Not so perfect potions... on Potions

Professor Fawcett

April 07, 2012 12:39 AM

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

In his former career, as a professor of modern magisociology, John Fawcett had been considered, if he thought he did remember it right himself, an impressive figure among the small group of figures who populated his world: analytic, brilliant, possibly capable of recognition, after his death, in fields other than his own. It had been years since he more or less left that world due to the vagaries of university politics, but he still remembered it fondly. His hair had been darker then, and he thought he had been a better conversationalist, too, before he spent ten years sunk a bit too far into his books and papers, his mind all on his books and papers and without much attention to what was going on outside his window.

Now, as a professor of Potions for a small but often remarkable segment of the eleven-to-eighteen year old population of the magical world, he was different, at least on this particular day, meeting the first years for their first lesson. The older students would know he could be sharp at times with those he did not feel were trying their best, and the oldest might even see him demonstrate signs of a sense of humor from time to time, but for the new ones, he looked more like someone’s kindly, if rather tall, grandfather.

Well, that was his intention, anyway. His hair was still perhaps a bit dark for the role to stick quite well, and his eyes behind his wire-rimmed glasses a bit sharp, but at any rate, he thought he did not look intimidating as the children came in and he greeted them, and that would do.

“Welcome, everyone,” he said once the bell rang and he’d given them a moment to get in their seats. “Welcome to Potions. I am, for those who have not me before, Professor Fawcett.” He straightened his glasses. “Now, everyone get out something to write with and make me a list, or a paragraph if you prefer, about what you believe you know about this subject – second years, give me a summary of what you believe you’ve retained – and what you hope to get out of this class this year while I call the roll.”

He ticked off each name as it answered and the rest stayed busy, and then he gave them another minute before he took up the papers and handed out syllabi in their places. He would look at the papers and perhaps make some adjustments as he saw more of how reliable their self-assessments were, but the syllabus gave the general outline of the course, along with all the major assignments for the first half of the year. For now, though, they had to go over the procedures, for both the first years and to review for the older ones. “Very good. Now, we will work on potions today, but first of all, a few basic rules.”

He changed his expression, now at his sternest as he looked around, as though he were looking directly at each student individually. “This is a dangerous subject,” he told them seriously. “We work with volatile ingredients here. We work with fire. Any misbehavior in this room will be punished severely. You have been warned.”

He relaxed slightly. “Now. We will begin with a simple potion to heal cuts and burns.”

He tapped the board, and a list of ingredients appeared there: jewelweed flowers, prickly pear (pad and spines), powdered joint fir seed, green lacewings, sennae sulphurs

“These are the ingredients you will need and will, if you do not have them, find in the supply cabinet. They are also mainly items which can be found in the deserts of Arizona, where we now are.

“Your first step – “ each step appeared on the board as John said it; that had been an amusing little trick to discover while fiddling with charms over the summer – “will be to crush five jewelweed flowers, then boil them in two cups of water. Be sure to strain that well so the flowers are out of the tea when you add it to the cauldron. From there, slice the prickly pear pads – those I will distribute to you, with the spines removed – “ he might have made the upper years de-spine their own, but not the first years – “in half and squeeze the juice from one half into the cauldron, then mix it with the jewelweed liquid by stirring it clockwise three times. Add four cups of water, then the packet of lacewings, and allow it to stew for four minutes before stirring it first nine times clockwise, then nine counter-clockwise. Add the packet of sennae sulphurs then, and stir three times counter-clockwise, then once clockwise. Grind the prickly pear spines, powder the joint fir seed, and combine them before adding about three tablespoons to thicken the mixture, stirring each one in as it’s added. Your potion should be a clear, light green when the potion is complete.”

He paused, then added, “These directions are also on page 223 of your textbook, if you would prefer not to read them from the board or remember them. Work in pairs, and raise your hand if you have a question. I will move around the room to monitor your progress. You may begin.”

He began to move around the room as they got started, looking for hands or signs of trouble and planning the timing and route of his next turn around the room already. He’d had few problems with students wanting to test the strict Potions professor, but there was always a first time, and moving in different patterns around the room on his rounds made it less likely that, if this was the year, someone could think they could pass something off as an accident because they would be able to predict he wouldn’t be able to see them at such-and-such a moment.

It was possible, too, that working with adolescents, despite his tendency to become fond of all of them over a little time, had made him a bit paranoid, but John thought paranoia was a perfectly defensible position when they were adolescents and therefore there was an even chance some of them might one day decide, completely at random, to really be out to get you.

OOC: Welcome to classes at Sonora! To earn points for your House, follow all site posting rules – at least two hundred words per post, good spelling and grammar, and controlling only your own character in particular – when writing your character for the lesson. Keep in mind, too, that your character is eleven or twelve years old; accidents and mistakes can happen, and there aren’t going to be many perfect potioneers. Keep it realistic and in character, and be creative and have fun!

Subthreads:

My second first potion lesson. by Thad Pierce, Aladren with Elijah Errant {Pecari}, Thad Pierce

A Prodigy in the Making. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus with Ephanie Lucore, Aladren, Cepheus

Not so perfect potions... by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari with Jorge Garcia, Pecari, Waverly

Adventures in Potions by Clara Abernathy, Pecari with Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

Fire. And volatile substances. This is gonna be a blast by Sairahiniel Light, Pecari (Elijah Errant) with Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus, Sayre Light, Professor Fawcett

Trying to figure out if I can (Professor Fawcett) by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw with Professor Fawcett, Aria, Evan Brockert, Aladren

Starting easy by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus with Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw, Gareth

This should be easy by Theresa Carey, Pecari

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

Thad Pierce, Aladren

April 07, 2012 12:22 PM

My second first potion lesson. by Thad Pierce, Aladren

Thaddeus Pierce arrived in the potions classroom with sufficient time to spare that he had his pick of seats. He entered, greeting the professor politely as was demanded by both etiquette and genuine respect for the man, and choose a desk in the middle, close to the front. He had grown up being taught one-on-one; even after a year of learning in a larger classroom environment, he still preferred to be right up close to the teacher during lectures. It felt more like the professor was teaching him rather than them.

Having arrived early, he had plenty of time to set up his supplies, arrange his scales and ingredient kit, and unrolled a fresh sheet of parchment for taking notes. As more people arrived and they were instructed to write out a summary of what they knew or remembered of potions, the parchment's purpose shifted to this new assignment instead. Thad diligently summarized some of the more important concepts that he had learned last year, starting with the fact that precision and attention to detail were critical.

He started paying attention to the role call around the time Carrie O'Malley's name came up and it wasn't long after that when his own name was called. "Present!" he declared, raising a hand to draw attention to himself, then lowered it and finished up his paragraph, tuning out the remainder of the names entirely.

As he turned in the parchment, he hoped he wouldn't lose points for writing three paragraphs instead of one but didn't think this was likely. It just made more sense to divide it by subject area - potion preparation, potion group cohesion (which was to say, what potions of a similar purpose had in common), and the properties of frequently used ingredients - rather than running it all together in one massive, difficult-to-read paragraph. As it was, he didn't think it flowed very well, as he had merely written a collection of facts together. There hadn't been enough time really to truly polish it and he hadn't even gotten to wormroot yet when he had needed to hand the page in. His final sentence about rat's tails sort of cut off abruptly, too, which was almost appropriate for rat's tails if you thought about it.

He had to hustle a bit to get another piece of parchment out in time for taking notes about today's lesson, but fortunately Professor Fawcett started with the rules again, and passing out syllabi, so Thad did have one ready by the time the subject of how to prepare cut and burn ointment began. He copied the words appearing on the board (a neat trick that he didn't remember from last year) and made a note of the page in the textbook it could also be found. As they were told to begin, he opened to that page to make sure there wasn't any additional information that might prove the difference between success and failure. They seemed entirely compatible, though, so he laid his own notes out atop the book and began readying the jewelweed for crushing.

After counting out five of them and beginning to crush them using his mortar and pestle, he addressed the student sitting beside him. "Would you like to set the two cups of water to boiling?" he asked, making the assumption that nobody would have a problem being his partner. He was both an Aladren and a second year, so even people who didn't know he had been one of the top potion students last year could probably guess he would be better at it than the average student.

0 Thad Pierce, Aladren My second first potion lesson. 0 Thad Pierce, Aladren 0 5

Elijah Errant {Pecari}

April 07, 2012 11:04 PM

Just as boring as the first. by Elijah Errant {Pecari}

I’ve retained a lot of things from this glorious wondrous amazing class of potions. Learning how to be a potioneer has been really great. I can’t express enough how great it is to be in this class and learn how to be a potioneer and especially earn the chance to learn so much from such an esteemed professor as yourself, Professor Fawcett. I hope to continue to get out of this class what I got out of it last class.

Chewing some candy, Elijah lifted his parchment and scanned the words with a critical eye, wondering if there was any chance Fawcett would accept this. ‘Course he will, I’m brilliant.’ Grinning, he laid his paper down and stretched back in his seat, dark eyes running over his fellow students, seeking either Jade or Waverly or Sairahiniel to throw crumpled pieces of paper at. It was harder to do it in Fawcett’s class, he was so much stricter and somehow that made it seem like he could see nearly everything that went on in his classroom. But that made it a challenge and a challenge made things fun. He crumpled a candy wrapper in his hand underneath the desk, biding his time. His free hand raised quickly as his name was called then lowered to slip into his pocket, tracing the slight bumps in his wand. He disliked classes that wouldn’t allow him to use the instrument.

“We will work with fire.”

Elijah reconsidered his stance. Potions wasn’t all that bad. He shifted in his seat under Fawcett’s stern gaze. ‘I didn’t do it!’ He felt the urge to confess every not-so good deed he’d thought about doing in the last fifty seconds. Fire was such a beatiful force of nature. He wondered how quickly it spread over stone floors, liquid flames running as fast as a river down the Sonora halls. He felt Fawcett’s gaze lift and Elijah straightened up in his seat, taking in the instructions appearing on the board. “Jeweled flowers... pear... fir seed...” He mumbled the ingredients under his breath, gripping his quill in his left hand and copying them onto a fresh slightly creased scroll of parchment paper. Information sunk in better after writing it down or repeating it out loud. “Crush first... boil water... slice stuff...” His eyes rose to the board and lowered back to his paper, repeating the motion after each direction was quickly scribbled down on his paper. Beside him sat his yearmate Thaddeus Pierce who turned and asked him if he’d like to boil the water. Elijah hurried his cursive scrawl before flashing a smile at his partner, nodding readily, “Sure, glad to.”

Thaddeus was probably one of the better potions students in the class if not the best. Elijah had always thought prior to Sonora that he held a talent in potions. His tutors had been too indulgent though, won over by his smile and quick hugs before agreeing okay, Elijah, we’ll break for a few minutes but then we must return to how to properly prepare your cauldron and kit. Apparently, in the real world, potions was a serious subject that required hard work and a focused attention span that Elijah lacked. Still, he was capable of generously contributing a few minutes to the preparation of boiled water. “Incendio.” He pointed his wand at the cups of water, waiting for the bubbles to surface, steam begin to rise.

“Ah, so,” He leaned back in his seat, ready to follow whatever orders Thaddeus had for him, too tentative to take the initiative and start on the next step without the Aladren’s instruction. Teamwork was nerve wracking when it was a subject Elijah wasn’t brilliant in. “how goes it? Was your summer great?” The candy dissolved in his mouth, tart lemon flavor spiking his tongue, putting him in a good mood.

0 Elijah Errant {Pecari} Just as boring as the first. 0 Elijah Errant {Pecari} 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

April 09, 2012 7:49 PM

A Prodigy in the Making. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

Cepheus liked Potions class very much. So much, in fact, he had studied a lot of it with his mother over the summer. His mother enjoyed brewing potions in her free time and, while Cepheus would have been sitting on the side watching her, he was able to help her a lot more. Of course, she brewed complex potions that required much more attention, more than he was willing to give, as well as skill, and so he had still watched loads more than he had contributed. However, she had worked on a potion or two with him that he had wanted to try and they had successfully created them. She was a wonderful teacher and coach, his mum.

He entered the classroom, feeling more confident about this class than any of his other classes, save for DADA, and sat down towards the middle at an empty desk. He didn't bother taking out parchment or his quill, but when the professor told them to, he sighed and did so. He liked to get right to the potions part, not the essays nor the long lectures.

He disliked the questions that Professor Fawcett had asked, but the second year couldn't exactly do anything about it. Instead, he dipped the tip of his fancy quill in a bottle of the standard black ink and began to write.

I am quite proficient in potions, he wrote in his scrawled script. He hadn't been very good in penmanship.

Before coming to school for my first year, I had experience working on potions with my mother, though I watched most of the time. During the summer afterwards, however, I was able to help my mother more with her potions, and we were able to brew two potions from my textbook together.

Cepheus paused, wondering what else to write. He didn't articulate very well in writing. He thought for a moment, and then his blue eyes latched back onto his parchment, scribbling away again.

I am very meticulous and neat when it comes to potions and I know how serious one must be when making a potion. I have retained much of what we learnt last year and can successfully brew most of the potions in the first year's textbook.

Cepheus paused again for a moment to answer, "Present," when his name was called. He didn't know what else to write, but continued on, mostly bragging about himself. When he was finished, he put his quill down and held it out to read.

I am quite proficient in potions. Before coming to school for my first year, I had experience working on potions with my mother, though I watched most of the time. During the summer afterwards, however, I was able to help my mother more with her potions, and we were able to brew two potions from my textbook together. I am very meticulous and neat when it comes to potions and I know how serious one must be when making a potion. I have retained much of what we learnt last year and can successfully brew most of the potions in the first year's textbook. I hope to learn more about potions and grow more proficient in potions this year so I can learn more and more every year.

It was good enough, and Cepheus handed it in, content. After the professor had collected the parchments, had handed out the syllabus, and had written the ingredients on the board, Cepheus turned to the page the potion was on and scanned it. It would be easy enough, he supposed. He checked his supply of ingredients to see if he had them all. To his annoyance, he didn't have sennae sulphurs, though he did have everything else. His mother had supplied him with more ingredients over the holiday, saying it was important to be prepared for class.

