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Trespassing house-elves was not something Aster thought she would have to worry about in her lifetime, in the end, it's just another bullet point to her list of things that didn't need to happen but did anyway.
It was in the after-hours of her 12th birthday celebration and the castle was just beginning to settle down for the night. Aster, Sirius, and Arcturus had been holed up in the latter's study, the former regaling both men tales of her summer escapade. She had never been the chattiest child, but standing there with her hands flailing all over, it seemed she had gained something more from her trip than a good tan.
Aster was a whirlwind, pulling out several carefully wrapped trinkets and souvenirs from her luggage, more than it looked like it could carry. By the end of it, her grandfather's ebony wood shelves were littered with various new knickknacks, leaving the same wooded desk space free.
Arcturus's beard ruffled. "Didn't I limit your spending?"
"You did." Aster nodded unconcernedly. "But there's this wonderful thing called a bargain."
She went on into a rant all about just how backwards the British Wizarding Society was when compared to a country further East, how magic was on a bigger scale and perfectly blended within common spaces without endangering either community's identity. The energy in the soil itself was impenetrable which spoke volumes of its memories.
Most impressive, and almost comical, was the glass tank that had her asking Sirius for help to bring out of her case. Without it being even fully set down, Arcturus could not help but let out a gasp at the sight. "Where on earth..."
From afar it may have looked like an ever-shaken snowglobe stuck in the dark, but if one were to close in on its glass confines, one could notice that some specks formed patterns only to find that they were not specks but stars.
Each star twinkled at random intervals, slowly swirling within the inky blackness with the occasional splatter of colour as if the galaxy was entrapped within—an exact replica of every recognised star and constellation. Aster had found it at the back of an astrologer's shop disguised from the non-magical and thought nothing else to be the perfect gift for her family.
It was probably what made Aster more in love with her travel, she could never have found such a thing so easily within her homeland, not when they were so put off by everything muggle and not finding ways to infuse modern discoveries with their magic. Turkey with its surroundings being as old as they were had no qualms about such things and instead was a hotspot and a teeming hive for brilliant magical minds, where they converged to share their inventions with each side of the world.
Arcturus chuckled in satisfaction after moments of studying the object. "Marvelous." He nodded at her fondly. Sirius was busy swiping on the glass, zooming in and out on certain constellations with wide eyes.
"It's a shame, I could've bought another to cheat Astrology off of but I only had enough for one," Aster sighed dejectedly.
"A Black cheating on Astrology? There's no such thing." Sirius glared lightly.
