THE NEXT DAY, Astra woke up earlier than everyone else, hoping to avoid talking to anyone before classes. She met up with Regulus in the same passageway that she had used the night before and talked about the classes she would be taking. She was able to make it early to all of her classes and did pretty well.
Transfiguration was by far her favorite, not only because Minnie was teaching her, but because she just found the subject fascinating. She was the first to be able to turn her match completely into a needle, after about 10 tries. Even Hermione Granger wasn't able to complete the full transfiguration, and she looked a bit upset that she wasn't top of the class.
Charms was pretty easy, though Professor Flitwick gave a nervous chuckle when he got to her name and didn't give her much recognition. She was able to complete the lighting charm, Lumos, at the same time as Hermione, but he didn't seem to notice. Astra wasn't angry at Hermione, though she seemed a bit obnoxious with always answering the question. Astra wasn't like that. She knew the answer, but only answered when called on, not wanting to attract attention to herself.
Professor Binn's class was History of Magic, but Astra was prepared. She finished all of her homework for her other classes during the time period, leaving her afternoon free of work.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was a bit of a joke, but Astra listened to what Regulus had said and kept an eye out for Quirrell. The dead hadn't been around during her classes, but they were looking over anything suspicious in the castle as they told her earlier. Quirrel seemed way too scared to teach DADA, and it was a bit weird that he always wore a turban. The Weasley twins said that it was because he hid garlic in there to fend away the vampires, but that seemed ridiculous.
Professor Snape's class went the worst for the day. Regulus and the others had warned her against it, saying that Snape would most likely be biased to the Slytherins and absolutely hate Harry and her, due to their fathers and James specifically urged her to try and call him 'Snivellus' if she got the chance. However, she didn't expect it to be this bad. When announcing her name, he spat out the name 'Black' as if it was a deadly disease. Once Snape got to Harry's name, he said "Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new celebrity." Some of the Slytherins sniggered while Snape gave his welcoming speech. Astra didn't pay much attention to it, understanding the basic information about potions and knowing that he would hate her either way.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Hermione's hand was up in the air, but Harry looked like he had no clue. Astra, of course, knew the answer, having memorized the textbooks, but didn't feel the need to raise her hand. She knew that if he was questioning Harry, his least favorite person in the class, she would be next.
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut. Fame clearly isn't everything." He turned around to face Astra, just as she expected. "Black, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"It would make a sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death."
"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"In a goat's stomach."
"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape seemed to have a need to try and get Astra to get a question wrong.
"They are the same plant, and it also goes by the name of aconite." He looked disappointed and frustrated, but Astra put together the questions. Normally, she would have just let it go, but she did inherit some of her father's confidence and ruthlessness.
"So, Professor Snape, you bitterly regret Lily's death?"
He turned around from where he was and said, "I do not understand what you are talking about."
"Well, Snivellus," said Astra (Regulus, who was sitting in the corner of the classroom, would be sure to tell James about that.) "According to Victorian Flower Language, asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'My regrets follow you to the grave' and wormwood means 'absence' and also typically symbolized bitter sorrow. If you combined that, it meant 'I bitterly regret Lily's death'. So, I was just wondering from the questions you asked whether you bitterly regret Lily's death?" The entire class was staring at her now, glancing back and forth between the potions professor and the young Black, some with awe, some with worry, some fearful, and some smug.
"20 points from Gryffindor for your cheek and detention this weekend. You shall call me sir, or Professor in this class. Now, let's continue."
"No worries, Professor Snivellus."
He gave a fierce glare, but gave up knowing the persistence of the Blacks, and finished his roll call. Once the class was over, several people started wanting to talk to the young Black, but she always found a way to get out. The rumors spread around the school about how the young first-year had stood up to the professor and a few people even had the courage to call him Professor Snivellus. After Snape came to McGonagall to tell her about what was going on, she couldn't help but have a nostalgic smile, but quickly went to reprimand her little lion.
Astronomy was fun because Regulus often joined Astra in the night lessons. He would show her the constellations of all of their family members and when asked about why she wasn't focused, she would simply give a witty remark like saying, "Just looking at my grandfather and uncle," or "My dad's right there, you see, and so is my insane cousin." This usually gave quite a shock before people realized that Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange weren't actually there, but she always had fun looking at their faces.
