Alas poor Pluto... on Elective Hall

Professor Alexander O'Rourke

September 16, 2012 10:01 PM

Intermediate Astronomy by Professor Alexander O'Rourke

Professor O’Rourke spent hours looking over his lesson plans, trying to narrow down the most important aspects of astrology. Not exactly the easiest feat once you stop and think about it. The dictionary defines astronomy as the study of objects and matter outside of the Earth's atmosphere and their physical and chemical properties. The study of the universe. The study of, well, everything.

"Start at the beginning, Alex. The basics." He thought to himself as he paced around the Astronomy classroom. There was a fine line between being informative and overwhelming when it came to teaching. A line he was well aware of, particularly when it came to the universe.

"Might as well start with our solar system, since most humans believe the universe revolves around us..." Alex decided, drawing his wand from the pocket just inside his robes. Pointing it at the ceiling, he muttered a few words before the Milky Way spewed forth from the tip, canvassing the ceiling with planets and other celestial bodies.
He then turned wand to the blackboard and watched as a piece of chalk rose into the air, and began writing the words ' What is Astronomy?' Alex nodded slightly in approval, it wasn't his best handwriting, but it'd do. Stepping back to his desk, the astronomy professor straightened his cream colored robes before taking a seat on the edge of it, facing the room before him.

“Welcome to intermediate Astronomy.” He started, placing his wand back inside his robes as his students made their way to their seats. “I’m Professor O’Rourke, and yes, I am English.” He added with a slight smile. Since Alex had been in Arizona, he’d been asked where he was from more times that he cared to count. He figured it’d be easier just to get it out of the way, and hopefully, considering English wizards weren’t a complete novelty; his class would be able to understand him well enough.

The astronomy professor let his hazel eyes survey the classroom for a few more moments, making sure everyone was more or less settled before he started the bulk of the lesson.

"Astronomy…” He started, scratching the back of his neck. “What is it? How do we use it? What are celestial bodies, and constellations? By the end of term, you’ll be able to answer all of these questions. We’ll be covering quite a bit of information, so if at any time you are unsure about something, do feel free to ask. Also, while I am all for learning, this class doesn’t require wands, so please keep them tucked away.”

“The following handout will be used throughout this lesson. Please take one and pass them on.” Professor O’Rourke said, rising from his desk, and handing a stack of parchment from his desk to the student sitting at the end of the first row. “You’ll find it particularly helpful for the homework portion of this lesson, but you may also refer to your textbooks.” Alex folded his arms across his chest and began to pace in front of his class, his brow furrowed slightly as he chose his next course of action.

“Astronomy is the study of the universe—the stars, the planets, other galaxies, black holes, asteroids—everything. It is not to be confused with astrology which, forgive me, is complete rubbish. Astrologers believe that the position of the stars and planets determine an individual's personality and future. Astronomers study the actual stars and planets, but have found no evidence supporting astrological theories. In short, astrology is simply another form of divination. Whether or not you believe in that is up to you, but the only Cancer and Gemini we’ll be studying are the constellations.”

“Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Prehistoric cultures left behind astronomical artifacts such as the Egyptian monuments and Nubian monuments, and early civilizations such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Indians, Iranians and Maya performed methodical observations of the night sky. It has been used in navigation; Polaris, or the North Star, helped sailors find their way at night. Astronomy allowed people to mark the passage of time through the making of calendars and sundials, which, along with ceremonial uses, allowed them to determine the best time for planting and sowing their crops.

“Without Astronomy, we wouldn’t have watches, compasses, calendars, or a number of technologies that were born of astrological discoveries. We’d also still believe that we revolved around the sun, which, we all know to be erroneous.” Alex paused for a moment, and ran a hand through his artfully disheveled hair. He feared he was getting a little long winded, and decided to get to the assignment. Long lectures often caused him to lose students, and he had to mindful of the fact that he was in the presence of 13 year olds.

“At this point in your lives, you all should know our relative position in the ever expansive universe. Our solar system consists of the Sun, nine planets, their moons, planetoids, asteroids, meteors, and comets. Our solar system is also part of the Milky Way galaxy, along with 100-400 billion other stars and Merlin knows how many other planets.” The professor turned his gaze upward, toward the swirling Milky Way on the ceiling. There was something about the universe that always made him feel particularly insignificant. He took a deep breath to shake the feeling before proceeding, and allowing his gaze to sweep the room once more.

“Moving on, to start to explore and attempt to understand something as massive as the universe, it’s best to start small. For today’s assignment, I’m going to have you lot split into groups. Choose a planet from our solar system, Pluto still counts in my eyes, and write a brief summary on its characteristics. If your chosen planet has moons, include those as well. Place them on my desk when you are finished, and as I stated previously, don’t be afraid to ask if you need assistance.” Alex found his way back to his desk and sat behind it, leaning back casually as his class formed their groups.

((Welcome to Astronomy! Please note your house in the author line so I can award points appropriately. Also, keep the posting rules in mind, and feel free to tag Professor O’Rourke if needed.))

Subthreads:

Astronomy Handout by Alexander O'Rourke

0 Professor Alexander O'Rourke Intermediate Astronomy 0 Professor Alexander O'Rourke 1 5

Alexander O'Rourke

September 17, 2012 8:38 AM

Astronomy Handout by Alexander O'Rourke

http://stardate.org/astro-guide

0 Alexander O'Rourke Astronomy Handout 0 Alexander O'Rourke 0 5

Regina Parker, Teppenpaw

September 17, 2012 10:19 PM

I choose MERCURY!! by Regina Parker, Teppenpaw

Reggie hadn’t really thought about taking Astronomy before and only changed her mind when she got a look at the professor. Yeah, it was probably wrong for her to decide to take a class based on how hot she really though the professor was, but as long as she didn’t actually say that was her reasons why, she felt justified all the same. He was good looking and British. Okay, so there were quite a few people from overseas at this school, but an older guy with an accent was quite lovely. She could just tell everyone that she simply wanted to learn about the stars. It seemed reasonable enough. And who would suspect otherwise?

Well, maybe Maddie, if she were paying attention.

