Taking the stairs two steps at a time, Lottie arrived earlier than usual. There was one other thing she did differently today, she went straight to the closet instead of letting her eyes wander through the stars on the counter.

She was too keen on assuming that hers was the brightest one as usual. So, after cleaning the lab coat and the goggles, her eyes noticed the unsual glow of a star that seemed to be the brightest indeed. The brightest BLUE.

It happened to be occupying Lemon's place, but it couldn't be, right? Right? Right. Because if it was blue that meant that the temperature was too hot and all the rising heat will kill it! Well, she didn't feel like having a 'NOT Jeffery' in her hands...so she actually checked first if it was her star.

Yes, the brightest blue star of them all was, in fact, Lemon.

"I'm NEVER calling you Lemony, you're not behaving at all!" Lotus scolded her star as she took the jar to the nearest working station and put her goggles on. She knew what spell to use this time, without having to take out her notes, and she knew she was to blame because she'd used the temperature spell on her past visit, but she was too enthralled in the blue glow that she just sat there, looking at the jar, almost smiling.

Until she realized Lemon was probably undergoing torture right now. Like when the Groundskeeper took Mags from her. That had been torture to Lotus Wisteria.

"Right. I'm sorry. You're just so pretty in blue." TRUE.

Wand out. "Dextrini Potitus!" she said, as she did the jab with the flick downward until the dreaded color yellow returned.

Could it be that Lemon actually didn't like her color? Lottie understood this perfectly well. "You may not like it, but you're a yellow star, you're supposed to stay yellow, Lemon. And be bright and proud of being a star, okay?" She was running out of things to say to a star, really.

The one thing she did open was the journal, and she scribbled on it again before putting Lemon back on the counter, she tapped on the lid twice again and smiled, "Oh, and wish us luck for Quidditch," she added, just as she turned to place the lab coat and goggles on the closet.

Quidditch. A sport she truly didn't like much, but it was good exercise.

Okay. Off we go! Thanks for the luck, Lemon!

Sing or read Nova a story or walk her around the lab or... feed her candy? Mo considered the options, and he wasn't sure how he felt about any of them. A magicked star wasn't the same as a plant. It wasn't really living... just a chemical reaction. Mo had to sort of adjust his thinking from literal to playful to successfully complete this assignment.

"I'm not much of a singer, so maybe I'll make up a story for Nova. Like..." Mo lifted his jar and made goofy faces at his Nova inside. "Once upon a time, there was a little star named Nova. Annnnd... she was the smallest star in the sky. Sparkly, though, and always happily shining to light the way for people down below who loved to look up at the heavens above."

Maybe Nova liked the star, because she seemed to pulse a little bit. "And that's the end of chapter one. I'll write some more and tell it to you later, okay, Nova?" He patted the top of her jar and set her back far on the counter so no one would knock her over. "Let's go get a snack, Lex."

When she was four years old, not that she could remember of course, November had owned a pet rock. She knew this because to this day, Aunt Adiola and Uncle Monday liked to tease her for it. As her mother hadn't allowed furry creatures at the time - not even a cat nor a krup - she had, apparently, called the mud-crusted stone Fluffy. For two weeks, Fluffy slept with November, played dolls with November, had even come to the dinner table on occasion, until finally her mother took the stone and November never saw it again.

She imagined growing a star might be similar, except better. No one would think her silly for singing to her star! It was practically in the fine print of the project!

Eagerly, she made her way to the Astrophysics laboratory with Edita. If you asked November - and few did - there were far too many stairs in this castle. It was much worse, she figured, for Edita, who lived way down in those dismal dungeons!

Tugging on Eddie's hand, she entered the lab with her friend.

"Never really thought it possible to grow a star," she was saying as they gathered up their supplies. Shrugging into the silly white lab coat, she eyed the goggles. They looked silly. "Guess that's the point of class," she added a few beats later, looking up at her friend. "All the mystification of the sky's sorta killed on it, though."

Settling at a table, she fidgeted with the goggles on her face. Already, her face felt kind of itchy along the edges of it. Sifting through her bag, she pulled out her notes for the assignment. Charms was one of her better classes - which was to say, Charmswork came easier to her than, say, Transfiguration - but it didn't mean she'd memorized the necessary spells for cleaning.

Frowning a little, she held the jar with one hand, and with the other, her wand. "Tergeo!" she tried, though instantly she knew her pronunciation was off. A second try, though, helped clean the dirt and dust from the jar. "So many spells for cleaning," she mused out loud towards Eddie. "I hear muggles have to actually scrub things themselves, though! Dreadfully dull-making, it sounds!" Focusing once more on the jar, two attempts eventually produced a proper working "Scourgify!" and left behind a nicely shiny jar.

The soon-to-be home for her star.

"Reckon I'll call mine Cosmo, I think." She chuckled to herself, still impressed by the wit it took for that one. "Hehehehe. Cosmo."

Edita had experienced a dozen or more 'impossibles' since she arrived at Hogwarts. In her world, magic was a myth, if not relegated to sneaky card tricks and optical illusions. Then she had received her Hogwarts letter and everything went topsy turvy. The brunette twisted her mouth, a metallic taste swimming around her tongue. Her mother hadn't been very pleased about the fact that her only daughter was now a witch. Her father had thought the letter was a prank and threw it in the shredder of his office.

