You can't escape the lovely aromas of... Errand

To be fair, Emma truly didn't need to work anymore throughout Hogwarts than she already did. It was the beginning of the school year, and yet she found herself already working vigorously to complete each professor's deed. At least there were no painful lectures, it was one aspect she could get behind. Throughout the summer, Ancient Runes only crossed her mind when it was time to return back to Hogwarts and she strived hard not to reminisce about the tons of new classes. It was pleasant to enter the classroom for something other than asking questions or uncovering new information. She didn't mind the money and the chocolate frog cards that rarely passed her mind... they were rigged anyway. The most enjoyable part was spending time with Andrew to actually get a moment to themselves. No parents, and no noisy chattering amongst the school. 

Herbal fragrances loitered throughout the atmosphere long before the treads of her sneakers strode into the classroom. From there, however, it only got worse. Combining with the heat generated from the cauldrons, the bulbs of flowers toyed with her nose. Maybe it wasn't the worst scent in the world. If anything, it simply smelled like a really bad incense stick. Tolerable, but not preferred. 

"In and out?" She questioned, mentally wondering how long it would be until she collapsed from the odors. From the doorway, Emma could pick up the bubbling of cauldrons. Some gradual, some fast, but her eyes fell upon the pair amongst a few remaining. Crinkling her nose, the brunette tried her best to adjust herself to the smell and concentrated on the gleaming candles adhered to the ceiling. Wasn't molten wax a hazard? 

Propping her belongings against a wall, she made her way over to an unoccupied one, pivoting on her heels to ensure Andrew was still behind her. Dropping the pearl bracelet, it thumped against the bag and the beads clattered with each other. Emma couldn't wait to get started... so that she could leave.

Word Count: 334

"In and out?"

"Ugh, I could go for some In-N-Out right now," Andrew groaned in a hushed tone, knowing full well what Emma meant but unable to control his brain's spontaneous impulse to blurt out something else in correlation to his empty stomach. That being a Muggle fast food restaurant which he doubted most of the other students in the room would be familiar with. He shut his mouth abruptly, eyes widening as if he had said a bad word out loud. Perhaps it was Hogwarts or the wizarding world as whole, or perhaps it was just his House and some of the bullying he had encountered the past year (Slytherin did have the reputation for being particularly unfriendly towards Muggle-borns)… Either way, he had learned to be wary, to refrain himself from bringing up Muggle references in the presence of wizarding company. He didn't want to unintentionally start up an argument with anyone who might overhear him and catch scent of his Muggle heritage.

At least he had Emma with him, this time. Two heads would be better than one when it came to confrontation, right?

"Hello, Professor," Andrew greeted jollily. It was his first time meeting the woman. Unless if @Béatrice Lydursdattir was occupied with work or assignments or whatnot, he'd slip in a few words of small talk to show he was friendly. "I'm Andrew. Vance," he introduced himself. "Second year. I'm with her." He pointed casually at Emma -- whose face would be a regular in the Ancient Runes classroom -- and soon his as well. But not this year. "Guess we'll be seeing each other next year then." Not that it was any question. Of course he'd be at Hogwarts next year.

Upon introducing himself, he might've stared a bit too long at Miss Beatrice with curiosity. Her appearance was… unique. In a mystical sort of way. Shaman, druid, and Viking-like came to mind. It would be impossible for him not to notice the strange markings on the side of Miss Beatrice's face. Some he recognized to be letters from the runic alphabet, taught in Transfiguration.

"Are those…tattoos? Do they spell anything?" He hoped Miss Beatrice wouldn't mind him asking. He wondered if the runes had personal meaning or significance to them.

In the meanwhile, Andrew would turn his attention to the big table that held all the ingredients and materials for candle-making. He wasn't expecting to stumble upon this activity, but per Miss Beatrice's request, he'd volunteer his services. He didn't have anything else urgent to do that day, and it wouldn't hurt for him to try and learn something new. Plus it granted him an opportunity to chat with Emma.

