Kane was...early to class? That was weird. Especially considering it was a NIGHT class. Still, at least it wasn't super early in the morning, which would be worse. The classroom looked especially inviting today with that pretty milky way swirling across the ceiling. Kane always appreciated when the astronomy professor made the room look like those No-Maj planetariums. He'd been to one as a kid with his gymnastics team and had LOVEDDD it. Before he fell asleep in the comfy recliner chair, of course.

"Hello Professor," he said to Berkovich with a smile as he walked in, taking his usual seat near the middle of the room.

As soon as Olivia walked into the room, she felt excited. She had seen a projection of the Milky Way Galaxy floating above them all in the ceiling and she just stared for a little bit and grinned. It was beautiful. Star gazing was one of her favourite activities. "Hello Professor!" she said with a grin and then made her way over to find a seat. She gave a smile to Brent Westwood's brother... Kane was his name, right?

The ceiling was the first thing that caught Rula's eye when she entered the room. The view was absolutely breathtaking. One of the many reasons she'd enjoyed this subject over the years. It was both interesting and beautiful.

"Good evening, Professor," she said, greeting the professor with a smile. She also offered a smile to the other two fellow students that had already arrived before taking a seat.

After wandering aimlessly through the halls for what felt like forever, Sophie found herself standing in the very back of the Astronomy classroom. "Ah!" she exclaimed with a grimace. "I knew I had forgotten something; I always do somehow. This time, I suppose it was Astronomy class!" She yanked her notebook and quill from the depths of her school bag as she carefully made her way to a seat. As she did so, she threw a cheerful smile to the professor. "Hiya, Professor!"

After getting settled in to one of the comfortable chairs,
she stared up at the radiant ceiling. The endless stars that were scattered across it really made it come to life. To be honest, it had been a long time since Sophie had seen anything so lovely.

Althea strolled into class a little less tired than usual. She was always grateful that Astronomy was held at night, because she was always so busy during the day. Looking up, the fifth year admired the sight from the ceiling, and continued to marvel as she made her way to an empty seat. Feeling a little brave, she managed to smile and coherently greet the Astronomy professor.

"Good evening, Professor," she said, before turning and heading off to sit. She was proud that she managed to not embarrass herself - at least, she thought she did - and continued to feed off of that positive energy as she waited for class to start.

Nine o'clock.

In the evening.

Vivian was quite exhausted today. She had classes earlier today and a couple of unfinished homework that she tried to make in the last minute. She also visited her pet niffler at the creatures nursery, too. Thankfully, the blonde was able to nap just a little this afternoon before heading off to the Astronomy tower. Which was obviously a thousands of staircases away from her common room and dormitory.

Once she reached the classroom with slightly sore legs, Vivian managed to smile a little at the Professor. The Slytherin wasn't one who liked being grumpy despite the reasons she had. "Good evening, Professor," she greeted the woman. "The night sky looks lovely tonight." Oh, was that the Milky Way? Astronomy totally had Vivian's attention when the sky was pretty. Then she went over to take a seat.

James walked into the room and looked up into the enchanted ceiling. He couldn't help but to stop and admire the stars scattered brightly throughout the night skies. Quite breathtaking, really. "Evening, Professor. Has anybody ever told you that you have the best-looking smile around? You often smiled at the stars like they knew all your secrets too," he grinned. No harm, using his charms to brighten his professor night, right?

He spotted Althea and decided to choose the seat next to her. "Is the seat taken?" he smirked.

The walk up to the Astronomy classroom wasn’t half as much a problem for Stasya as it had been at the beginning of term. Not after she’d been walking back and forth between the castle and the barn all term, and besides, it wasn’t that far away from the Gryffindor tower either. She’d been able to visit Albus and Dobby before dinner, get back to the common room to collect her book and stuff for class, and make it up to the classroom without any problems. Or any complaints, since she honestly hadn’t had any issues with the lessons before this. Aside from being curious if the professor was going to do anything with their new constellations they’d made before. The charmed ceiling as she’d walked into the room only made her that much more curious.

