Term 7; Lesson 2--In Class--Day One

The first day of class had gone so well! Sure several had walked in late, but she let that slide. But if they did it again, she would definitely punish them. Nothing to harsh, maybe take away house points. Today was an in-class day. She set out her collection of Astronomy books to make their lives easier. She knew that not every constellation was in the Astronomy book she had them get, so she decided to give them a few options. She wrote their names on the board. She didn't want them to find the same Constellation twice, so she was making a list to keep track.

When she got done with that, she even set out a few of her star charts on the desk, so they could get an idea of where the constellations they wanted to look for were. After she had done everything, she sat back at her desk, this time the normal way, and waited for her students to arrive. It was a few minutes early, but she hoped that her students would follow the rules, and be on time this class.

(( OOC: Not everybody can be late for class. If you decide to post now after the instructions have been posted, just pretend that your character has been in class the entire time. It was a little annoying in the last thread because several said they were late. Thanks!!))

Blake entered the classroom, knowing he was too early once again. He really had to gauge the distance from the common room to the Astronomy tower better! Still being early was better than late. Most professors were stricter with lateness this term and he didn't want to lose any house points for Gryffindor. Too much had already been unnecessarily lost on lateness.

"Hi Chloe." Blake greeted as he walked into the classroom. He still hadn't gotten used to calling a professor by their first name. But now that he was the only one in the class he gave her his undivided attention and noticed how young she was, well for a teacher. So maybe she thought being called 'professor' was weird?

Blake looked happily around the room. They weren't playing games today. He started flicking through his book eagerly, glad that they were doing constellations. Blake had always looked up at the starts and wondered their names, now he would know. Blake settled back into his seat, waiting for the other students to arrive.

Chloe looked up as a student walked into the classroom. She smiled and nodded as he said her name. She said, "Thank you for being on time today! Five points for Gryffindor! I know you weren't one of the late ones yesterday, but still. I'm feeling generous."

Lauren walked into the class looking rather happy. She loved Astronomy, and she wanted to be the best she could in this subject. Besides, the professor was her epicly nice Head Of House! Everything was going to be great. "Hello, Chloe. Nice to see you today!" She flashed a smile, and sat down at a seat in the back, while getting comfortable.

Someone was in a good mood, Blake remarked and of course he wasn't late, in fact he was far from it! And now he was actually being rewarded for turning up so early. Blake broke into a wide grin, "thanks professor," he said chuffed with himself. He had never won house points before as he wasn't very forthcoming with information to answer questions in class. And now he had won points for just not being late. He was turning up to class early more often! Astronomy was quickly becoming one of his favourite subjects.

Blake nodded at Lauren in greeting as the Ravenclaw entered the classroom and took a seat at the back of the room.

Astronomy was pretty cool. Aoife had quickly become tired of the games, though, so she was almost glad to hear they were going to have proper lessons from now on. Almost. Because proper lessons sort of sucked. What they should do is sit there, eat sweets, learn the occasional spell if it would actually ever help them. Only the ones she might really use, like the one that changed your beret different colours.

When she arrived and there were only a couple of other students there, Aoife was surprised. Either she was early or everyone else was really late. Probably the latter. She was never early. "Hi Profess- Chloe!" she beamed. It was hard to remember that she was meant to call her teacher by her first name. It was weird. Blake was there. Lauren was there. So she sat around the middle of the classroom, not too close to either of them.

Victoria walked into the classroom with her Astronomy book in hand, quite proud of herself for being on time. She smiled to the professor and nodded as she took her seat. "Good day, Chloe", she greeted her and examined the list on the blackboard. The professor, or Chloe, had told them they had to pick a constellation next class and Victoria had done so in advance in the library. After a little research of course. She had picked the Andromeda constellation for the interesting mythological story behind the name. 

Taking her seat, she noticed a few familiar faced in the classroom. "Hey Blake", she smiled as she took a seat right in front of him. "You look rather happy today", she noticed. "I wasn't aware that you are that excited to learn Astrology", Victoria chuckled.

Her head turned and she saw Aoife and Lauren. "Hi!", she greeted them both with a grin.

