Doing that thing that I do on Potions

Professor Mary Brooding

January 24, 2019 10:45 PM

To new beginnings. [Intermediate students.] by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary Brooding was very excited for her new class of intermediate students. She knew them all already, of course, but it was particularly heartwarming to see know that some of her second years from before were now going to be in the intermediate class, experiencing some of the significantly more exciting potions than before. Some of her intermediates had moved up, of course, which made her also feel warm. She tried not to think about the advanced students that had graduated, as that was a sad sort of warm.

Another nice thing about this class was that Dorian was in it, and she could keep an eye on how he was doing. Jehan was also in this class, and it was the only time she saw the boys together for the most part. She'd been a young, scared, secretly-in-love-with-a-classmate student before though too, and she was the height of discretion. More than that, she only knew Dorian best. She couldn't possibly pick a "favorite" student and liked to think that she could adore them all equally if she knew them as well. As a result, the students who made their way into class for their first intermediate lesson of the year all earned warm smiles for being there.

Mary was wearing her usual Victorian gown, and today's was a soft creamy green. It was lighter than her usual, but it reminded her of Tabitha's eyes and summer, and everything lovely and bright. Her black hair was braided in its usual, potion-safe style, and hung nearly to the floor. The pointed hat atop her head was the same dark brown as the lace stitching along the soft green bodice of her dress.

"Hello, class," she said when her students settled down some. "I am so excited to see your lovely faces again. I want to get an announcement out of the way first. This something that those of you who were intermediates last year have already heard but might be new information for the newest intermediates." She offered another smile to each lovely face.

"There is a teacher's assistant position for students interested in helping with potions classes. Intermediate students can help with preparing ingredients, collecting ingredients, organizing cupboards and papers, and may brew some potions with me for class demonstrations. I may take on up to three Intermediate students, one for each year, but do not expect to take on more than one or two." Last year, no one had been interested at all, so she wasn't all that hopeful but it never hurt to try. "All students may continue in their positions as long as they'd like and as long as their work and behavior are satisfactory. That means that fifth year students may continue into the Advanced position next year, dependent on grades and such."

Satisfied that she'd made her point, Mary stepped around her desk to reorient her students to a new topic: the lesson for the day.

"I know that many students who choose to continue into advanced potions do so because they are interested in healing arts, so I want to start the term with a lesson I think will appeal to you if that's the case, and also will just be fun." Waving her wand, Mary sent a piece of chalk to the board and listed the ingredients for Skele-Gro: . "This recipe is used for regrowing bones that have been removed, typically by magic, and is a good potion for us to start with because it's so obvious when it works. Also, because I'm pretty sure none of you want any extra bones and won't drink it just for fun." She looked around more sternly as she said this last part.

"As usual, feel free to use whatever you need from the storeroom, and I'll be available for any questions you have. There are ingredients with labels in most languages that I know are represented here, and there are textbooks in even more languages should you want to use them to learn a new language or to strengthen your understanding of the potion at hand."

She paused a moment longer to allow anyone to ask any immediate questions, and then dismissed them to begin working on their Skele-Gro potions.

"You can work alone or in groups of 2 or 3," she said, beginning her walk around the classroom. \r\n\r\n

OOC - The only references to making this potion I can find are 1 Chinese chomping cabbage, 3 puffer fish, and 5 scarab beetles so feel free to make stuff up as you feel necessary. It should smoke when its made correctly and poured into a vial or wherever.

Subthreads:

The beginning of the end, you mean by Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren with Gary Harper, Aladren

Oh brave knight! by Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus with Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

Doing that thing that I do by Cleo James, Crotalus with Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

22 Professor Mary Brooding To new beginnings. [Intermediate students.] 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 1 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren

January 29, 2019 12:57 PM

The beginning of the end, you mean by Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren

Heinrich was worried. Heinrich was worried mostly for his sister, who was useless at English and was totally going to fail all of her classes, get herself kicked out of school, and then make Heinrich start all over again somewhere else just as he was starting to get a handle on Sonora. He was worried about how she’d get on with her roommates who could only communicate via flashcard with her. He was worried the teachers might think less of him because of her refusal to work hard at anything. Or worse, think less of her because she wasn’t him.