It had been a terrible idea.

The more letters he shredded, the more they would appear--at seemingly random places. They would fill up the pantry, float up from behind his cornflakes, soggy with milk. It became such a problem that by the third day, Edita had woken up to find ten garbage bags deposited in the different spots of the living room, brimming with acceptance letters.

Eddie's parents had reluctantly accepted the fact that she was not normal, and after an hour of commiserating over the repercussions of their little sleepy town finding out the truth, they were almost glad their eldest had turned out to be extraordinary after all.

Happenstance stopped grimacing long enough to smile at the back of November's head as they entered the laboratory. What was extraordinary was not her, but the fact that they were about to make their very own star. Edita's mouth began to hang open at the thought.

"Well, it's definitely not like growing a potato," chimed in Edita retrieving her clammy hand. She wiped it on the back of her school skirt. "It's not like they tell us in primary that we can grow a smaller sun if we wanted to."

Because in primary magic didn't exist--Science did.

Edita pulled on a white lab coat, only to take it off right away. The sleeves were too short, so she searched for a larger size that felt a bit more comfortable even if the sleeves were now a little too long. "The mystification," Edita repeated trying to memorize the word even though she wasn't really sure what it meant. Mysterious then? That sounded about right.

A pair of goggles went on the top of her head, used as a makeshift headband to keep her long brown hair away from her face. The next pair of goggles went right where they were meant to be, protecting her eyes from whatever explosions should occur. Happenstance surely hoped no such thing would happen. She had a lot of years left in her and she wanted to keep her thick eyebrows as intact as possible. They were the family's charm.

She followed November from then on out, joining her at the table. There was no point in bringing out her notes because November had hers and they were surely trustworthy. November seemed quite bookish and was always eager to learn and write things down in class while Edita mostly did her best to get the furthest seat in the back of the room that would be the closest to the window if any were available. Although at times she had to fight that Carver for it. It wasn't uncommon to see the two racing down the corridors, trying to get to the classroom first in order to score the prized seat in the back.

Edita turned the jar here and there before pulling out her wand. "Scourgify!" she chanted, remembering only one of the two and not bothering with looking over November's notes once more. "That should have done the trick." She brought the jar to eye level for closer inspection before settling it back down on the table and trying two more times just for good measure. Charms she was decent at but she did better at DADA than anything else--Transfiguration she was terrible at and was currently praying to God she wouldn't need any remedials.

Edita blinked and stared at the side of November's face before opening her mouth: "What's wrong with scrubbing? Mum says it makes for good training." Training for what, Edita couldn't say but she usually trusted her mother to give out golden nuggets of wisdom. "You're calling the jar, Cosmo?" November was always just brimming with ideas--strange ones--but ideas nonetheless. "You're okay," she murmured and patted the top of November's head.

Forgetting that Edita was muggleborn was a terribly easy thing to do when one's whole family was magical. Both of November’s parents were of magical sorts – Edgar Franze traced his line back three generations and Victoria Pruitt-Franze could trace hers further back without muggles married in. It wasn’t as if she’d been raised that muggles were terrible or any of that sort - she’d spent a couple years in a muggle primary school, learning enough basic necessities. November’s mind often buzzed with questions for Edita but she tried to remind herself that bombarding new friends with a plethora of questions was not always welcome.

She had giggled at Eddie’s creative use of her goggles as a headband. She herself had simply pulled back her hair into an elastic band, batting her fringe off to the side.

“I suppose nothing really is wrong with it,” allowed November. “But just. I’ve never really done it! Besides making my bed and cleaning up my toys and books and such, there wasn’t much cleaning of my own to be done. Just Mum always about with her wand.” She looked up at Eddie, eyes bright with curiosity, but physically bit the tip of her tongue. Ask questions later!

Giggling quietly, November shook her head. “No! Not the jar! The star I’m gonna make! Professor said we ought to name it. Says we also should maybe sing to it and take care of it but I’m not sure many people want to hear my singing.” She frowned for a moment to herself, then shrugged onward. “Anyway! I’m calling my star Cosmo.” Still, she brightened further at Eddie’s murmured compliment and the patting of her head. Physical affection always left a warmth in her chest.

She glanced once more over her jar – perhaps she should have double and triple-checked like Eddie – before rearranging the workspace so her notes were in front of her and the jar beside it. “Here you go,” November told Eddie, pushing a scrap of parchment at her. “We’ve got to label the jars. Name and year and house and those lovely bits.” In her neatest print, she wrote:

Beaming, she hummed softly and tapped a Sticking Charm to the parchment and then tried carefully to press it to the glance. It ended up a bit skewed and she frowned briefly, before shrugging it off.

Changing her tone, she shifted from playful to slightly commanding. “Next we create the star! We have to add…” Her fingers trailed down her notes, pausing at the right lines, “One tablespoon each of the powdered hydrogen and helium. And then we put the lid on and use magic to turn it to gas.”

November’s recollection of science did not support any of this. Science was the sort of thing that existed and did things on its own, while humans ran about minding their own business. Stars lived and died and yet here they were creating stars and using magic to take care of it. The entire thing blew her mind. Mostly because she’d never had a pet and the idea of taking care of anything was slightly mind blowing. She rather hoped keeping a star alive would be enough incentive to convince her mum to buy her a cat or an owl. Preferably a cat because it could share a bed with her, though shame it couldn’t fly. If only….

