Stellar | ENG

chapter 9

As soon as I saw him I turned my gaze back to the starry sky, without saying a word.

"Where were you? I've been looking all over for you!" he said, I could feel his breath catching.
"I was here Adrian" I said not shifting my gaze.
"Are you okay?" he said, continuing to look at me.
"Great" my eyes still fixed upwards.
"Really? You seemed upset earlier."
"Well-" ~what am I making up now?~ "-I simply realised that tonight was perfect stargazing weather, and I was missing it," I improvised, hoping he would believe me and walk away, without asking any more questions.

He didn't say anything, but instead of leaving he started to lie down next to me.

"What are you doing? " I asked, still not looking at him.
"Well, I don't want to miss the stars," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

There was a big moment of silence, I had promised myself I would avoid him, but even being silent with him was so perfect.

At one point he broke the silence, "Do you know any of them?"
"I suppose that's the North Star," I said, pointing to the brightest star.
"-so that would be the Big Dipper," I said, starting to move my finger around, using it to connect the stars.

"Which one is your favourite?" I asked as soon as I finished drawing the constellation.
"I think the Capricorn one."
"Why?" he said turning to me.
"I'm proud of my zodiac sign," I said smiling.
I couldn't stop myself from turning to him and smiling.
He smiled back and the magical feeling I had every time started again.

As soon as I realised this, I turned towards the sky.
But he did not turn around, he just stood there, looking at me.

A moment passed in which neither of us said anything. I was looking at the sky, he was looking at me.

"Come with me," he said, getting up.

Confused, I started to sit up.

"Come on! Do you trust me?" he asked offering me a hand.
With a smile I grabbed it and he pulled me, to help me up.
I trusted him completely. I would have gone to the ends of the earth with him.

He took me inside the castle and we started to climb stairs, which seemed endless.

As we climbed, the stairs began to get smaller and smaller.

As soon as the stairs ended I realised where we were. In the astronomy tower.

He kept pulling me up to the balustrade.
I immediately understood why he had brought me there.
Without saying anything, I started to lean out, facing southwest.

"Can you see it? -he wrapped his hands around my waist to keep me from falling, and began to lean out as well.

At that moment I felt my heart rise in my throat and the butterflies in my stomach began to fly, colliding on all sides.

"-it should be shaped like a triangle, not very big."
"That's the one, the smallest one! " I said pointing to the constellation Capricorn excitedly.

We looked at the constellation for a while, in a comfortable silence.

"You know it's curious!" I felt his gaze move from the sky to me.
"What?" I said not moving my gaze from the stars.
Still keeping his hands firmly on my hips he turned me around so that we were face to face.

"The constellation of the Capricorn is the smallest, and one of the weakest. But Capricorn is one of the strongest signs in the entire zodiac."
"And that's where you're wrong!"
He gave me a confused look, so I continued, " The Capricorn is THE strongest sign in the whole zodiac," I said jokingly, but in a very serious tone.
"I think you're the one who's wrong here. It's obvious that the strongest sign of the zodiac is the Virgo," he said, also proud of himself.

"Ahhh, Mr Pucey, also an earth sign."
"Well yes Miss Kenns, I see you are informed."
"Certainly Mr Pucey don't underestimate me."
"I wouldn't dare, Miss Kenns."
"Tell me about Virgin August or September?
"August, First Decade, more specifically Virgo on August 31.
"We're fussy and ambitious here."
"I'm not denying that. What about you? Capricorn of December or January?"
"December. December 27th."
"First Decade, ruling planet Jupiter, animal eagle. Excessive pride, ambition and prudence-" he said, proud of his knowledge "-how come you're not in Slytherin?" he continued in a joking tone.
"I may be a reliable representation of Capricorn, but I am a very determined person. I am literally willing to do anything at the cost of achieving my goals. I think this quality added to my personality sorted me into Gryffindor," I explained.

I hadn't noticed that his hands hadn't moved and two huge smiles had formed on both our faces.

" you know it's such a shame" the smile on his face turned from amused to sweet.
"And why is that, Mr. Pucey?" I replied, still looking amused.
"Because if you were in Slytherin we would have met sooner."

I felt my heart melt, like a chocolate bar melts under the heat of a fire.
It was so sweet and we had so much in common: Quidditch, astrology, pride.

I  was still looking into his brown eyes, when I saw his gaze continuously move from my eyes to my lips.
After a while he stopped on my lips and I started to see him move closer.

Consequently, by instinct, I began to get closer too. The moment was perfect. Only the moon and the stars were illuminating us. Our lips were almost meeting when...
... BOOM! There was a loud noise.