A resolution of contradictory reports on Potions

Professor Fawcett

November 12, 2011 12:32 PM

Lesson I for Beginners (1st and 2nd Years) by Professor Fawcett

The classroom where Potions classes were held was spacious and well-ventilated for obvious reasons, and placed adjacent to the hospital wing for almost equally clear ones. Now, at the beginning of the year, it was also as close to keeping paper to a minimum – just three cases of Potions texts and periodicals at the front of the room, and the one by the door had its top occupied by a stacked set of wire baskets for the three class groups to hand in assignments and a box of tissues – as logic would dictate and a former Aladren of the classic type could help, but John didn’t expect that to last long. It never seemed to, somehow, particularly around his desk and, to a lesser extent, the smaller, lower table at its right.

Happily, there was a generous space between his desk and the first of the student seats, all two-person tables taller than normal desks, with stools instead of chairs and surfaces treated with potions and then charmed against flammability. John had checked the continued effectiveness of those himself, repeatedly, before the year began, and would periodically through the rest of it. Fires were not on the list of things he wished to deal with this year, and were one of the ones he was more capable of preventing. At the back of the room, there was a door leading to the storeroom shared with the hospital wing, a set of spickets(with basins underneath; routinely drying puddles was another thing he did not wish to do and could largely prevent) for water, and a pair of large black cabinets, one holding supplies the students might not have or have enough of, one empty for the moment.

There was little else in the room besides two long rows of posters portraying famous potioneers along the walls which did not contain the blackboard and the supplies in the back. Student projects might begin to accumulate here and there as the semester progressed – certainly the empty cabinet would be used at some point to hold long-term potions from the Advanced class – but on the first day of classes, the room was as neat as it would ever be.

A few of the posters were murmuring about it, too. John chose to ignore them.

Once the class had been gathered in and the door closed with the ringing of the bell, he stood before the first and second years, feeling somewhat taller even than usual in front of those who generally included the school’s smallest students. “Good morning,” he said. “I am, for those who do not know me, Professor Fawcett, your Potions instructor.” He opened a red folder and removed a sheet of paper. “Please answer when I call your name from the roll.”

He finished that, getting through all the new first years’ names without emphasizing or, he thought, badly mispronouncing any of them, and then waved his wand, causing a packet of papers to go to each student. The second years would know what it was, but he explained for the benefit of the new students. “This is your syllabus. I suggest you keep it somewhere safe, somewhere you will be able to refer to it regularly, because you have before you what we are – unless I tell you otherwise – to study each class period until midterm, along with descriptions of your major assignments.” The projects they would work on this year paled in comparison with what lay ahead of the Advanced class, but they would be taken seriously nevertheless.

“I would also like to draw your attention to the section entitled ‘Classroom Rules and Procedures.’ You are going to be interacting with dangerous materials in this class, as has every class I have taught this subject to, and I do not intend for this to be the first class in which there is serious injury. If you are having difficulty, I am prepared to work with you to find a solution, but if you cause trouble in my classroom, I assure you, I will see to it that you are punished to the fullest extent allowable.”

He smiled then. “If you do not cause trouble, however, we can get along very well, and you may have an informative and, I hope, enjoyable experience in Potions. Now. Everyone take out your textbooks.”

He rearranged his syllabi every year, tinkering and adjusting, experimenting with different ideas and bits of educational theory in the half-conscious hope that he would eventually discover the ideal way to organize each level and perhaps come to be considered something of an authority on the subject. This year, he was taking the tact of beginning the class on a bit of a challenging note – not too much, not out of their league, but something that wouldn’t bore the second years to tears and which they could all have a use for. It would, if his recollections of being eleven were anything to go by – he was technically, he supposed, a half-blood, but had been a good bit older than these children when he finally found out his mother was a witch; sometimes, he thought that she really had convinced herself that her five years as a Muggleborn Crotalus had never happened until he and Carlene both turned out to have magic – hook the Muggleborns, and even the pureblooded children might want to send images of their new classmates and school and themselves home to Mother and Father and whatever other family they were particularly close or obliged to.

“Muggle photographs, as you may or may not know, are generally stationary – that is to say, the images in them do not move.” He said ‘generally’ because he had just enough contact with the Muggle world to know they were starting to do some interesting things with portraiture, and he would rather not be corrected by the Muggleborn version of Mr. Melcher on the first day of class. “In the magical world, however, they do, something which is accomplished through the use of a specific potion during the development of the photographs. This is what you will work on today.”

He tapped the board with his wand, and a list of instructions appeared, printed rather than in his handwriting to give the students every sliver of advantage. “This potion requires considerable attention to detail, so feel free to group yourselves between years for it if you wish. Take care with your counting and your crushing, and to add each ingredient in the proper order.” One of the good things about this potion was that it was not very volatile even if it went wrong in most ways, but he saw no need to tell them that just yet. "The ingredients are eight cups of water, seven powdered shrivelfig pits - you'll need to crush them yourselves - two boiled murtlap leaves, thirty-two crushed fairy eggs, five hippocampus scales, and one unicorn tail hair. It is a long list of ingredients, but the potion itself is not complex. Just be very sure to fully crush the shrivelfig pits, count the fairy eggs, and stir the correct number of times after putting in the unicorn tail hair. You may work together in class, but I expect your homework short answer assignments, from the syllabus, to be done individually. You may begin."

OOC: Welcome, all, to Term 15 Potions! Standard posting rules apply: 200 words minimum, no writing for other characters, decent spelling and grammar, and keep your part of the story realistic. That said, have fun!

Subthreads:

Pictures of You by David Kim [Aladren] with Brianna Japos (Crotalus), David

Say Cheese! by Shiloh Romano [Crotalus] with Cepheus Princeton - Crotalus, Shiloh, Cepheus Princeton

I think I can, I think I can by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren with Waverly Canterbury - Pecari, Kitty

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw with Valerie Lennox, Crotalus, Angel

Picture Perfect by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus with Alicia Bauer, Gareth

A resolution of contradictory reports by Theresa Carey with Arabella Brockert, Pecari, Theresa

A challenge? by Nora Dobson, Aladren with Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

Pictures!! by Jhonice Trevear - Pecari with Thaddeus Pierce II

Not a total beginner anymore. by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari with Michael Grosvenor, Teppenpaw

Beginning in Beginning Potions by Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

Caring would help...but it would also take effort by Paul Bennett, Crotalus with Linus Macaulay

0 Professor Fawcett Lesson I for Beginners (1st and 2nd Years) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

David Kim [Aladren]

November 12, 2011 9:23 PM

Pictures of You by David Kim [Aladren]

It had been four days, sixteen hours, and thirty-three minutes since David last spoke to someone regarding a subject that did not involve the current classroom assignment or where to find a particular classroom. (Somehow, it had become known that David's internal compass was of a slightly superior quality than other's own; he had his suspicions as to who had spread that knowledge.) David wasn't lamenting the non-existence of idle chatter; he was used to that sort of thing. He couldn't blame his classmates entirely for the situation, either. He had enough self awareness to know that he didn't exactly exude friendliness.

A small part of him, the part of him that was keeping track of the passing time and other odd trends such as who turned away from him when he sat down to eat, or who spoke a little less whenever he neared, couldn't help but wish that there had been at least one person he'd grown comfortable enough with to consider a friend. There was Brianna, of course, but he was reluctant to approach her, even when it was her dark hair and small figure that he looked for every time he entered a room. David couldn't help his gaze from doing so now, as he walked quietly into the Potions classroom and took a seat at an empty table in the middle.

Professor Fawcett's introduction was similar to the year prior's, but its familiarity wasn't annoying. It allowed David the chance to sort through his potions kit, neaten his tablet of bound parchment, and study his mortar and pestle for any potential cracks since the last semester. He was quick to put away the syllabus, as directed, and equally as quick to jot down the instructions for the potion. It was easier on his eyes and neck to not have to constantly look up at the board when focusing on dicing or pulverizing. Plus, he learned better by note-taking; once written, he had it fairly memorized. It was a neat trick, and he often wondered why others didn't take better advantage of it.

Before turning to exchange opening remarks with his partner, David removed his school robes, rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, and pinned back the heavy locks of black hair that liked to fall over his brow once the heat and moisture of the potions-brewing grew. Every potions class, he waited for someone to make a comment on the bobby-pin he used to keep back his bangs, convinced that surely someone would. No one had, as of yet, but his defenses were not yet willing to lower.

"Which do you want," he began without preamble or introduction, his voice sounding brusque despite his intentions otherwise, "the boiling of the murtlap leaves, or the crushing of the shrivelfig pits?"

0 David Kim [Aladren] Pictures of You 0 David Kim [Aladren] 0 5

Shiloh Romano [Crotalus]

November 12, 2011 10:03 PM

Say Cheese! by Shiloh Romano [Crotalus]

The Romano estate was more of compound than a typical manor. It sat on a 38 acre plot of coastal plain, with the main house situated at the far back of the land. Four smaller buildings surrounded the main one, including a 105 foot tower that presently acted as Shiloh's father's literal tower of solitude. He ran his various 'business' dealings from within the tower and she was expressly forbidden from entering, no matter what. Shiloh considered the tower a living source of insatiable curiosity. Whenever she wrote a story, or dreamt up a play, she always included a tower. Sometimes the tower housed forgotten princesses; sometimes it kept dangerous dragons.

Of her father's tower, Shiloh only knew of one detail, and she only knew of it because she had once overheard Carolina, one of the maids, whispering about it with the cook. According to Carolina, a "Mr. Rimble is always going about from the tower; his lab must be in there!" Mr. Rimble was a very tall, thin man, with startling red hair and a slight stoop to his shoulders. He never spoke at the various dinner parties Shiloh's parents threw, and always stood in the far back of the room, dressed in continuous black. Shiloh had found out, only through the most stubborn of questioning, that Mr. Rimble was her father's apothecary. A hunt through the dictionary had told her what that meant. The dictionary hadn't, however, explained why her father would need a Mr. Rimble, let alone needing a Mr. Rimble's lab.

The tower's mystery only deepened after these discoveries, and somewhere along the years, Shiloh had associated potions with that mystery. She so very much was looking forward to her first potions lesson, even though potions had been one of the subjects her mother had advised her to not worry about too much. 'Potions,' her mother had said, 'was not the sort of subject people speak of in polite society, especially women.' Shiloh felt only a smidge guilty about her excitement; surely it couldn't be as bad as all that? Right?

Whatever reluctance she might have had regarding the class and subject entirely disappeared once she realized what they were to learn with that day's lesson. Oh but she did love photographs. Whenever she missed her brothers, which was fairly often despite their infrequent presence in her life growing up, she only ever needed to take down their various photographs from the walls and prop them up around her at the table. Her brothers made much better tea party companions than dolls and stuffed bears.

Shiloh contained her excitement long enough to tuck away her syllabus with extra care. And then, with equal consideration, she tightly braided back her dark brown hair and folded away her robes. As loathe as she was to possibly stain her neatly starched blouse and light blue skirt, she was equally as loathe to set herself on fire by catching a billowing sleeve on the flame. Necessary ablutions taken care of, she pivoted on her stool to face her partner.

"I'm Shiloh Romano," she began, pointing to herself, "very nice to meet you." She left off the bit about her father and grandfather, having already tired of the prolonged introduction during the past week. "How would you like to begin?" And, not missing a beat despite the non-sequitor of it, "Do you think we'll be allowed to keep our photographs?"

0 Shiloh Romano [Crotalus] Say Cheese! 0 Shiloh Romano [Crotalus] 0 5

Brianna Japos (Crotalus)

November 13, 2011 12:29 AM

There aren't very many. Film is expensive. by Brianna Japos (Crotalus)

Brianna had enjoyed Potions as much as anyone could last year, but she had only good feelings for it because of the lesson they had in the fake forest. She was not the best at potions. But then, she wasn’t sure if she was very good at much of anything other than being a Human Target for everyone. Spell work was okay for the most part, but it took her plenty of practices before she ever really managed to get the spell to work right. The same seemed to hold true for Potions. Unless she found a partner who did it well enough, Brianna always messed up the potion. It took her reviewing her notes and the book a half a dozen times before she finally figured out what she had done wrong. She didn’t want to have to go through so much review this year and was hoping to find a partner who was patient enough to work her through it.

She watched people file into the room, noting all the new first years as she did. She wasn’t sure if she would have much contact with the newest members of the school, but it never hurt to know who they were. In her wandering moment, Brianna’s eyes caught David taking a seat at another table. She had thought that they had some sort of connection during last years Defense Against the Dark Arts when they had helped one another avoid being Stupified, but after the lesson, David didn’t even look at her. She knew she was pretty useless with things, but she hadn’t thought she had done so terribly as to have him hate her.

Before Fawcett began the lesson, Brianna grabbed her bag and sat beside David. She really hoped he didn’t mind her sitting with him, but she wasn’t sure she have a better opportunity to talk to him. She couldn’t say anything though because as soon as she sat down, Fawcett had begun, but she did give him a side glance and found he didn’t seem upset (or didn’t notice that she sat down next to him). Although she was no good at Potions, she liked Professor Fawcett’s structure. Everything was laid out for them for each half of term, so that she could review by herself before hand if she needed to. And she usually did.

At least the potion was something she had used in the past. Maybe not made herself, but definitely used. She pulled out her pathetic potion kit (she almost always used what the Professor offered to them) and began to pull out the ingredients (definitely did not have that many fairy eggs) when David spoke. His tone suggested he might not be happy that she was his partner. Brianna felt let down by that because she had enjoyed working with him last year. “Oh…” She mumbled quietly as she thought about it. “I can boil the murtlap leaves, if you’d like.” She said after a moment of looking at her things before daring to look at him, “I don’t think I’d crush the shrivelfig pits right.” When she looked at him, she smiled in a friendly manner, but her small dainty hands gave way to her anxiety because she fumbled with her ingredients.

0 Brianna Japos (Crotalus) There aren't very many. Film is expensive. 0 Brianna Japos (Crotalus) 0 5

Cepheus Princeton - Crotalus

November 13, 2011 12:31 AM

Can't I say something else? by Cepheus Princeton - Crotalus

Potions. The sound of it was music to Cepheus's ears. It was a class he hoped to excell in, besides DADA, of course. As he walked to class, memories of his mother brewing potions of all kinds came to mind, and the smell of them was always so intoxicating. She was a very skilled potions brewer, though she did it as her hobby. He never knew what she did with the finished potions, but he didn't care about that. The way she always talked to him about every little step when he asked, curious, and let him watch her; those were the memories that made him weak in the eyes of his father, but they were his favourite memories nonetheless.

He walked into class and sat next to a fellow Crotalus he recognised from the first day of school. He put his bag down and then looked at his professor, appraising him. Apparently they were going to do something with photographs. He'd never questioned how the photographs moved; that's just how they were. The mention of muggles made his nose wrinkle slightly. He'd rather just learn how to make the potion instead of learn about their origin.

The syllabus was thick, and he put it away in his bag, making sure that it didn't get crushed underneath his textbooks. He listened to the rest of the professor's directions and then it was time to begin the potion. Finally. Cepheus ran his fingers across his forehead, making sure his blonde hair wasn't out of its perfectly combed and slightly gelled formation. He didn't want it to get in his way, especially in potions.

The girl next to him, his partner, introduced herself, and he was glad to put a name to a face. His eyebrows furrowed at the sight of her muggle clothing, but he quickly steeled his facial features back to normal. "Cepheus Princeton, pureblood of England," he told her, his thick British accent revealing his origin. The introductory words came almost automatically now. "How do you do?"

How to begin. Well, that was simple enough. Cepheus, being the eldest son in his family, was used to being the leader. That's how his father had trained him, anyway. "You can start the flame under the cauldron and I'll go get the ingredients. Then we can go from there." He rolled up his sleeves, making sure they wouldn't fall down. He couldn't wait to start the potion. It would give him at least a little glimpse of home. "Never mind keeping the photographs; how will we take them?" He didn't see any cameras around. "I hope we do, though. It'd be nice to send a photograph or two home." Ah. Had to stay away from the subject of home.

"All right," he said, coming back to the present. "We'll need water, seven powdered shrivelfig pits, two boiled murtlap leaves, thirty-two crushed fairy eggs, five hippocampus scales, and one unicorn tail hair." He thought for a moment. "On another thought, I'll get the knife and cutting board and the other tools." He gave a little smile at Shiloh. "We'll make a good team." He nodded, as if saying "Go team!" with his icy blue eyes (something he would never say outloud), and turned to get the tools.

0 Cepheus Princeton - Crotalus Can't I say something else? 0 Cepheus Princeton - Crotalus 0 5

David

November 13, 2011 1:40 AM

David wants to fix that. by David

David felt frozen, his gaze immediately arrested. Blood rushed to his face, his cheeks instantly drenched in an embarrassing red. Brianna. How did he miss her crossing the classroom to join him? He forced his gaze down to his hands, willing them to busy themselves with something, anything to still his suddenly racing heart. She was entirely too close and he was utterly unprepared for that.

"Brianna. . ." his fingers seized on his mortar and pestle, "I, uh, didn't realize that you had-- that is. . ." David took a breath and then slowly exhaled. "That's fine, I mean. I'll take care of the shrivelfigs."

He bent forward, in an attempt to cut out Brianna's profile from the periphery. Resolutely, he counted out his shrivelfigs. On his fourth recount, he closed his eyes and took a second deep breath. This was ridiculous. Why did he feel so nervous? Why did it feel like his heart was about to leap out of his chest? This was just. . . David put the first of the shrivelfigs into his mortar and began crushing with the pestle. He forced his mind to consider only the motion of his hand and worked slowly through the powdering of each of the seven, until, at the end of it, after a good five minutes of solid silence, his chest finally calmed and his cheeks no longer felt warm.

It was silly, he decided, to react this way. Brianna was the closest thing he had to a friend, and from what he knew of friendships, they did not consist of these sorts of strange feelings. Books always wrote of engaging conversations and occasional laughter. On television, friends confided in each other, drew comfort from each other. Hadn't that happened last year? It was only for that brief lesson, yes, but David had felt it then. Comforted. And throughout the summer, he had drawn that same feeling up again from his memory each time he had thought of her, pictured her smiling and laughing in that green dress she had worn at the ball. Talking to her now, then; working with her in class-- it shouldn't be strange or weird.

