Oh! Dot knew this one! She was excited, actually, because there weren't a whole lot of things about Astronomy that Dot knew on her own, but she did know one thing. She knew the story about Orion, because her mum had a big book of myths and stories that they read together.

She climbed from her desk and struck a heroic pose. "I see Orion, facing off against the raging bull Taurus! And behind the bull, you see the seven sisters! I love that story!" Rawr. Time to throw the pumpkin out the window?

Puck raised her hand into the air almost instantly as really, there were some constellations that she knew things about. Her eyes were already transfixed on the almost V-shaped star cluster.

“Professor one of the star clusters just below Pleiades is called Hyades…its known to be the head of the bull in the Taurus constellation.” She grinned it was one of her favorite for its characteristic V shape and brightness.

Zhenya had a BIG smile on her face, delighted at the energy of Professor Flamsteed. He jumped onto the desks and leaped around them! Well… kind of leaped. Stepped? Didn't matter, it was refreshing and fun. She listened to all the answers others gave, and the responses of Professor Flamsteed, and wrote a few dot points down on her parchment to remember for later. For exams, and for OWL study. Of course.

As she looked at the night sky, she could only see one thing she knew. At least… she thought it was there. She raised her hand and waited for Professor Flamsteed to call on her, then said "Professor, I see Pluto," in a not-quite-confident voice. She couldn't actually point out any constellations or anything… Pluto was all she could do.

So he HAD given a good answer??? Granted, it wasn't correct, but he was perfectly okay with the professor accepting his answer. Ollie had to remember that Flamsteed was completely awesome and not as likely with stupid questions and answers.

The one thing that finally woke him up wasn't Airey jumping up on the desk, nope, it was his EXCITED YELLING. DIDN'T HE REALIZE THERE WERE SLEEPY PEOPLE IN HERE?!??!! GOODNESS. Oliver practically jumped up out of his seat but tried to recover fast because the professor wasn't stopping there to give them a moment to recover, no no, he was moving on and talking fast, it seemed. Quickly writing notes down as the professor really got into his lesson, he wrote down everything he could as fast as he could (because it all sounded really cool and important) and made sure to put asterisks next to the words he didn't know (which were quite a few because he'd been sleepy in last class too). He also circled the things that sounded kind of interesting but the professor wasn't going over in class today -- mostly the whole spirits wreaking havoc thing.

And now there were STARS everywhere. Ollie looked around excitedly, dropping his quill onto the desk. Forget notes, there were stars. He tried to get a glance at every star in the room, but found it nearly impossible. He'd just have to try and focus on what was across the room from him so that he could actually see something in them and answer the next question. But DID he see anything???

Oliver squinted his eyes a bit and looked really hard to see if any of the stars made something that was obvious to the naked eye...nope. All he saw was a...a squiggly line? But it was a really loooong squiggly line...wasn't that something? Not sure but raising his hand anyway, he waited to be called on and said, "I think I see....uh...the snake thing?" HEHE. Y'know. Slytherin. Snake. Yeah.... But after taking a pause to think, he realized it wasn't a snake because it didn't have a head. "Wait. Waitwaitwait. No.....it's........." What was really long and didn't have a head in the stars again???? "THE RIVER! It starts with an E. Eri-....Eri something!" HE KNEW HE WASN'T CRAZY. IT WAS A THING. HE HAD READ ABOUT IT THAT ONE TIME.

WOAH, why were there suddenly stars everywhere? What was a Cross-Quarter day? Was he supposed to be listening to Professor Top Hat's rambling? Because he wasn't; Dima was still thinking about pumpkins. Also bugs. Pretty sure he saw one near that girl's chair over there.

Um, constellations? What about things INSIDE constellations?

"I think that asterism up there looks like a pumpkin, sir. I bet called Jack-O'-Lantern."

Nailed it.

Quiet right?

Wow, Bianca was very proud of herself now. The brunette just randomly answered what thing that pops on her brain.

Seriously, did Professor Flamsteed get poisoned by elixir of euphoria? She didn't think so. Airey Flamsteed was always hyper like this, maybe he consumed too much sugar before teaching the class. Whatever. Next time she had to prepare an earplug or maybe chose the seat at the back row. Then he showed them a photograph of the night sky.

Wow.

Bianca didn't know much about constellation except Pegasus. "I think I did see Pegasus there." She spoke to him.

Okay… When she first had entered this lesson she had thought that it would be boring and wasn’t she so sure if she would like it here but now…Now she realized that she had made a mistake! This was… Difficult! All those information?! How was she supposed to remember everything? For a fifth year or somebody who was older, okay… For them this wasn’t that hard but for a first year like she herself? This was just impossible! Equinoxes? NEVER in her life had she heard of that before! Not that she was that old, she was only eleven but that wasn’t important! Frowning because she realized that this lesson was going to be difficult she quickly grabbed her parchment and started to write what the professor had told everybody about… Those… Sky things… Sort of…

And… Was there something wrong with the teacher? Was he sick? Why was he so active? He was almost busier than some of the students WHEN they were misbehaving themselves! Was he always like that? It was… Sort of distracting… Hmm…

And now he started to explain another chard? And… Believe it or not, but… She didn’t understood literally ONE tiny little thing from what he was trying to explain to the class! This was just rubbish!

Looking really worried at the teacher because she was starting to fear that… She wouldn’t be able to learn anything here because it was just too difficult she uttered a soft sigh… There was a miracle needed if she wanted to have a good grade for this lesson and that was something she already knew for sure! A miracle or some help with her homework, but anyway, this was a problem!

Terminology… solstice, equinox… cross-quarter day…
The dark haired first year now really wanted to scream! Difficult words she NEVER had heard before, words what were important for this lesson and… Words she still didn’t knew the meaning of were spoken and… She had NO idea where this teacher was talking about! Did she really needed to search for those things in her textbook? Needed she to learn those things? Alone? Without help? And… If not… Then she wouldn’t be able to understand his next lesson right?

Panic! A first year was panicking here!

Okay… and to make it MORE difficult for her… Where they also going to talk about GHOSTS? In another lesson? He was going back on that right? Closing her eyes for a moment she was feeling how a headache was starting to torture her! Now it wasn’t just the teacher who was torturing her but he had company!

