Professor Fawcett
September 26, 2012 9:14 PM
Lesson I for Intermediates (3rd-5th Years) by Professor Fawcett
When the students had returned at the first of September, the last of summer had still been hanging in the air, but time had passed, and now fall was definitely making its presence known. Soon enough it would fade into winter, and then half the school year would be past.It would seem like a lifetime had passed to the first years, no doubt, but to John, and perhaps some of the older students, it would seem like only a moment had passed since they arrived and began to work again. Somewhere between having long since begun to think of the year in terms of semesters, with the winter and summer holidays largely excised from his concept of them, and being far closer to eighty now than he liked to admit, John thought that for him, a whole year had started to seem like little more than the blink of an eye, at least whenever he paused to notice the date. For a moment, that would make him poignantly aware of his own mortality, and then he would snap out of it and focus on a more practical consideration, which was how much closer they were to the major exams.
With the intermediate class in particular, there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. The third years raced through material while he crammed as much detail into the fifth years as possible, and he sometimes worried that he didn’t pay enough attention to the fourth years in the middle of it all. He had some of his brightest and best students in the group, but at times, when he felt more old than he did competitive, he found it difficult to enjoy the experience due to the nature of the class. That, however, was not the students’ fault, and he was as careful as possible to keep them from knowing about it as he did the best he could with ‘em.
“Good morning,” he said to the class, looking around for empty seats which were usually filled. He would, of course, check the attendance roster against the faces while the students worked, and note any latecomers, but looking around was a habit, especially in a morning class full of students at the sleepiest time of their lives. “I hope you all have your wands today, as we’re going to make a potion which involves charms.”
He tapped the board with his wand, which began to fill itself with an outline of what he said. “The potion we will work on is a Memory Draught, the procedures for which are on this handout.” He flicked his wand again, sending a handout to each student. “The ingredients you will require are a spoon full of digitalis lutea, powdered root of wild carrot, dried thorn apple flowers, blueweed seeds, and valerian sprigs, and the incantations you will need are misceo, for combining ingredients, and constituo.”
The chalk paused for a moment, then began to draw a diagram of a hand holding a wand. John used his own to animate it so it repeated the appropriate motion. “To perform the first spell, you will extend your wand straight in front of you and over the cauldron, like so, and move your wand in a clockwise circle over the potion, finishing with a flick of the wrist. Your hand should be palm-up at the end of the motion.” He demonstrated over his own, pronouncing the incantation precisely; a flurry of bright, silver-white sparks fell from the tip of his wand, and the half-finished potion within bubbled for a few seconds before beginning to swirl slowly inside the cauldron. “For the second, you will only need to make a counter-clockwise circle, followed by a clockwise one, while using the incantation. Also, take great care in preparing your potion, as it can easily become poisonous if poorly done.
“As part of your homework, you will need to consult your Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, Intermediate Level to determine if this is a potion for memory enhancement or memory suppression. I’d like a composition of at least one foot to explain why you came to the conclusion you did. I will move around the room as you work; please raise your hands to ask any questions about what you are doing. You may begin.”
OOC: Welcome to Intermediate Potions. To earn your House points, please follow all posting rules; you will earn more points through detailed, creative, and realistic posts. Tag Fawcett if you need him, and have fun!
The handout’s instructions are: combine chopped wild carrot root and blueweed seeds in mortar and crush to a coarse powder with pestle. Slowly add two tablespoons to cauldron. Warm gently for five minutes. Add a single valerian sprig and use misceo.. Add one tablespoon of digitalis lutea and give the potion four strong clockwise stirs, keeping consistent heat. Add three dried thorn apple flowers (whole) and give the potion three slow counter-clockwise stirs before using misceo. Add another sprig of valerian and stir seven times, the first counter-clockwise and alternating after, before using constituo. Take cauldron off heat and allow to cool completely before placing into flasks.
Subthreads: Can I please just live here? by Maximilian Joshua McLachla - Aladren with Arthur Carey, Aladren, Josh McLachlan
Falling at the first hurdle (?Tag Professor Fawcett) by Henny B-F-R, Aladren with Professor Fawcett
This class needs something fun... by Jorge Garcia, Pecari with Eris Ackart, Jorge Garcia
They solemnly convene to make a scene by Michael Grosvenor with Valerie Lennox, Crotalus
Learning Quickly. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus with Nora Dobson, Aladren
This sounds difficult. by Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw with Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw
Magic potions. by Russell Layne, Aladren
Thoughts with a cold. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren
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Professor Fawcett
Lesson I for Intermediates (3rd-5th Years)
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Professor Fawcett
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Jorge Garcia, Pecari
September 30, 2012 5:08 PM
This class needs something fun... by Jorge Garcia, Pecari
Jorge made his way to the Potions classroom with an air of someone who would rather be somewhere else. It wasn’t to say that he hated Potions or was terrible at them, because that was not the case. He didn’t necessarily enjoy Potions, but he didn’t hate it, and, although he wasn’t the greatest at them, he certainly wasn’t the worst. He was probably slightly above average at them. He honestly didn’t mind Potions over all, but… it was just so boring. He would never do this for a job. He understood the importance of Potions and all that they could do for society (both the good and the bad), but he just couldn’t really sit through all of this without getting distracted and bored and wanting to do something else.If he were being honest about things though, he could probably say the same for all his classes.
