At my wit's end. on Potions

Professor Fawcett

April 30, 2011 10:03 PM

Lesson Two for Beginners (1st-2nd Years) by Professor Fawcett

The front table in the lab, where John kept his things, worked at through open periods more often than he returned to his office, and could generally be found if someone needed him and he wasn’t in said office or the Hall, was neater than usual when the first years came to class. This was to say that the papers had all been put into neat piles, some of these piles were shorter than they had been, and he’d finally sorted through the mass of odds and ends that ended up in the empty cauldron on the right corner, so that now it was filled with neat sections of quills, ball-point pens and yellow No. 2 pencils, rubber bands, and candy, all courtesy of a series of plastic bins, small and connected into the shape of a circle, purchased at a Muggle office supply store over midterm and placed, after a month or two, into the cauldron. His bookshelves, beside the door and on the side of the desk opposite the first one, had also been rearranged by subject and title.

John wasn’t sure what had sparked his outburst of energy, but he was just as pleased to have had it. For a week or two, anyway, his life would be a bit simpler for having some order in his main workspace, before it inevitably slid back into chaos, and he would be more secure than usual against the visitations of his colleagues and superiors. And possibly more respected by his students, at least the lot in front of him. The older ones had all seen this before.

“Good afternoon,” he told the first and second years once the bell rang them into class. “I hope you’re all feeling well and not in need of what we’ll be brewing today. Has anyone looked at the syllabus to know what that is?”

A hand went up, and he called on its owner, who gave the correct answer. “Very good,” he said with a brief smile, then redirected his attention to the class at large. “Your classmate is correct in saying that we will be working on the Wit-Sharpening Potion – a substance which is strictly banned in all academic exams and academic and sport competitions, so please do not attempt to imbibe it before your finals. You will not enjoy the consequences if you do.” And there was an absurdly large number of Quidditch players in here, too – more than half of the school’s Beaters, two Seekers, and five of the Aladren Quidditch team’s eight members. Interesting, especially since this was one of the most brutal seasons in recent memory and the final was expected to be absolutely vicious next weekend.

“You will be working with scarab beetles, daisy roots, armadillo bile, salamander blood, pomegranate juice, and essence of belladonna, so please take time here at the beginning to examine your potions kits and replenish any ingredients you are running low on from the back cabinet. Be sure to take care in your preparation of the potion, particularly in not using the pomegranate juice where the salamander blood is called for. This is not one of the more volatile potions, but it can burn you. The specific instructions for brewing are on page 211 in your Beginning Potioneer text, beginning with crushing the scarab beetles. You may work together, and begin.”

OOC: Standard posting rules apply for posts to receive House points; bear in mind that John is likely attentive enough to notice things going severely wrong before anyone is seriously injured or the room blows up, be creative, and have fun!

Subthreads:

Don't worry, I got this... by Regina Parker (Teppenpaw) with Luka Anastanov [Pecari]

Having my wits sharpened sounds painful by Derwent Pierce IV, Teppenpaw with Addison Thornton

At my wit's end. by Renée Errant {Crotalus} with James Owen, Renée

Feeling lazy today.... by Sara Raines

0 Professor Fawcett Lesson Two for Beginners (1st-2nd Years) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Regina Parker (Teppenpaw)

May 02, 2011 8:52 PM

Don't worry, I got this... by Regina Parker (Teppenpaw)

Reggie was excited about Potions. She was always excited about Potions. It was really the one thing that still connected her to her father while she was at Sonora. It was something that she was good at and she was thinking about continuing on with Potions after she graduated. Become a Masters like her father. Be the best at it. Discover something new. Make it her life. And be free and happy like her Dad was. A job like her mother’s would be far too stressful and Reggie didn’t think she had the stamina or the strength to bring down the bad guys through spell work or brute strength. Her mother was amazing at what she did. But Reggie was not her mother. Reggie was her father.

