hh_clubs | Astronomy Club: Magical Astronomy VOTING

Activity: Magical Astronomy
Points: 1st/2nd/3rd/Participation Only: 50/40/30/10 points. 2 POINTS FOR VOTING.
Ends: Voting ends 2am Tuesday 19 Feb UTC (8pm Monday 18 Feb CDT).
Join: If you own a star chart and/or telescope, join the club to get your bonus points.

*****

Aurora

"You were named after the feast, you know," her father told her, his voice lined with the exhaustion of a full day's work at the Department of Ministry, thick with fondness as he stroked her hair before tucking her to bed. "When a thousand wizards gather to celebrate the goddess Aurora, and make merry. Part of it is based on their magic, their wand work, but part of it is naturally occurring. The northern lights, the Muggles call it."

"Why do they call it that, Pa?"

He chuckled. "Because they don't know better, darling," he said. "Well. They know some things. They know to call it the Aurora Borealis, and they have some explanation for it, I suppose. Something about energy they can understand. They always like being able to understand things."

Aurora hummed, her eyes fluttering close. She thought she might like to understand it too, the naturally occurring part of it. Someday. "What's it like?"

"Very beautiful, child. Someday we'll go there, and watch it."

*****

Waiting for the Moon

Sibylle Trelawney was trying to predict the future, but her crystal balls were all foggy and the tea leaves refused to tell her anything new. Instinctively, she knew that her crystal balls could only be healed with the light of the full moon. So, she looked outside to see if the moon was full, and... the sky was cloudy so she couldn't predict. She remembered her "Arithmancy for Astronomers" unit from her school days; a trick from a Muggle named "Conway"... month plus day plus a few other things gave her the number eight. So, that meant that the moon was waxing gibbous and she only had to wait six more days until the moon was full! Those were annoyingly painful days she had to wait to do any divination but on the evening of the sixth day, Conway's methods turned out to be right; sure enough, there was a full moon outside. She brought out her crystal balls and teacups and had them collect light from the full moon and tested them all on basic questions such as "Will I die tomorrow?" and she could see the future again... unfogged!

*****

Draco Who?

Harry and Ron watched as Hermione used a small telescope to look up at the sky. She kept looking up and then scribling in her notebook and they could hear her mumbling a little under her breath.

"Did she just say something about someone named Ursula being a star?" Ron asked.

Harry looked over at Ron and gave him a questioning look, "No she said Ursa Major Ron and she is plotting the North Star to help us know where we are."

Harry looked back over at Hermione who was drawing arcs and lines in her notebook. Walking over he asked her, "You got it Hermione?"

Looking up Hermione shook her head, "Got it, we travel until we see Draco then...."

"Draco! Ron shouted, "Why would be want to see him!"

"Honestly Ron, were you even paying attention in Astronomy class? Draco is a start constellation that borders Ursa Major. All we need to do is head west until Draco is over heard then we turn north. We should get back on track then." She threw Ron a withering look and went back into the tent.

"What?! How was I supposed to know Malfoy was named after a star?"

*****

The big dipper

“Oh, oh! I think I see it!” Ron is pointing frantically towards the night sky with one hand as he grips Hermione’s arm with the other. It was a beautiful summer night at the Burrow and they were taking advantage of the warm weather by lying outside under the stars. “That’s it right? Do you see it?”

“See what? What exactly are you looking at?” Ron pulls her in close so that she can look up to the sky along the line of his arm exactly where he is pointing. When Hermione follows his line of sight she can’t suppress that giggle that wants to escape. “Honestly, Ronald. Did you pay attention at all in Astronomy class?”

“Of course I did, I passed didn’t I?” Hermione snorts out another laugh. “That’s the big dipper!”

“No Ronald it is not.” Ron’s grin falls and you can literally see his excitement deflate.

“Then what is it?” He looks hopeful that he might have spotted another constellation instead.

“It’s just a cluster of stars.” She says patting his arm in sympathy. Ron’s face falls and he crosses his arm before lying back down to continue his search.

