Discipline and patience would be the tantamount traits one would need to put up with Astronomy class and doing well in the course. Roland Dylanis knew the best approach to the class would be to patiently wait for it to begin and enjoy the small things in life in the meantime. He had taken to his traditional habit of whittling small animals out of wood while he waited for Astronomy and was able to join his classmates when the class began, many of them bleary-eyed from making the mistake of catching some sleep even though he knew that their residual fatigue would only slow them down.

When Roland paused in the middle of his charting to see that his fellow Hufflepuff Kella had finally caught up with and joined the class, he turned back to his charting after motioning to the seat next to him after meeting her eyes. He'd prepared himself for the inevitable and miserable cold by wearing his wool undergarments beneath his uniform and cloak while strapping a pair of heavy workboots to his feet in order to keep out as much cold as possible. His hands and face still felt the bite of the cold, but he was not nearly as daunted by it as some others. He drew upon his inner heat born from cold morning exercises while growing up in Wales to help him through. Discipline helped him to steady his hand and focus upon his work despite the chill as he began his night by starting with a standard charting of the various solar planets in the night sky.

The children arrived, a great milling crowd of yawns and greetings and chatter. Tapendra was glad of their noise and presence - it certainly brightened up the rather dreary tower . But primarily he was glad of it because it helped keep him awake, the distracting little buggers.

"Good evening," he greeted several of the students with a broad smile, leaning on the opening to the battlements as they made their way outside to set up. The cold air still made its way into the tower, making him glad he'd worn thick socks. A pity he hadn't chosen a thick river-robe tonight, though; crisp white shirtsleeves were not the warmest garment.

Who knew.

"Carmody, do pick a cloak," he told the girl who'd stopped by the pile of cloaks, tone more an amused sort of comment than anything. The cloaks were of all styles and fashions, but even so - most of them probably didn't even really fit the children. But an oversized cloak was a blessing in the cold rather than a curse, wasn't it?

As the students got set up, he stepped outside, looking up at the sky much as the children were doing. He made a sound in his throat as he thought, a cross between a grunt and a 'hmm'.

Then he sniffed, the cold getting to his nose already. "Extra credit to any of you who feel like charting the surface of the moon, by the way," he said, looking up at the bright and nearly full orb. "Since we can actually see the bloody thing..."

Oh, have you read Professor Trishna's books? Mum bought a bunch of them last year."

"Not yet," replied Violet.  "I have 'Doing the Impossible' on order, though it hasn't come yet."

When Sophia took a place beside her, Violet caught the severe Ravenclaw's glance at her chart, though the girl's expression only confused her.  She looked back at her chart in puzzlement, but there didn't seem to be anything that would invite such attention.  Violet decided to wait to see how she responded to her sister's inquiry before questioning her about it, though.

Kella probably could have loomed over that pile of outer garments for an hour if not for the gentle chiding of the teacher. Sometimes all it took was that knowledge that someone noticed she was distracted and falling behind to get her back on track.  “Alright,” she responded pleasantly, gathering up a mostly unadorned black cloak that seemed the least crazy of the bunch. She slipped it on, and found that it was much too big for her and was probably intended, not only for someone larger, but someone male. It was like a shroud, and the fabric pooled behind her like the train of a dress. Seeing that was almost enough to convince her to throw it back on the pile and try the smaller looking one with the purple polka dots, but she didn't want it to look like she was just standing around playing dress up! One warning was fine, but if Professor Trishna looked over again and saw that she was still fighting with fabric, she was sure she'd get in trouble. Thus, she began the procession toward the outside of the part of the tower classroom, looking like she'd shrunk in the bath.

When she saw Roland of all people beckoning to her, however, she grew skeptical, and the clip of her procession grew distinctly slower. She gave him a questioning look, her big eyes growing a touch wider in the process. Roland Dylanis was never, ever nice to her, and it was difficult for her to believe that he'd be nice to her now. She may have been tired, but she wasn't stupid! Even so, she was curious regarding what he'd have to say to her. He probably wanted to make fun of her borrowed cloak.

Or maybe he just knew that she was bad at charting? For someone with notably good hand-eye coordination, Kella's handwriting and ability to stay neat and precise on paper were atrocious, and bullies always seemed to know when a person was a little bit self conscious about something. Instead of a greeting, she just gave him a look – waiting for him to do his worst so she could get on with messing up her chart.

She did not like him. It was to be understood, considering that she'd experienced nothing from him but sarcasm and a little bit of malice. Rou sighed when he was met with her cold, hard expression as he should have figured she'd be suspicious of any acts of courtesy from him. It didn't help that on his best days he was still very introverted and silent, so when she seemed to stiffen in anticipation of him throwing another barb, Rou instead shrank back into himself and shied away from her a bit, returning to his charting.

After drawing up his basic map of the planets and their positions in tonight's sky, he then moved on to charting down their orbiting bodies, starting with the almost countless moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The Earth, Pluto's, and the other's extraterrestrial bodies would have to come later. Maybe Kella would pick up on some of his charting tricks to help her out...who knew?

Well...

Well...?

