Sadie wasn’t quite sure what to make of Astronomy. It had been the first textbook she had devoured after the trip to Diagon Alley. She had found herself immensely disappointed. Astronomy, apparently, was more like astrology in the wizarding world. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but Jupiter in the twelfth house of Capricorn’s horns or whatever had [i]not[/i] been it. Magic was incredible, but she still found the whole ‘the stars have bearing on human affairs’ argument a little suspect.

It struck Sadie once again just how little she knew about the wizarding world. Magic was its own beast, played by its own rules. There were so many [i]possibilities[/i]. She felt the familiar excitement bubbling in her chest again as she considered that thought. How far could you push magic? Where could it take you?

She followed Max’s direction to peer at the tower. Something glittered in the morning sunshine, filtering in through grey clouds. Her eyes lit up. That telescope looked [i]enormous[/i]. Maybe magic could rival Hubble. That would be [i]insane[/i] and she might actually die of delight.

Sadie hung on Max’s every word, committing them to memory, even as she disapproved. Fourth year? That was [i]forever[/i] away. He had to be wrong. How could the fundamentals of magic be anything but incredible? [i]MAGIC.[/i] Did he just not get how mind bogglingly awesome that was?

He’d said something about Quidditch. Beyond her brother’s tight-lipped involvement, it didn’t really sound interesting. Flying sounded incredible, sure, but who had time for sport or whatever it was? She wanted to get to the meat of everything, get her teeth into her coursework. But maybe her brother was simply bitter over not winning everything? That sounded right. Sadie admonished herself internally; she really needed to stop judging things. [i]Open mind. You don’t have any frame of reference for any of this.[/i]

“I quite liked him,” Sadie laughed as they shuffled into the Greenhouse. Sadie took the lead, aiming for a table right towards the front, claiming three of the four seats for themselves. The table was loaded with several trowels and pots, and Sadie felt a little at ease. This was somewhat familiar. Undoubtedly it would turn strange and alien soon enough, but she’d been in the garden her whole life. She felt a little less like she’d been thrown into the deep end here.

Undoubtedly having scoured [i]A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi[/i] cover to cover had helped a little.

“Mind if I join you?” Sadie looked up to see a tall, dark haired girl with a loosely knotted bronze and black tie nodding at the empty seat. Evidently, most other students had had the same idea to arrive early, and tables were filling up rapidly. 

“Sure thing,” Sadie chirruped, scooting over to make room. “I’m Sadie. That’s Seine and George.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Freyja,” the girl nodded, considering the greenhouse a little skeptically. Sadie suspected she knew what that expression meant. She was [i]pretty[/i] sure it was simply a (significantly calmer) variant of her own mystified look. Freyja dropped her bag on the ground next to the table, seating herself. "So this is all... weird."