~Wren~

"Where is she?" Albus asked, frowning at his watch. "Her class ended fifteen minutes ago."

I shrugged. We were sitting alone in the common room, waiting for Astra to come back from Care of Magical Creatures. "Maybe she got caught up talking to Hagrid? Or maybe she and Poppy are talking. That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

Albus seemed a bit surprised at the idea that Astra and Poppy might talk when he wasn't there. "What would they be talking about?"

"Well, I mean, you, Care of Magical Creatures, and Quidditch are about the only things they know they have in common, right?"

Albus blinked. "Oh. Okay." He seemed even more surprised now, and even slightly uncomfortable. "What... What would they say about me?"

"I don't know, Al. They both love you, so I'm sure only good things." I turned back to my book, which happened to be the N.E.W.T. level History of Magic textbook. I generally don't just read textbooks for fun (contrary to popular belief, I am not as big a nerd as Astra and Albus claim I am) but this was the book that finally got to recent British history, starting at the beginning of the last century. Grindelwald, Voldemort, everything interesting. I couldn't tell if reading about other powerful dark wizards helped make my uncle more or less scary, honestly. The fact that this seemed to be an endless cycle recently was terrifying, because how on earth could the wizarding world let this happen three times in a row? On the other hand, Grindelwald and Voldemort had been defeated. Perhaps history would repeat itself in that way, too.

"Who's even in that class?" Albus asked, nodding to my book. "I can't believe anyone could sit though Binns for five years and want more of that."

"Rose did," I pointed out.

"Yes, but Rose is Rose. And before you point out Colette, I said five years, and she only had him for four. Besides, she's also in Ancient Runes, so we already knew she was mad."

I smiled. "I took Ancient Runes."

"You're mad, too," he said. "Not quite as mad, because you stopped."

I rolled my eyes. "History of Magic is a really small class this year, actually. Poppy's in it, you know?"

"She is?"

"You can't escape the crazy people, can you?" I teased. "Other than her, the only other people are a few Ravenclaws and Ciara Malfoy."

"Ew."

"She keeps to herself in class," I said, shrugging. "It's not too bad."

"I suppose there are worse people to have class with," Albus said. "Nico brought his snake to Astronomy last night, did you notice?" I had, because Albus had pointed it out last night and translated what they were saying until I told him to shut up. The snake was just complaining that it missed its friend, which Albus theorized was the snake he'd captured. He was keeping it in his dorm until he could release in the wild during the Hogsmeade trip, before he met up with Poppy.

"I can't believe none of the professors have a problem with his snakes," Albus said. "Did you know they have names? They're stupid names, really boring, like Tom. Do you think Nico named them, or do snakes name themselves?"

"I don't know, Albus, why don't you ask one?" He was chattering, something he generally did when he was nervous about something. I knew what is was, of course; Astra being so late had me on edge a little bit, as well. But I knew there was probably some explanation. She'd show up eventually, perfectly fine with some excuse about Hagrid's newest pet and an apology for being so late.

"I would, but there aren't a lot just hanging out on the grounds, except Nico's, and they all hate me, obviously," Albus explained. "Besides, I don't really like snakes all that much. They're really annoying. That one I caught won't shut up when I'm trying to go to sleep. It hisses so loud that it's annoying everyone else, too. Luke's threatened to smother it with a pillow a few times—"

The portrait hole banged open just then, startling both of us. Astra stumbled through. It took a second to take the sight in. Her sleeve was red, and she was clutching her arm close to her side. Her face was tearstained, eyes slightly wild, and as soon as she was in the room she sank to the floor.

Albus and I were at her side in an instant. "Astra, what happened?" Albus asked. "Can you hear me?"

She nodded, though seemed distant. "I... I don't know, I think I broke my arm..."

"Did you fall?" I asked. It didn't seemed likely, because Astra looked traumatized. I didn't know what else could be going on, though.

She shook her head. "It was really weird... I... I don't remember..."

Albus had pushed her sleeve up her arm; other than wincing, Astra hardly seemed to notice. Her arm was definitely broken. In the brief moment I looked at it, I saw bone poking up amid drying blood. "Oh, gosh. This isn't good."

Albus grimaced. It looked like he was possibly going to be sick. "We need to get you to the hospital wing, Astra."

