Sander slowly hobbled into the Astrophysics lab ahead of Tessa, Bay and Lux. He walked over to the locker with his name written on the label. He pulled out his white lab coat and pair of goggles. He first donned the lab coat and buttoned it up securely before placing the pair of goggles over his face, adjusting them until they were securely over his eyes.

Then he hobbled over to where he had last left his glass container....only he forgotten where he had previously sat at. So Sander hobbled from one workstation to another until he FINALLY found the one that his name written on the label.

Sander placed his backpack on the floor and pulled out his journal to read the homework instructions he had copied out from their Common Room Bulletin Board. They were supposed to make at least a minimum of seven planets. He had already one floating in his glass container along with the sun he had made yesterday in class, so he had to make at least another 6 more. Sander had decided that he was going to add a moon, because what would a solar system be without at least one moon, and maybe another two more to orbit around one of his own planets.

First thing he had to do was collect the foliage and stones he would need to create his planet. Walking to the front of the lab where the two large boxes lay, Sander poked his head into the one on the left and picked up two tree twigs, a grass cutting, lake weed, a rose and two leaves. Then he reached into the box on the right and selected nine stones, before walking back to his workstation.

Sander placed them at his workstation. He was ready to start creating his planets but for now he wanted to check on what he had already created. His first planet and the sun. From what he could see his planet was looking okay...not that he would know the difference, but he could tell that there was something wrong with his sun. It was turning blueish and that meant that the temperature inside the sun was getting too hot.

Sander knew that he had to bring down the temperature of his sun before it exploded, so he quickly reviewed his journal for the proper spell incantation and wand movement. "Here it is. Dextrini Potitus and the wand movement is a flick downwards to bring down the temperature." Sander whispered to himself.

Unholstering his wand, Sander pointed his wand at his sun and with a downwards flick of his wand he said the incantation to the spell,"Dextrini Potitus" and then ended the spell. Then he waited to see whether there was any change in the color. Leaning down he peered into the glass container, his nose almost flattened against the glass surface and squinted his eyes trying to see. It was gradually turning a brilliant white although there were tinges of blue in it. So Sander decided to cast the spell one more time.

Pointing his wand at the sun inside the glass container, he flicked his wand downwards and said the incantation again, "Dextrini Potitus" and then leaned down again to peer into the container. Squinting his eyes, he smiled to see that the bluish tinges were gone. His sun's temperature had stabilized. It's color was back to being brilliant white again.

Sander ended the spell and looked up to see whether his friends had joined him in the lab.

As he waited he decided to ask the Professor a question. Raising his hand, Sander asked,"Professor can we wait to drop all the planets in all at once? I'm just worried that if I keep releasing the air inside the container, it will affect the sun in someway." he turned to look at their Astromomy Professor.

"and since I have you here, could I ask your advice about our moons. What size should it be? And how do we make the moon to orbit just one planet?" Sander asked with an apologetic look on his face.

He knew that he was inundating the Professor with too many questions but he wanted to try to get everything right the first time.

Huffing and puffing, Adi finally arrived at the Astrophysics lab. Just why was he out of breath? Well, he had forgotten the direction to the lab. After leaving the Hufflepuff common room, for some reason he had ended up in the dungeons. Afterwards, it was the fourth floor then he somehow found himself wandering on the first floor. After what felt like days, he finally reached the lab and by then he was rather grumpy and tired. Dang his abysmal memory!

"Yo, Sander,'' the second year called moodily to the seventh year noticing the dude was the only other student there. He wasn't in the mood to say anything else so he just found the table he had used for the last class. The container still holding his sun and first planet was there and they both looked just fine. Good. He could get started on his planets right away, then. He was about to get some foliage when he suddenly got this nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. Now what was it? Adi stood frozen, racking his brains.

