Why You? PV Dawn Riley Finished

Dawn was really happy. Hufflepuff had just won their first quidditch game of the season again the Slytherin Snakes and Dawn's mom had just recovered from a sprained ankle and her aunt and uncle decided not to file a divorce after all. Why should potions class be any different?


I mean, the lecture was pretty short and they would actually get to brew potions today. The petite Hufflepuff was seated alone, byt that was bound to change at some point. After all, they were always partnered up in groups of two to brew a potion.

As the lecture went on, Dawn happily scribbled away at her notes, eager to get to the brewing portion of the lesson.After a decent amount of time, it was finally time to get to brewing the potions. As Dawn was seated alone, she didn't know who she would be partnered with. Herbrown eyes scanned the room for another student seated alone. Finally, her eyes fell on Bridget Collins, a Slytherin. Dawn was not happy about this, she thought: Why her? Why me? I just beat her tem in quidditch, she's probably a sore loser too. Also, she was beaten by the sterotypically 'weak house'.

Dawns suspicions were confirmed: "Miss Riley, how about you come over to work with Miss Collins?" the professor asked. Reluctantly, Dawn walked over to where Bridget was sitting. Wow, she really must hate me, Dawn thought. Bridget wasn't even remotely looking in her direction, and her cold gaze gave Dawn the shivers.



"Hey there, Bridget right?" Dawn asked, "Well, since we're working together, we might wanna put your quidditch loss aside and get to work!"

@Dawn Riley

As Dawn made her way over to their station, Bridget continued to ignore her. It was only when the Hufflepuff said something that Bridget met the other girl's eyes, although her icy glare was probably worse.

"Yeah," she replied shortly when Dawn clarified that her name was Bridget. She didn't bother asking for hers as she already knew it and really didn't feel like talking any more than was absolutely necessary.

"Who said I had problems with Quidditch." It was a terrible retort and what was happening inside her head went against every word she'd just said, but unless certain Dawn could somehow read her brain it wasn't like she could tell that. True, her expression was probably proof enough but Bridget was not in a place where she could just forget what had happened in Quidditch. Still, saying something felt better than all the times she'd just stayed silent. Dawn hadn't personally given her any reasons to hate her yet but she currently had a dislike for the entire Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

Dawn was right, though, about them needing to start brewing their Sleeping Draught. Scanning her textbook for the first steps, Bridget proceeded to grab four sprigs of lavender and two measures of standard ingredient, dropping them in the mortar and crushing the ingredients together with her pestle. It felt good to work out some of her frustration in the task. And Dawn... Dawn could do whatever she wanted. They were a team today and teamwork usually required communication, but talking was the last thing Bridget wanted to do--if Hufflepuff was better, her partner should have no trouble reading a textbook and figuring out what to do.

As Dawn was making her way over to the work station where she was to brew a potion with the Slytherin, she was completely ignored. It was only when Dawn said something, that the Slytherin girl even looked at her, and this was with an icy glare.

"Yeah," the girl confirmed that her name was Bridget. Dawn was quite surprised at first, when Bridget didn't ask for her make in return. But then, she realised that she probably alreqady knew hers, since Dawn was on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team who had beaten Slytherin just a few days prior.

As if on cue with Dawn's thoughts, the girl said, "Who said I had problems with Quidditch." Dawn couldn't read minds, but the look on the girl's face suggested that she was pretty salty about the Quidditch loss.

Bridget pulled out her textbook and flipped through the pages, trying to find the recipe. And then, she began working, without consulting her teammate first. How rude! Dawn thought. It was pretty clear the Bridget had decided to ignore Dawn and  just let her do her own thing. Luckily, Dawn was smart, so she figured out what was going on. Bridget had just completed the first step, crushing lavender and standard ingredient with a mortar and pestle. It appeared to be Dawn's turn to do the second step. She did this step happily as ever and then  turned to Bridget and said, "Hey, we're supposed to be a team. I get it that you're salty about Quidditch, but we need to start acting like a team. Looking at you, I noticed that you probably have perfact grades like me. If either of us wants to keep that streak, we need to star cooperating. Okay?"

