Observatory
 

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The Milky Way Galaxy contains anywhere between 200 and 400 billion stars. A tiny fraction of those can be viewed right here, in the Hogwarts Observatory. This circular room was locked for a long time, but Professor Antares opened it again when he became a staff member at Hogwarts and now after his leave Professor Roslund maintains it - complete with a huge telescope that was a new addition then. As it is difficult to operate, students need permission from the professor before they are allowed to use it, but a number of smaller telescopes that anyone and everyone is free to use are stowed away in cupboards lining the rounded walls along with empty potion vials and other astronomy items and supplies.

Large star charts are pinned up on the walls as well. Not all of these belong to the school. Those that do not have a great number of notes and calculations added to them - although Professor Roslund is a teacher now, he is still able to supply colleagues and his mentor with data and measurements. You are, of course, free to study his charts, but make very sure not to remove or misplace anything.

Stargazing, naturally, is an activity best pursued at night, and as such, the Observatory usually remains unlocked. Of course, there are superseding school rules that limit the hour at which students can still be out of bed. If you desire to study the wonders of the cosmos later than that, you need a note from Professor Roslund. Should a student be found without such a note (or, alternatively a creative excuse), he or she can expect... trouble.

In the same way that a library is more than just a building where books are stored, the Observatory is as much a place of scientific inquiry as it is a shrine to the grandeur and beauty of the Universe. Professor Roslund, when he doesn't use the telescope for work, often comes here to think, or for some peace and quiet. Please respect him and any other teacher or student spending his or her time here in this way by not running around or shouting.

During last year (term 29) the Observatory was destroyed by a house elf. Professor Roslund has restored it to it's previous state so there should be no dangerous stuff around. If you do find something peculiar then go straight to Professor Roslund and tell him about it, to not endanger your peers.


OCC: Image and original text are credited to Antarctica.

She's just having a wander, but she'd welcome some company if you want.
 

Aurora made her way up to the observatory... she wasn't sure why. She was well aware that it wasn't dark and it would be impossible to do any star gazing (unless one felt stupid enough to want to gaze at the sun) but for some reason she wanted to be there. She usually avoided coming up to the top of the castle if she could - she never really enjoyed Astronomy. Maybe she felt that, since she had helped Professor Roslund out at the station, she should show her face up here more.

It really was a magnificent room... She stared upwards as she made her way in, careful not to look straight at the sun (though in September in Scotland the sun was nothing but a bright smudge under the clouds.) Oooohh it was all so pretty! Especially the star charts on the wall. She made her way over to them and began to look at the least complicated-looking one. Oh... this was actually pretty cool... all those constellations and stuff... Maybe Astronomy wasn't that bad... at least it didn't involve loads of reading. We'll see... when the first lesson happens... she thought to herself, moving to look at a different chart.

He wasn't hiding. Not at all. Seriously.

Though, that had been his original plan a few hours ago, but he'd decided that studying Astronomy in the Observatory was way better than anywhere else. Plus, he was currently waiting for the sun to set so he'd begin the actual studying. The sun hadn't stopped him, for he was already reading his Astronomy textbook by the time a girl walked in.

And...hmmmm, was she lost somehow? "The sun won't set for another half hour...," he said, in case the girl had wanted to busy herself with a telescope, then she'd have to wait those 30 or so minutes before being able to do so.

The book in his hands still open.

Aurora jumped slightly as someone spoke. She turned from the star charts. "I know." she said, glancing upwards. She hadn't come here to stargaze, in fact, she actually had no idea why she had come here. How had she not noticed him..? She was daydreaming probably... that was usually the case. "I didn't come to stargaze. Just... bored I guess." And everyone else was busy. And she was avoiding her studying. And she couldn't find Kennedy. Or Mordred. And even the cat was busy sleeping. She glanced at the boy. Oh, shiny badge. Head Boy. "Treyen... right?" Right? Hopefully.

Well, at least he now knew she wasn't lost of anything. That was always good to know. He nodded once at her reply.

Eyebrow raised. But in a good way, because he was curious. Clearly, curious enough to close the Astronomy textbook. She was a Slytherin, he could see that from her robes. And...did Slytherins tend to come to the Observatory when they were bored? She was too far away from her Common Room, in all fairness. "I take it you like Astronomy, then? Or, well, there's a whole lot of stairs to take in order to get here, though, you'd rather be kept busy with them?" It was either one of those options. Either she enjoyed Astronomy too much...or she really had nothing to do and this was as high up as she could get.

His head was now tilted to one side, "Actually, yeah, I'm Treyen...but I...don't believe we've met before." He didn't know her name. Hint.

