Draco was surprised when his little sister was sorted into Gryffindor, His mother had prepared him for the possibility that Astra would not be sorted into Slytherin, but they had both thought that she would be a Ravenclaw. He loved her, but he also considered her a shy, timid little girl who constantly lived her fear, and Gryffindor to be the last house that she should be sorted into.

Draco was very concerned when he saw Astra with Harry and his friends. He had almost pulled her out into the hall again, but he decided that this was not that urgent. He had promised his mother that he would look out for her, but he did not want to be the boy who drags his little sister into the hallway all the time.

The next day, at breakfast, he got a letter from his mother. She warned him not to encourage his sister to rebel, and he knew that telling her to avoid certain people was doing just that. He also feared that telling them to stay away from her was even more likely to result in them doing the opposite.

Draco did figure that it was okay to try to talk to her in the great hall, though. He approached the Gryffindor table. "Hey, Astra, may I see your school schedule. I want to see if there's a time we both have free."

Astra smiled, and handed hers to him. "Are you going to show me the library?" she asked. He had told her earlier that he would. He knew that she could go there herself, but he wanted to see how she reacted to it.

"Yeah."

"The library!" Ron exclaimed. "What's so great about that?"

Draco glared at him.

"I love the library," Hermione replied, in a well duh sort of tone.

"I love our home library. Draco says that I'll probably like this one even more, and that it's even bigger so I probably won't run out of books. That happened a while back. My parents had to buy more."

Draco smiled, enjoying seeing his little sister basically bonding with another girl over their shared love of libraries and books, but seconds later he remembered that it was a bad thing that she was bonding with one of his nemesis's. "Anyway," he said, looking at Astra's schedule. "We'll probably be a little later for lunch, but..."

Astra looked around the library in awe. Draco smiled at her reaction and started pointing out the different sections.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were stopped by Draco the second they entered the great hall, at dinnertime.

Harry glared at Draco.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley," Draco said, loudly. "Listen to this." He looked down at the paper. "Further mistakes at the Ministry of Magic.

"It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for it's poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of it's witches, the Ministry of plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Draco looked up at Ron. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete non-entity, isn't it."

He read on. "Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying-car two years ago, was yesterday involved with a tussle with several muggle law keepers ('policemen') over a0 number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and an attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at someone's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" he said, flipping the page and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a little weight, couldn't she?"

Ron shook with fury.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry said. "C'on Ron ..."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you Potter? So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

Ron lunged at Draco, and Harry and Hermione had to hold him back, so he wouldn't get in trouble.

"You know, your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry. "That expression she's got, like she's dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

Draco was shocked. "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," he said, turning away.

There was a loud bang, and something grazed the side of Harry's face.

"No," a familiar high-pitched voice called out.

As Harry reached for his wand, there was another loud bang.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" roared a low-pitched voice.

Astra rushed up to them, and stopped in-between Harry and where Draco was standing. She looked toward where Draco had been, looked down and shirked.

Professor Moody, was limping toward them, aiming his wand at a white ferret, who was shivering on the stone floor where Draco was.

"Did he get you?" Professor Moody asked.

"No, missed," Harry said.

"Leave it!" Moody shouted.

"Leave - what?" Harry asked.

"No you - him!" he pointed toward Crabbe, who was about to pick up the ferret. He turned to limp toward Crabbe and Goyle.

The ferret gave a terrified squeak and took off toward the dungeons.

"I don't think so," Moody roared. He pointed his wand, and it flew into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, somebody wailed as the ferret flew into the air again.

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's backs turned," Professor Moody roared, making the ferret repeatedly bounce higher and higher, while he squealed in pain and his legs failed helplessly. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do ..."

"Please stop," cried Hermione.

Professor Moody kept his wand pointed at the ferret, holding it in the air. He turned and looked toward Hermione and Astra.

Astra had, at some point, ended up on the floor, where she was now trembling and hyperventilating. Starbeam was rubbing up against her, as though trying to comfort her. Hermione was crouched down beside them.

"Professor Moody!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Professor Moody, causally, still keeping his wand aimed at the ferret in the air.

"What are you doing?"

"Teaching," said Professor Moody.

"Teach - Moody, is that a student?"

"Yep."

"No!" cried Professor McGonagall. She rushed toward them and pulled out her wand. With a snap, Draco re-appeared, lying in a heap on the floor, with his face all pink, and his hair a mess. Wincing, he started to get up, paused, and then crawled over to Astra.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah."

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's head of house!"

"I'll do that, then," Professor Moody said, glaring down at Draco.

Draco sat beside his little sister, with a comforting hand on her shoulder, as she slowly breathed in and out.

"Mr. Malfoy."

HIs pale eyes will stall watering, with pain and humiliation, Draco's gaze moved from Astra to Professor Moody, and the look on his face turned from concern to malevolent. "Our father will ..." he muttered.

"Oh yeah?" said Professor Moody, limping a few steps forward. "Well, I know your father of old ... boy. You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son ... you tell him that from me ... now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes."

"Another old friend. I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape. Come on you ..." He seized Draco's upper arm.

Draco didn't get up. His gaze turned back to his sister, who was breathing kind of fast again, but not as fast as before.

"I'll make sure she's alright," Professor McGonagall said, crouching down beside Astra.

Draco allowed Professor Moody to pull him up and march him off.

Professor McGonagall crouched down beside Astra. She ended up sending Astra to the hospital wing, and Hermione went with her.

During breakfast, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Astra had made plans to go down to the kitchens after dinner. Now, that would have to wait, but maybe they'd get a chance tomorrow.

That evening, Harry and Ron were sitting in the Gryffindor common room when Hermione, Astra, and Starbeam approached.

"Astra, are you alright?" Harry asked.

"I think so."

"What was that?" Ron asked.

"I just panic sometimes."

"Harry, Astra has something that she wants to tell you," Hermione said.

"What?"

"Draco and I have a great mother, and she would never be at all upset about having to be with one of her kids."

There was a brief silence, and then Ron started to laugh. Harry, Hermione, and even Astra joined in.