This was becoming a routine for Peyton. The walking up the ALL the tower's steps, putting on a lab coat and goggles. She still minded climbing all those stairs, but with each day she grew excited to see her star, Able.

She went over the shelf where the jar with Able sat and she took it to a table. Taking out her notes, she set them down next to the jar. "Hello, little Able," she said, using the baby voice she'd use with her brother. What? Able was a baby star. :3

"You look pretty today," she said, examining the contents inside the jar. There was no color difference, something in which she was glad. "I suppose I'll sing to you today." Peyton wrinkled and wiggled her nose. She didn't want to sing, but she thought she might as well teach Able the song she had sang for the professor that he DIDN'T know. Blaaah.

Getting comfy on a stool, Peyton straightened her back, and began. "Fighting evil by moonlight winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight! She is the one named Sailor Moon! She will never turn her back on a friend, she is always there to defeeeend, she is the one on whom we can depend, she is the one named Saiiiiilooooor...." and she sang her heart out. Peyton wasn't even aware of her head bopping to the beat inside her head.

Nerida loved her star she even sang to it. As she was packing up her notebook and other belongings she hadn't noticed that her star was starting to glow a different color. As she turned around to pick up her jar she frowned... "Twilight Sparkle you are supposed to glow yellow not white!!!" Sighing she unpacked her notebook and took it out, what to do when it glowed white. It is running out of hydrogen!! Uh-oh better fix that fast!!

She did not want to kill her star, how horrible would that be! "Crescerre Hydrogenenii...No thats not it...Crescere Hydragenenii..." She pearsed her lips was she ever going to get this right! "Crescere Hydrogenenii!" Yes! She said it right, it was about time! She hated incantations why couldn't they be easy, like Hocus Pocus or something! That sounded really easy to say, not to mention actually fun!

Hopefully she could pronunciate it right while doing the wand movement. Tight circle followed by a jab. She drew her wand and drew a tight circle in the air while saying "Crescere," followed by a jab "Hydrogenenii!"

The fifth year took a peak towards the star. Did it work? Did it work? She peaked down!! Yes! It worked. The white glow was slowly changing from white to yellow...Wait was it supposed to be a pale yellow?

"Crescere Hydrogenenii!" Nerida cast while drawing a tight circle in the air followed by a jab. Again the spell worked. The pale yellow glow turned to a nice bright yellow glow. Back to normal! And it seemed Nerida had gotten the hard incantation down though she did wish it was something like Hocus Pocus!

She turned around to put her notebook away every couple seconds taking another look at her star. She picked up her bag and then her jar. As she set her jar back on it spot next to the other star in a jars. She said "I shall be back tomorrow, do not die on me, I love you to much for you to die! Got it Twilight Sparkle!!!"

Before leaving Twilight Sparkle she picked up her star and gave it a hug, yeap she just hugged a jar.

As she left the class she put her goggles and lab coat in their rightful spots.

When she was done singing, Peyton finished off with a smile. "Taaa-daaah!" she beamed, doing jazz fingers excitedly. It was a great song. A song the professor needed to learn. Heh.

Oh! Look!

Able was glowing because he liked her song. How awesome was that? It was glowing white now. Peyton shrugged. Her work there was done. But first, she went down her notes, checking if she had anything else to do. That's when her eyes landed on where it said something about a white glow. Huh?

Oh. Ohhh. Nooooo!

Her star was running low on hydrogen. Ack! Wait. Had her voice done that? Was her voice THAT bad that it scared the hydrogen out of Able? Peyton's bottom lip stuck out. But her daddy had said she had a pretty voice. It couldn't be that then. She scanned her notes again. Able just needed more hydrogen. Yep. Her voice had nothing to do with it.

Brandishing her wand out, Peyton readied herself to perform the spell, tracing the wand movement in the air first. When she felt confident enough, she said, "Crescere Hydrogenenii!" Waving her wand to the appropriate movements. The star's white glow began to diminish and it was soon to it's original state.

Peyton grinned and tapped the jar on the lid as if it was a dog. "There you go," she said, grinning. Deciding that Able was alright and that it was time for lunch, she packed her things, set her jar back on the shelf and placed the borrowed stuff where they belonged, and left.