Now she stared really desperate at the teacher… Was she drooling? Feeling with her hand if she wasn’t she shook her head and sighed AGAIN! Raising her hand, not to give a answer but to just… confess that she didn’t had understood latterly one thing about this lesson because she didn’t wanted to get in trouble she spoke slowly, frowning and looking troubled… “Eh… I can’t answer your question because I haven’t understood anything from this lesson… It’s like as if you’re talking in another language at the moment…” spoke she worried.

It was just a normal lesson and then suddenly the professor was leaping on a desk. The curiosity got the best of her, and AJ turned her head fully to see where his feet landed. Airey was on Adi's desk, of course he was. AJ willed her eyes to stay put, but they seemed to have a mind of their own. Involuntarily she looked at Adi, and felt a pang in her heart. Her heart literally hurt. She was not going to do this. Not here, and not now.

Her forced her eyes to cooperate and stared straight in front of her. What was the question again? Erm... AJ listened to the others answer to see if that would give her a guess. Zander's comment got a snort out of her, and his blush was even funnier. Shy that one was.

Back to the question. AJ wasn't even sure what it was, but she was going to say something anyways. Her mouth was another part of her body that didn't always cooperate. Her hand slowly went into the air. "Star dust?" Was that a thing? Or maybe she was thinking about saw dust. Oh man. Her mind was not in a good place to be answering questions. Maybe the silent approach would be better.

OMG! Janelle's head was spinning. Good thing she was a fast writer, otherwise she would never be able to keep up with the steady flow of information. She came up for air briefly when the next question was asked. Janelle knew that she was going to have to come up with some sort answer this time. Going 0 for 2 was not going to cut it.

Thinking hard, Janelle pulled up the first constellation she could Bink of. Was it even a constellation? She thought so........but what if it wasn't on he chart for Halloween. Oh well, she decide to go for it anyway. She raised her hand and waited to be called on.

"Orion", she said with false certainty. "Might as well be strong and wrong", Janelle thought to herself.

Oh well, a fool for a second. NO biggie. Beams were already back.

So this whole thing was just a tad confusing but Abigail somewhat grasped what she thought was important. She even wrote some keywords down and then focused ahead at the last 3D structure before her.

What did she see? Honestly?

Stars.

What was she going to say she saw?

A scorpion. Her hand raised upward. "Is there a scorpion thing in there, or am I wrong? Cause that would be whats-it-called; oh yeah, Scorpius?" Was it clear that stars were not one of her strengths?

Evangeline Shacklebolt was in awe. She had never before seen a three dimensional display of the solar system. Was this what she had been missing out on during all her years of being homeschooled? She was so in awe of the giant solar system in front of her that she kind of missed what they were supposed to be looking for.

Errr... She blinked a few times. Things they would see on Halloween night? Evie timidly rose her hand. "The little dipper?" because... they kind of always saw the little dipper when there weren't clouds.

WHOOOOA. ENTHUSIASTIC MUCH, PROFESSOR?

He was standing on tables and shouting and it was really weird, but at least he seemed to return to normal after a bit and ask another question. He wasn't even sure he wanted to answer for fear of Professor Flamsteed standing on his table too, but then he realised that he hardly even knew enough to answer, much less to have his table jumped on. His answers weren't that great.

Brian was honestly really impressed by everyone and their answers, though, and he had to say he was a little upset at himself for not reading ahead and preparing for tonight properly. You know why? Simply because he had almost no idea what the professor was talking about. Well, at least he explained after he was done, but Brian really didn't know what he could be expecting to see on Halloween.

Oh, but there was a model. Maybe that thing would help. Squinting at the thing, he looked back at Professor Flamsteed and raised his hand. HAND WAY UP THERE. "I think Gemini's visible?" Were you more likely to have twins if you were a Gemini? Not that Brian was a Gemini. He was a Capricorn.

Back to the topic, though, he was writing down EVERYTHING. And there was a lot of everything going on in this classroom to be writing down so he was very preoccupied here.

“Right afternoon, sorry,” He’d lost track of the actual time, but that wasn’t the issue at hand, the issue was the look on the Professor’s face. He looked like he was suffering from some serious stomachache or something; somehow, the young man thought this didn’t bode well. There they were, the words of death. He’d hoped, really hoped that he would have been able to get around the rule, at least this once, but nope. Damien pouted and his shoulders slumped, even with the kind words the Professor offered, allowing him at least to wear his suit underneath, Damien was still disheartened and he only nodded and grumbled to the Professor as he walked out.

-----------------

As he’d walked back into the classroom Damien had listened, idly, to the question poised by the Professor; though Astronomy was new to him, he did know something about constellations as his mother had something of an obsession with them. He took back his seat between Nemo and Lux, and made a show of straightening his robes. He couldn’t understand it, why did this rule exist? What was the sense in conforming to such an old, outdated idea?

Whatever, he would talk with Professor Airey later about this and maybe, maybe he would see Damien's point… He hadn’t seemed all that keen on making Damien change, not to mention he’d let him keep the suit... and he'd called it stellar, maybe there was hope still.

“Pegasus, it’s visible through out August until December… It’s near our moon,” Damien calmly said, pointing out the constellation’s direction. He smiled, just a little at the Professor as he spoke. No need to be sour.

Margo was examining the charts. This was Astronomy like she had never seen before, maybe what she was interested in was astrology, Margo felt like she was lost in this world. Man, she was really struggling with this.

But she was looking at the charts, and she was doing her best to find an answer. Smiling, she raised her hand and "Does Mars look a little brighter?" Margo asked hoping she was seeing all the right things with this....maybe she didn't see the right things! But she did her best.

Yes, Eden was wondering about the PUMPKINS. She wanted to make a pUMPKIN PIE out of it. Merlin. Quigley and his apples--and now this with the pumpkins! Fruit everywhere! Were pumpkins fruit? They had seeds. So. Most likely. Mhmm.

THEY WERE GONNA' CARVE THE PUMPKINS???!?!?!!? OMG OMG OMG.

Eden almost died.

CARVING PUMPKINS WAS THE BEST! The stuff inside the pumpkin was so SQUISHY AND GROSS AND IT WAS AWEEEEESOME! GAH!. Eden would have cried. Died and cried. UGH. She bounced in her seat a bit, poking her pumpkin casually...hmm. She should name her pumpkin. He looked nice...round...big. He smelled like a typical pumpkin. Maybe she'd name her pumpkin DEAN. She liked it. Dean the Astro Pumpkin. It was so cute.

Her pumpkin was Dean.

