She...what? No, she wasn't allergic to chocolate. She didn't have xocolatophobia, which obviously meant fear of chocolate, right? That much she could guess, an expert on phobias she was not. But, like, alright, she could take a seat at least, yeah? And so she did, ensuring Professor Flamsteed that everything was fine (was it, really?) as she shook her head and sent a smile his way.

First things first. The chocolate went to her bag, because otherwise focusing would be impossible, and as she was gathering her notes and such Airey was reminding them of how this was not Astrology, but Astronomy. Well, yeah, she knew that.

Hey, look! It was working, she was focusing!

Except, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. St. Patrick's? Wha--Did Airey say celebrate? Airey Flamsteed wasn't Irish. No, no, no, no. He couldn't possibly be. Where was Flamsteed from, anyway? Lottie, where was Flamsteed from? He was from England. He was. So, like, h--how? Surely, everyone is welcome to celebrate any holiday they wished regardless of where they're from.

Surely.

And yet she has never---wait, Pluto? Why were they mentioning Pluto? Wasn't Airey just talking about childhood memories and leprechauns and rainbows? All he was missing was the unicorn. Because Lottie had stopped listening at some point and just assumed he was telling stories and the like.

No?Wellllll.... "Well, Pluto is not a planet. It's a dwarf planet. A plutoid." There's a difference. That's... the best she could do to pretend she was actually listening...

Oh, dear Merlin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

What was a planet? That was an easy question! Caleb smiled to himself and stuck his hand in the air. "A planet is a mass that orbits around the sun. I think it has to be pretty large to be considered a planet, and if it's too small it's considered a dwarf planet or something smaller," he said. What was smaller than a dwarf planet? He wasn't sure.

Airey was just about to start gnawing on his foiled covered chocolate when the first hand was up in the air. "Very good, Mr. Newell. In terms of size, specifically, the mass of an object must be much larger than anything else which crosses its orbit." Of to a good start here.

SPOILER!!: ELLA & TOBY!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Tobias was sleeping?

Because Ella didn't trust her classmates with her little badger, the eighteen year old took one for the team and painfully made the trip over to him. Owwww. Owwww. Owwwwwie. Then she observed the boy for a minute or two before picking up his textbook and letting it fall to the floor with a thud. "Badger BOOM." Was he awake now or? She was just going to head back to her seat now and hope so. She could always flick the foil from the chocolate coins at him if he didn't wake up. Yeah.

Speaking of, St. Patrick's Day! Was Tag going to have the best day ever? Probably. Ella smiled faintly at this and made a mental note that some rainbow cake might be in order later. Yeah.

But planets...what was a planet? Well, it was round. YEAH. There was also other stuff but um...um..."Well, they orbit around the sun and they're circular and um..." UMMMM... "Oh, those big meanies took away Pluto's planet status cause of his size or something which is entirely UNFAIR."

Chocolate. She needed chocolate. Grumpy old people feels happening.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

zzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzZzzzzz-

THUD!

"-bludger shoes!"

With a sudden confused yelp from his subconscious, Tobias was suddenly jolted back into the land of the living (thanks to that DELIGHTFUL wake up call from the Head Girl). He was confused for a minute, because he'd had sort of forgotten where he was and all, and the it hadn't exactly been a GENTLE awakening. In fact, Toby's heart was still kind of pounding, and he figured that hearing his familiar war cry catchphrase had been what led to his own... uh... exclamation.

Ella was walking away from him. Ella. Ella.

Tobias didn't even have time to mock!glare across the room, because he was registering more things and trying to snap back and focus. And, oh! Cutty was here. Toby offered his friend a sleepy smile before blinking around at the rest of the room.

Oh... oh wait. They were starting? ALREADY?

SDKJFDLFJLDSJSLDJSLKJDLSJSFLJS

Airey clutched his chest and looked as though he were in complete agony at the loud thud and seemed to ECHO in the classroom, not to mention something about a bludger boom. Wait, WHO WAS PLAYING QUIDDITCH IN HIS CLASSROOM?! WAS HE HAVING A HEART ATTACK?!

*WHEEEEEEEZE WHEEEEEEZE*

Blue eyes flying around the room, he spotted Miss Ella doing something he had requested, but certainly going about it by means that were less than satisfactory. "Miss Ella, while your assistance in waking Mr. Tempus are appreciated, I would have preferred that you had done so without abusing school property. 5 points will be taken from Hufflepuff." He paused for a moment to wheeze a bit more. "But 2 of those will be returned for successfully bringing your classmate back from Dreamland."

And yes. The whole Pluto debate. Suppose he had to touch on that today didn't he.

And YOU, Miss Ella, just implied that he was a "big meanie." Tisk tisk. Not that he had been present when the decision had been made, but the man did support the scientists decision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

... What was a planet? Errr. The Hufflepuff raised her hand, "It is a celestial body that revolves around the sun.. and it is larger than an asteroid?" Lamest explanation ever? Yeah, maybe. But, she was distracted by the chocolate, okay? The girl was hungry.