Elise was kinda late for this appointment with her little Lapin, but that was ENTIRELY Professor Flamsteed's fault. Yup. So what she found was probably to be expected. HER STAR WAS A RAVENCLAW! Excuse her while she freaked out. Throwing on her oversized lab coat and goggles, she ran rather haphazardly towards the jars, picked Lapin up, set it on the table and stared at it.

"Lapin you silly, silly girl," she scolded, flipping through her notebook to figure out which spell to use. Silly rabit-named star had to go and get all excited and feverish and now she was too hot. Dextrini Potitus, that was the spell she was looking for. Pointing her wand at the jar, she jabbed forward frantically and then flicked down. DOWN DOWN DOWN.

Oh, it was blushing now. That was too much. Whooopsie?

"Dextrini Potitus," she said sheepishly, flicking her wand upwards after the jab just a tiny little bit and the star returned to its regular yellow, happy state. YAY! So she figured she'd sing to it a bit before she went back to her Common Room, but she only had time for just one thanks to Professor Stuck-to-the-door.

"You were walking on the moon, now you're feeling low
What they said wasn't true, you're beautiful
Sticks and stones break your bones, I know what you're feeling
Words like those won't steal your glow, you're one in a million

This, this is for all the girls, boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told, you're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high, it's your time to shine

From the inside out it shows, you're worth more than gold
You're worth more than gold

Well everybody keeps score, afraid you're gonna lose
Just ignore they don't know the real you
All the rain in the sky can't put out your fire
Of all the stars out tonight, you shine brighter

This, this is for all the girls, boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told, you're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high, it's your time to shine
From the inside out it shows, you're worth more than gold
You're worth more than gold

So don't let anybody tell you that you're not loved
And don't let anybody tell you that you're not enough
Yeah there are days when we all feel like we're messed up
But the truth is that we're all diamonds in the rough
So don't be ashamed to wear your crown
You're a king you're a queen inside and out
You glow like the moon, you shine like the stars
This is for you, wherever you are

Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, oh, oh,
You're gold

This, this is for all the girls, boys all over the world
Whatever you've been told, you're worth more than gold
So hold your head up high,
It's your time to shine
From the inside out it shows, you're worth more than gold
You're worth more than gold

So don't be ashamed to wear your crown
You're a king you're a queen inside and out."

Kissing the lid of the jar, Elise beamed as she put it away. Lab coat and goggles followed, and then she was out.

Upon entering the lab, Peyton quickly got to shrugging the lab coat on and snapping the goggles on. She was much too excited to see her star. Dropping her bad on a table, she quickly went and got her jar off the table, but on her way back, she walked gently. She was known to be accident prone when she was carrying delicate stuff, and Able was among said stuff.

After setting the jar down, Peyton frowned. Able was blue. Why was he blue? She shook her head and with a sigh she withdrew her wand. She touched the glass with one finger and tsk'ed under her breath. Able was warmish. She took out her notes and looked over it.

"Dextrini Potitus," she said, with a jab of her wand and a downward flick. She touched the jar again and frowned even more. It was still warm. Not as warm, but warm. "Dextrini Potitus!" she said, this time more intent in her voice. To Peyton's surprise, the color of her star changed. It now glowed a red glow.

"What now?" she said, worrying her bottom lip. Able couldn't DIE. He was a baby and...she was a bad star-mommy if something bad happened to Able!

Green-gray eyes scanned the parchment in front of her. After finding the correct spell, Peyton directed her wand at toward the jar again. "Deminugasalis!" she said. She confident with this spell because she's done it before.

The red glowing disappeared and the corners of Peyton's mouth lifted. Yay! Able was going to be okay. This was making her feel like a healer. Maybe she should consider that as a career for when she grew up.

HA! As IF!

She was going to grow up and play professional Quidditch like her daddy did. Shaking her head at the ridiculous idea of becoming a healer, Peyton placed Able back on the shelf. She was amused.

Laura walked into the Astronomy tower and decided to do the work she should have done early, it was her own fault she had left it to the last minute which was really bad and meant that she would have to rush it to get it finished, she made a note to herself not to do this again and to always try and get homework done within plenty of time.

Laura went and took a jar and get a label, she was going to try and get this done but she had a feeling she wouldn't but she would have to see, she took a label and smiled as she wrote on it.

