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sweetpinkpixie · 09-09-2013, 10:33 PM

Warm rays of the September afternoon sun leak into the Astronomy classroom as you enter. The desks are arranged in their usual semi circle to help created a more personal environment. Professor Flamsteed's desk is positioned in the “front” of the classroom with a large red velvet bag resembling that of a certain North Pole dwelling fellow's on top of it. On the blackboard is a magically enlarged poster that surely you have seen by now. Professor Flamsteed is not standing anywhere near his desk, nor the bag, but by one of the large open windows looking out at the Black Lake. Try to take a peek into the bag if you want, but at your own risk

So come on in and find your seat. Oh, and don’t forget to use the lint roller on the small table outside of the classroom next to the sign that reads, "Not to be used as a brush for your hair."

⌦Lesson Progression
▸ See what happened when you look inside the bag? Just ask Miss Wheatborn
▸ question 1 :: what are the differences between a plant and a star?
▸ question 2 :: what star is closest to earth? Oh, and you can all have lime green beards if you want
▸ question 3 :: what iS thing thiiiiiiiiiiiiiing?
▸ mini activity :: label the parts of the sun
▸ question 4 :: what myths do you know that involve the sun?
▸ myth buster! :: the truth behind Icarus & activity instructions

OOC: Opening this thread up two hours early because something came up and I might not be here at the scheduled 9 am time

Please be sure you are familiar with Professor Flamsteed's rules BEFORE you post in this lesson. We will know if you haven't read them! All SnitchSeeker site rules apply.

This lesson has officially started! Please do not announce your character arriving late and just pretend like they have been in class all along. You are free to jump in any time and should use the lesson progression links to keep up.

Anna Banana · 09-11-2013, 11:51 PM

Text Cut: sweetpinkpixie

Okay, now this answer Sophie knew. Everybody knew about the Sun, after all. "The Sun," she said with confidence, raising her hand. Lowering her hand, she listened to the professor volunteer beards for everybody, which was honestly starting to give Sophie a complex. She had had TWO classes in all since she'd become a student at Hogwarts, and in both those classes, the professors had offered to give everybody beards--girls included.

What was it with this school and beards anyway?! Couldn't a kid just be a kid? More specifically, couldn't a girl just be a girl?!

Nope. No beard today. She decided to skip out on this one, since she'd had the whole beard experience in Arithmancy class. That one hadn't been optional.

sweetpinkpixie · 09-11-2013, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustAlice

Derry almost jumped out of her skin...

ALERT
ALERT
ALERT

HE WAS ON HER DESK

THE TEACHER WAS ON HER DESK

FINGERS MAY BE TRAPPED.

She grabbed her quill and flailed a little bit, falling backwards out of her chair and squeaking. "Professooooor!!!"

People shouldn't DO that.

She was a jumpy enough person as it was.

And she was half stuck in her chair. Jeeeeeez. Clumsy Derry.

Oh. Oops. He had to admit that that was not the first time that this sort of thing had happened, but certainly a first for Hogwarts. "Oh, um...." he squirmed as he jumped off her desk. "Terribly sorry, you alright?" Although she had just said she was. And he would have said that it would never happen again, but that wasn't a promise he was sure he could keep. When the man got excited he GOT excited.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emzily

NICE, his answer made the board.

When he shouted the next question, Theo was all confused and nervous and he shouted back. "THE NORTH STAR."

No, no, that was WRONG.

He lowered his head in shame.

"I LIKE your enthusiasm, Mr. Kinsley!" Airey applauded, literally. He clapped at the Slytherin's answer despite it being wrong. "Unfortunately, the North Star, Polaris, is not the closest to earth, although it IS important for many other reasons." Reasons that had been discussed in full length last term.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonea

Oh, a next question! Looking interested at the professor she listened to what he was telling and... YES, she knew the answer, she had read about it and she was convinced that she was right about her answer, ~~but... sadly, she was remembering it wrong...~~ She stood up and raised her hand, but because she wasn't sure if she still needed to introduce herself she did it again. "Sonea Duvessa, third year... And my answer is... the Alpha Centauri star!!!" She smiled proud and sat down again, totally convinced that she had given AGAIN a good answer.

But than, she looked at the bag and wondered what was inside of it, but at the same time she didn't wanted to look because she was too pretty to have a green beard! Green was not her color, but if the beard had been pink THAN it would be a REALLY different story!

"No need to continue to introduce yourself, Miss Duvessa," he said with one hand in the air to stop here. "Alpha Centauri IS the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus and the third brightest star in the night sky, but it is not the star closest to earth. It is, however, a part of the star system closest to our Solar System."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princesspower

Sarah sort of expected that as she had not reall thought about the answer. Upon hearing what West said and the professor's conformation of it Sarah was skeptical, "but isn't always daytime on planets too? On Earth, there was a saying that 'The Sun never sets on the British Empire', as when it was night time in England, it was daytime in its then colony Austrailia. It is always day time somewhere on earth, as the sun has to be shinging somewhere if not on our location"

"SOMEWHERE on our planet is is always day," Airey nodded. "But since the earth does not produce its own light, the side of the earth that is not facing the sun is cast in a shadow which makes for night. What Mr. Odessa I believe was getting at was that 'on' a star, it is literally always day. There is no shadow."

SPOILER!!: Proxima Centauri!

"If I had asked which star is the closest to our Solar System you two would be correct," he said with a nod. But he hadn't. So they were wrong. "Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf and is actually one that scientists and astronomers have taken a keen interest in. You see, scientists are trying to determine whether this star has super Earths orbiting within its habitable zone. Habitable zones are regions around a star where planets are believed to receive just the right amount of heat. For instance, Earth is within the Sun’s habitable zone, which is why we are here."

