Astra

XVIII - The Reunion

"I grew up in a muggle orphanage," she stated bluntly. Sirius quickly frowned and started to ask, "Did sh-"

"No, she's not dead. She abandoned me when she got the news that you were sent to Azkaban. The last time she checked, Lily said she was in America under a false name working at some muggle store. Either way, I grew up in an orphanage, but life's a lot better now. I was adopted by Minnie and I live at Hogwarts all year, even during the summer. All of the teachers are basically like extra parents to me, except for Professor Snivellus." Sirius was upset when he learned that Melody had abandoned their daughter, but happy that Minnie had taken care of her. But that wasn't what he asked. 

"Professor Snivellus?" Astra chuckled again.

"Yes, Professor Snivellus. He's the potions professor here. James told me that's what you called him and you should have seen his face. He probably thought you were possessing me or something when I called him that our first class. He said that I needed to call him 'Professor' or 'Sir' so I call him Professor Snivellus." This caused Sirius to burst out laughing and swelling with pride that his daughter was making fun of Snivellus Snape. Astra also laughed, thinking that it was probably the happiest moment of her life, laughing with her father.

"Oh! You should know! Guess who's the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher this year?"

"Who?"

"Remus Lupin." Sirius stopped laughing and stared at her in shock, then turned to smile.

"We always knew that he could do it. Always putting his furry little problem in front of h- Oh I shouldn't have said that."

"Don't worry. James told me already when telling me stories of your lives. But he's an amazing teacher, best one I've ever had, but the other two were complete tossers. He's still pretty cool."

"That's amazing... So, I want to know more about you. I want to make up for the 12 years. What house are you in and who are your friends? Do you know Harry? Are you two friends? In another world, you would have been raised together..." he drifted off. Astra patted his shoulder and then smiled and started talking to him.

"Well, I'm in Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat thought about Slytherin. I know Harry, we're not exactly friends, but we're... good acquaintances? Well, my best friends are James, Lily, Regulus, and probably Marlene. I've recently gotten to know her and Dorcas. The Prewett twins drop in every now and then but I don't know them that well. They mostly stay at the Burrow or check in on all of the other Weasleys. Minnie's the best and so are all of the other teachers. Harry has two good friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. He's gone on loads of adventures the past two years with them. I'm really good with the house-elves because I go down to the kitchens all the time, specifically Honey. Hermione's sort of my friend? Not really, she's been trying to get to know me but I just don't really know about it. Ron's a bit skeptical because of, well, you being a whole fake mass-murderer thing and because I keep trying to kill his rat. I think he's a bit annoyed at me because of that."

Sirius started laughing again. "Have you been successful? Because I think we both want that rat dead."

Astra sighed, "No, he's been keeping it super protected and everything. However, Hermione has a pet cat, Crookshanks, who keeps trying to get Pettigrew, or his name is technically Scabbers. Whenever Ron mentions Scabbers, he immediately hides him away from me. It's quite annoying, actually. Everyone thinks that I just have something against rats because the common room has seen me pounce on Scabbers a few times so, you know. I'm thinking of trying to find a way to team up with Crookshanks, but he's a cat so it might be a bit hard."

"Alright, well, I'm sure we'll find another way. So, you don't really have any friends your age?"

"Not really, no. Like I said, Hermione's trying to, I guess, befriend me. She's sitting next to me in every class, but it's not really great because you should see how Ron acts around me. Harry's just sort of in the middle, but you can't get Hermione, Ron, or Harry without the other two. You'd be proud of him, you know. So is James. He's the youngest seeker in a century. Made the team in first year. James said something about how you would owe him money..."

Sirius let out a nostalgic laugh. "Yeah, he said that his son would make the team in first year. What about you? Do you do quidditch? How is Gryffindor going?"

"I don't play Quidditch. I'm pretty decent on a broom and Prongs, Marlene, and Reg have been trying to get me to try out but I'm not so sure. Maybe one day, but the team's pretty good. They should have won the last two years, but first year they lost because Harry was in the hospital wing and second year the cup was cancelled because of the Chamber of Secrets."

"C-chamber of Secrets? That's real?"

"Oh, yes it is. Turns out, Voldemort was the Heir of Slytherin, but he possessed Ginny Weasley through a diary. I tried to stop it because Regulus told me the information, but then I got petrified by the basilisk on the way to the kitchens, where a house-elf found me after a day." Sirius's jaw dropped for the tenth time that day and his eyes widened. Before he could say anything, though, Astra talked again.

"Ha! Your face! Well, I'll have you know that Minnie didn't let me out of her or any other teacher's eye all summer. I'm all good though. Harry was actually able to slay the basilisk and destroy the diary."

"What! Isn't a basilisk supposed to be 60-feet long or something?!"

"Yes, I've got all the details because James and his overdramatic arse played the scene out like twenty times while I was in the hospital wing." The father and daughter talked the rest of the afternoon, laughing over memories and reminiscing over stories of the Mauraders. Eventually, the time came and Astra had to go back to Hogwarts, "Or Minnie will send out a search party like last time," but promised to be back the next day with more food.

***

The next time students saw her was when she walked into the common room with a large smile on her face. The students who had returned from Hogsmeade looked at her strangely, but she simply strutted up to her dorm. The girls in her dorm looked at her strangely, but that didn't falter her smile. Nothing could have.

But the same was for Sirius. Those few hours had almost took away his entire need for revenge. It almost made him just want to stay there in the shack for Astra to come over every day and for them to talk. It almost made him not want to break into the castle to kill Pettigrew.

Almost.