There was not much that Cora took seriously about her classes. Defense Against the Dark Arts was a drag, charms drug on and she was fairly certain that the Potions professor actually had them creating some sort of liquid, chemical drug. She had been raised Muggle – so naturally, this was all a little strange to her. Even after seven years, the reality of her situation baffled her. She was magical and that was…well, strange.

Or apparently not so strange.

Ever since she had met the woman claiming to be her mother and she had told her that she was from a Pureblood family, the words seemed to be stalking her. She looked for her “parents’” last name in every history book and every trophy in the trophy room and it was everywhere. The lineage could be traced back for hundreds of years. And here she was, blissfully unaware until a few weeks ago that she had a great great grandfather who had single handedly helped to win the Quidditch World Cup in Bavaria and a second cousin twice removed who opened up a shop in Diagon Alley.

The MacGuffin family was huge.

And she needed a break from it all. Absorbing that amount of information was dangerous. She thought about it took much, got caught up in it and sometimes couldn’t remember which way was up or down. It was consuming, learning the history of a family you didn’t even know you belonged to until a few weeks ago. Sometimes she took to the towers, mapping and charting the stars even on her off nights just to clear her head. After all, there was nothing more beautiful than watching them appear out of darkness.

Tonight was one of those nights. Cora’s hands moved skillfully around the telescope, tightening the cogs and knobs to focus in on a particularly beautiful star. The world was alive when she was up here – and so was she. There wasn’t anything but her, the moon and the stars. Well, and the prefects and professors she was certain were lurking in the shadows. 

Hands moving with a delicate ease of understanding, Cora pulled back and grabbed her notebook, scribbling down a few notes about the appearance of the stars tonight. She hardly even realized when someone joined her in the open air.

Hogwarts was both a haven and a Hell for Alice at times. She loved to castle, loved wandering and exploring. The castle was its own monster, its own enigma, practically begging its residents to traverse to floors, levels, and towers to see what lay in store. It was a beautiful place, a mystical place all in its own regard. It was a symbol to the wizarding world, a symbol of much more than a school building. This castle held years and years of history, countless trials and situations. There were countless stories housed in these walls, and that was certainly what appealed to Alice most about the grand place.

However, reality is what caused her the problem. While Hogwarts was a mysterious, fascinating place, it was still a school, which could often be the bane of Alice's existence. Schoolwork these past couple years had seemed endless, and she spent countless hours trying to get it all done sometimes. Schoolwork...reading, writing, complicated incantations, difficult wand movements...they weren't her strong suit. Far from it, actually. She managed pretty well most of the time, but when so much of it was coming at once, it was quite easy to get overwhelmed. The wondrous enigma of the castle was great, but it was the reality that could sometimes prove to strangle her.

Alice had given in to her more wondrous, curious side this evening and took to wandering around the castle. It was a good way to clear her mind, keep herself relaxed as much as she could. It was certainly a nice break among the chaos that seemed to go on at school often. She found herself wandering towards the astronomy tower; never a better way to clear one's head than looking at the night sky and the stars, she supposed. As she climbed the stairs and entered, she realized that she evidently wasn't the only one with this idea. She saw the girl turn around once she seemed to sense Alice's presence. "Oh, I'm sorry," Alice said apologetically. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

Cora’s stomach tightened into a knot as she realized the girl was a Prefect. Was she about to earn herself a detention? Negative house points? In the end, it didn’t matter, so long as the girl didn’t pull her away from her work. She would be devastated if she had to leave now, especially when she was so close to finishing her fall equinox star chart. Turning slightly, she looked at the telescope. There was no way to hide what she had been doing — even still, there was no other explanation for what she had been doing. She could only hope that this Prefect in particular would be lenient with her. Who knows, perhaps she wanted the same thing, too. Quiet. Solitude. A break.

“Hey Alice,” Cora awkwardly raised her hand in a sort of wave before she pinned the quill behind her ear and gave her a smile. “You’re fine, don’t worry about it. Pretty night, right?” It was uncomfortable small talk, but Cora knew that it was better than nothing. Put on your big girl knickers, Cora, She thought with a small smile. What was the worst that was going to happen? Gryffindors would be mad at her for another few lost house points? 

She turned back to look up at the sky where the stars were twinkling again. It really was beautiful, she could only hope that Alice thought so too. Cora could spend hours talking about the stars. “The fall equinox is coming up. That’s why the stars are so pretty tonight. I think they know.” Leaning down, she adjusted the telescope to focus on Polaris. “Want to check it out? The view’s incredible.” 