Yah yah, the Astronomy vs. Astrology thing. Eden was mildly taking notes, but mostly paying attention to Dean. She also wondered what in the world carving pumpkins had to do with, you know, Astronomy. She also thought that Divination was probably a LOT more related to Astronomy than some would think. Which she jotted down. Just for funsies.

Eden's notes were soooo helpful -_-

Ugh. Eden didn't know this answer. Halloween and Astronomy? She assumed the time of year would have to do with the way the universe was aligned--or something. That answer didn't sound good, and she didn't WANT to say it aloud, so she just...kept quiet and took..diligent notes of those where better at...wording. Yep.

....OKAY.

Eden was close..kind of? But not as exact as...all that..solstice stuff...it just..Eden wasn't good at this naturally. She just squinted up at Professor Flamsteed and wondered how in the world she was going to get by in this class. Oh my. Eden was taking notes--Merlin--she'd have to ask for some clarification later. Also, why was he on his desk? Eden wiggled her eyebrows in amusement. Never a dull moment with this guy...never.

Eden had no idea. They were expected to seee...stars? Right? But this was just too obvious that Eden didn't even want to MENTION it. She just..sigh. Well. She raised her hand. "I do see a few constellations. Like the Big Dipper--" yet. Another obvious answer, but Eden didn't KNOW what else to say.

So there.

She contributed.

Flamsteed being confused by Gabe was hilarious, and Sophie tried not to laugh. She didn't know what Gabe was talking about either, which wasn't really a surprise since she hadn't studied anything like that super extensively, but if the professor didn't know what the boy was talking about... then he was in trouble, for sure, and Sophie looked on with extreme interest at their discussion.

But then desk-jumping was happening, and Sophie was soon entranced by the man's agility and pizzazz as he leapt from one desk to another like a graceful lamb. His enthusiasm was contagious, as always, and soon Soph was grinning and glancing at Tobes to see if he was as enlightened by it as she was. Even after four terms, it still never got old.

Cross-quarter day, Celts, Samhain, summer's end... Sophie took avid notes, thinking the bit about spirits causing havoc was cool. In a... brutal kind of way.

When the room grew dark and the night sky was created above them from white dots, this Ravenclaw's gaze turned in wonder to Flamsteed - what kind of magic was that? Whatever it was, she wanted to learn how to do that, and she was even further impressed at how he managed to align all the dots perfectly so that it displayed the future night sky. So COOL. Merlin.

What else could they expect to see? Others were quick to offer their answers of constellations and the like, and Sophie was content to absorb all the information as she stared up with wonder at the pseudo sky around them, when she remembered that Flamsteed told her he liked to hear what she had to say. So, with a grin, she raised a hand and offered up her thoughts on the matter.

"When I look at it, I see... well, generally speaking, our endless possibilities for our future and what we can achieve as the human race. Countless galaxies to discover and learn more about, and so many wondrous facts of things that are out there that we haven't even touched upon yet. Things beyond our imagination right now." An abstract thinker, she was, and she entirely blamed him and his night sky creation in their classroom. Her eyes were twinkling with the utmost delight and curiosity as she answered, and she managed to offer up a little innocent shrug for taking her own creative liberties with his question. Well, hadn't he SAID they weren't limited to constellations? Heh. She was just saying.

And there he went jumping on top of a desk. Ok. Finn stared at the Professor's sudden excitement? worried that something could happen to him, most especially if he fell off the desk. But, thankfully, and no need to worry, that wasn't the case. Jumping on the desk though, could they have a warning next time or something?

Nope. Finn had trouble with constellation stuff. Unless he was holding a map, one that said the constellations names and where they were at, he would be struggling. So he sat there, moving his pumpkin between his hand, carefully rolling it on his desk, quietly. He'd keep himself distracted until Professor Flamsteed continued with his lesson and answering his students guesses. That's the learning part of the class.

It was good to be back in class with the desk-jumping, slightly eccentric favorite teacher. Maybe Ophelia knew almost nothing about Astronomy because maybe she preferred to map out the actual Earth instead of the sky. But the teacher was cool, and last years food fight was one of the most fun times she EVER had learning. Did anyone else remember that? In the midst of the crazy fairy tale identity crisis?

Anyway, Halloween night sky. Yeah, Ophelia had absolutely no clue. It was a tradition for her and her neighbor to use the last bright night before all of the Holiday craziness started to scope out the woods one last time and try to go further than they ever went before. All while eating copious amounts of candy and trying to scare each other senseless. Not much of the night was spent looking up at anything, besides possibly holding a flashlight in their teeth and attempting to climb a tree in an attempt to jump down in front of someone else. So yeah, the twelve year old didn't know.

But still, Professor Flamsteed was a cool man, and he would totally do nothing if Ophelia literally guessed. So that was what the blonde was going to do. Twirling her hair around her index finger, the Eagle thought about random astronomy things.

Maybe one of the most entertaining stories he ever heard would work? The kid had a good one cooking about the moon being closest to Earth and how it meant that it was so bright that at 11:50 nobody could see anything. There was also one about the vie to the other side being the thinnest it ever had been so the moonbeams were actually spirits coming back to our side. Maybe later for those.

Right now she was just going to be booooorrring and normal. Or at least as normal as an Ophelia could possibly be. Quickly, the second year rubbed her blue-grey eye and shot her hand in the air, looking at the depleting muscles on her arm. If she was climbing like during the summer, maybe this wouldn't happen. Anywaaaaaayy.....

"There's the moon and a lot of stars in the sky, especially if you live out in the country like I do. It's like one of the last nights where the sky really LIGHTS up." Bam, a normal Ophelia answer.

Desk jumping. That was one thing that she could do without. It almost made her afraid to answer Professor Flamsteed's question for fear of the professor jumping on her desk. Jumping on desks didn't look safe, and it probably wouldn't be very good for her notes if they were jumped on. She was just going to try to stick with answers that weren't desk-jump worthy. What constellations could she see? Many other people were saying the names of the constellations. Penelope didn't want to say something that everybody else was saying, but it was hard to tell if there were any constellations that had not been named by her classmates. "Andromeda." Andromeda would be a good name for a cat... Maybe she would name a cat Andromeda... or Cassiopeia. There were a lot of constellations that she could name cats after. There also happened to be just as many stray cats that visited her house. Well, maybe not as many cats as there were constellations, but it was still a lot of cats. Her house seemed to attract a lot of cats. Why was she thinking about cats? Back to astronomy now... Halloween. Constellations. Not thinking about cats. Penelope was totally focused on the astronomy lesson.

