The Things We Do For Access

Vivianna stared up at the celling of one of the potions labs. She wasn't exactly looking forwards to what was about to happen, but she wasn't dreading it either. The teenager had struck up a deal of sorts with her Professor. The Slytherin was always experimenting with potions, but students weren't allowed in the labs out of classes. She'd been begging for permission for years, since the girl knew there were exceptions to the rule. The witch had seen students get lab passes for NEWT studying, but she was always refused.

A few days ago after class however, she was approached and told that she could have her lab pass, if she was willing to offer her potions expertise to tutor other students. The teenager had agreed immediately, she was getting free access to the Hogwarts Potions Dungeons.

So, the girl sat in wait, only minutes until she was supposed to meet her year-mate, Ravenclaw Heather Salvaggio.

Heather sighed and looked at the clock on her wrist. She had a half hour to get from her common room to the potion's lab. While walking down the seemingly endless hallway Heather walked passed a familiar face. Heather waved and said hello in passing but the other person either seemed to ignore her or not hear her at all. Dejected, Heather walked to the potions lab with her head down, watching her feet walking towards her tutor.

Merlin, I hate potions, Heather thought as she got closer to her destination. She looked at her watch again. She was a few minutes early, interesting. With a almost silent huff, she walked into the potions room and noticed her tutor sitting down staring at the ceiling. Her tutor is Vivianna Varnes, a fifth year Slytherin with auburn hair.

"Hello Varnes," Heather said into the quiet room as she became closer to the table Vivianna Varnes was sitting at.

"Hello Salvaggio," Vivianna said simply, gesturing for the newcomer to take a seat. There were so many things she'd rather be doing in that room right then, but the situation could always be worse.

"Alright, I wasn't told anything other than you needed tutoring, so I'm gonna need to know where your ability level is. Like, were you just freaking out about the upcoming OWL exam's and got hooked up with me? Or are you gonna need more than a bit of a recap?" the Slytherin asked the other student. This was fairly important information, the girl didn't want to spend unnecessary time on the basics, or jump straight into stuff the Ravenclaw wouldn't understand.

"Oh, and are you planning on dropping Potions next year, or taking NEWT classes? If you are, I can help prep you for next year's classes too. I got the syllabus and everything," the teenager's last statement was accompanied by a smirk. The girl had told her Professor that she was considering helping a sixth year student in the class, but would need the syllabus. It had been handed over without a thought, and now she could do all her potions assignments over the summer and not have to worry about them the following year. Vivianna hadn't ever considered tutoring any sixth years.

Heather thought on it for a minute. Weighing both her options of just recapping or studying just for OWLs. She finally decided.

"I think it would be more beneficial for me to recap." Heather said carefully, like she was tasting the words on her tongue. If she learned how to do the basics again, it will prep her for her OWLs anyway because the techniques never change, just the potions, correct? After all, it would be more embarrassing for Heather to handle her knife wrong for a certain ingredient, like for example, crushing something instead of grinding with the blunt of her knife.

"I am still undecided whether or not I will drop the subject, so a little prep wouldn't hurt either." Heather said with a little more confidence than she answered her last question with. Heather was indeed confused on whether she should drop the subject. She wasn't quite sure which profession she wanted to go into. Maybe she would go into healing, but that revolved around potions, which was her weakest subject. If she had it her way, she would be a librarian, surrounded by her glorious books and silence. But that was a dream that won't make much of a living which is something she needed if she was going to live on her own once Hogwarts was over with. So prepping for next year's potions will definitely help her make her decision or further confuse her. Either way, it seems to be a good choice at the moment.

"Alright then," Vivianna replied, studying the other girl. The Slytherin knew what approach would probably be best, but wasn't sure what potion to use. Pondering for a moment, the girl came up with a decent idea. "I figure the best way to go about things would be to get brewing. I'm thinking we should start with the Burn-Healing Paste, it shouldn't be too easy or too hard for you, so I'll be able to see where you're at. Plus, it's not one of those time-specific potions, so I can take a minute to explain things between steps and show you what to do. Sound alright?" the teenager asked, hoping the Ravenclaw would take her word on it.

Not waiting for a response, the tutor pulled some blank parchment out of her bag and began to scribble down the instructions by memory. Really, the girl could brew this potion in her sleep, she made it enough. Experimental potions had a tendency to blow up much more commonly than people would suspect, Vivianna was treating her own minor burns practically constantly. This potion had come in incredibly hand over the years, and didn't take too long to make one you got the hang of it. Less than two minutes later, the once-empty parchment contained a list of steps.

1. Put one liter of water into caldron (any kind but bronze).
2. Put the cauldron over a very low flame, wait until water is simmering gently.
3. Remove rind from pomegranate, collect the seeds in a small bowl, and crush into a pulp.
4. Place pulp in the simmering cauldron.
5. Chop a dozen dried boom berry leaves and then crush into a fine powder. Add to caldron.
6. Slowly mix, twelve clockwise stirs, then twelve counterclockwise stirs.
7. Add eight motherwort leaves and a single motherwort flower to caldron.
8. Stir four times clockwise. Gently.
9. Add six small vervain blooms.
10. Stir slowly six time counterclockwise.
11. Let set for exactly 18 minutes.
12. Take caldron off fire, and vial.

Skimming the list and then nodding to herself when all was in order, Vivianna turned to hand the parchment to the other girl.