Lesson One, Term 8 [ALL YEARS!]

Chloe was excited! This term she was doing something completely different! All night classes! She felt it pointless to just have the kids come in for about five-ten minutes, pick their constellations then leave... She hadn't thought it through properly, and the game day seemed like a good idea at the time, but not everybody was as in to it as she had hoped.The fact that they were little kid games might of had something to do with it. Also with this term, since she was having all night classes, she would have all of her years in one class.

It seemed pointless to have two separate classes do the same exact thing. So why not have them all together? Surly they would get along. She might even do a little competition between the years. Maybe... She hadn't thought of anything yet. She just wanted to make the students want to come to her class, and enjoy themselves. So, she hoped this was going to be a good term.

She had laughed a little when the Ralston boy had been the first to sign up for the class. She didn't mean to give him the points last term, he had just been there on time, and had done the right things to earn the points. Even if he was a Gryffindor. She had cringed a little when Gryffindor had beaten Ravenclaw. Even SLYTHERIN beat Ravenclaw. This term would be different! Her house would beat all the houses this term and win the house cup! It was a necessity.

And, it had always been on her bucket list. She would share this with the Ravenclaw students when hey walked into class so they can try a little harder to win. If not for her, the at least themselves. She made her way from her office to the Astronomy tower carrying a tone of books, and her own personal star charts. She even wanted to start a new one. She already had one for this part, but it was old and starting to tare at the corners, and it was no fun just copying it down! So she would make a new one!

She set her books down in the entrance after she had conjured up a table. It was 8:15. She had enough time to run back up to her office, and grab some more books, and telescopes! She waved her wand and the telescopes appeared! After that, she went back and got some blankets, and even decided to make a pot of hot chocolate as it was a tad chilly. She spread the blankets around so they could talk about what they found, or what they are going to find after.

On the break she had even learned a few songs on the guitar, so she wanted to play and sing those while they where working. Her main goal was to make this class as fun as possible. So, when she was done setting up her lesson at around 9:20, she got out her guitar and started strumming a few soothing strings, and waited for the class to arrive. She only hoped that they remembered...

[OOC: Like last time, do  not say that the student was late, just write them in as if they've been here the entire time!! Thanks!]

After most classes were over and she'd had dinner, Aoife was tired. And she couldn't find Hunter or Lyra or anyone. So she went to take a quick nap. Recently she'd learned a spell which was basically an alarm clock. She cast it and flopped straight down on her bed. Unfortunately, the spell failed. When she woke up, there was only a couple of minutes to get to Astronomy.

Worrying slightly in case Chloe had decided to be stricter this year and not be a pushover, she ran as fast as she could out of the common room, down from the Gryffindor tower and towards the Astronomy tower. Luckily, she met Lyra going up the stairs. The younger girl was never late, so she must be on time.

"Hiiiiii!" she beamed, a little out of breath from the long run. Lyra smiled in return. Aoife wasn't sure what was going on with her at the minute. She was hardly ever with her sister and she didn't really... do much. It was boring boring boring! So she went in for a big hug, just because she decided the little lion needed one.

As they got to the top of the tower, the sound of music caught her attention. Was that a guitar someone was strumming? Indeed it was! Chloe played guitar! "I play guitar too, Professor!" she grinned. Over summer, she learned how to play loads of stuff and now she was just a great musician!

"Hi, Chloe," Lyra said quietly and Aoife followed suit, giving the woman a little salute. "Ooooh, do I smell hot chocolate?" That had to be hot chocolate! Hopefully it was house elf hot chocolate. In her two years at Hogwarts, she had been down to the kitchens so many times to get house elf hot chocolate! And blankets! Cuddly!

Maddie liked Astronomy. It was about the stars and stuff. Stars were pretty and shiny. Professor Gracen, or Chloe as she preferred, was nice too. So, determined to get to the class on time, she left the common room early and didn't allow herself to be distracted by any argumentative portraits on the way up to the tower.

It paid off and she was one of the first few there. "Hello Lyra!" she smiled to Lyn's twin. She was almost certain it wasn't Lyn due to the Gryffindor uniform. "And hi... Aoife, is it?" Madeline had never had a conversation with the eccentric redhead and she was scared of what would happen if she did. "Hi Chloe!" she added, remembering the professor.

