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The game of Exploding Snaps seemed to change Asteria's perspective of the boys. The girl had a habit of holding grudges, sometimes forgetting what her grievance against someone was about. This seemed to be the case with Sirius, except she still remembered her robes sticking to her and the stench of the lakewater covering her entire body. However, she began to treat the boys less like enemies and more like potential acquaintances. Hogwarts was living up to her every last expectation; it was a welcome change from the atrocious environment that was the Grey Manor. For once in her life, she had true friends - Magnolia. Lily, Marlene, Mary, and Dorcas. Though Magnolia still remained in Asteria's life, the two girls were not as close as they had promised each other to be. The two were in separate houses, thus had rarely an occasion to see each other that wasn't Potions class; they were forming different friends as well, with Magnolia growing closer to her brother's circle and Asteria befriending other Gryffindors.
One particular afternoon, however, Asteria found herself sitting at the Black Lake alone. It was a beautiful day, towards the end of October, with the sun shining and a light breeze whipping the blonde's hair into a frenzy. Lily was to appear soon, as she was hanging out with Severus for the first time in a while, and the two were to discuss plans for Halloween. Though the holiday was not largely celebrated, Lily's family had always loved to dress up and go all out. Meanwhile the Grey family had seldom done anything for Halloween, with Mrs Grey believing Halloween to be "utterly idiotic and a waste of time."
Lily was running late, so Asteria found herself leaning back against a tree and doodling on a spare piece of parchment rather than finishing up her essay.
Footsteps approached from behind, before a clearing of a throat snapped Asteria up from her drawings. She made direct eye contact with a pair of brown eyes, before a large grin overtook her face as she registered who stood in front of her.
"Magnolia!" Asteria grinned, jumping up and giving her friend a hug. How ironic that she was just thinking about her Slytherin friend, and Magnolia had shown up. The two had somehow formed a bond that couldn't be broken by distance, and Asteria was ever so glad for it.
"Asteria, it's nice to see you again," she sat down, dragging Asteria to sit down beside her.
"I'm sorry we haven't seen each other as much, you won't believe these four boys that have been continuously pestering me and Lily-" Asteria rushed out, face flushing as she tried to apologize. It was rare for her to do so, having always been a bit too proud. And yet, she truly did mean her apology to Magnolia. Even above her pride was her loyalty, and Asteria had been neglecting Magnolia.
The Slytherin, however, waved her off. "Don't worry about it, I'm not mad. I just realized I missed you; my brother and his friends are quite boring, compared to you," Magnolia and Asteria shared a snicker, the latter imagining what it was boring Slytheirn boys got up to. "But please, elaborate about the boys. You mean to tell me you already have four boys chasing after you?"