She opened first the hydrogen and carefully scooped and leveled out one tablespoon before pouring it just as carefully into her jar, then pushed them to Edita. With another tablespoon, she measured out one tablespoon of helium, and added it. Again, she nudged these towards her friend. It was a very unceremonious beginning, she thought, but then, she found beginnings often were. Beginnings were procedure and rule following and formats. Adventure came after!

Waiting for Eddie to finish, she screwed the lid on and then returned to her notes. “Once the lid is secure on the jar, we turn it into gasses,” she continued. “The spell is…. Fingere Elementi,” she added, pointing to the spell. For emphasis, she had underlined it twice and written it clearly as she could. Quietly, she mumbled the spell out loud a few times, until she felt certain the pronunciation was right. Or as right as it could be. She dropped the commanding tone, reverting to her playful lilt, and cast a cheeky grin at Eddie that she hoped hid her nerves. Imagine if she blew up the lab! Pink tinged her cheeks at the very thought. “Fingere Elementi!”

She couldn’t help it. November sucked in her breath as she watched the process. It didn’t as much time as she had anticipated and she sort of had hoped for something more – sparks and colors, maybe. The powder went all gassy and fused with each other and the entire process resulted, anti-climatically, in a glowing yellow orb in the jar.

But it was her glowing yellow orb!

“‘Ello little cosmo!” she cooed, drawing her face nearer the jaw and smiling at it.

Edita didn’t really get it then. It sounded like November did the same kind of chores she did—save scrubbing the bathroom floors clean, and the tub and the—well, it just sounded to her that November Franze had the same kind of normal childhood she had so what was the muggle talk about. Edita rolled her shoulders not really willing to delve further into that conversation. Something told her that Muggleborns and Purebloods didn’t always see eye to eye. It was all in the upbringing.

Happenstance made a face at both November and the Professor's suggestion. "I'm not singing to it," she stated in a deep voice, twisting her open mouth as she cast a questioning side-long glance at the empty air to her left. Edita scratched at an itchy spot beneath her eye, digging under the goggles with some effort. "It'll be lucky if I even bother asking it how its day has gone."

People just didn't talk to gas. People passed gas. That's just how things were meant to be and she didn't much care if the gas they were about to make was going to eventually be star-gas. Her gas could be star-quality too if she set her mind to it.

Edita mumbled under her breath as November instructed her on the steps they were supposed to take, a permanent marker in one hand. Her hair, despite the aid of the goggle-headband, was being a pest and getting in her face. Happenstance threw her head back and blew at a long brown lock of hair. "I don't even know what I'll call it." She chuckled as she scribbled as neat as she possibly could over the jar label. "Edistaaaar!" she whispered-shouted. "The brightest star in all of the Milky Hollywood."

Her hazel eyes frowned at November's skewed parchment. Somehow she had managed to get it to stick to the jar with the use of her wand. Edita glanced at the jar, then at the parchment and raised her wand to tap the jar lightly. She mimicked what November had done and managed to get her little label stuck on it as best as she could. She pressed down on the corners that were lifting up to make sure it wouldn't come off.

"Oh," said Edita simply at November's next instructions. "It's Potions all over again." Which didn't bode well with the gangly first year. Last time she had been in Potions she had managed to make the inside of her cauldron melt. That was a feat she had no intention on replicating. It had been embarrassing and she hadn't managed to get all the flobberworm guts from underneath her nails for days until she succumbed and asked November for help.

Edita held up the tablespoon and glanced at November. "This is ONE tablespoon right?" Not a teaspoon? Not a SPOON? She was probably being paranoid. Edita took a deep breath and scooped up a heaping spoonful of the powdered helium and dumped it inside her jar. She eyed critically, one eye closed, in case it would suddenly catch fire. It didn't so she recklessly dumped another heaping spoonful of hydrogen this time into the jar. Happy that nothing had exploded, Edita closed the helium and hydrogen canisters before adjusting the lid on her jar tightly. She lifted it and began to shake it like a soda can before stopping suddenly.

That hadn't been in the instructions---or was it? She had forgotten so she quickly put it down before November could notice. When November prepared to cast the spell, Edita adjusted her goggles and took a few steps back, leaving her jar behind in her hurry. It hadn't been as explosive as she thought and the gas had simply smoked lightly, as if evaporating, and the smokes fused together to form what looked like a yellow ball of gas from where she stood. She walked back to the table and squinted at November's jar. "Cosmo? Looks more like a little fart ball than anything if you ask me. But...your gas, your call."

Rolling her wand around her fingers, Edita concentrated, scrunching up her face fully believing this helped her concentration further. She repeated the incantation in her head repeatedly, and practiced it out loud before doing a little flourish (unnecessarily but she just thought it looked cool) and chirping: "Fingere Elementi!" SHAZAM! "POW!"

Her jar's contents seemed to develop a little more violently than November's had, making little popping noises here and there as the powders began turning to gas. "Look! It's farting!" she said in a gasp before breaking out in laughter. "Edistaaaaar!" she called out to her jar, extending her arms. "Riiiiiiise!" The gas did rise and eventually formed a similar ball to Novembers but where November's gas had been yellow, Edita's had a more orange tint to it. Edita placed one hand on her hip, and cocked her weight to it. "And that's how you make a star."

