TITLE: Constellations
WORDS: 1,968
COMPLETED: 1/7/21

[Draco's POV]

At four in the morning, I was woken up to the sound of an argument occurring in the commons. This, however, was a regular event within the Slytherin House. But after hearing (Y/N)'s voice, I was quick to throw myself out of my bed and make my way down the steps. The only two who were down in the commons were (Y/N) (L/N) and Pansy Parkinson, both of which had obviously just woken up. And I was almost certain that Pansy was the individual who started the argument. The three of us were all still in our pajamas and half asleep.

    Pansy wore black sweatpants and a black t-shirt that was rather large on her. (Y/N), on the other hand, was attired in green flannel pajama pants and a black tank top, her hair a complete mess. And she looked absolutely stunning, despite her putting no effort into her appearance. I prayed that I wasn't blushing. She looked at me, then her cheeks went red and she quickly looked away. I was in dark grey sweatpants and didn't even have the decency to throw on a hoodie, so I was just shirtless. And it was rather embarrassing. Pansy, however, refused to look away from me.

"Why are you two fighting this early in the morning?" I growled, feeling completely exhausted and knowing for a fact that I was going to go back to bed after I dealt with the two of them.

"I caught her attempting to sneak out," Pansy spoke in an obnoxious tone of voice, which caused me to groan in annoyance.

"And why do you care if she leaves?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and trying to keep myself awake for a bit longer just to solve this disagreement.

"She could lose points for Slytherin. I wouldn't put it past her to attempt to sabotage us. Her and her selfish ways--"

"Say that one more time and it'll be the last thing you ever say," (Y/N) seethed, her voice sounding raspy and terrible, giving me the inference that she'd only woken up not that long ago. Pansy had the actual audacity to gasp, as if she didn't completely deserve that threat.

"She's also being completely dramatic," Pansy huffed in exasperation, looking at me as if I was going to take her side. However, I only rolled my eyes at her.

"I mean, I believe that you deserved that threat, first off. Second off, why don't you just mind your own damn business?" I grumbled, which resulted in Pansy looking at me with complete shock. She seemed so stunned that I didn't care at all about her feelings. (Y/N), however, was clearly attempting to hold in a laugh due to my bluntly rude statement.

"Because, Draco, I'm concerned about this freak-show and what she will do to the reputation of the entire Slytherin House," Pansy whined, looking at me with innocent eyes. As if she was actually worried about anyone other than herself.

"You know what, Pansy, why don't you go back to bed and I'll handle this situation," I compromised with the annoying female, who gave (Y/N) a snarky look over her shoulder and then headed off to bed. I exhaled a sigh when she had finally left the common room and I heard the door to her dorm slam shut.

"My god, I thought she was never going to leave," I grumbled as (Y/N) nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for that," (Y/N) mumbled to me, letting out a small yawn before walking over to the fireplace, which was still ablaze from the previous night.

"No problem. Where are you going, might I ask?" I muttered, my curiosity getting the best of me. She exhaled a weak sigh and looked into the fireplace, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. I felt bad that she was cold. Then I got upset with myself for feeling that vulnerable towards her. That's childish and foolish of me.

"Not really sure. I was just going to wander around to clear my mind. Hermione told me that the Astronomy tower had a pretty view. I suppose I planned on going there," She muttered drowsily to me as I nodded rather slowly, attempting to understand why she would need to clear her mind. Then again, I didn't really know her and all the things she's previously been through in life.

"Fair enough. And she didn't lie to you. The Astronomy tower happens to have a stunning view," I explained more thoroughly to her, which made her nod and keep her attention on the flames that engulfed the logs within the fireplace.

    I thought about doing something rather insane. Something about (Y/N)'s aura drew me to her, even though I knew I wasn't good for her. I'm a bad person. Not only that, but I also knew I wasn't good enough for her. Everything about her exceeds me in almost every single manner. But my thoughts were running rampant and I knew I couldn't stop myself from speaking.

"I could come with you and show you the easiest way to sneak past Snape and Filch," I murmured to her, which caused her to turn around and meet my eyes. A weak smile manifested itself on her lips.

"Sounds like a plan," She claimed as I nodded, thinking of something I needed to grab before we left.

"Let me go get something real quick. You stay put," I told her as she nodded while I jogged back up to my dorm, grabbing two of my Quidditch hoodies, one of which was dark green while the other was a light grey. Both of them had my last name stamped in bold letters across the back, along with my uniform number, which was the number three. I pulled the green hoodie on, keeping the grey one in my arms and heading back down the steps with it.