He was fine. She was fine. They were friends and classmates. Completely normal. David looked up and away from the shrivelfigs, lips parted to inquire after the murtlap leaves.

He was lost again the moment he caught sight of Brianna's brown eyes once more. He found himself speaking without realizing, and his words were not what he wanted to share. "I wrote you this summer. A letter. But I didn't have your address."

0 David David wants to fix that. 0 David 0 5

Shiloh

November 13, 2011 2:16 AM

You may also say 'peas.' by Shiloh

Shiloh nodded solemnly as a small part of her brain devoted itself to wondering whether there was a distinction to be drawn between Purebloods of the United States and Purebloods of England. She was used to introductions calling on family names and patriarchal titles, and on some people including a county or state to differentiate themselves from other familial branches. But using a whole country as the descriptor? She wondered if, perhaps, in England, that was how they did things. Or maybe there was one really big important family that belonged specifically to England and all the rest were just lesser branches.

She wanted to ask, but it didn't seem like the time or place. Instead she smiled somewhat dimly and prattled out the appropriate response. "Very well, thank you."

Shiloh obediently began her preparations to light the fire for the cauldron, but stopped just as suddenly when distracted by the obvious. "You're so right! Oh, we must get a camera then before class's end. We'll need to take a lot, though. I want to send one to each of my brothers, my parents, and Mr. Georges. Do you think Professor Fawcett has one for us to use?" She craned her neck to catch a glimpse of her professor, hoping to make eye-contact. Disappointed, she slumped back down. "I guess I'll ask when we're done then."

Shiloh smiled back encouragingly at Cepheus's pronouncement. She agreed; they would make a wonderful team! She couldn't help, though, (in between thoughts of team comraderie and friendship) but be curious about Cepheus's name. Pureblood families did like their Greek and Latin names. She wondered what it meant; it was always a good sort of game to guess at these things. She considered her housemate for a brief moment, brown eyes far too intent, and not realizing that her stare was rather blatant and probably more than a little off-putting. He did have awfully blue eyes. Maybe it had something to do with blue. . .

"Oh, well, I have loads of ingredients if that's what you mean." To provide evidence of this, she opened the dark green velveteen case that sat near her feet and began the hefty task of bringing its contents out on the table. The bag was kindly charmed to fit far more than its outward size would think, and from within she pulled out no less than four different ingredient kits. "I think I might even have enough faerie eggs. I think I can handle crushing those. I just have to use this," she reached into her case for another item, withdrawing a rather large mortar and pestle that dwarfed her hands, "thing, right?"

0 Shiloh You may also say 'peas.' 0 Shiloh 0 5

Brianna

November 13, 2011 2:58 AM

If you have a camera and film, you can. by Brianna

She knew it from the moment David started to speak that he was disappointed that she had sat down beside him. He wanted someone else to be his partner. She couldn’t blame him. She was useless. There was nothing good to ever come from her. This she knew from years of being told so. And after coming here and finding that what should come naturally to her, didn’t. She had to do so much extra studying and practice before she finally was able to perform the spell correctly. David had figured out how horrible she was at all this from their one lesson together and now he was upset because she had sat down beside him instead of staying in her initial seat.

“Right…okay…” Brianna said quietly, unsure as to what to do. She wanted to apologize for having disturbed him and for having switched seats on him, but she didn’t. She had opened her mouth a couple of times to do it, but each time she closed it again. He was busy with the shrivelfigs and she didn’t want to make him upset by disturbing him. Instead, she set up the material and watched as the murtlap leaves floated in the water. It would take a couple of minutes before it was boiling, but she didn’t want to burn it.

She watched the leaves in silence. Elbows on the table, hands folded, chin resting on them. She will remain as quiet as David needed her to be because she didn’t want to upset him anymore than she already did. Her attention returned to him, however, when he spoke again. Surprise registered first before it faded away into what she thought was excitement mixed with glee at the idea that he had been thinking of her enough to want to write her a letter. “You did?” She asked him, unable to stop from smiling at the thought. “I would have loved to get letters. Summers are always so lo…quiet.” She was about to say lonely, but she felt that might make her look pathetic.

Picking up her quill, Brianna pulled his parchment where he had written his notes close to her. In a free corner, Brianna wrote down her address, her handwriting loopy, but small in order to save space. “There, now you have it.” She advised, giving his parchment back to him. The murtlap leaves were boiling now, so she removed them from the heat and set them aside, she looked to him for further instruction but also because she wanted to keep their conversation going, “How was your summer, David? Did you get to have any fun?”

0 Brianna If you have a camera and film, you can. 0 Brianna 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

November 13, 2011 4:16 PM

I think I can, I think I can by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

There were many wonderful and fantastical things the magical world had to offer, as Kitty was willing to attest to anyone who would listen (among family of course, never to outsiders, she could keep a secret). But Potions…Potions were pure evilness incarnate. Last term Kitty had managed to pass the class only because her every written assignment was perfect. But, she managed to botch every single potion she’d attempted last year.

A gusty sigh escaped the normally excitable young girl as she trudged into the Potions classroom for another year of ruined potions ingredients. It was one of those subjects that students either got, or they didn’t. And when they didn’t it was usually in a big way. Kitty hoped that whoever her desk partner was they turned out to have some amazing potions skills so that they’d be able to help salvage her sure to be future disaster.

It took a small hop to get up on the stool, which seemed rather unfair to the tiny girl. She was a second year now, shouldn’t she be bigger than the first years? Sadly, she was still tiny and it was likely that Kitty wouldn’t get any taller than her mother who stood at 5’2. Genetics doomed her to being short for life, even though her dad was super tall apparently that gene skipped her entirely.

The Professor gave his lecture, and Kitty dutifully took notes, not that they’d help her in the end. No matter how detailed she was something always went awry. Not this time! This time it’s going to go right, everything will be added in the proper proportions, the turns will be turned in the right direction and nothing NOTHING is going to go wrong! Kitty amended as she stood to gather up the ingredients needed to compete the super awesome potion. She’d always wondered how the magic world got their pictures to move and she just hoped she could get the potion right because it sounded really neat.

Kitty accidentally stepped on her desk partner’s foot when she jumped off the stool. “Oh my gosh I’m sorry!” She exclaimed, hoping she hadn’t hurt them, even though she hardly weighed anything at all.

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren I think I can, I think I can 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

November 13, 2011 4:38 PM

Me too! Me too! by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

Waverly bounded into potions class, excited. She remembered being this excited for every first day of school back when she attended a muggle school. But this was so much more fun! They'd be learning about magic! Waverly could hardly contain her excitement. She sat next to someone and then pulled out her pretty, special notebook, the notebook she had been saving for such a momentous occasion as this. It matched, too; it had butterflies and fairies on the cover. Her mom had given it to her for Christmas, and she liked it an awful lot.

Waverly pulled out a pen and began to take notes, big green eyes watching the professor's every movement, ears soaking up everything he was saying. It was all so interesting! She had no idea that magical photographs had a whole process to make them move! That was really cool. Waverly really, really, really wanted to take pictures to send to her family. They'd love it!

This potions class was all so interesting, but at the same time seemed really simple. So they mixed ingredients and made sure to be careful and to do it all at the right time. Easy enough. Waverly nodded and finished her notes, put her pen down, and then got down off the stool. She gasped a little when her partner landed on her foot.

"Ow," she said, automatically lifting her foot. She remembered she was wearing shoes, so she put her foot back down. "It's okay," she said. So far her experience at this school hadn't been the greatest, but she wanted to change that! "I guess we'll be partners," she said, and smiled brightly. "I'm Waverly!"

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Me too! Me too! 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

November 13, 2011 5:13 PM

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

Angel stared at himself in the mirror for a long time, his red gaze studying the green school robe draped over his scrawny frame. The middling shade looked unnatural on him, not black or white as he was accustomed to wearing. It is the same for all, no one will laugh Angel reassured himself as he turned his back on the image in the mirror. With slightly faltering steps Angel made his way to the potions classroom, worry eating away at him as he struggled to remain calm.

The stone floor was cold against the soles of his feet but Angel didn’t feel uncomfortable with the chill. His school robes were two sizes too big, hiding his feet from curious eyes. Quickly he found a seat in the front of the class in front of the Professor’s desk. He dutifully pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill and his ink well as the Professor handed out packets of information to each of the students. He took one in his pale hand and looked it over, knowing he’d have to go back later and painstakingly read though it line by line. There wasn’t enough time now for that so he set it aside.

A few half drawn words dotted the parchment as the Professor lectured the students. Angel quickly found that his slow halting words were in no way able to keep up with the man’s speech so he stopped writing, settling on focusing his attention on the Professor instead. As he listened, pale finger tips began picking apart the edges of the quill. The lecture progressed, and Angel’s quill became more and more tattered.

When they were released to begin the potion Angel stood and moved silently with the rest of the students to gather the ingredients. Subtly Angel watched the other students and took what they did in the same proportions. Once the ingredients had been secured Angel returned to his seat and carefully set each one down as he examined them with gentle finger tips. His pale pink lips moved slowly as he counted out seven shrivelfig pits. Picking the pits up one slipped between Angel’s fingers and rolled over to the other side of the desk. Crimson eyes tracked the pit and Angel glanced up to the student sitting next to him.

0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw ... 0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw 0 5

Cepheus Princeton

November 13, 2011 5:52 PM

I'd like to stay away from the food category, if you peas. by Cepheus Princeton

Cepheus was glad that he had brought up the subject of cameras. She wanted to take a lot of photographs? As much as he enjoyed being in the spotlight, he didn't think he'd be able to stand taking photos of someone else for a long period of time. Hopefully there'd be an enchanted camera that would take photographs for them. But he just nodded and didn't pursue the topic. He would like to send a photo back home. It was lucky that he wasn't extremely close to his extended family, except for Aunt Ceci and Dorian. There weren't loads of photos to send.

Cepheus looked over at Shiloh, wondering if she had something else to say. She had been awfully--why was she staring at him like that? She didn't seem to be zoning out, but was just staring at him. Quite intently. He returned the stare for a moment before feeling strange and averting his gaze to the cauldron in front of them. That was weird. Cepheus didn't have any other words for that moment. Shiloh began another topic, replying to his question about ingredients, and he wondered if she was aware that she had just stared him down. Girls were strange creatures, that was for sure.

Shiloh had the ingredients and, apparently, the supplies too. "You're all prepared," he noted with a little smirk. "Seems like I won't have any work to do." He leant back with a little teasing grin, pretending to put the whole potion into her hands. For some reason, he felt much more comfortable in the presence of girls, even if they were Americans. Even muggle-borns, apparently. Waverly had been easy to talk to too. He supposed it was because he was mostly worried about impressing the blokes and gaining their friendships just for their family connections. With girls, it was a little different. A comfortable different. He couldn't imagine teasing a bloke like this. The thought just made him shiver.

"Do you want to begin crushing, then?" he asked. "Since you forgot to finish lighting the flame, I'll do that, and then add the ingredients you're finished with." He liked to watch the potion change once he'd added the specific ingredients. It was all so fascinating. He smiled at Shiloh and then began to light the flame.

40 Cepheus Princeton I'd like to stay away from the food category, if you peas. 216 Cepheus Princeton 0 5

Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

November 13, 2011 11:28 PM

Picture Perfect by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Like every Whitebriar child, potions held a special place in Gareth’s heart. His mother was a hobby potionist and each of the children spent time helping her brew on cold rainy days when they were trapped in the house. Her still room was not fancy but it was a place that held warmth and quiet laughter lingering in the air along with the shimmering fumes of gently bubbling caldrons. So while the potions class room bore no resemblance to his mother’s still room, and the Professor was clearly not his mother, he still felt comfortable taking a seat.

Looking over the syllabus Gareth made note of the potions he’d brewed with his mother, as well as potions he’d never tried before. Satisfied with the terms curriculum Gareth took out some parchment and his quill to take notes in his spindly script as the professor spoke. He could almost hear Mr. Armand groaning in his head at the scrunched writing that while legible was a nightmare for anyone but Gareth to read.

Even he hadn’t known the method of making photos move was potions based. It was one of those things that were so common Gareth had never questioned the whys or hows behind their creation. It made him wonder for a moment what other everyday items were created in part though potions. I shall have to write mother about this, she’d love brewing this potion Gareth jotted a small note send a letter to her so he wouldn’t forget.

Teamwork was a new concept to Gareth in the realm of academics. Mr. Armand always insisted the Whitebriar brothers complete their work on their own and not complete assignments together. So, working with perfect strangers was going to be a change of pace. Finishing off his notes he glanced up to the student sharing his table and said “Partners?” The word was more a question of the concept that asking to be partners.

0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus Picture Perfect 0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus 0 5

Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

November 14, 2011 9:27 AM

Concern by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

Valerie could feel a headache building as she walked into Potions the first lesson of her second year. She remembered the first lesson she'd went to last year and sincerely hoped that Professor Fawcett didn't have anything as strenuous as a scavenger hunt planned that day. Valerie had wanted desperately to have fun with that, but she just hadn't been able to. It had been too much for her.

Then again, maybe it wasn't proper to like things like that anyway. That made Valerie feel better, well, mentally anyway. Young ladies were not supposed to be athletic or wild. They were supposed to prefer the stationary pursuits in life such as embroidery or knitting. Valerie was learning to do both as they were things that she could do when she was stuck in bed for long periods of time.

Besides, she doubted she would be inclined towards more active hobbies even if she were well and not a young pureblood lady but as this was her station in life, Valerie had never really given it much thought. It wasn't even an option. Why, the Crotalus hadn't even been able to take flying lessons last year! She hadn't minded not doing it, aside from worrying that other pureblood girls might resent her. Valerie tried to downplay any special treatment her illness gave her as much as possible.

Although, she doubted that even the most proper young lady would want to trade places with her, to be constantly-and sometimes rather seriously-ill, just in order to avoid hovering in the air a bit. Who would want to be in Valerie's situation where everything was a struggle? Where she barely even functioned a good portion of the time? What the second year had told Brianna at the feast was true, sometimes she just wanted to be normal, even she didn't possess any desire to fly or anything. Valerie simply hated the idea that someone might dislike her or think she was making a big deal out of nothing, that she was a hypochondriac or that she was exaggerating in order to get out of things that a lot of pureblood girls really didn't want to do.

Valerie managed to make her way to the Potions classroom, her headache increasing. The closest seat she found to the door was at one of the two person tables in front of the professor's desk. Valerie sat down. She always tried to sit as close to the door as possible, as to not wear herself out by walking too much.

She glanced anxiously at the other person at her table, a boy who was possibly paler than she was. The Crotalus hoped that he wasn't sick, both because Valerie knew how awful it was to be so and because she didn't want to catch whatever he had. Of course, the fact that she was in the same room as him period meant she was exposed already to anything he might have had.

He was also probably going to be the person that Valerie ended up working with on today's lesson. So, she hoped that he was nice. The second year remembered the cold way David had treated her last year. It still baffled her, as she honestly didn't know what she had done wrong. Valerie chose not to think about it that much, because it would just make her feel bad.

The Crotalus listened attentively to Professor Fawcett. She didn't want to miss anything, even if her headache was making it a bit difficult to concentrate. Once the professor was done speaking. Valerie put a pair of gloves on and got her ingredients out. She was working on getting them in order when she felt someone looking at her. She turned to see the pale boy looking in her direction, noticing how red his eyes were. Did he have pinkeye? "Are you okay?" Valerie asked. "Your eyes are awfully red."

She was concerned for them both. The frail second year did not want pinkeye and she really didn't wish it on this boy either. Valerie was also a bit mad at herself for that being the first thing she thought of-it seemed so selfish, she would hate if others avoided her because they were afraid she might be contagious- but that was how she'd been conditioned, to always worry about illness and getting sick before anything else.

11 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus Concern 204 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus 0 5

Alicia Bauer

November 14, 2011 3:56 PM

Why, thank you. by Alicia Bauer

Potions, Alicia knew, was a subject she was going to have to do very well in. Her Head of House was the professor, and one of her sisters was in the Advanced class. That meant there was a good chance she’d be noticed, not just allowed to blend in with the crowd, which meant being on top of everything all the time. The adults, she knew, were as important as the other students to win over if she wanted to do well here.

She paid very careful attention through the long speech, ruthlessly forcing her attention back to Fawcett every time her eyes wanted to wander to the turn of someone else’s head or the syllabus in front of her or the details of the room or something like that, taking notes in a small, neat hand on the top page of her pristine, still obviously new notebook. She, unlike her sisters, had been too small when their parents split up to have really had any lessons yet, so she had learned all her letters from expensive tutors, but it had been her mother who would make her write things over and over, no matter how angry or tearful she got, until her penmanship was good enough to satisfy Emily. Her mother was always more demanding than the tutors, and one of the things she was curious about at school was whether her mother would also be more demanding than the professors.

At the end of the speech – this speech, anyway – she relaxed by a hair. It sounded like Professor Fawcett was going to be reasonable. They knew what it was they were going to have to do, they would be given the resources to do it with, and then it was up to them if they did it or not. If she was right about that and about him, then this class wasn’t going to be one of the ones she really had to worry about. That still left the rest of them, but she was content to just look at this one right now.

Once she found the potion they were going to be working on in her book, she looked over it quickly, reading the ingredients and instructions. It was very specific, which she liked – there were a few in the book which included directions involving ‘dashes’ and such, things that were not easy to properly measure – but it was definitely something she’d have to concentrate on to get right. Counting out the small ingredients was going to be the most challenging part; she wondered if she should insist on doing that herself. It might put someone off if they thought she didn’t trust them, but she did not want to get anything wrong.

She looked at the person sharing her table, her brown eyes momentarily sharp as she took their measure and made up her mind about that. Then she smiled and said, “I guess so. I’m Alicia Bauer, Arizona Bauers.” Risky, since his robes said he was a Crotalus and had Rachel and Sam both for prefects, but Crotali were also the most likely to be purebloods, and he sounded foreign, which increased the chances – and helped with other things. “Is there anything - any part - you especially want to do?”

