Professor Sinistra was indeed very happy to see Amisty again, ushering her inside the Astronomy Tower with a beaming smile. As expected, their homework load was immediately heavy with star charts and another project dedicated to labeling the constellations.

"Over here, Amisty!" Eli called, waving her over. Hunter and Jasmine were sitting beside him.

"How was your day?" Jasmine asked, scooting the side to give her room.

"Harry Potter has suddenly become a potioneer expert," She replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, really?" Jasmine quirked an eyebrow.

"He got lucky with his book," She shrugged. "Has all these extra notes and tips in it."

"Well, if I'm going to be honest," Hunter leaned forward, "Professor Slughorn is a much better teacher than Snape anyway."

"You could say that again," Amisty grinned.

Professor Sinistra called attention to the front. They went over the basics again, briefing over the names of the closest planets and moons, and adjusting their telescopes after months of disuse. She demonstrated the spell to use when the sky was cloudy, and with a wave of her wand the roof of the tower was cast in a navy blue mist embellished with stars. They went over the basic environments of the common celestial bodies, as well as a quick, verbal quiz on what would be visible in the sky that night.

Their lesson was focused on comets today. Of course, there were the basic ones, like Halley's comet, but she even went into detail about Oumaumau.

"Comets, just as the planets in our solar system, orbits the sun, but their orbits tend to be much longer and unstable in comparison," Professor Sinistra's galaxy quickly zoomed in on their sun. "Can anyone tell me what the basic components of a comet are?"

Amisty raised her hand.

"Miss River?"

"They're mostly made up of different ices and gases, like methane and carbon dioxide, as well as space dust," She replied.

"Well done," Professor Sinistra nodded. "The ice and dust are compacted in the center of the comet, and the outer ring of gases is called the coma. This is why they develop these tails as they pass the sun. The ice melts as it grows closer to the sun, and the solar winds push the gas within the coma into forming its tail.

"Unfortunately, they are a tricky thing to track," She waved her wand again, a beautiful model of a comet appearing in thin air, bright tail included. "Even short-term comets can take several years to return, and long-period comets have been recorded to take centuries."

Eli's hand shot up.

"Yes, Mr. Minton?"

"How are comets named?" He asked, squinting down at his notes. "Some of them look like names, but there are numbers too. . ."

Professor Sinistra smiled, "Yes, well, most commonly they're named after the person who discovered them. It's a difficult subject with Muggle astronomers, however, considering wizards have found it much easier to find them in the night sky. The numbers vary, however, but for the Shoemaker-Levy comet, the nine comes from it being their ninth short-period comet discovered."

Amisty was enthralled, scribbling down notes and flipping through her star charts to track where the comets would be then.

The lesson wrapped up with a twenty-four-inch essay on three comets of choice.

"I am so lost," Jasmine muttered, dragging a hand through her hair. "What is going on?"

"Here," Amisty slid up beside her, pulling her notes and charts closer. "It's a little confusing at the beginning, but it makes sense after a bit."

She peered over at what Jasmine had written down.

"Oh, comets are more like asteroids than meteoroids," She explained. "They don't come down to earth and they're way up there. Further than asteroids, actually. They just look like meteoroids - well, meteors - because they both have those tails."

"But why do they come back? Shouldn't they just burn up?" Jasmine asked.

She smiled, "Well, some do, but it takes a really long time. The ones that come back, though, are on an elliptical orbit. Basically a squashed circle, kinda like how the earth rotates around the sun. They're attracted to the sun's gravity and that's why they come back."

"And the ones on the. . . parabolic orbit?" Jasmine hesitated on the word, uncertain.

"It's like a slingshot," She replied. "They come around once and then disappear. Here, I'll draw them out."

She drew a few circles and lines out on a spare piece of parchment, labeling the orbits and listing out the comets they had talked about in class.

"Thank you," Jasmine smiled.

"No problem," Amisty beamed. "Just let me know if you need any help or something, we can meet up in the library or something."

Jasmine's eyes twinkled, "I'll let you know."

Eli nudged her with his toe under the table. She pinched his arm in retaliation.

"Which comets are you lot picking?" Hunter asked, rifling through his textbook.

"Biela's, Hyakutake, and Chiron," Amisty listed instantly.

He blinked, "That was fast."

She grinned sheepishly, "Yeah. . . I've been thinking about it since she announced the assignment."

Hunter whistled, "You're going to get a million study group requests."

She shrugged, "I just like it a lot."

"Well thank Merlin for that," Jasmine piped up. "Astronomy's my worst subject."

"You say that and you're sitting in the N.E.W.T. level class," Eli scoffed.

"Just because I qualified doesn't mean I'm any good," She countered.

Hunter smirked, "Well, I guess it's a good thing we've got a new person to copy off of."

Amisty rolled her eyes, tucking her notes in her bag, "Only if you give me chocolate."

"Deal."

As Amisty headed back down to the common room, a gentle hand tapped her on the shoulder. She stiffened, whirling around with wild eyes before wilting at the sight of Jasmine.

"Sorry," She sighed, gathering herself. "You surprised me."

"That was my fault," Jasmine smiled apologetically, holding her hands up. "I was just wondering if I could hold you to that promise?"

Her cheeks warmed, "You mean the. . . erm, the library thing?"

"Yeah," Jasmine replied. "Sorry, Astronomy has never been my strong suit, I think I'm going to need more help on that essay than I thought. . ."

"Oh, sure!" She beamed. "I can invite Eli and Hunter and them, too, if you - "

Jasmine's smile faltered for a moment.

She cleared her throat, "Actually, let's make it one on one. It'll be easier to explain things then."