Wasn't he going to say something? Wasn't he going to make fun of her? Accuse her of something? Make her feel dumb in some way? Roland wasn't acting like Roland, and that made Kella feel even more nervous about having been summoned than she already did. This boy always had something to mutter under his breath intended to make her feel bad and, frankly, tonight he could have had his pick of things to mock! Her hair was undone! Her cloak was big and droopy! She sucked at astronomy! If he didn't insult her soon then she was probably going to have to insult herself just to kill the anticipation! She looked askance at him as she slowly, slowly unrolled her charting parchment. Nothing.

“Hey,” she said, trying to get his attention, “Hey, aren't you going to say something mean?” she asked her housemate, just to get it over with. “You're always a bit rude, when you even talk at all,” she informed him as she gathered her quill and ink. This whole endeavor may have been a lot easier for her if someone suggested using a pencil and eraser. She hadn't even been allowed to use a pen back at her previous school, and the transition straight to quill and ink hadn't been a smooth one. Her charts usually came out looking like abstract artwork merely inspired by the night sky, though they'd certainly improved since the Fall.  She began her work in earnest, focusing on the big, old moon, since she thought the teacher might like that. Just because her work wasn't perfect didn't mean she didn't try as hard as anybody!

People.

There were too many to deal with after a full moon, but for the sake of not being mean (and because if she didn't she would end up tearing into someone), she smiled. Teddy was close enough to talk, but just far enough that Lexi didn't feel particularly inspired to initiate a conversation of any sort. It was late. Still, little Lupin was a really great friend; and she appreciated that he let her talk his ear off every now and then. She could tell that he didn't sleep during the full moon last night, and offered a reassuring glance before turning as a way-too-energetic brunette pounced to her side.

"Hey you," she replied, fiddling with the little knobs of her telescope. Alice and Annette were just so good at the set up of their separate instruments, but it wasn't in Lexi's small list of random talents. "Yeah, rough as always. You know, but I've got it covered," she said, the corners of her star chart flapping about. She pressed it down with her hand, hoping that it didn't go flying off of it's perch.

She turned to Dessa, "Thanks, present from my brothers. They think they're so funny," she said with a fake laugh. She couldn't force everything tonight, but she sure could try to. "So, anything exciting happen around here while I was gone? Or was it just, same old... you get what I mean."

Her eyes blinked a few times in an effort to stay awake. She felt like she could pass out right then and there.

"Just fine," She said to her sister with a smile as she opened her own charts to start her lesson. She could chart the moon, that would be interesting and fun. Professor Trishna was right, it was finally visible. When the topic turned to his books, Sophia gave an amused look at the scholarly fellow before offering Violet a rather unamused answer,


"They are all very good. I would suggest Does Magic Bind Us? A Sociological Study of the Differences Between Magical and Muggle Scientific Approaches and Results Only because the collaborating differences in the various authors is refreshing, and I'm a firm believer that Muggle Science has some truth to it. But it was nice to see them both compared side by side. Many are too much of old stuffed prudes like Professor Storm to even consider such a subject." Sophia turned on her little light, and made her nest on one of the benches. She wasn't about to sit on the ground.

Despite the other Ravenclaw's still-inexplicably dour demeanour, Violet brightened a bit at the turn the discussion had taken.  She wondered how many Muggle books Sophia had read, and if she'd covered any of the same topics.  She hadn't realized her house-mate was open to-

At this point Violet's train of thought was violently derailed by a particular phrase, as her ears caught up to her brain.

"Some truth?" she asked in a slightly strangled tone, the second there'd been an opening, her eyebrows shooting skyward.  "The scientific paradigm is the most successful school of thought in the history of mankind!" the muggle-born declared, rather indignantly.

Kella's barbs were tough, but deserved for the young lad. His abrasive nature, due to his tendency to seek personal solitude, had definitely been off-putting toward several of his fellow first years since he'd arrived at Hogwarts. It was to be expected that she would be rather wary of his first perceived act of kindness toward her. Instead of rising to her bait, Rou simply closed his eyes and continued to picture the above constellations in his mind as he plotted them down on the charts.

"No, not tonight," he said quietly to at least give her a polite response. He finished his immediate map of the solar system and then began to chart in full view of Kella so that she might see what he was doing and catch on to a couple of his charting tricks.

Having now finished the celestial bodies within the immediate solar system, Rou attended to the next and by far the toughest part of charting the night's sky: The stars themselves. So numerous and sprawling across the clear, beautiful expanse of black above him, it definitely was no cakewalk for the boy to take their positions down. He started with the brightest star, Sirius, and then scanned his eyes across the sky to find the Big Dipper as a means of getting the Ursa constellations onto his chart. After those were done, it was a simple matter of finding the north star, otherwise known as Polaris.

“Why not?” Kella chirped as she squinted up at the cosmos, turning her eyes to study Roland's face for any sign that he was trying to trick her. She quietly sucked on her bottom lip for a few seconds, seeming uniquely pensive in the wake of this unexpected shift in tradition. “Do you feel alright?” she asked, suddenly concerned. There had to be a reason why he'd decided he didn't want to pick on her. He didn't even seem to want to talk to her, which was extra strange, since he'd called her over there in the first place!

