A lot of people where talking about planets. Well that involved guessing how many planets they discovered at the time. Did they have all nine -ehh, eight, sorry pluto-back then? Or were there only 'seven'?

She wrote planets down in tiny letters, with a question mark next to it. She was probably going to have to research when planets were discovered. Though she figured Earth was discovered first.

Wait... that left eight planets. And maybe their telescopes were stupid back then and they couldn't see pluto! Which equaled seven! She just had to confirm that she was correct now.

"Sir? If it is the planets, that would be discounting Earth, right? Because they couldn't see us as a wandering star if we're kind of on the planet." Hand gestures helped matters. "And does pluto count? Because they might not have seen it back then and had no idea the little dwarf planet existed." Pooor pluto. Couldn't catch a break, could it?

And with her question, she mapped it out to see if she was right. She drew Earth and a person on it with a telescope that looked like it was broken. Eight planets were scattered around the right side of the paper, with little pluto in the corner with a sad face because no one could see it. Visual representation was always important.

And then what happened when they realized that their planet actually spun along with the others in the whole fixed orbit mess? Well, if someone got persecuted for believing that the planets spun around the sun, then she could only imagine what came after this. Mass hysteria?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saiai

Ana listened intently to what Flamsteed was saying about the stars and their formations. It was mostly revision for her but interesting nonetheless. She didn't bother to write it down though as she already knew what was being said. She only really bothered to write down his question, putting her hand up as she did so. "The seven wandering stars are our Moon, the Sun and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These may also be referred to as the seven planets of the ancients," Ana recited, as if by rote, as she scribbled the answer onto her parchment and lowered her hand.

Hopefully that was the answer that Professor Airey wanted.

The professor was in a crisis. A crisis that was really only a crisis for someone like him due to his overly excitable nature. With such a stellar answer as this how could he NOT jump on her station?

Well, actually no. He knew full well why and it actually had nothing to do with his physical condition. Powdered elements and expensive equipment were in the way.

"STELLA .... A.... AHOO," he sneezed. He then reached into his pocket for his navy blue handkerchief with constellations on it to wipe his nose. "Very good."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Taking five points from him? Er. No thanks. The one time he decided to joke with a Professor...Adi shook his head. "That sounds like a bad idea, Professor,'' he said solemnly and apologetically. He managed a tiny, innocent grin. He had never lost Hufflepuff a point didn't intend to start now.
....................................

Adi raised his eyes from the jars as Professor Airey began to address the class. Their answers varied? Truthfully, he couldn't even remember what answer he had put for that homework question. His memory seemed fuzzled of late. Anyway...these seven wandering stars. The second year didn't have an idea what they were but the name offered a base to make an educated guess. He raised a hand. ''They're a group of stars that people on Earth thought moved. What I mean is that they seem to change location to the people.'' Was that correct? Or did it came close?

Well...too bad for the boy. Because those 5 were gone now. Let that be a lesson in how not to address your professor, yeah?

Well, he wasn't incorrect, but that hadn't been exactly what his question had been asking either. "Yes, hence the term wandering," he nodded towards the Hufflepuff.

Maybe Mr. Rehman need a snack to give himself a pick me up? Airey would personally suggest stewed prunes. It was a recent discovery of his. Quite unique in flavor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Laura looked around the room, she was normally quite alert and quite bouncy but lately all she wanted to do was nap and her hair well it was starting to turn grey which wasn't a good sign surely well anyway she had a question to answer.

Laura listened to the question, stars okay well the Professor wanted to know what stars were in Hollywood right? That is what she heard anyway though what it had to do with Astronomy she didn't know. She raised her hand and smiled. "Professor in Hollywood they do films like Men in Black, that stars Will Smith, he also did loads others like After Earth and Wild Wild West." Laura beamed. "Then there are films like Freaky Friday and Parent trap with Lindsey Lohan in." Laura was really good at these sort of stars. "You also have Sammi Hanratty, Selena Gomez, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Dylan and Cole Sprouse plus many more that I could name if you want." Laura beamed, next question please.

..........................

The professor couldn't help but squint at Miss Hyde and her response. While he did tend to find some amusement from her way out there responses, this one was...just no. "While some of those films and famous muggles may seem ancient to you, Miss Hyde, that is not what I was referring to."

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Wandering stars? Ella could identify with the wandering part. She'd been doing that a lot lately, making her way down one corridor only to forget where she was going and having to turn around. It was terribly annoying, just saying. As for what the ancients were referring to, Ella raised her hand. "If she," the Snake girl, "is right about the planets, it makes sense that Jupiter would have been mistaken for a star because you can find it with your eye if you're looking carefully." Nodnod. "But Professor? Aren't stars more um...twinkly and less round looking than the planets?"

"Very true, Miss Ella," he nodded towards the Head Girl. "Today, thanks to the invention of the telescope and early astronomers' intellect, we know that those celestial bodies that seem to glow above us are not all stars. This twinkling, which is called scintillation in Astronomy, occurs because stars are much farther away from the Earth than stars are, therefore making it easier for the Earth’s atmosphere to disturb the pinpoint light of a star. But ancient people were not aware of this. All they saw when they looked up at the night sky were countless pinpoints of light."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

Ah....that homework. The one he did not do. Yeah that one. But he did just tell us the answer so no need to worry but it. Not that Nigel cared. To Nigel it did not really matter whether the earth was the middle of the solar system or is traveling around the sun. We would still go on about our lives regardless.

Wandering Stars...like muggle movies star that do more than one different movie. Probably not. Couldn't they just do Space puns or jokes. Those were fun. Like, When does an astronaut have lunch?

At Launch Time.

Oh it is so bad it is funny.