He had top marks in his classes, not that he would ever tell anyone that. His smarts seemed to have followed the same paths as his sister, Dulce, but he didn’t really want people to know that he did well in school. It wasn’t necessarily because he was embarrassed by it, he just didn’t want to raise anyone’s expectations of him that they may have.
Today’s lesson perked up his attention just a bit because they would be using charms. He didn’t remember ever using charms in Potions before… this could be fun. Jorge reviewed the handout provided to them by the Professor and jotted down the wand movements as Fawcett demonstrated them to the class. Well, it wasn’t exactly all that exciting since they were just charms to stir everything together, but he didn’t see the point of just not using a spoon. Oh well, it was still something different. He also wrote down their homework for the night; shouldn’t be too difficult.
Now that his lecture was over, Jorge started to prep his area for the potion. First he set up his cauldron and filled it a bit with water. Then, he lit the fire beneath it and kept the flame low so as to just warm the water and not boil it. Once that was set, Jorge pulled the wild carrot roots to him and began to chop them. His Maternal grandmother’s side of the family owned a famous restaurant chain in Spain. It had been around for centuries and how the Chevez’ gained their riches. Jorge sometimes helped his Abuelas’ in the kitchen when he went to visit them, so cutting, chopping, grinding, etc. never really bothered him.
Having chopped the roots with as much precision as a 13 year old boy could do, he put the roots in his mortar and mixed in the blueweed seeds, preparing to crush them. The hair on his neck stood up and he realized that the person beside him was watching him. His face heated slightly in embarrassment because he hadn’t noticed until now. “I’m sorry, did you want to work together?”
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Jorge Garcia, Pecari
This class needs something fun...
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Jorge Garcia, Pecari
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Eris Ackart
September 30, 2012 11:17 PM
How about an awkward tablemate? by Eris Ackart
Oh, Potions—Eris’ worst subject. There were few things in life that the third year approached with a complete lack of enthusiasm, and this was at the top of that list. She knew why it was important to know how to make some of the basics, but every time she tried to concoct something, it was a disaster. Back at her old school, she always partnered up with her friend Abigal. Even when they were 11, Abigal had the dream of being a healer someday, so potions was a particularly important course to her. Eris was lucky enough to have a friend who’d let her ride their coat tails just a little.But this wasn’t her old school.
Eris had trouble working up the energy to get out of bed and get ready for class. She piled her hair on top of her head in a messy bun, and slipped into the grey pleated skirt from last year’s uniform. For a moment she considered wearing a pullover and sweatpants under her robes, but decided that is would be slightly inappropriate for class. Comfy—but inappropriate. Once she finally finished getting dressed, she trudged to class, smiling at the occasional passerby to try and mask the utter doom she was feeling inside.
She picked a seat next to a Pecari student,and settled in as well as she could. She didn’t know the boy, but then again, the number of people she didn’t know outweighed the number of those that she was at least familiar with. Eris figured that if she was going to make a terrible fool out of herself she’d rather not do it sitting beside Michael or someone from bookclub.
The Teppenpaw girl took notes as the professor explained what they would be doing for this lesson. She too was excited about using charms in this class, but was slightly disheartened when they weren’t told what the second charm did. From the sound of it, it seemed to be some sort of finishing spell, but the third year couldn’t be completely sure without some research—which she would immediately forget to do the moment she walked out of the potions room.
The boy beside her started working right away, before Eris had even stopped to consider the instructions. She was so engrossed with his work that she didn’t even notice she was staring—until he essentially called her out on it.
“Oh, um, oh…” She started, a lovely shade of pink appearing on her lightly freckled cheeks. Eris looked down at her hands in her lap and clenched her eyes shut before returning her gaze to her tablemate.
“Yes, please…sorry…I didn’t mean to stare, I was just—er…you’re quite good at that.”
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Eris Ackart
How about an awkward tablemate?
