengrass, your compassion is commendable." Nott said silkily, "But use your head. You are a Ravenclaw. Is it wise to threaten someone like Crabbe who would be a death eater by the end of this year? You won't always be in school you know. You need to choose your enemies wisely."
Astoria folded her arms across her chest glaring at Nott. "I wouldn't have had to threaten Crabbe had he been able to keep his hands to himself." She hissed angrily. "Just because he is a minion in the making does not mean that he could touch me without my permission. Sorry, to disappoint you but I am a human being with more brains than there is fat in his entire body. I will not insult my intelligence by letting him use my body to avoid death. If worse comes to worst, I would prefer to die fighting." She said he chin jutting out defiantly.
Daphne's looked livid. Nott bored but Astoria was surprised with Zabini's reaction. The boy did not care for anything beyond his looks, but his handsome features had given way to anger; his eyes flashed dangerously and his fists were balled on his sides. "She is right, Daph." Zabini seethed, "No one should be touched without their consent. Greengrass if you need a few good hexes to chop off his balls from his body, come to me. I will teach you those." Astoria stared at Zabini, taken aback by his outburst.
"She won't need to." Daphne seethed, "I will make him rue the day he set eyes on my baby sister."
"None of you will do anything." Nott said calmly, "Crabbe is a troll. He doesn't understand anything. If he troubles little Greengrass here, I am sure she can take care of herself. The rest of us will not go for a confrontation because he would report it back, jeopardising the lives of the people outside this school. We will however, teach him a lesson." His eyes glinted dangerously, for the first time Astoria realized that Nott was not as oblivious to his surroundings as he let on.
"Err… Yeah, thanks, all of you for standing up for me. But I can take care of myself. Don't worry Daph. I will keep my head firmly on my shoulders." Astoria said timidly, shocked at the sudden display of emotions and outrage on her behalf from the ice princes and princess of Hogwarts.
Daphne nodded, "Let's go change. We will be reaching soon. I am not looking forward to the welcome feast. No matter what you say, it won't be the same." She sighed, leading them back to their compartment.
AN: So, the year would be played around from different people's POVs. Read and review please. Happy reading.