a christmas break | draco malfoy - 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃

47

  —     A YEAR LATER...

"I brought this. Some second years managed to sneak some in."

"That'll last us for about a week. I'll get some later." Ginny said, taking the snacks from Astera and putting them aside.

"Guys, Neville has been gone for too long. Someone should've went with him," Said a girl from Gryffindor, sitting next to Dean as he and Seamus talked among themselves.

"He'll be fine. Neville isn't stupid, he knows how to protect himself." said Ginny walking past Astera and giving her a cold look.

The girls remained civil, but Ginny couldn't help but avoid and be rude to her every chance she got. Sure, they were on the same side, the same team, but that didn't mean Ginny would push Astera out of the way if a curse came towards her. Elle had been awfully quiet, drained even, ever since Luna had been taken and was missing for a while now. Astera almost began acting like her, trying to cheer her up in any way possible. She finally understood how Elle felt when she tried to comfort and cheer her up and Astera wouldn't budge. It was terrible.

Ever since Snape had gotten the position as Headmaster, Hogwarts no longer felt like home. Hogwarts felt like a prison with children screaming and students trying to sneak food in. Everyone was against each other, yet they all had each other's backs. Not a single person knew of Harry Potter's whereabouts, yet still were questioned despite being honest and not lying.

Everyone's ears picked up the loud and heart wrenching sound of a student's scream. They all kept quiet as a few students in the room put their hands over their ears, grimacing as the screams grew louder and the laughter seemed crazier than before. Ginny sighed as she rubbed her forehead, her throat tightening while locking eyes with Astera for a second.

"It's over," Dean said, having the students open their eyes and uncover their ears, "This has to stop. We can't keep going on like this."

"What are we gonna do, Dean?" asked Maria, the only Slytherin that had joined their side. Somehow, Astera managed to convince them that she would not be a threat, "It's not like we can leave. Anything we do is just hopeless."

"You can't say that," Dean shot back, "We're not hopeless and neither are the rest of them. We're all just scared but that doesn't mean we can just stay here and do nothing."

"As much as I agree with you, we still have to be cautious. We can't go around breaking people's noses just to show authority." said Astera, feeling all eyes on her. She wasn't much of talker these days, so whenever she opened her mouth, people were curious as to what she had to say, "We need to protect each other. And we need to get more people on our side."

"How? No one wants to join or help us. They know we were all somehow in contact with Harry and his friends and they don't want to get involved with that." said another Gryffindor, standing up and reaching for water on an old bedside table.

"Astera's right," chimed in Ginny, receiving a look from Astera, "We get people to join one way or another, and we keep those we can safe. Someone has to do something. But we all need to have each other's backs and never turn on one another no matter what."

"What're you all talking about? I could hear you in the passageway."

Neville appeared out of the passage, dropping bags of food and drinks in Dean's arms and coming out of their secret tunnel. Ginny smiled at the Gryffindor girl from before, "Told you he's fine."

Dean's head shot up, waving his hand towards Astera and using his fingers to call her over. The girl walked towards him, helping him with the food that Neville brought.