Among the Stars

 The next day, Wisteria drags her friends down to the kitchens for lunch with Michael.

“And you’re not afraid he’s going to bail?” Christine asks her.

“He was the one to suggest this and he doesn’t strike me as the type to go back on plans. So no, I’m not afraid of him bailing.”

“Why did he start talking to you again anyway?” Fabian asks, and Wisteria makes a mental note of the lack of jealousy in his voice.

“I don’t know, but I’m not going to push him for answers. I don’t want him to close himself off again.”

“Oh no Fabs, you may have some competition again.” Jane teases.

Fabian flushes and clears his throat a bit. “Oh, uh…”

Wisteria rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about a thing Fabian. I got over Michael long ago.”

“Yeah Jane.” Penelope agrees. “Get with the program, Michael was like, 2 crushes ago.”

The group finally reaches the kitchens and upon entering find Michael already there, talking kindly to Deedee and a few other house elves. He looks up as the group comes in and smiles widely at Wisteria.

“You made it.”

“Of course I did. I said I would, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.”

“So…” Penelope says, getting everyone’s attention, “Speaking of crushes and Michael, Shay? How are you Will? We’re coming up on one year now aren’t we?”

Shannon blushes. “In a few months, yes. We’re fine.”

“You’re dating my brother?” Michael asks.

Shannon looks shocked. “Does he not talk about me?”

“No, that’s… I don’t talk to him is all, so I don’t know anything about his social life. I’m sure he talks about you all the time. Knowing him, he probably never shuts up about his smart, pretty girlfriend.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

Suddenly Deedee appears in front of Wisteria, beaming up at her. “Wisty! Deedee is so happy to see you again! What can Deedee do for Wisty and her friends?”

“You can just get us the usual Deedee. Thank you.”

“Of course Wisty!”

As the house elves busy themselves with getting the students their food, the conversation drifts to school.

“So, Michael.” Fabian says, “You’re taking advanced classes?”

“Yeah. Back home life is pretty hectic, so as a child I was basically left up to my own devices and I used that time to teach myself a lot of stuff. Unfortunately that meant that when I got here, I felt bored with the stuff I should be learning because I already knew it. So I talked to Professor Sprout and Headmaster Dumbledore about taking classes a few years advanced and they agreed. At the rate I’m going I should graduate next year.”

“Wow…” Jane breathes. “That’s really impressive. Do you mind if I come to you when I need help in a subject?”

“Sure. Just let me know ahead of time so I can work it into my schedule.”

“Speaking of needing help in a subject, does anyone else feel like they’re going to fail our Transfigurations exam next week?” Wisteria asks glumly.

“What is it that you’re struggling with?” Michael asks.

“Everything. Specifically though, I can’t seem to be able to properly turn a hedgehog into a pincushion. I know all the theoretics and techniques, but when it actually comes to execution I can’t manage it.”

“Ah, I can try to help, but Transfiguration isn’t my strong suit.” Michael tells her.

“Just go to the Marauders like you usually do for help with that class.” Christine says.

Wisteria’s face falls and she looks down. “I… can’t.”

“What happened between you guys? You’ve been acting weird about them for a while now.” Fabian says. “Does this have to do with Sirius?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Whatever it is that he did, Peter and Lily seem to have gotten over it. I mean, they still seem tense around him, but they stopped ignoring him. What did he do?”

“It’s not my place to say. But that’s beside the point, I’m still going to fail Transfigurations.”

“I’ll help you with it.” Penelope says. “It’s one of my best classes so I should be able to help.”

“Thanks Pen.”

It’s then that the house elve’s deliver their food Jane immediately puts an end to the conversation. “Finally! Let’s eat!”

One stressful week of studying later sees Wisteria walking out of the Transfigurations classroom in despair, having failed the test despite her best efforts. She sulks back to the Ravenclaw common room with Penelope following beside her attempting to make her feel better.

“It was just one test Wisty, in the long run it wont be detrimental.”

“But it’s not just one test, it’s the whole damn course. I’m atrocious at transfiguration and if I keep failing these tests I’m going to fail the whole course and what will I do then?”

“Take a deep breath. You’re upset and a tad irrational right now. Later, when you’re in a better mood, you’ll be able to figure out a game plan and push through it like you always do.”

Wisteria takes her advice and breathes in deeply as Penelope answers the riddle to get them into the tower. They find a table to sit down at and Wisteria immediately puts her forehead on the table and grips the ends of her hair in frustration. “I feel like shit Pen. I feel like no matter what I do I keep failing the practical exams.”

    “You’re just a slacker.” One of the girls sitting behind them says to Wisteria whose frustration continues to rise.

    “What?” She snaps.

    “I mean seriously. If you actually wanted to get a good grade you would have actually tried. You know, like, studied and stuff. Instead you sat on your ass and let yourself fail.”

    “Excuse me?” Asks Penelope

    “You’re in Ravenclaw aren’t you? That means you’re naturally smart like the rest of us. All you have to do is study to get a good grade, which means you didn’t actually try, so stop being a drama queen and try studying next time around.”

    “I did study.”

    “Yeah right.”

    “Do you want me to go get all the notes and homework I wrote in preparation for the test?”

    “If you actually did all that work then why did you fail?”

    “Because I’m not good at it!”

    “Then get someone to help you.”

    “I did!”

    “I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand what excuse you’re trying to make up.”

    “I’m not making excuses! I’m not good at this stuff in practice, so while I can pass the written portion of the test, I do horrible on the actual spell casting portion!”

    “Have you tried practicing more?”

    “She practiced casting the spell hundreds of times.” Penelope speaks up.

