Astraea didn't remember when she had fallen asleep, well to be honest, everything had been a blur after Regulus had left the room saying the worst thing he could ever say. He was angry with her, and for a good reason, she didn't blame him for that. But once again, a Black sibling had let their anger get the better of them and let it out in words which killed harder than a knife would and now all her thoughts were being haunted by his words.

She opened her eyes, waking up in Evan's bed by the sound of the opening door which creaked a lot if she had to be honest. She adjusted her eyes to the darkness which surrounded her as she heard voices near the door.

"Took you long enough," Evan Rosier's voice flooded in her ears and the girl furrowed her eyebrows, her thoughts spiralling, who could he be talking to?

"It's not my fault your owl is slow as fuck— I came here as fast as I could," A reply came in a very irritated tone and she recognised it to belong to her twin brother. Wait. What?

"You've got to leave before anyone sees you, alright? If anyone finds out, they'll kill us all."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now why don't you move out of my way and let me see my sister?"

If Astraea was confused then, she was really really confused right now because what in the name of Merlin's ballsack was happening? She decided that it was probably just a dream or she had just gone crazy from the previous events of the night because there was no possible way that Sirius Black and Evan Rosier were in the same room.

She felt someone slide into the bed right behind her and sure enough Sirius' voice reached her ears, "Oi— Rea, are you awake?"

She turned around carefully, trying not to put pressure on her left arm as all signs of sleepiness vanished entirely, her eyes wide, making sure that it was truly her very much disowned brother who was speaking but it was too dark to tell so she whispered out, "Sirius? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?"

"What— how are you even here?"

"Well, Rosier sent me a letter saying that you might need some brotherly cheering up, so here I am."

"Turn on the lamp beside you, I can't see shit," The raven-haired girl spoke up and after a light sound of movement a soft golden glow had filled the room and sure enough, Sirius Black was sitting on the bed, grinning at her but anyone could see that his eyes were full of concern. She immediately pulled the covers up to her chest, even though she was wearing a shirt too big for her which belonged to Evan because who would want to sleep in an evening dress? She smiled at him, keeping the arm which was covered in bandages hidden, "How are you even here?"

"Don't you worry about that, I have my ways," He gave her a sly smirk before he frowned at her. "Now, you and Regulus got into a fight, the bad kind? That's a first— it's usually me, tell me what happened."

"It's nothing," she muttered, turning away from his eyes and focusing on the ceiling above her.

Sirius scoffed and she gave him a look to which he rolled his eyes, "If it was nothing, you wouldn't be here, of all places. If you don't want to say anything, that's fine but don't tell me that it's nothing, because you and I both know that's a lie."

The raven-haired girl sighed and mumbled under her breath, "He hates me."

Sirius furrowed his brows, "What"

"He hates me."

"Reg?"

"Who else?"

It was quiet for a moment before Sirius let out a sigh, "I suppose he'll just have to get over it."

"I wish, but then again, he has every reason to," Astraea frowned, the words her younger brother said coming back to her, the world coming down in a crash all over again. She turned towards her twin brother who was already looking at her, confusion covering his face and she sighed, sitting up, momentarily forgetting about her slightly burnt arm as the covers fell down. Her eyes widened as they fell on the bandage and immediately pulled the covers back up but it was too late because Sirius had already noticed.

"What happened there?" His eyes hardened, pulling the covers down as he looked at her bandaged arm. She winced, looking away immediately, refusing to give an answer.

"Astraea," The raven-haired boy hissed, completely failing to hide the rage in his voice as he repeated himself. "What happened there?"

"A very slight uh— burn."

"What the fuck— did they do that?" He narrowed his eyes, clearly referring to their parents and the raven-haired girl shook her head.

"Then who else would— don't tell me it was Reg—"

"What the hell? No—"

"Then who? Was it Rosier? One of the Malfoys? I bet it was that Lestrange kid, I'll kill him—"

"Sirius," She sighed, her voice dropping to a low whisper with a voice full of hurt. "Please stop."

