Neptune in the third house
Age 14 / 483 words
"Come on, Dennis -- we're going to miss it!"
"Okay, okay, I know this!" Dennis insisted. "Don't rush me! Okay, um, that's ... bellacus rodentia majoris, right?"
"It is?" Graham leaned over for a closer look. "Shouldn't the edges be purple? Also, who cares?"
"They are purple, sort of! Purple-ish! And we care, because b. r. majoris only grows on the south east side of trees between sixty and sixty-five metres above sea level, so, right, North must be... that way, and the horizon should be down there behind those hills, so you take the angle up, and then, you do the thing, and, then, with, and the, carry the, um, hmm..."
"Hurry up!" Graham fidgeted impatiently, swinging the net around in his hand.
"I'm thinking!" Dennis complained. "Divination is an inexact science, you know!" He frowned. "Technically I don't think it's a science at all, because it is magic, but then magic could be treated as a science so you--"
"Predict!" Graham demanded.
"--predict the... That wasn't what I was going to say at all!" Dennis blinked. "Oh! You mean now! Okay! Um, Mars is in retrograde and the moon is waning, so we should be facing this way, and it's ... nine twenty-nine, so we count up that way and find ... Neptune is in the third house, which tells us..." He grabbed Graham's robe, tugged at it until the other boy followed, and raced up the slope, skidding to a halt at the top. "We want a large white rock!"
"What, this one?" Graham pointed at a particularly hefty example of the same, over to one side.
"Ah hah!" cried Dennis. "Just as predicted! Hooray for Divination!"
"Uh-huh." Graham tossed the net up and then pulled himself up after it. He turned around and leant down as far as he could go. Dennis jumped up and grabbed hold and, between them, they managed to get him up to. "Now what? Come on, Dennis, you said this would work!"
"No, I didn't! You said it would work! I said you should just tell them you lost your Care of Magical Creatures assignment! And you said you would lose points, and I said, well, you already lost your project, and you said, if only we could scry for it, and I said, you can use Burton's method to look for--"
"Okay."
"--lost people so--"
"Okay! Dennis! Now what?"
"Get the net ready," Dennis said, "it should be here any second now!"
They held it up. They waited. They waited some more.
"Nothing--" Graham started it.
There was a bright flash of light and something rather like a winged bunny streaked up the hill, passed nowhere near them and came to an abrupt stop on a small black rock some distance away. It blinked at them owlishly and careened off again the second Graham raised the net.
"Argh!"
Dennis frowned. "Maybe it was the second house..."
"Come on, Dennis -- we're going to miss it!"
"Okay, okay, I know this!" Dennis insisted. "Don't rush me! Okay, um, that's ... bellacus rodentia majoris, right?"
"It is?" Graham leaned over for a closer look. "Shouldn't the edges be purple? Also, who cares?"
"They are purple, sort of! Purple-ish! And we care, because b. r. majoris only grows on the south east side of trees between sixty and sixty-five metres above sea level, so, right, North must be... that way, and the horizon should be down there behind those hills, so you take the angle up, and then, you do the thing, and, then, with, and the, carry the, um, hmm..."
"Hurry up!" Graham fidgeted impatiently, swinging the net around in his hand.
"I'm thinking!" Dennis complained. "Divination is an inexact science, you know!" He frowned. "Technically I don't think it's a science at all, because it is magic, but then magic could be treated as a science so you--"
"Predict!" Graham demanded.
"--predict the... That wasn't what I was going to say at all!" Dennis blinked. "Oh! You mean now! Okay! Um, Mars is in retrograde and the moon is waning, so we should be facing this way, and it's ... nine twenty-nine, so we count up that way and find ... Neptune is in the third house, which tells us..." He grabbed Graham's robe, tugged at it until the other boy followed, and raced up the slope, skidding to a halt at the top. "We want a large white rock!"
"What, this one?" Graham pointed at a particularly hefty example of the same, over to one side.
"Ah hah!" cried Dennis. "Just as predicted! Hooray for Divination!"
"Uh-huh." Graham tossed the net up and then pulled himself up after it. He turned around and leant down as far as he could go. Dennis jumped up and grabbed hold and, between them, they managed to get him up to. "Now what? Come on, Dennis, you said this would work!"
"No, I didn't! You said it would work! I said you should just tell them you lost your Care of Magical Creatures assignment! And you said you would lose points, and I said, well, you already lost your project, and you said, if only we could scry for it, and I said, you can use Burton's method to look for--"
"Okay."
"--lost people so--"
"Okay! Dennis! Now what?"
"Get the net ready," Dennis said, "it should be here any second now!"
They held it up. They waited. They waited some more.
"Nothing--" Graham started it.
There was a bright flash of light and something rather like a winged bunny streaked up the hill, passed nowhere near them and came to an abrupt stop on a small black rock some distance away. It blinked at them owlishly and careened off again the second Graham raised the net.
"Argh!"
Dennis frowned. "Maybe it was the second house..."