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Tappy paced the Astronomy classroom, his feelings mixed. The rather drab image of Mercury hanging outside the classroom's windows was helped only by the Sun's light that lit up the room on one side, though the blaze of the sun itself was hidden behind an alcove so the effect was not distracting. The room seemed a reflection of his somewhat soured mood.

As of 8am this morning, he was 33 -  and was feeling annoyed at how old he didn't feel.

A raspberry cheesecake was sitting on his desk, several slices already gone. It was amazing what a bit of well-made cheesecake did to his gloomy mood; that, and his daughter waking him up to remind him it was his birthday had cheered him up, too.

Oh, and the drinking he was going to be doing after this lot buggered off went to bed. That was something to look forward too, as well; provided he didn't wind up in bed with a colleague again, he'd have a good time.

The student's voices broke him out of his stupor and he leaned on the globe, resting his chin on it and letting his arms kind of dangle as he let out a huge sigh; the highlights of this group were few, but the negatives many. He managed a smile at the students as they filtered in, waving a hand. Kepler, who'd taken up residence on top of the globe, hopped onto his shoulders as Tappy straightened up.

"Good evening, you all. It's Mercury today, as you've probably guessed."

Winifred was not yet entirely convinced that Trishna and Storm were not in cahoots together. perhaps they weren't really going to kill everyone- killing everyone would be a bit extreme- but they were definitely up to something. When she had owled her Uncle Archer about what was going on, he hadn't seemed very concerned about there being professors on a murderous rampage. But he had sent her the foe glass she had asked for- so Winifred was satisfied with the results.

She had just received it the day before, and decided to bring it with her to class. Winifred set herself up in the back and perched the mirror on its stand on her desk. Then she got out her materials (parchment and a quill to doodle with) then focused her gaze on the mirror.

The Hufflepuff reached forward and tapped it, arching an eyebrow. The little pamphlet which had come with the mirror had told Winifred that her enemies should show up as shadows in the mirror, and that the closer to her they were the shadows would become more clear and visible. But as she stared into the foe glass it was... empty. There weren't any shadows at all. She flicked her gaze from the glass to her professor. It must be broken! He wasn't showing up in it at all!

Ivory came into the class, heading to where Professor Trishna's desk was and turned in her three page report. Actually hers was four pages but she hoped he would except the fact that her report also had drawings mixed in with the information she had been able to find. She then also took out a small box that when the Professor opened it would reveal a chest. Inside was a special set of dices for the man. She had heard rumors that it was his birthday and that the man was into some kind of game that required dice. There would be no harm in getting her Professor a gift on his birthday. Even if she knew not to ask how old he was. That would be a big no no on her part.

Leaving the box there on the desk,. Ivory went over to her usual seat in the class room and sat down. She took out her astronomy note book, the ink well with her favorite color of ink inside, and her self writing quill, Ivory placed them on the top of her desk before looking up at the Professor. Waving to him she then went back to her notebook, sketching in an image of Mercy and labeling it while the quill wrote the topic of the day's lesson on the opposite page.

Ivory looked over at Winnie who had what appeared to be a foe glass set up in the middle of the classroom. Okay so it was more like beside her but still Ivie was curious as to why the girl had one. Raising an eyebrow at the third year badger, Miss Razvan tried to figure it out but then turned back to her books. It was to much of a headache for the Raven so she would leave it alone.

The box was a pleasant surprise. Tapendra flashed Ivory a quick smile and a "Thank you, Miss Razvan," as he ran a hand over the globe, raising his wand to turn it on. That certainly improved his mood somewhat.

"Alright - shall we get started, then? Today we'll be talking about Mercury - the smallest of the Ancient - and current - planets," he said, enchanting the globe to show the planet - though one side of it  was noticeably less detailed than the other, as if he'd made it up. 

"We'll be doing an activity today, by the way - so be prepared for that," he added, as the planet rotated under his fingertips. He opened his mouth to continue, paused, and frowned quizzically at Winnie, having seen her desk and the object sitting on it.

