Jory arrived at the huuuge, transparent tent on the Grounds to begin his Astronomy homework. He expected students to be there already, after all, this was camping out with a twist! But he was disappointed to see no one was there. Yet. Oh well, might as well get started.

First things first. An exploration of the tent. There was a fire and loads of cushions. What impressed the Badger however, was the table which was laden with food. And to top it off, ICE CREAM! Professor Flamsteed was so cool! Wasting no time, Jory grabbed some of that awesome treat, a spoon and some coffee before making his way to a cushion. He worked better on a full stomach. Yup.

While he ate, Jory re-read the instructions for the homework. This was going to be fun! Unless he took forever to find a constellation like he did in class. But the stars and constellations could wait a bit. They would have his full attention in a couple of minutes.

Getting to camp out all night to look at the stars? This was seriously exciting and Ella bounced a bit as she made her way down to the stargazing tent. It was huge, the tent was, and the blonde looked at it with wide eyes. "Wicked." And much warmer than trying to stargazing outside. They'd all freeze if they attempted that.

Stepping inside, the first thing her eyes fell on was the food. FOOD! And Jory, he was here too. "Hello there!" Waveeeeee! He looked like he was a bit busy so the blonde gave him a small smile and headed over to the table, grabbing herself some coffee AND ice cream. She couldn't not have the ice cream. It was sort of her thing.

Snacks in hand, the blonde settled down on the floor of the central room. She placed her coffee and ice cream down so that she could get her notes and blanket out of her bag. Her wand too, she obviously had that. Getting comfy against one of the cushions, she started to review how to find Polaris.

...And she ate too. NOM.NOM.NOM.

Laura decided it was time to come and do her Astronomy homework, she was a bit scared about the fact that she had to camp, she hadn't been camping for ages and well what if she got in trouble for being out late, she was a changed woman, she didn't like getting into trouble and a student out after hours could get into trouble, but well she would just tell who ever it was that this was part of the homework and she had to be outside, this was just crazy though, she didn't want to get herself hurt or anything, so the sooner she was done she would be happy about it.

Having come up with a plan of finding the Big Dipper first and then using the pointer stars like she had in class, the blonde set down her notebook and grabbed her wand. She'd need to fix her eyes before she got to work searching for Polaris.

"Oculo Focalis!" And the blonde tapped on her closed eyelids gently. She waited a moment or two before opening them again and blinked several times. Hmmm. Looking up, she was pleased to find that the stars in the sky were clear and shining quite beautifully if she did say so herself. Too bad Alec wasn't here to hold her hand and look at them. SIGH. Now to locate Ursa Major.

Scan...scan....scannnnnnnn.

Oh! There is was! Ursa Major! She knew that shape! The blonde tilted her head and used her finger to trace along the bear, squeaking when she spotted the Big Dipper. AWKWARD. ...No one had heard that, right? Right.

Now that she had the Big Dipper located, she'd be able to use the pointer stars.

Using her finger again, she followed the line that the two stars made as far as she could until she came to what looked like Polaris. The only way to know for sure was to make sure that the particular star she was pointing to was part of the Little Dipper.

Making her way into the tent set up for their Astronomy homework wearing her pajamas, Sky went to the food first. Let's see now, hot dogs, s'mores and..... ice cream? Avoiding that, then. She had been suspicious of the stuff every since certain classmates of hers had been running around talking of nothing but the stuff. For example, Daichi in their last Astronomy lesson. What if it had been....... doctored somehow? Anyway, she piled her plate with a fully loaded hot dog (what, just because she was a girl, she couldn't enjoy them?) and some s'mores and poured herself a cup of coffee while she was at it. Moment of celebration for someone at Hogwarts finally remembering that it exists please.

Once that was done, she settled herself down in a chair with her food, drink and the cover and pillow that she'd brought with her. It was supposed to be a camp out, after all. Now, where was Polaris?

Airey had had to use the lint roller on his flannel suitjamas before heading down to the grounds due to a certain feline getting into his closet and getting FUR on everything. He had still arrived well before the scheduled time of his campout and had plenty of time to set up which was why he felt that he could justify taking a short stroll through the Forbidden Forest. Which was what he was on his way back from now when he saw students were already there and working.

Oops?

"Evening," he greeted the three Hufflepuffs before grabbing his mug and filling it with coffee. He moonwalked himself to the center of the room to look up at the stars. They certainly were lovely tonight.

