Author's Note: I am so sorry about how long this chapter took. This is the only spare time I have had for three weeks, so please don't be too hard on me in your reviews, I wrote this whole thing in an afternoon.
Disclaimer: sigh I do not own any of the characters or settings you recognise from the Harry Potter books. Everyone and everything else is mine.
sugarwhirl – Yeah Astra walked through the Forbidden Forest. Scary, eh?
kitty minky – Last time I checked pumpkins didn't come in fluffy pink varities but hey... what can you expect from a self-confessed insane person? Luv ya always!
This chapter is dedicated to ALL my wonderful readers. Without you, this story would be pointless.
Madam Malkin nodded and 15 minutes later she had paid for it and her school robes and was waiting outside the shop for Hagrid. In a few minutes he emerged carrying a large circular parcel and two huge chocolate and whipped cream ice-creams. Astra smiled and waved to him. He handed her one of the ice-creams and said, "No' a word about the bookshop." Astra grinned even harder and licked her ice-cream happily. At this moment she didn't feel as though anything could go wrong.
Chapter 6 – Friend or Foe
The rest of the day went very quickly. They bought Astra's wand (Holly, eleven inches, unicorn hair) from a shop called Ollivanders and then caught the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts. The squashy armchairs had been replaced by beds but Astra found it very had to believe that anyone could sleep on the busy bus. They climbed the sloping lawns to Hogwarts in silence and said goodbye at the oak doors that led to the Entrance Hall. Astra found herself outside the Ravenclaw Common Room much more quickly than she would have found suitable if she had been less tired.
She was about to give the suit of armour the password when she heard her name being called.
"Astra!"
It was Dumbledore.
"Good evening Professor," she said, trying to remember her manners. Living in the wild for three years hadn't really given her much practice.
He smiled, "I have your time table here. I believe you have Transfiguration first up tomorrow."
"Thankyou Professor," said Astra.
"Goodnight," he said with a wink.
"Goodnight Professor," Astra said.
He turned and strode off down the corridor and Astra watched him go. He was quite mysterious. She decided she would ask Luna a bit about him.
"Cornish Pixy," she said. She'd ask Luna about those too, whatever they were. Pulling back the veil, she stepped into the Common Room. Francesca and Jodie were sitting near the fire with a piece of paper between them, giggling about something. They smiled and waved to her and Astra grinned at them. She spotted Luna across the Common Room, sitting alone at a desk scribbling away. Astra crossed the room towards her, but Francesca and Jodie called out to her.
"Astra!"
She doubled back and sat down with them.
"Hi," she said.
"Had a good day?" asked Jodie and without pausing to hear Astra's answer she continued. "We were just thinking, would you like to join our study group? We meet in the library on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes."
"Well-"Astra started but Francesca stopped her.
"That's settled then, we'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Astra smiled weakly and stood up. She sat down with Luna.
"Homework?" she asked.
"Yes," said Luna vaguely, not looking up, "I'm very busy. Maybe we can talk later."
"Er, okay," said Astra, "I'll just be in the dormitory."
She picked up her piles and hurried to the dormitory before she was hailed by anyone else. But when she got there she was annoyed to find Georgia and Lucy sitting on Georgia's bed talking to a group of four boys. How they got in there Astra had no idea. She supposed that they were, after all, in Ravenclaw and were supposed to be very intelligent.
"Oh, hi Astra!" Georgia smiled brightly, "This is Kemp Davies, Chad and Scott Jones and Martin Levy. They're in our year."
"Hi," said Astra.
"Why don't you come and sit down with us?" Lucy asked. She shook her long dark brown curls from her face, "If that's okay with you boys?"
Why don't you people leave me alone?
"Sure," she said.
She plonked herself down on the bed with the others.
"How did you guys get in here? I mean, Luna told me the door handle melts away or something," she said to them.
Georgia laughed a loud, high pitched laugh. The boys stared at her, admiring her. She had gorgeous, thick, dead straight blonde hair that fell to her waist and green eyes that sparkled when she laughed. Just the way she stood made the boys goggle. She was the kind of girl who could get a boys attention by just being in the room.
"Luna told you? Luna Lovegood? Gosh, I'm surprised she even noticed where the door handle was!"
Chad, a tall boy with ruffled brown hair who looked exactly like the boy next to him, replied, "There's actually nothing preventing us getting in if we're invited in. We're just not allowed to touch the door handle."
"Oh," said Astra, unsure of what to say next.