He did so, but the resentment was clear in his eyes. He shook his head and moved closer as the raven-haired girl rested her head on his shoulder. He took a deep breath, resting his own head upon the girl's head, "I'm worried about you."

"Don't be, I'm fine."

"That's what you always say. And besides, I can't just stop— I'm your older brother, that's my job."

"You're only older by seventeen minutes."

"Still older."

Astraea scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Idiot."

Sirius sighed, "I'm not joking Rea, I'm really worried. Come on, Evan Rosier sent me a letter, also very much worried about you. And he kind of knows what happened tonight so he's in the loop. I don't have a clue, it scares me. This kind of thing, either with you or Reg— makes me regret my impulsive decisions because now anything could happen, and I wouldn't have a clue. And now with the whole Voldemort thing, it's even more scarier."

She flinched at the name, now knowing exactly why the fear of the name has spread like wildfire. She bit her lip, this was exactly the thing she didn't want, having people fret about her well-being. It made her continuously feel guilty about her own actions, and her own bloody life.

Another pang of guilt hit her as she realised that it was how she had made Sirius feel for being brave enough to face his parents and make a decision to protect himself. Swallowing the horrible feeling inside her, she sat up straight and looked at her brother with a frown. "Don't regret it. You did what you had to do, and I don't fault you for that."

I only fault myself for not doing the same when I had the chance.

"Hey Rea," The boy raised an eyebrow at the girl leaning against the headboard, her gaze moving to the ceiling above, humming in response.

"Was he there? Voldemort?"

With that sentence, the thing holding everything together inside her finally broke. Before she knew it, the tears had broke through the barriers trying to hold them back and the words were tumbling out of her mouth, giving every single minute detail of what had happened since the moment she had entered the ballroom at the Rosier Manor except the part where the Dark Lord planned to attack Hogwarts, with Sirius interjecting in between with some very valuable inputs including a few to a lot of colourful words.

"You need to talk to Reg, Sirius," she wiped off the tears staining her cheeks before her brother pulled her into a hug. "You need to make him understand, make him leave."

"And you?"

"The order needs a spy, does it not?"

"Rea—"

"No, I'm not going to quit," The girl shook her head, her voice firm. "Because I can't quit being a death eater unless I have a death wish. I want to talk to the auror— what was his name— Moody. I've got to renegotiate a few terms of service and you've got to talk to Regulus."

Sirius sighed, holding the girl closer, careful not to hurt her left arm any more than it already was. "I'll talk to him, and I'll tell Moody that you want to have a chat."

"Thank you," She nodded, tiredness taking over her. They remained in silence for a while before she fell asleep in that same position, in her brother's arms and for the first time since she had stepped off the train, she had felt truly safe.

But when she woke up, Sirius was already gone.

•

"Have a good sleep?" Evan raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, running a hand through his wet hair. "I would hope so, you slept in the most comfortable bed in the whole house."

She rolled her eyes as she took her dress which was previously hanging on one of the chairs in Evan's room. She was now wearing clothes, stolen from the blond's closet and magically shrunk to fit her size because she would rather die than wear a dress from his mother's closet. He had not exactly been delighted about that but considering there was nothing he could do, he had said nothing and had only given her the dirtiest look he could muster up and told her to better run to her room as soon as she reaches and change clothes before her parents see her and faint in shock of seeing their daughter wearing pants.

"And what about your arm?" Evan raised an eyebrow at her, sitting down on his bed.

"The blisters are still there, your healing cream didn't work as well as you thought you would," Astraea shrugged, trying to untangle her hair the best she could with her fingers itself. "But it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Oh well, you can't have everything." He sighed loudly, giving her a wink as she gave him a glare. "So you're going now?"

"Yeah, well it's now or never."

"Alright then," The blond got up, "Let me escort you to the fireplace."

"Evan." Astraea looked at him, annoyance flashing in her eyes.