"Ah, Miss Ella, you are not required to perform the charm unless you really need it," he smiled at the quidditch captain. "Polaris and the constellations we discussed in class should be visible with the naked eye." They had only used said charm during the lesson because he wanted them to see certain objects that were not so easily spotted.

Jory grinned and waved at Ella. "Haiiiii, Ella!'' he called to his fellow Puffer .And there was Laura! He waved to her as well but was unsure if she saw him. Then came another student. Yay for company! He was just finishing up the delicious ice cream when Professor Airey turned up. "Hallo, Professor!'' Jory said and grinned as he watched the man moonwalk to the middle of the tent. Okay, time to get this activity started!

He was just about to cast the charm they had learned in class when he heard what Professor Airey was telling Ella. They wouldn't need it? Aw! Jory liked having eyes that were so telescopic! Ah well.

First step, find the Ursa Minor and Polaris. The Puffer craned his neck and focused his eyes up to the night sky. Let the search commence!

Buttoning the last button of her hoodie (GREEN BAY! Dylan bought it for her when they visited his hometown during the holidays. Just....sayin'), Beezus pulled her bag's strap off her shoulder as she stepped inside the large transparent tent that Professor Flamsteed has hosted for their camp out. She briefly recalled that time when their former Astronomy Professor, Professor Edvard Roslund, conducted a Balloon Spotting Sleepover where they also got to spend the whole night out in the Grounds with toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate. This time, their new Professor didn't lower down the standards...instead, he added more to the mix. The tent didn't only had a room, it had ROOMS!

And....and....there was a room with a fireplace AND food. Lots of food. Meep! Her peers seems to have assembled there. Close to the food and warmth? Smart thinking...although unlike them, she wasn't going to stay there.

"Evening, everyone." Beezus offered each of them a smile. Oh, and...the Professor himself was there too. "Good evening, sir." She greeted the man before sauntering over to the table to get herself some ice cream. Just ice cream for now. She wasn't really hungry anyway.

Once she had a bowl, she excused herself from the rest of the group and off to the central room she took post. Grabbing several cushions, she managed to create a comfy reserve for herself in which she immediately plopped on to. Then she fished out her journal from inside her bag and placed it on her lap before grabbing the bowl of ice cream and scooping some into her mouth.

Mhmmm. Mhmmm.

Now where was Polaris?

Hm? Someone was talking to her? Ella looked up and smiled broadly at Professor Airey. She had been wondering when she would see him. Surely he wouldn't miss out on something like this. "Hi Sir... wait, we're not?" Really? She sort of just assumed since they'd done it in the lesson but... "Okay, I guess it's better for my eyes not to use it anyway." Nodnod. And the blonde took her wand and said, "Finite." Oh and also, "Really cool set up here, Professor. This is wicked." Really, it was.

After taking another bite of her ice cream or two, the blonde looked up again at where she'd noted Polaris to be. She wanted to double check that she'd identified it correctly so she used her finger as a pointer again, tracing from Polaris and up along the Little Dipper. She smiled triumphantly when she was done and turned her attention to her notebook, sketching down what she saw.

Now what was next....Hm.

There was a reason why Astronomy was Jake's favorite subject. A few reasons, actually, but this homework assignment was definitely one of them. What could be easier than staring at the sky all night? It was something Jake loved doing anyway, so it was nice to get some credit for doing it.

Holding his girlfriend's hand, Jake entered the tent. "Nice place," he commented offhandedly, looking up at the sky. You could see it just as well inside as you could outside the tent, which was... probably what Flamsteed was going for, right? Yeah. Nodding to himself, he led the way to an empty spot in what he figured was the main part of the tent.

"So... Polaris, yeah?" He asked, turning to face Anya and sitting on the ground.

She licked the ice cream off her spoon and tilted her head up at the brilliant sky. First thing to do was locate the Ursa Minor in order for her to find Polaris. Actually, there were other ways but it was the easiest one and, by far, the most effective.

Beezus returned the spoon on the bowl and settled it down carefully beside her as she took up her journal and hugged it close to her. Up to the sky her dark brown eyes went...searching......"Ursa Minor......Little Dipper......" There it was! Right there! Beezus used her index finger to trace the constellation, directing herself to the star that would lead her to where Polaris was. And not long after, with her eyes squinted for good measure, the tip of the brunette's finger was pointing at a bright star in the sky.

