Dumbledore had arranged for Abel to go back safely to Dublin. Therefore Esther took the duty of dropping him by his office before she went home.

Ria hadn't slept properly that night either. But it was different; She wasn't having nightmares, since she kept slipping into sleep and waking up again and again because of two annoyingly occupying thoughts.

Her father's story.

And the news article that was going to be published.

A part of her craved to fall into the newfound comfort of anxiety, almost like being nervous about something managed to keep her somewhat sane.

But another part said "What's the worst that could happen?" 

The teaser of the news article had a picture of her, with a headline that said 'the last Azrael'. Everyone who'd read it knew already.. they would've told those who hadn't.

Well.. it wasn't like I'd go from being the most loved person to the most hated. She told herself.

It was going to happen someday. It could've been way worse— the reveal. This wasn't half bad.

And she only hoped that these words would somehow keep her messy self at bay.

The next day when she woke up in the morning, she finally gathered the letters sitting on her desk and went downstairs to burn them at the fireplace.

The lack of Harry's name in them still poked irritatingly at her heart even though she knew she didn't deserve to feel that way.

And as she burnt the letters one by one, through the smell came an aroma that made her mouth water.

She peeked into the kitchen, and found Amos cooking at the counter with his usual green apron.

"Good morning." He said, glancing her way for only a moment.

"Morning.." she greeted back, strolling into the room and sitting at the table. She fought back a pleasant expression. "Scrambled eggs and grilled cheese sandwich?" She hadn't had that for a long time.

Amos nodded with a chuckle. "Yes, indeed." He spared another look at her. "The special one."

Ria couldn't stop the small smile that grew on her face. Not that she'd never had a grilled cheese sandwich while her uncle was gone.. But he made it with focaccia instead of normal bread. And Ria doubted if anyone made it as good as he did.

"Freshened up?"

"Haven't had a bath yet.. but can we have breakfast first, please?"

Amos's heart almost melted a little, hearing her talk like that. Like a little child she'd always been, with sparks in her eyes that she hesitated to show now.

"Of course." He obliged, bringing two plates towards the table. And Ria felt a warmth rush through her body as she saw the steaming breakfast.

"Thank you." She said before digging in, and a small chuckle left her mouth. "So good.. like always."

And he only fondly patted her head before eating from his own plate. "There's more, yeah?" She nodded.

Though she hurriedly gulped. "Is there any news.. about the article yet? About who wrote it? Did they find anything out?" Ria asked, her nervousness returning only a tad bit.

He only cleared his throat a little before answering. "Not completely.. but they have some hints. Some suspects."

"Who?"

"Either it's Rita Skeeter, they say. Or someone associated with her."

His answer wasn't convincing. She doubted Rita would pull a stunt like that knowing that one slip of a tongue could put her in Azkaban.

"Or.." his voice pulled her back. "Some underclassman from the Ministry who worked under the former Madam Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge."

Asteria almost choked on her scrambled eggs. She really needed to stop eating whilst in the middle of important conversations.

"Umbridge?" She asked. "She still works at the Ministry?"

"Not in the same position of power as before, though," he answered. "She fell hard after her dictatorship at Hogwarts. She's only kept there because she knows too much.. and some people pity her because she got captured by centaurs."

Ria only nodded slowly. Then another thought came to her head. "What if it's Carrow?"

It was always like that. If it wasn't someone else, it was Carrow.

That damn, thieving vulture.

A weird rushing feeling through her arms was enough to snap out of her thoughts, but before she could react, Amos had answered her question. "There hasn't been any news about Carrow for weeks."

Distract her before the panic sets in. He remembered Esther's words. Once she panics, the Obscurus sets off a little, then she panics again, the control begins to slip away, then she panics some more and the cycle continues.

"Not that they've ever managed to slip before this." He continued. "But Dumbledore assured that there is no way Carrow isn't jumpy and desperate, at the moment."

"They failed for the first time since they've started this game. It would put anyone on the edge."

It got Ria caught up in her thoughts again.. so entangled that she didn't notice when the feeling stopped and her expression eased. While Amos only silently exhaled in relief. It works.

