"Quiet Practice on Your Own"

Vladimiri sulks into the classroom, five minutes late. He manages to creep in while the Professor is hunched over another student, removing rat entrails from the floor.

He takes his seat at the back of class, hoping to go unnoticed. He glances at the others to try and figure out what to do to fit in. They all seem to be doing quiet studying on their own.

"Today's lesson is A Calming Draught," the professor murmurs, brandishing a hand. "Please obtain your ingredients from the head of the table. There is enough for everyone. Please share," the professor finishes in a weary voice.


Moving the corner of his robe, Vlad grabs his Potions book and finds the recipe for the Calming Draught. His long fingers linger over some of his favorite 'fun' potions as he gets a bit sidetracked. Finding the correct recipe, he glances at the letters, then to the neat pile of ingredients at the end of the table. A Gryfinndor is sitting directly in front of them. A sneer creeps over Vlad's face without him realizing. He really doesn't want to talk to anyone this morning. He looks back at the recipe.


Powdered Root of Valerian

He remembers the stinky-sock smell of the root and how they always go all mushy...yech. Better to grab a little more in case I mess up, he thinks. I don't want to go back over there for more. He'll think I'm an idiot.

Reluctantly, Vlad rises from his seat, smoothing the wrinkles from his robe. He strides over to the end of the table and deftly grabs the needed ingredients. He makes sure to leave just enough Valerian root for the other boy, but not a scrape extra.

Returning to his seat, he begins to grind the root by hand. He's better at it this way, his grinding spell is still messy.

Danyanka is staring at the professor while he gives instructions for today's assignment, her brow furrowing in concentration. Out of the corner of her eye she notices a boy from Slytherin sneak in and head towards the back row. A smile errupts on her face before she has a chance to hide it in her text book. Although she usually keeps to herself, Dany still finds humor in other people's behavior.

She tries to focus back on the professor. Her brain is still fuzzy and unfocused from lack of sleep, but she shakes it off. She makes her way up to the head table for ingredients, accidentally banging her knee on a desk along the way. She takes a few minutes to look over all the herbs and ingredients; her fingers gently caress each ingredient until she finally chooses only those that "speak" to her.

She makes her way back to her desk and lays out everything in an overly organized fashion in front of her. Her vibrant green hair is in constant need of being pushed out of her eyes, but she tries her best to ignore it. It's my own fault for getting up so late... she thinks to herself as she flips open her potion's book. The front of the book is painted over in bright blue, green, and yellow swirls.

She finds the page without delay, the page dog-eared and the words slightly faded. It wasn't her first time making the potion, but it was the first time it had ever been for a grade. Dany thinks for a moment about whether or not she might be able to sneak the potion out after class and thinks better of it.

She sets aside the Valerian root for grinding, knowing from experience that it's best to leave it for last, and sets on liquefying the Bitteroot and Hoodwort into a thick infusion. A frustrated squeak escapes her as it turns from a powder to a slimy sludge.

"Oh for pixieblorg's sake..." she murmurs under her breath. Her violet eyes glance around the room to see if anyone else is having the same problem. Eventually her eyes settle on the boy from earlier, carefully hand-grinding his valerian root with an oddly serene look on his face. Looking back at her own sludge, she sighs. And I had high hopes for today. She makes her way up to the head table once more, lucky to find some scrawny and dried up bitterroot to work with, and then returns to her desk.

Today was not a good day for Matt. Maybe it was from the pop quiz on screeching Mandrakes in Herbology the class before, or maybe it was the firewhiskey he had smuggled into the Gryffindor common room the previous evening, but his head was pounding and his temper was spiking at an ever increasing rate.

"A Calming Draught. Great. If only I could actually drink it," he muttered to himself, sighing and raking his fingers through his curly hair in attempt to relieve some of the pressure.

He closed his eyes, just for a minute and nodded. Yes, he heard the directions. Yes, he knew the page number.

When he opened his green eyes again, he noticed a tall, 'Slimy,' he thinks distastefully, Slytherin take a majority of the Valerian root. He tilted his head, confused. Clearly the professor had said to share, that there had been enough for everyone. However, before he could even get any scraps, a tired, almost defeated looking green haired girl came along to claim whatever was left. Rightfully so, she had to do the work too... Matthew shot her a look that said something like,

'Can you believe this hoarder? What's his deal? Is he making enough potion for the whole class?'

