AFTER READING THE LETTER over twice, she turned to Hermione and Luna, who were still wondering what it said. She obviously didn't read it aloud like Harry did, not knowing what her father might have written about, and maybe some things that the girls didn't know. She didn't want to worry them with suspicious conspiracy theories that she had written to her dad about.
"Well, what did it say?" asked Hermione after a few seconds.
"Basically the same thing as Harry's; he's coming north, and he wants to know how the animagus process is going," Astra said briefly.
Hermione seemed to take this as a good answer but Luna looked at her questioningly. Astra gave her a small nod, as if telling her that she would explain everything later. Why wouldn't she tell Hermione, though? A small voice inside her was asking, but Hermione had to deal with Harry's problems. It wouldn't be any good to fill her with more worries for her friend from Astra's ideas. At the same time, Hermione had done a good job at keeping her secret, but if she gave any more, Astra wasn't sure whether she would be able to keep it from Harry and Ron, something she absolutely didn't want.
Hermione then went up to the girls' dorm, while Astra told her that she would walk Luna back to the Ravenclaw tower. As soon as they closed the Fat Lady's portrait, Astra cast a silencing charm and promptly read out the letter, going over some of the details that she hadn't already told Luna before. By the time she was done, they had reached the enchanted knocker that worked as the door to the Ravenclaw common room.
"So, what do you think?"
"Well, you'll probably have some more visions in the future, which you should keep track of. Maybe you should try and get some information out of Lily and James," Luna suggested in her airy voice, though the words she spoke were serious.
Astra nodded in confirmation, and then hugged Luna good-bye before heading back to the Gryffindor dorms.
***
Astra woke up as the sun barely peeked out from behind the mountains, and made her way to the common room as usual. It was, after all, routine for her to simply look out the window for a while in her pajamas, relaxing in the morning light.
However, after only a minute or two of sitting in the armchair, a sound came from the boys' dorm and Harry came stumbling down.
Astra chuckled and Harry's head quickly shot up, realizing the common room wasn't empty.
"Wh-I-" Harry stuttered, only making Astra laugh harder. "It's alright, what are you up so early for?" she asked.
"Um-well, I was just going to, er, write a letter?" Harry said, though it sounded more like a question.
Astra's mouth formed an 'o' shape and nodded, then stood up and said, "Go right ahead," pointing at the table in the center of the common room that held some parchment and a few quills, redirecting her attention to the window.
Harry nodded and headed to the table, tripping over himself on the way. He internally cursed himself for making him look like a fool in front of Astra, but scribbled down his note and headed out of the common room.
***
Astra sat with Luna that morning at the Ravenclaw table, feeling bad for not spending as much time with her. Of course, she didn't consider that she was making Harry panic over something that he might have said that morning, making Astra avoid him.
"How could she be angry at you for waking up early?" reasoned Hermione.
"I don't know, but I was a complete mess. And now she's sitting at the Ravenclaw table," said Harry, glancing over at where she was laughing with Luna.
"You'll be fine, Harry -"
"Why were you up so early anyway?" asked Ron, switching the subject and allowing Hermione to argue with Harry about another topic.
"You need to trust Astra, Harry, she knows the most about her dad," she said, only letting Harry think more about the questions that had been flooding through his head about Astra's look of knowing everything.
Before they knew it, breakfast was over, and they headed to their first class. Astra caught up with them just outside the Great Hall, as she didn't have any classes with Luna, but quickly noticed Harry's worried look.
"What's got your wand in a knot?" she asked, glancing at Hermione.
"He's worried that you're avoiding him," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, as Harry glared at her fiercely and Ron looked between them in amusement.
Astra snorted. "Harry, I hate to break it to you. Your hair's always messy, it's just worse in the morning."
At this, Ron started laughing, soon joined by Hermione and Astra, and Harry was able to set some of his worries aside.
