Absolutely Pleasant PV Mari Haynes Closed

Mari didn't particularly like Potions. She much preferred Herbology. There was less stress. She couldn't mess it up as easily. It was outside, not in the dank, miserable dungeons. She didn't really understand why anyone would find Potions a better class than Herbology.

She tried to pay attention, much as her mum would like her to, but her attempts were feeble. Mari found herself thinking of the lake and picking more flowers for her family as she listlessly stirred her potion clockwise. At one point, she realized her head was drooping further downward - she quickly jerked herself straight, and looked towards the Professor's desk, wondering if he noticed. Mari found most all of the professors intimidating, but Professor Nagal, with his bluntness, particularly so. Granted, it did not take much to make Mari scared of a person of authority. Nagal could have simply talked directly to Mari, and she would be fearful of him.

Still frightened of punishment, Mari tried to focus on something other than the potion before her. Obviously, it was not going to keep her awake, and as it was now turning a sickly shade of green, she feared it was a lost cause, anyway. Just a few more minutes of pretending, then you can take a nap, she thought feebly as she searched for something to concentrate on.

Just a few rows ahead, she watched the Ravenclaw girl, Vince. Her ears seemed to be turning more pink in color; Mari wondered if that was just her normal coloring. She couldn't help but remember how awkward she was when they had met prior... Not that Mari could judge. As mentioned, really if a person of authority even spoke to her she would behave quite uncomfortably. More ridiculous, baseless judgements had been made by many people in society. It happens.

As she contemplated Vince's general existence, Mari noticed that a girl seemed to be muttering about her. Distance was not her friend in this situation; Mari could not make out the words being uttered. The loud smack of a hand contacting table, however, was enough for Mari to gather the general context of what was happening. She raised herself, feeling quite bad for the girl - she was awkward but did not deserve to be tortured. Although Mari hated inserting herself in uncomfortable situations, having met the girl, a Hufflepuff's loyalty was bound to get in the way of other instincts. She figured the easiest way to help the girl while remaining true to herself was to just not interact with the other students altogether. There was no reason to torture her, anyway. She was just minding her own business, as Mari usually did.

"Your potion sure looks better than mine," Mari interjected, smiling at the Ravenclaw girl. She nodded toward her cauldron a few rows back. "Though...I suppose neither are right. I'd rather a pink potion than a pea green, though. Maybe if we work together we can make two wrongs into one right?"

There...that was enough to save her, if she wanted, Mari thought to herself, as she began to walk back to her own seat. She didn't check back to see if Vince followed her, though she had quite a few doubts that the girl would. Vince, awkward as she was, didn't strike her as someone who would remove herself from an uncomfortable situation too easily. Mari, though, as much as she wanted to extend a helping hand to the girl, wasn't one to interject herself into said uncomfortable situations, so she did not wish to linger. It was up to Vince to make the next move to save herself.

[quote][font=times new roman]Vince remembered this girl; she'd been there when that boy had climbed up the tree and had gotten scared. This girl had been the one to take first action, although it hadn't been well thought out action, and helped the boy most of the way down before leaving down to the cushions on the ground that Vince had placed. She had wanted to ignore the whole thing and go about her business but seeing the Hufflepuff take action had sparked the little amount of benevolence that Vince had inside her, making her act when she usually didn't act.

She darted her eyes upward at Mari then back down at her pink filled cauldron, stirring it tentatively. By now the other students who'd bothered her for a small mistake had went back to their business, seeing that they had gained absolutely no reaction, or achievement, from her. It wasn't like she cared either way, she just didn't like unnecessary attention directed onto her, especially when she was making mistakes on purpose. But she appreciated Mari's attempt to save her.

A green potion, though, probably meant that she'd messed up either with the beetle's eye or the porcupine quills. They were supposed to extract the retina beforehand and the porcupine quills were supposed to be diced than crushed, an important instruction for an even more important result. But telling that to Mari right off the bat probably wouldn't go well, but she felt that it would be right to accept her offer of help though Vince definitely didn't need it. She could've mastered it the first time but she wanted to experiment, just like any mad scientist would.

After the Hufflepuff went back to her seat, she presumed, Vince sat there in silence, taking stock of what she had. She still had enough supplies to make the correct potion this time, although she'd either need to ask for more ingredients or borrow some haliwinkles from Mari. It would be easier, and slightly less uncomfortable, to just follow the girl instead of approaching the intimidating professor, since there'd probably be a scene because of how soft-spoken she was.

