[September 5, 2016: Monday, Week 1. The students at Hogwarts are just getting out of their first class of the new school year. For the first-years, this is their very first class ever, and just after dismissal no few of them are milling around checking schedules and trying to figure out where they're going. And of course, chatting with new friends. In the midst of this, we find Our Protagonists just packing up their books after Defense Against the Dark Arts.] [Begin!] #06* Eliana is packing up, trying to follow what she saw other students do to safely put away ink and quill. She's on the left side of the room - the Slytherin section - and near the front. #06* Luke has neatly repacked his bookbag and is navigating his way around desks and classmates over to the other side of the room, where Eliana was sitting. He approaches her diffidently, standing a little ways off as she finishes packing up. "Hi." #06* Eliana looks up, startled, with wayward strands of curly hair in her eyes. Then she processes that it's Luke, and she relaxes a touch. "Hi." She works on putting her book away and getting her parchment in order. #06* Luke just waits quietly until she's done, not wanting to interrupt. #06* Eliana does keep at it! When she's finished putting everything away, she hefts her single-strap backpack over one shoulder - muggle make and blue with black piping - and starts heading out of the classroom. Luke can come with if he wants. #06* Luke hurriedly tags along, at least until he has to split off to head for his own next class. He has to stretch his legs to keep up with Eliana's longer ones. "Um, I was thinking - we have Potions together this afternoon. Do you want to hang out afterwards?" The question is hesitant. #06* Eliana stops at that, right down the hall from Defense Against the Dark Arts. She regards him for a long moment. #06* Luke eeps a bit under the sudden scrutiny. #01 Okay. #06* Eliana smiles a little. "I'd like that." #06* Luke blinks, then smiles widely. "Okay! I'll see you then!" #06* Eliana brightens, too. She moves to continue walking and then stops again. "Oh!" #01 Professor Slughorn's going to take me to see the headmistress right after potions, though. Maybe. We're going to talk to her about wearing slacks instead of skirts. Oh! So you are going to get to do that. Good! Um, well then...after maybe? We can meet at the library or something. #06* Eliana 's eyes widen. Library! And then she beams. "Okay! I don't know where the library is, but I'm sure I could ask Professor Slughorn after we're done." #06* Luke nods. "Or you can just ask one of the portraits for directions. That's what Matthew and Mark told me to do." #06* Eliana tilts her head. #01 Ask... the portraits? #01 I noticed they talk, but I didn't think they'd interact with us. #01 I just thought it was like television. #06* Luke starts to nod, starts to shake his head, then just stops in semi-gesture- confusion. "They'll talk to you. I mean, some of them are sort of weird, I think, but they can still give you directions if you need them." #01 That's useful! This whole castle is confusing, I swear. #06* Luke smiles. "Yeah. Well, it moves around, inside, somehow." #06* Eliana goes back to walking along, more comfortable now. "It does! Why?" #01 There has to be a pattern, or nobody would be able to find *anything*, but I haven't figured it out yet. #06* Luke shakes his head, then grins. "Maybe the founders wanted to keep things interesting for the students." #06* Eliana wrinkles her nose. "Magic is interesting enough. Even if we haven't been able to use our wands yet." #01 Hey, do you think that we have to use quills all the time? Or can I get some pens and highlighters for note taking and stuff? #01 I'm not really good with a quill yet. All of my notes from class are filled with blotches and smears. Pencils would be *really* nice because then I could erase stuff, but I don't think that'd work very well on parchment. #06* Luke blinks. "Um...those're muggle things...? I guess...I dunno, you might want to ask a teacher? But I guess if you're just using them for your own notes, then it seems like it shouldn't matter." But...if you want to get better at using a quill, it might be better to have the practice. #06* Eliana frowns a thoughtful frown. "Yeah." #06* Luke looks down the hall, then aside to the stairs. "I gotta go, I have to get to the Transfiguration classroom. I'll see you this afternoon!" he says with a bright-eyed smile. #06* Eliana waves. "Bye!" She watches Luke go for a bit before heading off in another direction, to where she thinks the courtyard is. Maybe. There's a small hop in her step, so if she's going the wrong direction, at least she's cheerful about it. #01 [Blipzoom! The day continues. Luke has transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, and Eliana flying with the Gryffindors. After their respective lunches, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins eventually have potions together, and that is where we find Eliana, at least, entering what is somehow simultaneously a large and cramped potions room, with