Chapter 4
The first few months at Durmstrang were, to say the least, horrible for Astoria. The weather was absolutely wretched, and all of the students were locked up in the castle like prisoners; and that was exactly how Astoria felt. She had not breathed fresh air in months, and she missed it terribly. She missed the fresh smell of the grounds at Hogwarts when she would walk down to Care of Magical Creatures. She missed the sight of the first snow of the year; she absolutely abhorred the torrential snow storms they received at Durmstrang. She missed bewitching snowballs to follow around first years and Professor Snape. She missed her home.
Astoria shared a dorm, if one could call it that, with Cecelia. There were 2 beds, 2 desks, and a tiny fireplace in their room; they didn't even have a wardrobe for their clothing. It was just the two of them together. They were the only girls in their year that were in the lower class dorms, and both of them were glad to be far away from their classmates.
Before Astoria arrived, Cecelia was considered an outsider because of her social status, and also because of her intelligence. They were singled out, not just for those reasons, but because of other things too. Astoria was disappointed when she arrived because she thought that she would have an opportunity at a fresh, new start, but she was not even given a chance. Headmaster Packard made sure of that.
She was singled out during the first two minutes of her first welcoming feast at Durmstrang. The Headmaster made sure everyone knew that she was from Hogwarts, that she was poor, and that he hated her; not that he stated the latter outright. He told the students that they were allowed to help her assimilate to Durmstrang by any means, and that basically meant picking on her every time she did something even a little bit wrong. The Headmaster single-handedly made sure that everyone hated her on her first day, and that everyone had permission to bully her without consequence. The students most certainly took his advice to heart, and Astoria was not sure if she could handle the bullying and malevolent stares anymore.
"Get up." Cecelia said shaking Astoria's shoulder. Astoria just put her pillow over her head.
"No." she mumbled into the pillow.
"Come one! If you miss classes Packard is only going to make it worse." Astoria groaned and threw the pillow at her roommate. "Watch it! I'm only trying to help you, you crazy wench." Cecelia said throwing the pillow back at Astoria.
"I know Celia. I just can't stand it anymore. Even the professors treat me like scum." Cecelia squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"I know how you feel. After all of the things I've done wrong over the years, Packard has had them treat me all the same way they treat you at one time or another. I know I'm not the one who they're giving hell, but just think how much worse it would be without me." Cecelia said with a smug smile on her face.
Astoria opened one of her eyes and looked at Cecelia while squinting. "You are a conceited prat. You know that, right?" Cecelia laughed, and Astoria got out of bed and walked to her trunk at the end of her small bed. She retrieved her uniform, as did Cecelia, so that they could change for classes. Before going into their cramped bathroom to change, Astoria turned to Cecelia and smiled. "I really don't know what I would do without you." Cecelia smiled back as Astoria closed the bathroom door.
"Did you know that we're meeting that new Charms professor today?" Cecelia said to Astoria through the door.
"So Pohlman finally left, huh?" she replied exiting the bathroom.
"Yeah. She couldn't last much longer. She's ancient! I'm pretty sure she's a hundred or more. Packard already had a professor lined up and everything. He knew she wasn't going to finish out the year. I heard the new professor is actually decent." Cecelia said throwing her hair up into a ponytail.
"I hope the new professor is better than Pohlman. Hell, I hope they're better than any of the wicked professors we have this year." Astoria said picking her bag up off of the floor. Cecelia nodded in agreement.
"Let's go grab an apple or something from the dining hall, and go straight to Charms. Thank Merlin we have it first." Cecelia said following Astoria out of the room.
They walked up the stairs and went to the dining hall. They did not stop and talk to anyone, and they each grabbed an apple for breakfast. Eager to meet their new professor, the two girls walked full speed through the dark corridors to get to the second floor for Charms. They arrived early, and sat at the desks in the front of the room. About five minutes later the bell rang and the rest of the class filed into the classroom.
The class immediately was silent when a young brunette woman entered the room. She placed her things quietly on the desk and turned to face her class with a smile on her face, and Astoria nearly died of shock. The professor was actually smiling.
"Good morning everyone. I know it is odd changing professors in the middle of the year, but I hope we can have some fun for the remainder of the year. My name is Addison Riley, but you all are to address me as Professor Riley." She smiled even more brightly, if possible. "Why don't we start off with something easy? Everyone stand up and show me your best Summoning Charms."
The class looked around, perplexed. Was she serious? Were they actually going to practice spells in class? Astoria stood up; she was very excited, for she hadn't really had the chance to practice spells since Hogwarts. "Well, I see we have one participant, what's your name?" she asked.
"Astoria Greengrass." She replied somewhat cautiously; the thought has just occurred to Astoria that Packard may have already gotten to Professor Riley, and that the professor might hate her just as much as everyone else. To Astoria's surprise, the professor did not look the least bit disgusted. She actually looked very curious.
"Well, come on up front and show us what you can do." Professor Riley said with a reassuring smile. Astoria returned her smile and walked up to the front of the room. She held her wand steadily in front of her and took a deep breath as she felt the magic running through the blood in her veins.
"Accio book." Astoria said, causing one of her classmate's textbooks to come floating up to the front of the classroom. Astoria smiled triumphantly as her classmates glared at her. Cecelia gave Astoria a silent thumbs up.
"Very well done, Miss Greengrass. You may sit down." She told Astoria, that odd happy smile still etched upon her face. The class period was the most enjoyable class that Astoria had been in since she had arrived at Durmstrang, and time passed much faster than Astoria thought it would. Before she knew it, the bell chimed and it was time to move on to their second period class. Astoria and Cecelia turned to leave, but a voice stopped them.
