Asterion had been busy, lately. So busy he had nearly forgotten to send that letter to Aiden after all. Not that it was entirely his fault. The reappearance of the ex- love of someone’s life tended to throw you for a loop. Couple that in with his official adoption, and yeah. He hadn’t given much thought to their little deal. But his conversation with Darling had reminded him, so here he sat, in the privacy of the Room of Requirement, one of the few places where he could go to get away from the rest of the mindless hoard cluttering up the school. He would sooner shoot himself in the foot with a blasting curse than admit it, but the Room must have somehow known he was homesick, as it had set up a nearly perfect replica of his old room in the Black Manor.
It was where he sat, at his ornate old writing desk, a quill held between his twitching fingers as he thought. This would be the first draft, as he refused to allow the parchment to be marred by mistakes or visual doubt in himself before he sent it. A while later, Ast had a pile of crumpled up balls of parchment, stained fingers, and a flawless, completed letter to show for his efforts. He melted the sealing wax with a candle, hesitated a moment over which symbol to press into it, then went with the Black family crest. He had already told him he was a Black, after all. And he really didn’t want to drag his new family and old friend into this.
He had done enough for him in freeing him from that thrice-damned orphanage. The other prospective families had recognized him as ‘creepy’ and ‘off’ right away and had made no secret of it. In turn, he had made no secret of his distaste for them. In fact, they had been probably been about to ship him off to St. Mungo’s or the like when Jayce had spotted him.
Shaking off his thoughts, he rose to his feet, stretching his arms overhead with a satisfying popping sound. That was the one nice thing about this body. No pain from sitting still for so long. No leftover aches from one too many misfired—or deliberate—curses.
After the wax seal dried, he picked up the letter and moved towards the exit, pausing in the doorway to look back at his familiar surroundings with a pang of homesickness. Damn the Room of Requirement for doing this to him. It seemed the objects at this school had it in for him, from the Sorting Hat to this Room. The door shut and melded back into the stone bricks, taking any nostalgia he had had with it as he went off to find his owl.
The conditions he had laid out were simple, barely taking up two lines of parchment. Nothing with the intent to harm either Darling, or either of his families, both birth and adoptive. And, of course, an expiration on the favor. A year from the date of his own graduation from Hogwarts. That gave Aiden roughly seven years to come up with his favor, and he was lucky Asterion was allowing himself to be bound for even that long.
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Darling? Who was Darling? That was the first question, one that Aiden didn’t dwell on to long. A crush, perhaps. A sibling or a friend, none of that mattered. Aiden wouldn’t force Asterion to hurt anyway. But if he chose to hurt someone for Aiden… well, Aiden couldn’t be blamed, right?
As far as the second stipulation went, Aiden gave pause. He, too, was going to give a timeline for the deal. In fact, similar to his. Aiden would teach him so long as he is a student at Hogwarts. Aiden had zero intention to teach Asterion for the rest of his life.
Still, to put an expiry on the favor? It didn’t sit well with Aiden, not at first at least. But as time moved on and he had more time to think of the conditions Asterion set, Aiden found them to be tolerable. Seven years was more than enough time to bind Asterion’s will to Aiden’s. And by the time the favor expired Aiden’s goal was to have Asterion not even realize. He would be so used to working for Aiden that when the favor expired, Asterion wouldn’t even give it a second thought.
And so, when the time finally came for them to meet in the Room of Requirement, Aiden decided that he would accept Asterion’s terms. However, Aiden wouldn’t allow Asterion to misconstrue the situation. Aiden did not want Asterion thinking he had control. That was something he would never have. So Aiden did not arrive on time. While he was typically prompt, consistency was important in the art of networking, he thought it best to let Asterion sit and stew. Would he agree? Would he disagree? Asterion may have chosen the place and the time, but it was Aiden who chose whether or not this… arrangement would continue any farther.
..
Time ticked on. One minute past, two… five… It was nearing ten after before Aiden finally walked into the Room of Requirement. The room was fairly empty and large. Mirrors lined the side of it, dummies stacked in one corner.
Aiden closed the door and leaned against it. “I’ll teach you while I am a student here at Hogwarts and I will accept your conditions. Shall we begin, Asterion?”