high ceilings and shelves with dozens and dozens of jarred ingredients. Cauldrons are lined up for each student on long tables.] #01 [At the front is a large blackboard and desk, probably for Professor Slughorn, who isn't here yet. Actually, very few students are; Eliana's pretty early.] #06* Eliana looks around, then picks a cauldron - again near the front - and has a seat behind and to one side of. She unpacks her quill and parchment, then pulls out her potions book to get some reading in before class starts. #06* Luke slips in a few minutes later - still early, but not as early as Eliana. He spots her and slides into a seat nearby, but on the Hufflepuff side of the room. He glances at her reading, but can't catch her eye, so he turns instead to look around at all the fascinating objects in the potions classroom. #06* Eliana keeps reading as more students filter in, and right when Luke thinks she's going to ignore him until class starts, she leans over and asks, "Did you actually use your wand in transfiguration?" #06* Luke startles. He'd only been paying attention to Eliana intermittently, and right then he'd been staring at some unidentifiable tentacled thing suspended in liquid in a jar. "Oh! Um, yeah, some. It's hard though, I didn't really do anything." #01 Oh, good! Not that you had trouble, but I mean... #01 We didn't use our wands at all in flying. #06* Luke smiles a little. "Yeah, I understand. I've been looking forward to it, too! And transfiguration is really neat, just hard." #06* Eliana nods. "It sounds like fun. From what I read, it looks more theory-based than a lot of the other classes." #06* Luke nods. "Yeah, it seems like it." #06* Eliana sighs, slumping in her stool a bit. "I'm not any good at flying, either, so I'm hoping I'm at least decent with a wand," she says, so quietly that Luke can barely hear her. She hesitates, considering saying something else, then keeps it to herself and just opens her book again. #06* Luke smiles encouragingly at her. "You'll get it. You seemed to be doing okay in Defense class this morning." Not your fault that you've never flown before. Most everyone else here has, at least a little. #06* Eliana wrinkles her nose. "No I didn't. My notes are a mess." #06* Luke grins at her. "What, you grade yourself on neatness? You understood what Professor Griffith was saying, right?" #01 Well *yeah*. #01 Kind of. #01 I didn't know all of the terms, exactly, so I looked them up over lunch. #06* Luke 's eyes sparkle at her. "So don't worry. You can't be good at everything your first day. And - see, you're working hard to learn." #06* Eliana thunks her book back down on the table and looks at Luke. "Well no, but... okay." #06* Luke 's smile widens. "I'll help, if you want. We can study together. I mean, so far I haven't been really great at anything either, but...we can help each other, right?" #06* Eliana blinks. #01 Sure. Yeah, okay. #06* Eliana smiles hesitantly. "That sounds like fun." #06* Luke opens his mouth to answer, smiling, but right then Professor Slughorn enters. He makes his way up the central aisle, then turns to face his students. He clears his throat, somehow managing to be heard over the pre-class babble, and smiles around genially until the last few whispers die out. #06* Eliana was already quiet, so she closes her book and folds her hands, watching/listening attentively. #06* Luke turns to face forward as the professor begins speaking. "Good afternoon, and welcome to your very first potions class at Hogwarts! I'm sure you will all put forth your best effort to excel in my class. First, however, let us take the roll, so we can be sure that everyone is here and no one got lost in the corridors on their way." His eyes twinkle warmly, taking any sting out of his words. [Professor Slughorn starts going down the roll, occasionally stopping to chat briefly with one of the students. It seems like he's mostly asking after family members he knows.] #06* Eliana is paying close attention to the chatter, strangely enough. [He doesn't say anything in particular to Eliana, but he does give her a smile and a little extra twinkle and nod. Luke receives no particular recognition.] [After a short time the professor puts the roll away. "Now, I'm sure you're all eager to begin, so I thought we'd jump right in with a simple potion. Please turn to page 8 of your textbooks." There's general shuffling as books are pulled from bags (for the unprepared) and flipped through. "The Boil Cure potion. I have no doubt that after a short time in Professor Griffith's class, you will find it quite useful."] #06* Luke has been listening attentively, and he looks back up from page 8 of his book to blink at the professor. #01 [There's some tittering, most of it uncomfortable, at that. A couple of Slytherins just nod.] #06* Eliana is looking over page eight. She makes a mental note to check her DADA textbooks for a spell involving boils. [Professor Slughorn points to a side table. "All of the ingredients you will need are laid out there. Please read the potion instructions carefully so you will