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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Nov 10, 2007 3:23:39 GMT -5
D'rorah's jaw clenched momentarily as Dylan moved to the seat beside her. It wasn't anger as much as concern. Didn't he realize what it was like for her to watch him dredge through the day like a very portrait of the living dead? Remembering the events of the weekend which had caused him to be so lackadaisical at present, she wondered briefly how his foster brother had been found, and whether he had implicated D'rorah as the one who had attacked him. Certainly, he would not have mentioned that he had attacked them first. For a moment, she hoped his injuries had been severe enough that he had simply died and ended the problem on the cold cobblestones. Of course, had such a thing happened, she was certain they would have heard about it by now.
She pushed the thoughts aside and responded to Dylan's sideways glance with an arched eyebrow. She supposed there was little point in berating him. He was obviously as stubborn as she when it came to academics and clearly had no intention of missing his classes now that they had returned to Hogwarts. After a moment, she offered him the barest glimmer of a smile, a movement which would not be noticed by their classmates. Dylan, of course, was familiar enough with her typical facial expressions to recognize the smile for what it was, and hopefully, take some heart from it.
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Post by puddlefeet on Nov 10, 2007 20:57:24 GMT -5
The door to the Potion classroom gave a small creak as Ally tenderly pushed it open before slipping inside. A quick glance around the room informed her that, despite her previous anxieties, she was indeed on time. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ally unobtrusively slipped inside, a small smile plastered on her features. Taking the time to look more completely at the inhabitants of the space, she felt a jolt of surprise upon seeing Caitlin and Quin seated next to each other, before giving a low chuckle at Caitlin’s expression of disgust. Walking quickly through the room, she sidled into Quin’s and Caity’s row – hovering vaguely as she passed the empty chair on Quin’s side, she slipped unobtrusively into an empty seat next to Caity, before offering a little grin to them both.
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Post by Evelyn Sparrow on Nov 11, 2007 0:53:37 GMT -5
((Ok so this was supposed to be posted at 1:30, but my computer decided to stop working for a bit, and then I had to go to work. So it’s been delayed…)) Professor Sparrow waited just a few moments to allow every one that had arrived to settle down, and get comfortable. As she looked over her class she internally noted the new faces and the lack of some of the students from her last class. Shuffling through her evaluations from the last classes’ assignments she pulled out Susan Matthews and handed the paper to her. Several comments were made, including ‘too much leech juice watch your measurements’ and ‘time is an important factor do not disregard it.’ At the top of the paper an ‘A’ was marked. ‘Acceptable’ for the time being. After all it was the first class, they needn’t be judged too hard. As she moved over to Mister Cooper, she pulled his evaluation from the top of the stack. She turned to him; a very polite smile brushed her face. “Well done Mister Cooper, I’m glad that you took the time to make up for your tardiness.” His paper was relatively devoid of remarks, with the exception of an ‘O’ at the top and a small smile. Evelyn had to admit; he did turn around and make up for his loss of points by turning in a superb potion. As she handed him the paper she turned around and approached the front of the class. Smiling at the students she placed the remaining paper back at her desk, and looked at the clock. “For those of you that received papers back, I would like to let you know that I did not grade them very hard, it is very early in the semester, and I am sure you are all a bit rusty still. If this was the potion you brewed for your OWL there is a chance your grade would be different. Let’s begin, I hope you all remember the rules we went over last class, as they will be in effect, this, and every class until the end of the year with me. As long as I am your teacher I expect those rules to be followed. I do hope that I need not add to them, however, if I find that the class is in need of extra guidelines I shall institute them. Now as a quick review for those of you that were not here last class. The rules will be posted next to the blackboard all year.” As the word blackboard escaped her mouth the list from the previous class appeared nice and neatly at the location she had gestured towards. 1. Be On time for Every class, tardiness is not tolerated. 2. Wait to be called on before answering a question, this allows every one a chance. 3. Use proper respect when address both the teacher and the fellow students. 4. Do not Eat, or Drink in the class unless otherwise instructed! 5. If you are unsure of something ALWAYS ASK FIRST! 6. When brewing potions, always use safety procedure, which will be gone over before the potion is assigned. 7. Do NOT leave potions unattended. 8. If ANY thing is spilt, inform the teacher promptly, do not try to clean it up unless you have been instructed. With the rules posted Evely smiled brightly at the gathered students taking in the range of students from every grade. Hogwarts was holding their classes in a very unusual fashion this year, but she intended to make the most out of it. Even if that meant making several different lessons for each class. "Now today I have a few things planned. Starting with the potion on my desk. As some of you may have noticed, the wonderful aroma in the class is coming from this particular potion. What we have here is a very simple Wit Sharpening potion. Now, to start, very simply, who can tell me what ingredients are generally called for with this potion?”