Notes, notes and more notes were being jotted down. Astronomy may not be her strongest subject, but she tried and worked really hard to understand it and it had nothing to do with Airey's pretty face. The one thing she did enjoy without forcing herself was the constellations.

Stargazing, she likes that stuff.

Setting her quill down and shaking out her hand, she raised it up. "There's Pegasus." She pointed with a nimble finger. Right theeere. The one that looked like a kite. As well as Orion and Ursa Major and others, but Pegasus was her favorite for reasons.

She'd been rather quiet throughout the lesson, her mind not as into the whole thing as she wanted it to be.

Not quite distracted, but not fully processing whatever was happening around the room, Coral just watched. Her eyes followed through as things moved and as the professor's eccentric movements were displayed around her, but she didn't feel fully here. She put on the happy face anytime she could feel anyone's gaze on her, but that wasn't too often. She'd sort of melted into the back of the room, unlike herself.

Questions flew back and forth around the room, desk jumping, and what she thought were "ooh"s and "ahh"s were happening, but maybe that was all in her head. Silly answers were given about pumpkins and some very interesting ones... but she missed most of them. Everyone sort of sounded like a teacher in a cartoon the girl was unfamiliar with: Charlie Brown.

Womp woaahm womp woaaaahmp womp woahm...

As the room had turned to show the stars and constellations, her head went up obediently to view what was being shown. A familiar voice shook her out of the daze she was in, and a bright giggle escaped her lips. Zander Adair. Did he even pronounce that right? The phrasing of it all though... got the girl a laugh.

Her hand shot up.

"Professor? Can we see Sirius yet? And Canis Major?"

.......... did she miss a piece of lint?

Stare.

Walking past the glowing floating representation of Capella as he checked his sundial watch, he hoped that they would arrive in a timely manner to come and collect the pumpkin guts that would soon be covering student desks. Collect and take back to the kitchens to make treats with for future astronomy related festivities to be announced at a later date.

Oh, but there were hands being raised and he needed to refocus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saz Hale

Abby thought and said "Orion" Abby knew that would be right because that was a series of stars that formed in the night sky

“Excellent, Miss Valentine,” he nodded towards the Ravenclaw while he twirled his wand between his fingers. In another series of swift movements, he gave it a flick towards the blackboard and the word ORION appeared on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fire_faerie

...
Anyways. Lesson. Night sky. "Andromeda!" she called out, because she'd already said Pleiades. Yup.

“Very good, Miss Fleming,” he saluted as the constellation’s name appeared on the board as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

...

Raising her hand "There's Leo I think?" Angel wasn't sure but she had heard of Leo the Lion or something along those lines to do with space and well this was Astronomy and so it was to do with space.

“Leo is a summertime constellation, meaning that it is visible in the night sky during the summer months,” he said with a small shake of the head. “It will be above us in the morning to mid afternoon on Halloween, but the light from the Sun will not make it visible to us.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

...
Airey now wanted information on what would be seen in the night sky on Halloween, the fifth year trying to make notice of what was now projected in the classroom concerning the appropriate half of the sky. Spotting something he thought he recognized, he opted to raise his hand to provide a response. "Possibly Pegusus..." he said before lowering his hand. So shoot him, Benny tended to remember stuff that related to animals and animal names better for some reason besides his interest in creatures.

He nodded his head approvingly at Mr. Atreyu. “Excellent,” he said, flicking his wand towards the blackboard once more. “The constellation Pegagus is one of the seven October constellations. Very good.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

...
Still grinning, his spirits lifted slightly, he continued to focus his attention on Flamsteed as he continued to address the class.

"Mars... brighter than usual,'' Adi volunteered, just randomly guessing at this, his hand in the air.

Thinking for a moment that he needed to conjure some cotton buds for the prefect to clean his ears with - only to then remember that it was only Venus he had specified as not being visible and failing to mention Mars - he kindly shook his head towards the young man.
“Mars will, unfortunately, not be visible in the evening this year,” he corrected. They could thank the fact that the planet’s orbit was the second most eccentric in the Solar System next to Mercury for that. “Whereas it was visible last year.”

But more on that another time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

...
The fourth year had been sitting quietly, just watching Professor Flamsteed's excitable personality, as she took some notes which mostly consisted of a sketch of the pumpkin that was on her desk. Halloween. Astronomy. What did expect to see on Hallow's Eve? She had no clue on constellations, but she did know muggle folklore. "Witches, Professor. It is rumoured that witches fly on their broomsticks on Hallow Eve, so they would be seen in the sky." Tia said, after raising her hand.

Rumor, huh? Airey looked around the room at each of his students, wondering just which of them would be gutsy enough to attempt this as well. Or if any of their parents had.

“Yes, that breach in the Statute does occur from time to time,” he coughed. “I must suggest you do not do such a thing. None of you need Ministry involvement on your permanent record.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold copied as much of the complex chart things into her notes as possible, tongue between teeth in concentration. Add a few squiggles, and… THERE. Looked pretty similar.

Er. She wasn't really good at this. She was better at the theory. She raised her hand tentatively. "The little dipper?" Maybe? Possibly?

“Also known as Ursa Minor, yes. Very good, Miss McAlister,” he nodded as he added the constellation to the board with a flick of his wand. “You may all recall from your reading or previous terms’ lessons that Ursa Minor is one of the circumpolar constellations and thus visible year round.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yaya

Paloma stared at the three charts, blinking every once in a while to just...figure out where did all those stars and perfect timing came at the time of the end of the solstices, and the beginning of one. She raised her hand..."Umm, well, all the star clusters are lead by...the Cassiopeia constellation. From then, slowly the rest of the constellations and the planets," She pointed to the three, "...just light up the dark sky." She nodded, trying to assure herself that she had said a correct thing.

He nodded eagerly at the seventh year. “Another circumpolar constellation, yes. Very good.” TO THE BOARD IT WENT!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

...
Kate finally tore her eyes away from the wonderment of the room and raised her hand. "Aquarius?" she asked. Kate had read once where it was only visible in the fall of the year, and October was the fall of the year. After she said that, she went back to staring at the sky in amazement. One day, she wanted to conjure a room full of stars, too!

“Correctomundo,” he saluted the first year as the name appeared on the board. “Aquarius is another of the seven October constellations, very good.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suziella

Bleu searched the map really hard. She thought she recognized a few of the constellations, but sometimes it was so hard to tell which was which. Then she landed on one she knew right away.

