Chapter Forty Nine

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Asteria held Sirius' hand in her lap, running her finger in small circles over his palm

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Asteria held Sirius' hand in her lap, running her finger in small circles over his palm. She leant into his side and stared down at his hand as they sat opposite Remus and Peter at one of the tables in the Great Hall.

"I don't understand." Remus furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Sirius squeezed her hand reassuringly under the table, "They're insane. The lot of them. We have to do something."

Remus sighed, "Do you know what kind of spell it was?"
"No." Asteria admitted.
"Lily said it might be some kind of curse. None of us had heard of it." Sirius further explained.

"But wait." Peter leant forward, "Avery attacked you?"
Asteria pursed her lips, "Yeah. Kind of. I mean, he did but... I don't know."

"You don't know?" Remus questioned, only growing more confused.
"He did. He attacked her." Sirius interjected, "And now he just struts about like nothing happened. All that's changed is they all keep their distance from us now because we know."

"They're probably scared you'll go to Dumbledore." Remus pointed out.
"They should be scared." Sirius argued.
"You should go to Dumbledore." Peter said.

Sirius turned to look as Asteria. "What do you think?" He asked.
She raised her head and was about to admit she didn't know when her eyes found Regulus Black. For a moment, their gazes locked before suddenly Regulus leapt to his feet and began striding down the table to leave the hall.

"I'll... I'll be right back." Asteria placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder but didn't look back at them as she clambered to her feet and followed the Slytherin boy out of the hall. The three boys watched as the girl vanished from the company, all utterly bewildered by her departure.

Asteria started running after Regulus, desperate to catch up and confront him about what had happened in the forest. However the boy seemed to be doing all that was within his power to avoid her.

"Regulus! Wait!" She called out, "Please."

He didn't turn around, but slowed slightly as he left the castle and eventually came to a stop in the courtyard.

"Regulus, please." Asteria stood behind him, wary of getting too close.

"What do you want, Halloway? Last time I checked we didn't have quidditch practice." He replied, slowly turning his head to the side so he could see the girl out of the corner of his eye.

"You know what happened in the forest." Asteria began, "I just need to know why."

"Why what?"

Asteria had been driving herself insane. Sure, the events of the Forbidden Forest had only occurred the night before - a few hours earlier. However, all morning the thoughts and worry had been circling around in her head. She could have be seriously hurt or killed, yet she wasn't. Asteria managed to escape unscathed and she had to know why. Could she rely on Regulus? After all they'd been through, did she need to be there for him?

"Why did you save me?" She asked.

Regulus turned to face her full now, "I didn't save you. I did nothing."

"You told me to get down."
"I didn't say anything." He countered, his voice hushed as he threw a glance over Asteria's shoulder.

She let out a frustrated sigh, "You gestured for me to get down. If I hadn't seen that I could be in the Hopsital Wing right now. Why?"

"Funnily enough, I'm not actually a murderer." Regulus hissed, "If you were hit, we'd all be in unfathomable trouble right now. I could live without that."
Asteria was shocked, "Really?"

He balled his hands into fists and took a deep breath before continuing. "Sirius hates me. You mean a lot to my brother and I'd still do anything to get him back home. Even if it means saving you... or your kind."

"Regulus... He doesn't hate you." Asteria tried to comfort the boy.

"Does he talk about me?" He asked.
Asteria knew the truth. Sirius refused to utter a word about his family. In truth, she thought speaking about the subject would upset him and Sirius would rather be in Slytherin than seen crying. For Regulus, Asteria's silence was the only answer he needed.

"Right. Got it." He replied coldly.

"I just-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that happened and thank you... For saving me." She stepped away from him slightly.

Regulus turned around slightly and took a step to leave but decided against it at the last moment. "In the forest last night, Sirius went berserk. He used to flip out like that at home sometimes and nobody could control him or get him to calm down. My parents would just lock him in his room till he relaxed. You like... You talked him out of it. All it took was two words from you and he listened. Our family could never do that. Maybe he was right to leave."

"Regulus-" Asteria began, cut off by the sound of the school doors opening behind her.

"You may be a mudblood, but you're what's keeping my brother safe at the moment. All I know is, when the time comes, Sirius won't be safe on your side. He'll be at risk for being a traitor and if that happens I can't save him." Regulus' eyes grew dark as he spoke quickly.

Asteria backed away now, feeling a coldness sweep over her. "What do you mean?"

"Oi! Black!"

Judging by Regulus' reaction, the two unfamiliar Slytherin boys were most likely in his year. Asteria turned around to face them and then stopped in their tracks.

"What's this about?" One questioned.
"Don't tell us you're turning into your brother." The other mused.

"Quidditch stuff. You know you're pathetic when even a muggle born can get a place on the team and you can't, so shut it." Regulus spoke with malice in his voice, causing the boy's to step back and become rather startled as Regulus verbally attacked them.

"See you round." Asteria ended the conversation, pulling her robes tightly over her shoulders to shield from the cold as she dashed back inside the castle.

"Maybe not." Regulus replied but she had already left the scene.

Asteria wasn't so sure if Regulus was the one who had vandalised her book last year. But she was certain that despite going about it the wrong way, he was just trying to be good to Sirius. Asteria was a only child. A lonely, only child and that's why, in her head, it made sense to try and show Sirius that his brother wasn't all bad. This would be harder said than done.

"Ri! Merlin, I was looking everywhere for you. What's up? Why'd you go outside?" Sirius bounded down the stairs towards her, running his hands up and down her arms.
Asteria smiled, "I just needed some air."

"You're not still freaked out about what happened last night?" Sirius scanned her face for any sign of trouble.
She ran her tongue across her bottom lip, "I'm fine, really." She nodded, "You haven't talked to Regulus about it?"

"Why would I?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"He's your brother." Asteria said, "Aren't you worried about the dark stuff he's being sucked into?"
"Regulus is smart. Probably not smarter than me, but he knows what he's doing. I just escaped that deluded family I can't fall back in." Sirius admitted.

"I think that's the first time you've ever said anything nice about him." Asteria joked.
"That's because I got all the good genes and he got all the bad ones." Sirius smirked.

"Seriously though," Sirius laced his fingers with Asteria's as they wandered down the otherwise empty corridors, "I'm worried about you."

They reached the bottom of the staircases. Asteria looked up to see Lily ascending a slight of stairs with a rather exasperated looking James following her.

"Something tells me it's Lily we need to worry about; she just lost one of her friends."

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