On Top of the Astronomy Tower PV Willow Blake Finished

The morning finally arrived, Willow woke up overwhelmed with joy, she was going to explore the castle with her newly made friend. She quickly walked to the class they shared, trying to speed up her day through all her classes to the moment they get to hang out and discover every other corner of the school.
She was now walking with the pack of students who shared their same class together. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd in search for Simon as Hufflepuff shared with class with Ravenclaw. When their eyes finally met, she felt a little awkward feeling, it felt strange... She didn't quite know what to say to him or if she should even approach him at all. He gave her a small respectful smile, it felt weird, she decided to forget about it and at the end this day, they'll get comfortable and back to normal when they meet, she hoped.

Finally, the class came to an end as she was rushing her way to her next one.
"Hi Willow!" Her head spun around to see Simon as he caught up to her. She gave him a grin she couldn't hold back but didn't feel the same energy from him. She slowed down, her pace matching his, "How's it going?" He asked. "It's going fine!" She responded before narrowed her eyes at him and adding "Is something wrong?" She questioned, trying to read his expression.

"Eh... Yeah, I have something to tell you. I’m so sorry, but I have to finish the history assignment after school today.” He answered avoid her gaze. She can't say she wasn't a little disappointed, but it was fine. Before she could reassure him and tell him they could hang out another time, he continued “But I have another idea! Did you see the starry night sky last night? Apparently, it’s going to be yet another cloudless night. So, I was thinking… Have you been to the Astronomy Tower? Or... Would you like to go there later tonight? With me?"

Her eyes lit up as she stopped in her track, turning to directly face him when he said that "There's An Astronomy Tower!?" She said that a little too loud. She blinked a little as she realized she had done that yet again before this time not minding it and jumping up and down a grin on her face, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's go there!" She then caught herself being all childish and she stopped herself from seeming to eager and excited. Willow cleared her throat and resumed a calm light smile and said, "Tonight, at the Astronomy tower, it is then!"

@ Simon Tilia

"There's An Astronomy Tower!?"

"Yeah, where did you think we were going to take Astronomy classes? Only from a school bench?" Simon gave her a smirky smile. "From what I've heard, there are these really big telescopes up there. A fully equipped observatory!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's go there!", said Willow, eyes sparkling of anticipation.

He found it almost funny how excited she was, but that probably meant that at least she was not too upset with his withdrawal from their original plans, which made him relax a little.

"Excellent! Let’s meet around, let’s say… 8 o'clock? As long as we are back before 10, so we don’t get ourselves a detention." (A Ravenclaw Prefect nearby turned her nosy head around as soon as she heard the word 'detention' – Simon answered by giving her a look of What? I did not say anything). He turned to Willow again: "Okay?"

"Tonight, at the Astronomy tower, it is then!", she said.

They did not say anything to each other for the rest of day, only exchanging glances of anticipation for their upcoming excursion...

––––––––––

After supper, Simon finally finished his assignment, but he had at least one and a half hour left before his meeting with Willow. He felt restless and considered sending her a letter, asking if she would want to meet earlier, but it did not seem right to reschedule again. Instead, he took a warm bath and contemplated on the day while the sun set. No one else was in the bathroom at the time, so he enjoyed the moment and reflected on the week – the fighting cats, his new friendship and how his owl Hoax had been flying back and forth between the Ravenclaw tower and Hufflepuff common room last night. He still had bad conscience for postponing their meeting today but hoped that she would still see him as a friend that she could count on. When he got dressed again, he was warm and relaxed, ready to go out and meet the chilly darkening night.

He waited for Willow at the stairs leading up to the Astronomy Tower, because he did not want to get the first glance of the view all by himself. That was something to be shared with someone. After practicing one of the new spells for a couple of minutes, he heard steps closing in and put away his wand.

"Willow!" A wide smile spread in his face. "Finally. I thought you'd never show up."

Interacting with @Willow Blake

The classes flew by pretty fast, and Willow has been anticipating this moment all along. She tried to fill in the rest of her time as she waited till 8 o'clock; she finished her daily homework, read some books, but time was going by as slow as a snail. When the time finally came, she quickly got out of her dorm room and into the hallways of the magnificent castle.