Lately, Reggie had been noticing the boys of Sonora more and more. She noticed them a while ago, but now it was different. She wanted to date someone, but it was hard for her to decide on who. The problem was that most of them were from ‘Proper’ Pureblood families and would never even consider her to begin with. They might even laugh in her face for even thinking so. There were a few other boys who interested her who weren’t Proper or Pure (like David), but she didn’t really get the feeling they were interested in her. Then again, she could be wrong. There just weren’t enough to go around and that was the problem.

Reggie took a seat in Astronomy, not right up close because that was way too obvious, but near the middle so that her view wasn’t completely obscured and took out her parchment notes and self-inking quill. As she listened to him talk, she jotted down notes, but when he scoffed at forms of Divination, her quill (and possibly her heart) stilled. A couple of years ago, Reggie would have agreed with him on Divinations, but since she had recently found out she had ‘The Sight’ she felt somewhat offended by his closed-mindedness. It was like he was dismissing an important part of her (so what if she doesn’t acknowledge it all the time, it still doesn’t mean he had the right to be so dismissive). This made him slightly less attractive to her.

Her quill started moving again though and she tried to shake off her negative feelings. She knew people wouldn’t always believe in it and she was sure there were some who wouldn’t believe that she could ‘See’. Heck, sometimes she didn’t think she could either. They were just déjà vu moments. The assignment for the day seemed okay and easy enough.

“So, I used to watch Sailor Moon growing up and Mercury and Jupiter were my two favorites, for various reasons. Mercury because she was smart and Jupiter because she was athletic.” Depending on who she was talking to (whoever decided to sit beside her), they probably had no idea what she was talking about. “Let’s go with the brainiac and choose Mercury.” Reggie advised with only a little thought. “So, some characteristics… it’s the planet closest to the sun, so it would make it super hot – we’ll have to look up how hot – and, since we’re counting Pluto in this, the second smallest. What else?”

6 Regina Parker, Teppenpaw I choose MERCURY!! 187 Regina Parker, Teppenpaw 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

September 21, 2012 10:55 AM

Drops of Jupiter. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

When Cepheus had decided to take Astronomy, it had been with reluctance. He didn’t want to take the optional upper-level courses, but Father had pressured him into taking one. Out of the three, Muggle Studies was most certainly out of the question. Divination was rubbish, in Cepheus’s opinion. That left Astronomy, and so Cepheus had signed his name feeling like he’d signed away his soul to the devil.

His soul, however, had not gone to the devil, but to someone else entirely. Another Englishman. As soon as Professor O’Rourke opened his mouth, Cepheus’s English heart leapt with joy. He felt as if he’d been separated from his countrymen for too long, the adults especially. He listened to his professor speak, taking in the normalcy of his speech. Being surrounded by Americans was sure to dilute one’s accent, which Cepheus had tried to fight against. It would be much easier to do so now. The thought of being taught by his own countryman made Cepheus smile. He had a new favourite professor just on principle.

The only bad thing about this class was that it didn’t require wands. He hoped that, sometime in the term, they would be using wands for something. Lectures and classwork weren’t nearly as fun without them. Still, he tucked his wand into the inner pocket of his robes. Being parted from his wand sometimes made him feel like he had lost a significant part of himself.

The rest of Professor O’Rourke’s speech mostly went over Cepheus’s blonde head, though he drank in his words eagerly. Even at thirteen, it wasn’t unlike Cepheus to attach himself to anything familiar. It was much easier to attach to respectable adults than seemingly respectable peers. All that Cepheus really took away from that was that astrology, a form of divination, was rubbish, there were loads of stars in the universe, a solar system and something called the Milky Way. It was obvious Cepheus hadn’t paid much attention in his previous astronomy lessons back home.

It was clear that Professor O’Rourke was passionate about the subject, and so Cepheus took it upon himself to find that same passion. Of course, if he was in England meeting this professor, he wouldn’t be quite so taken with him. However, Professor O’Rourke represented a piece of home for the lad, and though Cepheus did not mind Arizona as much as he had previous years, he still missed his home country dearly.

Splitting into group was not a new concept though taking intermediate courses was. Cepheus immediately chose what he knew to be the biggest planet: Jupiter. It was a complicated planet, apparently, with loads of moons, but he didn’t care. It would be a fun project especially if he was able to listen to a familiar accent.

Cepheus turned to the people closest to him. It was clear from his bright blue eyes that he already had in mind what he wanted to do. “Would you like to be in a group together?” he asked. “I suggest we summarise Jupiter. It’s the biggest.” He gave a little smirk when he finished, but it faltered. “To be honest, I don’t know quite that much about it or any of the planets, really, but I can look it up.” He wasn’t completely useless. He flipped through his textbook and found the page describing Jupiter. “All right, do you want to write this all down? I can read it out loud.”

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus Drops of Jupiter. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Evan Brockert, Aladren

September 22, 2012 7:54 PM

Alas poor Pluto... by Evan Brockert, Aladren

There was nothing typical about Evan and it was something he prided himself on. He liked being unique. It was who he was and he wasn't going to deny it. The third year couldn't imagine being anyone else. Still, he was an Aladren. Evan had been sorted there for a reason and it was a part of him too. A part that enjoyed learning and therefore, he had taken astronomy.

Plus, the universe was an amazing place. It was full of some of the most amazing artistry that Evan could imagine. He would love to try and re-create it somehow, though he didn't quite know what materials he would use. He never really did. Perhaps a mosaic of rocks. Of course, Evan would never just use one color for the ones representing the stars. He'd leave some of the pebbles their natural colors and change others using the color-changing charm that he'd learned last year, which was one of the best things Evan ever learned. He'd use clear blue plastic wrap for the background and would hang it against a window. Or over the front of a cardboard box with a light in the back.

He managed to make it to his first Astronomy class on time. Sometimes the Aladren had trouble with punctuality because he'd get distracted by an art project or hunting for supplies or his other interest-collecting bugs. There were so many varied forms of insect life out there and so many in the Labyrinth Gardens. Evan liked to mount them or put them in the huge terrarium Adam had given him despite the fact that Serenity didn't like bugs. She seemed to like Evan though, and more importantly, like his older brother.

