Astronomy. Sam's favourite class, and it looked like free seating today. That was a definite plus, even if they might be working in pairs given their non-uniform spread across the semicircle. "Good evening, Professor Kennedy," she greeted with a smile.

Taking a seat near the middle, Sam slipped her bag from her shoulders to the floor. And was the classroom warmer than usual? Phew! Before sitting down, she shed a knitted layer, tucking in the top of her bag after pulling out her quill and parchment. It was only then she noticed the lack of telescope on the side tables, and her smile faltered a little. Exploring the night sky was her preferred activity, and it looked like they might have something else in store for tonight. Hopefully still something good.

With the earlier lesson today, Isa wasn’t as tired as she usually was during astronomy lessons. Honestly she had found herself drifting off to sleep briefly in more than one midnight lesson. Hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem during this lesson though. Isa immediately noticed the different seating arrangement and the lack of assigned seating. Hmmm, semi-circle and pairs. Maybe they would be doing something that involved working with a partner and having a discussion with the whole class. She would find out soon enough. ”Hello, Professor Kennedy. Have any new books for the library come in recently?” Professor Kennedy held a unique position of being both librarian and teacher. How he managed his time for both was a mystery to Isa. The fourth year Hufflepuff girl selected a seat in the middle of the semi circle of desks, so she would be able to see everyone. "Hi Sam!" Isa greeted the older Ravenclaw girl. After getting parchment and quills ready for taking notes, Isa waited for the rest of her classmates to show up for the lesson.

"Hello Professor."

The Ravenclaw walked into the classroom, eternally grateful the lights had returned to some degree of normalcy...even if the classroom was now the thing that seemed out of sorts. As she walked, she tied and fastened the end of a bandage to her wrist, not having had enough time to get it taken care of before having to head to her Astronomy lesson.

Galileo and Apollo had been escalating. Much like Valko had guessed, they had started craving meat and she was beginning to think she wasn't supplying it at a fast enough rate. What other reason could there have been for them pecking at her as wildly as they had just now? It was nothing short of a frenzy and it was perplexing to say the least, so perplexing that she wasn't sure her mind was all that there tonight to learn about the stars.

Anyone who looked at her could see that she wasn't all that there tonight, eyes somewhat glazed over in thought as she thumbed idly at the bandaged spot.

She didn't notice the free for all seating, returning to a spot closest to where she usually sat and plopping down. Had they...really pecked her like that...?

Patrick was really looking forward to getting down to the astronomy lesson. The last one had been pretty interesting and he wondered what Professor Kennedy had in store for class today. He walked through the door and noticed that none of the chairs were in rows like normal, rather they were in a semi-circle. Shrugging his shoulders, Patrick began walking toward a seat in the middle. He was always afraid that he would miss something if he was on either end. Maybe that’s why he had always liked the middle of rooms when he was at home.

He picked a desk a little past center and set his stuff down, “Hello Professor.” He waived a bit before sitting down in the chair, trying to contain his excitement.

Daisy entered the room, her curiosity peaking slightly as she saw the different arrangement of the seating. "Hello, Professor Kennedy," she greeted with a smile as she made her way to a desk that was close to her fellow Hufflepuff, Isa, whom she waved at as she sat down.

Yaaaaay, Astronomy! Despite the class ocassionally being held AFTER Natalie's bed time, the young Slytherin enjoyed the class. She liked looking at the night sky and she liked that there was meaning behind everything she saw. Thus, she liked learning about it.

And she was pleased as she entered the classroom and discovered that the room was set up different and there seemed to be no seating chart involved. Also noting that the chairs were placed in pairs, Natalie took a seat and watched the door, waiting for a certain blonde Hufflepuff to walk through and join her.

The good thing about Astronomy being held this early was that he wasn't going to have to struggle as hard to stay awake. The bad thing? The light of the classroom did very little to hide how badly the events of the last few weeks were affecting the fifth year. The dark circles under his eyes were more prominent now then they had been and the ever present cup of coffee had only gotten bigger. If he thought he could've gotten by with wearing his sunglasses inside to hide the circles, he would, but alas.

Anyway, he entered the classroom and plopped down in his usual seat, not even noticing the different set up. "Hey, professor."

Vivian was quite glad that Astronomy class was being held earlier than usual. She didn't mind having to attend midnight classes at all as she had gotten used to it, but holding them earlier meant that she had more time to sleep before her first class in the morning. Her tired fifth year soul was beyond thankful to even get a few minutes of sleep, so the blond wasn't one to complain tonight.

"Good evening, Professor Kennedy," the prefect greeted the man with a smile before scanning the room for an empty seat. Vivian opted for one that was next to an empty chair for whoever her partner would be. She didn't mind whoever it would be, to be honest. And unless your name was Nathan Hale, this blond was definitely down to partner with whoever.