He set up his cauldron and phials and the necessary ingredients that he possessed. Everything was set up and the cauldron was filled with water. He was just missing the sulphurs. Someone had joined him before the class had begun, and he turned to them now since they'd be partners anyway. "Do you have sennae sulphurs?" he asked.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus A Prodigy in the Making. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Ephanie Lucore, Aladren

April 09, 2012 9:53 PM

Not a prodigy in the making. by Ephanie Lucore, Aladren

Arriving to Potions, Ephanie greeted Professor Fawcett with a smile and a ‘good day,’ before going to find a seat. It was exciting to be a second year. With interest, she looked at all of the new faces. Last year, she had been one of those faces. She had not known what to expect from any of her classes. It was almost amusing that the professor chose that very topic to write about – what did the first years expect? She knew what she wanted to learn about, but first she would have to address the question of what she had retained. Hmm, what had she retained? Tapping her foot against the side of the desk, she resisted the urge to chew on a piece of hair. It took only a moment before she began writing.

Retaining particular potions is rather difficult when one has only been studying the subject for the past year. I feel that it takes many years to accomplish any real significance in the field, such as being able to make a potion from memory or even to enhance a potion. However, while I do not feel that I can come close to this, I feel confident in saying that a foundation for the possibility has been built.

While I may not be able to recall any of the particular quantities to a potion, various uses of potions can be named along with when best to use them. In knowing that, I can reference the particular details of the potions with a textbook or any other relevant piece of work. After all, I have heard it said that it is not always knowing something, but knowing where to find it. I feel that this best describes my relationship with potions.

As for what I hope to learn from this class, I would have to say potions that are used on the stage. I would like to learn potions that create stage effects. I am not quite sure what exactly is used, however, pursuing a career in the field of acting, I feel that this would be quite useful.

She hoped her paper didn’t sound too particularly boring, but shrugged and turned it anyhow. Everything she said had been the truth. She did want to learn about potions that were used on stage and how they worked with other spells. She assumed that Charms and Transfiguration were also involved in order to create the illusions that were seen during plays. Maybe she would look into what books the library offered on the subject. Last year, she had been interested in the actual plays that were available, however, what good were knowing the plays when one didn’t know how it all came together?

Unfortunately, that would not be what they were learning today. Though, she supposed it would be useful being able to heal simple cuts and burns. That was something that came from everyday life. Flipping to the appropriate page, which was easier to work from than the book. After doing so, she was about to find someone to work with, but was spared from doing so when the person next to her spoke. “Oh, yes, I do,” she pulled them from her own kit, only having to rifle through slightly, and handed them over. “I can work on the jewelweed flowers or the prickly pear pads, if you like.” It didn’t really matter to her which one she worked on. She wasn’t the type of the girl to get grossed out with the things they had to work with.

After working for a moment, she said, “So, what did you write about? Since I’m going to be an actress, I talked about using potions for the stage.”

0 Ephanie Lucore, Aladren Not a prodigy in the making. 0 Ephanie Lucore, Aladren 0 5

Thad Pierce

April 09, 2012 10:48 PM

How can you even say that? by Thad Pierce

His partner would be Elijah Errant today. Thad supposed it could be worse. Elijah was at least a second year and therefore had been exposed to the basics last year. Though the Errantez family did have its scandals, so did the Pierces, if he was being honest, which he usually tried to be with himself. Consequently, Thad was at least allowed to talk to Elijah by family standards, which took off the social pressure of being spotted being too friendly to his partner. That was the worst thing about finding himself seated beside half-bloods and muggleborns; reaching that careful balance of civility without fraternization.

He doubted fraternization would have been a problem even if Elijah hadn't been pureblooded, though. Elijah was, after all, a Pecari, and this was more notable to Thaddeus than his blood purity. Thad was sure there were perfectly fine people in Pecari. Few were an academic rival to him, which was both disappointing and relieving, but this year, the more pressing fact was that Pecari had beat Aladren in the Quidditch Finals last year, and Thad wasn't entirely ready to forgive that.

Still, his potions grade was far more important to him than team rivalry, so he would maintain civility and politeness in order to successfully complete the day's lesson. As he crushed the jewelweed, he observed Elijah to check that he was actually measuring out two cups of water. The other boy wasn't as meticulous as he would have been in checking the bottom of the meniscus against the measuring line, but some of it would boil off before it got added to the main potion and Thad thought it looked close enough for a first-day-of-beginner-potions potion.

Once the water reached a steady boil, he added the crushed jewelweed. Allowing that to stew for a little while, he glanced over the remaining steps, trying to work out a division of labor that would leave him with the parts demanding greater finesse, but that kept Elijah busy, too. "You can start slicing the pear pads," he suggested. "I'll get this strained into the cauldron. Then, I'll do the stirring after you squeeze in the juice."

In the meantime, while the jewelweed continued to boil (it didn't say how long to do this, but Professor Fawcett had called it a 'tea' so he guessed it was supposed to brown a little more yet), he measured out the water they'd be adding to the solution later, and this time he did make sure the meniscus settled at exactly four cups. He could think of no good reason to compound the earlier inaccuracy with further inaccuracies.

1 Thad Pierce How can you even say that? 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

April 10, 2012 10:56 AM

Not so perfect potions... by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

In all honesty, Waverly was a little nervous about the potions class today. She hadn't done very well in potions her first year, surprising since she baked all the time with her mom at home. It shouldn't have been any different, but it was. It was really different. There was a lot more that she had to do, like count how many times she stirred and stuff. That stuff didn't matter in baking. She wished it didn't matter in potions, but maybe that's what made it magical. Waverly, on her way to class, sighed. Why did magic have to be so strict?

On entering the classroom, she sat down in the middle row, determined to do better. She didn't like being inadequate in something, even if she didn't understand why exactly she was inadequate in it. Oh well. She waited for class to start and then unpacked paper and a pen to start doing the in-class assignment. This was a lot easier than doing actual potions and she liked making lists.

"Here," she said in response to her name. "Canterbury" was always kind of early and she was glad to get role call out of the way.

I remember:
1. How to light a fire under the cauldron.
2. How to put out a fire.
3. That potions is very strict with ingredients and stirring and other stuff.
4. To count every stir.
5. To tie my hair back before brewing a potion. If a hair falls in, it's bad news.

I want to get better at potions this year. I'm excited to brew higher level potions.

Waverly had to write faster in order to finish it before she handed it in when Professor Fawcett came around. She smiled at him and then slumped over in her chair and sighed. This classroom always smelled weird. But the thought of a baking club perked her up and she began to imagine what this classroom would smell like after baking muffins and cookies and bread...

"Very good," Professor Fawcett began, and Waverly jumped in her seat and flushed. Getting caught daydreaming was not going to help her get better at potions. She listened attentively, watching the professor write everything on the board, and then packed her paper and pen away into her backpack and unpacked her potions ingredients. As she tied back her shoulder-length brown hair, her potions things unorganized at the moment on the desk, she looked over at her partner.

"Hi! Do you want to put water in the cauldron to start?" she asked. "I can start crushing the jewelweed flowers."

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Not so perfect potions... 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Cepheus

April 10, 2012 1:52 PM

I'm good enough for the both of us. by Cepheus

Cepheus was glad that the girl had what he needed. He smiled his thanks at her, and, to respond to her next question, he had to think quickly. Crushing flowers was more difficult than slicing prickly pear pads and he didn't think he could trust another person with such an important task. Of course, this girl could just be the next potions genius, but he didn't know that. "I'll crush the jewelweeds," he offered. He pushed the spike-less pads toward her. The outside felt thick. "The prickly pear pads feel kind of tough on the outside, so it might take a little strength to cut through them."

The blonde second year put the five jewelweed flowers into his mortar and began to crush them. It looked like he'd have to boil them in another small cauldron. It was a good thing his mother had given him a smaller one for Christmas. Having a rich family was nothing but good. As he was crushing, the girl asked him a question. He raised his head and looked at her, curious.

"How would you use potions on the stage as an actress?" he asked. He had never seen a real play at the theatre before and didn't think he had any actresses in his family. For men to act was a strange thing, though Rupert had talked about being the first. Childish thoughts, of course. Cepheus looked back down to watch his jewelweed flowers get crushed.

"I just wrote about doing potions with me--my mum." He had spent loads of time with Emma, one of his best friends that went to Hogwarts, and she'd had family from Liverpool visiting that spoke with bad grammar. He had started to pick it up. It just made speaking easier, though his father disagreed completely. "She makes potions in her spare time and I help her with it. When I was with her, we made a couple potions together from my textbook. Well, she monitored while I did it."

It was unfortunate that he'd only got to spend a few weeks with her and his English friends before being whisked off by his father to India, and then sent to France for his French lessons. He and his brothers had stayed with an aunt and uncle who had an awfully spoiled son, and he never liked it. But, as the future patriarch of the Princetons, he had to be, at the very least, bilingual. His father knew English, French, and German, and his grandfather knew more languages. Cepheus was always amazed by them because he himself hated learning new languages. French was such a bore.

"I'm Cepheus Princeton," he said, remembering to introduce himself, "of the Surrey Princetons." He had asked his father during the holiday of the right way to introduce himself, and his father had had a long talk with him about not saying that he was from London because of his other relatives that lived there. It apparently made a large difference. "Are you fairly good at potions?"

0 Cepheus I'm good enough for the both of us. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

April 11, 2012 6:24 PM

Adventures in Potions by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara greeted Professor Fawcett with a bright smile and a "Hello sir" as she entered the potions class and found herself a seat. She listened intently as he introduced himself and asked them to do their very first assignment. Clara rummaged through her bag and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote out her paragraph. "I'm fairly certain that I know that potions can be used to do a variety of things for the person who made them and to the person who made them," she began writing. "They can be used to make people prettier, uglier, smellier, have the hiccups, get warts, remove warts, petrify people, unpetrify people, make people tell the truth, make them tell a lie, heal wounds, make people remember things, make people forget things, kill things and make people turn into other people or things." She signed her name and then turned in the paper when it was collected.

Clara looked on a little amazed as she watched Professor Fawcett make words appear on the board behind him. She dutily wrote down the instructions for their first potion and proceeded to go fetch the items needed to complete the potion. Once she had everything gathered up and back to her table, she half contemplated working on the potion herself and then remembered how disasterous that had worked out the first time she had done it. She had been learning to work potions with her father over the summer and had been doing alright with a simple sneezing draught. Her father had let her do about 90% of the work and had been very pleased with her progress. After they completed the sneezing potion she wanted to another simple one. As they got ready to begin her father had to leave the room to take a call.

Clara thought that since she had done so well with the first one that she could start the next one on her own. She began adding ingredients to the cauldon and watched with facination as it began to boil a darkish green color. She was about to add the final ingredient when her father returned to the kitchen still holding their cordless phone. He found it useful to have at home for his "non magic" clients. He caught her just before she added the mandrake root to the boiling pot and called out "Clara, stop!" He startled her just enough that only a drop from the root fell into the pot before she could put in the rest. The drop of juice was enough to make the contents of the pot slightly explode into a green gooey mess. It hit Clara directly in her face.

Her father helped her clean up and tried not to laugh as she scrubbed the goo from her face. Unfortunately it had not all come off and she found herself looking at a very green complexion. "I look like a giant blue eyed booger!" she whined and complained to her dad. He smiled gently and kindly reminded her that the outcome could have been far worse. "You might have blown up the house with that little stunt," he reprimanded gently. "Be thankful the worst that might happen is you have to wait for the green to wear off", he half chuckled. "How long will that take?" she complained. He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know peanut," he admitted. She frowned at his response. It took three days for the green to wear off. Clara looked at the ingredients before her on the table and decided finally that she was not working alone on this potion. Gathering up her courage she tapped the nearest fellow student to her on the shoulder and inquired politely, "Excuse me, but would you mind terribly being my partner?" She smiled encouragingly.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari Adventures in Potions 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Sairahiniel Light, Pecari (Elijah Errant)

April 11, 2012 9:42 PM

Fire. And volatile substances. This is gonna be a blast by Sairahiniel Light, Pecari (Elijah Errant)

Sayre arrived in Potions class to find it already half-full, the teacher's introduction already in progress.

"Uh, sorry, sir," she said, half-waving to the teacher. She'd gotten beyond lost in the never-ending maze of hallways that filled the magical school. The professor - Fawcett, he'd called himself - was already in the middle of giving the students a stern reminder that potions were dangerous. And then there was something about fire. And volatile ingredients. Something along those lines. Sayre quickly sat down in the nearest open seat, scrambling to get out a piece of parchment to write the assignment on.

"I don't really know much about potions," she mumbled to herself as she wrote - a habit from childhood that's she'd never really been able to break. "But I 'spect it's like chemistry in Muggle schools, mixing ingredients in a certain way to get a specific result." Sayre paused, unconsciously rubbing the feather of her quill along the far edge of her scar. Another unbreakable habit that she'd picked up over the years.

As soon as the teacher mentioned lab partners, Sayre looked around, hoping to see someone she recognized - Elijah, maybe, or Sully. She spotted Elijah sitting with someone else, already beginning to work and groaned. Then she brightened, crumpling up a piece of parchment and sending it flying towards him when the teacher wasn't looking.

"Oi, Lijah!" she called, kind of ruining the stealthiness of her throw. "Bombs away!" Sayre snickered to herself, then turned to the student next to her. "Hey, m'name's Sayre, wanna work together? I pink-promise not to blow anything up. It's the first day, I want to make a good impression." Sayre turned on the student with a wide grin, hoping that they'd get her sense of humor and not mistake her from a raving pyromaniac.

