Stargazing

A thread of dread struck Lacie as she reached with one hand into her bookbag and felt around. She shuffled her textbook to the side and picked up the quill to peered into the dark folds of fabric. All that came up were crumbled shreds of parchment from notes that had been handled a little too roughly. The long cylinder that was her telescope was nowhere to be seen.

“I have to run back to the dorms,” Lacie informed her friends.

“Did you forget something again?” Lily asked with a raised eyebrow. She and Marlene had come to a stop as Lacie had fallen behind.

“You’d better hurry.” Merlene fumbled with her textbook and caught the inkwell before it went crashing to the floor. She had, for some reason Lacie couldn’t understand, decided to forgo using a bag for astronomy and simply balanced everything on the one book.

Thankfully, Lacie had left the telescope on her bed where she was able to spot and retrieve it quickly. She proceeded to run through the corridors and flew up the stairs towards the Astronomy classroom.

When she made it to the classroom, she joined the others in pulling out her telescope and book. The professor held a stack of parchment papers. “I want everyone to get into partners with the person on your right or if you are at the end of the row then the person on your left. You are to come and get a star chart from me and work together to label the constellations as you find them in the sky.”

Lacie already knew who was to her right, a certain Sirius Black. She expected him to partner with James anyways, but when Sirius went to move towards his friends the Professor cleared his throat. “Mr. Potter already has a partner, Mr. Black. You are with Ms. Farlow.”

“Well, it looks like we are working together.” Sirius said as he went to get the parchment from the professor. He came back and they went to the edge of the tower. Lacie pulled her hair back and tied it up with a ribbon from her bag; the winds from being up in the tower caused her hair to fly into her eyes.

“I’m surprised your fourth isn’t here,” Lacie admitted as she uncapped her telescope and opened the textbook. From what she knew Remus was the most studious of the group and the four of them often partnered together for more activities.

“Trying to get rid of me that badly,” Sirius grinned.

“What, no, I mean-” Lacie’s words got mixed up and she ended up just staring back at him.

“I’m only kidding. Remus had to visit Madam Pomfrey and Peter happened to be partnered with James.” Sirius motioned to the star chart. “Do you want to write or should I?”

Lacie had already taken out her inkwell so she offered to do the writing. “I hope Remus feels better soon. It’s exam month too.”

“Just some headaches,” Sirius replied as he glanced at the girl. “You know how it is. Studying so hard he could probably recite them all in his sleep.”

“Madam Pomfrey should get him sorted then,” Lacie agreed understandingly. She frowned at the map and peered through the telescope. “I think that’s Aquila.”

Sirius followed her gaze to the sky. He ran his fingers through his dark hair as he pointed to a different constellation on the parchment. “This should be Aquila, the one you are looking at is Cygnus.”

“And that would make this one Lyra,” she scribbled down the names as they went through the parchment. Lacie was, honestly, a little surprised at how well Sirius knew the constellations. He didn’t make reference to their textbook and when Lacie would double check, he was always right.

They finished quickly and ended up just sitting, looking at the night sky while the other students continued to work away. Sirius seemed to forget they were in class as he stared upwards. Lacie too, admired the glimmering stars, and the bright crescent moon. It was a clear night with only the occasional wisp of clouds.

Lacie wrapped her arms around her knees and she covered a yawn. The quiet murmur and cool temperature did nothing to help either. The breeze had calmed and she had acclimated so it now felt refreshing.

“Potter, what do you want?” came the familiar, annoyed, whisper from Lily.

Lacie turned to Sirius with a questioning expression. He just shrugged, “We told him Astronomy is probably late enough that Lily won’t want to deal with him, but he’ll be James no matter what we tell him!”

“I mean, I don’t think Lily wants to deal with him even when it’s not this late,” Lacie said.

“James is trying his best,” Sirius defended his friend, although he had made no progress this past year on winning over the red-head.

“Trying too hard in my opinion,” Lacie said without a thought. “I mean, I don’t think Lily appreciates his idea of grand gestures.”

Nothing else was said on the topic but Sirius seemed to be considering her words. He fiddled with the textbook, running his thumb across the pages as if he was looking for a certain section.

“How did you dye Marlene's hair?” Lacie asked suddenly, remembering that they had never figured it out.

Sirius tilted his head and winked, “You shouldn’t leave your mail in the common room.”

It took a moment but Lacie recalled the parcel that Marlene had gotten. Her mother had sent her some hair products to try. She must have left it in the common room and along came trouble. “I’ll keep that in mind. Although, one of these days, someone is going to get you back.”

“Is that a challenge,” Sirius leaned forward and peered at the Gryffindor girl. He hadn’t paid much mind to her over the past two years, but he seemed to be running into her more and more frequently.

“Oh no,” Lacie shook her head, although a small part of her was curious about what she could get away with. “I’m just saying, it might backfire and then what?”

“You all got it sorted,” he motioned to her hair.

Lacie rolled her eyes, ““You were lucky we were planning to dye our hair anyways or else I think we might be looking for your remains in the forbidden forest.”

Sirius stood up and playfully bowed, “Thank you for helping us escape from peril.”

“You might want to get James to tone it down this month too,” Lacie decided to try and give the boy some advice. She wasn’t sure if it would do them any good. “Lily is working very hard on studying and she’s getting a little nervous. I think she just wants to focus on her exams.”

“I’ll see if I can mention it,” Sirius acquiesced. James valued his friends, held them in high regard, but advice on Lily, if it didn’t align with his own thoughts, seemed to go in one ear and right out the other. “Remus is in the same boat.”

Lacie went to respond, but class came to a close before she could respond. Sirius went over to James and Peter while Lacie made her want over to hand in their star chart and then to Lily and Marlene. They descended the winding staircase and made their way to the Gryffindor common room.

It was only when she was sliding into bed that she realized she had lost another one of her maroon hair ribbons. The silky fabric seemed determined to do anything but stay where she tied it. She rolled over, it could always be replaced over the summer.