THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, Harry and Ron wouldn't talk with Hermione. This left her to spend more time with Astra and become better acquaintances with Luna, as the two girls spent most of their free time reading together. Luna was fascinated by the new books and especially liked Alice in Wonderland, asking a few times if she could borrow it.
Classes started again the next day. The last thing anyone felt like doing was spending two hours on the grounds on a raw January morning, but Hagrid had provided a bonfire full of salamanders for their enjoyment, and they spent an unusually good lesson collecting dry wood and leaves to keep the fire blazing while the flame-loving lizards scampered up and down the crumbling, white-hot logs. The first Divination lesson of the new term was much less fun; Professor Trelawney was now teaching them palmistry, which was a bit odd to say the least. Astra was always paired up with Hermione and honestly didn't understand that branch of divination, so she tried to cheer up the girl by making jokes, knowing that she was hurting from Harry and Ron.
Astra was walking out of class with Hermione when she was called back in, as Lupin was informing her about the first Patronus lesson on Thursday evening at eight o'clock. She walked back outside to hear Hermione talking to Harry and Ron and her confused glance immediately turned to a glare.
"I said I wonder what's wrong with Lupin, and you --" came Ron's voice.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" said Hermione, with a look of maddening superiority, but at the sight of Astra she gulped, remembering that she probably shouldn't share that information.
"If you don't want to tell us, don't," snapped Ron.
"Fine," said Hermione haughtily, and she marched off and the boys could vaguely hear Astra arguing with her.
Astra stayed in the common room until eight o'clock, when she left with Harry for the History of Magic classroom. The journey there was quiet, neither making a move to talk, though Astra seemed amused at what looked like thin air.
In reality, James and Regulus were having a bit of an argument about the better roles of Quidditch, Regulus thinking seeker while James thinking chaser, with Lily butting in every now and then. It was quite enjoyable to watch, but soon enough Lily caught that Harry was looking confused at what Astra was smiling at and told the boys to shut up.
The classroom was dark and empty when they arrived, but Astra lit the lamps with his wand and had waited only five minutes when Professor Lupin turned up, carrying a large packing case, which he heaved onto Professor Binn's desk.
"What's that?" said Harry.
"Another Boggart," said Lupin, stripping off his cloak. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. The Boggart will turn into a Dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."
"Okay," said Harry, sounding a bit apprehensive, but relieved that there wasn't a real dementor there.
"So..." Professor Lupin had taken out his own wand, and indicated that Harry should do the same. Astra took a seat from the other side of the room, turned it around, and split her legs, leaning over the edge to see the lesson. "The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, Harry -- well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. You probably already know that it's called the Patronus Charm."
"How does it work?" said Harry nervously.
"Well, when it works correctly, It conjures up a Patronus, which I suppose Astra has showed you," said Lupin. "It is a kind of anti-Dementor -- a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor. The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon -- hope, happiness, the desire to survive -- but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it. I am quite surprised Astra was able to learn it by herself, but don't worry if you don't get it quickly. If you don't mind me asking, Astra, how long did it take you to learn it?"
"Well, when I got news of the dementors over summer, I started practicing. But I was practicing without a dementor in front of me. I got a bit of a silver mist on the first try, but I only got the corporeal version about 3 months ago, and then tried it for the first time against dementors at the Quidditch match," Astra responded, calm as ever.
"Right, so you most likely won't get it on your first try, and that's alright."
"Um, I saw Astra's Patronus, do all of our's look like that?" said Harry curiously.
"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it. I seem to remember that Astra's is a-"
"Snowy owl!" Astra cut off, clearly excited.
"And how do you conjure it?"
"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."
"Right," he said.
"The incantation is this --" Lupin cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum!"
"Expecto patronum," Harry repeated under his breath, "expecto patronum."
"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"
"Oh -- yeah --" said Harry, "Expecto patrono -- no, patronum -- sorry -- expecto patronum, expecto patronum," he stuttered.
Something whooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand; it looked like a wisp of silvery gas.
"Did you see that?" said Harry excitedly. "Something happened!" Astra chuckled a bit, wondering what form his Patronus would take.
"Very good," said Lupin, smiling. "Right, then -- ready to try it on a Dementor?"
"Yes," Harry said, gripping his wand very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom. Astra suddenly realized that she hadn't told Lily what Harry heard from a dementor. She worried about it, but stayed in her seat, hoping that Harry would be able to make the Patronus.
Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled.
A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out. The Dementor stepped from the box and started to sweep silently toward Harry, drawing a deep, rattling breath. A wave of piercing cold broke fell over the room, and Astra had to refrain herself from grabbing her wand and making a Patronus herself.
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto --"
But Harry was falling... fainting... Astra stood up and quickly yelled "Expecto Patronum!" her owl forcing the dementor back into the container, while Lupin went to check on Harry.
"Harry!"
Harry jerked back to life. He was lying flat on his back on the floor.
"Sorry," he muttered, sitting up and feeling cold sweat trickling down behind his glasses.
"Are you all right?" said Lupin.
"Yes..." Harry pulled himself up on one of the desks and leaned against it.
"Here --" Lupin handed him a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had." Astra gave a soft chuckle and Harry jerked to the side, forgetting for a moment that she was there. She had her wand out and he noticed a silver owl flying around, but it promptly disappeared as Astra flicked her wand. She went back to her seat, but not before stealing another chocolate frog from Lupin's desk.