The professor couldn't be entirely certain, but from what he could see from where he was standing it looked as though Mr. Barrington was having a very intense thought of some sort. Some sort of light bulb moment and it made the astronomer curious. "Something you wish to share with the rest of us, Mr. Barrington?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa

From the moment Oichi artived in class she was intrigued by the boxes on the desks but still went to yhe closet and put on her named astronomy jacket and took a seat. She then looked at the box and saw names names of elements that could be explosive if not treated with care which she knew they were. She wondered if a controlled explosion would be part of the lesson but as that train of thought entered her head the lesson began and soon the first question was asked and Oichi had an idea of an answer. She raised her hand, "Wandering stars, hmm, well most stars don't move but planets do and I've heard some planets are big enough to see with the naked eye at night so I'm guessing thats what they saw".

"Excellent, Miss Paulidine," he nodded towards the Gryffindor. He was glad that she appeared to be doing better. Having a student pass out in a lesson was always alarming. "Planets is precisely what these wandering stars are."

Quote:

Originally Posted by RachieRu

Wandering stars? They were talking about wandering stars? Okay. Grace had no idea what they were. But like she kind of listened to the others. They were talking about planets. Now that kind of confused her. They were talking about planets, but planets weren't stars. She frowned, really having no clue what so ever. "But... planets aren't stars..." She mused, with a little frown, as she raised her hand. Ouchh. That her shoulder. "Like...we call them planets... so wouldn't the wandering stars be actual stars?" Maybe? She had no clue.

"They certainly are not! Very good, Miss Paton," he nodded towards her. "However, as I just explained to Miss Ella, early people were not aware that things like planets existed out there and thus assumed that all those seemingly glowing objects in the night sky were stars. The fact that some of them moved night after night is what earned them the name 'wandering'."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

He raised his hand and gave his own answer, "Professor, unlike most stars that moved in a fixed formation, around the Earth, the seven wandering stars, or in this case, celestial bodies moved through the fixed stars in a wide band, called the zodiac. These bodies were actually the planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and of course the Sun and the Moon." Sander concluded his answer.

"Very good, Mr. Strand," he replied. "But let me just clarify your language a bit for those unfamiliar with the topic. Stars only seem to move to the casual observer on Earth is that the Earth rotates, not because they are moving around the Earth." Just to be entirely clear for everyone. "The band you are referring comes into play with the apparent path along which the Sun moves during the year and contains the 13 constellations known as the zodiac. Thank you for bringing it up."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

As Delilah waited for class to begin, she couldn't help but stare at Airey some more. He looked older than Botros and that was saying something. She really did feel bad for him.

... Anyway. Note-taking had begun as Airey started to talk. Because as much as she liked the subject, it was rather confusing and notes always helped, yep. Wandering stars? Um. Delilah chewed on her lip for a moment. Yeah, she was pretty sure she'd read about this before.. The girl finally raised her hand and said, "... Aren't they supposed to be planets, professor? Not stars? And like Ella said, stars are more twinkly."

Twinkle twinkle Miss Starr.

Alright, so that little rendition of the song obviously needed some adjusting as it was missing a beat in that first line. Not to mention he really shouldn't be singing in his head during class because he got sidetracked.

"They are indeed, Miss Starr. Well, five out of the seven at least."

Had he made that clarification to the others? He couldn't remember.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

Completely puzzled, the young Gryffindor with gray hair listened around him and each time someone said something he got even more confused because not everyone was saying the right answer. They were all different...mweh guess he has to guess for himself. "PLANETS" he shouted "LIKE...MY CURRY...SERIOUSLY? WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THAT?" He glared towards the direction of a Hufflepuff who he had been listening to , trying to steal some answers you know because his answer sounded better than the others. "AND MARS...JUPITER....THINGIES YEAH"

uhuh. "TWINKLY PLANETS!"get a grip Hirase!

Sweet solstice.

Who had let the banshee into the classroom?

Oh wait, it was just Mr. Hirase.

"There will be no eating in my classroom, Mr. Hirase," he said with a shake of the head. "No your curry or my curry or his curry or her curry. NO CURRY!"

And that was, unfortunately, all he got from the boy's answer. The man's ears were still ringing from the initial explosion of the boy's voice to hear the rest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Forgetting the question completely, Lex raised her hand, having one of her own. "Professor Sir...are you alright?"

"I'm stellar, Miss Cambridge...but we are well past such questions," he said as he tapped the textbook on the desk in front of him. Meaning that the Gryffindor needed to focus and keep up.

Or someone could sneak her a chocolate frog while he wasn't looking. As long as he didn't notice and it got Miss Cambridge back up and running he wouldn't complain.

Probably.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emzily

Theo just nodded at Flamsteed's comment on his Quidditch performance during the match. He was trying not to think about Quidditch actually, but thanks for that.

He scratched his head when the professor started his usual ramble of big words and space stuff, and then he rested his elbow on the desk, with his chin placed firmly into his palm. Theo picked up a pen and started doodling on the next clean page of his notebook.

He was doodling a picture of Saturn, though.

Totally class related, of course.

Ah, excellent. Mr. Kinsley was taking notes. If he had felt more mobile he would have been walking around to see what students were writing, but for now he was just leaning against the blackboard. Observing.

Note taking was good. Good good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordred

Andrew debated with himself if he should share the information or not. But seeing that Anastasia already nailed it—and most probably what Flamsteed wanted to hear, the seventh year remained quiet in his seat and took down notes.

And another note taker. Good good gooooooood.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Oh my dear Merlin! Why had Sophie chosen a seat so far away from the professor?! He needed a charm or something to amplify his voice. He was just speaking soooo softly. "Come again!" Sophie said, cupping her hand by her ear and raising her hand.

She removed her hand from her ear and looked around. Listening to her classmates, she pieced together what the question had been. "Oh, were they referring to the planets?" she asked, raising her hand again. "Can you hear me up there, Professor?"

"Roger. LOUD and clear, Miss Newell," he said, squinting at the Slytherin. "There is no need to shout."