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Ascanius scanned the board quickly to see if anyone had given the answer that he had not verbalized. And, just like he had assumed, no one had put any of it down, yeah? Pfft. S'not his fault that he was clever too. See, he wasn't JUST a pretty face, but he was that as well. Ahem.

Anyway, he wasn't going to answer Glitter Trousers properly anyway, so he supposed it wasn't the man's fault. He could go sashay away somewhere else and inform people who cared. Aka, not Ascanius.

Oh, by the way...the answer was sol...OUR sun. It was the only star in this system, Glitter Trousers. Honestly, easy question. It didn't even merit a response, so he wasn't going to get one.

Instead, he just clicked his tongue and leaned back in his seat. Now he was bored and he was going to make a right show of it.

Airey HEARD that. His head snapped around and he stared at the Slytherin. Was it always going to be this way? Airey had no patience for people acting bored in the face of the noble subject that was astronomy.

Although he was going to ignore this. For now. And pretend he couldn't hear the tongue clicking over the sound of how AWESOME the sun was.

Put your feet up, Mr. Stark, and things would be a bit different. Might find that you had no feet at all actually. Heh.

SPOILER!!: the suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun people (the speakers & the thinkers & the green beard peeps)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Ella gave Professor Airey a beamy-beam because reasons and continued taking down the other things that her classmates were suggesting. Or well, most of the things. ~~That was probably mean, right?~~

Then it was time for more questions and the blonde sat up a little straighter, listening intently. She liked stars lots and stargazing even more. No worries, though. She knew the rule about the Astronomy Tower, professor. She always kept that in mind. Heh.

As for the big dramatic 'WHAT,' the blonde smiled and called out, "The sun, Professor?"

And nope, no beard for Ella. She would totally doodle her classmates with beards, though. That could be fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

Oh. So she was... partially correct? Sophie scribbled down everything Airey was saying and murmured a gentle, slightly heartbroken "oh" after Airey corrected her details. Well. That was cool, then. "Cool. Good to know. Thanks." At least her answer hadn't been completely out there. The professor seemed mildly pleased with her. That was encouraging.

At the professor's following ramblings, Sophie continued to make quick notes on her parchment, noting how passionate and... positively enthusiastic this guy was about his planets and stars. Funny guy. When he built suspense with a questioning of what, Sophie halfway raised a lazy hand and assumed, "The sun?" That made sense, yeah? It was the biggest thing in the sky compared to the other stars that were just specks.

She wanted a beard, too. She did. She thought about it for a second, envisioning herself going up there and donning a cool beard, then... decided maybe she'd ask if she could get one after class. That'd be more fun and then she wouldn't have to deal with the distraction of stroking the beard while she was supposed to be learning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slytherus

Now twirling the quill between his index and middle fingers, Angeal's eyes simply followed the teacher as he walked around the classroom, with a few brief moments to look at the blackboard to write down his notes. And when Flamsteed raised his voice, the boy startled and dropped his quill. Good thing it was just a quill. Too light to make a noise that will attract unwanted attentions...

"The sun," muttered the Slytherin under his breath, playfully stroking the feather of his quill. His fidgeting didn't stop even when the teacher somehow suggested(?) them to take a peek into the bag which gave a girl a green beard earlier. Curious as he was, he wouldn't dare to do it. His Slytherin pride would be hurt too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotterHeadforLife

Yes, Kat knew that the planets also give off heat. Cause they say the core is just really really hot and found in the middle of the Earth. They have the crust, the mantle, and the core. But that wasn't exactly what they were going to learn today. It was more on stars and planets, but what Professor Flamsteed said has been duly noted. Kat nodded a few times and then scribbled it down on her parchment.

What made Kat look up from her parchment and writing was when she heard that loud 'WHAT?' from her Astronomy professor. Merlin, Flammy, did it have to be that loud? But she knew the answer obviously. Kat raised her hand to answer the question. "It's the sun, Professor." Simple as that.

... Although Kat wanted to know what was inside the bag. Yep. But curiosity got the best of Minerva Wheatborn so, no, she wasn't going to risk even if the charms and spells have been lifted. Safety precautions and stuff. Kat wouldn't look good with a green beard anyway. It was hairy... and just gross. So no, thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bitsyandtank

He was thrilled that his answer was correct. He puffed his chest out a bit and sat straight up in his chair to take the notes on the board.

He looked up when Professor Airey asked the next question. "I believe it's the sun." Yes, the sun. It had to be. It was bright, hot, and very easy to see. None other was bigger in the sky.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

Ok so sometimes planets could be bigger than stars. Fine! She was still almost completely right and that definitely counted for something, in her head anyways. She jotted down notes as the professor went about and explained stars and planets and blah, blah, blah. She knew that she would have to rely on them later because there was no way she would remember all of this later. Sigh.

The closest star. Oh, she knew this one, but apparently so did everybody else. She raised her hand anyways. "Like everybody else has already said... the closest star is the sun." So bright and shiny-ish.

If anybody else wanted a beard? Who would possibly want that? No thanks, she didn't really care what was in his stupid bag anyways. It was most likely lame anyways so PFFFFT!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForeverYours

SPOILER!!: AIREY <3

See that? SHE got a thumbs up for her answer. Thank you very much textbook. It wasn't all down to the next book, though, obviously. She'd been the one to decide to use it, so therefore it was all on her. The textbook was just a mere tool. Professor Flamsteed clearly noticed her awesome and she grinned back in response. And no, Sir, she would NOT having a beard, thank you. Though she'd totes look snazzy in one.

The closest star to the Earth?

SHE KNEW THAT.

Her hand went straight up, but she was beaten to it by others. That didn't put her off and she kept her hand firmly in the air until it was her turn to speak. "The SUN." Peek in textbook. "It's about 8 light minutes away, Sir," she told him, grinning, nodding and just trying to look like she knew what she was saying. How did peoples cram all of this stuff in their brains without exploding, was what she wanted to know. Especially useless information like this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpfan18

SPOILER!!: Le Prof Airey :3

As Professor Airey was explaining to him the answer he gave, he copied it down into his notes. It was good information to know. Then he asked a question that he could not answer but it was good to think about. He didn't have an answer but thankfully he moved on.

