Whenever Harry went to practice for the tournament, Hermione and Ron always went with him and helped him. Astra, Starbeam, Heather, and Samuel sometimes came too, but sometimes they went and studied together instead.

"Look, guys," Harry said, entering the Transfiguration classroom with all of them, "I appreciate you helping me, but I could practice on my own for a while. I fear that the time you spend helping me is taking out of the time you could spend on your exams."

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said. "At least we'll get top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts, we'd never have found out about all these hexes in class."

"Good training for when we're all Aurors," said Ron, excitedly, jinxing a wasp that had buzzed into the room.

"Um… you can become an Auror if you want too, but I think that sounds horrible," Astra said.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Hermione asked Astra.

"Either a librarian or a mummy."

Ron looked very surprised by this.

"What's an Auror?" Heather asked.

"Someone who hunts dark wizards and witches," Astra explained.

"I don't know what I want to be, but probably not an Auror."

Later that day, Astra sat in an armchair, with Starbeam curled up in her lap, when Ron sat down beside her.

"Hey, Astra," he said.

"Hey," she said, looking up from the book that she was reading.

"Why do you have such small dreams?"

Astra set the book down. "Do I have to have big dreams?"

"With your brains, probably."

"Am I really that smart? I thought I was just well-read."

"Well, you are."

"Teaching Dobby how to read was a big dream," said Heather, who had been sitting beside her.

"Exactly," Astra said.

"Yeah, but that's for Dobby," said Ron. "What about yourself?"

"Why strive for glory and fame when you can strive to find a way to best benefit the world?" Hermione, who was nearby, joined in.

"Exactly," Astra and Heather said at the same time.

Ron looked at Astra, then at Heather, then at Hermione. "You girls are amazing."

"Th-thank you," Astra said, nervously looking down.

Heather nervously looked down, but said nothing.

There was a moment of silence. "Astra, Heather, I'm serious," Ron said.

"I know," Astra said.

"Astra, you look like you're about to cry," Hermione said.

"It's just, after the attack I started hating the person I had become, but I don't hate myself anymore. Now, I just hate the girl I was before the attack. What is wrong with me?"

"It sounds more like something's right with you," Ron said, as Harry came out of the bathroom and went and joined the group.

"People can learn and grow from their experiences, Astra," Hermione said.

"I know," she said. She looked at Heather. "Just because you have no confidence, doesn't mean you're not a good person."

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

In the great hall, Hermione opened the daily prophet, glanced at the front page, and spilled pumkin juice all over it.

"What, Harry, and Ron, while Astra and Heather just stared at her.

"Nothing," said Hermione, quickly trying to shove the paper out of sight, but Ron grabbed it.

He stared at the headline. "No way. Not today. That old cow."

"What?" said Harry. "Rita Skeeter again?"

"No," said Ron, and just like Hermione, he attempted to push the paper out of sight.

"It's about me, isn't it?" said Harry

"No," said Ron, in an entirely unconvincing tone.

"Let me see it," Harry said to Ron. "Give it here."

Ron reluctantly handed over the newspaper.

Astra watched Harry read it, wondering what it said.

"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?" said Harry, lightly folding up the paper.

Astra took it from him.

"How did she know your scar hurt in Divination?" Ron asked.

"There was no way she was there," Hermione said. "There's no way she could have heard -"

Astra tuned them out to read, and she was appalled by the whole thing. "I'm so sorry Harry," she said, feeling helpless because she did not think there was anything that she could do to help him. She wished Draco didn't hate Harry, Ron and Hermione, just like she wished that they didn't hate Draco, but trying to change that seemed like a lost cause.

"It's not your fault," he said.

Astra paused, and then she got up, holding the paper, and walked over to the Slytherin table. "Could I see you out in the hall, Draco?"

"Sure," he said, looking guilty.

They went out into the hallway, followed by Starbeam. Astra held out the paper to him, and pointed to the paragraph with a quote from Draco Malfoy, to the sentence; "But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too."

"Why does that bother you?" Draco asked. "You've never been a werewolf. I was referring to Lupin."

"I'm a lycanthrope," she whispered. She had said that she had lycanthropy before, but this was the first time she had ever called herself a lycanthrope.

"And we don't want anybody to suspect that," he said. "Seriously," he whispered, "if I had said that he made friends giants, but omitted the werewolf part then people would get suspicious."

"Well, you're probably right about that. Sorry."

"It's alright," Draco said, with a small smile.

Astra soon went back to the group. "Sorry about that, Heather, did you want to read the paper too?"

Heather nodded, and Astra handed it too her.

"So, what really happened at the Duelling Club, a couple of years ago?" Astra asked.

Astra finished her first exam early, so she and Starbeam went to the library. She was planning to study for her next exam, but then she ran into Hermione. Hermione explained the brainwave she had had earlier, regarding Rita Skeeter.

Astra, Starbeam, and Hermione walked into the great hall, late for lunch.

Harry and Ron were eating with Ron's siblings, and a red-haired woman and young man who she had never seen before. Astra and Hermione nervously sat down, and Starbeam soon jumped into Astra's lap.

Ron pointed to Astra. "This is Astra. Astra, this is my mum, and my brother, Bill. They've come to watch Harry compete."

"Oh, nice to meet you," Astra said, nervously shaking their hands, from across the table. She didn't like meeting strangers, but she was glad that Ron had not used her last name, and then she felt bad for being glad about that.

"Where's Heather?" she asked. Normally she would walk into the great hall with Heather, but not today because she kept on finishing exams before Heather.

"Fleur invited her to eat with her and her family," Ron explained.