Author's Note: Right on track and tying everything up in fifteen chapters. Thank you most cordially to everyone who reviewed. There is little else an author enjoys more than to know her work is being enjoyed by others.

Mushy, gushy, fluffy… had me yearning for summer vacation.

Chapter Fifteen – Rumors, and Other Threats:

The skies were clear. Sunlight filtered through the ceiling of the Great Hall. Birds sung. Trees bloomed green. Bees buzzed like the tepid, stoic air of coming summer. A single, looming black cloud came up from the horizon and dumped rain and misery on the first-years' heads.

It was the first week of June, and that meant exams.

The week before Astoria had spent all of her free time in the library with Sara and Melissa. The library was much more crowded than it had been earlier, as all the other students seemed to have the same idea.

As Astoria had never taken exams at Hogwarts before, she was beginning to feel a squirming, bubbling feeling in the pit of her stomach that meant she did not know what was coming. Sara was nervous, too, and was being very nice and methodical by writing up a large packet of notes for herself.

Monday morning they woke early. They dressed distractedly so Astoria had to point out to Sara that she'd buttoned her cloak wrong, only to be warned in turn by Melissa that she was putting her shirt on inside-out. They went down to breakfast together, each feeling the scratch of trepidation growing in their stomachs.

Sara had brought her pile of notes to finish off during breakfast.

"Will you stop it?" said Astoria when she could no longer stand it. "You're making me nervous!"

Melissa groaned, "I'm already nervous."

The perpetually scratching quill finally ceased as Sara looked up to frown. "I'm writing up my notes."

"I know that," said Astoria, "But will you stop, please? We've an exam in ten minutes, how much more have you got to do?"

Melissa cried "Ten minutes!" and started cramming her porridge she'd only been playing with into her mouth. "We've got to hurry!" she squealed through a mouthful of food.

Sara frowned and gulped her orange juice, carefully folding her last bit of parchment and tucking it into her bag. "Come on, then," she said testily.

Astoria and Melissa got up to follow her. The exam schedule had directed they headed to the greenhouse for Herbology first. Astoria passed a very harassed looking Daphne, who was walking with her regular gang of Slytherin girls.

Daphne gave Astoria a painfully forced smile and wished her good luck, "I'm off to Transfiguration – McGonagall is always a nightmare," she whispered confidentially.

"Good luck," said Astoria as Daphne hurried to catch up with her friends.

"Do you think it's true?" whispered Melissa as they continued on their way to the gardens.

"What's true?" asked Astoria.

"That McGonagall is a nightmare."

"I think everyone is a bit of a nightmare when it comes to exams," said Sara. "She won't be any worse than Professor Snape, at least." Astoria suppressed a shiver. She hadn't needed that.

They met Stephan and Mark at the front of the greenhouse. Stephan looked so nervous that he even forgot to scowl at Astoria. He nodded briefly to Sara. Romilda Vane was working off her nerves by gossiping even more exuberantly than usual.

Professor Sprout opened the door to receive them. No one seemed to want to step forward first. Finally Sara tripped forward and the rest of the first-years followed; so it began.

An hour and a half later, the first years emerged from Greenhouse One with a large amount of dirt on their robes but feeling much calmer.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," said Sara, picking fertilizer from under her fingernails.

Melissa sighed, "One down."

"And six more to go," added Astoria.

After lunch it was History of Magic. Astoria experienced a brief moment of tingling, exquisite panic when she couldn't remember why Bogrod the Foul had had Nimwuck the Misbehaved executed. In the long run she decided it didn't really matter, but resolved to pay more attention to Professor Binns next year.

Dinner and the space between bedtime passed in a haze of studying. Daphne found Astoria again and she was steaming, "McGonagall made us turn a bloody teapot into a bloody tortoise, and then she took off points because mine looked more like a bloody turtle…."

"Oh?" said Astoria, not entirely sure what she was supposed to say.