"Carrow hasn't meddled with my brain for about a month.." It was a sudden realisation. By now, she'd learn to differentiate between Carrow's thoughts and her own. "Why's that? Do you think they could be plotting something?"

Amos didn't even have to think for a moment. "It's because of the Charm put around the house."

She blinked with confusion. "What?"

"I doubt you haven't heard about the Fidelius Charm yet."

She nodded in response. "The one put around the Potters' house? Sirius was the first secret-keeper."

He nodded too. "Yes. The Charm put around this house is not the same, but similar. Only the person who put this Charm decides who can enter into the area. And they decide when a person can't enter the area anymore." He explained, while Ria continued to eat.

"Anyone looking at the house from outside would see a plain piece of land. Anyone trying to get closer who isn't allowed, wizard or Muggle, would be confunded immediately. No one else can enter."

"And this Charm is complicated.. as well as powerful. So unless it is the choice of the caster, nothing can force the location out."

"I thought Enchantress magic can force choices." Ria inquired, her tone without hesitation.

A small smile made its way to Amos's lips. "Right.. Enchantresses can. They are perfectly capable of doing that." He confirmed.

"But don't forget, Ria. Stolen power will always be lacking somewhere."

Some kind of glint passed through her blue irises. Lacking..

For some reason, Ria had never thought of Carrow as imperfect before.

They always had the right timing, the perfect plans, the right goddamn words to push her off the edge. But lacking..

The idea of Carrow lacking somewhere made Ria think that there had to be a way she could break the Enchantress— no.. not the Enchantress, but the hoax that had stolen her mother's powers.

Not knowing how many times she had done that now, Ria still continued to mindfully flip through the pages of Katherine Lagarde's journal.

It had been a brief moment of realisation the previous night.. right after she had woken up with flashes of broken, bleeding skulls invading her mind.

She had tried to sleep after that, but something Lagarde had written in her old journal had come back rushing to Ria's memories.

Why was it that she always found something to work on in the middle of the damn night?

The sun was peeking in through her window now. She had looked at the notes in her own journal over and over again in the past hour before taking Lagarde's journal.

She started again, skipping some of the pages at front that were about her Divination. And the torn off end of several pages pissed her right off again.

Seriously, what was in those pages that you had to tear them? She turned to the next page.

The vision about the basilisk. No real use of that page. Next.

Plans about going to Uagadou. Her eyes were fixed on the bottom of the page.

'She is here to curse everyone.. curse everyone if she could not contain the bloodlust her ancestors passed down to her. Tom will desire her.. the deranged Seer and dark heir of Azrael.

And without any thought or care, her hand reached towards the bottle of potion and she took a tiny sip.

She didn't want any room for mess. She needed her thoughts collected for this.

At first read, it had been easier assuming that Lagarde had written that about herself, but..

It could be me.. she realised. It could be me she's talking about.

'She will either curse everything Tom desires to destroy.. or be a curse for Tom himself.'

And I wouldn't know what I am until I become one of the two.

'Either way, she is not just cursed by Death.. but a curse in person herself.'

"Why do Seers have to be so damn complicated with their words?" She hissed under her breath. "Can't you be a bit straightforward?"

'Playing with the way a time-turner works.. Constrict and concentrate all its magic for a trip across a long time range. The time-turner might only work once.'

But then her eyes squinted. She didn't remember reading the faintly scribbled word at the bottom of the page, that was now clear in the morning light. Did I miss it the first time?

Success. That was what it said. Success.

"No.. no. All her experiments were monitored by the Ministry." She scoffed with disbelief. "This was way before she started the research—"

No. A thought poked at her mind. There were only three time-turners Lagarde modified.. three that were publicly known.

Could it be that there were more she made before that?

Ria always had to remind herself that Lagarde had ruined her life.. that she hated her. Even though the world had made her that way.. even though she was brilliant.. even though Ria hadn't heard of anyone as cunning as her..

God, she hated her so much.

She skipped past some of her next inventions.. the potion which temporarily stopped magic from working.. a mirror that worked like a Pensieve..

The circle of Runes. Yes.