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Eris Ackart
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Jorge Garcia
October 01, 2012 6:30 PM
I can handle awkward. by Jorge Garcia
Jorge realized that the girl beside him was the new girl. The Transfer. She was the second one that Jorge could recall ever having. The first one was a boy a couple of years ahead of him, but he hadn’t necessarily heard good things about him. But, looking at the girl, she didn’t look all that bad and he was pretty sure he embarrassed her by even talking to her.He smiled, amused by her current state. Having been in Pecari with girls like Waverly and Jade, it was hard to remember seeing anyone blush. They never seemed to get embarrassed (or, if they had, he wasn’t around to see it), so it was sort of cute to see it on someone of the female gender. Sometimes Jorge wished he had been sorted into another house. He liked Pecari just fine and considering he doesn’t like to get bored, it was the best house for him to be in, but the girls (except for maybe Theresa) were too weird sometimes.
He heard a sudden cry close by and turned to see Henny looking at her finger. She must have cut herself. He thought about checking on her, but since they weren’t friends and Jorge didn’t have any Band-Aids on him, he didn’t think he would really be of help to her. Looking away, Jorge scratched a hand through his curly brown hair as he gave everything a quick thought. He had no problem working with someone on his potions project.
Jorge laughed when she told him he was good at chopping things. “I come from a family of multiple talents, but one of the main ones is cooking.” Jorge explained to her. That was probably the most honest thing he could say about his family. With two sisters who were extraordinarily talented in their fields (Lita in dance and Dulce in music), a mother who was once a Ballerina, a grandmother who could whip up any meal, a grandfather who was a famous Lawyer (an Uncle who was closely following behind him), a famous Quidditch playing Uncle, A Super Model Aunt, and an underground famous Musician Aunt… was only scratching the surface of the talents that his family held. It was also probably why Jorge was having so much indecision of figuring out his own abilities. Growing up around all of that could probably give anyone a complex. Right now, he wasn’t too concerned. He was only bored.
“Well, other than the crushing of this, the rest of the potion is just adding things when they need to be added and using the charms when necessary.” Jorge commented as he looked over the handout. “Did you want to alternate?” He asked her and then realized he never found out her name. “Oh, sorry, I’m Jorge Garcia. My Ma would probably smack me for not introducing myself sooner.”
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Jorge Garcia
I can handle awkward.
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Jorge Garcia
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Eris Ackart
October 02, 2012 10:02 AM
I should warn you though, I'm rubbish at potions by Eris Ackart
Eris’ attention shifted toward Henny as Jorge turned to see what had happened. The third year winced as she deduced what had happened and turned back to the potion assignment as Professor Fawcett rushed to the girl’s aid. Maybe it wasn’t going to be a terribly uneventful lesson after all.“I hope she’s alright.” Eris said, regaining her composure and normal pallor in her cheeks. She knew Henny from book club, and would make a point to check in on her later. Hopefully the injury wasn’t too serious. Michael’s entrance wasn’t lost on Eris, and she smiled as he took a seat near the front. She thought about waving or calling out to him, but was unsure if he’d even seen her or not. Realistically, she should have been sitting up front too, so she was forced to pay more attention. She’d made her choice, however, and the Pecari boy was nice enough to offer to work with her, it'd be poor form to run out on him now.
“Multiple talents, huh, do you have a big family then?” Eris started, letting her chocolate brown eyes read over the assignment again. “I should probably warn you, the best I can muster in the kitchen is toast. Burnt toast.” She added with a smile. It wasn’t entirely true, she could bake well enough, but that usually just involved mixing and adding ingredients. The truth was, she didn’t need to know how to cook. Her mum stayed at home and did all that. Not for the usual pureblooded reasons, of course, she just preferred it, and no one really complained. Dad didn’t anyway, and that was what mattered.
The Ackarts also weren’t one of those families that still practiced arranged marriages, so Eris was more concerned with having fun and being herself at thirteen than prepping herself to be the perfect pureblooded baby making machine.
“Charms, and stirring, however, I can do. So, yes, alternating sounds lovely.”
Eris laughed at Jorge’s comment about his mother. It didn’t really bother her that he hadn’t bowed and offered his hand the moment they locked eyes, but she figured it was a matter of manners.
“I won’t tell her if you don’t. I’m Eris, Eris Ackart.”
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Eris Ackart
I should warn you though, I'm rubbish at potions
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Eris Ackart
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Jorge
October 07, 2012 2:37 PM
We'll balance each other out. by Jorge
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. She doesn’t seem to need the Medic, so it can’t be too horrible.” Jorge commented when the girl showed concern for Henny. Jorge was honestly surprised there weren’t more injuries in this class. They were asking eleven and twelve year olds who didn’t have much by way of attention spans (himself included) to chop up things or throw them into a bubbling cauldron. There were bound to be accidents. But, there never really seemed to be. Maybe people were more focused during this lesson than he thought. Of course, now that he was an Intermediate, maybe it was going to be easier to focus than he had need in the past.He wasn’t going to start holding his breath though.
