Your P.O.V.
You were laying in your bed for a very long time because you couldn't sleep anymore. Now was around 5 in the morning. Understanding that you won't be falling asleep again you decided to finish your essay for Herbology.
Carefully, you crawled out of your bed and grabbed your already started essay slowly. Then you quietly tiptoed out of your dorm room not waking up the others. You walked down the steps and found yourself a comfortable place to sit at the Ravenclaw Common Room.
When you finally finished, slowly students stared to wake up. Suddenly you heard your stomach growl. You needed food. You made your way into your dorm room and changed from your pajamas into white button-up shirt, trousers, leather boots, vest, Ravenclaw tie and your robes. Then you grabbed your wand, placed it into your robe pocket and stared making your way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
There weren't many students there, yet. You were early. That was great. You quietly sat down at the end of the table and started eating. Today you are going to have your first Astrology lesson. Usually they begin when it is dark outside, but since you don't know anything about Astrology, for a few lessons you are going to learn the basic stuff like symbols.
When you finished eating you glanced at the Hufflepuff table. There you saw Newt sitting far away from other students with a book in one hand and a fork in another. You wanted to ask him about the Herbology essay. You rose from your seat and made your way toward Newt. He didn't seem to hear you so you tapped on his shoulder. Newt turned around too quickly, too suddenly making his book fall from his hand and on to the floor. You bent down and picked it up.
"Good morning." You said while examinating his book.
It was a Herbology book so you assumed that his essay is already done and he just wants to prepare for the next lesson.
Newt's P.O.V.
Suddenly I felt someone tap my shoulder and I turned around to see who it was not noticing the speed of my actions. My Herbology book flew out my hand and fell down on the floor. I looked up and saw Y/n. She bent down and picked it up. The situation made me blush the slightest and made me very uncomfortable.
"Good morning." Y/n said and handed me my book.
"Good morning. Thank you, Y/n."
I carefully took my book out of her hands and placed it on the table. Y/n sat down next to me.
"I just wanted to ask you about the Herbology essay. It is the only essay we didn't have time to write at the library." She said.
Merlin's beard. I absolutely forgot about it. Thanks Hogwarts that we don't have Herbology today. We have it tomorrow. And thanks Y/n of course.
"Thank you so much for reminding me, Y/n. I completely forgot about it."
"Well, you have one more day to write it."
"Yes, thanks to you. Do you remember which class do we have next?"
"Astrology."
"Right. Come on then."
"I have to grab my books for todays lessons first.
"Me too. Let's meet at the Staircase."
"Okay." She said and went in the direction of the Ravenclaw Common Room.
While I was walking toward the Hufflepuff Common Room I thought about my friendship with Y/n. She was very much my first real friend. We have so much in common. She understands me and she doesn't get annoyed by me. When she says 'I hope you are not annoyed by my rambling.' it makes no sense to me. How can someone get annoyed by her. She is one of the smartest and kindest people I have ever met. I mentioned Y/n in my letters to my mother. She said that I'm very lucky to have a friend like Y/n. My mother was happy that I finally was friends with someone.
When I reached my dorm room I grabbed my books, quills and ink and headed out to meet Y/n. She wasn't at the Staircase yet. Ravenclaw Common Room is a bit further than Hufflepuff Common Room. Just a few moments later she arrived and we both headed toward the Astronomy Tower. When we reached the highest level of the tower there were students in there but no professor. We found ourselves places to sit and imidiatly the Professor walked in.
"Good morning, Class. I'm Professor Sinistra. You are probably wondering what are you doing at the Astrology lesson while the sun is up and what is Astrology in general.
Astrology is the science of finding connection between those of us on the Earth and the Cosmos. It follows the patterns of movement by the planets and stars and assigns meanings to them that relate to human motivation and consciousness. Astrology is not as simple meaning like what you read in the horoscope section of the newspaper. A true astrological report takes into account not only the Sun sign or the things you get in the paper, but the placements of all the planets of our solar system and sometimes other celestial bodies as well in relation to your birth time. When all these meanings are compiled, it becomes a very complex and detailed description of a person's profile. Open your books please on page 3."
Everyone opened their books.
Step 1 - Learn Astrology Symbols
Symbols constitute Astrology's primary language. Each Zodiac Sign and Planet is represented by a symbol and/or a glyph.
Astrology Symbols - Gluphs - Dates
There are 12 Zodiac Signs and you need to memorize the Astrology symbol, glyph and date for each Sign, as well as the correct order listed in bellow. This will help immensely later on.
There are 10 Planets in Astrology. For simplicity we refer to the Sun and Moon as planets but really they are called luminaries. Now put to memory each planet's Astrology glyph.
"Practice drawing the symbols. Take your time. For older individuals like me this may seem like a daunting task but stick with it. Once you have mastered the basic language of Astrology you are ready to place them on an astrology chart." Professor explained.
