I will do just that on Potions

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

February 01, 2021 8:56 PM

Take care of yourselves, intermediates. [III-V] by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary knew it was not her job to care for her students the way she did. Her job was to help guide them through their academic journey with all the potions knowledge she could give them, along with a hefty helping of opportunities to develop social and emotional intelligence, and all the other skills that went into the hidden curriculum of any educational program. Much as she loved potion-making, it was the hidden curriculum that somehow meant more to her sometimes, especially when she knew enough about the silvery mists that had been appearing around the school and the fact that so many people would be feeling bittersweet about the impending arrival of family members - or lack thereof - at the concert to know that this had been a hard year for every student in some way. Of course, she had high hopes that they would be alright, but there was not a lot she could to make sure of that. In fact, no one really could, except perhaps themselves.

That brought her to the lesson she'd planned for the day, and students appeared to her classroom to find that it had been quite thoroughly rearranged. Student desks had been pushed to the outside edges of the room, one side against the walls - or shelves where there was no wall to speak of - and space had been cleared on one shelf near the door to allow students to put their belongings away. The lighting was dim, which wasn't entirely unusual for the classroom and Mary had a fairly hippie view of magic and learning, and the temperature was more carefully controlled than usual to bring it to the sort of thing you'd expect on a comfortable breezy day, without the breeze. Where a warmer classroom might've been stifling and made her students tired, and a colder classroom might've been good for keeping it crisp and waking them up but otherwise been distracting, Mary had hopes that this would be a good temperature for encouraging a neutral, contented atmosphere. Considering she was teaching young teenagers, that was a high bar and she knew it.

"Hello, class," she said, smiling fondly at the students as they entered. "Please put your belongings in the shelves there," she said, gesturing to the space she'd cleared. "You can include your robe and your shoes if you'd be more comfortable that way. And you'll only need some paper and something to take notes with, not your books or anything."

When everyone had put away what they were going to and gathered again in an odd clump, waiting for instructions, Mary faced them again with a smile. "As we approach the end of the year and the subsequent exams that some of you have been studying hard for, I think it is of the utmost importance that we take the time to care for ourselves. As we have discussed, the most dangerous potion in the world is one brewed by a potion-maker who is not in any state to be brewing. Tired, hungry, stressed . . . our lives do not pause for us to brew potions safely, and it is important that we take the time to take care of ourselves. With this in mind, I've put together each table with some of the lessons we've worked on in mind. One table also has your homework assignment, and you'll be working on some research related to each unit, summarizing what we've learned this year."

All in all, there were six tables around the edges of the room, and some padded seating scattered around in the middle in pairs where students could gather to discuss what they'd noticed as they worked through it all. The first table held various teas and beverages of the sort they'd brewed early in the term and indeed in beginners potions classes. The next held some of the meals they'd discussed, infused with ingredients that promoted health, peace, and good digestion more so than any regular food product would. The third, and indeed the rest, were more interactive. At the third table, some of the cleaning agents they'd worked to produce were available for them to clean their dishes and a few other odd items. The fourth table had some relaxation products, like massage oil for their hands, scented products they could use on their temples or wrists, texture-based activities like foam, squishy beads, smooth wood blocks polished with potions that would keep them from splintering, and more. And the fifth table featured bubbling cauldrons of a euphoria draft, sleeping potion, relaxation potion, and a few other select items, all marked with 'DO NOT DRINK' in big letters but accompanied by papers with information about each potion and their effects. The sixth and final table featured stacks of paper for their homework.

"Save for the fifth table, which will be for you to consider and not partake in today, I want you to go through and interact with the items at the tables. Eat, drink, clean and wash up, and participate in some relaxation strategies we've discussed. Part of your homework will be to discuss the impacts each of these can have on the mental wellbeing of those who use them, the importance of self-care that extends beyond just relaxing and into taking care of the physical and mental needs of an individual, and to discuss the roles of potions at each table. You can go around the tables in any order and I would encourage you to work with one or two other people to discuss your experiences in addition to what you take notes on. While today's lesson is intended to be relaxing and a bit of a break from some of the hectic nature of your busy lives, it is also class - please pay attention to how potions are used differently at each table, and how potions make those activities or products different than they would be if they were the non-magical equivalent."

Mary paused, glancing around to see whether anyone had any questions. "If you need me, I'll be around as well," she smiled. "Go ahead and begin."

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne Take care of yourselves, intermediates. [III-V] 1424 1 5

Ellie Alperton

February 03, 2021 10:07 PM

I will do just that by Ellie Alperton

Ellie glanced around the unusual layout of the potions room, getting the feeling this was not going to be one of the more traditional or academic type classes. Actually, she formed a hypothesis that it was not going to be, based on her previously established categorisation system of classes here; traditional/practical (meaning the word within the context of what seemed traditional within the magical world, which tended towards hands on skills), academic (where they learnt theory), and other/weird (like this one). Having a hypothesis made her feel a little better about approaching the strange lesson.

