Soliciting my Queen (Tag Brianna) on Transfiguration

Professor Skies

August 23, 2013 4:26 PM

Advanced Class - Check Mate by Professor Skies

There were interesting little puzzles at all levels of Transfiguration. However, those at advanced level were, if not the most curious, the ones the a person could really get their teeth stuck into. The subject for today's lesson was one of Professor Skies' favourites.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted the class, hoping they weren't too full and sleepy from lunch. One of the modules they had been studying towards this term was what made something a Transfiguration as opposed to a Charm. It was often a highly contentious argument, especially with powerful or impressive spells, or new inventions, which each side was keen to claim for themselves.

“Today we will be examining the case of Wizarding Chess. Traditionally, this is considered Transfiguration – and a highly complex one at that. Who can suggest one of the reasons this might be such an advanced form of magic?” she took comments and answers from the class until it seemed to have worn itself out on that point, clarifying or expanding ideas where necessary.

“Today, in class, you will be making a start on the spellwork. You need to imbue the piece with its own apparent knowledge of what it can and cannot do. As you will all know, creating true sentience is beyond current magic, and is proposed to be impossible. If you have owned a chess set, you will know that the pieces can be somewhat characterful. However, we will be focussing on making the piece follow its own specific movement pattern today, to the command 'move' or to a tap of the wand.” The pieces were all drawn up on the board, in a list marked 'Order of Complexity,' ranging from pawns at the top to knights at the bottom, each with an accompanying diagram of the way it moved, in case any member of the class was unfamiliar with the game.

“The incantation is echecus locomotor. Note that, in spite of the spelling, it is a soft 'sh' sound in echecus. You will then tap the piece, tap your wand in front of it in the pattern of its movement, then tap the piece again, like so,” she added, demonstrating on a knight. The little horse shook its mane out and obediently trotted in formation around her desk, like it was performing a tiny version of dressage.

“For your homework, you will write a parchment presenting the arguments as to whether this is a transfiguration or charm. If you are satisfied with how you have progressed with the spell in class, you may begin your research.”

Subthreads:

Soliciting my Queen (Tag Brianna) by Linus Macaulay with Brianna Japos, Crotalus, Linus

Not again! (Michael) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus with Michael Grosvenor

0 Professor Skies Advanced Class - Check Mate 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Linus Macaulay

September 02, 2013 3:22 PM

Soliciting my Queen (Tag Brianna) by Linus Macaulay

(OOC: I have Professor Skies' permission to fuzzy time this post to have occurred after the Head Boy and Head Girl voting.)

The sixth year arrived punctually to transfiguration class, slid into his seat, and gestured for Brianna to take the adjacent position. Linus unpacked his books and writing materials, laid everything neatly on his desk, smiled at his girlfriend and gave her hand a quick squeeze before letting go again, in preparation to make notes on Professor Skies' lecture. It immediately sounded interesting, as it was on the topic of wizard's chess. Linus had only recently become a fan of the game, as he had received a set from Brianna as his Christmas gift. He'd played chess with his father, but had since abandoned the pastime until now. He still remembered how to play, but his strategies required a certain amount of refinement. Essentially the rules were the same, but, as with many leisure activities in the wizarding world, the game itself was more exciting.

In deciding, over midterm, what Christmas gift he should give to Brianna, Linus had felt their relationship to be too young for jewellery, and so had dismissed that entire category out of contemplation. Instead, he had given Brianna a practical gift of two silk bookmarks, one embroidered with flowers and the other with birds, and a more personal present of a 7-inch vinyl record of one of the songs she had liked on their first date. Christmas seemed so long ago now, with the second part of term advancing at break-neck speed. Already they had witnessed the second Quidditch game of the season, battled with a peculiar array of phantoms in the library, and submitted their votes for next year's Head Boy and Head Girl election.

