Out At Night

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

The day gave sun and warmth on the grounds however as evening fell it became bitingly cold around Hogwarts where the rebellious few might stay out past curfew, exploring how many boundaries they could push without getting into trouble. Zara was in no way that person as she enjoyed rules, order, and above all else safety. She knew many wouldn't be able to appreciate this in her and she made it difficult to have a large circle of friends but she had a close few - even if one she had strong feelings against and another she had confusing feelings towards. Over the holidays it had become clear to her that one of those feelings was not as normal as it should be with her mother discussing crushes and how she had felt about Zara's late father. She was told that soon the Ravenclaw would develop them too, perhaps even to an unlikely boy but the idea had made her feel a little nauseated. It was for this reason that the dark haired girl had gone to the towers to look at the stars and collect her thoughts or at the very least to settle her stomach with the cool air in her face.

As she approached the view point of the tower, Zara sighed as she already felt a little better. With Scorpius looking after her - the constellation and her father - she knew that she was better off. So she leaned against the cold stonework and looked up at the stars and wondered if she should be as troubled by all of this as she was. If this was normal or if she had to keep her concerns to herself. She wanted someone to talk to about this but she had never been able to talk with her mother and while it was normally Zara and Lennon against the world she knew instinctively that he wouldn't understand.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

While on his way to the Owlery with a handful of treats to give to his owl, Asaiah pulled the hood of his green Slytherin hoodie over his short brown hair because is was getting colder and colder inside the castle as the night slowly approached - and before he knew it the third year was walking in a castle lit by candles and lantarns. He chose to feed his owl at the end of the day so he could follow his lessons and do his homework without being easily distracted by anything at all which was still something that often happened. Although his parents were proud of him for his good grades last year, Asaiah knew that he could do much better than that so spent most of his evenings studying in the Slytherin common room. Today however he didn't feel like studying at all as the common room was way too crowded for him to concentrate properly, and because he still needed to visit Axel thought that now was as good a time as any to do so. Passing the seventh floor corridor to walk to the towers Asaiah stopped in his tracks for a moment, wondering if he should ask Wyatt if he wanted to come along so he could feed his owl too, but eventually decided not to and continued to walk towards the highest towers.

