⚯͛ Sweet Caroline - Sirius Black ⚯͛

-9-

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. .**.☽ .*

Astronomy was one of Caroline's favourite subjects. It didn't contribute much academically and was not at all helpful towards her career path but she just loved it. Stars. She loved the stars.

Midnight on a Wednesday was when Astronomy was timetabled in for the sixth years. The NEWT class for it was smaller than any of her other classes, with only 9 students in that large astronomy tower. Caroline liked it that way, it was easier for her to focus when there were less people to talk.

She was positioned in front of her telescope and star chart in between Henry Quirke, a fellow Ravenclaw, and Sirius Black, a Gryffindor (but not really one of Julian's mates).

"Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by 2nd-century muggle astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today," Professor Sinistra lectured them, "I'd like you to find it in the night sky, and sketch it on your charts. After that, annotate around it some key points from the textbook and what I have told you."

Caroline scanned the sky intently but couldn't for the life of her find the constellation they were looking for. They were positioned where it should be, so why couldn't she see it? Her tired eyes with those irritating contact lenses in them had had enough, and all she wanted to do was take them out and put her glasses on, but that would probably disgust everyone around her.

"Fuck this," she grumbled in French to herself.

She heard a snort of laughter to her right, and glanced at Sirius Black who she was sure could not have understood what she had said. She turned back to her telescope and peered through. It was no use, she had to take her contacts out.

"Professor?" She raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Rutherford?"

"May I go to the toilet?" She asked.

The young Professor looked at her for a moment before sighing, "alright, but be quick."

Caroline nodded and left the tower, jogging down the stairs to the nearest girls bathroom. She looked in the mirror and hastily took out her contacts, putting them away, and slipping on her glasses instead. She sighed in relief, that was a lot better. Finally her head didn't feel so strained.

She got back upstairs quickly, and settled in her seat.

"That was quick," Henry commented from beside her.

"I just had to take out my contacts," Caroline told him quietly.

"Oh right," he nodded, looking at her and her glasses for a lingering moment, before turning back to his telescope.

She leaned into her telescope and smiled to herself when she saw the constellation Cassiopeia. Beginning to sketch on her chart, she felt her mind drift...her thoughts first fell on Julian...she still couldn't help but feel like she had done something or there was a thing he wasn't telling her...but she knew it was stupid to dwell on because really, it was stupid...she trusted him. He had made her birthday so special, and even though that was the nicest he had been to her in a month and it had gone back to normal the next day, she really wanted to believe he still meant well.

She should trust him. She did trust him! Doubts were stupid.

"You have been staring at the paper for a while and have not done anything," she heard someone say quietly in French beside her.

She looked up at Sirius Black who looked down at her in amusement. So he did speak French.

"Je faisait juste penser," she said back, telling him that she was just thinking.

"About what?" He asked, his grey-blue eyes focusing on her now.

She didn't look back, but instead peered through the telescope again and muttered in French, "nothing."

He shrugged, turning back to his chart.

They sat in silence for a while, a blanket of very quiet chatter rustling through the tower and over them. It was a comforting feeling.

Caroline flicked through the pages of the textbook until she found information on the constellations they were studying and began to take notes around her chart.

"How do you know French?" She asked the boy beside her absentmindedly.

"Parents paid for a tutor for me and my brother for a while when we were kids...same with dancing...it's a pureblood thing," he said with a shrug, not lifting his gaze from his chart which he was studying, "what about you?"

"My parents are...they think speaking other languages is important, so they brought us up with not just English, but French...Italian..."

"Oh, I know Italian too!" He shot her a grin, "are your parents both wizards?"

"My Dad is, my Mum's a muggle," she said.

"That must be cool," he nodded.

She couldn't tell if he was making fun of her or not...

"Why cool?" She asked.

"Just interesting, I mean you have two completely different cultures, wizarding and muggle, and you get to live both of them," he said.

"I guess you're right," she nodded.

They both focused on their work once more, occasionally peering up at the sky they were studying. Astronomy was interesting because it was the study of stars, things you simply take for granted. Caroline couldn't think of anything better then star-gazing every night without a care in the world. 

"Okay, that's enough for tonight," Professor Sinistra told them gently, bringing them back to reality, "for your homework I would like you to write an essay on the early origins of the constellations, such as Cassiopeia, and how the names specifically have developed throughout history."

"When's it due, Professor?" A Hufflepuff called Edith Turrets asked.

"Next lesson, I expect no less than two rolls of parchment," she told the class.

"Ah...la merde," Caroline heard Sirius swear under his breath beside her.

She turned round and shot him a grin, to which he was already expecting (which is why he said anything in French in the first place).

"Dismissed," they heard from the Professor.

Caroline began to pack away her things away, shrinking the telescope and putting it neatly into a small, fabric compartment in her bag. She wondered what Sirius' zodiac was, now more than before. She was a Virgo, which she believed was obvious. Perhaps he was a libra...or maybe a scorpio...she pondered this for the majority of her walk back to the common room. Maybe one day she would get the opportunity to ask him.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. .**.☽ .*