Professor Fawcett
January 27, 2010 4:07 PM
Lesson Two for Advanced - 6th and 7th Years by Professor Fawcett
The usual tension between Allison and his mother and her father aside, John had enjoyed the holidays. Allison had mostly gotten over being irritated with that stretch of finals when he had forgotten to write her, to the point when it only came up when she was irritated about something else, and he had engaged in several debates with other magisociologists. Oddly, getting into another field had actually improved his contributions to his original one; he had sold two articles in the fall, and – for the first time in several years – his work had been decently received.Overall, however, he was not sorry to be back at Sonora. The controlled frenzy of the schoolroom was his natural environment, which was why he supposed the worst years of his life had been those during which he had left it altogether. He had never found anything that suited him as well as being a student, but being a teacher came close. There was more intrigue in the academic world and less interaction, especially here where he was head of his department by the default of being the only person in it, but at least the setting was comfortably familiar.
Or, as Scott liked to put it, the only thing that came close to pleasing him as much as a good book was talking about it, preferably in an insufferably superior tone of voice. John wasn’t quite sure why Scott had attempted to use that as an insult, since almost everyone knew it was just a fact.
“Good morning, everyone,” he said, getting the attention of the Advanced class after he finished marking their attendance. He was cautiously optimistic about how well they’d do on their exams, but was not going to stop preparing them at this point. John was not so optimistic as to believe that he could somehow push them hard enough for everyone to make an O, but he did expect them all to pull at least an E. He felt they were capable of it. “I hope everyone enjoyed your holidays and that you are all prepared to get back to work.
“You are, of course, all aware of the list of potions you are expected to be able to make after you take your RATS, most of which are dangerous substances with a high potential for abuse. I’d say that, in some ways, our goal as professors here is as much to teach you to use your abilities in an ethical and responsible manner as it is to teach you to use those abilities in the first place…” He realized he was wandering slightly off-track, or at least wasn’t quite as sure now as he had been when he started as to where that line of thought connected with the main one. “In any case, the potion we are going to begin today will be more of a long-track project, with some other work interspersed during brewing periods, and it is not a substance I wish to hear of anyone playing with outside of class. My reaction to such an event would be…unpleasant for the parties involved.” He had been told he could be quite impressive in a temper, and even if he wasn’t, well, most people wouldn’t enjoy having a teacher push for their expulsion this late in the game. “In groups of two, you are going to be making the Polyjuice Potion.”
He had a distinct feeling of having signed his own death warrant, but he had gone through all of the RATS practice books personally, and they all liked to ask about its composition. There was no better way to familiarize them with that than to just have them make the blasted thing. Besides, they were all either legal adults or on the verge of it; they had to give them an ounce of trust and challenge at some point. He had a feeling his average level of paranoia would be considerably higher than usual for the duration of this project, though, and his level of vigilance more in keeping with the Defense department. As uptight and rule-following as he was now, he could have thought of quite a few amusing things to do with this when he was seventeen, and he had never been especially easy to amuse.
“The ingredients are lacewing flies, leeches, powdered horn of bicorn, knotgrass, fluxweed, and shredded boomslang skin, all of which must be added in precise orders after precise lengths of time and in precise quantities. I would suggest you work out your partnerships and what responsibilities each partner will have today and get a start on the potion. Check your syllabus for the writing assignments; while nothing is due this week, I’d suggest you get a start on your first paper for the semester before this project becomes more work-intensive. You may begin.”
OOC: You all know the posting rules, so just follow them and have fun! Plenty of information on this potion can be found in Chamber of Secrets for those who may want further references.