The third year couldn't help but notice the fantastic version of the galaxy that covered the ceiling of the classroom. It was downright inspiring though of course, Evan would have used different materials than just making it come out of his wand. Using his wand was important, what made someone a wizard, but that didn't mean it wasn't fun to create using other methods and materials.

Evan made himself listen to Professor O'Rourke's lecture, rather than letting himself get sidetracked with his own thoughts, as he often did. The professor might not have been the most...creative of people in terms of his lesson, which seemed simple and straightforward, but the Aladren liked him anyway, for one simple reason. He had included Pluto as a planet. Evan had been too young to remember it being one but he'd heard about it and he didn't like it. Who were these astronomers to tell Pluto who and what it was?

Turning to the person next to him, the third year asked, "Would you like to work on Pluto with me?" Of course Evan was going to choose to work on the poor little planet that was no longer considered one. Ripping someone's status away from them was one of the greatest shames they could experience and Evan didn't think Pluto had done anything to deserve that.

11 Evan Brockert, Aladren Alas poor Pluto... 212 Evan Brockert, Aladren 0 5

Theresa Carey, Pecari

September 23, 2012 5:12 PM

Those sound potentially hazardous by Theresa Carey, Pecari

When the time had come to choose their new classes, Theresa had signed up for Astronomy and Divination without even thinking too much about it. She was a Carey, so staying with the smallest acceptable number of classes wasn’t really an option, and Muggle Studies was even less of one, not that she wanted the extra work. She knew Arthur was really disappointed about how there was a class they weren’t allowed to take, but that was just him being an Aladren – she thought, anyway, and hoped. One girl was one thing, men were just like that, but she couldn’t imagine the shame if her cousin, the heir’s own brother, became enamored of the entire concept and decided to break his wand and go join the Muggles. Such freaks were rare, she knew, but she had heard whispered rumors about them existing all her life, and she thought the family would sooner see one of them dead than like that.

Astronomy, though, was a nice, safe subject – a little masculine in some of its sub-areas, but there was nothing inherently wrong with taking it. There was no chance, that she could see, that anything would happen in Astronomy that could cause a scandal. That was cold comfort as she entered a classroom she didn’t technically have to be in, but it was something.

She took her moment to be impressed by the magic used to decorate the room – she might have to remember that and recreate it someday, at least in part, for a party – and then settled in to see what the new professor had in store for them. He was new to the school, as she was new to the subject, so she expected the class to be of about average difficulty for her. That was nothing to celebrate about – she envied Anthony and Arthur for many reasons, but the way they seemed to be able to do almost anything involving a book with no effort at all was high on the list – but it was nothing to be afraid of, either, so she felt very neutral as the rest of the class finished filling in, only shifting a moment over into a half-pleased, half-fluttery feeling when one of the two people she had spent too much of this term looking at sat down near her.

Theresa raised one eyebrow slightly when the professor decided to point out that he was English – obviously he was, why would he bother to fake that accent? Unless he was a Muggleborn trying to pass himself off as something more, anyway, and if he was, then why would he draw more attention to his background than was strictly necessary? – but then didn’t have time to react to anything that he said, since she was kept very busy writing as much of it down as she could, missing things in lists and knowing she had but not being able to remember what they were. Near the end, she did get in a moment of confusion about why he would have to specifically say that he thought Pluto was a planet, but then they had to find groups and Cepheus actually spoke to her and she promptly forgot all about the remark.

“Of course,” she said when he finished talking, even though she would rather he had written and she had read. Her tutors had done their best, but her handwriting was still not as elegant as she might have liked. Clear, yes, but composed of tall letters made of thin, sharp lines. She had never liked her handwriting at all. Tackling the largest planet would have sounded far more appealing if she hadn't been doing the writing; she enjoyed a challenge, but had just seen how she wasn't perfect at writing fast while staying neat and getting all the details down. “Just say when," she added, her quill at the ready.

0 Theresa Carey, Pecari Those sound potentially hazardous 0 Theresa Carey, Pecari 0 5

Cepheus

September 25, 2012 12:12 PM

It'd be like intense acid rain. by Cepheus

Cepheus felt only slightly self-conscious with Theresa as his partner. Ever since the summer where they had gotten to know each other a little better, he hadn't thought too much of their interaction, having had unwanted information thrown at him till the very end. He hadn't even thought much of her coming back to school, being obsessed with avoiding his betrothed. But now that she was here in this classroom as his partner, it was difficult not to realise that something was a little...different with her. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he thought he'd better not dwell on the thought too much. It was making him feel uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat before beginning, wanting his not-so masculine voice to be deeper. It wasn't fair that he was the scrawniest of his friends though he was getting slightly taller and was still sounding like a nine year old boy. Dorian's voice had already changed, lucky lad. Cepheus couldn't wait to start sounding more like a man and less like, well, himself. Nevertheless, Cepheus tried not to think about it as he read the information out loud.

" 'Jupiter was named after the king of the Roman gods,'" he began. " 'It is the largest planet in the solar system, rotates faster than the others and produces the most powerful magnetic field. Jupiter has an oval storm system called the Great Red Spot' which is really a giant wind storm. 'It is 778,412,020 kilometers away from the sun, 318 times the earth's mass, has a diameter of 142,984 km, and has sixty-two known moons.' Wow. That's a lot." He took his eyes off of his book to meet Theresa's eyes briefly, his eyebrows raised in surprise. There was a lot he didn't know about the universe despite the fact that he was named after a constellation. He had no clue what the Cepheus constellation even looked like.

He turned back to the textbook and began to scan the text, wondering what they could do without. He didn't want to read the entire chapter and have Theresa in essence rewrite it all. "You think we could do without information about the surface gravity? I don't think it would matter much in the summary because no one's going to attempt a trip there any time soon with the Red Spot going on." He turned the page, uninterested now that they were nearly done.

"Length of year, length of day...do you think these are important to include?" Cepheus wasn't a fan of numbers. He enjoyed arithmatic to an extent, but he was the kind of lad that enjoyed reading fiction novels and brewing potions, not sitting in a classroom reading about planets or thinking about numbers. If they were researching constellations, perhaps that would garner more of an interest. He would love to tell Theresa all about what he considered his constellation.