It looked like the ones from the movies, the windows let in the moon light as the passageway was lit in with torches, she wondered if she was supposed to get something with her, a jacket or a lantern. She didn't know and if she was supposed to it was pretty much too late. She stopped at the moving staircases, waiting for one to reach her spot. Her gaze focused on the portraits all over the walls.
She distributed small smiles and waved at some of them.

She then realized she had no idea the way to the Astronomy Tower. She decided it was a good place, as she asked not particularly to anyone: "Can someone please tell me the way to the Astronomy tower?" She looked around at the paintings, anyone who might answer her, but most of them seem to be minding their own businesses. She huffed and puffed as she walked down the staircase that had finally stopped in front of her. 'Why didn't I think of asking Simon earlier?... Well how hard can it be', she tried giving herself some positive energy as she walked around for some stairs that would lead her to the tower. Finally, after a long while she walked up some stairs to finally hear a familiar voice.

"Willow! Finally. I thought you'd never show up." The bored and tired expression on her quickly disappeared as she ran up the few steps left and was met up face to face with "Simon!" she grinned at him before adding in relief, "Oh goodness! I forgot to ask you where the Astronomy tower was and had to go through the million staircases in this place. I really thought you'd leave by the time I actually make it here! But I'm thankful you didn't! Sorry for the long wait..." She gave him an apologetic smile.

@ Simon Tilia

"Oh goodness! I forgot to ask you where the Astronomy tower was and had to go through the million staircases in this place. I really thought you'd leave by the time I actually make it here! But I'm thankful you didn't! Sorry for the long wait..."

Simon chuckled. "Oh no, that's perfectly fine. After all, it is quite a long way from the Hufflepuff common room. I should probably have mentioned it was in the same wing as Charms class and Defence Against the Dark Arts", said Simon. "You're here now, at least! That's what counts. You didn't bring a jacket, I see. It can get quite windy up in the towers, trust me, wind is whining all the time in the Ravenclaw common room, but don't worry – we can take turns using my jacket."

He turned towards the stairs, keen on not wasting any more minutes, since he had been looking forward to this moment the whole day. "So, are we ready?", he said, smiling and took the first steps on the stair that would lead them up to the top of the tower.

When they finally reached the last stair and walked out into the fresh and chilly night, they were met by the most spectacular view over the moonlit hills surrounding Hogwarts. The walls were open in every direction, there were plenty of telescopes in various shapes and sizes, and from the ceiling hung a couple of lanterns, creating a warm dim light of the place. Between some of the lower towers they could see the Great Lake. The moon was glittering in the water. Behind them was the Forbidden Forest, like an endless dark and uneven mass of all the lush trees reaching over the horizon.

Simon gasped beside Willow, before turning his head towards her.

"So? Does it look like you imagined it?"

Interacting with @Willow Blake

"You're here now, at least! That's what counts. You didn't bring a jacket, I see. It can get quite windy up in the towers, trust me, wind is whining all the time in the Ravenclaw common room, but don't worry – we can take turns using my jacket." She frowned looking down before smiling back up at him answering, "No, don't bother it's fine! I'll survive!" She chuckled before he continued, "So, are we ready?" He smiled at her as she nodded quickly in response really excited.

They walked up the last steps arriving to the top and Willow's gaze met up with the magical landscape. The view held her speechless, her mouth agape as she covered it with her hands and her eyes wide open while she looked around mesmerized by the beauty of the night life. The sky full of millions of twinkling stars as they all surrounded the bright moon that shone so gracefully lighting up the breathtaking scenery that laid all around them. Just like Simon said, there was not a single cloud in sight, but it was so much more than the view outside her dorm room's window.

She came back to her other senses when Simon asked her, "So? Does it look like you imagined it?" She had to blink a few times and remember how to speak words before answering, "I don't think anyone could have imagined such a-" She didn't know what to say but that was enough and coming from her and her wild imagination that can never run dry, well, that said a lot! "...words really can't describe what I want to say..." She said finally taking a moment with her eyes away from the landscape and on Simon as she smiled at him.