She picked the jar up, turned it around in her hand. Cleaning it. She would have to do that too. Melanie would've preferred to use a towel and cleaned the jar out and stuff, you know? It would be like taking care of a pet, which was nice. But magic would work too. The Gryffindor fumbled with the coat, trying to get her wand. After she found it she smiled. She knew she had brought it; it would've frightened Melanie if she hadn't though because then she wouldn't know where her wand was.

Clearing her throat she wondered if she should just... cast the spells on the jar. Would it break the jar? No.... of course not. At least, Melanie sure hoped it didn't because broken glass was dangerous and she didn't see a broom around here.

"Scourgify," Melanie said, casting the spell on the jar and watching it turn all shiny and the whatnot. "Tergeo." That was another spell to make the jar shiny. Maybe they were making the jar shiny not only so that they could all see into the jar but so that the star in there would be able to peek out. Assuming that was all she had to do to clean the jar, Melanie started to work on the next step. She unscrewed the lid and put into the jar a tablespoon of powdered helium. This was a bit like cooking because they used tablespoons there too. Melanie never did understand why they were called tablespoons though seeing as you weren't actually supposed to use them to eat at the table. Melanie put in a tablespoon of powdered hydrogen then screwed the lid back shut.

Melanie let out a yawn, covering her mouth with a hand quickly. What if there was flying powdered hydrogen and helium around? What if she swallowed some of it? A star might grow in her tummy and that did not sound delicious at all. Given, they'd have to perform the spell fir- oh right, the spell. Melanie mentally hit her forehead before taking her wand out again. "Fingere Elementi." After performing the spell, the girl stared at the jar with wide brown eyes. Star... star... star... star... star.... she was going to have her own star. The fifth year giggled, obviously very excited about this star as she watched a little ball form before her eyes. Oh, she had a star. What would she call the star? She wanted to keep the star forever and ever.... unless they could put it up in the sky with the other stars, Melanie wouldn't mind that either. "Well, Ramen," Melanie said, tapping the lid of the jar, "your mommy needs to go study... but she'll be back to take care of you really soon," Melanie said.

Because she was now the proud mother of a star. And her star's name was Ramen. Because not only did she need to study... she was hungry too.

It was not without a degree of jealousy that November watched Edita’s star come to life. “Come” was too dull a word for what took place within that jar; it was the sort of “big bang” her science lessons had spoken of, back when science disinterested her terribly. (Though, to be quite fair, it still rather did!) The gasses combined in a literal explosion, complete with side-effects November’s star had lacked, and a wild, paranoid panic chilled her insides. Had she done it wrong? Was it supposed to contain such a display? It must’ve! How could a star just come to life in such a quiet way as hers had? How could anything of her creation come to life so quietly and dully without consequence or commotion? Was she already failing? Her fingers curled into tiny fists, her nails pressing against the heel of her palm.

And yet, she couldn't help but thrill with laughter. Eddie’s excitement was contagious and Noe laughed along with her, growing louder and more raucous with her friend’s theatric display. It was quite like she was raising the star to life and it thrilled her and tickled her pink.

Moving around to stand near Eddie, November surveyed the two stars side-by-side: Edistar the Diva and Cosmo the Sleepy. However, a frown settled upon her mouth, tugging down her brows. Twisting her mouth, she nudged Eddie and moved closer to the jars. “Yours looks rather different,” she noted, pointing at the jar as if she had forgotten which hers was. “See it? Mine’s rather yellow-y. But yours… looks a bit more orange! Has more red in it.” She righted herself, turning to the other girl, and tilted her head to the side.

Not waiting for Eddie’s response, November settled in front of her notes again and red over them. “How much hydrogen and helium did you use?” she asked as she skimmed the list of spells she’d copied. “Did you level the tablespoons, Eddie?” Eyes wide with concern, she wheeled upon her friend and chewed on her lower lip. “I should have reminded you!” she wailed, before shaking her head. “No, no. It might not have been that. Maybe it was just a little too much, doesn't mean your fault. And it’s not ruined.” These words seemed more for her benefit than Eddie’s. “Actually. It could be a couple things, see?” Beckoning Eddie, November moved over to make room for her and pointed at her notes. “It might be too cold. I don’t know how that might be – maybe it has runs a different temperature than Cosmo! You ought to try it. See? Dextrini Potitus and jab your wand and flick’er up to warm it up.” She trailed off with a shrug, glancing up at Eddie with her brows lifted in an expression of innocent curiosity. “Suppose should it go blue we’ll know it’s too hot and can fix things.”

Dubiously, she glanced over at her star, trying to decide if there was too much red in her yellow or not. She wrinkled her nose. It was still more yellow than Eddie’s, and hardly worth messing with temperatures until it seemed terribly extreme.

“Maybe might not really be a problem,” she added a moment after, shrugging helplessly. “But worth a try, right? We can get it fixed and then go grab something to eat, maybe?”

Ooooo story time! She plopped down on the ground and placed NOT Jeffery comfortably in her lap. He could have that comfy spot to listen to the story because even though it was meant for Nova, they were still in ear shot and could very much listen too. It was a nice story but him saying chapter one meant there would be other chapters and she wasn't going to question it too much. Nope. Other chapters meant more reading...even if Mo was simply talking the story...

"Did you like the story very much, love?" She asked him, getting off the floor and rubbing his jar against her face again. He was the type of star that liked affection, she was sure.

