Lynx Potter And The Lost Boy • 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑁𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝐺𝑒𝑛 ᵇᵒᵒᵏ ᵒⁿᵉ

Chapter 4

ASTRONOMY LESSONS were held on Wednesdays at midnight. The First Years were afraid to say it out loud, but it was shaping up to be their least favourite subject yet.

Lynx had spent the night in the common room with the boys after dinner, pouring over their astronomy textbooks. They had planned to finish their homework after class and then take a short nap before they had to make their way to the Astronomy Tower at midnight. However, it was proving to be quite difficult. Monty, who was not a fan of Professor Binns, was having trouble writing his essay on the Gargoyle Strike of 1911.

"I don't care what anyone says, I'm not taking bloody History of Magic in the Third Year," he grumbled, dipping his pen in a bottle of ink for the third time, "Who needs History of Magic anyway?"

"Well-" Aries began,

"Rhetorical." Monty snapped,
scribbling away.

He had been complaining about Professor Binns since their first lesson two days prior, unhappy with the amount of homework they had been receiving, and the brain-numbing lessons they were not allowed to fall asleep in.

Theodore Brusselwurt sat in an armchair in the far back with his white cat perched on the arm of the piece of furniture, listening longingly as the trio chattered and did their homework together, laughing with each other. He pretended to read a book on his lap, secretly hoping that someone would try to talk to him again, make him feel less lonely in a school where he knew nothing and no one. But as the night dragged on, he realised that nobody was going to approach him. He pushed himself out of the chair and scooped Merlin, his cat, up in his arms before trudging up to the boys' dormitories to prepare for bed.

The older students were making their way up to their dorms after ten, all of them ready for bed, while the three dozed off on the comfortable chairs in front of the fire.

★✰★

Aries woke with a start ten minutes after midnight to find that the common room was empty, save for him and his friends. He rolled off of the couch he had been sleeping on and shook his friends awake.

"We're late!" he whispered harshly. It was enough to wake Lynx and Monty out of their slumber.

"Bloody hell!" Monty cursed, struggling to pull on his shoes. Aries grabbed their Astronomy textbooks, which they had left on a nearby table, and Lynx searched for her wand in between the couch cushions.

The trio raced across the school, their footsteps echoing along the corridors. Monty stumbled more than once, tripping over his dress robes and untied shoelaces, and Lynx and Aries resorted to dragging him the rest of the way to the Astronomy Tower in an attempt to get there faster.

They arrived nearly twenty minutes late and out of breath. Aries stuttered out an apology to Professor Willowby, who had been in the middle of an introduction to the subject when they stumbled in. Bleary-eyed students turned their heads when they entered. In the corner of the room, Orion Brown and his friends snickered maliciously. Monty sneered at them.

"That will be fifty points from Gryffindor, an incentive to ensure that your tardiness does not become a regular occurrence," she said. This earned the three nasty looks from their fellow Gryffindors. They shrugged apologetically, "Take a seat and turn your pages to 'An Introduction to Astronomy'."

The First Years spent an hour in the Astronomy Tower. Some found it hard to stay awake, with poor Polly Walters fighting to keep her eyes open, and Pearl and Jasmine Robinson's heads lolling on their necks.

By the time the lesson was over, Aries, Lynx, and Monty were ready to go back to bed. They walked back to the Gryffindor common room, rubbing their eyes and yawning. Behind them, Theodore Brusselwurt dodged a textbook being thrown in his direction. Merlin hissed at the boy who threw the book, and the familiar snicker reached Monty's ears.