[Friday, September 9th, 2016]

At the start of term, Draco set up his schedule so that he could do much of his grading on Fridays. That way he had a hope of visiting his mother at some point during the weekend. So he got up early to get a cup of tea and a paper from Hogsmeade before heading back to his office to dig into paperwork.

First he took care of the third and fourth year arithmancy classes he covered at the castle on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The assignments were a bit more involved covering vocabulary and assessments, but there were far less students than his Astronomy course. Overall, the children had completed most of their assignments and he was satisfied they started the year strong.

It was already mid-morning when he finally glanced at the pile of Astronomy assignments. Many of the students handed in typed papers, some of them submitted theirs written on spiral notebook paper, but there were still a fair few rolled up scrolls.

Draco eyed them and sighed. A large part of him wished she hadn't submitted anything. Then he wouldn't have to grade it and wouldn't have to return it to her. Another part of him knew that if he didn't grade it, that would single her out and could make matters even worse. He didn't know how, but things always took a turn when it came to Hermione Granger.

He lifted his cup to take another sip of his tea and realised it was finished. Draco decided it was time for a break and grabbed the Daily Prophet instead. He browsed the Entertainment section, reading up on the latest rosters for his favourite teams. When he was done with that he checked out the Matters of Magic and of course Potter's face was plastered above the first story. Something about discovering a den of banshees or other.

After exhausting through the paper and any other distraction Draco could find, he finally stood before the stack of Astronomy assignments. Begrudgingly he grabbed the stack of papers, leaving the scrolls for last.

As expected, almost a dozen students had selected the Draco Constellation. During his first year at the college it was flattering, he soon found it was a cleverly disguised way to gain favour. Another dozen students settled on the more common ones like Hydra, Orion, Ursa Major and Minor. He was happy to see that more than half of the students had selected more obscure and less common ones.

He looked at his watch, happy to see it was nearly midday. He smiled at himself, reasoning that he could grade the rest after lunch. He looked at the scrolls, there were about 6 of them. Draco knew he could get through them quickly, but did he want to, was the real question.

"It's not a big deal," he muttered to himself, reaching to grab the six scrolls, careful not to crush them.

The first one was the Gemini Constellation…

…the next, another Draco.

…Leo

…Hydra

"Phoenix," Draco said out loud, standing from his seat so suddenly that the scrolls on his lap rolled onto the floor, abandoned and ungraded. All the sound in the room seemed to vanish as if sucked into a vacuum as he recalled the coffee grounds from the divination class.

Draco unravelled the scroll further to look for a name, except there wasn't one; not even on the header, where it was supposed to be. He brought his hand to his forehead because in reality he didn't need to do much to figure out whose assignment it was.

It was flawless. The name was written in both English and Greek translations at the top. There was a brief history of its discovery. All the stars and planets were listed out in alphabetical order, then again in placement order. There was an analysis of its neighbours and where the name originated. There was even an accurate depiction of the constellation which he guessed was drawn by hand and perfectly to scale.

It was undeniable. This had Granger's name written all over it… figuratively speaking, because even after searching it over three times, he had yet to spot it.

He stared at the drawing longer than he should have, trying not to get lost in his senses. It looked exactly the same as the coffee grounds. The fact the Oveyus confirmed he saw it too left little room for doubt… but what did it mean?

Draco tried to convince himself that it was a coincidence, that there were nearly forty students and more then twice as many constellations to choose from. Surely someone else also chose the Phoenix.

So he went through them all again like a rational person would. He looked through the graded pile, notebook paper, white printer paper, and parchment, all flying in the air discarded as he hurried to look through one after the other.

Not a single student had selected it, just her. He looked up from his seat on the floor, among the documents around him. Sitting on his seat, separate from the others was the only assignment that read:

~Phoenix [Phoinix] Constellation~

Phoenix is a minor constellation in the southern sky. Named after the phoenix, it was first depicted on a celestial atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 Uranometria. The French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted the brighter stars and gave their Bayer designations in 1756.

-The constellation stretches from roughly −39° to −57° declination, and from 23.5h to 2.5h of right ascension.

-The constellations Phoenix, Grus, Pavo, and Tucana are known as the Southern Birds.

He rolled up the parchment and stood, careful not to totally destroy all the work his students did. Draco grimaced as he took in the sight of the mess he made, but he could tend to it later. For now there was someone he needed to talk to.