Astronomy was sadly not a subject that Aurora naturally succeeded in. She found it overly convoluted and scientific and confusing to understand. Where she
should have been concentrating on lunar phases and planetary movements, the fifth year often found herself inventing new names for constellations and searching for shooting stars. That did not mean that she was unenthusiastic as she first arrived at the classroom.

Professor Gert’s soothing Scottish accent made the lesson rather calming, even if she didn’t have a clue what was going on. That and Aurora did think the night sky was rather beautiful to look at and her name was apt too.

She had found that filling herself with sugary delights before the evening class was the best method for keeping herself awake which was why she had consumed an all too large slice of cake for pudding leaving herself feeling a little nauseous. Never one to show her displeasure, the blonde plastered a smile on her face, greeted the Professor with a ‘hello’ and found a spot to sit in.

Ary just recently discovered he liked it when he stepped from one temperature to another. There was just something pleasant about it, the sudden change in frigidness or heat, as weird as that may sound. For that reason, today was no exception when he stepped from the cold Castle corridor and into the warmth of the Astronomy classroom.

Oh hello, professor. The Slytherin offered her a cheerful wiggle-wave of the fingers before selecting a seat. He was quite wide awake and eager for the lesson to begin. He hoped tonight’s topic would be super interesting and not one of great complication that would cause him to zone out and eventually drift off.

As a lover of all things scientific, Sydney found astronomy lessons enjoyable. Something she didn’t find enjoyable, however, was the freezing temperatures in the hallways. She really needed to learn how to do heating charms, sooner rather than later! She shivered slightly, basking in the warmth as she stepped into the classroom. Her grayish-blue eyes scanned the room, noticing the circular desk setup and the owl perched in the rafters.

“Hello, Professor… and Hamish,” she greeted with a polite nod. While Sydney wasn’t much of an animal person, she did like owls. Owls were smart. Picking a desk at random, she plopped her bag on the floor beside her chair and took a seat.

Celeste watched as each of the students entered the classroom. She knew sometimes the evening lessons could be a challenge but even when they weren’t actively using the night sky for their subject, it helped put one in the mood and atmosphere of most astronomy topics. Thankfully most that appeared seemed to handling well enough. “Guid evening, Ms. Ackerly,” she greeted the Ravenclaw fifth year with a smile of her own. And there was Mr. Atreyu-Rehman as another of her early arrivals as usual. Feeling playful, she returned the finger wave that was his signature move before turning to the next student as they came in as well. "Hello Ms Masters," she greeted one of her newer students with a smile, the owl responding in kind with a soft hoot of acknowledgement.

With a quick glance at Hamish as if verifying with her familiar it was time after a number of students had followed their classmates into the tower room, Professor Gert shut the classroom door with a flick of her wrist. “Guid evening,” she greeted again as a whole, including any who hadn’t said hello previously. “Taenight tis a bit interesting as we will technically be talking on two topics. But dunna worry, they also can go together in a way so no' extra effort or work in learning about them.” She didn’t want to concern her students that she was attempting to overwhelm them all at once.

“Whit two objects associated with o’ astronomy ‘at we have studied in the past dae ye think we might be learning more about?”


ooc: Sorry for the delay, we had a minor family mergency. Class has officially begun. Feel free to jump right in even if you haven't previously. We'll move on in about 30 hours

Ary ceased gazing around the room, which he had been doing in an attempt to figure out the evening’s topic, when Gert began addressing the class. It turned out there would be two topics and he was already wondering if his brain would be able to comprehend delving into them since certain aspects of the subject were known to be complicated. The professor’s reassurance did put him to ease but only for a bit. It would be up to him to determine how easy these topics were for himself.

The question was so generalised that it left Aryan rather confused. Was Gert referring to celestial objects or instruments they used to study said celestial objects? Was it both? Deciding to go with both, the third year lifted a hand. “The moon and telescopes, maybe.”

5:50 pm, Astronomy Tower.
5:50 pm, Astronomy Tower.
5:50 pm, Astronomy Tower.
5:50 pm, Astronomy Tower.
5:50 pm, Astronomy Tower.