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TAG: @alice

Alice supposed that as a prefect she shouldn't really be wandering around this way, but she really couldn't bring herself to care. After all, if anyone were to ask her, she could use the excuse that she was a prefect and was on a patrol. It was an easy white lie to get caught in, but she supposed she could make her way out of that one by saying she got the night wrong for her patrol or something of the like. Still, Alice had been wandering the castle at night for years, and she had never been caught before. She ran into the occasional student, but there was usually some sort of unspoken agreement that meeting on an occasion like that was live and let live. Alice had never really seen trouble for it, nor had she ever gotten anyone else in trouble, so she figured the situation was merited.

She hadn't really expected to see anyone in the Astronomy Tower that evening, but she wasn't entirely surprised either. It was a good place to go, especially at the time of night. She saw as the girl turned around that it was Cora. Alice gave her a bit of a smile. "Hey Cora," she said. She saw the worried look on the girl's face, so she made to reassure her. "Don't worry, I'm not on patrol or anything. Just wandering around. Looking for a break." We're one and the same right now, she thought. Alice looked up at the stars in admiration momentarily, which seemed to be what Cora was doing here as well, and gave a nod. "Yeah, it really is a beautiful night," she agreed with a smile. Alice's eyes traced the constellations above, her eyes drawn to the stars as they twinkled. "The fall equinox..." she mused. Yes, that explained why the stars were particularly bright and outstanding. She looked at the telescope as Cora adjusted it when she offered to let her look. "You don't mind?" she asked with a bit of a smile, indicating the telescope. She really didn't want to disturb her if she was busy with it...

Cora’s sigh of relief was almost audible. Thankfully Alice wasn’t there to bust her because the stars were getting more beautiful every second. It was as if they were all coming into perfect alignment. There was a bit of a smile that formed on her lips. Maybe Alice wasn’t going to be such a bad stargazing partner after all. “Merlin, no. Psh, of course I don’t mind!” She said, moving the telescope so Alice had better access to it.

“The more the merrier.” She said, lifting her hand to her forehead as if she was saluting. She turned toward the sky and stared at them with her naked eye. It was beautiful. She had mapped them hundreds of times, charted the way that they moved, but she would never grow tired of the beauty of the night sky. It lit her up like a firecracker and that was something that not many could understand. But Alice seemed to have an appreciation for it and that made this a lot easier.

But, as Cora often did, she couldn’t keep her mouth closed for very long. Especially not when she was practically bursting to tell the girl all about what was in the sky. Instead she picked an easier topic of conversation: “Stargazing is kind of a lonely hobby sometimes. I mean, you pack a bunch of people up here like sardines and it feels…too crowded to really enjoy it.” Cora shrugged, her eyes trailing the constellations with careful accuracy before she looked back at Alice. She didn’t want her to think that she was trying to push her away. “A crowd’s no good, but a couple people? Perfect.”

“See that?” A shooting star crossed the night sky and Cora internally squealed. In fact, a little of her internal excitement escaped her lips as well. “It’s incredible! You must be good luck! You're going to have to come up here with me every night!”

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TAG: @alice

Alice smiled, seeing as Cora was ready to welcome her to her stargazing endeavor. She could tell just by looking at the girl’s expression alone how much she loved it, and Alice was glad that Cora was willing to let her look along with her, and she figured she’d probably learn a thing or two from her. “Thank you,” she said gratefully. “I could use some good company.” Gazing at the stars sounded great to her right now, and having someone to do it with sounded even better, She hoped that it would help clear her mind a bit.

Alice walked over to join Cora, then nodded in agreement. “I think you’re right. Too many people certainly would take away some of the enjoyment. But a couple people does sound like the perfect number.” Alice looked down and gazed into the telescope. The night sky was blown up in her vision, and she could see every bright detail of the celestial bodies above. “Wow…” Alice said breathlessly. “That’s beautiful…” Alice had looked through telescopes in astronomy before, but she figured this must be a particularly good night, as she had never seen the stars look as beautiful as they did now. She adjusted the telescope slightly, taking in the full view. It was absolutely amazing to see.

Alice quickly looked up in the sky when Cora made a sound of excitement, just catching glimpse of the shooting star that Cora pointed out. She grinned at the sight. “Wow,” she said yet again, indicating her constant amazement. She looked at Cora and smiled even more when she said she was good luck. Coming up here every night with her sounded like a pretty good time. The stars were beautiful, and she knew that she could obviously learn so much from Cora as far as the stars went, and she would love to learn. She had only been here a few minutes and already she could feel herself relaxing, her mind wandering from the stress and onto the beauty that was in front of them. “That sounds pretty great to me,” she said sincerely. She suddenly found herself glad that she had wandered up here and stumbled upon Cora.

