The Wonders of Wolfsbane

Busy was not the word that aptly enough described the past month or two but as Alistair D’Eath picked his way through what he saw as a bomb shell of a classroom, he found that it he was right in his suspicions that leaving his bumbling cousin to do his job would be the death of sanity, reason and order in his classroom. With a few flicks of his wand, however, order was once again restored and once the last cauldron was on the desk, Alistair turned his attention towards the board, wiping it clear of several crude drawings so as to write up what it was that he wanted the students to do. Now, the only problem was that he didn’t actually know what he wanted them to do. Something, he knew that much. Just...Merlin, what indeed?

Deciding upon Wolfsbane, Alistair wrote the potion up on the board and detailing a few of the necessary ingredients to brew a successful potion. He knew that many of the students were friends with Werewolves. He knew that they had slowly been infiltrating Hogwarts, just like the Vampires had been and though the Werewolves itched for blood just like the Vampires did, the latter of the two knew how to keep themselves in check. Flexing fingers a few times, Alistair listened to the click of his bones as they resounded through the echo-y classroom. The man sighed, feeling, as ever, unhappy with the turn of events, and flicked his wand, turning as he did so, and sending flames to ever candle in the room. Some that had not been lit in over fifty years burst into life again and the room was draped in a sweet light that made appear less imposing. Alistair himself had forgone the dark robes for a set of navy ones. Not a real jump, but far enough for him to feel as though he’d made an effort.

Sitting down, the man resigned himself to waiting. He was early. Most of them were still in the Great Hall eating breakfast, no doubt. Alistair did not fault them for it for a moment. In fact, as the rumbling of his own stomach met his ears he found himself wishing that he had gone too.

---

- It's early, Breakfast has not yet ended so the students should file in soon.
- The classroom is actually lit properly for once and is actually quite warm, for a dungeon.
- Alistair has tried to be less of an arse. He's wearing navy robes today instead of black ones. :3

Saoirse glided into the classroom, hesitating for a second when she saw that the much more strict D'Eath had returned. Glancing at the man, she hurriedly redirected her eyes to the floor and found a seat in the middle of the classroom. With a quick look at the board, she rummaged through her backpack and extracted her potions book, then began flipping through the pages to find the Wolfsbane potion.

"Oh shit it's warm in here," Keith said as he stumbled through the door. "Figures."

He shrugged off his winter attire, which he had donned not ten minutes ago in preparation for the usually cold dungeon, onto the floor. A hat, a heavy coat, a totally rocking scarf that kept his face all warm and fuzzy feeling, another, slightly less heavy coat, and an extra pair of socks.

Keith didn't really do cold. Or rain. Living in England was basically his own personal hell, but somehow he had managed to soldier on.

"Wolfsbane potion," he said, plopping his bag onto one of the tables in the back. "Sweet. Do we have a werewolf problem again? Oh, and I needed some aconite!" He said, grabbing up a small bag of aconite (also known as wolsfbane, but really, let's try not to be too confusing here) and pocketed it. "Man this day is getting better and better."

Sam stumbled into the dungeon, his hair sticking flat up on one side of his head, and half his face was paler than the other - he slept on his side, after all, and he'd really crashed out the night before - he was beginning to suspect that the professors were slipping sleeping potions into his pumpkin juice. It was more likely than not some sort of self-centred thought, but in general he thought that quite a few people had been treating him different since Rhys' death.

But that was probably more in head than anything else... right?

Anyway, I digress. Sam entered the dungeon and was pleasantly surprised to find it looking brighter than he'd ever seen it. It may have been his imagination, but there certainly seemed to be a little more order to the class' layout, as if it'd recently been set straight, though it could just be that darkness made the place look messier than it was.

"Wolfsbane... sweet," he said, plopping his bag down on the desk in front of Keith's, pulling out his stuff before turning around and asking "You always travel that light?"

