Lesson for Years 3 and 4 on Potions

Professor Fawcett

February 22, 2009 6:45 PM

Lesson for Years 3 and 4 by Professor Fawcett

John finished marking the last of the third and fourth year exams as the first of the students of that class walked in the door. Pleased with himself for accomplishing this feat, he spent the remaining time before class officially started putting the papers into alphabetical order, unlikely though it was that everyone would sit that way.

Finishing that task, he put the papers down and looked up at the assembly. "Good morning, everyone," he said. "If I could have someone pass back papers..." He passed them to the first volunteer with a nod. "On average, the test was very good, though many of you could have been clearer for the antidote short answer questions. If you feel you need to go over the exam or part of it with me after class, we can, of course, do that."

Once the papers were all distributed and mostly tucked away by their owners, John began the day's lesson. "Today, we'll work on the Shrinking Solution, which is composed of a dash of leech juice - not a large one, mind you - one rat spleen - more will make it poisonous - chopped daisy roots, a skinned shrivelfig, and three sliced caterpillars. All of these things can be found in the supply cabinet if your kit lacks them.

"While the main purpose of this potion is to, well, cause an object to decrease in size, drinking it can cause some living creatures, including most amphibians, to return to an earlier place in their physical development. This can, however, be easily reversed with an appropriate antidote. If any of you care to test your potion before you hand in your samples for grading, you may experiment on Oscar and Beckett here." He indicated the two toads in their cages, whose names he had made up that second. "Work together in pairs as usual for time's sake. If there are no questions now, you may begin."

OOC: Standard posting rules apply as always. Have fun with it, and feel free to test your creations on poor Oscar and Beckett as you complete the potion.

Subthreads:

Poor Oscar. Poor Beckett. Poor Me. by Holly Greer with Oliver Abbott, Oliver

Hoping for a partner by Addie Laurent with Cecily Smythe, Addie

0 Professor Fawcett Lesson for Years 3 and 4 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Holly Greer

February 23, 2009 5:12 PM

Poor Oscar. Poor Beckett. Poor Me. by Holly Greer

Holly looked over her test, most of her attention on the number in red at the top (an 89% - not awful, but Holly would have preferred one more percentage point), but she spare a few moments to see where the 11% wrong came from. Ah. Right. She'd known she'd gotten that one wrong when she wrote it (honestly, she really had known the antidote to aconite was not happy thoughts, but she didn't want to leave the question entirely blank), and then there was the question about some potion that she remembered how to make but not what it was called, and she'd gotten partial credit for that.

And then there was the red mark next to the 'describe the effect of adding rat tails' question in which she'd included 'nausea' among the more textbook appropriate answers. She wasn't sure if she lost points for that or not. It was certainly accurate though.

As the professor began going over the day's lesson she groaned in dismay. Rat spleens and sliced caterpillars? Those were two of her least favorite ingredients. Of course, most ingredients were among her least favorite ingredients, so it was hardly surprising that she didn't like something in the recipe.

"Ew ew ew ew ew," she whined when they were told to begin. She knocked back a calming draught and thanked her lucky stars that at least her nausea was again caused by the standard ickiness and not by a swamp thing of a professor. The day Professor Fawcett appeared as a sub in this class had been her happiest of the year. The only thing that could have possibly beat it would have been if he'd appeared in Professor Flatt's class instead.

Putting away the empty vial, she wrestled with her cauldron to get it on top of the potions table and then looked to the person she'd chosen to sit beside. Knowing that partner work was the standard procedure, she was always careful when choosing her neighbors in this class. She never sat next to her friends. Instead, she usually picked Renaye or a boy; anyone who did not look as though they'd get sick if they had to slice the caterpillars or otherwise touch, mash, chop, or crush the icky things.

Holly certainly wasn't going to do anything like that.

1 Holly Greer Poor Oscar. Poor Beckett. Poor Me. 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Oliver Abbott

March 17, 2009 4:47 PM

Poor you? I think I got the worse deal here. by Oliver Abbott

These days, potions was always good. It was easily Oliver's best class, and since Lutece had taken to helping him rather than trying to ruin everything it was only getting better. Therefore Oliver was in a good mood as he took his usual seat in the classroom, assuming that, as usual, Lutece would sit next to him. She didn't - it was one of those creepy girls from third year who took the empty seat. In fact, it was that weird Holly Greer who had to take drugs to face a history class. Groaning internally, Oliver tried his best to stay cheerful and focus on the lesson.

He would never admit it - because that would make him a total nerd - but Oliver liked getting marked work back. He liked checking over his grades and finding out where he'd gone wrong and, more importantly, feeling proud when he'd gone right. So when his paper was handed back with a satisfying 97% emblazoned on its front, nothing could have stopped the pleased smile that crept onto his face. In fact, Oliver spent the next few minutes feelin g like nothing could go wrong.

Then he looked to the side and saw his partner.

"Hi," Oliver said, noticing that he sounded a little deflated even to his own ears. So for his next utterance he made an effort to sound more upbeat. "I made this potion in my second year so it should be easy as falling off a broom," he smiled.