"Good evening, Polaris.." She whispered.

Then she turned to her wristwatch, noted the time and sketched down the north star on her journal. That was the fixed point, the indicator. Mhmmm. She helped herself again to some ice cream before looking up again....

Aha! There was the Ursa Minor. Jory did not even need to check it’s shape in the textbook as he remembered it from class. So, therefore Polaris should be around somewhere nearby. That wouldn’t be so hard to find. It was one of the brightest stars, after all.

“There it is!’’ he exclaimed moments later. Great! He had wasted no time there, with these two. The seventh year looked back down to the ground, and grabbed his cup of coffee. His neck hurt a bit from the craning. But, hey, this was fun! Camping out and doing homework. And eating ice cream! “I think I’ll have some more ice cream before I resume my work,’’ he muttered thoughtfully. Sure. Why not? One can never have too much ice cream.

As Jory ate this new set of ice cream, he looked over the constellations he had written down from class. Who knew there was so much? And that list obviously was a portion of the constellations. Now, which constellation would he look for next? He thought as he watch the other students working. It didn't matter but Jory did not know why he put so much thought into which to choose next.

You know what? Normally she was strictly against doing any kind of work after 8pm, really her brain stopped processing educational things after then, but she wouldn't mind this time because they were having one big sleepover in some super cool tent by the lake. If there was enough room and the Giant Squid wasn't sleeping then they could probably invite him. He could share her cushion and sleeping bag, she wouldn't have minded all that much and she didn't think he'd mind either.

Er...she'd just have to get him dried up first, but would that have been okay? Drying the Squid? She imagined that'd cause some problems for him, no?

Okay. Mr. Giant Squid would have to stay in the lake. That was fine she supposed. Lex would just make due with her kneazle and her bowl of ice-cream. January did NOT mean that one couldn't have ice-cream. Nooooooope but this time Felix was walking. He'd made several attempts at knocking the bowl from her hand and she was trying to remain patient with him.

"Hai everyone!!" GRIN. Good to know people were already there because guess who would NOT have sat out here all on her own; this girl. No way. Without people there was no motivation to stay when she could be down in the kitchen having more ice-cream. This one wouldn't last forever you know.

Alexa plopped down somewhere that wouldn't be in the way of others but was close enough to the fireplace and got real comfy. First things first, find Ursa Minor. The frying pan would show her where polaris was. Nod.

Now that Ella had found Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Polaris, the blonde decided to go for one she hadn't had the chance to find in class. Cepheus was as good a constellation to locate as any, yeah? Yeah!

The blonde picked up her notebook and scanned her notes, noting that Cepheus sort of looked like a little house. Y'know, the kind she'd drawn when she was very small and hadn't yet perfected her outstanding doodling skills. She also noted that this particular constellation was one that rotated around Polaris. Good to know, good to know.

Looking up again, the blonde used the North Star as a point of reference and tried to locate Cepheus, a small smile on her face.

Did she mention she was really enjoying this?

Ooop....there it was! And without magic too. *beam* Sky started drawing that out and labeling it ('cause that's what they were supposed to do, right?). Once that was done, she started looking around for Ursa Major. Now, how did one find it, again? She remembered talking about it during class. But for the life her, she couldn't remember what exactly had been said. Ooops?

She had Polaris now......very distinct in the velvety night sky. Her eyes seemed to have memorized where it was too, so she wasn't having trouble locating it now, no matter how many times she took her gaze off it to write something down on her journal or to nom on some ice cream.

So, next was to find one of the Five Circumpolar Constellations and she already decided on which one she was going to seek. The exact one she had provided during class...the constellation Draco...or dragon. It had pretty neat myth to it, she'd read one time she was at the Library ranging from Greek to Roman legends...to Babylonian and Chinese tales. Really, she didn't want to go into detail. Instead, she focused on finding the said celestial body by using her index finger again. "...There's.....Cepheus........" ....Beezus squinted a bit. She was actually thinking of using the spell they've learned in class but decided against it when she located the star Thuban of the constellation she was looking for and finally, she found Draco. "And there's Draco...." Yep, yep. That long constellation composed of many stars.

She then scribbled it down on her notes....trying to do a sketched replica of the constellation on her parchment. So far, she was doing a good job. Well, she deemed it was acceptable and understandable so yeah. After indicating the time and a few other footnotes, Beezus set down her quill and worked on her ice cream....only to find out that she'd ran out.