He was also worried about Johana Leonie Zauberhexen who was from Germany and knew exactly who the Hexenmeisters were, even if Hilda seemed certain the other girl wasn’t going to hold that information against them. Heinrich didn’t like it. He didn’t like it even a little bit. Sonora was his safe haven because nobody knew, and now somebody did. He wished she’d just go back to Germany and leave him and his sister their anonymity.

Of course, it was too late for that. Hilda already thought the sun and moon rose over Johana Leonie’s head and she’d be crushed if the other German girl left now.

There was just no winning. Johana Leonie was here. Hilda was here. Heinrich was here. Heinrich felt sure he could keep the secret. Hilda herself was pushing its safety. Adding Johana Leonie, too? It was going to be common knowledge that Heinrich’s parents were lifelong inmates at a maximum security wizard’s prison by the end of the month. Almost every proverb he had ever heard said secrets could be kept by one person and no more.

So really, Hilda failing out and making them start over somewhere new? Heinrich supposed that might be for the best and it should just go ahead and happen, the quicker the better.

But what if she didn’t? What if she scraped by with marks just high enough not to warrant expulsion? They stayed here, academically surviving into October when, somehow, between the three of them, with only him being anywhere close to fluent in English, the whole sordid story leaked.

Oh Merlin, it was going to be him who betrayed them, wasn’t it? The girls couldn’t be understood well enough to tell anyone.

Or maybe, maybe, that meant he was essentially still the only one carrying the secret. There was a chance, a very slim and unlikely chance, that maybe they’d make it to December before the whole school knew.

He slumped into his seat in Intermediate potions, and gave Professor Brooding a sour look for her cheerfulness. His world was going to crash and burn by midterm and she was excited to see his ‘lovely’ face? He felt pretty safe in assuming it didn’t look particularly lovely just now.

His gloom did lessen somewhat as she continued, though. He liked potions a lot, and it was one of the classes where his accent didn’t cause him a lot of problems due to improper pronunciation. His German language textbook further aided him in following along and grasping the minutiae that his verbal English skills missed. Also, having German labels on the ingredient bottles had earned Professor Brooding his vote for Favorite Staff Member for the yearbook. Being good in the subject also lacked the unpleasant connotations being skilled in hexes and knowing too much about dark creatures carried, so he didn’t feel guilty for good grades when he earned them here. He didn’t feel the need to be glad when his ability to express his ideas was hampered because of his language barrier, because that was the only protection he had against being identified as having too much innate understanding of the material. It wasn’t suspicious to be a natural at brewing, and he liked the freedom to actually be good with at least one of his academic talents.

In short, potions was easily his best and favorite class. And the idea of getting more chances to shine in it was . . . exciting, to use Professor Brooding’s word. Heinrich would have probably chosen something a bit more dignified like ‘intriguing’ but her word wasn’t wrong either. And okay, yes, at the intermediate level - and he’d guess even more so at the third year level - it sounded more like acting as organizational help than doing much interesting brewing, but Heinrich understood that such things needed to be built up from the ground. Even great castles started with extensive foundations long before they reached for lofty heights. Once he reached Advanced level classes - assuming he and Hilda hadn’t been kicked out before that - he would guess the position would involve a lot more of the interesting tasks.

Besides, it might be good to have a teacher actively like him before the disaster struck. He decided he’d see if she’d accept him as her third year assistant.

First though, there was today’s lesson. He did not, in fact, have much interest in the healing arts - he was, truth be told, fairly certain any higher institution of learning would laugh in his face if a Hexenmeister applied for a healing program - but he thought the Skele-Gro potion sounded like an interesting challenge. It was definitely a step up in difficulty and usefulness from the simpler potions covered in the beginner class, and he was eager to give it a try.

