Finally spotting Mercury, Sky muttered under her breath "Oh there you are!" It was kind of pretty , really. She started at it a little while, transfixed.

A yawn escaped Daichi's mouth as he quickly held his hand in front of it to cover it. He rubbed his eyes with the other and tried to stay focused on finding Mecury. He watched as Thea leaned forward and rubbed the dust from the telescope off. "Why didn't i think of that..." he muttered, more to himself and thanked her for her help.

But as he looked through the lens again he noticed that it was still a blur. He was about to pout in annoyance when the Professor spoke up and told them a charm that would fix the lens on the telescopes. Couldn't he have said that before!?

Daichi carefully grabbed his wand and took a deep breath. Hopefully it would work in one go and without any...explosions... Although, looking around the room, it would wake everyone up some more. But that also meant that he would loose points and he didn't want that to happen. So he swished his wand and tapped the lens of the telescope while saying "lens focalis" He looked through the other side of the lens again and saw to his surprise that it had worked! He grinned proudly and even gave himself a tap on the shoulder.

Now that his telescope was working , Daichi tried to find the planet they ought to find by looking next to the sun. Dawn had already come and his eyes fell close for a moment. Before he snapped them open again to do his job. He hadn't slept..even last night he couldn't sleep because he was nervous for tomorrow. Ever since he had heard from the Quidditch Captain that not everyone would be playing saturday he couldn't sleep. He tried too but the thought of NOT being on the field was horrible. Daichi had never been in the spectators seats for he had been in the team last year too...and now this lesson , even though he liked Astronomy , was making him feel tired and he didn't want to be half asleep when practises came!

Daichi looked at Thea , his eyes feeling heavy and he let out another small yawn. Just closing his eyes for a few seconds wouldn't hurt anyone right? Daichi closed them JUST FOR A FEW SECONDS! but those few seconds became longer than he thought...

WOAH. Woah. No.

Ellie raised a finger to her lips and gently "Shhhh," -ed the boy. Really. It was too early....too late...SHE was too tired for that shouting nonsense.

Did he really see Venus, though?

No, actually, the fifth year didn't really care. They weren't looking for Venus. Mercury, it was.

Her eyebrow quirked. 'Just a little dot'. Hell, that was all they'd been staring at for the past HOWEVER long. Dots. Millions. Of dots.

Oh, but a dot that didn't shine? Ellie's eyes travelled back to the sky, as if she'd be able to see the planet with the naked eye with this new information. But, nope. all the dots she saw were shiny.

She grinned when he found Mercury, though. He was such a sweet kid, really. Ellie moved in front of his telescope and looked through it. And sure enough, there was a little dot there. Ellie was unimpressed, but so relieved to have found it. "Thanks, Eino." Really.

So Mercury was a silvery-brownish, unshining dot? Got it.

Thea grinned as the Slytherin gave himself a pat on the shoulder. 'Wehey! Nothing blew up..' She grinned and giggled slightly.. 'Joking joking.. but I saw the relieved expression on your face!' Grabbing a piece of parchment out o fher bag, Thea began to write some notes down. She had learnt quite a bit in this lesson, and the professor was alright. Picking at her nails, Thea sighed. She had been stressing lately about her friend Hemo. She hadn't seen her for AGES.. and the Quidditch game was soon! She could hardly start up a chant on her own.. Blaa!

Pursing her lips together, THea scanned the room for the professor, just incase she had missed the next instruction. Raising her eyebrows, Thea heard a soft snoring sound coming from.. beside her?! Turning aorund slowly, Thea put her hand over her mouth to stop herself laughing. Daichi was asleep.. not snoozing.. but FULL ON asleep. Leaning over so nobody else could see him.. i.e the professor, Thea nudged him gently. 'Excuse me sleeping beauty.. this professor may be nice, but I think he'll think it's a bit rude you've fallen asleep..' Standing back up, she checked the professor was well out of the way. Thea grabbed another piece of parchment and copied her notes from it for Daichi. He would probably end up writing some random story instead of proper notes.. so she had better do it for him..

