~Wren~

"Do you think she's okay?"

"I mean, no." Colette rolled her eyes. "Would you be?" Albus shook his head, pursing his lips. "We just need to give her some space, all right? Let her process it all."

I frowned. "I told her I'd wait for her."

"Then wait for her. Whatever. But don't press, okay? Honestly, you're probably driving her crazy."

Albus and Colette started off in the direction of our next class, and I stepped to the side of the corridor and tried to stay out of the way. Was I driving Astra crazy? I winced; she'd probably told Colette that, or else I don't know why she would've mentioned it. I needed to do better about that.

But it was really hard. After all, I just wanted her to talk to me. The roles had been reversed so many times. And I knew things felt better after they'd come out of your head. I just wanted Astra to feel better, that was all.

Well, maybe I was a little afraid, too. It wasn't like Astra didn't talk to anyone. James had told me not to worry, that she'd opened up to him. Colette hadn't said that, but she seemed to know enough that I could assume Astra'd talked to her, too. And of course, she always seemed to talk to Albus. Well, when he wasn't with Poppy, of course. But even he was with Poppy, sometimes, now, it seemed. So why wouldn't she talk to me?

I cared about Astra. I did. I wanted her to be safe, and okay, and stable. And that's why I was pressing her and being annoying. That was all it was. I couldn't just be being selfish, and trying to keep my best friend from floating away from me.

Honestly, I was afraid. Afraid that whatever this strain was between us would grow until we weren't even friends anymore. Afraid that we were drifting apart, and why? For no reason I could see.

And I was afraid that, at the core of all my efforts to help, I was really just trying to help myself. I was being selfish, trying to make Astra feel better so I could have my friend back. That couldn't be it. That couldn't be my motivation. I genuinely cared about her.

Haverna's door opened, and Astra stepped out. I put on a bright smile, ready to cheer her up, but then I hesitated. Something was off. There was more here than simply being frustrated about getting detention. Astra was blinking, moving slowly, seeming almost stunned. She took a few seconds to even realize I was standing in front of her, though by now we were some of the only students in the hall. She stared at me for a moment, something heavy in her eyes that I couldn't place. I forced my smile back, though less bright now. "That took a while. What happened?"

Astra shrugged and looked away. "She gave me detention."

"Oh." I struggled to keep my face neutral. "Are you... is everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Astra sounded annoyed, but she wasn't meeting my eyes. She crossed her arms and frowned sullenly at the ground. Of course, she was lying, but I had no idea about what. Now didn't seem like the time to confront her.

"Okay." I shrugged lightly, passing it off like I'd believed her. "Well, Potions is starting, if you'd like to go." She didn't respond, so I continued, "Or... we could skip, if you'd rather just have some to think." She shrugged, sighing heavily and glancing around the corridor. Still avoiding my eyes. I didn't know what she thought I'd see if I looked in them. I was almost getting afraid to. "Or," I said slowly, not really wanting to say it, "if... if you'd rather be alone, I can go..."

Astra blinked in surprise, then glanced at me. "I... yeah, I think I need to be alone. If you don't mind..."

It took all my will power to smile and nod, and it felt horrible. She didn't trust me anymore, was what it felt like. And as much as I told myself that was silly, as soon as the words had been released into my head, my mind grabbed hold of them fiercely and wouldn't let go.

