Astra

VIII - The Dragon

JANUARY 11TH CAME and Astra's birthday was small. She was woken up early by James, Lily, and Regulus singing 'Happy Birthday', received a gift from Minnie and Hagrid, and a 'Happy Birthday' from Hermione when she learned that it was the girl's birthday.

After Hermione's confrontation, she didn't seem to care as much as more. She wasn't waking up extremely early to try and catch Astra, or stay in the dorms, waiting for her to come in. This may have been because she decided to give up on befriending the girl, or the more likely reason is that she was busying herself even more. Hermione was still looking with the rest of the trio for who Nicolas Flamel was and she was also studying more than ever for the end-of-year exams. 

Astra still had a steady flow of work but wasn't stressing half as much as Hermione. With Lily as her personal study planner, she was able to get all of her hardest homework done during Binn's class, any long-term projects were worked on in the common room in the afternoon, and in the evening she would go for a quick snack in the kitchens, talking to Regulus and avoiding other people. Sometimes, she would also go to the astronomy tower where Lily would quiz her, or she would sit outside by the Great Lake and read some books, keeping an eye on Quirrel on the Mauraders' Map at the same time. Astra also still made frequent visits to Minnie's office and Hagrid's Hut, where she was always welcome with some tea, biscuits, or rock cakes.

Astra was checking out another book on Animagi (she found the subject fascinating) when Hermione came running in with Ron and Harry at her heels. The trio really needed to stop running everywhere. She was just leaving the library when she heard them talking about the Philosopher's stone.

"See?" said Hermione. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

Astra rolled her eyes. It only was a matter of time until they figured it out, but did they really think that Snape was after the stone? Still, it didn't seem worth it to try and butt in. They wouldn't do anything with that information. Right? Astra tucked the book back under her arm and walked out of the library. 

***

The next few days went by quickly, Astra falling into her usual rhythm. Soon enough, it was time for the next Quidditch game. This time it was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and Astra had no problem cheering only for Gryffindor. She heard Hermione and Ron talking about a spell, 'Locomotor Mortis', that she suspected was probably if someone tried to hex Harry again, even though they wouldn't have to worry with Dumbledore at the game. The match actually stopped really quickly with Harry catching the snitch in 5 minutes, and Astra only had to move slightly to avoid the fight that broke out between Ron, Neville, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. She simply rolled her eyes, keeping her attention on the game.

The rest of Gryffindor made their way to the common room, but Astra, once again headed towards the kitchens. There was simply now way to avoid people if there was a Gryffindor party, specifically if it was initiated by the Weasley twins. On her way there, she saw Harry pull Ron and Hermione into an empty classroom. Deciding to spy on them, only to see if they were about to do something stupid, she listened at the door.

"So we were right, it is the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy, and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocus. reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to breakthrough."