Term 11, Potions, 5-7

Thinking up a potion that would work best with this set of years, one being up for OWLs and another for NEWTs, Lucia decided it was best with a complicated one. Some of her students were pretty skilled in potions, however, and might not find it as challenging as others might. The only downside of having a merged class. But if seating the more skilled with the ones who weren't as good, might be a good idea to get them to interact and teach and learn from each other.

So she walked into her classroom and over to her desk, drawing out a few papers on the Draught of Peace, a nice potion that -if incorrectly brewed- would instantly be ruined. So precision was necessary. Of course, they might know what would negate the ingredient that ruined the potion, and continue from there, but she could imagine her students doing just fine, and if they didn't, then she'd help them. No worries.

At the wave of her wand, the chalk started scribbling the words of the potion. She sat down in her chair, feeling both excited and also a bit tired. The summer vacation should be a time of relaxing, but she might've been relaxing too much.

Blackboard:

Unlike literally every other class that Hunter was taking this term, he had no sense of dread about attending Potions. It was his best subject, meaning that he actually found it interesting. And he was actually particularly adept at potionmaking. It also helped that Henley was one of the more interesting professors, and Hunter enjoyed her classes. So, between all of that and the fact that potions wasn't even scheduled to start at an ungodly hour, there was no reason for Hunter to show up late to class. After stopping in the kitchens for a pumpkin pasty - because who could pass up a trip to the kitchens when they had to pass it to go to class - he made his way to the dungeons, letting himself into the all too familiar classroom to find that he was the first one there.

"Morning, Professor," he said through a mouthful of food, having just taken a bite of his pumpkin pasty. Weaving through the desks, he dropped into a random seat in the middle of the classroom. Shoving the rest of the pasty into his mouth to free up his hands, he dropped his bag beside him and pulled out his potions book, flipping to the page that dealt with the potion on the board. He'd actually never attempted the Draught of Peace before. Partly because the ingredients - powdered moonstone, hellebore syrup and powdered unicorn horn - were a bit more scarce than most ingredients. And he was pretty sure Henley would notice if they went missing. And also partly because it wasn't really useful to him. It wasn't exactly a potion that he could put to use like some of the other ones.

Regardless, it didn't look too difficult. Figuring he'd get set up while he waited, he put on the flame under his cauldron and headed to the storeroom to grab the ingredients he'd need, dropping them on his desk so that they'd be there when it was time to use them.

Why Aoife still took Potions, she had no idea. She'd never liked the subject, mainly because she thought it endorsed the killing of small animals for the use of unnecessary human products and potions. And she'd done absolutely awfully in the OWL exam. Nonetheless, she'd decided to go back for sixth-year. Maybe she subconsciously thought that Potions would actually be useful at some point in her later life. Or maybe she had just realised that if she only took classes she was good at, she'd only be taking one class. It didn't matter though. This year she was going to actually try hard so she could pass her NEWT exam. It wasn't IMPOSSIBLE, surely.

When she went into the classroom, only Hunter so far was there. Already working through the instructions. Potions nerd. She went to take a seat towards the front, nodding at Professor Henley and reading the potion on the board. Draught of Peace. She had no idea what that was.

Lyra felt quite a bit better, this year. And she was going to all of her classes, and keeping up with all of her schoolwork now. Sometimes she even talked to people, although it was usually to tell first-years to get the hell out of her way or to ask the librarian where a certain book was. And even though she still never saw Lyn and Hunter, and still had nightmares, and still wasn't happy, it was progress. She just needed to remake friends and stop being the unsociable moody girl.

When she got to Potions, she managed to smile at Hunter, Aoife and Henley. "Hi Professor," she said as she made her way to a seat near the back, and copied her brother, putting the flame on underneath her cauldron.

Lucia looked up as Hunter walked into the classroom. "Good morning, mr. VanDerberg," she greeted. Hunter had definitely been one of her students that had proven themselves in the art of brewing. She had honestly been a bit surprised by this, as Hunter had never struck her as a person who did everything carefully. But everyone had their strengths. She gave a nod back to Aoife as she made an appearance. She'd been surprised that Aoife wanted to continue potions, but she was more than happy to see her back in the classroom. She was also happy when she saw Lyra return to the classroom. It had been a few ups and downs last year, but having her meet up for the first class was wonderful. "Ms. VanDerberg," she greeted.

She then waited for the minutes to clock down by scribbling down a few things on a piece of paper. It had nothing to do with the class, it had to do with ingredients she would have to buy the next time she went to Diagon Alley. Last year had been a bit ... suspicious, to say the least, but she'd never really known if her ingredients were gone as in stolen, or if she simply forgot to keep track of them. Lucia was believeable to either one of those options. She looked at her watch and finally put her quill down. She got up from her chair and walked around her table. "All right, time to begin!" she said, a smile on her face. She briefly wondered if she'd ever get tired of teaching. She rather doubted it. "As you can see, today we are brewing the potion called Draught of Peace. Who here can tell me about this potion? What ingredients are there and what effect does this potion have?" she asked, looking at the faces, wondering if Lyra or Aoife would have an answer to that. She was pretty certain that Hunter would.