Just as Cassia reached for her sextant to measure the latitude, she heard someone talk to her. She glanced at the little kid whom she had spotted. She smiled at him and nodded, "Yes, I am" She answered. Did he say try? "Oh do you want help? I can show you how it's done if you want?" She offered brightly. She liked helping smaller kids because it made her feel useful and she remembered very much how she used to need help.

"It's not hard as it looks like it is," She said bringing her took closer to her and held it between her and the boy, "Bring yours so we can do the measuring together?" Or he could do it and she'd supervise or something.

Kace gave a sigh of relief. "Yes i would love some help actually. I always have trouble reading the sextant. I mean i was fine in class but i need helpful reminders." he smiled toward her. "Oh by the way my name is Kace." Incase she wanted to know.

He brought his sextant over and was gonna learn how to do the measurements with the kind slytherin. "I even brought my notebook over to keep track of our measurements." he suggested brightly.

While carrying the sextant in his hand, Daichi decided to make his way to the grounds first because he figured it was easier to work from the bottom of the castle and go up , back to the Astronomy classroom. That way he wouldn't have to climb up and down and up and down the stairs each time.

His first destination was the swimming dock. Big shocker it wasn't the duck pond right? But the duckies shouldn't worry because he WAS coming over soon~

So, first step was to find Polaris right? Daichi stood still and looked up at the sky. He was glad the sky was pretty clear this night. Almost no clouds which was perfect for stargazing. He searched the sky for a few minutes before he finally found the polaris. He smiled to himself and quickly began to set up the sextant.

So really, he had to leave the castle but Forrest wasn't the one to defy a Professor, let alone his FAVOURITE ever, so he followed an older student downstairs, see? He wasn't really working with them, but he was sticking close for some sort of security. So that wasn't defying Professor? Yes? YES?

Nodding to himself to comfirm himself, he looked up to the sky again and did the classics: he squinted his eyes to find the ursa major and he started swirling around himself--where was this star, really? He completed a full circle--head uuuuup--but no luck. With a loud sigh, he started the next swirl without a stop--oh there it wa--

"OUCH!"

He FELL! He actually FELL on his butt! He groaned loudly because the world was still turning around him. His put his hand on his head to hopefully stop the world. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe--he closed his eyes and started counting to ten.

Eight, nine, ten.

He slooowly opened his eyes and smiled to himself to find the world motionless. Good. No, bad. He had to find the Polaris again.

Bleh.

He got up, one hand petting hit butt. He was clever enough not to swirl this time, but he was lucky too as he found Ursa Major at his first try. His eyes followed the Ursa minor and the next moment he was gazing at Cassiopeia, and a moment lateeeer--

"Polaris!"

Cassia smiled at the boy whose name she learnt was Kace. "No worries we'll do it together now," She nodded. "Oh and I'm Cassia," She totally forgot to introduce herself. Got carried away with the assignment and all. She waited till her brought his tool and his notebook. "That is very smart of you," She said encouragingly. She wasn't that smart, it took her time to get used to all this studying and books and textbooks.

"Okay, here we go," She said holding her sextant more firmly. "First of all, you need to point your sextant, this tool, to the horizon," She said doing so herself slowly so that Kace could get a good look and be able to copy her. "Then press the clamp, this thingy here," She told him pointing with her finger before pressing it. "See, when we do this the index bar is released," Was he keeping up. "So now by looking at the mirror we need to bring Polaris, the north star-the one we located earlier, we need to bring it to the horizon, it's pretty simple." She added demonstrating for the first-year. She paused giving him time to do so then continued, "Now, remember that clamp we pressed? Now we have to release it to and adjust Polaris position, just keep your eyes on the mirror to do so," Well, after he saw she did it. Cassia paused more now, because the adjusting took time.

"We're almost done, now just give the sextant a swing for verification and now finally we read the angle," She said then peered at hers seeing that the angle was 25. Then to Kace she said, "See those numbers. They are easy to read,"

Then Cassia reached for her parchment and started writing down the notes.

Now back to Kace to see how he was doing.

SPOILER!!: Cassia :3

Quote:

Originally Posted by the fastest seeker

Cassia smiled at the boy whose name she learnt was Kace. "No worries we'll do it together now," She nodded. "Oh and I'm Cassia," She totally forgot to introduce herself. Got carried away with the assignment and all. She waited till her brought his tool and his notebook. "That is very smart of you," She said encouragingly. She wasn't that smart, it took her time to get used to all this studying and books and textbooks.