But Astra didn't need to know that. She was having a rough enough day as it was. No need to make it worse by somehow guilt-tripping her into telling me things she didn't want to. "Of course. If you need me, I'll be around." I smiled again, then hesitated. Did I need to say more? I wanted to. So much more. But Astra seemed uncomfortable, which hurt, even if I felt bad admitting that to myself. I settled for smiling again, then turning and walking away. If my smile seemed uncertain, I hoped she hadn't noticed.

~~~~

Honestly, my deteriorating relationship with Astra wasn't exactly the weirdest one in my life. I mean, my normal life, of course, because if you started counting family and people who worked for my uncle, things got very weird, very fast.

At Hogwarts, though, I liked to think I knew where I stood with people. There were my friends, who didn't keep secrets or hide their feelings, who supported me and let me support them. There were a lot of people who had become indifferent to me. Then, there were people like Eris Prince, Nico Jasper, and Ciara Malfoy, who hated me vehemently. I didn't like it, but I'd gotten used to it.

But now Ciara wasn't in the category of vehemently hating me. In fact, it seemed she was rapidly passing completely indifferent. Which left her in a weird space in my mind where I couldn't tell what she thought about me or what her intentions her. Actually, she and Astra were almost at the same place. I didn't understand either of them at the moment, and it was unsettling.

At least with Ciara it seemed to be an improving relationship, I supposed. She'd sat near Colette in I in history of magic and asked to compare notes a few days ago, which Colette met with only minimal eye-rolling. It seemed like she really was trying to make things right. A part of my mind told me I needed to be wary, but I couldn't help feeling that was paranoia more than anything else.

That night I was kind of glad to go patrol. At the very least, I wouldn't have to think about Astra for a few hours. I felt kind of bad thinking that, since I could tell she was having a hard time, but I was getting a little fed up. Three separate times that day, I'd joined her and Albus or Colette or James, only to have them abruptly stop talking. Astra would get moody and quiet, and the other one would change the subject, and eventually Astra would make an excuse and leave. James had been the last one, and he'd suggested I give her some space. She'd talk to me eventually, but in her own time.

Ciara smiled as I walked up, but she seemed a little distracted. Before we'd even made it out of the entrance hall, she asked, "Is Astra all right?"

"Um..." No, of course she wasn't, but I couldn't explain why, really. I wasn't sure I even knew why, specifically. "You might know as well as I do," I said. I was surprised to hear a little bitterness in my voice. That wasn't all right. I mean... I suppose I was bitter, but it didn't need to come out. It didn't need to be there at all. Forcing my tone to be light, I quickly added, "I think she's upset. Did you see the news this morning?"

"Oh, about Russey and that trial-optional thing? That makes sense. Bloody awful law." I could see her glancing at me out of my peripheral vision, and got the feeling she was trying to decide whether to ask about my first comment. Evidently, she decided against it, and shrugged. "Is that what she was ranting about in Charms?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I tried to get her to wait until after, but I should've known that wouldn't have worked."

"She's not big on being told what to do," Ciara agreed.

"No," I said, smiling. It faded slowly. She wasn't big on a lot of things right then, such as talking to her friends. Well, just me. I knew I shouldn't have been upset; Astra didn't owe me her confidence or anything, and if she felt closer to Albus or Colette or James, that was all right. It just kind of stung, since Astra was my best friend, to think that I wasn't hers.

"Hey, I had a question," Ciara said suddenly, jarring me out of my thoughts. Grateful for the distraction, I smiled at her as an invitation to continue. She did not smile back. Instead, she seemed incredibly serious as she asked one of the last things I was expecting, "Is Albus Potter really a parselmouth?"

I nodded without thinking about it, then frowned. "Yeah. He is. Why?"

"Like, you've seen him talk to a snake?"

I nodded, hoping she wasn't about to ask for details on that particular encounter. Unlike the rest of the school, I hadn't been here in third year when Albus apparently talked to a snake Nico Jasper had conjured next to Astra in the middle of a Quidditch game. The only time I'd ever seen him do it was when he'd captured one of Nico's and set it free outside Hogsmeade, and I couldn't very well tell her what he'd heard it say. It would incriminate Nico, which could eventually incriminate me, or at least bring about a whole host of questions that I didn't want to answer.