Anna had rewritten these words time and time and TIME again throughout the day to remind herself of the later in the evening lesson to be attended to AND had written down an earlier time so that she would not be late. Remarkably, it had worked and Anna had arrived early-ish (for once) and was all settled in her seat beside Aurora with time to spare before Professor Gert began class.

Anna was reaaaaaaaally bad at charting stars and finding things in the sky, but she was really good at admiring their beauty and also really good at reading about what her constellation was doing this week! In fact, she had brought the very article from Witch Weekly along with her and had settled it on the edge of her desk so that Aurora could take a peak at hers as well. "Pluto and Mars in my health and liberated houses say that this week I am especially good at finding my way to good friends," she whispered with a small giggle and nudge to her friend. "ALSO the quarter moon signals I should take some time for self pampering...so we obviously need to have a spa day." And she would have to float the idea by her dormmates as well! It really was nice when the stars encouraged you to do the things you already enjoyed doing - or at least that is what the astronomers at Witch Weekly said and they were the experts.

Moon on the mind, as it always was when it came to Astronomy class ever since it had been alluded to that the moon was MISSING - but thank you Brandon Fox for putting her heart at ease over the matter, Anna's hand shot up to baaaaaasically echo what had already been said. Sort of. "I truly have no sincere guess as to what we will be studying howeeeeeeever I do kind of hope it is the moon and how its phases expose the way we reflect and interact with our day to day experiences. Also something about balsamic vinegar and the moon phases...I came across that in my reading and meant to ask you about it, professor." She had forgotten about that until just now BUT there was no time like the present!

Aurora felt for her best friend, she really did. The trek from the Hufflepuff common room aaaaaaall the way up to the Astronomy tower was unnecessarily long and even worse still when the pair were poor at time keeping. She had the advantage of being on a higher floor initially and any last minute rushes were not too strenuous on her petite legs. She was extremely grateful when the curly haired Puff arrived by her side to have someone who was just as clueless as she was when it came to anything technical.

With that being said, Aurora was always in awe of the way that Anna’s mind worked. She always seemed to know what she was talking about, even when she didn’t. Her eyes flickered down to the magazine that had been slid in before her, a briefly confused expression on her face until she realised that the page was open on something to do with Astrology. “That’s good, that might help when one of us gets lost” she whispered back, taking the ‘finding friends’ quite literally. It wouldn’t be the first time that they had misplaced their way around the castle despite having attended the school since first year. The thought of a spa day was like music to her ears and received by an excited gasp from the Ravenclaw. “What does mine say?” she asked excitedly, forgetting that they were in the middle of an Astronomy class.

Until Professor Gert spoke up and she quickly sat up straight to pay attention. “Stars and umm.. planets?” she answered the question with a slight wrinkling of her nose. That was what she had always associated with the subject anyway. Things, celestial bodies that lived in the sky and looked pretty at night and whose presence she knew nothing about but which she would be concerned about if they disappeared for good.

The worst thing about Astronomy class had to be that the lessons were always held SO late. Sure today's was actually somewhat early compared to the norm, but it was also dinner time. And in the evening was when Emma wanted to be curled up in dorm room, not in lessons. Actually, no the second worst thing was the time. The first worst thing was the trek from her common room (which bothered her more AFTER class cause it would be even later).

Two objects in the sky that they've studied that they may be learning more about? Aurora LITERALLY plucked the words right from her brain, since stars and planets were what she was going to say!!! NOT FAIR!!! Frowning as she tried to think of two other things they could be studying, Anna talking about moon phases gave her other possibilities.

"Uh ... maybe constellations and the zodiacs?" Which kind of went along with stars and moons and such.

Sydney noticed Hamish's hoot of acknowledgement, but she didn't dwell on it. She was here to learn, not converse with the professor's familiar. Besides, the lesson was starting! She sat up, listening with respectful attention.

Something they'd studied in the past? How far into the past did Professor Gert want them to go? Sydney had only been at Hogwarts for about half a term! She combed through her knowledge or astronomy for two topics that could potentially go together - and not the obvious ones! Her thoughts immediately turned to comets, meteors, and asteroids… things that could potentially collide with the earth and cause glorious chaos.

