Of Constellations → 𝘥. 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

xx. star wars vs. star trek

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chapter twenty

star wars vs. star trek

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Fifth Year

As it floated on the wings of Cygnus the Swan, the blinking planetary nebula's central white star glittered through my binoculars.

The nebula was named so because, to observe its brilliant blue-green stardust, one couldn't just look. There was optical trickery involved—you needed to allow your eye to wander, only just a bit to the side, and hope to catch the dazzling colors as they briefly blinked into existence.

I was so concentrated, I was hardly breathing. The binoculars were perfectly in place, and I only had to look away. But, I'd never been good at using binoculars—my hands shook too much.

Only just slightly, I glanced away from the star and my heart stopped beating for a second when I finally saw the almost glacial, turquoise dust manifest in front of my eyes.

"Whoa," I breathed out, the movement causing the dust to disappear into the endless black once again.

"Beautiful, huh?" asked Dad, turning to smile at me. I'd seen NGC 6826 (its official name) plenty of times, but I always got excited when I managed to catch it display its colors, making me feel like a wildlife photographer trying to capture a photo of some elusive exotic bird.

"Very," I said, lowering the binoculars onto my lap.

I supposed I should have felt even weirder on my camping trip with Dad this year than the last. Back, then, we knew Voldemort was back, but things were still normal. The minority believed Dumbledore's word, and the majority helped us retain the status quo.

Somehow, though, I was even more at peace this trip than the last. Perhaps it was because I had a year to prepare myself for the rest of the world figuring out about the Dark Lord's return. Maybe it was because I had a feeling this summer holiday would be the last time I got to feel at peace before the wizarding world went to shit.

Either way, I tried to drink in and enjoy every moment of the camping trip.

Even Mum was shockingly low-key about things. She knew that Voldemort was back. It was all over the Daily Prophet for a month, so Dad and I couldn't have hidden it from her even if we had wanted to.

She was a worrier, and though she always planted seeds for me to be careful that year and continue to stay out of whatever Harry Potter was up to (kinda too late, Mum, sorry), I was a bit surprised she didn't even suggest that I switch to homeschooling.

I had a sneaking suspicion for why. There were two reasons. One was that I had the O.W.L.s that year, and I knew it would hurt her scholarly heart to keep me away from standardized testing. The second reason came in the talons of a school barn owl one morning in mid-July.

We had been eating breakfast, and the owl landed outside of our kitchen window. It tapped its beak on the glass until Dad went over to get the mail. He gave it a little treat and it hooted its thanks before flying away again.

Dad tossed it to me over the breakfast counter and continued what he was saying. "Arthur Weasley told me the Order of the Phoenix has reassembled. There will be members patrolling the school grounds throughout the year. Much better than the Dementors Fudge sent that one year. I'm sure that was dreadful."

"Ugh!" Mum shook out her hands like she was trying to dry her skin of stress. "And this is your O.W.L. year!"

I was hardly listening, and opened the envelope to take out the list of school supplies, wondering why it was so heavy. When I took out the contents, Mum let out a small gasp of surprise and started to grin.