...

...

...

WHAT?! What was going on? Ariadne had no idea and therefore sat in silence for at least...ohhh, three out of three of the questions that had been asked. Speaking of which, she should really try to answer that lingering third question. What was this class even about, though?

There were apples. And ghosts. And shocked professors. And...was this class about apples or gravity? Or both?

Ariadne decided that it was about both and then finally raised her hand in the air. She should start chiming in if she wanted to pass second year Astronomy. "It's our weight, right? Our mass? The mass of Earth pulls down on our own mass, so we don't fall off or move around. We just stay right where we are," she pointed out. Oh, and... "Earth's a sphere, so no matter where you are on Earth, you feel like you're facing up, even if you're on a completely different side of Earth than someone else. So that's probably why...err, penguins don't just fall or slide off."

Something like that.

Marsha grinned at him as he wished her well too. Wasn’t he awesome? The best thing was she knew that he did mean well for his students. Her head of house was the best.

”Apples help keep your teeth healthy.” She had a split thought to Maddox and his love of apples. “And they are a naturally grown fruit that likes to fall off trees.” She laughed softly, hinting at Newton like so many others.

……. What in the name of Merlin….

Why was the old Professor Burbage here? Oh man, poor Professor Airey… She watched him closely as the Astronomy Tower ghost continues to speak to the class.


See. She was right. Apples = Newton = Gravity. Go her. For once, she maybe knew just a little something about what they were going on about. Maybe…. Astronomy still wasn’t her strongest subject but that didn’t mean she didn’t at least try to make sense of it all.

”Gravity… its the thing that holds everything down….” She started once she raised her hand. ”In an anti-grav situation everything floats and moves around freely - with no specific up or down.” There. That was enough. She sat back in her chair and listened to the others and their answers.

….. Oh man, the poor Professor.



Frowning slightly at all of the talk of the Professor topless and the tattoos that Professors had - even if she was slightly curious about the latter - Marsha simply sat quietly and tried to wait for the lesson to move onwards. Burbage was seriously putting a rut in the Professor’s usual teaching style and it was showing. He really wasn’t quite as well put together.

And then he slipped on an apple and ended up on the floor.

Though…. It was perfectly timed to prove his own point? ”Are you okay Professor?” She called out, leaning over to look around the desk at him.

As the Professor continued the lesson, wheezing all the while, she looked at him concerned. He didn’t sound okay… but he wasn’t stopping either so maybe he was? Who knew… Gryffindor’s. Hehe.

”I agree with the others. Gravity pulls in, not technically down.” She moved to rest her chin in her hand as she waited to see if they had mooooore questions to answer or if they were getting to move onto the activity now. The Astronomy activities were always awesome.

SPOILER!!: Olly!

Quote:

Originally Posted by littledhampir

Olly was simply delighted at the turn this lesson was taking. All of his lessons lately seemed to be so full of entertainment. First shrinking in Herbology and now all this ghostly interruptions and gossip in Astronomy. It was amazing. And it was kind of funny to see Professor Flamsteed so...flustered. They were learning all sorts of things about his personal life.

Olly could barely understand Flamsteed's next question. He was on the floor and breathing very heavily and his speech was punctured so much it took him a bit of thinking to figure out what he was saying. But he thought he understood the question. Or at least got the gist of it. "Gravity is pushing us toward the ground," he said. That's how he always understood it, at least. "Toward the Earth." Never away from it, not even if they were on the very southernmost part.

“Yes, very good,” he wheezed at the Slytherin, offering a feeble thumbs up in the process.

SPOILER!!: Tenacius

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

SPOILER!!: catch-up Burbage, Mel, Zeke / before Pixie's last post

Whoah hey yo it’s the Astro Garden lady Professor Burbage! The bright eyed curly top gave his usual cheerful wave and megawatt smile at the sight of the spectral lady. Did she know the Gravity guy? Well if she said she was bunkmates with Molly Weasley he'd believe her.

He caught Mel looking at him and gave the most exaggerated brow wiggle at the description that the Astronomy professor was a studmuffin. Hey different strokes for different folks, he can see how Flamsteed can set someone's heart ablaze. Besides… aint he married?

But what Burbage said afterwards really got his attention-- apparently his Head of House had a friggin tattoo?!? And at the call of the older Lion (Zeke), this cubbie backed him up "SHOW IT! SHOW IT! SHOW IT!!" thumping his desk as he chanted.

Now the connection about Apples and Newton? "There was an old Muggle TV show called Newton's Apple. Sciencey things. Its quite amusing."

Well he did watch a lot of TV. Their Muggle Studies Professor can attest to that.

Well ok, so Flamesteed can flame-on (geddit?) if he was pushed to disrobing. Kinda scary…. For a 12 year old. Just wait till he gets a little older and a little taller hehehehe….

……Aaaaand down he goes. On the floor. "TIIIIMMMBERRRR…." he chuckled as he muffled his jest wit his hands.

And now for penguins! Why aint they dropping off the face of the planet?

Well that would normally stump anybody thinking that the universe had an up, down, left right forward or backward "Earth makes gravity Professor. It comes from the center, its not outside, its inside. That’s why penguins stay on Antarctica and why the rest of us arent flying off this planet as it spins."

Still wheezing, the professor simply nodded his head at the Gryffindor. Yes yes, that was part of it. Oh sweet solstice oxygen come to him more easily, please?

SPOILER!!: Esme!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Was it bad that she found a flustered Professor Flamsteed rather amusing? Esme could feel for the man as something personal had been outed to the entire class, but it wasn't as if he wouldn't recover. She still couldn't get over the fact that the man had TATTOOS. What even was that.

It was mind boggling.

Onto further discussion of gravity as well as a demonstration of exactly how it worked. Esme winced. That had to hurt and it was a little difficult to understand what the man was saying while lying on the floor. Somehow she managed to grasp the gist of things. After a moment, she raised her hand to attempt a guess. "Is it because they are being pulled down towards the center of the planet?" That seemed to be the most logical explanation to her.

Another nod was sent towards the Hufflepuff. Excuse the exaggerated wheezing.

SPOILER!!: Mel!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist

Melbourne Johanson looked up at Professor Flamsteed and watched with awe as he stepped on the apple and fell over. Ouch. Heh…also kind of funny…”um…” Mel felt her face heat at the eyebrow wiggle that she got from Tenacius. “I’m not saying I agree with her Tenacius” Mel whispered over to her best friend but honestly she didn’t know anything about stud muffin things.

“shhhh we shouldn’t push him to take his shirt off” Mel felt her face redden some more. Raising her hand she looked up at Professor Flamsteed, “Professor…would the earth’s liquid core help with gravity?” She asked and looked around. It made sense now didn’t it?

“Certainly the core plays a significant role,” he nodded. “Specifically the dense liquid iron-nickel outer core, due to its mass, is a significant part of the earth's gravitational field.”