"Same here," she said. It was great to know people who aren't on your batch. Once in a while. "Alright. I'll ask you if I need help," Yeah, I might want to ask you about your relationship with that boy. She stared at Louisa and had the hint that he maybe was her boyfriend. Eeeep !

She nodded in approval. Heck yes, planets are really fascinating but just when are they going to study comets ? She wanted the comets ! She looked into her telescope again. Mercury looks wonderful though, maybe I can just stick around with the planets for a while, she said in her head.

So, just a swish and tap, and a planet light years away comes into view clearer?

Okaaaay...

Shrugging, Michelle dropped her textbook and turned to her old clunky telescope. She tried envisioning her wand movement: swish and tap on the lens.

Sounds simple enough.

Relaxing her shoulders and getting into position, she chanted, "Lens" swish "focalis" tap!

Right, now what?....oh yeah, look into the dang telescope.

Squinting into the eyepiece, Michelle looked through lens and out at the nightsky.

Why was someone nudging him out of his sweet dream?
Daichi mumbled something incoherently as he felt another nudge. YAH! Couldn't he sleep without having someone poke him the whole time?! The second year opened one of his eyes lazily until the blury outline shaped that of a girl. WHAT WAS A GIRL DOING HERE?!

He opened the other too and looked around at his surroundings. "Oh no..did i?...have i missed...aargh!" He couldn't believe he had fallen asleep during class. This had never happened to him before , he was the wide awake student most of the time but the timing of this class and the worrying on being able to play on Saturday or not got to him.

Rubbing his eyes with his hand, Daichi wanted truthfully to fall back to sleep. But then he remembered that not only a hand had woken him ..a voice too. He stared at Thea for a few seconds before asking. "Did...did you just call me ...sleeping beauty...?" with a soft hint of a blush on his cheeks.

Awkwaaaaaaaard! Wasn't that something boys said to girls and NOT the other way around? What?! what was he thinking? ewww no NO-ONE should say stuff like that to someone..it was all..fluffy and ..it made him shiver. "Eeeh.. thanks for..waking me up" mweh his dream had been nice, couldn't she have let him sleep a little longer?

The Slytherin got up lazily and stared in his telescope. He just stared because he had no idea what he was looking for again.

sleeping beauty! Merlin's beard! he was NOT a girl! He was a manly man!

Gwendolyn sighed, realizing that she didn't actually find Mercury. It was jst one of those tiny things that kept floating around. Almost sure that she wasn't going to succeed in finding that planet, the second year decided to at least practce the spell. Yeah, she was pretty good at spells... Way better than at Astronomy,anyway...

Lens Focalis,Lens Focalis,Lens Focalis,Lens Focalis..., she repeated a few times in her head, and then took out her wand, ready to practice. 'Lens Focalis', she said loud and clear, doing the wish and tap movement. Grinning, Gwendolyn congratulated herself for managing to use the spell.

What next? Do I really have to stare through that telescope?!, she wanted to say but didn't. That would be a bit exaggerated. So- where is this Mercury, anyway? It should be near the sun, right? Riiiight? Directing her telescope in that direction, Gwen scanned carefully everything that came in her view. Gah, Mercury- WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?

Crossing her arms, Thea rolled her eyes. 'Get over it already, I wrote your notes.' She nudged the bit of parchment over to him. Frowning, Thea couldn't help laughing. 'Yes, yes I did. And it's fine, anytime chicken.' Thea winked, and laughed again. AHAHA. Now she knew what wound him up.. quite a bit apparently.

Reaching out, she patted one of Daichi's cheeks. 'Mercury.' She said. He would of forgotten.. she could tell by the special blank expression. Sighing, Thea put her forehead on the table. she was tiiiiired. And she had found Mercury! Thea was too good.. Heheh. She didn't really get why Daichi had blushed.. people normally said that when people fell asleep.. DUH.

Eddie was making his rounds among the students, giving tips here and there or answering questions. As he passed the lioness prefect she asked for a spell to shield them from the Sun's light when searched for Mercury. Scratching his head Professor Roslund replied. "Ms Hollingberry, I have prepared no such spell for the lesson. But you and anyone else are welcome to take a pair of goggles from the blue box beside my desk. The goggles are improved to shield your eyes from the strong sun light."