"Bloody Granger of course did hers perfectly. Flaunted it in everyone's faces, too."

"What did you have after that?"

"Professor Flitwick," Daphne said sullenly, "bloody Cheering Charms."

Obviously Daphne's had fallen short.

Astoria had trouble sleeping that night. Hazy nightmares dodged through her mind, of scratching quills, droning teachers' voices, papers marked with failing grades….

She awoke in a cold sweat to find that sunlight was streaming through the window. She frantically hopped out of bed, thinking she'd overslept her exam, but Sara and Melissa were still in the dormitory, looking as if they had also just climbed out of bed.

They talked very little as they went down to breakfast. Today was the exam everyone seemed to be dreading: Potions.

Professor Snape swooped from one cauldron to the next, his black robes flapping about his ankles like broken bat wings. Astoria's cauldron simmered over the flames, a pale pink when it was supposed to be a deep purple. Melissa's cauldron bubbled over. She shrieked and leapt out of the way. Sara's cauldron was spouting green sparks.

Astoria remembered what Professor Snape had said at the beginning of the year, about how he would not be surprised if none of them managed to pass their end of year exams. She wondered if he was swooping around making them nervous on purpose, just so they would not spoil his record.

He passed over her cauldron and scowled. She wondered what sarcastic comments he was thinking up in his shriveled brain. Finally he finished looking over their shoulders and dismissed them. Astoria couldn't even find it in her to wish that she had done better; she was too relieved it was over.

"Three down," said Melissa, looked shaky and drained after the ordeal in the dungeons.

"Four more to go," said Astoria.

After Potions was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin's wry humor was a welcome departure from Professor Snape's sneering mockery.

"Thank goodness we've only two more days," said Sara at supper, holding her head in her hands over her bowl of onion soup. "Is it this bad every year?"

"It probably gets worse," said Astoria. "Be thankful it's not O.W.L.s yet. Daphne has to take them in two years but she says they start studying for them in fourth year."

"What's the point of it all?" said Sara. "It isn't as though I'm going to have to know how to brew a toe-nail growing solution when I actually get a career."

"It's like maths, isn't it?" said Melissa. "Utterly useless."

"What do you both want to do when you grow up?" said Sara. "What do witches and wizards do for jobs?"

"Probably get a position in the Ministry," said Astoria with a shrug. She had never given it much thought. "Mum's got plenty of influence."

"What about you, Melissa?" said Sara.

"I dunno," said Melissa. "I'm just interesting in passing all these tests."

"I've been thinking about maybe being a lawyer," said Sara proudly. "Like my Dad."

Melissa and Astoria exchanged looks. "Yeah, but," said Melissa – Astoria let her speak; she was probably the more diplomatic of the two – "wizards don't have lawyers."

Sara shrugged. "I'll just have to reform the system."

Transfiguration, Charms, and Astronomy passed in a haze of textbooks, fill-in charts, and practical exams.

Professor McGonagall made them all turn a mouse into a snuff box. Astoria's still had a stump of a tail but points were balanced out because she managed to decorate it with pink flowers. Much to her chagrin, Sara's box came out perfectly square and a very pretty shade of powder blue.

Astronomy took place at night, where each student was given a chart and told to fill in certain astral bodies before the time ran out.

Charms was a fiasco. A Hufflepuff girl that Astoria didn't know went to pieces, somehow turning all Professor Flitwick's quills into popsicle sticks when she was supposed to make a pineapple tap-dance across his desk.

Perhaps it was that this was the last exam, or that the pressure had finally imploded, but the whole class was set off. Somehow the desks dissolved into festering piles of goo, the carpet turned to wax, and all the chairs began to waltz.

Professor Flitwick congratulated them, as it really was a fantastical amount of magic for first-years, but took points off because none of them had actually managed to do what they were supposed to do, except for a handful of students that included Astoria and Sara.

The bell rang finally and Mark and Stephan led the boys in a cheer. Melissa sighed in relief and Sara beamed. Astoria felt her stomach sink in relief and she tucked her Charms book inside her bag.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Sara at dinner.