The next couple of weeks fell in a routine. Astra continued to have some regular Animagus lessons, though all they could really do now was wait for an electrical storm. She wished that she had been able to do it on September first, but that was the start of school and there hadn't been lightning since.
However, it was a good thing she didn't have to worry as much about that, seeing as their lessons were becoming more demanding than before, especially Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
To their surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.
"But - but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Hermione uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said - to use it against another human was -"
"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swiveling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way - when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely - fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."
He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door. Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave. Astra, Harry, and Ron grinned at each other. They knew Hermione would rather eat bubotuber pus than miss such an important lesson.
Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. Of course, due to her name always being at the beginning of the list, she was called up first.
Though slightly nervous, Astra tried to remain confident, wondering whether her ability to be good at seemingly everything also worked on fighting off dark curses. Everyone in the class was looking at her, most likely thinking that she would accomplish it on the first go.
However, the blissful feeling of the curse was so wonderful. She didn't feel the need to think about Harry or her father, or the Dark Mark or the visions. She didn't need to think about the underlying worry that something bad was going to happen in the near future. Everything was wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness.
Then, she heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of her empty brain: Bark like a dog.
The imperius curse was still there, but she felt overwhelming panic. Why would he choose dog? Did he know about her father? She wondered whether if it was anything else, maybe she would have chosen to obey, but worry overtook her blissful state.
Bark like a dog.
Why a dog?
Bark like a dog.
What do you know?
Bark like a dog.
Suddenly, she was letting out a low growl towards Moody, making him look at her in surprise.
"Nicely done. See, she fought it! That's how you should do it! Nearly beat the curse! Try again."
He had released the curse and she was looking around in worry. Did he really know anything about her father? Before she could think anymore about it, he had recast the imperius, and her brain was wiped blank. This time, however, the order was different: Do a cartwheel.
Now there was no worry. She didn't care. She immediately went into a cartwheel, something she had never actually tried before. Moody looked at her in confusion as the curse was taken off.
"You didn't fight it this time!" he nearly shouted. "Next, you can try again later."
Astra remained silent as she sat in the seat next to Hermione. Lavender Brown was called up next and forced to act like a squirrel, the curse working perfectly on her.
Hermione nudged Astra, who was still acting paralyzed, overanalyzing the order Moody had given her.
"What happened," she whispered.
"I-I," Astra whispered back, stuttering, "I'll tell you later."
They watched, one by one, as the rest of the class moved forward. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Nevill performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics that he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.
The last person was Harry, who actually managed to fight the curse just like Astra, but had nearly broken his legs but half jumping onto the desk. Moody continued to try again, just like with Astra, but Harry was actually able to continue fighting the curse.
***
"The way he talks," Harry muttered as they walked out of Defense Against the Dark Arts an hour later, "you'd think we were all going to be attacked any second."
"What happened back there?" asked Hermione though, not taking in Harry's discomfort and instead looking at Astra, who was still pale.
"Yeah, you had it the first time!" said Ron, who was skipping on every alternate step. He had had much more difficulty with the curse than Harry and Astra, though Moody assured him the effects would wear off by lunchtime.
Astra glanced around before saying quietly, "The order. The order he gave me. Bark like a dog."
Hermione and Harry both understood, giving each other worried looks, though Ron was still confused. "What about- oh!"
"Do you think he knows?" asked Hermione in a hushed whisper.
Astra shook her head. "No, he couldn't. It just... worried me that's all. I think I understand though, I'm not actually good at fighting the curse, but he gave me an order that made me panic. The imperius curse is supposed to make you happy and relaxed, and the... dog mentioned made me get kicked out of that state."
Ron and Harry didn't look like they completely understood it, but Hermione nodded in agreement.
Astra shook her head slightly, making a mental note to write about it to her father before following the other three to their next class.
***
All the fourth years had noticed a definite increase in the amount of work they were required to do this term. Professor McGonagall explained why, when the class gave a particularly loud groan at the amount of Transfiguration homework she had assigned.
