♢
Finally, the day of Halloween arrived. It began without a hitch, Asteria and Lily awakening bright and early and immediately getting ready. Withdrawing their cat ears and bunny ears, respectively, the two girls exchanged a mischievous look and clambered out of bed as quietly as they could so as not to wake up their dorm mates. Of course, they were out of luck, as Marlene had woken up to go on her morning run and gave them a puzzled look when she saw their animal ears. She had been onto them for a while, having noticed the whispers the pair had been exchanging for the past week and Asteria's much heavier than usual book bag. Before the blonde and ginger could depart, Marlene jumped up from her bed and blocked the door.
"Neither of you are going anywhere until you fess up!" she exclaimed, causing Mary and Dorcas to wake up as well.
"Why is everyone accusing us of things lately?" Asteria threw her hands up in the air in frustration, pressing her lips together as she looked at the three girls. "We're just trying to enjoy our days at Hogwarts, is that such a crime?"
Dorcas sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before narrowing them playfully. "We're onto you. You two and that Slytherin girl have been planning something. Tell us what it is!"
"Don't worry, we won't snitch," Mary added, grinning. Asteria and Lily exchanged another look, before sighing and sitting on the edge of Mary's bed.
"Alright, alright," Lily finally gave in, and the two girls explained their brilliant plan. Of course, the rest of the Gryffindor girls wanted in, not ones to miss out on a magnificent adventure. And that was how Asteria found herself emptying the contents of her bag onto Mary's bed, handing each girl a firework (thank you, Adonis) and swearing them to secrecy.
♢
As usual, the girls met at the tree down by the lake. This time, however, instead of just being the three of them, there were six. Magnolia was unpleasantly surprised when Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary joined their ranks, her initial reaction rooted in irritation. As soon as she realized that they were not enemies, she calmed down, knowing that she could trust Asteria to not invite people that she wouldn't like. The Gryffindor and Slytherin duo discovered they had the same mind processes, making it that much easier for them to always be on the same page. While Lily and Asteria had clicked in terms of academics and house, Magnolia and Asteria had bonded over similar thought processes and upbringings.
After introductions were out of the way, Magnolia had enchanted all of their robes, grinning as she saw her charmwork executed flawlessly. All six of their robes were flashing orange and black; you could no longer tell their house simply based on their robes. It was a mere foreshadow to what would occur later that night at the renowned Halloween feast. The prank had now been planned down to the dot, with no room for error and no way anything could be traced back to them.
"Tell me again how you came up with this plan?" Dorcas furrowed her eyebrows, eyes skimming over the parchment that had been filled with Asteria's messy scribbles. "It's absolutely brilliant."
"Obviously, Evans, I underestimated you," Marlene chimed in, a hidden sense of awe in her words. "I expected this of Grey, but certainly not of you."
"You make me sound so boring!" Lily exclaimed, crossing her arms as she feigned offense.
"With the company you keep, you could never be boring," said Mary, nodding at Asteria and Magnolia. The two girls giggled, before shrugging as they agreed with the brunette. "However, I do have one question. Are you sure we won't get caught?"
Asteria shrugged, but took the liberty of answering the demand. "No."
It was a simple answer, but one that made the five others swivel and stare at her with the same baffled expression.
"That's part of the fun," the blonde continued, "But don't worry. Dumbledore will have no evidence that it's us, so it'll be rather difficult for anyone to incriminate us."
Lily exhaled loudly, the logical side of her brain finally catching up with what she had gotten herself into. Though the idea of pranking the school gave her an adrenaline rush, the redhead couldn't help but ponder what would happen if Dumbledore became furious with them. Would they get expelled? She would never be able to live with herself.
Magnolia seemed to notice Lily's subconscious worries, as she comfortingly rubbed her shoulder. "Alright, Lils?"
Lily managed only a nod, rubbing her face before looking back up again. "We'd better not get caught. I'd rather not get expelled, I enjoy spending time with you lot."
