The Untold Story of Astoria Greengrass

Chapter 4

I walked into the kitchen after storing my broom in my room and tossed the small parcel onto the counter. There were no house elves at the moment, which was best as I would have been too confused to make any sort of conversation. With a sigh I reached into a nearby fruit basket and pulled an apple, which I promptly proceeded to wash. As I felt the cool water run over my hands, I thought about the small owl that had delivered the parcel. When I climbed down from the tree, I expected to be able to write a response and request more information about the sender but the owl had already left.

As I dried my apple with a clean dish towel, I leaned against the counter, wondering if I should open the parcel. It was quite obvious to me that the person who sent it was not aware of my brother’s death, even if it had been quite sometime since. Maybe it was an old school chum who parted ways before it happened. Whatever the situation might be, I decided it was best to bring the parcel to my mother and then she could decide what would be the best thing to do.

CRUNCH, I bit into the apple, one of the most delicious I’d had in a long time.  I was never a big fan of apples, but I was inching for a snack and there were only apples left. I suppose because no one really ate them in my house, that this apple had plenty of time to ripen to it’s perfect point. CRUNCH, I took another bite.

I wondered how my mother would react to the package. She hardly ever spoke of Sebastian. I walked over to the counter and leaned forward, studying the handwriting, wondering if I had ever seen it before. It didn’t seem familiar at all. When I first read the name on the parcel, I literally gaped for several minutes on end quietly. I was rather shocked.

When he first passed, I remembered that we would received much mail and calls for him but it had been years since anyone had made the mistake of trying to contact him.  I read the name over and over: Sebastian Scorpius Greengrass. I remember thinking how silly his middle name was- the only member of our family to have such a strange middle name. Then again, my own first name was not exactly commonplace. It was an honor to his Godmother, Narcissa Malfoy’s family, the Blacks. Strange though the name Scorpius might have been, it became one of my favorites through the years as it seemed tinged with a certain amount of mystery.

“Parcel?” Said a voice from the door. I turned to look at Daphne who was now pulling a butterbeer from the refrigerator.

“Yeah.” I said, turning to look at my sister.

“well, who’s it from?” she asked, obviously intrigued. She took a swig from the Butterbeer and waited for an answer.

“I don’t know.” I answered truthfully and told her about the confused owl.

“odd, well, why don’t you open it?” she asked. I shrugged.

“well, I would but it’s not for me.” I answered another question in the most truthful manner.

“for mum then?” she asked, I shook my head, “oh, is it mine?” her greedy eyes widened.

“no.” I said, making her wrinkle her nose.

“then who the devil is it for?” she asked. I turned the package so that the name would face her. She squinted her eyes and leaned forward, it was a shame she should choose to strain her vision rather than just wear her glasses. She was quiet now, probably as stumped as I was.

“I suppose… It must be from an old friend or something.” She said, shaking her head and stupefaction away. Daphne never spoke about Sebastian, like mum, she preferred not to think about anything too painful and to her, it was still a very real and poignant pain.

“that’s what I assumed. I was thinking I should just take it to mum and let her open it.” I said, turning to look at Daphne for approval. She sat gazing at the parcel wide eyed, nodding as if she agreed.