Gladly, he'd reach into the bowl to munch on a few Chocolate Frogs, being the chocoholic he was -- he'd help himself to any leftovers (with permission of course), and try and steal away Emma's share as well -- while glancing over the array of herbs displayed before him. He gave a little whiff of each one, picking out which scent he liked the most. Out of all of them, he could settle with Thuja, but he began to wonder what other ingredients might be used to flavor a candle.

"Huh, what about a chocolate one?" Half-kidding, Andrew picked up one of the Chocolate Frogs, hinting towards the caldrons of wax over the fireplaces (firepits?). He turned to Emma. "What are you gonna do, Em?" He peered over, curious about which selection Emma would pick out her candle… Unless if she just wanted to do a plain one. Andrew was half-tempted to go the 'plain' route himself. Not that he had anything against scented candles. Scents were okay, but too much of it for too long made his head hurt. Except, maybe for a few scents. . .

"Miss Beatrice"--Andrew piped up a suggestion--"What about pine? Or cinnamon? Do you have any of those? I really do like Christmas trees and pumpkin spice." While he wasn't a fan of strong floral or pungent herbal, the combination of Christmas trees and pumpkin spice made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and triggered memories of home and family. Christmas was his favorite holiday after all.

"Ooo, can we do different colors?" He voiced out to Miss Beatrice, his eyes lit up by the possibilities. Hey, if the worst answer he could receive was 'no', then he might as well ask it. "I like blue. Can I make blue candles?" Blue was his favorite color too. But unless if there was a spell to turn wax blue, then he'd have to use dyes. But he didn't have any dyes with him. Why then would he expect to find any in this classroom? Andrew shrugged off his embarrassment, mentally facepalming himself for asking frivolous questions.

Word Count: 201 + 798 = 999

With excitement, she watched as one student after another arrived in her classroom. A feeling of unknown pride filled her stomach and she realized, that she would have the joy of seeing young students enter her classroom on a daily basis now. She nodded at the ones that met her gaze while coming in, while some, especially the younger ones, seemed to be too shy to try and interact with her right now. Béatrice didn't mind they would get more comfortable as time would go by, or so she hoped.

She walked some steps with the aid of her walking stick to make more room for the incoming students. Some immediately went to find a spot at the fireplaces, some others were more hesitant. "You may take a seat, dear," she said, pointing at one of the free cauldrons. As she was looking at the boy finding his seat, a girl went passed her to get some of the herbs on the table. With curiosity, Béatrice followed her with her gaze and watched as she took a big handfull of everything Béatrice had provided. She smiled at the eagerness of the young girl and made some more room for her to choose her herbs.

It didn't take long till the first one had a question, a poor Ravenclaw that apparently had trouble to keep her wax hot enough. Another one followed, and even a little accident happened when a Hufflepuff fell into her classroom: all within a few minutes. Béatrice could already feel her knees starting to ache and longed for a seat. Just as she thought she had some time to rest, she was needed again. One student after another needed her attention and felt both honoured to have all their interest, but also growingly impatient. It was especially peculiar once a Slytherin approached her that appeared rather jittery to her. A lot of words left his mouth seemingly at the same time, it was almost too much for Béatrice ears. Nevertheless, she tried her best to keep up with him. Especially since his questions were not directed at the candle making but her as a person. 

"My marks?" she asked and tilted her head. Some of them were almost as old as she, she barely was aware that they were on her skin and being reminded of it took her by surprise. "Well, they do, but -" Just as she had started to answer, the Slytherin, who had introduced himself earlier, had already riveted his attention to the table and the herbs laying on it. Béatrice blinked and chuckled to herself.  

Just as fast as he had run past her to the table, he was standing before her again with more questions. This time she was prepared "Easy, boy. Slow down, will you? Let me answer one after another. I must say I'm confused, why would you want a candle that smelled like pumpkin? Pumpkin doesn't smell like anything but wet earth. If you want ... what did you say Christmas tree? I'm sorry I think I can't provide you with plastic material, why won't you try Thuja, dear?" She noticed he was already holding some bunch of Thuja in his hand. "Oh, wonderful you made the right choice. Other than that I highly suggest not burning cinnamon, it's not healthy."

