Pondering on Potions

Professor Fawcett

August 29, 2010 6:19 PM

Intermediate Potions I (3rd-5th Years) by Professor Fawcett

In light of what he had planned for the intermediate group, along with the vaguely terrified looks he imagined he had been getting since the morning mail had presented each of the Advanced students with a syllabus and an assignment to be done before their first class with him, John feared that he would have a reputation for fearsomeness as was seldom bestowed on a thin, graying man with an almost permanent expression of good-natured disinterest, unremarkable voice, and tendency to try to make jokes with the class after he was sure he had their respect before he ever saw the first years.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, but it wasn't relevant. The years being shuffled again meant that he had to assess where each group – except the seventh years, who, without the sixth years in their group to slow it up, he could work hard enough to have a reasonable chance of more Os, or at the very least more Es, than usual – was, ability-wise, again. He had never trusted the usual sorts of tests, as they could be easily manipulated, so his strategy was to push and see if the students folded or pushed back.

Once the large group – he had so enjoyed having roughly equal ones, last year – appeared to be largely present and the bell had rung, John rapped his pointer on the table in front of him to get their attention. “Good afternoon, everyone,” he said. “I realize this is a large class, so I must ask that you all be silent so that everyone can hear when I speak. Thank you…Now, if you could each answer when I call your name off the roll, you know the drill now.” At least, he thought there weren’t any new transfers this year.

Once the roll was complete, he put it away to begin the lesson. “You should have each had a syllabus in front of your seats; please raise your hand if you did not, and otherwise put them in safe places, where you can access them easily.” He kept additional copies, but saw no reason to encourage carelessness by mentioning it at this point. “While I do reserve the right to alter it at will, and issue you with revised copies when I do, this provides you with what you may more or less expect in terms of assignments, homework, suggested readings, and class sessions. I encourage you to take full advantage of it. Don’t be intimidated by the length; there will be many lessons in which you do not all work on the same material, and all of these lessons and assignments are factored into the syllabus.”

Something new he was trying was increasing the amount of differentiation in the classroom, with more chances for students to select which difficulty level or learning format to work with and much more frequent occasions on which the fifth years in particular were given a different assignment outright. Not only was it frustrating for many of them to have to work on the same level as the third years, but it was also potentially detrimental to their development and thus their CATS scores. The experiment might not pan out, but that was why he would be issuing a second syllabus before midterm. If this failed, then he would revert to something more traditional, and if it went well, then those students that cared to and did not require the actual potion as a guide would be able to work ahead on their written assignments during the holidays. “There will also be large and small group discussion periods, in which we will combine our knowledge and expertise in pursuit of greater understandings. These will not, third years, be entirely unlike discussions you had in the beginner’s class, though they will be more intensive and count as a larger portion of your grade. The ability to argue a point well, and with adequate support, both aloud and on paper is essential for all, and not only in Potions.”

“If there are no questions about the syllabus – and I encourage you to ask, now or later, any that you do have, as there may be a quiz over the non-schedule related content at some point – then we shall proceed to our lesson. Third years will be working on the Shrinking Solution, which is a bit trickier than the potions you have worked with thus far because of its lack of exact measurements. Wearing gloves while stirring would be wise. On invertebrates, the potion has the effect of returning the affected creature to an earlier stage of physical development, and it can have unusual and unpleasant effects when ingested by humans as well. Your ingredients are chopped daisy roots, skinned shrivelfig, sliced caterpillar, a single rat spleen, and a dash of leech juice, and you will find instructions on page 12 of your books. You should finish before the end of the period, at which point I ask that you come to the front, take a flask - ” he pointed to a tray of them – “and place a sample of your potion within it, labeling the flask with your name and your partner’s. You may, of course, feel free not to do so, but you will receive a failing grade for the sample if so and have to work extra hard on your homework assignment and your first essay to make up the credit. This applies to all year groups.”

Though he was not a Pecari, and would be mildly offended by the comparison, John was more adaptable than usual in the classroom. When a situation arose that he clearly could not mow over, he adapted and went around it, and when it came to a battle of wills at this school, students were more likely to win, especially once their beliefs came into the equation. For Quentin Melcher, he picked potions with an obvious purpose, and for Jose Hernandez and, when magic came into play as it sometimes did, Marissa Stephenson, he modified the grading structure slightly so that they could find a way to pass with reasonable scores, if they were willing to do especially good written work. Jose, in particular, would never have the grades that those who would do the bloody potions would even if he took every extra credit opportunity offered in the syllabus, but he could scrape a pass. If he chose not to take the opportunity, well, John would fail him without much remorse, but he had enough professional experience and quirks in his family tree to consider that political beliefs, apparently essential to the self-concept of the California Pierces in a way that fascinated his inner sociologist, could be a genuine reason for behavior that acted to one’s own detriment.

And he disliked reporting failures to Sadi. He disliked reporting them to himself when he wrote out the grades in his ledger and filed them. There was no reason for anyone to fail when all that was needed for passing to be an option was for him to bend half an inch and them to put in some extra effort, if the standard effort was somehow worse for them.