Vince collected her items and cauldron, carrying them over to the table where the Hufflepuff sat. Giving her a small smile, she sat down and begin the correct way on making the potion, and this time it seemed to look right. Glancing at the cauldron, she said, “ You might not have added enough porcupine quills... ”

She had been shocked to see that Vince had actually moved her belongings near her. Based on what Mari knew of the girl, Vince wasn't one for bold, deliberate choices. Though the heckling had stopped, it seemed to Mari that completely moving your belongings was quite a big choice. Granted, the Ravenclaw had surprised her before. Mari wondered what happened to the pillows and blankets that Vince had used to stop her and Palmer's fall from the tree. Did she take them back? Mari couldn't remember.

Either way, Vince suggested to Mari that she needed more porcupine quills. Mari sighed. Potions was such a drag and stressful; not that Mari doubted the girl, but she feared that adding more porcupine quills would make the potion explode upon her face. She feared seeing a disapproving look from Nagal if that were to happen. There was only one solution and that was to test the girl's knowledge, first. See if she was to be trusted on potion knowledge.

Mari busied her hands, making it seem as though she was doing something productive, when in reality she was just grinding the same section of porcupine quills over and over again. They were bound to be too fine by the time she was done testing Vince's intelligence, but, Mari supposed, that's what the storage rooms of ingredients were for. Still grinding the quills, she inquired, "Have you done a lot of potion-making before Hogwarts?"

Honestly, Mari didn't know what she was expecting from the question. Who had? It's not like any parent, even if the child grew up in a magical home, would be like 'Here, child, play with some dangerous things that you don't know how to use!' In all honesty, it was more likely that the Muggleborn children had a better chance of 'knowing' potions: 'Just a little drop of bubble water, some food coloring, and voila! Red bubble water.' Still, it didn't hurt to ask. Maybe the Ravenclaw would surprise her, yet again.

Growing bored of her grinding and noticing that the quills had turned into a very fine powder, she continued to appear to be busy by opening her schoolbag and ruffling through its contents. As much as Mari had wanted to be nice to Vince, she hadn't considered her awkwardness. The girl made her uncomfortable. Mari thought she was considerably awkward, but Vince had her beat on a whole 'nother level. When she silence was too much, even though she was "busy," Mari filled the air with some more babbling: "I don't know much about Potions, but it is far too tedious for me. Clockwise, counter-clockwise...what does it matter? I'd much rather be outside. I love Herbology. And I'm really looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures. I can't believe we have to wait two more years for that. Do you think Professor Griffith would let me just sneak into a class? I'm small enough, I could hide."

She continued to babble, honestly losing sense of what she was saying. It was some more nonsense about creatures and wanting to take the class now. In essence: useless information. Mari would do anything, however, to make the awkwardness dissipate.

[quote][font=times new roman]Vince watched what Mari was doing, but with no noticable reaction. She'd let her see for herself if it worked, that's how she learned things. For her life was a trial and error journey, and you either leaned from your mistakes or you didn't. Vince herself could learn a few things about social interaction but then again why would she even try hard enough to be more charismatic when it wasn't in her best interest?

Mari was grinding them way more fine than they needed to but Vince knew that it wasn't a big deal, as long as they were grinded. It would take forever for the liquid to absorb a solid object than something crushed into a fine powder anyway, so the Hufflepuff was doing fine. She seemed annoyed though, and Vince felt bad. She didn't try to be obnoxious, if that was the problem, she just knew things and didn't try to hide her knowledge. While boasting was one thing, sharing was another and she hoped this girl knew that.

After dumping the contents of her cauldron, doing it so quickly and unnoticeably that the professor most likely never noticed, Vince started anew, chopping then grinding the porcupine quills, taking out the slimiest parts of the beetle eye, crushing the haliwinkles stems and sprinkling the buds into the liquid, and then added the bits of rat spleen into the bubbling liquid. Soon she was stirring a purple and green liquid, the colors swirling together and smelling strongly of sage. To Vince it was a lot like cooking, all had to do was follow instructions, following them with your heart. You just had to trust that you were doing the right thing when you went off course.

Mari asked her about her potion-brewing past and a dark look passed of Vince's face. Her eyes were narrowed and she gripped the ladel hard; most of the best parts about her younger days were full of the times with her best friend, and now all those good times had turned sour. One day changed it all, made Vince go from a bubbly, happy child, always making friends and adventures wherever she went but now she was just some grim, sorry kid who didn't know a hello from a goodbye, since neither of them mattered to her anymore.

