Term 7, lesson 1, year 7

((Lucia has not yet entered the class, she will when the students have come))

On blackboard:

Potions was one of her favourite subjects. Even in first-year, when they had Wayne. Obviously she didn't like him, but it didn't change her liking and being good at the subject. Professor Henley was a lot nicer. She was the second one in the room. That Shah girl had her head on the desk. It looked like she was sleeping. Why? Was Potions really that bad?

As usual, Jennifer sat down at the back of the room, then read the board and got her books out. Polyjuice Potion sounded cool. She'd wanted to make it for a while. Pretty as she was, transforming into someone else could be good.

Just one more class, maybe. Wade thought to himself as he walked throught the dungeons and towards Professor Henley's classroom. He'd been complaining about DADA, because his father was the professor, and about Arithmancy, because he had no interest in it. On the bright side, Wade actually liked Potions. He came into the room with a small smile on his face.

But that smile soon faded as he saw that the only two people in the room sor far, were girls. Normally, he wouldn't mind. But these girls were two girls that usuallynsent his teenage brain into a frenzy, and his hormones created feelings he'd rather not have. Like, heartbreak and hopes.

Firstly, Shah was there looking as flawlessly beautiful as usual. Sure, they'd broken up but that didn't mean he no longer cared for her. Secondly, Jennifer was sitting there with all of her perfection and sinister look that Wade had to basically look away. It was like she had some sort of Veela charm.

Being the dick he was, Wade took a seat next to Shah. Big mistake. No one should ever sit next to their ex girlfriend in class. But he wanted to at least be on good terms with her.
Yeah, that's all he wanted.

Lucia rose from her desk in her office as she noticed that it was soon time to start her lesson. She smiled, looking forward to seeing what the seventh years would be able to do in this lesson. Would they succeed? She smiled to herself and walked out of her office and into the classroom.

The students were sitting there, and she smiled at them. She knew this class was going to be a tricky one. And, of course, they wouldn't be able to finish it this lesson. They would have to do most of it as homework, but she could imagine that it was more fun to brew a potion as homework than having to write what the effects of this and that was. So she was pretty confident in her assignment.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to your last year at Hogwarts," she said softly, wondering what the students thought of this. If they found it extremely strange or simply being terribly relieved that they soon were done with school. Lucia remembered that she definitely didn't like it. "As you all know, this is a very decisive year for you all. With NEWTs and whatnot. It's highly important that you do everything you can this year to get the best grades you can manage. And I know you can do this," she said securely.

She took a step to the side, standing beside the blackboard now. "Polyjuice Potion," she said, waving her wand leaving the board completely blank except for the name of the potion. "What can you tell me about this potion?" she asked them.

Potions was definitely one of Lucy's best subjects, and she wasn't going to pass on the class now that it was her last year at Hogwarts. Of course, Lucy Malfoy had never skipped class. Where her determination and ambition came from was from a simple desire to be the best at everything, which is why her childhood had always been full of playful arguments with Wade about who was faster, better at Quidditch, or smarter. She walked the short distance between the common room to the Potions classroom and was strangely relieved to see Professor Henley. She'd never been close to her professors, except Professor Vega and Umbranox, but they were both gone now. Apparently, professors had a personal life outside the castle.

Taking a seat, she apologized for her late entrance. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be late but I don't have a good excuse for it..." she explained and then answered the question that Professor Henley had asked just as she had entered. "The Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to assume the form of another person."

"To brew it, you need to have a piece of the person you want to look like," Jennifer added when Lucy had finished speaking. "Just something small would do. It could be...a strand of their hair." Or something much more disgusting. Like a toenail. That wasn't a nice thought at all.