Kids these days. Thinking they could talk in a raised voice in a class like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Question. Right. Which was...? ... Mars? The loud kid had mentioned that planet. And twinkly planets? None of the planets twinkled, as far as he knew. Were they going to go on another scavenger hunt for them? He did enjoy the last, long term assignment they had had to do. Some of the planets were easy to spot, like Mars. Bright red and close to Earth. Yeah.

... They were talking about planets, right?

... Yeah... he was going to sit there. Paying attention, he was.

Was the Head Boy looking a little dazed and confused to anyone else? Prunes. Mr. Summers should look into eating some of those. Helped with the attention span and keeping hair healthy. Yep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Aaah, Astronomy was making Lux feel like her head was going to explode again. As she watched Professor Flamseed hobble around, she had a glassy look in her eyes. Okay, so he was talking about stars, but... what did she really know about stars? Not much other than they were balls of gas that were really really far away. Yep, she was sitting this one out.

Fortunately he had said this was a more hands on lesson, so she hoped to sweet Circe that she would either be able to understand what to do for it, or be able to have someone help her. Figuring there was nothing else for her to do, she took out her notebook and pen so she could take notes.

Miss Carrington received a glance as the professor looked around the room for other raised hands. More note taking and listening. Always good to see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

He raised his hand and grunted "Planets," in response to Flamsteed's question. Yup. That was all he really needed to know right? He wasn't in the mood for a lengthy explanation.

Airey wiggled his cane towards Mr. Newell and his response. Planets, yes, very good. And thank you for not shouting like your sister. It was much appreciated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

Bay raised his hand "Professor.. aren't those like the planets in our solar system that they called the wondering stars…" or what ever the name was.. man his memory was starting to go… he shook his head to clear it out… Bay raised his hand again… wait.. didn't he already answer.. oh no.. Bay lowered his hand to let other people answer incase he already did.

"They are indeedy, Mr. Bay," he grinned at the boy. "5 out of the 7 are actually planets in our solar system."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talikins

"Professor is Stupider one of the stars? Eh em. I mean Jupiter." Totally not on purpose no, not even with the suppressed giggles.

Was that a reference to the old and completely ridiculous teasing song about boys going to Jupiter to get more stupider? He squinted at the Gryffindor for a moment before responding.

"It is one of those 'wandering' stars, yes."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princesspower

Sarah raised her hand
"Perhaps our planets? They wonder around... and they can look like stars to people who cannot tell the difference"

"Precisely, Miss Edwards. Very good."

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnicornDragonPatronus

Tessa smiled as Professor Flamsteed brought up her prize. "I have actually- not all of it, but I was able to sneak in listening to a few tracks while studying. It was a beautiful compilation- thank you so much," she told him with a warm smile. She didn't have to tell him that it made her sleepy- besides, a lot of things were making her sleepy nowadays.

However, class started and she settled into her seat, glad to relieve her knees for at least a short while. At the Professor's question, she raised her hand. "Professor, could those stars make up a constellation? Perhaps named "The Nomad" for it's tendency to 'wander' across the sky?" she suggested.

Airey chuckled lightly. "Afraid that these wandering stars are not the sort that could be considered a constellation." Or an asterism for that matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

"I think it would be the planets as well," he answered after raising his hand. "They would be seen as having no distinct path or wandering across the sky over time."

"Very good, Mr. Atreyu," he nodded. "Planets are observed to move in very complicated paths with respect to the background stars and sometimes appear to even move backwards due to the planets' relative positions as seen from Earth. The projection effect, for those of you who want to do a bit more reading on the matter in your textbook."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Penguin

Ian looked up to the sky as the professor talked, trying to see if he could remember the names of any of the stars he had read in his homework. Good gracious he couldn't remember hardly anything. He just continued to allow his eyes to wander at the star charts in his memory and wondered how men decided to make a telescope in the first place.

A Hufflepuff deep in thought. A dangerous past time, you know. He did not linger on the boy too long as another hand had been raised a few desks away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

"Thundering cars?" Tobias repeated to himself what he'd heard Airey say, looking incredibly confused.

What on Earth was Airey asking them about cars for? Didn't he realise this was Astronomy, and not Muggle studies?

Tobias blinked, and wondered if maybe he hadn't heard the professor right. He glanced around at everyone, squinted, and leeeeeeeeeeeaned right forward, as far as he could without standing up, and turned his good ear towards the front of the room (because of course he had a good ear now) all the better to hear the Starman.

Speak up, sonny!

But before getting to that hand...Airey just barely overheard Mr. Tempus talking about ThunderCats and it took all his restraint to not start singing the theme song.

Although he did hum it rather loudly instead.

THUNDERCATS....HOOOOOOOOOOO!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Wriggling her nose - absolutely disliking the idea of not remembering things - Beverly raised her hand, though not as high. Her joints were stiff as a board. "They thought the sun and moon were stars, as well as-" PAUSE. What was next? "Oh, um, Venus...Mercury...um, Mars...and umm..." She didn't remember the rest. SAD FACE.

"I don't remember the rest," she admitted miserably. Could she hide under the table now? >.<

"Perfectly fine, you got the gist of things. The Sun and the Moon along with a few planets are what the ancients thought were these wandering stars," he smiled at the girl.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediem

"Well maybe they thought that the orbit was the 'wandering' part of wandering stars. So then things like the sun were in orbit and they were called wandering stars. Because they looked like they wandered." Hey, if she couldn't be correct, she was going to be creative. Because creative answers worked too. And sometimes they worked better than others. And now seemed to be a time when they worked.

After she spoke, the redhead copied down his question and copied down her answer. She wanted to get all of the students words down in case someone was correct but not fully. She could fill it in later with the correct answer.