Certain Doom still hung over his future but, for now, as he began to fill his cauldron, he could ignore it in favor of the task at hand.

“Do you need a partner?” he asked his neighbor, his question spoken slowly, and carrying a heavy German accent, but he felt his grammar and general understandability was vastly improved compared to even last spring. He wasn’t against working alone. Most days he even preferred that, and he’d chosen to work by himself at nearly every opportunity to do so last year when given the choice, but this was a new year, at a new class level, and the end was nigh.

Sometime between a month from now and midterm, nobody was ever going to want to work with him again. If he ever wanted to make friends, his window for that was quickly shrinking.

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren The beginning of the end, you mean 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren 0 5

Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

January 29, 2019 1:47 PM

Oh brave knight! by Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

Jasmine greeted Professor Brooding cheerfully as she entered the potions classroom. Professor Brooding was nice. Jasmine liked her. She had such pretty hair and nice dresses and she was very kind.

If only she taught Charms.

It would both improve Charms dramatically (Professor Wright kind of droned on and on about things Jasmine couldn’t follow) and let her see the nice professor without the foreboding sense of nearing doom that potions as a subject inspired in her. This would be one of the subjects she would be glad to see the end of come sixth year.

Unfortunately, she was only a fourth year and would need to slog through two more years of chopping up rat spleens and otherwise handling disgusting things and getting horrible smells steamed into her clothing. She wondered how Professor Brooding managed that. Was the some kind of spell to remove or prevent potion odors from clinging to one’s robes all day? She would need to look into that. Maybe Arianna would know. She was a seventh year, and must have learned something that important by now.

Professor Brooding started with the assistant position opening. No thank you. The woman was pleasant, but no amount of pleasantry would overcome the revulsion of the work required. Potions ingredients were decidedly unpleasant and Jasmine wanted absolutely nothing to do with preparing any more of those than she was required to in order to pass. She wasn’t even entirely against not passing if it meant not sticking her fingers into a vial full of snake eyes. Those were just gross.

She was dismayed to learn they were jumping straight into a practical lesson this year. She looked over the ingredient list and the dismay was overwhelming. No snake eyes, thankfully, but scarab beetles were almost worse. They looked creepy and made the most awful sounds crushing them.

The pufferfish were only marginally better, especially if they were using the whole fish, which it looked like they were. Ugh. They still had their eyes.

It was just eyes in general, Jasmine considered, that made potions really horrifying. They stared at you, questioning all your life choice that had led to that moment of squishing them with a pestle.

She shuddered, and turned to her neighbor, “Will you be my brave knight today?”

1 Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus Oh brave knight! 1397 Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

January 30, 2019 2:49 PM

...Yes? I think? by Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

Dear Mama,

We have arrived safely and Jeremy has been Sorted into Crotalus. He has two roommates; I don’t know their names yet. There is also one girl in their group. I think he is all right; he was talking to another boy last night, and neither of them looked too unhappy. And anyway, you know Simon and Sylvia will look out for him, so there is really nothing for you to worry about at all.

Are you okay Mama? I hope you aren’t lonely there by yourself….

Nathaniel had started writing this letter as soon as he had reached his room the night before, but had broken off after he wrote that, unsure whether to start over or not. On one hand, if she knew he was worried about her, she might feel guilty and then spend more time with Aunt Avery or – anyone, really – which would be good for her. On the other hand, though, he didn’t want to make her feel any worse if she was already feeling bad. Plus there was the possibility that she was actually relieved to have Jeremy out from under her feet, impolite though that would be to mention.

He still hadn’t made up his mind by the time he got to Potions, and was thinking of it when he walked in the room, his greenish eyes a little distant until Professor Brooding greeted the room with a comment about their lovely faces. His looked surprised for a moment, then smiled, then noticed she (unlike at least some people in the room) really did look lovely today…except for being old, and his teacher, of course. He reddened slightly and looked down at his desk as she talked about intermediate assistants. Did he have time to do that? He knew he wasn’t involved in nearly as much as some students, which was points off his Exemplar of a Student score, but he was concerned about how much more difficult Intermediate classes might be, compared to Beginners.

