~Astra~

"How can you make a bet that the war'll be over by September?" Faith demanded, frowning across the breakfast table. "Is this meant to be some charity thing?"

"No!" Oleander laughed. "I just can't see this going on that much longer, with tensions like they are. One way or another, it's all going to blow up soon, and one side'll end up completely decimated. No more war."

Faith and I were sitting with Charlotte's infirmary friends today, which was actually really nice. I'd been seeing them less since I'd become Artemis's handler, or whatever Mr. Longbottom thought I was doing, so I was glad for a chance to hang out with them now. Even if Oleander was being a little too unconcerned about the outcome of the war.

Inessa had already shook her head. "There's no way you could possibly predict that with any certainty. There are hundreds of possible paths the future could take, and no reason to think that most of them align with that prediction."

"Bloody Merlin, I'm just joking, Ness. Faith's not going to take the bet, anyway, because she's as broke as the rest of us are." Oleander's grin returned, and her put his arm around Inessa before she could protest again. "I suppose Marcus might float her with some of Daddy's cash, though, hmm?"

Marcus had already seemed uncomfortable when I'd asked him to join us, and now his face flushed red. "I'm as close to getting anything from my father as you are," he said quietly.

"Besides, I'm not broke." Faith rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know that I have all of my savings from when I was working at the Prophet. I suppose you've just spent everything you had on black market firewhiskey?"

"Whatever he gets is a lot stronger than firewhiskey," Charlotte said, casting him a dark look. "Who's smuggling that stuff in for you, again?"

"I could be my own dealer, for all. you know," he retorted, nose in the air.

"But if you were, you wouldn't be broke." I grinned as he shot me a frown. "Come on, we all know it's some auror. If you'd hook us up, I'm sure we'd stop bringing it up..."

"That's not true," Inessa said immediately. "I'd have to report them for selling illicit substances without permission."

"Firewhiskey isn't an illicit substance—"

"They're joking," Charlotte cut in, putting her hand over Inessa's as she shot glare at Oleander and me. "Don't worry about it."

I bit my lip; I'd only been joking, like Charlotte said. Inessa didn't seem to pick on humor most of the time, though, and this wasn't the first time I'd caused a misunderstanding, or watched one happen. Surely I could be doing better.

"Well," Faith said after a moment, "I'm sure you've all heard the news about how those public service announcements Potter's been churning out are turning out to be blatant lies?"

Marcus nodded. "He said in one of them that most people only stay in a detention center for a night or two, so there's no reason to worry if you get a summons from the Ministry."

I swallowed down the urge to defend James, and instead made a face. "How does anyone believe that? It's like everyone's..."

My words died on my tongue, because the dining hall's door had burst open just then and Mrs. Potter had rushed in. That was already alarming, but even more so was the fact that she made a beeline for our table, eyes locked on me.

"I... uh... I'll see you all later, I guess," I said dazedly, standing up before she'd even reached me. If anyone responded, I certainly didn't notice.

Something was wrong, right? Mrs. Potter's expression looked really intense, even if I couldn't read it. What had happened? Was it Teddy? Had something gone wrong?

"Astra, I need a favor," was all she said, frowning at me. "Can you talk?"

I nodded mutely. She wouldn't tell me anything here, in front of two dozen or so people who were currently eating breakfast. Though there were alarms going off in my head so loudly that I could barely get my feet to move, I followed her numbly to the door.

"What happened to Teddy?" I asked as soon as we'd cleared the building.

Mrs. Potter shook her head. "It's not that. We're going to go visit them, okay?"

"It's not that, but we need to go see them?" I blinked quickly. "You don't have to lie to me."

She paused, turning to look at me with a surprised, concerned expression. "I'm not lying, love. He's just gotten out again, and we really need you at their flat right now."

"Is he okay?"

"Perfectly fine. Well, I mean, as fine as you can be after seeing what's going on in one of those centers." Mrs. Potter offered me her arm. "Are you ready to go?"

I supposed there wasn't anything I desperately needed to do this morning, at least nothing Mrs. Potter couldn't sort out later. We'd just have to do the broadcast we'd scheduled later this afternoon, but that would be fine, probably. This seemed urgent. My only thought was that I hoped someone would remember to walk around with Artemis, but Mrs. Potter sucked us into oblivion before I could mention it.

I'm proud to say that though I was wildly dizzy when we landed outside their flat, I didn't even come close to throwing up. I did very badly want to, but I managed to hold it in. By the time I got through the front door, it was like nothing had happened.

"Aunt Astwa!" Charis was standing just inside the door, close enough that I wasn't sure how she hadn't gotten hit by it when it opened. She threw her arms around my legs so tightly that I nearly fell. Luckily, I managed to squat down next to her before that happened, allowing her to give me a proper hug.