"Miss Greengrass, would you come here for a second?" Astoria walked up the Professor Riley's desk somewhat slowly. "I just wanted to let you know that you really did a good job today." She then lowered her voice, and a small grin appeared on her face. "10 points to Slytherin." Astoria smiled and turned to exit the classroom. Professor Riley seemed to know more about her than Astoria thought.
The day from that point on passed so slowly it was almost painful. The sneers of her classmates became more malicious as word of her accomplishments in Charms spread throughout the student body. She refused to go to lunch that day, and Astoria had Cecelia pick her up a roll and some cheese from dinner so that she didn't have to go inside the dining hall. Normally, Astoria's absence from dinner would go unnoticed, but not today.
Astoria and Cecelia were in their dormitory when there was a knock on their door. They exchanged confused glances before Cecelia went over and opened the door. Outside in the hallway, with that odd smile on her face, was none other than Professor Riley.
"Professor, what are you doing here?" Astoria asked curiously.
"You didn't show up to dinner, and I was concerned, so I decided to come and check up on you."
"Oh, well, thanks. I'm just fine." Professor Riley looked at her inquisitively.
"What did you eat for dinner?" Astoria motioned to the bread and cheese on her desk. "That will not do. Why don't the two of you come with me to my quarters? You both need a proper meal." She turned towards the door, but Astoria and Cecelia just looked at her. "Oh, come on. You aren't breaking any rules, and I'll deal with that old bugger if he says anything." Astoria and Cecelia laughed at her comment about the Headmaster and followed her to her room.
When they entered Professor Riley's quarters, their eyes grew wide at how nice her room was. The common room had a large fireplace, a sofa, and an over-stuffed armchair that looked quite comfortable. There were rich green draperies hanging around the windows, and there was only one word to describe the room in Astoria's opinion- Slytherin.
"Well, Professor, it seems your house pride has yet to fade since you left Hogwarts." Astoria said, once again glancing around the room. Professor Riley laughed and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess I'm still pretty proud of my Slytherin background. I loved Hogwarts. Those were the best seven years of my life." She told them while walking back and forth between the common room and her small kitchen. She had placed some chicken, assorted vegetables and a piece of chocolate cake for each girl on the table. The two girls just seemed to stare at the food in a daze, as if they had not realized that it was for them. "Well, go on, eat!" Professor Riley told Astoria and Cecelia. They all laughed, and the girls eagerly dug in to their meal.
After a while, Astoria stopped eating for a moment and asked Professor Riley some questions. "Professor, how did you know who I was?" Professor Riley smiled.
"I knew you would ask after that little fake House Points comment. I'm glad you caught the hint. I was in the graduating class at Hogwarts when you were a first year. I was a Slytherin, of course, and the first Head Girl from Slytherin in a decade. I knew I'd heard your name before, and at first I remembered your sister; you look just like her. Then, I remembered you. You had a temper, and you were quite the little brat in your youth." Cecelia laughed out loud and Astoria blushed. "But, I am happy to say that I see a fine young woman sitting in front of me." Astoria smiled weakly.
"Seeing my fellow classmates die in a war where my parents were the ones on the bad side, being removed from a happy atmosphere and placed into a hostile one, and going from princess to pauper in a matter of months would be a humbling experience for a more spoiled person than I was. Sometimes I miss who I was, but I realize that I am probably better off now; the way I was growing up, I wasn't going to be a very nice person. Yet, most of the time, I don't even see myself and who I am. I'm just lost, Professor." Cecelia had settled down considerable after Astoria's revelation, and Professor Riley took Astoria's hand.
"You will settle into yourself eventually. I am almost 24 years old, and I still wander around aimlessly ninety percent of the time. It's going to be a long and hard journey, but I have a feeling you will be all right; both of you will." She smiled at each of the girls in turn. "One last thing, please call me Addison in private. You make me feel old with all of this 'professor' business." Astoria and Cecelia nodded.
"Well, Miss Donnelly, we all know Astoria's story; what's yours?" Cecelia looked a little apprehensive, Astoria smiled encouragingly.
"Um, I guess I can just tell you about my family. There are three of us, me, my mum, and dad. My dad works at the Ministry in London, which is kind of a hardship because we live so far away, but it's the only job he could get. I haven't always been so destitute, but my mom is muggleborn and she has a muggle disease called leukemia. With only my dad working, it's hard to pay for both Durmstrang and my mum's treatments. She has stopped responding to most treatments, and all of the tests and stuff are very expensive. It's hard, but I'm getting used to it, I guess." Astoria and Addison were both sitting on either side of Cecelia, and when Astoria wrapped her arms around Cecelia, Addison rubbed her back as she cried.
Cecelia had a lot of things going on in her life, and Astoria was glad that Addison was here with both Cecelia and herself because she was the rock that they both needed so desperately in their lives.
Astoria was happy to finally know that there was someone who cared about her, and her well-being. She finally had a sane Professor, and a safe haven from the wrath of Headmaster Packard. Charms class was a place where Astoria excelled, and it seemed that things were finally looking up. Addison Riley was not only a professor, but one of Astoria's closest friends. Astoria and Cecelia spent most of their nights spending time with Professor Riley, and they were both having fun and enjoying themselves for the first time that year.
A/N: Reviews are appreciated! I know I don't update regularly, but high school is hectic. Thanks so much for reading!