Lagarde wanted to make it so an Obscurus could be extracted from an Obscurial and transferred to another body.

Ria bit on her lower lip. Lagarde didn't want anyone to end up like Charles.

Who was Charles? Why did she have nightmares about him?

She shook her head. Her thoughts were straying in the wrong direction. She had opened Lagarde's journal again to see if she had missed something.. if the Seer had possibly written something about the side effects of using the Circle of Runes. If there was some way the transfer left any power behind as it changed bodies.

But only a 'tsk' left her mouth when she found nothing.

She knew the official experiment had gone wrong. But what had happened, exactly?

She knew the Circle of Runes had extracted the raw magic instead of the Obscurus.

What happened to the Obscurial? What happened to the person the magic was transferred to? Those questions were still unanswered.

'Find articles / news / information about the Circle of Runes.' She wrote in her own journal; another goal added to the list of a few:

Find out more about Azraels.

Learn about Lagarde's life. Learn more about the Seer's Curse.

Work on your Divination. Be better. No one should be able to interfere again.

(Try to) control it. Use it to fight.

She read those over and over again as a reminder before returning to reading Lagarde's journal.

None of your other experiments failed. Then why couldn't you make this one work? She silently questioned Lagarde. If you did, maybe I would've been free from it—

"Shut up." She muttered to herself. Maybe she should take another sip of the Draught of Peace.

Maybe you could've done something good for me for once, but you had to succeed everywhere else just to fail right here—

She slammed the journal shut, not even wanting to read the last page that suggested begging to Death would possibly put an end to Azrael's Curse.

Beg for it. Beg for it. Beg for it.

Ria was tired of begging. It got her nowhere. It didn't work for Lagarde either, she was sure. Then why should she do it if it wasn't going to work anyway?

A hiss of irritation left her mouth as she heard a familiar trembling of her windows. And she took a big gulp this time.

She could care less about the consequences of the Draught of Peace that often now.. she just wanted that damn parasite to shut down.

She wanted her Mum to be here.. to tell her it'll all be alright.

She wanted Sophie to stay here.. with her.

She missed Harry.

She didn't register when she had reached out for the ring and pulled it to her lips, but she kept it close, hoping it would give her some solace.

But the ringing in her ear didn't seem to stop, and she just tossed all the stuff from her bed onto the table, and covered herself with her blanket.

Come on.. I've taken the potion. I should be able to sleep now.

She couldn't find even an ounce of drowsiness in herself.

Tears of frustration prickled at her eyes, and she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth.

It was all so overwhelming.. so tiring.

She laid there, staring at the ceiling while anxiously fiddling with the ring.

Since Isabella's death, everyday had only been a reminder of how much she hated losing control over her own life.

But she had tried so many things.. many potions, many books about Dark Arts that she had begged Esther to acquire from Severus, many tricks and techniques that could possibly numb her constant turmoil but..

But none worked.

The windows trembling against their frames were one proof. Her eyes glanced down at her hands: the threat of dark residing at her fingertips was another.

Though through the cluttering, a loud crack made her sit up. She looked outside the window, and almost rushed downstairs at the sight of the people outside. She ignored Amos's call and ran straight towards the front door to open it. 

Esther, who had raised her hand to knock on the door, slowly lowered it with a look of surprise.

Amos followed her, but his concern and guard lowered as she saw Esther, Sirius and Dumbledore standing outside.

"Ah.. good morning, Asteria." The old wizard offered her a smile.

The question left her mouth immediately. "It's about the news, isn't it?"

And in answer, Dumbledore only held up a piece of parchment in his wrinkly hand.

Once they had settled in the living room, Ria quickly spoke again. "Did you stop it? The news article? From being published? Who was—"

"Yes, we were able to stop it." Sirius assured her with a pursed smile. "Mad-Eye hunted him down. The culprit was caught in the middle of writing the article he was about to send to the Daily Prophet."

"Who was it?" She asked again, slightly breathless.

He exchanged a glance with Esther and Dumbledore.

"A wizard who used to work under Dolores Umbridge." answered Dumbledore, unfazed. "He sent the prior piece of information to the newspaper in secret. Perhaps he did not want them to know his identity."