"Oh Kemp," said Lucy, desperate to be part of the conversation again, "Could you help me with my Arithmancy homework? I'm not really sure what Professor Vector expects to be handed in. I mean, it is a terribly difficult subject and six feet is very long. It won't take long. Please?"
Kemp, who looked very annoyed at being interrupted from his staring at Georgia, said, "It's not that hard Lucy, I've already..." but he stopped when he saw the look on her face, "Oh, right. In that case..."
They both stood up and Lucy smiled at him flirtatiously, showing him every one of her perfectly white, straight teeth. As they left the room, Astra saw Kemp slide his hand around Lucy and pull her closer to him. The door closed and Astra heard Lucy scold him playfully, "Kemp! Puh-lease!"
The sight was sickening. It seemed to be the normal after-dinner ritual. Georgia and Lucy invited the boys into their dormitory and ended up getting each other to 'help them with their homework'. Astra was so glad she had left Australia before this behaviour kicked in.
The night dragged on. Martin ended up trying to help her with her homework but she quickly told him that she didn't have any and wanted to go to bed. He looked a bit upset so she told him, 'maybe tomorrow night'. She had a feeling there would be a lot of 'maybe tomorrow' nights coming up.
At about eleven o'clock the boys finally went to bed but Luna still hadn't come back. Astra went out into the Common Room to find Luna asleep at the table. She bent down to wake her up but hesitated when she saw the page she had been writing on was stiff as though it had been wet. Then, horrified, she noticed Luna had been crying. She was about to wake her up and ask her what was bothering her when she spotted her own name on the paper before realizing it was a diary. She knew she shouldn't but she picked up the diary and looked through it.
It was horrible. Luna had been through so much. Her mum had died, everyone teased her and she had no friends. Until the day labeled Sunday 1 September 1996. Yesterday. She found her own name mentioned so many times. How she had sat with Luna and talked to her. Luna had finally had someone to talk and laugh with. Astra is like a miracle...she saved me.
Astra turned to the next page, labeled Tuesday 2 September 1996.
Dear Diary,
Astra went to Hogsmeade today. I felt so alone again, even though I knew she would come back tonight ... and then later on ... Astra did come back, but she didn't talk to me. She talked to Francesca and Jodie and then went inside to Georgia and Lucy. I could hear them laughing. Kemp and Lucy flirting and the other boys smarming up to Georgia. Martin even tried to help Luna with her homework. Lucy and Kemp cam out and Lucy looked at me like I was dirt on the bottom of her shoe ... Maybe I'm just not meant to have friends.
Astra felt a tear running down her face. She looked up, and to her horror, saw Luna staring at her, silent tears running down her face.
"Having fun?" Luna said coldly, "Enjoy reading other people's tortures do you? Look, it even made you cry. I thought I could trust you."
She snatched the book from Astra's hands and stormed off into the dormitory. Astra watched her go and squashed herself up into the arm chair. She pinched herself over and over. It was her fault. It was completely her fault. She couldn't cry, because she knew it was her that had done the wrong thing. She had betrayed her only real friend's trust.
--
In the morning Astra woke to find herself squashed up in the same armchair that she had fallen asleep in. She checked the grandfather clock. It was half past five in the morning. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep so she tip-toed into the dorm and got her books for the day. She had Transfiguration, double Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology and History of Magic. Quickly she slipped them into her bag and put on her school robes. Luna was snoring slightly. She watched her for a while, before shaking herself and leaving the room.
She didn't know where to go, so she just wandered around. First she found herself in a large room in one of towers filled with owls hooting softly, returning from their night's wanderings. She spotted Lily above her and called her down. She sat there for a while, with her owl on her shoulder and thought. But she found she couldn't think about anything else but Luna's diary entries. She set Lily down and descended the stairs and wandered down to the Entrance Hall. She could hear a few voices from the Great Hall so decided it must be time for breakfast.
There were only a few people in the Hall. Two teachers she didn't know, five Gryffindor girls, two large Hufflepuff boys, about seven Ravenclaws and a solitary Slytherin boy with a pointed nose and slicked back blonde hair. She sat down at the very end of the Ravenclaw table and helped herself to toast and jam. She forced herself to eat some and gulp down some strange juice that tasted rather like pumpkins. Yuk, she thought, pumpkin juice, whoever heard of pumpkin juice? Probably just some English thing. They are pretty dull.
She asked the other Ravenclaws if they had the time. Apparently it was seven o'clock. She didn't know where the last two hours had got to but decided she had better head off now before the hall started to fill up. She picked up her bag and headed towards the doors, but when she was halfway there, they opened and Luna was standing there. The two girls eyes met and Luna hurried past Astra, her bottom lip trembling.
