Asteria closed her eyes and leant her head back. Just as she felt like she was drifting off to sleep, someone poked her harshly in the side.
"Don't you dare fall asleep!" She hissed.
Asteria grumbled as she opened one eye to see a very unamused Lily looking down at her. "What do you mean? I'm wide awake." She stifled a yawn as she sat upright.
Lily muttered, "You can't leave me alone with them! It's your fault in even here!"
"You two listening to this?" James glanced over at them, temporarily breaking away from his heated debate with Sirius and Peter to look at Lily.
"Oh yes, Lily is hooked on your every word." Asteria mumbled tiredly, earning a rather harsh glare from both James and Lily. Sirius chuckled as he sat back down beside Asteria, "Just face it, Prongs, we're right and you're wrong." He shrugged.
James shook his head defiantly, "It is humanly impossible for me to be wrong."
Lily folded her arms, "Maybe me and Ria should go get some food from the trolley?"
Asteria rolled her eyes, knowing it was actually her fault that Lily was subjected to spending time with the boys she so heavily disapproved of. "Alright, I'll come." She stumbled to her feet, "You guys-"
"Don't!" Sirius held up his hands.
"....Want anything?" Asteria furrowed her eyebrows as she finished.
The other three boy's eyes lit up upon hearing this question. "Well..." Remus sat up and straightened his arms out in front of him, "I wouldn't mind a liquorice wand and a packet of Drooble's."
"I'll take a chocolate frog, some exploding bonbons and a sugar quill." Peter nodded happily.
James chuckled proudly, "And a pumpkin pasty for me."
Sirius groaned, "I tried to warn you."
Lily frowned at them and opened her mouth to speak before Asteria interrupted. "Oh, you guys really sure you don't want anything? Well, that's a shame." She flashed the boys a smile before following Lily out of the compartment.
"Well that was rude." Peter grumbled.
"You know..." Asteria began, pocketing her hands and swaying from side to side with a mischievous grin, "You could've said no to coming and sitting with me and the boys..."
Lily rolled her eyes and walked in front of Asteria as they made their way down the cramped train carriage. Asteria's foot caught in an upturned corner of the carpeting and she crashed forwards into Lily, knocking the girl into a student in front of them.
"Ri-a! I am so sorry! It wasn't me, honestly. Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to. Are you alright?" Lily knelt down cautiously, frantically worrying over the student. Asteria stood back and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly - not really certain of what to do. However, the student that turned around to face them left her all the more flustered.
Lily stepped back as the boy straightened himself out, patting down his robes and narrowing his eyes upon recognising the two girls. He stood up fully, allowing them both to realise that he most certainly wasn't a terrified first year.
"You'll never make it on the quidditch team if you're that clumsy." He snarled coldly.
Asteria opened her mouth to speak but could find no words. Over the summer the boy had changed drastically. Either he'd been starved and punched in both eyes or he hadn't been sleeping at all.
"Sorry about that. We really are sorry." Lily reiterated.
"Bet you're not sorry about stealing my brother from me." Regulus Black didn't break his eye contact with Asteria.
Lily glanced between the two, "Ria had nothing to do with that."
"Oh really?" Regulus laughed, "My brother hadn't uttered a word about leaving home until you came into the picture. One day you just decided to waltz on into his life and as quick as a flash he'd packed his bags and ran away."
"I-it's not like that." Asteria shook her head furiously, subconsciously reaching for Lily's arm.
"It's exactly like that." Regulus stepped closer slowly.
"I don't know who exactly you think you are, but nobody talks to Asteria like that. I suggest you back off." Lily warned.
"And I suggest you don't get involved." Regulus retorted.
Asteria tugged on Lily's sleeve, "It's fine... I'm not hungry. Let's just head back... Please." Lily sighed, softening her eyes as she looked behind her at Asteria. The girl had turned unusually pale and looked almost as if she were about to be sick.
"Okay, sure." Lily nodded.
"That's right." Regulus sneered, "You know you won't always have some stupid Gryffindor around to defend you." He warned, watching the two girls turn away and depart from the scene.
Lily struggled to keep up with Asteria as she practically ran down the carriage away from Regulus. "You alright? I bet he gave you a bit of a scare... I was a little scared by him myself. He sure was intimidating." Lily was struggling as to how to go about comforting Asteria. Clearly the girl wasn't comfortable being put in the middle of the two boys and things would only worsen as the year progressed and the two brothers drifted further apart.
"I'm fine. Really, I am." Asteria repeated the words that had been circling around her head. Perhaps if she repeated them enough they would become true.
"Are you going to tell Sirius?"
Asteria stopped just outside of the compartment door, her hand hovering over the handle as she turned back to Lily, "I should really. I just... No... I will tell him."
Remus pulled open the door, startling the two girls. "You guys just going to stand there for the rest of the journey or what?"
"Well I'm quite happy just stood here actually." Lily mused.
Asteria snorted before stepping inside the compartment again with Lily hot on her heels.
"I thought you guys went to get food? I mean, I'd understand if you didn't get anything for the others, but no food for yourselves or for me?" James widened his eyes at the empty handed girls.
"We... Er..." Lily glanced over as Asteria sat back down next to Sirius.
"We ran into a little trouble." Asteria admitted, looking up at Sirius.
"Trouble? Like what?" He asked, growing concerned.
James' ears pricked, "Did somebody say my name?"
"They said trouble, not tosspot." Remus chuckled, punching James lightly in the arm.
"Maybe... Kinda, sorted bumped in Regulus." Asteria pursed her lips.
"Literally bumped into him, I think you mean." Lily added.
"Can't have been fun." Remus folded his arms.
"What did he say?" Peter asked.
"Literally bumped into him?" James furrowed his eyebrows, the three boys all leaning forward to listen closely.
Asteria and Lily both followed Sirius' every move, waiting for some sort of response from him.
"How is he?"
Lily nodded towards her, "He doesn't look good." Asteria admitted.
"Did he ever?" James joked.
"Shut up." Lily elbowed him in the side.
"What er... What did he say?" Sirius asked, blinking hard.
"He blames me for you leaving. Have you not spoken to him since?" Asteria placed a hand on his arm.
"No... I tried to find him in the platform to talk once his-my-our parents had gone but... Well I couldn't see him and I didn't really wait around to bump into them all." Sirius looked down at the floor.
"You don't regret it though?" Remus asked, "I mean, you wouldn't go back home?"
"No." Sirius replied quickly, "I just... I wish I'd been able to bring Regulus with me. It's just, if he'd been sorted into Gryffindor too then everything would have been different. Maybe everything would have been better. Everything would definitely be better if I was in Slytherin."
"It's not you that needs to change." Asteria pointed out, "Really, it's not even Regulus who needs to change. It's your parent's fault and they're to blame. They shouldn't pit you against your brother like it's a competition. There is no superior house. After all, it is just a team in a school not life or death."
"Well let's not go jinxing anything." James added, reminding all of the teenagers of what had been plastered across the Daily Prophet's headlines all summer. The news of the dark wizard was spreading like wildfire as time passed and more witches and wizards were going missing.
"Are you going to speak to him?" Asteria asked, leaning her head against Sirius' shoulder.
"I should."
She closed her eyes, "Well if... when you're ready, let us know so we can help."