"So, getting ready to pop the question?"

The saleswoman batted her large round eyes at Noah as she grinned through the glass behind the jewelry case. Noah caught her reflection and blinked slowly, ignoring her chipper voice. Unfortunately for him, she had a bounce to her step and came around from behind the counter, leaning against the glass. "You're staring at engagement rings and you're not ready to propose?"

"I already did," Noah said, letting out an annoyed breath as he moved down to the next case. The woman let out a little squeal and followed him, clapping her hands.

"Congratulations! Spur of the moment kind of thing?"

"You could say that---she said no."

Noah could feel the surprise radiate from the girl's body, but he ignored it and pointed at a ring. "Can I see that one?"

"Er---yes," she said, scurrying around to take it out of the display. She carefully handed the stand and the ring to Noah, and he examined it closely. He wasn't very concerned with the price, or how shiny it was; to be honest, Odette probably had a nail filer more expensive than any piece of jewelry he could buy her. "Why are you buying a ring if she said no?"

He tilted his gaze back up toward the girl, who looked so concerned for his well-being that she seemed ready to leap over the glass and tackle him in a hug. Noah puffed his cheeks and was ready to simply pull out his money and pay for the ring, but her face managed to ween out of him an explanation. "I want to have it for when I propose again, and do it right. Now can I pay for this?"

Noah had been hoping that his explanation would have been enough to turn the girl away from being such a soppy mess, but she let out a high pitched noise that sounded a bit like 'thatssosweet.' Maybe it translated to that in echolocation, but Noah's ears rang in pain. Merlin. At least she was now talking to herself, as she packed the ring up in a box, placing it delicately into its bag and overflowing it with too much tissue-paper. Noah paid his dues and finally smiled at her for the first time in the two-hours he'd been there.

"What's her name!" she squeaked, trying to pry just one last time.

"Odette MacFarlan," Noah answered, his shoulders straightening. His grin slid away from his face, however, at the saleswoman's disgusted expression.

"Odette MacFarlan? The quidditch---What are you, some kind of crazy stalker? SECURITY!"

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"It was so nice of you to let Noah join you!"

Noah rolled his eyes as his mother talked to his neighbors' parents. It wasn't as if they had any choice, seeing as he'd been knocking on their door for the past week and begging them to come over for the moon landing.

The bloody moon landing.

"Ma--" Noah whined, bouncing on his heels, "we're gonna miss it!"

"Oh, it's no problem!" Mrs. Henderson said, moving out of the way to let Noah race into the house, "Such a shame that your telly broke down right before!"

"Telly?"

Noah skidded to a halt in the middle of the Henderson's hallway and turned. He waved his arms around and jumped in the air to try and catch his mother's attention, and when she finally looked over the other woman's shoulders, Noah mouthed, 'Mug-gle Thing!'

"Ooh, the telly! Yes...such a shame!" Mrs. Boot said. Noah grinned and hurried toward the living room, where a few of the Henderson's family members had come to watch. There was hardly any room, but Noah managed to squeeze himself right in front, ignoring the muttering from the other kids. They would have a telly for the rest of their lives to watch replays over and over and over. And him? No, he'd have to grab a newspaper or something, and keep that as proof that---

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed as the news report began.

"Noah!" his mother scolded from behind him, but the boy didn't hear. This---everything was so surreal, he couldn't believe this was happening and---and he was seeing it! He felt like he was there. Oh, boy, he'd name his first child after Neil Armstrong. Or maybe Buzz, Buzz was a cooler name, this was so wicked and--

He squeaked happily, ignoring the snickers from around him. But, really. There was no reason not to be excited. This was huge! What was next, space travel? Discovering distant galaxies? Meeting alien life forms?

Boy oh boy, this was only the beginning.

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Noah stared skeptically at the rolled up piece of paper stuck between Avery's fingers, looking up at his friend before snatching the roll.

