Mysteries and Misery
She heard the girls approaching their dorm, so she moved from her bed to the bathroom making sure to not get blood everywhere. The cuts on both of her hands were starting to disappear, the Wiggenweld potion she brewed early that week had come in handy. As she sat on the bathroom floor, she could hear Pansy and Astoria talking about the how the boys were already getting detention. Once the wounds started to fade Astrid got up from the floor and washed the evidence from her hands and transfigured the blade into a rock and placed it in the windowsill.
Once she adjusted her uniform, she took a deep breath before unlocking the door and entering the room filled with giggles and gossip.
“Astrid, where have you been? You missed dinner!” Pansy’s voice was soft spoken and filled with concern.
“I wasn’t feeling well after divination, so I came here to rest.” Lying was becoming second nature to Astrid and she felt a sting of guilt. Pansy was the first girl that Astrid had met, at first, they were forced to be friends because their families were both members of the sacred twenty-eight but eventually, they became like sisters.
“How are you feeling now?” Astoria asked.
“Much better now, I just needed some rest, I guess. I should get going though, I need to speak with Draco.” Astrid smiled at the two girls before grabbing a black robe. It had hand stitched ravens and crows along the sleeves, it wasn’t as thick as her other robes, but it was one of her favourites because Narcissa had gotten it made for her.
“They should be in the common room.”
“Thanks.”
As Astrid was walking to the door, she saw the two other girls share a look, it bothered her slightly that over the summer Astoria and Pansy had become closer. She didn’t fear losing Pansy but there was this little burning feeling of betrayal every time she saw them together.
As she walked down the stairs into the common room, she thought back to the first day of classes when Pansy had sat next to Astoria instead of her. Which resulted in Astrid having to sit beside Theodore Nott, sitting beside him wasn’t bad but there was some awkwardness between the two.
When Lucius told her that he may be the Rosier heir she looked into his family tree a little more. His family tree was far more interesting than she had thought it would be and they were a lot closer related than she had thought.
She kept this to herself for now, but she did want to eventually ask him about his family, his father Alexandré Nott had raised Theo out of the country after the Dark Lord’s defeat. Then during third year he waltzed in with a weird accent and found himself in Draco and Astrid’s friend group.
Draco, Blaise, and Theo were all sitting by the fire, they looked deep in conversation and the three of them kept looking around as if they were being spied on. It was Draco that noticed Astrid approaching and he mumbled something to the other two boys, and they stopped talking once she was in ear shot.
“Holding a secret meeting?” Astrid smiled as she made her joke but noticed that they shifted their positions once she sat down with them.
“It was a joke; you’re supposed to laugh.”
“What would you like Astrid?” Draco’s voice had a hint of annoyance.
“Why are you guys acting so weird?”
None of them said anything and they all avoided her gaze, “Seriously, what’s going on?”
It was Theo that finally spoke, “Over summer break my father told me some things.”
Astrid’s eyes met Theo’s and before she could ask him to continue Draco said something, “You don’t need to worry about it yet Astrid, so just stop asking.”
“Yet?”
Blaise got up from the sofa and started walking away, Astrid looked at Draco as he followed Blaise to their dorm. Theo and Astrid sat there in silence before Astrid moved closer to him.
“Tell me everything.”
Theo took a deep breath before speaking, “If Draco doesn’t want you to know than I shouldn’t tell you.”
“Is Draco my keeper? You can tell me and if you’re worried about him getting mad, I won’t tell him you told me.”
“It’s about the Dark Lord.”
“You need to tell me.” Astrid heard the desperation in her voice, but she didn’t care.
A sly smile appeared on Theo’s face as he brought his face closer to Astrid’s, “And what would I get in return?”
“Your playboy façade won’t work on me Theo, but I do have information you may be interested in.”
“I don’t think you know anything about anything.”
Theo went to get up, but Astrid grabbed his sleeve, “It’s about your mother.”
“You don’t know anything about my mother Astrid, it’s cruel for you to even say something like that.”
He ripped his arm from her grasp and moved quickly to the male dorms, she wanted to get up and go after him, but she knew that it would take time for him to come around.
From what Draco had told her she knew that Theo had hardly known his mother due to her sickness, as a child he would often be kept away from her except for special occasions. He would sit by her bed during those times, and she would read to him, Draco had said that those were the only memories Theo had of her.
Theo had lived more years without her than he did with her, and every time Astrid thought about it like that her heart hurt a little. She knew what it was like to grow up without her mother, but she had Narcissa in her life which made the pain of Celine’s death a little more bearable. Theo didn’t have anyone besides his father and from what she had heard about the man she was impressed that Theo had become a normal teenage boy.
Astrid walked back to her dorm room and when she walked in Pansy and Astoria stopped talking almost in union, Astrid tried her best to ignore it but her patience was wearing thin.
“Did I interrupt something?”
Astoria looked at Pansy and then waited for Pansy to answer which she finally did, “Astoria has a crush on Draco, like major crush.”
Pansy was scream laughing, after she finished speaking. Astoria started turning bright red and screamed into her pillow.
“Pans why would you tell her that??”
Astrid walked to her bed and sat down, she put on her most menacing look before speaking, “You don’t actually like him, do you?”
