astronomy • marlene mckinnon

thirty six

Astraea Black wasn't a stranger to waking up in the library.

It was usually with her sitting on one of the benches in front of a table in one of the corners of the library, her head tucked between her arms and an open book in front of her, occasionally she would find a parchment with an incomplete essay written on it, a bottle of ink not far away from it and a quill in her hand which would be covered in ink.

But still, she did not expect to wake up with a splitting headache and being curled up on the floor, in front of a bookshelf with most of the books fallen on the floor.

She sat up slowly and squinted her eyes as she looked around her.

"Good morning."

She turned around and reached for her wand.

The Slytherin was relieved that it was only the boy she had met yesterday. However, she did not return his grin which had seemed more like a grimace.

She wasn't wearing the coat whose pockets contained her wand.

The seventeen-year-old immediately stood up, her eyes wide, and she was hit with a sudden wave of dizziness and had to put a hand on the bookshelf to balance herself.

"You okay?" Charlie had spoken up, his eyebrows furrowed, concern displayed on his face.

"No, I'm not bloody okay," She snapped, he seemed unfazed. "I wake up with a fucking headache, and my coat has my wand in it, and it has decided to go missing."

"I thought I saw it on Angie."

Astraea turned to him, her eyes flashing with panic for a second as every possibility of what could have happened the previous night ran through her head.

He pointed right next to him, and the girl felt a wave of stupidity crush her because she hadn't noticed the sleeping blonde girl covered in the Slytherin's green coat.

She immediately walked forward to yank the coat off her but was stopped by the olive-skinned boy who stepped in front of her, "You can't just take it off her."

"Why not?"

"You're going to wake her up."

Astraea scowled, "I don't give a fuck if I wake anyone up, that's my coat and I want it back."

Charlie shook his head, "You just want your wand back."

He knelt down and put a hand in one of the coat's pockets, wincing slightly when Angela slightly stirred and took out the Slytherin's wand. He stood up and handed it to the girl who basically snatched it, "And now you have it."

The girl clutched her wand protectively, trying her best to ignore the throbbing pain in her head, and scowled, "I also want my coat back."

"Merlin, Black, you're a stubborn one," The boy laughed. The Slytherin didn't find anything amusing in the situation but she listened to what he had to say.

"Let her sleep right now, you go and try to get rid of that terrible hangover- there's no need to deny it, we all saw how much you drank last night. And, I'll make sure to give you your coat back when she wakes up."

Astraea must have still looked skeptical because the black-haired boy spoke up again, "I'll move it to number one on my priority list. Come on! Let the poor girl sleep."

The raven-haired girl muttered some colorful words under her breath as she turned around and walked out of the aisle and then out of the library, feeling as if her head was about to slip into pieces and now feeling very cold.

She really wanted that coat back now.

But she was halfway towards the Slytherin common room and she just wanted to reach her bed unnoticed.