*****

Picnic predicament

"Good lord, Ron, what have you gotten us into this time?"
Hermione was cross, and she had a right to be. They'd gone out hiking, on an expedition into the woods that had been Ron's idea -- he thought it would be romantic to surprise Hermione with a picnic out in nature, and so he'd carefully packed up some of his mother's excellent fried chicken, a container of macaroni salad, a small, thin blanket and a thermos of wine in a backpack and invited Hermione to go for a walk. But while they had, in fact, found the perfect little clearing in which to have their picnic, and Hermione had had a splendid time sipping wine next to a babbling brook, now, this little adventure was not so fun, for now, they were hopelessly lost, the daylight fading fast as they stumbled through the wood, searching in vain for anything resembling a path.
"I'm sorry," Ron sighed. "I just wanted to do something nice for you. But somehow, my ideas never quite turn out like I'd planned them in my head."
Hermione stopped and touched his arm, stopping him in place as she looked into his eyes, now difficult to see as the dusk turned to dark. "I know, dear," she replied. "I'm sorry, too. And it WAS lovely... up until now."
They stood there a moment in silence, and then, Ron started and exclaimed: "Wait, I've remembered something! The cup!"
"What?" Hermione said, puzzled.
"Follow the end of the cup!" Ron replied. "Look, we can see the Big Dipper! The end of the cup always points north -- we can follow it home!"
"Brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms around him and kissing him. "We'll be home in no time!"

*****

Untitled

"Admit it, now you regret that you didn't pay more attention in your Astronomy classes, don't you?"

Her husband muttered something she couldn't understand.

"I beg you pardon?"

"Nobody could have known that one day we'd end up sitting here, measuring and calculating- what are we even calculating?" Ted moaned, giving, much to Andromeda's amusement, a quite dramatic sigh.

"I told you ten times already," she replied. "We're not calculating anything, we're trying to complete a star chart. You should remember that form when you copied my homework."

"I never copied your-"

"Ted."

Again he sighed, looking up from the blank parchment, his finers playing nervously with the quill right in front of him. "Can't we just use a spell?" he asked in one last desperate attempt to escape the night's work. "Dromeda, pleaste. Just because you're named after a star, that doesn't mean-"

Her gaze caused silence immediately. "You promised," she only said.

"All right then... By the way, Dromeda?"

"What?"

"You always copied my homework."

*****

Some Uses For Books

They were lost in the Forbidden Forest. LOST. In the FORBIDDEN FOREST. Hermione was horrified by this, that she'd let these stupid boys lure her from the castle (under the guise of needing her navigational skills) just to have them NOT listen to her anyway until she was POSITIVE they'd been wandering in circles for hours.

It was getting cold, and she was tired ("and cranky", one of them added) and she just wanted to be back in her warm bed with Crookshanks. Pulling a book from her ever-present Charmed bag, she sat on the mossy ground and started to read aloud.

"The practice of navigating by the stars is as old as antiquity..." she began, as her two comrades groaned at being lectured in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods, something they'd thank her for later after Cassiopeia managed to guide them back.

*****

Starry Sundaes

Florean Fortescue was always trying to come up with new and interesting recipe ideas for his humble little ice cream parlour, and he found inspiration when one day, Harry was sitting with some Astronomy homework.

"Ah, Astronomy," Florean said as he popped Harry's usual sundae on the table. "Not my favourite subject, I must admit."

Harry smiled at Florean as he took his first bite. The ice cream was always creamy, sweet and cold - absolutely perfect every time. "It's not really mine, but it could be worse. It's interesting to look up at the night sky."

Florean nodded in agreement. "So many pretty lights up there, sprinkled on the background."

"Like actual sprinkles?" Harry took a mouthful of ice cream with some specially made sweet sprinkles that turned into little explosions of sugar on the tongue.

"I suppose so, yes." Florean laughed a little, clapped Harry on the shoulder and went back into the shop, thinking over what Harry had said.

That night, he found himself looking up at the sky through his old telescope, one that he had kept with him since school days. He was thinking of making a new multicoloured sundae and putting it on his Specials menu. Perhaps with chocolate rippled icecream, blueberry ice cream and another dark-coloured flavour with lashing of glowing sauce and those colourful sweet sprinkles. Maybe he would also put a cherry on the top, he thought as he noticed a certain planet. And the name of the sundae? Mars is Bright Tonight.

