Advanced Potions I on Potions

Professor Fawcett

December 19, 2011 12:29 PM

Advanced Potions I by Professor Fawcett

One of the things John had noticed, even in very small groups composed, with the exception of himself, entirely of adolescents, was the tendency for all sorts of delicate political issues to crop up and require skillful handling. These could involve actual politics, as, say, when Mr. Bradley was exposed to someone who did not agree with his interesting but unfortunate views (though the boy seemed oddly averse to making an ass of himself this year; John was curious about that, too), or be – on the surface – about something much less important. Such as Quidditch.

This weekend, Aladren was to play Crotalus in the general season instead of the Championship for the first time in several years, and he had both captains in his Advanced class. Mr. Carey and Miss Stephenson were both diligent and pleasant young people, what John considered good students and in fact supervised some independent studies for, but after the past few years, he could understand how relations might be a bit…strained today. And since Mr. Duell, the Teppenpaw Chaser whom John was reasonably certain was dating Miss Stephenson, was also in the room....

Well, perhaps a Teppenpaw would not actually attempt to assassinate Mr. Carey with a potion just to upset the school Quidditch league for a girl and his own future preservation, but John was enough of a bachelor by inclination, if not practice, to never be completely sure of his footing when relationships came up, particularly between teenagers. He did know the other Houses were perhaps becoming tired of his House winning everything, year after year. And he wished to stay out of certain politics here, anyway, himself; he was rather fond of all his Advanced students, really, except perhaps Mr. Bradley, and considered it a bit beneath his dignity to admit exactly how much he wanted both those cups to continue gleaming in their places of pride in his office next year anyway. So he had decided to perhaps make the situation a bit less pressured for everyone in this class today.

“Hello, class, welcome,” he said as the last student sat down, closing the door and smiling warmly at them. “As some of you may be aware, we are nearing a Muggle holiday at the moment, called, ah, Thanksgiving, I encourage those of you who are not familiar with it to go look it up in the library at your leisure. As I’m sure you’re all aware, we are also getting very close to your midterm holidays.

“This is a busy time of year – as I’m sure you all reflect on daily while studying for your midterm examinations – but also one which is quite festive. Which is our theme for the day. Each of you make me something which you believe you might, once you’re out in the world, use around the holidays.” It would be all too soon that some of them would be in that position, and not very long for the sixth years, either. “You may, of course, confer with each other for ideas and talk amongst yourselves so long as you don’t lose focus. I’d like a brief composition at our next class on why you picked what you did, a hundred, two hundred words should do.” Since he expected anyone who’d been in his classes this long could write that in a few minutes without difficulty, he didn’t expect any complaints on that subject. They did still have a major paper due for him before they left for midterm, so he didn’t feel he was letting them off too easily. “I believe that’s all for now, begin.”

OOC: You all know the rules, they apply. Be creative, and have fun!

Subthreads:

Confering with another by Jose Hernandez, Pecari

0 Professor Fawcett Advanced Potions I 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Jose Hernandez, Pecari

December 21, 2011 2:03 PM

Confering with another by Jose Hernandez, Pecari

Jose entered the potions classroom, a mere thirteen seconds before the bell was due to ring. Jose counted this as a triumph in time management. Every second counted in this, his seventh and final year at Sonora, and the less time he spent sitting in classrooms waiting for lessons to start the more time he had to do other stuff. Thirteen seconds to spare was just about the optimal arrival time, providing just enough of a buffer to find an empty seat and settle into it so the professor didn't have to wait on him before starting. As a rule, this strategy did not offer a multitude of seating choices, of course, but Jose didn't really have anyone in the school that he was particularly keen to avoid (even Edmond didn't seem to mind that Jose had somehow managed to get the Head Boy badge instead of him), so he was generally fine taking whatever was left. He was a bit on the short side, as far as Advanced students went, standing about 5'4" - which would be fine for a girl, except he wasn't a girl - so he tended toward the front of the room when given the option, but that wasn't critical. He'd much rather arrive thirteen seconds before class started than get a front row seat.

He nodded politely to his nearest neighbor and pulled out his notebook and pen (much hardier and easier to keep track of than parchment, ink and quills) and turned his attention to Professor Fawcett. Given the man's usual standards, it sounded like an easy class today. Jose wasn't even going to have to revise the recipe on the fly to use only vegan ingredients; he could just pick something that started vegan. Now that he was more versed in the substitution process, he generally concocted his lesson brewings without prior preparation - the RATS potions practical, after all, would not accord him extra time to convert their designated potions to vegan alternatives - but it was nice, every once in a while, to just use a recipe as written, like everybody else.

Of course, even with the number of non-vegan holiday potions this decision excluded, Jose still didn't know what it was exactly that he was making yet. He tried to think of things his family made for Thanksgiving (which the California Pierces did celebrate, if somewhat differently than most muggle Americans did since more than three quarters of them were vegan and therefore turkey was right out) or Christmas or New Years, but the only things that really came to mind were food. As closely related as potion-brewing and cooking were, he didn't really think Fawcett wanted them making cranberry sauce in class today. For one thing, his potions kit didn't have cranberries in it.

He did, thinking of that, mark down cranberries into the notebook he kept for his Animal Ingredient Independent Study as a potential ingredient to study for substitution potential. Cranberries had enough holiday lore behind them that surely they must have some kind of latent magical properties.

Putting that notebook away again, he decided a consultation might help brainstorm ideas for the day's actual lesson. "Hey," he greeted his neighbor, verbally this time. "Do you know what you're making yet?"

0 Jose Hernandez, Pecari Confering with another 0 Jose Hernandez, Pecari 0 5