Still wheezing and gripping his chest a little, his eyes scanned the room until he found another raised hand. "Very good, Miss Starr. Interesting to note, however, is that there IS an especially large asteroid in the asteroid belt classified as dwarf planet called Ceres."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Penguin

What really though does the attainment of planetary status mean? Ian pondered aloud. Does it make the cellestial object eligible for some special awards?

"A VERY good question, Mr. Tinker, and something that scientists and astronomers had to think long and hard about. 9,000 professional astronomers to be precise thought about this. Truth of the matter is that prior to 2006 there was only a loose definition of the term planet and because of these many people were laying claim to discovering new planets and the discovery of celestial bodies orbiting stars other than the Sun along the discovery of a vast belt of small bodies orbiting the sun beyond Neptune created urgency for a more specific definition. It is simply a label to help humanity classify objects in space there are no awards for planets." Small chuckle. "Although I am sure some of your classmates would argue that perhaps Pluto is the Leonardo DiCaprio of planets, only worse off since it had a title and then had it taken away."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Sander looked over at his fellow Hufflepuff who had dozed off and envied him. Too bad his nap time had to be cut short as Sander watched the Head girl wake him up.

However, for the rest of the class, it was question time. What is a planet? Sander spent a few minutes thinking of the answer and then listened as some of the students shared their answered. Once there was a pause, Sander raised his hand and gave his answer.

"Professor, a planet as defined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is a celestial body which orbits the sun, is round in shape and doesn't have any other objects larger than itself and its own satellites within its own gravitational influence,"

Rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, Airey mutter to himself for a moment before finally address Mr. Strand. "I didn't ask for the specifically for the definition given by the IAU, Mr. Strand, but how you would define a planet," he said calmly with giving his temple two taps with his index finger. "But correct none the less. Very good."

At least this one was keeping up with the reading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RachieRu

But she did have a idea what a planet was. She turned away from staring at the hufflepuff boy and put her hand in the air. "Isn't a planet... like something that orbits something? Like a star I think? Cause like a moon isn't a planet but it orbits something."

"Mmmhmmm," he nodded towards the Slytherin. "Although it could not be proven until the early 1990’s that there were other planets orbiting other stars - we call these exoplanets - it is a fact that planets much be celestial bodies that are capable of independently orbiting a star or, in the case of our Solar System, the Sun."

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold was happily munching on chocolate and grinning at Airey because DAWWW. HE WAS SUCH A BIG SWEETIE. Waiting to swallow the chocolatey goodness in her mouth before raising her hand to answer.

"I think that a planet is a big ball of gases and other elements," she said. Heh.

Chuckling a little to himself because, heh gas, he nodded his head towards Miss McAlistor. "What you have described is true for the Gas Giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - in our Solar System. They are essential just that, giant balls of gas that meet planetary classification. It is also thought that perhaps each of these Gas Giants posses small solid cores as large as three to 20 Earth masses."

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnicornDragonPatronus

As he began to talk about planets, she raised her hand. "A planet is a celestial body that is of a certain size that has a orbit around a sun," she described. She didn't know the exact size a planet had to be- but she was sure someone could fill in that blank in her knowledge.

"Very good, Miss Hedge. And what is fascinating is that there is no way to know just how many suns there are in the universe so there are really infinite possibilities for other planets and solar systems like our own."

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Question. Planets. "Professor?" he called, raising his hand in the air, "Like the others have said, planets are celestial body that orbits the sun." Nodnod. "And... some of them have moons! Like... Earth has one but Jupiter has... four main, popular ones and... and..." Come on, memory! "... lots more smaller ones." Lots. He had forgotten the number. Hair!ruffle.

"While certainly not a requirement, many planets DO have moons, also called satellites, thanks to gravity's pull keeping them in place. There are some 146 moons orbiting planets in our Solar System alone and still many left to be officially confirmation."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

On to class now. How would she define a planet? She raised her hand. "It's an individual world floating in the solar system," she said. That about summed it up to her. "Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too! It's mine and Caleb's birthday." So that made her extra special and AWESOME today, even if it also meant she was probably about eighty-six years old by now.

This was a, um, a cute response. Not really incorrect, but not really correct either. Just...cute. And yes, Airey Flamsteed was using the word cute. Only responding to her question was entirely overshadowed by what she said next. "SWEET SOLSTICE! Is it really?!" he squeaked, perhaps expelling some exhaust out the rear if you catch our drift. "This calls for a song then."

AND he was even going to stand for it. Slowly. But stand.

Hobbling out from behind his desk and standing in front of it and proceeded to serenade the class. "Happy birthday to yoooooooou! Happy birthday to yoooooooooou! Happy birthdaaaaaaaaaay..." Sweet solstice what were there names again? Uuuuuuuuuuuh.... "Caleb and Soooophie. HAPPYBIRTHDAYTOYOU!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

ohh what is a planet… he thought about this… but his brain wasn't working to well.. he raised his hand. "errr.. A planet is a big rock type thing that floats around in space… with other rock things" he's always wondered why these rocks never hit each other… but right now this was the best answer he could give..

