𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 || 𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌

chapter 8.

When Asteria was at Hogwarts, she was always running everywhere. Out of her dorm, to breakfast, to classes. Punctuality was not something she knew, nor was it something she craved to know. Perhaps it was a way of diverting from her family. Instead, she preferred to simply run things her own way, showing up to places whenever she wanted. "I'm never late, everyone else is just early," was her excuse, and a phrase that soon became her motto. Asteria had no idea where she'd heard it, but from the moment she'd heard it, the quote had become much overused.

However, now that she was back at the Grey Manor, punctuality would be something ingrained into her mind. More by her father than her mother, although the trait would soon start to wear off on the Grey offspring. Asteria would have to wake up at a certain time, be out of bed, appear at breakfast, finish her errands by a certain time. There would be no room for mistakes, not while she was living in the manor. It was a fact that Asteria detested, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Her day began bright and early, with the girl being awoken by the house elf that had been assigned to her: Queenie. Yawning, Asteria rolled out of bed and turned to look around at Queenie. The house elf had been with Asteria since the beginning; she had witnessed Asteria growing up, her first bout of magic. Due to that, the two had a very close relationship. Asteria couldn't be mean to the old elf like her parents wanted her to; rather, she followed the way her grandmother Freya treated elves - with respect. Although her mother did not approve of her treatment of the creatures, she couldn't do anything about it. There seemed to be a lot of 'couldn't do anything about it' in the family, wasn't there?

"Master Grey said for Miss Grey to meet him and Mistress Grey in the Barnaby Parlor in 22 minutes," Queenie stated, looking up into the blonde's eyes. Asteria rolled her eyes but nodded, preparing to get dressed. Her father took being punctual too far, scheduling everything to be at a bizarrely specific time and giving everyone a weirdly specific amount of time to get ready. Asteria found it all very peculiar, but she couldn't exactly fight against her parents. The Grey heiress had no choice but to follow her father's wishes and hope that he wouldn't scold her.

Except then she remembered. This was her first full day with her parents since she'd returned from Hogwarts and still they did not know her secret. Fear coursed throughout her entire body, but Asteria swallowed it down and put on a brave front. Simply nodding as a response, Asteria picked up the blouse she was supposed to wear. It was one of those grandma blouses, the one where they buttoned up and had a collar and all that. Some could pull those kinds of shirts off, but not Asteria. Scrunching her nose up and throwing back onto her bed, Asteria walked over to her closet and looked through her limited amount of clothes. Most of her things were still packed up; the only thing Asteria had unpacked was her second, smaller suitcase with her dressy clothes. She thought it the right occasion to wear something fancy in order to impress her parents and try to soften them up (although the chances of that working were most likely slim to none. Still, it never hurt to try).

She picked out a light blue skirt, one that fell to a little above her knees. The shirt she picked out was supposed to be a crop top, although because she wore it with a high waist skirt, it simply looked like a tank top. It was a white shirt, with a flower design on it - the flowers looked like roses, and they were blue. The darker blue pattern on the shirt complimented the light blue of the skirt; Asteria liked the way the outfit looked and put it on. She looked at Queenie and sighed, giving a little twirl.

"Is it good?" the blonde asked. Queenie cast a glance at the abandoned blouse and looked as if she was about to say something, but didn't.

"Queenie thinks you look amazing, Miss," the old elf smiled back, and scrambled onto the bed. "Would Miss Grey like Queenie to do her hair?"