Always the Same Sky Closed

Ami was pretty sure that the Astronomy professor (who was it again? Ah, right, Professor Blevins, Saiseri Blevins) had said something about not being allowed to come up to the Astronomy tower without her express permission, so now she had to be extra careful. Silently, clad with only fluffy socks on her feet, she tiptoed up to the tower and sat down in a corner- alone. 

She put her earbuds in, hit play on her heavy metal playlist (Thank you, mom, she thought, glad her mom had found a way around Hogwarts' no Muggle electronics rule), and leaned against the wall of the Astronomy tower's confines. She didn't hear or see the other student who came up to the tower, completely lost and immersed in her music- which, reflecting upon it, was probably a good thing, considering she would've had a full-on panic attack if she had seen him creeping up the stairs.

She slowly went through her mental checklist, trying to remember what she'd done and what she still had to do. Charms- done. Potions- a work in progress. Transfiguration- nope, haven't even touched that yet. Defense Against the Dark Arts- the teacher was scary, and Ami had yet to summon the courage to ask her for homework help. History of Magic- her first (and probably only) O. And on and on she went, reviewing all her homework and lessons and lecture and so on and so forth. Tedious, really, but necessary.

Amadea loved the night sky. Some people were afraid of the dark or intimidated by the vast everything that the sky contained, but she found it comforting. Everyone in the world looked up at the same sky. No matter who they were, people could have this one thing in common. Plus, the sky was infinite and had control over everyone, blanketing them in its power.

As she climbed the stairs to the top of the astronomy tower to look out at all of the constellations, she thought about these deep things. She loved memorizing the constellations and fining new ones that didn't already exist. Sometimes she would even name the stars and give them stories. It might be juvenile, but it was something that she had always done. Once she reached the top of the tower, she noticed that two students were already there which was surprising considering that she was fairly sure none of them were supposed to be up here without permission from the professor. She had yet to actually have a one on one conversation with any of her professors. As she came closer, she realized she recognized both figures. The girl was Ami, the one she had helped clean the trophy room with and had met again in the owlery. The boy, Kyden, had mentored her in flying. They both looked preoccupied and she didn't want to scare them, so she came out of the shadows and cleared her throat, hoping to catch their attention without startling them.

Kyden looked up and smiled when he recognized Amadea. He then noticed the other girl who had to have been there before him but he hadn't noticed. He sized her up and then turned back to Amadea. "How are you doing? Flying going okay now?" He looked back up towards the sky fiddling with his fingers. He wanted to go back to what he was doing but he also didn't want to be rude. He found it funny however that the 3 of them all snuck up here even though they shouldn't have. Kyden only came up here when he needed to escape life. When things got to hard or became to easy he snuck up here to look at the sky to remind himself of where he came from and who he was. Coming up here often reminded him of the orphanage where he grew up. The place he left to come here to Hogwarts. The place that he loved so much, yet the same place that he wished he never had to return to. The place that held both good memories and horrible ones also. "So come up here because you couldn't sleep then?" He asked both of the girls curiously.

Ami shrieked when she heard the other human voice. She really needed to stop doing that, but for now, she full-on screamed, banshee style. The banshees here would be proud. "Oh, sweet Jesus," she mumbled, clasping a hand to her throat. She yanked her earbuds out, and the heavy bass of a metal song leaked out at an alarming volume. Recognizing a familiar face in front of her, she added, "Amadea. Fancy seeing you here- we keep meeting." 

She turned to look at the other student, a boy, tilting her head. "You said something, right? Well, as per usual, I missed it. I blame my music. Sorry, so sorry. I'm an idiot, sometimes." She tugged on her hair, knowing that her American accent would come out clearer than ever at night, when she didn't have the presence of mind to keep her words in check. "Um, yeah." She tugged on her hair even more, unsure of what to say.

What did you say around strangers you barely knew? How did you know you weren't going to offend the them, or that they would want you as a friend? Ami tugged her sleeves lower over her arms nervously, wishing she'd worn longer sleeves.

Amadea stifled another giggle as Ami let out a gut wrenching shriek. That was definitely not the first time she had heard that. "Hello again Ami," she said. "And uh, flying is going well," she answered. She didn't know what else to say. Clearly all three of them were up here for separate reasons and wanted to get back to whatever they were doing. She could tell both of them, especially Ami were nervous. Amadea felt as though she should break the awkward silence since she had encountered both of them before, but she never knew what to say and this instance was no different.

She stole a quick glance up at the sky, hoping it would calm her nerves a little bit. Thankfully, it did. Seeing all of the twinkling lights looking down on her made her feel much more comforted. She wondered what everyone else was doing up here. Every other time she had come, no one else was there, probably because they weren't supposed to be. She hoped their voices wouldn't attract any attention; she hadn't gotten in trouble yet and didn't want to break that streak now.

Then Kyden spoke again, thankfully. "Yes," she answered. "Well, no. Um. I came up because I haven't been here in a while. I-I come up here occasionally."

Kyden looked at the shrieking girl. He smiled at her and didn't let her noise get to him. "Woah there. You are going to wake the sun with that shrieking." He turned to Amadea and smiled at her. He was glad to here that she was getting better at flying. He was glad she was here to because quite frankly he wasn't sure how  to handle the girl that had now finally stopped screaming. He looked up at the sky and then back at the two girls. "So what brings you up here? I like to sketch the sky. I also like to make new constellations on my own. I already know and have memorized the majority of the ones up there. So to make it more fun I just make my own." He stopped talking and looked at the two girls again. He wasn't exactly sure why he had told them all that but normally when he was nervous he talked alot. "Well umm." Now however he wasn't exactly sure what to say. It wasn't that he was nervous around Amadea but the new girl however, She made him really nervous. He wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe it was the fact that her shrieking still rang in his ears.

Amadea stifled yet another giggle as she watched Kyden's reaction. Clearly he had not met the memorable Hufflepuff yet. Ami was quite a character, in a good way of course. Amadea hoped the two would be able to grow closer. Kyden looked up to the sky as he asked the girls why they were up in the astronomy tower and Amadea unconsciously found herself looking up as well.

"I come up here occasionally," she answered. "Whenever I'm feeling stressed or something I come up here and look at the sky." She explained her love of the night sky and the way it felt comforting to her. "My great grandmother really loved astronomy," she added. "I didn't know her very well since she passed away when I was little, but she always told me that she was going to turn into a star after she died and watch over me for my entire life. It might be stupid, but I believe her and I can almost feel her presence sometimes." She paused and looked up at the sky again. The stars were all twinkling back at her, almost as if they were winking. She loved how each star seemed to have its own personality, even from 4.24 light-years away.

"You sketch?" she asked. "That's cool. I like making up new constellations too! I don't really know that many that exist, so usually I just make up names for any group of stars I see. Do you sketch the constellations you create?"