“You can say that.” Jorge said with a chuckle. “My immediate family isn’t that large. There are five of us total. My parents and my two older sister and me. But I have lots of Tias and Tios, and los Abuelos, and Los primos. The list goes on.” Although Jorge was born and raised in San Francisco, his mom was a first generation American and had spent much of her life struggling to perfect her English. Jorge didn’t always have an accent, although it definitely came out when he spent summers with his Mexican family as well as his family in Spain. He spoke Spanish as clearly as he did English because he was one of the lucky few who had been in two different worlds. His father’s family was only half Mexican and had been in America for quite a few generations. His father had to struggle to learn Spanish in order to understand the family.
“Mama was a Ballerina and my oldest sister is studying in Julliard for dance because she wants to be a Ballerina. My other older sister is in college for performing arts. She can play any instrument after hearing it once. Mama says she is a protégé or something. But Dulce doesn’t really care, she just enjoys playing.” Jorge shrugged. When he had talented sisters and a mother, it was hard to really find something that he was good at too. “I’m like my Dad, nothing really special, I just like to do a bit of everything.” It was true, he dad was a desk guy. He, as far as Jorge knew, had no special talents. “And that’s just my immediate family.” If she wanted to know about the others, he’d be happy to assist, he enjoyed talking about his family since they were all very close, but he didn’t want to bore her with it at all. “What about you? Do you have a large family?” Asking because it was polite but also because he was curious.
“I like burnt toast.” Jorge commented as he returned to the crushing part of the potion. He honestly did like burnt toast as well as burnt popcorn. Maybe that was weird? His sisters seemed to think so, but he thought they were strange too. At least she seemed alright with how the potion could work for them, that was good. Sometimes girls were frivolous and only wanted to sit back and watch. That was annoying. Jorge didn’t mind the work, but he did mind someone else getting equal credit for it when they had done nothing to earn it.
“It’s nice to meet you, Eris.” Jorge commented. “You’re from England?” He asked, based on her accent. “I have family in Spain. They own Botin.” Botin was one of the oldest restaurants in Spain and had grown to be the most successful for the Magical world. They had three restaurants total around Spain and were planning on possibly opening up more restaurants throughout Europe. “If you have ever been, I mean.” That was how the Chavez’ became one of the most influential Pureblood families in Spain and earned their riches.
(OOC: I have no claim to Botin and it is purely just for fun of RP)
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Jorge
We'll balance each other out.
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Jorge
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Eris Ackart
October 07, 2012 10:32 PM
Fitting, since you're a Libra and all... by Eris Ackart
Eris was satisfied with Jorge’s assessment of Henny’s injury. Somehow, people seemed to get injured all the time at her old school --some in the most random fashions. She honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if someone spontaneously combusted at some point. Given these experiences, she was always prone to assuming the worst when it came to class time injuries. Thankfully, this wasn’t her old school.Eris didn’t know a lot of Spanish, with translation spells, she didn’t really need to. Considering the context, she assumed it had something to do with his extended family. Jorge’s immediate family wasn’t much smaller than hers, but from the sound of it, the Garcia clan likely outnumbered the Ackarts. Having a particular fondness for the arts, Eris found listening to Jorge talk about the talented women in his family quite interesting. She couldn’t help but feel that Jorge was selling himself short, however.
“That’s really great about your sisters! And your mum as well. Dancing is something I’ve never quite mastered; sadly I think I was born with two left feet.” Eris replied with a smile. “Personally I don’t think there is anything wrong with being good at multiple things instead of excellent at one.” She added with a shrug. Her family was pretty ordinary by Garcia standards. Leander was good at getting hurt—and had seen the inside of St. Mungo’s more than any other member of her family. Everyone else was pretty average talent wise. “I can fly well enough, and enjoy painting—but I really excel at putting my foot in my mouth.”
Eris was slightly taken aback when he hinted that his extended family possessed more talents. That couldn’t possibly be fair for one family to have so many extraordinary people it. Sure, she had a cousin that played Wizard Chess competitively, but other than that—the only special person in her family was Mad Cousin Alice.
“I have three older brothers, but they are in England going to uni for different things. Here it’s just Mum, Dad and me, but I guess a family of six is generously sized. I don’t have a massive extended family or anything either. Just a dozen or so relatives back in Europe.
