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

Chapter 1 - Blue Hair and Runaways

~ Astra ~

"Bye!" I shouted, grabbing the vial of Floo powder from above the mantle. "I'll be home for lunch!"

"Stay safe!" came Aunt Andromeda's reply, over the sounds of loud splashing. Charis was currently in the bath upstairs, having not understood the concept of "breakfast going into your mouth" very well. She didn't normally get that messy, honestly, with jam all over her face and crumbs in her hair, and it was sort of my fault. To be fair, Victoire had left me to watch her when she left for her job interview before Aunt Andromeda had come downstairs, and I had more experience with mandrakes than with babies. Regardless, when Aunt Andromeda had appeared on the scene, she'd rescued the helpless baby and whisked her off upstairs.

I took a pinch of Floo powder and tossed it into the fire. "The Leaky Cauldron." Green flames shot up, and I got sucked into the Floo system. After very minimal bruising, I tumbled out into the pub. At ten in the morning in early July, it was still fairly empty, and I headed for a table at the far back corner.

I'd left home fifteen minutes early, on purpose. I wanted some peace and quiet to write my dad back, and those things were hard to come by currently. I had never known babies could be so loud. Of course, Teddy and Victoire were half the problem, always babbling back to her. It was perfectly adorable, and I loved it all, but I had to admit it wasn't always the best environment to write a letter in. I could have waited till Charis went down for her nap, of course (it tended to be nap time for everyone who was home at the time, so extra quiet), but I liked the atmosphere at the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, I hated making Colette have to wait.

Not that she minded. I think she was happy for any excuse to get out of her house on weekends, the days her dad wasn't at work. She would never admit that, of course. Our official reason for meeting up every Saturday morning for the three weeks since school had gotten out, between the two of us, was for her to catch me up about whatever the Daily Prophet was publishing that week. Aunt Andromeda knew the truth about our meetings, obviously (it was probably the only reason she let me venture out alone). Mr. St. Pierre most definitely did not.

I pulled a piece of parchment out of my bag, and a nice pen Luke had given me a while back after we'd spent a History of Magic hour complaining about all the useless things wizards still used that muggles could do better. Quills were cool and all, but pens were a lot more practical, especially for traveling. Besides, you couldn't click a quill. 

Dear Father,

Yes, I promise I will never needlessly run into a battle ever again. I couldn't really help myself, though. What was I supposed to do? Just sit there? Okay, sorry, I'll stop. Yes, I know I could've killed myself and I'm sorry and I love you and I swear it won't happen again.

Summer has been fairly uneventful so far. That's bad and good, apparently. The good is that it seems like Parliament hasn't been able to do anything huge yet. Teddy graduated his auror training, which is good, and he says they seem like they're actually working to track down Stillens right now. He also Mr. Potter is worried it won't be like this for long. I suppose you could ask him about it when he delivers this letter? I don't really know much.

Uneventfulness is bad for Wren, though. She hasn't heard anything from her family, last I heard, and it's been almost a month. I mentioned that girl that bombed St. Mungo's in my last letter, Zaria Hempsey, the one who knows Wren is a double agent. She can't have just not done anything about it, surely. If she was going to blackmail Wren, she would've tried that already. If she was going to tell Stillens, he'd have done something about it by now, right? We're all getting really worried, because no news can't be good here, can it?