"And this is what the muggles do?" he asked, eyes skipping over to Rabastan, who was watching intently from his seat upon his trunk. Bringing in questionable substances was a lot easier now that Macon was out of the room, even with Rabastan as the new prefect; he was usually the one providing the items. It wasn't one of Noah's favorite hobbies, getting stoned or wasted on the weekends with his roommates, but it was better than being outcast by them, or having to spend the days with his sister and her annoying friends down in the common room. Noah didn't exactly have a problem with drinking or taking the drugs, he just didn't see why anyone would take the time out of their day to smuggle it in or--the risk, he didn't like the risk, and to his roommates, the risk was the biggest draw.

"Yes," Avery drawled, slumping back against the post of his four poster. Noah had been to a few parties this summer with Avery, getting a keen look into the life his friend was about to enter once they left school; it was exciting and thrilling, but far too whirlwind for Noah to keep up with, "it erased the entire decade of the sixties."

"But it's a bit boring on its own," Rabastan interrupted, and Noah's skeptical stare blanched obviously. Those short words meant the his roommate had tampered with whatever was rolled up in his hand, and Noah hadn't survived the past seven years with Lestrange living in his dorm without being wary of his every last action.

"Yeah, all right, you can take this back---" Noah said with a shake of his head, putting his hand back out to Avery, but he didn't remove his hands from his pocket. Noah felt Rabastan's hard glare from the corner of his eye, and he sighed, knowing that he would be in bigger trouble if he didn't try it. "Fuck you guys---where's my wand?"

Avery tossed it over from his mattress and Noah did a quick lighting spell to the end and took a long drag---oh, yeah. Noah hacked and coughed immediately, and soon everything in the room was neon in color. Yep. He'd definitely had a reason to be wary.

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There was a furious knocking on the door, and in these days of imminent war, that was never a good thing. Kate Peakes wished that her husband was home at the moment, and hushed her son up the stairs as she made her way down to the front foyer. She had her wand, she wasn't guilty of anything, so she and her family should be safe...

"Who's there?" she asked, peering through the peephole. There was a man on the other side of the door, nervous looking but somewhat familiar. Kate watched as he put his eye to the peephole and she backed away, listening for an answer.

"I need to speak with---Kate Dawson? Ms. Dawson?"

Kate blinked; she hadn't been referred to by her maiden name in almost two decades. She pulled the door open and stared at the man with narrowed eyes. He looked innocent enough, and seemed more jittery than she had been just a few moment ago.

"Ms. Dawson?"

"That was my maiden name, yes..." she said, keeping a hand on the door in case he attempted to push into the house. The man put out his hand, but Kate simply stared.

"I--I'm Noah Boot, I don't know if you remember me, or...hell, if you even knew me at all, but--"

Kate felt a cold shiver go through her body. She knew his name, she had memorized it weeks before the worst day of her life, she had made sure to follow every story that appeared about him and his famous wife in the papers just to see if they would mention--

"I don't know you," Kate lied, standing straighter to shut the door. But Noah's hand shot out and forced it to stay open.

"Ms. Dawson--"

"It's Mrs. Peakes, thank you," she snapped, feeling her face grow hot. How had he found her? She had never left a clue, she had never told a soul.

"Mrs. Peakes, I need your help, my son--the baby you gave up in my planetarium, he's---"

"I did no such thing," she hissed, stepping out to the porch and shutting the front door behind her. If Jimmy heard a word of this, he would never trust his mother again. This man needed to leave her alone; why would he decide after all these years to search her out, "I don't know what you want, Mr. Boot, but--"

"Terry's in trouble!" he exclaimed, his eyes going wide, his expression desperate. Kate's breath caught in her throat as she watched him begin to pace. "These new laws--we have no evidence that he's not a muggleborn! They're going to take him to Azkaban if I---if---you don't take a maternity test!"

"He's not my son--" Kate continued to argue, but she was interrupted immediately as Noah turned back to her, a hot flash of anger coursing over his face.

"He is, I have spoken to all the seventh years of 1980 and your roommates sold you out, Kate, I know you were pregnant your sixth year, I know you were due at the end of the summer but you were late and were trying to get to the Hogwarts Express when your water broke---"

"Be--quiet!" Kate cried out, her eyes watering, "I didn't---no, he's not---"

"Stop lying! Stop--you're going to get him killed if you keep---" Noah stepped back, putting his hands over his face in great frustration. When he pulled them away, his eyes were full of tears. His voice cracked, "He's my son, he's my son and it doesn't mean a thing to these people! Please, please Ms. Dawson---Mrs. Peakes." Noah shook his head slowly, his hands going up in defeat. "He's my son, and you're the only one that can save him."