"No," she said, flinching away from the idea like a child. "The new matron is scary."

"Look at your arm," Albus said firmly.

Astra did, slowly. When she saw it, her face grew paler. "Oh..."

"Come on, you can tell us what happened on the way," Albus said. He took her other arm over his shoulders and slowly stood up, pulling her up with him. Astra didn't argue as he hurried her out. I was left to follow behind, feeling slightly useless.

"I... I think I did it myself," she said as we walked.

"What? How...?" I asked.

"I just..." She frowned. "I just snapped it? With my other hand? I think."

"Why?" Albus asked, frowning warily at her.

"I don't remember," she said. "I'm trying. I can't."

"What happened, exactly? Was anyone else around?" I asked. This didn't sound like anything I'd ever heard of.

"I don't think so," Astra said. "I just... I felt like I had to stop, all of a sudden, so I did. Then I feel like I needed to break my arm. So I did. I don't remember why."

Albus glanced at me, worried. "Well, at least you'll be okay," he said, slowly. "Madam Cantha will be able to help."

"Astra, is there anything else you can't remember?" I asked. If there was, that might show that someone had obliviated her.

She blinked. "I... I don't know."

"Here, what's your aunt's name?" Albus asked, catching on to what I was thinking.

"Andromeda," Astra said promptly.

"Good, okay. What about Teddy, do you remember him?"

"My cousin?"

"Yeah, good," I said. "When's your birthday?"

"August 28th."

"Okay, how about mine?" Albus asked.

"April 10th."

"What was Charis's first word?" Albus asked.

Astra smiled faintly. "My name."

Albus glanced at me. "I don't think she's forgotten anything else."

"I'm right here, Al," she said. I felt a wave of relief flood through me. At least she was acting like herself again. "I don't know if I've forgotten anything else. It doesn't feel like it, though. I'm remembering everything I try to remember."

"Oh, that's good," Albus said, nodding. "If you'd been obliviated, you'd probably sense the hole in your memory."

"You think I was obliviated?" Astra asked, blinking.

"This is all really strange, Astra," I said quickly. "We're just trying to figure out what happened. Don't worry, though; you're okay, and that's what matters."

"Are you sure there was no one around?" Albus asked.

"I honestly don't know. I don't remember seeing anyone, but I wasn't paying close attention."

"Maybe we should tell the aurors," I said, frowning.

Albus stopped suddenly. "Wren, there's a snake following us. I can hear it. I can't really get at it right now..."

I turned, and didn't see anything at first. After a moment, though, I saw a small snake coiled in the shadows of a suit of armor. "Should I hex it?" I asked, confused.

Albus shook his head. "Wingardium Leviosa, and bring it up here so I can talk to it."

I glanced back at the snake; it was staring at me now. I shuddered, but stepped towards it anyway. As soon as I made a move, it started to slither away, very quickly. It was out of sight before I could cast the spell.

"Is it gone?" Albus asked. I nodded as we started walking again. "Good," he said. "Be careful what you say; it might come back."

"Is it one of Nico's?" Astra asked. Albus glanced at me, and I shrugged. I hadn't bothered to look closely enough at his snakes before, but who else even had trained snakes?

"Maybe we should go see Mr. Potter instead of going to the hospital wing," Astra suggested as we turned onto the corridor with the hospital wing at the end.

Albus shook his head. "Absolutely not. Besides, we're almost there."

"What's wrong with Madam Cantha, anyway?" I asked.

Astra shrugged, then winced. "I don't know. She just looks mean."

I frowned. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"Welling looked mean, and he turned out to be working for your uncle."

"Haverna looks mean, and she's as close to working for Stillens as you are," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "Like Wren said, that doesn't mean anything."

"Besides, Stillens would've told Nico and me if he had someone else at Hogwarts," I pointed out. Albus raised an eyebrow at me, which very clearly meant shut up. I wasn't used to having to guard my words from snakes.

When we walked into the hospital wing, Madam Cantha quickly took over. She didn't ask what happened, just sat Astra on a bed and hurried off to fetch some potions. "Well, her bedside manner is a bit lacking," Albus admitted. "At least she knows what she's doing, though, Astra."

