Astraea Black never had a problem in Astronomy, it was her favorite subject. She had always been enchanted by the stars.

She would occasionally talk to the stars; 'Stupid,' she would think, 'They can't even hear you;' but the stars bought her comfort, comfort that she thought no one else could give her.

Astraea looked at the sky from where she stood in the Astronomy tower. Stars shone in the vast black sky, looking like sugar when spread over black marble.

Her eyes traveled across the sky and she spotted Regulus, the brightest star in the Leo constellation. Regulus, her brother, was a delight to be with. He was scared of a lot of things, but everyone had their fears, Astraea had them too, but she had never admitted them aloud.

Regulus was simply amazing, a bit annoying sometimes, but then again, what were siblings for.

He would rarely get attached, but if he did, he would do anything for them, (there was this incident with a soft toy, but Regulus had made Astraea swear to never talk about it).

Astraea's eyes then traveled to the brightest star in the sky, Sirius.

Sirius was her twin brother, her 'other half,' as he would always say. He was always there for her, him being a Gryffindor when she was a Slytherin didn't separate the twins. Astraea and Sirius would talk about anything and everything for hours and neither of them felt embarrassed.

Astraea turned around as she heard a familiar bark-like laugh and her grey eyes spotted Sirius who was laughing with his three friends. Sirius's eyes met with hers and he gave her a wink as he pushed his long black hair out of his eyes.

Astraea rolled her eyes but gave her brother a smile and returned back to her work.

Two minutes later, Astraea Black had heard another laugh, a laugh which came out from a female's mouth. This laugh was melodious and contagious, this laugh sounded like music to her ears.

As the laughter spread, Astraea turned around, her first intention being to tell the loud Gryffindors to shut up. But as her eyes landed on the blonde Gryffindor, the one laughing the hardest, her expression softened.

Astraea Black had rarely seen Marlene McKinnon without a smile on her face.

•

Marlene McKinnon hated Astronomy, she found the subject useless. She had never understood the point of learning the positions of stars.

Marlene furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she stared at the sky, from where she was standing in the Astronomy tower.

The sky looked absolutely beautiful, but Marlene didn't think about that. The only thing that was going through her mind was the four-poster bed in her dormitory. She would occasionally look at the wristwatch she was wearing, hoping that the class would end soon.

She looked at Lily who was furiously scribbling on her parchment, occasionally pausing to look through her telescope.

Lily Evans was her best friend, Marlene had always found comfort in the muggle-born girl and the two had clicked, the moment they had first met.

Marlene turned around. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all laughing, and trying their best to not be loud. Her light blue eyes met with James's hazel ones, who grinned at her.

Marlene grinned back at him and then turned back to her blank piece of parchment. She looked at Lily who was focused on her telescope. She grinned and copied down whatever Lily had written down on her parchment.

"Wow Lily," Marlene spoke up, a laugh threatening to spill out of her mouth.

"What?" Lily turned to her, a bit annoyed.

"You know everything. I'd say that your knowledge is astronomical." Marlene grinned.

"Stop it." Lily frowned at the blonde-haired girl, an annoyed expression on her face.

"This is wrong, Lils." Marlene laughed out loud as she pointed at Lily's parchment, "The center of Jupiter is actually 'i.' "

"Marlene-"

"Did you hear about the new restaurant on the moon?" Marlene gasped out in between fits of laughter. "It lacks atmosphere."

Mary McDonald heard her and burst into laughter from beside her.

Lily cracked a smile as Marlene clutched her stomach, as laughter spread across the room.

"Shut up." A brown-haired Ravenclaw snapped at the three girls, a scowl on his face.

"Oh, are we bothering you?" Lily asked, a sarcastic smile on her face.

Marlene didn't hear the boy's response. Her eyes had landed on a certain black-haired girl, who wiped some ink which had somehow landed on her face and then wrote on her parchment.

Marlene's laughter died down as she stared at the Slytherin, her expression softening the sight of the girl.

Marlene McKinnon had rarely seen Astraea Black with a smile.

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