The Golden Quartet: Year 3

The Moody house wasn’t moody at all, but silent in the dead of night. The three females lay silently in their own beds, in their own rooms, waiting for another day to start. They had no idea the person they had all been waiting for had just escaped Azkaban just a few hours ago – that was until there was a knock on the door.

Astrid was on the first floor and she immediately heard the knock, especially because her senses were just a bit better from a certain technique she had perfected over the summer with her sister. Astrid’s grey eyes flew open and she pulled out her wand from underneath her pillow and quickly – but quietly – went down the hall and turned to look at the front door. With her wand held tightly in her right hand, she outstretched her left and grasped the doorknob.

“Back away from the door, Astrid.” Amilia, Astrid’s mother, demanded quietly.

Astrid let her left hand drop and she turned to look up at her mother who was at the top of the stairs. “I want you to quietly come up here and go with Athena in her room.”

Astrid pressed her lips together and frowned deeply, but a second hard knock made Astrid jump and then decided to listen to her mother and go upstairs.

Amilia held her wand tightly as she walked downstairs, waited for Astrid to disappear into Athena’s room and then turned to the door.

There was another hard knock. After a deep breath Amilia quickly grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open.

She blinked in surprise, and then glared at Cornelius Fudge, who was escorted with Kingsley Shacklebolt and a few Aurors. “Minister, what are you doing here?” Amilia and Cornelius weren’t exactly on friendly terms, seeing as she hated the Ministry.

“We have something to talk about – may we come in?” Fudge took off his hat and made to step in but Amilia placed her hand on the doorframe, blocking him from entering.

“My children are asleep, Minister, whatever it is you can say it right here, right now.” Amilia said firmly, not wanting him to enter her home. Amilia could tell Fudge was taken aback but she didn’t care.

Fudge cleared his throat, “Well, Mrs. Black, I have been informed that your husband has-“

“No!” Amilia’s eyes widened from the shout of her daughter. Astrid ran down the stairs and was quickly followed by Athena. “He’s… he’s dead?” Astrid asked softly with wide, scared eyes.

The thought of Sirius being dead did not even occur to Amilia, but now that the thought was brought up, Amilia’s eyes widened in horror as she turned to face Fudge, “What about my husband? Tell me! What’s happened to him!”

“No, no, he’s – he’s not dead!” Amilia let out a slow breath of air and Athena wrapped her arm around Astrid in comfort.

“Then what is it? Is he okay?” Athena asked.

Once more, Fudge cleared his throat, “Here is a copy of the Daily Prophet that will be sent out tomorrow,” Fudge handed Amilia the newspaper and her daughters quickly huddled next to her and saw a crazed wild man on the cover. “Your father, Sirius Black, has escaped from Azkaban.”

~~~

“That’s not him.” Astrid said, staring down at the picture of her father on the cover of the Daily Prophet. “He looks… he… that’s just not him!” she threw the paper across the room and stood up from the couch in the living room.

“Hey! I was reading that!” Athena shouted.

“Mum?” Astrid looked over at her mother who was standing in front of the door, staring at the doggy-flap at the bottom of the door, waiting for Sirius to waltz in any second.

“Mum, he won’t come. The Minister said there’ll be Aurors watching around just in case he tries to come see us and our dad is smart – he knows that’s exactly what the Ministry is doing.” Athena tried to reason with her mother.

Amilia turned around and she had a small smile, “We should be getting back to bed.”

“Alright…” Astrid and Athena exited the living room and watched in curiosity, as their mother went upstairs. “Do you think she’s okay?” Athena asked

“Yeah, of course, the man she loves – who she hasn’t seen in twelve years – has just escaped prison. Wouldn’t you be okay?” Astrid said.

Athena shrugged, “I don’t think I would wait twelve years for a man.”

“Oh yeah right, like you wouldn’t wait for Fred!” Astrid laughed when Athena’s face turned red.

“I don’t like Fred!” Athena hissed.

“Do you know how many times mum said that about dad?” Astrid said with a smirk.

“He’s one of my best friends!”

“Love is friendship on fire!”

“Oh, then, you and Harry should be going out anytime soon, right?” this time Athena smirked at Astrid’s red face.

“We’re different.”

“Mm-hhmm. I’m going to bed now. Have sweet dreams… about Harry!” Athena raced upstairs before Astrid could hit her.

~~~

“Hey, Astrid – wake up.” Athena shook her sister’s shoulder.

“Uh – wha…?” Astrid lifted her head off the pillow and a little bit of saliva dribbled from her mouth.

“Disgusting.” Athena shook her head.

Astrid glared at her sister and wiped her mouth and rolled over onto her back, “What is it? Do you have any idea what time it is? It’s – it’s – what time is it?”