16 Alicia Bauer Why, thank you. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Angel

November 14, 2011 9:31 PM

... by Angel

“Yes.” He said softly, the word held the gentle flavor of Georgia its low tone almost going unheard under the rise and fall of young voices breaking off into pairs and figuring out who would do what. Your eyes are awfully red. Her words caused him to drop his crimson gaze as he slowly reached out to pick up the escaped shrivelfig pit that had fallen on her side of the desk. It took him a moment to understand what she meant as he’d never had anyone question his condition before. They all simply recognized the snow white skin, ash colored hair and red eyes. “Albino.” He offered by way of explanation.

The soft tink, tink, tink of the seven pits was heard as Angel dropped them into the black marble mortar. Potions wasn’t a subject he’d been tutored in so the young albino watched the other students, mimicking their behaviors when he didn’t know what to do next. Seeing everyone else working together in pairs Angel glanced sideways towards the girl sharing his desk again. Would she be upset working with him? he wondered as he carefully pushed a small container of fairy eggs towards her side, silently instructing her to do the counting if she wished to.

Angel took the pestle in pale slender fingers, his hold clearly showing that it was a tool he’d never operated before. Gently he placed the end of the pestle into the mortar on top of the pits and gave it an experimental push before lifting it and looking down at the still quite solid pits. Again he glanced subtly around the room, watching as other students pushed down hard, twisting the pestle to aid in crushing the pits. Another attempt, he had to push much harder than he expected the task to take and after only a few moments he was panting softly and the pits were only half crushed. His ghostly pale cheeks were flushed with his efforts and Angel had to set the mortar aside to catch his breath feeling slightly dizzy with his exertions.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Gareth

November 15, 2011 1:21 AM

You;re welcome by Gareth

“Gareth Whitebriar of House Blackbriar, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He said, his welsh accent blurring the words around the edges as Gareth gave Alicia a smile. Sharing the task of potions making wasn’t new to Gareth as he often helped his mother so he easily took charge of sorting out who should do what. “If you don’t mind I can grind the shrivelfig pits while you count out the other ingredients.” From experience he knew that the pits were difficult to grind down into powder and that it would take a few minutes to get it refined enough for the potion.

It only took a moment to count out seven of the pits and place them in the mortar. The pestle was dwarfed in his hand, large even at age eleven. But, his movements held a familiarity that spoke of experience and with practiced twists Gareth began reducing the pits to a fine powder. It wasn’t the most interesting task in the world, but given his size and youthful strength grinding was a task often given to him. The practiced movements were soothing in nature and after a few minutes he checked to make sure the pits had been fully pulverized before glancing at Alicia.

“How goes it?” Gareth asked as he set aside the newly powdered shiverlfig pits before looking over the directions once more.

0 Gareth You;re welcome 0 Gareth 0 5

Kitty

November 15, 2011 1:42 AM

Two’s way better than one by Kitty

“Are you sure?” Kitty asked with wide sky blue eyes, looking worriedly at Waverly. “Hi Waverly! Nice to meet you, I’m Kitty. I hope you’re good at potions.” She said with a grin. It hadn’t taken much to realize that Waverly was one of the newbies, and her introduction marked her as not one of the magic kids Uh oh, well maybe she’ll be a natural? It wasn’t too big of a stretch after all, Kitty was naturally horrible at potions, so it was safe to assume that a fellow muggleborn might be awesome at them. Oh well, she could hope right?

It didn’t take very long to gather up the ingredients before returning to the table. Methodically Kitty set each ingredient on the table, glancing at Waverly after each one as if to double check that it was indeed the right ingredient. After all, stranger things had happened and it wouldn’t be the first time she grabbed the wrong thing while getting distracted by some random thought in the early stages of making a potion.

“So how do you like it here so far? Isn’t it the greatest thing ever?!” Kitty said, bouncing slightly on her stool and nearly knocking over the container of fairy eggs. Catching it just before it fell over Kitty looked down into the container at the little eggs, her normally vibrant smile fading. “Isn’t that just sad? Those could have all been baby fairies.” Sorrow tinged her high voice at the thought of the fairies that would never be. That was just another aspect of potions that Kitty disliked. It wasn’t so bad when the ingredients were scales or fur or other parts that the animal didn’t have to die to give up but some ingredients clearly ended the lives of those who lost them.

0 Kitty Two’s way better than one 0 Kitty 0 5

Alicia

November 15, 2011 2:21 PM

Continue like this and we'll get along fine. by Alicia

Neither the name nor the accent were things Alicia had heard of before, but she nodded anyway. “And yours,” she replied formally to it being a pleasure to make her acquaintance, returning the smile.

She was smiling again when he asked her to count things. She loved it when things went her way without her having to make any effort at all to make them do that – when people didn’t even know it was her way, really. It was pure coincidence, but it was just a little something that sometimes made the world feel like it might be on her side today, and that was always a good feeling to have. When she felt like that, she’d noticed, it was easier to think fast to make things go her way when they didn’t just fall into her lap so easily. “That’s fine,” she said, sorting out what needed to be counted besides the shrivelfigs.

As she did, she noticed that he had very large hands and glanced at her own. They were, she thought, neither large nor small, though a little longer than she really would have liked. She was the only one of the three of them who looked much like Dad at all, something she made up for by, in her opinion, looking entirely too much like him, but she had Momma’s hands, long and long-fingered. At least it was something she thought would be useful for separating and sorting out the ingredients.

She was quickly proven right. Her gloves made things a little more awkward, decreasing the amount of control she had over her fingers, but they were very good, flexible gloves and she wasn’t squeamish about touching the ingredients as long as she had them on, and it only took a minute to get into the rhythm of counting things out and separating what they would be using from all the other things they had in their kits and around them in general. It was soothing, mindless work, and she thought she was going to like this class even if she did have to work hard during it.

“Well,” she said when he asked her how it was going. She gestured to the ingredients, each set out neatly on the board in front of her. “I’m just about done with all of this. Do you want to go get our water while I finish up?” One day, they would be able to fill a cauldron with water without going to the faucet in the back, but neither of them knew that much magic yet, and she didn’t want to have to carry the heavy thing back there and then back here once it was full. If he got too much water, they could dip it out, but she didn’t want to be the one stumbling along spilling it everywhere, and he was bigger than her anyway. She was, she felt confident, pretty tough for her size, but her size was small, and she thought she looked little and delicate enough to fit the part.

16 Alicia Continue like this and we'll get along fine. 210 Alicia 0 5

Shiloh

November 15, 2011 9:56 PM

Aw. . . so no carrots? by Shiloh

"I always try to be prepared," Shiloh explained earnestly, trying to lift herself far enough in her seat to gain some advantage on the height of her mortar. She wondered if perhaps it'd be easier to use the stool as a table for the crushing. She completely missed the teasing tone in her partner's voice. "Momma says that every proper lady in society comes with all things ready. She is never surprised, and she is never, ever shocked."

A small crease of disapproval marred her forehead; she didn't think it proper at all for someone to shirk their work. She did want to think the best of her housemate; he had introduced himself as being from an important family in England. Surely that meant he was raised well. That was what her parents had taught her to expect after all. Still, Professor Fawcett had said the assignment was partner work. She did not like to break rules, so Cepheus was going to have to help whether or not he liked it. She felt slightly reassured, though, once he offered to tend to the cauldron directly.

Her tone still friendly, if slightly less warm, she agreed to the plan. "Okay. . . um, maybe you can do the shrivelfigs, too? Oh, and do we need to boil the murtlap leaves?" She peered closely at one of her ingredient kits, inspecting the murtlap label to check for clarification on their state, and tried to ignore that her arm was already beginning to ache. Shiloh was not used to this sort of activity and it left her feeling oddly out of sorts. Plus, she was starting to feel sweaty, and that were few things worse than that. "I don't know if it's already boiled or not."

She continued moving her pestle in what she hoped were correct movements. The fairy eggs did give way from benath the curved balling in an easy enough manner, but at what point were they powdered and no longer just crushed? What would happen if they weren't powdered properly? Would the potion explode? She hoped it wouldn't. "I do wish my Papa had let me practice at least a little before leaving home," she grumbled, batting at her forehead with the back of her hand. She could feel her hair coming undone and nervously wanted to fix it. "Am I doing this right? I don't think I'm doing this right. Cepheus?"

0 Shiloh Aw. . . so no carrots? 0 Shiloh 0 5

David

November 15, 2011 10:27 PM

That's practically the whole war won then! by David

He wanted to trace over the looped letters, run his fingers over the ink and test its firmness. A lump gathered in his throat, his chest tightening, but the feeling wasn't painful. David couldn't name it, the strange feeling settling over him, but there was nothing of the annoyance or anger he might have felt had someone else taken his notes and written on them. It was warm and cloying, though, and he still had no way to organize the emotion properly, even after taking a minute to stow away the parchment with her address; already, though, the address was dedicated to memory. He did not know if he would write her again, or whether if he did, he would send it. But still, now he knew where she lived.

The smile that came to his lips was small and unpracticed, but undeniably a pleased one.

Still quiet, he divided the thirty-two fairy eggs between the two of them, replacing the crushed shrivelfig pits in his mortar with a handful of the eggs. The smile still played over his mouth, although Brianna's inquiry made the expression flicker. He thought of his mother's infidelity and the boys who beat him up in the library. His summer had been spent in equal passing between music lessons, visits to the library, and sitting in his room. Entirely too much of that time had involved thinking about Sonora: his continued failures in Transfiguration; the insult felt in his label of Muggleborn; but, mostly, Brianna.

Always, it seemed, he had thought of her.

He added another handful of fairy eggs. The pause had drawn on too long to pass off as mere distraction from his task. "It was. . ." He didn't know what to say; the truth wasn't an option. ". . .long, I suppose." And lonely, he was tempted to say, but instead turned to a question of his own. David remembered that flash of insight from the year before, that sense of shared experience he had felt with her. He had guessed at it then, that Brianna was someone who had been hurt before, but he hadn't confirmed it. Still--

His dark eyes turned steadily on her own. "Was everything all right, then? No problems to speak of?"

0 David That's practically the whole war won then! 0 David 0 5

Theresa Carey

November 16, 2011 12:51 AM

A resolution of contradictory reports by Theresa Carey

On the subject of the Potions professor, her cousins had been vague when they weren’t contradictory, but even the part where Arnold had contradicted himself was nothing unusual, so Theresa came into the first meeting of the class prepared to give Professor Fawcett a chance to be whatever he wanted to be. She arrived early, chose, since she wanted to be able to pay attention and was far from the tallest person in the room anyway, a seat in the front and took out her textbook, supplies, and something to take notes on, and then she folded her hands in her lap – something that would have been difficult, once, but Great-Great-Grandfather’s experts had done a very good job of breaking her from certain habits, at least on the surface – and waited.

While she did that, she began to look around at the classroom, observing details. There wasn’t a lot of decoration, but she liked the symmetry of the posters, the rows of tables lined up for their use. Taking in everyone else’s clothing was, as she’d expected, something that caused a different reaction almost every time she let her eyes move from one person to another, but nothing made her feel horribly ashamed of her own dark blue dress. It was only cotton, but it was pretty, particularly with her favorite silver ring on the longest finger of her left hand and a necklace on.

She twirled the ring absently as she looked at her small chest of ingredients, so similar to the chest of medicinal things Mother kept at home, but with more closing compartments than compartments for little bottles. She hoped nothing happened to mess up her clothes. She’d had to dress nicely to meet a new tutor – essentially – for the first time, but this class seemed like it could be messy.

When her name was called from the list, she answered at once, then committed more names and faces to memory as other people around the room answered. There were second years here, too, which made it more challenging, but she would apparently have classes with them most of the way through Sonora, so she needed to learn who they were, too. Then, the real work began. Listening to a long speech was no work at all for her, learning how to do that was just a natural part of growing up with Arthur, really, but the syllabus made this class sound just as demanding as her cousins had agreed it was.

If they could handle it, she could handle it, though. Learning everything that those two remedial etiquette tutors had imposed on her over the past two years had her convinced that there was absolutely nothing anyone here could put in front of her that she couldn’t do, if she applied herself enough. Doing that might not be pleasant, but that didn't mean it wasn't doable. She smiled pleasantly at the person sitting next to her once they were told to break into pairs and begin working.

“Shall we work together?” she asked. It seemed the most logical course, though she supposed they were always free to say ‘no’ and switch seats with someone. She didn’t remember the professor forbidding it, anyway.

0 Theresa Carey A resolution of contradictory reports 219 Theresa Carey 0 5

Arabella Brockert, Pecari

November 16, 2011 6:04 AM

I really only got the one. by Arabella Brockert, Pecari

Ugh, potions. Arabella had not been looking forward to this class in the least. It wasn't that she was grossed out by handling the ingredients or anything. After all, these were things the Pecari had ingested throughout the course of her life. She wasn't even bothered by how unladylike the subject was considered.Being ladylike was a delicate balance for Arabella. She didn't want to bring shame to her family, the first year preferred to pick her battles and save doing things that would make them angry for things that truly mattered. On the other hand, she didn't want to be prissy either.

Her real issue with Potions was that she expected to have to do essays and written work in this class,which Arabella despised. The Pecari doubted such things would hold her attention for long. She wasn't even entirely sure about doing the actual potions. One had to be very precise and Arabella was not a precise person. She lacked patience and lost interest easily and some Potions took an awful long time to brew.

Arabella entered the room sighing to herself. She'd been in less than a hurry to get here and now one of the few seats available was in the front. She figured that she had better just sit down rather than look for a better place to sit. Next time, Arabella would just have to arrive on time. Fortunately, this seat was next to her roommate, Theresa, and it wasn't as if the Pecari didn't want to get to know the other girl better.

Of course, she wanted to get to know most of her classmates better and make friends. Though there were bound to be people at Sonora that Arabella disliked. Or that didn't like her. Truthfully, she didn't care. If she didn't get along with someone, she simply did not need that person. Arabella wasn't like Ryan who had a desperate need to be liked by everyone. She was more secure with herself, she hadn't grown up like her cousin and thus, hadn't developed the need to compensate.

Still, she would give everyone a chance initially. Her roommate seemed like a good place to start. They were both from "good pureblood families" and had been sorted into Pecari, which meant their families would not be happy with them but it was something that they couldn't do anything about. Furthermore, thus far, Theresa didn't seem much more like the Pecari stereotype than Arabella did. She wanted to get on with Jade and Waverly too, but so far she felt more of a kinship with Theresa.

And if they didn't get along, well, that would stink but Arabella would adapt to that too. There was a reason she was in Pecari after all.

The first year listened to roll call, answering when her name was called and briefly wondering if anyone would mistake her and Evan for twins. Arabella barely even knew him. Then the lecture began and the Pecari forced herself to pay attention. Okay, so they were going to make a photo developing solution. Arabella could handle that, she supposed. Although she didn't see the point when she could buy any of this stuff. Still, like everything else, she was just going to do her best as it wasn't worth refusing to do. Arabella was not one to cause a scene. That would only make her look like a spoiled brat.

“Shall we work together?”

Arabella looked over at Theresa. "Certainly." She agreed.

11 Arabella Brockert, Pecari I really only got the one. 217 Arabella Brockert, Pecari 0 5

Nora Dobson, Aladren

November 16, 2011 10:09 AM

A challenge? by Nora Dobson, Aladren

Nora was thrilled to be back at Sonora after a summer at home. Not that there was anything wrong with home but it just didn't compare to being at school, where she could learn new things all the time, both pertaining to the subjects Nora was studying and about other students.

And now there would be all new things to learn. She didn't expect her classes to be especially challenging this year, because second years had lessons with the first years and thus, lessons had to be kept fair not to overwhelm the younger students, especially those that were completely new to magic.

More interestingly, especially since Nora fully expected the work to be easier, there would be new students to observe and analyze. That tended to be more interesting than most subjects anyway. Figuring out what made people tick was fascinating. Last year had been a bit disappointing in this respect. There seemed to be an awful lot of just...normal people in Nora's class. How completely boring.

Of course, maybe she just needed to get to know them better. It was hard to learn much from only superficial conversations. Plus, there were an awful lot of second years that Nora hadn't talked to at all. It wasn't on purpose, it had just turned out that way. She couldn't remember any conversations she'd had last year with anyone who wasn't an Aladren-family members didn't count-and that simply would not do. The second year rather wanted to know what sort of people really went in to each house. Yes, Aladrens, for example, were supposed to be smart but Nora really didn't think she had much in common with Kitty for instance.

She listened as Professor Fawcett began his lecture, which was initially pretty much the same as last year. She understood the reasons behind it, but if all the classes were like this, the Aladren was going to get awfully bored.

However, Nora perked up a bit at the actual lesson. She'd never actually made the solution for developing photos before. She'd never really needed to but that was beside the point, it was a challenge, a new experience. It wouldn't be boring hopefully. At least Professor Fawcett wasn't doing the exact same lessons as last year.

Nora turned to the person next to her asked. "Would you like to work together on this?"

11 Nora Dobson, Aladren A challenge? 197 Nora Dobson, Aladren 0 5

Gareth

November 16, 2011 12:06 PM

You don’t seem difficult to get along with by Gareth

A quick look showed that most of the ingredients had been neatly separated and Gareth smiled. This team work stuff wasn’t as difficult as he thought it would be. “Alright.” He agreed easily as he picked up the caldron. It made sense for him to do the heavy work, and really it wasn’t all that difficult. At the sink he carefully measured out eight cups. It wouldn’t do at all to mess the potion up with sloppy measuring. Gareth cringed at the thought. How embarrassing, he just knew mother would send a Howler if he fouled up the first potion of the term.

Once the water was properly measured Gareth returned to the table, careful not to let any slosh out. “Right, here we are.” He said pleasantly as he carefully set the cauldron down. “Would you care to tend the murtlap leaves while I crush the fairy eggs?” He offered.

For the first potion of the class it was a decent one, with a goodly number of ingredients and enough steps to keep things interesting. He wondered what sort of potions the advanced classes worked on. “Have you had much experience in brewing?” He asked conversationally. Her handling of the ingredients lead him to believe that she had but he was curious none the less.

