Star Girl | Cedric Diggory

|*| One |*|

Everyone in the town was asleep that night. Everyone except for Aquila.

It was like that every night. The eleven year old would climb out her bedroom window after she knew her parents were asleep, and then she would set up her telescope and look at the stars. She would search for patterns and pictures, unknowingly finding some constellations. She would look at the pictures for countless hours and decide on what to call them. Large Soup Spoon and Small Soup Spoon were brother and sister. Sometimes, she'd pretend that the other, smaller stars were pouring into the spoons, and the Man with the Sticks would drink from them.

Every night, she'd look at the moon. That night, the moon had decided to go visit another planet, and she looked into the starry, moon-less sky with wonder. Where does the moon go? She wondered. Does it go to visit Mars or Jupiter? Did Venus call it and ask for help? Or was the sun so bright today that the moon wanted to move away? Will he come back? Will I see him tomorrow?

The girl looked at the sky and saw the stars form words in a glittery chain of light. They glistened into the sentences, Don't worry. He'll be back soon.

Aquila smiled. "Thank you," she whispered to the stars. All fear that the moon had abandoned her had vanished.

She swore she heard the stars whisper back.

|*|*|*|

"Mum! Dad! I got it! I got my letter!"

Aquila danced around the kitchen with the wax sealed letter in her hands. She tore it open and read it. Finally, she would be attending Hogwarts! She rushed to her parents' room and shook them awake, "Mum! Dad! I have to get to Diagon Alley! I need my school books!"

Regor and Vega sat up. The adults weren't too pleased to be awoken from their slumber, and Regor scolded his daughter, "Aquila, what did I tell you about waking us up?"

"Not to bother you unless it was very important," Aquila recalled. "And this is very important. I got my Hogwarts letter!" The young girl continued to jump up and down with glee; her eyes sparkled like the starlit sky.

"Really?" Vega scoffed. She was not pleased with her daughter's attitude. She knew Aquila was aware that she wasn't a morning person. "That's what you call important? Your letter to Pig Pimples?"

"It's Hogwarts," the eleven year old defended. She tried with all her might not to cross her arms at her mother. "And I have to get my supplies before they're all gone."

"Have Nash take you," Vega told her daughter. "Take one hundred galleons from the safe and return all the change when you've finished. Be back by sunset."

"I will!" Aquila cheered happily. She skipped out of her parents' bedroom and into her brother's room. "Nash! Nash, you need to take me to Diagon Alley!"

Her brother put down the book he was reading, Becoming an Animagi in 3 Easy Steps, and walked over to her. "I saw you outside last night. You know how Mum and Dad feel about you stargazing past ten."

"Yes, but you can see them perfectly at midnight," she told him with a smile. She couldn't help but smile when she thought of the stars. They were her main source of entertainment while she was at home, and she was proud to call them her friends. She would tell them her secrets, and they would tell her about the future. Most of the time, they would tell her happy things, but when it was necessary, they'd inform her of bad news.

However, because she knew her brother was right about her parents' strict bedtime rules, Aquila quickly changed the topic. "Now, we've got to go. You need your stuff for sixth year, and I need to get all of my stuff too!"