Try Again PV Sylvain Indarys

Hexcode= #507091

More than excited, Sylvain was jubilant for today's potions practical. Having stayed up extra late to combine with the rest of the Ravenclaw exam think-tank, the star-struck scholar set his sights on the first of what would hopefully be an entire academic career of Potions Exam O's. Confident that nothing could derail him from scoring as highly as possible, Sylvain strutted into the classroom proud of his preparedness. Sylvain strutted as though he hadn't spent the last week pulling his hair out after endlessly preparing flash cards, memorizing formulae and preparing himself for what he should do were any part of the brewing process go wrong. Optimistically, the boy looked forward to whatever unknowns the new professor Ostrowski might throw at them for finals week. Secretly, he feared as though he might have missed some minutiae of information that would blunder the whole thing.

Looking proud as a peacock, Sylvain's aura of confidence evaporated the moment he observed Miss Choi walking through the door. In what might only be described as abject horror, Sylvain's expression drew tighter as the pale skinned and raven haired witch walked right over to his exam table. It was, as he began to understand for the first time, a paired practical and it was the only path he hadn't been prepared for. From experience, Sylvain knew his assigned partner disliked potions, or at least that she had claimed not to. Not exactly reassured by her efforts during their last attempt to work together, Sylvain clung tightly onto hope that she knew the weight of this final for him. Letting go, Sylvain di his best to hand wave any mixed feelings that he still had. When she called him by the wrong name again it stung and made him grit his teeth a little, but he still couldn't find the courage to correct her.

“Sylvia…? You’re my partner?”

"It appears so Miss..." remembering her request Sylvain caught himself before making a mistake, "Calanthe." As he looked her over, Sylvain could tell she was nervous, it practically seeped from her pores and it seemed particularly strongest when she spoke to him. Pulling her chair out so she could quickly sit and hide her embarrassment, Sylvain's face relaxed a bit but his voice still carried clear concern. "Look, you seem a bit nervous and that's okay. I'll do my best if you do yours." Reassuringly, he smirked. "There's absolutely no point in getting too worked up over a potions test okay? We're going to ace this working together."

Optimistically Sylvain still had hope the pair could achieve an O on this final together, but seeing potential for failure caused him to reluctantly let go of what attachments he still had tied to the outcome of the exam. Admittedly, Calanthe's comfort was vital to their success. The elixir minded mage had studied plenty enough to know that he could rely on what he knew, so he would do his best to communicate what he'd taken time to learn over the last semester. "But I am only going to say this once, we will know no end of embarrassment if we try to do something and don't understand what we're doing. If that happens just tell me, and we'll figure it out together okay?"

He hoped that whatever misunderstanding caused them to learn their lesson last time had stuck, and that his willingness to preserve their dignity was more than enough to keep her honest with him. "Same goes for me, if I get my head on backwards you'd better tell me."

@Calanthe Choi

Mortified for both herself and her partner, Calanthe hesitantly took the seat next to Sylvia. She wished books were allowed in the classroom so she could bury her head in one or hide behind a stack of them. No words could find their way to her mouth and the witch could only stare at the boy’s familiar blue eyes.

In retrospect, Sylvia was one of the very few people Calanthe interacted with in the past year. While their interaction was nothing positive, it was a memorable one, which was rare for the quiet Gryffindor. All the time had somehow blurred together in her mind with only vague recollections of snapping at her dormmates or asking the other loners she sat with at dinner to pass the provisions. But she remembered Sylvia and Ross. Vividly.

Not missing him calling her Calanthe after a beat – she was thankful to not hear that blasted Miss Choi again – she smoothed her robes down and offered him a smile. The kind of smile that she forgot the feeling of until a couple weeks ago when she finally started understanding the required readings for Astronomy.

The silence that Calanthe was stricken with had not seemed to affect Sylvia as he talked on some. Obviously sensing her hysterical nerves, he tried his hand at calming her. Calanthe respected that, but he would have to try a lot harder. She was always an over-achiever in primary school, studying her head off for the entire term and acing her tests. Never before had the witch spent a whole term without studying nor had she ever walked into an examination room without knowing every point of the syllabus. Calanthe was not just nervous, she was terrified.

Her only assurance was Sylvia sitting next to her, clearly a potions expert and a total nerd. He continued, his words taking on a stern fervour.

“Trust me. If I don’t know what I’m doing, you’ll know in a flash,” she was surprised to get that sentence out in one breath, albeit a shaky one. “I don’t think I’ll know what to do at all,” she muttered, more to herself than to Sylvia. Stop thinking like that, you Pulaski. You’ve read everything. Just rely on Sylvia a little to jog your memory.

