Chapter 27 - Magic in the Moonlight

A/N: Make sure you don't miss out on this fantastic image the internet has provided us with ⬆️... 😂😂

*

It took a few hours of lounging on the Astronomy Tower balcony for Asha to realise that thinking wasn't actually doing her much good. The sun had descended until now only thin threads of golden rays peeked over the mountain tops. Asha had been postponing the moment when she would have to re-enter her Hogwarts life and face her Hufflepuff squad. Unfortunately, it seemed that time had finally come.

As she descended the tower and made her way through the castle, everything felt strangely alien. Everyone around her was so young. Asha now understood the origin of her frustration with her peers and feeling so alone. The realisation was liberating. It was odd that her entire life had been flipped around, yet the rest of the world continued as if nothing had changed.

Asha did her best to avoid the busiest corridors where intermittent clusters of students were making their way towards the Great Hall for dinner. Sometimes the main routes couldn't be avoided however, and Asha was forced to slide under the cover of a large tapestry just in time to avoid Maive, Victoria and Hannah. The trio was closely followed by Susan, Matt and Justin. Good, Asha thought, she would at least have the dorm to herself for a while. Heartened by this news, she sped the rest of the way to the basement, slipping through the common room and into her dorm unnoticed.

She sat stiffly on the edge of her bed and wondered what to do with herself. Everything seemed so pointless. So trivial. Then, mid-muse, something caught her eye. Poking out of her trunk was the sleeve of her black, oversized sweatshirt. She'd worn it throughout every one of her years at Hogwarts. But, for the first time, she recognised it... It had belonged to Crash.

Feeling suddenly uneasy, Asha slowly dropped to her knees in front of her trunk, staring. After a moment, she cautiously lifted the lid and slid the sweatshirt onto her lap. She felt numb. She glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the closed door of the dorm, before tentatively hugging the worn fabric to her chest.

She leant her chin against it and the familiar smell she associated with happiness and security washed over her. It was terrifying. She abruptly threw the sweatshirt back into the trunk as if it had burned her and turned to stare intently at her bedpost, willing herself to detach from her surge of emotions and think of nothing but the carved oak.

Within a few seconds, she had recovered herself and turned to close the trunk. As she did so, a pair of jeans caught her eye. She'd stolen them from a mall when she was fifteen and even stopped to say hello to the security guard on the way out. Cocky bastard, Asha smirked to herself. She had become very adept at stealing over the years. She was moral about it, only stealing from large franchises and never taking more than she needed (apart from the occasional treat of course).

Scanning her messy bundle of clothes, Asha could spot only one item she had actually paid for - a wristwatch she'd bought off a starving man in Hawke's Bay one Christmas. The old man had refused to take her money so she told him she'd like to buy his watch and did so with significantly more money than the item was worth. She picked up the watch and latched it around her wrist, polishing the scuffed face with the sleeve of her shirt.

Asha's gaze inevitably wandered back to the sweatshirt. Crash had always made the most of what he was given. It was one of the things she had loved about him. He used to say 'Grab life by the balls and see where they swing you'. She smiled sadly at the memory. Despite the immense hardships life threw at him, Crash treated the world like a huge playground. Everything was an opportunity he could make an adventure of.

Suddenly, Asha knew what she wanted to do. Swiping up her towel and shower caddy, she headed to the bathroom to cleanse herself of her doubts and fears. She was going to grab life by the balls.

*

Half an hour later, Asha was sat cross-legged on her bed, smelling of pine and cinnamon, and dressed in her least distressed black jeans and her most brightly coloured woollen jumper - a block-coloured grey and blue. Her hair was neatly braided and she'd even curled and darkened her eyelashes in an attempt to hide her look of exhaustion.

Right on cue, her roommates came filing through the door. Their conversation came to an abrupt halt as all eyes fell on Asha.

"Hi," she said, looking up at them with a sheepish smile, "um... I think I've got some explaining to do."

