Harry Potter, Astra Knight and the Phoenix Order Times

Chapter Two

By: Ehren Hatten

Harry sat at his desk. He was reading through the various letters he had gotten from Hermione and the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley had sent had sent him another couple of meat pies for his birthday present. Ron had sent him a Quidditch book set that he had found.

Harry opened Hermione's present. It was a book on various spells that she had gotten in Bulgaria. It was just like Hermione to send a book of information. He could just hear her voice saying something like, "Just in case you run into You-know-who over the summer...."

He opened Sirius' package and found a picture of himself and the other Marauders. It was a good picture too. Sirius and Harry's father were smiling as they mussed up their friend's, Remus, hair up. Pettigrew was in the picture as well. He was also mussing up Remus' hair as well and he was smiling. Harry growled at Pettigrew's face. He knew that, at one point, Pettigrew was their friend, but he was still angry with him for letting his father get killed.

Harry sighed and went to the last letter. It was written in the same purple, messy, but precise lettering.

Harry,

I already know who the hell Dumbledore is… I guess I didn't specify what I wanted to know. No, my headmistress had written me a letter recently asking me if I had met anyone new and I told her about you. She said that she wanted me to be nice and invite you and your friends over here. She also said that she would ask Dumbledore for more information. Meanwhile, I'M stuck trying to figure out what the hell she's talking about.

Oh well… I guess it's all the better. Anyway… I got letters from your pals and they all thought it was a neat idea. I'll get ya'll on Monday, okay? I already sent the same notice to your pals so you don't have to worry.

Love,

Astra Knight

Harry didn't know what to think now. "Monday?! Today is Sunday! Good lord! I have to get ready!"

Harry zipped about his room in a flurry. Hedwig watched him go about as he went back and forth collecting his things. "I've gotta get my things together! I don't want to be late!"

He stopped. He turned to his door and slowly realization struck him. "I never said anything to the Dursleys!" He zipped out his door and ran down stairs.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he found Uncle Vernon sitting in his chair reading the paper. Harry straightened his shirt and sauntered towards him. Uncle Vernon looked up above his paper and grimaced at him. "What do you want, boy?"

"I have a friend coming to get me for a trip to America. She'll be coming tomorrow."

Uncle Vernon stood up. His face had gone purple as it always did when he got angry. "You let one of…. YOUR kind get a hold of this ADDRESS!"

"I SAID that I was going to AMERICA.” Harry said in a smug tone. He was sure that this would soon catch on.

Uncle Vernon stopped. A strange glint crept into his eyes. He smiled as he sat down and opened his newspaper back up. "I think we can swing for you to go…" He suddenly got a thought. It looked like hard work. "WE don't have to pay for anything, right."

"No… she said SHE was coming to get me." Harry suddenly thought of something. He didn't know when or even HOW Astra was going to come. He started worrying about how she was going to get to England as he walked up the stairs.

He walked up the stairs and into his room. He shut the door and smiled. He had never been anywhere else other than England and Scotland. He looked over to his desk to find a black barn owl sitting on it. "He-llo… what's this?"

The owl hooted importantly and lifted up his leg. Harry untied the letter and stared at the owl. Its eyes were yellow, but had slitted pupils like a cat. Harry stared at it. It suddenly hooted at him, like it wanted him to read the letter immediately.

Harry opened the letter and read.

Harry,

This is Skywise. Don't worry about him. He may seem scary, but he's really just a harmless thing. Anyway, I realized that I hadn't given you a time as to when I will be there! I'm sorry. I'll be there somewhere around 12:00 p.m. Yes… High Noon! BE THERE! ^_^

Lots of Love!

Astra!

Harry looked up at the owl. "So you're Skywise, eh?"

The owl stared at him with those yellow eyes of his. Harry started getting nervous. The owl reminded him of Mrs. Norris with the way he was staring at him. "I think you can go now…” he said nervously.

The owl stared at him still.

"Well… go on…"

It still stared at him.

Harry wrote something on the letter and put it in a new envelope. He started to tie it to the owl's leg, but the owl snatched it up and flew out the window. "Well…. He was certainly impatient! I think that's the second time an owl has been rude to me, Hedwig."

Hedwig hooted her acknowledgment.

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Harry sat in the living room of number four Privet drive. He waited with Uncle Vernon, who was "reading" his newspaper. Harry knew that Uncle Vernon wasn't actually reading the newspaper, just as he knew that Uncle Vernon got dressed up because he wanted to intimidate Astra.

Harry looked at his watch. It was five minutes past twelve and Astra still had not shown up. Uncle Vernon grumbled over in his chair. "Damnable girl… We could have had some prior engagement!" He rustled the newspaper in his irritation.