If Linus had given the ballot much prior thought, he probably would have been surprised by the names that appeared on it. Not his own, of course, that made perfect sense, but he might have predicted an altogether different arrangement; for a start, he would have expected to see Paul's name above his own. He was also embarrassed to admit that reading Brianna's name had been an unanticipated pleasantry. It wasn't that he thought little of her - quite the contrary - but perhaps he was too familiar with her vulnerability to really appreciate the strengths that might be more obvious from a distance. He had voted for her, of course, without a second's hesitation, and would never admit that he hadn't known she would be on the ballot all along; again, he felt as though he had let her down in his estimations.

At the correct juncture, Linus offered to the professor the suggestion that the spells used in Wizarding Chess might be such an advanced form of magic because the pieces needed to adhere to set rules that might sometimes conflict with spoken instruction. He had tested this out once with his own set, and not only had the knight refused to move in an unorthodox manner, but the king had also called him a yellow-bellied coward for attempting to cheat.

Once the professor finished speaking, Linus turned his attention back to Brianna, eager to compensate for his lack of belief in her, even though she was not aware of this failing (so he firmly hoped and tentatively believed). "This should be really interesting," he commented. "Would you mind if we work alongside each other?" He didn't suggest working together, or as partners, as that wasn't what the professor had suggested, but he would relish the opportunity to receive Brianna's feedback and commentary throughout the duration.

0 Linus Macaulay Soliciting my Queen (Tag Brianna) 205 Linus Macaulay 0 5

Brianna Japos, Crotalus

September 02, 2013 7:19 PM

Does that make you my King? by Brianna Japos, Crotalus

It was only natural that Brianna and Linus would walk to class together. He had often accompanied her the year before after her accident and now it just seemed normal to Brianna that it had continued on after they had slipped into a less than platonic relationship. She enjoyed it though, it felt normal. Linus made her feel visible in a way that the crutches didn’t. Like a girl and not a cripple. These were two very different ways of being noticed.

However, once they went to class, the two tended to go separately. This was mainly because Brianna needed to stay by the door. Well, she probably didn’t need to so much anymore since her walking was eons better than it had been last year and she no longer took the full 15 minutes to get to her next class, but it was habit of her to sit there now and she didn’t expect Linus to sit with her. Today though, Linus gestured for her to sit beside her during Transfiguration and she obliged him.

Advance lessons had to constantly studying. She felt like she were taking her RATS examinations this year instead of next year. On top of that, she had started studying Law after seeing strange things happening in the Library. Plus, she still did her daily swim therapy sessions. All these projects and essays and life things were beginning to wear on her now that the year was getting closer to the end. At least she only had the Fair to play in instead of participate in. She needed a break.

Not that she complained about any of it. She needed to do well in her classes. She had to. Her future depending on her studies and she couldn’t let a few strenuous lessons get the better of her. She would cope and handle it. She always did. To throw some weird twist into things, Brianna’s name had been placed on the Head Boy and Girl ballot. Brianna understood, grading wise and behavior wise, she was probably a good candidate for, but she wasn’t so much of a people person she felt to represent the school. Of course, she wasn’t so sure Sally and Nora were either and Linus wasn’t one at all. She had to only guess they were all chosen for academic purposes, but she wasn’t sure if she liked to have her name there. Of course, it would look great on her college applications, so, she couldn’t take it as a completely negative thing either.

She would worry about it later once the announcements had been made.

Running a hand through her long brown hair, Brianna took notes for the lesson. If she were being honest, she would have thought Wizard’s Chess was created through charms. After all, it was enchanted. She had never read anywhere that suggested that it was transfigured. She didn’t want to seem like an idiot in front of the class, so she didn’t ask the question, but she would have to research exactly what part of the game was actually transfigured and not charmed. She listened as people, including Linus, offered up ideas on the advanced magic, jotting them down as they were said but did not offer her own opinions in the matter. Her opinions weren’t any different from what was already said, so she didn’t think she was lessening the lesson at all for it to make a difference.

As they progressed into the lesson, Brianna wondered if learning how the pieces were created would than lose the love of playing the game. She wasn’t necessarily good at it, but it was one of the few things she and her father continued to do together. She didn’t want the spell of that to wear off. Thoughts of that washed away though when the assignment was brought up. Would she fail it if she went for the Charm argument? She didn’t think so, but some Professors were stuffy about their passions.