It was quite a trip to make it to the tower the Owlery was also located in and once there, Asaiah stopped for a while, catching his breath because of the many steps he had walked moments ago. Leaning against a wall the Slytherin waited until he could breath properly again before moving on. It was then that he saw the back of someone very familiar. Something in his stomach shifted as the boy walked towards his Ravenclaw friend and he suddenly started feeling a bit nervous about approaching her, ''Hey.'' He said softly hoping that he wouldn't bother her by talking to her.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara was lost in her thoughts when a vaguely familiar voice reached her ears, causing her to turn her head to the side and smile softly. She hadn't seen him much since he had asked her to the last Yule Ball. She hadn't even known why she had said no to him, the lie she gave him well... was a lie. The truth was that she didn't have a date prior to his polite invitation, she had only convinced Xavier or bug boy, as she called him, to go with her because she had to make up for the lie she had told. All of this had lead to her current state of confusion but at least for a little while she wouldn't mind the company. "Hey stranger," she said softly with a small smile to show that he was not interrupting her. There were a lot of things she fundamentally disagreed with Asaiah on - mostly to do with Quidditch - but this didn't mean she didn't like his company or care about him as her friend so she shuffled over so he could stand beside her and look out at the stars. They really did need to catch up anyway as the last time she had spoken to him it had been a bit uncomfortable for each and he hadn't responded to the rose she had sent him so it was just left hanging between them. This did not mean Zara was going to bring it up as there would be a huge collection of things from there that she might have to discuss and she didn't know how to make sense of it yet.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah's smile widened as he came closer to his friend, happy to see that he wasn't bothering her in any way at all. He hadn't talked much to her after she turned him down and hadn't responded to her rose either simply because he didn't exactly know what to say to her at that moment. He also couldn't really tell her that there was something going on inside his stomach that made him feel funny everytime he saw her, as he didn't want to be let down yet again. Asaiah stood still besides Zara and leaned against the wall to look out at the stars for a moment before he would turn towards her again. As the Slytherin was looking at the thousands of stars he tried to think of something interesting and funny to say to the girl standing next to him but his brain failed to come up with something that would actually make things less awkward for them. ''Nice day, right?'' He said gesturing to the cloudless night sky. He closed his eyes for a second. Today's weather was seriously the only thing he could come up with? Asaiah opened them and turned to look at Zara, smiling weakly as he did so. ''How are you doing?'' the Slytherin then asked, hoping that he hadn't embarrassed himself because he noticed to look on her face and wanted to keep talking with her. ''Haven't really talked to you much since last year. Can you believe it? We're third years now.'' He was genuinely curious how she was doing and if she had fun during the winter break, and how classes were going in their new year, curious to know which electives she chose to follow this year.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara arched an eyebrow at Asaiah as he brought up the weather. Merlin things were worse between them then she had actually thought but she didn't say anything to cut through it other than, "I'm glad it's finally spring." She smiled at him and hoped that maybe it wouldn't be so awkward between them because she didn't really think it needed to be. If they could all go back to how things were before everyone in her year developed a fascination for dating and how 'cute' some boys were. Well Zara didn't think they were very cute but she knew she should think that way - especially the 'dreamy Slytherin beater' she was standing beside now. It must be some weird fluke for her to not feel that way just yet but the thought was a bit more uncomfortable then anything so she was glad that he spoke again. "I'm just trying to keep my head above water with classes right now. I haven't had much time to do anything else. What about you?" she asked with a smile. She sometimes felt a bit thick that she struggled but Asaiah seemed to understand that and know that she wasn't dumb too. "We're practically geriatric," she joked, nudging him playfully with her elbow as she looked out at the night sky wistfully. Maybe if she were older she could make better sense of everything going on.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled weakly at Zara's reply. How could he have been so stupid to bring up the weather? Of course she knew that it had been a nice day otherwise star gazing wouldn't even be possible. He wanted to make a comment about it being the perfect weather for playing Quidditch but then remembered Zara's dislike towards the famous wizarding sport, so knew that - unless he wanted it to be even more awkward between the two of them - it was probably for the better not to mention the sport at all whilst he was talking with her. Asaiah did not understand why he cared so much about what to say to Zara, as he had no problem with talking to his friend whatsoever last year. The Slytherin listened attentively as she spoke, somewhat glad that he wasn't the only one struggling with classes. ''Same,'' He began, ''With classes and Quid-.. other activities, I barely have time to do anything else, too.'' Besides that, his best friends were in the same boat as him as they too had classes and practice so he had hardly seen them around, which was why he was a bit jealous that they were in the same house together and he wasn't. At Zara's next comment he smiled when she nudged him with her elbow, but looked confused as he had never heard of the word 'geriatric' before. Too afraid to ask her what it meant because he didn't want her to think that he was dumb, Asaiah also looked out at the night sky. ''Beautiful, isn't it..'' He said with a soft voice while he took the hood from his hoodie off.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

It was a well-known fact without the school that Zara Cohen-Knight was the crazy Racenclaw that thought Quidditch should be banned from Hogwarts and should stop being so sensationalised in the media however this did not mean that she would stop her friends from being honest with her. Especially when she was well aware of which ones who risked their lives for such a stupid sport. She made sure she would enjoy their company most when they were together because she knew the fragility that Quidditch created so she just looked over Asaiah curiously. He was a strange person but she could appreciate that he was trying to make her happy. This made Zara smile gently as did Asaiah's comment on the sky, yes it certainly was beautiful and she nodded to confirm that. "Constellations are just about the only things that make sense," she said, not trying to sound like she had as much despair as she really did. She looked over at her star gazing partner and thought hard over what she was expected to feel or think towards a person like him. Over a person who was so clearly at a loss for words half of the time and the other half saying things he thought might make her happy. She knew this was the sort of person she should like. So she shuffled in slightly closer to him even if Zara didn't want to do that. Perhaps she would learn to want that in time. Until then the logical thing was to fake it. If only there was someone to explain this all to her and how to navigate whatever she was feeling because she felt like a sailor without so much as a compass. At least she had the stars to help her.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