At the question that Professor Fawcett asked, Reggie’s hand shot up. “Wit-Sharpening Potion.” She said with confidence. She never really raised her hands for things, but she knew the answer and she was kind of hoping that in the future, Professor Fawcett would maybe let her do extra credit or a secondary class with him.

As for their current potion, her father had always told her that she should never try to use the potion herself because it wasn’t always brewed correctly and then it wasn’t as though she were actually being herself and doing the work the right way. If she wanted to be proud of her accomplishments, than she should do it without the use of a potion. Her Mother also shared in this sentiment. She could appreciate that fact, but she also wanted to know what it actually did. Really did. Test it out, so to speak. She also wanted to know how Felix Felicis worked, but that was definitely not going to happen. At all. Ever.

Reggie was excited to begin. She had made this potion with her father before, but she didn’t know it by heart, so it’ll be fun to try this out on her own without her Dad’s guidance. She started humming softly to herself as she double checked her potion kit. Her Dad had replenished her ingredients while they had been home, so she had everything that was listed. Finding the proper page, Reggie set the book aside and lit her cauldron to prepare it for the brewing stage. After that, she rolled up her sleeves, pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail and set to work on slicing and dicing.

Realizing that someone was watching her, Reggie looked up from her duties, “Did you want to work with me? There’s plenty to do.” She commented with a large genuine smile.

6 Regina Parker (Teppenpaw) Don't worry, I got this... 187 Regina Parker (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Luka Anastanov [Pecari]

May 03, 2011 3:08 AM

I can do my own work, thank you by Luka Anastanov [Pecari]

Luka was so distracted that he hardly realized where he took his seat. He kept running his finger over the scar on his cheek and stared out of the window. He had returned to the school a week after the Midterm was over due to the impossible circumstances at home. His mother, he found out had died before Midterm, but no one had bothered to write to him – not his brothers, not his father. Although he couldn’t blame his father; he could hardly sit up in his bed these days. Matters did not smooth over as his eldest brother, Dmitri, had married a wicked witch, Nadeja. She kept burdening his other brothers with chores and while he was at home, he was forced to hunt during hours he did not know existed. Luka wasn’t complaining though; any excuse to stay out of the house and in the cool depths of the Korab was blissful. But he couldn’t speak for Krasimir, who, despite his frail health, was forced to do chores he did not have the strength for.

Luka had made Dmitri promise that he would take good care of Sina, Luka’s Eurasian Lynx, but from his withering fur, he could see that Dmitri had not kept his words. Luka had to make a deal with Barbos, the local butcher, to keep Sina well-fed in return of…

Luka gave himself a mental shake. He could not think about it now. His father had scraped and saved to enroll Luka in a school – he couldn’t waste it by day-dreaming. Thankfully he was saved by the girl sitting beside him. When she offered to work with him, Luka nodded.

The girl started the fire. As the water in it came up to a boil, he tipped in half a bottle of armadillo bile, as per the instructions in his dog-eared, second-hand book, and started crushing the scarab beetles in his pestle.

“Mind chopping the daisy roots?” he said, pushing the roots towards the girl.

0 Luka Anastanov [Pecari] I can do my own work, thank you 0 Luka Anastanov [Pecari] 0 5

Derwent Pierce IV, Teppenpaw

May 04, 2011 10:58 AM

Having my wits sharpened sounds painful by Derwent Pierce IV, Teppenpaw

The first thing Derry noticed upon entering the Potions classroom was not that the front table had been tidied up or that the books had been resorted. In fact, Derry completely failed to notice either of these things. What caught his attention instead was Reggie's cauldron and the realization that he'd forgotten his. That was so not good.

Somebody had already sat down next to Reggie, so Derry looked for somebody else who had definitely remembered their cauldron to sit beside. Finding such a person, he took the empty seat beside them, grinned a little in embarrassment, and said, "Hi. I forgot my cauldron. Can I work with you if we brew anything today?"

As it turned out, they were brewing something today. Something he apparently would have known if he'd read the syllabus, but who (besides appparently Reggie) did that?