“Fifth years – no, fourth years, I haven’t forgotten you – you will be working on the Draught of Peace, a calming agent.“ He was considering modifying the ethics in composition of mood-altering potions discussion he had with the Advanced group to cover with this class, but thought he might see how they reacted to a less…wobbly topic before he made up his mind. “The theory behind it is simple enough, no concepts you are unfamiliar with, but the composition is very difficult and relies heavily on precision and order, which should make it something of a challenge for you after a summer in which I very much doubt measurements were on your minds. I recommend that you work together, in the interests of time, but be very careful not to lose track and allow one to repeat the other’s work. If the vapor rising from your cauldron is anything other than light and silvery, and if the consistency of the potion is not very liquid, then you have made a critical error. If your potion produces green sparks, then please dispose of it at once with the Evanesco charm, or ask me to do so, as it will otherwise explode soon. Your ingredients – “ he tapped the board with his wand, and a list of ingredients and instructions appeared next to the simpler third year one – “are ginger roots, syrup of hellebore, essence of Belladona, powdered moonstone, unicorn hair, and scurvygrass.”

He looked over those students still not flipping through books or taking out supplies. “Fourth years, I am giving you an option. You may work on either the Shrinking Solution or the Draught of Peace, whichever you feel more comfortable with, and you may work together or separately, as you like, if you choose the former. In addition to the homework assignments listed for the third and fifth years, I will also ask you to write an explanation of why you chose the potion you did, how well you feel you did, and whether you would choose the same a second time around. Please be frank, and remember that I will have your finished products in front of me while I read these.” He looked around, then, at the room. “And everyone may, if you have not already, begin.”

OOC: Standard posting rules apply, as do “Potion rules:” you may make mistakes, but deliberate mayhem will lead to IC consequences, and your character need not be a perfect potioneer to get credit for the post. Tag John if you need him, and enjoy yourselves!

Subthreads:

Tremendously relieved by Pippa Brockert

Geez, no hesitation with the hard stuff. by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

Pondering by Quentin Melcher with Daniel Nash II

Unable to come up with a decent title by Alessa Hinckley with Rachel Bauer

It's a challenge just finding a partner. by Cassie Kerrigan, Aladren with Marissa Stephenson

Will I make a friend today? by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)

A Great Start for Fourth Year! (Professor) by Jose Hernandez with Professor Fawcett

0 Professor Fawcett Intermediate Potions I (3rd-5th Years) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Pippa Brockert

August 30, 2010 3:25 PM

Tremendously relieved by Pippa Brockert

Pippa walked into Potions and sat down, sighing, resigned to her fate. She really didn't like this class but there was nothing she could do about it until CATS. The Teppenpaw thought she could probably pass them, it wasn't like she was bad at the subject-though her sister was far better-it was merely that Pippa disliked it and this was the last year that she was going to take this class.

It was for the best, her family didn't approve of girls being interested in Potions anyway. Pippa wondered briefly what Tawny would do after CATS. While it might have been more than agreeable to the fifth year to stop taking this class, she knew her younger sister felt differently.

The thing was, even though it wasn't what proper young ladies did, and that her parents would surely never approve, Pippa wanted Tawny to be able to keep taking this class. She could see how her younger sister's face lit up, see the glint of enthusiasm, rather than malice, in her eyes during Potions.

And Pippa liked when something that didn't also hurt her made her younger sister happy. It was the best thing for everyone. As it would be if her sister didn't take a class that taught her a bunch of hexes. Though Tawny knowing a bunch of poisons might be worse, given the Pecari was better at Potions than wand work.

But Pippa could avoid drinking anything her sister gave her a lot better than she could avoid a hex if Tawny threw one her way. She might have felt guilty for thinking that way about the younger girl, but Pippa wasn't stupid.

The Teppenpaw listened as Professor Fawcett gave his lecture, even the parts that didn't pertain to her. Pippa wasn't one to not pay attention to authority figures. As soon as he got to the part that involved fifth years, she nearly sighed with relief. The Draught of Peace was a wonderful potion, created to help rather than harm and the only animal ingredient was unicorn hair, which didn't even hurt the unicorn, and was regularly used in wand cores, including her own.

Pippa turned to the person next to her, grinning happily. "Do you want to work with me on this?" She asked.

11 Pippa Brockert Tremendously relieved 132 Pippa Brockert 0 5

Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

August 30, 2010 8:40 PM

Geez, no hesitation with the hard stuff. by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

Adelita Garcia waltzed into the Potions classroom with as much confidence as she would have if she walked out into the Quidditch Pitch. Absolutely none. Potions was definitely not one of her best subjects. She was pretty good with charms and even semi-good at Transfiguration. She was good at creating the spells for Defense, she just wasn’t good at thinking quickly on her feet as it required. Care of Magical Creatures was pretty much cake considering they were animals and Divinations was pretty much opinions. But Potions… Potions was on a whole different level. Potions was very precise and Lita was not that good at measuring. Potions was probably her worst class. She managed to pass it on an average grade, but she was pretty sure that was from all the partners she had over the course of her Potions career.