Astra rolled her eyes at him as Madam Cantha came back and wordlessly handed her a potion. Astra drank it, grimacing at the taste.

"Lie down, and do not move your arm. This might hurt," Madam Cantha said tersely.

Astra winced as Madam Cantha lifted her arm and held her wand up to it. Flashes of white spread around the wound, and slowly the bone started pulling back into place. Astra gasped and clenched her uninjured hand, but otherwise managed not to react. Albus had stopped watching before Madam Cantha had even started, and now looked like he was fighting the urge to throw up.

It was done in less than a minute. Madam Cantha set Astra's arm back on the bed. "Don't move it. The potion was to deal with any infection, and it will take a few minutes to set in. The bone needs to settle, as well."

Astra's face was white. "Okay," she said weakly; I had to wonder how much that had hurt. "How long do I have to stay here?"

"I'd prefer the night, but at least for a few hours," Madam Cantha said tersely, as if annoyed Astra would even ask that. She got up and left before we could ask her anything else.

Albus still look traumatized by the entire operation, and I patted his arm. "Colette should be out of Ancient Runes by now, Albus. Want to go find her?" He nodded and hurried out, seeming relieved at the excuse.

Astra chuckled. "Did he look like that the whole time?"

"Just about. You'd think he's the one who broke his arm."

"Wimp." Astra smiling fondly. It faded quickly, though. "I don't understand how this happened. All I remember is feeling like I had to do it. Why?"

"Did it feel like a spell?"

"Well..." She shrugged. "I felt really calm while I was doing it. Like everything I was worried about had just resolved itself, and there was no need to be anxious about anything. Otherwise, I probably would have known better. I was kind of out of it."

"Sounds like some sort of spell," I said, frowning. "I bet Colette will know."

She did not, we found, when she and Albus arrived about ten minutes later. She listened to the story with an unreadable expression. "It's just like that dream," was all she said.

Astra's eyes widened. "I'd forgotten."

"Wait, what?" Albus asked, frowning. "You dreamed about this?"

"Sort of, I guess." Astra glanced at Colette. "Remember? I think I told you two a few weeks ago, when I fell asleep in the library."

"Oh, right," I said. I vaguely remembered. It hadn't seemed very important at the time, since it had sounded so ridiculous.

"It really happened just like that?" Colette asked. "You just stopped, and broke your arm?"

Astra nodded. "It probably looked exactly like that dream."

Colette frowned, and I could tell she was worried. Which was not a good thing. Things were really bad if they managed to cut through Colette's apathy. "This... This means..."

"Is the other one going to happen, too?" Astra asked. She seemed on the verge of crying all of the sudden.

"The one where you threw something?" Albus asked.

Colette pursed her lips. "I don't know." She stood up suddenly. "I... I need to go check on something. I'll be back later."

"We have Charms soon," I interjected.

"If I'm right, this is far more important," Colette said.

"What are you doing?" Astra asked.

She shook her head. "Not even going to say it until I know. Sorry. This isn't something I know much about, okay?" She smiled. "Don't worry, I'll tell you everything I find out soon. Maybe it'll explain part of this."

And she was gone. Albus and I exchanged a confused look, then glanced at Astra, who seemed as lost as us. "I don't know what she's doing," Astra said.

Albus frowned. "Well, let's not worry about it, then. She'll tell us when she's ready, and we can't do anything till then. You're all right, and that's what matters."

She really did seem to be. Madam Cantha reluctantly let her leave the hospital wing that evening, and though she was a bit careful with her arm over the next few days, she seemed fine. The only thing that could've been called odd was that she refused to go anywhere alone, but that was perfectly understandable; we didn't really know what had happened, and though she wouldn't admit it, I think she was afraid of it happening again.

Mr. Potter, when we told him, agreed it was strange but said it probably wasn't anything to worry about if it didn't happen again. If it did, of course, Astra needed to tell him immediately (breaking her arm multiple times would probably not be good for her arm), but he really didn't think it would. "There's not much we can do about it except increase security. You're all right, and that's what matters," he said.

Colette was gone for the rest of the week. I saw her more than the others, because I insisted on bringing her all the schoolwork she was missing. She was spending hours in the library, and wouldn't let me look at the books she had. "I don't want to be wrong. I don't want to put the thought in her head if I'm wrong," was her cryptic explanation.

