Potions = Love on Potions

Professor Fawcett

February 07, 2009 10:27 PM

Beginner Potions - 1st and 2nd Years by Professor Fawcett

John Fawcett spent his life surrounded by paper. Books on a variety of topics, collections of periodicals with articles he had written or which his brother and sister featured in, old letters and copies of his responses, notes about things ranging from new theories of magic to tasks his wife wanted him to complete "sometime this century, Jack", instructions manuals for every appliance he and Allison had ever owned - all this and more was crammed into the small room he called his office at home. He knew, more or less, where everything was, but no one else had a chance of figuring it out.

Since he'd started subbing at Sonora, where he spent a fair bit of time in one room, this tendency had started spilling over into his classrooms. His files on classes still had an elaborate and well-maintained system, but stacks of essays, lesson notes, letters, and articles had started to pile up. He didn't really notice it most of the time, but sometimes, when the first years were about, the flammability of such a collection occurred to him.

So far, there had been no major accidents. As the Beginner class filed in for their latest lesson, he could only hope it stayed that way.

"Good morning, class," he said. "Good morning. Settle down, please." Once they had done so, John continued. "We'll make a potion to cure boils today." Quentin Melcher had inspired him to research as many potions whose purpose was clear at-a-glance for this class as possible. It lead to fewer - or, at the very least, smaller - headaches for everyone.

"Instructions for this are on page fifteen of your text. If your standard kits are running low, you can find your dried nettles, porcupine quills, and snake fangs - you'll have to crush them yourselves - in the back cabinet with the horned slugs, which require stewing. You will work in pairs." That should do. "You may, and should, begin."

OOC - Standard posting rules apply: 200 word minimums for House points, good spelling and grammar, etc. Small lab accidents are, as always, allowed; no one's a perfect potioneer yet! Be as creative and detailed as you can, and have fun.

Subthreads:

In need of a partner by Daniel Nash II with Elliot Valentine

Finally posting by Juri Dahlgren with Nathaniel Leon

Working on my own... if that's allowed by Jera Valson with Kyler Kent, Jera

Potions = Love by Taylor Li with Pippa Brockert, Taylor

0 Professor Fawcett Beginner Potions - 1st and 2nd Years 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Daniel Nash II

February 23, 2009 4:31 PM

In need of a partner by Daniel Nash II

Daniel entered the Potions classroom with a glance toward the front of the room to see if Professor Fawcett was still subbing. He was. With a nod to himself, Daniel took a seat and pulled out his potions supplies. He knew what to expect from Professor Fawcett, so he didn't mind too much that they weren't being taught by a real potions master. The guy with the ears had been kind of creepy anyway, and if that was what all potions masters were like, Daniel was just as happy having Professor Fawcett substitute.

He listened carefully to the lesson and then started sorting through his supplies to see if he needed to borrow any from the classroom cabinet. He was a little low on nettles and porcupine quills, but the rest he had a fair amount of.

He glanced to his side to see who chance had paired him up with. "Need a partner?" he asked, more as a formality than as a real question. "Do you have nettles and quills or should I go get some more from the back?"

1 Daniel Nash II In need of a partner 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Elliot Valentine

February 24, 2009 1:52 AM

What a coincidence...me too! by Elliot Valentine

The entire first semester, Elliot and Ethan had been inseparable, despite the fact that they were in separate houses. They ate together, walked to class together, and spent a large amount of time in wither Cascade Hall or the Gardens, so that they were never apart. Second semester, however, there were more and more instances where Elliot would find himself walking to classes alone and doing his homework in the commonroom for various reasons.

This day was one of those days. Elliot had eaten breakfast alone and then made his way to potions alone. Just before the professor started the lecture, Elliot saw his twin race in, huffing and puffing and take a seat in one of the few empty seats left. Ethan turned around and shrugged an apology at him. Elliot sighed. Their dad was right: different sides of the same coin. Completely different sides.

When the lecture ended, Elliot began sifting through his potions kit, looking for everything he needed.

"Need a partner?" Elliot looked up. He knew the kid was a first year like himself, and a Aladren, very unlike himself. Elliot wondered if he was friends with Taylor, or with that annoying kid who asked all the questions. "Yeah, I need a partner and uh," Elliot glanced at his ingredients again. "I have nettles and quills. So if you have the snake fangs, then we're all set." Elliot grinned. He knew exactly where all his snake fangs had gone. He had made an awesome necklace that was currently sitting on his dresser.