She took the first seat she saw with a familiar and friendly face. There were a lot more students in her classes this year because they were now on the other end of the ‘intermediate’ group. They weren’t quite old enough to be with the now, only 7th years, but she didn’t really get why they were with the 3rd years. Lita glanced over at her sister, before returning to the professor. Lita didn’t know how Dulce did things. Everything seemed so easy for her. Maybe it’s because she didn’t get herself tangled up in messy relationships. Friendship or otherwise…

Her mind went to boys as it seemed to be doing a lot lately. Her dark eyes scanned the room, landing occasionally on a male student. She could still hear the professor talking, he was advising the third years on what their assignment. She let her mind wander a little more. At least, she did until she locked eyes on a student. She quickly looked away, blushing out of embarrassment. She hoped she hadn’t seemed like she was staring!

She focused back on the Professor just as he began to talk about what the fifth years would be doing. And she really regretted focusing back onto him. She had almost forgotten how stressful her fifth year was going to be. CATS. The most feared acronym in her life to date. She new RATS would be much much worse. Although, a part of her wasn’t sure if she should worry since she had no plans on going off to college for anything academic. She planned on getting into performing arts school for dance and become a contemporary ballerina. That’s where her dreams were.

Lita let out a loud sigh when they were allowed to begin on their potions. Draught of Peace. Wonderful. She turned to her partner with a smile, although it probably wasn’t one that reached her eyes. “He’s totally taking it easy on us after a summer break.” She joked. “Aren’t you glad you’re sitting with me?”

0 Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) Geez, no hesitation with the hard stuff. 0 Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) 0 5

Quentin Melcher

August 30, 2010 10:24 PM

Pondering by Quentin Melcher

One of Quentin's favorite classes was Potions. He liked how it was a very precise, to the point class and Professor Fawcett made it even more so. He even specified that questions were supposed to pertain to the lesson. Of course, that could also be a drawback, if Quentin did have questions about something else.

Which, being Quentin, he did.The Aladren fifth year wondered about so many things. He wondered why his cousin liked to eat such weird things, for instance. After last term's Endspring-Quentin would not call it Midsummer when it didn't take place in the middle of summer-fair, he was slightly worried that Kirstenna had something called pica, where people craved non-food items such as chalk and feathers. And cotton, whether it was mixed with sugar or not, it wasn't food and therefore, qualified as something those with pica would crave.

Then there were questions like, if cats always land on their feet, and toast always lands butter-side-down, what happens if you take a cat, strap some toast to its back, and let it fall? Quentin didn't quite feel okay with trying that one out, just in case he ended up hurting the cat. Sure, he was okay with using animal ingredients in potions, but actually harming an animal didn't sit well with him.

Speaking of animals, if someone jumped into a tiger's cage at a circus-thanks to Kirstenna, Quentin had been thinking more about the circus- and the tiger attacked him, whose fault was it? The person or the tiger's? He was inclined to blame the person for being dumb enough to climb into a tiger cage at all, but Kirstenna said the circus was full of people who did things that risked their lives in order to entertain others.

It seemed to Quentin that the circus was full of Pecaris, or rather the type of person who would be in Pecari if they had magic and attended Sonora.

As Professor Fawcett began speaking, Quentin gave the man all his attention, pushing thoughts of pica and cats and circus people out of his head. As with most professors, the Aladren tended to find almost everything that Professor Fawcett said fascinating, though some of it did not pertain to Quentin. Still, he listened as he did not want to miss the instructions that did.

Once the instructions were recieved, Quentin got out his cauldron and his ingredients. He seemed to be missing scurvygrass. The fifth year turned to his neighbor and asked. "Do you have any scurvygrass? And will you work with me on this assignment?"

11 Quentin Melcher Pondering 129 Quentin Melcher 0 5

Alessa Hinckley

August 31, 2010 9:42 PM

Unable to come up with a decent title by Alessa Hinckley

Potions was a subject Alessa felt rather indifferent to. She wasn't supposed to like it, as that wouldn't be proper but she didn't hate it either, like she was starting to hate Defense. Potions, at least had simple, easy to follow instructions and took time to do. Better yet, it didn't involve any sort of athleticism, which Alessa did not possess.

Apparently, they were going to be doing a different potion than the fifth years. Alessa was a bit disappointed. That meant there was no possibility of partnering up with any of them. Her own class was full of the type of loud person that kind of got on Alessa's nerves.Furthermore, there were some awfully hyperactive people-the same ones that were loud mostly-with short attention spans, which were not the kind of person Alessa wanted to depend on for a grade.

She didn't want to be nasty but she had an awfully hard time dealing with people who had to be in constant motion and spoke constantly, jumping from one topic to another. When people did that, Alessa got over stimulated and became a bit irritable, just like when many conversations were going on at once. It gave her a headache and that was not something Alessa needed, especially during Potions which whether she was truly interested in it or not, required her full concentration.

It turned out they, by which she meant the third years, and some Potions deficient fourth years, would be doing the Shrinking Solution. Alessa, being a pureblood, knew a little about what this one did and she would be happy to wear gloves, especially giving that the potion contained rat spleens. Not something the Aladren particularly liked touching. It made her wish to be doing the other potion as it didn’t involve touching anything repulsive.

Actually, to some who hadn’t grown up drinking Potions, such as Muggleborns, it might seem rather revolting to be drinking something that contained rat spleens and sliced caterpillar. But then Alessa was super used to it, (though she’d obviously never drank the Shrinking Solution. Most people didn’t unless they were really really stupid.)but she still didn’t think she liked the way a rat spleen felt, though the Aladren had never actually touched one.