0 Sairahiniel Light, Pecari (Elijah Errant) Fire. And volatile substances. This is gonna be a blast 0 Sairahiniel Light, Pecari (Elijah Errant) 0 5

Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

April 12, 2012 7:13 PM

Trying to figure out if I can (Professor Fawcett) by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

Aria was still trying to figure her way around the school and around those in her class. Thus far, they had been relatively nice to her, which she so dearly appreciated, but she knew that they saw her differently than she, perhaps, saw herself. Her community was the place where she had always felt at home. Everyone, different as they may be, had similar shared interests and worked together to makes those interests happen. Plus, nothing they did was for selfish reasons. They were always for the community. Life wasn’t about wealth or material, but about balance between Mother Earth and living creatures. So far, being here, everything seemed to be about status. Aria did not know how she was going to fit into this school without sacrificing who she was in the process.

Taking a seat, Aria took out a parchment and quill, ready to take notes and, instead, found herself writing about potions as requested. My Mother is the community Medicine Woman, so potions are very important to our family. Although I have yet to create potions with her, I have collected ingredients. I know that potions help with sickness, they give you power, they make you fall in love, they keep your home clean, and sometimes, if made just right, they can give you luck. I hope to one day be the best Medicine Woman that my mother is. It was short and brief, but she felt that it explained her thoughts very well.

Aria was looking over the list of ingredients that he had written on the board behind him while the Professor spoke. Her blue eyes landed on the two insects that were on the list and a frown appeared on her face. This could pose a problem, only, she wasn’t really sure if it did or not. While her mother kept her potions strictly to plants, Aria didn’t know if all the residents of the community did the same or not. However, there was absolute certainty that no one used ingredients of the flesh. Did that also mean insects as well?

Her hand shot up in the air, knowing that this may end up with other students finding her even more weird than her appearance alone my give off, but she didn’t really mind. This was important to her. She didn’t want to neglect an assignment, but at the same time, she didn’t want to offend her morals and those of the community. “Excuse me, Professor, are using insects the same as using the flesh of an animal?” Aria asked him, her brows furrowed in concern. “My beliefs go against using animal by-product in potions, but I’m not sure if insects are considered the same. Would it be? And, if it is, can I have a substitute for the bugs?”

0 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw Trying to figure out if I can (Professor Fawcett) 0 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Professor Fawcett

April 14, 2012 7:41 PM

Searching for solutions by Professor Fawcett

John was a little surprised, as he finished his progress down the center aisle and began a general walk around the perimeter of the room to see that all the students were getting started on their work, to see a hand go up so early in the period, but he walked over to the first year girl quickly, noting that she was a Teppenpaw. Yale, he thought, was the name she’d answered to on the roll; the unusual first letter had helped it stick out, but he was not quite sure enough yet to use it. “Yes?” he asked.

When he heard the request, he nodded once to indicate that he heard and understood her problem, his pleasant expression becoming slightly thoughtful, considering her question. He had worked out, more or less, a parallel but separate course for Jose Hernandez for several years before, so it would be possible and reasonably easy, with the files for those resources he’d created still not far from hand after his old seventh years had so recently graduated, to work around Miss probably-Yale’s restrictions, but first, it would indeed be helpful to work out exactly what her restrictions were.

Absently, he considered, a little more self-indulgently than seriously, the idea of offering the idea to Kiva or Amelia to include some kind of form in the welcoming packet where parents could indicate if their child would require accommodations in Potions next year. It would, he thought, be pleasant to know he was going to need to arrange these things ahead of time; he could still do it this way, of course, but he was occasionally feeling the evidence that he was not as quick at thinking and working on his feet as he’d once been. Still, it was not truly a common obstacle to encounter, so he doubted the idea would ever go further than the occasional stray thought.

“Scientifically,” he said after a moment’s thought, “insects are considered members of kingdom Animalia – that is, as animals,” he said, rummaging through one slightly dusty mental folder and coming up with the answer. Only slightly dusty, but he knew he needed to review his Muggle sciences this summer, along with doing research on vegetarian and vegan lifestyles in general, so if this precise question came up again, he would have a better idea of what the norms were in regards to insects.

He resisted the temptation to rub his eyes as he considered why, exactly, so soon after Mr. Hernandez, he had not looked up alternatives by sheer reflex. He had gotten too used to his previous pupil doing much of the work himself by the end, he supposed, but he could hardly demand that of a first year. So he would have to do very quick research here. “For the moment, if you feel able to continue, do so,” he said. “If not, begin the potion while I double check a few facts for alternatives, and make a note to compose a list of any specific requirements you have, perhaps write your family about it, we have a school owlery if you don’t have your own bird, and drop by my office one day soon to discuss it with me. Is that acceptable?” This potion was, thankfully, simple; the individual plant components had been used as remedies for the purpose in one form or another, it was just a matter of the balance within the potion. He thought it would be simple enough to accommodate her, but he needed to check a few facts about ingredient properties before he instructed the student to go forward with them.

0 Professor Fawcett Searching for solutions 0 Professor Fawcett 0 5

Jorge Garcia, Pecari

April 15, 2012 5:09 PM

Is anything really 'perfect'? by Jorge Garcia, Pecari

Jorge was still trying to figure out what it was that had him excited like his sisters did. Adelita was loving Julliard (he half expected that was because her lover boy was there too, but Jorge never said this to her lest she smack him) where she could dance to her heart’s content. Dulce had her music and she was applying for early acceptance to multiple music schools. Jorge thought Quidditch might have been his calling prior to coming to Sonora, but once he got here, he didn’t really care much to continue playing it. So, now he wanted to figure out what he could do that was fun for him and wouldn’t get boring after awhile.

He sat in the middle of the classroom for Potions, not really excited for a new year to begin. Last year had been alright, but nothing note-worthy. His housemates were cool, his roommate weird, and his classmates a bit boring. Of course, he didn’t really know his classmates, so his opinion of them was limiting. He was hoping that this term would be a better one, but he was pretty sure the terms wouldn’t get better for at least a couple more years, when they were all older and could do more. At least, that’s where his thoughts were.

Taking out a parchment, Jorge thought over the assignment.

What I Have Retained.

1. I know how important it is to make sure ingredients that need to be in powdered form, are crushed into actual powdered form.
2. Potions is a difficult subject and I need to pay attention.
3. Read the directions carefully.
4. Potions have disgusting ingredients, which makes it obviously cool.

What I Hope To Gain This Year.

1. To continue to make awesome potions

He figured that was a decent enough list and that the professor understood perfectly well where Jorge was coming from with his answers. If not, Jorge could make up for it in his essay writing and potion making (he wasn’t the best, but he certainly wasn’t the worst either). He knew that Dulce wanted him to work at what she believed to be his true capacity, but Jorge like to sort of ride along and not stick out. Suited him much better that way.

No onto business.

They would be learning a potion to help heal minor wounds. This could be quite helpful to Jorge considering how often he scraped himself up when he occasion felt the need to go exploring. Having a potion at the ready would mean less scab picking or possible trips to the Hospital Wing. He liked this idea.

Getting himself set up for the lesson, Jorge was in mid light of the cauldron when Waverly spoke. She was such a gullible girl, both Jade and his roommate put one over her multiple times. Jorge felt a little bad about it since he never stepped in to stop it, but he thought the girl needed to learn at some point, right? “Sure, just be sure to really crush them. The last potion I made that I neglected to make sure my ingredient was powdered, the whole thing turned to paste and smelled like rotten eggs.” Jorge warned her. It had actually been pretty good for dung bombs, but not for what he was actually doing. He was sure Professor Fawcett hadn’t been too pleased either.

0 Jorge Garcia, Pecari Is anything really 'perfect'? 0 Jorge Garcia, Pecari 0 5

Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

April 18, 2012 12:29 AM

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

It didn’t take too long to settle back in to the hectic schedule of life at school, but Angel still felt exhausted with the fast pace of classes by the time each day ended. He knew from last term that it would take a while before his body fully adjusted. Until then, he would simply have to cope as best he could with the depleted energy that trying to keep up with so many classes brought. Angel walked sluggishly into the classroom and found a seat.

Biting his pale lower lip, Angel took out a quill and a scrap of parchment and wrote down a hand full of half remembered potions that he’d learned from last year. Potions was an odd subject for the albino, his grade was often all over the place in that particular class depending on who his partner was. Most of the work was hands on, and as long as his partner was good at potions, Angel usually did well on the assignment, but if he got a bad partner, his grade equally suffered. He was best at taking direction from someone who knew what they were doing.

Angel had gathered the ingredients, and was slowly mouthing the words as he carefully read over the instructions again when the girl next to him spoke. “Excuse me, but would you mind terribly being my partner?” she asked. Ruby colored eyes glanced though his ash white bangs as Angel looked sideways at her. He wanted to make sure she was speaking to him and not someone else even though he was fairly sure she’d been the one that tapped him on the shoulder.

“Yes.” He whispered softly, the word seemed to drift listlessly in the air like a discarded feather.

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

Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

April 18, 2012 12:59 AM

Starting easy by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Last term, Gareth did fairly well in his classes, but in Potions, and DADA he excelled. When the Professor asked for a paragraph of what they’d learned last term, Gareth’s turned into nearly half a sheet of parchment as he wrote in his quick scrawl all that he’d recalled. He was forced to wrap it up rather abruptly when the Professor asked for them to pass up their reviews. There was just something about potions that was soothing to the large Crotalus and even though they didn’t always turn out perfectly, they still gave him a chance to just sit and relax and let his hands do the work.

He listened with half an ear to the rules, already well versed in how to behave while working with potions. All it took was a single glance at the ingredients to cause Gareth to smile broadly. It was one of the healing potions that he often helped his mother make when he wasn’t busy. Potions was an area where all of Aeronwen’s children could bond with her while they helped brew simple potions. Some of his earliest memories were of holding her hand as they walked through the forest and her calm voice gently pointing out herbs for him to pick with his small pudgy hands. From gathering ingredients, to preparing and storing them, to actual brewing, he and his siblings all helped their mother with her hobby based on their age and skill level. It had instilled a working knowledge of Potions and Herbology in all the Whitebriar offspring.

All of the ingredients were ones he had in his Potions kit, so Gareth didn’t need to use any of the Professor’s stock. He gave the steps a quick review as he set up his caldron and put the two cups of water in to get it boiling before crushing the flowers. “Would you like to prepare the ingredients or stir?” Gareth asked the student sitting next to him.

0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus Starting easy 0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus 0 5

Aria

April 18, 2012 8:35 PM

And now for a PARTNER?? by Aria

Aria watched the professor after she had asked her question. Before leaving the community to come to Sonora, her parents had warned her that there were others who did not follow the same beliefs and she did and would do their best to manipulate her into following their cause. She must never follow their cause. There were also those who would think that her beliefs were stupid and would ridicule her for them. This included adults. Her parents told her that the adults were those with the littlest of faiths and often found a way to speculate when the belief is beyond such boundaries.

Aria was wondering if Professor Fawcett was one of those adults.

She sat quietly waiting for him to answer her and really wishing she had asked her parents about insects before something to school. It had never occurred to her to have asked. Insects were things she studied under a glass with her friends back home, she never thought about whether or not they were allowed in potions or if they were to remain untouched like those of the flesh. But, perhaps she should have. And why not? They were living creatures too. And wasn’t that the point?

When the Professor began to answer the question, Aria perked up. His answer was very matter of fact, which made Aria believe he did not mind any sort of religious or spiritual beliefs. He was simply doing his job and Aria could appreciate that. What he was telling her was making her a little bit nervous because if insects were considered the same as animals, there was no way she was able to do this potion and would that then mean that she was going to fail this class?

She listened as he gave her options and took a moment to really think it over. As it stood, the bugs were already dead. So, technically, she would not be the one taking their life and, as her Elders liked to say, ‘never waste anything of importance’. So, the insect remains could be helpful in the fact that they will create a potion to help with healing. That was important right? She felt that her parents would forgive her if they felt insects should not be killed because Aria hadn’t given their lives and she was using them for something good.

With this in mind, Aria nodded to the professor. “The insects are dead, so I believe it should be fine for me to continue with the potion. I’ll write to my parents and see what they would like for me to do in the future.” Aria advised him. “But I would like alternatives to animal parts once we start those potions. Animals parts I am definitely not allowed to use.” Aria commented, hoping that this request wasn’t too demanding. “I appreciate your thoughts.” She added with a pleasant smile.

Taking a breath, Aria returned her attention to the potion. Looking around, Aria spotted someone nearby, “Hi, do you still need a partner?” She asked.

0 Aria And now for a PARTNER?? 0 Aria 0 5

Waverly

April 19, 2012 11:15 AM

It's all in perspective by Waverly

Waverly remembered Jorge from her first-year when she had sat with him and Jade. She didn't hold a grudge anymore, seeing as it was difficult for her to hold a grudge any longer than two weeks. She did, however, know better now, being a second-year and more...educated. She had gotten used to magic. Sure, after a whole summer of not using it, she had sorely missed it and was glad to be back. She had loved being home baking with her mother, but magic was always so much...cooler. But one of her least favorite subjects, ironically, was Potions, and her excited disposition was very much dampened.

She nodded at Jorge's advice. "Thanks. I've gotten better at telling the difference between crushed and powdered. It shouldn't be too hard to tell with these flowers." She put five of them into her little bowl and began to crush them. She glanced over at her housemate. "How was your summer?" she asked. Waverly never just asked questions because she thought it was polite to or felt that she had to in order to fill a silence. She usually asked questions because she was genuinely curious and liked getting to know people better.

The jewelweeds were crushing nicely. When she thought she had finished, she looked at it for a moment before looking over at Jorge. "Do these looked crushed enough?" she asked, tipping her bowl over slightly so he could see. "And should we use another cauldron to boil these?" She never felt one hundred percent confident in the Potions classroom. Memories of her very first potion made and destroyed in here always reminded her to double-check her information and look at things twice over. Especially if the potion started to look strange.

