Astra

LXXVIII - The New Prefects

IT WAS ONLY A BIT OF time until Harry returned, and everyone welcomed him with cheers and hugs. He was obviously a bit surprised at how they got the news, but didn't question it.

With the event of stress over, Grimmauld Place quickly returned to its normal activities. Order meetings continued, and Astra continued working on her several projects at the same time, often skipping out on cleaning and locking herself in her room, sometimes with Luna.

She stayed up late at night, either reviewing articles that Luna had written or practicing spells on random pieces of parchment. She really should have asked Lily to help, but this was also something she wanted to do on her own, something that she would know that she had accomplished when she finally did.

It really all began at the beginning of the summer, when Regulus had brought up the losses of war. Astra had always felt guilty; so many people had lost more than her and yet she was able to talk with them.

There was no spell that brings back the dead.

But there was an ability to talk with the dead, which had to make it possible for others. 

Or at least, that was the logic that Astra used.

"Secretum litterae," she whispered, but nothing changed on the parchment. She sighed; this had been only the third spell that she had tried, finally having given up on potions when it grew harder to hide. Really, spell-making was just translating words from English to Latin, but it was about choosing the right sequence of them. 

All Astra knew was that there had to be a way if she was able to do it naturally. For example, some people were Legillemens, but others could still learn it using spells. It was the exact same process for a psychic medium, she thought.

Astra stifled a yawn and looked at the clock: 3:24 AM. 

She put the papers back in her folder, crossing out the failed spell on her list.

There had been other things on her mind, of course. Really, she was surprised that she hadn't had a mental breakdown yet.

First, the ministry was going to interfere at Hogwarts. It was that pink toad that had been at her and Harry's trial, and Astra had a feeling that it wasn't going to end well. However, there was no way that Astra was going to make things easy for her.

Second, the visions. She hadn't had one since Cedric, and she was trying to figure out a sort of pattern. Of course, that wouldn't work well, seeing as she'd only had two, but it was worth a shot. Luna had provided plenty of books from the Ravenclaw common room the year before, and Astra was sure that there had to be an answer in one of them. 

The thing that confused her the most was that the vision had been in Cedric's point of view, and had been repeated multiple times until it was clear. Thinking back, she had only had about one small interaction with the Hufflepuff before he died; a simple 'hello' in the library. She hadn't gotten a vision about Bertha Jorkins, and she had also died from Wormtail.

And third, keeping everything from Harry. She felt extremely guilty, as she always did, and often wondered whether it would be better to come clean. Then, she remembered how the conversation would probably play out, and decided to stay quiet.

The next morning was the last day of holidays, and the girls were awoken by Hermione rushing in with a squeal.

"Book lists arrived! Book lists! Quickly, come!"

"Ugghhh," Ginny groaned from the other side of the room, but Hermione was too excited to notice. 

"Get up now! They're late this year after all."