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Asterion, as one who loved to play games with others, recognized the tactic for what it was as Aiden made him wait, taking advantage of the opportunity to plan out how their little meeting would go as he walked from one end of the room to the other. He checked his pocket watch only once after the correct time had gone by, then replaced it in his pocket and kept walking. Studying the dummies, glancing at himself in the mirror. He was in no hurry, even if it was irksome, the message being that Asterion waited on Aiden and not the other way around. Message received, loud and clear. Whether he chose to accept that or not, however, was another matter entirely.
“You’re late.” He said by way of greeting once the other finally joined him, blond brow arched in disapproval. “I almost left.” His time was not worthless, whatever Aiden believed. “But yes, let’s begin. That is what I’ve stood here for almost five minutes for, after all.” He said sarcastically, leaving out the other four or so. No need for him to know that his plan had worked and he had been standing here like an ass the entire time. But him showing up late would not be enough to rattle him. He had known wizards much greater than this sixteen-year-old boy, after all. Had been greater himself. And he still would be, one day. Once he got a grasp on his powers. Which is what they were here for. "Show me the spell you've chosen." He said, demanded, really, watching him expectantly from his place in the middle of the room.
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Aiden just looked amused. The boy had ordered him as if he truly had power in this situation. How precious. Aiden almost laughed, genuinely laughed. That feat was rare. Oh Asterion would be fun indeed.
"Well since you asked so politely," Aiden's wand slipped from his sleeve and into his hand. The gnarled wood felt warm against his flesh, a warmth that could be felt no where else within Aiden. Levicorpus. It was the second spell Aiden had learned nonverbally, the first being a shield charm. It was a fun spell. Not deadly in itself but...
"Levicorpus." Aiden said, stepping forward. He tilted his wand slightly higher, watching as Aster floated higher and higher. Aiden stepped so he was under him, staring up at the boy. "Not a deadly spell in it's own right. It doesn't disarm your opponent, clearly. Though... in the right circumstances...."
I need to make a point. The thought was so simple, and yet the room responded instantly. Aiden stepped out as the floor beneath him crumbled. A dark abyss was below Asterion now. Aiden kicked a stone, watching it fall and fall and fall, never quite hearing it hit the floor.
"It's a very effective tool." Aiden dropped the jinx then, watching as Asterion tumbled down into the abyss. Aiden stared down it for a moment, face blank as was typical.
Snap. His fingers came together, and then suddenly the floor closed and Asterion who had been falling was back, momentum stalling for a moment as to not kill him, before landing with a thud.
"Now," Aiden said. He waved his wand and a dummy came rolling into the middle of the room. Aiden stepped behind Asterion. "Levicorpus. Let me see you try."
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Asterion watched him as he drew his wand, head tilted slightly, wondering what spell he was going to show him. If it was a spell to fold socks or something equally pointless, he would turn and leave right now, he thought. Only to have the world suddenly yanked out from under him. Or rather, he was yanked from it, dangling in the air as his change fell out of his pockets into an endless abyss that had opened up above—below?—him. Now, Asterion was no coward. He had stood in front of the Dark Lord with his mother, faced down Aurors until they overwhelmed him and finally killed him out of sheer numbers, woken up buried alive in a solid wooden coffin. But he still gave an alarmed yelp as he fell into that endless void.
He tumbled for several, long terrifying moments, the only equivalent he could think of that coffin, only to land back on solid ground as quickly as he had left it. Damn it. The bastard. He cursed him out in his head, employing every swear word he knew as he shakily pushed himself up onto hands and knees, hair hanging in front of his face as he panted. Damn him straight to hell.
Finally, he was able to stand, acknowledging the spell and disappearing floor trick with a grudging nod of respect. He couldn’t complain that Levicorpus was a useless spell, yet it wasn’t something he could harm Aiden with either, should he decide to turn on him, and on top of that, it had scared the shit out of him. It was a good move, on his part, leaving him more rattled than Asterion cared to admit.
He picked up his own wand from where it had fallen, thankfully not swallowed by the void, along with his father’s old pocket watch, but the gold seemed to be gone. No matter. The former two items were more valuable by far.
And so he began to try and fill in the gaps in his magical abilities.
“Levicorpus.” Nothing. Not so much as a twitch. “Levicorpus!” Nope.
Several tries later, he had been met with the same results each time. “Maybe I should practice on you instead.” He muttered. It would be motivating and mildly entertaining, if nothing else.
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" Cute," Aiden said curtly. The entire time his hands were in his pockets as he watched Asterion fail over and over again. Aiden didn't expect him to get it, not right away truthfully. It wasn't the easiest of spells, and not widely known among the younger students. But it was impressive enough, and a good spell to keep his interest while not arming him with something that could truly be dangerous towards Aiden. "Cute that you think you can use it on me when you can't even lift a dummy."