Thinking of the hysteria that would cause almost made her want to smile - almost, but not quite. Besides, the room setup didn't seem to lend itself to a mock asteroid collision. It probably wasn't that, but the layout did remind her of something else that could potentially relate to comets. Sydney raised her hand and said, ”Comets and orbit, maybe?”

Well it looked like the class was off to a good start with their guesses. “Half right, Mr. Atreyu-Rehman,” Celeste confirmed with a nod at the boy’s mention of the moon. “Th’ moon is one of th’ celestial objects I was looking fur.” And the one she had been referring to from an earlier lesson where the evening’s topic had been mention in between moon cycles. Though in retrospect, the professor realized it only had a chance to occur to the upperclassmen. “Aye to the moon….nah to the phases,” she added for Ms. Walles benefit. As for the slew of talk that happened after. “Weel ma office door tis open…outside of classtime.” Then she could decipher where it was going.

Oooo the fifth year almost got the second celestial object she was looking for. “Close, Ms. Ackerly,” the astronomy professor assured her. “Since the second item is in fact a star.” Unfortunately, her friend wasn’t getting them any closer.” Nah for this lesson, Ms. Montmorency.” Not that either the constellations and zodiac weren’t in the curriculum at times. Nor Ms. Masters who as a first year certainly wouldn’t have attended the earlier lesson Celeste had alluded to. “Not this evening, Ms. Masters,” she mused, making a mental note to perhaps circle back to that again perhaps next term.

“In fact I wis looking for th’ sun and th’ moon,” Celeste informed them as she made the move to move on. “Th’ ying and th’ yang of our sky with one predominately ruling the day and the other the night.” Though they were always there in one way or another, they were just not always visible from every location on earth at every given moment. With a wave of her wand towards the center of the room, she removed the disillusioned model of the Earth, Moon and Sun that resided there.



“The two phenomena ye will be learning about today occur when the placement of the Earth, Moon and Sun move into certain positions.” Were any of the students catching on? “Two words each with the second word being the same.” She wasn't one to simply reveal everything, trying to find out what they might already know and expand upon it.

ooc: Looking good everyone. Moving on in 24 hours

Half right! Ary would take it. He nodded to Gert in acknowledgment before settling in to listen to the other responses and to find out the next topic. It turned out that none of his classmates hit the proverbial nail on the head, which was fine as it was revealed anyway by the professor herself. The moon and the sun. Of course. That made perfect sense.

Ohh.

The Slytherin knew what this answer was as said phenomena were quite well known to even those not well-versed in Astronomy. His hand went up. “Solar Eclipses and Lunar Eclipses,’’ came the answer. These both, if he were correct, were super interesting topics.

Sydney wasn’t at all surprised that her guess had been incorrect. Honestly she was just guessing astronomy topics that interested her and made sense to study together, as she hadn’t been at Hogwarts for the lesson in question. As such, she wasn’t too disappointed to be wrong.

She listened intently as the lesson moved on. As soon as Professor Gert mentioned the placement of the sun, earth, and moon, Sydney had a pretty good idea what the subject of this lesson was. Eclipses… she couldn’t think of anything else it could possibly be. Unfortunately, someone else (Ary) beat her to naming the eclipses, so she decided to expand on that information instead.

“I agree… eclipses,” she said after raising her hand. “Solar eclipses happen when the moon passes between the earth and sun and casts a shadow on the earth. Lunar eclipses are when the earth passes between the sun and moon and casts a shadow on the moon.” While she could’ve elaborated on the subject, she’d leave some facts for the others to give.

Oh. The sun. Which technicalllllyyyy she wasn't entirely incorrect in mentioning the zodiac since that was based upon sun signs and moon signs, she just didn't elaborate into further details. But the zodiac used both the sun AND the moon, so if she was more the competitive type, she might have argued as such.

Alas they were moving on to discussing certain phenomena, to which she was pretty certain that Ary answered correctly in naming solar eclipse and lunar eclipse. And the young first year gave a fairly succinct description as to what they both were, which left what exactly to contribute to the conversation?