"A common misconception," he replied as he began the slow hobble back behind his desk before his back went out or he passed out from the lack of oxygen. "There are rocky planets, planets like the ones you created for your homework and in class, but there are also planets mostly made up of gases."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

The first question was easy enough, and Lux actually raised her hand to answer for once instead of getting ready to write notes. "I believe that a planet is a mass that orbits the sun. Some are made of rock - like the ones that were in their solar system - "and some are made of gas." That much she knew even with her slight knowledge of the subject.

Finally back in his seat, the professor relaxed into it a little into it before gesturing towards Miss Carrington to speak. Oh, the timing. He should have just let her respond to Mr. Bay. "Precisely," he nodded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

Justine raised her hand at the Professors question, eager to participate. "Sir, zee vord planet comes from zee Ancient Greek for 'Vandering Star," and is defined as any celestial body zat 'as enough mass to be shaped by its own gravity. zough zis definition 'as been much contested by scientist zrough zee years, personally, I'm not quite sure if zee idea is a correct one, I believe more data is really needed before ve can properly define such a zing," Justine said, speaking clearly, so that she might be heard, she was a bit worried that as the Professor had aged that his hearing might be impaired.

ooc: no offense meant <33

Leaning his right ear towards the Ravenclaw as she spoke, the professor was finding it even harder to hear what was being said. Hear and understand. It was like trying to understand Tamarian. "I didn't catch any of that."

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

"Like some people said, it has go 'round a sun," not THE Sun, because the planets in her lil' box didn't go round the BIG one, they revolved around her very own, "and it has to have a great enough mass for its gravity to squish it into a roundish shape. But that planet ball that's formed still has to be big enough the clear its orbital zone, meaning it's gravitationally dominant. Either has to accrete with neighboring objects or sling-shot 'em off into space. Weeehooo goodbye smaller bodies. Don't wantcha. We're breaking up! Go live in Jupiter's orbit, I'm kickin' you OUT."

Senile!Alice giggled. A lot.

Hehehehehehehe.

Hehehe.

What was it he used to do when students gave stellar answers? Something with deks. Desks and....tapping? No, that wasn't it. Desks and...OH YES! Jumping. Merlin it felt like ages since he had been able to do that and he was almost willing to risk jumping on Miss Fischer's desk.

And did anyone ever tell you, Miss Fischer, that laughter was contagious? And laughter combined with excitement resulted in some unfortunate resulting. Trumpeting ones even.

Phew. Where were the gas masks?

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

And the lesson was starting! Ohhh! The chocolates were because of St. Patrick's day? Adi pulled his chocolates back towards him. Sorry Benny. These were his again. So what was a planet? The Puffer pondered then raised a hand. "A planet is a mass that orbits the sun and they have moon or moons.'' NodNod.

Waving his hand in front of his face - where HAD that stench come from? - he raised his finger to correct him slightly on his definition. "By your definition, Mr. Rehman, neither Mercury nor Venus are planets because they have no moons," he said before giving his nose a tap with his bony finger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Kace heard the professor's suggestion and he nodded. "Yeah do you know where i can get a cane?" He was in need of one, unless he could use his bed post...he would decide afterwards. I mean his pain was getting worse.

What did he know about planets? He had a little clue. He raised his hand, "Professor i know planets are made of gas. But what kind of gas i am kind of fuzzy on. Some planets have like 3 moons too i remember learning about..." he said not being 100 percent positive.

Chow mein? What? Hadn't the Hufflepuff already had dinner? "Uuuuuuuuh...go to the kitchens and ask a house elf to make you some?" Merlin, it wasn't rocket science to find food in the castle, silly Hufflepuff.

"Some planets have A LOT more than 3," he replied with an excited nod. "We will discuss specifics regarding gas planets a little later, but remember that not ALL planets need be primarily composes of gas."

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediem

"A planet is a giant mass of rock or -wait someone said gas- in space. And each planet has like its own ecosystem in place. And a planet has to be a certain size or it's considered a dwarf planet." She was getting a little off topic. But still. It WAS about planets after all. It wasn't like she was talking about squirrels or nacho's. Speaking of which, she was kind of hungry.

Ecosystems...oh Merlin was that a can of worms that he did not want to get into right now. "An ecosystem implies that there is an existing community of living organisms and the combination of organic and inorganic matter and natural forces interacting and changing. As to whether or not such things exist somewhere else in the universe is still a mystery, although the discovery of a single cell ecosystem gives us some hope."

No, there was not going to be any talk about extraterrestrial life during today's lesson. Nope nope. Pluto was enough of a headache to deal with without kicking down another door.

SPOILER!!: Alexa XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

She could stay?? "Eeep! Thanks Professor!" The Gryffindor thew herself into her seat, completely forgetting for that moment the fact that her joints and muscles hadn't been cooperating of late. A sharp string of pain ran through her causing her to suck in a sharp breath and sit perfectly still waiting for it to subside. Merlin, she missed being able to sit any which way she liked. This was another level of torture added to the million and one things wrong with her since this aging.

