In Servitude to the Dark || Tom Riddle

𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨

She noticed, for some reason, Marvolo seemed stronger at night than in the day. It was probably because all the various day activities drained him too quickly if he tried following her around, but he had more than enough energy to talk at night until she fell asleep.

It was almost getting to the point that she couldn't sleep without his arms around her these days. Holding her tightly, safe, and possessed...

Aster cracked the diary open and watched as Marvolo came out in silvery wisps and curls. She watched in bemusement as the silvery light spiraled around her until it came together with Marvolo at her back and arms embracing her from behind. "Hello, Marvolo. How do you feel?" It was Aster's standard question since she was always concerned. "You still feel too cold."

"It will take a little time to get back to where I was, but I am well," Marvolo replied. "Anything interesting today?"

And that set her off. She recounted Snape's theories about Madam Pomfrey, and his offer to take Aster on. It had occurred to her that she was treating Marvolo like a diary, telling him about her day and letting out her frustrations. Except this diary responded back and gave excellent advice.

"Yes Severus' mastery in the Healing Art is a little known fact when compared to his achievements as the youngest Potion's Master," Marvolo commented. "His loyalties notwithstanding, you will be in much better hands with him than the school nurse. A very wise decision, my pretty little star" Aster blushed at the praise, ducking her head shyly.

"Thank you," she replied. "The only issue Snape has is where and how to practice. He says the...how did he put it? Oh, yeah... 'The maladies one sees at a school infirmary is not nearly sufficient to encompass your education'...or something like that."

Marvolo chuckled at Aster's attempt to mimic Severus' tone and language, running his fingers through her dark curls and drawing some delightful shivers from her slight frame. "I believe I have a solution to your problem," he said, and Aster perked up. "Do you know of a place in the castle in which the elves refer to as the Come and Go Room? It is also known as the Room of Hidden Things and the Room of Requirement." At this Aster shook her head. Oddly enough, this just made him smile more. "Then I must show you. Come...this will be a real treat for you, pet."

Even though it wasn't curfew yet, and students were allowed in the corridors, Aster pulled on her invisibility cloak on anyway. It was becoming a habit whenever she followed her friend around the school. They stopped on the seventh floor, across the picture of some troll dancing in a ballerina outfit.

"That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've seen yet," she muttered, Marvolo chuckling in amused agreement.

"Now walk back and forth three times in front of this brick wall while thinking of a room suitable for learning medi-magic," he instructed. "And then...you will see."

She shot Marvolo a skeptical look, but she had done stranger things, and in the end, Marvolo always had a good reason. So, muttering under her breath, "I need a place to learn medi-magic, I need a place to learn medi-magic, I need a place to learn medi-magic," she paced back and forth across the hall.

On her third pass, a door magically appeared where the brick wall once was. Shooting Marvolo a grin, Aster opened it and gasped. Inside, there were a group of mannequins with various body parts exposed to show their anatomy. There were complicated charts on the walls with labeling. In the center of the room was an empty table, presumably for the room to provide a patient with a malady of Snape's choosing. Off to the side, there was a potion's bench set up, with cauldron and cutting board already in place.

"Wow! This place is amazing!" she exclaimed. "And it will give me anything I want?"

"I hadn't found the limits of this room while I was a student here," Marvolo replied. "Though you cannot take anything out of this room that the room has provided - it will simply disappear from your hands."