"He says you should read to him the next time you read to Nova because he wants to know how the story ends." Nod. Her star was a curious one so naturally he'd want to know what happened to that star that kept shining for people. Such a giving star that one.

Don't go getting ideas NOT Jeffery.

She didn't want to think about losing another star and if he went shining up in the sky he wouldn't be in the jar anymore and she wouldn't have him anymore either. A terrible thought that one.

O___O

NotAsSmartOrNiceAsViviBranxtonBoySayWhat???

He was actually going to let her grab a snack with him? "Okay!" BEAM! "Just let me put NOT Jeffery to sleep first." She craddled the star for a minute, gave the jar a kiss then put it down and fished out a few jelly beans. After making sure he was nicely fixed on the table she put them next to the jar. "Sweet Dreams NOT Jeffery." She turned to Mo. "Alright, we can go." And with that she followed him out.

Sarah had been putting this off forever. Yet now she knew that she had better get started on this. So she brought herself up to the Astronomy tower and after taking a brief peek in the observatory at the planets (she likes star gazing) she made her way to the laboratory. Students were walking so Sarah stealthily sneaked in not wanting to disturb. (If the professor was there she would not have minded disturbing him as he seemed mentally disturbed which only made him much more awesome in Sarah’s books). She then walked over to the cupboard and took out a lab coat – the biggest size as she was too lazy to replace it with one that fitted her better. Goggles were found next and Sarah placed them over her eyes yet under her glasses. Looking like a mad scientist she got to work.

Claiming a desk and cushioned chair for herself she sat down thought a moment before getting out a jar and placing it before her. She then got out a label and thought of something witty to write on it. Then realizing that she was wasting her time she just wrote out something random. Random like “ She then placed the label on her jar.

So just as she always had done, Sierra got a late start on her Astronomy final. FINAL. *blink* That word seemed to have such a different meaning now that she was a seventh year. Final didn't just mean last exam of the school year. It meant last exam for...well, forever. Sierra wasn't going to a university, so this would be it for her.

... WOOHOO!

She felt like doing a quick cheer, but...she'd drop her star if she did. So, nope. She stopped at the entrance way and put on a white lab coat and some protective goggles. After the essentials were done, she headed over to an area where she could work. Step 1--writing her name on a label and sticking it on her jar. EASY.

Sierra Hope Greingoth *SMACK*

There...that was done. With a wave of her wand, she said, "Scourgify!" She eyed the jar. She was almost certain she'd seen a few dust specks poof their way out the jar. Now for some heavy cleaning. "Tergeo!" she said, with another wave of her wand.

Okay, okay. So...now what?

It'd taken the first year an absurd amount of time to find the Astrophysics lab, and then when he did, it'd taken him to put on a lab coat to realize that he'd left his wand somewhere in the Gryffindor common room. He'd groaned loudly, then, shrugged off the lab coat, dumped his school bag by the door, and stomped back to the common room.

The trip back to the lion's den felt considerably short, though it gave the boy enough time to reach two conclusions: One, he needed to get hold of a detailed Hogwarts map. Two, his lack of knowledge about where certain places were located were a direct result of having grown altogether too dependable on November Franze and Edita Happenstance.

Growing up with two sisters, a handful of female cousins and a stay-at-home mother had never allowed Ezra to acquire delusions about girls that he knew were common among boys; he knew there was no such thing as cooties, and he also knew spending time with girls wouldn't magically turn you into one, either. Thus his dilemma was not about the amount of time spent in the company of girls, but how much he'd come to rely on them. Ezra was not averse the idea of asking friends for help, but as a middle child of sorts (though not quite), he was perhaps under the erroneous idea that the only person he needed in the world was none other than himself.

Not that this belief ever kept him from copying off November Franze's homework from time to time (alright, most of the time) but most homework was inconsequential - a word he'd borrowed from November's extensive vocabulary - in Ezra's eyes, so he didn't think much about that.

His current lack of independence still troubled him, so when he entered the Astrophysics laboratory again, he was chewing on his bottom lip. From the closet, he pulled out the first lab coat he found and put it on, and from the same closet, he grab a pair of goggles and strap them off. The goggles made his head feel tight, so he frowned - and then he frowned even further when he stretched his arms in front of him and realized that the sleeves were a tad too long for his arms. He rolled them up to his wrists and wiggled his fingers for a moment, before retrieving his school bag from the spot near the door, collecting the supplies he remembered from the list he'd stolen from a fellow Gryffindor, and joined Happenstance and Franze at their table.

So much for being independent. He didn't say hello because he'd only seen them a while ago, and instead wondered, not unkindly but with curiosity: "Is it supposed to look like that?" It didn't look like it was supposed to look like that, if November's tone was any indicative. Both stars looked fine to him, though; the yellow one because it reminded him of eggs, and eggs were good, and the one with some orange to it because orange was closer to red than yellow was, and red was the color of blood. And wasn't blood meant to equal life? Were stars even alive?

He shook his head, and figured there was no point on wondering. Besides, he was about to create one - or at the very least was supposed to - and Ezra didn't want to think about what that meant, if stars were truly alive. For instance, creating one would probably make him the star's father, and that was such a scary thought to have that he blinked his sleepy eyes rapidly, a few times, and bent down for his school bag to find a label.

