N.E.W.T. Level Potions

[fletcher]

maybe he could have a second chance
A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE HER PROUD AGAIN

It felt the morning dawned slowly, the sun hanging low in the sky, almost struggling to ascend. This late in the year the hours felt heavy and tired; they shuffled along the course of the day like old men with back bent towards the ground. Father Time really showed his age in the winter months while he sat listlessly in his chair, stroking his beard while the shadows on the lawns stretched endlessly. Daylight was limited and the night prevailed, blanketing the northern hemisphere with its shadowy down. It was more of a struggle in these unending months to get out of bed in the morning, especially for a man of one hundred and twenty three years.

It was early yet and the sun had hardly lifted its tired eyes over the tree tops. Fletcher woke with the sun out of habit even in the dark of the winter, though not exactly with the brightest disposition. He grumbled a little as he stretched and put his slippers on his bare feet. He performed his morning grooming rituals. He dressed in his charcoal-colored robes, buttoning them up to his throat and tucking a handkerchief in his pocket. All of this was done with an expression of mild ornery irritation, a sense of doing this for far too many mornings. Fletcher cleared his throat, trimmed up his mustache, and frowned at himself in the mirror, just like every morning. Even winter mornings.

Satisfactorily presentable, Fletcher climbed the dungeon stairs from his private room and up to the Great Hall where he ate a very boring breakfast of eggs and toast, returned to his room to gather the papers he had finished grading precisely three days ago, and then make his way to the potions class room a few winding corridors away. His routine was predictable, something he and his students could rely on. Well, if his students chose to rely on it. He had told all of his classes at the very beginning of the year that he would always be in his office twenty minutes before the lesson was to begin, and they were of course encouraged to use this time for extra help should they so choose. So far only a very meager handful had taken him up on this offer, but Fletcher continued to show up early nevertheless.

He sat behind his desk and open his briefcase, retrieving the papers he had placed in it only moments ago, and scanned them again. They were the essays he had assigned to his N.E.W.T. level class last week, and considering their level he was overall admirably pleased with their work. They all managed to have quite an understanding of last week's topic and were thus ready now to begin the practical application of their studies. Today they would actually brew the potion they had been studying and preparing for.

Veritaserum is a transparent, odorless potion, and the strongest, most reliable truth-forcing brew so far known to wizard-kind. It is tasteless, and looks like nothing but plain water. The brew takes full moon cycle to mature properly but can keep for ages with its effectiveness never waxing nor waning. There were many secrets to the secret-revealing potion, and even though today he had promised they would begin the process to make it, Fletcher had decided a pop quiz would be in order. It was imperative that the class should know the ins and outs of the task they were about to undertake, for brewing it incorrectly would results in quite undesirable effects. Yes, a short quiz would do nicely, and may add a few points to the house hourglasses at any rate. Academic competitiveness would keep them on their toes. Fletcher nodded to himself and began to write out questions to ask the group at large.

By the time he had inked his twenty-third thought, the first few students trickled in, their faces perhaps none too excited at the prospect of their morning double potions session. Fletcher did not greet the students nor did he look up from his notes, as he was quite engaged in thinking up trickier questions and refreshing his own memory about the devilishly clever little potion. He nodded again when his page was full, and when he looked up, the class was ready to begin.

"Good morning, class," he finally greeted, placing his quill back into the peacock blue ink bottle. He rose from his desk and clasped his hands behind his back, looking over the faces of his pupils over the tops of his spectacles. He touched the essays on his desk briefly and they each flew off the tabletop, only to land delicately and directly in front of the student it belonged to. "You will find my comments on your previous week's work on the backs of your essays," he remarked, watching as they unrolled their parchments. "Please do not simply disregard them, this time," he continued dryly, huffing a small sort of laugh to himself.

Fletcher turned his back to the class and collected the page he had written his notes on, and there was a few moments of silence as he re-read them. Finally he looked up again, readjusted his spectacles and said, quite simply. "Verita et serum. The meaning?"

The "pop quiz" had begun, and with some luck the students wouldn't complain about not getting right into preparing for the brew. Fletcher stood in front of the class and waited, a brushy brow raised high on his forehead. Would they challenge him?

[.Vivianne Catherine Flint !]

As a Slytherin, it was probably under some expectation that she would be an excellent Potions student. It seemed like all of the best were in the cunning house. That might have had to do with the fact that most heads of Slytherin taught the position and lived in the dungeons with the rest of the Slytherin students. This was not the case for Vivianne Flint, however. Potions wasn't a terrible class for her, but it was not her astronomy, where she could feel fully confident in her abilities. In this room, she always felt like she had to second guess herself and be completely sure that she wasn't doing something horribly wrong that would embarass herself.