"Why?" She stressed, eyebrows scrunched together. "I.. I know Umbridge knew, but.."

"I doubt the man did this for any reason related to her. But he did know too much." He clarified. "He did it because he is terrified of Voldemort's return, just like many others.."

Dumbledore extended the hand that held the parchment, and for a moment, Ria's attention shifted to the darkened fingers of his other hand. She'd ask what it was, but nothing else seemed more important at the moment. She took the parchment from him.

"Read it out loud." He said. "Let us see what he had to write."

And when Ria's eyes shifted to the words and skimmed over, she left a shaky breath. "The Last Azrael.." That was what the title said.

She looked at her uncle, and when he gave her a nod of encouragement, she turned back to read it. "The recent incident at the Ministry of Magic seems to have shed some light on the mystery of the Curse."

"We shall discuss the solution, of course, but first, let us take a step back to look at the history of the infamous Seer's Curse, and the friendship between the Seer and the Dark Lord."

"But before we go there, let's pose the question. What made Katherine Lagarde earn the title of 'The Seer'?"

"That is definitely not how someone would write a news article." Esther wondered. "He definitely did this out of fear and desperation."

"The answer goes back to the time when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named first rose to fame: around the beginning of the 1970s. Lagarde was only given the title of the Seer when all her predictions about a Dark Lord's uprising began to come true, one by one. And since then, unfortunately, it has only been an array of correct predictions for her."

"Where was Lagarde, then, when wizards found out that her words had been true?"

"The Seer had been serving her sentence in Azkaban, starting from the fall of '69."

"Yes! And that was exactly where it all started. In the fall of 1969, the Wizarding world fell to despair, when a fairly known Azrael and Inventor broke the International Statute of Secrecy."

"And no! It wasn't a crazed witch screaming to Muggles about the existence of magic, but a calculating, and well-knowing witch who was warning the world about the upcoming terror known as You-Know-Who. In fact, Lagarde went as far as using the Imperius Curse on the leaders of England to spread the word."

"That had been one hell of a day." Sirius reminisced.

"There was an uproar across the globe, as expected. Many wizards, witches and officials took her side at the beginning, and hence began the investigation to find whatever Dark Lord Lagarde had been talking about. But, all of You-Know-Who's activities during that time had been cleanly calculated, not letting even a stray eye catch sight of it."

"The result, obviously, was her being declared a traitor to the Ministry of Magic and the entire Wizarding community. She was hunted down, along with her husband Howard Graves who was declared an equal ally of her, and brought into the Ministry for trial. And for the overall lack of evidence, Lagarde and Graves were sentenced to imprisonment in Azkaban. But the tale of the Seer's Curse only starts here."

"Graves' belief in Lagarde was beyond astonishing. Believing that she would succeed in her quest to stop her old friend from unleashing hell on Earth, Graves took his own life in the trial as a prize to free Lagarde from Azrael's Curse."

Ria gulped. Was that possible?

"If that worked or not? Only Death itself knows. But it pushed Lagarde to the edge, enough to make her leave a Curse on the world, promising death and destruction. She promised that the suffering they put her through would make its way back."

"That led to the very first, and infamous breakout from Azkaban in 1974; where it was suspected that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself broke his old friend out of prison. Lastly, overwhelmed by the dedication he held for her and the wrath she held for the world, the Seer became the partner in You-Know-Who's reign."

"Now the real question returns.. Could the last heir of Azrael be the key to breaking the Seer's Curse?"

And Ria wondered how on earth had the man come to a conclusion like this.

"That is right! According to a wizard spokesperson from the Ministry, the group of teenagers that fought against You-Know-Who and his Deatheaters had Katherine Lagarde's granddaughter, 16-year old Asteria Edwards too."

"Edwards, who is the daughter of Azrael and Enchantress Isabella Diggory. Yes! The same witch (and magizoologist!) who died a month ago in the battle against Deatheaters."

"But how could this 16 year old break a 27 year old Curse inflicted by one of the most powerful Seers to ever exist?"

