Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 27 - Magic in the Moonlight

A/N: Make sure you don't miss out on this fantastic image the internet has provided us with ⬆️... 😂😂

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It took a few hours of lounging on the Astronomy Tower balcony for Asha to realise that thinking wasn't actually doing her much good. The sun had descended until now only thin threads of golden rays peeked over the mountain tops. Asha had been postponing the moment when she would have to re-enter her Hogwarts life and face her Hufflepuff squad. Unfortunately, it seemed that time had finally come.

As she descended the tower and made her way through the castle, everything felt strangely alien. Everyone around her was so young. Asha now understood the origin of her frustration with her peers and feeling so alone. The realisation was liberating. It was odd that her entire life had been flipped around, yet the rest of the world continued as if nothing had changed.

Asha did her best to avoid the busiest corridors where intermittent clusters of students were making their way towards the Great Hall for dinner. Sometimes the main routes couldn't be avoided however, and Asha was forced to slide under the cover of a large tapestry just in time to avoid Maive, Alisha and Jules. The trio was closely followed by Rachel, Matt and Justin. Good, Asha thought, she would at least have the dorm to herself for a while. Heartened by this news, she sped the rest of the way to the basement, slipping through the common room and into her dorm unnoticed.

She sat stiffly on the edge of her bed and wondered what to do with herself. Everything seemed so pointless. So trivial. Then, mid-muse, something caught her eye. Poking out of her trunk was the sleeve of her black, oversized sweatshirt. She'd worn it throughout every one of her years at Hogwarts. But, for the first time, she recognised it... It had belonged to Crash.

Feeling suddenly uneasy, Asha slowly dropped to her knees in front of her trunk, staring. After a moment, she cautiously lifted the lid and slid the sweatshirt onto her lap. She felt numb. She glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the closed door of the dorm, before tentatively hugging the worn fabric to her chest.

She leant her chin against it and the familiar smell she associated with happiness and security washed over her. It was terrifying. She abruptly threw the sweatshirt back into the trunk as if it had burned her and turned to stare intently at her bedpost, willing herself to detach from her surge of emotions and think of nothing but the carved oak.

Within a few seconds, she had recovered herself and turned to close the trunk. As she did so, a pair of jeans caught her eye. She'd stolen them from a mall when she was fifteen and even stopped to say hello to the security guard on the way out. Cocky bastard, Asha smirked to herself. She had become very adept at stealing over the years. She was moral about it, only stealing from large franchises and never taking more than she needed (apart from the occasional treat of course).

Scanning her messy bundle of clothes, Asha could spot only one item she had actually paid for - a wristwatch she'd bought off a starving man in Hawke's Bay one Christmas. The old man had refused to take her money so she told him she'd like to buy his watch and did so with significantly more money than the item was worth. She picked up the watch and latched it around her wrist, polishing the scuffed face with the sleeve of her shirt.

Asha's gaze inevitably wandered back to the sweatshirt. Crash had always made the most of what he was given. It was one of the things she had loved about him. He used to say 'Grab life by the balls and see where they swing you'. She smiled sadly at the memory. Despite the immense hardships life threw at him, Crash treated the world like a huge playground. Everything was an opportunity he could make an adventure of.

Suddenly, Asha knew what she wanted to do. Swiping up her towel and shower caddy, she headed to the bathroom to cleanse herself of her doubts and fears. She was going to grab life by the balls.