By the time I stood up again, Charis in my arms, everyone else was gathered around. Teddy was here, and not visibly wounded, which was a relief. He had one arm around Victoire and was holding Cassie's hand with the other. In contrast to Charis, all three of them seemed subdued, with grim expressions on their faces (or at least confused and sad, in Cassie's case). I felt my smile fade. "What's wrong?"

Teddy and Victoire exchanged a glance, which couldn't mean anything good. Had something happened to Aunt Andromeda? I bit my lip, forcing myself to be patient instead of ask if all of the worst case scenarios were true. Teddy took a deep breath before he looked up at me. "We have some really good news, but it's a little..."

"Complicated," Victoire filled in. How perfectly vague. "You might want to sit down."

Cassie slipped over to take my hand as I slowly walked to the couch, feeling more wary by the second. Complicated good news tended to just mean bad news in pretty packaging. Complicated good news was "Wren's back, but she has to stand trial and face Azkaban," or "James' plan is working but now his siblings hate him." If it was truly good news, you'd never call it complicated, right?

When I sat down, Cassie sat right next to me, cuddling against my side just a bit. She looked up at me, a smile on her face that was somehow tinged with something more serious. "I met one of your friends," she said softly. "He was really nice to me, but he's angry with Teddy because Teddy couldn't help his friend."

I blinked uncomprehendingly. "Who...?" When I glanced up at the adults for answers, Teddy was nodding, lips pursed. "My team, we had another successful go."

My eyes widened. "You got someone out of the detention centers? When? Who?"

Victoire and Teddy exchanged another glance, still almost somber. Why weren't they excited?

"Astra," Victoire said in a tone of voice that was meant to be soothing and was therefore very frustrating. "Before we tell you who it is, I just want to warn you... they're struggling with a lot of emotions and fears right now. They might not... There's a chance they're not going to respond well to seeing you, okay?"

Seeing me? They were here? I held my breath, not daring to even let my hopes turn into a thought. "What do you mean, exactly?"

Teddy sighed and leaned forward, elbows propped up on his knees. "It's way riskier to get two people out at the same time than it is to rescue them one at a time, okay?"

"That makes sense." I tilted my head. "What does that have to do with this?"

"Well... they... they were sent to the detention center with someone else, and we had to leave that person behind for now to rescue them. They haven't really accepted that yet. And, I mean, I guess there's a chance they might not accept it at all until I get her out..."

"Who are you talking about?" I said, my voice sharper than I meant it to be. I felt Cassie stiffen next to me and took a deep breath, forcing myself to relax. "I can handle knowing who it is. Please stop dancing around it."

Mrs. Potter was the one who spoke. "Albus."

My words caught in my throat. Albus. Part of me had thought I'd never see him again. But he was safe? Free? Here? I blinked, and my eyes were wet. "He's... are you serious?"

"Very." She smiled at me, though I thought I could see tears in her eyes too.

"Can I see him?"

"Well, that's the thing." Teddy sighed. "He's incredibly angry. We were only able to get him out this go around, and even though I'm going back in for Colette... he doesn't seem to care that this was how it had to happen."

"He feels like he was forced to leave Colette behind, alone," Toire added. "He won't talk to any of us."

"The first day he was here, he spent half an hour screaming at me about it, but since then..." Teddy shrugged. "He'll talk to the girls, when they go in to see him, but that's about it."

I blinked at them both. That didn't sound anything like Albus at all. Albus didn't get angry like that, screaming at people and refusing to talk to them. That couldn't be right. I glanced at Mrs. Potter, but she just sighed and nodded. "He and I got to catch up for a few minutes, but when he realized that they would have upped security even more since he escaped, he refused to even finish our conversation. He wouldn't even talk to Neville afterwards about joining the DA."

"He hasn't said a word to anyone since yesterday, except Cassie," Victoire explained.

Cassie turned to look up at me with wide, serious eyes. "All he said was that he wasn't up for reading then, and he might not be for a while."

Surely... surely this was just some sort of odd shock reaction, right? People acted weirdly when they'd just come out of serious trauma, after all. That had to be what was happening here. Albus was just in shock, not able to believe he was safe yet, and that Colette would be soon. He wouldn't stay like this, of course. He couldn't.

"We were hoping he'd talk to you," Mrs. Potter said quietly. "If you want to try, that is."

"Of course I do," I said without even thinking about it. "He'll... he'll listen to me. We're best friends."

Victoire winced a bit, and I had to shove a bit of doubt away that sprang up from her expression. He will. "Astra, just be prepared. He's... he's not like himself, right now."

"The things he and Colette went through..." Teddy shook his head. "It'll take him a very long time to recover from it all, even after he stops being angry. He might not... I don't know, it might be a while until he acts like the person you're friends with again."

I nearly snapped that I probably had more experience than either of them at helping someone deal with trauma, but I held my tongue. Albus and Wren weren't the same, and I needed to keep in mind that the things that worked for her might just make things worse for Al.

Still... There's no way he won't talk to me, right?

