HP • Legilimency | 𝐍. 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐲 𝐑𝐮𝐧

HAPPY NEW YEAR BABIES ✨

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On that very afternoon, once they were certain there were enough protective enchantments, Harry, Astria, and Hermione took turns guarding the outside of the tent. Ron was still delirious, hovering between unconsciousness and reality, his motionless arm in an improvised sling and his face as pale as a ghost.

The clearing remained deserted, except for occasional birds and squirrels. Astria detected no presence of other living beings, at least those whose minds she could eavesdrop on. The night brought no changes. Astria lit her wand, taking over from Harry at midnight, and gazed upon an empty landscape. She noted bats soaring high in the patch of starry sky visible from the protected clearing.

She felt hunger, something she didn't think she would experience for years, and a bit of dizziness. She had stocked very few supplies in her pouch. Something that needed to be rationed, as they had no idea when they could have a proper meal. Hermione suggested gathering some wild mushrooms and went out to collect as many as she could. It wasn't the tastiest thing Astria had eaten, but it was by far the most nauseating. She was accustomed to hunger like an old friend but feared when she saw Ron about to vomit.

Her other friends didn't know what that was like. Harry might have gone through something similar, nearly starving at the Dursleys'. Hermione seemed to be coping reasonably well, just becoming quieter and more melancholic, which was a significant improvement. But Ron proved truly unbearable, questioning every moment what they were doing and commenting on how hungry his stomach was.

The surrounding silence was broken by occasional indistinct sounds and, perhaps, twigs snapping. Astria thought they were produced by animals and not people, as she couldn't hear any thoughts. Nevertheless, she firmly wielded her wand, ready for use. Her insides, already damaged by the insufficient portion of rubbery mushrooms and only a third of a slice of bread, trembled, causing discomfort.

For the first time in many years, she removed the amulet Narcissa gave her on the day of her departure for Hogwarts. It was a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a moon, a single narcissus etched into the opal. She took it off because she needed to use all her mental capacity and couldn't afford to neutralize occasional thoughts that were at a distance.

Pondering in silence, Astria looked at the sky, holding the amulet in her hands. They had acquired a Horcrux, but they were far from knowing how to destroy it, let alone finding the others. Determined, Astria tightly gripped her wand and spun it. Focusing with all she had on a memory of Narcissa.

A beam of light shot out from the wand. Bright and gleaming. A snow leopard walked up to her, observing her attentively.

"Speak," Astria commanded, and the Patronus echoed like a reverberation: "Speak."

Satisfied , she raised the wand under her chin and said, "Grimmauld Place isn't safe. We've been exposed. We fled, Quidditch World Championship Forest, move to safety. Take care."

Focusing on the message to search for Narcissa, she released the Patronus, watching it run before disappearing. Unsure if it had worked. The next morning, Astria had already packed everything to leave.

She and Hermione thought it best not to stay in one place for too long, and both Harry and Ron agreed, with the only condition that the next move would bring them close to a bacon sandwich.

Hermione, therefore, undid the spells she cast on the clearing, while Astria removed those from the forest as the two friends erased all traces and impressions on the ground that could indicate they had camped there. Then, they Apparated to the outskirts of a small market town.