Brian pulled out a pen, smiling a little at the classroom. Really, in the three years he'd been a student there, the Hufflepuff had never quite understood why his classmates chose to use quills and ink when there were far less messy and far more convenient ways to take notes. He'd really missed this place. He felt relevant here. That the stuff he was learning actually mattered outside Hogwarts. He wrote his name and year on the parchment, before a small heaviness settled on him as he tapped it with his wand. What if he never made a difference in this class? What if he was doomed to only glimpse into other peoples' more brilliant minds and never come up with something worth sharing himself? That's pretty much what he'd been doing the past three years.

Brian had to think for a while because even though that was a very normal question for the first lesson of the term and he was too sleepy to think properly, he made a small stretching movement thing to keep his brain awake because for once, he just wanted to provide something useful to the lesson and not just stay silent and take notes or something because this guy was probably the only person around who cared about physics and science and it was as close as the Hufflepuff was going to get to a real science class. And he missed the Muggle world a lot and just UGH.

Deep breath, Woods. "Because even though it might not be magical in itself - though it's science and science is pretty much magic - it influences other magic. Like how picking fluxweed at the new moon is different from picking it at the full moon or half moon. It changes Potions, Herbology, I think it effects Charms and Transfiguration too, like certain spells are more potent at different times but I can't prove that." He was calm, yeah, totally calm. That was such a lie. Stop lying to yourself, Brian Woods, you are freaking out. "Basically, professor, as much as I wish we learned Astronomy simply because it's cool, we learn it because knowing the changes we can't really control outside our reach help us to be more ready to change the things we can control. If we say the universe is the limit of our potential, and the universe is expanding, then so do our potentials."

And the Hufflepuff slumped back in his seat and resumed note-taking. Who knew in-class participation took so much effort?