Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. on Potions

Professor Connell

January 21, 2007 12:14 PM

Second and Third years- Lesson 1 by Professor Connell

You like teaching. You like potions. You like your job. You like the kids. Just keep focusing on that Marian Connell repeated to herself, a mantra of exasperation as she finished tidying up after her first years. It wasn’t actually all that much effort, just a few scourgify charms, and she really didn’t mind the task, but her nerves were still a bit strung-out from having to deal with the first years. Perhaps it had been a mistake to start off with the boil-cure potion, simple though it was. The possibility of an explosion never helped her state of mind, even after the fact.

Fortunately, now she had her second and third year class. On the whole, they’d always behaved quite reasonably, at least in class. Actually, they were so even outside of class, with a few notable exceptions. So Marian was able to finish checking on things without worry as the students began to enter and take their seats without any major disturbances.

Once it appeared everyone who was supposed to be present was, she closed the door, and then moved to the front of the classroom. It was habit now, even when she didn’t really have much to say. She just didn’t know what else to do with herself when faced with a roomful of students besides to stand at the same point and deliver almost the same speech, year after year.

“Welcome back,” she began, smiling at the twelve- and thirteen-year olds gathered before her. “I’m delighted to see all of you back for another year, and hope all of your summers went well. Now, today’s lesson is going to be more of a practical one than usual, just to let all of you get back into the hang of things.

“The potion you will be making is called the shrinking solution. It can be found on page 35 of your text, and the ingredients are chopped daisy roots, one skinned shrivelfig, 3 sliced caterpillars, one rat spleen, and a dash of leech juice. Obviously, it is used to shrink things in size, but can also be used to reverse the aging process. Therefore, in order for you to test your potions once completed, I have secured a number of toads for you. They will be up at my desk by the time you have finished your potions, so, once you have, I want one member of each group to come up and get one, then return to your seats and feed a few drops of your potion to it.

“If the solution was prepared properly, then it should turn back into a tadpole. If it does so, I want you to bring the tadpole up to my desk to prove you’ve done the assignment, and then feed it another few drops of an antidote, which should turn it back into a toad, which you should return to its cage.

“You all should remember the basic rules, no horseplay, although you’re free to converse among yourselves while working as long as the assignment is completed. You may work by yourself or in pairs, whichever you feel more comfortable in. Extra ingredients are in the cabinet at the back of the classroom. If you have any questions, feel free to ask; otherwise, you may begin.”

She’d been nervous about doing this with her class last year, but, given the relative success (i.e. lack of mutilating amphibians or explosions), she felt more confident in her students’ abilities to conduct themselves in a responsible manner. Yes, last year the students had been slightly older, but that didn’t feel all that important in the scheme of things. All in all, Marian concluded as she retrieved the cage of toads from her supply room, she felt it would be a relatively uneventful class.

OOC: Standard posting rules apply. At least two decent-sized paragraphs, so at a minimum roughly 8 lines of text. House points will be awarded based on post length, detail, etc. Be creative, and have fun.
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Subthreads:

Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. by Eavan Valentine with Caedence, Eavan, Caednce

Picking my partner [tag Gil] by Elly Eriksson

I love this class... by Geoffrey Layne with Morgaine Carey

Re: Second and Third years- Lesson 1 by Adam Brockert with Briony O'Leary

Looking for a partner... by Lila St. Martin with Echo Elms

Lesson closed (nm) by Professor Connell

0 Professor Connell Second and Third years- Lesson 1 0 Professor Connell 1 5

Eavan Valentine

January 23, 2007 12:48 AM

Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. by Eavan Valentine

The air smelled faintly odd. Eavan sniffed fully, trying to recognize the smell, but it was that odd scent of various messed up potions that made one realize that holding your nose would be the best option upon entering this classroom.

Eavan sat down, trying to breath in the odd combination of odors and took out her potions book. She listened attentively, but spent Professor Connell's speech looking around the room for familiar faces. She knew they would have to partner up, and despite being friendly, sometimes wanted to spend her time with people who were already her friends.

When the professor finished Eavan looked away from her classmates and down to her textbook, opening to page 35. She shrugged, stood up and went to gather the proper ingredients. With her arms full of rat spleen, shrivelfig, and a bottle of leech juice she made her way precariously back to her desk. She was barely five feet from her destination when someone bumped her side. The bag of shrivelfigs slipped from the crook of her arm and landed on the floor, scattering the wrinkled things in every direction.

Eavan sighed and placed the rest of her ingredients on her desk before kneeling down on the floor and picking up the fallen shrivelfigs, hoping they were still usable. She bent down and grabbed a shrivelfig, giving it a good look over. It seemed fine. She reached for another shrivelfig, but a shadow interrupted her quest. Eavan looked up and grinned.