Athena rolled her eyes, “It’s eleven-thirty a.m. you moron. Mum’s in the shower, I just wanted to talk to you.” Athena sat down on Astrid’s bed.

Astrid sighed and rubbed her tired eyes, “About dad, right?”

“Yeah, sort of… I’m just wondering… what do we do now?” Athena asked thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?” Astrid asked.

“I mean, with our last name and our friends? Do we tell them the truth now? Or would this be the absolute wrong time to tell them…?” Athena looked at her younger sister, waiting for an answer, seeing as she was more of the action-taker.

Astrid was quiet for a while, thinking about what exactly to do, but she concluded on saying, “You’re best friends are Fred, George, and Lee Jordan… they aren’t connected to our dad like Harry is… I think they would understand and wouldn’t care… but my friends… it depends on what they’ve heard and what they will hear. Hermione doesn’t know too much about our world still, so I know she’s never heard of him but once someone tells her about him, she’ll believe every word… Ron has probably heard of him and will now be learning a lot more… Mum said Harry knows nothing… but he’ll be informed… I don’t know what he’ll do or think when he finds out…” Astrid was frowning deeply while looking down at her lap.

“Well, maybe you should tell and explain it to them first. Send them a letter with Alexander today!” Athena said eagerly.

Astrid shook her head, “What will I write? ‘Hey guys, don’t believe the Daily Prophet and everything people are saying. My dad didn’t betray Harry’s parents and kill one of their best friends and several muggles – even though there’s evidence! You should believe me because… because…”

“Astrid…”

Astrid bit her bottom lip and her eyes were becoming glassy, “I’m so confused… Mum tells us these stories about him and I think ‘he could never betray his friend – we’re so alike and I would never betray my friends!’” she shook her head. “And I do get angry at people when they think he’s guilty and mum believes he’s innocent… but they said there were witnesses and that he was the Potter’s Secret Keeper and that man in the photo… ug and I feel so guilty even momentarily thinking that he could have actually done it!”

“Okay, just stop and answer – do you believe our dad betrayed his best friends and killed another one?”

“No.” Astrid said confidently and she smiled weakly but then she wondered… “But mum has practically trained us to say no to questions like that! I didn’t even think when you asked – I just answered out of habit or something!” Astrid shook her head and buried her face in her hands, “No… I can’t tell my friends… especially when I don’t even know myself…”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you start thinking like this…”

“No… I started thinking like this when I saw the picture of the man on the front page of the Daily Prophet…”

“But you’ve got to remember – Azkaban is a dark place and changes people…”

Astrid looked up at her sister, “They were living in dark times and that changed people too…”

~~~

The Black sisters waved one last time to their mother before she disappeared through the platform entrance.

“Have you written to Harry or the others?” Athena asked as they walked down the corridor to find a compartment.

Astrid shook her head, “No… Ron and Hermione sent me an owl though. They asked if I wanted to meet them and possibly Harry in Diagon Alley… but I didn’t feel like going with them… Every time I would try to write to them all I could think about was dad… I can’t believe they even warned the Muggles.” Astrid scowled.

“Well, to them he’s a psychotic killer…” Athena mumbled as she searched for an empty compartment and then her eyes narrowed. “Is that…”

Astrid looked into the compartment and her eyes widened. There, in a compartment was Remus Lupin, hunched over asleep against the window. “What in the bloody hell is he doing here?”

The trains whistle blew and the engine roared to life and began to take off.

“Oi! Athena!” George called down the hall and they looked to see the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry coming towards them.

“Lee’s down here – come on!” Fred waved her over and then entered a compartment.

Athena looked back at Remus, then at Astrid, “I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

Astrid nodded and Athena went to join Fred and George.

“Hey, Astrid, what happened to you this summer? You didn’t write or respond to any of our owls.” Ron said once him, Harry, and Hermione reached her.

“Oh, um, I was busy, er, training.” Astrid said averting her gaze.

“Have you learned some powerful spells?” Ron asked with awe. “’Cause I’ll bet you’ll need them now more than ever with that lunatic, Sirius Black, on the loose.”

Astrid shot him a glare but then quickly shook it off, “Um, sure, I guess I learned a few – so,” Astrid quickly tried to change the subject, “what have you all been up to this summer?”

“Let’s go in here, I need to tell you guys something.” Harry said nodding towards the compartment Remus was in. They all entered, “Do you really think he’s asleep?”

Astrid whipped out her wand, “If you want, I can really put him asleep.” Remus didn’t move. “Hhhmmm… he didn’t react to my threat. I reckon he really is.”

“Alright – close the door.” Hermione shut the door.

“Who do you think he is?” Ron asked, nodding towards Remus.

“Professor R.J. Lupin.” Hermione said and Astrid’s eye widened.

“How’d you know?” Astrid asked.

“It says so on his luggage.” She pointed to the luggage rack that carried his things with his name engraved on it.

“So, Harry, what did you want to talk about?” Ron asked, turning to Harry.

“At the Leaky Cauldron, I heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about Sirius Black,” Astrid looked at the ground, “and Mr. Weasley was telling Mrs. Weasley that Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban… to come after me.”

“What?” Astrid said, looking quite dumbfounded. “Why would he be coming after you?”

“They said, to finish the job or something. He thinks that maybe by killing me that it’ll bring back Voldemort-“

“That’s rubbish!” Astrid said with annoyance and Hermione quickly shushed her.

“Oh, Harry, you’ll have to be really, really careful. Don’t go looking for trouble, Harry –“

“I don’t go looking for trouble. Trouble comes looking for me.” Harry said.

“How thick would Harry have to be to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?” Ron asked.
Astrid wanted to yell at Ron that he wasn’t a ‘nutter’ but she held her tongue.

“No one knows how he got out of Azkaban,” Ron began to say quietly. “No one’s ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too.”

“But they’ll catch him, won’t they?” Hermione said with worry. “They’ve got all the Muggles looking out for him too…”

They looked over at Astrid, as if waiting for her to say something, “What?”

“Well, it’s just that,” Ron began, “usually in situations like this you’re the first one to say something like you promise to protect Harry from this madman, or something along those lines.”

He isn’t a madman! Astrid wanted to shout, but instead she shouted, “Oh, right! I PROMISE to make sure this madman never hurts even a single hair on Mr. Harry Potter!” she stood up from her seat.

“Astrid –“ Harry began but Astrid turned and left the compartment, slamming the door behind her.

“What was that all about? I was only joking…” Ron said. “Geeze, what does it take to wake this guy, anyways?” Ron nodded over to the still sleeping professor.

“Look, she was right to be angry. Why should she have to protect me from this guy? I don’t want anyone risking their life for me.” Harry said.

“It was a joke.”

