Professor McFarlan
October 02, 2007 7:39 PM
Sixth Years Class by Professor McFarlan
Professor McFarlan sat at her desk grading papers by the light of a magic candle. She didn’t want to give away her position so she kept the light as low as possible. To prevent noise, she even sent Andromeda out to hunt. She hoped the students would enjoy themselves with the little adventure she designed for them.The stars overhead seemed farther away, as if one was truly outside. The furniture was completely removed from the room and replaced by high temporary walls turning the entire classroom into a twisting, turning maze. Here and there, within the maze were small tables with treasures enough for the each student. There were quills, reams of parchment, small pocket telescopes the magnified thousands of times more strongly than their muggle counterparts, and chocolate frogs among other little treats.
She had contemplated using the Labyrinth Gardens, but that meant another specially scheduled class and she had more control over the conditions here. Besides, there were no garden gnomes hiding in the room to bite unwary ankles.
If they found her before the end of class, they would get a small velvet lined box that, when opened would light up the ceiling of any darkened room with thousands of little pinpoints of light. Not patterned after the real sky, it was just fun. Her own nephews and nieces used these boxes for nightlights and her older brother swore he always got a second date if he invited a lady over for dinner and used one to decorate the dining room.
The students would walk through the door into a little cubby with several cloth bags and a letter from there professor pinned to the first wall of the maze.
It read:
Greetings Sixth Years,
Its time for a bit of practicum. Your task is simple, or so it would seem. You must find me.
The maze will confuse you. There are many twists and turns in the dark. You may use your wands for light only to keep from bumping your noses on a dead end.
Point Me and other directional spells are not allowed. You must follow the stars. Do your best to keep Polaris ahead of you and you will reach your goal.
I know you cannot see our North Star with the naked eye, but you should know by now the general location by the Circumpolar constellations.
The bags are to gather your treasures that you will find along the way as long as you stay on the right paths.
Work together as a team and good luck.
K. McFarlan
OOC: You must know the drill by now…Long Posts…Have Fun
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Zack Dill
October 05, 2007 3:56 PM
Hide and Seek by Zack Dill
OOC: Judging by the answers to the OOC post on this topic, I gather there's only three of us - me, Zoey, and Jenna - taking RATS level Astronomy. If I missed anyone, pretend I'm not completely ignoring you. BIC:Astronomy had taken an early lead as his favorite subject from the first time he'd looked at his schedule as a first year (it having been the only recognizable science class offered). In the intervening years, his interest had rarely waned and had more often bloomed even stronger than before. It wasn't just a class for Zack anymore. Learning about the what lay beyond Earth was what he was leaning towards doing with his life.
Since this decision had occurred to him in only since he started signing up for classes, it was with special anticipation that he walked into the Astronomy room for the first time this year. He stopped short just inside the door. He had to, or he'd run into a wall.
Confused, but seeking answers, he located the note pinned up on it and took it down to read it through. As his classmates arrived, he handed the note to each of them and summarized the situation briefly, "It's a maze, we're supposed to find Professor McFarlan. She's north of us."
He took out his notebook and flipped to a blank page where he drew a large box. He'd done enough D&D dungeons to know that recording a map was only prudent. He labeled the cardinal directions N, S, E, and W and put a star near the N to indication the directional goal.
"We're going to want to head in a northerly direction as much as possible, and I'll take note of where we find treasure so we have points of reference that are definitely on the right trail. North is," he looked up at the sky, located Ursa Minor, deduced Polaris's location, and pointed, "that way." He rotated his map and put in the door on the proper wall. "Let's keep our wands lit so we don't miss any treasure or walk into any walls, but not so bright we can't see the starts anymore. Zoey, do you want to lead? Jenna, can you keep an eye on the stars to make sure we're going the right way? I'll be in charge of our map."
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