"Hey, could you help me with these?" She smiled and gestured to the scattered shrivelfigs. \n\n

0 Eavan Valentine Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. 86 Eavan Valentine 0 5

Elly Eriksson

January 23, 2007 5:08 PM

Picking my partner [tag Gil] by Elly Eriksson

Potions was Elly’s favourite lesson for one very simple reason: it did not require the use of wands. Although she hadn’t yet failed to master any of their set spells, it had taken her considerably longer than most of her peers to be able to perform even the simplest charms proficiently. Potions, on the other hand, simply required following instructions correctly, which Elly could manage without incident. There was, of course, the opportunity to spend the whole lesson chatting with your partner, of which Elly was delighted to take advantage.

Elly’s partner in their first year had been Meredith Lail, her roommate, swinging chum, and otherwise best (joint with Echo) friend at Sonora. They had gotten to know each other very well thanks to their over-the-cauldron chats, which had even further encouraged Elly’s decision that potions was, in fact, her favourite lesson of all time.

However, it was her existing friendship with Meredith that discouraged Elly from wanting to keep the same partner in second year. She had no qualms in working with Mere, but felt that seeing as they spent all the rest of their time together anyway, perhaps it would be better for them to find different partners during lessons this year. Elly hadn’t spoken to her friend about this, but if she knew Mere as well as she thought she did, she guessed that they would share this opinion.

So, as she entered the potions lesson, Elly had already given thought to whom she wanted to partner. Echo and Saul would probably still be happy working together, and Elly had a list of people she’d rather not partner, including Paul Tarwater, Morgaine, Tallow, and Ginger (whom Elly suspected didn’t like her very much). That Adam kid was apparently a bit weird, too. Elly remembered that last year Gil had partnered Nikki, and she remembered that because she hadn’t liked Nikki very much then, and felt a bit bad for Gil having to work with someone who openly insulted him in front of other people. Elly finally decided that she would try and work with Gil, with whom she wouldn’t mind furthering her friendship, in the hope that he would enjoy potions this year more than last.

Glancing round the classroom, Elly noticed that the seat next to Gil was free. Taking this as a signal of opportunity, Elly took this seat and settled down to listen to Professor Connell. Turning toads back into tadpoles did sound cool, but Elly was wondering whether her mother would be interested in the shrinking solution, seeing as it could be used to reverse the ageing process. Probably not though, because Elly was sure her mother was scared that her daughter would turn her into some sort of reptile. Daft woman.

As soon as Professor Connell said they could begin, Elly turned to Gil and gave him a sharp poke in the shoulder. “Wanna be my partner?” she said, grinning at him playfully.
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0 Elly Eriksson Picking my partner [tag Gil] 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Caedence

January 24, 2007 3:55 PM

ah, at least you don't trip and blame someone else by Caedence

Caedence felt kind of odd to be in the presence of Professor Connell. It was rather recent since they had last talked, and she was still kicking herself for saying what she did. Yet she felt oddly close to the woman. After all, she did just almost spill her life story out to her. It was because of these mixed thoughts that she practically zoned out. Page 35...okay. Shrivelfig...daisy roots...blah blah.

She stood up, still in the "zone", when she flet something. It took her brain a bit to snap back into reality and realise that something was a person. Eavan, if she remembered correctly. "Hey wa-" she didn't finish that sentance. She wasn't about to pick another fight. Not here at least. Not for a while.

"Hey, could you help me with these?" Help. A verb. To aide others. Oh yeah, help. "Sure I can help you. Sorry about running into you." Wow, sorry, an apology. That sure sounded wierd on her mouth. "If these are unusable, I can give you some more. I got some in my bag." She said as she helped Eavan gather her shrivelfigs

OOC: I've always wondered, is Eavan pronounced Ee-ah-ahn?\n\n

0 Caedence ah, at least you don't trip and blame someone else 94 Caedence 0 5

Eavan

January 28, 2007 4:13 PM

My author does. by Eavan

When she saw who she had bumped into, Eavan was a little firghtened. She knew this girl to be Caedence, and though they had never met, Eavan knew her reputation t ostart fights. So, it was a relief when, instead of picking a fight, Caedence knelt down and helped her pick up her shrivelfigs. She should have known not to listen to silly rumors.

Eavan put the past shrivelfig in the bag and looked up at cadeance, smiling.

"These should be fine. Thank you. You want to be my partner?" Eavan held out her hand. "Oh, and I'm Eavan Valentine. Teppenpaw second year"

OOC:The traditional Irish pronunciation is Eeven (as in the opposite of odd), but the more American way (and the way I pronounce it) is Aven, with a long A, and then the 'n' sound at the end.\n\n

0 Eavan My author does. 0 Eavan 0 5

Caedence

January 28, 2007 5:00 PM

Do you also pick random fights? by Caedence

Caedence stared at the girl. She wasn't running and she didn't look pale at all. Was she losing her touch at scaring people? She shook her head as she got up.