0 Cepheus It'd be like intense acid rain. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Henny B-F-R, Aladren

September 27, 2012 5:13 PM

And I choose YOU! Not that I'm calling you a planet... by Henny B-F-R, Aladren

Henny was excited by the idea of a new class. Astronomy was something she really felt that she should know about but didn't. When she looked up at the sky she could appreciate its beauty but she could say nothing about it. It was this vast, probably endless, expanse that she knew nothing about. She liked the idea of being able to look up and understand things. It seemed somehow important that she changed that, or even owed. The stars and planets dominated every aspect of human life; the exploration of the solar system was the highest achievement of Muggle technology, the theory of how it all worked some of the most complex physics, it had influenced ancient cultures and inspired the arts throughout every civilisation. If her parents had looked up, they would have seen those stars. Once she, too, was dead and gone people would look up and see them. It seemed arrogant to assume that trying to understand them didn't matter.

She did not arrive first nor last but all the front row seats were taken, so she sat down in the middle. A smile crossed her mouth as the Professor established the clear difference between his subject and astrology, and the fact that there would be no overlap. If she'd wanted to listen to a load of tosh about the future, she would have taken Divination. Her attention remained throughout his lecture. Astronomy was a subject where she suspected there might be a lot of listening. However, the Professor then moved them onto a practical project.

Henny grinned as the girl next to her enthused randomly, seemingly unbothered by whether the person next to her would understand. She knew Reggie in the same way that she knew many people at school, i.e. from seeing her around. She'd always seemed like a pretty happy, outgoing sort of person. Someone around whom she might not need to mind her Ps and Qs so much. Henny had a vague notion of what she was talking about. The Home had had a television, possibly as some of the tenants had been Muggleborns whose parents were struggling to cope, and they needed some familiar things to help them adjust. That meant Charlie had, for as long as he could remember, had a television, and so Dad and Father had got one when they'd adopted them. She thought. They might have had one at a previous point in their lives too. They had seemed familiar-ish with the idea, as far as she remembered, but then adults tended to seem automatically competent when you were little.

“I can get behind choosing Planet of the Braniacs,” she smiled, “Though maybe we shouldn't title our project that... Looking at different characteristics the planets have been attributed in fiction would be – erm, irrelevant for this class,” she blushed, quickly curbing her enthusiasm, “And possibly only of interest to me.” She flipped to Mercury's page on the handout, skim reading the information. “Its temperature range in general is crazy,” she informed Reggie, “Super hot by day, super freezing at night... How do we want to lay this out? Can you think of a way that's not just copying the handout in list form? Cos that doesn't seem very exciting...”

13 Henny B-F-R, Aladren And I choose YOU! Not that I'm calling you a planet... 211 Henny B-F-R, Aladren 0 5

Reggie

September 30, 2012 7:08 PM

Aw, thanks! So kind of you! by Reggie

Reggie smiled at the other girl… she was a fourth year, right? No, maybe that wasn’t right. Reggie has seen her around school and probably in classes, but she hadn’t really ever spoken to her. She remembered her name sounding a bit old school the way that Reggie’s did. What was it again….Henrietta, that was it. Reggie never really understood why people called their children such old names this day and age. Reggie didn’t even feel as though her name sounded very pretty or really all that cool. It was one of the main reasons she preferred to go by her nickname. Reggie just suited her better.

“Oh, I suppose that makes sense.” Reggie said after a moment, surprised that Henrietta wasn’t questioning Reggie’s thought process on picking Mercury. Either the girl knew what she was talking about or she thought Reggie was crazy and didn’t want to point it out. To be honest, Reggie was okay with either opinions. Things like that never bothered her. She was who she was and either people appreciated it or they didn’t. She could handle not being liked. “I mean, if you think about it, deserts are the pretty much the hottest climates on Earth during the day, but without coverage, are the coldest ones at night. I can understand Mercury being that way as well. Plus, it’s like solid rock, so there isn’t much there to soak up the heat to sustain it through the night.”

Actually, Reggie had no idea if it was mostly just rock, but from the look of the pictures, that’s just what she thought. It’s okay if she was wrong, Reggie was rarely embarrassed. She would rather someone explain to her why she was wrong than make fun of her for it, of course, but kids were kids. She’d either give in to it or just walk away. People had faults, they made mistakes, and she was only human after all.

“Oh, you know, let’s try to make something like a poster board, what do you think?” Reggie asked. Back in her Muggle school, whenever they had projects where they needed to get out facts, they always used poster boards so that they could show the students the facts instead of reading them off. “We can have the information grouped and pictures to help get the points across. What do you think? I mean, we might have to ask for the material, but it could make the lesson a lot more fun.”

6 Reggie Aw, thanks! So kind of you! 187 Reggie 0 5

Theresa

September 30, 2012 8:32 PM

I really don't think we need any of that by Theresa

Theresa wrote as quickly as she could, but had gotten through no more than the first fact before she realized she was going to have to use a lot of abbreviations to keep up at all, and even then, she knew she still forgot at least one thing Cepheus said before she could get it down on the sheet she had in front of her. She was already flushed, annoyed about that, when Cepheus made eye contact, so that didn’t make much of a difference to her expression. It was really a pity that he was taken; she was going to have to do something horrible to that Whateverhernamewas girl. Maybe she could pin it on Kitty McLevy and eliminate both something that threatened to disgrace Arthur and to keep her from successfully setting herself up, if she decided to go through with that plan, to get Laurie Stratford at the same time.

“It is,” she said, taking her mind away from attraction and marriage and to Jupiter. “I think I got most of it, though.” Honesty forced her to tack on, “Sort of.” She looked down at the paper in her lap, which she was sure would be completely incomprehensible to anyone but her. “I think we’ll have to rewrite it anyway,” she admitted regretfully. “I abbreviated everything, so I don’t think Professor O’Rourke will be able to read it.”

Though she wasn’t completely sure he planned to really read these documents at all, since he had to already know all about the planets to be an Astronomy professor and she was sure that his mind would go numb at some time during the grading process. That didn’t seem like a very proper thing to say, though, especially not in front of a boy she wanted to think she was ladylike and desirable as a companion. She was supposed to act as though everyone had only the purest of motives, at least unless Cepheus showed signs of not minding – or better yet, liking – that she was brighter than an extinguished candle.

