Long winded explanations.. Etta tried to keep up with what the professor was saying but so many words. Like, why. She managed to jot down all the important points before the professor announced that there would be a group activity.

A group activity. Yay. Not really.

Etta groaned internally. Group activities really made her feel anxious, okay. And terribly awkward. It was still an opportunity to have fun though, right? She looked around, wondering if anyone wanted to be in a group with her?? Should she ask? Who? Um.

Juno choked down a laugh. Brian and Rooney just made two beautiful speeches, and made her realize that her feelings on Pluto were wrong. If the criteria isn't met...it isn't met and as such the downgrade was deserved. But she would keep her thoughts on the subject quiet. That was enough Professor shaming for one day, but she wouldn't mind seeing more of it. It made her realize just how passionate Brian was on the subject. It was nice to see, even if her co-prefect didn't like her very much, that he had passion for something other than being mean to people that annoy him. She sent Brian an approving smirk, not that he would even care.

"Anyone want to be in a group with me?" Juno asked with a small smile.

So much was going on that Elle had decided that nobody would have even noticed her quietness. She’d continued jotting down notes as to the discussion, even going so far as to do a little random sketch of Saturn as the discussion had turned to that planet. Once again, she hadn’t answered to any of the questions posed by, well, anyone, but she hadn’t fallen asleep either. She was just quietly observing, quietly participating in the lesson. Except now it seemed as if the discussion part of the lesson was coming to an end, as she heard the professor say they were going to be doing a group research activity.

Her first thought was that it would be easiest to just stick with who was at her table, and in fact she had looked over at Rula as a couple of Hufflepuffs had already started actively looking for a group. She was perfectly open to working with her fellow Slytherin, but just to cover all her bases she turned her gaze to the rest of the room as well. “Does anyone want to be in a group with me?,” she asked. Just in case Rula wanted to work with her siblings or something.

Carl watched as some students argued with Professor Salvatore about Neptune and Pluto and about Professor Barbage. It was all very interesting, but he did not have a strong opinion on the subject, so he remained quiet. He listened to the Professor's explanations and noted down the important points and cool facts.

Now they were going to do a group activity! So they had to choose a planet and write down important facts about them. He could do that. The Hufflepuff looked around and saw his Housemate nearby. "Hi, it's Henrietta, right? Do you want to be in a group with me?" He asked with a smile.

Carlton sat in panic for a moment. They were supposed to group up and he was sitting alone! Students around him were pairing up and he sat wide-eyed. Help.

Panic.

He quickly looked around him for any potential victims group members. Then he spotted them. Olivia and Rooney. Perfect. They were in his crosshair now. Carlton quickly scrambled up all his notes, swung his bag over his shoulder and made a run for it.

Yep. He bolted over to them where they were sitting across the room. He had to get there before anyone else did. So his walk turned into a jog before it turned into a sprint for his life.

"HEY!" He cheered as he arrived to them, slightly out of breath. "Can-I-sit-with-you?!" So he kneeew older students didn't want to pair up with first years and he'd sort of admitted to Rooney that he was bad at magic but this was an emergency! He didn't want to sit there all alone with no one. He felt lonely and he didn't like feeling lonely. "We can choose a fun planet!" He beamed and dropped all his stuff next to them.

They were stuck with him now.

Hai.

Sinead didn't know what was going on with this whole- a ghost taught last year? Was their teacher actually qualified? She seemed pretty defensive about that. Huh. At least her own answers had been kinda correct, though.

What she did know was that there was absolutely no good reason for this to be a group activity. She threw one skeptical glance around the classroom before closing her eyes with a sigh. She hated group projects. Nobody else ever pulled their weight so she ended up doing all the work and then they just got good marks they didn't deserve because she'd helped them out. She could probably do a better job working on her own.

Well, maybe being at Hogwarts was a solution for that problem- she couldn't see anyone in the class who looked like a likely partner, so she'd probably end up working on her own just by default because nobody would want to work with her anyway. Except then the professor might force her into a group of three with people who didn't even want her.
Why did life have to be so stressful?!

