Lesson One&&Two

[Abella Marie Byrne-Moreaux]

The lamps were lit. The dungeon was drafty. The stone desks were slighty damp. You could smell the peculiar smell that always lingered around the Potions room. It was going to be a very good term for Abella Byrne-Moreaux. At the front of the room were two blackboards, angled slightly to help the student read them better from wherenver it was that they would think they were sitting. Professor Byrne-Moreaux would have them in seating charts before the second lesson for sure, whether they liked it or not.

Abella sat on a small stool between the two giant chalkboards, dressed in her black robes. She pretty much blended in with the dim surroundings. She was very good at holding still, so no one who did walk too close to her would be able to really tell that she was there. It was in this position that she waited for her students. She didn't fidget or move at all. Her chest barely lifted for her breath. It wasn't to joke around with the student or to shock them that she did this. This professor was an observer, and she intended to figure out how her students interacted with each other before she decided which strategy to use in her lessons.

Abella looked to the chalkboard to her left and waved her wand at it with apathy. The usual set of instructions to get their materials out and be prepared for notes scrolled across the empty board. She turned to the other board and made her name appear:

Professor Abella Byrne-Moreaux
Please, take a seat.

With her instructions written, Professor Byrne-Moreaux resumed her statuesque postion and awaited her arrivals.

[Moki Kagawa]

Moki entered the dimly lit room quietly. She had heard the potions professor was kind of strict, and although she didn't know if it was true, she didn't want to make a bad first impression by being unnecessarily annoying. She'd had her share of those bad impressions for sure - the worst was when, struck by an uncharacteristically musical vibe, she had entered a Muggle Studies class in her first year singing a Japanese rap song that was stuck in her head. The old Muggle Studies teacher was a bit of a killjoy, and didn't like "newfangled hullaballoo music." What that was exactly, she wasn't sure, but apparently it included her playlist, because for the duration of that class she found herself constantly picked on and abused until the horrific exam in June. Yeah, she wasn't about to let that happen again. Until she had a handle on what this woman was like, Moki was going to play it safe.

She blinked, adjusting to the light. She didn't see the professor anywhere. That was weird, but maybe she was the kind of person who would show up after everyone else so she could see how monkey-ish they would act when nobody was around to monitor their behavior. Eh. At least it meant she didn't have to be on edge right now. She relaxed her demeanor and plopped down into a seat in the middle of the classroom. She hoped the other students would be along soon. This beating other people to class thing was beginning to get a little creepy. It also probably set the precedent that she possessed the ability to be on time. She didn't like that at all. Bored, she drummed her fingernails on the countertop before her and began to sing quietly. Well, if no one was there to hear her...

[Maeve Campbell]

Dungeons dungeons, ok! Found those. Now Potions classroom. Dang it! Where in Merlin's dirty underpants is the classroom!

Maeve was running as fast as her short legs could move. She was POSITIVE she was late. First, she'd been eager to get to class but then she'd gotten an owl form her family and paused to read it. Then she'd gotten all the way down to the dungeons and forgotten her textbook. Finally, she back in the dungeons but was absolutely certain she'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. Nope! Here it was, Potions classroom.


Flinging the door open Maeve skidded into the classroom. Only to find it mostly empty. What the-? She wasn't late? Awesome! Maeve grinned and punched the air. It looked like she had even beat the teacher. Now that was what she called luck. Looking around the dingy dank room she wrinkled her nose. There were some funky smells here. As she finished looking around she saw the board told her to take a seat, so she turned toward the seats.

She saw Moki and waved happily. At last, someone she knew in a class! "Hey, Moki!" Maeve slid into her seat and opened her bag. She withdrew her textbook and a roll of parchment along with a quill. While waiting for Moki to reply Maeve continued to dig around in her bag. She knew there had to be an ink bottle somewhere.

[Mike Blaze]

Mike Blaze walked in the room not too long after Maeve. Glancing towards the chalkboards, which he already knew what it said before even looking, he saw the instructions to take your seat. He silently glanced at Moki and Maeve, giving both of them a small nod. He proceeded to his favorite spot in the class, the back row. Setting his bag down, he leaned back, he didn't put his feet up however. Crossing his arms, with his books out, he kept his gaze down on to the desk, looking up occasionally to see if any new arrivals had come. He watched Moki and Maeve for a moment, each of them he knew, not well, but he knew them from various occasions.

[Audrey Hitchcock]

Audrey skidded to a stop just outside the dungeon door. She knew she would be one of the last to get there. Class was supposed to start in just a few minutes. Hopefully Mike was already inside. The redhead took two deep, cleansing breaths. It smelled a bit funny, but as a sixth year, she was used to that.