Maisie was still looking for her wand. She had had to leave the dorm without it. Maisie entered the classroom still searching her bag as she walked. She hit something hard as she walked, a table or maybe a chair, she didn’t know. She said a muffled, “Hello!” to the Professor. What am I going to do? She thought.

Emerging from her bag, she sat down. The classroom was different tonight, and the lesson was earlier. Maisie was distracted from her worries by wondering what was going on in Astronomy. Where are the telescopes? She wondered, sadly.

Astronomy wasn't terrible and Mr Kennedy was decent enough professor; she just hoped her efforts in class would be enough for him to break 'the curse'. The worst part was admittedly staying awake, since she was normally an early riser, so midnight classes cut into her sleep time. But the fifth year had a strict timetable and sleep was at the minimum anyway. Fortunately, today's lesson was two hours earlier which meant she'd get to squeeze in an extra study session before bed.

Noting the semi-circle arrangement of the chairs and the way desks were paired, the brunette slid into the chair next to Vivian (because DUH!), as she sent a friendly smiled toward the librarian. "Evening, Mr Kennedy," yes still with the mister, after six or seven months. It wasn't nothing personal, but if she didn't acknowledge it, then maybe it could help break that curse.

Removing her notes and quill, she scribbled down something on a blank parchment and slid it over to the dormmate, before her attention was back on their professor with rapt interest. OWLs were only three months away.

Text Cut: the note

Only three months to make sure Kennedy breaks the curse. I can't just talk to him about it, can i?

This was new.

It only took Cameron half a second to adjust however because while different, this was Hogwarts and a LOT stranger things than newly arranged desks were happening in this castle. "Good evening, Professor." He greeted the man with a polite smile then headed over to sit with Jessa. "Hey." She got a bigger smile because well it was Jessa.

That is until he noticed the bandage. "Are you okay?" Lightly touching her arm, Cam gave her a genuinely concerned look. Minor injuries aside (this was JESSA so he was starting to get used to seeing the occasional bruises and/or scratches) she looked kind of...out of it today.

At preciously ten, Kalen stood up from his desk and peered out into the hall, he didn’t see anyone else coming so he shut the door. If anyone else wandered in now, they would be late.

The green eyed man turned to his class and smiled. “Good evening class, you may notice a few things are different, earlier hour, weird chair set up, desks grouped in pairs, no Telescopes. There is a reason for all of it. Tonight we are going to be doing things a bit differently.” He said with a smile as he looked at all of them.

“So first off, I want you all to pair up, and then come get a piece of parchment and a writing utensil if you don’t have one. After you pair up, I want you to write your names on the piece of parchment. You will be staying in your pairs for the remainder of the class.”

He said as he looked at them. ”All right, let’s go.” He said as he stepped back.

OOC: Thanks everyone for coming and welcome to the mini activity! You just need to pair up, grab a piece of parchment and put your name on it! Fairly simple! If you need Kalen put his name up in the header! Thanks! Class will move on in about 48 hours or soThanks!!

It really was a weird set up. Hattie was curious, and interested though. It was always good to do something different. They were obviously learning a different bit of Astronomy tonight, and that made her happy. It was boring when things got too similar. So she was excited. She just hoped it would be fun. She couldn't deal with another boring lesson, not after some of the boring lessons that had happened recently. Firstly though, she was needing to find herself a partner. This would be interesting. She needed to find the best partner, to ensure that the lesson went well. There were a few people she would be avoiding. She'd noted things from previous lessons, and did not need any drama.

The blonde looked around, trying to find herself someone good to partner up with. It was a very important decision. "Hey.... Anyone wanna be my partner?" And hopefully the people she didn't want to partner up with wouldn't say yes. That would be awkward.

Different set ups was cool with this Curly Top, because it made the usual run of the mill classes more interesting this way. He grabbed a parchment and scribbled his name down....

He paused and looked around, kinda hoping he could partner up with his girlfriend because starry night skies ya know? But he was wondering why the apparent requirement of having to have a partner. Up goes his hand "What are we gonna do that requires a partner Professor?"

"Hi Isa!" Sam responded to the Hufflepuff brightly, watching her take a seat nearby. But when she heard that tone in Professor Kennedy's voice, Sam's gaze dropped to the floor. "'m fine, Professeh," she responded, hoping that would be the end of it. She didn't really want to draw any more attention to what had happened; she was still trying to process it herself. She just wanted sit back and enjoy her favourite class, answer some questions and maybe earn a few points.

It really wasn't going to plan though, when the first instruction was to find a partner. Gah. Couldn't she just work alone? Sigh.

It was probably better to be proactive, so Sam leant over to the Hufflepuff nearby. "Hey, Isa...d'ya wanna work together?"