Lucy smiled at Jen as she answered after her. It was nice to know Jen was there, though she wasnt exactly sure why she felt glad about it. Then, Shah added to the answer, but she was partly right. "Actually," Lucy began to correct Shah, "It only takes a month for the potion to be ready. And the ingredients are not so hard to obtain, maybe just specific. For example, the lacewing flies need to be stewed for, I believe, twenty-one days prior to beginning the potion,  and one can only use fluxweed that has been picked during full moon." Did I really just...correct Shah? What am I? A Ravenclaw? Lucy thought to herself, thinking that maybe she had only done so to make sure her friend had the right information. It was only when she leaned back nonchalantly that she realized she just wanted to be better than the other girl, the Gryffindor.

Wade was at a loss. What the fuck had he done? Why had he chosen to seat next to Shah? Rolling his eyes at her question, he listened to the professor talk about the potion of the day; The Polyjuice Potion. His lips formed a grin as soon as he heard that, knowing that they would be finally learning something that would be useful to him at some point. He didn't bother looking from girl to girl as they answered; all were right, but he didn't want to show that he cared for any of them.

Nevertheless, he grinned when Lucy corrected Shah like the know-it-all she was. Though Lucy had always thought she should have been in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, and complained about not knowing why she was put in Slytherin, Wade was starting to see it.

Lucia nodded at the range of hands and picked one at random, and miss Malfoy started to answer. Miss Moss quickly chirped in and miss Hazel also took to word before miss Malfoy once again spoke up. She smiled at them and was pleased to know they hadn't been completely idle in their years of studying.

"Well done, five points to all of you, ten points to you, miss Malfoy, for your detailed answer. Now, we will be brewing this potion, and it won't be easy. Also, you won't get homework, you will have to come down here to brew it properly and then return a sample to me next week. It may seem like a lot, but the lacewing flies have been stewed for twenty-one days and the fluxweed has been picked on a fullmoon. So you will only have to be patient and very careful about what you put into this potion. Now, find the respectful side in your books, and start brewing as soon as you're ready. You will only brew part 1 in this lesson, and you will have to brew part 2 in your spare time," she instructed, "Now, begin."

She sat back down in her chair and looked at the students as they got to moving.

((The way you will receive points for homework, is by posting in the potions classroom brewing part 2, and you will be judged by how well you rp it ))

The house point system was just really irritating. All it did was make younger years competitive about winning and it was no real reward. Jen wasn't jumping for joy when she got a couple of house points. Slytherin were going to win anyway. She couldn't remember the last time another house had. It probably wasn't in her time at Hogwarts. Her attention turned from idle thoughts about house points to the lesson when Professor Henley continued talking.

While it did seem a rather difficult potion, it would be fine, like the professor had said, since all of the rarer ingredients had been prepared already. She didn't mind doing the second part in her free time because it wasn't like she had a life. Undoubtedly, there would be a point in the next week or so when she was really bored. It was really just something to do and she was almost grateful for it.

As soon as Henley had finished speaking, Jennifer glanced down at the textbook and briefly read through the instructions. There was nothing too advanced and hard in the instructions, it seemed. Not for her, anyway. She was quick collecting all of the ingredients and returning to her seat. Her Potions NEWT was going to be an O if it killed her.

Jen got her three measures of fluxweed and added them into the cauldron carefully. She wasn't going to think about anything else. No. Her top marks required commitment and concentration. What would her life be without an O in Transfiguration and Potions? There was nobody pressuring her for them, but she needed them. That was her motivation. Then she added the two bundles of knotgrass and stirred it clockwise three times, quite gently. Potions score, NEWTS, O, future career. All in turn passed through her head.

Her cauldron was a brass one, so it only needed to brew for fifteen minutes. Being the perfectionist she was, Jen made sure it was exactly fifteen minutes, no more, no less before continuing. While it was brewing, she'd crushed the lacewings in her mortar so she was ready to put them into the cauldron straight away.

She'd been surprisingly quick, so the Slytherin took her time on the last couple of steps in the book. If that was even possible. The thirty seconds she counted boiling the water seemed to go very quickly. Was her watch right? Yes, it had been a few minutes ago, so it must be now. A small smirk on her face, Jen waved her wand to complete part one.

Done. Just showed how amazing she was.