Wish Upon A Star

Settling

They were out of the hospital wing by noon the next day. The castle was almost empty. Everyone had gone to Hogsmeade. Ashlyn made her way to Lupin's office. He was packing.

"Hello, Professor Lupin," Ashlyn said.

"Oh, hello, Ashlyn," Lupin said smiling, but there was a hint of guilt in his eyes.

"You know, you're like super strong. Had a good brawl yesterday," Ashlyn said jokingly.

"About that. I'm so sorry" Lupin apologized.

"You don't have to be," Ashlyn said quickly. "I know it was not in your control. I wouldn't have had to fight you. But I had to keep my friends safe. I don't blame you, and I never will,"

Lupin smiled.

"You know, I've never really thanked you for the get well soon card. Thank you, Ashlyn. It meant a lot."

Ashlyn glowed.

"Professor Lupin--"

"Call me Remus,"

"Alright...Remus, you are the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had, and will ever have. Thank you for helping me with my Patronus, thank you for everything, really," Ashlyn said as she hugged him goodbye.

"Harry will be coming later," she said as she left.

From there, she went to Dumbledore's office.

"Enter" came Dumbledore's reply as she knocked on the door.

"Good afternoon, professor," Ashlyn said, pulling the door open and entering.

"Good afternoon, my dear," the headmaster said from behind his desk.

Ashlyn, as usual, was sitting in front of Dumbledore with the mahogany desk between them.

"I let him escape," Ashlyn said, looking down at her hands. Dumbledore nodded.

"Next year is going to get tougher. It is going to get worse," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Then we will have to be prepared," Dumbledore said. 

Ashlyn bit her lip. There was so much she wanted to say, but words didn't seem to cooperate with her.

Ashlyn got up as she nodded. "Thank you, sir. Have a good day" 

And with that, she was out of his office. 

Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling the hippogriff to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper.

 Percy Weasley, meanwhile, had much to say on the subject of Sirius's escape.

"If I manage to get into the Ministry, I'll have a lot of proposals to make about Magical Law Enforcement!" he told the only person who would listen — his girlfriend, Penelope.

The whole of their Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about Lupin's resignation.

"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus Finnigan gloomily.

"Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.

"A death eater disguised as an Auror" Ashlyn muttered darkly, though no one heard her.

Ashlyn and Hermione passed with flying colours in every subject. Ron and Harry did fairly well. Harry had expected Snape to fail him and seriously suspected Dumbledore's involvement in his passing grade.

Soon their bags were packed and their butts were seated on the train back to London.

"I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies." Hermione said.

"But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty per cent!" said Ron.

"I know," sighed Hermione, "but I can't stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal schedule again."

"I dropped Muggle studies and Arithmancy," Ashlyn said.

"Why would you drop Arithmancy?" Hermione asked, almost sounding offended. "If anything it should have been Divination,"

"I slept in every damn class! You have no idea how much extra work I had to do just to scrape past" Ashlyn said. "Plus, I actually like Divination, thank you very much,"

"You like divination?" Harry scoffed. 

"Can you believe her? Her 'scrape past' was a bloody three hundred per cent" Ron said exasperated.

"Three hundred and fifty-two per cent" Harry corrected.

"I still can't believe you didn't tell us about it," said Ron grumpily. "We're supposed to be your friends."

"We promised we wouldn't tell anyone," said Hermione severely.

She looked around at Harry, who was watching Hogwarts disappear from view behind a mountain. Harry looked sullen as he watched Hogwarts grow distant.

"Oh, cheer up, Harry!" said Hermione sadly.

"I'm okay," said Harry quickly. "Just thinking about the holidays."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about them too," said Ron. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, then I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now —"

"A telephone, Ron," said Hermione. "Honestly, you should take Muggle Studies next year. . . ." Ron ignored her.

"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work."

This proposal had the effect of cheering Harry up a great deal.

"Yeah . . . I bet the Dursleys'd be pleased to let me come . . . especially after what I did to Aunt Marge. . . ."

Feeling considerably more cheerful, Harry joined Ron, Hermione, and Ashlyn in several games of Exploding Snap.

Around late afternoon, a small owl turned up with Sirius's letter for Harry. Ashlyn couldn't call it Pigwidgeon yet, she had to wait for Ginny to name it.

"Keep him?" Ron said uncertainly. He looked closely at the owl for a moment; then, to Harry's and Hermione's great surprise, he held him out for Crookshanks to sniff. Ashlyn smiled.

"What d'you reckon?" Ron asked the cat. "Definitely an owl?"

Crookshanks purred.

"That's good enough for me," said Ron happily. "He's mine."

Ashlyn hugged her friends goodbye and waved to the Weasley's before running to her parents smiling widely.

Next year was going to mark the beginning. Next year there would be a lot for her to do. But let's leave all that for next year. For now, she wanted to spend time with her family as happy as ever.