As the professor finished talking, Alessa scanned the room, looking for another third year, preferably a relatively quiet one. Before she could decide who to work with, someone approached her

11 Alessa Hinckley Unable to come up with a decent title 150 Alessa Hinckley 0 5

Cassie Kerrigan, Aladren

September 01, 2010 7:58 PM

It's a challenge just finding a partner. by Cassie Kerrigan, Aladren

Never one to be late to class, Cassie arrived early enough to choose a seat in the front of the room. Sitting in front of the room was important to her, because it gave an unobstructed view of the lecture. Before it began though, she pulled out her books and parchment pad along with her quill, an extra quill to write anything deemed valuable in red ink rather than black, as well as the appropriate inks. Along with all of her course material, she took out her potions kit. She hated being unprepared for class. Unfortunately, sometimes she was overly prepared. Having time to kill while waiting for class to start, she began reading over the syllabus that was on the table.

Her reading was interrupted when Professor Fawcett began to call roll. She did what was expected and answered when her name was called before continuing on. There was an awful lot to the syllabus, but that was explained when he said that not all of it was for them. But she couldn’t help wondering if it wouldn’t be easier if there were separate classes rather than them being bunched together since this way it seemed Professor Fawcett would have to do three separate lectures, which made no sense at all. But she supposed he was a logical person and would figure the best way to do things.

Though, it really did seem like the lecture lasted forever, which it probably had since her hand was already cramping from writing down every word the professor had spoken. She liked having notes that were verbatim rather than just jotting down a few things. She found it easier to recreate the lecture later this way. Looking down at her notes, the brunette considered which potion she wanted to work on. The Shrinking Solution would be an easy grade since it was third year material, but the Draught of Peace would be a challenge and she had always been good at Potions. So, Draught of Peace it was.

The unfortunate part now was that she had to find a Potion partner. She didn’t really know any of the fifth years to feel comfortable asking any of them. She supposed if she were desperate enough she could ask Juri, but she could only guess that his potions kit was as unorganized as his room, which made her shudder slightly. No, that was definitely out. All of the third years were out since they were working on the Shrinking Solution so she couldn’t even make Veronica or Delilah work with her. So, that left finding another fourth year, whom had decided to work on the potion as well. Turning to the first fourth year she ran into, she asked, “Are you working on the Draught of Peace?”

0 Cassie Kerrigan, Aladren It's a challenge just finding a partner. 0 Cassie Kerrigan, Aladren 0 5

Rachel Bauer

September 02, 2010 2:41 PM

Irrelevant-to-content phrases it is, then. by Rachel Bauer

In Rachel's first year, third years had been grouped with the beginners as often as not, and she had been irritated with the actual work for her year group ever since.

She'd hoped that migrating to the intermediate class would help make things interesting again, but it seemed that her luck was not in, at least for the first class of the new year. Fawcett was trying to be all developmentally appropriate or something, with the result that she was going to be stuck working with the others in her year all year again and hoping he didn’t decide that fourth years needed to be dumbed down too by next fall. Once that was established, she spent the rest of his lecture doodling on her syllabus, only tuning into the occasional word or phrase that stuck out somehow as he spoke to the fourth and fifth years.

If certain things which weren’t had been real, then it would have been all right. Half of the American pureblood model was based on the idea of keeping girls safe, thoughtless, and kind of stupid. Princesses in towers, but with short hair and the prince guarding the door instead of coming with a wake-up kiss. Every decision made for them, everyone guiding, all very cooperative and helpful and supportive. The problem was that Rachel thought she might be more realistic than her mother, and as such thought she was highly unlikely to have a place in that model once she was an adult. There were purebloods who would marry her, sure, but they were probably going to be of the same progressive, ambitious model as her stepfather, not the kind her mother would actually prefer.

And Rachel was actually okay with that. This life alternated between boring and stressful, and she wasn’t a fan of either. Boredom in particular was hard for her to deal with. If she was going to do okay in that secondary model, though, she needed actual challenges to improve against, and so far, the only area she could really see herself improving in was lying – and, considering where she’d started off, that didn’t mean as much as it might have.

When they were dismissed to work, she put her pen up and began looking around for a partner. Veronica was no good for this one; she usually worked with guys in Potions. Spotting Alessa on her own, she picked up her things and started walking that way. It had been a while since she’d last worked with her, and keeping everyone’s impression of her proper and adequately positive was important.

“Hi,” she said with a smile once she was within range and thought she’d been spotted. “Want to work together?”

16 Rachel Bauer Irrelevant-to-content phrases it is, then. 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

Alessa

September 03, 2010 2:08 PM

Sounds like a plan by Alessa

Alessa smiled pleasantly as the person who came over to talk to her was Rachel. The Crotalus wasn't her first choice, that would have been Theo but Rachel was intelligent and with her as a partner, Alessa stood a chance of getting a good grade which was more than she could say then if she'd gotten some of the people in her year.

More importantly, Rachel was not hyperactive. Alessa was just having one of those days when hyper people were more irritating than usual. She could handle doing the potion, her own ability to concentrate wasn't quite that bad, but if she'd had to work with someone whose wasn't, her own might have been dragged down along with them. Worse, Alessa might have lost her cool and told the said hyperactive person to shut up and pay attention. Which would have been deserved but would also probably make the Aladren look bad.

