Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Astra arrived back at the castle after visiting Sirius. Astra soon went behind a tree, and took off Harry's cloak. She handed it to him, and then she noticed Draco and ran over to him. "Hey Draco, how was Hogsmede today?"
Harry wondered if she did that in case Heather were to notice her walk in. If she walked in with Draco, that would help with the lie she had told. Astra had said that her mother's best friend was getting married, and that she and her mother were going to meet the baker at his house today, and since it was in Hogsmeade she was going to pick up her children so they could come and help pick the cake.
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the great hall, they saw Heather sitting beside Fleur. This was surprising for two reasons. The first was that it looked as though she had either gotten back from Hogsmeade before everyone else, or simply had not gone. The second was that she had not sat with them since that one time.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down. "Hi Fleur," Harry said.
"Hi," she said.
"How wuz Hogsmead?" she asked.
"It was good," Ron said, as Astra walked up to the table and sat down.
"Hi," she said, sitting down.
"How was your afternoon, Astra?" Heather asked.
"Great," Astra smiled.
"Did you get to try cake samples?"
"Yeah, and they were all delicious," she said, smiling but with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Astra had made it clear, when Heather was not around, that she hated lying to her, so Harry was very happy that she had done it anyway. He just hoped that she would not suspect anything.
How was your afternoon?" Astra asked Heather.
"It was great. "Fleur helped me with my spell work."
Hermione looked at Fleur. "Why didn't you go into town?"
"I hurt my foot the other day. Madam Pomfrey it will be alright, in a few days, as long as I don't walk on it too much, and going into town requires a lot of walking."
Astra had something she wanted to ask Hermione, Ron, and Harry, on the way back from visiting Sirius, but she had not asked because there were other people around.
That evening, Astra peeped into Hermione's dorm, and was glad to see that she was alone. Astra walked in, follow my Starbeam, and closed the door. "Hermione," she asked, "where did the Hippogriff come from?"
"He's the hippogriff who was sentenced the death last year."
"But, he's dangerous."
"Only if you provoke him, which is exactly what Hagrid said last year, before one boy tried to provoked him."
"I know it was my brother. You don't have to tiptoe around that."
"Oh, sorry Astra."
"You don't have to be sorry. I know he has flaws." Astra still loved her brother, of course, but she certainly thought less of him now then she did before she started school.
Astra, Starbeam, Heather, Samuel, Hermione, Ron, and Harry met Dobby, for another reading lesson. Today, Winky was with him.
"Dobby wrote a letter, for Winky, for Mr. Crouch. Could S.P.E.W. spell-check it, and possibility re-write it in nicer handwriting?"
Astra smiled.
"Sure," Hermione said. "We'd be happy too."
"Would you like us to owl it for you."
"Dobby was looking forward to Dobby and Winky going down to the owl post and owling a letter ourselves," Dobby said.
Hermione read the letter. "Winky, are you sure you want to offer to go back and work for him?"
"He needs me."
"Good for you, Winky!" Astra said, "making decisions yourselves, and supporting Dobby learning to write. It's a good thing that Dobby and Mr. Crouch have good friends like you."
Winky looked embarrassed, and so did Hermione.
"Thank you miss," said Winky.
Astra woke up, in the morning, and found a note on her bedside table, from Dobby. It informed her that when Winky saw Dobby hand over money at the owl post, she decided that she wanted her own money. She went and asked Professor Dumbledore to start paying her, and he did. She was now getting the same salary as Dobby.
Astra looked over to Heather's bed, but she was still asleep. Astra and Starbeam got up, and rushed over to Hermione's dorm.
Hermione was up, but she looked at Astra with a very confused look on her face.
"Winky's getting paid now!" Astra exclaimed.
"Really!" Hermione beamed. "That's fantastic.!" She paused. "And your hairs blond."
Astra was shocked. She grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked it into her view, and it was blond.
"When Harry showed us that letter you got from Dobby, I thought your hair was briefly blond, for a second, but then it went back to its usual black. I hadn't said anything at the time, because I thought I was just seeing things."
They soon told Heather, Ron, and Harry, and they all thought both pieces of news were great too.
Astra's hair being blond did not last. By the time she had written to her mother about it, it was black again. Even though she could not control it, and it was only for a little bit, she was sure that this meant that her Metamorphamagus powers were returning.
Astra went to the kitchens, to see Dobby, and told him about her hair. "Dobby thinks Astra lost her Metamorphamagus powers because she were too sad. Now Astra's happier."
A few days later, Astra woke up to find another note from Dobby, which she was also excited to tell all her friends about. This one informed her that Mr. Crouch had sent Winky an owl, which asked her to come home now, so she did.
During Easter break, Ron got his response from Percy. Ron, Harry and Hermione all read it. It informed that that Mr. Crouch had not been too well lately, but he had been doing somewhat better since Winky came home.
"We should write Astra," Ron said, "and probably Heather too." The younger girls had both gone home for Easter break.