It was unusual for an Astronomy lesson to be held during this time of day but Ary was sensible enough to know that not all of the Universe’s phenomena in this aspect were dealt with at night. He had researched possible topics, though not in detail, the previous evening while chilling out on Drake’s bed. Said topics were now replaying in his head as he arrived at the Pitch as he wondered which would be their focus today.

By now, Ary had gotten used to expecting the Animagus form of certain professors so he spotted the owl quite quickly. The Slytherin sent a wave in its direction before settling down on a bench, his bag beside him. Yep, he was just going to sit here admiring the view. It was sort of peaceful, ya know?

Listen, she liked the night sky as much as the next girl, but it was kind of nice to still shake up a lesson by doing something a little outside of the normal. And dusk? That was outside of the norm for this class. Vera wondered if perhaps Professor Gert was also just affected by whatever seemed to be making everyone kind of wonky in the castle and so they just.... Weren't going to be on task. That would be a welcomed change too, to be honest.

Joining the small gathering of students for the lesson, she glanced around and found the familiar Owl!Professor and gave a wave in greeting as she briefly wondered if this time of day made Professor Gert sleepy since it wasn't quiiiiite an owl's waking hours, before focusing on looking around the pitch instead. Stepping up next to Aryan, she invaded the snake's space by resting her elbow gently on his shoulder. "Hiya!" She greeted, staring at what seemed to be new lights before looking at her young peer. "What do you think the odds are that we're just going to do laps around the pitch?" She could go for a run right now. It was prime weather and lighting!

Did Maria mind that they weren't having astronomy class at night in the astro tower but out on the quidditch pitch at dusk? No, anything outside the box and away from the dreary looking indoors was welcome. Dressed in comfortable clothes the fifth year badger headed down from the castle to the quidditch. Maria waved a silent "Hello!" in greeting to their professor in the animagus form of an owl before heading over to the only two other students that were present. "Hi Aryan! Hi Vera!" Maria greeted with a smile in her voice and eyes.

Emma was always surprised when classes weren't held in their usual space, although the quidditch pitch was a welcome reprieve. She glanced around for a certain Slytherin named Sloane, thinking she ought to say 'see, this is another reason we don't eat on the quidditch pitch.' But she didn't see her new friend yet were they friends officially? Who knew but Emma always decided everyone was a friend until proven otherwise

The small blond was about to say 'hello', when she realized the professor wasn't there? Had she misread the notice board. Oh wait, owl. "Whoo," she greeted with an acknowledgement, as she heard Vera's question. "Odds are slim but that would be a fun lesson. Maybe we're going to go chasing stars on broomstick." Yes the twelve year old was a bit of a dreamer. She gave a nod to Aryan and Maria as well, just because.

Three things about this lesson struck Desiree as odd. One was the timing, one was the request for comfortable attire, and one was how she'd managed to get a high enough mark on her OWL to continue taking astronomy. Even with the year nearly over, she still had no idea how she'd pulled that off!

A thought occurred to her as she made her way to the practice pitch. Odd lesson timing, odd attire… Was Professor Gert going to start acting odd too? Desiree's bright blue eyes scanned the pitch for anything out of the ordinary. All she saw was an owl - not just any owl, but the professor in owl form. Okay, that wasn't abnormal. "Hello, Professor," she greeted the owl with a cheerful smile and wave.

More smiles and waves followed for Ary, Vera, Maria, and Emma. "HI, everybody!". She considered Vera's question for a minute. Frankly, she wasn't in the mood to run laps, but that would explain the location and the request to wear comfortable attire. "Maybe so," she replied. "Stranger things have happened." Maybe a lesson on orbit could have them doing laps… or some astronomy/flying hybrid lesson? She had to admit she somewhat hoped they would do laps to satisfy her curiosity, if nothing else!

"Can brooms even fly high enough to reach the stars?" he asked as he approached the group of people gathered at the stands, placing his bag beside him. "That would be super cool though, but i prefer to have my feet on the ground" He wasn't horrible at flying, but with his luck, he had a fair share of mishaps anytime he was on a broom. He hoped they weren't going to fly today...