Disclaimer: sigh I do not own any of the characters or settings you recognise from the Harry Potter books. Everyone and everything else is mine.
sugarwhirl – Yeah Astra walked through the Forbidden Forest. Scary, eh?
kitty minky – Last time I checked pumpkins didn't come in fluffy pink varities but hey... what can you expect from a self-confessed insane person? Luv ya always!
This chapter is dedicated to ALL my wonderful readers. Without you, this story would be pointless.
Madam Malkin nodded and 15 minutes later she had paid for it and her school robes and was waiting outside the shop for Hagrid. In a few minutes he emerged carrying a large circular parcel and two huge chocolate and whipped cream ice-creams. Astra smiled and waved to him. He handed her one of the ice-creams and said, "No' a word about the bookshop." Astra grinned even harder and licked her ice-cream happily. At this moment she didn't feel as though anything could go wrong.
Chapter 6 – Friend or Foe
The rest of the day went very quickly. They bought Astra's wand (Holly, eleven inches, unicorn hair) from a shop called Ollivanders and then caught the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts. The squashy armchairs had been replaced by beds but Astra found it very had to believe that anyone could sleep on the busy bus. They climbed the sloping lawns to Hogwarts in silence and said goodbye at the oak doors that led to the Entrance Hall. Astra found herself outside the Ravenclaw Common Room much more quickly than she would have found suitable if she had been less tired.
She was about to give the suit of armour the password when she heard her name being called.
"Astra!"
It was Dumbledore.
"Good evening Professor," she said, trying to remember her manners. Living in the wild for three years hadn't really given her much practice.
He smiled, "I have your time table here. I believe you have Transfiguration first up tomorrow."
"Thankyou Professor," said Astra.
"Goodnight," he said with a wink.
"Goodnight Professor," Astra said.
He turned and strode off down the corridor and Astra watched him go. He was quite mysterious. She decided she would ask Luna a bit about him.
"Cornish Pixy," she said. She'd ask Luna about those too, whatever they were. Pulling back the veil, she stepped into the Common Room. Francesca and Jodie were sitting near the fire with a piece of paper between them, giggling about something. They smiled and waved to her and Astra grinned at them. She spotted Luna across the Common Room, sitting alone at a desk scribbling away. Astra crossed the room towards her, but Francesca and Jodie called out to her.
"Astra!"
She doubled back and sat down with them.
"Hi," she said.
"Had a good day?" asked Jodie and without pausing to hear Astra's answer she continued. "We were just thinking, would you like to join our study group? We meet in the library on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes."
"Well-"Astra started but Francesca stopped her.
"That's settled then, we'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Astra smiled weakly and stood up. She sat down with Luna.
"Homework?" she asked.
"Yes," said Luna vaguely, not looking up, "I'm very busy. Maybe we can talk later."
"Er, okay," said Astra, "I'll just be in the dormitory."
She picked up her piles and hurried to the dormitory before she was hailed by anyone else. But when she got there she was annoyed to find Georgia and Lucy sitting on Georgia's bed talking to a group of four boys. How they got in there Astra had no idea. She supposed that they were, after all, in Ravenclaw and were supposed to be very intelligent.
"Oh, hi Astra!" Georgia smiled brightly, "This is Kemp Davies, Chad and Scott Jones and Martin Levy. They're in our year."
"Hi," said Astra.
"Why don't you come and sit down with us?" Lucy asked. She shook her long dark brown curls from her face, "If that's okay with you boys?"
Why don't you people leave me alone?
"Sure," she said.
She plonked herself down on the bed with the others.
"How did you guys get in here? I mean, Luna told me the door handle melts away or something," she said to them.
Georgia laughed a loud, high pitched laugh. The boys stared at her, admiring her. She had gorgeous, thick, dead straight blonde hair that fell to her waist and green eyes that sparkled when she laughed. Just the way she stood made the boys goggle. She was the kind of girl who could get a boys attention by just being in the room.
"Luna told you? Luna Lovegood? Gosh, I'm surprised she even noticed where the door handle was!"
Chad, a tall boy with ruffled brown hair who looked exactly like the boy next to him, replied, "There's actually nothing preventing us getting in if we're invited in. We're just not allowed to touch the door handle."
"Oh," said Astra, unsure of what to say next.
"Oh Kemp," said Lucy, desperate to be part of the conversation again, "Could you help me with my Arithmancy homework? I'm not really sure what Professor Vector expects to be handed in. I mean, it is a terribly difficult subject and six feet is very long. It won't take long. Please?"