Chloe greeted the students as they one-by-one entered the classroom. Not everyone of them were there yet, but a few were, and that was better than none. She said, "Well, since a few of you are already here, there's no since in just sitting here in waiting for everybody else. Today, we are going to look for the constellations that you will want to find tonight! I've thought up of a list for the easy ones. If you find yours right away tomorrow night, and wish to find something harder, you can figure out two today to find. Here are some star charts that I myself have created. You can look at them, but not touch. They are very dear to me. Here I've laid out a couple books to look at. I know your book doesn't list all of them, which is a shame. So, you may begin!"

((OCC: Here is a link of Constellations: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellation_list.html

Once you are done, post in Pick Your Constellation Thread so I can keep track of what you have "found"))

Lauren had an idea of what constellation she wanted to look for. Aquarius! That was perfect. She heard that astronomy tied in with zodiac stuff somewhere, but she wasn't sure where. At least she knew what Aquarius looked like! She pulled out her sketch book and began sketching the constellation.

(OOC: Lauren's drawing looks something like this: http://www.astrologyweekly.com/zodiac-pictures/constellation/aquarius20.jpg )

Blake looked up startled when the professor had started the class, obviously some people were going to be late for class. He hoped that didn't involve losing house points, he had thought that they'd lost enough as it stood and they needed to be gaining them, not losing them! Well, at least he had done his part for the house today, not much more he could've done.

He got up from his seat and looked over the list of constellations, some he recognised and some he didn't He decided to go with a name of one that he knew, and hoped that it would be easy enough to find. Happy with his decision, Lynx, he returned to his seat and waited for everyone else to make up their minds.

Aoife was quick to rush towards the books. She wanted to get the best constellation before anyone else did. It seemed they were all boring, stupid names though, so she ended up picking "Andromeda" because it started with an A like her name! This Astronomy rubbish wasn't too interesting so far. She was hoping it would get better when they stared. After making her way back to her desk, she sat down and leaned back in her chair, waiting for stuff to happen.

Chloe smiled as the kids that were there were finding constellations. She then added, "I'm not going to be having you do homework, as that is kind of pointless. You guys already have to go through eight (?) hours a day, so I can only imagine that you don't want to do homework after school. However, it would be a good idea for you to look up the history of your constellation. This is optional extra credit. If you turn in one paragraph to two pages on your constellations history, or why you chose it, you will receive the extra credit, which will be house points. Once you have picked your constellation, you may leave. Don't forget! Tomorrow will be a night class at 9:30 at the Astronomy tower! Don't be late! Just letting you know, Gryffindor got five points for Blake being early. Have a nice day!"

Blake looked up from his idle doodling as Chloe announced that class was finished. He glanced around noticing that Hunter hadn't shown up. It wasn't like him to just not show up for class and he presumed he probably had a good reason. Like sleeping on or something. Blake just hoped his house points that he earned wouldn't be taken away.

Blake couldn't help the smug look that crept onto his face when Chloe announced to the class that he had earned points for his house. He was just delighted, the only other time that had happened was in this class. Astronomy was quickly becoming one of his favourite lessons and he was already looking forward to the practical element of today's class. Blake quickly gathered up his things and left the class early, making sure he got out first so he wouldn't run into Aoife on the way. That would be an awkward journey back to the common room. He thanked Chloe with a smile on the way out, deciding to make a detour to the library so he could begin his homework. Even though it wasn't mandatory, he still felt like he needed to do some research before the class the next evening.

Okay, so they had to pick their constellations. Was that all? Talk about an easy class! Hunter was definitely glad that he'd chosen to take Astronomy. Mostly because all of his other classes were way harder and it was nice to have a class that he didn't really have to try in.

He followed Blake up to the front and leaned over his shoulder to see what constellations there were to choose from. Hunter didn't really care which constellation he picked, honestly. His eyes scanned the list and he zoned in on one that sounded familiar. Scorpius. It was familiar because Hunter was a Scorpio, being born at the end of October - that was a good enough reason, right? Jotting his name down next to it on the list, he quickly retreated to his seat and waited for whatever they were going to do next.

Oh. They weren't going to do anything next? Awesome! Maybe he could get a few laps in at the Quidditch Pitch then between classes! Saying a quick goodbye to Aoife and Blake, he rushed from the door and took off at a jog toward the grounds.