"Yeah, I guess I can be your partner. We need one, don't we? Heh, just a warning, I am really impatient. I might add ingredients too fast or something. So I think you should take care of adding stuff, because I might blow up the school. Caedence Redoak, pecari second year chaser." She nodded towards her seat in the back then towards Eavan's, "Which seat?"\n\n

0 Caedence Do you also pick random fights? 94 Caedence 0 5

Eavan

January 29, 2007 4:14 PM

Only with my computer and my math homework by Eavan

Eavan glanced over at Cadence's desk and then to her own. They were right there; they might as well stay here.

"Let's use my desk. I already have everything set up." Eavan pointed to the piles of random ingredients on her desk as well as the cauldron she had already set up and her book opened to page 35.

"And I don't mind adding things. You can stir and cut if you like." Eavan smiled at Caedence once again and sat down, pulling the daisy roots towards Caedence.

"These need to be cut and I'll start skinning the shrivelfigs. Is that okay?"\n\n

0 Eavan Only with my computer and my math homework 0 Eavan 0 5

Caedence

January 29, 2007 5:01 PM

Ha, this author yells at inatimate all the time! by Caedence

Caedence smiled. This was kind of nice, not arguing. Besides, like she'd do anything infront of her Head of House. That would just be plain stupid. She started thinking of whom she would pick a fight with next year. Maybe that stupid Teppenpaw first year. Josaih, she thought was his name. "And I don't mind adding things. You can stir and cut if you like.""These need to be cut and I'll start skinning the shrivelfigs. Is that okay?"

Caedence jumped slightly and jerked herself out of her violent daydream. It was fun topickture beating the tar out of the insolent brat! "Sounds good to me, I did ask to not be adder, didn't I?" she laughed and wondered if 'adder' was even a word, besides a poisonous snake. She chopped up the daisy roots, trying hard not to picture anyone's face as she did so. To distract herself, she asked, "So what about you? What is your history like?"\n\n

0 Caedence Ha, this author yells at inatimate all the time! 94 Caedence 0 5

Eavan

January 30, 2007 10:36 PM

Kindred Souls. by Eavan

Eavan finished skinning her first Shrivelfig, set it aside and picked up a second one before answering.

"Well, I'm from Los Angeles, and I live with my dad and my fou--three brothers." Eavan had to catch herself. She had almost forgotten that Eddie didn't really live with them anymore. In fact, no one was really sure where he was. Eavan shook the thought from her head, concentratiing a bit too hard on finishing the shrivelfigs and forcing her thought processes towards another brother. Her favorite brother, in fact.

"One of them's here with me though. Earl. He's a fourth year...Keeper for Crotalus. And we're all hoping that my younger brothers will be going here soon too. How about you?" \n\n

0 Eavan Kindred Souls. 0 Eavan 0 5

Geoffrey Layne

February 04, 2007 4:41 PM

I love this class... by Geoffrey Layne

"Suck-up," Helena said, sounding amused and scarily like Anne. The way she adjusted her bag to sit more comfortably on her shoulders disproved any ideas her brother might have entertained about her joining him on the front row. Geoff grinned up at her, not showing that he was still annoyed with her for dragging her feet and so preventing him from being the first person to arrive in the Potions classroom. She and Anne were both notoriously slow to get to class, and Geoff felt morally obligated to drag them along with him whenever he had a class with either of them.

"Always," he said. "Sure you don't care to try to get into Connell's good books with me?" He knew it was a bit lame to want to work with his kid sister in class, but too many of the people in his year were as jerky as he was and too many of the people in hers had weird or bad reputations for him to want to work with them or let them anywhere near Lena. If anything happened to her, he was deader than the average doornail, and not from pangs of fraternal anguish. Their father always took Helena's side, just like their mother always took Geoff's.

Helena shook her head, half-smirking in a way Geoff didn't like. "No thanks, I love not existing to the teachers. This is going to be another opportunity for us, by which I mean you, to broaden our, by which I mean your, social horizons."

Geoffrey scowled at her. "You're as lifeless as I am."

"No, I'm not. I talk to people in class, and I'm not Jenny Zucchero's best-and-only friend, which means I have to be nice to the other people on my Quidditch team." She gave him the same crooked smile he was more used to seeing aimed at their father when she was trying to get her way in spite of him. "Besides, I did beige lie. You can't say I was really mean."

"Beige lie?"

"Yeah, beige lie. I said 'us' and 'our', which would've been a white lie if I hadn't explained what I really meant right afterwards."

"Shut up, Helena."

"With pleasure. Have fun socializing."

It was their mutual good fortune that Professor Connell was in the room, because Geoff thought he might have answered that one with a remark he would have later regretted if not for the authoritative presence.

He made a show of looking serious and writing things down on the parchment meant for his notes until class began. It was, he had discovered, the best way to keep from really having to deal with people in the lulls between classes on days when he had more important things to think about, like what potion they were going to be making that day or if Anne was losing her mind for real over Quidditch or if she was just having a girl-interlude and would revert to normal once they beat Crotalus. The contrariness Helena's order to talk to people had awoken set him to doodling, and if the parchment had been observed, the "important things" he was transcribing would have been revealed to be along the lines of Aladrens rule, Geeks are better than Nerds, and Will this class start already?

