• Astoria Greengrass •

"We know what we are,
but know not what we may be."

Astoria Greengrass sat in her favourite place in the Slytherin common room with a book in her hand. The first rays of sunlight of the day broke through the surface of the black lake, bathing everything in the room in a shimmering green light. Eerie and yet beautiful, she had been enchanted by it from day one. Even though she would much rather have ended up in a different house. 

She had always been an early riser, which is why she had made it a kind of tradition to read for a while before breakfast. She would have been one of the only ones at the table anyway, so she preferred to disappear into the morning rush.

As the common room filled rather leisurely on Saturday morning, the Slytherin let her shoulder-length light brown hair hang over her face like a curtain. An unnecessary habit, really, as no one paid any attention to her anyway, but it made her feel a lot more comfortable.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Daphne marching into the common room with two of her friends, giving her a brief look of disdain before they all disappeared into the dim corridor. Astoria sighed, it wasn't right for someone as popular as Daphne to have a sister like her. The girl who simply didn't belong.

She could almost no longer concentrate on what she was writing in her book because the noise had swelled and she had the feeling that she was being looked at askance from all sides. She looked up scrutinisingly, as if she had clearly felt a gaze on the back of her head that had made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Unobtrusively, Astoria glanced over her shoulder and saw a pair of grey eyes resting on her. Draco Malfoy.

She promptly pretended to just look around the room before sticking her nose deep into her book again. This time, however, her cheeks reddened. Although Draco had never been abusive or insulting towards her, they didn't have a friendly relationship either. They only said a word to each other when they had to and that had never been very often. She was all the more surprised that he had looked at her so directly without making a face or turning to his friends in a blasphemous manner. Just like most Slytherins did.

Sighing, Astoria glanced at her wristwatch and finally closed her book in a hurry. Draco had probably distracted her so much that she had almost forgotten to go downstairs in time. Otherwise, she wouldn't have enough time to eat a hearty breakfast before the next DA meeting. And she had been particularly fond of this lesson from the very beginning: the Patronus.

A smile crept onto her pale pink lips at the thought of her study group as she left the dark dungeon and could already make out the light of the entrance hall at the other end of the stairs. Even though the beginning had been difficult, she had finally made friends and had become a welcome member of her classmates' ranks.

Hailey was already standing by the double doors, waving to her as she stood up from the Slytherin table. They had agreed to meet there and then go to the Room of Requirement together. "Hey," Astoria greeted her cheerfully. She was more than happy to have found something like real friends in the Hufflepuff and also in Serena.

The latter was still sitting at her house table, nibbling on a muffin, lost in thought. "Oh, I bet she forgot," the brunette next to her groaned and rolled her eyes. Astoria giggled softly. "Maybe we should just go get her or we'll be late."

But her suggestion wasn't even necessary as Serena seemed to have caught her friend's scowl and quickly shoved the entire muffin into her mouth. With her cheeks full, she hurried towards them and finally came to a stop in front of them, still chewing, "Sorry."

"Never mind," grinned Astoria. But the smile froze on her face and she quickly lowered her head as a troop of Slytherins made their way to the Great Hall. Hailey had her eyebrows drawn together and her hands clenched into fists as the group ruthlessly pushed past them.

Serena, however, ate leisurely and looked like calmness personified. She then turned to one of them with a smug grin, "You're back on solid ground," she laughed, which Astoria found rather reckless given the look Edmund gave her, and even added, "Better not run amok again today."

His light-coloured hair was sticking out of his head and his eyes seemed to be raging like a hurricane; he looked more like a lunatic than ever. Astoria always made sure to keep a wide berth around her housemate anyway, but at the sight of him she would probably have made a run for it as quickly as possible.

"Oh, I've always wanted to know what it's like to sleep off the ceiling. But I could have just asked your vampire friend." His words were sharp and cold as shards of ice, freezing Serena's expression. Her smile faded almost instantly at the mention of a subject that should still be considered taboo after such a short time. Without giving her a second glance, he stalked through the door and almost suddenly the Gryffindor's expression, so foolishly playing with snakes, changed again to reflect anger, "Fuck you, too..." she muttered heatedly.

"I don't think it's a good idea to keep upsetting him like this," Astoria began cautiously and darted a glance over to her front table, only to see Edmund grimly spearing his scrambled eggs as if he wanted to stab them.

"I don't think it's a good idea to even talk to him anymore," Hailey interjected, glaring at her best friend. "I thought you were staying away from him."

Serena rolled her eyes. "That's what I was planning to do, but if I'm being made fun of from the side, I have to act."

"What exactly did you do?" Astoria asked, quite interested to know what had tied his wand in knots this time.

"I think leaving him hanging upside down in the library all night was fair," she grinned, whereupon Astoria could no longer suppress a giggle and Hailey also seemed to find the divine idea rather amusing, so that she forgot her anger for the time being.

"Just think of your happiest memory."

Harry's words were easier said than done. Only a fraction of the students had already managed to come up with something that could give a rough idea of what it was supposed to be or had actually produced a complete figure.