"Already?" Merlin......that was fast. Now she'd have to get up to get more.

She had to make sure that Felix was nice and comfy before she actually started her looking, otherwise he'd get miserable and try making himself comfy. That wouldn't have gone well and she was trying to make the Professor see how well behaved the kneazle could be. Just look at him, he was only curling up on her lap and she'd tried a lint roller thingy on him earlier. Granted he screeched and ran away, but on the plus side she was sure he was lint free. BEAM.

"Just stay right there then." She whispered to him. Of course she could have left him up in her dorm but they'd be here all night star watching. He would have gotten suspicious when she didn't head up to her dorm after a certain hour and come looking for her--scratch that, he'd make his way to the owlery.

She couldn't have that, now could she? Mm-mm. That was a recipe for instant point loss and having them order that he be sent home.

Okaaaaay. Ursa Minor. Where was that thing?? Lex squinted a bit as she stared up at the sky but she refused to use that spell again. It wasn't necessary and she didn't fancy a headache while she was enjoying her ice-cream. It would have made enjoying it a bit more difficult, you know?

She saw Felix looking up as well. Oooo! They could stargaze together!...Once she found the stars they'd be gazing on that is...OH! Oh! Oh!!! There!! THERE it was!! That pot!!! And there at the tip of the pot handle was Polaris, as was discussed she was sure. Sweeeeet. Now to re-find the other stuff. Shouldn't have been too hard. They all hung out together.

Kace decided it was time to start the astronomy homework. He wanted to get it over with and not have it pile up. As he made it to the grounds, he noticed the professor was there already and other students. He smiled and was glad he wasn't gonna be alone in this homework assignment.

When he went inside the tent, he noticed it was quite warm in there. He waved to all the students and even some fellow puffs. Then he unzipped his hoodie that he was freezing in and started to unwind. He saw there was food like hot dogs and even ICE CREAM. YES! This night just got better. He even saw his favorite drink for the winter, hot coco. The professor had good tastes in snackery. He went to get some hot dogs because he was starving. *chew chew chew chew* and then he went to get some hot coco to sip on. Once he was settled he decided to view the night sky.

It was really gorgeous. He always admired the stars. As he was gazing he heard the professor say they did not need to preform the charm, they could clearly see it tonight. He made a mental note to not do that. Once he was well fed and watered, he was going to look for constellations. Once he found three or more, he would have ice cream after.

She was a sucker for ice cream, everyone knew that. And even though she was supposed to be immersed in this assignment they were doing, she couldn't put up the thought of not having ice cream when it was so within reach. So she got up....no matter how comfortable she was on her pile of cushions. She just decided to get up and off to the "Food Room" she went. Few more familiar faces had arrived. Beezus only smiled at them all before bounding over to the table full of food. Mhmm. More more more ice cream. She made sure her bowl was very well filled; she really didn't want to get up anymore. She also decided to get some s'mores to go with her ice cream..

Once she had everything intact, she truddled back to her cushions and snuggle them. ..Where was Dylan, by the way? She would've wanted to snuggle him instead of these cushions.... But she didn't have much time to think about that because as soon as she glanced at the time on her watch, she found out that it was almost seven o'clock. That won't do.. She had to find another constellation asap. She had fluctuated a rule for this assignment....that she was going to follow the Polaris', one of the Circumpolar Constellations - she chose Draco for this - and another constellation's movement during the night in fixed intervals - at 6 PM, 12 midnight and 6 in the morning.

And as there was only ten more minutes before 7 pm then she needed to determine the last constellation she'd be observing for the night or else she'd be behind schedule....

Beezus set her food to the side first and took up her journal, then she looked up at the sky and back to her notes once more. What other constellation could she possibly take up, hmm? Why not......Orion? "...Betelgeuse won't be too hard to find." So then, it was decided. Polaris, Draco and Orion will be her targets for tonight and maybe a bit of Dylan?

....She had to mentally smack herself for the unnecessary thoughts.

She had to hand it to him, a campout for star gazing was a rather wonderful idea. Even better that professors were allowed to attend, if she heard correctly. Wearing casual lounge around your house or office wear, Medea made her way down to the grounds. Jogging actually. It was cold and her light jacket wasn't doing it for her. Plus some snow was getting into her ugg boots every other time she lifted a foot, so the faster she got to that giant bubble of a tent, the faster her feet could stop feeling like ice.