“Hi Professor Berkovich,” she said with a grin, heading for the seat in the circle she’d had for most of the term already. “Are we going to look for constellations again?” It looked like the real sky, but maybe she’d charmed it so their new ones were up there too. Now she wanted to look, but she didn’t think lying on top of her desk would be approved of. Or, since it didn’t seem like any of her friends were there yet, lying on top of more than one desk.

Etta entered the classroom, trying to not yawn. It had been a long day and she was already feeling exhausted even if it was only nine o'clock. But.. she momentarily forgot her tiredness when the ceiling caught her eye. How beautiful. That was the beauty of Astronomy though, wasn't it?

She took a seat somewhere near the front of the classroom and sat down, giving the professor a smile and greeted, "Hello, professor." After pulling out her parchment and quill, Etta waited for class to begin, wondering what the professor had in store for them today.

Thank Merlin she had noted the earlier time for the latest Astronomy lesson or she would have missed it or been terribly late and that wouldn’t do. To be honest, Cassie liked the earlier class time. It meant it wasn’t going to be quite a late night as it normally was…hopefully. She already lost enough rest and sleep time studying. The fifth year made it to the Astronomy tower with time to spare, greeted by the typical classroom enhanced by its enchanted ceiling.

Enticing…

“Good even, Professor,” she greeted the woman with a smile as she came nearby. Cass then moved to take an open seat in the familiar semi-circle of desks. Setting out some parchment and a quill, her attention was drawn back to the twinkling stars of the Milky Way hanging above her.

Astronomy class was slightly earlier than the norm, which if Skylar was being frank, threw her off guard. She already had to adjust her sleeping schedule for this night class, so when the time became nine? She felt vastly unprepared. Not to mention that the Astronomy tower was quite the far walk up from the Slytherin Common Room. If she'd been thinking she should have fallen asleep been studying in the Library and then she would have been halfway there.

Once reaching the classroom, she offered a half smile toward the temp professor, "Good evening," as she caught wind of what her dormmate had commented just moments prior. "The Slytherin Sky looks lovely too, when her dormmate remembers to wake her up instead of leaving on her own." She whispered to her friend, as she took a seat next to her. Yes, play on words, but she kind of couldn't resist that pun. It never got old.

Too busy taking out her supplies for class, Althea hadn't registered that anyone was coming near her until she'd heard a voice. Startled, she'd dropped her quill and quickly picked it up before smiling at him. "No, it's not," she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot. Turning to look for something else in her bag - she didn't know what, she just had to look busy - she continued, as if having polite conversation came easy to her.

"How are you?" She didn't think he'd show up to class this early, or that he would choose to sit next to her. Counting silently in her head, Althea took a deep breath, because she'd come to class to learn and not be distracted.

Huh? The Slytherin sky? "Actually, I'm sure the sky is a lot more black than it is green...."

Oh. Vivian blinked when she realised, and then looked at her dorm mate with an 'oh no' expression. A tinge of pink began growing on her pale cheeks. "I... well..." the Slytherin began saying, but it didn't seem to completely slip off her tongue immediately. "I tried waking you up? Like, trying to poke you awake because I had just woken up too?" Meep. That probably wasn't enough reason, anyway. Her blue eyes looked at the floor and she sighed. "M'sorry."

But the pun, though. "That was a witty statement, though." HEH. "And the Slytherin Sky is lovely, either way." Because the best way to someone's heart, if not through his/her stomach, is right through the ego with the use of flattery. But her compliment was sincere, though. Weren't all her dorm mates lovely?

SPOILER!!: GREETINGS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Kane was...early to class? That was weird. Especially considering it was a NIGHT class. Still, at least it wasn't super early in the morning, which would be worse. The classroom looked especially inviting today with that pretty milky way swirling across the ceiling. Kane always appreciated when the astronomy professor made the room look like those No-Maj planetariums. He'd been to one as a kid with his gymnastics team and had LOVEDDD it. Before he fell asleep in the comfy recliner chair, of course.

