"Hey, stupid girl," Alister sighed softly, reaching out to flick her lightly on the forehead. "Didn't I just say I'm not angry anymore? Has there ever been a single time in the past where I was actually genuinely mad at you?"
Astra sniffled, her grip on his robes loosening slightly. "Really?"
"Really," Alister confirmed smoothly. "So stop being a crybaby. Besides, I'm not going off to do anything dangerous. I'll just be staying at Grandpa Nicolas and Grandma Perenelle's place."
Instantly, the tears vanished from Astra's eyes, replaced by a deep, furious flush of red that crept up her neck and cheeks.
"Huh?" Alister blinked, genuinely bewildered by the sudden shift. "Why is your face red now? Seriously, how do you girls change moods this fast?"
"You... you massive IDIOT!" Astra yelled, punching him squarely in the arm. "Why wasn't going to the Flamels' the very first thing you said?! I was worried sick for absolutely no reason!"
"Well, go back to your class and take care of yourself," Alister said, deciding it was tactically best to end the conversation right there.
He turned and began to walk away, but paused after a few steps, glancing back over his shoulder. "Oh, and I'll be taking Asher with me."
~Meow.
Right on cue, Asher turned around on Alister's shoulder. Looking entirely too smug for a pet, she raised a paw and gave Astra a little wave.
Still a bit dazed from the emotional whiplash, Astra reflexively waved back. By the time her brain fully caught up to what was happening, Alister had already disappeared around the corner.
"Wait..." Astra muttered to the empty corridor, her eyes narrowing. "That traitorous cat... did she forget I'm her actual owner? She absolutely received bribes from him."
She let out a long, heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping. The anger faded, leaving behind a sharp, quiet determination.
"Whatever. I need to get stronger, and soon," she whispered to herself. "That silly brother of mine doesn't even know how to lie to me properly. He's definitely going off to get himself into more trouble."
...
Down in the quiet, cool shadows of the Slytherin dormitories, Alister let out a weary sigh of his own.
He tossed the last of his necessary supplies into his magically expanded trunk. "Well, I had to lie to her so she wouldn't worry," he muttered to the empty room, trying to get over the guilt of deceiving her.
He snapped the heavy lid shut. His expression shifted, as the brass lock clicked replaced by the cold mask.
"Now, the last thing I need to do before leaving is meet with Snape," Alister said quietly. "I need to make things perfectly clear with him today. It's time to find out exactly where he stands."
It didn't take Alister long to reach Snape's office; the Slytherin dormitories were conveniently close to Snape's damp, gloomy domain.
He knocked on the door briskly.
A few moments later, the heavy wooden door creaked open just an inch. Snape peered through the narrow gap, his dark eyes instantly narrowing with immense distaste.
"Potter," Snape sneered. "I am not in the mood to look at your insufferable face today. Get away from my door."
Just as Snape moved to slam the heavy wood directly into Alister's face, Alister spoke.
"What if it's about Astra?"
SLAM.
The door shut violently, right on Alister's nose.
Alister didn't move. He stood perfectly still in the dim corridor, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
'Three...'
'Two...'
'One.'
The heavy door suddenly slid open again, pulled back by a sharp wave of wandless magic. Snape was standing across the room with his back turned, aggressively chopping some slimy-looking potion ingredients on a side table.
"You have exactly five minutes, Potter," Snape snapped without turning around. "Speak and get lost."
Alister walked in, casually tossing the Headmaster's signed parchment onto the desk beside Snape. "Here. Read this before we continue."
Snape paused his violent chopping. He glanced sideways at the parchment, his upper lip curling. "What does Dumbledore indulging your utterly absurd demands have to do with me?"
"I just needed to give this to you as the Head of Slytherin House." Alister replied smoothly.
"Is this what you are wasting my precious time on?" Snape hissed, turning fully to glare at him. "Has your trollish brain somehow become even slower?"
"No," Alister said, his tone dropping into something deadly serious. "I'm actually here to clear things up between us."
"I know the arrogant little troll named 'Alister Potter' well enough. There is absolutely nothing you need to be 'clear' about with me."
"You really are stubborn," Alister sighed softly, shaking his head. "Fine. I will get straight to the point then. I know about the secret you've been hiding."
He paused, letting the silence stretch. "And I know the real reason you care about Astra so much."
Snape's wand hand twitched. "Potter, get out of my sight," he warned, his voice dropping to a dangerously soft, lethal whisper.
"I don't know where you heard whatever absolute garbage you are spouting right now..."
"So, you want to verify the source before you hear the rest?" Alister interrupted calmly.
"It was Horace Slughorn. The man is always ready to sell a good piece of history. I just had to slide him a few credits."
For the first time since Alister had met him, Snape's cold, emotionless face had Genuine panic flickering in his dark eyes.
"S-Shut up, Potter," Snape snarled. "Do not dare say another word that can make me draw my wand."
Alister completely ignored the threat, his voice taking on a tone of genuine sympathy. "He told me that you, my dad, and my mom studied at Hogwarts in the same year. He told me all about the... complicated relationship... you had with them."
Snape's hand vanished behind his back, his fingers wrapping tightly around his wand, fully prepared to pull it out.
"You don't need to hide the truth anymore, Professor."
"I know it's shameful to talk about, but you can't keep running from your past."
"I was truly shocked when I heard that my dad bullied you so much in your school days... but even then, you found yourself in LOVE with my dad."
"And I know how much it hurt when my mom stole him away from you. But you can't always be this gloomy over his loss... he wouldn't be happy in the afterlife seeing you like this."
While Alister continued to console snape thinking that he was uncovering the past snape tried so hard to forget, Snape stood entirely frozen.
He looked as though he had been hit by a Petrify curse cast by Dumbledore himself.
He was staring at Alister with a look that said that his soul had evicted itself from his body.
He hadn't heard a single word Alister said after the phrase 'loved my dad'.
END OF CHAPTER
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