A Potion Pick-me-Up

((OOC: Just for everyone's information, this IS NOT Amelia's first lesson. She taught all last term. So although she is still relatively new, anyone that was at Hogwarts last semester would already know she was a professor. Please post as such.))

"Well I am glad to see that you are well enough to have made it to the lesson at all, then," Amelia said, inclining her head sympathetically to Miseria's plight. In truth, Amelia would never have been late to a lesson, even if she were on her deathbed, but she understood that having that expectations of others was not exactly fair. Amelia was a perfectionist, even to her own demise.

"Welcome to the lesson, Miss Lupin," the young professor said with a tone of approval for Miseria's correct answers, but she didn't let the younger girl off the hook completely, "I'll have to take five points from Hufflepuff for your tardiness, but please, do join us. I have just requested that students pair up with each other, making partnerships from opposite classes - NEWTs with Basics, and vice versa. Please see if there isn't a younger student who might benefit from your knowledge."

And with that, Amelia swung the door open further and gestured for Miseria to come in.

[House Points:
Ravenclaw: -5
Gryffindor: 5
Hufflepuff: 0
Slytherin: 0]

Her head propped up on her hand, Hitame looked around the class to fund someone she would want to be paired up with. She would've preferred to pair up with Ryo since he was the only real friend she had in the class, but she knew that she had to try to he social with others so she pushed the thought out of her mind. She gave a small sigh and stood up from her seat to find a partner.

She looked down toward the door as she noticed that Professor Lyons was speaking to someone there. A few moments later she saw an older student walk in. One that she recognized to be Miseria. She smiled a bit and looked around the class to see if she couldn't find someone near her to be her partner. Doubting she would, Hitame looked half way across the room before she walked down to where Mis was. "Hey Mis. Would you be my partner please?" she asked the older girl softly.

John had sat very quiet in the back of the room listening and hopefully, he hoped, learning something. From all that was going on though he hoped some one would notice he was actually in this class and not some phantom sat in a corner all day. He Opened his potions book and began to read, battered though it was, he could still make out the words and it had never lead him wrong so far. He looked at the others in the room and sighed as they began to talk about pairing up who could he pair with, he was on his own, as far as he knew. Flicking his wand he set his cauldron upon his desk and looked at the professor again hoping he was doing it right.

John looked around brushing his blond hair from his face as he waited glancing around at who ever was not paired but he was ok if he was to be alone it would mean he could focus on the potion and go at his pace thought team work was interesting too he saw Hitame and thought for a moment she would be his partner he moved his arm to wave but knocked his book off the desk to the floor kneeling down he picked it up pushing the loose pages back in the book.

Miseria looked up at Amelia, feeling rather sad when she took away five points from Hufflepuff. It was her fault, she agreed with that.
She didn't say anything, only entered the classroom and looked around to find herself a partner. This is going to be hard, she thought. People usually avoided her. Not that she wasn't "popular". Some students saw her as an odd person. Or even better, strange.
She was ready to give up and ask Amelia if there were any things that she could do alone, but then Hitame showed up, asking her if she could be her partner. Miseria, although she prefered to work alone, was thankful for the question. She nodded and tried to smile, but she felt too weak to do that. Instead, she replied:"I'd be happy to work with you."

Coral had finally made it to the dungeon, sweating and out of breath. The pack on her shoulder containing her potions book and supplies felt hopelessly heavy, and after going down SEVERAL flights of stairs all the way from Ravenclaw's tower, she felt like she could use a break. Somehow, despite it all, she was determined to keep her straight posture and keep going to the classroom. She already had a feeling, judging by how relatively spare the area around the classroom's entrance was that she was late. She hated that. She took a few more heavy steps forward and entered the classroom. She opened her mouth to speak but really all she could do was pant. A terrible, gut-wrenching feeling gripped her, and she scanned the room for the briefest of moments looking for a wastebin. There did seem to be one next to the teacher's desk, but she imagined she was probably in enough trouble for being late, and so she pulled her cauldron out of her bag and promptly emptied her stomach of that morning's breakfast.

As soon as she had felt it coming on, she convinced herself to move outside of the classroom, and that was where she continued to spill the rest of her breakfast. After a short moment of this, her stomach finally calmed itself, and she set the foul-smelling cauldron down against the wall outside the classroom. This was definitely on her top-list of the worst days of her life so far. She took only a few seconds to compose herself, getting out a handkerchief to wipe her face. She returned to the classroom, looking for all the world like a soldier standing at attention.

"I apologize for being late, Professor Lyons. May I please have permission to sit for a while? I'm very exhausted. I'm not used to there being so many stairs."

The young professor was moving to close the door behind Miseria when she heard footsteps coming down the steps to the dungeons. Though she dared to hope that it was a stray Slytherin student heading down to their common room, Amelia was not that lucky, and instead she saw a member of her own House coming down the stairs in a flurry, looking like she had just run a marathon. Professor Lyons knew this student – just as she knew every face she had ever seen by heart – but before she had a chance to chide Coral for her tardiness, the girl stepped through the slightly open door and into the classroom.

