Changes With A Drop PV Marco Jackson Closed

He stood awkwardly next to his table glancing over the room. He's... he's the only one without a partner. What a great way to start this lesson off. He seemed to catch a few giggles and whispers from a few of the students. Something about a girl with a Poor. He seemed a bit surprised, but also bad for her. Why would they laugh at another's misfortune? It wasn't right. He huffed a bit, going to seek out the girl. Maybe she doesn't have a partner as well?

That's just wishful thinking, Marco.

He carefully walked over to a gloomy girl, feeling his own mood dampen a bit. Poor girl, he should maybe try cheering her up. He opened his mouth to speak-- oh, no she's getting up, so he steps aside silently as she collects what she needs before returning her table. Alright, try again, Marco?

"Excu-" His voice was interrupted by the slamming of a book against the table, causing him to jump and almost cower away a bit. Maybe this is a bad idea? What if she just yells at him for bothering her? No, Marco, that's not what Lyrell taught you. Be kind and thoughtful of others.

He tries again.

"E-excuse me." Oof, that accent. "You have... no partner? May I?" The words may have sounded strange leaving his mouth, with the accent and slightly broken English. He inwardly cringed at the words. "If that is okay, of course."

The agitated girl groaned when she saw the series of steps that was required to create the potion. The forgetfulness potion already had a total of 11 procedures even though was at a beginner's level. It made her wonder how challenging it will be to create a vail of an advance brew.

E-excuse me.

Her head shifted slightly when she heard a feeble voice beside her. Her eyes rolled as she turned to her inquirer.

"What do you want?"She snapped. She let out a long puff of air, clearly bothered by the boy's presence. She could identify that he was somewhat afraid of her. Who could blame him? She herself thought she wasn't in check of her emotions today, she didn't bother to. Aurelia was upset and she let herself be.

"You have... no partner? May I? If that is okay, of course.

The boy took a while before replying, stuttering with the words that rolled of his tongue as he did. He seemed to have an accent, it wasn't English nor was it from Netherlands. Her father was from Netherlands and her mother, Germany. She never heard an accent like his. His English wasn't too good either, he definitely wasn't from England or Scotland. She didn't bother anyways, Aurelia was used to hearing all sorts of accents in Hogwarts.

Aurelia didn't mind a partner, but it would be awful if the ruined her potion. A devilish though crossed her mind, she could use him as a test subject to ensure that the potion was effective before bringing up to the teacher, it would most likely pull her grades up. That undeniably would put a smile on her face, if the method worked, at least.

"Well, whats stopping you? Its not like I own this seat." She gestured to the stool beside her.

"Do you have a the Magical Drafts and Potions textbook?" She asked but put her book in front of him without hearing his reply. Time would be thrown to waste if she waited for the boy to take out his.

"Read this. The steps are here in section two." Aurelia pointed briefly before turning back to face her cauldron.

She slipped her cherry wood wand from her pocket. The tip was directed towards the glass of Lethe River water as she said, "Wingardium Leviosa," The bottle was lifted from the table and it followed the movement of her wand. She gingerly waved it so the fragile vail tilted to the right and slowly set it down when two drops rippled into the Cauldron. The brunette could have used her hand to do it by herself but she could use some practice as the spell was only taught the class before the current one.

She pointed the wand at the coal underneath the cauldron. "Incendio." She murmured the incantation and a the coal glowed orange from the flame.

"Put it out in twenty seconds," She instructed the boy.

Reducio

- Add 2 drops of Lethe River Water to your cauldron
- Gently heat for 20 seconds
- Add 2 Valerian sprigs to your cauldron
- Stir 3 times, clockwise
- Wave your wand
- Leave to brew and return in 45-60 minutes
- Add 2 measures of Standard Ingredient to the mortar
- Add 4 mistletoe berries to the mortar
- Crush into a medium-fine powder using the pestle
- Add 2 pinches of the crushed mixture to your cauldron
- Stir 5 times, anti-clockwise
- Wave your wand to complete the potion

He could feel a bit of anxiety tug at his gut as she responded. He can understand the harsh tone and sequence of words 'What do you want?' quite well. He doesn't like it though. It's an unnecessarily rude way of greeting someone, but he says nothing of it, letting his eyes wander as she seemed to dwell over the question as if wondering if letting this small boy be her partner was worth it. Please let it be worth it. In the time she took to respond, Marco even opened his mouth again, ready to say 'nevermind, sorry' but she spoke before he had the chance. He's going to regret this later, surely, he can already feel it.