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Nov 11, 2007 0:59:12 GMT -5
D'rorah's hand immediately rose into the air. She well remembered this potion from her fourth years of potions. She realized at that moment, just how odd it truly was to have all of the years together. Of course, the younger students could not be expected to know the same things she knew as a seventh year.
She had already reached into her kit to begin extracted the ingredients... scarab beetle, ginger root, and armadillo bile. She would have to grind the beetle and cut up the ginger root. At least, she reflected, she was doing something. It would not be a class where she would be able to simply sit and listen.
She glanced over at Dylan as she waited to see who the Professor would call upon to answer her question. Quickly, her gaze reverted to the front of the classroom as she neatly lined up her ingredients on the table before her.
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Zane Lucifer Bishop
Slytherin
[green]6th Year Slytherin[/green] Elemental Master of Metal
You people all have to learn. This world is going to burn.
Posts: 483
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Post by Zane Lucifer Bishop on Nov 14, 2007 18:27:44 GMT -5
"Hey, passing's passing right?"
Zee grinned broadly at the Ravenclaw boy next to him. He of course did not actually agree with the sentiments he'd just expressed, always seeking to excel beyond acceptable levels in any of the subjects he bothered to study. It amused him that a Ravenclaw, the vaunted intellectual powerhouses of the school, had barely passed the last class. He wondered if the boy was simply not good at potions (Zee himself was not as good as he'd like) or if whatever bizarre happenings were occurring had caused him to focus less than he should in the previous class. Zee hadn't been at the school yet for that, so he shrugged the question away, figuring he wasn't likely to get an answer.
Zee grimaced slightly at the admission the Professor gave that she had graded the previous classes potions leniently. He wasn't one to promote the idea of giving anyone credit for effort. If you couldn't keep up, you had no business being involved as far as Zee was concerned. He wished more professors were more like Choi. She had made it abundantly clear that she would not be sneaking any bonus points into her assignments. On the other hand, she would prove far less susceptible to manipulation outside of class. At least there were upsides to these "soft" professors.
Zee's hand casually lifted into the air shortly after D'rorah's. His head faced forward, but he watched the prefect out of the corner of his eye. Of course she would know the answer. She seemed to be the Ravenclaw of Ravenclaws. Zee hoped he would be called on. He'd learned that professors often bestowed small rewards of house points on those who correctly answered their questions, and while he felt no great fealty to his house, he didn't appreciate being in the negatives.
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Jason Cruz
Gryffindor
[red]4th Year Gryffindor[/red]
Posts: 179
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Post by Jason Cruz on Nov 14, 2007 20:25:21 GMT -5
Jason snapped his head quickly to face Alessandro as the older boy spoke to him. He'd been half expecting to be asked to move so that Alessandro could sit next to Keaira, which he would have thought silly had he not been panicking slightly. If they'd wanted to sit next to each other, they likely would have. His words came out rather quickly, asking questions before giving an opportunity to answer previous questions.
"What? Oh, hey. No, yeah. No. No I'm ok. Yeah. No . . . what? Peeky? I don't . . . what? Did you want me to move? I can move. Did you want me to move?"
