Ethereal Catastrophe | Tom Riddle

chapter one

Hogwarts 1942

The faint voice of Walburga Black reciting her Transfigurations textbook and the soft touch of Abraxas Malfoys hands massaging Asteria's feet was a pleasant sight to wake up to.

Asteria's honey-coloured hair oozed across the seat of the Hogwarts Express and buttery eyes lit up the dreary compartment like two orbs of glowing citrine as she awoke from her nap.

Abraxas' charming aristocratic features turned to face the golden mess sprawled over the velvety cushion. He traced his pale digits up her long, boney leg until he reached the bottom of her short black dress and pulled it down as she sat herself up against the wall next to the window.

"What are you doing here?" Asteria's velvety voice asked the icy haired Malfoy heir. "You were not here when I fell asleep?" she turned to her dark-haired friend whose nose was stuck into a leather book, looking entirely uninterested "How long have I been asleep?"

"4 hours." Walburga's voice was no longer the soft and gentle one that was uttering transfiguration spells, it was now sharp and strident. "He's," her brown eyes glared at Malfoy and then back to the petite blonde. "been here, for the most part, leaving now and then. Wouldn't want to upset Riddle, would we?" she cooed.

"You know I'm sitting right here?" Malfoy remarked under his breath.

Abraxas and Walburga have never really liked each other. No one really understands why not, even Asteria. Though she can't read Walburgas mind due to a blood pact they made when they were around ten. She can Abraxas' to which there is no motive.

Asteria Aurum is the heiress to the Aurum decent. The Aurums are very famous in the wizarding world for their aim to create the most powerful blood. They had done this by cross-breeding with other magical beings other than wizards such as Seers, Veela, natural Legilmens and Occulumens.

Asteria, being the youngest Aurum so far, inherited all of these powers therefore naturally being able to see into the future, read peoples minds, close off her mind to others and be undeniably dazzling to all men only having to seduce them to get anything that she wants.

One thing she hasn't perfected is transforming into a harpy.

Her father, Augustus Aurum, thinks her to be weak. Every Aurum for at least one-hundred centries had been able to transform into a harpy by the time they were twelve. That is why he pulled her out of her all-girls school: Beauxbatons, much to her mother's distaste, Augustus believes that being with males in Hogwarts will help her practice the art of the siren starting her sixth year today at Hogwarts.

The only reason she went to Beauxbatons is because they specialize in veela magic and divination. Her mother still believes that she should still attend as they have a much stricter policy on who they allow in compared to Hogwarts, in her words "'Zey allow whatever and 'oever in! It would not surprise me if they started allowing 'ouse elves to attend the lectures!" In her thick Parisian accent when arguing with Augustus over the matter.

Asteria thought this to be quite ironic due to her ancestry, although having full magical blood pumping through her veins. Technically, she is not one-hundred per cent witch and neither are her parents.

Being an Aurum, she knows many people within the Britsih pureblood community, her father being British and her house residing in London next door to the Blacks. Asteria and Walburga had been best friends ever since they were infants and were basically inseparable until age eleven where they would start their first year in different schools. They still remained extremely close sending letters to each other frequently and when breaks from school started it would be like they never left each other.

She always thought London to be her true home despite spending most of her teenage years in France. And although Hogwarts is in Scotland, she was elated with the news of her transferring to the British school where most of the Aurum ancestry attended and where her childhood friends were in attendance.