In Servitude to the Dark || Tom Riddle

𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨

December 19, 1993

Aster watched her classmates board the Hogwarts Express with a breath of relief. Now that she had taken on several personal projects, it was going to be easier to focus on them without worrying about dodging teachers and students. During the winter break, Hogwarts only maintained a skeleton staff that consisted of Hagrid, in his role as the Keeper of the Keys, and two House Heads. This year it was Professor Snape and Professor Sprout. Technically according to the Hogwarts Charter, the Headmaster was supposed to stay too, if any students younger than 15 stayed, but Dumbledore liked to use this time to attend to his Wizengamut and ICW duties, so he would be coming in and out of the castle.

Aster was surprised to learn that Ron and Hermione had also planned to stay in the castle. Their excuse was to work on Hagrid's and Buckbeak's case, but she had a horrible suspicion that they were actually going to try and make up with her. She wasn't ready to forgive them for spilling her secrets yet and certainly couldn't trust them with her Yule ritual.

For wizards, the Winter night of magic fell on December 21st, during the longest night of the year. Christmas, set on December 25th, was the Christian's attempt to convert their pagan ancestors to the One God system by selecting a date that was both important and familiar to the pagans. And as the Light wizards encouraged the intermingling of muggle culture into their own, Christmas began to take over Yule. It was sad that Hogwarts, a school of witchcraft and wizardry, have forgotten the Olde Ways only to adopt a holiday from a religion that had hunted down, prosecuted, killed, and tried to wipe out the very magic that Hogwarts was trying to teach.

To Aster, Christmas had only meant torn socks, pocket lint, and a bent metal clothes hanger, so she was glad to make a holiday tradition of her own.

On the day of the 21st, Aster was relieved to see the Headmaster was absent again from the community meal table. So, the only one who would even notice her poorly disguised excitement was Professor Snape. If he noticed that she had fasted the whole day, only taking sips of water, or that she stole into the prefects' bathroom for an hour-long ritual cleansing, or that this unusual behavior fell on a night of magic, he didn't say anything. And the only things he asked when she said she'd be unreachable for 2 days was that 1) if she was going to be safe, 2) to tell him when she got back, and 3) if she didn't return on the 2nd night than he would use Aster for potion ingredients.

Aster had chirped a, "yes sir," "I promise, sir," and an "I won't be late, sir," before running out of the office.

At long last, night fell and the 9 pm curfew bell tolled. The new rift between the Golden Trio made it convenient for Aster to sneak out of the Tower without Ron or Hermione getting suspicious. So with her all-purpose backpack, invisibility cloak, and a broom, Aster flew away from Hogwarts, passing a swarm of dementors who all strangely left him alone.

"Why aren't they attacking?" she asked. She had been ready, with the Patronus on the tip of her tongue, ready to blaze a hole through the dementors.

"They know your mission tonight, and do not bar your safe passage," Marvolo explained from behind Aster, riding tandem on her broom.

"How do they even know what I'm doing?" she asked.

"Your magic verily sings this night, Little Serpent," Marvolo chuckled. "They are creatures of the Olden Times, and can sense your purpose, so they approve. Of course, it is only for this night."

"Too bad," the petite girl muttered back.

Using a compass and map retrieved from her backpack, Aster flew as fast as she could to make it to their destination before the witching hour. When she and Marvolo planned the Call for Sprites ritual, they initially planned to Call in the Forbidden Forest. It was a logical choice since the Forest already knew Aster's magic by now, especially after one of its inhabitants gifted her a unicorn horn. But that was back in Halloween when school was still in session and teachers patrolled the grounds regularly. This time, Aster had two days, and Marvolo wanted to take advantage of it.