*****

Luna's Ocean Adventure

Luna’s cryptozoology world tour was going well. She had traveled all around the world, from the frozen wastes of Siberia to the blistering heat of the Gobi Desert, from the southernmost tip of South America to the northernmost tip of Alaska. Currently, she was sailing in the Indian Ocean, in search of a rare aquatic species of Blibbering Humdinger. She was so focused on the ocean beneath her that for a long time, she neglected to either steer or pay any attention at all to her location, and she soon realized she was lost in the middle of the ocean. Rather than become worried, Luna simply lay back and took a nap until the sun went down. Once night had fallen, she had a beautiful clear view of the stars. Remembering her astronomy lessons from school, she was able to navigate by those stars to get herself back on track, and was very pleased three days later when she made landfall exactly where she’d intended.

*****

Astronomy by the Lake

The students at Taikakoulu generally always enjoyed their midnight expeditions to astronomy class. As the school was situated on the picturesque Saimaa lakes, where the sky was clear as crystal and every star could be seen, the stars also reflected on the glassy lake surface. The Astronomy professor, Ms. Saarinen, truly enjoyed her job, too. She'd grown up gazing at the stars, her father teaching her everything she needed to know about the constellations, the movement of the planets, the effects of the universe on the people of earth. When Taikakoulu offered her the Astronomy professor job, she gladly took it because she wanted her students to feel that same awe-inspiring, full, soaring feeling she felt whenever she looked up to the heavens. Some students didn't care for astronomy, though she taught them all just the same, but whenever a kid's eyes lit up, whenever a student declared that this was their favorite class, Ms. Saarinen felt like she was soaring all over again.

*****

Written in the Stars

The young Andromeda Black looked up at the night sky, seeing the constellation for which she was named. When she was upset with her family – which seemed to be more and more common these days – she liked to sit near a window and look out at the stars. It made her feel calmer, for reasons she couldn’t explain. The Black family loved the stars, evident by their use of many constellations in naming their children. Andromeda figured it was a way of making them important, connecting them to famous, heroic figures who were admired each night by stargazers all around the world. She was beginning to realize, though, that living on a pedestal was not as easy as it seemed.

Much like the mythological Andromeda who had been immortalized in the stars, this Andromeda was beginning to feel like she was chained up, a victim of her parents’ vanity and cowardice. But the creature that lurked to devour her was no sea monster; it was her own family with their prejudices, suffocating her and trying to squeeze every ounce of joy from her life.

Andromeda just wanted her Perseus to save her from all of this before the star inside had burned out completely.

*****

The Centaurs Were Right

Imelda tottered around her observatory, rummaging through the papers scattered around as she looked for her research on Mars. Since she had left Hogwarts, she had watched the skies for not quite fifteen years, and she prided herself on being an unofficial authority on the subject. In all that time, she hadn't personally seen any changes in how the planet shone in the night sky, but for the last two days, she'd noticed it shining brighter and more vibrant than normal.

"It must be something in the air," she muttered, lifting a few pages and scanning the first few lines before setting them aside. "Maybe that Muggle global warming theory is actually affecting things..." She shuffled through a few more papers, irritably setting them aside when she came up dry and shook her head. "Or maybe it's a harbinger to something, Mars IS the Roman god of war, maybe we're on the edge of war..."

Above her in the sky, Mars continued to twinkle red, oblivious to her search.

*****

He lives in you

Professor Sinistra had sent an owl to the Weasley house, concerned with Fred's horrendous Astronomy performance. The first-year boy was a good student in all other subjects, excelling at Charms and a natural talent for flying a broomstick, but he just didn't seem to be interested in Astronomy at all. 'Maybe if you could offer him some personal motivation for how and why learning Astronomy can be beneficial...', the Hogwarts professor had suggested to his parents.