The five girls gave her a matching grin, before switching the conversation to something primitive. In truth, the prank wasn't too complex, but it would require lots of attention to timing. But that was also something they had discussed in incredible amounts, so Asteria was certain everything would go off without a hitch.
Or so she thought.
♢
In a strange turn of events, Asteria found herself wandering the halls of Hogwarts alone. There was much time left before the feast, and each of the girls had gone separate ways to take care of business. Lily was off with Severus, claiming that she had not spent as much time with him due to the extent of time she had spent planning the prank. Magnolia had been dragged of somewhere by her brother, who was furious that she'd been spending so much time with Gryffindors; though Asteria had offered to come along, Avery had given her a scathing glare and muttered something about her being a blood traitor because she was a Gryffindor. Before she could curse him out, the Slytherin had disappeared, sister in tow. Mary was back in the dormitory, wanting her alone time, while Marlene and Dorcas had disappeared Merlin knows where. Thus, Asteria was left in solitude, but in truth, she really didn't mind. It was a familiar feeling, giving her a strange sense of comfort.
Back home, Asteria was left on her own for a majority of the time. As much as her siblings cared for her, they had their own lives to attend to. And of course, her parents only saw her when they needed to present a united family to important visitors. Nevertheless, it pained her to hear her sisters' giggling echoing throughout the halls of Grey Manor, and to see her brother flying around with his friends in the gardens. The lonesomeness only grew when all of her siblings departed for Hogwarts, leaving her all alone to wander about the manor. Sometimes, she thought she was destined to be alone. There was always a hole inside her, just begging to be filled. Her entire childhood had been spent in solitude, but Hogwarts provided another chance for her. She had friends, now, people who truly cared about her. So she refused to let her spirits subside, much too energized by the prospect of tonight. Instead, she viewed her isolation as a blessing - finally, there was a chance for her to explore, maybe find some of those hidden passageways she had read about in Hogwarts: A History.
After a few different moving staircases, Asteria officially considered herself lost. A part of her knew she was somewhere on the fifth floor, but she was confused on precisely where. Uttering a soft exclamation of frustration, the girl began to explore the floor. She avoided all staircases at all costs, not wanting to get even more lost.
To her delight, she heard a cough. It alerted her to the whereabouts of someone else; perhaps a student who could lead her in the direction of the Gryffindor tower, or a professor she could ask for help. Though, knowing her, she'd most likely be a smart arse to the professor until they stormed off in frustration.
However, as Asteria approached the sound, she realized it was none other than Remus Lupin. Out of the four boys who had been incessantly bothering her and Lily, Lupin was the one she could stand the most. James and Sirius were intolerable (which was an improvement from Asteria previously describing them as twats), while Peter followed them blindly. Besides, Lupin proved to be of no harm; more often than not, he was reading or studying, thus making him one of the most brilliant students in their year. Apart, of course, from herself and Lily.
"Lupin," the blonde's voice echoed throughout the empty corridor. "What are you doing here?"
She spotted the boy sitting in a window crevice, a book propped up on his knees as he peered out the window onto the grounds. His head snapped towards her in surprise, obviously not expecting anyone to speak to him. Not while he was so clearly isolating himself. Asteria, however, didn't care; there was nothing for her to do until dinner, and she needed a way to kill some time.
"Asteria," he greeted, using her first name as opposed to her last. "I'm reading, obviously. How did you get here?"
"Got lost," was her simple answer, before she clambered up the stairs so she was at the same level as the boy. "What book are you reading?"
At her question, the boy slammed the book shut, making sure she didn't see the cover. "Nothing of particular interest," his voice was rushed. Turning around, he brushed some hair out of his face, exposing a small scar that ran along his cheek. Asteria frowned at the sight, and he seemed to notice. He quickly shifted his hair around so the scar was hidden once more, but Asteria refused to let the subject go.
