Potions Class

When Rachel led her gaggle of friends into the Potions classroom, she found that the classroom was devoid of anyone else, including the teacher.

"I wonder if this is the right place?" Rachel wondered aloud. She thought it was odd that a class was to be conducted in an old dungeon, but judging by the long rows desks, bottled substances lining the walls, and strange scents, it had to be.

Rachel shrugged, and sat down a desk in the middle row.

Serenity poked one of the walls a bit, as she walked into the classroom. She had been following that redhead from the train, that had gotten so angry at her before.

"Ew, this isn't very sanitary, is it? They're practically oozing.." She complained, before sitting down at the long tables, in a seat in front of Rachel. She promptly turned around to talk to her.
"Do you think they torture people down here?"

"Nah, I think that sort of thing is illegal now. I don't think even Hogwarts could get away with that sort of thing." Rachel said, as she began to set up her cauldron properly on its stand. She was tired of lugging it around all morning..

Amanda, who was trailing behind Serenity and Rachel, carefully balanced her cauldron on her head, eventually making it to the table with Rachel to prepare for class.

"Hi Amanda. Are you okay with that cauldron?" Rachel said cheerily, despite the gloomy surroundings around here.

~

"Common!" Max was dragging Nicolas behind him, as he dashed into the dungeon. Their running almost knocked down Pansy Parkinson and Mel Astor in the process.

"Wo-oow! Look at this!" Max gawked at his surroundings. "I never thought that Potions class would be this mysterious."

"Mhm!" Amanda nodded, setting the cauldron down. "I didn't have any room in my hands, so I figured I'd just balance it on my head."

"I guess.. But it still is creepy. But the idea of potions sounds cool! I mean, we could make love potions, right? That would be fantastic!" Serenity exclaimed, pulling out her cauldron as well.

"You could have just stuck some of your books in the cauldron. That's what I would do. But I have a book back," Rachel said happily. She dove into her bag, and reached for her bottle of ink, and then she turned to look at Serenity doubtfully.

"You can't replicate love with a potion. Only infatuation." she said.

Mel clutched her books to her chest. Rude. She and Pansy entered the classroom not long after the boys.

Amanda nodded, dropping the subject. She typically would have carried around her bag, but O'Malley had situated himself in her bag for the day. She didn't want to disturb him!

"Let's sit over here! Oooh, Mel, look at all the colorful smoke!" Pansy squealed, pointing at a cauldron that was exuding a bright green steam. She led the way, and ending up sitting next to Amanda.

"We finally have a class with Professor Snape. Do you think he'll be a godo teacher?" she asked, taking her supplies out.

"Humph." Serenity said, before turning back around herself. What a rude little girl, to crush her dreams like that..
Oh well, so a love potion wouldn't work.
She took out her ink as well, even though there wasn't a teacher in the room yet.

Mel shrugged. "Hopefully. I've heard he's fairly decent, at least." She set her books down in a rather disorderly stack and laid her head down.

Libby arrived with a few Gryffindor girls. They took a seat near the middle of the classroom. "This stuff is so cool!" she exclaimed, looking around at everything in the classroom as she set up her cauldron and class supplies neatly.

-

Nicolas sat down next to Max. He didn't really have a say in the matter - Max had practically dragged him all the way from Transfiguration. He was a very forceful person, but Nicolas figured it best not to protest, lest he lose someone that considered him a friend. So, he set up his cauldron the way everyone else set up theirs and waited for class to start.

Professor Snape had the extraordinary talent of immediately silencing large masses of people just by entering the scene. As soon as everyone in the class had filed in, he swept into the classroom, the door containing the warm light of the castle shutting firmly behind him.

"There will be no wand waving or silly incantations in this class!" his voice was as crisp as a winter's days.

Rachel looked away from Amanda, and her eyes followed Snape as he made his way up front by the blackboard. Even Max silenced his endless chapter.

Professor Snape surveyed the class, sizing up each and everyone one of the students. Then, he folded his long, spider-like nails together.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word—like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

He spoke in a low voice, but everyone managed to catch his words.

Serenity sat up a bit straighter. No wand waving? Well, that sounded.. Awesome, actually.
Her wand already seemed to not do as she asked. And incantations always seemed too long or hard to pronounce.
And this class just seemed to be.. Following directions.

Already she was excited, and she did the unthinkable (at least for her)- she actually flipped open her book and slipped out a piece of parchment as quietly as possible, to take notes.

Libby was attentive, listening to every word Snape said. This stuff sounded so cool! All of the different things you could do... and, thank God there wouldn't be any wandwork. Her experience in Transfiguration that morning proved that she obviously wasn't good with "silly incantations."

Professor Snape unrolled a long scroll of parchment, and began to read off names, to take roll.

While he fired off the names, Rachel poked Libby sharply with her wand. "Pst, do you think this class is like cooking?" she whispered.

"...Rachel Moreno... and five points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor each." Professor Snape glanced at Libby from the top of his paper.

"I'm sorry, professor," Libby said, ignoring Rachel. What a terrible first impression to make... and Libby wasn't even doing anything wrong!

Serenity tried her best not to giggle. After all, it was her own house points were being taken from, it was rude, and even worse, she would get points taken as well.
And after the fire incident in Transfiguration, she just kept quiet, and piped up a "Here." when her name was called.

After grilling Harry Potter, and subtracting yet more points from Gryffindor, Professor Snape addressed the class once more.

"I do not expect any of you to have talent with potion making, so we shall begin with a simple draught that can cure boils. All of you should have purchased the basic brewing tools and ingredients."

With a lazy wand flick, the instructions appeared on the blackboard.

"If you don't have any of the necessary ingredients they are-" With another flick, the cupboards in the back opened with a smooth glide. "-In the back. I will be making sure none of you do anything too idiotic. You have an hour and a half. Get to work!"

Mel woke from her nap with an elbow in the ribs from Pansy. She stretched, blinked a few times to clear her eyes, then sauntered into the group of heads clustered around the cupboard.

"Meeelie, grab some porcupine quills!" Pansy squealed in the shrillest voice possible from her table.

Libby sighed. Gryffindor was off to such a bad start already... She got the necessary ingredients from her bad and set the various vials and bottles on her desk as Snape put everyone into pairs. Libby was paired with that boy she'd talked to earlier, Max. "How has your morning been?" she asked him, trying to make small-talk as she weighed the dried nettles.

Professor Snape paired Nicolas up with Serenity.

~

Rachel was paired up with Amanda, but she was looking glum as she gathered up her snake fangs into her mortar.

"I can't believe I already got points taken away from us. But, maybe you can answer this question I have." she crushed the snake fangs up with her pestale violently, as if to release all harsh feelings.

~

"It's can been fine! I really liked Transfiguration, didn't you?! McGonagall is a really good teacher!" He grinned as he got out his supplies.

"She's much better than this guy, don't you think?" he whispered in a low voice, so Snape couldn't hear them.