Lesson 1 - N.E.W.T. Level

Bloody hell, he came here only to be the Headmaster, and to think that he had almost been denied that promise, and now he is limping to the Dungeons to teach Potions... all over again, to hormone raging brats who have absolutely no interest in these bottles filled with colorful liquids. Yes, he had been some sort of puppet Headmaster, but he did actually have far more authority than anyone thought, which made him a powerful nemesis to those who wanted to control him, but more on that later, right? He sat on top of his desk, starting to play with his cane, waiting for the brats to arrive.

Amelia was early, as usual, when she descended the slightly damp steps to the Potions dungeons, so the heels of her patent leather shoes echoed in the emptiness around her. She had her school bag slung over her shoulder and was clutching her potions book to her chest, having already been in the library earlier this morning reading through the N.E.W.T. Level material they were likely to be covering this year.

Considering her absence from school in the spring - her mother's doing, not hers - Amelia knew that making a strong first impression on her professors would be of the utmost importance this fall semester. She knew there were going to be a few faces among the faculty - it seemed to be unavoidable at this school - which was part of her motivation to arrive early to potions. She had not yet seen the new face because she had missed the opening feast of the year due to extenuating circumstance (i.e. being coated with the blood and bone of another student), but had heard a great deal of talk about him in the hallway and wanted to see for herself.

Reaching the classroom, Amelia walked through the already open door and into the dimly-lit room, quickly taking a seat at the far right end of the second row. She had seen the professor upon entering, but had never been one to make small-talk with her instructors. She took him in passively as she got out her things for today's class, setting out her ingredients and cauldron on the floor beside her, but not moving them to the tabletop until they became necessary. When her things were all in their proper place, Amelia took one last glance at the new professor before flipping open her textbook once more and becoming quickly absorbed again in the text as she waited for class to begin.

Brienne had been up for a while, gathering all her potions materials including text books and parchment. She had her lucky quill as well. She still had a little sniffle, but that was okay because she'd get over it soon enough. As soon as she had her stuff gathered, she took it to the dungeons of the large castle-like school. She reached the potions classroom, and stepped inside. She scanned over the rows of seats, then sat in the front row. She knew that if she seemed eager to learn, she might get on the good sides of all the professors. She wanted that, as it would give her a small advantage, unless of course the teacher was a fair one.

As soon as she was in her seat, she opened a marked page in the textbook. She started reading at her leisure until class would start. She made little notes on some parchment here and there, just important things from the text.

Jack was still tucking all of the things she would need for her Potions class into her bag, even as she approached the door. She had never been one for organization nor timliness and had thought that she could possibly correct this in her last year at Hogwarts. It seemed there was no hope for the first as she roughly stuffed her things away, but as she walked in she discovered with some mild surprise she was not late, as usual. In fact, by her normal stands, she was downright early.

She immediately headed for a table in the back, not because she was unintelligent and had no care for learning, but she was destined to cause some sort of trouble and this was where she was most likely to get away with whatever she did. She looked ahead and spotted Amelia Lyons, a pleasant enough girl she had chatted with over summer break. Maybe she would talk with her more now that they had spoken and they shared classes. Brienne was also here, the girl she was supposed to set up on a date with Simon McLaggen. She sent them both a grin if they cared to look and made a witty observation. "I better watch this bad habit of being early, I may turn into one of you Ravenclaws." She sent them a good-natured look to let them know she was just being friendly and obnoxious, as usual.

She pulled out her things and glanced at their professor, wondering if he was one of those teachers who just did not care and let their classes tend to themselves. Unfortunately, that was not the impression she was getting, so she shrugged to herself and continued to yank out her stuff, muttering a curse word or two as she groped around in her bag to retrieve all of the things she would need.

Brienne heard Jack's remark and turned around, "Yeah, and I'd better watch my chivalry, or I'll become a Gryffindor. I'm already more Gryffie than most Ravies". She giggled lightheartedly, "That's probably from being around Daniel though". She looked around the classroom, "Maybe because it's our first Potions class for this year, we may get to do nothing for the entirety. If the teacher's nice enough." Her voice made it clear that it was a joke.

She felt a cough coming on, and managed to hack up a hairball. She concealed the coughing and the hairball in a tissue. She still had a little bit of phlegm in her throat.

Chase half ran down the stairs, deadly afraid of being late for this class. She had heard it was taught by the Headmaster, and she was afraid of being late and making a bad impression. She really loved Potions, and she didn't want to be on the teacher's bad side. It was simply amazing, seeing things that didn't look connected at all, put into a cauldron, and suddenly they were connected, because they all made one new thing. She stopped at the door, and fixed her hair, and clothes and then pushed it open, scanning the room.

