WHEN ASTRA TOLD JAMES the news, he was furious. More than furious. Lily looked ready to kill someone. Every single member of the Order who was dead were teaming up to search the whole castle for the rat.
Unfortunately, whenever they found him, he would run away before Astra could get there, seeing as he was a small rat. In addition to that, he always stayed in his animagus form, making it impossible for the dead to track him unlike Sirius, who sometimes changed to eat food and such.
It also seemed like the end of Ron and Hermione's friendship. Each were so angry at each other and Astra honestly thought it looked ridiculous. Hermione continued to spend time with Luna and Astra while Ron stuck with Harry. She couldn't help but see, though, that Hermione was really growing on Astra. She still had her logical arguments with Luna about whether nargles were real or not, but other than that, they got along decently.
However, when hearing the boys mourn Scabbers, it only made Astra infuriated and while Hermione had no idea why she was so angry, neither her or Luna how to calm her down.
Astra was also preparing for becoming the quidditch commentator for the next match, something that she hadn't told Hermione or Luna, wanting it to be a surprise. She had been spending some time with Lee and the twins, giving them ideas for pranks (the twins were now proclaiming they were apprentices to the Master of Mischief) and coming up with jokes for the commentating.
All in all, Astra felt more happy than she had in her whole life, finally welcoming new friends and becoming a bit more outgoing, which she found that helped get rid of the stress and fear of her father getting caught.
The day of the match came and Astra, Luna, and Hermione were all sitting at the Gryffindor table, watching as people from all around looked at the Firebolt Harry was holding. Luna was entertaining them with information about the Aquavirius maggots that the ministry had; Hermione felt the urge to correct her, saying there were no such things, but Astra gave her a glare making sure she wouldn't.
At quarter to eleven, the Quidditch team left to the lockers and Astra excused herself to meet up with Lee and McGonagall, saying that they had a surprise coming. Hermione and Luna were curious, but they split up, seeing as Luna was a Ravenclaw and Hermione was a Gryffindor and the match was Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor.
As the students made their way out to the stands, Hermione was a bit worried, seeing as Astra wasn't there yet and she thought that she was going to miss the game. However, the two teams walked out onto the fields and Astra joined Lee up in the commentator's stand.
"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain.
"Mount your brooms ... on my whistle ... three -- two -- one --"
"They're off! Today we're joined by -" Lee started.
"Astra Black who's going to help commentate this mat-" Astra cut off before Lee continued. Hermione's eyes widened at Astra's voice and immediately cheered while a few gasped at the new commentator.
"And the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship --"
"We're not here to advertise this broom, Lee! But you have to admit that it is really spectacul-"
"Jordan, Astra would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.
"Course Minnie!"
"Just giving a bit of background information -- the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and --"
"Jordan!"
"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor, heading for goal..."
"And a bludger by Rath nearly knocks Harry off his broom!"
"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn -"
"Yeah, Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision -- balance is really noticeable in these long --"
"JORDAN! BLACK! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"
"It's a good broom Minnie!" Astra retaliated, but then returned to the commentary.
"Oh, but Ravenclaw just made a score -"
"C'mon Harry! GET THE FUCKING SNITCH ALREADY!"
"Astra! Language!"
"Sorry, Minnie..."
This continued as Lee complimented the broom and Astra yelled out curse words against both teams.
"WHAT THE FUCK CHANG! KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM, HARRY!" which was always responded to with a half-hearted berating by Minnie, even though it honestly reminded herself of when Sirius Black commentated the Quidditch games before getting on the team himself; Astra knew of this, of course. It only gave her more reason to continue.
Then, Astra saw them. It truly looked like dementors, and she got out her wand immediately, only to see that it was really Malfoy and his goons. She grabbed the mic and started yelling, "YOU BLOODY FUCKING GIT MALFOY! YOU'LL PAY! THAT WAS BLOODY STUPID IT WAS A-"
"AND POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Lee grabbed the mick back. She quickly returned her attention to the pitch and congratulated Gryffindor as well as a "Nice Patronus Harry! You did it!", only to run off, ready to fire some hexes at the Slytherins.
She was only able to give Malfoy jelly legs and Crabbe boils before she saw McGonagall coming, so she slipped away. McGonagall saw her, but didn't pay any mind. It was truly a foul trick.
Astra joined the celebration party, not only excited about winning the game, but also proud of the Patronus; even though she knew that she would have to listen to James boasting about how he had won the bet. James was screaming the loudest, along with Lily, and they were floating right next to Harry, making Astra's heart warm at the scene.
She watched as Lupin brought Harry to see Malfoy, and went away to find Hermione and Luna, after sending one last hex towards him, making Malfoy's hair red and gold. He didn't notice it of course, but Astra sent a wink towards Minnie who had turned around to see who sent the hex. She was prouder than ever as she saw Minnie have to resist a smile.
"Eeek!" came a squeal. She was bombarded by a crushing hug from Hermione, Luna walking close behind. "Why didn't you tell us you were Quidditch commentator?!" she yelled over the loud noise of the crowd.
Astra simply shrugged and returned the hug, grabbing Luna and making her join. It was only made better when seeing a black dog that looked like the grim, wagging it's tail but he stands.
In that moment, surrounded by happiness and her friends, Astra felt like she was on Cloud 9, in the most perfect state ever, feeling truly elated and joyful.
Harry looked back from where Malfoy and his goons (one with jelly legs and red and gold hair and one with boils all over his face) were getting lectured by McGonagall and towards Lupin, who was looking proud as ever after Harry's Patronus, to Ron, who was cheering with joy, to Wood, who looked like he was about to cry, to a certain dark-haired girl with wavy locks and silvery grey eyes who was currently hugging his favorite know-it-all witch and a Ravenclaw dressed in odd clothes and was beaming in happiness, jumping up and down. The sun reflected her beauty, making her only seem more perfect than ever before.
