THE DAYS PASSED BY and everyone in Gryffindor house seemed cold towards the trio. Astra didn't really care about the points, but she still didn't see it as a reason to talk to them. It seemed that now that the whole dragon plot was done, they wanted to continue looking into the problem with the Philosopher's stone. She really didn't understand why the three students felt the need to dig around in everything around the school. In astronomy one night, she overheard a bit of their conversation.
"If we just do a bit of poking around -" came Ron's voice before he was interrupted by Harry.
"No. We've done enough poking around." At least someone had a voice of reason. Besides, James had specifically told her that even if Quirrel was able to get through the other tasks (which she learned was Fluffy, Devil's Snare, a room with enchanted flying keys, a giant chess set, a troll, and a set of poisons with a riddle), he wouldn't be able to acquire the stone because it was hidden in something called the Mirror of Erised, which Astra learned was a mirror that showed your greatest desire. Astra almost wanted to see what her greatest desire would be but knew that it wouldn't be worth going through all of the tasks just to see it.
Astra continued watching the map, knowing that now that Quirrel knew how to get past Fluffy, he would be going any day now. The only thing that she would be able to do is to alert Minnie or another professor so that they would be able to catch Quirrel. That evening, Astra went to bed only to be interrupted at around midnight by James and Lily (Regulus was once again doing his usual check-up on Sirius).
"Astra, you won't believe it!" She groaned a bit, and turned around, not saying anything because the other girls would most definitely wake up and call her crazy. She rubbed her eyes and looked around to make sure that Lavender and Parvati were sleeping. Then, lazily, she grabbed the map that was kept under her mattress, her wand from her nightstand, and slipped out of the room. Checking the map, she made sure that no one was in the common room, but Ron was sitting there, and Hermione, Harry, and Neville were on their way back. She sighed and said, "Tell me tomorrow, they're all coming back." Before giving them a chance to respond, she walked back into her room, put her wand and map back in their places, and fell back asleep.
***
"Alright, what was so important that you had to wake me up in the middle of the night?" Astra asked as James, Lily, and Regulus came before her in the kitchens.
"Harry encountered Voldemort last night in the forbidden forest!" exclaimed James immediately, as Regulus flinched at the name.
"What?" asked Astra as Regulus's eyes widened.
"What he means to say is yesterday Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco Malfoy were doing their detention in the forbidden forest and they split up to try and find a unicorn that Quirrel must have been attacking. But Harry and the Malfoy boy found the unicorn with Quirrel standing over it -" Lily said before being interrupted by James.
"Yes, but it wasn't Quirrel. The centaur said that it was Voldemort! That must mean that they're connected somehow."
"Well, that's strange, but you still had to wake me up in the middle of the night for this?"
"Ok, I was a bit overexcited but Harry just met bloody Voldemort in the forest!"
"So, you think that Qurirel is somehow related to You-Know-Who?" asked Regulus. It had been a long time since he was a death eater, and changed his habits from saying the Dark Lord, but he wasn't quite ready to say the name yet, and Lily and James were alright with that. "Do you ever wonder what's under his turban?" The others widened their eyes in realization.
"But, you couldn't fit Voldemort under a turban, right?" asked Astra.
"Honestly, we don't know. Anything could be possible for him," Regulus responded.
"Also, did you know that they're still blaming Snape for all of this," asked James, switching the topic from something that he really didn't want to believe. "Astra, you have to tell them, make them switch their path. As much as I hate him for torturing you and Harry in class, we can't just keep having them assume that it's Snivellus."
"No, you know I can't because then I'd have to explain all about me being a 'psychic medium' and how I know, and then I'd give them to much information and they'd drag me into whatever they're planning."
"I agree with Astra. She can't just go around telling people that she can talk to the dead, especially if she tells Harry that she can talk to us. Imagine what he would go through, realizing that someone could talk to us when he couldn't."
"Yes, I guess you're right. But then what should we do?"
"I say we just wait. Eventually, we'll figure everything out."
***
The problem with Quirrel maybe having Voldemort on the back of his head was put to the back of Astra's mind as she spent most of her time studying for their upcoming exams. Though she still had a pretty steady schedule, a lot more time was spent in the library. Astra was fantastic at basically everything when it came to the practical part of magic, but she definitely needed the sessions with Lily where she studied the theoretical part of Transfiguration and History of Magic. Regulus also helped her study astronomy by relating them to all of her past ancestors.
***
Astra easily made the pineapple tapdance across the desk and turned a mouse into a perfect snuffbox. Even with Snape walking past her every few seconds in hope that she would mess up, her forgetfulness potion was perfect. History of Magic was the last exam of the day and Astra felt relieved. She had noticed Harry put his hand to his forehead in pain a few times that day and was a bit worried about whether it was his scar that was hurting because of something to do with Voldemort, but didn't focus on it much until the exams were over.
