Lesson 7 - Basic Level

Bloody hell, he came here only to be the Headmaster, and to think that he had almost been denied that promise, and now he is limping to the Dungeons to teach Potions... all over again, to hormone raging brats who have absolutely no interest in these bottles filled with colorful liquids. Yes, he had been some sort of puppet Headmaster, but he did actually have far more authority than anyone thought, which made him a powerful nemesis to those who wanted to control him, but more on that later, right? He sat on top of his desk, starting to play with his cane, waiting for the brats to arrive.

Hitame walked to class slowly as she had been doing when she walked to her other classes. Unlike the day before she seemed sad or confused, depressed if you will. She had had so many things happen to her in such a short amount of time and now she wasn't acting like herself. She didn't know what had caused it, but she knew she wasn't feeling well.

She walked into the class a little quicker than she usually did. "Hello Professor." she said, her usual greeting, and she walked toward the back, as she always did. She took out her books and her other supplies and waited for everyone else to arrive.

Pippa had spent the morning scouring the library for some new reading material. She was bored with her books at the moment. She wasn't quite like some of the people that could go back and read the same book twice -- or even three times. She didn't like reading the same information twice in the same voice. It felt odd to her. As a result of that, she went out of her way to avoid it.

She'd managed to get some books on a variety of different subjects. Her bag wasn't about to let her carry them though so she took the belt from around her waist and tied the books up with it. After pulling the buckle tight, she skipped off, out of the Library, towards the Potions classroom.

When Pippa came in, the only person out of the students was the second year Gryffindor she vaguely recognised. She seemed moody, secretive and to be honest, Pippa didn't want to waist her time trying to find out what it was that was wrong with her.

So, Pippa took her seat. She put her books and her bag underneath the table and smiled at the Professor.

"Good Morning sir - how are you?"

Cecilia walked into the potions class room. she hugged her books to her as she walked and looked down at her feet. she hadn't been coming to class lately and hoped that the professor wouldn't have noticed. she quietly took a seat at the back and took her supplies out of her knapsack. she didn't want to draw attention to her self and sat quietly waiting for class to start. Cecilia scribbled a sickish picture. compared to her brother she wasn't an artist though she had taken up a small interest in dance, which explained the odd outfit she wore under her robes. this outfit consist of a leotard and tights.

''I can't believe it. A Threesome... wouldn't that be... interesting...'', he commented. ''Also, I am good, thank you Little-Girl-Wilson-Told-Me-About-But-Whose-Name-I-Don't-Know. You?'', he asked. It was annoying, but since he decided to limp down, he would do at least something. ''What you'll be brewing today is a lovely little thing we call the Swelling Solution, but also... it's lovely half-sister, the Shrinking Solution. To cut things short, you have the instructions in the book, the ingredients... somewhere around the classroom and you start working. If you have any problems, be free not to call me'', he said.

When the Professor spoke it was hard to miss the blatant innuendo. It pulled Pippa up short and she couldn't help but stare, gob-smacked, at the Professor. She shook her head and, with a smile, dropped her gaze to her book just as he spoke again.

Pippa looked about herself, wondering if he'd meant anyone else. There wasn't anyone else though. She nibbled on her bottom lip and her cheeks flooded with colour. Professor Wilson had spoken to the Headmaster about her? It wasn't 'mentioned', it was 'told me about'. This made Pippa's mind whirl. She had no idea what she was supposed to say in return. All she could dumbly stutter out was,

"Professor Wilson told you about me?"

Mazzie walked down the hallway. Today, her hair was a dark shade of red and her eyes were dark brown like to pools of choclate. She poked her innocent face into class and slowly stepped inside the classroom. She sat down and got her materials out. Mazzie tried to ignore the fact she was late. "Sorry, sir. I lost track of time. I did hear though that today we are learning the Swelling and Shrinking Solution? Correct me if I am wrong." she said with her grin.

Sam walked into the classroom, knowing he was... oh, about 5 minutes late, and knowing that the Headmaster would... completely or nearly flip out? Completely? Nearly? Completely? Nearly? Probably nearly, oh well, he didn't really care all that much. It appeared that you simply could not get into Professor Doyle's good books, and that it was easier to simply accept that and make do with a bad situation.

Catching the last part of what instructions were given, Sam rolled his eyes and took a seat near the three girls who had already arrived, each of whom looked as bored as he was. "What lazy instructions," he thought. This man could hardly claim to be a teacher, he was lazy and half-assed, and really needed to be sacked. Shame he was Headmaster, and he was the one who did sacking. Hmph. Swelling solution. :Wasn't that done in second year already? Oh well, I should get started," he thought, filling his cauldron with water and putting it over a flame, boiling the water as he prepared the ingredients for the potion.

"Hello," he whispered, looking at the three girls. "My names Sam," he told them with a quick smile their way.

Nearly every potion began with half a litre of water simmering in a number two iron cauldron. Calixta figured not even the worst potioneer could get that wrong.

"You!" she pointed at the Gryffindor boy who at least seemed to have some clue of what was going on.

Calixta didn't bother to learn names because, well, they were just going to change next lesson, weren't they?

"You're my partner."

She sidled up beside him and watched as he began preparing ingredients for all of five seconds before becoming irritated with the whole process.

"Why don't you watch the water," she suggested kindly, "while I cut up these?"

"We don't want to be here all day, after all."

Sam turned around and saw a girl - Slytherin, judging on the manner of greeting, or perhaps a Ravenclaw - approaching him, presumably she was the one who had "You" which he had almost felt sure was aimed at him.

With a quick shrug and a look which read "I don't really care," he nodded, budging over a little and making room for her to do her part in the preparations. "I didn't realise this was a partnered exercise," he said in reply, but again he shrugged, and this time gave a nod, moving to gain a better view of the cauldron.

While it may have seemed like the easy way out, watching water (In potions) was actually a rather delicate exercise. If it's not boiled then you've just wasted those ingredients you've tossed in, and will have to start again, however if it's gone too hot, then you wont know that that "Shrinking solution," you've made, is actually a wart growing potion until you drop a teaspoon full into your mouth, or even worse, onto your toes - there was nothing worse than an itch in a spot like the foot that you just couldn't scratch.

"What year are you in?" he asked the girl as he faced away from here, working to set up a separate cauldron, this one for the "Half-sister" potion, so that they wouldn't have to make one potion, then sit around waiting for ages for the second one to boil.

"Which one are we making first?" He asked, this time bending his neck around to see the girl.