Aiden circled Asterion. His eyes flickered down his body. He was watching his form. He was watching wand movement.
Ah, there it was.
Aiden moved behind Asterion, leaning into the boy. His one hand slid to his shoulder. "Relax," Aiden murmured in his ear. "It's much too tense." His other hand moved to the hand Asterion was using to grip his arm. "Move it like this," Aiden guided his hand so it was doing an upward flicking movement. "Go on." He said softly. "Say it. Levicorpous." Aiden would guide his hand with him, as he attempted the spell once again.
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Asterion stiffened as he stepped up behind him, not used to someone coming so close to him, and certainly not touching him like that. “I’d be more motivated to use it on you.” He answered bluntly. “And I can hardly relax when you’re touching me like that.” He didn’t even realize how it sounded, having grown up in a time where sex was not nearly as common as it was now. He and Darling, well. He blushed just thinking about it. So the words, and the way it sounded, soared straight over his head as he elbowed him in annoyance and tried again. Letting him guide his arm.
“Levicorpus.” He repeated dutifully, trying again, and again. "Levircorpus--Ah, fuck. Levicorpus." It was frustrating, how something he once would have considered simple now evaded him. He finally managed it in the end—sort of. The dummy rose up into the air, only to immediately come crashing back down and break, limbs scattering across the floor.
It was better than nothing. He stepped away from him, out of his reach, turning to face him, because only an idiot let someone they didn’t trust stand at their back like that. “There.” He said, satisfied, for now. Though later would see him practicing like a maniac, refusing to allow any spell to best him, especially not ones that Hogwarts students could perform.
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Aiden smirked. He stepped back, away from Asterion. He waved a wand as the limbs swirled into the air and the dummy knitted itself back together. Progress. There was progress. Enough to not doubt Aiden's teaching abilities at the very least. He ran a hand through his hair taking in the boy. He was impatient, that much Aiden could see. Very eager to learn, and while the pursuit of knowledge was certainly a good trait, for Asterion it certainly opened up a weakness that Aiden could very easily exploit.
He lowered his hand from his hair and stuck it out to meet Asterion. "Now, I think it's time to finalize that deal, shall we?" Aiden took a step forward, his eyes aglow with flame.
Aiden's smile was easy, kind even, but his insides were ravenous. The ball was finally rolling. He would collect Asterion first. Oh, how special Asterion would be. He'd always have a place in his heart should Aiden succeed with his plans. His first follower. His first believer. Aiden would look back at this moment in the decades to come and see just how pivotal this deal truly was. The first soul he collected.
The first person to make a deal with the Devil.
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Asterion hesitated for a moment, considering whether or not he truly he wanted to do this. There were other ways to become powerful. Other people who could teach him who might not extract such an exorbitant price. But other people might not satisfy his own ambitions. They might be soft and weak and utterly useless. Other people might go running to the Ministry when they found out who he was. For whatever reason, he didn’t think Aiden would do that, not when there would be no benefit. But just in case… it would be a part of the vow.
He tucked his wand away, reaching out with his left hand to clasp his wrist in the proper gesture. Only to realize that they were lacking a pretty key component in the spell. A witness. But they were in the Room of Requirement, after all, magic thick in the air as Asterion spoke, laying out his conditions first, trusting the Room to take care of what they needed.
“Will you, Aiden Slater, swear to ask nothing of me that will cause direct harm to Darling Elswood or my family, both blood-related and adoptive?” He waited for him to respond before he continued, “Will you keep my identity a secret from foes and allies alike, to the best of your ability?” He waited again. Then finally, “Will you agree to utilizing the favor I will owe you before or no more than a year after my own school graduation?” With each spoken and agreed-to term, a fiery red chain of light had twisted itself around their wrists, entwining with their fingers and singeing the skin, at least on Asterion’s part. It stung, but that was part of the consequence of using a spell like this, so he ignored it, staring up at Aiden as he waited for the conclusion of the spell.
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Each time Aiden said 'I do' fire left the wand, coiling around the pair like a snake to it's prey. Never once did Aiden acknowledge the biting heat. His eyes didn't flicker, his face never grimaced. Fire was no stranger to Aiden. Many scars and burns littered his arms underneath his sleeves. Gifts from his father during one of his many lessons. It barely bit anymore. Flames now just nuzzled against his flesh, licking his skin like a dog saying hello.
