JANUARY 11TH CAME and Astra's birthday was small. She was woken up early by James, Lily, and Regulus singing 'Happy Birthday', received a gift from Minnie and Hagrid, and a 'Happy Birthday' from Hermione when she learned that it was the girl's birthday.
After Hermione's confrontation, she didn't seem to care as much as more. She wasn't waking up extremely early to try and catch Astra, or stay in the dorms, waiting for her to come in. This may have been because she decided to give up on befriending the girl, or the more likely reason is that she was busying herself even more. Hermione was still looking with the rest of the trio for who Nicolas Flamel was and she was also studying more than ever for the end-of-year exams.
Astra still had a steady flow of work but wasn't stressing half as much as Hermione. With Lily as her personal study planner, she was able to get all of her hardest homework done during Binn's class, any long-term projects were worked on in the common room in the afternoon, and in the evening she would go for a quick snack in the kitchens, talking to Regulus and avoiding other people. Sometimes, she would also go to the astronomy tower where Lily would quiz her, or she would sit outside by the Great Lake and read some books, keeping an eye on Quirrel on the Mauraders' Map at the same time. Astra also still made frequent visits to Minnie's office and Hagrid's Hut, where she was always welcome with some tea, biscuits, or rock cakes.
Astra was checking out another book on Animagi (she found the subject fascinating) when Hermione came running in with Ron and Harry at her heels. The trio really needed to stop running everywhere. She was just leaving the library when she heard them talking about the Philosopher's stone.
"See?" said Hermione. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."
"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"
Astra rolled her eyes. It only was a matter of time until they figured it out, but did they really think that Snape was after the stone? Still, it didn't seem worth it to try and butt in. They wouldn't do anything with that information. Right? Astra tucked the book back under her arm and walked out of the library.
***
The next few days went by quickly, Astra falling into her usual rhythm. Soon enough, it was time for the next Quidditch game. This time it was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and Astra had no problem cheering only for Gryffindor. She heard Hermione and Ron talking about a spell, 'Locomotor Mortis', that she suspected was probably if someone tried to hex Harry again, even though they wouldn't have to worry with Dumbledore at the game. The match actually stopped really quickly with Harry catching the snitch in 5 minutes, and Astra only had to move slightly to avoid the fight that broke out between Ron, Neville, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. She simply rolled her eyes, keeping her attention on the game.
The rest of Gryffindor made their way to the common room, but Astra, once again headed towards the kitchens. There was simply now way to avoid people if there was a Gryffindor party, specifically if it was initiated by the Weasley twins. On her way there, she saw Harry pull Ron and Hermione into an empty classroom. Deciding to spy on them, only to see if they were about to do something stupid, she listened at the door.
"So we were right, it is the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy, and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocus. reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to breakthrough."
"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" said Hermione.
"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," said Ron.
Astra rolled her eyes; they still thought that it was Snape that was trying to steal the stone? Once again, she was split behind telling them the truth but thought that if she did tell them, then she would have to provide evidence. Then, she would have to tell them about her being a psychic-median (which would probably make them think that she was insane, or Harry would ask her to talk to his parents) and about the Mauraders' Map. Also, they would probably drag her into whatever plot they were doing and Astra did not want to be a part of that. So, she turned around and continued on her way to the kitchens, sticking to the shadows so the trio wouldn't see her.
***
Astra thought it was hilarious that the next few days, the trio could be seen trying to help out Quirrel and give him words of encouragement. As much as it annoyed her seeing them help the evil professor, she wouldn't do anything about it.
The next few weeks were filled with homework, but it didn't really bother Astra. She had a good plan already, and simply dropped a few of her visits to Hagrid's hut, Minnie's office, or the kitchens. Astra had always been better at the practical side of magic, but the essays were easy enough with Lily's help, who seemed to be more like Hermione in the studying section. Hermione was spending every second studying like crazy and convincing Harry and Ron to do the same. Astra thought it was a bit obsessive, but didn't say anything.
***
After an afternoon full of finishing her potions essay and practicing a few charms with Lily, Astra went over to Hagrid's hut, but was confused when the curtains were closed. She knocked on the door and was greeted with a very flustered Hagrid.