"I'm Elliot, by the way," he said as he stoked the fire with his wand.

0 Elliot Valentine What a coincidence...me too! 134 Elliot Valentine 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 26, 2009 3:48 PM

That's so weird. by Daniel Nash II

Daniel was glad that the other first year introduced himself because while he had the boy's name down to one of two, he couldn't tell the twins apart. "Elliot," he repeated, "Got it." At least until he moved and crossed paths with Ethan, after which it would be even money on whether Daniel would guess right. "I'm Daniel," he added, for completeness, though it was probable Elliot already knew that. They'd shared a class for over half a year now and Daniel volunteered answers often enough to draw attention to himself (at least, he did in every class except History, where drawing attention was the last thing he wanted to do).

Daniel double checked his supply of snake fangs but it still looked mostly full. How Elliot had run out already was beyond him, but he didn't ask. "Yeah, still have snake fangs, so we should be all good on ingredients."

He looked over the potion recipe and it didn't look hugely difficult. It just required careful timing and some precision with the ingredients. Nothing Daniel's usual attention to detail would have any trouble with. Figuring he better take the parts that required more care, he counted out the requisite number of fangs and passed them over to Elliot. "How are you at crushing?"

It was entirely coincidental that his own crushing skills were less than stellar. Arm strength was not one of the things Daniel had in abundance. He didn't think he was a total nerd weakling, but he certainly wasn't a jock by any stretch of the imagination. He had enough trouble crushing leaves, never mind teeth designed for attacking prey.

1 Daniel Nash II That's so weird. 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Juri Dahlgren

March 16, 2009 7:04 PM

Finally posting by Juri Dahlgren

Juri had found that when it came to Potions, he preferred to sit in the back of the room, but on the side containing the entrance. There was something about not being able to see the making of potion disasters that left an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach. And in the event that a potion disaster did occur, well, it was just smart to be able to exit the room quickly. So, this is where he sat with his new notebook on the desk. He had lost his other one, which he hadn’t been pleased about in the least and it wasn’t even because he had all his notes in it.

The notes were easy enough to recreate either from memory, other classmates’ notes, or the book, but he cared about the other things that were contained within the notebook like ideas for creations, various doodles, random thoughts, and the like. His mother tried to tell him that he would be able to have new ones in his new notebook, but it hadn’t made him feel any better. He really wished that he could find his other one, but as it stood, he flipped open to the first page and wrote all the mandatory things before beginning to idly write down thoughts in the margins.

He did this while half listening to the minor lecture by the professor though he wasn’t quite sure why it was necessary for a first year to be able to cure boils. Was it really likely for them to end up with boils? Personally, he had every intention of never getting one. Of course, if he looked for the simpler reasoning, it was more than likely to equate them with working with various types and complexities of potions. Besides, if one were ever planning on becoming a Potions Master (which he wasn’t), they would need to know just about every potion possible.

Intent on what he was doing, Juri failed to notice, as he seemed to do often, was that they were to work with a partner. Luckily for him, Potions was a class that pretty much had built-in partners. Shoving his notebook aside, he turned to the person that was nearest him and asked, “Want to be my partner?” Without waiting for an answer, he had already pulled out his potions kit, which was quite well stocked. He hated not having whatever was needed, even if they could obtain it from the professor. It was part of what the Judge had instilled in him.

0 Juri Dahlgren Finally posting 127 Juri Dahlgren 0 5

Nathaniel Leon

March 16, 2009 7:36 PM

Then let's play by Nathaniel Leon

Nathaniel wasn’t a guy who was “on top of things”, so to speak. He often forgot things that he shouldn’t have forgotten, brought things that didn’t matter, and had a habit of either chattering on or kicking back and daydreaming. He wasn’t a very good student, and he certainly wasn’t a perfect child. He didn’t look “on top of things” either, but then he rarely tried to look nice. Running a comb through his long hair was good enough, throwing on the first pair of pants he could find (they were red and wrinkled) the first t-shirt (one his mother had probably used to mop up some mess at one point), and yesterday’s robes.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care, no Nathaniel cared a lot about things in general, it was just that he wasn’t taught wrinkles were bad. And it wasn’t that Nathaniel didn’t care about the classes that he forgot things in, oh no he loved his classes (the magic still hadn’t worn out), but organization wasn’t his strong suit. At home, things were tossed around, it didn’t matter. So, when getting to potions class, unaware that just grabbing anything in sight wasn’t a smart move, he was quite upset to see that his potions kit was fairly empty and he had left his notebook back in Teppenpaw.

