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♢
As soon as Adonis broke away, Lily bounded to where Asteria stood and jumped on her. The two laughed, embracing each other for the first time in three months. They immediately began chattering, neither hearing what the other was saying, voices overlapping in clear joy as they boarded the Hogwarts Express. To their luck, there was an empty compartment not too far down; the two ran inside and sprawled out on the seats, smiling as they stared at each other. For a moment, all thoughts of her sister slipped Asteria's mind; she was only focused on the redhead in front of her, listening to her talk about Muggle contraptions and her sister's drama. The two had searched for Magnolia before entering their compartment, but, knowing the Slytherin would find them if she could, settled down into conversation as they waited for the rest of their friends to arrive.
And arrive they did. Marlene burst into the compartment with Dorcas, Mary not far behind, and they instantly settled back into conversation. The five of them quickly caught up on their summers, each giving an incredibly detailed breakdown of who, where, and what they had done. Marlene and Dorcas had spent most of the summer together, their parents having been friends for a long time. The pair really were inseparable at this point.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw Mary!" Lily was saying, reviewing the two's encounter in the shopping mall. "I saw a girl that kinda looked like you, but I thought - there's no way it's actually her. And then it was!"
"Who knew that we lived so close to each other," Mary said, smiling, "Barely a 20 minute drive. It wasn't the same without you lot, though."
Asteria laughed along with the rest of them, but the thoughts of her summer kept swirling around in her head. She couldn't very well tell them she found out her entire family worked for the Dark Lord, could she? Even if Selene or Callie didn't support him, they were still on his side.
And Asteria couldn't stop thinking about it.
She tried to focus on the conversation, laughing and joking with her friends, but she didn't say a word about her own summer. But only Lily noticed, the rest of them busy catching up with each other. She said nothing for now, knowing Asteria would talk about her summer at some point.
For a while, it was just the five of them; Marlene and Dorcas's energies bouncing off each other, Mary cracking jokes every now and then while Lily and Asteria laughed. It was a beautiful sound, the sound of laughter; bouncing off the walls, filling the compartment with the sweet melody of sheer joy.
Too bad it had to be ruined when one specific boy came knocking.
"How are my favorite Gryffindor girls?" a boy with glasses slid open the compartment door, sticking his head in with a grin. Lily rolled her eyes, but Asteria immediately jumped up and smiled.
"What do you want?" Lily narrowed her eyes, not forgetting the torment Potter had put Severus through last year.
"The joy of your company, of course," James answered, but there was a weird look in his eye. Asteria chalked it up to the lighting in the train.