Astoria shrugged because she'd forgotten what life without schoolwork looked like. For all the anxiety and worry she'd put into the weeks leading up to the exams, Astoria felt slightly let down. At least on this side of the week they looked much less a threat. She didn't see what all the fuss had been about.

"We should do something to celebrate," said Melissa.

"All the older students are having a party," said Sara. "Maybe we could sneak in?"

"We'd just get kicked out again," said Melissa.

"It's our common room, too," said Astoria. "It's not fair to exclude us."

"Is there still time to go outside?" said Sara, working to another avenue. "Maybe we could go exploring."

"No, security measures start in only a little while," said Melissa.

"I wonder what ever happened to Sirius Black," said Sara. "Will the dementors be back next year?"

"If he isn't caught they will be," said Astoria.

"Ugh, I hope they won't," said Melissa with a shudder.

"If I were Sirius Black I'd have gotten out of the country," said Sara. "I wonder what he's hanging around for."

"Dunno," Melissa shrugged. Astoria concurred.

That night the full moon watched them through the window as they slept. Astoria woke in the middle of the night from a murky dream. Hazily in the distance she heard the keening howl of a wolf. She fell asleep again quickly, thinking it was probably just a result of carried over nerves from the exams.

That morning Daphne dragged Astoria away from Ravenclaw table and into an alcove off the entrance hall. Astoria expected her sister to ask about exams, or to finally complain more openly about Sara, but instead she lowered her voice to a confidential hiss and said,

"Have you heard?"

"Hear what?"

"Professor Lupin – he's a werewolf!"

"He –" Astoria looked Daphne fully in the eye, wondering if the pressure of exams had got to her head, "He's a what?"

"He's a werewolf, Tori! He transformed last night and almost killed us all in our beds!"

"He what?" Astoria's mind had exploded into a million glittering, swirling pieces of incredulity.

"Professor Snape just mentioned it to Flint and Montague," Daphne continued in a feverish rush, as though all her words were fighting to get off her tongue at the same time. "To think, he's been teaching us all this time! Dumbledore's insane! I'm writing Mum immediately –"

"But –" Astoria struggled to collect her thoughts enough to form cognitive sentences. "But, Daphne, he can't be!"

"He is!" Daphne insisted, eyes popping, hands shaking from fervor. "Merlin he could have killed us all! He could have infected us! He has to be fired – to have children subjected to that…. He's dangerous – what was Dumbledore thinking?"

Professor Lupin. A werewolf. They were two completely separate thoughts, impossible, unable to be connected…Astoria couldn't think.

None of it made any sense. No one was stupid enough to employ a werewolf, least of all in a position when he would be in the presence of all those children. Dumbledore couldn't be so stupid –

Astoria had been in the same room with him.

She had been alone in the same room with him.

He could have killed her.

Why hadn't he killed her?

But he had been so nice….

"Just wait," Daphne continued, "parents won't stand for this. Dumbledore should be made to resign."

Astoria felt sick. She wondered if it was true. Perhaps it was just a mistake, a misunderstanding, perhaps only a lie….

She looked over her shoulder to the Great Hall peaking from between its doors and saw that people were rushing from table to table, spreading the news. She looked to the Staff Table and searched for Professor Lupin's gray-flecked hair, his kindly smile, face lined with care…. He wasn't in sight.

With her stomach churning Astoria realized it was true. Pieces fit together. Somehow she just knew.

She felt oddly betrayed, as if her Defense Professor had let them down.

Daphne finally left, joining her friends to continue ranting. Astoria dragged her feet as she went to join Sara and Melissa back at the Ravenclaw Table. She filled them in and watched as Melissa's dark eyes fell. Sara only looked confused.

"By why should it matter?" she said.

"What?"

"Why should it matter that Professor Lupin's a werewolf? He told us at the beginning of the year that Wolfsbane makes them harmless, didn't he?"

