Have They Died Yet? PV. G. Abonos Closed

Grayson wasn’t one for sitting at the back and he certainly wasn’t one to talk in a class but he had been curious about Ami and he didn’t recognise any of the other faces in the room. He smiled dutifully in greeting and then hurriedly unpacked his bag. It was only the comment about professor Valtome that gave him pause. Growing up in the highlands he had always been informed that the more rugged and muscular men were the more attractive, interesting that the concept wasn’t uniform across the country.

Potions wasn’t his strong suit, his Familly rarely put much stock into it and although he had read the theories he had rarely seen them in practice. Religiously scribbling down every word of the lecture in his own unique code to denote the difference between core facts, interesting side notes and anecdotal associations. Fortunately he was practiced enough with a quill that this task wasn’t overly taxing for him, unlike many students he had learnt to write with a quill before he had encountered a pen, and this afforded him a small sliver of concentration to spare.

”Really? The most gorgeous? I guess I could see that.” If course he hadn’t contemplated how this might sound, to Grayson this was a simple fact, “Doesn’t it seem a bit irresponsible to teach first years deathly potions?” he mumbled as he watched the professor to ensure he evaded any attention for chatting, at least until any practical elements got under way.

"Mm, yes, but he's preparing us for the real world, Abonos," Ami murmured under her breath, flipping a page in her book and pad simultaneously without a second glance, continuing her neatly meticulous scribbling on the next page. "Who knows when you'll have to poison someone at a moment's notice?" To her utter and deep disappointment, however, Professor Valtrome began class with teaching the standard stuff, picking up right where Professor Ethel had left off. Boring. Really, and here she thought that they would learn something interesting from their mysteriously gorgeous teacher. Weren't the strange teachers supposed to be the best?

Her mind itching for some stimulation, she closed her book with a sharp snap and set it on the table the two shared, and tore out a blank sheet of paper from her legal pad. "Do you know how to play?" she asked in a low voice, drawing out a large tic-tac-toe box. Within each box, she drew another grid, and within each of those, another. "This should keep me occupied for the rest of class, if you wish to indulge me in such a game." Taking her pen, she made a small circle in one of the boxes, waiting to see if he would pick up.

Grayson stared blankly at the grid in front of him. This some sort of game? What were the rules? Did it do anything? He didn’t see Ami put any perceptible enchantment on it, unless the quill had been charmed but that seemed rather unlikely. In his brief time in a muggle school he had seen a few games played in classes, but he had never played one himself. He racked his brain for games involving circles on a grid but all he could come up with was the toe tac thing, that would make him a cross right? But the board was way too big for that game. Of course he could just say that he didn’t know the rules but that might make him look stupid. Maybe he could pick it up as he went?

Taking a wild stab in the dark he made a cross next to Ami’s circle and suddenly realised had lost focus on the class. Leaving a small gap that he’d fill in later he resumed his notes, he would have to play quicker if he was going to do both at once so he hesitantly relented and confessing his lack of experience, ”I haven’t played this before… is that right?”

Ami sighed almost imperceptibly, annoyed that the Ravenclaw apparently was brought up a pure-blood (or so it seemed, she could be wrong). Really? He didn't even know tic-tac-toe? "Tic-tac-toe, you're x's, I'm o's. We go back and forth taking turns drawing our respective marks, and you try to get three in a row, diagonally, horizontally, or vertically, in one of the smaller squares. Whoever wins that small board gets their mark on the medium square, and whoever wins the medium board gets their mark on the large square. You got it?" Ami whispered in rapid fire, still going along with Professor Valtrome's lecture. 

Really, in her mind, tic-tac-toe, dots and boxes, and 8-ball pool were the three most fundamental games that every kid should know. While 8-ball pool couldn't exactly be played at a moment's notice, tic-tac-toe and dots and boxes were easily available if you had a pen and paper. They required basic logic, and were fun to play. Do wizards have this kind of thing? she thought to herself, curious. Hmm. I know they have violent chess... but maybe they have a card game, or something like that. Right? I mean, what do wizards even do for fun in their free time?

Ami’s sigh was not as imperceptible as it might have been elsewhere. In the back of the hushed classroom it was just a little too easy to pick up on and Grayson felt his face heat in response.

Right so it was the noughts and crosses one, just a kind of supped up version? At least now he could try and focus on the lesson as well. Was that ok though? Shouldn’t he pay attention to the lecture? He wasn’t one of the bad boys that sat in the back and… played tic tac toe. Well maybe he wasn’t exactly a bad boy, but it was still further down that line than he normally was. It was strangely exciting though and he had enough concentration to split it between the lecture and a game, after all if a Ami could do it surely he could too?

“Ok so it’s just a mega-tic tac toe.” He still wasn’t a hundred percent on the rules but he felt that he had enough of a handle on them to actually stand a chance. Quickly reaching out he scored his X on the parchment just as the professor turned away for a moment. “So what happens when someone wins?” Something always happened when someone one here, whether something exploded, changed colour or jumped up and down nothing ever seemed enough to just have a straight forward winner.

Ami blinked at Grayson in surprise at his question, her hand faltering just slightly before continuing to scribble away. "When someone wins?" Ami echoed, confused. Surely, he didn't expect a prize, or something? "I- I mean, nothing happens, I guess. You, er, get the satisfaction of a game well played, I suppose." She made another mark, and looked up with interest as Professor Valtome's lecture started to wind down- now, they were getting into the practical part of the class, actually brewing a potion.

"Excellent," Ami said satisfactorily, her eyes glinting with excitement as Professor Valtome barked the instructions to making the potion, Antidote to Common Poisons, telling the students to partner up with whomever was sitting next to them. "Abonos, don't let me down now," she murmured, sliding the tic-tac-toe board over to him, then standing up to retrieve materials and proper ingredients.

Glancing at the chalkboard, she quickly jotted down the ingredients and materials needed, as well as the general instructions, and headed to the storeroom with the other students to retrieve the ingredients. "Bezoar, bezoar, bezoar..." she mumbled to herself, scanning the many shelves of the small pantry. "Ah, there you are." Grabbing a small container of unicorn horns as well, she brought the two exotic ingredients back to their table, and took the standard ingredient and mistletoe berries out of her store-box of potion ingredients.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Ami asked politely, setting the bezoar in the mortar, and handing the pestle to Grayson.