First Lesson on Elective Hall

Professor Lysithea Dione

April 18, 2005 10:59 PM

First Lesson by Professor Lysithea Dione

Professor Dione stood behind her desk at the front of the classroom, summoning various notes onto a chalkboard with her wand. It was her first teaching job; however, she was not nervous in the least. Nervousness was weakness in her opinion, a trait that she refused to have under the worst circumstances. Her third story room was strangely dark for a classroom that had access to one of the balconies. The sunlight only seemed to penetrate a small section of floor while the rest of the area was ruled over by shadow. The walls were not visible underneath the various star charts, diagrams, and posters. Planets went about their orbits across the walls while comets and asteroids zipped across on another poster nearby. Walls that were not covered in pictures were hidden by vast shelves filled with books, most of them on astronomy, but also containing just about every subject. The most astounding part of the room was the large, glowing model of the solar system floating in mid-air above the classroom. The planets rotated around the sun while comets streaked across the sky. Every once and a while, an asteroid would hit one of the celestial bodies, leaving a fireball and a crater in its wake. Tapping her wand against the palm of her hand impatiently as she watched the orbits of her mobile, she waited for students to arrive.

Though the weather was fairly warm, the professor's mien seemed to chill the air around her students. Her icy blue eyes looked over her students, trying to decipher who would be the troublemakers ahead of time. Her skin was strangely pale, but that might have been due to the fact that her plain black robes, as well as her shiny raven hair, which was always tied up in a low bun, only emphasized the paleness.

Rapping her wand against the board a few times, she waited until the quiet chatter about the room calmed before starting.

“Welcome, class. I will be your professor for the class of Astronomy. You will address me as Professor Dione. It is my belief that people are like the stars; some are bright, while others tend to be dim. If you have potential enough to be accepted into this school, I expect you all to shine brightly in this class. I will not tolerate any dimwits here.”

She paused, and after pointing her wand to the mobile, all motion stopped, leaving a clear view of all of the celestial bodies.

“We’ll be starting with the basics first, a quick overview of the solar system. For those who hope to pass this class, you might want to take a few notes. I teach the material, whether you succeed or fail is your problem. But first, let's see how much you know already. A bit of a pre-test, if you will. No, it will not be graded, but whoever gets the most questions correct might win a few house points. Number a piece of parchment from one to ten. Everyone ready? You may begin..."

With a flick of her wand, the board at the front of the room flipped over to reveal a list of ten questions, each dealing with something about the solar system:

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun.
2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?
3. What shape are the planets' orbits?
4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?
5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.
6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?
7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.
8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright?
9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.
10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?
Bonus: Who was the witch who studied the use of phases of the moon in potion making? Clue: She is on a Famous Wizard Card.

((NOTE: I am not looking for just the right answers here. I will also take into account the amount of effort put into the post. I will not accept a reply that just spouts the answers back. Also, I'm sure you've heard this over and over, but please, be in character while you do this. If your character struggles with a certain subject, or academics in general, show that in your replies. That's enough of my blabbing on. Have fun!))\n\n

0 Professor Lysithea Dione First Lesson 0 Professor Lysithea Dione 0 5

Robbie Bates

April 19, 2005 3:45 PM

My Very Excited Moose Jumps South Until Night Passes by Robbie Bates

Robbie walked into the room somberly. He thought that going to a magical school meant that the evils of science would be over! But alas, his science teacher was right; science was everywhere. Even in the magical world. Although, he had to admit that the room looked pretty cool. It reminded him of his room, in a way. Not by the model above his head, of course- which was cool, but the fact that the walls were covered in posters. Except, Robbie was no nerd, and his walls were covered with bands instead of astronomy diagrams. Which reminded him, his friends were going to a concert today to see one of Robbie's favorite bands without him. It was times like these he wished he was back in the muggle world.

Sitting in the front left corner of the room, Robbie was easily initimidated by the teacher's demeanor. Of course, Robbie was instinctively afraid of science teachers. But this one seemed particularly scary. He leaned back in the desk and folded his arms as he listened to the teacher talk. Something about bright stars and dimwits. Robbie had to admit he was a bit baffled. But then, the music playing on in his head wasn't much of a help either. He couldn't help it, he was easily distracted. And he liked music better than science anyway.

At some point, the teacher stopped talking, and Robbie looked at what was on the board. His face perked up- he knew this stuff! They had taught this in school last year! Not that Robbie had completely understood it all, or remembered it, but he had some idea what was going on.