Laura looked down and realized that she had to do a couple of spells next to get the jar tidy, well this was going to be awesome, she just hoped that everyone would be happy with her work, she looked at the sheet of paper and then took out her wand. "Scourgify!" Laura pointed her wand at the jar and was delighted to see the jar was now sparking clean, she wanted to do a little jig but decided against it.

This was sad.

So very SAD.

Peyton dragged her feet into the lab, her shoulders hunched. This was the last day for the project which meant it was her last day with Able. SAD. She had grown used to running up the stairs --not that she liked it any better than the first day-- but she had grown used to visiting Able. Pulling on the lab coat and goggles for what might be the last time, Peyton made her way to the shelves, and took Able to an empty table. She blinked at the jar several times and pouted.

Oh, well.

She rummaged through her bag, tossing her notes on the top of the desk, then a little transparent bag that was sealed. "Today's our last day, Able," Peyton said lowly. She examined the star and, for the first time, it was perfectly fine. It was as if Able was letting her know that he'd be okay. That's what she believed, anyway. "I got you this," she said after a moment.

Opening the little bag, she took out what first looked like a green ribbon, but soon turned out to be a bow. Taking her wand out, she cast the sticking charm on the tag where her name and Able's name was and stuck the little green bow on it. There. That definitely defined her Able from all the jars of stars.

"Well, since this is our last day together I'll sing you a song." Peyton cleared throat and sat straight on the stool. It was a habit she had left from learning piano last summer. "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires, will come to you, if your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme, when you wish upon a star...as dreamers doooo..."

Peyton sang, taking her time. It was a sort of slow-ish song, so she wanted it to be perfect. She didn't even know where she's heard it from, point was that it was about a star and she liked it. When she was done singing, Peyton sat a while more, making sure that Able was 100% okay. The glow didn't change colors so Peyton deemed it a happy star.

It was when her stomach rumbled that Peyton moved, taking the jar back to the shelves. "This is it, Able. It was fun taking care of you," she said, smiling at the jar. She set it down and patted the lid. It was fun, now it was time to go down to the Great Hall and eat lots of sugar buns while she pretended not to be a little upset. She hated goodbyes, even to things that weren't people or pets. Bleeeh.

STAR. Alice hadn't forgotten about Little Dylan, not even after her detention. So as soon as she had a nice long rest and ate something other than slime covered cookies and had gotten all the green goop out of her hair, she went straight back to the lab to reassure her star that everything was FINE. Because it was.

.. except it wasn't. Wait. What? Why was Little Dylan white? He just wasn't a Hufflepuff, and Alice could accept that, but he really DID need to stay yellow for a bit. "Little Dylan," she whispered frantically as she yanked the jar off the counter and dragged him to an empty table, looking around in her bag for her notes in a panic. "Why are you white?! I thought I asked you to stay yellow." How was she supposed to fix him? What was WRONG?

It was a new day...and before the Slytherin Captain got sucked up into the preparations for their last quidditch game of the season, he had to finish up Star stuff...Not that he was anywhere near done....How had he forgotten about his star? Professor Flamsteed must've thought he was such a neglectful toad...if he was continuously checking on the stars progress...

Dylan assumed he was, of course.

Entering the lab, he quickly made his way over to secure a lab coat and goggles. HE'D REMEMBERED! SEE?! Slipping into the white coat and making sure the goggles where in place, Dylan stepped over to his star...

His star.....That sounded so common. Really, it needed a name...and the only one that seemed appropriate to him was...if he had a duo of stars. He could do Castor.....and Pullox. For his zodiac sign, Gemini...because the twins were awesome...and if he could have twin stars, the Slytherin assumed that would be just as awesome...if not more so.

So...Castor it would be then...and then he could squabble with Professor Flamsteed about a possible Pollux.

There. Plan made.

Eyeing the jar that contained his star, Dylan glance-checked his notes on how the progress was supposed to be going and the colors. It was glowing a soft yellow...It was a rather beautiful color, actually....almost like butter. Or maybe he was just making that connection because he was hungry...Yea.

"Okay, little guy.......I'm going to assume you're a little guy because it'd be weird if I had a girl star." It needed to be said, apparently. "I came up with a name for you, too....How do you feel about Castor?" He pulled up a stool and took a seat, digging into his bag for stuff. With quill and ink, he lowered himself down and got eye-level with the label, carefully scrawling "Castor" on it...trying extremely hard not to disturb the star too much...Once he'd finished with that, Dylan continued on talking...because he liked to talk. "Do you like that name?"

