Ana was quite excited for today's lesson, the last one had been great, barring Professor Airey's injury of course. Because that hadn't been good. Had been quite bad in fact and he was still using a cane, poor man. Anyway, it had definitely made sure she stayed enthused about Astronomy classes and so Ana had a slight bounce in her step as she made her way to the Astrophysics lab for the lesson. Although it was less of a bounce than normal as her body seemingly no longer had what it took to be extra bouncy. Sad face.

She hesitated briefly before stepping into the lab, wondering where the lint roller was. She'd thought it strange last lesson but she was kind of expecting it for this one. Maybe he didn't use it all the time? After that hesitation though she continued to bounce her way into the lesson, shooting her professor a large grin.

"Hi Prof Airey, how are you feeling today?"

Pleasantries out of the way Ana walked towards the closet and grabbed the lab coat with her name on and the pair of goggles before walking to a seat near the front of the lab. She put her coat on, it looked quite nifty and sat down before really paying attention to the materials in front of her. Helium, Hydrogen and Iron, along with a large glass box. Experimentation!

"Professor, are we going to be doing an experiment on Stellar Nucleosynthesis?" Ana questioned, somewhat excitedly, and hoping he would say that they were. It was the only reason Ana could think of that they'd be using helium, hydrogen and iron all together in the astrophysics lab. Plus it was obvious they were doing an experiment of some sort and that would totally be the coolest one.

As she waited for an answer Ana placed the goggles on her desk and her bag beside the stool she was sitting on. She could tell that this lesson was going to be so much fun.

Caleb knew that he didn't look very good - his hair was totally white now and his beard was starting to come in totally white too, even though he had shaved it. But poor Flamsteed - he looked REALLY bad. If Caleb's aging kept up like this, he'd need a cane soon too!

"Hiya Professor," he said softly, coughing from the LONGGGGGG walk up to the astrophysics lab from the dungeons. Right, lab material and coats and stuff. UGH.

Delilah finally made it to the seventh floor. Phew, that was tiring. She entered the laboratory and.. Oh! She just stared at Airey for a moment. Oh gosh, what happened to him!? He looked so old and his hair was white... NO! His good looks were gone. Disappeared. How incredibly disappointing. But, the girl finally managed to give him a small smile. "Hello, professor."

... She dropped her bag near her seat before she walked to the closet, picked out her lab coat and a pair of goggles. Looked like this class was going to be super interesting, for sure. She put her coat on before walking back to her seat, placed her goggles on her seat and sat down. Okay. She was ready for class to begin.

Another Astronomy lesson! This time it was in the lab and Adi was very much looking forward to it despite the terrible ache in his knees. He was not surprised to find the lint roller there. After using it on his clothes, Adi stepped into the lab.

Using the lab meant also using goggles and lab coats. He got one of the coats and the yellow goggles with his name in it from the closet. Adi went over to greet old man Flamsteed. "Hello, Professor. How's old age treating you?'' Well, the man DID look old. The Puffer was curious about the hand behind his back but just offered the man a grin.

Adi now turned his attention to the tables where each had a box and labelled jars. Hmmm. They'd be making something today? Eager to check out the jars more closely, Adi made himself comfortably on one of the stool. Of course, he won't touch anything just in case he wasn't supposed to. He'd examine by looking.

Bay walked into class. "Good Morning Professor.. how is your back doing?" he asked while seeing that they needed goggles and a lab coat.. "cool" he spoke to himself.

he went to the closet and looked through the gryffindor lab coats and spotted one with his name on it "Victor Bay" and he pulled it off the rack and slung it over his arm.

"okay now i need the goggles" he grabbed a pair and the made his way to his seat.. "i wonder what were going to be doing today?" he thought.

This classroom was really very far away, did Flamsteed know?

