Astra

XXV - The Confrontation

HARRY ALMOST MADE IT to Honeydukes to get back to Hogwarts but was stopped with a cheerful "Hi, Harry!"

Astra was beaming, and happier than he had ever seen her. It almost made him smile, but nothing could take the frown off his face after what he had heard.

"Harry! Come back here!" came Hermione's shouts, but he was frozen. Astra seemed to realize something was wrong, but couldn't stop smiling.

"How was Hogsmeade?"

"Where were you?" he asked in a forceful tone. He didn't know why he was being so rude to Astra, and on a day where she seemed to be happy, but he couldn't help but think of what she had been doing. Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron seemed to finally make it and, panting, threw questioning looks at Astra.

"What do you mean?"

"And why do you look so happy -" Ron started.

"Ron!" Hermione jabbed him in the stomach.

Harry shook his head but continued his question. "I mean, where were you? I saw you try and use the Whomping Willow passage. You said that you couldn't get through there."

Astra's mouth formed an 'O' shape as her smile faltered slightly but then turned into her signature smirk. "Now, some questions can't be answered. That's a secret that goes simply to the Master of Mischief." Ron shook his head at how Astra was using the title, Harry only frowned more.

"It leads to a different part of Hogsmeade so don't worry about it. But I think I'm going to go back through the Honeydukes passage anyway."

"Did you know?" he asked again, moving so they wouldn't be in the crowd. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, knowing this conversation wasn't going to be great.

"Know what?"

"About your father."

Astra inwardly groaned, not wanting to talk about this. At the sign of trouble, Sirius in his animagus form came up behind her.

"What about my father?"

"He betrayed my parents." At this, Sirius growled and Ron noticed the giant black dog. Astra, however, was completely calm.

"I see."

"What do you mea-"

"The Grim!" yelled Ron.

Harry looked behind her and noticed the black dog, while Astra simply stepped aside and petted it.

"Stray dog, he's harmless. Named him... Snuffles." The dog clearly showed distress at the name but that only made Astra chuckle.

"Bu-"

"Listen here, Harry. I'm not going to argue about what my father did or didn't do or about his past relationship with your parents, aka my godparents, in case you forgot. So, I would worry less about what he did and focus more on you." Harry looked even more frustrated and Hermione looked a bit confused.

She made to leave but heard Ron grumble, "She acts like a Slytherin."

Astra turned around proudly and said, "Thank you." She walked away, vaguely hearing Ron say, "Did she just think being called a Slytherin was a compliment."

Astra made her way to the Honeydukes cellar with a few parting words to her father. Hermione was left even more confused while now both Harry and Ron were frustrated. She wondered about the strangeness of Astra, how she acted like she knew more than them (even though she usually did), and her advancement in topics that she wasn't even taught. Also, the words 'what my father did or didn't do' stuck in her head. Did Astra think her father was innocent? Or did she know? And she seemed perfectly at ease with the dog, even though it sounded like she had met it only a few minutes or hours ago. So many questions were flooding her head, though none of them seemed right to ask.