She was looking over the chess pieces to figure out which one she wanted to try the spell out on first when Linus caught her attention. She had not been expecting him to want to work with her or alongside her with this assignment. She wasn’t sure what she could really offer him regarding the work. But, it was rare for them to work around one another in class, so she couldn’t very well deny him the request. “Alright, if that’s what you’d like.” She agreed, looking perplexed but pleased at the thought. “Do you know what piece you’d like to try? I can’t decide if I want to go easy on it with a pawn and work my way up or if I should challenge myself right from the start.”

6 Brianna Japos, Crotalus Does that make you my King? 0 Brianna Japos, Crotalus 0 5

Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

September 05, 2013 5:40 PM

Not again! (Michael) by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

This morning, Valerie had woken up aching all over miserably. She tried to tell herself that she had just slept wrong, that she was not getting sick, even though she'd been feeling run down ever since midterm, when they'd had to go up to Iowa and see her cousin Rosalyn's new baby Ethan. The trip had apparently been too much for her, even though she'd gone back to St.Louis before getting on the wagon to go back to Sonora. Valerie had gotten banged around on the wagon as usual, but that had been awhile ago.

Slightly before lunch, she'd began to cough and continued to do so through the entire meal, which she'd barely touched. This was one of the meals that she and Melanie planned to eat together, and the Teppenpaw had seemed extremely concerned. Valerie tried to brush it off as possible allergies. Those caused drainage in her throat and made her cough. There could be many reasons why she'd been coughing. She was not sick.

Okay, she probably was. If there was one thing Valerie knew, it was her own body and how it felt to be ill, and that's how she was feeling now. She simply didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to miss class. The Crotalus had her new potion that made her sick less often and that was that. She just got sinus infections in the summer. Though it did make sense that more severe illnesses would get through the the potion than less serious ones. It would just make those more severe illnesses less so than otherwise. Valerie would still be incapacitated, just for shorter periods of time-and she was grateful for that. She'd spent most of her childhood in bed and had spent the two years before getting her potion especially ill.

She spotted Michael and decided to sit next to him rather than Brianna, who was also in the class and already was was sitting with Linus. Valerie decided to let them just be together. She spent much more time with her best friend, than she did Michael anyway, given that Brianna was her roommate and Valerie didn't want to appear clingy, for fear that would drive the other Crotalus away and then she wouldn't have her as a friend at all, though the bracelet Brianna gave her, that she always wore now, made that a little easier. Plus, if she didn't spend time with Michael, she wouldn't have him as one either, so it really was best this way.

Though, it still felt a little odd to her. He hadn't treated her any differently, either from spending time with Eris or fighting with Brianna though Brianna didn't have a problem with Valerie being friends with him and Eris was gone. She did feel a little bad for Michael because of that-and a little disloyal to Brianna for hanging out with him. Still, the other Crotalus had Linus now-and she seemed to be trying to make up with Michael anyway. Sometimes, Valerie felt just a tiny bit jealous and left out with Brianna and Linus, but felt really bad about it, because if anyone deserved to have someone special, it was Brianna. She also sort of wished she could have had someone who genuinely liked her too, but she knew full well that would never happen. She was too weak and sickly and frail and no matter where she actually stood with Jasper, if it wasn't for betrothals she'd end up a spinster. Guys usually didn't want girls with problems and she really commended Linus for wanting her friend despite hers.

Valerie coughed again, and it seemed to be progressing into a more hacking one and she felt embarassed. She was lucky to have Brianna and Michael here whom she felt more comfortable with. As for others though, she didn't know where she stood with others though she assumed some didn't think of her. And coughing like that definitely attracted attention.