Pain meant nothing to Aiden. Not anymore.
"And do you, Asterion Black agree that my teachings last only as long as I am a student of this school?" Aiden waited, "And to fulfil my favor in full, so long as it meets the aforementioned terms? A favor, of which, I will mark by referring back to this promise when I finally ask it of you." In the case that a slip of a tongue gets Asterion out of his contract early. Not that, of course, Aiden ever had those. "And that everything said tonight ends either when the favor is asked of you, or the time of the favor expires."
Once everything was accepted, Aiden would let go of his hand. He takes a step back from Asterion, a sinister smile playing on his lips. "Now curfew is almost upon us. Perhaps it's best you retire to your common room for the night, Asterion. I'll meet you back here on... Friday. 7'oclock."
With their business done, Aiden turned on his heel, and left.
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One thing Asterion had never experienced before, in this life or the previous one, was bullying. In his last life, he was the son of a Death Eater, one of Voldemort’s inner circle. Head Boy during his time at Hogwarts. In this one… he was still the son of a Death Eater, but the difference was that the Dark Lord was no more, and with him had gone most of the respect the pureblood families used to command. Besides which, he couldn’t claim to be a direct Black descendant, not without raising a few brows, so he was forced to say that he was a distant cousin instead. Which made him lose what respect that name would have carried. In short, he was nothing, and no one.
Such a thing did not sit right with him, but it was the truth of the matter. He had accepted this. Or at least, he thought he had, until the taunting started.
“Hey, Black.” It started with two words from a burly Gryffindor who towered over him, Asterion’s disinterested stare before he resumed climbing the stairs the only answer he provided, which seemed to set the boy off. Why he was talking to him when they both had classes to get to was beyond him entirely, but here they were.
“Hey, Black!” The boy insisted, his friends tittering around him, making Asterion sneer in disgust at the whole lot of them. But he still didn’t say a word, refusing to give them the attention they so desperately craved.
“Don’t you hear Williams talking to you?” One of his equally large, dumb friends said, reaching out and snatching at the books he was holding, including his mother’s grimoire. Most of them went tumbling down the stairs, but by sheer dumb luck (or not) the bully kept hold of that particular one. “Piss off and die for all I care, you bloody trolls.” He snapped, incensed that he was being picked on by a group of rowdy children and making a grab for his book.
“Oh, now Black’s not too good to talk to us.” Williams, or Rogers, or whatever the dumb fuck was named, sneered, “We just wanted to know, is it true that your family is all related? Cousins, and brothers and sisters, and all that? Inbred bastards, the lot of you.”
Asterion saw red at that point, wrenching himself free at the mention of his family to punch him right in his smug mouth. Only to discover that hitting things, especially something as solid as that moron’s stupid skull, hurt a lot. “Fuck.”
“Not very smart, is he? Looks like all the inbreeding scrambled his brains.” The boy he had hit spat out a mouthful of blood in his face, not that he cared, too busy trying to hit as many of them as he could reach, forgetting about his wand in his blind fury. How dare they speak about his family like that? The comments just got worse as they started hitting him, the mudblood scum, insinuating disgusting things about his family that left him wanting all of his powers back so he could have them writhing on the ground like the insignificant worms they were…
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Aiden hated doing rounds. It was boring. It was uneventful. He didn't care which student was outside their bed at night. He didn't care which students were pulling whatever prank. Which bullies picked on whatever victims.
Well he did until tonight.
"Oh, now Black's not too good to talk to us." That voice rang down the hall. Aiden checked his watch. He had five minutes until his rounds ended and this wouldn't be his pr- Wait did he say Black? Aiden rounded the corner just as Asterion landed a punch on a Gryffindor boy. Not that it seemed to do much. Aiden's eye dropped to the discarded wand. How... useless.
"What have we here?" Aiden said calmly, expressionlessly.
"Just paling around with our friend here," One of them grabbed Asterion by the shoulder.
Aiden did not looked amused. "I suggest you let him go."
"Or what? You'll give us Detention?" Idiot One and Idiot Two laughed. "You'll dock us po-"
Aiden flicked his wand and both of them were hanging by their ankles.
"Oy! Put us down!" Idiot Two snapped. "You can't do that!"
"Oh, you want me to put you down?" Aiden said as the stair case moved. The two hung uselessly in the air, a long fall below them. How poetic, this was just like the Room of Requirement.