He looked up again at the mention of the very possibility someone would be stupid enough to drink Skele-Gro for fun. Once, he might have assumed no-one would be that stupid, but then he had gotten to know his father’s character. His father was very, very stupid. Jeremy was…he tried, of course, but sometimes Nathaniel worried that Jeremy was a bit like their father. He thought on the whole, though, that Jeremy was too concerned with his own well-being to drink a can of Skele-Gro, no matter how much his roommates dared him to. So there was one thing he could probably cross off his list of things to worry about.

His attention was turning toward one thing he felt he didn’t have to worry much about at all (actually brewing potions was not that difficult; all the directions were right there, and his kit was freshly stocked with everything, so no worries about supplies or seeming irresponsible for not having everything to hand) when Jasmine Delachene happened.

“Ah – I – “ said Nathaniel, perplexed.

The fourth years, as a whole, were very odd. Monsieur Montoir and Mademoiselle Vorontsova couldn’t help it to an extent, he supposed – they were foreign – but Mlle. Vorontsova, excellent subject for photography though she could be, could have helped being quite so loud and glittery, and the whole lot of them just seemed…suspiciously bright sometimes. Miss Delachene was sometimes even more intriguingly not-like-everyone-else than Mlle. Vorontsova. Right now, she looked normal enough, but she was asking him to do…something?

“I’m happy to help if I can?” he said faintly, the end rising into a slight question. He wasn’t sure he had ever considered being a brave knight before and therefore did not know if he was remotely cut out for the position.

16 Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw ...Yes? I think? 1412 Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw 0 5

Gary Harper, Aladren

January 31, 2019 9:20 PM

After the end, starts a new beginning by Gary Harper, Aladren

Gary sat in his seat and cursed his luck. Laugh it up Tymora, Avandra, Calistria... probably Calistria, whoever was responsible for this travesty. He sighed and slouched down, looking at the back of Jasmine's lovely head. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her for the past... he wasn't sure. She had popped into his head at some point over the summer, and she'd been stuck there ever since. He'd read enough stories to clearly know what was going on, he was clearly infatuated, and bound to the whims of whatever chemicals started coursing through his veins. How was he supposed to concentrate like this?! He had campaign stuff to figure out! Worlds to build! He sighed again.

Over the summer it hadn't been to hard to suppress and ignore, but that had changed once he got back here and actually saw her again. He had nearly walked over and talked to her during the opening feast. Admittedly, that wasn't so bad, but they were supposed to stay at their house tables. Luckily he had made that will save. He had formulated a plan though, it was simple and foolproof. Or so he had thought. All he had to do was to wait for her to arrive to class first, let her sit down, and then take an empty seat next to her. Then, assuming it was a project day, ask to be partners. Easy. Well, except he didn't want it to look odd or suspicious, so he had to hide outside the classroom and watch for her to arrive. Just as his luck would have it, as she approached the room, the strap on his bag finally gave way, and his books and binders spilled all over the floor. By the time he had them back and got into the room... the only seat near her was behind her.

He half-hardheartedly wrote down what the professor was talking about, without it really registering. Then she did it... she asked for a knight for her partner! He could be a knight! He had been a knight! Lots of times! He groaned inwardly as the boy next to her responded, he sounded confused. Definitely Calistria's work. He dropped his head to the table and quietly pounded his fist against it in frustration.

Heinrich's question caught him a little off guard. "Yes, but..." he mumbled into the table before picking himself back up. This wasn't Heinrich's problem. He hadn't had a lot of interactions with the boy, but he was only one year behind Gary and in the same house. "I'm sorry Heinrich, sure. Let's make some bone potions." As an afterthought, for some reason he added on, "How are things going with you?"