Kate watched his plea in silence, her hand holding the door knob behind her to stop any of her children from opening the door. Admitting to this, going to court for Terry (Terry, she had almost forgotten his name) would change not only her life, but the entire lives of her children, of her husband---oh, God--

"Fine---yes, I'll...I'll do it. When can I...?"

"We need the test by Friday," Noah said urgently, his face glowing with hope, "Thank you, thank you so much, I swear we'll never ask for anything again---"

"No--it's..." Kate looked down, letting out a breath, "It's the least I could do. I left him with you for a reason, Noah."

"I know," he responded, which surprised her. Noah smiled and took her hands in his, gripping them tightly. She could feel the love that this man had for her---his son. "I couldn't figure out what it was for a while, but--I know."

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Sometimes, no, no--a lot of the time, Noah hated his siblings. Noel was all smart and nice so she made friends right away, like that Emily girl who wouldn’t shut up and had tattled on him when he’d chucked his inkwell at her, and Martin was on the quidditch team so he was automatically cool with a billion and five friends that were so big and huge and tall that Noah was sure they could step on him and squish him. How on earth was he supposed to compete with that, huh? It was only two months into his career at Hogwarts and Noah was already dreading the next seven years. Shouldn’t he be excited?

He should be, but he wasn’t especially at this very moment, because at this very moment, he was about to be beaten to a pulp for tripping (accidentally) a Slytherin fourth year. Derrick Longbottom was a big, big guy, and Noah really, really didn’t want to get beat up by him and his friends (who were also big, big guys, what did they feed these Slytherins?), but it seemed like he should get used to the idea of walking funny, because there was no way he was going to get out of this.

“Hey Longbottom,” a loud voice called from behind the three Slytherins, and Noah didn’t dare uncover his eyes in fear that they were just pulling a ruse and just waiting for his face to be open for a perfect target, “Tired of getting beat up by the hags in your year that you’ve got to find ickle firsties?”

Noah’s eyes widened underneath the sleeves of his cloak and he slowly pulled his hands away to see that the Slytherins had turned away from him. He definitely recognized that voice and peered around the three big, big guys to see his brother Martin standing tall all by himself.

“And what do you care, Boot?” Longbottom snapped back, his hand going for his wand in his cloak pocket. Noah, in what was probably the bravest moment of his life, realized that he could not let this Slytherin hex his brother, and quickly reached out and smacked Longbottom’s wand away and into the bushes.

“NOAH YOU IDIOT, RUN!” Martin hollered, and Noah sped off across the courtyard as fast as he could.

Okay, so maybe the next seven years weren’t going to be horrible. Or at least, the next three, while Martin was still around.

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She had always loved jogging. Running. Just being active, really. Odette loved feeling the track beneath her sneakers and the breeze that she created. As long as she could run (and have her music, of course--she'd just created the perfect running mix tape), she'd be happy. The university's outdoor track was always the best place, too, because it was always empty at this time of night, it was close to the dorms, and if she wanted, she could head out into the streets of London and experience it all.

One thing, though, was that when your tape reached the end of its own run, you had to stop and flip it over. Odette hated breaking her stride, but she did need her music. Letting out a breath, she dropped her pace into a walk and fumbled with flipping the tape. As she muttered at how obnoxious her player was being, Odette noticed that she was in fact not alone on the track tonight. In the middle of the pitch she could see a bloke fumbling with some rather large equipment. The biggest component looked bigger than the guy himself, and Odette winced when it all came crashing down. For a few seconds, she contemplated putting her headphones back on and continuing on her run, but it did look like a bit of a hassle...

Odette let out a breath; hopefully this guy wasn't some psycho campus lurker.

"Need a hand?" she said, trotting across the grass. She got a good look at the mess of metal and...telescopes, and finally toward the bloke. Her eyes widened; where had he come from, Mars? His hair was ridiculously frizzy, and his thick rimmed glasses made his eyes look bug-like. Yep. Definitely shouldn't have offered to help this guy.