Leaving the lioness prefect Professor Roslund was drawn to a ravvie boy that was eagerly peering into his telescope. The excitement in the boy's eyes when he thought he found Mercury was warming to a passionate astronomer like Edvard. Peering into the boy's telescope for a moment he saw Mercury sharp and clear. Standing up straight again Professor Roslund said "Good job, Mr Ashdown. You have indeed found Mercury." He gave the boy a wink and then proceeded to the next student.

The next student to wave him over was a young lioness. A quick peek into her telescope also showed him Mercury. Professor Roslund smiled at the first year. "Nice work Ms Draconis! You have found Mercury."

The last studen't who got his attention was a Ravvie girl. Professor Roslund made his way over more because of the first year's bad case of hiccups rather than finding Mercury. Worried he asked "Are you all right dear? Your hiccups sound pretty bad. If you want i can escort you to Healer Brooks at the end of class?" There wasn't much he knew that could be done about hiccups but maybe Beth had a special potion or so which could ease the number of attacks. Gleaning a look into the girl's telescope he smiled warmly as he looked up at her. "Good, good...That's Mercury all right."

***********************

Professor Roslund walked back to his desk where he sat down on the edge of his desk to peer out at his student's. The signs of tiredness was showing in more than one face. He was glad that the lesson soon would be over. Clapping his hands to get the student's attention again he said when they quieted down. "Nice work everyone! I think all of you have spotted Mercury by now. Can anyone tell me what kind of landscape there is on Mercury? You should be able to work it out by studying Mercury in your telescopes."

He waited to give them a few moments to think before adding "Also does anyone know the mythological story surrounding Mercury?"

OCC: Last questions, I will leave the lesson open until saturday afternoon/night when i will close up and and assign homework.

Gulp. I think all of you have spotted Mercury by now..., Gwen repeated the Professors words in her head. Yeah... almost,she sighed. However, even if she hadn't found Mercury, she knew what it should look like. I might be a failure when it comes to Astronomy, but I'm still a Ravenclaw, the girl thought proudly. 'I suppose it is rocky and dry?' Meh, if not... I can say I tried! Pretty hard, actually! 'And um... its surface is simialer to the moon's... It has those craters...' Umm... is this even right?, the second year finally asked herself.

Remembering what she had read in a book, Gwendolyn felt the need to ask: 'Shouldn't there be some evidence of volcanism?' Perhaps not... Meh... One more thing- does the planet have any kind of connection with that liquid metal, mercury? Thinking that maybe she shouldn't talk that much, the ravie decided to let go of the last question.

Harlow had just let her eyes close for a second. She leaned against her telescope but jerked awake when Professor Roulund clapped his hands together. "I'm awake," she slurred.

She blinked a few times to make sure she was awake and she got the tail end of what the professor was saying, she raised her hand, "Mercury has a lot of craters like the Moon. Some of them are tiny, but some of them are huge. And it looks gray" she answered around her yawn.

Harlow raised her hand again for his second question. "Mercury is the Roman's answer to the Greek god Hermes. Who was the gods messenger. Many of his traits are borrowed from Hermes. Like he escorted the newly dead to the underworld and he carried the caduceus, and had the winged shoes. There are at least two purely Roman myths for Mercury." that was all she knew off the top of her head about Mercury. She liked the Greek gods more than the Roman ones, they didn't have nearly as much fun in Rome if you asked her.

Harlow hoped that answered his question.

Jesifur raised her hand, "It is rocky and smooth in places, much like our moon. The mythology in behind it is about the messenger of the gods. In Ancient myth Mercury is known as Thoth, Hermes and the messenger of the gods. He is depicted as a boy with wings upon his heels, with a caduceus made of olive wood and two serpents wrapped around it, also having wing. The planet Mercury represents speed and wisdom."

Swish and tap, Lens Focalis. She had been doing it right... right? But when she tried, it'd focus without problem then... "Aaaaahhh!" Adanna wailed as it... unfocused. Again and again every time she tried. Would she ever get this thing to work??

