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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James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter waited patiently in the girl's bathroom. Each of them occasionally throwing each other knowing glances before Asteria finally entered the room.
"Where have you been?" "You're late!"
Asteria jumped, clutching her hand to her chest as she widened her eyes at the boys.
"Merlin... You nearly gave me a heart attack!" "We've been waiting here for like an hour!" James folded his arms. "Why did you come an hour early?"
The four boys looked around at each other in confusion.
"Excuse us but you said eight o'clock." James nodded in confirmation. "I said I was going to eat breakfast at eight and I'd be up here an hour later. Do you even listen to anything I say?" Asteria grumbled, reaching into her bag to pull out the potions book.
"That doesn't give us much time to get everything before lunch." Sirius pointed out, reminding everyone of the need to break into Slughorn's supply cupboard. "We can just grab some food from the Great Hall and bring it here, can't we?" Asteria frowned.
James coughed slightly and Remus attempted to conceal this by stamping on the boy's foot.
"You didn't forget did you?" Remus asked, folding his arms. "Forget what?" Asteria asked.
James tutted, "You forgot. And to think I was just starting to believe you could really be one of the gang." "What did I forget?" Asteria snapped.
Sirius widened his eyes as it dawned on him, "Actually, it was me who forgot."
Remus and James stood, dumbfounded as they turned to Sirius. "Who forgot what?" Peter asked, thoroughly confused. "My point exactly." Asteria agreed.
"I thought I'd forgotten something but I didn't know what and... Now I know." Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance as he sighed, "I forgot to tell Ri."
"Merlin's beard, boy, what did you forget?" Asteria threw her arms up in exasperation.
Sirius scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "I planned this amazing date down by the lake with all your favourite food and I even got Blue to make a chocolate cake. It's the same one we had when we went down to the kitchens together. Everything was going to be perfect. I was planning this perfect first date and it was going to be an amazing lunch but..."
"You forgot to invite me." Asteria caught on, trying and failing to hide the smile that was growing on her face.
James rolled his head back, gripping onto Remus' arm as he roared with laughter. Remus stood, like a frozen statue with an expression of doubt and bewilderment plastered on his face. Peter looked around at everyone in the group, under the impression that Sirius had forgotten to invite him too.
"So..." Sirius slung his arm over Asteria's shoulders, "Got any plans for lunch?" Asteria rolled her eyes, "I have plans with this boy but he didn't actually invite me so I might just go and cry into a tub of ice cream and hug it out with my girl friends."
"Is it so hard for you to give me a straight answer?" Sirius grumbled, starting to blush slightly. "I would have thought it was easy to remember to invite the date... to the date." Asteria giggled.
"Fine, forget it. Remus, you want to come to a picnic with me by the lake?" Sirius turned to Remus.
"Normally it's the guy who asks the girl on the date." Remus smirked as he successfully wound Sirius up.
"Where did this joke about me being a girl come from? You know, never mind. I'll just go stag on my date. Who needs relationships?" Sirius shrugged, stepping towards the door.
"Okay, okay sorry!" Asteria hid her smile behind her hand, "Let's go get the stuff for this animagus potion and then I'd love to go on an actual date with you."
Sirius coughed slightly, "Really?" Asteria held out her hand to him, "Yeah, of course."
"Okay guys!" James walked between the couple, "That's enough of that. We have business to do." He said literally pulling Sirius and Asteria's hands apart. "Fine, let's get going." Remus nodded as he and Peter exited the room with the others.
The five walked down the empty corridors, adding the finishing touches to their plan.
"I get why you guys prank so much." Asteria nodded as James pulled out his invisibility cloak.
"Because we're so cool and rebellious?" James smirked. "Like, the adrenaline rush is amazing. Although I can't tell if it's adrenaline or fear and stress." Asteria admitted.
"No need to fear. We have this plan perfected to a T." Sirius grinned proudly.
"I think you're the only girl that's ever joined us on a real secret operation." Peter pointed out. "Must mean I'm special." "Sure are." Sirius threw Asteria a lopsided grin.
Remus looked over at them, "You know I think I was just sick in my mouth."
"Guys!" James exclaimed, "The plan?"
"Remus and Asteria talk to Slughorn about the Potions OWL because they're most likely to be nerdy enough to suck up to a teacher." Sirius began, folding his arms, "James distracts Filch with a trail of dungbombs whilst Peter stands guard outside the Potions cupboard and I sneak in under the invisibility cloak to grab the supplies on the list here."
"Foolproof." James beamed as he handed over his cloak to Sirius.
"See you guys on the other side then?" Remus let out a shaky breath. "Now or never." Peter nodded in confirmation.
The group split up outside the Potions supply cupboard - Remus and Asteria going one way, James going the other whilst Peter and Sirius remained put.
"I don't think Slughorn even knows my name." Asteria admitted quietly as Remus knocked on the classroom door. "I've never been invited to one of those stupid Slug Club parties." Remus muttered. "Me neither." Asteria added before Slughorn opened the door.
"Mister Lupin... And Miss Halloway. How may I help you?" Slughorn stepped out of the classroom at the sight of the two students.
"I-er...We... Me and Asteria were-well-I-we-" Remus stammered hopelessly.
Asteria reached into her bag and pulled out several sheets of parchment, "Do you mind going over some of our Potions revision with us? We're worried it's not all correct." She handed the paper over to the professor.
"Of course dear, come on in. I've just put the kettle on." Asteria smiled smugly as Remus as she led the way into the classroom.
Sirius tapped his foot impatiently on the floor, the invisibility cloak wrapped around his shoulders as he waited for the sound of the first dung bomb.
"I think James' animagus might be a snail." Sirius muttered under his breath just before a first explosion sounded in the distance.
"What in the? I bet it's those ruddy third years again! I'll get you this time!" The distant shout of Filch was the indicator that it was time to finally put the plan into motion.
"Peter? Remember to elbow the door twice if anyone comes by and I need to hide." Sirius raised his eyebrows at the shorted boy before pulling the cloak over his head and pulling out his wand.
"Alohamora." He murmured, pointing his wand at the lock before stepping inside of the cupboard.
The Potions supply cupboard was lined floor to ceiling with every ingredient under the moon. Sirius thought he'd got the easiest part of the plan but maybe looking for specific items in the vast array would prove to be quite the challenge. He was just thankful he wasn't the one having to brew a potion that contained a rat's tail - although it hadn't occurred to Sirius at the time that whilst he wouldn't be making the potion he would be drinking it.