She raised her hand and waited to be called on. "I think I see Capricorn in there." She was almost certain it was.

“You do indeedy,” he beamed at the young Hufflepuff, flicking his wand towards the board. “Although, I prefer that we refer to the constellation as Capricornus, if you do not mind.” While often called Capricorn by many, including those working in the field of astronomy, it was most often called such in relation to its role in astrology. Just to help keep the distinction between the two fields more clear, of course.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabben

"Pleaides... I think that's called seven something... sisters?" *He was mostly saying these things to himself as he tried to remember what his dad told him and his sister. Every Halloween night and many other nights he would take them to look at the night sky. Raising his hand he said,*
"Cygnus the swan."

“Excellent,” he nodded, wand flicked towards the board again as the word CYGNUS appeared along with the rest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

...
"I can see Uranus," and the moment he had realized how terrible that must've sounded, he started bushing. Blushing madly. Oops. Sinking down into his chair now, yup.

Coming to a dead stopped as he strolled around the room, the professor gave a tight lipped smile and peered around at the class DARING any of them to laugh at the prefect’s mispronunciation of the planet’s name.

“Yoo-RAIN-us, Mr. Adair. Yoo-RAIN-us,” he corrected, his face showing zero sense of amusement. “Or if you prefer to avoid blushing like an excited nitrogen atom at 200 km above the surface of the Earth YUR-in-us or the original Greek pronunciation of oo-RON-ohs ..never YOUR-anus.”

STARE. STAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE AT EVERYONE IN THE ROOM. Laugh. He dared you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

...

At the next question, she was not as sure as the answer but still raised her hand. "Can you see Cancer?" That was her Lion's birth sign.

“Cancer is a springtime constellation and thus visible at night during the spring months,” he pointed out to the Hufflepuff. So, no. No Cancer. Although he did use the index and middle finger on both of his hands to make crab “claws” that opened and closed as he spoke.

…

And then side shuffled away. Just like a crab.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

...

"Space." Wait, what? No. Hold on, shhhh. That wasn't his answer, let him think of another. "Polaris, probably. But that's not a constellation. But it's, y'know, around." But Airey knew that. Toby really probably should be giving some better answers today, but the pumpkins were distracting him. Or something.

Alright. So...perhaps it had not been one of his brighter ideas handing out pumpkins at the beginning of class. Especially when it came to Mr. Tempus who was seeming to be having a never ending moment with his. Oh yes. Flashbacks to Miss Cambridge were resurfacing again.

Sweet solstice.

“Yes, er, yes. Polaris. Yes.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

...

Now what would they expect to see? He heard other student's answers and thought they all seemed logical. He went with one he kind of knew, "Professor I think you would be able to see Cassiopeia?" He hoped he said the name right? If not that would be embarrassing.

“You may see some action yet, Mr. Lecium,” he winked at the Hufflepuff. Astronomer had a few tricks up his sleeve, you see. Heh. And he was resisting very hard right now to not make some terrible joke about the constellation’s name, not at the expense of anyone, mind you. But it was just the manner in which Mr. Lecium had said it. Oh, your Divination professor is here?

He laughed at his own joke. In his head. But still manage to nod towards the young man. Yup. Cassiopeia. Could see it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

Rotate might've been the wrong word...in hindsight.

"Mars was apparently the closest to Earth as it had ever been...Though, I'm sure it's been closer in recent years..."...as that WAS 80 years ago..."...Do you think it'll continue to make closer approaches to Earth?...which wouldn't make it as big as the Moon...but like an especially bright star. Similar to Venus, for example."
...
"Orion is lit up." It was like some beacon in the stars...or something. The urge to revisit the Observatory was strong. "Aldebaran in the Taurus constellation makes it more noticeable, too."

Oh oh oooooooooooooooh! Alright, all systems go over here in the brain that was the astronut’s. Thoughts and theories are compartmentalized and clear.

“A very good question, Mr. Banner. One I am afraid I lack the time to go into full detail about,” he lamented as he checked his sundial watch quickly. “Due to Mars’ orbit being the second most eccentric in the solar system, it’s distance from the sun can vary as much as 28 million miles. Compare this to Earth’s orbit, which is nearly circular, where the distance from the Sun remains about the time. Every 780 days these two planets’ paths pass one another, something referred to as opposition due to the Earth seeing Mars in the opposite direction from the Sun, and this can be relatively close, 34.6 million miles approximately in the moment you are referring to. Three years ago on August 30 the distance was close again, closer to 35 million miles away than 34, but still close. However, it will not be until August 28, 2287 that Mars will make a closer “visit” to Earth.” He had gone on far too long about this already. “For those of you interested in reading about this further, I suggest looking at your textbook in the chapter on Mars. Specifically the section about its orbit.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

...
No attention span meant ridiculous answers. His floppy hand flew up in the air, "Professor does what we see from Earth during this period affect anything in the actualness of space?" Like, was this all something they just perceived or were things ACTUALLY changing.

Because you can't trust your senses. First rule of, well, everything.

Wait...what? Slytherin boy say what?

Airey couldn’t tell if this was meant to be some deep philosophical question...or more of of a question of clarification of the 3D model they were all existing in in this moment. “Would you, ahem, care to clarify what you mean, Mr. Hughbert?”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

...

The Slytherin swated at whatever that was and only after a moment was that she noticed it was a 'star'. Hm. That was pretty cool, actually. But that didnt mean Agatha was going to participate in the lesson with words. The fifth year just sat there, admiring the beauty of the constelations inside the room. She was even listening to some of her classmates' answers.

It was a bit unnerving, you know? This particular Slytheirn being quite. In the dark. Made him think that perhaps she was ………………………….

……………………………………

………………………………………………………………………… up to something.

He cautiously walked passed her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararara

...
More space questions. UHM. Norah looked at the pictures but really couldn't tell anything useful from it so she sat fiddling with her quill as she listened to the other students' answers. How did they just KNOW all that stuff about constellations?

He gave the young Hufflepuff an encouraging smile. Slightly questionable if she could actually see said smile due to the dim lighting, but the glow of a nearby star may have illuminated his face enough for her to be able to see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

...
Instead, for the time being, he flipped through his textbook and took the notes from the chart diagram things.

...

Lesson be hard man.

