A muggle-born Slytherin whose parents are terrified of her.
A pureblood Gryffindor whose parents are disappointed in him.
The arrival of her Hogwarts letter was meant to make everything better.
Asteria Halloway finally had an explanation for her p...
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Asteria sat with her legs crossed at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. With her book propped up against a goblet, whilst spooning cereal into her mouth, Asteria had a small smile on her face. She appreciated the quiet of the school so early in the morning. She loved to see the sun peaking over the hills and to hear the birds come alive in the morning.
And then Regulus Black sat down opposite her.
"Alright Halloway?" He asked, shovelling egg onto his plate. "Worse now you're here." Asteria mumbled, closing her book and pulling it away from him, tucking it in her lap.
Regulus chuckled, lifting his head back and revealing his face from behind his dark hair. "Still a mudblood then?" He asked. "As much as I am a Slytherin."
He laughed again, before pressing his elbows onto the table and leaning forward, closer to her.
"Speaking of which... A little snake whispered in my ear this morning, want to know what it said?" He smirked. "Do I have a choice?" "I heard you want to be on the quidditch team. Again."
Asteria could feel the anger bubbling inside of her. The fact that some of the Slytherins were so actively against her doing anything for their house, only motivated her more. If she stood a chance, Asteria would have loved to become the quidditch captain. Just to show then she could.
"What's it to you? I'm just going to get rejected again." Asteria shrugged, poking at her cereal. "Why try when you know you won't get on?" "At least if I try I know I did all I could, then the only person to blame will be the captain."
The smirk remained of Regulus' face as he leant back in his seat, eyeing Asteria with an interest.
"Black! We've been looking all over for you!" Avery strode into the Great Hall, followed by Rosier and Malfoy.
Asteria stiffened upon seeing them approach the table. She rose from her seat, still clutching her book tightly in her hands as she backed away.
"Mudblood." Avery nodded with a malicious grin on his face.
Asteria tried to move past them but they just stood, blocking her exit. "Don't touch me! Wouldn't want to catch a disease from your parents." Avery snapped, shouldering her as she finally pushed through them.
The tears pricked in Asteria's eyes and she felt a white hot anger burning throughout her body as she hurried out and away from the hall. But she wouldn't reveal a hint of emotion, not willingly anyway.
She didn't understand, as she sat alone on the cold stone step in the corridor, why everyone avoided her so much. The other houses hated Slytherin and wanted nothing to do with the students in it. The Slytherins themselves all actively distances themselves from Asteria because of who her parents were. It made no logical sense.
"Potter! Go away!" Lily exclaimed, storming ahead of the group of boys as they made their way down to the Great Hall.
"I'm just saying, we could go out together. It'd be great!" James almost pleaded as he ran to keep up with Lily. "No, Potter. You're horrid." She replied bluntly.
Lily led, closely followed by the boys, down the stair cases from the Gryffindor common room. Then she happened across a familiar sight.
"Why've we stopped?" Sirius asked. "I can't miss breakfast." Peter folded his arms.
"Shut up!" Lily exclaimed, holding her finger to her lips as she turned to the boys. Once they'd fallen quiet, Lily continued down the stairs towards the girl sat at the bottom.
"Ria?" Lily asked quietly, however this still caused Asteria to jump. "Lil... Merlin you scared me." Asteria stood up, straightening out her robes. Then she noticed the group that stood behind Lily.
"Oh... Good morning." Asteria greeted the boys.
James nudged Sirius slightly in the side. James, Remus, and Peter were all aware of Sirius' fascination with the girl and they all believed his interest went further than that. Even if Sirius himself didn't believe it.
"Asteria. I'm James, I don't believe we've ever really spoken." James extended his hand and shook hers. "No, I don't think so but it's nice to properly meet you." Asteria smiled at him.
Lily watched with a warm smile on her face.
"This is Peter, Sirius, and Remus." James introduced them all.
"It's hard to not know who you guys are." Asteria admitted. "You're awfully well known too." Sirius nodded. Asteria frowned, "How so?"
Lily glared as Sirius best she could but he didn't take the hint and continued anyway, "What with being a muggle born in Slytherin. I mean, that's just a bit unusual isn't it?" "I wouldn't know." Asteria replied coldly.
Lily tried to intervene, moving forward to stand in front of Asteria and shout at Sirius.
"I'm going to head back to the common room. I'll see you, Lil." Asteria forced a small smile on her face as she turned to Lily, before moving down the stairs in front of them and disappearing around a corner.
"Nice going Sirius." Remus punched Sirius' arm. "What did I do?" Sirius yelped, jumping back.
Remus rolled his eyes, "Do you actually know the hate she gets from everyone?" "Why would people hate her?"
"That's the point. They don't have a reason." Lily snapped angrily at him, "Just, go away." She stormed after Asteria, in search of the girl.
"How come you know so much all of a sudden?" James raised an eyebrow at Remus. "Last year I was in the library alone, catching up on some work I'd missed over the... moon. She was there and we chatted that afternoon but then a load of Slytherins came in and..." Remus' voice trailed off as the group entered the Great Hall.
"Well?" Sirius asked, desperate to know the full story. "Everyone either hates her because she's a Slytherin or because she's muggle-born." Remus concluded briefly.
"That's true?" Sirius asked, digging his hands into his pockets and kicking at the floor. "Clearly." Remus replied.
"Anyway, back to more important business." James distracted Sirius from his thoughts as the Marauders sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
"Food?" Peter asked, reaching forwards to grab the plate of pancakes. "Not right now, Peter." James replied, holding up his hand to hush him, "We need a way to truly help Remus with his furry little problem."
Remus tilted his head to the side, half watching as Sirius held his head in his hands. "I don't need help." Remus insisted.
"Just hear out my idea, it's brilliant!" James exclaimed, leaning forwards to talk in hushed whispers with the group.
Lily had chased after Asteria, out into the cold and early-morning courtyard. The wind whipped her hair up into her face as she saw Asteria sat on one of the benches beside the wall.
"Ria, you okay?" Lily asked, sitting down beside her friend. "Yeah, lovely thanks." Asteria replied, focusing her gaze on the birds that fluttered in the sky.
"You know the boys didn't mean any harm by what they said." Lily reassured, placing a hand on Asteria's knee. "I know, it's not that." She replied. "Well what is it? You've been even more reserved than usual since coming back."
"I got a letter from my parents," Asteria began, "They want me to try to get into a muggle university so I can get a job out of the wizarding world."
"Asteria, they can't be serious?" Lily widened her eyes. "Completely. Apparently they've been writing to Dumbledore to see if it's possible." Asteria shrugged. "What are you going to do?"