Only this was very, very real.
"Very well," Aiden dropped them a few feet. Shouts of fear came from the two. Once again Aiden flicked his wand, catching them once again. He walked forward, now their face was directly level with his.
Idiot Two's crotch area slowly got wet. And that wet spot went higher and higher, gravity adding torture to his humiliation. Aiden smirked down at the boy. "And here I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave." His eyes flickered between the two and he stepped back. "Now, I suggest that you remember this moment the next time you decide to bother poor Asterion. He's mine. Not your's. Is that understood?"
"Y-Yes," they both stuttered. Aiden let them go just then. They both shouted in terror but the stairs had slid into place. They landed on the cold, hard marble, one on top of the other.
"Asterion, get your wand off the ground. Follow me," Aiden didn't even look at him. He simply stepped over the idiots and walked down the stairs. He would lead him to the Potions classroom, should he choose to follow.
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Asterion, for someone who had never fought without a knife or a wand in his hand, was doing pretty well. His knuckles were split, and they were hurting him, but he was hurting them too. Giving back as good as he got. It felt good to hit them, this form of fighting more visceral and real than waving a wand around, in truth. Even the pain was different from the spells his mother had used on him when he failed to grasp something quickly enough and lost patience, fists a dull ache in comparison as they hit him. He was laughing almost hysterically by the time Aiden arrived to separate them, blood running from his nose and mouth, which was split into a wide grin.
He could only compare this moment to the day he had been adopted and got to leave the muggle scum behind forever, watching the two idiots dangle upside down over the moving staircase. That was a rather long way down, he thought absently, laughing outright as they shouted with fear. They weren’t so brave now that they were losing. Cowards.
His eyes were practically sparkling were life as he watched the spread of a dark liquid through the so-called brave Gryffindor’s uniform. He even saw a few yellow drops as they ran along his body, which made him cackle in delight like the child he wasn’t.
He's mine. Not your’s.
His?
Hearing Aiden claim him like that, out loud, gave him pause for a moment, but not for long. What would be the harm in it, for now? He already owed him a favor. As long as he took care not to fall under his influence, there was no reason not to utilize his assistance. For a split second, he thought he killed them when he dropped them, the adrenaline rushing through him as addicting as any drug, and it wasn’t even his kill.
And then it wasn’t a kill at all. Their annoying voices, as shrill as any girl’s at the moment, put an end to that wonderful fantasy, reality coming rushing back in. He crouched to retrieve his wand and his books, which had slid further down the stairs, remembering his mother’s book and jogging down ahead of Aiden to grab it. It had landed on its pages, most of which had gotten bent, and he got pissed off all over again as he picked it up like an injured bird. Damn them. Shaking his head, he could do nothing but close it and accompany Aiden to the dungeons instead of going to class. Fuck it. He could afford to miss one. More than one, with all of his past memories.
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Entering the empty potions classroom he flicked his wand. Each time Aiden flicked another cabinet slammed open. He still didn't look at Asterion. He merely walked to the supply closet and opened the door with the key provided to him by the potions professor. It wasn't uncommon Aiden doing 'favors' for professors. He would brew the beginning stages of potions for the lower level students to start with, or help make skele-gro when the Hospital Wing was out. Doing these favors awarded Aiden perks... like open access to the storage room.
"Just because your magic is useless doesn't mean your potions should be." Aiden was harsher than he was normally with Asterion. "If you're going to drop your wand then at the very least you shouldn't resort to muggle ways to defend yourself. You're better than that, Asterion." He tapped his temple. "Think smarter. Be better prepared. Otherwise you're as useless as those blithering idiots we call classmates."
Aiden approached Asterion then. His hand went to grip his chin, tightly at that to keep Asterion from squirming away. "Episkey," He said, pointing his wand at his nose, quelling the bleeding and knitting his bones back together.
"Now," Aiden's voice was quiet again. His eyes shined with the same fire from before. He was close to Asterion's face. "Show me what you can do, Asterion. Call this our second lesson."
He stepped back then, seating himself upon a table. Aiden's wand pointed now to the wood underneath the cauldron, lighting it aflame. "Make something that will cause whomever messes with you next to regret it."
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Asterion bristled as Aiden called his magic useless, even if he wasn’t wrong. It had been useless, his wand dropped to the ground like a common tree branch instead of the powerful weapon it was in favor of sating his anger and immediate desire for blood lust. They had insulted his mother, and he could not let that stand, even if he had to resort to Muggle dueling.
