Astra Black is the twin sister of Sirius Black. Unlike her brother, she was sorted into Slytherin. That didn't break their bond but it separated their friend groups.
What happens when James Potter and Astra Black get mixed into each other's lives...
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salem hadn't left astra in the bathroom the night of the ball. wanting to stay as innocent as he could, he healed astra's head and her concussion, leaving her to wake up there alone on the bathroom floor. he knew not many would care what he had done as a pureblood wizard, but for the few that did, he wanted remain in the same place with their opinion of him.
when she did wake up, astra was confused why she didn't have a concussion and why she was no longer bleeding, but it didn't take her long to figure it out. she stood quickly, pushing her skirt down completely and holding her stomach, which felt as though it was doing somersaults. wiping the blood from the tiles on the wall, astra walked downstairs as though nothing had happened.
she didn't want salem to think he'd affected her. not while he could still see her, at least.
the black family were one of the first families to leave: there was only so much social interaction that they could all stand. they apparated inside of their house, walburga and orion immediately heading to the kitchen, the door closing with a silencing sleek immediately blocking out their children. astra strode upstairs quickly, regulus following slower.
the oldest child slammed her door closed behind her, pulling at the strings off her corset as quickly as she could. she wanted the dress off. she wanted to forget everything about that ball. she forced the dress off, struggling with its tightness around her stomach, grabbing her pyjamas and pulling them on just as quick, pushing her covers back to get into bed.
she lay under the thick, black quilt of her bed, staring at her bedside table. sitting up on her elbow abruptly, astra yanked open a drawer and pulled out the cardboard cover and the shard of mirror sirius gave her. she sat up properly, contemplating whether to speak to him. it wasn't too late, but he'd probably be awake even if it was 2am.
deciding against it, she pocketed the mirror and stood from her bed, grabbing some paints and a canvas from the bottom of her trunk. so she wouldn't make any creaking noises with the hinges of the old doors, she apparated into sirius' empty bedroom. his walls had various posters on them, clearly wanting to annoy his parents by placing muggle artists and films all over his walls. astra wasn't sure he had even watched some of the films on the walls as he still didn't exactly know what they were, but they had made their parents angry and that was all he wanted to achieve.
astra smiled and sat down on her twins abandoned bed, crossing her legs over to lay the canvas in her lap. she looked around the room for any ideas for painting and chose to use a poster of david bowie sirius had hung up. harley had given astra a few cassettes of david bowie' sand astra had to admit that his music was some of the best she'd heard.
she started painting, the silence of the night causing an annoying ringing in her ears. astra ignored it and continued painting. her chest tightened, panic shooting up her spine. her grip tightened on her brush. her leg began bouncing on the bed. the bristles of the brush began to split open in a wide circle. astra's hands shook as she huffed a deep breath that didn't feel deep enough. she tucked some hair behind her ear that fell into her face. she really couldn't breath now.
she placed the painting aside on sirius' pillows and reached into her pocket for the shard of mirror. she didn't know what was happening to her. her hands felt sweaty and clammy but cool at the same time. her fingers were shaking every time she tried to do something and she felt as though she could grip nothing properly. it felt as though she could feel blood rushing through her veins, pumping into her brain.
every part of her body felt as though it had a heartbeat.
she casted a silencing charm around sirius' bedroom and looked into the mirror, "fuckface?"
there was no answer.
"c'mon, you little skank, you don't normally shut the fuck up." astra exhaled shakily.
still nothing.
"sirius?" astra asked pleadingly.
again, there was no response.
astra continued to try but sirius wasn't answering from his shard of the mirror. she placed it on his bedside table and gave up, laying down in her twins bed as her chest heaved with panic breaths. she felt stupid and pathetic for letting salem get to her. she started blaming herself for not trying harder to get away from him. astra eventually panicked herself to sleep.
while his twin was only just managing to breath properly again, sirius was in the potter's back garden. his head lay on remus' lap, james' on his while peter was flopped on the grass in a star shape. a cigarette dangled between his lips carelessly as he felt remus' fingers brush through his hair. peter's shocked expression went ignored by sirius but james returned it, shocked that someone was allowed to touch sirius black's most prized feature.
"is it gonna snow?" peter asked.
"probably. it usually does." james shrugged.
"getting a head-start on the snow-angels?" sirius joked, looking at peter's position.
"exactly what i'm doing." peter mumbled jokingly.
sirius exhaled some smoke from the corner of his mouth, "any of you heard from astra's mates?"
"i spoke to harley but she hasn't heard from astra." remus muttered.
"sophia hasn't either." peter mused.
"phoenix said he tried but his owl came back with his letter." sirius said worriedly. he pulled the cigarette from his lips, letting his hand dangle over the frosty grass, ash melting the light crisp away from a patch. "i bet walburga and orion have stopped her getting the letters. either sent the owls back or hid them away. they probably read them, of course. nosy, good-for-nothing bastards."
"what about the mirror?" james asked.
sirius shook his head, staring at a tree. although he was listening and responding to the conversation, his eyes looked distant, clearly thinking, "nothing."
"they wouldn't have took that, too, would they?" remus questioned.
"no. she's smart; she'll have hid it somewhere they wouldn't guess or just placed a spell on it so it was untouchable or something." sirius explained. his cigarette was slowly becoming a stick of burnt ash, an orange ring sending the white paper fizzling away. "she's smart. but she's stubborn when it comes to help."
"but if she was in serious danger, she'd reach out, wouldn't she?" james asked, eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"i don't know." sirius mumbled. "maybe... it's unlikely. she might not get the chance to. she could be... asleep a lot more than usual."
"why?" peter questioned, chuckling slightly. "astra's up before a lot of people. she's always in the hall before we are."
"it might not be a choice, but a need." sirius said, eyes still focused, yet unfocused, on the tree.
"they wouldn't hurt her that bad, would they?" james sat up from sirius' lap. "they can only stoop so low."
"they'll stoop a lot lower than they have already before they stop." sirius scoffed and the ash from his cigarette finally fell off into the grass under his hand.
