~Astra~
Wren really did want to help me. I appreciated that. But I was slowly falling apart, and didn't know exactly what she thought she could do to stop it.
She did understand a little more than my other friends, I supposed. She'd been broken down to nothing, and still managed to pick herself back up. Maybe, when all of this was over, I would be able to do that too. If all of this was ever over. If I would ever be able to fully trust my mind.
But Wren was making stupid decisions at the moment. Choosing Haverna to be her secret keeper? I had no idea what had gotten into her. And now she and Ciara had somehow found out that Eris Prince was related to Severus Snape, and accidentally let it slip to Lacy Macmillan and Trilia Bones, the two biggest gossips in Gryffindor and Slytherin, respectively. I didn't know exactly what they hoped to accomplish there, but if it was to make Eris angry, they were doing a pretty incredible job.
Albus, Colette, and I had not been the first people Wren told about Eris's family history. We hadn't been near the top of the list. I knew why; she was frustrated with us about how we'd reacted. I didn't see how she could blame us. Haverna was a horrible person, and clearly Wren was making a bad choice. We were just looking out for her. She was the one that was overreacting.
As it was, though, she was avoiding us now. Kind of ironic, considering she'd told me she'd be there for me whatever happened. If she really had any idea what I was going through, how hard this was, she'd be here, she would listen to us. As it was, I wasn't planning on letting this go anytime soon.
After a week, it was starting to get a little old.
Colette, Albus, and I were sitting alone at breakfast for the eighth time in a row. Albus was snickering at Eris Prince, who had just walked into the Great Hall and been surrounded by several third years asking if it was true, if she was really related to Severus Snape. She always threatened the people that came up and asked her that, but it always ended in everyone laughing. Somehow, Ciara and Wren had managed to take away all of her credibility.
I sighed. This would have been more entertaining if Wren weren't being so difficult and were here with us, instead of halfway down the table with James and his friends, looking like she didn't even miss us.
I glanced at Colette. Her face was hidden behind the Quibbler, a normal occurrence. "What's the news?" I asked dully.
"More muggle murders," Colette said, moving the magazine down so we could see her face. "A family of five. The youngest was one, and the oldest kid was only eight."
"Oh, that's sad," Albus said, growing serious. "Where?"
"Outside of Edinburgh, I think. That's not the interesting part."
I raised an eyebrow. "Interesting part?"
Colette nodded. "Only three bodies were found. The two parents, and the baby. The other two children are just gone."
"Gone?" Albus asked. "Like they haven't found their bodies?"
"Not exactly," Colette said. "Before the aurors got there, muggle authorities discovered that the kids got picked up from school in their parents' car, but that was two hours after the time of death."
I frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Why bother with the kids if they're not even around when you kill the rest of them?"
"Doesn't fit if you're one of Stillen's agents just trying to blow off steam, which is the working explanation."
"You think there's another reason?" Albus asked, his voice dropping to a whisper as he leaned forward.
I frowned. "Weren't there a couple dozen disappearances over the summer, too?"
Colette sat back in her seat, her brow furrowed. After a moment, she glanced up. "Yeah. There were."
"We were looking into those, right? Did those people ever get found?"
"A few bodies were," Colette said. "That's why it's all been written off as meaningless."
"Do you think there's similarities?" Albus asked, eyes wide.
"I don't know." She slowly closed the magazine, her expression one of deep thought. "I think... I think we need to go back through all those missing persons cases and see. Be more thorough this time."
"What if there's a reason?" I asked. "What if Stillens has some agenda?"
"The bodies they found might have just been to throw the aurors off their trail," Colette agreed.
"But what would Stillens want with two primary school kids?" Albus asked.
"I don't know," Colette said. "If he does want something, though, it can't be good."
"Should we talk to Wren?"
All three of us paused to glance down the table. At that moment, Wren, James, Mackenzie, and Colin were laughing together about who knew what. I pursed my lips and shook my head. "No. She probably doesn't want to listen us right now. James, too."
Colette nodded. "If we find anything, we will. But this is just an idea. Not a big deal. I mean, what are the odds we're right?"
"Yeah," Albus said, slowly nodding as well. "I don't think everyone could have missed something like this, surely."
"Surely," I echoed. I was still watching Wren, who was taking absolutely no notice of us. I really wanted to talk to her about this. She would want to look into it from the other side. She would want to help. But in order for us to ask her to help, we would have to accept her idiotic choices, which I was not prepared to do.
All this would all work itself out eventually, I was sure. At some point, someone would be crying, and someone else would be comforting them, and then all would be right in the world. No need to get messy with apologies that might not be accepted or anger that might not be abated.