"The answer lies in the power given to her by her Azrael blood. Asteria Edwards, like her mother and grandmother, possesses both the qualities of an Enchantress and a Seer—" 

Ria stopped abruptly. "That's all. It ends here."

There was a brief silence, where she overlooked the text again. She then looked at them. "How do you think he was going to reason his theory?"

"Well.. I assume, he was going to use the analogy of you being a Seer, like Madam Lagarde, and you having the incredible magic of an Enchantress." Dumbledore suggested. "Many would think the same way."

Ria was still silent, as if trying to find some secret language hidden in the piece of parchment.

Amos chuckled with disbelief. "Great.. just great." It wasn't that he hadn't felt anxious in the past two days, but now that he knew this had only been a few hours away from being published, the feeling jumped right out and settled itself in his throat.

"..how?" He only questioned. "Doesn't matter that the Enchantress part isn't true. How did they find out so much? How did Umbridge find out so much?"

"Did you forget how much that hag hates half-breeds?" Sirius was quick to scoff. But at least he seemed a bit more relaxed then when he had first entered the house some minutes ago. "She probably considers Azraels the same.."

"So she just decides to do a background check on a sixteen year old child?" asked Esther, her tone of disbelief. She didn't know who the woman was, but she might have already started disliking her.

"She's one of the most infuriating ones.." Sirius answered her.

Esther pursed her lips, staring at the piece of parchment. "We can't let them find out about Ria's Obscurus." She said, and when Amos looked at her with concerned eyes, she spoke again. "This isn't known between other Ministry workers but.. Since they are rare, the Ministry will immediately keep Obscurials with them for research purposes if they happen to find any."

Ria gulped, her grip on the unfinished article tightening.

"Umbridge doesn't know yet, then, does she?" He looked at Dumbledore. "No one else does. Only a few of us, and Voldemort, Bellatrix and Carrow."

"None of those three would let the news slip." Dumbledore assured him. "Even though they have no clue of Ria's real power, they have found another way to use her as a weapon."

"We ought to keep an eye on Umbridge, then." suggested Sirius. "I don't trust her, and I'm sure neither do you."

Dumbledore only feebly nodded, his eyes on Ria who seemed to be deep in her own mind. "Asteria." Her gaze snapped up at him. "What do you think?"

"I don't know.." She felt vulnerable. Too vulnerable. Jumpy too, for some reason.

She looked at them, one by one. "It'll be fine, though, right?" Although she was asking for some comfort, her eyes were begging them to not lie.

Amos's and Sirius's gaze softened almost immediately. She tried to put on a brave front, but they could tell she was scared.

Though before any of them could speak, Esther had done it. "Of course. You'll be able to control it, after all."

Ria hadn't expected the Healer's faith to move her that much. But she felt her heart swell.

Esther believed in her.

"Won't you?" She had a small glint in her eyes as she asked her. And Ria somehow found the courage in herself to nod.

She finally handed the piece of parchment back to Dumbledore, but this time, she didn't overlook his darkened, shrivelled hand. "What happened to your—"

"Two nights ago, Asteria.." He interrupted her question. "Sirius mentioned something happened."

They exchanged glances before she looked at him again. "I.. I don't know." she barely shook her head. "I don't know what really happened."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrow slightly.

"I swear!" She stressed. "One minute I was having my usual nightmares and the next I couldn't breathe. I don't know what it was."

But he did not respond, only seemed to be deep in thought and contemplation. "What else did you feel?"

Ria looked down for a moment, trying to remember as she breathed out. "Hot? I felt really hot, even though it was cold outside." Dumbledore nodded. "And.. sort of.. my senses really.. heightened? Like— I was hearing things too loudly.. or feeling too much.. or everything I saw was white."

The old wizard was only silent for a moment after she was finished. "What do you think it could be?"

She stared blankly at him before shaking her head. "I have no clue. No idea."

Dumbledore nodded again, this time slowly. "I will surely look into it. Do not fret."

And for some reason, a possibility flashed through Ria's mind that he did have an idea. Only that he chose not to speak in front of others.

She nodded. "Alright."