2 Gary Harper, Aladren After the end, starts a new beginning 1404 Gary Harper, Aladren 0 5

Cleo James, Crotalus

February 07, 2019 10:58 PM

Doing that thing that I do by Cleo James, Crotalus

Cleo took a seat in Potions, admiring Professor Brooding’s dress. It was the sort of thing that would have looked ridiculous on her but definitely suited the professor, who looked like a fairytale princess most of the time. Cleo, in spite of her veela heritage, looked like a girl who’d been grubbing about in a garden most of the time, because generally she had been. She favoured practical clothes, and often had smudges of dirt on her. Thanks to the aforementioned veela heritage, she often managed to make these things look a lot cuter than they would have on anyone else, and she wasn’t adverse to being a bit more girly on her days off from garden duty, just nowhere near the level Professor Brooding was currently at.

It was (probably) this that caused her mind to be wandering down into the realms of clothes, nails, and boys as the lesson began. Totally - completely Professor Brooding’s dress’s fault and not inattention and being a teenager on Cleo’s. She wondered what she would look like in a dress like that. Probably silly. Her first thought was definitely silly. But… did guys want girls who dressed like that? Most guys weren’t really into romantic fairy tales though. Guys probably more wanted you to be wearing hot pants or low cut tops. Cleo did not particularly want to wear either those or a princess dress.

Professor Brooding was saying something about going into advanced classes and healing arts. Cleo’s brain automatically assumed this part of the lecture was for the older kids in the room, before abruptly remembering that she was one of them. And a prefect. And should probably be listening. But she didn’t want to go into healing arts. She had no idea what she wanted to do, but it definitely wasn’t that. And thinking about Isaac was more fun.

Isaac had seemed to like her well enough in what she’d worn last time. In fact, a little too well, maybe. She’d managed to make his head go funny, and she didn’t want to do that again. And it was one of the nice things about him that he didn’t seem to want her to act all sexy or do anything different. He just seemed to like her, maybe actually for herself, and to be a gentleman… Still, it was nice to think about dressing up and being considered pretty… Jasmine was quite girly. Maybe she would have something Cleo could borrow if she got to go out with Isaac again…

Then people were moving around her, getting on with their potions. She looked up, supposing she should find a partner, especially as she really hadn’t been listening all that well. Only it looked like the person next to her hadn’t been either. They looked somewhat glassy eyed and instead of looking at the board they… they seemed to be staring more at her. Oh. Uh oh. Cleo snapped her fingers sharply in their face, really hoping they had just been daydreaming about something and their eyes had drifted her way. Though she rather suspected that wasn’t the case…

“A-are you ok?” she asked nervously.

13 Cleo James, Crotalus Doing that thing that I do 389 Cleo James, Crotalus 0 5

Jasmine

February 13, 2019 1:17 PM

You will do for today by Jasmine

Nathaniel’s answer was not the most gallant of responses, but it was sufficient. He offered to help, that was what was needed. She pushed her mortal and pestle onto his desk and handed him her vial of scarab beetles. “Can you crush these for me? Scarab beetles are creepy and I don’t like them.”

She also gave him three pufferfish. “And those, too.” She turned back to her kit and began to arrange the less objectionable ingredients on her own desk. “Shall we work together, or would you like me to prepare the cabbage and fill your cauldron for you in exchange?” She wanted nothing to do with the scarabs or the pufferfish, but she was not against returning the favor with the rest of what needed doing. She thought it would make more sense to just work together, but she didn’t want to make assumptions. He was a Mordue, after all, and Jasmine had not entirely missed that Sylvia did not seem to care for her. Jasmine was a bit baffled as to what she had ever done to the younger girl, but she did not wish to risk confrontation by asking.

She hoisted her own new cauldron up onto her desk, because one potion at least was going to need to get started, and her cauldron was pink and glittery with hearts on the outside (though still a boring dark cast iron gray on the inside, sadly) and was therefore the superior one to use.

