Brewing Bonds PV Ruby Cazares Closed

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The fifth years had been assigned to brew their own potions as a project outside of class, and Ruby was about to meet with her partner to get it done. She had studied the subject well and was a top student, so she didn’t expect this to go poorly. The only issue would be if her partner messed it up, but she doubted that would be the case. She had been paired up with Elena Jangleton, a Gryffindor girl who Ruby had not really interacted with on a personal level despite being classmates for the past five years. From what she knew, Elena was decently intelligent—or at least competent—and was a Quidditch player, so she was likely dedicated to things she enjoyed. Ruby hoped that Potions was one such thing.

There were still a few minutes left before they were due to meet, but Ruby swept into the room, punctual as ever. She was pleasantly surprised to see Elena already there, organizing materials. Ruby approached, movements precise and elegant and posture as perfect as ever. She set her leather messenger bag down beside the desk. “Good afternoon, I hope your day’s going well so far. Thanks for getting organized already,” she said with a nod. She was trying to be pleasant, as potion-brewing could take hours and she didn’t want to spend that in a tense environment today. She moved to take out some of her own supplies before double checking that the pot and cauldron were clean with a couple of quick, nonverbally-cast Scourgifys. She then moved to the cauldron and lit the fire to start heating it. “I just figured I’d get that pre-heating,” she explained, and moved to set her textbook on the desk, flicking through to page 81.

She didn’t particularly need the textbook’s aid—like Elena, she had committed the instructions to memory—but it never hurt to make sure. Errors in potions could be potentially fatal. She scanned the page to double-check the next steps. It seemed they needed to boil water in the pot, uproot a Mandrake, and then add it to the boiling water after it stopped crying before they would have a break for 20-30 minutes. She moved the pot to the center of the table. “It says here to fill the pot two thirds of the way full and bring it to a boil, do you want to do that?”

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Now, Elena didn't claim to be a potions genius or anything of the sort but she trusted herself capapble enough to brew up some magic. Potions was one of her preferred subject, it put the mind to the test putting together different things and waiting to see what curious things they could come up with. It was creative in a sense and Elena being a very imagnative person, this had spoken to her almost perfectly. Perhaps that was why she had been so eager to look forward to this project and at the same time, had her finger crossed that their cauldron didn't decided to blow up in their face because she didn't exactly fancy trying to explain how in their fifth year of magical education, they were still making rookie mistakes that were expected of first-years perhaps.

"Hey!" She said greeting Ruby with a sunny smile. The brunette didn't know her partner all that well, sure, she had seen her around here and there for the most part but that was about it, Elena hadn't actually engaged with her in a setting but perhaps this would provide a chance to develop something meaningful here. She nodded her head in silent approval as Ruby made to ensure that their potion-brewing equipment was free of any flaws before they got to any of the main stuff. "Good call." She replied appreciatvely. Just like her, it seemed Ruby had a wealth of experience in this subject area, something that would be welcomed because if one of them missed anything, the other could pick up on it and she found herself grateful for that because the solution they were going to brew was by no means a walk in the park and one deviation from the formula that had been prescribed for them might mean the difference between an "O" or an "T'.

She nodded, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Easy enough, just let me know when you think it's at the right level." She added smoothing her hair back into a bun, her working attire as she heaved the pot towards her grunting with effort. Seriously, you would have thought someone would have filled them with bricks or something. As the Gryffindor began the tedious task of filling the pot currently void of any content to the instructed levels, she kept an wary eye to make sure it wouldn't be overflowing making minor adjustments here and there as needed. "You're Ruby, right?" She asked, a bit of genuine curisoity overtaking her as they labored in the gentle silence of the classroom, just the two of them working to produce probably one of the most complicated brews she had ever undertaken but Elena had always appealed to the idea of a challenge, that was where the fun was. "I believe we've might have run across each other here and there." She said, a faint smile flitting across her face for a moment before shooting a glance back to the pot.

"Right, I think that's just about perfect."

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Elena had greeted her brightly, but not in a way that was overwhelming. As Ruby quickly checked and cleaned the equipment, Elena commented "Good call." Ruby nodded back at her—the recognition the Gryffindor had provided was always nice. Upon Ruby’s request for Elena to boil the water, she moved to fill it without protest, carefully making sure the water was around the right level. It was nice to have a competent partner who did things without protest—it meant she wouldn’t have to worry about doing the whole thing herself. Ruby found her eyes lingering on the other girl as she worked—she was really quite pretty, it was a little distracting (Lovely Creature). Focus, she scolded herself, glancing at the textbook while Elena finished up with the water.