0 Gareth You don’t seem difficult to get along with 0 Gareth 0 5

Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

November 16, 2011 12:31 PM

That's one way to put it. by Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

One of the first supplies Sullivan bought for his second year at Sonora was a brand new set of Potions ingredients. He still had some ingredients left in the one from last year, but he'd left that under his bed with three rubber bands holding it closed and a piece of lined notebook paper (with the confetti from tearing it out of a wire spine still present) that warned "Dangerous Contents, Do Not Touch" that he did not expect would keep Karen from going through it.

He just wished he could be present when she caught sight of the newt eyes and let out a grossed out girly scream.

But leaving behind a booby-trap for his sister was just a bonus. His real reason for leaving it behind was that he'd managed to drop the kit in a puddle early in his Sonora career and managed to destroy, or at least make illegible, most of the labels on the ingredient containers. That had made last year a very interesting potions experience, and Sully was hoping that knowing what his ingredients were would bump his grade up into passing.

In the meantime, he was going to hedge that bet by sitting next to an Aladren. Honestly, though, his primary consideration in choosing his seat had been much simpler. His most important criteria in table partner was simply to made sure it wasn't Jhonice Trevear.

Nora Dobson was not Jhonice, and more than that, she was somebody who knew what they were doing in this class, which made her ideal. Sullivan took the empty seat beside her and went about a haphazard attempt to organize his space with the things he'd need for the lesson. His cauldron was on the floor beside him, his notebook was open to a blank page, he had his wand out (just in case, though this class generally didn't require much wand-waving), and his potions kit was set to the side but in easy reach.

As Professor Fawcett began speaking, he realized he didn't have his quill out, and it took most of the lecture to find it, but fortunately it was the first day of class and Sully had it in hand by the time the Professor got past the rules and syllabus explanations, to actual potions stuff.

His notes were the next closes thing to an illegible scrawl, and they didn't take up more than a half-dozen wide-ruled lines, but they covered the most important stuff, like the potion name, that counting and crushing were important, and that the order things were added and the number of stirs mattered.

Turning to his default partner, given the room's table arrangements, Sully offered his best asset. "I'm good at crushing stuff. Oh, and" he added in afterthought, in case she hadn't picked up his name last year, "I'm Sully."

0 Sullivan Quincy, Pecari That's one way to put it. 0 Sullivan Quincy, Pecari 0 5

Cepheus

November 16, 2011 2:00 PM

No carrots. Fruits I can tolerate, but only just. by Cepheus

It was obvious by her facial expression that she didn't understand that he was joking. Well, now he knew she wouldn't be a fun companion. Withdrawing back into himself a little, he decided he had to remind himself to appraise his acquaintances before trying to be friendly. It wasn't safe to put himself and his friendship on the line if it wasn't going to be reciprocated or understood. He nodded and filled the cauldron with eight cups of water.

"I'll crush the shrivelfigs. I've got my own cauldron with me, so we could boil the murtlap leaves in there and then transfer them over into the main cauldron where we'll make the potion." He pulled out his small, enchanted cauldron, filled it with water, and lit a fire under it. "Once the water is boiling, I'll put the murtlap leaves in as well." He had forgotten his mortar back in his room, so he went and retreived one from the classroom supplies. He came back and put the seven shrivelfigs into his mortar and began to crush them, grinding them into a powder.

Shiloh was saying something about practise, and he was glad he'd had his mother explain everything to him. He didn't want to ruin this potion on his very first day in class. That would be ridiculously embarrassing. He looked into his cauldron and put his hand over it. A little hotter, but not yet enough.

His partner was definitely nervous about this, so Cepheus looked over at her work. "You're doing it right. Don't crush those eggs to a powder, though," he told her. "It's too easy to do that with something as delicate as fairy eggs. Make sure there're still broken pieces of the egg shell left. You'll know when you're done. Three or four jabs with the pestel will do it." He looked back at the shrivelfigs he had unconsciously been pounding away at and saw that they were becoming powder nicely. Looking into his cauldron again, he saw the bubbles alerting him that it was time to put the murtlap leaves in, so he did so.

Cepheus looked at his textbook, and then his watch. "Let's see. We're supposed to let the leaves boil for five minutes and then I'll put them into the other cauldron after we put in the powdered shrivelfigs." The figs were coming along nicely. He pounded them a little more and then was satisfied with the powder. "Look okay?" he asked her, making sure she was a part of the process. In all honesty, he wanted to take over and make it perfect--he supposed that was the perfectionist in him coming out--but he didn't want to do so instinctively with his housemate. He was here to make friends, not to perfect the United States. "Those fairy eggs looking crushed?" he asked, peering into her mortar.

0 Cepheus No carrots. Fruits I can tolerate, but only just. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Jhonice Trevear - Pecari

November 16, 2011 7:40 PM

Pictures!! by Jhonice Trevear - Pecari

Jhonice trudged to potions class. She did not like potions, it was to boring, to precise. Professor Fawcett didn't leave any room for fun and experimentation, that was one lesson she had learned the hard way last year. The best part of class was trying to partner up with somebody interesting, that didn't work when she got to class early. Which, as she walked through the doorway she had done again. Somehow. She didn't understand it, weren't you supposed to wind up being late if you weren't trying to be somewhere early? Maybe she needed to try and get there on-time, that should make her arrive late. Making a mental note to try that tomorrow, she looked around the nearly empty room. She claimed a seat in the middle of the room and took out her notebook, she could at least observe who came in when and with whom and such.

People filed into class, she took special note of Sullivan Quincy. She also made sure that he noticed that she made a special note of him. He was such fun. It didn't take long before Fawcett began lecturing them on the evils of 'not doing what he says' and such. So she figured it was about time to switch over to her official class notes. That was when things started to get interesting. Pictures?! They were going to learn how to make pictures?! That was awesome! Her notes desperately needed pictures to go with them, if only she had known how to do that at the dance last year, she could have gotten a picture of Derwent Pierce IV's hat!

This was going to be great, this was finally a potion that she could get behind. She scribbled down Fawcett's instructions, making very careful notes of the specifics that he went over. This looked a little complicated, "This is going to be great! Do you want to work together?" She asked her deskmate.

2 Jhonice Trevear - Pecari Pictures!! 209 Jhonice Trevear - Pecari 0 5

Brianna

November 16, 2011 9:07 PM

It will be an easy battle won. by Brianna

They sat in companionable silence while they worked. She didn’t think he was going to tell her how his summer was, but after some time, he did. She didn’t know if long meant good or not, “Is that bad? Or were you just bored? Sometimes people say something is long when they are bored with it.” Brianna was still grinning as she said this and hoped he knew that she was only teasing him with it.

Her momentary happiness at the knowledge that someone had wanted to reach out to her over the summer holidays diminished slightly when he asked about her problems. Although he didn’t say exactly what he meant by ‘problems’, she knew what he was referring too. In their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Brianna had let slip about her past. She never came out and said that she was bullied, but her behavior and admitting to trying to be invisible would have spoke volumes to anyone who had been willing to listen. Apparently, David had listened. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She had to stop slipping, she really did. But, she didn’t want to keep lying either. Or, at least, she didn’t want to keep skirting around the truth.

She took a moment to figure out what to say. If she told the truth, he might find her to be weak and an idiot. He might not want to be seen with her then. She wasn’t even sure he wanted to be seen with her now. Just because he wrote her a letter he couldn’t send didn’t mean that he wanted to suddenly be her friend at Sonora. But she didn’t think she could deny what had happened either. She wasn’t very good with any of this anyway.

“There are always problems.” She finally said, her voice low and soft so as to not be heard by others. She kept her eyes on her hands as she worked the fairy eggs as she crushed them while she spoke, afraid to see what would be on his face. “They were even worse problems this year than before. Mother fixed it as best she could.” Brianna touched her cheek where a bruise had sat just a couple of days before. Her mother didn’t enjoy spending what little extra money they had on bruise salve. “But the problems just keep coming back.”

She snuck a glance at David to see what his reaction would be about all of this. It was hard for her to admit that she was bullied at home. She hated admitting how pathetic and lonely she was because of it. How horrible she felt from all the ridicule. Just thinking about it now made her want to cry. Instead, she changed topics. “It’ll be okay though. Anyway, after the eggs, what are we supposed to do?”

0 Brianna It will be an easy battle won. 0 Brianna 0 5

Waverly

November 16, 2011 9:46 PM

That's definitely true by Waverly

Waverly liked Kitty already. To be honest, Waverly had no ideas about how to make potions, but from the sound of it, it seemed like a cooking class. From the little cooking experience she had where her mom had done most of the work, she knew she had to stick straight to the textbook. She stuck her face into the textbook, reading every word carefully. Kitty had gathered the ingredients and was placing them onto the table, glancing at her after each one. Waverly glanced from the textbook to the ingredients and back again, making sure the labels and pictures were the same. They were, so Waverly smiled encouragingly.

"Yeah, I love it here so far! People haven't been the nicest to me, and I think it's because my parents are muggles." She had been tempted to say humans, but magical people were humans too. "But the whole magic part is cool!" Waverly looked at the fairy eggs and she furrowed her eyebrows. "I learned that chickens can lay eggs that don't have a real chicken inside them. That's the kind that I eat and the kind my mom bakes with. She's a baker and an artist." Waverly smiled. "So maybe those aren't real baby fairy eggs, but just regular fairy eggs. The kind we cook with!" Waverly never would've thought that fairies laid eggs like chickens, but hey, anything was possible in this world! She didn't want to think that things had to die to be used as potion ingredients. At least, she wanted to not think that for as long as she could.

"Okay, so I have no idea how to boil the, uh, murtlap leaves," Waverly said. She looked at the textbook. "Do we boil them in the cauldron before everything else?" Waverly paused. "Hm. But the order is water first, and then shrivelfigs, and then boiled murtlap leaves." Confused, she looked at Kitty for guidance. "Should we ask the professor?" She looked into the cauldron. "I guess we could put water into the cauldron first. How do we light the fire?" She probably sounded like a muggle for asking, but she really had no clue. It was sad not knowing what to do in a new place where everyone else did.

0 Waverly That's definitely true 0 Waverly 0 5

Thaddeus Pierce II

November 17, 2011 9:14 PM

Do we have a camera? by Thaddeus Pierce II

Thaddeus liked his cousin, Derry. He did. Derry was a nice guy. Friendly, kind, all those good things. Derry was the kind of person who genuinely cared about everybody around him. That's why he was in Teppenpaw. There had never been any chance that he'd make Aladren, though.

It wasn't that Derry was mentally handicapped, the way Duesius was mentally handicapped. Derry was capable of intelligent thought. Thad just didn't think Derry had been raised in an environment that had ever taught him how to have an intelligent thought. Oh, Derry had been given the basics, of course. Reading. Writing. Math. He'd heven learned history from a ghost who had seen in first hand (a fact which left Thad exceedingly envious). But Derry had never learned to think. If anything, he had been severely discouraged from having independent thoughts. He had been told what to think and had never discovered that it was possible to dispute or question those thoughts. The worst thing was that Derry had been given thoughts that were just plain wrong.

Even now, after his parents had come clean and explained that they had . . . 'simplified' the truth for him, Derry still had a tendency to just take everything he was told at face value. He never tried to understand it. He just accepted it as truth and memorized it (or forgot it, depending on how important Derry took the piece of information to be).

This made it very difficult for Thad to respect his cousin's intelligence. If truth be told (and Thad always tried to be honest with himself, if not to everyone else), Thaddeus held Derry's intelligence in no small amount of contempt. Combining that with the considerable pride he had in his own brilliance, Thad had come to the inviolate belief that anything Derry could do, Thad could do better. That Thad was two years younger was immaterial. Thad was mature for his age and Derry was immature for his. It put them on even footing. Therefore, when Derry began his first year at Sonora, Thad had purchased each of the texts Derry had been required to bring to school. Thad read them diligently, refusing to allow Derry to get ahead of him. Not having a wand to practice the charms and transfigurations was supremely vexing. (Though, occassionally, under supervision, his parents did allow him to use theirs.)

Potions, however, was different. The laws governing underage magic use were more lax when it came to potions. Or, at least, they were not as easily enforced. His parents hired him a potions tutor who had lost his tutoring license for a number of legal reasons that had little to do with his actual teaching ability and rather more to do with him stealing from his employers. One or both of the parents remained in the room whenever he was present (Thaddeus assumed it was because they were making sure he didn't walk off with the good china), but he agreed to instruct a nine year old at an eleven year old's standards, complete with practical lessons. He had little choice really. He certainly wouldn't get paid as much for a tutoring position anywhere else, not without a licence.

Today, as Thad walked into Professor Fawcett's classroom, one part of him was excited that he was going to be able to learn the subject legally while another part was bitter that he was not permitted to advance to the intermediate class with Derry. He had, after all, attended two years of classes like all the third years had. It was not fair at all.

He chose a second year to sit beside, secretly hoping that Fawcett would notice how much better he was at this than even the older beginners, so that maybe he'd be allowed to skip up to intermediates, if not now, then maybe next year. "Of course," he agreed when she asked if he wanted to be her partner. That had, after all, been why he sat beside her. "I am Thaddeus Pierce the Second," he added in introduction, "of the New Hampshire Pierces."

He considered it a good sign that she seemed excited about the lesson.

1 Thaddeus Pierce II Do we have a camera? 213 Thaddeus Pierce II 0 5

Theresa

November 17, 2011 11:45 PM

Did it manage to contradict itself? by Theresa

Theresa already knew who Arabella was, if not much about her, from their dorm room, so she didn’t have to go through the spiel of introducing herself. Instead, she nodded once and looked to her potions kit. Dawdling just wasn’t something that had ever occurred to her; at home, there wasn’t time. If she was ever standing for very long without something to occupy her hands, she’d soon find herself doing whatever her mother had been doing so Mother could go do something else. Her father liked to have a drink, a laugh, another drink, a game of cards every now and then; her mother prized efficiency above all else, when she was able to prize much of anything.

Hard not to, now that there were six of them. Some people, Theresa knew, could handle that kind of stress without difficulty – her mother had three older brothers, all Aurors, and her father had three siblings living and had originally been the second-youngest of five – but Mother just did not, which was why Theresa was praying Cecilia would be the youngest. None of them could stand much more, Mother already talked about money constantly, and…well, on a purely personal level, she didn’t really like babies that much.

One day, she was aware, she was going to be married, and the reason she was going to be married was so the Careys would be connected to another family through babies which were as related to her family as to her husband’s, but she was already determined that if she had six, there were going to be very long gaps between them, and that she wanted to just not in the first place. Babies were unpleasant. They were messy and cried all the time so no one could concentrate and were completely useless in every meaningful way until they grew, which took years, and then they were still more annoying than anything until you were both grown, and that was assuming Father wasn’t lying about liking his siblings better now that everyone was older. Which he might be. She really didn’t know. Adulthood still seemed like a long time away for her, much less her younger siblings. She’d most likely be married when Cecilia started school, if not earlier, when Diana came.

None of this was really something that Theresa knew or thought too much about as she studied what she had. Everything was neat and full still, container seals unbroken and compartment edges lacking the traces of ingredient that were bound to accumulate during the year. It would be about the time that began that she could reach for anything in it without looking or hesitating in any way. She was looking forward to that, but for now, she was just thinking mainly about this potion and who had best do what.

“We should halve the work,” she said. “Split it between us. Is there anything you want to do especially?”

0 Theresa Did it manage to contradict itself? 0 Theresa 0 5

Valerie

November 18, 2011 7:56 AM

That did not make me less worried. by Valerie

Valerie breathed a sigh of relief when the boy explained he was an albino. Of course! She was slightly embarrassed that she hadn't figured that out for herself, he must think her so stupid, but Valerie's first instinct was to assume someone else was ill and contagious and that she'd be infected very soon. She couldn't help it, it was a worry that consumed Valerie's every waking moment.

Still, she was glad he was all right. The Crotalus would never wish how she felt on anyone. Not even someone she didn't like. Although there wasn't any such person. Valerie was at least lucky that way. Especially as feelings of anger and hatred wouldn't be good for her. She needed to stay calm and not get stressed out or upset.

At home, Valerie was protected against this. Everyone tiptoed around her as if she would break, which she actually might. Here she had to worry about how she was treated or having to do stuff that she really wasn't supposed to do, like be outside during COMC. That was the price she had to pay for doing something that normal young witches did.

The boy turned back to his equipment, dropping pits into the mortar. Valerie rubbed her head, which was beginning to hurt even worse. She coughed. Her eyes were beginning to itch and she felt a scratchy feeling in the back of her throat. Apparently, now the Crotalus was getting a cold. At least Valerie hoped it was a cold. That could be quickly cleared up with the pepper-up potion. It was a wonder that the second year hadn't developed a tolerance to it, but then again, that was the problem. Her immune system didn't work, so it was unlikely that she would-that she even could -develop an immunity to a medicinal potion.

Valerie looked over at the boy, noticing the small container of fairy eggs he'd pushed over to her for the first time. She began to count them, sneaking a look at the albino. The Crotalus had, of course, never seen one before. Valerie hadn't seen much aside from in books. She wondered if she should say something to him, introduce herself.

That's when she noticed him trying to catch his breath. "Are you sure you're okay?" Valerie asked. She was worried for both their sakes. Again, she felt bad being concerned for herself when someone else didn't feel well, instead of thinking of the other person. It was just that an infection could be very very serious for her and land her in the Hospital Wing for weeks. Valerie didn't want to end up there so early in the year. "I'm Valerie Lennox, of the St. Louis Lennoxes, by the way."

11 Valerie That did not make me less worried. 204 Valerie 0 5

Alicia

November 18, 2011 2:52 PM

Thank you again. Neither do you. by Alicia

She didn’t know how to tell if something was exactly eight cups by eye, not yet, but Alicia thought the water looked about right anyway. She guessed she would find out for sure when they got the grades back – she knew a bit about how that worked from listening to her sisters – and would then know how much she could trust Gareth when it came to specificity. For now, she was just pleased to see the water was on the inside of the cauldron, not the outside or on his robes, which meant he probably hadn’t spilled any.

