For numerous days, as long as Asteria could remember, a new sense of calm had taken over her. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt like that.

Not that she hadn't had any stress over the last few days.. or more than a month, if she were to be honest; but thankfully, she had recalled the strategy she had used back in the second-half of fifth year that kept her distracted for good.

So, as she immersed herself in Quidditch discussions and practice, research on a wide range of topics she was concerned with, and of course, having her personal training sessions in the Room of Requirements.. she couldn't register how quickly the days went by. Because one day she woke up with the preparation of playing a Quidditch match, and there was a heap of birthday gifts on the study table of her dorm.

And because she'd been a bit too busy with her own schedule, it took her a good minute to realise it was also her birthday.

She skimmed her eyes over them, even spotted a rather beautiful cake with a handwritten note (which she had to squint hard to recognise that it was from Dobby and Ziggy). A quiet chuckle left her lips.

She was seventeen now. An adult.

She didn't feel any different though. Like she had expected to.. a long time ago.

When she was around twelve or thirteen, when she was still new to the magical world, she'd thought by seventeen, she would've figured her life out. That she would've grown an entirely new brain, which would've helped her see the world with a different perspective as well as understand it.

That by seventeen.. she'd be at a new stage. At the official beginning of her life.

But there she was.. feeling no different than she did a day ago, or even a month ago.

Well.. one more spin around the Sun wouldn't change much, I guess..

I can do magic outside school now though!

"Ria.." The whisper made her turn, and she saw a pair of grey eyes peeking from a small opening through Cassandra's portrait.

"Oh, Ria~" Amelia sang again, and she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Cassandra.."

The Seer let her portrait swing open with a smile, and outside stood the entirety of her Quidditch team, with Daphne, who held a chocolate cake with a single lit candle perched at its centre. "Happy Birthday!"

She grinned, shaking her head as they chanted the words again and again, binding them in some melody and making a song of their own that ended when Ria blew on the candle. When their applause and wishes quieted down a little, she cut the cake and fed them all a piece first out of her own fondness.

"Thank you. Thank you very much—" She said sincerely, looking around at all of them. "But you didn't need to do all that.."

"Pfft— please! You're seventeen now, come on!"

"God, I'm serious!" She laughed. "You really didn't need to.. And well, if you wanted to give me a birthday gift, you could've just won today's match and I would've been happy either way."

"Oh.. is it?" said Amelia, grinning. "Fine, soldiers—"

"Shut up, please!" she interrupted playfully. "Now, go and have a proper breakfast. You don't wanna play on a bad stomach. You can do whatever Valentine activities you have later. And also— I have another cake which you can have after we win today's match. So play well."

And as if the team had planned, they all erupted into an 'okay, mother'. She gasped at that, soon sending them all scurrying out of her dorm one by one.

She had to get ready too; she remembered. But she also had the urge to clean her slightly messy dorm room that she couldn't ignore. Therefore, she began; picking the gifts up in bunches and placing them in the corner of her room. She reminded herself to ask Dobby or Ziggy to keep the cake in the kitchen so the icing wouldn't melt before going for breakfast. She'd pick it up after practice.

She then picked up the letters scattered in between the gifts and bunched them up neatly before opening the drawer in her nightstand to place them there. And when an old History book caught her eyes, she remembered the long forgotten letter hidden between its pages. But Ria only placed the new letters beside it and closed the drawer carefully, before going back to her routine of the day.

In all honesty, she had given up. On that letter.

Surely, she could go on without knowing what was written in there. How hard could it be?

It would be like the letter didn't exist, ever. Like her mother had never written it. 

Like she hadn't gotten into that huge, raging fight with her. Like she had never been deprived of the story of her existence. Like she knew it all along.

She'd have to pretend like she didn't hear the letter.. her mother's voice calling out to her through it.

Really, how hard could it be?

After a filling breakfast, the team followed their Captain to the Quidditch field and inside their changing room, listening as she spoke.

It had been more than three weeks already since the Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff match had happened, with Ravenclaw catching the Snitch and leading by 50 points.