There didn't seem to be any temperature changes...or anything like that. The star remained that soft, buttery yellow. So....was that a good sign? Merlin, he was talking to a star...SNORTS for him.

"Maybe I'll bring my guitar in and play for you sometime. Would you like that?"

Yea..............still no change. Hmph.

After writing somethings down about the progress, he packed up his stuff and put the coat and goggles away. He'd return later.

Sophie truly had no idea what could possibly be wrong with her star, even after rereading the instructions on how to take care of it.

Weird... she put the parchment on the table and eyed her yellow star. "Why won't you glow normally, Lumi?" Sophie asked, pulling the jar closer. It was like... like the star wasn't cheerful or something. That was strange, Sophie didn't know stars had feelings. Well, she didn't really think they had feelings... wait, did they??

The girl recalled a Herbology task back in her first year, where they had to sing to their little Fireseeds. Of course, plants did have feelings, she knew that much. But stars??

...

After a few more moments of watching Lumi, Sophie decided to give it a go. It was one of the instructions after all. Besides, she had nothing to lose right?

Right!

Maybe she could sing the same song she sand to her bushling! That would be nice. Random and in a completely wrong time of the year, but ohh well!

Sophie hopped off the stool and got ready. Yep, she was also going to do the little dance moves she had done back in her first year! Um... not the exact same ones, because she didn't remember them, but she could try.

"Deeeck the halls with boughs of hooollyy! Falalalalaaaa lala la laaaa!" She started singing after she made her starting-pose. "Tiiiis the season too bee joolly! Falalalaaaa lala la laaaa!"

Stepping forward with her right foot, Sophie spread her arms to the sides a bit and lifted her left foot. "Dooon we noow our gaaaay appaarel! Falalaa lalalaaa laa laaa laaaaa! Trooooll the ancient Yule tide caaarool! Falalalalaa lala la laaa!"

Then she brought her left foot frontwards and spuuun, almost loosing her balance. Ending up looking the opposite way, Sophie didn't really know what to do, so she stood like that for a bit. "Seee the blaaziing Yule beefoore us! Falalalalaaa lala la laaa! Striiike the harp and join the choorus! Falalalalaaa lala la laaaa!" Oh, now she kind of pretended to be playing an harp. How original!

"Foooollow me in meeeeerry meeasure! Falalaaaa lalalaaaa la la laaaa!" Sophie stopped spinning and got close to the table again, gesturing to the star to actually follow heeeer! She was reenacting the song, kay. "Whiile I tell of Yule tide treeasure! Falalalalaaaa lala la laaa!"

She hummed a bit, spinning around randomly. Clearly the instrumental part. And she resumed singing. "Faast awaay the old year paasses! Falalalalaa lala la laaaa! Haaail the new, ye lads and laasses! Falalalalaa lala la laaa!" Hehe, those were some funny words.

"Siing we joyous, aall togetheer! Falalaaaa lalalaaa la la laaa!" And!! "Heeeeeedless of the wind and weeather! Falalalalaaa... lalaaa... laaaaa... laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" With a final pose, Sophie bowed down theatrically.

When she finally looked up, she noticed Lumi was actually glowing normally again. That made her chuckle when she sat back down on the stool. "You just needed some entertainment then, huh?" She petted the lid of the jar, smiling warmly at her star. "Well, I'm glad you're happier now, because I'll have to go again... I'm sorry!" She told Lumi while she organized her things. "I have to go practice some non-verbal spells, you know. I haven't really succeeded yet, but I know I'll get there if I keep trying!" Yeeeeuuup! And hopefully that would be soon!

Swinging her bag over her shoulder, Sophie placed the jar in a safe spot before waving at Lumi. "See you soon, Lumi! Be a good... star!"

Why was Little Dylan white? He wasn't supposed to be white. And her notes weren't anywhere to be found, either, which was even worse. How was she supposed to figure out what was wrong with him now? Finally, she just decided to go through all the colours her star could possibly be and see if she could remember white.

"Blue is too hot. Red is too cold, or too much helium, or too LITTLE helium. So if those are helium.. then.. then white is hydrogen, yeah?" Something about hydrogen.. too much? No, too little. So which spell was it, exactly, that she had to use to increase it?