Oh, it couldn’t have been his fault that he liked to practice the stuff too much, was it? And what was his harmonica doing in place of the porcupine quills? Completely defeated, Nathaniel suddenly wondered if anyone would be his partner now, people normally didn’t like those who seemed ill-prepared (completely forgetting that he was always ill-prepared). At least he was in the back of the class… at least he could go get the materials quick before anyone noticed, and make it look like he came prepared.

Still smiling nervously, Nathaniel kicked his feet, looking to the boy next to him when he found himself being spoken to. “Want to be my partner?” Nathaniel’s nervous smile turned thankful, it wasn’t a real tragedy just one of the few he’d really had all year. He was twelve, he didn’t need real tragedies yet anyway. These would have to do. “Yes! Of course!” he replied happily, bouncing forward and resting his hand on his chin. “You have no idea how worried I was, I must have used this thing more than I thought I did, its almost empty,” he poked at the harmonica, then looked to the boy already getting ready. He wasn’t sure he knew the boy’s name, though he had seen him before and was aware they were in the same year. “I’m sorry, really, I can’t remember your name…”

Nathaniel felt guilty, not learning the boy’s name, and even more guilty when he viewed which one of them was going to use up their materials. “Oh! Yours looks so happy compared to mine!” he nodded, “That’s good, we don’t have to use the Professor’s then.” His book, at least he hadn’t forgotten that, was turned to the proper page, and Nathaniel smoothed a hand down his wrinkled shirt. “What do you want me to do?”

0 Nathaniel Leon Then let's play 133 Nathaniel Leon 0 5

Jera Valson

March 17, 2009 4:30 PM

Working on my own... if that's allowed by Jera Valson

Jera loved potions; but then she loved all her classes. It was simply wonderful the way natural ingredients mixed in the right combination could make so many and such varied concoctions. She was a bit disconcerted that the professor has first been so hugely scarred, and then left, but that seemed to happen a lot here at Sonora; Jera was sarting to get used to it.

As always, she diligently copied down the lesson plan as the professor started the class, and then she turned to her textbook and read the instructions over twice before copying them out into her own hand, then reading them again before even getting out her cauldron.

There was only one instruction that Jera didn't like, and that was that she had to work with a partner. She sometimes didn't mind, but in potions it broke her concentration, and having to check with another person often made the process a great deal slower. Nevertheless, it was an instruction, and so Jera left herself open to invitation; she wasn't willing to approach any of her classmates, even though half of them were in the year below.

0 Jera Valson Working on my own... if that's allowed 112 Jera Valson 0 5

Kyler Kent

March 18, 2009 10:12 PM

No, it's not. by Kyler Kent

Potions, potions, potions. This was a class that Kyler wasn't half bad at. All of the other subjects despised Kyler's being. Charms, Dayda, and Transfig all hated him. Comec and Potions seemed to think he was tolerable though. Kyler was about to ask anyone near him what they were doing in class when the Professor began to speak. Boils. They were curing them. How attractive. Kyler blew a strand or two of his brown hair out of his matching color eyes. He would have to get a good partner if this was going to be a good class.

As the word was given to begin, Kyler looked around. His eyes didn't have to travel far before he found the quietly mysterious Jera. The one with pretty hair. It didn't appear as if she had a partner already, so he made his approach. Standing beside her, Kyler cleared his throat.

"Come here often?" He said, giving a playful grin. "Do you mind if I ask you to be my partner? I don't trust those other kids." It didn't seem like that many kids were all too friendly, or at least outgoing, when it came to time in classes. For him that was what made the class worthwhile! Find a cool person to talk to and you're set for the whole lesson! As a result of this conclusion, Kyler was standing beside Jera Valson, awaiting an answer.