Irritation, sharp and thorny, flared at being given a direction, but she was used to that; her family usually didn’t even have the decency to be polite about it, instead speaking to her as though she were an idiot child. She nodded smoothly. “I think I can handle that,” she said.

Well, knew. She just wasn’t sure she should show that. But if the way Rachel talked was anything to go by – her eldest sister talking to their family members was her best source of information; Kate was much more likely to speak to Alicia herself, but she rarely, if ever, said anything that wasn’t uselessly stupid when it wasn’t just flat-out wrong – Professor Fawcett wasn’t really the type to buy ocean-front property in Arizona, at least when it came to academics. If she wanted him to buy the nice plot where she should be a favorite, she was going to have to be top-notch in all these classes. Maybe if she weren’t an Aladren…but she was an Aladren.

She took her cauldron back this time, wanting to grumble about not being able to risk trying a levitation charm when she still didn’t have total control over how high whatever she was levitating went. She had been getting the hang of it, but then she’d gotten a wand, and that made things…different, and had thrown her all off. In the back, she took about three cups of water, then returned with it, carefully balancing the handle across both her palms. They were stinging, an impression of the handle across them, by the time she reached the table again, but she just rubbed them briefly against her skirt before taking out her wand to light the burner, trying to be as discreet as possible about it. People didn’t really notice, she had discovered, most of what they saw; if she didn’t draw attention to it, it might not occur to him to wonder how it happened.

His question demanded some consideration. It might be to question her experience, or it might just be a get-to-know-you type of conversation, but either way, it demanded that. Unfortunately, she didn’t really have time to give it any; she had read that hesitating made people think one was being dishonest, or at least let them know the question was being thought about. That would be bad. “Not very much,” she said with a self-deprecating smile. “I’d play around when I was little, you know, but that’s really about all.” She had chosen the tactic that ended with her just looking like a natural. Her heart had just sped up a little, as it did when she made decisions, as she wondered if she’d made the right call. “What about you? Have you done this before?” When in doubt, always change, or at least shift, the subject as soon as possible.

16 Alicia Thank you again. Neither do you. 210 Alicia 0 5

Angel

November 19, 2011 4:05 PM

... by Angel

“Yes.” The word was a bit breathy, but his panting had slowed. “Not much energy.” Angel added in way of explanation. The nearly translucent skin, ash white hair, and striking crimson eyes were the things that captured most people’s attention. The albino coloration served as a distraction for the more subtle defects in his health. Once a person became accustomed to his coloration they might notice how painfully thin he was, the way his bones seemed to press uncomfortably against his skin with not enough flesh between. That, along with his peculiar eating habits and the potions he had to take were the only outward signs of the nearly fatal internal defects. “Angel Shield.” He offered, returning the introduction.

Angel glanced into the mortar and felt his spirits fall a bit. The pits were crushed, but still far from being powder. Deciding it might be best to put that to the side for the moment Angel looked up at the board, his crimson eyes slowly tracing over the words trying to figure out some easier task to accomplish before attempting the pits again.

What should I be doing? Angel wondered as he bit his lip. He glanced over to Valerie for the first time sense giving her his name. No one had reacted negatively to the Shield name yet, but each time he gave it Angel expected them to. He waited to see how she would react, and hoped she would take charge and tell him what to do.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Jhonice

November 20, 2011 8:26 AM

We'd better get one. by Jhonice

"Thaddeus Pierce the Second of the New Hampshire Pierces."

The words hung in Jhonice's ears and mind. Thaddeus Pierce the Second of the New Hampshire Pierces had sat down next to her and wanted to work with her. She had seen the boy come in but he hadn't really registered because some other 'interesting' people had come in about the same time. She was sorely disappointed in herself, naturally now she could see the resemblance. Thaddeus Pierce the second was cousins with Derwent Pierce the Fourth, and unfortunately Derwent had moved up to the intermediate classes, perhaps she had found her new Pierce to study for the year.

She smiled at the Pierce, "Excellent!" She hefted her cauldron into place and with one of the charms she had nearly mastered last year filled it neatly with water. Wait, she wanted to get this one right. She had potential to get a proper picture of a New Hampshire Pierce. Fawcett had said they'd need eight cups of water, how much was in the cauldron? That looked like more than eight cups, would that cause a big problem if there was more? From her experiences last year, it probably would. She thought this was a good time to begin the interview with Mr. Pierce.

"Do you have a measuring cup? I'm not sure what happened to mine." How prepared and organized was he? What did he know about potions already, "Have you worked with any potions before?"

2 Jhonice We'd better get one. 209 Jhonice 0 5

Nora

November 20, 2011 11:41 AM

Can you think of another? (Wotw) by Nora

Nora's lips twitched into a smile when her neighbor, Sullivan Quincy, who apparently liked being called Sully, told her that he was good at crushing stuff. "Excellent." She wasn't laughing at him. The Aladren genuinely found it amusing. "I'm Nora." She told him in case he was poor with names-something the second year never really understood, there weren't that many of them in any given class at Sonora and the only names that she didn't remember were some of the older students in other houses-or had somehow missed hers.

"Crushing stuff is an extremely useful skill." Nora added, filing it away in the small list of stuff she knew about him (which was that he was a Pecari in her year and probably muggleborn, as she'd not heard of a Quincy family.) He seemed to be fairly normal, no noticeable psychological issues, but then Nora could be wrong about that. He also seemed a lot less hyper and energetic than Kitty was, which were qualities the Aladren tended to associate with Pecaris.

Of course, a hummingbird with ADD that's daily caffeine intake equaled Uncle Marshall's of alcohol was less hyper than Nora's roommate. The second year eagerly looked forward to learning both the silencing spell (which she might take upon herself to learn prior to covering it in Charms for her own and probably Sally's sanity)and human transfiguration. Earthworms were very quiet creatures.

Then again, it would probably take practice to get human transfigurations right. The idea of the juxtaposition of her roommate's head on a worm's body was somewhat amusing. Of course, that wouldn't prevent the girl from talking which would be the whole point of such an exercise. To get Kitty to be quiet and sit still.

Nora pushed the shrivilfig pits towards Sully. "You can do that then while I heat the water. Do you have any fairy eggs already crushed or do you want to do that too? I'm not trying to give you more work," The Aladren added. "It's just that you said you were good at crushing, so I thought you could do that while I did some of the other stuff."

11 Nora Can you think of another? (Wotw) 197 Nora 0 5

Kitty

November 20, 2011 2:02 PM

We might need a few more by Kitty

Waverly smiled encouragingly at Kitty and she grinned back. So far, so good, now all they needed to do was actually brew the potion without blowing up the school. “Really? They’ve all been pretty nice to me. Well they’re kinda prickly sometimes but once you get past that they’re not bad.” Kitty commented. She thought over Waverly’s theory about the Fairy eggs. It hadn’t occurred to her to think if it in terms of birds, Kitty thought that fairies might be closer to insects than birds but perhaps not. “I wonder how fairies are classified. Well, they lay eggs, so they’re probably not mammals. Although they still have that human look so I’m not sure.” It was something that would require more research at some point.

Waverly’s questions made Kitty bite her lip as she tried to figure out the answer without looking like she had no idea what she was doing. “Right, so for the leaves it just says that they need to be boiled, so we can boil them first, and then fish them out and add them in again at the right time.” Kitty said with a nod, it sounded reasonable to her.

“I can use a heating charm!” Really it was one of the few things Kitty could do in the potions class that didn’t end in disaster. She wasn’t half bad when it came to wand work, just potions. They didn’t need the professor’s help, it would all turn out perfectly. The power of positive thinking! Kitty thought resolutely as she went to get the water.

0 Kitty We might need a few more 0 Kitty 0 5

Gareth

November 20, 2011 6:36 PM

That shall make teamwork more amicable by Gareth

Gareth nodded at her agreement, and gave her a smile as he carefully crushed the fairy eggs. It was important to make sure that each of the delicate eggs had been crushed, without going over the line and reducing them to powder. He looked the crushed eggs over with a practiced eye to be sure they were the right consistency while Alicia tended to the murtlap leaves.

“My mother enjoys brewing potion as a hobby and when the weather is bad and we’re done with lessons we would often help out.” Gareth said fondly. Those stormy days with the deep rumble of thunder and the hiss of rain heavy on the roof were some of Gareth’s favorite. His mother’s soft voice played a delicate counter to the fierce storms that for all their intensity couldn’t breach the stillness of the brewing.

Looking over at her side of the table Gareth saw that the murtlap leaves had been boiled properly. It wasn’t quite the same as working with his mother, sister and brother, but things were moving along in a reasonable way and Gareth was sure they would receive good marks on this potion. “I believe we’ve gotten all the prep work ready. So we should probably begin the brew.” Gareth said. He hoped they would be able to test it out and see if it worked or not.

0 Gareth That shall make teamwork more amicable 0 Gareth 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

November 20, 2011 6:41 PM

Not a total beginner anymore. by Mellie Goodwin, Pecari

Potions was…Potions was….

Honestly, Mellie didn’t know what Potions was, even after a year of taking it and having all her things together for a second year. She thought the fact that she was glad they were going to be working with the first years was probably significant, but the thing was, she didn’t entirely dislike the class. There were plenty of days when she could just bang her head against the desk as easily as she could end up with what Fawcett wanted her to end up with, but there were others when she almost liked the complications of it.

She didn’t know what kind today was going to be, though she was hoping it was just going to be something easy and straightforward since some of the first years might have never studied Potions before, or even really heard of it until last month. The opening speech didn’t give any clues; it was just the introduction, she guessed it wasn’t a lot different from what she’d heard in her first lesson last year, though she didn’t really remember the specifics to be sure. She had paid attention, she was sure she had, but it just wasn’t sticking out in her head from the mess of first-day memories she had. There was just a sense of familiarity now, that she had heard some phrases before, and gotten the sense of others.

The potion, when it came, wasn’t as completely bland as she had been half-expecting, but it didn’t sound too bad. Mellie smiled, thinking this was going to be a pretty good day, and turned to her Potions kit before she remembered that Mom had taken her to the apothecary just the other day in order to make sure that everything was restocked and good to go for the new year and turned instead to the person sitting next to her.

“Working together, right?” she said. “This sounds like a fun one. I mean, like, it’s useful, yeah? Instead of just ‘hey, we could get the same thing but better if we went to the hospital wing.’” She wouldn’t take her own potions for a problem, anyway. She was okay at Potions, but not enough to risk swallowing the ones she made in class just yet.

16 Mellie Goodwin, Pecari Not a total beginner anymore. 206 Mellie Goodwin, Pecari 0 5

Alicia

November 20, 2011 7:40 PM

We shall see. by Alicia

Alicia smiled slightly as she successfully got her cauldron hot and Gareth talked about helping, along with others she’d assume were his siblings for now, his mother with hobby-brewing. That was nice, he was fond of his mother.

She liked hers, she supposed, or at least she wasn’t as embarrassed to admit that they were related as she was with a lot of her other relatives. She couldn’t imagine Momma having a hobby, though. For as long as Alicia could remember, it had been all business, except maybe a little while right after Isaac was born. Her mother was all ambition; there wasn’t a lot of room in her life for anything else. The closest she could come to something like what her partner was describing was when Momma would sometimes sit on a higher seat, or on the sofa with her, in the living room and almost absent-mindedly plait Alicia’s dark hair, or sometimes, very rarely, come into her room with hot chocolate and they’d sit on the bed and drink it and talk for a little while.

She didn’t think she envied Gareth, though. An adult letting someone their age participate in a hobby could only be something like what had been involved in her sisters sometimes letting her play with them when they were younger, an act of condescension, and those didn’t make her feel included, they just made her feel furious.

“Of course,” she said when he said they should begin the brew, separating out the first ingredient to go in and sliding her cutting board over to him with it on the end. “I always wonder, though – why does it matter about the order things go in? They’re all going to be reacting together in a minute anyway. Is it just about the stirring, do you think?”

He seemed to want to be the leader, so, like a good girl, she was going to let him. Asking him a question let him be smart, but having a theory made her seem not dumb, and including the phrase that asked his opinion let him have a way to just speculate along with her if he didn’t know the answer to give and didn’t want to seem dumb either. At least, that was how it all worked out in her head. She guessed it was always possible she could guess completely wrong. She hoped she didn’t, though.

16 Alicia We shall see. 210 Alicia 0 5

Gareth

November 21, 2011 12:17 PM

That’s all that can be done I suppose by Gareth

He checked to make sure that the main caldron was at the proper temperature when Alicia asked why the order of ingredients was important to the brewing process. It was a good question, one that he’d never actually thought of before. Following the instructions was just something that they did because if they didn’t the potion would fail. But, he didn’t really want to admit that he didn’t know, so to buy a bit of time he added the powdered shrivelfig pits and stirred the proper number of times before speaking.

“I believe it may have to do with how the ingredients interact with each other at each stage.” He hazarded a guess. It sounded reasonable after all. “It probably has something to do with the timing as well.” He added thoughtfully as he waited. “You can add the mertlap leaves now.” Gareth offered, he had the fairy eggs ready to be added after the leaves. The two ingredients went in closely together making him wonder again at her question. How much difference could it make if they were added at the same time, instead of one after the other? He didn’t know, but he did know that it would ruin the potion to deviate from the order of ingredients, so it wasn’t worth trying to see what would happen if they did.

Gareth kept a careful watch on their brew as the ingredients were added. From time spent in his mother’s still room he’d learned that one of the first indications that a potion was going awry was the color. So far it looked perfect, he gave a satisfied smile.

0 Gareth That’s all that can be done I suppose 0 Gareth 0 5

Michael Grosvenor, Teppenpaw

November 22, 2011 4:33 PM

But still a total amateur by Michael Grosvenor, Teppenpaw

Michael was glad to be back. The same heavy feeling he'd had after Midterm last year hadn't been a problem this time around. After he'd stopped trying to hide his hearing impairment, life at school had become much easier, and his second term had actually been enjoyable. He even liked most of his classes, although he'd discovered that missing half the instructions hadn't been the sole cause of his difficulties – magic was hard! Potions could be a tricky subject because it was all about everything being precise. Michael didn't mind that so much because slow and careful suited him quite well. And, although there was usually a low level of chatter, it was a lot quieter than a room of people all chanting the same incantation. Plus, the potion they would be working on today interested him. The fact that wizarding photographs moved had fascinated him since he'd arrived at Sonora, and he'd thought it must be terribly complicated magic. The thought that it might be within his capabilities was really quite cool.

“Hey,” he smiled, realising it was Mellie who had sat down next to him. “Yeah, it's neat,” he smiled. “I've always wondered how they do it. I mean, always since I found out obviously,” he ammended. “The shrivelfig pits go in pretty early and they need be thoroughly crushed, so I guess that's the best place to start,” he noted, skimming through the recipe. He counted out the pits into a mortar and pulled his stool around to the other side of their bench so that he was opposite Mellie rather than next to her. He expected most of his class had seen him do this by now but he wasn't sure he'd worked with Mellie last term so he explained “So I can see what you're saying more easily,” and perched himself on the stool. He picked up the pestle and began crushing as firmly as he could, the pit stones giving way but with some resistance.

“How was your summer?” he asked Mellie, feeling like he might be in for a long job on the crushing front.

13 Michael Grosvenor, Teppenpaw But still a total amateur 199 Michael Grosvenor, Teppenpaw 0 5

Arabella

November 23, 2011 7:43 AM

No,not really. by Arabella

Hm, apparently Theresa was the get-down-to-business sort. Arabella had really never been like that but then, she'd never had any to get down to doing. Nobody in her family ever did chores or anything, they were all done by house-elves. The tutors that her parents had hired didn't really give Arabella essays or anything either, preferring to adapt to their pupils' learning styles and when she had gotten assigned extra work, she'd avoided it like the plague until the last possible moment.

"I guess I'll crush the shrivilfig pits." The Pecari replied. She didn't really want to do anything, had no deep burning desire to crush anything except maybe her cousin's nose again, no deep burning desire to do any work on a potion but Arabella knew she had to. She took out her mortar and pestle and seven of the pits. Her potions kit was of course, completely new and none of it had been used before.

She placed the pits in the bowl and began to crush. Arabella looked back over at her roommate. She hoped they wouldn't work in silence the entire time. That would just be awkward and uncomfortable. The first year didn't want things to be that way with a girl she was going to be living with for the next several years.

Besides, talking might make the work seem to go faster and Merlin knew that Arabella wanted that! It wasn't so much that she was lazy as she found the work could be tedious. The Pecari got bored easily. When Arabella finally did get around to doing something that she had to do, she tried to get it done quickly so she could move on and spend more time doing things that she actually wanted to do.

So far though, this didn't seem as bad as she thought it would be. Arabella supposed she was more of a hands on person. Maybe brewing potions wouldn't be that awful, at least at this level, though the first year still expected written work to be so. She had just slightly more patience for that than she did for Carrie. Still, as for the actual creating potions, Arabella supposed there were worse things. Like etiquette lessons that taught-or tried to teach anyway-her to be formal and stuffy and prissy. Manners and politeness were one thing, but the Pecari would rather die than become a girly-girl.

"So," Arabella asked Theresa, wanting to start a conversation while they worked. "What class are you most looking forward to? I prefer the wand based ones personally."

11 Arabella No,not really. 217 Arabella 0 5

Alicia

November 24, 2011 11:24 PM

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. by Alicia

For a minute, Alicia thought she had gotten it all wrong and he wasn’t going to be able to come up with something or just admit he didn’t know and was going to look like an idiot and blame her, but then he came up with what she’d been thinking anyway and she smiled, relieved, really hoping it passed for admiring.

“That sounds very reasonable,” she said warmly. “I think it’s my good luck that we’re partners.”

She wasn’t sure if that was laying it on too thick, not thick enough, or just right, though obviously she was aiming for it to be that last one. Jeremy, her stepfather, had always warned her about aiming too high all the time, but she had never been wrong and he right about what she could hit. Of course, she had never tried to hit anything social before, not really, which was the part that was sort of fun but also sort of, when she thought about it, frightening. She knew what she could do in her lessons, around the house, all of that; here, she might just miss.

