AFTER ONLY A WEEK Astra found herself into a simple routine for her first summer at Hogwarts. She would go to the kitchens for breakfast, usually reading a book or talking to one of the dead while eating. Then, she would find herself either in a conversation with one of the dead, reading at the astronomy tower or the Great Lake, or discovering different parts of the castle. Even with the Marauders' Map, there were still new places to find.
On the third day of wandering around the castle, she found a room on the 7th floor when she wanted something interesting to do. Astra opened the doors to find the place filled with games, books, and bean bags. She immediately recognized this as one of the fables she had heard of while reading a book on Hogwarts' founders. It was called the 'Room of Requirement' or the 'Come and Go Room'. She showed James, who was astonished that they had never found it. She thought about possibly adding it to the map, but soon found that it was unplottable.
She would go back to the kitchens for lunch and make a visit to Minnie, Hagrid, or both. Finally, she would eat dinner in the Great hall with the other professors, who had all come around to liking the girl, even if she didn't take their classes yet. After a few dinners, she realized that during the summer, it got quite tiring to call them all professors. So, she created a few nicknames which the professors gladly took, except for Snape. He was still Professor Snivellus, and even though Minnie had told her several times that it was unacceptable, it was only half-heartedly and it truthfully reminded her so much of the Marauders, just like when she had started calling McGonagall 'Minnie'.
In the hallways and at Dinner, she started calling Professor Sprout 'Pom Pom', because her first name was Pomona. The lady thought it was sweet and gave a warm smile to the girl. Even though Flitwick had, at first, been wary of the girl, he soon found that she was quite caring and sweet. He gave a happy squeak when Astra called him 'Filly' while asking for the salt. Astra wanted to create a nickname for Madame Hooch, but found that she really hated her first name, so she was just 'Hooch'. Silvanus Kettleborn, though Astra didn't take the class yet, was a kind person, even though he had lost a lot of limbs from his magical creatures. She soon started calling him 'Silver'. Though Madam Pince never left the library and was normally quite rude to the people there, Astra had gotten on her good side, always helping out with her books, though she still didn't get to call her by her first name. Professor Sinistra was also known as 'Rory', short for her first name, Aurora. Astra spent a lot of time in the Astronomy tower and always listened to the facts that Rory told her, even though Uncle Reg had already told her most of them. Professor Trelawney rarely left her tower and the one time Astra saw her, wasn't really a great impression. She was very dreamy, but not necessarily in a good way. Trelawney immediately pulled on her and stated that the girl had a 'very impressive aura'. Astra knew this, of course, as seeing powers were closely related to the ability to see the dead, but didn't say anything about it. Professor Burbage was very enthusiastic about her muggle objects and often asked Astra her opinion of them. Astra couldn't really say much, as she never did use a lot of technology in the orphanage, but Lily had told her about a few of them. There was also Madam Pomfrey, or 'Poppy'. Though Astra never got injured, so she didn't need to go to the hospital wing, she often helped Poppy with brewing extra Pepper-Up potions and restocking the cabinet. Lastly, there was Professor Vector, who taught Arithmancy. Astra was interested in the subject and promised that she would have to take it when she got to 3rd year. However, she wasn't quite sure, as she was also very interested in Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, and she might have to take Divination if she wanted to understand her 'inner eye', but also felt like applying for a time turner would be too much.
On the second weekend of the summer, Minnie took Astra to go shopping at Hogsmeade and Astra was impressed. She took in the sights and bought quite a bit with the money that Minnie had gotten her from her vault in Gringotts. She bought almost every different kind of candy in Honeydukes, looked around the post office at all of the owls, bought some new color-changing quills from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, looked at a few of the books in Tomes and Scrolls, and had a butterbeer with Minnie in the Three Broomsticks. Afterward, she looked at the Shrieking Shack with a sad expression on her face, remembering what James had told her about it and his friend, Remus Lupin, and sneaked into Zonko's where she got a few products that Minnie didn't need to know about.
They went on these excursions every other week, and Astra was quite enjoying her life at Hogwarts. There was something special about it when there weren't any other students in the castle.
***
James and Lily often talked about Harry and complained about how the Dursleys were treating him. Regulus still made his daily visits to Sirius in Azkaban. On July 31st, Harry's birthday, James and Lily came rushing back, telling her about a story with a house-elf that got Harry into trouble, and how they followed the house-elf and learned that it was actually the Malfoy's.
The next day, they came and told her about another crazy story of how Ron Weasley and his twin brothers came in a flying car to bring him to the Burrow. All Astra could think was that there really was no dull moment in that boy's life.
The weekend after, Minnie took Astra to go school supply shopping in Diagon Alley, apologizing that they didn't make it the day before when Gilderoy Lockhart was signing. However, she did tell Astra that he would be teaching at Hogwarts that school year, which didn't make Astra that happy. From what she read in the books, the guy seemed quite full of himself, and most of the information didn't make any sense at all. Gilderoy Lockhart, in Astra's eyes, was a fraud. However, she still got all of her supplies, including all of Lockhart's books, and was glad that she didn't run into a single person who knew her, though some were slightly astonished when seeing her Black family features.
Over the summer, she grew a bit more and the features that ran through the Black family were more prominent. Luckily, her dark hair fell more in waves rather than curly, otherwise, someone might have mistaken her as her cousin Bellatrix if she had fallen into a time machine and turned 12 again. Regulus had told her that she looked like an exact mix between her cousins Andromeda and Bellatrix.
The rest of the summer flew by as she stuck to her routine, sometimes flying a spare broom around the Quidditch pitch with Madam Hooch's supervision. The Quidditch enthusiast continuously tried to convince Astra to try out for the Quidditch team, saying that she would do amazing, but Astra continued to refuse. Maybe in the future, but the Quidditch team also came with a lot of popularity, and that was something that Astra had enough of and did not want.
Astra also came to a conclusion about halfway through the summer that she decided to talk to Minnie about. As much as she loved James's story about the three illegal animagi that roamed the grounds of Hogwarts, if Astra was going to do something, she was going to do it right.
***
She knocked on the door and walked through, as usual for her afternoon meetings with Minnie, but this time, she brought a book with her. The book that Minnie had gotten her for Christmas the year before: Release the Animagus Within.
"Hi, Minnie!"
"Hello, Astra. How are you doing today?" greeted McGonagall in her thick Scottish accent.
"I'm doing good. I actually wanted to ask you for help with something."
"Yes, and what is that?" she asked while pouring a cup of warm tea and setting down a plate of biscuits.
"I was wondering whether you could help me... become an animagus."
McGonagall looked up surprised. The process of becoming an animagus was long and hard, but inside she had no doubt that Astra had what it took. She was very talented in transfiguration and had determination as well.
"I just have read a lot about it, and you're one too. And I thought it was fascinating. So, I was wondering if you could be my mentor." She didn't say the fact that her father and his best friends were animagi as well and that it would make her feel more connected to them.
"Well, it would take a lot of hard work and determination and quite a bit of skill. I didn't do it until I was seventeen but..." McGonagall looked at Astra and then formed a thin smile. "But I have no doubt that you will be able to do it." Astra beamed and caught the professor off guard by hugging her.
"Well, I suppose we can get started, but it will take a while. I believe that if you work hard and study the theory well, then you should be able to complete the process by your 6th year at the latest. Let's begin..."
So, for the rest of the summer, once a week, Astra's meetings with Minnie consisted of discussing the theory behind an animagus and studying the process. McGonagall told her that they wouldn't actually start the process until at least her third year.
Before she knew it, the summer had come to an end and the start of 2nd year was about to start.