“I think we can probably do without that,” she agreed about the surface gravity. “How on earth would they even know that, anyway?” No one could fly to another planet. Brooms did not work that way. There was no way to get to another planet, because they were too far away, and from what she had gathered, even if you did get there, then you’d die because the new planet would kill you. “Though, I guess that goes for most of this…really advanced spells, I guess.”

Now she was flushing all over again, feeling like an idiot for not realizing that to begin with. Of course it was really advanced spells, and if she was too dim to figure it out right away, then she should just keep her mouth shut even when the right answer occurred to her, because it sounded better than tripping over her own feet like that. He probably thought she was a complete moron. There was nothing to do, though, but just keep going and hope that he hadn’t thought too much about it. Never did she think she’d be happier with the assumption that girls were a little dim, or something like that.

“I’d think so,” she said, biting the inside of her mouth for a second before she caught herself, when he asked about length of year and length of day. “Since that determines where it is, doesn’t it, and that’s what it’s important for us to know?” Or she was assuming it was as she made it up right now. It sounded right, though.

0 Theresa I really don't think we need any of that 0 Theresa 0 5

Arthur Carey, Aladren

October 01, 2012 12:59 AM

I knew him, Horatio by Arthur Carey, Aladren

Astronomy had been, in Arthur’s experience, an irregularly taught course, moving between instructors and methods more than was usual, and so he felt he had taught himself more of the subject than he’d learned in class. The school, however, encouraged participation in classes he wanted to take CATS in where they were available, so he was here to listen to another presentation he had no doubt would be geared primarily toward the third years. It was the beginning of the year, after all, so a more complex lesson in an Intermediate class was hardly to be hoped for.

Still, he found the ceiling display of the heavens most attractive. That was a neat piece of magic, he would like to know how it was done. Perhaps he could use it on the ceiling of his study at home; it would complement the rest of the décor very well, he thought, and he would enjoy the peaceful view. Arthur had always – perhaps because of how poorly he slept, a problem which gave him many more opportunities than he would have had otherwise – particularly appreciated the night sky. If he could sync it to the actual night sky, that would be even better, since it would give him a handy reference point for certain kinds of magic, but it was nice enough just as a decoration. He wondered if the professor would object to being visited after class and asked about the enchantment, but thought overall that he, Arthur, would be more comfortable with trying to look it up in the library first. It was nothing against the new professor, who he did not know yet anyway; Arthur just preferred not to ask for help when he could avoid it.

He disliked being specifically told not to put his wand away even though he had not taken it out in the first place, but other than that, he found nothing too objectionable about the opening lecture. Neither did he find anything very interesting, and so he gave more of his attention to the ceiling, examining the constellations as the lesson went on. He had never been good at the kind of pattern recognition that helped with identifying constellations; Arnold had beaten him at that when they were little with total ease; aside from flying, he thought that was the first thing Arnold had ever been better at, at least in a very technical sense. He had been surprised, but not as much as his brother had….

”For today’s assignment…”

The professor’s voice, saying relevant words, pulled his attention completely back down to the room, where he heard what the assignment was. The solar system – a third year lesson, as he had expected. Perhaps in a month or two, then. He looked, mildly surprised, at the third year who asked him if he’d like to work on Pluto with him.

“Certainly,” he said, recognizing him, at second look, as Mr. Brockert, the second son – the heir’s spare. Arthur had watched him for a while, wondering what sort he might be, and had decided that he was…very strange. That wasn’t something he said lightly, since he knew many people had said it about him, too, but he could think of no better way to express it. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course – for one thing, Arthur had thought vaguely of seeing if he could push him toward Theresa because of it – but it was something that he thought made the way the third year Aladrens seemed to get along peacefully even more interesting. Thaddeus and Miss Bauer seemed much more intense, he wasn’t sure what to think of Henrietta or the other two girls….

The first thing he thought, almost to his disgust, when he heard Pluto was of Pluto and Persephone, but he saw no need to mention that just yet. “Where would you care to start, Mr. Brockert?” he asked, since he did not formally have permission to use his new group member’s given name and assumed that his own name was something that Mr. Brockert would have picked up somewhere along the way. He did not consider this immodest.

0 Arthur Carey, Aladren I knew him, Horatio 0 Arthur Carey, Aladren 0 5

Henny B-F-R

October 01, 2012 1:41 PM

Is that sarcasm? (TAG PROFESSOR) by Henny B-F-R

The main thing Henny knew about Reggie was that she had made the zombie film last year. She hoped that the main thing Reggie knew about Henny was not that she was the girl who had walked out of it. She had had her very obviously younger brother with her at the time, so she thought that her decision was understandable, plus Reggie seemed too outgoing and confident to really care what a third year – at the time second year – thought of her. She just hoped the other girl hadn't noticed and been upset.

She nodded along with Reggie's comments about the desert, even though the only desert environment she'd been in was Sonora, which didn't exactly count as typical, given the weather charms. But she had certainly experienced how, even after the hottest summer day, the night time temperature could plummet. She didn't know enough about the planets to know whether Reggie was right about Mercury being made of rock. She had heard of some planets being referred to as 'gas giants' so had a vague appreciation that they weren't all rock, which would have been her default assumption, but she was fairly sure Mercury didn't fit that category, so it seemed like a reasonable assertion. She didn't feel the need to cross-reference what Reggie was saying with their handout immediately. They would, obviously, check all their facts before writing them down.

“A poster sounds good,” she nodded. She wasn't the most artistic person and she was having trouble envisaging how a poster would not just be the handout copied out, in brief, with bubble-writing and a picture of Mercury in the middle but she trusted Reggie's judgement and she seemed to have some ideas. “There might also be some charms we could use on it to show different things. Like we could have a diagram with it moving around to show its orbit, stuff like that?” she asked. As far as the artistic direction of the poster went, Henny was happy for Reggie to take charge.

“Professor O'Rourke,” she asked, raising her hand, “Are there any materials we could use to make a poster?”