"Aren't eclipses actually fairly common? BUT they're not always visible by habitated parts of Earth? So like solar eclipses occur two to five times a year, but sometimes they occur in parts of the world, where no one lives, such as the middle of the ocean." Which is why when it was a visible path from where people lived, they made a big deal of it.

Anna MIGHT just take the professor up on the offer but she had her naive doubts that Professor Gert could actually help her untangle her thoughts since she seemed a little perplexed herself. "Woooooow...the experts at Witch Weekly really ARE experts," she whispered to Aurora with another little nudge of the elbow. Nothing about phases to be discussed today, which was only a mild disappointment because Anna actually felt like she may actually know what she was talking about for once. Like the New Moon where there was no nocturnal illumination (and thus had caused a little bit of dramatic panic over some specific phrasing) and was a time to contemplate and ideate! No need at all for her to be worried and fret about the moon's wellbeing now! She remembered now that there was something called a waxing crescent and waning crescent and plenty of other things now too! AND when the moon was closest to her constellation it meant an increase in desire to be helpful and in the service of others! Also meant that she could be a person whose emotions were influenced by practicality, attention to detail, and a desire for order...which she wasn't entirely sure she agreed with but then it also made sense since she was, well, trying to find her order in the world and was paying very close attention to a very specific detail. "You know...moon and the lion being close to one another means that you are inherently more generous and that then manifests your their readiness to share your essence," she whispered to her bestie some more while Professor Gert address the rest of the class on their guesses. "Helps make you more organically optimistic and able find the light, even in the darkest times. Although...I hardly need the stars to tell me all that about you."

By the time Professor Gert had moved on beyond addressing everyone's questions, Anna was on another planet entirely...which maybe explained why she had missed that there had even been a question asked in the first place - to which a few moments later she realized that Professor Gert had been pretending to be a sphinx with a riddle of sorts. There were a few delayed blinks looking around at her peers and her attention swiftly drawn to the model in the center of the room...which was absolutely dazzling and the Hufflepuffle really wanted to get up to admire the craftsmanship. It was just so beautiful! "Eclipses have phases too," she noted, though she said so more to herself and the Ravenclaw beside her than to the class as a whole.

Ah and now they were getting it. Celeste smiling as the answers poured in from first the young Slytherin, then agreed upon as correct by his fellow classmates. It didn’t really matter who had gotten there first, at least managed to speak up first. “Aye, they are the lunar and solar eclipses,” she confirmed, the words appearing alongside each other upon the board that still resided along the one wall. Listening to Ms. Masters elaborate on her answer, the astronomy professor couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

“Precisely right, Ms. Masters,” she remarked, words similar to what had been said indeed adding themselves to the board under the corresponding type of eclipse. It was always interesting to see just what was previously known. As for the question or rather questions raised by Ms. Montmorency, it wasn’t so cut and dry and Professor Gert took up a perch sitting upon on of the empty desks that wouldn’t block anyone to explain. “Aye an nah depending on the type of eclipse. An this is where tis might get confusing so feel free to speak up an question if I lose ye.” She would try to keep it clear as best she could.


“Thir ur two types of lunar eclipses, partial an’ total eclipses which are pretty self-explanatory. Either th’ moon is covered entirely by th’ earth or because of the angle of one or both celestial bodies, only a part of th’ full moon is in shadow. These happen on average once ur twice a year.” So yes, fairly common. “For solar eclipses, tis three different types. Partial where again only part of the sun is covered which occur as often as ye say. Then there are are annular where the center of the sun but a ring around is covered, the moon is smaller than the sun after all, which happens less often. More like every few years. And then total eclipses where it is complete covered, which can have two years or even decades between.” All of which also depended on the location on the earth one resided on like the third year had mentioned. But enough to speak about…now it was time for some activity.

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

“Noo while lunar eclipses are relatively harmless tah humans, tis naw the same fur solar eclipses. With both annular an total eclipses, one has tah be careful of looking at the sun during them for the visible ring or the sudden flash of the corona can damage an unprotected gaze by exposure.” Which was part of the reason for today’s lesson given her intended group trip later in the school term. “Muggles use either a type of camera or treated eyeglasses tah allow them to watch safely, but tis also a spell to learn to cast to protect their eyes. “ With this Celeste got back up to her feet and took out her wand once more, the spell and wand movement drawn on the board with a flick.