The first flying lesson didn't go well, with Malfoy and Harry facing off on a broom, but in the lessons to come, Astra found herself quite talented, just like in all of her other subjects. It was safe to say that many were jealous of the young girl, who seemed to be naturally talented in all of her subjects and activities, in addition to being quite beautiful with her Black family features. Still, she was more of someone that people would talk about rather than talk to. She would still stay quiet in the hallways, not talk to her roommates, go to bed and get to breakfast early, and spend most of her time by herself in the library, with Minnie, or in an abandoned classroom talking to her uncle or godparents. Lily and James were spending more and more time looking over Harry, but Astra didn't mind. She knew that he was important and that the parents wanted to look out for him, and Regulus was plenty of fun anyway.
However, she still had great times with Lily and James. Lily would help her with any of the homework that she didn't completely understand (usually potions because Snape wasn't teaching her well or History of Magic because it was boring). James would plan a few pranks with her and come up with a plan to steal the Mauraders' Map, which he was sure was currently with the Weasley twins. She was able to get it back within the first week, as James told her they were in Astronomy, allowing the girl to sneak into their room, steal the map, and go back to her dorm.
***
As she was walking down the stairs, she heard some noise coming from the common room. Astra didn't think she heard anyone walking down the stairs, but she heard a girl's voice.
"I almost told your brother, Percy. He's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this." It was Hermione. What was she doing out late at night?
"Come on," came another voice, but it was a boy's this time. It seemed familiar. She looked at James, who was next to her. Astra pointed down the stairs, telling him to find out who it was.
"Hermione, Harry, and Ron. I wonder what Harry's doing. I hope it's something fun!" came James' voice. Astra rolled her eyes, he really was immature.
She peeked her head out, but the portrait door was open and the kids were gone. She only heard a bit of what they were saying before the door closed again.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells." Actually, Hermione only got a few points for knowing about them, but Astra got 10 because she actually did them.
"Go away," came Harry's voice. Astra rolled her eyes and made her way up to the boys' dormitories. As planned, no one was there. James had gone off on Harry's adventure, so it was just her. She opened drawers and checked everywhere, trying to find the old map. They wouldn't go running around everywhere with it, it would have to be there somewhere. And eventually, after about 20 minutes, she found it underneath one of the twins' sheets. Testing to make sure it worked, she said the code, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map appeared, working perfectly. She decided to check on the others, and saw that they were moving back already, and quickly. Maybe they had a run-in with Filch, but they also seemed to pick up Neville along the way. Either way, she had to make her way out of the boys' dorm. Astra quickly went to the shadows, hiding behind an armchair as the four students ran in. She muttered a quick "Mischief Managed," and stayed hidden, listening in on their conversation.
It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."
Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something. I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed, or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
Ron stared after her, his mouth open. "No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you."
Neville had walked upstairs followed by an angry Hermione. Harry nodded at Ron, and they left to go upstairs themselves.
"Psst. Prongs!" Astra whispered. James looked a bit out of breath as well but quickly came over to her side.
"Oh! Astra! Did you get it?"
"Mmhm. Look here. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. It's incredible! I'm going to hide down here for a few more minutes until Hermione goes to bed. What happened to them?"
"Oh, you won't believe it! Apparently, Harry accepted a duel from Malfoy, but he was just setting Harry up. Hermione got trapped outside with them and Neville was already outside. They went to the trophy room, but Malfoy set Filch on them, so guess what? They went into the third-floor corridor! And there was a giant three-headed dog -"
"Cerberus," Astra interrupted. "Go on."
"Yeah, so there was a Cerberus, but luckily they got out in time and made it back into the common room."
"Wow, quite the adventure. I heard them talking about a trapdoor. Do you know what's underneath there?"
"I - uhmm."
"I know that you know. Come on, I won't tell anyone."
"Alright, but don't tell Lily I told you this. Only the professors are supposed to know. They're hiding the philosopher's stone. But it's not only the giant dog, but also a lot of other tests to hide it. I think that Quirrel is trying to steal it for Voldemort."
"What? And you couldn't think to tell me? I was keeping an eye out for Quirrel, but I'll have to watch more often. Tell me if there's anything else I should know."
"Alright, you should go to bed now. Lils will go mad if she knew I kept you up this late."
"Ok, good night!"
So, it was the end of the first week of school, and already her life was crazy. Astra was top of all her classes, staying away from most of the students, and learned about a professor that was trying to get a crazily powerful stone for the darkest wizard of all time.