Chương 279: The Third Sister

There was nothing quite like the pain of losing a family member, Astoria thought to herself as she busied herself dusting off an old painting. But even she couldn't imagine what Daphne must be feeling; the bond between identical twins was on a completely different level. Sigh… If only she were here, too, she wouldn't feel so lonely…

"If you dust that portrait any harder," a voice jokingly said behind her, "the paint is going to come off, not just the dust. Not that I'd care much if it did, mind you."

Startled, Astoria whirled around to see who was talking to her.

"Hello, Mr. Black," she said, bowing her head slightly. "Thank you again for the room and board; I'm very grateful."

Astoria still couldn't bring herself to believe that the notorious criminal that the entire school had been so scared of during her first year had been innocent this entire time; and that she was forced to live with him and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix.

"It's the least I could do," Sirius said, sighing. "Your older sisters helped save me and Lupin from being executed, so I owe your family my life. Oh, right, before I forget, a letter's come for you."

"Thank you very much," said Astoria, accepting the letter gratefully. "And… would you happen to know when Harry Potter is coming? I'd like to hear about my sister's… final moments directly from him."

"If all goes well, he should be arriving tonight," answered Sirius, before stalking off elsewhere to resume cleaning his landfill of a home.

Astoria stifled a sneeze and quickly opened up her letter, which was from her father, Maxwell. It read:

Dear Astoria,

I hope the people of the Order of the Phoenix are treating you well. Please tell Arthur to communicate to Dumbledore that I am grateful for the offer to join, but I must decline. A few of our workers in the Salisbury greenhouses have recently handed in their resignations, so your mother needs all the help she can get. You know, it's a good thing your big sister has a green thumb!

(Here, a smiley face was drawn)

And you know how the Ministry is these days; we can't afford to be seen as Dumbledore sympathizers; we're trying to get an approval from the Ministry to acquire more land from the Muggles to build a new greenhouse in Cornwall, and it's not going well— you know how difficult it is to get things done, with the Muggle's Town and Country Planning Act— The Ministry of Magic needs to send their people to 'convince' the Muggle naysayers to let the project go forwards, but we first need to convince them that our plan is sound. Even with magic, you can't escape bureaucracy!

(Maxwell had drawn a shrugging stickman here)

I know you'd rather be here with us, but your mother and I agree it's too dangerous for you to remain; we'd rather have peace of mind knowing you're safe. Your sister angered You-Know-Who and paid the ultimate price, so we must all stay on our guards until his anger towards our family abates.

Love, your father.

P.S.: Your mother and Daphne say hello.

It was You-Know-Who's fault that her family was shattered, Astoria thought glumly. According to her sisters' stories, Oleandra had destroyed the Philosopher's stone right in front of the Dark Lord's eyes; no wonder he was mad at them, she had helped to thwart his resurrection plan— for at least a few years.

The Greengrass family had stayed neutral during the First Wizarding War, but even then, her grandparents had gone missing. This infighting couldn't go on— at this rate, the British Wizarding population would die out for good, whether they won this civil war or not.

Astoria mechanically shoved the letter in Oleandra's old magical pouch, which Daphne had given to her after the funeral. It was a handy little thing enchanted with an incredibly potent Undetectable Extension Charm, but to be honest, it was full of dangerous things. For instance, it contained a bottle simply labelled Basilisk, as well as a still-beating heart; clearly full of dark magic.

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"He's here!" Ginny Weasley cried excitedly, poking her head through their shared bedroom's doorway. "Harry's here!"

Astoria stopped doing a handstand and followed Ginny out of their room and down the creepy stairs, just in time to see Hermione launch herself at Harry and wrap her arms around him for a tight hug. Ron quickly made an appearance in the hall as well, but despite seeing his best friends after such a long time, Harry's smile didn't reach up to his eyes.

Dumbledore often attended the Order of the Phoenix's meetings, and he had made all of the children swear not to answer Harry's letters; he had even extracted this promise from Astoria, who had never exchanged more than a few words with him. She had to reluctantly accept to wait until Harry arrived before asking him any questions.

The headmaster cut quite the impressive figure up close, she thought to herself. He towered over her, and he had only needed to glance at her once to make her feel like she could keep no secrets from him; as if he knew her own thoughts better than she did. Better not risk anything and wait for Harry, she had told herself— she'd have her answers sooner or later.

At any rate, going back to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place's newest inhabitant… Harry was sure to be full of resentment, having been subjected to the silent treatment. Astoria thought it was strange that he wasn't allowed to know anything about what was going on in the Wizarding World; if Dumbledore was scared of owls being intercepted, then he just had to send messages through other means…

And on top of that, she had heard that Dementors had attacked him near his home, causing him to use a Patronus Charm to defend himself. And now, he was being put on trial for underage magic… Well, all things considered, it was probably for the best that he didn't see how the newspapers portrayed him— that is, as a raving lunatic. But it was still a strange choice to keep him from his friends.

Astoria looked down at the trio of friends; it looked as though they were about to have an argument.

"Maybe he thinks I can't be trusted," Harry was testily saying.

"Don't be thick," said Ron, who shiftily looked to Hermione for answers.

"Or that I can't take care of myself," Harry pointed out.

"Of course he doesn't think that!" said Hermione anxiously.

Just as Harry's bottled-up emotions were about to explode, just as he was getting ready to tear into his friends, who'd been laughing it up together while he'd been stuck at the Dursleys', trapped in ignorance, forced to scavenge for discarded Muggle newspapers for any news, attacked by Dementors, not knowing whether—

But then he saw the two red-headed girls coming down the stairs; the first was Ginny; he knew her very well. But the second… for a split second, Harry thought that Oleandra had come back to life— but no, her hair was the wrong colour, and she was slightly shorter. He had seen her come and go in the Gryffindor common room, but he hadn't paid much attention to her in the last few months— too busy preparing for the third task.

"Astoria?" he said tentatively, and she nodded.