"Now is not the time to be playing with your Defense homework, Miss Olivier," he said calmly.

Roxanne had been people watching all night and she was exhausted from it. Due to the energy and gossiping talents of most of the girls in her year and house, she had been sapped of her own strength just by watching them! She was normally lazy, but tonight, she felt the need to be extra-lazy because she was tired. She'd fallen asleep in the Hufflepuff common room only forty-five minutes earlier and just as all the girls were leaving, one of them had been kind enough to wake her up. Roxanne filed in with the rest of the girls and stared at Winifred. She was taking out her stupid Foe Glass.

Roxanne often had the urge, especially recently, to choke the living daylights out of Miss Oliver. With her new "everyone is trying to kill me" attitude, it only made the restraint that much harder to hold for her dorm-mate, although Roxanne would never show it. She searched the classroom for someone to sit by, anyone except Winifred Oliver. And there, miraculously, was Ivory the Ravenclaw. A saint if Roxanne ever saw one; a girl who could give her peace of mind from her own housemates. Quickly, the Hufflepuff darted across the room, being sure to pause and lean over Winifred's shoulder so that her reflection in the Foe Glass could be seen.

"Boo," she whispered.

Laughing and giving her a sunny, "See you after class, Winnie!" Roxanne hurried across the room to sit with Ivory. She dropped her bag down on the floor, slid into her seat, and smiled at the blond. The two of them sat together in Care of Magical Creatures, had spent some interaction time at the Three Broomsticks once, and saw each other in class a lot. Roxanne wasn't sure, but this girl might be the friend she'd waited years to find. Might be.

They would be learning about Mercury today. Wonderful, just what Roxanne always wanted to know about. A planet billions of miles away, closest to the sun, and the ruling planet of the Astrological signs Gemini and Virgo. That last tidbit of information was complimentary to the ditzy, ex-Professor Woolfolk who had taught them much useless bits, although at least it hadn't been boring. She bent over and pulled out parchment, quill, ink, and a book on Astrological signs that no longer had anything to do with the subject they went to class for every night. What a disappointment. Her eyes glanced up at Professor Trishna. The Hufflepuff had no idea it was his birthday, but she could figure out by watching him when he thought no one else was looking that something was bothering him. It seemed that, whatever it was, he decided to vent his frustrations out on Winifred.

"Now is not the time to be playing with your Defense homework, Miss Oliver."

"She's keeping an eye on that thing in case Professor Storm decides to jump out from behind your bookshelf to kill her," Roxanne explained in a disturbingly cheerful tone. Could a flicker of morbid humor be detected behind her blue eyes?

"Shut up Roxanne, you're daft and you have no idea what you're talking about! A foe glass won't tell you if anyone is about to jump out at you! You're dumb!" Winifred snapped before looking at Professor Trishna. "I'm sorry sir," she said, tucking it away in her bag again. She figured it would be of no use anyway because it wouldn't work. Winifred would have to write to her uncle about it.

"I didn't mean to make Roxanne so rudely interrupt your class, Professor," Winifred said with a sweet smile. She was still trying to get back on his good side and had been quite determined to behave and not to get into more trouble and lose more house points from Hufflepuff. And she had even been studying lately! And Winifred had even read ahead about Mercury so that she would be prepared. Everyone would be SHOCKED! She couldn't wait!

"Quiet, both of you," Tapendra said, with a sigh. "Thank you, Miss Olivier - please refrain from bringing such things in the future, if you don't mind...?"

With a ,"Let's get started, shall me?" He turned back to the globe, wand raised.

"Now then - unlike most of the planets in our solar system, there's really not much to say about Mercury," he said, with a slight smile. "Which I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear. Mercury, however, is fairly unique among our solar system's planets, despite its relatively simple nature."

With the globe still set to show the planet itself, he continued. "As the innermost planet, Mercury gets extremely close to our sun - about 36 million miles away, or 42 million kilometers. With no moons, no atmosphere and no known geologic activity, it could certainly be considered dead and dull. You won't be asked to chart Mercury directly in this class, by the way; it'll be homework, as the planet is only visible around twilight."