0 Kyler Kent No, it's not. 0 Kyler Kent 0 5

Taylor Li

March 21, 2009 7:05 PM

Potions = Love by Taylor Li

Learning to cure boils in the first year of school was absolutely brilliant in Taylor’s book. In the muggle world, anything to do with a medical branch aside from the biology foundations wouldn’t be learned until she was actually at an university and even then not initially. Here, they were learning something medically useful right off the bat. This pleased her to know end even though it wasn’t exactly in her scientific field of choice. She would have preferred learning about potions that defied the laws of physics, but anything scientific equaled happiness.

First things were first. She checked her kit to make sure she had the ingredients necessary and found to her dismay that she was running low on snake fangs, which was unfortunate since this meant that she was going to have to crush them. Giving a low groan, she pushed off the table and out of her seat to go to the cabinet. She had to wait a minute, because of other students that needed something or another. At her turn, she sorted through the ingredients until she found what she needed. Taking the small jar, she made her way back to her seat.

Before she began crushing the fangs, she made sure everything else was set up first. She had her cauldron, all the ingredients, and her hair was pulled away from her face lest it get caught on fire. She didn’t care how easy it would be to put out, even with magic. She wasn’t about to take the chance. No one knew this, but she actually had a small phobia of fire, which made the otherwise joyful experience of Potions slightly hampered. Thankfully, since it was such a tiny flame, she was able to push this fear to the side and concentrate on the work at hand.

Once she had everything in order, she realized that she had forgotten one key step, which was rather significant since it was a requirement. She didn’t have a partner. Of course, if there was an odd number in the class, there was a possibility that she wouldn’t have one. Shifting in her seat so that she was up a bit, she looked around for someone else that appeared to be working alone. Spotting one such person, she made her way over to them to ask the most vital question, “Hi. I noticed that you aren’t working with anyone either. Want to work together?”

0 Taylor Li Potions = Love 128 Taylor Li 0 5

Pippa Brockert

March 22, 2009 12:19 PM

Re: Potions = Love by Pippa Brockert

Pippa wasn't quite sure how she felt about Potions generally speaking. She didn't really like the idea of using animal bits that way. What if taking the snake fangs hurt the snakes? Or it hurt the porcupines to take their quills? Just because snakes and porcupines weren't cute and cuddly didn't mean Pippa wanted them to be hurt.

On the other hand, some potions helped people. They could end suffering when someone was ill. It would be dreadful if someone died of some disease due to not getting the proper potion. Of course, there were harmful potions too. Poisons and such that killed people. She didn't even understand why such things existed and hated that they did. Nor could she understand why anyone would want to use a harmful potion on any living creature. Her older sister, Melora, had such a fascination with such potions and similar harmful dark spells. Pippa didn't understand why at all.

Either way, she would have to make the potion instructed. Pippa didn't want to get in trouble so she was glad this was one that was there to cure something bad, like boils. She would hate to make something that could harm anyone and dreaded the day she would be instructed to make such a thing.

Now it was time to find a partner. Pippa still really didn't know many of her classmates very well. The only one she really could consider a friend was Nathaniel. Sometimes she felt left out because everyone else had roommates that they could become friendly with and she didn't. Pippa still wished more people would talk to her. She didn't need to be the most popular girl in her class but she would like one really close friend.

So when Taylor Li came up and asked Pippa if she wanted to work with her, Pippa gave a friendly smile back and said "Sure!" She really hoped Taylor would like her.

11 Pippa Brockert Re: Potions = Love 132 Pippa Brockert 0 5

Taylor

March 26, 2009 1:21 PM

That's what I think :P by Taylor

“Great!” Taylor replied enthusiastically and meaning it. She was glad to have found a partner, especially as she hadn’t gotten to know many of her classmates. She knew Daniel, sort of, from having worked with him, and she knew Nathaniel from having partnered with him, but otherwise, she didn’t really know anyone. It was nice to have the opportunity to get to know another person even if they would be working on making a potion more than talking. “I have everything already set up, so we’re pretty much ready to go except the snake fangs still need crushed.

I don’t mind doing that unless you want to,” Taylor offered, as she began to head back to her desk. Not knowing the other girl very well, she wasn’t sure if she was more the leader or follower type. Did she like doing all the work, because she didn’t think she could count on anyone else to do it the way she could? Or did she try to do as little as possible? In most classes, Taylor wouldn’t have minded the first sort if it were any other class, but this was Potions, the only science type class offered. Of course, she could be the equal partner type and any worry was unnecessary.

