Advanced Potions I (6th and 7th Years) on Potions

Professor Fawcett

May 13, 2012 11:47 PM

Advanced Potions I (6th and 7th Years) by Professor Fawcett

The holidays were drawing steadily nearer, but if they had not left Fawcett’s class on a regular basis, the Advanced Potions students might not have noticed it. John sometimes felt a bit sorry for that, and for them, but before the RATS, there simply wasn’t enough time for him to feel right about slowing the pace of the class down much just because the two-week vacation was approaching them. He wanted his students to exceed in their exams, not just pass them, and the only way he knew to help that happen was to try to turn many of them into the equals of college juniors, at least in this one subject area, in a little less than two years. It was doable, of course, or he would not have tried it, but also undeniably time-consuming and exhausting, for the students and for John as well.

He was planning a few treats for them, including hot chocolate during the last discussion class before midterm, but he was planning to work them until the last bell rang before they were put on the wagons and sent back to their parents for a time, or at least only at the school during a time when he was not supposed to be teaching classes. Mandatory classes, anyway; if any of his students came to him and wanted work or instruction, he would provide it, of course, provided he was not spending time with his wife at the time. He was dedicated to academia, but basic safety was something anyone who studied Potions had to have a strong familiarity with, and breaking a date with Allison over the winter holidays for anything short of an emergency would be something very contrary to looking after his personal safety.

For now, a new potion. “Hello, everyone,” he said briskly, putting his glasses back on his nose as he marked the last person on his roster present. “Potion of Invisiblity today, for those who may have forgotten, so let’s get to it.”

He looked around at them all. “You should have all completed an essay on the properties of boomslang skin and put it in the tray on your way in – be sure to get it there at the end of class if you have not already – and that will assist you as you prepare your potion today. It is one of the principle active ingredients, and must be carefully shredded and added in the proper proportions for your potion to work properly. Your homework for next Thursday will be a short comparison of the use of boomslang skin in this potion and in the Polyjuice Potion.” That was always an interesting unit, and occasionally an amusing one; if they pulled the potion off correctly, he’d let them try it out, if for some reason they saw the stuff and actually wanted to swallow it, on Halloween – strictly within the classroom, of course.

“Before you reach that stage, however, you will have added the demiguise hairs, essence of rue, and, separately, reduced the slips of slippery elm to a paste – ” A difficult enough task, since they would have to be boiled down, then put between the mortar and pestle with a bit of an arm behind it – “ and added it as well. Afterward, you will add lacewing flies – “ the clever ones would realize these, too, went into the Polyjuice Potion, and be prepared for a question on the next exam asking them to discuss the interaction of those two in one of the two potions – “and…..” John flicked his wand toward the board, revealing the lists of instructions and ingredients and naming the page in the textbook where the students might find them. “So forth.”

It was a difficult potion, but not so bad as it might have been. The slips of slippery elm should have, traditionally, been collected by the student, but since Sonora was in the desert, they had only to measure out the correct lengths, about three inches, and prepare them from there; they were already cut evenly, from wand-quality trees. There were two flowers, those from the southern catalpa tree and the female flower of the Job’s Tears plan, but they only had to be added whole before the fiddly stirrings came in, and the four demiguise hairs and handful of fern-seed were simpler still, being added directly and vigorously stirred three times clockwise, the first at the beginning and the last at the end of the potion-making process. The most complicated ingredient was probably the Job’s Tears seeds, which had to be cut into three parts finely, then two powered and the last slivered, and the whole be added slowly into the potion, and it was preferable that they be the slightly blue-tinged ones rather than the brown. A complex potion by any means, but one he thought the class was up to. Surely anyone who voluntarily stayed in his class knew to follow directions and watch their times and temperatures closely.

“When this potion is complete, it should be a shining, pearly gray,” he informed them. “And, my wife tells me, roughly the consistency of properly-shaken nail polish.” He delivered this line completely straight-faced. “For those of us not familiar with such a substance, it should be a rich fluid, not too watery; I have an example of a properly-brewed potion here, if you would like to come up and see it before you begin.” He lifted the flask into the air so that everyone could at least get an idea of what color it should be. “I would like a potion from each of you, but you may assist each other, if you choose, and begin.” He trusted they knew by now to raise their hands if they wished to speak with him about some matter of concern.

OOC: You should all know the rules by now; follow them, and points for your House shall follow. Tag Fawcett if you need him, and have fun with it!

