❛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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The chatter echoing off the walls fell silent, then fell apart all over again.
'Ooh.. here comes trouble.' They'd come back to throw taunts at her again. 'Save yourself however you can.. little Azrael.'
But she could care less about them.
Ria stared at her, eyes wide, threatening to fill with tears any moment now.
Dolores Umbridge was a maniac.
The way she said those words was maniacal.
The way her scanned the Hall only for a moment and found Asteria instantly was maniacal.
The way that unsettling grin didn't leave her face was so damn maniacal.
"The feast is over!" Dumbledore's command startled everyone. "The House prefects and teachers shall lead all the students to their dormitories. The ghosts in the castle are forbidden to linger in the Hall for the next three hours."
There was a loud chatter of protest, but no one resisted when Dumbledore silenced them once again, following their prefects and teachers in a hush.
The quiet after that felt daunting. There were still people; Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, who hadn't said anything yet. Some students hadn't left, of course.. Harry, Hermione and Ron, Amelia and Blaise, and Theodore. But no one asked them to.
The Great Hall had never felt so empty. Ria had the wish to never see it so lacking of life and joy ever again.
She could cry, scream, throw a tantrum.. conquer the world, maybe laugh over Umbridge's body one day— do whatever she could but— but the chill that went down her spine.. she would never forget it.
The fine edges of her spoon were digging into her palms. Her heart was thundering inside her chest— the enchanted sky above her head matching it. She could feel other eyes burning into her. She could feel her own eyes burn, but if she cried.. they would know.
She could feel it stir inside her.. with fear.
"That statement you made is quite bold, Dolores." McGonagall's sincere voice boomed through the Hall. She left the staff table first. And Ria felt as though a shield had raised itself in front of her. She breathed deeply through her nose.
They couldn't harm you even if they tried to. She told herself.. or the frightened child that was the Obscurus. I wouldn't let anyone harm me.
If it acted out now, it was over for her.
"You say it is an investigation, but act as if I've already been proven guilty." Ria found her voice, firm, thankfully. "I think you should choose what you believe first."
She couldn't fall apart now.
She couldn't fall apart ever.
Umbridge's gaze didn't move, as if taunting her somehow. As if she knew Ria was moments away from unravelling.