"Oy, don't touch the lens!" he let out, snatching the piece of equipment from her hands. Odette frowned and pulled her headphones back into place.

"Fine, be nasty with your dumb toys!" she snapped, turning on a heel.

"I--wait, sorry," he called out, and she only heard him because she hadn't pressed the play button, but the rewind. Odette turned, ready for a better apology than that. He had his arms up, the telescope standing upright and pointed to the sky. "It's just that if I don't get this set up, it'll be another 558,000 years before I can see this comet again."

"Oh no," Odette mocked, crossing her arms. But, "Hell, that is a long time. Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" he stated, gesturing toward the telescope, "I'm the president of the Astronomy Club, of course I know Comet West's orbital period!"

Odette blinked, but shrugged and held up the body of the telescope while the boy maneuvered and fiddled with things. She checked her watch, grimacing at how late it was getting; even she didn't appreciate this kind of hour.

"Are you almost done?" she asked with a sigh.

"Yes! I'm--yes, done!" Odette watched as he peered through the lens and he jumped up with excitement. She had never seen anyone so thrilled about some--rocks or whatever, millions of miles away. "Do you want to see?"

"Sure," she let out, and he bounced away to give her room. Odette sighed and peered through the lens, and--"Oh, okay, that's pretty cool."

"Isn't it?!"

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His heavy breaths were forming puffs of air in the cold, and Noah rubbed his hands together even though they were gloved. He’d forgotten how freezing these late nights on top of the Astronomy Tower could be after having spent years in the warmth of the planetarium. There was nothing like looking up at the clear night sky of Hogwarts, however, and Noah was glad that he got to experience it once again.

Though, it seemed like the first meeting of the Astronomy Club was going to be spent by himself, as it was fifteen past midnight and none of the students who had shown interest had shown up yet. Noah would give them another five, but he had a great feeling twisting in his gut that he simply had not made the club sound as cool and interesting as it really was. Who wouldn’t want to discover unknown galaxies, and have long discussions about the theories of the universe? Surely there were some Ravenclaws who just needed to get all that talk out.

Noah knew he worried too much, but this job, this club was important to him. After his troubles in school, it had been this Astronomy Tower that had helped him get better and get through any similar rough patches. He couldn’t imagine there were any kids in Hogwarts as stupid as him, but…who knew, right? No one had expected him to have gotten so depressed, what if there was a student that didn’t have any friends to talk to just like he hadn’t? Couldn’t the Astronomy Tower become a refuge for more than just the starry-eyed nerds of Hogwarts?

“Professor Boot?”

The small voice made Noah jump to his feet, and he turned, smiling widely. Nora Capper, a tiny first year appeared in the doorway, wrapped up in the warmest of cloaks and scarves. Her blonde curls popped out from under her hat and to Noah, it looked as if she’d had some trouble putting all of the articles of clothing on.

“Nora! Welcome,” he said enthusiastically, hurrying over to lead her to one of the telescopes he’d set up. “It’s a bit nippy out isn’t it?”

She nodded, though her variety of scarves inhibited much movement from the neck up. Noah wondered how she planned to look through the telescope and was about to offer to hang some of her things up as it wasn’t that cold, but she squeaked loudly, “Oh, just look at Orion!”

Her mitten-covered hand pointed straight up in the sky and Noah’s head shot up, knowing where exactly in the sky The Hunter was. With no lights of the city to hinder their gaze, the constellation shone in all its glory. Orion had been the first group of stars that Noah had memorized with his father’s help, and The Hunter held a special place in his heart.

“Can you name the stars of Orion?” They had gone over it in the first class, but surely she wouldn’t—

“Betelguese, Bellatrix, Mintaka, Alnilam, Alnitak, Saiph, and…” Her face screwed up in concentration while Noah looked on in amazement. She’d actually remembered? Of course, that’s what he’d been going for, and he had assigned some memorization homeworks, but how many students actually… “Rigel! And Rigel.”

Nora bounced on her tiptoes in excitement and all he could do was grin stupidly. Well. If he didn’t do anything else this year, he had helped one student memorize his favorite constellation. That was worth it, right?