Still, he was confused as to why the professor had chosen this setting for the class. Speaking of the professor, where was she? Was she late? Ooh he hoped so! "Hey, did you all know that theres a rule that when the teacher is five minutes late we can leave?" Absolutely true!

Brandon strolled into the quidditch stands before the lesson started, for the first time in about of a month. He nudged past some people already there, feeling too cool to acknowledge them, and sat down on the fringes of the group (next to a first year). He rolllled his eyes at the kid mentioning leaving class, nevermind that Brandon hadn't even been here the last time. "Skipping is definitely against the rules," he said with a smirk, nudging Sohrin gently with his elbow. "You're too young for that kind of stuff." That didn't mean Sohrin shouldn't do it! In fact, Brandon would be amused to watch him get in trouble for that. Was he aware that the professor was here already? Yup. That made it even more interesting if people were going to skip.

He gave a small head nod and "evening, professor" greeting to the 'owl', then settled back into his bench-seat with a slouch. It may have been a trick of the evening light, but he didn't seem to have a shadow.

An Astronomy lesson out on the pitch. And not really late at night either. Different but not so much as to make her question things. Bryony was all for being outdoors and doing things differently. So none of this bothered her. Not even the fact that someone else was beside Aryan. Vera was okay!

Bouncing her way across the pitch towards the benches, these bright blue eyes spotted the Professor/Owl immediately. Wiggly fingers were sent her way in greeting as she continued on to take seat beside Aryan silently. Yes, she saw him admiring the view and YES, she could be quiet sometimes. The fingers of her hand did reach out to lightly brush his closest to her to let him know she was there.

And yes, hi everyone else. She saw you all too.

Ah yes, the first year Slytherin was an expected presence as the first student to arrive. At the boy’s wave at her, the owl fluttered her wings in response, the raptor equivalent of returning the gesture seeing as Mr. Atreyu-Rehman was well aware of the owl’s human identity. He was soon followed by the older Gryffindor who gave her own little wave which cued another little wave of her wings as she kept her form awaiting the next students to come. If the bird could have snorted at the question of running laps, she would have. Not her idea of fun or learning.

“Hoot” the owl returning the hello from Ms. Dolph. Which the next first year arriving at the pitch echoed having picked up on her appearance. The owl bobbed her head as Ms. Montmorency proved another one interested in running laps. Nope…not on the schedule. But the idea of chasing stars was more Celeste’s cup of tea…if they could have actually done it other than trying to fly alongside but still very far apart from a meteor. That would have gotten her vote while she attended Hogwarts as a student for sure. “Hoot,” she greeted Ms. Marchand as she joined the fray.

Nope, no odd professor here.

The owl tilted her head however at the next student at the first year Ravenclaw’s statement about leaving. Bemused at the thought, though Mr. Fox at least had stepped in against that idea. Hello to you too. And hello to Ms. Paton arriving to join her friends and waving a greeting at her. Figuring it was as good a time to begin as anything, she hopped up off her perch, changing into her true human form and landing on the space in front of the class with shoes rather than talons. “I suppose th’professor wuid actually have to no’ be there fur ‘at rule to work,” she mused with a slight smirk on her face. Obviously the boy was one of those who had never been around previously when she showed her raptor side for the students.

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

“But I am here an so are all of ye so let’s begin. Guid evening!” Celeste greeted the class with a welcoming smile. “Ye might hev bin wondering why we’re here o’ all places,” she began, her arms wide to encompass their surroundings including both the stands were they resided and the proper pitch behind her. “Weel one o’ the reasons is because th’topic of th’lesson is something quidditch players…and broom fliers in general have to deal with every time they are flying.” Technically she herself did even when she wasn’t using a broom, but she wasn’t going to include that. Owls did after all have the benefit of coasting on air currents.

“Wuld anyone care tae guess on whit that might be?”


ooc: Sorry for the delay. Welcome to the lesson. We should be moving on in 24-36 hours.