1 Jasmine You will do for today 1397 Jasmine 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

February 15, 2019 12:41 PM

A Wakeup Call by Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

Parker had slept in. To be more precise in the matter, he had originally woken up at the right time only to fall back asleep. He’d woken up again with a start realizing he was late and threw some clothes on and raced outside to get to class. As he weaved his way through the school he was still wiping sleep from his eyes and could feel his tummy growling. He’d missed breakfast, and recently he’d been eating up to six times a day, so missing a meal was less than ideal. Still, he didn’t want to miss a class, especially one of the ones where the teacher was always super nice.

He got in after the Professor had already started talking, but she was smiling at everyone, and discussing helping her with something. Parker slid into the seat next to Cleo and smiled at her, though she seemed to be out of it right now. Parker was too busy getting stuff out of his book bag to think anything of it or to fully hear everything Professor Brooding was saying, but was so excited when he found an apple in his bag he almost let out a small cheer. He was able to catch the thought going to his brain and holding in the cheer while still grabbing the apple with a big smile.

Bringing up his Potions and notebook with the apple Parker started to listen to the Professor again, and turned to look at Cleo to see if she had gotten the notes thus far. Parker looked at Cleo and smiled again. She was looking good. The dirt on her pants and her shirt made her look like she’d been outside in the Labyrinth. It made Parker’s heart flutter, and for a second Parker stopped himself and looked away from her face. Is this what he’d been practicing himself for?

Parker looked at her hands, always so graceful and gentle when working with plants or people. They showed how much she cared to the world around her, how much she wanted to make the world a better place. Like a disney princess, the one with the animals that swirled around her as she danced. He wanted to hold them, to kiss them, to worship the…

Parker stopped himself midthought. This wasn’t his normal line of thinking. He unfocused his gaze. He needed to allow the thoughts to float across his mind like clouds across the sky.

When he’d been home over the summer he’d gone to libraries, talked with his parents, and looked up online ways to practice your brain and what he’d found was something similar to his mom’s counting. He’d started using an app on his phone and tried to work on it at school without the app, which was harder. Still the thoughts of Lyssa being a princess, a beautiful nature princess kept flooding into his brain. When he normally did his exercises there would be a small stream, this felt like a major river with a rapids.

Parker was in his head. Seeing them racing across his mind. So many that it felt like if he didn’t latch onto one soon he would collapse. Thankfully before that happened a snap brought him back to the room quickly. Parker shut his eyes tight and shook his head.

“I’ve been better,” he said smiling to his friend. “I think I’m find now. But just in case,”
Parker stood up with his notebook and Potions book and moved to the other side of their desk so they were sitting across from each other instead of next to each other. “I think I’ll sit on the other side of the table just in case.”

Parker looked up at Cleo once he’d gotten reseated. “And not to ask too many questions, but we might want to discuss what you were thinking about and compare to what I was thinking about at some point. Just to figure out if that was what I thought it was.”

Parker looked over at her hands. His thought about them being graceful and gentle before hadn’t been wrong, and he wanted to reach out to comfort her in someway, but he thought that maybe, just maybe, not reaching out was a way to comfort her. He let out a deep sigh. In reality though, this sucked.

41 Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari A Wakeup Call 1402 Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari 0 5

Cleo

February 16, 2019 3:16 AM

sigh by Cleo

“Right, good idea,” Cleo smiled, as if Parker was just suggesting a practical arrangement, like who should go and get the ingredients or which cauldron they should use. And it was practical. It was sensible to get away from her. Still, it felt like she had been punched in the heart. He was her friend. Her best friend. And now he had to retreat around the other side of their desk to be safe from her. She hated that she could do this to people in general. It was a creepy, weird power. But she hated having done it to Parker specifically.

“I’m pretty sure it was,” she replied, the smile vanishing, when he talked about checking whether it was what they thought. “I’m not sure going through our thoughts will help,” she added. She considered what she’d been thinking about… ‘What would Isaac like to see me wearing’ was not a topic she wanted to discuss with Parker.

