Constellations (Open)

Humphrey had found himself slightly bored, and he loathed not having anything to do. So, he had gone to the library and checked out some books on astronomy as well as different stories about the constellations from mythology. A lot of the stories were really interesting and he put some work into actually learning how to find different ones as well. That wasn't the most exciting thing about it, but he was not a quitter and by the time night rolled around he felt fairly confident he could find some he hadn't been able to before and even know the story that went with. He thought he would probably find himself making his own stories too, just based on the names or maybe having different ones interact with each other for the fun of it.

With a smile on his face Humphrey walked up to the top of the astronomy tower with a thick blanket and a pillow in hand. He laid out the blanket upon arriving, put his head on the pillow and let his eyes wander across the sky, fixating from time to time as he picked out a constellation and contemplated it for a bit before moving onto another one. He let his mind drift as his head filled with all the interesting things he'd read today, and with the quiet it almost felt like he was in a dream. "Hard to beat this." he whispered to himself.

The Astronomy Tower was certainly Lyra’s favourite place in the entirety of Hogwarts. Everything was always so peaceful up there, and there was a view that stunned her rain, snow or shine. It wasn’t uncommon for her to spend an entire night up there, only returning to Ravenclaw Tower in the early hours of the morning. The night sky was something she thought that she could see herself studying for the rest of her life, but she had yet to make any decisions of what kind of profession she hoped for.

The note was a little crumpled, but still totally valid, as she stuffed it into her robe pocket. She took a notebook and pencil, knowing that if anyone came along she could assure them that she was there for academic purposes as her pass allowed. When she reached the top of the stairs, however, she heard a boy speaking to himself, and she instantly realised that the tower wasn’t empty. Not that that was going to stop her enjoying the night sky. “I certainly agree,” she said back quietly, a smile playing at her lips as she stepped out, and off of the top step.

With how cold it was out he thought that he would be the only one out here on top of the astronomy tower, but Humphrey was apparently quite wrong about that. It was a beautiful night for it, good and clear with a mostly dark moon so the stars could shine freely. Turning to look at the girl who the voice belonged to, he recognized her as one of the Malfoy family. It took another few seconds for a name to pop up with it. "It's Lyra, right? Wasn't expecting company with it being this cold out. If you want to, you're more than welcome to join, though. Even have plenty of space on the blanket to soften the stone." he said with a laugh, scooching over thoroughly to one side of it so there was plenty of space. Humphrey wouldn't be at all surprised if she had something of her own or didn't want to be so close to someone that she hardly knew.

After a few moments he decided to ask about something more along the lines of what she was probably here for, stargazing. "Do you have a favorite star or constellation? And, if you do, why? They're so interesting, especially when you factor in all the different stories people have made up for them..." he trailed off, lost in thoughts about the heavens above them.

Lyra thought it odd that this boy seemed to be so comfortable on the tower, yet she had never run into him there before. Perhaps he had only recently discovered the tower, or maybe he was good at making sure he would be alone. In any case, the brunette didn’t mind in the least having someone to talk to about one of her favourite topics. “Yes, it is,” she replied with a smile, “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure of your name..” Lyra had intended on remaining in the tower, but the fact that the boy was so welcoming made her feel much more comfortable doing so. “Thank you,” she said happily, walking over so that she could join him on his blanket, “I’ve never thought to bring anything to lay on before.”

When the blonde asked her if she had a favourite star or constellation, she chuckled to herself. “I’d love to say that my favourite is something more meaningful, but it’s Lyra,” she said, blushing lightly, “because its my name, of course. In Greek Mythology, it’s is supposed to represent the first lyre. Much of my family are named for constellations or starts, so we’ve always had a keen interest. Which is your favourite?"

Humphrey smiled and held out his hand to her when she commented that she wasn't sure of his name. "Humphrey Williams, fifth year Puff at your service." he told her proudly. Some people were a little disappointed when sorted into Hufflepuff, but Humphrey had always loved his house. They did a better job of working together most of the time, almost all of them worked really hard, and they were never afraid to help other students. The thanks for saying she could join him made him chuckle. "No need for that, the night sky is for everybody to enjoy. Honestly, I would sleep up here if I wouldn't get in trouble for it. There's just something so...relaxing about staring up at the sky." he said quietly, as he did just that.

Humphrey smiled when and looked over at her when she told him about her favorite constellation being Lyra. "Hey, nothing at all wrong with that. My favorite would probably be the one I'm named after too but there's no constellation like that as far as I know." he told her with a chuckle. The question of what his favorite one was, had him thinking for a minute but he could only it narrow it down to two. "There's two, really. One is Eridanus, it's named after a river. The myth behind the river is that Apollo let his son drive the sun chariot, and when it got out of control it crashed, leaving this long trail before it hit a body of water, thus making the river. My other favorite is Cassiopoeia. She made the mistake of taunting Poseidon about her nereids not being beautiful, and as punishment her daughter was stolen and chained, later to be rescued by Perseus. But, even at the wedding things went wrong and both her and her husband Cephus were turned to stone. Supposedly the half of the year upside down is part of her punishment for going against Poseidon." he said, knowing he sounded like a total nerd, but for once not really caring.