"Well, what's stopping you? It's not like I own this seat." He... didn't catch that well, but nodded anyway, slowly sitting down. The other questioned her about something he needed and knew what she meant. he placed his own book on the table as she instructed him. He didn't really know what she was saying, but that didn't really matter. Marco already knew how do do this, Lyrell had taught him last year. Now, that's not to say he did it well, but he still did it nonetheless. After the twenty seconds had quickly passed, his voice gently rang the words 'Aqua Eructo', revealing once again that strange accent. The fire was out, so he looked to the book for the next step. If you were to compare Aurelia's book to his own, his would seem... different. More handmade and the language wasn't the same. All of the words seemed to be in Russian. He did have another copy in English, but he prefers this one much more.

"Добавить две валериановые веточки в котел (Dobavit' dve valerianovyye vetochki v kotel)" He spoke to himself. This roughly translated to 'Add two valerian sprigs to the cauldron'. He did as instructed, looking to Aurelia with a nervous smile. Did she think he was weird for speaking a foreign language? She probably thought he was weird, oh no. He should have brought the English version of the textbook today. But wouldn't that make him look more foolish? Being unable to pronounce some of the words correctly? Would she have thought he was stupid, or illiterate? These thoughts knawed at the back of his skull.

The boy had placed his own textbook on the desk, the words seemed to be different for far away. He had put if the fire at exactly twenty seconds as he was told. The potion would be ruined if he had prolonged it for just a second or two. She was glad he didn’t. He looked down at the words of his book and read in a language foreign to her. She didn’t understand what he was saying, the brunette however, knew it was Russian. A few of her mother’s friends were Russian and it her ears heard how it sounded liked

It was still uncommon for Russians to be seen in Hogwarts as they usually got an invitation letter for Durmstrang instead. She heard that Durmstrang did not accept muggle-borns and perhaps even half blood, she wasn’t sure about that.

“Russian?” She asked with her eyebrows perking up. The boy was already gingerly placing two sprigs in the cauldron. Maybe having him as a partner wasn’t that bad.

“I have not seen many of you guys around in Hogwarts.” She had meant Russians. She herself spoke dutch and haven’t seen many Dutch speakers around either. Most people in Hogwarts were Irish and some of them even spoke French.

She could feel his eyes boring in on him, glancing over as he began on the next step, which was stirring the pot 3 times. Oh gosh, she did think he was weird, didn't she? He knew it! He should have just left her be, maybe then he wouldn't be bothersome.

The reasoning for them being sent to Hogwarts specifically was because of Lyrell's indolence of one of the previous professors there, who had offered to take her under his arm and teach her some things before she entered Hogwarts. Their family was ecstatic to hear this, seeing as Durmstrang also had a bit of a... dark past, to say the least. Never would their father want his children to fall under such misguidance.

When the other had spoken the simple question 'Russian?' he actually seemed to smile a bit, nodding. "Yes! My family from Russia just moved to here two years ago. I'm... still adjusting." There's that broken English again. "Do you think... I'm weird?" He asked hesitantly. His face flushed a second after asking the question. "Ah, sorry, that was str-stange question." He muttered. He tucked some loose locks of hair behind his ear, smiling at her.

"Now we wait, yes?" He asked her, cocking his head to the side a bit. He already knew the answer, but asked anyway, maybe to engage in conversation.

The boy explained to her about his family and they moving from Russia to England. He wasnt fluent with his words and stuttered a lot, she didn’t mind. Aurelia would do the same if she were to speak German. She was fluent in English, the Dutch language, however, was still learning her mother’s language. Her attention was brought back to the cauldron after he was done blabbering about his family.

She needed it to get the brew done as quick as possible even though it stated that they had to patiently wait for almost an hour. She also wanted it to be as effective as possible. Her grades had to be pulled up. She took the laddle and brought it around the pot three times before tapping it at the rim so the residue on the spoon dropped back into the cauldron.

He suddenly asked an intriguing question,

Am I weird?

She though that it was an odd question. Well, which student would dare to plop themselves beside a gloomy girl that could give them hell any moment? In fact, she agreed that he was wierd, she had noticed how nervous he was when he sat on the stool beside her.

