Do I really need this course? on Potions

Prof. Isis Carter

March 20, 2015 3:03 PM

What it Boils Down to [Years I-II] by Prof. Isis Carter

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were particularly chaotic days for Isis as of late. With Diania Yu on some kind of “extended” midterm, the young substitute was effectively running herself ragged trying to fill the void. She was currently serving as both Defense and Potions teacher, which meant entire days of running between classrooms.

In the case of Beginner Potions, Isis came not from another class but from lunch. She tended to eat quickly, which was good because it was the only time she had to set up for the lessons ahead of her, but also bad because she knew how difficult it could be to get students focused again right after they had been fed. Meals had one of two effects on preteens; it seemed they either wanted to take a nap or run a marathon. Of course, a lot of these kids were pureblood and likely considered themselves “above” falling asleep in class or causing a disturbance, but it was nonetheless an internal factor that played into their psyche and affected the learning process.

“Good afternoon, class,” Isis began once it seemed everyone who planned on attending had found a seat. “Today we will be making the Cure for Boils.” She paused, glancing about to see if anyone was paying attention. “The ingredients will be available on that shelf,” she added with a gesture, “and the instructions will momentarily be on the board.”

“But before they appear,” Isis elaborated, “I want to mention the challenge of today’s lesson. When the instructions appear, the ingredient measurements will be missing. If you did your reading for today, you should remember how much to use.” And if they had not read but at least brought their book to class as she had requested, she fully intended to turn a blind eye on open pages. “If you didn’t, well, better hope your partner did!” She glanced over her shoulder to check the materialization of the instructions on the board behind her, and upon confirmation, she announced, “You may begin.”

OOC: Make sure your posts are at least 200 words and that you follow all the rules. The more creative, the more points you will get, but don’t sacrifice realism in the attempt because that may earn a deduction. Here are your instructions. The measurements will be in brackens to remind you that IC your student does not have that information on the board.

Part 1
Add [6] snake fangs to the mortar.
Crush into a fine powder using the pestle.
Add [4] measures of the crushed fangs to your cauldron.
Heat the mixture to 250 for 10 seconds.
Wave your wand.
Leave to brew and return in 20 minutes*.

Part 2
Add [4] horned slugs to your cauldron.
Take the cauldron off the fire before adding the next ingredient.
Add [2] porcupine quills to your cauldron.
Stir 5 times, clockwise.
Wave your wand to complete the potion.

*Note that the HP wikia actually said 33-45 minutes. I’m going to assume that Sonora has better cauldrons than that for the sake of class time.

Subthreads:

Breathless by Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw with Andrew Carey, Teppenpaw

Bluffing my way through by Diana Carey, Pecari with Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw, Diana

Anyone want to lend a hand? by Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren with John Umland, Aladren

Do I really need this course? by Sutton Nicolls, Pecari with Barnaby Pye, Aladren

12 Prof. Isis Carter What it Boils Down to [Years I-II] 31 Prof. Isis Carter 1 5

Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

March 21, 2015 4:36 PM

Breathless by Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

It's not that bad. Owen tried to tell himself, as he walked into Potions, wheezing. It's not that bad. He semi-collapsed into the nearest open seat, not knowing who he had sat by, just needing to sit. As much as he was trying desperately to ignore it, his asthma was really bothering him. It had been all day....and he hadn't slept much last night either so he was pretty tired as well. Owen just hoped Andrew wasn't annoyed at him for making so much noise this morning coughing. He often coughed and wheezed a lot late at night or early in the morning, but this was worse than normal.

Quite frankly, the first year was embarrassed. Still, he didn't want to acknowledge anything was wrong so he'd gone to class rather than the medic or back to his room, the latter of which, might get him in trouble and it was extra uncomfortable to be in trouble when your uncle was the Headmaster. If Owen had to, he'd use his inhaler, but he'd really rather not have to. People might notice.

He didn't want to be known for his...condition. Didn't want to be considered the "sick boy". He wanted people to know who he was inside. See him for his creativity and kindness and other good qualities. Not just think of him as someone who couldn't always breathe very well. Nor did Owen want to be left out of things, though there were some things he honestly couldn't do, like Quidditch. And it seemed quite a few of his classmates were into it.

As the class began, he started to feel a little better....or at least that was what the Teppenpaw was telling himself. Really, now that he'd had a few moments to catch his breath, it was was a little bit better, though truthfully, still not all that great. Though Owen was trying to convince himself otherwise and pay attention to the lesson. He did not need to use his inhaler...though he might if he had to get up right now.