Owwwwwww >__<

After the last of the pain finally died she was able to pay attention to the Professor...okay no...no she wasn't gonna lie. The Professor should have known better about bringing chocolate into the class. Lex hadn't heard a single word he said, in fact she didn't hear anything anyone was saying as her hand ripped open the first chocolate coin. Her focus was so intent you could have sworn she was working through some runes for curse breaking but it was really her getting reacquainted with her one and only love.

Of late she hadn't been able to find her candy bag. This was all the sugar she'd get for another Merlin knows how long.

Suuuuuugar. Her precious, lovely, sugar. She just wanted to snuggle up in bed with it forever...'cept it wouldn't last forever....could she and the chocolate have a moment please? This was almost too much for her.

To be honest, the man couldn't even see any lint because of his eye sight, so his phobia about the stuff was pretty satisfied at the moment. Out of sight out of mind, right?

While he was thankful for that, he was probably even more so that he could not see the love affair going on between the prefect and her chocolate and all he could make out was that Miss Cambridge was concentrating reeeeeeally hard on something.

Note taking. Must be that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

See he did not hear him. Which was the perfect time to say it. Oh chocolate. That was what it was. Not that Nigel was hungry for it. He listened to Flamsteed finally start class. Well this should be interesting in the very least. Ah, the first question.

You know what. Alice's explanation made perfect sense. Simple yet brilliant. Now back to answering the question.

"Pluto"

Never forget Pluto. It was still a planet. Just a dwarf

See...here we go already?

"Was this the punchline to a joke, Mr. Barrington?" Because it wasn't very funny. Apparently they needed to work more on his stand up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Well, something had been asked but... well, Toby needed a minute. So instead he just sort of nodded meaningfully at what people were saying, looking super super cereal and like he absolutely agreed with all of those things he could totally hear and understand. Yeah. He also hadn't fallen asleep. Nope.

Wait. Did that prefect just say pLUTO?!

Toby raised his hand at once, eager to provide his input. "Viva la Pluto!"

See? HE WAS CONTRIBUTING AND EVERYTHING.

Ah yes, the way that Mr. Tempus tended to sign off his homework. Not all the time, but the Hufflepuff had slipped it in there every now and then. "Considering Pluto was never alive to begin with, it would be rather difficult for it to viva." Or however that term was used.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

"A planet is a stellar object large enough to be rounded by it's own gravitational pull, but not large enough to cause thermonuclear fusion and give off light," she answered after swallowing. Though there were some lights on Earth that were bright enough to be seen from space......... but she was pretty sure it wasn't the same thing.

Airey blinked a few times as he used his pinky finger to clean out his deaf ear. Something in it was rather itchy and aggravating him. "Stellar? I believe the term you are looking for is celestial. Stellar is an adjective referring to one or more stars and cannot be applied to planets," he corrected. Thermonuclear fusion didn't really apply to the situation either considering the basic composition of a planet compared to a star was different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Breaking another piece of chocolate and shoving into her mouth, Bev raised her hand. Very slowly and just barely above her head, but it was raised. "It's a ball of rock and/or gas that orbits a star. Like Earth." Answer and example. That deserved more chocolate.

Nom, nom nom! :3

Concise and to the point. "Very good, Miss Wayne," he nodded towards the Slytherin. Oh, what was she eating? Chocolate? He wouldn't mind having some of that himself. But he had that classroom rule of not eating... "Where did you get that chocolate? You know the rules, Miss Wayne. No eating in the classroom."

Wait...why did everyone have chocolate?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Oh, chocolate? Hello, yes. Mo rummaged through his cup of coins, sniffing and biting each one, and generally ignoring the question from the professor. More important stuff was happening right now.

Oh, except this was class. Yes, right, hello. What was the question? Pluto? Planets? Chocolate?

"I agree with Alice. She's smartest girl at Hogwarts. Planets have to be big enough that scientists don't arbitrarily throw them out, like Pluto. And round... d'they have to be round, though?"

Arbitrarily? Airey snorted and breathed in at the same time, causing PAIN and making the astronomer's face contort into something reminiscent of a troll stubbing his toe on a fallen tree.

But before he could scold the boy for using THAT word in regards to science (MINUS 100 POINTS TO YOU, MR. BRANXTON!) the professor was distracted by a very interesting question. "As out of this world as it would be to see a planet in the shape of a cube or a triangular prism, they are not energy efficient among many other parameters that make the sphere so unique. A sphere is the most energy efficient geometrical shape that contains the greatest volume within the smallest amount of surface area possible and is why you see planets and stars in this shape," he began while giving the quidditch captain a nod. "Furthermore, if you look at things from a more architectural standpoint, when you build a building you have to make sure there is a strong foundation to support its weight and size and the the larger the object the stronger its gravitational field. Stars and planets are far too massive to create that same foundation and gravity would prevent anything from sticking out on a star or planet."

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Instead of saying that again, if indeed someone had said it if they were even on that question, Brynn set about eating her candy as she "took notes." Sure, there were actual words being written down - at least the ones she heard while her thoughts weren't distracted by chocolate. But mostly her notebook was filled with doodles of stars and possibly a solar system of planets. That worked for Astronomy, right?