A giant bubble. Literally from the looks of it.

Warmth first. Questions later.

Entering the, bubble, Medea stomped her feet a little to get the excess snow off and sighed in content. Oh, it was indeed much warmer in here. "This is quite a setup." she commented quietly, not really wanting to disturb the student's work.

Oh, was that tea and ice cream?

Minerva bounded down to the lake where she saw the tent. Wondering who was all there already she was ready to party look for stars. Yes it was STAR PARTYING TIME..... and the greatest part about it.. She brought her own ice cream. Yes.. yes. Minerva came prepared this time. She had her on chocolate ice cream in her hand. Which probably was the reason her hand was sooooo cold, but oh well because she had ice cream.

"HELLO PROFESSOR!! READY TO FIND THOSE STARS?" she giggled a bit and looked around. "Jory..Jory, Hey!!! Finding any stars yet?" She went over to her friend as she ate the ice cream. Yum ice cream, Maybe we will find the Miniachi constellation again." because it totally was a new constellation whether Professor Flamsteed said it was or not.

Looking up...Game Face...

Minerva looked up at the sky as she ate. Now she was determined to find this constellation again. She looking around not finding the Miniachi, but look there.. there was Polaris. Polaris was becoming so much easier to find for her how awesome was that..

TOTALLY AWESOME.. and wait.. what was that near Polaris.. "OH MY GOODNESS.. THERE.. THERE.. IT'S URSA MINOR.. I found it.. I found a constellation.. I'm like.... Astronomy brilliant again!!" She jumped up and down. This was amazing..

More ice cream.. oh yes she would take another bite.

She spotted Professor Romanos as she was taking a sip of her coffee and she tried very hard not to smile. The sixteen year old was convinced their was something going on between the Astronomy Professor and the DADA Professor. Well, her or Airey and Professor Elwood. Yup, she'd been watching. Resident Hogwarts Nancy Drew, y'know. Shaking her head, the blonde waved at the woman and greeted her cheerfully. "Hello Professor Romanos!" BEAM.

And...BLINK! Why on earth was Minnie talking so loud? The blonde tilted her head and raised her eyebrows a bit but said no more. It wasn't her business and really, she had some stars to find. Besides, she'd had crazy sugar rushes before and she figured that's what it was. Well that and maybe stargazing excitement.

Back to Cepheus...

Oh! Ella tilted her head and spotted what looked like the tip of the triangular part of Cepheus and she smiled. The badger then used her finger to follow along, using her notes as a reference. She GRINNED when she finished tracing, happy to see that she had, in fact, found the correct constellation. She was getting pretty good at this star gazing stuff, y'know. She wanted to find more, though, so she took another sip of coffee and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

...What next?

Alright so now it was time to scan the sky for Polaris. It should be visible to the naked eye. He was scanning....scanning....scanning....a little look upwards and then he found it!

He liked this and he even leaned back in his chair to admire Polaris. Well now that he knew he found it, he made an note in his notebook. He even checked the map the professor gave them to double check that he found it. Once he was sure, he wrote in his notebook with his quill....

Scribble....Scribble...Scribble.....

SPOILER!!: Notebook

Stars/Constellations Found
-Polaris
-Draco
-Ursa Minor

Then he was scanning some more and a little northward from Polaris he found the tail of what was Draco? Yup it was Draco! He was happy he found a constellation now. He marked that off his list so he would know he found it. Then he saw Ursa Minor was in the middle of them both. Oh it was a sneaky constellation that was for sure. He almost missed it. He checked that off. Now he was craving more hot coco. He took a break and got some hot coco from the station.

Minerva took another bite of her ice cream and then looked up again. Alright.. alright it was time to see if she could find that star again. Now she looked up.. up.. wait was she even looking the right way. Stopping and thinking what was that thing he said again.

Minerva tried to think, and then she just gave up and looked around seeing which way others were looking. Now if they were looking this way it had to be north. Yes looking up at the sky she noticed it. There was Polaris again. Score... Now she had already found Ursa Minor it was right... wait where was it again.

Searching.. searching..

Oh there was someone with food. Was there food in that tent. Food would go great with her ice cream that she brought on her own. Taking another bit she made her way into the tent "Winning" She said as she saw that there were snacks in here. Oh this was beyond great.