His face flushed. Owen had read...some of it. He'd tried, but had felt rather bad last night and wasn't sure he'd retained much. "Um, did you read?" He asked the person next to him, feeling guilty and hoping his classmate both had read and would be nice about the fact that he...only sort of had.

11 Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw Breathless 300 Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw 0 5

Andrew Carey, Teppenpaw

March 22, 2015 8:45 PM

Discombobulated by Andrew Carey, Teppenpaw

Andrew Carey had been Sorted into Teppenpaw, but the potion had not turned him yellow because of any habit, or even experience, of looking after other people. As the youngest child in a nervous family, he was usually more occupied with trying to evade people who wanted to look after him more than he wanted to be looked after. He knew Mama and Lucille were only that way because they loved him, not like Stepmother was with his brother Mal – from the way Stepmother talked, Andrew thought all she cared about was the Future Glory of the Family, not about his older siblings as people at all – but it was embarrassing when they acted like he was still a baby, especially in front of people, and since he wanted other people to like him, not to be embarrassed with him, looking too closely after others really didn’t occur to him very often.

This morning, though, his roommate Owen’s coughing and wheezing – Andrew had worried at first that he had brought something with him that Owen was allergic to, but had gathered that he just didn’t breathe right in general – had sounded worse than usual, so Andrew had asked him if he was sure he was feeling all right and said he’d tell their teachers where he’d gone if he wanted to go see the medic. He hadn’t thought much about it through his morning lessons, occupied with spells and trying to remember spells and trying even harder to remember the complicated backgrounds of spells, but after lunch, when Owen collapsed into the seat beside Andrew’s in Potions and still wasn’t breathing right, he frowned, concerned, until Professor Carter started talking. Then he bit his bottom lip, worried about something else, albeit something less important than the state of Owen’s lungs today.

He had done the reading. All of it. The problem was that he just didn’t remember things he read that well. He wasn’t like Brandon from South Carolina, who Mal said had to have special lessons because his stupid parents had so many half-wit kids that they had forgotten all about one and sent him off to school unable to read, or anything like that, but he didn’t memorize ingredient measurements. That was what they had directions and books for, wasn’t it? Because nobody, not even the Aladrens, actually remembered that much of what they read, did they?

Mal liked to exaggerate sometimes when he was being mean – Andrew kind of assumed the story about Brandon Carey was an example of that – but suddenly, Andrew found it easier to believe the story Mal had told him about how he’d have to perform every spell and potion in his end-of-the-year exams off the top of his head, no references and no hints beforehand about which spells and potions he should study most closely. He had thought Mal was just trying to scare him, but since this was a regular lesson, it suddenly didn’t sound so unrealistic….

He smiled automatically when Owen asked him if he’d read, but his mother would have recognized the expression as one that meant he knew he was about to get into trouble at fifty feet. “Yeah,” he said. “I don’t remember the measurements, though. Who memorizes measurements?” He bit his lip again. “I do have my book, though,” he added very quietly. “Since she said bring it – maybe if we put our bags together on the floor, we could open that up on top of it, like a little stool for it or something, and kind of cover most of it up with another book, just leave the numbers, you know, showing where we could look down and see them but she’d have to stand right over us and look down to realize we were doing it?”

Andrew felt a little ashamed of himself. If he had suggested that to Mal, his brother would have approved, but Mal was a Pecari. It was all right for them to cheat. Andrew didn’t think there was anything wrong with cheating, especially not in something like this, but it felt somehow…un-Teppenpaw-like. Since his roommate was from a family enough like his that they now had common relatives, though, he hoped that Owen would understand and not think he was too bad a person for it or anything.

0 Andrew Carey, Teppenpaw Discombobulated 0 Andrew Carey, Teppenpaw 0 5

Diana Carey, Pecari

March 22, 2015 10:52 PM

Bluffing my way through by Diana Carey, Pecari

Yellow and green were, in Diana’s opinion, two colors which just did not go together. Or at least did not go together on her. She could wear either, but didn’t think the combination flattered her at all – not the small, pale face and blue eyes she had inherited from her mother, not the curling brown hair which, only showing glints of gold in bright sunshine, came closer to the Carey norms, not even the low stature she had inherited from both parents, though she knew that one was really ridiculous. The combination just wasn’t her. She had the vague idea it made her look a little like a farm girl, which was not really a career she aspired to in life.