"I want to see him."

Teddy nodded and pushed himself to his feet. "He'll probably just be glaring at the wall when you go in," he explained as he led the way to the hall. "Might not react to you at all, at first. Try your best anyway, okay?"

"Of course I will."

Teddy stopped outside the closed guest bedroom door to turn around and put his hands on my shoulders. "Just so you're aware, he's covered in scars. Visible ones, I mean. It might make him more upset if you're shocked about that..."

From the sound of things, Albus couldn't get much more upset, but I nodded anyway. "Anything else?"

Teddy's eyebrows were knitted together in concern, which was causing a pit to grow in my stomach. "Don't get your hopes too high, kiddo."

"I won't." He'll talk to me, he has to talk to me, there's no other option. "Hopes are at a very realistic level, don't worry."

He seemed entirely unconvinced, but he stepped aside to let me open the door anyway. I reached for the knob, taking a deep breath as I did. He's here, he's safe, he'll talk to me, he's not upset with me.

My friend is still there.

Ignoring the fact that my heart was beginning to race, I pushed the door open.

And there he was, sitting silent and still in the bed, taking absolutely no notice of me. That didn't matter, not yet. A sob caught in my throat before I could stop it. "Oh Merlin, Albus, you're alive."

His gaze didn't leave the far wall as I cross the room to sit on the side of his bed. Since he wasn't saying anything, I took a moment to study his face, see if he'd truly changed. Like Teddy had said, there were scars crisscrossing down his arms. I had no idea what most of them could have been from. And across his face, three harsh marks, almost like a wild animal had slashed at his face. What had they done to him? I just wanted to hug him tightly, but there was a good chance he'd startle at any touch, like Wren had years ago. Best to wait until later for that.

I bit my lip, which was starting to tremble (he's alive, he's safe, he's here) and when I blinked, tears were in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away. "I... I'm so glad to see you again."

No answer. I took a deep breath—it would probably take several tries, after all. I couldn't expect him to drop all this immediately upon seeing me, as much as I wanted to. Best to keep going.

"I'm sorry they couldn't rescue Colette," I said softly. Albus didn't stir, even to harden his glare, and I shook my head. Keep going.. "I'm really upset about it too, you know, and so is Teddy. She's part of our family. But... of course, you know... they're working on rescuing her too, right? She'll be safe and here before you know it."

I was starting to feel uncomfortable rambling to absolutely no response, no indication he'd even heard me. I had to believe what they'd told me, that Albus could still hear and speak enough to chew Teddy out—condemn him, really—his first night here. That he'd talked to Charis and Cassie with his normal gentleness, shown a little humanity with his mum. He's just trying to make a point, I reminded myself. He's confused, and overwhelmed, and scared, and this is the only outlet he has right now. He's still the same person, under it all.

It had been so long, though, and so much had happened. I was becoming afraid... was the Albus I knew still there?

"I'm sorry I left you," I said quietly, looking down. When I blinked, I found my eyes were wet again. "I didn't want to, but I was trying to protect you..." That sounded so flimsy, now, knowing that it hadn't protected him at all. "I'm sorry. I... I suppose I don't blame you for being angry with me."

I'd been hoping that might make him crack, say, Oh, no, I'm doing this because I'm still upset about Colette. But there was nothing. No response. When I glanced back up, Albus was still glaring at the far wall, expression seeming completely unchanged. Was my friend still in there at all?

I scooted closer. My throat was tightening, and I could feel my eyes welling up, but I didn't care. If it took my sobbing to wake him up out of this state, I would swallow my pride and cry. "Please, Albus. We can't make anything better if you don't talk to us."

Nothing. No movement, no flicker in his expression. Just that hard stare at the wall. A sob shuddered through me, and I reached out for his hand. "Al, please. I don't... I can't do this. Please forgive me. I love you like my own brother, you know. Don't do this to me. Don't shut me out. Please, just... just talk to me, Albus..." I had to stop talking as another sob cut me off, then another and another. Though I was clutching his hand with both of mine, he hardly seemed to notice.

And that... I couldn't take that. I'd rather he screamed at me. I'd rather he told me he hated me, he wanted nothing to do with me. I'd rather have him swearing and angry and refusing to forgive. That would've been better than this coldness. This... this indifference. It was like he didn't care. Maybe he didn't.

I was crying so hard that I didn't notice Teddy at my side until he'd put his hand on my shoulder. When I glanced up, he was pursing his lips, looking a little teary-eyes too. "I think that's good," he said softly, before steering me out of the room. Just before he closed the door, I shot one last look back at Albus.

He was still glaring at the far wall.

~~~~

Question of the Day: What's the furthest from home you've ever been?

Answer: For me, it's Salzburg, Austria, which is over 5000 miles (or over 8000 kilometers) from my home in America. Until literally last week though it was Panajachel, Guatemala, which is nowhere near as far away (but possibly more exotic?).

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 3093