"That's not.. nevermind," Emma shrugged the thought off, chuckling lightly. Soon after the comment, her mind began to saunter off to the serving of chocolate sitting near the cauldrons, but heat and chocolate didn't mix well unless strawberries somehow compelled its way into the scene. She knew the drill. Once the confection was in her hands, it would disintegrate by the second and the rest was up to her by leaving a immense stain on her uniform and on the herbs provided by the professor. Part of her, however, didn't genuinely care. Not a single design popped came to mind, and they hadn't bothered showing up now. Her eyes locked on the herbs as if it would trigger some kind of remembrance from her potions' classes, but the only thing she recognized was lavender. As far as she knew, lavender was used in the sleeping draught, and it had a delightful fragrance to its blossoms. It was the least she could do to help neutralize the multiple scents gliding across the room, even if it was somehow making it worse.

Already, Andrew was occupied with introducing himself to the professor, but she had paid it no consideration until neither of their voices could be heard. Immediately, her gaze wandered away from the lavender, and other herbs she hadn't learned about yet. "Hi, Ms. Béatrice," Emma waved at the Runes professor from her cauldron, picking up a lavender sprig and dropping it into the molten wax. There was something she was forgetting. Although there weren't exactly any cutting utensils next to the cauldron, customs accumulated from classes, and frankly cooking shows, challenged her method. Too late for that.

Separating the buds off the lavender, her eyes glanced down the cauldron into the wax and listened to their conversation, probably like most of the students, but it wasn't eavesdropping. Before she knew it, Andrew had accompanied her at the table. "Andy!" She exclaimed peevishly keeping her volume to a minimum, striking his hand with the lavender stalks. "No touchy." Abruptly, she was in the mood for something sweet. Picking one up, a puddle of chocolate was left underneath and the confectionery began to dissolve deliberately in her nondominant hand. Placing the chocolate in her mouth, she mumbled, "Mine."

"I'm going to use lavender, because... why not? I don't know what half of this stuff is." Emma was all on board with cinnamon, what about it wasn't to love? She didn't mind the overbearing aroma that cinnamon carried, but more she thought about it, did she really want that right now? "You should make a chocolate one... I mean, you won't get to keep it, but at least the room won't smell like scented grass."

Colored candles hadn't even occurred to her until he mentioned such. Maybe then a few thoughts began to pop into her head. A bright purplish color had formed in her head, similar to the shade associated with the herb. She wasn't going to make a red candle with a purple plant, it simply annoyed her, although it was her favorite color. Turning around to grab the wand in her bag, a smile appeared on her face. Calling out her name, she waited for her attention before asking. "Can we color our candles?"

Word Count: 547 + 334 = 881

"Easy, boy. Slow down, will you? Let me answer one after another."

Oops. He hoped he wasn’t being too talkative to the point of annoying. Sometimes nervous energy got the best of him.

"I must say I'm confused, why would you want a candle that smelled like pumpkin? Pumpkin doesn't smell like anything but wet earth. If you want ... what did you say Christmas tree? I'm sorry I think I can't provide you with plastic material, why won't you try Thuja, dear? —Oh, wonderful you made the right choice. Other than that I highly suggest not burning cinnamon, it's not healthy."

"Oh." Andrew blinked in surprise. By "not healthy", he assumed that meant "life-threateningly dangerous". As much as he wanted to inquire all the "whys" about the hazard of burning cinnamon, he held back, at the same time confused by Miss Beatrice's response.

"Not pumpkin," he clarified, now wondering to himself what a pure pumpkin-scented candle would smell like. "Pumpkin spice. It's got cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger… You use it in pumpkin pie. Not that I eat pumpkin pie, but I really like the smell of it."

Oh well. He wouldn't press his ideas any further if it was only going to lead to more confusion or hassle.

"I'm going to use lavender, because... why not? I don't know what half of this stuff is. You should make a chocolate one... I mean, you won't get to keep it, but at least the room won't smell like scented grass."

It was tempting… But as much as he wanted to experiment, he knew the Chocolate Frogs that belonged to Miss Beatrice were intended for other students to eat, and not for playing with.

"Maybe I'll do it on my own Frogs, when I can get some," he shrugged after a moment's consideration. "These are for the class anyway. I'll just stick with Thuja." That being said, Andrew gathered a small bunch of the bright green leaves, as well as his dowel and wicks, and sat himself and his materials down beside one of the fireplaces.

