potions class#2

The sound of a boy shouting 'cat fight' caught Hallie's attention. Brian. Ouch. It hurt to think about him, she didn't know why, maybe because of the kiss they shared and how she'd transformed into a hormone driven, needy teenage girl, twirling her hair and going all glassy eyed at the sight of him. She'd already stopped their kiss from going further and. Great. He's going to think I'm a right dork. Hallie thought.

She was usually fun loving and adventurous but the kiss she had shared with Brian brought her back to reality. She had exams and the stress that was being piled upon her made Hallie made her want to do something reckless, like grab Brian by the neck and kiss him again. Really show him what a kiss from The Cooper was. No. She couldn't get distracted, maybe after her NEWT's were out of the way. But would he care for her then after the 'teacher-like' act she'd just performed.

Hallie had two options: to continue working or to do something to change Brian's mind. Obviously the second was the more fun option. Hallie raised her hand to knock her cauldron over. No. She thought. Why try to act impressive in front of him? He hasn't even spoken to me since the kiss!

A bubble of sudden dislike floated into Hallie's throat. She felt used. Brian Sullivan, Mr Seeker as she had called him, had used her. Her, the seventeen year old who had a shot with anyone her own age had downgrade to a fifth year. A fifth year that had confused her so much.

Hallie felt her body sit on her stool, a sigh escaping her as she gazed solemly in Brian's direction. She liked him but disliked him. Why couldn't she have felt this way for Padril? He was a sweet boy. Clever, a tad geeky but... That was it. Padril just wasn't her type. Hallie always had had a thing for the rebels.

Sophia had seen and heard enough of this petty cat fight that Henri and Erika were having. Getting up from her desk she walked quickly over towards the girls and gotten out her wand sending a spell to seperate them. "This it! I seen and heard enough of this nonsense!"Sophia said angrily. "20 points from Ravenclaw and a month of detention Ms. Dixon for hitting a student! and another 20 taken from Ravenclaw and month of detention for you to Ms. Finch!"said Sophia. "Such disgrace in potions, Potions is a wonderful and helpful subject it shouldn't be wasted!"said Sophia angrily.

"Now you two get this mess cleaned up!"said Sophia as she turned to the rest of the class calmly. "If your done with your potions please place them on my desk for grading and homework is on the board class dismissed!"said Sophia before taking her seat once again at her desk glaring at the two Ravenclaw girls. She couldn't believe her class was ruined by two Ravenclaw girls who were fighting over something stupid. "Ms. Dixon, Ms. Finch can you two come up here please?"Sophia asked them.

Bertie sighed as forty points were deducted from Ravenclaw, making them drop from second to third place. He wanted to help tidy up in hope to earn some points back but thought better of it and that it would be more trouble than it's worth. Using a ladle he transferred a sample of his well brewed calming draught into a glass vial taking it to the Professor's desk.

'Thanks for your help, Viv.' Bertie thanked as he tidied away his potions kit and writing down the homework in his diary. He had a free period next so would retreat to his favourite spot in the library and complete it to escape from the chaos that had broken out in the potions classroom. 'Bye.' Bertie bid Vivianna farewell and strolled out of the classroom, smiling at Erika in a hope to communicate that he understood what had happened.

Hallie turned to see the Professor zoom across when she noticed what happened. Luckily she had realised it wasn't Hallie who had stole the knotgrass. Gryffindor were still in the lead and Hallie wouldn't be wasting precious study time for her NEWT's in detention.

When she came to take a vial of her polyjuice potion Hallie noticed it wasn't the correct colour or viscosity that was desired, nor was there any reason that it should be like this unless it were contaminated, and Hallie knew just what had messed her potion up: the explosion.

'Great. An entire lesson wasted!' Hallie spat angrily smashing the vial on the floor by Henri's feet. 'Seeing as you didn't even brew a potion you can sort out this mess.' Hallie told the Ravenclaw, waving a hand to her disastrous polyjuice potion. She was usually easy going but after her kiss with Brian playing on her mind and the stress of her NEWT's she didn't care what some wannabee-queenbee fourteen year old thought. In three years Henri would be in the exact same vote as her.

Flinging her school bag across her shoulder Hallie stormed out of the room, her golden locks billowing furiously behind her. Hallie glanced at Brian as she left, catching eye contact briefly. This has been the worst lesson ever Hallie thought attempting to cast Brian and the Ravenclaws out of her mind as she swept through the door into the dungeon hallway.

"Does anyone care that she broke my nose?!" Henri exclaimed from the floor. Part of her was glad she could play the victim card, and another part of her was beginning to become worried by the flow of blood from her nose. Most of the entire front of her blouse was soaked in blood now, and pain was rattling in her ears. She clumsily stood up in time for Hallie to slam a vial down.