Despite that, though, the collar of her green uniform robes made a backdrop for a yellow flower pendant as she sat down in Potions. It had been a gift, a gift she thought her friend had made himself, and that meant wearing it at least occasionally so he knew the gift had been appreciated. Politeness was more important than color combinations – up to a point, anyway. There was definitely a point that could not be crossed when it came to how gifts combined with mandatory clothes, but the necklace didn’t cross it.

She twisted the chain around the tip of her finger, then unwound it and ran her fingertips over the petals. Deep down, it made her a little uneasy for reasons that had nothing to do with colors, but she knew that was stupid. The jewelry gifts Theresa had gotten at school – the huge sparkly bracelet and earrings from the boy she’d planned to marry and the necklace from the boy she still swore she was sure would marry her if she were only allowed to go to Italy, where she wasn’t allowed to go because everyone knew she would do something stupid and end up getting killed by her ex-boyfriend’s fiancee’s family – had been nice stuff, the stuff older boys gave to girls they wanted to kiss. The pendant on her necklace was something you’d give to a friend – she could have as easily gotten it from Joella. Which was actually who she’d told Brandon she’d gotten it from. Brandon was so difficult these days that it was hard, sometimes, not to wish she could jump ship to Teppenpaw and form a trio with Jake and little Andrew, who seemed like a nice boy and had also gotten a present from Jake for Christmas….

When she heard about the ‘challenge’ of the lesson, the chain was wrapped around her finger and she pulled hard on it before she realized what she was doing. When she did, she released it at once and patted it back down anxiously, almost apologetically, though she knew it wasn’t broken. If it had been, she also knew the spell to repair it, which was more than she could say about the information she was supposed to have. She tried to remember if she had done the reading; homework assignments all ran together in her head, making it hard for her to say if she remembered reading for Potions last night or one night last week.

A small patch of red stained each cheek, but she smiled brightly at someone nearby. Maybe when she saw the directions, some of the measures would come back to her, and maybe some more would come to her partner, and then maybe they could put it together well enough to not explode anything, so she could live long enough to make sure she sat beside an Aladren in here all the time, at least until Professor Yu got back.

“Hello,” she said brightly. “Would you like to work together?”

0 Diana Carey, Pecari Bluffing my way through 0 Diana Carey, Pecari 0 5

Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw

March 23, 2015 9:00 PM

That's my life motto. by Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw

Aiden’s second year at Sonora was going as lamely as his first year at Sonora. His roommates were okay, but spent most of their time with each other, so he didn’t have much going on with them and that was a little frustrating. Savannah was nice to hang out with, but he wasn’t sure if she wanted to hang out with him all the time, especially since she had her twin sister here to keep her company. He wanted to make new friends, but it was so hard to do when everyone already had their preferred groups of people.

At least his midterm had been fun. His parents had taken him on a vacation to Maui for New Years. Being from Northern New York meant that winters were often brutal. Usually well below zero temperature wise and lots and lots of snow. His mother was not one who enjoyed being cold. The only reason they were still in New York was because of the O’Niels. Aiden’s father preferred to remain new his family since he was to be the heir and Aiden after him. Aiden was the heir to both the Mathers and the O’Neil family trees. His mother said that his future status and society status may give him trouble in the future with girls (should any of them concern themselves with such things). It was pressure on him, but none that he concerned himself with at the moment.

Aiden sighed as he sat down at one of the tables in the Potions classroom. Aiden hated classes. Sometimes they were really interesting, but a lot of the time they weren’t. He didn’t like to sit through things that were boring. He tried his hardest to get decent grades and what he was getting sent home for his parents to see was average. They weren’t upset over the grades though, so as long as he maintained everything at a passing level, he would be okay. This meant, doing his homework. Luckily, he had done his reading (still wasn’t quite sure what a boil was though), but he hadn’t memorized the measurements. There was nothing in her assignment that said he had to memorize that stuff!

He took out his book and flipped to the page for the potion (she never said he couldn’t!). He was just marking his page when someone asked if he wanted to work with her. Looking up from the pages, Aiden found it was Ms. Carey. He smiled his crooked smile at her, “Of course you may.” His mom had gone to school with the Careys too. He wasn’t sure if the Careys’ at school with him were the children of her classmates or not (his mom said it was an extremely large family), but knowing that they were important meant that he had to be on his best behavior. “I have most of the ingredients in my kit, but I am out of Porcupine quills, do you have any or should I grab some from the supply closet?”

