Among the Stars

Wisteria walks through the halls alone on her way to the owlery to send a letter to her mother. When she gets there she takes the letter out and reads through it one more time to be sure that she wrote down everything she wanted to say.

Dear Mother,

    Lily and I had an amazing birthday; you wont believe how beautiful the necklace I got from Michael is. You would absolutely love Michael. Enough about my friends though, I always write to you about my friends. This time I want to tell you about the classes I’m taking. I know you might not understand much of it, but I will try to talk about it in a way that makes it easier for you.

My favorite classes by far are Astronomy and Flying. I know I’ve talked about flying before and I know that Lily isn’t very fond of it, but I absolutely love it. You of all people understand how much I love being up high and feeling the wind on my face.

Anyway, Astronomy is exactly the same as the class that I would have taken at any muggle school, which makes it feel more homely than any of my other classes. Once again, you of all people know that I am a night owl and have always adored the night sky. I take that class on Wednesday’s at midnight and most people hate it and can’t stay awake, but I love it. Right now we’re sticking primarily to learning the names and movements of planets.

My favorite teachers are probably Professor McGonagall and Professor Renshaw. McGonagall teaches Transfigurations, which I am mediocre at. Transfigurations is on Thursdays and there is so much to remember in that class. The Professor truly is amazing though. She is the leader of Lily’s house, so I’m sure that Lily has told you all about her. Professor Renshaw teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA), which sounds a lot scarier than it actually is. That is one of my favorite classes as well, but it is a lot harder for me than Astronomy and Flying combined. I start my week with DADA, which means that before lunch I’ve already encountered anything from Gnomes and Imps to Bowtruckles (which are possibly the cutest creatures I have ever seen). On top of a really cool class in general, Professor Renshaw is Pen’s aunt. You remember me talking about my friend Penelope right? Well her aunt is just as cool as her. Unfortunately being best friend with her niece doesn’t get me special treatment in any way, but I don’t mind so much.

On the other hand, if I get out of doing a few assignments in my Charms or out of class in general in History of Magic, I would be the happiest girl alive. Charms is the most difficult class I’ve ever had to take. I’m not nearly as skilled at the parts of school that are purely magic, unlike most of my friends. History of Magic is a class that I thought I would love and honestly, I find the topics fascinating. That is, when they are in a book and not being told to us by Professor Binns. He is dreadfully boring. His voice drones on and on with no emotion and that’s ignoring the fact that he is literally a ghost. That’s right, a ghost. It’s so bad that even I fall asleep in class half the time. The only reason I’m at the top of my year in that class is because after class I ask him for books on the subjects and I learn the material that way.

The two classes that I remain neutral on are Herbology and Potions. Herbology is basically like a gardening class, except the plant can kill you. It’s not hard, but it’s a little nerve racking early on a Monday morning. Potions is at the end of the week. This class isn’t very hard either, it’s basically like an odd mix of cooking and chemistry, but I don’t like the teacher for it at all. His name is Professor Slughorn and he loves to teach the kids with exceptional talent. He has this thing that he calls a “Slug Club” where he invites the kids in the school that stand out the most to hang out and trade stories. Then when they leave the school they stay in touch with him and he gets to say that he knew and supported all of these great people. It basically just makes him look better in the public eye. I haven’t been invited to join the Slug Club, but Lily has. She excels at everything. She’s the top of our class overall and is loved by everyone. Especially James Potter. He’s still head over heels for her.

Anyway, the boys are fine and so are Lily and I’s girl friends. I miss you so much mum! Tell Petunia and dad that I send my love.

Love your daughter, Wisteria

Wisteria nods in approval and attaches the letter to the leg of a barn owl. The owl flies away and Wisteria turns to leave. As soon as she looks up she sees Mercury Black standing in the doorway, flanked by a large, dark skinned guy and a small, dainty looking Asian girl.