And he had apparently crush Mr. Zeke’s dreams. Or something. No matter. Nothing a little bit of scooping out pumpkin guts couldn’t hurt!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

His favorite astronomer. Dante had to wrack his brain to even remember one of them. Who was that guy with the two G's with the awesome beard. He only say one picture of the guy and that is what he remembers.

"Oh, Galileo. He has one awesome beard"

Besides all the Astro stuff he did.

Now onto class stuff. So it had to do with it being like a half way point. A pit stop. Well that was a little interesting. It will be more interesting when they start carving pumpkins Just a little bit.

"The Universe...Professor Airey, What is your favorite constellation?"

Might as well ask a question instead of guessing constellations that might not even be there.

Airey subconsciously rubbed his well shaven chin at the mention of beard. Although, technically, well shaven was a bit of a misconception since growing stubble alone was a bit difficult for the astronomer. Beard? Entirely out of the question.

Alas.

“My favorite?” he choked, hand flying to his chest in a dramatic manner. “That is like asking a parent who their favorite child is! Well, a parent with more than one child. Not that I have any of those to understand the feeling.”

Stop talking, Flamsteed. Just stop talking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy

...

It was actually beautiful. Tilting her head back to get a better look she raised her hand to answer. "Ursa Major?" Hady wasn't a hundred percent sure on it but it was a good guess, right?

And he had stopped talking - although his ears were not a lovely shade of red thanks to the thought of children. His ears probably matched Mr. Adair’s face right now, actually.

“ExCELLent,” he praised the Slytherin, his voice cracking mid sentence from nerves. “Yes, Ursa Major. Another circumpolar constellation. Very good.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Caleb never understood how ancient people saw shapes in the stars. It was cool, though, and he loved looking at it. It took him a while to find a good map that he could use to find that Pleaides thing Flamsteed had mentioned and then raised his hand.

"I think you can see Taurus. The constellation, obviously," he explained with a smile.

“Certainly can,” he nodded, checking the blackboard to make sure that the constellation was listed there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

...

She climbed from her desk and struck a heroic pose. "I see Orion, facing off against the raging bull Taurus! And behind the bull, you see the seven sisters! I love that story!" Rawr. Time to throw the pumpkin out the window?

Airey LOVED Miss Wojack’s enthusiasm and threw her two very excited thumbs up. “STELLAR, Miss Wojack,” he praised - even if he had meant for them each to list just one thing they saw. She had touched on something very important that would be discussed further later on in the term.

But he did want to pause here to talk a bit more about Pleiades since many students had brought it up before. With another flick of his wand, the professor enlarged that area of the 3D model so students could see it a bit better.


source: NASA

“Pleiades. The Seven Sisters. Several of you have mentioned this star cluster already. It was very important to the Celts as it was believed to be the portal to the supernatural world.” Which had already been discussed. “They believed that when Pleaides was directly overhead at midnight and the moon was full, that the portal would open and it was time to celebrate Samhain. Now, as I already mentioned before, it will not be a full moon on the 31st this month, but terribly close.” Cue some eerie, and completely unnecessary, noises coming out of the astronomer’s mouth. “But, Pleiades will not be directly overhead...and this is due to something called precession of the equinoxes.”

Another term that they would be wise to look up in their textbooks. Hint hint.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist

Puck raised her hand into the air almost instantly as really, there were some constellations that she knew things about. Her eyes were already transfixed on the almost V-shaped star cluster.

“Professor one of the star clusters just below Pleiades is called Hyades…its known to be the head of the bull in the Taurus constellation.” She grinned it was one of her favorite for its characteristic V shape and brightness.

Waving his wand once more, Airey returned Pleiades to its “normal” size and turned his attention to the Gryffindor prefect. “Also known as the half-sisters to the Pleiades,” he nodded, tapping his nose with his index finger. “It is interesting to note that this particular star cluster has been been known since prehistoric times and even mentioned by many classical authors including Homer.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

...

As she looked at the night sky, she could only see one thing she knew. At least… she thought it was there. She raised her hand and waited for Professor Flamsteed to call on her, then said "Professor, I see Pluto," in a not-quite-confident voice. She couldn't actually point out any constellations or anything… Pluto was all she could do.

Again. He DARED people to get emotional. Looking at you, Mr. Tempus.

“Very good, Miss Burton. You can indeed see the dwarf planet, Pluto,” he nodded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsgisselx3

...
Oliver squinted his eyes a bit and looked really hard to see if any of the stars made something that was obvious to the naked eye...nope. All he saw was a...a squiggly line? But it was a really loooong squiggly line...wasn't that something? Not sure but raising his hand anyway, he waited to be called on and said, "I think I see....uh...the snake thing?" HEHE. Y'know. Slytherin. Snake. Yeah.... But after taking a pause to think, he realized it wasn't a snake because it didn't have a head. "Wait. Waitwaitwait. No.....it's........." What was really long and didn't have a head in the stars again???? "THE RIVER! It starts with an E. Eri-....Eri something!" HE KNEW HE WASN'T CRAZY. IT WAS A THING. HE HAD READ ABOUT IT THAT ONE TIME.

Airey leaned forward on to his tip toes, nearly stumbling forward as he waited to see if the young man could spit out the constellation that was clearly on the tip of his tongue. So close. SO CLOSE!

“Eridanus, Mr. Kyle,” he winked. “Very good.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

WOAH, why were there suddenly stars everywhere? What was a Cross-Quarter day? Was he supposed to be listening to Professor Top Hat's rambling? Because he wasn't; Dima was still thinking about pumpkins. Also bugs. Pretty sure he saw one near that girl's chair over there.

Um, constellations? What about things INSIDE constellations?

"I think that asterism up there looks like a pumpkin, sir. I bet called Jack-O'-Lantern."

Nailed it.

Creative. Almost endearing even. Airey simply walked by the Ravenclaw and gave him two awkward pats on the head. Yes. Good little Ravenclaw.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandomRaven

...

Bianca didn't know much about constellation except Pegasus. "I think I did see Pegasus there." She spoke to him.

“You sure as salt can!” he nodded. Sure as salt? Where had that come from? Oh well, already said. Too late to take back now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonea

...
Now she stared really desperate at the teacher… Was she drooling? Feeling with her hand if she wasn’t she shook her head and sighed AGAIN! Raising her hand, not to give a answer but to just… confess that she didn’t had understood latterly one thing about this lesson because she didn’t wanted to get in trouble she spoke slowly, frowning and looking troubled… “Eh… I can’t answer your question because I haven’t understood anything from this lesson… It’s like as if you’re talking in another language at the moment…” spoke she worried.

