It was the night before Asteria had to go back to Hogwarts. The Parkinsons sat down at the long dining table which was made of dark wood. She let out a deep sigh before asking her father a question. "Could I maybe try out for Quidditch this year?" She asked.
Cepheus almost spat out his wine from his silver goblet and Catrina choke on her food slightly. "Absolutely not." He replied sharply. "Why not? Regulus can." She asked. Cepheus suddenly slammed his cutlery down on the table which made both Catrina and Asteria jump. "Don't make me explain why you doing such a thing would be embarrassing for us!" He shouted at his daughter, becoming so angry he lifted up his arm and struck her across the cheek.
"For such stupidity, you can go to your room!" He shouted again which made her nod before silently getting up from her chair and heading up to her bedroom, holding onto her cheek.
-☘︎︎-
Asteria woke up the next morning and the first thing she did was head down to her mother's gravestone at the back of the garden. Over the years, bushes seemed to of randomly grown there and she guessed that her step-mother had grown them in the hope they would cover the grave but Asteria always made sure that the stone was clean.
She sat there for a few minutes watching the dead lavender plant swag in the gentle breeze which also blew strands of hair into her face.
"Asteria! What are you doing out there? Go get ready for school!" Cepheus shouted from the back door to his daughter.
-☘︎︎-
The Hufflepuff walked behind the two purebloods who had their heads up proudly. Finally, they came to a sudden halt but Asteria was looking down so she bumped into her stepmother. "Careful!" She exclaimed as she wiped down the black dress she wore.
"How stupid are you!" She added with a hiss which made students and families around staring. Asteria didn't even want to say goodbye or listen to her father's lecturing so she turned around and boarded the Hogwarts Express.
As she pushed through the crowd of students who stood in the hallways of the train, she searched for an empty compartment. Once she found one, she closed the door behind her and pushed her suitcase up onto the shelf above the cushioned seats.
She rested her feet up on the seat opposite her and leaned on the glass, fogging it up with her breath and drawing a smiley face. Suddenly, she jumped when the door slid open.
"I'm sorry." Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw the messy-haired boy standing in the doorway and apologising. Before she could reply with confusion, James noticed the red mark on her cheek. "Is everything okay?" He asked the girl who noticed he was staring at her face. "Oh yeah, I ran into a wall." She replied as she held onto it.
"Anyway, I'm sorry for making fun of your mum." He apologised again however Asteria rolled her eyes, thinking it was some kind of prank. "Is this some kind of prank?" She asked the boy. "No," James replied but she didn't believe him. "Just piss of Potter." She hissed as she got up and slid the door closed and pulled the curtain to the window in the door down.
James let out a sigh of defeat before heading back to the compartment where the rest of the Marauders were sitting. "So, how did it go?" Remus asked as he flicked to the next page in his book. "She told me to piss off." He replied as he collapsed in the seat next to Peter.
"Don't even try Prongs, just tell your mum you said sorry and she didn't accept it," Sirius replied with a shrug. "She'd never believe me. I need McGonagall to tell her."