The badger surveyed the room. A smell drifted towards her. Hot chocolate? Madeline loved hot chocolate. And blankets on the floor. This would be a nice cosy class. If they were just lying about, drinking hot chocolate and listening to Chloe play pretty songs on the guitar.

Thankfully, Victoria had a few classes that didn't require her to wake up at dawn and Astronomy was one of them. After stuffing her face with mashed potatoes during dinner, she quickly grabbed her books and headed to the Astronomy tower. A strange, calming noise was spreading through the stairs as she came closer. It sounded like music or some kind of a song.

She opened the door and saw the professor, or Chloe as she prefers to be called, playing the guitar and humming a familiar tune. "Hi Chloe", she greeted her with a smile and found herself a seat at the table.

The whole room smelled like chocolate and blankets were scattered around the table. If only every class was like this one. Perhaps all professors should be required to pass out hot chocolate during class. "Oh hey Aoife!", Victoria said glad to see the Gryffindor girl again.

Blake entered the Astronomy tower and his attention was immediately brought to his professor and how her appearance had changed over the summer. Or maybe he had just noticed how pretty her face was and how her blonde curly hair was so bouncy, but elegantly beautiful. Blake finally realised that he may have been staring for a few seconds longer than normal. "Hey Chloe." He mumbled quickly and turned away with his cheeks tinged slightly pink.

And then he noticed who else was in the room. Great Aoife. What was up with everyone changing? Blake shook off that thought again as he really did not want to delve into how complicated girls were, especially Aoife. He shuddered at the thought.

"Hi." Was all he managed to say. "Hi Madeline, Lyra and Victoria." Blake greeted them much more kindly and each with a smile. Blake soon wished Hunter would turn up, although anytime he was with Aoife recently there always seemed to be some unwarranted tension in the air as they were always bickering with each other. Blake had a sneaking suspicion it was something to do with Aoife's change in appearance. But then Chloe started to play guitar and he sat back, listening, mesmerised by her voice.

"Hi Maddie!" she heard Lyra say to the mysterious Hufflepuff who entered next. Then the younger girl went to sit cross-legged on the floor. Was that what they were meant to do? Or did Lyra just get tired? Nevermind, she had to be nice SociableAoife and talk to this girl Maddie.

Was she Aoife? YEAH she was Aoife. "YEAH I'm Aoife," she grinned, dancing a little bit to prove her point. Because Aoife danced. "Nice to meet you Maddie! Do you have anything against sheep?" If not, they could be very good friends! The girl didn't have to OBSESS over sheep, she just had to be nicer about them than some people were.

Speaking of mean, rude, unfriendly sheep haters, here was Blake! And then another NICE, HUMANE person, Victoria! Blake greeted everyone nicely but her, of course. So she'd just be almost civil too, however much fun it would be to slap him. "Hi." That would do! But did he deserve a slap or a mean remark? Possibly. "Blake, how about we do this thing where we pretend to like each- wait no, that's ridiculous." Why would she even think about that?

Now the nice person. "Hey Vicky-Tori!" she beamed. "How was your summer? Bet it didn't involve as many sheep as mine did!" From what she could remember, they hadn't talked since last term, when Aoife was short. Maybe now she was TALLER than Victoria? Maybe? Possibly.

Hunter had been finished with the day's classes for hours, and could be found quite happily stuffing his face with pumpkin pasties in the kitchens. For once, he had no homework, so he could stay up and eat as late as he wanted! He wasn't able to find Blake on his way there, and he wondered where he was. Hadn't he said something about studying a bit before Astronomy? Probably, since Blake studied far more than Hunter - wait a minute. Astronomy!

"Damn it," Hunter muttered, turning for the door and rushing out of the kitchen. Just before reaching the corridor, he hesitated. He quickly backtracked and grabbed a few treacle tarts and a bottle of pumpkin juice before racing once more from the room. Why did he always forget about class? He didn't even know what time it was, so he had no clue if he was late. And of course, the Astronomy tower was the farthest part of the castle from the kitchens.