OOC: Sorry for the late and crappy post. As for the late, I had a family trip to Disney for a week, and then family in town for two. As for the crappiness, It's the morning, and I was bored.

@Dawn Riley

Just after she finished grinding the lavender and standard ingredient to a creamy paste, Dawn jumped right ahead and added the Flobberworm mucus to their cauldron. Although Bridget was a bit annoyed by the Hufflepuff taking action as it was a clear reminder that she did have to work with her, it was slightly satisfying to have the other girl do the somewhat disgusting part. Then, she had to go opening her mouth again and saying all sorts of things that totally made Bridget sound like some immature little kid throwing a tantrum. And the group next to them starting to stare at them in a 'why aren't you working' sort of way was definitely not helping.

Bridget took a deep breath before looking at Dawn again. "Okay, let's get this straight. We're not teammates. We're partners. And I could brew this potion perfectly and in less time on my own, which makes you, by definition, an inconvenience. I thought our current method of taking turns doing steps was fine, but if that's too complicated for your small Hufflepuff brain to handle, by all means, come up with something else. Or, better yet, just let me do the work. I really don't care, but I'm not wasting any more time talking to you."

Despite how she'd said the words quietly, she could still feel the stares of several of her peers. But she didn't care at the moment. Her only goal right now was to get this Hufflepuff to shut up so she could finish her potion, get a good grade, and continue on with her life. Reading the next line of her textbook, she once again momentarily ignored Dawn, executing the next step of adding two measures of standard ingredient to the cauldron. Then, she worked on gently heating the cauldron, starting her mental count to thirty. Sure, it was two steps, but she wasn't going to wait around for her useless Hufflepuff partner to get on board.

@Bridget Collins

Dawn was tired of the "I'm still annoyed at you and I'm totally better than you" vibe Bridget was giving off. She also didn't like the stares they were getting from her classmates. She had already tried to tell Bridget about his, so the only logical option was to ask her classmates to stop staring. Maybe it would draw less negative attention to the two girls constantly arguing about their potion. 

Turning to her fellow Hufflepuff beside her, Emma Dace, Dawn said, "Hey could you guys please stop staring at Bridget and me? It's drawing all kinds of negative attention to us, and I really don't like it."

Emma replied, "Sure thing! I'd never want to make my friend feel bad!" And then turning to her partner, Lulu, she whispered, "Lulu, can you pass this on? Please stop staring at Dawn and Bridget, they don't like it."

Turning back to Bridget, dawn tried to follow her and find which step she was on. Having been talking to Emma, she didn't quite know where they were. Daw decided that she would prepare, but not carry out the next few steps after the one she did, and then ask Bridget after she finished. She carried out this plan and then turned to Bridget (who was still counting, but Dawn didn't realize this,) and said, "Hey, partner, what step are you on? I can't help get us a good grade if I don't know what to do."

@Dawn Riley

One, two, three... six, seven, eight...

Eight seconds of peace and then Dawn had to interrupt again. Couldn't she go back to talking to her pushover housemates? Seriously, when someone told you to stop staring, you didn't usually pipe up excitedly about how happy you'd be to do just that. Most people would look at you weird and simply do a better job of making their staring discreet instead of stopping entirely. And, really, Bridget would've preferred Dawn didn't mention the fact they supposedly didn't like people staring (the fact was true but Bridget wasn't going to admit it) because apart from the select few that listened, that just drew in more people's attention.

Still, Bridget could've ignored all that and focused exclusively on her mental timer had the insufferable Hufflepuff she was being forced to work with not addressed her. Rolling her eyes as Dawn now insisted on emphasizing 'partner', she could feel her face going nuclear. There were too many eyes on her, too much frustration brewing in her blood.

She didn't mean to stop counting. It just happened. One moment she was thinking 'seventeen, eighteen, nineteen...' and the next words were spewing out, bits of fire escaping her mouth before she could think them over, before she could lower her voice. She certainly wasn't screaming, but anyone anywhere in the classroom with any interest in hearing her would. "I suppose it would be too advanced for you to observe what's going on and figure that out yourself?" she started, although it came out as more of a sneer. "Step six, for your information. And what part of 'I'm not wasting any more time talking to you' didn't you get? Maybe you think that since you won against me in Quidditch I'm supposed to, I dunno, bow down and worship you? Well listen up, partner. The world doesn't revolve around you. So use whatever few brain cells you have to figure out what's going on instead of chatting to your friends."