6 Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw That's my life motto. 287 Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw 0 5

Diana

March 25, 2015 7:46 PM

We'll fool them all by Diana

As far as partners went, Aiden O’Neil was not, Diana thought, the worst person she could have randomly selected. He was from the right kind of family and from the House she had started to think might contain the most decent people at Sonora in general, which meant working with him was not likely to end in angry or sad tears. The only thing she thought she really had to worry about was it ending in pained tears if the potion blew up in their faces, but if it did, that would probably be as much her fault as Aiden’s, so she couldn’t really hold that against him.

It was possible, though, that it wasn’t all going to end in pain and failure at all, though. Right after Diana asked him if he wanted to work together, she saw he had his book out and her smile widened. If they could just look it over quickly enough, before they got caught….

“Porcupine quills….” She opened her own potions kit, scanning the rows of compartments inside as quickly as she could. One thing she and her siblings never had to worry much about was Potions ingredients, since their father’s business was – partially – supplying imported items to apothecaries. They got most of the things that were home-produced at a good discount, at least from what she’d heard. “Yes!” she exclaimed happily, finding the right box. “I do have some.” She lowered her voice a little. “How many do we need?” Her smile was still in place, but she blushed again as she added, “I did read it, but I don’t remember much of it at all. I don’t know why we’d even bother memorizing these things when we have the book, do you? It’s not like spells, you’re only going to make potions indoors anyway.” Plus, she didn’t think most people knew many of the spells with more complicated wand movements or incantations off the top of their heads anyway. Diana would be very impressed if she ever met anyone who was both really good at strange Transfigurations and not a Transfiguration teacher, but she didn’t expect it to happen any time soon.

0 Diana We'll fool them all 0 Diana 0 5

Owen

March 29, 2015 5:00 PM

What a pair by Owen

Although he couldn't breathe well enough to breathe a sigh of it, Owen felt very relieved that it was his roommate that he'd sat next to. Andrew would be nice about the fact that he wasn't at his best. Even if the other Teppenpaw boy was secretly irritated with Owen, he didn't seem to let on. Still, his asthma was something that he was very self-conscious about and really didn't want to let others see that he had. Therefore, it was best to work with Andrew. (Though, Jemima was his friend, so he hoped she would have been understanding too.)

Plus, he worried that others would have been mad that he didn't do his reading because they'd feel like they were doing all the work. Or that he'd affect their grades. Normally Owen did do his homework and he had tried, but he honestly hadn't felt that well, much as he didn't want to admit it to himself. As much as he tried not to let it, sometimes his condition did affect him.

"I suppose it is a bit ridiculous." Owen admitted. He usually managed to remember key concepts but unless you really were into something, you weren't going to remember every little thing. Or if it was information that was bizarre enough to stand out.

The first year nodded in agreement to Andrew's idea. "It's better than messing up the potion by putting in the wrong amount." Owen replied. Any potion-or any spell-could cause serious consequences if not done properly. Worse things could happen than getting a poor grade, people could get seriously hurt-and quite frankly, he had enough problems at the moment, he did't need to have the potion blow up in his face. Nor did Owen ever ever want to hurt anyone.

Whether looking at your book was technically cheating or not, it was still the lesser of two evils. The idea of maiming someone was quite bothersome to him and really, Andrew had a rather clever idea. The sort of thing that if they got in trouble and it was referred to Uncle Mortimer, his uncle would probably applaud Andrew's ingenuity.

Owen coughed. He hoped that if this continued, he wouldn't give them away. Perhaps he should use his inhaler after all. He fished it out of his bag and breathed in, hoping that his classmates were too engrossed in their own work to pay much attention to him, now that Professor Carter was no longer speaking. He wouldn't be a distraction now from others learning and plus, he knew having an asthma attack would be worse. For so many reasons, not just his own potential embarrassment and the general fact that they were unpleasant to experience.

Still, maybe after this class, he should go to the medic after all. Owen still had DADA this afternoon and that was a class that he most definitely did not feel up to.

11 Owen What a pair 300 Owen 0 5

Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren

March 30, 2015 8:31 PM

Anyone want to lend a hand? by Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren

Like most of her classes, Aislinn sat in the front. She hated being anywhere else in the class for the simple fact that she found most other students to be distracting. She was there for one purpose and one purpose only and that was to learn everything that she could possibly learn in order to achieve mediwizard status. Sitting behind someone who played obnoxiously with their hair or kept shifting annoyingly was simply not an option, especially in this class. Potions was an absolute must for what she wanted to do in life and having done her reading, she knew that today was an especially crucial day of learning for the subject was about making the Cure for Boils. Of course, someday there would be people that would make the potions in advance so they could be administered quickly, but she knew the importance of knowing and understanding potions since one never knew when they would come across some sort of anomaly.

