Juno smiled over at the older girl when she sat down. She didn't know Paige very well but she seemed to be a really awesome girl. "Hey, Paige," she whispered to the older girl.

Juno really couldn't wait for the lesson to start, it was one of her favorite subjects. Though she really, really missed Professor Flamsteed! He was such a great teacher. It wouldn't be the same without him. She clutched her pet rock, Firefly, in her pocket.

Kaycee was mostly attending the lesson because HOW OFTEN DID YOU GET TAUGHT BY A GHOST?! It seemed to be a running theme with her last year of school. She just went to class for the stories.

"Hello Professor." she greeted cheerily as she entered. She was pleasantly pleased that the temperature was actually completely tolerable. How'd a ghost pull that one off?

She then helped herself into an empty seat. This was weird. She couldn't decide what part about it was the most weird though. A new professor. The fact that the professor was a ghost. The streamers. Or the fact that she wanted very badly to play with the balloon on her chair.

It was only then that he noticed a framed image of some fellow, still old, probably a husband or brother he could presume, because thats usually why people would frame pictures of other people right right? Made sense to him.

And Char yelled out PARALLAX. Tenacius looked at the picture again and murmured "But he dont look nuthin like a Green Lantern.... or a Yellow Lantern". Comics in the brain man. Then again is Professor Burbage a GREEN LANTERN FAN?? Ohboyohboyohboy

"Hey Henry!!" the Curly Top greeted the Hufflepuff cheerfully as the other boy took a seat beside him "Wzup man how you doin'?" Whats the word Puffaluff spill the beans.

And Hady's boy toy bestie sees you Mason. You get a wave too.

Owen, with his signature side grin in place, climbed up to the Astronomy tower in fairly good spirits. Sure, he missed Professor Flamsteed and his fun lessons but the 4th year Hufflepuff believed that someone like Professor Burbage can step up to the plate. Ghost Professors always had something interesting up their sleeve. He's also heard that she was a returning professor from a few years ago and that her lessons were downright noteworthy. So he kind of had expectations.

Bowing a bit as he entered, Owen greeted the lady Professor, "Good evening, maa'm." Hmm... Streamers? He glanced curiously at the woman again and the portrait on her desk (nope, face isn't ringing any bell), wondering what she had roasted up for them tonight, before sauntering over to his usual seat on the semicircle arrangement...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nc.Ap.

Why.

Why was it so damn cold in here? The cold was literally the BANE of Mason's existence, and she was honestly not prepareed for this nonsense. Scowling slightly at the ghost responsible for said-nonsense, Mason tilted her blue-dyed head towards Professor Burbage, who still bore too eerily of a resemblance to Mason's grandmother.

"Professor." She said curtly, letting her eyes wander to the Hobbit-looking man that stared back at her from some old portrait.

Rolling her eyes, Mason made her way towards the semi-circulie-desks, claiming one of the many open seats as her own. She was obviously WAY too early, something that she almost never was. They only person that she was remotely familiar with was Hads' boy-toy, Curly Top.

*SSSSIIIGGGHHHHH*

...next to a not so usual seatmate.

"Hi," Owen said as he took his seat.

...

Parallax? Huh?

Oh her first student of the evening! "Good evening, son," she chirped at the young man as he took his seat.

"Gooooooood evening," she sang to the Gryffindors with bit of an excited wiggle. "Oh you shall see soon enough, although surely a spirited young man such as yourself can think of soooooooooomething worth celebrating, HMMMMM?"

Lesson topic aside, of course. Ho ho ho.
"Evening," Marion greeted with a BROAD smile.
TUT!

tut tut tut tut tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut.

Well, what had the young Slyterin's knickers in a twist?

"It is ruuuuuuuuuuuuuude to roll your eyes in such a manner, Miss Stevens," the ghost sternly warned just s curtly.

TUT!
"Good evening, Mr. Whittebrook, dear," she cooed as the Hufflepuff found his seat. "Oooooooh not entirely so...but certainly there will be one sometime this term."

Which she would be requiring some assistance with seeing as she was incapable of doing any sort of set up herself. Sigh.

"Con...Corn...Coooooooooooonbanwa!" she clucked in attempted greeting. She would get it eventually.