"You have a scar," she said matter-of-factly. Lupin nodded. "I don't think you should hide it. It looks kind of cool, if I'm being honest."
Lupin looked at her strangely, as if he couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. His entire life, he had been estranged because of the plethora of scars that marked his body; from a young age, he'd learned to hide them, for fear of being treated differently. But here this girl was, telling him they looked cool. "You're not just saying that?"
Asteria shook her head, tilting her head a bit. "It's a symbol of what you've been through. Embrace it." For a moment, she pondered showing him the mark on her skin, but decided against it. Though Asteria had known the boy for quite some time, they weren't friends. He was but a stranger.
"I've always been told to hide them," Lupin whispered, looking down at the floor. Asteria looked at him with a comforting smile, clambering up to his level and sitting on the floor beside him.
The simple exchange brought the two closer. There were times where two people met and it seemed as if they had been destined to become the best of friends; this was one such time. Perhaps it was the universe dictating their lives, fate working alongside it as Asteria found herself talking to the brunet boy. Whatever the case, the souls of the boy and the girl simply clicked, and the conversation quickly became effortless. Remus hadn't felt this sort of a connection with anyone, not even with James, Sirius, or Peter. Of course they were his best friends, but they had yet to know the truth about his scars, or just how many he had - quite frankly, Asteria didn't either, but a hidden part of Remus, the childish one, dreamed for a day where he could tell the truth without being afraid of finding himself lonesome again. But he knew what he was.
Remus Lupin was a monster.
He was afraid that should he divulge his deepest darkest secret to anyone, that they would look at him differently. They would all see him for who he really was - a savage beast, who became possessed once a month and could injure someone fatally without a second thought.
A foolish assumption on his part, of course, as Asteria had now decided that her and Remus Lupin would become friends.
Realizing that the subject was rather difficult for Lupin, Asteria decided she would no longer push. "Say, Remus," the boy noticed the switch from surname to first, a tiny feeling of joy spreading in his chest, "why aren't you with the rest of the boys? Where have they gone off to?"
Remus shrugged. "Peter's in detention, while James and Sirius are gathering last minute materials for their prank during the feast- oh, bollocks, you weren't supposed to know that."
Asteria's eyes narrowed. "During the feast, you said?" Remus nodded. "Why must they ruin everything!" The sudden exclamation caught Remus off guard, as he found himself almost tumbling off the edge. Asteria immediately jumped up and caught his shoulder, though, making sure he remained seated.
"So you are planning something," Remus grinned. Asteria paused.
"Absolutely not. I would never," was her retort, but even to herself she sounded unconvincing.
"Whatever you say," the boy laughed, before picking up his book again. "I reckon they're in the common room right now, if you want to yell at them."
Asteria's ears perked up. She would never miss a chance to yell at the two boys. "Mind telling me how to get there?"
Remus laughed again, before giving her brief directions. After a quick word of thanks, the blonde girl was off, leaving Remus alone with his thoughts.
What a strange girl.
And yet, he couldn't help but wish she'd spent more time with him.
♢
"YOU TWO!" was the first thing Asteria Grey yelled as she stormed into the common room. Everyone's attention immediately turned to her, but the Gryffindors were already used to the blonde girl's scenes. The older Gryffindors called her "Little Lion," in reference to her insanely short temper that usually flared up around two first year boys especially. One of the prefects, Frank Longbottom, laughed loudly as he saw the state she was in, but even he fell silent at her glare. Though there was a four year difference between the two, the short blonde still scared him. No one wanted to be a victim to her wrath.
In contrast to everyone else, however, James Potter and Sirius Black were sprawled out lazily in the middle of the room. They looked up as Asteria entered, matching grins on their faces. Which seemed to fade quickly as Asteria approached them, grabbing their ears and dragging them right back out of the common room.
"I pity those two," Frank spoke up as soon as she left, causing the rest of the occupants to agree. It was always entertaining to see what Asteria was angry about, a different story every time.