Subthreads: This stuff is so gross.... [Tag: Oliver] by Lutece Anthony with Oliver Abbott, Lutece
Have cauldron, will become workaholic by Helena Layne with Elly Eriksson, Elly
Halloween, except MUCH COOLER!! by Jae Dimitri with Amber Carey
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Professor Fawcett
Lesson Two for Advanced - 6th and 7th Years
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Professor Fawcett
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Lutece Anthony
February 05, 2010 2:58 PM
This stuff is so gross.... [Tag: Oliver] by Lutece Anthony
After that one bizarre afternoon with Oliver in the Crotalus, Lutece had been a little bit disturbed about her longtime friend/crush/Potions annoyance. Mostly because if Oliver had been anyone else, Lutece would think that they were flirting with her. That was ridiculous, of course, because Oliver was dating Hannah. Still, it wasn’t entirely without Oliver in mind that Lutece got ready for Potions, donning a green v-neck sweater and jeans under her school robes. She even added a little bit of mascara and the faintest hint of forest green eyeliner. It wasn’t obnoxious, just highlighted the ‘green’ part of her blue-green eyes. She also swept her hair up into a messy bun—it was Potions, after all.Professor Fawcett wasn’t particularly interesting, predominantly because he wasn’t at all attractive and his lessons were about on the level of mediocre. Not that Lutece had ever found any of her teachers attractive, but Professor McKindy at least had the freak factor that made her pay attention in class, if only to make sure he didn’t explode his weird hat into a bunch of frogs like he had when she was a first year. Fawcett’s lesson today was interesting though. Polyjuice Potion? Lutece had read about it, but never thought that a teacher would let them use it.
And now came the real conundrum. On the one hand, Lutece could work with one of the others in their class—which came down to Jae Dimitri, Cynthia Smythe, Cissy Tarwater, or Oliver. Jae was weird, which ruled him out automatically. Lutece did not like Cynthia, and Cissy was...well, given the choice between working with Cissy and babysitting a hippogriff, Lutece would probably choose the hippogriff. Not that Cissy had ever done anything to her (they barely talked), just that she sort of weirded Lutece out. And that left Oliver.
On the one hand, Lutece usually worked with Oliver in Potions. She would have also
“Huh?” Lutece’s blue-green eyes widened as her problem was solved by Oliver coming over to say something to her. “Uhm,” why wasn’t her brain working? “Sure?” she tried, hoping that he had actually asked her to be partners and not about something else.
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Lutece Anthony
This stuff is so gross.... [Tag: Oliver]
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Lutece Anthony
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5
Oliver Abbott
February 05, 2010 5:17 PM
I hope you're not referring to me by Oliver Abbott
It was almost a relief when classes started up again. Not going home for midterm seemed to have had an unpleasant effect on Oliver. He'd become idle and complacent, and perhaps a bit... well, it was better that lessons were around again to keep him busy and focussed. Especially potions, because not only did Oliver enjoy it, but he also wanted to really impress his uncle with his proficiency in the subject. Uncle Raymond had a profession in potions; with his parents uninterested in his magical achievements, Oliver had to impress someone. Plus potions had a history of being a competetive subject at Sonora, which encouraged Oliver all the more to do his very best and work hard in lessons.It was therefore equal parts relief and dispair that Oliver felt upon hearing their assignment. Polyjuice potion? That was crazy difficult. Oliver did not want to be around when Jae took his potion. Neither was he going to be stuck working with that particular Pecari; Oliver liked his peer well enough but the other boy's natural tendency to be bouncy and unfocussed was enough to make him a danger in the potions lab. Polyjuice took over a month to brew, and Oliver knew he was going to have to write to his uncle to ask for some supplies - he wanted first clas ingredients and wasn't prepared to depend on the school's supplies, especially if there was the tiniest chance they were going to have to test the potion themselves.
Usually, Oliver worked with one particular person in potions. This was mostly because Lutece did what he told her to, and they'd got into a comfortable familiarity of her bending to his obsessive potions-related compulsions and him improving her potions grade (or so she said). Whatever the reason, they seemed to work well as a potions pair, and it almost seemed foolish to not work with her for such a prolongued project. They could even remind each other of the necessary task in the commons; an advantage of working with someone from the same house.
After glancing round the room for further consideration to his options, Oliver made up his mind with very little reluctance. Lutece was hardly ever an annoying troll these days. "Hey there, potions buddy," he said, and he was distracted by feeling inexplicably nervous. "Thought we could run this one together, if you can get along okay with my brewing neuroses," he joked.