Ary had spotted Vera the moment she came into sight and somehow knew she would appear at his side. Not that he minded as the Gryffindor had completely grown on him. Her upbeat attitude and weirdness just gave him life. “Hey yourself.” The Slytherin grinned up at her as he poked the arm on his shoulder, not because he wanted her to remove it but out of fun. The question had him pulling on an expression of mock horror. “Surely you don’t mean running? You know you’d have to carry me three quarters of the way, Vera.” The fifth year knew all about his complete failure in athletics. “I might fare better on a broomstick though.

“Chasing stars on a broomstick could be fun,’’ Ary told Emmie, loving her suggestion. “Hi, Maria. Hi, Desiree.” Sohrin’s question made him grin. “If they did, I think a lot of us might be scared of the height.” For some, it wa scary just getting to the right height to play Quidditch. “Does that rule apply to Hogwarts?” None of his siblings had ever mentioned such a thing. As for Bry… of course Ary saw her. He turned to give her a smile as she sat beside him before letting a pinky hook around hers when her hand brushed his.

And tt seemed they were off to a start because there was Gert in human form before them. Oh yes. Ary was wondering what they might be getting up to during today’s lesson. His eyes scanned the pitch again, pondering over the question in his mind. There were a few possible answers that came to mind but one in particular was louder than the others. “Wind speed and strength,’’ he volunteered after raising his hand and being called upon. The stronger the wind, the more difficult it was to fly, wasn’t it?

Hope had arrived quietly and taken her seat without comment. She was trying to figure out why they were meeting so early--were there stars or planets or things that one could see this time of day? She didn't really know enough about it to judge, she decided.

Next was the professor's rather open-ended question. Not many hints in there of what they were supposed to say. "Uh, wind direction and velocity?" she ventured as a wild guess.

Wait ... how did Sohrin not know that the professor was present? Emma tilted her head at her fellow first year. They were almost through the year and she was pretty sure it was common face by now that their Astronomy professor was an animagus. Maybe he'd get the message now as Gert changed back to her human form and she stifled a giggle at her response.

Oh they were talking about quidditch players and what they have to deal with when their flying. She liked what Ary and Hope were getting at but Emma was pretty sure there was something more... "Potential for inclement weather but also the atmospheric pressures are different when you're flying versus on the air. It's kind of the same thing for muggle airplanes." Her father having been a former quidditch player/captain maybe gave her an edge in knowing some of what quidditch players experienced.

Celeste watched as some students looked around as if for further clues added to what she had said about it involving fliers. The professor absently wondering what direction the ideas would go. Mr. Atreyu-Rehman and Ms. Archard had opted to go the wind route which wasn’t an untruth. There was a lot of wind up at that altitude, but not exactly what she was going for. Neither was Ms. Montmorency’s talk of bad weather, reminded of tales of games played in horrible storms over the years. Her addition of atmospheric pressures was closure to the mark however.

“All really guid answers fur what fliers contend with while flying, but no’ quite whit I was thinking of in relation to today’s lesson,” she remarked, gathering the words to begin as she started pacing to one side. “While brooms are spelled tae keep aloft with their riders, thir is always the concern of falling along th’ way. Or knocked aff wi’ bludgers in th’game of quidditch.” The astronomy professor paused for a few moments to see if it might sink in on what she might be heading towards with her words as she turned and headed back in the other direction.

“The force of gravity is something no’ tae be taken lightly when one is not standing wit their feet firmly planted on th’ground,” she mused, finally letting the shoe drop. “Wuid anyone care tae share what they know aboot it?” As a half-blood herself, the science of it all was not an unfamiliar matter growing up.

ooc: Good going...moving on in about 36 hours

Brandon was usually quite a timid flier, and even the slightest mention of falling was enough to make him freak out. Curiously, this time he didn't do that. He stayed slouched in his chair, looking bored. He knew all about gravity, because of his lessons as a child. So he had no problem with informing the other students on the subject. "Gravity is the force of attraction we have to the Earth. And it has an acceleration of 9.81 meters per second squared." He paused, then made a face that was... weirdly ominous looking. "It could be dangerous. If you fall from a height." Not to him, though. He never fell off his broom or anything else. Falling was a problem that he assumed he would never have.

