After the apologies were over and hurt feelings were mended, her family life went back to normal. Well as normal as being Snape's daughter could get. Even if she wasn't his biological daughter. She had talked with her mother after their fight and during that conversation she had asked if she could contact her real father. Her mother was reluctant at first but after Astra had promised not to meet him as of yet, she would just write him for her mother agreed. Astra sat at her desk and wrote the first letter she had ever written to her "father."
Dear mister Jensen,
I have talked it over with my mother, and though she is not entirely pleased at the thought of me contatcing you she has agreed that I may atleast write to you. I do not quite know what to say, but I would like to hear your side of the story and find out what you have been doing since then. Have you remarried? Do I have any siblings? Well I won't bore you with to many questions but please write me back soon.
Sincerely,
Astra Malea Snape
Astra finished the letter and went to the owlry. She sent the owl off with instructions to find a Thad Jensen in the United States of America. This was all she knew of his location. She left the owlry as the dinner bell rang. Astra went to the great hall and sat down beside Hermione.
"Thank you Hermione." Astra whispered and began to eat. "You're welcome." Hermione smiled.
Harry came in and sat down. "Doing better?" he asked Astra. "Yeah." Astra mumbled over a mouthful of food.
"You're as bad as Ron!" Harry chuckled. "The least you could do is swallow first!" Ron Blushed a brilliant shade of crimson and stammered. "Now that was un called for!"
"Hardly" Hermione scoffed. "We all know you value your food!" Astra joined the fun. "Yeah Ron. Whenever you speak we have to dodge pieces of flying food!" she was laughing so hard she could hardly speak.
Ron buried his head in his hands as the others were holding their sides from laughing so hard. "Oh Ron. If we didn't tease you, you would have to send us to madam Pomfrey in fear that we had been put under the imperious curse." Hermione joked "and you know it!"
"That's true." Ron acknowledged. His embarrassment subsiding. As soon as the laughter subsided Harry turned to Astra. "We are going to be having a meeting of the D.A. to introduce you and the other "new" members tonight. I want you to meet me in the common room at eight o'clock sharp."
"D.A.? what's the D.A.?" Astra looked puzzled. "You'll just have to find out tonight." Harry told her.
Astra gave him a searching look. "Does this have anything to do with our meeting in the library a few days ago?" she asked suspiciously.
"I can't answer any of this until tonight." He told her in his drop the subject tone. Astra nodded. "Alright." Was all she said.
Astra was in the common room promptly at eight o'clock. She looked around and noticed three other students there with her. One was Aiden and the other two were Margot Pippen and Kaden Mullett. They were both second year students. Astra walked over to Aiden. "What's going on Aiden? Why are you here instead of at dinner?" she asked speculatively.
"I'm waiting for Harry." He told her bluntly. "Why are you here?" "The same."
They asked the other two and found that they were also waiting for Harry. They all sat down and briefly conversed. The others were as clueless about this D.A. thing that was going to happen. But they were all as visibly nervous as she was. Then the portrait door opened and Harry walked in.
"Alright. If you will all follow me." He motioned to them and walked back out of the portrait hole. The four students followed Harry quietly. They went through several corridors that most of them had never been aware that they even existed and climbed a few flights of stairs before finally coming to a stop in front of a door.
Harry turned to meet them. "What you hear or see tonight does not go beyond this door." He told them sternly. They all nodded their agreement and Harry opened the door. They filled in one by one.
Astra's eyes widened as she saw the room full with first and second years mixed with a few fifth and seventh years. They were from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. She was relieved to see that there were no Slytherin's in the group.
Harry motioned for them to sit where ever they saw an opening. Astra took a spot beside a couple of Hufflepuff first years and watched Harry intently.
"Right" Harry said as the muttering subsided. "You lot are all here because you have been chosen to become a part of the D.A. now to give you a bit of background on this group is Hermione Granger." Harry relinquished the "floor" to Hermione and sat down beside Ron.