"Well of course he would say that. He wouldn't want us to know that we had a blood-thirsty beast in the castle every full moon."

"But he said that plenty of werewolves hold every day jobs –"

Astoria was shaking her head. Sara looked angry. "You don't understand, Sara. Even if Wolfsbane makes them harmless, they still shouldn't be allowed to fraternize with regular wizards –"

"Why?" Sara snapped, "Because they're dirty? Because they aren't pure – like Muggle-borns?"

"What?" said Astoria, the word bursting from her lips. "Of course not! Werewolves are – they're dangerous! Hardly any of them actually take Wolfsbane because they want to infect more humans. They're jealous of us because we're normal –"

"Professor Lupin would never infect any of us voluntarily!" Sara cried angrily.

"Yeah…well, maybe he was one of the half-way decent werewolves," said Astoria carefully. "But that still doesn't mean he should have been allowed to teach us."

"You aren't making any sense," said Sara flatly.

This time Astoria bristled. It had been a long time since she'd last caught herself getting annoyed at Sara's ignorance of the wizarding world – but this was too much.

"It makes perfect sense!" she snapped. "Don't you realize he could have hurt us all – killed us all if he hadn't taken Wolfsbane? That's what must have happened last night. He missed his potion and ended up rampaging around the grounds. Dumbledore's lucky he didn't eat anyone –"

"That's vulgar, Astoria," said Sara. "How can you talk about a human being that way?"

"But Professor Lupin isn't a human being!" said Astoria; never had she felt so exasperated. "He's a werewolf!"

Sara went silent in either speechless abhorrence that Astoria could say such a thing, or absolute cluelessness of what she could say to counter it. Astoria tried to catch her breath, feeling curiously ashamed as Sara frowned at her.

"What do you think about it, Melissa?" said Sara finally, turning to Melissa who had been characteristically quiet during the brunt of the argument.

"I don't know," said Melissa in a small voice. "I'm just sad. This means he'll probably be leaving. I liked him as a teacher, even if he was a werewolf."

Over the weekend Sara seemed to spend more time with Stephan than with Astoria, leaving Astoria alone. Astoria wondered if it was because of the things she had said about Professor Lupin.

Astoria was walking alone in a corridor when she heard a familiar, distasteful snigger behind her.

"Ditched again, Greengrass?" said Livonia Mentang, appearing with Eris by her side and an ugly smirk twisting her lips. "My, no one likes you, do they?"

"Shut up, Mentang," Astoria felt her voice claw up her throat in a growl. "I haven't been ditched by anyone." She thought of Sara, sitting with Stephan and Mark by the lake and ignored the unsteady pulsing in her stomach.

"You know," said Livonia flatly, crossing her arms "you really disappointed me. I'd expect a pure-blood like you would know better, even if you did get Ravenclaw."

Eris was silent by Livonia's side, if possible with an even uglier look on her face.

"I thought I told you that I never wanted to hear you speak to me again," said Astoria, something buzzing in her ears. She had thought she might be able to avoid this. It was only days until the end of term.

"And why should we listen to you?" said Livonia.

"Watch yourself, Mentang, I could take both of you with one arm tied behind my back," said Astoria. She didn't know what had come over her. Part of her was pounding in exhilaration, already mentally reaching for her wand, the other part of her – possibly the Ravenclaw part – was screaming run away, you fool, you're outnumbered.

Livonia scoffed, "I'd like to see you try!"

Finally Eris stepped forward. "Don't be ridiculous, Greengrass. We aren't going to fight you."

"Afraid, are you?" Astoria spat, reacting in reflex because that was not what she had expected.

"We are not!" said Livonia, half-way fumbling for her wand. Eris's fingers enclosed around her wrist, stopping her friend from proceeding.

"Part of being a Slytherin means we know when it's better to fight and better not to," said Eris in a hissing, slithering voice of a snake. "I'd expect you to know that, Greengrass, even if you're in Ravenclaw. Or is there some Gryffindor in you, too?"

