A muggle-born Slytherin whose parents are terrified of her.
A pureblood Gryffindor whose parents are disappointed in him.
The arrival of her Hogwarts letter was meant to make everything better.
Asteria Halloway finally had an explanation for her p...
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"I'm not so sure about this." Sirius shook his head as James followed along beside him.
"I'm giving you the best advice here! I know exactly what I'm doing." James nodded. "Then why aren't you and Lily together yet?" James coughed, "That's a working progress. Some things shouldn't be rushed."
Sirius just continued to shake his head as the two boys arrived back at the Gryffindor common room.
"Listen, I'll give you my cloak and you go and get her. Then the two of you can spend all night together... Under the stars... Maybe a teacher will walk past and you'll have to hide together in a cupboard pressed up against each other." James smirked, staring at the wall as he imagined it.
"Dude!" Sirius punched him in the arm.
"What's going on now?" Remus looked up from his book as he sat in front of the fire. "Nothing." Sirius grumbled, throwing himself down to sit beside Remus.
"I think Sirius should take Asteria to get the mandrake leaves tonight." James explained, "Then he can finally man up and tell her she looks hot and he wants to make out with her."
Remus frowned, "James this might be why Lily hates you." Then he laughed, "Or at least one of the many reasons."
James looked startled as he stood in front of the two boys, glancing between them, "Where's Peter? He'll take my side."
"Sirius, I think you should be nice to Asteria. Don't act like a rebel or play mind games or whatever just show an interest in her - like a decent person." Remus said. "I am a decent person; I am genuinely interested! It's just, we're friends and I don't really want to ruin that but..." Sirius pulled at his hair.
"Just grab her face and kiss her. It's simple." James shrugged, leaning against the wall smugly.
"It's anything but simple." Sirius said, "She doesn't like me. She's this sort of... lone wolf kind of person." "So are you. You hate teamwork and agreeing with people and sharing. Yet you're fine doing all that with her so clearly you like her." Remus pointed out, "And if she's so independent, why does she suddenly want to spend so much time around you?"
Sirius furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a second. He didn't want to put up some facade or act like he did with other girls. This was different somehow. He wanted to impress her and really didn't want to hurt her feelings. With other girls, he hadn't cared how angry or upset they were with him after it ended. Sirius not only cared what Asteria thought of him but also didn't want to see anything end with her.
"Okay, get me your cloak." Sirius turned to James.
Asteria stood outside her own common room. She stared up at the large door, feeling the password on the tip of her tongue but unsure as to whether or not she wanted to say it. Over the years the passwords seemed to rotate over a variety of different ways of saying pureblood or insulting those who weren't. This not only annoyed but also upset Asteria as every time she tried to enter her only safe space in the school, she had to utter "pureblood" as if downgrading herself.