Astra sat by the Great Lake, rereading her book on animagi, while overhearing a bit of the trio's conversation.
"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager." Astra snorted, while keeping her head in the book. Why would Hermione have studied topics that weren't even in the curriculum?
It seemed like she was about to talk about the exam results but got cut off when Ron said happily, "No more studying. You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."
"I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting. It's happened before, but never as often as this."
"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.
"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming...."
"Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down." Astra rolled her eyes. Actually, Hagrid had already accidentally given the secret to getting past Fluffy to Quirrel, but he still wouldn't be able to steal the stone because of Dumbledore's enchantment. However, obviously, they didn't know that. Hermione continued talking about studying, but suddenly Harry jumped to his feet.
"Where're you going?" said Ron sleepily.
"I've just thought of something," said Harry. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."
So, they had figured it out. Astra simply sighed and continued reading. They wouldn't do anything too rash... Right? After finishing the chapter she was on, she placed her bookmark in it and left towards the kitchens.
***
No sooner than she had tickled the pear portrait, James popped up inside followed by Lily.
"Astra! You need to stop them! I can't believe they're doing it -"
"He's his father's son. He needs a bit of adventure every once in a while, but I agree. Astra, you need to stop them from doing this. It's too dangerous! They could die!"
"Ok, ok. Slow down and explain what you're talking about," Astra said calmly as she took a bite of a muffin.
"Harry found out that Hagrid gave up the secret to getting past Fluffy, and so he went to tell Dumbledore -"
"But Dumbledore wasn't there because he has this work from the ministry -" Just as Lily said that, Regulus popped in as well.
"Quirrel's doing it tonight! He sent a letter to Dumbledore to get him to go to the ministry and I'm pretty sure we're right about the 'Voldemort under his turban' thing because he was talking to himself and this creepy voice came out! What are you talking about?"
"So Harry was right! He's had this crazy idea to go to the third-floor corridor tonight to stop Quirrel, even though he still thinks it's Snape, from getting the stone!"
"Wait, what?! Not even them would have such a stupid idea. They're all going to die!"
"Yes, which is exactly why you need to stop them, Astra!"
"I can't stop them! How am I supposed to stop them? I could spy on them to make sure that they don't get in trouble, but I'm not stopping them!"
"But if you don't stop them, then they could die!"
"I highly doubt that. But Uncle Reg, were you serious about the whole 'Voldemort under his turban' thing?"
"Yes, I wouldn't joke about that!"
"Alright, alright. What are we going to do?"
"I thought we agreed on that. You need to stop them!"
"And I thought I told you. I'm not going to stop them! I can't! What am I supposed to say? 'Hey, I can talk to your dead parents, Harry and they said that you shouldn't go stop Quirrel from taking the stone because it's perfectly safe and as much as they love you, your parents don't want you joining the afterlife with them yet.' I can't say that!"
"Yes, I suppose so, but I guess you could spy on them or set Peeves on them or something!"
"I could do that, alright. But I'm not doing anything more. I'm not getting in trouble but I'll also help them." They spent the rest of the afternoon planning exactly what Astra was going to do, and then she went off to bed, or rather, to hiding in the common room.
***
"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning. Astra watched as Harry ran upstairs to their dark dormitory. He came back with a silvery looking cloak that must have been the invisibility cloak and a wooden flute that looked like the one that Hagrid had got Astra for Christmas.
"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all three of us. If Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own -"
"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.
"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Harry, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back.
"You're going out again," he said.
"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"
"You can't go out," said Neville, "You'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."
"You don't understand," said Harry, "This is important."
"I won't let you do it," he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. "I'll -- I'll fight you!"
"Neville," Ron exploded, "get away from that hole and don't be an idiot -"
"Don't you call me an idiot!" said Neville. Astra silently cheered from her hiding spot that Neville was finally standing up for himself. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"
"Yes, but not to us," said Ron in exasperation. Astra stifled a laugh. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing." Astra wanted to come out and maybe even just body-bind the trio to keep them from going out but knew that would only lead to questions, so she stuck to her plan. Though, she didn't expect Neville to be part of the equation.
Ron took a step forward and Neville dropped Trevor, who leapt out of sight. "Gon then, try and high me!" said Neville, raising his fists. "I'm ready!"
Harry looked to Hermione and told her to "do something!" Hermione stepped forward and said, "Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this. Petrificus Totalus!" Astra sighed, there went her only hope of being able to get out of the big plot. Neville fell down, his hands locked to his sides.
"What've you done to him?"Harry whispered.
"It's the full Body-Bind. Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."
"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," said Harry.
"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron as they stepped over him and pulled on the invisibility cloak. As soon as they stepped out of the portrait hole, Astra sighed and pulled her plan into action. She had told Peeves, who had taken a liking to the young Black, that there would be something going on in the third-floor corridor that night, and for him to keep a lookout. She could only hope that he would delay the trio long enough.