"Thank you Harry." Hermione began. And Astra noticed how much this felt like a meeting of a support group of some kind. "Now I am sorry if some of this makes no sense to any of you. But I will do my best."
Everyone nodded in unison and Astra had to smother a laugh as she noticed just how much like puppets they all looked. "Right." Hermione continued. "Well two years ago a few of us approached Harry about teaching us how to protect ourselves. This was only needed because the ministry of magic decided that we were learning too much defense and that Dumbledore was using us to build him an army to use against them. They brought in that hag Umbridge and she ensured that no one learned anymore defense against her wishes and the ministry's as well. Harry and the rest of us formed the D.A. or Dumbledore's army. Now at that time the headmaster had no idea that we had formed this group or was teaching those that we had formed this group or was teaching those that wished to learn how to protect themselves to do so. We had not planned to carry it on in our seventh year but upon Dumbledore's request we have decided to bring back the D.A. and train those of you that have been chosen, how to defend your selves. Because we all know the danger is all too real. Voldemort is back!"
A lot of them flinched when she said that name. "Oh knock it off!" Hermione scolded. "Fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself. Now, those of you that do not wish to be in the D.A. are welcomed to get up and leave right now. Those of you that wish to stay I will ask you to one by one come up and sign this contract. And those of you leaving are not to breathe a word of what has been said."
Astra looked around and noticed that no one moved to leave. "Right. Then again I will ask those of you staying, come up and sign this contract one by one. The contract is a simple one. You are not to say one word of what is taking place here. The trainings, the meetings, nothing. And if you do? Well lets just say that you don't really want to know what will happen if you do."
A few looked aghast at her words. But most of the other students smirked and a few chuckled as if they thought it was a joke. But Hermione just glared and that was all Astra needed to know that she was serious. They did not want to know what would happen if they told anyone about any of this. Astra moved into the line to sign her name. As soon as her name was written, it disappeared. She gave a small gasp and looked at Hermione. Hermione just smiled and motioned for Astra to move so that others could sign the contract. Astra went and sat back down. When the last person had signed the contract, Harry took the floor once again.
"Good. Now we are going to split up into pairs of two. When you have gotten into your group a teacher will be assigned to you. Please move into your groups now."
They moved quickly and Astra found herself partnered with Kaden. He was a fairly handsome boy with blonde hair and smoldering brown eyes. He had come up behind her and touched her elbow.
"Uhh..." Astra turned to face Kaden. "Hi" Kaden said cheerfully. "Mind if we partner up?"
"Umm... no." she blushed. "Alright then." He beamed a smile at her. R
When Harry had told them that they were to partner up in groups of two, Aiden's first and only thought was to reach Astra's side before anyone else. He had moved as swiftly as possible amongst the bodies in the room in Astra's direction. But much to his dismay he was not fast enough. Kaden Mullett had beaten him to Astra. Aiden watched as Kaden touched Astra's arm and she turned to face him with a look of, dare he hope, disgust.
"Hi." Kaden said cheerfully. "Mind if we partner up?" "Umm... no." she blushed. "Alright then." He beamed a smile at her. 'I'll kill him!' Aiden thought to himself 'I don't care if I get expelled. I'll kill him!'
In his fit of jealousy Aiden started to move forward when Margot stepped in front of him. "Hi!" she practically shrilled. "Want to partner with me?"
Aiden blinked and looked at Margot in surprise. "Huh?" he asked with a blank look on his face. "I said do you want to partner with me? Every one else has their partner." Margot shrilled.
Aiden had to try to decipher if Margot's voice was normally this shrilly or if it only happened when she was excited. If it was always like that he was going to have a splitting headache every time he heard her.
"Uh. Well I guess we don't have much of a choice then have we?" he muttered. "Guess not!"
'Merlin! This has got to be the worst day of my life!' Aiden thought bitterly. 'My girlfriend is partnered with a pretty boy and I get the banshee that not even Ireland's grave sights would want. What have I done to deserve this?' he growled at his thoughts. He came back to himself as he heard Harry speak again.