Luckily, she didn't ask about that. "Okay. Cool." She nodded, as if affirming something to herself, then glanced up. "Do you think he'd be willing to help me with something?"

That didn't really put me at ease. "With what?" I asked, managing to maintain a casual tone.

"I just... Jasper always has those bloody snakes around, and he talks to them. I'd really like to know what he's saying." Ciara glanced up and down the empty and silent corridor, then leaned in closer and whispered, "Honestly, I don't trust him. I think he might even be working for the... well, for your family."

I blinked, trying and failing at keeping surprise off my face. How could she suspect him? Had she seen something? Luckily, my reaction didn't seem to be strange to her. "Why do you think that?" I asked, trying to pull my thoughts together. "I mean, I know he's horrible, but that's a bit extreme."

Ciara frowned. "I'd think of all people, you wouldn't find that too extreme." I had no idea what she was talking about; was this a reference to first year? Did she suspect me, too, but couldn't say it because of the Fidelius Charm? She continued, "I mean, after what he did to you last term..."

I blinked, then nodded, aware that my motions were far too jerky. I wasn't being believable at all. "Oh. Right. I... I didn't see his face. I don't know..."

"Yeah, I know," Ciara said, nodding. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up. That's not my point. Jasper's a crap person, but I've known that since fourth year. I only started thinking he might be working for your family a few months ago. Did you know he sneaks out at night sometimes? Never when you and I are patrolling, as far as I know, but he's also never been caught by any of the prefects."

"He does?" I did know that, funnily enough.

"And those snakes of his, they're all over the place. Every time I see Astra, I can find one of those pricks around, too, hiding somewhere. I think he might be spying on her."

I did my best to act shocked. "Really? I mean, Albus has caught them following us sometimes, but not that often."

Ciara nodded, very serious. "I just... I don't know. I want to know what he's saying to his snakes, or what they're saying to him. If something's going on, we need to tell Professor Potter, don't we?"

"Yeah, I guess we do," I agreed, though it was the last thing I wanted to say. Albus had told us a few times what the snakes had said. Though they clammed up if they saw him, he'd caught them saying all sorts of incriminating things about Jasper's connections to Stillens before. That was the last thing we needed Ciara Malfoy (or anyone, for that matter), to hear. But I couldn't very well say no, could I?

We agreed that I would talk to Albus about it in the morning, and we'd figure something out then. Of course, talking to Albus meant pulling him aside before breakfast and freaking out until I almost hyperventilated. He calmed me down, then assured me that he'd just make something up to throw her off his trail.

"But what if Nico hears you made something up? He knows what his snakes say as well as you do."

"If Nico hears anything about it, we're already screwed, because he'll know I've been hearing all that and saying nothing for months. That would probably concern him even more than me just lying to Malfoy," Albus pointed out.

"Oh. Fair point." I frowned. "You're a horrible liar, though. Ciara will see right through you."

"I am not!"

"You're almost as bad as Astra."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Well, then, I don't know what you expect me to do. You're the one who told her I'd help her."

"I didn't know what else to say!"

"Honestly, you could've told her I hated her guts, and I think she would've accepted it." He grimaced. "I think we're going to have to blow her off."

"We can't do that," I snapped. Albus raised an eyebrow at me. "I don't want to make her angry, Al. We've just gotten to a point where we tolerate each other, and I don't want to ruin that."

"Well, then, I'm going to have to tell her the truth." He pursed his lips. "Is one night every other week really worth that?"

It shouldn't have been, I knew. I didn't know why I was so against the idea of breaking my word to Ciara. Yet, here we were. I sighed and nodded, eyes closed to avoid Albus's incredulous expression.

"Can we at least talk to my dad about it?" Albus asked. "He might have a better idea."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." If he said no, well, that wasn't my fault, was it?

Ten minutes later, we were seated in his office, watching him sigh and rub his temples like he was suffering from a headache. "Of course Ciara Malfoy suspects something." He sighed against then shook his head. "Do it. If she comes to me, I'll tell her I already know, but if she doesn't..." He shrugged. "I don't think it'll implicate you if Nico gets caught because he's too obvious."

