potions class RP

[estebanmd]

Attired in standard faculty robes, Stephen Maturin stands behind a long table at the head of the potions classroom, waiting for the class to come to order. He is in no great hurry, but when one or two conversations trickle over into the silence that otherwise falls over the room, he gives the assembled students a look that raises a "shhh" from the

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[lilypotter60]

Lily arrived in class and took a seat near the front. As Potions was one of her favourite classes, she tended to arrive early, take fierce notes, and generally just enjoy herself. Upon finding out her group, Lily felt certain that this class would be no different. She began to take notes as usual.

But when Stephen announced what they would be brewing, Lily froze. Shite, bugger, fucking bloody piss in a hole. Oh, this was going to be fun. If by 'fun' one meant 'completely should skip class for the first time ever'. Glancing up, Lily wondered vaguely if she could make for the exit before anyone realized she was leaving.

[estebanmd]

Of course, she could not, not and escape Stephen's watchful eye, all the more watchful because he was trying very hard to avoid catching Sarah's eye, which would result in winking, which would be extremely indecorous.

In fact, there were a number of people in the room who had abused sleeping potions, if only Stephen had known it. Since it was not actually an opiate he was teaching about, he saw no problem with it whatsoever. In truth, he might not have scrupled to teach about laudanum either. After all, it was a sovereign panacea when used judiciously!

He did notice that Miss Evans appeared somewhat distressed, however, and recalling their conversation of some weeks ago, wondered whether she was upset he was not teaching about ECR, evil clowns being serious business and all.

[coxinsox]

Oh, boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Cox had been having mixed feelings about this class, given his group. Normally, Lily and Sirius were probably his two favorite people at Hogwarts, but certain events from the weekend had put him in a slightly sour mood towards the both of them. Stephen's announcement of the Potion of the Week, however, cheered him up almost instantaneously.

A nasty grin spread across his face, and he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head. "Say, Doc," he called out to Stephen, "do~ we get to keep the final product, this time around?"

[estebanmd]

Stephen shrugged. "Certainly, if you like, though there should be an ample supply of reliably brewed sleeping potion in the Hospital Wing, where you may use it at your discretion, unless Mistress Nutter does not allow you access to her stores."

[coxinsox]

Glancing over at Lily, Cox narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Just call it a special circumstance, Doc. Carry on."

[lilypotter60]

Literally facepalming, Lily looked over to glare at him. "The 'special circumstances' better be you pulling your head out of your arse, Ginger," she muttered. Oh, she was upset that Stephen wasn't teaching the brewing of ECR. Not only because that would mean he wasn't teaching any sort of Sleeping Potion. Lily had a feeling she was going to need a drink to make it through this class.

Turning to Sirius, she held out a hand. "Let me have your flask, Black," she sighed. "Mate in need and all that."

[toujours_sirius]

Stephen's lecture unnerved Sirius slightly, as he had just got over what might have been an addiction to Dreamless Sleep Potion. But he had also recently resolved to deal with his problems without resorting to potions or alcohol...which was why Lily was out of luck.

Sirius held out an empty hand back at her. "Sorry, Evans. Haven't got it." Remus had asked Sirius not to use alcohol as a way of escaping his problems, and Sirius, not being sure if he'd be able to stick to that considering that his problems tended to be very all encompassing at the moment, had pretty much laid off alcohol in general. He figured he'd partake again at some point, but for now, as he tried to sort out a lot of things in his life, he had decided to refrain.

Unfortunately for Sirius, he also interpreted Lily's discomfort with the potion assignment as being related to his addiction to the Dreamless Sleep Potion. As such, he said, "Anyway, you don't need to worry, Evans. I promise I won't drink the potion."

[beverlyhillsdoc]

Poor Cristina had no clue about Sirius and Lily's sordid history with the assigned potion. She had, however, seen Cox's name in her group and groaned appropriately in response. She spotted the other three in her group, whom she fortunately knew from her sorting, and walked over. "Hey guys."

[lilypotter60]

When Sirius - her safety net, her source for alcohol and distraction - failed to supply his always present flask, Lily groaned and thumped her forehead lightly against the desk. "Brilliant." Figures that now Sirius was going for sober and non-alcoholic healthy problem solving. Where some part of her was extremely proud of him, the sound of Cox poking her about this was louder. "Not worried about you drinking it," she told Sirius, giving him a puzzled look. "I'm..." She glanced at Cox and sighed. Yeah, not talking about this. Determined not to give Perry an opening to keep pressing on the topic of her not sleeping, Lily looked around in a faint sense of desperation for anything else to talk on. Which was difficult, as the sleeping potion was the sodding topic for the class.

Waving at Yang, Lily nearly physically seized on the distraction. "Oh! Cristina! Wonderful, excellent, glad to see you. The telly you sent works great. Sirius and I even charmed it to fly. Let's talk about that. In detail."

