Ugh, sorry this is late! Finding time to write is so much harder now! Two chapters a week is a struggle. So: the official update dates are Saturday and Tuesday. It'll probably be more like Thursday and Sunday. Don't murder me! I'll still get two a week, but my schedule has been sporadic recently, so my writing has been, too!

~~~~

"What have people been saying about us?"

Albus frowned at his brother. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "James, if Al had heard something, he'd have told us. Right?"

"Of course," Albus said. He tilted his head, still looking confused. "Heard what, though?"

James sighed in frustration and started walking up to the school. We had hung around after tryouts to help Jaycee put everything away, and Al had waited on us. Before he'd had a chance to talk, James had sprung that question on him.

"Dom mentioned that people were pressing rumors about Astra and me," James said coldly as we caught up to him.

"Like what?"

"Well, mainly ideas on what we've been doing when we 'disappear together,' if guess," I said, glaring at the ground. My hands were clenched in fists at my side, and slowly relaxed my hands. There were bigger things to worry about than that. Anyway, surely no one believed those lies.

Albus was busy pretending to throw up on the side of the path as I thought. James nodded grimly as he said, "That was my reaction, too. I mean...we're just kids..."

"And you're basically my brother!" I added. I didn't know quite how much I believed it, though. James nodded in agreement.

We fell silent as we plodded up the path to the school. After a moment, Albus said, "Why were you guys late?"

I'd almost forgotten about that in the past few minutes. I stuck my hand in my pocket; the bow was still there. Taking turns, James and I explained what had happened, and who we suspected. This time, we actually had proof to back our suspicions up.

Albus stared at the bow, wide-eyed, as I handed it to him. "Wow. I guess you should go tell Dad or someone, shouldn't you?"

James and I exchanged a look. Personally, I didn't want to bother Professor Potter any more than I already had this year. After all the worry I'd caused when James stole the car to "save" me, I'd tried my hardest not to be a burden. Even here, at school, if I could take care of something myself, I didn't need to annoy a teacher. James probably didn't want to tell his dad what had happened because he wanted revenge, which was also a very good reason.

"You are going to tell him, right?" Albus asked slowly. "If you don't, I will."

"Al, if you tell Dad I will transfigure your sheets into a mound of spiders in the middle of the night," James threatened.

Albus shuddered. "You can't do that! I bet that's not even a thing." If it was, James certainly didn't know how to do it. However, whatever he did to prove that he could transfigure something into a mound of spiders would be interesting, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut and watch.

"Oh really?" James pointed at a bench as we passed it. "Watch, I'll do it to that."

He raised his wand and opened his mouth, but he was interrupted by Albus yelling, "Fine! I won't tell him! No spiders!"

I rolled my eyes. "You're terrible."

"I know," James with a grin.

We walked through the doors to the castle, and I frowned. "What are we going to do to about Colette?"

"We should tell Dad..." Albus muttered.

James ignored him. "I think we should get more evidence first."

"How?"

"You aren't afraid to do a little snooping, are you, Astra?"

Ten minutes later, I was locking the door to my dorm room (something we weren't allowed to do unless specifically instructed by a teacher) and tiptoeing over to Colette's bed. I dropped to my knees next to her trunk, and quickly lifted the lid.

I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. A diary, maybe, where she outlined her plans to do us in. Or maybe a robe covered in leaves from that bush. However, there was nothing remotely similar to either of those, or anything else incriminating. I carefully started taking clothes out and setting them down next to me.

Beneath the layer of clothes was a layer of books. The first few titles were normal - Hogwarts, A History; Magical Spells for Students; Quidditch Through the Ages; even a biography of Professor Potter that almost every student at Hogwarts had read or at least heard about. I took those out, too. Underneath were more books. But these weren't the sort you'd find in a typical second year's trunk.

Magick Moste Evile. Secrets of the Darkest Art. Unforgivable Curses and their Legal Implications. Moste Potente Potions. How to Combat Those Who "Know All" - A Study on Occlumency. Curses and Counter-Curses. The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts.