It was early in the morning, far too early for Alice to be up at all. But she knew she couldn't be late to her potions class. She even managed to wake herself up a few minutes earlier in hope of grabbing a quick breakfast before class, but her stomach didn't quite agree with that idea. Her appetite would shut down at mornings and now matter how hard she tried, she couldn't take single bite of even her favorite food. After giving up on breakfast quickly, she grabbed her things and headed down to the dungeons.

To her surprise, the classroom didn't seem so damp and depressing as it usually does. She walked in and sighed as she noticed there was only a few people here. It was way too early. Not seeing a familiar face or a fellow Hufflepuff, she decided to sit down by herself on the first empty table she saw. Gazing across the room, she couldn't help but curse herself for not sleeping longer. Even five extra minutes, which to many people might be irrelevant, would mean everything to her.

With her book finally on the table, she cast her eyes on the board and carefully read the tittle of today's lesson. Wolfsbane potion. Useful at least... thought Alice in her head. As more students came in, she tried to shift her attention to the professor who seemed in a good mood today, if that was at all possible. Perhaps today wasn't going to be such a bad day at all. Besides, she wasn't completely clueless on this subject, which was always a huge plus.

What was this? For once, Lucy turned up at the classroom and was astounded to find it was only filled with people she liked... and some firstie.

"Hey guys!"

She bounced in and sat next to Keith. He was smart and it was always a plus to not have to do all the work in this class. Especially with a complicated potion like wolfsbane was supposed to be.

"Do you always travel that light?" Sam asked as he took the seat in front of Keith. The blonde Ravenclaw grinned and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, usually it's 10 something degrees in here, I'm just saying," he said. "I don't really do cold."

Sam looked like he was about to say something back, but before he could he was interrupted by Lucy Weasley bounding in and slipping in the seat next to Keith.

"Hey guys!"

"Lucy, what's up?" Keith said, nodding to her. "Watch the coats," he mentioned, pointing at his various coats on the floor next to him. "They're expensive."

He glanced around the classroom to take stock of who was there. He and Lucy were in the back middle, with Sam directly in front of them. Some red-head first year was in the middle of the class, looking sort of lonely but not nearly lonely enough to make Keith want to do anything about it. A Hufflepuff, Alice Longbottom, sat a small distance away from him at an empty table, looking like she was about to nod off.

The teacher still stood at the head of the classroom, wearing navy robes instead of the usual black. A change of heart mayhaps? Nah, probably just some kind of fashion statement. Keith was still waiting for that fur-trimmed robe he had ordered a month ago - now those were gonna be some tight threads.

Scraping her chair over, Lucy eyed the coats that had been stashed beneath the desk. They didn't look that expensive to her. In fact, they looked far more like the beginnings of one of Keith's capers.

"Riiiight," she nodded slowly.

"Maybe you should've left them outside then, where all manner of concoctions won't get spilt on them," she replied as she levitated her inkwell and threatened to let it hover above the precious threads.

"Dare me?"

All manner of recklessness was already going down when Liesl got to the potions dungeon. Probably d'Eath didn't care what happened to his student's belongings, but with Liesl's luck lately if she got involved he would suddenly grow a conscience.

She therefore chose her seat a few tables away from the one where Lucy was threatening to ruin Kieth's clothes - she didn't want to entirely miss the fun, after all - where she discreetly began unpacking her cauldron.

"Oh come on," Keith groaned as Lucy began levitating an inkwell above the pile of his clothes on the floor. "I like my clothes! This is bullying. I'm being bullied right here. Look at me, all poor and victimized. Doesn't this just touch your little heart?" He asked, trying his best to look pained and sorrowful. "Can't you just find a little goodness in your soul?"

It was at that moment, of course, that Liesl Dolohov entered the classroom. "Liesl!" Keith called out, pointing to Lucy. "This is bullying. As Head Girl, shouldn't you be doing something about this? My rights are being infringed upon. Or something."