0 Waverly It's all in perspective 0 Waverly 0 5

Clara Abernathy

April 20, 2012 8:13 PM

Time to get started :) by Clara Abernathy

Clara was incredibly relieved when the boy seated by her replied "Yes" to her inquiry on being partners. She found herself gazing at his eyes for a moment which were a strange shade of ruby. She had never before seen anyone with that color for eyes and found herself incredibly intrigued. The only person she had ever known with eyes a completely different color than anything she had ever seen was one of her cousins. One of three triplets, she was born blind so her eyes are a very pale blue color, like somebody mixed white and blue together only they added more white than blue. Clara politely introduced herself to her classmate.

"Thank you soo much," she told him smiling. "I'm Clara Abernathy," she introduced herself. "I don't mean to be rude, but has anyone ever told you how cool your eyes are. They are the prettiest shade of red I have ever seen. My cousin has eyes kind-of like yours only her eyes are a milky pale blue and not red. Her eyes are like that because she's blind..." she caught herself rambling again. She grinned guiltily. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "Bad habit of mine...I've been known to ramble from time to time." She offered him an apologetic smile and straightened up. "What do you say we get started?" Suddenly the 11 year old was all business. "Would you be kind enough to boil the water while I crush up the flowers?" she asked him politely.

0 Clara Abernathy Time to get started :) 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Angel

April 21, 2012 7:48 PM

... by Angel

The look of curiosity on the girl’s face when his gaze happened to catch on hers kept his eyes up for an instant before they dropped again to the table in front of him. He found it nearly impossible to maintain eye contact after years of living with his mad mother. She despised their unique color and would rage at him if she happened to catch sight of them. It was always strange for the young albino when someone showed an interest in them that wasn’t negative in nature.

A blush tinged his paper white cheeks when he picked out the compliment in her rambling words. Angel’s pale skin was stretched taunt over his blade like cheek bones showing that perhaps there was more wrong with him than a lack of melanin. “Angel Shield.” He replied in his soft tone, the name Shield was one that existed mostly in the history books. The Shield’s were a distinguished family that had flourished in Europe nearly half a century ago before madness and inbreeding lead to the powerful family’s decline. Angel was the last living descendent of the doomed line.

The pale Teppenpaw relaxed as Clara easily took charge of the assignment. This was the type of partnership situation that Angel did best with. He was good at following orders, and having clear direction was the best way for him to work. “Aquamenti” Angel murmured as he held his Ebony wand over the measuring cup. The night dark wood was a startling contrast against his snow white skin. When the cup was full, he cancelled the spell and carefully dumped the water into the caldron before repeating the process. A second spell applied steady heat on the bottom of the caldron to bring the water to a boil. His task finished Angel cast a quick glance at Clara to see what she wanted him to do next.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

April 23, 2012 2:23 AM

Sounds like the way to start by Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw

Potions was a subject that Melanie had nothing but respect for. There was so many that did so many wonderful things to help people. She was pretty sure her sister would be dead without the ones she had to use daily to boost her immune system to even the point it was at so Melanie was pretty grateful for whomever created it. Losing Valerie was something that the Teppenpaw could barely stand to think about. Her sister was her best friend.

At the same time, well, the first year wasn't sure she actually wanted to make potions. Melanie was a pureblood so she'd grown up with them and knew what went into them. The truth was...she didn't really like the idea of touching gross things, like bits of animals and bugs. She didn't really like insects very much, living or dead. Especially flying ones. The Teppenpaw had also grown up in a very much insect free house so seeing them really bothered her quite a bit.

Still, Melanie knew that she had to try her best in all her classes, even if they were disgusting and unladylike. She did want good grades after all, even if it was in a subject her mother didn't approve of. It wouldn't be the end of the world if she wasn't perfect academically but the first year had a need to try her best and would be quite disappointed in herself if she didn't. Sometimes, Melanie found herself being held to very high standards when it came to propriety, and holding herself to those standards had a tendency to spill into other aspects of her life, whether Mother thought girls should be good at Potions or not.

She sat straight at her desk, turning her attention to the task at hand. Most of what Melanie knew about was the different sort of potions used for healing or treating symptoms of various ailments or that boosted the immune system. She'd picked up an awful lot of that stuff, just not how to make any of them. The Teppenpaw also knew that there were plenty of potions that could be harmful as well, though Melanie couldn't imagine why anyone would make any of those. She also knew some of the ingredients that were commonly used in various things, and wrote down those too.

Satisfied, the first year turned her attention to the potion at hand. A potion that treated cuts and burns, that was something that at least sounded like a reasonable thing to learn even though she'd never needed it before. Proper young ladies didn't do the sort of activities that resulted in cuts and burns, though it was something she would like to know in case of an emergency. Valerie had said sometimes the lessons were more strenuous that was considered acceptable. The Teppenpaw was not very happy about that, not so much doing them herself, but she didn't want her older sister put in that situation. For Melanie, it was just something she wasn't likely to enjoy all that much.

The brunette's nose wrinkled with distaste at the mention of lacewings of any color. They were something that sounded far prettier than they were and truth be told, she'd rather avoid touching them unless she absolutely had to. Bugs just grossed her out, plus they carried all sorts of diseases. She'd wash her hands right after class, so infecting Valerie wouldn't be an issue, but still, just, ew.

“Would you like to prepare the ingredients or stir?”

Melanie turned to the boy sitting next to her who had spoken. "Stir!" She said, a bit eagerly. The Teppenpaw did want to pull her own weight. It was the right thing to do, when working in partners and treating others right was very important. It was just that Melanie wanted to do so in a way that didn't involve herself touching anything yucky. Oh, she'd do it if she absolutely had to, but if she was given an opportunity to be helpful without it, she was certainly going to take it.

"I'm Melanie Lennox, of the St. Louis Lennoxes." The first year introduced herself. That was one of the first steps to getting to know each other, after all, and make friends. Valerie might have been the brunette's best friend, but that didn't mean she wanted her to be the only one. "You may call me Melanie, if you'd like."

11 Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw Sounds like the way to start 226 Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw 0 5

Evan Brockert, Aladren

April 23, 2012 5:27 AM

And here's one! by Evan Brockert, Aladren

When it came to Potions, Evan had a rather unique challenge. Oh, he'd understood the directions on everything they'd tried to make so far and was perfectly capable of following them. He was patient enough and didn't run around putting others at risk and certainly the Aladren had no issues with touching the ingredients or using animals or their by products. Evan had grown up with ingesting potions and thought no more about drinking down something that contained armadillo bile than he would eating a hamburger.

No, his issue was more that he had a tendency not to want to use potions ingredients for their intended purpose. Evan instead wanted to use them to create artwork. Sure, nobody really saw animal innards as an art supply and the Aladren understood that was kind of gross but plants? Plants could be lovely and make for pretty picture and adornments in sculptures. In fact, Evan had been pretty happy to get his own potions kit until his father made it quite clear to him that he was only supposed to use the ingredients to create potions , unlike what he'd done when Nina had gotten her first kit and he'd decided to raid it. Evan had made a lovely picture out of that whole thing, but it hadn't been fully appreciated.

The thing was, the second year had not entirely gotten this desire out of his system. Oh, he'd learned that things that belonged to others were to be respected and not borrowed without permission, but no matter how many pictures Evan made using bits of nature, ideas for them kept on coming. There was just an infinite number of uses for jewelweed and prickly pears that did not involve making a potion that could be used to heal cuts and burns. Or any other potion either.

Right now, for example, Evan wanted to frame a piece of paper in jewelweed flowers, as flowers of any kind made for lovely works of art. Why he could make patterns using them and other types of plants, maybe incorporate other materials such as twigs or bits of fabric. The possibilities were endless, even though Evan didn't like to plan these things out too much. Art didn't have a plan, it just happened and truthfully, the Aladren never really knew what he was going to make until he was making it.

Unfortunately, right now, Evan was going to making anything with those jewelweed flowers and prickly pear spines but the required potion, which was sort of a let down. Really, he liked this class fine, it was just that Evan liked doing his artwork more. He supposed that was the case with most people though, preferring their hobbies to things they had to do.

Still, the Aladren could always do that stuff later, he supposed. It was more that he was disappointed to use his ingredients for their common intended purpose, because he wouldn't have any to use the way he preferred later. He guessed he could write to his parents and ask them for extra jewelweed though. Plus, Evan could always scour the paths for other interesting things, that was always fun.

He turned back to the potion. At least it was something that the Aladren could surely use. After all, going out to the gardens could always result in little cuts and scrapes.

“Hi, do you still need a partner?”

Evan looked up to see a blonde girl that he didn't recognize standing there. She must have been one of the first years, he figured, though he'd missed her name during role call. He'd been rather focused on the list he had to write for Professor Fawcett of the stuff that he'd retained from last year and it was a rather long list, so Evan had rather tuned out after his own name had been called. That was the thing about having a name that was at the beginning of the alphabet, one didn't have to listen for it for very long if names were being called in that order. "Sure," the Aladren replied, smiling at the blonde girl. "I'm Evan Brockert, of the Colorado Brockerts."

11 Evan Brockert, Aladren And here's one! 212 Evan Brockert, Aladren 0 5

Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus

April 24, 2012 4:57 AM

I doubt that by Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus

There were a few things that were far more revolting than Potions, such as Ryan and mudbloods but touching the ingredients that went into a potion was definitely disgusting. Therefore, Carrie was not going to do it. People just had to learn that if she didn't want to do something, she didn't have to do it. That was just how the world worked and people had to accept that. Carrie was special and anyone who couldn't see that was even stupider than Ryan was.

Besides, potions was not for ladies. What was wrong with this school? She was not very impressed with Sonora thus far. Being in the same house as Ryan-who really should not even be allowed into school in the first place-headed by Amelia Pierce of all people. Sharing a room with other girls. Being forced to do unladylike things. Honestly, Carrie was going to have write to her mother about this. Things needed to change around here at least as far as she was concerned. They needed to be adjusted to suit her.

The Crotalus sat, bored already by Professor Fawcett. Her mind began to drift-after all, she didn't need to pay attention, both because she was so intelligent that she could pick it up in a second and because well, it didn't interest her. If Carrie was going to be forced to do this class-which she wasn't because nobody could force her to do anything-Professor Fawcett could at least make it interesting.

Her attention was drawn however when another girl came in late. The first year sneered. Such manners! Honestly, who did that girl think she was? Didn't she realize that Carrie was the only one who should be getting special treatment? Others were to be subject to what they were told to do, the school rules. Otherwise, well, they were assuming they were equal to her and that was certainly not the case. Carrie was special and superior and thus deserved to be treated better. She hoped that this girl was at least pure. The Crotalus would not tolerate uppity mudbloods. They had to realize their place. She gave the girl a look of disgust as she down in the seat next to Carrie.

The first year turned back to her parchment and wrote down a few things that she knew about potions. That they were full of disgusting things but were very useful. Such as love potions that were used to make people worship another or cosmetic potions that were used to make people more attractive. Carrie didn't need either and she never would, of course. People would naturally be attracted to her beauty and charm and of course, she was gorgeous so she didn't need anything to improve her looks. Not that Carrie didn't wear a little bit of make-up anyway. It just enhanced what she already had.

Her attention was, however, once again drawn to the girl would come in late as the Pecari girl began to mutter to herself. Really, that was something crazy people did. What a freak. Her parents would be better off disowning her because something had obviously gone wrong like it had with Ryan. This girl was clearly inferior mentally and with someone like that, the best thing to do was to just abandon them somewhere.

Either that or she was of inferior blood. That was more likely the case. Carrie wrinkled her nose as the girl spoke to her. Inferior blood, obviously, given her failure to introduce herself like a civilized human being. Furthermore, she'd just thrown a crumpled up piece of paper at another classmate. Some people were no better than animals.

Carrie was about to refuse the wild creature's request when it dawned on her that she needed someone else to do the potion. She certainly was not touching insect parts herself. Besides, working on the potion might somehow ruin her manicure. She could break a nail! Better to have this disgusting being do all the work. "I guess." The Crotalus replied without much enthusiasm. "I am Carrie O'Malley, of the Colorado O'Malleys." Carrie introduced herself in a tone that clearly showed that she thought she was superior to the other first year.

11 Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus I doubt that 230 Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus 0 5

Aria

April 24, 2012 8:50 PM

I most appreciate it. by Aria

Aria didn’t really mind one way or another if the boy already had a partner or did not want to work with her. She knew better than to be somewhere that she was not wanted. There were plenty of people at the community who liked to do things on their own. The idea was a little strange since the whole point of the community was being together and working as one, but her Dad said that there were some people who did things better when they were on their own. One she knew some what was the Writer. He always wrote such amazing stories for everyone, but he preferred to write them alone in his house. Aria only ever saw him when they had mandatory meetings and on occasion, at the dining hall. He was a very strange man, but Aria had a feeling she was equally as strange.

She didn’t know whether she should frown or not at his introduction. He was another one. There seemed to be quite a few of them around this school. People from families that were so large they needed to specify the state in which they were from. Aria wondered how many families like this there were at Sonora and if eventually they ever grew tired of introducing themselves like that to people. “Hello Evan Brockert, I am Aria Yale of the Spiritual Community in New Mexico.” She greeted him, again giving the title of her home because it was easier to explain who she was by that title than it ever was by anything else. Names seemed to be important here and so were places, apparently.

Aria was learning that those of ‘Pure’ blood had higher status than anyone else. This was not the case at home. Everyone was equal to each other and one with Nature. That was how the society in which she grew up in worked. It was how they all stayed in balance with themselves, each other, and the world around them. If someone thought they were better than the others, there would be no real room for them in the community. If one did, the Elders would have asked them to leave. It wasn’t like the community could just have a member doing absolutely nothing. There would be no unity then.

“Do you mind handling the insects?” She asked of him. She did not find insects disgusting in any way, but she did not want to do anything that may upset her parents. “I am not sure if using insects in potions goes against my beliefs, so I’d rather not chance it until I find out for sure.” She explained to him. “I don’t mind working on everything else though.”

