☆
a few days later, astra headed to the great hall, splotch sticking his head out of her robe pocket to observe their surroundings. since she'd gotten back, the cat had barely left her side, always itching to be close to her as if he knew what had happened while she was away.
"good morning!" phoenix beamed as he strode up beside her, weaving his arm through hers.
"is it?" astra grumbled and phoenix sent her a confused glance. "we've got double dada after our free period."
"shit, really?" phoenix groaned. "well, you've ruined my day, bitch."
"i didn't make the timetables!" astra shot back as she sat down at the gryffindor table, opposite remus and peter. "blame dumbledore."
"as if he puts any effort into the students lives." phoenix scoffed, grabbing the plate of sausages out of astra's hands swiftly.
"wh—"
"you ruined my day with that reminder. wait your turn." phoenix cut astra off, the young woman glaring at peter and remus when they both chuckled.
"knob." astra scowled, reaching for the bacon instead.
"d'you wanna skip it?" phoenix asked, placing the plate of sausages far away from astra when she went to reach for them.
"i want fucking sausages, that's what i want." astra snarled, kicking her friend in the calf with her boot swiftly and he whined in exaggerated pain. with a huff, as if it took oh so much effort, phoenix handed her the plate. "and i would, but grimm's about ready to make up a lie and kick me out of hogwarts."
"what did you do?" peter asked with a chuckle.
"i lit his desk on fire in detention." astra muttered and he sniggered. "but i didn't even do it on purpose, and i almost immediately put it out."
"you didn't do it on purpose?" remus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"no. i was only supposed to set fire to that creepy little clay thing he has on his desk. hit the table instead. but in all fairness to me, i wasn't looking at it, i was keeping an eye on the door." astra explained.
"the point that was supposed to benefit you, only made it worse." remus smirked.
"piss off." astra shot back in a joking tone, taking a bite out of her bacon.
"what's he done now?" james inquired as he and sirius sat down, sirius beside remus and him beside astra.
"what d'you mean, 'now'—"
"bullying me." astra cut remus off, pointing her fork at him. "abusing his peers."
"you deserve it." sirius grinned.
instead of giving him a verbal response, astra grabbed the jar of lemon curd by james and opened the lid. she scooped some onto a knife and slapped it down onto sirius' hand. he gave a loud, high-pitched squeak as if the lemon curd had burned into his skin and multiple people glanced over at them as astra grinned, eating more of her breakfast happily.
"oh, i'm gonna be sick!" sirius exclaimed dramatically, wafting his lemon-free hand around his head. "it's so repulsive! worse than snape's hair!"
"that's a stretch." peter joked.
"i will get you back." sirius glared at astra as remus used magic to rid his hand of the sweet curd.
smiling, astra turned her attention back to her breakfast, feeding splotch some fruit every so often before a loud, booming voice was calling across the great hall, "astra! astra!"
"hagrid," astra started as the man came barrelling over to her near the table, "are you alright?"
"alrigh'? i'm great!" hagrid boomed excitedly, lifting his massive hands in the air for emphasis. "ye need t' come wi' me!"
"what for?" astra questioned as she stood up quickly.
"it's about wither..." hagrid trailed off, glancing at the students, and teachers, staring at him. he cleared his throat, "that witherin' tree in th' forest."
astra caught on by his emphasis on wither, and nodded, already hurrying off with hagrid as she called back to her friends, "see you in dada!"
her friends watched after the unlikely pair before shrugging and returning to their breakfasts. hagrid was near enough running towards the forbidden forest, footsteps thundering along the grounds of the castle as astra ran to keep up with him.
they disappeared into the trees, making sure to avoid the centaurs on their way. hagrid paused close to where astra had last been to see witherwings, holding a hand out. he placed a finger to his lips, telling her silently to stay quiet. she nodded with a grin and he ushered her to poke her head around the tree she was behind.
witherings was curled on the floor comfortably, her beach nuzzling into the almost furry head of her baby. the little hippogriff gave a high-pitched squawk and leaned into the motherly love, eyes closed in happiness. astra grinned widely, sharing that smile with hagrid, who was sniffling and wiping at his eyes with his big hands as he looked at the scene.
witherwings noticed astra and made a low snarling sound so the witch stepped out from behind the tree and bowed, as she had weeks ago. it took a little longer this time, due to the fact she was a mother now, but witherwings lowered her head in a sitting-down bow, accepting astra's presence.