Then he returned to the class and asked another question. Kace thought of i, what is one star that is close to the earth? Kace thought about it and then it came. DING! He raised his hand, "Professor i know that the Sun is close to earth but i never knew it was a star." he told him earnestly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Sigh. Tag looked at all his classmates and the other students who seemed to be answering with The Sun being the closest star to earth. But he wasn't going to answer, everyone else seemed to be handling that part.

But they were talking about the sun so that made Tag crack a small smile.

Still though...

Sorry Professor Airey, Tag felt like he wasn't smart enough to be answering these questions just so he could be embarrassing himself, like last time. Oh well. Tag simply nodded at all the answers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talikins

Ohhhhh. That was interesting. The stars always shined. Something new she had learned already. See her brain could absorb things very quickly! Clever fairies were clever! Yep! Yep!

BLINK.

Would you look at that list on the board? So full. With her small eyes, the eleven year old just looked. But was she expected to write it down? Cause she would if she were given the instruction to do so, but considering she was not given the instruction she just read over it and focused back on the Star of the show!

SHE KNEW THIS ONE! SHE....Awww man! Someone had answered before her. She could still feel clever though, or wanted to therefore she put her hand up anyways. "THE SUN!" Beam. She had learned that at her previous school.

As the name Miss Fischer was mentioned, the strawberry blonde's hair swerved to look at the biter. Giggle. Sort. Why would she want a beard? Santa wore beards NOT girls. Pshhhht. Silleh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaetha

"The Sun," Adrienne droned, not even bothering to raise her hand since everyone was saying the exact same thing at almost the same time. It was incredibly obvious, and she didn't know why professor Flamsteed was so excited. It was just the sun, not much of a big deal, no? She knew the basics: it was a star, a yellow dwarf to be precise, the Earth orbited around it, et cetera. There had to be more to Astronomy than stars, which was pretty much all they'd studied last year, too...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harron Peasley

Smiling in relief as the Professor spoke and reassured her that her point was valid, Charlie began to copy down the answers that other students were shouting out. Which were MANY. She stifled a giggle as he jumped onto a students desk, deciding that maybe she'd actually LIKE Astronomy this year.

AND next question.

Charlies hand rose into the air hesitantly before she spoke. "The Sun is the closest star to us - about 150,000,000 kilometres away." And she was so annoyed that she could only remember an approxiation of an approximation. Hadn't her father drilled her on this last year?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapehGrape

Adelaide had quickly grabbed a seat near the front of the room once the professor had answered her question. She giggled at the green beard the Hufflepuff prefect had earned. She listened to the first question and was about to raise her hand to answer, when everyone else did so.

She thought against it because it seemed everyone else in the class had seemed to touch on the subject. Sigh. Adelaide eyed the bag. There was no way she wanted one of those beards on her face. Nope. No touching the bag for her.

Adelaide quickly raised her hand to answer the question, even though others had done so before her. "The closest star is the sun." Obviously. Not to mention how that had been drilled into her brain from muggle school.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Mienrva just rolled her eyes as people actually wanted the stupid green beard. She slid down in her chair and tried to listen to the lesson. They were there to learn not grow beards. Trying to get back into the lesson Minerva smiled a bit as he said she was correct and pointed out part of her answer. See she was trying to study better with this class.

As she heard the next questions Minerva went to raise her hand like she always did, but others were blurting out the answer. Well the way he asked it she guessed it sounded as if people just were to say. "The sun" She said quickly not to be the last one to speak. Oh was that why they were having class during the day, because of the sun.. Light bulb moment there Minerva.. really..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubbles

The professor seemed so excited to ask his next question it was a little contagious. Enthused, Lucian raised his hand so fast it blew a small breeze on the side of his head. "The sun!" That big orange-yellow ball of light that reminded him of an egg yolk was the closest star to Earth, no? If not then he'd been lied for for years. And he'd sooooo blame it on Bridge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

Well you learn something new everyday. Nigel thought for a moment about joining Alice in getting a green beard. But decided not to for that fact that he was comfortable in his seat. The next question was obvious. So Nigel decided to turn his attention to Derry. Who's desk was occupied by Flamsteed right now.

Wait. Did she just almost fall out of her chair. Nigel could not help, but laugh. Then he asked. "Are you alright, Derry?

Green Beards and people almost falling out of chairs. Now the only thing left to see is Alice with a green beard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarShine

The SUN!" Forrest roared immediately, hand in the air, when Professor Airey asked "WHAT?".

They could have green beard? COOL. Forrest walked up to the bag and peeked inside. Of course he didn't see anything, but grew a lime green beard instead. He was so pleased with his new beard, HEHE. He turned to class to show how grown up he was, although his beard was lime green, then returned to his seat.

Now he could stroke it throughtfully before answering! This was so cool yo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

While Caleb was totally pro-beard, he didn't really fancy sporting a LIME GREEN one. He could wait till puberty on this one. So he watched as some of his classmates went up and re-emerged from the bag with the beards, and he chuckled to himself. This professor dude was pretty cool. He had a feeling he was going to like Astronomy.

Ok, so, onto the next question. Caleb actually knew this one! He'd been skimming his Astronomy book before class, and who knew the little bits he'd read would actually come in HANDY? He raised his hand with excitement.

"The closest star to planet Earth is the sun, but if for some reason you're not counting the sun as a star, which some crazy people DON'T, then the next nearest star is Proxima Centauri," he explained. The only reason he remembered that was because of "Proxima" which meant "close" or something right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Rainman? Adi nearly snorted out loud with laughter. This professor was amusing him non stop with his thumbs ups, leaps and applause. He sure was cool! He didn't mid the incorrect names but he did want the suited man to get it correct at some point.