Asha spent the next hour spouting utter bullshit, explaining her way out of everything unordinary the girls had witnessed in the last year. She didn't enjoy the lies, but it was heartwarming to see her empathetic friends finally put at ease.

When the conversation turned to other things, Asha was grateful for the familiar, light-hearted banter they exchanged. When all trouble seemed forgotten, she got to her feet and fished a pile of loose parchment and textbooks out of her trunk.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" demanded an appalled Victoria, "It's a Friday!"

"It's a Friday and I have a lot of missed assignments to catch up on," said Asha, laughing at Victoria's scandalous expression.

"Oof, you're gonna try win back McGonagall's respect? That's valiant of you," grinned Maive.

"Perhaps even old Professor Binns' if I manage to finish all Flitwick's essays before Monday," Asha smirked.

"Now that is ambitious," said Maive, raising her eyebrows to make it clear how absolutely unconvinced she was that the feat was possible. Asha broke into a totally genuine smile. She could tell her blonde-haired friend was beyond relieved to have her partner-in-crime seemingly back to normal.

For the next thirty-six hours, Asha didn't sleep. She was determined to take back control of her life and worked tirelessly to complete every assignment, essay and piece of homework she'd failed to submit in the last fortnight. All, with the exception of potions of course - Snape knew her situation. Overall it wasn't difficult work, but it was tedious.

As the sun rose on Sunday morning, Asha finally put down her quill. With a wave of her wand, she sent her books and scrolls floating back into her dorm. She followed them in and flopped onto her four-poster, falling into a deep sleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

*

Asha awoke extremely disoriented. As the room came into focus she saw the dimly lit figures of Maive and Susan pulling on their pyjamas.

"Good morning, charms champ," Maive joked in a hushed voice - Hannah and Victoria were already asleep.

"We were going to wake you for dinner but decided you could do with the extra sleep," whispered Susan.

Asha smiled and mouthed, "Good choice." She closed her eyes and tried to drift back to sleep. This attempt didn't last long as she soon realised that, having just experienced the most restful sleep she'd had in years, every part of her was now wide awake. On top of this, she had a relentless temptation to experiment with her newly remembered wandless magic.

Waiting until she was sure all four girls were asleep, Asha pulled on her coat and some winter boots, grabbed her wand from her nightstand and began her well-practised ritual of sneaking out of the castle.

The gibbous moon illuminated the white landscape, making it look like the rolling terrain of some strange alien planet. Asha had only made it halfway to the lake when she heard the distant sound of boots crunching on snow. Turning back towards the castle she saw the unmistakable figure of Severus Snape, no doubt following her trail of deep footprints. As he approached, Asha lifted her disillusionment charm and his eyes locked on to her materialising body. He stopped in front of her.

"Evening, Professor," Asha said calmly.

Snape simply frowned at her. Then he pulled his wand out of his inside pocket and touched the tip to his coat, muttering a heating charm. He returned his wand before sweeping back the sides of his cloak and sliding his hands into his coat pockets. He resumed frowning at Asha. She raised an amused eyebrow at him. When he continued to study her, apparently in no rush to decide what he was going to say, Asha turned on her heels and continued strolling towards the lake. A frustrated sigh sounded from behind her.

"Winters..." came a low growl, followed by crunching footsteps as Snape strode after her.

"Mmm?" Asha responded without looking back, though in her mind's eye she could clearly see his look of irritation. In an instant, the man was beside her, matching her pace.

"I thought we talked about blending in?" said Snape in his low baritone.

"Excuse me, I've been doing an excellent job at blending in," said Asha, imitating his tone. They both veered to the left in an unspoken agreement to avoid a section of particularly icy ground.

"Ah, my mistake," sneered Snape, "I now see the large number of other students who have also chosen to take a midnight expedition in the middle of winter."

"Oh, come on," said Asha, stopping and turning to face him, "No one saw me leave the castle, and I don't know if you noticed, but my disillusionment charm is..." she held up her hand in a gesture of perfection and clicked her tongue in emphasis.