Subthreads:

This ought to be interesting.... by Head Girl Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

0 Professor Fawcett Advanced Potions I (6th and 7th Years) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Head Girl Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

May 14, 2012 6:06 PM

This ought to be interesting.... by Head Girl Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

Rachel had been halfway to the owlery when she realized it was almost time for Potions, and had hurried the rest of the way to where she could send a note home and then back to the classroom she was due in at something more than the proper pace for a Head Girl. She did not, though, run. If there was an emergency, that would be one thing, but other than that, it just didn’t seem right to run. It was contrary to the dignity of the position.

She slowed down at the end of the corridor leading down to the classroom, making sure she wasn’t out of breath and that her hair was still neat, and so just entered the classroom on time, smiling as though she didn’t notice this. “Hello, Professor,” she said cheerfully to Professor Fawcett, then went to her usual seat and took it, pulling out her notebook and opening it up on the tabletop in front of her, sitting forward on her stool in a posture of interest and enthusiasm. Here went another class period. She was on top of it.

Over the semester, things had, as she’d predicted, gotten easier to handle, but not easier and easier. They had kind of leveled off at just ‘easier’, which wasn’t the same thing at all as ‘easy’. She was handling it, though, and that was good enough; in a few weeks, she would get to rest a little during the winter visit to her dad, and then she’d go through the Concert and the RATS and the rest of the year in one long downhill rush. Then…then she’d figure out something else to do; first, she had to do all that. Thinking about it made her feel tired, but that was why she avoided thinking about it. That had been the key to getting things to where they felt manageable: not thinking about doing them, but just doing them.

When Professor Fawcett mentioned how their essays should have been handed in as they came into class, Rachel felt herself flushing and her smile becoming a little fixed, but she stayed calm and reminded herself she could hand it in on the way out. She took it out right then and put it on the edge of the table, so she wouldn’t forget it under any circumstances, and she was considering just going to put it in the basket as soon as they were told to get to work.

She began taking notes as soon as the professor began speaking about the lesson, thinking that the potion sounded really interesting – but also really complicated. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing; it made it sound more interesting, and she liked a challenge and to stay busy during class, but she wouldn’t have minded some time at the end of class to keep looking at the stuff she’d been looking at before class, and her whole life was busy enough now to keep her from getting too bored at any given time, at least for long. She didn’t really need an excess of interesting assignments.

Rachel started to reach for the roll of parchment containing her homework when they were dismissed to work, but decided then to grab a partner first, just to be safe. Putting her hand back down on the close edge of her table, she turned to the nearest student with a bright, friendly smile. That was, in partner-searching, a good idea even when one was not also the Head Girl. “Hey,” she said. “Want to work with me?”

16 Head Girl Rachel Bauer, Crotalus This ought to be interesting.... 154 Head Girl Rachel Bauer, Crotalus 0 5

Normal Student Nic Sawyer, Crotalus

May 20, 2012 12:04 AM

I could do with less interesting by Normal Student Nic Sawyer, Crotalus

Nic was handling the RATS level courses better than he had feared going into this year. He had always done well in DADA, and that had mostly continued except for a few isolated class lessons. In Potions, his grades had actually improved. As a beginner and intermediate level student he had occasionally sabotaged his own potion so he didn't look to be too smart and therefore earn special attention. He no longer dared to do that with the more complex potions they were learning now; even a small change could completely ruin the thing and he wanted an average grade, not a failing one. Failing grades earned much more attention than excellent grades did.

When he came into the classroom today - a couple minutes early because Fawcett frowned at people who came in on time or late, but not so early that he was notable for being among the first - he immediately saw that Rachel's usual spot was empty. He had been trying to draw up the courage to talk to her again ever since the Quidditch game. She would be graduating at the end of the year, so he had only a few more months left to find out if it was a fluke that she had agreed to go to the dance with him, or if she was interested in maybe trying something else. He still hadn't quite figured out what else they might try, so he doubted that would come up, but talking with her again would probably be a good first step in that direction, if there was such a direction to go in.

So far, he hadn't worked up the nerve.

However, an empty spot that might later be occupied by Rachel was much easier to sit beside than a spot already claimed by her, and he sat down in the neighboring chair after depositing his essay (not his best work, but he didn't want Fawcett thinking he was some kind of late-blooming potions prodigy or something so his homework had to suffer if his classwork didn't).

Rachel Bauer was only barely on time, so he didn't have to do more than nod in greeting as she sat down next to him. She usually sat in that chair, so it wasn't hard to guess she would have, but he was still pleased that she hadn't changed her pattern just because he was her closest neighbor today.