Jason wasn't familiar with the word "peeky." He wondered if it was some British slang that he hadn't picked up on. He hadn't spent an overabundant amount of time talking with people after all. His attention snapped back to the front before he could continue in his tirade however, the professor addressing the class. Jason nodded to himself as he read over the rules. Pretty standard. He wasn't sure he could answer the professor's question, though he wouldn't have volunteered a response anyway. He knew ginger root was one of the ingredients, and something from an armadillo . . . No, Jason wasn't sure. He turned his eyes back to his cauldron, waiting for one of the older students to answer.
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Post by Alessandro Darko on Nov 14, 2007 23:58:20 GMT -5
"Hey, passing's passing right?"
The Slytherin boy's words hit his ears with a slight twinge of annoyance. He had never really liked potions in the first place, as he would much rather be practicing his wandwork, than mixology. This is why Alessandro has a vast and advanced knowledge of spells and incantations. Not saying he's perfected them all, but at least knows of them.
He decided to refrain from commenting back on Zee's initial comment. Instead, he turned to face Jason, who had spluttered something about moving to another seat.
"Err, um, no, Jason, you're fine, you don't have to move..." Alessandro said with a puzzled expression on his face. Maybe he had confused him with his choice of words. "Perhaps peeky wasn't the correct adjective. You just looked a bit flushed, thats all, did I embarrass you or something?" He asked as he continued to set up his workstation.
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Post by Dylan Cooper on Nov 15, 2007 18:22:46 GMT -5
Receiving D’rorah’s arched eyebrow with a light sigh that most probably only she heard, Dylan made to turn back to the front but halted his progress when he saw her small smile. Figuring that no other students would even recognise the movement as something positive, or notice the change in her expression at all, he managed to produce a half-hearted smile back. It by no means reached his eyes or appeared too convincing of any remote amount of happiness, but it was a start. It seemed that he always fared better in classes when she was beside him, a fact which he had not ignored by any means.
His thoughts, so different from those of late, were interrupted as Professor Sparrow returned his marks. His eyes still containing the ever-present sadness, he looked to her as she handed him the paper and accepted it without a word, dimly noting that he’d passed exceptionally. Then again, it had only been a Shrinking Solution, something that was expected of third years. Not feeling particularly proud of accomplishing such a feat, considering he was able to produce legitimate seventh year potions, he knew that he would indeed feel good about himself had he not been in his current, negative state of mind.
Resigning to the fact that he would need to do some work in this class, he dimly re-read the rules on the board, waiting for her to explain their potion of the day. Hearing that it was a Wit-Sharpening potion, he at least felt better about it being slightly more advanced; generally, it was taught in fourth year. Remembering the concept he’d presented himself with, to put more into classes by raising his hand now and then in order to make up for his twenty-five point loss, he sighed slightly and shook his head in a barely noticeable action. When he was feeling better, perhaps… Then again… Dylan raised his hand, figuring that at least he could appear to be trying to regain the points. He expected D’rorah to be chosen first given her quickly risen hand, but kept his hand up anyway. Being at the front, he had no idea as to who else might have offered to answer the question but didn’t particularly care. As it was, he just wanted this lesson to be over.
Catching a small glance in his own direction, he retracted his ideals of answering the question, as well as his hand. Grabbing a few things from his potions kit, he realised that he couldn’t actually remember what to use. It appeared his current demeanor overrode years of learning, at times. Grabbing random items, he managed to culminate a Graphorn horn, Bundimun secretion, daisy roots and some Jobberknoll feathers. Not bothering to even check that these were right, he laid them on his desk and slipped his head into his hands.
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Nov 15, 2007 20:22:46 GMT -5
D'rorah, her hand still raised, happened to glance over as Dylan retracted his own hand and began taking things from his potions kit. Her eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise. Obviously, he wasn't even on the same planet as the rest of the class. Had it been anyone else, she likely wouldn't have bothered to make any more or remark to help. For Dylan, however, she couldn't bear to simply allow him to idly sit by and ruin his marks in the class. She still wished he would have just stayed in bed to rest. There was nothing they had done in any of their classes so far that he couldn't have simply made up at a later date if he had just rested for the remainder of the week to recuperate from his injuries.
