28 Jun 2020, 01:36
Brewing and Bonding
── ❋ ──PV @Phaedra Stavrou❋𝓐madea finished pulling out all of her supplies for potions as the lesson began. Arranging her quill and potions book in front of her, she listened as the students were instructed on what their lesson for the day was. Today the class was going to be attempting to make the Grand Pepperup Potion. Amadea vaguely remembered learning about the Pepperup Potion in her second year, but didn't remember how difficult it was to concoct the mixture. Apparently, the Grand Pepperup Potion was more involved, as they had been instructed to find partners and work together.
Amadea looked around the classroom, her heart beating faster. She hated this part of the class, when everyone was required to pair up. While she had managed to find her group of friends, she often stayed within her little niche, not venturing out to mingle with other people. It was partly due to her shy demeanor and socially awkward persona, but Amadea didn't like socializing that much. Working with her friends was usually fun, but overall, Amadea much rather enjoyed working by herself. It might be more risky, but if something went wrong there would be no one to blame but herself. In partner work, she couldn't control everything and it stressed her out. It also stressed her out that in this particular Potions class, she had none of her close friends with her. As she looked around the room, scanning for a partner, her eyes landed on one of the only other third years she recognized as Phaedra Stavrou. She was a Ravenclaw, and Amadea recognized her from some mutual friends and events, but Amadea had never personally spoken to Phaedra. If Amadea was being honest, she was almost scared of Phaedra. It wasn't like she thought Phaedra was mean, but she felt like Phaedra had such a sophisticated air to her that Amadea couldn't match. She was friends with all of the other Purebloods, and Amadea felt like she didn't quite belong in that group. While she was friendly with many of them, as a Muggle born, Amadea couldn't relate to them in the way they could relate to each other with all of their Pureblood parties and world that they had.
But, as Amadea looked around the room, she knew she didn't have any other options. At least Phaedra was a familiar face; the rest of the third years were complete strangers to the Hufflepuff, and not to mention they had already paired up with each other. It reminded her of her Muggle school, when she would always be the last one picked during gym class for the team activities or the odd one out when group projects were assigned. She shook off the negative memories; Hogwarts was nothing like her old school. However, it didn't change the fact that everyone seemed to have paired off. This left Amadea no choice but to stand up and approach the Ravenclaw. Amadea took a deep breath as she reached Phaedra's desk. Her heart was hammering in her chest, though she wasn't sure why. All she had to do was ask Phaedra to be her partner. How difficult could it be?
Amadea opened her mouth. "Amadea," she blurted out, introducing herself in case the Ravenclaw didn't know who she was. "Campbell. Would you like to be partners?"── ❋ ──
10 Jul 2020, 23:35
Brewing and Bonding
@Amadea CampbellNot having her best friend seated beside her sucked (he had to stay behind and repeat a year), but Phaedra found Potions to be such an interesting subject that it didn't hinder her enjoyment as much as she'd expected. As usual, she sat in the front row, leftmost to the blackboard. On it, the words Grand Pepperup Potion were scrawled out in chalk. From the top of her head, she remembered that the regular Pepperup Potion served as its base, and that mandrake roots were involved. It wasn't enough to go off of, but she knew she had the notes for a refresher written somewhere.
When the professor told the class to start finding partners, Phaedra remained in her seat, staring intensely at her notebook as she flipped through it. If it were up to her she would've worked alone, but she knew the professor would never have that. From her hunched over writing position, she suddenly sat taller in her seat and pushed the pad of parchment to the side, fully expecting the professor to assign her a partner instead. She wouldn't go crawling for anyone in particular. Inspecting her nails as she waited, Phaedra didn't look up until a soft voice spoke out from beside her, belonging to none other than Amadea Campbell, a Hufflepuff in her year. Phaedra had seen her around before but they had never personally spoken. There wasn't much overlap between their respective friend groups and Phaedra had an inkling as to why.
Blood. What else? That was usually the reason why and she certainly had never seen Amadea at any fancy gathering. Phaedra had a complicated relationship with muggles in that she did not seem to trust them very much, but definitely could not say that out loud. She found the muggle world itself to be too risky, but the muggle-born wizards they produced were kin as far as she could tell. It was difficult to hold certain views for long when having to sleep, eat, and study with the very people she had once thought of as different. Remembering how it was more beneficial to appear neutral, an awkward smile formed at the corner of her mouth.
"Okay."
A seemingly curt reply, but Phaedra meant well by it. Had she been uninterested, she would have said so. Amadea seemed nice enough and she was the first to ask. "Phaedra Stavrou. We can use my cauldron." she replied, ready to jump straight into the assignment to save the small talk for later.
20 Jul 2020, 23:24
Brewing and Bonding
── ❋ ──𝓢hifting from foot to foot, Amadea stood awkwardly as she waited for @Phaedra Stavrou to make her verdict. Amadea was regretting coming over here; she was intimidated by the other girl. What if she said no? Then Amadea would have to trudge back to her table alone and make the potion by herself.
It seemed like an eternity between when Amadea had impulsively opened her mouth to when Phaedra finally responded with a curt 'Okay' and followed up with an introduction and offered up her cauldron for them to use. Amadea nodded, glad that she hadn't been rejected but still slightly terrified from Phaedra's professional demeanor. It seemed like they were going to get down to business and not bother with the small talk. This was both relieving and terrifying to Amadea; on the one hand, she often found herself at a loss of words when making small talk, unsure of what to say to carry on a conversation. On the other hand, though, Amadea felt like it would be equally awkward for the two girls to complete the task in silence, not talking at all.
Still, Amadea wasn't going to complain. She had found herself a partner and that was all that mattered. Amadea quickly gathered her Potions book and necessary supplies before heading back over to Phaedra's cauldron. Amadea set down her things and quickly ran her finger along the instructions, trying to take them all in as quickly as possible. The first part of the potion seemed fairly straightforward; it only involved a few ingredients and a few steps.
"Right, so, um, I can grab the octopus tentacle if you want to start simmering the Pepperup Potion?" Amadea said, but it came out sounding more like a question than a statement. She was feeling quite nervous and hoped that by walking over to grab the octopus tentacle, she could relieve some of the nervous energy that was pent up inside of her. She hated how nervous she got from group assignments; she wished that she could have just made the potion alone.── ❋ ──