0 Oliver Abbott Poor you? I think I got the worse deal here. 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5

Addie Laurent

March 21, 2009 11:20 AM

Hoping for a partner by Addie Laurent

Sitting in the middle of the room had its advantages. While she wasn’t one of the first to receive her exam back, she wasn’t one of the last either. She didn’t have to suffer through the entire time of waiting, being anxious, wanting to know if she did well or if she did horribly. When she did get it back, she wasn’t surprised to see that she had done all right, but not great. She very rarely, if ever, received a very high grade in Potions, because she tended to either overanalyze the question or make silly mistakes that she berated herself for later.

Thankfully, making the Potions was actually much easier so long as one followed directions and Addie was pretty good with following orders. Slipping her paper between the pages of her textbook, she flipped to the potion that they were to be working on. Before pulling out her kit, she took the opportunity to read over what her book had to say about the solution since she wasn’t quite sure what the usefulness of it even was. Well, she could understand the need for someone to look younger like if they were on a mission, but the point of a smaller object?

Reading further, she came to the conclusion that one of the possibilities was with being able to fit objects through doorways that were otherwise normally smaller than the object. That made sense. It probably also made large objects easier to maneuver with hovering when they were smaller. And while it didn’t say so, she also thought that it could be useful for keeping spaces neater when storing numerous objects. This would have been good when she and Hannah had shared a room. That hadn’t worked out too well with all of their things.

Finished, she looked over to where the cabinet was. It looked like the mob had thinned out and she already knew that she didn’t have caterpillars in her kit. Though, the thought of slicing caterpillars was really gross and her stomach churned slightly uneasy. They always produced a pus like substance and it was hard to believe that such an ugly thing could one day turn into a butterfly. She fervently wished that she would be like the caterpillar and that she was just in a larva phase. She wanted to grow up to be beautiful, like her mother and sister were.

Now having nearly everything she needed, there was but one thing left to do, find a partner. But who would actually want to work with her? Everyone already had their little groups. Groups that she wasn’t a part of. She didn’t fit in anywhere. She didn’t have any friends unless she could count Grayson who she had been on friendly terms with, but hadn’t talked to lately. Maybe the person sitting near to her wouldn’t mind being her partner. After all, it was just for class, right? It wasn’t like they had to become best friends. Turning, she asked, “Do you want to be my partner?”

0 Addie Laurent Hoping for a partner 0 Addie Laurent 0 5

Cecily Smythe

March 23, 2009 10:55 AM

You got one by Cecily Smythe

Potions was the most loathsome subject on the planet. History was dull and disgusting only in an indirect way; potions was directly disgusting, and there was not a potion on this planet that money couldn't buy. Hence Cecily detested merely being in the classroom. Doing actual work was usually out of the question.

To further ruin her day, they had exams back. Cecily had barely been passing the subject all year, and her percentage mark of 52% was comforting, but none too promising. Most of that had been good guesswork, although she had done a very little bit of studying just to make sure she didn't have to tell her parents she was failing. That would not be a pleasant conversation.

On the positive side, Addie Laurent - the Ladies' new pet project - had just asked to be partners. Cecily offered what she hoped was a welcoming smile. "I'd love to be partners," Cecily said, and she was being genuine - she truly wanted to help Addie, and the best way to do that was probably by befriending her. "I'd really like for us to be friends," she said.

"Although, I warn you I'm really not very good at making potions," she said, leaning in as if telling a secret. "My stomach just can't stand chopping up insects," she made a face. "I'm not as bad as Holly," - seriously, Cecily liked that girl but she needed to take control of herself a little more - "but I'd rather just stick to stirring, if that's okay with you." Cecily smiled sweetly, as if she hadn't just asked Addie to basically do all the work for the lesson.

0 Cecily Smythe You got one 122 Cecily Smythe 0 5

Addie

March 23, 2009 8:15 PM

It's my lucky day by Addie

It was obvious that when school ended she was going to have to get her hearing checked. There was absolutely no way in the world that Cecily Smythe had not only agreed to be her partner, but had continued the sentiment by saying that she wanted them to be friends. Why would Cecily want to be friends with her? She was everything that Cecily wasn’t. The other girl was the epitome of cool and popular. Anyone could see why. It was why she was part of the in-crowd. Addie glanced down at herself. Definitely not in-crowd material.

If Addie had been aware of such things her first day of school, she would have sided with Cecily and Anabel. Maybe if she had, she would have friends now. Not just friends, but the friends to have. Some might say that it was shallow of her to think such things, but none of the established groups actually seemed to be nicer or friendlier than any other group. So, given the choice between any, she would take the one’s with the better reputation, because even if some didn’t admit it, reputation counted for a lot and would open a lot of doors.

When Cecily leaned in, Addie waited with baited breath at what she would say. At the mention of not being able to make potions, she immediately jumped at the chance to impress, “That’s all right. I’m pretty good at it and I don’t blame you in the slightest for being disgusted about the insects. They are pretty gross.” She really wasn’t happy about being the one to chop the caterpillars, but for the chance to be in Cecily’s good graces, she would have walked across hot coals in her bare feet. Okay, maybe that was a little extreme, but sometimes that’s what one had to be.

