Professor John Fawcett

September 02, 2012 7:27 PM

Professor John Fawcett

Former Staff
Subject: Potions
Written by:

Lesson I for Beginners (1st and 2nd years) by Professor John Fawcett

Between the higher classes there was, of course, some movement – second years becoming third years and joining the Intermediates, fifth years becoming sixth years and either dropping his class or joining the Advanced class, seventh years graduating from the school and not returning to this lab at all – but it was in the beginners’ class where John saw the most dramatic changes almost every year, due entirely to the influx of new first years that every September brought. The mix always included almost as many skill levels and degrees of affinity for his subject as it did personalities, and it was often anyone’s guess, in the first weeks, which would ultimately affect the quality of their first two years of Potions more.
 
More than he would have liked, though, came down to how well the first year group got along with itself, and to a lesser extent how well it meshed with the second years, which was something the staff had relatively little control over. Often it did not go badly, no more than one or two murderous rivalries or overly-intense friendships in any given age group, but John was feeling a little nervous about how this year was going to go. There were too many names with the same background for him to think that politics, at some point, weren’t going to interfere with the normal functioning of the classroom.
 
None of this, however, was on his face as he stood before the newly-formed Beginner’s class of the year. “Everyone,” he said once the bell had rung, “get in your seats now so we can begin, thank you…” Once the last few had done so, he smiled at the group. “Good afternoon, and welcome – or welcome back – to Potions. I am, for those who have not met me before, Professor Fawcett, your instructor.”
 
He lifted a packet off a stack of identical ones, and the others flew out, one landing in front of each student. “This is your syllabus until midterm. I may give smaller homework or in-class assignments which are not on your syllabus, but in general, what you see is what you can expect, so I hope you will all come to each class prepared.” In truth, he usually ended up off by a day or two every semester, rather than being able to rigidly follow the syllabus, but that was why he’d incorporated review days before midterm. That gave him some flexibility. “You will also find outlined your major essays – “ much milder for the first and second years than for the older groups, though the second year version of the document was a bit heavier than the first year one, too – “and projects, the grading scale, and the code of conduct for my class.”
 
Here he paused to give the class a stern look. “Pay particularly close attention to that,” he told them. “I will not have fighting in my classroom any more than I will have dangerous or reckless behavior in my classroom. You are all here to learn safely, and anyone who prevents someone else from doing so will be punished appropriately. I hope, though, not to have to.” He meant that; John disliked that aspect of his job more than any other. There were, though, times when it was simply the only way to maintain order. “So long as you try to the best of your ability to do what is asked of you, we can get along very well, accommodations may be made for students who need them, but I will not tolerate any of you being deliberately disruptive.”
 
His annual warning delivered, John relaxed. “Now, to more pleasant business. I assume most of you are eager to begin brewing, so you may now open your textbooks to page 13.” He picked up a piece of paper off his desk with one hand while pointing his wand at the board with the other so ‘Page 13’ appeared there, looking over the page to ensure that it was, in fact, the alternative he had come up with for Miss Yale, if she objected to the salamander scales, and any other students who wished to focus on vegan potioneering, as he had finally decided to include a note in the syllabus about how this would be permitted. He had come to almost enjoy these assignments; sometimes, particularly at the more advanced levels, they required a bit more charmswork or worked a bit more slowly, but it was still an interesting challenge. “Here you have a basic confidence draught.
 
“To make this, you will need freshly-chopped daisy roots, three drops of an infusion of lemon balm and lovage, two thoroughly dried leaves of yaupon, the shell of a single sopophorous bean, and a sprinkling of salamander scales. You will find how well you handle those affects the color of the final potion, which should ideally be about the same shade of red your new classmates in Crotalus turned during the Opening Feast, but which should never be any color close to pink or black.”
 
He looked at them over his glasses. “Do your best, and follow the directions carefully. I will call time ten minutes before the end of the period, and then you will bottle samples – make sure to carefully label yours, so I will know who it belongs to – and write me a few sentences – something you learned today, other than how to make this potion, or something you have questions about.” He had decided on this, after seeing it in a magazine for primary educators, as an alternative to calling out a lengthy roll, as the class could become restless during that time and he needed to be sure they had internalized the rules and routines of the class before putting that kind of downtime in their hands. Later, he would know them all by sight and check them off as they entered, but the first years prevented that for now. “You may talk as you work, if you are not disruptive and stay on-task. I will be walking around the room as you work to ensure you do not get too distracted, and to help with any problems you may run into in your brewing. You may begin.”
 
