<Mae> [September 14, 2016: Wednesday, Week 2.  It's Tuesday night - technically 
very early Wednesday morning - of the second week of classes at Hogwarts, and 
the first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins are all up at the top of one of the 
highest towers in the castle for Astronomy class.  It's only their second class 
together since last Thursday's eventful Transfiguration session.  Flying passed 
uneventfully yesterday (aside from the usual shenanigans and near-falls), to 
everyone's relief, and hopefully tonight's Astronomy class will be just as quiet 
(or quieter, since none of the students should be flying around or falling off the 
tower).]
<Mae> [However, the omniscient narrator probably wouldn't be narrating this if that 
were the case.  So let's find out what happens next.]
<Mae> [Begin!]
<Mae> [Gideon and Fabian would certainly prefer things to be less quiet, as flying 
around and pretending to joust on broomsticks is way more fun than trying to make 
out a bunch of tiny little specks and smudges of light through their telescopes.  
They're bored, and getting restive.]
<Mae> [Even Rommy, sitting nearby, seems to be having trouble paying attention.]
#01<Eliana> [Professor Sinistra is a medium-height, very dark-skinned woman who 
must be well over sixty but still seems quite fit (probably because she climbs up 
to this tower all of the time).  Her silver-white hair is tied up and tucked 
securely under her witch's hat.  She's just finished explaining the basics of star 
charts, and right now, students are assigned to get together to find constellations 
in the night sky.]
#06* Simmie has, as usual, answered as many questions as she could until her waving 
hand and anxious look started being ignored so that other students could have a 
chance to answer.
#01<Eliana> [Sinistra did, in fact, do just that!]
<Mae> [Released from the tedium of lecture, the four Gryffindor boys actually do 
settle down a bit and start energetically pointing out constellations.  Soon, 
however, Fabian and Gideon are making up increasingly-improbable constellations of 
their own and laughing loudly.  Their star charts lie all-but-forgotten nearby.]
#06* Eliana is by herself, even though they're supposed to be in groups, and 
alternating looking through her telescope at constellations and making notes in her 
book. Either Professor Sinistra doesn't care or hasn't noticed yet, because she 
hasn't gotten into any trouble over it.
<Mae> [Zoe glances over at James and his friends occasionally, but when Professor 
Sinistra released the class to work with each other, she turned automatically to 
Simmie and Maggie.]
#01<Eliana> [Maggie is peering through her telescope and pointing out the different 
stars she's finding.  Seems she's excited to find a subject she's naturally good 
at!]
<Mae> [Rommy snickers as Fabian gets a little too enthusiastic extolling the 
virtues of the hippocampodracogriff (part horse, part eagle, part dragon, part 
fish) and nearly knocks James' telescope over.]
#06* Simmie is working quietly with her friends, though occasionally she looks over 
at Eliana and bites her lip worriedly.
<Mae> [Zoe notices Simmie's worried glances at Eliana and completely misinterprets 
the reason for them.  *She's* worried about the crazy girl snapping and attacking 
someone again.  But she doesn't want Simmie to be anxious about it, so she draws 
her attention to a hard-to-find constellation.  She still casts the occasional wary 
glance at Eliana herself, though.]
#01<Eliana> [Maggie is cheerfully oblivious.  "Oh wow, you actually found it, Zoe?"  
And she starts looking for that one, too.  Her star chart's rapidly filling up.]
<Simmie> [James catches his telescope and sets it right.  "hey!  careful!  i had 
totally found hippocamowhatever!]
#01<Eliana> [Professor Sinistra calls from where she is, helping a couple of other 
Gryffindor boys, "Real constellations only, Mr. Potter.  You can come up with new 
ones on your own time."]
<Mae> [Gideon jumps in, "But Professor Sinistra!  The hippocampodracogriff is 
totally real!  It's legend!"]
<Mae> [Gideon does not seem to realize that saying something is real and legend in 
the same breath is a little contradictory.]
<Mae> [Rommy tugs at Gideon's robes, trying to get him to pipe down before he gets 
in real trouble and loses house points for them.]
#01<Eliana> [Sinistra frowns severely.  "Given I'd not heard of it until tonight, I 
daresay it's neither.  Now get back on task finding the constellations listed *in 
your book*, or it's points off for Gryffindor."]
<Mae> [Gideon turns back to his book, grumbling with Fabian.  Quietly, though, 
because they don't want to lose house points.  He picks up his dishearteningly 
blank star chart again with a glum expression.]
<Simmie> [James frowns, growing frustrated at his own blank chart.  "this blows.  i 
can't find anything on here... just the medusicorn which i'm guessing isn't real 
either"]
#06* Eliana turned at the teacher's warning, along with much of the rest of class. 