The Natural Astrology Chart
The natural astrology chart, or flat chart, always start at 0.00 degree of Aries (the natural Ascendant of the Zodiac) and works its way counter-clockwise until it ends at 29.59.59 degrees Pisces. This is because the Western Tropical Zodiac aligns with the ecliptic and begins at the moment of the vernal (spring) equinox.
The yearly cycle is likened to a circle and just like the circle it has 360 degrees. There are 12 Zodiac Signs and each sign is precisely 30 degrees of arc.
Below is the picture of the natural astrology chart. Study it carefully.
"For homework, practice putting planets and Zodiac signs on the empty chart below exactly like the picture above in your book. Don't worry if you don't quite understand everything just yet. The important thing right now is for you to learn the symbols and their correct placement on the natural astrology chart. Have a nice day."
All first years started to gather their belongings and heading to the next lesson.
"We have History of Magic next right?" I asked Y/n while going down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower.
"Yes. It is on the first floor." She said and we headed there.
"You know, my older brother told me that the History of Magic professor is a ghost."
"Really?" Y/n asked curiously.
"I don't know that for sure but we can find out."
As soon as we reached the Classroom 4F and took our seats a ghost flew from behind the board. So my brother Theseus wasn't lying to me.
"Your brother told you the truth." Y/n whispered to me.
"Yes, he did."
"Hello, Class. I'm professor Binns. Today we are going to talk about gargoyles. Open your books on page 10, please."
And so we did. Professor was saying everything exactly as was written in the book. His voice wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear so I decided to read myself.
The term 'gargoyle' is used in several different ways in our language. It is used as an interjection ("Gulpin' Gargoyles!") And as a disparaging nickname for someone who is mean and unbending (e. g. "Yeh don' know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!"), rather stupid ("You gargoyles will buy anything."), or even completely despicable ("That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!"). But what is a gargoyle and why are the important in the Wizarding World?
Gargoyle refers to a carved stone or statue with an ugly monstrous design. Since medieval times, Gargoyle statues have been commonly seen in many structures and buildings, including the Hogwarts Castle.
Architecturally, two distinctions are made between gargoyles: functional ones, whose purpose is to direct water away the sides of a building through their spouts; and aesthetic gargoyles, whose appeareance is said by the superstitious to add to their ability to ward off evil.
It should be noted that, whilst some gargoyles, do seem to have some degree of sentience, this is not known to be an innate ability and any noted animation is likely due to magic, such as charm. Therefore all gargoyles are are considered semi-sentied.
The word gargoyle comes from the French word 'gargoullie', meaning "throat" or "gullet". In Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from the root gar, meaning "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water.
For many centuries, gargoyles have been used to guard large buildings for wizards. Their semi-sentience allows the gargoyle to speak and sometimes move by itself. This makes them an excellent candidate to be an 'alarm' in since for the wizards within the buildings. The gargoyles themselves are not used to fight off intruders but rather used to block entries to specific passages unless given the right password. The wizards of the Windilow Castle were the reason the Ministry of Magic declared to use gargoyles only as 'alarms' or barriers to block passage.
The Gargoyle Strike in 1811 is one of the most noted strikes within the Wizarding Community. It was a wildcat strike of gargoyles that occurred in 1811. These gargoyles enchanted to hold almost pure sentience to allow them to attack intruders that dared try to enter without their permission.
The gargoyles of Windilow Castle had collective decided they were no longer going to guard the castle from intruders because the inmates of the castle treated them with such disrespect. It is said that wizards in this castle were constantly harassing these gargoyles with demeaning comments as well as defacing many of them that "weren't scary looking enough" in their minds to ward off their enemies. The wizards were also said to have smashed several gargoyles that they believed weren't scary looking enough in front of these semi-sentient creatures.
The gargoyles at this castle begin to commutatively rebel by refusing to warn if intruders were to come and refusing to stand on post until the wizards would treat them with higher respect. The gargoyles were winning at some point during the strike when something noteworthy happened.
A group of wizards in the castle that were not yet swayed to treat these creatures better, decided to destroy the gargoyles. They set out and begin dismantling many. This caused the gargoyles to turn on the entire castle and a bloody battle begun between the stoned creatures and wizards. Several wizards were killed and in the end the Ministry of Magic was summoned to short the issue. The Ministry destroyed all gargoyles at the castle and then passed a law in 1813 that no wizard can creature objects to become sentient without the Ministry's approval.
"For homework, find five sentient/talking gargoyles in Hogwarts and have a small conversation with them. Write down this conversation with them. Make sure it includes gargoyles's name and three facts they have told you about themselves. Good luck!"
Y/n and I collected our things and walked out of the classroom.
"Maybe we can go look for gargoyles now?" I asked.
I didn't want to go on my own. It's not like I'm afraid, I just don't want to go alone. And Y/n is my only friend.
"Yes, we can. I really want to talk to some gargoyles. Just let me drop my books in my dorm."
"Alright. Let's meet at the bottom of the stairs."
"Okay."
And so we went the separate ways. And after we met again we had an adventure all around the castle, looking for gargoyles and just enjoying each others company.