Robbie proceeded to empty his book bag, which was almost as messy as his hair. Letting everything fall to the floor, he picked out some parchment and a pen. His mother, of course, had bought him some really good quills. But that didn't mean he was going to be using them. His handwriting was messy already, why factor in wet ink?

He wrote his name on the top of the page. It looked like a drunken spider had fallen into one of those ink pots and walked across the page. It was okay though, he could read it.

The first question wasn't hard, because Mrs. Tibbs, Robbie's former science teacher, had taught him a very good way of remembering the order, "My Very Excited Moose Jumps South Until Night Passes." Without realizing it, Robbie forgot to replace the words with the names of the planet. The first question now read "My Very Excited Moose Jumps South Until Night Passes."

The next question was harder. Robbie remembered Pluto was the smallest planet, and wrote that down. But he was always confused about whether Jupiter or Saturn was the largest planet. Using the precise process of Eenie-meenie-minie-mo, and a little intuition, he went with Jupiter.

The third question was also easy, the shape was an ellipse. He remembered because he had gotten this question wrong on a test, and Molly, queen of all nerds, had laughed at him. The fourth question he knew was Venus, but not why. Something to do with greenhouses. Were there greenhouses on Venus? No, that would mean there were people there, and people had only gone to the moon in 1969, the year "Sweet Caroline" was eleventh in the music charts. So he just wrote greenhouses.

Robbie held his paper up and looked back at his work, it now read:
Robbie Bates

1. My, Very, Excited, Moose, Jumps, South, Until, Night, Passes.
2. Pluto is the smallest planet. Jupiter is the largest planet.
3. Planets orbit the sun in an ellipse.
4. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. No people on Venus to make greenhouses. "Sweeet Caroline" number eleven on the music charts the year man went to the moon. Greenhouses.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" he said, almost to himself.
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0 Robbie Bates My Very Excited Moose Jumps South Until Night Passes 0 Robbie Bates 0 5

Earl Valentine

April 24, 2005 4:20 PM

pain in the brain by Earl Valentine

Earl had just thrown a rather accurate missile at the one he dubbed "The Friend" when SMACK! An unuaually heavy paper ball banged him right in the forehead, leaving imense pain and probably a bruise.

He rubbed his forehead trying to subside the pain, then picjked up the parchment. It was really heavy. He tossed it inthe air a couple times, hearing it jingled each time it moved. Pennies...he found out as he emptied the offending paper of its weight. Wasn't that cheating? This girl was evil. Pure evil...

No more Mr. Nice Guy. That girl (he used the term loosely) with her dark hair and her-her evilness was going to pay.

Not caring who saw (the bruise on his forehead was now clearly visible anyway) he began tossing ball after ball not at The Friend, but at Miss Asher Tallow, the Wicked Witch of Sonora. He wanted revenge.\n\n

0 Earl Valentine pain in the brain 67 Earl Valentine 0 5

Adam Whitney

April 24, 2005 4:40 PM

joining in cos I'm bored by Adam Whitney

Adam walked into the classroom with his excitement at an all time high. This classroom was awesome. It was so dark and mysterious and it had moving things to keep him occupied.

He settled himself in the first seat he found and looked around at everything. His mother had told him to make sure he kept his attention focused on the tasks at hand, but Adam had trouble keeping his mind on one thing at a time. Especially this crappy lady. The one who looked like some creature of the night. He frowned as he tried to listen to her, but his mind wandered once more to the charts on the walls and the moving solar system.

Pretest

That word brought him back and he settled in with his quill and parchment for some work. Even though he had no clue what anything was.

1. Name the nine planets in order starting with the one closest to the sun.

Polar, Big Dipper, Earth, Orion, Little Dipper, Rings of many, Uranus, and the little planet.

2. Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Which is the largest?

Polar is the largest and the little planet is the smallest.

3. What shape are the planets' orbits?

they circle around the big yellow sun.

4. Which planet has the hottest temperatures and why?

Earth during the summer because it's the summer.

5. Name the Galilean moons and name which planet they orbit.

Adam was about to answer this question when he heard something fwooo by his head. He looked around, but saw nothing and decided to continue with his work.

Galilean was an evil Sorcorer who wanted to still the precious Jewel of the Gods, but the Gods stopped him and sent him into outerspace so that he can never be evil again. He now orbits Uranus for all eternity..

