~Astra~

"Thank you, Astra."

Wren hugged me, and I felt my stomach turn. I'd never lied to her face before. It felt horrible.

Because there was no way in hell I was keeping that promise. This had gone to far, and Wren had been saying "not yet" for almost six months now. James deserved to know the truth, especially since she'd told the rest of us and lied to him about it. And if she wasn't going to tell him, I would.

"You're really amazing," Wren said, pulling back. "I don't deserve such a good friend."

I looked away. She could probably have seen the truth written on my face, and now she was making me feel bad. "I'm not that great."

"Yes, you are, and you're right." Wren sighed. "I... I'm just scared, I guess. I don't want anyone to get hurt. I don't want James to get hurt. I... I don't want to get hurt. But..." She shook her head. "I know you're right."

I nodded, feeling a wave of relief. Maybe I wouldn't have to tell him after all. "Yeah. I'm glad."

Wren looked down. "I... I'll tell him everything soon. I just... I need to find the right way to do it..."

Or maybe not. I forced a smile, and felt my stomach turn again. "Soon" had been coming for months. Maybe she was scared, but that shouldn't have kept her from talking to him. He needed to know all of this.

That's not to say I immediately went to find James. I decided to be fair about it, and gave her three days. That seemed reasonable. If I'd actually gotten through to her finally, that should have been enough time for her to talk to him.

I wanted to ask Albus what he thought of my plan. He might have been able to think of a way to break the news to James more easily. It's a bit hard to tell someone that their girlfriend is hiding the fact that she's got two criminally insane people out to kill her, either by proving something that is entirely true or by straight up murder. How do you even bring that topic up? James was going to be pissed that she hadn't told him. He might actually do something stupid, given the fact that he was hearing it all at once instead of in bits like the rest of us. I wanted Albus to help me calm him down, keep him from storming off to Hogsmeade to kill Zaria himself.

Unfortunately, Albus had a stronger moral compass than I did. There was no way he'd help me break a promise (especially one I'd made to Wren) or help me hurt his brother. Even if it was for the best. Even if it would save his brother from more pain down the road. Even if it was the only way to fix a situation Wren was refusing to do anything about.

Three days passed, and nothing. Wren didn't tell him anything. I didn't ask her, of course; I didn't want to make her mad. I also didn't want to make her suspicious. If she had confronted me, I don't think I would have been able to go through with it.

She didn't, though. Nothing happened. Nothing changed. I knew nothing happened, too, because I eased around the subject of Zaria Hempsey a few times with James, and he didn't bring up anything that had happened in the past few months. In fact, he was simply happy that she'd left Wren alone. I almost blurted out the truth then, when he told me that, but it wasn't the right way. Besides, Albus was with us, and desperately trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"What's your problem?" he hissed as soon as he could pull me away without looking strange.

"What?"

"What are you doing?" Albus asked, glancing at James. We had been waiting in the Quidditch changing rooms for the rest of the team to show up, and now that they had, James was distracted enough to not notice the fact that Albus looked pissed. "You know Wren hasn't told him about Zaria yet."

"I know. I was just wondering how much she had told him, is all. It's difficult avoiding the subject entirely, you know." I shrugged, looking away.

Albus narrowed his eyes. "You're planning something."

"What? No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Albus said. "You've got that look in your eye. You're lying."

"I'm not," I snapped. "What are you talking about?"

Albus shook his head. "I... I don't know. You just..." He frowned. "Why would you bring that up?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, okay?" I could feel the defensiveness in my tone, betraying me, but didn't know how to turn it off.

Albus tilted his head. "You don't mean to tell him, do you?"

"I... No..."

He bit his lip. "I hope you don't. I really hope you don't. Do you know how much that would hurt James? Do you know how much that would hurt Wren?"

I blinked. "Albus, stop it."

He shook his head. "Tell me you're not going to do that."

"Stop." I tried to push past him, but Albus grabbed my arm.

"Tell me you're not going to do that, Astra."

I sighed. "I'm not."

And now I'd lied to him, too.

Albus was still staring into my eyes, searching to see if I was lying. I couldn't tell what he thought. There was something there, the good in him wanting to believe me. The part of him that thought I was amazing, that made him keep at being my friend after all the times I'd failed him.

There was something else that could spot my lie much easier than Wren could.

He just shook his head. "Just think things through, Astra. This would cause a lot more problems than it would solve. Wren might be wrong, but it's her mistake to make."

I sighed. "Albus—"

"Is breaking Wren's trust worth it?" Albus asked. "Is tearing her down again, after all she's worked to build up, worth it?"

I jerked my arm away from him. "Is letting her treat James this way, treat your own brother this way, any better?"

Albus shook his head. "I'll talk to her, Astra. You think you're the only one that cares?"

"It's too late for that." Albus didn't answer, and I watched him warily for a moment. "Are you going to stop me?"

"I don't know how I can." Albus shrugged. "At the end of the day, there's not much I can do."

I nodded slowly, looking down. "Right. You can't stop me." I meant to say it forcefully, like a final punch before knocking him out. It came out as more of a weak drop.

Albus stared at me for a second, then shook his head again. "Just know that I'll be disappointed," he said, then pursed his lips. I felt that like a knife. It took a second for me to shake my head.

"I'm surprised it's taken you this long."

Albus shook his head. He might have been tearing up a little. "She'll never forgive you."

She might, with time. Knowing her. But I would probably live with the knowledge that I didn't deserve it for the rest of my life. That might be worse. "I... I know."

"I don't think she'll ever trust you again."