Harry gave his uncle a death-glare and looked back at his watch. She was seven minutes late. 'Come on Astra', he thought, 'Where are you…'

Just then, a pair of feet appeared in the fireplace. "OW!", came a shout of pain accompanied by a loud thump.

Harry stared. "Oh dear… be careful!"

The pair of feet turned into a pair of knees hitting the ground and a blonde, soot covered girl emerged from it. "*cough * *cough* The builder of this fireplace needs to be SMACKED!" She coughed some more and stood up. She was a very tall girl now and looked a bit like she could compete with Angelina Johnson. "This thing's too damned small!" she grumbled.

She looked over at Harry and he gulped. She was very pretty, but that wasn't what made him suddenly get nervous. He saw her ears. They were pointed. 'She's an elf!--or at least part, at any rate--’, he thought. "Y-you must be Astra--I take it--"

Astra stared at Harry and she suddenly got the image of the black haired boy in the haze again. This time, though, she remembered his eyes. 'It's him! The boy in my dreams…... but what did the dreams ever mean!’ she thought.

Astra smiled pleasantly, walked over to Harry and put out her hand. "Hiya! You must be Harry, then…" Harry took her hand and let her shake it vigorously. "I see that the photos I have of ya didn't lie," she beamed at him.

Harry stared at her incredulously. "There are photos of me in America?"

"Of course there are, dummy!" Astra retracted her hand and thought for a moment. "It does seem as if I really AM that lucky…."

"Eh?” He stared blankly at her.

"Don't worry about it," she said dismissively. She looked back at the fireplace as she rubbed her head. Then, she turned back to Harry and smiled again. "Um… do you have you're trunk ready? I'm kinda on a time limit here…."

Harry jumped and ran up the stairs. Astra put on her magic gloves and started to widen the fireplace when Uncle Vernon grabbed Astra's shoulder and turned her around. "WHAT THE--!"

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!" he screamed uncharacteristically at the young witch.

Astra glared at Uncle Vernon. 'Must be Harry's uncle…’ she thought as she forced a small smile. "Ya don't have to shout, meathead! I can hear ya just dandy!"

Uncle Vernon stared hard at Astra, as if he didn't believe his ears. The girl looked just like any other girl. She was dressed in blue jeans and a baseball tee that had "Rangers" emblazoned across her chest, but nothing he noted as being part of wizards. "What did you just say…?"

It was then that Harry entered into the hallway carrying his trunk. He noticed Astra and Uncle Vernon facing off. "Oh dear…"

"You heard me…. I told ya ta quitcher bitchin'! I swear! This just proves Nevaeh's theory that MEN PMS!" she said with a smirk.

Uncle Vernon's face and neck went darker. "How… HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE A LITTLE INGRATE LIKE YOU COME INTO MY HOME, DESTROY MY THINGS, AND CALL ME VULGAR THINGS!"

Astra's blue-gray eyes seemed to flash red with anger. "Simple… I just did…"

Harry gulped at the oncoming barrage. "I'm going to get it for sure now," he muttered, "I'll never be able to see the light of day ever again!"

"FIRST of all… how dare YOU tell me what to do! I just came here to retrieve Harry and you are just all of a sudden jumping on me like I'm some kind of criminal, WHICH I'm not! SECOND! How dare YOU call me an ingrate," she paused to smirk, "At least I don't have to dress up to make myself feel important!"

"THAT did it… I'm dead now," muttered Harry. He started imagining all of the bad things that would happen to him when he came back. He caused his trunk to hit the first step loudly.

Uncle Vernon and Astra both looked up at Harry. Uncle Vernon looked distinctly white now. Astra ran up the steps and grabbed Harry's trunk and lifted it onto her back. Then, she grabbed Harry's shirt and dragged him over to the fireplace. She threw a handful of floo powder into the fire she made appear and tossed the trunk in. "Nineteen-eighty-two Planet Drive! Austin, Texas!"

"Whu?" was all Harry got out before he was unceremoniously pulled into the fire. Then, everything went at a dizzying pace. Harry held onto his stomach as it gave a lurch. "ARRRRRRRRRRGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Astra looked back at him and smiled. "Don't worry… It'll be over in a min-" she was cut off by her rolling onto the ground with Harry. "UTE!" she coughed out as Harry accidentally landed on top of her.

Harry blushed and jumped right off. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Harry! There you are! What kept you!"

Harry turned around to see Hermione and Ron walking over to him. "Ron! Hermione!" Harry smiled as Hermione hugged him and Ron slapped him on the back.