Since she refused to answer, the awkward silence rolled on way longer than even longest possible and it clearly had made Mari uncomfortable because she started going on about something Vince was half-listening to. Memories were flicking through her head, the hard expression still resting on her face. The potion was long finished but looking busy never hurt anyways. She heards bits about clocks, Professor Griffith, and herbology, not necessarily in that order though. She had to admit that herbology and Magical Creatures were fun classes, actually they were technically her favorite ones, but she liked the History of Magic, learning about the how's and why's of things were great interests of Vince. She found it sad that some people disagreed.

The babbling was getting intense. To stop it, Vince interrupted her by dipping her ladel into Mari's potion. “ Why don't we test this? It looks better now. ”

Mari didn't really notice the hard look on Vince's face, as she was too busy trying to fill the awkwardness with the sound of her own voice. She had forgotten how uncomfortable this girl was, even though their experience on the grounds hadn't been too long ago. Stammering and short sentences were Vince's specialty. These traits were quite unlike Mari, who was just as awkward in a different way. If they kept running into each other and starting a friendship, they were bound to be quite a weird pair. As Mari knew, weirdos only got ridiculed. If she hadn't had Lucy to protect her, she would have had first-hand experience of such ridicule, herself.

Mari wondered what Lucy was doing right now. She was probably goofing off in class, disregarding the lessons even though she was bound to still receive top marks. Lucy, the social butterfly, had loads of friends, many of whom Mari regarded as her own friends, though now, she knew they really were just Lucy's friends all along. She had always lurked in the shadows, never really feeling comfortable enough to show her true personality, reserving it only for Isa, Ewan, Lucy, and Grace. Even then, though, Grace was the only one who knew Mari's true personality. She was always hiding parts of herself from someone: Mum mustn't know that she hated studying, Dad mustn't know that she loved magic, Lucy mustn't know that she wasn't nearly as cool as she wanted to be. Grace, at six, didn't care about school or popularity, and because she knew she'd likely go to Hogwarts one day, she found Hogwarts fascinating. Mari was able to tell her everything: about how she loved Herbology and Herbology alone, how she was preparing to go to a dance, even though she didn't really understand how to gussy herself up for something so formal, how she had accidentally proposed a date to a boy even though she hadn't intended to... Granted, Grace usually just responded with tales from the sandbox of pictures of unicorns, so she wasn't the best conversationalist. But that was better than nothing, wasn't it?

Maybe Mari needed someone who she could be her own, awkward self around. Maybe Vince was it. She would let her talk, that's for certain. Really the only difference between Vince and Grace was that Vince was about five to six years older, however. She seemed just as good of a conversationalist as Grace. With quite a few less unicorn pictures.

Her reverie was broken when Vince decided to speak. She had managed to keep babbling although her thoughts were elsewhere; she really was a near professional at getting lost in her thoughts and talking aimlessly. It was such a shame that these two traits were not viable career options. What she had not, however, realized was that Vince had somehow fixed her potion, confirming it by saying that it "looked better now." Mari looked sheepishly up at the girl and passed a silent thanks with her eyes.

Try it, though? The thanks quickly flickered away and Mari looked at Vince dubiously. "To be quite honest," she muttered as silently as possible, hoping that the Professor would not hear but Vince still would be able to, "I don't even know what potion we're making. I...wasn't really listening before. What if it's poison?"

She knew that Vince would not laugh at her; despite being a Ravenclaw, the girl had proven that she was not a know-it-all like so many others (Mari's mum included) could be. Mari eyed the ladle. Vince had also proven that she wouldn't hurt Mari, having been the brains behind the cushion of blankets and pillows for her and Palmer to drop onto. But still. She was scared. She had already had a bit of trouble at Hogwarts before, and Mari did not wish to make any return trips to the hospital wing. She looked at Vince hopefully, wishing that, for once, the girl would say more than a few stammered words to calm her nerves if she really wanted her to try the concoction before her.

[quote][font=times new roman]Vince hesitated for the briefest of seconds, only long enough to come up with a solution. She'd seen the look of appreciation from Mari but it had quickly turned into uncertainty. Testing a potion they'd been unsure about just a moment ago was a little daunting, and she couldn't blame her. Vince had messed up her potion by choice, not by accident, but Mari had no way of knowing that.

Stirring it a little, Vince murmured, “ It's...not poisoned. ” She said it in more of a distracted way than uncertain or uncomfortable, she was thinking about something. Looking up she noted that the teacher appeared to be busy with other students so they probably wouldn't take note of Vince's crazy next action:

She took a big gulp of Mari's potion.

Letting the ladle fall back into the cauldron, she doubled over, a fist to her mouth as she tried not to throw up. Her eyes were squeezed shut, in pain but more in surprise; it tasted like peach flavored dirty socks, and she had no idea what dirty socks even tasted like.

