This started off as something so simple - a boy and a girl and the stars. I blame Jessica Mauboy and Stan Walker. Everyone heard "Galaxy"? Good, now you know what set me off. After hours of rearranging paragraphs, shifting commas and abusing a thesaurus I'm done. Enjoy.

Oh, this is slightly connected to "Nothing" and "To Wish Upon A Star" but you don't have to have read those for it to make sense. This may never make sense. But if you were to give them a read, and a review, that'd be so very much appreciated. That's it now, I'm done. Promise.

The door was left unlocked.

That was almost disappointing – it should have had enchantments on it that prevented "Alohamora" from working, but there was nothing. The cupboard door was the same, even left slightly ajar.

It was their rule. It was their only rule. And yet, there were no precautions put in place that should have been.

It's their own fault, she decided, tapping the doorknob and whispering "colloportus." She would tell them that too, if she were caught. If they had just answered her questions, she wouldn't have to resort to sneaking around. And if they were serious about the rule, they would have done something to make sure she couldn't do this.

But, she was there, and now she had another objective – go back, see what had really happened.

Inside the cupboard was a large stone basin. It was covered in runes, carvings that looked unfamiliar. The thing took up the entire shelf on which it sat, and above it were racks of vials, each of them containing something that swirled, either a gas or a liquid, she couldn't be sure.

"Don't back out now." She told herself, lifting the basin and moving it to the desk she had passed on her way in. Returning to the cupboard, she lifted a hand to choose a vial. They weren't labelled, and she wasn't sure if there was any order to them, but as she passed her hand along the rows, something made her grab at the third one.

"You can do this – you're the child of powerful couple, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin; who else can claim that? You'll be fine," she coached herself, as her hand began to move of its own accord and poured the contents into the basin.

It was only shallow and she had an awful thought as she leaned inward that she might hit the bottom before long, but as she continued to lean forward, Halley found herself looking into a room, most of it taken up by a big bed.

In the centre of the bed lay a woman. She was looking up, her lips moving, but Halley couldn't hear what was being said from where she was, so she leaned forward until her nose broke the surface of the strange substance.

Her father's office shook all around her, as if it had just been hit by an earthquake, and Halley felt herself falling forwards, pitching headfirst into the silvery substance.

It almost felt like she was passing through a black waterfall at the same time as an army of ghosts. It was so cold and dark as she tumbled through the space Halley didn't like it at all.

But then it was over and she landed on the big soft bed in time to hear the woman say in a sing-song voice, "I found you,"

"Was I hiding?" asked another voice as the door opened. There was a handsome young man holding two steaming cups. Cocoa, it smelled like.

They were breathtaking. They both had the same pale complexion, hers showing up her dark eyes and hair, his silver eyes, like moonlit mercury, shining through. Photos of the two of them could never dull. Even if they were too tired to move around or do anything much, they would still be lovely to look at.

"There." She pointed upward – straight through Halley's face as she'd been leaning over her, studying the differences. "I found you up there."

Halley looked up to where she pointed and gasped. The room opened to the sky! There was no ceiling.

"I see." He placed the two mugs on the bed side locker before joining her on the bed. She wriggled over to give him space and then as they were adjusting themselves, entwining ankles and joining hands, Halley made herself comfortable in an arm chair by the window, certain that her presence had not been detected.

"I wish everyone could see this," she sighed, still looking up.

"You never told me you fancied exhibitionism,"

"This!" she pointed again and he nodded. "The stars, I wish we could go and make it so that everyone could lay comfy in their beds and still see the stars."

"I don't." she turned to regard him curiously; Halley sat forward, wondering why he would say that. "They wouldn't understand," was all he gave as an explanation.

"Understand what?"

"How important they really are. Sure, they might know some of the names; they might be able to recite the… longey-tude, to say exactly where they're located. But they don't really know. They can't really see."

"The Muggles, you mean?"