The sight of this particular young man never ceased to pull at the ghost's no longer beating heartstrings. Sigh.

"Good evening, Mr. Bellaire."

"OH HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOO," Marion chortled. "As clever as ever I see, my dear."

"Hello, dear," she smiled at the young lady.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. Oh yes, she was certainly watching this little exchange. OOOOOOOOOOH.

"Evening, son," she smiled kindly at the Slytherin. "Oh no, not today, my dear." Although Sir Nicholas was often reminding her she need not celebrate those anymore and ought to instead throw lavish death day celebrations.

HUFF.

"Good evening, Miss McNally," she chirped at the third year.
"Hello, dear," she replied to the Slytherin.
"Hello, my dear," Marion smiled warmly at the Ravenclaw.

"Good evening, Prefect Valentine," she greeted, giving a bit of an excited wiggle while she did. "OOOOOOOOOH you mean this FINE studmuffin? Well, he is no Newton...but he certainly does have his appeal."

Purposefully not answering your question, dear. Oopsies.
"Evening, dear," she smiled to the young woman, quite unsure how best to accept such praise that came after. "And you are looking particlarly solid and chipper this evening, Miss Toussaint."
"Good evening, Prefect Dracy."

One of the students she would be seeking out another time to do her a favor. MMMhMMMMMMMMMM.
Oh...my.

"Are you quite alright, dear?" Marion asked the Gryffindor. "The moving staircases did not get the best of you, did they? No possessed flesh-eating plants wandering about the corridors trying to snatch up a darling little thing like yourself?"

Just had to be absolutely sure. Miss Phillips' disheveled appearance was cause for concern.
"Good evening, darling."

Hmm...seemed as though her precautions were NOT nearly enough for most students as this Gryffindor was not the first to display a certain dislike for the temperature of the room.

hmmmm....these matters were quite difficult to handle seeing as she was now incapable of performing any magic.
Another with a disheveled appearance. Hmmmm...

"Evening, Miss Skeeter," she cooed, looking the Hufflepuff up and down. "You ought to at least tuck in your shirt, dear." Pause. "Are Peeves and Miffy to blame for...all that?"

Best to spread her inquiries around.
"Hello, dear," she smiled, also taking note that this student's robes were not a mess.
"Good evening, Prefect Richards," Marion clucked.

"Good evening, Mr. Montezor," she beamed at the young man.

Deciding that it was well past time to begin, Marion floated a bit closer to the semi circle of desks.

"Let us begin!" she chirped. "If someone would be so kind as to shut the door to the classroom I would be mooooooooooooooost appreciative." Such physical luxuries were no long an option for the woman. "I THOOOOOUGHT I had placed a proper request to the house elves to set the room up to be accommodating for your living bodies, but it appears as though as some of you dears are still feeling a bit of a chill. I will permit the use of bluebell flames in the classroom should you feel the need. Younger students, you are allowed to ask an older one for assistance if you wish and I proooooooooooooooomise to request better heating charms next lesson."

It WAS difficult for her to gauge these things, dears. Forgive the ghost.

"Now, I know many of you are curious about this evening's decorations. That explanation shall come in juuuuuuuuuust a moment. FIRST, I would like you all to turn your attention to this framed studmuffin," she continued, gesturing towards the portrait on her desk. "Miss Kettleburn has already given a bit of insight as to just WHO this gentleman is..." No name but a VERY important little bit of information nonetheless. "...but who can identify him by name? Hmmmm? Name and perhaps a little nugget of information as to why he is important to astronomy?"

OOC: thank you for your patience, dears. We shall continue in about 24 hours from the time of this post.

Jace slowly inclined his head and let out a quiet chuckle. Must she talk in such manner? Not that he hated it, but it was sort of endearing really. She looked daunting at first but that’s just her face. Professor Burbage seems to be a sweet woman. The Ravenclaw turned in his seat and gauged that he is too far away from the door, and convinced himself that it’s okay not to do the Professor’s request. His brown eyes landed on the seventh year Hufflepuff though.

