Trouble with Potions Homework(Kai)

[Cavan Mikal Weiss]

Cavan sat in the common room, a large pile of books scatter about the table he sat at, a potions book in front of him, open the latest homework assignment. Beside it a notebook and several bottles of colored ink and a quill for each, color coded notes filled the notebook's pages. He was scribbling quick neat notes on the formerly blank sheet of paper, crossing things out and adding new things. He seemed to be having some difficulty, if the grumbles of frustration were any clue.

Normally, Cavan was quiet with his studying, but normally he left potions until last, which was normally later in the evening, when most people were already in bed. Today however, he hadn't had nearly as much homework from his other classes, and he hadn't been able to think of any ways to make the homework more efficient or longer for himself. So here he was, struggling with knowledge, in front of every Hufflepuff that might notice him or his grumbling.

He was wearing a hot pink shirt that read the words 'It's not pink. It's lightish red.', his yellow and black Hufflepuff scarf, tight black jeans, and Ravenclaw blue socks. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a ribbon that matched his socks, and so stood out against his dark blue-black hair. His 'nerdy' glasses kept slipping down his nose and kept having to push them back up, several times almost getting ink on his cheek. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he reread his notes and the book and began fixing the notes again.

[kairava]

Having just finished all of his homework, Kai arranged his books back into his book bag, put all his notes away, and carefully packed his ink well and quill. He had completed the tasks in almost half the time he recalled spending at his former school, Al’Nirah. The classes here were fairly easy, in some respects, compared to the classes back there, however, there were a few here that stood out far beyond. Here Kai found himself challenged with Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions; he was glad for it though, otherwise he would have found the time boring and luckily those were his two favorite classes; those and transfigurations.

Cracking his neck and back and then quickly finger-scouring his hair to freshen his senses, Kai decided to start early on his prefect duties. Picking up a grey blazer that was resting on his bed, he threw it on and then taking a deep breath he headed out into the common room ready to take and extended walk throughout the grounds. Though after taking a few steps through the Hufflepuff common room, Kai noticed Cavan, he thought the boy’s name was, in a state of frustration over what looked like a pile of homework. As a seventh year and the Hufflepuff prefect, he felt it was his duty to help the boy. In fact he wanted to anyhow and then appreciated finishing his own homework early, worked his way over to the table that the younger student was occupying.

At Hogwarts it seemed that older students were in the same classrooms as the younger students and so he could only imagine how difficult a time Cavan was having if he was having issues. He was intelligent but Kai quickly picked up on how much more organized this boy was than he was. Taking off the jacket he had just put on, he hung it on the back of a chair next to Cavan as he pulled it out to sit on. “Hey there Cavan,” he opened with a friendly smile before letting it fade and adding, “Sounds like you could use some assistance, is there something I can aid you with?” He purposely chose not to use the word ‘help’ as he heard before that it held a somewhat demeaning tone to it.

[Cavan Mikal Weiss]

Cavan looked up at the older boy, frustration lines marring his normally bright smiling face, "Ouh, um... Hullo. It's just some potions homework, I've never had this much trouble with a subject before." He seemed surprised and exasperated that he was having trouble now. "I could definitely use some assistance, because I really don't want to fail this class..." If he did fail it, his report card would look quite odd, all O and E and then one U. He'd end up being tutored in potions instead of being able to study languages over the summer. He knew his mother would be so disappointed in him, not that she was very good at potions herself, but she always wanted better for the him and his siblings. He sighed and offered his brightly colored notes for Kai to look at with a frown, "I keep getting a different answer so I'm not sure if I've been right already and messed it up, or if I've missed the point completely. I wish potions was more like languages, then I wouldn't be having this issue..." He sighed again, he wasn't good at not excelling without much effort. It was probably a good character builder that he was actually struggling, but he'd rather not have his character build in that way.

[kairava]

Sitting in his chair, Kai smiled at the boy and his acquiescence to his offer of assistance. It felt good being able to help people and he felt double the affect since he was Cavan's prefect. Wanting to be at an easier angle to read the boy's notes, Kai shifted his chair a little closer to the Hufflepuff and his work. Looking at the boys work he could not help but comment sincerely, "I'm impressed. I rarely see work this well organized; I'm not even this organized." Letting himself chuckle he studied the boys work fore a few moments. He actually had to look over the work twice before seeing the error.

"Ah, here it is," pointing to the place on the boys notes, and picking up a quill to begin making a notation, he added, "It's easy to overlook, as most people do, but when ice moss is boiled with blue acid you get this formula unlike the usual reaction which you've written." At the end of his comment, Kai began writing the correct formula base on a separate sheet of parchment. "Aside from that it looks like you've got it down Cavan," he said as he said the quill down on the table. Leaning back in his chair he waited to see if Cavan understood what he was saying and the difference in the formula. If he did not, Kai would not mind going over it a few more times but it was rather simple and he was sure the boy would pick it up instantly.