Ah, so he was off with his answer, though he knew that he wasn’t incorrect about wind being a factor. It was when Gert touched on falling from the broomstick that his brain clicked to an answer. Gravity! Yes. Of course. That was indeed a huge factor in Quidditch and Flying.

But what did he know about it?

Certainly not the impressive information Dy’s friend, Brandon, had. Still, the little firstie raised a hand. “It’s important to galaxies but I’m not sure how.” Gravity definitely did not keep galaxies from colliding because colliding galaxies were a thing. He had even heard that the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy would do so in a few million years.

Alissa watched in wonder as Professor Gert transformed from an own back into a person. She wondered what it was like to be an animagus. It looked really cool. And having an animagus form that could fly was even cooler. She thought it would be pretty disappointing if you became an animagus but you got a super lame animal. Though, as she tried to think of an example she couldn't really come up with one. Any animal she thought of had its own perks. Alissa was so busy musing over how cool it would be to be an animagus that she completely missed the first question. Oops. Oh well, she would just have to be sure to pay extra attention for the second one.

Liss knew what gravity was, of course, but she didn't know much about it. How much was there to know about it. It existed. It made it so that they didn't just float up into the sky. And so that if they started from a tall place they would always fall to the ground. She definitely didn't know the actual acceleration speed, like Brandon did. She raised her hand, though, wanting to contribute something. "It's different on different plants. Like somewhere else you might fall much faster, or much slower because there's not as much gravity."

Desiree smiled at the hoot she received in greeting. She had just enough time to wave hello to the students who arrived after her (Sohrin, Brandon & Bryony) before the owl transformed back into Professor Gert, and the lesson began. Why yes, she was wondering why the lesson took place here!

She listened to the first question, mildly intrigued. While she didn't like quidditch (please tell her that's not what they were doing today!), she did rather enjoy a leisurely broom ride. She wouldn't have thought there was much overlap between flying and astronomy until the professor brought it up. Now that she did, the only thing that came to mind was wind speed and direction, but that had already been said.

At a loss for something to add, she sat quietly for now. Gravity… of course! How did she not think of that?! Duh, Des! She inwardly berated herself. Determined to prove herself, she listened to the next question. This one was a little bit easier for her. Her thoughts again turned to orbits, and she recalled a bit of information from her textbook. "Gravity keeps the planets in orbit around the sun," she said after raising her hand.

Mr. Fox was the first to speak up and it was clear he had some knowledge of the matter. He even included numbers in the math surrounding gravity. “Aye correct, Mr. Fox,” she remarked with a smile and a nod of approval. “Gravity tis th’reason things fall to th’ground or floor when there’s nothing else holding it up. Whether it is a person falling off their broom or a quaffle that has been dropped.” The former the reason why there were charms placed on the pitch so one didn’t break their necks every time they hit it from a great height. “An 9.81 squared tis the average as there are slight differences either way depending on your location. Lower th’closer ye are to the equator…higher th’closer ye are to the North or South Poles.”

On the contrary, Mr. Atreyu-Rehman had a correct answer as well, but seemed a touch unsure of it. “Aye true as well,” Celeste assured the Slytherin. “Th’gravity of each of the large astronomical objects, such as planets an moons an the larger meteors, help them stay in place on their orbits an paths through the various solar systems. An they react whit each other if they ur in close proximity, like th’gravity of the moon tis what causes th’waves in the Earth’s oceans.”

Then Ms. Rhodes added her two cents in gaining another nod. “Aye….each planet an moon an other celestrial body has a different gravity. Tis all based according to their size and mass.” The reason the astronauts who had visited the moon weren’t as held down onto the moon’s surface like they would have been while back on Earth.“Aye, that it does,” she confirmed Desiree’s answer with a nod. Every planet in the Solar System was in its exact position and distance from the Sun in part because of the gravity forces of each.

