Sweets: The Tale of Astoria Greengrass

Learning to Live Without You

Snow blew around as Astoria followed Luca and Alice down to the paddocks. They were working with magical horses now. Unicorns had been most of January, and now the sixth-years would be treated to pegasi, as Hagrid had eagerly told her when she helped shovel out the poop.

Things had been a little less tense, but Astoria could still feel Alice's anger practically radiating off of her. She kept her distance— it seemed like that was all she ever did.

They approached the paddock, and Astoria spotted Rolf immediately. She left Alice and Luca to do their thing, and came over to him. He was feeding a Golden Delicious to a dappled gray pegasus.

"Tori,"'Rolf said warmly as he looked up. "How are you doing?"

"Alright," Astoria said. "You?"

"Couldn't be better," Rolf said. "Met my American cousins over the break, and we played some Quodpot. We also had some of Aunt Queenie and Uncle Jake's sweets— you should see them. The Kowalski Bakery is one of the most popular places in magical and muggle New York."

"What sort of things do they make?" Astoria asked.

"Sweets of all kinds, shaped like magical creatures," Rolf said. "I could get Aunt Queenie to send some, if you'd like."

"Yes please," Astoria said eagerly. She looked to the pegasi. "Have you worked with these before?"

"My mother runs a stable," Rolf said. "The Meadowes family is known for breeding magical horses."

"Meadowes. . . " The Name sounded familiar to Astoria, but she couldn't quite place where she'd heard it before. "So, you've ridden before?"

"Absolutely," Rolf said with a grin. "More fun than hippogriffs, in my opinion."

"Well, we're about teh find out," Hagrid said, coming up behind Rolf and Astoria. "Yeh'll be the first ones in the paddock, teh show the class how it's done."

He then clapped them on the back, which nearly knocked them both into the paddocks. Hagrid then walked to the clearing, where he could instruct to the entire class.

"Alright, alright," Hagrid said. "Today, we'll be looking at pegasi. Yeh've already met thestrals, unicorns, and hippogriffs, so I figured it'd be best teh teach yeh how teh care for pegasi. Today, we'll start with the easy stuff, how teh approach them. Astoria, Rolf?"

The two of them scurried over to Hagrid, curious what he was going to ask them to do.

"Yeh two, yer goin' teh get in the paddock, make sure not teh spook 'em," Hagrid said. "Food's best— especially since they're easily spooked."

He handed them apples, and Rolf and Astoria smiled and accepted. So far, they seemed like easier creatures to handle than say, hippogriffs. Rolf climbed over the side of the paddock, and then offered his hand to Astoria. She accepted as she came down from the fence.

Gripping her apple tightly, she approached a white pegasus with a gorgeous night-black mane. She kept her movements slow and predictable, so that the pegasus wouldn't be spooked by her, and gently gave the apple to the pegasus.

"There, there, girl," Astoria said, and she gently patted the pegasus's muzzle. She leaned into her touch, a sign of trust. She smiled, and she moved down the horse's side, stroking gently and slowly. Then, she hopped, unable to mount the horse.

To her surprise, the horse knelt down, and Astoria got on, sitting side-saddle because of her black pleated skirt. She stroked the pegasus's mane, and she stamped her foot impatiently and whinnied.

"Alright," Astoria said. "Come on, girl, let's fly."

She gripped onto the horse's mane as tightly as she dared, and the horse took off, building up into a run as the fence approached, and at the last minute, the horse leapt, taking off into the skies.

Astoria had ridden broomsticks and hippogriffs before, and while she was alright with a broom and disliked a hippogriff for ridding, enjoyed the pegasus more than anything. She felt overwhelming joy as they soared higher and higher above the Forbidden Forest and the lake.

"How's this for flight?"

Astoria turned to see Rolf following her on the dappled gray. She grinned.

"Best ride of my life!" she called out.

"Knew you had it in you, Tori," Rolf added.

The two of them circled around the lake before touching back down in the paddocks. Applause greeted them both, even from Alice and Luca, who seemed to finally be paying attention to something other than each other.

Astoria knew she'd get full marks for the day.

She busied herself with other activities, forgetting all about the letter buried in the bottom of her trunk. She went about her business, maintaining friendships, and beginning to repair that between herself and Alice and Luca.

Every week, on Sunday, like clockwork, Astoria left a tray of sweets out in the Slytherin common room for everyone to eat. Astoria felt it a duty of hers. It was a way she could make things just a little easier, considering the high pressure that was still there, lurking beneath the surface.

She didn't dare add anything like the tranquility powder to it again, for fear that it would have unintended results, rather than the intended ones.

Finally, one afternoon in mid-February, Astoria got her courage up. She got up and approached Selwyn. He turned, the expression on his face cold.

"Is there something you want, Prefect Greengrass?" he asked in an Irish accent similar to Astoria's mother.

"I was wondering if you knew my mother," Astoria said softly. "Queenie Greengrass. She would've been Selwyn."

"My sister," Selwyn said. "I haven't heard from Queenie in nearly fifteen years. You're one of her two daughters?"

"Yes," Astoria said. "I'm her youngest."

"I see," Selwyn said. "I don't know why you would bring this my attention, but thank you for it anyway. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

Astoria visibly deflated. "No, sir."

Her Muggle Studies Class was also going well, although she often wished that she could take it its students not in Slytherin, but rather with other students. Astoria was tired of her classmates, all stuck in the past and refusing to change. It wasn't any good, living that way, when they needed to change.

Astoria had found it in her to change long ago. She didn't understand why people didn't now.

Celia-Laura in particular seemed to be getting worse in that regard. She'd taken to complaining about Slytherin's allegedly unfair treatment in the courtyards rather than in the common room. This was due to Selwyn and Fawley unfortunately remaining ever vigilant in the common room.

The worst part was, no one seemed to learn from their mistakes.

As classes grew harder and other parts of her life consumed her, Astoria began to forget the letter in the bottom of her trunk. It remained a love letter unsent, although the heart of it still burned within her.