"when were they born?" astra asked in a whisper, as to not disturb the small family.
"few days before ye got back. i didn' mention it 'cause witherwings wasn't all that happy on seeing people." hagrid muttered, still beaming at the creatures through his beard. "oh, isn' he beautiful!"
astra nodded in agreement, watching the baby settle down to sleep in his mothers comfort.
"what's his name?" astra questioned.
"i dunno, yet. what d'you think of buckbeak?" hagrid asked, thoughtfully. "i've been through 'em all. nearly gave up and jus' called him jim."
astra chuckled, "buckbeak's a great name."
☆
later in the day, astra sat in the empty library, scribbling down onto a piece of parchment with a quill. mindlessly copying from a book, astra swore as she stabbed through the parchment, ink marking the desk underneath. looking around for madam pince, she subtly used her wand to make the ink disappear.
"hey, love." james said as he plopped down beside her. "what're you doing?"
"catching up on all the homework grimm gave me. he's such a dick." astra mumbled, trying not to smile to herself as james leaned forwards to press a kiss to her cheek. "what're you doing?"
"just about to go to quidditch training." james hummed and she looked at him finally, seeing him in his red and gold jumper, his broom in his hand. "and i came to check on you."
"i'm okay." astra nodded. "don't fall off your broom again."
"such thorough advice." james joked in a sarcastic tone and she smiled slightly.
james stood up to leave, thinking twice as he walked down the isle of books. he turned around and leant down to kiss astra properly, feeling her grin against his lips before he was pulling away with his ever unwavering happiness. he pecked her lips once more before striding from the library confidently.
a few seconds passed by in silence until it was unfortunately broken by an irritated regulus.
"are you joking?" regulus hissed.
astra turned to him in surprise, "no, but i can be. what do you call a fish wearing a bow tie?"
"no, about malfoy!"
"it's sofishdicated, you fun sponge. what about malfoy?" astra questioned, giving her younger brother her full attention. "what did he do?"
"'what did he do?' what're you both doing?" regulus glared.
"i'm not following. give me a clue." astra retorted, raising an eyebrow at his glare.
"you're with malfoy, now? after all the shit he's done around the school, you're with him?" regulus asked, disgust lacing his tone.
"what? of course not, the thought alone makes me want to throw up viciously." astra grimaced.
"so why is everyone, including salem himself, saying that you're in a relationship?" regulus demanded.
"because he's a cunt, what other answer would there be? reggie—"
"don't fucking call me that." regulus snapped.
astra's eyes sharpened in a glare, "alright, your lordship, my sincerest apologies. lord regulus black, i am not with malfoy, and i never would be."
"then why did a gaggle of ravenclaws start saying they saw the relationship start when you kissed in the halls?" regulus spat.
astra fell silent, lips pulled in a minor frown, "regulus, it wasn't like that."
"like what? or is it potter now? or, who knows, maybe both, since you're publicly sharing affection with both of them! potter, i'd get. but malfoy? that's fucking disgusting, astra." regulus said, staring at her with an unfamiliar distaste.
"don't talk to me about disgusting until you take a good look at the fuckers you've decided to hang around with." astra scoffed.
"i don't need to take advice from you." regulus snipped. "i'm tired of listening to you bossing me around. i don't need you, i'm not a child."
"you mean me trying to protect your sorry self from falling into the wrong crowds? well, i went and failed that. that's evident by this display." astra muttered, turning back to her homework.
regulus scoffed from behind her, "i'm not taking orders from a slut anymore."
astra turned around and stood up at that sentence and glared at her little brother. she lifted her hand in a heavy slap, cussing his face to whip to the side as he gasped. astra swallowed the tears thick in her throat.
"i've tolerated a lot of your shit recently, regulus." astra hissed. "i'm done trying to protect someone who clearly wants in on the wrong side."
grabbing her things and shoving past him, astra stormed out of the library, heading for the slytherin common room as she thought about what her brother had said.
{1645}
ik a lot of people love regulus, but at this point he'd genuinely be falling into the darker side of things and would be a dick about it
astra also needs to stop for a second and give a shit about herself cuz she just does.
on a happier note, slay buckbeak