Astronomy: Lesson One - What is Astronomy (All Years)

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Mei Xin sighed, debating within herself if she should attend the astronomy class. She didn't think she could know any more than she already did. Astronomy was part of the Malaysian syllabus she studied and she'd already finished that chapter. Besides, she was a Chinese. They were the ones who formed a whole calendar system based on the stars, moon and other stuff in the universe. And it was pretty accurate.

Deciding that she should just attend the class because her conscience wouldn't let her go if she didn't, she walked up the multiple flights of steps that led to the astronomy tower. Taking a moment to catch her breath after the workout, she paused for a moment before entering the classroom. And sighed softly when she saw what was written on the board. Aiyo, basics ah? Why like this wan? she thought to herself but kept her mouth shut. Since she'd already come up all this way, she might as well stay.

She greeted the professor with a smile and made her way to an empty seat she spotted beside a Ravenclaw girl, giving a small smile to Arden as she passed him. "Hi, can sit here ah?" she asked the girl, whose name she could not remember.

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When Finley had seen they had a new Astronomy teacher, he'd been intrigued. Astronomy was a good lesson - not his favourite, but still good - and so he had opted to keep taking it on to N.E.W.T. level. Finley had read that you could never have too many strings to your bow, and thus had loaded his timetable fully with subjects.

Some might call him stupid, but Finley wanted to have as many options when he left school as possible.

Heading up to the top of the Astronomy Tower, Finley slipped through the door. The man at the front of the class looked almost as intimidatingly handsome as professor Balan, which made Finley move to one of the seats towards the back of the room. His eyes stayed down, away from the professor, as he emptied his bag of his books and pens for the lesson.

Why couldn't Hogwarts employ people that weren't highly intimidating? It would make his studying so much easier!

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There was no point in studying Astronomy when it was clear who the brightest star was in the room. It would be wonderful if she could tell her professor that, but instead, Mina decided to just write it down on her journal once she was seated. It would definitely come down as one of the best literary quotes someday, along with Shakespeare's 'All the world's a stage' and Dickens's 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'

Truth be told, Mina did not actually have anything against Astronomy. The class was quite fun in its own way—though she already knew most of the mythology and science that gave birth to the subject, it was quite pleasing to hear 'Orion's belt' and know the story of the giant huntsman. While everyone else looked bored out of their minds, Mina often had to hold back a smug smile. It would not do for other people to see her seemingly smile about nothing, especially when her thoughts were about Muggle literature.

She greeted the new professor with a sweet smile as she passed by him, and headed towards an empty seat beside another Asian girl. Offering the girl a polite smile, she sat down, upright and elegant as always, and pulled her journal out of her satchel.

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Violet wasn't sure how she felt about astronomy. It was both interesting and useless information that one learned purely for pleasure. And she was conflicted about learning things solely for fun. She always felt that she needed to have information that would be solely beneficial to her success. And perhaps sometime later, she'd need to know a random fact about astronomy, so she decided to indulge and rock up to class. She didn't think it'd be that challenging, being merged with all the years, and the basics couldn't be that difficult.

It was quite a hike to the top of the Astronomy Tower, and she didn't bother hurrying. Violet didn't rush for anyone, not even when she was running late, on principle. Eventually, she reached the classroom and she was… rather impressed with the new teacher. It was an odd feeling, one that she'd never had before, strangely enough. But she definitely wasn't complaining. She remained at the back as per usual, and tried to keep her face as plain as possible.

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Classes were back in full swing, and following the advice-disguised-insistence of her parents, Chrisy had taken Astronomy to help push her grades up and make it look more impressive on paper for when she graduated - if she graduated, it was seeming to be, but she said nothing to them and instead put her name down for the class. After all, she had already taken it the previous year, and while she found it fascinating, it wasn't something she was particularly good at.

Heading to class in her usual fashion - head down, eyes on the floor - she was startled when a pair of shoes came into her vision, and looked up just long enough to see that they belonged to Luke, her Slytherin friend. Or, at the very least, she considered him a friend, even though he had his quirks. Offering him a soft hello, she didn't bother trying to make conversation; Merlin knew where that went - nowhere - and instead smiled gently to herself. At least she wouldn't be alone, even if it was with someone she barely knew.

Entering class, they took a seat side by side, and Chrisy muttered a hello to the new professor before taking out her notebook. Turning it open, her heart gave a sad little lurch as the page revealed a sketch she had done during the last class, having been inspired by the pictures shown. Quickly flipping it, her breath caught once more as yet another drawing (from another class) was displayed.

She had forgotten she had done those, and the last thing Chrisy needed was a reminder of her true love. Instead, letting out the softest of sighs, she turned to a brand new page and wrote down the topic at the top of the page and dated it.

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Astronomy was a difficult class for Luke, for there was not ever a definitive answer that could be learned in the lesson. The slightest of movements in the sky could lead to a completely different answer to a question that was set, which made it very difficult to understand. To learn by heart.

But, Luke was still attending the class, for he had found out that Chrysanthemum would be taking the class.

How, was not something Luke wished to share.

