Dora's eyes instantly narrowed at the younger girl skeptically. She couldn't wait to read it?? That was hard to believe, from someone who didn't like to read, and was only reading this cause she was getting lessons in return. She would see how how Alexa felt after a few days had passed.

"Good, it'll help you with your ACTUAL defense class too." Hint hint. [b]"I'm still gonna teach you one spell today,"[b] Dora nodded her head. She did say she would, she just wanted to get that deal out of the way first. Drawing her wand from its holster, she took exaggerated steps around Alexa, as if she were some wise old teacher and the lioness was a tyro.

Which Alexa actually was.

"I'm gonna teach you one spell today. You know the trip or knockback ones?" She stopped in front of the girl. Important questions.

Lex raised an eyebrow at her? Why was she looking at her like that? Did she say something strange--oh yeah...she did. So maybe the look was warranted afterall...everyone knew the girl just didn't like reading so a sentence like that...even she was waiting to see how long the feeling lasted.

"Yeah I guess it would...so now it has double the use it had when you first gave it to me--jbcdjbudf! You will?!" So walking down here wasn't a waste afterall!!! She was gonna get to learn a hex and then she'd be all happy and nothing would bring her down! She was so excited she could have squealed but then that might have been taken the wrong way and Dora might have changed her mind. For now she tried to keep herself composed as the girl began her pacing.

...

"No...I don't..." They sounded simple enough which made her think she should have but in reality she didn't. "I know you said you'd only teach me one but will you teach me both...? Please?" It was worth a shot.

"Exactly, this is why you should read by the way." Dora supplied helpfully. She nodded her head scanned the area around them since they would need something for her to practice on, and it sure wasn't gonna be Dora. "I said I would, but only one. Not two." It WAS a nice try though, since Dora seemed to be acting generous towards the younger lioness.

But if anyone really knew her, and few did, they would pick up the subtle hits of an experiment. She was doing more of that than usual lately. "I'll teach you the knockback jinx." Not finding what she was looking for, the third year started digging around in her satchel.

Lex made a face at her. They were jumping far too many steps in one day. First she was told she'd have to read this book in order to get taught a hex and now Dora was suggesting that there were merits to reading. Uh-huh...no. Just no. She was taking in just about as much as she could but now this was getting ridiculous. Reading was a necessary evil; nothing more, nothing less.

Awwww...well, it had been worth a try. You know, just in case Dora was bored and decided that two would give her something to occupy her time or maybe she would have decided that she liked Lex enough to offer her the two. "...Fine...but can you teach me the second one when I'm half way through the book." Now that she was looking at it...it seemed a lot bigger and more intimidating than when it was first placed in her hand. She didn't think she could do this.

Lex nodded. "Okay, that one's good...ummm..." She leaned a bit closer to the girl with a curious look. "What are you looking for exactly...?"

Dora was never bored on account of there ALWAYS being something interesting to do. Always. But she did like Alexa enough to spare her some time for this. She cracked a grin. "Maybe." MAYBE she'd teach her the second one when she was halfway through with the book. Depending on how she fared with the first in her arsenal.

"Something for you to practice aiming on," But she couldn't find anythiiiing! She gave up her search and pulled out a piece of parchment, and began folding it carefully into a bird. "You'll have to use this I guess." She enlarged it just enough so it was palm-sized, then placed it a few paces away on a tree stub.

Yeah... that would have to due she supposed.

"Flipendo," She spoke clearly, taking a second to see if Alexa was paying attention. "That's the incantation, and this is the wand movement." She preformed it slowly three times for the lioness. "And it basically knocks down whoever you're shooting at. Which is that paper bird there." Not Dora.

MAYBE??? In Alexa terms that was as close to a yes as she usually got so the girl grinned widely. There would be a second spell then she would walk away having learned not one but TWO that she could freely cast as she saw fit. Not that she'd mention that to Dora. No way. The Ravenclaw girl wanted her being all responsible and stuff with this hexing business and if she told her that she was going to be all reckless with it then the lesson would end. See? Who said she couldn't be a smart cookie?

Lex eyed the folded 'bird' curiously as Dora showed it to her. That thing? Well, she supposed it was better than a real bird. Real ones flew away and made it harder for her. Kinda like people who wouldn't stand still but that was what the leg-locker curse was for. Heh.