Her quill paused as she wrote down the notes and her pretty features contoured into confusion. However, she had never heard of aiding in creating such anomalies. Yes, she was prepared for the lesson and was fairly certain that she could remember the amounts necessary for each ingredient. But making potions already required such a delicate balance that she couldn’t agree with the professor’s choice to challenge them in such an area. Her blue eyes glanced over to her twin. She highly doubted that Sutton had done any reading at all or if she did, Aislinn couldn’t fathom that she would remember to heat the mixture for ten seconds let alone how much of each part had to be added. For students like her sister, this was simply insanity. What if someone forgot to add something or added too much? What if they were so busy worrying over the ingredients that they missed other parts of the instructions? She simply did not see this ending well for most people and she did not like that fact that those people might be around her.

Brushing her low ponytail behind her shoulder, Aislinn breathed in deeply. This would most likely help her to reach the top of the class, provided she managed to stay away from anyone that could end up ruining her potion. Okay, perhaps, she could deal with this. Clearing the area, she pulled up the sleeves of her robes and got to work. First, she had to make sure that she had everything required for the potion. She went through the checklist on the board. She needed snake fangs. As far as ingredients went, at least they were only working with one ingredient. She couldn’t imagine the disaster that could have occurred if it were something more complicated. Going to the shelf, she took the ingredient and went back to her work area. She put six snake fangs in the mortar and began crushing them, only stopping for a moment to flex her hand. Holding the pestle to crush the fangs was hard work and was causing her hand to cramp. Maybe she should have looked for a partner after all.

0 Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren Anyone want to lend a hand? 297 Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren 0 5

Sutton Nicolls, Pecari

March 30, 2015 9:00 PM

Do I really need this course? by Sutton Nicolls, Pecari

The face was absolutely all wrong! Angrily, Sutton erased the face of the character that she was drawing. Recently, she had decided to try her hand at drawing manga. She loved reading them and wanted to bring to life the characters that popped into her head. The one that she was currently working on was to be a warrior. The body hadn’t been too bad, but the face was a nightmare. She had to capture a girl that was both tough and innocent. Unfortunately, the only thing she had managed to do was to turn the face into some sort of undistinguishable mass with large eyes. Ugh. No, no, no. She wiped away the bits of eraser that had been left behind. Quickly, she drew in the lines that had been wiped away in the process.

Starting from the inner eye, Sutton worked her way to the outer rim. She only paused when she saw that people were beginning to break up into groups. What had she missed? She looked up at the board. All right, so they were doing some sort of potion. Not really a mystery there since it was potions class, but something seemed to be wrong with what she was looking at. Her head tilted in confusion, the brownish blonde hair spilling to one side. It took her a few seconds to understand what it was, but there it was. There were no measurements listed. Why were there no measurements listed? Were they playing some sort of guessing game? Well, she was going to fail. She hadn’t even bothered to do the reading last night. Why did she need to know how to cure boils? She had no intention of getting or being around anyone involving boils.

Oh, well. Whatever. Shrugging her shoulders, she put her art book away and went to the shelf to get the ingredients listed. Obviously, she was going to need a partner if she hoped to pass this lesson. She took her time checking out the ingredients, like one was going to make a difference from the other, and surveyed those coming up like she was. She hoped to find someone that seemed without a partner and was hopefully one of the more brilliant people in the course. If all else failed, she would seek Aislinn out, but she hated working with her twin. Somehow, she always managed to give her some sort of lecture about how she should focus on her studies. Psh. What about focusing on life? Wasn’t it for living? She didn’t want her greatest accomplishment to be that she studied hard. She wanted her greatest accomplishment to be that she lived and she lived to the fullest. Was there anything really wrong with that?

Seeing a potential partner approach, Sutton put on her friendliest face and approached the person. “Hi, do you want to work together? It might be easier for remembering all the measurements. Kinda lame, though, that she didn’t just give them to us, don’t you think?”

