In Servitude to the Dark || Tom Riddle

𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧

July 31, 1994

When the two adults went to wake Aster up, they were both surprised to find that the young woman wasn't in her room. In fact, when interrogating the house-elves, they learned that she had woken up two hours earlier - at the ungodly hour of 6 am - and left the manor on foot. Severus promised to throttle her when she was found.

When Aster finished with her morning run, she was startled to meet one glaring and one worried-looking adult. "What's going on?" she asked, ignoring their quirked eyebrows at her spandex running shorts and tight black sports bra – a set she'd purchased to tease Marvolo with.

"Old Sevvy, here, just had a teensy panic attack," Sirius immediately reported.

"Will you stop calling me by that infernal nickname!" Severus growled at Sirius, followed by a rather nasty stinging hex. Sirius yelped and tried to look wounded, to which Severus only sneered at. And then Severus turned those same dark eyes at Aster. "Why in Merlin's name were you up at 6 in the morning?" he growled, trying to ignore the sight of his student's sweat-slicked, developing curves. "I see. Never mind. Just get in here and clean up. And next time at least leave some kind of note, so we don't have to tear this place apart looking for you."

Aster, who never had anyone to answer to before (aside from Marvolo), cringed. She should have known Severus was on hyper-alert, especially after the revelation she had given him regarding the Dark Lord being back. Still, she had never had an adult who actually cared where she went or what she did or when she did it. Even as she mouthed the words, 'Sorry,' to her teacher and Sirius quickly ushered her up the stairs, she couldn't help but feel a warm tightness in her chest.

Even if it was a scolding, it felt good to know someone cared so much.

Aster showered and changed quickly before heading to the main sitting room. Another stab of guilt hit her when she saw a lovely looking cake surrounded by some presents. Thankfully though, it looked like Sirius managed to calm Severus down, and both men were smiling at her. Well, Sirius was and Severus just managed to not look so intimidating.

Aster took that as a good sign. "Is all this for me?" she asked, not needing to hide the fact that she was pleasantly surprised. She knew the adults were planning something, but she didn't expect the whole cake and presents deal. "This looks great! Thank you, guys."

"It's not there just for looking, Pup." Sirius jumped up, took Aster by the arm, and pushed her into a chair, right in front of the cake. "Presents first," he announced, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Is it customary for your friends to send you presents in the middle of the night?" Severus asked, still sounding annoyed, but whether it was at Aster's disappearance this morning or her friends' owls invading his home, Aster wasn't sure. Probably a little bit of both.

"They must think I'm still at the Dursleys," she replied as she glanced at the colorfully wrapped boxes. There were four presents on the table for her, more than she ever got on her birthday. "It's just better for everyone that the owls come at night when they're sleeping." Aster was so busy opening the box wrapped in flying snitches, that she didn't notice how Severus and Sirius grew quiet at his answer. "Oh, it's another cake," Aster announced, lifting the heavily frosted confection up. It was so lopsided that it looked like it was held up by magic alone.

"With liberal use of stasis charms, I hope," Severus said dryly, with an inquisitively raised eyebrow.

Aster nodded distractedly. "Oh yes. Hermione perfected it after 1st year when she had to send me food." Even though her situation with the Dursleys was greatly improved, she knew what starvation felt like and appreciated her friends' thoughtfulness and concern.