Oh! That's right! Goggles and a lab coat! How could he forget them? The Puffer scurried over to the closet to retrieve them both before returning to his table, his eyes travelling to the table next to his. Where was Benny, anyway? They were supposed to be working on this together. Feeling even more grumpy that Benny hadn't turned up on time, Adi purposely decided to start working on his first (well, second) planet. He cleaned his pestle and mortar using Scourgify, added some foliage, a small stone and two scoops of iron to the mortar and began to grind them up.

Excited, Lux made her way over to the Astrophysics lab. This was one of the homework assignments that she was looking forward to the most from all Term, because making her own solar system seemed really cool. She already had names for a bunch of planets and some moons, and could not wait to make them. Spotting Sander and Adi in the room already, she felt even happier because they were awesome, and she knew that Sander would help her when needed. Where was Bay though? And Tessa?

Hoping that they would arrive soon, she headed over to grab her lab coat and goggles, knowing how important safety was and that Professor Flamsteed would not be pleased if she was careless and ignored instructions. Placing her goggles over her eyes, she then put her coat on over her regular clothes and buttoned it up.

Knowing that she needed to grab some foliage and other materials, Lux decided that it would be a good idea to make sure her equipment was all clean first; cleanliness was very important, and not just in potion making. Heading over to her station, she waved at the two boys. "Hey there!" Using magic, she cleaned her pestle and mortar before heading over to grab some foliage, a stone, and the powdered iron. Hearing Sander ask Professor Flamsteed a few good questions, she curiously waited for him to answer. She wanted to make sure that she did everything correctly.

And Kevin was back in the Astrophysics Laboratory again after the last lesson. He had decided to do this homework because he kind of, okay he had neglected the previous one. Luckily the Professor had not mentioned it in class before. Shuffling his feet through the doorway, the young Gryffindor still with the gray hair looked around at who else was inside the room. A few other students probably busy with their own homework. He did not say an hello, did not acknowledge anyone in the room and walked straight towards the closet in the back.

He opened it and searched his own lab coat and goggles and when he found them he put them on slowly since his back and arms hurt a little when he made certain movements. Turning around, the goggles firmly on the top of his head, he found a place far away from the other students to work.

Ella really, really wished the Astro lab was closer to her common room. It was a tiring walk regularly but what with her old age and all-SIGH- it was especially tiring. At least she had some company as she slowly made her way up there. That was the bright side to all of this and of course the bright side would be directly linked to Toby. Yup, Mr. Sunshine himself had agreed to do the homework with her and this was maybe the only reason she wasn't grumbling about sore knees and an aching back as she rounded the corner and approached the the lab.

She gave him a little smile as she placed her hand on the doorknob and opened the door. "Finally." Could she sit down yet? Nope. A couple of things she needed first. Like she needed to grab her lab coat and goggles. This was done first and Ella shrugged the coat on with some trouble, opting to leave the goggles off for now. "See your first planet and sun anywhere, Tobes?" The eighteen year old glanced around the room in search of her own, noting where the foliage and stones were as she did. It took a bit of looking but eventually she did locate them, knowing it was her work based on the aspects of the planet she'd made. "Mine looked like they held up pretty well. The sun still seems pretty bright which is good." She might still give them a bit of a spruce up, though. She hadn't decided yet.

Ugg...

The most annoying part of the aging was the pain in movement. And when one had to travel up and down and up and down the 121 staircases of Hogwarts to get anywhere they needed to go, there was a lot of movement and a lot of discomfort. Moving slowly helped just a little so when Benny knew he had to head to the astrophysics lab, the Gryffindor had attempted to give himself enough time to move at a snail's pace and still be on time.

Yeah...that hadn't worked.

Yet finally he had made it and made his way across the circular room. Ben sat down at his work station beside Adi wordlessly and tired. It was only when he noticed the hufflepuff's attire that he remembered what he needed and got up with a groan once more to retrieve his lab coat and goggles. Slipping them both on and securing them in place, Ben returned to his seat. Finally he could get to work on what he was here for. What he was here with his friend for. Oh right...he wasn't here in the astrophysics lab alone, and he didn't mean the older Gryffindor there doing his own work.

