astronomy • marlene mckinnon

fifty

Marlene McKinnon knew that something had gone terribly wrong over the winter break. Well, it was rather obvious, not just to her, but to anyone who had eyes.

Over the span of one week, since the term started, none of the Black siblings were speaking to each other anymore, and while the two brothers stuck to their own group of friends, it wasn't hard to notice that the distance between Astraea Black and Isabella Fawley was increasing as each day passed.

While the brunette was hanging out with Lily and Emmeline, which was extremely good company in Marlene's opinion, Astraea however, was often seen with Victoria Malfoy and Nathaniel Avery.

She had run up to Sirius one particular evening in the Gryffindor common room, just before he was about to go up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, "Hey, Is everything okay? Between you and Re— your sister?"

The raven-haired boy's eyes widened for a single almost unnoticeable moment before they hardened. "What does it look like?"

Marlene winced, "What happened? Is she alright?"

"No," Sirius had scowled at her. "She's gone off the rails, I'd prefer to not be associated with someone of the likes of her."

With a dramatic flourish, he turned away and walked up the stairs leaving a very confused blonde girl at the bottom. Nothing seemed to be getting better either, with the Slytherin avoiding her at every chance she got. She had finally got a chance to speak to her as they sat down in the potion's classroom two days after the whole fiasco with Sirius but before she could even open her mouth, Professor Slughorn had walked in and begun his lesson— of all the days he chose to be on time for class!

The blonde only grumbled under her breath, frowning as the only words the girl next to her addressed to her were something related to the potion they were supposed to be making together. She sat down as Astraea took everything in her own hands (good for both of them), rested her head in the palm of her hand and then sighed, very loudly, in an attempt to get the other girl's attention and the raven-haired girl paid no attention and simply continued to stir the potion in front of her. Marlene frowned as she noticed a bandage peeking out of the left sleeve of the robe she was wearing and immediately stood up, eyes hardening, "What happened there?"

"What?" The raven-haired girl hummed airily, not really paying attention to her and the other girl scowled as she pointed towards the bandage wrapped around her wrist, rage and fear filling her all at once.

Astraea forgot about the potion in front of her as she pulled the sleeve up to her fingers, her striking grey eyes finally meeting the waiting pair of blue. Marlene crossed her arms, and she swore she saw a hint of a smile before it was replaced with a stoic expression.

"It got burnt."

The blonde girl stumbled back slightly, having an inkling that maybe it was not her who was responsible for it and the raven-haired girl seemed to know what she was thinking for she immediately shook her head, turning away, her voice dropping to a whisper, "It wasn't my parents, if that is what you're thinking. It was my fault."

"What were you doing?" Marlene asked but she had already lost the Slytherin's attention as the contents cauldron in front of Severus Snape who was right in front of them exploded like a volcano and a pair of Gryffindors completely failed to hide their laughter.

He turned to complain to someone, but the professor was helping out Mary with some of the ingredients and had not paid attention to what had happened behind them. Snape turned to the raven-haired girl behind him, "You!"

"Me," Astraea drawled, not even looking up from her own cauldron.

"Could you tell your twin to mind his own business?"