0 Aria I most appreciate it. 0 Aria 0 5

Sayre Light

April 24, 2012 9:16 PM

Doubting Thomas....of the Colorado Thomases by Sayre Light

It didn't take a genius to see that Sayre had chosen the wrong seat to take. The girl next to her sneered at Sayre's attempt at humor, introducing herself as a "Colorado O'Malley." Uh-oh. Clearly this girl was one of the Families, and clearly, she had a superiority complex the likes of which Sayre had never seen before.

"'Ello, Carrie O'Malley of the Colorado O'Malleys," Sayre said, her voice switching from its natural Cockney slang to a clipped, snooty accent that she always associated with high-end folk. And this girl was one of them - or at least she thought she was. "Allow me to introduce myself further. My name is Sairahiniel Light, of the Lights With Absolutely No Affiliation Whatsoever." Sayre grinned to herself, not having to look to see the girl's horrified look at her brazenness. Eh, Sayre figured, it was all a part of her charm.

Most of the time, Sayre wanted nothing more than to stay out of the way, be invisible, but somehow, she'd made friends here. Sully. Elijah. They saw her - really saw her - and didn't care. Maybe she did have a hope here. But not with this girl.

This girl she wanted to mess with. And she knew exactly how.

So, Sayre carefully, deliberately pulled her long, waist-length black hair off of her face, tying it into a knot on the top of her head that she stabbed with a pencil to secure. Then she turned, looking at the girl full-on. Her icy blue eyes shone with a challenge - the challenge of her face. More specifically, the long, jagged scar that warped the left side of it, slashing from her eye to jawbone.

"Now, let's see, partner," Sayre said, putting emphasis on the last word, but other than that, pretending like she couldn't predict what the pureblooded girl's reaction to her disfigurement would be. "What do we have to do?" Sayre made a show of reading the ingredients on the board aloud. "Oh, good, insect parts. Now, can I assume that you'll be handling that part? I find that disemboweled bugs are far too much for such delicate sensibilities as mine." Sayre kept her eyes on her parchment, scratching away with a quill like nothing was wrong, though she couldn't really help the sly smile that slid over her face, twisting the ruined half of her lips. Potions, at least this class, was going to be fun.

0 Sayre Light Doubting Thomas....of the Colorado Thomases 0 Sayre Light 0 5

Gareth

April 26, 2012 9:54 AM

Agreed by Gareth

The young brunette girl replied with stir! and Gareth gave her an amused smile. His sister always liked to stir too, though he wasn’t sure why. Stirring was the boring part. Maybe it was just a girl thing. The fairer gender was an endless source of bafflement to the 12 year old, and even though he had a mother and a sister, that didn’t lessen the mystery much. If nothing else it tended to increase it as he was forced to cope with the random nature of the female mind on a regular basis.

“I’m Gareth Whitebriar of House Blackbriar. It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Lennox, Melanie.” Gareth corrected himself. “You can call me Gareth if you like.” He offered in return. The last name was familiar, though not the girl. Suddenly he recalled the pale sickly girl from last term who often had to leave class early, wasn’t she a Lennox? Gareth hadn’t worked with her directly last term and he was sort of glad for it. She seemed like spun glass, something that might break into a million pieces if not handled in just the right way, and Gareth had unfortunate moments of clumsiness that could lead to disaster.

He set up a small caldron, big enough to hold two cups of water before turning his attention to the jewelweed flowers. Carefully he crushed the flowers before transferring them into the water. Next he cut the prickley pear pad in half as he waited for the water to boil. “Alright, while we wait for this to finish boiling, would you mind setting up a second caldron? We can strain this one over the larger one once it’s done boiling.” Gareth asked, easily taking the lead on the project.

0 Gareth Agreed 0 Gareth 0 5

Evan

April 27, 2012 11:32 PM

No problem by Evan

Evan blinked. It wasn't so much that Aria wasn't a pureblood. He didn't really care about that. It was just that the Aladren had never heard of a spiritual community and didn't really know what one was-and he was curious. Which was probably part of being an Aladren. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Yale." Calling her Miss Yale was instinctive, but the rest was genuine. So far, the second year hadn't met anyone he disliked and generally didn't mind meeting new people.

"Sure, I can handle the insects." Evan replied. It wasn't an unusual request. Lots of girls didn't like touching bugs. Though apparently Aria's objection was different. Against her beliefs? He'd heard that some people were against using animal parts but was more used to girls who didn't like bugs because they thought they were yucky. Girls who were considered proper ladies. Either way, it was no big deal to Evan.

Especially considering that he really liked bugs. He had a huge terrarium in his room full of live ones and different plants. He'd gotten it from his older brother for his twelfth birthday. Adam could be a pretty awesome big brother, getting Evan something that he'd really enjoy, even though Adam's girlfriend Serenity hated bugs. That didn't matter to the older Brockert, he just wanted to get Evan something that would make him happy.

Possibly because Adam wanted his siblings to like him. He was pretty insecure. He seemed to want to bend over backward to please people that he had to deal with. Meanwhile, he avoided everyone else, isolating himself, angry and bitter about the past. Apparently, people Evan knew at school were a lot nicer than the ones his brother had known. The Aladren felt lucky to have people like Thad as friends rather than having to deal with what Adam had.

And maybe Aria could be his friend too, even if she wasn't a proper pureblood. It wasn't as if Evan had to marry her or anything. Just someone to talk to at school. Besides, she seemed really interesting. "What's a spiritual community?" The Aladren asked, as he began to work on the lacewings. His tone wasn't the least bit judgmental, only curious about someone who lived a different way than he did. Evan had really only been exposed to the pureblood lifestyle. "Is it a magical one?" He couldn't imagine living without magic.

11 Evan No problem 212 Evan 0 5

Clara Abernathy

April 28, 2012 1:57 AM

On to step two by Clara Abernathy

Clara smiled slightly when she caught his name said over an audible whisper. "Thank you Angel," she said cheerily as she glanced over the parchment before her for their next step. "Okay, so it says here that after we boil the flowers we're supposed to strain them and remove all of the seeds and keep the juice," she read to him. "Then we're supposed to return the juice back into the cauldron of boiling water." Clara threw the crushed flowers into the boilng pot and stirred them around. Oncew the flowers were ready she pulled them out and strained them as instructed. Once she had the juice ready to put back in she moved to their next step.

A thought crossed Clara's mind as she read the parchment and she smiled slightly. Wow this is going way better than my first potion, the 11 year old congradulated herself. She sincerely hoped that this one didn't blow up in her face like her first one had. At least there's no mandrake root nearby she thought cheerfully to herself and continued with her work.

"Slice the prickly pear pads – those I will distribute to you, with the spines removed – “in half and squeeze the juice from one half into the cauldron, then mix it with the jewelweed liquid by stirring it clockwise three times" the instructions read.

"Okay, will you please stir the cauldron while I get the juice from the prickly pads ready?" she asked Angel politely, getting to work on the pads. She didn't want him to think she was all boss and no work. She poured the juice from the flowers into the pot and set about slicing the prickly pear pads as they had been instructed. She then squeezed the juice from one half of them as it said to in the instructions. "Angel, could you please stir those together three times clockwise?" she asked him as she glanced over the sheet for the next step.

0 Clara Abernathy On to step two 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Angel

April 28, 2012 8:00 PM

... by Angel

Attentive crimson eyes watched as Clara took care of the flowers. She was perhaps one of the best partners the young albino had experienced in his schooling experience. Her voice shaped the words of the lesson with an ease that Angel could only envy, and she appeared to be perfectly content taking charge and giving him his tasks in a clear easy to understand way. The first step went smoothly as the flowers were boiled, strained, and the liquid returned to the caldron.

Angel gently stirred the liquid as Clara began working with the prickly pad. A soft hum of happiness escaped the albino’s soft pink lips in place of a smile as he worked. The sound was the one his old house elf, the creature who’d been tasked with his care for the first nine years of his life, would make whenever Angel did something properly. The old elf treated the pale boy more like a mother would treat an unwanted pet their beloved child had dragged home, making sure he was fed, clothed, and that he took all his numerous potions, but aside from that the child had been left in his crib, denied all the social interactions most growing children received. When he was finally old enough, and strong enough to escape the confines of the crib the damage had been done. The next few years spent avoiding his mad mother, who some days thought Angel was nothing more than the ghost of children long dead, hadn’t helped matters.

As a result of his unusual upbringing, Angel didn’t really understand smiling. He saw the other students do it, but when he tried it always looked wrong, mechanical and coming too soon or too late. So though his lips remained un-curved, the soft hum was his expression of contentment. “Yes.” He said softly in agreement as she squeezed the prickly pad juice into the caldron. Carefully, Angel stirred three times in the proper direction. Last term it had taken a few errors to figure out the difference between clockwise and counter clockwise.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Carrie

April 28, 2012 11:43 PM

I've never heard of that family. by Carrie

So, apparently, Miss Light-Sayre, she clearly did not deserve the respect one would give a proper member of society, so Carrie would use her first name-was not a pureblood, despite having the same last name as the school's Charms teacher. It was dreadful how that happened sometimes but apparently this girl was not clever enough to pretend an affiliation with them.

Not that that would have made a difference to Carrie. The way this creature acted was inexcusable. The Light family was lucky not to have her affiliated with them. She felt a slight twinge of sympathy for them, having someone who wasn't even a member of their family that was likely to reflect poorly on them anyway, because some people would be too stupid to see that Sayre was not one. Carrie knew all too well what it was like to have someone shaming her family name.

She looked, in total revulsion, at Sayre's face. Not only was the Pecari ill-mannered-it seemed that there were a lot more of those in that house, people like Arabella, than there were decent people like her mother-she was deformed too! Ugly people shouldn't even see the light of day. They should be kept locked in attics and cellars or forced to cover their disfigurements if possible. They shouldn't be here, associating with people like Carrie. Offending her with their very appearance.

The Crotalus deserved better than that. The very least Sayre could do was use make-up to cover her scar. Did she not understand how utterly repugnant she was? Carrie was guessing that she probably didn't. The other first year didn't seem smart enough. She'd probably mess up the potion somehow, and kill them all.

"No, you'll be doing the insects." The pureblood told Sayre. Carrie did not touch such disgusting things. It was bad enough that she had the misfortune of partnering with this...thing in the first place. She certainly wasn't going to do anything she didn't want to do. She never had and she wasn't going to start now for this creature.

And she didn't care about Sayre's "delicate sensibilities" either. For one thing, Carrie didn't believe her. There was nothing delicate about the Pecari, not with her behavior and attitude. Even if there was, the Crotalus still wouldn't have cared. Delicate sensibilities were weaknesses to be exploited. It meant one was fragile and vulnerable and such people disgusted Carrie, the way Ryan did. They were also easy to push around. Therefore, if Sayre was indeed telling the truth, she should be more than willing to do what Carrie told her, which made the pureblood doubt that she was.

11 Carrie I've never heard of that family. 230 Carrie 0 5

Clara

April 29, 2012 1:13 AM

Next step by Clara

Clara looked over the next set of instructions and was momentarily distracted by the soft humming sound she heard coming from Angel. The ruby eyed boy with the ash white hair and the pale skin facinated Clara. She had never before met anyone like him and wondered if she looked funny to him with her outrageously curly red hair, pale-ish skin that wouldn't tan even if she begged it to, dark blue eyes and little brown spots that seemed to cover most all of her body. At least most days it felt like they did anyway. Clara shrugged, enjoying the sound of his humming as she read the next step to both him and herself. ”Add four cups of water, then the packet of lacewings, and allow it to stew for four minutes before stirring it first nine times clockwise, then nine counter-clockwise,” she read clearly.

Before Clara could stop herself she laughed aloud softly as an image of herself green as grass crossed through her mind. “Ya know, I kinda wish my first attempt at potions had had instructions this precise,” she said sounding amused with herself. “If it had I might not have accidentally turned myself green for three days,” she confided to Angel. She laughed a little more at her next thought. “I had actually told my dad I looked like a walking, talking booger,” she rambled slightly, still chuckling. She coughed slightly into her closed fist and got back to business. “Okay, so if you could please add the four cups of water, I'll get the lacewing packet ready. Once they're in we let it stew for four minutes before stirring it first nine times clockwise and then nine times counter-clockwise,” she instructed, looking up at him from her notes. Mental note, must ask Angel to teach me that awesomely cool trick I saw him do with the water Clara told herself as readied their next step.

0 Clara Next step 232 Clara 0 5

Melanie

April 29, 2012 5:02 AM

Agreeing is good. by Melanie

Melanie smiled when Gareth said she could call him by his first name too. Despite growing up as a proper pureblood, the Teppenpaw preferred that. It made people seem nicer and more like equals. After all, Gareth and Lucille were supposed to be equal to her by everyone's standards, even that of her parents and society, weren't they?

Besides, she really didn't like acting superior to others, -not that not calling someone by their first name unless she had permission was acting superior, that was actually what was considered polite-even when society told her that she was. It just seemed rude and nasty somehow. That was not the way to make friends with others. It was much better to treat them with kindness and respect.

In fact, Melanie was really not fond of the way people in society sometimes treated each other, gossiping and competing and backstabbing. Her mother could be like that, not to mention that Mother could be incredibly superficial and place her own desires for a social life ahead of the needs of her children, except when showing Melanie off like an accessory and using Valerie's illnesses to gain sympathy.

It was different with Father. Melanie knew Father cared, that the reason he buried himself in work was to get his mind off things that bothered him, that he really did take Valerie's condition hard. He tried to pay attention to them when he could, though more the third year than herself. Melanie was okay with that though, Valerie should get more attention. She required it.

On the other hand, Mother did tend to pay more attention to Melanie. Push her harder than the older girl, which the Teppenpaw supposed that she was personally more capable of handling. Still, it wasn't the kind of attention that she really wanted. It felt more like Mother wanted Melanie to be the perfect pureblood lady while writing off Valerie completely and Melanie didn't really like that.