For Willow, even the air smelled different from where they were; it was fresher in an ancient way, humid and cold but still gave her a sensation of warmth. Away from the crowd and the chaos, the silent was really hard to reach, but here they were... in the silence of the night, a comfortable silence with the little sounds of nature. The wind was indeed chilling as the cold breezes would pass by making her really regret not getting a jacket, she didn't really mind though. She looked around for a spot to sit down as they stayed here.

@ Simon Tilia

"I don't think anyone could have imagined such a... Words really can't describe what I want to say..."

Simon felt the same way. It was truly breathtaking. Once again he was struck by the feeling of dreaming. Being a half-blood, he came to the scary realization that he could have missed all this, if it had turned out that he possessed no magical abilities. Then there would have been no Hogwarts. No Willow. But no – he was a Wizard. And for the first time in his life, he had finally found home.

A screech was heard from above. Simon looked up and saw Hoax flying towards them with flapping wings. Simon instinctively held out his arm for him to land, but Hoax seemed unusually eager, landing with so much momentum that Simon stumbled to regain his balance.

“Wow! Hey there!”, said Simon, chuckling.

Hoax immediately bunted his head and fluffy feathery cheeks against Simon’s shoulder before reaching out to Willow, doing the same to her and nibbling at her sweater.

“Aw, you remember Willow, don’t you? Missed her, have you? See – “, he turned to Willow. “Told you he likes you. My father always says that Hoax is the most emotionally intelligent owl he has ever met. You can see it in his eyes when he looks at you. It’s like he knows your emotions, what you feel and how you feel, at the moment. He is very observant and sensitive. But now he’s just being ridiculous –“, Simon petted him once again as the owl buried its face in Willow’s clothing. “Aren’t you? Yes, you are… See – he’s acting like a dog or something. Weirdest owl ever.” (Hoax quickly turned his head towards Simon.)

“Are you familiar with the night sky? Like, the stars and the constellations?”, asked Simon.

Interacting with @Willow Blake .

Willow giggled as Hoax started to what Simon called 'acting like a dog'. Well, she couldn't say he was wrong; most dogs do act like that. She thought it was adorable how he buried his face in her sweater. From the look he gave Simon when he called him weird, it seemed like he understood every word they said. He really was an emotionally intelligent owl! She laughed before patting him and saying, "Don't worry Hoax! Weird isn't bad, everyone's a little weird in their own way. Plus, the weirder you are, the more special!" She said giving the owl a smile.

"Are you familiar with the night sky? Like, the stars and the constellations?", Simon asked making Willow turn towards him. "Yeah, well kind of... I really find it fascinating! I know some constellations, the "life cycle" of a star, stuff like that, you know the basics." She said air quoting ' Life cycle'.

"What about you?" She asked grinning at him. Simon seemed like the person to be really interested in astronomy and she thought he'd probably know a lot about it...She made her way towards a telescope and looked through it not knowing specifically what to look at. She turned it around the night sky stopping at a constellation. She recognized it, but she couldn't quite remember its name.

She walked away to the bars that kept anyone from falling down the high tower, shaking it a bit to see if it was stable before getting onto it and sitting down carefully holding onto the bar well, her legs dangling down to nothingness... pitch black nothingness. She took a deep breath closing her eyes feeling the wind in her face as it made her hair softly fly back. Willow looked behind her to where Simon was and smiled at him before patting the spot next to her.

@ Simon Tilia

"Don't worry Hoax! Weird isn't bad, everyone's a little weird in their own way. Plus, the weirder you are, the more special!"

That was a true Hufflepuff speaking, Simon thought, and smiled to himself in admiration for their kindness and praise of originality.

"... What about you?"

“I used to stargaze quite a lot from our backyard in Edinburgh", Simon told her as she was looking through one of the telescopes.

