Astra, Starbeam, Heather, and Samuel, saw Draco, in the hall, so Astra figured that she would just stop and talk to him now. "Hi Draco. May I use Scorpius. I want to send Mummy a birthday card I made." She figured that he would have something to send her too, but Scorpius (Why he named his owl Scorpius, she didn't know. She had never liked that name, but she never told Draco that.) had sent letters from both of them home at the same time, so she doubted that that would be a problem.

"Could you not send it? It was sweet that you made her a card, but I haven't been acknowledging our parents birthday since I started Hogwarts. You don't want to show me up, do you?"

"No," she said, "but, you always sent me a birthday message."

"Mum would send me a letter, the day before your birthday, and ask me to do that."

"Oh."

"Sorry."

"It's alright," she said.

Draco walked away.

Astra noticed Heather, Hermione, Ron, and Harry standing nearby. Heather was the only one who had been there before. She wondered how much they had all heard.

Ron walked up to Astra. "You should send it anyway. Pig's busy, but there are other owls you can use."

"You can use Hedwig," Harry said.

"Thanks, but um…. I think they might know you have a Snowy Tree Owl."

Astra did end up sending it anyway, but she sent it via a school owl.

Astra, Heather, and Hermione were playing with Starbeam and Crookshanks, in the Gryffindor common room, while Harry and Ron played wizard chess.

Professor McGonagall approached. "Ron, you have been summoned."

"For what?" Ron asked.

"You'll find out."

Ron left, although he certainly was not happy about it.

Eventually, Professor McGonagall came back.

Astra looked at her. "Where's Ron?" she asked.

"You'll find out tomorrow, and shouldn't you be in bed."

"We were waiting until Ron got back," Harry said.

"Don't worry. Nothing's wrong, but don't expect to see him until tomorrow."

Astra was not sure that it was necessary to avoid watching the second task, as they were not battling dragons.

Her family did not want her to watch this task. She could not blame them, as they probably had no idea what the task was, and she had not told them. She figured that it was better safe than sorry, especially since she only knew that Harry would have to be underwater for an hour, and that this would involve Merpeople, and that Merpeople could attack.

Draco walked Astra to the library, and she was soon curled up with Starbeam and a book. She tried to focus on the book, but she could not. She wondered how or if the audience was able to see what was going on underwater. Even more than that, she wondered where Ron was.

Astra waited around in the library, for a while. She was tempted to look out the window, and see if she could see anything, but she did not dare.

Eventually, Hermione, Heather, and Samuel came in. "Ron and Harry are both alright!" Hermione exclaimed.

Later, in the Gryffindor common room, Ron told everyone his version of the second task. She was glad that he was able to get some spotlight.

Astra and Heather sat down next, next to Hermione, in the great hall.

Harry was several feet away, talking to Fleur. Harry and Fleur soon walked up to the table. Fleur sat down across from Heather, and then Harry sat down between Hermione and Ron.

"I invited Fleur to eat with us," Harry said. "I hope nobody minds."

Ron was staring at Fleur, all googly-eyed, but at least he never looked at Heather like that. Fleur did not seem to mind this, which surprised Astra. She'd seen a lot of the first year boys look at Heather like that, and she knew that it made Heather uncomfortable.

Hermione looked annoyed.

Harry introduced everyone, and then Fleur looked at Heather. "So, Heather, I heard that you're probably part-Veela."

There was a moment of silence, as Heather looked at Harry, and then back at Fleur. "Yeah, probably."

"So am I."

"I heard. Is it as much of a curse as it seems?"

"No. When I was a little girl, I thought being part-Veela was cool, but when I got to be around your age I noticed that a lot of the boys were giving me creepy looks, and a few of the girls would sometimes give me rude looks when this happened."

Hermione blushed, and looked down, as if ashamed.

"I hated that," Fleur went on, not seeming to have noticed Hermione. "My mother taught me that it didn't matter how others reacted to me, but only how I reacted to them, and that sometimes ignoring people was the best way to stick it to them. I kept that in mind, and I soon realized that it was not a curse at all. Boys all being nice to me could come in handy sometimes. I also learned which girls to avoid, and I found some joy in their envy."

"I don't think I'd want somebody to envy me," Heather said.

"Well, you don't have too," Fleur said.

"It probably would make it easier to see who was and wasn't my friend, and I guess that could come in handy."

"See. I know that it sometimes seems like a curse, but there are more pros than cons."

"I'm worried that being part-Veela is related to the fact that my Mum always kind of hated me, and my father told me recently that that's because she's not my real mother, and that my actual mother died in childbirth, and I'm the product of an affair."

Fleur cringed. There was a moment of silence, before she continued. "Some Veela's would never have relations with a married man, but some would. You can still do what's right, even if your descended from people who didn't."

Harry read Sirius's letter, which told them where to meet him in Hogsmeade, at two-oh-clock on Saturday, and asked them to bring food and Astra. Harry then put it in his pocket, conflicted about his excitement to see Sirius and his fear of Sirius getting caught.

When Heather excused herself to go to the bathroom, Harry passed the note to Ron.

Ron read it, and then passed it to Hermione. "He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade?" he asked.

"It looks like it, doesn't it, doesn't it?" said Hermione, passing the note to Astra.

"I can't believe him," said Harry," said Harry. "If he's caught …"

"Made it so far, though, hasn't he?" said Ron. "And it's not like the place is swarming with Dementors anymore."

"He seems strangely unconcerned about people getting caught," Hermione said. "He even wants us to sneak a first year into Hogsmead."

"My mother wouldn't want me to go anyway?" Astra said.

"You're going to ask your mother's permission to sneak out?" Ron said, in shock.

"I meant to meet," she paused, "that guy she hates."

Harry had to suppress a laugh, with the way she referred to Sirius.

"Why would you need her permission for that?" Ron asked. "Does she even know you're friends with us?"

"Yeah," Astra said.

"Really, then why did you not want to use Hedwig because she might be recognized as Harry's?"

"My dad doesn't know. He doesn't need another reason to hate me."

"Well, just don't tell your mother," Ron said.

"You don't have to," Harry said, as Heather came back, "but he did ask for you to come."