Prior to Sonora, when switching schools had been a deeply held fantasy, Ellie had spent a lot of time googling 'liberal schools.' This had led to some LGBTQIA+ positive places, which was what she had been looking for, but also to her accidentally learning about other education philosophies or school set ups, like Montessori or IB. A lot of these seemed to value things like 'student led learning' and 'encouraging inquiry.' In her imagination, that had been a little bit like this, where they were supposed to go into class and 'discover' things (of which she would, naturally, find lots, whilst wearing cute dresses and being called her preferred name). When she thought about these classes in those terms, she felt much better about them. They could actually be very academic if she chose to frame them that way.

With that in mind, she opened up her Tiana notebook (which was what she always used for potions and which was especially appropriate as she planned to start with the food table) but added a Belle pen to take notes with for a splash of inventive spirit. Although, as she sat down in front of food that could do things to her, she felt much more like Alice in Wonderland. The food thing did still sort of freak her out. At what point did it stop being magically enhanced and shade into 'we are drugging you via casserole?' To that end, she was determined to frame the magical food within the context of what she already knew. She began setting up her page for investigation.

Non-magical foods can also have effects on the body, e.g. calming, anti-inflammatory etc.

Sometimes, these are concentrated and then do things they wouldn't do naturally, but most examples are medicine not food, e.g. willow in asprin.

She tapped her pen, thinking. The only examples she could think of for food were things like vanilla extra which was just to concentrate a favour, and could not really, by any stretch of the imagination, be called magical. Gummy vitamins were the closest thing to a food stuff she could think of that had a similar effect, and it still wasn't really the same. She was pretty sure that anything that had an effect this dramatic would be illegal or considered medicine.

This was the slight drawback of the self-directed learning model, in that she was stumbling about having a lot of very interesting thoughts but was not entirely sure which of them she ought to pursue, and how much she could really make of any of them. If the class task was just 'think about this' how did you know when you'd completed it? Seeing as she had not reached a firm conclusion about anything, she suspected she had not yet.

They had been instructed to pair up and discuss. She glanced around the table, wondering if anyone was on a similar page to her, and whether it would be better to find someone who was or who wasn't. If they were on different pages they would have more ideas, but without a clear goal they might be too disparate to form into one project.

She reviewed the food stuffs on the table, trying to work out what she could about them... There were some that would have been considered healthy and able to do you good even in the non-magical world, like salads, and there were some that were only psychologically beneficial, like chocolate cake. That, she supposed, was enough to make a project out of, but hopefully not too much... She could compare and contrast two different food stuffs with the benefits offered by their non-magical equivalents! And maybe eat some cake... Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had told them to 'interact' and Ellie felt like making detailed notes on something qualified for that. She was pretty sure that Professor Brooding-Hawthorne would never expect them to do anything that made them uncomfortable, and Ellie was still decidedly unsure how she felt about a chocolate cake that made her do anything other than go 'Mmm.'

She had just began drawing up a table and outline of her project when someone spoke to her.

13 Ellie Alperton I will do just that 1456 0 5

Esme Brockert

February 04, 2021 4:55 PM

Self-care is important by Esme Brockert

Esme didn't always like Potions-and not for the obvious reason which was having to touch disgusting things. Which she also was less than enthusiastic about, but the thing she didn't like about the class had little to do with the subject itself and more to do with how it was taught sometimes.

Specifically, it was the fact that Professor Brooding-Hawthorne seemed to want to promote some very...pro-Muggle ideas. Like that their products were just as good or better or even that they were capable of doing a kind of magic. They absolutely were not ! That's what it meant to be a Muggle, it meant you couldn't do magic! Yes, there were plants that could have an affect on one's health and Muggles had to do things to be able to function but to say they were as good or better than magic was insulting. It offended Esme to her very core. She understood wanting to make halfbloods and Muggleborns feel safe and comfortable at Sonora-even though some people clearly wanted to make purebloods feel less than instead- or to imply that purebloods were not necessarily better people than non-purebloods-after all, there was a very easy to see example of that not being the case as Sadie was a much more likable person than Leonor. Or Topaz.-but to say insinuate that Muggle things were just as good or that they could do everything wizards could do diminished magic as a whole.

Not to mention it was just plain not true. For example, Muggles could not cure a common cold whereas wizards had Pepper-Up potion. And while Muggle cleaning products might work eventually , there was a certain amount of...manual labor involved in cleaning without magic. Hard, very physical manual labor. Esme had never been a fan of sweating.

Honestly, this was another reason the Statute of Secrecy was important! Because Muggles, being the overall dominant culture of the world, would come in and spread this sort of propaganda, making what magical people had over them unimportant and just plain destroying their culture. Not to mention they'd probably force witches and wizards to learn about science and stuff like that.

So, as usual, Esme approached Potions class warily. She took in the different tables and wondered what Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had in store for them today. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait too long. Once the professor was done giving them instructions, the third year sighed to herself. Yup, once again, they were being asked to look at the differences in non-magical products when Esme would never have to know as she was highly unlikely to ever interact with Muggles or their products. And even the non-purebloods now had access to all things magical.

Also, Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had said this lesson was about relaxing...yet she brought up research and working with others, things that would surely stress out Sapphire, at the very least.

Esme walked over to the food table, spotting Ellie over there. The older girl was someone who was on her own non-objectionable and as good a partner as anyone. "Do you want to work together?" The third year inquired.

11 Esme Brockert Self-care is important 1479 0 5