Astra

CIII - The Mistletoe

"You and Fred and George," she said impatiently. "We've got another Seeker!"

"Who?" said Harry quickly.

"Ginny Weasley," said Katie.

Harry gaped at her.

"Yeah, I know," said Angelina, pulling out her wand and flexing her arm, "but she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course," she said, throwing him a very dirty look, "but as we can't have you . . . "

"Well, Ginny wants to be a chaser," Astra added, "It's just a substitute."

Angelina nodded vaguely, but it was obvious that didn't make her any happier.

"And what about the Beaters?" Harry asked, though Astra could hear the underlying annoyance.

"That would be me," Astra grinned, "And- uh, Jack Sloper, isn't it?"

Harry's jaw dropped.

The girls nodded and Alicia explained, "Astra's great as a beater- Sloper, not so much..." Angelina sent a side-eye to Astra, "The teamwork could be improved on-"

"Yeah, yeah," Astra drawled, leaning against the wall, "I'm a fast flyer and have lots of pent-up anger as well as ambition driven by spite against Umbridge- if that's not enough to win then I don't know what is."

Angelina sighed, but the discussion was brought to an end as Ron, Hermione, and Neville entered, and within five minutes the room was full. Ron elbowed Harry a few times to get him snapped back into reality, but Astra didn't notice.

"OK," he said, calling them all to order, even though it was less sharp than usual. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break--"

"We're not doing anything new?" said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come."

"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.

Several people sniggered. 

"--we can practice in pairs," said Harry. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

They all divided up obediently; Astra partnered with Luna as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of 'Impedimenta!' People froze for a minute or so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.

After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over.

Astra was undefeated- though Hermione came relatively close. At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.

"You're getting really good," he said, beaming around at them. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff--maybe even Patronuses."

There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a 'Happy Christmas' as they went. Luna and Astra left with Ron and Hermione, though Harry stayed behind. 

They returned to the common room (Luna leaving at the stairs to the Ravenclaw one), and split up to do their own work- Hermione writing some letter, Ron finishing his Transfiguration homework, and Astra reading one of the books she had been gifted for Christmas in third year (she hadn't read them in a while).

The common room emptied relatively quickly, and Harry returned to the common room soon after, though in even more of a daze than he was earlier that day.

"There you are," Astra looked up, raising an eyebrow, "What kept you?"

Harry didn't answer. Astra didn't know whether she should be worried, and glanced towards the others- who didn't seem to know either. 

"Are you all right, Harry?" Hermione asked, peering at him over the tip of her quill.

Harry gave a half-hearted shrug. "What's up?" said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Harry. "What's happened?"

Astra folded the corner of her page, thinking of what she remembered as she left- the Room of Requirement had been practically empty except for Cho-

Cho.

She grinned- even if part of her didn't feel like smiling at all- "Was it Cho?"

Ron and Hermione looked surprised, but Harry nodded numbly.

Ron sniggered, breaking off when Hermione caught his eye.

"So--er--what was with Cho?" he asked in a mock casual voice.

"She--" Harry began, rather hoarsely, he cleared his throat and tried again. "She--er--"

"Did you kiss?" asked Astra briskly.

Hermione's eyes widened as, glancing up to Harry immediately. Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding this completely, he stared avidly at Harry.

"Well?" he demanded.

Harry looked from Ron's expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione's slightly confused frown to Astra, who was still wearing a half-grin, and nodded.

A/N: Ok, wow, lots to say.

First of all, THANK YOU FOR OVER 150K READS!!! That's still insane- I can't believe it whenever I look at it.

Second, I am SO SORRY for not updating. I've been more busy than usual the past few days/weeks and I also have this really long history summer assignment- anyway yeah I just really didn't get around to writing. I also have to say: I will be going on vacation mid July and I'm not sure whether I'll have wifi or not- so we'll see if I can update throughout then... I will try to update more often, but no promises. To apologize for going so long without an update, you get a big Hastra scene. Unfortunately, you also get a HarryxCho kiss- but you'll learn more about that later. Cliffhanger, oooh~

Third, I DIED MY HAIR!!! Yes, I'm literally so happy with it, it's like the Narcissa hairstyle (y'know, the underneath part died), except it's red, like Astra. So, yeah, I'm really happy with it. Unfortunately, I have to re-dye it in like two months since I'm going to a private school that doesn't allow colored hair. That sorta sucks but education is important sooo yeah. Either way, it'll be fun for the summer.

Fourth- uh, lemme remember, right. Haha remember at the beginning of June when I said happy pride month from a straight ally? Yeah, that was totally wrong. I am secretly homophobic.

Jk. I am not homophobic. That's just wrong. I'm pan/ace. Finally figured it out :)) so consider this a sorta coming out thing even though you probably don't care lol

Anyways, uh- I don't think I have anything else to say... I have  A LOT planned for the rest of 5th year and also 6th year... I'm literally so excited. Stay tuned~

and check out my ao3 (ladynoireisaboss) if you like Miraculous or She-Ra ;) shameless self promo

Thanks for reading!