That was true, I supposed. I hoped. Somehow, I felt like Magnus or Zaria would find a way to twist it back on me. Even Nico might, if he got angry enough and thought I'd had a part in it.

"I'll make her come to you," Albus was saying. "Though, I mean, I don't know what else she'd do."

"Just don't let her talk to Kimmel, if you can," Mr. Potter said.

"Okay." Albus glanced at me. "I guess we'd better get it over with, huh?"

I wasn't super eager to, but there wasn't much use in stalling, I agreed. We went to breakfast and instead of our own table, headed to Slytherin's, where Ciara was sitting by herself near the closest end.

She glanced up in surprise as we sat down across from her. "Oh, good morning." She gave an uncertain smile.

Albus returned it politely. "Wren told me you need help."

Ciara glanced at me, then back at Albus. Maybe it was hard to swallow her pride and admit that. "I... yeah. I do."

Albus nodded seriously. "I would've said no, of course, on principle, but I suppose there are worse people. Jasper, for instance."

She blinked at him. "Is that a compliment, or an insult?"

Albus laughed, and suddenly I felt the tension that had been hovering around us dissipating. "It was a joke. You're growing on me, I guess. I mean, you're not horrible to Wren anymore, so I suppose I've got to at least try to like you."

A smile flickered on her face. "Thanks," she said drily. "You're too kind."

"Anyway, yeah, I'll totally help. Wren told me all about it. Honestly, I haven't really paid much attention to Jasper and his snakes. Started tuning them out sometime last year. They only ever talked about proving himself to someone. Honestly, I just assumed Jasper meant you." He was rambling a little, over-explaining, but Ciara didn't seem to notice, thankfully.

Ciara sighed. "I hope not. I mean, I guess I hope so, because I suppose it'd be worse if Jasper really were working for Stillens. But... I still hope he didn't mean me."

"Maybe he meant something completely different?" I suggested, shrugging.

"I guess we'll find out." Albus tilted his head slightly. "Do you have a plan on how to do this?"

Ciara shrugged. "I thought about it a little bit... I think the best idea would be to sneak up on him somehow, without him noticing? Then just try and listen to what he's saying. Or least what the snakes are saying."

"Okay. How do we do that?"

Fifteen minutes later, after Albus's idea of simply walking past him at breakfast didn't work (the snakes had just been complaining about the sausage being cooked, and Nico told them that he couldn't very well get raw meat for them, and he didn't care), we were quietly following Nico to the potions classroom. I didn't see the point in being as sneaky as we were, ducking into doorways and around corners every time Ciara or Albus thought he might look back. After all, we all had potions this morning. But Ciara and Albus told me it was very necessary, so I went along with it.

"They're asking why Nico bothers to go to class when it's irrelevant," Albus whispered, after pausing to listen two the hisses echoing down the hall. "Nico told them to stuff it or he'd stuff them."

Ciara frowned. "Irrelevant? What does that mean?"

"I don't know." Albus shrugged. "I'm just here for translation, not commentary."

"What're they saying now?"

"Hold on." Albus listened, then frowned. "Nico just told them they have to all watch her today."

"Her? Who?"

"Shh!" Albus held up his hand, and Ciara fell silent. "Something's happening today, I guess? Wait, no. He just cussed." He'd done that in English. "He looks really pissed all of a sudden."

Half a second later, I felt something grow warm in my pocket. I bit my lip and reached down to grab the penny, covering any glow with my hand. I'd almost started to hope Nico wouldn't say anything incriminating, but I had a feeling his coin had signaled him, too.

"He says there's a change of plans," Albus said, glancing back at us. "Something about having to go somewhere tonight? Meet someone? Wait..." Albus's eyes grew wide. "He's meeting Stillens."

Ciara's mouth dropped open, and she grabbed my arm tightly. "He is?"

Albus shoved us down the hall. "I think he heard us!" Sure enough, I could hear a snake's hissing coming closer. We dashed away, only stopping several minutes later, several floors up, to catch our breath.

"Oh Merlin," Ciara said, staring in the direction we'd come. "I can't believe it..."

Albus glanced at me. "We've got to go talk to my dad."

Ciara nodded quickly, to my relief. "Yeah. Let's go now."

Mr. Potter did a good job of seeming surprised to see the three of us together. He listened as Ciara and Albus explained everything, nodding along. After they were done, he smiled. "Thank you all for letting me know. I will certainly look into this."