"..and as you all know, we're currently at the bottom— Raywood, honestly, you're supposed to be the oldest and the mature one here. Don't laugh at that. Anyway— as I was saying, we have the least amount of overall points."

"And I'm sure you all know this, but just in case, Harper—" The boy nodded, looking determined even though he wasn't going to play today. "To make it to the finals, we need to win most of the matches we play— which is usually around—"

"Two out of three, or all of them?" He answered quickly, as if being timed on a test.

"Correct. Salazar, you're a quick learner." She grinned, leaving the second-year flustered before turning to look at her team-mates. "But scoring the most amount of points also gives a good impression of the team so we better..."

The team eyed her with confusion when her words disappeared, then followed her line of vision to see Harry Potter standing out of the entrance of the Slytherin changing room, with both his hands behind his back.

"Sorry.. for that interruption, really. Didn't mean that.." he chuckled forcefully, but stopped when the expression of various Slytherins there changed. "I'm— I'm not here for.. for spying or anything like that. I swear."

He had really thought she'd be the first one here, and alone, as always. He hadn't expected her entire team to trail after her like a mini-army.

Well.. to be fair, people grew fond of Ria rather quickly. So I don't blame them.

"I'm just here.. erm.. as her—" 

Their unnerving stare wasn't moving anywhere. It was like a stone wall had blocked his path. Like they were soldiers guarding their high lady. 

He shook his head then, thinking it was better to give up on words before walking straight to her.

"I really wanted to wish you early in the morning, but I knew your friends would be there too. And no one else would come with me, because you know how Hermione and Ron have been lately and—"

Ria nodded and watched with a bit of concern in her eyes, while the Slytherin team behind him tried to suppress their expressions and exchanged glances with one another.

"Nevermind." He cleared his throat, his hands coming up front with a gift-wrapped box and a bouquet.

"Happiest Seventeenth Birthday. And a Happy Valentine's." He took her hand, and bent down to kiss her knuckles. 

"Really wish I could take you out on a date, but you'll probably be tired after the match. Not that you'd come with me anyway." He muttered under his breath while handing her the gifts.

"That's all.." He took a step back then. Good luck for the match. Not that you need it.. I know you'll win, but still."

Ria watched him walk out then, red in the face with both his gifts in her hands. And when she realised all her team had been looking at her, she turned to her locker, quickly opening it just for a bunch of things to spill on the floor. "Oh my—"

Harry stopped then, hearing her squeal, turning around to see her scooping what looked like more than a dozen of different-coloured roses and letters.

She looked at him then, more flustered than before. "Is that— um.."

"No.. no, that's not.. me." He answered, his stomach feeling upset all of a sudden. He continued to walk out of the changing room, going back to where he had Hermione and Ginny.

"Okay.." she nodded. "First, not a word about this.. Second, you better get ready and get to warming up before I do." He could hear Ria instruct her team. "And third, who the fuck touched my locker—"

But even though there was an enormous amount of jealousy flailing through his body, he also felt a sense of satisfaction. Among all of the roses offered to her, he was the only one who had given her a bouquet of daisies (paired with baby breaths and a pleasant fragrance).

Her favourite.

So yeah, whoever was trying to win her over needed to do better.

They can't, when I exist. He thought with a baby-like pout in his face.

No one can.

When the Slytherin team walked out, the pitch erupted into tumultuous roars and boos: the entirety of it divided into blue-bronze and green-silver.

"Are you sure about not using your Firebolt?" asked Blaise.

Ria chuckled. "Why would I need it as a Keeper?" She hoisted her Nimbus 2001 in the air before catching it with ease. "I don't need speed. Just something I am familiar with. Something I can control perfectly."

"Right then, all of you. Remember what I told you?" She asked without needing to look back as they slowly approached the middle of the field.

"Delay catching the Snitch as much as I can. Constantly try to block Chang's line of sight, if I can."

"Don't hesitate to hit hard. They won't either."

"Win this match as your birthday gift."

"Always trust the Seer."

