CHAPTER 21: Halloween: A Starry Night (Interlude)

First-Year Slytherin Dormitories

October 31st, 1991

8:00 a.m.

As Harry's eye fluttered open, a powerful yawn overtook him. Harry had grown to hate Thursdays ever since his first Astronomy class. The lessons often extended up until two in the morning, and the fact that he consistently managed to stay awake through it all was a credit to Professor Sinistra's ability as a teacher. Even though looking at planets and starts through telescopes was duller than hearing about all the Goblin Rebellions, Professor Sinistra's lectures were far more captivating than anything Binns could come up with.

Astronomy Tower

September 5th, 1991

12:00 a.m.

"Many witches and wizards today consider the study of astronomy impractical, a waste of time - a subject of the past which does not even merit studying its superficial elements." Sinistra scoffed as she said this. Meanwhile, the Slytherins and Ravenclaws sat cross-legged on top of their respective carpet - the night sky shining down upon them. "This ignorant view of the subject has resulted in various members of the British Ministry of Magic wanting to remove it from the core curriculum of Hogwarts. Fortunately, Professor Dumbledore has always understood the importance of astronomy, and his efforts to reduce Ministry interference inside the school managed to stop this ridiculous attempt."

Professor Sinistra took out her wand and raised it to the sky, slashing it in complicated patterns faster than anything Harry had witnessed before. As she did so, tiny, twinkling lights began emanating from the sky and congregating right above where Sinistra was casting the spells. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of tiny lights. Everyone stared at it in awe. First, a massive, orange ball appeared in the middle, before tiny orbs began appearing and orbiting the giant ball. But that wasn't it, a river of extremely tiny rocks, almost invisible to the human eye, also appeared, splitting the first four orbs and the other much larger ones - creating a large belt.

"Can anyone tell me what this is?" Professor Sinistra asked once the bright, stereoscopic illusion had finished forming.

"That's the solar system!" Michael Corner exclaimed proudly.

Sinistra hesitated slightly. "Yes… and no. While you are correct in saying this is the solar system, it isn't an accurate representation of it. The solar system is much larger than what anyone in the world can truly grasp. From the Sun to Pluto, the last planet in the solar system, there are 3.7 billion miles. This depiction is also missing two hundred and four moons, as only Earth's is depicted, and the millions of comets, and meteors and how many asteroids that orbit around but are not depicted in the main asteroid belt that separates Mars and Jupiter."

Professor Sinistra turned to them before sighing exasperatedly. "Mister Crabbe!" The boy in question immediately awakened and looked around in alarm. "Since you have decided to have a nap during this class, I assume you are already well versed in the topics I'll be covering, right?"

"Err…"

"I'm glad you agree!" She said cheerfully. "Perhaps you could tell your classmates the importance of the solar system to witches and wizards."

"Ummm… well… errr… ummm…"

"Pay attention, Mister Crabbe," Sinistra interrupted the babbling boy with a cool voice. "Otherwise, I might find it necessary to have a conversation with your Head of House."

"Because of all the elements inside the solar system, there are various Celestial Events that affect all sentient beings connected to the Theurgical Force."

"The Theurgical Force, Professor?" Pansy asked.

"Magic." She explained with a patient smile. "The Theurgical Force is the proper name for what most wizards refer to their magic. It's what separates wizards from muggles. What separates unicorns from horses. Magical beings from non-magical beings."

Sinistra turned her wand to the illusion. "The cyclical phases of the Moon, solar and lunar eclipses, transits and occultations, planetary oppositions and conjunctions, meteor showers, comet flybys, solstices, and equinoxes. Even the star and planet alignments in certain key dates for every person. All these Celestial Events have paramount effects on the two most important aspects of the Theurgical Force. Magic… and Fate."

The Professor conjured a blackboard and wrote those two words before splitting them with a line. "I will not go in depth into the effects it has on Fate since that's something exclusive to the Divination - however, I will present the basics. Fate, as far as most of the Wizarding World is concerned - well, at least the logical people in the Wizarding World - is not a myth. It isn't a flimsy concept or a throwaway line. However, beyond that, the concept of Fate is mostly unknown to many wizards, though some theorise that it's something heavily studied by the Unspeakables."

As soon as those two words left her mouth, most of the Pure-bloods and even some half-bloods turned pale, looking at Sinistra with unmasked terror - though Harry couldn't help but notice how Pansy was more curious than anything. The muggle-borns and muggle-raised like himself looked at their peers with confusion.

Professor Sinistra was unfazed and continued.

