𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧 | 𝐭.𝐦.𝐫

𝟎𝟓

The weeks mounting to Aster's departure for Hogwarts were uneventful in said girl's opinion.

The moment she returned from her trip to Diagon Alley, she was immediately greeted by the smiling face of her Grandfather, who heartily encouraged her to tell him about her wand.

He ran his fingers over the details of fine petals that ran like ribbons from the base to the tip, almost like embers of a flame. 

"Wisteria. Phoenix core." 

Arcturus lets out a chuckle. "A fine wand for a fine witch."

Aster weighed whether or not to tell him a detail Ollivander mentioned. It would be good to know someone else's opinion.

His reaction was far from what she expected. 

"Phoenixes have lived long before there were even wizards, Aster. And there can only be so many of them. The possibility of that creature giving only two feathers can be that they were the only ones given in that one cycle. There could be other magicals from another lifetime who carried that same core. I wouldn't think much of it," Arcturus said in a lecturing tone.

He took one last glance at the pile of supplies. No pets. Unsurprising.

Calling upon Hibsy, they were all packed and sorted into her room.

"Now," Arcturus got up from his chair and offered his arm. "Teatime?"

"And a game of chess?" Aster's eyes brightened.

"As the lady wishes."

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Aster watched as the early morning fog rolled over the hills beyond the grounds of Black Castle on the top level of the observatory, a pile of books littered haphazardly at her feet. It came as a disappointment to her to find out that the book list for her first year was far behind what she had been taught and studied by herself.

She had finished the basics of theory work long before she turned eight, practical work by the time she turned nine and application by ten. If this was how it was going to turn out for the rest of her years at Hogwarts, she'd only be held back.

But if Grandfather was to be believed, there are things in polite wizarding society that can only be experienced first-hand, Hogwarts being the top of the list. There she would start her groundwork. 

Of meeting the right people, making the right connections, separating herself from the nonsense GIrl-Who-Lived identity, and most importantly, squashing incessant bugs that get in her way.

Dumbledore was like a cockroach, you have to crush it within all its being to get rid of it, and Aster's killed plenty of them during her time in the orphanage. It was like that muggle saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

But nevertheless, she pored over her new acquisitions, revised and refreshed each lesson until she can recite each chapter of every book from cover to cover. She will not lack.

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