astronomy • marlene mckinnon

twenty

Astraea sat in front of the window facing the lake outside. She didn't remember how long it had been since she had entered the secret room she and Sirius had come across in their first year, all she could remember was that it hadn't stopped raining.

The sky above her was as grey as her eyes, perhaps, even more, darker, as the raindrops poured down.

The raven-haired Slytherin hadn't bothered to light a fire in the abandoned fireplace, and even though cold winds blew through the open windows into the room, she did nothing but just sit on the cold wooden floor with her eyes fixed on the gentle drops of water falling into the lake as it grew darker.

The door opened and closed behind her, and her twin came and sat down next to her.

"Figured you'd be here," Sirius rubbed his hands for warmth and Astraea hummed in acknowledgment.

"I'm sorry," He spoke up as his gaze too fixed on the lake as a bright white light flashed in the sky, illuminating the dark room briefly with low growls echoing not long after. "For everything I did and said."

"I know you are," Astraea nodded. "I was just waiting for you to get over your ego problem and come apologize to my face."

"I do not have an ego problem," Sirius huffed, but a lazy smile of relief rested upon his face as the downpour started to become heavier.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Astraea shrugged as she suppressed a smile.

Sirius let a laugh escape himself as he took out his wand and pointed it at the fireplace, and the remaining pieces of wood immediately lit up and a soft warm glow spread across the room.

"I got you a gift," Sirius spoke up. "Forgot we weren't on speaking terms."

"Yeah," Astraea bit her lip as she pulled her book bag closer to herself. "Me too."

"You go first." Sirius's eyes lit up as he grinned and Astraea laughed.

"Alright then," The Slytherin slightly rolled her eyes and took out a wrapped gift hidden between the stash of books in her bags and slid it across to him as the sky flashed once more and the force of the rain pattering on the windows became harder.

Sirius grinned and opened the wrapper delicately. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the delicately carved frame which had no picture decorating it.

"Nice frame."

"What, that- Oh, wait." Astraea shook her head slightly as she looked at the blank frame in her twin's hands. She took out her wand from her pocket, careful not to let the still not discarded letter fall out of it, and pointed the wand made of aspen wood at the frame.

The black page secured in the wooden frame glowed with a warm golden light and displayed Sirius as a four-year-old grinning at whoever was behind the camera, and then glowed again softly as the moving picture changed to show a six-year-old Sirius and Astraea cutting a cake.

"Wow," Sirius's eyes widened as the pictures continued to change and show the raven-haired Gryffindor, with his siblings or friends showing up occasionally.

"Pretty nice, right?" Astraea smiled as her gaze wandered back to the sky, which was much darker than when she had entered the room.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded, and then wrapped it back in the paper and placed it in his bag, took out another box from inside his bag, and passed it to her.

The now seventeen-year-old took it and opened it and her eyes widened as she picked up the silver chain with a charm of the shape of a bird hooked to it.