Meanwhile, Asteria continued to drag the two boys, only letting go when they found themselves in yet another abandoned corridor. The two rubbed their ears, muttering soft curse words under their breath. Obviously, they were being overdramatic, as Asteria possessed no true capability to injure them. Well, other than the hexes she would soon learn, or her scathing words.
"What did we do this time?" Sirius asked, leaning back against the wall.
"J'accuse!" Asteria mirrored James' actions from last week, pointing a finger at each of them. "I know you're up to something. And don't try to deny it, I have a reliable source."
The two rolled their eyes, hands running through their hair in the same manner. It was as if they practiced the motion in advance, and Asteria wouldn't be surprised if they did.
"Well?"
"Should we tell her?" James looked at Sirius quizzically.
Asteria tapped her foot on the ground. "I'm waiting."
"Alright, you tell her."
"No, you tell her!"
"Asteria, you can't tell anyone," Sirius started ominously, voice dropping to a whisper.
"I won't."
"Pinky promise?" James chimed in, extending his finger. Asteria rolled her eyes and hooked pinkies, before looking expectantly at Sirius.
"Well?"
"We slipped dye into the Slytherin water supply," Sirius whispered quickly, words stumbling over each other in excitement. "They're all going to have bright orange hair at the feast."
"And we've got bats. It's going to be brilliant!" James exchanged a grin with Sirius, high fiving as they waited for Asteria's reaction.
She had many questions.
"How did you-?" she asked, frowning. It was indeed a brilliant idea, one that Asteria was furious with herself for not thinking of. "Nevermind that. How do you plan to get away with this?"
"Oh, we won't," Sirius shrugged.
"McGonagall's gonna fly off her rocker. We're betting on that, too. Detention for a month, I'd say?" James grinned.
"Two, most likely," Asteria suggested, rolling her eyes. "I'm more angry you didn't let me in on this. Too late, though. I've got something up my sleeve."
And with a mischievous wink, Asteria ran from them down to the Black Lake, where she knew her friends would be waiting for her.
♢
"Are you sure we've got everything?"
"Yes, Lils, I've triple checked," Asteria repeated for the third time that evening. The feast was just about to begin, and the group of 6 first years rushed to the Great Hall. Despite Lily's worries, a part of her couldn't help but give in to the adrenaline rush. It was the first time any one of them had pulled off a prank (apart from Asteria, who had some experience with her parents).
"You don't have to worry," the blonde girl stated, noticing Lily's expression. "Someone else will take the fall for us."
"What?" The remainder of the girls were confused, but Asteria gave them no answer as she sauntered to her seat at the table.
The boys soon ran in as well, causing a little smile to appear on Asteria's face. She gave them a little wave, to which James and Sirius only frowned suspiciously. Remus, however, returned the wave, which warmed Asteria's heart.
Her leg was shaking with anticipation as she waited for Dumbledore to rise and give his speech, before an array of food appeared on the table. A part of her, the logical side, knew that she wouldn't get caught. Fireworks were nothing compared to unleashing bats and the fury of the Slytherins; which, although humorous, could prove to be dangerous. There was not a doubt in Asteria's mind that the boys would serve detention, but she only hoped that she (and the rest of her friends) would manage to pull this off unscathed. Fear filled her entire body as she thought of how her parents would react if they received news that their darling daughter had obtained a detention for detonating fireworks during a feast. Much too nervous to eat, Asteria simply continued to tap her leg, earning curious glances from those around her. In response, she offered them a dazzling smile, perfected by the years of practice she'd had at pureblood parties. As soon as they looked away, however, the smile dropped, replaced with a twisting feeling in her stomach. It was as if a creature had taken residence in her gut, twisting and turning and causing a feeling of nausea to spread throughout the blonde girl. Blood was pounding in her ears, drowning out all surrounding noise. She could no longer focus on the conversation around her, Lily getting increasingly more worried. Though the idea was fun in retrospect, Asteria only now realized that if her parents found out, she was done. The Gryffindor girl wasn't afraid of much, but she was terrified of her parents.