"Now that we have come to this topic, Asteria.." He leaned forward a little. "What do you see in your nightmares?"

She suddenly felt like the attention was too much. "Not that important."

Just a rundown of Mum's death, a thousand ways I could've stopped it.. with occasional cameos from Cedric and Dad.

And that one time I saw my Obscurus ruin Harry. I saw him disappear right into its darkness, which had me wake up yelling and crying.

Nothing much.

Ria sighed, rubbing her eyes to gather her thoughts for a moment. She couldn't say that. She wasn't the only one being affected by all these deaths.

"Well.. for now, let us assume I know what your usual nightmares are about." Dumbledore suggested. "Despite that.. have you had anything else? Any visions, perhaps?" He sounded a bit curious, Ria thought.

She nodded. "All those Death Eater attacks I told you about.." she trailed off. "And.. and a weird dream I had today, actually."

"I saw.. skulls." She reminisced, and Dumbledore only blinked, still listening. "One minute I was just standing.. and the other.. I was surrounded by them."

"They were broken.. bleeding. And I thought I woke up screaming.. but apparently I didn't, because if I had, Uncle Amos would've woken up too."

"Have you had incoherent dreams like this before?" He asked.

And Ria paused for a moment before shaking her head in response.

Dumbledore nodded. Then, as if remembering something, he looked at his pocket watch. "Ah.. I suppose this is the end of our discussion."

And she only watched with confusion as he stood up to leave. 

That was it? He wasn't going to tell her anything?

"Are you—"

"Oh, before I forget." He retrieved a sort of letter from his robes. "Here. The result of your O.W.L.s examination. The owl could not reach here, unfortunately. Thought I'd save the effort."

Ria took it from him, still slightly furious that he was leaving without an answer.

"Minerva was a tiny bit upset, of course. But Severus tells me he had expected such an excellent score in his subject from you."

"Wait— Where is he? I haven't received one word from him." She informed. She hadn't seen him since Isabella's funeral.

She was worried about him. He'd lost one of the only friends he had left.

"He is just as he is supposed to be. That is all I can tell you, Asteria." He answered, and then gestured to Sirius and Esther, who stood up to leave too.

"Oh.. and just a reminder." He walked towards her, keeping his healthy hand on her shoulder. "Do not forget who you are."

Ria raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You are an Azrael, yes." He mumbled to her. "And an Azrael will have a helper whenever needed."

She stared at him. What is this old man on, all the time?

"Anyways.. See you at school, Asteria. We have important work this year." This sparked her attention. "Later, Amos."

Her uncle nodded at them all as they left, while Ria stood still in her place, thinking hard. Important work.. what did he mean by that?

But then..

"Esther— wait!" She called out, and the woman turned around.

"Yes?"

Ria walked towards her and pulled her in the kitchen. "Can I.. Can I ask you something?"

Esther nodded, her expression calm and pleasant. "Yes, of course."

"You said.. before—"

"Yes." She nodded. "I meant it. I do believe you'll be able to control it."

The girl felt hesitation strike at her. "I.. But I've tried.."

"Ria." she said, for the first time calling her by her nickname. "It is supposed to be like that. It is supposed to be trial and error. No one gets it right at the first try, I can assure you."

She gulped. "I can't.. I can't keep it together." She whispered. "I'm not able to manage it."

"Manage what?" She simply asked.

And Ria was a little taken aback. "My.. My emotions, of course."

"And why do you need to do that?"

Ria looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "To keep the Obscurus in check, of course."

A small smile dawned on Esther's face, and she sighed. "Tell me, Ria. Does it ever happen that when you're sad, or angry, while you are doing something you do everyday.. let's say, practising spells, or baking, or making potions.. do you mess up severely?"

"What?" She mumbled with a waver in her voice. "No, of course."

"Why?"

"Because it's different. I'm used to them all. I do all that stuff regularly."

Esther nodded. "And why do you not mess up while doing them? You're angry, right? You're sad! Why do you not mess up then?"

"Because it's completely unrelated!" Ria explained with a forced chuckle.

"No, it's not." She shook her head with a small, amused smile.