6. Which planet is known for the Great Red Spot?

Orion cos it's all red.

7. True or False: The Sun is larger than all of the planets put together.

true, the sun is big and yellow and the planets are small and multi-colored..

8. Most of Uranus' moons are named after characters of what famous Muggle playwright?

Again that strange noise happened and he looked around with is large blue eyes, but spotted nothing. Shrugging, Adam continued,

Me!!!.

9. Name three differences between terrestrial planets and jovian planets.

They are spelled differently, and pronounced differently, and they are obviously two different things..

10. What does it mean when a planet has a retrograde rotation?

Alright, that time there was definitely something that sped past him and he looked up in time to see a flying ball whiz passed him.

"Hey" he said quietly in surprise and looked around to see a group of boys and another group of girls playing a game. Adam frowned because they hadn't asked him to join, but then lit up at the prospect of playing anyway.

The test now completely forgotten, Adam grabbed two pieces of parchment and rolled each up into tight little balls. When he was satisfied, he lobbed one at the girls and the other at the boys, wearing a goofy smile while watching for thier reactions.

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Zoey and Dillon

April 24, 2005 5:15 PM

Yes, that enter key is evil by Zoey and Dillon

Zoey and Dillon were so involved in their play fight and conversation that they hadn't even noticed when their professor arrived behind them. In fact, they didn't even notice her until she began to speak.

Dillon immediately turned to look at the professor, a look of surprise apparantly on his face, while Zoey jumped in her seat and turned a lovely shade of crimson from embarrassment.

"Good work, you two. Just make sure there is no collaboration on an actual test."

Her statement caused a sort of anger bubble in Dillon. Was she trying to say that they would cheat? Never in all their 12 years of life or 7 years of schooling had the Welsh twins ever cheated. They were smart, Zoey smarter, and that should prove enough they hadn't any need to cheat.

"Oh, no, of course not! We just assumed that since it was a practice that we..." Zoey stated and trailed off, not able to look up at the professor so she kept her eyes on her brother.

"We would never cheat on an actual test. But thank you for the compliment on our work." Dillon said to the professor while looking sternly at his sister. Sometimes he wished she'd be less of a flake around authorities.\n\n

6 Zoey and Dillon Yes, that enter key is evil 39 Zoey and Dillon 0 5

Zack Dill of Alderaan, er, Aladren

May 05, 2005 3:31 PM

beaming by Zack Dill of Alderaan, er, Aladren

He tried not to be a teacher's pet. He wrote he notes in weird languages nobody could understand. He specifically chose a seat that wasn't in the front row or dead center so as to avoid favourable attention. He never raised his hand in class unless participation was part of the grade.

But sometimes he just couldn't help it. As the professor looked over his answers he felt a warm smugness as she smiled oh-so-very-slightly at what she saw. He'd done that. Him. Zack Dill. He'd only known her a few minutes, but anyone who warned against being a dimwit as part of her opening speech had to be a tough teacher. And he'd made her smile. Ha! Score one for the short skinny dude! And people wondered why he didn't do sports. This was so much more satisfying.

"I am extremely impressed. This is probably the best pretest I have seen in this class so far," she began and he veritably glowed. Ha! Take that Quidditch freaks! (Competitive? Him? Dunno what you're talking about.)

His glow faded a little as she began critiquing a few of his answers, and he made a note to double check the library about Charon never being counted as a planet in its own right, but he perked right back up as she finished with, "Still, just the fact that you knew about this is excellent. I'm sure you will have no problems in this class.

He gave her a bright grin, the largest he'd offered to anybody at Sonora (with the possible exception of Reiner after that teacher had told him his Sindarin grammar was acceptable). He was going to have to read every Astronomy book in the library just so he could continue to impress her. "Thanks," he beamed. "My fifth grade teacher was really into Astronomy and I've been a fan ever since. I'm really looking forward to this class."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1 Zack Dill of Alderaan, er, Aladren beaming 40 Zack Dill of Alderaan, er, Aladren 0 5

Professor Dione

May 08, 2005 10:59 PM

Sighing (with relief) by Professor Dione

Zack's cheery smile and enthusiasm for Astronomy definitely lightened her mood. It certainly was not going too well before that with the constant cutting criticism from the three pureblood preps, and then the parchment ball fight. She would have pitied the poor soul who would have irritated her in any way after that; with all of the repressed frustration she was holding in, she could have produced a glare so lethal, it would have been more effective than an Avada Kedavra spell. Thankfully, all of that aggravation was drained away with a grin and a seven-word sentence: 'I’m really looking forward to this class.'