"Ron? Where did…"

Harry looked behind Hermione to see a familiar redhead walk into the room, except it couldn't have been whom he thought it was. "Ginny?" he asked.

Ginny smiled at him. "Hullo Harry!"

Harry felt himself blush slightly. She had grown some during the summer. Her long red hair was pulled into pigtail braids and she had an actual figure. Hermione let go of Harry and walked over to Astra. "Er… do you have any tea?" she asked her.

"Yeah… it's in the pantry… which kind would you like?" Astra led Hermione in the kitchen. She opened the pantry and Hermione found ten kinds of tea on one shelf. "I have peppermint, Earl Grey, green tea with mint, green tea with jasmine, rose tea, peach tea, regular tea, raspberry tea, diet raspberry iced tea and regular decaf iced tea."

Hermione's mouth had dropped open when Astra opened the pantry door and her hearing shut off as well. 'How can one family have SO MUCH TEA!' she thought.

"Hello? Astra? Where are you…?"

Nevaeh Ives walked into through the front door. She looked around and walked into the living room. There she saw Harry and Ginny, Ron was staring at Harry with a sort of confused/death glare, Fred and George came into the house from the backdoor and Astra was poking her head around the corner from the kitchen. "Nev! You're here!" she said cheerfully. "I was wondering when you would get here!"

"Apparently…", she said as she stared at Harry. She blushed furiously when he looked over at her and smiled. Nevaeh walked into the kitchen and found Astra waving her hand in front of Hermione's face. "What's wrong with her?"

Hermione's mouth was wide open and she was staring at the pantry door like it was the most unusual thing in the world. Astra smiled at Nevaeh with her own knowing smile. Nevaeh just gave an exasperated sigh.

"Don't know… I just opened the pantry door and she blanked out when I started to list my teas,” Astra said.

"No wonder… listening to YOU talk about your tea choices will make ANYONE blank out." Nevaeh walked over to Astra and smirked as she leaned into Astra's ear. "I TOLD you that you were that lucky!"

Now... click the Review button because I hath become addicted to the reviews!

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To those of you who are begging me to not RUIN this whole shabang with H/G or R/Hr shipping please note....

I AM THE AUTHOR! I am also a RABID H/G R/Hr SHIPPER! Therefore... and I'm also going by what JK hinted throughout the four books..... I'm going to do H/G and R/Hr.... but first... I'll have a little angst fest with Harry thinking about Cho. *tee hee* cause it's just so cute! :3

Chapter Three

By: Ehren Hatten

"PHOTO OP!"

Harry groaned audibly, as did Astra. Her mother had come home early and was INCREDIBLY happy to have company. Astra gathered the others into a now familiar formation. Benedikta Knight was Astra's mother. She was hard to say “no” to, as well. She was also very tall. Not quite as tall as Hagrid, but taller than a normal human being. She was incredibly thin as well. She had long silvery blonde curls and large, pointed ears.

"OH! I do love company! *giggle * Especially company as ADORABLE as Harry!"

Harry blushed furiously. Astra growled at her mother in frustration. "Mom… just take the picture so we can continue to shop! I told these guys that I'd show them around!" She sighed and rolled her eyes.

The flash went off and Astra stood up, almost knocking over Harry. She held out a hand to him and he took it. When he stood up, he looked around the mall that they were at. "Barton Creek mall! The best place on Earth aside from Terran Lights!" Astra winked at Nevaeh.

They walked around and Ron was gawking at everyone passing by. Hermione sighed. "Ron…. Would you stop that! People are starting to stare!" she whispered at him.

"But these things are sooo weird! I mean… LOOK! LOOK AT THAT!"

"Ron! If you were in muggle studies, you would know that THAT is an elevator!” Hermione sighed.

"Ell-lee-vay-ter" he said slowly as if to catch the hidden meaning in the word. Ron looked around and noticed two of their party had disappeared. "Er-- Where's Fred and George?"

Astra stopped suddenly. "Oh crap…. There's no telling what those two will do!" She looked at the rest of the troupe. "Doesn't someone have a LEASH for those two?!"

Nevaeh walked over to Astra's side and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down… I think I saw them go into Aladdin's back there."

"Aladdin's? What are you two talking about?” asked a confused Ginny.

"Aladdin's Castle… it's an arcade… it's a good place to play ski ball," Astra said as she continued to think about their last destination. "Hmmm… we better go get them before we have to pay for some blown up machine."

They walked back toward Sears and found Fred and George sitting outside the Arcade. Fred looked up and nudged George. "OY! I thought we'd never see civilization ever again!"

Astra blushed slightly. "Well… ya wouldn't if it weren't for your little brother here…." Ron reddened slightly as Astra pointed him out. "He noticed ya'll were A-WOL."