Pretty soon it was demonstration time and of course Lex was paying EXTRA SPECIAL attention. She always did when it came to learning things like these because they interested her and she wanted to learn them as soon as humanly possible. "Right...flipendo..." She muttered, deep in concentration, occasionally performing the wand movement as she went on processing. "Like that? And is there a limit to what I can knock over...?"

Endurace and Strength.

Those were the two things Ella was supposed to gain from taking the potion she had in a little vial in her hand. The blonde had spent some time setting up a little shuttle run-esque endurance test for herself and hopefully the potion would help her complete it. As for the testing her strength part, Ella had substituted smaller rocks for larger and much heavier boulders... boulders which she'd only been able to roll into place up until now.

Starting out a ways away from the boulders, Ella bent down a bit and got into a starting stance, as if she was about to run a race. The blonde then uncorked the vial and downed the potion. Blink.Blink.Blink. Had it worked?

Waiting a minute or two to let it...sink in or something, the fifteen year old counted down from ten.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1 GO!

...

The blonde took off like a cannon and sprinted towards the first boulder, scooping it up with ease when she got to it and turning on her heel. Then it was back to her original spot where she dropped the boulder off. Merlin! The potion was working! The badger continued sprinting on to the next boulder which was a little farther away, stopping to scoop this one up as well. She was in awe of how easily she was able to lift them off the ground and how crazy it was that she wasn't winded yet. This was really cool.

Run. Run. Run.

After dropping off the second boulder next to the first, Ella headed for the last one which was the farthest away. She sprinted straight for it, zooooming across the ground with ease. This was brilliant! When she reached the boulder, she lifted it easily and headed straight back where the others were placed.

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Dropping the last boulder off, the blonde blinked and took in what had happened. She had just carried three boulders while sprinting and wasn't even tired. Hey, her arms didn't even hurt! Not to mention the fact that she still felt quite energetic. Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! How long was this meant to last?

Deciding not to waste the energy, the fifteen year old smiled a little at the boulders and then decided to take a run on the grounds. Might as well get some energy in while she was up to it, yeah?

It's there. IT'S THERE. Kat ran to the Front Gate, seeing that the asterism seemed to be getting NEARER to here as she got nearer to the gate. She wanted a broomstick though, because she hated running and sweating because of it. She did sweat during Quidditch, but it made a whole different meaning of things when Quidditch was connected to it. Of course. Always Quidditch. AHEM. Quidditch wasn't the reason why she was outside tonight. Although Quidditch matches were the reasons why she was outside MOST of the time, tonight it was different. It was all for homework and housepoints. The Slytherin wished her other housemates were doing the same and exerting effort to do stuff like she was doing now. It would be unfair, breaking a lot of sweat while the others just slacked. And slacked even more. And did nothing but chill.

When she arrived at the Front Gate, Kat looked up and looked through her binoculars. THERE. That was the asterism Alec and Ella and someone else made. That meant... it was there. Somewhere there. Kat looked around the asterism and saw nothing else but a single star. That was it. Twin stars looked like they were one from afar right? That was her star, and Elise's star. Putting the binoculars down, she continued to gaze at her asterism. "How're you doing up there, Geronimo?" she said to herself her star as if it would respond with a "I'M COOL AND LAPIN AND I ARE DATING" sort of thing. But she was glad to see her star all fine and away from... harm. Yeah. There goes her motherly way again.

But she was tired now. "Bye Geronimo," she bid her farewell. "Bye Lapin." Don't forget Elise's rabbit star too. After a tiring and sweaty night of chasing stars and stargazing, Kat made her way back to the castle. Hopefully she wouldn't catch Peeves. Or any ghost. Especially Myrtle. Oh boy.

Stargazing. Stargazing. Stargazing.

Yep. Beezus had a date....with stars. And Marcus Branxton, solely for academic purposes. Vivi would skin her alive if she set her eyes on the blonde's brother. But of course she liked Mo, who doesn't? He was sweet and adorable and a very awesome Quidditch player. And he agreed to do this assignment with her too, which added more points to his already growing meter of awesomeness in the Prefect's eyes.

Too much for that.