The Slytherin didn't talk much to anyone, but Matt knew him simply by sharing the same year and several classes for so long.

Darting a look back to his professor, hoping maybe he had caught the incident and would call Vlad out for zoning out, or being selfish, or...

His head was killing him, and this kid was wasting his time, everyone's time.

"Hey, Vlad. I know you'll probably mess the potion up or whatever, but you have enough Valerian root to calm someone into an early death." He snapped the next two sentences, not particularly caring if it was an accident or not, "You showed up late. We're supposed to share it."

Really? He'd left enough for the Gryffindor to finish his potion. The kid looked smart enough to do it right the first time.

Vlad raised his head from his work, looking up with an annoyed look. He grabbed the extra Valerian root, and tossed it across the table, trying to aim for the Gryffindor's face.

He didn't bother to look directly at the other boy. He really didn't want to cause a confrontation. He didn't want to have to speak. He hated the way the stupid school children made fun of his accent.

Dany is watching the confrontation from afar, not really sure if she should intervene. She looks back at her sludge and squirms in her seat. She begins to prep the herbs once more for liquefying, but thinks better of it. I guess I'm doing it the hard way.

She shuffles over to a supply cupboard and grabs an infusion set and a few beakers. As she's heading back to her seat she pauses for a moment at the back table where the Gryffindor boy is and lays some herbs on the table.

"If you keep staring each other down, neither of you will get credit for the assignment. I have a little extra, if either of you need it."

With that she begins to head back to her seat. She grinds the herbs down once more, but instead of using her wand, Dany is putting the herbs directly into the beaker and adding Pixie oil slowly, before boiling it down until it's slightly thick consistency.

His irritation flared up again when the Russian boy threw the ingredients at his table, not even bothering to respond properly.

He resisted the urge draw his wand, or an even a more satisfying punch in his avoidant face. He thought better of it... a trip to the headmistress for, yet another long lecture that reminded him of his mother, points deducted from his class, and possible detention weren't worth a couple roots and victory over that mute kid.

It wasn't until the green haired girl-- Dany, he thought her name was? came back and plugged some sense into his muddled brain. She gave him some of her own root that she'd scrounged, which he gladly and showily favored over Vlad's.

Sighing again, deeply and letting his anger ebb from what he gauged to be a nine down to a contained five, he tried to smile apologetically at the girl. In no way was he going to be friends with Vlad anytime soon, nor apologize for his outburst, but it had been pretty childish of him to explode like that...

"Thanks, Dany, right...? I guess you're right. I just hate when people don't pay attention," he said loud enough to make another jab. Not that he was a model student either, but the other students didn't need to be bothered with that.

Turning to face his cauldron and other ingredients, he yawned, already knowing how to produce this draught, really. Potions had always been one of his favorite classes, but he wished they'd work on something a little more exciting or vengeful today...

Dany smiles and nods. "Yep, Dany is fine." She turns her head back to the potion and finally combines all the ingredients, letting out a sigh of relief when it turns the signature baby blue color. "We've actually had a few classes together."

Her smile fades a little as she stretches and yawns, her eyes glancing at the clock. There's only thirty minutes of class left, but it feels like a thousand. I just want to go back to bed... she muses as she tries to think of something to talk about. Despite her outgoing personality, she had never been very good at talking to any member of the opposite sex.

"You really shouldn't let him get to you. It could spoil your entire day, and that would be a shame when there are so many colors to smile about." She closes her book and begins to clean up her workspace.

Vlad turned to see out of the corner of his eye where the root landing. He frowned as it didn't made contact with the boy. A green haired girl walked up and gave him some of her own. As the boy reached for hers, and not the one Vlad had tossed, he rolled his eyes and turned back to his own work.

What a dick, he thought. He ajustedhimself in his seat, waving his wand over the ingredients, gently lifting them into the couldron and continuing his work as he heard the two lovebirds talking quietly about nonsense.

"You shouldn't let him get to you..." He barely heard the girl say.

Oh, he shouldn't? What if he couldn't help it? Vlad smiled inwardly. As he finished the potion, and admired the blue color, he deftly swished his wand to the side, hoping no one would notice.