By the time Saturday arrived, I think Albus was secretly relieved to be able to split off from us at Hogsmeade and go find Poppy (and get rid of the snake; he'd only managed to smuggle it out of the castle by knocking it out first). Colette had opted not to come, so that left Astra, James, and I to wander around by ourselves. Astra seemed a little down, which probably had something to do with the fact that it had been four days and Colette had come up with nothing.

"Want to get butterbeers?" James asked after Albus had left.

Astra made a brave attempt at smiling. "Yeah. Sounds great."

"Hey, I bet Colette's found everything she wants to know by the time we get back," James said as we headed towards the Three Broomsticks. "For now, let's just have fun, all right? There's no need to worry about anything happening today, at least. There's too many people around."

We walked into the crowded pub and wove our way to a table near the back. James went up to the counter to order while Astra and I sat down.

"Holy Merlin!" a wizard exclaimed, then suddenly there were two people standing at the end of our table. "It's Astra Lestrange!"

I was too startled to recognize them for a moment, but Astra gasped. "No way. Gideon and Vinnie, right?" They were the two who had been interns with Faith, who we had indirectly gotten involved with the DA when we'd gone to the Prophet last year. And now here they were, in Hogsmeade.

Vinnie cut herself off from berating Gideon ("Merlin's not a saint, for the last time") to grin at us. "Hi! Oh my goodness, you two! I'm so glad to see you!"

"We wanted to thank you guys; you might not know this, but you've been a bit influential in our... our careers, I guess," Gideon said, winking at us. "How have you been?"

Astra shrugged, smiling. "Not bad, I suppose." For the first time in a few days, something had managed to completely distract her, it seemed like, and what better than seeing Gideon and Vinnie.

"What are you doing in Hogsmeade?" I asked curiously.

"We've been promoted," Vinnie said, smiling proudly. "We're junior reporters, now. Dillam gave us a special assignment, too, so we're stationed in Hogsmeade until further notice."

"There's actually a lot," Gideon said, grinning. "Can we sit? It's really cool to see you."

As if on cue, James appeared, bearing three butterbeers and eyeing the two of them warily. "Hey, um, what's up?" He sat down next to me and frowned at them.

"This is James," I said, smiling apologetically.

"Potter?" Gideon's eyes widened. "Whoa, cool! Your dad is awesome."

"I'm aware," James said sourly.

Vinnie rolled her eyes. "He doesn't know who we are, Gid." Turning back to James, she smiled. "I'm Lavinia Briar, junior reporter for the Daily Prophet."

"And I'm Gideon Montry, photographer," Gideon said, holding out his hand. After a moment, James shook it.

"They were the two interns who helped us in June," Astra explained as Gideon and Vinnie sat down. "Except they're not interns anymore."

"We're on a very low profile story, according to Dillam," Gideon told us in a conspiratorial whisper. "Looking for potential spies in Hogsmeade, or even at Hogwarts. So far, though, our only story is a society column about Madam Rosmerta's newest beau."

"And an Astra Lestrange sighting in Hogsmeade," Vinnie said, winking at Astra. "If you're okay with that, at least."

"Sure, why not," Astra said, chuckling.

"We're literally just the local paparazzi," Vinnie said, bouncing a bit in her chair. "It's really fun!"

"What's paparazzi?" James asked.

"Oh, a muggle thing," Gideon said, rolling his eyes. "Vinnie says it's people who just follow other people around and take their pictures? Seems kind of dumb to me."

"You're leaving out the important part," Vinnie replied. "The people you take pictures of are famous people, like actors and politicians and things." Astra actually laughed.

James shook his head. "I don't get it. Why would Dillam assign you a story about spies? Seems a bit stupid, considering he's a spy."

Vinnie shrugged, growing serious. "We're not entirely sure. Michael Corner says his best guess is it's been brought up to Dillam by someone else, so he can't ignore it, but he thinks we're not competent enough to actually handle it."

"We're playing that up, of course," Gideon added. "Why do you think we're wasting our time with this paparazzi stuff?"

"We're trying to build up a reputation of just writing silly stories like that," Vinnie explained. "They're interesting for entertainment, of course, but don't have any substance. Eventually, we'll be able to slip other things into our stories under the radar, and Dillam won't notice."