He put his quill down when Professor Connell began to speak and nodded when it seemed appropriate. He turned to page 35 when she mentioned it and skimmed the directions. It looked easy enough, and if they were trying it out on toads, the odds were for some idiot blowing them all up on a dare or, in the case of the girly-girls, because they didn't want to touch them. Geoffrey brightened the instant the professor said they were allowed to work alone and immediately upped his appreciation for her. He sucked at delegation; if he was going to be graded for something, he wanted to be in control of it himself. Period. He didn't even trust Lena or Anne in the lab, though the latter's temper made that more prudent than obsessive-compulsive.

Setting up his heavy, clunky supply kit and reveling in the lack of a need to accommodate a partner's books or person, Geoff started to go back over the directions again, taking his time this time around. This was his first opportunity to demonstrate that he was the best in the class at Potions instead of just lucky, and he meant to make full use of it. If it didn't come out perfect, then his pride and his grade were both gone with the wind, and he liked both of them in their current locations much better.

He hadn't even finished the page when he became aware of someone standing too close to him for it to be accidental, and a quick sideways look proved that the interloper wasn't his sister. The way the other friendless losers of Sonora never seemed to learn the joys of solitude never failed to amaze him. Allowing himself to half-hope that the intruder just wanted to borrow something from his potions kit, Geoff looked up from his textbook. "What do you want?" \n\n

16 Geoffrey Layne I love this class... 72 Geoffrey Layne 0 5

Caednce

February 06, 2007 8:41 PM

Sorry, life is a bother sometimes by Caednce

Caedence ignored teh question for a moment to say, "I don't think you should skin a second one. The book here says one will do. I've finished the daisy roots," she shoved the chopped roots over to her partner before continuing after a brief pause.

Well, that was a little bit of an understatement. It was actually a pretty long pause while Caedence weighed what to say and what not to say. She grabbed the three caterpillars and got to work chopping them up while she spoke.

"I live with both parents. My mum's a witch, but she cant even do a levitation charm without blowing up the house. I would be sorry to have been her teacher. My dad's a muggle, and he doesn't care for magic," Understatement of the century Caedence! "We basically live like muggles at home, but I don't mind. The only thing I would like is to have an owl. I do have my puffskein, but the puffball's up in my dorm. Useless, I say. Doesn't do anything but hum and purr."

She jerked one finger back as she cut herself with the knife. Putting her thumb in her mouth to try and stop it bleeding she cut off the little bit of caterpillar that she got blood on and continued to chop one handed for a while. Taking her thumb out of her mouth, she looked at it. Pretty bad, but not in need of stitches. She used her knife to rip off the colar of her t-shirt under her robe and used that to tie up her thumb.

"I never said I wasn't clumsy. And no, I'm not going to have that looked at." She said, her eyes saying not to argue the need for a medic. "It's a scratch," she added to further prove her point.

"So, all we need is a rat spleen, yuck, and leech juice. Seriously, Rat spleen, leech juice, cut up caterpillars, and those wierd shrivel figs? Top it off with the creepy decor, and I think potions class was made to wierd people out." she said with a laugh. Laughing, another thing to add to her try-this-some-more list. Eh, right after beating the tar out of a few select students.

She turned to Eavan, "I think you're up, Eavan. We just got to put these all together and stir...at least I think we stir. Do we?" she read the text, hoping to glean some knowledge on how to do this stuff. Really, she just didn't ahve the patience as she would rather dump it all in, let it sit for maybe half a second then force feed it to the stupid frog and get it over with, nevermind all the stupidity in that methood.\n\n

0 Caednce Sorry, life is a bother sometimes 0 Caednce 0 5

Adam Brockert

February 06, 2007 9:34 PM

Re: Second and Third years- Lesson 1 by Adam Brockert

Adam was really beginning to hate going to class. It wasn't the subject matter, he liked all of that fine. It was the other people that were there. He felt like he didn't have a friend in the world. Ginger probably hated him from last year's Defense lesson. Adam hadn't talked to her at all since then. He hadn't seen Pepper around much either. He assumed she also wanted nothing to do with him. Even Kaylie was too busy for him. The other kids, the year below his especially, had never seemed to like him much.

Potions was one of the worst classes too. Oh, Adam could handle dead animal parts with no problems, but they always had to work with others. In fact, often the teachers seemed obsessed with that in most classes.

That's why, as soon as Professor Connell said they could work alone if they wanted, Adam gave an exceptionally rare, relieved smile. He'd have been happier if nobody got to work in groups or pairs because when other people were in groups, he always felt like they were looking at him and laughing at him and mocking him while he worked. However, Adam decided to just be grateful he could work alone and didn't have to go about finding someone who actually liked him. He didn't want to have to work with anyone who didn't, which meant anyone at this point. Adam simply wasn't going to put himself through that kind of rejection and pain. At least being able to work alone was better than nothing at all.