When it was pointed out that they were ready for the murtlap leaves, she carefully removed them with a long-handled spoon and transferred them from one pot to the other, grimacing very slightly at the few drops of water that splashed below as they moved. Doing things by hand was so…sloppy, she thought as, once the leaves were in the pot, she got a bit of cloth to clean up and imagined some of the hot, faintly murtlap-tinged water seeped through the fabric and touched her hand. She scrubbed it vigorously against the side of her dark blue skirt facing away from him for a second, slightly reddening the heel of her hand, but still wanted to go wash it properly – wash both hands properly, now. They felt dirty, it bothered her. If she didn’t find something to distract herself with, she knew she’d want to scream in a minute from it, though she also knew that she wouldn’t really scream. She’d just want to a lot.

Alicia tried to distract herself with Gareth’s smile. “Do you think it’s going well?” she asked, rising slightly in her seat to see the brew. Her height didn’t bother her nearly as much as her jaw did, but sometimes she did wish she was a little taller.

16 Alicia This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 210 Alicia 0 5

Mellie

November 25, 2011 12:44 AM

Maybe someday we'll make it to being pros. by Mellie

“Yeah,” Mellie agreed about finding out how it was done. “Mom told me it was a potion when I asked where pictures came from one time, but I didn’t know, you know, we could make it okay.” Though there still was the question of whether or not their combined Potions savvy was really enough to produce a developing potion that would work, but Mellie didn’t really think of that. It had been assigned to the first years, so it couldn’t be too bad, and how things could go wrong didn’t always occur to her when it came to her schoolwork until something did, in fact, go wrong. Then, it was easier to see it as a temporary setback instead of as a real failure, or at least she tried to see it like that. It felt better than thinking too much about a failure.

Her parents couldn’t do that, at least on the occasions when Mom had to use a wand to get someone to come along when she was arresting them, which was why Mellie was already pretty sure she didn’t want their jobs. If Mom or Dad bungled something, it was just well and truly bungled a lot of the time, or at least needed a Healer or two or six to get un-bungled. She didn’t think she ever really wanted to deal with that kind of pressure.

She was confused for a moment when Michael moved his seat, but smiled again when he explained. “Oh, okay,” she said. “I guess I’ll boil down the murtlap leaves while you’re working with the shrivelly things.”

First, she had to remember how to heat the pot, but that only took a minute, and she was grinning at her triumph when Michael asked about her summer and she looked up to answer him. “It was pretty good,” she said. “I didn’t really do a lot. Mom and Dad were usually at work, so I, you know, hung out with whoever was around a lot.” She didn’t really want to admit to throwing Quaffles around more than anything for some reason, just as she’d rather not admit that Russell had lent her some books, but she’d eventually - pretty quickly, if she was going to be honest - given up on them because she didn’t quite understand them and had gotten bored trying to. They just weren’t good things to talk about, somehow. She didn’t trouble herself with why. “How about you? Do anything fun?”

16 Mellie Maybe someday we'll make it to being pros. 206 Mellie 0 5

Valerie

November 25, 2011 5:48 PM

It's really hard to think up a reply to that. by Valerie

"Oh," Valerie replied. She understood that so well. The second year got tired very easily. At home,she always took a nap after lunch and that was when she was comparatively well, meaning no current infection. Valerie never could really manage this at Sonora during the week because of classes but she usually did on weekends. Though she did worry that it would seem odd to her roommates. Then again, it was pretty obvious that Valerie was sick a lot and needed her rest. She just worried about putting them out at all. That they would have to be quiet or avoid the room so as not to wake her up. She would hate to have them resent her because of it.

For similar reasons, Valerie did not share her own lack of energy with Angel. She didn't want him to think she was whining or digging for sympathy. It was different for him to have told her because she was the one who'd asked. Just as Valerie had told Brianna because Brianna had asked. And she'd told Michael because she'd had to explain why she could not sit on the floor in Charms.

She was glad Angel wasn't sick though. If he was, Valerie might have had to move and that would have been rude. The Crotalus would not have wanted someone to move away from her for fear of catching what she had at a given time. Of course, if Valerie were sick, she would not be in class in the first place, she'd be in the hospital wing again. It was also a lot worse for her to catch something from others than for them to catch something from her, even though Valerie wouldn't want to infect anyone else either. It was just that the other students had normal immune systems and she didn't. It was likely that she would get sicker than anyone else would. What could be a simple virus to someone else could keep Valerie in the hospital for weeks, maybe even kill her.

Shield. It was a name the Crotalus had heard only in passing. Valerie didn't know any were still around. They were often used as a tale against inbreeding, but then her own family had a genetic immune deficiency that Valerie had inherited and she wasn't any more inbred than any other pureblood. It was also possible that Angel was a muggleborn or a halfblood who was just unfortunate enough to have the same last name as the supposedly defunct family. That happened from time to time. Valerie supposed it didn't really matter. Her parents never put pressure on her to do anything because of her condition. They wanted her to associate with the right people, of course, but never said she could only talk to them. And he hadn't introduced himself the pureblood way either, so perhaps he was just someone with the same last name.

The second year coughed again, a bit harder this time. She rubbed her pounding head. She was going to have to go right from this class to get a Pepper-up Potion because Valerie was pretty certain she had a cold. At least, she hoped that was all she had. She looked over at Angel, wondering why he didn't have much energy, but she didn't want to pry.

11 Valerie It's really hard to think up a reply to that. 204 Valerie 0 5

Theresa

November 26, 2011 8:30 PM

Then you're two times better off than me, I guess by Theresa

Theresa nodded, noting that Arabella didn’t sound hugely enthusiastic about crushing the shrivelfig pits, but that she was willing to do it. Well, if Theresa only did things she was enthusiastic about doing, she’d spend all her time sneaking away from her sewing to play with the boys, and then Mother would know she sometimes neglected her work to do that and she’d be terribly punished, and if that didn’t bring her ‘round, then she might be thrown out of the family like Gwenhwyfar. Men, Mother said, could do more of they liked, but Theresa was a girl, and girls and women were going to spend most of their lives doing things they didn’t especially care for, or else men and women who’d learned their places would make them regret it.

She didn’t object to talking while they worked, though. Mother frequently had her chatter while they sewed, or while she worked on her music. An accomplished lady had to be able to do two things at once, and sticking herself every now and then with a needle or having everyone look at her if she got a note wrong was what she’d get until she was able to do that. She did not have, on her own, a great deal of money, most of what she had to offer was her name and her connection to greater people, so it was very important – said Mother, who said almost nothing about these things that wasn’t told to her by Great-Great-Grandfather – that Theresa and her siblings be the most alluring, most accomplished young people in society when they got a little older, which would be impossible if they weren’t extremely well-prepared for that now. After all the embroidery she’d been forced to do while carrying on a conversation and sticking herself with needles and not using every oath she’d ever picked up from Father and Grandfather, she was sure she could chat while she brought a cauldron to a boil.

“I haven’t decided what I’ll like best yet,” she said. “But I am looking forward to getting to work with our wands. I’ve been so jealous while my cousins have been here for the past two years, and sometimes I think they’ve talked about school just to tease me.” Lots of people thought Arthur was too humorless to ever think of such a thing; Theresa knew better. It was really Arnold it was harder to tell with sometimes.

“It’s all very different from my lessons at home, though,” she said. “I usually just study with one, maybe two of my brothers. I don’t think Professor Fawcett could watch all of us very closely, do you?”

Which was, in its way, a scary thought, but also…also an exciting one, in a scary kind of way, and similar to one she’d been having every now and then since she arrived. What if she could do things, any sort of things, and absolutely nobody would know about them in all the crowd? What then?

Yes, it was exciting. She couldn’t deny that. The thought of being able to do whatever she wanted! But practically, she knew the family would have eyes on her somehow even if the whole school wasn’t full of cousins, if her own year didn’t have a cousin in it. If she put one toe out of line, she might get away with that; two, and she’d be in serious trouble. Carey girls, Grandmother liked to say in her hard voice, were often bold as well as beautiful – though no one would guess at that to see her eldest daughter; Aunt Emma was pretty, but Aunt Catherine looked just like an irritable old spinster, even though she was married and the mother of more cousins – but they must never take that too far. Some had before, and they all saw where that had ended. Theresa had never pointed out that she didn’t actually know exactly where that had ended, because the truth was that she didn’t really want to know.

0 Theresa Then you're two times better off than me, I guess 0 Theresa 0 5

Waverly

November 27, 2011 4:28 AM

Bah! Sorry for the delay! by Waverly

Waverly was glad that her peers would soon be nicer, hopefully. She didn't want to dislike the magical people here. It was obvious already that because she didn't know anything about this world, she didn't really fit in with anyone. But it was okay. She would learn! Waverly was determined to do so.

"Yeah, fairies are kinda weird. I thought they were like humans, but I guess they lay eggs too?" That was a little confusing, but Waverly could look that up later. Right now they had a potion to make. Kitty said something about boiling the leaves and Waverly agreed.

"Sounds good to me!" she said with a smile, and then watched Kitty use a heating charm on the cauldron. "Nice!" she exclaimed. "I'll start crushing the shrivelfig pits to a powder, then. Do you want to boil the leaves?" She had her mortar and pestel with her, the kind that she'd been told to buy for school, and put the pits in, careful to count out seven like it was written. She began to crush them. It was a lot harder than it looked, and she wished there was some way she could just enchant the pestel to do the work for her. Ha! Maybe with magic there was a way! Smiling to herself, she continued to work.

0 Waverly Bah! Sorry for the delay! 0 Waverly 0 5

Gareth

November 27, 2011 9:15 PM

It’s good to have friends in a strange country by Gareth

A small blush tinged Gareth’s cheeks when she said she was lucky to be his partner, and he cursed his light complexion which made every passing embarrassment noticeable to all. While she transferred the murtlap leaves over Gareth studied the crushed fairy eggs as he waited for the heat in his cheeks to fade. Once the leaves had successfully been added, Gareth carefully poured the crushed fairy eggs into the potion and began stirring.

It was sort of surprising to Gareth how easy it was to get along with Alicia. She didn’t fuss or whine about whatever they were doing and seemed content to follow his direction unlike his sister. Gwen always had to have her way, and if she didn’t… Well, Gareth was just glad that the girls here weren’t the same way. Maybe it’s just part of growing up? He hoped so, it would be painfully embarrassing if his kid sister threw a fit in the middle of class because she didn’t get her way.

“Yes, I think that it is going well.” Gareth agreed as he stirred, his blue eyes focused on the potion. “Alright, I’ll need you to add the hippocampus scales while I stir, then all that’s left is the unicorn hair.” Gareth instructed. A pleasant smile curved his lips, the potion really was going well and he felt certain that they would produce a successful potion together. “So, what do you think of the school so far?” He asked politely, curious to get her opinion on it.

0 Gareth It’s good to have friends in a strange country 0 Gareth 0 5

Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

November 28, 2011 8:25 PM

Beginning in Beginning Potions by Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus

Alex had tried for a moment to tie all of her hair back from her face, and, even though it was short right now, not quite reaching her shoulders except on the rare occasions when the ends of it were not flipped one way or the other, had succeeded. Unfortunately, when she’d looked in the mirror, she’d been completely convinced that she looked like her not overly handsome father in miniature, like a boy, and she’d quickly let it down again. If a single hair falling in the cauldron could cause that much damage, then it most likely would have fallen from her head even in the loose ponytail she’d managed.

She had never thought that anything except dressing for parties would be easier with long hair, though. She would have to tell Mother about this when she went home for Christmas. She could just see Mother looking at her for a long moment with no expression before she suddenly laughed, the merry, genuine laugh Alex only rarely heard. She’d heard her mother laugh as often, she guessed, as anyone else, but not very often like she really meant it. It was usually just because it was a social occasion and Mother had to laugh to fit in, to be polite.

She almost didn’t recognize her name without a family tag attached to the end, she had never really introduced or heard herself introduced as anything other than Alexandra Devereux of the Louisiana la-di-da, but she caught it in time to sit up a little straighter and raise her hand before anyone really noticed her hesitation during the roll call. “Present, sir,” she said clearly, and was, presumably, marked present. How strange. But then, she had never had lessons with anyone but Lissy, and only a blind and deaf tutor wouldn’t notice if one of them was absent. This class was much bigger.

The potion sounded interesting enough, though Alexandra didn’t think she’d ever have to worry about developing her own photographs. That was why she was here, after all – to make sure she didn’t end up an old maid, or someone married to someone with more value than they had means, who had to rely on herself once Father was dead. Still, that wasn’t here. “Good morning,” she said with a friendly smile to the person next to her. She had yet to meet anyone she couldn’t get along with here, so it seemed safe to start out on a friendly note. “Shall we work together on this?”

She hoped they’d agree, she’d feel a proper fool if they did not and she had to apologize and go find someone else, and she hoped to avoid feeling like a fool as much as she could. Mother and Father would be perfectly united in their disapproval if she made herself look like that too often, if at all. There was no one she could think of who’d have much sympathy for that except maybe Lissy, and even she’d scold some.

0 Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus Beginning in Beginning Potions 0 Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus 0 5

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

November 28, 2011 8:51 PM

Caring would help...but it would also take effort by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

The family, in the aftermath of his lovely but utterly unoriginal evening with Sally Manger, had been pleased with Paul when he came home for the summer, and the holiday for him had passed unremarkably enough. He knew his sister had lied by omission about her own politically-motivated liaison with that Muggleborn, telling their parents that she had just gone with ‘some nobody,’ but he had let it stand. Eliza had her games, her mad politics, and he was not going to do anything to get himself involved. The longer he could slide under everyone’s notice and not be dragged to the parties she had spent her summer between states of hysteria about and involved in the cloak-and-cutthroat-dagger business of family politics and state politics and courtships and betrothals, the happier he would be.

He thought he might have another two years, three if he played it just right. He was just in second year now, and a boy anyway; it wouldn’t be hugely unusual if he weren’t completely settled when he finished school. It would be better, at least in his mother’s opinion, if he was, but Father was at least a few years older than her and had already been getting himself established when he married Mother and they’d started their family. He might make it to fourteen before they started really pushing the parties – Eliza had been almost fourteen, and she was a girl – and fifteen before they began really trying to find him a girl to marry and make him become involved in things. Paul was good at not being seen when he didn’t want to be seen, so he thought he could manage it.

Whether or not he could manage his classes was always another question. He had his good days and his bad days with them, and while the good and mediocre outweighed the bad by enough, his parents hadn’t been as happy with his grade reports as they had been with his social life. He’d have to actually do work this time, put some effort into his assignments for a while, to make them stop paying attention and assuring him that he’d be ruined if he didn’t.

The problem, though, was that lessons were often so…pointless, really. When was he going to develop his own photos? That was why they had the elf. Maybe, if he got involved in something illicit and there was evidence he needed to develop and hide that even the elf didn’t know about, but Paul didn’t plan to do that if he could remotely help it. That was making a lot of effort at a major risk and for not a whole lot of gain.

Still, he smiled, politely and formally, as he turned to a partner. One reason for sitting not too far from the front, aside from his height, was to ensure that he had reasonably good partners, so he wasn’t too worried about who it was. “Do you have a partner yet?” he asked pleasantly.

0 Paul Bennett, Crotalus Caring would help...but it would also take effort 201 Paul Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Angel

November 29, 2011 8:18 PM

... by Angel

What should I be doing? Angel fretted, the quill suffered his anxious fingers as he waited for her to tell him what to do. But, aside from a small ‘oh’ Valerie said nothing. This wasn’t a situation Angel had ever been placed in before. He had no notion of how to take control of a situation or be the leading force behind any sort of project. Instead Angel’s actions always revolved around the person he was dealing with at the time. The young albino spoke when spoken to, and acted when told to as he was told to.

Rarely if not given any direction in a situation Angel would be moved by curiosity, as he had been in the Hall with Solomon, or in the Commons. But, not in a classroom situation where steps needed to be taken and Angel was suppose to work with someone else. So far in such situations the other person would lead and he would follow, or they would work separately. He didn’t know what to do with someone who just sat quietly, and occasionally coughed.

Biting his pale lower lip Angel shifted in his seat, and fidgeted as his crimson eyes turned again to the instructions. Cups? Of water. How big or small? Cups come in many sizes why… Angel was at a loss for how to proceed, he was unsure why a cup would be used, and hadn’t brought one from the hall in any case. The normal goblets he used were often smaller than the ones others used so he didn’t see how cups would make a good vessel for measurement.

“Eight cups?” Angel asked softly, hoping he didn’t sound as lost as he felt. With those two small words Angel relinquished his uneasy position of being the leader to her, and waited for her to direct him.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Kitty

November 29, 2011 8:52 PM

Waves the apology away It happens by Kitty

Fairies were kind of odd, and something that would require further study in the future. She remembered the little blue ones that had been let loose on the DADA class last term, the Cornish pixies which Kitty assumed were similar in being to fairies. Hmm, what are the differences between pixies and fairies? Kitty wondered. The pixies had been rather mean spirited little things, but they were still fun to try and catch. She also wondered if the little humanlike beings had their own culture, language, everything. The image of tiny fairies that had lost their wings and rode mice appeared in her mind and she smiled at the remembered story.

Last term had been full of moments such as this, where the smallest thing, in this case a simple potions ingredient, led to a whole new world of thought to explore. If she studied non-stop for the next hundred years Kitty knew she wouldn’t have touched half of all there was to know about the new world that had opened up for her. For Kitty the thought wasn’t daunting, but delightful. Her curiosity would never be stated, and no matter what there would always be something new to keep her attention.

“Okay!” Kitty chirped happily as she dumped the two leaves into the caldron and poked them down into the water so they were completely submerged. Humming under her breath she stared at the water with bright blue eyes, watching as the leaves began to dance around the bubbles of boiling water. She really wasn’t sure how boiled was considered boiled enough so after about two minutes Kitty grabbed the tongs and fished the now soggy leaves out of the boiling water. “Mk, how are those shrivelfig pits coming?” Kitty asked.

