บท 359: Astronomy Tryst

The Remedial Class (Temporary Name) was such a resounding success that their first meeting overran by ten minutes. Even though nobody had learned anything new just yet, defying Umbridge's authority was a step forward in the right direction. Beginning something new was the hardest part of doing anything, and that's half the battle!

But most importantly, Oleandra had identified potential candidates for the Order of the Round Table. There were other promising candidates in Slytherin such as Mafalda Prewett and Draco Malfoy, but she wasn't considering them for now, seeing as she hated their guts, and the feeling was very much mutual.

And so, the next meeting's date was set to exactly one week later, which was the following Wednesday.

"You should hurry up and get back to the common room, Ginny," Hermione cautioned the younger girl. "It's already past curfew, and even we won't be able to save you if Malfoy or a teacher catches you."

The rest of RC (Temp) had already gone back to their respective common rooms in small groups; the only people still left in the Room of Requirement were the Gryffindor Trio, as well as Oleandra and Tracey.

"I'm not in a hurry," Ginny answered. "But aren't you the ones who should be heading back first? You're supposed to be leading the other fifth years to their Astronomy lesson, if I'm remembering your schedule correctly?"

Hermione scowled, but she had to admit Ginny was right. Astronomy class obviously took place at night, which was after the curfew, which meant that students needed to be accompanied by a prefect to and from class to avoid getting detention.

Oleandra and Tracey shared a pained look; since their common room was hidden underground, they'd need to run down eight flights of stairs to the dungeons, and then run back up all of those stairs, plus one, to the roof of the Astronomy tower. The Astronomy classroom, as it happened, was located right above the Room of Requirement.

"I'll wait here," said Tracey hopefully. "I'll look for an opportunity to rejoin the group when you bring them up."

"Not a chance," Oleandra said with a grin. "You're not getting out of this!"

Ginny blew a sigh of relief.

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Astronomy was one of Oleandra's favourite classes, since she'd always enjoyed stargazing as a child. She'd probably ruined her dreams of becoming an astronaut by turning out to be magic, but she really couldn't complain about having what Muggles would rightfully call superpowers.

As for why Hogwarts even had this class in the first place… A mandatory Astronomy class in Hogwarts's curriculum might not have made sense for the majority of students, but there was an actual reason behind its existence. Astronomy was one of the seven core subjects starting from the first year, but there was no magic to be learned in this class.

The truth was that Hogwarts's Astronomy lesson was a relic of a bygone era, when the magic of the stars had been more popular than wand magic!

Even though the opposite had become true, the knowledge taught in Astronomy still remained useful in other classes, such as Divination and Study of Ancient Runes. It was for the sake of those two classes that Astronomy had endured to this day, even when Dumbledore had threatened to scrap Hogwarts's Divination branch a few years ago.

If any class deserved to be removed from the curriculum, it was Divination, not Astronomy. One couldn't be taught to be a Seer, so Divination was effectively useless for the vast majority of students…

"Please turn your telescopes to the sea section of the night sky," came Professor Sinistra's voice. "We'll be looking at the constellation of Aquarius, the Water Bearer, which is best seen in October."

Oleandra pinched her twin sister's cheek to wake her up.

She was growing concerned about her twin sister; Daphne was pushing herself too far with runic magic to keep up with Hermione and Mafalda in academics, and it was causing her overtaxed brain to require more and more sleep. This problem wasn't usually noticeable during the day, but on these Astronomy Wednesdays, Astronomy class would often drag on to midnight, and Daphne's narcolepsy problem would become exacerbated by the lack of sunlight to fuel her Wood Nymph physique.

Oleandra was about to poke Daphne again when Tracey's voice rang out.

"Oleandraaaa," Tracey simpered in a plaintive tone. "I need help, I have no idea where to look…"

Tracey wasn't the only one to be having trouble identifying where they needed to be looking; most of their fellow classmates around them were pointing their telescopes in random directions, trying to run into Aquarius by relying on sheer luck alone.

"Put down your telescope first," Oleandra instructed her. "You need to get your bearings— can you find Polaris?"

Another name for Polaris was the North Star, and just as the name implied, facing towards it meant facing towards the north. Hogwarts was somewhere in the northern reaches of Scotland, so from where they were stargazing, Polaris was a tad higher than it would have been in London's night sky, for example. (And if you were standing on the North Pole, then it would be right above your head!)

Despite all of London's air and light pollution, Polaris still shone brightly in the night sky. That is, when it wasn't cloudy…

"Find the brightest stars in the sky, then find the Plough, and right above it will be—" Tracey began, before exclaiming, "I found it!" with a pleased expression on her face.

(You might also know the Plough as the Big Dipper, which is itself part of the Ursa Major constellation. The North Star is the tail end of Ursa Minor, which is also known as the Little Dipper)

"Very good," said Professor Sinistra, who had crept up behind them in the dark. "But the North Star isn't the only thing Ursa Major points to. Its seventh star, Alkaid, is known in the Far East as the Military Destroying Star. It is an ill-omened star, a star of misfortune. North, and northwest doubly so, are considered incredibly unlucky directions."

"Er… thank you for the explanation," Oleandra said awkwardly. "I suppose."

There was next to no information on Eastern magic in Hogwarts's libraries, so Oleandra had no idea if Feng Shui was actually real or not.

"The Plough has seven stars," Tracey muttered absent-mindedly. "Just like the seven sister stars of Daphne's Pleaides Spell… Oh, right. I nearly forgot we were supposed to be looking for Aquarius…"

Tracey looked hopefully in her direction, and suddenly, Oleandra felt the irresistible urge to tease her.

"Here," said Oleandra softly. "I'll show you."

Oleandra swept behind Tracey and draped her arms around her shoulders, feeling a slight tingle run down her spine as she lightly pressed her body into Tracey's back. Then, she gently took hold of the other girl's hands, which were wrapped tightly around her telescope.

"New shampoo?"" Tracey asked, shivering slightly as she breathed in Oleandra's scent. "It smells nice."

The smell of magical scented oils was still lingering around Oleandra's body, even a day after she had taken a bath in the prefect's bathroom. If Tracey ever went sniffing around Hermione and Ron, she'd also find them smelling of Eau de Oleandra's Bathwater.

Oleandra ignored her, instead gently making Tracey follow her arms' movements, as she pointed her telescope in the right direction.

"Look above the North Star," Oleandra murmured in her ear. "Above the Milky Way, above Pegasus and Pisces… Can you see it?"

"I see it," whispered Tracey, her voice barely more than a whimper.

Their classmates' voices seemed to fade into the background of the ambient sounds of the night. For just one moment, in the darkness under the immensity of the night sky, the two girls felt like they were the last two humans on Earth.