astronomy • marlene mckinnon

thirty three

There were fewer seventh-year Slytherins than usual, and Astraea Black knew the ones who weren't there, and specifically, the reason why they weren't.

There were only three Slytherin seventh-year girls' and two seventh-year boys' on the table clad in green, most of them who Astraea recognized, knowing them by the fact that they had the same mark imprinted on their left forearm.

Her eyes flickered down the table as Professor McGonagall took out the scroll and began to announce the names for the sorting.

The raven-haired girl watched her housemates as the Hufflepuff table burst into cheers as a young red-headed girl was sorted into the house.

Isabella Fawley was clapping politely as the children got sorted and Victoria Malfoy was positively scowling as a small brunette skipped towards the Ravenclaw table, a new fading scar on her left cheek. Astraea remembered how she had got that, and perhaps she could've done something to stop that from happening, but in that spur of the moment, she didn't and instead focussed on helping one of the Aurors get to the ten-year-old boy stuck in the wreckage which was once Quality Quidditch Supplies without being noticed.

But really, Victoria wasn't the only one who had received scars from the failed attack on Gringotts. Though the raven-haired girl was grateful that the Aurors had showed up in time, and her true intentions weren't revealed, she wasn't grateful for the fact that Bellatrix blew up Quality Quidditch Supplies- of all places over there- and neither was she grateful for the glass shard which had decided to fly into her leg, causing her walking activities to be put to a halt for a while.

The cheers around her grew once again, and Astraea pushed away her thoughts and clapped as she gave the boy walking towards the Slytherin table, the best smile she could muster.

It probably wasn't the best because she noticed Isabella slightly frowning at her and Astraea was very grateful for Rebekah Bennett to get sorted into Gryffindor and James and Sirius leading a very loud cheer which distracted the brunette.

She was truly surprised to see James Potter of all people in the prefect's compartment with the head boy badge pinned to his red and gold robes, but then she saw Lily Evans enter with the head girl badge, her eyes wide as James grinned, and the Slytherin realized that maybe you had to have a huge possibility of getting married and having kids for becoming head boy and head girl.

The seventh-year prefect let her eyes wander across the hall, clapping absentmindedly as Professor McGonagall finished with the sorting and frowned. Slytherin wasn't the only table with missing students.

Of course, the empty seats in the other houses were fewer than those in Slytherin, and Astraea didn't know if they weren't there because their parents were worried about their safety or they had chosen to join the dark lord in his quest- which the raven-haired girl thought was stupid.

She slightly jumped as a bowl of some thick rich gravy materialized right next to her elbow, and then leaned slightly back as she took an empty table and let her eyes flicker across the variety of food on the table.

She was absolutely delighted to find the bowl of mashed potatoes, she rarely got them at Grimmauld Place, Walburga and Orion Black found the dish unhealthy.

Dumbledore had started speaking when Astraea was done with her dinner and had added a piece of apple pie to her plate, but she zoned him out. She knew what he was saying, it was the same every year, and she let her eyes wander across the hall.