From where Airey was sitting at his desk, it looked as though the Ravenclaw was writing notes, which was good. Notes were good. Approving nod going your way, Miss Rhys-Davies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ivana R

Suddenly, Annabeth felt she needed to reply the teacher's question. She didn't dare to reply questions in Astronomy class as she thought she didn't know anything on the issue. Though, something in the teacher's eyes had encouraged her to open her mouth this time. Anna raised her hand,
"A planet is a big astronomical object which orbits a star. It doesn't give off light as a star and its gravity can attract satellites as the Earth attracts the Moon." She smiled. It should be enough.

Airey nodded, despite it sounded a bit too textbook for him, but mentioning that a planet did not emit its own light was something that would come into play a little later on in the discussion. "Keep that nothing about not giving light off in mind," he nodded before moving on to the next student.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Sitting playing with his quill for a bit he got bored. So when bored he decided to answer the question. Raising his hand he waited for his term. "See professors planets are like quidditch balls. They are round, different colors, different sizes, and each orbit around the sun at different paces, such as quidditch balls fly around the pitch at different speeds depending on the ball and the players." That was the best way he could think to explain them at least.

Now THIS was more what he had been hoping to hear more about - although everyone else's responses were still fantastic in their own right - but applying things to something more tangible and relatable for those among them that struggled with the concepts and terms. "STELLAR, Mr. Bart," he beamed as he offered the boy a golf clap. Any clap louder than that made his ears ring. "Take 3 points for your out of the box comparison. I myself often referred to the Snitch as the Mercury of quidditch in my youth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

No?Wellllll.... "Well, Pluto is not a planet. It's a dwarf planet. A plutoid." There's a difference. That's... the best she could do to pretend she was actually listening...

Oh, dear Merlin.

"3 points to you, Miss Wisteria," he declared. Finally someone that was looking at this whole Pluto situation logically and not trying to turn it into a sobfest.

Sitting up a bit more straight in his seat, Airey flicked his wand (OH HEY THERE IT WAS!) towards the chalkboard to have the chalk transcribe what he had to say next. The important bits anyway. "Very good all of you. Now, Mr. Strand referred to an organization called the International Astronomical Union who established the standing definition of a planet in which a celestial body in space must meet the following three requirements:

1. It must be an object which independently orbits the Sun
2. It must have enough mass so that gravity pulls it into a roughly spherical shape
3. It must be large enough to "dominate" its orbit, meaning its mass must be much larger than anything else which crosses its orbit

While I am NOT opening this up for discussion, but since it is the dragon in the room I may as well get it off my wrinkly chest, Pluto is NOT a planet as Miss Wisteria stated. The reason it was dubbed a dwarf planet is because it fails to meet the third criteria of a planet and is now known to be just a large example of a collection of objects called the Kuiper Belt."

Case closed GOOD DAY!

"I know some of you continue to feel passionately about Pluto being demoted as it is, but Pluto had only been classified as a planet for only 75 years and questions about its planetary status had been raised for more than 10 years prior to the final decision in 2005. The shock and woe is Pluto some of you are still feeling can somewhat be compared to the way that early peoples had to adjust to the news that we live in a heliocentric universe. For thousands of years schoolchildren were taught that planets revolved around the Earth. If they could get over THAT shock, surely you all can handle Pluto being relabeled," he concluded while rubbing his now balding head. There. Done with the Pluto discussion, alright? "What is fascinating is that NASA has discovered 715 NEW planets, so just imagine how much further our understanding of planets may evolve from here!"

Clearing his throat, the words My Very European Mother Just Served Us Nutella appeared on the chalk board underneath the planetary list. "My very European mother just served us Nutella," he read. "What does this statement mean? And if you haven't tried Nutella before you really should. It is quite delicious." And what he wanted right now.

OH LOOK! CHOCOLATE ON HIS DESK! How had that gotten there?

OOC: as always thank you all for your patience <3 this literally took me all day to type while taking breaks here and there to eat and deal with things around the house BUT YOU ALL ARE SO FANTASTIC SO IT'S OKAY I DON'T MIND!!!

Class will resume approximately 20 hours from the time of this post.

Wait! Did the Professor just tell everyone that his European mother just served him Nutella and what he meant? Answer. That his mother who was born in Europe just gave him Nutella. Sander smacked his lips. He LOVED Nutella, Sander thought to himself as he looked at the chocolates in front of him.

Oh wait! Was the Astronomy Professor talking in code? My Very European Mother Just Served Us Nutella. Suddenly Sander realized what it meant. He raised his hand and shared what he thought it meant.

"Professor, the first letter of each word represents the planets in the Solar System. M, V, E, M, J, S, U, N. So its Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,"

As Lux listened to the Professor speak, she began taking notes, feeling happy that she had managed to get a question right. While the Pluto issue seemed to sadden some of the students in the room, she was not bothered by it. And soon it was time for another question. Raising her hand, she offered a guess. "Is it a mnemonic device to remember the names of the planets in our solar system? The first letter in each word is also the first letter in each of the planet names." And that was the only guess she could venture.