[coxinsox]

Oh, great. Cristina Yang. Well, it could have been worse, Cox supposed; it could have been Lupin or the Doctor or someone equally horrible, whereas Dr. Yang was only mildly annoying. Besides, he was sure Lily and Sirius would occupy far more of his attention, especially with the current situation.

"Well, now," he replied loudly, "I~ re-heally think we should be talking about the potion, Red, seeing's as how this is potions class. You don't want to get points off, do you?" He grinned broadly at her.

[toujours_sirius]

Lily had hinted to Sirius about her sleeping problems a couple of times, but he didn't make the connection. Instead, he chalked her distress up to some sort of lovers' spat with Cox, which, as Sirius understood it, was per usual for them anyway...although it was a bit strange to actually see it in action. In fact, Sirius realised that this was the first time he, Cox, and Lily were actually 'hanging out' together. They had had plenty of interactions, but most, if not all, of them had been writing exchanges on class signup sheets. Funny how that had worked.

"You can conjure alcohol through your wand, you know," he said to Lily. "Don't tell me James never showed you that spell; he was the one who invented it with me. But class just began. I mean, you're pushing my record at this point." He gave Lily a half-amused, half-quizzical look.

Cristina Yang had been quite pleasant at her Sorting, and Sirius greeted her with a cheery wave. "How's life at the house with the bar, Doc?"

Finally, he turned to Cox. "Hey, baby - or should I say,

[beverlyhillsdoc]

"Glad it works, Lily- but why did you make it fly? Oh, hey Black. Haven't seen you around much."

It took a moment, but Yang finally figured out who "Ginger" was. And she was greatly amused by this revelation. "And hey to you too, Dr. 'Ginger'. What brings a big, important man like yourself to class?"

[lilypotter60]

"Fine," Lily said shortly, jaw set. "Want to talk about the potion? Great. If you'll read the notes, Ginger, you'll see that it's simply a sedative. Doesn't touch dreams, does it?" Grabbing a root, Lily began to angrily strip off the bark. Giving up after a few seconds - what was she, a Muggle? - she simply stripped the bark off with a silently cast spell and began to shred the roots for the potion.

At Sirius' question her hand stilled for only a half a second and then she smiled softly. "Ah, right. I'd forgotten. What was the incantation, again? I have the feeling I'm going to need a stiff drink here shortly." Giving Cox another look, Lily dumped the shredded root into the mortar and started to grind it with the pestle.

She snorted softly at Sirius calling Cox 'Ginger' and outright laughed at Yang's use of her nickname for him. Head bowed slightly over her work, silent giggles shook her shoulders. Oh, yay! Distraction!

[coxinsox]

Oh, that was not even remotely okay. At Sirius and Dr. Yang's use of his nickname, he turned sharply, his smile vanishing in an instant. Letting out one of his characteristic whistles, he smacked the top of Sirius's head, then pointed a warning finger at the both of them. "NO. Nuh-uh, no way. That's not for you."

Turning back to Lily, he drew his lips back against his teeth as if challenging her, rolling his shoulders back. "Say, Red, if you're worried about dreams, I could go ahead and ask the Doc if we could try making Dreamless Sleep Potion instead. I~f that's what you're interested in, I mean. What do you think?"

[toujours_sirius]

"I've been around," Sirius said to Yang. "Not so much in my usual spot at the bar, but...around. And hey, is there any reason needed to charm a telly to fly?" He flashed her a silly grin. "If you've got any random household articles or other items, I'd be glad to do the same for them." Truth be told, he was getting quite a kick out of his experiments with Muggle objects and their aviation. If that Elwood bloke didn't deliver on his Sorting bribe of a motorbike soon, Sirius was going to have to go out and get one himself. He was desperate to take a ride on Minerva II. Maybe he'd even charm it to blow tartan-patterned smoke out of its tailpipe.

And...yikes. Apparently Sirius had picked a bad day to hang out with Cox and Lily. Well, it wasn't his business to meddle (nor, apparently, was it his business to do anything related to the class, because so far he was contributing nothing to the making of the potion), so instead, he leant over towards Lily and said in a low voice, glancing over to make sure Stephen wasn't paying attention, "

[lilypotter60]

Oh, now he was just asking for a fight. Her motions becoming more fierce as she powdered the root, she growled softly. "I actually know how to make that one on my own, Ginger, but thanks ever so much. It's one of the things I learned while I was, you know, studying to be a Witch. Along with the properties of it, actually. Did you know that the Dreamless Sleep Potion will completely knock the drinker out? Hard to wake them back up. Near impossible, actually."

She slammed the nutmeg onto the table and began grating it. "Funny how I knew that off hand, isn't it? Well, apart from the fact I'm a sodding good Witch and know these things, perhaps it's because I did some research into all the various sleeping charms and potions."

At Sirius' words her expression softened slightly. "Thanks, love," she grinned. "And I'll take from your stash if I like. Cheeky bugger." She was still furious, but she recognized the fact that Sirius and Yang had nothing to do with this. Actually, it was because they - specifically Sirius - were