Draughts and Distractions
Nova coughed as she entered the Potions Classroom, the air already making her eyes water. The lesson hasn’t even started yet! She thought to herself as she looked around the familiar area. The desks were arranged with precision, each holding a few vials and a small source of fire. As she looked around, she noticed the majority of the tables were already claimed, her peers sitting in silence.
She hadn’t expected to encounter a situation like this and was about to panic when she spotted a desk with only one person sitting there. A girl in Ravenclaw robes with wavy hair obscuring her face. Nova sighed in relief and made her way over, dropping her bag onto the table. She shot a smile at the girl as she took out her equipment. “Hi, sorry if I’m intruding.”
Her tone was sheepish as she spoke and finally sat down next to the girl. She rested her elbows on the desk, attention already shifted to the Professor instead. As he spoke, Nova copied down some notes, occasionally drifting away and doodling before returning to her ‘Attentive Student’ façade.
As soon as the Professor had told them to get to work on the Drowsiness Draught, she turned to her supposed partner with a small grin. “I didn’t properly introduce myself, did I?” She asked rhetorically before continuing, putting out a hand to shake. “I’m Nova. From Hufflepuff, but I’m sure you could already tell that from the robes.” She gestured to her robes with a flourish.
She got up and quickly returned with the ingredients they needed, dropping them onto the table. She looked at the girl, already grabbing a mortar to crush the Bdellium in. She shot a small smile at the girl again, the only sound being the stone pestle against the mortar.
Thoughts - Italic ~ Nova's Speech - #a88400 ~ Dove's speech - #1f2def
NOTES@Dove CullenWORD COUNT: 302/200 wordsForward dated to September 2, 2025
Last edited by Nova Astron on 19 Jul 2025, 18:34, edited 1 time in total.
Draughts and Distractions
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Okay, still five more minutes to wait... Dove thought, as she was waiting in front of the potion's class door. Her second year had finally started, and she had been waiting for this moment for so long she didn't think she could wait for five, no wait now four minutes, before strating her favorite class : potions. She had started to browse her potion book the day she bought it, so she already knew what was waiting for her as soon as she would be entering this class. Two minutes now, oh gosshh this is so long. A few students arrived in the meantime, people she didn't know, or at least some she had barely seen in the hallways or maybe in classes last year.
She tried to think to something else, her family she was already starting to miss, the library she would probably go to the minute she would find time to do so, and also-
The door finally opened, but even if she couldn't wait to enter into the classroom, she let fellows going into before her, so people wouldn't believe she was some nerd or someone like this. So here she was, standing outside the room she had waited for too long for another minute, before finally putting her feet inside it, and choosing an empty desk, where she would follow the following lesson : Drowsiness Draught potion. She didn't know if they would only do some theory, or if they would directly start with some concoction.
She was getting all her stuff out her school bag, and putting it on her table with precision, when she heard some steps coming towards her, and stopping into some heavy sound of a bag bumping into the desk. She turned her head to see who dared to act like this, and before even seeing a hufflepuff robe, her eyes were stopped on the girl's face, on her curly brown hair, which had golden highlights. But what was hypnotizing her the most were her light brown eyes, perfectly matching the rest of her physical features, and- oh no, that smile. The unknown girl had the most gorgeous smile she had never seen before, and above all it was addressed to her, Dove, the most random person in the castle.
She was too tuned to speak, and respond to her. She didn't know what was happening inside of her, she had never felt this way before. Her hand were getting sweaty, and she was cold, no hot, no cold, well she didn't know, maybe she was sick, or stressed, since she had some ball growing inside her stomach, or heart, but why would she be stressed ? She had waited for this class for so long, and she was feeling absolutly normal a few minutes ago. Was it this girl, whose entrance made her starting to feel this weird ? But why would it do this, after all she had never seen her in her life before. Okay Dove, breathe, it's gonna be alright, you're just tired. She took some deep breathes, and tried to act the most normal possible.
But when she was finally starting to feel a bit better, the breath taker introduced herself to Dove. Wow, Nova, that is a beautiful name, and it suits her so well, I couldn't give her a better name for her and... No stop, what is happening to you Dove ?
"Ho yeah, cool, hum I'm Dove and from hum Ravenclaw. Nice to hum see you, well I guess, well yeah."
What the hell, why was she stuttering like this ? It had never happened before now ! Oh no, she will think I'm some weirdo girl or something.
She decided she will never speak again, or at least in this class.
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@Nova Astron
Draughts and Distractions
Nova laughed a little at the girl’s stutter as she tried to speak. “Relax, I’m not a Professor that you have to be so nervous around,” She joked lightly, looking into the deep bowl to check her progress. “And Dove’s a pretty name, you’re so lucky!” Nova continued as she added the sticky paste to the cauldron, already reaching for a Chamomile leaf.