"Can we color our candles?"

His attention perked at Emma's question. Of course Emma would know some color-changing spells, from her dad no doubt. He remembered when Mr. Hill did a color-changing spell on Kyle's pajamas, revealing magic for the first time to Andrew and his family. That was a momentous event.

He rolled up his sleeves, keeping them out of the way while he worked. Overhearing some of Miss Beatrice's guidance, he quickly figured out the process, mainly observing from other students and occasionally tapping on one of them for confirmation, how the wicks were to be assembled and which way the herbs should be mixed in with the wax. He was careful not to put too much Thuja in his concoction, keeping the aroma subtle. With a dowel, he dipped his wicks into the small cauldron, four at a time. Sure, he supposed some could spell like Wingardium Leviosa to achieve results, but naturally (coming from a Muggle background), he had a fondness of doing things the magicless way. The tedious repetition of dipping candles was actually quite relaxing - if not entertaining - for him, watching the layers pile up as his candles began to take shape.

"You can go to Hogsmeade this year, right?" He asked Emma excitedly, looking forward to his next year when he'd finally have the freedom to be able to go outside the Castle grounds. "I wish I was third year." He narrowed his eyes at Emma with a friendly pout. "You better tell me everything you see, when you go over there."

Word Count: 999 + 482 = 1,481

Béatrice could see the confusion in the boy's eyes. She herself was rather irritated about what he really wanted. His wish for a Christmas Tree smell was still ringing in her ears and his explanation got even weirder. "Spice?" she said thinking hard about anything that would classify as Pumpkin spice. Maybe some plant in the shape of a pumpkin, she marvelled. The way he looked at her Pumpkin Spice must have been something very obvious, but Béatrice had to accept defeat. It probably was the name of a common plant well known in Britain. Just as she shook her head, he continued to and her face lightened up when she heard some familiar names. 

"Nutmeg? This is rather odd. It is a sharp and bitter smell and just like cinnamon, I would not recommend that to be burned, even powdered to dust. If you insist I can try to find some cinnamon or nutmeg flowers." She glanced at the other students who all were engaged with trying to dip their candles by now and nodded. Her office was just around the corner on the other side of the tower, the students wouldn't even notice her absence. 

With every step, the tip of her walking stick was making a ringing sound. It didn't take long for her to breathe heavily. This task was eating up al her energy. 

She quickly found what she had been looking for and hurried back. It only was a few minutes since she had left the students. Secretly she feared to encounter wild chaos, so a sigh of relief escaped her once she saw, that nobody was on fire.  

"Here you go," she finally said to the boy, presenting the dried cinnamon flower. It was only a few petals since this herb was rather expensive and rare and normally she wouldn't give it out. However, she felt bad for not being helpful at all and she wanted this experience to be a fun one for the boy. Just as she gave it to him with a warm smile, the girl had another question.   

"Can we color our candles?" she wanted to know. Again she fell silent. Color? she thought and wondered why candles had to have any color at all in the first place. Adding any color never occurred to her and it seemed unnecessary. 

"I fear this won't be easy, child." Again she felt bad. "Wax is not easy to be blended in with pigments for additional color. You most certainly won't get a smooth texture and even coloring."

OOC: You asked about her marks. No, if you don't ask her again she won't talk about them since she doesn't think about them. They are part of her skin since decades, she barely is aware anymore that they are there. They do have a meaning and they are not random. In fact they aren't normal at all, or not all of them. I will teach their symbolism and usage in my class.

Silently nodding in his response, Emma's eyes looked off to the other cauldrons to try and get an idea of how exactly to make candles. It was never like she had a reason to. Taking the candle wick, she slowly dipped it into the bubbling cauldron. Still, the fear of getting hit with its containments remained after finishing her second year of poisons, remedies, and solutions.

There was part of her that stubbornly still wanted to attempt to color the candle, despite the warning. In fact, the warning only fueled her yearning to color the candles and gave her an idea. Polka dots weren't bad, and what looked more ominous than a dark circle? Any color was better than the boring old tint they already had, but she dipped the wick in the cauldron and mentally shook her head. Shrugging at Andrew, Emma smiled weakly and looked up to distract herself, the candle still inside of the wax. 