Ria only clicked her tongue with frustration. "No. You're not understanding." She emphasised. "It is unrelated, because what I feel doesn't define my control over those things. My brain just.. does it right because I'm used to them."

"What you feel doesn't define what you control?" Esther asked in confirmation.

And Ria's frame slumped in defeat. 

She wasn't getting her point. 

But Esther only held her by her shoulders. "Now.. I'll tell you what I've learned about you, all these past days I've lived with you." She mused.

"You've linked the control you have over your Obscurus to your emotions.. because you think that's how it works."

Ria pouted as she heard her conclusion, and Esther knew she had to explain a bit more.

"Let's see.. you've had this Obscurus in you since you were.. quite young, right?" She nodded. "Then why is it.. that it never showed when you didn't know you were a witch? Surely, you used to cry during those times, right? Why did it never show up, then?"

Ria pursed her lips at her question. "I don't know." She shrugged.

"Because.. back then, you just.. let yourself feel, without losing sense of yourself." She answered. "Yes, you felt angry, or sad, but you were in your senses, right? Thinking, working.. whatever you did, you did while still being angry. But—"

"If you were angry or sad.. while not being in your senses, only focusing on those emotions and nothing else.. you would've known about your Obscurus way quicker than you did."

"I.. I don't understand." She admitted.

"What did McGonagall and Isabella tell you when you were learning about Enchantress magic?" Esther inquired rhetorically. "That you need to keep your emotions in check so you don't lose control?"

Ria nodded. "But.. but this isn't Enchantress magic anymore.."

Esther nodded back. "Right. Magic is born from you.. and is a part of you. So.. it is possible that when you feel too strongly, your magic might be affected. But an Obscurus.."

"Even though it's born from your magic.. it is very different." She looked around the room, wondering. "Think of it as a.. as a dog you didn't want. A dog you're taking care of, for a friend. A Husky."

Ria blinked. "..a Husky?"

She shrugged. "A Husky."

"Why a Husky? Why not a Chihuahua?" She asked. Weren't Chihuahuas more aggressive?

"Because Huskies are kind of mischievous.. disobedient in nature." Esther answered her question as though it was a simple doubt.

"So.. imagine you're taking that Husky for a walk. The Husky doesn't know you.. if you're strict or easy.. so it is kind of cautious doing whatever that's on its mind."

For the love of Merlin, Ria could not read what direction this was going in.

"Now.. you're standing there, with its leash in your hand, but you aren't focused. You have your eyes, ears, and attention completely on something else. What's gonna happen?"

"It's gonna try to rebel? Act up?"

"Right you are." Esther snapped her fingers. "But.. if you let it know that you are here.. present, in your senses.. that you have control, even though you have half your attention to something else, it might try to not put its paw out of line." she added.

"Now imagine the friend died. And you're stuck with the Husky forever."

"You have the most bizarre examples."

"I know." Esther brushed it off. "You have to take care of it from now on. What do you do first?"

Ria blinked. "Show that I'm a friend?"

"We're comparing the dog to an Obscurus, Ria. The Husky's rebellious. Being a friend is not going to work."

She scoffed, trying to think. "Maybe.. shout a bit when it tries to act up. Try to discipline it, train it."

"Correct." Esther patted her shoulder. "Now you know what to do with the Husky."

"I.. don't."

"Ria.." Esther sighed with exasperation. "You're.. Don't take the example too literally."

"Then maybe just explain it to me straightforwardly!" She whined.

Now it was Esther whose shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay. Fine. In that little brain of yours is ingrained the idea that whenever you cry or get angry, your Obscurus will act up." She said. "When, in reality, that idea is what is holding you back from having control."

"When you feel those emotions.. you don't just let yourself feel them without any other concern. You panic. You shift all of your focus to those emotions, and hence, there is no focus left to keep the Obscurus in check. The more you lose sense of yourself, the more it thinks that it can act up."

"Stop doing that." She shrugged. "Your emotions aren't what controls the Obscurus, you do. And I know it's not that easy, but you have to start separating them from each other."

The tone of her sentence was the complete opposite of her playful tone from the start. Now that she had said it like that, Ria understood the Husky example better too.