"Okay, here we go," She said holding her sextant more firmly. "First of all, you need to point your sextant, this tool, to the horizon," She said doing so herself slowly so that Kace could get a good look and be able to copy her. "Then press the clamp, this thingy here," She told him pointing with her finger before pressing it. "See, when we do this the index bar is released," Was he keeping up. "So now by looking at the mirror we need to bring Polaris, the north star-the one we located earlier, we need to bring it to the horizon, it's pretty simple." She added demonstrating for the first-year. She paused giving him time to do so then continued, "Now, remember that clamp we pressed? Now we have to release it to and adjust Polaris position, just keep your eyes on the mirror to do so," Well, after he saw she did it. Cassia paused more now, because the adjusting took time.

"We're almost done, now just give the sextant a swing for verification and now finally we read the angle," She said then peered at hers seeing that the angle was 25. Then to Kace she said, "See those numbers. They are easy to read,"

Then Cassia reached for her parchment and started writing down the notes.



Now back to Kace to see how he was doing.

Alright so her name was Cassia. He made a mental note of that. He was gonna remember that. He was starting to like her. She seemed really nice. She was helpful too which Kace loved to see in other people. Alright enough time to get down to the lesson.

As Cassia was showing him how to work. "See when you explain it like that, it seems so much easier!" He said as he was pointing his sextant to the horizon. Then he pressed the clampy thing Cassia was pointing too and he pressed it. Then the index bar was released! He was doing well! Then he was looking at the mirror and trying to find Polaris. The star he found earlier. Once he found it, he heard a next set of directions. Now he had to adjust the clamp to Polaris position. That was simple. He was adjusting to Polaris position and he could SEE it. He kept his eye on the mirror.

"Woaahhh this is So cool!" he said to Cassia. He gave it swing for verification and then he saw some numbers. He checked it out and said, "Hmmm it seems my angle is 26." he said reading it. Yup it said 26. It was only one off from Cassia so it wasn't so bad.

"I guess i should do the formula." he grinned. Then he got his notebook and copied down.

SPOILER!!: Kace's Notebook

Sextant Angle: 26
Latitude: 90- Sextant Angle
Latitude= 64

After he finished he was smiling widely. "I finally did it! And i finally understand it all! Thanks Cassia. He even hugged her too.

Daichi held the sextant in his hand and gazed up at the sky again to check if Polaris was still there. He frowned at how stupid his thoughts were. Of course Polaris would still be there! He then held the tool in front of his eye and at the horizon before he quickly pressed the clamp at the bottom of the sextant. Now that it was set he held the tool firmly in his hands, afraid it would tilt or go down and loose the horizon. Luckily it didn't and he used the mirrors to find polaris and placed it on the horizon.

He then let loose of the clamp and swung it a little. Still set. The Slytherin then looked down at the numbers to read the angle.. 35? he lowered the sextant before writing down the details on his notebook.

DUCKIES HERE HE COMES~!

His butt STILL hurt okay? Forrest just tried his best to ignore it, and held the toy-thing in the horizon. It kinda got boring the fourth time A shadow of smile crossed his face as he pressed the clamp and released the index bar. Now... choosing Polaris as his reference point, he lowered it back to read the angle.

19°.

Tongue out again, he did the calculation:

90°-19°=71°

He wrote it down and puffed his cheeks. There was only one thing left to do for today, and it was the only thing he didn't look forward to.

Now this would've been harder and less enjoyable if it had been still winter. Luckily, the weather was warm and she didn't have to worry about getting sick. Upon leaving the common room her branch in bag, Cassia headed towards the grounds wondering where to go and work on the branch. Finally she was thinking of going to the tree house. It's been a while since she went there. Last time she was there, she and Lex had an argument. And it resulted in the lioness bolting away. Heh. Their fights were intense. Well, she didn't want to go there now.

The fourth-year walked aimlessly until she reached the swimming dock. It looked like a nice place to sit. Cassia flopped down on the platform cross-legged. Once settled, the blond reached for her bag and retrieved both the borrowed knife and the branch. She had to give that back…the knife not the branch. She wouldn't be able to give the branch back even if she wanted to do.

Feeling the surface of the branch, she noticed the remarkable change and how the roughness was almost all gone. Then she was doing well. Good. Relived as she was doing it the right way, she started running the knife's edge on the branch's surface clumsily at first until she found herself a pattern.

She was doing weeeeeell.

Though it got boring, was there anyone around to talk to or something. Or she was almost done, she'd go then and do something more funn.