Bridget, quite busy spitting venom at Dawn, had completely forgotten about her count and thirty seconds had most definitely passed. Although she didn't yet notice, the potion had turned a very vivid shade of magenta, not at all the dark purple they were aiming for...

Dawn was hurt. She had always had friends. Here it felt like she hardly had any. Only enemies. She knew Bridget had a good reason to dislike, or even hate, Dawn, but she was hoping Bridget would find it within her to put aside their differences and at least work together for one class period. She looked to her partner and said, "Look, Bridget. I don't know what I ever did to insult you, but I can ensure you it was never intentional." She was starting to get pissed now. "We don't have to be friends. Hell, we don't even have to be friends at all, but can we at least be civil and put our differences aside so we can get this project done?" Dawn looked down to the girls' potion. It was most definitely the wrong shade of purple. "Also," she added, pointing to the cauldron. "We messed up the potion." Dawn began to look through the instructions, trying to figure out where they screwed up. Dawn began to read the instructions one by one.

Sleeping Draught

Recipe:

1. Add 4 sprigs of Lavender to the mortar "Check,"

2. Add 2 measures of Standard Ingredient to the mortar "Check,"

3. Crush into a creamy paste using the pestle "Check,"

4. Add 2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to your cauldron "Check,"

5. Add 2 measures of Standard Ingredient to your cauldron "Check,"

6. Gently heat for 30 seconds "That's what happened..."

In the end, Dawn decided that she had interrupted Bridget's counting and that's where the potion had been cooked for too long.

OOC:
Sorry if the post makes no sense. I did my best to post in between schoolwork and chores and art and so many other things I could never list them all. 
~ Dawn

@Dawn Riley

Naturally, Dawn countered Bridget's insult with a retort of her own, although if it was meant to be offensive, it had failed. The Slytherin wasn't bothered by her words in the least bit. With a roll of her eyes, she muttered, "Congratulations. You finally caught on. We are most definitely not going to be friends."

Then, the Hufflepuff said the potion was messed up. Startled, she turned back towards the forgotten brew. "No no no..." The potion wasn't the correct color. At all. Dawn took the aggravating liberty of reading off each and every step, but Bridget already knew where they'd gone wrong. Where she'd gone wrong. She'd abandoned her count and given the Hufflepuff her attention instead of just bloody ignoring her, and now things were bad. The brunette had never blundered a potion like this before, yet here she was, about to fail. The prospect of the horrifyingly low mark she was bound to get sent her into a panic, mentally grasping around for a way to fix this. But by the time Dawn was done talking, it was clear there was no way out of this.

"Yes that's what happened!" She was pretty much screaming at the badger now, although the shrillness in her voice had far more to do with her fear of the imminent moment the Professor noticed how badly they'd done than loathing for her useless partner.

That moment was upon her all too soon. "Miss Collins, is there a problem?" Yes, there was a problem. The professor was coming over to their desk, and he was going to see the now bright pink liquid, and she was going to get called out in front of the whole class... And then, at the worst possible moment, it happened. The potion exploded.

Both Bridget and Dawn were splashed by the scalding pinkish liquid. Before she could stop herself, she let out a little shriek. It hurt. Her arms had taken the worst of it, but some had splattered on her torso, eating through the fabric of her robe. A stray drop had landed on her forehead, too, and she was overcome with the sensation of burning that she'd become all too familiar with during her duel. But worse than the pain was the utter humiliation. The staring had been bad before, but now every single head in the class was turned towards her. Some of them were laughing, others sneering.

With a frown, the Potions Professor, seeming to decide now was not the best time for a lecture, told them to head to the Hospital Wing. Bridget didn't argue--she was desperate to leave the room, and besides, the burns hurt. She refused to cry, though, and she didn't run out of the classroom either. Trying, and more or less failing, Bridget held her head high as she exited. As soon as they were out of earshot from the classroom, Bridget said one last thing to Dawn. "I will get you for this."

Bridget Collins has exited the thread.