𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 ( james potter! )

IX. THE ASTRONOMER

CHAPTER NINE
( THE ASTRONOMER )

☽

CONTENT. That is how Estelle feels every time she looks up at the stars through the telescope her parents bought her on her eleventh birthday from the Astronomy tower. Most nights, she goes out alone. When they were younger, Piper or Dirk or both of them would accompany her in case she got into trouble. But as they got older, they left her to her own devices because they knew she would be fine on her own. She likes it better this way; just her and the stars.

Despite the fact that she's certain anyone at Hogwarts who knew of her also knew of her (somewhat unusual) love for astronomy, it was a very personal thing to Estelle. The stars are her namesake, her sense of clarity when nothing seems to be going right—she was raised to love the world around her, and above all that included the night sky. It had always been a part of her, and it was difficult for her to share this part of her with people outside of her family. Everyone was always so quick to judge.

Tonight, she's mulling over what Piper had said to her two weeks ago, after the Halloween Ball. About her and James.

She admits that she's been thinking about it way more often than she should be, but she can't help it. Piper put those thoughts and ideas into her head, and now she can't get them out. Does James still love Lily? It has been awhile since they've talked about her—not since that DADA class where Lily didn't want to be his partner, and even then, it wasn't about how he feels about her. Maybe he just doesn't want to tell me those things.

Estelle brushes aside this thought, because by now she knows James. And she knows that he doesn't keep secrets, that he's an open book with most people, and especially with her. There's no reason why he wouldn't talk about those things with her, because he knows she doesn't mind. She's just confused at this point.

Sipping her warm peppermint tea, she turns to her star charts instead and jots down the location of another star in the constellation Cassiopeia. Out of all the constellations in the galaxy, Cassiopeia's her favorite. Always has been. She thinks that if she ever finds someone willing to marry her and have children with her, that she'll name her daughter Cassie.

She hears footsteps as she's charting the last star in the constellation, causing her to startle and spill tea all over the chart. "Scourgify," she mutters, embarrassed, watching the tea vanish from the paper. When she looks up to see who gave her such a fright, her stomach churns. James stands there, holding a piece of parchment, looking at her almost inquisitively. He's not exactly smiling, but he's not frowning either. He's got his head tilted, but when he sees that's she has turned around, his face breaks out into the tiniest of grins.

"Fancy running into you up here," he says as he sidles over to where she's sitting close to the railing, bending down and sitting cross-legged beside her. "Astronomy homework or personal charting?"