WAS SHE CRYING!? SWEET SOLSTICE PLEASE SOMEONE TELL HIM SHE WASN’T CR----- Oh no wait. Those were not tears. Just drool? He could handle that.

“Astronomy terminology can be very difficult,” he nodded. “I would be more than happy to go over terms with you after class.” And he could assure her that what was coming next would be something that she could handle. Promise. Astronomer’s honor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

...
Back to the question. AJ wasn't even sure what it was, but she was going to say something anyways. Her mouth was another part of her body that didn't always cooperate. Her hand slowly went into the air. "Star dust?" Was that a thing? Or maybe she was thinking about saw dust. Oh man. Her mind was not in a good place to be answering questions. Maybe the silent approach would be better.

MISS VALENTINE HAD TOUCHED ON HIS ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE UNIVERSE! WAS SHE AWARE?! WAS SHE?!

WAS SHE?!

Well, she was about to be.

“Star dust is EVERYWHERE, Miss Valentine! EVERYWHERE! It is in you, in me, in everyone and everything! For we are all made of star stuff!”

He was about to go into the monologue that he had memorized at the young age of five, but there was another raised hand that silenced him. To be uttered another day!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

...
"Orion", she said with false certainty. "Might as well be strong and wrong", Janelle thought to herself.

“Very good,” he nodded, giving the Ravenclaw a salute.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talikins

...
A scorpion. Her hand raised upward. "Is there a scorpion thing in there, or am I wrong? Cause that would be whats-it-called; oh yeah, Scorpius?" Was it clear that stars were not one of her strengths?

“Not this time of year,” he corrected gently. “Scorpius is a summertime constellation and best seen from the southern hemisphere. Bit difficult for us to see from our location, but not impossible given the right conditions.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

Errr... She blinked a few times. Things they would see on Halloween night? Evie timidly rose her hand. "The little dipper?" because... they kind of always saw the little dipper when there weren't clouds.

“Ursa Minor, yes. Very good,” he saluted the young lady. Circumpolar constellations for the win!

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurange

...
Oh, but there was a model. Maybe that thing would help. Squinting at the thing, he looked back at Professor Flamsteed and raised his hand. HAND WAY UP THERE. "I think Gemini's visible?" Were you more likely to have twins if you were a Gemini? Not that Brian was a Gemini. He was a Capricorn.

Back to the topic, though, he was writing down EVERYTHING. And there was a lot of everything going on in this classroom to be writing down so he was very preoccupied here.

Airey nodded. “Just making its appearance over the horizon into the night time sky late into the evening,” he winked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

...
“Pegasus, it’s visible through out August until December… It’s near our moon,” Damien calmly said, pointing out the constellation’s direction. He smiled, just a little at the Professor as he spoke. No need to be sour.

It still physically pained him. The whole forcing the boy out of his suit due to a lack of Hogwarts robes. PAINED HIM. As long as there were robes next time the boy entered...he might be able to convince himself to turn a blind eye to the matter. Easily, no doubt.

“Excellent, Mr. Anderson-Belfort,” he saluted, taking two steps backwards to his one forward when a thought crossed his mind. “Would you be against my calling you Mr. AB?” Or...Mr. Anderson? For purely nerdy reasons only.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buggy-Boo

Margo was examining the charts. This was Astronomy like she had never seen before, maybe what she was interested in was astrology, Margo felt like she was lost in this world. Man, she was really struggling with this.

But she was looking at the charts, and she was doing her best to find an answer. Smiling, she raised her hand and "Does Mars look a little brighter?" Margo asked hoping she was seeing all the right things with this....maybe she didn't see the right things! But she did her best.

“Not this year,” he replied, shaking his head. “What you might be seeing is Uranus. It was the first planet to be discovered by early astronomers, after all.” Pause as he once again DARED anyone to laugh. Immature ears. Sad times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

...
Eden had no idea. They were expected to seee...stars? Right? But this was just too obvious that Eden didn't even want to MENTION it. She just..sigh. Well. She raised her hand. "I do see a few constellations. Like the Big Dipper--" yet. Another obvious answer, but Eden didn't KNOW what else to say.

So there.

She contributed.

“Technically speaking,” he said with a grin. “The Big Dipper, also known as the Plough, is not a constellation but an asterism and are the brightest of the seven stars in the constellation Ursa Major.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

...
"When I look at it, I see... well, generally speaking, our endless possibilities for our future and what we can achieve as the human race. Countless galaxies to discover and learn more about, and so many wondrous facts of things that are out there that we haven't even touched upon yet. Things beyond our imagination right now." An abstract thinker, she was, and she entirely blamed him and his night sky creation in their classroom. Her eyes were twinkling with the utmost delight and curiosity as she answered, and she managed to offer up a little innocent shrug for taking her own creative liberties with his question. Well, hadn't he SAID they weren't limited to constellations? Heh. She was just saying.

And he saw the same things looking back at you, Miss Brown. Endless possibilities for a very bright future ahead of her. At least that was his hope for her. He had no reply for her, just a smile and approving nod as he walked by and on to the next student with a raised hand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

...
Nope. Finn had trouble with constellation stuff. Unless he was holding a map, one that said the constellations names and where they were at, he would be struggling. So he sat there, moving his pumpkin between his hand, carefully rolling it on his desk, quietly. He'd keep himself distracted until Professor Flamsteed continued with his lesson and answering his students guesses. That's the learning part of the class.

Which did not belong to this young man. He did nod his head towards the Slytherin. Good attentive listening. Always appreciated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediem

...

"There's the moon and a lot of stars in the sky, especially if you live out in the country like I do. It's like one of the last nights where the sky really LIGHTS up." Bam, a normal Ophelia answer.

Not what he had been expecting for a response, but he still smiled for the Ravenclaw. “Light pollution does tend to ruin the whole stargazing experience.” That was what she had been referring to, yes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

...
Back to astronomy now... Halloween. Constellations. Not thinking about cats. Penelope was totally focused on the astronomy lesson.

Did she seem a bit...terrified? Sweet solstice what had he done now to spook Miss Wright? He was just going to oh so casually side step his way past her desk and, er, try not to spook her further...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

...
Setting her quill down and shaking out her hand, she raised it up. "There's Pegasus." She pointed with a nimble finger. Right theeere. The one that looked like a kite. As well as Orion and Ursa Major and others, but Pegasus was her favorite for reasons.