"Very good!" Harry said once the partners had formed. "Now. I want the "teacher's" to choose a pair and proceed with the plan we discussed earlier."
At that moment the older students that had been lined up against the wall at the front of the room moved forward and each took a group. Harry himself took Astra's group. With a nod from Harry the "teacher's" turned to their groups. Harry turned to Astra and Kaden. "Alright. You will be learning the Accio charm today. Which is the summoning charm." Harry told them. "It's a simple charm but also a very useful one." He motioned for them to follow him to a corner that was full of pillows. "This is how it works." He told them and pointed his wand at the pillows. "Accio pillow." Harry muttered and a pillow disengaged from the pile and flew right into Harry's arms. "Simple right? I want you to practice it until I am satisfied that you can do it in your sleep. But don't worry. I don't expect that to happen tonight. We will practice for a couple of hours tonight. Then you will practice off and on for the next week. If by the time we convene next week I am satisfied then you will move on. If not then you will continue to practice until I am satisfied."
With that he set them to work. He corrected their wording when needed but otherwise left them alone. When he proclaimed their meeting over and called the teachers up to the front for a conference Astra sighed with relief. She left with the other students and was almost down the hall when everyone stopped at Ron's voice.
"OI! YOU LOT GET BACK HERE!" Ron hollered. "WE DIDN'T DISMISS YOU YET!" she heard groans slip past everyone's lips as they turned back towards the room. Everyone filed back into the room and watched the teachers impatiently.
"Right then." Harry said pacing the floor. "From now on you don't leave unless dismissed. Got that?" Everyone nodded.
"Good. I was conversing with your teachers and we all agree that everyone here is going to need to practice over the next week and we expect you to be able to do the Accio charm. If not we will require you to practice for another week. So I suggest you practice in your rooms every chance you get." Harry had stopped pacing. "Now these coins that Hermione are passing out are how you will know when and at what times our next meetings will be. They will need to be with you at all times and I suggest you keep an eye on them for that is how you will know when the next meeting is going to be."
Hermione had been passing out coins that looked to Astra like normal galleons. That was until she actually looked at it. It had a picture of a phoenix on it and on the back was the letters D.A. and around the coins edges were today's date and the time of eight o'clock. Astra's mouth formed a silent 'o' and she looked at Kaden. He had the same look on his face.
"Okay." Harry said loudly, shaking her back to awareness. "Now you are dismissed." With that they all left. Everyone was so tired that not a word had been uttered. A few grunts were heard as they all separated and headed to their own common rooms. Astra, Kaden and the others sleepily reached the portrait hole.
"Sugar quill." Astra practically yawned the word. The portrait swung open and they went to bed.
Astra awoke the next morning and got dressed. She had just closed her door when she heard yelling coming from the common room.
'What in the hell?' she thought and quickly descended the stairs. When she got there she noticed all of the Gryffindor's were in a circle around two younger students that were yelling at back and forth at each other. She made her way to the front of the circle and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a red faced Kaden was trying to calm down a very angry Aiden.
"SHE'S MY GIRL! YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A CHANCE TO PARTNER WITH HER!" Aiden was shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Look Aiden. I told you that I had no idea you two were still together! You're never together in the same room for long and when ever you eat meals you are always at the opposite end of the table from her." Kaden tried to plead with Aiden. "Besides, just because you are going out with her gives you no right in telling me that I can't be her partner!"
"YES IT DOES!" Aiden shouted back. "You'd better do something before they tear each other apart." Hermione whispered anxiously in Astra's ear.
Astra nodded and stepped forward. "HEY!" she shouted to be heard more than in anger. Both boys turned to her. Aiden was the first to respond. "AND YOU! HOW COULD YOU?"
"How could I what?" Astra asked. "How could you partner with anyone but me? I am your boyfriend!"