“I guess we should get the worst part over with,” Addie said, picking up one of the utterly icky bugs and placing it in front of her. Taking the scalpel, she took a deep breath and held it while she slid it down the center causing a mucus like substance to attach to the blade. “This is just foul.” It was nasty to the extreme. She really wished she were pretty. Then, she could have batted her eyelashes at some boy and gotten him to do all the work. She was sure that if she weren’t the one doing this right now for Cecily, that’s exactly what the other girl would have done.

0 Addie It's my lucky day 0 Addie 0 5

Holly Greer

March 25, 2009 2:20 PM

You're right, of course, but my presense is worth it by Holly Greer

She had chosen Oliver Abbott today. Holly didn't really know Oliver all that well, but he was a boy, and he was older than her (a fourth year, she was nearly certain), which probably meant he (a) wouldn't scream like Holly if he had to touch a dead caterpillar, and (b) knew how to make potions with some higher level of skill than she did. All in all, she considered him quite a brilliant choice for a partner and was glad the seat next to him had been empty.

"Hi," Holly returned with a smile when he greeted her. He didn't sound especially happy, but she passed this off as a normal consequence of needing to make a potion. Holly sympathized completely. Still, that was no reason for her to act gloomy. Especially since she intended to get him to do all the icky bits.

Her smile became a bit more genuine and a bit more amused as he promised her that the potion was as easy as falling off a broom. "That's actually harder than you'd think," she told him. She knew this from experience. "You're far more likely to crash while still riding it, than you are to actually fall off. Even dismounting on purpose is a little tricky." She was of the firm opinion that brooms ought to have saddles and stirrups to help with exactly that problem. But then, she was a trained equestrian, so she might be biased.

Still, she turned to look over the potion instructions and nodded. "It doesn't look too hard. The worst part is the ingredients." But then, that almost went without saying. It was because of the ingredients that she hated this class. "I can stir and keep time and such, but would you mind terribly doing the nasty gross parts?" She gave him her sweetest, most charming, most innocently helpless, most guileless smile in her arsenal. "Please?"

1 Holly Greer You're right, of course, but my presense is worth it 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Oliver

April 07, 2009 2:09 PM

According to you by Oliver

"That's actually harder than you'd think," Weird Holly Greer said, and Oliver was almost sure she was referring to his falling off a broom comment. As she rambled on about it a bit more, he was certain she was talking about falling off a broom, at he couldn't hide a grin. Weird she might be, but it turned out Holly at least had a sense of humour.

While Oliver took a moment to remind himself of the instructions, it transpired that Holly was doing the same thing. Well, almost. "Would you mind terribly doing the nasty gross parts?" she said, and Oliver knew he must have smiled at that - this was almost exactly like working with Lutece. Why couldn't he find a decent potions partner?

"Yeah, sure," he replied, humouring her. "I'll handle all the icky bits. You stick to the stirring." He was even being generous in allowing her to stir - that was an important part of making sure the potion was brewed successfully, and Oliver didn't usually let anyone else take over. However, he had already been graded for this potion, so whatever, Holly could stir if it would make her feel better.

"Um," he said, after a moment's consideration, "would you mind chopping the daisy roots, too?" He didn't think that was too difficult a task, even for someone with an almost comically weak stomach, and he'd already established he didn't mind the potion not being perfect.

"I'll just go get the other ingredients," Oliver said, and wandered off to the potions cabinet. He was looking forward to the end of term, and holidays. That would probably be enough to keep him in high spirits for the rest of the year.

"Here we go," he said when he returned, placing the ingredients carefully on his desk. "Leeches and dead caterpillars and the rest of it." He smirked to himself as he got to work.

0 Oliver According to you 0 Oliver 0 5

Cecily

April 11, 2009 12:33 PM

You're about to get luckier by Cecily

This was getting better and better. Not only did Addie not mind chopping up the icky bugs, but she even admitted to be good at potions. If Cecily had discovered this earlier she might have partnered with her quiet roommate more often. In fact, she would make an effort to do so from now on.

Cecily could barely look as her partner began slicing the caterpillars. So partly as a goodwill gesture, and partly just to give her something to concentrate on, Cecily pulled the daisy root towards her. "I'll do these," she said, as if she were lifting a great burden. "Can't have you doing all the work." Cecily smiled - this was going well. In fact, this could be the perfect time to implement the first stage of the Ladies' plan to save Addie.

"My parents are taking me to the beach over the summer," she said, trying her best to sound like the conversation had no pre-meditation, "somewhere Mediterranean." She hesitated for just a second to make it all sound natural, before saying, "and when I get back I'm going to have a sleepover at my house. I'm going to ask Anabel," she named their roommate because Cecily wasn't sure how well Addie would know the other Ladies, "and some others. Would you like to come too?"

Cecily finished the daisies and pushed them away from her. She knew the others wouldn't mind her inviting Addie - it was at Cecily's house, after all. It would be the perfect opportunity to get their peer on the right track.

0 Cecily You're about to get luckier 0 Cecily 0 5