Lucius Malfoy got up from his plush armchair in the parlour of his mansion and smiled his approval at his wife, Narcissa, as she came in from the hall.
"You make for a most convincing Astronomy teacher," he said, going up to her. "You are the exact image of Professor Sinistra."
Narcissa turned to the mirror above the short bookshelf. "I am indeed," she said, adjusting her pointed red hat and running her hands down the length of her raven hair and over the curves of her pale brown bodice. "My accent. What do you think? Have I captured the nuances of Aurora's softly drolling voice?"
Lucius said, "Sufficiently," and handed her the letter he had just received by owl. "From Hellington. He won't be able to attend the Astronomers Association meeting tonight at Hogsmeade. He has been delayed by the arrival of Charlie Weasley."
"Oh?" Narcissa glanced at the letter. "Is this about the vampire dragon sightings at Promethea?"
"Yes, that meddling old fool, Crankspit, at the Department of Magical Creatures, has sent the Weasley brat to investigate. This leaves us without a helpmeet tonight when Aurora Sinistra gives her talk to the Association. We shall have to do without the assistance of Hellington when it comes time for you to take Sinistra's place."
"Lucius, dear, I have complete confidence in you. We know Aurora's habits. She will pass by the hollow oak, as always, on her quaint shortcut back to Hogwarts. She'll never know what happened."
"She will deduce it when the spell ends and she awakes in the bowels of the oak tomorrow morning, but she will not be able to trace the mischief back to me. Though I admit, I would rather Hellington perform the spell. It is too bad. But all will go well if we... if you, my lovely... stay focused on your role."
Narcissa gave him a wry smile. "The hardest part will be to treat my son as if he were just another student there, on the Astronomy observation deck."
Her husband stared down at her imperially. "Draco is not to know anything about this. If word were to get out to the Loyalists that we have connived to have Draco receive the blessings of the Green Star, to have rejected the notion that Lord Voldemort was the Heir of Slytherin in favor of our son..."
Lucius suppressed a shudder.
"Now, now, dear, you mustn't worry," said Narcissa, patting his chest. "When Gryffindor and Ravenclaw have been dismissed, I will summon the Granger doppleganger and tell the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs that Granger is to assist me in the lesson. I don't foresee any problems. The double will inspire McGonagall's niece to act according to our plan. Really, Lucius, it is a simple plan, with little that could possibly go wrong."
The owl that brought the letter to the Malfoy mansion had been startled during its flight by a flash of golden red light that shot on ahead of it at an incredible speed.
Shortly afterwards it appeared in a turret window of the round tower that housed the Headmaster's living quarters.
"Thank you, Fawkes," said Dumbledore, taking the wax-sealed scroll from the phoenix's beak.
He broke the seal and unrolled the parchment. It was a letter from Charlie Weasley.
'As you surmised, Hellington Nestor is residing in Promethea. I spoke with him an hour ago about the sightings that has Crankspit so concerned. But the conversation quickly turned to another matter that has Nestor more worried than my boss. He says he has detected the life force of You-Know-Who. He believes it has been gathering strength in Romania, and specifically at the ancient castle of Vlad the Impaler. He says it is agonizing over the loss of some part of itself, but Nestor doesn't know what this means exactly. Anyway, as you requested I have enlisted his help in hunting for the lair of the alleged vampire dragon. Nestor won't be going anywhere soon. I hope you find this news satisfactory.
Respectfully,
Charlie Weasley '
Hmm, thought Dumbledore.
With a pensive frown he went downstairs to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Did you see those Dementors when we were coming back from the greenhouse?" remarked Bea, as the bowls and trays of delicious food appeared on the table. "They were a little too close for comfort."
Giselle was rearranging her textbooks in the bag on her lap. "I sort of felt them but I didn't see them. I couldn't get the smell out of my nose from potting the fish tulips. How did you do in Muggle Studies? I got Exceeds Expectations for my report on 'Why and How the Toaster Was Invented.' I think I'd have done better if I hadn't misspelled so many words."
She set the bag on the floor by her feet and sat staring listlessly at the mountains of food that Felix was sampling feverishly.
