boundless (Amit Thakkar x OC)

Astronomy (or, the connection)

After a free day of wandering the surrounding area of Hogwarts, Emilia made her way to her first Astronomy class. She was guaranteed to see Amit, and after hearing that he had taken an interest in her books, no worries that he had forgotten her rolled around in her mind.

On the balcony outside the classroom, Emilia ran into Leander.

"Leander, are you in this class too?" Emilia asked.
Leander nodded. "Yeah, I'm not crazy about it. You can go in, I just don't wanna look like a nerd who gets to class early."

Emilia rolled her eyes in good humor, but Leander stopped her as she turned to leave.
"Hey, wait, you didn't happen to bring a jacket, did you? We might go up to the observation deck, and it gets freezing in autumn."

Emilia looked down at her clothes; a yellow woolen jumper and slacks with matching gloves. Even in brisk weather, her explorations tended to keep her blood pumping, so she'd kept it light. "No. I'll be alright, I never get cold."

Ducking into class, Emilia scanned the room for blue robes and found Amit, thoroughly bundled up and luckily sitting alone. He quickly looked toward the door, a wide grin blooming across his face. He waved and she waved back, jogging over to sit next to him. She opened her mouth to speak but heard Professor Shah reprimanding Adelaide and Nerida for card reading. A quick glance at Amit showed that his full attention was on Shah; he hung on to her every word as a fascinated look shone in his eyes. She only realized the class was moving once a few people had already left.

The top of the Astronomy tower was, in fact, freezing. Despite her impressive ability to ward off chills, Emilia wrapped her arms around herself and made a mental note to always bring a robe to Astronomy.

The other students merged into pairs with whom they'd sat with, and Emilia, attempting to avoid Professor Shah's calculating gaze, shuffled over to Amit, who had already set up his telescope and was looking through it. Emilia stood by awkwardly.

Professor Shah, silent as a ghost, glided over to Emilia. "Still no telescope?"
Emilia shook her head. Professor Shah bemusedly responded, "Can't be the new student forever, you know. If you're searching for expertise, though, you chose the perfect partner. Mister Thakkar?"

Amit turned, his mind obviously still in the stars. He stepped aside hastily while still hovering nearby. Emilia approached the telescope, but no sooner did she fix her eye to the eyepiece did Amit rush back.

"Here, I can do it-" he said quickly, reaching around her to adjust the dial. Emilia, slightly put out, started to back away before Professor Shah placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Mister Thakkar, surely you can find the value in letting Miss Valent work for herself?" the professor asked, a rhetorical tone to her words. Amit froze and nodded stiffly, backing away again. Emilia couldn't tell but suspected that Amit may have reddened.

Once again Emilia kneeled to see through the telescope, methodically adjusting the dial until the sky was clearer than her own eyes. She felt a little rush seeing so many sparkling white stars; she had never stopped and appreciated the night sky like this before.

Professor Shah nodded. "Fascinating, truly. The best way to appreciate the cosmos is on your own merits; and that is why your stargazing hours shall be concerning the astronomy tables throughout the highlands, outside of class. Dismissed."

Most of the students groaned over this, Garreth in particular pretending to faint onto Leander. Emilia, however, felt a growing sense of curiosity; how long had she been missing out on such wonders?

Shoulder to shoulder, the pairs departed; save, of course, for Amit and Emilia.

Turning towards her, Amit smiled giddily. "Well? Did you like it better than Potions? I'm happy to report that we've yet to have any explosions here," he said, laughing a little.