In Servitude to the Dark || Tom Riddle

𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝘼𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧

Again she missed the dark looks shared between her guardians. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Severus gave a sharp shake of his head. Neither of them wanted to ruin Aster's happiness on this day of all days. If they really had to, they could revisit the topic later.

Aster tipped the box over and noticed the letter at the bottom. She picked it up and read it quickly, chuckling at how the cake was a joint culinary project between Hermione and Ron, which explained its ... unique appearance. The note also explained why Hermione was staying at the Weasleys.

"Look, Mr. Weasley got tickets to go to the Quidditch World Cup. It's Ireland vs Bulgaria." Aster checked the date. "And it's only a week from now!" Gradually, Aster's face fell as she got to the end of the letter. It made no mention of inviting her, and she felt a growing emptiness spread from her heart.

"Hey! Don't look so glum, Pup," Sirius piped up and shoved a small envelope into her hands. "Open my gift next."

Aster set aside the cake and looked at her godfather curiously. The man was bouncing up and down on his toes, looking as eager as if he were the birthday boy. Shaking her head at his antics, she then tore open the envelop and pulled out... "Awesome! You got us tickets too!" Aster shouted, jumping up in the air in excitement.

Sirius nodded proudly and ruffled Aster's messy hair playfully. "Yup! You didn't think I'd let you miss the World Cup when Britain's hosting it, did you?"

The dark-haired girl flashed him a wide smile. She had never ever gone to any sporting event before, except for the ones at school. "Thanks, Padfoot. And there's three tickets too!" she said, noting the surprised look on Severus' face.

"Figured it was best I invited Old Sevvy along too," Sirius mumbled awkwardly as if he felt guilty for this generous act. But then he began rocking on his toes. "And guess where we're sitting?"

Aster glanced at the tickets again, as she hadn't read it that carefully the first time, and saw the words 'VIP Box.' Suddenly, her eyes bugged out. "Really? These must-have cost you a lot."

Sirius merely shrugged. "Eh, what's the point of being rich, if you can't have a little fun with it? Besides, the Ministry's falling all over themselves to try to make amends." Then he scratched his head, looking slightly guilty. "I think they kicked some poor guy out though, seeing as they were supposed to be sold out ages ago."

Aster cringed slightly but figured whoever they replaced had to be rich themselves to afford seats in the VIP Box in the first place. Then she reached for the next present. It was from Andromeda. She was surprised the woman had remembered her birthday. Inside the slender box was a large brown and golden feather quill as long as her arm. There was a tiny slip of a card that certified this quill was harvested from a real griffin. It was also self-inking. Aster had seen Andromeda use one similar to this for signing contracts and important documents. The inherent magic of the quill made the contract extra binding.

Next was Severus, which she deliberately left for last. It stood apart from the others because it was the only one wrapped in black and green paper. Making quick work of the wrapping, she was not surprised to find a vial of potion inside. It was filled with some unidentifiable watery, greenish liquid. "Ummm... what is it?" she asked.

"It's an eye correcting potion," Severus answered. "I tailored it to fit your particular ailment."

Aster's eyebrows went up. Last year, with Severus' help, she tried to brew a potion that would correct her vision, but it didn't work. A simple vision-correcting potion only fixed the lens, but Aster's eyes had more issues than just myopia, mainly due to all the head trauma and shaking she had endured while growing up with the Dursleys. In addition, being locked inside a cupboard with little to no light had caused her retinas damage as well. According to the books, it was called retinal detachment and if she got knocked in the head hard enough, she could even go blind! That's why it took a far more complicated potion to actually fix her eyes. Retina restoration potions were incredibly rare, and only a few Potion's Masters who were also Medi-Wizards were qualified to brew them.