"THAT FOUL, LYING, TWISTING old gargoyle!" stormed Hermione half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. Astra glanced around, making sure no one was nearby, though she completely agreed with Hermione. "You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again--she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother--and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all--I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine--in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!"
"Umbridge said they're dangerous," said Ron.
"You're gonna believe Umbridge over Hagrid?" Astra scoffed, pulling her jacket tighter as she shivered from the cold, "They can look after themselves but they don't hurt anyone- maybe at most frighten someone- but Luna visits them all the time in the forest."
Ron raised an eyebrow skeptically as if still not completely convinced.
"But they are very interesting, aren't they?" added Hermione, "The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could."
"Do you?" Harry asked her quietly.
She looked suddenly horrorstruck.
Astra grimaced.
"Oh, Harry--I'm sorry--no, of course, I don't--that was a really stupid thing to say."
"It's OK," he said quickly, "don't worry."
"I'm surprised so many people could see them," said Ron. "Astra, why couldn't you?"
"Huh?" Astra's head snapped up, "What?"
"Why couldn't you see the thestrals-" continued Ron, seemingly confused as to why Hermione elbowed him.
"Well, I haven't seen anyone die," said Astra stiffly; she didn't know whether the question was rooted from her vision from last year or her abilities, but both would be a sore topic to discuss in front of Harry. "The orphanage was a pretty boring place- all I did was read. Though I did once set fire to another girl's dress, but we were right next to the water fountain so it was put out pretty quickly."
Clearly, the change in subject worked- except a malicious voice interrupted.
"We were just wondering," Draco and his goons had crept up behind them, "D'you reckon, Weasley, if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?"
He, Crabbe and Goyle roared with laughter as they pushed past on their way to the castle, then broke into a chorus of 'Weasley is our King'. Astra clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes at the back of his head. Ron's ears turned scarlet.
"Ignore them, just ignore them," intoned Hermione, pulling out her wand and performing the charm to produce hot air again, so that she could melt them an easier path through the untouched snow between them and the greenhouses.
***
December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for the fifth-years. Ron and Hermione's Prefect duties also became more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle ("You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it," said Ron), to watch over first- and second-years spending their break-times inside because of the bitter cold ("And they're cheeky little snot-rags, you know, we definitely weren't that rude when we were in first year," said Ron) and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ("He's got dung for brains, that one," said Ron furiously). They were so busy that Hermione had even stopped knitting elf hats and was fretting that she was down to her last three.
"All those poor elves I haven't set free yet, having to stay here over Christmas because there aren't enough hats!"
Astra had half the mind to tell her that none of the elves were being freed (Dobby had actually taken everything she made), but she was busy enough herself.
She had taken to rewatching the vision- trying to get some sort of clue as to what would happen (or who would die- though she didn't want to think so grimly), and spent most of her free time in the library with Luna, who once again scoured the Ravenclaw library for more information. The Order had relatively small action now that the main missions were over (she decided not to bring up Grawp- she didn't know how they would react), and she had to avoid sending letters with the strict measures that Umbridge and the ministry were taking, rather giving information to Minnie during their weekly tea meetings. She had also (as if she needed more on her plate) attended the Quidditch tryouts like promised. With the DA and her regular schoolwork, that was more than enough to keep her busy.
Nonetheless, the holidays were soon arriving, where they would stop the DA meetings (as most students would spend time with their families). Hermione was going skiing with her parents, something that greatly amused Ron, who had never heard of Muggles strapping narrow strips of wood on to their feet to slide down mountains. Ron and Harry were going to be spending their time at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley had invited her as well, and Luna had even said that her father was welcome to her visiting (the Quibbler had never been so successful as it was now that Astra was helping them), but Astra declined both of them. Sure, it would be great to actually spend time around people, but with the Lovegoods not being a part of the Order and the Weasleys always bustling around (and Harry being there as well), it would just be too hard to actually get things done.
She didn't have any exact plans of whether they were going to Grimmauld Place or Hogwarts- though she missed Sirius more with every passing day. She didn't know whether it was the gut feeling of dread in her stomach or just finally having him in her life again that made her want to be in his presence, but she ignored it. There were more important things to focus on.
Astra walked into the Room of Requirement for the last DA meeting before the holidays with Luna, and scanned the room with a raised eyebrow. There were a few random Christmas decorations- almost all of them with pictures of Harry's face on them. Harry himself whipped his head around, promptly flushing when he saw her.
"Hello," Luna said vaguely, looking around at what remained of the decorations. "These are nice, did you put them up?"
"No," said Harry quickly, "it was Dobby the house-elf."
Astra snorted and muttered under her breath, "Should've known. A big fan of yours, isn't he?"
Harry didn't seem to be able to say anything, only nodding as Astra stepped forward to help him put the last box away. His face was nearly as red as some of Astra's hair.
"Mistletoe," said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry and Astra's head. He jumped up. Astra chuckled. Before he could do anything or stutter out a response, Astra gave him a peck on the cheek and turned around to shove the box she was holding behind one of the bean bags.
She chuckled at where Harry was standing, frozen. "You should probably move- mistletoe's usually infected with Nargles."
"Nargles?" Harry said faintly, still in a daze.