She side-eyed Blaise for a quick moment before stepping up to Madam Hooch, who stood ready to release the balls from the crate.

"Captains shake hands."

"Their team is weak anyway."

The Captain, Chambers, passed a glare. And Ria rolled her eyes, failing to hide the little smirk on her face. "Sorry about her." She said to him.

Always the feud-fueller, Amelia.

"Mount your brooms. On the whistle.. three.. two.. one.."

All fourteen players kicked off the ground. Ria zoomed towards her position, her eyes searching for the Quaffle which was in the hands of Bradley. But within a blink of an eye, Amelia soared through to snatch it from him.

Ria couldn't help but smile. Amelia was easily one of the best Chasers of Hogwarts. But then, a voice that had been annoying her to the depths of her soul echoed through the air.

"Well— finally, would you look at that! Captain Edwards has finally returned from her sickness." Zacharias Smith had started yapping from the commentator's podium. "Wonder if she couldn't find an excuse this time."

Laughter rang from one side of the pitch, and Asteria rolled her eyes. Well.. the other commentator was Luna. She wasn't as entertaining as Jordan, of course, but she was definitely better than Smith.

"Find another job, Smith!" She yelled. "This is clearly too much for you! Definitely out of your capabilities, I'd say!"

"Maybe if you focus on your job, Edwards, you won't lose as sorely as you did, last match."

Oh, this bitch.

"Take your own advice and give a tenner to Slytherin already, arsehole!"

Cheers filled her ears. Amelia had already taken the first goal. The match had officially began.

The game felt longer than it usually was. Ria didn't have a watch, but she knew the score was 270 to 90, with Slytherin leading.

And though it was tiring, she couldn't complain. She was the one who had asked Maryam to delay catching the Snitch.

But why would that be needed when the Snitch itself wasn't in the mood to show up? Even she had scanned the pitch with her eyes, mentally entrusting the Quaffle to her Chasers.

Some more minutes passed by, some more crude remarks by Smith came by.. and two misses later—

"And what do I see there! It looks like Shafiq of Slytherin has spotted something in the air—"

Smith was only halfway through his sentence when Cho sped after Maryam. And only within a few seconds, the whistle sounded again.

"And that's a hundred and fifty points! 420 to 110 — Slytherin wins!"

"Yeah!"

"Finally!"

The walk from the field to the changing rooms felt painfully long too. They all seemed to collapse on the benches as soon as they reached.

"One hour thirteen minutes." Ria checked the clock as she took off her outer gear. "Heavens, I don't ever remember playing for that long." She chuckled.

"That was fun." Clea laughed.

"How in hell do I feel tired when the most physical thing I've done is launch a Quaffle?"

"You're constantly using your magic to stay in the air, Raywood." Theo answered as he and Harper passed water to all of them. "Of course, that'll tire you out."

"Well, anyway, Happy Birthday, Captain!" Blaise grinned. "There's your birthday gift.."

Ria smiled. With 420 points, they had to be the team that scored the most. And now that they had won at least one of their matches, they still had a chance to make it to the finals.

"Yeah— now let's hurry! There's a party waiting!" Amelia shouted, receiving cheers as a response. "Ria, you better—"

"Right, there's a party waiting!" At her agreement, they yelled even louder. And soon they scattered to the separate bathrooms to clean up.

Ria walked back to her locker that she had nearly organised before the match. The roses were tied up and placed in a corner, the letters bundled and kept right under them. She reached for her clothes, only to get distracted by the big gift-wrapped box Harry had got her.

Curiosity got to her as quick as it could, and she checked her surroundings before carefully unwrapping the gift.

The silvery box inside gave her an idea of what it was. She also knew that it meant she shouldn't touch the gift inside with her filthy, sweaty hands.

But still, she wanted to take a peek.

So she did. She opened the box, and a note greeted her readily. And when she read what was written on it, her jaw dropped.

"Oh, that little piece of shit."

