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[smith_badger]

I really should stop biting my lip in my sleep. It's nothing serious, I just seem to have picked up a habit of biting through my lip while asleep and it's rather messy. And quite painful too -- mainly because how do you explain "I don't know how it happened, it just did"? There needs to be a book on that sort of thing, because I'd really like to

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[princessofcups]

No one would say anything if you'd just let me heal it, you know.

The Potions assignment isn't as bad as you think. I'll help you.

[smith_badger]

It's a lesson to myself. I don't know what I'm thinking, or rather not thinking, when I do it, and I'd like to know. While it's better than sleep-walking or anything like that, the idea that I'm literally chewing through my own lip is a little sick. I want to know why I'm doing it, and I want it to stop. So I'm hoping that if I do it again, the pain will stop me doing it. Maybe.

The fact that I was explicitly told by Snape in class that I couldn't ask for help from you does suggest that I can't. He was pretty clear that I couldn't, and I don't want to fail this. Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, I just don't want to fail.

[princessofcups]

Yes, well. It hurts.

I can't help you with the execution, but he didn't say anything about coming up with an idea. It really isn't as bad as everyone seems to think. At least he provided plenty of research materials.

[smith_badger]

That's an unfortunate side effect of having, quite literally, chewed your lip into mince. You'd be more worried if it didn't hurt, I dare say.

It is. It's horrible and I'm going to fail. Sure, it'll be in a blaze of...disgrace, but it's still a fail, and I hate failing. I can't let that Slytherin beat me, for one. I'd die of shame.

[princessofcups]

I would. I'd be less worried if you weren't cannibalizing yourself. I suspect it shall pass in time.

Come now, Zacharias. She probably barely even understood the directions. You won't fail. It doesn't have to be complex, it just has to work.

[smith_badger]

I'm asleep, Susan. I don't know what I do when I'm asleep. You're really making a big deal about it -- I only mentioned it because it was weird, not because it was worrying or anything. It's probably anxiety. After all, final year, two large assignments to do that decide my future, all that stuff. It's only natural.

Yeah, I know, I know, it's not as if I want to work in Potions anyway, I just want to not fail. Okay, I want to do well, if only to prove to everyone that I can.

[princessofcups]

As I said, I'm sure it shall pass. In the meantime, it is rather painful, and so I suspect my feelings about it are biased.

You won't fail. Besides, I'm sure that whatever you're doing in Ancient Runes will be so spectacular that your Potions mark won't matter much. That's what I'm hoping, anyway, except in reverse.

[smith_badger]

I know it's painful. It's my lip, after all. But it'll go away soon and sort itself out. It always does. Not much point worrying about something that I can't do anything about, is there? After all, there's plenty to worry about, if I were so inclined to do so. Like...the fact that in a few billion (or is it million? I forget) years, the sun is going to expand and completely obliterate the solar system -- putting a big dampener on my plans to live forever.

I don't want to be remembered as the kid who blitzed one assignment in exchange for failing the other. That'd be embarrassing, for one.

[princessofcups]

Oddly enough, your lip is of more importance to me than the potential expansion of the sun in more than a few millenia. But it shall pass.

You're not going to fail.

[smith_badger]

I dunno, that expanding sun business is pretty daunting. After all, that's one big ball of burning gas there. Really big, to be honest.

Yes, I am. In a blaze of disgrace never previously seen.

[princessofcups]

Yes, but I suspect we won't be around for it, so I find it rather difficult to worry.

Hush. You're starting to sound like Hannah. Or the Granger girl. You're not going to fail. None of us are going to fail.

[smith_badger]

I have every intention of being there, as I plan to live forever. I'm not really a fan of dying, you see, having already done it and found it rather boring, so I want to see and do everything first. I dare say that 'everything' will take forever to do, thus I'm going to have to live forever just to fit everything in. Otherwise I'll miss out on things, and you never know, they might be the things I really wanted to do. You should consider trying it.

Except me. Because what was I thinking? I got into this class through sheer hard work, not any talent to speak of. I'm going to fail. Please excuse me while I wish myself dead because that's infinitely better than this.

And no, I don't have performance anxiety! I never have. Ever.

[princessofcups]

So, do you want to be dead, or live forever? I'm confused now, and this is something I need to know. After all, if you plan on living forever, I'm going to have to find a hobby or ten.

You'll finish the project the same way as you got through the class.

Of course not.

[smith_badger]

Live indefinitely? And then when the sun explodes, I kind of have to die, but I want to fit in as much stuff as I can now, just to make sure that I don't miss out on anything I might like. You never know until you do it, after all, and I'm going to need a lot of time. And you might need a few more hobbies than that. Maybe learn a few languages? You know you want to know more than me, it'd be fun. Not to mention, you can insult people in some obscure dialect and no-one will know. It's fantastic!

Sheer panic, blind luck and divine intervention? Because I could use all three right about now. I don't even know what I'm going to do! I haven't a clue in the slightest, I can't think of anything. It's all gone. I'm going to fail!

Never. Anyone who tells you otherwise has been getting into the more interesting psychotropic potions.

[princessofcups]

All right, then. I just got confused when you said you wanted to live forever and then wished for death a paragraph or two later. And I'm awful at languages and you know it. I suppose in a millennium I could learn, though.

Breathe, Zacharias. You're not going to fail. Think of a potion you use often, and how to improve it, or two potions you use often, and how to combine their effects. All you have to do is tweak until you find a workable variant.

Obviously.

[smith_badger]

What else have you to do? After all, you might as well learn everything and do everything, otherwise you'll miss out on things, and that would suck. And by suck, I mean like nothing you have ever seen before suck, and that would really suck. I used that word way too many times, I think. Oh well.

I am breathing, else I'd have gone blue and fallen over. I'm not panicking. I'm just mildly apprehensive, that's all. Nothing more sinister than that, I assure you.

Even if I don't remember anything. I can't think of anything, and I'm going to fail. I'm going back to wishing myself dead, thanks. Also, I doubt I can do anything with the potions I'm currently using, because that would be really horrifically dangerous.