0 Kitty *Waves the apology away* It happens 0 Kitty 0 5

Alicia

November 30, 2011 6:08 PM

And just in general, I think. by Alicia

Gareth blushed, seeming very intent on the potion in front of him all of a sudden, and Alicia smiled, very slightly, to herself for a moment. She’d flattered him, then. That was a point to her – not a win, not yet, but it was a point to her, and she would take that and be happy with it for right now. It meant that anything she’d done wrong might have been forgotten.

Unless it was just the heat of all the burners and steam and everything that went with making potions, of course. That was a bit of a dampener on her self-congratulations. She didn’t want to contemplate that too much.

She smiled automatically at the instruction and began adding hippocampus scales carefully, making sure they didn’t bump into each other in such close proximity to the cauldron and mess something up. She was sure that any progress she’d made with Gareth would be gone with the wind if she bumped into him and it caused the potion to go wrong, and she’d be annoyed for the rest of the day if she messed up her first potion and so her second chance to impress Professor Fawcett. She needed to do that even more than she needed to walk away from this partnership feeling like she’d won on the social front as well as the academic one.

“I like it,” she said simply when asked what her opinion of the school so far was. “So far. My roommates are very nice, and I’m happy with my House.” Aladren wasn’t the House her family had the most success in, that was beyond a doubt Crotalus, but that just meant she’d shine all the brighter for surpassing Gramma Claire and Uncle Geoff instead of just shining a little bit brighter than her Crotalus mother. “How do you like it? Is Crotalus nice? Most of my family has been there.” In fact, her sister and her first cousin were his prefects, though she had a horrible suspicion that he might get the relationships reversed and think Sam was her brother instead and Rachel, a far better relative choice, just a cousin. He had taken after his mother – well, she guessed; it wasn’t like he had a father for them to see, or to give him a name that wasn’t hers – just as she’d taken after her father, while Rachel was fair-haired and blue-eyed.

16 Alicia And just in general, I think. 210 Alicia 0 5

David

November 30, 2011 10:25 PM

How many won battles do you need to win the war? by David

David muted his sigh, hands steady on the mortar and pestle. "My parents are a bit . . . protective of me, so I spent most of my time at home." There, that was both honest and vague enough to hopefully push the topic to something else. He didn't know how to share his secrets with others; he hardly thought of such things as secrets at all. His thoughts-- they were private, exclusive to him alone. It didn't occur to David that he could treat Brianna as a confidante, or that by opening up with her, he might possibly do some good. For himself and for her.

He didn't miss the slight change in Brianna's expression at his inquiry; she wasn't as good as he was, it seemed, at hiding things. He could teach her, if she wanted-- show her how to slip the unwanted thoughts behind a wall of implacability. He even went so far as to open his mouth and offer, but the thought of Brianna learning to lie as well as he did made his stomach turn. He preferred her smiling.

"There are always problems. . ." David listened closely, forgetting about his remaining fairy eggs as Brianna's every subsequent word made his chest tighten and his head spin. Oh, he knew this feeling all right. This was exactly the sort of emotion he felt most comfortable with: anger. He watched as she touched her cheek and unbidden, he envisioned the hand or fist that must have struck her there. Had she cried? Had the mark faded already, or was she hiding it under charms and make-up? He thought of his own pain as his teeth had cut ragged against the inside of his mouth, of how the metallic taste of his blood and hurt had lingered for days.

The thought of someone doing the same to Brianna made his blood boil. "Screw the eggs. It is most definitely not okay," he said fiercely, his voice kept low but intense. "Who is it who's been hurting you? Is it someone here, at Sonora? Tell me, and I promise, I'll help. I'll make it so that no one hurts you. I can protect you, I swear."

It didn't matter to David that he was just as much of a victim to bullying as Brianna might be, or that he never won his own physical encounters with those larger and stronger. All he could think was that someone had struck her and that he knew, with a certainty that came from nothing tangible, that came from the arrogance of invincible, romantic youth, that he would do everything to make sure it never happened again.

0 David How many won battles do you need to win the war? 0 David 0 5

Shiloh

November 30, 2011 10:41 PM

How about chocolate? by Shiloh

Shiloh couldn't help being impressed. Cepheus seemed awfully smart; he looked perfectly at ease with jumping from the mortar to the cauldron and then back again. He didn't look unruffled at all! She felt rightfully envious. It really was unfair of her Papa to never have allowed her a peak into his laboratory. She knew how to be quiet and sit still; hadn't she demonstrated just those qualities at dinner every night? She felt a pout coming on and resisted dutifully. The classroom was no place to indulge, even she knew that.

"Okay," she replied, forcing some of her insecurity back with the word. Three or four jabs Cepheus had said, and so she would do just that. With her lips pursed and arms shaking from the effort, she worked her way through the eggs, one egg at a time. Her first dozen had slightly larger chips of shell in them than the remainder, but she was pleased with her final product. Proud of her accomplishment, she brandished the crushed contents of her ingredient bowl toward Cepheus, smiling widely.

"Look Cepheus, I think I got the hang of it! You're an awfully good teacher, aren't you?" Shiloh was always generous with her compliments, unaware that their sincerity might be questioned considering the quantity that she gave out. It didn't matter that she meant the words; to others, it would surely come across as forced, or perhaps political. She was in Crotalus House, after all.

"I think it's amazing," she continued, taking the moment to try and push her loosened hair back into some semblance of neatness, "how comfortable you seem to be with all of this. My parents never let me practice magic at home, even thought I promised to be careful. One of my aunts, Tia Pia, gave me a practice wand for my seventh birthday and I didn't get even a single chance to try it out because Papa said that little girls shouldn't play with things they weren't ready for." She turned an pointedly exasperated expression toward her classmate, plainly seeking commiseration. "Can you believe it? I was awfully disappointed."

It didn't occur to Shiloh to also mention that her Tia Pia believed that furniture could talk and that cats were controlled by devils and that the gifted wand would most likely result in setting the house (and Shiloh) on fire. In her memory, all she retained was that her Papa, like always, had been stingy with magic. The pout threatened to manifest itself again; she gave her head a shake. "What would like me to do next? Should we start adding ingredients?"

0 Shiloh How about chocolate? 0 Shiloh 0 5

Cepheus

November 30, 2011 11:09 PM

You may have found my weakness. by Cepheus

Cepheus smiled a little at her compliment and tried not to look too pleased. Compliments didn't come easy in the Princeton household, so he would blossom under any positive attention, false or not. Maybe he had misjudged her, but it didn't matter. They had a potion to make. "Those egg shells look perfect." He checked his watch. Four minutes had passed quickly, so he carefully dumped in the seven powdered shrivelfig pits. "That is disappointing, not to use magic when you have a wand." He hadn't received his wand till eleven for that same reason. "Probably would've gotten in trouble with the Ministry though, using magic underage." He smiled a little at her, and then checked on the leaves.

"My mum was an avid potions maker and I loved to watch her. She made loads of potions, so it was easy to catch on. She let me help her some times too and told me how to do things right. I think part of the reason why was because she didn't want me to look like a fool at school." He smirked. "But I suppose she could see how much I liked potions. So far it's my favourite subject. I could always teach you more if you want. Make potions out of class for practise." He smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll catch on real easily too." When he looked at the leaves again, five minutes had passed.

"I'll transfer the murtlap leaves over and then you can put in your perfectly crushed fairy eggs." He grinned. "Then after that--" He checked his textbook again. "--five hippocampus scales and one unicorn tail hair. Easy enough." He nodded. "I'll put in the scales and then you can put the finishing touches. Ooh, best not leave those leaves in for long." He used his wand to lift the dripping leaves and tossed them into the main cauldron. He did the same with the other one, and then nodded at Shiloh, telling her to put her crushed eggs in.

He looked at the jar containing the hippocampus scales and carefully counted out five. "Sure you don't mind using up your supplies?" He knew he would be stingy in using up his, if he had any. "I'd take advantage of what the school can offer here. It's free, after all." He smiled. "Unless you refill your supplies from the potions cabinet." Something Theo would have been apt to do.

Now was the time to concentrate, but he still wanted to get to know his housemate a little better. He liked her seemingly bubbly disposition, and he definitely enjoyed her compliments. He hoped it wouldn't distract her too much, or he'd get upset with her and himself. "Where are you from?" he asked, wondering if she'd come from a distance like he and Gareth had. "Romano's Italian, right?"

0 Cepheus You may have found my weakness. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Brianna

December 01, 2011 10:05 PM

Probably not that many by Brianna

His parents sounded somewhat like her own. They wanted to protect her, so they kept her in the building instead of allowing her access to the outside world. But, in doing so, they had condemned her into the four walls of a building full of people who hated her and enjoyed seeing her cry.

The fierceness of his voice startled Brianna and she paused in her actions to look at him. Her heart raced, but not out of fear. She wasn’t sure why she was so worked up about his reaction. She was slightly terrified that he was going to yell at her about being a baby or, worse, start to make fun of her for being, well, her. But, he was going in the opposite direction. He was angry because she had been hurt.

She shook her head firmly when he asked if it had been someone at Sonora. Brianna didn’t know how David thought he could help her with the bullies at home. She honestly wished that someone could help her because if it was anything like it had been over the summer, Brianna wasn’t so sure she could survive. Just thinking about it all made her want to cry all over again. She knew her father was set on staying there because it was familiar and had been his job for sixteen years, but Brianna’s mother was fighting for something new and something safe for her daughter.

“No, it’s not anyone here.” She told him in a hushed tone, looking around to see if anyone was noticing them. No one seemed to be. “Please don’t say anything. If anyone knew what it was like at home, Attoria couldn’t be my friend anymore and everyone will hate me!” She could hear the desperation in her voice as she said it. “David, I appreciate you wanting to help, but there’s nothing you can do about it. No one can do anything about it. Trust me, my Mom and Dad have tried, but no one will listen to them. They say that it’s my fault. That I deserve it or that their children would never do such things. They look at my parents and just see the ‘help’.” She was bitter, she knew it. What could she do about it though? She wanted her parents to strike it rich. She needed them to so that she couldn’t be pushed around anymore. But that was just a dream. A stupid dream.

“Dad says there aren’t any jobs for him to apply for. We just have to stay there until it gets better. Mom says that they’ll eventually get tired of bothering me, but I don’t think that’s true.” Brianna told him, looking down at her hands in her lap, the potion long forgotten. “They were worse this summer than ever before. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if my parents didn’t fight so much about it… If I leave the apartment, I get shoved or kicked, or knocked down. But if I stay in the apartment, I can hear how unhappy my parents are.” She was quiet for a moment, thinking of her parents and how she wished she hadn’t been born. Maybe then they could be happy.

Brianna glanced up from her hands and turned to David once more, “David, promise me you won’t say anything? I don’t want anyone to know. They can’t know. It’ll ruin everything.”

0 Brianna Probably not that many 0 Brianna 0 5

Waverly

December 02, 2011 7:24 PM

Yay for understanding :) by Waverly

Waverly was cheered by Kitty's personality. Everyone else had been a little weirded out by her. She and Kitty were the kind of people that could proclaim their happiness to the world and see the good things. Well, at least that's what she got from working with Kitty so far. Waverly just liked to see the best in people, especially if they were enthusiastic about stuff.

Before she knew it, all seven shrivelfig pits were powder, though there were still a few clumps she couldn't seem to crush enough. "They're coming okay!" she told her. She smiled at her partner. "You seem really good at this. Have you made potions before?" she asked, unsure if Kitty was older or not.

"Potions reminds me of cooking! My mom runs a bakery and she cooks like this all the time. Except, not with a cauldron, of course." Waverly's green eyes sparkled like they did whenever she learned a new part of magic. She still couldn't really believe she was here. "Okay! I think I'm done. Does this look okay?" She tilted her bowl towards Kitty slightly, making sure not a thing fell out. "There's a couple chunks, but I can't seem to get them all out." She didn't want to spend the whole class period grinding these shrivelfig pits.

"I'll put the powder in," Waverly volunteered. She dumped the contents into the cauldron. It reminded her of putting flour into a bowl with her mom. It kind of looked like that, only in the sense that it was powder. She felt a little proud of herself, but she had to remember that the potion wasn't done yet. "I hope this potion comes out really nicely," she smiled. "Okay, you wanna put the leaves in? What's after that again?" She looked at the board. "Thirty-two crushed fairy eggs." She nodded. "Are you going to crush them?" Thoughts of fairies were threatening to conquer Waverly's conscious. Unicorns and fairies were some of her favorite creatures from fairy tales.

0 Waverly Yay for understanding :) 0 Waverly 0 5

Gareth

December 06, 2011 11:29 PM

Good point by Gareth

As she added the scales Gareth counted each turn of the wooden spoon, his blue eyes were glued to the bubbling brew. It slowly shifted to the proper shade and Gareth flashed Alicia a smile. “Brilliant.” He said as he reached for the unicorn hair. The long white hair fell easily into the center of the brew and Gareth made sure that each stir was carefully counted so as not to ruin the potion when they were so close to being finished.

Removing the wooden spoon, Gareth cancelled the heat and turned to give Alicia a large smile. It had only taken a few moments of reading to confirm that the color and texture were perfect, both indicators of a successful brew. They wouldn’t know for certain until they tested it, but Gareth was optimistic that they’d pulled off a perfect potion. Thank Merlin, it would have been horribly embarrassing to muck it up Gareth thought as he began cleaning up the mess.

They still needed to place the potion in vials and Gareth took four large ones from his bag. Humming softly under his breath, an old melody his mother often hummed while she tended her herb garden, Gareth doled out the potion into each vial. Once they were corked Gareth handed two of them to Alicia and kept two for himself. “It was a pleasure working with you, I’m sure that we’ll receive good marks on this.” He offered kindly.

0 Gareth Good point 0 Gareth 0 5

Kitty

December 07, 2011 12:34 AM

Yay for new friends! by Kitty

“Yup! I’m a second year.” Kitty chirped happily, pleased to not be brand new anymore and able to help guide the new group of younglings. Although the idea of anyone following Kitty’s lead in Potions was slightly terrifying, Kitty didn’t think they were doing too badly. Well, nothing had exploded yet, and there weren’t any noxious fumes, all in all it wasn’t a complete disaster yet. In Kitty’s mind that was pretty darn close to success, all things considered.

“Really? Do you get to make all the cool cakes, and cookies and breads?” Kitty asked excitedly. She’d seen a show on TV over the break about cake decorating and some of those cakes had been rather amazing. Cakes that looked like dogs and everything, it was super cool, and if she had any skill at all when it came to cooking Kitty thought she might like to be a cake decorator when she grew up. “I bet you always had the best birthday cakes.” Kitty said wistfully.

Kitty looked at the now mostly powder. “Hmm, yeah it looks pretty good.” She agreed, it was fairly smooth and to her eyes it looked powdered. “Me too.” Kitty said with a nod. None of her potions last year had, but this was a whole new year, so things had to go better right? Plucking the soggy leaves up off the table, Kitty dropped them back into the potion and stirred while counting. “Unlike cooking the number of stirs really is important.” Kitty said wisely, not noticing that she stirred three times too many as she spoke and attempted to count at the same time.

After one year of preparing potions ingredients Kitty was use to it. She counted out thirty-two of the eggs and put them in the mortar before crushing them up. They were perhaps a bit more pulverized than crushed but Kitty thought they looked alright. “Mk, I’m going to add them now.” She said as she dumped them into the potion, which then turned a brilliant shade of yellow. “Uh oh. Um…right I don’t think it was suppose to do that.” Kitty said sheepishly as green flakes of color started to appear.

0 Kitty Yay for new friends! 0 Kitty 0 5

Valerie

December 07, 2011 7:44 PM

Coughing by Valerie

Valerie began to cough, hard, bringing heat to her face. She hated when this happened. It was super unpleasant and a bit embarrassing. She just couldn't help it. She never could help feeling sick all the time and hated it. Of course, the Crotalus couldn't imagine why anyone would want to feel this way and she doubted anyone would. Valerie could barely make it through a class period without at least feeling tired.

And she was tired right now,extremely so. She wanted badly to take some Pepper Up potion and go lie down. Her headache was getting worse too and her nose was beginning to feel a bit itchy as were her eyes. Right now, though Valerie was just worried about coughing up something repulsive. Everyone would think that she was disgusting and unladylike then.

Or she might even cough up blood which would be even worse. The last time that had happened to the second year had been the winter before she'd come to Sonora when she'd had pneumonia. Valerie had been severely ill, even more so than usual, and was hospitalized for quite some time. She'd been sick enough that she'd had to be completely isolated and her parents and Melanie couldn't even visit her and she'd almost died. Coughing blood was a very bad sign indeed and Valerie was extremely paranoid, albeit perhaps rightfully so, about it.

Once her coughing fit abated, the second year peeked over at Angel, somewhat embarrassed. He'd been so quiet and Valerie couldn't tell if he was a quiet person, like herself, or that he didn't like her. She sincerely hoped it was the former. The Crotalus certainly didn't expect anyone to fuss over her like they did at home but she didn't want them to hate her or make fun of her or be revolted by her either. Ladies were supposed to be delicate, which Valerie certainly was, or at least present such an appearance, not rough or disgusting.

She was still afraid the other student would get up and move. Even though she hadn't thankfully coughed up blood or anything nasty, Valerie was still worried Angel would be afraid of her contaminating him or something, just as she'd been worried moments ago that he was the one with something contagious.

“Eight cups?”

The Crotalus looked up. Well, at least Angel was still talking to her. "I believe that's what it says." Valerie replied, smiling faintly. Was he expected her to take charge? She'd always been taught that she wasn't supposed to do so. Not only was Valerie a girl and a child but she'd also always been led to believe that she was supposed to just let others take care of her. A dependence on others and what they thought was best had led her to believe she wasn't to assert herself. Sure, she could tell house-elves what to do, but Angel wasn't a house elf, he was another wizard and male at that.

11 Valerie Coughing 204 Valerie 0 5

Thad Pierce

December 07, 2011 10:20 PM

Okay. Where? by Thad Pierce

Thad took note of the fact that the girl did not introduce herself. This not only ruled her out as a respectable pureblood (anyone born to his social class would have been able to return a proper introduction even if they were unconscious; it became a reflex at some point around age seven), but also made addressing her difficult. Still, she seemed eager to learn the day's lesson and wasn't shy about asking questions, so he could respect her for that.

