Potions Problems

Vivianna Varnes was frustrated. Perhaps frustrated wasn't a strong enough word, but it would have to do. The teenager had been creating experimental potions for years. She loved it, potions was the one subject she truly excelled. It had hit the point where she was bored in potions class now, but had finally gotten permission to use the labs whenever she pleased.

The girl worked part-time in Diagon Ally, something few people knew, and a decent portion of her wages went to ingredients for her experimentation. Which led back to why the Slytherin wasn't pleased. She was having problems with a potion. Of course, that was normal, it always took a while to get potions right. This one in particular, however, she'd been working on for an incredibly long time and gotten no-where. What was even worse, she was stuck. The fifth year simply couldn't think of any way to move forwards from this point.

Throwing her head back so that her neck cracked violently, the teenager scanned the common room. It seemed pretty empty, although she did notice Niamh Monaco sitting not too far from her. The girl was in her year and dorm, and although they rarely interacted, Vivianna had always thought she was one of the more tolerable members of their house.

Niamh was also decent at potions. Nothing like Vivianna, of course, but good enough. Perhaps a fresh perspective was what the teen needed. So, standing abruptly, the witch gathered all her notes and approached her year mate.

"May I sit here?" Vivianna asked politely, and sat before an answer could be given. Dumping her notes in front of the two of them, Vivianna started to talk, "look, I know you're alright with potions, and I'm looking for a new viewpoint here. What are your thoughts?" The redhead gestured towards the notes filled with scribbles, arrows and underlined words.

Niamh glanced up from her book and at the other girl who'd just sat down. Vivianna Varnes. Niamh knew who the other girl was, of course- they were in the same house and dorm, and the girl didn't consider herself to be dense. She knew who her classmates were. She considered herself, actually, to be quite observant, in that she picked up on others' emotions and even just their presence. For example, she always sort of sensed when there was someone else in the dorm, even if she was asleep; she'd wake up from the deepest of slumbers if she felt there was someone else in the room who hadn't been there when she'd fallen asleep.

She looked from Vivianna to the notes she'd scattered across the table and back again. "Um, I don't... I don't really know," she murmured, without so much as another glance at the notes. "I'm not very good at potions," she lied. She knew she was decent, but she wasn't exactly in a helping mood.

Vivianna looked up at Niamh with narrowed eyes. Did the other girl think her stupid? The Slytherin was perfectly capable of telling who was and wasn't decent at her own subject. True, spontaneous favors weren't often seen in her house unless between good friends, but the least Monaco could have done was come up with a decent excuse!

"Right,"Vivianna said dryly, with a hint of sarcasm, "you're not at all good at Potions, just like I'm brilliant at Transfiguration." It was common enough knowledge that Transfiguration was the witch's worst subject, and how she loathed the class.

"Look, if you're not planning on being helpful, say so. If you are, you'll want to start here," the girl stated bluntly, reaching over and grabbing a ink-covered parchment sheet.

Niamh cast her eyes skyward a moment, then sighed heavily. "Fine," she muttered, taking the piece of parchment and scanning it with her eyes narrowed, mirroring Vivianna's expression unconsciously. It made sense to her, yes, but barely. Niamh was no good at reading others' writing, and this made itself apparent in the confusion slowly being written upon her face.

"I think you've got the wrong measurements," she murmured after a few minutes of studying the parchment, handing it back to the other girl with another sigh. "Something is off. That's all I can really say about that."

Niamh knew she was coming off as rude, but she didn't particularly care. She wasn't in a good mood today, as she'd realized, upon waking, that it was her brother Liam's birthday, and there was (of course) no way for her to contact him. The thought sent a pang through her heart, and she bit the inside of her cheek now in hopes of driving the thought away.

"Measurements," Vivianna murmured to herself, talking the parchment back and scanning it. The teenager hardly cared about the rudeness of the other girl, not in that face of finally figuring out this potion. Scanning the parchment, thinking of adjusting amounts instead of ingredients, inspiration struck.

"Of course!" the Slytherin said aloud to herself, quill already in hand, "less puffer-fish, so... more Gomas Barbadensis... thicken... rose oil to balance... less armadillo bile... brilliant." The girl hadn't even realized that she'd forgotten about the world around her and had begun to murmur as she scribbled down more notes. Suddenly coming to her senses, Vivianna sat up straight, and began to eye the other student.

"Alright, since you helped me with this, I'd be willing to give you a small vial once I've succeeded," the witch bargained. The teenager was fully aware that she was dealing with another Slytherin here, and knew her dorm mate would probably want something in return.

Niamh rested her chin in one hand, eyeing the other witch suspiciously. "It depends, of course. What's the potion for, anyway?"

She'd had a bad run-in with a nasty potion during her third year. Having spent a solid two weeks in the hospital wing afterwards, Niamh was highly wary of any potions created by anyone other than herself. Even those made by herself couldn't be one-hundred percent trusted- though she had high marks in Potions, she could still muck up the measurements at times, since she secretly had trouble with numbers. But no way would she let on about that to anyone, anyone at al.

When Niamh asked what the potion was for, Vivianna let out a sigh. She really didn't like this. Most people just figured she was something of a teachers pet in Potions and left it at that.

Pursing her lips, Vivianna eyed the other girl warily, "you don't tell anyone about this, or at the very least that you got this from me. If you do, I might have to send an anonymous letter to the Ministry about a certain dorm mate of mine keeping illegal potions." The teenager didn't like threats, always feeling as if they were nowhere near subtle enough, but this was important. "Your word, and I'll tell you, otherwise you get nothing." It was possible the other Slytherin would blow up at her, after saying something like that, but it was a risk she was willing to take.