No matter what the case may be, she didn’t mind doing the snake fangs or any other aspect that others may consider gross or disgusting. It was probably because she was missing some girl part of her brain that told her that she was supposed to think as much. Instead, the exploring, the knowing, the learning grabbed her attention. Doing things like crushing snake fangs or obtaining porcupine quills was just a part of that process, a way to get to the finished result. If no one ever tried those things, then they wouldn’t have any great discoveries like knowing how to cure boils or anything else.

With this, she generally accepted that for every good potion to come about there was bound to be a negative one. It wasn’t the fault of the inventor that too much of one ingredient or one changed component could make the entire concoction lethal. Though, she did realize that there were those that would purposely make such things. Growing up the way she did, the fact that there were people who were willing to do whatever it took, including hurting others, to get what they wanted made itself known all the sooner.

She didn’t think she had to worry about anything like that with this girl. After all, she was in Teppenpaw where the very definition of the people was nice or something like that. Maybe they would even end up being friends, but first they had to get through the lesson. Once they were situated, Taylor immediately began working on crushing the snake fangs into a fine powder. It was actually quite hard, which made sense given that snakes used their fangs to cut into their prey. While she worked, she glanced over to Pippa to start a conversation with the most base area, “Do you think our potion could really cure boils?”

0 Taylor That's what I think :P 0 Taylor 0 5

Pippa

March 27, 2009 5:17 PM

Me not so much...I just didn't have any title ideas. by Pippa

Pippa grinned happily when Taylor was enthusiastic about being partners. She didn't want to work on the potion alone and it wasn't because she didn't want to do the work or touch the ingredients. It was simply that Pippa wanted to get to know her classmates better. She wanted friends.Even though she wasn't one of those people who always had to be the center of attention, Pippa still didn't really want to be ignored by her classmates completely.

"I don’t mind doing that unless you want to,”

Pippa was about to respond that she was fine crushing the fangs when Taylor began to crush them herself. It wasn't as if Pippa had a burning desire to crush the fangs but she felt sort of wrong having Taylor do all the work. She felt she needed to do her part too. Not that Pippa had refused to do it or anything. She never would refuse to do anything for school. Even if it wasn't something she agreed with. Besides, it wasn't as if she had to take the fangs from the snake...which could both be dangerous to her and cause pain to said snake. Pippa would have just had to crush fangs that already had been pulled.

“Do you think our potion could really cure boils?”

She smiled again at the Aladren "Well, its said to." To Pippa, it just seemed a fact that if a potion was made correctly, it would work in the desired way. However, she had found out quickly her first night at Sonora that not everyone knew this. She kind of felt for those not from a magical background and how lost they must have been. Pippa would have felt awfully confused if the roles were reversed and she was set down in the muggle world. Of course, it was much later in the year now and hopefully they were all getting more acclimated. She wouldn't want anyone to feel out of place.

The Teppenpaw watched as Taylor chopped the snake fangs. "Is there anything I can do?" Pippa asked "I don't want to make you do the whole thing."

11 Pippa Me not so much...I just didn't have any title ideas. 132 Pippa 0 5

Jera

April 07, 2009 1:47 PM

That's what I was afraid of by Jera

"Come here often?" There was a short moment wherein Jera gazed quizzically at her yearmate before realizing he was joking. A beat too late she smiled, and then processed the rest of what Kyler had said.

"And you trust me?" she asked, doubting both his sincerity and his judge of character in equal amounts. Nevertheless, she recognized an extension of friendship when one was presented, and she moved to give him some space at her desk. "Yes, I'll be your partner," she confirmed, even though Kyler hadn't technically asked - he'd just ascertained whether he could, theoretically, ask to be partners. Yet Jera anticipated him, presuming that the next question would be the one he was seeking permission to ask. The end result was the same: both students now had a partner for the class.

"So, boil cure," she said in a tone the stressed the lack of allure of this particular concoction. Glancing over the textbook yet again, Jera tapped her finger against the listed ingredients, while saying, "I have the nettle, but we'll need to get some porcupine quills, horned slugs, and snake fangs." She looked back to her partner and smiled. "Remind me never to get boils." This was one of those 'cure is worse than the cause' occasions.

0 Jera That's what I was afraid of 0 Jera 0 5