Oh, a very interesting answer. Airey really did want to jump up on the Ravenclaw's station, but knew what that would result in. Destruction of school property and his back going out for starters.

"Excellent, Miss Winters. To the ancient people's these celestial bodies' orbits are what caused them to believe they were wandering stars. While stars' locations in the night sky appear to remain in a fixed pattern relative to each other, whereas planets and the Moon move against this background pattern because of their orbits. The Sun, because it is the closest star to Earth, also appears to move across the sky and the ancients thought that it was in fact orbiting the Earth." Something they all minus one Gryffindor apparently already knew not to be true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold GRINNED at the professor, happy he was good enough to teach. YAYYYY. She took out her notes and scribbled a few down.

... traveling stars or whatever? "Umm... just planets in general, yeah?"

She was a bit tired.

"For the most part yes, the planets," he nodded towards the Hufflepuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

This not hearing thing was starting to get very annoying so Michael rolledup a piece of parchment into a cone shape and placed the point end into his ear. He didn't know if it was working or whether the Professor was speaking loudly but he did manage to hear the question and he raised his hand slowly.

"They are planets or to be more precise, the seven classical planets. The sun, moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. They are also the names for the seven days of the week."

Could the Professor hear him?

WHY WAS HE SHOUTING?!

Was this the Creatures' professor idea of a joke? Telling students to screech like banshees in his classroom? Or wait...had Medea put them up to this? Was this all part of an elaborate prank?

Couldn't she have done something that didn't make his ears hurt?

"Very good, Mr. Toussaint. Only keep in mind that the Sun and the Moon are NOT planets."

Fine, he was going to shout back too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

"Of course, Professor," why, yes, of course, Lottie nodded as soon as Airey offered himself to help her. There was literally no one who could be of any help, though she was wondering if he was fitted for the task now, all things considered.

THANK YOU, MARCUS BRANXTON FOR SPEAKING OUT OF TURN.

She heard that. But there was no time for a comeback, though that out of place grin that went with his words only made her smirk. Right. A smirk. Now, back to focusing on Airey and the lesson.

You have got to stop mentioning the sun in that way, Airey Flamsteed. Really. Lottie was about to raise her hand to answer when... blink. Excuse me? Her eyebrows went up as her best friend asked for her name. What...? As Lex's expression worried her even more, because she knew the Gryffindor girl was entirely lost as to what Lottie's name was. Needless to say, the question was forgotten, as was the answer she was gonna give. So, eyes on Lex, she spoke in a low voice, "You're kidding me." Astronomy, what?

Squinting to try and see what was going on - why had he forgotten his glasses? - he was just barely able to make out Miss Wisteria helping Miss Cambridge get back on track with the lesson. Stellar. Someone needed to look out for the Gryffindor before she could go get herself some prunes or chocolate frogs or both.

Chocolate frogs filled with stewed prunes...that sounded quite lovely actually. Have some with some hot tea in the kitchen...

Maybe after class.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lottiepot

Instead he wrote down notes in large letters on his parchment so he could read them back later. At least he was doing something. He frowned a little as he heard people shouting but didn't make anything of it. A lot of people were glaring anyway. They probably got the message. His poor ears were sensitive.

Airey couldn't tell if the Slytherin had his hand raised or not, so he had to stare at the young man for several long uncomfortable seconds before he was able to see that he was just taking notes.

Oh, good. Notes. Were there any other raised hands?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

All that felt like a lot to take in all of a sudden. Penelope really couldn't be bothered to try to write any notes on any of this. Way too much effort right now.....especially with some people shouting and talking SO LOUDLY. GAH. These people really needed to learn how to speak quietly because loud noises really bothered her these days for some reason.

And now she definitely wasn't paying attention and hardly heard most of the answers, instead just trying to focus on tuning some of the other students out.

Stare. Oh, no, never mind. There was no hand raising from Miss Greenwell either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Kace raised his hand and said, "Professor i know that the sun and moon fit into the 7 wandering stars but i do not know about Pluto. I mean is that still considered a planet?"

He should have known that he couldn't avoid Pluto coming into the discussion - even if Pluto was not included in the seven wandering stars by a long shot. "Pluto is certainly not among the 7 as the ancients would not have been able to see it. The furtherst non-stellar object from Earth you can see with the naked eye is Uranus."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Anything to add? "The stars our ancestors noticed moved in a predictable way, Professor Flimflam. Those wanderers were the planets, which moved through the other constellations rather than with them."

Flimflam? Airey gave the young man a stern look. Professor Aireyhead was moderately acceptable. Professor Flimflam was not. What did that even mean anyway?

Kids these days and their made up words.

"Very good, Mr. Branxton," he said. Still squinting because he had forgot to un-squint. "The ancient people were able to spot these wandering bodies due to their change position in relation to the other stars."

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

"Classical planets. Seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky. Didja know the days of the week are named after 'em, too? My elbow is THROBBING, sir." It was. Truthfully, it was.

She rubbed her funny bone, trying to not make pitiful faces at Mo. Toughie here. No elbow pops could hurt an Alice Fischer, no sirree.

Ah, there was the key word he had been waiting for. Or thought he had been waiting for. Unless someone else had said it and he had entirely forgotten about it.

"Stellar, Miss Fischer. Starting as far back as the Babylonians, these seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky are, as several of you have already mentioned, the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn." He grinned at the Gryffindor, one of his bottom teeth catching on his upper ones and...was his tooth loose? Hmm. "I DID know that." Ob........viously. "We will talk about that a bit more in just a moment..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Destiny

"The seven wandering stars are the seven stars that didn't want to be seen. 'Tis why they just wander." She was just going to wear her lab coat on backwards, if that was okay.

AGAIN WITH THE BANSHEE SCREAMS!

"While I appreciate the humor, Miss Merivel, PLEASE STOP SHOUTING IN MY LABORATORY!"

Counterproductive way of handling a situation for the win!

