Patience

Chapter 10

I enter my dorm to find Seiko and Marissa doing school work and Ophelia and Hydra whispering in the corner per usual. I quickly change into warm clothes for astronomy. Most students just wear pajamas but tonight was colder than usual. I layer on a white collared shirt and an oversized grey sweatshirt over it, then I step into my favorite pair of high waisted jeans that flare at the ankles. I throw on some white Nike tennis shoes and a Hufflepuff beanie then I'm ready to go. As I exit the Hufflepuff common room, I see Fred and George waiting for me next to the entrance.

"Geeze what took you so long." Fred sighs at my arrival.

"Nice to see you too Freddie, always a pleasure." I say sarcastically and smile at George.

    "Try living with him." George whispers in my ear sending chills down my spine. I chuckle at his comment. "You look great by the way." he winks at me.

"Thanks Georgie and stop winking it looks like a bug flew into your eye." I tease and wink back at him.

"Does it really!" he cries, not sensing my joke.

"No silly I was joking, your winks look perfectly fine." I comfort him and he laughs at his stupidity. We walk up the stairs of the astronomy tower in a single file line, by the time we reach the top we're all out of breath. There are multiple star gazing stations set up around the tower. They contain two pieces of parchment and a telescope each.

I can see a clear terrestrial view of the brightly lit night sky through the peep holes of the tower. The air of the night is brittle and cold, but the view is worth it. The polar, twinkling stars come together to make various patterns in the cloudless, lucid sky. I suddenly remember a quote from one of the classic books I've read called Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. "What is love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who is in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul." I've never known what love is like, but when I read this I feel hope in finding it. It's such a vague description of the feeling, yet I fully understand it at the same time. I'm taken aback from my thought to the sound of Professor Sinstra clearing her voice.

"Welcome to your first class of Astronomy. We haven't much time so I'll make this quick. I'm Professor Sinstra and in this class you will learn the basics of how to correctly identify a constellation and how to find the difference between stars and planets." She walks over to a station. "Today all I want you to do is find a partner, use your textbook, and draw and describe ten constellations in the sky this fine night." She walks over to her desk and allows us to begin.

"How bout you and me Rosewood?" George asks, nudging me. Fred was already paired with Angeline and at a station drawing a constellation as she described it to him.

"Sure Weasley." I say, nudging him back. We collect our things and head off to the last remaining station. George grabs a piece of parchment and starts to doodle on it.

"Ready?" I ask with a knowing smile, he nods. I peer through the telescope and search my textbook for a familiar constellation, when I finally find one I describe it to George and he continues his doodle.

"Oh look! There's my sign, Scorpio." I tell George excitedly. He smiles in that cute way of his and looks over at me.

    "That wasn't the one we were working on! But I'm an Aries." he says, laughing softly.

"Done?" I ask and he nods. I take the piece of parchment from his hands and switch places so he can find the next constellation. I look at his doodle and find a well drawn constellation of me.

"This is not the big dipper." I smile, showing him what he had drawn.

"Oh, when you were talking about stars, I thought you were talking about yourself." he says with a wink. I just stare at him with an open mouth at a loss for words.