It looked like the lesson today was going to be enchanting chess pieces. Chess was something she was capable of playing at times, if she was semi-well, she could do most games, and more so now, because they were not physically demanding, the way say, Quidditch would be. Plus it wasn't very ladylike. Valerie's belief in this had nothing to do with WAIL and more the fact that her mother believed ladies shouldn't play such a brutal sport. WAIL was kind of silly, because if it made girls like each other the way Melanie liked Marcus, then it would make halfblood and Muggleborn girls that way too and it just didn't seem logical to her.

Of course, Melanie usually beat her at chess, because she was brilliant and Valerie's mind was often semi foggy. Her sister seemed to feel guilty about this and the Crotalus suspected that the times she did win, the Teppenpaw had let her.

Still, at the moment she didn't feel all that capable of enchanting chess pieces. Or anything. She suddenly felt very hot and feverish and coughed harshly again. Valerie wasn't sure she'd be able to even make it to the Medic without help. She was so disappointed, she was doing so much better most of the time that she hated admitting she when she wasn't. At least the worries about people thinking she was trying to get attention had gone away. When she was ill, it tended to be pretty obvious.

Valerie turned to Michael anyway. Before she could say anything, she lapsed into another coughing fit. When it abated, she asked him, her voice a bit weak, "Do you want to work together?" He was someone she didn't think would reject her.

11 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus Not again! (Michael) 204 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus 0 5

Linus

September 06, 2013 3:21 PM

I like to think so. by Linus

Linus only noticed the ultimate message behind Brianna's reply - that it was confirmation they could work in tandem on this assignment - and not the way in which it conveyed adherence to his own wishes, rather than hers. His attention was drawn, instead, by her conundrum concerning in which order to proceed. The question tickled him; he was a fan of logic, and, logically, it made most sense to start with a pawn, or perhaps a rook or bishop, as their movements were arguably more simple. Yet he was also familiar with the Crotalus need to challenge oneself, to achieve and end without necessarily conquering the means, or, more crudely, the desire to run before mastering walking.

"Perhaps the pawn will present a challenge," Linus suggested, half-teasing, with a smile behind his eyes. It was true that whilst they often arrived together at classes, they rarely worked as a couple. Linus didn't know who had initially enforced this unspoken rule, but he was happy to adhere to it. One reason was that he would not wish to look inferior in any way in front of Brianna, and even though he was above average in all of his classes, he couldn't tell which topics might render him incompetent. A second reason was that being around Brianna had a tendency to make him lose his focus, and thus making the inferiority scenario a great deal more likely.

Yet, on occasion, such as today's class, it was refreshing to be able to learn together, adding another dimension to their partnership and perhaps getting them to know each other still a little better. "I'm going to start with a rook," Linus supplied. He decided that was, in fact, the most simple piece, yet it signified more than the more complex pawn, somehow. He deemed it would adequately suit his needs. "I'd like to see how I get along with the spell before I try something more complex," he explained. It wasn't taking the easy route, it was simply common sense to know your own strengths before taking on a greater challenge.

0 Linus I like to think so. 0 Linus 0 5

Brianna

September 12, 2013 8:10 PM

I have no real comment to that. by Brianna

“Mmmm.” Brianna stated, non-committedly when Linus suggested the pawn. She chewed on her lower lip as she often did when she was thinking too hard over something. Her quill flickered back and forth between her fingers while she reviewed her notes and looked over the chess pieces. The pawns had more than one move and so Brianna wasn’t sure if the wand movement would allow for the total movements or if there were multiple charms to use for each movement. Linus was right; the pawn could provide a challenge, but possibly more than she currently wanted to try so early on. Brianna wished things were just handed to her. Instead of being able to choose, the professor should have said ‘start here and work your way to this’. She needed that sort of discipline otherwise, she would spend the entire classroom trying to figure out where to start.

She turned her attention to Linus when he mentioned what he would be starting with. The rook was probably a good place to start with. It was pretty straightforward with the movements. Brianna guessed that the casting move probably fell onto the king and not the rook, which would make the spell easier to work. Realizing that she wasn’t paying all that much attention to her boyfriend and feeling a bit guilty about it, Brianna gave him a smile. “The rook is a good choice start.” She commented. “I’m thinking about going with the bishop.” She gave a little sigh and shook her head. “I’m not a fan of being given so many choices to do a complex spell on. It makes me anxious that I’ll choose the wrong one, which I know is ridiculous to think, but it can’t be helped.”