13 Henny B-F-R Is that sarcasm? (TAG PROFESSOR) 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Cepheus

October 02, 2012 2:37 PM

Probably not. Regular rain does fine. by Cepheus

It was surprising to Cepheus how much has gotten down. Granted, it was difficult for him to read, but he didn't think the abbreviations were terribly difficult. "I could rewrite it for you, if you'd like," he offered. If he was being completely honest with himself, his handwriting was a little neater than hers. Of course, if he'd had to rush to jot down every word she had read out of a textbook, his handwriting would have been nearly unreadable as well.

Theresa posed a good question when she asked how they would know about the surface gravity. And then she answered her own question: advanced spells. It was simple, but Cepheus never would have bothered to think twice about it. He wasn't ever going to go to the moon or Jupiter and so it didn't matter to him what the surface gravity was or how to get there. All that he really had to know were the constellations and the positions of the stars and planets, most likely. Constellations were a must since his family named the heirs after them.

Cepheus didn't respond to her question about getting to a different planet, but let her continue to comment on what they should include. "I suppose so," he said, shrugging. "It doesn't matter much to me, if you don't mind writing it down." He gave her a little smile before looking back down at the textbook. He skimmed a bit of the part he was planning to read aloud, then looked up again. "Ready?"

Once Theresa indicated that she was, he began reading again. "There's 9 hours and 56 minutes in the day, and a year in Jupiter is 11.9 years on Earth. You should probably write down that it's an outer planet, whatever that means." He looked at the rest of it, and then sighed and put the textbook down flat again. "Well, I think that's all we really need." He leant back in his chair. "I wish we could study the constellations or the stars. Planets are grand and all, but I'd like to learn how to chart them instead of research useless information about them. Well, not useless, just...irrelevant to our lives." 'Irrelevant' wasn't the right word either, but Cepheus couldn't think properly.

Now that their work was mostly done, he tried to think of something to talk about. There was loads of things he could think of, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to pursue certain topics with her. He had tried to keep his betrothal to Megan a secret, but he was sure it had still gotten out. If there was something he had learnt over the years, it was that the bigger the secret, the more likely it was to get out, at least among the pure-blood community. Still, he wanted to avoid the topic of marriage for as long as possible.

"How was the rest of your summer?" he asked, finally looking over at her. "After the wedding, I mean."

0 Cepheus Probably not. Regular rain does fine. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Professor O'Rourke

October 02, 2012 11:43 PM

Hall pass to MARS by Professor O'Rourke

Alex was pleased with the turnout of his class. Granted he wasn’t selling out arenas, but he had a few students, which was more than could be said for other classes. As they broke into groups and claimed their respective planets, Alex wondered if he shouldn’t have also included the other dwarf planets; Ceres and Eris. He decided not to worry about it too much as the discussion on other heavenly bodies was a lesson for another day, and there were still plenty of planets to go around. He settled himself at his desk in front of the room and decided to work on his lesson plan for the advanced class.

Professor O’Rourke lifted his gaze from his parchment when one of his students called out to him. She wanted materials for a poster. It wasn’t exactly what he’d expected, but he appreciated the enthusiasm and looked forward to seeing what the girls came up with for Mercury—if only he knew where there might be art supplies. At least, that’s what he assumed Miss Boxton-Fox-Reynolds was after.

“Art supplies?” He confirmed, furrowing his brow slightly as his hazel eyes scoured the classroom for any clues to where something like that might be. The astronomy professor rose from his chair and began searching cupboards for anything that might be useful. Broken telescopes, compasses, constellation maps—check. But nothing that seemed particularly useful for poster making. Not that he was terribly surprised, this was astronomy after all.
There had to be some somewhere in the castle, assuming they weren’t currently being monopolized by the first years.

“Sadly, I’m not currently in possession of the materials you seek, but I believe, Miss Boxton-Fox-Reynolds, that there are supplies in the Magical Arts Room. You have my permission to go and gather what you need for your poster under two conditions; no faffing about, and please—no glitter. Miss Parker, you may join her, should you feel so inclined." The astronomy professor said with a smile.

0 Professor O'Rourke Hall pass to MARS 0 Professor O'Rourke 0 5

Evan

October 03, 2012 11:48 PM

Let's get to know him a little better. by Evan

Arthur Carey was someone that Nora spoke highly of, whose intelligence the fourth year genuinely respected. That alone made him very unusual, which was something that Evan could relate to. Not that he had a problem with being so himself, he liked being different. One of the worst things to him would be being forced into a metaphorical box, which he felt might as well be a coffin.

From what he'd noticed, the fifth year seemed a bit odd too. Which probably meant that Arthur would also be a more interesting person. So many people were the same or, more accurately, similar, which quite frankly made them more boring to Evan. Not many were true non-conformists, most people who didn't fit into the mainstream fit into some subculture that they were conforming to instead.

Then, there were people who thought themselves 'eccentric' when in reality they were the most ordinary people there were. True,they often didn't fit the pureblood mold that Evan was familiar with but the thing was, they were often people who weren't from that sort of background. Yet, they still considered themselves to be odd and quirky when they were conforming in pretty much the way that the Aladren had been thinking about before. Plus, they thought people the opposite of themselves were 'weird' and they just couldn't have it both ways. They weren't any more accepting of people's differences than they said that Evan's 'sort' was. They were nothing but hypocrites.

"Call me Evan." He replied. The third year would still refer to the elder Aladren by as Mr. Carey if he addressed him by name unless he was told otherwise, but he preferred others to use his given name. That was who he was, Evan. That was his identity apart from his family, not that he was ashamed of being a Brockert either. It might not have been his first priority but he also didn't get why anyone would be ashamed to be part of being a prominent pureblood family. That was part of him too, and Evan wanted to be all of what made him him.

"Well, I suppose we can start with listing what we know about Pluto besides that it's not considered a planet anymore and is the smallest." Again, the Aladren lamented this internally. It seemed people were picking on poor Pluto because it was little and not as...bold as other planets like Earth with its human life or Jupiter with its Great Red Spot that stood out like a giant pepperoni on the planet's cheese and tomato sauce looking planet or Saturn with its flashy rings like some old wealthy pureblood lady or Uranus with its unfortunate name. Actually, after Pluto, Uranus was the planet Evan felt the worst for. People were always making fun of it. If Professor O'Rourke had not decided Pluto counted, that's the one he would have done.