Closest planet to Earth? Oh oh oh! He knew this! His dad had been watching some booooooring documentary about Earth and he had heard the mention of the....SUN! Adi quickly raised his hand. "The sun, Professor! And it's pronounced Rehman!'' He grinned, wondering what colourful name he'll be called next.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

Was he planning on painfully remind her that they were all dead anyway and that life didn't actually matter because everything would cease to exist eventually? WE HAVE OUR EYES ON YOU, PROFESSOR FLAMSTEED. We still like you, though, so Lottie just smirked a bit when he glanced at her. Nicely done, Airey.

And that's why we still like him. Excellence and wide grins. So, she nodded and smiled. Yup, she knew that.

NOW. Merlin could he act ANY more excited about this?? The closest star to Earth? The closest star to their solar system was Proxima Centauri, yeah? But the closest star to EARTH was, of course, the sun.

OF COURSE.

Lottie didn't answer, but she nodded at the ones who said the sun. Mostly, she was just smiling to herself and kept her eyes on her desk because... the sun. ~~Why Airey, why?~~ The sun owed her like a million apologies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the fastest seeker

The snake paid attention to her classmates answers, she knew most and didn't know about others. She jotted some notes on her notebook for easy reference later. She decided to take as many notes as she could during lessons though that might not last very long. For now she was doing so. Besides she found this particular topic interesting. Stars and planets. She liked this, MOAR information please?

Cassia didn't even consider the beard option. Nope, no beard, thank you. As for the question, she knew that one. "The sun is the closest," She answered with the same answer as many others. Though, there were other answers. Cassia waited to hear what the Professor will say the correct one is.

Meanwhile..? Was Derry okay? The snake kinda noticed late but the red-headed seemed to be okay now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuppySara

Okay, that was a simple enough question and everyone seemed to know the answer already, but he raised his hand anyways, "The sun, professor." The big ball in the sky that kept them alive, that was easy... That was one of the first things he'd learned was that the sun was just a big ball of gas that kept everyone and everything alive... without the sun the planet would be consumed in darkness and all life would perish... Yeah, one of the oldest worries of an apocalypse... Not that difficult to know the answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

His reference to the star evolution was stellar. STELLAR. How AWESOME was that? Alec grinned at the man, especially at the weird jump he had done across the classroom. ... Astro Man... was kind of enthusiastic and jumpy, it seemed. At least, to Alec. Not that he minded. He just sort of... jumped when the man actually jumped on Derry's desk.

He also jumped again when the man had shouted out 'WHAT' so loudly. ... Man, the possibility of sleeping in this man's class was very small.

As for his question... yeah. Sun. Okay. He was going to mentally go along with that answer by nodding his head. He wasn't going to answer, though, since so many people had done so already and, really, Astro Man didn't need the same answer repeated numerous times, yeah? What he did do, though, was scribble down a note of the lists that were on the board. It could be useful someday, yeah? And he kind of wanted to improve his grade in this subject so... yeah. Notes. Being taken.

Scribble... scribble... scribble...

And did he want a beard? ... HMMM...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unalii

Tay beamed as the professor said that she was right. She listened to him talk and wrote down what he wrote. At the new question, she raised her hand, "The sun, professor?" Taylor was 99.99% sure that was the answer but she still said it like a question. Taylor silently chuckled at the thought of a green beard but didn't dare do it since she didn't want one. Taylor fiddled with her pencil, waiting to see what the professor would say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fire_faerie

HA.

Smart people house, anyone?! HE WAS RIGHT. And he had even put it well. Hogwarts was already making him a super crazy genius and this was only his first class! Sticking out his chest as much as he could in the chair, Benzi chanted along with everyone as they all yelled "SUN!" Or, well, almost everything. The eleven year old haughtily eyed the ones who didn't. PSHT. Try to keep up guys would ya?!

At the professor's offer of a green beard, Benzi kept his bum well inside the seat. No green beards for this cornrowed fella! It wouldn't suit his skin colour, and besides, he didn't want one. He liked stroking his chin sometimes ~~since yesterday~~, and a beard would just keep getting in his way. It was what smart people did, stroke their chins!

Cue stroke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

She didn't even get a 'STELLAR' for her answer? But Aireyhead was the only professor she could always count on getting praise from. Did he hate her now? Hmm? Alice's face fell noticeably, especially when Mo got a 'very interesting', and it was clear he'd gotten his answer from hers. That. That was cheating.

Hmph. Sulking was happening.

But as soon as the professor said something about beards and being allowed, the next question went in one ear and out the other. Proxima Centauri? The Sun? Who cared? She could get a BEARD YES.

The sixth year wandered over to the large velvet back on Flamsteed's desk and promptly stuck her head inside of it.

Well? Where was her promised facial hair?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

No beard for her, thanks. She didn't like the idea of having something that itchy on her face. It was nice of him to offer, though.

And the closest star to Earth? If you thought about what time of the day this was and everything, then the answer was pretty obvious. But how were they going to study the sun? Everyone knew that it was too bright to look at directly, even with sunglasses on. Unless there was some kind of spell to help that......?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

You know what? Professor Airey was saying a lot of words. He really was and now she got the image of the earth dying one day, people poking it with sticks for it to spin or revolve or something...though it'd probably still do that because of other stuff? She didn't know. Dead planets was a weird concept to her.

Oh oh oh!!! They could all have beards?

Lex wasted no time in making her way over to the bag and helped herself to one of those nifty beards--wait ew green, no. "Would you mind if I changed the colour on mine Professor?" Had to ask in case he had a thing about using magic without being told to do so. A few Professors had that policy. He was a cool Professor grant you but just to be sure.