Brianna ran her hand through her hair again and set to studying the wand movement and the movement of the bishop before committing to it. “Echecus locomotor” Brianna said firmly, making sure to have the sh sound when saying it, following it up with the tap of the piece, tapping out of the pattern in front of it, and tapping the piece once again. The piece seemed to stretch in place for a moment before sluggishly moving in the pattern she had tapped out for it before coming to a stop. Brianna frowned. “I have no idea if the piece reacted that way out of a weak spell or because it’s personality is that of a lazy bishop.” Brianna commented to Linus.

6 Brianna I have no real comment to that. 0 Brianna 0 5

Linus

September 19, 2013 3:36 PM

I'm offended. by Linus

She commented that he'd made a good decision in selecting the rook, and Linus felt a ripple of contentment. He liked it when Brianna agreed with him, but he also enjoyed the less usual occasions when she challenged him. He was relatively certain that didn't make him a masochist; he just relished the fact that she was able, from time to time, to compete with him intellectually. For all that society - in the wizarding world in particular - was focused on good looks and physical attributes, Linus knew he wouldn't be able to stand even the most beautiful woman on the planet is she had nothing original to add to a conversation.

Linus had already selected a black castle and begun to rehearse the spell while Brianna voiced anxieties over decision-making. He raised his wand and cast the requisite spell only a moment after Brianna, and watched with pride as his own piece moved smartly across the board as instructed, whereas Brianna's bishop seemed more inclined to dawdle. "I have no idea if the piece reacted that way out of a weak spell or because it’s personality is that of a lazy bishop," Brianna commented.

"I wonder whether its personality is already inherent in the piece, or if we are effectively inflicting traits as we cast the spell," he countered her musing with one of his own.

She had made a fair point, however; had his rook moved more swiftly than her bishop due to chance or to skill? "I suppose if we each enchant a second piece there might be more information available to us from which to draw a conclusion," he suggested. They could also conduct research in their textbooks, but as their assignment was to transfigure the entire chess set, they may as well begin there. Linus selected a bishop next, as he had a secondary objective to consider in addition to his own success at spell-casting. Knowing that his initial piece moved briskly, a bishop executing similar tendencies would implicate his spell casting, whereas another response would support Brianna's theory that the pieces already possessed a personality that would control their reactions.

Having cast the spell on this second piece, Linus watched it move in a similarly smart fashion across the board, and then join its colleague in waiting patiently for further instruction. "How did you get along?" Linus asked Brianna, wondering whether he could work these early hypotheses into the homework assignment.

0 Linus I'm offended. 0 Linus 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

September 30, 2013 5:29 PM

Oh dear by Michael Grosvenor

Things were, if not totally on track, then definitely less hell-bound than they'd been before. The chat with Medic Bailey had helped. It hadn't made his work any easier, and he still spent a lot of time feeling thick and wanting to quit, but he knew better now how to get past that. He smiled at Valerie as she sat down next to him. She was one of the people he liked to study with best. She was pretty smart and given that she wasn't sick as much these days, she was doing well at keeping up with her school work. He didn't go to her all the time. He was always the one that needed help – or, if she needed it, he could never give it – and he didn't want to be a leech. He was glad Valerie seemed willing to spend time with him again. He felt like she hadn't so much last year, although he tried to tell himself that he was just being paranoid. Valerie had never exactly been someone with a lot of time to give, until more recently. But if she had been avoiding him, it had to be because Brianna had said something. He had thought this grossly unfair, given that Valerie was supposed to be friends with both of them. Even when he'd vented to Mellie – who barely even knew Brianna – he'd been careful not to name names because he didn't want to be unkind or spread things. But Brianna had told horrible things about him to their mutual friend. If she had. He only thought she had. And they were trying to get along again now, so he supposed he should try to let that go. But it still seemed like a very unthinking thing to do.