"You can go to Hogsmeade this year, right?"

Nodding excitedly, she took the completed candle out of the wax and set it down to begin on the next one. Once again the brunette was faced with the same question, but it was at her best interest to randomly pick out an herb. "It's great and all, but the new classes... nevermind." She stopped herself, her surroundings catching up to her. "Just takes getting used to, I guess."

"I haven't been yet, but I'll bring back a bunch of things." She stated, eyes at the door instead of on her cauldron. An idea popped into her head, and although technically illegal, it didn't hurt to try, right? Many other students had done it as well. It wasn't like she used the slip anymore. It was practically a useless piece of paper she kept at the bottom of her trunk. Whether the thought remained or not, she took her second candle out of the cauldron and set it on the table to signal she had finished. Pivoting in her seat, she grabbed her bag and dropped her wand into one of the pockets. "Are you ready to leave?" 

The chocolate frog card packages had been scooped up into her hands to avoid the chance of potential burglary. It was her chocolate. A short wave met the professor as she walked out the door, Andy trailing closely behind her. Stopping abruptly in the hallway, she turned on her heels. Half-jokingly, she asked, "Hogsmeade?" 

Word Count: 400 +  547 + 334 = 1281

"That would be…nice," he said in reply to Miss Beatrice's proposal on cinnamon flowers, wavering with a sheepish smile. He felt a little guilty for causing this much confusion -much to his own confusion -for Miss Beatrice, watching her trek across the room in search of the herb. He wasn't expecting this much hassle for something he believed to be so small. In fact, he was beginning to think that Miss Beatrice might not be from around… here. But with so many kids in the room requiring supervision, now was probably not the best time for him to be hounding the older woman with questions.

He trailed a few steps behind Miss Beatrice, not sticking to her heels like glue, but keeping tabs on the professor's whereabouts nearby, in case he needed to be summoned or pay attention to her for some reason. 

"Ooo, thank you Miss Beatrice." He accepted the flower petals gratefully, bringing them closer to his nose so he could sniff their aroma. Maybe not as distinct of a scent as cinnamon sticks, but the petals would suit his purpose. After all the effort Miss Beatrice had exerted to try and appease his request, Andrew wasn't about to reject her kind-hearted offering. Thuja & Cinnamon Flower had a nice ring to it.

He returned to his work station, feeling like a scientist as he experimented with herbs. After grinding up the cinnamon flower, he'd mix it in with the Thuja-infused wax, wafting up the scent from the cauldron along the way as the mixture stewed, blending the two fragrances together. Not a bad combination…

"I fear this won't be easy, child. Wax is not easy to be blended in with pigments for additional color. You most certainly won't get a smooth texture and even coloring."

"What about a color-changing spell? Could that work?" Andrew piped up from where he was sitting beside his fireplace. If it were a spell, then no actual pigments would be used to color the wax. Problem solved, right?

After she had returned to where the boy was attempting to make his candle, she looked over to the girl, who has made great process. She had finished several candles in a short amount of time and it looked as if she started to get impatient. Béatrice eyes fell on one of her candles and she had to smile. The texture was rough, and the form was far from perfect. It would burn, sure. All candles could burn, but her haste had made the candle worse than it could have been. She considered asking the girl if she needed help fixing, but she already signalled that she was done. No need to step in at that point.  "Well done, child," she simply said with warmth in her voice. 

The boy seemed genuinely happy to get the additional ingredients, which in return made Béatrice nod in approval. He was, however, fixed on the idea of turning the candle into various colours. She still didn't understand why a candle had to be in any other colour. Their only purpose was to light the room, a colour wouldn't do anything additional. 

"A spell. Sure boy, if you know any spell that would turn the colour of the candle to what you desire you may certainly try it. But don't expect additional help from me, I can only give you the necessitys for your candle." She lifted her walking stick a bit and pointed it in the direction of his table "And you would do good in starting to make your candle, your friend wants to leave." She waited a few seconds and eventually took a turn, heading to another table where she was needed.