Notes would be helpful. Now.

The following day, Dylan returned to the star lab. He was getting better about this care stuff, obviously. You know...with even remembering to come at all. Small achievements...because his memory could be terrible...Just sayin'.

As was required, the Slytherin ambled over to the closest and geared up...White lab coat...and goggles. It was like something out of a badly written horror film wit the psycho scientists. Dylan giggled at the thought.

Dr. Frankenstein...We've been expecting you...EVIL LAUGH.

MWAHAHAHAHA!

....Ahem.

Quickly making his way over to where his star was chilling in it's little jar, Dylan got down to business. Instead of that gorgeous, buttery yellow today...Castor seemed to be feeling a bit blue...and looking it, as well. Erm...That wasn't normal, was it? No, that was bad. Color changes were a bad thing...Blue meant.....too hot? Double-checking the notes, he confirmed the information. So, this was fixable. All he needed was that temperature spell that Professor Flamsteed had taught them...and stay calm. Freaking out wouldn't help Castor.

They'd practiced the spells after that class and Dylan caught on quickly...as he usually did. It was due to his laser-like focus about these things, he was convinced. When he put his mind to getting things...he got them. Just like this spell. It was one of the easier ones in relation to the star project...in his opinion, of course.

Dextrini Potitus.

Jab and flick...downward to decrease.

Breathing and doing his focus thing, the Slytherin pulled his wand from his sleeve. Poised and ready...Focusing on the temperature evening out and becoming a bit cooler. Not too cool, though...He wanted Castor to look like butter again.

"Dextrini Potitus." Saying the spell with a firm and steady tone of voice, he did the jab and flicked downward...just like his notes indicated. It wasn't instantaneous...but the color slowly lost that blue tinge and was once again soft and yellow like sunshine. Dylan beamed at the little star. "Is that better? Being too hot must've been awful..."

"I'll come back in a little while, Castor. I've got Quidditch practice...Daddy has to go be a leader and all that."

Replacing the coat and goggles and packing away his notes, the Slytherin took off. Until next time...

Crer.. no, Cesec.. what was the spell? Crescerii Hydrogene? Was that it? Next time, she had to remember her notes, and maybe that would be helpful. "Little Dylan.. I don't have my notes. So I'm going to try a spell, okay? And if it doesn't work.. well.. well, DON'T turn black. Just stay white and I'll figure the incantation out." Because she was a good star mommy and stuff.

"Crescerii Hydrogene." .. nothing. Was there some kind of special movement? Or was it just the wrong spell? Whatever it was, she'd need to try again, anyways.

Deciding just to come back after Quidditch practice and a hot shower, Dylan stepped into the lab, guitar in tow. It had said to show the star some love...and the only way Dylan knew how to do that was snogging...and playing his guitar, Lux. STARRY-EYED LOOK.

...and singing to the star had been a requirement, as well. So, basically...he was killing two birds with one stone...or...whatever that saying was. First things, first, though...like always. There was the matter of suiting up with coat and goggles...Setting his guitar case down, Dylan pulled the white lab coat out and slipped it on...and then moved to secure the goggles to his face.

Seriously...He felt like SUCH an evil scientist when he came in here. Perhaps that could be a career path...in the distant future. Who knew? Anything was possible in life, right?

Snatching back up his case, he went to visit with Castor, who was STILL yellow from the earlier temperature manipulation. Dylan flushed in pleasure at seeing him just as he remembered. It meant he wouldn't have to do anything with his wand and he could just play and sing for his little man. BEAM.

"Hello, Castor...Did you miss me?" Grinning, he bent down and popped open Lux's case, carefully pulling her out. "I want you to meet someone very important..." Like a pro, Dylan moved his fingers over the guitar chords, hearing that it was still perfectly in tune. He'd wondered...since it'd been a while since he'd last played her. "This is Lux...Would you like me to play for you, love?" Of course he did. Everyone seemed to dig his singing and playing...So, obviously a star would, too, yea? "What song shall it be...? Anything in particular you want to hear?"

He'd want to hear a song about stars, right? Racking his brain, Dylan tried to think about songs he knew....that mentioned stars...Oh snap. Sniggering, he positioned Lux and beamed down at his little guy. "The Beatles...Across The Universe. It sounds like a lullaby, too..." So, it wasn't crazy and too loud of a song. Totally perfect.