Alice seemed entirely entralled in the telescope, much to Cora’s satisfaction. Once she had gotten over her apprehension about inviting a Prefect to hang out on the roof with her, she found that she was actually…well, actually enjoying herself. It was hard sometimes to drag Dawson up to the tower every night to keep her company and Alice was actually enjoying it.

Initially, Cora had felt rather silly asking Alice to be her star-gazing partner, but the look of joy on their girl’s face changed her mind. There were a few seconds where she looked stunned – her mouth hanging open ever so slightly before she shrugged her shoulders. Alice was certainly and most quickly becoming one of her favorite people in the world. She had managed to avoid detention this evening and secure a new friend. “Have you heard about the Astronomy Club?” She asked, using her hands to move the telescope ever so slightly so it was positioned to observe more of the stars in the eastern sky.

“We’re pretty small, right now. You get it, easier to stargaze when there aren’t enough people up here to fill the whole bloody great hall.” Cor smiled and leg go of the knobs on the scope, allowing Alice to resume looking up at the stars. “I’m not saying you have to join…but you’re always welcome…especially if you’re going to bring those shooting stars with you.” She laughed before tucking some of her dark hair behind her ear. She was surprised that she and Alice Lexington had never really talked until now – it was a damn shame.

Alice found herself rather glad that she had wandered up to the astronomy tower this evening. She hadn’t wanted to intrude, but she was glad the Cora invited her along to look at the stars with her. Something about looking in the telescope at the celestial bodies above was quite relaxing, and Merlin knew that Alice could use some relaxation right now before she lost her mind over everything. The fact that Cora welcomed her so readily made Alice feel better in a strange way, and she was glad for the girl’s company and her kindness in allowing her to look with her. She hoped that she and Cora would talk more in the future, especially if they would continuously get along as easily and as well as they were now. Alice found her company rather enjoyable.

Alice looked up at Cora and smiled slightly. “Yes, I’ve heard of it,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll give it a try one of these days.” If she ever found the time, that is. Alice barely had a moment to breathe, but she found now that looking at the stars with Cora certainly made her feel like she had a little more room to do so. Perhaps if stargazing would relax her as it did now, the she would certainly have to make time for the Astronomy Club for her own well being. She gave even more of a smile when Cora said that she might bring the shooting stars. “Thanks for inviting me...that’s really nice of you.” It truly was very nice of Cora to invite her, and she was really grateful for the girl’s kindness, as Merlin knew Alice needed some right now. She peered back in the telescope as Cora tilted it, and she saw a whole new range of beautiful stars. “Wow...this is amazing,” she said in awe.

It was nice, having a friend. Yeah, Cora had Dawson, and they could talk through just about anything, but sometimes there was the distinct realization that there was something missing. She missed out on talking about makeup and boys and…the stars. Yeah, Dawson came up and looked at them with her, but not like this. Alice was actually enjoying herself.

“Thanks for not calling the Prefect brigade on me. Sometimes they can be such a pain in the…” Cora stopped herself immediately, realizing that she was speaking to a girl who in fact, was a Prefect and could very well give her a detention in a moment’s notice. Of course, Alice had already shown herself to be way cooler than all the other prefects but…A moment passed and Cora realized that might have been offensive. “Not that I think all prefects are bad or anything…I mean you’ve turned out to be right lovely…” She felt her face darken with a blush, but chose to ignore it, instead looking up at the stars again and pretending that she had said nothing at all.

It was really quite nice of Cora to be so welcoming of her; she could only imagine what the girl must have thought upon seeing her initially, as she was a prefect and Cora was more or less breaking the rules. Alice really wasn’t one to give out detentions or take points left and right. After all, it wasn’t as if Cora was doing anything wrong or causing any trouble. She seemed to be just genuinely hoping to get away, wanting some time to herself to look at the stars. Of course, the fact that she allowed Alice to look with her was quite nice, and it really was the slight boost of happiness that Alice really needed right now.

Alice gave a slight chuckle at Cora’s comment. “It’s okay. I know some of the prefects are a bit strict, but that’s not really my style,” she said with a shrug. She gave a weak chuckle. “I question their sanity at giving me the position in the first place. I’m really not the most assertive person out there.” She tried to do her job well enough,but she could only do so much. “Thanks for the compliment, though. You’re quite lovely yourself,” she told Cora with a smile. She was a nice girl, and it was a shame they hadn’t talked much until now. Alice looked back up at the stars along with Cora. It really was quite relaxing. She turned to her stargazing companion a moment later. “Do you have the time?” she asked. She had honestly lost track of it coming up here, but she was okay with that.