Potions Lesson 1, Year 2, Term 5

[Desideria Tapia]

Ah, the first lesson of a whole new year. Bright and early her second years would be arriving to learn some practical magic they would hopefully grasp. It was Desideria's belief everyone should jump right into lessons with more difficult tasks. Brewing a potion first hing? Well, it was the perfect way to throw those summer-slugged brains right into a real lesson of learning. It was the right way to say "welcome back to school".

The large woman had once more spent her summer searching the U.K. over for deals on potions ingredients. And what a deal she had found on a few plants, but nothing in real shortage that would be needed throughout the year. Her budget wasn't nearly up, but she was always looking for a better bargain, unfortunately with rates settling in pretty high as of late, she had difficulty finding exactly what she wanted. Though she had rung up a few old colleagues nothing came of it as no one was willing to speak of the better deals she knew they were getting. No one wanted to be involved in black market dealings with a school, what was wrong with them? It left the Hispanic woman rather miserable, but she was glad to be settled once more into the dungeons where she felt she belonged as a true badgerette.

Looking through an Herbology magazine , the plump professor was settled into the back of her new chair, feet propped on an open drawer, and desk cluttered with jars of water and juice to provide in helping with that days lesson. Written on the board behind her was:

Welcome Back Students!
Second Years
Hiccuping Solution
D. Tapia

[Isabella Huntington]

If there was one class that Izzy didn't want to be late for, it was the first one of the new school year. Unlike last year, when the red head had hated anything and everything to do with Hogwarts, the Gryffindor was raring to take in everything the wizarding school would no doubt offer her this year. Therefore, she had made sure to go to bed extra early last night so that she'd be up in time to enjoy breakfast in the Great Hall and make it to her first class - Potions - with plenty of time to spare. Lucky for Izzy, who had been used to sleeping until noon, the lioness had somehow managed to get up on time this morning. She had gotten up with the sun at the early hour of six and had spent her time preparing for what would be a long, but highly-anticipated day.

Breakfast in the Great Hall had been wonderful. While Izzy loved her mother dearly, Mrs. Huntington's cooking just didn't compare to that of the Hogwarts Elves', which had been greatly missed by the second-year. How Izzy had managed to stuff eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, crumpets, black pudding, potato cakes, and assorted buns into her small stomach was beyond any of the incredulous students who had seen her inhale the food, but the twelve-year-old was now feeling it as she made her way down to the Potions Classroom, clutching her stomach.

When she reached the door to the classroom, Izzy came to a stop, hesitating to enter the room. She suddenly felt ill, and like everything she had just put into her mouth was going to come back up at any moment. The Gryffindor groaned as she covered her mouth, cursing herself for letting herself go at breakfast. There was no way she could miss the first class of the school year... but would she be able to get through it without anything slightly disastrous and/or embarrassing happening?

Before she had any more time to think about it, Izzy stepped into the classroom, pulling her hand away from her mouth and immediately curving her lips up into a smile for the professor. It was good to see the older woman again - she had been missed. "Good morning, Professor Tapia," the red head said, then quickly made her way to her normal seat at a table in the middle of the room.

[Christian Nagle]

Christian was incredibly surprised at how relieved he was to be starting classes again. It was a lot of pressure taken off of the "other things" going on in his life. It was, in a word, contenting, to be getting back into the swing of things. It was something structured. Potions, among other things, was a favourite subject, along with History and Charms... when he went.

And this term, Chris was determined to post a much better attendance record than in the past two terms. His marks hadn't been stellar, and his admission into the second year seemed a little reluctant. BUT here he was and he figured he'd make a go at it. The College try, his eldest step-brother said.

The Gryffindor's room was shared by three other boys, whom Chris didn't know well. His bed was by the window, a good spot for daydreaming. When he'd arrived back at the castle (oddly enough, brought to King's Cross station by Eston, his least favourite step-brother) he'd put his dirty socks on the heater in the centre of the room so they could dry. He'd stuffed his trunk under the bed, elevated by magic of course, and he'd made his bed in the house colours. Being a part of the Quidditch club had given Chris an immense sense of pride for his house and for the school. Tacking up his GO GRYFFINDOR! banner in the wall beside his bed, Chris had written a post he hoped would get back to Caleb. Damian, Chris' new owl (a brown and bronze barn owl) wasn't terribly impressed at being sent back into the rain and dreary autumn weather, but Chris gave him a ginger-snap biscuit from home, a meager but welcomed reimbursement.

That was days ago. This morning, which promised to be yet another dreary autumn day, Chris had rolled out of bed, tossed on his beige pants, a plain white dress shirt, his crimson neck-tie and a red Gryffindor vest before pulling on his house robes, trying to smooth his unruly dirty blond hair and grabbed his parchment rolls and an extra quill. He checked for an owl back from Merlin-Knows-Where, Southern England (from Luke), but found none. And breakfast was a blur from there. Something with a two-day-old-or-so meat pie... maybe a pasty?... and some spiced pumpkin juice to wash it all down. Down to Potions, where he presently walked into the class, adjusting (for the seven-hundredth time) his neck-tie. He had a strange inkling his hair might have decided to stand up at all cardinal points after breakfast. It mattered little. His brain was wrapped around Potions.