SPOILER!!: Spell

Corona Protegat - Cor-on-a Pro-te-gat

"The incantation is Corona Protegat," she instructed, careful to say it clear and slow despite her brogue. "An the wand movement is a counterclockwise spiral with a final flick towards the center I wuid like ye to all practice each of them separately before we move on."

ooc: You all are doing awesome. We will hopefully move onto the final activity on Wednesday.

Aurora wasn’t sure what she made of Astrology or Divination and she certainly didn’t have the natural ability for either but it sure was fascinating and whimsical and she liked trying to figure out patterns and omens, even if what she came up with was completely nonsensical. Witch Weekly evidently DID have the knack as her description was exemplary. “Woah, that IS me” she blinked. “I was optimistic that we would both get here on time today and look here we are! Maybe I am secretly a seer..” It didn’t matter how old they were getting, Aurora was determined that one day they’d be able to develop a telepathic link between each other. It could help prevent them from getting into trouble for talking the whole way through the lesson like they were presently.

Wait.. What was the question? WAS there a question? Because suddenly all these students were talking about eclipses and she was still half a topic behind. All these much younger students with much larger brains, or perhaps just better listening comprehension? She knew what an eclipse was and that when it happened everything went dark but hadn’t recalled the Professor asking them anything about it.

Or maybe it was because she was too enthralled by learning what her astrological sign said about her that she had missed the point entirely?

She was pleased that Anna looked equally as perplexed as she did, the model in the centre of the room was rather enchanting though, the way that the sun was reflecting off of the fake Earth. Even more confusing was that they were expected to learn a spell in Astronomy, as if her tired brain wasn’t already struggling enough to keep up with just the scientific information. Not one to complain however, the blonde stood up ready to practice the swirly wand movement for herself all the while whispering to her bestie. “I wish I was clever enough to learn Latin.” Because spells were never simple enough to say. “Co-ro-na Pro-te-gat. Corona Protegat. What’s a Corona?” she asked Anna.

Eclipses.

Excellent.

With the topic revealed and some classmates offering insights about it, Ary made notes whenever Gert confirmed or corrected the answers. So while he had known generally about eclipses, he hadn’t known how often they occurred. He, like others he supposed, just heard whenever the time came around that there was going to be one. Eclipses were exciting for sure. Was there going to be one sometime soon?

Ah yes. The boy was all too well aware of how dangerous the solar eclipses can be and knew that protective glasses can help one’s eyes when looking at them. It made sense that witches and wizards had a spell for the same. The final notes of the incantation and a crude diagram of the wand movement were made before practice began.

He opted to commence with the latter: a counterclockwise spiral followed by a flick towards the centre. Immediately Ary fell in love with it because aside from being easy, the movement was sort of elegant in his opinion. It was practised a couple of times until he thought it was quite fluid. Only then did he move on. “Cor-on-a Pro-te-gat. Cor-on-a Pro-te-gat. Corona Protegat.” Even as Aryan muttered the words, he suspected that the spell would not prove to be that difficult for him to perform when the time came.

Anna still subscribed to the belief that anything was possible, she had to, and despite them being told that seers and other certain magical traits could only be inherited and were not things that you became through willpower she still wanted to believe possible. People were late bloomers in many respects so maaaaaaybe she and Aurora were late blooming seers? "I think anything is possible," she smiled back, her nose scrunching up and tongue sticking impishly out of her mouth for a moment.

Despite the lecture moving on, Anna's attention was turned back to the magazine on her desk and was skimming its contents for any mentions of eclipses and a slight frown grew on her lips as she found now. "Shame there is no mention of eclipses here...I want to know what those mean," she frowned and finally closed the cover. The Hufflepuffle really tried to focus on what was being explained, but her thoughts continued to wander and she then began to wonder if she had a preference of eclipse type but she realized that she really did not have any reference for which to form an opinion on...but maybe she was going to have one soon considering the task that had now been appointed to them and suddenly Anna's hand was not only up but she was also standing as the revelation struck.

"Professor? Does this mean we are going to get to see a solar eclipse?" The sun was setting soon though so...maybe not?

