HP • Legilimency | 𝐍. 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐲

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The castle was darker than usual at that time, due to the thick, grey snow swirling outside the windows. Astria was partially hidden behind a bookshelf in the library, her nose buried in a book as she delved deeper into her research on the Lestrange family.

"But Harry always seemed so kind," a voice said, sitting down noisily at one of the tables near the shelf where she was. "Unlike Astria, who gives me shivers. But she's so...─ Charming."

"Yes, and they were the ones who made You-Know-Who disappear. They can't be that bad, can they?"

Ernie's voice whispered mysteriously. Astria sneezed from behind the bookshelf and saw the Hufflepuff students leaning in closer.

"No one knows how they survived You-Know-Who's attack. I mean, they were just babies when it happened. They should've turned to dust. Only a truly powerful dark wizard could survive an attack like that." And lowering his voice to almost a whisper, he continued, "Who knows, maybe that's why You-Know-Who wanted to kill them from the start. ─ Perhaps he didn't want competition in the world of darkness."

Astria cleared her throat loudly behind the bookshelf, enjoying the scene before her: every Hufflepuff student seemed petrified just by seeing her, and the color drained from Ernie's face.

"Hello," she said in a drawling tone, "Lovely day, isn't it? Despite this cold that... freezes you to ─ death" she lowered her voice suggestively for the last part, trying to hold back a laugh when one of the girls stood up in alarm, ready to flee.

"Just to inform you, you can trace my family back nine generations of witches and wizards, and my blood is as pure as anyone's, so..."

"I couldn't care less about the kind of blood you have!" Astria cut in brusquely.

"But you hate Granger ─"

"She annoys me."

"But you despise the others mu─"

"You talk too much." Astria waved her hand gracefully. "Oh, and you'd better not let my name come out of your mouth again," she warned with a cutting look. Turning, she left the library.

As Astria walked back from the dungeons to the castle, she came upon the latest victims of the basilisk, and there was Harry Potter, doing his best impersonation of a shocked and analytical detective in front of the stretched-out bodies. Well, the scene was stranger than the possibility of Snape using shampoo.

Astria froze in place, and Harry, noticing her presence, took a deep breath, looking as though he was about to announce the end of the world. "It ─ it wasn't me. Astria, I swear it wasn't me," he hurriedly said.

It was true.

"Relax, scattered brain," she retorted with an indifferent wave, focusing her gaze on what remained of Justin Finch-Fletchley.

The boy was sprawled on the floor, stiff and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face. His eyes stared at the ceiling. And there was more. Beside him, another figure, the most bizarre sight Astria had ever witnessed. Nearly Headless Nick was now motionless, floating horizontally more than a meter and a half above the ground. His head was almost completely severed, and his face wore the same shocked expression as Justin's, looking so surprised it could rival Edvard Munch's ─ The Scream.