Elena asked for confirmation on Ruby’s name and she nodded. “Yes. Ruby Cazares. And you’re Elena Jangleton?” She didn’t really need to confirm, she already knew the answer. She would have viewed it as irresponsible to not know the people in her year by now, having taken classes with them for years. "I believe we might have run across each other here and there," Elena said. “Yes, it’s a shame we haven’t got to talk much. You seem good at potions, or at least precise and organized—I can appreciate that.” Her words were friendly, but her tone and expression were rather neutral. While she wanted to avoid tension during the brewing of the potion, she wasn’t a terribly friendly person and didn’t particularly care about being liked, even if the other girl was pretty and competent.

The Gryffindor declared the water ready, and it was true, the boiling was visible. “Time for the Mandrake then.” That meant earmuffs needed to be securely placed over their ears. She put on her own pair and handed the one on the table to Elena. When her companion looked ready, Ruby turned to the Mandrake and pulled it out, setting it on the table. She waited out the cries, then placed it in the water, removing her earmuffs and turning back to Elena. “Alright, that will take twenty to thirty minutes, so if we get the next ingredients into the cauldron within the next five to ten minutes, they should finish around the same time.” Her finger hovered over the next steps, for her own sake and so Elena could see what was next.

“I’ll do the honeywater and peppermint if you do the scurvy grass and stirring,” she offered, taking initiative to divide up the labor. She poured the honeywater into the cauldron and chopped up the peppermint sprig, adding that in too. Once Elena did her part, including stirring and waving her wand over the potion, the pair would be left with a little under 20 minutes to kill. Ruby sat down. “So… what do you like to do when you’re not doing this?” There wasn’t a wide range of activities they could do while waiting—they needed to monitor the potion, so they couldn’t leave or do anything that would completely hold their attention. Ruby settled for talking, for the moment. It never hurt to learn more about somebody—knowledge was power, after all. Besides, if Elena proved to be a boring conversation partner, Ruby could just switch to reading, with her attention split between the book and the potion. But, as much as she loved reading, hopefully it would not come to that. Talking was much better for staying alert.

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Elena nodded in confirmation. "That's me, hope you've heard good things." She said with a light smile however sincerly hoping that was indeed what Ruby had heard. It was amusing in a way, the Gryffindor had not started out as what you would call a social butterfly buzzing around here and there but somehow, someway, she had found herself thrown into all sorts of things and then suddenly, half of Hogwarts seemed to know exactly who she was. Well, being on a house Quidditch team also tended to strip away some of that shyness perhaps that she had craved so much at some point and she wasn't really complaining, it might have been fearsome at first to know that other people knew her but she had gradually grown acclimated to it.

It was just a matter of accepting it, something that would happen. In a castle filled to the brim with kids, it was an understatement to say that no one could truly remain anoymous. "Well, I haven't blown up any cauldrons to date and Professor Regan hasn't chewed me out yet so I like to think I'm doing pretty good so far." She said with a grin trying to inject some humor into their ardous task of producing a brew that was easier to fail and harder to get right. Still, that didn't mean they didn't could enjoy themselves and Ruby seemed recpetive enough, sure, the other girl might not have been the most outgoing but but Elena found she liked that perhaps. That type of reservedness, the shroud of mystery surrounding a person that made her want to know more, she'd always been curious although it was safe to say that perhaps she needed to learn that even curiosity had its limits, a lesson she was still in the process of learning as some of her past experiences would attest to.

The brunette nodded as their attention turned to the Mandrake, the bane of any plant-lover. They would wait out the high-wailed protests of the plant before it too was deposited into the watery contents to simmer and brew.

"Gladly." Elena took care to make sure it indeed was the scurvy grass she would be chopping. Too many mistakes had been made by people who rushed their brew, she'd learned her lesson and once satisfied, she nodded before commiting to the task chopping it into fresh, clean cuts before scooping it into the mixture as well.

"..two,three anddd four." Elena finsihed counting off the number of stirs before they concluded.

Now, the only obstacle they had was time and plenty of it too before they had to check on it as she pulled up a seat as well so they had a good view of the potion ready to intervene if things looked like they were going south.

"Well, usually if someone asked me that, I would say Quidditch and then start rambling off the exact broom names and specifiactions of every Quidditch broom in the shed but I don't think we want that." She said chuckling lightly.