He set about chopping the daisy roots, since Adam didn't have any already chopped. He concentrated solely on getting these just right, even though people would probably being looking at him strange. It was just that if he focused hard on this, Adam's mind would be off of what made him so anxious. Not that it always worked, but this time it seemed to be, because he didn't even notice when someone was standing next to him.\n\n

11 Adam Brockert Re: Second and Third years- Lesson 1 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Briony O'Leary

February 07, 2007 6:11 PM

Is this seat taken? by Briony O'Leary

Normally a well-prepared student, Briony usually didn't forget things. Unfortunately, she hadn't been sleeping well lately and she couldn't figure out why. Yet, the effect was done. The entire day had been awful. She had overslept and missed breakfast, her homework was disorganized, and to top it off, she was out of leech juice. Why hadn't she kept an eye on her potions kit? Her dad wouldn't be happy if he heard her grades were dropping. Maybe she could borrow some from someone else.

Looking around, she saw the kid, who she knew by name, but had never really met, aside from a brief interlude in Muggle Studies. She wondered over, but didn't really know how to get his attention. He seemed very focus on his work and with the use of sharp instruments, she didn't want to startle him. She decided to try and get his attention another way.

Moving to in front of him, she leaned slightly, her elbows on the table to wait until he noticed.\n\n

0 Briony O'Leary Is this seat taken? 75 Briony O'Leary 0 5

Lila St. Martin

February 09, 2007 11:07 PM

Looking for a partner... by Lila St. Martin

Lila had never liked Potions. Her first problem with it, of course, was the dead-animals and potential-stains aspect of things. Getting her hands or, worse, her skirt dirty didn't fit the Perfect Girl image she worked for, but letting her grade drop beyond an acceptable point - a point that had a tendency to change every time Allie's grade did - was even further out of the question. Her second objection was that Professor Connell was the Pecari Head of House. Morgaine's Sorting had lead to Lila cultivating the same dislike for everything Pecari that she had for everything Aladren. Her third complaint against the subject, the one that would never be vocalized, was that she was just plain no good at it.

She walked into the lab with her chin up and shoulders back, the way she thought a leader should walk. That every person in there probably knew by now that she didn't have any followers was irrelevant. She didn't like being alone - she had never been that way except in sleep at home, and had never finished adjusting to it at school - but she hadn't liked it when Cassie and Emilie and Allie started looking to her as their leader when Gwen fell out of favor, either. Lila was a spoiled little rich girl and proud of it, but she was past the stage of thinking she would get everything she wanted, when she wanted it, how she liked it.

The speech Connell gave them was standard, just like every other start-of-term-or-class speech she had heard for the past three years. Lila was sure she could have recited it virtually verbatim in her sleep by now. Only giving the professor half her attention, she tried to loosen the back of one diamond stud without it being too obvious or the tiny piece of gold falling off and getting lost. She would stoop to crawling around in the floor for her jewelry, but she would rather avoid the necessity. Lila switched her attention back to her teacher when the topic turned to the day's potion, though, and flipped to the correct page when it was given. She might not have been good, but she could look good.

Of the today-speech, three things stuck with her: the name of the potion, the nature of the test specimens, and the bit about partners being optional. A small wave of panic rose up in her stomach and swept towards the thin bones of her shoulder area, leaving the same kind of tingly heat behind that she associated with humiliation-induced nausea. If partners were optional, then there was a chance that exactly the wrong number of people would want to work alone and that she would be left alone. Making worse grades than her twin was more of an option than working alone in class.

She generally disapproved of being the initiator of a relationship - she was worth coming to, in her opinion - but this was a crisis in the making. If she didn't find someone else to work with fast, she would wind up with her sister or Morgaine or Anne's beau or, worst of all, by herself like a loser, which was almost worse than doing badly, which would also come of working solo. Leaving her book, bag, and materials right where they were, Lila pasted on her best smile, prayed to all the deities that ever were that her face wasn't still red from her episode, and made a beeline for the first person she saw. "Hi," she said, trying to sound upbeat and chipper. "I'm Lila. Allie's over there." She gestured to her sister, since pointing was rude. "Would you like to work together?" \n\n

16 Lila St. Martin Looking for a partner... 80 Lila St. Martin 0 5

Eavan

February 11, 2007 3:06 PM

Trust me. I know how you feel. by Eavan

Eavan heeded Caedence's advice and tossed the second shrivelfig back into the bag with the others, nodding at Cadence in the mean-time. She knew what it was like to live like a muggle.

"I don't have an owl either. Earl does and I have to share with him. But I have a puffskein too. They really don't do anything, but it's always nice to have something furry to hug."

Eavan took the daisy roots Caedance offered her and threw them in the pot according to the directions and then let it stew for a moment. When she turned back towards her partner, Caedence's thumb was in her mouth. Wasn't she a little bit old to be sucking her thumb. But when she removed her thumb she saw the cut and it made more sense. She watched Caendence rip the collar of her shirt and wrap it around the injured thumb. Eavan opened her mouth to ask if she should go see the nurse, but Caednece seemed to have read her mind.

