Astra

XCIX - The First D.A. Meeting

HARRY AND RON WERE WALKING back from Quidditch practice, talking in hushed whispers about the sudden flash in Harry's scar.

"Did you see him?" said Ron, looking horrified. "Did you . . . get a vision, or something?"

Harry sat quite still, staring at his feet, allowing his mind and his memory to relax in the aftermath of the pain.

"He wants something done, and it's not happening fast enough," he said.

"But . . . how do you know?"

Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands, pressing down upon them with his palms. Ron sat down on the bench beside him and stared at him. 

"Is this what it was about last time?" said Ron in a hushed voice. "When your scar hurt in Umbridge's office? You-Know-Who was angry?"

Harry shook his head.

"What is it, then?"

"Last time, it was because he was pleased," Harry responded. "Really pleased. He thought . . . something good was going to happen. And the night before we came back to Hogwarts . . ."

He looked around at Ron, who was gaping at him.

"You could take over from Trelawney, mate," he said in an awed voice.

"I'm not making prophecies," said Harry.

"No, you know what you're doing?" Ron said, sounding both scared and impressed. "Harry, you're reading You-Know-Who's mind!"

"No," Harry shook his head. "It's more like . . . his mood, I suppose. I'm just getting flashes of what mood he's in. Dumbledore said something like this was happening last year. He said that when Voldemort was near me, or when he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I'm feeling it when he's pleased, too . . ."

There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at the building.

"You've got to tell someone," said Ron.

"I told Sirius last time."

"Well, tell him about this time!"

"Can't, can I?" said Harry grimly. "Umbridge is watching the owls and the fires, and Astra would kill me."

"Well then, Dumbledore."

"I've just told you, he already knows," said Harry shortly, getting to his feet, taking his cloak off his peg and swinging it around him. "There's no point telling him again."

Ron did up the fastening of his own cloak, watching Harry thoughtfully.

"Tell Astra!"

"...What?"

"Tell Astra! She's a part of the Order, remember?"

Harry looked at Ron incredulously.

"Definitely not! She'd think I was crazy -"

"I really don't think so," said Ron with a sort of knowing face. Harry shook his head, but Ron seemed adamant about telling her. "She'd want to know -"

"She doesn't care that much about me."

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know? Just 'cause you've got a crush on her -"

"No! We're not talking about that- she just treats me like the rest of the Order does, like I'm not capable of handling myself."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't care about you -"

"C'mon, let's just get to that charms practice."

Ron sighed, but followed.

Nonetheless, a certain redhead echo had overheard the conversation, and made sure that Astra would know. A certain sparkle in Lily's eye made it clear that she thought Astra did care about Harry way more than he or she thought.