We Will Shine {Book 6 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 14 - The Snake

~Wren~

I didn't know what Colette told Astra, but it sent off the deep-end. Astra wouldn't talk to anyone, and Colette didn't want to tell us anything until Astra was comfortable with it. That left Astra to simply spiral alone. By the time Colette finally managed to get her to go talk to Mr. Potter (skipping Charms in the process, which is not what I would have suggested but made sense, given the circumstances), James had been saying he was going to go get his dad himself.

Meanwhile, Astra's odd behavior had made the rumors about her spread exponentially faster. They had been dying down by the Hogsmeade visit, since so many people had seen her acting completely normally, but then she spent three days stumbling around the castle, refusing to eat, and very obviously not paying attention in class or outside of it. And people noticed. The entire Quidditch team spent an evening trying to coax her to play a card game, to no avail. Scorpius and Rose took three hours trying to help her write a half foot essay. I'm not sure if Astra was aware of it, but Ciara Malfoy even came over at breakfast to see if she was all right. She was completely out of it.

Some people said she'd been possessed. Perhaps an evil spirit had overtaken her body, and that's why she had broken her arm, and now it was finally winning over her consciousness. Others said it was a side affect of the Imperius Curse, and that she was just fighting it off very hard and it was taking all her energy. Most simply claimed she'd finally lost it, was completely crazy. It ran in the family, they said. With a grandmother like Bellatrix Lestrange, could you really blame her?

James spent a lot of those three days dueling people who said things like that. I wasn't even tempted to tell him off.

Then Astra and Colette didn't end up coming to Charms. We didn't see them for four hours. By the time they showed up at dinner, I'd had two third years ask me if it was true Colette was the one who had made Astra go mad. I told them both to stuff it before I took points for insolence.

Astra seemed a lot more stable. None of us brought the subject up, and neither did she, but she actually managed to keep up with our conversation for the first time in three days. It was encouraging.

I would have enjoyed it much more, I think, except for the fact that the coin that was in my pocket became very warm at some point during the meal. I didn't acknowledge it, but couldn't help feeling a knot of worry in my stomach, despite the fact that there wasn't much reason for it. I'd never quite gotten over feeling sick with nerves every time that happened.

I checked the message as soon as I could. Tonight.

~~~~

I didn't tell James, or any of the others. Astra was doing so well all of a sudden, and keeping her worries to a minimum was top priority. Besides, I didn't want to bother them needlessly. Around ten o'clock, I just slipped out of the common room while James and Albus were engaged in a heated match of Exploding Snap.

This was normal, of course. It was probably nothing. I hadn't done anything that my uncle would even be suspicious of lately, had I? I probably should have expected to be summoned soon, anyway. It was just that I always felt a little frightened when I didn't have a clear reason.

Mr. Potter was asleep at his desk when I stepped into his office. He started awake at the sound of the door closing. "Oh, Wren," he said, stifling a yawn. "Is everything alright?"

I held up the coin, and he slowly nodded. "All right, then. Remember, go through the back. Gideon and Vinnie can't know you're involved. Go ahead and tell the contact about them, too."

"Yeah." I nodded. "I will."

"You've got the mirror?"

I nodded. "As soon as I get there, I'll open it."