"Yes I know." Astra drawled. "But you don't own me Aiden. I am not a property to be bought and sold at your leisure. There fore you cannot tell me who I can and cannot partner with." Aiden gaped at Astra. She ignored him and continued. "And further more Aiden. I am getting very tired of your jealousy fits. If you can't control your self when I partner with or talk to other boy's, because frankly I won't stop doing those things just to please you, then we shouldn't even be together."
Astra spun on her heels and went through the portrait hole. Aiden followed her in hot pursuit. Before she had gotten to the stair case he had grabbed her hard by the arms and forced her to face him.
"And just what does that mean!" he growled. "Take your Bloody hands off of me Aiden before I do something that we both will regret!" she glared at him angrily.
"NO! You're my girl and I want to know what you meant!" Astra was very glad that her father had shown her some physical ways to get a boy or man to let go of her in just this type of situation. He had a much stronger hold than she had guessed but that wouldn't matter for what she was about to do to him. Before anyone could think of how to help Astra, she proved that she would not need it. Her knee came up quickly and made contact with Aiden's private parts. His face went from red to pale as his hands replaced where Astra's knee had landed. And he collapsed on the floor groaning in pain. A few boys groaned in sympathy to him but not one of them moved to help.
"We are through Aiden!" she spat "Don't ever look at me or talk to me again!" Astra once again made her way toward the great hall. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and ate quietly as the others started to pile in. not one of them said anything to her as they sat down and began to eat. When she was done eating she got up quietly and left. She went back to the common room and got her things for class. She angrily shoved her books into her bag and was about to leave the room when there was a knock on the door. She turned to face professor McGonagall.
"Oh! What can I do for you professor?" "Well." McGonagall said stiffly. "You can tell me why young Aiden is in the hospital wing."
Astra sighed. "I got up this morning and heard yelling between Aiden and Kaden. I intervened and told Aiden he didn't own me and that until he realized this that we shouldn't be together. Then I turned and left. He pursued and grabbed my arms and made me face him. He held me in a tight grip and I did what my father taught me to do. I protected my self."
"I see." McGonagall's lips pursed tightly. "Well, even though it was in self defense. Fighting in the halls is not allowed and is against school rules miss Snape. I will have to take ten points from Gryffindor for your participation."
"For protecting myself! You can't be serious!" Astra pleaded. McGonagall held up a hand up her hand to silence Astra. "My word is final. I do not make the rules I just enforce them. Now for displaying courage in front of your fellow students I will award you five points." McGonagall told her. "But do not fight in the halls again miss Snape." With that McGonagall left.
Astra was in shock. She had just been punished for protecting herself. Where was the sense in that? She grumbled inwardly as she made her way to Transfiguration. Although she was not looking forward to seeing Aiden or McGonagall at this moment she also knew better than to be late. She walked into the room and sat down in a chair as far away from Aiden as she could possibly get. McGonagall thankfully was not there yet. She had gotten out her Transfiguration book and her quill with some parchment just as McGonagall entered the room.
"There has been some fighting that needs to be addressed." McGonagall said sternly walking towards her desk. "Fighting in the halls or anywhere on school grounds is not allowed. But when it does happen it needs to be addressed. Now Mr. Mullett and Miss Snape have already been dealt with. Mr. Morgan however will be dealt with in front of you all. I am doing this to him a lesson and it is one I hope he never forgets."
Aiden gulped and paled at her last words. "Mr. Morgan, in a jealous fit and rage you attacked Miss Snape. There fore fifty points will be removed from Gryffindor. You also were fighting with Mr. Mullett and Miss Snape so you shall receive one week's detention. I hope this will serve as a reminder that you cannot fight on school premises or treat another human being as if they are your property."
Aiden nodded and McGonagall proceeded to teach the class. Astra glanced over at Aiden once in a while and noticed he had gone from pale back to red in color.
'Serves him right!' she thought bitterly. 'But I can't help but feel a little sorry for him.' Astra turned her attention back to the class. When class was over she left before Aiden could try to catch up. Even if he wanted to apologize she was still not in the mood to talk to him just yet.
'It would be best to avoid him for the next few days' she thought as she headed to care of magical creatures.