He was glad when Professor Fawcett assured them that it was not a volatile potion. Since September, Derry come to trust Professor Fawcett enough that he didn't think the whole class would blow up and kill them all, like what had happened to his brother, but he still didn't entirely feel safe in front a cauldron. Of course, Fawcett's next words completely invalidated all of the reassurance his claim that it wasn't volatile had provided. Was a potion that wasn't out to maim him in some way really too much to ask for?

Despite it being more than four years away, Derry couldn't help but wish his CATS would hurry up so he could drop this class. Potions lessons might actually be just a little bit scarier than a Nothing, and Nothings were terrifying.

Derry would continue trying to be brave, though. He would cautiously attempt to brew the potions assigned because any failing mark would be reported to his Grandmother, and she was definitely scarier than a Nothing when she was mad, and because he was practically a grown-up and crying in the corner because he was scared was not a very Pierce thing to do.

So he looked through his potions kit (which he had remembered to bring with him today - he still wasn't sure how he'd overlooked the cauldron which should have been sitting right next to his dorm door so he didn't forget it) and made sure all his needed ingredients were well stocked (they were), then turned to his partner-with-a-cauldron.

"Want me to start with the beetle crushing?" he asked, already taking the scarab beetles out of his kit. "I'm pretty good with the crushing and measuring and stuff. It's the stirring I usually mess up." Firstly, he had trouble with telling clockwise from counter-clockwise, and secondly, he tended to panic when that close to a bubbling brew.

1 Derwent Pierce IV, Teppenpaw Having my wits sharpened sounds painful 189 Derwent Pierce IV, Teppenpaw 0 5

Reggie

May 04, 2011 8:23 PM

..I'm not a cheater. I just meant I know the answer... by Reggie

Reggie twitched involuntarily when she watched Luka pour the vial of bile into the cauldron. Immediately, Reggie dropped her knife onto the table and threw her thermometer into the cauldron to make sure the temperature was correct so that the bile hadn’t been wasted. She had to remind herself that not everyone had grown up making potions the way she had with her dad. They didn’t always pay attention to the details of the whole process. Reggie’s dad had told her that the temperature of a potion is almost as important as the ingredients one placed in it. If a potion was too cold or too hot, the ingredients may not mix together properly and the potion would be useless.

She was looking at the temperature when Luka asked her about the daisy roots. Her hazel eyes looked up at him dubiously. He clearly had not been paying any attention at all. She indicated the already small pile of chopped roots she had been working on when she had asked him if he wanted to work with her. Reggie knew she gave off this carefree maybe even a little bit spacey and completely out of nowhere with her thoughts, but potions was something she was good in and was fierce about. And she was not going to let someone ruin it because the details slipped by.

Reggie smiled at him once again. She wasn’t going to get mad over some roots or anything. He was clearly in his own little world, which is fine… so long as he didn’t mess up the project. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” She advised him. “I’m Reggie.” She already knew who Luka was because of their small class size, but she felt that proper introductions were in order. She was slowly getting to know everyone, but it seemed to be taking time. That was probably because she only ever met anyone officially whenever they were doing partners in class because when it came to eating food with people, Reggie always ate with her housemates.

“Do you enjoy potions? My dad is a Master and he taught me all sorts of things about it.” She commented lightly as she went back to chopping the roots. She figured, this potion was easy enough that even if something wasn’t completely right with the ingredients or temperature it would still end up okay in the end.

6 Reggie ..I'm not a cheater. I just meant I know the answer... 187 Reggie 0 5

Renée Errant {Crotalus}

May 04, 2011 10:26 PM

At my wit's end. by Renée Errant {Crotalus}

After wandering the gardens (in excited wariness in case Sophia decided to jump out at her again), shoveling breakfast into her mouth in her usual impatient speed, popping into the library to see if Miss Diaz needed any assistance, Renée walked into her afternoon Potions class, already imagining the more worthwhile things she could be doing. 'Sleeping... eating... not being in Potions class.' Most of the class was still filing in and she took a seat in the middle, feeling proud and believing that only she had figured out that to sit in the front was only if one planned on doing the work perfectly and in a timely fashion and proper manner; sitting in the back invited the Professor to keep a close watch on you to make sure that you were doing the work perfectly and in a timely fashion and proper manner; while the middle was a safe haven, and a place where often a Professor would overlook.