I stared in shock at all of them. One by one, I took each book out and set it on the floor. It took a few minutes before I realized that I needed to at least write the titles down. I flipped open the lid of my own trunk and scrambled around for a quill and paper. Luke's pen that he had given me last year surfaced, and I grabbed it and an old homework assignment, and started scribbling furiously to get all the books recorded.

I'd managed to get about six books down, and I was just crossing the t in Patronus Charms: Impossible for Some? when I heard the doorknob rattling. I froze, hoping whoever it was might go away. James and Albus had worked out a complicated knock to let me know it was them, so I knew it had to be someone else. For a few tense seconds, there was silence.

The doorknob rattled again, and the person knocked on the door. I suddenly went into overdrive, picked up everything and stacking it all back in Colette's trunk as neatly as possible. The person knocked again, and I heard a muffled voice telling me to open the door.

I flipped Colette's trunk lid down, then stood uncertainly in the middle of the room. I couldn't very well open the door now, and just claim it was an accident. I looked around wildly for a minute, then hopped onto my bed, grabbed one of my school books, and pretended to be completely absorbed in A History of Magic. Not the most solid cover story, but it was the best I could do.

Half a second later, the voice said, "Alohomora," and the door creaked open. It took all my willpower not to look up as slow footsteps crossed the room and stopped in front of my bed. I acted like I didn't notice anything as the person cleared her throat. Finally, after about a minute, I glanced up and did my best to act surprised.

It was Colette St Pierre herself. She was glaring at me, arms crossed. "Why was the door locked?"

"Was it locked?" I asked innocently. The last thing I needed was another fight. I'd already had detention twice this year for incidents with Ciara.

Colette rolled her eyes. "What were you doing?"

"Reading." I said. I almost held up my book, then remembered what it was. Even Colette knew that I would never voluntarily read A History of Magic.

"I'm sure you were," Colette said flatly. She glared at me for another few seconds, then turned and walked over to her bed. She looked tired, somehow. I was glad, because normally she would have tried to start a fight with me. I noticed, also, that her bow was gone, which was enough to confirm that the blue bow in my pocket was hers, as if we'd needed more proof.

I quietly put my book away and slipped out the door. James and Albus were waiting in the common room, and looked immensely relieved when I entered. They quickly ran up to me.

"Did she catch you? We tried to stop her from going up, but she just ignored us," Al whispered.

"Did you find anything?" James asked, pulling all three of us into a corner.

"Yeah," I whispered, and pulled the list out of my pocket. "She has...well...these books..."

James quickly scanned the list, and I saw his eyes growing larger as he read on. Finally, he looked up, blinking. "Wow..."

"That's a lot..." Albus whispered.

"That's not even all of them."

"We really need to tell Dad!" Albus said, glancing at the stairs as if worried that she might come down soon.

"No!" James and I said at the same time. "There's no way we'll get revenge if we tell him," James added.

"But she's...she's a dark witch!" Albus exclaimed. "All those books..."

"Some of them weren't about the Dark Arts," I said, frowning. "A lot of them were, but there's that one about Patronuses... Those aren't Dark Arts, right? And Occlumency?"

James stared at me. "You don't know what a Patronus... Never mind. Anyway, for now let's assume the worst. She's a dark witch in training. As soon as it gets out of hand, we'll tell someone. We'll just keep an eye on her, ok, Al?"

Albus looked thoroughly unconvinced, but nodded. "So what are you going to do?"

"Confront her," James said.

"About the books?" I asked, frowning. "She's already suspicious..."

"No, about trying to knock us out."

I grinned. "We can challenge her to a duel..."

"No!" Albus stared at us in horror. "Remember what happened last time? With Ciara and Nico?"

"Fine, no duels," I said, sighing.

James rolled his eyes. "Let's take the bow to her, and tell her we're going to tell a teacher what happened if she doesn't tell us why she did it."

"And make her promise not to be a prat for the rest of the year," I added.