She said it like it was meant to be an insult, and Astoria felt it sting like one. Astoria had grown up thinking Slytherin was best and Gryffindor the most undesirable. She still thought that. More disconcerting was that Eris knew Astoria still thought that.

She felt her cheeks burn red. Eris had caught her. Eris knew she had caught her. Astoria had been brash and unprepared, had reacted foolishly – like a Gryffindor.

Astoria was not a Gryffindor.

She might have been Ravenclaw, might have befriended a Muggle-born, might have stripped her family of honor, but she was not a Gryffindor.

"Leave me alone," she muttered, and turned on her heel. Head up, shoulder straight, don't let them see they'd gotten to her. Pride, honor, do not let them see – She heard Eris and Livonia behind her, something like sniggering then something like bickering. Perhaps Livonia was berating Eris for interfering.

But Astoria knew Eris had not interfered. Eris had calculated and made a move, had struck back with precision and balance that Astoria had not anticipated, perhaps did not possess.

Finally she knew the answer to the question she'd asked at the beginning of the year, just who was the leader: Eris or Livonia?

It was Eris, beyond a shadow of a doubt it was Eris. She might be willing to step aside and allow Livonia to make the public appearances, but she was always hovering by her side, ready to strike if things should get out of hand…. A Slytherin schemer, through and through.

Perhaps that could have been Astoria, had she gotten into Slytherin. Perhaps she could have learned to control her impulses, her pounding anger that made it so hard to think, those brash instincts that whispered of Gryffindor.

Perhaps they were the reasons Astoria had not gotten into Slytherin.

Astoria kept her chin high in the air, feeling her neck stiffen from the tautness.

Eris was the one to look out for, and next time, next year, Astoria would be ready.

Rumors and gossip circulated about the castle during the remainder of term. More came to light about the evening that Professor Lupin had transformed into a werewolf. Apparently he had not been the only one rampaging about the grounds that night.

Sirius Black was again the focus of conversations. According to the grapevine he entered the grounds, been caught finally by dementors, only to escape the ministry's grasp once again by means of complete mystery.

As was customary, the students of Hogwarts were coming up with their own ideas.

Astoria overheard Mark talking to Stephan about something concerning a mountain troll. She talked to a girl from Hufflepuff whom insisted it was "The pixies – Cornish pixies!" and heard Luna Lovegood mumbling to nobody but herself "but obvious the Nargles are to blame."

Astoria hadn't any idea how it had all happened, but tried tentatively to stir up friendly feelings with Sara again by suggesting:

"You know, maybe Professor Lupin isn't really a werewolf. Could be just a ruse. Maybe he had to make up a reason to get out of the castle so he could go into hiding with Black."

Sara had smiled quietly, and although she hadn't agreed, showed Astoria that they were still friends.

The school year wound down. Exams results came out the last day of term. Everyone in Astoria's house had passed. Astoria was pleased to note she'd gotten marks just as good as Daphne, maybe even marginally better. After all, she was in Ravenclaw for some kind of a reason.

The end of year feast flew by in mountains of food and good cheer. Dumbledore closed them with a jovial speech, told them sleep well, and have safe journey next morning.

And then, all of a sudden, the year going by in a whirlwind, Astoria found herself sitting in the Hogwarts Express with Sara and Melissa. They were going home.

"So," said Sara contentedly, chewing the head off a chocolate frog, "does weird stuff like this always happen at Hogwarts? You know, like everything with Sirius Black?"

"My brothers say there's never a normal year at Hogwarts," said Melissa.

"Yeah," chimed in Astoria, "since Daphne's been here there was an attempted robbery and last year there was that whole thing with the Chamber of Secrets…."

"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" said Sara.

"Er – this big secret passage that had a basilisk in it," said Astoria. "It was going around the castle terrorizing the school, kids got petrified and Hogwarts almost closed."

