We Will Shine {Book 6 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 21 - Throwing Trash

~Astra~

Little Star,

I'm sorry that you're in that situation. I wish I had any advice to give you; however, when I was in school, I wasn't very interested in dating. The only acceptable girls were ones I wanted nothing to do with, since they were as fanatical as my mother, for the most part. I'm afraid I have no experience...

I trust your judgment, though. And your love for your friends. You'll find a way out of this, even if it's hard or takes a while. Don't despair, dear.

Love, Orion.

~~~~

Life sucks, honestly.

The night after the Hogsmeade visit, where I saw Wren with Nico Jasper and then decided to walk way anyway, Colette told me I was almost as melodramatic as Wren. I had to look up what that word meant. Basically, it's a fancy way to say I'm overdramatic, which is fair, I guess.

For sure, I had bigger things to worry about. Divination was boring and horrible and Trelawney was having a hard time disguising her interest in me from the other three students, but I was learning about the Inner Eye and how to focus it. I hated that. As always, the threat of Stillens loomed over us, too. And we still had no idea what had happened when I'd broken my arm.

But somehow, having Wren and Albus not speaking to me, not to mention being the cause of James and Wren's break-up, weighed a lot heavier on me at the moment. Maybe because I had to sit with James every evening and listen to self-hate-fueled laments about how Wren deserved far better than him and he was completely and utterly worthless. No matter how much I tried to get him to just go talk to her, he refused. He actually believed she would be better off without him. He would glance across the common room, where Albus and Wren were in their own little self-pity group, and say she probably never wanted to speak to him again.

I didn't know if that were true or not, because she definitely never wanted to speak to me again, so I couldn't go ask her. That wasn't melodrama speaking, that was me reading between the lines in what I could get out of Colette. Wren was still mad at me, though waning. The real problem was Albus, I guess, who seemed far more angry than she did. When I caught Wren's eye in class, she just looked away, but Albus glared back. That might've been the worst part, actually. Wren wouldn't talk to me, and Albus hated me, and there wasn't anything I could do about it.

I elected to ignore the problem. This was a little easier than it would've been, because after a few days James decided that the best way to cope was to try to act normal again, and force himself to move on. He was tired enough of being miserable that he turned to complete and utter distraction. Of course, talking to Wren might have worked better, and I told him that, but he couldn't get up the courage to do it. I suppose I couldn't blame him for that. I couldn't, either.

I didn't think his plan would work, but there was no arguing with James once his mind was made up. We spent most of our days with the other Gryffindor sixth and seventh years, acting like everything was fine, and normal, and completely and totally okay. James generally managed to keep up the act until the late evening, when he would invariably breakdown into despair again. He was trying to hold himself together with Spello-tape, and I didn't have anything stronger to give him.

I wasn't entirely consumed by that, of course. When he managed to get a little too forced, I would go off to find Colette. Besides, I had Divination twice a week now, which was a pain.

Trelawney was certifiably mad. I was sure of it. Every class, she made a point of making dramatic predictions about her students. Apparently, Luna Scamander was going to be a famous and powerful Ministry worker, though all she aspired to be was a travel blogger. Trilia Bones was destined to be rich and successful, despite the fact that she planned on becoming a relief worker with the wizard version of the UN. And then there was Trevor Haspin, who was doomed to die (a prediction he did not seem too worried about). Apparently, according to Trilia, Trelawney made a prediction like that for at least one student every year. Up until this year, it had been Scorpius, which might have explained why he didn't continue with Divination.