"Perfect! We just need the right moment..."

Albus glanced nervously at the stairs. "I think I'll just go do my homework..."

"Come on, Al, that's no fun!" I teased.

James nodded. "Really, Al, now that-" He suddenly broke off.

"What?"

"Now that what?"

"Never mind."

"James," I said, crossing my arms, "tell us."

He sighed, then shook his head. "It's really not that big of a deal..."

"James..."

He grimaced. "Fine... I was going to say, 'Now that you're down to just one girlfriend, you should really be there for her'..."

Albus and I both stared at him, openmouthed. James was staring at the floor, his face turning red.

Finally, I spluttered, "James... How... How c-could you?"

"I'm sorry..."

"That's terrible!"

"I wasn't thinking..."

"You of all people should know better!"

Albus started to back away from us. I was yelling, but I didn't care. People were starting to notice us, but my usual aversion to attention was gone, for the moment. James Sirius Potter had just said the worst thing in the world, and he definitely deserved this.

"Astra-"

"How could you? You were there!"

"I'm sor-"

"You're such an idiot! Why would you...how...you just... I can't believe you!"

I was too angry to notice I was crying until James hugged me. Then, all my anger melted away, leaving behind pain and tears, and I just cried. Something I hadn't given myself a chance to do. I'd been bottling up my emotions my whole life; now wasn't any different. Crying was weak. I was too old to cry.

And yet, there I was, sobbing in the middle of the common, clinging to James, no less. No one was paying us much attention, though I think Albus cast Muffliato around us. He stood there awkwardly as James slowly led me over to a couch and sat down next to me.

After a few minutes, I sat up, wiping away my tears, a bit embarrassed. One mention of Wren, and I start sobbing like a baby. Really mature, right? But James and Albus seemed to understand perfectly, and didn't even mention it, which I was grateful for. As quickly as possible, though, James changed the topic back to Colette.

"So, we confront her as soon as possible, right?"

"Right," Albus said, smiling nervously. I had a feeling it was for my sake, really, and I smiled gratefully at him.

"When do we do it?" I asked. "And where?"

"Some deserted corridor, I suppose," said James, shrugging. "That doesn't really matter. Let's just follow her next time she leaves."

Albus reported that Colette hadn't come downstairs while I'd had my bout of emotion, so we sat down by the fire and watching the door to the stairs for any sign of her. It wasn't long before we were rewarded.

Colette stole down the stairs, a book clutched in her hands. She quickly walked towards the portrait hole, and we got up as well, trying our best to look casual. As soon as she had climbed out, we ran after her.

We followed her for a while, trying to act like we weren't. Finally, James sprinted ahead, motioning for us to follow, and stopped right in front of Colette.

"Hello," he said pleasantly. "Lovely day, am I right? Perfect day to be outside."

"It's eight o'clock at night," Colette said, rolling her eyes. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you tried to knock me and Astra out earlier today."

"Knock you and... What are you talking about?" Wow, she was a good actor. But I was not going to be fooled. Not again. Not by anyone.

"Well, we just assumed it was you, since you left some pretty incriminating evidence at the scene of the crime..." James glanced at me. "Exhibit A, if you please."

I pulled the bow out of my pocket. "Look familiar?"

Colette frowned, and tried to grab the bow. I pulled it out of her reach. "Where did you find that?"

"Where? Oh, just right behind the bushes that could easily have concealed an attacker, the exact direction from which the spell came from," James said.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Colette said, glaring at us. "Give me my bow."

"We know it was you."

"It was not. Obviously, I was framed."

"It was you."

"No! When did it even happen?"

"Right before Quidditch tryouts."

"I was in the library. Ask that ginger friend of yours; I'm sure she saw me. I definitely saw her."

I glared at her. "We know you're lying."

"Think whatever you like," Colette said, brushing past us. "I did not do anything." She plucked the bow out of my grasp before I could pull it away, and walked off.

"That went well..." I muttered.

James was grumbling under his breath. Albus sighed. "You're going to do something crazier, aren't you?" James only shook his head - more of a "later" shake than a "no" shake - and started walking away.

