Astra

VII - The Christmas Holidays

ASTRA WOKE UP early the next morning, as usual, in hopes that neither Hermione, Ron, or Harry would talk to her. She hadn't meant to slip up about the orphanage; in fact, she never wanted anyone to ever learn that she had spent the first 10 years of her life there, but she had yelled it as she was stressed, in hopes that maybe the others wouldn't think her evil. But now, they felt pity. That was even worse than thinking she was evil. Now, they felt bad for her and would probably try and abduct her into their group. But she didn't want to, or did she? Either way, Astra headed down to Minnie's office, hoping that she wouldn't be too disappointed in her. She knocked on the door, and was greeted with a "Come in."

"Good morning, Minnie."

"Good morning, Astra. Now, I was hoping you could tell me what really happened yesterday. You won't get in trouble, but I just want to know what possessed your mind to think that you were capable of fighting a troll." Astra sat in the chair across from her desk, as usual, and sighed.

"Alright, honestly, I didn't think I was capable of fighting a troll. I just had to get Hermione out of there. Ron was saying some mean things about her, and it really hurt her feelings, so she went to cry in the bathrooms. She didn't show up to any of her classes the rest of the day, but it didn't worry me. But then, we heard that a troll was in the dungeons, so I rushed to the bathroom to try and get her out before the troll came. But before, we could get out, it was already there, and then the two idiots, Harry and Ron, seemed to have the same idea. They locked the door, forgetting that Hermione was actually in there already. I had to knock some sense into them by yelling at them, but then they opened the door and Hermione was trapped behind the stalls. I yelled to do something, and Harry decided it would be a good idea to jump on the troll's back and shove his wand up its nose. Ron used the levitating charm to levitate the troll's club and I used immobulus to freeze the troll. Ron lost focus and the club fell on the troll's head, knocking him out."

"Well, that is quite the tale. However, how did you know immobulus? I believe that is a 2nd year charm."

"It just came into my head," Astra lied. "I remembered reading it in a book."

"Alright, well then. Have a biscuit." Astra rolled her eyes and smiled, knowing McGonagall was proud of her for having battled the troll. They talked a bit more about classes, specifically transfiguration before Astra went off to her first class.

***

November made the weather colder, but that didn't stop Astra's usual visits to Hagrid's hut and exploring the grounds. She wanted to go through the Whomping Willow tunnel, but Lily firmly forbade her and made sure that she wouldn't go with the guilt trap. It also became harder to avoid the trio. Hermione seemed to wake up earlier and earlier, hoping to talk to Asra, but she was always first. Astra also went to bed earlier, hoping that Hermione wouldn't interrupt her if she was asleep. It worked, for the most part. When given the chance, Hermione tried to sit next to Astra, even if she wasn't talkative. It usually turned to be a one-sided conversation where Hermione was talking about her studies and Astra was blocking her out. She also started a new game with Lily, James, and Regulus. During classes where she didn't want to listen to Hermione or where Binns was being boring (once she finished her other homework), she would play games like Hangman and Tic Tac Toe, or have a conversation with the person who was joining her class. The spirit would tell her what to do, and she would talk back using her quill and parchment. Hermione almost caught her a few times, but Astra quickly replaced her fun parchment with parchment of notes, and simply tell her she was trying to pay attention to the lesson.

The first Quidditch match was coming up as well. Regulus made sure that she would at least where a bit of green, even if she was in Gryffindor. When asked why she had green and red, she either shrugged, glared, or came up with a witty remark ("Christmas spirit"). The overall game was interesting, and Astra enjoyed watching, even if she didn't chant or yell with the others. When Harry's broom malfunctioned, she immediately looked through the crowd for Quirrel. He was not blinking and staring directly at Harry. Astra almost made her way over but noticed that Hermione was already doing it. However, it seemed that she was heading for Snape, knocking over Quirrel in the process. Glancing over at Lily, James, and Regulus, she saw that they were looking at him too. James cheered loudly, even though no one could hear him, when Hermione lit Snape's coat on fire, exclaiming "I like her! She set Snivellus' robe on fire! Can you believe it?"