Although she replied 'Sure,' it didn't sound very certain. "You can work with someone else if you like," Oliver reassured her, frowning. Rejection wasn't a favorite past-time of his. "I just thought that we... you know, we work well together." He shrugged, trying to brush it off as unimportnat. "Your call."
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Oliver Abbott
I hope you're not referring to me
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Oliver Abbott
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Helena Layne
February 06, 2010 12:46 AM
Have cauldron, will become workaholic by Helena Layne
At the beginning of the year, Helena had gotten jittery when she was required to sit in one place with nothing to hold her attention for very long. She hadn’t been able to live in her own head, and it had affected every aspect of her academic life. Most – if not all – of the effects had not been for the better.Now, she was sitting calmly, holding her quill so she could load it with ink and start taking notes as quickly as possible once Professor Fawcett started the lecture of the day. Her book was out, opened to the index, and she had her potions kit within easy reach for the practical aspect of the lesson. Her light brown hair, originally curled for the day, had been pulled back into a ponytail and her sleeves put up. She wanted to get back to work, preferably with as little ceremony as possible, and that meant arriving early and going through all the little tasks that led up to the main event.
Work was good. She was her best when she worked. The cold precision of the formulas she used to make potions and construct Transfiguration models was soothing, and she could lose herself in working through them, trying to beat her own time at solving problems and practice exams, and keeping steady track of her grades to see how and where she improved and how to duplicate the feat. So long as she was careful to schedule in just enough food, sleep, and soap opera time to keep her functional, she thought she could theoretically maintain this pace until exams, and Helena was good at making schedules.
As focused as she was, though, she had to stop and blink for a few seconds when she heard the assignment. That, she had not expected. Nor did she expect her mind to go straight to wondering just how well he’d look after the stuff. She suspected he’d do it pretty well; there was a chance he’d trust them to be honorable, but she thought it was more likely than any attempt to make a move on the merchandise would set off some kind of alarm, and possibly a trap to keep the perpetrator from escaping the scene.
Pity. There was a lot that could be done with that, and that was just counting practical considerations. When it came to the allure of being able to become anyone, for any reason, and do anything in that body and have no one ever know…Well, Helena could see it. How much of the past five years had she spent wishing she could be someone else, anyway?
Putting her kit up on the table just in case, she carefully surveyed the group. Normally, she didn’t put much effort into picking her partners, but this was a delicate project that was probably worth a huge chunk of her grade. Working with, say, most of the sixth years was a death trap; the only one she marginally trusted was Oliver, who usually hooked up with Lutece for potions. Cynthia was probably perfectly competent, but she was also terminally unpleasant, which made dealing with her long-term all kinds of difficult. Plus, Helena had seen her apparently having a friendly chat with Rachel before midterm, which automatically made her a little suspect. What kind of sixth year even acknowledged a non-related firstie she wasn’t even, as far as Helena knew, in a club with? As for the seventh years, Amber was a nice girl, but a little on the vacant side; apparently, the Carey genes found it impossible to pair intelligence with a decent disposition.
Once most of the class was ruled out, either as unsuitable or apparently already in possession of a partner, Helena surveyed her remaining options and picked. “Shall we?” she asked, hoping there was some amount of rub-off value in being Geoff Layne’s sister a year after his departure from Sonora and – not that anyone except a certain first year knew about it, unless she’d been blabbing to Cynthia Smythe – out of her life.
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Helena Layne
Have cauldron, will become workaholic
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Helena Layne
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5
Jae Dimitri
February 06, 2010 12:22 PM
Halloween, except MUCH COOLER!! by Jae Dimitri
Jae was pretty excited. He had been doing really well at Potions since Professor Fawcett had allowed him into the Advanced class, which was really good because Jae didn’t want to let the Professor down. The Pecari wasn’t very good at testing, and his scores had reflected that. It was mostly because Jae needed to move to make things work, and he couldn’t move around when he was supposed to be sitting down and writing an essay, and it was just a bad situation that the blonde-dreadlocked sixth year didn’t like very much. Overall, he was much better off in things like CoMC, where you could actually do things and where he was interested. Jae was still very good at helping with animals. In fact, the people at the Humane Society had suggested that he might even be able to get an internship with them over the summer! It was really exciting.But for now, Jae was ready to concentrate on Potions. He had been working his hardest and he was doing pretty well. Not at the top of the class, like Oliver Abbott and some of the seventh years, but that was okay. Mostly he was just concerned about disappointing Professor Fawcett.
