Rubatosis

Chapter 7

The group decided to send Lily and Remus up to talk to Astra and James to pry information from the two. The rest of the group would head up to the dorms ten minutes after. Lily walked up the creaky steps and down the hallway to the shared bedroom. When she opened the door Astra was nowhere to be seen.

"Where could she be?" Lily asked out loud. She checked the bathroom and under each of the beds to see if Astra was hiding. Lily shoved the curtains of Astra's bed out of the way to again, see no Astra. Finally she went to check behind the curtains on the window seat that were closed.

As soon as she got close to the window she could feel the chilly night air. Someone must have left the window open. Lily couldn't recall anyone coming up to the dorm though, as they had all hung out together all day, with the exception of Astra and James off doing who knows what.

Lily reached out to the curtains and ripped them open. The window was wide open and Astra's jacket laid messily over the pillows of the window seat. Lily started to freak out. Astra never went anywhere without telling at least one person from the group.

It was bad times they were living in and anything could happen to them so they decided to make it a rule that if you went anywhere you had to tell someone else in the group of boys and girls. Lily grabbed the jacket and frantically ran down the stairs.

James and Remus had returned back to the common room and were sitting on the couch when Lily turned the corner. Noticing Lily's extreme worry the whole group stood up to face her. "Lily? What is it? Where is Ash?" Alice asked in her innocent tone, but it was underlined with worry.

Lily was out of breath, her heart beating so fast she could hear it in her ears. She was scared. Scared for Astra and scared to tell the group what she had found. "Lily? What is it? Where is my sister!" Sirius was demanding now, worried about what had happened.

"I... I don't... I don't know." Lily croaked, her eyes stung with fresh tears threatening to fall. "What do you mean you don't know? She said she was going to bed. Where is she?" Remus asked.

James' palms started to sweat. He knew about a group of Slytherins that had been bothering her. She and her brother were deemed as "Blood Traitors" by the Slytherin house. James knew the Slytherins would eventually try something but he didn't think it would actually happen. And right from the dorm? How could they even get up there?

He shouldn't be thinking like this. Anything could have happened. Astra could be perfectly fine. She probably just went for a ride on her broom. Yeah, that sounds like her. But in the dark... she hates the dark. She says it reminds her too much of Grimmauld Place, where she grew up. She said the darkness and cold air always reminded her of the dimly lit hallways with air currents from the always opened windows. It reminded her too much of that place and now she can't stand to be alone in the dark.

James tuned back into the conversation, not wanting to think about it anymore. "I looked all around the room, Remus, she's not there. When I went to check the curtains of the window seat... the window was wide open and her jacket was sprawled out across the pillows." Lily said sadly, now lifting Astra's jacket for everyone to see.

The group stared at it solemnly for a moment before Sirius finally spoke up. "Standing here isn't going to help my sister. Come on, we have to go look for her." The group looked at each other before running out of the door. Some other Gryffindors followed and along the way some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs even helped the hunt. The group split up into different teams and assigned specific parts of Hogwarts to certain groups.

James, his friends and Lily and her friends went together to the black lake. They didn't want anyone else going near the Whomping Willow. As they got closer they saw flashing lights and heard spells being shouted. They quickly picked up their pace and ran to the edge of the lake.

"Hey, guys. About time you showed up!" Astra yelled as her friends came into view. She already had one Slytherin on the ground in invisible binds. Another Slytherin hanging by his ankle from a tree by a conjured rope. And another was unconscious beside his friend, this one being a Ravenclaw. Seeing the blue robes reminded the group that not all bad people are from Slytherin.

"Astra... What is going on!" Sirius yelled over to his sister. Astra casted silent spell after silent spell at the Slytherin. Being in the Sacred Twenty Eight had its perks. They teach you non-verbal magic at a young age. "Oh you know, just playing a bit of tag with my friends, the death eaters." She spat back sarcastically with a laugh.

The group laughed and Astra finally casted expelliarmus and took the Slytherin's wand from him. She walked forward toward him and punched him straight in the nose, probably breaking it. The Slytherin fell to the ground holding his nose and she leaned over and grabbed him by the collar of his robes with one hand.

"Did your mother not teach you manners? You never grab a lady from her room. You never kidnap a lady. Especially not me, unless you love having a broken nose and a bruised ego." Astra shoved him back down onto the ground to wallow in his broken pride. She turned around and that's when the group finally got a good look at her.

Her bottom lip was busted on the right side and she had a cut through the middle of her left eyebrow running straight up and down. Her right sleeve was slightly torn near the wrist cuff and her right wrist was bruised. Most likely where they grabbed her and pulled her out of her room. Her hair was frizzy and messed up from dueling and her shoes and pants were muddy from being dragged to the bank of the lake. Her right cheek bone was badly bruised.

After seeing their beloved friend so beat up they ran to her and embraced her in a hug. They were all so relieved to know that she was okay. James stood still a little ways from the group. That didn't go unnoticed however, as the group split apart and stood to the side of Astra. James took one look at those innocent steel grey eyes and fell apart.

He quickly walked up to her with a straight face and without saying anything wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking his head into her neck. "Don't you ever do that again, you hear me?" James demanded in a quiet voice. "What the sappy sod means is we're glad you're okay." Remus said and Peter squeaked in agreement.

It didn't seem like James was going to let go anytime soon so Astra just held onto him. After a few minutes the group finally started making their way back to the common room. "I'm going to take Ness to the hospital wing to make sure she has no further injuries." James left no room for discussion as he put his arm around her waist and led her towards the hospital wing.