northern lights

At the sound of her mother tongue, both Gabrielle’s ears and her spirit perked up. Even in her own time, it was a comfort, a reminder of home since she’d moved countries for her studies. “That is the problem, isn’t it?” She turned in her seat towards the voice, smiling bright. “I’m not familiar with what around…. here would be most likely to be found. The hot spots, you know?”

        Astoria smiled back at the young woman by her and nodded. Even in this strange time, it was always nice to have a kind face around. “I am happy to help,” She offered to the girl. “Perhaps we can figure something out,” she extended her hand politely, “Astoria Greengrass.”

it didn’t get a laugh, but it did get a quirk at the side of his mouth. none of his friends had ever seemed to have a problem with that. neither had he. that was what had gotten them into trouble. …well, that and generations of terrible opinions. “honestly, i just find it a relief to get out of the house whenever i wish. have you met anyone interesting?”

scorpius pulled back just a little to make way towards a bench. of course she needed to sit down, at this point he understood what had happened, and he by no means should’ve hounded her like so but… well, it was his dead mum he hadn’t seen in four years and he wanted love. ‘sorry, sorry. of course you do. come sit? i’ll be quiet!’

“well i guess that makes two of us since i wasn’t exactly paying attention either.” he admitted to her. cedric had a lot of his mind that made paying attention to anything around him pretty hard most of the time. “hi, i’m cedric.” he introduced himself.

        “Everything is a little distracting,” Astoria admitted. She was trying not to worry too much and embrace this new adventure. “Uh yes, I know. I was a few years behind you in school,” she replied and extended her hand, “I’m Astoria.”

he nodded. really, he didn’t know why he had even asked. his answer made it sound much more like an interrogation than his poor attempt at a conversation starter. he was still getting used to speaking to people without needing anything from the interaction. “…i suppose you don’t have to listen to everything that your sister says. or… anything, actually.”

          “Yeah, well, we both know that Daphne makes her opinions known,” and that was Astoria’s attempt at a joke. He seemed different than the Draco she was use to and she wasn’t really sure how to handle that. She smoothed her hand over the front of her jumper beneath her cloak and she took a deep breath, “enjoying the new era we’ve found ourselves in?”

  Tracey was in such a rush that she didn’t measure the distance she had between herself and whoever was in front of her. She stumbled back but managed to catch herself before she fell on her butt. Tracey went to apologize but then saw who it was she had crashed into. “Crud.” She muttered under her breath. She had always been closer to Daphne but she knew Astoria and she didn’t quite know what to say since to most of her former classmates, they probably figured she was dead. “No.. you’re okay. It was my bad.”

with all of the time travel, and the house arrest before it, draco was just grateful to see any familiar face. his face had been set when he was knocked into holding a small box with the honeydukes logo. but he relaxed at the immediate apology. “…don’t give it another thought.” it had taken him a moment to place this girl’s name. daphne’s sister, he’d known almost immediately. “what are you doing out in hogsmeade, astoria?”

       Astoria looked up to see that the person she had bumped into was in fact Draco Malfoy. The ring leader of her sister’s little friend group. She glanced on either side of him wondering she was going to see Zabini or Nott far behind. “It was a nice day, I decided to take a walk,” she replied to his question. “As of yet, Daphne is not here to tell me not to.” She reached up and fixed her hat. “As always, a pleasure, Draco.” No, she didn't bother to hide the hint of bite in her voice.

perhaps if she hadn’t bumped into someone else, scorpius wouldn’t have heard his mother’s delicate voice. instantly he was transported back years ago to his mother laughing and talking like nothing was the matter. his feet stumbled as he found himself running, nearly brushing away the person she’d been speaking too as his eyes brimmed with tears. ‘mum… mummy, oh… you don’t know me… but mum, it’s scorpius. i’m your son in the future and you’re my mum in the future. i’m sorry! i know it’s weird but i just… oh mum, i love you so much.’ scorpius managed out, not throwing his arms instantly around her incase she thought he was a freak. he even fished out his wallet to pull out a photo of the fair, back when scorpius was 11 and going off to hogwarts. ‘see? please believe me.’

cedric was enjoying being alive and learning about this time, and a part of him hoped that they wouldn’t figure out a way back because maybe that meant he could stay here and be alive. the wizard was lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice himself walking into someone. “no, sorry, it’s my fault.” he said to her.

         “No, I wasn’t paying attention... as usual,” Astoria reached out to make sure he was okay before she looked up to see who she had bumped into. Her brows rose in surprise. She didn’t know Cedric but the tournament had happened in her second year. “Um, hello,” she gave him a pleasant smile. 

The whole being sucked back in time thing wasn’t what was primarily grinding Gabrielle’s gears. Nope; where her brain was instead was the future. Specifically, needing to make sure someone in her time knew not to overfeed her cats. If she got home and Cat-herine had developed arthritis, she was going to lose it. “If someone wanted to say… carvea message into some floorboards in the hopes it’ll still be around in ninety years, what might be the best place to do it? I mean, where around here has the best chance of surviving until then?”

       Astoria placed a sugar cube into her tea before she gave it a quick stir as her ears pricked at the sound of the young woman nearest her. She tapped her spoon against her cup before she set the spoon down. “I’m sure it depends on where you place the message,” She spoke up in French. “Somewhere you know it will be found when you want it to be found.”