He noticed Professor O'Rourke giving Henny and his sister's roommate a pass for something. "Maybe we could go to the library to look up more information." Evan suggested. Later, he might find materials and make a model of Pluto but he didn't know if Arthur would go along with that. However, he wanted to do the-former-planet justice right now.

11 Evan Let's get to know him a little better. 212 Evan 0 5

Arthur

October 06, 2012 10:16 PM

Splendid idea by Arthur

“As you like,” Arthur said when he was given permission to use Evan Brockert’s first name. “You and I both have very common surnames,” he observed as well, though he thought it was a bit simpler to handle Mr. Brockert’s family than his own. At least there only, by and large, seemed to be one kind of Brockert, where the Careys had five branches for everyone else to keep straight and no real way of physically telling any of them except the North Carolinians, for the most part, from the others. He was used to it, but did not envy others the task. Jane did not even, as most of Virginia did, descend from his great-great-grandfather’s identical twin, and yet she could easily pass for his Uncle Donnie’s cousin.

“Is the smallest,” he corrected his companion, though he realized a moment later that it could simply sound like an echo. “Our professor counts it, and I believe Muggle astronomers were the ones to change the rules. I fail to see what their judgments on these things have to do with us.” He did not particularly dislike Muggles, but nor did he think that much of what they thought was very relevant, considering the massive gaps in their knowledge of the world. They were fascinating, and had, from what he’d heard from Katrina and read about on his own in secret, developed very interesting and complicated ways of getting around their lack of powers, but magic was too essential to the way the very universe worked. Adding and taking away planets completely threw some areas of study within this subject off-balance, not to mention the entire field of Divination….

…Though that did bring to mind who, exactly, had classed the objects known as planets as such in the first place – well, not so much that, that had mostly been Babylonian court-wizards, but how they had decided what was a planet and what was not. Arthur frowned, distracted, and picked up his quill before remembering Mr. Brockert and looking at him. “Excuse me a moment,” he said politely, then scribbled down the thought in his shorthand. He would ask Jane about it, and then perhaps research the topic further. It was interesting to him.

That done, he offered Mr. Brockert a very small smile. “Lists, of course,” he said, as though nothing had happened. He nodded slowly when the library came up; his expression relaxed slightly at the mention of the library, but he resisted the temptation to just agree. “We should at least look through the textbook first,” he offered matter-of-factly. “That should give us a basic overview, give us a place to start, yes? One step at a time.” He opened the front cover of his own book and looked down at the inside, the first page completely blank, the inside of the cover just as blank. He had inscribed his name, as small as possible, near the bottom of the back cover, not the front. “Would you prefer to write?” he asked.

0 Arthur Splendid idea 0 Arthur 0 5

Theresa

October 06, 2012 11:20 PM

I agree by Theresa

“That might be for the best,” Theresa said, trying not to blush over her penmanship. She had known from the start that it wasn’t the best; that was why she hadn’t really wanted to be the one to write at all. Still, he hadn’t known that, as she generally didn’t show other people her handwriting, so she didn’t blame him for it…much. If she’d really cared – or, she thought dryly, been thinking less of being demure and agreeable – she would have said something before he ever started reading aloud. “Just ask if you can’t figure out, um, what something’s supposed to be. With the shortenings,” she had to add, to make it slightly less about her penmanship.

“I don’t mind,” she said, still wanting to seem agreeable and getting a little annoyed at herself for feeling that way, and then nodded when he got ready to start reading again. “When you are,” she said.

She envied her cousins. Arthur didn’t seem to be very affected by human emotions of any kind, and even Arnold still mostly seemed to be himself even though he was betrothed. If she were – to anyone, but particularly to someone she liked, as she assumed Arnold liked Fae, since he had always spent so much time around her – she didn’t think she’d be able to think about anything else, and that it would show. Though even that would be better than blushing and being flustered over a boy who she’d danced with a few times and had no other ties to. At least that made sense, and at worst would get her teased. This could just make people think she was an idiot.

Theresa wrote down the remaining information. “Mmhm,” she said about this not being the most fascinating thing to learn. “My father showed us where some of the constellations were when I was little,” she remarked, “but nothing really about them, or where they…I don’t know, move, or whatever it is they do.” She added a smile to hopefully distract from how unintelligent that statement sounded.

It was easier to smile when he confirmed that he did remember that they’d both been at that wedding. Of course he would – it was kind of stupid, she knew, to think otherwise – but still, that was the kind of stupid thought she had when this all came up. “That was the most exciting part of it, really,” she said. "It was just brushing up on French lessons and putting up with my brothers after that." And sisters, though she spent less time with Diana than with the boys and Cecilia was still little enough to be more of a responsibility than anything. "My second one came with us this time, he's in Crotalus now. What about yours?" She realized she'd skipped something important. "And how was the rest of your summer?"

0 Theresa I agree 0 Theresa 0 5

Reggie

October 06, 2012 11:49 PM

We skip right over 2 planets by Reggie

Reggie was slightly disappointed that the professor (still hot, but less so for this narrow-mindedness) didn’t have any art supplies. Reggie was a firm believer that educators should be completely prepared for everything because they never really knew what the students would need in order to learn. Especially when it came to projects like this. Reggie loved projects. She loved crafts. She did scrapbooks every year with her Nana. She even created the Zombie movie last year with her friends and other students. She just loved creating things from nothing. Admitting that was strange because Reggie did not consider herself an artist at all. But knowing how much she enjoyed crafts, she was surprised that she did not consider herself that.

Reggie got up from her seat to head to the Art Room with Henny. “Or, we could maybe create Mercury itself and use charms to explain the fun facts about it and use the charms to show the orbit like you were saying.” Reggie suggested as they walked. She really just wanted to see what there was to offer in the room so that they can maybe figure out something to work with. Of course, they had only a limited amount of time to really do this, but she wanted to make it fun and there was a chance that the professor may let them carry it over into the next lesson so that they could really present something worthy in front of the whole class.

“What are some other facts about Mercury?” Reggie asked, pulling out her handout. They might as well discuss what they want to convey on their project as they went to get supplies. She felt that they could do some really fun things with it if they had the time. “We can talk about the length of day and maybe the mass of the planet. The size of it too.” Reggie was just looking at the information trying to figure out how to work into their project without being too bland. “What do you think is so important that it has to be laid out somewhere on our project?” She asked.

