Potions Class, 7 Sept

A quick breakfast and into the classroom for set up. First class of the year was always interesting; you got to see who might have some potential, and who might only take up cauldron space.

Erywin had certainly seen enough cauldron space in her time.

She went over her list of 1st Years. A nice mix from all covens, who would soon be here to have their little heads filled with all the wonders of . . . what should it be today? "Elixirs of Love?" "Draughts of Death?" Erywin always thought back to her own first days in potions; she thought it best to come up with something witty to say--though, these days, it was getting harder to find something original. Maybe I'll just say we'll brew up something we pick from random and see what happens, she thought.

No, that wouldn't do. She knew what her plan for the day was--she hoped it went off without a hitch. She'd gotten the idea a couple of days before, and she wondered how the students were going to like this. Of course it's a little more than they'd normally do, but . . . hell, I'm all about having fun, wot?

Opening the windows and letting in the light, Erywin began her set up. The students would be here soon, and she wanted them to feel right at home--

Before the pain came.



OOC--Class is NOW OPEN. Please enter by indicating you've taken your seat, and you may RP after sitting. Class will begin later and will proceed through the next few days. This class will run at the same time as Herbology, so even though you'll be posting at the same time throughout the week, the classes are held at different times.

Enjoy!

There was no way Lina was going to get another grade E. She was more determined than ever to get an Outstanding. She didn't have much of an appetite that morning, only a glass of orange juice and two slices of toast and jam, and she was off to her first class of the day.

The walk to the Potions Hall was certainly breath taking. Lina loved how there were random rays of sunlight peaking through the clouds, sometimes hitting her face as she waked. She loved it when the weather was like this, as she doesn't like the sun all too much, and it gave her hope that it might rain. Thinking of home, she remembered how much fun it was when she and her sisters decided to play tag in the rain, much to the distress of their parents, as they would usually become sick.

Lost in her own train of thought, Lina finally made it to the Potions Hall. She opened the door to the classroom only to find that no one else was there, save it be Professor Sladen. Lina wasn't sure what time it was, but she couldn't have been that early. She looked behind her, but there were no other students. Deciding it would be best to enter the classroom anyway, she entered as quietly as she could. She walked to the front of the class and sat at the desk in the front center.

She didn't want to disrupt the professor, but she also didn't want to be rude. Lina, not so quiet, yet, not so loudly either greeted her professor, "Good morning Professor Sladen."

Erywin's heart lifted when she the first student through the door was her 1st Year! "Love, you just made my morning," she said, cooing sweetly. "The Ravens always get those bloody worms, don't they."

She walked over and adjusted... it was Lina, she remembered now, adjusted her jacket. "I know people are going to give me crap over this, but stuff them. 5 Points to Mórrígan for you being the first student." She waved her hand dramatically to the desks. "Sit anywhere, love. Class won't start for a bit, so get your cauldron ready." Erywin narrowed her eyes. "We are gonna brew today."

Lina beamed with excitement that she was able to earn coven points, especially after her mishap last night, which caused her to be slightly depressed that morning. She took out her Potions Book and her cauldron. With her book in front of her, she looked up at her professor, "um, Professor Sladen? What exactly are we going to brew today?" Lina read and reread her book over and over, I'm going to get a good grade for sure today, I know it.



(OOC~ Lina is already sitting down, front and center)

Ah, an eager one. Erywin loved it when they were so ready to go. And inquisitive as well. 'Course, I was like that and it took me a while to bloom, she thought, but no harm in wanting to rip right into the class--

"Well..." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone. "It's going to be a surprise," she said, leaning against Lina's work space. "But I'm very certain it's one you'll love."

Not being too sure that her professor meant, she accepted the answer and not ask further questions. Lina was never very good at continuing conversations, so she sat there in silence. When her mind started to wonder, she decided to open her book and guess which potion they were going to make in class that day.

Opening it to the Table of Contents , she went down the list to see what was something that they would create. Dragon Tonic would be interesting, oh, and Pepperup Potion would be useful around this time of the year... The list went on and on as she smiled and became more and more excited about what they were going to do.

Annie entered the potions classroom in front of Kerry after a hearty breakfast in the dining hall. She was thrilled their day was crammed full of classes she was looking forward to getting into.

“Good morning, Professor Sladen,” she said, crossing over to the seat behind the only other classmate seated in the room. She sat, smoothing her skirt under her legs, and removed her textbook, a quill, and a notebook from her bag.

She finished situating her things at the desk and then tapped the girl in front of her on the shoulder. “Hi,” she said. “I don’t think we have gotten a chance to meet. My name is Annie.”