So one February evening, Fred was out, sitting on the roof next to his father, trying to point out constellations when asked, but not very successfully so. "I'll tell you my favourite constellation, and if you can point that one out to me, it'll be a good start." his father said, trying a different approach. He leaned back and closed his eyes briefly. "It is one of the Zodiac constellations, named after twins Castor and Pollux. When I miss your uncle Fred, I sometimes come up here and look at the night sky. I look at the two starry figures holding hands, sharing their constellation with one another. Its name is Gemini, see if you can find it?"

Young Fred inched closer to his father who put his arm around the boy, and now that he was searching the sky for a representation of his dad and his deceased uncle as twins, rather than just a random bunch of stars, it was a lot easier to see. His small hand pointed up at the sky, to where Castor and Pollux, or maybe Fred and George, were forever united.

*****

Naming the Stars

"Did you know," Horace Slughorn began conversationally as he swirled his glass of wine. "That Muggles name stars after people?"

Professor Aurora Sinistra looked up from her telescope, finally giving the Potions professor her full attention. "So do we, Horace."

"Oh, of course. But we name the stars after gods, legends, mythos." He gestured grandly towards the sky with his empty hand. "They name stars after themselves. For example-" He moved towards the telescope to re-position it. Sinistra went to stop him but changed her mind, wanting to see where he was going with this. If he was going to interrupt her lesson planning, she might as well humor him. "This one is called Harry Mudd." He gestured that she should look through the lens. He barely let her focus on the star before moving the telescope again. "This one, Arthur Dent."

Sinister refocused on Slughorn. "This is very silly. These stars have designations already. Having the location be the name makes more sense than naming it after some silly Muggle."

"Oh yes, I know," Slughorn agreed, nodding solemnly. "However, I couldn't resist." After re-positioning the telescope one last time, he told her, "This star is named Aurora Sinistra."

She didn't miss a beat. "That is absolutely ridiculous, Horace. Now get out of her while I finish my lesson plan!"

*****

Astronomers Big and Small

Luna knelt down and touched the soil. "They've been here," she said happily, looking up at her partner. "All we need now is to decide where they've gone next."

"Excellent," said Rolf, making a note in his journal. "But how do you know it's a Snorkack we're chasing, love?"

"Oh, that's easy," Luna replied, rising and dusting dirt off her skirt. "The air smells of them, can't you tell? Besides, Daddy's shown me photographs of Snorkack prints hundreds of times; I could identify one with my eyes closed."

"Ah," said Rolf, who remained unconvinced. Still, he'd promised to try for Luna's sake, and so he bit his tongue. "Then where to?"

Luna looked up at the sky. "Some people believe that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are expert astronomers," she said slowly. "Many a nest has been found in precisely the right location to witness stellar events." She fell silent for a moment, and Rolf looked up at the sky alongside her until she spoke again. "Oh, there it is."

"I'm afraid I'm behind you once again," Rolf said to her, fretting as he flipped through the pages of his journal, searching for answers.

"Sagittarius, Rolf," Luna said, grabbing his arm and pointing up to the sky. "The archer is quite visible this time of year, in late summer. We'll go this way, then." She gestured to her left.

"All right," Rolf said, nodding as he traced the stars with his gaze, "but what does a constellation tell us about Snorkack movement?"

"It's simple," said Luna, with her usual dreamy smile. "Everyone knows Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are frightened of arrows. They'll move in the opposite direction."

Rolf most certainly did not know that, but he was quickly finding that he would follow Luna anywhere.

*****

The Star Capella

She woke slowly to hear her mother whispering softly in her ear. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, grinned at her mom, and slipped from bed.

"Where are we going, Mama?" Nickie's voice was soft, not wanting to wake her step-father.

"Star gazing, daughter of mine. I want to show you something." Her mom's voice was equally soft.

Nickie's eyes danced with enjoyment and she followed her mom out of the house and into the back yard. She could see Hogsmeade in the distance, but it didn't distract from the beautiful stars that shown down on them. When her mom motioned to her to sit, she did, and felt a blanket drape over her. Her mom soon joined her. They were silent, and Nickie waited in anticipation. Her mom scanned the night sky and her eyes landed on the star she was looking for. She caught Nickie's hand and guided it in the direction she wanted Nickie to look.

"That's Capella. It's a star system of four stars in two binary pairs: two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. The brighter of the two is the primary and the second star is called the companion. The pair of stars are always together; they never orbit away from each other."

