??? ????? ???? ??

𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟔

"𝐑𝐞𝐠, 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐮𝐩, 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞!" Asteria called up the staircase, her wand in one hand, and a stack of books she'd forgotten to put in her trunk, in the other. On the pavement outside, her mother was glaring up at the house, her lips pursed in a telltale sign of frustration. It was always the same. Each year Regulus and Asteria returned to Hogwarts, something would go wrong. Last year, Asteria had misplaced her wand in the middle of King's Cross station, the year before both of them had made the train with seconds to spare, and now this year, Regulus had overslept. A summer being on best behaviour took its toll on the Black twins.

"Do you have my potions book, Ria?" A voice yelled back, followed by, "Asteria?!" When Asteria didn't give an immediate response.

"No!" She yelled back.

"Will you stop shouting, you're drawing attention to yourselves!"

Asteria turned to the door and straightened up, "Sorry, Mother".

"What is it about returning to Hogwarts that makes the two of you so giddy? It's always the same. You're perfectly even-tempered for your Father and I for six weeks, then as soon as September comes, you both start behaving like drunken toddlers" She scolded.

"Back to school excitement?" Asteria said, meekly.

In truth, as much as 10 Grimmauld place was their home, Hogwarts had always felt more like a home to both of the Black's. Summer's were spent learning about their family history, fine-tuning their French, attending dreary wizarding dinner parties, and, more recently, speculating about the rise of the Dark Lord, who, in her Uncle's words "had the right idea". It made for a gruelling six weeks away from school each year and, although they were arguably learning more at Hogwarts than at home, it wasn't under the watchful eye of their mother. They had friends there, enough friends to forget how lonely it could feel back at home. They were good natured, intelligent, and well-liked by both their peers and teachers, almost to the point where Asteria believed Professor Flitwick liked her more than her own father. Her parents had never been the nurturing type. That wasn't how they operated.

Nevertheless, Asteria Black had everything she wanted in life. Her family were rich; richer than most, her mother favoured her over her siblings, she was popular, pretty, and she knew what she wanted to do with her life, an impressive trait for a fifteen-year-old girl. She was going to become a Death Eater. She read the Daily Prophet, she listened to her Mother, she knew what was happening in the Wizarding World. She had in no way been sheltered from it, much like many of the students at Hogwarts. The Dark Lord was growing in power and, along with him, so were his pure-blood supremacist views; the same views that had been imprinted in Asteria's mind from a young age. Naturally, it made sense for her to become a Death Eater. Her cousin, Bellatrix was already a Death Eater and from what Asteria had heard, it didn't seem bad.

"I knew you had it. You're holding two copies" Regulus huffed, reaching the bottom of the stairs and wrenching a copy of Intermediate Potion Making from the small pile in Asteria's arm.

"No, that's mine-" She began to protest but trailed off, after a quick glance down at her books proved Regulus right. "Oh, I didn't realise" She finished, with a small shrug, ignoring his accusing glare.

Outside, their mother glowered at them, "Regulus and Asteria Black, will you hurry up! The train leaves in less than an hour".

"Let's go, before she kills us" Regulus mumbled.

"Us? I wasn't the one holding us up" Asteria hissed back.

The twins descended the stone steps from the house to the street, where a large black car was parked, its engine running quietly. A Ministry car was hired to take them to King's Cross each year; a car that got larger and more elaborate every time. Ministry cars were available to every Wizarding family living in and around London but, as per tradition, the Black family never passed up on an opportunity to flaunt their wealth. Orion and Walburga Black made sure their children always travelled in the better car, had the latest broomstick model, had new robes each year, and so on.