"Yes, darling?"

"I'm not going to break if you take your eyes off me." She gave him a pointed look and he merely shrugged and pushed her slightly towards the door. "I'm fine, really, I am."

And it was true, she really was feeling way better than she had thought she would. She supposed it was because of Sirius and then paused, realising that it was Evan who had called her brother to his house, risking everything just so she would cheer up. "Hey, Evan?"

"Yeah?" He hummed as he opened the door and then bowed with a dramatic flourish and she let out a small laugh.

"Thank you, truly," She whispered, clutching the dress in her hands tighter, genuinely meaning the words she uttered and he frowned at her.

"It was nothing, now run along before my mother comes upstairs and sees you here."

"I thought she liked me," The raven-haired girl frowned as they walked across the corridor. "And I thought she wants us together, why do you want me gone before your mother sees us?"

"Because she would most likely think that we had sex and she thinks that should only be done after marriage."

Astraea froze in her place as her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out because the shock had pulled away every word resting on the tip of the tongue. The blond looked at her for a moment before he burst into laughter, "I'm only joking, she'll actually be delighted that we're making heirs for the Rosier clan."

"Idiot," The raven-haired girl rolled her eyes in annoyance before she took the floo powder resting on a table beside the fireplace. She gave him a wave which he returned with extreme enthusiasm before she dropped the floo powder, uttering the name of her house, mentioning the first floor very clearly because if she had entered through the main fireplace, her parents would have been sitting right in front of her and she was not at all interested in facing that.

She practically ran to her room the second she landed in the second drawing room on the first floor, extremely thankful that there was no one who she crossed in her way and immediately went into her closet, after throwing the dress on her bed, to take out a skirt and then to the lower drawer to take out a fresh set of bandages to replace the one she had on at the moment. She took off the previous bandage, wincing as her eyes set on the healing burns and the dark mark which seemed unaffected as the black stood strong against her skin which was still red in colour.

Astraea was just done combing her hair after she had a change of clothes when there was a knock on her door. Her eyes flickered across the room, it was definitely not in a condition for someone to come in and feel right at home. She got up and walked towards the door, opening it only slightly, wide enough for the person to view her but not enough to see the mess inside.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed Orion Black standing there and before she could stop herself, the question had already slipped through her tongue, "Father?"

"It's time for breakfast."

"I was just about to make my way downstairs," Astraea said, confusion filling her body because never in his entire life had he come up to remind her of something as simple as breakfast so there was definitely something happening.

He nodded, his expression as stoic as ever, giving away no signs of his intentions. "Might I have a word with you before we make our way?" His eyes shifted towards the left, "In private."

"In my room?" The raven-haired girl winced, "I apologise but my room is not exactly tidy at the moment—"

"I want to have a word with you, Astraea," He interrupted her and opened the door himself, making his way inside. "Close the door behind you."

Astraea did so, before she turned to her father, completely baffled by his behaviour but he did nothing to quell that confusion. "First things first, your mother is not aware of you spending the night at the Rosier manor and I would like to keep it that way. Is that clear?"

"Yes," She said slowly and noticing the raised eyebrow she added hastily, "Father."

She frowned slightly as he picked up the bandage she had discarded before and looked at the ground as her father's gaze moved towards her. "Lift up your sleeve."

"What—"

"Lift it up."

Astraea opened her mouth, ready to protest but then closed it once she noticed the look on her father's face. She hesitantly brought her right hand to the left sleeve of the grey sweater she was wearing and looked up at her father, hoping that he would see the desperation in her eyes and for once take pity on her and let her go. But that didn't happen and he simply gave no reaction at all as the eighteen-year-old in front of him pulled up the sleeve of her sweater and revealed the bandage-covered arm.

He gripped her left hand and twisted it slightly so that her forearm was on display. If he had done that perhaps a day before, he would have seen the dark mark but at the moment all there was to see was her covered arm. He put his finger through the opening and Astraea sucked in a breath as the pain returned.

