The Untold Story of Astoria Greengrass

Chapter 7

I woke up two hours too early on Friday after a dream I could not remember. I sat in bed, looking around the dark room wearily, knowing there was no way I would ever get back to sleep. With a shudder, I turned my eyes to the opened windows; the sun was just rising in the distance.

 It was strange that it should be so cool in the middle of summer but then again in England, it was common for the weather to play tricks on you. I hoped it wouldn’t rain as I was looking forward to our camping trip. A sudden thought hit me, as if I were about to remember my dream, as if the familiarity of it were on the tip of my tongue but I could not make it out. I had the feeling then, that I had dreamt of Sebastian, which was strange as I had not dreamed of him in years. Considering everything that had happened in the last week, I was not in the least bit surprised that I would dream of him, if only I could remember.

 I decided against laying back down again, knowing if I did manage to sleep I would only wake more tired than before. With a shrug and a defeated sigh, I reached my feet down and touched the floor- COLD. I jumped back onto the covers. The floor was freezing.

 How weird… I looked down, trying to find my slippers but there were not where I usually kept them. Odd. I looked up towards the shoe closet on the opposite side of the room and noted that it was slight ajar, the tiny pink slippers tossed aside casually. I must have been so tired last night that I did not bother wearing them to bed. Another strange thing- I hated having dirty feet, so it was very strange indeed that I should have climbed into bed after having dragged my bare feet across the floor. 

 I placed my feet on the floor a second time. It was so cold. I shivered as I took giant strides to the shoe closet and hurriedly stuffed my feet into the slippers.  I stood there for a minute, again the faintest memory touching upon my mind but I lost it almost as soon as I had it.

Again, I shrugged my shoulders and swung the closet door with a click.

 I entered the restroom, conscious that it was considerably warmer than my bedroom and fumbled around for the light switch.

 Where was it… my hand moved further up and then further down, unable to find the switch. My fingers searched the wall a bit longer before I dropped my hands to my side and walked back into my room.

 It was darker. GREAT- it WAS going to rain. There was no other explanation for the sky to be darker if the sun was rising. I walked towards my night stand and stood blankly for a few minutes.

 My wand? Where was it? I looked around, checking to see if I hadn’t put it down somewhere.

 It was nowhere to be seen.

 “what is going on?” I chided myself for being so out of it this morning. As I kneeled and looked under my bed for it, I noticed my knapsack on the other side of the room.

 “oh yes, I must have packed it” I thought, as I jumped back up and slid across the floor to it. This was true, the want was slightly sticking out of the front pocket. Now I looked down at the knapsack with a frown.

 Why did I choose such a big bag? I could have easily pulled everything into one of my smaller bags with the undetectable extension charm but for some reason I choose the large muggle knapsack? I made a face of disgust to myself and decided I would spend the extra hour this morning sorting everything into a smaller bag.

 I got on my feet and hurried towards the restroom, conscious that I would now be in a bit of a rush. Automatically, my hand went up to the wall and flicked the switch.

 Argh—two minutes ago I couldn’t even find it. I shook my head and turned to face the mirror, wondering how bad I would look on such an unlucky morning. I placed my wand on the table in front of my sink and looked myself over.