0 Sutton Nicolls, Pecari Do I really need this course? 311 Sutton Nicolls, Pecari 0 5

John Umland, Aladren

March 31, 2015 7:01 PM

Sure, why not? by John Umland, Aladren

If John had ever thought of going to a class without its assigned textbook in his bag, Potions was one he might have considered attending under-prepared. Any mistakes in any of his practical assignments could pose risks to his books, but Potions was the messiest class of all even before he considered how humid a room full of bubbling cauldrons got and how bad humidity was for paper. Since he had never thought of going to even Potions without his book, though, and usually a couple of other books on whatever they were covering this week as well, he had been surprised when Professor Carter made a point of telling them to bring their books to the next Potions class. He had assumed that at least some of the others didn’t do extra reading when they didn’t have to, but it had really never occurred to him that everyone didn’t always carry textbooks. Even if something in them didn't come up in class, or he didn't need to check a definition, he'd had the vague idea it was required.

Since he was pretty sure Professor Carter wouldn’t give them a direction just for the fun of it, though, he had read more closely than usual, assuming something in the assignment was going to be important. When she explained the lesson to them, he guessed he had been right, though not in the way he had expected. He frowned a little, thinking.

The actual directions had been the part he’d paid the least attention to, so off the top of his head, he could not remember the numbers. If she put the directions and ingredients on the board the way they had been written in the book, though, he thought it would come back to him, especially since he had looked over some of the material during lunch. To check it against something he had found in another book, true, but he had looked at the page with the potion on it for a good few minutes, trying to see how the steps of this potion applied to the principles he had assumed he was going to need to explain today. He thought he would at least stay in the vicinity of right; the question was how close was close enough. Too much or too little of something would mean something either catalyzing or inhibiting too many reactions to allow the potion to work the way it was supposed to, either making the potion ineffective or making it one of the many varieties of ‘dangerously unstable,’ but so many potions called for pinches and dashes that there had to be some room for error. That was why it was important to understand the properties of common components and how they reacted with each other; a truly skilled potioneer had to have a massive memory for minutiae.

That was why for John, the greatest source of frustration Potions had to offer was the question of why he did not love it. It should have been one of his very favorite classes; memorizing properties of a category of things (birds) was among his hobbies, plus he got to do chemistry. Instead, though, he thought of it the way he’d thought of learning to keep a camp site before school: something necessary, something he didn’t mind doing, but still something that it didn’t really excite him to learn, not the way it was in Transfiguration. He felt no desire to drop by Professor Yu’s office to ask her to argue with him about class and give him extra assignments, which was a pity, since his Head of House was the teacher he was most allowed to make weird requests of.

Because he’d assumed they were going to argue theory, John had taken a seat at the front today, assuming most of the smart people would gather there. It worked out anyway, since now he’d have someone smart to check his memory against. Overconfidence was, as Mom made sure to remind him ten times a week since he had first complained of boredom back in his first year, a good way to blow stuff up when he did not mean to blow stuff up. Pennsylvania Aislinn was next to him again and had proven an interesting person to talk to before the holidays, so he decided to ask her once she got back from the store cabinet.

She started straight in on snake fangs when she returned. “Six of those, right?” he asked when she paused, hoping he was just confirming his memory instead of confirming a mistake of hers that would explain the pause.

16 John Umland, Aladren Sure, why not? 285 John Umland, Aladren 0 5

Barnaby Pye, Aladren

April 02, 2015 10:39 PM

Is that even a question? by Barnaby Pye, Aladren

Barnaby grinned to himself when the assignment was announced. This was exactly the sort of thing that he was good at, and proving himself not only to his professor but also his other classmates, well, that was fantastic in and of itself. Taking out a quill and a piece of parchment, he quickly wrote down what he remembered from the studying he had done the night before, circling in the measurements, before comparing the list he had put together with the instructions Carter had placed on the board. There were only minor corrections that needed to be made and Barnaby circled those portions in red so that later he might go over them and commit them to memory.

He pulled out his potions kit and began to prepare himself but remembered that part of the reason he was at a school and not being tutored was to interact with other people his age. Barnaby hid a grimace—he hated other people his age. In fact, all he wanted was to get a good book and Tarquin and hide away somewhere and continue their plans. Plans that would undoubtedly be tossed aside if any professor or parent found out about them. Luckily for him, neither his father nor Tarquin’s parents really cared what they got up to and the two old souls had been able to come to some rather graphic conclusions. The screams still echoed in his ears at times.

But thinking about that was not something he needed to do just then. Currently his task was to find a partner. He stood up from his desk and stretched casually. Sutton Nicolls approached him, an overly friendly smile on her face which reminded him why he stayed away from Pecaris. What she said next only reinforced that sneaking suspicion that Pecaris were the laziest sort of person academically. He wanted to retort that he didn’t need any help remembering the ingredients and that it wasn’t at all lame Carter didn’t give them the measurements and in actuality it was quite useful. It was like a quiz, but practical. And Barnaby always did well on quizzes.

