Astra

XII - The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened

ASTRA HAD ONCE AGAIN gotten into a nice routine, balancing all of her work well, with daily visits to Minnie or Hagrid. She still preferred going to the kitchens for her meals rather than eating in the Great Hall and still talked with Lily, James, or Regulus at the end of the day. 

Over the summer, she had found out that she could talk to other people who are dead (she discovered this by walking to the Astronomy tower one day and finding a girl who she had never seen before standing there, confused). However, she preferred to simply remain to Lily, James, and Regulus, as she learned that the rest of the Black family were psychopaths and blood supremacists, and she didn't want to be a part of her mum's family, as she had abandoned Astra as a baby. She had met a few of her parents' and godparents' friends such as Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows, which Lily and James often spent time with. However, Astra preferred to simply stick with the ones that she knew.

Her animagus lessons with Minnie were less, but still going on. Every Thursday at 5 pm, she would head down to McGonagall's office and learn the theory behind an animagus. When asking James about the process, he said that they just went straight into making the potion, but, even though impatient, Astra decided to go along with Minnie's instruction. So far, she had looked into the characteristics of the different animagi forms but wasn't completely sure what would work. Though you could sometimes tell by looking into your personalities, Minnie had told her that the only way to know for sure which form your animagus will take would be to complete the process or check your Patronus (though the Patronus is not always the same as the animagus form).

***

Astra was just working on a Potions essay when James came rushing in.

"You won't believe what that Malfoy kid did!" he exclaimed as Lily and Regulus popped in.

"What?" Astra watched the conversation in amusement. Draco Malfoy did not seem nice in the slightest and it pained her to be related to him.

"You know Harry's friend, Hermione? He called her the m-word!" Lily gasped and Regulus's face immediately turned guilty.

"I can't believe it! What did Ron and Harry do?"

"Harry didn't really know what the word meant, but he could obviously tell it was bad. The whole Gryffindor quidditch team pounced on the Slytherin one where, by the way, Malfoy bought them all new brooms as bribery to get onto the team. Ron tried to use a spell but the poor boy with a broken wand, it backfired and now he's barfing slugs in Hagrid's Hut." However, the most unexpected thing happened. Lily gave a small smile.

"What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing, it's just, you said Ron tried to cast a spell to defend Hermione even with a broken wand?" James nodded. Regulus tilted his head, confused, but still felt guilty.

"Ron totally cares for her."

"What do you mean? Both Harry and Ron care for her and sh-"

"No, no, no! Ron likes her! Like like likes her. I bet that by the end of their time at Hogwarts they become a couple." Astra smiled. Now that she thought of it, their petty arguments did seem like that.

"Really? I thought Hermione would end up with Harry!" said James.

"Of course not. They obviously have a platonic relationship," replied Lily.

"I bet 10 galleons!"

This time Regulus interrupted. "You know that we don't have money in the afterlife, right? And I'm with Lily. I think that Ron and Hermione are going to get together."