"Actually..." she started, finally tearing her gaze from the charts completely. "I never liked it much." Okay, now she looked like a total freak... "I usually avoid it up here when I can. But I... 'helped' Professor Roslund at Kings Cross and figured I might actually give it a chance." Because... she wasn't sure why. Mainly because there was nothing else to do - she'd already played her violin for an hour today and she had no music in her head to write down and the potions laboratory was closed and it was too windy to go for a walk in the grounds and she wasn't hungry. "Well, at first I was going to go to the library... but I hate it. So I just... carried on climbing the stairs." She had intended to go to the library... but she had chickened out. Again. Far too many words.

Score! It wasn't often she got people's names right... "I'm Aurora." she said, smiling at him, trying to look like less of a weirdo for climbing all the way to the top of the astronomy tower for no valid reason.

Pixie! <3
 

Astronomy wasn't one of August's best subjects last term and after searching the Gryffindor Notice Board for something to do that day, he saw that there was a term-long assignment for the class that didn't seem too hard.

He had seen Kurumi as he left the Common Room for lunch earlier that day and had thankfully convinced her to go with him to the Astronomy Tower that night, and now the two of them, with their telescopes and notebooks, they were ready to star-gaze.

Kurumi had told August that she would go and speak with Professor Roslund about them getting a permission slip to be in the Astronomy Tower after hours, but her main reason had been to get a peek in his office to see if he had a frame photo of a certain Charms professor...which she had completely forgotten to be on the look out for while she had been there. Kurumi really did fail as a spy...

"Evening August," Kurumi waved as she entered the area and set her bag on the ground. Of course, no late night study session would be complete without some hot chocolate and cookies which were wrapped up and nestled next to her Astronomy books, star charts, and parchment.

Mystery Telescope Challenge - RP Challenge Post 1
 

Alyssa quietly walked into the Observatory. This was the first time she had ever been here and she opened her eyes and mouth in awe. This was beautiful and even more with the big telescope that Professor Roslund had installed in the middle of the circular room. She hoped that one day the Professor would be present while she was up here so that she could learn how to use it under his supervision.

But for now, Alyssa was happy just using her own telescope which she had brought from home. She quickly sat up the telescope next to the nearest window. The timing was right. The sun had set a couple of hours ago and the stars were shining brightly up in the night sky. 'Now what shall we look for tonight.' Alyssa thought to herself. She walked over the star charts that the Professor had hanging on the wall, and traced her fingers along the various stars. "Okay, today is September 15th and the time is about 9 p.m. Let's see which constellation is going to be the most visible tonight."Alyssa told herself. She traced the constellations until she found one. "There you are. Delfinus." Alyssa quickly went to the searched through her reference guide to see what the guide had to say about the Constellation Delfinus. "Delphinus, the Dolphin, is visible in late summer from the Northern Hemisphere. This ancient constellation is located just west of Pegasus. It bears a remarkable resemblance to a dolphin leaping out of the water. Because of this shape, it is easy to recognize in the sky. This constellation is believed to represent a dolphin that helped Poseidon locate the mermaid, Amphitrite. As a reward, Poseidon placed the dolphin among the stars. This small constellation contains a few moderately bright stars and no notable deep sky objects. "Alyssa read out loud. "Cool now let's go look for the Dolphin."

Alyssa quickly walked back to her telescope and focused the lens until the stars turned from blurry to sharp. Then she moved her telescope, slowly swinging it back and forth, up and down, as she peered into it, looking at the night sky for the constellation, Delfinus. After half an hour or so of searching, as she slowly swung her telescope from the left to the right, she spotted a group of stars that looked like the one she had seen in the star chart.

Alyssa quickly ran back to the star chart to take another look before running back to her telescope. "YES!!" She punched the air in triump. Alyssa peered back into the telescope and right in front of her eyes, she saw the constellation Delphinus. It was the most beautiful set of stars she had seen. Alyssa quickly noted down the position of the constellation in her journal.



She wanted to study it more, but then she looked at the time and realized that almost an hour had passed. "I'd better get to bed, before I get detention for being up so late." Alyssa told herself.

She quickly folded up her telescope and placed it in it's carrying case. Before leaving, she looked up one more time at the starlit sky. She still was in awe of how beautiful it could be up there. Then with one last look, she left the Observatory and headed back downstairs to her House Common Room.

Logan made his way to the observatory to just hang out and look at the stars maybe.

