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

Chapter 54 - The Future

~Wren~

The day after Marcus apologized to Astra, Albus told me the whole story of him letting slip that he'd liked her for so much longer than he'd said. His main concern was that Poppy would find out; he'd never really talked about his previous feelings for Astra with her, meaning she didn't know that had been part of his motivation to ask her out in the first place. Despite the fact that he genuinely liked her now, he wasn't sure how she would take all that. I reassured him that Poppy was pretty reasonable, and would probably at least be willing to talk about it. And Astra seemed completely unaffected by the whole thing, anyway, so the odds of her letting Poppy know were relatively slim.

Sure, I thought he shouldn't have done it, but as he already seemed to have that impression, I didn't tell him that. Was it a good idea to go around telling girls who weren't the girl you were dating that you'd liked them for close to four years? As a general rule, no, even if this past crush is someone you never speak to and have no feelings for in any capacity. When that past crush was and still is your best friend, that complicates things even more. Despite the fact that I knew Astra and Albus would never do anything that might hurt Poppy, I wouldn't blame her for being confused and jealous, if she found out.

Of course, even though Albus absolutely did not want Poppy finding out about their little chat, he also felt like she deserved to know. He asked me if it was lying to keep it from her. I didn't know, having never been in a situation like this. Considering I could see it going massively wrong either way, I just groaned and told him I had no idea what he should do. He seemed annoyed, but didn't argue when I changed the subject back to the astronomy project we were supposed to be working on.

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When Astra slid into the seat next to me during Charms, leaving Colette to roll her eyes and sit down next to Albus, I thought it was a little weird. She smiled at me as if nothing was off at all, though, so I didn't think anything of it until she grabbed my arm at the end of class before I could get up. With a quick glance over her shoulder and a very serious expression on her face, she asked, "Can we talk?"

My immediate thought was that I'd done something wrong, made her mad somehow. But she didn't seem that angry, which meant it was probably something else. I just couldn't imagine what it was. We hadn't hung out in a few weeks at that point, and hadn't talked a lot in the meantime. She and Albus had been off with their research so much that even Colette was starting to roll her eyes and say they were going a little overboard, and she couldn't imagine what they were hoping to find.

We walked into the hall, and Astra dragged me to the closest empty classroom. There, she closed the door, then pulled me to the far side of the room.

She didn't waste time. "Did you know Albus liked me? Not just fourth year, but until last fall?"

I blinked at her; I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting, but it wasn't that. She'd seemed like she hadn't been affected by that at all. "I... I think a lot of people could tell."

"Obviously. Did he tell you?" Astra snapped.

Albus and I hadn't considered that this might happen. I didn't know what he would want me to do right now. I hesitated, trying to decide whether to lie or not. Which would make her more angry? Right now, probably the truth, but she'd be even more mad later if I didn't tell her. I sighed. "Yes. He did."

Astra deflated. "Oh."

"He never told you because he knew you didn't feel the same way, and he didn't want to pressure you," I said, trying to assuage whatever outburst might be coming, even though I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "You can understand that, right?"