Laura wasn't feel at all well today, she was really upset, she couldn't even be bothered to go for a swim, she remember the water fight she had with Nerida but that seemed like years ago, she was really upset about a few things and so she just sat on the edge of the dock and thought about where her life was going, she hadn't spoken to Ella or Sophie or seen Carrigan for ages and that was making her really sad and now DJ was spending time with another girl and her family, Laura wasn't happy about that but there was nothing she could do, though for now all she could do was stare at the water and hope that her life would get better soon.

Hannah felt like she had been in a daze for the last two terms. She hadn't talked to Elliot in what seemed like years and school... yeah that was a joke. Her parents were not happy with her, and honestly who could really blame them? Things were going to change though. She knew that her fifth year was pretty much done for but there was always next year, and her last and final year. She was going to do what she could to turn everything around.

Hannah didn't know what she wanted to do. All she knew was that she was finally in the mood for some human interaction and she couldn't find Elliot so somebody else was going to do. She walked around aimlessly for awhile and before she knew it she ended up at the swimming dock. It wasn't a good place to be considering that Hannah didn't like getting wet and any kind of dirty. She was just about to walk away when she spotted someone that looked familiar to her.

She walked closer and sure enough she had spotted that duffer Laura. She fondly went over the images that popped in her head of spilling tea over the girls head. Too bad she didn't have any tea on her at the moment. Elliot would, but she was nowhere to be found. An evil smile spread across Hannah's face. Her fifth year was almost over and she could totally be good next year. Yeah, turning over a new leaf for her sixth year sounded like a plan. Plus, the girl was standing so close to the edge, and she seemed to be in her own little world... it would be way too easy.

She had made up her mind in an instant and very quietly went up behind the girl. Before anybody that might be around them would have had a chance to see her, Hannah pushed the girl into the water, and called out. "Oh no, you should really be careful." It was totes an accident. At least, that was what she was going to claim.

Laura suddenly felt herself being pushed into the water, she didn't care, the person had done her a favour and had actually cooled her down a bit and made her a bit better, the water had been so refreshing, she just got back onto the plank and then looked back towards the lake totally ignoring Hannah, she had seen her when she had gotten back up, but she didn't care, she was really upset and Hannah was well being Hannah.

Laura just stared into space, she hadn't even bothered drying her clothes because well there was no point and she could always do it later when she wasn't so upset as she was at the minute.

Hannah watched as the girl fell into the water and satisfaction spread all over her face. Then she watched as the girl just got out of the water like nothing happened. Like people just pushed her in all the time. Hannah could totally understand why they would, but still this one usually at least fought back. Blink.Blink.

The only other time somebody had pretty much just ignored her was when she had offended that other puffer, soapy, or whatever her name was. Still, not one to back away from a fight, Hannah decided to move on to something else that would provoke her. "Finally realized not to mess with me puffer?" Oh yeah, Laura would have to say something back at that. If not there was always plan c. What was it going to be?

Laura just sat there, staring into space, she was really upset and was just going to ignore Hannah and hope that the girl would go away, she really wanted to just continue to stare into space, and for some reason Hannah wouldn't let her, maybe if she just sat there and ignored her, then she would get bored and go and find someone else to annoy.

Garrick had been moping, this was true. He was also VERY wounded by his father's actions toward him and then there was that girl. The one who was now dead to him. The one who had hurt him by being an uncaring, ridiculous, brat. THAT ONE. He couldn't even remember her name, though. She was that far dead to him. HMPH.

So he had dragged Benjy with him to the dock. Swimming was always fun, right? And they couldn't do an AWFUL lot of talking while swimming, could they? Yeah, they probably would since they seemed to be the only ones around. SIGHS. Well they may as well clear it all out then. Dropping his towel, Garrick seated himself on the edge of the dock, sunglasses still on, and kicked his feet in the water while he waited on Benjy to sit with him.

Garrick was still moping. And Benjy had figured it was best not to interrupt whatever thoughts were going round in his cousin's head right now. Angry thoughts aimed at Uncle and Lotus, most likely.

Sigh.

Though it was a good sign that Garrick had wanted to come outside, despite the lack of skateboards. And so Benjy plopped himself down next to his cousin, placing his shoes and towel on his other side. And gingerly, he dipped his foot in the water.

"You sure it's not too cold for swimming?" he asked, dubiously.

