Monday, 3rd October 1994
As the sun dipped low on the horizon, casting a warm golden hue across the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I found myself sitting near the tranquil waters of the Black Lake. My fingers deftly moved through the silky strands of a third-year girl who sat in front of her, her back against a large tree trunk.
My fingers worked their magic, weaving Astoria's blonde hair into a French Plat. The gentle breeze carried the faint scent of water and wildflowers.
"Wow, Percy, thank you for doing this. My sister was busy," Astoria said, her voice.
I smiled warmly at her. "It's okay. I wasn't doing anything anyway. Are you excited for your third year at Hogwarts, Astoria?" I asked.
Astoria shook her head. "Not really. This could be my last year. I'm just sad this could be it for me."
"Astoria, what have I told you?" I asked as I momentarily stopped. "Don't think today is going to be your last. Enjoy it. Live in the moment. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you live, so relax. Go and sneak out after curfew, or get caught snogging a boy in a cupboard."
"But all the boys in my year are stupid. All they think about is getting inside other girls knickers and Quidditch," she said with a sigh. "I just can't put up with them. It's too tiring to pretend to be something I'm not. I'm just a doomed girl."
"Astoria, I have cured seventeen people with Blood Maleductus, and I will cure you too," I said as I stopped braiding her hair.
I touched the necklace around my neck before taking it off. I told her to lift her hair, and she seemed confused but did it anyway. Putting the necklace on her neck, I made her hold the ring.
"You know how much I want to start a family?"
"How could I not? It's all you talk about when you're drunk."
"Yes, so this ring has been passed down in my family for generations. From father to son, to their son, and so forth. I want you to hold onto it until the day I get married. I want you to hand it to me," I said.
"But what if I don't live to see that day?" she asked quietly.
"Then I never get married or start the family I want."
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me," I said.
"Wait, why?"
"If you can't be happy, I won't be happy."
"No, I can't. I can't take this. It's yours," she said while trying to take it off. "I don't want to stand in the way of your happiness."
"It's yours now, Astoria. You'll be living for the both of us from now on."
"Why are you doing this for me?"
"You're the sister I always wanted," I said while she looked down at the ring. I started to continue braiding her hair. "Moving away from depressing topics, how was your day?"
"Terrible!"
"What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?"
"I just found out that every month, once a month, I will bleed and be in so much pain for up to a week. And this would happen until I go grey," she said. "That sounds more like a curse than Blood Maleductus. How has your day been?"
"Okay, I guess," I replied. "I tried talking to Penelope, but she wasn't answering my calls. She hasn't been answering my call since the afterparty. I just want to know why she just suddenly stopped. And the worse thing about this is that she's now dating Percy Weasley and is currently living her life with an assignment in Egypt."
"I think it's best you don't try to talk to her anymore," she said while looking down.
"Astoria, what have you done?"
"I made sure she'd never contact you again."
"Why did you do that?"
"I caught her going at it with a red head. I recorded it and showed it to her," she said. "We then had a friendly discussion, and she promised to never speak to you again."
"You caught her going at it with Percy? And you blackmailed her?" I asked. "Well done. I think you helped me dodge a Despulso."
"Not a Despulso. It's more like you dodged an Avada straight to the chest," she said as she giggled. "And it wasn't Percy. Percy was with his father and mother, trying to kiss the asses of a couple of Ministry officials."
"If it wasn't Percy, who was it?"
"I could not have been the twins because they were with the Potter girl, acting as her chaperone. Charlie was not there, as they haven't been on speaking terms since the Nymphadora incident. It couldn't have been the father, as he was with his wife. We can count Ronald out of it, obviously. I'm not sure if there were anymore redheads, but the most likely person it was was Bill Weasley."
"Isn't Bill stationed in Egypt?"
"Yep," she said, emphasising the 'p.'.
"What a lucky guy Percy is," I said. "At least they're keeping it in the family. Thank you for doing that."
"Your welcome," she said. "And she also saw you with Fleur."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"After we had our discussion, we went to go and find you. We found you drunk, snogging Fleur."
"I don't remember that. Are you sure that happened?"
"Yes, I'm sure. She was planning to create some kind of sob story so that you'd keep her, but once she saw you two together, she decided to end it then and there. I'm surprised you don't remember it. From what it looked like, you two were about to get down and dirty before we interrupted," she said before we fell into silence.
"Could you do something for me? I asked my parents, but they were reluctant to do it."
"Anything."
"You know how I love winter and the snow, Yeah, could you help me meet some penguins in person?" she said as she turned and faced me. "We don't have to go to the south pole. We could go to the zoo, but my parents won't let me go. I wanted to go on my birthday, but I fell ill, and we cancelled our plans. I just wanted to see them at least once before I kicked the bucket. You don't have to…"
"Astoria, calm down." I interrupted her and turned her around so I could continue braiding her hair. "I promise. I promise that I'll take you to see some penguins on your birthday."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she squealed. "You don't know how much that means to me."
I smiled, my heart genuinely warmed by Astoria's excitement. "There's so much to look forward to. Could we make a whole day out of it? Could we get ice cream? Could we go to one of the photo booths like muggle couples do and take pictures?"
As I finished the braid, she gently secured it with a ribbon. "It's your birthday. We'll do whatever you fancy, as long as we don't run out of money. There you go, all done!"
Astoria beamed with delight as she reached up to touch the braid. "Thank you so much, Percy!"
With a satisfied smile, I stood up and offered Astoria a hand. "Shall we head back to the castle? It's getting late, and I'm sure dinner will be starting soon."