SPOILER!!: Daxton!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

A lot of this lesson was completely lost on Daxton. Not the actual science of the class, but rather all of the yelling about all sorts of things (except that it was not all yelling, but to Daxton's ears, it may as well have been). For his part, Daxton kept looking very intently out of the window, attempting to ignore anything and everything that was happening around him - not something he often did, not unless he was in real danger of being overwhelmed. As such, he missed much of the conversation, and the details of certain revelations.

But, when he had heard Airey Flamsteed's muffled voice through his covered ears, Daxton turned his head ever so slightly to watch the man himself, eager for the Astronomer to oust the ghost from the classroom and get back to the science. It seemed as though that was exactly what might happen, too, until...

Airey Flamsteed's fall to the ground and the resulting thud was almost comical. At last, Daxton uncovered his ears, then moved his hands to his desk and half-stood to peer over it and see the professor lying on the floor. And that... that was almost certainly Daxton's apple, rolling away from the scene of the crime. Daxton himself ignored the new question about gravity - though he might have provided an answer along the lines of gravity pulling in to a certain point, and creating the concept of 'down' if he had not - instead choosing to look down at Airey Flamsteed on the floor, unable to keep an oh-so-faint smile from tugging at the corners of his lips, given the amusing nature of the situation.

He continued ignoring the ghost.

Airey was a bit too preoccupied to notice the faint smile playing on the Ravenclaw’s lips...but even if he had caught it, its presence would not have surprised the astronomer.

SPOILER!!: Azura!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MunchyBubbles

Azura jumped a bit in her desk As Professor Flamsteed went down! Eekkkk! Professor down! Should someone help him? She bit her lip worriedly as she watched him try to catch his breath and ask another question.

Why don't penguins fall off the planet?

Was that even important right now? Was he okay? She wanted to go help him, but she didn't know if that was allowed.. The tiny Ravenclaw shifted in her seat as she tried to figure out what to do..

Probably best to answer the question. Her hand moved into the air as she eyed the Professor with concern. "Since the earth is round Professor, gravity pulls everyone to the center of the circle.. It's why penguins don't fall down off the earth and why people in the South Pole aren't waking upside down! "

Okay.. That was answered.. Now was he all right?

Oh! Was that air properly reaching his lungs now? What a novel concept. Airey offered the Raveclaw a faint smile for her answer. Yes, thank you. Excuse him as he breathes iiiiiiiiiiiin and ooooooooout for a moment.

SPOILER!!: Fiyero!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Fiyero shot a sympathetic look at Professor Flamsteed. That ghost's appearance had bern awkward for him to listen to, so he knew it had to be embarassing for the teacher! He decided not to ask any personal questions and focus on the lesson at hand. Ok, gravity...

And then Professor Flamsteed slipped on somebody's discarded apple. "Are you alright, Professor?" Fiyero asked unthinkingly. He shot an angry look at some of his classmates who seemed to think this was funny. Poor Professor Flamsteed... tonight just didn't seem to be going very well for him!

Fiyero could barely make out the next question... something about penguins and Antarctica and falling off the earth. He had no idea what the answer was, but he decided to give it a go anyway. "Because the gravitational pull is stronger on Esrth that it is in space," he guessed, hoping it didn't sound like a dumb answer.

“Perfectly,” he nodded while giving the Gryffindor a slightly dismissive hand wave.

SPOILER!!: Illia!

Quote:

Originally Posted by VRSCIKA

Unenthused was probably the best description of the snakettes mood. She was watching the mass chaos rather calmly and just shaking her head slightly. There went veins popping, points loss, ridiculous shouting..... Thank you very much for that performance Airehead.....she kept the eyeroll to herself and once the question came about she bothered to answer him. "Because the earth is not flat as our dull witted ancestors once believed to be true. Our heavenly bodies are round.....much like a nice Apple. Gravity is a force that draws to the core of a planet or moon, not so simply 'down'."

The professor tried not to laugh at the dull witted comment, recalling not all that long ago a former Gryffindor believing that the Sun revolved around the Earth. “Good.”

SPOILER!!: Marion -__-

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marion Burbage

WELL...wasn't Airey just being a bit of a stick in the mud this evening. HMMMMMMMMPH! No matter, Marion was positively BEAMING at the subject matter of the day revolving around studmuffin Sir Isaac Newton and therefore unfazed by the Astronomy's professor's unease. He would surely laugh about it all later, as he often did.


"Oh how kind of you to think of me, my dear," she cooed softly to the Ravenclaw as she glided just a bit closer towards her. "But Hufflepuff already has a House ghost and I do not wish to impede on his moment."


"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH what a mighty fine question to ask, son" she chirped with a bit of an excited wiggle. "Even us ghosts are not toooooooooooootally exempt from the force hoooooooweeeeeeeever....the more mass something has, the more gravity it has. And we ghosts have no real mass to speak of. Did that answer your question, darling?"


OOOOOOOOOOOOOH Aireyhead. Stop being such a fuddy duddy!

"A daughter!" she clucked while making excited glances towards the Astronomy professor.


"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh why thank you darling," Marion beamed.

"Oh it is AAAAAAAAAAALL the way up his side!" Marion boasted on the astronomer's behalf. "The entire length, my dear!"

And then there were falling bodies everywhere. Beginning with the dear little Hufflepuff boy and followed soon after by the professor himself.

"Oh my gooooodness graaaaaaacious HEAVENS ABOVE!"

But darling Airey seemed to be alright, or at least was putting on a good show that he was so, as class continued despite the spill. But yes, please darlings, some one DOOOOOO help the other little dear up and to his seat.

OH SWEET SOLSTICE.

“Marion,” Airey not-so-quietly whispered. “May I have a word with you...after class?”

SPOILER!!: Carl!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean Granger

Carl glanced at Professor Flamsteed - glanced, because he was too busy staring at Ms Burbage - and was amused to find him staring into space with his mouth open. He must have been shocked that a ghost was revealing so much about his personal life.

The Badger's eyes widened as the Professor fell down after tripping on an apple. That must have hurt! He did not even hear the question properly but did not care. Was he okay? The boy watched with a worried expression as he struggled to speak.

The Hufflepuff’s concerned looks went unnoticed, although the man did sit up now. Sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. Oh that was going to leave a lump….but nothing to go see Cecelia about.

She would just mock him.

SPOILER!!: Brian!

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurange

Brian just nodded, sighing a little at the point loss but making no complaint despite Hufflepuff being in last place. He deserved points taken off. But the boy did grin from his position on the floor when he earned three back for that display. Unintentional as it was. Heh. However -

DID NOBODY SEE HIS DISTRESS?

NOBODY?

Really? At all?

Brian made a pathetic attempt to stand, but the second he put any weight - and this was actually weight and not mass because it was a force - on his left leg, he failed and it was back to the floor. Joy. But there was a new question and he would be dead before he let one in astronomy slide. "Because all objects on earth are not just "pulled" but are in fact accelerating towards Earth's centre of gravity - its core - at 9.8 meters per square second. To change this state of motion would require quite the significant outside force, because, well, intertia."

And with that, he was done with his answer. And since nobody wanted to help him up, proceeded to roll towards his seat. Independent action. HOORAY FOR CELL SPECIALIZATION.