"But even though the information about Fate itself is mostly classified, there has been information that the Department of Mysteries has not been able to contain about it because of the nature of how Fate manifests itself into our world. The most prevalent and common known way for this is through Seers. Seers - true Seers - are conduits of Fate. And while constantly suffering through various visions of the extremely near future, can only utter True Prophecies on days of the Wheel of the Year - which is a template used to mark the solstices and equinoxes - all solar events, all Celestial Events. But this isn't the only way that astronomy affects Fate, as many of the most influential moments in history have taken place during Celestial Events. For example, the two most important events of this century have been the defeat of Grindelwald and the fall of the Dark Lord respectively.

"Albus Dumbledore defeated Gellert Grindelwald the twenty-first of June during the year of 1945. That evening, there was a lunar eclipse that was clearly visible by all thirteen witnesses to that legendary duel. However, the astonishing fact that two Celestial Events were occurring concurrently was quickly eclipsed when the largest comet in nearly three hundred years became gradually visible as the duel went on, and it remained visible for the next thirteen months."

"What does that mean, Professor?" Padma Patil asked and Sinistra looked at her expectantly. "I mean, if we're studying Celestial Events and their impact upon magical beings, surely each Celestial Event must have an individual significance."

"Five points to Ravenclaw," Sinistra said. "Yes, each Celestial Event has its symbolism, its significance, and that can change by the slightest alterations to them. Comets are commonly depicted as heralds of death and destruction, eclipses are seen as harbingers of change, and each of the eight dates from the Wheel of the Year has its significance - but you'll see that more in depth with Professor Trelawney.

"The night of the Dark Lord's downfall was no less exciting than of Grindelwald's defeat. As I'm sure you all know, it happened on the evening of October 31st, Samhain. But not only was it a full moon, it was also a night where Jupiter, Venus, and Earth were in alignment. Many witches and wizards theorise that the Dark Lord was aware of two of these events. Samhain is a renowned date for dark magic, not only is it when said magic is at its most powerful and lasting, but it's also the night when the veil between life and death is at its thinnest point in the whole year. The night is a celebration of darkness, one that the Death Eater's never failed to take advantage of when the Dark Lord was in his full power. And that night was one of the rare times when the event coincided with a full moon, another renowned event for dark magic for reasons which you are too young to learn. There is a reason why werewolves transform during the full moon, after all.

"When it came out that little Neville Longbottom had defeat the Dark Lord - the most dangerous Dark Lord in recorded history - on a night that seemed almost designed for dark magic, one that wouldn't repeat itself for another sixteen years, no one believed it to be true. It seemed impossible, but nevertheless, it was true. Neville Longbottom, against all odds, overcame it and defeated the Dark Lord.

"Now, while there is no recorded proof of any prophecies relating to the fall of either Grindelwald or the Dark Lord, given what we know of Fate and how impactful these events were on the world itself, all the Celestial Events present weren't coincidences. Especially three Celestial Events coinciding two different nights in less than forty years! That was completely unheard of until recently! It was known for a night like that to occur every two hundred years, maybe one hundred and fifty, but never had it happened twice in less than half a century!"

"How come that changed?" Su Li asked.

"No one knows. But if anyone were to know, it would be the Unspeakables." Professor Sinistra said, her voice holding a slight bitterness as she ignored the reactions from the pure-blood students.

"What about Magic, Professor?" Anthony Goldstein asked.

"Well, as I mentioned earlier. There are some dates when certain types of magic are more powerful or more lasting. There are certain Celestial Events that are required for certain potion, spell, or ritual. Lunar phases, cosmic ages, space weather, meteor showers, dark cloud constellations, rogue planets, dark energy - there are uncountable of Celestial Events that affect Magic in some ways and were the basis for coven magic during the first half of this millennium before the end of the Great War and the formation of the ICW - but I'm getting ahead of myself.

"As I said, most witches and wizards of this era don't value astronomy and the impact it has every day. There are perhaps three or four careers that actively require it, and they are ones so gruelling, time-consuming, and arduous that not many people seek them out. Because of the ban against most rituals, the modern spells that have been created in these past three centuries that make it much easier to perform magic individually and without the knowledge of astronomy, as well as the more civilized… and restrictive society we live in now - the need for astronomy has slowly diminished.

"However, it is just as important for the basis of magic as Ancient Runes and Transfiguration, and while not many people consider it practical nowadays, it still is crucial to learn. Which is why, during the next seven years, you'll be learning about the vast number of impacts that astronomy has on the Theurgical Force, the history behind astronomy and how wizards and witches used it before covens were discontinued, as well as a brief overview on Fate and Magic itself. But before we do any of that, you need to get better acquainted with the solar system."

With a lazy wave of her wand, the illusion of said solar system dissipated. But before anyone else could comment anything, twenty telescopes - or what Harry assumed where telescopes - appeared near them. Harry's hand hovered on the runes carved into his telescope, there were hundreds of them, all incredibly small. While Harry wouldn't mistake this for anything other than a telescope, it looked nothing like the ones he'd seen in the muggle world. It had eight separate heads, each a different size and shape, with every respective lens a different colour. The tube rings appeared to be movable, as if it would change the configuration of the lens. And instead of having a tripod, it was floating in the air.

