Astra

CIV - The Snake

CONTRARY TO WHAT ASTRA expected, Ron and Hermione looked less excited and more confused.

"So?" Astra prompted, "What happened?"

Harry hesitated, glancing at the other two before turning to Astra, "Well- she was crying."

Astra snorted. 

"Are you that bad at kissing?" Ron added, looking like he was stifling a laugh. Hermione elbowed him, but looked at Harry as well.

"Dunno," Harry answered, "Maybe I am."

"Of course you're not," said Hermione absently, rolling her eyes.

"How do you know-"

"Because Cho spends half her time crying these days," Hermione answered, "She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place."

"You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up," said Ron, grinning.

"Ron," said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her inkpot, "you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Ron indignantly. "What sort of person cries while someone's kissing them?"

"Yeah," said Harry, slightly desperately, "who does?"

Hermione looked to Astra as if she was going to help her answer the question, but she only looked at Hermione with the same expression as the boys.

"What- you think I know?"

Hermione sighed and looked at them with an almost pitying expression on her face.

"Don't you understand how Cho's feeling at the moment?" she asked.

"No," they all said together.

Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.

"Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying," Astra's eyes widened for a moment, wondering how she was meant to explain that to Cedric... she would have to think about that another time. "Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can't work out what her feelings towards Harry are, anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that's all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she's been flying so badly. '

A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, "One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode."

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.

"She was the one who started it," said Harry," sparing the smallest glance at Astra, "I wouldn't've--she just sort of came at me--and next thing she's crying all over me--I didn't know what to do--"

"Don't blame you, mate," said Ron, looking alarmed at the very thought. Astra only snorted again.

"You just had to be nice to her," said Hermione, looking up anxiously. "You were, weren't you?"

"Well," said Harry, an unpleasant heat creeping up his face, "I sort of--patted her on the back a bit," he lowered his voice and muttered, "then I pulled away- I sort of ran out of there."

"You- what??"

"You ran out of there??" while Hermione looked like she was going to combust from annoyance, Astra looked like she was nearly dying of laughter.