Also, Dylan knew The Beatles. It was his favorite band of all time...So, yea.

Starting with the D-chord, he began singing and strumming. "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup. They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe..." He slipped into B-minor...starting to sway as he played. "Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind...Possessing and caressing me..." Making some sounds with his mouth, he just kept with it, eyeing the star, hoping this wasn't having a negative impact. All seemed well, though.

"Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes. They call me on and on across the universe....Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box...They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe" Dylan continued to sing softly to Castor, also enjoying himself in his playing. He'd kinda missed his music...but life had gotten so crazy for him lately. There didn't seem to be enough time in the day to really play and enjoy it. Castor continued to just glow like stars tend to do.

In fact, instead of singing the rest of the words, Dylan just strummed. It was calming...for him, at least.

Alice was TRYING to remember the spell to increase hydrogen. She really, really was. But.. like.. she couldn't. That was all. It wasn't coming to her, and she didn't know what else she could do, other than try. Which was obviously not working. So she waited for someone helpful to appear, and then she could ask them for help. Because she kind of needed it.

Oh. And there was Dylan. He was helpful, yeah?

'Cept he was playing guitar, now, for his star. Alice stood by quietly and listened before he stopped saying the words, and then she decided to politely interrupt his strumming. "Daddy Dyl," she whispered loudly, dropping into the seat next to him. "You sing pretty. But, anyways, this is Little Dylan- Little Dylan, say HI," she instructed her star before continuing. "And Little Dylan is white, but he's supposed to be yellow, and he has too little hydrogen, and I dunno how to fix him, and I thought you might, so can you tell me the spell and the movements maybe?"

Breaaaathe. Never mind the super long run-on sentence, she just needed HELP.

Dylan continued his playing, mellowing out and relaxing. It was an incredible feeling...guitar in hand and singing again. Not to mention the song was one of his all-time favorites...Something that probably obvious in the reverent way he was singing and forming the words of the song.

All was well...until a WILD ALICE appeared!


When Alice stopped talking, the Slytherin Captain just beamed at her. Everyone knew how he felt about Alice. She was a favorite...and as a favorite, Dylan couldn't refuse her or say no. Especially not when she needed his help.

"Flattery first. I like your style." GRIN. He settled his guitar carefully down on the ground beside his table. "Castor, I'll be right back, love." KISSES.

"So, you just need me to show you the wand motion, yea?"...Pulling his wand from his sleeve, he got into teaching mode. This was something he and Odessa often did...Like with all their Charms work for Herbology Task Force. He'd practically taught all the spells to his Chaser. Well, not ALL. West was a smart kid and knew most of them...but he'd still reviewed them in a way that could've taught someone.

Conferring with his notes, he nodding to himself. It was difficult to keep these spells straight sometimes. "Okay, so...are you familiar with fencing? It's a muggle sport that deals in duels with swords." He had a reason for bringing this up..."The motion is describe as a tight circle drawn in the air followed by a jab. It reminds me of a fencing stance..." He maneuvered his wand with ease...(because this was one he'd practiced the most...due to it's difficulty)..."Tight circle...So, to me that means tension in the wrist as you're tracing the circle...and then it's just a jab afterwards...and both words are said with the different motions. Crescere..." He demonstrated the tight circle in the air..."....Hydrogenenii!"...and then he jabbed.

"Does that make more sense?" He gave her an inquisitive look, moving to sheath his wand and snatch his guitar back up. He strummed while watching her.

There was only one thing that Mika had to do as she entered the Astrophysics laboratory. That was to check up on Zara. So what she did was simple she grabbed her eye goggles and put them on along with her lab coats. When she saw little Zara her eyes just widened.

"Merlins pants...Zar you can't go all deadlike on me" she frowned and made it to the nearest worktable. That Slytherin captain was also in the room she noted as she glanced around the room.

The next thing she did was grab her wand and point it at Zara.

"Crescere" she spoke and with a tight circle of her wand that she directed at the jar. "Hydrogenenii" and then she jabbed the wand into the jar. Immediately the previously whitening star began to glow a brighter yellow once again.

Flattery always came first. It made people less likely to get upset with her for interrupting their star-in-a-jar and guitar sessions. "Yeah." And then she stared with wide eyes as he went on to explain.. stuff. Fencing? What? She shook her head, but made mental notes to look it up later. Because anything with swords had to be cool, yeah?