Eavan shrugged. Even though she knew it would be better to go get it looked at, Eavan was smart enough to know that if Cadence Redoak didn't want to do something, Eavan sure as heck couldn't make her. She forced a laugh when Cadence made the joke about the class weirding everyone out.

"It is pretty gross, isn't it?" She held up the rat spleen she was supposed to add in next and wiggled it around a bit, making a face as she did so. She tossed it in the pot and followed it with the sliced caterpillars, the one skinned shrivelfig, and the dash of leech juice. Eavan glanced at the direction again, just to make sure shge was doing everything correctly. As far as she knew it was fine. Eavan began stirring slowly, hoping nothing would explode. So far, so good.

"Do you think this looks okay?" Eavan glanced into the pot and then over at Caedence questionly.\n\n

0 Eavan Trust me. I know how you feel. 0 Eavan 0 5

Caedence

February 11, 2007 6:59 PM

points at the title kindredsouls we really are alike then! by Caedence

Caedence nodded slightly at the wish for her own owl. Frankly, she felt that Eavan should be happy her father didn't want to either ignore her or try and abuse the magic out. Mentally, of course. Even her own father knew not to mess with his daughter. But still, it would be nice if he would aknowledge the fact that they were related. Oh and if her mother would learn the meaning of almost-twelve-years-old! Jeeze!

She peered into the cauldron curiosly. Frankly, it looked like a bunch of junk stewed together. Why in the world would anyone want to sit still and try their patience like this! And why ask Caedence if she thought it was done? She would say 'yes' just to high-tail it out of there! But still, she did have to do it right or risk getting a lecture. It did look good and potion-ey, so she nodded.

"Lets go get a frog, then feed it, shall we? I just hope it is a good potion, and not poison," She said. Indeed, it did look poisonous, but don't all potions? Good or bad? In fact, it looked like the picture in the book so Caedence guessed it was okay. But the book said nothing about...steam!? What in the world was with the steam?

After a few moments where she looked at Eavan questioningly, the steam went away, "Is that a good sign? I think it might just be... umm plain steam. You know, when liquids heat? Maybe we should give it to the frog before it explodes next,"

She laughed a bit, but was worried that they did something wrong. Did she misread and mishear about just needing one shrivelfig? Was that tiny slice of caterpillar enough to ruin the whole potion? Did she get a little blood into the concoction? A brief look of worry came and went on her face as she looked from the potion to her partner.\n\n

0 Caedence *points at the title kindredsouls* we really are alike then! 94 Caedence 0 5

Eavan

February 13, 2007 4:06 PM

Yay! by Eavan

Eavan fanned away the remnants of vapor steaming form the cauldron.

"I think it's just from heat. Or at least I hope it is," Eavan replied. "I'll go get the frog." Eavan jumped up and extracted a frog from the cage, holding it at arms length all the way back and plopping it down on the table. The frog tried to make an escape off the desk, but Eavan put a hand in front of it, blocking it's path.

"We'd better do this quick. I guess I'll hold the frog while you pour some of this stuff in it's mouth. Ready?" she asked Caedence, hoping that her partner's fears of poison had no basis, and that this slimy little frog would live to croak another day.\n\n

0 Eavan Yay! 0 Eavan 0 5

Caedence

February 14, 2007 6:15 PM

Another thing to cheer about; we finished first!!! by Caedence

OOC: Love the oxymoron, 'live to croak'

IC: Caedence waited while Eavan went to get a frog. When she came back with it, Caedence felt an odd sensation. Like her stomach tightening. Was it nerves? She never, except for a few times in her life, had gotten nervous before. It was odd, and uncomfortable. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they were feeding a toad something that could very well be poison. She filled up a spoon with the potion and opened the frog's mouth.

She cringed when she realised that in place of teeth it had something resembling sandpaper. She shoved the potion down its throat and closed its mouth to keep it from spitting up the potion. When she felt the frog swallow, she looked from Eavan to the cauldron to the frog. Nothing seemed to be hapening. Then, after what seemed like ages, the frog shrank with a small pop. It was now a polywog, the stage between frog and tadpole. It had a long tail, like a tadpole, but still had short stubs where the legs were begining to take form again.

"Let's go up and get it changed back. I think its close enough. Not too long of legs, no arms, and a tail. Close enough to a tadpole to me!" Caedence said picking up the polywog and nodding her head towards Professor Connell.\n\n

0 Caedence Another thing to cheer about; we finished first!!! 94 Caedence 0 5

Eavan

February 17, 2007 6:04 PM

We're Number 1! by Eavan

Eavan stared wide-eyed as Cadence fed the frog their potion. As the frog swallowed, a rushed though ran through her head. "Don't let it die. Don't let it die." The frog swallowed and a few seoconds later, Evan heard a tiny 'pop' and the frog she was holding disappeared, leaving something that resembled a tadpole, but something was a little bit off. She looked over at Caedence for reassurance that this was, indeed, a tadpole that she was holding.

