Something like home [Tag: Mary] on Potions

Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus

February 17, 2021 5:38 PM

Something like home [Tag: Mary] by Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus

OOC: Permission for the tour approved by Mary's author BIC:

The company, yet new, was familiar. This walls had seen this man once, though only in essence. A memory produced from an opened mind, like a hole in a pocket. His hunkered posture stole some of the man’s height, and he was only slightly more in color than he had been in the previous iteration that had haunted these halls. He dressed in black, speckled only by silver accents on the edges of the robes, a direct similarity to his mostly-black ponytail, slick and neck-length, now dusted by time. He moved slowly, as always, half supported by his cane and half by his lovely almost daughter.

“Thank you again for this, Mary,” she smiled to their guide, although Sophie O’Malley nee Jamison knew the path blindfolded. She had spent so many hours here, she could hardly total the years they became. “I’ve wanted to show Serapes around this Potions room for, gosh, twenty-five years? This is amazing.”

They arrived in the Potions classroom, and Sophie instantly began to glow. Serapes supported himself as she frantically ran around the room, showing him everything that had not changed since her days, explaining any differences from the set up when she was on either side of the teacher’s desk. There were tables she moved, walls she redecorated, that now belonged to Mary, but they were hers once, and she remembered them like old friends. The hinge of the third cabinet still squeaked a little when it was opened. It was beautiful and sounded like home.

“Wonderful,” Serapes smiled weakly, his singular word slowed and garbled by a combination of a deep voice, an English accent, and health complications. He had never been much of a speedster, but his language skills, like his mobility, had never returned to full capacity after his strokes. To Mary, he nodded, “Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you!” Sophie agreed, voicing her gratitude for about the ninety-fifth time. As she had explained to Mary when making this request, Serapes was the reason Sophie had gotten into Potions. Until his health failed, he had taught the class at another institution, and even before Sophie had began her magical education, her godfather would let her assist his brewing. This was a room full of Potions teachers, two former and one current.

And God, Sophie missed it, though she would never admit it. Giving up her career had been a necessary act to ensure Serapes’s health, but being a stay-at-home mom had never been her ideal course. It was worth it, though, to see the boys and now Charlotte growing up, and to be there for Serapes, who really had no one else. A necessary sacrifice, indeed, but a sacrifice all the same.

12 Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus Something like home [Tag: Mary] 0 Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus 1 5

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

February 19, 2021 10:43 PM

I understand what you mean. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

Mary smiled, happy to see someone as passionate about potions - and the room - as she was, although it was a bit intimidating meeting her predecessor all the same. "It's my pleasure," she assured the pair as they looked around. "I wish I could get everyone who comes in here this excited about it!" she added with a chuckle, sure that Sophie understood.

It was more than a bit unnerving for Mary to see the pair here in real life after having stumbled upon them in the form of a mist just a few months prior. That had been, she knew now, a private moment, observed she assumed by one of Sophie's boys. Mary wasn't sure how much the two knew about the goings on over the course of the year yet, however, or what exactly Selina had sent home for parents and families to know about on the subject, so she didn't mention it. She knew it had been private and that this moment, in a very different way, was as well. She was happy to be an observer now, much happier than she'd been the first time. She was only glad that Zeus was otherwise occupied at the moment and not about to announce his recognition, if indeed he would recognize the figures.

"Truly, it's my pleasure," she said again, smiling with more amusement when Sophie repeated her gratitude. "Honestly, it's an honor to have you here. I'd love to pick your brain. The potions I can do, it's like breathing, but the curriculum part still feels new to me sometimes, even after a few years here. There's always new kids in and out, new things to teach, and trying to figure out new ways to teach very old knowledge can be challenging. I would be hard-pressed to give it up, though," she added a little more softly, suspecting Sophie felt the same. "You fall in love with it a bit and you have to love something else very much to step away. Your boys are both very sweet."

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne I understand what you mean. 1424 0 5

Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus

February 22, 2021 5:48 PM

We've got a lot of common ground. by Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus

Sophie and Serapes raised an eyebrow in synchrosis. They both loved the boys very much, but “sweet” was not necessarily a word often associated with one of the two. Wally, definitely. Sweetest boy alive. But Stanley? There were a lot of positive traits he possessed. Passionate and loyal and protective and eager. But sweet? It was an interesting choice. “Thank you,” Sophie smiled anyway.

Mary was, however, inarguably right about one thing: it was a challenge to walk away from this line of work. Teaching, sure, but specifically teaching Potions. There was something so magical (excuse the pun) about sharing in a creation. It was a love of the art as well as a love of education, but to combine them was something simply of itself. It could not be described or paralleled. And it did take something special to step away from it.

It seemed like Mary maybe thought that for Sophie, it was the boys. But that wasn’t exactly true. She had been managing motherhood and working pretty well, at least she thought so. But Serapes’s declining health required someone to help him. He had no children of his own - no biological family to speak of - and Sophie knew what her choice had to be. Similarly, Serapes’s initial catalyst had been his health, but at the end of the day, he probably would have kept fighting through. But he knew that Sophie worried, and she had decided what was best for them both, and when she had an idea in her head, it just wasn’t worth fighting her. He retired for her.

“My only tip,” Sophie said, “would be to make sure it’s relevant to them. I invented an acne potion I used to teach the intermediates. That one seemed popular. Whatever stuff you can do like that.” Serapes did not comment, but he nodded his agreement, which felt quite validating, since he had taught her so much of what she knew. “Curriculum is nice, and you have to teach some things here and there, but let ‘em have fun.” Sophie added with a wink.

12 Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus We've got a lot of common ground. 0 Sophie O'Malley and Serapes Nevus 0 5