~~~

Astrid walked down the hall to go find Athena but instead found Malfoy, escorted by his two goons, picking on a helpless Neville who was cowering.

“Oi!” Astrid called to get their attention, “Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, and Tweedle Stupid – leave him alone!”

They all turned to Astrid, “What’d you call us?” Goyle asked and cracked his knuckles.

“Ooh, acting all brave when no one else is around, are you?” Astrid taunted.

“You know, I think it’s about time we teach you your place, Bla-“ Astrid flung herself at Malfoy who’s face churned in terror.

Astrid successfully tackled Malfoy to the ground and wrapped her hands tightly around his neck. Crabbe quickly entangled his fat hands into her hair and began to tug her off of Malfoy.

“I’ll get help-“ Neville began but Goyle jumped him.

With one hand on Malfoy’s throat, Astrid reached into her robe and pulled out her wand, “Stupefy!” Astrid shouted and watched as her newly learned spell was successful at hitting her target and she watched as Goyle flew off of Neville and down the corridor.

Astrid felt Crabbe’s grip loosen and saw Neville get up as a few people came out of their compartments to see what the commotion was.

“She’s fighting them again?”

“Whoa, déjà vu…”

“Yeah! Get him, Astrid!”

“You’re going to get into so much trouble!”

“Hey – let go of my sister you goon!” Athena yelled and pointed her wand at Crabbe, “Levicorpus!” Crabbe’s fingers let go of Astrid’s hair as he was flipped upside down into the air and people began to laugh.

“Stop it – Malfoy is turning blue!” Pansy Parkinson screeched.

“I’ll stop when he turns purple-“

“Hey, what’s going on here? Move, I’m Headboy!” Percy shouted.

”If you ever say that name again, I’ll curse your face to your arse and it’ll be even harder for people to tell the difference, understand?!” Astrid quickly jumped off of Malfoy and shoved through people and ran back into the compartment that held her friends. They looked slightly startled to see her.

“What was going on out there?” Ron asked.

Astrid waved off his question, “Eh, I just let off some steam.”

“You got into another fight with Malfoy?” Hermione deducted.

Astrid grinned, “You know me too well.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be a good year if Malfoy didn’t get his arse kicked by Astrid.” Harry said with a smile.

“Look, er, Astrid – I didn’t mean-“

“Oh, shut up!” Astrid rolled her eyes at Ron and waved away his apology. Astrid looked out the window, “It sure looks gloomy out there…” dark gray clouds covered the sky and then it began to rain and suddenly the train lurched into a sudden stop. Astrid flew out of her seat across onto Harry.

“What was that?” Ron asked in a panic pitched voice as all the lights flickered and then turned off. “Why’ve we stopped?”

“Ouch, Ron, that’s my foot!” Hermione hissed.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked, grabbing Astrid by her shoulders and helping her off of him. Though neither of them were aware of it, both of their faces were slightly pink, “Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Astrid got up and sat back in her seat.