“Stellar, Mr. Woods,” Airey nodded. Slowly earning back some hypothetical points with the man. But still no excuse for arriving THIS late to class.

SPOILER!!: Hady!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy

Hadleigh was listening to everyone around. She really truly was paying attention. It was all so much though. Tattoo, babies, ghosts and gravity. How was one supposed to process all of this when most of it wasn't even part of the lesson?!

The sixth year shifted her eyes onto the Professor once he had begun speaking again. However her eyes shifted towards a boy in Hufflepuff colors whom was standing and- what...was the boy back on the floor?! Was Airey on the floor too now? What was happening?!

She rose to her feet since no one else was and crossed the room. Sorry Professor if she was in the wrong but no one else was doing anything. "You okay? Do you need the healer?," she asked softly offering the boy (Brian) a hand to help him to his feet. "Are you alright Professor?" she added looking over her shoulder at the man still on the ground. Did he need a hand up too?

No she wasn't going to answer the question about penguins or whatever. People being on the ground was much more important...so much so it pulled her out of her own thoughts.

“Perfectly splendid,” he nodded. Nothing like being mortified in front of your students.

SPOILER!!: Janelle!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Janelle just sat back an watched the show. As ex-professor Burbage took over the class, Professor Flamsteed seemed shocked. And then, the vein began to bulge. Janelle thought he was about to blow, but he didn't. He began to talk about gravity, although she could see that he was clearly still angry, annoyed, put out? The next thing Janelle knew, he was on the floor. At first she thought it was intentional. The whole what goes up, must come down thing. Then she realized that the fall had not been staged. "Are you ok professor?", she asked with concern.

Then Professor seemed to recover enough to ask a question. Janelle thought about it for a moment and raised her hand to respond. "The penguins in Antarctica don't fall off the earth because gravity is really pulling you toward the center of the earth. So no matter where you are, you're being pulled toward whatever your "down is.". Did that make sense? It made sense inside Janelle's head anyway.

Not wishing to repeat himself, he simply nodded at the Ravenclaw’s concern. Yes yes alright over here. “Yes, very good.”

SPOILER!!: Kitty!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

Kitty winced as first a Hufflepuff and Professor Flamsteed tripped over an apple. Ouch. She was torn between wanting to ask if he was okay, and fear that he might be angry with her if she asked.

Instead she sat straight and focused her attention back on his next question. Why weren't penguins pulled off the planet? "I agree with Esme," said Kitty in reply, though Esme was not the only one who had given that answer. "If gravity comes from the center of the planet then it wouldn't be able to pull anyone down off it."

“Yes, thank you, Miss Valentine.”

SPOILER!!: Rooney!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanners

........... What. Was. Happening?!

Rooney was considering going to his Head of House after this lesson and complaining about the lack of education happening, given that he just wanted to eat the apple in front of him and he wasn't allowed. Actually, someone was being told off for biting into theirs and -- OH. OH! HAHAHAHAHHAAHA. Rooney couldn't help but laugh at the Professor's swift movement to the floor. That was...something fantastic. He wished there was a way he could relive it whenever he needed something good in his day.

Something funny.

This wasn't good.

This was...bad. Roo was certain he would have learned more being in his dorm.

True thoughts, Mr. Bronwyn. Or at least the professor would have been tempted to agree were he the sort to be able to know the thoughts of others. Airey was still wishing to hide under his desk.

SPOILER!!: Maddie!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Just how exactly was Maddie supposed to pass her Astronomy NEWT when they couldn't seem to get through a lesson without some kind of spectacle? Ghosts and body art obsessed questioning and loud noises. She could feel gravity pulling her once high marks down as she watched and it wasn't pretty. This is why she preferred to teach herself things.

And no, no comments on penguins. She couldn't work like this.

Few could, Miss Cooper. May the force be with you?

SPOILER!!: Skylar!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Skylar was speechless, from the rather eccentric behaviors of their normal Astronomy Professor to the arrival of another ghost - who began teaching them?! and educating them on things that sounded rather personal in regards to Professor Flamsteed - honestly, the first year knew what gravity was but no words came out. Fortunately some of her peers weren't as reactive as she was to the oddities in the classroom.

Nonetheless, Sky tried to focus her attentions on the room and learning as best she could. Flamsteed resumed teaching them, however, continuing with if gravity pulled them down, why didn't penguins get pulled from Earth? Really? Why pick on solely Antarctica? Weren't Australians hanging upside down off the Earth too? And what kinds of questions were these? She did happen to really like Janelle's answer and it sounded very feasible. They weren't being pulled down to Earth, necessarily, but to the center of Earth.

"Because Penguins are being pulled down as well. Their version of down is opposite ours. We're being drawn toward the core." Oh, so is that why the apples? For the core reference, not the hidden stars?

The professor nodded in approval at the Slyterin’s response. “Yes, very good.”

SPOILER!!: Scarlett!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Flamsteed always made his lessons..interesting, and that was part of the reason Scarlett loved his class so much. But was he OK after all that?! He sounded like he was going to have an asthma attack or something. Did anyone have an inhaler on them or...?

Right, he seemed...ok. So back to the lesson. Scarlett raised her hand and waited for her turn to jump into the conversation.

"Well, even though they're on the bottom of the Earth, when you're there, it's not...like you're standing upside down. Because the Earth is a sphere you're still standing right side up. And gravity pushes everything towards the center of the Earth, right? Because of...the core. Right?" she said. There were like...metals and things involved, right? She remembered from her primary muggle school classes that she'd taken before pitching a fit and demanding her dad take her out of them. Muggle school was AWFUL.

“Precisely,” Airey saluted the Hufflepuff.

SPOILER!!: Jaemin!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ameh

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YESSSSSSSSSSS.

Jaemin was so excited that they were going to be doing that spell, because he already knew how to do it. He had even been PRACTICING since they'd come back. Not every day, but a few times. The small boy was almost vibrating, he was that jazzed about this. He could show Airey how good he'd gotten at it!

But then... AIREY DOWN. AIREY DOWN. The small boy stared with wide eyes as the man slip-dropped down, and he stood up from his seat to peer over the desk at him worriedly. He was still asking a question, but he sounded like he was dying.

"Cause the gravity... pulls in... not... down, Professor are you okay?" he asked, blinking at the man before looking at the ghost. Please don't die, Airey... they didn't need two ghost professors.

Still doing perfectly fine. Only thing that was currently suffering was his pride and professionalism. Alas. So the small Slytherin also received a small thumbs up from the man.

SPOILER!!: Dot!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"Oh my goodness," Dot murmured, repeating the ghostly professor with a tiiiiiiiny grin. Like, it wasn't funny, and who didn't have a tattoo these days, but the professor was so stressed about it, and he was glaring and just...

Yeah.

"That's so scandalous. Thank you for telling us. About the gravity thing too... do you know any spells to counteract gravity?"

…………………………………

“You’ll be learning one that simulates such a thing in a moment,” the astronomer grumbled, obviously displeased by just how much the prefect was enjoying his torture.

SPOILER!!: Clara!