As she shuffled in closer to him Asaiah couldn't help but to blush slightly. He liked Zara, that much was clear to him, but he did not know whether she liked him back or how he would even tell the girl standing beside him that he had feelings for her, feeling he did not feel towards Marisol, Freya or even Tesla. Instead Asaiah chuckled at Zara's reply because he didn't know what to say and wondered what was going on for her to say something like that, so curious to know what she meant by that he opened his mouth, ''Whaddup?'' while fully turning himself towards his friend, leaning his elbow against the windowsill, ready to listen to her problems.

next one will be longer, I promise

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara nervously smiled when Asaiah asked her what she meant. In all honestly she didn't know how to explain how she was feeling because the words weren't there or at least no words she knew. Ducking her head shyly for a moment the Ravenclaw thought of what to say then she looked back up at Asaiah and committed to doing what she knew she was meant to want to do. She turned to face him and leaned in nervously. Kissing always seemed so weird to her and now here she was about to kiss a boy. As their lips touched admittedly she thought that it was alright and that even if her confused feelings never left that Zara could kiss boys because that was what she should do. Pulling away from him she chuckled a little nervously and said, "Whaddup?" She hoped that she wasn't entirely out of line with this but all signs pointed to the fact that he liked her and this was what people did when they liked one another.

Don't worry about it!