"It's not tight enough," Was all he said before he ripped the bandage apart disclosing the dark mark on her forearm, surrounded by blisters. "So you were stupid enough to try and go against the dark lord."

She looked down, feeling like a child being scolded for doing something absolutely stupid and getting hurt in the process. She winced as her father's grip on her wrist tightened and she whispered the dreaded question, dreading the answer, "Are you going to punish me?"

Orion raised an eyebrow, tightening his grip, ignoring the hiss of pain his daughter let out. He sighed in disappointment, racking the girl in front of him with even more guilt than she was handling before and he took out his wand and flourished it. Immediately the bandage in his other hand wrapped around her hand rather tightly, covering the burn marks. "This would take at least a month to heal. I think you've been punished enough."

Astraea fought back the urge to breathe out in relief as she looked at her father, her heartbeat speeding. "I'm sorry."

And the most surprising thing was, she truly meant it with her entire heart because her actions just didn't cause harm to only her. Regulus got caught in the crossfire, it could be anyone next and the last thing she wanted was for someone she cared about to get hurt. And the deepest parts of her did care about her parents, no matter how much the others detested them, every time she tried, she would never be able to hate her parents.

Orion raised an eyebrow at her but gave no response as he began to walk towards the door. "Time for breakfast. I will send you a box of a potion tonight, be sure to apply it every night and then change the dressing until the burns heal."

She nodded immediately and before she could say a thank you, Orion had already walked out of the room. Astraea sighed as she pulled down her sleeve and proceeded to go downstairs for breakfast and with all her luck, the second she had walked out of her room she had crashed into her younger brother.

"Reg, wait—"

The boy simply ignored her and walked past her like she wasn't even there. She scowled as he pulled Barty behind him as the other boy sent her an apologetic look, so much for Christmas Eve.

Regulus didn't even look at her, let alone even talk to her. Two days after, when the raven-haired girl walked upstairs after breakfast, feeling that there was nothing which could spoil her incredibly joyful mood after opening Marlene's Christmas gift which included a handmade lavender-coloured woollen scarf along with a wreath of white roses, not even the million glares which were sent her way at breakfast.

Regulus walked up to her, eyes as cold as ever, "So this is your masterplan, huh?"

Astraea frowned, "What?"

"Making Sirius write to me? Try to convince me to leave, run away. I'm not a coward—"

"Sirius isn't one, either if that's what you're trying to imply, Regulus," She interrupted him, quite done with his attitude because he had managed to spoil her mood. "And you might not be a coward, but you're a bloody idiot and you need to quit it."

"Look," Regulus scowled, "I don't know what game you're playing but I don't want any part in it, alright? Just stop trying to interfere in my life, you and Sirius both. I can handle myself."

The girl opened her mouth but the boy had already turned away and entered his room. She huffed in annoyance and went inside her own room where she found an unfamiliar owl waiting for her. As soon as the brown-coloured owl noticed her it flew over to her and started pointing its feet at her, rather impatiently, showing the rolled-up piece of parchment tied and waiting for her to untie it and read it.

"Calm down." Astraea snapped irritatedly, as she tried to undo the knot and sighed in relief when she was finally able to, even with the owl not being able to still itself for thirty seconds. The owl immediately flew away through the open window, not even waiting for a response. She sighed as she lay down on her bed, unrolling the piece of parchment, and immediately sat up straight once she noticed the handwriting.

Miss Astraea Black,
Tonight at Eleven, we shall meet in the gardens in front of your residence.
Alastor Moody.

The raven-haired girl took out her wand and burnt the parchment, just in case anyone decided to snoop around in her room and then lay back down on her bed, wincing slightly as her left arm pressed against the mattress, her hands reaching the scarf as her thoughts once again spiralled into a mess.