He switched  the globe to show Mercury's orbital path. "As you can see - Mercury has an eccentric orbit, meaning its orbit is noticeably closer to the Sun at one point in its course and further in the other - Mercury varies between 46 to 70 million kilometers from the Sun. At 60% smaller than the Earth, Mercury's own gravity it quite weak; if you weigh 150 pounds on Earth, you'd only weigh 57 pounds on Mercury.

Due to its proximity to the Sun, Mercury is the planet with the shortest year - it lasts only 88 days. However there's something odd about its rotation - can any of you tell me what it is?"

Winifred listened closely as the professor spoke, taking the most detailed notes she probably had all of her life as a student. She was still wanting to Try Hard in order to keep herself out of trouble and in return for Professor Trishna not taking anymore points from her. She'd even read ahead in their book about Mercury just for this lesson- because she had been instructed to do so. Winnie had not managed to thoroughly read the entire chapter, but she had skimmed it enough to still have a basic understanding of what was going on.

Whenever Trishna asked his question, Winnie's didn't even think to raise her hand before blurting out the answer. It wasn't often she knew the answer to a question, so she was rather excited about. "I know!" she exclaimed. "Its day is longer than its year!" She puffed up with pride because she knew she was right, and looked smugly at Roxanne- who had thought she was dumb. Ha! See how they liked those apples!

Tapendra couldn't help it - his face showed his surprise for just a moment before he got it under control and kept his teacherly smile in place. He was genuinely pleased, however; Winnie's correct answer meant she was retaining some of the lessons he'd been giving her, which was good. It made bashing his head on the desk in frustration just a little bit more worth it.

Kind of.

"Correct, Miss Oliver," he said - possibly for the first time. He paused for a moment and decided to test her a bit more. "I don't suppose you can tell the class how long its days are?"

Astronomy was a relatively safe subject as far as Ambrose went. It was one class people wouldn't actively sit the other side of the room from him for, like charms and transfiguration when there was a practical lesson. Astronomy was filled with telescopes, star charting and theory, which however dull, at least meant he didn't have to visit the hospital hut late at night due to mispronouncing things.

Peering at Freddie's foe glass from nearby her, he wondered if it was worth investing in one if he had the money. When Roxanne mocked her, he was suitably impressed with Winifred's quick retort, even if Professor Trishna didn't seem that impressed. Ambrose would high five her later for that, and looked smugly back at Roxanne without realizing she had been cracking a joke. Professor Storm was not to be trusted, didn't she know that?

Turning his attention to Professor Trishna, he listened to the explanation about the planet, and tried to scribble down some notes, quickly getting confused with all the numbers and statistics, his sentence half finished. Oh well, that was what the text book was for, he figured. Freddie was on fire, answering Trishna's question correctly. Ambrose was impressed. Perhaps she'd been sleeping with her text book under her pillow, because it made all the knowledge seep into your brain he'd heard.

Raising his hand politely, Ambrose blushed slightly as he asked,
"How does that happen?" with a look of confusion on his face. 

"Shut up Roxanne, you're daft and you have no idea what you're talking about! A foe glass won't tell you if anyone is about to jump out at you! You're dumb!"

A roll of the eyes was her only response. She was dumb? What about the moron that ran around screaming professors were trying to kill her? Professor Trishna's stern voice made it clear to the empath that he was indeed suffering from some kind of inner conflict. In her mind, it should have been "do I want to kill Winifred or not?" because that was a decision she had trouble with all the time. Honestly, the Cross girl wouldn't hurt a fly, but that didn't mean that casting a Permanent Silencing Charm wasn't be above her.

The professor carried on with the class and Roxanne sat there listening. Her quill lay on her desk, undisturbed, as did her blank parchment. She rarely ever took notes. Someday, it would come back to haunt her, she'd regret her decision, yadda yadda yadda... Her house-mate answered a question and both Winifred and that Gryffindor boy--what was his name?--cast her smug looks. Roxanne pretended to not notice the looks, but she watched the Pepper boy. He always listened to whatever Winifred said. How gullible was he? Had she been a mischievous girl, Roxanne would spread a lie to Winifred (or rather gossip to Ayla who would spread the lie to Winifred since Winifred would never believe a word Roxanne said) about Pepper and see if he believed it. For example, his hair would set on fire in 3 days. The malicious ploys Roxanne could cook up were never put into action, but they were funny to think about.