Now…

It had taken Professor Sinistra over a month to fully teach the class how to use the telescope in the most basic levels, and after that, it was just staring at planets, moons, asteroids, and other astronomical entities for two hours straight. And while there had been other lectures about Astronomy, nothing had been as interesting as the one from the first class.

To make things worse, she had already assigned them their term project - a long analysis of the first four planets of the solar system, as well as the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, explaining the behaviour of all the entities, their basic facts, and their potential impact on the Theurgical Force.

Yes, he was growing to hate Astronomy more than he had thought possible after that introduction. And based on what he'd heard about the subject from some upper years, it wouldn't be until the latter half of their third year when they would actually begin exploring the content Professor Sinistra had talked about.

Hopefully, the next two years would pass quickly.

Harry left his bed and began walking to the bathroom before suddenly halting as he remembered what day it was. Halloween. He hated Halloween. But… he wasn't at Privet Drive anymore. And even though everyone in his year hated him, he had Graham. He had already told Montague about his dislike for the holiday, and the older boy had smiled and promised him this one wouldn't be like the others.

He hoped it was true.

As Harry gave a deep sigh, he could feel his insecurities leave him. He forced himself to smile. This would be a good day, this would be the best Halloween of his life.

I am not dead! At least… I don't think I am. To be honest, it was my plan to upload three times a week this month, but life has just decided to hand me the shittiest luck possible. I got covid the day after posting the last chapter, and it somehow got through my whole family. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away because of it, right as I was beginning to feel well again. Less than a week after that, my phone was stolen after being on a self-imposed lockdown for two years, and yesterday I came home to find out the battery of my car just died out of the blue. So now I somehow have to find the money to buy a new phone and a new car battery, and soon, since I need the car for my work.

Sigh.

Anyhow, the point of telling you all my sorrows of the year is to explain my fairly large absence over the past three weeks. But I'm back. I can't promise a schedule, but I do intend to post the next chapter before a week passes. And I promise that it will be a longer chapter, and the actual Halloween 1991 chapter, rather than a small interlude.

I actually wasn't planning this interlude, this wasn't anywhere near my planning, it just sort of happened as I started writing, and then I realised this was crucial since it sets up many things I have planned, so I just kept on writing. I decided to post this chapter as an individual chapter rather than adding it to the Halloween (1991) chapter so that the tones between chapters don't conflict with one another and so that I can actually post something else before the month ends.

Now, even though I have been absent for the past three weeks doesn't mean I haven't done stuff for the fic. If anything, it's the opposite, it allowed me to develop various ideas for the future and as the fic is gradually expanding more and more, I had to do some world-building. Yesterday, I did a list of students spanning across 10 generations as well as Voldemort's inner circle (including codenames for each Death Eater). I also developed numerous important plot lines that were nothing but an idea before, and I created what probably is my favourite thing so far.

The Macabre Manuscript. Inspired by Prince of Slytherin's Anathema Codex, but given my own spin, I'm excited to write about every single entry in it. Honestly, the Prince of Slytherin saga has world-building that is so brilliant and amazing it's miles better than canon, it should be canon. So, I will take inspiration on some things The_SinisterMan did with his fic, but I'll try to give it my own spin, obviously.

Also, I posted this on the last chapter, but I'll post it here as well. Since the fic has now grown much much much bigger than what I had planned, I decided to change the names of the chapters. The one word thing would have grown to be too complicated with the number of chapters planned, and it wouldn't fit a fic as large as what I have. So now the chapters will be divided in arcs and titled based on them. I also changed the formatting of the fic to add the date and place, since I've spent like 90k words and less than two months have gone by.

Anyway, I think that's it for this A/N. I hope you liked this chapter! It was mostly World-Building. I honestly hate Astronomy in canon, so I decided to try and modify it so that it's actually prominent and useful. Oh, and in the past I've had various comments asking what was canon and what isn't from the years we didn't see (1 - 4) and I finally have an answer!

Everything from the books is canon! And nothing is! It sounds like a cryptic line so that I play around with canon as I please, but it isn't. I won't spoil or say anything else, but you'll start getting hints about what I mean soon. As the Halloween come to a close, we'll be going outside Hogwarts more and more. Theorise away with that hint!

Also, I know that various people in the past asked if I could create a discord server, and with the fic nearly hitting 1k kudos in ao3, I'm beginning to consider it! Is that something you'd still want?

So yeah. Thank you for reading, commenting, and favouriting! It means a lot to me and continues giving me inspiration to keep writing!