The three of them look at Wisteria, the same disdainful look on all of their faces. Mercury starts to walk into the room and the moment he moves the other two move with him. The girls heels sound like glass as they tap against the floor of the owlery and even the owls seem to shy away from the brooding figure of the man standing to Mercury’s other side. Wisteria gulps and holds her breath as she very carefully begins to move past them. Mercury walks past her and the other two are right next to her when it happens.

With a small flick of Mercury’s wrist, the other two suddenly spring into action. The big guy grabs Wisteria’s arms and roughly yanks them behind her back, his hands squeezing her wrists so hard that she thought they might break. He then kicks the back of her knees and she falls to the floor, the impact sending jolts up her body. Before Wisteria can even breathe she feels the tip of a wand poking into the side of her neck. Without moving her head, she glances to the side to see the dainty Asian girl smiling sweetly at her.

Wisteria’s heart pounds as her eyes dart back to the front of her while Mercury looks at her.

“It really is a shame” Mercury says, his voice smooth and captivating, but with a coldness underneath that unnerves Wisteria. “You’re beautiful, intelligent, and seem like a decent person. If you weren’t a Mudblood I might even like you.” There is a response sitting on the tip of Wisteria’s tongue, but she is nowhere near brave enough to reply. Mercury sees the helpless and terrified look on her face and laughs. “We’re not going to do anything to you. You don’t actually interest us much.” Wisteria’s heart is now pounding so hard that she can barely hear anything else and she’s almost positive that she’s going to pass out. Confusion mixes into the expression of terror on her face and the smile drops from Mercury’s face. He pulls out his wand and looks at his in a bored way. It doesn’t look like he’s going to use it, but it still scares Wisteria stiff. “I only wanted to warn you.”

Wisteria gulps and manages to suck in enough air to choke out a feeble response. “A-about w-w-what?”

Mercury looks at her with interest and smirks as he starts walking toward her. Her eyes grow wide and her whole body starts shaking uncontrollably from fear as he crouches down in front of her and grabs a handful of her hair, forcing her head up so that she has to look him in the eye. His eyes stone cold, brown eyes glare into her terror filled, hazel ones and he says in a slow, dangerous voice, “Stay away from my little brother.” He lets go of her hair and stands back up, moving away from her as his friends let go of her as well. With her hands how free and a wand no longer stabbing into her neck, Wisteria falls forward onto her hands and sucks in huge gulps of air. “My brother may be a blood-traitor” Mercury adds, “but I don’t need you dirtying our family name even more.”

The big, dark skinned guy grabs Wisteria’s bicep and practically drags her out of the owlery. Finally out of the room currently containing the three scariest people she has ever met, Wisteria collapses to the floor and runs a shaking hand through her hair.

A few minutes later Michael is walking towards the Owlery and finds Wisteria leaning against a wall, taking shaky breaths and looking sick. He rushes over to her.

“Merlin’s beard. What happened?” He asks as he drapes her arm around his shoulder and wraps an arm around her waist, letting her lean up against him as he helps her to the infirmary.

“I was in the owlery, sending a letter to my mum. M-mercury Black walked in, with a couple other people and…”

“It’s okay.” Michael tells her as he smoothes out her hair, noticing when she flinches. “Let’s get you to Madame Pomfrey.”

When they get to the infirmary Madame Pomfrey heals up some bruising on Wisteria’s wrists, gives her a pain potion to get rid of her head ache, and gives her something to help with the shock. After being told that she could leave, Michael helps Wisteria to Ravenclaw tower and by the time they got there she had stopped shaking and was acting like herself again.

“Thank you, Michael. I really owe you one. Sorry for all the trouble, I don’t react well to situations like that.”

“Don’t apologize. You can’t help it that those Slytherins are assholes. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. After all, the girls are probably wondering were I’ve been. Thanks again. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a good night my lady.”   horizon. She managed to sneak back inside without waking anyone and after falling asleep she didn't wake up until after noon.