She was so discreet about what she going through, hiding partially underneath the desk. She gagged, feeling like she was going to breathe flames any minute now. She rubbed her neck, her throat feeling sore but the effect was slowly going away. It was as if she'd eaten the worse ghost pepper in the world, one that tasted like fruity garbage, really spicy garbage. Sticking out her tongue, Vince wiped her finger on it and it came off as a green. She grimaced and slowly sat back up, staring at the desk with a pained expression.

She sat there for a moment, in silence, then glanced at Mari. She opened her mouth to speak but instead a loud burp came from her mouth and she clapped her hand over her lips. Eyes wide, she stared at Mari in surprise before she burst into silent laughter, tears streaming down her face.

Although Mari was mildly soothed by Vince's comments that the potion was not poisoned, she was not expecting Vince to prove it. Her mouth gaped open; she looked like an idiot, but what else could someone do when another did something so ballsy! "Y-You're sure you're not a Gryffindor?" She breathed in awe.

In this moment, Mari had realized that some of her initial suspicions of Vince were all wrong. Yes, the girl was awkward, but there was a sort of fire in her that Mari longed for. She may be lurking in the shadows; however, she did not deserve such a placement. The only reason she seemed to be in the shadows was because she chose to do so. Vince was...fun. Knowledgeable. Brave. On the surface level, she seemed quite similar to Mari, but deeper down, she was so different.

Mari suddenly wanted her as a friend. A comrade. She needed one. It had been almost an entire year, and she felt close to no people, even acquainted with very few. No one had tickled her fancy quite enough for Mari to want multiple meetings out of desire, rather than necessity. Vince was seemingly unpredictable, though, and Mari was always on her toes around her. She thought back to their first meeting, when Mari thought Vince was an idiotic Ravenclaw, misplaced into the house. She still wondered if Vince was misplaced, but for quite different reasons...

Part wanting to prove her worth to the girl, part shocking herself, she impulsively took the ladle and dumped it herself to get a swig. She wasn't scared, having watched the initial reactions of Vince's own ingestion. Vince hadn't died yet; Mari assumed she would have keeled over immediately if the potion had truly been harmful.

The potion had a discernible peach flavor and something else that Mari couldn't quite put her tongue on. Whatever it was, it was disgusting. She nearly gagged at the taste and wondered why she hadn't brought water to get the horrid sensation out of her mouth. Suddenly realizing that she was still holding the ladle, Mari let it fall back into the cauldron with a dull clang while she fought a gagging sensation. Vince was now under the desk; no wonder. Mari carefully positioned herself under as well; she knew that if she had moved much quicker, she would have fallen to the floor, surely making the other students aware of their antics.

Just when she thought the horrible taste was gone, she realized that the only reason she could no longer sense the gross peach mixture was because her tastebuds had been roasted to point where all she could sense was fire in her mouth. She eyed Vince apprehensively, only getting out one word: "W-water!" Hopefully the girl had some; she needed to put out these internal flames! If Vince had some, she would drink it appreciatively, only to realize it had no effect.

Not much longer and Vince's effects seemed to be waning. Mari panted; she hoped the potion reacted the same to her as well. Her desperation for water continued to mount; for a brief instance she thought of ladling another portion of potion to quench her thirst before thinking better of this plan. Her next best method was to exhale the hot air, so she held out her hands (they were always quite cold in the dungeons) and began to breathe, heavily. Was that...smoke? Mari wondered as she breathed.

Almost as soon as she began to breathe, the effects began to end. Mari was uncertain whether it was because the potion was wearing off or her breathing had counteracted the potion. Eyes glinting as she reemerged, she looked at Vince with a bemused expression; now that she did not feel as though the insides of her mouth were quite literally on fire, the whole situation was rather amusing.

Vince was looking at her. Mari noted that she looked as though she wanted to speak; instead, a loud belch emitted from her mouth. Mari couldn't help it; she cackled. As soon as the laugh began, she mimicked Vince by clapping her own hand over her mouth. The girl was crying but clearly amused as her shoulders shook with laughter. Mari fought everything to keep her laugh as quiet as possible. But she couldn't help it; she needed to comment on the situation at hand. She hoped that class was nearly over, eager to speak unrestricted with the girl she now so greatly admired.

Her burps were not nearly as loud as Vince's massive one, but her speech was tainted with a mix of giggles and small belches. "Not - burp - poisonous, eh? Giggle." She playfully nudged at Vince's shoulder. "Merlin's beard, that was - giggle - horrible! I got the - burp - peach flavor but what do you think - burp - that other one was? And did your - giggle, instantly followed by a burp - mouth feel on fire?!"