“I know I’m better. I chose that form of violence because I wanted to. Being better means I get to choose.” He muttered, refusing to let the boy talk down to him. He was better than that, as he said. He held still as he gripped his chin tightly, already prepared for whatever he would do to ‘teach’ him a lesson, but all Aiden did was heal him. While the feeling of bone knitting together was painful and far from pleasant, it was not a punishment either. He wiped the blood off on the back of his hand, glancing down at the red stain for a moment. Blood fascinated him, it always had, and his own was no different.
Then Asterion looked around the room, cataloguing the ingredients available to him in all the open cabinets, and nodded. He could make several useful potions from what he had here, including a few that he was not keen on showing Aiden. In the end, he settled on the Death-cap Draught, made from, obviously, death-cap mushrooms, minus the stem which would spoil the effectiveness of the potion. One of nature’s little jokes, including the antidote in the same place as the poison. He added exactly thirteen pieces of carefully sliced mushroom cap, stirred it the correct number of times (which was different for each piece, it was one of THOSE potions) and waited exactly thirteen minutes for it to turn the perfect shade of poisonous pink. Once added to something else, it would turn clear, and it was both tasteless and odorless.
“This wasn’t a lesson, you didn’t teach me anything.” He muttered as he watched over his cauldrons carefully. Anyone unfortunate enough to ‘accidently’ drink such a potion would end up bleeding from every orifice. And, as one might guess if they were at all familiar with complicated potions, there was just the one cure.
Its only limitation was that the victim had to drink it, which meant it couldn’t be used to ward off attackers in the moment. But it was still useful as hell, especially in an environment where everyone else ate together. Besides, that was where the exploding potion he was also brewing came in. Next time, he wouldn’t be so defenseless. Already, knowing Aiden had paid off, first with him nearly killing the two morons from earlier, and now with (relatively) unsupervised access to the potion lab.
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If Aiden was impressed he certainly didn't show it. A first year being able to create this potion was certainly a feat. Most first years don't even know how to light the cauldron without the use of supplies.
But Aiden already knew that with the books Asterion was reading he knew advanced magics, even if he couldn't perform it. So this... potion he brewed was far from impressive.
"If you didn't need this lesson, Asterion, then maybe you would have done this correctly." Aiden practically spat fire. With a flourish of his wand, the potion evaporated into nothing.
"I told you to make them regret messing with you, Asterion." Aiden advanced on him, eyes blazing. "To regret putting a finger on you." To regret disobeying Aiden's order, and disregarding his property. "And what do you do? You make a posion, one that has to be ingested, that causes their victim to bleed... and bleed everywhere. It's sloppy. It's messy."
Aiden gripped Asterion's chin one more, but this time much harsher than before. His wand dug into Asterion's temple. "If I killed you right now, would I get away with it. Hm? If I left your body a broken mess for everyone to find, do you think I would get away? I told you to think smarter!" Aiden shoved him away, his voice growing. "The only person who would have regrets with this potion is you as all the evidence goes back to you. This is messy. This is sloppy. This is the work of someone who murders for murder's sake. If you want to kill, that's fine. But you kill because there's something to be gained. And you kill because you can get away with it."
..
And then suddenly, the fire, the anger, it disappeared. And once again, Aiden reached out for Asterion. Though this time... it was soft. "Asterion, you're not useless." He says softly. "You're intelligent. You're capable. You have talent far beyond any other student here. But you're angry. You're impulsive. I care for you, Asterion. I want to see you become one of the world's strongest wizards. I want to see you succeed, I want you to get everything you desire. So think, Asterion. I can teach you all the spells you want, but if you don't learn how to utilize your knowledge in the best way..."
Aiden takes a step back. "Then why am I even here?"
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To say Asterion was furious as he watched his hard work—the work of around an hour of careful chopping, measuring, timing---disappear before his eyes, was a vast understatement. “They would regret it.” He snapped back, quiet and spiteful. “They would bleed and possibly die, and in their last moments, they would regret it.” He surveyed the empty cauldron, temper sliding away from him before he stopped and forced himself to reel it in.