Obviously not. Before she could begin figure out her problem, Professor Roslund had spoken up. Ok, now this was something she could handle. Her bookshelf of astrology related books and stories could prove this.
Adanna's hand shot up eagerly. "Professor, Mercury's landscape is quite simiar to the Moon's. It's cratered heavily, but has smooth plains." She stopped here. She almost went into detail about such things as Mercury's magnetic field, or its temperatures, or even the amount of time it takes to orbit around the Sun. But Professor Roslund had asked for its landscape. Simple as that.
Oh! Mercury's mythology? Sure, she was familiar with the Roman god, but not as familiar as the planet itself. In fact, she barely knew of a certain story to share. Still, she told what she knew. She hadn't realized that her hand was still high in the air until she went to put it up again. Taking it down slowly, she added, "In Roman mythology, Mercury was a god of trade, and a messenger to the gods. His father was Jupiter, king of the gods. There are multiple stories about him, but as for a certain one, I'm afraid I have none on mind..." Adanna's voice trailed off. Why, oh why, had she spoken up if she had no valuable information? Slightly embarrassed, her mind wandered to the problem with her telescope. Or spell. What ever could it be??

Ira knew this answer. She had learned this back in her muggle school. Ira raised her hand and answered, "The surface of Mercury is covered be craters. It is thought that once, it might have been a volcanic surface due to some of the plain regions found."

All of you have spotted Mercury?

Uhm... not all of them, but Nora gave up searching when professor Roslund spoke. She raised her hand to answer, or at least try to. "It doesn't have anything that's... alive. Mercury mostly shows heavy cratering." Or something like that.

As for his next question... "Wasn't Mercury a messenger and a god of trade in the Roman mythology?" She liked mythologies. Hehe.

The mythological story surrounding Mercury? Did he mean the god, or the planet? Because Violet knew a lot of stories about the messenger of the Roman gods. Well, first things first. First, raise your hand...

"Mercury looks a lot like the moon--it has a lot of craters, and also boulders and rocks on the surface. And there's no atmosphere--if you were standing on Mercury, the sky would look black, not blue like on Earth. Plus, you wouldn't be able to breath and would probably boil to death.

As far as stories--Mercury was a Roman god, their messenger, and was a god of communication, travel, and thieves. My favourite story about him was about when he was just a young god and he stole the cattle of Apollo, the god of the sun. He made their hooves look like they were walking forwards, when actually they were walking backwards, and then he hid them in a cave. Because of the hoof-prints, Apollo went looking in the wrong direction. But since Apollo was also the god of prophecy, he soon found out who had done it, and when Apollo accused him before all the gods, Mercury confessed. But he was so little and clever, the gods all just thought it was funny, even Apollo. Mercury had also given Apollo his musical lyre, so that probably also helped. And Apollo wound up giving Mercury a golden rod to control cattle with, and they all wound up friends again."

Violet liked to tell stories. That was certainly more fun than looking for Mercury the planet through an unfocused telescope, though she had manged to find it in the end, with the aid of Professor Roslund's spell.

Louisa saw that Beezus kept giving her that weird look. She opened her mouth to ask about this but the professor talked and all chances of letting the girl spill it out vanished.

....

What? They were supposed to know what kind of land Mercury has from here? Far far away from the unshiny dot? Louisa frowned, confused, and took a long stare through her telescope again.

Pulling away from the stargazing tool she raised her hand, "I think the only thing I can get about Mercury without reading encyclopedias is that it has no natural satellites." Nope, she didn't see any rings revolving around the dot. "I think, though, that due to its closeness to the sun, that it has exploding holes in its land - volcanoes they're called maybe?" She really didn't know that much about planets.

Nodding her head and raising her hand once again, Louisa told the story she knew, "Yes, sir. The ancient Greeks called Mercury different names. They called it Apollo when it was visible in the morning sky, and Hermes when it showed up in the evening. Eventually, their astronomers became aware of the fact that Apollo and Hermes were actually one planet. The Romans were the ones to call it 'Mercury' after their god who was believed to be swift-footed one - they saw Mercury to be just as swift-footed as that god and the name was shared between the two." Which was quite weird and funny now that she thought of it. And that was all the ancient stuff she knew about the unshiny dot.

