HP • Legilimency | 𝐍. 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

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Astria was a rather extraordinary girl in many ways. To begin with, she delved into people's thoughts and memories, and she could also communicate with snakes ─ much to the horror of Andromeda Tonks, who found the girl conversing with a serpent in her backyard more than once. Furthermore, she had dreams, dreams that were actually memories, memories that didn't belong to her.

She could swear she knew almost everything about Lady Black's childhood, or as the woman insisted ─ Narcissa. Her savior, also a teacher and now a guardian ─ the woman who frequently haunted her mind, whether she was awake or asleep.She had no idea why, nor did she dare to question further. The woman never gave her the answer and always said that one day she would know, one day she would tell her.

One day...

It always left Astria irritated; she hates when her questions go unanswered.

It took Astria several days to get used to that strange new freedom of living with Draco's family. Never before could she get up without shouts, or eat whatever she pleased. She could even go wherever she wanted, as long as she informed Narcissa or Andromeda and told them where she was going and with whom.

Every morning, she had breakfast with Lady Black and they talked for hours. Her favorite thing was the conversations with Mr. Tonks and helping Andromeda prepare lunch.She learned to cook, and Draco joined her at times. More than once, a fight broke out between the two and Narcissa, ending with all three covered in flour and the kitchen in complete chaos. Andromeda nearly had an aneurysm after seeing the state of the floor.

"You-you-" She stuttered angrily. But then she saw Narcissa's hair and started laughing, which resulted in a good handful of flour being thrown in her face, and Narcissa smiling victoriously while holding the bag of flour in her arms.

Bedtime was the only strict rule that Astria frequently ignored. Like now ─ she was awake, and it was almost midnight. Lying on her stomach in her bed, blankets pulled over her head like an improvised tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book─ A History of Magic by Batilda Bagshot)propped on her pillow.

Astria slid the eagle feather pen across the page, frowning as she searched for information for her challenging essay:

"The Witch Burnings in the 14th Century were entirely misguided - discuss."

The pen finally stopped at a paragraph that seemed promising. She pushed one of her long hair strands behind her ear, brought the flashlight closer to the book, and read:

Those who were not wizards (more commonly known as Muggles) were very afraid of magic in medieval times but had very little ability to recognize it. On the rare occasions they caught a real wizard or witch, the sentence of burning them at the stake had no effect whatsoever. The wizard or witch would perform a Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to scream in pain while feeling a gentle and pleasurable tickling. In fact, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned at the stake so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times, under various disguises.

Astria let out a giggle as she held the pen between her teeth, picked up the inkwell and a roll of parchment. With extreme care, she removed the inkwell's lid, dipped the quill, and began to write. She occasionally paused to listen, aware that if Narcissa or Andromeda saw her studying so late, she would certainly receive a stern reprimand.

But they couldn't blame her because the Hogwarts teachers had assigned many holiday assignments. An especially tricky essay on Shrinking Potions had been requested by Narcissa herself.