While everyone else gets back to work, however, she keeps watching the Gryffindor 
boys. Once the general chatter goes back to normal levels, she points out, "It 
doesn't help that your star chart's upside down."
#06* Simmie immediately turns when she hears Eliana's voice.
<Mae> [Fabian, Gideon, and Rommy all whip around to glare at Eliana nearly in 
unison.  With a smidge of trepidation because SCARY, but they aren't just going to 
let her mess with their friend again.]
<Mae> ["Mind your own business," Rommy growls.]
<Mae> [The effect is slightly ruined by the quick glance he makes to the side to 
make sure his friends are there.]
#06* Eliana rolls her eyes. "Fine, but it's still *upside down*. Potter's not going 
to find any constellations that way."
<Simmie> [James looks down at his chart, and then at Fabian's and Gideon's charts 
which look identical to his own.  Upon seeing this, he seems more confident.]
#06* Eliana turns, not quite flipping her hair in the process, and looks in her 
telescope.
#06* Simmie looks at Eliana, and then to James and company, and then to James's 
star chart. Sure enough, even from here, she can see that it is upside down.
<Simmie> [James scowls.  "whatever!  besides, what do you know?  so far, you suck 
at everything.  including making friends!" he gestures to the other Slytherin first 
years all clustered together.]
#06* Simmie bites her lip.
#06* Simmie looks at Eliana, worried.
#06* Eliana whips right around to glare at James. "That's not true!"
#01<Eliana> I'm the best at Potions in my class!  And I- I have friends!
#06* Eliana scowls at her own stutter.
<Simmie> [James sneers.  "no?  well, I guess your right... you're good at attacking 
people]
#06* Simmie starts softly, "James..."
<Simmie> [James seems to be rather proud of himself]
<Simmie> James... that is enough.
#06* Eliana snarls, her hands already clenched into fists, and she looks about 
ready to prove that she is, in fact, *very* good at attacking people when Simmie 
interrupts. She glances at the Gryffindor girl.
<Simmie> [James glances at Simmie, clearly not wanting to take his eyes of Eliana]
<Mae> [Most of the Gryffindor contingent turns around to blink/stare at Simmie in 
varying states of shock - not just James' friends, but the other Gryffindor boys 
and even Maggie and Zoe.]
#06* Simmie bites her lip and stands up. "she is right". She picks up her own star 
chart, walks over and lays it next to his as she looks him in the eye. She taps one 
of the constellations on it. and then points to the corresponding star at the 
bottom of James's chart.
#06* Eliana sees this, and she smirks. Of *course* she's right.
<Simmie> now please... just drop it.  we don't need to lose any more points
#06* Simmie has a hopeful, almost pleading look in her eyes as she says this last 
bit.
<Simmie> [James looks at Simmie completely stunned.  His mouth open and closes like 
a hippocampodracrogriff out of water.  he looks at the charts and then back at her, 
and without saying a word, collapses into his chair as if he'd been shot and just 
realized it with that incredulous "i've been shot" face.]
#06* Simmie smiles sweetly and looks at the other Gryffindor boys who also seem to 
have confused and betrayed looks on their faces, she then turns, looks towards 
Eliana and smiles hopefully before walking back to her seat in the middle of the 
stunned Gryffindor crowd.
<Mae> [James' friends had been looking from him to Simmie to figure out how to 
react to this astonishing development.  When James folds they all glare at Simmie 
and then ostentatiously turn their backs on her, gathering around their fallen 
leader.]
<Mae> [Zoe is still gaping at Simmie in gathering horror.  "Simmie...how could you 
side *with her*?"]
#06* Eliana watches Simmie go back to seat, and she looks at James and Co. again. 
She seems like she's considering saying something, then thinks better of it, going 
back to charting constellations.
#06* Simmie looks at Zoe somewhat confused. "but... she was right?"
#01<Eliana> [Maggie looks at the Gryffindor boys, then at Eliana, then back to 
Simmie and Zoe.]
<Simmie> [James clearly doesn't understand what happened.  Even hearing it again 
from some of the guys doesn't make sense to him.  Betrayed!  By one of his own!]
<Mae> [Zoe's voice drops nearly to a hiss as she scowls at Simmie.  "But you didn't 
have to back her up."  And she gathers up her star chart and quill and telescope in 
a huff, and moves off to sit closer to James.]
#06* Simmie blinks at Zoe. "but... i was trying to help him... and.. we could have 
lost more points", she calls after her.
#01<Eliana> [Maggie watches Zoe leave, then looks back at Simmie, clearly kind of 
torn.  "She is pretty scary," she agrees.  "I thought she was going to beat James 
up right there!  Again!"]
#06* Simmie looks anxiously at Maggie and bites her lip.
