If I Lose Myself

Chapter Seven: Astoria

This was news that took a while for Astoria to process, but when she finally did; anger resurfaced above her confusion. How dare Daphne? Given, she understood why Daphne – even her mother – didn't want her to be friends with Luna. They've been through those kinds of conversations a thousand times already, and yet, she refused to listen to them barrage about her friend's weirdness and association with people unworthy of a pure-blood's attention. But for Daphne, and no doubt had probably conspired with their mother, to actually counterfeit her writing and signature and send something as vile as that to Luna was just too far.

"I'm so sorry, Astoria." Her friend said in a small voice as she looked down at her fidgeting her nails. "I should have confronted you about it the minute we got to Hogwarts. Truthfully, I was a bit surprised. At first, I refused to believe you would send me anything so awful. You're a wonderful friend and a very well-humored one at that. But then it sort of made sense, you see? Now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, I suspected you pure-bloods to stick around in your own circle. I really am sorry – my prejudice is as baffling as the letter your sister sent."

"Oh, Luna, I'm sorry." Astoria couldn't help the tears now as they slipped down her cheeks, her hands wringing the parchment she was holding before ripping it into tiny shreds. "I'm so sorry Daphne did this. This is just extremely low... absolutely below the belt... I... I really am. You really shouldn't even be sorry to begin with. It's my fault. I should have tried harder... I should have done something when you didn't send a letter back. I..."

"It's alright." Luna said a little cheerfully as she reached a hand out and placed it on top hers that had the ripped up letter balled in her fist. "People make mistakes, even if we didn't really do it to begin with. Although I know your sister would never say sorry, I forgive her. But I forgive you most of all. You're a really good friend, Astoria. I couldn't possibly imagine having a better one than you."

Astoria sniffed as she tried to wipe off her tears with her free hand, smudging it onto her hanky cleanly before placing it on top of Luna's. "Merlin's pants, I've missed you so much. I have loads to tell you. And I certainly mean loads."

The blonde smiled up at her excitedly. "How about you start with that very striking book you're reading?"

So Astoria explained about her uncommon illness, which Luna knew much about; having to be one of the people that sent her Honeydukes sweets whenever she ended up in the hospital wing. She told her about her conversation with Professor Dumbledore and how she needed to find any background on the Greengrass family name, but none so far have popped up since the First Wizarding War. Apparently, official and new records of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families hadn't occurred until after the war, right when they no longer had the faintest record of the long Greengrass family tree.

"That's really unfortunate." Luna's face fell.

"It's like the Greengrass's have disappeared from record out of nowhere. Like... like magic!" Astoria said miserably, glaring at the book before her.

Luna looked over the open book before asking, "Have you tried talking to your Aunt Cressida?"

"Aunt Cress?" Astoria asked curiously.

"Well, you never quite mention her a lot." The blonde said plainly as she pointed at her aunt's name written on the book.

"That's because I'm no longer allowed to speak to her, and neither was Daphne." She said slowly. "The last time I did, I was twelve. Mum and Aunt Cress haven't spoken in years, not since that little family mishap. Though mum never mentioned why they truly fought, only that she never wanted us to speak to her again."

"Suspect, really." Luna trailed off dreamily. "Perhaps you should talk to her. Your mum may not want you to talk to her, but if I had nieces that weren't allowed to talk to me, I'd surely miss them. Have you tried writing to her since then?"