On the train back to Hogwarts, Astra and Starbeam shared a compartment with Heather and Samuel.
"Draco revealed that he had his first kiss, and it sounds like it was around the same time as Harry had his," Astra mentioned.
Heather smirked at that. "We probably shouldn't mention that to either them."
"Probably not," Astra agreed.
"I wonder how old we'll be when we have our first kisses?" Astra asked. It didn't bother her that her older friends were hitting milestones before her, as she expected that and was used to that. Heather was the youngest of multiple siblings, so she might be even more used to that. Yet, Astra could not help but wonder.
"I don't know if I ever will," Heather said. "I don't know what happens when a veela kisses a boy, but I'm worried that it will put them in my power."
Astra had not thought about that. "Maybe you should write Fleur and ask."
"Good idea."
Astra thought about Heather's history of going a long time without knowing stuff, like the fact that she was part-veela, who her mother was, the fact that she was a witch, the fact that her unicorn was imaginary. Astra loved knowing stuff, and hated being kept in the dark, and she was sick of Heather being kept in the dark.
Astra told Heather about Kreacher, and then all about Sirius.
Several minutes later, Heather was shocked. "Ron's pet was an evil man," she said, slowly and nervously.
"Yeah, but don't tell him I told you that."
That evening, Astra and Starbeam walked into Hermione's dormitory. "Hermione," Astra said, "I told Heather about Snuffles. Please don't be mad."
Hermione paused. "I'm not mad."
In the great hall, during dinner, Astra watched Heather receive a letter and read it. She seemed pleased, although not extremely, but Astra was not sure.
Later that evening, Astra, Starbeam, Heather, and Samuel were alone in their dormitory.
"Was that letter from Fleur?" Astra asked.
"Yes. She said that there are some boys who are not affected by veela magic, and that I am too young to be thinking about this."
Astra, Starbeam, Heather, Samuel, Hermione, Crookshanks, and Ron were in the library. They worked on homework, while waiting for Harry to join them after his Occlumency lessons.
Harry joined them, looking upset. He told them all about it. He kept trembling, and at one point he ran his hands over his forehead.
"Harry, are you sure you're alright?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah… fine…" he said, lowering his trembling hands. "I just feel a bit… I don't like Occlumency much."
"I'd expect anyone would feel shaky after they'd had their mind attacked over and over again," Hermione said.
Starbeam walked up to Harry, and rubbed against him.
Astra and Starbeam waited until everyone else left, and approached Professor Snape's desk. "Professor Snape," she said.
"Yes, Miss Malfoy," he said.
"Harry's been through a lot and, well, could you please be nicer to him?"
"The dark lord isn't playing nice, Astra, and Harry has to be prepared."
"But, what if he breaks down and becomes useless and defenseless?"
"First of all, Harry is not a little girl. Second of all, he was born the chosen one and that makes him tougher than everyone else."
"It does? He doesn't always act so tough."
"Just because somebody doesn't act tough, doesn't mean that they aren't. You should know that better than anyone."
"I should?"
"Well, you recovered well enough that your mother allowed you to go away to school."
"She almost didn't, and I never fully recovered."
"I know, but still."
Astra, Starbeam, Heather, Samuel, Hermione, Ron and Harry were in the great hall. Hermione was reading the daily prophet, and she let out a yelp.
"What?" asked Harry and Ron, at the same time.
Hermione spread the paper out on the table. It showed pictures of ten prisoners, each captioned with their name and crime. The heading read that there was a mass breakout from Azkaban.
They all read the article.
"There you are, Harry," said Ron, looking awestruck. "That's why he was happy last night."
"I don't believe this," exclaimed Harry. "Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?"
"What other option does he have?" Hermione bitterly said. "He can hardly say, 'sorry everyone. Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort,' - stop whimpering Ron - 'and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out too.' I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he."
Hermione ripped open the newspaper, and began reading, while Harry looked around. Astra and Heather looked at Ron.
Astra got up, picked up Starbeam, and went around to the other side of the table. She sat beside Ron, placed Starbeam in Ron's lap, and gently took his hand.
"Oh my," said Hermione
"What now?" said Harry.
"It's … horrible," said Hermione, folding back the newspaper page and handing it to Harry.
Hermione, Harry, and Heather looked shaken, but not as shaken as Ron. Heather stared at Ron, with concern on her face, but Hermione and Harry took no notice of him.
The conversation soon turned to the article about the guy who was killed by devil's snare. Ron was able to join in, but Astra and Heather didn't.
When Hermione jumped up, and said she was going to send a letter, Harry looked over at Ron. Harry looked confused, as he looked at Starbeam, Astra, Heather and back at Ron
Ron sighed. "The fact that my mother's boggart is everyone in the family dead, probably has something to do with the fact that her brothers were murdered. Now their murderer is free."
Astra, Harry, and Heather all gasped.