Of Constellations → 𝘥. 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

x. family reunion

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chapter ten

family reunion

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On my first day back to Hogwarts, the atmosphere was charged with excitement, the students were brighter, and the colors seemed more vivid.

The announcement of this year's Triwizard Tournament had enlivened everyone. You couldn't walk in the corridors without hearing others imagining the treacherous tasks or wondering aloud about who Hogwarts's champion might be.

All summer long, Dad had been complaining about the Ministry's decision to bring back the ancient tournament. It used to take place every five years but hadn't occurred since the late eighteenth century because too many people were dying. The tasks were known for being ridiculously dangerous.

Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman, department heads of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports respectively, had asked the Astrology department to draw up a risk-assessment report and proceeded to ignore it when the results turned out less than promising.

Dad was also nervous because the Triwizard Tournament meant Durmstrang. But, he'd told me not to worry too much about Igor Karkaroff, who'd graduated from Durmstrang before my father began. He too had been a Death Eater (Dad didn't tell me this point-blank, but I inferred). He was terrible, but as long as I stayed out of things, Karkaroff wouldn't know who I was.

But, surrounded by the high spirits and the fantastic first day back, I'd forgotten all about my father's trepidation.

My first class of the day was Arithmancy and I'd just sat down when Ginny Weasley took the seat next to me. I was vaguely surprised but smiled when I saw her.

"Hey," she said, setting down her books next to me in the small, dark classroom hidden in a hinterlands corner of the seventh floor. "I'm nervous about this class, but I took it anyway because Hermione Granger told me it's her favorite. Two of my brothers, Percy and Bill, said it was one of the most difficult classes they ever took, but both got an O.W.L., so now I'm honor-bound to myself to get one as well."

"Percy was the one dating Penelope Clearwater, yes?" I asked Ginny, a bit taken aback by her information download. She'd changed a lot since our first year. She used to be so shy, but she was now the most popular girl in our year.

"Yes, he was," she said with a grimace.

"Did you not like Penelope?" I asked.

"No, she was all right. It's Percy I'm not currently fond of. However conceited he seemed before, he's ten times worse now. He's working in the Ministry of Magic, and it's suddenly his entire personality."

I wasn't sure what to say to that so I changed subjects. "Anyway, I think you'll do fine. You're at the top of our year."

She grinned. "Yeah, and all the people ahead of me are in this class. Including you, Mars. I sat next to you because you're good with numbers and I figured you could help me out."

I feigned offense. "Wow, what a fake friend!"

"I already told you, I can't be friends with someone who doesn't like Quidditch!" Ginny said, but I could tell she was joking.

Arithmancy immediately became one of my favorite subjects.

Astronomy and Potions were classes I didn't have to try that hard in. Things were obvious and intuitive to me, and that same quality was present in Arithmancy. Numbers were a language I was fluent in. Though the mathematics necessary for the work was not much more complicated than basic algebra, it was more difficult than any other class. Even in Potions, the most complex maths we did were fractions.