Renée's mind managed to wander to three different places she'd rather be (Gardens, MARS' water room, Brooklyn) while Fawcett spoke. A few instructions seeped in, enough so that she had a general idea what she was expected to be doing, and she was grateful for the fact that she had been doing this for a long enough time that she could delve into fantasy while also registering reality. These were concepts that were beginning to become an obsession with her. Thoughts about what was real and what wasn't real. She had asked David about it over the midterm, and he had gone off on one of his usual fascinating philosophical spiels that left her enraptured for days on end but made no sense to her. She had asked Gabriel and he had shrugged and given her one of those answers that he didn't really believe but thought was the right answer, "Reality is what you make of it."

"You may work together, and begin.”

She closed her eyes briefly and tried to force reality to make Potions class end. She opened her eyes. Still there. 'So much for your theory.' She thought with idle annoyance at Gabriel. She began sorting out her ingredients, but wasn't sure whether or not to find a partner. She was happy enough working alone, but she needed someone to do work while she let her mind carry her on to more exciting places. She stared at the back of a person's head for a second while a few people paired off, and then leaned a little bit over her desk. "Partner?"

0 Renée Errant {Crotalus} At my wit's end. 0 Renée Errant {Crotalus} 0 5

Luka

May 05, 2011 7:51 AM

I'm sorry. I'm just a little jumpy today by Luka

Luka’s brows knitted together. “Oh,” he said, as the girl pointed out the chopped roots. “Right. Sorry, I am a little distracted today.” He really needed to snap out of it. So, when the girl introduced herself, Luka was only happy to respond.

“Nice to meet you, Reggie,” he said. “I am Luka. I can brew Potions if I have to, but no I don’t love it.”

Reggie said her father is a Master Potioneer. Luka knew it would be polite to say what his father did, but somehow he didn’t feel like telling her. Not that he was ashamed, he thought it was much better a profession than sitting in a room full of pots and cauldrons and simmering liquids. And he thought he would be able to bear a smirk that would undoubtedly cross her face if he told her that his father was a hunter.

“You know a lot of Potions, it seems,” said Luka, as Reggie fussed over small details of the Potion. “Have you been brewing long?”

Aware that Reggie had wordlessly taken the lead over their work, he pushed his pestle down the desk and asked, “Do you think this would work? Or should I grin some more?”

0 Luka I'm sorry. I'm just a little jumpy today 0 Luka 0 5

James Owen

May 06, 2011 4:56 AM

It's a permanent state for you by James Owen

It could be difficult to be in a good mood sometimes. James tried to be cheerful, but when people were making a noise in the library, being disruptive in class and spilling things on the floor that made him slip in Cascade Hall he just felt like the world was out to get him, and that didn't put him in a very good mood at all. Luckily there was potions class next, and James had every intention of just settling down and doing Fawcett's assignment, which, according to the syllabus, should be fun. When the professor asked if anyone knew what they would be studying, James raised his hand to answer the question but some other person - a girl in fact - got selected to answer. He lowered his hand, disappointed, and instead resigned himself to being invisible and just took notes on the class. He didn't want anyone to notice him, anyway, because then they would talk to him, and most people in this school really weren't worth talking to.

Before beginning the assignment, James followed his usualy procedure of readin the instructions carefully, and gettin out all the requisite tools and ingredients from his potions kit. His tools were all second hand but in reasonable condition, and he didn't have a lot of ingredients in his potions kit because they had a tendency to be expensive, and he could use whatever he liked from the school's stores, anyway. In fact he preferred to use the school's materials in class - that's what they were provided for, right? James had long since learned the value of thrift (no pun intended) and if he could get by without paying for things then that's exactly what he would do.