Today they were going to make Polyjuice Potion! That was exciting to Jae. He couldn’t wait! He had heard about the Potion of course, but he had never done something as cool as make it. It would be like the most awesome version of Halloween ever! But Jae probably couldn’t use things like that for something like Halloween, even if he was at home during Halloween for some reason. But that was okay. It was still something really cool, and he thought he should pick a really fun partner for it too.
But there were so many people! Lutece Anthony always worked with Oliver Abbott, so Jae couldn’t work with either of them, but he really didn’t mind anybody else. Even Cissy could be cool sometimes, although a lot of people didn’t like her very much. Who to pick? Deciding to do this by chance, Jae stood up, spun in a small circle, and decided he would ask the first person he saw.
“Hi!” the blonde-dreadlocked Pecari said, bouncing up to the person in question. “Do you want to be AWESOME PROJECT PARTNERS together?” It was going to be a super awesome madcool project, and Jae couldn’t wait!
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Jae Dimitri
Halloween, except MUCH COOLER!!
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Jae Dimitri
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Lutece
February 06, 2010 12:40 PM
Unless you look like a dead bug, you're probably good by Lutece
“Oh, no!” Lutece responded quickly, flushing as she realised that Oliver thought she might not want to work with him. Even if she didn’t sort of have a crush on him, and even if she wasn’t sort of curious about whether or not he was actually flirting with her sometimes, it would be a dumb idea to not partner with Oliver in Potions. He was a genius. “I was just—I was thinking about—“ you, actually. I was trying to figure you out. “I was distracted,” the sixth year finally settled on that phrase, cheeks still a light pink. “Of course I want to work with you. Plus, I’m pretty sure nobody would want to put up with you being bossy all the time,” Lutece teased, grinning up at Oliver. He could be so picky about Potions.The girl played with a stray hair that had escaped her messy bun as she looked at Oliver. He was really...well actually, he looked good. It wasn’t even just that he was cute and nice and friendly and straight anymore, he had actually grown up to the point where he looked good. Of course, Oliver was no Hollywood star that Lutece would go to the movies and sigh over with her friends, but for someone who existed in real life....
“Are you going to be picky about ingredients, or can we use ours?” Lutece asked. “Actually, I got a new Potions kit for Christmas,” her dad had sent it to her. For a Muggle, Lutece’s father managed to get ahold of a really ridiculous amount of magical material. It was probably because he existed in the weird fandom grey area between insane and normal, where things like giant Ewoks and life-sized Darth Maul cutouts appeared in the house all the time. Apparently, there were no few wizards who existed in that grey area too. Weirdos.
“It might even be up to your standards,” the Crotalus continued, pulling it out of her bag. The kit had come in a shiny black case that even had her name embossed in silver on the front. It had little compartments inside, each labelled with an ingredient name. The ingredients themselves smelled particularly potent. Lutece opened it on the desk and grinned at Oliver. “What sayest you, oh wise Potions Master?”