“I’m sorry,” she added, when he let out a sigh, her voice wavering slightly. It was hard to keep up the cheery, practical facade when she didn’t feel at all cheerful, and apparently nor did he, and when it seemed like the most practical solution was to avoid everyone forever. What if Parker stopped trusting her? Worse, what if he didn’t? What if he tried to insist it was all ok and not a problem, when it very definitely was. It was a very big problem. She’d clearly… upset, or frustrated him somehow. And she couldn’t blame him for feeling like that. “I-I didn’t mean to…” she offered, feeling like it wasn’t much of an excuse.

13 Cleo *sigh* 389 Cleo 0 5

Nathaniel

February 21, 2019 4:05 PM

I assume That Thing will eat me before tomorrow. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel’s confused, deer-in-the-Lumos expression did not improve when Jasmine clarified herself, shoving things onto his desk and telling him to dispatch them for her because they were, quote, ‘creepy.’ It did, however, slip into a look of astonishment when he saw The Cauldron.

It was rude to stare. Nathaniel knew this. He had been taught this when he was very small. He needed to look away from The Cauldron, but just couldn’t quite seem to do it. The thing possibly had some kind of entrancing enchantment on it, because it was magnetic, impossible to ignore. How had he apparently ignored its presence in the same room before? Had it not been here when he was a first year, or had he repressed the memory, or…what? Was it something that only became apparent about The Cauldron when one got close enough to it, close enough for it to paralyze him, cross the desks, and eat him?

No. No, that didn’t make sense. Because its apparent owner wanted him to crush beetles for her. Because beetles were creepy. And because he could not crush the beetles if he was being digested by the Pink Monster of Glittery Horribleness there.

“Shall we work together, or would you like me to prepare the cabbage and fill your cauldron for you in exchange?”

Nathaniel meant to politely decline and insist that no repayment was necessary. Instead, he said, “Your cauldron is pink.”

16 Nathaniel I assume That Thing will eat me before tomorrow. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Jasmine

March 19, 2019 9:59 AM

What Thing? Is there a monster you need to save me from? by Jasmine

Jasmine remained entirely ignorant of Nathaniel’s concerns for his life as she asked whether they should work together. She saw him looking at her cauldron, of course; who didn’t enjoy looking at all those sparkles? But she would admit she had been expecting an answer to her question rather than a statement of the obvious.

Of course, Uncle Daniel had had much the same response to it and then inexplicably reiterated his relief that he had found a job teaching at college finally. Jasmine did not understand why he had needed to share that just at that moment, but she had politely told him she was glad he enjoyed his new position.

Nathaniel did not follow up his observation with an unrelated remark. Maybe Daniel had just trying to make up for saying something so self-evident but since Nathaniel was a Teppenpaw instead of an Aladren, and not a college professor besides, he didn’t have the same level of intellectual or professional pride to protect? Mom did say Uncle Daniel was impossibly prideful of his brain sometimes. In any case, Nathaniel left his comment open, which meant she was allowed to talk about her cauldron, without it sounding like bragging.

She smiled in pleased satisfaction. “It is!” she agreed delightedly on its pinkness. “I found it this summer! Isn’t it beautiful? I love the sparkles! Most cauldrons are so boring to look at!”

1 Jasmine What Thing? Is there a monster you need to save me from? 1397 Jasmine 0 5

Nathaniel

March 20, 2019 9:04 PM

No, I...don't think it poses any threat to you. by Nathaniel

Okay. At least it had not been in the same building as him for two years without him noticing it before. Jasmine’s delighted babbling, however, opened up ever so many questions. Who would sell that atrocity? Who would buy it? What was happening to the world, that someone would sell it and someone would buy it?

He was grateful, at least, that Jasmine babbled on after the part he could not have given an honest answer to, apparently regarding her own question about the beauty of That Thing as rhetorical. The only answer Nathaniel could think of was that is the ugliest cauldron I have ever seen in my entire life, and that would be an unkind thing to say.