Yes, she could be somewhat of a Quidditch nerd if such a thing existed.

"I like being around things, you know? I like having something to do, I always have to be occupied. It's like an itch, I have to scratch it and this is one way of doing that." She said nodding to the potion in front of them.

"Slytherin, right?" She said inquiring to the other girl's house affilation. Actually, she was pretty sure but it was always preferable to word it as a question, just because you'd seen or mingled with a person a few times out of a year didn't mean all of your assumptiosn were going to be correct.

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"That's me, hope you've heard good things." She had. Elena was a Gryffindor born of wizarding blood. She was mostly quiet and seemed to stay largely out of trouble, but got good grades. She was someone Ruby’s parents would approve of, and the Slytherin had to fight to avoid wrinkling her nose at the thought. Ruby’s reputation, however, was not as clean. Even just from seeing her around, Elena would be able to tell that there was something not quite right about the Slytherin fifth year. While she had been a prefect and was known to get top grades, there was something vicious about her. Whether it was the vague darkness that seemed to cloud her presence, the rigid, sophisticated way in which she held herself, or her piercing blue eyes, there was something unnaturally sharp about her.

Not to mention the rumors that she was violent were far from incorrect—whether the people she had hurt had decided to blab or whether it was based off of her reputation alone was beyond her knowledge. Besides, a pacifist wouldn’t have been undefeated in their first year of duelling like Ruby had been. If nothing else, Ruby had built a reputation of power, and that was good because it meant people would be less likely to bother her. However, when trying to be amicable, her strong reputation combined with the aloof way in which she carried herself made for a slightly more difficult time. Still, if someone was too intimidated by her or couldn’t see past that, they weren’t worth her time anyway. She deserved to be with people on her level, nothing less.

It seemed, at least so far, that Elena wasn’t too bothered. Perhaps it was Ruby’s attempts to be friendly that softened her demeanor, or maybe Elena was just tolerant of a wide range of behaviors. The Gryffindor seemed to have a decent sense of humor and not take things too seriously, as she made a comment about not blowing up any cauldrons and not getting scolded by the professor. She would be rewarded with a small but genuine smile from Ruby before they refocused on the potion. Before long, they were waiting, sitting down near the cauldron and talking to pass the time.

Elena commented that she would typically list off all the brooms in the shed and Ruby smiled. “Ah, a Quidditch fan. Well, thank you for sparing me. Hearing about that many broom specifications is a little much for me. I do enjoy Quidditch, though—I was a Chaser a couple of years back, and I always used to play with my cousins growing up. Still, since duelling was reintroduced, I’ve found that to be my calling.” Ruby’s head tilted slightly to one side upon hearing Elena’s next words, both intrigued and slightly confused. “You like being around things?” she repeated questioningly. “As in, you like being where the action is? Or you just like staying busy?”

Elena asked for confirmation on Ruby’s house and she nodded. “I can’t imagine myself anywhere else.” A half-smile/slight smirk twisted the corner of her lips, barely noticeable. If only my parents could see me now. Even when she was home, they didn’t take the time to really know her, and if they did, they would have been more horrified then they already were. Their precious little girl became what they hated. She was out of line, a Slytherin unafraid to state her opinions and bend others to her will, fascinated by the dark arts and everything forbidden. They had never been interested in who she was, only who they wanted her to be, and because of that they had only driven her away, pushed her further into the darkness they so hated. Oh, how they had failed.

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Ruby most certainly was not as keen as to hear just the finer details of the brooms the castle housted in that shed. However, her head perked up in interest at the girl's admittance of her previous experience in the skies. "Chaser, huh? I've always found it to be a bit of a relaxing thing, you know? Flying through the air, wind in your hair, that sort of stuff." Although, she would not recommend doing any of the following when you had a Bludger eating up the distance to you at the speed of light, something she had unforunately been on the recieving end of more than once to be fair but in her judgement, it was perhaps a considerably more safer sport but she admired the other girl for taking on something that in her opinion took a whole lot more of courage and bravado to have to point a wand at someone else even for the sake of competetion knowing full well what the capablities of magic were.

"You know, I thought about duelling at one point but I reckon I'm too nice for it. It seems sort of intimidating to me if I'm being honest. Maybe I'll just stick to Seeking." She said with a light laugh. That statement, coming from a Gryffindor. She had a feeling one of Godric Gryffindor's ancestors was probably turning over in their graves at those words. Still, despite all this, Elena could see something about her brewing partner. Something strong, something firm, she was certainly more than capable but perhaps there was something more, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. The way she carried herself perhaps or the way Elena's eyes kept flitting to those bright, blue ones before she would refocus back into reality.