Instead, however, he put on a smile, one that suggested he was blissfully okay with everything, and shrugged. “I guess,” he said. But I can see why she did it he added in his head as they sat down. “Did you do the reading?” He wasn’t going to admit whether or not he had done the reading until S. Nicolls proved herself to him. However, after a cursory glance around the room he realized that he was probably going to be stuck working with her—he didn’t really have any concrete friends of his own to claim he was supposed to be working with and even though he enjoyed his roommate, he figured Spencer was already partnered with someone—he seemed to be a rather sociable guy.

Realizing this, he decided it would be easiest if he just started the potion then. Doing all the work himself ensured that the finished product reflected his own ability. That was one of the reasons he liked to work by himself. In all his other classes partnering up meant having someone to do a spell with, which meant that everything he did was graded for himself and his partner’s ability or inability to complete a task meant nothing. With Potions, however, if he was stuck with a partner who didn’t know a basilisk fang apart from a porcupine quill then his grade would suffer. And Barnaby could not have that. He needed to graduate from Sonora with a perfect record so that Plans could take place.

As S. Nicolls responded, Barnaby reached into his potions kit and felt out six snake fangs, careful not to show his new partner the exact number he had extracted. He tossed them into his mortar and placed his pestle on top so that it covered it and began to grind it carefully. “Your sister’s in my house,” he commented as he noticed A. Nicolls working with a fellow Aladren in the second year. How twins got to end up so different was an idea that sometimes caused Barnaby to do some extra thinking. If said twins were raised in the same environment it really put a lot of weight on the nature side of the nature v. nurture battle, a side that Barnaby liked to think was the stronger of the two. He wanted to probe further, find out how the Nicolls twins worked but then he remembered that sort of stuff didn’t really matter to him in the long run. Barnaby was a curious sort of person, but only if that curiosity pertained to anything he saw as something that could get him ahead. There was no room for random, useless fun facts—what was the use of spouting off how many times a hummingbird could flap its wings in a minute if one wasn’t in the high enough position to care about trivial things like that. He would wait to worry about so-called “fun” facts until he had achieved all he and Tarquin planned on achieving.

OOC: Apologies if I offend anyone, Barnaby is kind of an ass.

10 Barnaby Pye, Aladren Is that even a question? 298 Barnaby Pye, Aladren 0 5

Andrew

April 03, 2015 7:40 PM

We should sell tickets by Andrew

“It might not have been her idea,” Andrew said. The inconsistency of being the one who’d first criticized the idea of memorizing the measurements and the one now defending Professor Carter never occurred to him. “To be fair. My brother told me we’d have to memorize all the potions before exams, but I thought he was joking. I’ll have to apologize to him.”

No telling how Mal would react to that. He might laugh it off, he might become sullen, or he might act so superior for a while that Andrew would want to jump up on a box – the height difference was too much for him to do it from the ground; where Andrew was, according to pictures and what people said, almost a replica of their dead father, Mal took after his mother, who was almost an inch taller than Dad had been in the handful of pictures of them together – and punch him in the nose. If he even settled on one mood for the length of the conversation. With most people, Mal seemed bored most of the time, but with Andrew and Lucille, his tempers could change as quickly as the weather in July. Maybe Andrew would just make a joke of it after exams.

He grinned in relief at that idea and at Owen’s acceptance of his plans. “Knew you’d be a good sport,” he said gratefully. Now just to figure out how to get everything in position without getting caught….

“These shoes,” he grumbled, a little louder than he’d explained the plan, with a wink for Owen, and knelt as though to retie one of them. He tried to act casual as he opened his bag. “And where’s my pestle….”

He pulled out his Potions and Defense books. The back of his neck, as he tried to wrangle the Potions book open, bless the chance that had made him put a bookmark in it, lodge it on top of his book bag, and then put the Defense book over the directions, leaving only the list of ingredients at the top of the page uncovered, felt as hot as if he were digging in the garden at home in August, the hottest month of the year, at noon, when the sun seared like hot metal. The air here wasn’t as hot as if it were coming from an oven, but it still didn’t go down the tubes as well as it should have, either, as he fumbled. He straightened as quickly as he could. “It’s up here, because I already took it out,” he said of the pestle he was pretending he’d lost. “Mama says I’d lose my head if it weren’t attached….”