know what you need, then form an orderly line to get them from the table. If anyone has any questions, just ask me." He smiles around the room one more time, then gestures for his students to get to it.] #06* Eliana stands and is off immediately to the side table, pulling on thick gloves as she does so - the first student to get to the ingredients. She looks them over, then carefully selects six, four, and two of the snake fangs, horned slugs, and porcupine quills, putting them in separate containers before going back to her cauldron. #06* Luke scans the ingredients list, then sets his book down, carefully pulls on his gloves, and goes join the line. The students are actually being pretty orderly, under the cheerful gaze of their teacher. He brings appropriate amounts of ingredients back to his spot and lays them out in a neat row beside his cauldron. #01 [A sharp "OW!" is heard throughout the room. Barry Balfour is staring at his hand, shocked, and one of the fangs he tried to pick up dropped to the ground.] #06* Luke jumps up so fast he almost upsets his cauldron. Fortunately, it didn't have anything in it yet, as he was still grinding his snake fangs. "Barry! Are you okay?" [Professor Slughorn, however, is by the boy's side before most of the class can react, showing remarkable speed for such an elderly and portly-looking professor. "Ah, ah, young Mr. Balfour."] #01 ["It stings!" Barry cries, near tears. He shakes his hand rapidly. At this point, most of the class is looking that direction, Eliana included.] [He takes the boy's wrist and turns it to look at the tiny puncture wound on the palm of his student's hand. "You must learn to be more careful with dangerous ingredients. You're fortunate that I made sure to lay out fangs from only non- poisonous snakes for today's lesson. It's quite shallow; no harm done."] #06* Luke subsides slowly back into his seat as he sees Professor Slughorn taking charge, though he still trains a worried gaze on his housemate. #01 [Barry sniffs, still trying not to cry, and nods. The rest of the students go back to working on their potions now that it's clear nothing interesting is going to happen.] [Professor Slughorn gives Barry a gentle nudge back towards his desk. "Now, go on and get your gloves on properly. Pick up the fang you dropped and dispose of it - over there - it might be dirty now and you don't want to put that in your potion. Then get what you need again."] #01 [Barry nods mutely, impending tears fully under control, and heads to his desk near the back for gloves.] #06* Eliana goes back to mashing fangs with her pestle. "That was stupid," she says softly. "He should have noticed everyone else was wearing gloves." #06* Luke also slowly resumes his work. Every once in a while he glances up to check on Barry as he collects his ingredients again, but then he glances aside at Eliana, brows drawing down. "He just wasn't paying attention. Maybe he was excited to get started," he replies just as quietly. Low murmurs have started spreading through the classroom, so their conversation isn't especially conspicuous. #01 Well yeah. I was excited to get started. That's why I was there first. #06* Luke can't help but smile a little at that. #06* Eliana sets up her scale, with a thin slice of paper, and starts scooping crushed fang onto it. She doesn't notice Luke's smile. "But it says in the book to wear gloves when handling fangs and quills, and Professor Slughorn *did* tell us to check carefully." #06* Luke glances back towards Barry and says reluctantly, "It's true he should've been more careful...but everyone makes mistakes sometimes." #01 Well, I'm not saying *he* was stupid. #06* Eliana leans over to check the weight, then checks her book. "I'm just saying that what he did was stupid." She frowns a little. "Medium heat..." #06* Luke bends over his own mortar, partially concealing his unhappy expression. "I guess that's true..." #06* Luke glances over at Eliana and smiles faintly. "Hey, you get to use your wand here." It's a pretty unsubtle attempt at a subject change, but hey, he's an eleven year old Hufflepuff. #06* Eliana smiles brightly. "Yeah!" #01 I guess it puts magic into the potion? I'm not really sure. The rest of this feels a lot like chemistry, but I'm trying to figure out how to measure "medium heat" properly. Um, well, Professor Slughorn said to ask him if we had any questions... And that's definitely better than getting it wrong. #01 Yeah. #06* Eliana spends a little longer trying to figure it out, then raises her hand. [Professor Slughorn had been strolling along the aisles of the classroom, observing students' efforts and offering occasional advice, but on seeing a hand in the air he hustles over to smile down at Eliana. "Yes, Eliana? What do you need?"] #01 I'm ready to heat my cauldron to medium heat, but I'm not sure how to accurately read the temperature. #06* Luke watches as closely as he can as Professor Slughorn demonstrates for Eliana. [And so, they continued their potions lesson, without blowing anything up or melting anything down. Success! And End.]