He kept his attention on Professor Skies to start with, writing down the points she made and the points his classmates made. He'd been a bit scant on notes in the past, always assuming it was mostly in the books. But, even if it was, it helped it go in to write it down . And sometimes people in class explained things more simply and clearly. It was only when they were set to their task that his attention turned properly to Valerie, who seemed to be coughing. He tried to smile sympathetically. He guessed she wasn't invulnerable to illness, even with her new potion, and he felt bad that she wasn't well.

“Yeah, that'd be good,” he smiled, when she managed to ask if she wanted to work together. The lesson sounded really complicated, not least because he'd never played chess in his life. He was grateful for the chalk scribbling on the board and marking out the moves, otherwise he'd be clueless. He wondered if Valerie knew much about it but for now there was a more pressing issue. He never really knew whether to ask about her health... She should know enough about to judge if she was well enough to come to class, so if she was there, presumably she thought she was ok and having people fuss might annoy her. But he didn't want to seem like he didn't care. Brianna had kept saying he didn't care, which was frankly untrue and unfair. He didn't want people to think that. “Are you alright?” he asked.

OOC – bits about them studying together were written in consultation with Valerie.

13 Michael Grosvenor Oh dear 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Valerie

October 03, 2013 12:59 PM

Needing help by Valerie

Valerie smiled weakly at Michael. She was glad that he'd agreed to work with her. For one thing, it meant the Brianna thing hadn't come between the two of them and he still considered her a friend. She needed all she could get. For another, well, he didn't think of her as being contagious and contaminated. He didn't seem to fear catching something from her. Honestly, it was more likely that she would catch something from someone else than them from her. Though less likely now because of her potion. Of course, it did have side effects like fatigue-which is why Valerie took it at night-and unpleasant bouts of itching, which she had a nice medicated cream for that seemed to really help.

Unfortunately it-the potion, not the itch cream-did not seem to be working right now and she felt ill. It had happened to her at least twice a year but hopefully with it being so close to the end of the year, maybe she'd get to skip the annual sinus infection. Merlin, did she loathe them. Though they did incapacitate her less than other illnesses. Still they were miserable things but seemed inescapable.

Right now, though while she'd felt extremely hot only a second ago, she now felt very cold and began to shiver. If it hadn't been apparent before that she wasn't well, it probably was now. Valerie felt so disappointed, she should have gone to the hospital wing at the first sign that something wasn't right. But she didn't want to miss a lesson that could be crucial to her Transfiguration RATS and it was very important to her that she do well on them, even if she wasn't going to do anything with her life but get married and have kids-and she was glad to be able to do that. Valerie did, for all her medical issues, have a perfectly normal reproductive system. Still, even though her last name was Lennox, her grandmother had been a Brockert and the same blood flowed through her veins and Transfiguration was a subject that she wanted to do especially well on. Plus, the Crotalus had something to prove, that despite her sickness, that she could do well on her exams. At least in E in both subjects. She had only been taking two so she shouldn't have any problems when she was hardly overloaded.

Valerie coughed as Michael asked if she was alright. "I-I don't think so." The Crotalus admitted. She was achey and her throat was burning, though the rest of her was extremely chilled and she felt like she definitely had a high fever. "I think I have the flu." It had been a rather sudden onset and she just kept feeling worse, plus this year's flu was supposed to be a really bad one and had probably gotten through the potion. Valerie did, of course, keep up with medical news about infectious diseases, even though it scared her. She'd always lived in fear of them.

She looked from the chess pieces to her friend, still shaking. "Michael, I-I don't think I can do this." Even her voice was shaking and she felt like she might cry. She did not want to have to leave class. Valerie tried so hard to do well and force herself to attend class. Usually,the last two years this hadn't been a problem. This was the first time she'd been sick since her annual summer sinus infection. "I, um, think I might need to go to the medic." She could hold it in no longer and a tear trickled down her cheek.

