Astronomy ~ Lesson Four ~ All Years

Colin sighed and looked at the little girl he had been forced to bring to class. It wasn't that he didn't love his daughter - he did, and he was thrilled to spend time with her - it was just, class had been one of the last places he wanted to bring her.

But he couldn't leave her alone, and he was out of people to watch her. So, this was the best solution he had. He hoped it would go over well enough.

"Now, Del-Bel, I want you to stay right here, and be a good girl, Okay?" he gave her a stern look as he set her down in the corner. He had her set up with her blanket, and a colouring book. "You should should try to sleep, okay, but if you don't, daddy still needs you to sit still. I have to teach."

Giving her one more stern look he went back to his desk to await the arrival of the students.

Delaney nodded excitedly as she was set on the floor. It was true that it was getting to be well past her bedtime, but she was far to excited at the prospect of seeing big kids to even think about sleeping.

So, the small girl, curled up in the corner as she was told, pulling her blankie close to her, and endeavored to do as her father asked.

She wasn't sure how long she was going to last though.

Casey skipped happily into Astronomy, which promised as always to be interresting. "Good evening Pro- oh! Is that your daughter?" Casey stopped and smiled at the young girl. "Hello, I'm Casey. What's your name?"

Riley walked into Astronomy, determined to not be late. "Hello, Professor. " Riley said with a bright smile. Her eyes then fell on the adorable little girl that was with him. "Is that your daughter?" Riley asked, looking to the professor instead of the little girl, so she wouldn't make her uncomfortable.

Colin smiled at the girls who had entered, "Hello ladies, I hope you had an excellent break. We will obviously be waiting a bit to see if you're classmates see it fit to arrive."

"Yes, this is my daughter Delaney," he smiled down at the girl, "Do you want to say hello to the girls, Del-Bel?"

Delaney looked up wided eyed at the two big girls, complete stunned by their presence. Being an only child she did not have much interactions with people that much older than her.

In her mind these girls were automatically idoloized.

Shoving her fingers in her mouth she looked up at the shyly, "Hey-loo."

Casey continued to smile. She just loved small children! She turned to Professor O'Brian and said, "If she starts to get restless during class, she can come sit with me if it's alright with you Professor. I'm good with children and I'm pretty sure I can pay attention to her and the lesson at the same time." Grinning wider, she added, "I have two hyper seven year old cousins, I've learned to cope with a lot."

Riley smiled at the little girl, Delaney. She was quite adorable. "Hello, Del. It's very nice to meet you!" she gave a serene little smile to the small girl. "She's very cute," she addressed the professor. "I hope poeple start to show up soon!"

"Good day Professor," Iris greeted with a smile as she entered the class. "Oh my gosh, is that your daughter?" She asked with a grin and waved at the little girl. "She is so adorable! What's her name?"

Delaney looked up at the newest older girl to arrive. Her shyness morphing into excitement. She grinned through her fingers, and waved at the girl.

"DELANEY!" she squealed loudly, only to have her father shush her good naturedly. He was worried that this might indeed be a long lesson.

Iris couldn't help but give the little girl a quick hug. "It's very nice to meet you Delaney!" She told with a smile. "How old are you?" She asked. She smiled almost sheepishly at the Professor, hoping he wouldn't mind the interaction.

Quietly, Stormy walked into the classroom, head down, only looking up to examine the classroom and give the professor a quick nod hello. However, her eyes found the little girl, and they lingered on her. Stormy had always understood young children, since her own childhood had left her with no room to be a child and no room to grow up. She was stuck as a child, sometimes, mature at others. Stormy stopped her pondering and looked to the professor. "Is this your daughter, sir?" she asked quietly, almost in a whisper.

Anna blinked when she came into the classroom. What in the world was a girl doing here? She sighed and sat at the side of the classroom closest to the door, not giving the girl an ounce of her attention.

Colin inclind his head at Ms. Graysons sheepis grin, smiling a tad bit indulgently himself, before turning to the rest of the class.

"Yes, this is my daughter, Delaney, who will be joining us this evening, however, she is going to quietly sit, and not interupt," he gave the girl a stern look, "Isn't she?"

Turning back to the room, he leaned on his desk and sighed, "Well, I guess this is all we are going to get today, so I say we might as well begin."

"Today I wanted to talk about something that is particularly fascinating to me," he looked around the room, "Now, who can tell me, if you're tracking a planet's movement across the night sky, lets say, Mars, what you are going to see? How do you think the planets postition will change or move through out the evenings?"

Casey raised her hand. "The planet will move in a arc across the sky, high or shallow depending on the planet in question and the time of the year. This is caused by the Earth's rotation during the night. It also happens with the stars' positions for the same reason."

Alex walked into the class and knew she was late. Alex stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a kid in the class room. Alex shook off the weirdness and sat down. "Hello professor, sorry I'm late" Alex said kind of bad that she was always late to his class but it wasn't her fault she was always late. She would always listen to her brother and take a different way and end up back where she started. Alex just sighed.

Thomas walked in and saw his sister. Thomas tickled her sides and she let out a squeal and glared at him. Thomas just laughed quietly. "Sorry professor, couldn't resist. Also sorry I'm late" Thomas took a seat next to Alex and just smirked when she continued to glare at him for what he did to her.

Hades walked in and saw what Thomas did to Alex and silently laughed. "Sorry I'm late" Hades took a seat at the table in front of Alex and Thomas. "Sup Thomas and Alex, Alex don't worry you can probably take him" Hades whispered to them and turned around and got out what he would need for the class. Hades had a strong feeling he would get called on again since he was late.

She held up her hand splaying out all five fingers, "I'm five!!"

Delaney looked at her father, and gave a little nod as she attempted to calm herself down and stay in her spot.

She blinked owlishly at the new arrivals, but bit her lip and said nothing.

"Thank you Ms. Donhoe," he nodded to the girl, "You can take some points for Gryffindor. That would be what one would expect, but in actuality the planets do something rather unusual. When tracking amongst the sky, it appears that a planet, such as mars, appears to backtrack upon itself. If looking at it, it would look like something like this."

He walked over the bored and drew a sort of large squigglie line on the board.

He frowned slightly at the late comers but decided not to comment on them at all, for today's lesson.

"This is called Retrograde motion. Does anyone have any suggestions for why such a thing would happen?"