Astra

LI - The Imperius Curse

"How could she be angry at you for waking up early?" reasoned Hermione.

"I don't know, but I was a complete mess. And now she's sitting at the Ravenclaw table," said Harry, glancing over at where she was laughing with Luna.

"You'll be fine, Harry -"

"Why were you up so early anyway?" asked Ron, switching the subject and allowing Hermione to argue with Harry about another topic.

"You need to trust Astra, Harry, she knows the most about her dad," she said, only letting Harry think more about the questions that had been flooding through his head about Astra's look of knowing everything.

Before they knew it, breakfast was over, and they headed to their first class. Astra caught up with them just outside the Great Hall, as she didn't have any classes with Luna, but quickly noticed Harry's worried look.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" she asked, glancing at Hermione.

"He's worried that you're avoiding him," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, as Harry glared at her fiercely and Ron looked between them in amusement.

Astra snorted. "Harry, I hate to break it to you. Your hair's always messy, it's just worse in the morning."

At this, Ron started laughing, soon joined by Hermione and Astra, and Harry was able to set some of his worries aside.

The next couple of weeks fell in a routine. Astra continued to have some regular Animagus lessons, though all they could really do now was wait for an electrical storm. She wished that she had been able to do it on September first, but that was the start of school and there hadn't been lightning since.

However, it was a good thing she didn't have to worry as much about that, seeing as their lessons were becoming more demanding than before, especially Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

To their surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.

"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Hermione uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said - to use it against another human was -"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swiveling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way - when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely - fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door. Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. Astra, Harry, and Ron grinned at each other. They knew Hermione would rather eat bubotuber pus than miss such an important lesson.

Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. Of course, due to her name always being at the beginning of the list, she was called up first.

Though slightly nervous, Astra tried to remain confident, wondering whether her ability to be good at seemingly everything also worked on fighting off dark curses. Everyone in the class was looking at her, most likely thinking that she would accomplish it on the first go.

However, the blissful feeling of the curse was so wonderful. She didn't feel the need to think about Harry or her father, or the Dark Mark or the visions. She didn't need to think about the underlying worry that something bad was going to happen in the near future. Everything was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness.