After several attempts that had taken almost an hour of his life, the incantation had worked; the gases had most gratefully compressed enough for a small, pulsing excuse for a star to live inside his jar.

Lived.

No, not lived - existed.

The excitement of getting what it was for him a complicated incantation to work lasted long enough for him to sit back on the stool, but not enough to put him in a completely good mood. One look around the room told him quite the sad tale: his star was by no means the brightest of them all, and actually looked a bit opaque compared to everyone else's.

He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and rested his chin on his palm. Intently, he stared at his Astronomy project, wondered what was wrong with it, and resolved he didn't actually wanted to know so much as he wanted it to fix itself; thinking that his less than perfect result was due to his lack of care when cleaning the jar would likely make him feel guilty. Ezra wasn't fond of those, so he focused on pressing one of his index fingers to the jar, and willed the star to liv--exist in a more acceptable fashion, preferably one that would get him an O in Astronomy, or at the very least an A.

Come to think of it, he would be more than fine with an A. Acceptable was more than acceptable for him, as far as marks went because it wasn't like he ever worked for more.

Mediocrity at its finest, really.

He hopped off the stool, then, and frowned in the general direction of the singers. They were quite irritating, but Ezra supposed they'd have to do; if his star was to occupy space in a more acceptable fashion, what more company could it use than people who were not embarrassed to display their lack of talents in public. If Ezra knew something about secondhand embarrassment - and as someone who spent so much time with Edita Happenstance and November France, he thought he did - there was nothing that encouraged people - or in this case, a star - more to look better and do her best than to be surrounded by those who... did not.

He patted the top of the jar. "I have homework to do." He had homework to copy off November. "And then some reading to catch up on." Otherwise known as sleeping in the library. "So, I'll be back in a few hours." Or more accurately, I'll be back tomorrow.

Ezra smiled widely, but dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'd be sad if you died alone." Well, that much was true. "Not to say you're actually alive, because, then, wouldn't that make me your father?" What a silly idea. Such a silly idea, it made him laugh, and it was high-pitched, nervous squeak. Ezra cleared his throat and patted the top of his own head. "But if you're thinking passing, at least wait til I'm here, yeah? It's the polite thing to do." Manners were important, his mum said so.

*CLUNK THUMB CLUNK THUMB CLUNK THUMB CLUNK*

On his way to the grounds for Pebbles' daily walk, Professor Flamsteed decided to stop by the laboratory and check in on students as they continued to work on their star projects. He couldn't WAIT for his next lesson where he could FINALLY reveal what intentions he had for these adorable little celestial bodies. Ooooooooooooh it was going to be legen..........dary!!!

"Good afternoon everyone!" he grinned as he entered the lab with Pebbles clunking along after him. Now, did anyone need him?

Asher had a little bit before practice, so he came back to check on his star. Besides his little performance last night he hadn't visited his star in a while. So in the process of rebuilding his relationship with the young star. He was going to make it a point to see the star anytime he had spare time, the Assignment was going to be over soon, anyway.

He walked into the lab, walked over the closet. Like he did every other time he'd entered the room. He took a lab coat, put it over his clothes. He got a pair of goggles and snapped them over is eyes and tighten them up. Dang someone had a big head. Oh Flamsteed was there. Too bad he missed Asher's performance last night "Hello Professor."

He spotted a red star, ah poor person their star was red. Uh oh wait that was his star. He didn't name the star cherry did he? How ever heard of a red banana? He went over and pulled his star in a jar off the shelf. He took the jar over the table and sit it down.

So a red star has something to do with the helium in the jar. Was there not enough of it, or too much? Bleh he decided on too much, if not he could add more to the less he took out.

"Deminugasalis." With two flicks.

The star slowly turned yellow, like a banana should be. "Oh, Professor Flamsteed. I have a Question. Would it hurt if something was say tied around the jar?"

Because yeah, that would be bad, he made something for his star this morning. It would have to be tied around it more than likely.

Time for another visit with Little Treyen!

Ella smiled as she entered the lab, making the familiar trip to the closet so that she could grab her lab coat and goggles. She always felt very official with these on, like a proper astrophysicist. Beam! Had to look the part, yeah? Oh and plus the whole safety aspect of those items...That was important too.

After suiting up, the blonde went to where her little bundle of joy sat and BEAMED "Little Treyennnn, I'm back!" She cooed, her green eyes scanning for her particular jar.

O___________O

Merlin's Beard! NOT AGAIN!

The blonde was quite startled to see that her star, the little guy who she'd just helped get cool the last time she was here, was now glowing red. GLOWING RED! MEEEEEP! This wasn't good! Little Treyen wasn't meant to be red! He was meant to be yellow! A yellow star! WHY was he always doing this to her? Ella very quickly pulled out her notes and wand, flipping through the notes with fervor. "Little Treyen, why do you insist on having near death experiences?" Yeah, she wasn't pleased.

Scan. Scan. Scan.

Okay so this glowing red thing could mean he had too much helium. That was easy enough to fix, yeah? Only...HUH? It could also mean that he had too little? WHAT?

Blink.Blink.AIREY! Thank Merlin he was here!

"Professor? I need your help!" Like...nowish so that she didn't kill Little Treyen and be known as the worst star mommy in the world!

"He's red! Little Treyen is glowing red." Breatheeeeee, Ella. "And I'm not sure if he has too much or too little helium and I..." Mini!wibble. "I don't want to kill him. Will trying both spells kill him?"

Now she had to spoon one spoon of each into her jar. She heaped a tablespoon of heliim and then swiped it on the side of the jar to decrease the amount. She about to put it in her jar when she noticed something.. A MICROSCOPE! That was like one of Sarah's favourite scientific toys, she could sit there for hours examining things under it. And that what she did. Briefly forgetting about her project she put some of the powder on a slide and peered at it. "Blimey. This is fantabolous" she exclaimed in delight. The tiny particles of powder had such depth to them. She was about to check out what the hydrogen looked like when she remembered about her project!

She spooned in the helium followed by the hydrogen in to her jar. She then looked hard to find her lid. She looked under the table and all until she realized that it was right in front of her staring at her in the face. She sheepishly put that on. She then reached for her wand... now she had to preform that spell still.

He had NOT forgotten about his start. No, he had NOT! ..liar... He knew there were only a few days left and he hadn't really taken care of his star. This was why he was back inside the Astrophysics Laboratory and pulling on a lab coat with glasses.

He walked to the shelves with jars and looked at the side where he had last placed his star back. Shoving a few jars aside that weren't his, his saw the label *Ducky~!* and with a small smile he picked it up. Holding it in front of his face, the Slytherin noticed that his star was getting bright white and even though he wasn't sure what it meant, he knew it wasn't right either.

Reaching a desk , Daichi placed the jar with the star on the surface and grabbed his note book. He flipped the pages until he read Astronomy on the top of the page and with another flip of the page he saw his note. It was out of Hydrogen? Daichi read further while looking at the star a few times, trying to see if the symptoms matched. He then grabbed his wand circled it in the air and jabbed it , pointing at the jar. "Cres...cres...wait what?" He had forgotten the incantation and he was glad that he had written it down. "Cres...crescere..Hydrogenenii" he said slowly without using his wand. "Crescere Hydroginii..no...hydrogenenini..nii!

"Crescere Hydrogenenii"

Using the same wand movement, Daichi said the spell "Crescere" a circle "Hydrogenenii" a jab. He watched as the star slowly turned to its yellow color but it was slow. Very slow. He looked at his notes again and maybe he should try sing to it, that wasn't weird right?

He thought for a few seconds, wondering which song he would sing when he got it. Beautiful Thing was one of his favorites because his mother used to sing it to him. He took a deep breath and began to sing.

It's feel like beautiful thing
Below the moon’s shadow
The wind whispers in my ear
Where will it take me
Making the night turn white
A spirit that walks on clouds
Till the dawn comes
Till the night goes to sleep

Time of love, Oh my life
When will be the chosen day
There is nothing in this world
That is not beautiful
For one to know everything in a lifetime
It’s too short of a trip

Though the seasons will come again
Time also passes
Life’s faint light allow
Only the memories remain
I am thankful for each day
So I put my hands together in a small prayer
Everything that is hidden in lies
May I love please

When he was done singing, a faint blush came on his cheeks as he looked around, slighly embarressed. But atleast the star was looking yellow again~!

SPOILER!!: Asher

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saraie

Asher had a little bit before practice, so he came back to check on his star. Besides his little performance last night he hadn't visited his star in a while. So in the process of rebuilding his relationship with the young star. He was going to make it a point to see the star anytime he had spare time, the Assignment was going to be over soon, anyway.

He walked into the lab, walked over the closet. Like he did every other time he'd entered the room. He took a lab coat, put it over his clothes. He got a pair of goggles and snapped them over is eyes and tighten them up. Dang someone had a big head. Oh Flamsteed was there. Too bad he missed Asher's performance last night "Hello Professor."

He spotted a red star, ah poor person their star was red. Uh oh wait that was his star. He didn't name the star cherry did he? How ever heard of a red banana? He went over and pulled his star in a jar off the shelf. He took the jar over the table and sit it down.

So a red star has something to do with the helium in the jar. Was there not enough of it, or too much? Bleh he decided on too much, if not he could add more to the less he took out.

"Deminugasalis." With two flicks.

The star slowly turned yellow, like a banana should be. "Oh, Professor Flamsteed. I have a Question. Would it hurt if something was say tied around the jar?"

Because yeah, that would be bad, he made something for his star this morning. It would have to be tied around it more than likely.

*CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK*

Airey dragged walked Pebbles over towards the young Slytherin and leaned forward a bit to just check on his progress before answering his question. "You mean like a decoration? Nothing you do to the outside of the jar of that sort will do any damage to your star," he said with a shake of the head. "Putting it into a freezer or hanging ice cubes from it - things that could alter the temperature will be damaging. That is why I asked you all to not remove your jars from the laboratory." Controlled environment.

SPOILER!!: Ella

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Time for another visit with Little Treyen!

Ella smiled as she entered the lab, making the familiar trip to the closet so that she could grab her lab coat and goggles. She always felt very official with these on, like a proper astrophysicist. Beam! Had to look the part, yeah? Oh and plus the whole safety aspect of those items...That was important too.

After suiting up, the blonde went to where her little bundle of joy sat and BEAMED "Little Treyennnn, I'm back!" She cooed, her green eyes scanning for her particular jar.

O___________O

Merlin's Beard! NOT AGAIN!

The blonde was quite startled to see that her star, the little guy who she'd just helped get cool the last time she was here, was now glowing red. GLOWING RED! MEEEEEP! This wasn't good! Little Treyen wasn't meant to be red! He was meant to be yellow! A yellow star! WHY was he always doing this to her? Ella very quickly pulled out her notes and wand, flipping through the notes with fervor. "Little Treyen, why do you insist on having near death experiences?" Yeah, she wasn't pleased.

Scan. Scan. Scan.

Okay so this glowing red thing could mean he had too much helium. That was easy enough to fix, yeah? Only...HUH? It could also mean that he had too little? WHAT?

Blink.Blink.AIREY! Thank Merlin he was here!

"Professor? I need your help!" Like...nowish so that she didn't kill Little Treyen and be known as the worst star mommy in the world!

"He's red! Little Treyen is glowing red." Breatheeeeee, Ella. "And I'm not sure if he has too much or too little helium and I..." Mini!wibble. "I don't want to kill him. Will trying both spells kill him?"

"Sweet solstice, Miss Ella, take a deep breath and try to relax," Airey said with a slight man!flail when he saw the Hufflepuff was on the verge of tears. Seriously kids, don't cry around the astronomer. He didn't know how to handle nor comfort tears. Besides offering a tissue to make them go away that is. "You just said so yourself that it could be one of two things, too much or too little helium, so the only thing you can do is try one and see if it helps. If you use one of the spells and the red color begins to turn darker, then you have guessed the wrong one. If the color brightens a bit and turns orangeish, then you have picked the right one. Just be very attentive to detail as you perform the spell and no harm will come to your star." He would even stand here and watch her perform the spells if she wanted. Pebbles didn't seem to mind waiting a bit to go on her walk and was sitting nice and quiet on the floor.

Anya eyed her jar carefully. She "Scourgify"ed it a few times. But she was still unsatisfied. This wasn't some silly little potion. This was a STAR! And actual star! She wanted to give it a nice clean home.

And so... she threw in a "Tergeo" for added effect.

And now that she was pleased that her jar was fairly clean... she needed to get to work. The best news about procrastination was that she didn't need to keep it alive as long.

Now. Off to find the helium and hydrogen. And to think of a name. Because she was pretty sure Star wasn't going to cut it with the Professor.

Ella placed both hands on the table and nodded her head, taking a deep breath. Breatheeeee, Ella, breatheeeeee. "I'm sorry, Professor, I just don't want to kill Little Treyen..." Super big frowny face. The fact that Professor Airey didn't seem too concerned with Little Treyen's condition though was a good thing, yeah? It meant that this wasn't too serious and he would be okay? It did mean that, didn't it?

"Attentive to detail...right...I can do that." The blonde said quietly, finally calm enough to perform one or both spells. She looked up at the Professor a little nervously and then back down at her notes. She stared at her two options and her tummy did flips flops until she decided on increasing the helium. That's what her gut was telling her and that's what she'd go with.

"I...okay first I'll try and erm...increase the helium." And the blonde eyed the spell. Cumugasalis and two flicks of the wand. She could do that. Before she performed the spell the fifteen year old bent down and eyed her little star. "This won't hurt a bit, I promise." Hopefully her words were reassuring. Could stars even be reassured? Okay. She was ready. Raising her wand, the blonde concentrated on what she wanted to do and with two taps said, "Cumugasalis!"

Blink and stareeeeeeee.

"It's...it's changing." It was! And the color was slowly turning an orange-ish hue. "Professor I...I think I did it!" Mini!Beam

Sierra watched her jar, waiting for something to happen. Anything at this point would be good. All she had right now was a bunch of helium and hydrogen floating around in gas form. She sighed and released a breath of air in a slight huff.

Just as she did so, though, the gases inside the jar began to slow and form together. Sierra took a small step closer and looked in the jar with a wide-eyed expression. She had a star! The gases had finally made a star! No, she wasn't THAT excited over a star. She was just glad she didn't have to start all over.

Hmm...she should name her star now. She didn't really care to name it, but...it was all part of the process. So, erm...what now? What do you name a...star? In the end, Sierra decided to go with 'WINNER'. Yes, Winner. That was going to be the name of her star. She added the name to the label she'd stuck on before.

Procrastinator. Jake was one of those.

He slipped into the lab, looking around as he did so. Flamsteed was there. Jake frowned to himself as she shrugged into a lab coat and put on goggles. He grabbed a jar and a label, hurriedly scrawling his name.

Satisfied, he made his way over to a table and took a seat.

It was working. Nova changed colors from that frightening pulsing red to something a bit more pink, and she continued to fade as Mo held her. And maybe petted the jar and cooed at her a bit. Just 'cause she probably needed comforting after being so cold and near to death.

"Sorry, little star. I'm so so so so sorry." She continued to be petted, although Mo put the jar back on the counter and leaned down so he could peer right into Nova's jar to make sure all her red was gone. "Have you been playing with Not Jeremy? Eating all his jelly beans like a good baby star? Don't let him push you around. He's already big enough, and you're awfully little."

He tucked the jar in beside ol' NJ and sat down, propping his chin on the counter top. "Where was our story? Oh, yeah... I think we need a bad guy in this story. In the same galaxy as our happy little star, there was an evil black hole that liked to suck all the joy out of the universe, and then spit out comets of... ugly. Ugly comets, which are very very not joyful. He didn't have a name, on account of you don't really need a name if you have no friends because no one is ever trying to call you."

He wasn't really sure where this story was going... maybe he ought to write some down for his next visit. "But our happy star, who is named Nova obviously, wasn't all that concerned about the ugly black hole comet spitter because it was so far away in the galaxy and because her people, the people she liked to sparkle for especially, weren't in danger from the ugly comets."

Mo rummaged around in his bag and found one of the chocolate frogs he was supposed to give to Lex. "Have a snack, Nova, and I'll come tell you the end of the story goes." Nova got another pat on the top of her jar and then Mo headed out until next time.

Stars.

They were going to be making their own stars. Or... looking after one. Really, it was pretty much the same thing... right? Because in the assignment, it did say that name it and sing to it show the star that you love really really like it. But... there was a small problem with this assignment: there was no way that he, Alec Summers, was going to sing to the star.

Except... he had to. And that was a shame.

Singing was... not his forte. And he really didn't want to break any of the glass in this lab. Maybe he could... write it a poem? ... No, he was horrendous at that as well. Something he was good at was, well, hugging. But he was pretty sure you couldn't hug a star. It would make an awesome story though! Imagine telling someone younger than you that you actually got the chance to hug a STAR. It wasn't possible but... the thought seemed nice.

Shaking his head, Alec walked into the lab and took a moment to look around. This... sort of reminded him of those science labs in movies. And just like in the movies, he had to put on a lab coat and goggles, yeah? He walked over towards the right and picked up a white lab coat and shrugged it on before picking up a pair of goggles and strapping them on as well.

This seemed very... scientific. And made him feel quite smart, actually.

Alec grinned to himself before grabbing a jar and heading over towards an area. He set the jar down, picked up his label and scrawled his details on before sticking it on the jar.

Quote:

Alec Summers
Hufflepuff
Fourth Year

There. He could just... decide on the other bits later. Like the name of the star. Now... what was next?

There was no way she couldn't have made it here in the afternoon. NO WAY. The thoughts of how her awesome star could turn black in a second sort of terrified her. No, we're exaggerating, actually. She knew it'd be alright, but she didn't want to go through the whole process again, and she'd grown quite attached to Lemon.

So, trying her best to smile all the way up, Lottie finally arrived and did a wonderful job at cleaning up the lab coat and goggles she'd chose to wear today. The first ones she saw. Speaking of things she saw...

...her star was being super awesome and glowing as bright as possible. Just like she'd asked.

BEAM. "Hey, Lemon," she said, as she placed the jar on her working place and folded her arms in front of her, "Since you behaved and listened to me...I can show what I wanted to show you this morning," she said, resting her chin on her hands. Granted, she was momentarily distracted yb her glowing star and simply stared at it for a while, before she snapped out of it and wrote on Lemon's journal a bit.

"Did I ever tell you about Quidditch?" truth be told, she couldn't remember if she'd told her star to wish her good luck, but she was going to tell her about the game now, "I scored twice!" and Kaiden much more than that. Ugh. But we're leaving that out of this. "And...Seeker!boy gave me something," she smiled at her bag before taking out the golden object she'd been playing with this morning, "The snitch," BEAM.

Why did Lottie want to show Lemon the snitch? "See, this is like one of the most important things in the sport, but I brought it here to show you just how awesome you need to be, and how shiny, too." See, Alec? This was for educational purposes. "Be like a snitch," basically, that's what she meant. WHATEVER THAT MEANT.

She played around the table with it, close to Lemon so it could see, too. The star and the snitch sort of matched, you know? What with them being slightly golden and yellow.

"It's sort of pretty, isn't it?" she said, referring to the snitch. And then she started to feel stupid because she was only talking to a jar...she failed to see the star right now. And still, talking to stars was, well, odd sometimes. "Too bad it's kind of yellow-ish." The snitch was still pretty and her star was awesome, regardless of the color.

OKAY. Time to go have dinner. Trust her, it'd be time for dinner by the time she gets to the Great Hall. "I gotta go. Behave." Two taps on the lid before the jar was back on the counter and then she returned the lab coat and the goggles.

The Great Hall it is!

SPOILER!!: Ella!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Ella placed both hands on the table and nodded her head, taking a deep breath. Breatheeeee, Ella, breatheeeeee. "I'm sorry, Professor, I just don't want to kill Little Treyen..." Super big frowny face. The fact that Professor Airey didn't seem too concerned with Little Treyen's condition though was a good thing, yeah? It meant that this wasn't too serious and he would be okay? It did mean that, didn't it?

"Attentive to detail...right...I can do that." The blonde said quietly, finally calm enough to perform one or both spells. She looked up at the Professor a little nervously and then back down at her notes. She stared at her two options and her tummy did flips flops until she decided on increasing the helium. That's what her gut was telling her and that's what she'd go with.

"I...okay first I'll try and erm...increase the helium." And the blonde eyed the spell. Cumugasalis and two flicks of the wand. She could do that. Before she performed the spell the fifteen year old bent down and eyed her little star. "This won't hurt a bit, I promise." Hopefully her words were reassuring. Could stars even be reassured? Okay. She was ready. Raising her wand, the blonde concentrated on what she wanted to do and with two taps said, "Cumugasalis!"

Blink and stareeeeeeee.

"It's...it's changing." It was! And the color was slowly turning an orange-ish hue. "Professor I...I think I did it!" Mini!Beam

Breathing. Good. The Hufflepuff was breathing and would not turn blue in the face or anything. Not only would that color TOTALLY clash with the yellow of her robes, but Cece would strangle him for sending another Hufflepuff to the hospital wing.

He sort of held his breath while Miss Ella did her spellwork on the star in the jar and sort of crossed his fingers behind his back that it worked and he did not have a repeat of Miss Cambrige's star. "Very good," he applauded while leaning in and adjusting his invisible glasses. "Pebbles, stay there," he told his rock before turning his attention back to the jar. "I think performing that one more time will do the trick."

Now that her jar was clean, it was high time to start creating the masterpiece for the day - her very own star! Referring to her notebook, Beezus read what needs to be done next and nodded before she moved around the laboratory and filled her jar with one tablespoon of powdered helium and another one of hydrogen. When that was done, she placed the lid over it.

Nodding to herself, the brunette took her wand out afterwards and because she had already spent the time to practice the incantation she was about to use, she uttered the words easily with a jab. "Fingere Elementi!"

It didn't take long for the spell to take effect for as soon as Beezus crouched down slightly to get in eye level with her jar, she saw the powdered elements slowly turn into gas. Each turned into puffs of smoke that engulfed each other, merging and compressing until a few minutes more......it produced a small celestial piece that glowed yellow. ASDFGHJKL! Her star! Unable to fight off a huge grin, Beezus bit her bottom lip and watched in amazement at the content of her jar. Squeee!

"Heeeeey." And of course, like everyone else...she had a name ready for her star. "From now on, I'll call you Zeta." Beezus mumbled enthusiastically.

Astrophysics Laboratory, Kat was on her way there. She was going to be 'late' with her homework but she'll manage that. At least she did it, rather than not. This was their term-long assignment though, plus their finals. With her schedule so packed full of classes and Quidditch practices and matches, Kat was able to squeeze this time in for her star. Yes, her star. Though she'd have to make her own star like she was some sort of mother, you know.

She entered the lab and first got her white lab coat inside the closet. She also got a pair of protective goggles. Whatever these are for, honestly. It's not like her star would ATTACK her or whatever right? Oh well, it was a requirement and rule here. She had those on, too, so Kat went to a work station. She was ready, yep.

On her work station, Kat took out a piece of parchment. She wrote her name on it and all that stuff needed so that her star would be officially owned by her. Nobody would be able to steal it and stuff, you know. In case some didn't know, it was her jar now. Her star, and the luckiest of them all, would be living inside it. Hands off the jar and the soon-to-be star!

Now what was that blank for? Heh. Kat would insert there the name of her star... right after she thought of a name for it soon you know. The name of her star add to be awesome, like BAM!awesome. Oh whatever she'd name it though, it'll still b awesome. Of course, cos it was her star. She was awesome too. Just saying.

He was applauding! Professor Snappy Dresser was applauding her! This was good news, yes? Because Professor Snap-i-licious was a total pro at this sort of stuff and for him to be clapping meant she was doing something right! It also meant that she wasn't a complete failure as a star mommy which meant more to Ella than Professor Airey would ever know. The fifteen year old smiled sheepishly at the man and shrugged. "Thank you Sir, I'm lucky it was the right spell." Because had she used the other one her poor Little Treyen would have gotten even sicker! Meeep!

Blink.

Pebbles?

Ella looked down to where Professor Airey was talking and tilted her head. "I...Professor? Your pet totally rocks." Giggle! GEDDIT? Cause Pebbles is a pet rock?! HEHEHEHE! Anywhoo...back to work.

"So one more time? Okay, I can do that." And then Little Treyen would be good as new, yeah? And he'd be all healthy again? Hopefully. Raising her wand, the blonde concentrated once more on what she wanted to do and with two taps said, "Cumugasalis!"

She then watched and waited as the star slowly but surely turned yellow once again.

Finding a seat, Jake set his jar on the table and looked at it. After a quick inspection, he took out his wand. "Scourgify," he said, pointing the wand at the jar. He waited a few seconds, eyed the jar again, then mumbled "Tergeo." That took care of the remaining dirt, and Jake was satisfied that he could now make his star.

So. Hydrogen and Helium. He slid off his stool, taking his far with him to get the elements. After carefully measuring one tablespoon of each, he dumped them in the jar and went back to his stool. Once the lid was back on, he nodded to himself and picked up his wand again. "Fingere Elementi." A small smile spread across his lips as he watched the powders change into gases. And... BAM. A star. Except not really BAM. It was sort of anti climactic, to tell the truth. All the same, though. Jake now had a star. Yellow, just like he'd sang in that first class. Now... what to name it?

Okay, so now her star had a name, a very appropriate name, at that. So...now what? Sierra just stared at her star, trying to figure out what the next step should be. She really, truly did not want to sing to this thing. She was going to try and avoid that at all costs.

That was when she noticed something different about her star. Her eyebrows wrinkled inward in confusion, and she blinked a few times. Was she really seeing what she thought she was seeing? ... She was! her star was glowing red, which really was not supposed to be happening!

Uhh...what to do, what to do? In her mild panic, for she really did not want to kill this star and have to start all over, Sierra fumbled for her notes. Reading through them, while all the while watching her star, she came across the information she needed. She flicked out her wand. With two flicks, she said, "Deminugasalis!"

She tapped her foot impatiently while she waited, and after a little while, the star's color slowly began to return to normal.

Anya scooped a tablespoon of both helium and hydrogen into her newly cleaned jar. Hehehe. She made a powdered star. How amazing was that?

And soon she'd have a real star. IN A JAR! This was wayyy better than buying a star off of one of those websites. Yes it was!

Alright. Now time for the big bang. She pointed her wand at her powdered concoction. With a quick jabbing motion she cast "Fingere Elementi."

... and was blown away by absolutely nothing.


So she tried again. And again. And on the third time the powder looked to dissolve into a gas... and then... combust.

Hehehe. This was brilliant.

Now... what should she name it? "Blake." she muttered outloud petting the jar like a proud parent. She'd always been fond of the name.

...and it was better than naming the star Starry or... Neverland... or something random like that.

Another visit, and Mo didn't wait nearly as long this time to come see Nova. He made a beeline for the goggles and lab coats. If anyone could make the mad scientist thing look devastating and handsome, it was one Marcus Orion Branxton. He even did a little strut over to where Nova was, on behalf of his baby star AND anyone who wanted to watch.

"No-va," Mo sang out the name of his star as he scooped up her jar. "Your chocolate frog is gone. Did you eat it, or did Lex and N.J. steal it?" Because she needed it more than them. N.J. was a nice big star now, and Nova was still so itty bitty.

"No song today. I'm going to try an experiment to make you a little bit bigger. We're going to add a leeeeeeettle bit of hydrogen and then a leeeeeeettle bit of helium at a time to see if it grows you up. Don't be scared." Nova got another cuddle and then he pushed her back into place on the counter.

"Helium first, I think," Mo whispered, pointing his wand at the jar. "Cumugasalis." He just wanted to add a little at a time, because Nova wasn't technically out of balance. She was just small was all. And a bit of hydrogen was next. "Crescere Hydrogenenii."

Incrementally, Mo added a little helium and a little hydrogen, watching Nova's color carefully and hoping she'd grow as she heated up. Why was she still staying so LITTLE, though?

It sounded rather silly, and for that, November was not ready to say it out loud and have Ezra and Eddie laugh at her, but she was rather excited to see how the star was doing. Growing a star was exciting, in its won right, and having never had a pet of her own, this was the closest she came. Even if it wasn't an actual living thing. Either way, it was by far the best assignment she'd had all year. Frankly, anything beat spending hours on an essay.

"Helloooooo stars!" she called as she made her way into the lab with Eddie and Ezra. She rifled through the lab coats to find a proper fitting one and made her way back to the goggles.

Adjusting the headband on her head, she ensured her fringe was pulled back from her eyes before putting on the goggles and shrugging into the coat. The sleeves came up a little short, but it was easier to maneuver in, she supposed, than something larger. She could deal. At the counter, she searched through the various jars, until she found Cosmo, and frowned as she picked up the jar.