She thought of Marlene and wondered if she had joined the Order of the Phoenix, she was sure that her brothers were a part of it. She thought about their shared moments in the Astronomy tower and hidden corners of the library and the secret glances in the middle of classes, and then the image of the Dark Lord in the gala a few days ago came back to her mind and she thought about what could happen if he ever found about this secret of hers. She groaned, cursing herself for falling into this mess.

It was supposed to be a mere distraction from everything which happened at Grimmauld Place, a small glimmer of joy to which she could go when life became too overwhelming. Falling in love with her was never supposed to happen. Astraea and Marlene together could never be a thing, it was doomed from the start considering the family she came from, what was she thinking, letting herself indulge in all those forbidden moments, knowing that it had to end at one point or the other. She was going to get married soon enough and would have to embrace her role as the perfect pureblood daughter, with no room for mistakes.

There was absolutely no way that Marlene could come into the picture, not while she carried the dark mark on her arm and definitely not when there was a war going on. But then again, another part of her head said that maybe if the blonde never found out about the mark, and perhaps if they remained a secret for as long as the war continued then maybe, just maybe— no. It's too risky to even think of.

Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was a depressing place, there was nothing else to do except sit alone and be continuously attacked by the wreck which were your thoughts. And that's what Astraea did because Regulus wasn't interested in talking to her. At four in the evening, she decided to clean up her entire room which even though took way longer than expected was a very welcome escape from her mind.

At eleven in the night, the raven-haired girl used the loud chiming of the clock to her advantage and quietly slipped out of the house and walked towards the huge park in front of her, pulling her jacket closer. She spotted Moody almost immediately, well to be fair it was hard not to, considering that the park was entirely empty and walked towards him after she looked behind her, making sure that there was no one there.

"You wanted to talk?" He raised an eyebrow, once she approached him.

She nodded, "If I'm going to betray my entire family for you guys. I'm not going to do it out of the goodness of my heart, I want something in return."

To her incredible surprise, the auror in front of her smiled, "I was wondering when this conversation was going to come up. What do you want?"

"Protection," The raven-haired girl narrowed her eyes at him, trying to figure out what he thought of the conversation but Alastor Moody gave nothing away. "If by any way the dark lord figures out about my position in the order, he will want me dead."

"That's it?" He seemed pleasantly surprised but Astraea scoffed.

"No," she rolled her eyes, "You see, when I go into hiding he will do anything in his power to lure me out, including lashing out against the people I care about."

The auror sighed, "Your two brothers and the Rosier boy you're going to marry in July?"

The raven-haired girl nodded, biting back a nasty comment, before she wondered if she should add Marlene's name to the list but then discarded the thought immediately for one, it would give away information which could be held as leverage against her and two since the blonde's brothers were already a part of the Order, it was most likely that she was already under immediate protection. And last, the girl with the most beautiful smile she had ever seen shouldn't be affecting Astraea's thoughts so she pushed them away and looked at Moody with a raised eyebrow, "So?"

"Both of your brothers, done. Evan Rosier, however, is a death eater. I have no idea how he managed to convince the ministry that he isn't. Both the Order and the Aurors of the ministry will be after him."

"I'm a death eater too, in case you forgot," The raven-haired girl challenged. "Any harm to me or those three because of the Order and you would lose a spy. It's all up to you."

Moody considered this in his head, and then eventually nodded, not looking very happy with the very thought. "Is that it then?"

"Yes."

"Have a good night, Astraea."

"Better start convincing everyone that Evan's not a death eater," The girl gave him a smile and the man in front of her rolled his eyes before he apparated away. She sighed as she looked at the empty spot in front of her for a while before she turned back and went to her house, her fingers wrapped around her wand, just in case.

Just before she entered her room, she paused to glance at Regulus' closed door and for a moment pondered if she should go inside and sort things out with her brother. Another part of her was beginning to grow really tired of the younger boy's attitude and in the end, she had settled on a decision to treat the boy exactly like he was treating her so she shot a death-like glare towards the closed door and then proceeded to act like the younger boy didn't even exist.