"Hi..." he said quietly as he released his notes from his bag to the workdesk and looked over his sun and planets. Looks like he only had three to make for the homework since he had gotten a head start like some of his classmates at the lesson. The second year laying out the tools he would need including his wand.

Tobias returned Ella's little smile with a big one of his own as they entered the lab. He stopped off to grab a coat and pick up some goggles at the same time as the Head Girl, and scanned the lab looking for his own project. It was difficult, because of his icky eyesight, and the boy had to go on a hunt around the room, shuffling slowly because of oldness reasons.

"Ah-ha!" the Hufflepuff beamed enthusiastically as he found the right box. Toby pulled his goggles over his eyes and squinted again at it, just to double check, and yep! Definitely his. He turned to face Ella and held it up to show her he had it, and shuffled back over, somehow seeming to put a bit of bounce in his shuffling. "Mine look okay, I think. If it needs any tweaking I can do that last." He definitely had the stuff in his notes.

Speaking of his notes, Toby checked them now. "May as well collect enough stuff for all the planets first, saves moving around so much."

It was sad to think that Tobias was having to AVOID moving around as much as he could these days, but he ignored that and grinned and headed over to collect the 'ingredients'.

Yup, he'd found his project. Ella gave the younger badger a big thumbs up and a smile as she slowly made her way over to where her own box was. Just wanted to get a closer look before starting anything else, y'know? She wanted to make sure her solar system would survive and all. "Yeah, I think a checkup at the end is a good plan." She'd do that too.

And yet another good idea. He was full of those today, it seemed. The Head Girl nodded her head in agreement and followed his lead, heading over to where the foliage and stones were placed. She'd want to get a variety of stuff so that her planets were a bit different, yeah? Made sense.

"Oh, this one is cool," She said excitedly, holding up a smooth oval stone with flecks of brown and tan. She'd definitely be keeping this one and so she set it on the nearest table so she could make herself a little ingredients pile. She also found herself a triangular stone that was golden brown and reminded her of toast and then a green-ish one which was pretty close to her favorite color. Both got added to the pile too. "See anything you like?" She asked when she returned to the box, ready to pick a few more. The Head Girl found a few more stones of various colors while she picked through the box, all different shapes and sizes. When she had her six, it was on to the foliage.

Hm.

A few different color flower petals were selected. A long blade of grass too. A couple of twigs that appeared to be from different places. And a piece of bark. Quite a nice little selection. "Now to get all this stuff back to the table."

Sighhhhh.

Walking was hard.

Oh, looky! It was Lux! Adi waved back at her. And there was Benny, too! Finally. "Hey, Benny.'' Poor Dragon. He looked so tired. But there was work to be done. He poked Benny lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, you old Dragon,'' he said jokingly. "Get moving or I'm going to finish before you.'' The Puffer's good mood seemed to be returning. Good. He disliked being a grump. "I've collected enough foliage, stones and iron for both of us.'' So they didn't have to be trekking back and forth to their tables.

So now to make that planet. "Fingere Elementi!'' Adi jabbed his wand towards his mortar and hey presto! A planet! Grinning, he placed it in the glass box so that it joined his first planet and the Sun. Adi secured the lid. Two planets down! Three or four more to go!

Sitting in the front of the laboratory in a chair he had transfigured earlier to support his aging frame, the professor clutched his over-sized magnifying glass in one hand as he read his copy of The Left Hand of Darkness. Or tried to anyway. Every time he reached the end of a sentence or page he had entirely forgotten what it was he had just read, so he would have to start all over again. Probably had been on page one for the good part of thirty minutes now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

As he waited he decided to ask the Professor a question. Raising his hand, Sander asked,"Professor can we wait to drop all the planets in all at once? I'm just worried that if I keep releasing the air inside the container, it will affect the sun in someway." he turned to look at their Astromomy Professor.

