Astra

LXXIV - The Trial of Rita Skeeter

Rita had been proven to be an illegal animagus, just like Astra had said, and yet somehow, Fudge and his senior undersecretary had limited the punishment to only 1 year in Azkaban rather than 3.

"The ministry is very confused," said Luna solemnly. Astra was too furious to respond.

"It's preposterous! The law shouldn't be bent for any circumstances, and this was blatant bias!" Hermione and Ginny were almost just as angry, even if they showed it in different ways. Hermione was scouring through books, trying to find a reasonable explanation and Ginny was punching a pillow that Ron was holding.

Astra let out a muffled yell into her pillow before sighing and sitting down, trying to return to her usual calm demeanor.

"Order meeting," she said quietly, checking the time on the clock. "I should go."

Luna gave a small wave, even if she was frowning, and Ginny, Ron, and Hermione didn't pay any attention.

Walking down to the kitchen where the Order meetings were held, for the second time that day, all eyes were on her.

"Hello...?" The looks were varying: Sirius with a gleam of pride, Dumbledore with curiosity (a look he usually seemed to have while seeing Astra), Remus exasperated, and Tonks grumpy. 

"Astra, did you head to the ministry today?"

"Ohhh," Astra gave a sheepish smile, "Yes, I did. And they have quite a few things they need to work on by the way."

Clearly, that didn't answer his questions. 

"And, Astra, did you file a court case against Rita Skeeter?"

Now, the few people who weren't paying attention to her before were definitely doing so. Once again, she nodded, taking her seat next to Sirius.

"Astra, did you cause Rita Skeeter to be sent to Azkaban for a year for being an unregistered animagus?"

Gasps were heard all around. 

Astra nodded, but frowned. "It was supposed to be three."

"I'm sorry, three what?" Dumbledore asked, still in a scarily calm voice.

"Three years. In Azkaban."

"And why didn't that happen?"

"'Cause Fudge is a biased git and likes the rubbish that Rita puts out about me and Harry."

"And when did you do this?"

"This morning," Astra responded simply, a bit confused at what Dumbledore was leading to. However, Sirius let out a bark of a laugh, clearly proud. In the end, Dumbledore didn't say anything else, instead focusing on a different topic, though Astra could have sworn she saw a small twinkle of pride in his eyes.

"Voldemort is trying to recruit new Death Eaters, but is using the ministry's ignorance to his advantage. What we can expect, currently, is for him to attempt to get the prophecy, and come back stronger than ever."

"How will we fight back?" asked Hestia Jones, glancing around.

"That," Dumbledore nodded, "Is what we need to figure out. The last time had too many casualties, but it's obvious that we are outnumbered. So -"

"So, we be ruthless," Astra cut in, to the confusion of a lot of the others. "Death Eaters will kill everyone in their way, muggle, muggleborn, halfblood, or pure. They don't care. So, we fight back like them."

"But that just makes us as bad as them!" Molly exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at Astra.

"No, it doesn't," Astra continued, motioning for Sirius not to enter the conversation; he had already had enough arguments with Molly Weasley. "They kill based off of blood purity and are fighting for the wrong cause. We help the people we can, it's only a matter of time before they try to recruit Draco Malfoy, but if they choose the life of a Death Eater, they deserve the consequences."

There was an awkward silence after Astra's announcement, and she took the time to acknowledge the different looks she was given. 

There were some who were looking at her in a slightly confused way, as if questioning how Astra was coming to these conclusions at such a young age, and then there were the people who were either visibly agreeing or disagreeing with her. 

However, the only one that really confused her, was how Dumbledore was staring at her, the twinkle in his eye and normal curiosity which he directed towards her gone, instead looking critical, as if planning every move she would make in the next few years.

Astra broke his gaze, knowing that she wouldn't be following any plan but her own.

***

Astra was treated slightly differently the next few days, in ways that she could only really notice if she was paying complete attention to the person. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Bill, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye seemed to acknowledge her in a higher way, rather than treating her as a child that she guessed she was supposed to be. Of course, there were the ones who disagreed, like Molly, who was now trying to change her views.

She supposed that it was split into the people who accepted her for already growing up in contrast to the ones who wouldn't believe it.

Of course, this made the reaction stronger when Astra ran into the kitchen, forwarding the announcement of Lily that there had been a dementor attack at Privet Drive.

The Advanced Guard was immediately sent out, and Astra was suddenly hit with the fact that Harry would be arriving, knowing nothing, and most definitely being confused and angry at everything going on. She would once again have to be secretive, but James and Lily would also return to her, which she had mixed feelings about.

It had been such a lift of her burden when being able to talk about things aloud with people, not having to worry about anyone eavesdropping. However, she had also been missing James, Lily, and Regulus, who had once been her only family.

Either way, she would have to deal with the change quickly, especially with the new school year coming in only a few weeks.

Astra took her usual seat in the kitchen, thinking it would probably be better to wait as long as possible to see Harry as she could. James and Lily only arrived about an hour later, which Astra had spent playing wizards' chess with Sirius, and she could see that Molly was already heading out into the entrance hall, most likely to send Harry to where Ron and Hermione were.

With that, the Advance Guard entered and the meeting started.