"Being busy and occupied with things but nothing too overwhelming, I've seen my fair share of trouble to see what happens when people get too eager." Elena admitted, the familiarity of too many memories flashing through her head. That was not to say she would not step up when the circumstances required but she also wasn't the first one to dive in head-first into something without reading it properly which was more than she could say for some of her house-mates really.

As Ruby reaffirmed her house with a positive reaction, Elena could have sworn it was like a picture-perfect version of what her family would have wanted. "My family are all Slytherins, I'm the odd one out." The brunette added, and when the Sorting Hat had given Elena Jangleton to the lion's den instead of the life her parents had envisoned for her, well, it was safe to say things hadn't exactly been all pretty from there. She had broken away, a rebel of sorts and had found her little place here much to their utter frustration which was exactly what the sole daughter of the Jangleton family reveled in.

"They aren't exactly huge fans of it but they call it 'house' for a reason, right? Because it's supposed to feel like home and some people's homes are different than others and I don't think that's a bad thing at all."

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Elena explained that she found flying to be a relaxing thing and Ruby nodded in agreement. “Absolutely. It’s a brilliant feeling, and can be either thrilling or relaxing depending on the situation.” She smiled. She really had enjoyed her time on the Quidditch team, and there was nothing like the joy of scoring goals or winning a match, playing the game she and her cousins had always loved. But duelling was equally satisfying and relied much more heavily on individual prowess rather than a team’s skills as a whole. It was a better way to prove oneself, and Ruby loved the feeling of casting spells.

Besides, it wasn’t every day you were allowed to cast at other people with no consequences. It was twisted, but she loved that she could exert her power over others and fight until her opponents fell, using nothing but her own mind and a wand. So perhaps Elena was, as she said, too nice for it, but Ruby didn’t understand that. “It’s good practice of the spells we learn in class, though. It’s also decent assurance that if there was a dangerous situation, we’d be able to properly defend ourselves. I’m not currently on the team, but I intend to get back on it soon.” While the reasons she had provided were only part of the truth for why Ruby valued duelling, they were still important to her. She wanted to always make sure that her magical abilities were sharp, because it was the greatest advantage that any witch or wizard could have, given the sheer power and possibilities that magic held. Additionally, she had known danger at this school enough times to want the safety that confidence in her own abilities brought.

Elena explained what she had meant by liking to be around things and Ruby nodded. “Staying busy is a good thing. Keeps the mind active,” she commented approvingly, but she didn’t fully understand the last part of Elena’s statement. Nevertheless, she knew what trouble was like and the mostly serious tone made Ruby decide not to push for answers. By this point in their teenage years, many students had emotional baggage from one thing or another. Elena and Ruby barely knew each other, and as such it wasn’t the time to delve into that. Nevertheless, when Elena explained that she was the odd one out in her family—a Gryffindor amongst Slytherins—Ruby couldn’t help but want to show that she related.

She smiled wryly. “It’s the opposite in my family. My parents wanted me to be a Gryffindor—I’m the only Slytherin. They have some views left over from the Second Wizarding War and their time at Hogwarts that are… a little outdated. They still believe that Slytherins are evil and all that nonsense. I’m a bit of a black sheep in my family.” Her tone was lighthearted, and she chuckled slightly at the end, even though the topic was fairly serious. It didn’t bother her quite as much as it used to—the anger, uncertainty, doubt, and other feelings that stemmed from her parents’ prejudice against her house had been something that she had been dealing with for several years now, and she had come to accept it. She would never be who her parents wanted her to be, and they would never be who she had needed them to be. But that was unchangeable now.

Ruby smiled as Elena talked about how people’s homes were different, and that applied to the houses at Hogwarts. “Yes, I quite like that. Even with us being sorted into certain houses, they shouldn’t be viewed as constraints or mean that we’re all one thing. People are so much more diverse and different than they’re made out to be, and there will always be numerous exceptions to the house stereotypes. There are plenty of different groups that we can belong to, too. Our home isn’t just limited to where we live or our house at school.” Her eyes drifted to the potion, watching it briefly even though they still had quite a lot of time to waste. Before long, her gaze drifted back to Elena. The Gryffindor really was remarkably pretty, it was hard to take her eyes off her for long (Lovely Creature), although Ruby wasn’t rude enough to stare.