“Excellent, Miss. Capper!” Noah motioned for her to come to the nearest telescope set up and he pointed it toward the constellation, “Come and get a closer look.”

“I really love the stars,” she said happily, rubbing her already red nose. Noah felt like bouncing on his own toes at her words, “My daddy said he’d get up and look at them too when we have Astronomy Club, because I told him I miss him lots and---” She waved at the sky, and then sat down on the seat in front of her telescope, “He’ll be looking at the same stuff. I told him I’d find Cassiopeoia next. Is that all right, Professor Boot?”

“Y-yes! Go right ahead!” Noah stuttered, amazed. He’d always thought he was strange for thinking about the stars that way, as a connection of sort, but look at little Nora. She seemed just as enthused about the night sky as he was at her age, and she had a knack for recognition. Would there be more like her?

As Nora realized she had to discard some of her scarves to be able to peer into the eyepiece of the telescope, other students began to straggle in, muttering about having to deal with Filch and Mrs. Norris. It dawned on Noah that he was going to have to remind the caretaker about these midnight meetings. Students as young as Nora had come, and a few older students as well---a couple of N.E.W.T. level Gryffindors led the older batch, and Noah found that he had underestimated how many kids would actually attend. He put the Ravenclaw Head Girl in charge as he had to run down to the storage closet to get some more telescopes and nearly tripped down the stairs in his excitement.

He’d have to bring cookies and hot chocolate next time, holy shit.

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There was only one thing in his life that Noah Boot truly regretted. It had stemmed from a deep hatred of the world, the people in it, and himself. He’d never been able to understand the mindset of his sixteen-year-old self and he supposed that he really had no desire to. Why would anyone want to reach back into the mind of a suicidal teenager?

Simply thinking about the word caused him irritation. The events had been over a decade, and still Noah found it difficult to think about. It wasn’t something that you got over, he believed; he’d attempted to end his life over some foul words and a broken heart. It pained him now to think of all that he could have lost out on if he’d been bolder in his attempts.

Noah lifted his head from the pillow to check to see if his wife was still asleep. Odette had done everything she could today to distract him from the fact that today was the anniversary of his near-fatal attempt. Early morning jog, breakfast, brunch, lunch! Broom ride in the park, dinner, dessert, and dessert. She had not left his side all day and he was grateful for it, except for the tingling sensation in his arm because of her sleeping spot on his shoulder. He pressed his face to the top of her head, eyes shutting to savor the feeling of Odette in his arms. He would’ve missed out on this wonderful rollercoaster of a life, what a waste it would’ve been!

It was hard to think that at sixteen he would have believed that one day he would be married to a gorgeous, witty, all-star quidditch player. Noah could barely get the nerdy kids in his own House to look at him, let alone a celebrity. His taken chance on Odette had been the best decision of his life, and on days like today the guilt of almost not being here to enjoy these moments racked his brain.

Terry! His son, his boy! He’d never have met him, raised him on his own and found out that he could indeed be a father. And then his little Anna, his beautiful girl. Noah had thought that his love for Odette could never be challenged, but his children had a whole other hold on his heart. He never wanted anything to hurt Terry and Anna in the way he had, he never wanted them to feel as lost or desperate. Noah strove to give them the confidence they needed to get through their adolescence with courage and strength, and with Odette he was sure they were going to make it.

He dropped his head back against the pillows, staring up at the skylight over their bedroom. The stars were bright tonight, and he was glad for it. He was glad for his family, his wife, his children, his brother and sister. He was glad that his parents had been given some time with him as a functioning adult, that they saw his progress and how he’d managed to persevere. He had friends he cared deeply for, a business that brought joy to the community and kept his sights on the unknown. His life was good.

Noah’s thoughts were interrupted as Odette let out a deep breath, shifting under his arm. She snaked her arm around him and maybe her sleep wasn’t as deep as he thought; she kissed his chest lightly and murmured for him to go to sleep. Noah nodded and shut his eyes, enjoying the tightness of her grip. It was time to stop dwelling on what might have been and get some rest---tomorrow was another day.

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