She continued grounding the leaf consistently until it turned to a powder. She pushed the mortar towards Dove before reaching for something in her bag. “Here, could you toss this in?” She asked with a smile before pulling out another quill as her first one had broken. It luckily hadn’t spilled ink on her parchment and it was still perfectly dry.
She glanced down at one of her doodles, a PygmyPuff with a judgmental face worse than she had gotten from people. Still cute. She thought to herself as she drew a little friend next to it. She grinned as she finished her masterpiece, sliding it to Dove to show her. “Look! My art skills are finally improving!” She exclaimed with a grin.
Dove’s shyness didn’t bother her. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She was quiet in the way that made her seem kind and approachable. It wasn’t stand-offish, or rude. She quickly pulled the parchment back as she turned the heat on after the powder had been dropped in. She glanced down at the very short notes she had taken, counting to 25 Mississippi before turning the fire down.
“Yay! We didn’t burn anything down!” She said cheerily, flipping through her Potions books for the next thing to do. Nova tapped her quill lightly on the desk, then gave Dove a sideways glance. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “you’re not bad at this. And I don’t just mean the potion. You’re, like... very calm. Steady hands. Exactly what a good partner has.” She shot Dove a quick grin, dropping her quill down. “We make a good team. For now, at least.”
Thoughts - Italic ~ Nova's Speech - #a88400 ~ Dove's speech - #1f2def
NOTES@Dove CullenWORD COUNT: 337/200 wordsForward dated to September 2, 2025
Draughts and Distractions
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Dove tried to clear her head, think of anything but the joyful girl next to her. She knew something strange was happening to her, well more precisely into her. She could feel it, she didn't know exactly where it was, but she sensed it either on her stomach, or... her heart ? No, she said she needed to clear her mind. She acted weird with Nova, and she was so mad at herself for that. Of course, Dove was used to be shy, she had always been, and was still now, but she knew how to put that anxiousness out of her body to act "normal" when it comed to talk to new people, which didn't happened for the hufflepuff girl. Why ? She prefered not to know. But now that she was breathing, again, and thinking of something else, she was feeling a bit better, which was perfect to follow class.
However, she heard a laugh from her left. Her heart recognized it before her mind did, since it beated faster, wow, that's going too fast, stop !! she said to herself. And it did beat slower now. Not because she asked herself to, but because Nova appeased her. She didn't seem mad, of embarassed by Dove's stuttering, on the contrary, she slightly joked about it. Now that the heart was being calmer, Dove's cheeks decided to get hotter. She hoped Nova wouldn't notice it, since she could feel it got more red when she complimented her name. Does she really mean it ? Gosh she's so nice, and we only met a few minutes ago. Or maybe it's only because she has pity on me ? No, I don't think so. Well, I don't hope so. Focus Dove, class has started !!
And indeed it had. She saw Nova preparing some mixture. Are we making a potion ? Since when ? And then it all made sense. She thought she was listening to the teacher, but she wasn't, and since the beginning. She didn't know what they were making, and what she had to do. She didn't dare to ask Nova, she wanted to act like she knew what she was doing (she was obviously not). But when the pretty, hum no, the hufflepuff girl asked her some help, she could sense some relief. "Oh hum yeah sure.
Once again, we needed to be really focus to hear what she just said. But she didn't care, Nova asked help from her, and she would do her best about it.
She finally understood what she needed to do, and decided to take some initiatives. She could hear scratching near her, and even if she could feel the urge to see what was Nova doing, she managed to focus on her task (and was quite proud of it). Then, Nova showed her was she drew, it was so pretty ! But, except the drawing's beauty, what pleased Dove was the fact that her desk neighboor showed her this drawing. She really is so nice.
Then they finished the potion together. It wasn't this difficult now that Dove understood her task, but it felt like the most amazing class she ever had. She wished it never ended, so when it did, she sensed some sadness, or something not really positive which she couldn't put a name on it. And this contrasted with Nova's joy, who seemed quite excited with their result. Dove was too, of course, and didn't understand why she couldn't share this happiness. Last year, even if she liked to prepare mixtures, her favorite part was seeing the result of all her efforts. Now, it seemed to be the contrary, and she couldn't understand why. Nova talked again, she loved hearing her voice. Well, loved was a big word of course but... anyway. Dove listened with her biggest attention.