Carver's penmanship was, at best, scrawly and slightly unintelligible, but he thought it more or less did the trick. He adhered it carefully to his jar, pulled out parchment with the instructions from one of his pockets, and flattened it on the table. The handwriting was clear and round, and decidedly not his, and there was probably an older Gryffindor back in the common room what exactly had happened to their Astronomy Homework notes. Ezra ignored those thoughts, and focused on reading the instructions.

His gaze went from the jar - which to his biased eyes looked wonderfully clean - to the parchment, to his hand as it automatically reached for his wand. He wondered if he could get away with not cleaning it - or with cleaning it with manually, as in with his robes - , but then realized that with November in the vicinity that would be impossible. The inevitability of doing spell-work made him groan; his wand was a temperamental thing that worked only when it felt like working, and not when Ezra himself wanted it to. It was disappointing and upsetting and embarrassing besides during classes that required him to use it, and it made him turn red, which he hated.

Ezra took a step back, and pointed his wand at the jar. "I hate this," he murmured, and then added, "Tergeo!"

...

And she was still waiting and watching with an incredibly nervous look on her face as Little Treyen slowly started to turn yellow again. OH THANK MERLIN! Ella's green eyes widened and she let out a relieved sigh. "It worked!" He was yellow again and he was meant to be yellow and just...YAY! The blonde cradled the jar, holding it tightly to her chest. "I was so scared and I thought you...but you're better and thank goodness!" Because killing your very own star that you named after your very own Sir just wasn't a good thing. Nope, not at all!

And now that that crisis was averted, Ella figured her little guy deserved a nice little lullaby. That's what her Gran used to do for her when she was sick in bed so it only seemed right. Clearly her throat a little, the blonde placed the jar back on the table and bent down so she was at eye level. "Okay, Little Treyen, I'm gonna sing you a little song now."

And quietly, very quietly, Ella began to sing.

"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right"

Mo hadn't been by to visit his star in a few days, but then he was under the impression that stars didn't need constant attention. Right? Was there a 'how often' for them? He circled the other jars to see how all the other stars were doing before finally finding Nova.

Nova, who was not looking well. She was red and small and sad looking. What did red mean again? It meant... she was either too cold or had too much helium, right? BUT WHICH WAS IT? And why was she small? "Nova! What are you doing?" He pulled his jar into his chest and hugged the stupid star like she was breaking his heart by dying.

He'd raise her temperature first, and then if that helped. Nova went back on the counter, and Mo lowered himself to peer right into the jar at her. "Hold on, little pretty. I'm going to warm you up. Dextrini Potitus." He flicked the wand upward to increase her heat, and Nova pulsed in her jar. Was it working?

Alyssa walked into the Astrophysics lab. It was time for her to hand in her long term homework assignment. Walking over to the closet to the right of the entrance, she took out a lab coat from the closet and put it on before taking out a pair of goggles and wearing it over her eyes.

Alyssa then walked over to where her jar was. "Hello Yvaine, how are you doing today?" Alyssa leaned down and whispered to her star as she sat down next to it. She was glad to see that Yvaine was glowing a bright yellow, just the way the Professor had told them that their stars should be when the conditions in the jar were exactly where they should be.

Since today was the last day that she would be taking care of Yvaine, Alyssa decided that she would spend some time keep watch over her one last time. So she sat and kept watch over her star, as she watched the other students enter and leave the lab after they were done taking care of theirs. Alyssa sighed as she looked at her watch. It was time for her to leave if she was going to get into her common room before curfew time.

So for the last time, Alyssa sang a song to Yvaine.

"Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go
Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go
I hate to leave you but I really must say
Goodnight sweetheart, goodnight

Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go
Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go
I hate to leave you but I really must say
Goodnight sweetheart, goodnight

Well, it's 8 o'clock in the evening
Baby, I just can't treat you right
Well, I hate to leave you, baby
Don't mean maybe because I love you so

Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go
Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go
I hate to leave you but I really must say
Oh goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight."

Once Alyssa finished singing to her star, she leaned over again and whispered to it, "Well Yvaine, I just wanted to let you know that it is time for me to hand you over to my Professor. It was an honor taking care of you. Please continue to glow as bright as you hae been doing for the past few months." She stroked the side of her jar one last time sad to have to say goodbye. Alyssa dug into her backpack for a small little post-stic pad out of her backpack. She wanted to let Professor Flamsteed know that she was relinquishing taking care of her star to him.

Alyssa then stuck it on her jar before getting up from her stool. She walked over to the closet and removed her goggles and lab coat before hanging them back inside the closet and closing the door. With one last glance at her jar, Alyssa walked out the Astrophysics lab for the last time.

Jory made his way to the lab yet again to make sure Starry was alright. Soon,the lesson would begin and he'd need Starry to be in tip top shape. Upon entering the lab, he put on the lab coat and the par of goggles and quickly headed over to Starry.

"Hello, there Starry,'' he said as he grabbed the jar and took a seat. The Puffer began to examine his star carefully. Starry was glowing bright yellow so there was definitely nothing wrong with it. "You're okay, Starry,'' he said, pleased. He couldn't imagine his star dying or anything.

Jory grinned at his star. "Well, I can surely say I've had a fun time, Starry, despite those mini heart attacks you gave me earlier.'' Like changing colour within a few minutes on his last visit. ''But it's time for Professor Flamsteed to take care of you.'' He placed the jar o the table top, glanced once more at Starry then replaced the coat and goggles and left the lab.