"and since I have you here, could I ask your advice about our moons. What size should it be? And how do we make the moon to orbit just one planet?" Sander asked with an apologetic look on his face.

He knew that he was inundating the Professor with too many questions but he wanted to try to get everything right the first time.

"EH?!" he squawked at the Hufflepuff when he asked a question of the man. What was that about plants and fun? The wasn't Herbology oooooooooh. Right. Gotcha. Setting his magnifying glass down for the moment, he grabbed his cane and walked over to the boy and his work station. "No no, Sun will be fine. If you want to ensure that each of your planets' receive the proper gravitational pull, then you should do them separate. Otherwise you may end up with one that gets sling shot right out of your box or collides with the Sun and then, well...KABOOM!"

Advice? Mooning? Airey didn't know a thing about that. Heh. No. That was a lie. He knew a thing or two about that from his youth, but surely that wasn't what Mr. Strand wasn't asking about that. Or werewolves. Moon and all.

Right. Old man brain was going all over the place. What was the question?

"Well, your sun is about the size of an apricot and your planets will be smaller than that...perhaps strawberry or raspberry in size...small blueberry even...your moons would be about...er...watermelon seed theoretically. Just like the planets and moons in our Solar System all vary in size, yours too will reflect that."

Sander listened attentively as Professor Flamsteed answered. "Thank you Professor," Sander nodded his thanks. He turned just in time to hear Adi and Lux say hello to him. He smiled over at them and waved hello before turning back to review his notes.

Now that he had his questions answered, Sander decided that he would first create a moon for his solar system. "Okay grind up one stone together with the right amount of iron" he read to himself. Pulling over the mortar and pestle, Sander cleaned it. Pointing his wand inside it, he said, "Scourgify" before ending the spell.

Next he placed one stone inside the mortar, then measured out the right amount of powdered iron and poured the contents into the mortar too. Picking up his pestle, he held the stone between his index finger and his thumb, tapped the stone with his pestle first breaking it into smaller pieces. Then he proceeded to grind the pieces together with the powdered iron until they were thoroughly mixed up together. Sander picked up his wand to cast the spell that would change his powdered contents into a moon before realizing that he had forgotten the spell incantation and wand movement to do that.

Silently chastising his failing memory, Sander sighed and turned back to his journal and found the spell. Picking up his wand, he jabbed at the contents inside his mortar and chanted the incantation, "Fingere Elementi" and watched with abated breath as the contents came together and began to solidify until it became a greyish colored ball, the size of a large watermelon seed.

Sander smiled. He had made his first moon. He ended the spell before picking up the ball with his fingers and moved it over until he was holding it right next to the opening of the lid. Then he lifted the lid just long enough for him to toss his moon inside before quickly closing it securely. Sander watched as his moon joined his first planet and began its crazy flight around the sun.

"I'm going to call you, Månen Tessa," Sander whispered softly so that no one else could hear. It was then Sander decided that if he was going to name his moon, he would also name his other planets in the solar system he was creating. Looking through the glass, he looked at the planet he had created in class the day before, and decided he would name that it, Rivendell, after the Elvish city so named in the book, Lord of the Rings. His favorite book.

Now it was time to create the other planets for his solar system.

Lux listened intently to everything that Professor Flamsteed said to Sander wondering what she would do about her sun if she kept opening and closing the box to put more planets and moons inside. Because some of her planets were definitely going to have a moon. Heading back to her station, she set her materials down so that she could start working on her next planet.

After placing the foliage and stone in the mortar, she scooped out two spoonfuls of iron and added that before crushing everything up into a fine powder. Pointing her wand at the powder, she said, ""Fingere Elementi." As the planet started to form, she opened the lid to the container just long enough to toss it inside before sealing it tight again. "I shall name you Quidditch, and you will be the second planet in my solar system after Camelot."