OOC: Welcome to Potions! In order to get House points, all posting rules (good spelling and grammar, a minimum of two hundred words, realism for your character's level, and no controlling of other people's characters especially) must be followed, and the more creative and detailed your posts are, the better. Also, Fawcett will notice and intervene before any potions go badly enough wrong to do anyone serious harm, though minor accidents are allowed. Tag Fawcett if you need him, and have fun!
Subthreads:
Easy as pie! Right? by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari with Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus, Wendy
Worries by Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw with Lucille Carey, Lucille
Off to a good start by Alan Raines, Teppenpaw with Amity Brockert, Aladren, Alan, Alan Raines
It's been two minutes, and already I have a problem by Isabel Raines with Rupert Princet, Pecari, Isabel
I suppose it's an improvement on flying... by Effie Arbon with Alexandra D'Alesandro, Crotalus, Alex, Crotalus
Do potions ever use two peas in a pod? by Annabelle and Annette Pierce with Anthony Carey VIII, Anthony Carey
Making a mess of things (Tag: Heaven) by Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren with Heaven Baird, Crotalus, Lucian
Chitchatting away. by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw with Jay Carey, Aladren, Liam Ammon, Pecari, Aria
...I like this by Henry Carey, Crotalus with Honey Baird, Pecari, Henry
Feeling pretty confident already by Clara Abernathy, Pecari
My first school potion...cool by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw
0 Professor John Fawcett Lesson I for Beginners (1st and 2nd years) 19 Professor John Fawcett 1 5


Clara Abernathy, Pecari

September 23, 2012 7:43 PM

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by:

Age in Post: 12

Feeling pretty confident already by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara headed over to Potions class after her Transfiguration class and wondered if it was going to be as easy as it was the last time. She seemed to be doing a little better with the whole Potions thing. She hadn’t had one blow up on her since the one that had turned her green when she was nine years old. While it wasn’t the best experience of her life it did teach her something very important: NEVER mix mandrake root with any other potion than the Petrification Potion that helps people who have been petrified. That little boo-boo almost blew up both her and her kitchen if her dad hadn’t stopped her from putting in more than a few drops. The drops were enough to turn the potion she was working on to goo and caused it to blow up primarily in her face. It was what turned her green in the first place.

She entered the classroom and walked towards a table with her potion supplies. She waved pleasantly at the professor as she took her seat. She waited for Professor Fawcett to finish introducing himself to the new students and took notes while he spoke. She listened to his instructions for the new lesson and wondered slightly why he would have them making confidence draughts. She shrugged as she set up her potion stuff and made a note of the ingredients. “Here you have a basic confidence draught.

“To make this, you will need freshly-chopped daisy roots, three drops of an infusion of lemon balm and lovage, two thoroughly dried leaves of yaupon, the shell of a single sopophorous bean, and a sprinkling of salamander scales. You will find how well you handle those affects the color of the final potion, which should ideally be about the same shade of red your new classmates in Crotalus turned during the Opening Feast, but which should never be any color close to pink or black.”

She left her table to go gather the items she would need off the list. She grabbed the daisy roots, lemon balm and lovage, she found the dried yampon leaves and extracted to from the jar. She then rummaged around a little but managed to find the sopohourous bean shell and the salamander scales. She took everything back to her table and carefully chopped the daisy roots. Since she wasn’t sure how small she was supposed to chop the roots up she just did a basic chop. She pushed those aside and dropped them into the cauldren that was warming over the fire she had under it. She then mixed together the lemon balm and lovage and dropped the three drops of the mixture in with the roots. She made sure that the leaves she picked out were completely dried before dropping them into the cauldren. She then dropped in the shell and then after stirring the mixture a bit, she added the sprinkling of salamander scales. She left it to simmer over the fire while she took out a piece of parchment and quill pen and began the written part of the assignment.

I’ve learned that thanks to Professor Fawcett’s instructions I’ve actually been able to do the potions he’s assigned without blowing them up which is a huge deal for me, secondly I found myself wondering why we would be working on a confidence draught at this point in time. I figured it would make more sense for us to be making them around the time of our CATS or RATS tests for added confidence. The last thing I was curious about was whether or not we should automatically add water to our potions if the instructions doesn’t actually call for it? If we do does it change the nature of the potion or does it make any difference? She put aside her paper after checking it for any errors and checked her potion. By just looking at it, it was hard to tell what color the potion was turning. It looked too dark to Clara…like it was more of a burgundy red instead of Crotalus’ color red. Professor Fawcett called the ten minute mark and Clara bottled some of her potion to turn in. She watched as the potion lightened slightly, turning a brighter shade of burgundy instead of red. It wasn’t pink or black so Clara figured it couldn’t be that bad.

She walked towards the front of the class and turned in her potion samples along with her written paper. She smiled brightly at Professor Fawcett as she exited the classroom. She was pretty confident that her potion had turned out at least halfway decent. She was sure she’d find out soon enough when the Professor opened the stopper and tested it. She shrugged. I did my best she told herself as she headed out the door. She just hoped she was right about that.
0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari Feeling pretty confident already 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5