Gideon glanced around, even though no one was paying attention to us, then leaned in. "We're actually on the trail of a few things right now. There are a couple of suspicious people around town. One of them, someone named Kyle, we think might actually be one of Stillens' agents."

"Oh, maybe it's Nameless Ned," Astra said.

James kicked her under the table, and gave her a warning look, but Vinnie and Gideon had heard it and turned to her curiously. "Who?" Gideon asked.

"Oh, um..." Astra glanced at me.

I rolled my eyes. "A while ago, Mr. Potter mentioned that he thought there was a spy in Hogsmeade. He wouldn't tell us anything about him, so James thought it would be nice to call him Nameless Ned."

"Oh. But that's a contradiction," Vinnie said, blinking.

"No, it's ironic," Gideon said. "Holy Merlin, Vin, learn the difference." She rolled her eyes. I took the opportunity to glare at Astra; Kyle was Nameless Ned, the man whose fireplace was how I Flooed to Stillens' manor. Acting like we knew anything about him would only make Gideon and Vinnie suspicious, and though it wouldn't be the end of the world if they found out about everything I did for the DA, it also would be far from ideal.

Imagine if she'd slipped up in front of someone else?

"So, what do you know about this guy, Kyle?" James asked, steering the conversation back to them.

"Not much," Gideon said. "We've been watching his flat, but we haven't seen him actually do anything incriminating. He's just got a lot of seedy types coming and going a lot."

"When do you watch his flat?" James asked.

"Oh, we can't all the time," Vinnie said. "Our flat happens to be across the street, but we can only really watch the front entrance without looking suspicious."

"It's all really fun," Gideon said. He hopped up. "Well, thank you for the interview, ma'am." He grinned at all of us. "Can't act like we're getting too close with you, of course, but an interview with Astra Lestrange seems like a really good story, right Vinnie?"

"Absolutely spectacular," she agreed, smiling. "Just, really quick, how's school?"

"All right," Astra said, shrugging. "It's N.E.W.T-level, so kind of hard."

Vinnie nodded seriously. "Of course, right. How about Quidditch."

Astra glanced at James. "I don't know, why don't you ask the captain of the Gryffindor team?"

James blushed a little. "Oh, it's good, then. Astra's our star, as always."

Vinnie grinned. "Oh my goodness! Perfect! Let's see, Star Of Gryffindor Called Future Quidditch Star By Captain." She frowned, tilting her head, and Gideon rolled his eyes.

"We'll work on the headline, okay?" He smiled, then held up his camera. "Say cheese!"

Astra smiled as Gideon took a picture, then the two hurried off. She turned to James. "Aren't they amazing?"

"I guess so," he said, frowning. "You, though? Really? Nameless Ned?"

Astra crossed her arms. "As if you've never said anything without thinking, James," she said defensively.

"It's not a big deal," I said quickly, before he could snap back. "Just try not to mention him again."

"Is his name really Kyle?" James asked.

I sighed. "Maybe."

"I'd rather be Ned, to be totally honest," Astra said, smiling. "What a boring name for a spy."

"I suppose not everyone can have cool names," James said. "Kyle, though... It is a bit more boring than average."

I rolled my eyes. "New topic."

"Right, okay," James said, putting his arm on me. "Five sickles says Lacy and Iris ambush Albus as soon as he gets back to ask about his date."

"They own't even wait till he's back," Astra predicted. "I bet they intercept him on the way back to the castle."

Astra was right; Albus didn't walk back with us because Lacy and Iris found him first. They spent the whole way back plying him with questions, and by the time we got to the castle Albus was incredibly flustered. James had to go drag him away as Lacy loudly proclaimed to the common room that Albus and Poppy were the most adorable couple of the year.

~~~~

Hey, look at me! Finally getting on track with updates! Expect them every Wednesday and message me Thursday morning if it doesn't happen, all right? Keep me accountable, guys!

Send in questions for the Q&A guys!

Question of the Day: What would be your favorite class at Hogwarts?

Answer: Mine would be Charms, I think. Even with Haverna, since she's the current teacher (I'm a teacher's pet, okay? I know how to suck up). I just think Charms would be the most fun and interesting.

Vote and comment!

~Elli