She slowly nodded. "I'll try my best."

Esther's face lit up with a warm smile, and she gave her shoulder a firm squeeze. "I believe you will."

And Ria smiled in return too.

She felt glad that someone had finally told her what she was supposed to do. People left her hanging to figure things out on her own, too many times.

Dumbledore, Sirius and Esther left soon after, and Ria and Amos accompanied them to the front door until they had exited the area and disapparated.

With a sigh, Amos turned back around to go inside. "Come, Ria. Let's have breakfast."

"Yeah.. in a moment." She wanted to stand there, looking outside the door for a while. "Can I stay outside for a while?"

There wouldn't be a threat, Amos had assured her already by explaining how the protection charm around the house worked.

He scrunched his eyebrows in question. "Outside? Why?"

Ria shrugged. "Feels nice." It looked peaceful outside.. it always had been around this house. "I won't take long. Promise."

A moment of hesitation later, he nodded. "Fine. Don't stray too long. Stay in the area."

Ria nodded with a small smile. "Okay!"

She sat on the ground, back leaned against the wall just beside the front door.

Last year's result was here. Soon, her Hogwarts letter would be arriving too. She had to go back to school, Dumbledore had told her. She couldn't present him with any reason or excuse.

She couldn't lie and say she wasn't anxious. She would be going back with a wild, unruly beast that she had to tame.

She would be going back knowing everyone knew of her existence and her blood.

She would be leaving the protection of this home and confronting Carrow and their cruel words again.

She would be seeing all those she had vowed to abandon and keep safe.

She could use some peace before she went, obviously.. the peace that this calm village and its gliding waves of grass gave her—

CRACK.

Ria jumped up with alert, her eyes wide and staring at the person that had appeared outside the protected area, out of nowhere.

He was coughing, kneeling down and clutching at his stomach. When he looked up where the Diggory house was supposed to be, his eyes widened with horror. He shook his head in disbelief.

Amos had come running outside, a wand in his hand as he had heard the sound of apparition echo outside. He pushed Ria behind her.

"No.. no, please.." The boy outside muttered, coming a bit closer.

Ria's hand shot up to her mouth. Her uncle took a daring step forward, but she held his arm. "No! No, don't! That's—"

"Ria, look at his—"

"No, I know him! He's harmless— Theodore's not a threat—"

Why was he bleeding? What had happened?

"Call— Call Dumbledore!" She told him. "Now, please!"

"Ria—"

"No, we have to help him, please—" she pleaded, watching him as he aimlessly tried to search for their house. She couldn't bear watching him like that. "He can't come inside without Dumbledore, please— No, no! Don't—"

Theodore crossed the area of the protection charm, and it made his face blank out. He turned right back around.

"No! Theo! Theo, can you hear me?!" She made a move to go behind him, but Amos held her back. "Theo!" He couldn't.

But then a shrill cry made her pause.

A red bird seemed to be flying towards them, getting closer and closer. It was Fawkes.

Fawkes opened his claws, grabbing right at Theodore's chest before bursting into flames and only a split moment later— appearing back inside the protected area.

He groaned, clutching at his chest, but then his eyes shot up towards Ria. She was suddenly in front of him, standing behind her uncle's cautious frame.. and so was the house he had been looking for, that first seemed invisible.

Her mouth was agape, her gaze fixed on his bleeding forearm where the skull of the Dark Mark now resided. He had escaped before it could be completed with the snake.

He glanced back at it before looking at her again. She had tears in her eyes.

"Theodore?"

And a wave of guilt washed over him.

She must be mad at me. He thought. If she's not.. then she should be mad at me.

He had run away from his home.. come to her for shelter when he had almost been made a part of the group that was responsible for most of her family's death..

But where else could he go?

"I'm sorry.. I didn't know where else to go.."

He had expected Ria to yell.. to scold him that his careless, reckless actions could possibly expose a location that was hidden so well.

But she just rushed to her knees to take him in a tight hug. And he almost cried right there and then.

Right.. She was Asteria Edwards. And no way in hell would she ever think of abandoning him.

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