Studying

Third Person P.O.V.

Another day, another unprogressive mission one might say. Asteria didn't like being the idea of hiding, the likelihood of monsters coming after them. Even when she was told to not worry she still worries. So to lessen her anxiety she decided to research what's been going on in Hogwarts. Thalia stayed to help Asteria a little bit before going to bed, which left Asteria up throughout the night before she decided to put the Mist around her. She did need to get better at it with Thalia and Hazel around. They were much more experience with controlling the Mist that Asteria wanted to see if she could make herself invisible while she continued her little research.

The muttering of the golden trio in the common room was a little bit distracting for Asteria. Instead of focusing on finding more about what's happened in the past two years, she was listening to them ramble. It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted leaving the golden trio to believe they were the only ones there. The sound of Hermione's quill scratching out sentences here and there on their essays and the ruffle of pages as she checked various facts in the reference books strewn across the table. This made Asteria want to watch them. Only out of curiosity and to help them with this little quest her mother gave them.

"Okay, write that down," Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to Ron, "and then copy out this conclusion that I've written for you."

"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met," said Ron weakly, "and if I'm ever rude to you again —"

"— I'll know you're back to normal," said Hermione. "Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice — Harry?"

Harry had slid off his chair onto his knees and was now crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.

"Er — Harry?" said Ron uncertainly. "Why are you down there?"

"Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire," said Harry.

Asteria quickly became guarded. From what she read Sirius Black was a follower of Voldemort and that means he is evil. But the fact that Harry trusts him made her wary of Sirius's presence.

"Sirius's head?" Hermione repeated. "You mean like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament? But he wouldn't do that now, it would be too — Sirius!"

She gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill. There in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning face. Asteria watches closely. Not wanting to break her cover and so she could find out more.

"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared," he said. "I've been checking every hour."

"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry said, half laughing.

"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear yet."

"But what if you'd been seen?" said Hermione anxiously.

"Well, I think a girl — first year by the look of her — might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry," Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth. "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."

"But Sirius, this is taking an awful risk —" Hermione began.

"You sound like Molly," said Sirius. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Harry's letter without resorting to a code — and codes are breakable."

Asteria moving on to the couch to have a better visual of their conversation. She also didn't want to blow her cover in the middle of the night. Hermione and Ron had both turned to stare at Harry after the mention of the letter.

"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" said Hermione accusingly.

"I forgot," said Harry, which was perfectly true; his meeting with Cho in the Owlery had driven everything before it out of his mind.

"Don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?"

"No, it was very good," said Sirius, smiling. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed — your scar."

"What about — ?" Ron began, but Hermione said quickly, "We'll tell you afterward, go on, Sirius."

"Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"

"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion," said Harry, ignoring, as usual, Ron and Hermione's winces.

"So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that detention."

"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often," said Sirius.

"So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?" Harry asked.

"I doubt it," said Sirius. "I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater —"

Asteria rolls her eyes. The idea of someone trying to eat Thanatos just creeps her out to the point of no return.

"She's foul enough to be one," said Harry darkly and Ron and Hermione nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," said Sirius with a wry smile.

"I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — you should hear Remus talk about her."

"Does Lupin know her?" asked Harry quickly, remembering Umbridge's comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.

"No," said Sirius, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."

"What's she got against werewolves?" said Hermione angrily.

"Scared of them, I expect," said Sirius, smiling at her indignation. "Apparently she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose —"

Asteria came out of her thoughts on why Death Eaters was a terrible name. The good-for-nothing professor made it harder for someone to get a job because they're a werewolf. Asteria couldn't stand the fact she didn't do anything when writing the line but now everything going to change. She gets off the couch not caring about the Mist being gone and running up the girls' tower to get Thalia. Today is the day Asteria pulls a little prank on this professor and makes her life a living hell.

"What was that behind you?" Sirius says consciously.

The golden trio looked behind them to see Asteria rushing up to the dorms. Hermione looks horrified, her body paralyzed to the flour. This was one of the reasons she was worried about them.

"Do you think she would tell?" Ron asks nervously.

"I don't know but we need to convince her it was just an illusion," Hermione says.

"That was a new transfer student from America. She had detention with me this week," Harry says to Sirius.

"So there is no need to worry. You can convince her there was nothing to see," Sirius says.

"I sure hope so."