"Hello Professor," he said to Berkovich with a smile as he walked in, taking his usual seat near the middle of the room.

"Good evening, Kane."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

As soon as Olivia walked into the room, she felt excited. She had seen a projection of the Milky Way Galaxy floating above them all in the ceiling and she just stared for a little bit and grinned. It was beautiful. Star gazing was one of her favourite activities. "Hello Professor!" she said with a grin and then made her way over to find a seat. She gave a smile to Brent Westwood's brother... Kane was his name, right?

"Hello Olivia!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

The ceiling was the first thing that caught Rula's eye when she entered the room. The view was absolutely breathtaking. One of the many reasons she'd enjoyed this subject over the years. It was both interesting and beautiful.

"Good evening, Professor," she said, greeting the professor with a smile. She also offered a smile to the other two fellow students that had already arrived before taking a seat.

"Good evening Rula."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DancingQueen

After wandering aimlessly through the halls for what felt like forever, Sophie found herself standing in the very back of the Astronomy classroom. "Ah!" she exclaimed with a grimace. "I knew I had forgotten something; I always do somehow. This time, I suppose it was Astronomy class!" She yanked her notebook and quill from the depths of her school bag as she carefully made her way to a seat. As she did so, she threw a cheerful smile to the professor. "Hiya, Professor!"

After getting settled in to one of the comfortable chairs,
she stared up at the radiant ceiling. The endless stars that were scattered across it really made it come to life. To be honest, it had been a long time since Sophie had seen anything so lovely.

"Hello Sophie!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekraken

Althea strolled into class a little less tired than usual. She was always grateful that Astronomy was held at night, because she was always so busy during the day. Looking up, the fifth year admired the sight from the ceiling, and continued to marvel as she made her way to an empty seat. Feeling a little brave, she managed to smile and coherently greet the Astronomy professor.

"Good evening, Professor," she said, before turning and heading off to sit. She was proud that she managed to not embarrass herself - at least, she thought she did - and continued to feed off of that positive energy as she waited for class to start.

"Good evening Althea."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimothy

Nine o'clock.

In the evening.

Vivian was quite exhausted today. She had classes earlier today and a couple of unfinished homework that she tried to make in the last minute. She also visited her pet niffler at the creatures nursery, too. Thankfully, the blonde was able to nap just a little this afternoon before heading off to the Astronomy tower. Which was obviously a thousands of staircases away from her common room and dormitory.

Once she reached the classroom with slightly sore legs, Vivian managed to smile a little at the Professor. The Slytherin wasn't one who liked being grumpy despite the reasons she had. "Good evening, Professor," she greeted the woman. "The night sky looks lovely tonight." Oh, was that the Milky Way? Astronomy totally had Vivian's attention when the sky was pretty. Then she went over to take a seat.

"Hello Vivian, yes indeed."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Symphora

James walked into the room and looked up into the enchanted ceiling. He couldn't help but to stop and admire the stars scattered brightly throughout the night skies. Quite breathtaking, really. "Evening, Professor. Has anybody ever told you that you have the best-looking smile around? You often smiled at the stars like they knew all your secrets too," he grinned. No harm, using his charms to brighten his professor night, right?

He spotted Althea and decided to choose the seat next to her. "Is the seat taken?" he smirked.

"Good evening James." Keiyona nodded to him. "I have been told that more than few times from my husband."

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverTiger

The walk up to the Astronomy classroom wasn’t half as much a problem for Stasya as it had been at the beginning of term. Not after she’d been walking back and forth between the castle and the barn all term, and besides, it wasn’t that far away from the Gryffindor tower either. She’d been able to visit Albus and Dobby before dinner, get back to the common room to collect her book and stuff for class, and make it up to the classroom without any problems. Or any complaints, since she honestly hadn’t had any issues with the lessons before this. Aside from being curious if the professor was going to do anything with their new constellations they’d made before. The charmed ceiling as she’d walked into the room only made her that much more curious.