Caedence seemed to think it was close enough, so Eavan smiled a little bit and nodded before getting up and taking it over to Professor Connell where she held out the squirming little amphibian.

"Cadence and I finshed. Is it all right?"

\n\n

0 Eavan We're Number 1! 0 Eavan 0 5

Adam B.

February 17, 2007 8:17 PM

Taken? You're kidding, right? by Adam B.

A shadow fell over his desk. The only reason for such a phenomenon was that somebody was standing there. Slowly, Adam raised his head to find himself facing Briony O'Leary. His face flushed. After the incident in Muggle Studies where he'd made an absolute fool of himself, Adam had no idea why she'd come anywhere near him.

He mentally checked over what he'd been doing, to see if he'd been doing anything wrong. For the life of him, Adam couldn't figure out what though. He couldn't figure out why she'd come over here otherwise. Certainly he'd never be doing anything right. He was also pretty sure she didn't want to work with him. Why would she? Nobody liked being around Adam.

And of all the people to have be displeased with him, about to criticize him, it was a pretty girl, who was his teacher's daughter no less! Adam really wished he could figure out what he'd done that was unacceptable within the last few moments. All he'd done was chop up roots. Perhaps he'd done so too intently?

"Um," Adam began, not meeting Briony's eyes. "C-can I help you?" He asked. Yes, that seemed like a fairly unobjectionable, neutral thing to say. It sounded normal, not too strange, aside from his voice sounding uncomfortable and having a bit of hitch in it. Plus, he'd stammered awkwardly a little. Adam feverently hoped she hadn't noticed.\n\n

11 Adam B. Taken? You're kidding, right? 78 Adam B. 0 5

Echo Elms

February 24, 2007 11:31 AM

I guess I'm the first person you saw. by Echo Elms

Echo got to class just before Professor Connell began and his seat was taken. Well, it was the first day and they didn't technicaly have seats yet -- but it was Potions and Saul Pierce was his lab partner and that made the seat next to Saul Pierce his. But it was a no-go, so Echo found himself choosing an easy to get to seat in the back row. It had to be the first time he'd ever sat in the back when seats weren't assigned and he noticed he was having trouble reading whatever was written up there.

As Professor Connell went on, Echo found himself playing with his vision -- alternately squinting and leaning forward and leaning back and relaxing, then looking from his notebook to the board. It wasn't that stuff was blurry up there, just that it wasn't really clear -- which was entirely different, he decided, and wrote down the page number and name of the spell they were going to be doing. This was particularly important information because it was the main thing he couldn't count on Saul getting right. The first day of class last year, the pair had done the wrong potion and Echo hadn't entirely let him live it down.

Soon enough the were released to find their groups, this time with the option of working alone. Alone might have been okay, but Echo jumped up and swung around the outside of the desks to find a clear B-line over to Saul, when he was stopped suddenly by the commanding presence of Lila St. Martin -- a girl who, this time last year, would have scared the power of speech out of him with one look.

Of course, last year, that wouldn't have been tough.

Lila St. Martin was one of those popular kids with lots of croonies -- Echo didn't know who they were, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen them, but he knew they had to be around somewhere with a girl like her -- and in a perfect muggle world, Echo would have never have been a blip on her radar. The big curly hair, teva sandles, and assymmetrical nose marked him as an outsider, and his awkwardly straight posture, the tenseness in his shoulders and the way he kept his arms in close to him when he was trying to maneuver around people -- were all tell tale signs of his freakishness that ought to keep people like her at bay. That Lila St. Martin even saw him was sort of amazing in its own way.

Echo was momentarily distractly enough to let someone bump into him and he gasped and hopped to side with a quick glare at the personal space offender, and checked to see that Lila St. Martin still appeared to be talking to him.

"Would you like to work together?" she asked, looking right at him.

Girls like you spread rumors about guys like me, he tried to relax and be normal about it. It wasn't like he was a total outcast... anymore. And it wasn't like girls he'd assumed existed to make fun of people like him didn't turn out occasionally to be the Ellys and Merediths of the world. Besides, it was probably starting to dawn on her that she'd asked some kind of crazy weirdo to be her lab partner -- he grinned at the thought -- so he'd better not make a fool of her by saying no or there'd probably be consequences.

"Um, sure," he agreed and pulled out the chair next to Lila St. Martin. Kneeling on it and now, thankfully, out of the aisle, Echo's rolled his shoulders once with a deep breath and they relaxed back to normal-person-shoulders as he smacked his bag onto the desk to pull out his supplies.