"Do you think you could squeeze in something this weekend?" Jasmine asked.

"I think I'll be free Sunday," She replied, thinking back to Hagrid's dejected face that afternoon at dinner. "Have to make something up on Saturday."

"Let's meet then," Jasmine bounced on the balls of her feet, the tips of her ears going pink. "Uh, would you mind if I walked you to your room?"

"Sure!" She nodded a little over eagerly and then flushed. "I - uh - yeah, yeah, I'd like that."

The two girls walked through the quiet halls of the castle. With Astronomy being one of the last classes of the day, almost everyone was already in their common rooms, leaving the two of them alone.

"So. . ." Amisty's voice trailed off as she struggled to avoid silence. "What do you like to do outside of school and stuff?"

"I adore music," Jasmine replied. "I've been playing violin since I was four, so it's a pretty big part of my life."

"My dad plays the piano," She offered. "I'd like to learn, but I don't really have the time anymore. . ."

"I know the basics," Jasmine smoothed back a stray hair. "I could teach you a little if you want?"

She brightened, "That'd be wonderful!"

"I love to travel, too, but that's a little difficult at the moment," Her eyes darkened a smidge, but she shook it off quickly. "What about you?"

"I spend a lot of time in the healing wing," Amisty hesitated for a moment, not entirely sure where to go from there. "I'm hoping to train as a Healer one day, so Madame Pomfrey has been teaching me some things."

Jasmine nodded, prompting her further.

"I used to make necklaces and things," She rubbed her arm. "I haven't had a lot of time to do it much anymore, though. . ."

"To be fair," Jasmine's voice picked up, "fifth year was absolute hell."

She sighed dramatically, "I can't even begin to express how much I agree with that statement!"

"And that dreadful toad of a woman, too!" Jasmine exclaimed. "I could barely believe my ears. . . the things she would say!"

"Oh, don't even get me started," Sh replied, clenching her left hand.

"I really have no idea how you coped with school work and all those adventures you went on!" Jasmine continued, laughing. "I was so impressed! That Hermione Granger, she's there for everything and she still manages to be top of every class!"

Amisty's smile faded, "Yeah. . ."

Jasmine's eyes went wide, "Oh, oh sweet Merlin, I'm sorry. I should've realized - I'm so sorry - "

"It's not a big deal!" Amisty hurried to reassure her. "It's just. . . it's really not as fun as the Daily Prophet likes to make it out to be."

"Yeah," Jasmine's voice was soft. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"It can be fun, sometimes, though," She replied. "Just a little. . . scary, for a majority of it. . ."

They reached the portrait that led inside the Gryffindor common room.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" She turned back to Jasmine.

"Of course," Jasmine nodded. "Listen, Amisty, I'm really sorry about my insensitivity. It was stupid of me and I definitely should've thought before I said anything."

"It's okay," She replied. "I'm used to it."

"But that doesn't make it okay," Jasmine pressed. "I just. . . people should realize that this isn't just a story for you. . . it's real life."

Her lips curved up, "Thank you, I appreciate it."

Jasmine looked visibly relieved, "Have a good night, Amisty."

"You too."

She waited until Jasmine rounded the corner to face the Pink Lady.

"Whatever happened to that charming blond boy?" The portrait asked, pouting. "You two were so darling together."

"Dilligrout," She replied pointedly.

"Oh, alright," the Fat Lady sighed, swinging open.

She rolled her eyes, climbing through the portrait hole and sinking down into the couch beside Harry and Hermione.

"Where's Ron?" She asked, pushing thoughts of the 'charming blond boy' far out of her mind.

"Upstairs digging around in his trunk for a spare quill," Harry replied, bent over his Potions homework. "His first two snapped."

"Why didn't he just spell them back together again?"

Hermione huffed, "I did. Turns out self-checking spells don't repair themselves."

She snorted.

"How was Astronomy?" Harry asked.

"Oh, it was wonderful," Amisty beamed. "We started learning about comets and stuff, so of course we've gotten a whole pile of homework, but it's so interesting - "

"I think he was talking about that Hufflepuff girl," Ron decided to come down the stairs just that moment. "You know, the one who flirted with you in the hallway."

Amisty blushed furiously, "She was not flirting."

"Yes, she was," Hermione piped up.

"Not helping!" She snapped, kicking her shin. "Why can't I just ramble about how much I like a subject and leave that for another day?"

"Because," Harry poked her in the side, "you've avoided it every other time we've tried to ask you about her."

"I just met her," She muttered. "We're just friends."

"Friends who flirt," Ron corrected, smirking at her expression. "What? I'm just telling the truth."

She rolled her eyes, "Okay, so what, I'm helping her with our Astronomy essay. She's pretty and funny and she seems like a nice person, but I still barely know her!"

"I mean, I barely knew Cho," Harry pointed out.

"And that turned out great, didn't it?" She retorted dryly.

"Amisty!" Hermione scolded, but Harry started laughing.

"Fair point," Harry replied.

Amisty slumped further into the cushion, "Yes, I like her - as a friend - but it's way too soon to do anything. . ."

Hermione and she made eye contact.

"How much progress have either of you made on that essay?" Hermione asked suddenly.

Both boys crumpled in on themselves.

"That's what I thought," Hermione's mum voice was in full effect.

"But - "

She fixed them with a sharp glare.

They groaned in tandem, "Fine!"

"Thank you," She mouthed as they all bent over their scrolls again.

"Of course," Hermione smiled.

Aaaaaaamistyyyyy's bluuuuuuushiing agaaaaaaaaiiiiin. :)))))) <3

(i'm back from vacation)