Astra

LVI - The Clairvoyant Ring

NOTICING A SMALL CRACK underneath the large jewel, Astra pulled it open, frantically realizing that she had probably just broken a family heirloom after doing so and trying to put it back together before realizing it had a hinge.

It was meant to be opened.

She wondered whether her dad had known about it, whether it was something he had wanted her to figure out, but she didn't necessarily understand.

All the other gifts made sense. The books were something she would enjoy, the notebook was a connection to her dad, James, and Remus, but the heirlooms? As far as she knew, he hated his family. It wouldn't make sense for him to give her something that was passed down throughout the Black family.

Nonetheless, she slowly opened it again, peeking to see the golden inside. The compartment couldn't be any bigger than her thumb, which rendered it quite useless. However, after moving the jewel even further, she noticed that the gold went much further than she thought. 

Astra looked around the dorm, making sure that no one was going to walk in, and took off her necklace. She dangled the chain into the ring and, surprisingly but not really, it went all the way in.

Careful not to drop it, she put the necklace back on, and this time stuck the feather-side of a quill inside.

Once again, it went all the length down. It must have been an undetectable extension charm, but what was the use of it? Hiding quills? That surely couldn't be the reason, but it didn't look like she could fit something useful, like a book inside. In fact, she couldn't even put her hand in, so she didn't even know whether she would be able to take anything out of it.

Suddenly, the gold inside of the ring started to glow before nearly transparent smoke came out. Astra nearly covered her eyes, but it was then that she saw the smoke start to fade away and a sort of screen take its place.

She gasped when she saw it.

There, clear as day, was the vision she had seen of the dark mark.

Just like the first time, it disappeared as quickly as it came, and the ring was completely back to normal.

Returning back to reality, she heard giggling coming from outside the dorm, so Astra grabbed her bag and ring, nearly slamming Lavender and Parvati in the face with the door, and ran to the library in hopes of finding Luna again.

***

"So, the ring just opened and showed the dark mark vision?" asked Luna, "Curious... I would probably go to Hermione... she reads more than me and would probably have an answer, though are you sure you weren't infected with whackspurts when seeing it?"

"No! Definitely not," Astra insisted. No matter how much she tried, the ring wouldn't open again. Part of her said it was because Luna was there, and that she needed to do it by herself, but what if it was just her imagination? 

"And Hermione has enough going on with Harry, she can't know about these visions.. yet."

Astra sighed and decided to read some of the books Luna had brought her; maybe there would be an answer in one of them.

It was only until about half an hour later when Astra found something in her book, about jewelry that was sold to seers. She quickly pointed it out to Luna, who found it just as fascinating as her.

'Certain Clairvoyant pieces of jewelry, usually rings or bracelets with large jewels, are able to be opened, presenting an opening to hold memories of visions. This works partly like a pensive, being able to store the visions, yet only provides a screen rather than entering the memory yourself...'