Nic took notes, good notes, because he knew she did, too. Normally he wasn't quite as thorough, but if she asked a question, he wanted to be able to answer it and provide reference material to verify it. The lecture ended and she smiled at him. His heart nearly stopped in panic at the direct address. It had been hard enough to talk to her when she was merely prefect and beautiful. Now she was Head Girl and gorgeous.

Nic nodded yes, not quite trusting his voice to crack even though it had finished changing almost a year ago. He licked his lips and cleared his throat, and attempted speaking anyway. He was sixteen and way too cool to go mute on a girl. "Sure," he said, and was secretly relieved that it came out even and at its normal octave. He tapped his robe where her Head badge would have been pinned if it was on him, and added, "Congratulations, by the way, if I didn't tell you that yet." He hadn't. He hadn't spoken to her directly since she got it. Now that he was, it had to be said. Fortunately, that too came out like his guts weren't tied up in knots inside him. His next words, however, came out faster and without fore-planning, sort of like when he'd asked her out to the dance. "I voted for you." He flushed a little, embarrassed, and hoping that hadn't sounded actually like a little kid seeking approval or something equally horrendous.

1 Normal Student Nic Sawyer, Crotalus I could do with less interesting 165 Normal Student Nic Sawyer, Crotalus 0 5

Rachel

May 21, 2012 2:00 PM

Aw, come on, it'll be fun. by Rachel

Rachel’s first thought, which lasted no more than half a second, was that she had something on her robes and Nic was about to point this out to her, but she figured out what was going on just before he said it and so felt saved from…well, something pretty unpleasant, anyway, that would come from doing something that a girl like her just didn’t do, such as spilling lunch down her front and not realizing she’d done it until a guy told her about it. No matter how much she was juggling, she would never be able to come up with a way to excuse that; it would just be all-around bad.

She was sure her color was a little higher than usual from when she’d imagined that, but she didn’t otherwise let on about her thought. “Thanks,” she said, smiling, going back through her head and concluding that she didn’t think she’d spoken to him except maybe saying “Hi” as she passed by or something this year. That wasn’t too remarkable, though, given how busy she had been and how she had always had the half-thought that he might be in a quiet relationship with Eliza Bennett. She didn’t really have much proof for that, but they did seem to get along well; at least, she was pretty sure she had seen him talk more to Eliza than to anyone else in the school, possibly including her cousin, his roommate.

Of course, she thought wryly, that could have more to do with Sam being Sam than with anything to do with Eliza Bennett. She had gotten the definite impression that Nic Sawyer was not much of a talker anyway, and Sam was the sort who probably wouldn’t mind, and might even prefer it, if communication normally only occurred in monosyllables directly related to an immediate issue. Her cousin was definitely a Crotalus, but of a very different kind than she was.

“I appreciate that,” she said when he said he’d voted for her, really meaning it. With such a small voting pool, every vote counted, and having the badge represented everything, except her RATS scores, she had come to Sonora to get in the first place. For years even before she ever got her letter, Rachel had known it was her job to work as hard as she could once she did get to school to become Head Girl, just like her mother had, and then, unlike her mother, not to screw it up. She glanced up and added, a little playfully, with a slight shrug and holding out her hands as though they were scales, “I hope I’ve been an…adequate Head Girl, anyway, maybe?”

The only way she thought she could have, at least on the surface, fit the model was if girls could have still played Quidditch and she could have been captain of that, too, but that wasn’t the case and she didn’t know how good she’d really been at more than just upholding the veneer of an overachiever – if she’d really put enough into everything that she did. It was probably irrational, she knew, and she usually dismissed it as the force of a habit that hadn’t quite broken yet, but she did think of that sometimes. Half the time, she thought she was doing all she could, but for part of the rest, it felt like she should still be trying to do more.

“Do you mind going ahead and setting some things up while I go put this homework in the box?” she asked, picking up her essay to show him what she meant. She was not going to risk getting potion spilled on it, even if she wished that she didn’t have the situation to have to talk about. “Completely forgot on my way in, I have no idea what I was thinking. I guess it happens to everyone sooner or later, right?” Which she did, though she had hardly gone to the effort to look at every single person in the class every day to see if they did sometimes forget to put their homework in right at the beginning of class. That would be kind of completely crazy, or at least that was what she thought.

16 Rachel Aw, come on, it'll be fun. 154 Rachel 0 5