Astra walked over to Neville and muttered the counter curse. "Sorry, Neville. You did the right thing. Those idiots shouldn't be going anywhere tonight."
"What are you doing here?" asked Neville.
"Just had a bad feeling for tonight. Anyways. Come on, we need to stop them. Let's go to Minnie," Astra said as she grabbed his arm and lead him to McGonagall's office.
"Minnie! Minnie! Professor McGonagall!" Astra exclaimed as she pounded on the door.
"What on Earth are you doing here at this time of hour Astra? And you too, Longbottom!"
"Minnie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to the third-floor corridor for some reason. They said it was important, but I don't know why." Actually, Astra knew exactly why, but it would seem too suspicious if she did. "Said something about stopping someone. They put Neville in a full-body bind which I removed and we had to come and get you because they could get into serious trouble." Just as she finished talking, Dumbledore came striding towards the room.
"Ah, Minerva, I see you have already been awoken. The stone is in danger, and so are Mr. Potter, Weasley, and Ms. Granger." McGonagall gasped and then turned towards the two students. "You two, stay here. There are some biscuits on the table. Thank you for letting us know. I will be back later and then tell you when you can go back to your common room."
Astra nodded and sighed in relief. She just hoped that Peeves was able to keep them off. She knew that Lily and James were probably staying with Harry, while Regulus was watching Quirrel She could only hope that the 'Voldemort under his turban' thing was false. She lead Neville to a chair and started eating a biscuit in silence. Ever since Astra had helped him in Charms, Neville had been a bit nicer and less fearful. They certainly weren't friends, but they also didn't hate each other.
They waited in silence until about an hour later, McGonagall came back in.
"Well, the ordeal is over. I would like to thank you for coming to me. Nevertheless, no one was harmed or severely injured. You may go back to the common room, but please do not tell anyone else what happened last night. Good night."
The two students nodded and made their way back to the common room. With a quick good night, they went their separate ways up to the dormitories, but Astra waited until Neville went up to his dorm before she sneaked back into the common room.
"Prongs, Lily, Uncle Reg?" she whispered into the air. With a faint pop, the three spirits appeared in front of her. They immediately launched into the tale of how Harry was able to get Peeves to go away, and then went through each of the tasks. Astra held her breath as they said how Ron sacrificed himself in the chess set and how Harry had to come face to face with Voldemort, proving that the 'Voldemort under his turban' thing was, in fact, true. About half an hour later, she finally retired to her dorm, thinking about the day's events.
***
The next few days went by rather quickly. Luckily, the news that Astra was a part of the whole deal didn't get around. However, Ron and Hermione were asked questions all the time about what had happened in the third-floor corridor. The quidditch game was terrible without their seeker, and it seemed all hope was lost in winning the house cup. That is until it was awarded.
The Great Hall was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table. When Harry walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once. Astra rolled her eyes and continued sitting in silence by the edge of the table. Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away.
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts.... Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with two hundred and ninety-two points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy- two."
A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. "Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account." The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.
"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes... First. To Mr. Ronald Weasley for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!" At last, there was silence again.
"Second. To Miss Hermione Granger for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves. They were now a hundred points up.
"Third. To Mr. Harry Potter for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points." The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and fifty-two points; only 20 points under Slytherin.
Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent. "Fourth. To Ms. Astra Black..." Everyone in the great hall stared to the beautiful girl that sat at the edge of the Gryffindor Table. Her eyes widened. She was expecting points for the trio, but not for her. "For looking out for her classmates and thinking quickly in time of crisis, 20 points!"
Once again, the hall erupted in cheers, though some were still stuck staring at Astra. The golden trio themselves didn't realize that Astra had anything to do with the whole stone business. Finally, Dumbledore raised his hand again to give out the last points.
"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I, therefore, award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."
Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Almost everyone at the Gryffindor table as well as some from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. Malfoy couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on him.
"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, "we need a little change of decoration."
He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile. Astra, once overcome with the shock that she had earned points, quietly cheered, happy for the Gryffindor win and saw Minnie look at her with a proud face through the crowd.
***
Finally, the year was coming to an end. Astra got full marks (and sometimes some extra) in all of her classes. Hermione had only beaten her in History of Magic and Neville had tied with her in his herbology grade (which she complimented him on later), but Astra honestly didn't care. Though they tied for most of them, Astra was able to outdo the smart witch in both Transfiguration and Astronomy.
The day came where all of the other students packed their trunks, getting ready to leave Hogwarts for the summer. When asked by Hermione why she hadn't packed her trunk she responded with a short, "I'm not leaving," and turned back around. She was glad that the trio hadn't asked her why she had gotten points because she definitely didn't need to deal with their confrontation.
She made her way to the astronomy tower, watching the students get into carriages that lead to Hogsmeade station, and smiled, hoping for a great summer.
This time, her hopes were not for nothing.