Peyton had been at the Great Hall munching on some sugar buns with a goblet full of milk, reading a magazine on the Falmouth Falcons. She was reading this special report that had an interview on her daddy. She had been so enthralled that she had forgotten about something she told herself not to forget a week ago. It was only when she saw the date of the interview that something sparked in her mind.

Tapping her chin, the redhead thought long and hard about the thing she had forgotten about. Shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders, Peyton went back to reading her magazine. The word star caught her attention. She stared at it. Star...star...

Oh, cranberries!

Her star! She had to go make a star! Closing her magazine and stuffing it into her bag, Peyton stood up and dashed out of the Great Hall and up the tower to the Astrophysics laboratory. Stopping just outside, she held her side and gasped for air. Every time she came up here she was tempted to use her broom and fly instead.

After regaining her breath, the third year entered the laboratory and went to the closet where the lab coats and protective goggles were. Slipping them on, Peyton went and got a jar and placed it on a table as she sat on a stool. Taking out out her quill, she wrote her name on the tag...

She underlined her name just to make it clear to everyone that this was HER jar and that HER star was going to live in there.

Lotus Wisteria RAN the whole way up for, what? The second time? YES.

There was a golden something she was bringing in her hand, it wasn't even in her bag, it was too exciting for it. It was too extraordinary. Like Lemon. So, for the first time, she paid no attention to all that rule of cleaning the lab coat and goggles the moment she stepped inside, but she put them on without hesitating and looked for the brightest star of them all.

The fairest of them all.

FAIREST? WHY WAS IT GLOWING WHITE?!

There was nothing a spell couldn't fix, really, so she placed the golden object in her bag and took out her wand. "Hey Lemon," she said, taking the jar with her to the nearest working station, "Hydrogen, then?" technically, she was asking the star, "You couldn't have chosen helium again, could you?" because the spell was overall easy. It was just two flicks and a fairly easy incantation on both spells.

Fine. "Crescere Hydrogenenii," she said, while at the same time doing the little circle and jab. The spell itself didn't seem as complicated as she'd suggested to the star, but still. Two flicks were a lot easier than a circle while saying Crescere and a jab while saying Hydrogenenii. But nothing was happening. Huh? Lottie decided to do it again, but nothing happened. "I don't want you to keep Jeffery company, okay?" so, the Crescere Hydrogenenii spell was attempted a third time.

And there it was! The very characteristic shade of yellow belonging to Lemon.

"I'd brought you a little something today, but since you decided to go white...," yeah, because that was totally Lemon's fault, "...then I'll show you tomorrow, if you behave, okay? Okay." Heh. Lottie smiled at the jar and gave it the two usual taps on the lid after writing down the occurrences of today's visit.

She may return in the afternoon, though. It was sounding like a good idea. Just to make sure Lemon was alright.

OKAY! Jar back on the counter. Lab coat and goggles back on the closet. Ewww, she didn't Scourgify them before wearing them. AND...OFF WE GO!

Now that her jar was labeled, Peyton took out her notebook where she had written down the instructions from the notice board. Following the first step, she brandished her wand out and pointed it to the inside of the jar. "Scourgify!" she said, peeking inside it. Hmmm, the jar still looked the same. It hadn't been dirty nor dusty when she got it, but just to make sure that her star was going to live in clean quarters, Peyton attempted the second cleaning spell. Better safe than sorry. "Tergeo!" She could have sworn the jar was so clean it winked at her, but it was probably the light reflecting off of it.

Yeah, that must be it.

When that was done, she added the one table spoon of powdered helium and then the hydrogen into the jar, and twisted the lid on. Peyton made sure the lid was securely on. No need to have her star leak or whatever.

Taking her wand once more, Peyton cast the appropriate spell that had been assigned. "Fingere Elementi!" She was confident. True, this was her first time casting it, but she's practiced the incantation so she wouldn't mispronounce it or something dreadful like that.

She watched with wonder in her eyes as the powders became gases. HER STAR WAS ALIVE! ALIVE!

She felt like such a mad scientist.

With a gleeful grin on her face, Peyton put her jar on the shelve and tucked her belongings back into her bag. She would totally be back the next day and check up on it. Oh, yeah.

It was several tries, several minutes and several stomps later that the spell finally worked. It was possibly that the spell had perhaps not worked quite as well as it should've, but Ezra, who'd beforehand thought the jar didn't need any cleaning, turned blind eye to whatever imperfections there may have been.

He wasn't looking to get top marks, anyway. Ezra set aside his wand, and leaned forward to get a better way of the parchment. "Powdered helium and hydrogen," he read loudly, because if people were allowed to sing and potentially make him lose concentration, then he was allowed to read the instructions out loud. He scratched the tip of his nose, languidly, and wondered if the stars could survive outside the jars, and whether or not that survival (or lack thereof) meant if it was truly alive.

Evidently, he couldn't wrap his head around the idea of creating an actual star and totally getting away with it because, as it appeared, there were no laws against creating new celestial bodies for homework. For the first time in his admittedly short life, Ezra thought there was something peculiarly wrong with the world they live in.