She studied last night, even if Damien had wanted to do other things. She had made him sit with her in the library if he wanted to spend time with her that night. When Damien tried to lean over and kiss her to distract her from homework and what she should be doing, she had turned away and insisted that he quiz her on the next section of notes. Vivi knew that they would start brewing the potion today, and she was terrified of doing something idiotic to make a fool of herself in front of the whole class. She wasn't going to be the fool this time. She would study, do the potion well enough, and come out with an E. That was the plan, anyway.

It was just that Damien could be very stubborn, and there was little she could do about it.

Now she was holding his hand again, though, and walking to the only class that they shared. It was a double period today, which was bittersweet. She had class with Damien as her partner for two hours, but she also had potions for two hours and had to finish a complex brew in that time. Vivianne was not really looking forward to it, honestly. Vivi pulled Damien into the room and few minutes early and smiled at the professor in her increasing effort to show that she was really trying in all of her classes. She wanted them to take her seriously and not let her fade into the background as much as she had a habit of doing.

The Slytherin sat her things out and pulled on an extra sweater against the cold of the dungeons. Quickly and quietly she set out her kettle and book, opening to the pages she had been looking over last night. She sat down and started to look over them again, dedicated to the idea of doing well this class.

The professor brough order a few moments later when more of the students had come in. Vivi crossed her ankles and leaned forward on her elbows to listen. He asked a question of the class, and she actually knew it. She was almost sure that Damien would raise his hand, along with some of the students who were quite good in Potions, but her hand shot up with confidence.

"Truthfulness and liquid, sir. Or, really, truth liquid." Even if she was confident in her words, her voice still used to soft quality that always came to it when she had to speak in front of anyone who wasn't Damien, Seth, or a few others. So perhaps the question was an easy one, but Vivianne could count the number of times she raised her hand in potions on the other hand easily. Maybe no one else would notice it, but Vivianne was trying to look like a student that people wanted to notice.

[damien]

Potions had never been this particular Ravenclaw's best or favorite subject, but he managed to get E's and sometimes O's on the things he did, and he understood the basics, so he always imagined that it was enough. The thing was, Damien had always been the type of student who could look at something once or twice and usually memorize it, or hear an explanation once and just understand. While that was great for him, he had a habit of forgetting that not everybody could just learn about something once, or look at a diagram a few times, and know the subject as if they had been lectured on it for a week. He was a Ravenclaw for a reason, but not everyone was a Ravenclaw.

So he had this bad habit of trying to snog his girlfriend when she needed to be studying for the things that she didn't know as well as she thought she should, or as well as he did. It didn't help that Damien didn't really have a care for potions, so more often than not he found himself leaning in to kiss up Vivi's neck while she was trying to memorize cycles of a potion and the ingredients and applications of it, and other things that sort of made him bored (he was a picky Ravenclaw).

Vivianne had done well in her ignoring of him for a while, making him give her space and quiz her on a few things, before he would get bored and try and get a kiss in again. Finally, after about an hour of this, he gave her a half an hour of kiss free studying before trying once more at the kissing, deciding that she had studied enough and knew the potion just fine, which was true. She finally gave in, and he had a nice long while of happy snogging in the back of the library before they had to go back to their dorms for the night. Vivi had acted annoyed with him because of this, but as they walked into Potions with hands linked and smiles on their faces, he had a feeling he was forgiven.

They were earlier than most of the class usually arrived, because Vivianne wanted enough time to set up her cauldron and get her ingredients ready without being rushed. He took his time getting out everything, all the while well aware of Professor Carrington scribbling out something as if it were the most important thing in the world. As far as Professors went, Damien quite enjoyed the teaching style of this one, although he would have preferred the subject not to be Potions. Nevertheless, Carrington cared about knowledge and application, and he was a no-nonsense sort of man who liked to get straight down to business, which Dey admired greatly.

The Professor was also a bit predictable, so Damien knew that they weren’t going straight into the making of Veritaserum, but were instead probably going to be given some sort of quiz or exam to make sure they had been paying attention the last few lessons. The idea of a test on this stuff didn’t bother Damien, but as he glanced at Vivi he wondered if he should make a quick note to her that they might have one, although she already had her notes out and was studying everything once more. The room had quietly filled like every other day, and as the door closed behind the last student Professor Carrington finished up and stood, still not saying anything for a pause. Then, he asked the first question, and Dey let out a breath, mentally preparing for two hours of Potions class.