Rooney could feel himself getting more upset and annoyed by the second. Babbling? Oh, if she thought that she was babbling then she also thought that the class were listened to the trout coming out of her mouth. "I did not say that you didn't have any experience, Professor. That was all you. But I wouldn't say that around the Headmistress...wouldn't want you to get yourself fired, now would we? We'd have to have a ghost teach us again! But, like I do with all new Professors... I looked into you." Not that that would be a surprise to anyone in here who knew him and the files he kept on many many people. "You haven't actually taught Astronomy previous to now. Just Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts -- so that doesn't scream twenty years in the career to me. A university education, three years and three subjects...does not make you qualified to teach me, in my opinion." He took a second to breathe, closing his eyes and then folding his arms.

"But, of course, you ARE the expert on what is a good hire and what isn't. Professor Burbage is, was and always will be a well respected educator in these halls, no matter your stance on her hire. I'm sure she feels equally the same about being succeeded by someone who has barely spent a year in higher education on this subject. Three years at university, three subjects...one year a subject?" Heck, if they were going for it.. Brian was qualified to teach this class. And Rooney wouldn't care if he did take over. He'd probably learn something, because the Hufflepuff surely knew what he was talking about already.

"AND both Brian and Derfael have explained to you what 'Planet Nine' is, but you've dismissed it both times." Rooney gestured to both of the Hufflepuff boys as he named them and then shrugged. "But I'm sure their well-researched answers have little on your twenty years of other subject experience. I'll be sure to have them apologise at a later date for inconveniencing you with something they love." That was a lie. He had just lied up front to a Professor and would surely regret it in the near future. But right now he was IRATE. And he was ANGRY. And he was a Rooney Bronwyn with balled up fists and the urge to walk out of class. But he would NOT. He would not leave this room because that would mean that she won. And she was not to win...not at all. Having Rooney Bronwyn LEAVE your class was some sort of high privilege that only Professor Hirsch had.

Cupping his hands to his mouth, Rooney spoke again. "For those of you that answered Pluto... You are WRONG. Professor Salvatore assures me that this would be an INCORRECT answer on your exam." Because he was more worried about other students failing exams than their Professor was.

With a huff, he settled back into his seat as she spouted rubbish and then some more rubbish about dogs which had the Ravenclaw rolling his eyes and making a point of not making any notes. Actually, he had wrote very little for this class and had no intention of transferring it into his personal Astronomy class binder. If she had wanted to find out what he knew about the subject, then she should have asked about terraforming OR even about their trip to the Royal Observatory! But no no, she wanted to know about the bloody order of the planets because they probably hadn't covered that stupid simple stuff in her ONE YEAR OF UNIVERSITY. Fume.

Another huff and Rooney had been joined by Carlton who was hoping to work with he and Liv. Which definitely meant that Rooney was going to have to stay. To help out a first year in need, something of which he did often. Very helpful was he. "Yeah, sure, kid. Pick a planet and that's what we'll do." Because hE HAD NO QUESTIONS AND THEREFORE DID NOT NEED TO ASK ANYTHING FROM PROFESSOR FAKERY.

Still irate.

Janelle had leaned back in her chair to listen to the student-professor discussion when things started to go crazy. Let the show begin. It seemed that some particular students had very strong feelings about what was being taught. Not only that, but they felt compelled to express their feelings to the professor ........and then some. What in the world was in the two prefects' water today? They were literally off the hook. True, they weren't wrong about Pluto. It was one thing to state your opinion, but Janelle felt that a line had been crossed when the professor's qualifications had been called into question......in front of the entire class. Janelle couldn't believe that her prefect was being so rude and disrespectful. Oh there were going to be some consequences and repercussions. Believe that.

Determined to disregard the madness, Janelle tried to focus on the task at hand. After all, someone had to win back the points that were sure to be lost behind this debacle. The professor had managed to give out instructions, in between being taken to task. Janelle needed a partner. Who better to ask than her seat mate? Turning to Noelle, she asked, "Partners?"

Kane was slightly disappointed that the professor didn't elaborate more on this ghost thing - he'd find someone who went here last year and ask about that later. Right now, though, they needed partners, and Kane knew JUST who to pick and he had to act fast before he was scooped up!