And, even though as someone raised to be a proper pureblood lady, Alessa was not supposed to actually like Potions, she was also supposed to be able to do them adequately and get decent grades in everything, even what was deemed unfeminine because being able to do magic was an important part of being a wizard too.

All the contradictions were also completely frustrating.

"Absolutely," Alessa replied to Rachel, actually meaning what she said. Lying had never been one of her skills anyway. She was more the type not to say what she thought if she thought someone might not like it. Her mother said that was a good thing but sometimes, Alessa just felt kind of stifled.

She removed her potions kit from her bag and began setting up her cauldron.

11 Alessa Sounds like a plan 150 Alessa 0 5

Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)

September 04, 2010 10:30 PM

Will I make a friend today? by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)

Dulce never liked having to take classes with other years because then it was definitely partner time. Either you ended up with someone older or you ended up with someone younger. Dulce just wanted to do things on her own. She was capable of doing a charm on an object without someone staring at her. She was capable of looking at an animal without needing the opinion of her classmate. And, she could make a potion quite well when she followed the directions her Potions book provided. So then, why did they always have to do partners? The only class she could actually understand having a partner was in Defense Against The Dark Arts.

She sat at a random table, only glancing around momentarily. Her sister and her friends were in this lesson. She hadn’t worked with Adelita since she had been a first year and Adelita was a third year. Well, this year should be interesting. Dulce knew how much Lita wanted her to make friends. Lita would be even more on her case now that she could see how she behaved in lessons. Perfect. Just what she needed. It wasn’t that Dulce wasn’t aware that she didn’t have any friends at Sonora. She spent most of her time playing her music instead of interacting. She knew this. But she couldn’t stop herself. She just didn’t know how to break away from that and be pleasant with other people.

Dulce sighed quietly to herself as she waited for the professor to finish talking about the lessons. Well, she was probably going to work with someone in her year unless a fourth year didn’t trust themselves with the fifth year potions. Well, this could may be the best opportunity to make a friend. At least, for this lesson anyway.

She quietly put together the ingredients that the professor had advised them that they would need and put her gloves on as directed. Opening up her book, Dulce flipped through the pages until she found the Shrinking Solution. She quickly read through the directions before getting herself started. Unlike some of the other girls that may be in the class at this moment, Dulce had no problems with handling bugs or dead things. She easily sliced the caterpillar as instructed by the book. As she reached for the rat spleen, her hand hit someone else’s.

“Oh, sorry.” Dulce said, immediately withdrawing her hand from the contact. Her light eyes glanced over at the person who was sharing the table with. “Are we… working together?” She asked, uncertain. For all she knew, they had asked to be her partner but she had been too busy with her tasks to have heard them.

0 Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw) Will I make a friend today? 0 Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Rachel

September 05, 2010 9:19 PM

They are supposed to be a Crotalus specialty. by Rachel

Well. That was a more enthusiastic reception than she had expected. Rachel couldn't say she was displeased with it, though. People liking her enough to seem genuinely happy about working with her was a good thing. It meant that she wasn't making mistakes.

She didn't even know why she cared, considering that it was all bound to fall apart when she left school. Temporary need, she guessed. She needed to be what someone else needed her to be, and Emily and Veronica and their sort were the only ones who would just let her know what they wanted. Her dad liked to pretend that whatever made her and the other girls happy was okay with him, a concept she couldn't get her head around and therefore dismissed as a lie on his part, and Jeremy considered her an inconvenience on top of being one of those people who had an allergy to being open about anything.

The rest of her family...No one was going to please Naomi, Aunt Hannah was even more sentimental than Dad, Uncle Isaac would play nicely with anyone until he saw a way to get something out of them if the niceness hadn't been part of getting something to begin with, and her mother's family were all basically strangers and peculiar besides all the issues that made getting close to them awkward. What would her mother think, for instance, if she earned the approval of Nadia, the woman her mother blamed for breaking up Rachel's grandparents' marriage? And getting on the right side of her maternal uncle or one of her aunts usually involved upsetting one or both of the others. It wasn't worth it.

Alessa was already setting up her own cauldron, so Rachel decided not to contest using it. "Do you want to use my ingredients or split it?" she asked. "I'm fine either way." She wasn't sure how much casual conversation Alessa would like in a new class, so decided to let her set it. She liked chatting a little herself, it made the interaction seem more natural and could help her prevent the part where she began to space out a little, but the problem with working with people was that it usually involved accommodating them.

That was one of the worst things, day-to-day, about the big act. She wasn't good at being a follower, but leaders drew too much attention to themselves.

16 Rachel They are supposed to be a Crotalus specialty. 154 Rachel 0 5

Marissa Stephenson

September 06, 2010 2:52 PM

Challenge hopefully resolved? by Marissa Stephenson

Fourth year. Hopefully, now that she had worked double-time for an entire year to try to get to an intermediate level in most subjects, it would be easier than third year had been. At any rate, it couldn’t be any worse. Because of the way classes were combined, they had to go between difficulty levels, and since a lot of the teachers would expect the third years to try to keep up on fifth yearish days, third year had been a miserable experience.