What the Teppenpaw really would have wanted was a genuine loving mother-daughter relationship, just like she wanted genuine friends ships based on mutual fondness for each other, rather than societal positions. Melanie doubted she'd ever have that with her mother though, Mother was just too shallow and the first year just disagreed with her about too many things.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Gareth." Melanie replied. "Sure, I can handle that." She began to prepare the second cauldron. So long as she didn't have to handle bugs, the Teppenpaw would happily put forth any effort that she had to. She was certain Gareth would find working with her more acceptable and even pleasant that way. "So," Melanie began, trying to think of something to say. " How do you like Sonora? You're a second year, right?"

11 Melanie Agreeing is good. 226 Melanie 0 5

Sayre Light

April 29, 2012 11:57 AM

Really? Funny...they're awfully high up in society by Sayre Light

Sayre couldn't keep the smirk off of her face as her lovely, Pureblooded partner took in her scar. Miss Carrie O'Malley of the Colorado O'Malleys positively cringed at the sight. Under normal circumstances, Sayre would've bowed her head and taken her hair down, trying desperately not to be noticed, but something had changed since she'd come to Sonora. A change for the better, she thought.

"Oh, dear," Sayre said to Carrie at the girl's violent reaction to Sayre's suggestion that she handle the insects. "I understand. You're afraid, aren't you." It wasn't a question. Sayre nodded and patted the other girl's arm sympathetically. "There, there. Everyone is afraid of something. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Though it is a little silly to be so terribly scared of something so small, don't you think?" Sayre caught Carrie's eye and held her gaze, a challenge, though her voice remained strictly formal and understanding. Sayre figured that the girl would understand, though probably be outraged at being mocked by a Muggle-born like her. Sayre bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.

"Now, darling, I suppose I can handle the bugs." Sayre read the instructions on the board and carefully began preparing the insects to be put into the potion. About halfway through her knife jerked - not unintentionally - dumping several of the bugs right into the girl's lap.

Oops.

0 Sayre Light Really? Funny...they're awfully high up in society 0 Sayre Light 0 5

Aria

April 29, 2012 3:33 PM

You're the best. by Aria

“Aria, please.” She asked of him just after he called her Miss Yale. It was far too weird for her to go by such a proper name, especially since it felt very old for her eleven year old frame. Her mother didn’t even go by that, no no. She went by her proper name of Ember (she changed it when she joined the community to a name that she felt fit her better). Her father always said that her mother had a fiery temper. Aria was assuming that was why she picked such a name for herself. All of this happened before she was born, of course.

“Thank you.” She said, most pleased that Evan agreed to take care of the bugs for her. She hoped her mother wouldn’t be too upset with her. If Aria didn’t handle the insects at all, than that should be fine. Or so she hoped. If nothing else, during her morning meditations, she will ask for forgiveness and find balance with Nature once more. She was still young and learning, after all, they couldn’t hold it against her forever, could they? No no, that would defeat the whole purpose of their living style. No grudges. Nature would forgive her, she was sure of it.

Aria liked talking about home, so when he asked what her community was, she was happy to oblige, “Yes, it’s a magical one, but we don’t really like to use magic.” Aria explained, “We prefer to do things by hand, it helps up to better communicate with Nature and be one with ourselves and with others.” She knew this was an odd explanation, but it was as true as one could get while explaining her home. “The community started when a group of being left the material world behind because they could not find peace and felt too weighed down by society’s demands of them. They created the community for people who wanted to live simpler lives.”

Aria started on the potion while she spoke, “In the community, everyone has a job, a purpose, and we work together to keep the community flowing and always in balance.” She really did miss the community and could appreciate why past kids always came back after just a couple of months. This world was just so different. “I do love it. I was born there and everyone is at peace. We know who we are and what we’re to do. This place is very confusing.” Aria advised Evan.

0 Aria You're the best. 0 Aria 0 5

Theresa Carey, Pecari

April 30, 2012 10:59 PM

This should be easy by Theresa Carey, Pecari

The first thing Theresa really noticed about the Potions classroom this year was how it was slightly easier to get onto her stool than it had been last year, and she looked at it for a moment before remembering with pleasure that she had definitely grown since this time last year. It was not something her mother thought of as good, of course, for the same reason, but Theresa’s mind couldn’t help but turn back, for just a moment, toward her new wardrobe.

As she sat down for good this time, she smoothed down her dark green skirt with its wide border of tiny white flowers and smiled down at it and her shiny new black shoes. She loved new clothes; she felt a hundred percent better than usual when she was wearing them. She didn’t have to worry that something was not good enough, or if she’d worn it too many times, or if it was beginning to show its age somehow, or anything like that. It was just…good.

One day, when she was married, she was going to wear a different dress every day. Or at least every other day. And she would ruin anyone who said so much as one word to her about it. Unless it was her husband, and she’d love-potion him if she had to.

She smiled at Professor Fawcett as he began the lesson, being, in her opinion, very much himself. She tucked a few pieces of her hair which had come loose from her plait back behind her ears, the better to show off earrings which were regrettably small and only silver but pretty anyway, and took notes without paying any special attention to what she was writing, then looked for a partner.

“Shall we?” she asked once she saw one. This class would, she expected, be straightforward enough; it was the first lesson of the year, so it had to be something the first years could do, so she was expecting to have a pretty good day with it. That would be something good to remember later in the year, when things got harder.

0 Theresa Carey, Pecari This should be easy 0 Theresa Carey, Pecari 0 5

Evan

May 01, 2012 5:08 AM

Aw thanks. by Evan

The second year nodded. Aria sounded so much nicer than Miss Yale anyway. Not that there was anything wrong with the way that Miss Yale sounded. In fact it sounded much better than Miss Carey, for example, especially around a pregnant woman. Not by the terms of society, of course, but at least phonetically. "All right, Aria. You can call me Evan."

He was happy to let her refer to him by first name as well. Mr. Brockert could bring up confusion between him and Seth. Though Evan still called the man by his first name, as they were cousins. He'd always thought the customs of pureblood children calling each other Miss and Mr. made them sound old, and brought up confusion if more than one person of the same gender had the same last name in a given group.

And Evan certainly didn't feel old. In fact, to be honest, he was the youngest of six, the baby of the family and his mother wasn't having the easiest time letting him grow up. She'd cried more over him going to school last year than she had Hope two years before that. Even that she had one grandchild and was pretty close to having another, it didn't seem to make Mom any less lonely when Arianna was in the Carribbean and Kaylie's baby would likely live in Wisconsin.

"You're welcome." Evan honestly preferred doing the bugs anyway. Because they didn't make such good art work, given the general distaste most people had for them, he wasn't tempted to use them in his creations, whereas with flowers, Evan wanted to use them to make pretty pictures rather than potions. "Do you mind doing the flowers then?" The second year asked.

He set to working on the bugs while Aria spoke about her home. "Some of that sounds kind of nice. I mean, being able to escape society's demands on them and find peace. In the society I belong to, pureblood society, there are so many demands placed on people. Like even how we have to introduce ourselves. Hence why I referred to you as Miss Yale until you gave me permission to use your first name. It's what we're taught is proper. I don't really identify myself as Mr. Brockert, when that title is already occupied my father, grandfather, great-grandfather, various cousins and even my older brother sort of. I'm Evan, which is a separate identity whereas being called Mr. Brockert seems like I'm sharing it with all my male relatives that also share my last name"

Evan felt slightly embarrassed, it wasn't something the second year had much experience with. "Sorry, I didn't mean to unload too much on you there, I was basically just trying to say I understand why someone might want to shed societal pressures." Not that Evan ever really would. They didn't bother him all that much but he'd seen a few of his relatives really be affected. Adam hated the pressure he was under as heir and pressure had gotten to Autumn to the point where she'd gotten sick.

Evan went on "I don't know if I could not use magic though. I mean, now that I'm learning it."

11 Evan Aw thanks. 212 Evan 0 5

Carrie

May 03, 2012 4:34 AM

I think I'd know that better than you. by Carrie

Carrie's blood boiled. So far, she'd never met anyone as insolent as this girl, not even Sophie or Arabella. (Ryan wasn't insolent, he was nothing but a wimp.) To make matters worse, this creature was a mudblood and here she was acting like she was better than Carrie. Such a ridiculous concept, as if anyone could possibly be better than the Crotalus. She was fabulous, perfection personified.

And then this...bit of a filth had the nerve to actually touch her. "Keep your contaminated mudblood hands off me!" Carrie yelled, possibly a bit too loudly, recoiling in horror. Honestly, now Sayre was trying to assault her? The Crotalus would be writing her mother about this for sure. Not to mention that she was going to have to wash the place where the girl had touched repeatedly and probably throw out this particular uniform robe.

Actually, come to think of it, Carrie should probably not wear the robe any more anyway. She certainly didn't have to if she didn't want to and she had such beautiful and expensive clothing. They needed to be shown off. The first year couldn't be expected to wear the same things as everyone else, especially creatures like Sayre and Ryan.

"And for your information." The blonde stated coldly. "I'm not afraid of bugs or anything else. It's simply that touching bugs is beneath me. I am above you and this is a fact that you quite clearly need to understand. First off all, I am a proper pureblood lady and you are nothing but trash. Therefore, you belong touching bugs and other things that are unclean like yourself."

Carrie continued, in the same condescending manner. "Second, my being so far above you means that you have to do as I say. I realize you're nothing but mudblood filth and are new to the magical world but the sooner you realize how things are, the better off you'll be. I'm at the top and you are at the bottom, understand?"

She watched as Sayre began to prepare the bugs, obviously not going to do anything for the potion herself. Carrie figured that doing everything was for the best for the Pecari girl. It would teach more of a lesson than just how to make the actual potion, but about how to treat her betters and her place in society.

Suddenly, the bugs were in Carrie's lap and the Crotalus let out a shriek. "You disgusting cretin! How dare you do such a thing! Honestly, don't you have any manners at all? I realize your parents aren't purebloods but were you raised by animals?" This girl was going to pay for what she'd just done, one way or another.

11 Carrie I think I'd know that better than you. 230 Carrie 0 5

Angel

May 03, 2012 6:49 PM

... by Angel

Curious red eyes stole another glance at his lab partner as she started to laugh. It was a pleasant sound, one that he enjoyed watching others enjoy, though he didn’t really understand why they did it. His mother use to laugh for no reason at all, sometimes even when she was crying. But, her laugh was different, it was a shrill sound that was almost like screaming. When Angel had first heard children laughing last term, he’d watched the worriedly for other signs of the manic mood swings that marked dangerous times around his mom, where he should hide out until the laughter stopped. Instead the laughter was…different, bell like and nothing bad happened. Though it took nearly half the term, he learned to enjoy the sound as a mark of good things, instead of bad.

Green, green, green, Angel’s fingers picked at his quill, the poor thing looked like it had been half eaten by a hungry kitten as he tried to place the shade. They all looked so similar to him that sometimes he forgot which was supposed to be which. Green…leaves, green was the color of growing things he remembered vaguely, not the color of people. Though the two dark boys named Solomon might be green, or blue, or red, or maybe purple. He’d never seen people who were darkly shaded before and no one told him what name the shade should be. Colors were tricky things that Angel wished he could differentiate as well as everyone else. He didn’t know how they could all tell so easily, when the darks all just looked dark, and the lights light. “Turn green?” Angel asked as he glanced at the potion. His skin had always been white, even when he took the potion that said he was Teppenpaw, it remained the same, not shading to the darker colors of the other houses.

It didn’t take long for Angel to refill the measuring cup four times and gently pour the water into the caldron. He waited for the minutes to pass and for her to add the contents of the packet, his pale fingers strayed back to the frazzled quill and began plucking at the poor feather, fraying it further.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Gareth

May 03, 2012 7:14 PM

Better than the alternative by Gareth

A friendly smile curved his lips as Melanie agreed to continue on a first name basis. He did prefer it that way, it made people more open when they weren’t restricted by all the Misters, and Misses. “Sonora is pretty good so far, the classes are challenging without being impossible, and the other students are friendly.” Light blue eyes gave her a speaking glance, having placed her into the category of ‘friendly’ students. One of the benefits about his size was that even students who were not inclined to friendliness were still polite to him, wary of his youthful strength. Not that he would ever use it against anyone, violence was something Gareth preferred to avoid outside of the Quidditch Pitch.

“Are you liking it so far? I know that we haven’t gotten far into the term but what is your first impression?” Gareth asked in return. The desert was still not something he was overly fond of due to dry heat that made his skin itch and his hair fluff un-fetchingly if he didn’t use a spot of oil to tame it. Aside from the climate, and the fact that he was honor bound to play Quidditch, Gareth found the school to his liking.

Once the jewelweed flower tea had come to a boil, Gareth squeezed one half of the prickly pear pad over the main cauldron. He gave a soft hiss of pain when a bit of the juice got into a paper cut that had happened in the prior class, but the pain was small enough to dismiss in favor of continuing the potion. Next, he carefully strained the jewelweed tea into the caldron, making certain that he didn’t accidentally allow any of the flower bits though.

“Okay, now just give it three clockwise stirs please.” Gareth instructed as he reviewed the next step. When she was done with the stirring, Gareth added another four cups of water before dumping n the packet of lacewings. “In four minutes you’ll need to stir nine times clo- no wait,” he blushed slightly as he stared at his notes, usually he at least could read them but he’d been rushing a bit to get it all down and now the last few lines looked like chicken scratch. “Um, did you get which way we were supposed to stir?” He asked hopefully.

0 Gareth Better than the alternative 0 Gareth 0 5

Clara

May 03, 2012 11:35 PM

Almost done...I think by Clara

Clara poured in the packet of Lacewings and let them stew for four minutes before stirring them nine times clockwise and then nine times counter clockwise. She saw the curious glance from Angel when she laughed and kept quiet about it. There was something about the boy that told Clara she shouldn't ask too many questions too soon else she might scare him. She had a tendency to ask too many questions sometimes...her natural curiousity sometimes getting the better of her. She tried very hard not to do that with Angel for fear of chasing him away.