February moved toward March just as quickly with anticipation of the upcoming matches and apparition lessons. Three of them had already happened, proving as difficult as ever. A few people had even managed to Splinch themselves trying to apparate, which had left all of them a bit more cautious while learning Apparition.

Though a wave of upset washed over everyone when a sign went up in all common room notice boards, that the next trip to Hogsmeade had been cancelled.

"I mean.. can we blame them? After what happened to Katie?" Hermione shook her head.

"I suppose Ron's upset." said Ria, who'd been accompanying her in the library since Cassandra couldn't stop going on and on about her divine Divination abilities. Apparently she'd heard some other portrait gossip about her. "It was supposed to be on his birthday."

"And why would I know that?" Hermione answered back rather coldly, and Ria understood that things hadn't changed between them.

"Right.." she sighed. "Hey.. what does this one mean?"

Hermione looked at her journal, brows furrowing together. She had already lent Ria her own Ancient Runes book. But when she couldn't find some of them in there, she turned to the girl herself.

"Jeez, Ria— I don't think I've seen this Rune." She squinted her eyes, as if trying hard to recall. But nothing familiar came to mind.

Ria frowned, retrieving the book. "You sure?"

"Yeah.. where'd you find them anyway?"

She shrugged. "In some History book. I was just curious to know what they meant."

It was a coincidence to find those runes in an ancient book about magic. But those being familiar-looking wasn't something she had expected.

Clearly she had missed something.

Or she was overthinking.

Meh, what's wrong with checking though?

"No.. I'm not sure I've seen them." Hermione sighed. "You'll have to search for books from around the same century as the book you found them in. That'll probably help you."

Ria nodded. She left her seat to wander the corridors of Ancient Magic, investing her time taking books one by one, checking the contents, checking the pages where she'd most likely find what she was looking for. By the time she returned to their table, she had a stack of books balanced in her hands.

Heavens, she must be looking like Hermione.

It must've been around half an hour when Ria found what she was looking for. She opened her journal, drew the familiar rune and wrote its meaning beside it. Guide.

"Ah.. guide." Hermione nodded. "You mustn't have found it in my book, because we don't focus on verbs.. or human status and position. Only components and elements of the earth and the human body."

Ria nodded, leaning back with a huff. Psyche. Birth. Guide. Those were the three runes she had translated for now. She had some more to go.. some more that she could faintly recognise.. like a distant memory.

She opened the book of Ancient magic again, looking for Runes that she could find familiar to the ones before. Once she did, she began writing down their translations without finding the need to write the Runes.

Time passed by. The sky outside darkened. Asteria felt like her eyes were about to burn off. Even Hermione had left somewhere in between.. when she finally closed the last book and stared at the page in her journal.

She had found nine random Runes that she had found familiar. Nine random words that she'd gotten from them. And she hadn't ever taken the subject. She had never even peeked at her friends' books. But somehow, she had found those familiar.

That's gotta count for something, right?

After staring hard and long enough, she realised that the words weren't random. A few minutes longer, and she realised they could be arranged in a sequence.

So she did, tiring out her brain a little more.

The soul came first. But in case of a wizard's soul, it came with magic. Even a fetus has magic.. or else Carrow wouldn't have been able to take Isabella's power. Or else prophecies couldn't have been made in the name of unborn children.

Then came birth. The baby would start to recognise touch, to see, to hear, to taste, to smell. Soon, it would feel various emotions. But then, one day, it would become aware.

Once it became aware of the world around it, it would understand magic. It would become one with magic because of that understanding. It would learn to control it. And then end up becoming a wizard in true sense.

It would learn and learn and practise and practise to always keep bettering itself. It would keep evolving.

Soul. Force. Birth. Sense. Feel. Psyche. Bond. Evolution.

That was the perfect sequence. But something didn't make sense.

Guide didn't fit in. And she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why.

It could come after Psyche, where the baby is guided towards growing up. It could come after Bond, where the baby learns from others on how to control their magic. But it could also come after Evolution, because the baby, after growing up, continues to guide other lives.