In that moment, Harry felt like he could produce the most powerful Patronus ever.
The blissful moment was interrupted by Fred or George yelling out for a Gryffindor party in the common room, and Hermione and Astra said good-bye to Luna, who congratulated them for an amazing win in her normal dreamy voice.
The party went on all day and well into the night. Fred and George disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.
There were only two people who weren't completely joined into the festivities. Astra was sipping a bottle of butterbeer, fully submersed into her book, and Hermione was reading a book on muggle electricity while frantically writing on a piece of parchment.
"Did you enjoy the match?" Harry asked Hermione and Astra, but Astra didn't look up from her book.
"Of course I did," said Hermione in a strangely high-pitched voice. "And I'm very glad we won, and I think you did really well, and Astra was amazing at commentating, but I need to read this by Monday."
"Come on, Hermione, come and have some food, you too Astra," Harry said, looking over at Ron.
"I can't, Harry. I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" said Hermione, now sounding slightly hysterical. "Anyway..." She glanced over at Ron too. "He doesn't want me to join in." Astra still didn't look up.
However, things made a turn to the worst when Ron chose that moment to say loudly, "If Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them --"
Hermione burst into tears. Before Harry could say or do anything, she tucked the enormous book under her arm, and, still sobbing, ran toward the staircase to the girls' dormitories and out of sight. Astra, however, got up as well, but not towards the girls' dormitories.
She put her book under her arm and strutted over to Ron before slapping him straight across the face.
Ron was in shock and so were a few of the people around them. However, Astra didn't look furious, just calm and it made her even more scary.
"You have no idea how much she's been going through. It absolutely makes me sick to see you treat your friends this way. You're supposed to take care of each other, and bring each other up, not down. Not once have I seen you try to help Hermione with her homework. Not once have I seen you give her a true compliment. Not once have I seen you give her a hug and ask if she's alright. And it's truly horrible of you to blame her for your problems. The broom was an inanimate object and you chose it over Hermione. Your rat was the most pathetic excuse of a pet and a living being and yet you choose it over your friendship with Hermione. Think about your actions and see if you can find it in your dense heart to apologize and don't make it any worse or I will come from you. And I can be as scary as my father if I want to."
By the end of her small speech, the common room went silent, staring at the young Black girl. Harry was in shock while Ron cowered back. The worst part about it was that everything she said was in a deathly calm voice and no one - no one - doubted that Astra would fill the threats that she made.
She didn't wait for a response before she walked up the stairs to her dormitory.
The common room stayed silent for a few more minutes before Fred started the music again and people eventually returned to what they were doing before. Ron, however, was still frozen and needed Harry's help to move.
"What just happened?" asked Ron after about 5 minutes.
"I think you just got threatened by Astra because we've been treating Hermione like shit."
"Oh."
As Astra walked up the stairs, she was surprised to be tackled by Hermione into a hug at the top of the stairs.
"T-thank y-you," she sobbed.
Astra realized that Hermione hadn't fully made her way up the stairs when Astra started talking and had heard everything she said. Originally, she hoped that Hermione wouldn't hear it, but accepted it and returned the hug.
"Hey, you're an amazing friend and if they can't see it then they've got another thing coming towards them.
Hermione and Astra spent the rest of the evening talking until Lavender and Parvati came, and Astra promised Hermione to take her down to the kitchens along with Luna to have a girls' night the next day. They fell asleep only to wake up in the middle of the night to someone screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Astra immediately got up, followed by Hermione, then Lavender and Parvati, and lit her wand, leading the way out of the dorms, followed by the rest of Gryffindor, all wondering what had happened.
"Who shouted?"
"What're you doing?"
The common room was lit with the glow of the dying fire, still littered with the debris from the party. It was deserted.
"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?"
"I'm telling you, I saw him!"
"What's all the noise?"
"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"
"Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred Weasley brightly.
"Everyone back upstairs!" said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke. Most were yawning and such, but Astra was on high alert, especially when she heard what came next.
"Perce -- Sirius Black!" said Ron faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"
The common room went very still. Astra's eyes widened and she was immediately planning out which jinxes to use on him; she probably wouldn't be let out alone once again because of what happened. Everyone turned to look at Astra, but she rolled her eyes at the attention. She looked to the side to see James and Lily mouthing stuff at her until Regulus rolled his eyes and said, "He came in looking for Pettigrew; slashed open Ron's curtains and then ran out."
That made sense, but it was still stupid of him to do it.
"Nonsense!" said Percy, looking startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron -- had a nightmare --"
"I'm telling you --"
"Now, really, enough's enough!"
Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around.
"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"
"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" said Percy, puffing himself up indignantly. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare --"
"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"
Professor McGonagall stared at him.
"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"
"Ask him!" said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw --"
Glaring suspiciously at Ron, Professor McGonagall pushed the portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath. "Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" Astra already knew the answer, and was wracking her brains as to how her father had gotten the answer.
"Certainly, good lady!" cried Sir Cadogan.
There was a stunned silence, both inside and outside the common room.
"You -- you did?" said Professor McGonagall. "But -- but the password!"
"He had 'em!" said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"
Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the stunned crowd. She was white as chalk.
"Which person," she said, her voice shaking, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"
There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, trembling from head to fluffy slippered toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.
Astra looked towards where Lily, James, and Regulus were and gave them a look that said, 'tell me later'.
With that, Astra went back to bed, falling asleep to the hushed whispers and rumors of her dormmates.