Sliding back into her seat, the sixth year retrieved her wand and turned towards Aurora once again. "I think if you really want something you can do anything, Aurora," she encouraged. Latin certainly sounded like something that would be remarkable to learn. She also thought Aurora was plenty clever enough to learn Latin or anything if she really wanted to. Anna was beginning to understand that her attentions were spread across far too many things and therefore her ability to retain information not so great...but she just did not know how to narrow down things because she wanted to be apart of everything!

As for practicing, Anna began with the wand movement with the counterclockwise movement...but then every time she would attempt the flick she ended up dropping her wand on to the desk or the floor. This meant she looked like one of those duck toys that bobs its head in water once you give it a gentle tap.

Celeste watched as each of the gathered students caught up on what she had been speaking about in their notes before trying their hand at the spell she had introduced them to. Each had their own flair in the practice though on the whole they appeared to be getting it. Except perhaps a certain Hufflepuff who had appeared to be more drawn to the magazine that YES the astronomy professor had seen. NO matter, they had the rest of the lesson to practice…as well as homework. And while she hadn’t heard Ms. Ackerly’s question about coronas, she had been on her way to expand upon the spell and its meaning.

“Protegat is tae protect, much like th’ more familiar Protego spell family,” she stated simply enough before continuing on. “An Corona is referring to th’ sun as a whole though th’ word itself refer to th’ outermost part of it. Normally it isn’t seen much because of th’ rest of th’ light th’ sun projects, but during a solar eclipse tis th’ very first thing seen when th’ moon finally reveals th’ sun once more, the flash being th’ most dangerous.” Which was the main reason people needed the protection to properly view the solar eclipse to avoid the trouble in the end.

At Ms. Wallas’ question, the astronomy professor almost smiled but instead did her best to hide the smirk that wanted to develop across her face. Celeste wasn’t quite ready to reveal her secret of what she was planning and risk distracting her class from getting the knack of the spell that would be useful in the long run. “Sometime in the future…” she mused absently as she prepared to move them on. They had already established that most solar eclipses weren’t THAT uncommon after all.

Grabbing a box that had been stashed at the base of the model in the center of the tower, she raised it up to place on one of the desk. “For th’ remainder of th’ class, I wuid like ye to try the spell on these,” she instructed, holding up her own version of faux glasses for the purpose. “Cast the spell and try them out on the fake eclipses,” she added, motioning where the sun, moon and Earth had already been set in motion and lit. “Ye will see the difference with a successfully protected pair, but the light tis not as bright as the real sun so nah dangerous if ye still need to work out kinks on yer casting. And should ye feel ye mastered it, ye can try on yer own gaze. It’s not harmful if ye mess up, but it can be awkward trying to get the right angle. Tis why I figured the glasses might be more useful.”



ooc: YOu have until Saturday when I wil be wrapping up. the lesson.

A breakdown of the incantation’s meaning was always helpful. Aryan updated his notes as Gert spoke, feeling quite ready to actually try out the spell, which should be sometime soon… Oh yes, he would also love to watch a solar eclipse in the proper manner in the near future.

With the opportunity to use the spell, Ary collected one of the glasses. Back at his seat, he picked up his wand, taking one last chance to mentally repeat the incantation. Content with his progress so far, the boy happily affixed the glasses on his face, ensuring the thing was properly perched upon his nose. “Corona Protegat,’’ he declared confidently. The wand was moved in a counterclockwise spiral followed by a flick towards the centre. To his utter surprise, the light from the model eclipse was not as bright as it had been before the spell had been cast. In awe, Ary lifted the glasses to his forehead. Yep, the eclipse was bright. The glasses were dropped back in place.The light and glare faded immediately.

What a handy spell!

The third year decided he wanted to practise directly on his eyes now so the earlier steps were repeated with the same level of confidence. Needless to say he was quite delighted with the positive results as he saw there grinning with his now dim-ish vision of the ‘solar eclipse’.

Best Astronomy lesson ever!