The Aladren was just setting up his cauldron, when a voice behind him said the word 'Partner' in a tone that implied a question. Instinctively, James turned to the sound of the voice. It belonged to that awful Niffler Girl. So the universe really did hate him this morning. Just great. James ran a hand through his chestnut brown hair in a gesture of irritation. "Why would I want to be partners with you?" he replied, not altogether unpleasantly, because maybe she could actually supply a legitimate reason. She might actually be really good at potions as well as being the most annoying person on the planet. He'd never worked with her in class before so he couldn't tell.

0 James Owen It's a permanent state for you 168 James Owen 0 5

Renée

May 07, 2011 11:10 AM

And yet, at the end of my wit, I'm still cleverer than you. by Renée

The head turned and Renée widened her eyes in surprised displeasure at the familiar face. Though she had sat in class with him for two years now, she spent time inside the fantastical concoctions of her own mind instead of listening to role call. And they had never introduced themselves when in the library or at MARS when he had so rudely poked her with a stick. Her hand unconsciously slid under her desk to rub her stomach. She leaned back in her seat and frowned at him, plenty of chosen things she would like to say flitting through her mind. But she registered his tone a moment later and the frown faded somewhat.

"Well, you probably wouldn't want to." She began to sort her ingredients again while she talked to him. "I'm good at potions but I only really want a partner to do all the work for me while I relax." She looked up at him again, bright dark brown eyes surveying his face while she spoke honestly. While deceit coated the most serious of tales she now spun for her abuelos, honesty now came out full force in the littlest of details she could easily have held back had she been a different sort of person. "I guess the only reason you would want to be partners with me is if you wanted me to do a favor for you later, which I would do if you became my partner." She flashed him a smile, not so wrapped up in the fantasies of her own mind that she really thought he was the sort of boy who would do so. Nevertheless she told him the truth, and that really was the only thing she had to offer as a partner today.

"Then again," She spoke suddenly. "I don't even know if you're good at potions yourself. Maybe you couldn't handle the work." She spoke thoughtfully. "And then there are the favors to consider, and I don't even know what you like." She leaned forward again, on hand tucked under her chin while she surveyed him. "I don't even know your name. Only that you like sticks and hate cute fuzzy animals."

She heard the rustle of people moving chairs to sit next to partners, shifting things over in their desk to organize their ingredients. At the moment she felt the stirrings of intrigue due to what she had sensed was a particulary grumpy boy. The grumpiness confused her. Life was good, why didn't he seem happy? But the intrigue only served as a momentary distraction from her having to do work, and she only expected a few more seconds of him allowing her to look at him with the curious gaze she was directing him, before he either turned away or shot another angry rude comment that he seemed fond of doing. 'I wonder how predictable I am to other people?'

0 Renée And yet, at the end of my wit, I'm still cleverer than you. 0 Renée 0 5

James

May 07, 2011 4:57 PM

You wish by James

She said she was good at potions, which was promising if she was telling the truth, but that she didn't want to do any of the work. James decided she was just being annoying - if you really didn't want to do the work you wouldn't tell someone you didn't want to do the work, because theh they wouldn't work with you. Even Niffler Girl couldn't be that stupid. He didn't care that she said she'd owe him a favor - he didn't want her to be indebtted to him - but it did amuse him that working with her equated to her owing him something. It was almost like she had to pay for a partner in class, and while that was believable on some levels, it nevertheless tickled the Aladren.

"I don't even know if you're good at potions yourself," she said. James scoffed. He didn't brag, but he was in the top three students in their year in every class they took. He could handle the work. "I don't even know your name. Only that you like sticks and hate cute fuzzy animals."

"I don't know anything about you either," James replied, "except that you have no respect for other people's privacy or their property." That was definitely a mark against her working with him - James didn't like to have his personal belongings touched by other people. "My name is James Owen," he told her, "and I actually am good at potions. So you should work with me not because I want a favour - I don't - but because if you really don't want to do the work then even being forced to do half of it by a partner would be better than having to do it all on your own," he said logically. "I don't particularly want to work with you, but I don't particularly want to work with anyone else, either, so if you really are good at potions then you can start crushing the scarab bettles while I get together the rest of our ingredients."

