Predictable Potions

As it turns out, being Headmistress does not excuse one from their professorial duties. It just makes them lower on the list of overall priorities.

Amelia Lyons had just been getting used to her position as Potions Professor when she had been appointed Headmistress a few weeks ago. It had been a decision by the Governing Board, one that Amelia had been neither forewarned about nor given very much say in. So far, she had merely been shaking a lot of important hands and trying not to say anything stupid, but there were many looming responsibilities that she was trying to juggle, and this class was just one of many.

And on top of it all, Amelia hadn’t been feeling well at all. She had headaches nearly all the time, and if it hadn’t been for the healers of the Hospital Wing, she would be teaching this class bearing a striking resemblance to the Wicked Witch of the West. The green rash that had started on her back only a day after becoming headmistress had spread quickly, and not wanting to show any sign of weakness, Amelia had immediately had it taken care of. She still had to apply the thick salve twice daily to keep the colour at bay, but at least she looked human. If only she felt more human.

I think I’m allergic to being headmistress… Amelia thought, brushing the chalk from her hands as she stepped away from the blackboard. Usually, she would have written there with her wand, but her magic had been eerily unreliable lately, which was throwing Amelia off even more than her physical symptoms. Now that she was so very much in the public eye, she couldn’t afford to be seen performing anything less than perfect magic, so she was quietly refraining from using it when anyone was around, and then cursing loudly whenever she attempted anything in private.

On the board behind her, Amelia had written a list of potions ingredients, but no further instructions. Glancing at her watch, she moved to lean on the front of her desk while she waited for her students. With any luck, today’s lesson would go off without a hitch, and she could get back to alternately crossing things off the never-ending to-do list and panicking in her new Headmistress’s quarters.

Liesl wasn't going to classes. She felt terrible and it wasn't really skipping when you were sick.

She had made an exception for potions, though. She wanted to see how the new headmistress was handling her position. She also wouldn't count it a loss if the youngest member of staff just happened to lose her grip in class.

Liesl wandered in and took her seat near the front. She couldn't be the only person skipping classes, the virus was getting out of control even if people did try to hide it. She plonked her books on the desk and immediately opened her copy of BeWitch magazine. It wasn't like she could do anything until the rest of the class turned up anyway.

Ugh. This sickness was screwing Jack the bloody hell over. He didn't want to go to class, but he bet Amelia would find some way to get him expelled because of it. Whatever. He scratched the side of his back, where most of his torso was strangely green and itchy from this stupid rash. But he didn't take it as a pass to not torture Amelia every moment he could. He walked into the room, a grin on his face.

"Hellooo Professor!"

He said, his nose filled with mucus and other stuff. He began walking towards the back of the class, wanting nothing to do with sitting in the front and/or having to see Amelia up close. His body ached, and his magic was strangely acting up. He could barely perform any spell, so he opted to keep his wand in his bag instead of his sleeve today. He looked at Professor Lyons, hoping to god that she had as much of a sickness as he did.

Sam entered the potions dungeon, an apt name for such a grim looking room, and took his seat, suppressing a cough and subtly wiping his nose as he rummaged in his bag for books. Professor Potter had made a fuss over all the kids who were sick in his class, he wasn't going to give any signs of weakness again.

Placing his gear on his desk he looked around and sighed a little. "Morning everyone," he said

With the ever-increasing demands of Spice, Wally had found herself slipping in her school work and even going as far as skipping classes. She did not skip Care of Magical Creatures Class because she enjoyed the creatures, and it seemed rather pointless to skip Potions since that would help her better make Spice. So she walked into Potions with a clear mind, ready to learn.

She dropped her bag in a middle desk way far away from the others so that no one would try to sit with her. She glanced up and saw a list of ingredients. She pulled out the ones she had that were on the list and then a few she knew to be good substitutes for the others. Wally had an orthodox mind for Potions, but it usually got her the good marks.

Hitame walked to the potions dungeon quickly. She coughed soft as she walked and she sighed. The girl hated being sick so much and now it was even worse, with her magic going all weird. After she had woken up, she had tries to help her sister with something, and she had tried to send something to her using magic, and it had hurled at the younger girl. She wondered what was going on with everything, she just hated it.

She tried her best to look happy as she entered the dungeon. "Morning all." she said quietly as she walked to her seat near the back of the class. Hitame set her bag down on the floor next to her seat and she looked at the list of ingredients on the board. She shrugged and looked around in her bag for her potions book.

“Good morning, Mr. Kubin,” Amelia responded to her over-enthusiastic student, trying very hard not to sound completely exasperated with him already this morning. The young headmistress was even more wary of Jack ever since the feast that had announced her new title, because he had had a particularly keen eye at that event, an eye that hadn’t boded well for Amelia’s discretion. And it didn’t seem Jack was going to let her off the hook in the classroom either, even if she was headmistress now.

“You can all take your seats while we wait for the rest of the class to arrive,” Professor Lyons instructed, not failing to notice that nearly every student who had come into her classroom seemed to be displaying symptoms that were similar to what she was trying to hide: the sniffles, the sore throat, the greenish-colored rash. Soon, she would need to call a meeting of the staff and perhaps a few ministry representatives to try to sort out just what Hogwarts was going to do about the fact that many of its students were suffering from a disease no one seemed to understand fully, nor be able to cure.

Sam looked up as Professor Lyons spoke, preparing for the introduction for their class, but was disappointed when she merely told them that she was going to wait a little longer.

Which was fair enough, he was earlier than usual, and it would be unfair on the rest if the class were to begin early, he just wished that everyone else would hurry up so that their lesson could begin faster, and he could get back up to his bed earlier.