Quote:

Originally Posted by marshmallowXpie

Clara tried to shift her gaze as a very peculiar thing happened in the classroom. I mean, people tripped and fell over all the time and she had hardly noticed it. It was probably because she thought all authority figures always carried themselves with a bit of grace. Nonetheless, Clara mostly just experienced some secondhand embarrassment for the professor as he became very well acquainted with the floor. She eyed the man warily and assumed that he was okay.

Shaking her head, she tried to get her mind back on to the actual topic. What was he talking about again? Oh yes, gravity. Hm. It was becoming increasingly difficult to not simply agree with all the other students, but the fact of the matter is...they weren't exactly wrong. "The reason that penguins in Antarctica don't get pulled down is because gravity doesn't actually work that way. Gravity pulls you "down", but "down" varies depending on where you are. For all on Earth, "down" is the center of the Earth, and therefore the penguins get pulled into the Earth instead. Not literally, of course. I mean, humans technically get pulled into the Earth as well. We just don't notice it on a day-to-day basis. It's not really something that you can feel."

“Yes, precisely,” he saluted. “Very good.”

He probably should get off the floor soon, yeah?

SPOILER!!: Penelope!

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Flamsteed looked like he was dying. Was it her question about the baby? Considering how private he liked to keep things, it probably was. Professor Flamsteed had ignored the question, but Burbage was there to share the details. Professor Flamsteed had a baby girl! Cue excited squealing. What was her name? Was she named after an astronomy thing? Maybe named for a constellation or a planet? So many questions. Babies were adorable.

Professor down. Had he meant to do that? Penguins! Now to explain why penguins didn't just fall of the Earth. "Earth is a sphere. Gravity is always pulling us towards the center of the Earth. What is 'up' and what is 'down' is relative and entirely based off your perspective. We may think that Antarctica is upside down, but because of gravity pulling towards the center of the Earth everything is actually the 'right way up' to the penguins. From the perspective of the penguins the ground is down, but this is different than what we think of as down."

Airey nodded towards the Head Girl. Miss Wright was almost always on point.

SPOILER!!: Jace!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefan

Jace mirrored the professor’s expression as he stared back at the ghost...and the pasty man behind it. He wondered if it was actually necessary for them to know his personal stuff. Well, it was good to know that he dedicated something permanent and personal to his daughter, but...that isn’t as interesting as learning Astronomy stuff, right? If it was a Muggle Studies class, then he’s all up for Airey taking his shirt off...for educational purposes, of course.

Jace closed his mouth as Airey moved along with the discussion. The Ravenclaw immediately took his journal and quill and started to write the gist of what he was saying in Japanese. The writing however, stopped, when a loud thud was heard.

Jace took a peek, and cringed when he saw the professor on the ground, trying to get words out of his mouth. “It’s because gravity pulls us in towards the center of the Earth, and not...to slide down, and off, the surface of the earth.” He said with his hand raised above his head. Seeing Hady help the Hufflepuff kid, Jace followed suit, got up from his seat and offered his hands to help the professor stand up. That’s what trained Kenshins do, all thanks to the teaching of one Sensei Ryunosuke Hollingberry.

Nodding his head at the boy’s answer, Airey simply…..eyed the hand. “The thought is appreciated, Mr. Reed,” the professor swallowed. Appreciated gestured but not going to accept that...as a matter of pride.Last little ounce that was left anyway. “You may return to your seat.”

SPOILER!!: Zeke!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

Did he need to see a Healer? "Nope." Simple as that. "An apple a day keeps the Healer away, Professor," he grinned. And HUZZAAHHHH, apple. It was pretty good, like, apples were great. And he wasn't here to LEARN anything - other than the fact that the man had a tattoo and a kid and whatever. Like. HA! Losing the three points had been worth it so far.

Ilia's staring wasn't overlooked, he had a way of knowing when he was being admired, and she was welcome to it. Flashing a grin her way, Zeke winked at her before rousing up some Flammer-be-topless support.

Who in their right mind DIDN'T want to see this supposed tattoo? Hmm? It was ludicrous.

But alas... while he had support (thank you folks), the Professor's gibberish was... a no?

And...

Put. The. Apple. Down?

....

Mmmmm... no. He just sat until the man was otherwise distracted by other answers before resuming eating. Making craters was an Astro thing, and he was SUPER good at that too.

At this point, the astronomer was a bit too exhausted by everything else to deal with Mr. Zeke’s attitude right there in the classroom. Later. Once the vein had excused itself.

But he WAS going to get to his feet now. And nonchalantly brush off his suit.

Maybe pull the lint roller from his enchanted breast pocket after a moment or two as well.

SPOILER!!: Isabella!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles

Isabella's eyes widened as the professor bickered a bit with the ghost and then suddenly tripped or something and then landed on the floor. As she had previously been leaning back in her seat, she couldn't see over the edge of her desk to the floor apple that had caused Flamsteed's tumble. Now, however, she was sitting up quite straight, leaning forward even to peer over her desk in worry at the Professor. Was he okay? As another student helped him up, she bit her lip with concern. She couldn't even process that another question had been asked, she was too busy being concerned for the man's safety. Also, his sanity. This class had become quite strange.

It probably be best, Miss Melo, not to be concerned about the man’s sanity. Just some food for thought. Since eating the apple right now was not something that could be literally eaten at this moment.

SPOILER!!: Hadley!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

Aaaaaaand Airey was down. Again. Hadley Denaker just watched blankly. She wasn't even surprised. And no. She wasn't going to perform All Star in front of the class in hopes of reviving him again.

Why was the Head Lion such a drama queen?

Pulled down? Hadley was 99.99999999999999% with a bar on top sure that she hadn't said anything about gravity pulling down. She supposed she could just reiterate her answer of how gravity is generated by the mass of an object and pulls things toward the center of mass. Thus on Earth, we were pulled toward the Earth's core, which no matter where on Earth you were, was beneath you. And the Moon was being pulled toward the Earth's core too. It was just moving so fast, that to paraphrase Douglas Adams, it kept missing the ground. Like wise the Earth was in constant freefall around the Sun's core. And the Sun around the Galaxy's core.

Gravity.

Doesn't pull down. Pulls to the center.

She could have said all that. But Airey clearly wasn't in a state to hear her, just like he wasn't the first time she answered.

Hadley just wanted to eat her apple.

Excuse the man as he busied himself with brushing off his suit...and using his own personal lint roller on his rear. His classroom WAS spotless, comparatively, but bit of a nervous compulsive disorder going on right now.

SPOILER!!: Katherine!

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarShine

Airey Flamsteed had a tattoo AND a baby.

And the whole Scotland heard about this, because there was a LOUD ghost at the classroom.

Katherine gaped at the... woman figure floating in front of them with 1. shock of her sudden appearance, 2. discomfort at the loud voice, 3. WHAT at the news about Airey Flamsteed. Well, they weren't quite news anymore for the man and his close friends, she supposed, but... Katherine didn't know what to think of this lesson as she tried to listen to the ghost (Marrion Burbage, of course she knew about her because she HAD read the Hogwarts, A History) and note down some stuff she was saying. Like... like... but she didn't really say anything Katherine hadn't already known. Or did she feel so merely because she was SHOUTING and talking so much that the Ravenclaw couldn't keep up?