He stood up and promptly marched up to his brother.

"Yo, we're partners. And we should totally pick Jupiter as our planet," he added. Aka, he meant 'we are definitely doing Jupiter' but he'd given his brother an opportunity to protest, he guessed.

Oeh oeh, making notes! The second year tried her best to write everything the professor explained but... There was REAAAALY a lot to do! Why was the professor talking so much??? Barely able to keep up with the long explanation she looked up, just in time to hear the last words from the professor... So they needed to make groups? Hmm... Who wanted to work with her? "Is there somebody who wants to work with me?" She asked in general, hoping secretly that it would be somebody who knew really a LOT about Astronomy because she did not...

The 7th year had to refrain from rolling his eyes at some of the kids in the class, Pluto was robbed okay? And they didn't have to be know it alls about it. They were both prefects to! Chinese Fireballs... couldn't they chill out for a lesson?

Apparently not..

Leon cringed as Rooney spoke again and he shrunk back again, did he WANT to get points taken away? And why was their perfect like this? Yeah yeah yeah..everyone knew Pluto wasn't a planet.. blah blah blah.. It HAD been at one time so it was pertinent to mention it.

Anyways.. Leon turned his grey eyes from the Ravvie prefec and smiled at the blonde girl who asked about a partner.

"I would! If that's all right?" Leon asked.

Surprised at Rooney's comments, Juno raised her eyebrows, and looked away. That was a bit too harsh, even if she is inexperienced. The headmistress hires people because she believes in them and their qualifications. It is not our place as students to say who is or isn't qualified, even if the Professor should clearly know more about her subject than she does.

Suddenly, an older boy that she hadn't seen before said he would like to partner with her. It took her a moment to register it because this boy was extremely cute. When it dawned on her that she wasn't responding, she gave him a small laugh and replied, "Um, yeah, sure! That would be great!" Making sure that the prefect badge was seen on her robes, she introduced herself, "I am Juno Darcy, Hufflepuff Prefect." She put her hand out to shake his.

Kat quiet liked the ghost Prefessor last term, thank you very much., Anyway talking about the planets made Kat really happy because the planets was big reason why she liked Astronomy. So she was all about this lesson.

Taking a few notes from what was being said by the professor. Now they were getting into the fun stuff, Activity time, and she was going to have to find a partner or two. That was easy, or she guessed it was. She got up, she had seen Hattie come in. She needed to partner up with Hattie. She headed over to the younger Hufflepuff. "Hey Hattie you want to partner up with me?" And if she already had someone they could just be a group of three.

After the Professor turned her head to address the next student, he rolled his eyes. Of course he was paying attention. I mean he could chose not to like right now. Time for some doodling. He heard the professor babble on about information that was wayy too much to absorb. He also heard two prefects talking out of term. He looked up and saw Brian and the ravenclaw prefect just telling the professor off. Woah ho! I mean he said these comments in his head but to actually hear them. They were obviously gonna get some type of punishment. No doubt. I mean listen to the professor's tone you bloody idiots. He heard the end bit after all which was the most important. They needed some groups. He turned his head and tried to weedle out his group. He saw Janelle who he got along with and Noelle. He figured he might team up. He walked over and plopped in the seat next to them. "Hey guys mind if I join ya..?"

SPOILER!!: These boys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by potterobsessionist

Carlton sat in panic for a moment. They were supposed to group up and he was sitting alone! Students around him were pairing up and he sat wide-eyed. Help.

Panic.

He quickly looked around him for any potential victims group members. Then he spotted them. Olivia and Rooney. Perfect. They were in his crosshair now. Carlton quickly scrambled up all his notes, swung his bag over his shoulder and made a run for it.

Yep. He bolted over to them where they were sitting across the room. He had to get there before anyone else did. So his walk turned into a jog before it turned into a sprint for his life.

"HEY!" He cheered as he arrived to them, slightly out of breath. "Can-I-sit-with-you?!" So he kneeew older students didn't want to pair up with first years and he'd sort of admitted to Rooney that he was bad at magic but this was an emergency! He didn't want to sit there all alone with no one. He felt lonely and he didn't like feeling lonely. "We can choose a fun planet!" He beamed and dropped all his stuff next to them.