11 Valerie Needing help 204 Valerie 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

October 11, 2013 2:48 PM

Offering some by Michael Grosvenor

“Oh,” Michael said, trying to give Valerie a sympathetic smile as she said she thought she had the flu. Even though this wasn't really unusual, it had become less common during the last year. Although, even when she wasn't sick, Valerie still somehow seemed fragile to him.

“Sorry to hear that,” he tried. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do next. If Valerie had come to class, maybe she felt grotty but still like she could do this, and he didn't want to suggest that she couldn't. It always really bugged him when people assumed that he couldn't do things that he was perfectly capable of. She cleared this up pretty promptly for him though.

“Ok,” he nodded, when she said she wanted to go to the medic. He knew he shouldn't be pleased to get out of class but he couldn't help the slight sense of relief at not having to try to Transfigure a chess piece, even if it was just delaying the torture. And he felt a bit bad, given that the reason was Valerie being sick, which obviously he wasn't happy about. “Want me to take you?” he asked.

13 Michael Grosvenor Offering some 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Valerie

October 15, 2013 1:02 AM

Appreciating it greatly by Valerie

Despite feeling really sick, Valerie also felt a bit embarrassed because she had started crying a little. Hopefully nobody besides maybe Michael had noticed, she didn't want anyone else to make fun of her for it, but she felt miserable. It was both better and worse than before the potion. Without that, not only she missed a lot more classes-really, she'd had a bad couple of years prior to starting her potion-but when she was ill, she felt a lot worse than right now. Her potion prevented minor illnesses and made the more serious ones shorter and less so. In the past she might have had the flu a couple of weeks with a long recovery-before she just ended up getting sick all over again. And then the whole cycle repeating.

Unfortunately, now, when she got sick, it was less intense-though generally a good thing-but she still felt awful enough to cry sometimes, especially when she had a fever and was achy all over. That had happened before too, but at that time she'd often been too sick to care what others thought. Now that Valerie wasn't as sick, so she felt completely embarrassed in addition to feeling ill. Not so much in front of Michael who seemed sympathetic, nor would she in front of Brianna but there was the whole rest of the class, who probaby would just roll their eyes and assume she was going to contaminate them. At least she didn't worry that they would think she was being melodramatic-which Valerie tried to avoid in general because she didn't want others to think she was overly whiny and people wouldn't want to be around her because of that-because it only took one look at her to know she wasn't well at all.

The Crotalus felt exhausted and really cold. Her whole body was shivering and her head was pounding. She felt weak, both physically and emotionally. She should be able to handle things better. She hated feeling like this, every time she left class due to illness, people might understand why she had to but Valerie still hated to have the attention on her. Most of the time she felt uncomfortable being around someone who wasn't a friend. If all her friends were busy, and she didn't want to interrupt it-such as when Brianna was with Linus-she felt lonely and didn't know what to do with herself. The ball had been such an occasion where everyone she was comfortble with had a date. She'd not wanted to be there, alone and awkward. In fact, Valerie had almost wished she'd been too ill to attend. She hated standing around by herself and was too shy to walk up to someone else and start talking to someone she didn't know.

It was going to be rough next term, without Josh around. Not that they were close friends at all but he was a buffer. Without him around, she would feel like a third wheel with Brianna and Linus and it would be more awkward. Of course, it always had been a bit, even with Josh there, Valerie knew they were Brianna's friends not hers, not really. If only Michael and Brianna hadn't had that falling out.

Her throat hurt and her nose was dripping. She took her handkerchief out and blew her nose, hoping not to attract the attention of anyone other than Michael, whose attention she already had. She began to cough again and when her fit finally abated, she nodded at her friend's offer to take her. "I think that would be for the best." Not that Valerie wanted to be sick or leave class but it was time to admit defeat. Not try to be strong when she was quite obviously weak and in no condition to be anywhere but in bed. She would prefer to be in bed. "I think we should tell Professor Skies first though." Valerie added. Just because she had medical problems did not give her the right to just walk out of class without permission.

11 Valerie Appreciating it greatly 204 Valerie 0 5