Bad news.. Jack. She ducked her head and found a table as far away from her as possible. She didn't know where her grounds were with the Gryffindor as of yet, but she knew they probably weren't good, and now she was in class with her? Great... Chase started to pull out her stuff and glanced at the Headmaster, she had missed the beginning feast because of emotional issues, and she doubted anyone had noticed after the attack on the train anyway, but she wanted to take a look at the new professor/headmaster.

He seemed.. pretty stern. Great just what they needed. Jack and a Ravenclaw were making a somewhat polite conversation, that almost sounded strained in this echoey classroom, but she didn't comment on it. She kept her head down, and her eyes on her stuff as she slowly unpacked them, setting them out so that it was neat on her desk, pulled out her textbook, and shoved her now reddening face into it, hoping to hide from the room until class started and she would be forced to look up and do things. She had been excited for potions.. and now?

Now she hoped it would be over quickly.

Zack walked down to the dungeons and enter the room unlike all of his other classes he sat in the front. Potions had always been his favorite class, since he was interested in becoming a healer he realized how important this would be. He noticed that the professor had a cane and wondered what had happened. These days magical medicine could have probably cured it. He gave the professor a small smile. He didn't want to seem that he was a kiss up but he wanted to make a good impression all the same.

The Dungeons were, to be blunt, disgusting. If the cluster of rooms and hallways had rats and putrid water running through the cobbles and dripping from the ceiling then it would have been like a Horror Movie or some sort of Period Drama. As Rafael descended the last staircase he glanced up to see some of the staircases moving above him. It was quite unnerving to think that perhaps at some point the charm would break and the staircases would come tumbling down. Rafael just hoped it wouldn’t happen during his last year. If it did then it did but it would really ruin his day, year and quite possibly his life.

The Gryffindor entered the dungeons and began to weave himself through the Hallways, avoiding the gaggles of Slytherin’s that hung on every corner. A few muttered insults as he passed and Rafael held his bag closer to him. He put his hand in the pocket of his robes and quickened his pace to the Potions classroom. He knew roughly where it was but he usually blended himself in with a crowd so they could lead him towards the classroom. Today he was alone so he could only guess where the classroom was.

Rafael picked a door and opened it. The Gryffindor was grateful to find that it was in fact the potions classroom and he closed the door behind him. It wasn’t exactly full but it was a nice sized class. Rafael walked down the aisle and took a seat at a desk behind a Hufflepuff sat at the front. Rafael ran a hand through his hair and set his bag on the ground underneath the desk. He took his potions book out of his bag and put it down on the desk. His eyes flicked up to the Professor and noted the cane. Rafael looked back down at the book and flicked to the page he’d been reading in the common room the night before; healing potions.

Elijah had been one of the Slytherin’s hanging about in the dungeon hallways. He’d been trading a jewel of some sort for something another Slytherin was offering and it was a good deal done as far as Elijah was concerned. When the Gryffindor had passed, Elijah emerged from the shadows and tailed the confused looking seventh year. He’d followed him as far as the classroom and lingered outside for a minute or two before opening the door and stepping inside. He closed the door behind him and looked around. He spotted the Gryffindor from the hallway and smirked to himself before sidling over to where Chase was sat. He sat down in the seat beside her and chucked his bag under the desk.

He leaned down and blew a short blast of air against her ear to get her attention. Hiding in her book would do her no good. He tugged on a piece of red hair and smirked at her. “C’mon love, at some point you do have to take your face from the book and make a potion.” He chuckled.

Chase jumped and looked up at Elijah when he tugged on her hair. "Oh.. hi." She said and slowly set her book down, her cheeks going pink. "Sorry.." She said and glanced around the room, that was now slowly filling with students. "How long have you been here?" She asked her cheeks going redder, her eyes darting back to look at Jack, and she sunk farther down, attempting to get out of site. "Think the class will be hard?" She asked without really a purpose, her eyes darting to the front of the room to the teacher that hadn't said anything yet.

She stared at her book again, and realized her hands were shaking. "I love potions." She said softly, mostly to herself, her eyes closing, and her hands shaking harder. "I love potions...." She said again and then looked up at Elijah smiling now. "Thanks for sitting next to me! I was afraid I would be the only one at this table!" She said grinning happily, attempting to cover up her moment of weakness, so that to everyone in the room, it seemed Chase had just simply been reading, and then looked up to him, laughing and smiling.