They were stuck with him now.

Hai.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanners

Rooney could feel himself getting more upset and annoyed by the second. Babbling? Oh, if she thought that she was babbling then she also thought that the class were listened to the trout coming out of her mouth. "I did not say that you didn't have any experience, Professor. That was all you. But I wouldn't say that around the Headmistress...wouldn't want you to get yourself fired, now would we? We'd have to have a ghost teach us again! But, like I do with all new Professors... I looked into you." Not that that would be a surprise to anyone in here who knew him and the files he kept on many many people. "You haven't actually taught Astronomy previous to now. Just Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts -- so that doesn't scream twenty years in the career to me. A university education, three years and three subjects...does not make you qualified to teach me, in my opinion." He took a second to breathe, closing his eyes and then folding his arms.

"But, of course, you ARE the expert on what is a good hire and what isn't. Professor Burbage is, was and always will be a well respected educator in these halls, no matter your stance on her hire. I'm sure she feels equally the same about being succeeded by someone who has barely spent a year in higher education on this subject. Three years at university, three subjects...one year a subject?" Heck, if they were going for it.. Brian was qualified to teach this class. And Rooney wouldn't care if he did take over. He'd probably learn something, because the Hufflepuff surely knew what he was talking about already.

"AND both Brian and Derfael have explained to you what 'Planet Nine' is, but you've dismissed it both times." Rooney gestured to both of the Hufflepuff boys as he named them and then shrugged. "But I'm sure their well-researched answers have little on your twenty years of other subject experience. I'll be sure to have them apologise at a later date for inconveniencing you with something they love." That was a lie. He had just lied up front to a Professor and would surely regret it in the near future. But right now he was IRATE. And he was ANGRY. And he was a Rooney Bronwyn with balled up fists and the urge to walk out of class. But he would NOT. He would not leave this room because that would mean that she won. And she was not to win...not at all. Having Rooney Bronwyn LEAVE your class was some sort of high privilege that only Professor Hirsch had.

Cupping his hands to his mouth, Rooney spoke again. "For those of you that answered Pluto... You are WRONG. Professor Salvatore assures me that this would be an INCORRECT answer on your exam." Because he was more worried about other students failing exams than their Professor was.

With a huff, he settled back into his seat as she spouted rubbish and then some more rubbish about dogs which had the Ravenclaw rolling his eyes and making a point of not making any notes. Actually, he had wrote very little for this class and had no intention of transferring it into his personal Astronomy class binder. If she had wanted to find out what he knew about the subject, then she should have asked about terraforming OR even about their trip to the Royal Observatory! But no no, she wanted to know about the bloody order of the planets because they probably hadn't covered that stupid simple stuff in her ONE YEAR OF UNIVERSITY. Fume.

Another huff and Rooney had been joined by Carlton who was hoping to work with he and Liv. Which definitely meant that Rooney was going to have to stay. To help out a first year in need, something of which he did often. Very helpful was he. "Yeah, sure, kid. Pick a planet and that's what we'll do." Because hE HAD NO QUESTIONS AND THEREFORE DID NOT NEED TO ASK ANYTHING FROM PROFESSOR FAKERY.

Still irate.

....And Olivia was just... going to continue taking her notes and... not show any outward attention towards the two rabblerousing Prefects. Whether or not they were accurate in their arguments was sorta besides the point. This lady was an adult. Her mother would've pulled her out of school and sent her to that ill-fated disciplinary institution in Bulgaria had she learned Liv was being so rude. Her mum was a harpy. The blonde Gryffindor didn't think for one moment that she wouldn't make good on her threats. The woman was... painfully serious when she made promises.

Liv did, however, have a great deal of respect for the knowledge both boys seemed to possess. She'd come to realize, when this relationship had begun with Rooney, that she was really into smart guys. Intelligence was attractive and should be aspired to. Looks were not everything; a lesson taught the hard way.

Ahem.

