In Servitude to the Dark || Tom Riddle

𝙋𝙖𝙮 𝙏𝙤 𝙐𝙨𝙚 𝙈𝙮 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚

November 1, 1994

Albus allowed himself to relax after finally convincing Sirius that there was no way out of this magical binding contract. Sirius had fought and argued admirably, but in the end, it was Aster's name that was entered, written by her own hand. That was enough to convince the Cup that Aster had voluntarily entered, without coercion.

Of course, Aster hadn't written her name for the purpose of entering the Tournament, but no one needed to know that. At first, Albus considered entering Aster under the name of a fourth school, guaranteeing that she would be selected. But then he figured if Aster wasn't magically strong enough to be chosen under her own merits, then there was no need to test her in the first place, which was the whole point of this Tournament.

So, Albus pulled out some of the homework Aster had turned in, cut her name out, merged this piece of parchment with another that had the words, 'Hogwarts', and slipped the name into the goblet as he took it out of the casket.

It took a little acting on Albus' part to appear surprised when Aster's name came out of the Cup, but privately he was quite pleased. Like everyone else, he wanted to see how powerful Aster had become after four years of Hogwarts' education. He didn't even mind so much that Sirius and Severus were going to help the girl through the tasks, because no matter how much help or research she did, in the end, it would be her magic pitted against the tasks.

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November 2, 1994

Ron watched darkly as Aster left the Gryffindor Common Room for her weekend classes. Normally he wouldn't be up at this hour, but ever since his ex-best friend's name was pulled out of the Goblet, he felt so angry and frustrated that he couldn't even sleep right! He couldn't understand how things just magically fell right into Aster's lap without her even working for it.

First, Aster had gotten on the Quidditch team, breaking the century-year-long rule on first years not allowed on the team, and getting the highly sought after position of Seeker, without having to try out. Hell, even the first broom Aster got was delivered to her in the middle of the Great Hall, for free! What kind of first-year had that kind of luck? Huh?

Being on the Quidditch team and being its captain was Ron's lifelong goal, and Aster had it all handed to her without even asking.

When Aster actually quit the team, Ron thought it was his chance to step up. But the only spot available was Aster's old Seeker position, and Ron knew he was no Seeker. Third-year would have been fine, but then with Black's escape, everyone was treating Aster like a little princess again. Even Ron's parents were all worried about Aster when, in fact, Black had slashed up his curtains and held a knife over his bed. And that wasn't even mentioning the multiple vaults Aster inherited that year. She was probably richer than Malfoy! It was unbelievable, but what really topped it all was Sirius Black, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House, actually adopting Aster and made her his heir!

Meanwhile, Ron, the sixth son of seven siblings, was stuck with a crooked, shabby house, sharing a room with Stuck-Up Percy, and scraping the bottom of his pockets just for some spare change. It was infuriating! This past summer, he thought he finally got something that Aster didn't, tickets to the World Cup, and VIP seats, at that! It was probably the happiest moment of his life until.... it was ripped right out of his hands by none other than his so-called best friend and her snobby-rich godfather! Surely, the great Aster Potter could have pulled some strings and get her best friend into the VIP box too.

Really, there was only so much Ronald Bilius Weasley could put up with, and this thing with the Tournament was the last straw. With each passing day, Ron could see Aster turning into a Slytherin, throwing her name and money around, keeping secrets, and avoiding...