It was like dreaming, really, except with eyes wide open. All the pretty patterns in the stars might have never made sense to her without someone to point them out. Astronomy always seemed like nonsense in books, and in class. What did finding a particular star matter to anyone down here on the ground anyway?

The urchin had a glimpse of them now, looming larger than the little pinpricks against the night sky. Larger than life, too, when assuming the roles their constellations had in the evening's stories. Starring roles, naturally, like any player would aspire to. Charley did, too, when there wasn't something smaller holding her back. Something more down to earth, the sort she'd rather care less about than her stomach or feet did. With her legs crossed in the grass, she feasted with her eyes at the sky, and it might have just been enough to keep her full for a day.

Just not tonight.

She saw the woman coming near, long enough to get up onto her elbows and grab the cap from behind her. Beyond its brim and the roofs of Hogsmeade, Charley didn't have much reason to look farther up most days. And most nights it was enough to have a warm bed and cold food. Having a minute to look up at something else had been nice for a while, but the urchin knew that was over before the woman even opened her mouth.

"Don't hafta say it to me, Professor. I s'pose I'll be off now, too." Charley couldn't see anyone else who had overstayed the night's stargazing session, or she might think the woman had more to say about it. Not that she thought Professor Lyra had much good to say in her direction anyhow, not with the grades she'd managed in the woman's class. On the nights she managed to stay awake, that is.

Her cot by the flower shop's hearth was plenty suited for dreaming, anyhow.

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