Slightly startled by the tap on her shoulder, Lina jumped out of her concentration and turned around to the girl behind her. “Hi,” the brown haired girl said. “I don’t think we have gotten a chance to meet. My name is Annie.”

Lina shied away a bit, but she quietly responded, "um, Hi." she moved her chair to face Annie. With a tucking of her hair behind her ear, she continued, "um, my name is Evangelina, but, um, please call me Lina; a lot of people say that Evangelina is too long."

Watching the new green stars walk in Erywin instantly knew who they were. Ah, dear Helena's charges, she thought. I wondered when I was going to have my chance to tap their little minds.

As they sat and started to get acquainted with Lina, Erywin waltzed up and made her introductions. "Ah, my fellow Snakes--" She smiled as she pulled along side their work area. "Not quite the same was my Snakes, but it'll do in a pinch." She looked the over. "So, the infamous Krum and Malibey Duo, in my class--at last!" She laughed softly. "Welcome to humble den of iniquity. I would tell you you're going to have fun, but after this first lesson I wonder if you'll find that statement real."

She waived her hand back and forth between the couple and Lina. "Please, go right ahead. We're all friends here--so far."

Kerry nodded. "Okay, Professor." He found it hard to believe from listening to Helena--before they arrived at the Institute--and Erywin was one of her best, if not her best friend. Helena seemed so cool and distant even when she was being friendly, but Professor Sladen . . . she almost seemed like a comedic-yet-sinister character from a BBC drama.

And Kerry could see she was giving Annie the spooks. Well, she certainly knows how to come on strong, he thought. Kerry could see that even when she was being charming, she was letting you know whose classroom this was.

Potions was going to be interesting. Very interesting.

Annie stared, wide eyed at their professor when she said, ‘the infamous Krum and Malibey Duo…’ She glanced over at Kerry, not sure what to make of the exchange.

She nodded up at her and listened to Kerry reply. This class is going to be difficult…

Once the professor was out of hearing range, Lina moved closer to the 'Krum and Malibey Duo.' She intently looked at them and in a quiet whisper, she asks them, "what does she mean by you guys being 'infamous'?" Getting a good look of the two of them she hummed, "you two don't look bad to me."

The moment Professor Sladen mentioned the "infamous Krum and Malibey Duo" he saw the color drain from Annie's face. As much as she likes being together, she doesn't like the instructors pointing it out, he thought.

He reached over, slow, trying not to be obvious, and patted her hand. "Hey, this will be fun," he said, almost cooing. "So far it's all been fun, right?"

Then Kerry flashed on Transfiguration and sort of regretted his words--

He smiled as he looked Lina's way. "Oh, it's sort of . . ." He shot a quick glance to Professor Sladen, who was watching them like a hungry wolf. "Well, we're good friends with a good friend of the professor, so she's probably hear a few stories." He looked up and smiled at Professor Sladen, then back to Lina.

Lina accepted the answer at face value, "Ok... I guess that makes sense." She didn't have many magical friends since she grew up in a Muggle neighborhood. She was slightly jealous of the closeness that Kerry and Annie displayed, and wished that she had a close friend like that.

Shrugging her first thought off, she returned her focus to the two, "so, um, are you guys ready for the class? Professor Sladen said that we'll be brewing today." With the biggest smile on her face, she said, "I can't wait to see what it'll be!"

Kerry was pretty much besides himself. He'd gotten a taste of potions at The 'Warts, but nothing beyond reading about it; for some reason--probably relating to the Death Eater Chocolate Lovers Club--they never got into brewing anything that first class. And since there wasn't a second class, this was going to be his first crack at potion making.

"Oh, yeah," he said, nodding. "I've never done this before, and I'm so looking forward to it." He lowered his voice just a tick. "We heard Professor Sladen can be a little unpredictable."

"I've never brewed a potion either," Annie said. "But I have read a lot about them, and my mother keeps a small garden of plants and herbs that she uses to brew things...." She smiled at Kerry. "Mostly calming draughts."

Kerry couldn't help himself. He smiled at what was now their private joke, and before even thinking about what he was doing, he leaned over and kissed Annie on the cheek. "Yeah, what would we do without calming draughts?" he said, giggling a little as he squeezed Annie's hand under the table.

It sure is bright in here. Keith thought as he walked in on the lovey-dovey couple, Lina, and the professor. He was relieved to see he was in the right place as he eyed the items around the room.

"Good morning, Professor." he said as he walked towards the front. His greeting was an excuse to inconspicuously take a seat next to Lina.

