Rachel wriggled a bit in her seat in order to get more comfortable. She had just finished reading the article and was pondering on her response. As a person who LOVED books - not just magic ones - this triggered something in her memory since she had read quite a few physics books over the years and there was one thing that hadn't been mentioned here...

Or maybe her memory was faulty. Either way, it was worth mentioning. "Professor, I do not think that it is possible for any sort of alignment of the planets to affect the earth. The article puts a strong emphasis on gravity - naturally - and on tidal forces, in particular. Gravity is a weak force, and it's only because the moon is so large and so close to us, all relatively of course, that it has an effect on the earth," she began, and looked down at the article for a second before continuing.

"I'm not sure but I think there is a principle that gravity follows called the Superposition Principle. According to the superposition, gravity is a force interacting between two bodies with no consideration of any other bodies around it. This means that each planet, regardless of the other planets' positions, exerts the same amount of gravity on the earth all the time - and that's why, in my opinion, a catastrophe could not occur from the planets aligning - because there is no importance to where they are in relativity of each other," Rachel said, her hand a little tired from being in the air for so long.

It was slightly scary; the stuff she remembered. Sure, she remembered the Superposition Principle, but the Principles of Potions went in one ear and came out the other! Bleh - she really needed to prioritize her brain.

Then again, it was nice to know stuff. AND, eventually, those Potions things DID stay in her head.