Well, whatever the reason, the only time Katherine picked up her quill was to write down the meaning of gravity.



There, now hopefully Professor Flamsteed would speak at a normal tone.

Except, after a little bit of explanation (thankfully, which was noted down), he fell.

Katherine didn't see why, but she could tell it was a terrible fall - or so it looked, and she rushed to her feet out of genuine concern for him.

"Sir, are you okay?" she asked as she awkwardly offered him her hand. Forget about the question that was answered correctly by pretty much everyone else, he had to live for his baby!

“I’m alright, Miss Moss,” he nodded, adding just a slight grin at the end for added effect. Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust peachy.

SPOILER!!: Ariadne!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

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WHAT?! What was going on? Ariadne had no idea and therefore sat in silence for at least...ohhh, three out of three of the questions that had been asked. Speaking of which, she should really try to answer that lingering third question. What was this class even about, though?

There were apples. And ghosts. And shocked professors. And...was this class about apples or gravity? Or both?

Ariadne decided that it was about both and then finally raised her hand in the air. She should start chiming in if she wanted to pass second year Astronomy. "It's our weight, right? Our mass? The mass of Earth pulls down on our own mass, so we don't fall off or move around. We just stay right where we are," she pointed out. Oh, and... "Earth's a sphere, so no matter where you are on Earth, you feel like you're facing up, even if you're on a completely different side of Earth than someone else. So that's probably why...err, penguins don't just fall or slide off."

Something like that.

Nodding to the Slytherin for her answer, the astronomer checked his sundial watch and...oh yes it was time to move things along!

“Stellar,” Airey nodded, now back to his feet. Glances were thrown at Marion to PLEASE OH MERLIN PLEEEEEEEEEASE keep quiet for the remainder of class about certain information. “As many of you pointed out, when we saying things like up or down when referring to gravity, we do not mean those in the traditional sense. The way that we are all accustomed to thinking about the term. When talking about gravity, up means away from the earth and down means towards it, specifically towards its center, the core, as many of you also pointed out. Remember, gravity is the force of attraction between any two objects made of matter. You are made of matter and so is the earth, therefore you and the earth have an attraction to each other.” The paused to chuckle at himself. Right, now that that thought was out of the way. “Gravity plays a very important role on the earth. It is the Sun’s gravitational pull that keeps our planet, and others of course, orbiting it, and the motion of the Moon is influenced by BOTH the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Sun.”

But that was more than enough theory for now...and distractions had taken away time from the lecture so….it was time to move on to a bit of magical work. Which would hopefully also be a bit of two fwoopers, one stone…but first...he needed to close off the room. Wand out, Airey gave it a flick to shut all the windows and prevent any additional air interference. It would all make sense in a moment.

“Now, without gravity we would float away from the Earth. Similarly, if there was no gravitational pull acting on the Moon, it would simply travel through space in a straight line. Today you will be practicing a spell that will simulate what this is like,” he continued, eyes glancing around the classroom to make sure all the windows were in fact shut. “Seeing as we are well into the term now, I trust you all are familiar with Wingardium Leviosa which, by definition, is a charm to make objects fly. The spell you will be learning today works in a similar manner, but rather than the object itself the spell influences the air molecules around an object. ” Summoning another apple to his person, Airey tossed it into the air and caught it. Standard gravitational pull demonstration right there. “Derivo Gravitatem,” he said three times, each time tracing a counterclockwise circle above the apple. Holding his hand very still so as not to create any additional force on the apple just yet, the professor looked to the semicircle of desks. “Should you perform the spell correctly, when you toss your apple up in the air...it will not come back down unless you summon it back.” Or go get it themselves...but Airey was not sure about letting students perform this spell on themselves just yet.

For reasons.

With one last grin, Airey tossed the apple up in the air and watched as it slowly made it’s way all the way up to the ceiling of the classroom.

“Like so,” he grinned, eyes back on his students now. “To recap, trace your wand thrice counterclockwise over your apple. With each rotation, you need to speak the incantation Derivo Gravitatem, closing your circle on the ‘tem’.” Get it? Got it? Good. “I’ll give you 10 minutes or so to practice before we move on to a game.”

OOC: I am so sorry for the delay guys .____. I’ve been feeling really under the weather recently.

Please keep in mind that this is a REALLY advanced spell and it is incredibly unlikely that a student, even a 7th year, would get it right on the first try. You will have at least 24 hours to get in a practice post or two before we move on to the main activity.

Thank you all again so so so much for your patience <333

For a short while, Daxton was a little too preoccupied with the amusing sight of Airey Flamsteed flat on his back on the classroom floor to pay much notice to anything else in the room. But the fact of the matter was that, now that his ears were uncovered, there was nothing stopping Daxton from hearing everything that was said aloud by the others.

For the most part, it was all rather uninteresting, though Daxton now understood that the 'decoration' being referred to earlier was actually a tattoo, which was interesting. But the interaction that really caught Daxton's attention was the question 'You have a baby?' followed by the rather loud pronouncement 'A daughter!' He looked up towards the speaker - the ghost, of course - wondering how a ghost could possibly have a baby, only to see it looking right at Airey Flamsteed. Suddenly, a lot of the previous comments started to make sense. Airey Flamsteed had a daughter, a baby daughter, and a tattoo because of that fact. The question had been directed at the Astronomy professor, and the ghost had merely interjected to answer it. Was that perhaps what had been meant by a 'bundle of joy'? Daxton was now positive he had heard it before in that very confusing context.

The smile now wiped clean off his face, Daxton sat back in his seat and stared at his open notebook, which was covered only in minuscule drawings and nonsensical doodles and not a single note about Astronomy. Not that he was really looking at the contents of the page at all, more like staring right through it.

By the time he looked up again, Airey Flamsteed had finished his gravitational spiel, and had moved on to the theory of the spell they were supposed to be learning. Daxton attempted to listen, but found his thoughts were now fixated on something else entirely. Preferring not to even look at Airey Flamsteed, Daxton instead stared at the ghost for a few moments, thinking about how he suddenly did not particularly want to be here.

But if they were practicing a spell, that meant that he could make a Swift Exit, and nobody would be any the wiser about his reasoning, given that he had a habit of doing so in many of his classes. Besides, he no longer had an apple to practice the spell on in any case, and he could just try it later, as he did with every spell they were taught.

Shoving his notebook and pen into his bag, Daxton did not even give the classroom a cursory glance before quickly making for the door that he was mercifully sat so very close to. This time, he did not want Airey Flamsteed to notice him, but knew there was a possibility that he might be expecting a move like this. The smartest thing seemed to be to try and get out quickly, instead of wasting any time and risking looking suspicious, or giving away any of his thoughts to the suspiciously perceptive Airey Flamsteed. If he could get out fast, he could be gone before anyone noticed.