"I'm Echo," he introduced himself, offering her a nod of greeting and a smile. Usually this was the point where people said their House, but he was pretty sure she was probably Crotalus and Crotali generally didn't like Pecaris, and he didn't generally like Crotali and she probably already didn't like him anyway so he wasn't about to bring it up. He flipped open his book to page 35, like Lila's, and leaned over to read the ingredients. Sticking a pencil mark next to the ingredients he didn't have he, turned the book towards Lila. "Have any of these?"\n\n

21 Echo Elms I guess I'm the first person you saw. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Morgaine Carey

February 24, 2007 8:19 PM

You might reconsider that after this. by Morgaine Carey

Morgaine had arrived early to Potions, taking a seat and putting her books on the one next to it without a single look right, left, or at anything in particular. Whatever fates there were had decided to align against her, which was why the second and third years were together for the class Connell taught. Things could have been worse - the Potions professor could have decided to do a joint class with Kijewski and had her father in as a guest speaker - but the situation was miserable enough just like it was. Amber, Morgaine, and Morgaine's Head of House were stuck together for the length of the class period, and she was already sure that something bad was going to happen.

Because that was how it happened. Whenever she was set on being good, something happened to make her do something a little bit stupid, which lead to her doing something even stupider, which lead to her getting in trouble. She could predict her headaches with better accuracy than she could her temper. Amber, though, was one thing she could almost count on to set her off, and in a situation where she had to be good, like in front of a professor who was unlikely to have forgotten or forgiven her for embarrassing Pecari in front of Aladren's Head of House...

She stayed hunched over a random page in her Potions book until Professor Connell began to speak, then looked up to show that she hadn't fallen asleep. The page she had been pretending to look at was a good two hundred ahead of the one they were given to work with. Flipping backwards, she tried for the 'geek' look. She was good at Potions, or at least better at Potions than she was at most things. They didn't make an easier subject; all she had to do was obey the rules and follow clearly written directions in a book to the letter, and she got a good grade. Just to be safe, though, she decided to hunt down someone to work with. It was an exact science, but accidents happened, and she was afraid that her reputation was such that, in the event of something going wrong, she would be accused of messing up on purpose.

She reviewed her options. The second years were out of the question because of Amber and the incident in January. The St. Martins were equally out of the equation, because Lila had the ability to get under her skin at will and Allie... Allie was much nicer than her sister, nicer, in fact, than any of her other cousins or stepcousins she could think of at a moment's notice, but the child was hardly an asset in a situation where delicacy was called for. She would think twice before she let Adam Brockert hold a scalpel, and she didn't want to deal with Geoff Spindler knowing her sister from Quidditch. She didn't even want to get started on the issues associated with the other Pecaris, which left...the Aladrens. Stupid, stuck-up know-it-alls. Sighing from pure frustration, she walked over to Anne's friend.

Her back went up at the reception she got. It was true that the Laynes had had the odd quarrel or six with the Careys, and that the only combination worse than the average Pecari with the average Aladren was an average Pecari and an average Crotalus, but none of that was an excuse for being rude. Neither of those things made a difference; her family had gone through less-than-pretty interludes with virtually every pureblood family in the Southeast, and Morgaine could not think of a single thing about herself that qualified as average. She wanted to demand who he was to think that she would ever want anything from him, but her location did a bit too much to suggest it.

"To challenge you," she said instead, voicing the first excuse that came to mind. "To a friendly little competition to see who can make this Shrinking Solution better." She gave him a level look. "I'm good at this. So are you. It'll be entertaining to see who's better without partners to mess up the data." The shoe dropped. This was the stupid thing she was going to do. She didn't lose well, and there was nothing to say that she was going to win. Maybe he'd be political enough to refuse to go up against someone quite as far above him on the social ladder as she was. \n\n

0 Morgaine Carey You might reconsider that after this. 81 Morgaine Carey 0 5

Professor Connell

Second and Third years- Lesson 1 by Professor Connell

Eavan Valentine

Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. by Eavan Valentine

Elly Eriksson

Picking my partner [tag Gil] by Elly Eriksson

Caedence

ah, at least you don't trip and blame someone else by Caedence

Eavan

My author does. by Eavan

Caedence

Do you also pick random fights? by Caedence

Eavan

Only with my computer and my math homework by Eavan

Caedence

Ha, this author yells at inatimate all the time! by Caedence

Eavan

Kindred Souls. by Eavan

Geoffrey Layne

I love this class... by Geoffrey Layne

Caednce

Sorry, life is a bother sometimes by Caednce

Adam Brockert

Re: Second and Third years- Lesson 1 by Adam Brockert

Briony O'Leary

Is this seat taken? by Briony O'Leary

Lila St. Martin

Looking for a partner... by Lila St. Martin

Eavan

Trust me. I know how you feel. by Eavan

Caedence

*points at the title kindredsouls* we really are alike then! by Caedence

Eavan

Yay! by Eavan

Caedence

Another thing to cheer about; we finished first!!! by Caedence

Eavan

We're Number 1! by Eavan

Adam B.

Taken? You're kidding, right? by Adam B.

Echo Elms

I guess I'm the first person you saw. by Echo Elms

Morgaine Carey

You might reconsider that after this. by Morgaine Carey

Professor Connell

Lesson closed (nm) by Professor Connell

points at the title kindredsouls we really are alike then! by Caedence