Albus and I nodded, as if that would have satisfied us if we hadn't known anything. Ciara, though, frowned. "That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

"We just told you we heard Nico Jasper say he works for Stillens, and you're just going to 'look into it'?"

"Yes." Mr. Potter frowned. "I'll take care of it, Ciara."

Ciara blinked, then raised an eyebrow. "I just feel like that's not the correct level of alarm you should be feeling in this situation."

"Excuse me?"

"Just..." She shrugged. "You're acting like we just told you we thought he'd cheated on an exam or something. Like it's not a big deal."

Mr. Potter sighed. "I appreciate your concern, Ciara. I promise, though, I have it under control. I've had my eye on him for a few months now. He's a potential source of information. Until he becomes dangerous, I don't think it's necessary to do anything more than that."

"What do you consider dangerous?" Ciara snapped. "Because I tend to think Stillens having a spy at Hogwarts is rather dangerous, don't you?"

Mr. Potter frowned. "Ciara, I understand that you're concerned, but I think you can be concerned and respectful."

She glanced down. "I'm sorry."

"Now, I'd appreciate it if you three didn't spread this information. Will you keep it to yourselves? And leave the matter alone?"

All three of us nodded, though Ciara seemed reluctant. After we'd walked out, she glanced at both of us. "Are you two really going to just let it go?"

I glanced at Albus, who was glancing at me. I shrugged. "I mean, I trust Mr. Potter. I think he knows what he's doing."

"I do too!" Ciara exclaimed, then shook her head. "Sorry. This is just all kind of dumb. I don't think he's making the right choice."

"Maybe we don't have all the information," Albus suggested.

"Maybe we should get the information, then," Ciara said, then sighed. "We promised not to. Never mind." She smiled, though she still seemed discouraged. "Thank you for helping me. I appreciate it."

"Sure thing." Albus smiled, then glanced at his watch. "We're late to potions by the way." That was a good excuse to hurry off and not discuss things anymore.

The time on my coin was a lot earlier than normal. I was a bit worried about having to sneak out of the castle as dinner was ending, but it was actually easier. For one thing, curfew wasn't for several hours, so seeing someone slip outside wasn't very weird. Also, with some many people going so many places, I would hardly have been missed by my friends, let alone anyone else.

Nico and I met up near the edge of the grounds. The walk to Hogsmeade was fairly quiet. Nico seemed a little restless, though. "Everything all right?" I asked lightly.

"Shut up."

"Oh..." I blinked. "Sorry."

He sighed. "No. You're good. Just Malfoy..." He rolled his eyes. "She's been glaring at me all day, like I did something to her? But I haven't even tried to talk to her for a few weeks."

I kept a straight face. "Oh, that's unfortunate."

"Whatever. She's a prat. But..." He shrugged. "I mean, you get it, with Potter, I'm sure."

I nodded, trying not to laugh at the comparison. If James and I had anything in common with Nico and Ciara, I might cry. "Oh, yeah. Of course."

"Someday, they'll understand." He shook his head. "Anyway, that's definitely not important right now."

"No, I suppose it's not."

We'd reached Zaria's apartment, and Nico led the way up the stairs. She rolled her eyes when she saw us, but didn't seem inclined to speak to us, which I was grateful for.

It was a routine report. Mr. Potter had told me it was all right to let them know Faith Lindsey was the one producing the Quibbler, so I left that message for Russey. They'd already dragged her through the mud for all the story she'd gotten into the Prophet last June, so I didn't imagine they would be able to do much worse.

The only odd thing was that, as I was walking out of his office, Stillens told me to go ahead and leave. As in, go back to Hogwarts. Nico would be here a while, he said, so I didn't need to wait for him.

I so desperately wanted to ask why. That was odd, and odd things were normally important. But Stillens didn't look to be in the mood for questions. I just nodded and walked out.

~~~~

Happy Halloween guys!! Today is the spookiest of all days, so I thought you deserved at update.

In other news, Saving Star was literally like years ago but silverstorme made me a new cover for it and I had to share because it's so stunning. Obviously, she's fantastic.

Question of the Day: I should have asked this last chapter, when there was an actual appearance from this kid, but what do you guys think about One? I've heard all sorts of theories floating around, and I just want to know some thoughts!

Answer: Well, clearly I have a lot of thoughts, but I'm not telling you any of them yet. Sorry, rules are rules!

Vote and comment and comment and comment and comment and comment and comment!

~Elli