Even if the year overall did prove better, though, Marissa still wasn’t sorry that Potions was the first lesson she had. It let her get the year off on the right foot. If it wasn’t a potion that involved casting a spell at some point, which could be done with ingredients and instructions and more mundane tools, then she could even do the more advanced work in Potions without too much difficulty, and Professor Fawcett liked essay and discussion anyway, which gave her far more chances to shine than any of the actual content did. Plus, while the problems could be difficult – math wasn’t her strongest subject, and the resemblance to chemistry had gotten stronger once she hit intermediate level – the practical work was centered around being good at following directions, a subject she could have taken gold in the Olympics in.

With some time left before class started, she began flipping through the syllabi conveniently left at their seats, marking topics that looked especially interesting or difficult with a colored pencil and swinging one of her tall sandals off her left foot. The way the lecture moved between groups was a little confusing – she particularly wished that the fourth years had been told they needed to listen to both groups’ assignment before it became immediately relevant, but supposed that a lack of being looked after was just part of the whole growing up thing – but she thought she got the main ideas of everything.

She also thought she could swing the fifth year potion, but decided she’d let whoever she worked with make the final decision about that. Leaving it up to fate seemed safer than striking out and declaring what she could and couldn’t do on her own. So when Cassie Kerrigan asked her if she was working on the Draught of Peace, she smiled and said, “I can be. Whose cauldron would you rather use?”

16 Marissa Stephenson Challenge hopefully resolved? 147 Marissa Stephenson 0 5

Alessa

September 08, 2010 2:48 AM

As an Aladren, mine is supposed to be learning by Alessa

"I suppose we can use your supplies, as we're using my cauldron." Alessa supposed that was the best way to do things. "Unless you're out of anything, than we'll have to use mine, I guess." It didn't make anymore difference to her than it seemed to make to Rachel. Her cauldron was top of the line, despite the fact that Alessa wasn't supposed to even like Potions, because the Hinckleys always had the best of everything, except maybe Uncle Bernard's offspring, because he sort of shunned that kind of stuff and their mom was a muggle anyway.

Something that Alessa wasn't allowed to advertise, even though it seemed not to be a big deal anymore. A distant cousin of hers even had a half-blood half-sister. Still she wanted to do what her parents asked even if it made Alessa feel kind of icky inside. Cherry and Johnny were kind of embarassing but the Aladren did like the former at least. The latter was someone Alessa kind of hoped got disowned because he had always scared her. As for Paisley, well, the third year couldn't see anything too improper about her other than her blood. She was sort of a lot like Aunt Honeysuckle but at least Paisley wasn't a criminal and didn't have a Reputation.

As she waited for Rachel to respond, Alessa pondered what to say next. When people were around, she sort of felt it was polite to chat with them. Unfortunately, the Aladren was dreadful at small talk and even what she'd been taught seemed so awkward in a classroom setting. It was more her way to let the other person lead the conversation as Alessa usually didn't know what to say. Granted there were some subjects that she knew nothing about and didn't care about such as Quidditch and if she had to talk about them, Alessa would just sort of check out and nod politely.

It was another reason why she did not want to work with one of the Pecaris in her year. Delilah was nice enough but definitely into the sport and Nina and Jude didn't play but they might still have been fans. Though Theo and Tobar played too but they were not Pecaris and the stereotype was that Pecaris were obsessed and no other interests, such as that one second year boy, Tristan.

Besides, for all Alessa complaints about loud people and too many conversations, it was painfully awkward not to talk to someone she was working with. It was just that she liked to work with people who stayed on one subject for more than five seconds and weren't in constant motion that wasn't related to the work. Someone who didn't fool around in class. In Potions, that could be dangerous, especially when they working on something like the Shrinking Solution which Professor Fawcett said they needed gloves for.

All these contradictions in Alessa's mind frustrated her, as she couldn't articulate the difference between what she did and did not like very well. But there was a fine line between situations that seemed similar and quite frankly, Alessa didn't know how to define them to herself .

"So," she asked Rachel, "how was your summer?" Alessa hadn't actually spoken to the Crotalus yet this year, so it was a perfectly standard question, if a bit dull. But one couldn't just ask random things of someone. Unless, of course they were Quentin, who seemed to have no problem doing so. Alessa, however, while occasionally thinking her distant cousin had a point when he wasn't being entirely irritating, was not like that. She had been raised to be polite and proper and right now she was speaking to someone else who seemed to be polite and proper.

11 Alessa As an Aladren, mine is supposed to be learning 150 Alessa 0 5

Jose Hernandez

September 17, 2010 1:14 PM

A Great Start for Fourth Year! (Professor) by Jose Hernandez

Jose entered the first Potions class of the year with an air of hopeful optimism. He hadn't seen the syllabus for the year yet so there was hope they were doing a potion without animal bits in it. He had his fully restocked organic ingredient kit ready and he'd even brought his cauldron (either it was getting lighter and smaller or he was getting stronger and bigger - logic suggested the later but a disappointing comparison of his height with the other fourth years suggested the former - either way, it was a lot easier to carry than it had been three years ago).

Not only did he have an idealistic and completely unfounded hope that he'd be able to begin the potions year able to do the assigned lessons, but he also entered the classroom with a Plan. He'd checked with his parents to make sure it was okay, and they'd not only approved but had gone out of their way to provide him with all the information he'd need to implement it. He had needed to pack a whole extra trunk just to hold all the potions books they'd found for him.