#06* Simmie begins to blush. "but... she was right," she protests.
#01<Eliana> ["Well yeah, but they could've figured that out on their own."  She 
lowers her voice, "Besides, Professor Sinistra was watching; she wouldn't have let 
them get into a fight."]
#06* Simmie looks at Maggie, then at James and his cronies, and then at Zoe, and 
then rest of her housemates who all seem to be either looking at her with disbelief 
or purposefully averting their eyes so as to not look at her.
#01<Eliana> [Maggie looks around too, kind of torn, before she says, "I'm, um... 
I'm going to go help Zoe.  She's not really good at finding constellations."  She 
smiles a small, wavering smile at Simmie before scooping her things up and moving 
quickly to sit with her friend.]
#06* Simmie watches Maggie leave. "but... he was so mean," she says softly, tears 
already starting to form.
#06* Simmie spends the rest of the class by herself, working as best she can 
through the tears, though it does cause some of her constellations to smear a bit. 
periodically, she looks hopefully to her friends and housemates, but nobody seems 
to acknowledge her, and after an eternity of torment, the class ends. Simmie 
quietly packs up her stuff, hoping that her friends will wait for her, but in the 
end, finds herself alone in the classroom.
#06* Simmie sighs softly, wipes her eyes and begins walking quietly back to the 
Gryffindor dormitory.
#06* Eliana is standing in the stairwell, hands in her robe pockets and muggle 
backpack across one shoulder. She looks over when Simmie starts walking down the 
stairs. "Hey," she says. "Simmral Daughtry, right?"
#06* Simmie looks up at Eliana, somewhat surprised to hear someone when she thought 
she was alone. without saying anything, she nods.
#06* Eliana straightens off the wall. "I'm Eliana. I'm..." One hand comes out of 
her pocket to brush her hair out of her face. "About what happened. You didn't have 
to do that."
#06* Simmie looks at Eliana and bites her lip nervously. "yes i did," she says 
softly, her voice quivering slightly.
#06* Eliana frowns. "No you didn't." She starts heading down the stairs.
#06* Simmie watches Eliana as she starts to leave. "he was wrong," she says softly.
#06* Eliana snorts. "*Obviously*." She looks up at Simmie, still standing at the 
top of the stairs.
#01<Eliana> Are you coming?
#06* Simmie blinks.
<Simmie> what?
#06* Eliana rolls her eyes. "Are you coming?" she asks again, enunciating each 
word. "Professor Sinistra probably won't let you sleep up there."
#06* Simmie looks back at the tower and then to Eliana. "um... no, probably not." 
she quietly catches up to Eliana.
#06* Eliana heads down the stairs. "Anyway, thanks."
#06* Simmie doesn't really respond. she just follows along quietly, biting her lip 
and sniffling occasionally.
#06* Eliana lets Simmie sniffle for a bit as they head down the stairs, and when 
they near the bottom she says, "It was really cool of you to do that."
#01<Eliana> I mean... people are wrong all the time.  That doesn't mean other 
people point it out to them.  Especially when- like, it's not like we're friends or 
anything.
#06* Eliana is most certainly looking ahead and down, making sure she doesn't trip 
on any stairs.
#06* Simmie stops. "but he was wrong." she looks at Eliana ahead of her. "both 
times."
#06* Eliana blinks - at this point, she's actually gotten to the bottom of the 
stairwell - and she turns to look back up at Simmie. "You don't know that."
#06* Simmie looks at her feet. "your straw was unchanged"
<Simmie> the only needle was mine
#01<Eliana> Oh, you mean *then*.  Yeah.  I'm not a cheater.
<Simmie> im sorry he is so mean
#06* Eliana frowns. "Don't apologize for *him*."
#01<Eliana> It's not your fault.
<Simmie> but nobody else will
<Simmie> its not right
#06* Eliana rolls her eyes. "Doesn't make it your fault, so don't apologize."
#01<Eliana> Anyway, I really just wanted to thank you.  That's all.
#01<Eliana> And apologize 'cause it looks like the other Gryffindors are being 
kinda mean about it, and that's not right either.
#06* Simmie nods.
#01<Eliana> So... I mean...
#06* Simmie looks back at Eliana. "it's not your fault." she smiles slightly. "it's 
mine."
#01<Eliana> No, it's *theirs*.
#01<Eliana> So anyway.  Thanks.  That's all.
#06* Simmie nods and smiles shyly. "thank you, Eliana."
#06* Eliana smiles back. "Sure." She waves. "See you around, Simmral." And heads 
off for the dungeons.
#06* Simmie watches Eliana leave, takes a deep breath and then makes her way back 
to the Gryffindor commons and her room.
<Mae> [End!]