With a click of her tongue, Ria rested her head on the table. No. It shouldn't be that confusing. The others were pretty straightforward and reasonable.

But somewhere, in the next moment, a gear turned in her mind, and she remembered.

She remembered where she had seen those Runes.

Hurriedly, she gathered the books and returned them to their rightful places, before gathering her own books in her bag.

Ria took a deliberate turn to the other direction from her dorm and descended down the Dungeon stairs. Halfway through, she realised her mistake and turned back around, remembering Severus wasn't a Potions master anymore.

She hadn't visited him much this year.. Like all the previous years, she didn't spend most of her free time in his office, looking through various books he owned or experimenting with different potions. Besides, he hadn't met with her himself as much as he used to.

When she entered the DADA classroom, the door to his office opened, and he stood at the doorway. "What? Did you dream of me coming here or something?" she asked.

He only walked back inside. "No one stomps as much as you while coming to my office, Asteria." She followed him with a roll of her eyes. "You see, students aren't usually angry or excited to see me."

"Oh, I wonder why." Sarcasm laced her rushed words, which Snape tried to ignore.

"Well.. then." He asked once Ria gulped down the goblet of water on his desk.

"Well.." She repeated. Now she didn't know where to start. No, she hadn't blanked out. But..

"Well, I wanted to know more.. about the Circle of Runes."

His expression contorted. "Now?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

She nodded. "Dumbledore told me I could ask you about my doubts."

Lie.

He looked as if he had chewed on lemon, his face also turned as sour as one. "What do you want to know?"

Ria refrained from smiling. "I've seen the Circle of Runes about.. two times, now. Small circles arranged and connected by lines and patterns, forming the main circle. And Runes inside each small circle. Is it the same every time?"

He squinted his eyes, as if trying to read where this conversation was heading. "Yes."

"And there are a fixed amount of circles every time?"

"..Yes."

Ria nodded. Right. I was right. Nine circles, forming a big one, with nine Runes.. fixed every time.

"The Runes change for different people, don't they?"

It makes sense. It makes so much sense. Eight Runes remain the same, because they are common for every wizard. One changes every time, depending on the wizard.. or depending on what you want to take from them—

"Yes, they do."

Guide. Guide must be it. Guide changes. But why was it Guide?

Guide.. what can be guided. Magic can be guided. What guides magic? A wand does.

But what does a wand have to do with stealing magic?

"Asteria."

Oh, magic can be guided without a wand too. By those who know wandless magic. Or by those who are born with the ability to guide magic without a wand. By that logic, mind can be guided or influenced too— thoughts, ideas—

"Asteria."

Guide. It was for my mother! It was the specific Rune needed to take magic from my mother! She has the ability to guide!

"Asteria!"

"Yes!" Ria answered a little too quickly.

His eyes were a bit wide. And she soon noticed that she had been shivering. Her hands were shaking, rubbing against each other. Something she usually did when she was anxious, but..

"You've been working yourself up again.." He said.

"No." She shook her head. "No, no. I'm managing my hours perfectly fine." She chuckled. "In fact, I've never felt this efficient—"

"You're not giving yourself time to think about other things." Severus interrupted.

"No! You don't understand— Merlin!" She sighed with exasperation, looking up at the ceiling before facing him again. "I'm doing exactly what I should've been doing all these years!"

"What?" He retorted. "Doing dangerous things over and over again until you spiral out of control and drop unconscious?"

Ria felt a hot wave of anger. She lifted her chin, a bit indignantly. "Well, you remember the time you punished me for trying to practise controlling my Obscurus?"

He was halfway through his nod when Ria shot out her wand, and an invisible gust of something broke through the window behind his desk.

Snape stared at the broken window, his eyes a bit wide, before following the gust which returned back to Ria.

He could tell she had been waiting for this moment.. the way her face looked so smug and how she refrained from letting a smile grow on her lips told him that. I told you I could do it; she wanted to tell him.

"You didn't—"

"No, I didn't stop." She said. "I know you told me to. But I couldn't. Not after I'd just gotten a hint of how I could control it. I've been sneaking off.. very carefully, for the past two months. I've practised every day in the Room of Requirements, without fail."