If there was one thing that Hannah didn't like, it was being ignored. Things were not going at all the way that she wanted them to. This whole attitude wasn't like Laura at all. Maybe there was something wrong with her? Like besides being mental. Did Hannah care though? Uh, nope, not at all

She walked up to the girl and got directly in her face. "Hello! Didn't your parents teach you any manners?" That was an ironic question considering Hannah had been the one to push her into the water, but so what. She could do whatever she wanted. She decided to push her luck a bit further and gave the girl a hard poke in the shoulder. She immediately wiped her finger off on her robes. Puffer germs... they were the worse!

Of course there were angry thoughts. There always seemed to be angry thoughts lately. Which he didn't really like... He had always prided himself on being a happy kid. Now look at him.

Without turning his head to look at Benjy the corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "Gonna let a little cold water stop you?" He felt like they needed to do SOMETHING other than his sitting in the common room shriveling up and dying. Although... he got to see Blue from time to time when he stayed in the tower and that was always an added bonus. ALWAYS.

Was that a tiny curl tugging at the corner of his lips? Benjy couldn't properly tell, given that his cousin decided to talk at the water rather than him, but it was a start. And of course Benjy wasn't about to allow some cold water to stop him. Not if it would give Garrick something to chide him about. Because, let's face it, that reply was dripping with 'challenge'.

Actually, that gave him an idea...

"I'm guessing you won't mind if I, er, help you in then...?" he said with a chuckle, as he leant back to give Garrick a harder pat on the back than was strictly necessary between friends. Well, necessary for just a pat on the back.

For pushing him in, it should be about perfect.

Garrick had pretty much been waiting on his cousin to attempt the pushing nonsense. As he was rocketed forward he Juuuuuuuust managed to grab hold of Benjy's arm, hopefully pulling him in as well. And no, his sunglasses did NOT come off when he hit the water. And yes, he was aware that he didn't really NEED sunglasses at the moment, but given that he like wearing them he cared not. HA.

Surfacing after going with the flow and swimming out a few feet, Garrick spit a stream of water and laughed. A real laugh. Like a good laugh. He needed that.

"Oh no you d-"

SPLOSH.

He really should have expected Garrick to pull that one. Benjy swam a short way under the water, before surfacing and flicking away the hair stuck to his face. His hair did NOT appreciate swimming. Though he didn't dwell on that point for long, because Garrick was...

*STARE*

Garrick was laughing?! How odd, but in a good way. The best of ways, actually. So much so, Benjy thought he should go dunk him as well.

Laura just continued to stare away from the girl in front of her, she wasn't going to get involved with anything because she was too upset about other things and she didn't think that Hannah really needed to know what she was upset about, she totally ignored her last question as well because well she was the one that was not taking the hint, here she was just being nice and ignoring her and the little girl just wanted to be a meanie-pants and annoy her.

What was with this girl? Seriously, she was starting to make Sophie seem like a tyrant. If anybody had poked Hannah in the chest they would have got it alright. "You're pathetic, Hyde!" I mean geeze, do something... anything! This is one of the many reasons why Hannah believed that puffers were such duffers.

"Spill it puff!" There was something going on and her curiosity was getting the better of her. Maybe she could go bully whoever was bothering Hyde. No, no... that would make it seem like she cared about Laura, or that she was sticking up for her and she couldn't have that! She was in the mood for a fight though!

Laura just continued to ignore Hannah maybe that would make the little girl go away and maybe even make her bother someone else, because seriously she was always bothering her and she hadn't done anything that she could remember though she wasn't going to say anything.

speaking to no one in particular and not even hearing what Hannah said, she started speaking. "Why do people have to break your heart?" Laura really had no idea why she had said it but well she did and she couldn't take it back now, though she continued to stare into space.

Staring at Laura with a hatred in her eyes, Hannah had to resist the urge to girl the girl a swift kick. Why was she feeling so violent? Sure, she was known to verbally abuse people, but this was a bit much even for her. Yes, if somebody attacked her she would defend herself, but she didn't normally go out of her way to hit/kick somebody for the pure thrill of it.

It wasn't looking like the girl was going to say anything at all and Hannah suddenly wanted to throw the girl back in the lake, but that wouldn't do anything but waste more of her precious energy because obviously the girl was trying to mimic a dead fish. Hannah was just about to turn around and leave when the puff actually spoke

Merlin! Was she talking about hearts breaking? Did Hannah hear that correctly? "I know that it breaks your heart that I don't like you..." PAUSE. "...but you're just going to have to get over it." She could totally understand the heartbreak that Laura was surely going through. Why was she just staring at nothingness like that? Mental! She was sure starting to look the part too!