Tight circle followed by a jab. Okay. She could do that. Crescere Hydrogenenii? So she HAD been saying the incantation wrong. Ah, well, she had a Daddy Dylan to teach her the things she didn't know, which meant it was all good. "It does. Okay. Okay, I can try that." She turned back to Little Dylan and held out her wand, making a tight circle and attempting to keep tension in her wrist as she traced it in the air. "Crescere.." and then a jab.. "Hydrogenenii!" Was Little Dylan the color of a lemon again? Was he?

Oh. He WAS. "Little Dylan, say thank you to Daddy Dylan." And now she could just like.. sit there. And listen to him play music for his star, because it was pretty and stuff.

Confident that she'd get the hang of it, he stepped back over to his star...beaming down at him. Dylan loved Castor...which was surprising since he only usually loved himself...and his girlfriend, of course.

................When had Castor started glowing red?! NEGLECT! How had he missed that? The music would have to wait as he settled Lux back down and whipped out his wand. There was a spell to fix this. He knew there was. Castor was going to be just fine...He'd survive this!

Conferring with his notes...he was momentarily confused by the Increase and Decrease in Helium. They both glowed red...So, how was he to know which one was happening?!....Erm...Okay.

Inny meeny miney MO.

So...He'd be increasing it first.....Gah! Totally going to guess at the life of his CHI-...star. AHEM! "It's okay Castor. You just hang in there. We'll get you sorted out." Yes. YES, they would. Side-glancing at the notes and spell-list, he eyeballed the one he'd be performing....Cumugasalis. Two flicks. Simple enough.

With some focus and intensity throw in for spice, he enunciated the spell..."Cumugasalis!"...flicking his poised wand twice...deliberately...but instead of turning back into the color of butter....it was....darkening? FLAIL. WHAT was going on?! Castor was DYING?!

Serious face ON. No one else was dying on his watch...Ahem. Like...the star wasn't going to die on his watch...because his star was totally a person. He'd created it...like Dr. Frankenfurter had created Rocky...It was his baby! Not that anyone else in the room would know of his panic. Total POKER FACE!

Clearing his throat, Dylan simply performed the other spell. He was appearing much more calm than he felt. LKAJLKJDSLKJFLKSJ!

Decrease, decrease, decrease...."Deminugasalis!"...with two more deliberate, tension-filled flicks. The Slytherin held his breath as he waited for the star's color to balance out...and appear normal again. It'd stopped darkening, which was good. Black meant it was DYING...So, it wasn't heading that way anymore...Oh, LOOK! It was lightening up to that beautiful, soft-butter look again. HE'D SAVED CASTOR.

In fact, Dylan released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding...Success when it was most needed. THANK YOU.

In the confusion, he barely caught Alice thanking him for his help...Running a shaky hair through his hair, the Captain nodded. "No problem, love. I'm always glad to help you." Whew...and his voice sounded controlled. Total deception, of course. He felt shook!

Alice beamed back at Dylan and turned away from him. She didn't hear anything about him and his star's helium issues, for she had already began to put her goggles and her lab coat away. Was Dylan going to start playing again? She wanted to stick around, but she had to go and whip up a practice schedule. "G'bye Little Dylan. You can stay her and watch Daddy Dyl play for his star, 'cause Alice has to go and do Captain stuff. Okay?" She tapped the jar lid twice before placing it on the counter, in hearing range of Dylan and his guitar.

After a goodnights rest Oichi could wait to go see her little star. She prepared her supplys for the day and then headed for the astro physics lab. She then went to find her star and was glad to see it looked like a normal healthy young star should. She decided to sing to it to it show her little star how much she cared for it and help it keep growing healthy and strong.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.", and with that she saw her star begin to pulsate and shine brighter. She smiled and then noticed the time. Her first class was in half an hour. She said goodbye to her little Fatima promising to see her later and headed for the Great Hall so she would have time to eat before classes.

With all that drama out of the way, Dylan felt like he needed to play again....Play and calm his own nerves because that had scared him nearly to death. If he were being honest, though...it was more than Castor....He was growing attached to the star...but SLYTHERIN NEEDED HIS POINTS!