That was always the best part about watching people. One got to know others purely by observation. Secrets, gossip, habits, tics, personality faults and strengths. Crushes and love were things she avoided, though they could be guessed at. Knowing things about people gave one an opportunity to toy with them or help them. One example, giving someone who was super-paranoid a Sneak-o-scope or testing whether or not they would actually try to make-out with the squid if they heard it helped them learn how to speak to Mermaids. A sunny smile played on her lips as she stared at the Gryffindor boy. Toying with him could have been a lot of fun, but Roxanne wasn't mischievous and she never used her information about people to do harm. She leaned back in her seat so that it was sitting on its hind legs and went back to "paying attention" to Professor Trishna when in actuality she was watching him to see if his secret troubles would surface.

Winifred's metaphorical balloon burst. She did not know how long its days were! "I... can't remember that. But!" she looked up again, cheerily, "I know the answer to Ambrose's question! Does that count for something?" Winifred sounded very hopeful that it would. It would make her feel much better about forgetting how long a day lasted on Mercury.

She looked to her Gryffindor friend (Winifred had always liked Ambrose, he wasn't mean like some other third years) and smiled. "The reason its day is longer than its year is because of what a day and a year is." It was weird, to feel smart. She wasn't sure if she liked it. "A day is how long it takes Mercury to spin around, and a year is how long it takes Mercury to go around the sun. And it goes around the sun faster than it spins." Not the most scientific of explanations, but at least she got the gist of it, right?

"The reason its day is longer than its year is because of what a day and a year is. A day is how long it takes Mercury to spin around, and a year is how long it takes Mercury to go around the sun. And it goes around the sun faster than it spins."

Ambrose gave one of his looks that meant 'hang on, let me think about this' where his eyes looked to the right and he bit his bottom lip thoughtfully. Then, the lightbulb moment as he visualised what Freddie meant.
"Oh!" He exclaimed, "I get it!" A grin spread across his face in relief, "thanks Freddie!"

But no sooner did that happen, his expression darkened again.
"But why does it go round the sun faster?" Curiousity had taken over, and lateral thinking had only got as far as triggering the next question. Seeing Professor Trishna's expression, he wondered if he better stop asking questions because it was interrupting the lesson, and he didn't want to lose any more Gryffindor house points.

This was why the 3rd years always made him wonder where the camera was hidden. Admittedly, watching Winifred Oliver correct someone was pretty funny and cute, in a cosmic kind of way. He couldn't help the soft smile that teased his features.

Kids. Sometimes they're adorable, other times you kind of want to beat some sense into them with a yard stick.

Ambrose's question did get the boy a momentary confused look before Tappy cleared his throat. "It goes around the sun so fast because it's the closest to the sun, Mister Pepper. It has less distance to travel." He looked at the boy again and then shrugged, tapping the globe to bring up a quick diagram of the solar system. "As you can see - this tiny innermost orbit is Mercury. It is very close to the sun, which is also why it's so hot there - but more on that in a moment -" he looked up at Ambrose. "Are you more or less comfortable with thi concept, Pepper?"

"It goes around the sun so fast because it's the closest to the sun, Mister Pepper. It has less distance to travel. As you can see - this tiny innermost orbit is Mercury. It is very close to the sun, which is also why it's so hot there - but more on that in a moment - are you more or less comfortable with this concept, Pepper?"

"Er, yes Sir. Thank you Sir." Ambrose replied hastily, lowering his eyes, hoping the Professor would carry on, as he felt he'd interrupted. A little voice in his head still ask why it didn't spin faster as well as go round the sun faster, but he told it to be quiet.

"Sorry Sir." He added for good measure, in a mutter.