Turning his attention now up front, Jace politely raised his hand and answered the professor’s question. It wasn’t really hard given that Charlotte already mentioned the studmuffin’s discovery. But what in the stars is that word? “The...studmuffin’s name is Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, professor.” He said slowly retracting his hand. Jace turned to face Charlotte and gave her a grin. Maybe she’d like to mention Mr. Studmuffin's discovery? Maybe she’d be able to explain the Parallax better too.

Studmuffin though.

He’d have to ask his friends about it. Maybe...maybe Jasper knows? He likes using short language anyway.

Kimi had no idea who it was in the picture so he just decided to take notes down and answer anything that he felt he knew

Charlotte beamed around, partially in bemusement, at the people who had in some way or another responded to her blurting about the Parallax guy. The only reason she knew anything at all (selectively) was because her DAD's name was COPERNICUS and the apparent absence of the parallax thing was part of why people hadn't believed Copernicus about the solar system being heliocentric. Buuuut if anyone thought she had paid much attention beyond that, well, they were soooorely mistaken.

And was SHE someone? Weren't they ALL someones?

"I'll do it!" Char said cheerfully and skipped past Paige (who she still hadn't talked to about things but would!!) and over to the door, shutting it with a flourish. AND OHHHH they got to do bluebell flames! Immediately Charlotte was distracted from answering the question in favour of conjuring a little jar with the flames burning merrily inside. Yeah!

"Anyone want one of these?" Because they were FUN to make.

Erm... what had been the question again?

Kimi looked at the older girl who was offering a jar of bluebell flames and said "I wouldn't mind having one" Kimi being only a first year didn't yet know how to cast the spell but he would once he was a bit older

The Curly Top gave the lady spectre a megawatt grin as he nodded his head. Yep he can think of maybe half a dozen things to celebrate right now, most of which isnt really related to Astronomy though.

And first question's been fired out. He gave a second look at the man in the frame. He's old and that’s all he could figure out about it. Could he be Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern? Or maybe he could be one of the Guardians from Oa since you know PARALLAX!... Then again that guy didn’t look like he had blue skin….

"He's uh…..really REALLY knowledgeable about deep space things right Professor?"

Also bluebell flames! Toss one this way Char!

"Sure!" Char said cheerfully. Wouldn't want little first years to freeze up and DIE so early in the year right? She conjured another one and admired it proudly for a second before depositing the jar in front of the Hufflepuff boy. "That should warm you up!"

And it looked so PRETTY too!

And she wasn't going to TOSS one at Ace, but she happily provided him with another one, recognizing her housemate's interest for what it was. There ya go, Tenacius! Bluebell flames for all!

Kimi smiled at the Gryffindor as she placed the jar on his table that was a lot better meant he wasn't going to suffer with the cold anymore

Harriet rubbed her hands together. It really was cold in here. But that wasn't the Professor's fault. She was a ghost, and so probably couldn't feel the temperature. So how was she supposed to know how cold it was. But they could have bluebell flames! At least it was good then. They could stay warm. Though Hattie didn't really know that charm yet. But she smiled when she saw that Charlotte was offering to do them. How kind of her. "Can I have one please Charlotte?" Because why not? The girl was offering.

Now back to the Professor's question. Hattie actually had no clue who the guy was. Not at all. But she could try to guess what he had done in Astronomy. A guess was better than nothing after all. Raising her hand she smiled. "I don't know who he is..." Honesty is the best policy right? "But did he like name a star... or come up with some important Theory?"

Azura looked over at Jace as she saw his look.. Hey now other best friend.. she was just happy to see Jasper back.. that was all! So none of that knowing glance. That conversation had happened three years ago.. so there.

She looked at up at the Professor as she started to speak and she was about to get the door, but Charlotte has already beaten her too it.

All right.

She conjured some bluebell flames for herself and Jazz and Jace, before looking up at the picture. She didn't recognize him by his face, but his name rang a bell.

Her hand went into the air as she spoke. "He invented a way to measure the distance from the sun to other stars Professor, by way of Parallax. " She knew that much. That was about it.