"We're really brewing today?" Keith asked the others as he got out his book with a silly-looking grin on his face. Getting out his book was also completely in response to Lina already having her book out. Ironically, Keith did not hear what Kerry had just said about calming draughts.

Erywin saw the new boy walk in, and though a few more students filed in behind him, what caught Erywin's eye was the Malibey boy leaning over to give his little bird a snog. Oh, isn't that precious, she thought. Yes, dear Hel had warned her that he and Krum were very "close"--but any closer and I'm going to need to hit them with a charm, she thought.

"Mal. i. Bey..." She got his attention and watched his doe-like eyes peer her way under the cover of ginger hair, and they held the touch of fear she'd hoped for. "Keep your lips on your side of the work space, or I'll separate you." She lowered her head while setting her gaze at him by looking up, a trick that make her eyes both look larger and intimidating. "That is your only warning, lad. Please don't make me be bad here..." She gave him a crooked grin. "Unless, of course, that's your intention."

Annie smiled at Keith as he entered the classroom...and then Kerry did something that made her heart stop. He leaned over and kissed her--right there; right in front of the professor.

She closed her eyes and waited for the wrath that was sure to follow. Sure enough, the professor chimed in. 'Mal. i. Bey...' she said, and the rest was just as bad as she thought it was going to be.

After the professor made herself understood, Annie gaped at Kerry. She felt awful for him and she was determined not to let that happen again.

“I’m sorry, Kerry,” she whispered, wishing she could do anything to make things better for him but knowing the hawk of a teacher was probably watching. She settled for a smile and hoped the rest of the class would go smoothly.

Kerry smiled back. "I got carried away," he said. "Should know we gotta get our game faces on." He shrugged. "At least this way you know what's going to happen from class to class, and where you stand with the instructors."

He leaned over and whispered, "She didn't take points this time, and gave a warning, so now you know where you can go." He sat up and nodded. "Next time, not so lucky."

Kerry pulled his cauldron from his backpack. "Anyway, lets cook up!"

Raven was running late...again. For some reason, her alarm didn't go off on time. She completely missed breakfast. Running to class, Raven noticed that she didn't have her jacket with her. She didn't care at the moment, as she was warm from sprinting to class, a habit that she had gotten used to, but she knew that she would regret it later.

When she opened the door, she noticed that some of her classmates from other classes were there. She saw that Lina and Keith were front and center, and behind them were the red-head and brunette from their history class. Looking for a seat to sit in, she saw an open seat on the front right, a walk space between Lina and herself. "'Morning Lina, Keith." Raven looked kiddy corner from her to greet the red-head and brunette, "Howdy guys."

She faced forward and greeted Sladen, "Morning Ma'am." With that, she took out her book and cauldron.

Among the last of the students to wander into class was a blond girl not wearing her jacket--and Erywin was on that like a dragon on a lone steer. She snatched up her enrollment parchment and checked names... ah, yes, here we are. One of Jessica's little trollops. This simply won't do.

"Miss... White. Feather." Erwyin meandered slowly toward the girl while leafing through her papers. "I don't understand; I can't possibly have misplaced the Headmistress' owl informing us that you were..." She stopped before Raven's station and looked down upon her. "Exempt from the Institute's dress code. Hum."

Leaning over with as seductive a show as she could muster, Erywin leaned in close to the girl and purred, "Tell you what, deary; let us take 20 points from your coven and do so with the implicit understanding that if you ever show up out of uniform again, I'm throwing your ass out into whatever weather conditions are present that day." Erywin glanced over to Lina, then back to Raven. "Take a cue from my Ravens: come to class prepared."

As Erywin walked back to her desk, she sighed loudly. "And please don't give me bollocks about the alarm ringing late," she said over her shoulder, "because they're charmed so they won't. They only go off late if they are set that way." She lay her papers upon her desk, spun on her boot heels and leaned back against it, smiling broadly. "If it's any consolation, love, you have made my day--because now I'll be able to give Jessica a wealth of shit over dinner tonight...."

Raven shut her eyes as she took her punishment. It wasn't the amount of coven points that were taken, nor was it being compared to her friend...it was the fact that Sladen was going to tell Kishna about her mistake. She knew that she was going to get yelled at, and at the moment, she wants nothing to do with Kishna. what a mornin this turnd out to be

With her stuff neatly set up, she awaited her next instruction.

Annie saw the blonde girl enter the classroom without her jacket and winced. Professor Sladen was on a roll with the point docking and that little misstep was sure to cost her coven...dearly.

After the professor swiped 20 points, Annie grimaced. By the time this class finishes, no one will have any points left.

She turned to the girl. "Hey," she said. "That was rough. I'm Annie, by the way. It's nice to meet you."