She pulled the door open and stepped into the dimness that was the potions classroom, though she stopped immediately at the number of people. She was only the fourth person in class? Everyone else must be running late then. Audrey spotted Mike, but not the teacher, so she leaned over and kissed his cheek before taking the seat beside him. "Where is everyone?"

[Moki Kagawa]

"Hey!" Moki's eyes lit up as Maeve sat down next to her. "Where is everyone?" she asked in confusion. "I'm always late... I dunno how I ended up being the first one here. Too bad the professor isn't here to see that, it'd probably earn me some brownie points. And those will probably come in handy after awhile." She shrugged and turned around as Mike walked in. He nodded at her and Maeve, and Moki waved back in response with a smile. Soon another sixth year Moki had never met but recognized as Mike's girlfriend entered as well. Well, at least the room was filling up.

[Mike Blaze]

Audrey spotted Mike, but not the teacher, so she leaned over and kissed his cheek before taking the seat beside him. "Where is everyone?"

Mike had been deep in thought just until Audrey came in kissing him, hey looked around, and over at her, "Hey babe." he said grinning, "Late apparently." he added, replying to her question as he surveyed the room, only four people when there should be a lot more. He leaned his chair back, stretching his arms out, he let his right arm come down on Audrey's shoulder rubbing it gently, damn he's missed her the past few days.

[Hunter Kelly]

Hunter nearly ran to Potions. He had been talking to this cute girl in the hall and completely forgotten he even had another class. Not that he was too concerned with what the teacher thought of him.

The boy walked into the damp cave that was the Potions class and, again, took a seat next to Audrey. "Hey Mike." He knew that he was in here, even though he didn't particularly look for him. "I'm glad I'm not the only one late." He looked around and saw the same small girl that was cheering in Flying and another girl. A pretty little asian girl. Hmmm....I wonder.... Hunter's thoughts flew into a myriad of ideas for what he could do to get with the younger asian girl. "Hey, what's your name?" He was smiling and putting on his best innocent face. "I'm Hunter."

[Moki Kagawa]

Moki watched the interaction between Mike and Audrey with amusement. Moki had learned a bit about life and love since first coming to Hogwarts, and if there was one thing she knew it was that there were always going to be people like them. You know, people who found each other so young, but were probably going to last awhile. Moki didn't see herself as that kind of girl. Well, actually, the truth was, she didn't really know what kind of girl she was. She was only 14, after all. Last year she'd been a bit young for an actual relationship. There'd been crushes on both sides, but never anything serious. She really doubted she had what it took for that kind of thing, though. Commitment was a terrifying concept to her. Still, you never knew what could happen.

She was broken from her reverie by the sound of a voice next to her.

"Hey, what's your name?"

She turned to find an older-looking guy smiling at her. Damn, he was hot!

"I'm Hunter."

Ohhhhh, so that was who he was. She had heard about him. Hell, who hadn't? She eyed him again. He was definitely as good-looking as the girls said. He was smiling quite innocently at her. That was kind of adorable. And amusing. If the rumors were true, he was anything but innocent. "I'm Moki," she said with a grin. "I've heard about you. I guess you could say your reputation precedes you," she said. She flashed him a flirty smile. "At least I can see why you have it." It was true; he did not disappoint. She looked up coquettishly from underneath her black eyelashes.

Hey... girls just wanna have fun, right?

[Justin McCarter]

Justin McCarter casually walked into the classroom. It was obvious he was pushing for time, but hey, it was a long walk from Charms to Potions. He glanced down at his watch- on time! He let a smile creep upon his lips as he scanned the room for a place to sit. Did he know anyone? No. Not really. He had talked to Mike and Audrey once before on the lawns about a week ago, but that didn't exactly qualify as enough of a relationship to sit by them. They left Hunter and Moki. Hunter was in the same year and Moki was in his house. He opted to position himself behind Moki and beside Hunter- giving nothing but a smile to each as a greeting. This was certainly going to be an awkward class.

[Lucas Goddard]

Naturally, Lucas was one of the last students to enter the Potions classroom. It wasn't because he was lost - he was a sixth year Slytherin, he was familiar with the dungeons. Nor was it that he wasn't familiar with this particular section of the school - for a few months now Lucas and his mates had slowly been acquiring, whether through theft of the potions supply closet or the bags of younger students, the ingredients to brew a pretty awesome Polyjuice Potion... Lucas definitely knew his way around Potions. And this school. But that didn't mean he gave two shits about it, at least enough to get to class earlier than the rest.

When he arrived it was a small collection of the houses. Well, all but Hufflepuff, Lucas could gather with a quick search of the classroom. He sneered at the thought... Hufflepuffs were definitely too air-headed to handle this subject. He preferred them gone lest they burn the lab down. Another quick sweep of the eyes caught Moki sitting with a Ravenclaw and flirting, apparently, with a Gryffindor... Hunter. Lucas' eyes zeroed in on the Gryffindor boy, slimming down to small, judgmental slits. His reputation definitely preceded him... and Lucas didn't like one part of it. Though he was certainly no saint himself, this boy, perhaps due to his looks or to his Gryffindor tie, smelled to Lucas like a rotten egg. Moki, the beautiful, intelligent Slytherin that she was, shouldn't be allowed to pal around with people like him.