She felt slightly bad for Barty though, at dinner the next evening as she noticed him awkwardly glance at the two siblings who weren't even looking at each other and then at Walburga and Orion Black who were looking at each other, but with a fire in their eyes, only pausing to give a glance towards the other three in the room. Astraea could have sworn that she noticed her mother give her a sort of guilty look, but considering that it was her mother she was talking about, it must have been a trick of the light.

The raven-haired girl was absolutely delighted to be excused as her parents asked Regulus to stay behind for a while, wishing to have a conversation with him. She practically ran to her room, purposefully ignoring Barty who had just begun to say something to her.

Christmas break seemed to be passing more faster than usual, Astraea thought as she walked downstairs for what would be yet another dreadful breakfast with only one week left until she got to go back to Hogwarts. She had already prepared herself to sit through another quiet breakfast as she poured herself a cup of tea so one could say that she was very surprised to see Regulus speak up.

"Mother," He had cleared his throat and everyone's eyes fell towards him. "I have thought about what you said, and I have made my decision."

Astraea frowned, what decision was he talking about? She looked towards Barty whose eyes were fixed on the table and then looked towards her parents who remained as stoic as they have since the moment she was born. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she turned back to Regulus, "I want the dark mark, and I'm ready to take it this summer."

The raven-haired girl's eyes widened in pure shock, he had a fucking choice?

Orion had raised an eyebrow and had looked at his son, his eyes flickering towards Astraea for only a moment before they went to Barty who was looking at the Black family, his expression slightly downcast. Walburga Back, on the other hand, looked like she would die of happiness.

"Wonderful," Her eyes glimmered as she shot a look at her husband before she looked at Regulus. "I will let him know of your decision."

Astraea had cornered him as soon as they left the dining room and had climbed up the stairs, a part of her being furious because he had been given a choice while she was told to take it without any questions and the other part of her being even more furious because Regulus said yes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She nearly screamed as she turned towards him, blocking his way to his door.

"Get out of my—"

"Shut up," The raven-haired girl snapped, "I've had enough of your attitude. Is this a bloody joke to you? There is a war going on Regulus in case you didn't notice, people's lives are at stake—"

"You have the mark," He interrupted, his expression mirroring hers. "What's the difference then?

"I didn't have a choice, you fool," She hissed and he stumbled backwards. "You would have known if you had stopped being a little bitch and actually talked to me about it. You had a choice in the matter, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you even realise what that means? Why— why would you say yes? Do you have any idea, any at all, about how much danger you have put yourself in?"

Regulus looked like he had been slapped in the face, but it was only for a moment as he regained his composure and looked at the girl with cold eyes. "I told you, I can make my own decisions for myself. Now, get out of my way."

Astraea let out a cry of frustration as she watched the younger boy walk past her and into his room, opening it for Barty who walked in, giving a wary look to the girl in front of the door before the blue-eyed boy slammed the door in his face. She scowled and yelled at the closed door, "I'm trying to help you, you idiot!"

"I don't need your help!"

"Fine then!" She glowered at the closed door before she went inside her room, slamming the door behind her, once again being left alone with her own thoughts.

•

Very surprisingly, Astraea was left alone for the remaining week of the Winter break, well, if you exclude the note the dark lord had sent her, reminding her of the task she was supposed to complete. Walburga and Orion didn't give her a second glance, and she wasn't talking to Regulus and he wasn't talking to her so naturally, Barty wouldn't talk to her either. Truly, the highlight of her week had been Evan Rosier and Tiberius Nott crashing into her room, the night before she went back to Hogwarts and perform a very poorly composed farewell song.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, for the entire week, Astraea Black was left alone with her thoughts for way longer than recommended and had now made up her mind to avoid every person her family hated with their entire guts as she boarded the Hogwarts Express, dragging her trunk behind her.

"Hey Rea," Sirius grinned at her, slightly out of his breath as if he had run towards her. "How are you doing?"