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Lutece
Unless you look like a dead bug, you're probably good
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Lutece
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Elly Eriksson
February 07, 2010 11:20 AM
All work and no play makes Helena a dull girl by Elly Eriksson
It was possible that Elly had become a little too serious about potions. She had warned Saul she might be top of the class, but she'd hid her textbooks and graded papers from sight while he'd been visiting, just in case he saw them and established her nerdiness as reason to re-assess their friendship. In her defense, Elly had just always been good at potions, right from her very first lesson when Meredith had been her partner. It felt more than the six years ago it had been, and so much had changed in that period, but Elly's aptitude at mixing concoctions had remained the same. She used to make up for it by being appalling at transfigurations and history, but now those subjects were also past memories. Just focussing on three subjects had improved Elly's grades considerably; she was even thinking of going to college.Setting out her textbook, quill and supplies like a good students, Elly hung on Professor Fawcett's every word (she'd preferred Professor Connell as a person, but there was no doubt in her mind that Fawcett was a better teacher, at least for the older students) as he explained they would be attempting the polyjuice potion. Meredith had playfully suggested they make the mixture to use for prank purposes, but back then Elly had doubted her ability. Now she was older, wiser (perhaps), and more advanced at potion-making, she was sure she would be able to produce a passable potion. Now there was just the question of who to partner.
Generally Elly was happy to work with just about anyone, though for a longer-term project she preferred to work with a friend. Therefore when Helena suggested they work together, Elly's reponse was a smiley, "Sure!" She'd gotten to know Helena a little better over the past couple of years, and worked with her often in potions. Therefore she knew Helena would be able to put up with her competetive nature when it came to potions, and hopefully they would find plenty to talk about while they brewed... and hopefully the fact that Pecari had beaten Crotalus by 140 points in the last Quidditch game wouldn't be an issue.
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Elly Eriksson
All work and no play makes Helena a dull girl
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Elly Eriksson
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Oliver
February 07, 2010 12:04 PM
Hm *checks reflection* by Oliver
Well, on the one hand she did want to work with him after all, which was a relief on two levels: for one, Oliver would rather prefer to work with Lutece than anyone else, and for two, his ego would have taken a real blow if she'd turned him down. He was so pleased, in fact, that he ignored her 'bossy' insult aside from a raised eyebrow. She might even have a point."Are you going to be picky about ingredients?" she asked then, and Oliver was going to have to break the news to her that yes, he was going to be concerned about the quality of the many items going into their graded potion. The lacewing flies and leeches would absolutely have to be fresh, not dried, and Bicorn horn as well as the fluxweed would work best if harvested at midnight during a full moon. Oliver didn't see how they could get by using their own or even the school's supplies.
That was until he saw Lutece's potions kit, and was temporarily rendered speechless. He'd never been jealous of Lutece before, but right now he was feeling a definite envy. "You got that for Christmas?" he asked. The highlight of Oliver's Christmas presents (exluding his gift from Hannah) had been a Christmas card that promised tickets to a football game in the summer. Oliver didn't even watch football anymore.
Oliver was entranced. He traced one of the compartments with his finger, and only remembered where he was when Lutece said, "What sayest you, oh wise Potions Master?"
"That's um," he struggled to find words, "that's really impressive," he managed. Then with an uncomfortable smile, he turned his attention back to Lutece. He was a bit ashamed of how nerdy he'd just been. "Don't tell anyone I just went spacey over some crushed beetles, okay?" Turning his attention back to the potions kit (partly because it was more comfortable that looking at Lutece right now), Oliver considered the question seriously. "I'm very impressed, but sadly I'm still going to have to call in one or two external favours," he said, able to grin at his partner again now he was being a bit more himself. "There's just no way to tell when your fluxweed was harvested," he explained, "and my Uncle Ray can send us some of that, and the Bicorn horn. The rest of it we should have covered, though," he conceded. What luck.
"Okay," he said, taking on a business-like tone. "First thing's first. Lacewing flies have to be stewed for twenty-one days, so we'd best get started on those. Um," he considered the options for a bit. "You're not going to need them for anything else, so would you mind using yours? We can use my cauldron," he suggested. Then in the unlikely event that anything did go wrong, it would be his property ruined, not hers.
