The Astronomy Tower dominates the skyline of Hogwarts Castle, a soaring stone spire thrusting into the night sky. Astronomy classes, held at its very pinnacle, are a peculiar affair. They require no unified textbook, relying instead on observation, a keen eye, and the essential tools: a telescope, quill, and parchment.
The ascent itself quickly became the most challenging part of the evening. The spiral staircase seemed endless, winding upward in a continuous, dizzying helix that defied architectural logic. With every turn, the group felt an inexplicable sense of vertigo. Their breathing grew ragged, their legs aching from the relentless, non-magical exercise.
"Which floor are we on now?" Alicia gasped, leaning heavily against the stone wall.
"The eighth floor," George wheezed, managing to raise a hand to point at a portrait beside them. The painting depicted a portly knight, slumped over his steed, looking distinctly unwell. "The last time Fred and I were up here, we saw this guy get drunk and fall into the river. He nearly drowned."
"How can a person in a portrait drown?" Angelina complained, wiping sweat from her brow.
"Who says he can't?" Fred replied, grinning mischievously. He ignored the aching in his calves, put his hands together like a makeshift megaphone, and bellowed at the portrait, "AH!"
The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. The Drunken Knight, already looking miserable, was clearly startled out of his stupor. His eyes flew open in panic, and he began frantically spurring his horse across the painted landscape.
In his haste, he tumbled awkwardly off his steed and splashed headfirst into the adjacent painted river, sinking immediately into the murky, green depths. The lady in the portrait next door threw her hands up in horror and began frantically calling for help, reaching across the frame to try and pull him out.
Everyone stared in stunned silence, mouths agape. It was one thing to hear about the animated portraits, and another to witness such ridiculous distress firsthand.
Their amusement was short-lived. Fred's strange cry had annoyed several nearby paintings. Suddenly, a handful of stern-looking witches and grumpy historical figures were glaring down at the group, muttering darkly about the disruption of their eternal slumber.
"Speed it up!" Albert urged, sensing the collective disapproval.
"Almost there," George panted. After what felt like an hour, they finally stumbled through the last archway and onto the wide, circular platform at the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"It really is a long journey," Albert said, checking his pocket watch. The time was 9:28 P.M.; they had made it with only minutes to spare.
"By the way, if it rains tonight, can we still have class?" George asked, his breath misting in the cold air.
"Who knows? I guess she'd just leave us with a load of homework," Angelina replied, pushing open the final, heavy wooden door.
Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy mistress, was already waiting. She was a tall witch with dark hair and a precise, steady manner. The night air was biting and the wind was sharp up here, forcing the students to huddle together in a corner. The Hufflepuff students hadn't arrived yet, prompting a little smugness from the Gryffindors.
"They're going to be late," George gloated, hoping for a points deduction.
However, just as the clock chimed 9:30, Cedric Diggory and several other Hufflepuffs rushed onto the platform, looking just as winded as the Gryffindors.
"This place is so hard to find," Cedric greeted them, smiling warmly. "I almost got late."
"All right, settle down," Professor Sinistra commanded, drawing the freshmen's attention. Next to her stood a tall stand covered with a large canvas.
"I know many of you are unfamiliar with the cosmos," she stated. "Astronomy is the study of the stars, celestial movements, and the very structure of our universe." With a flourish, she pulled the canvas away, revealing the hidden object.
It was a magnificent, miniature representation of the Solar System encased within a towering glass sphere.
"This..." Albert breathed, utterly captivated.
Inside the glass dome, the model was truly exquisite. In the center, a small, glowing orb represented the Sun, radiating a gentle, internal warmth. Around it, the nine planets and their moons were suspended, perfectly positioned and gleaming in the darkness, each moving slowly in its designated, clockwork orbit. It was a beautiful, functional orrery—a magical, moving star map that instantly simplified the vastness of space.
"This is the Solar System. We reside here," Professor Sinistra said, pointing her wand at the blue-and-green marble labeled Earth. "Your objective this semester is to learn how to use a telescope to observe the stars, identify the constellations, and, crucially, locate the specific positions of the nine planets in the sky above us."
The students from wizarding families were clearly overwhelmed. Albert suspected many of them hadn't even heard the name 'Earth' before, let alone understood that it orbited the Sun.
Professor Sinistra held up her wand and, pointing at the moving celestial bodies in the dome, delivered a brief lecture on celestial motion, orbital mechanics, and the names of the planets. She then instructed everyone on how to draw a star map and label the names and current positions of the nine planets.
For Albert, this was familiar science, but for his friends, it was a sudden, dense influx of new knowledge.
"You're wrong. That's Mars, not Jupiter," Albert sighed, correcting Fred's hastily scribbled diagram. George wasn't faring much better, labeling Neptune as a moon of Saturn.
After the drawing phase, Professor Sinistra moved to the practical component: teaching the students how to aim their telescopes and find the planets in the vast, star-strewn canvas of the actual night sky.
The magical telescopes provided to the students were exceptionally powerful, yielding views far clearer and more detailed than any standard Muggle astronomical telescope.
"Have you found the location of Mars?" Shanna asked, squinting through the telescope Albert had set up.
"I haven't," Albert admitted, slightly frustrated. He had accurately identified the direction Professor Sinistra pointed, but even finding a specific bright point among millions was a daunting task for an untrained eye.
As Professor Sinistra walked around, peering through eyepieces and gently correcting the students' settings—often finding they were aiming their telescopes at the castle roof rather than the sky—a strange, profound thought emerged in Albert's mind.
If we relied solely on magic, would it truly be possible to travel into the universe?
He considered the question deeply as he scanned the dark abyss. The wizarding world, despite its wonders, seemed strangely small, intensely focused on the concerns of a single planet, rarely looking outward. Magic was powerful, yes, but its practitioners were few, and their understanding of physics and engineering was negligible.
Perhaps the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries had some research, but that research, he suspected, likely remained theoretical, bounded by the limits of arcane power. Magical travel, like Apparition, was focused on displacement within the known world, not on overcoming the crushing scale and physical hostility of space. It was a stark reminder of the differences between the two worlds: Muggles conquered space with science; wizards conquered local problems with spells.
Shaking off these existential thoughts, Albert refocused on the telescope, resolving instead to simply appreciate the spectacle. He had never truly seen a starry sky untainted by city light before. The density of stars, the milky glow of the distant galaxy, was breathtaking.
By the end of the class, Albert still hadn't successfully located all nine planets (Mars remained stubbornly elusive), but he felt the class had been a success. The main goals were understanding the concept of the solar system and becoming proficient with the telescope. Professor Sinistra's homework was simple enough: memorize the approximate locations and names of the nine planets and the major constellations she had pointed out.
"It's almost curfew, we need to hurry back!" Lee Jordan reminded everyone, looking worriedly at his pocket watch.
"I'm actually starving, I only had a rushed sandwich earlier," Albert said, checking his own watch. It was 10:40 P.M. They had just enough time. "I'm heading to the kitchen to grab a proper meal."
"Wait up, we'll join you!" the twins cried out immediately. They quickly dumped their telescopes and backpacks onto the bewildered Lee Jordan. "Don't worry, Lee, we'll remember to bring you back something delicious!"
"You three... bastards!" Lee Jordan yelled, his entire body shaking with exhausted frustration as he struggled to balance three backpacks and three heavy telescopes. "Wait for me! Don't leave me with all this gear!"
But Albert, Fred, and George were already halfway down the spiral staircase, their hunger and the excitement of a midnight kitchen raid trumping all notions of fair play