When he joined her on one of the benches, he told her about how he would sometimes brush his teeth outdoors, standing on the edge of their backyard, admiring the night sky and wonder about the mysteries of the universe.

"One of my favorite stars is Arcturus. You can actually see it with your naked eye", said Simon. "It’s perhaps a bit tricky to spot, but it’s right there. Can you see it?”

When Willow did not answer instantly, he decided it was easier to show her. He stood up beside the bench.

“Okay. I’ll show you. Stand right here”, he said, signaling her to stand up with him. As she got up, he placed Willow in front of him. “You’d better take my jacket, before you’re turning cold.”

He put his jacket on her shoulders (she would probably have declined if he would have asked her, despite it being cold) before gently placing one hand on her left arm to keep her in position, while placing his right arm straight over her right shoulder, pointing to a spot on the sky.

“Lean towards my arm and try to look where I’m pointing.” (Simon leaned down a bit, because Willow was much shorter than him, closed one eye and looked over his arm as well). “You should see it right there. The brightest one in the cluster. That’s Arcturus. It’s a red giant. Almost twenty-five times bigger than our sun. You can tell it’s a star, and not a planet, because of the twinkling. As you probably know, the so-called Evening Star is not in fact a star. It’s actually Venus, a planet same as Jupiter, which you can find –” He slowly turned his arm to the left, making them spin together to the East, where Jupiter was shining like a flashlight just over the horizon. “Right… there. You can easily see that it’s not twinkling, at least not as much as Arcturus.”

As he was done demonstrating his favorite star, their close contact became noticeable – and he realized he was talking a lot – so he let go of her shoulder and lowered his arm. After all, he was not so used of being in any longer physical contact with others, except for his parents or occasionally his big sister. But he still found the close contact to be soothing, and comforting, in a strange way. Perhaps he was a little homesick, despite not wishing to be anywhere else right now.

Interacting with @Willow Blake .

Simon sat next to Willow on the seat where she had patted, and he talked about how he used to stargaze a lot then he pointed out at spot in the clear sky where his favorite star, Arcturus, was supposed to be. She narrowed her eye at the spot trying to identify which one it was. He stood up making her look back at him, “Okay. I’ll show you. Stand right here”, she smiled standing up where he told her to as he stood behind her and said, “You’d better take my jacket, before you’re turning cold.” She directly frowned ready to object when he placed the jacket on her shoulders. She couldn't help but smile, "I'm fine!" she said shaking her head but didn't do anything in resistance to the warm of the jacket that had ingulfed her.

He than placed his hand on her shoulder and pointed again as she did as instructed while he explained, “You should see it right there. The brightest one in the cluster. That’s Arcturus. It’s a red giant. Almost twenty-five times bigger than our sun." a surprised expression made its way to her face, 'Woah...' she thought to herself not even able to imagine how gigantic it must be as Simon continued. She could feel his soft breath on the back of her head, she gazed at him, smiling at how passionate he was about that subject that he knew so much. She stayed silent through all of it, letting him do most of the talking and listening about the fascinating things he got to tell her. He then talked about planets turning the both of them around to the left and pointing at Jupiter.

When he was done, silence took over again. She was not a person who liked physical contact even in the hallways she would usually avoid brushing shoulders with anyone or handshakes between acquaintances or any of that form, but she surprised herself when she wasn't at all disturbed with Simon's sudden contact with her. It actually made her feel comfortable, maybe it was the sensation of real friendship which she hadn't felt in a long time, for her most recent ones had barely endured.

She gave him a smile and said, "It's one of your favorite subjects, isn't it?" she didn't really need an answer to her obvious question. "That's nice!" She said sitting back down bringing her legs close to her chest as she wrapped her hands around them, "That really reminds me of how small we are considering how big the universe is, that's probably a silly question, but do you believe there are like some other beings out there?" she chuckled before adding, "I mean like there's no way it's only us in the whole wide universe! There must be some other living things out there somewhere..." She stood up, standing in front of him and said, "Yeah, like some kind of Alien!" She said 'alien' in a dramatic way wriggling her hands all over before laughing.

@ Simon Tilia