The Teppenpaw laughed at Jorge’s comment about liking burnt toast and watched as he proceeded with the crushing phase of the potion making.
“Then I guess we might be well suited after all. I’ve never met anyone I felt comfortable cooking for until I met you, which I am pleased to have done.” Eris said with a smile. “Picked up on that, did you?” She added, teasingly when he mentioned her accent. “Yes, I am. Just hopped off the ship, as it were.”
“Wait, your family owns Botin? The world’s oldest restaurant, Botin?”
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Eris Ackart
Fitting, since you're a Libra and all...
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Eris Ackart
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Jorge
October 09, 2012 8:33 PM
I am predictable that way... by Jorge
Jorge grinned at Eris and let out a chuckle. He was not born for dancing either, minus the occasional Cha Cha whenever he was with his extended family, but that was Latin music and something he had always grown up around. Ballet or Contemporary dance or whatever, just wasn’t something he could or would ever do. As for music… he could play the guitar, it was one of those things that he had wanted to learn, so Dulce had taught him. He was pretty okay at it, but he got bored and stopped playing it after a few years. Every once in a while, he’d pick it up again and then would get bored again. It was a vicious cycle.“Yeah, multiple talents are good.” Jorge agreed and then laughed when she admitted to what she was good at. “At least you know your strengths.” Jorge joked. He felt that Eris would get on pretty well with Waverly, and, to some extent, Jade. Eris seemed like the sort of girl who embraced her faults the way that Jade never cared about her differences or poor behavior whereas, Waverly was just one of those happy-go-lucky type of girl. Too bad Eris wasn’t in Pecari. She’d probably have more fun with all the girls. Jorge could only recall Meghan in Teppenpaw and she didn’t seem all that fun. Of course, Jorge has never really spoken to the girl, so he could be completely wrong (but he highly doubted that he was).
“It’s probably better to have a smaller family.” Jorge commented. “Sometimes when we’re all together, it gets to be a mad house. My Mama goes crazy, which can be fun to watch. And most of my Tias and Tios haven’t even had kids yet.” His sisters were the oldest of his generation, followed by him, Pedro, and Ria. Tio Jose was bound to have kids soon because he’d been married forever and Tio Jake was getting married, so kids were going to happen for them at some point too. But, since his Mother was the eldest of the nine, she of course, had babies first. “She ought to be used to it though, she’s the oldest of nine. My dad’s an only child, so it’s all her fault.”
Jorge tipped his head to her when she said she was pleased to meet him. He wasn’t exactly sure how true that was, but it was nice to hear just the same. Her reaction to hearing the name of the restaurant had Jorge laughing again. He had never really had a reaction like that… not that he had ever told anyone. Most people around here were American and those that weren’t were the snobby Purebloods. Jorge was a Pureblood by definition, but he didn’t exactly hang in that crowd. “Yeah, that one. It’s how my Abuela’s family made a name for themselves. I take it that you know it?”
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Jorge
I am predictable that way...
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Jorge
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Eris Ackart
October 14, 2012 6:05 PM
Families and food by Eris Ackart
“I’m equally aware of my weaknesses.” Eris said with a grin, peering into the mortar to see how things were coming along. “This is definitely one of them, though I’ve never really figure out why, if it’s just following directions. I guess I find all the stirring and waiting a bit dull. So, what do you like to do?” She asked, realizing that based on their conversation, she knew more about Jorge’s family than she did about him—and that was poor form. Jorge seemed interesting enough; he had an interesting family at least, surely some of that must have rubbed off on him.“I don’t know, I think big families could be fun, assuming you all get along. Maybe just on the holidays though. I can see how having everyone around constantly could be a bit of a headache.” The girl reasoned, letting her imagination wander a little. She assumed that as some point her brothers would get married, and if they each had four children, she’d have 12 nieces and or nephews. That didn’t include any children she would have. Maybe there was something to Jorge’s comment about smaller families being better. If her future nieces or nephews were anything like her brothers, they would be terrors.
“I can’t imagine having eight siblings! Three is bad enough.”
“I’ve never actually been there, but my parents have. It’s Mum’s favorite, and it’s quite popular where I’m from. I hear the food is phenomenal though, your Abuelo must be really proud.” She said, not sure if she’d used the proper term or not, but trying none the less.
“This may be a silly question, but have you eaten there?” She asked, genuinely interested. She wasn’t quite like other girls when it came to food—she didn’t feel like she needed to hide the fact that she ate from people, more specifically from boys. She had a fast metabolism, and that gave her the freedom to eat whatever she wanted and she definitely took advantage of it.
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Eris Ackart
Families and food
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Eris Ackart
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5