"Snuck around everyday?" He said, his voice monotonous.

"Yes." She nodded. "Got hurt many times, but got better in no time. Apparently it's because of the Obscurus and not because I'm an Azrael. It's the dark magic of it which heals me that quickly."

Snape squinted his eyes just slightly. "I see you've been doing your research." Ria nodded. "How did you figure it out? Controlling?"

"A wand is the first thing we're introduced to in the Wizarding World, Severus." She answered, leaving her seat to roam around and look at the familiar bookshelf of his. Her finger traced the outline of the stacks of books. "It was an accident at first. But then I realised.. we give so much importance to wands. That's gotta account for something, right?"

"And what if you don't have it?" He retorted. "What if you're in a situation where it's been taken away from you?"

"I'm not done practising or researching yet, Severus." She said, with seemingly venom seeping through her words. "I'll learn wandless magic. I'll learn to control it without a wand. I'll make sure it knows that it's there because I am.. and that it will have no authority over me."

"So don't you dare lecture me and pretend that I'm some mindless child whining on and on about things I don't know— because if I don't know anything? I'd dug up graves to find my way around it." She said, tears of frustration pooled in her eyes.

There was a moment of silence where Severus waited. He waited for a clutter, a gust of unexpected wind, a hint of darkness in her eyes, an earthquake.. but none of them came.

Asteria Edwards had her claws sunk in her Obscurus's neck. And she could draw blood with her grip, but wouldn't let it slip out of her hands.

Though he could tell she was overstimulated with the way she was shivering.. with the way she was tearing up with fury. That was what happened when a person gave too much of their mind to one thing.. when they dug a hole too deep and become one with too much information.

But she looked proud. She looked content. And as cruel as he could be, he didn't want to blow out the flame. She'd rather have it burn itself out.

"One more thing.." Ria began rather calmly, this time.

He nodded. "Have you really never.. ever come face to face with Carrow?"

Severus sighed. "You have to understand that the Dark Lord keeps Carrow protected." He answered, and she listened intently. "And no one else, but Amycus and Alecto Carrow, among the death eaters, have conversed with the Carrow child.. or have been in the same room. That includes me."

"The incident at the Ministry was a different thing. They were sure they would win, but things did not turn out their way."

Ria nodded. "Right."

"Why did you ask that? Do you not trust me?"

She shook her head with a forced chuckle. And Severus picked from it what could only be labelled as mild terror and a hint of uncertainty. "It's not that."

"I.. I haven't heard from Carrow in a while now.. A long while." She gulped. "They didn't leave. I know that. It's as if I can sense that bastard's presence."

"I know they're listening.. most of the time. I just wanted to make sure that I know I'm giving away a vital piece of information to them."

The uncertainty disappeared. And a glint of reckless in her eyes reminded him of Isabella.

"What?"

"That one Rune is the reason they couldn't take my powers." There was a small smile on her face. "It only worked for my mother. And clearly, I don't possess the same power as her."

"So, yeah.. even though they took my onyx pendant away.. the one you'd gifted me." She told Severus. "Thinking that it saved me from the Circle of Runes.. they were wrong. The pendant didn't do shit."

A beat of silence, and there they were.

'Oh.. is that so?' 

The oh-so-familiar, but unknown voice.

I knew you'd come.

"In fact, I don't know what power I have. Nor does Dumbledore. Or Severus. Or you. Or your master." She spoke to Carrow directly. "So unless you find that out, you aren't taking anything from me."

A year ago, she would be terrified of that voice. She would've been terrified that her enemy knew something of such importance. But now? She wouldn't say so.

Though their sweet reunion was interrupted when a face spawned outside the door of the office. 

"Profess— Snape!" She took a second to calm her heavy breathing, then looked up. "Oh, you're here too! Thank goodness." She said upon spotting Ria.

"'Melia.. what is it?" asked Ria.

"It's Ron.. in the hospital wing. He's been poisoned."

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