She heard Angel's soft question of "Turn green?" as she read over their next step and sheepishly nooded her head, grinning awkwardly. "Yeah...I somehow managed to turn myself the same color as grass once for three days," she confessed sheepishly. "It had been my very first attempt at doing potions by myself and the one I was working on sort-of blew up in my face. It was a weird green gooey mess," she recalled, chuckling. "My dad wigged out over the whole thing, but it was pretty funny. I've gotten better at doing them, but there are the occational hiccups," she told him.

She smiled at Angel, glancing down at the instructions and reading the last bit aloud. "Add the packet of sennae sulphurs then, and stir three times counter-clockwise, then once clockwise. Grind the prickly pear spines, powder the joint fir seed, and combine them before adding about three tablespoons to thicken the mixture, stirring each one in as it’s added. Your potion should be a clear, light green when the potion is complete.” Clara got to work grinding up the prickly pear spines and powdering the joint fir seed. As she mashed them up she hoped that she had done it right before combining them together. "Okay...lets add the sennae sulphur packet and finish up this potion shall we?" she inquired as she poured in the packet to the cauldren.

Clara then stirred the mixture the three times counter-clockwise and the one time clockwise. She handed the mixture of ground prickly pear spines and joint fur seeds to Angel. "What do you say we finish up this potion? Why don't you do the last part? Make sure to add them in one at a time and stir them in as you add them," she instructed him encouragingly. "According to the instructions it should be a clear, light green if we've done it right."

0 Clara Almost done...I think 232 Clara 0 5

Melanie

May 06, 2012 9:43 AM

Indeed by Melanie

"It's been going pretty well so far." Melanie replied. "Everyone I've met has been really nice." Okay, so she'd only really met Gareth and her roommates and she wasn't really used to non-purebloods, so she wasn't quite entirely sure what to make of Aria or Brielle yet. Both seemed pleasant enough though and Melanie was willing to give them a chance. She was, after all, going to be living with them for the next seven years and it was best to get along. Whether her mother approved of them or not.

And certainly, there were some things that the Teppenpaw didn't care for, such as well, handling bugs. Nor did she especially look forward to Care of Magical Creatures and flying lessons hadn't been Melanie's thing either. Still, so far none of these things had been so bad. It was nothing compared to what some people had to go through. Nothing that the first year couldn't handle-especially if Gareth was doing all bug related bits.

She felt a little guilty about that, leaving the second year with the yucky parts, but then Gareth was a boy and from what Melanie had been taught, it was more okay for boys to touch said things than girls. Besides, she'd been raised to think that bugs basically carried germs and it wasn't a good idea to touch them. Though, apparently, it was okay to drink them in potions.

Melanie had to wonder about that. She'd grown up drinking potions for any sort of medical issue that she might have had and while the idea touching insects still bothered her, she could only imagine what it was like for muggleborn students who had to get used to drinking concoctions made of lace wing flies and what not. That had to be a hard thing to adjust too and Melanie was glad to have grown up in the magical world so things weren't as different for her. Or for Valerie either. She liked to have things be as easy for her sister to adjust to as possible.

The first year nodded. "That's correct. Nine clockwise stirs, followed by nine counter-clockwise stirs." Melanie hadn't really needed to double check her notes but she did anyway just to confirm that she'd remembered it correctly. Doing a potion just right was extremely important, otherwise it might not have the desired affect at best or an even worse one. What if those who mixed up Valerie's potions screwed up? If her immune boosting potions failed due to someone not doing things correctly, she could get very sick and Melanie could lose her forever. She didn't even want to think about that. "And then you add the sennae sulphers." The Teppenpaw added.

11 Melanie Indeed 226 Melanie 0 5

Angel

May 06, 2012 5:16 PM

... by Angel

Angel’s eyes widened slightly as Clara told her tale. Last term none of the potions he’d worked on had failed in such a spectacular way, and he was glad of it. Having a potion explode in his face sounded rather dangerous and he again gave her a careful look. It didn’t appear that the mishap had left any lasting mark on the girl and Angel gave a soft sigh of relief. Still he gave the potion a slightly worried look. Would this one explode as well? The softly bubbling liquid didn’t appear to be inclined to doing such a thing, so Angel relaxed a bit.

While the art of making potions wasn’t Angel’s strong suite, potions themselves played a crucial role in the young albino’s life. Numerous potions were needed to keep Angel alive, and he’d been on them for as long as he could remember. Because his digestive system was so weak and often rejected the food he tried to eat, Angel had to take two potent nutrient potions a day just to get the vital nutrients he needed to keep from dying of starvation. There was a bone strengthening potion he had to take once a month to combat the brittle bones his lack of proper nutrition gave him, and another that was taken twice a month to replenish the enamel on his teeth that was lost due to not being able to keep two out of five meals down. He had to take a sun protection potion anytime he went outside so that he wouldn’t get burned, and the last one was a digestive regeneration potion that he had to take once a year.

The last one was his least favorite, it was a very painful process that left him feeling half dead for over a week and he was glad he only had to do it once a year. The potion repaired the lining of his digestive organs and it wasn’t a pleasant process at all. He’d never really thought about the people who made those potions, and now he wondered how complex they might be to create.

Quietly, Angel reached out and accepted the packet from Clara. His pale fingers added each of the seeds one at a time while he stirred with his other hand. It didn’t take long for him to add the last ingredients and when he was done, Angel gave the brew a long studying look. It appeared to be a pale shade, but he didn’t know if it was green or not. “Good?” He asked softly.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Professor Fawcett

May 06, 2012 11:51 PM

That is enough by Professor Fawcett

In his years at Sonora, John had, by and large, had a good set of students. He had heard a few tales about how one of his first might or might not have been involved in a series of murders after she left his classes, but generally, while they were in school, the students of Sonora did not cause much trouble. He very much appreciated this quality in them, and strove to encourage it in those he thought might be, under the right circumstances…otherwise inclined. He thought of himself as fair, but more as firm; if he was going to allow eleven-year-olds near fire, he was going to run a tight ship.

For this reason, he made a note of the child who came in late; he could forgive that on the first day, he supposed, as the facility was large enough for getting lost to be plausible, but the fact that she was apparently traveling alone instead of moving with at least the rest of her House and year, as many first years did, made it worth a note. He would ask at the end of class what the reason for her tardiness was, and remind her of the need to be punctual, and leave it at that, provided that she did not cause further problems.

He made another note of her calling out to a student who was not sitting near her for some reason, which was disruptive, and watched as she began working with…Oh, dear Merlin….

Clearly, he was set for a wonderful year. The whole room had to have heard Miss O’Malley – he did tend to pick up on which ones were related to existing students very quickly – shouting the house down. Certainly he had. He took his wand in his hand for a quick shield charm if his latecomer attempted to attack her partner for that remark and began to sweep in that direction, concentrating on looking as stern as possible. It was not particularly difficult; John himself could only just claim half-blood status by the narrowest and most arguable of margins. He was secure enough in his place in the world to not be particularly bothered by personal attacks anymore, at least on that front and from a first year, but he was not going to tolerate such statements in his classroom.

“Miss O’Malley,” he said, in a tone which was calm but which he thought should let any marginally reasonable person realize they were in deep trouble already, “you will apologize to Miss Light and your classmates for that outburst, and then you will speak with me after class. That sort of language is not permitted at this school. You will treat all of your classmates with respect.”

He could, he thought, just imagine how Amelia was getting along with this one; he had never been happier to not be Head of Crotalus. His House was full of Careys, among others, but whatever they privately thought, they were at least publicly civil to their classmates, at least so far as he’d seen. Most purebloods did at least manage to avoid those they thought themselves above speaking to these days; it was the new fashion, it seemed, to generally not behave like a complete moron in public places and so hang a sign around one’s neck inviting implication in various schemes which were not good for maintaining a large, wealthy, and powerful family. There were many interesting theories behind how this had come to be, specifically in relation to the American system and the rise of the third- and fourth-generation families as an economic and political power in recent decades and the adaptive powers of the old guard; John himself had written about it before. Clearly, however, this child came from somewhere that had not adapted, though that was odd, considering her brother; he did not, of course, know anything about Mr. O’Malley’s private opinions, but if they agreed with his sister’s, he did at least keep his mouth shut about them.

0 Professor Fawcett That is enough 0 Professor Fawcett 0 5

Clara

May 07, 2012 12:24 AM

I think we're done...YAY! by Clara

Clara watched Angel take the packet and the ingredient bowl from her and worried slightly if she may have asked too much of the softspoken boy. He appeared to be a little worried when she described her first potion experience to him, but worried less when he appeared to sigh slightly with relief. She wasn't sure if it was from the fact that they were almost finished with their potion or if it stemmed from something else. She decided to leave it alone for the moment.

She watched Angel intently as he did as she instructed, adding the ingredients as their instruction sheet said to add them. She watched him stir everything in as he worked and wondered if they had done the potion at least somewhat correctly. As it continued to bubble she couldn't help wondering if it might blow up like her first one did. She held her breath slightly as she waited for him to finish stirring their bubbly concoction. She let out her breath slowly and glanced over at Angel and the cauldron. She was about to ask if he was finished when she heard him ask, "Good?

Clara looked over their potion as they watched it continue to slightly boil and was pretty sure they were done. It was a pale shade of green-ish liquid as far as she could tell, but she wasn't certain if the concoction passed for what the instruction sheet had called "Clear, pale green." Since she was certain they had followed the instructions as well as possible she nodded. "I think it looks very good," she told him cheerfully. "I think we've done it Angel." She beamed at the pale boy happily. "I am soo proud of us! I am especially proud of you...you are an awesome partner!" she told him encouragingly. "I hope we get to work together again...in the meantime...why don't we ask the professor how our potion looks, hmm?" she smiled at him.

0 Clara I think we're done...YAY! 232 Clara 0 5

Aria

May 07, 2012 9:40 PM

You're very welcome! by Aria

Aria was beginning to accept the fact that in this world, people put far too much emphasis on their surnames than on their true selves. Aria felt that they could offer so much more to the world if they just identified with who they were instead of what their name represented. It was something that she knew she would never really understand. She knew money was important and apparently, having a certain name meant having money, but she couldn’t see the point to it. Why did society need to have statuses at all? The world would be a much happier place without them. At least, that was Aria’s opinion of the matter.

“I don’t mind.” She said when he asked about the flowers. It was only right that she agree to do it after he had agreed to take on the insects for her. Besides, she worked with plants all the time when she helped with her mother with the potions and the herbal remedies. Flowers were no bother to her. They helped make the world go around. Life thrived in the roots of plants, which allowed for all living creatures to thrive. The circle of life was a beautiful and harmonious thing.

The people here, Aria was beginning to notice, talked very much like adults. Sometimes she could sound like an adult too when she knew what she was talking about, but usually she just spoke blissfully about whatever was on her mind at the time. The other students here had a strange quality about them. Almost as though they were never really children. It was such a strange thing for her because the community always wanted the children to be children first before anything else. She wasn’t sure why this was not the case in the world outside of her wall.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind.” Aria said when he apologized. She felt he had done nothing wrong to apologize for. “Not everyone gives up magic. Most people use it for basic things, like helping the produce and things so that they remain organic and are not used with pesticides and growth hormones.” She had no idea if he understood anything she just said, but it was the truth of the matter. “Other’s use it for household chores and things. But, most only use a limited amount. They feel that if they use too much of their magic to do all of their work, they won’t really have a connection with Nature or others, which defeats the purpose of the Spiritual Community.”

0 Aria You're very welcome! 0 Aria 0 5

Gareth

May 09, 2012 7:02 AM

It seems to be going well by Gareth

Gareth nodded. In his experience at the school most of the students were of an agreeable sort. He really hadn’t had a problem with anyone last term, and this term had been good so far. Generally, Gareth was an easy going sort, so it would be difficult for someone to ruffle his feathers to the point that he became truly upset with them. While his fellow students might get annoying at times, none of them had reached that level of annoying yet.

The four minutes passed quickly, and at the designated time Gareth gave Melanie a nod to begin the stirring. He kept track of the number of time she stirred more out of habit than a belief that she wouldn’t stir the correct number of times. His sister was bad about that, always stirring one to few times. When she was done with the stirring, Gareth added the packet of sennae sulphers and began grinding up the prickley pear spines.

Once the spines were finished he powdered the joint fir seed. Though his hands looked too large for the task, Gareth handled the tools easily. Simple things like preparing ingredients had been taught to all the Whitebriar children at a young age and he actually found the task relaxing as the different shimmering scents of brewing potions began to fill the classroom. “Did you have much experience with brewing before school?” Gareth asked as he combined the two powdered ingredients and began measuring out a tablespoon.

Last term he’d found out that muggleborns didn’t have potions at all, so this was all new to them, but also that a lot of Purebloods didn’t have much brewing experience at home. That had been an interesting revelation, seems all the kids liked to help his mom out when she brewed healing potions more as a hobby than anything else. Then again, it made sense that not everyone’s mothers would be interested in brewing, thus not passing that on to their children.

“Alright, stir as I add.” Gareth directed as he slowly poured the powder into the bubbling caldron.

0 Gareth It seems to be going well 0 Gareth 0 5

Angel

May 09, 2012 11:27 AM

…Yay? by Angel

A soft blush painted his alabaster cheeks at her praise. Working with Dulce last term had taught him that he would be praised for doing a good job, but it was still something he wasn’t accustomed to outside of a tutoring situation. It was nice to know that he’d done a good job and hadn’t messed anything up. Should tell Dulce Angel thought as he gave Clara a small glance when she said they should have the professor check their work. The thought was a new one, and Angel wasn’t sure what to make of it. Usually he simply answered Dulce’s patient questions and was silent the rest of the time. This was the first time he looked forward to tutoring so he could share something with her without prompting.

“You good too.” Angel murmured. It was true, he hadn’t had a partner before who’d made things go so smoothly and he was grateful to her for it. Just as he was unused to receiving praise, Angel was equally unaccustomed to giving it. The three small words were an awkward attempt to convey his joy in working with her, but it was the best he could do. There were many words, but those ones seemed to fit well with the situation.