“Sylvia, I’ve gotta ask you a favour here. I know I don’t deserve it and I’m pretty sure I’m going to sound like one of those kids who never studied at all and expects their partner to do the entire thing for them, but please help me out. I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” Calanthe hated saying those words. She never had to rely on anyone in school before. She was the kid that did the group project on her own, not the slacker. “Help me out. I’ll do what you say. I know some stuff. Well, I know all of it, but it’s a bit lost in my memories right now. But I think I can do it.” Honestly, this is beginning to sound like a life or death situation. “I can do it,” she repeated firmly, eyes fixated on the professor.

The doors were shut, and a hush fell over the room, eager students latching onto every word the professor spoke. With his announcement of the potion to be made in the time limit, Calanthe’s nerves, which had calmed down over the time she spoke, flared up again.

“Oh gods. I can’t do it.”

Hexcode= #507091

Usually when someone complicity told you to trust them you shouldn’t, but Sylvain couldn’t help but read the desperation between the lines and feel bad for her. Calanthe needed his help and he wasn’t going to let her down without at least attempting to improve their situation. Better to work together in a tenuous alliance than leave her behind. “Sure,” he said calmly with a gentle smile hoping not to interrupt her. Sylvain would carry himself with confidence, doing the work himself, but making sure she learned everything he knew. Not a drop of the pair’s intellect should go to waste. Plus, how often did he get to show off how much he knew?

As the witch went back and forth on whether or not she believed in herself, Sylvain heard the inflamed nervousness in her voice. Curious as to what had she done to be so ill prepared for the potions final, his mind wandered back to the first lesson of potions class, and tiptoed it’s way back to the current day. They had studied far too much since then to cram it all into a short winded explanation. He was going to have to do the work himself while she watched, but he wouldn’t let the opportunity to bring her up to speed slip from his grasp.

Still unsure of just how much information she’d forgotten or missed out on, Sylvain took it upon himself to lift the burden from her shoulders. “I can help Calanthe. YOU trust me.” His voice was almost a whisper, as the rest of the class had fallen deathly quiet. Students scrambled to assemble their ingredients picking the shelves nearly clean of bezoars. “I’ve got this.” He did his best awkward wink to let her know they’d be just fine. Admittedly, it only made him nervous that she might think him creepy.

Moving past the awkwardness without betraying his thoughts, Sylvain motioned to Calanthe’s gloves. “First we have to check the cauldron, get your gloves on.” Sylvain would pull his gloves out from his satchel and put them on. Scrupulously and meticulously the boy peered into the cauldron from several angles, a moment later, he produced a sponge to mop up whatever fluid lingered in the bottom of the cauldron. “Perhaps that was a test, or perhaps that was left over distilled water from cleaning. Either way, we’re taking no chances.”

Next the scholar would look at the list of ingredients, if this was some kind of cruel joke then it was effective and funny. Sylvain chuckled a little before settling on how he’d make the pair stand out as star pupils. “Looks like we’re making an antidote to common poisons.” He scribbled the name of the potion into the top of the worksheet provided. “I know we have the ingredients list here, but I think we should attempt the alternate ingredients list instead. I bet Professor Ostrowski will give us extra credit for not using his Bezoars and saving the school some galleons.”

A confident smirk on his face, Sylvain moved over to the side of the classroom grabbing a jar of honey to make honeywater, several mint sprigs, two helpings of stewed mandrake, and a vial of essence of lavender. Sylvain walked the basket of ingredients back over to the cauldron and read the recipe aloud to Calanthe so the two knew exactly what order to brew in, the quantities of each ingredient needed, and the types of preparation it all needed.

“Oh yay,” Sylvain said with bemusement in his voice as he figured out the next part of the formula. “We’re going to need to make a double batch to account for the creature's size.” Sylvain pointed at the diagram for the potion measurements. “We’re making enough to cure a giant that has been bitten by an adder.” Sylvain filled the rest of the worksheet in where it called for measurements and dosage. “A couple drops of this in the bite and the rest down the hatch should work.” Worksheet completed, he set it aside. It was time for the pair to wrap up the practical portion of potion making.

Ingredients lined the table in a neat and orderly fashion as Sylvain prepared each of them, showing Calanthe each step of the process painstakingly, going so far as to double check the weights of each ingredient to match their weights before having been processed. “Don’t forget, the sum of our potion's ingredients will need to be more than that of its individual parts. If we want to do it right, we’re going to have to use magic too.” Directing Calanthe when to stir and using his own wand as an example, the potions hero guided her as best he could through the process until they were finished brewing. The product completed by their combined efforts, Sylvain motioned towards a ridiculously large crystalline bottle. “Please hold that while I pour.”

His face would become serious as he poured, concentrating on the mixture so as not to lose or waste a single drop. “See? That wasn’t so bad right?”

@Calanthe Choi