Sky had to think about that one for a minute. "Mercury's surface is a lot like Earth's moon. It's rocky and full of craters." She was wishing now that she'd paid more attention when they had gone over the history of the planets names in her muggle school. She had no clue about where the name came from beyond that it was Roman. "It's named after some Roman god or something."

Daichi looked from Thea to the piece of parchment that she shoved over to his place. He stared at the notes written down and beamed at her when he looked back up. "thanks!" He exclaimed excitedly and hugged her ..YES..hugged her! and grabbed the notes to place it in his text book.

The hand touching his cheek in a mocking way didn't help his blushing , especially when she said the word Mercury and he blinked a couple of times before rolling his eyes. "I know!" he puffed his cheeks as he started to look back through the telescope.

He tried out what the Professor had said and soon he too found the planet. "There looks to be alot of craters , Sir!" Daichi said as he continued to peer through the telescope and one arm in to the air. "It looks like the moon we know.." He lowered his arm as he looked back in to the classroom, rubbing one of his eyes.

At the next question, Daichi frowned as the tried to recall what he had read when he couldn't sleep. He liked reading school books..which some would find weird. But ever since Evan told him last year that the sorting was three hours long and that he needed to study for it...he had read the books. Not that he could remember everything but some parts remained in his memory. Slowly, he raised his hand in the air. "Mercury, or as they say in Latin Mercurius was a messenger and a god in Roman Mythology. He was the son of Jupiter..i think...and ...sorry i don't remember the woman's name" Daichi thought for a moment before speaking again. "He was also the god of merchants if i'm not wrong and..oh! he also had a symbol ..wait.." the Slytherin grabbed the note that Thea had written for him and grabbed his quill to scribble on it. "It was something ..like....this" He showed the Professor his parchment and grinned broadly , his eyes twinkling.

Hmm. So she'd done a good job; or so Treyen Lockhart said. "So I take it your an expert in this?" she commented, an amused expression on her face. "Good at Potions, good at Astronomy... What are you not good in, Treyen Lockhart?" she asked, giving him a smile before looking through her telescope again. She could think of a few things he wasn't very good at, but none of them were things she'd want to admit out loud. Like, for instance, he wasn't very good at figuring out when girls liked him, and he wasn't very good at figuring out when girls were mad at him either.

She'd done both--liked him and been mad at him. Right now, she was sort of neutral. She didn't know how she felt about Treyen Lockhart. She playfully rolled her eyes when he said the focus on her telescope looked okay. Just okay?! Pshh... Like his seeker skills were 'just okay'. Yeah, right... "Looks much better to me," she commented with a shrug. Hmm... "The one on the right..."

Just then the professor spoke up, and she pulled away from the telescope to turn in his direction.



Again, Sierra peered through her telescope. She zoomed in as far as possible and studied Mercury for a few minutes. "I see a lot of craters," she commented, her hand raised in the air. She lowered her hand and turned toward the professor again. "The Romans named the planet after their god of travel, trade, and communication. Supposedly, the movement of Mercury, the planet, reminded them of the movement of Mercury, the god."

Goggles? Kurumi certainly hadn't been expecting something that intense for blocking the sun's light. When she was younger, there was a solar eclipse that her brother Takashi just couldn't wait to see with everyone. He had bought small handheld viewers that were about the size of a photo frame for the entire family to use. Still, something in the man's wording signaled to her that he was...not pleased?

Her smile faded and she nodded her head before scampering off to grab some goggles before returning to her telescope and slipping them over her head.

Soon, she saw SOMETHING next to the sun, but she wasn't sure if she was really seeing it or if her eyes were playing tricks on her from the exhaustion of saying up all night. Eventually, there was no denying it. That little round orb beside the sun was Mercury and she took note of it on her parchment.


And just in the nick of time it seemed as Professor Roslund continued the lesson.