He had caught up with his Chrysanthemum on the way to class, and past a nod of a head in acknowledgement of her hello, Luke had not pushed for further conversation between them. He wasn't the most talkative, anyway.

The Slytherin took up the seat beside his Chrysanthemum, and pulled out his notebook for the lesson. His eyes caught glimpses of the pictures Chrysanthemum had made, but he did not make any comment on them, instead storing them away in his memory for another time. He had missed, however, the expression on the witch's face upon seeing them, too distracted with getting his own work ready for their lesson.

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Truth me told, Mel found Astronomy frustrating. Most things taught, she saw from her previous classes at Beauxbatons, were approximations. She didn't know how classes would be run at Hogwarts, maybe better, maybe the same, maybe worse. She'd just have to wait and see.

She made the trek up the astronomy tower, a tad reluctantly. She didn't want it to be a waste of time as it had been at Beauxbatons, but never the less, she decided to give it a shot. She knew that it would look impressive on her report, not necessary, but extra classes showed incentive, a willingness to learn which wouldn't go unnoticed, she was sure of it.

When she reached the classroom, she found herself a spare seat, not near anyone in particular that she'd want to talk to. She knew that it'd be an easy class, being an introduction and mixed with the younger years, so she was quite ready for a relaxing lesson.

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Eros wasn't quite sure people would be interested in Astronomy. Some found this lesson quite complicated for their taste and others found it simply boring. Too much thinking and too much studying. But to his surprise, many students of various years walked into the class and Eros couldn't help but smile at each one of them. To say the least, he felt honored.

He remembered when he was a student and there was a new Professor at school. No one would step foot into his class and if they did, someone always had to throw a prank at him. It was like a custom. So he couldn't say he wasn't quite nervous about his first lesson.

What caught his attention was a Slytherin girl, who after entering his classroom decided to leave, before she even had the chance to listen to anything he had to say. He smirked at her attitude, since it somewhat reminded him of his early years, but waved the incident off. After all, it was her loss not his.

Once Eros was sure everyone was settled, he clapped his hands together to get their attention and once everyone had quieted down, a smile appeared on his lips.
"Good evening, class. My name is Eros Vitali and I will be your new Astronomy Professor." Making a soft pause, Eros looked up at the dark sky,smiling at the starts that were shining brightly above their heads.

"As you've already understood, today we'll cover the basics of what will help you understand this subject. I know some of you have already been through all that, and I know it is frustrating to hear all of these over and over again, but believe me, I will do my best to get over with this quickly, so we can focus on more interesting things.

"Now, who can tell my why we can see the stars? What are stars made of? Oh, and please introduce yourself before you answer.

Eros then leaned back against his desk and waited for an answer. It wasn't too hard, was it?

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Izzy watched as more students came into the class when the class didn't begin yet. She didn't know all of them but some of them she did. The young Hufflepuff paid attention when the Professor decided to begin the class. She listened to the question and thought hard on it. She didn't want to be wrong or anything so when she realized that no one else was going to speak she decided that she would answer the questions at hand. "Hello sir, I'm Izzy Vanderwal and to answer your questions, we're not just seeing the light from the stars but from the galaxies around it, which makes it shine brighter. As for the second question stars are big exploding balls of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium" she answered.

She remained in her seat when she answered and in a way she was a little nervous because she winged the first answer to the first question, as for the second question she was almost positive that, that was the answer to it.

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Late, late, late, late. Elleon felt like that rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Both he and Jelena had overslept. They'd stayed up late into the night to go over the pronunciation of some of the new spells and charms they'd learned and he'd refused to go to bed until he got them right. That had been a mistake. Sure, now he could pronounce the words correctly but it came at the cost of sleep. It called for a nap in the afternoon but he hadn't woken up in time for Astronomy.

He forced his legs to climb the endless stairs faster, Jelena right at his heels. His lungs burned for air and his legs screamed for rest but he didn't stop. He'd never been late to a class. Ever. And he vowed this would be the first and the last time he was late. Panting heavily, Elleon reached the top and paused for a few seconds outside the class to catch his breath before knocking on the door and opening it.

Glad that he didn't need to use his voice to speak - because he was still panting hard from the run - he signed to the teacher, feeling a twinge of guilt that Jelena had to interpret for him while she was still catching her breath. "I'm so so sorry, I'm late professor. It won't happen again." After the apology, he scanned the classroom for empty seats and found a pair near the back of the room. It was further back than he liked and he would have to completely rely on Jelena for the interpretation but there was no choice. It was the only seat available that wouldn't separate them.

Jelena collapsed beside him and began the interpretation of the questions as well as the answer that followed from a Hufflefpuff girl. He knew the answers and could add on to what she said but one look at Jelena told him she was exhausted from the run and needed a couple minutes to recuperate, so he refrained from saying anything.

» Astronomy: Lesson Three (All Years)
» Astronomy Lesson 2 (Years 5-7)
» Lesson Three: New Years, New Spells (All Years)
» Astronomy: Lesson One (All Years)
» Astronomy: Lesson One - Planets (All Years)