"You are now entering a most important phase of your magical education!" she told them, her eyes glinting dangerously behind her square spectacles. "Your Ordinary Wizarding Levels are drawing closer -"
"We don't take O.W.L.s till fifth year!" said Dean Thomas indignantly.
"Maybe not, Thomas, but believe me, you need all the preparation you can get! Miss Black and Miss Granger remain the only people in this class who has managed to turn a hedgehog into a satisfactory pincushion. I might remind you that your pincushion, Thomas, still curls up in fright if anyone approaches it with a pin!"
Hermione, who had turned rather pink again, seemed to be trying not to look too pleased with herself, while Astra looked slightly bored, as if she could do much more than turn it into a simple pincushion; transfiguration had always been her best subject.
Astra was deeply amused when Professor Trelawney told the class that Harry and Ron had received top marks for their homework in their next Divination class. She read out large portions of their predictions, commending them for their unflinching acceptance of the horrors in store for them - but she was even more amused when she told them to do it again next month, knowing they were running out of tragedies to write about.
Meanwhile Professor Binns had them writing weekly essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century. Professor Snape was forcing them to research antidotes. They took this one seriously, as he had hinted that he might be poisoning one of them before Christmas to see if their antidote worked. Professor Flitwick had asked them to read three extra books in preparation for their lesson on Summoning Charms, even though Astra had gotten it on her second try.
Even Hagrid was adding to their workload. The Blast-Ended Skrewts were growing at a remarkable pace given that nobody had yet discovered what they ate. Hagrid was delighted, and as part of their "project," suggested that they come down to his hut on alternate evenings to observe the skrewts and make notes on their extraordinary behavior.
"I will not," said Draco Malfoy flatly when Hagrid had proposed this with the air of Father Christmas pulling an extra-large toy out of his sack. "I see enough of these foul things during lessons, thanks."
Hagrid's smile faded off his face.
"You'll do what you're told," he growled, "or I'll be taking a leaf out of Professor Moody's book... I hear you make a good ferret, Malfoy."
The Gryffindors roared with laughter. Malfoy flushed with anger, but apparently the memory of Moody's punishment was still sufficiently painful to stop him from retorting.
When Astra, Harry, Hermione, and Ron arrived in the entrance hall in high spirits, they found themselves unable to proceed owing to the large crowd of students congregated there, all milling around a large sign that had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase. Ron, the tallest of the four, stood on tiptoe to see over the heads in front of them and read the sign aloud to the other two:
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY-
"Brilliant!" said Harry. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"
STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORETHE WELCOMING FEAST.
"Only a week away!" said Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming. "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him...."
"Cedric?" said Ron blankly as Ernie hurried off.
"Diggory," said Harry. "He must be entering the tournament."
"That idiot, Hogwarts champion?" said Ron as they pushed their way through the chattering crowd toward the staircase.
"He's not an idiot. You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch," said Hermione. "I've heard he's a really good student - and he's a prefect."
She spoke as though this settled the matter.
"You only like him because he's handsome," said Ron scathingly.
"Excuse me, I don't like people just because they're handsome!" said Hermione indignantly.
Ron gave a loud false cough, which sounded oddly like "Lockhart!", which surprised Astra as she was thinking the same thing.
"I'm going to go find Luna," she said and walked away before an argument could break out.
The appearance of the sign in the entrance hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, there seemed to be only one topic of conversation, no matter where Astra went: the Triwizard Tournament. Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs: who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves.
Astra noticed too that the castle seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning. Several grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat huddled in their frames muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces. The suits of armor were suddenly gleaming and moving without squeaking, and Filch was behaving so ferociously to any students who forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of first-year girls into hysterics.
Other members of the staff seemed oddly tense too.
"Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can't even perform a simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!" Professor McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson, during which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a cactus.
When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffiindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter H.