Kemp, who looked very annoyed at being interrupted from his staring at Georgia, said, "It's not that hard Lucy, I've already..." but he stopped when he saw the look on her face, "Oh, right. In that case..."
They both stood up and Lucy smiled at him flirtatiously, showing him every one of her perfectly white, straight teeth. As they left the room, Astra saw Kemp slide his hand around Lucy and pull her closer to him. The door closed and Astra heard Lucy scold him playfully, "Kemp! Puh-lease!"
The sight was sickening. It seemed to be the normal after-dinner ritual. Georgia and Lucy invited the boys into their dormitory and ended up getting each other to 'help them with their homework'. Astra was so glad she had left Australia before this behaviour kicked in.
The night dragged on. Martin ended up trying to help her with her homework but she quickly told him that she didn't have any and wanted to go to bed. He looked a bit upset so she told him, 'maybe tomorrow night'. She had a feeling there would be a lot of 'maybe tomorrow' nights coming up.
At about eleven o'clock the boys finally went to bed but Luna still hadn't come back. Astra went out into the Common Room to find Luna asleep at the table. She bent down to wake her up but hesitated when she saw the page she had been writing on was stiff as though it had been wet. Then, horrified, she noticed Luna had been crying. She was about to wake her up and ask her what was bothering her when she spotted her own name on the paper before realizing it was a diary. She knew she shouldn't but she picked up the diary and looked through it.
It was horrible. Luna had been through so much. Her mum had died, everyone teased her and she had no friends. Until the day labeled Sunday 1 September 1996. Yesterday. She found her own name mentioned so many times. How she had sat with Luna and talked to her. Luna had finally had someone to talk and laugh with. Astra is like a miracle...she saved me.
Astra turned to the next page, labeled Tuesday 2 September 1996.
Dear Diary,
Astra went to Hogsmeade today. I felt so alone again, even though I knew she would come back tonight ... and then later on ... Astra did come back, but she didn't talk to me. She talked to Francesca and Jodie and then went inside to Georgia and Lucy. I could hear them laughing. Kemp and Lucy flirting and the other boys smarming up to Georgia. Martin even tried to help Luna with her homework. Lucy and Kemp cam out and Lucy looked at me like I was dirt on the bottom of her shoe ... Maybe I'm just not meant to have friends.
Astra felt a tear running down her face. She looked up, and to her horror, saw Luna staring at her, silent tears running down her face.
"Having fun?" Luna said coldly, "Enjoy reading other people's tortures do you? Look, it even made you cry. I thought I could trust you."
She snatched the book from Astra's hands and stormed off into the dormitory. Astra watched her go and squashed herself up into the arm chair. She pinched herself over and over. It was her fault. It was completely her fault. She couldn't cry, because she knew it was her that had done the wrong thing. She had betrayed her only real friend's trust.
--
In the morning Astra woke to find herself squashed up in the same armchair that she had fallen asleep in. She checked the grandfather clock. It was half past five in the morning. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep so she tip-toed into the dorm and got her books for the day. She had Transfiguration, double Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology and History of Magic. Quickly she slipped them into her bag and put on her school robes. Luna was snoring slightly. She watched her for a while, before shaking herself and leaving the room.
She didn't know where to go, so she just wandered around. First she found herself in a large room in one of towers filled with owls hooting softly, returning from their night's wanderings. She spotted Lily above her and called her down. She sat there for a while, with her owl on her shoulder and thought. But she found she couldn't think about anything else but Luna's diary entries. She set Lily down and descended the stairs and wandered down to the Entrance Hall. She could hear a few voices from the Great Hall so decided it must be time for breakfast.
There were only a few people in the Hall. Two teachers she didn't know, five Gryffindor girls, two large Hufflepuff boys, about seven Ravenclaws and a solitary Slytherin boy with a pointed nose and slicked back blonde hair. She sat down at the very end of the Ravenclaw table and helped herself to toast and jam. She forced herself to eat some and gulp down some strange juice that tasted rather like pumpkins. Yuk, she thought, pumpkin juice, whoever heard of pumpkin juice? Probably just some English thing. They are pretty dull.
She asked the other Ravenclaws if they had the time. Apparently it was seven o'clock. She didn't know where the last two hours had got to but decided she had better head off now before the hall started to fill up. She picked up her bag and headed towards the doors, but when she was halfway there, they opened and Luna was standing there. The two girls eyes met and Luna hurried past Astra, her bottom lip trembling.