"I am not sure if you would consider it the landscape, professor, but the surface of Mercury is very hot. I believe it can be somewhere around 800°F when the sun is shining on it. And, from what I can see through my telescope, Mercury seems to resemble the moon's surface quite a bit. The moon does seem to have much larger craters then Mercury though."

And that was really all she had to say about the terrine of Mercury, especially now that her eyelids were drooping again.

Mythology? That did wake the fourth year's brain up just a bit more. "Mercury is known as the messenger god. He is a Roman god who it is said the Romans borrowed from the Greek god, Hermes. At least, they share many similarities. Typically, Mercury is described as wearing the clothes of a sheep-herder along with winged sandals and sometimes a winged hat. He is one of the more famous gods, and is used in many stories, although he rarely acts of his own accord and all his actions are because of another god or goddess requesting for him to do so." Kurumi paused, realizing that she was still wearing her googles and probably looking somewhat like a bug. She removed them and held them awkwardly in her hands before continuing. "Mercury is the planet closest to the sun and orbits it in only 88 days, the fastest in our solar system. A messenger must also be fast, so perhaps this is why the planet was named Mercury." She had also read things about how the planet's orbit could appear flitting to people, like a bird, which was related to Mercury's feathered shoes and hat, but that seemed to be a bit of a stretch in her mind.

"Um..." Jenny looked back at her telescope as she slowly raised her hand. "Mercury seems to have a lot of craters, ridges, and a few plains here and there. Similar to the moon in a way."

Then she paused for a bit. Roman mythology? Sure, Jenny loved mythology, but she never knew or read the myths herself. At least I know the general ideas of them. Jenny thought glumly.

"Mercury was the patron god of trade and merchants..." Jenny paused. That didn't sound like a story at all...

"There are many stories about Mercury, since he was a popular Roman god to begin with. One of them revolves around Mercury assisting Odysseus after the siege of Troy by warning him of the enchantress Circe. It was either from the Illiad or the Odyssey, I think." It was a long time since Jenny read either of them; her memory withered away quickly after finishing them.

Ooooooooh THERE was Mercury! Tori found it at last and used her telescope to zoom in real close to the planet. Nifty. It sure looked a lot like the moon.

So that was Tori's answer to the professor's question. "It looks a lot like the moon, professor, with all those ridges and craters and stuff. And Mercury was the Roman god of trade. He was the son of Jupiter too." Another planet. Interesting.

Alyssa listened to Professor Roslund's question and then peered back into her telescope. Now that the image was clearer she could see the surface of the planet more clearly. She also loved Greek and Roman Mythology and thought that she knew the answer to the Professor's question regarding the myth behind Mercury. She raised her hand and when acknowledged gave her answer.

"Professor, from what I can see, Mercury's has lots of craters but it just seems to be only one part of the planet. I can also see smooth plains between craters and these seem to dominate another part of the planet. I can also see wrinkled ridges on the surface too. Other than that, if I didn't know that it was Mercury, I would think that it was the Moon.

As for the myth behind Mercury, he was the son of Zeus, aka Jupiter, the Father of all Gods. In Roman mythology, Mercury was the God of commerce, travel and thievery. In Greek mythology, he was also know as Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, and because he was reported to have wings on his feet, he was known to fly at great speeds. That's probably why the Planet Mercury received his name because it moves so quickly across the sky. The first thing he stole was the shell from turtle from which he created a lyre. That is why Hermes is known for creating the first musical instrument. Anyway, back to his thievery. For Hermes next crime spree, he stole cattle from his brother, Apollo, the God of Sun, Arts and Medicine. When Zeus found out about it, Hermes was arrested and brought to Zeus to be punished. However, Zeus and Apollo was so impressed by his intelligence....remember he was still an infant when he committed these crimes, that they just asked Hermes to return the cattle he stole, back to Apollo and as a form of reconciliation, Hermes gave Apollo the lyre, which Hermes had made out of the turtle shell. This lyre later became the symbol of Apollo, as the God of music. It was actually Apollo who gave Hermes the job of transporting souls from this world to the next, a job that had previously been performed by Apollo himself.

Of course there are other things that mythology says Hermes did, but this is the one that I can recall the most,"Alyssa told the Professor.