“Hi Professor Berkovich,” she said with a grin, heading for the seat in the circle she’d had for most of the term already. “Are we going to look for constellations again?” It looked like the real sky, but maybe she’d charmed it so their new ones were up there too. Now she wanted to look, but she didn’t think lying on top of her desk would be approved of. Or, since it didn’t seem like any of her friends were there yet, lying on top of more than one desk.

"Hello Stasya!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

Etta entered the classroom, trying to not yawn. It had been a long day and she was already feeling exhausted even if it was only nine o'clock. But.. she momentarily forgot her tiredness when the ceiling caught her eye. How beautiful. That was the beauty of Astronomy though, wasn't it?

She took a seat somewhere near the front of the classroom and sat down, giving the professor a smile and greeted, "Hello, professor." After pulling out her parchment and quill, Etta waited for class to begin, wondering what the professor had in store for them today.

"Good evening Etta."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Thank Merlin she had noted the earlier time for the latest Astronomy lesson or she would have missed it or been terribly late and that wouldn’t do. To be honest, Cassie liked the earlier class time. It meant it wasn’t going to be quite a late night as it normally was…hopefully. She already lost enough rest and sleep time studying. The fifth year made it to the Astronomy tower with time to spare, greeted by the typical classroom enhanced by its enchanted ceiling.

Enticing…

“Good even, Professor,” she greeted the woman with a smile as she came nearby. Cass then moved to take an open seat in the familiar semi-circle of desks. Setting out some parchment and a quill, her attention was drawn back to the twinkling stars of the Milky Way hanging above her.

"Hello Cassie!"[/QUOTE]

Keiyona gracefully popped up onto her feet. "Hello, hello!" she greeted the students with her always cheerful voice and a warm smile. "I hope you all are having a great night so far!" she smile as she gestured her hand swiftfully towards the door as it shut quietly. She wondered if the students were actually having a great night or not, night classes were very difficult to get a handle on. Keiyona looked up at the charmed ceiling. "The Milky Way Galaxy," she paused for a moment. "the galaxy that contains billions of stars and most importantly our Solar System!" there was a bit of a happy bouncy tone in her voice as she spoke. "Our galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 100,000 and 180,000 light-years." The Astronomy professor slowly walked around the front of the classroom as she spoke.

"A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a band of bright stars emerging from the center and running across the middle of the galaxy. There's at last 100 billion planets in our galaxy." Little facts here and there. These were important facts to herself but she didn't know if the students felt the same ways. "The Galactic Center is the Sun of our Sun. It's the source of most of the gravitational energy present in our galaxy, probably the source of most of the energy in any chart, transformed through our own Sun."

She was getting right to the point because she didn't want to waste the student's time. "How many light-years away is our Solar System from the Galactic Center?" straight and to the point!

OOC: Class has officially begun! Class will continue in about 24 hours!

Nine o'clock really wasn't too bad for an Astronomy lesson; it was much better than starting at midnight, anyway. The journey over from Gryffindor Tower to this tower wasn't a big deal for the first year anymore either. It had been so tiring back in September with all those stairs, but now it wasn't a difficult trek at all. Emmeline figured this had something to do with going back and forth between the barns and Gryffindor Tower, because that was MUCH further away and had lots more stairs to climb. As she entered the Astronomy classroom, Emmeline smiled and said: "Good evening, Professor!"

And could she just point out how glad she was that this lesson was [i]inside/i] the warm castle instead of out on the grounds? As much as she liked stargazing, she hoped they wouldn't be going out onto any observation areas or anything, because it was WAY too cold for that.

The ceiling/sky thing was pretty cool; hopefully today's lesson would be interesting. Sliding into her usual seat beside her friend, Emmeline muttered: "Hi Stasya! How're Dobby and Albus today?" Had the other first year noticed how pretty the ceiling thing was tonight?