This was, quite possibly, the happiest Mari had felt since coming to Hogwarts. Maybe there's a benefit to taking risks, she wondered to herself. Life's not as fun if you don't try mysterious potions! ...Course, after your deskmate tries them first.

[quote][font=times new roman]A fair amount of students had heard the informal sound that she'd just made. Normally Vince would've turned red and ducked her head, but she didn't really feel like she needed to...with Mari next to her. She still turned red, but it was really because of the giggles that were just disappearing, and it was still incredibly funny. She'd never done something so...uncaring in a long time, and she was surprised that she did it was Mari around.

When she first met this Hufflepuff she thought they wouldn't become friends. No, she thought Mari would bully her for being so weird like a lot of other students, but it turned out to be quite different; she actually seemed to like her now, and that made Vince happy.

Mari nudged her shoulder, still giggling as well. Would they ever stop? Maybe she noticed as well how uncharacteristically that was for Vince, but she didn't know that she was actually okay with that, doing something so...normal. She agreed about the poison, they would've indeed keeled over if it turned out to be anything toxic. Vince should be incredibly grateful it wasn't the case.

Clearing her throat and whipping the tears from her eyes, Vince said, “ Um, I got a sock flavor...I don't really know what one tastes like, but...magic is good with giving you a great idea. ” The hotness has long disappeared but it had left a memory of itself on her tongue. “ It was probably because of the haliwinkles, it's a strange plant... ”

Vince looked away for a moment, then back at Mari. “ ...um...do you...do you want to eat in the courtyard for lunch...today? ” She was pink with embarrassment this time, she expected for her to say no, and was already ready for the disappointment. It was alright though, she was use to eating in the library anyways, sneaking food up there so she wouldn't be bothered by the noises in the Great Hall. She'd never gotten caught, sometimes she felt like a shadow to everyone, clearly there yet still unseen. She didn't realize that she was frowning as she started cleaning up her things, since the class was about to end.

The giggles ebbed and flowed in waves of excitement. Mari was struck, once again, with the fact that she felt pure glee. It seemed now that she had a place at Hogwarts; at least, a place in this Potions classroom. With Vince. While she was used to being in the shadow (Lucy) or an association (Lucy's friends) in friendship, she felt, for once, that this could be a relationship of equals. It was a new concept to Mari, quite scary, in fact, but at the same time, relieving. It was though she could actually live, unabashedly, as herself.

What a novel concept. Also novel? The fact that when Vince mentioned a suspicious sock flavor, Mari's eyes gleamed. "Yes, that's it!" She yelped, as the giggles returned. Mari had no idea what in the world a haliwinkle was but nodded as if she did. Clearly becoming the next Potions master was not in her future. She hoped it wasn't a plant, as she did enjoy Herbology enough to know the basics, and would be quite ashamed if it was, in fact one.

She paused on Vince's words of magic giving you a great idea. Magic was strange. Not much else could be described as the senses, alighted and intensified. It had a way of making you feel things you'd never felt before. What Mari normally was used to, in the Muggle world, as inanimate became more than just personified but real. All these things manifested themselves in her classes, much like they had here, with a simple and, once labeled, clear taste of dirty socks. Even with such a disgusting taste, magic tempted Mari to want to learn more; even if she didn't want to always do her homework.

Vince, much to Mari's surprise, had more to say, so she could not linger much longer on magic and all its brilliance. Also to Mari's surprise, Vince seemed to have a frown on her face while she cleaned up her ingredients and materials. Her words did not seem deserving of such a frown. Perhaps she was nervous or embarrassed, though Mari wasn't quite sure why. It was, she supposed, best to ignore the perplexing behavior. Vince was clearly fun, but she still did have some quirks about her.

A simple, toothy grin replaced her giggling expression from before. "Of course," she replied, as she began to pack up her own materials. "I can't say that I've had many lunch plans before this one."

While that sentence normally would have brought further awkward feelings upon Mari, she was struck by the fact that she felt an ease when relaying her insecurities to Vince. It was as if she could trust her. Weirdly, Mari thought, she hadn't really experienced that feeling other than with Grace. Even Lucy put her just a bit on edge. Perhaps her vision of friendship was not only lacking but ever so slightly wrong. Perhaps Vince could teach her.

She would just have to see. For now, however, as she finished cleaning her mortar and pestle to put it away, she said brightly, "So, Great Hall, then? I sure hope they have pot roast...I've been craving it ever since Mum mentioned my family had it for dinner the other night."