STRANGE LOVE | O. WOOD ✔

[41] : THE TRUE GALILEO VAN HALEN

Something was off about Jack in morning. Astrid assumed it was because it was their first real actual sleepover. He lived alone, with a ghoul in the attic and  and a near to death house elf. The thing was an extremely old thing, Nebula and Kreacher were young beside him. Astrid however didn't point this out, Jack would throw her out his house, she was but a mere visitor. But even she knew when something was wrong with Jack. He just wasn't Jack this morning, he looked darker.

"Hey Jack, where's your pantry? I need flour." Astrid hummed as she took the seat across him. Jack suddenly spit his coffee out and glared at Astrid.

"Stay away from the pantry." He growled at her, coffee dripping down his milky white chin and Astrid jumped, not expecting this from him. Sure, she only knew the guy for a year but he had already become like her true family. "Just... stay away from the pantry." He softly said when he saw Astrid jump.

And as if on cue, Astrid could hear muffled screams coming from the pantry and she looked at Jack. Who was in there?

"Jack?" Astrid asked, noticing that his dark hair was slowly turning blonde. "Who's in there?" Jack didn't reply, instead he grunted in discomfort and banged the table with his fist. "Leo?"

"You're not as daft as I thought you were Astrid." He chuckled. "And I trust you know why I'm here then?"

"No, I don't know." Astrid shook her head. Why was he here and why did he lock Jack up in the pantry? Did Astrid do something to him? Does Jack even know him?

"The world Astrid, is a cruel and unforgivable place." He stood up, pulling up his sleeves and Astrid could feel herself want to puke all the chocolate and sweets out she and Jack ate the night before. He was marked as the Dark Lord's. Astrid didn't understand, wasn't Leo part of the Order? "I became a Death Eater for my mother and for him. I had a brother Astrid, and when he died, he begged me to forgive him, to forget him, to run away from home. I forgave and forgot him with ease, after all, he's the only one who truly loved me. I couldn't run from home though, my mother was dying and she begged me to stay. I couldn't leave her, could I?" He shook his head. "I was sorted into Hufflepuff Astrid, a house that brought shame unto the family. If it was Einstein, it would've been swept under the rug but it was me. The original disappointment, the black sheep of the family! And then I met you," He growled angrily at her. "You're a Black! You were sorted into Slytherin, a house where I could've easily made my parents proud. You had power, fame, everything but you threw it away! Not anymore Astrid!"

Astrid winced in pain when Leo tackled her to the ground, choking the lights out of her. "You sicken me! You had the house where I was supposed to be!" Astrid clawed at his hands but he only tightened his grip.

"Leo...." Astrid begged, feeling as though her eyes were going to comically pop out from her skull.

"And let's not forget Tonks! Oh no! We can't forget her! She made me want to be in Hufflepuff! She made me feel happy about being in the stupid, weak, shitty, bastardly, horrid house!" Astrid gave him one weak punch on his arm and he chuckled. "Don't worry my star, Tonks will pay for her crimes as well."

This was it. Astrid was dying by the hands of someone she thought was a friend.

"And who will forget that French bitch? I'm only dating her because I got her fucking pregnant, just like Einstein did to Delilah." Leo was suddenly crying, his salty, cold tears falling on Astrid's face. "I am Einstein now, Leo's dead. Mother always preferred Einstein, so now she actually loves me."

"Killing me won't help you Leo." Astrid breathed out, feeling as though it was getting harder to breathe by the nanosecond.

"But it will. The Dark Lord wants you dead. You and Tonks both. You are my ticket in and Tonks is my ticket out." He sobbed. "I have to do this Astrid! Mother will be so proud of me! Even father in his grave! You were the answer to all my pray—" Leo suddenly slumped over, blood spilling down his forehead from the hole. And Astrid could feel his warm blood on her face and shirt.

"My mother felt like magic wasn't always the answer to things. Sge always worshipped Muggles like they were fucking God's. It sickens me, really." Jack casually said, holding a metal device in his hands. He helped the coughing Astrid up and helped her into the kitchen. He poured her a glass of water and Astrid eyed the metal device. It looked shiny. "It's a pistol. My mother had a Muggle friend. He was something they called a police man in the Muggle world." Though her coughs were slowing down, Astrid didn't speak and only gave him a confused look. "Something like an Auror." Jack said. "Stay here, I have to contact your uncle and he'll contact whoever."

Astrid stared at Leo's body for a long time. He wanted to kill her. Didn't they make peace? Astrid sighed, closing her eyes and feeling tears escape. Her shirt was covered in blood. Leo's blood. He wanted to kill her. He could've killed her if Jack hadn't shot him with that pistol.

"Your uncle is on his way." Jack said, sighing. Astrid however couldn't take her eyes off Leo's limp body. It looked as though he was just asleep, like he was going to shoot upright and strangle her again, if it hadn't been for the hole in his forehead and his shiny, sticky blood staining the wooden floor it would've looked as though he was merely taking a nap in an odd manner on an odd place. "It's alright Astrid. I had to do it. If I didn't kill him, he would've killed you. And I can't let that happen, can I? Like I said, through and through." Jack said, engulfing the crying young adult in a hug as she cried her eyes out. The only question that she wanted to know now was how did Leo know she was here?

*

Astrid was forced to do a check up, and the doctor examined her aching and totally ruined throat. It hurt talking, it hurt breathing, it hurt being alive. Her throat had angry red marks, some of which were already turning a purplish blue color.

"Are you sure you're okay Ell?" Remus asked that night when they sat on the couch. Astrid shook her head. Jack had been taken in for questioning at the Ministry, though Astrid thought it was completely useless, he was defending her. He saved her. He was her hero. If he hadn't killed Leo, she would have been dead and she would've joined the lot that died.

"I'm not." Astrid said, barely above a whisper. "Please stay uncle Remus." Astrid begged, feeling her eyes water again as she laid her head on Remus' tattered and torn coat. She didn't want to sleep alone, she couldn't sleep alone. She saw Leo die right in front of her, she remembered the look of fear and pain on his face when he realized he was dying, she remembered feeling his sickly warm blood on her face and chest when he slumped over, she remembered seeing the life leave his beautiful blue eyes. All in the space of a second. Astrid knew Leo was a heathen, although his mother's mother wasn't. But as he was dying, Astrid knew in his heart, he was asking for forgiveness, he was praying. If only he knew that there was no God.

"Always Ella, always."