The professor started right at 9:00 on the dot according to Emmeline's watch. As Professor Berkovich described lots of stuff about the galaxy -- cool! -- Emmeline frantically took down notes. This was a lot of stuff to remember! She was happy that stars were a major part of the galaxy though, and honestly, it looked beautiful on the ceiling.

How many light years away was our Solar System from the center of the galaxy thing? She had absolutely no idea. Emmeline was sure that this information was in their textbook somewhere, but it wasn't like she read that unless she absolutely had to. Still, she had skimmed through some of the reading right before this lesson, so she had a guess as to the answer. Raising her hand, she asked: "Is it around 30,000 years of light, Professor?" She felt good about the number 30.

Aaaaaannnddd there was the wall of information Jessa expected coming into the lesson tonight. She'd quietly taken her seat earlier, choosing a spot near the middle like she always did and now sat trying to absorb all the Professor had just dished out.

It was kinda hard....sitting and listening and using that as a means of learning. To be perfectly honest, she'd have preferred having little charts and diagrams displaying all the Professor had said in real time. That would have made visualizing so much easier and would have made the information more readily sorted in her mind.

Telling was never enough for her. Things always went better when she could get her hands on something or at the very least watch it in action.

Suffice to say that somewhere between "A barred spiral" and "through our own sun" the Ravenclaw had completely checked out. Those piercing blues of her were currently locked on the night sky outside the room while those around her offered up their responses. Every now and then she would zone back in but every time she did, her classmates just seemed to be spouting numbers....which....only served to confuse her more.

Why were they naming such large numbers? Were they playing a guessing game.

Jessa tried with everything in her to focus but it didn't seem to be happening, not when there was the option of viewing the beautiful night sky.

Etta noted down the information carefully, making sure she didn't miss a word. She liked Astronomy.. but it did require a lot of hard-work. This was exactly what made her stress about OWLs. Was she going to do even reasonably well? She mentally shook her head, putting a stop to those thoughts for now. There was no need to worry about things in the middle of class. She didn't need to miss out on what was being taught in class, right?

"Around 28,000 light years away, professor. It's an estimate.. since the size of the galaxy has not been determined for certain."... was that correct? Etta had no idea but she'd given it a try, at least.

Whoaaaaa, that escalated quickly! Vivian blinked at the sudden information overload that Professor Berkovich had dropped on them. The Slytherin quickly shuffled in her bag for a clean piece of parchment, a quill, and her inkwell. She scribbled whatever information the Professor had said, not even caring that her handwriting probably seemed unreadable to people other than herself. She made it a point to rewrite them tomorrow, when she wasn't drained of all energy.

Ermmm... yeah, the Milky Way. She hoped she'd be able to understand things through her hearing. She didn't think she could write that fast and legibly. Her letter 'M' looked like a wonky 'W' now. She'll have to deal with that.. next time.

Moving on to the actual question, Vivian took a moment to absorb it in. That was straight to the point. Not even a daily trivia or interesting fact? No? SIGH. To be honest, Vivian didn't even know how many light-year away they were, but she felt it would be like a 5 or 6-digit number, considering certain circumstances. She raised her hand to share her thoughts. "We can't be sure about it yet, Professor, because we still remain unsure of the galaxy's size. It's pretty hard to measure, too." Besides, aside from making intellectual estimations, it was rather impossible to make it certain.

Olivia began scribbling down notes as she tried to keep up with all the information presented. Sun of our sun. Somehow that phrase made her chuckle a little. She didn't know why but it did. Sun of our sun. Moon of our moon. Ahem. Focus. She turned her gaze back to her notebook and continued writing.

The distance from the Milky Way system to the Galactic Centre? She bit her lip. Probably a fairly big number would represent the distance. She remained quiet when she heard other students offer answers of 30,000 and 28,000. Those numbers made sense... She nodded her head in agreement with both instead of offering an answer.