Coughing lightly, but deliberately to make his presence known, Lucas slid into the aisle directly behind Hunter, sitting behind him but one seat over so that he could still see Moki and her inter-house friends.

"Hi, Moki." Lucas waved with what would be construed to be a friendly smile. It was friendly too - he was happy to see her. But mostly he wanted to make himself known there. It wasn't good for Slytherin ladies like herself to spend too much time with the other houses' students, especially ones like Hunter... Smiling to himself, and keeping one watchful eye on the Gryffindor kid, Lucas got out his parchment and quill, placed his wand on the edge of this table, and prepared for class to start.

[Justin McCarter]

"Hi, Moki."

This interrupted Justin's thoughts of his fellow classmates. He knew that voice: Lucas Goddard. He turned around in his chair and gave him a greeting with a nod of his head and a "Hey mate!" It was relieving to see someone he actually knew in a class that he was more than sure he was going to fail.. .miserably.

[Audrey Hitchcock]

Audrey nodded at Hunter as he took the seat beside her. "Hey." She gave Moki and the younger girl a small smile as a greeting, seeing as she didn't really know them.

"Hey, what's your name?" He was smiling and putting on his best innocent face. "I'm Hunter."

The girl found her eyes rolling once again as Hunter tried to hit on the much younger girl. Leaning over to Hunter, she said, "Hun, she's only a fourth year." Audrey wasn't sure why she even said anything at all; she knew it wouldn't make a damned bit of difference in Hunter's book. Apparently it didn't make much of a difference to Moki either, from her response. Audrey rolled her eyes again.

Two Slytherin guys walked in, one of whom she knew to be Justin McCarter. The other, she had never seen before. The unknown Slytherin took a seat just behind Audrey and cleared his throat and waved a hello to Moki. Something about him set her on edge, and, apparently, he didn't take too much of a liking to intrahouse mingling. Well, then... The darker haired Slytherin was putting out some very negative vibes toward everyone who wasn't dressed in green, so she didn't even bother to smile or nod to him. What's the point? she asked herself. He's obviously one of the old Slytherin snobs. Instead, Audrey turned her attention to Mike. "Have you done any reading for this class? Apparently the professor is a dictator of some sorts."

[Mike Blaze]

Mike watched as Lucas and Justin walked in. Justin, Mike had only met once before. Lucas, however, he didn't know at all. Almost as if reading Audrey's thoughts, he also had bad vibes about Lucas. He fixed his eyes on him with one of Mike's famous stares, only people who knew Mike, really know him, such as Audrey, knew the stare was with the most deepest hatred Mike had. In general, Mike hated Slytherins, some were ok, such as Moki, but others he just hated, and a couple were the ones he literally despised just by what their personality seemed to be and Lucas was one he despised. Mike noticed Lucas had his own eyes fixed on someone, turning his head slowly, of course, it was Hunter. Smirking at Lucas' expression at seeing Moki, a Slytherin talking to Hunter, a Gryffindor. His smirk slowly faded away, as he continued his "despise" stare at Lucas, then Mike turned his head towards Audrey, the stare turning back to his normal look. "Looks like Lucas just can't handle the interhouse thing, can he?" he muttered to Audrey so only she could hear.

[George Knox]

Class was slowly starting to become more of George’s routine. He had been so used to doing whatever he wished during the holidays that going back to class was quite a change. Today he was feeling the way he had been when attending his other classes. Going to class truly didn’t impress him even if that was the whole point of going to Hogwarts. Collecting his belongings George moved onto his next class that happened to be potions. It had never really been one of George’s best subjects but it was one that he enjoyed. Hopefully he would get through the term without any mishaps. In all reality he wasn’t that bad so the odds of things going alright were in his favour.

Entering the dungeons George’s green eyes easily adjusted to the change in lighting. The dungeons were always so dim and damp compared to the rest of the castle. The change in atmosphere was actually surprisingly refreshing. The summer weather was often too hot and the dungeons were an easy way to cool down. In the winter thought the effect was the opposite George found them bloody freezing.

Walking into the classroom George could already feel the tension even if he hadn’t been there to notice it. Not seeing the professor George did just like the professor said and took a seat somewhere near the back of the classroom. It didn’t bother him as class was going to be the same wherever he sat. Perhaps it would be a little more thought provoking if he was sat with friends. George sat quietly in his place and watched as the other students interacted. It was obvious that certain students didn’t like each other. If that were true there would probably end up being some kind of calamity before the term was over.