MVEMJSUN. An acronym, yes? Yes, given the answers of the older students present. And oh, the planets. This wasn't an episode after, all as Cutty had hoped. The way he figured it, it was only a matter of time before they all started losing their grip on reality and started making up their own complete with random spurts. Cutty slowly turned his head toward Tobias, his quill still in hand from the notes he'd been taking. His thoughts were thus: 'Tobias has become an incident. Form an attachment whilst you still can).'

His head refocused on his parchment and he finished writing down the criteria for what made planets planets, ending it with...

Sayonara, Pluto! You poser of the Kuiper belt.

Ooooh. She knew this. She knew it. And it made Grace beam. "Isn't that like a saying to remember all of the planets that are in our solar system." It was making her hungry actually. Could she got an have some Nutella. Even though like she'd already tried it? No. Maybe not. She'd have some more later. Maybe in the feast. If they had some. She didn't know. Oh well. Okaay. Did she have more to add to her answer? "My mom said that there was another saying when Pluto was a planet? Like something like... My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas"

Laura didn't care what the Professor said, she was labelling Pluto a planet and that was that, she wanted to know what the people would do if she just labelled them something else instead of what they were, it had been a planet for 75 years and in her eyes it would stay a planet for many more, not that she was going to argue about it she didn't want to get into trouble.

Laura looked at the Professor as he spoke about the statement. "It means your mother was really hungry and wanted you to try some Nutella, I'd much rather eat a Mars Bar." Laura beamed they were nice.

715 NEW PLANETS.

Uh. Delilah raised an eyebrow at that. How very interesting. She was so going to have to read about it later. Back to what Airey was talking about..

She finished taking down what he said before raising her hand, "Isn't it a way to remember the names of the planets?" Basically what everyone said. The girl sighed and absentmindedly started to doodle Lou's name on her parchment. ... Erm. Wait, what? What was she doing? Blushing slightly, she scratched his name multiple times before leaning back against her seat.

Ian listened to the response to his questions. He was mildly disappointed that there were no special awards for planets. However, the professor mentioned Nutella. Now there was a good way to spend the day; an open jar of nutella, a spoon and some mezzo mix and maybe some paprika potato crisps. He felt his mouth begin to water as he pondered the mixture.

The professor asked what his European mother giving him nutella meant. Ian raised his hand. It means you have a wonderful mother who loves you very much. I very much want some nutella now. Do they have some in the kitchen? I'd never thought to ask for any.

At first, Caleb thought that Flamsteed had really lost his mind. Nutella? What was that? Why was he suddenly babbling about his mother? Of course she was European, they were ALL European, were they not? But then, suddenly, he felt like it rang a bell somewhere in his mind. Perhaps his mother or father had said that back in the day, or something along those lines - not necessarily the same words, but something similar. It sounded familiar but what was it?

DING DING DING!

Like a lightbulb turning on, the answer came to him. "Oh! That's a mnemonic device to remember the names of the planets and their order," he explained, raising his hand. NOW that made sense!

Lex could see her entire life wrapped in this little golden packet and wanted nothing more than to devour it in one gulp...but she didn't. In a time of rations and heartbreak she had to be careful how quickly she consumed these otherwise there would be no more and she would go back to her dorm and die there. It wasn't being dramatic it was being truthful. There was a lot of truth this term where one's mortality came into question.

The Gryffindor was onto her second...third....no fourth coin when she heard talk of "Nutella??? We're getting nutella? Oh yes please. I haven't finished all my chocolate, is it fine if I can spread some on mine? If not I can run down to the kitchen, get us all some bread or something. I dunno. I don't care what. Nutella?"

What was what meant to mean? The European Mum thing? She didn't have a very European Mum, she didn't have a mum. Was the Professor trying to be mean? She squinted at him then the board for a moment before deciding she had chocolate so this was fine.

Now when would they be getting the Nutella?

WELL.

Ella just stared at Airey, her old lady rage bubbling inside her. And because she couldn't argue with the man because it was rude and it was Airey, the eighteen year old who was going on 100 or something got completely teary and channeled ALL said rage into wringing her hands. She had thougths though, OH YES. Like how funny that the man who JUMPED on Hogwarts furniture was taking points from her for dropping a book to the floor with her old lady strength. Lead by example, yes? Tsk. Tsk. Flamsteed. And he'd said creativity, yes? Well who was he to judge her creative approach? One can't put a price or a point on creativity. And LASTLY what did she care about points? She was leaving and probably going to die because of this aging thing so no, she didn't care. All she cared about was that clearly this man was a hypocrite and while her brain had recently decided it wanted to knit sweaters for people and bake copious amounts of cookies, Ella wanted to send Airey a FRUITCAKE. And yeah, that wasn't a good thing. So teary looks for YOU, Airey Flamsteed. You're on the old lady's mean letter list as of now.

... .... .... What were they talking about again?

Oh and of course Lotus was getting points. Playing favorites, Airey Flamsteed. Pluto Haters anonymous. We see how it is.

Old age was seriously killing Ella's Hufflepuff vibes, my gosh.

Nutella. More food? No thank you. But yes, we know what that is. "A mnemonic device to remember the planets." Said with very little enthusiasm and merely a glance from the Head Girl but she was still listening, okay? Her old brain had already almost forgotten her anger. Almost.