    Once I'd made it to the bottom of the stairs, (Y/N) looked back over at me and smiled kindly. I held the hoodie out to her, which caused her smile to turn wider. She was careful to take the article of clothing from my hands, but she pulled it on and it seemed to provide her with warmth almost immediately. And I was glad. Another (completely adorable) thing: the hoodie looked great on her. It was so precious that I felt my cheeks warm up.

"Ready to go?" I asked as she quickly nodded, attempting to straighten out the drawstrings on the hoodie that she was now wearing.

    The two of us left after that. Breakfast began around eight, so we had about three and a half hours to sit up in the Astronomy tower and clear our minds. I showed her which corridors to sneak down and how to avoid running into Filch or Mrs. Norris, both of which could easily get you detention for wandering the castle at night. After about ten minutes, we were outside of the Astronomy classroom.

"Alohomora," I whispered softly under my breath, pointing my wand at the lock on the door. After my charm, the door was quick to swing open and grant us entry. I swiftly shut the door behind us.

    I delicately grabbed onto one of her hands in order to lead her to the staircase that led to the tower. She followed behind me, the two of us keeping quiet as we ascended the tower. The autumn wind was frigid and harsh, being rather unfriendly when greeting us up on the tower. I was rather careful when I released her hand, watching her wander over to the railing and looking out at the scenery.

    A river flowed between the mountains that surrounded us, which perfectly reflected the night sky. Millions upon millions of stars swam within the black abyss that was the endless sky, displaying just how miniscule our little planet truly was. The wind blew through the surrounding trees, leaves rustling harshly against one another.

    (Y/N) sat herself down on the floor, her gaze catching on all of the stars that dangled above her head. Then she looked back at me, motioning for me to join her on the floor. So I did, sitting cross legged in the space beside her and stargazing next to her.

"You see that cluster of stars right there?" I asked her, pointing up into the sky. Carefully, her eyes followed my index finger, nodding as she recognized the pattern within the stars.

"Yeah. That's the Little Dipper," She spoke as I laughed and nodded.

"Correct. Also known as Ursa Minor. Now, from there, look down a bit. Do you see a strand of stars with somewhat of triangular shape at the end?" I asked her next, looking over and watching her eyes narrow down as she closely examined the stars.

    I'm not much of a romantic. Never really have been. And, honestly, I never imagined that I would be. But right now, watching her eyes as they scanned the sky that was saturated with stars, I was beginning to doubt that. Watching her eyes hunt for shapes among the stars was absolutely enchanting. Then I witnessed recognition spark within her eyes.

"Oh, wait, yeah! I see it!" She beamed excitedly, pointing up at the sky and wanting to show me that she could see it. I grinned at her enthusiasm, believing her.

"What do you think the name of that constellation is?" I asked her carefully, watching her look back over at me and hum curiously.

"Um... I'm not sure. Earthworm? Kite? I have no clue," She muttered as I laughed, unable to contain how funny I found her guesses.

"Actually, it's supposed to replicate a Chinese dragon. Therefore, they gave it the Latin name for dragon. That constellation is named 'Draco'," I explained as she shook her head at me, not believing me.

"You're lying," She muttered as I shook my head.

"I absolutely am not. It's one of the few constellations that can be seen year round and is one of the original forty-eight constellations discovered by Ptolemy," I explained to her as she slowly nodded, her eyes snared on the constellation that shared the same name as me.

"You seem to know quite a bit about constellations," She joked as I weakly chuckled and nodded.

"I find Astronomy rather fascinating," I explained rather gently to her. She smiled and nodded, and I found it rather surprising that she didn't make fun of me. Then a yawn escaped her lips. I glanced over at her, seeing that she looked absolutely exhausted.

"Do you want to go back to the House?" I asked her, but she shook her head and rested her skull against the palm of her hand.

    A few moments of silence had passed before I felt something land against my shoulder. I jumped a small bit and looked over, seeing her sleeping against my shoulder. And my face went bright red. Never in a million years would I have imagined this happening. Especially right now.

    She did seem stressed out about something, so I imagine distracting her until she fell asleep was probably something that she had needed. Either way, I was glad that she was getting some sleep. Therefore, I just let her sleep against my shoulder. I wrapped one of my arms around her, but only in order to keep her body propped up so she wouldn't fall over.

    My eyes drifted back to the sky, where I began hunting down some of the other constellations that I had memorized from class. And I sat there and stared at the stars until they disappeared and the night turned to day.