He couldn’t do something he would end up regretting. Not here and now. Not when it had been such an ordeal to get him back into school in the first place. Changing his name. New wand. Complex spells to shift his appearance. An entire made up family history that he had spent hours learning, for fuck’s sake. He couldn’t throw that away on attacking someone. Even if they had pissed him off royally. “And it was untraceable. Goes down like pumpkin juice. Takes time to work. It would have been fine.” He knew this because he had drank all but the most poisonous of potions at one time or another, yes, deliberately. How else would he know the true effects?
Then Aiden was grabbing him again, by the chin once more, but his grip was brutal this time. Though, without his mother’s talons, his grip had nothing on hers, the wand just a mildly annoying pressure. He was not afraid. He was just furious. “If you killed me, my family would come after you and then you would regret it.” He muttered. At least, he hoped they would. They probably would. If nothing else, it was rather insulting to have the ‘child’ you were caring for wind up dead. It warranted some kind of retaliation.
He couldn’t help but wonder if there was another reason he had made the Death-cap Draught vanish. If maybe he had thought Asterion might try to use it on him one day. He wouldn’t be so far off from the truth, as it were. He had watched his mother fawn over a Dark Lord that had cast her aside like refuse and allowed her to be killed on a whim after years of loyal service. Had watched his father mourn her. No, he would do nothing without a little insurance.
Though, of course, he wasn’t planning on poisoning him. Rather, if he needed it in the future, it would be on hand.
But now he had nothing. The contents of his other cauldron had vanished as well, he saw, when he went to look. “What would you recommend, then?” He asked, voice still soft, a sure sign that he was still pissed, but less clipped at least as he regained control of himself. “Hm?” He had been one of the strongest wizards. At least on their side. And he had had everything he desired until they killed his wife, newly married and very much in love with him.
He shook his head abruptly to rid himself of such thoughts, refusing to allow them to become any more of a weakness than they already were.
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"What do I have to gain, Asterion? What do I have to gain killing you?" Aiden walked back from Asterion now. He walked to the teacher's desk, leaning against the front of it. He looked at Asterion, really looked at him. He was filled with so much anger, so much hate... so much malice. He was... perfect for Aiden. Absolutely perfect. But Aiden needed to get him under control. Not just his loyalty, that would come with time. No, his... emotions. Asterion could easily become a blood thirsty maniac, who's only interest is death. Or... he could be so much more. If only Asterion just opened his eyes. Opened his eyes to what actual control was. What Aiden could provide to him.
A true vehicle of revenge.
"What do you have to gain? A minor annoyance gone? But troubles down the line. What happens when the death is investigated? If they question the victim of bullying?" He raises an eyebrow. "What happens to the people who know your secret? Me, perhaps? Live by these words, Asterion. Plausible Deniability." Aiden kicked off the desk once more. He took one step towards him, then another. Each slow. Each with a purpose. "Would they regret it, Asterion? Would they really? Can the dead regret? Killing isn't useless, don't get me wrong. But killing requires more... finesse." Aiden smirked slightly. "What's better... is getting them under your thumb, don't you agree? What's better is to make them... fear you."
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“Nothing.” He answered, seeing the lesson now, and not liking it, the way Aiden was talking down to him. It was so incredibly frustrating, fighting day in and day out for so much as a modicum of the respect, the fear his name had carried before. “You would gain nothing from killing me, just as I would gain nothing from killing those—” His nose wrinkled in distaste, “Boys.” They didn’t deserve the name. Pigs would suit them far better. Or cattle. Brainless cattle, led to the slaughter. His temper flared again, always so quick to surface nowadays. As if he was as emotional as the child he appeared to be. Heaven and hell help him if he threw a tantrum like one too.
“They would regret it before they died, as I said.” He replied coolly, unamused by the lecture. He moved around the Potions classroom, tucking a few odds and ends into his pockets as he cleaned the mess by hand. He had never liked to mix magic and brewing beyond what was necessary. The two did not always go hand in hand. “Now if you don’t mind… I have things to do.” He added, once the room was restored to its former state of cleanliness, several useful ingredients weighing down his pockets as he gave him a brief nod of acknowledgement and then swept from the room.
He went along the corridor leading out of the maze of classrooms, heading deeper into the dungeons towards the Slytherin common room. At least there, he was free of three quarters of the idiocy that plagued the school. He passed groups of older students lounging around, their classes obviously finished for the day, earning a strange look but thankfully no comments as he went by. He might have taken out his wand and done something he later regretted if they would have spoken to him. Being… well, he hated to call it bullied, hated to think of himself as a victim, but being harassed by first those Gryffindor half-wits and then lectured by Aiden left him in a foul temper.