It took a lot of huffing and puffing and the occasional breaks on every floor along the way but... he had made it. Finally. He ruffled his hair in place before heading off in the direction of the classroom. He still cared about it, sure, even if it was more grey than before. He was trying to ignore the grey-ness, just like he was ignoring the deeper wrinkles forming near his eyes.

... No lint rollers? BLINK. This was an Astronomy lesson he was heading off towards, right?

Confused, the eighteen year old headed into the Laboratory and looked around, specifically somewhere near the door. No desk of lint rollers either? This was... weird. And what was weirder was the setup of the classroom. Not the usual desks and chairs aligned in a semi-circle. ... Alec had lots of questions about this. Yeah.

Grabbing his lab coat -- hey, look, there was his name! -- and a pair of goggles, the boy put it on before slowly heading over towards a desk that had a box on it. He tilted his head and eyed the glass jars inside. ... More questions. The letters stood for the elements, right? Did they? Flamsteed would explain so he'd keep his questions at bay. And speaking of Flamsteed... "Hello Professor!" he called, giving the man a small smile and a wave, "Nice cane." Was he hiding something? Or holding onto his back?

... Lots. Of. Questions.

And his back was saying no to the stools. They looked comfortable but... no. There was no back rest.

Ugg...Ben definately was being to think the astronomy tower was a worse trip then the Gryffindor one. Those last steps of stairs were killer. Needless to say he ached when he finally reached the top and was able to step into the astrophysics lab ready for class. He might have considered missing the class for all it was worth but it was a required subject. He would likely need a note from the healer for that and he wasn't going to try her. He just had to deal with it like all the other things he had had to deal with since everything started to happen.

The grey hair...the half beard he had been trying to control since shaving it all off just seemed to make it worse...the aches and pains and dislike for yelling.

Putting on his lab coat and goggles, Ben looked around to see what was up. "Hello Professor," he greeted, noting the man certainly seemed worse than he. The chairs and desks were moved around but nothing too unnervy and spotting Adi already there, opted for the desk beside him, sinking into it with a groan. "Hey...up for some creating?" he mused, eying what was on the desk in front of him.

Wait was this also a daydream because there was no lint roller. Plus the was no semi circle. Just some awesome cushioned stools. That will do wondered for Nigel's aching leg. But nothing for his back.

Shame. "Hello, Professor Flamsteed"

What was with the lab coats and goggles. This was not potions or anything like that. Not questioning it further. Nigel grabbed his embroidered coat. Pretty cool and his goggles.

Now what were they going to be doing with Iron, Helium, and Hydrogen?

What in the...? Where the...?

Alexa was lost. She stood just outside the door to the Astrophysics Lab, twisting and turning in all directions, not really remembering where the place was. Further down the hall maybe...? Or no...no maybe it was on the Third Floor? Where was the Third Floor again? Dangit why couldn't she remember? The girl wasn't known for shoddy memory but it'd been in and out for the past few days and now she just wanted a nap. Why was the castle so confusing?

If she could remember where the Common Room was she'd head back up there but just as she got that thought she saw that...er....that Ravenclaw person....the Starfish one....--Merlin what was his name again??--she saw him go through that suspicious door and it slowly jogged something. That's right. HERE was the lab. Thanks Marcus.

The Gryffindor hobbled inside, taking her own time to make sure her back wasn't all kinds of sore by the time she got inside. Why was everyone in those snazzy coat thingies? She wanted one. Were they free? Alexa made her way over to the closest and fished one that...oh wow it had her name...at least...that looked like her name. Yup. Lex shrugged into the coat then grabbed a pair of goggles and headed to a table.

Such a nice box.

It was a good job that Terry had left half an hour early to the Astronomy lesson because it had taken him a long time to get up all those stairs. Merlin, why did the Astronomy tower and the Slytherin Common Room have to be so far apart? His body just couldn't take it. His legs were shaking like jelly as he made his way into the Astrophysics lab, squinting around as soon as he stepped through the premises.