The feast was coming to an end, and Asteria turned to give Magnolia the signal. Almost instantly, all of the banners in the Great Hall began to flash. All of the colors changed to orange or black, alternating every millisecond. Magnolia felt pride flood through her entire body as she looked at her masterpiece. The striking crimson of the Gryffindor banner had been replaced with a tangerine orange, the gold a jet black; the black overtook the previous emerald green of Slytherin, the silver turning into orange; the blue in Ravenclaw changed to a darker blue hue and the bronze to a darker, peach color; finally, the Hufflepuff yellow turned a fire orange and the black remained. The entire debacle was rather distracting, which was the desired effect; it gave Lily the perfect chance to execute the second step of their masterplan.
Muttering under her breath, Lily performed the correct wand motions in order to charm every single pumpkin in the Great Hall. They simultaneously burst into song, singing Monster Mash in perfect harmony. There was no reason for this step, really, other than to create more chaos and for humorous purposes. Lily grinned but managed to keep her excitement under control, before looking at the remaining Gryffindor girls to execute the final piece of the plan.
With the second step complete, the third and final step was up to the four girls grinning at the Gryffindor table. A quiet "Incendio!" could be heard uttered four times, and a flurry of fireworks set off into the air. There were a variety of bats, spiderwebs, as well as orange and black streams exploding in the air. Asteria laughed in joy before locking eyes with her brother across the room, who sent her a smile of approval. Her heart soared once again.
Out of nowhere, a black cloud swarmed the Great Hall. The pattering of wings replaced the explosions of the fireworks, thousands of bats attacking each and every student. Asteria swatted at any creature that came close to her, but her hair was being tugged, and one of the disgusting beings grabbed her cat ears!
Asteria howled in annoyance, turning around to glare at the boys - but they had disappeared, hiding under the table as the pests wreaked havoc upon the Great Hall. Flaring her nostrils, Asteria beat at any creatures that flew near her with her fists, fueled only by rage and forgetting, for a moment, that she was a witch. The bats soon left Asteria alone, flying away to bother some other unfortunate student. Her friends, however, were not quite as lucky. Each one of them was battling their own nest of bats, Marlene was pulling some off of Dorcas while Mary simply sat, a bat nestled on her shoulder, reading her book. Asteria couldn't help but shake her head with a giggle.
After what seemed like forever, the bats flew out of the Great Hall and seemingly disappeared. Asteria furrowed her eyebrows in confusion - those couldn't have been ordinary bats, but what else could they be? What were these creatures that four eleven year old boys had mysteriously summoned?
Dumbledore finally stood up, a thunderous expression on his face. Asteria thought herself for sure expelled, but a grin broke out on his face, the familiar twinkle in his eye. "Happy Halloween, everybody."
The entire Hall cheered, the applause increasing when Dumbledore charmed the stone gargoyles to sing Halloween songs. The fireworks had been enchanted to form shapes in the air following their explosion; a bat formed out of fireworks flitted about the ceiling, while the pumpkins continued to sing along with the gargoyles in a jolly voice.
Asteria shared a laugh with her friends, before raising her eyebrows as the boys finally clambered out from under the table.
"Whoever thought of fireworks - brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" James exclaimed, eyes wide as he gestured frantically up at the beams of light.
Asteria hid a smirk. But not particularly well.
"You did it?" Sirius caught onto her sly smile along with Lily's, baffled. "No bloody way."
"We had some help," Asteria winked, turning around to spare a wave at Magnolia, who beamed back.
In front of them, the four boys were baffled.
"So this is what you were up to!" said James, sounding absolutely delighted. "Blimey, you're even more fantastic than we thought!"