SPOILER!!: mini activity catchup

Although Sydney’s stoic expression never changed, she couldn’t help but feel a bit pleased with herself for correctly defining the two types of eclipses. She listened semi-intently, taking notes as the professor spoke. Her ears perked up as she heard they were learning a new spell to protect their eyes. That could be fun… maybe not as fun as the destructive, bombastic spells she liked best, but definitely useful!

She copied down the incantation and wand movement in her notes. She liked that spiral-y wand moment. For some reason, it reminded her of the swirly eyes cartoon characters get then they’re hypnotized (or hypnotizing someone else). Brandishing her wand in her right hand, she traced the counterclockwise spiral shape with a flick at the center. Counterclockwise spiral and flick, counterclockwise spiral and flick… After a few tries, she shifted her wand to her left hand and practiced the wand movement with that hand.

When she felt she had the wand movement down, Sydney moved on to the incantation. “Cor-on-a Pro-te-gat,” she repeated under her breath. “Cor-on-a Pro-te-gat, Corona Protegat, Corona Protegat…”

Sydney stopped practicing, refocusing her attention as the lesson moved on. A fake eclipse… that sounded even more interesting than the eye protection spell. She wondered what spell Professor Gert used to create the fake eclipse… or if she even used a spell at all. Pushing that question out of her mind for now, she got up to retrieve a pair of sunglasses.

Returning to her seat, she put the sunglasses on so she’d have a basis for comparison when doing the spell. She briefly glanced in the direction of the fake eclipse, just long enough to see how bright it was. Yeah, that was bright! Gripping her wand in her right hand, she aimed at her glasses and made the counterclockwise spiral and flick movement. “Corona Protegat!” she cast. She looked at the eclipse again, and…

It was dimmer now, but unevenly so. The right lens of the glasses was darker than the left. Let’s try that again! Sydney made the counterclockwise and flick wand movement again. “Corona Protegat!” she cast, speaking louder and more clearly this time. There, that was better! She gazed at the eclipse again, this time the view sufficiently dimmed.

A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she raised her hand. “Professor, does this spell only work for eclipses, or can it be used to protect our eyes in other situations too?” she asked.

Emma had been completely zoned out while Professor Gert was talking about lunar and solar eclipses. But it wasn't her fault that she was distracted by the whisperings of Anna and Aurora, who while they weren't loud it still drew her attention away from focusing on what the professor was talking about. Then again, would this be useful ?

Cor-on-a Pro-te-gat. If nothing else, it was kind of fun to say.

Actually the young first year, Sydney, had just brought up an excellent question. If the spell could be used to protect their eyes from other situations, then perhaps the usefulness of knowing the spell would have just increased. But what sort of things would they need to protect their eyes from?

Chewing her lower lip, she took one of the fake eclipse glasses, trying them on without the spell first just to see what they looked like before casting the spell. They felt like normal sunglasses.

Pulling the glasses off her face, she set them before her, "Corona Protegat," she said, swirling her wand over the glasses. Slipping the glasses on again, she noticed how pitch black everything became.

Professor Gert was quite pleased with how the students seemed to be faring with their Spellwork. She knew she had thrown them for a loops as it wasn’t often that she taught or worked with spells in her lesson. Astronomy wasn’t that sort of subject like Charms or Transfiguration. She walked around and observed the practicing and charming, her attention caught by Ms. Masters as the young girl voiced a question. “Aye," the astronomy professor confirmed. “While th’ spell was developed tah protect for the exact conditions of watching a solar eclipse, as ye can see with our model, tis works a bit to dull any bright light such as the sun in general and flames.” Even explosions she supposed, but that was a situation where you would want more than just eye protection.

Besides it was time to wrap up. Celeste herself was starting to feel the draw of an evening’s rest.

“Noo fur the ultimate reason fur learning the spell…” she started to say, pausing for dramatic effect and to make sure they were all listening to her. “In March , thir will a pretty close to total eclipse happening over Europe. We shall be having a little field trip tae witness it fur our yearly fun.” Of course they would have to be on their best behavior so the powers that be didn’t have reason to take away the priviledge she had asked them for. “An wi’ that, class is dismissed. Enjoy the rest of yer evening.”

ooc: That's a wrap. Thank you all for coming and participating. Thread will stay open for a bit to allow responses/exits