♢
The game of Exploding Snaps seemed to change Asteria's perspective of the boys. The girl had a habit of holding grudges, sometimes forgetting what her grievance against someone was about. This seemed to be the case with Sirius, except she still remembered her robes sticking to her and the stench of the lakewater covering her entire body. However, she began to treat the boys less like enemies and more like potential acquaintances. Hogwarts was living up to her every last expectation; it was a welcome change from the atrocious environment that was the Grey Manor. For once in her life, she had true friends - Magnolia. Lily, Marlene, Mary, and Dorcas. Though Magnolia still remained in Asteria's life, the two girls were not as close as they had promised each other to be. The two were in separate houses, thus had rarely an occasion to see each other that wasn't Potions class; they were forming different friends as well, with Magnolia growing closer to her brother's circle and Asteria befriending other Gryffindors.
One particular afternoon, however, Asteria found herself sitting at the Black Lake alone. It was a beautiful day, towards the end of October, with the sun shining and a light breeze whipping the blonde's hair into a frenzy. Lily was to appear soon, as she was hanging out with Severus for the first time in a while, and the two were to discuss plans for Halloween. Though the holiday was not largely celebrated, Lily's family had always loved to dress up and go all out. Meanwhile the Grey family had seldom done anything for Halloween, with Mrs Grey believing Halloween to be "utterly idiotic and a waste of time."
Lily was running late, so Asteria found herself leaning back against a tree and doodling on a spare piece of parchment rather than finishing up her essay.
Footsteps approached from behind, before a clearing of a throat snapped Asteria up from her drawings. She made direct eye contact with a pair of brown eyes, before a large grin overtook her face as she registered who stood in front of her.
"Magnolia!" Asteria grinned, jumping up and giving her friend a hug. How ironic that she was just thinking about her Slytherin friend, and Magnolia had shown up. The two had somehow formed a bond that couldn't be broken by distance, and Asteria was ever so glad for it.
"Asteria, it's nice to see you again," she sat down, dragging Asteria to sit down beside her.
"I'm sorry we haven't seen each other as much, you won't believe these four boys that have been continuously pestering me and Lily-" Asteria rushed out, face flushing as she tried to apologize. It was rare for her to do so, having always been a bit too proud. And yet, she truly did mean her apology to Magnolia. Even above her pride was her loyalty, and Asteria had been neglecting Magnolia.
The Slytherin, however, waved her off. "Don't worry about it, I'm not mad. I just realized I missed you; my brother and his friends are quite boring, compared to you," Magnolia and Asteria shared a snicker, the latter imagining what it was boring Slytheirn boys got up to. "But please, elaborate about the boys. You mean to tell me you already have four boys chasing after you?"
Asteria's face reddened, and for once, she found herself speechless. "Wh- Erm- that's not what I meant! One of them is the boy that ran into our compartment at the beginning of the year, remember him?"
Before Magnolia could grill her Gryffindor friend for more information, a saving grace appeared in the form of a certain Lily Evans. The redhead shrieked even before she reached the tree where the two girls were sitting, as she glimpsed Magnolia sitting beside Asteria. Magnolia smiled in response, standing up as Lily bounded over and enveloped the Slytherin in a hug. Her reactions were incredibly tense compared to Lily's, a result of the conservative household she was raised in, where having emotions was a sign of weakness.
"I've missed you too, Lily," the dark-haired girl said, hugging Lily back. "Lucky I ran into you here, Asteria. Otherwise I'd have missed out on all the fun."
The three sat down in a circle, the leaves of the tree shielding them from the wind as it gradually picked up.
"We're planning our festivities for Halloween," Asteria rushed out excitedly, looking at Lily. "I've never celebrated Halloween, but it always sounded so fun."
"Me neither," Magnolia added, "my parents were always so against it."
"Well this will be fun!" Lily exclaimed, hoisting a giant scrapbook from her bag. She looked between the two girls, a giant smile on her face. "My family always went all out for Halloween, for some reason. We dressed up, decorated our house, the whole thing! I had my mum send me this; it has a picture of all my costumes ever."
The three girls huddled over the album as Lily laid it out on the sand, gasps of awe escaping the pureblood girls as they looked at pictures of Lily as a dolphin, then as a giraffe, and a few different kinds of animals.
"It's so strange your pictures don't move," Magnolia commented, sitting back for a moment.
"Imagine my surprise when I came to Hogwarts and the pictures did move!" Lily exclaimed with laughter.
"Look at this one," Asteria pointed at a picture of Lily dressed as a witch, from last year, "Ironic, isn't it?"
"If only I knew that one year later I'd be at a school for witches and wizards," Lily sighed, "I would've been ecstatic!"
The three spent what felt like hours pouring over Lily's scrapbook, gasping in delight as they looked over not only her costumes, but her entire family's. Clearly, the Evans family knew how to celebrate Halloween.
"I think we should make Halloween our holiday," Asteria suggested, "We do something big, so that even after we graduate, people will talk about us."
Obviously, the idea appealed to Magnolia and Lily, who were already enamored with the idea of Halloween.
"We can't just dress up, though," Lily said slyly, "Halloween isn't only about costumes. It's trick-or-treat, not just treat."
"Evans, are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Asteria's eyes widened with excitement.
"Let's prank the entire school for Halloween," Lily suggested quietly, a glint in her eyes that Asteria had never seen before. It got the blonde's blood pumping with excitement, ideas brimming in her head as she revelled in the idea of playing an elaborate trick on Hogwarts.
"We can use fireworks, or something," Magnolia suggested, stroking her chin, "I'm sure we could figure out a way to obtain some."
Asteria grinned, clapping her hands. "Mags, you're a genius! I could ask my brother if he could get some on his next trip to Hogsmeade."