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediem

"Sir? If it is the planets, that would be discounting Earth, right? Because they couldn't see us as a wandering star if we're kind of on the planet." Hand gestures helped matters. "And does pluto count? Because they might not have seen it back then and had no idea the little dwarf planet existed." Pooor pluto. Couldn't catch a break, could it?

"The term classical planets is a bit misleading as not all of the celestial bodies included in the term are in fact planets - like the Sun and the Moon." And he was not going to bother talking about Pluto right now. A discussion for another day, perhaps next lesson when they got into the nitty gritty of planets and their formation and so on. "But your question provides excellent lead in to the next part of our discussion."

Which was starting right now, in case that wasn't obvious.

"The majority of you his the planet with the asteroid," he beamed out at the class. "These 7 so-called 'wandering stars' are in fact the classical planets - or 7 planets of the ancients if you prefer that term - which are the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Again, I need to remind you all that the worldview of the time we are referring to was was geocentric, or earth centered. So the idea of the 'planets' was those seven heavenly bodies that seemed to have an impact on what was going on here on Earth. In fact, the term planet comes from the Greek word planētēs which translates to 'wanderer' and these 7 celestial bodies were called asteres planetai, 'wandering stars.'"

He hobbled his way towards a piece of chalk sitting on the counter so he could write on the board. Would be so much easier if he just had his wand and could enchant the chalk to write on its own as per usual. Sigh.

"Keeping the term 'wanderer' in mind, the Sun and the Moon were considered 'planets' by the people of this time because they too appeared to 'wander' across the sky. It is because of these 7 'planets' that we have 7 days in our week. Think about this for a moment, if there had been more planets known at that time, we might have had 8 or 9 days in the week! Which could have either meant longer school weeks or longer weekends." Which was a rather interesting thought and perhaps something he should consider for homework. Hmmm....

Oh, right, back to his lesson.

"In almost every culture the names of the days of the week are related to the names of these planets and, in turn, the names of gods and goddesses. In modern English, the names come from old Germanic Norse culture..."

And then he just stopped talking while he wrote on the board, dropping the chalk every now and then because his hand had a hard time gripping things. All this would have been much easier had he not still had one hand held behind his back in a tight fist holding something. The time to show what that was would be soon. Sooooon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by on the board

"This is just a brief introduction into out solar system, but I do not want to spend the rest of the class in a lecture," he said as he licked his old man lips eagerly with his old man tongue. Might have come off a bit creepy, but he was practically salivating over this activity. FINALLY, he brought his hand forward and slowly OPENED IT.

"Miss Constantinople came very close with her question about stellar nucleosynthesis, and in a sense we WILL be doing some of that today. But, for this lab lesson, you are going to begin constructing your own solar systems!!" Because, really, what better way to understand it than attempting to recreate it yourself, right?

BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER RIGHT HERE IN HIS HANDS PEOPLE! BEST. PRESENT. EVER

OOC: I'm stopping this post here for now because it is already SO long

I'll wait for a few reactions and any questions before moving the lesson along in approximately 7 hours.

Wait, what? o_O

This was going over Lux's head so bad right now as she struggled to take notes on what he was teaching them. There was talk about planets and stars and days of the week, but... errr... she felt so dumb.

Raising her hand, she said, "Professor Flamsteed, I don't understand any of this at all." She felt so dumb for being confused, and she wanted to understand this, but it was too hard. And how was she supposed to do the activity when she had no idea what was going on? She needed help.

"Bless you," Ana called as he sneezed. Only right to say it, and he had the cutest handkerchief. Where did he get them? Ana wanted one. Now probably wasn't the time to ask though. But he did say her answer was very good, so YAY!

Ana continued to scribble down what other people said and of course what the Professor was saying. This was so interesting, especially the part about how the names of the week came to be. Although she'd actually already known that. Writing it down nonetheless.

GASP!

They were building their own solar systems!!!!! That was so cool. She was kind of right. He called her Miss Constantinople again, totally a nickname. Totally. He didn't just forget her actual name. She was getting used to it anyway. It was kinda cute. But solar systems! She was bouncing on her stool. She could not wait to do this.

"Are we going to be limited in the number of planets and moons etcetera that we can include in our solar systems?" Ana questioned. This was very important in her mind, because she was already planning out her little solar system.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY FOOD! WHY DO YOU SAY I HAVE FOOD?" Kevin scratched the back of his head in confusion. Why was the Professor talking about food to him? He had obviously said the planets name right? My curry. Yeah, that was what that Hufflepuff boy had said!

And theeeen. A lot more talking, which BORED him to no end and eventually, the little Gryffindor rested his chin on his hand and he closed his eyes but didn't get enough time before he heard a gasp and he curiously opened them again to see.... "WOW!" Wait, he was supposed to be uninterested! But the little solar system in the Professor's hand was just ...wow! "CAN I NAME MY OWN PLANETS?!" He asked without raising his hand up, he had a loud enough voice which was not true, everyone else was just whispering all the time so it would get attention better than an waving arm.

Laura looked at the Professor. "SIR CAN YOU SPEAK UP?" Laura hadn't heard half of what the Professor said. "All I got was something to do with Plans?" Laura had no idea what to do next. "So basically you want us to make plans on planets?" Laura really hoped that she was right with what she had got but it didn't seem right to her.

Smirk.

No need to write down the rest of what was written on the board since Andrew already jotted it down before Flamsteed wrote it. He knew about the gods and the names given to each day of the week and it amuses him to no end. Ancient people were either weird or genius.

Andrew squirmed though as he watched Airey lick his wrinkled dry lips. He was worse than his grandpa really, but then his initial reaction was replaced with a grin. That, Sir Flamsteed is legendary.

And that’ll definitely look cool on his bedside table! Just saying.