"Looking awfully red there," she said to the star, catching her lip between her teeth. She was rather hoping if adjustments were necessary, it'd be blue. Red was an indicator of too many things. She sighed in exaggerated fashion as she made her way to a table and dug for her notes once more. "How're yours?" she asked from her stool, glancing up to check how their jars looked.

There were rules to follow in a laboratory. Edita didn't know them all by heart but she was pretty sure of some of them being true. For example, she was sure that food wasn't allowed. So as much as she wanted to bring a few cauldron cakes with her--to share with Grass Munching Gryffindor because it was the only thing she was sure he'd eat, she kept them under her pillow in her dorm. Ed was also certain you weren't allowed to bring anything to drink either and you weren't allowed to bring your pets.

Still...

"Get down!" she whispered urgently out of the corner of her mouth, pushing down on Muppet as he poked his head out of the collar of her robes from the back of her neck. She felt him scuffling, his little nose tickling her skin so she wiggled and giggled momentarily before regaining composure. "I'll just put this one on," Eddie announced without much reason as she slipped into an over sized lab coat. She quickly grabbed a pair of goggles, and tilted her hair back, trying to get it away from her face before she could put on the goggles properly. It wasn't a very good success, her hair looking tangled up with the goggle's elastic band in places but she didn't pay it much mind. They had stars to look over.

Her jar was close to November's although she had to push at least two to the left and one to the right whose names she didn't recognize but found excruciatingly uncreative. Some people had no flair for star naming. None at all!

"Edistar!" Happenstance gasped, letting her jaw drop. "You're looking mighty blue!" Inside her jar, a sky blue ball glowed brightly, and it made the glass hum when she pressed her palms against it to hold the jar. "Is this a good thing? It feels like a good thing. It's a good thing," she said quickly and stooped over to whisper to the jar lid: "Just a few steps before total galaxy annihilation. You'll be the best death star ever."

West arrived at the lab and immediately grabbed the labcoat he'd decided would be his, followed by protective goggles which weren't quite as cool as his Quidditch goggles but whatevs. Next step was grabbing a jar and setting himself up at a workspace.

...

.......?

A workspace WELL away from first years. He didn't trust them. They looked shifty, although he supposed that one Slytherin one could be forgiven for it. Sniff.

Still, AWAY. AWAY from first years.

Odessa deposited his jar on the desk (the one away from first years, did we mention?), and then his two boxes that supposedly had powdered forms of the gasses needed for starmaking. West, despite his usual curiousity, hadn't actually LOOKED inside, concerned that if he did it might somehow escape (could powder escape, even? What if he sneezed, or worse, breathed it in?) and then if it escaped then Flamsteed might make him chase down meteors again. Which was fun and probably good for Quidditch skillz and all, but it was time consuming when he had all this other homework stuff to do, and A Nile Monitor to feed and train, and a girlfriend to snog as often as possible, and a lot of best friends who needed West!time, and of course, preparation for his last Quidditch match of the year.

First a label.

Hmm. He sorta felt like maybe his STAR needed a name too. He'd think about a good name and add that on the label as well.

Next the jar needed cleaning apparently, though West sort of wondered what could possibly be in there that would actually mess up a star. He Scourgified the inside and then decided to wash it out too, so conjured some water of the soapy variety, and sloshed it around a bit, watching the bubbles on the surface make little coloured patterns against the glass.

... and he sort of daydreamed a bit while doing that.

Ahem.

Where was he? Oh yeah!

West dumped the contents of the jar, the soapy water, down a nearby sink and then used Tergeo to siphon the last remnants of water and soap out of the jar. Then to be safe, he Scourgified it again. Couldn't get a jar much cleaner than that! No streaks or anything.

West wondered a bit as he opened first one of the metal boxes and then the other, if he could keep those once they were emptied out. They were kinda cool after all, being star shaped and stuff. Probably could do things with those. He first added a tablespoon of powdered helium, and then another of hydrogen, and then, glancing up at the first years suspiciously before continuing, focused his attention on the powders-in-a-jar. "Fingere Elementi!" He JABBED his wand at the jar, focusing on the contents compressing.

GO STAR.

He watched avidly.

.... did it work?