Levitating apples sounded safe comfortable. Kitty liked it. She took her wand from her robe pockets and traced it around the apple. "Derivo GravitaTEM," she muttered as she finished the closing. No affect. That was okay, she didn't expect to get it right on the first time and she didn't feel any pressure to succeed right away. "Derivo GravitaTEM," she said again, repeating at exactly the same moment. Still nothing. She tried something else. "Derivo Gravitatem."

Wow this was actually kind of fun.

Sitting forward in her chair slightly, Marsha gave the Professor move attention than she normally gave him in Astronomy. Not because she didn’t like him or the subject or the way he taught it… simply because she didn’t always fulllly understand what he was talking about. But. Today seemed different. Like somehow she was starting to learn something. Which was a VERY good thing since she was closer to her OWLs than not. Scary thought.

Moving on.

She did what she always did first, tried to concur the pronounciation of the spell; it was always the part that caused her the most amount of trouble and the thing that would stop her spellwork from… well working. ”De-Re-Vo Gra-Va-Ta-Tum.” She said it slowly before frowning. No, that didn’t sound the same as the Professor. Writing down the spell onto her notes she tried again. ”De-Ri-Vo Grav-e-ta-tum “ That sounded closer, almost there but she wasn’t sure where - if anywhere - she had gone wrong.

So, figuring she would only know by trying, she took her apple into hand and finally picked up her wand. Holding it over her hand she made the circular motion as she said firmly and with a good grip of her wand; ”Derivo gavitatum, derivo gravitatum, derivo gravitatum.”

Taking a deep breath, she throw her apple softly into the air.

She smiled as she watched it going UP!!!

….. And caught it when it fell.

Ohh, they were learning a new spell? Azura was always happy to learn new spells, she was pretty good at them too! Though, this seemed like a super complicated one! Changing the Gravity around an object? Super amazing!

She carefully watched him, paying close attention to every wand movement, and the pronunciation of the spell. She even practiced the spell in her head as she watched as he threw the apple upwards, and it stayed up!!!

Fwoopers!

The Astronomer had her FULL attention now. Nothing else was in her mind, except the spell, and how to do it.

She glanced down at her apple as she took out her wand and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember EXACTLY what the Professor did. She started to move her wand over the apple, moving it counter clockwise as the Professor had said.. "Derivo Gravitatem, Derivo Gravitatem, Derivo Gravitatem." She said three times as she traced her circles, making sure to end the circle with the Tem.. just as the Professor had instructed..

She wasn't sure if it had worked.. but she tossed her apple up in the air.. And groaned softly as it came back down and nearly hit her in the head! Fwoopers!

Now practice she could do.

After taking down the specifics of the incantation and wand movement in her notes, Maddie waited for Flamsteed to give them the go ahead and then stood up, eyes on her apple. "Derivo Gravitatem." It was a mouthful to say and it didn't feel natural just yet so she focused on getting that right, first. She repeated it several times, trying to remember how Flamsteed had said it. Once it felt right, she moved on, wand in hand.

Three times counter clockwise over the apple, closing the circle at the last syllable of the incantation. She could do that.

"Derivo Gravitatem...Derivo Gravitatem...Derivo Gravitatem..."

Or maybe she couldn't. The apple she'd tossed up post-spell came right back down and she caught it easily enough, but it wasn't the desired result.

Her timing must have been off.

Isabella was super confused. They were going to learn a gravity spell? Or or was it an anti-gravity spell? She thought maybe an anti-gravity spell, since it made Professor Flamsteed's apple go up without coming back down. She picked up her wand. Derivo Gravitatem. She could do that. Say it three times with circles around the apple. Then she was supposed to toss her apple. After a few other students tried it first and she was it didn't work, she sighed. She wasn't going to get to eat this apple.

Furrowing her brow with concentration, Isabella picked up the apple in her free hand and held it flatly in her palm. "Der-iv-O GravitAtem," she said once, circling her wand clockwise over the apple, having not be able to tell that Flamsteed had gone counterclockwise. "Derivo Gravitatem," she said again, with another clockwise circle. "Derivo graviAtem!!" After she said it the third time and finished the clockwise circle over the apple, Isabella tossed it gently into the air with a hopeful look on her face.

When the apple landed with a thud back on her desk, her face fell. It hadn't worked. What had she done wrong?

Poor Professor Flamsteed. That wheezing didn't sound too good but she knew that he was going to be okay. The man had managed to get to his feet with no great difficulty and within seconds he was back to giving his usual long-winded explanations. Surprisingly she actually managed to understand everything he was saying. This science stuff was usually beyond her, so it made Esme happy to know that she could actually understand SOMETHING relating to Astronomy.

Okay, maybe more than just something.

That spell sounded complicated though... A little advanced for her but she supposed that Professor Flamsteed would have some idea of what his students were capable of. Look at him having faith in them. What a sweet man.

First things first was the incantation. "Derivo Gravitatem." What. A. Mouthful. She would be keeping at it until she was sure that she had it down exactly as she was supposed to. Naturally it took more than two tries. Felt like a million but there you go. The wand movement would be much easier at least. Three counter-clockwise circles over the apple and she was ready to try the spell out for real.

Mimicking the way Professor Flamsteed demonstrated the spell, Esme couldn't say that she was surprised when the apple came back down. At least she managed to catch it.

Advanced spell was advanced.

Ironically enough, Dot had seen someone perform this spell recently. A second year, one she was starting to think was probably going to be turn out to be very magically gifted if this spell was half as hard as Flamsteed made it seem. She looked around for Jaemin, hoping to give the boy a wink before turning her own hand to the spell.

The motion was easy enough, since she was just drawing counterclockwise circles over top the object she wanted to charm. The harder part was making sure that she ended her incantation at the exact closing of her wand motion. Dot drew a few circles in the air to get a feel for it.

"Derivo Gravitatem. Der-ee-vo Grah-vi-tah-tum." Not too hard, and no wonky multi-syllabic tongue twisters to worry about. Now she just had to pair them together... "Derivo Gravitatum." The wand made one counterclockwise rotation and ended as she spoke the last syllable.

Easy.

While Jaemin didn't necessarily need practice when it came to casting this spell... it never hurt. The small Slytherin bounced a bit in his seat and looked around for Prefect Dot, giving the older girl a happy grin when he caught her eye. She already knew he could do it, as did Airey. He was ahead of the game!

He hadn't gotten to show Airey just how good he'd gotten at it, though. NOW WAS THE TIME. Jaemin turned his attention back to his apple and gave it a light pat before tugging his wand out of his pocket and pointing it at the tasty-looking granny smith.

"Don't make me look bad, okay?" he whispered to it, hand absently turning his wand in small circles as he addressed the apple. It had become a habit, and probably not a good one, because Merlin knew what he might accidentally cast someday. "I can do this spell really well now, so just be good and go right up where you're supposed to."

The boy let his wand turn in a few more circles before he finally focused on doing the spell. He put ALL his focus on that apple, not sparing a thought for anyone or anything else.