August had started setting up his telescope near the large open expanse that was the viewing area, per see of the Astronomy Tower. He hadn't really done much star-gazing before and he hoped Kurumi was good at it and could give him some pointers.

Speaking of the Gryffindor Prefect, he had been looking though the lens of the telescope when he heard her greeting. Looking up he smiled and returned with one of his own. "Oh hey Kurumi, weird to be out at night, huh?" he said with a little grin and wide eyes. He hadn't been out of the Common Room this late, EVER. It was sort of exciting, even though it was for school work.

"Oh you brought snacks? Sorry I didn't bring anything." Secretly he had been hoping she would bring some. He was going to probably gain a lot of weight if he continued to hang out with her as regularly as he was recently.

Katie had to look at the stars.

She skipped past the people and made her way next to a boy who was also staring at the pretty stars, Katie smiled, Miss star was looking at stars, sounded weird but true as Kate's last name was Star, she liked her last name, but she couldn't help think others were better with all the prettiness they had, "The stars look lovely tonight don't they?" Katie said to the boy next to her, she turned her head to look at him.

BLINK blink.

IT WAS HIM! The guy Tay had pointed out! The guy Tay liked, It was Logan! She was meeting THE Logan!!

Opening her bag, Kurumi removed a box of cookies and a large thermos of hot chocolate with two mugs that she had borrowed from the kitchens. "You know me, I am never without cookies," she replied with a small wink. Really, he didn't need to worry. She was probably the only person at Hogwarts that people expected to have such things with her at all times. Even Professor Vindictus seemed to expect her to have cookies for him at each lesson - which reminded her that she ought to prepare some for when the time came.

"Find anything yet?" she asked, pointing to the telescope while she sipped on some hot chocolate. Kurumi walked over to one of the unused telescopes and took a peek though it, adjusting the lens first with her hands before removing her wand from her pocket and tapped her telescope. "Lens Focalis." There, much better.

Kurumi reached into her bag for her star chart now and cross examined what she was seeing with it. "Hey, I think that that is Saturn right there just barely in view to the southwest," she chirped as she took her quill to a spare piece of parchment and began to make a simple drawing of the night sky. After doing so, Kurumi looked back into her telescope and dropped EVERYTHING in her hands, including her mug which bounce across the floor making a noise like a ringing bell. "AUGUST! Do you see that? There in the south moving west!" August had his compass with him, right?

Actually? So, maybe it was going to be neither of those options? He was more than curious now.

Treyen suppressed a chuckle when she mentioned not liking Astronomy. Then why had she chosen to come here in the first place? "He's a nice guy." Roslund. He was. Probably why Treyen still had Astronomy as a subject. He could've dropped it after his fifth year, but he decided against it, obviously.

Okay, so, she had nothing to do and was simply wandering about. He understood that. There was no problem with doing so. "You hate the library?" His head was tilted to the other side now, and his textbook entirely forgotten. She wasn't afraid of books or anything of the like, right? If so, he'll probably leave sooner than expected and leave the stargazing for another day. Or night, actually.

Heeey, Aurora was a pretty name. Only he didn't mention it. "Nice to meet you." He nodded, with a smile.

Post 1 looking at the stars..
 

Minerva went up to the observatory with a big smile on her face. This was her favorite place at Hogwarts. Her and Harvey spent many hours looking at the sky last term. She looked up and saw that the stars were out very bright, what a great night to see them she thought. Minerva sat down and pulled out an astronomy book. What should she try to look at she wondered. Well it's September let's see what constellations are out during September. She thumbed through her book until she found September constellations and read them Aquila, Capricornus, Cygnus, Delphinus, Equuleus, Indus, Microscopium, Pavo, Sagitta, and Vulpecula. Hmmm she thought which one could I see the best here as she looked into the sky. She got up and went to get a telescope after putting it together she got her notebook and book from where she was sitting. Hmmm she thought and then looked into the telescope. She looked back into her book she was sort of confused by the declination and latitudes. She looked back at her book. Well I think I am looking at a latitude of (looking back at the book) 15 and -90. Hmm she looked back into the telescope and sketched what she thought she saw

She looked at the sketch and then looked at the books pictures. She smiled the Pavo constellation or also named the Peacock was what she was looking at. She checked the telescope one more time. Yes that is exactly what she was looking at. Excited to identify the constellation she decided to check out other stars since she had the telescope already out. She looked longer at the stars and then put the telescope back when she was finished..

Yum! August took two of the cookies and his mug of hot chocolate over to this telescope. "Thanks!" he was glad she had brought something still, his dinner had long since warn off.