He noticed his accent had thickened a little without his noticing, as though to reinforce the idea that he was an absent-minded bumpkin of a first year. He did try to smooth that back out as, in a more normal voice even though the back of his neck was still burning hot, he tried to get on with the actual cheating. “So, six snake fangs, right?” he asked, remembering what he had seen as he wrestled with the book on the floor.

0 Andrew We should sell tickets 0 Andrew 0 5

Owen

April 13, 2015 12:44 PM

That's probably not a good idea. by Owen

Owen nodded. "True." It could have been anyone's idea really. Maybe Professor Yu had left that instruction, given Professor Carter was only a sub, or even his uncle or Professor Skies had suggested it. "I'll have to keep that in mind." Now, he felt slightly worried, though it would be easier to remember things that he read while he was feeling better. He'd barely retained anything from what he'd read of last night's reading. And obviously, nothing from what he hadn't.

"No problem." Owen replied. He wasn't inclined to be difficult and disagreeable generally speaking and honestly wasn't in any condition to put up much fight. He coughed again. Merlin, he'd hoped the puff on his inhaler had been enough but apparently it hadn't done the full job. The Teppenpaw felt better than he had prior to using it of course but still not completely okay.

He was worried too, that his issues might call attention to them and they'd get in trouble. Owen very much didn't want that and he really didn't want it to be his fault. Professor Carter was rather nice, so he couldn't imagine her doing anything too sadistic to them. Like inflict them with, well, boils . He wasn't entirely sure how one got them normally, but he did know they were skin sores and definitely sounded painful . Otherwise, there would be no need to have a cure for them, right?

If boils needed a cure, it could also be deduced that one could be cursed with them. That would be the sort of punishment a villain in a story might use on the two boys. Inflict them with boils and take away their books so they were forced to try potion after potion through trial and error if they couldn't remember the correct measurements and causing them more harm with all the side effects.

"I think so." Owen realized the potential of being cursed with boils was not an extra worry he needed right now as he coughed once more, his chest feeling a bit tight. Rats. He was really worried that he might need to use his inhaler again. How embarrassing.

However, it suddenly occurred to him that he could in this case, use this problem to his advantage. He reached down into his bag again and grabbed it, using it again....and glimpsed at Andrew's book. "Yes, and after we crush them, we use four measures. Do you want me to do it?" Owen was determined not to stick his roommate with all the work just because he himself didn't feel well.

11 Owen That's probably not a good idea. 300 Owen 0 5

Aiden O'Neil

April 17, 2015 7:30 PM

Should be easy peasy by Aiden O'Neil

Aiden grinned when Diana confirmed that she had the porcupine quills they required for the potions an glanced down at the book to see how many they were actually need in order to complete the assignment. He gave a chuckle when Diana whispered to him regarding the assignment. “It’s okay, I don’t remember the measurements either.” Aiden admitted.

“It’s a little strange that she is requiring us to know this stuff when the assignment had only been to read the chapter, not memorize it.” Aiden commented. “Besides, my parents tell me that Potions are rather difficult and very precise. With the amount of effort that it takes to create one and it be completely correct, there’s no way we’re going to be able to memorize measurements.” With how delicate potions tended to be what with certain ways of stirring, exact measurements to be added at the exact time in the moonlight, etc., it was a lot for any professor to have such expectations of them to have anything memorized when it came to this subject.

“Maybe she wanted to make this into a game or something?” Aiden suggested. “Either way, she didn’t say that we couldn’t use our books.” “We need two quills.” Aiden advised her. “Should I just write down the number for all of the ingredients really quickly and then put the book away?” Even if the professor didn’t say they couldn’t use it, he didn’t want to get in trouble either. His grades were fine at remaining average, but his parents would be really upset if he was written up for any reason.

Plus, he didn’t want to get Diana in trouble. Even though he didn’t want to get written up, which would result in him getting into trouble, he definitely didn’t want another family to be upset with his because he got their daughter into trouble too. “I’ll tell you the number and then you write them down, ok?”

Aiden looked up the ingredients from the book, “Part one has six snake fangs that we crush and put four measures of the crushed fangs into the cauldron.” Aiden glanced at the board to see what was the next part that he would need. “And then for part two we need four horned slugs and then finally the two porcupine quills.” Aiden announced. “Do you need me to go again?” He asked, making sure everything was written down before closing the book.

6 Aiden O'Neil Should be easy peasy 287 Aiden O'Neil 0 5