Over and over her thumb rubbed against the bandage, her ears barely registering the Professor's concern. "Yeah...yeah I'm fine." But she wouldn't elaborate much for the man who'd given her strange looks when she first told him of her necromancy study. The last thing she needed was him giving her disapproving looks--or worse, going back to Professor Hirsch and insisting the study finally be put to an end.

It was Cameron who really pulled her from her thoughts and got her lips stretching into a smile without her really even giving it much thought.

His question saw her gaze drifting down to her hand. "Oh. This. Yeah. Apollo and Galileo got weird when I went to feed 'em just now. I dunno what happened, they just went crazy I guess but they're fine now." The last bit was quickly tacked on, so as not to give the impression she'd somehow lost control of her experiments...despite that being the only feeling that ran through her at the moment the birds went haywire. "It's nothing. Probably waited to long between feedings. I'll looking into it."

Hearing the Professor's words, Jessa sprung up, happy for the distraction. She took hold of her friend's hand to pull him up too. "Come be my partner? Oh, grab a quill." Then they could go.

Patrick slipped out of his seat and went to grab a piece of paper and went back to his seat. As he was standing he looked around, "anyone need a partner still?" He wasn't sure what they were going to be doing in pairs but he figured it was just better to get ready rather than wait around and not be ready when he found a partner. He slipped back into his seat and awaited the instructions following get a piece of paper and a partner.

Doing things a bit differently? It felt like a lot of things were being different this year.... a lot of change and other things were happening that Olivia Holden did not understand. Especially with Ravenclaw.. first Kitty by the Bulletin Board and then Sam in rehearsal.... What was next? She stayed silent, musing those thoughts in her mind for a moment. However, she had a feeling that this difference wouldn't be so bad. With a nod of her head, she turned to glance at her boyfriend who had asked the purpose of partners for this evening. Yes. What were they going to be doing, hmmm?

With quill and an extra sheet of parchment in hand, she sat next to the boyfriend, supposing that they would be partners. "Partners?" she asked as she sat next to him.

Derf had been trying to keep his mind of things since rehearsal...but that was proving impossible. Certain words continued echoing in his mind and honestly the thought of facing the librarian caused more than knots to form in the third year's stomach. He felt downright nauseous as he had entered the Astronomy classroom and he had half a mind to turn around and head right back out even with his promise to Abey to take extra good notes to share with him later. Derf was a lot of things, but one of them wasn't a promise breaker - Unbreakable Vow not achieved yet aside - so he swallowed his anxiety and lugged his clammy palmed self over towards a vacant seat while just barely registering the different layout of the classroom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

Yaaaaay, Astronomy! Despite the class ocassionally being held AFTER Natalie's bed time, the young Slytherin enjoyed the class. She liked looking at the night sky and she liked that there was meaning behind everything she saw. Thus, she liked learning about it.

And she was pleased as she entered the classroom and discovered that the room was set up different and there seemed to be no seating chart involved. Also noting that the chairs were placed in pairs, Natalie took a seat and watched the door, waiting for a certain blonde Hufflepuff to walk through and join her.

Spotting Natalie, Derf had willingly changed course and sat down beside her, visibly shaken and without some of the twinkle to his bright blues. "...hey," he whispered as he got his things out. Pair work today? Considering the desks were in pairs it made the most sense...and was something that was confirmed not five seconds later as class officially began.

"Partners, yeah?" he said gloomily as he gave her a quick glance while setting his quill out on his desk. "I'll go get our piece of parchment."

In the next instant, the Hufflepuff was rising from his seat to go get said parchment...when his eyes fell on Sam and then his blood ran cold. He KNEW and UNDERSTOOD it wasn't her fault...but there was still a sour taste in his mouth seeing her up and about, smiling and seemingly without a care in the world. But the third year caught himself and his cruel thoughts, because that wasn't right. He shouldn't wish anything ill of the Ravenclaw, ever. He truly admired Sam, for a lot of reasons, but things were just incredibly raw....

...it was just a lot to deal with.

A lot.

Maybe he shouldn't have come to class tonight after all. Even if class was a few hours early...it was still late and dark...and there was something horrible lurking in the corridors of Hogwarts.

So it was with a bit of a blank expression that he retrieved the piece of parchment, returned to his seat, scribbled his name sloppily and somewhat diagonally across the top of the parchment, and passed it to Natalie for her to write her own name.

Kalen smiled a bit as Tenacius raised his hand and spoke and he shrugged a bit. “I can’t tell you right now, you’ll find out soon though.” He said with grin. Kalen was excited about what they were going to do, and he was lucky to have found those old..

Well they would see them soon enough.