Airey did some pointing as well. Just for fun. And because he just so happened to be standing right next to the particular constellation at this moment. “Very good, Miss Wayne,” he nodded to the prefect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wood'sLittleFlower

...

"Professor? Can we see Sirius yet? And Canis Major?"

.......... did she miss a piece of lint?

Stare.

“You seriously can see Sirius,” he grinned, strutting over to the constellation Canis Major along the eastern border of the classroom and poked at the brightest star in the immediate area.

Looking around for any other raised hands and seeing none, Airey walked back to his desk and slowly raised his wand to bright the lights up a bit. With another flick of his wand, he added a few more constellation names to the list students had put together just now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the black board

Constellations
Andromeda
Aquarius
Canis Major
Capricornus Capricorn
Cassiopeia
Cepheus
Cygnus
Eridanus
Gemini
Grus
Hyades
Lacerta
Octans
Orion
Pegasus
Piscis Austrinus
Taurus
Ursa Major/Minor

Star Clusters
Pleiades
Hyades

Planets
Saturn
Uranus
Pluto (dwarf)

Checking his sundial watch once more, Airey looked up at the class with an eager grin.

“If you have any questions on any of this, I would love to hear them. If there are none, well, time to put conversation aside and get our hands a little dirty. Everyone, wands out,” he instructed as he raised the lights further and the floating 3D model of the night sky vanished, seemingly teleporting them all out of space and back into the classroom. “Now, muggles use these handy dandy pumpkin carving kits when working with pumpkins. I have found that these tend to break rather easily so we shall be using our wands. Reason for pumpkin carving will become clear in a moment, so while you all ponder over that notion, I would like you to prepare your pumpkins. To do so you will perform a simple spell that will make your wand act like a small knife. The incantation is Punktumus and you need only say it as you try to cut through the surface of the pumpkin,” he continued as he picked up the pumpkin from his own desk and held it in his hand. “You’ll want to cut a somewhat circular shape approximately 5 cm in radius from the stem. Just place your wand on one spot, apply just a little pressure and….Punktumus,” he said, pushing down as his wand went right down into the pumpkin as though it were a knife. “Never fear, your wand is an extension of yourself and therefore will not cut you,” he continued as his wand moved up and down until he had cut a lid. “Once you’ve removed the top, then you need to scoop out the pumpkin’s guts using your hands and place them on your desk. Not to worry, someone will be along shortly to clean all that up for us.”

All clear?

“It may take a try or two to get the incantation and cutting motion right, but a little patience and you’ll be fine. You may begin when you are ready." And if there were any question they were welcome to ask.

OOC: I am terribly sorry for the delay. I had this post nearly done hours ago and then a computer glitch/power flicker made me lose ALL of it so I had to start entirely over ;____________;

This is step 1 of a mini activity - I will post step 2 sometime tomorrow PST. Steps to be taken by your character are:

• casting Punktumus successfully (failing miserably is also fine but there should be NO serious injuries because of this spell)
• cutting a lid in the pumpkin provided
• cleaning it out and dumping the goo on the desk (HUZZAH!)

You can accomplish these steps in as many posts as you would like, so take your time and interact with each other! Once step 2 is posted you CAN still work on step 1, so there is no rush <3

Got a question? Please do not hesitate to ask me OOC via VM or PM or IC of Professor Flamsteed

Okay... The teacher spoke to her but... When he said that it was just difficult she looked at him as if he had two or three heads instead of one! Difficult wasn't the right word, this lesson was just... TERRIBLE! She feared that she NEVER would be able to understand it! Signing she nodded to the teacher as a sign that she had understood him but still she looked worried.



Listening to the professor she... Made a ugly face! Did she really needed to work with the pumpkin on her desk? But... That was dirty! Eeuw! The only good part about this was that her rat Nabber would like it to eat the inside of the pumpkin but... That was all! And besides, what had this all to do with this lesson? Okay, the teacher was going to explain it but still, it was strange and the poor irritated first year now really didn't knew what to think about this lesson! Uttering a loud, slow sigh she grabbed her wand and placed it on her pumpkin while she repeated the moves from the teacher and spoke: "Punktumus!" But... The only thing what happened was that her wand only made a cut from maybe two inches? But anyway, that was NOT what she wanted! Realizing that the spell actually sounded a little like a pumpkin she wondered if it had made special for this!

Now Margo's smile split wide across her face!! She could not believe they were actually going to carve the pumpkins here in class. She was so excited, it was an acitivity they always did as a family at home!!! Marog was glad that she was able to continue the tradition here at school.

So Margo looking for the 'good' side of the pumpkin pulled out her wand...okay and was ready to make in 'incision' so to say in the top of her pumpkin. "Punktumus" Margo said fully expecting her wand to slip into the top just like the Professor had said...but nothing happened.....Why in the world did this keep happeneing to her!!! Her spells never worked the first time, ugh, how very frustrating.

Focusing a little harder Margo said again. "Punktumus" And waaa-laaa her wand did indeed become an extension of her arm carving the perfect top off her pumpkin. Now came her least favorite part though......gutting it .... gross.

Ruby had been quiet so far because her RPer couldn't post because detention but she HAD been paying attention. Really. And now she could prove it since they were thankfully using magic and the professor had said the spell out loud and everything. Punktumus?

"Punktumus." Ruby repeated quietly. That part would be easy, the BIG problem would be the pumpkin guts like ew gross it would get under her nails and she didn't want to ruin the nail art she had going on since it was galaxy themed especially for class and everything. Maybe she could get a boy to do it? A cute one? Or a non-brother prefect? She COULD get Gabe to do it, but that would be a waste, so he'd be a last resort. She'd do the spell first and then pout and sigh appropriately until she got the help she needed.

Wand at the ready, Ruby examined her pumpkin. Oh she could SO do this first part. Totally could. No sweat.

She pressed her wand tip down at a spot around five centimetres from the pumpkin stem. "Punktumus!" Aaaaand moved her wand, cutting easily through its surface and carefully lining it up into an almost perfect circle. She had a steady hand okay? Came from years of nail art. She popped the top out and then looked around. Helloooo cuuuute boy anywhere? Anyone? Someone willing to do her dirty work for herrr? Save the nails! She had to save the nails, it was her cause.