The Astronomy classroom wasn't THAT cold compared to the Slytherin Common Room so Sky really just found herself quite comfortable today. And Professor Burbage seemed kind enough; if memory served Sky right the woman had taught at Hogwarts before her untimely death, which she read about when reading Hogwarts, A History. Some things she knew but one of those things unknown was regarding the portrait on the desk up front. She did have to roll her eyes at the suggestion that he had something to do with space. Honestly, that answer was sooooo elementary.

Bessel. Friedrich Bessel. One older boy in Ravenclaw - of course - suggested. Why did that name sound familiar? Oh duh!! Raising her hand, Sky spoke up rather quietly, "Aren't there some mathematical function named after him cause he like generalized some function?" she was pretty sure that was where she recalled it from; though didn't know much beyond that because the equation seemed incredibly complicated ....

Oh, it wasn't her birthday. It did not appear to be anybody's birthday. The reason for those balloons had not yet been explained and honestly that's all Olly was thinking about at the moment. He did looked at the picture when the professor mentioned it. Several people seemed to know who it was but Olly had no idea. Why had she called him a studmuffin? He really wasn't that cute. He tried to listen to the answers from the other students but he was hearing that he had something to do with math and that sounded really boring. Oh no was this lesson going to be boring? Why would there be balloons at a boring lesson?

Tilting his head to the side he looked curiously at their ghost professor. Why was she speaking like that? Who knew? And who was the person in the portrait on her desk? Jasper definitely didn't know.

He almost burst into laughter when Jace had used the term stud muffin. Not that it was his fault, considering he was copying the professor and probably didn't have a clue what it meant. Instead he tried to refocus, quickly writing down the name that Jace mentioned on his parchment.

Jace studied a lot, so Jasper had no doubts that he knew what he was talking about.

Char offering bluebell flames to everyone caught his attention, and he almost put his hand up, mainly because he didn't want to cast the spell himself. If she was so excited to do it, why not let her? But before he could Azura had already conjured up the flames for all three of them.

He gave her a thankful smile, finally able to feel his fingers again. As an Australian, the cold did NOT agree with him. Ironic considering he lived in year long winters.

Trusting Azura's answer as well, he quickly jotted 'Parallax' underneath the name, waiting for the professor to explain the term properly. He was going to need notes for this considering he currently seemed behind when it came to this subject.

SPOILER!!: Ghostie!Professor!

[QUOTE=Marion Burbage;12049241]Oh...my.

"Are you quite alright, dear?" Marion asked the Gryffindor. "The moving staircases did not get the best of you, did they? No possessed flesh-eating plants wandering about the corridors trying to snatch up a darling little thing like yourself?"

Just had to be absolutely sure. Miss Phillips' disheveled appearance was cause for concern.
________

"Let us begin!" she chirped. "If someone would be so kind as to shut the door to the classroom I would be mooooooooooooooost appreciative." Such physical luxuries were no long an option for the woman. "I THOOOOOUGHT I had placed a proper request to the house elves to set the room up to be accommodating for your living bodies, but it appears as though as some of you dears are still feeling a bit of a chill. I will permit the use of bluebell flames in the classroom should you feel the need. Younger students, you are allowed to ask an older one for assistance if you wish and I proooooooooooooooomise to request better heating charms next lesson."

It WAS difficult for her to gauge these things, dears. Forgive the ghost.

"Now, I know many of you are curious about this evening's decorations. That explanation shall come in juuuuuuuuuust a moment. FIRST, I would like you all to turn your attention to this framed studmuffin," she continued, gesturing towards the portrait on her desk. "Miss Kettleburn has already given a bit of insight as to just WHO this gentleman is..." No name but a VERY important little bit of information nonetheless. "...but who can identify him by name? Hmmmm? Name and perhaps a little nugget of information as to why he is important to astronomy?"

Getting herself in order a bit, which was a slow process given that her pain was real, the blonde nodded towards their ghostly!professor.

"Growing pains, Professor Burbage. All these stairs and the walking... My potion isn't working that great." That was it, simply put. Growing up was fun, but the phenomenon of actually getting bigger... Well, it wasn't as glorious as everyone made it out to be. She'd clearly been bamboozled. DECEIVED! SWINDLED!