As for the question. That was pretty obvious wasn't it? The sun. Everyone else was shouting it...there wasn't much reason why she'd need to go yelling it to. Not when she had this neat beard to keep her attention.

Really though, this colour wasn't working for her. It contrasted with her robes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

West didn't need a beard he was good, thanks. Also given people were yelling out the answer, he didn't need to do that either. Flammy knew he knew, right? Right. He just sat there looking around at all this... beard madness.

Heh. Green.

... though, that was not such a good look for his girlfriend. He preferred her face all pretty and smooth, not looking like an old leprechaun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Okay, now this answer Sophie knew. Everybody knew about the Sun, after all. "The Sun," she said with confidence, raising her hand. Lowering her hand, she listened to the professor volunteer beards for everybody, which was honestly starting to give Sophie a complex. She had had TWO classes in all since she'd become a student at Hogwarts, and in both those classes, the professors had offered to give everybody beards--girls included.

What was it with this school and beards anyway?! Couldn't a kid just be a kid? More specifically, couldn't a girl just be a girl?!

Nope. No beard today. She decided to skip out on this one, since she'd had the whole beard experience in Arithmancy class. That one hadn't been optional.

*ZAP* And now Miss Fischer had a beard as well. Although Airey had to admit that the color red suited her a bit more than green. Personal house bias. He wasn't entirely sure what the attraction was with beards - especially lime green ones.

"If you wish, Miss Cambridge. You can even braid it as long as you do not lose focus on the lesson," he said with a nod. Girls did that right? Braid hair and stuff. Which is really what a beard was. Hair on the face.

But back to student answers....

YES! THIS WAS THE ANSWER HE WAS LOOKING FOR!

Getting excited once again, Airey jumped up on his own desk and began to sing. "Here comes the sun, du dn du du," he said, doing another weird little wiggly dance in the process. Was anyone going to join him? No? Right then. "Those of you who said the sun are correct. The sun is the closest star to us." And now you know it was a star, Mr. Lecium. "The sun makes up about 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass, just so you get an idea as to how massive this star is. Ironically, it is classified as a yellow dwarf star and is currently in the main sequence phase of its stellar evolution. While it IS the star closest to us, the sun that you see out the window right now is not the sun RIGHT now, but rather the sun as it was 8 minutes ago." Had he lost anyone with that? He always thought it was an interesting fact that when one looked to the sky you could see the past. "The sun is very important to the earth for many reasons. One being that the sun provides the earth with something to orbit. Without the sun, the Earth would fly off into the coldest parts of space and none of us would be here today because life would be impossible. It also provides heat, which is necessary for life to exist and controls our weather. In summary, it is the most basic source of energy for planet Earth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"... which is why this lesson isn't at night." It wasn't a desk-leap-worthy answer, but it had been a pretty standard question. He kind of felt like he had to share his reasoning and how he got to the conclusion that it wasn't a trick question.

"PRECISELY!" Airey said with some dramatic finger pointing towards Mr. Tempus. "We will actually be utilizing the sun's light in a little reenactment later." But more on THAT laaaaaaaaater.

Were they getting that there was a LOT to study and know in regards to the sun? He could quite literally hold a year's worth of lessons just on it.

"Today, we will be focusing on the sun and it's parts to better understand how it works." Which was now leading him to walk towards his bag. "Now, I know you are all curious as to what is in this bag. There are actually several things in here that we will be using in today's lesson, but the first iiiiiiiiiiiiiis," and he reached into the bag and pulled out a large white round object with a colorful speckled design on it. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"

OOC: class will resume in...a few hours

bitsyandtank · 09-12-2013, 12:10 AM

Asher looked closely at the object the professor was holding. What it had to do with the sun, he didn't know for sure. After a few more moments in thought, the only thing that came to mind was "Is it a Mountain Troll eyeball? I'm not sure what that has to do with the sun, but it looks to be about the right size."

Ahh, he was almost one hundred percent sure his answer was wrong, but he was participating in class. That had to be worth something. Plus, Professor Flamsteed had always appeared to be the kind of professor that would welcome guesses from the younger students that may not have as much knowledge as the older ones.

TakemetotheBurrow · 09-12-2013, 12:11 AM

As Ella continued to watch Professor Airey, she couldn't help but think that him and Tobias were very alike what with the bouncing and enthusiasm. They could totally be bros if it wasn't for the ~~huge~~ age-gap. She'd have to suggest it to the younger badger at some point. ~~Maybe Toby could even help convince Airey to confess his love to Professor Romanos.~~

And that song? GRIN! Ella loved it. The blonde BEAMED at the Professor then quickly scribbled down notes on the sun, resisting the urge to hum as she did.

And that thing? That speckled thing? That was totally something she'd recognized. Her Gran never wanted to get her one because she was convinced it was going to lodge in Ella's throat and then she'd choke and then her Gran would win worst grandparent of the year award. Dramatic Gran was dramatic, okay? Anyway... "It looks like a jaw breaker, Sir."

Bazinga · 09-12-2013, 12:12 AM

Minerva could not believe not at all that people wanted those horrid beards. She was still pouting over it really. Yes the points were nice, but she felt stupid for letting her curiosity get the best of her. Now others were going up on purpose just to get that stupid beard .. Honestly the entire school was loosing their minds if she didn't know better she would think they were still in last term.

Watching as Flamsteed got his bag she backed up in her chair hoping he wasn't going to open the bag towards them to make the entire class get the blasted beards. She flinched as he opened it, but looked as he puled something out. Oh she knew what that was. Raising her hand, "Professor that is a jaw breaker. It's a muggle candy that is impossible really to bite through, but has a lot of flavor and you can have it for ever." placing her hand down she listened to see if everyone else agreed with her.

Felixir · 09-12-2013, 12:13 AM

Airey was on FIRE today. Well, not literally. But he was certainly showing the kind of energy that APPEALED to Toby. Wow. WOW. Singing, dancing AND dramatic finger pointing.