Severus stared at Asha. He had never seen her acting so calm before, despite the fact her life was currently quite the opposite. There was also a subtle shift in the dynamic between himself and the girl. Both of them had unconsciously recognised the slight diminish in his authority of her.

She now shot him an exasperated look at his lack of response and resumed walking. Severus trailed behind her. They were almost at the lakeshore.

"You are the only teacher crazy enough to come out here after curfew in the middle of winter," she called over her shoulder. "Hmm," she added thoughtfully, turning to face him and walking backwards, "you and perhaps Moody. That eye of his might've been a problem if I couldn't hear his leg from a mile off."

"I only came out here to make sure you weren't up to anything stupid," drawled Severus, "and to find out what on earth you've been doing the past two days." Asha's feet hit the uneven stones of the shore and she spun back around to face the lake. She continued to walk until she was only a few meters from the water's edge. She furrowed her brow.

"Were you waiting in the Entrance Hall for me?" she asked curiously. Turning around, she saw the potions master standing stoically at the cusp of the snowy bank, his hands still buried in his pockets for warmth. His brooding eyes said it all.

"I didn't see you," Asha stated, more to herself. She was an extremely observant person - you needed to be if you were on the run and partaking in the volatile situations of the drug business - so it surprised her that she had somehow managed to miss the man's presence in an essentially empty room.

"Believe it or not, you're not the only one who's mastered the disillusionment charm," said Snape dryly.

"Still..." Asha muttered, turning to face the lake once more. "Anyway, I'm not a child that needs to be checked up on." A hard edge had crept into her voice. She heard an intake of breath as if Snape was about to argue, but no words came. The crunch of boots told her he was approaching. He came to a stop next to her and joined her in scanning the calm water.

"I understand that," he said, "But you haven't left your dorm in almost three days."

Asha stayed silent. She detested being someone's burden. She liked to be her own responsibility and no one else's. She had knowingly been avoiding contact with Dumbledore and Snape, but she now wished she had just manned up and done it, simply to show them she wasn't another problem they needed to worry about.

"And given what you've just been through..." Snape added.

"I've been busy sorting everything out," explained Asha blankly. "I dealt with the friend group and I've caught up on all the schoolwork I missed. I'll hand it all in tomorrow and apologise to each of my professors. I'm sure Dumbledore's already given them some kind of excuse on my behalf but this will be more convincing - it's what 'normal' Asha would've done."

When she was met only by silence on her left, Asha glanced at Snape and saw he was looking at her with an odd expression. It almost looked like surprise; he possibly even looked a smidge impressed, but she put that down to wishful thinking.

Scuffing at the stones with her frosty boots, Asha had sudden memory. She slid her wand from her coat and with a flick, ten pebbles rose soundlessly from the ground and began to swirl above the gently lapping waves.

"Look familiar?" she teased, giving Snape a sideways glance. She was referring to one year ago when the Potions Master had caught her out by the lake after curfew, engaging in the same activity.

"What a fond memory," he remarked with distaste. "I assume that wasn't really your first time sneaking out?"

Asha smirked. "I'd like to see your proof."

They watched the stones weave through the air for another minute or two before Asha sent them rocketing into the sky. Moments later, a series of disturbances radiated across the glassy water as the rocks plunged to the bottom of the lake.

"Are you planning on supervising me all night?" she finally asked. After a brief silence, Snape turned and strolled away from the shore. Asha huffed, half amused half annoyed. That man...

She watched him approach the snowy bank, interested to see if he would struggle to scale it. To her disbelief, Snape did not attempt to leave the shore. Instead, he took out his wand and swiftly cleared the snow off a four-foot boulder. He then proceeded to lean against it and fold his arms, watching Asha with an unreadable expression. Asha scoffed. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then."

She tucked her wand into her back pocket and faced the lake once more. She forced herself to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of Snape's eyes drilling into the back of her head. She cast her mind back, trying to recall what other skills she had learnt all those years ago. Crouching down, she dug her right hand underneath the layer of uneven stones and pressed her palm to the hard, freezing ground. She felt the heartbeat of the earth; the thrum of its energy. She used her own magical force to direct and manipulate this energy to her will.