With the stuff he needed to make the sun placed in front of him, the Gryffindor made sure that his goggles were over his eyes and his lab coat closed before he grabbed the small measuring spoon and scooped up some helium and 1..2..3..4..5 scoops of that other stuff... Whats it called again? Hydrosomething, in to the glass box. He unrolled the parchment that he had taken out of his bag and read that he could also add some extra iron in it if he wanted. Thinking for a few seconds, the Gryffindor decided against it.

Looking back down at his parchment, Kevin squinted his eyes as he tried to read the next line of instructions while scratching his back. His handwriting was horrible! Probably because of his shaking hands all the time. Anyways, he flicked his wrist and the wand fell out of his wrist holster and on to the floor. Blinking a few times, the first year looked down and sighed before bending down to pick up his wand. Great, now even his reflexes were horrible.

"oww-owwowwowww" he mumbled as he supported his lower back with his hand and then fell on his behind on the floor. Errr...what now? He tried to get up but the surface of the table above him was too high up and he couldn't get up himself thanks to his painful back."CAN SOMEONE PLACE THE STUFF ON MY WORKING SPACE ON THE GROUND IN FRONT OF ME?!" Because asking for help to get up was not cool.

Ben let the poke slide because it was too much effort to complain about it. Though he was beginning to wonder which was a better nickname, or at least the lesser of two evils; Benny or Dragon. "Funny...I'm already ahead of you," he mused, given there were two planets around the Gryffindor's sun rather than the only one around the Hufflepuffs. For the moment anyway.

At the mention of the final needed ingrediants though, he almost groaned were it not for the part about Adi getting enough for them both. Sure enough, on his friend's workstation was a wide variety of items. "....thanks," Benny managed to get out. One less thing he had to get up from in a day he had already been up and on his feet for waaaaaay too long.

Leaving his friend to his planet, the Gryffindor went to work on his own. "Scourgify," he cast on his mortar and pestle to make sure it was squeaky clean. Then onto the planet building. One stone,two folliage...check. Two scoops of iron added in...check. The second year began crushing everything up in the mortar, allowing more time to work so he didn't have to expend too much effort too fast and wind up hurting more.

Finally Ben was satisfied and was about to cast, caught first by the need to find his wand again and then by Professor Flamsteed's KABOOM! The Gryffindor moving faster then he had been as he half-fell, half jumped off his stool in his reaction. Slipping to the floor he couldn't help but wince in pain.

OWW.

Sander cleaned up his mortar and pestle before picking a stone and dropping into it. Then he selected a grass cutting, scooped up two spoonfuls of powdered iron and placed both in the mortar. Picking up his pestle he hit the stone that he was holding with his fingers as hard as he could and watched as it broke into little pieces. Then he began the process of grinding the dried grass cutting, powdered iron and stone bits together until they were thoroughly crushed and mixed together.

Picking up his wand, he jabbed at the contents and said the words to the phase changing spell, "Fingere Elementi". Then he watched as the powdered combination began to form into a greenish colored ball, the size of a raspberry. Sander picked up the ball, then lifted up the lid of the glass container, just wide enough for him to toss his green ball inside the small opening, before quickly closing the lid securely back on.

"I name thee, Hobbiton," Sander named his second planet and smiled as Hobbiton joined Månen Tessa and Rivendell as they zipped around in the glass container. He spent a few minutes savoring the moment before turning back to his mortar and pestle and cleaned both of them. Then he measured out another two spoonfuls of iron, picked up a dried lake weed and a stone and placed them all into the mortar. Picking up the pestle, he first broke up the stone into bits before proceeding to grind up all three items into powder.

It was time to cast the spell and change the powder into another ball. Picking up his wand, Sander jabbed at the contents inside his mortar and said, "Fingere Elementi" then he waited to see what would happen next.