She turned back to her chart, but having this strange interaction looming was making it very difficult for her to focus – even more difficult than usual, which was saying something. Every time she looked down at her chart she felt the urge to look up again to make sure she wasn't being tricked, which meant she had to complete reorient herself each time she resumed her work. It was time consuming, and making it very difficult to accomplish anything substantial, especially compared to the progress Roland seemed to be making. She glanced around to check on her other classmates' progress and found that everyone else seemed to be ahead of her, too.  She produced a frustrated scoff as she tried focusing again, but her whole chart was just depressing and she was strongly considering raising her hand and asking for help, which usually came with negative attention from her classmates. She decided to soldier on a little longer. If she could just focus for a few good minutes then she was sure she could make progress.

"Oh no, you didn't miss anything. I was just, you know, not doing my homework, and I found this hilarious book in the library that has pictures of Quidditch fouls from the last hundred or so World Cups--some of them are really grody but mostly they're funny and..." Dessa trailed off as she finally registered Lexi's facial expression. At first glance her friend looked engaged, light-hearted, normal. But her eyes were wearier than those of an eleven year old should ever have the right to be, and she was blinking rapidly, as if weighed down by the effort of feigning interest in what Dessa now realized was a ridiculous conversation to have with someone who'd spent the past night in agony.

"I--I'm sorry, Lex," Dessa mumbled after a moment, shame staining her cheeks. She fumbled in her robe pockets for one of her ever-present Hershey's kisses to offer her friend, but of course this was a spare robe and therefore the pockets were empty of all but lint. She smiled weakly. "You look really tired. I've got some chocolate you could have later, if you want." Her voice was significantly softer. She felt helpless and out of place. "I'm sorry."

Rowena raised an eyebrow at Sophia's assertion of being fine, but didn't say anything. Instead, she chose to focus on her charts for the moment, and noted to chart the moon as well on the corner of a piece of paper. But she'd start with the stars. She liked the stars.

"Some truth? The scientific paradigm is the most successful school of thought in the history of mankind!"

Rowena jerked her head up at Violet's outburst, then looked between her and Sophia. "Mum insisted we study science. It doesn't explain magic very well, but sometimes I wish we'd learned more."

She smiled and shook her head. "Aunt Teagan talks about it a lot, when we see her. And medicine." Their aunt was always really nice, even if Rowena couldn't follow everything she said.

Rou gave Kella a small smile in response to her question before turning back to his charting. It seemed that this seemingly-uncharacteristic bit of kindness on his part was unnerving his fellow Hufflepuff, who started getting nervous with regards to her charting. In a small gesture of solidarity, he scooted his chart over a bit closer to Kella's and hoped she would catch onto his methods so as to help her out.

"The scientific paradigm is the most successful school of thought in the history of mankind!"

Ostrander's rather brash and loud declaration caught Rou's attention quickly while he concentrated on his charting. Now knowing that he'd have no choice but to respond to her assertion now that his train of thought with regards to the stars was severed, Rou fixed Violet with a rather stern look as she took indignation to a wizard disregarding Muggle sciences. While it was rather unlike America, where there was a good deal more respect for Muggles amongst the wizarding community, Britain's rather callous treatment of the Muggle's rather small understanding of the universe was not entirely without merit.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Violet," said Roland with a quiet and understanding but rather firm voice, "but you're now living in a world where the supposed laws and rules of the universe, as established by Muggle sciences, are routinely broken and bent to a gross degree. Suffice to say that the scientific paradigm might mean something a Muggle, who are every bit as human as we are, but that same paradigm is utterly irrelevant when compared to Magic."

Kella was beginning to think that Roland was one of those people that her brother had warned her about. He'd told her about them last year, on the fateful day when she'd come home from school crying because some girls had mocked her incessantly for not being able to define a few rude and naughty words. He'd explained that there were people out there who knew exactly how to get to a person. They observed, and they figured out the precise thing to say or do that would get another person upset. He'd warned her, and she'd bee skeptical. As it turned out, big brothers were rarely wrong. Whenever Kella was minding her own business, Roland had something smart to say about her, but when she wanted him to talk, he kept quiet. He had to be doing it on purpose. She didn't know why he kept shoving his chart in her face, either. He was probably showing off, to make her feel bad for being behind. When he turned to speak to Violet, that proved to Kella that this boy was just goading her with his silence. If she was being honest, being treated like that really hurt. What had she ever done to him?

Her cheeks were flushed a bit pink as she gathered her things up so she could move to the other side of the space. She wasn't going to be a baby and cry about it, because she wasn't a baby, and because his cold and unpredictable behavior was nothing compared to outright taunting. She nearly tripped over the long trail of her oversized cloak in her attempt to silently and coolly walk away from her tormentor, and nonchalantly peeked over her shoulder to check and see if he was laughing at her. She didn't care – or she shouldn't care, anyway. Bullies were bullies and they couldn't be friends. She had a whole lot of work to do in order to get caught up with her chart and she already had her own weaknesses to contend with when it came to finishing it satisfactorily. She didn't need Roland's help to mess it up. She could do that all by herself.