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

“Noo there’s actually a spell ‘at affects ‘at force of gravity,” she continued on, moving them forward. The astronomy professor moving back to the center of the gathering of students, taking out her want and giving it a wave that revealed the small hidden blackboard she had temporarily relocated for their need outside. “While the Slowing Charm can work on both horizontal and vertical movement, tis incredibly useful to try an break th’fall of a person or object. O’course it does require a bit of quick reaction time.” Gravity tended to be a fast mover to try and beat.

Another flick of her wand revealed the writing she had prepared there before hand. The information about the very spell she was teaching. "The incantation tis Arresto Momentum...an the wand movement tis much like an uppercase M like ye see on the board here." Her hand raising and demonstrating it herself, the tip of her wand tracing the wand movement right in the air.



INCANTATION: Arresto Momentum
PRONUNCIATION:ah-REST-oh mo-MEN-tum



"Noo I want ye to spend some time practicing wit both incantation and wand movement and then putting it all together," she instructed as her wand returned to her pocket. "Then we'll see aboot putting it together with whit I have planned for th'rest of th'lesson." Cue absent look over her shoulder towards the quidditch pitch where her idea lay hidden until she was ready to bring the students inside once they practiced.

ooc: Lovely! Thank you for your patience. New work schedule messes with time management. You have until Monday. Feel free to work through multiple posts.

Duh.

Of course, Ary. He suddenly felt so stupid because Gert’s explanation was so simple; the answer should have been clear to him. An understanding nod to the professor then continued paying attention to the other explanations.

Arresto Momentum. Yes, he was familiar with this Charm even if it was just by hearing the incantation. This is how Ary knew that the pronunciation of it was something that he would have zero trouble with. Then again, the same went for the wand movement. Here’s to simple incantation and wand movement combinations!

“Arresto Momentum…Arresto Momentum,’’ the firstie repeated, taking his time to enunciate the words. “Arresto Momentum.” It was remarkable how nicely they rolled off his tongue. Lastly, the capital letter M movement was drawn out, with Ary having some degree of fun with this. By the end of his practice, he was feeling quite pleased with himself. This young Slytherin was quite ready for the lesson to move on.

Desiree listened to Professor Gert, and her ears perked up at the word “spell”. Learning a spell in astronomy class? That was unexpected, but fun. She loved learning new spells! Well, technically this one wasn’t completely new to her. She was somewhat familiar with the slowing charm, but she could always use more practice.

She giggled softly to herself as she practiced the M-shaped wand movement. She liked that wand movement; it looked like her surname initial! She wondered where that wand movement came from. Was the spell invented by someone whose name started with M? She was tempted to ask Professor Gert, but it seemed irrelevant. She could always research it on her own later.

After making the M-shaped movement with her wand a few times, Desiree moved on to the pronunciation. “ah-REST-oh mo-MEN-tum,” she said quietly. “ah-REST-oh mo-MEN-tum. Arresto Momentum, Arresto Momentum…”

Alissa glanced toward the quidditch field. A spell like that would certainly be helpful if, say, somebody fell off a broom. It would be able to stop them before they hit the ground. But she certainly hoped that they weren't going to be trying it out in a situation as extreme as that. Maybe try with some balls falling from the sky or something. She was pretty sure that Professor Gert wouldn't have planned an activity that would actually be dangerous, so she tried not to worry.

Instead, she was going to focus on practicing. The incantation was easy enough to remember. The words were familiar enough in meaning that she could have guessed what the spell was going to do even if she hadn't known it already. And the wand movement was just the shape of an M. She could do that. Alissa traced an M in front of her a few times, getting the movement familiar in her hand. "Arresto Momentum. Arresto Momentum." She muttered the incantation a few times under her breath too, just to make sure she had it. Alright, she was ready to try it for real.

Oh, gravity. Yes, that was definitely something to deal with on a broom. And there was a charm to keep you from falling? Well, that would've been handy to know for all the years that she'd been tumbling out of trees, off fences, and into ponds. Well, she'd better learn it now.