The question wasn’t difficult, but he didn’t have a chance to raise his hand before Vivi’s was up and she was answering, making him smile at her happily. This was one of their only classes together, and she usually wasn’t very happy in it, but he was glad her studying had paid off. Maybe today things would go well for both of them without much effort, so they could spend some time talking while their potions brewed. Potions meant a class with Vivianne and a class where Seth Masters focused on his potions and didn’t get loud and obnoxious, so maybe if everything went fine then it could be a relaxing and happy day for him. He just hoped that Carrington’s pop quiz wouldn’t get any more difficult than questions of that sort.

(I am sorry this fails.)

[.LOUIS HENRI WEASLEY !]

in the madness of the mob mentality
THE LONELY BOY LOST ALL HIS DEFENSES

Potions first thing in the morning really wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't Louis' particular favorite, of course, as the boy had more of a penchant for Charms and Transfiguration. But it was no use whining and complaining over a measly double Potions because that was going to change anything.

So Louis got out of bed silently that morning, cast a look around the dorm room (unintentionally lingering his gaze on Alex a moment too long), and started to dress. He donned his robes, tied his shoes, fixed his short hair in the mirror, and with a final look back at the room, flicked his wand to make his bed. No use in leaving things a mess.

Louis supposed the day was going to be just as any other as he walked evenly down the steps of the Ravenclaw Tower. His hand skidded across the stone wall listlessly, the other tucked neatly away in the pocket of his robes, and in this manner he made his way down to the Great Hall, lost in his thoughts. Thoughts of the ordinary sort, really, nothing spectacularly interesting going on up there in his head. He was silent, ignoring those who waved to him in the hallways, sitting a bit farther away from the rest of his house at the Ravenclaw table. Was he just not feeling particularly social today? Whatever.

Breakfast was over and the bell rang for their first class of the day. Louis got up promptly to beat the crowds jostling out of the hall, slinging his shoulder bag quickly over one arm. He didn't want to get to Potions more quickly, necessarily, rather he felt the need to distance himself from people. Girls, mostly, at the moment, and for the life of him he couldn't understand why. The whole morning had been a bit dull and Louis felt like he was in a listless sort of funk... And as he passed a timetable sheet in the hallway, magically enlarged to show test dates and the like, Louis instantly knew why.

January was coming to an end any day now, and right as February reared its ugly head, the atmosphere in the castle turned about a thousand times more hormonal. Two weeks into the dreaded month and it would be Valentines day, the one day a year when even the quiet girls worked up the courage to give cards and candy to those they liked. Not to be totally egotistical, but that was usually the time when Louis feared to even leave his dorm room, so determined were his admirers to gain his attention. Was it weird that Louis had a bit of a fan club?

But that was ages away, right? It just sucked that Louis was already so paranoid. It was such a chore to be this good looking. I mean damn.

Of course now that he'd figured out what was getting him so averse to people, he felt a bit better. He made his way to the dungeons after that considerably more at ease, though it turned out he'd taken a little too long looking at the time table in the corridor. The Potions classroom already had most of its students there, all set up with cauldrons on tables and notes out. Louis dismayed to find that the seats had all been filled except for the one by Seth Masters, whom no one really ventured to go near because of his obnoxiously genius brewing abilities. Louis found him insufferable, in all actuality.

Nevertheless, Louis sat his things down besides Seth, pulled out his notes and watched the ages old Professor pace a bit in front of the class. They were supposed to be starting on brewing the Verita Serum they'd been discussing in class recently, but it looks as if Carrington had other ideas.

He asked a basic question which Louis didn't bother raising his hand for, and he turned to look over his shoulder at Vivianne as she answered it. Good for her, he supposed, and turned back around, stealing a quick glance at Seth first. He wondered vaguely if he would try and answer any questions in this quiz Carrington decided was so appropriate (instead of actually doing the real work), or just not bother like Louis planned to do. Either way... he shouldn't care one way or the other, right? He had other things to worry about...

[alex]

Alex wouldn’t call himself a morning person. He wasn’t sure if it was the werewolf part of him or just himself, but nights were restless things for Alexander. Specially now with the NEWT’s, he had so much work that it wasn’t rare to find the Ravenclaw lingering in the common room late at night. But every morning Alex forced himself out of bed and prepared for his daily classes. Today Alex had double portions, while potions wasn’t one of his favorite subjects. He was a lot better at wand work. It was one that he was actually good at, not top of the class but he knew enough to complete his work and pass the class. He also knew that knowing more about potions would enable him to make the very potion that he needed to control the werewolf cycle.