The raven-haired girl opened her mouth to say something but then figured that wouldn't exactly amount to avoiding so she shook her head and began to walk away like nothing happened. Sirius's expression twisted into one of confusion before he sped up his speed and caught up to her, "Hey— what's wrong?"

The girl sighed in annoyance, "It's nothing, just—you can't be seen with me in public."

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's better for you, this way," she insisted, as she tried to move but Sirius had blocked her way.

"What do you mean by it's better for me— Is it about the gala?"

"Oh look, it's the wonder twins," Regulus drawled from behind them and Astraea rolled her eyes as she looked towards him. Sirius gave him a wave, a grin coming on his face which slightly faltered as he noticed the hard look on his younger brother's face. "Better listen to what she has to say, Sirius— she knows what's better for everyone else."

The raven-haired girl scoffed and he turned towards her, "Something you have to say? Maybe make another decision which affects my life?"

She ignored her twin's extremely confused gaze as she narrowed her eyes at her younger brother, "In my all-knowing opinion, I'd like to tell you to go fuck yourself."

Regulus scowled at her and walked away and the raven-haired Gryffindor looked at her with a shocked look, "Are you going to tell me what the hell is happening?"

"Later, In private. Look, just— I can't, okay?"

Sirius pursed his lips, looking very annoyed, "Alright then, I guess I'll be off."

"You should."

"Oh, hey guys!"

"Morning Marls," Sirius grinned at the blonde who had come their way, giving a look towards his sister who was determinedly staring at the ground beneath her.

"Hi," The raven-haired girl muttered, every part inside her screaming at her to stop staring at the bloody ground and look up into those beautiful blue eyes of hers.

"Is everything alright?" Marlene's voice reached her ears and she begrudgingly looked up and nodded as the blonde frowned. "I didn't get a single letter after Christmas, I thought your parents got to them."

She ignored the pointed look Sirius had sent her way because he did receive letters so there was no way their parents got a hold of them and faintly heard him say something to Marlene but Astraea didn't pay much attention to it because her eyes had settled on Victoria Malfoy and everything was fading away as she recalled what the dark lord had said about what the girl's thoughts on her were. "Excuse me for a moment," she said off-handedly to the two Gryffindors who shared a confused look before looking at the girl who was making her way towards the youngest Malfoy, dragging her trunk behind her.

Victoria turned around for a second, her eyes widening slightly as she noticed the raven-haired girl making her way towards her. She went into the compartment she was standing in front of and tried to close it before the other girl could come in but failed to do so.

"Good morning Victoria," Astraea gave the other girl a sickly sweet smile. "Have a nice break?"

"Look— Astraea," She winced. "I understand that you're mad—"

"Mad? Whatever for? You were the one who said we've got to start sticking together," The raven-haired girl pouted slightly, her voice laced with fake sweetness before the tone of her voice changed into one similar to one which her mother used whenever she was furious as she scowled. "You've done exactly that, haven't you?"

"He forced it out of me, okay!" She exclaimed, taking a step backwards once she noticed the other girl's fingers around her wand. "He was poking in my mind, and my mark felt like it was burning and I couldn't help it."

Astraea scoffed as she looked at the blonde. However, she didn't give her the satisfaction of letting her know about the bandages which still covered her left arm as she gave her a look full of contempt, "You don't need to lie, sweetheart. You wanted to turn him against me, you wanted to shine in front of him by making me look bad considering that you failed to do the one task he wanted you to."

Victoria flinched and the raven-haired girl smirked— It was obvious that the girl wanted the dark lord's approval, and to hurt her, Astraea didn't need her wand, her words were enough. "He didn't believe you Victoria, your silly little plan backfired. Clearly, you lack the skill. He wants me to make sure you and Avery succeed, and I'm going to do exactly that," She took a step towards her and she looked away as Astraea whispered in her ear, " I guess you better watch your back."

•

long chapters AND fast updates? who is this person fr