....and right before his very eyes, the powdered substance formed into one powdered ball, constantly changing until it solidified and became a bluish looking ball. Sander picked it up, and like before, lifted up the lid of the glass container just wide enough to to squeeze the strawberry sized ball inside it. The he quickly dropped the lid and secured it. Sander leaned down, peered inside the container and watched as the bluish ball joined its sisters.

"I shall call you, La Mer," Sander named his third planet.

Sander was about to cast the spell to clean up his mortar and pestle again, when one of the students loudly called out instructions to everybody. Sander frowned over at him and wanted to tell him to pipe down but figured that he'd only make more noise. So he shuffled over to the boy and looked down at him.

"I don't know whether Professor Flamsteed would approve of you working on the lab floor. Wouldn't you prefer to be up here instead? I can help get you up if you want," Sander offered even as he wondered to himself how comfortable the ground looked. Maybe the first year had a good idea after all.

'No Sander don't even think about doing that,' Sander silently admonished himself.

Adi shook his head. "Not anymore, Benny. We're equal.'' See? He had two planets. Hehe. Thanks? Oh for the ingredients! "No problem, old boy.'' He just liked referring to his friend as old.But Adi seemed to keep forgetting even he himself was old. Anyway...

He turned his attention to his mortar once more. Some foliage, a stone and two scoops of iron. And commence Operation Crush! CRUSH, CRUSH, CRUSH that stubborn stone! Finally, when everything was well crushed, Adi grabbed his wand. "Fingere Elementi!'' He watched in awe as the ingredients started to form a ball after jabbing his wand. His third planet in total! He popped it into the box and shut the lid. He'd make three more so he'd have six in all.

And that's when Benny hit the floor. Dropping his wand in surprise, Adi hurried over to his friend. "You okay, dude?'' He held out his hand to help his friend up and to the Professor called, ''Professor! Your LOUD KABOOM! scared Benny!'' Why was the man scaring his students?

So they were.

Not that it was a competition of any sorts and they still both needed a handful more planets in their solar system for the credit of the assignment. Plenty of time and activity to keep them busy. Rushing was probably not a safe idea anyway, Ben had already had a close call during class. He didn't exactly want to repeat it any time soon.

Looking up as a shadow descended over him Ben vaguely saw his friend looking concerned. Him...okay? "I...I think so." He'd have to move to be totally sure. Accepting the offered hand, the Gryffindor attempted a move, only making it back up to his knees in the first step as Adi explained what happened to the Professor. "Oooooo no loud noises." That was more Flamsteed AND the Hufflepuff.

Could they stop yelling?

Slowly crawling up to a seat back on his stool, Ben was glad to see at least he hadn't managed to spill the mortar's contents in the process. No redoing needed which was more than a relief. He searched around for his wand only to find it had been what fell along with him to the floor. Inward groan, the elderly boy gingerly bending back down to pick it up, straightening with another wince.

Now where was he?

Oh right.

"Fingere Element!" he cast, only to be greeted with no change this time around. Sigh.

As he waited for someone to do what he had ordered, Kevin sat on the floor and tried to point his Phoenix feather wand in the direction of the glass box that stood on the table surface. He aimed carefully, his tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth in concentration and when the target was in sight he said "FINGERE ELEMENTI!" He waited a couple of seconds but then realised that it had failed. "FINGERE ELEMENTI!" he tried again and this time the spell had worked around the same time another student walked up to him.

He looked vaguely familiar but whatever. "I DON'T CARE WHAT THE OLD MAN THINKS!" He said in a loud voice. Hearing problems you know? Oh wait? he offered to help him up? he could work with that. "YES! AND HURRY UP I NEED TO FINISH THIS PROJECT AND GO TO THE BATHROOM" He reeeaallly needed to go soon.

So the boy...Sander couldn't quite remember his name...was accepting his offer to help him up? Good....

What he needed to go the bathroom? Sander shook his head to dispel the thought. Just the mention of the word bathroom and his bladder began to tell him that it too might need to go soon.