He glanced briefly over at the cupboard and then at a nearby student who had a lab coat and goggles on their desk. He shrugged, heading over and grabbing them both. His eyes were so blurry he couldn't tell who was sat where so he just made his way over to a desk at the very front of the classroom, purely because he wouldn't be able to see the board otherwise.

Woah.

Didn't Flamsteed look so old? Though he himself had been too scared to look into the mirror this morning. His hair had been getting greyer and greyer every day and he was sure by some point he wouldn't have any blonde left. Thankfully he had escaped the whole wrinkles and beard thing that a lot of male students had. But that didn't compensate for the fact that his eyesight was seriously failing him and oh the pain in his legs was getting worse.

Was anyone going to do something about this any time soon?

"Hello Professor" he smiled a little at the man. Was he going to hurt his back again this lesson? It had been awful how short the last lesson was cut. He was actually quite enjoying it. That and he quite liked the Professor. He was definitely one of his favourites. "Watch yourself this lesson, yeah? None of us want to see you injure yourself again." Though he had been alright in the dance lesson. But he was serious.

Don't hurt yourself.

Emma walked slowly into the classroom, taking special care not to run into anyone. Everyone was having so many old people problems lately that she didn't want to be responsible if someone were to break a hip. "Good evening, professor." She beamed up at the man. Sure, he had aged a lot since their last lesson, but he still was a pretty cool dude.

She took note of the fact that the lint roller and semi-circle were gone, only to be replaced by embroidered goggles and cushioned stools. Weird, but Emma could roll with it. She placed the goggles on her head before sitting down at one of the nearest respective stools.

Oye. Not as comfortable for her back as she would have liked.

Caelen walked into the labratory, taking a seat on one of the stools and looking around. What were they going to DO here? Were they going to try to identify stars? She had enough of that doing her homework. Or where they going to look up close at something? Because that seemed like something astronomers did.

"Hello, professor Flamsteed." What was he hiding? Did it have something to do with the lesson? What could you hide that had something to do with the universe and the heavenly bodies and all of that? Slumping down in her seat a little, Caelen thought of the answer.

Couldn't be a book unless it was a pocket edition, possibly be a microscope depending on how big his hands were. But only one hand was behind his back. Maybe a small star chart? Though she had ENOUGH of looking at those from the homework too. She wasn't bitter or anything -maybe a little- but she was tired of looking at star-charts. Or maybe it was a piece of chalk and he was tricking them.

Either way, if a lesson needed goggles, it had to be good. She put them on her head and resigned to wait for the rest of the class to shuffle -or hobble with many of the students becoming ollld- and for the lesson to begin. She was still guessing though, just letting her guesses get somewhat ridiculous. Maybe they were doing something to get rid of the oldness. They were already getting rid of wrinkles in potions so it was a good guess.

As always, Alice was excited for another lesson in Astronomy. But her excitement was reaching new levels today, because their last lesson had been cut short after the professor had experienced his own 'Big Bang'. That just meant Airey was going to make this class extra fun to make up for it, right?

And where was the lint roller? She idly wondered about its disappearance as she entered the lab, grabbing her lab coat and goggles from the closet before choosing a spot at which to set her things down. The seventh year was moving a bit slower than usual, because her knee issue had been worsening at a rather quick rate, and she was walking with a limp now. Her eyes had only just settled on the glass box and jars when that Ana girl's words reached her ears. Stellar Nucleosynthesis?

Hmph. Know-it-all Constantinople. Alice was just going to tune her OUT.

"Hi, professor. Whatcha got there?" Hiding something, or was he just holding his back to prevent another accident?

Sophie had set out toward the Astronomy tower two hours in advance. Why two hours? Well, it usually took her a good bit of time to move from the dungeons to the to floor, and with the slow pace she'd been going lately, she knew she'd need the extra time. With her graying hair pulled up in a grandma-style bun, she entered the room.

