❛ASTERIA EDWARDS was your average, typical eleven-year-old child stuck in a pandemic with her mother Isabella Diggory until she found out where she truly came from.. and where she truly belonged...❜
[extended summary inside]
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harry potte...
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By the time Asteria and Harry reached the Great Hall, the first-years had already been lining up at the entrance. She had dropped Cassie off to the room where they kept all their luggages and pets when they arrived at the start of the term.
Ria spotted Joel, standing nervously in the middle. He smiled at her when he noticed her, and she returned it gladly.
There was also another person who they'd least expected to be standing there. "Another minute and I would have had the pleasure to deduct points." He sneered.
"No one cares, Severus, move over." Ria mumbled, brushing past him and into the Hall. She'd talk to him later.
The Great Hall, as usual, had been shimmering with candles and dazzling with an enchanted starry sky like it did every year. The only thing that made it all ugly were the whispers that carried god-knew-what gossip as the two of them walked by.
Harry caught up to her. "Ria, can we tal—"
"No."
He grabbed her hand, and she looked back at him. "We're going to be dealing with major shit, this year, I believe." He clarified. "All I ask is, that we talk about it, and try to face it together. Because we can't get it done on our own. That's all. Nothing else."
Ria gulped, then nodded after a moment of contemplation. "Right. Okay."
He gently released her hand. And she forced herself to remove all his warmth and comfort from her mind.
"Well.. I'll be in my usual separate dorm. So you'll know where to find me if you want to discuss things." She let him know before walking towards the Slytherin table.
There was no other option. He was the end to Voldemort; that was confirmed. But if she was the end to the Seer's Curse.. they had to work together.
She sat at the very end of the table, where there weren't as many students, and released the breath she'd been holding. She had known she wasn't prepared to come back here after all.. amongst all this crowd. But she couldn't stay hidden either. It did her no good.
She stayed unfocused through the entirety of the Sorting Hat's song after realising it had resorted to its usual version after the warning it had given the previous year.
The sorting went by pretty quickly. Ria only caught a name or two; one of them including "Mallard, Joel!" who got sorted into Ravenclaw with a grin on his face.
They were just near the end of the feast when Dumbledore came forward for his speech. "The very best of evenings to you!" he said, smiling broadly, his arms opened wide as though to embrace the whole room.
"What happened to his hand?" The gasp from Hermione took everyone's attention. She was not the only one who had noticed though.
Ria remembered that day again, when she had first seen it. His hand was still as dark and as lifeless as that day.
