Risu was pleased to see that, after a little while, his classroom did begin to fill up more. Slowly, but steadily - which gave him time to finish his coffee. Being seen drinking it during his lesson would probably lead to enraged owls arriving from some of the parents or school governors, demanding to know just what he was getting paid for. And for some of them, enraged owls were not a metaphor.

He chatted with the students in-between taking long sips. Yes, he nodded, he was well, and his summer had been fun. No, he didn't really follow the Triwizard Tournament either. Maybe he would have to do that soon.

The cup was finally empty. He put it on the desk and leaned against it, clapping his hands once to get everyone's attention. "If I could ask all of you to direct your attention towards me for a little while..." He smiled. "Welcome to Astronomy. Welcome back for most of you, I assume, but for everyone who doesn't know me, I'm Professor Risu Antares. And yes, I do teach Astronomy here."

He shifted his weight onto his other leg. "My lesson plan this year looks as follows: We shall try to compile a comprehensive look at the history of our cosmos. This will indeed take up most of this term, I think, but it will lay a solid foundation for a number of following lessons that will concern themselves with... life in this Universe." He paused for a moment. "Most likely. The purpose of this lesson," Risu went on, "is more of an introductory nature. We will cover some basic knowledge, to be followed in the next lessons by a closer look at a few specific theories that best describe nature."

He stopped leaning against the desk. "Let's begin, then. As you learned last year, the term 'astronomy' encompasses a large number of very different sciences. Does anyone know, perhaps even remember, the name of the scientific discipline that deals with the large-scale structure of the Universe, as well as, by extension, its origins?"