“Excuse me-“ Amelia began, feeling slighted at not even having been noticed by her student even though she was standing immediately inside the door. However, a moment later, the potions master realized why she might have remained invisible to Coral, and was actually quite glad she had. For just as Amelia began speaking, the young Ravenclaw pulled out her cauldron from her bag and proceeded to vomit violently into it, stepping backward out of the classroom before she attracted too much attention to herself.

What the hell? Amelia thought instinctively, flustered by the sudden sickness of her student. Not wanting to embarrass her further, however, Amelia stepped outside with the young girl and closed the door behind him, leaving her students to their own devices for a few moment while she dealt with this.

“Are you okay?” Professor Lyons asked tentatively, keeping her distance out of respect… and other reasons.

The girl didn’t answer her question, but instead finished her business and then set the foul cauldron against the wall and then came to stand in front of Amelia, looking rather worse for wear. She was putting up a good front, but as a woman who had learned throughout her life how to pretend, Amelia saw through the act. Calling her out on it, however, would need to be done sensitively.

“Although your tardiness is concerning to me, it is hardly my first priority right now,” Professor Lyons said curtly, trying to maintain a professional atmosphere despite the unusual circumstances, “Although I admire your sense of duty to your studies, I would suggest you forgo class today and instead visit the hospital wing. You don’t seem to be at your best, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Amelia added hesitantly, trying to be sensitive in her word choice, but not knowing if she had succeeded. Social graces were not exactly the young professor’s strong suit.

Coral stood her ground, although, she would've much preferred to have been sitting or laying down somewhere to catch her breath. "I am most grateful for your concern, professor, but I assure you whole-heartedly that I will be fine. I am not unwell, merely... not in the best physical shape. Over-exertion of under-used muscles tends to make me a little nauseous." Her eyes seemed to narrow a little at this, as she was loathe to directly admit such flaws, particularly to someone of such respect as a teacher. "I just need a short time to relax and catch my breath, and then I can clean up my cauldron and work on my classwork." She paused a moment before adding, "If it pleases you, I will go to the hospital wing after class, but I do not believe it is necessary."

Amelia knew very well the definition of the word ‘fine’ when used by headstrong students, because not all that long ago, she had been one. In fact, the word was still very much a part of her vocabulary, to describe how she was doing to anyone (and that meant almost everyone) she didn’t care to be completely honest with. But because she was not so removed from her headstrong student days of putting up a front to protect herself from the world, Amelia hesitated only a few seconds before bending to the younger student’s request.

“If you feel a short rest will provide you adequate reprieve, then by all means, come inside and sit. When you’re feeling better, please find a partner. Because you were late, you will need to find someone to catch you up on what is going on. That individual should be a member of the NEWT class, because we are combined today and will be working in Basic/NEWT pairs.”

“And if you change your mind,” the young professor added, giving the girl an out if she wanted it, “You do not need to ask to be excused. I will assume you’ve gone to the Hospital Wing to have yourself attended to.”

And with that, Amelia took her own advice and re-entered the classroom to observe the work of the students who had started work after finding a tolerable partner. She had always hated partner work as a student, but as every one of her professors had told her, working with others is a necessary part of life. If Amelia could have changed that, she certainly would have, but with things being as they were, her students needed that life lesson just as much as she had at their age.

And probably still needed a few courses in it, come to think of it.

"Thank you, Professor Lyons." Coral followed in after Professor Lyons and scanned the classroom for a moment, searching for someone to pair up with. She spotted someone familiar, and her near-photographic memory allowed her to recall that Mr. Jack Kubin was a NEWT student and a fellow Ravenclaw. She took her seat next to him. She was sure they had never been formally introduced. She avoided outstretching her hand, considering he had probably just seen her spill her guts and probably wouldn't like to be touching her. "I am Miss Coral Marchand, and I would very much like to be your partner, if it pleases you. Would you mind too awfully much in filling me in on what we are doing in class today?" She was acting as though nothing had happened at all, though she still looked a little pale and sweaty. Her breathing was starting to slow down, though.

Jack looked up from his elbow. He had his face resting on his arm as if he was sleeping. He just hated being around people he had no chance to annoy. He raised an eyebrow at the girl who was talking to him. She looked like the girl from the common room, always in there, studying, or doing something by herself. Her name slipped his mind, though. He nodded.

"Sure thing, Missy-o. We were talking 'bout making Euphoria. It's supposed to improve the mood of the drinker, so let's get started, I guess!"

Jack said, clapping his hands together. He rummaged through his pack a bit, looking for his potions book. Finally, he pulled out a basically destroyed Book, with the title etched across the top.

"I swear it was like this when I got it."

He dropped it on the table, and flipped through the pages, finally coming across the yellowing page of Euphoria.