"Derivo Gravitatem..." One circle done, just on time as he'd practiced. SOOOO MUCH PRACTICE. He'd worked hard on the timing over the summer, since he couldn't actually cast it then. A stick worked just as well s a wand when you weren't allowed to use your wand. "Derivo Gravitatem." Two down, one to go. Jaemin's little nose wrinkled, and he said the last one with all the bundled up meaning he had inside of him. "Derivo Gravitatem!"

A bit of soft white misty light, and then the apple was just sitting there... waiting to be tested. The diminutive boy bit down on his bottom lip and, with a look at Airey... tossed the apple straight up in the air.

While it didn't stay up, it also didn't come back down nearly as quickly as the tennis ball had done last term. He had worked on this spell a LOT, and it showed. The apple took its time, descending back down toward him as if it were making its way through thick, cold, sticky syrup.

Close enough, right?!

She didn't want to assume that the actual spell casting was easy just because she'd seen a second year cast it, especially not with how all her classmates seemed to be struggling around her. Even if she was pretty great at Charms and even if the incantation was simple. So she'd just go into it with the expectation that it wasn't easy and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Dot traced her wand in a tight circle over the apple. "Derivo Gravitatem. Derivo Gravitatem. Derivo Gravitatem." The practice helped - each circle ended with her incantation. And now... Dot threw the apple in the air, and she watched it arc uppppp and then back to the earth. So that went well.

Again. And with serious intent this time. She remembered how it had looked when Jaemin had cast the spell, especially when he went flying up to get his apple, and again she moved her wand over the apple in tight circles. "Derivo Gravitatem. Derivo Gravitatem. Derivo Gravitatem."

This time, when she threw the apple, it hit the peak of its arc and just... stayed there. Success! Finally!

Azura tried the spell again, Once more she moved her wand around the apple three times counter clockwise and said "Derivo Gravitatem!" Three times and said the Tem right as she closed the circle.. Okay, lets see if this time it worked.

Up went the apple.. Down it came on top of her head!!

"Owwwwww!" She said softly as she rubbed the top of her head as she bent down to grab her apple and place it on her desk. She looked at it for a minute and sighed softly. This spell must be advanced! When she had tried Avis the second time, she had at least gotten one bird out! Though she hadn't mastered Oppungo yet.. That needed to happen soon.. But.. back to the matter at hand.

Okay!

Again she tried and again the apple fell down on her, though this time she caught it..

Fourth times the Charm right?

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, centering her mind as she tried to meditate for a moment, focusing only on the spell and nothing else. Letting her intent gather within her.. She pushed away all distracting thoughts and focused soley on getting that apple to float.. ish..

She opened her eyes and slowly started to move her wand tip around the apple, counter clockwise around the green fruit, each time saying "Derivo Gravitatem!" Her movements were slow and steady she was solely focused on the apple and the spell. She took a deep breath as she put her wand down and then tossed the apple up in the air.. and this time.. It stayed up there!! Well, mostly. It was coming down.. but super super slowly..

EEEEEE! She had done it!

And Phew.. that was hard work!

Okay. Let’s just face the facts.

When did charmwork ever work first time for her?

Never. Exactly.

Holding the apple in her hand again, she raised her wand and repeated the circlular motion over the top of it as she clearly spoke the incantation. She imagined the air around the apple holding it in place and working against gravity itself. When she finished the third derivo gravitatum, instead of taking a deep breath like before she simply threw the apple upwards, believing in herself and her magic.

….

Griffin. It totally looked like it had worked there. But no.

Down and down and down the apple fell until it once again landed in her hand.

Taking a deep breathe, she watched as Dot mastered it, and checked just to make sure she was pronouncing it right. She was which just meant she needed to work harder. Fine. She tried a third, fourth and fifth time. Maybe the sixth time was the charm?

Ooh. They got to practice now! Good thing she hadn't eaten the apple. It looked pretty cool though. Maybe they'd get to eat the apple later? But she was content to try and make the apple not have gravity. Though the professor had said it was a pretty advanced spell, so maybe she wouldn't be able to do it? That was okay though, because she was only a first year. She shouldn't be able to do all the spells that she tried. But practice made perfect, and she intended to do lots of practice.

Putting her apple in the middle, she first practiced the wand movement, tracing her wand three times over her apple counter clockwise over her apple. She wanted to make sure that she could do it right. When she was content that she could do it, she practiced saying the spell, so she knew she'd have it right.

Now it was time to combine them both. Smiling, and concentrating, Hattie traced her wand over the apple, whilst saying "Derivo Gravitatem" each time. She had done it all right. Or at least she thought she had. So she placed her wand now, and threw the apple in the air. It came straight back down, and luckily she caught it.

"Okay... need more practice" She murmured, before setting to work again.

Notes, notes and more notes. Janelle scribbled furiously as Professor Flamsteed discussed gravity. Then he gave a hint as to what they would be doing today. New spell alert. Janelle copied down the incantation and wand movement for the spell. It sounded hard, but she was game to give it a try. First though, it was practice time.

As always, Janelle chose to tackle the incantation first. "Der-i-vo Gra-vi-ta-tem, Der-i-vo Gra-vi-ta-tem, Der-i-vo Gra-vi-ta-tem", she repeated several times. Now that was a bit of a tongue twister. Janelle knew that she would have to practice that a bit more to get the proper feel for it. Correct pronunciation was very important to the success of the spell. She couldn't afford to mess that up, especially when she'd be raising something in the air.

Deciding to take a break from the incantation, Janelle went on to practice the wand movement a bit. She held the apple in her hand and raised her wand slightly above it. Then she made three counter clockwise circles above her apple. That seemed simple enough. The trick would be to put it all together. Say the incantation right and time things so it ended as the circle movement ended. Okaaay. Piece of cake. No problem. Riiiight.

Angel looked at the apple, she was hungry but she had a feeling the Professor wouldn't let her eat the apple. She also had a funny feeling the spell she was doing involved the apple and she was right, now time to get to practicing then, she started to say the spell over and over again. "Derivo Gravitatem!" Angel was not sure if it sounded right. "Derivo Gravitatem!"

After helping the younger boy up...sorta. For she had offered him a hand up and whatever. Hady returned to her desk with a small nod of her head towards Airey as he stated that he was indeed alright. Slipping back down into her seat she proceeded to listen quietly without another word being sad. She was taking down notes however in her nice neat handwriting.

Having to levitate an apple for the lessons first activity didn't sound difficult at all. It wasn't just levitating though, the apple had to remain up in the air without coming back down. A bit of a step up really. She was good at this stuff though. Charm work typically came easy to her. "Derivo Gravitatem," she muttered quietly a couple of times to herself getting a feeling for the incantation first.

Pulling out her wand next she aimed it over top of her apple. Slowly making a circle she spoke clearly, "Derivo Gravitatem," making sure to complete the circle on the 'tem' of the incantation. This was done once more and then again for a total of three times before Hady picked up the apple tossing it into the air above her desk.

Up. Up. Up.

Annnnnddddd.....

Down. Down. Down.