I took a deep breath. I hadn't thought of that. I couldn't let it stop me. "I wouldn't expect her to."

Something in Albus's gaze broke at that instant, and he shook his head. "Just know that this is really hard for Wren. This isn't her being stupid or petty or cruel. When she actually admits she's scared, you have to know it's so much worse than that." He took a breath. "She's scared, Astra. For James. And maybe she's not handling it right, but she's not being irrational, much less petty. Don't do this."

I stared at him for a second, feeling so many things I thought I might implode. Hate, at him, for giving voice to all the doubts I'd been keeping beneath the surface for three days. Fear, that maybe he was right. Anger, that I would let what might happen to me get in the way of doing what was right. Confusion, because I suddenly wasn't so sure that this was right anymore. Guilt, for all these things I knew I was doing to Wren. Even more guilt, because a part of me didn't care.

Over everything, though, my outrage on James's behalf roared. Perhaps it was simply the fact that I'd been feeding that while depriving everything else, lately, or perhaps that was the right thing to feel. Either way, I turned and walked away, determined to do what I'd decided to do.

Albus treated me like normal during practice, which hurt more than if he'd ignored me. Acting like everything was fine when I knew it wasn't was painful. Especially because when I managed to meet his eyes, all I could see was disappointment.

I couldn't let it stop me. I couldn't let James keep going like this. Wren had a few more hours, but I was going to tell him tonight, if she didn't.

Shockingly, she did not. We all were together the whole evening, right up until Wren and Albus left for Astronomy. Albus gave me a severe look, but said nothing as they walked away. It occurred to me to be worried that he would tell Wren what I planned to do, but I brushed that concern away. Albus was more honorable than I was.

That left James, Colette, and me. I waited about two minutes before asking James if I could talk to him for a minute. Colette rolled her eyes and got up before we had to move.

James grinned at me. "What's up?" I bit my lip, and watched his grin slowly disappear. "Is something wrong?"

I nodded. "I... Something's been wrong for a long time, James."

He blinked. "What... Are you okay? Are you sick or something? The matron isn't that bad, is she?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, it's not that." I bit my lip and closed my eyes. How to do this. "It's... There are... There are things Wren hasn't... Things she isn't telling you."

I opened my eyes in time to see him deflate. "I... What?"

"Zaria Hempsey," I said, getting the name out before I lost my nerve. No turning back now. "Zaria's been doing so much more than what she's told you."

James looked crushed, but only nodded. "What is it?" he asked in a hollow voice.

"It started in June. She told you some then, right?"

"I..." James frowned. "She said Zaria wanted to kill her. Zaria was going to prove she was a traitor."

"Zaria also slammed her into the wall and told her she'd drag her to Hell, if I'm remembering correctly," I said.

I saw James's hand clench into a fist as he tensed up. "She what?"

"And... A few weeks ago, Zaria paid off Nico Jasper to spy on her and turn any suspicious behavior into Stillens."

James bit his lip. "What did he find?"

"Nothing important, in the grand scheme of things. His snake overheard her comforting me after I broke my arm, and took that to mean she was helping me against Stillens, somehow. But she didn't tell you, did she?"

A shake of his head. "No." I opened my mouth and closed it again. He looked so hurt, and was staring down into his lap, so tense he was almost shaking. But he finally shook his head. "There's more, isn't there?"

I nodded. "Nameless Ned got caught, you know."

James closed his eyes. "If you tell me that bitch is in Hogsmeade..."

"I... yes, she is..." I bit my lip. "She's in Hogsmeade. And her threats are getting worse. She thinks... She thinks that it's Wren's fault she's stuck there."

James opened his eyes and finally looked up at me. "Why didn't Wren tell me any of this?"

"I don't know." I brushed at my eyes, hoping none of the tears threatening to pool in my eyes would fall. "I think she was afraid."

"Afraid?"

"Afraid of you. For you. I don't know. She thought all this would make you angry. That you'd do something stupid."

James took a shuddering breath. "Well, she's made me bloody angry."

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

James shook his head. "I just... I don't understand. Why did she lie about it?"

I shrugged, feeling a little helpless. I didn't know how to help him, how to comfort him. "Fear makes people do mad things. Wrong things."

"I... I suppose I can understand that." James shook his head. "What I don't get is why she couldn't trust me. And why she couldn't explain that to me herself."

"I'm sorry, James," I said softly. I'm sorry, Wren, fluttered through my mind, and I finally forced myself to feel the guilt of that sentence weighing down on me. I'd just set something awful in motion, I had a feeling. I wanted to take it all back, but I couldn't. I'd broken something I couldn't ever fix.

James shook his head. "I don't need your sympathy." He didn't sound angry, just tired. He stood up, and when he looked at me, I saw emptiness and confusion and hurt. "I... I think I need some time alone."

As he walked away, looking lost and broken in a way that I hated, I felt a pang beyond the guilt I was already feeling. Something I'd brushed off came rushing back.

In my cup, I'd seen a cat. Trelawney had confirmed it.

A cat, which stood for a... a deceitful friend.

It was me.

~~~~

Sorry for the short chapter! It was really important to see this from Astra's perspective, but this scene happened to be surrounded closely by things that needed to be told by Wren. Expect more next week, and spend this extra time with your families! Merry (late) Christmas, everyone!

Question of the Day: Would you rather live in the Fantastic Beasts time, Marauders' era, canon time, or Next Gen?

Answer: I personally would say Next Gen because obviously I have many headcanons about that, or maybe Fantastic Beasts just because I love that time period in history.

Vote and comment!

~Elli