The Professor was alright? But he didn't look alright...or maybe he did, she didn't know anymore. Lex gave a small nod, not sure she should go on about something he wasn't worried about. He was fine.

Her focus turned to the Hufflepuff again. Mumbling, oh Merlin why did she have to be mumbling??? Lex leaned in super close with a hand cupped to her ear. "Could you repeat that? What about killing me?" Wait what???

Sweet Circe, when had Astronomy class become so violent? .__.

"....You don't have to make threats. I'm just having a hard time with names at the moment. You can forget it. I'll just...remember later or something. I dunno. Sorry to bother you." Just a name, that's all she wanted. Sheeesh, the girl must have been in a bad mood. Well she should have said something, Lex wasn't a mind reader afterall.

The Prefect turned her attention to the Professor again---OOoOOooOooOooo

So THAT'S what's in the box. Her eyes widened in fascination. This...this was amazing right here.

O____________________________O

WAIT, WHAT?

DJHSHJKHSJLKHSLJSH!

WOW. WOW. WOWOWOWOWOW.

Ella was just staring, mouth hanging slightly ajar. She'd been taking notes and mentally cursing the pain her hand was experiencing when she saw what Airey had revealed and all thoughts of notes and NEWTs and studying stopped because WOW. They were going to be making their own Solar Systems. That was just...and she was really...WOW.

Thumbs WAY up, Professor Airey. This was seriously something to tell the Grandkids about in the future.

Nigel was still thinking of astro puns. When Flamsteed snapped him out of it. Oh id he want to hear these terrible puns also. He did ask after all. " No, unless you like horrible astronomy jokes like, What kind of songs do the planets like to sing?

Nep-tunes. I did say they were pretty bad"

Now that was interesting. They were going to make their very own solar systems. That was awesome. The only real question now was how are they going to make it.

Hannah popped her head up suddenly and wiped the drool off her mouth. Did she really just fall asleep in class? Well, she didn't know what was to be expected of her when she had to attend classes in her current state. At least she didn't fart this time. Everybody was whispering again. She still had a hard time understanding why everybody thought it was fun to lower the volume on her. All it did was irritate her further.

She had no idea what they were even talking about. She heard something about a solar system and she assumed that's what they were going to do. She eyed everybody and didn't say anything because really what was there to say? Plus, she wasn't even sure if a question had been asked.

Deciding that maybe she should let the professor know that she was still alive she looked him in the eye and had to squint to make him out. "What?"

Cough. Fart. Well, so much for not farting.

Delilah yawned. No, she wasn't bored because of the lecture.. The girl was just SUPER tired and exhausted all of a sudden and wanted a nap. Which was obviously not possible right now. So she busied herself taking notes, trying NOT to fall asleep or something. UGH. Why was she like this!?


...... Wait. What!? Constructing their OWN solar systems? Delilah leaned back against her seat and stared at the old man Airey. Was he serious? With their own names and everything? "That's awesome!" Delilah couldn't help but yell out loud. It really was, though. Best class ever.

Bart wasn't sleeping per say, but his eyes were shutting every few minutes for a light snore to come out of his mouth until the sound would wake him up again and he'd chock on droll before looking around. Had class started? He squinted to the front of the room. Honestly he would have to see the healer about glasses soon. His eye sight was horribly worse. Maybe he should sit somewhere closer.

Getting up he shuffled his frog slippers towards the front and found and empty desk. That was better, but what were they talking about. Planets by the sound of it. The sun and moon too? Well okay, he smiled at the solar system that Flamedude had from the box, "Cool"

Hearing others say about planets the boy decided he should raise his hand, "Saturn is my favorite. It's the coolest out of all of them." At least in his opinion.

Oh boo, she had gotten the question wrong. Quickly, she scribbled down the correct answer to the question as the Professor spoke, hoping she had heard everything right. So far everything had only been slightly muffled... And that was frustrating enough.

But, all frustration was gone when their activity was revealed. "Our own solar systems!?!" she squeaked, bouncing in her chair. Bouncing hurt- but she was just so excited!

Sarah just stared at the professor, nope, she did agree that that was the origin of the seven day week. But one shouldnt argue with a an old man so she kept quiet. Also, it was one of the areas where discussion would cause a BIG BANG under the table. She looked at the table.. very interesting. BUT COULD THEY STOP WITH THIS MYTHOLOGY! Odin, Thor... there was a reason why no ancient runes..
Building their own solar system.. that will be exciting

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Wait, what? o_O

This was going over Lux's head so bad right now as she struggled to take notes on what he was teaching them. There was talk about planets and stars and days of the week, but... errr... she felt so dumb.

Raising her hand, she said, "Professor Flamsteed, I don't understand any of this at all." She felt so dumb for being confused, and she wanted to understand this, but it was too hard. And how was she supposed to do the activity when she had no idea what was going on? She needed help.

This...broke the astronomer's heart. Not so much that she was confused but that there was defeat and distress in her voice. "Everything I just said can be found in your textbook and you can always come to my office with your questions, but it is NOT essential for what we will be doing today. It is perfectly fiiiiiine to not understand right away, you are here at Hogwarts to learn," he explained to her. Yes, it was useful information, but it was not entirely necessary for being able to perform the necessary spells. "However, if you would like and she does not mind...I believe Miss Ella could assist you with today's activity." Because 1) Head Girl 2) she was a gifted Astronomy student and 3) .....er...he forgot what the third one was...but it had been a good one.

Plus, the Hufflepuff looked especially excited about this. She had been one of the ones to ask him about doing the star in a jar project again and that had inspired this whole lesson concept. Although it had more been 'planet in a jar' back then, it had been the gift from Medea that he held in his hand now that had turned it into the Solar System in a glass box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saiai

"Bless you," Ana called as he sneezed. Only right to say it, and he had the cutest handkerchief. Where did he get them? Ana wanted one. Now probably wasn't the time to ask though. But he did say her answer was very good, so YAY!