    “If she really did that she wouldn’t have failed.” Wisteria stares at the girl, mouth hung open trying to find something to say to her, but before she can the girl gets a smug look on her face. “Or maybe the Headmaster got it wrong and you aren’t a witch, just an ordinary muggle. That would certainly explain some things.”

    “I can perform magic! I’m a witch, just like you!”

    “Don’t compare yourself to me. Hate to break it to you kid, but you’re behind the learning curve because you’re a muggle born. Your kind shouldn’t be in class with those of us raised in the magic world. It’s unfair to you, you simply can’t keep up with the rest of us.”

    “Dear Merlin, I can’t take this anymore. Pen, I’m going for a walk.” As Wisteria walks away from the tower she takes deep breaths and tries to calm herself down. In the end she fails miserably and is making her way through the castle crying quietly.      

    “What are you crying about?” A sudden voice says. She raises her head to find Regulus standing tall above her.

    “Don’t make my day worse by pretending to care.”

    “I never said I cared. I just asked why you’re crying.”

    She wipes some tears from her eyes and glances up to see if he had left yet only to find that he didn’t seem to have any intention of walking away.

    “I’m not in the mood, Regulus.”

    “I can see that.”

    She lets out a humorless laugh. “Just like Mercury, you seem to know the best times to show up and ruin my day.”

    Regulus frowns. “I’m not my brother.”

    “No. No you’re not.” Wisteria wipes more tears from her eyes and meets his eye. He looks a lot like Sirius, but more put together. All three Black brothers were undeniably attractive, but each in a different way. Mercury was prim and perfect, Sirius was tousled and careless, and Regulus was a nice middle between the two. “I failed a test.”

    “That’s what you’re crying about?”

    “There was a girl in the common room who heard me talking to a friend about it. She kept saying that I obviously didn’t try because if I’m in Ravenclaw then I have to be naturally smart. I just got frustrated because I’m not naturally smart, I have to try so hard just to get a passing grade in most of the classes I take and no one else in my house seems to understand.”

    “The sorting hat doesn’t necessarily sort you based on your current traits, but more so on your potential ones. It probably saw your potential to be smart and placed your accordingly.”

    “I guess so… Anyway, she was just making me feel really bad for failing even though I worked my ass off, and got almost no sleep this entire week to study for this test while keeping up with my work from other classes and then she started talking about how I wasn’t doing well because I’m a muggle and on top of all that my grandpa died last week and overall this whole year has just been pretty shit and I just-” She breaks off with a shaky breath.

    “Is that girl your friend?”

    “What?”

    “The girl that made you feel bad for failing a test. Is she your friend.”

    “No. I’ve never spoken to her before.”

    “Is she in your class? The one in which you failed the test I mean.”

    “No. I think she’s a couple years older than me actually.”

    “Well then you shouldn’t let her get to you.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Well if she’s not your friend and not in your class then she can’t possibly know how much time and effort you’ve put into the class right? She just overheard something and made an incorrect assumption. Her ignorance should make her opinion lose any weight it could’ve had. Don’t let her ignorant comments make you feel bad about yourself.”

    Wisteria stares at him for a moment. He notices her staring and swallows as his cheeks are tinted pink with a blush.

    “Thank you Regulus. That helped a lot.”

    He frowns awkwardly and tries to look annoyed, but she can tell he’s embarrassed. “Whatever.” He mumbles and walks away quickly.

Wisteria smiles to herself and makes a mental note to tell Severus that she approves of his friend choice later. In the meantime she makes her way to the Room of Requirements to play piano again and finds Michael there again.

“Michael… how often do you play in here?”

“I usually do my homework in here so I can play when I get stressed out.”

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense. Do you mind if I join you?”

“Of course not. Come on in.” He moves over to a desk next to the piano to make room for her on the bench. “Why the sudden interest in playing?”

“When I was little I was taught to play by my grandfather, but I stopped when I left for Hogwarts… I guess that with his passing I just wanted a way to feel close to him again and this is what came to mind.”

“That’s sweet. Feel free to come and play anytime, even if I am in here.”

“Thank you.”

“Also… I want to apologize for… well, everything. I was going through some stuff and-”

“It’s fine Michael. You’re brother mentioned briefly that you sometimes can get like that and while I don’t understand it at all, I know that it still affected you. I’m just glad to have my friend back.”

“Thank you, Wisteria. I don’t think I deserve that.”

“Nonsense. Now, I think you should teach me to play your favorite song on the piano.”

Michael smiles at her. “I think I’ll work on some homework instead, since I can do that from here.”

“Do you not want to sit next to me?”

“I wouldn’t want to sit so close to you while you’re dating someone. Fabian might not like that very much.”

“I don’t think that’s true. It’s not like you have any intentions, right?”

“Definitely not.” As soon as the words leave his mouth he seems to realize how they sounded. “I mean… No offense to you, of course, I’m just… well…”

“Ace?”

“What?”

“Asexual. Not interested in anyone like that.”

“Oh. Yes, I suppose that is a rather good explanation for it.”

“And because you have no intentions in that regard, I see no reason for Fabian to be upset with us sharing a bench while you tell me about your favorite song.”

“If you insist.” He moves to sit next to her and reaches out to change the sheet music in front of them until it’s on the right song.

“Ah. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Good choice.”

“Specifically the third movement. Have you ever played it before?”

“My grandfather prefered music a tad bit more recent than Beethoven. His favorite was always Debussy, so I played many pieces by him and others from that time.”

“Maybe you could teach me your favorite Debussy piece after we work on this?”

“I would love to.”