Lily and Asteria rolled their eyes; Marlene and Dorcas were engaged in their own conversation, while Mary was busy befriending the bat on her shoulder - the one bat that had remained.
"You make it sound as if this were difficult," Asteria winked. "We could've pulled this off in our sleep."
Lily knew her blonde friend's words were lies, the two weeks of preparation serving as proof. Yet confidence oozed out of Asteria, her words uttered so sweetly that made Lily almost believed her.
"The bats were smart, albeit reckless," Lily faltered, as if debating whether to scold the boys for unleashing creatures that could have hurt others. However, she eventually sighed, upon coming to the realization that nobody had been seriously hurt. And so she simply grinned and asked, "Whose idea was it?"
The boys turned to look at Remus. Asteria gasped.
"You were the mastermind behind this whole operation?!" she placed a hand over her heart dramatically. "And you didn't tell me? I'm hurt Remmy, truly."
The nickname came to her in the heat of the moment, as she grinned the whole time. Remus laughed and shook his head, waving her off.
"Since when are you two friends?" asked Sirius, looking between the blonde and Remus suspiciously.
"Since..." Asteria looked at her wrist at an imaginary clock, "approximately 4 hours ago."
"That means we've been friends with you for longer," James offered a dashing smile, to which Asteria and Lily shook their heads with a baffled expression on their faces.
"Friends? No, I think you're mistaken. I don't befriend twats," Asteria gave the boys a sickly-sweet smile, but they only shook their heads with a knowing smile.
"Oh come on, you know you love us," Sirius added, his face mirroring the smile present on James' face.
"As if!" was the only response Asteria spared, before she turned to Lily and Mary and delved into a conversation.
For once, Sirius Black had nothing to say. He simply shrugged and turned back to his own friends, piling as much food as he could onto his plate, before the magnificent cooking disappeared.
He had one thing in mind, though. Asteria intrigued him; he recognized that he and the girl shared many similarities, especially when on matters about family. Both the Greys and the Blacks were pureblood families. Though the Greys were not part of the Sacred 28, they were still a fairly influential family in the Wizarding World. The Fawleys, Asteria's maternal side, were a part of the Sacred 28 and one of the most powerful families to exist. The descendant of such powerful families combined, and yet Asteria Grey was as ordinary as the next girl over. There was no hint of prejudice in her body, unlike other kids their age - like Avery from Slytherin, who had been pumped with pureblood elitist ideas since his birth. His twin as well, most likely, though Sirius had yet to interact with her.
But if their families were similar, did it mean Asteria's parents treated her the same way Sirius' parents treated him? The thought caused a shiver to go through the boy's body, and he hoped with all he could that that assumption was false. Walburga and Orion Black were unforgiving, and he only hoped no other child suffered at their parents' hands the same way he did.
The remainder of the night was swift. The girls had pulled off their prank closer towards the end of the feast, wanting the evening to end with a bang - literally. As the students began to finish their meals and trail off to their dormitories, the group of first years began to realize how tired they were. The adrenaline rush from earlier that day had worn off, and Asteria was especially tired.
The five girls practically carried each other up to their dormitory, after bidding the boys a quiet goodbye. They collapsed in a fit of giggles on their beds.
"I can't believe we pulled that off!" Marlene exclaimed, eyes bright with joy.
"Dumbledore didn't even give us detention!" Dorcas chimed in, voice high as she reveled in the rush.
"I'm sure the boys will get one, though, they were incredibly suspicious the whole night - and I'm certain McGonagall saw them duck under the table right before they set off the bats," Mary stated, crawling into her bed.
"So that's what you meant when you said someone else would take the blame!" Lily exclaimed, looking at Asteria with wide eyes. The latter only grinned mysteriously as she changed into her pyjamas.
"Congratulations on a completed first mission, ladies," she spoke ominously, her voice quiet but filled with excitement. "Today was our first of many, many pranks."
Ignoring the retorts, Asteria fell back on her bed, instantly falling asleep.
✧･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