The thoughts were set aside because Ezra told himself his star wouldn't be really alive, so he set to work. He tried to be careful when he added the helium, but it was possible he may have added a little bit more than necessary, though the boy either didn't care or didn't notice. When he added the tablespoon of hydrogen, the spoon clinked with the inside of the crystal jar, and Ezra jumped. More alarmed than he'd care to admit, the boy leaned forward again, lifted the jar eye-level, and stared at it, squinting. To his untrained eye, everything appeared to be in order, so he set it back down to the table, and put the lid on it.

Now came the tricky part. Again.

Spell-casting.

He shook his wand a few times without saying a word, mentally willing it to work. Then he pointed it at the jar:

"Fingere Elementi!"

Edita crossed her arms and held her chin between her thumb and index finger as hazel eyes observed her homemade star. Personally, she didn't see anything wrong with it and the fuss November was causing seemed over the top to her. She directed a side-long glance at her briefly before waving her off. "Who levels tablespoons? I asked you before I did it that was a tablespoon! Geez!" Geez! "You sound like you're trying to convince me it's not ruined but I never said it was ruined," mumbled Happenstance with wide eyes. What was Franze trying to do to her? Playing some weird mind tricks...

A wrinkled brow, a twisted mouth, and a slightly cantankerous disposition, Happenstance raised her wand and flicked it in the direction of her jar. "Dextrini Potitus!" Edistar flashes from a yellow-green color, similar to November's own star, to the orange-red before it settled in a deep yellow-green color. "Eh. Looks like baby poop. I liked it much better when it was ruined."

Happenstance stashed her wand away and raised her goggles to where her second pair of goggles were over her head. "Are we done here? I think we're done here. Let's go."

Now the cleaning part of the jar. No her star deserved VIP treatment and being formed in a jar that was not fit a VIP like Sarah's shining star would not do. Luckily she had her wand on her. She hastily casted scourigfy followed by a tergeo just for fun. Now her jar was definitely clean!

What was next.. oh the powder. She went to locate the right spoon and placed it on her work surface while she went to obtain the jars of the powder that were on the wall. She got Helium jar first and on the next trip she got the hydrogen as she had not wanted to spill anything.

She the began to try open the jar. Ye to her dismay the jar lid would not budge. She knew that there was a spell she ould use yet she did not want to draw attention to the fact that a third year like her was not strong enough to open a jar. She put down the helim jar and tried the hydrogen jar yet to no avail. Finally she picked up the other jar and sheepishly realized that she was opening it wrong and tried agian and suceeded. She then opened the second jar as well.

Now then. Sierra's jar should be good and clean now. Just to be sure, she bent down and came eye level with it. She looked at it for a few moments, making double and triple sure it was clean. It was, so it was time to move on to doing something else. She measured out a tablespoon of powdered helium then added it to the jar. Afterwards, she did the same with a tablespoon of powdered hydrogen. With both added, she put the lid on the jar and screwed it on tightly.

With a jab of her wand, she said, "Fingere Elementi!" She put her wand away then watched the jar. Slowly, the two powdered elements began changing into a gas. Sierra occasionally looked up to make sure she'd put the lid on tightly enough. She must have, because nothing was coming out. Pretty soon, the jar was no longer filled with powdery substances. Both the helium and hydrogen were in gas form.

Anya hurriedly put on her coat and goggles. This assignment was not only brilliant... but required a lot of effort... which... explained her excellent display of procrastination. But that needed to change. Because there was no way that Anya was missing out on the chance to build a STAR! A star of her own!

Everyone knew how much the girl adored stars.

She set her jar against the table. She then labeled it with both her name and her house.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Jar

Anya Phillips Gryffindor

She smiled at it. She was satisfied that her signature was legible enough. (She didn't want anyone stealing her star after all.)

Next step. Cleaning the jar!

It had been a while since Asher had been to see his star. bad star father He figured that he would serenade the star with a little song and dance. Since singing to his star was part of the assignment. And it would be a way to get back in the good graces of his star.

He nearly forgot that he needed a lab coat and goggles. Ekkk it totally ruined the whole green suit idea. But still he did look pretty go. If he said so his self. He buttoned up the lab coat and slipped the goggles over his eyes. He got his star, Banana. He took the star in a jar over to a table.

"Okay, Banana. Here it goes. Good thing you don't have ears. Or do you?" He hoped not. He moved back to the center of the room. Yeah that should be enough room to do this. He looked around, making sure that no one else was in the room. He was completely alone. Hopefully it stayed that way.


He turned his back to the star. Cleared his throat, and started snapping his fingers in time. "One, two. One, two, three, four." He continued to snap his fingers. Then he started swaying as he started to sing.


'Ohhhhh ohhhhhh ohhhhhh ohhhhhhh

Oh, her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shinin'
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful
And I tell her everyday
Yeahh

I know, I know
When I compliment her she won't believe me
And it's so, it's so
Sad to think that she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me "Do I look okay? "
I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are
Yeah

Her lips, her lips
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think it's so sexy
She's so beautiful
And I tell her everyday

Oh you know, you know, you know
I'd never ask you to change
If perfect's what you're searching for
Then just stay the same
So don't even bother asking if you look okay
You know I'll say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Yeah'


He held out the last word a little longer than normal. He looked around, good no one had come in since he started his star show. He walked over to the table and picked up his star. He placed Banana back on the shelf. Returned the borrowed lab coat and goggles back to the closet.