The Spark {Book 5 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 1 - Discredited

The Daily Prophet
Issue No. 101,776
9 July, 2021

Hogwarts' Histrionic Heroine

If there was ever a histrionic student at Hogwarts, it would be Astra Lestrange. Histrionic personality disorder is a personality disorder than causes someone to be excessively dramatic or emotional to draw attention. This, paired with a hero complex, seems to perfectly sum up Gryffindor's Star. As her Charms teacher, Elaine Haverna, told us, "[Astra] is no more special than any other student, except that she is much more rebellious and impulsive, which I believe comes from her need to be noticed. She revels in any sort of attention. She drinks it up. She likes to consider herself a hero, but she's only a danger to herself and those around her."

Could it be that Lestrange's frequent acts of "heroism" are simply manifestations of histrionic personality disorder? At the Prophet, we believe they may...

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I wadded up one of my shirts into a ball, and aimed at the laundry hamper inside my closet across the room. If I had to clean, I could at least have a little fun.

I threw the shirt with more force than I'd meant to (perhaps I wasn't super thrilled about cleaning). I was never a good shot (there's a reason I'm not a Chaser), unfortunately. My shirt hit the wall next to my open closet door hard, and plopped down onto my bedside table, dislodging a small box and sending it tumbling to the floor.

I cursed (something that would probably have sent Aunt Andromeda to her grave so she could roll in it, if she'd heard), and strode across the floor to gather everything that had spilled out of the box. It was the one that I kept news from Colette St. Pierre in.

Colette had written four or five times a week recently, which I would have considered very strange if there hadn't been news. She very rarely actually wrote, to be honest. Normally, it was just newspaper clippings from The Daily Prophet, which is why I kept all of her letters in a box and not just on my desk, like the letters from the Potters. I didn't want my family seeing them, and worrying about me more than they already did.

By then, the end of July, Aunt Andromeda had already cancelled our subscription to The Daily Prophet. I'd been avoiding the paper and/or setting it on fire whenever possible, but it was a bit unnerving to have absolutely no idea what was going on. Or, at least, what they wanted everyone to think was going on.

The Potters had cancelled their subscription as well, so I couldn't look to Albus for enlightenment. I didn't blame them, obviously; for one thing, the paper was spouting off lies left and right, about everyone and everything connected with me and Mr. Potter. For another, Wren Predatel was my sweet, precious friend who needed absolutely no reminders of her terrible parents, which the paper was sure to give her.

Of course, Colette still got The Daily Prophet. Her dad was a rising Ministry worker who hadn't bought into my story (that might jeopardize his job), and was refusing to let her seem me or the Potters over the summer. Colette still wrote, though, and often included clips of particularly interesting stories. By interesting, I obviously mean overly terrible, with more ridiculous lies than normal.

Now why on earth would the major news outlet for an entire country be writing lies about me, your average fourteen-year-old Hogwarts student? It may have had something to do with the fact that I'd witnessed my headmaster be killed by a man they didn't believe existed only a month before. There was a possibility that had something to do with it. As it was, if they discredited me, they discredited my story, and the Ministry would do anything to do that, it seemed.