Astra

IX - The Philosopher's Stone

THE DAYS PASSED BY and everyone in Gryffindor house seemed cold towards the trio. Astra didn't really care about the points, but she still didn't see it as a reason to talk to them. It seemed that now that the whole dragon plot was done, they wanted to continue looking into the problem with the Philosopher's stone. She really didn't understand why the three students felt the need to dig around in everything around the school. In astronomy one night, she overheard a bit of their conversation.

"If we just do a bit of poking around -" came Ron's voice before he was interrupted by Harry.

"No. We've done enough poking around." At least someone had a voice of reason. Besides, James had specifically told her that even if Quirrel was able to get through the other tasks (which she learned was Fluffy, Devil's Snare, a room with enchanted flying keys, a giant chess set, a troll, and a set of poisons with a riddle), he wouldn't be able to acquire the stone because it was hidden in something called the Mirror of Erised, which Astra learned was a mirror that showed your greatest desire. Astra almost wanted to see what her greatest desire would be but knew that it wouldn't be worth going through all of the tasks just to see it.

Astra continued watching the map, knowing that now that Quirrel knew how to get past Fluffy, he would be going any day now. The only thing that she would be able to do is to alert Minnie or another professor so that they would be able to catch Quirrel. That evening, Astra went to bed only to be interrupted at around midnight by James and Lily (Regulus was once again doing his usual check-up on Sirius).

"Astra, you won't believe it!" She groaned a bit, and turned around, not saying anything because the other girls would most definitely wake up and call her crazy. She rubbed her eyes and looked around to make sure that Lavender and Parvati were sleeping. Then, lazily, she grabbed the map that was kept under her mattress, her wand from her nightstand, and slipped out of the room. Checking the map, she made sure that no one was in the common room, but Ron was sitting there, and Hermione, Harry, and Neville were on their way back. She sighed and said, "Tell me tomorrow, they're all coming back." Before giving them a chance to respond, she walked back into her room, put her wand and map back in their places, and fell back asleep.

***

"Alright, what was so important that you had to wake me up in the middle of the night?" Astra asked as James, Lily, and Regulus came before her in the kitchens.

"Harry encountered Voldemort last night in the forbidden forest!" exclaimed James immediately, as Regulus flinched at the name.

"What?" asked Astra as Regulus's eyes widened.

"What he means to say is yesterday Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco Malfoy were doing their detention in the forbidden forest and they split up to try and find a unicorn that Quirrel must have been attacking. But Harry and the Malfoy boy found the unicorn with Quirrel standing over it -" Lily said before being interrupted by James.

"Yes, but it wasn't Quirrel. The centaur said that it was Voldemort! That must mean that they're connected somehow."

"Well, that's strange, but you still had to wake me up in the middle of the night for this?"

"Ok, I was a bit overexcited but Harry just met bloody Voldemort in the forest!"

"So, you think that Qurirel is somehow related to You-Know-Who?" asked Regulus. It had been a long time since he was a death eater, and changed his habits from saying the Dark Lord, but he wasn't quite ready to say the name yet, and Lily and James were alright with that. "Do you ever wonder what's under his turban?" The others widened their eyes in realization.