The chilling, acidic tone she usually possessed was missing from her voice as she answered the student. The cold glare was absent from her gaze as well. This sudden change in her disposition, which was as rare as a blue moon, made her appear far younger than usual, and far less demonic as some students in her class would describe her.

“Astronomy is a fascinating subject, isn’t it? Why, it’s been a focus of study from when humans first walked the earth, and still new discoveries are being made even now. If you are interested, I have quite a few books on the subject if you would like to borrow them. Just tell me what book you are taking, and return it in one piece when you are done.”
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0 Professor Dione Sighing (with relief) 0 Professor Dione 0 5

Laura Keaton

May 17, 2005 10:09 PM

What I wouldn't give for a pencil by Laura Keaton

Taking a deep breath after her own close call with detention, Laura started scribbling notes as Professor Dione launched into her lecture, first giving them the correct answers to the pretest, then starting to talk about the terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Laura constantly silently cursed her ink and quill. The least her mom could have done was have bought her a quill that magically used ink without having to keep re-dipping it. Growing up with a witch mother and a Muggle father, Laura had seen the best of both worlds. And sometimes, the Muggles did it better, like when it came to mechanical pencils, pens, and air conditioning.

Dione kept on talking, spilling out facts about Mercury and Venus. Her voice was accompanied by the many scratching quills as all the students copied notes frantically. Laura saw Asher grinning at her briefly, though Laura was thoroughly perplexed as to why Asher would be smiling. She certainly wasn’t thinking about her coming meeting with Dione after class; or maybe she was, and she was thinking of all the different curses she could use on the professor. Laura had the distinct impression that Asher wouldn’t be horribly grief stricken if Dione was forced into early retirement by a wand that had accidentally misfired a hex.

As Dione finished up her lecture on the planets with Mars, she started talking about homework; just a reading assignment on the jovian planets, which made Laura very happy that she had read her text over break. The most she would have to do before next class was briefly skim over the chapters.

Dione dismissed the class, except for Asher of course. Laura gave one last murderous glare at Robbie and Earl before whispering, “good luck,” to Asher as she collected her things and headed for the door. Once outside, she stepped to the side and slid down the wall and onto the floor to wait for Asher as she had promised.
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0 Laura Keaton What I wouldn't give for a pencil 0 Laura Keaton 0 5

Charlie Abbott

April 19, 2010 5:29 AM

Finding some lines to read by Charlie Abbott

She truly and honestly didn't have the time for another class, but Charlie was too taken with the idea of reading the future to be able to pass on the opportunity to study divination. So she made her way to class, equally excited by the prospect of new magic, and daunted by the knowledge that homework would inevitably follow.

Hesitating just a fraction of a second at the doorway to the unusual classroom, Charlotte smiled as she stepped on deceptively solid ground and took up a seat next to her best friend. "Do you think the floor’s going to start raining on our feet?" Lita asked. Charlotte chuckled, appreciating the joke yet at the same time thankful she'd not worn suede shoes today... just in case.

making breif notes on the class, Charlotte tried to study the professor. He seemed okay, as far as first impressions went. He either had to be a little mad, or entirely genuine, to be teaching divinations. It was charlie's opinion that professors who taught this class were either ture Seers, or true frauds. She wondered which of these Professor Linn would turn out to be.

Picking up one of the books on her desk, Charlotte began sifting through its pages, reading the top line of each poem before moving onto another, trying to find one she wanted to use. Lita was apparently being less picky (or had been luckier in finding a suitable poem straight away) because she was already beginning her reading - Charlie watched out of the corner of her eye as the stone spun around and then came to rest. "I think I got your future in my poem," Lita said.

Reading the line, Charlie gave her friend a rueful smile. "Very funny," she said dryly, but she was in no way offended. It was true that Charlie did like to be around boys, but she obviously had plenty of other interests besides. "Maybe it does mean your future, and you'll just come around to my way of thinking in time," she quipped back to her friend.

"Oh, I give up," she said, shutting the book, still unable to find one she wanted. "I'm just going to pick one at random." Closing her eyes, Charlie selected a page with her finger nail, and opened the book up onto that page. Opening her eyes, she read the title of that she had selected: The Licorice Fields at Pontefract by John Betjeman. "Liquorice fields?" she queried aloud.

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