We planned to start going through the library's archive of the Quibbler and the Prophet after class that day, compile as much information as we could. The most time consuming part would be finding the articles, according to Colette; we didn't know the dates, because Wren had all the research we'd done before. None of us much felt like asking for it.
Wren hadn't been sitting with us in class. She sat with Rose and Scorpius in some classes, and by herself in others. The frustrating thing was that she didn't seem to mind, and I couldn't tell if she was just acting or not. Maybe she really didn't mind. Maybe she didn't need us as much as we needed her. As much as I needed her.
Today, though, she kept glancing back at us during Charms. Subtly (glancing away when we made eye contact) but I still noticed. It almost made me want to point it out to Albus and Colette, and ask if they thought we should talk to her after class. Almost, and then Haverna gave me detention for not paying attention, and I remembered why we weren't talking to her in the first place.
Turned out I didn't even need to mention it, because Wren caught up to us in the hallway. "Hey, can we talk?"
"I don't know," Colette snapped, turning around. "Are you still being a git?"
Wren winced. She hesitated for a moment, glancing between the three of us. "We just... This is getting a little ridiculous, don't you think?"
"Choosing Haverna as your secretkeeper was ridiculous," Albus pointed out. "We're reacting pretty rationally to that."
Wren pursed her lips. "Listen, I'm sorry you're not happy about it. You don't have to be. You don't have to like it. But it was my decision, not yours, and I think I made the right choice. So does Mr. Potter. You can disagree. But even if I did make a mistake, it's too late to change it now." She hesitated. "So, you're going to have to accept it and move on, or hold it against me forever. Those are your choices."
I hadn't thought about it that way. There wasn't anything that could be done, whether anyone liked it or not. How long could we stay mad at her, really? It wasn't like she was going to apologize, and even if she did, she couldn't change anything now.
Her eyes darted between the three of us, uncertainty in them undercutting the confidence in her words. "You... you don't have to decide right now, but if you can't... that's kind of a choice in itself, isn't it?"
Albus glanced at Colette, then me. I nodded slightly. I had a feeling I knew what he was thinking, and I agreed. We couldn't keep this up forever. We had to move on, and it was an easy decision when she termed it like that. He turned back to Wren. "You're right." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Wren. You're completely right."
She blinked in surprise, and let out a breath. "Oh. Wow, okay."
Colette frowned, holding out her hand. "Wait. Will you admit you made a stupid decision?"
Wren tilted her head. She'd tensed up again, and glanced around the three of us before replying. "No."
I bit my lip as Colette narrowed her eyes. She was about to ruin everything, wasn't she? To my surprise, Colette suddenly laughed. "Fine, then. I guess we'll have to live with it, won't we?"
Wren let out a relieved laugh as well. "Thanks. I wasn't sure that would work."
"I mean, you've put up with plenty of stupid decisions Astra's made, so it's only fair," Albus joked.
"As if you never make stupid decisions," I said, rolling my eyes.
Albus's mouth dropped open in mock indignation. "I am very reasonable, actually. Excuse you. Rude."
Wren pursed her lips. "Are you?"
"Okay, shut up, maybe?"
"Please. We all know she's put up with both of you being complete idiots," Colette said, shaking her head. "She probably also thinks I'm an idiot," she continued. "However, she is smart enough to not say that to my face, because I'm working on a spell that can make everyone around me revert to the mind of a toddler for an hour or two."
Albus and I laughed, but Wren just frowned at her. "You're still creating spells? I thought you stopped."
"I did stop after... after all that last year," Colette said. She seemed a little uncomfortable. "But I'm seventeen now. It's not illegal."
"Is it the best idea, though?" Wren asked, pursing her lips. "What if Kimmel finds out?"
"I'm not breaking the law."
I glanced at Albus. "Yeah... But..."
Colette narrowed her eyes. "Stop. I'm not going to stop, no matter what you say. So don't try. I'm taking precautions, and doing everything as safely as possible. I know what I'm doing, okay? It's not my problem if Kimmel wouldn't understand, or even if bloody Haverna wouldn't. They don't need to know." She gave Wren a significant look. "And none of you are going to tell them, right?"
"Of course not," Albus said, shrugging. "You know what you're doing." I nodded, feeling a little uneasy about it. There wasn't any arguing with Colette, though.
Unless your name was Wren, apparently. Wren pursed her lips for a moment, clearly on the fence. "I... Colette, it's really not safe, and do you think Haverna won't find out eventually? And—"
"Wren, please," Colette said, sighing. "Listen, I'm going to trust your decision about the fidelius charm. Can you trust me about this? I'm not going to hurt myself, or anyone else. I promise."
Wren sighed, then nodded. "Okay. You're right." She smiled. "I guess I'll be a supportive friend." Colette just chuckled.
