Astra sat down, at breakfast, in what had become her usual place, beside Hermione and across from Harry and Ron.
Ron looked at her, intently. "Hey Astra, why does Dobby refer to you so informally?"
Astra froze. There was a moment of silence, as Starbeam rubbed against her and then jumped into her lap.
"You don't have to answer that," Hermione said.
"It-it's okay," Astra said, looking down at Starbeam and stroking her. "Um… the first time my father caught me playing with Dobby, he got really mad. My mother told him not to ban me from playing with Dobby, so he decided to punish me by telling Dobby to address me by my first name and first name only from then on. Even though that was clearly supposed to be a punishment, I ended up liking it."
Astra didn't tell them that that had been the first time she had played in a long time, or that her mother's argument for allowing her to play with Dobby was that she was so happy to see her playing again.
"Nice," Harry said. Astra looked up, and saw that Harry was smiling. She looked beside her, and saw that Hermione was too. She wasn't sure what Ron's expression was, maybe intrigue.
"What's with the cat?" Ron asked.
"Ron," Hermione said, sounding annoyed.
"She-she's my best friend."
"It's not a good idea to get too attached to your pet."
"Ron," Hermione scolded, a little louder.
Ron looked at Hermione. "It's just a legit warning," he said. He sighed, and turned to Astra. "Sorry Astra," he said.
"He's just upset because his rat recently, umm... died."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Astra said.
"Drop it," Ron snapped.
There was a moment of silence, but Hermione soon broke it.
"Hey, Astra," she said, "do you know much about the history of house-elves?"
"No. I asked once, how house-elves came to be enslaved, but Dobby didn't know and neither did my mother." She had not mentioned it in front of her father, because she knew better than that. "I hoped that I'd find the answer in a book, seeing as it seems like an important part of history, but I never did."
"Maybe it's in a book your parents wouldn't buy. It's probably a little late now, but at lunch do you want to eat fast and then rush to the library to see if we can find anything."
Astra smiled. "Yeah, I would."
Starbeam was in Astra's lap during most of Defense Against the Dark Arts class, because being around Professor Moody upset Astra.
At the end of class, she was packing up to leave when Professor Moody approached her. "Astra, you don't like me do you?"
Astra froze.
"I admit, I went overboard with your brother the other day, and I'm sorry for that, but he did deserve to be punished. You felt the need to go stand in front of Harry for a reason, right?"
"Yea-yeah, so we were handling it fine without your interference."
"Draco could have really hurt Harry, or you."
"He-he would never hurt me."
"Are you sure he would have noticed you and stopped in time?"
"Um… I don't know."
"Besides that, are you sure that he would never intentionally hurt you?"
She nodded.
"He isn't mad that you got sorted in Gryffindor?"
"No. He knows it's not my fault the sorting hat screwed up."
"What makes you think it screwed up? The way you stepped in front of Harry in a clear Gryffindor move."
"I-I knew Draco would never hurt me, so that didn't take bravery. I'm really very wimpy."
"In your family, if you were really a wimp, you wouldn't have anything to do with Harry Potter, or Hermione the muggle-born, especially not in front of your brother."
"Well… you may be right about that."
Astra had wanted to believe what Dobby had told her, yesterday, and she was trying too. Still, it was hard with all the fear, and anger, that she had had. Or all the trouble the she felt she had caused her family. She regretted eavesdropping on her parents, over a year ago, when her father was complaining about his daughter becoming damaged goods, but she could not unhear or forget that.
Harry sat down to dinner, with Ron, Hermione, and Astra.
"We should start a society for the promotion of elfish welfare," Hermione said.
"With Dobby," Astra said, with excitement in her voice.
Ron rolled his eyes.
"I'm in," Harry said. He did not care as much about the issue as Hermione and Astra seemed too, but he did care, and he did not want to miss out on something that Dobby, Astra, and Hermione were all involved in.
After dinner, Astra, Hermione, and Harry went down to the kitchens and told Dobby about the society for the promotion of elfish welfare idea. He liked it, but many of the other house-elves glared at them.
"We don't need something like that," one house-elf snapped.
"Yes you do," Hermione said. "You don't really want to be enslaved for the rest of your life."
The house-elf threw something, which looked like some sort of food, at Hermione.
Astra froze, as there was a moment of silence.
Starbeam rubbed against Astra's leg.
Dobby looked at Astra, and then at the house-elf who threw food. "Don't do that again," he snapped. He crouched down, picked up Starbeam, and handed her to Astra. "Breath out," he said.
Astra released a breath she did not know she had been holding, as she held Starbeam to her chest.
"Breath in," Dobby said.
Harry watched Dobby with Astra. He wondered if Dobby was trying to prevent a freakout, like what happened the day before yesterday.
Harry liked Astra, but there seemed to be something wrong with her, but he was too afraid to say anything.
Astra took a few deep breaths, and then they decided to get out of there.
Minutes later, Hermione and Astra were playing with Starbeam and Crookshanks, in the Gryffindor common room. The cats repeatedly pawed at, chased, and caught fake mice on long string.
Harry chose not to participate, but he sat there and watched them. It was nice to see the two girls having fun, for a change.