Fred and George sidled over to Ron and each slung an arm around his shoulders. "OUR HERO!" They both made their voices go into a high pitched tone to sound feminine.

"Geroff you guys!"

Ginny giggled lightly. Hermione sighed and shook her head, as did Nevaeh. Astra grinned and smacked Harry on the shoulder. "Let's get a move on, people!"

They passed the food court again and went up the stairs to the second floor. They didn't take the escalator because Astra didn't trust Fred and George to behave. They went over to a small, darkened shop with gilded doors and walked in. "Hot Topic! Another great store!"

"I hate this place…. I really hate this place…." Nevaeh muttered as she clung to Astra's arm.

"Why don't you like this place, Nevaeh?" Ginny inquired.

"Call me Nev…. And… I … just… don't! It scares me!"

A girl that was a couple of years older than Fred and George walked over to the troupe. She had purple hair that was cut close to her head. She wore heavy black eye make-up, and had a pierced nose. She smiled. "Hello… how may we help you?"

Harry stared at her. He had never seen people dressed like this before. Her smile turned to a slight frown. He realized that he had been staring too long and blushed. "*achem * Sorry…"

She smiled again. "It's okay… is there anything I can help you with?"

Astra walked up to the front and smiled. "No… we're just looking…" She got really close the woman and whispered. "They're from England…."

The girl got stars in her eyes and smiled even wider. "OH! England!"

Astra smirked and took Harry's wrist as she dragged him towards the rest of the store. "I figured that would work…"

"What…"

"I was trying to distract her from the Weasleys…. I know most of ya'll don't generally hang around punks and goths much," she smirked as she let go of Harry and Nevaeh. Nevaeh looked grateful to have circulation going through her hand again.

"Punks… Goths… what are you talking about?” Harry asked. He suddenly realized that he was looking at a VERY bright thong. He coughed and stepped away from the shelf full of women's underwear. He then tripped over a person and landed on them.

Harry got himself into a position so he could see whom he tripped on. It was Ginny and she was both furious and embarrassed. "Er..sorry Gin… I didn't mean to…"

She started giggling loudly. "That's okay! I didn't mean to run into you Harry!" She squirmed under Harry and he suddenly realized that he was still on top of her. He jumped up and took her hand to help her up.

He looked over at Ron and saw the same confusion/death glare that he had on yesterday, when Harry accidentally knocked into Ginny, sending her into his lap and him on the floor. Harry then looked over at the rest of the troupe. They were all smirking at him. He blushed and walked back to where Hermione was.

"I think it's safe to say that we can get out of here," said a saddened Astra.

They walked down the walkway and down the stairs to a large Island store in the middle of the mall. "Big…. Entertainment?" asked Fred and George with identical grins.

Astra blushed. "It sells comic books…. Especially manga…"

Harry stared at her when she mentioned ‘manga’. "What's manga…?" he asked her blankly.

Astra picked up a small book that had the same drawing type on its cover as the drawing she had given him for his birthday. "THIS is manga. They're Japanese comics. Unfortunately, I can't read Japanese…"

"Oh…." he said like he understood. He shook his head and walked over to the poster stand. He stared at Ron who was staring at a poster of 'manga' characters with bulging muscles and hair that seemed to stand on end into the air.

"They don't move," said Ron gruffly. Fred and George walked over and stared at the poster as well.

"You're right… they DON'T move…."

They walked over to another poster of a girl with long blonde hair and big brown eyes. "Buffy the vampire slayer…. I think I've seen that on the telly not that long ago," said Harry.

"Was it any good?" The twins turned to him with identical grins.

"Well… if you call watching some dimwitted girl kicking monster ass any good. I guess it would be then."

Fred and George smirked at each other. "I guess we better watch it then!"

Ron and Harry shook their heads at the twins. "You guys are pathetic, you do realize this," said Ron.

"You say that like it's a bad thing…"

"Besides… it takes SKILL to get to OUR level pathetic-ness!"

Ron and Harry smacked their foreheads in unison.

"Hey Astra--Where's your mom?" said Nevaeh as she walked over to her friend, who was 'reading' another manga.

"She went off to go look at some new dress that she saw in the window," Astra waved her hand dismissively as she talked.

"Whatcha reading anyhow…" Nevaeh crouched down to where Astra was sitting next to the newsstand.

"Is there anything else I WOULD be lookin' at? Besides Witchblade of course…" She held up the book and Nevaeh saw Sailor Moon plastered on the front.

"OH! THERE YOU ARE!"

Astra looked up to see her mother running with a shopping bag in her hand. Then, she tripped and fell flat on her face. Astra sighed and stood up. "All right, mom?"