By the time he was done fixi8ng himself and his bed, his roommates had already left. Hurryingly he walked down, meeting one of his friends in the common room. The two of them walked toward the Great Hall, it was already too late to grab breakfast. But his mother had been kind enough to send some cupcakes the previous day, before leaving his dorm Alex had been intelligent and lucky enough to get them. He handed two to his dear friend as they walked down into the dungeons.

By the time they entered almost everyone was getting ready and sitting down. Most tables were already filled, Alexander saw a free table right behind one of the Slytherins. Seth if he remembered correctly. He and his companion hurried down and placed their cauldrons down on it. Setting besides them they bags. Alexander began to prepare his own, removing all he had placed inside it. He was sure that they would be working on a potion today. Alex didn’t glance much around the room, while he wasn’t late must of his fellow classmates had already completed setting up their tables. He didn’t want to stay behind when Professor Carrington began to explain what they had to do today.

Because if this when his voice did came, Alex almost jumped out of his skin. Professor Carrington had asked a question, but before Alex could even think of a good answer one of the Slytherins was already responding. Alexander smiled, he didn’t see Vivianne Flint participate much in the classroom. It was good to see her change that. While he wasn’t very familiar with her personally, Alex didn’t judge people by their house. And she didn’t give the appearance of someone that went around hurting others. Of course he could be wrong about that too.

Finally looking down at his essay, Alex’s smile grew even more. He had worked hard on this paper and was happy too see that his work had paid off. He still needed to work in a few things, but they were minor compared to all he had to work with during his first year. As a muggle born Alex had little knowledge about potions and magic in general. He had walked a long way since then and soon enough his Hogwarts years would end. But he was grateful for many things that the school had done for him. More importantly it had made him into a full wizard even with his muggle background. Alex bit down his lips, holding down an exited yelp. He knew it was a bad habit that he needed to stop, they were already unnaturally red. But he couldn’t help but be a bit proud of his works.

[.Fred Miles Weasley !]

Perhaps gallivanting all of the evening and until some time in the early morning had not been one of Fred’s best ideas. Especially since his first lesson for the day happened to be double potions. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the professor or anything, because where would Fred Weasley II be afraid of any professor? It was more because he kind of enjoyed potions and hadn’t planned on coming in late. Yet although he hadn’t planned as such so things always seemed to go with Fred and he was running down the corridors of the castle trying to make his way to the dungeons where the potions class was held already five minutes late.

He could imagine what Professor Carrington would say. It was rather similar to what almost all the professors seemed to say to him and at times his partner in crime James Potter II. Yet, it seemed to sting just a bit more when Carrington was the one saying it. Fred believed it was because he kind of like the old bloke. Not that he would ever admit that to James. Liking a professor was an atrocity and for the sake of keeping up pretences Fred seemed to treat Professor Carrington more or less the same way he treated the others. Of course if one had to be paying close attention they would note that Fred didn’t get into as much trouble in Potions as he did all his other classes.

Having had to miss breakfast Fred had grabbed one of the treats that grandma Weasley had packed for them on their return trip to Hogwarts after the Christmas break. By their Fred had of coursed meant the entire Weasley Potter family whom still happened to be attending Hogwarts. A hell of a feat if you had to ask him. The mince pie was being held in his mouth by his lips and a few teeth, but he was careful enough not to bite down so that it would break and fall, as he pulled on his school robe and tucked in all the books and things into his bag that he had grabbed on the way out of his shared dorm in Gryffindor towers.

Skidding past the corner of the dungeon corridor that would take him to the Potions classroom, Fred started to slow his pace. He quickly looked himself over. If he was going to get detention for being late he had to make sure the old man didn’t decide on giving him detention because of his attire. At first he noted that his right shoe lace was untied and he quickly pulled out his wand and used a charm on it. How he had managed to make it from the Gryffindor Tower to the dungeon without tripping over that only Merlin would know. Secondly he found that his trouser pants were unzipped. Hadn’t that just been a treat for anyone who had spotted him. Quickly he pulled the zip up and tucked his shirt into his pants. It was an untidy job, but at least it was tucked in. Content that he was as ready as he would ever be, Fred took a deep breadth and made his way into an already full classroom.

“You wouldn’t believe the morning I had,” Fred smirked as he stood staring at the entire class all of who’s eyes were now directed his way.