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Oliver
Hm *checks reflection*
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Oliver
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Lutece
February 07, 2010 12:59 PM
Don't worry, you're too attractive to be a bug by Lutece
“Yeah,” Lutece responded to Oliver’s question about where the potions kit had come from, but she got the idea that he didn’t hear her. In fact, he was busy looking at the potions kit like it was some sort of asteroid that had just landed on his desk and he was a crazy alien scientist. It was kind of cute, Lutece decided, watching Oliver with a sort of half-smile as he traced his finger along one of the compartments. Her yearmate was so into Potions stuff. Lutece found Potions interesting and all—although she hated to admit it—but she wasn’t passionate about it like Oliver was. She decided that she would have to talk to her dad and see if there was any cool potions-y gear that she could get Oliver.“I’m glad it’s up to your standards,” the brunette responded to Oliver’s somewhat stammered response to her question. And she was. Weird as it might seem, she trusted Oliver’s picky opinion about Potions equipment and ingredients much more than she trusted the catalogs, or whatever freaky friend her dad had made. “And don’t worry,” she said with a grin. “your secret is safe with me.”
Even though Lutece knew that both of them were kidding, it was fun to say. It wasn’t a real secret, because everyone knew that Oliver was dorky and adorable when it came to Potions stuff. But it was still a pretend secret, which elevated their friendship status above—okay, even Lutece would admit to herself that she was being pathetic. Potions. Right.
“Of course it’s not perfect enough for you,” Lutece teased with a grin, sticking her tongue out as Oliver went on to talk about how he was going to get the bicorn horn and the fluxweed, but she would concede that point. “And I’m pretty sure that Dad got this for me because he’s just happy I’m not like, taking Advanced Quidditch Practises or something like that, so we should probably use the ingredients. Do you have a Special Lacewing Flies Stewing Method,” the Crotalus pronounced the capital letters clearly, “or should we just, y’know, stew them?”
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Lutece
Don't worry, you're too attractive to be a bug
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Lutece
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Oliver
February 08, 2010 3:42 AM
Some bugs are quite attractive, you know by Oliver
And so they slipped easily into their routine, with Oliver being picky an d callin g the shots, and Lutece teasing him from time to time to keep him down to earth. "No special method," Oliver replied, setting up his cauldron and filling its base with water from the tip of his wand. Just drop the flies in one by one and keep the water to a low simmer." With that he lit a fire below the cauldron and looked again to Lutece's potions kit. "You want to do the honors, or is picking up dead flies too traumatic these days?" he grinned.Once the first ingredient was added, Oliver sat down and, on a frsh sheet of parchment, he began to draw out a schedule for what would need doing and when. As well as several frsh ingredients, this potion required several metals and compounds, which Oliver would prefer to be in powdered form (except the Mercury, which was always in liquid form and would be found amongst Professor Fawcett's supplies), and every thing had to be added just so.
"I guess it makes sense that we split the tasks up between us," Oliver pondered out loud. In all honesty, he would rather do the whole thing himself, because then he could be certain that anything that went wrong was his own fault. If the potion happened to go awry and Lutece had taken some responsibility, Oliver knew he would be tempted to blame her. Yet it was her project too, and it would be selfish of him to do all the work, and incredibly egotistical to believe he could do it any better than she could. But then his brain clicked onto another alternative. "Or we could do it all together," he suggested, keeping his voice light so Lutece didn't detect any possible mistrust, "because then we'd both know how to do all the stages, rather than only brewing half a potion." He could reason it out in logic and everything.
"Does that sound okay to you?" he asked Lutece. Like he'd already pointed out to himself, they were in the same house and had several classes together, too, so they should be able to easily locate the other to remind them about the next stage and when it should be completed.
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Oliver
Some bugs are quite attractive, you know
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Oliver
0
5
Lutece
February 08, 2010 8:30 AM
There is nothing <i>right</i> with that statement by Lutece
Although Lutece had been teasing Oliver about how to stew the flies, she had also been half serious in her question. She had become decent at Potions throughout the years, largely because she had wanted to impress Oliver, but the Crotalus was still just about average when it came to doing actual Potions things. If there was something weird that one had to do with lacewing flies, Lutece wouldn’t be the one to know. James, perhaps, and Oliver definitely, but not Lutece. So while the brunette was glad to hear that there was no special way to stew lacewing flies, it was still not necessarily good news. Why? Because it still involved touching gross dead bugs and stewing them. Grossgrossgross.“I can do it,” the girl said quickly. “One more type of nasty dead bug isn’t going to scar me anymore than the rest have.” Well, that was what she said, but Lutece still grimaced as she gingerly picked up a dead flie and plopped it into the cauldron. Eeweeweew. Another joined the first with a small plink of displaced water, then a third. Lutece was not a fan of bugs, dead or otherwise, and she was just glad they were using Oliver’s cauldron for this. The mere thought of dead bugs stewing in her cauldron for twenty-one days was enough to make the Crotalus shudder and reach for the strongest pre-prepared cleaning charm she could access.