She had no appetite, despite having skipped lunch. Her stomach was tied up in knots. Maybe later, doing her Potions homework with Lori who was such a whiz at it, she could relax and just not think about the Astronomy lesson. She had hoped to be excused from it, but Auntie had nixed that idea after Transfiguration class.
"The Headmaster has authorized me to cast a Do-Not-Disturb spell on you," Auntie had said when the students had filed out of the classroom. "It should keep you calm tonight. Professor Sinistra has been asked to keep close to you and let you use the telescope that's next to the hatchway. If you feel a need to leave the observation deck, for any reason, you may do so without having to get permission. But we don't think there's any danger to you, Gee. The Green Star phenomenon is merely an influence, a sense of enlightenment. We certainly don't expect anything harmful to happen."
Giselle looked over at the Gryffindor table. Hermione was chatting gaily with Katie Bell, as Harry and Ron were making chess pieces salt and pepper their spaghetti for them. It was a typical scene, warm and serene.
Giselle sighed. At her own table Cedric and Cho Chang were sending messages to each other on flying napkins; the Tobin twins doing the same sort of thing with the Weasley twins, laughing at their own jokes. It was just another weeknight dinner, perfectly normal.
Giselle spooned a bit of soup into her bowl and idly stirred it. She so wished that she had never heard of any green stars. Oh well, she told herself, after tonight it would be over and she could concentrate on making Professor Snape proud of her. She smiled at that. Auntie had said to her once, "You want all your teachers to be proud of you."
Giselle looked up at the faculty board. Snape was eyeing Professor Lupin narrowly. What was it about Lupin that gave her the creeps? She liked him. He was a very good teacher who made Defense Against the Dark Arts quite fun, though sometimes a little scary. And yet there was this weird thing about him. She couldn't think what it could be.
"Pass the peach cobbler, Gee," said Cass, reaching her arm across the table. Already it was dessert time! Giselle pushed the big dish over to her and felt a shiver. Before long it would be time to go up to the Astronomy Tower.
In the Entrance Hall by the marble staircase Auntie stopped her. They waited for the Hufflepuff crowd to go down to the basement House dorm, then Auntie enchanted her with the spell that made her feel that nothing would ever bother her again.
In the Common Room Giselle played gobstones with Herman, Heloise, and Cedric. She lost every one of her stones, but... it just didn't matter. Having fun with friends was the only thing that mattered. Even the ticking of the clock on the mantlepiece, with the minute hand seeming to hurry itself up, didn't bother her. Nothing did, until she fell asleep on the fireplace apron.
She dreamed she was on her broom chasing the snitch through outer space. It became the head of Draco. She couldn't catch it. Her hand was glowing like a green neon sign. There was someone following close behind her, saying in a soft droll voice, "Don't you want me to be proud of you? Don't you? Don't you? Catch it! Catch it! I'll be so proud of you!" She managed finally to twist around and see, right up close, the snarling, slavoring face of a werewolf.
"Arrrgh!" she screamed.
"Miss McGonagall, wake up! Wake up!"
It was Professor Sprout, squeezing Giselle on the arm. "It's time for your Astronomy lesson. Hurry and catch up with the others."
Oh my God!
Giselle was halfway down the corridor to the Astronomy Tower's spiral stairwell when it suddenly occurred to her that she was disturbed. Quite disturbed! The spell had lost its effect. She slowed to a meandering walk, a hand to her pounding heart, and took deep breaths.
It's just an influence, she thought as she turned to climb the dim narrow steps. Nothing harmful. Don't be so frightened.
She could hear the voices of her house mates echoing along the curving walls of the stairwell. See, they're enjoying this. Just relax and have fun peering through the telescope at the full moon... at the green star...
At the top of the stairs was a small shadowy room with a single brass bowl holding fitful flames near the steps that led to the hatchway.
It was open. Giselle could see the moon. It had a faint ring around it. Just below it was a sparkle of green, like an emerald set in the black void of space.
"Is that you, Giselle? Come on up. It's time we got started."
Giselle paused on the steps. What was Hermione doing here? Hadn't all the Gryffindors left?
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