Stars Fallen

[Stella Wright]

Stella had never been so unhappy in her life. Her anger had abated over the holidays, and now what was left was mostly sorrow. Zoe, her Zoe - the moon in her sky, who like the moon had changed and circled but always returned to her - her Zoe was lost to her. And it was her fault. Stella regretted, now, the things that she'd said, but she knew too that she could not forgive the things Zoe had said in return. The idea that the entirety of their relationship was based on a . . . a misunderstanding, was abhorrent to her. But it was over now, and instead they were reduced to avoiding each other, and Stella was beginning to realise that she didn't truly have other friends. Not friends like Zoe, who she could talk to about anything, and had trusted implicitly despite their bickering. She enjoyed Phoebe's company, and Nixon's, and Veronica's and Fleur's, but none of them were close to her like Zoe had been. And she loved her sister dearly, but she was too young to really understand, and so there was no one she could talk to about this ache in her heart, this feeling of wrongness and isolation.

During the day she could throw herself into study and her new prefect duties, but when the evening came and she had to return to the stony silence of the dorm, where Zoe pointedly ignored her and she, with increasing reluctance, did the same, some nights she simply couldn't face it. At times like this, as during periods of lesser upset, the stars were her solace. She came up to the North Tower to watch them alone, and if sometimes they grew blurred by her tears, that was just the price she paid for being alone. Tonight, the moon was a slender crescent and the stars blazed vivid and clear, and Stella lost herself in them, for a while at least.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton returned to school as always with an eagerness to just get started. After all life was pretty good for him, he was still a prefect, he and April were managing, he had done well in his OWLs, and he felt excited for what this year would bring him. But of course the problem with it was more so that with thing going well for Norton he knew it came somewhat at the expense of his family and specifically his sister. Norton felt himself smile lightly at the thought of her, he’d tried to persuade her to come back to school, that they could find someone else to take care of their dad while they both got a Hogwarts education but Gilly had been more loyal to their family. Norton had wanted to go back to school, with far more waiting for him at school, to enjoy a whole lot more that the place had to offer. He felt bad for his sister, stuck at home, but he just had to keep going. It had of course also deepened his appreciation for astronomy, a class he’d managed an O in at the OWL. Astronomy had become a favourite class of his when it had bridged his old world with his new world. It hadn’t been what he thought he would enjoy, but it had become a small passion of his.​

​

The teen had his telescope under his arm, and with the clear sky that night had decided it would be good to do a little looking through the telescope. He had astronomy this semester too, so now a NEWT student he thought it would be good to get a little star gazing in. The boy headed up the stairs excitedly, the thought of the calm star gazing tended to make him quite excited. He eventually reached the north tower and entered the room. He spotted the other person immediately, Stella or something. They’d sat once before and looked towards the sky, he didn’t think she looked too happy, but he didn’t want to pry too much into it, though they were friendly, they weren’t close and didn’t particularly know each other that well, ”I guess you had the same idea as me,” the boy said with a little smile, he felt a little awkward, unsure on if he maybe he should leave, ”Do you mind if I join you?” Norton asked, he thought it would be polite to ask before he got himself set up. If she was very annoyed and didn’t want him there, he would definitely respect that entirely.​

 

[Stella Wright]

Stella was entirely lost in her thoughts and in the stars shining above, so she didn't hear the footsteps from the stairs. She glanced around abruptly as a vaguely familiar voice came from behind her, and smiled weakly when she recognised who it was. "Oh, hi Norton," she said, hating the way her voice wavered, trying to school it into a more normal sound, like someone who hadn't just been on the verge of tears. Norton seemed nice, but they barely knew each other, and she definitely didn't want to dump her problems on him. On the other hand, maybe he could be a welcome distraction. "It is a brilliant idea," she said, managing to speak with more equilibrium now. "You're welcome to join me, come sit down. How was your holidays?" Stella said that for the sake of making conversation happen, and realised too late that the reciprocal question would be to ask how her holidays had been; one facet of exactly what she didn't want to get into. Well, it was too late now, and she could only hope that he didn't ask, or said something else distracting that she could focus on instead.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton smiled at her, hearing the little waver in her voice, but given that he could see that she probably wasn’t interested in talking about it and certainly likely wouldn’t want to talk about it with him, the prefect knew her but he didn’t know her particularly well. The hufflepuff was at least pleased that she agreed it was a good idea and that he was welcome to join her. He nodded happily as he began to set up his own telescope, where he’d be close enough to use the same window but neither would be blocking the other. ”It was nice, worked a lot, but it was nice to be doing something, I get bored sitting at home doing nothing you know?” the boy glanced at her as he spoke, looking between her and what he was doing with the telescope, he took out his wand and tapped it lightly as it did the rest itself. ”How was your break? Do you have a job?” the hufflepuff returned the question to her. He didn’t want to pry if she was upset about something that had happened then. He wouldn’t push it really, and of course he was mostly being polite to her, ”Have you seen anything good?” he looked through his telescope, adjusting it slightly and moving it lightly. He glanced back at her, if she’d been here a little longer she would’ve maybe seen something interesting and he’d be able to point his telescope in that direction.​

 

[Stella Wright]

Stella glanced through her telescope again while Norton was setting up his, trying to calm herself with the sight of the peaceful stars so she didn't make a fool of herself in front of him. When she looked at him again, she had assumed a more normal expression. "Oh, where do you work?" Privately, Stella couldn't imagine getting bored, or having nothing to do; there was always something new to learn, always a new science experiment she could dream up. Mum helped a lot there, with her chemistry expertise, especially since Stella wasn't allowed to do magic outside of school yet. She couldn't wait until she could; with the equipment available at home, she was sure she could finally get some answers to her innumerable questions. "My break was . . . weird," she said, unsure of how much to say, how much she could say. "I don't have a job, no, so got to spend a lot of time with my sister" and not Zoe, "and my parents," and not Zoe. She glanced through her telescope again, trying to think of something interesting she could point him to. "Um . . . Mars is bright tonight."

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton smiled, ”Flourish and Blotts, the book store in Obsidian Harbour,” the boy perhaps explained a little too much, since he could figure that she would know what the store was, she was a student and it was the primary place that students got their books. It meant that it kept him fairly busy. He liked it. The teen liked working there, it was a rather engaging place to work, the people were nice. He looked at the girl, when she said it was weird, but the way she explained it, it didn’t sound too weird, it sounded rather normal. ”That’s nice! Spending the holidays with family is good. My twin sister no longer goes here so I don’t get to see her unless it’s the holidays, which definitely makes them all the more fun. It’s good to spend time with family,” The hufflepuff replied, he did miss his father and sister while he was at school and spent time at home during all of the breaks, but he liked the job to help break that up. Being around his sister hand grown more difficult in recent years. At the comment he nodded, moving his telescope a little and looking towards the Mars and smiled a little. It was a nice night, and Mars did seem bright. ”It is a nice night,” the boy commented lightly.​