A muggle-born Slytherin whose parents are terrified of her.
A pureblood Gryffindor whose parents are disappointed in him.
The arrival of her Hogwarts letter was meant to make everything better.
Asteria Halloway finally had an explanation for her p...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Sirius had a plan. A brilliant plan. The best plan he had probably ever conjured up.
"Why won't you just tell me what you're doing?" James asked as he followed Sirius out of the Great Hall. "Just, chill out. Nothing can go wrong." Sirius reassured his friend.
Sirius strutted out into the courtyard, the sun instantly hitting him as he neared the girl he had been looking for.
Mary Macdonald.
She had everything he needed to truly shock his family: she was a muggle born and she was in Gryffindor. The best part was she would need little convincing to go out with him up until Christmas. As soon as he'd moved past the festive family meal in the holidays, he could dump her and resume his usual flings.
"Mary!" Sirius shouted, nearing the girl.
She turned around and, upon seeing Sirius, frantically began to push her wild brown hair out of her face.
"S-Sirius?" She stammered, instantly turning red in the face. "Hey I was wondering if maybe you..." Sirius trailed off as soon as he noticed Asteria sat on one of the benches behind Mary.
Asteria had a bright smile on her face and was laughing, causing her eyes to crinkle up. She rolled her head back as she continued to laugh along with Lily. Asteria glowed when she laughed and looked gorgeous doing so.
"Sirius?" Mary asked quietly. "Oh, yeah, right..." Sirius shook his head and turned back to Mary, "Fancy going out sometime, I dunno.... Hogsmeade this weekend?"
Mary's eyes lit up with excitement, "Wow-I-er-yeah! Sounds amazing..." She reached forward to touch his arm but Sirius has already turned away and was leading James back into the castle.
"Sirius, that was not what I was expecting." James hissed as they pushed through the door and entered back into the warmth. "I don't know what you mean I always ask girls out."
James sighed as they made their way towards the Gryffindor common room, "I mean first you spend four years staring at the girl, and now you're letting her distract you from other girls. It's odd."
Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned to face James, "I don't have a clue what you're talking about." "Asteria is who I'm talking about." "Oh."
Sirius turned away and continued to walk in silence for a moment before turning to James again, "Do you think I should have asked her out?" James laughed, "Well you seem just a tad more into her than the other girl. Can you even remember who you asked out just then?" "Yeah, of course!" Sirius exclaimed, then furrowed his eyebrows at he thought, "It was Mary, wasn't it?"
James shook his head, "The fact you have to ask says it all."
"Anyway, the plan is set in motion." Sirius started. "I still don't understand the plan." James admitted. "I ask Mary out - check. I date Mary. I take her to my Christmas family dinner. My family meet her and she tells them about herself. My family freaks out and they decide I'm a hopeless cause and to leave me alone."
"And you don't think Mary will hate you for that?" James questioned, running a hand through his hair. "Of course she will but I don't really care."
"Sirius, what exactly do the girls see in you?" James asked. "I'm a rebel." Sirius smirked proudly, causing James to scoff.
Lily and Asteria remained outside in the cold, sat on one of the benches in the courtyard.
"So have you come up with an idea about what to do for Christmas with your parents?" Lily asked. "You bet I have." Asteria smirked.
Whilst the plan she formed was sure to work, it was a different question actually making the plan a reality.
"Well? What are you going to do?" "I just need to find a boy here to pretend to date in front of my parents. When they meet him, they'll either see that wizards aren't bad or they'll decide they can't change my mind about my life. Either way I win." Asteria shrugged just imagining a future where her parents tried to understand her.
A future where her parents were supportive and not frightened of their own daughter seemed just lovely.
"You can't just play some boy like that." Lily raised her eyebrows. "I doubt I'll even be able to get a boy so it doesn't really matter." Asteria pointed out, tucking her book into her bag. "What boy would you even pretend to date?" "I'm not sure... Someone charming so he can make my parents like him." She mused.
Lily laughed, one person automatically popped into her head upon hearing Asteria say those words.
"What?" Asteria asked, tugging her bag onto her shoulder. "Nothing." Lily hummed, standing up now.
"You going to work on the Potions essay?" Lily asked eagerly. "Well I was going to ask if you'd do it for me." Asteria admitted mischievously. "I'll help, but I'm not doing it for you."
"Please! Come on if you write two essays then you'll be in the library twice as long, which means the less chance you'll bump into Potter." Asteria raised an eyebrow knowingly. "I'll write the introduction for you and then you can do the rest." Lily gave in, "Potter's asked me out three times already this year. I don't know what's gotten into him." "I think I do." Asteria mumbled to herself as the two girls walked into the library.
Upon entering the library, Lily spied Remus sat alone at a table beside the wind, leaning over a large pile of books and parchment.
"Let's go see Remus, come on." Lily tugged Asteria along by the arm towards the boy.
Remus looked up as the two girls stumbled towards him, "Lily, Asteria. What're you doing here?" He asked. "We were going to work on the Potions." Asteria stated. "Well, I was going to and you were going to sit there doing nothing." Lily smirked as she sat down beside Remus. Asteria sighed and took the seat opposite, "You said you were only going to write my introduction!"
"There's always the O.W.L.s to study for." Remus pointed out, shoving his books to one side of the table to make more room.
Lily turned to look at Asteria, "Don't even get me started on that. I can't revise for you." "Seriously? I mean I'm pretty sure I can wing it." Asteria sunk down in her seat. "Feel free to try." Lily shook her head and pulled out a piece of parchment and her quill.
"I thought you were ambitious?" Remus asked quietly, propping up a book to conceal his face. "I can be ambitious and lazy." Asteria pointed out.