Adi went red. Those two didn't have moons? Ugh! "Sorry, Professor. I didn't know that,'' he muttered. But he knew now, right? Yes? Good.
..........................

"My very European mother just served us Nutella". Yes, yes! Adi knew this one. Feeling much more confident now about this answer, he raised his hand. "By taking the first letter of each word we can name the planets.'' Yep! That was a nice and simple way to remember the names. But of course it would only work if one knew them.

BLINK.

Uh oh.

Grey-blue eyes were flitting between Flamsteed and the Head Girlfriend. Ells did not look impressed and a very small part of Alec was glad that he wasn't sitting that near the girl. She could be scary when she was mad, you know. He did shoot a reassuring smile her way, whether she saw it or not, and made a mental note to give her a hug later. Big hugs.

... Distractions. Right.

Alec shook his head and turned his attention back towards Flamsteed. ... Wait. 715 new planets?! REALLY?! His eyebrows shot up. That was a lot of new planets. And how great would it be to be able to name them? ... Though... this was coming from the same guy who took a whole week to decide on a name for his puppy so... maybe he wouldn't be able to come up with a great name for a planet. That was too much pressure. Much much more than deciding whether to have those sugar free sweets or cheese and crackers.

... He had chocolate. The Head Boy took up a piece of chocolate coin and started unravelling it. Carefully. Slooooooowly. When he had freed up quite a bit of the coin, he bit some off before picking up his quill and jotting down some notes into his journal. My very European mother just served us Nutella. Mnemonic device to remember the planets and their order. Got it.

Ian's ears perked up when he heard someone volunteer to go get stuff from the kitchen to put nutella on. He beamed and nodded as he loudly proclaimed (so the professor could hear him) That's an excellent idea. I think she should go to the kitchen!. I mean, nutella is amazing on it's own but on something like a biscuit it is just out of this world. This is astronomy and that's what it's all about, right? Ian was pleased with his little bit of pun-o-graphy

"Wow! 715 new planets!" Annabeth said aloud, her eyes sparkling as if suddenly the sky was more beautiful than ever.

Then the teacher said something about his mother... she shook her head. It was a big nonsense talking about mother and Nutella during a class. She was about to complain when she realized what he was saying, indeed. Anna raised her hand, "This sentence is a way some people use to memorize the order of the planets from the Sun to beyond. I think this kind of technique is stupid, as lot of people just learn the sentence and can't remember what it really means," she said, rolling her eyes. Mnemonic things annoyed her a bit.

And then the professor was speaking again.. lots and lots of big words. Brynn jotted a few of those words into the margins of her notebook, but she was more focused on her solar system. It was only too bad that she had only brought one color of ink with her to class today. This thing was really shaping up to be something and it could do with a bit of color. She heard something about moons and added a few of them in as well.

Setting her quill down a moment, the temporary redhead glanced up to "pay attention" as she worked on peeling back the foil of another of the chocolate coins on her desk. Wow.. 715 planets? She glanced down at her parchment notebook and did some quick mental math. No way was she going to fit that many in there.

My very European mother just served us Nutella... hm? Brynn loved Nutella and her mother, well she was Welsh.. she wasn't sure if that counted as very European or not, but she nodded along to some of the other answers and jotted them down. Mnemonic device, she was pretty sure she knew what that was especially after a student or two explained it a little more/ Each planet was assigned a word in that, yes? "Which planet is the Nutella one?" she mused aloud. That one sounded best of all. She chewed a little more on her chocolate coin as she mulled over thoughts of planets made of Nutella.. yum.

At first, Sophie thought the professor was asking her if her definition of a planet was really true. She was just starting to nod along, when the professor stood up. Errr...a song? About planets? Oh, wait--she had told him about their birthday, hadn't she? So he was going to...sing the Happy Birthday song? In front of the whole class? AWESOME! Sophie bet nobody had ever had that done before, and therefore that made her (and Caleb, she guessed) extra special and privileged!

"Thank you, Professor," she said with a smile. Even though she was sure there'd be a little stinky in there along with the song. At least he wasn't standing anywhere nearby, though.

...and now moving on to planets. Again. "It means your European mother has really awesome taste," she answered, raising her hand. "Let's invite her to class one day." Meh. She knew the real meaning, though. "Just kidding. It's the order of the planets from the Sun on out."

Kace gave the professor a quizzical look when he told him to go the the kitchens to look for a cane. "Ermm i do not know if you can find a cane in the kitchen but i will look..." he told him trying to disguise his chuckle.

As he was listening to his lecture, he heard cool details. But the first that struck him the most was....

Hold the hippogriff....

There was 715 planets, new ones? Now that was a lot. He didn't even know there could be that many. Then he heard about Nutella! He smiled and knew what that was. He loved that stuff, he put on his strawberries, bananas, even when his mom made crepes he would put it on there. Yum Yum. But he asked what does it represent. He heard the other student's answers. He nodded at them. But he had an answer of his own.

"Professor nutella represents that you like good food!"