If she didn't want to work with him then she would say so, and James could start crushing his own scarab beetles. It really didn't matter uch to him, except that Fawcett might comment on his report card that he never worked with other students if he didn't start partnering up soon, and that would only concern his parents. That would only lead to questioning and forcing James to join school clubs, which he really had no inclination to do. So basically it was easier for him if he just worked with Niffler Girl for one class, if that's what she was happy to do.

0 James You wish 0 James 0 5

Addison Thornton

May 08, 2011 12:23 AM

I don't like pain... by Addison Thornton

Addison wandered quietly and slowly into Potions class. Yes, Arista was in her classes still, but that still didn’t make the eleven year old feel any better. Ris was a year older than herself and was more accomplished there at Sonora and Addi couldn’t help but feel inferior than her older sister in every single way possible. She didn’t want to sit in the front and be noticed, but she didn’t want to sit in the back and feel even worse than she already did, so she sort of just sat in an empty seat, wondering if anyone would sit by her. Luckily, Derry, her year mate and house mate in Teppenpaw sat down next to her. She trusted him, and hoped that maybe by the end of the year some sort of friendship would be attained between the pair of them. He’d been one of the people there at school that hadn’t laughed at her from the start and the first year appreciated that more than anything and she hoped that there would be something that she could do to repay him for his kindness!

As she walked into the room she noticed that it was much cleaner than it had been last semester and she smiled politely towards her Professor and looked down at her desk before anything bad could happen. He spoke to the class, and said that he hoped they were all feeling well that day and asked if anyone had read the syllabus to see what they’d be working on that day. A hand went up and he called on them and praised them for their correct answer before turning back to the rest of the class. Addi listened carefully, well, as best as she could through the beating of her heart as he went on to talk about the Wit-Sharpening Potion they were to be working on. He listed what they needed and then told them that it was not very volatile, but it could still burn them. The young Teppenpaw swallowed some saliva and opened her book to page 211 with shaking hands as he told them that they could work together.

Derry turned to her and as he spoke, she jumped, not expecting anyone to talk to her, though she’d hoped he would. “Oh sure…” she said to him with a small nervous smile. “Uhm… Sure.” she added when he asked if she wanted him to start with crushing the beetles. Addison couldn’t help but be nervous, she’d never been too good at much of anything, and she didn’t want to mess it up! Worst of all, she didn’t want to burn herself or anyone else or put in the wrong ingredients! The eleven year old couldn’t help but feel incompetent and out of place!

“Just to warn you though, I’m not so good at much… Though I do have my cauldron…” she added to him, hoping he still wanted to work with her!

0 Addison Thornton I don't like pain... 190 Addison Thornton 0 5

Renée

May 08, 2011 1:56 PM

My wish is my command. by Renée

There was a second in which she was suspended between outrage and relief. On one hand, the way he talked to her made it clear that he thought he was better than her. On the other hand, he was so blatant in his words. No dancing around insults, he just told her what he thought. Her curious smile widened and she beamed at him, and then giggled. "I said I didn't know your name, not that I wanted to know your name." She stood up from her seat and moved her things to the space next to James Owen. Shifting in her seat, she reached over for the scarab beetles and began crushing them easily, enjoying the sound of the quiet snaps.

"What property did you mean?" She asked him, turning to look at him while she continued to crush. "I never touched anything of yours." At closer inspection, it was easy to see that James did not come from money. She was curious as to what he did have that he considered valuable enough to be craved by her. She was becoming steadily interested in contrasts, not limiting it to the struggle of fantasy and reality in her mind. She often thought about Gabriel, and how it must have been for him to grow up poor, while he walked around now with a huge fortune at his fingertips. And her mother had gone back and forth as well. Something within Renée wanted to experience that adventure of poverty. Pain and suffering lived only in her fantasies and she wanted it more than what she had now. She had expressed this wish only once to Marianna and had been slapped for her confession. Now she knew the desire was wrong, but that didn't make the desire go away.