Standing by his telescope, eye pressed to the lens he listened as his friend saw Saturn. He saw nothing. Auggie was just about to ask her to help him position the tool but then heard her whisper a spell.

Yeah...he should try that.

"Lens Focalis." he said tapping his wand against the tube of be telescope and was glad that it had worked and he know saw an illuminated sky. He quickly grabbed his quill and sketched out the night sky to the best of his drawing abilities and just as he finished he heard Kurumi shreak and drop her mug.

For the split second that she had shouted his name and heard the cup drop he had thought, horrified that she had fallen off somehow. His heart pounding he was relieved but then eager to see what she saw. The Gryffindor jammed his eye into the lens and saw something bright moving quickly across the souther sky.

"Kurumi, is that a shooting star or a meteior?" he shouted excitedly.

Harvey had gone upto the observatory as was his norm last year.. he just used to come up here to sit.. sometimes on his own.. sometimes with a special someone.. and speaking of a special someone .. there she was.. right before him.. looking at the stars through her telescope.. she seemed happy and he was glad that she was happy after a while.. and he then saw her put her telescope away... and he didnt want to disturb her before but now that she was finished he went over to her "Hey Sweetie.. I am glad to see that you are up here.. and stargazing as well.. thats good" he said to her smiling..

Minerva looked up when she heard Harvey. 'Oh Hello" she said coldly. 'How are you doing this evening Harvey." She looked at him with a bit of coldness in her face not sure how close to get to him at this point.

Harvey slightly taken back with how she greeted him.. not like the Minnie he had known recently.. was it the medication or the dreams making her act like this.. he wondered.. "Oh I am good sweetie... just very glad to see you here.. in our usual spot.." he moved closer to her smiling.. he looked up at the stars and then back at her "Yep our very special spot.. where we have spent many hours together.. just you .. and me.." he said to her beaming.. and he put his arms around her as he gazed at her.. his sweet sunshine..

Harvey put his arms around her, but Minnie moved away acting like she was cleaning up the rest of her items. "Oh.. yeah this is our spot isn't it." how many spots do you have with girls around this school she thought to herself. Why wouldn't he have other girls why would he want such a damaged girl like you she put in her mind. "So what have you been up to since I saw you last" getting cozy with a snake maybe...

Harvey was smiling at her and then she moved away and started to clean up her stuff.. "Yes of course its our spot.. it has been since we first came up here and you told me that you liked me.. ever since that day." he said still smiling "Oh nothing much.. I went fishing with Justin and er .. oh yes I sent an owl to Rons.. which reminds me.. you were there too werent you.. Katie pointed you out just as you left.." he said to her.. but why didnt you talk to me if you were there.. so what if I was with her.. I would have left her there to come with you.. then he had a thought.. is that why she has changed.. cause she saw him with Katie.. did she think that he was with her? secretly! but Mins knows I love her.. why would she think that? . slowly we will go through it slowly.

Minerva looked at him "Yes I was there, but I didn't notice you until I was just about to leave and you looked cozy with the snake so I didn't want to interrupt." she turned and walked to the ledge of the observatory and looked up at the star trying to control her emotions. She was tired of being the cry baby damaged girl. "So you wrote Ronnie, that's nice. I did as well."

Kurumi peered into her telescope so hard that she was pretty sure the lens was going to leave a mark. It wasn't really moving all that fast, and you sort of had to close your eyes for a few moments and open them again to see any change in location, but it definitely was moving. "Actually," Kurumi laughed as she finally removed her eye from the lens, showing off the red circle around it that made her only slightly resemble a panda. "A shooting star and a meteor are synonymous." And, technically speaking, stars didn't shoot.

She took a peek back into her telescope to see that it still hadn't moved very much. "Seeing as meteors move very quickly in the Earth's atmosphere...I don't think that we are looking at one of those." She tapped the lens and cast the spell once more. "I think...we are looking at a comet!"

Harvey listened to her and he noticed one word stick out from the rest cozy.. "Cozy? Me and Katie? we werent cozy.. she asked me what had been going on with us second years and she figured out something was dfferent and I told her Ronnie had left and we were no longer dating.. I told her that I was back with you.. and I happened to mention owling Rons.. so she said that we should go and owl her.. and we came up and we sent Frost with Rons letter thats all " he explained.. he then walked to the ledge where she was and stood next to her.. he then turned to Minnie "Yes I wrote to her.. yes it is.. ..... Mins I love you! and no matter what girl I talk to or hang out with... I am not leaving you for anyone!" he said to her.. he then held her hand "I promise Mins.. I love you and I aint leaving you" he said to her as he held her hand.