"Okay I'm almost done making my planets. Give me ten minutes and I'll help you up. If you can't wait call out again and I'll stop what I'm doing and come help you," Sander told the first year before shuffling back to his own workstation, Sander proceeded to make his fourth planet. He couldn't decide what he wanted to make first. Then he thought of Tessa again and a smile grew on his face.

He would create a planet and dedicate it to their new budding relationship.

Still smiling to himself, Sander cleaned his mortar and pestle again, before selecting a dried rose from his selection of foliage and dropped it into his mortar. Next he dropped in a stone before scooping up two more spoonfuls of powdered iron and adding it in. Picking up his pestle he first broke up the stone before proceeding to grind down its bits together with the dried flower and the powdered iron. Once he was sure he had properly blended all three substances, he picked up his wand and said, "Fingere Elementi" while at the same time jabbing at the contents inside his mortar with his wand.

The substances gathered together and formed a red colored planet with tinges of pink in it. Sander picked up the reddish pink planet, opened the lid's container just enough for him to toss his newest planet inside it, before quickly securing it shut again. He watched as the newest planet, which was the size of a strawberry, joined its fellow sisters in their orbit around the sun.

"I hereby officially name you Sandessa" Sander whispered out its name to it as he watched it float by his eyes.

Then he looked down at the remaining foliage sitting on workstation. Because of his failing memory, he could barely even remember what the conditions of each planet were like in the real solar system, but Sander suspected there would be one where anything that grew there would die, so he decided to create a planet just like that.

He cleaned up his mortar and pestle before a stone in it. Then he measured out two spoonfuls of powdered iron and poured that into the mortar. Next a dead looking dried twig from his collection joined the other substances in the mortar. He then proceeded to grind up all three substances right after he had pounded the stone and broken it into bits.

Then he picked up his wand and cast the phase changing spell by jabbing his wand at the ground up substances and saying,"Finite Elementi". He watched as the substances began to solidify and once he had a brownish colored planet in his mortar, the size of a raspberry, he picked it up and carefully opened up the lid of the glass container leaving just enough of an opening for him to toss it in, before closing the lid back up securely. He didn't want the gravitational pull of the sun to be affected grossly, neither did he want his planets to come flying out. Nope! Nice and tight for now.

Then he leaned down and whispered to it. "I here dub thee, Mordor."

Once he was done, he looked over at the Slytherin boy to see how he was doing. Should he go help him now?

Ian sighed as he entered the lab. He read the instructions he had written down on what he was supposed to do. He wasn't really interested in what he had to do, but he wanted to keep Hufflepuff's lead in the House points. His hip was killing him and the cane was becoming more of an impediment and less of an assistant. The weight just made things challenging.

He found a spot he could work and began to gather the supplies to make his solar system. He took some time to find a stone because he didn't really want one that was all misshapen and oblong. He finally selected one with a fairly spherical shape and looked similar to slate.

He then went to work finding some moss and then decided he had what he needed, he began to sketch out his design for the solar system.

He decided he wanted something that was less Helio-centric and almost rotated on a spinning, twisting Axis. He wasn't terrible pleased with an elliptical solar system that only rotated the sun on one plane.

Having finished her second planet, Lux decided that she would go and make her third but add a moon to it. Heading back over to the boxes, she picked out two small stones before gathering some more foliage. Grabbing a bit of grass and flowers, she headed back to her table.

After cleaning her pestle and mortar, she placed the foliage and one of the stones inside before scooping out two more spoonfuls of the iron. Smashing it up into a fine powder, she hummed a little tune to herself. This was a lot of fun, and she wished she could make a million planets and a dozen suns. Too bad she was sure that Professor Flamsteed would consider that overdoing things.

When she was sure she was done, she pointed her wand at the powder and said, "Fingere Elementi." Opening the lid of the container for a moment, she tossed the forming ball inside before closing it up tight again. "I shall call you Merplanet." Merplanet needed a moon, so as soon as she cleaned her pestle and mortar again, she set right about doing that.