Lutece shrugged as Oliver figured out how they would divvy out the work. “Cool by me,” she said. This potion would probably appear on the final or something after all. “We’ll probably both have to know it for some reason anyway.” She shrugged again.
Never had Lutece imagined that she would be making this advanced of a potion with Oliver. No, she really hadn’t ever imagined anything for the future in the magical part of her life, the girl realised. When she was younger she had wanted to be a model, and a soccer star, and had resented Sonora for stealing that from her. She had never really imagined herself in upper level classes, or as a prefect, or anything of the sort.
Sonora had made her life a lot weirder than it could have been. On the other hand, Lutece decided, looking over the schedule Oliver was drawing up, she couldn’t say that she particularly minded.
“How will we know if it works?” she inquired.
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Lutece
There is nothing <i>right</i> with that statement
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Lutece
0
5
Amber Carey
February 11, 2010 6:50 PM
That is a use for it I hadn't thought of before. by Amber Carey
For some reason, Fawcett had neglected to include a disclaimer on his class descriptions when Amber was in fifth year. He hadn’t been a full-time staff member then, so she couldn’t have known he would end up teaching almost all of her sixth and seventh years, but a “Warning: No Non-Geniuses Need Apply” would have been nice once he figured it out. It would have saved her a lot of frustration and, no doubt, him a lot of headaches over her essays.Try as she would – and she did try, she tried as hard as she could; it was just that she couldn’t try hard enough – Amber wasn’t a good writer. Arguing wasn’t something she had a talent for, and while research was slightly better, she couldn’t really call it one of her strengths, either. She could string together a letter home well enough, but an in-depth analysis took more work and a lot more skill. The paperwork was harder than the actual potion-making, which seemed to her like a subversion of the point of the class. She was supposed to be taking Potions, not Potions Theory or Ethics or whatever far-out subject Fawcett dreamed up to throw at them this week.
She couldn’t deny, though, that she had learned. Her objective scores proved that, and she could even talk about some of the topics clearly. Her potions, too, usually came out close to the right color and consistency. It was just writing it down with proper formatting and punctuation that got her.
Knowing this didn’t keep her interest in their latest long-term project from being laced with a little concern, though. It was, as Fawcett said, something they were supposed to be able to make after their RATS, but the Polyjuice Potion was still far more complex than anything Amber had attempted before. What if she managed to blow up the entire lab? Plus, thinking even a little bit about the potion was enough to make her paranoid. What if the person who looked like her dad was really Gwen’s dad? The guy was definitely supposed to be psycho enough to try something like that…
One of the sixth years – Jae, she thought she remembered from class discussions, Jae the Pecari – bounded up to her. Amber had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at his strange way of asking to work together. “Um, sure,” she said. “Sounds good.”
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Amber Carey
That is a use for it I hadn't thought of before.
84
Amber Carey
0
5
Oliver
February 12, 2010 8:44 AM
You don't think ladybugs are cute? by Oliver
As Lutece confirmed she was happy that they completed all the stages of the potion together, Oliver began writing in times, dates, ingredients he needed to get, and fitting them around their existing schdules. Lutece was in all his classes except DADA (when she had free periods because she didn't take a fourth class), and they were in Quidditch practise together, so it was quite easy to work out times they would both be free.He only hesitated in his planning when Lutece asked him how they'd know if the potion would work. "I'm guessing," he said, because he was just guessing, "we'll have to try some. I mean, if it looks right - color, consistancy, and all that - the only way to know for sure would be to try it." Oliver thought that this would have an influence on what the last ingredient would be. Would they add a bit of either one of themselves, or would they find someone else to imitate? What an unnerving thought. Oliver decided he really didn't want Lutece to turn into him, and he didn't fancy having her appearance either, however short-lived the effects. If they were to use someone else's hair though... that brought up endless possibilities.
