Astra

XXI - The New Friend

AS ASTRA WALKED OUT of the common room, she debated where she should go. If she went to Minnie's her mother figure would certainly wonder how she knew of Lupin's lycanthropy. Lupin would most likely need rest because of the full moon and Snape was out of the question. Out of options, she ranted to the people who would always be there for her.

"James! Lily!" With a pop, they appeared in front of her. When asking how they knew when Astra called them, they simply told her that it was something like house-elf magic, but for the dead. When there was a psychic medium, or someone who had a connection to their world, they always knew when they were calling them. 

"Hello, Astra," Lily said, but quickly noticed the furious expression on her face. "What happened?"

"I can't believe Snivellus!" At the mention of the professor, James's face immediately turned angry as well.

"Can you believe what he assigned as homework?" James had left after Astra did, and had informed Lily about the lesson. Astra continued ranting, "How to spot and kill werewolves! How could he do that? Yeah, they didn't get along in school but how to kill him?!" Lily turned red and James had to hold her back, even though she technically couldn't do anything and he was just as angry as she was.

"I can't believe he would do that! He just keeps getting worse and worse! I wish I could give him a good kick in the a-"

"Alright, Lils. Calm down. I'm just as furious as you, but there's nothing we can do," James sighed. They talked to each other for a bit before James and Lily popped away to talk with Marlene and Dorcas. Astra sighed, and decided to walk along the corridors for a bit, even though she could tell that there was a house-elf a bit behind her, so she wouldn't be able to visit her father. Usually, she might have ordered the house-elf to not say anything, but seeing as she was just a student, the teachers would easily have power over that. She had left the Mauraders' Map in her dorm, seeing as she left in a rush, but wandered around the empty hallways, as almost everyone was in their common rooms or in the Great Hall. Astra was so caught up that she didn't even realized there was another girl gazing dreamily off into space before they bumped into each other.

***

"Oh, I'm sorry," said a dreamy voice and Astra immediately recognized it. Looking up confirmed her thoughts; it was the odd girl from the train with blonde hair and weird earrings.

"Astra Black?" she asked.

"Oh, um, yes. You're uh, Luna right? In um.. Ravenclaw?" Astra asked. Usually, she would snap at the person and go away, but the girl seemed nice enough, and she felt it would be way too rude to make her go away.

"Yes, that's me. Wow, you're brains full of wrackspurts. What's bothering you?"

Astra looked at the Luna girl in confusion. She had forgotten how odd Luna was with her made-up creatures, but could tell in her eyes that the girl was quite lonely. It confused her a bit why Astra decided to talk to this new Ravenclaw girl and not to Hermione, but probably because of her obviously kind nature, and that maybe Luna would believe what she said; unlike Hermione who only followed the book.

"Um, nothing really, but," she thought whether she should ask. It wouldn't do anything to hurt her, so she suggested, "What was your Defense lesson about today? If you had it."

"Oh, yes. It was taught by Professor Snape. He taught us about werewolves, strange though, seeing as Professor Lupin is one." This caught Astra off guard. She stopped walking, which they had been doing, and stared even harder at the young girl. At last, she realized that maybe friendship wouldn't be too bad, at least with this girl. Luna would believe what she said, and she wouldn't tell anyone about it. Hermione was different. She would tell Harry and Ron immediately, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but at the same time was. She would probably judge Astra, and not believe her. Luna wouldn't. Astra could tell.