Benedikta sat up on her knees and giggled. "Of course I am dear…!"

Astra helped her mom up and they walked over to the newsstand. "Is there anything you would like, Astra?"

Astra picked up a Witchblade comic book and held it up. "This…. Harry? Guys? Would any of ya'll like anything?"

They all shook their heads. "We probably ought to get back to your house soon," said Hermione politely. Astra nodded and went to collect her new comic book.

When they finally found the car, they all piled in and drove off to Astra's house. Fred and George drooled over every page of Astra's comic book and Ron questioned why the pictures didn't move. Ginny sat next to Harry. Ron sat next to Hermione. Nevaeh sat next Astra.

When they got back to Astra's home, they filed out of the car and walked up to the house. Astra was greeted by a black furry mass. "ACK!"

"What the hell is that!" said Ron as he jumped back.

Hermione was suddenly pounced on by an orange furry mass. "Hello Crookshanks!" Hermione giggled.

Astra finally got reoriented with reality and looked at the black furry thing lying on her shoulders. "SKYWISE! Didya have ta scare the crap out of me like that!"

Harry stared hard that cat. The cat stared at him in return. "That…. Is Skywise? I thought he was a bird!"

"He's uh…." Astra looked at Skywise who looked back at her with the same worried look. "I really don't know WHAT he is…I guess he is like a changeling or something… He changes into a black Barn owl…"

Skywise suddenly morphed into a black barn owl sitting, and staring at Harry, on her shoulders.

"A cat…"

Skywise morphed into a large black cat. He continued to stare at Harry.

"And a snake…"

The cat turned into a long black snake. Harry got really nervous. Suddenly, the Weasleys got nervous, as did Hermione. Nevaeh scooted away from Astra's side. "I HATE snakes," she said timidly.

"I still can't figure why you hate snakes… I LOVE them… They're so CUTE!" Astra said brightly as she patted Skywise's head.

Harry started to back away from her now, as did Hermione and the Weasley's. Benedikta giggled at Skywise and patted him, as well. "He really is incredibly adorable!"

Ron pulled Fred, George, Hermione, Ginny and Harry into a huddle. "She’s nutters!"

"I don't think so-- I think it's genetic-- she just likes animals--", said Ginny.

"That sounds logical. Any normal person would have gone crazy if they had found out that their pet was a changeling or something of the like," said Hermione.

Harry looked back at Astra. She was patting the snake and so was her mother. "Maybe it's something to with the fact that she is half elf….?" He turned around to see everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Elf?!" everyone said in unison.

"You mean to tell me that you didn't notice her ears?"

"That would explain why she likes that thing she is keeping as a pet," said Fred. George nodded.

Ron stared at his brothers. "What are you talking about!"

George turned to Ron, as did Fred. Hermione spoke this time. "Elves are known for their link to nature!"

“However bizarre that nature is,” said Fred.

"Er—she’s an elf?" asked Ginny. She looked at them all confusedly

"Yes, she's half. Her mother, there, is the pure elf." Nevaeh walked into the huddle. "I still don't see what she sees in snakes though…"

Harry looked uncomfortable. The snake stared at him from Astra's shoulder. The snake turned to Astra's ear and hissed into it. Astra turned and stared at the snake. She smiled and seemed to say something back to it. Harry stared incredulously. 'Could SHE also be a Parselmouth??', he thought.

Astra walked closer to the huddle and everyone started to back away from her. She stared at them; a frown appeared on her once lit up features. 'They're not going to accept me-- Miss White was wrong!', she thought.

Hermione looked frustrated at the Weasleys and at Harry, then back at Astra. "Honestly!" She walked right up to Astra and smiled. "I'm sorry for all of this, Astra. They're a little timid when it comes to snakes."

Astra put out her shoulder with Skywise's head on it and she smiled. "Pat him! He really likes it!"

Hermione patted Skywise on the head and Skywise almost sounded as if he was purring. Hermione retracted her hand. "Snakes…. Don't …. Purr…"

Astra smacked Skywise on the head. "Don't do that! You’re scaring her!" was what she said, but it came out as a bunch of hissing sounds. Harry understood every bit of what she said and started laughing.

"It looks as if you are scaring them more than me, doofus!" said Skywise in Parseltongue. Astra glared at Skywise. She genuinely looked as if she were going to strangle the snake. In fact, the picture even flashed inside her head. Harry laughed harder. Ginny looked scared and confused at the same time.

"ACK! Another one!" said Nevaeh as she pointed to Harry.

Astra put a hand around Harry's shoulders and smiled. "Photo OP!" she shouted. Harry groaned