He found a measuring cup and offered it to her. He scanned briefly over the potion's instruction again, checking the amount of water they'd need and the first couple of steps that they'd need to prepare before actually starting.

"I'm familiar with the theories of brewing potions," he admitted, since this was a legal thing for him to have done prior to formal schooling at Sonora, "and I've read a lot of books about the properties of the ingredients." He didn't say that he had never actually brewed one, though; he didn't like lying outright if he could avoid it. That he didn't say he had brewed before sort of implied he hadn't from context, anyway. He had, after all, been giving a list of what he had accomplished in the subject of potions, and actually brewing potions was a glaring omission from it.

"We should start by preparing the ingredients and having them ready before while the water heats, so while you measure that, I'll start crushing the shrivelfig pits." He produced his mortar and pestle from their compartment of his potion kit, then pulled out the jar of shrivelfig pits. He counted out seven and put them aside, closed and restored the jar to its proper place, and started crushing one at a time with an easy practiced competency that did not remotely suggest that this was his first real live potion.

"What should I call you?" he asked, probing for a name, so he didn't have to keep referring to her by pronouns in his mind, then asked, seeking to solve the mystery of her missing gear, "Where did you last see your measuring cup? Did you remember to pack it?"

1 Thad Pierce Okay. Where? 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Waverly

December 09, 2011 2:14 PM

Uh...is our potion supposed to look like this? by Waverly

Waverly was glad she was working with an older student. She was only a year older, but that was still a lot older in her book. "My mom and some people who work in her shop do, but I get to watch and it's a lot of fun when she lets me put in some ingredients. Yeah, my birthday cakes were pretty good. And pretty! But my favorite thing that my mom makes is banana nut bread. And muffins. They're so good! If she sends me a box of some I'll share it with you!" She smiled happily. She couldn't wait for her mom to send her a package of goodies, even if she had to first get used to the owl system.

Waverly was watched Kitty as she talked about the importance of stirring correctly, and then looked at the potion. She noticed Kitty stir one too many times, but she supposed it wouldn't harm it too much. Potions couldn't be that picky, could it?

She watched Kitty put in the eggs, and her green eyes suddenly widened as acid-green flakes started to rise out of yellow. "Uh..." She quickly went to her textbook. If worse came to worst, then she'd raise her hand and ask for help. She really did not want their potion to blow up or anything. "The potion's supposed to be purple when it's done. Maybe we should add the hippocampus scales and the unicorn tail hair and then it'll turn purple?" Waverly really hoped so.

She quickly put in the five scales and then unicorn tail hair, and counted the three counter-clockwise stirs outloud so she wouldn't mess up. "There. Uh..." Waverly blinked at their potion which, instead of going from yellow with green to purple, it was becoming a putrid, orange color with maroon flakes beginning to swirl. "Shoot. Will it blow up? Should I get the professor?" she asked Kitty earnestly.

0 Waverly Uh...is our potion supposed to look like this? 0 Waverly 0 5

Angel

December 11, 2011 1:38 PM

... by Angel

The girl next to him began coughing heavily and Angel wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Coughing was an indication of illness that much Angel was aware of but he didn’t know what, if anything he should do about it. Once the coughing fit subsided Angel decided to ignore it. Valerie could be like him with physical defects that were what they were, so he would wait. If she asked him to do something then he would do it, if not he would continue to assume that she was able to manage on her own.

An image of his mother before she died flashed though his mind. Angel had never really known what to do with sick people, and the house elf had taken care of her for that long dark month as she wasted away. He remembered closing the door to her sick room, leaving the raving woman to her death as he fled to the attic to escape her screaming. After days, or perhaps weeks, the sound dwindled and faded away. Angel hadn’t opened the door again, it had been Lady Cynthia who’d found her when she’d come for Angel’s regular checkup.

He didn’t know what was wrong with Valerie, but he didn’t think that it would be as bad as that. Either way this was a much different place, one full of adults who could take care of her should things get bad enough. ”I believe that’s what it says” Valerie said to his question. The answer left him as baffled as before. Giving up, Angel returned his attention to the grinding. While exhausting, it was still something he could do while he waited. He would grind the pits for half a minute, then rest and repeat.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Kitty

December 11, 2011 1:55 PM

Um…no by Kitty

“Really? I love banana nut bread! Oh does she make pumpkin bars too? Those are soo good.” Kitty said, excitement flashing though her at the thought of homemade breads. Her mom often made cinnamon raisin bread in the fall, and the smell would fill the whole house with yummy goodness. “Yay! The Prairie Elves make some really great food but nothing beats homemade bread.” Kitty said wisely.

The sight of the potion color made Kitty grown out loud. She had to repress the childish urge to stand up, stomp her foot and pout. It had become annoyingly routine for her potions to go wrong and Kitty had hoped that this year would be different from last. Waverly added the last two ingredients and counted out loud to make sure she got the right number of turns. Well, that makes us look like compete idiots but it’s a great idea. Kitty thought. She knew that stirring was one of the areas she had a terrible time focusing on and she was willing to look silly if it meant that maybe the potion wouldn’t be a disaster. It was something to keep in mind for the future at any rate.

As the potion turned a rather nasty shade of orange Kitty knew that Waverly’s plan was too little too late. Salvaging this potion would take a master of the highest order, and sadly a master Kitty wasn’t. Kitty gave the potion a calculating glare. “Na, I don’t think it will. Usually if it’s going to blow up it bubbles a lot more and hisses.” Kitty said with the air of someone who has experienced more than a few ruined potions.

“I’m sorry.” Kitty turned sad blue eyes on the other girl, hoping she wouldn’t be too angry with her. “I probably should have told you I’m horrible at potions.” She added forlornly.

0 Kitty Um…no 0 Kitty 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

December 12, 2011 7:59 PM

Excellent question, do you see any over there? by Jhonice Trevear

Thaddeus Pierce II was certainly living up to what she had heard about him. Over the summer she had done some preliminary research on those that might be coming into the school this year, and from that she had learned that Thaddeus was really smart. From the way he talked and moved, it almost seemed as though he had done this before. Some of the things that had turned up in 'rumor' side of the information she had dug up suggested that perhaps he had in fact been taking some magical courses semi-illegally before coming here. She hadn't put to much faith into the source of those 'rumors' but now she may have to reexamine them. They also suggested that perhaps there was more of a relationship between Thaddeus and Derwent than merely cousins. She would have to keep watch on their interactions.

She accepted his measuring cup and nearly dropped it when he asked her what he should call her. Had she actually forgotten to introduce herself? She may have, she had just gotten to excited about the project and her partner and.... Anyway. She blushed quite a bit and gave him something of an apologetic smile, "Ohmygosh, I'm sorry. I'm Jhonice, Jhonice Treaver, from Aladren. The town, not the house. You're in Aladren the house, right? Are you going to try out for the Quidditch team?" She suspected he would, his sister (if it was actually his sister) was the Coach. She had been hearing rumors flitting about the school about Matriarch Pierce actually not being Matriarch Pierce, but she couldn't pin any of them down yet. She was going to have to work on that this year.

Turning back to the project at hand, she started measuring out the water, being very careful to get the exact amount the instructions called for. Once that was done she turned on the heat, and watched as her partner prepared the ingredients. "I know I had it when I packed up at home." she had made a checklist of everything she was going to need for the first half of the year. There had been that minor incident in the hall, had it slipped away from her at that point? "The only place I could have lost is was in the hall. I... put it down for a moment." She had spotted Arnold and Arthur Carey leaving the hall after breakfast and decided to follow them. They might have been talking about their triplet, and she was going to find him as well. No luck though.

2 Jhonice Trevear Excellent question, do you see any over there? 209 Jhonice Trevear 0 5

Alicia

December 13, 2011 10:49 PM

I do like to make them. by Alicia

Alicia knew that Gareth’s “brilliant” most likely applied to the potion, or at best her role in assisting with the potion, but she smiled back, deeply pleased, and imagined it was just or at least partially a commentary on her. That she was brilliant, in every way, as brilliant as the diamonds in her mother’s best earrings. Better, even.

She noticed, though, that he didn’t offer his own thoughts on the school, and something about the kind tone of his voice after he finished bottling the potions slashed at the momentary upswing in her mood. It made her feel like someone who was receiving charity, who needed that charity. Which she did not. All she had now was what her stepfather or mother or step-grandmother gave her, but one day, she was going to have anything she wanted, whenever she wanted it, in her own right, and for now, the gifts would do.

“I’m positive we are,” she said confidently, looking at the bottle of potion in her hands. “This weekend, we’ll both be able to send photos home to our families.” Or very soon, anyway. She wanted a good set of pictures to go home all together, to show her success.

Her with her roommates, everyone all happy and smiling. Her with friends from different Houses, and the boys, in the Hall, the Gardens. She might have to recruit Sam for some of this, though she’d rather not; he was no threat to her in any case, but she’d rather not ask anyone for help that she didn’t have to, and she wasn’t sure if the whole thing would look completely effortless and natural if she had help anyway. Jeremy knew better, but she thought, if not completely certainly, that Momma didn’t. Anything too professional-looking – though she seriously doubted Sam’s abilities on that front – might be….

She wanted to close her eyes and shake her head, though she didn’t because Gareth would wonder why and she wouldn't have an answer. She could not second-guess everything. It was not like she had never been around new people before, so that was no reason to lose her head. She knew she could recover if she did and made anything but the worst kind of mistake, probably, but would rather not go through that much trouble.

16 Alicia I do like to make them. 210 Alicia 0 5

Waverly

December 14, 2011 2:23 AM

Trying not to panic... by Waverly

Waverly was glad that she'd made a friend, but she hadn't made a very good potion. It was horrible, actually, and Waverly tried really hard not to show the disappointment on her face. It was difficult for the eleven-year-old. Waverly sighed and gazed at the ruined potion instead, dejected. "It's okay. It's my first potion anyway. I'll have more chances in the future." Waverly, convinced by the idea, smiled at Kitty. "Now I know it can only get better from here!" It really had to. So far, all she knew was that she wasn't very good at potions.

"Anyway, there are more things to be good at than just potions." She'd really have to get used to not just throwing ingredients in there. Baking was so much easier. "I'm really excited for charms class. That'll be a lot of fun! What's your favorite subject here?"

Waverly had to make the best of the situation, and pretending that their potion wasn't such a putrid color, or didn't exist at all, seemed like a good idea. But then again..."Wait, do you think we'd have time to redo the potion?" she asked. "I really don't want to fail." She turned her big green eyes to the older girl for guidance. "Or should we ask the professor for help?"

0 Waverly Trying not to panic... 0 Waverly 0 5

Gareth

December 18, 2011 10:57 PM

nods by Gareth

A pleased smile touched his lips at her statement. “Yes, my sister and mother will find the gardens fascinating and I’ll need to get a shot of me flying on the Pitch for my brother and father.” Gareth said with a nod, his gaze distant as he visualized what the best shots to send back to his family. There were some rather striking fountains in the gardens that he knew his sister would simply adore. “Seems I’m the first to attend it’ll be nice to show off the new school.” Gareth added.

Perhaps he could enlist Cepheus’s help with the Pitch photos, Gareth thought as he cleaned up the remains of their potion making. It was good busy work and kept his hands active as he fought of the sharp pang of homesickness that pulled at his heart as he thought about which pictures would be best to send home. He knew that his siblings would be thrilled to get actual photos of the school they would soon attend. Brochures only gave so much and Gareth knew that he’d have to include a long detailed letter with the pictures to satisfy their curiosity.

Once all the excess ingredients had been replaced in his potions kit Gareth put the dirty utensils into the caldron. It would be great when they learned the different cleaning charms that would make such tasks a mere flick of the wand. Unfortunately he would have to deal with the mess the hard way or risk the potion residue drying into an unspeakable mess. “Do you have anything you’d like me to take care of while I wash these?” Gareth offered polity. It made sense to just get them all done at once and he didn’t mind cleaning off her tools as well.

0 Gareth *nods* 0 Gareth 0 5

Kitty

December 18, 2011 11:18 PM

Panic never helps, trust me on that by Kitty

Kitty offered Waverly a bright smile at her enthusiasm, but didn’t quite have the heart to tell her that well, no it could actually just get much, much worse. Well it didn’t help the poor girl to get me as a partner right of the bat Kitty thought dejectedly as she gave their rather ugly looking potion a baleful glare. Why couldn’t it have just worked for once? It just wasn’t meant to be, Kitty decided. Her and potions were simply incompatible and the best she could ever hope for was not to melt and/or blow up her caldron during any given class.

Kitty bounced in her seat, completely willing to dismiss Potions in favor of talking about the other far more awesome classes. “Well there’s Care of Magical Creatures which is pretty good now but has the potential to be super awesome later when we’re older and get to deal with the bigger more dangerous creatures. As beginners we generally only get to study the harmless magical creatures, but they’re still pretty neat and usually really nice so that’s not so bad. Charms is lots of fun, as well as Transfiguration but that one tends to be harder. Ohhh! Defense against the Dark arts is one of my absolute favorites! We always get to do something new and exciting and it’s a class where we move around and get to actually do stuff.” Kitty chatted animatedly about each of the classes she adored.

At Waverly’s question Kitty looked at the time and bit her lip. The class was already half over, by the time they cleaned up the mess and started over there wouldn’t be enough time left to finish the potion a second time. “Umm, I don’t think there’s time to try again. We could ask the Professor what he things about…that.” She pointed at the muck in their caldron. “But I’m afraid it’s a lost cause.” She added sadly.

0 Kitty Panic never helps, trust me on that 0 Kitty 0 5

Waverly

December 20, 2011 5:17 AM

So lost cause? Professor Fawcett!!! by Waverly

Waverly was a little sad about her potion, but she was glad that there were other classes she could do well in to make up for it. She was definitely excited for Care of Magical Creatures and Charms. She had bumped into Kerry in the library where he'd told her all about COMC, and she couldn't wait to meet the animals, or magical creatures. Both, she guessed. And Charms, where she'd get to learn how to use her wand properly! Waverly couldn't wait to use her wand. She hoped to be better at those two classes better than potions, anyway.

She hadn't heard much of Transfiguration, but a little about DADA. Anything concerning the Dark Arts scared her a little. She had read a little of her DADA textbook and had closed it right away. Any descriptions concerning dark magic was a little, er, scary. As exciting as magic was, she had to get used to the fact that there was dark magic as well as good magic. She'd just have to learn to differentiate between the two. She listened aptly to Kitty's descriptions of the other classes, her green eyes bright and excited.

Waverly was probably acting like a stereotypical first-year muggle-born student, but she couldn't help it. Living without real magic for most of her life and suddenly finding out about it...well, it was enough to make any girl her age excited. Her parents were still a little skeptical, her logical dad especially, but she was glad they'd let her come. Otherwise, she'd be spouting magic all over the place. She couldn't wait till Wendy, her younger sister, came.

As for their potion...well, she could always get the professor and ask if they'd really failed. Waverly didn't want to think the worst yet. If the professor couldn't manage to save it (or their grade, for that matter), then Waverly knew it really was a lost cause. Till then...

"I think I'll ask about it." She sat up and stuck her hand up in the air, waving to get the professor's attention. "Professor Fawcett!" she called. "Can you please take a look at our potion?" She looked down at it, then at the professor again. "Have we failed?" she asked quietly, worried.

0 Waverly So lost cause? *Professor Fawcett!!!* 0 Waverly 0 5

Linus Macaulay

December 27, 2011 1:54 PM

You care. I'll put in the effort. by Linus Macaulay

The original enthusiasm for magic Linus had possessed when he'd first begun studying at Sonora had dwindled, but only to the extent whereby he wasn't outwardly and obviously fascinated by every new concept he came across. There were plenty of times when magic still surprised him, and there was much he was keen to learn, but he had now accepted that there were also things about magic that could be impossibly dull. Luckily, he had some interested in the potions class for the day. As a Muggleborn, Linus had never had moving photographs. He'd seen magic pictures moving in papers and magazines in the Cascade Hall and his commons, and had even seen a few actual photographs wherein the people featured were waving, and so the concept was familiar, but Linus had never used it himself. Hopefully the Professor would allow them to test out their successful potions so Linus could try it out on some negatives taken with a Muggle camera. he would actually have to procure a camera with negatives first - the family camera they all shared at home was digital - but he thoguht the venture would be worthwhile for some mild entertainment.

Potions as a subject more generally was not really one of Linus' favorite classes. Some of the ingredients intended for digestion made him feel decidedly queasy, and the foul smelling concoctions created by accident - which admittedly were probably more frequently occuring in the beginners' class than any other - were enough to put most people off. Professor Fawcett also gave them a lot of work, in Linus' opinion, and while he appreciated the professor's enthusiasm for his students' learning, occasionally Linus thought he might appreciate a break. He wasn't an Aladren, after all.

For the first class of the year, Linus ended up sitting next to his roomate. It wasn't intentional; he just liked to sit fairly near the front of the classroom, and apparently Paul had a similar idea. When asked whether he had a partner yet, Linus replied, "No. We might as well work together." Aside from the occasional conversation barriers they experienced, due to culturally different upbringings, Linus felt quite lucky to have Paul as a roomate. They got along reasonably well, kept out of each others' way when necessary, and as far as Linus was aware, neither seemed to have any habits that annoyed the other. As such, he supposed they were well matched to work together in class, too.

"I think I have all the ingredients," he said, pulling open his potions supply kit, "except for the unicoon hair, of course, but we might be lacking in numbers for the fairy eggs. How many do you have?" It was the start of the year, so his kit had been recently restocked over the summer, but there were some items that second year students just didn't carry with them. Like unicorn hairs. He was also a bit disappointed that his entire stock of fairy eggs might be used up in one class. He hadn't counted them out exactly at the apothecary's; he'd just taken a couple of scoops, enough to put in a small resealable bag.

0 Linus Macaulay You care. I'll put in the effort. 205 Linus Macaulay 0 5