Bay was too busy eating his chocolate, he only heard the Professor say the beginning part of the question… it was something about Nutella… what is that?? looking around he seemed to see a lot of people starting to get real excited about getting "Nutella?" hmmm oh well..

he had no idea what the writing on the blackboard was supposed to mean but Bay took out some parchment and made some notes of other students thoughts.

He hadn't heard her? He Hadn't Heard Her??? What the hell was Justine supposed to do now? Obviously if she wanted the points she would have to repeat herself, but to say it all again, would be just so thoroughly exhausting and Justine didn't think she had the energy. The poor girl sat there blinking with her mouth open, looking like someone had short circuited her hard drive. "I said; zee vord planet comes from zee Ancient Greek for 'Vandering Star," and is defined as any celestial body zat 'as enough mass to be shaped by its own gravity. sough zis definition 'as been much contested by scientist zrough zee years, personally, I'm not quite sure if zee idea is a correct one, I believe more data is really needed before ve can properly define such a zing," Justine said, almost shouting in her effort to be heard by the Professor, because Justine would not stand for being unnoticed, especially since her answer had bee so good!
She took it back, this Professor was not adorable.

Justine listened carefully as the Professor explained about the IAU, Pluto (and its diminished status), Nasa discovering over seven hundred new planets, and nutella, which confused her, because she had never heard of nutella before and didn't know what it might have to do with Astronomy.
After a few minutes contemplation however, the young girl began to see that it wasn't the nutella that she needed to pay attention to, but the words on the chalkboard.

"it is one of zose zings, a, uh... a mnemonic device? Yes, it's to remember zee order," Justine said, her hand raised in the air. [B]"Its to teach you zee order of zee planets.... Mercury, venus, earth... Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and uh... Neptune," Justine said.

Huuuuuh?!

But...wasn't HE the one who left the pot of coins at her desk? In everyone's desk - which most were eating. Beverly swallowed and gave him the BIGGEST apologetic puppy-dog eyes ever. Honestly she didn't remember that rule. Most everything she needed to remember was written down on her "To-Remember" list.

GULP.

She covered the half eaten piece of chocolate and put it back in the pot. "It was a present from you." Or did she imagine that? Oh Merlin. "Sorry, sir--professor." SAD 'cause she was really enjoying it. Wibble.

Happy fest gone, Beverly picked up her quill and began writing down what Airey was saying - drawing a star next to Nutella 'cause she needed to get some of that stuff. Occasionally her eyes would wander back to the pot of golden coins. He did give them those. He'd said it himself. Was she imagining things? Oh man, she was losing her mind, wasn't she?!

No, no. Maybe--Yeah, she was losing her mind.

Oh, it was someone's birthday. Or two someones' birthday. Cool!

Anyway, they were moving on. And instead of repeating everyone's answers, Layla started taking down notes. Because there was absolutely no other way she could say that it was a mnemonic for remembering the planets. But while she was writing, she opened up another chocolate coin and popped it in her mouth.

"Smartest person in Hogwarts," she corrected Mo idly as the professor burst forth in song. Her genius wasn't restricted to JUST females, thank you.

Normally, Alice would have thrown an internal tantrum at Lotus getting points for some mean comment about Pluto's status but not any for her excellent explanation. Favorites? She saw how it was. But since they were giggling together and all, the seventh year refrained from doing so.

See? She was mature. Or just deaf.

"To be specific," insert stifled giggles here, "it's an expression mnemonic device. And it also means that your mum could be like that evil witch who wants to fatten you up and eat you in those storybooks. Can't trust those Europeans, sirrrr. Nope."

Hehehe. She was European. Gonna EAT HIM. Hehehehehehe.

Senile Alice, clearly, was an issue.

BLINK.

How exactly--Why was Ella losing points?? Had Lottie missed something extraordinary while Airey discussed rainbows and such? She really needed to pay attention.

LOL, no, no need. Look! They had been discussing Pluto. Lotus was so incredibly lucky. However, she didn't understand why she got points for pointing out the obvious, had no one else done that? Really? Oh, well, more smiles for Flamsteed.

Except... OUCH. Geocentrism and heliocentrism talk. Way to rub it in, Flamsteed. No need to be mean on purpose. APPARENTLY, the sun, the pot of golden coins (albeit chocolate ones), and St. Patrick's (happy birthday to those students?) wasn't ENOUGH. He had to bring up the one topic in the entire Astronomy textbook (no, it actually wasn't there because it was too basic) that made her remember someone. Just when she was starting to focus...

...well, that's nice, very nice indeed. /Sarcasm.

715 new planets. How about 715 new ways of distracting Miss Wisteria, eh? Only 711 ways to go! Yes, we're truly looking forward to this. /Sarcasm again.

Now he was talking about...oh. Well, yes, a mnemonic. How was this related to Pluto? Hadn't they been discussing Pluto all along? OH NO WAIT, THEY WERE DISCUSSING PLANETS. "A mnemonic. Order of the planets from the center of our solar system," SIGH, she cannot say sun "May I remind you, Professor, you also did this with North, East, South and West." Heh. West. Wait, what? Was Lex really asking for nutella?