The apple came back down at her even faster then it had gone up hitting the table with a 'thud' before bouncing off and hitting the floor rolling away. Hady couldn't believe it. It hadn't worked...it hadn't worked...

Jace retracted his outstretched hand, shrugged, inclinded his head toward the professor and turned to go back to his seat. Surprisingly, he wasn't offended at all. At least he won't feel guilty about not helping a man down. Flamsteed's loss really.

Eyes and attention back up front, the Ravenclaw scribbled down important notes in his parchment, highlighting the incantation, wand movement, and the effect of said spell. Hastily, he moved his writing implements on one side, got his wand and placed the apple right smack on the center of his table.

"Derivo Gravitatem...Derivo...Gravitatem...Derivo Gravitatem." sitting straighter in his seat, Jace did the wand movement three times, and closed the motion by saying the last syllable of the incantation.

Hmm. Will that work? It should work. The incantation may be a mouthful, but the effect isn't hard to intend upon the object.

Rooney had taken himself quietly to a corner of the room to practice, because he was aware it was a difficult spell and didn't want to be around apples going up into the air and potentially smacking him square on the head and causing more of a thing than had already happened today. He took his apple to his hand, gave it a little grip and tossed it into the air a few tester times. Mainly so he could catch it and remember that he was good at something. The catching. The easy part. He was good at the easy part.

Either way, apple in his hand.. he gave a bitter mutter about it needing to be good to him or he'd eat it and it would cease to exist anymore. THEN he'd have the upper hand core hand. Apple puns took the pips, really. Circling his wand above the apple, he spoke the incantation C-L-E-A-R-L-Y three times, connecting each circle on the last syllable each time. "Derivo Gravitatem... Derivo Gravitatem.... Derivo Gravitatem...?" And now he was just supposed to throw his apple up in the air and things would be all good? They seemed to be all good for the younger students, apparently!

Apple up...?

APPLE DOWN. APPLE DOWN. RED ALERT. APPLE DOOOOOOOOOOWN. Luckily not splattered anywhere. But his determination only drove him to pick it up and try again. And again. And again. It was infuriating to be given a spell that he couldn't get right for the life of him and then to see second years going ahead and getting it was a kick in his hungry stomach. This was unfair. Sixteenth try was the charm, right? No. No it wasn't. So Rooney gave up and sat down on the floor, biting into his apple.

"NOT. WORKING." This was an Astronomy class and he just wanted to eat the bloody apple and be fantastic at spells, okay?

''....gravity is the force of attraction between any two objects made of matter.....'

Oh man the jokes he can come up with just on this itty bitty statement alone.

But right, sciencey talk. He can follow it mmhm. But now the Professor is teaching them a new spell-- on how to keep the apple from falling back down? Hmmm this Gryffindor had questions...

Up goes the hand "Professor... Whats the difference between this spell and other levitation spells like Wingardium Leviosa or the Locomotor spell?" because those things, he's actually been able to apply in his life already.

He looked around and this spell looks to be quite tricky-- even the older students had that look on their faces. The Curly Top grabbed his Granny Smiths and held it aloft in his hand, while he twirled his wand counterclockwise to the beat of his chanting "Derivo Gravitatem... Derivo Gravitatem.. Deri--"

--poke goes the end of his wand against the waxy green surface.

----- was that a sizzle? Uhoh.

Tenacius looked closely at his apple. There was some bruising now. Oh maaaan will this thing still work?

The Gryffindor Ace tried it again "Derivo Gravitatem..." twirl once counter clockwise "... Derivo Gravitatem...." twirl again "Derivo Gravitatem." twirl one more tiiiime...

And he tossed his apple up into the air.... Is it slowing down? It is slowing down innit?-- Oh wait its coming back down!...

--Whack! On his curly head.

"Ouch."

This was ridiculous. He was able to make his cruiser work day in and day out but cant keep an apple suspended in the air?

He did a few more tries, and each time, it seemed like the apple was slowing down just as it reached its maximum height. But if the spell is supposed to take effect at this point-- it doesn’t, and the apple comes zooming back down.

And for the nth time Tenacius collects his apple from his bag-- because that’s where it flopped into this time-- and the once flawless green fruit looked a little less for wear.

Ugh suddenly his appetite for the tart fruit has waned.

Hadley pulled out her wand. A chance to learn how to defy gravity!? Yes please! Well, manipulate the gravity, basically the same. Mostly. Twirl counter-clockwise. Once. "Derivo Gravitatem!" Twice. "Derivo Gravitatem!" Thrice. "Derivo Gravitatem!" She snatched the apple off her desk and tossed it in the air.

And then caught it as it came back down as fast as if she hadn't cast the spell. Okay, attempt number two! "Derivo Gravitatem! Derivo Gravitatem! Derivo Gravitatem!" Each time she twirled the wand around the apple counter-clockwise. Tossed her apple into the air and...was it coming down faster than before?

She caught it, barely and set it down on the desk again. It had probably been her imagination and had fallen at normal speed. Third time is a charm. Heh, charm. Hads performed the spell again, saying the incantation with each twirl of the wand and tossed the apple in the air. Was it also her imagination or did it hesitate a fraction of a second before coming down?

Probably her imagination too.

Hadley glanced around to see how the others were doing and spotted Jaemin and his apple. It was still falling, but more like floating leisurely down. Interesting. She stood up, grabbed her apple and made her way over to the short boy. "Hey, Strawberry," Shortcake, "can you help me with the spell?" Because clearly she wasn't getting it at all.

Game? That sounded fun. Olly wanted to play a game. But before playing he had to practice the spell. If it was used in the game he wanted to be good at it so he would have a better chance of winning. Even though he didn't know what the game was yet, but that wasn't important.

Okay, time to practice. He lined his apple up right in front of him and took out his wand. He did a few circles just to practice without saying the incantation. That was pretty easy, right? All he had to do was make three circles, while saying the incantation three times. It was weird they had to say it three times. He didn't know any other spell that did that. It was like having to do one spell three times for it to work. It was weird.

Olly made one circle. "Derivo Gravitatem." Another circle. "Derivo Gravitatem." And a third. "Derivo Gravitatem." Now he was supposed to throw the apple? It wouldn't just float on its own? He could do that. Olly tossed his apple in the air, and watched as it fell to the ground. Great, now it was going to be all bruised. He picked it up and tried the spell again. Three circles, with the incantation repeated three times. He threw the apple again and again it fell to the ground. Alright then.

After giving the incantation a few more tries, Janelle deemed herself ready to try the spell for real. She held her wand steady and concentrated on what she wanted to happen. The apple was going to rise. Mmhmm. Believe it and it will happen. It was time to get started.

Janelle held the apple out in front of her and stared at it. She could do this. She pointed her wand above her apple and began to move in a counterclockwise circle. One. "Derivo Gravitatem." Two. "Derivo Gravitatem." Three. "Derivo Gravitatem." And now, the moment of truth. Janelle threw the apple up.......and.......the apple came right back down. Well that didn't work. Janelle thought she had done everything right, so why hadn't it worked. Obviously she had missed something. She was going to have to start over and really concentrate this time.