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled back at Zara, playing with one of strings from his hoodie as he waited for her to answer him. He was genuinely curious to know what was going on inside her head since she obviously seemed to be coping with something. All he wanted to do was make her feel happy and make sure that she enjoyed their time together as they might not got another moment like this because both of them were busy with classes and other activities. When Zara leaned in to kiss him, Asaiah's eyes spread wide. He had definitely not expected Zara to kiss him. Asaiah's cheeks started burning bright red the moment her lips were pressed onto his and carefully pushed himself off the windowsill to stand up straight, his lips still locked onto hers while his eyes were still open. When Zara pulled away from the kiss he just stood there, trying to say something to her but completely lost for words. ''I.. You-..'' His cheeks were still bright red as he tried take in what just happened whilst his eyes were moving from one direction to the other and back to the girl again. ''You-.. You kissed me.'' Asaiah said, still sounding surprised. He had kissed a girl before but this was so much different since he actually liked Zara, a lot.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Kissing felt weird and she wasn't loving it off the bat but she had thought that this was what Asaiah wanted - that was what someone had insinuated when she had told them that she had not gone to the ball with him and instead went with Xavier. It had scared her but waiting for his reaction might have been worse. Zara hadn't known what to expect from Asaiah as his reaction but she hadn't thought he would be so stunned. She blushed and stepped back, suddenly feeling remarkably stupid for having done so. "I.. thought you -" She stopped mid-sentence and shook her head, cursing herself for having thought that he might want to. Maybe it wasn't what people did or maybe he didn't actually like her. Zara couldn't tell and now regretted her choice to do that. It hadn't been particularly amazing anyway, not like the stories made it seem like it should be when a boy and a girl kiss for the first time. Maybe she did something wrong... either way Zara couldn't tell and Asaiah looked startled - maybe horrified that she would do this. It was starting to make her feel that way too so she asked, "Should I not have?" She did not have such an ego as to think that he still liked her or that he ever had too much but she had thought. All signs pointed to that but this seemed like a big red stop sign instead.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah almost hadn't noticed that the girl stepped back because his mind was somewhere else at that moment. He looked back up at Zara and nodded his head, ''I do!'' Though the Ravenclaw stopped mid-sentence, Asaiah knew exactly what she was going to say. ''I really do, I just had not expected you to kiss me, that's all.'' He added truthfully. Now that the word was out and he had confirmed his feelings for her the Slytherin smiled weakly. Although he wasn't quite sure if kissing him meant that Zara liked him just as much as he liked her, he was happy that she at least knew how he felt about her as it had been nerve-racking because he did not know how to tell her that. He didn't even know how to tell Marisol or Wyatt about the way he felt, and he was sure that he could tell them pretty much everything. Asaiah stepped forward and looked at Zara again. He did not want her to feel like she had just done something very stupid, because it wasn't stupid at all. If there was someone that should feel bad about it it was him as his reaction caused this to happen. ''I'm sorry, I didn't want you to feel like you did something wrong.'' He said to her. ''I think you should have, I do.'' Asaiah told whilst a smile appeared on his face.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara looked at Asaiah, surprised that he seemed so keen to kiss her when he had reacted that way and because he had never done anything about it before. She couldn't be sure but most of the movies made it seem like the guy had to make the first move. Well the Ravenclaw was not the type to wait for a guy to do anything so she had just done it herself. It seemed like the logical thing to do. Still she was at a loss for words when he spoke again because he seemed so reassuring that this was normal when it felt nothing but. The girl caught a stray lock of dark hair with her fingers and tucked it behind her ear and smiled sheepishly as she thought of words to say to respond to the Slytherin boy who was quite close to her now. "You do?" she asked, even though Asaiah had firmly said this already. She still felt a bit strange having been stuck after her first kiss with a gobsmacked boy. Zara wasn't sure but maybe they should try it once more to see if it was better and more normal this time. She would not say that though so he didn't feel like some science experiment.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah hated being lost for words. He had never been lost for words before especially in the presence of a girl. He felt like he was screwing things up by not being able to speak normal sentences half of the time. The Slytherin did not need to feel nervous around Zara anymore. He had already told her how he felt about her so he saw no reason feeling like he felt before he told her, but somehow he still did. Asaiah nodded. ''Yes.'' he simply answered back. He wondered how many times he was supposed to tell her that before that tingly feeling in his stomach would disappear. He also wondered whether Zara and Marisol were friends, as he was sure that it would be awkward to tell his best friend, if he ever decided to tell her, that he had kissed on of her friends. For a moment his brown eyes stared directly into hers, and after he realized that he might have been staring for too long, Asaiah opened his mouth to talk. ''Do.. you want to kiss again?'' he asked, hoping that for the love of Merlin he wasn't going to screw up again.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara smiled, somehow the finally believing the boy standing across from her as he confirmed once more. She didn't know what to say to him except a quiet, "Me too." Referring to whether they liked one another or not because she thought she did. It made sense for her to like Asaiah too so she wasn't exactly lying to him. She was aware that feelings developed more over time and he was a nice boy. So the girl was lost in her thoughts briefly until he asked her if she wanted to kiss and she giggled a little awkwardly, not at him but at their situation. It was all so foreign to her and she assumed to him too so with an embarrassed nod of her head she moved slightly closer to him but didn't make the first move this time because she didn't want a repeat of what had just happened.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah felt his cheeks burning and shyly looked away from Zara, smiling while doing so. If it hadn't been a weird thing to do in front of the Ravenclaw girl at the moment, he would have done a victory dance just because she told him that she liked him too or at least he hoped that she was referring to that otherwise it would've been very awkward. The boy tilted his head slightly to the right when she moved in closer to kiss him and chuckled a little when Zara didn't make the move because he knew he was supposed to it this time. So without second thoughts on whether he should or not Asaiah pressed his lips onto hers gently and felt the tingly feelings inside his stomach growing immediately. The Slytherin didn't know how the kiss felt to Zara but to him it felt as amazing as it could get for two young teenagers. Eventually he pulled away, smiling once again whilst looking at the girl.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara watched as Asaiah seemed suddenly embarrassed and bit her bottom lip to keep from having a goofy smile on her face because she found it completely endearing to see. For a girl who often wax eloquent about nearly everything with impassioned speeches to groups of students, professors and even in letters to the press she felt speechless. She felt a little sick and she thought that this was what affection was - butterflies in her stomach and a boy close to her. The girl was glad when the boy leaned in to kiss her for fear of taking control of the situation too much as was her habit with most things. Feeling his lips against hers was foreign but she could see how she could get used to it - how it might even make her feel with time. She was never quick to her emotions, anyway. As they separated she smiled shyly and not knowing what to say or do she stayed close to him but looked up at the stars - everything was confusing but at least now she felt a little more secure in herself with Asaiah there.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Because Asaiah was not exactly sure what to do after the kiss he was glad that Zara stayed close to him and looked up at the stars. Thinking that it would be weird if he would just stand there and stare at her in the meanwhile, Asaiah decided to put his arm around the girl's shoulders and look up at the stars too. He chuckled when he remembered the previous time they were stargazing and said, ''Oh by the way, that story my brother told me about Hercules? Don't worry I know it's not true.'' Asaiah looked at the girl beside him when he told it, hoping she would recall what he told her back then in their second year. After that the Slytherin looked back up at the thousands of stars spread across the beautiful black night sky. To be honest this night couldn't be more perfect to him, though hopefully Axel wasn't starving at the moment but had managed to catch himself a mice while waiting for his owner to feed him some treats because Asaiah didn't know when he and Zara would part ways for tonight.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