"Hi, Professor Flamsteed," she said.

She moved past him and laid her book bag down at the seat she'd chosen to take. She then collected her white lab coat and goggles, put them on, and returned to her seat.

Lux was happy as she walked into the classroom. Hopefully this lesson would not be as confusing as the last one was. "Hello, Professor Flamsteed! I hope your back is doing better now!" She did not want to see him hobbling around with a sore back forever.

Walking over to the closet, she found her coat and goggles before taking a seat. She was excited to learn about space, because it was interesting even though it greatly confused her.

Sander slowly walked up the stairs to the Astrophysics Lab. Knowing Professor Flamsteed's quirks, he looked for the lint roller but realized that it was missing together with the small desk it lay on. Sander frowned wondering whether he had reported to the wrong place. Not having been in the lab before, Sander didn't realize that even the inside of the lab had changed. He just liked the furniture the Professor had picked out.

Not knowing what to do, Sander noticed the other students walking to a row of closets and pulling out white lab coats and goggles out from them. So Sander did the same and noticed there was a closet with his name on it. He opened it and pulled out a pair of goggles and a white lab coat and put both on before walking over to where Professor Flamsteed was standing.

The man did not look well at all. In fact he looked old. But who was he to comment on someone else's looks? Sander wasn't looking that good himself. His hair was almost entirely covered with grey now, he had lost his battle with his ever growing beard, and his entire body ached. Even his legs felt wobbly after climbing those stairs. Even that pesky gas problem was causing a lot of embarrassment for him!

When Sander finally got within listening distance of the Professor, he smiled and greeted the man, "Hello Professor. I'm really looking forward to your lesson today. You have a great lab here." Sander informed the Professor before looking around. He noticed that Bay had already arrived and walked over to join him.
"Hey Bay, mind if I join you. Have you seen Lux and Tessa yet? Sander asked as he sat down and placed his backpack on the ground, even as looked around for his other two friends. Just then he saw Lux and waved at her.

Sander noticed there was a glass container on the desk in front of him together with jars that had the labels, H, He and Fe on each of them respectively.

'Hmmm...the letters are part of the elemental table. H for Hydrogen, He for Helium and Fe for Iron." Sander had read something about what the combination of these elements had in correlation to the stars but couldn't quite remember what it was.

So as he waited for the Professor to start his lesson, he opened up his textbook and began flipping through the pages trying to find where he has read about.

Theo wasn't excited about Astronomy as such, since it wasn't a subject that sparked a lot of interest to him, but he wasn't too bothered about coming today. It was probably because Flamsteed's dance class had been such a success. The guy had earned points in his book. He went straight to the closet and pulled out a lab coat with his name on, and some goggles. For starters, that was pretty darn cool.

He took a seat on the stool, which was nice and comfy, in front of a big glass box. Ooooookay... "Hiii, Professor Flamsteed." He was looking rather ragged and old. Theo ran his hand through his hair and took a moment to appreciate his youthful appearance.

Not everyone was so lucky.

Walking was hard, y'know?

Ella had made it a point to do more of it lately, hoping that if her body got used to the activity, she'd be able to fight the aches and pains easier. They were constant though and the blonde couldn't help but feel defeated as she made her way quite slowly to the Astronomy lab, stopping every now and then to catch her breath or grab her lower back. She was struggling and it was the worst.

At least she had a semi-handle on the greying hair and wrinkles. She'd gotten used to coloring her locks so now only a few greys peeked through. It was a pain to keep up with but it was all she could do to feel normal. Gran's anti-wrinkle cream helped too...sort of. At least she was trying to believe it did. Yeah.

Forcing a smile, the eighteen year old finally made her way through the doorway of the lab and didn't notice the lack of lint roller. Honestly, she'd forgotten that was a thing so it wasn't even on her mind as she wandered absently over to the closet and took out a lab coat with her name on it and very slowly tugged it on. Then it was on to her seat, focusing all of her energy on getting there so she could sit and rest her bones.