"Who is it?"
"Um, Hagrid it's just me. Astra."
"Oh sorry, Astra, come in, come in." He quickly closed the door behind him and put on a set of oven mitts.
"Wow, it's boiling hot in here! Why have you lit the fireplace? Shouldn't we open a window?"
"No, no. It's fine. Would you like some tea?"
"Yes please." She sat on a stool that was at the single table in the hut and looked at the fire. Astra noticed that there was actually something in the fire, a large, oval-shaped egg?
"Hagrid, what is that?"
"Oh, uh, nothing, it's nothing. Come on, let's -"
"No way! How did you get it?"
"Won it at a pub last night. The person was quite glad to get rid of it, really." Astra was immediately worried. The last night was one of the times that Quirrel had disappeared off of the map. However, she didn't voice her concerns and instead sounded happy for him. She knew that it was his dream to have a dragon, even if it was illegal and highly dangerous.
"That's great? And who did you get it from?"
"Not sure, really. It was a stranger and he kept his hood up. Nice guy. Kept buying me drinks and was nice to talk to." Now, that was very concerning.
"And what did you talk about?"
"Oh, you know, asked me what work I do and what animals I look after. And I said, after Fluffy and Aragog, a dragon shouldn't be too hard."
"Who are Fluffy and Aragog?" Usually, Hagrid steered the conversation away from his extremely dangerous animals (and usually the illegal ones), but it seemed like Hagrid was in a happy mood due to his recently acquired dragon.
"Oh, Fluffy's my Cerberus, and Aragog's an acromantula. Raised both from when they were babies. Oh, wait. I probably shouldn't have told you that. Anyway, why are you here?"
"Oh, well I just -" but she was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let Harry, Ron, and Hermione in and then shut the door quickly behind them.
"I'm going to go now. Nice to see you Hagrid!" Astra quickly walked out, not wanting to have to be a part of their conversation. She could vaguely hear Hagrid calling after her, saying that she could stay, but she just made her way to the Astronomy Tower, where she could probably talk to James, who had made it his duty to solve the plot and figure out what Quirrel was hiding and why he wanted the stone.
***
The next week sped by, and Astra made Hagrid promise to keep her updated on the dragon; She always did have a small fascination with magical creatures. When she got a note that it was hatching, she rushed off to the hut, not caring that she would miss one Herbology lesson. She was already ahead, anyway, and knew all about the plants that they would be talking about that day. She stayed with Hagrid, waiting for the egg to hatch, and was joined during the morning break by the trio. She didn't even care that they were there but knew that she would probably get out as soon as the dragon hatched, to avoid a conversation.
"It's nearly out," said Hagrid as he ushered them inside. The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it and something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise coming from it. All at once, there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty. It looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns, and bulging orange eyes. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs. "Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid. Happy, but still wanting to go, Astra quickly excused herself and promised to visit the dragon later. However, when she walked out, she noticed a mob of blonde hair sneaking by the side of the hut. Malfoy was going to see the dragon. But there was nothing that she could do, he had already seen it and rushed back to the castle. Astra walked stealthily back to the common room, hoping that the worst wouldn't happen.
***
The next few days, she checked on the dragon, and 'Norbert' seemed to really like her. Luckily, she didn't have any run-ins with the golden trio, and Malfoy hadn't reported the dragon yet. However, when she went in to make her daily check, she learned from Hagrid that Norbert was going to be sent to Romania with Ron's brother Charlie. Astra was a bit upset, as she had liked the young dragon, but agreed that it was for the best, and helped Hagrid feel better. She hoped that the trio would have a good plan to smuggle the dragon, otherwise, it wouldn't be good.
Her hopes were wiped out when Gryffindor lost 150 points for students being out of bed but she knew it was when they had gotten rid of Norbert. James had told her all about what happened, and Astra could only think, 'how could they be so stupid to leave the invisibility cloak behind?' However, the goal was accomplished (even with some terrible consequences) and Norbert was now in Romania.
Astra hoped that that was the most trouble that the trio would get into that year. Once again, her hopes were for nothing.