A Place for Everything PV Lilia Eilertsen

Backdated: October 15th, 2019

The best part about potions class for Reynolds was that he was always told exactly what to do. You needed this exact thing in this exact amount to boil for this exact amount of time and to be stirred in this exact way. As long as he followed the instructions to the letter then everything turned out great! Usually.

The only boring part about potions was the in-between times. When they had to wait on the potions to brew. He supposed that in normal wizarding life he could go do something or work on another potion or activity nearby while he waited. But stuck in the potions classroom there wasn’t much choice. Usually, Reynolds would work on some late homework for other classes or read.

Today, however, as he was pulling out a book of poems he had read at least three times, their potions professor switched things up. Suddenly, Reynolds found himself paired up with a girl from Gryffindor he had never properly met with a pile of random potions ingredients between them. It was an exercise to keep them thinking and working while they waited the standard 40 minutes for the Antidote to Common Poisons they had been working on to finish.

40 minutes to categorize all the ingredients put in front of them. The only requirements were that they had to have at least 4 categories, there had to be at least two ingredients in each category, and every ingredient had to be categorized. This was certainly not the clear cut, specific directions he was used to in potions. And he had a partner?

Reynolds glanced quickly up and down at the blonde Gryffindor now seated next to him. They had been in classes together for several weeks but he had no idea what her name was. Should he say hello first? Or should he wait for her to say something? Oh, why did he have to be with a partner? Wasn’t there any way he could just do this exercise on his own? Or why couldn’t he have been paired with someone he already knew, like Aly or Liv? Okay, maybe not Liv, with only 40 minutes they probably wouldn’t even get to look at the ingredients with the way she told stories.

Reynolds took a breath and did his best to smile - which probably came out all wrong. “Hi, I’m Reynolds.” He refused to extend his hand because he knew they would be sweaty. Hopefully she didn't think he was rude. Or weird. Though maybe the latter one couldn't be helped much.