And there was her favorite First Year! Young Carlton was approaching her and her Rooney with the hopes of working together, and Olivia couldn't have been more pleased (despite personal things). He was such a good kid, and over these last couple of months, she'd become very protective of him. So, of course, she didn't mind. In fact, when the smol Slytherin boy was around, Liv felt more like her old self. It was such a relief, to be honest. "Of course you can!" The blonde wrapped an arm around his shoulders for just a moment, giving him a squeeze. "How do you feel about doing Saturn? They have all those rings the professor mentioned." Either Jupiter or Saturn... Those were her two favorites.

Leon stood there waiting patiently for the girl to respond to him, he wasn't shocked at her pause, he strangely found he had this effect on girls at times. He wasn't sure why.. He had deodorant on right? After a discreet sniff check he confirmed he did, so it wasn't that.

Thankfully while Leon was pondering the girl spoke and saved him from Ravenclawing any harder.

"That's great! " He said with an easy grin as he settled into a chair next to her. "Pleased to meet you Juno Darcy, perfect. " he said as he reached out to shake her hand. "Leon Kennedy, normal seventh year Ravenclaw at your service. " A smile accompanied his words..

"So, what planet do you like? "

It seemed the older boy was not at all surprised be her pause which meant he was probably on the arrogant side...which generally came with Ravenclaw guys, and Slytherins, of course. She decided that she was going to treat him indifferently for the rest of class. She would be kind, but indifferent.

She gave him a small as he shook her hand. "Nice to meet you as well, Leon." She turned her paper to face him better, as a strand of hair honey golden hair fell into her face. She pushed it out of the way looking up at him with her brilliant blue eyes, "Uh, well, I have always loved Venus, mostly because just as the sun is going down you can actually see it in the night sky." Was that cheesy? If it was she really didn't care.

She smiled, "What about you? What's your favorite planet?"

Leon gave Juno another easy grin and looked away for a moment in order to get his thoughts in order, pretty girls usually tended to tie his brain into knots and Juno was a very pretty girl.

He found himself idly wondering if any odes has been made to her amazingly brilliant blue eyes, when she spoke again and the seventh year rubbed his neck, something he did while nervous, and nodded at her words. Aww, that reason was cute! "That's a good reason to like a planet, I like when you can see planets, and yet they just look like stars to us. Makes you wonder what Earth looks like when you go far away. "

He thought for a moment, wondering if he did indeed have a favorite planet. "Mars. Because of some old play thing. " He doubted many people knew what War of the Worlds was, especially the musical version.. so.

"How about we go with Venus? " He suggested.

Juno smirked a little. She made him nervous. She could tell by the way he rubbed his neck, most guys did this when they were nervous, or ruffled their own hair. Maybe he wasn't so arrogant after all. "I mean it is the closest planet to ours; it would be surprising if we couldn't see it. I'd bet it just look like any other star." She grinned, pushing another lock of hair behind her ear. She really wished she had a hair tie at the moment. Usually, she had a bag full of them in her backpack but for some reason she took them out.

Smirking, "You like War of the worlds?" It sounded a little condescending but she didn't mean it that way. War of the Worlds was something she had listened to with her dad on a few occasions because he enjoyed the movie that came out forever ago based on the super ancient radio show and book. It was really a great story and she had actually even read the book.

"Sounds good. What do facts do you think are most important to write down?" She paused and grabbed her quill then wrote their names at the top of the parchment, and then at the center and just below their names, she wrote in big bold letters 'VENUS' before continuing. "I think it's important to remember that even though Venus is considered the 'Sister Planet' of Earth, it's atmosphere and land is completely different and impossible for humans to live on." She stopped and looked up to see if he agreed. She wouldn't write anything down if he didn't.

The professor's response was noted-literally noted-and Junia gave a smile and nod of understanding in response. She supposed it made sense that certain planets had a greater pull than others. Some people could have a greater pull, too. She'd learned that fact quite recently and her thoughts wandered for a moment as the lesson continued. It would've continued wandering had she not noticed those around her partnering up.

The appearance of a younger boy and his mention of Jupiter to Brent made things a liiiiiittle clearer and the brunette turned her attention to Abey. They could work together, right? They were a pretty excellent team, so it only seemed natural they pair up.

"What do you say, cousin? Pick a planet, any planet, and we can get to work."