Only when she was seated and comfy did Ella look over to Airey-face. "Hello, Professor. How's your back?" She hoped it was better.

Tessa walked into the classroom and paused once she had entered. Things looked different... granted, that could be her memory playing tricks on her. It took her a moment to remember which class she was attending too... perhaps she should consider bringing notes with her wherever she went...

"Hello Professor!" she said, giving him a smile as she walked in. "I hope your back is feeling better," she added.

She walked in and gave a small wave when she saw Sander, Bay, and Lux all sitting together. "I'll be right back," she said, setting her stuff down with them before going over to the closet to get a lab coat and goggles. She slipped those on and went over to join her friends, getting her quill and parchment ready for class.

Hearing her name being said, Lux turned and saw Sander waving at her. Oh, she had not even seen him and Bay. Maybe it was because everyone else was looking so old now. It was hard to even remember how her friends were supposed to look!

Getting up, she moved over to where the two boys were seated and took her space on the other side of Bay. "What do you guys think we will be learning today? And have you seen Tessa?" Maybe Sander would know where his girlfriend was.

Then speak of the devil... she appeared. Wow, that was kind of freaky. Waving at her friend, she waited for her to join them.

Lab coats. Goggles. Hydrogen, helium, and iron?

Well, this looked like it'd be an interesting lesson.

Schuyler walked into the room, her joints feeling extra creaky today. She had resigned herself to the fact that unfortunately there WAS something going on about this premature aging, that she wasn't just achy because it was about to rain or snow..

Gosh, Airey, though. "Professor, I'm afraid you look like the crypt keeper," she said with a sympathetic frown. He looked too old to walk on his own, let alone do the Viennese Waltz.

Oh, look... the lab coats had their names embroidered onto them.

Sander looked up from his reading just in time to see Tessa walk in. Ahhh...finally his girlfriend was here. He smiled at her as she came to join them and nodded when she went off again to grab her lab coat and goggles.



Sander smiled up at Lux as she came over to join them. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself." he whispered to Lux. In response to Lux's question regarding Tessa whereabouts, he grinned and pointed at Tessa as she came back from the row of closets and sat down next to them.

It had taken Alex an extra long time to get ready for class today. She kept misplacing things, forgetting where she had left her parchment and quill. She was relieved when she had finally retrieved everything and arrived on time for Astronomy class. Failing to see the Professor's trusty lint roller outside of the lab, she entered the room.

Things were arranged a little differently today and it threw Alex off for a brief moment. Seeing her classmates wearing lab coats, she went to the cabinet and retrieved her coat and goggles. Alex put her lab coat on and spotted Professor Flamsteed standing near the blackboard. "Hello Professor, how are you today?", Alex inquired. Finding the nearest empty seat, she sat down. Alex noticed a glass box containing three small jars and wondered what the Professor had planned for them today.

The Astronomy tower was sooooooo far awayyyyyyy from the Hufflepuff common room. By the time Tobias finally reached the room, panting and exhausted, he was in a world of pain in his knees and hips and back and even his fingers from where he'd made good use of the bannister and heaved his way up through the castle.

Now he was in the class, Tobias didn't even do his usual cursory glance of the room. He just forced himself to walk the last few paces and to a chair right next to Ella. He collapsed into it and took a moment to wheeze catch his breath.

Airey got a vague wave, but no words yet. Tobias didn't even properly look at him. What was the point? His eyes were still being funny.

At LEAST Tobias had finally got his hands on some hair dye and done an amatuer, yet satisfactory, job at covering up his whitening hair so it was... sort of closer to his natural colour. But it still looked weird and old and his face was still creased. Mostly, he was worried about all this tiredness. Bouncing was replaced by napping these days, and if Toby had the energy for it, he'd be alarmed.

But he tried to forget about all that.

'Cause Astronomy.