Curative Magic Lectures

[OOC: Hello! Welcome to class! Please keep your posts between 100 and 300 words if at all possible. If that means using different accounts to post different students, feel free to do that. But remember to take turns instead of posting back and forth with one other person. We want everyone to feel included, and want it to be easy for them to catch up with what is happening. Also, remember that failure is part of the fun, so don’t be afraid to let your student take a while to understand the task that is asked of them.]

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Apollo was shocked to find himself back at Hogwarts, but he couldn't complain, considering he was essentially getting what he wanted. Teaching this class would be strange, but it would mean that he could be accepted sooner at St. Mungo's. As he walked into the Hospital Wing, he lifted his hand to wave at Katherine Avery, frowning when she quickly looked away. He shouldn't have asked her to help with the class; she was clearly not amused with his hoping she would be poked and prodded at, but he was determined that someone would have to help her eventually. Perhaps he would take on the project with one of the upper year students if they were interested and would take it seriously.

The students filed in, some likely surprised to see him, and some perhaps curious as to why this young man was standing there with his hands in his pockets, making himself as tall as he could to ensure they knew what his position was.

"Afternoon," he greeted loudly, hoping to silence their pre-lecture chatting. "My name is Apollo, though if you prefer to call me Mr. Zabini, feel free. This course is not going to be one of those textbook-based, essay-writing courses. For the most part," he corrected himself. Starting to pace back and forth a bit in front of them, he went on. "Throughout this year, we're going to be taking a hands-on approach, and that starts today."

Apollo led them over to a cot where a young boy, a third year from Hufflepuff, was sitting. "Mitchell, here, decided it would be great fun, on his first night back at Hogwarts, to sneak into a potions lab and mess with things," he explained, his tone slightly chiding. "He's spent the night feeling utterly sick to his stomach. Firstly, pair off into groups of two or three. Before we can fix his injuries, we have to figure out what he was harmed with. You'll bring a suggestion to me, and for each wrong guess I'll give a hint until someone gets it right. Winning team earns 10 points for each of their houses. After that, we'll see about sorting him out."

Jenna raised her eyebrow as she watched Apollo try to pretend like he hadn't been one of their peers just a few months ago. This was such a bad move on his part. On all their parts. She was already having a hard time taking him seriously.

"Mister Zabini," she would not call him Apollo in class. It would only make things worse.

"Shouldn't we ask Mitchell exactly what he ate yesterday and rule out the possibility that his stomach ache has been caused by simple food poisoning or overindulgence in that rich food the Welcoming Feast is famous for?" she asked pointedly. "I daresay it could save a lot of time."

Nessarose stood with her hands behind her back, trying to decide how she felt about seeing her old classmate standing in front of her. Was he nervous? Apollo hadn't really been the sort to act that way, but she couldn't help but feel that, really, he must be.

She turned a little, towards Jenna, intending to ask the other girl to partner her, but then Jenna spoke and Nessa hesitated. When the professor replied, his tone impatient, her eyes widened and she decided she would instead let someone come to her.

"Perhaps," Apollo returned. "But, considering I explained that I already know what the issue is, and it is potions related, perhaps you could automatically rule that out?" he suggested.

Lifting her eyebrows and miming a silent sort of whistle, Nessa turned and glanced around, looking for a partner or group.

That boy was a professor? He was practically a teenager himself!

Perhaps if he were older, Malaika would have given him more credit. She might have realised how the Ravenclaw girl's question was so carefully worded to undermine him. But as it was, all she could think was that he had not really explained that in so many words and it was awfully unfair of him to take out his mistakes on a student.

Still, she was just a first year, so she would need to team up with someone older to get anywhere in this class. Quite frankly, choosing someone who had so easily and apparently obliviously antagonised the professor didn't seem like a good idea.

There was someone else looking like she'd like to be paired with anyone but that girl as well, though. Sure, she was older than Malaika, but then, so was everyone at this school.

"Maybe we should work together?" Malaika approached the one in green robes.

Out of breath and rubbing sweat off of her pimpled forehead, Ophelia stopped just in front of the door of the Hospital Wing just to catch her breath and calm down before entering the room. As she had never been in these parts of the school, it had taken some time for her to find the right place in the right time and she congratulated herself for not being late.

Taking off her glasses, she rubbed them clean and them made sure she looked alright by pulling and straightening her uniform and then reforming her hair -- it was still a mess for she had not had enough time to comb it and now, after running like crazy, it was all messed up. Looking around and making sure no one was around, she quickly cast a spell on her hair, making it look better than it was couple of seconds ago, she entered the hospital wing by pressing the glasses in front of her eyes.

There weren't many students around yet and thus she felt relieved -- she was not that much late and as a matter of fact she still hear the question asked by their professor. Much to her surprise, the tutor looked not much older than she, but Ophelia could not judge for she was here only for the first time and who knew -- maybe he had graduated couple of years ago, but years kept him look good anyhow.

Ophelia directed her eyes at the young man called Mitchell who, unfortunately, had poisoned himself somehow and the girl pouted her mouth. What could be the reason? Like the Ravenclaw girl before her, she also thought of food poisoning, but this was soon ruled out by the professor. What might that be then? What could be held in the potions class? Poisons? Maybe he was dumb enough to eat some leeches in the bottles? Ophelia shuddered and then looked away. So now she had to find herself a partner, but who would be willing to work with her?

Calixta eyed up their instructor. Apollo Zabini was pretty okay looking and her parents had gone the school with his parents. Maybe she'd let daddy know that she was totally okay with him making an arrangement with the guy's father.

For now, though, he was her teacher. She'd better concentrate on making a good impression in this class. Right. Curative magic. Find a partner. There was that shy girl from every other class she was in. She was older but Calixta knew everyone fell for her charm.

"Hey," she approached the Ravenclaw. "Can you help me? I'm only in first year and I don't think I'll be able to do this by myself."

She smiled sweetly.

Across the wing, Katherine Avery was watching the students worry after who they could partner themselves with, though she did have a bit of an idea, herself, as to what the problem was. When one of the Hufflepuff girls approached Nessa and the Slytherin girl looked up in question, Katherine could at least feel glad that something was happening now and she could watch their frustration take hold. Truly, she wasn't as terrible as that made her sound, but after being sick for so long, there was a bit of irritation and negativity that lingered in the corners of her mind, ready to pounce at moments like this.

As for the werewolf herself, Nessarose nodded in agreement when asked if she wanted to team up. "Sure," she replied, mentally noting that she actually rather liked Hufflepuffs. At least they genuinely wanted to try and work with others, unlike some Gryffindors or those Ravenclaws that thought no one else could do as well as they could.

"Shall we just pick something that could make him ill and go from there, then?" She asked, pulling out the potions ingredients book she had for her earlier potions class. That was rather lucky, wasn't it? "He said if we get it wrong he'll give a hint, so maybe it's best to just jump in, eh?"