See the thing was, Jose liked potions. It made his whole day if he could actually do the assignment. And while the poor marks were understandable and even applauded by his family, he didn't like seeing that grade on his report card. He felt he'd been close to an A average last year, with how hard he'd worked at the written parts and the handful of assignments he could do, but he hadn't quite managed it, and it hurt - almost how he imagined it would hurt an Aladren - to see that P sitting there next to the subject name.

This year, he had decided, would be different. He was ready for it. So after he let out a quiet cheer when the ingredient list for the more advanced potion was revealed (unicorn hair, though an animal ingredient, was almost by definition harvested in a humane and socially responsible manner - it would lose all its potency if it wasn't), he headed up to the front of the classroom to discuss his Plan with the professor.

All the potions books in the world wouldn't make a difference to his grade if Professor Fawcett said no. (The options for extra credit mentioned this year could possibly make up the difference, and let him at least reach that A, but if he was really lucky it wouldn't even come to that.)

He wanted to actually brew more than three or four potions a year.

So he approached the front desk and laid out his Plan. "Professor? Since I'm a fourth year now and solidly in the intermediate level of classes, would it be okay if I started brewing vegan alternatives to the potions we're doing in class? I've been reading about ingredient substitutions and my mom found a bunch of vegan potions books where people have already made alternatives to common animal-product potions. I can use the syllabus to find or make a revised recipe for what everyone else is doing, and get that to you before class so you can check it over. Then I can actually do some brewing this year. Do you think that would work? I mean, I'd probably have to work alone, because everyone else should be learning the standard one, but if I can do the Draught of Peace on my own today, that should prove I can handle it, right?"

1 Jose Hernandez A Great Start for Fourth Year! (Professor) 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Rachel

September 17, 2010 10:09 PM

As students, we're all supposed to specialize in that. by Rachel

Rachel nodded shortly to the agreement to use her supplies and put down the container she was carrying, beginning to open it with the hand not on the handle as she did. "I'm reasonably sure I have everything," she said. It wouldn't do for a - whatever she was - to appear unprepared in front of a Hinckley, and that went for all sides of the family. Dad had that whole responsibility thing going, there was no forgetting that her mother and uncle had both been Head Students in their days even if Momma hadn't exactly gotten through all the expected duties, and the Douglases were insanely insecure about their social standing relative to the Big Old Families of the east coast.

Personally, Rachel thought that complex was kind of stupid. What was so intrinsically superior about the east coast? It had some cool old stuff, but enough of the things people actually seemed to think were essential had migrated for that to logically have little bearing on the present. There were as many snobby families who engaged in complicated social rituals in California as there were in New York, and some of the families in the interior west managed to keep up the exact manners and customs without any of the open-to-price element that even Kate could see in the circles they mixed with.

No one, however, cared what a thirteen-year-old with a shady past thought about it, though, so she was stuck respecting the system. That meant being very aware that Alessa was from an old eastern family that had stayed eastern.

She was still separating ingredients when Alessa asked about her summer. Rachel guessed that answered the question about small talk. "Oh, it was fantastic," she said. Good things only in this situation. "My stepfather had business in Nice, so we all got to go for two weeks." She paused thoughtfully, then added, "It would have been better if I could actually speak enough Italian to order a steak, but everyone still had a lot of fun. And when we got back, we had to school shop for my sister, and I got some great new things in the bargain." She looked over the list one more time and decided that every container they needed was out in a row on the table. "I'll skin the shrivelfig if you can chop the daisy roots. How was your summer?"

16 Rachel As students, we're all supposed to specialize in that. 154 Rachel 0 5

Daniel Nash II

September 23, 2010 1:37 PM

Potioning by Daniel Nash II

Daniel entered the potions classroom with a polite nod and smile for Professor Fawcett (who was both a good teacher and Daniel's Head of House) and looked around for an empty seat. He almost bypassed the one next to Quentin simply because it was next to Quentin and he liked to spend classes learning, not watching his language for metaphors, but then he decided it was potions and sat down. Fawcett took Quentin's peculiarities into account well, and the class was precise and exacting enough that literalism probably wouldn't be a major drawback.

Besides, potions was Daniel's absolutely best class. It appealed to his perfectionism. Even a small error in measurement or a fractionally mistimed stirring could lead to complete failure on some of the harder potions, and Daniel reveled in the fact that he had never once failed to brew a potion successfully even when teamed with Pecaris or other hopeless cases, which Quentin was not. James outscored him in most of their classes, but if Daniel wasn't winning in Fawcett's it was only because they were tied.

As the lesson began, Daniel eagerly noted the opportunities for extra credit and hoped having a better than perfect score would settle that rivalry in at least the potions arena, but that would depend on James not doing the extra work, and Daniel doubted that would happen if only because James was just that annoying.

In the meantime, there was today's brew. He was glad he had chosen to sit with Quentin instead of a third year or a fourth year who may have decided to try the easier potion. It meant he didn't need to change seats. Daniel checked through his potions kit and was pleased to find all of the ingredients listed. He was glad he'd remembered to refill his supplies over the summer or he wouldn't have had enough of the moonstone, which was one of the ingredients in the placebo anxiety potion Daniel made for Holly (and advertised as a lower grade anxiety relief that wasn't as addictive as her normal kind).