“Do you think we’ve broken down?” Ron asked.

“That’d be pretty stupid. A magical train breaking down…” Astrid scoffed.

Ron wiped the frost off the window and looked out, “There’s something moving out there…”

“Perhaps a bird – or maybe the Giant Squid has finally grown some wings?” Astrid offered as she watched her breath leave her mouth like smoke.

A soft click made them all turn to the compartment door. Standing outside their door was a large cloaked figure that nearly touched the ceiling. It’s face could not be seen in the darkness of its hood, but they all noticed the boney, gray, scabbed hand that was reaching out, opening the door.

It floated inside a bit, and it turned to Harry and drew a slow, long breath, sucking the very life from him.

“It’s a Dementor!” Astrid shouted and then jumped in front of Harry and drew her wand. “Expecto-!” The Dementor drew its breath again, breathing in Astrid now. “Pa…tro…” but Astrid could not finish the spell as she felt, wave after wave of sadness and despair washing over her. Visions of her mother crying, hollowness from a missing father and family began to sink deep into her stomach and she felt the hot wetness of tears sliding down her face as she fell to her knees. “Stop… stop… please…” Astrid whispered.

“Help!” Hermione screamed.

Remus Lupin stood with his wand pointed at the Dementor, “Expecto patronum!8”

Silvery, white light flooded out of the tip of his wand and shown so brightly Astrid had to squeeze her eyes shut tight. Through her eyelids she knew the light was fading and she opened them to see the Dementor gone.

“Astrid, are you alright?” Remus knelt down by her.

Her breathing was rigid, “How’s Harry?”

“He’s unconscious.” Ron said and Astrid quickly wiped the remainder of her tears away.

“Astrid…” Hermione said softly.

“I’m fine.” Astrid said through a clenched jaw and got up. She went over to Harry and lifted his head and sat down and then laid it down on her lap, avoiding everyone’s gazes.

“Here,” Remus said pulling out something from his coat. “It’s chocolate – it’ll make you feel better.”

“I hate chocolate.” Astrid grumbled, glaring at the chocolate bar in his hand.

Remus sighed, “Alright then.” He distributed some pieces to Ron and Hermione.

“I’m going to go check on Athena…” Astrid got up and left the compartment in search for her sister. Astrid found the compartment with her sister and entered. “Hey guys.”

Fred, George, and Lee all said hello.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Athena asked.

“Dementors.” Astrid stated.

“Wicked.” Fred said.

“Eh, not so much. They practically sucked the life out of Harry and I.” Astrid sat down by her sister.

“What?”

“Yeah… but the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher took care of it.”

“Was that that light?” Lee asked and Astrid nodded.

“It seemed like a pretty powerful spell.” George said.

“It is. I tried to do it… but I couldn’t.”

“Tough luck.” Fred said. “Hey, you know what’ll make you feel better?”

“What?”

“Hilarious jokes at your sisters expense!” Fred said cheerfully.

“What-?”

“Yay!”

~~~

“Astrid,” Hermione opened the compartment door, “Harry’s awake.”

Astrid got up, “Alright, thanks guys for all the jokes. They were hilarious.”

“I didn’t think so.” Athena grumbled with a red face and then Astrid followed Hermione back to their compartment.

When they entered Harry looked up at Astrid just as Remus handed him a piece of chocolate, “Are you alright?” Harry and Astrid asked each other in unison. “I’m okay – but how are you?” they said again together and then they smiled.

“So… what exactly was that thing?” Ron asked.

“A Dementor.” Astrid said. “They’re the guards at Azkaban.”

Remus nodded in agreement, “Eat,” he told Harry pointing at the chocolate, “It’ll help. Now, if you’ll all please excuse me, I need to speak to the driver…” He walked past Astrid and disappeared down the corridor.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Both of you?” Hermione asked looking at both Harry and then Astrid.

“Yes, Hermione. I’m fine, okay?” Astrid rolled her grey eyes and sat down next to Harry.

“I don’t get it… what exactly happened?” Harry asked.

Ron shook his head, “I don’t know… it looked like you were having a sort of fit and then Astrid jumped in front of you and you fainted… then Astrid started cry-“

“A Dementor is a monstrous creature,” Astrid said darkly. “What it does… well, it sucks all the good out of you.”

“What?” Hermione asked, confused.

“All your happy feelings… all your good memories… it sucks them out of you, leaving you with nothing but misery and despair…” Astrid’s eyes fell and she w rapped her arms around herself.

“Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt,” Ron said. “Like I’d never be cheerful again…”

And Astrid realized, that's exactly what her father has been going through all these years so it was no wonder he looked the way he did on the Daily Prophet... but still... there was a twinge of doubt settling into her...