"...Mags?" the Slytherin's voice faltered, a soft smile appearing on her face, "I've never had a nickname before. I like it."
"Well, we've got a lot of planning to do. Let's get to it!" Lily exclaimed, pulling out more parchment from her paper and handed out a quill to each girl. The three of them giggled, scribbling on the parchment as they brainstormed ideas for the remainder of the afternoon. It was an afternoon filled with laughter and excitement, two pureblood girls making up for lost time.
♢
There was a lot to accomplish in only two weeks. Fortunately, it had only taken them a few hours to brainstorm their costumes and their prank idea; it would take much longer to gather materials and plan their prank, however. Although there was a lot of preparation to be done, the three girls were adamant on pulling this off.
Each girl had one task. Magnolia and Lily spent hours in the library, pouring over Charms textbooks to find the perfect spell needed to execute their plan. Meanwhile, Asteria tried to hunt down one of her siblings and ask them for a favor, which proved to be much easier said than done - Selene and Callie spent hours studying for their NEWTs while Adonis was practicing for the Quidditch match that was to happen against the Gryffindors in a few weeks.
Almost every day, the three girls met up at their tree after classes, discussing their progress on the prank. At the end of the first week, they had parchments full of potential incantations and wand movements, as well as an incredibly detailed to-do list, courtesy of Lily. Other times, they simply hung out, enjoying each other's presence and doing homework together.
Precisely one week before Halloween, James stopped Lily and Asteria as they prepared to leave the Common Room and meet Magnolia by the lake. Him and Sirius blocked the portrait hole, arms crossed, staring at them with an indiscernible kind of look.
"J'accuse!" James suddenly yelled, pointing a finger at them.
Asteria blinked. "Erm, of what?"
"Being up to something," Peter spoke up from behind him, his voice squeaky and raspy. It was the first time either girl had ever heard him speak.
"That's incredibly vague," Lily replied.
"And also incredibly stupid," Asteria added, before trying to get through to the Portait Hole.
"Where are you two off to?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrow and not budging from his place.
"To see our friend, you twat," Asteria narrowed her eyes and shoved through, slamming the Portrait Hole behind her. The Fat Lady exclaimed loudly at Asteria before shutting up for a second as Lily ran out. Then she continued to hurl insults at Asteria's back.
"I just don't understand why they always have to stick their noses in our business!" Asteria exclaimed as Lily caught up. The latter simply laughed, shaking her head.
"They're just jealous because they aren't included in whatever they think we're up to," Lily grinned, and Asteria nodded in agreement.
"That's what they get for being twats," Asteria nodded, proud of herself.
"You keep saying twat," a new voice chimed in, and both Asteria and Lily grinned when they realized it was Magnolia.
"It's my new favorite word. I picked it up from my brother," Asteria shrugged, before her eyes widened, "Speaking of my brother, we've got to go meet him by the lake!"
Not waiting up for friends, Astera took off towards the courtyard, wrapping her coat tighter as she ran outside. She gave Lily and Magnolia a moment to catch up, but immediately took off when they did. Finally, after what seemed like hours of running, they saw Adonis's figure by the lake, his wand outstretched in front of him.
"Donnie!" Asteria yelled, catching her brother's attention. He immediately turned to face her with a grin, engulfing her in a hug when she approached him. The siblings hadn't seen each other in nearly a month, all too busy with their own lives. In fact, the siblings rarely saw each other - even during the summer. The twins made sure to pack their summers with internships and lots of travel, while Adonis preferred to spend his summer with friends, not wanting to be at home. The only time the family was truly brought together was during Christmas, when Asteria's maternal side, the Fawleys, hosted the annual Fawley Gala.
Of the four siblings, Asteria and Adonis were perhaps the closest. Selene and Callie were practically inseparable, given that they were twins, so the two younger siblings were left to take care of each other. When they were younger, before Adonis went to Hogwarts, he and Asteria were each other's best friends. He took care of her, more than her parents ever did. Though Asteria was close with her sisters, their bond never came close to the one she and Adonis had. No amount of late night gossip sessions was the same as hours spent flying around on brooms with her brother, playing Quidditch, just the two of them. She loved her brother deeply, and knew her brother loved her.
"Good to see you, Astie," Adonis smiled, sitting down and patting the space next to her. Lily and Magnolia trailed behind her, letting the siblings have their own conversation while staring at the boy with wide eyes. "I'm sure you sought me out for a reason. What do you need?"
"Promise you won't hate me?" Asteria smiled sheepishly, twirling her fingers together. Adonis raised an eyebrow. "Can-you-buy-us-fireworks-from-Hogsmeade-next-week?" The words were uttered quickly, to the point of being hard to understand. Adonis, however, burst out into laughter.
"They don't sell them at Hogsmeade." Asteria's face fell at his words. "But I can still get you them. When do you need them by?"
"Before next weekend," Asteria answered vaguely. She reached into her pocket and withdrew five galleons, but Adonis shook his head. "On me."
Standing up, Adonis gave his sister one more hug and nodded courteously at Lily and Magnolia. The two blushed and waved back, before giggling to each other as he walked away. Asteria simply rolled her eyes.
"That's my brother!"
♢
Finally, before the girls knew it, it was the day before Halloween. Saturday night, and the three of them were gathered by their tree going over last minute adjustments to their plan. They had decided to dress up as various animals, a last minute idea, but Adonis had pulled through by buying them animal ears from Hogsmeade that same day.
"I got everything from Donnie earlier today," Asteria was saying, motioning to her bag which lay open on the ground. "No one has any idea about them."
"Perfect," Lily grinned. "We just have three steps, then."
"Three simple steps, and our names will go down in Hogwarts: A History!"
✧･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