Rubatosis Rewrite

Chapter 3

"You know, it's not hard to tell how much you truly adore her." Sirius spoke up, brushing imaginary dust off of his signature leather jacket. "What?" James looked up at him, shocked. "We're not stupid, James. We see it in the way you look at her. The way your attitude changes whenever she walks into the room. You fancy her." Remus explained, not looking up from his book.

    "Let's not talk about this right now, I don't know if she is truly asleep." James rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. His cheeks flushed pink and he looked down at Astra's golden hair so the boys couldn't see his face. Sirius chuckled knowingly. "Alright, mate. We'll be here to say I told you so."

    The cart shook on the tracks and Astra slowly awoke. "Ah, good morning sleeping beauty." Remus chuckled. "You know, sometimes I regret making friends with a muggle book lover." Astra opened her eyes to see James' face inches from hers. They both widened their eyes. Astra shot up stuttering apologies. "I should go find the girls." She jumped off the seat and started walking towards the door.

    "Don't forget your wand, you might need it." Peter said, going to hand her her wand from where it lay on the seat. "I'll be fine, I'm only going to find the girls." She continued her journey out the door, pulling her flannel higher up on her shoulder. Her shoes thumped on the floor of the train as she passed by friends hugging one another.

    "Hey Astra, wanna help us with something." One of the prewett twins walked up to her, the other following close behind with what looked to be fireworks in his hand. "No thanks boys, promised dear old mum that I would be on my best behavior." They both laughed, walking past her and opening a door to another cart, standing in the door frame and no doubt flirting with the girls that occupy it. Astra kept walking, glancing into different carriages along her way.

    Where are the girls? She was suddenly slammed into the wall to the left of her. Someone's arm pressing tightly to her neck, limiting her breathing. Snape. Astra narrowed her eyes and tried not to show how badly she was fighting for air. Snape pressed his wand into her rib cage.

    "Tell your little boyfriend that if he starts something this year, I will be the one to finish it. I am guaranteed victory this year. I have something that he will never see coming." He sneered in her face, her vision going blurry from the lack of oxygen.

    "Hey, back off of her." Someone at the end of the cart yelled, effectively making Snape take his arm off of her but not yet removing his wand. Astra took that time to wheel around and punch him in the face. Snape stepped back in shock, holding his nose and grunting in pain. He pulled his hands away and they were covered in blood.

    Her knuckles burned but she would never give him the satisfaction of knowing that. "Maybe that will fix your overly large nose, snivellus. Crawl back to your little group of death eater friends and tell them how a girl beat your arse." Snape went to hit her before he was shoved back.

    "Didn't mummy ever tell you to never lay your hands on a woman, Snape." Astra looked up to see the guy from before. Snape glared at the boy before realizing how much larger he is, turning, Snape stomped off.

    "Don't forget what I said Black. If Potter doesn't watch himself, he will lose the one thing he holds most dear." WIth that he disappeared into another compartment. The boy turned and Astra finally got to see the boy's face. He had black hair and blue eyes, specks of silver floated around in the middle.

    "Are you alright?" He asked, dipping his head down to look at her neck where a large bruise was surely forming. "I- I uh." Astra blushed, not used to being this nervous around anyone. He ran his fingers along the base of her neck, inspecting the bruise. Astra flinched and he pulled his hand away.

    "Sorry. I'm Riham by the way. Riham Grey." "Riham doesn't that mean-" "Rain, yes indeed. My mother loved the rain. She always used to tell me how the rain was the earth's way of ridding the bad from the world and awarding the good with fresh soil. So that they may never suffer." The tall boy took off his white scarf and arranged it around her neck to hide the bruise. He took a step back, giving the girl some space.

    "She seems very wise, poetic if I may." Astra smiled at the boy. "Yes, she was. Now if you will excuse me, I need to be returning back to my compartment. I hope to see you in the near future..."

    "Oh, Astra. My name is Astra." "Well, lovely to meet you, Astra." And with that he walked away. She continued her adventure to find the girls, trying to rid the color of his eyes from her thoughts.

    "Finally, over here." Astra looked up to see fiery red hair a few feet in front of her. She smiled brightly at her red headed best friend and walked to the door, following after Lily and closing the door behind them. "Took you bloody ages, where have you been?" Marlene said, standing up and wrapping her friend in a hug.

    "Sorry, I fell asleep before I came to find you guys." Astra said sheepishly, purposely leaving out the fact that Snape had almost strangled her just for the sake of her redheaded best friend's feelings. "Well all that matters is you are here now." Alice said standing up and wrapping her friend in a hug. FInally, Lily wrapped Astra in a hug and they all sat down to talk about their summers.