... straight at him.

TOBY DID ANOTHER GOOD.

The boy BEAMED widely, having written all his notes down and now looking up to see the digit of ~~doom~~ ~~accusation~~ ... something idk... pointed at him.

And onto the bag. Tobias sat up a bit straighter here, eager to see what was going oooooon, and caught sight ooooof-

"Sweets!"

He couldn't stop the squeal that escaped him but... c'mon... SWEETS. He threw up his hand and gave an answer. "Where I live-" dahhhn sahhhth "-we call those gobstoppers, Professor. But some people call 'em jawbreakers. You suck on them and they get smaller and smaller and change colours as the layers of sugary goodness come off."

Ahem.

Well, if Tobias knew ANYTHING, it was muggle candy.

.................. could he have one?

Expecto-Penguin · 09-12-2013, 12:15 AM

Kace was in awe learning about the Sun. He never knew that information. He copied some of it down in his notes. Plus his hand was starting to cramp. He didn't really write at all this summer, so he had to practice. Then he saw the professor have the bag in his hand. FINALLY he will know what is in it!

He saw Prof Airey put his hand in it and then he pulled out a white sphere of delicious goodness. Kace knew what it was instantly. He loved those candies. Kace raised his hand, "I KNOW! I KNOW!! It is a Jaw Breaker!" he said probably a little enthusiastically. But hey they were his favorite candy. Plus they were huge in his mouth and made him drool when he ate them. "Those jaw breakers make your cheeks hurt i know that." he told the Professor. He knew from experience.

pundantic · 09-12-2013, 12:22 AM

Heh.

Yeah, he saw Glitter Trousers sequined feathers get all ruffled when Ascanius started to click his tongue. It seemed to him that he had gotten down to the tap dancing heart of his singing Professor. Twinkle town and whatnot. And the if it bothered Glitter Trousers it was amusing to Ascanius. 'Sides, this class was boring and he knew all the answers. He needed to do something to entertain himself. Pfft.

So he continued to look around the room with his ever present smirk and he clicked his tongue. And he did it over and over again simply because he wanted to, yeah?

Also, that was a jaw breaker. They used to get those all the time at the corner store, him and the rest of the kids at the home, on Saturdays if they were good. He knew those things well.

Cassirin · 09-12-2013, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

“That is very interesting, Mr. Branxton,” Airey nodded with great interest. “Would you care to elaborate a bit further on this?”

Did he want to elaborate? No. He really didn't. What if he said something stupid because he didn't know all the official words? He was good at putting pieces together, but he wasn't good at recall. West was way better at recall.

But he'd try, anyway. "When a star, like our sun, is created out of that big star cloud... erm... the solar nebula, the leftover cloud of stuff is just spinning there in the gravity of the forming star. And then through the process of..." He wrinkled his nose, trying to recall the word. "Accretion, tiny grains of dust slowly build mass over ages and ages to become planets. So you see..." Did he see? Did anyone see? "Planets are dependent on stars to be created, but the opposite is not true." Whew. The end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

"As you can see, there are many differences between stars and planets," Airey said in an almost proud father sort of tone. "We will be talking about stars again today." Or, well, again for all those returning students. "But we will be focusing on just one star in particular." He paused here for added effect. "Now, as it was mentioned, there are billions upon billions of stars in the sky, but we will be discussing the one that is closest to earth...which is............WHAT?!" He looked around expectantly for the answer to be shouted out immediately.

OOC: this took me a lot longer to type up than I thought

SO SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! Class will resume as soon as I wake up ... hopefully, so in about 8 - 9 hours.

Okay, so everyone knew the answer to this one, right? Right.

But also... "Professor Flamsteed? Is it true the official name of our sun is Sol?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

"Today, we will be focusing on the sun and it's parts to better understand how it works." Which was now leading him to walk towards his bag. "Now, I know you are all curious as to what is in this bag. There are actually several things in here that we will be using in today's lesson, but the first iiiiiiiiiiiiiis," and he reached into the bag and pulled out a large white round object with a colorful speckled design on it. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"

OOC: class will resume in...a few hours

And also also... that there wasn't a star OR a planet.

"That's candy."

LilFox06 · 09-12-2013, 12:54 AM

Overexcited Professor was overexcited. It was cute. Anya's little invisible audience in her head was awwing at his antics and table jumping general monkeyness.

... that was totally normal to think about a Professor, right? Right...?

Eh. She didn't care. It was true. Anyone that thought otherwise was lying.

Ooooh. And what was that? Her hand shot up. "Is it the 'something that I will be able to take back to the dorms' thing that you promised me?" Because. Grabby hands. Anya wanted the jawbreaker. Omnomnom.

PuppySara · 09-12-2013, 01:00 AM

What was with the simple questions? Brodie looked at it, "It's a jaw breaker sir... A muggle sweet that basically rots your teeth out before too long, it last for quite a long while... but certainly not forever." He had to add that in there seeing how he heard Minnie say it could last that long, please... Nothing really lasted forever, he fought a smug look knowing he'd proven Minnie wrong. He didn't like his prefect... Could anyone else tell that yet?

oh its Erik ok · 09-12-2013, 01:04 AM

Okay. Derry was Okay. It seemed that Flamsteed did not even notice he sat on a students seat. A little excited talking about Planets and Stars?

Of course the answer was Sol. The Sun. Obvious was Obvious. It did not really even need to be answered. First Years should know that.Now what was this about candy. We were each getting candy. That would be pretty awesome. Not as awesome as his own beard. But cool.

This would be the perfect time to stroke a non existing beard and that is exactly what Nigel did. Why candy?

Hmm......