Yoooooooooooooo. Zoryn LOVED stars. Example: Justine Janvier. She was practically the BIGGEST star of them all. Another example: Alice Fischer. Another example: Actually she could go on for days, but it was time for class. Astronomy was always a blast. Well, sometimes. It was hard for Zoryn to stay focused, but she always did try her very hardest.

Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. 'Cause they were hit with TONS of STUFF and Zoryn hardly had any time to prepare herself to listen. So she was a goner from the get-go.

She did, however, hear the question. Which meant she was going to have to answer to SHOW her Professor that she was listening which she wasn't. "Like seven..." she paused briefly, then added "-teen." Seventeen light years. Ancient.

Nailed it.

"Not so bad,hope you're doing well too." James gave Althea a small yet knowing smile before the class begins. This ought to be interesting... He wondered if he could get through this class without yawning once every few minutes. The enchanted night sky ceiling wasn't exactly helping him to stay focus either. It just made him even more sleepy and tired. Sigh.

Instead of answering the professor, he simply let the students gave their take on their answers because he hasn't had the slightest clue. How do one measure light years anyway? 30,000 light years? Hmm, so...how many kilometres is that? Brain...why don't you work?

Vivian didn't get her jokes. After three and a half years together, Skylar would have thought she would have picked up on it. Or well, nevermind, it seemed she was sleepy and had just woken up herself which was why in her haste she'd forgotten about waking her up. Mouthing an 'It's okay', she grinned when she realized she'd been trying out her witty puns. Yes, she was lovely. She had good company too in terms of loveliness, but no time to dwell because it seemed the lesson was starting.

Light years. Galactic centers. Was this supposed to be apart of her reading assignments before the lesson, because it seemed the fourth year had missed that memo. But what had Emmaline said, 30,000? And then said 28,000? And Vivian gave an awesomely vague answer that it was impossible to say. Good answer; it seemed roommate was pretty witty too with that wonderful answer.

It was more though than 30,000 ... Sky was almost sure of it. Light years were a lot. So, "100,000 light years." Yup. That was her final answer. Or just a guess, because she didn't read ahead of time, like she normally did. But 100,000 was a good number.

Once Professor Berkovich spoke, Althea immediately turned her attention back to her (but not before giving James a quick smile.) She pulled out her quill and notebook, ready to jot down any (and all, honestly,) information she might need. With Astronomy, Althea couldn't help but be thorough in her notes - she loved the subject so much! - especially considering how many details there.

She copied quickly, trying her best to write as neatly as possible, before setting her quill down. The professor posed an interesting question; one that Althea did not know the answer to (though she was certain that no one else in her class knew either.) Thinking about light and distance in space was a dizzying experience, but the fifth year found it fascinating all the same. She figured there was no harm in guessing, and raised her hand. "Factoring the diameter,...maybe 50,000 light years?" It was a rough guess, but she didn't know just how close or far their solar system actually was.

.....At last 100 billion planets?

Frowning at Professor Berkovich, Olivia tried to pin down exactly what it was about this lesson that was making her head go all sorts of fuzzy. Perhaps it was the scientific nature of the information so far? Sure, it was talk about stars, which she loved, but accompanied by so many numbers. NUMBERS. She hated numbers. Besides, how as anyone supposed to know that type of thing off the top of their head? The blonde lion lady commended her peers for knowing anything about it....because when it came to that type of stuff, she blanked. Probably why she failed so many Arithmancy tests.

Embarrassing.

HOWEVER, she did know a thing or two about constellations, and would've felt infinity more horrid if she couldn't provide some type of answer. Despite everything going on in her life currently, falling behind in her lessons wasn't something she was going to allow to happen. Nope. Olivia had worked TOO HARD to let everything fall apart now. "Numbers escape me, Professor, but I do know that there is a super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy, which is probably were most of that gravatational energy comes from." Cause that's what a black hold was, right? Kinda like a SOUL SUCKER, but for stars. "They're the dementors to the stars."

Nailed it.