A few meters from the lake edge, water began to swirl. Asha could feel the movement of the water through her palm. She leaned into the sensation and very slowly, the spinning surface of the lake began to rise into the shape of a funnel. Asha closed her eyes. She slowed her breathing and concentrated. She immersed herself in the intoxicating sensation of merging with the energy of the world.

Severus straightened up, unsure of what he was looking at. Surrounding water continued to be drawn into the vortex, which was rapidly growing in size and force. Meanwhile, Asha remained perfectly still, one hand pressed on the ground, the other resting on her knee. How?

The liquid continued to spiral round and round as the funnel grew larger and larger. Severus took a few strides forwards, now extremely tense. Six feet... ten feet... now twenty feet. The entire lake seemed to be dipping towards the funnel as more and more water was sucked inwards and up. And the sound... What started as a light rushing noise had become a thundering roar.

"Enough!" Snape bellowed over the deafening noise. Asha didn't respond. He ran at her and shook her shoulder. "STOP!"

Asha's eyes sprang open and she was greeted with an immense wall of horizontally cascading white water. What the fuck!? She snatched her hand from the ground, cutting off the channel of magic. The funnel of water, which was now over two stories high, collapsed into the lake.

In an instant, Asha's wand flew into her hand and she cast a shimmering dome around herself and Snape, who had rushed up behind her.

Without time to think, Severus instinctively drew his cloak over his and Asha's heads. He pulled the girl tightly under the protection of his own body, pressing her fiercely to his torso, determined not to let go.

With a crash the enormous wave engulfed them. This was followed by a momentary silent and mirky darkness. Then, the moonlight burst through above them and roaring water rushed past. It went on and on but eventually slowed. For a brief moment, there was a suspended lull as the water reached the peak of its momentum. Then the rushing sound increased once more as the wave drew backwards towards the writhing lake, accelerating and dragging with it all kinds of debris.

When it was clear that Asha's shield charm was going to hold, Severus released her, but the semi-transparent dome forced him to remain crouched. It took an eternity for the oscillating waves to recede from the position in which he and the girl were hunkered down.

Finally, Asha was able to safely lift her protective charm and Severus immediately straightened up. Initially, he had been utterly bewildered by what she had managed to do. But now his feeling of shock had been steamrolled by fury. Glaring at Asha, he saw she had her lips pursed and, to his perplexion, also looked extremely angry.

"Fuck!" she hissed through gritted teeth before Severus could say anything. She stood up and stared around at the desecration of her place of sanctuary. She marched up the shore and angrily directed her palm at the boulder Severus had been resting against just minutes ago. He watched dubiously as she caused it to roll heavily back to its original position that the water had wrenched it from. She then used both hands to aggressively re-dispersed the rocks that had been sucked towards the waterline and piled up by the huge waves.

As she was doing so, Severus walled off his fury for a later date and tore out his wand. He used it to still the waves in the distance that were heading straight for the Durmstrang ship - something which took an extremely high level of skill and concentration.

Next, he directed his focus towards the castle. He searched rapidly yet meticulously for any sign that someone might have seen or heard the incident. After his initial scan, he did the same for the Beauxbatons carriage. Thankfully Asha happened to be fond of one of the most remote areas on this side of the lake, meaning despite the enormity of her reckless behaviour, there was a chance none had witnessed it.

Once Asha had finished roughly tidying up the dismantled landscape, she strode bitterly away from the scene. Severus took note of which direction she was headed before returning to his watch of the populated areas of the grounds. He stayed there for several minutes, waiting for what he felt was an impending emergence of a set of prying eyes. All the while, he frantically planned how he could redeem Asha's mistake and explain the two sets of footprints in the snow without revealing her involvement. However, when after ten minutes no supposedly inevitable figures had emerged, Severus finally concluded with immense relief that no one had witnessed the event. And with that, he strode off towards the Forbidden Forest in search of the Dark Lord's infuriating daughter.