A glowing butterfly danced around Astoria's head, which she was very proud of. Completely enchanted, she watched as it floated protectively around her with graceful flapping wings. Other students had now also succeeded in casting the complicated spell and more and more shining blue creatures floated above their heads.

"How am I supposed to know what my happiest memory was?" she heard Hailey grumble next to her, who then began to contort her face in concentration, apparently searching for a moment worthy of the title.

"They're great, aren't they?" Serena said, looking around the room with shining eyes as little silver clouds of vapour puffed out of the tip of her wand. "And I still can't do it," she added grumpily.

"Think hard again," Harry tried to encourage her, seeming to have noticed her dilemma. "A birthday? Your family? A boy?"

"Oh, not with that git," Serena interjected bitterly, making Astoria wonder if she was talking about Maxon or Edmund. But she wasn't going to get an answer that quickly, because her teacher had turned away in the meantime and hurried to the door, where a small house-elf was standing.

The Slytherin was startled when an eagle owl flew past her and began circling around her. The owner of this Patronus seemed to laugh at her for a moment before turning to Serena, "And what's yours?"

"Air," she replied dryly, whereupon Nathan Novak laughed again and was again surrounded by his shiny bird. He leant forward and whispered something to Serena, who looked at him with shining eyes and nodded enthusiastically.

Astoria would have loved to have heard what it was, but almost at the same moment Hailey had cried out, demanding all of her hearing: "It's working, it's working!" A dolphin had sprouted from her wand and was now swimming in the air across the room.

Serena had also started to cast the spell again with newfound ambition. Astoria didn't know what Nathan had told her, but it seemed to be having an effect. Something large loomed in the icy blue mist, perhaps not as large as an elephant or the like. But still bigger than her own delicate butterfly.

"What are you waiting for?" Harry suddenly shouted loudly with panic in his voice, which could also be seen in his eyes. "Run!"

The fox, which was now clearly visible in front of Serena, faded and the rest of the shimmering light in the room went out. Panic broke out among the students as they rushed out of the only door. Astoria lost sight of Hailey and Serena in all the commotion, quickly following the only one she knew; Harry.

She was right on his heels, because otherwise she would probably be wandering aimlessly through the corridors, not knowing where to go. But the Gryffindor stumbled as suddenly as the house-elf's warning and she ran straight into him. At full speed, her knees hit the floor and she didn't even have to look down to know that she had bruised both knees.

"Hey, Professor... PROFESSOR! I've got two!" called a voice Astoria knew only too well and from the tone alone she could guess the smug grin on Draco's face. Hastily, she scrambled to her feet, only to see his features fall again, "What are you doing here?"

Before she could answer or even form a clear thought, the evil in pink had appeared at the other end of the corridor. "There she is!" she shouted triumphantly. "Excellent, Draco. Very good, fifty points for Slytherin! Take the girl and leave Potter to me."

Astoria looked at Harry and realised that they both had the same hatred in their eyes. With a firm grip, the reason for his hatred grabbed him by the arm and nodded to Draco that he should finally hold her too. He approached her with eager steps and pulled her by the upper arm in the opposite direction to where the pink cloak and Harry had disappeared.

"Damn it Astoria, why are you going along with this crap?" He hissed and looked at her questioningly, the triumph completely gone from his grey eyes by now and he eyed her questioningly.

"They're my friends and I like what they're doing," she replied quietly, avoiding his gaze now, which reflected genuine disappointment. She didn't know why she cared what he thought of her, but his expression made her blush.

Draco shook his head. "You're a Slytherin, they're definitely not your friends. They despise us and look what they've gotten you into. You'd better stick with us."

"Because that's what I've always enjoyed so much, too." Astoria gave a barely audible snort and wondered why she was defending herself to him at all. "You don't know what it's like."

Her counterpart's expression had now changed, he was looking at her almost pityingly and had loosened his grip. Barely a second passed before he wrinkled his nose and pure contempt was visible on his face. "Mudbloods and blood traitors..."

But Draco was never to finish his sentence. Clouds of black smoke began to form in the already dim corridor, beginning to engulf the two Slytherins in its darkness. Astoria could still feel his hand on her arm and heard loud, not too nice insults being thrown around.

A second person had now grabbed her other arm and was dragging her across the corridor. For just a split second, she could make out dark curls that clearly belonged to Serena.

The direction she was being pulled in gradually cleared and she could make out other members of the DA hiding behind a statue. Broad smiling faces were turned towards her, making Astoria's heart beat faster and the words of her housemate instantly forgotten.

"Instant eclipse powder!" exclaimed one of the Weasley twins, whose name she had already forgotten, and she couldn't tell them apart anyway.

"Who do you think betrayed us?" Hailey asked cautiously, looking round. "Do you think it was one of us?"

"I think I know who did it," Serena muttered dejectedly, but her hands were clenched into fists and her eyes were blazing with a fury that made her brown eyes seem almost black. It was clear to almost everyone that no matter who this anger was directed at, it would be felt in full measure.