"We'd have to think about who we were trying to look like," he expressed his thoughts vocally. "If we have the choice, who would you want to be? Out of anyone." Well, anyone they could easily access, anyway, which was more limiting than 'anyone in the whole world' but still kept open everyone at Sonora, and probably anyone they could meet at Tumbleweed, too.
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Oliver
You don't think ladybugs are cute?
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Oliver
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Helena
February 16, 2010 8:20 PM
Well, it <i>is</i> a curse to live in interesting times... by Helena
Helena smiled back; Elly was one of those people who made it almost imperative that one smile back. Plus, it wasn't polite to ignore gestures of goodwill. "Great," she said.For me, anyway, she added mentally. Helena was good at straight Potions composition - a natural consequence of listing her ability to be precise as one of the things she took the most pride in - but lacked much aptitude for what Geoff called the "subtleties of the Art". She followed the script, and turned out a product that was reasonably close to what was asked of her. People like her brother and Elly went above and beyond that, which was why she was prepared to accept a position more like than of an assistant than a real equal. She had several post-Sonora options, but those all hinged on making good grades, and working with Elly on this was a good step toward that.
Plus, she liked Elly. They got along well. That was really an advantage when it came to working on standard projects; with a long-track one, it went without saying that it was, generally, better to pick a partner one could engage in an amicable discussion with.
"I figure we can split ingredients preparation," she said, deciding to get straight to business. Normally, she wasn't too trusting when it came to the chances that someone else would live up to her standard of precision, but no one got good enough for Geoff to consider them competition with an unsteady knife. "I don't know what you want to do with the mixing. I'm good at keeping up with schedules and when the different things need to be added and stuff, but mixing is your field to call. I'll pretty much do as you say there."
Though she would think about it first. It never paid to be more than moderately trusting, and Geoff had always said a lot of her Potions mediocrity was the product of how she'd learned to stir. He said she put the wrong amount of force into it, always going either too fast or too slow. It felt odd to her, but it was definitely a surmountable obstacle.
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Helena
Well, it <i>is</i> a curse to live in interesting times...
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Helena
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Elly
March 09, 2010 5:49 AM
It is? by Elly
(OOC: I was so sure I'd replied to this already... sorry for the huge delay.)Helena got directly to the point, suggesting they split ingredients preparation. "Sounds fine to me," Elly replied, deciding that Helena was definitely a good partner choice as far as preparation was concerned. Elly wasn't sure she knew a single other person with so much patience. If Elly was struggling with something her first instict would be to give it up (as she had with history and transfiguration), whereas Helena struck her as the type who would persevere until perfection was reached. She had seen the way Helena exactly measured her potions ingredients before, so she had no worries their ingredients would be anything other than perfect. That was the first step to making a perfect potion.
"I've got quite a lot in my supply kit," Elly said, referring to the ingredients. She presumed Helena's kit would be more or less the same, "but we'll need to get some from the school stores, too." Re-checking her ingredients list, she identified those that would be required. "Boomslang skin and bicorn horn," she clarified outloud. "But we don't need them yet."
As Helena claimed to have strengths in planning but not in mixing, Elly found herself unable to identify. "I think I have the opposite issue," she laughed. "So how about we play to our strengths - you make the list and schedules up," she suggested, knowing that even though Helena would do it perfectly, Elly would stil want to check it, "and I can do most of the mixing. We can both be there to add the ingredients, if you like," she suggested, though she was felxible on that. It did make sense for them to both see how the potion was made in its entirety, in case their exam papers asked about a particular stage in the brewing process. However if it was going to be an inconvenience, she could always learn what was supposed to happen by reading a textbook.
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Elly
It is?
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Elly
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