"Do you have any scurvygrass? And will you work with me on this assignment?" Quentin's voice interrupted his inventory, and Daniel looked over at him.

"Yes, I do have scurvygrass, and I will work with you on this assignment," he agreed, finding it safest to answer Quentin's questions in the same order and in almost the same words as they'd been asked, instead of going with the words his mind had initially drawn up: Sounds good, and I've got it.

He considered his next idea carefully before voicing it, checking it for metaphors or ambiguity, revising it (three times), and then checking it again, "I think our best strategy is to alternate responsibility of the ingredients so the timing doesn't get too difficult. Since I have the scurvygrass, I'll work with the hellebore, the moonstone, and the scurvygrass; which leaves you with the ginger roots, Belladonna, and unicorn hair. Is that a reasonable plan?"

1 Daniel Nash II Potioning 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Professor Fawcett

September 25, 2010 3:24 PM

It does seem promising. by Professor Fawcett

John had no more than opened his copy of the Adolescent Potioneer, hoping to find some useful tips for leading the Beginning class into an appreciation of the subject, when he registered a student approaching his desk. "Mr. Hernandez," he said, a slight smile in place to mask his confusion. It was not strange thing for the fourth year not to do his potions, but he generally remained quiet while he sat back. "How can I help you today?"

His eyebrows rose slightly as Jose began to present his case. This was...not a plan that had occurred to him before, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. "Brewing the Draught of Peace independently as a fourth year would seem to indicate a certain level of skill. It's certainly good to see you take such an interest in your education," he said mildly, giving himself a moment to think. "And I suppose your proposition is logical, as it allows you to obtain needed skills in a way that conforms to your...beliefs." He took off his glasses, which had slipped, and put them back on. "My main concern is the matter of your CATS."

That was indeed a problem. The exam system was a very traditional one, and it was rare for students to be offered accomodations. Their world was not one which was very welcoming to those who refused to fit more or less into the standard mold. Which did account for quite a great number of problems, both social and otherwise.

"Work on the Draught of Peace today," he said, making up his mind. "And, in future, try to submit your...revisions to the potions to me by Friday each week so that I may check them over. I will inform you, if possible, ahead of time of any alterations I plan to make to the syllabus." The right to alter the syllabus was one he seldom exercised but cherished nonetheless. "A note from a guardian of some kind would also be helpful." He had to cover his own security for authorizing something unorthodox. "A statement of their agreement to your pursuit of an alternate program of study, and perhaps a statement of the reasoning behind it. And we will see what we can do about exams before next year." Test scores were, after all, important. That was one reason he was willing to go along with this: not only would it benefit his student, it would improve the tidiness of his when he presented his midterm and final scores to the Headmistress. "Is that satisfactory, Mr. Hernandez?"

0 Professor Fawcett It does seem promising. 0 Professor Fawcett 0 5

Quentin

September 29, 2010 9:59 AM

Always on tangents. by Quentin

Quentin smiled pleasantly when Daniel agreed to work with him. Well, he assumed it was pleasantly, anyway. That was the way he would have interpreted it and that was the intention of the expression. At one time, Quentin might have even said one couldn't smile in any way that wasn't pleasant, but that was before he'd become used to having Tawny in class with him and had inadvertantly seen some smiles on that girl's face that seemed completely contradictory. Smiles usually were meant to convey happiness or pleasantness and while Tawny's showed the former, they still were not usually very pleasant because she seemed normally happy for all the wrong reasons.

His own smile at Daniel contained none of that however. It meant he was glad to have a partner and one that was actually intelligent. There may have been tension between Daniel and James and Daniel and Juri but Quentin really didn't mind any of three. They were all Aladrens which meant at some level that they were intelligent. A stupid Aladren was like a mean Teppenpaw or cautious Pecari. It just didn't happen. (Granted, that was what Quentin said about unpleasant smiles and that had been proven wrong.)

As for Crotali, well they had a range. The ones in his own year were quite different from Marissa who was different from Jethro Smythe who was different from his relatives that had been sorted into the house. (Quentin referred to houses as such because he had no better thing to call them.) In turn, his relatives sorted into the house were different from each other, though admittedly Quentin didn't know Autumn or Ryan very well, and hadn't known Adam that well-still didn't, it was just that his older cousin was no longer at Sonora-and his impressions of Adam and Autumn were similar. He was more familiar with Kirstenna of course, and Chelsea and Alessa who were members of Aladren and Pippa who was in his year and Tawny whom he'd often had class with.

Still, he'd have been glad to work on the potion with any of his roommates or Taylor, even though Marissa would have been his first choice of partner. Especially in Potions where wands were not used and he could do any magical part of a potion.

"That sounds like a decent plan." Quentin replied. Saying that it sounded like a plan was too obvious. It was a plan, but so would it have been if Daniel had suggested something ridiculous. Saying it was more than a decent plan was overstating the fact. "I'll start on the ginger roots. Shall we use your cauldron or mine?" Quentin inquired. If he'd just asked which cauldron to use, Daniel could have responded with using any cauldron that existed, though that would have been silly. Actually he still could respond that way but Quentin had only given him those two choices. Hopefully he'd respond with one of them.

11 Quentin Always on tangents. 129 Quentin 0 5