Somnium · 09-12-2013, 01:11 AM

Taylor tilted her head and looked at what he held up. She raised her hand, "Uh... is it some sort of muggle candy?" Tay wasn't that sure about her answer but she already said it so... oh well... Taylor fiddled with her quill some more and tickled her nose with the very tip of the feathery part, bored at the moment even though she loved astronomy.

amadshade · 09-12-2013, 01:14 AM

Woa. Tora hadn't seen one of those since she stopped going to Muggle school! Her hand shot up. "That's a jaw-breaker!" she said excited and then added without really thinking, "Do we all get one of them? To eat eventually?" Tora loved candy, and as a jaw-breaker was candy, she loved jaw- breakers too.

After she settled down a bit she tried to think about how a jaw-breaker could relate to the sun. After a couple minutes she put up her hand again, a little more tentatively this time, and said, "Professor? Is that also a model of a planet orbiting the sun? It has a core and it is hard, which although is not a requisite of being a planet, a lot of planets and other orbiting objects are made of rock. Or ice. Or something like that." she paused with a thoughtful look on her face. "I don't think it represents the sun because a jaw-breaker only gets smaller, where the sun will eventually become a red giant, which is bigger than the original main sequence star.... of course it would eventually shed the outer layers of gas to make a nebulae and then a white dwarf which is considerably smaller, but i don't think that applies to this object." She suddenly realized how much she was talking. Not that talking was ever a bad thing, it was just that she wasn't used to giving to many answers. Normally she was the one to ask the questions. She blushed and looked down at her desk to where her notes from last year (yes she kept them) were open. Just checking to make sure the facts given were actually correct of course. Ahem. Space nerd coming through.

Lockhartian · 09-12-2013, 01:16 AM

Text Cut: Airey ^^

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

But back to student answers....

YES! THIS WAS THE ANSWER HE WAS LOOKING FOR!

Getting excited once again, Airey jumped up on his own desk and began to sing. "Here comes the sun, du dn du du," he said, doing another weird little wiggly dance in the process. Was anyone going to join him? No? Right then. "Those of you who said the sun are correct. The sun is the closest star to us." And now you know it was a star, Mr. Lecium. "The sun makes up about 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass, just so you get an idea as to how massive this star is. Ironically, it is classified as a yellow dwarf star and is currently in the main sequence phase of its stellar evolution. While it IS the star closest to us, the sun that you see out the window right now is not the sun RIGHT now, but rather the sun as it was 8 minutes ago." Had he lost anyone with that? He always thought it was an interesting fact that when one looked to the sky you could see the past. "The sun is very important to the earth for many reasons. One being that the sun provides the earth with something to orbit. Without the sun, the Earth would fly off into the coldest parts of space and none of us would be here today because life would be impossible. It also provides heat, which is necessary for life to exist and controls our weather. In summary, it is the most basic source of energy for planet Earth."

"PRECISELY!" Airey said with some dramatic finger pointing towards Mr. Tempus. "We will actually be utilizing the sun's light in a little reenactment later." But more on THAT laaaaaaaaater.

Were they getting that there was a LOT to study and know in regards to the sun? He could quite literally hold a year's worth of lessons just on it.

"Today, we will be focusing on the sun and it's parts to better understand how it works." Which was now leading him to walk towards his bag. "Now, I know you are all curious as to what is in this bag. There are actually several things in here that we will be using in today's lesson, but the first iiiiiiiiiiiiiis," and he reached into the bag and pulled out a large white round object with a colorful speckled design on it. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"

OOC: class will resume in...a few hours

GASP. THE BEATLES! WELOVEYOUAIREYFLAMSTEEDYOU'REOURFAVORITEEVER. That particular song, though. Heh. At least it made her look up from her desk, eyes on Professor Flamsteed at all times, because he was talking and she was listening and...

...she was smiling for whatever stupid reason. Except the smile faltered slightly when he mentioned the small time difference they shared with the sun. Right, of course. Not only were they all dying already, but they were ALSO living in the PAST. For Merlin's sake. Life was already impossible, Airey. Thanks for that.

Like, literally impossible because her mind kept wandering off somewhere else. Stupid sun. Forget paying attention to this lesson.

Also, beards... what? Had she'd been utterly lost in this? Had Ascanius finally SAID something in Astronomy besides his name? No? Oh, then why were there beards on people's faces? Reenactment. Now, that was something Ascanius might find useful for future jokes. However, the Professor should keep the candy away from Lex's hands, because whatever planet that candy would represent... it would perish before the sun did. Just saying.

DaniDiNardo · 09-12-2013, 01:25 AM

She could get rid of this ugly colour! No need to tell her twice. Lex tapped at the beard and cast the colour changing charm she'd taught herself. Instantly it was her favourite shade of blue and she was beaming. No need to worry about her distracting herself with braiding or whatever, she wasn't very fussy about hair. Merlin knew Melanie was the reason she showed up to classes with brushed hair.

So yeah, they were talking about the sun and why it was important. She already knew this stuff but listened out of courtesy to Professor Airey, one of the only ones she'd have listened to out of courtesy.

Her interest was peaked when he got to the bag and showed what was insi--

hcdvsdgfv!!! "Candy!!" Oh erm...did he want specifics?

"A jaw breaker to be exact." Muggle candy. She didn't have it very often but they had some good ones. "Do we each get one?? Can I have two?"

PLEASE??

FearlessLeader19 · 09-12-2013, 01:27 AM

Quote:

"Today, we will be focusing on the sun and it's parts to better understand how it works." Which was now leading him to walk towards his bag. "Now, I know you are all curious as to what is in this bag. There are actually several things in here that we will be using in today's lesson, but the first iiiiiiiiiiiiiis," and he reached into the bag and pulled out a large white round object with a colorful speckled design on it. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"

Yay! He was right! Adi eyed the thingy the Professor had revealed to them. What was that? He craned his neck trying to come up with an answer but really he could not figure it out. But he raised his hand. "Ummm, it's a ball or some other round thing splattered with paint,'' he said. The object did look like that.

iBeJenn · 09-12-2013, 01:34 AM

What if that thing the professor was holding wasn't really a candy? What if it was one of those giant rubber balls that you bought in Chinatown for a dollar? Melanie squinted at it, trying to see if the lighting on the white speckled object resembled that off a rubber ball's more. She tilted her head slightly to the side and all to observe the object and trying not to get distracted by the beards people now wore on their faces.