"Petrified, as in they actually couldn't move?"

"Er – yeah."

"That's creepy," Sara decided.

Melissa shivered, "Glad I wasn't here then."

"Yeah, but we had dementors this year," said Sara. "I'm glad Dumbledore says they won't be here next fall."

Astoria and Melissa agreed. They talked of other things, the past school year and the coming summer and all the Transfiguration and History of Magic homework they had been assigned over Holiday. Daylight turned dim as they puffed into King's Cross Station and prepared to embark to find their families.

Astoria hesitated. Suddenly summer break was feeling incredibly long.

"Promise you'll write," said Sara.

"Of course," said Melissa.

Astoria nodded.

"Maybe I could have you over some time," Sara spoke to both of them. Melissa nodded. Astoria felt her stomach squirming but tried to shrug in an optimistic manner. She knew that wasn't possible, not when her mother didn't know she was friends with a Muggle-born.

Astoria wondered what that summer would bring, what lies she would have to tell…. It was easy to forget about her mother and Daphne when she was having fun with Sara, but now she could not ignore the issue. She, Astoria Hemera Greengrass, pure-blooded daughter of Lyra Greengrass, was friends with a Muggle-born. She couldn't let her family know. It was….

It was quite a daunting thing to confront.

Astoria tried to shake her thoughts from her head, knowing the time to say good-bye had come. She wanted to get it over with on the train and away from the wandering eyes of her mother or Daphne.

"Well," she said, "I guess this is it."

"Yeah," said Sara. "It's been fun. I'm really happy I met you."

"Yeah," Astoria wasn't good at mushy stuff like saying good-bye. She reminded herself that it would only be for a few weeks.

Sara hugged Melissa first, smiling cheerfully. Then she turned to Astoria and flung her arms around her waist. Astoria hesitated before wrapping her own arms around Sara's shoulders. She had never been overly fond of physical affection.

"I'm glad you're my friend, Astoria," said Sara in Astoria's ear. "It's been really fun getting to know you."

"Yeah, you too, Sara," said Astoria, not sure if she was in earnest or only reacting in reflex.

Sara released her, retrieved her trunk, waved and smiled again, and then left the compartment to find Stephan.

Astoria said good-bye to Melissa and gathered her own things. She stepped off the train and breathed in the steamy air of the station, looking for her mother or Daphne. Soon enough she found both; her mother waved in welcome and Daphne was saying a last minute good-bye to Sophie Roper.

"Bye, Daphne," Sophie simpered just as Astoria reached them, "Write and I'll see you over the summer."

Lyra Greengrass gave Astoria a one armed hug, "Happy your first-year is over?"

Astoria shrugged as her family of three wound their way through the crowd to the brick barrier between theirs and the Muggle world.

Her mother laughed companionably. "I know exactly how you feel. Always felt the same when it was me at the end of the year. All those mixed feelings. Never mind, you'll be back before you know it – then you'll probably be feeling the same way about summer."

Astoria hooked her fingers around the handle of her trunk and followed Daphne through the brick wall, emerging on the Muggle side a moment later. She suspected what her mother said was true: before she knew it she would be coming back the other way, through the brick wall and onto platform nine and three-quarters, off to another year at Hogwarts.

Who knew what surprises that would bring.

To Be Continued in Book Two.

Book one of eight, completed

Keep a whether eye on my profile for a sequel. I have a rough outline concerning plot, but not much structure written out in chapters yet. Hopefully inspiration will hold and I'll be putting up the first chapter in the near-ish future.

The summary and title would run something like this:

Title: Astral

Summary: "You know what side we're on, right, Tori?" Astoria returns to Hogwarts for her second year and confronts the dark secrets of her past. Against the backdrop of the Triwizard Tournament and the looming second war, Astoria sets out to connect the pieces and stumbles upon a bit of self-discovery.

Also, if all goes as planned, each succeeding book will get a little darker, a little longer, and a little more interesting.

Thank you again, farewell until next time.