Beezus, a bag strapped over her shoulder went to chose a bench a few steps away from the bench and settled down as she waited. As she tied her hair into a ponytail, she looked up into the darkened sky adorned with sparkling stars and a huge moon that illuminated brightly. Half moon. Hmm.

"Now, where is my star?" Yes, well, apparently...she had a star of her own. Now that it had any legal proof but claiming it was good and searching for it in the star-muddled sky was definitely something worthwhile.

And did she mention having snacks for tonight too? That was right. She had hot milk and some cookies. But she'd take it out when her young partner arrives.

Mo had a thing for older women. Granted, he had a thing for a particular older woman, but in general, he liked working with older classmates who were generally more knowledgeable than him and serious about doing the homework properly. He waved at Beezus as he approached and gave her a broad grin.

"Hey, Miss Busy Bee. Ready to do some star gazing? I want you to know that although I know this is a romantic-type activity, that doesn't mean you can flirt with me. I have very strict rules about flirting and doing homework," he wagged a finger at her in mock severity before dropping his bag on the ground and tilting his own head back to take in the stars.

"Have you found your constellation yet? D'you suppose they can see it at all beyond Hogwarts? D'you think Muggles are confused about new stars?" He didn't see his yet, but he hadn't gotten to tracing out the old familiar constellations.

Ooooooh! That was the little dipper, yeah? .....And there was her little girl, yea? "Hey, Zeta." Beezus muttered into the sky, her eyes glued to the tiny star above which still glittered beautifully in the blanket that supplied the dark night despite its distance from the other stars. That was DEFINITELY hers. She could feel the connection and more especially, she knew her own star better than anyone else. Obviously.

Still not taking her eyes off the celestial body, Beezus heard someone approach and only when he heard him talk did she pull her gaze away from her star. Mo had arrived. She grinned back at the younger 'Claw and immediately reached out to ruffle his hair after hearing his greeting. "You're cute but no, I am not here to flirt with you." He was young. Which meant he was off limits. And wasn't really her type. But she appreciates. Yep. Besides, Beezus is terribly heels over head with someone else.

Beezus chuckled and edged a bit to the side to give Mo more space to sit on. "Questions, hmm? First off, yes...I found my constellation and my star. Which was rather very easy. Well, her star immediately showed itself. She pointed it out to him. THEEEEEEEERE. See? "You see it?" .....And.... "No. I really don't know about seeing it here at Hogwarts. I mean, the sky is a vast space. Very." She shrugged and turned to her bag, chuckling. "Muggles are confused about everything Mo. They like to complicate things. Actually, I think every person has that innate disability in them."

Mo gave Bee a cheeky grin as he took his seat. Of course she wasn't flirting with him, but it was nice that she didn't overreact like he'd suggested she was trying to feed him babies or something. So then... homework.

Mo obediently tilted his head and searched the skies for Beezus's star. It took a moment without her giving any specific constellations, but it didn't take long before he generally found a completely unknown star in the vicinity Beezus was pointing. "Did you name your star? And what is the name of your asterism?"

He pointed toward Cassiopeia and Cepheus. "You see there? We chopped off a bit of Cepheus to make it rounder and then added sides to Cassiopeia. It's a Bludger and bat." He paused. "West and I called it Selina."

Beezus pulled out a thermos from her bag and two disposable mugs as she listened to Mo's questions. "I've got milk for us." Not cocoa. Because that was choco and she was allergic so milk. It ensures a good night's sleep too. After pouring milk to one mug and handing it over to her companion, the brunette looked up at her star again. "I named my star Zeta. Actually, Zeta the Second because there's already a start called Zeta out there." She poured a mug of her own and nodded. "The asterism we named Spectrum just because we think it sounds cool. " Hehe. "It's the diamond-like clump of stars next to mine."

When it was his turn to point out his asterism, Beezus pulled her mug to her chest and followed where he's directing. ...It DOES look like a bludger and bat. "Selina?" Giggle!snort. "Does she know about this?"

Warm milk? It was dark out, and sort of warm, and she'd brought warm milk? Was it nap time? Mo took the cup, although he didn't drink any right away. He was probably going to fall asleep if he bothered drinking the milk... so that would come later.

