𝑬𝑼𝑷𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑨|| 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

~17~

Asteria sat alone in the Great Hall for breakfast the next day. She supported her head with her hand and she moved the baked beans around her plate with his fork.

Then she looked up when she noticed a red-headed girl standing awkwardly in front of her. "Umm hello?" Asteria said with furrowed eyebrows of confusion as Lily clears her throat. "I'm sorry." She apologised.

"For what?" Asteria replied, noticing that Lily was glancing back at Alice who sat at the Gryffindor table. "Being a complete arsehole to you and blaming everything you did on blood purity," Lily replied which made the Hufflepuff shake her head. "You don't need to apologise for that. Everyone does it."

"Well, I want to be the first to apologise for doing it." The Gryffindor replied with a warm smile on her face. She then sat down on the bench opposite the Hufflepuff who cut up the sausage on her plate. "Do you want to come back to my common room tonight? You know, to hang out." She asked which made her eyes widen with surprise.

"I don't know if that's a very good idea. You know-" She paused. "With the whole me being my thing." Lily scoffed. "That's bullshit. Mind my language." The redhead added which made her chuckle lightly. "Alright, but I'm blaming you if something happens." Lily nodded before swinging her legs out from under the table and going back to the Gryffindor table where a proud Alice stood.

-☘︎︎-

Later that day, Asteria got changed out of her uniform. She threw her yellow tie behind her onto the wooden floor which she ended up slipping on when she hurried out of her dorm.

She cursed the tie as she continued down the hallways and up the stairs until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Afternoon," She greeted the Hufflepuff. "Why is a Hufflepuff like you trying to get into the Gryffindor common room?" The woman dressed in white asked. "Planning to set it on fire." She replied sarcastically before Lily pushed the portrait open from the inside and invited her in.

Sitting on the crimson couches by a grand fireplace were Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice. The last time she was in the common room, she was setting up a prank on James so she didn't get a chance to fully take in the room.

As the common room was located in the Gryffindor Tower, there were windows overlooking the lake and forest that surrounded the castle. The staircases leading up to the dorms were made of mahogany wood decorated with crimson and gold.

"I swear if those Slytherins use the excuse that they have a new player every time we try to practice I will burn their common room!" Marlene exclaimed passionately to Dorcas who laughed at the girls obsessed with the game.

Asteria followed Lily to the sofa which had two armchairs of the same red shade beside it. "Why do you love Quidditch so much?" Alice asked the blonde girl. "You like balls a bit too much for a lesbian," Dorcas added which made them all burst out laughing.

Marlene then looked over at the Hufflepuff who sat on the arm of the chair. "Did the Fat Lady give you any trouble?" She asked, looking up at her. "A bit. Does she do that with everyone?" Marlene nodded in reply.

The Gryffindor girl had naturally blonde hair which had started to darken through the years. Her eyes were a piercing blue colour and she had made a slit in her right eyebrow. Across her cheeks and nose were faint freckles and she constantly wore a plain black ring on her middle finger.

"Let's get some music on," Dorcas said which made them all nod in agreement. "Since you're our guest, you can pick the record," Alice told the Hufflepuff girl who got up and flicked through the collection of records. "I need to ask, why is there only one Beatles record?" Asteria asked as she stood up and turned to look at them.

"Because they are boring," Marlene replied which made Alice and Asteria gasp dramatically. "Just for that, I'm playing it on full volume."

Marlene let out a sigh as 'Yesterday' played loudly in the common room and the two girls sang along. Just then, the portrait swung open and a messy-haired boy walked in.

He pushed up his glasses and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw the Hufflepuff girl. "You know there's a password on the common room for a reason?" James said. "To keep out freaks." He added with a smirk.

Asteria clenched up her fist and pulled her arm back before throwing it forward, hitting him in the eye which made him topples backward. Marlene cheered loudly at the Hufflepuff girl.

Asteria looked down at her knuckles which were already bruised before shaking them whilst biting her bottom lip. "I should go. I've caused enough damage." She said before walking past the Gryffindor boy who was dramatically laying on the floor.

Punching the arrogant boy deepened the bruises from the Halloween party, turning them from purple to almost black. She headed back to her common room shaking her head in shame for ruining the night because she lost her temper.

She decided that a cup of tea would calm her down so she stopped at the kitchens and made her usual tea sweetened with honey, cursing the Gryffindor the entire time.