~~~~

If James was coming up with a Plan B, it was taking him a while. Two days passed, and nothing. I gave up on it. If an opportunity to get revenge presented itself, I'd take it. If not, oh well.

Monday, James suggested we go talk to Flitwick, which I happily agreed too. Now that we weren't spending all our time in the library, I didn't know what to do with myself. Rose was complaining that I needed something else to research so that I wouldn't "mope around in the dorm all day."

We quickly walked to his office, hoping he wouldn't have a class. James knocked on the door, and we waited silently for a minute before the tiny man opened the door.

"Ah, hello, what can I do for you two?" he said, smiling.

"Can we talk to you?" James asked, seriously.

"Of course, come right in." The professor opened the door wider so that James and I could slip though to his office. It was small, and all the furniture was littler than normal. James and I sat down on chairs that could have been made for primary school children. Flitwick sat down behind his desk, and watched us expectantly.

"Um...Professor, we were wondering if you remembered some students..."

"Who were they?"

"Well, they were Caleb Pole and Amerda Stillens," I said. "In the sixties, in Ravenclaw?"

Professor Flitwick frowned for a minute, then nodded. "Oh, yes, I remember those two. Very promising student, Caleb. Amerda, not so much, but they were good kids, for the most part. What do you want to know?"

I glanced at James. "Everything."

"Oh, well, let's see. Amerda came from a family that stuck strictly to the pureblood ideals, even claiming that their exclusion from the list of purebloods was an error. She and her brother were-"

"Brother?" James interrupted.

"Yes, she had a little brother named Henry. He only had had one year at Hogwarts when they moved to America."

James nodded slowly. "All right."

"Anyway, they were all three well-mannered and nice. Caleb's family was much the same. He and Amerda would have been great kids if they hadn't bought into Voldemort's lies."

"They what?"

"Like a lot of purebloods, they agreed with his ideals. Once they heard of his actions, though, Amerda and Caleb fled to America... Took Henry with them, too."

"Why?"

"Oh, I think Amerda's parents died a few years before... And, of course, Caleb and Amerda got married right out of school. A lot of purebloods and their type did in those days."

"Is that all?"

"Everything I know. Want to tell me why you're so interested in them?"

"No, sir," I said.

"I see... I'm sure you wouldn't want me telling your father about this, James..."

"Please don't, sir... We're just... It's for a project..."

Flitwick frowned at us. "A project? For who?"

"Um..."

"It's..."

"Not a project, exactly..."

"Just don't tell Dad..."

"I promise we aren't doing anything wrong!"

Flitwick frowned at us for a few more minutes, then sighed. "All right. If you get in trouble, though, I will tell your father."

"All right..." James stood up. "Thank you, professor."

"Yes, thanks," I echoed.

Flitwick nodded. "I'll see you two in class."

"Bye..."