Luna nodded seriously, now standing next to Astra, who only chuckled again. She wasn't able to explain, though, as Angelina, Katie, and Alicia arrived, all three of them breathless from the cold.
"Well," said Angelina dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, "we've finally replaced you."
Harry shook his head and focused on the others, "Replaced me?" he said blankly.
"You and Fred and George," she said impatiently. "We've got another Seeker!"
"Who?" said Harry quickly.
"Ginny Weasley," said Katie.
Harry gaped at her.
"Yeah, I know," said Angelina, pulling out her wand and flexing her arm, "but she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course," she said, throwing him a very dirty look, "but as we can't have you . . . "
"Well, Ginny wants to be a chaser," Astra added, "It's just a substitute."
Angelina nodded vaguely, but it was obvious that didn't make her any happier.
"And what about the Beaters?" Harry asked, though Astra could hear the underlying annoyance.
"That would be me," Astra grinned, "And- uh, Jack Sloper, isn't it?"
Harry's jaw dropped.
The girls nodded and Alicia explained, "Astra's great as a beater- Sloper, not so much..." Angelina sent a side-eye to Astra, "The teamwork could be improved on-"
"Yeah, yeah," Astra drawled, leaning against the wall, "I'm a fast flyer and have lots of pent-up anger as well as ambition driven by spite against Umbridge- if that's not enough to win then I don't know what is."
Angelina sighed, but the discussion was brought to an end as Ron, Hermione, and Neville entered, and within five minutes the room was full. Ron elbowed Harry a few times to get him snapped back into reality, but Astra didn't notice.
"OK," he said, calling them all to order, even though it was less sharp than usual. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break--"
"We're not doing anything new?" said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come."
"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.
Several people sniggered.
"--we can practice in pairs," said Harry. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."
They all divided up obediently; Astra partnered with Luna as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of 'Impedimenta!' People froze for a minute or so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.
After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over.
Astra was undefeated- though Hermione came relatively close. At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.
"You're getting really good," he said, beaming around at them. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff--maybe even Patronuses."
There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a 'Happy Christmas' as they went. Luna and Astra left with Ron and Hermione, though Harry stayed behind.
They returned to the common room (Luna leaving at the stairs to the Ravenclaw one), and split up to do their own work- Hermione writing some letter, Ron finishing his Transfiguration homework, and Astra reading one of the books she had been gifted for Christmas in third year (she hadn't read them in a while).
The common room emptied relatively quickly, and Harry returned to the common room soon after, though in even more of a daze than he was earlier that day.
"There you are," Astra looked up, raising an eyebrow, "What kept you?"
Harry didn't answer. Astra didn't know whether she should be worried, and glanced towards the others- who didn't seem to know either.
"Are you all right, Harry?" Hermione asked, peering at him over the tip of her quill.
Harry gave a half-hearted shrug. "What's up?" said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Harry. "What's happened?"
Astra folded the corner of her page, thinking of what she remembered as she left- the Room of Requirement had been practically empty except for Cho-
Cho.
She grinned- even if part of her didn't feel like smiling at all- "Was it Cho?"
Ron and Hermione looked surprised, but Harry nodded numbly.
Ron sniggered, breaking off when Hermione caught his eye.
"So--er--what was with Cho?" he asked in a mock casual voice.
"She--" Harry began, rather hoarsely, he cleared his throat and tried again. "She--er--"
"Did you kiss?" asked Astra briskly.
Hermione's eyes widened as, glancing up to Harry immediately. Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug. Disregarding this completely, he stared avidly at Harry.
"Well?" he demanded.
Harry looked from Ron's expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione's slightly confused frown to Astra, who was still wearing a half-grin, and nodded.
A/N: Ok, wow, lots to say.
First of all, THANK YOU FOR OVER 150K READS!!! That's still insane- I can't believe it whenever I look at it.
Second, I am SO SORRY for not updating. I've been more busy than usual the past few days/weeks and I also have this really long history summer assignment- anyway yeah I just really didn't get around to writing. I also have to say: I will be going on vacation mid July and I'm not sure whether I'll have wifi or not- so we'll see if I can update throughout then... I will try to update more often, but no promises. To apologize for going so long without an update, you get a big Hastra scene. Unfortunately, you also get a HarryxCho kiss- but you'll learn more about that later. Cliffhanger, oooh~
Third, I DIED MY HAIR!!! Yes, I'm literally so happy with it, it's like the Narcissa hairstyle (y'know, the underneath part died), except it's red, like Astra. So, yeah, I'm really happy with it. Unfortunately, I have to re-dye it in like two months since I'm going to a private school that doesn't allow colored hair. That sorta sucks but education is important sooo yeah. Either way, it'll be fun for the summer.
Fourth- uh, lemme remember, right. Haha remember at the beginning of June when I said happy pride month from a straight ally? Yeah, that was totally wrong. I am secretly homophobic.
Jk. I am not homophobic. That's just wrong. I'm pan/ace. Finally figured it out :)) so consider this a sorta coming out thing even though you probably don't care lol
Anyways, uh- I don't think I have anything else to say... I have A LOT planned for the rest of 5th year and also 6th year... I'm literally so excited. Stay tuned~
and check out my ao3 (ladynoireisaboss) if you like Miraculous or She-Ra ;) shameless self promo
Thanks for reading!