“I…uh…I’m glad you like it,” he managed faintly after she seemed to stop. “I think I prefer mine, though,” he added, more firmly. His was entirely normal, undecorated pewter. It was unremarkable in the extreme, distinguishable from few of the other cauldrons in the room when new and now only distinguishable really from those of people who were less careful about cleanliness than he. That was important; if his cauldron was dirty, there might be cross-contamination, and then one of his potions might fail. Mama would be disappointed, if that happened and she found out about it. “I’ll just…prep these for you,” he remembered aloud, looking at the things she had deemed creepy and thinking they were much less unsettling to his mind than her enthusiasm over the Pink Cauldron. “I’m guessing Potions isn’t your favorite class?” he asked as he began to grind up beetles, assuming the answer and finding comfort in that, though the pink cauldron did seem to be a great favorite of hers. She might like the class just for the opportunity to use it.

16 Nathaniel No, I...don't think it poses any threat to you. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Parker

March 29, 2019 12:16 PM

I open my mouth and things come out, sometimes they go in by Parker

Parker looked up at Cleo. He felt like he’d been punched in the gut and the heart. He had actually wanted to just have class, not have discussions about life in class.

A lot had built up over the last few years. Since she’d hugged him at the bonfire, to not talking to him, to talking to him again and being a great friend, to something happening with Isaac that she never talked about but he’d realized was happening from the sheer lack of her talking about Isaac whenever Parker was around (even with him trying out for Quidditch).

All that time he’d been reading and researching. He’d been trying to figure out what he needed to do to be a good friend and he felt like he’d failed.

He took a deep breath and tried to look her in the eye.
“Cleo,” he said as he reached out to grab her hand without really thinking about it. It was something he would have done with his sister or with other friends if he had seen a smile vanish from someone’s face like it had from her’s.

“Cleo, I want you to listen to a few things I need to say, and I say this from the other side of the table, yes, but with a clearer mind ok?” Parker cleared his throat and opened his mouth. Unsure of all of what was going to come out.

“I know this isn’t easy for you. It isn’t easy for me either. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared or that I knew what to do, but I do want to say this to you. You are my friend. You will be my friend going forward. No matter what happens. You got into the garden. You got me doing homework and reading. I’ve been doing so much reading because of you. Basically, you make me want to be...better.

And know that I don’t go into this without knowing what could happen, but I want you to know that the main way you can hurt me is by hiding away again. We will figure out things going forward. That’s what life seems to be about. Figuring out how to walk, how to fly on a broom, how to get a plant the right amount of sunlight and water to grow. And having people around you, people who are going to stick around no matter what, helps with that ok? I know I plan on being there.”

Parker looked at Cleo. It had been serious and part of him wanted to make some kind of joke, but looking at her made him suddenly unjokey. He pulled his hands back towards his side of the table and opened up his book.

“Now shall we learn how to make Skele-Gro? I think I might need it someday, what with my ability to be hit by things in Quidditch games.”

Parker looked up across towards Cleo, he had no idea where the words had come from, but he knew what he had said was true.

41 Parker I open my mouth and things come out, sometimes they go in 1402 Parker 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

To new beginnings. [Intermediate students.] by Professor Mary Brooding

Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren

The beginning of the end, you mean by Heinrich Hexenmeister, Aladren

Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

Oh brave knight! by Jasmine Delachene, Crotalus

Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

...Yes? I think? by Nathaniel Mordue, Teppenpaw

Gary Harper, Aladren

After the end, starts a new beginning by Gary Harper, Aladren

Cleo James, Crotalus

Doing that thing that I do by Cleo James, Crotalus

Jasmine

You will do for today by Jasmine

Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

A Wakeup Call by Parker Fitzgerald, Pecari

Cleo

*sigh* by Cleo

Nathaniel

I assume That Thing will eat me before tomorrow. by Nathaniel

Jasmine

What Thing? Is there a monster you need to save me from? by Jasmine

Nathaniel

No, I...don't think it poses any threat to you. by Nathaniel

Parker

I open my mouth and things come out, sometimes they go in by Parker

sigh by Cleo