"My star is named Nova. I told her a story about another star named Nova who was a hero, and she liked it so much she grew... way bigger." He propped his elbows on his knees and admired the way Nova sort of twinkled at him. She wouldn't last forever - he was smart enough to realize that, and he sort of wanted her back in a jar where he could take care of her.

"Spectrum, hmm? How many stars did you add to it?" Mo traced the clump of stars with one finger as he considered her OTHER question. He answered quietly, "Wasn't named after Selina the person, though. It was named after Selina the bat." Alice's bat. And he wasn't foolish enough now to believe that West had meant any other Selina.

Taking a sip, she nodded whilst she also listened to Mo tell her about his star. "Nova...isn't that Latin for new star?" It was a good choice of a name, she had to admit. Then again, the Branxton's were a smart bunch so that wasn't a wonder if not directly expected. She also noticed that Mo's star appears to be more brighter than hers.

Turning back to her bag, she took out the pouch of cookies and nudged him with it. "Cookies." Nudge. Nudge. She also pulled out binoculars. Beezus placed her mug of milk to the side and looked into the binoculars, straining gaze on her star first before Mo's. "Your star really is brighter than mine." She concluded after a few seconds. It was. It looked bigger too. "Spectrum has seven stars, including mine."

She carefully placed the small telescope on her lap and took the mug to her hands again. ....Oh! Not Selina Selina but Selina, Alice's bat. "I thought you meant the Head Girl. Ugh....you were referring to the bat." She chuckled lightly and leaving the mug in one hand, she used the other to bring the binoculars back to her eyes. Hmm. Looking at the Selina asterism this time...Yeah, it really is a bat. "Why Alice's bat though? I mean.....you have your own bat to start with. Oh, and I like Alice." Milk sipping.

She liked Nova's name? Mo grinned happily as he pressed the binoculars to his face and looked first at Nova and then at West's star. West hadn't named his star like other people had. He'd been very proper and scientific about it.

Oh, cookies. Mo took a cookie and nibbled the edges as he continued to admire both of their asterisms. Who else had helped Bee? Was that even a proper question? "Who else made stars in Spectrum there? Did you have 7 people in your group, or are some of those real stars? It's actually sort of hard to tell."

And why why why was Beezus asking so many embarrassing questions? It was lucky it was dark out, but he was blushing furiously. "It was sort of West's suggestion. But..." he shrugged and fell silent for a while before finally handing the binoculars back. "I like Alice too."

She reached out and took a cookie for herself and munched on it as she continued gazing up at her star, and at the asterism and to Mo's star too. "Some of those are real stars. The real Zeta star is actually within the clump. I worked with friends, Elliot, Jayden, Harvey, Jezabel..." She nodded, talking, sipping milk and eating from the cookie alternately. "They're all Ravenclaws but I don't think you really know them? They're not exactly that sociable with younger students." She was trying to persuade them to but some just wouldn't budge, saying they already had a lot on their plate.

"Oh. You worked with West Odessa for your asterism, hmm? Who else were on your group? " Was it just her or was Mo growing a little too silent right now? Was he falling asleep because of the milk or was it because she was just a boring person to talk with? Meh. "....Hmm?...but what?"

She returned the binoculars inside her bag and pounced on her mug of milk, finishing it before speaking once more. "Who doesn't like Alice anyway? She's amazing. And she has great teeth." Right, Mo? :3

"I don't know a lot of people yet," Mo shrugged. The people he knew, he really liked, but there were still loads and loads of friends to make at Hogwarts.

Mo leaned back on his elbows, tipping back his head to take in the whooooole sky at once. Their asterisms looked pretty legit to him. Like they really belonged up there, not like some big goofy fake thing pasted into the sky by a bunch of amateurs.

"It was just me and West. He's my best mate, you know, so we like to work together on stuff." Even if they were less friendly in recent days. Mo had never in a million years figured on that. "He actually came up with the idea. I sorta wanted to do a yeti... use Cepheus as the torso and arms and then extend legs down with our stars. But this is good too."

Better, even. He should have figured stuff out then, though. "Everyone does like Alice," he agreed. Finally. "But I meant like... I like her. Even if that makes me sound like a kid or whatever." He smooshed down his hair. "How long will our stars last up there? D'you know?"