Sweets: The Tale of Astoria Greengrass

All Those Days in the Sun

Astoria enjoyed it down at Hagrid's hut. The paddocks nearby were always filled with interesting things. Hagrid started off the year easy with unicorns for the week. Astoria rather liked unicorns, and it turned out, the feeling was mutual, as she'd found out on the first day of class.

"Astoria, why don't you go first?" Hagrid asked.

She set her books and things down, and hopped the fence, entering the paddock. The golden baby unicorn made stumbling, awkward steps towards her. Astoria knelt and coaxed the foal, until she was patting its horn and petting its mane.

Now, as she stood around the paddock, the unicorn trotted towards her. She patted his nose, and pulled an apple out from her bag, and fed it to the unicorn. It was a moment of peace in the craziness.

Academics was not the problem- she'd already set into a routine there. As McGonagall's choice of a prefect, she was shunned by most other Slytherins, including her cousin. Luca and Alice were currently too obsessed with each other to hang out with her- not that she minded that much. She wanted Alice to be happy especially, after the horrors of the previous year.

Hagrid walked over to her. "Would yeh like teh help me return them teh the forest?"

Astoria nodded. She helped him open the gate, and followed him into the woods and made sure the stragglers made it in. Then they returned, before they could get too deep.

"Thanks," he said to her. "Yeh've got a way with the unicorns, yeh know."

"Thanks," she replied, beaming. "I like this class."

"Yer one of the few in Slytherin who do," he said. "Most of them think I'm a big oaf."

"Because of Rita Skeeter and what Draco told her," Astoria said.

"Yes."

"You don't deserve that," she said. "I'm sorry he did that to you, and that she did, too."

"Yer a good kid, Astoria," Hagrid said with a smile.

After she returned her school supplies to the dormitory, Astoria entered the school kitchens. She was going to bake a sheet of cookies for the younger students. Ondine Rowle especially seemed to be suffering a terrible case of nerves because of how closely she and the other students were being watched by the adults.

She didn't know if it was fair or not, but she could at least ease the pain for all involved. Besides, she could use some more friends- and what better way to do that than with sweets?

The house-elves were very friendly and helpful in her quest. She managed to get all the ingredients she needed, and she lost herself in the cooking. She enjoyed every second of the measuring, the cooking, and the mixing. As it sat in the oven, she read a novel about a plucky muggle navigating the realm of magic that she'd ordered via owl from Flourish and Blott's.

Currently, the heroine was romancing the warlock that had rescued her from a werewolf and was using muggle "Magic" tricks to charm him. Astoria made a note to ask Professor Swanwhite about these magic tricks. Not because she wanted to impress anyone (she was ashamed that the face that appeared in her mind when she thought of that was the face of Draco Malfoy) but because she wanted to know how the muggles could be so clever.

She still had a lot to unlearn about the muggles. She wanted to be better. She wanted to understand the objects she hid in her room and in her trunk. But there were still traces of what her mother and father had made of her.

Ding.

Startled by the timer in her reverie, she quickly pulled the cookies out of the oven. They were enchanted to taste like everyone's favorite, and the frosting changed colors and glowed. She gathered them onto a plate, thanked the house-elves, and took them into the common room.

"Sweets!" Astoria announced as she set it down at a table. "Only one for each, I'm afraid."

Selwyn exchanged a glance with Fawley before approaching.

"Let me check them over," he ordered. Astoria stepped aside and looked at her shoes awkwardly as Selwyn waved his wand over her cookies.

"Free to go," he said, taking one for himself. He broke off half and gave it to Fawley before walking away. Everyone got back to their ordinary business, and Astoria sat down, dejected and chilly. No one took a single one, so after an hour, Astoria decided to start eating them herself.