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...
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Asteria held her breath, slowly moving over towards the Hufflepuff stands to see if Regulus or James were anywhere to be seen.
That's when Regulus shot up into the air, clutching the snitch in his shaking hand and holding it up into the air for everyone to see.
"Slytherin have caught the snitch! That's the match over and a win to Slytherin! One hundred and ninety points to thirty!"
Asteria still didn't see James though. When all of the other players were flying back down to the pitch to shake hands and leave to shelter from the storm and change out of their soaking robes, Asteria flew over the stands in search of the boy.
James was sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall whilst holding his broom across his lap. It appeared to be slightly splintered at the back.
Asteria landed on the ground in front of him. "What happened?" She asked.
"What?" James frowned, unable to hear her over the roar of the storm. "Your broom. What happened?" She almost shouted now.
"Nothing. Nothing. Broom is just a bit battered but it's nothing." James shrugged, finally clambering to his feet.
"And how did it happen? I told the beaters to at least try not to hit the bludger at anyone. Are you alright-" James chuckled, rubbing his shoulder, "I'm fine. Chill out."
"Alright." Asteria eyed him cautiously, not entirely buying his story.
The stands were still roaring with celebration, practically causing the framing to shake and shiver.
"Ri! You aced it! Congrats!" Sirius bounded towards her, nearly knocking Asteria off her feet when she was pulled into a deep embrace.
"You didn't tell me you were going to commentate! I can't believe you did that! Thank you so much!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around the boy. "Anything for you." He grinned sweetly.
"Alright, that's enough of that." James stepped forwards to remind the couple that they were in his company.
"And what happened to you?" Sirius adjusted his hood to peer over at James. James grumbled, "Let's just get inside before someone contracts hypothermia."
"Hurt your leg or something?" Sirius moved to hook his arm around James' back and help the boy walk along. "It's nothing. Just a bruise is all." He brushed it off. Yet Asteria jumped in at the other side, putting her arm around James' shoulders to help Sirius guide him up the hill and away from the pitch.
"Do you need to go to Madam Pomfrey?" Sirius questioned as the three of them staggered along.
James shook his head, "No. I think Ria might though. No offence, but your violent shivering is actually making it harder to walk."
"Sorry. Sorry." Asteria moved away, tugging her limp, damp robe around her body tightly and clenching her jaw to stop her teeth from chattering.
"Merlin, you two are a right mess." Sirius shook his head as the rain finally appeared to be easing off slightly and they'd made it back up to the castle.