We quickly slipped out the door and practically ran up to Gryffindor Tower. Al and Rose would definitely be interested in this.

~~~~

"Voldemort?" Rose asked in surprise, after we'd explained everything we'd learned. "Wow... That's awful..."

"At least they had a conscience," Albus said, frowning. "I mean, they ran off to get away from his killing and everything."

"Yeah... I guess..." I frowned. "They still agreed with the pureblood supremacy thing, though..."

No one really had anything to say to that. It was fairly evident now that these were Wren's grandparents, since Pole wasn't a common name, and it was their last name and Katreena Predatel's maiden name. They must have been the grandparents Wren lived with, too.

Rose drifted off to finish her homework, and Albus ran over to play wizard chess with Eric. James and I walked over to a ground of second and third years by the fireplace. James sat down on the arm of the chair Mackenzie was sitting in, and I quickly looked away. What was wrong with me?

"Hey Kenzie," James said, smiling at her. Mackenzie smiled back. Soon, they were chatting away, and my desire to talk was gone.

You need some air.

Right, that was probably it. That twisting in my stomach was probably because I'd been in this stuffy castle all day. I quickly slipped out the portrait hole and set off for one of the courtyards.

The nearest one was empty when I walked out, which was fine with me. I sat down and leaned against the wall, sighing. I needed to get my head checked. If I was trying to prove that I didn't like James, I was going a lousy job at it.

Before I had time to reflect more on this, voices on the other side of the courtyard caught my attention. I looked up, and saw a boy and girl sporting Slytherin green crossing the courtyard. I frowned as I recognized that blonde girl. But why was she with Nico Jasper? After what happened last year, when he abandoned her in the middle of the castle at night, and left her to get put under the Imperius Curse, I didn't expect her to talk to him again.

I stood up and walked towards them, frowning. When Ciara saw me, she stopped, and Nico stopped too, smirking at me in amusement.

"Wow, Ciara, I'm surprised. Nico is low, even for you," I said, frowning. "Especially after what happened..."

"I'm sure you wouldn't understand this," Ciara said, rolling her eyes, "but some people actually apologized for what happened that night."

"Some people saved your life."

"Some people were the reason Wren was there in the first place!"

I blinked. That was a new way of looking at it.

Before I could think of a comeback, I noticed someone else crossing the courtyard. Colette was going to pass us, and Ciara looked thoroughly disgusted that she was even here. I smiled hopefully. Maybe, Colette would side with her fellow Gryffindor in this...?

No such luck. As soon as she took her nose out of whatever Dark Arts book she had, she frowned, then said haughtily, "Oh, look at that, the rival princesses. Imbeciles, as always."

"Excuse you?" Ciara yelled, pulling her wand out and pointing it at Colette. I did this same. At around the same time, we both fired hexes. Colette blocked both of them.

Within a minute, we were locked in a three-way duel. Nico had abandoned ship, apparently, since he was no where to be seen. I fired one spell at Ciara, then one at Colette. None seemed to hit their targets, partly because I wasn't taking time to aim, and partly because we were all moving. It was crazy, and I really had no idea what was going on, or even why Ciara and I were fighting each other, since we hadn't actually gotten to the angering each other part of our argument yet.

Suddenly, it was all cut short. "Enough!" Someone shouted. That someone being a teacher.

Slowly, I lowered my wand. Ciara and Colette did the same. I turned to face Professor Longbottom, looking very upset. "What is going on?"

None of us answered.

"Who started this?"

Again, no one answered. I was a bit embarrassed. Now I was going to lose our House even more points, and probably get detention as well.

Professor Longbottom sighed. "Find. If you won't talk to me, you'll talk to the headmaster." 

Quietly, we followed him through the castle to the headmaster's office. Ciara and I sent death glares at each other the entire time. Colette acted like nothing had involved her at all.

Professor Longbottom followed us up the stairs, explained the situation to Professor Pouri, then stepped out. Perfect. The headmaster already didn't like me. What was going to happen now?

Professor Pouri sighed, frowning at each of us. "Girls, you all know we have strict rules about dueling here. It is against all rules. I'm afraid it won't be tolerated. Now, would you care to tell me why it happened?"

None of us answered. I was too busy staring sullenly at a small stain on the carpet. Was it coffee? Or maybe Coca-Cola, if wizards had that.

"Fine," he said, sighing. "Well, fifteen points from Slytherin for you, Miss Malfoy, and thirty from Gryffindor for Miss St Pierre and Miss Lewis. And detention for the week, for all of you. And there will be no more duels, understand?"

"Yes, sir," we all said at the same time, with varying degrees of sassiness. Mine was probably the highest...

"Miss Malfoy and Miss St Pierre, you're dismissed." I looked up at that. "Miss Lewis, I need to talk to you."

Ciara smirked at me as she hopped up and ran out. Colette didn't even glance in my direction. I glared at them. What on earth did he want me for? It's not like I caused this.

For a few minutes, there was silence. My gaze returned to the stain. Maybe it was some sort of potion?

Professor Pouri leaned forward, propping his elbows up on his desk. "Astra, I'm disappointed in you." His tone was like a parent disciplining their child, which I automatically bristled at.

"I can't imagine why," I said, rolling my eyes. "I told you I'd break the rules."

"I'm sorry you don't feel the need to obey them," he said, his time much colder. "Miss Lewis, this is your fourth fight this year. You are making yourself a real problem in this school."

I looked up at him at that. "Am I, sir? I really think I'm acting like any normal twelve-year-old. As I said, I'm going to break the rules. I can't help it when they're stupid."

"You may think they are. That doesn't change the fact that they are there for your safety." Professor Pouri frowned at me. "I would highly suggest following them. And watch where you step, young lady. You are about to cross the line into disrespectfulness."

"Of course, sir," I said, hoping it didn't come across as sarcastic as it was in my head. "Can I go?"

Professor Pouri sighed. "Go ahead." I quickly stood up and started walking towards the door. My hand was on the doorknob as he said, "And, Miss Lewis? Your detentions will be held with me."

~~~~

Star of Gryffindor is at 2.5k reads! That's so exciting!

So, just wondering, how did each of you find it? Did you stumble upon it while browsing? Did someone tell you about it? I'm just curious, and I'd love it if you took a minute and shared in the comments! Thanks!

I've had an idea, too. I think I'm going to start asking a question at the end of each chapter, about anything to do with JKR's wonderful universe.

Today's question: What is your House, and why do you belong there?

Anyway, thank you for reading! Vote and comment! Send in your questions for the Q&A at the end! (I don't have any so far...)

Love you guys!

~Ellie