Was she doing this on purpose ? Being so sweet at her. Did she want something from her ? She was obviously overthinking it, instead of taking the compliment. But she lost every confidence of her since the beginning of the class, she didn't know how to react. But it pleased her, really much. Her heart and her cheeks were still acting independently from Dove's desire. She had to answer to her, or she would seem mean, or rude, but that smile... made her lose all her words.
"Thank you, you are really swe- hum pre- hum nice, and hum efficient ?" Stay calm Dove. "I hope we stay paired in potions during the year."
That was better, and almost without any stuttering ! She didn't know what time it was, if class was over or not. She didn't wanted it to. But what did she want ? Being friend with Nova ? Yeah, that seemed obvious, since she was nice and all.
"Do you think hum class is over yet ? Well, I hoped not, because, hum, you know it was cool."
"Cool" ? That was definitly not the word for it. It wasn't "cool", it was amazing, and unique. And she hoped they would see eachother before next class. Well, she'll see.
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@Nova Astron
Draughts and Distractions
After the majority of the lesson had passed, Nova had finished the potion with Dove and was now carefully pouring some into the small vial that had been resting on the desk they shared. She listened intently as Dove finally started speaking after staying quiet half the lesson.
It always pleased Nova when people felt comfortable enough with her to share what they were thinking. She glanced up as Dove stuttered out a response, smiling a bit. “Efficient? You clearly haven’t seen my never-ending list of things to do,” She joked, twisting the top of the vial on.
It was true. No matter how much she could accomplish in a matter of days, it always seemed like the list had somehow gotten bigger when she wasn’t paying attention. She used to suspect it wrote things itself just to make her more irritable and take away her free time. She smiled as Dove said she hoped they would stay paired and nodded in agreement. “Me too, you’re so good at Potions.”
When Dove muttered something about it being “cool,” Nova laughed under her breath. “Glad to see you think I’m like a block of ice,” she responded, resting her head on her hand. “You’re not wrong, though. Most people hate Potions or say it’s stressful.” She continued thoughtfully, eyes flickering to meet Dove’s.
“The lesson is probably going to finish up in a few minutes, to answer your question. You should pack up, too.” She said with a grin, starting to pack up. She pushed in her books and quills, leaving only a few scraps of paper on the table. She paused, pulling her bag close to her side as she waited for dismissal.
She turned to Dove with a smile again—warm and friendly. Dove seemed sweet, albeit the shyness. It was rather charming to Nova, making her want to get to know her better. “If you want, we could pair up again?”
Thoughts - Italic ~ Nova's Speech - #a88400 ~ Dove's speech - #1f2def
NOTES@Dove CullenWORD COUNT: 323/200 wordsForward dated to September 2, 2025
Draughts and Distractions
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Dove freezed for a second at Nova's joke. She didn't get it at first, she thought she made some mistake or something like that, thinking she definitly should have used another word than "cool" ; and then she understood the joke, making her let a tiny sight of relief.
She listened to Nova attentively, but it was hard to focus since she met her eyes, which were looking at her. Once again, her cheeks, her eyes, reacting weirdly. Gosh, I thought it had stopped. Am I ill or something ? At this thought of maybe starting to have a cold, she had the fear she could give it to her hufflepuff neighboor. Therefore, she slighlty move away her head from her while responding, still stuttering, to her.
"Yes I- I don't really understand why they don't like it."
And then she looked at her, observing details from Nova, her skin was a bit tanner than hers, which was perfectly matching her curls, and it looked so soft, so perfect and-
This human work of art withdrawed her from her thoughts. It it already the end ? It went so fast... She thought. She was feeling some disapointment, and... sadness ? Really ? It's just a potion class, she needed to chill out a bit. She saw Nova pack up her stuff, as if she didn't care like her it was over. Dove started to overthink, again, she probably was the only one, between the both of them, to have felt this way. What did she feel ? She wasn't sure, it was all new to her she had never experienced it until now. She didn't know if she could put a name on it, and just hoped it was some sickness or something like this happening. But anyway, Nova seemed pretty normal, well she had never seen her before, but she was sure it was her usual behaviour, beeing so nice with people. But deep into her, Dove hoped she was nice for her, and only her. Wow stop, this is creepy.
She finally realised she still hadn't packed her things, so she started it, before hearing another time Nova's pleasant voice, which made her feel suddently way better than a few seconds ago. She turned her head the moment she understood what was happening, and she finally said, from the beginning of the class, an un-stuttered sentence.
"Ho yes, I would totally love that !"
If she could, she would have added "you are the best potion partner I've ever had", but it might, well must have been a bit weird. She thought she would leave class being almost nostalgic, but after all she was going to join her common room with a lighter heart than she entered the class, an hour before.
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@Nova Astron