Placing her other stone in the mortar, she then raised her hand. She had a question for the Professor. "Professor, how much iron am I supposed to add in with the stone to make a moon?" She couldn't remember if he had told them or not.

No loud noises? Oooh! Adi was shouting too. "Sorry,'' he said apologetically. He watched the Gryffindor adjust himself back onto his stool before turning back to his own workstation.

To his mortar, the Badger added foliage, a stone and the two scoops of iron. With the pestle he began to crush the ingredients. When it was well crushed, he jabbed his wand towards the mortar. "Fingere Elementi!'' And there was another planet! Adi added this one with the previous three and sun.

He repeated this process twice and soon there were six planets in total. He checked on the sun. It seemed just fine. So...moons. He needed moons. Just how did he make them? Errrrr.........

That's when Lux spoke up. Oh goody! She was asking what he needed to know.

Picking out stones and foliage was easily Toby's favourite part of the process. Well, you know, except from the whole 'BUILD-YOUR-OWN SOLAR SYSTEM OMG' thing, because that was pretty high on the list too. But he liked to take the time to really appreciate the beauty of some of these things.

"Yeah, I do," the Hufflepuff replied to Ella, enthusiasm evident as the boy's face lit up at all the options available to him; it was easy to find joy in the little things. "I'm gonna have planets in aaaaall kinds of colours." Toby picked out stones in as wide a variety of hues as he possibly could, eventually finding himself with a small handful of pretty colours. There were even more colour choices in flower petals, and a whole lot of green and red leaves. Tobias made sure he had plenty of 'ingredients', and maybe even some to spare (just in case), before shuffling, alongside Ella, back to where his solar system was waiting at a workstation.

Tobias set all the stuff down on the desk, the stones from his hand making pleasant little clanking sounds as he let them roll from his hand onto the surface. Yup, that was plenty. He looked up at Ella and smiled, and sort of paused for a minute.

Because he needed to catch his breath. Because old.

"What're you gonna name your planets?" Toby finally asked with that chipper tone of his, as he rifled through his haul of nature, looking for just the right things. Eventually he settled on a pretty pinkish stone and some pale green leaves. Those were added to the mortar, and then Tobias added two scoops of iron. He picked up his pestle, but didn't start just yet. "I don't think we need to, but I think it'd be neat. I'm sure they'd like to have names."

With that, Toby began to work at the contents of the mortar with the pestle, trying to whack the stone with enough force that it would crack into smaller pieces and he could crush this stuff properly. He was very hesitant about using force, so it was kind of a long process.

Tessa hurried into the lab, adjusting the strap on her bag as she shuffled up. It seemed she was one of the last ones there and she shot a smile to her friends that had already gotten started on their own and went to her work table.

Once there, she dropped her things, quickly leaning down and forward to peer at her sun and planet- which were both in the box looking as happy as could be. "Don't worry, I'm going to make you some new friends soon," she murmured to the two before turning to her work station.

It was time to make a new planet!

She moved up to the front of the room, wondering what she wanted to use. She stared down at the box for a long time and then finally picked up white petal. Looking at it for a moment, she took out her wand and pointed at the petal. "Colovaria," she murmured, changing the color of the petal to a blue that matched her hair. Grinning, she picked up a stone and scooped up the iron she would need.

She walked back to her desk and slowly began to grind the materials together in the mortar, wincing as her aching wrist did the work. Things were such a challenge and while the castle was warm, the cold outside didn't help. To occupy her mind, she began thinking about what she would name the planets.

She realized she was finished in the middle of a few ideas and peered down into the powder with a smile. Bringing out her wand again, she pointed it at the mix. "Fingere Elementi," she cast, taking a step back as the whirlwind appeared, quickly condensing into a small planet!

"Hello you!" she said, picking it up to look at it a little closer. She brought it over to the box quickly slipping it inside and snapping the box shut.

"One down," she said, cleaning up the work space.