He then regretted the question.

Ah, sorry, that was str-stange question.

He said, smiling embarrassingly.

“Yes, it was. To answer your question, yes, you are weird.” She said nonchalantly. Her wand was waved gingerly above the rim of the cauldron. She sat it down after she was done.

Now we wait, yes?

he asked stupidly. She ignored his question, the answer could be found in the book, what for ask her?

Time ticked by. Two minutes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. The painstaking silence was starting to annoy her.

“So how do you like England?” She asked breaking the awkward silence.

He's glad that the other still seemed to talk to him even with his hard understanding of the language. most would just brush him off and not talk with him. At least she's TRYING to talk to him. Even if not everything she says is... the most kind. But whatever, at least it was something.

His eyes widened a bit as she stirred the pot again. "W-wait! It was already mixed--" Ah, too late. He fell silent quickly. The other was nervous, indeed, but his main goal was to make her feel better, but he didn't seem to be doing a good job. Unless his arrogance is what she found amusing. Is that bringing up her mood at all?

He nodded some as the other answered his question. Ah... he should have left her alone. He seems to only be making her mood worse. Was she always irritable? She's different from what he expected a Gryffindor to be like. He expected someone more like Lyrell. She was a kind Gryffindor, full of valor and independence She's not very kind if kind at all. Well, at least she's trying to put up with him, yeah?

What she called awkward silence, Marco actually quite enjoyed. While waiting, he had pulled out a book and began reading. This one was in English, instead of Russian. It was one of the books Lyrell sent him with to practice his speech. He seemed to flinch a bit as the other spoke again as if he had forgotten she was there.

"It is different fff-from home. A lot moare crowded. I had difficult time adjusting so far, but I had my сестра (sister) help me out most of time. She was a Gryffindor too, like you." He seemed a bit happier when speaking about her. "You would like her. She makes best pastries, really coura-courageous, strong-willed. Very deserving of Gryffindor name." He stated the last part with a firm nod. He seemed to be talking more, is he getting comfortable? "I too wanted to be Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat had different plan. I can settle with Hufflepuff though."

It is different fff-from home. A lot moare crowded. I had difficult time adjusting so far, but I had my сестра (sister) help me out most of time. She was a Gryffindor too, like you.

Aurelia listened as he spoke. She didn’t understand the Russian word he said but she knew it referred to a woman when he said “her”. Maybe it was his mother, sister, or maybe possibly his girlfriend. She didn’t bother to ask.

Her head peered over the cauldron and she realised that something was not right. The content wasn’t supposed to have bubbles that thickly. She groaned slightly when she remember that the boy had already stirred before she did. She suspected that it was due to her mind stressed with the recent failed assignment that she had not notice the boy stirring the cauldron.

“Oh mijn god,” she swore under her breath in her common tongue. She took the cauldron and poured it in the sink without the Russian boy’s consent. Aurelia wiped the boy clean and repeated the steps, this time ensuring that she did not mess up. Within a minute, she had a new mix of potion brewing.

She wasn’t use to the new change in potion partners. Her absent partner had always told her what to do and she followed and when she did a step wrongly, her partner would always notify her about it. Now she and the boy were far behind the other students. At least she wouldn’t poison him when she got him to test it.

You would like her. She makes best pastries, really coura-courageous, strong-willed. Very deserving of Gryffindor name."

He continued.

“Who is she? Mother or your Girlfriend?” She asked, attempting to clarify.

He sweats a little as he watched the other restart. No, you don't get to say Marco didn't say anything because he did, she just wasn't listening to him. He had told Aurelia to stop when she had done so, but she wasn't paying attention. But besides that, he did feel bad, seeming to shrink a bit in his seat.

"Oh? I thought I said 'sister'. Lyrell is my sister. I have't seen my mother in years, and me getting girlfriend is... unlikely. Friends are unlikely too. Not many people like me, if you can't tell." His pronunciations throughout that were actually pretty decent, better than before for sure. "B-but Lyrell is really good person! Best sister I could ask for. She is very cool, she graduated top of her class a few years ago. I strive to be more like her."

He seemed to get this little glimmer in his eyes, as if talking about her brought on a bit of courage, even a bit of happiness, to his tone. It was sweet, he definitely lost that cowardice from before. His voice was brought to a normal level instead of his usual hushed and shy voice. How cute.