All this going through his second-year head nearly caused him to leave his compatriot Gryffindor red-head (affectionately, Izzy) unnoticed. As he sat down in a seat somewhere close to the front, forgetting whether or not this class had assigned seating, he noticed an almost empty classroom. Save for a red-head who looked vaguely familiar. IZZY! He waved emphatically as the identity registered.

"Merlin's beard, I nearly missed you there, Izz." He exclaimed. "How were your summer holidays?"

[Isabella Huntington]

Not even a stomachache could hold Izzy back from expressing the joy she felt at seeing her house mate for the first time since returning to Hogwarts. Up until this point, the red head had been seated at her table, clutching her uneasy stomach and preparing herself for what could possibly be some vomiting. However, all that completely vanished when Chris made his presence known to the lioness. All thoughts of illness flew out of her head as her brown eyes widened at the site of one of her best Hogwarts friends sitting only a few meters away from her.

"Chris!" Izzy practically yelled as she jumped out of her seat and raced around the tables, chairs, and cauldrons to get to her fellow Gryffindor. When she reached the other second year, she nearly tackled him as she flung her arms around him and squeezed like there was no tomorrow. When she released him, a wide smile settled onto her face. "It's good to see you! I missed you loads!"

And that she had. The first few summer weeks at home had been particularly odd for Izzy. While she now had loads of free time on her hands, she found herself greatly missing the structure Hogwarts had provided for her that first year. That, and her wizarding friends - none of which she had been able to see over the summer. Of course, she got to spend time with her other friends, the Muggle children she'd had to leave behind while she went off to Hogwarts for nine months. But they were different now, and so was she. They had different likes. Different agendas in life.

Don't get her wrong - Izzy still loved her Muggle friends and enjoyed spending time with them. But at the same time, she had spent quite a bit of time thinking about her wizarding friends. Originally, she was supposed to have gone to a wizarding camp this summer. Unfortunately, last minute changes by her parents prevented her from that - the Huntingtons thought that they should be able to spend some time with their daughter before she went back off to Hogwarts for another year.

And now here she was, back at Hogwarts, back with her friends. Taking a seat across from Chris, she posed a question: "How have you been? How was your summer?"

[Christian Nagle]

Chris laughed as Izzy jumped up and wove around the chairs and tables, but he didn't expect the tackle. He opened his arms for a hug, one minute, and the next, found himself squeezing the red head in what felt like a death grip. It was so good to see someone he knew! Things had - well, things hadn't gone so well over the holidays. He hoped, as they released, she didn't catch any of that in his face. Sure there'd been the camp and spending time with Luke, however short and instantly secret it had been. And seeing Caleb had also been a highlight. But there was a very strange burden that had settled on him in realising that neither Luke nor Sharivah (two people he'd become very comfortable with) were on the Hogwarts Express. Walking the halls of Hogwarts, though packed with students, had felt lonesome. Even sending owl posts to Luke (in London) had merely exacerbated his pang of loneliness.

"Aw, you know... I missed you too, Izz." His eyes lit up and he smiled at his housemate. "So much happened over the holiday!" And then he remembered that she hadn't been at camp. She was supposed to be but for whatever reason, she hadn't been there. She probably would have no idea who Luke was. Chris frowned a little, suddenly relapsing into that feeling of burden. Caleb had said this was something to handle lightly. In most places, people who were Wizards or Witches were in a minority, unlike at home where everyone was a witch or wizard. Sometimes people didn't like having a wizard in the family - like with the legendary Lily Potter. Sometimes they weren't the pride of their family, but the scourge. So a secret like their's, his and Caleb's and Luke's - was something that took some time to process and some time to think through... how best to say it. Here he'd thought it was only a feeling - and everyone had feelings - but now he was beginning to realise this wasn't the type of feeling to just blurt out. And he wanted to tell Izzy so badly, but he had an inkling it might not be quite as easy as it had been when he'd introduced Luke to Caleb.

"But tell me how your holidays were! I thought you'd be at camp. I'm sorry you weren't. There's someone there I wanted you to meet." Now, Chris wondered if he'd ever see Luke again. But Izzy was busy seating herself across from him, so he dismissed the possibility from his head, replacing it with an external smile.

"How have you been? How was your summer?" was her question.

"Oh, you know, crazy! I don't think I ever told you the structure of my family, but we're divided up between three houses now... well ever since my stepbrother Caleb moved out. Well, he was kicked out of the family mansion, really, but its better to say he left by will. Erm - then there's the family house in Brittany, France... which is where my current stepfather is from. I hate him, but then he hates me too, so it works out. And then there's my real Dad's home in Stratford, which is mine by inheritance, 'cept I can't touch it until I'm 16. And Mum never takes me there anyway, but there's pictures to help me remember it. ANYWAY, I went to camp and then got to go to London with Caleb, where he has his flat. And the best part of the whole summer was that..." was that...? Luke, the fire pit at camp, under the stars, holding hands, meeting at Diagon Alley and spending the day with him, showing him off to Caleb? Which was the best? "Ha, the best part of the summer was not having to see Pere Giry! ... Thats my stepfather." Chris shot a smile at her.

"And you? You look older, Izz." He took one of her hands in his and gave it a playful pat. "What's cool with you?"