That night, I slept a little easier. If I had any prophetic dreams, Wren would be there when I woke up, and she would be willing to comfort me. Colette was great at helping to figure out what to do, but comforting was not her forte.
Luckily, I didn't have any prophetic dreams. That didn't mean I didn't dream, though.
I was in the by now very familiar void. I turned around until I saw a little girl standing a few meters away.
"Hey. You. One." I walked closer. "That's your name, right? One?"
The little girl glanced in my direction. Her eyes were white, which meant she wasn't seeing me, I remembered. She nodded. "I am One."
I wanted to ask why her parents named her that, if they really did. In fact, I had a lot of things I wanted to ask this kid, one of many, apparently, who was in some kind of danger from... a mysterious They. And under a house. A lot to go off of. Where was this house? Who were They? Who was she, for that matter, and why did They want her and however many others were with her? Most importantly, would she answer any of those questions? Based on past, I didn't think so.
I slowly approached her. "Do you know who I am?"
"You can help," she said in her usual cryptic fashion.
"Okay, yeah, we've established that," I said, using all my willpower to keep frustration out of my voice. "But who am I? Do you know my name? Anything about me?"
She just stared in my general direction, her milky eyes creeping me out. I sighed. "Mind making yourself see me? It's easier for me that way."
"But then—"
"I know, you can't hear." I closed my eyes and balled my fist, taking a deep breath. "Listen, I'm sure it'll be okay for just a few minutes, right? Did anyone even notice last time?" One slowly shook her head. "Well, then, what harm can it do?"
The girl considered that, then slowly closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut. When they opened again, they were normal, brown.
I smiled at her. "That's better. Now, a proper introduction. My name is Astra Lestrange." I held out my hand, and she stared at it, then back at my face. "Here, you shake it." I demonstrated, taking her hand and shaking it. "Now we both know each other's names."
"Okay," she said, frowning uncertainly at me.
"What do you know about me?" I asked again.
"I looked for you."
"You looked for me? What do you mean?"
"I tried to find you, and I did. It's easier now."
"How?"
She looked down. "Can't say."
"Why?" I frowned. "Is someone with you?"
The little girl hesitated. "Yes."
"Do they know what you're doing?"
"Not all. Not who."
"Who is it?"
She shook her head, and I narrowed my eyes. "Someone good? Or bad?"
She hesitated again. "Second."
"Okay." The sinking feeling was still there, accompanied by chills. "Does this someone have a name?" She didn't answer, and I took a step towards her. "Is it someone connected to Stillens? Do you know Stillens?"
One's eyes grew wide, and she started breathing quickly, shaking her head. "I can't, you can't, no—"
She disappeared, and I was alone, blinking into the void.
I woke up in my bed. Slowly, I sat up, trying to make sense of that. Was that a dream? Were those dreams? I still wasn't sure.
Across the room, Colette had her wand lit dimly, hovering over a book. She glanced at me curiously. "You all right?" she whispered.
I shook my head, then got up and quietly walked over to her bed. "It was another one about that little girl."
"One?"
"Yeah. Her." I explained it all. Based solely on her expression as she listened, Colette didn't seem to be able to make any more sense out of it than I could.
"She seems to know who Stillens was," Colette said slowly. "I don't see why the name would make her freak out if she didn't."
"If she knows who Stillens is..." I frowned. "Why would she?"
"Maybe she's Katreena's past self?"
I shook my head. "I've seen that. She looked like Wren."
"Well... Zaria Hempsey? I don't know."
"Maybe it's no one's past self." I frowned. "Have you noticed that I've only had these dreams since my episodes started?"
Colette raised an eyebrow. "Hadn't thought of that. Do you think they're connected?"
"Maybe Stillens planted something in my head to unbalance me?" I said, frowning.
"I don't know." Colette pursed her lips. "I think that, next time this happens, you should get as much information out of that kid as you can."
"Is that safe?"
"I don't know," Colette said, shrugging. "Is anything?"
~~~~
Why did this chapter take so long? I literally have no idea. Like, none whatsoever. Sorry, buds. Will probably happen again...
Anyway, uh, this happened.
I don't even remember doing this, but apparently long ago in the days when I still promoted any of my works, I submitted Star of Gryffindor to the ambassador-run Harry Potter account, WattpadRowling. I guess? I assume I'd have to do it myself? Idk, but this is pretty cool.
Question of the Day: What's your favorite book? (You can give a list if you can't choose one)
Answer: Why do I do this to myself? Let's see. I currently love the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman (honestly, he's my favorite author). It's really good and you guys should read it and talk to me about it!! Also The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe is incredibly good (I cried).
Vote and comment!
~Elli