"Arresto Momentum! Arresto Momentum! Arresto Momentum!" She spoke the charm exuberantly while practicing the funny wand movement--like a big 'M'! To Hope, it looked more like a movement indicating falling and bounding and falling again, rather than one to top the effects of gravity. But the teacher must know her stuff.

Brandon smirked when the professor liked his answer, trying not to be TOO smug about it. He had recently and inexplicably become a showoff, though after some... negative interactions he had tried to pretend like he wasn't. He wanted people to like him, after all.

Of course, Brandon didn't NEED to practice Arresto Momentum, but he CHOSE to so that he could be the best. Instead of practicing the incantation and wand movement separately, he decided to skip to putting them together. THAT particular decision wasn't because he was trying to show off- he really was trying to practice. But he didn't see the point in separating the movement and incantation, so he just didn't. Needless to say, this made the spell harder than it should have been. "ArresTO MomentUM. ARresto MOmenTUM." His wand movement was better, but he didn't notice that it was crooked. He huffed with frustration. Some things hadn't changed about Brandon with his new and "improved" personality, and one of them was his dislike of asking for help. "Professor? I don't think I'm doing this right," he muttered, looking angry with himself.

Professor Gert watched as each of the students began to try their hand at the spell without too much trouble. The woman slowly and absently pacing from one side of the bleachers to the other as the words echoed through the area and the wands eventually came out. The incantation could be tricky with so many syllables and having the right emphasis on each, but she was glad to see they were getting the hang of it. If one thought about it the shape of the spell matched with the words. Three syllables in Arresto making the first peak of the M and the three syllables of Momentum matching with the second peak of the M.

“Very guid…” she mused in encouragement. Her attention drawn closer to Mr. Fox as he called out for her, Celeste thought on what she had seen him doing to figure out what he needed help on. The incantation had sounded correct so the issue wasn’t that. “At ease, Mr. Fox,” trying to relax as his tone seemed annoyed at himself. “Perhaps yer putting a bit too much curve in the lines of the letter,” she suggested. It wasn’t a bunch of straight lines nor overly round in the strokes, but a happy medium between the two.

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

Giving them all a little more time to practice, soon enough Celeste was asking for their attention once more. “Noo if ye all wuid follow me,” she instructed, moving from the stands of the practice pitch towards the archway that led into the main quidditch pitch. “We’ll hev a little fun wit our activity.”

As Professor Gert led them through onto the pitch, it becomes clearer that the lights that you may have seen earlier weren’t just a trick of the light of the setting sun. That and there were a lot more of them within the oval of the quidditch pitch. It was almost as if they were strung on wires from one end to the other in both directions but alas magic holds them in place. And magic that has them give off just enough light to keep the growing shadows away but not to blind anyone.

“The lines of light might look like just fur keeping us from being in the dark, but they hold another purpose as well. If ye remembered what Ms. Rhodes had mentioned earlier and I had confirmed, each planet and celestial body has a different gravitational pull on people and objects. Each quarter of th’quidditch pitch has been magicked tae represent th’ surface of a different place.” It had been quite a challenge but nothing it seemed magic couldn’t handle to get it to as close as possible.

“ From least gravity to Triton, a moon of Saturn at 12 times less gravity as Earth.” She thought the Disney lovers of the group might enough that choice. “Nah to be confused wit Titan, a moon of Saturn, that has 7 times less gravity. Then there’s Mars which has 2 times less gravity. An finally Neptune itself that has 2 times MORE gravity than Earth.” Clear emphasis on the more. “I’ll let ye have the fun of figuring out which one is which.” They would feel it the minute they crossed from one field to another with their steps. Triton and Neptune should be the easiest on either side of the spectrum.

Motioning to a collection of muggle balls the size of basketballs, she was ready for the last bit. “Wit a partner, I’d like ye to take turns tossing the balls to see the gravitational pull. An’ then try to challenge the pull by casting the Slowing Charm on yer ball as its drops. Ye have until the end of the’class period.”


ooc: So, this is our main activity. As there isn’t guaranteed enough players to partner up, feel free to be creative and pretend you have a partner if you want. This will be open to Thursday night at least so have fun. Celeste is around for help or anything else.