...and there was nothing Dylan hated more than letting his house down. It was just as plain and simple as that.

AHEM. Anyhow...where had he been....?

Picking up the D-chord, the Slytherin began strumming again, going through the chord progression and creating the soft, lullaby-like melody from before....".......Sounds of laughter, shades of life...are ringing through my open ears, inciting and inviting me...Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns...It calls me on and on, across the universe..." Slow swaying and all that. It was like magic, the music was...His frayed nerves were already calming and relaxing...as his fingers plucked away at the strings.

Dylan kept up with the melody...even if he weren't singing the lyrics anymore. "Do you like that song, Castor?....You should. It's by the greatest rock band in history." The Beatles, obviously...So many epic songs from their songbook..."Want me to play you another one?" He could always do Let It Be....or Strawberry Fields Forever...

"I think it's my job to make sure you have a strong appreciation for music...So, how about this..." ...because there was a song that anyone worth anything needed to know...Ever. He started playing in a G minor...and kept it coming.

Strum, strum, strum...

"We don't need no education...We don't need no thought control." PINK FLOYD. Besides The Beatles, his one true music love. "No dark sarcasm in the classroom....Teachers leave them kids alone." He MIGHT have been head-banging slightly with the music...as he played. "HEY! Teacher! Leave them kids alone......" Grinning smirk. "All in all, it's just a...nother brick in the wall."

And........he was jamming.

West had been pretty lucky with his star and he had also realized something: the reason for it was he had been undoing the lid, and when it was off it totally was effected by all the other spells what people were casting. His star didn't need much help because basically, the whoooole entire class had unwittingly been looking after it. That was his theory anyways, either that or his star was just maintaining its own self and that was just weird. Or maybe Aspen was sneaking in and taking care of it FOR him. Who even knew?

Sure enough though, his star was perfectly yellow. Even leaving the lid on he could see that through the blue glass paint, and the unpainted bottom if he lifted it to see. Wearing the coat and goggles, he sat down in his preferred spot, with his wand and the jar in hand. So what if it wasn't apparently needing maintenance, he could still tend to it. He used his wand not to cast a spell but to scratch some designs in the blue paint, so that the yellow star shone through the blue as yellow in those patches, and green where the light was filtered by the blue of the jar. So basically, showing his jar some love with art, see? Better than singing.

He'd noticed by this point that his star sort of pulsated sometimes. Like actually twinkled he supposed. It was cool.

So anyways, what would happen if he messed with the spells on his star, when it didn't need it? Just to try them out? He mulled over this and thought about what ones he hadn't yet needed to try. The temperature ones and the helium ones. It seemed to be happy and not need ANY adjustments though. Would he get in trouble for messing about with stuff? Would he kill it? His still nameless star?

What the heck, right? He decided to... add some helium. Cumugasalis and two flicks right?

"Cumugasalis!" He flick flicked and then watched as the star began, through its blue jar, to appear purple, but red where he'd just scratched the blue paint off.

Too much helium obviously. Because... he was just casually adding helium. No big deal.

Seeing as it was almost time to lock up the lab, Airey strut his way down the corridor from his office avoiding Callista's rubbish traps of STUFF and walked into the lab. He really couldn't be more proud of his students and all their hard work and certainly their stars appreciated it. It would make for a legen............dary final lesson to be sure!

Not to mention an excellent send off for the seventh years. Heh.

Clipboard in hand, he started to walk over to where the completed jars were to inspect them when he realized that the song playing in his head wasn't just in his head but someone was ACTUALLY playing it.

Spinning around on spot, Airey noted a few students playing music for their stars - several thousand awesome points to you lot with the guitars - but his attention feel on the Slytherin Quidditch captain for now. "Pink Floyd, STELLAR choice, Mr. Montmorency! Mind if I join you?"

He could appreciate a good oldie even without a guitar.

"Oh no. My star is red." West said this to cover himself. Because you know, red star. Too much helium. Now he had to cast the other one, the removing helium one.

"Deminugasalis." aaand two flicks. He watched through his pretty jar as the glow regulated and once more his star went back to yellow. So, y'know. That was that. Helium.

.... or was it?

Seeing the professor there, West had a question on his lips.

"Professor, with this helium spell..... could you use it for other things? Say.... if you wanted to fill... a balloon?" Or mess with your voice? Hmmmmm?