In Servitude to the Dark || Tom Riddle

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨

May 15, 1994

For the first two weeks, Aster wasn't really worried about Hedwig. But as the days passed, and no snowy white owl in sight, she began to think she should have sent Terra and Hestia with Hedwig as well. To pass the time, Aster imagined dozens of scenarios of how her encounter with Sirius Black would go. In one, the man was completely insane, and all this work was for nothing. In the best case, Sirius was in full control of his faculties and actually wanted her as a godfather should. Of course, that meant he and Snape would have to cross wands so to speak, and Aster didn't want to lose the relationship she had with her Healing/Potion's teacher.

And then Marvolo reminded her that Snape's loyalty was still in question.

It was something that bothered Aster more and more as she got to know the real man behind the sour personality. She wanted to broach the subject with the teacher but was half afraid that she wouldn't get the answers she wanted. But whether she was ready or not, she knew her time was running out. Spring Break had come and gone, and Marvolo planned to get his body back after this Summer. That was just a little more than a month away!

Suddenly, the ink in Aster's ink well began bubbling, bringing her attention back to the present. With seeker reflexes, she clamped a palm over the ink well, but not before her friends noticed the odd bubbles.

"You know you shouldn't shake them," Hermione scolded and shook her head. "No wonder your papers are smeared in ink all the time."

"It's alright, mate," Ron added. "I got bubbles in my ink too."

Aster gave them a weak smile and let out a sigh of relief. Then she glanced at her parchment. It had been a while since she asked Hermione to check her work, so she didn't know just how much her handwriting had improved under Andromeda's coaching. "There's something I need to check on," Aster said quickly and cleaned up her work area.

Hermione, Ron, and Neville all nodded, too absorbed in revising for their midterm in Potions. But Ron did look up to ask if Aster could bring them something from kitchens. She gave a noncommittal answer before picking up her backpack and leaving their common room. Once she was safely outside, she opened the diary.

"Marvolo,"  she wrote. Her friend was still weakened from what they did in the Chamber of Secrets. Not only had he taken possession of Aster again, but he had to use his own magic to draw on her's in order to scry for Pettigrew and activate the Dark Mark. The effort cost him a lot, and even now almost three weeks later, Marvolo was still recovering from it. "Hedwig's back."

"Did the mission run smoothly?"

"Hold on, let me ask."

Aster whispered for the two sprites, and each one appeared on her shoulders. She looked at them in concern, noting how tired they looked (especially Aria who never liked to stand still). She offered her fingers, not even flinching at the mild sting of being cut. It amused her that her blood seemed to act as both a pepper up and cheering charm to her elemental friends because they both perked right up.

"Were you guys and Hedwig successful?"

Aria nodded quickly while Triton's watery form morphed into that of a small rat slumped over sideways and obviously fast asleep.

Aster giggled at the imitation before reporting to the diary. "I think it went smoothly and according to Triton, Pettigrew is still in his rat form and knocked out."

"What are your plans now, little one?" Marvolo asked curiously.

"I would like to tell Professor Snape everything, except for the identity of my Source," Aster answered slowly and thoughtfully. "I was also thinking about giving him his Grimoire back since we couldn't break its enchantment after all this time."