A sudden shrill shriek caused Angel to jump and stare wide eyed at the girl who was now shouting at the girl sitting next to her. The harsh words and sharp tone caused the young Teppenpaw to cringe in his chair. His head bowed submissively as if he was the one being yelled at and he stared fixedly at the table, long ash white bangs hid his ruby eyes as he silently cowered away from the angry words.

0 Angel …Yay? 0 Angel 0 5

Clara

May 11, 2012 10:55 PM

Its okay Angel :) by Clara

Clara smiled as she heard Angel murmur that she did good too. It made Clara happy to know that she could get that kind of response out of Angel. She had the distinct feeling that Angel probably wasn't used to receiving such praise much less giving it out. The soft blush in his pale cheeks told her she was probably right about that one. She hoped that by giving Angel the praise he deserved the he would be at least a little more comfortable with her. She had never really been around anyone who was as quiet as Angel. Thats probably because I have like 20 cousins she grinned at the thought. If Angel reminded Clara of anyone it was her cousin Addison. Addy was very muchly the quiet type. Clara smiled as she thought of one of her many, many cousins.

Clara had heard the commotion beginning between the two girls who were seated near herself and Angel, but chose to ignore them since she needed to concentrate on their potion. She had hoped that as the class progressed that the two girls would come to some kind of understanding. It would appear she was mistaken as one of the girls began shrieking at the other. Clara saw Angel's eyes go incredibly wide as he heard the girls' exchange as well. She felt herself becoming angry at the way it had caused Angel to cringe in his seat across from her and it appeared as though he might be cowering as well.

"Angel? Are you alright?" Clara asked, her voice soft and laced with concern for the pale skinned boy. She had almost reached out to take his hand, but feared that it might upset him more. "That was just plain rude," she murmured to herself angrilly, trying to decide how best to soothe Angel. Clara had thought about maybe trying to get him to talk again, but had another idea come to mind. She gave Angel her most serene smile and began to softly sing the only song she could think of at the time.

"Twinkle, twinkle little star
how I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
like a diamond in the sky,
twinkle, twinkle friend of mine,
I just love to see you shine."

Clara hoped that the song her mother used to sing to her would do the same thing for Angel that it used to do for her.

0 Clara Its okay Angel :) 232 Clara 0 5

Evan

May 14, 2012 12:32 PM

Everything's good then. by Evan

"Excellent," Evan replied. He was glad that Aria was willing to do the flowers because well, it wouldn't be fair for him to do everything, just like he would never make her do everything. Then it wouldn't be a partnership and they might as well be working separately. It wouldn't bother Evan to do any part of a potion, it just wasn't right to expect one person to do all the work.

And there were people like that. His sister Chelsea was like that. A super proper Lady who didn't want to touch yucky things and thought doing work was beneath her. Aria was, quite clearly, nothing like Chelsea. That was probably a good thing. Not that Evan didn't love his older sister, it was just that he really wouldn't want to work on Potions with her. Plus, she didn't always do the right thing.

Of course, the Aladren didn't actually know anyone who did. That was probably part of being a pureblood. Though he'd been told that muggles were hardly perfect either. They had prejudices too, just like purebloods did, for example. Muggles had even kept other people as slaves at one point, instead of just house elves. Not to mention that they used to well, burn magical people. Or rather attempt to, since real wizards could use the Flame Freeze Charm and apparate away. Still, those burnings were also used against muggles that people didn't like for one reason or another and that wasn't good either. Plus, it was rather insulting that being magical was considered bad by people.

Evan nodded. He still didn't quite understand why people wouldn't use all their magic. "But isn't magic a part of them? It's a perfectly natural thing. Isn't it like denying part of themselves?" Magic was such an integral part of the second year's life. Evan could no more deny that than he could his family name. It was in his blood. All of it, his family, his history, his magic was as much a part of what made him Evan as his personality quirks. It was important to be himself and not just a member of the Brockert family, but that was also part of him. He had to be true to all of it.

11 Evan Everything's good then. 212 Evan 0 5

Angel

May 16, 2012 11:39 AM

...oh by Angel

Surprise at the softly sung words distracted Angel from his fear. The shouting girl seemed content to heap insults on her fellow student and didn’t appear to be interested in turning her wrath upon him, so he was willing to risk a tiny glance to the side even though most of his attention was still fixated an the angry one. Such fury usually contained a command at some point, and though he didn’t think it would apply to him, he didn’t want to risk missing it should he be mistaken. Lady Cynthia often gave long speeches laced with such cruel words but he’d learned how to listen and ignore the meaningless ones and only focus on the ones that would tell him what she wanted of him to help defuse her anger.

There were times when she didn’t want anything, so he would stand with his head bowed and listen to her rage, waiting quietly for it to run its course before accepting her curt dismissal. Clara’s voice was nothing like the knife edged tones the angry girl thrust furiously at the other, tones that so easily echoed the Lady’s that it was difficult not to think of them as the same person. No, Clara’s was soft, the delicate brush of silk that whispered underneath the yelling and captured his wary attention.

As the soft singing continued something unusual happened. With his red gaze still down, Angel watched in quiet shock from under his pale lashes as the Professor intervened. His words were not shouted, instead they were softly spoken but hard as stone as he addressed her. The weight of them seemed to press down on the room. Angel didn’t understand why the Professor stopped the flow of angry words or why the now revealed Miss O’Malley would need to apologize. Even though last term no one had acted as the Lady did he still believed that such actions were common and acceptable. That it was just how things were, and his duty was to obey to try and do what she wished so that he wouldn’t cause her to be so angry.

The fault was always with him, and surly it was the same with the other girl? That if she had done better, or tried harder, or was just more, then Miss O’Malley wouldn’t be angry and wouldn’t have to yell. But, why was the Professor demanding she now apologize for that anger?

As Clara’s song came to an end, Angel glanced at her again, his red gaze cloudy with confusion. He didn’t have the words to properly frame the question, to convey what he wished to know, but still he tried. Voice so soft that it would go unnoticed by the rest of the class, Angel asked “Why? Why he stop her?”

0 Angel ...oh 0 Angel 0 5

Clara

May 17, 2012 1:45 AM

How to explain.... by Clara

“Why? Why he stop her?”

Clara heard Angel's softly asked question and seeing the confusion on the poor boy's face wondered how best to answer him. Clara had never in her life heard such vile things being said to anyone and wondered herself how this Miss O'Malley was allowed to conduct herself in such an manner. If Clara had ever tried to say the types of things she heard from this girl's mouth, her father would have tanned her hide. Never mind what her aunt Alora would have done. Aunt Alora never allowed such talk in her house.

Clara kept her voice low and soft so as not to alarm Angel. "He stopped her Angel, because no one deserves to have such things said to them. Even if you don't like something about someone or you don't like that person themselves, its still not a kind or polite way to behave. Miss O'Malley had no right to say such things to the other girl and because she was soo rude, the Professor is making her apologize for such impolite behavior," she explained gently hoping that he understood what she meant. She reached tentitively towards him and put her hand what she hoped was reassuringly on his arm. She offered him a light smile to show him that everything would be okay despite the girl's outburst.

0 Clara How to explain.... 232 Clara 0 5

Angel

May 21, 2012 7:12 PM

... by Angel

“Oh.” Angel said as he gave the Professor a thoughtful look. Lady Cynthia often said such things to him, and worse. After summer was finished and the new school term started the Headmistress invited him to her office to talk about his life in the Lady’s house. Back then, he hadn’t understood the point of the questions, how his life was at home was different from at school but the albino assumed that was normal for everyone. Or if not for everyone, then it was normal for a freak like him. After all, he was lesser than the other students and the Lady had to spend a lot of money just to keep him alive. He was nothing more than a burden to be tolerated at best.

But maybe…maybe it wasn’t okay for her to say such horrible things to him. Now that the Headmistress knew about them, perhaps she would make the Lady apologize, like how Professor Fawcett was making Miss O’Malley apologize now. The Lady wouldn’t like that, Angel knew and he felt worry flare in his chest at the thought of returning to her home this summer if they did make her apologize. His fretful thoughts were broken by a light touch on his arm. Bright red eyes darted up briefly to Clara’s face in question before shyly dropping again.

People rarely touched him, the Lady only did so if he was gravely ill or injured and then it was only to heal him. There were times when Solomon Asa let the pale boy lightly touch his hair as he slept in the Hall, but mostly people seemed to avoid touching him. Carefully, the pale boy reached out and lightly ran a fingertip along the back of her hand. The whisper soft touch was a fleeting, testing sort of thing, to see how she would react to him trying to touch her in return. He could feel the warmth of her hand where it rested on his arm and the sensation was pleasant. Due to his low weight and the fact that his stores of energy were always precarious at best, his body was usually cooler to the touch that other people’s. He was more susceptible to cold than most seems he didn’t have any fat to insulate him or help him maintain a proper temperature.

0 Angel ... 0 Angel 0 5

Carrie

May 22, 2012 4:39 PM

If you say so. by Carrie

As Professor Fawcett approached, a smirk found its way to Carrie's face. Good. Now that bit of trash was going to get what was coming to her. It served her right for dumping bugs all over the Crotalus. Not to mention showing up late and disrupting class. Of course, Carrie had apparently done the latter as well, but she was above the rules, the very top, while Sayre was the very bottom, and behaved as such.

Besides, the Pecari had provoked her. What person wouldn't react poorly to having insects dumped on them? What person wouldn't cry out in shock, especially a proper lady such as herself? Maybe defective people like Ryan and Arabella and Coach Pierce but not anyone of quality.

However, she narrowed her eyes when Professor Fawcett began to scold her . Honestly, the staff at this place had some nerve. First, that ogress Quidditch Coach-hardly a respectable position at best, especially for a woman-had hexed Carrie and given her detention and now this?

And this wasn't even the first year's fault!Not that anything ever was but clearly, her classmate was nothing but an ill bred trouble maker. The professor should have already noticed that when the girl came in late and called out and threw something at another student.

Carrie looked up at Professor Fawcett. She knew well enough after what happened in flying, not to take the same tactic. Of course, the potions professor did seem a bit more reasonable than Coach Pierce thus far, but the Crotalus had received a very stern letter from her father letting her know that she was in trouble when she got home for midterm. He was being unreasonable of course, but her father didn't seem to be an entirely reasonable person. Otherwise, Father would have gotten rid of Ryan a long time ago.

So, Carrie put on her sweet voice. Maybe it was best to just manipulate the man. And she definitely had to tell her own side of the story. "I'm sorry for causing a disruption, Professor Fawcett," the Crotalus began, "but Miss Light here dumped bugs all over me on purpose. I couldn't help crying out in shock and surprise. I'm sorry if I lost my temper." She looked demurely up at the professor, her eyes filled with sorrow that she obviously didn't feel.

11 Carrie If you say so. 230 Carrie 0 5

Clara

May 22, 2012 11:19 PM

Soft touches are good by Clara

Clara kept her hand on Angel' arm and wondered if he would touch her back. She was pretty sure that she got the vibe off of him that Angel was not used to being touched. She saw Angel's questioning expression as she touched him which confirmed her suspicions. Still it didn't really stop her from trying. She got a very unexpected surprise when she felt a very soft touch on the back of her hand. She looked down gingerly and smiled when she caught sight of Angel's fingertip tracing along the back of her hand. The lightness of the touch made her feel slightly as if she were being tested, like he was trying to feel out her reaction to him. She held very still while he touched her not wanting to break the spell.

She had a feeling that if she didn't respond soon he was going to pull away and she didn't want him to do that. She felt as if she were making some good progress with Angel and didn't want to ruin it. She gave him a brilliant smile and although his fingers felt a little colder than most people's she ignored the chill and gently took his hand, placing it over the one on his arm. She then covered his hand gently with her other one and held it there. She wanted Angel to know that it was okay to touch people and want to be touched in return. She continued to hold onto his hand and smile at him. She hoped that by doing so she could show him that not everyone was like Miss O'Malley.

"I hope that you're okay with my touching you, Angel. I should have asked first," she apologized lightly. "I can stop if you want me to." She continued to smile at the pale boy as she waited for his response.

0 Clara Soft touches are good 232 Clara 0 5

Professor Fawcett

May 23, 2012 12:32 PM

I say so <i>emphatically</i>, Miss O'Malley by Professor Fawcett

Miss Light had put the ingredients on her. This was the answer to it all: the disruption to his class and major offense to good taste through the display of blood ideology had been because of bugs, because some other idiot child had done an idiotic, childish thing and spilled dead insects on this one. If it had been intentional, he did not doubt there had been some kind of provocation – indeed, he thought he might have heard that, too – but he did see one on her robes still.

“That,” he said, his tone still not allowing her an inch, “is no excuse for anything you said, Miss O’Malley,” he said, definitely recognizing her voice now from the roll call. “It is a serious offense if true, but the way you chose to react was completely inappropriate under any circumstances. You will never speak that way in my classroom again, and you will both – “ he turned his stern look so it was focused on both girls – “speak with me after class.” He looked around the classroom. “Carry on, everyone,” he said, considering the conversation over for the meantime.

He would have to come up with an appropriate speech – two, really, since the improper use of ingredients was something that needed to be cut out very quickly, so it did not become a habit and then get someone hurt when they began using more complex and dangerous ingredients in later levels of the class. Beginners was as much about teaching them how to be safe as anything, he thought. That – rhetoric, however, was impermissible in a school, and he would not tolerate that, either; John had no illusions about his ability to force the girl to stop being what she was, but he could keep throwing her in detention until she learned to keep her comments to herself.

And he would send Amelia a note, he decided. He had heard, in the way one seemed to hear about everything in a school this size, that Miss O’Malley had gotten into it with her, too, already; it seemed she was one of those students the staff would need to communicate about frequently, for her own good as well as theirs. She really did need to learn better before she spent too much time outside of her home; adaptive skills did not seem to be her strength, and she would need them.

0 Professor Fawcett I say so <i>emphatically</i>, Miss O'Malley 0 Professor Fawcett 0 5