Lily felt completely illegitimate as a professor. Perhaps it was because the job itself was just a bit of an excuse for the work s/he had actually agreed to, or maybe it was her age, but more than anything it was probably the scandalous nature of her last few years as a student. Had she continued on as she had when she first got back from America, the only asterisk next to her name would have been Top of Her Class. But that had been changed, to Drug Addict, Drop Out, Werewolf, Weirdo. And she just had to deal with that.
Perhaps this was why she was actually looking forward to this class, of all the others. The first and second years were not going to have much to go off of her, besides what they heard. She expected the least amount of judgment from them, so she felt a bit of the pressure relieve.
She had instructed the students upon their entrance to pair themselves off based on year, pairs of firsts and pairs of seconds. Once they were settled, she began.
"Hello. You may call me Professor Potter. This is Potions. Welcome to the new year."
She wanted to leave it at that. She wanted to leave it at that so bad, but some of them had those deer-in-the-headlights look. She sighed. "I will be grading this class based on ability to follow instructions, work ethic, and improvement. Potions is not difficult if you simply read the instructions and follow. In this way, it can become tedious, but it is efficient. There is room for experimentation within the subject, but it can be dangerous. If you have questions about the property of an ingredient, or the reaction between two, or why cutting a root one way or the other affects its use in a potion, please ask. Think investigatively. This is how you might learn to enjoy this class. Though enjoying a class is certainly not required. That's up to you."
She offered a small shrug and waved her wand, writing unfurling on the board. "First years will be working on the Cure for Boils. There are two very different ways to approach this potion, so we will be approaching the Book of Potions recipe. Second years, sleeping draught. A few of you might have started on this last year, so you may feel free to attempt the alternative not laid out in Book of Potions. Work in pairs. The storeroom is stocked completely, and labelled well, but please pat attention. I will check on your work once you begin. Go for it."
[[Feel free to interact and talk as you please. Lily doesn't care. Socialize, let the potionmaking be a backdrop for whatever your character is going through]]