A yawn escaped from Scorpius' mouth as soon as he stood from his comfortable, warm bed which still had the magnificent scent of Albus' hair. However, Scorpius would have changed that for his presence in his bed, thought that would have made difficult to go to work.
The clock on the nightstand glowed with magic; the miniature solar system changing almost imperceptibly to point the time.
"Damn," Scorpius muttered when he finally processed how late it was.
The floor was cold, and his shower was too short to give comfort with its warmth, but when he got out of the house and raised his face to the night sky, he grinned.
Being part Black made him love the stars; some people believed the Blacks were made of them*, with their grey eyes shining like them, and their wild hair forming constellations of curls that could never be tamed. Their magic was, too,was like the stars: bright and flaring, wonderful to look upon, yet dangerous and terrifying. Scorpius loved being a Black, even more than he loved being a Malfoy or a Greengrass. He wondered if another person on his family felt like that before while gazing at the stars on a clear winter night like that.
He hurried to work, taking long steps which made his legs hurt. He had exercised on the morning, and he now felt the pain of a successful workout mingled with the cold. It was a nice sensation, overall, and it did wonders for his mood which already was bright as the starry night that overlooked his short walk to the Apparition point to the Ministry.
For a brief moment, he thought he saw Albus' favorite red and black robe disappear into the air, surely going to work too. Scorpius smiled, for someone who worked in the Time Room, Albus was always rushing to everywhere from anywhere.
The fresh wind smelled of the nearing Yule holidays if something like that was possible. The memory of a crackling fire and delicious food made by his Aunt Daphne and the elves put a smile on his face as he Apparated into the Ministry.
"Are you ready for today?" said Albus, Apparating beside Scorpius.
"Using time-turners again, Albus?" he said, leaning in to press his forehead against Albus' and stealing a short kiss. "Should we find a better use for those things?"
His suggestion met a low chuckle from Albus. "Let's not do that today. I won't spoil you anything, but something great will happen today."
Scorpius narrowed his eyes, and Albus laughed again. "Come on, Scorpius! Go to your Chamber already."
Instead of going after Albus, Scorpius walked through the Atrium to the elevators, like a normal Ministry employee. While Albus was known to be an Unspeakable, people knew Scorpius as one of Minister Granger's many assistants. When he was seen by Level Nine, people would often assume he visited Albus. In all, Scorpius was one of the secrets from the Department of Mysteries and he liked it that way.
As soon as he entered into the Space Chamber, he was awed. He always was, from the moment when he first entered the Circular Room with the Doors. It was a shame that most Unspeakables went to the Death Chamber or the Hall or Prophecy, because the breathtaking sight of planets in miniature orbiting around the diamond-made stars, and the infinite possibilities hiding there was something Scorpius loved. Space made him feel humble and divine at the same time; he was part of something bigger, of a huge Universe in which his single actions had no major effect and he still mattered to people like him. He was nothing and everything at the same time, and the secrets of the Space Chamber never failed to remind him of that.
Once he was satisfied with his nightly inspection of the known galaxies -he had to check for changes in the frequency of X-rays and Gamma-rays, as well as to note the dimming of stars at a certain hour of the night, that were his assigned tasks-, he went to the smallest desk. At the other side of the room he could see Anastasia Smith, meddling with a microscope; maybe there had been something new during the day that he hadn't learned of yet. The last time Anastasia was in the Space Chamber -she usually worked at the Death Chamber- the composition of a Super-Earth was determined to have enough traces of hydrogen in the atmosphere to be declared as a mini-Neptune. Maybe Albus was right and the night would prove to be interesting.
Scorpius found the reason soon enough; the Scorcher had given signs of light reflection that shouldn't be there. The smallest part of the binary system, Sirius B, was reflecting light too. He smirked. He had been a Trainee when the last Tatooine was discovered, and maybe this time it would be his turn.
Scorpius remembered the protocol: begin the recording on one of the multiple Chamber's pensieves, verify the data and confirm the unique occurrence, and alert his superior to have other Space Unspeakables analyze their own data.
He checked his findings, foregoing the gamma rays this time as they were for other kinds of experimentation and observation. The transit of the object was slow, meaning they would have a considerable amount of time before it orbited around its star and they lost it for a time. Scorpius set his transit-scope with more specific parameters and manually configured the other scopes and devices to keep the recovery of unrelated data. The finding of a new object, a potential planet, didn't mean Scorpius could forego other parts of his job.
There! The dip was big, at least bigger than Earth.
Scorpius smiled as he picked up his Protean Mirror and called for his boss.
"It better be something great, Scorpius," came the voice of Percy Weasley, the most unexpected Unspeakable the world would ever find.
Scorpius smirked at the notorious bed head of his boss but didn't comment on it. There were limits he wouldn't cross in spite of the familiarity with which Percy treated him.
"I think I found a new planet orbiting Sirius A."
His voice didn't hide his excitement, but he could see Percy Weasley's face going from sleepy to interested in less than a second. That made his smile wider.
"The protocol. Did you set the recorders?"
"I already did. And checked my data twice. I'm not sure of the mass, but the object is at least two times bigger than Earth. Small if you consider the Scorcher's size."
Scorpius saw Percy smile, then sigh and pass a hand through his hair. "Continue with the data. I'll send Flint and Macmillan."
Percy cut out the communication and Scorpius grinned widely. Anastasia waved to him and he responded by throwing a fist into the air.
"I told you it would be a great day, Scorpius," said Albus, to his right. He was wearing a different set of robes and Scorpius wondered if this was the Albus who slept with him that day or the Albus who stayed at work and kept with his experimentation without going home.
"I'm happy," he said calmly, not tearing his eyes from the transit-scope. A brass kettle-like device emitted a series of smoke rings colored red and blue. "The planet composition is mainly of Helium and Hydrogen. Another Mini-Neptune and not enough Ocean planets."
A tinge of sadness colored his words. He was happy at being the one who found the initial data, but he had hoped the planet would be an Ocean planet, a possible inhabitable exoplanet that would bear his name.
"Calm down, Scorpius. I'm sure having an entire constellation with your name is enough even for a Malfoy," said Albus as if he could read his mind. Or perhaps he had already had this conversation before or after. Either way, it made Scorpius smile.
"You're right," he said and grinned again.
Scorpius noticed Albus checking one of his many watches.
"Go on, Albus," he told his boyfriend tenderly and grabbed his hand to kiss it. "I have to continue with this. Ezra and Gabriel will be here shortly and they will need me focused."
Albus put a hand on Scorpius' cheek. His hand was surprisingly soft and well-cared, and Scorpius leaned into the touch.
"I'll be there in the morning, Scorpius."
He smiled. Like the stars, Albus was always there.
Trainee Unspeakable/Space Chamber Job at the Ministry of Magic Forum.
Task: I would like you to write about the magical discovery of a planet outside of our solar system. It is up to you whether this planet is a Gas Giant, a rock, or a planet capable of inhabiting life, so long as you focus on how this was discovered, and who discovered it.
Note: The discovery of planets is done in different ways depending on the distance from Earth to the star which has the planet; in this case I went with Transit Photometry, which is about measuring the 'dimming' of a star when the planet orbits in front of him. I'm no expert on the matter and research had to be done about this, so any mistakes will be accounted by magic.