His gluing charm firmly affixed the Gryffindor boy's robe hem to the floor, without rustling any of the fabric. He put his wand away, acting as if he was merely flourshing his wand dramatically to bottle the potion into a small stoppered bottle. Vlad pushed the bottle to the edge of his table, nearest to himself, and leaned back in his seat, awaiting his grade. The professor noticed he was finished and walked silently up the rows.

"Miss Firestone, please do not assist your classmates. This is independent work." He condesendingly spoke. He gingerly picked up Vlad's vial and examined it in the light. Unstoppering the bottle, he took a tiny taste with his fingertip.

"Ahh, excellent Mister Vostok. Excellent work. 5 points to Slytherin. 10 more points to the student who can exceed the quality of this potion." The professor held the bottle aloft, showing it off like a prized possession.

Vlad held in his pride, trying to appear unaffected and aloof. He was hoping to be excused early.

Matthew laughed a little at Dany's comment on colors. It was a strange thing to say, but such a comment seemed to suit her.

"We have had some classes, haven't we? I get so wrapped up in my own schedule sometimes--" He wanted to mention that he recognized her playing an instrument every so often around the castle, but the professor had come around and made sure they were working on their own.

Sighing sulkily, he was left alone with his half finished potion and headache. He didn't even bother to see the assumed smug look on Vlad's face when his potion was declared excellent, he just rolled his eyes and scoffed, focusing on his draught instead.

Being so caught up in the lackluster amount of roots, he'd completely forgotten to portion out the flobberworm mucus. This whole potion was going to be a disaster, all because he had let his temper get the best of him earlier. Cursing under his breath, he only had a limited time to add the other ingredients...

Attempting to hurry back to the table, he was unexpectedly pulled backwards, losing his footing and cracking his head sharply on the table behind him.

"What the hell?!" Matthew exclaimed, genuine baffled, but more humiliated than hurt. He certainly hadn't tripped. It was then he noticed a majority of his robes stretched, seemingly stuck to the floor. 'A spell.'

'That stupid kid...!' Jolting up and unthinkingly grabbing his wand from his table, he cast the counter hex for the glue before pointing his wand squarely at Vlad's chest.

"Homenum--" He couldn't complete the body binding curse before the professor claimed his wand, shaking his head at Matthew disapprovingly.

"He started it! He glued my robes to the floor!" Matthew yelled before the professor could say anything chastising towards him. However, he did not look convinced, which only infuriated the blond boy further.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor for the outburst, Mister Toulson, and an extra five for an uncompleted assignment. Even if Mister Vostok had hexed your robes, I will not tolerate violence in my classroom." The professor paused at his own desk, retrieving a quill and parchment which Matthew knew was for detention. The boy let out an indignant sound as if he hadn't properly explained his side of the story.

"Since the two of you seem keen on pranking each other, and disrupting my class, you'll both be serving detention this week. Perhaps it'll force you to reevaluate how to deal with conflict."

Too busy staring at his stretched, and partially ripped robes to listen to his professor. His eyes caught Vlad's and he glared, annoyed and embarrassed at his fall, also the fact that he hadn't gotten a decent shot back at the jerk... 'You're dead,' he mouthed silently, a promise he intended to fulfill once he got his wand back.

Dany sighs as she turns back to her perfectly colored potion. If it had been any other class, she knew that she would have received top marks. However, potions had always been a Slytherin safe-haven so she had long ago given up all hope. Dany rises and gathers up the beakers and vials, which she uses a sanitation charm on, and heads back to the cupboard. She takes her time to make sure everything is back in the proper place before turning to the Slytherin boy.

"Good job on your potion today, Vlad." she says before making it back to her seat. She knows he may not appreciate the compliment, but she always tries her best to be nice to everyone.

Danyanka's gaze travels towards Matthew, who now seems to be sulking about his detention and smiles. She doesn't know what it is about him, but talking to him seems oddly refreshing and makes the swelling in her head stop. Dany shakes her head, trying to fight off the red swarming up her face. It's just his colors... she tells herself. That's all it is.

Dany begins to doodle all over the already defaced copy of her Potions textbook and waits for the class to be dismissed.