Nickie was silent for a while.

"Are we Capella Mama? Cause I think so. We're always together, never really apart for too long."

Nickie felt her mom wrap her arms around her in a warm hug.

"We are, lovey. We sure are."

*****

Where is it?

Before coming to Hogwarts Hermione Granger never knew much about astronomy. While being at Hogwarts she learned more about the constellations, space and the planets (she even learned that Pluto wasn't considered an planet anymore) but even after 6 years of classes she couldn't tell where the Little Bear and the Great Bear were. Whenever she looked at the sky all she could see were stars - a lot of them.
"Okay, so look, see that star up there? That one and the six others who shine so bright make the Great Bear."
Hermione looked up from where she was lying in her garden. Her boyfriend came over this evening to help her - he had said that everyone needed to know The Great Bear.
"Oh-kay." Hermione couldn't really see it. All of the stars were so bright. "Um..."
"You don't see it, right? Don't worry, I couldn't see it at first either. It drove my father mad. You're a pureblood, you're a Malfoy, you need to know everything. So, my mother help me." He took Hermione's hand.
"See, rightt here's the north star." He pointed at it with their joined hands. "And see, then there is nothing for a while untill you see a star again." He pointed at it. "And now you've found the Great Bear."
Hermione smiled. "Oh, you're right. I can always spot the north star. Thank you, Draco."
She kissed him.
"Wanna know where my constellation is?" He smirked before kissing her again.

*****

Eyes on the Sky

George Coddington pulled his face away from the telescope, rubbing his eye with his long bony fingers where the eye piece had left a pink imprint from staring into it for so long. He let out a sigh as he felt the night deepen with a cool breeze. He used his wand to button the top 3 buttons of his lavender cardigan and scratched his scraggly white beard. Pressing his eye, gently this time, back to the telescope, he focused in on the starry stretch of sky directly to the North East of his house, as he did every night, and felt a tear roll down his cheek. There it was. The constellation he still didn't know the name of that twinkled like his late wife Martha's beautiful blues.

*****

On This Day of the Lunar Calendar

Narcissa watched the sky night after night, waiting for the perfect day: three days after the new moon. On that day, she boiled water, waiting for it to reach the exactly correct temperature. She carried the kettle to the garden, where the moonlight could strike the water directly. Then, she dropped the handful of leaves and flower husks that she had previously prepared. She stirred and watched the time... waiting. After four minutes precisely, she poured the liquid from its container into a goblet. Watching the sky, she lifted the goblet to her lips.

"Enjoying your tea, dear?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, love."

"I knew I would find you here."

"Of course you did." She waved at the tiny sliver of Moon descending towards the western horizon.

"Do you have a headache?"

She smiled. "Not yet, and hopefully not at all if I drink my tea. Thank you for asking."

"It's a good thing your monthlies are so predictable," Lucius commented before ducking back inside.

*****

Lost Amongst the Night

“Oh, Merlin, I knew it! We’re going to die in here! We are going to die in here!” Ron threw himself on to the closest stump and buried his head in his hands.

“Who’s bright idea was it to come into this forest anyway?” he moaned. “We are so lost. No one is ever going to find us! Some horrible creature is going to eat our bones. We’ll never see our families again! Or get to eat real food. Or sleep in a real bed. Or …”

“Ron,” Hermione broke in sharply.

He stopped moaning and looked up to see Hermione glaring at him and Harry trying to hide a snicker.

Ron scowled.

“We are not going to die in here,” Hermione said.

Ron’s scowl deepened. “And how do you know that?”

Hermione pointed. “Because we can see stars and the moon. All we have to do is find the constellations and use them to find our way out.”

Ron stared at her, his face blank. Harry looked confused as well.

Hermione sighed and threw her arms up in the air. “You two!” she grumbled. “Didn’t you two pay attention to anything we did in class? We learned about this in astronomy last year!”

“Of course not,” Ron said, standing up. “That’s why we have you. Now, lead us home.”

Hermione glared. “I should just leave you here,” she muttered.

But instead she focused on the constellations above and began to figure out where they were, just as they knew she would do.

*****

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