Ana continued to scribble down what other people said and of course what the Professor was saying. This was so interesting, especially the part about how the names of the week came to be. Although she'd actually already known that. Writing it down nonetheless.

GASP!

They were building their own solar systems!!!!! That was so cool. She was kind of right. He called her Miss Constantinople again, totally a nickname. Totally. He didn't just forget her actual name. She was getting used to it anyway. It was kinda cute. But solar systems! She was bouncing on her stool. She could not wait to do this.

"Are we going to be limited in the number of planets and moons etcetera that we can include in our solar systems?" Ana questioned. This was very important in her mind, because she was already planning out her little solar system.

Wiping his nose a bit more with his handkerchief, he nodded his head in appreciation for her, er, blessing?

And WHY did it still feel like one of his teeth was a little loose? He was about to experiment on it with his tongue, give it a little push, when she asked him a question. "Ultimately, no, I will not set strict limitations on this assignment. However, today we will just begin to create your solar systems by creating your Sun first and then a planet. You CAN start thinking about what else you would like to include while you work, however."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

"I DON'T HAVE ANY FOOD! WHY DO YOU SAY I HAVE FOOD?" Kevin scratched the back of his head in confusion. Why was the Professor talking about food to him? He had obviously said the planets name right? My curry. Yeah, that was what that Hufflepuff boy had said!

And theeeen. A lot more talking, which BORED him to no end and eventually, the little Gryffindor rested his chin on his hand and he closed his eyes but didn't get enough time before he heard a gasp and he curiously opened them again to see.... "WOW!" Wait, he was supposed to be uninterested! But the little solar system in the Professor's hand was just ...wow! "CAN I NAME MY OWN PLANETS?!" He asked without raising his hand up, he had a loud enough voice which was not true, everyone else was just whispering all the time so it would get attention better than an waving arm.

Airey shrugged his shoulders. Ouchie. Bad idea. That sort of hurt. He was the one talking about curry.

Dismissing the whole food conversation, he instead focused on the positive: the boy's enthusiasm. "You certainly can and SHOULD."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Laura looked at the Professor. "SIR CAN YOU SPEAK UP?" Laura hadn't heard half of what the Professor said. "All I got was something to do with Plans?" Laura had no idea what to do next. "So basically you want us to make plans on planets?" Laura really hoped that she was right with what she had got but it didn't seem right to her.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh? What was that?" he asked the girl. Bad ear. Sorry. Can't hear a thing from his left side.

Have to speak to the right ear. HAHA. Get it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Her focus turned to the Hufflepuff again. Mumbling, oh Merlin why did she have to be mumbling??? Lex leaned in super close with a hand cupped to her ear. "Could you repeat that? What about killing me?" Wait what???

Sweet Circe, when had Astronomy class become so violent? .__.

"....You don't have to make threats. I'm just having a hard time with names at the moment. You can forget it. I'll just...remember later or something. I dunno. Sorry to bother you." Just a name, that's all she wanted. Sheeesh, the girl must have been in a bad mood. Well she should have said something, Lex wasn't a mind reader afterall.

Okay...THAT he had heard.

His head snapped around a little too quickly, causing him to become dizzy for a few seconds, and once his eyes uncrossed he looked back and forth between Miss Cambridge and Miss Wisteria. Well, he seriously doubted Miss Cambridge was in any real danger. She had a badge. Clearly not red shirt material. "Nope. None of that. There will be no killing in my classroom."

That was a general announcement to the entire class, by the way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

Nigel was still thinking of astro puns. When Flamsteed snapped him out of it. Oh id he want to hear these terrible puns also. He did ask after all. " No, unless you like horrible astronomy jokes like, What kind of songs do the planets like to sing?

Nep-tunes. I did say they were pretty bad"

Now that was interesting. They were going to make their very own solar systems. That was awesome. The only real question now was how are they going to make it.

"Mr. Barrington," he said, eyes narrowing as he stumbled forward a little towards the boy. "That was....HILARIOUS! Take a point for that and keep those jokes coming. Full parchment under my door by the end of the week." He could use a bit of light reading. "Oh, and if you could write nice and big I would appreciate it."

His eyes got tired easily these days and big text was just easier to read.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

Deciding that maybe she should let the professor know that she was still alive she looked him in the eye and had to squint to make him out. "What?"

Cough. Fart. Well, so much for not farting.

"What what?" he asked, eyeing the Slytherin.

And....was their a gas leak in the lab? SNIIIIIIIIIIIFF.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

...... Wait. What!? Constructing their OWN solar systems? Delilah leaned back against her seat and stared at the old man Airey. Was he serious? With their own names and everything? "That's awesome!" Delilah couldn't help but yell out loud. It really was, though. Best class ever.

THUMBS UP TO YOU FOR YOUR ENTHUSIASM!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Hearing others say about planets the boy decided he should raise his hand, "Saturn is my favorite. It's the coolest out of all of them." At least in his opinion.

Glancing at Mr. Barrington briefly, he looked back at Mr. Bart and grinned. "If you like it then you should have put a ring on it." HAR HAR! HAAAAR! Cue some old man laughing from the astronomer.

Alright, back to do thing whole teaching thing before he keeled over from laughing too hard.

"For those of you who were here for when I first started teaching, you may recall the star project we had where you created and took care of your own star." Or something that was close to resembling an actual star since, well, conditions were not like how they were out there in space within the confinds of the jar. "We will be following the same process today as we start off with creating your Sun. Stars are mainly comprised of hydrogen and helium, which is what you older students used powdered elements in essentially equal proportions of these two during our star project a few terms back. But today we are not just making a star, we are going to try and replicate the Sun. To do this, we are going to need to use more of what powdered element? Also, can any of you older students tell me the incantation and wand movement to use to make these powdered elements turned into a gas and thus make them fuse together to create a star?”

