astronomy • marlene mckinnon

twenty five

Astraea had immediately dropped the quaffle and given a hug to Regulus the moment he landed, the golden snitch still gripped tightly in his hand, not caring who was watching, as the cheers by the entire Slytherin house and some of the other houses completely drowned the disappointed groans let out by Hufflepuff and their supporters.

"You did it! We won!"

"Don't tell me you doubted me," Regulus let out a laugh as he hugged her back.

Astraea heard a loud cheer from Evan Rosier and she had a feeling that the blond seventh-year would be crying tears of happiness in his bed later that night, away from prying eyes.

"I would never," Astraea gave the boy a cheeky grin as the two broke apart.

Waves of people wearing emerald green for support poured onto the ground and Astraea was soon pulled into one of Isabella's suffocating hugs.

"You guys did it!" Isabella smiled. "We won the cup!"

"We did," Astraea smiled, overcome by another wave of euphoria as she watched Evan running up to them, holding the house cup.

"Three hundred forty to one hundred fifty!" Evan grinned, showing the cup to the crowd gathered around them.

"Congratulations," The raven-haired Slytherin heard a familiar voice and turned around with a small smile as her grey eyes met with a pair of blue ones which were sparkling in the sunlight.

"Thanks," She acknowledged. "Though I am a bit surprised you aren't mad that Slytherin won the Quidditch cup. At the beginning of the year, you and your team would have wanted any team except Slytherin to win."

"Yeah," Marlene shrugged as the two sixth-years slipped out of the loud crowd. "But that was before we lost to Hufflepuff, then, I wanted nothing more to see that stupid yellow team get crushed- and trust me, I'm not the only one. Look at those three."

Astraea looked over to where the blonde Gryffindor was pointing and stifled a laugh as her eyes spotted James, Sirius, and Peter booing at the Hufflepuff team, who just wanted to get away from the pitch.

Not far away, Remus looked like he was trying his best to look apologetic but was failing to hide the very smug grin he was shooting at every person who was supporting Hufflepuff.

"Honestly," Astraea shook her head and bit her lip, suppressing a smile.

"You know what," Marlene said suddenly, as she noticed the Slytherin biting her lip.

"What?" Astraea raised an eyebrow.

"Astraea!" The two heard Tiberius Nott call out and turned around to see him waving at her with a grin before he was nudged in the stomach by Isabella.

"Nothing," Evan shook his head, trying his best to hide his laughter. "Meet us in the common room."

Astraea scowled at the three before she turned to Marlene, "Ignore them, continue."

"Right, I was saying that you should smile more often."

"What?" Astraea's eyes widened and looked towards the blonde Gryffindor who nodded casually, clearly unaware of the Slytherin's heart rate increasing rapidly.

"Yeah," Marlene continued, the bold Gryffindor part inside her taking control. "You shouldn't hide when you're happy, and besides you look pretty when you smile."

"I- right, of course."

Heat rushed to Astraea's face and her cheeks acquired a pink flush. Her gaze remained locked on Marlene who merely smirked.

"I'm not lying."

"I don't think you are," Astraea shook her head, and this time she didn't do anything to stop her lips from curving upwards as she broke eye contact and looked at the castle they were heading to.