Melanie would pass on beards. "It's one of those bouncy balls you get from those toy machines, isn't it?" Y'know... the one where you put in a quarter, twisted the knob and a little capsule would come out with the ball in it? She was pretty sure that was it and not a jawbreaker. It would be too obvious if it was a jawbreaker. She was pretty sure the object had been disguised to look like one... right? It was probably a rubber bouncy ball.

Team ronmione · 09-12-2013, 01:45 AM

Just take this class slowly Tag. Take it slowly and surely and you'll understand it.

Doing his best to keep his attention on Airey, he did say Tag had to 'pay attention, he must' Tag looked at Airey as he spoke. It was kind of hard to keep focusing on him when he mentioned the sun over and over again. Actually, Airey, the sun was much much closer to him than he thought, but Tag wouldn't say that.

How was the sun eight minutes ago??? Ugh. Yep. Tag had never found this class more confusing than this year. So, keeping his mouth shut Tag continued to listen. Ok, he understood why it was ironic that the sun was called a yellow dwarf star.

And that weird thing he was showing next, yeah Tag couldn't put his finger on it. To him it just looked like a styrofoam ball that some funky artist decided to throw paint upon.

Again, he sat quietly.

Luna_Midnight · 09-12-2013, 01:52 AM

Nerida looked jawbreaker? gobstopper? It couldn't be candy...It was too cool to be candy! All colorful and epic, didn't they have those in the those machines and you put muggle quarters in to get one, bouncy balls? Yeah that seemed more like it... Agreeing with Melanie she decided to go into the ball direction. "Yeah Professor I agree it looks like a fun little bouncy ball that you pay with for a muggle quarter!" Yeah it was too easy to just give it the name of a jawbreaker it could be a bouncy ball...Which it looked like so yeap it was a ball!

Anna Banana · 09-12-2013, 01:53 AM

Sophie nodded along as the professor went on and on about how important the Sun was to their existence here on Earth. She knew all about that kind of thing. Her mom had taught her when she'd been at home and too young to come to Hogwarts.

She peered out the window when the professor mentioned the star they could see outside. That wasn't really the Sun...but rather the Sun as it looked eight minutes ago? Weirdddd. Sophie looked outside for a little longer then turned back to the professor.

What was that object? She smirked in amusement at the kid who said 'mountain troll eyebrow'. Heh. Raising her hand, she said, "It's a piece of candy, but...maybe you're using it as a model of something in the Solar System?" she suggested. It did look rather planet-y.

lemon · 09-12-2013, 02:59 AM

Changing beard colors was too much effort, so Alice just sat silent and stroked her new facial hair thoughtfully while watching Mo ramble like a true eagle. And she also watched the candy.. because candy. Jawbreakers? Hmm?

Was Lex the only other one who took up Flamsteed's offer of a furry chin?

Hmph.. but it.. was scratchy. No. No thanks. Alice wanted it off. Could he get it off for her?

Itch. Itch. "Finite. Finite." Would that fix it?

Itchhhh.

lazykitty · 09-12-2013, 03:17 AM

Sky felt like that answer was a bit of a duh. But it caused Airey to burst out singing a Beatles song, so that was awesome. And note taking was going on, because she needed this stuff for NEWTs. But then she was distracted. By candy. Mmmm...... candy. "It's one of those large jawbreakers that last for days and change color and everything....." She hadn't had one for those for awhile, mainly because she had such a hard time finding them in either magical or muggle London. "Can we have one?"

DecemberMoon · 09-12-2013, 03:40 AM

Oh, Eliza thought, deflated. She had completely forgotten about Jupiter being a gas planet, and now she felt silly. Sure, others had been wrong about it too, but she didn't like being wrong, especially not when she had thought she was so right.

Moving on though, she shouted out her answer of "The sun!" in unison with several other students after he'd asked. That was after she chuckled over the professor jumping on desks and dancing slightly by himself here and there.

Now, he presented them with a big white ball with colors splattered on it. Lucky enough for her, she knew just what the was. Or, thought she did at least. She wasn't so sure about her answers anymore now, having gotten the first one wrong, but she raised her hand to answer anyway. "That's a gobstopper, Professor. They're a hard candy that you just sort of lick for a while...which is actually a little bit unhygienic I would think... But anyway, they're supposed to taste pretty good!" Not to mention they'd probably make a nice colorful addition to some sort of solar system mock up?

Casey O · 09-12-2013, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWESOME!TEACHER

"Today, we will be focusing on the sun and it's parts to better understand how it works." Which was now leading him to walk towards his bag. "Now, I know you are all curious as to what is in this bag. There are actually several things in here that we will be using in today's lesson, but the first iiiiiiiiiiiiiis," and he reached into the bag and pulled out a large white round object with a colorful speckled design on it. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"

OOC: class will resume in...a few hours

Marigold raised her hand.

"Oooh! Oooh! Isn't that a jawbreaker? My mum buys those for me!" she said excitedly. It was true, her mother, being a muggle, gave those to her on Easter. "Oh, and Marigold I LOVE ASTRONOMY McAlistor here!" She beamed. Totally telling the truth, Astronomy was her FAVORITE subjects.
She smiled and then wibbled. She wished that Airey could find Pebbles, though he seemed energetic without her.

OH. AND HEY ALL YOU NEW PUFFERS THAT SHE SAW IN DIAGON ALLEY. HEYYYYYYYY.

Yep.

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