Text Cut: broke!derf

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Derf had been trying to keep his mind of things since rehearsal...but that was proving impossible. Certain words continued echoing in his mind and honestly the thought of facing the librarian caused more than knots to form in the third year's stomach. He felt downright nauseous as he had entered the Astronomy classroom and he had half a mind to turn around and head right back out even with his promise to Abey to take extra good notes to share with him later. Derf was a lot of things, but one of them wasn't a promise breaker - Unbreakable Vow not achieved yet aside - so he swallowed his anxiety and lugged his clammy palmed self over towards a vacant seat while just barely registering the different layout of the classroom.


Spotting Natalie, Derf had willingly changed course and sat down beside her, visibly shaken and without some of the twinkle to his bright blues. "...hey," he whispered as he got his things out. Pair work today? Considering the desks were in pairs it made the most sense...and was something that was confirmed not five seconds later as class officially began.

"Partners, yeah?" he said gloomily as he gave her a quick glance while setting his quill out on his desk. "I'll go get our piece of parchment."

In the next instant, the Hufflepuff was rising from his seat to go get said parchment...when his eyes fell on Sam and then his blood ran cold. He KNEW and UNDERSTOOD it wasn't her fault...but there was still a sour taste in his mouth seeing her up and about, smiling and seemingly without a care in the world. But the third year caught himself and his cruel thoughts, because that wasn't right. He shouldn't wish anything ill of the Ravenclaw, ever. He truly admired Sam, for a lot of reasons, but things were just incredibly raw....

...it was just a lot to deal with.

A lot.

Maybe he shouldn't have come to class tonight after all. Even if class was a few hours early...it was still late and dark...and there was something horrible lurking in the corridors of Hogwarts.

So it was with a bit of a blank expression that he retrieved the piece of parchment, returned to his seat, scribbled his name sloppily and somewhat diagonally across the top of the parchment, and passed it to Natalie for her to write her own name.

Natalie had.. heard things. Bad things that had happened a few days ago in the Room of Requirement when everyone was at rehearsal. All she could think about since then was how Derf had been trying to help and protect HER and HE was the one that had been at the rehearsal and had seen it all. Natalie still didn't know all the details, but rumors had been flying, as they do at Hogwarts.

Derf's appearance made her feel worse. But it was a deep, heavy concern that sat on her chest and made her sad and worried and SAD. She knew Derf was not himself. His eyes weren't as blue and his hair wasn't as fluffy. He wasn't Derf.

Natalie nodded at him just as he got up to get the parchment. She stood up quickly to... to what? Hug him? Protect him? What if the parchment was cursed? .... But then she just sat down again, her eyes sad. What was she supposed to do? Her best friend was all.. broken. And she didn't know how to fix him.

She watched him return with the parchment and sit down, watched him write his name and pass it over to her. She watched him for a moment longer, ignoring the parchment between them for the time being. She wanted to TALK to him, but they were in class and it just wasn't the right time. She also wasn't sure he even wanted to talk to her about it. Merlin, shouldn't he be in the hospital wing? Getting care? Like, emotional support?

With a little sigh, Natalie scooted closer to Derf and tightly looped her arm through his and hugged it, leaning her head against his shoulder. Then she finally picked up the quill and wrote her name, quiet the whole time.

Daisy's fingers drummed against the desk as she looked around. It seemed that her fellow students had paired up. She didn't care which house her partner came from. She crossed her arms over her chest with a slight pout awaiting someone to ask her if she'd want to partner up with them. Daisy much preferred working alone.

There was a weird chair set up? Oops, oh well.

Group work? Ronan and his large cup of coffee would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, thanks. But since that didn't seem to be a possibility, it was time to search for someone who needed a partner. The first to pipe up was Hattie, whom he tended to avoid on principle as she seemed to be rather judgemental and that was a complication he didn't really need in his life. The second was a first year who seemed rather daft at times. The third, though, was someone he had already worked with in DADA, and while she seemed pretty capable, he didn't really want to repeat. So daft first year it was.

"Hey, we can partner up," he said, picking up his things and moving to the chair beside the Slytherin. He already had a piece of parchment, good.

Oh. Wow.

Cameron's concerned look didn't falter when she explained what had happened. If anything this was even MORE concerning than any of the other ways she could've gotten hurt. "What-" He started in a whisper but was cut off by the professor starting the lesson. Alright, they'd have time to discuss this afterwards. "Just be careful." He finished, knowing fully well that, yes, Jessa Cambridge was OF COURSE always careful.

Her enthusiasm was contagious, however, so his lips curled into a small grin as he let himself be pulled up by the hand. Reaching for his quill and a piece of parchment, Cameron wrote down their names at the top of the page. They were allowed to use their own equipment, right? Right. "What now?" This seemed like a very easy first task.