Leon smiled as Juno spoke and he nodded. "It would be a bit unusual I suppose, and of course that's why it's so bright is bevause it's so close. " Was he rambling a bit too much now? He hoped not.. though as she tucked some golden hair behind her ear. His grey eyes lost focus for just a moment..

What were we talking about? He mused to himself before blinking a bit..

"Yeah, I bet we would be like any other star, I wonder if we'd be a certain color? Mars has a slightly reddish look to it, when it's in the sky. "

He grinned at her as she spoke. "Yeah, my step dad is a big space geek, so I would listen to it with him, do you know there is a musical version? An audio musical version? That's what he likes to listen to. " Leon explained as he started to hum a bit of the Red Weed theme! His mom hated that song and he'd hum it from time to time to bother her.

He watched as she wrote down their names on the parchment and he smiled as he looked at her.

"I think it's important to note that as well, and explain that "sister planet"' just means it's roughly the same size. " He pointed out. "Also, what do you think about saying that it's the hottest planet in the solar system? And that it has no natural orbiting moon?" He personally thought those facts were cool.

Char hadn't yet found anyone to work with, but to be fair she hadn't really tried to look, she was too busy gaping at Brian, and then even more so, at Rooney. Especially at Rooney. Why was he being so rude to a professor????

She shot slightly disappointed looks at the both of them. And yes, she DID respect that they were both SUPER duper smart, which was part of why she'd ever been friends with them in the first place, but being rude wasn't nice and she thought soooo much better of them both than that.

But... um.... she needed to try and do some work now. She felt like she really HAD to to show that she was a good student and stuff, to maybe make sure the professor didn't feel bad!

"Does anyone mind if I join their group?"

Anyoneeee?

Etta kept looking around for group-mates when someone spoke to her, all of a sudden. She EYED the boy person. Ahem. "It's Etta." She said, before giving him a small smile. She didn't like being called Henrietta, okay. And yes! "Of course. It'll be fun."

"So, planet should we pick? Uranus? Saturn? Or Mars? I think Uranus would be interesting......" She trailed off, realising that she didn't know his name. She side-eyed him curiously. "What do I call you?"

Juno grinned. He was rambling a little and it was kinda cute. "Exactly. And not only can we see it at night but if we were up early enough we would see it in the morning as well." She smiled up at him for a moment. Maybe indifference was too harsh...

Juno thought about his question for a moment, "If we were any color it would probably be a light blue since the earth is 70% water." At least that's what she thought. Who knows maybe they could be green too! Or just plain white like Venus is.

She chuckled, "As a matter of fact I did. But my father likes the movie from like 2005 or something like that and the radio show from when the book first came out. So I haven't actually heard or seen the musical." She grinned as he hummed, what she guessed had to be a song from the musical but wasn't familiar to her at all.

"Very true!" She jotted down notes, glancing up as he made his two points. "Yes, and yes! We also should write down about how it is not only visible at night but early in the morning as well. Also we need to make note that it has the densest atmosphere with 96% carbon dioxide." She quickly jotted all of this down on their parchment.

This silly strand of hair kept falling in her face. She sighed and with a flick of her wand, her hair pulled in a bun. "Much better." She said more to herself.

"Any other interesting facts?" She looked up at him with a small smile.

SPOILER!!: Notes

Juno Darcy, Hufflepuff
Leon Kennedy, Ravenclaw

VENUS

Important Facts:

- 'Sister Planet' to Earth because they are almost the same size, Earth being slightly larger.
- Hottest planet in the entire Solar System
- No natural orbiting satellite/moon
- One of the brightest objects in Earth's sky
- called the 'morning star" and 'evening star' because it is visible just as the sun is going down in the evening and just as the sun is coming up in the morning.
- has the densest atmosphere with 96% carbon dioxide

While Janelle was waiting for Noelle's response, another familiar face appeared at the table. She smiled at her pancake buddy and gave a response of her own. "I don't mind Colt. The more the merrier." Hoping they would be a group of three Janelle continued. "If it's going to be the three of us, I guess we need to decide on a planet to research." Going silent for a moment, the seventh year thought about what planet she might like to focus on. Suggestions anyone?