6 Reggie We skip right over 2 planets 187 Reggie 0 5

Evan

October 11, 2012 11:42 AM

Thanks! by Evan

"Indeed." Evan replied. They were part of two of the biggest, most powerful pureblood families in America. Between his family and Arthur's they probably controlled three-fourths of the country, and the Brockerts had ties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Still, the fact that there were a lot of other Brockerts-though aside from Seth, whom Evan wasn't about to refer to as Mr. Brockert, he was the only male at Sonora who actually had the last name Brockert-was one reason that the third year preferred if others used his first name.

For a second, he was a bit confused, thinking Arthur thought that Evan had said that Pluto was the smallest when he'd said is. Then the older Aladren further explained and he agreed. Muggles definitely didn't have the right to tell them what to do. His family had the policy of ignoring them, unless they caused trouble. Therefore, Evan did not have to listen to anything they said.

Why would they decide this in the first place? As far as the Aladren was concerned, if something orbited around the sun, it was a planet. As far as he knew, it hadn't stopped doing that. So why did Muggles want to take that away? Wasn't it good enough for them? There were people out there who made purebloods out to be the bad guys and defended the great things that their Muggle relatives did, the accomplishments they'd had. Yet, they were no better. Some arrogant scientist had just randomly decided Pluto was worthless, deserved to be downgraded in status and why? Jerks. Maybe it wasn't all Muggles that were but that scientist certainly was.

He didn't really understand why it was necessary for Arthur to excuse himself to write something down. It wasn't as if he was getting up and going somewhere. Then again, human behavior was hardly Evan's forte, that was Nora's thing. It was more his to come up with interesting art projects. He had to agree with his cousin though, Arthur Carey seemed to also be interesting. It was good to see a fellow 'eccentric'.

"All right." Evan agreed, having no reason to argue, though once they wrote down all the information in the book, he still wanted to go. Pluto deserved a full tribute. He took out a piece of parchment and quill and paused. "Wait, wouldn't writing down everything in the book just be like, not really putting forth effort? Wouldn't we get a lower grade for that?"

11 Evan Thanks! 212 Evan 0 5

Cepheus

October 13, 2012 11:27 PM

Did it just get hot in here? by Cepheus

Cepheus was glad that he had decided to rewrite their report because Theresa's scribbles were not going to earn them points with the professor. It was all right. Now he knew something else about her. "I'll take it," he said, taking the sheet from her when she was finished in order to begin rewriting it. Her shorthand was a bit difficult to read, but he was could read most of it and would most likely figure out the rest.

It was clear that Theresa wasn't as enthusiastic about the constellations as Cepheus was, but that was understandable. She hadn't grown up with name like his with the responsibility of choosing the name of a proper constellation for his son one day. Thinking about having any descendants at all made Cepheus feel a bit ill. Theresa's little smile after she spoke made Cepheus's insides warm a bit, but he didn't realise what exactly was going on. The room was probably getting warmer or something. Living in Arizona's heat was awful.

Theresa's summer didn't sound drastically different from Cepheus's, except Ceph had had to live in France with his frightful cousin and sneak around with his other cousin, the one that his father had warned him against. He decided to answer Theresa's second question first, assuming that the "Henry Carey" that had recently joined Crotalus was her younger brother. Knowing that would make it slightly easier to tolerate the young Carey, though it wouldn't help much. "My summer was awful," sighed Cepheus. "I had to live in Paris, which wouldn't have been horrible except I had to live with my frightful cousin, Devon. He's an only child and is spoiled to the absolute core." He had been tempted to use a curse word, but cursing in front of ladies was so wrong.

"Besides that, we had the family reunion at the Princeton estate again, where I live, and that was stifling. I was glad it only lasted a few hours." Once, the reunion had gone on for a couple days with all the guest rooms filled up. It had been bloody ridiculous and Cepheus had hated that. He had been able to escape with his friends then, however, and now he couldn't. "My younger brother's here too, but he's in Pecari. I'm glad he's not in Crotalus." He turned to Theresa. "That's what house you're in, isn't it?" He knew that he knew, but he wanted to be certain. One could never be too safe. "How do you like it? I hope my brother's not a fright."

0 Cepheus Did it just get hot in here? 0 Cepheus 0 5

Arthur

October 17, 2012 7:53 PM

You're welcome by Arthur

“I imagine it would earn us an average one,” Arthur said, looking around the room slowly, taking in the array of faces, “but I cannot say that I know anything about Pluto, other than its position in the Solar System and some myths surrounding the figure it was named for, and I find it difficult to research a topic in depth without looking over the general overview first. Without a base, research becomes aimless, and generally the amount of information involved is overwhelming.”

His tone was utterly neutral, though in his last sentence, it began to slip into the dry monotone he used for reading aloud, a tone most often heard by Arnold, who he often re-taught material to during their Saturday study sessions. Explaining his thinking to others was something he tried, quite consciously, to be patient about, since often, even his brothers didn’t follow lines he thought were completely logical. Sometimes, that was their fault, but sometimes, in retrospect, he was able to see that it was his. So he tried to learn patience, and sometimes, he was better at it than at others. Today was a good day. Perhaps tomorrow would not be. He had no way of knowing, though he could always hope.

“However,” he said, “if you’d like to obtain a note of permission from the professor while I do that, you are welcome to do so.”

They would not have time, of course, to get very far into anything; doing any research properly took hours. That was why he would have dearly liked to have the ability to meddle with time, even a little; how pleasant it would be, to twist it about so that he could get hours of work done without feeling them so much, to go back to the same place when and as he pleased and work that way, to be, maybe, though he knew he had not read half enough about the nature of time magic to be sure if it was even possible, able to shatter some of the limitations of mortality, even, by viewing the same thing from different angles, perhaps with slight changes…

It probably was not possible. If it were, he thought they would already understand the whole universe. But the idea had a powerful draw for him. Far more, anyway, than the reception of the existing knowledge, especially on a school level, ever had.

0 Arthur You're welcome 0 Arthur 0 5