As for the temperature, Olivia was already bothered... So, adding to her foul mood wasn't that big a deal at this point. There was simply no way to improve it right now, anyway. Nope, she'd need a warm blanket, fluffy pillow, and her weight in candy... None of which were attainable until after the lesson. And it was terrible, but because her mood was awful, she did NOT want to ask Char for her bluebell flames.

Go ahead with your transfiguration magic. NBD.

.

.

Ack! Professor shouting...

... And naturally, Olivia had no idea as to who the man was in the portrait. Without her classmates jumping in to provide answers, her first thought had been that this might've been the late Professor's....late husband. Perhaps it was his birthday and she was enlisting the class to help celebrate. Listen, the Hogwarts ghosts were an eccentric bunch, and weirder things did happen here at Hogwarts. So, was it really that far-fetched?

Thanks to her brilliant peers, however, Liv simply resolved to note-taking.

WHO was he? Well, now, how in the world was Katy meant to recognize someone when they hadn't been assigned reading ahead of time? She knew lots of people, but not... this one. He looked a bit like a personified hedgehog, sort of cuddly and not at all of the studmuffin genre.

"Is that your boyfriend, Professor? He looks like he'd be loads of fun. Is he a ghost now too?" Only, was it rude to point out the ghostiness of a person.

His class materials sitting atop his desk, yet still unopened, Henry turned to Tenacius before class officially began. "Doing great, can't complain," he grinned. "How about you?" He wondered how the other boy was at the subject. Maybe he could glance at his notes. But before he could ask, he spotted another of his friends slipping into the seat on the other side of him. "Hi, Katerina," he smiled. "Of course I don't mind.. sit down." That would make enduring Astronomy even better, sitting with a couple of his friends.

So there was no party today, but it did make the Hufflepuff wonder what the decorations were for. It sure looked like there was gonna be a party. And then it was time for class to start. Henry focused his eyes on the ghost first and then to the framed picture. He had no clue who the studmuffin was or what parallax was... had it been something they had covered in class before? Must've slipped his mind.

Bluebell flames were a great idea, actually. He knew how to conjure them himself, but he did give Char a smile as she was offering them to some of the other students. That was really kind of her. He conjured some for his own desk, then set about taking some notes on what his classmates were saying. Sorry, professor... he didn't have anything to add just yet.

Oh boy, she had permission to make fire IN THE CLASSROOM! Oh, and the professor said that the first years COULD ask for help, not that they needed to do so. Ha, she wanted to perform the spell herself and she knew that she could do it, she had practiced this spell before, in secret of course because she didn’t wanted others to be scared that she would burn something. So she flicked with her wand and created a nice warm bluebell flame. She wanted it to be bigger and more spectacular but she was afraid that it wouldn’t be allowed in the class and she didn’t wanted to risk it that she needed to end the spell… But the question the professor asked… She blinked a few times with her eyes and frowned, where they really going to talk about a old man who probably already had died years ago? BORING!!!!

Uh.

Yeah, even though they'd had Burbage filling in all semester, it really wasn't the same and Brian was still a little shell-shocked. He didn't really deal well with change, ask anyone. Especially not change of the abrupt variety. It was jarring and disorienting and weRE THEY TALKING ABOUT BESSEL? It appeared that they were. Would you look at that.

"He's important because by figuring out how to measure distance between stars, he accidentally invented time travel." And hear him out, please. "Because the way we see stars now isn't how they are right now. It's how they were YEARS AND YEARS AGO. And he also kinda helped discover Neptune, I think? And simplified the equation they'd been using to calculate eclipses? Unless I've got the wrong guy." Which he was certain he did not.

"Veeeeeeeery good, Mr. Reed," Marion chirped at the third year. "Would you be a dear and please write his name on the board for everyone?" Seeing as he HAD been the first to respond and her being incapable of gripping the chalk herself.

"Oh thank you dear," the ghost beamed in appreciation at the Gryffindor. That ought to help a little with the chill.

"Not incorrect, son," she laughed at with the third year.
"Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue," Marion replied in a shrill sing-song voice.
"Mmmmhmmmmmmm," the ghost cooed.