He seemed to have noticed it, and couldn't help but have a small smile come onto his face. It was just the sort of thing that James and Sirius had done when they were at Hogwarts, but she put on an innocent face as she ate it.
"It's getting worse," Harry muttered, biting off the Frog's head. "I could hear her louder that time -- and him -- Voldemort --"
Lupin looked paler than usual and Astra seemed to be looking at thin air a few times.
"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand --"
"I do!" said Harry fiercely, stuffing the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth. "I've got to! What if the Dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"
"All right then..." said Lupin. "You might want to select another memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on...That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough..." He seemed to be thinking about a memory as he gripped his wand tightly again and took up his position in the middle of the classroom.
"Ready?" said Lupin, gripping the box lid.
"Ready," said Harry.
"Go!" said Lupin, pulling off the lid. The room went icily cold and dark once more. The Dementor glided forward, drawing its breath; one rotting hand was extending toward Harry --
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto Pat --"
Harry fainted again, this time for longer as they repeated the process, Astra conjuring her Patronus while Lupin went to make sure Harry was alright.
"Harry! Harry...wake up..."
"Harry!" came Astra's voice.
Lupin was tapping Harry hard on the face while Astra held another chocolate frog in her hand with a worried look on her face and still looking back to that area constantly. This time it was a minute before Harry understood why he was lying on a dusty classroom floor.
"I heard my dad," Harry mumbled. "That's the first time I've ever heard him -- he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it..."
Harry suddenly realized that there were tears on his face mingling with the sweat. He bent his face as low as possible, wiping them off on his robes, pretending to do up his shoelace, so that Astra wouldn't see, but it seemed he didn't need to as she was focusing on the area that looked blank to him.
Lily and James had both gasped, filled with terror as they heard what Harry saw when confronting dementors. They had both come to see Harry's lessons, but didn't realize that he would have the memories of their deaths haunting him.
"You heard James?" said Lupin in a strange voice.
"Yeah..." Face dry, Harry looked up. "Why -- you didn't know my dad, did you?" Astra barely stopped her scoff while James looked up, hoping to see some good bonding time.
"I -- I did, as a matter of fact," said Lupin. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry -- perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced...I shouldn't have suggested putting you through this..."
Though Lily was half agreeing with him, not wanting Harry to hear their dying moments anymore, James was fighting against it. He knew that Harry would be able to do it, and Remus was the perfect teacher.
"No!" said Harry. He got up again. "I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is...hang on..."
"Ready?" said Lupin, who looked as though he were doing this against his better judgment. "Concentrating hard? All right -- go!"
He pulled off the lid of the case for the third time, and the Dementor rose out of it; the room fell cold and dark --
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
It seemed like he would fail again, but then a huge, silver shadow came bursting out of the end of Harry's wand, to hover between him and the Dementor. Astra had her hand on her wand, ready to act at any moment, but Lupin sprung forward and roared, "Riddikulus!"
There was a loud crack, and Harry's cloudy Patronus vanished along with the Dementor; he sank into a chair, looking terrible exhausted. Professor Lupin forced the Boggart back into the packing case with his wand, even though it had turned back into a moon.
"Excellent!" Lupin said, striding over to where Harry sat. "Excellent, Harry! That was definitely a start!"
"Can we have another go? Just one more go?" Astra stifled a laugh at Harry's ambition, but agreed with Lupin when he said firmly, "Not now. You've had enough for one night. Here --"
He handed Harry a large bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate.
"Hey! You had the good chocolate," Astra exclaimed, holding her hand out for a piece. Lupin chuckled and handed her a smaller piece of the chocolate.
"Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"
"Okay," said Harry. He took a bite of the chocolate, while Astra tucked her piece into her bag, clearly saving it for later. However, she wasn't prepared for what Harry said next.
"Professor Lupin?" he said. "If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."
Lupin turned very quickly and Astra's head snapped up. Lily and James had popped away a second before, most likely to talk about what had happened without Astra listening.
"What gives you that idea?" he said sharply.
"Nothing -- I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too..."
Lupin's face relaxed, but he spared a glance at Astra who was watching them apprehensively.
"Yes, I knew him," he said shortly. "Or I thought I did. You'd better be off, Harry, Astra, it's getting late." Astra wanted nothing more than to go up to him and tell him that her father had never changed, and missed you more than ever and was sorry for missing so many full moons. He wanted to tell him that Peter was the traitor and that Sirius would have never betrayed them. But she couldn't.
So, she left the classroom swiftly, throwing her bag over her shoulder, followed quickly by Harry. Harry followed where Astra was going, but it wasn't the same direction as before. When seeing his curious look, she responded, "Shortcut." It was one of the passageways that lead her from the Gryffindor tower to all over the castle, and it was very useful.
Deciding that the silence was uncomfortable and that the question was burning in his brain, Harry asked, "What memory do you use for your Patronus?" Astra smiled, clearly the memory was strong enough to make her only think about that, but she removed her smile and replaced it with her smirk when saying, "It's private."
It was silent for a few more moments but then Astra spoke up again. "I think you're focused to much on the memory itself, rather than how you were feeling when being in it. I would also suggest trying it without a dementor first, just to practice. But when you're in a truly... blissful moment, then you just understand that feeling. You take what you felt at that perfect moment and let it consume you. It makes you think like you can take on anything, and that's exactly what you need."
Harry was rather in shock at the words that she spoke, but they had arrived at Gryffindor tower and the next moment, Astra was nowhere to be seen.