"People like us too. Even the ones that can perform the same spell; clear away the clouds and the smog and whatever else, so that the ceiling reflects nothing but the sky, even they don't know."

As the almost raven-haired woman enquired as to what he really meant Halley looked up again. Of course. The room didn't open to the sky that would be ridiculous. The ceiling merely reflected the sky, just like the one in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, and – this made her feel particularly stupid – in her parents room at the Manor.

But this was not that room, so she let herself off there.

"We were never supposed to be together you know."

"I know." It sounded as if she could barely speak those two words. Just five letters, but they were a struggle.

"My parents did all they could to poison me against you, long before I even knew who you were. Small things at first. Reminders that family loyalty was the most important thing of all; following tradition was a necessity. Then they began to mention you by name, tell me that your father was a traitor, a deserter and you were the product of his betrayal.

"Before we met it was easy to go along with. They were my parents, they wouldn't tell me lies; they had all the answers. How could they be wrong? But afterwards, when you tried to befriend me, I didn't know what to do. What was I to think?"

On the bed and in the chair, they bit their lower lips. The woman, who was being spoken to, continued to watch the sky, while the young girl stared at the handsome blonde man.

"It upsets me sometimes," he continued. "To think of others looking up there, pointing out specific stars, renaming them for whomever they love at that moment. Those are the ones that have no idea at all. The stars have been there for millions of years. Longer. They have no business christening them for a girl just so they can get a leg over."

Having no idea where he was going with this topic of conversation, Halley settled herself in the chair more comfortably while the girl pressed herself in against her lover's side and curled a hand on his chest.

"I was fifteen when I first realised I loved you." He announced.

Halley saw the other girl's mouth fall open and tears spring to her eyes, but she was fighting them, not letting them fall. Clearly she'd had no idea. Why they hadn't talked about it before, Halley couldn't have even guessed, but in any case, they were discussing it now.

"I used to spend nights in my dorm, staring at the hangings around my bed, thinking of you. I listened to the sound of your laugh, watched your eyes sparkle the way they would when you were happiest, with your friends, and I wished it was me. I wished that I could be the one to make that happen, to cause you such happiness. But there were no stars to be seen where I slept, so there was nothing to wish upon."

"You never said-"

"I couldn't, could I? Not after the way I had behaved since we first met. I knew by then that I had been wrong and I felt horrible. But I honestly thought that loving you and having you hate me for the rest of our lives would be my punishment for not standing up to my parents. For not being my own person,

"After Hogwarts I decided that I would forget all about you. It was something I had to do, and I always managed to do what was necessary before. But when it came to this, I couldn't. Even if you were never mentioned to me again, how could I possibly forget you when there was a reminder in the sky every evening?"

"That's why you showed up…"

He nodded his chin above her head. "By that point I'd decided that I couldn't wait anymore I had to see you. I was desperate to see you. Even if you sent me away without talking to me, I needed to know."

"Why you showed up?" Halley repeated, knowing she couldn't be heard. "Showed up where? When? Come on! You've got to give me more than that! How am I supposed to know where to go next?"

"How many stars do you think there are up there," asked the woman with tears still glistening in her eyes as she pointed to the ceiling again.

"Billions, trillions… I have no idea. More than anyone knows, probably. Why?"

"And when I lie here, how many do you think I see?" Halley had to look up again then. She tried to count the ones that were visible in their patch. But there were far too many.

"There's got to be thousands." He replied after a while, Halley having come to the same conclusion.

"Probably, yes. But that's not what I asked. How many do you think I see?"

"Well…" he was silent again, considering, then he smiled, "The same number that I see."

"And that is?"

"One, just yours,"

Halley wanted to want to gag at that. It seemed to be the appropriate response for a fifteen year old girl, listening to an overly romantic couple. But she didn't really feel any desire to. And anyway, there was no one who would know that she enjoyed hearing such a thing being said.

"Every night I look up and I find you and I know that everything will be alright." She added.