“I- well, what if I did? It doesn’t concern you.”
“Draco is my brother, not by blood but by choice. So, yeah, it does concern me. I know you and I don’t think you’re good enough for him.”
“Astrid! Don’t be so mean.” The look on Pansy’s face was a clear indicator that Astrid had indeed gone too far.
“You’re such a bitch Lestrange.” Astoria got up and walked out of the dorm slamming the door behind her.
“Seriously, what’s wrong with you?” Pansy picked up blankets and two pillows.
“Pans, where are you going?”
“We’re going to sleep somewhere else tonight.”
“You know I’m protective of Draco and she’s not right for him, c’mon even you know it.”
Astrid went up to grab the blankets from Pansy, but Pansy pulled away from her. “It was a mean thing to say, and that’s coming from me. You have been becoming a horrible person to be around lately, you know that right?”
“A horrible person? Me? Last year you literally hexed a first year Ravenclaw because they looked at you.”
“Move away from the door Astrid and leave me alone.”
The anger started to build in Astrid’s mind, and she thought about hexing Pansy right where she stood but instead she dug her nails into her palms so she could redirect her anger. She was just about to move when a cup sitting on a bedside table exploded, causing both girls to startle. Astrid stared at the cup and slowly moved towards it, she non-verbally casted reparo.
Pansy didn’t move from where she was standing, “Astrid, what-”
Astrid turned to her, “I thought you were leaving.”
Pansy didn’t reply, she just stared at Astrid which made her angry all over again.
“Get out, Pansy, leave.” Astrid raised her voice and saw Pansy startle. This time she listened and quickly opened the door and left without another word.
Astrid could feel her chest tighten; Falco wrote about consequences of blood magic in his journal, but he didn’t specify. The anger she had been feeling lately could not be explained but she knew that it was probably correlated to the amount of blood rituals she had been doing lately.
She laid on her bed and closed her eyes as she thought about the upcoming year, her grades were important to her and she needed to do well.
She was just about to get ready for bed when there was a knock on her door, she thought about ignoring whoever was there, but her intuition told her to answer it.
As she opened the door Draco pushed his way in, “I heard you have gone bloody psycho.”
He sat on her bed waiting for an answer, before speaking Astrid took a deep breath, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Astrid, you can’t lie to me. You promised.”
She walked to her bed and sat down, “Astoria likes you, like properly. I said something mean and now they’re mad at me.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. Wait-”
“Then why did you come here?” Astrid got up and started pacing.
“Theo, he was really upset by what you said.”
Astrid rolled her eyes, “I was speaking the truth Draco, I saw another piece of my family tree. There is my family tree, that starts with Falco Lestrange V but he had a brother, which is where Theo’s bloodline comes from.”
Draco looked at her like she was crazy, “Do you have it? Like with you?”
Astrid sighed, “No, it’s in the vault. Some of those articles or so old they’ll practically fall apart if they’re moved.”
“And you want him to just believe you with no real proof?”
The two of them stared at each other before Astrid clapped her hands together, “His mother’s name was Ella and his father’s name is Alexandré.”
“Okay, that’s not proof Astrid, everyone knows everyone in our society.”
Silence fell over the two of them before Draco spoke again, “Even if it were true, why would you tell him? There’s no benefit for you to tell him. If his mother was a Lestrange or a close descendant of a Lestrange he, if he wanted to, could take your place as heir. He is a male after all.”
“Do you think he would?” Astrid started fidgeting with the ring on her finger.
“No, I don’t think he would but if enough people find out they may make him.”
“Well, my uncle and father are still alive so that has to count for something right?”
Draco was silent a moment, “They might as well be dead Astrid, they’re never leaving that place. They won’t be able to protect you and father can only do so much.”
Astrid sat back down on the bed, Draco grabbed her hand, and they sat there sitting in silence. Astrid knew that Draco hadn’t meant to be cruel by saying that, he just wanted her to think about the consequences.
“Only people with direct Lestrange blood can enter the vault, there’s a charm, that would prove it to him.”
Astrid looked at Draco then, he looked back at her and squeezed her hand.
“I guess you could always try, the worst thing that could happen is that he takes all your money and you become poor.”
Astrid laughed, “Draco, don’t say that.”
Draco smiled, “I can go get him, maybe it’ll be better if we talk to him together.”
“Yeah, I think that’ll be good.”
Draco nodded and left to retrieve Theo. Astrid became painfully aware of what could happen if the parchment of the Lestrange family was true. She knew Theo portrayed a flirty charismatic bad boy, but she had seen him be kind and gentle as well. Hopefully he would be happy inheriting the Nott family fortune and would leave her fortune alone.
She also didn’t want to show him the actual parchment because when she was looking at it, she noticed exactly how young his mother had been when he was born. It made her sad to think that Ella was practically a child bride. She crawled back onto her bed and sat cross-legged waiting for the boys to come back. She waited for what felt like hours before she decided to get changed into her pajamas and blew out the last remaining candles.
She laid in her bed and closed her eyes, without Pansy and Astoria sleeping in the room she found comfort in the complete silence. Within a couple minutes of laying on her back she rolled onto her side, and she could feel her eyelids start to droop.