OOC: This will be the last question before we start an RP activity

Please RP your character raising their hand and answering Professor Flamsteed's questions - although first/second/third years and transfers would not be familiar with the spell since they were not around to learn it - especially since they were spells invented by Professor Flamsteed

Class will resume sometime tomorrow (tomorrow my timezone anyway) <3

Sander was excited that they would be making their own solar system. He wished he knew the incantations to the spells....not saying that he would remember it now especially with his failing memory, so he decided to try answering the other question the Professor had posed. From what he remembered reading, the elements required for a sun to be formed was helium and hydrogen. Which was required more? Now that was an interesting question.

He decided to hazard a guess. Raising his hand, he gave his answer, "Professor I believe that we would need to use Hydrogen more. I mean we do also need helium but the sun is constantly fusing hydrogen into helium, so we would need more hydrogen in order to keep the balance."

Bart listened or well tried to listen. Eyes shutting.. can't control it... going to fall.. head bobbing... dozing.. Wait.. what, his eyes snapped back open. Wh.. what was going on. He looked around, oh right Professor Flamedude talking lots.. Man old man was winded wasn't he. What was he even going on about. Project he taught? Spells he invented? Even though the boy thought inventing his own spells was awesome he still wasn't getting most the information.

He was horrible at reading lips. The bun, what about buns. No that couldn't be it. It wasn't until Mr. Know it all started rambling about spells he rolled his eyes. Yeah maybe he'd let his eyes fall shut again.

Oh wait.. "DID YOU SAY SUN? Not Bun? If we are making a sun we would need to use the fire spell, because the sun is hot!" Yep that was what they needed a ball of fire for the sun!

Alec didn't know what was going on in the Professor's mind but if he did, there would have been some VERY approving nods given at the idea of prunes. And notes taken. Hair, you know. Hair. Instead, he gave the man a smile and a nod. Hey there.

... And then the smile turned into a grin when he heard, VERY CLEARLY, what it was they were going to be doing today. Their own SOLAR SYSTEM! This was like the star in the jar project all over again! He missed his star in a jar. Maybe he could sing Yellow to this one too, if they needed to care for it? Or... some other Astronomy-based song? ...Unless... he glanced down at the box in front of him. This was glass, right? Maybe he shouldn't sing then. What if he broke the glass?

And Nigel got a small chuckle because of his joke. Nep-tunes.

... Right. Question. Erm...? He DID remember doing the spells. Tapping his chin in thought, the boy frowned at the Professor and then looked down at... ... his textbook? His journal? They could take a peek in there, right? Grey-blue eyes glanced up at the man before the Head Boy slowly and carefully turned the pages back. Right back. All the way back to...

... star! Okay, now which of these spells was Flamsteed looking for? Cue more frowning. He couldn't read THAT. Eye rubbing was happening before the boy squinted down at his journal. Fin... gere? Fingere E...lemen...ti! Fingere Elementi, yeah? "Professor?" he called, sitting up again and raising his hand, "Is it... Fingere Elementi? And the wand movement is..." More squints down at his journal. "... a jab? Jab. You jab." Nodnod.

Well, that was... kind of interesting actually. Theo halted on his detailed drawing of Saturn to hear about the planets corresponding to each day of the week. That was pretty cool, and something that he didn't have a clue about before. Constructing their own solar systems???!

WOAHHHH... LOOKIT IN HIS HAND.

Theo sat up on his stool a little to get a good look. Why had he chosen a crappy back seat? Was Astronomy about to turn FUN? But very science-y, too, which explained the lab coats, he supposed.

Uhhhhhhhhhhh... questions.

Okay, back to his drawing of Saturn. He would tune back in when things got exciting again.

Awesome! They were indeed making something just as Benny had said. And apparently this wasn't the first time the Professor had his students do that. Creating stars sounded fun! He was all excited to get started on this, all thoughts of having lost points forgotten. It was just five, anyway. Hufflepuff'll survive.

But what was this powdered element the man spoke of? Adi was not sure. And he had no clue about the incantation so this time around, he opted to be quiet.

Well talk about random. Horrible Astronomy Jokes get points. Awesome. Plus he actually might give Flamsteed that full parchment at the end of the week, sounded like fun. Just have to remind himself to use large text.

So the sum it up they were making a sun using a the elements that were on the desk. Nice. He could not quite here what the spell was. But Flamsteed would say it louder later.

Back to thinking of puns to write down until the activity starts.

Caleb had NO idea what kind of incantation they would use to make gases fuse together or whatever he had suggested. He just wanted to take a nap. But maybe he could guess the wand movement at least? Hmmm.

"Would it be like...a swirly wand movement?" he suggested, raising his hand slowly. Damn elbows were acting up again. "To kind of swirl them together?" he asked.

Whatever. Caleb didn't know gases and chemistry and stuff.

.... Wait. Delilah thought they were done with all the questions but apparently not. Seriously, Airey! And she had NO idea and couldn't even guess what the answers to those questions were. Must be super complicated, though.

The girl shrugged and started to draw a rose on her parchment as she waited for everyone to finish answering the questions. A pretty rose. She wasn't good at drawing but this didn't come out bad. Hmm. If only she could colour it.. Pink, yes. Her favourite. Or red.

... Could they move on to the exciting part now, please?

The were going to need a powdered elephant? ELEPHANT? Benjy frowned. "Are you sure, sir?" Benjy exclaimed, almost jumping up from his seat. Almost, because frail bones didn't exactly allow for jumping. More like a slow motion raising and lowering of his ribs.

"I didn't know elephants had magical properties, Professor," he said seriously. "And I'd think there would be far easier ways to make a gas than to powder them, and then apply a spell." Right now, it smelt like something had quite successfully made gas of it's own accord for them. "Fire seems like a plan though, for a sun."