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If you had presented Elena with a choice in which she thought would be more practical in her endeavors, she might have wafted towards duelling. The reasons Ruby cited were all too valid ones and given that Elena had been in her fair share of less than ideal circumstances at the school, it made sense. "Suppose you got a point there. Well, glad to know I'm in capable hands if I ever find myself in a spot of trouble." She said with a grin framing the compliment in a light joke. That wasn't to say Elena Jangleton hadn't developed her own skillset of magic and she could most certainly hold her own but somehow, she got the feeling that anyone unforunate enough to go up against someone who invested their time into magic as a sport would most likely not be leaving unscathed and if anything, spoke to Ruby's capability in a wide array of things which she found herself admiring more by the second.

The more they conversed, the more of herself Elena was seeing in this girl. She didn't know if it was just sheer luck or some unspoken force out there that had paired them together but you couldn't make this stuff up. The familiarty that echoed from Ruby as she spoke, she spoke of her own familiarties, her own familial upbringing and Elena might as well have been standing in front of a mirror as she listened attentively.

"Well, you wouldn't be the only one." She said as she took Ruby's explanation and merely switched out a few things here and here,a picture-perfect of her life story all in one, who would have thought?

"My family is all Slytherin, through and through and then there's me, the odd one out." She said with an wry smile. The brunette didn't like to dive into much detail about her own folks, their stances on things and their views were not not exactly too friendly although if you asked her, that was an understatement.

A very big understatement if you knew the Jangletons like she did.

"They're still a bit fussy about it but I don't see the big deal." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't see how such a simple thing can mark a person for life but whether they'll understand before I'm out of this place or not is anyone's guess."

Probably not. She would even bet Galleons on it pausing for a moment to mentally recall just how many minutes had ticked by while they had idly conversed? Five? Ten?

Still, she was enjoying this. Elena couldn't quite put her finger on it or point to any particular thing but they weren't just two classmates sharing personal endeavors in a hope to get the seconds to fly quickly enough so they could scrape by with an decent enough grade.

The warmth she sensed in her partner's voice, the willingness to partake in chatter and the idea that the Gryffindor couldn't quite an end to the light-hearted jokes and smiles that graced her features as they lost themselves in familizaring themselves with each other.

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"Well, glad to know I'm in capable hands if I ever find myself in a spot of trouble," Elena said, and Ruby couldn’t help but smile. Normally, she would’ve rejected the idea that Elena was assuming Ruby would protect her and be with her in a moment of danger, but the Slytherin found that this time, she didn’t mind. Maybe it was the joking tone or maybe it was something about Elena that made her hold Ruby’s attention for a little longer than most people did, but either way, Ruby found herself enjoying the comment. Besides, it was always nice to be recognized as capable and powerful.

Elena reiterated her comment about being the only Gryffindor in her family, the odd one out, and it was nice that she was keen to show she related. While it was unfortunate that Elena was in a very similar situation, it was comforting for Ruby to know that she wasn’t alone. Maybe they would bond over it further if they became closer due to this potion brewing session or if they met again afterwards. “I don’t understand it either. You’d think a family’s love would be unconditional but… well, at least we have our housemates to support us and people who have experienced similar things, like each other.”

It was surprising how easy it was to warm up to someone when they shared understanding of such a deep topic. Parents firmly rejecting one’s house could lead to resentment, insecurity, stress, and many other negative emotions, and the fact that they seemed to share this unfortunate experience led to an unspoken understanding of one another, at least to some extent. It didn’t make them close—that was not something formed in less than an hour aside from in exceptional circumstances—but it did lay the foundations of understanding and camaraderie and lead Ruby to already view Elena in a favorable light, more so than other people she met properly for the first time.

As the conversation lulled and the seconds ticked by, Ruby found that she didn’t want their chat to end. She wanted to know more about Elena, and not just because of the fact that they were stuck together for a few hours. She could very well just read her book and ignore the girl next to her, but she had the feeling that that would be a wasted opportunity, especially given that they already had shared experiences and could make conversation easily. Elena was jovial and seemed to have underlying intelligence, making it less difficult to talk to her.

“Bit of a standard question, but do you have a favorite subject? Or hobbies and interests besides Quidditch? Not that there’s anything wrong with Quidditch, of course, I’m just wondering about what interests you beyond that—things you might aspire to or how else you enjoy filling your time and all that.” She shrugged, offering a small smile. She really just wanted to get to know Elena better, whatever that entailed, and the first thing that came to mind was to focus on what else the other girl enjoyed.

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