Astra

LXII - The Blackmail

ASTRA WAS FURIOUS at Ron the next day, though seemed to brood quietly and calmly, and the people who knew her best knew that that was the worst kind of anger.

Hermione and Ron didn't discuss the argument that Astra had heard about and were oddly formal to each other.

Astra simply didn't talk to Ron, but seemed to get the message across that her threat from the year before was still there.

However, Marlene did come with important knews that she had discovered the night before.

"Rita's an animagus."

"What?" Astra's head snapped around to where the blonde was floating, surprised by the sudden announcement.

"I should have told you yesterday," Marlene said, "But Rita's an animagus. I saw her transform but then she listened in on one of Hagrid's conversations and... well... it's not good. She'll probably have an article coming up soon."

Astra of course knew what Marlene was talking about. Not many people thought of it but she had learned from James that Hagrid was a half giant. She also learned that half-giants were often discriminated against, just about as much as werewolves. 

And, of course, Rita knew.

"What form?"

"A beetle."

Astra snorted. Rita Skeeter was a beetle. That made quite a bit of sense, actually. However, that also made it really easy for her to eavesdrop and really hard for Astra to catch her. Blackmail would probably work the best in this situation.

"Do you know where she is now?" Astra asked.

"Well, she was in her flat earlier today but you know we can't track people in their animagus forms."

Astra knew that. It was what made catching Wormtail so hard the year before and it was once again playing against her.

"I'm gonna go now," added Marlene as she was lost in thought, but just before she popped away, Astra said one last thing.

"Sure, but don't stalk Mad-Eye. It's creepy."

Marlene sighed, but nodded, "Yeah, Dorcas agrees."

Astra didn't know how big of a mistake she had just made.

***

It was time now to think of the homework they had neglected during the first week of the holidays. Everybody seemed to be feeling rather flat now that Christmas was over, though Astra was mainly slightly disappointed. She still hadn't shown her animagus form to the boys yet; she had planned for them to know during the Yule Ball. 

Still, Astra was a Black and felt the need for dramatic entrances, so she was waiting for the best time to pull it off.

Now, however, the most important thing was to try and figure out Harry's next task.

She knew that he was lying about getting everything done, but also didn't want to pressure him so much. Astra desperately wanted to tell him what the task was, and thought of trying to find an excuse for knowing it, but that was a last resort.

If he didn't figure it out in a week, she would tell him.

Nonetheless, she had been researching the best ways to stay underwater, and found nothing. There were spells that were way too advanced, even more so than the animagus process. Astra had looked through that and potions, even muggle options, but found nothing.