Competition/Challenge Block
Written for/Stacked with: The Houses Competition (Year 8); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)
THC: Slytherin - Astronomy; Standard ([Object] Family Heirloom; [Word] Develop; (BONUS PROMPTS) [Prompt] The girl who stole the stars; [Quote] I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou)

MC4A: Winter Bingo (1E [Bauble]); Vocab Bingo (2C [Wither]); Swap & Shop (Knicknacks 1 [Wooden Woman with No Face])

Other Challenges: Writing in a Winter Wonderland Day 28: Memories

Word Count: 1,068

Beta: Ash Juillet; Dhrish; VanillaAsh; Hope

Stolen Stars (that gifted me)

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

— Maya Angelou

.oOo.

Astoria's family always cherished their relationships and traditions, passing the meanings of them down their family tree to build and learn from the old. She was told that it helped keep them connected, to develop and maintain that strength in their family so that no one would be forgotten. This was maintained by stories and family heirlooms consisting of jewelry and other prized trinkets whose worth was only given by relatives. The trinkets often contained memories of its owner that were retold by her elders and retained by the youth, offering teachings on how to treasure something and someone special to them along the way.

One of Astoria's favorite heirlooms was both a physical object and a story her great-great grandmother once told her that was connected to her name and the trinket itself. The bauble that was gifted to her was handcrafted by Astoria's great-great-great-great grandfather for his wife who shared a variation of Astoria's name back in the Middle Ages.

The bauble was a perfectly shaped sphere of clear glass. Its interior showed a young woman looking up at the stars above. Carved from a light wood, she held her hand upward while she knelt down on a wood-painted grassy hill. When the orb was enchanted, it bloomed a faint glow that grew brighter when the wooden woman opened her hand to reveal a light. Astoria's great-great grandmother told her that the bauble was named The Girl Who Stole the Stars because the woman was once able to reach up and pluck one of the sparkling lights above her and hold it in her hand. However, due to its age, the magic that was imbued in the craft eventually broke down and continued to do so with time. Now all it did when prompted was show the woman's hand open and close, revealing the light in her hand sparkling as brightly as the ones that still twinkled above her.

"The stars that burn brightest are ones that fade the fastest, my dear," her great-great grandmother had told her once, "So never waste your own light. You are a Star Maiden, just like the woman in this bauble who holds a star in hand. Just as my own grandmother was as well who was gifted this. If you see something in your life's path that you cannot live without, you pursue it. Life is too short for regrets and what-ifs."

Astoria was only eight when she was given the bauble and heard its meaningful story. She would often wander over to the shelf in her room that held the glass orb now and stare at it, too scared to try and enchant it to glow its beauty in fear of it withering away from age.

She found herself smiling at it and the memory of its story every time even after all these years. Perhaps her great-great grandmother would find it amusing to learn that a star maiden stole a star dragon's heart to hold in her hand. She would definitely adore and shower Scorpius in endless love and affection had she still been alive, of course. It was what grandmothers were supposed to do.

Unfortunately for her son, he wouldn't have those treasured memories of his great-great grandparents, so it was her responsibility to help him learn about the importance of family and the benefits of passing something down. Though her health started to decline as Scorpius grew older, she still did her best to tell him tales and stories that she had learned that went with the treasured trinkets to continue tradition.

"My great-great grandmother always told me that the stars always told the best stories. Their light traveled quite far in order for us to learn from them, and that we should respect its long journey by remembering our own," Astoria said one evening to seven-year-old Scorpius while tucking him into bed. "Just like your father's family naming their children after the stars, my own family did something similar."

"But your name isn't a star, Mama," Scorpius pointed out.

"No, it is not. But it is a variation of the name Astraea—Star Maiden," Astoria said. "My gran said that I was always destined to conquer the stars. And, in a way, I feel like I have."

Scorpius' eyes widened slightly. "Really?"

"Yes, but not the real stars, of course." She kissed his forehead lightly and smiled. "More in the sense of finding your father and having you."

"Yeah," Scorpius said, glancing at the window across the room with a new sense of awe and wonder of the twinkling lights peppering the dark sky outside.

He yawned suddenly, sleep starting to capture his silver-grey eyes. "Mama?"

"What is it, starlight?"

"Is that story about the girl taking a star about you?"

Astoria smiled softly. "Well, not really. It is an old story created and developed by a distant relative. It was a pledge of love, and this relative even made a trinket of it that soon became a heirloom passed down to those who carried a name that was pulled from the stars."

Scorpius' eyes widened again but drooped again from sleep. "Could I see it?"

"Of course, but not tonight. For now, it is time to sleep." Astoria kissed his forehead again and brushed his hair from his face. "Goodnight, my starlight."

She decided that she wanted to try and restore the bauble before it was her time to pass it onto Scorpius. Draco specialized in antique restorations—magical and muggle—mostly as a hobby more than anything. It was one of the things she found most charming about him and his desire to fix broken things. Nevertheless, Astoria would trust him with this trinket and no one else to restore it to its former glory.

Perhaps she would even add to it, imbue a little bit of herself into the already beautiful bauble. If Draco could restore it back enough for the maiden to move her hand and arm to reach for the stars and capture one, perhaps she could have her sing a lullaby or tell the tale of the girl who stole the stars so it would have a visual and verbal telling of it. Giving herself a little piece to pass along in time.