Quietly, so as not to attract notice from her fellow students, D'rorah used her free hand to gather up the ingredients he had taken from his kit and place them back into the bag. She reached into the bag and selected the proper ingredients, setting them on the desk with a meaningful glance over at him. She wished there was more she might be able to do, but she had done basically all she could for the time being. Right now, things were up to him to get the process and intricacies of the potion correct. She was already resigning herself to having to assist with his potion, lest he make some vile concoction which might destroy the school itself.
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Post by Evelyn Sparrow on Nov 18, 2007 2:31:01 GMT -5
Evelyn smiled at the class looking for some one who was willing to answer her question. Surprisingly there were fewer hands in the air then she had initially expected. Several of the students seemed dazed and non-responsive to her question. Perhaps they were just feeling a little sluggish today? As a few hands made their way in to the air she turned her gaze towards the student that had responded quickest. “Yes, Miss Philosophy, I am quite sure you can help us out a bit on the matter of this potion. I will also be quite happy if you could tell the class which one of the ingredients causes this … arid smell to penetrate the environment.”
Evelyn paused for a moment to wrinkle her nose. As always with this class she seemed to wish that the ventilation system was a tad bit better. Silently hoping that it might help however, expecting the worse she moved to the class room door. Propping it open to allow what meager breeze that travel the halls to enter the room. It wasn’t much help, but with the lack of windows in the class anything might be better then suffering through that smell. “After which I would like some one to volunteer the basic properties one might expect from taking such a potion. Effects and useful applications please”
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Nov 18, 2007 12:55:26 GMT -5
D'rorah's hand slowly sank to her desk as she answered. "The ingredients in this particular potion are scarab beetle, ginger root, and armadillo bile. The acrid odor is caused by the armadillo bile. It has a particularly strong smell when combined with the scarab beetle, thus causing the intensification of an aroma which is normally only mildly unpleasant." Satisfied that she had answered the question adequately, she raised her hand once again, indicating that she knew the answer to the next question that had been posed. She had little hope that she would be called upon, but given the general lack of participation in the class, she assumed every hand which rose into the air was helpful.
Her thoughts were somewhat divided to thoughts of Dylan and his listlessness. She wished there were something she could do the help, but really the only thing which would help was rest and perhaps a bit more time to process the emotional consequences of the loss of his foster father. It was something she had advised him to take, advised rather strongly in fact, but he had to avail himself of the time offered in order for it to have any positive affect.
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Zane Lucifer Bishop
Slytherin
[green]6th Year Slytherin[/green] Elemental Master of Metal
You people all have to learn. This world is going to burn.
Posts: 483
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Post by Zane Lucifer Bishop on Nov 19, 2007 13:28:34 GMT -5
Zee's hand had begun to descend resignedly when D'rorah was called upon. It's downward drift was halted and reversed however by Professor Sparrow's statement that she would like to hear the uses from someone else. His hand held high, he waited patiently as D'rorah spoke, nodding his agreement.
Leaning forward almost imperceptibly, Zee turned his eyes to one side then the other. The movement was subtle, but it didn't particularly matter whether or not anyone noticed. He was merely checking to see how many students were in the front row; quite a few it seemed. The three Ravenclaws he had made acquaintance with were of course at the front, as was the Slytherin girl who'd so mysteriously appeared in the forbidden forest. Other than himself there was only a young looking Gryffindor he had never met. But then he wasn't overly eager to meet any Gryffindors and quite inclined to think them all brainless after meeting Jacques. Much as he despised the Slytherin stereotype often placed on himself (accurate as it may be), he still found himself immediately making assumptions about the other houses' students. Perhaps he would have to get to know another Gryffindor or two, though it would likely only prove his suspicion.