By the time Hunter had finished climbing the stairs and shoved the door to the astronomy tower open, he was completely out of breath. His eyes scanned the people in the room to try to determine if he was late. The professor was there, and so were a bunch of students, but it didn't seem as though class had started. Cool. After taking a moment by the door to catch his breath and run a hand through his tousled hair, Hunter went to join his friends.

"Some friends you lot are," he joked with them. "Not one of you reminded me that we had class tonight!" Honestly, both Aoife and Blake, and especially Lyra, should know by know that Hunter wouldn't remember something like that. He avoided Aoife's eyes a bit, still confused by her. It was much easier just to ignore her than to try and figure out what was going on. "Hi Victoria!" he added to the Ravenclaw girl brightly, as he hadn't really seen her since term had started. "Is that hot chocolate?" he asked, distracted immediately from what he was saying by the smell of warm chocolate that filled the room.

Hunter noticed the blankets on the floor, one of which his sister was sitting on. Without hesitation, he sunk down onto a large blanket of his own. It was pretty comfortable, and he wondered it Chloe would notice if he just fell asleep during class. How many blankets were there, anyway? Maybe they'd have to share blankets. He could share his with Aoife! Only because they were best friends of course.

"What be nice to each other? Is that what you were going to say or was it too hard for you to say something along those lines?" Blake spat back at Aoife. He had actually tried to be nice to the girl in first year, he actually thought she was a little slow with all the sheep stuff but nope that was just who she was. He was willing to accept that for Hunter's sake, well to a certain degree but it turned out she just cranked up the annoying side of her personality too much over the years with the outcome standing in front of him. Blake did think that Aoife changed a lot over the summer, and as hard as it was to admit to himself it was for the best. He'd never say that out loud or to Hunter. The one thing he couldn't get over is how her personality just didn't live up to her new found looks. What a pity.

"Then how did you even know we had class?" Blake asked, knowing the extent of Hunter's forgetfulness and wondering how he even managed to turn up. "Sorry," he then muttered a little sheepishly. His thoughts had been elsewhere and he had done well even showing up to class. He didn't want to admit that lately he had been worried about Hunter's reaction to Aoife's new look the day of the sorting feast. Blake just couldn't get the words of Hunter's older brother Jack out of his head when he mentioned Hunter clearly liking Aoife. Blake wondered what that would mean for their friendship. He tried not to put the thought from his head and not worry about it anymore but maybe being nicer to Aoife wouldn't hurt. That was a nearly impossible feat to achieve though.

"I was going to say that," she admitted. "But like I said, it's ridiculous. You can't stand being around me and I hate you more than I hate mangos." Maybe Blake didn't know it, but she hated mangos with a burning passion. Ever since she had a bite of a mango as a child, the unnatural, evil fruits had haunted her nightmares.

Hunter next. A nicer student than the last one to walk in. Already, the half evil git was complaining. "It doesn't really matter, though, does it?" Aoife smirked. "You're here on time and you remembered!" Stupid boy hadn't realised, really. Nor, it seemed, had he realised that he had crumbs all over his face. And he hadn't after dinner. So it didn't take a genius to work out he'd been stuffing his face in the kitchens, probably with Kynan. "You have crumbs on your face, you git!" she trilled.

Realising it was probably Hunter and Blake time now, she went to take a seat on the blanket next to Lyra. She didn't say anything to her though. She was too busy staring at Hunter and Blake to try and work out which one was uglier. Yes, that was what she was doing. Even though she'd come to the conclusion months ago that Hunter's hair made him slightly prettier than Blake, even though they were both hideous monsters.

Chloe greeted them as they came in. She set her guitar down when it looked like a lot of them had shown up, and they had started to sit on the blankets. Those where for afterwards if they wanted to stay and enjoy the time for a little bit! She would definitely play more while they were finding their constellations.

She said, "Good evening! While I have you sitting here, I might as well go over the rules! Don't go towards the equipment unless I have assigned you to, you will be kicked out. That is really the only major rule. Oh! Don't go pretending to push somebody over the edge. This is a dangerous spot, and a really old tower, so don't lean over the edge either. Now. Like last semester, here are some books, and some examples of my own star charts. You can get creative with these! There is hot chocolate for afterwards! I have a hot spell on it so it won't get cold! Now, get to work!"