"They were right." He said. "My parents, I see it now. Whatever else they've done or said they got one thing right. Family loyalty is the most important thing. And if you'll have me, I'll be loyal to ours for the rest of my life, until my very last breathe."

Halley sat forward in her seat as the woman before her sat up and looked down.

Was that a marriage proposal? He hadn't actually mentioned marriage, but otherwise, it seemed-

"Of course."

They kissed then and Halley felt herself being lifted, rising back towards the ceiling and back to the office in the present.

"Probably a good thing," she decided. Things looked as if they were about to get a lot more intimate.

Fuelled by her success, Halley siphoned the memory out of the Pensieve and replaced it in its bottle before returning it to the shelf and searching for another.

"What did she mean that was why he showed up?" she asked the odd little objects on the desk. "When did he show up?"

Studying the bottles again, Halley let her hand move on its own to pick the next memory. And then she took that one to the Pensieve as well.

Falling back through time again, Halley found herself standing outside. All around her, couples were dancing, people were talking and laughing.

Then she heard a voice she knew very well.

"What does he think he's doing here?" Turning to the source she found Ronald Weasley, one of her "Uncle" Harry's best friends, as well as Hermione Granger.

"She wouldn't have invited him, surely?" Hermione looked concerned. Harry was silent, just watching. By that point, Halley couldn't take it anymore. She had to turn away from the three friends and discover what they were looking at.

A young Draco Malfoy strode across the grass and stopped in front of the young woman who was finishing thanking a guest.

Following his path, she stopped by his side as he swept into a low bow and asked, "May I have this dance?" He wore black velvet robes with a high collar, his pale skin and hair standing out even more so because of it.

Halley waited to see what would happen, but the young woman who had been asked, simply stood, looking him over. It seemed as if every party guest was watching them. Harry, Hermione and Ron would most definitely be discussing this new development.

"Can I see your invitation?" she finally asked in return. Halley had a feeling that everyone knew he wouldn't be able to produce one.

"I don't have one. I'm sorry to show up uninvited, but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday."

"Why, after all this time?"

"I thought it had been long enough. I'm of age. Overage. Continuing to let my father dictate who I can and can't speak to, to control me, that's… well it's not how I want to live my life."

"Go on!" Halley pleaded. "Say yes!"

The witch in the silver robes continued to study him as his hand remained outstretched towards her, and then as it began to waver, she took a deep breath, a step forward and grasped it in her own.

Once again Halley felt that this was one of those moments when she should leave the couple alone, give them their privacy, even if they had no idea she was watching. But she couldn't drag herself away, couldn't even face the thought of observing the other guests. Instead she stood and watched the birthday girl dance with the unwelcome boy.

He was holding her so gently, almost as if she were an injured baby bird and he was taking great pains not to crush her.

As they moved in slow rhythmic circles, Halley wanted to yell at everyone to stop whispering about them, to tell them they were ruining the moment. But she could have screamed until she was hoarse and it wouldn't have done any good.

Not that the two of them had any idea of what was going on outside the orbit of their dance.

Suddenly the whispering became frenzied, voices were being raised. Something was going on to draw the attention of everyone present away from the only two who were still dancing and then, even they stopped and looked up like the rest.

A comet burned across the sky right over the top of their heads.

"Wow," Halley had never seen one so clear without a telescope before. It was wonderful.

"It's beautiful," Halley heard the twenty-one year old witch say, and she tore her eyes away from the sky. The birthday girl was holding onto Draco's arm, watching the comet's path, but the young man who she had moments earlier been dancing with had eyes only for her.

"Isn't it?" he replied.

She wouldn't have heard though, Halley decided. She was busy staring upward. But her expression was different to how it had been only seconds before. She looked as if she had finally discovered the solution to a problem she'd been working at for years and years.

The party dissolved around her and once again Halley found herself standing in her father's office.

The memory of the birthday party left her with a light happy feeling in her stomach and Halley was almost ready to abandon her plan. She saw them young and happy, why should she continue?

But she needed to. There was still so much more to discover.