"Indeed, yes," she smiled. "Very good, dear. Although I DO believe the equations you may be thinking of were aaaaactually discovered by another studmuffin named Daniel Bernoulli."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH YES. Growing pains. Marion offered the young lady a sympathetic smile in reply. Poor dear.
"OH HO HO HO HOOOOOOO," she chortled LOUDLY. "NOOOOOOOOOO he is not, my dear. Although Johanna Hagen ceeeeeeeeertainly was one lucky young lady to marry such a FINE specimen!" She paused for a moment. "And no dear, he is not a ghost."
"OH HO HOOOOO what a siiiiiiiiiiiiiiimply delightful answer, my dear," Marion praised the Hufflepuff prefect. Expanding on a few thoughts already shared by his peers but certainly some important little nuggets.

"As has been said already, this studmuffin we have here is Germany astronomer Freiedrich Bessel whoooooooooo is credited with the astronomical achievement of the FIRST successful use of parallax to determine the distance to a star. NOOOOOOOOOOW...a parallax is a bit of a coooooooooomplicated concept...but if you all would be SO kind as to humor me with a bit of an physical illustration for this. ARMS UP!" She waited a moment for them to follow along, her own semi transparent arms raised and ready. "Arms straaaaaaaaaight out in front of you, dears. Thumbs pointing up up UP! Now close your right eye first and then switch, closing your left eye and keep changing which eye is open and which is closed for a few moments." Another pause to allow that to occur. "DOOOOOOOOOO you notice THAT as you change which eye is open, your thumbs seems to move back and forth compared to the background, just a smidgen but still mild movement? NOW move your thumbs so they closer to your face but not SOOOOOOOOO close that you go cross-eyed aaaaaaaaaaaaaand repeat this little experiment again. This time your thumbs will seem to move MUCH more back and forth. The closer your thumb is to you, the more it seems to move. THIS is a rudimentary understanding of a parallax!"

Weren't they all just DARLING playing along? Oh ho ho ho!

"NOW, ooooooours are FAR too close together to see the parallax of the distant stars, but were we to take a picture of a star then wait...ooooooooooooh let's say six months...so that the star is now on the OTHER side of the Earth's orbit, we can then see how far the star shifted in the sky back and forth. The closer a star is, the MORE it will seem to shift. By measuring how much a star shifts, it is possible to figure out how far away that star is from us. And THAT is what Bessel taught humankind with the parallax reading of a star called 61 Cygni of 0.314 arcseconds in 1838 WHICH, after some calculations, will give us the difference in position of a star as seen from the Earth and Sun."

PHEW. Had they all caught that? Oh Marion DID tend to get a bit carried away with things. OOPSIE DAISY!

"Now, this distance we keep referring to...the diiiiiiiiiiistance between a star and our own planet...or reeeeeeeally distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale...is known as what?"

OOC: thank you dears. We shall continue around same time tomorrow.

"Sure!" Char handed out a few more bluebell flame jars then returned to her own seat with a twirl before sitting down and thrusting her hand up. OH SHE KNEW. SHE KNEW.

Aside from REALLY FAR... "Parsecs! Which is PARallax SEConds!" She said with appropriate emphasis.

Now if you were to ask Char how far a parsec was? LOL. Nooooooo idea.

Bluebell flames! Alright, Owen knew how to make those things. He conjured a few but Charlotte beat him to handing it out so his were mostly crowded on top of his desk now, giving his face a brighter glow than the others. More for him then.

AHHHHHHH, warmth.

Studmuffin? What was a studmuffin? Muffins made him hungry. And a nugget of information about the man's portrait on the desk? He thought he was the Professor's late husband or something. Owen didn't know. NOPE. What he did know was that he was starting to get hungry. Muffin. Nugget. Chicken nuggets. Heh.

Anyway, the man on the portrait wasn't the Professor's husband. He was Fred...something... Bessel who used parallax. Someone mentioned it earlier in class and Owen was still confused with the said term. Still, he followed what the woman was instructing them to do. One eye open, one eye closed. Other one open, other one closed. Ooooohkay. Owen could sort of see what the Professor meant. So that was a parallax?

Owen tried to understand what the woman was saying next. Something about the distance, star shifts, cygni whatever that was and once again nope, this badger didn't know what the distance to stars and other distances on a galactic scale was.

But Charlotte did.

Parsecs? Huh.