It felt eons away thinking back to last year for Zara when she had first met Asaiah when she was just as troubled but for entirely different reasons so the girl gladly moved in close to him with his arm around her. The affection he offered was welcome as was his company. Especially because he had made her laugh with his year long clarification. "I thought it was sweet," she said with a smile. "It's all a myth, anyway." Seeing as it was a myth and constellations were little more than groupings humans decided they saw in the sky so they could relate more. People were always trying to relate to everything and the stars were no different so they used legends and myths to make them seem like they had a place there. It was comforting and she didn't mind it in the least. "I still believe what I told you about Scorpius - even though he's long -" Zara stopped and instantly stiffened before she tried to play it off as if she was correcting herself, "Even though it's a story too." Stories were all she had in reference to the person who was as good as a constellation for all the distance between them and the elusiveness. She cherished the stories and hung on every word she heard about the man she should've been able to call Dad. Still she didn't wish to make things uncomfortable between them so she said to switch the subject, "I can't wait for Astronomy."

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled when Zara told him that the story his brother told him about Hercules defending the other constellations was sweet. He came to realize in time that what his brother told him wasn't true but he loved the fact that rather than telling his little brother about the constellations for real whenever the two of them went stargazing in the backyard he chose to tell a more fun and excited tale about most of them just to entertain Asaiah. ''If you still do then I'll not even think of hurting you.'' Asaiah said remembering what she told him about her favourite constellation. ''Not that I would ever hurt you!'' He added quickly hoping that he wasn't screwing up again. Asaiah nodded his head at Zara's remark and couldn't agree more. It was because of the girl that he had chosen to do his best in the Astronomy lessons but much to his surprise found out that he actually wasn't half as bad at the class than he thought he would be and that he very much liked Astronomy. ''I hope this year will be even more interesting as last year.'' he said truthfully as he really did hope that they would talk about more interesting topics in their third year especially since they would have to wait until second semester for professor Castor to teach them Astronomy again.

 

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara didn't think Asaiah was likely to hurt her - she thought he would probably hurt himself because of the sport he so enjoyed. She cared about him - even made the decision to kiss him - and she knew that this would probably end up with her being anxious any time there was a game and him earning lots of injuries. Still she didn't want to think about it so she looked up at him and said, "I know you wouldn't." She smiled and kissed his cheek, blushing all the while. She nodded as they spoke about classes. She was glad to be able to share the class with the whole year too, maybe Zara and Asaiah could even sit beside one another too. Either way it was a class she was keen on as always. "What electives did you decide on?" she asked curiously, wondering if they would have more classes together too.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah looked up at the stars when he was asked which electives he chose to follow this semester. "Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies." he said. "Next semester I thought about taking Arithmancy maybe." he added. Though he wasn't sure yet what he would do in the second semester of the year because he thought he didn't need to be thinking about that just yet. "You?" Asaiah asked curious to know what she chose for her electives and if they would maybe share classes together. The Slytherin did not really know why he had chosen those subjects as he had no clue what he wanted to become once he was older and would graduate from Hogwarts. He had his mind set on becoming a professional Quidditch player but ever since a long talk with his father about that he wasn't so sure anymore if he wanted to do that. Besides there were a lot of other jobs he could pick from.

this is poop so just ignore this please