"That's vandalism, and ridiculous. What am I supposed to do about your potion? I didn't mess it up," Henri growled, figuring it would seem most natural to appear defensive. She made her way to the front, slipping a bit in her own blood, before she reached the professor. "I don't know why I'm getting detention for being hit, but could I possibly be excused to go, I don't know, reset my nose!"

This had to be a nightmare. Had to. There was no bloody frickin' way this could actually be happening.

But it was. Oh, it was. She had officially f**ked up her first magical class ever, with generous contributions from one She-Demon of course. Rika had thought nothing could ever top her first Biology prac, where she had diced her partner's fingers instead of the frog, but this Potions disaster just blew away everything else. And to crown the nightmare, their Professor stomped over, deducted a hell lot of points and sentenced them one month detention. One month.

Rika had always been a good, attentive student. She had pictured answering a number of questions, winning points and thereby a bit of satisfaction, stuck in this hellhole as she was. No. Now she had to go for detention for a month. And seeing how the Fates were oh-so-kind with her, Finch would probably have to share those detentions too.

Finch whined about the detention, and Rika barely managed to resist the temptation to punch her again. "Oh I don't know why you got the detention. It couldn't possibly be because you sabotaged my potion." She worked her jaw thoroughly, trooping behind Finch to the teacher's desk. She looked up at Professor Granger, and although she tried hard, the apologetic expression somehow got twisted into a grimace, "Sorry Professor. I didn't want to spoil your class." Anyone with half a brain would notice that she wasn't apologising for punching Finch. "Since I'm so very sorry, would you please allow me to compensate and escort Fi- I mean, Henrietta to the Hospital Wing?"

Rika had promised the she-demon something. She intended to keep it.

Vivianna resisted the urge to slam her head against the desk once more. Hallie Cooper had stormed out in a rage, Henri was seriously loosing some blood, and Erika had just made a pretty bad first impression. Quickly ladling her incomplete potion into a vial, the Slytherin walked forwards to place it upon the teachers desk right next to the two other girls.

"Professor," the redhead said with her most polite and innocent smile, "Henrietta is loosing quite a bit of blood, and Erika was right by the caldron when it happened, you more than anyone should know the damage those kinds of fumes can cause when not checked out. I'd appreciate your permission to escort them both to the Infirmary, they're both my friends and I'm quite worried." Vivianna sent a glance towards the blood soaking Henri's shirt.

This teacher liked her, and there wasn't any real reason for the professor to say no. Besides, if she wasn't there to lecture and buffer, there was no telling what the two Ravenclaw's would do to each other.

Padril tried to remain focused on his potion while the students in the class milled around, talking to each other. Potions was a precise subject, and the Polyjuice Potion was specifically very complex. He couldn't afford to be distracted by conversation. True, he was probably not going to be asked to brew it in his NEWTs, but he had a certain pride in completing difficult tasks. If he could successfully make Polyjuice, it would be a big boon for him. Evidence that he could perhaps achieve that 'O' on his Potions exam that had eluded him in his OWLs. He was in the final stages of his potion when an explosion rocked the room, firing liquid everywhere. Padril's position at the back of the class, and the crowding of bodies around Ground Zero, meant that the debris luckily fell short of his hard work.

He glanced up the commotion after making sure his Polyjuice was untainted. There was a lot of talking going over, plenty of confusion. Padril spied Hallie in the middle of it all, talking with two Ravenclaws. He recognised one as social queen Henri Finch, but didn't know who the other one was. Then BAM! Henri totally got punched in the face by the other girl. Padril put his hand over his mouth in shock as he stood up to go help the girl, but the teacher was there faster than him. He sat back down, noting with satisfaction that his potion was finished. It just needed a month to brew and he was certain it would work. Glancing around the room, he realised he might have been the only one to finish his work. The exploding potion had tainted most of the best students work, and the arguments had distracted the others. Padril felt annoyed on their behalf; a class room should be a place where you could learn in peace without the petty hallway fighting following you in. It was frustrating that he didn't have someone he could compare results with.

SMASH. Hallie had thrown her vial to the ground in rage and stormed out the room. Padril instinctively wanted to follow her, just to check up on her and make sure she was going alright. He didn't even know her that well though, and he didn't want to seem weird to his new friend. He'd ask how she was going next time he ran into her. Instead, Padril carefully poured his potion into a vial labelled with his name and placed it on the Professor's desk, keeping his head down as he walked past the other students. Shouldering his bag, he exited the classroom, feeling like he may have quietly won a few points for Hufflepuff. Hard work he reminded himself. That's all that matters at the end of the day.