Done with crushing the beetles (she didn't understand why anyone ever had trouble in this class; as long as one followed the directions it was easy, and following directions wasn't even her forte), she looked over to see if James was done organizing the rest of the ingredients.

0 Renée My wish is my command. 0 Renée 0 5

Reggie

May 08, 2011 6:33 PM

No worries. by Reggie

“It’s okay, you seemed a little distant when I asked if you wanted to work with me, so I figured you just hadn’t noticed.” Regina shrugged noncommittally at the boy’s response. She wasn’t upset or anything at his request. She just wanted him to be aware that she wasn’t lazing about doing nothing while he worked on the potion. She was quite capable of doing the work and following directions. Especially in potions. She could do the same in other lessons, but the outcome may not be as fantastic as they were bound to be in Potions but that was because using her wand to produce spells was a lot more foreign to her than Potions was.

“I have been for as long as I can remember.” Reggie said happily. “With my mom gone all the time with her job, Popsicle had to raise me on his own. He figured, the best way to bond with me is by involving me in his work.” Reggie said all of this with a comfortable smile on her face. It was clear to anyone how much she loved her dad. “When I was really little, we used to create our own potions just to see what we could produce. Nothing actually worthy of anything, but it was fun to think that we were going to create something that would rid the world of some ailment.” She shrugged again, aware of how childish that may have sounded, but it was what it was and that time with her father had made a world of difference for her childhood.

She looked over at his work when he asked and gave a hard thorough examination of it. Reggie knew that in certain potions, the grain of the crushed ingredient mattered in the over all outcome of the potion, but this potion wasn’t that serious. His work was suitable. “Looks very nice to me. Once you put that into the potion, could you stir it three times clockwise and then once counterclockwise? After that, it’ll sit for four minutes and then the roots go in.”

6 Reggie No worries. 187 Reggie 0 5

Sara Raines

May 14, 2011 5:53 PM

Feeling lazy today.... by Sara Raines

Changes to Professor Fawcett’s syllabus were rare, but Sara couldn’t help but hold out hope for one as she came into the classroom, found a seat, and sorted her things in front of her. There was no specific reason why, she just didn’t feel like doing a potion today.

As she looked around at the other students, she wondered if they felt this way about things sometimes. The Crotali were typically all propriety and pragmatism, and the Aladrens all goal-oriented and dedicated to learning, and even the Teppenpaws were supposed to have an interest in personal development. None of those fit very well with the fits of laziness she sometimes had to work though, but…somehow, she couldn’t imagine that anyone was able to be completely on task and happy with that all the time. They might go on anyway, as she did, but surely everyone had moments where they wanted to not do something they were supposed.

Whether that was true or not, it seemed that she lacked skill in maintaining a pleasant expression while simultaneously trying the wandless imperius, because the class quickly moved along as scheduled. Stifling a small sigh, Sara went to find the page for the wit-sharpening potion.

At least it looked like it would interesting to make. And, though it would be terribly naughty, maybe useful, too; would, if she took some before parties, it make it easier to maintain conversations the way she was supposed to? It was called being witty, sometimes. Merlin knew she could use every advantage she could possibly find socially, because there was something lacking with her. She had no idea what, but it was there, and the family expected her to be Catherine, only with more brains and less being sentimental if her friends ceased to be fit to associate with.

Since they were told they might work together, she knew she had to, and didn’t mind. While sometimes it was unpleasant, with the luck of the draw of who she ended up sitting beside if she didn’t arrange things properly, today she needed all the help investing in her assignment as she could find, and having someone to help with the work and to talk to would make it easier. “Shall we work together?” she asked with a smile, observing the formality even as she put on her dragonhide gloves.

0 Sara Raines Feeling lazy today.... 179 Sara Raines 0 5