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Post by Dylan Cooper on Nov 19, 2007 14:52:33 GMT -5
Not much of anything on his mind, Dylan was vaguely aware of the fact that he was detached from almost everything. Somewhere in between retrieving random ingredients for his potion and D’rorah responding to the Professor’s question, he had completely spaced out. Dimly, he viewed everything from the outside, as if he were not a part of his own body at all. He saw the quiet movements of Dee’s hand, correcting his woefully wrong ingredients and noted the small glance he received from her. Sighing for some reason, because surely he was far too gone from this room to really absorb what was happening, Dylan dreamt of finding a place where his thoughts could not follow. In fact, he didn’t know which was worse; the overwhelming series of thoughts and images which set him on edge, caused turmoil within him, or the blatantly dulling effect of not thinking at all.
He thought of the many places of Hogwarts, the hidden rooms and sloping banks, classes and hallways. Nowhere came to mind that was so pleasant enough, nor so brutal enough to make him forget what he knew. Next came everywhere outside of the magical school; his home in which resided a mother who was most probably still angry and perhaps even confused, the wonderful Diagon Alley with its many quirky and interesting shops, the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade with the Three Broomsticks and Zonko’s. Nowhere on earth would satisfy his desires of escaping, or so it seemed.
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Post by Alessandro Darko on Nov 20, 2007 0:43:09 GMT -5
WIT SHARPENING POTION! He screamed in his head. His eyes widened as Professor Sparrow asked what the ingredients were to the mentioned potion and he noted D'rorah's hand fly up first. He kept his maintained on the top of his work station, his right hand poised at the ready with his quill and parchment, ever so ready to scrawl down the answer as he was sure Dee would nail it. He fervently wrote down the ingredients as he had headed the paper "Wit Sharpening Potion".
If anything, I should try and perfect THIS potion, and take it before class! Then I'll be sure to take higher marks! He thought energetically as he dotted the "i" in bile. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small, worn, leather-bound planbook. He scribbled the potion in one of the slots for notes, writing that he should practice the potion over the weekend.
He closed his planbook and placed it back in his side bag and returned his attention to the front of the class. He couldn't help but notice one out of the trio of Ravenclaws present was not as focused as he usually was.
I wonder whats wrong with him...He's been a little...spacey lately... Alessandro wondered, thinking about what has been vexing him, hoping that it wasn't anything too serious, as they all should be focusing diligently on classwork and developing their skills to assist in their extracurricular activities pertaining to shadows.
Professor Sparrow asked another question relating to the Wit Sharpening Potion, and again, Alessandro noted D'rorah's hand elevate itself into the raised position.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Nov 28, 2007 22:03:15 GMT -5
Keaira seemed generally un-phased by the jumpiness of the boy next to her. She simply gave him a sideways glance as he asked Alessandro if he should move. It struck her a bit odd that the boy would sit there, and then offer to move so quickly. As she looked at the strange boy next to her, she remembered the awkward boy that had stumbled a bit upon seeing her and Alessandro holding hands the day of her departure. His face came in to her memory, and she knew instantly that this was the same boy. He must be feeling so weird sitting between two people who he though were together.
She allowed a smile to penetrate her features, as she thought of the oddness that he must be feeling. It would amuse her for some time after this lesson. A privet joke she would pull out of her mind when feeling a bit down. As Professor Sparrow began the class she as per her normal routine set up her notes in their color coded fashion., blue for titles and heading, red for general notes, green for ingredients or instructions. Quickly jotting down the answer to the first question before even D’rorah was called upon. Potion was just one of those subjects that she read about in her free time much like Latin. It gave her things to think about as she moved through each day.
In between jotting things down and slowly pulling out her own ingredients Keaira glanced about the classroom. She particularly found that she glanced towards Alessandro a few times. Noting the gleam in his eye that she seldom found during his time in this class, curiosity welled up in her. What had him so excited? Did this happen to be a potion that he felt confident enough to prepare properly? Perhaps, however, Keaira did have her doubts. She noted last class that his skills in here were, although not terrible, lacking to say the least. As she prepared what she would need she made a mental note to keep an eye on his progress through the class.
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