Lesson 1 - Seventh Years :: Gryffindor & Slytherin

[neilreinard]

Another year of teaching in the dank and dreary dungeons of the Hogwarts castle. Neil leaned back in his chair lazily, boredly awaiting the arrival of his students. The morning had been incredibly slow, from the time he awoke, to the time he sat down in his chair. There were barely any students or teachers in the halls, he hadn't even ran into a ghost, which was a surprise. On most occasions, he would grace them with his appearance, complimenting each female spirit and moving on his way. It was a sort of ritual, now thrown off due to his lack of female interference. Shifting through his papers, his eyes fell on the one parchment he was searching for, a list of his students. What fortuitous students had the pleasure of being in his presence today? "Gryffindor and Slytherin..." he murmured aloud, to no one in particular. He flipped the parchment over, as if expecting something else to be hidden within its lines, turning it back over and reading the list of names.

Sirius Black
Bellatrix Black
James Potter
Celeste De Luca
Ethan Cartier
Kalib Hemlock
Severus Snape

He chuckled to himself, eager to see his new female students. More targets to be stunned by his magnificence. Even the male population of his class would be speechless. Rising from his chair, boredom now gone, he glanced at the clock resting against the wall. Apparently, there were 10 minutes left until the time for students to move to the next class arrived. What to do for ten minutes? Shrugging at his own mental question, he strode around his classroom, stopping momentarily in his closets to extract the ingredients for his first lesson. Arms crowded with various vials and bottles, he returned to his desk, slamming the cupboard door with his foot and carefully setting them down. Situating them neatly on his desk, Reinard scooted around the room, quickly straightening any mess he could find, wanting his classroom to be presentable for his students. One couldn't teach in a mess, right?

He had barely finished cleansing his room when the shrill bell rang throughout the school, signaling the movement from class to class. Flicking his wand to the side, he tossed a stray sheet of parchment into the trash bin, pocketing it and strolling back to his desk. He sat, lacing his fingers together, waiting patiently. He had a wonderful lesson planned for the day, something he had been wanting to concoct since he stumbled across it in a potions book of his. To him, it was interesting enough, making him quite eager to teach it to his students. He couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces.

[ethan]

It would be one of life's greatest understatements to say that Ethan Cartier didn't want to be where he was at the moment, and had no other option than being. Not only was he not cut out for Hogwarts' rigurous schedule, he was bloody tired. Any bloke had a right to be after having driven himself to his body's limits the day before! Ethan was decidedly ignoring the voice at the back of his head that snickered it was his own fault. Nobody had forced him to go and fly a hundred laps around the pitch. Nor had anybody thrusted the Beating bat into his hand and ordered him to release the Bludger. Ethan almost winced as he remembered what had happened the last time he'd done that and shook his head. Yesterday nothing had happened. He'd driven himself to exhaustion without remembering that today he had a full schedule. Now his friends had to tolerate him wincing every other five seconds at an abrupt movement. So much for Gryffindor pride, hm?

So it was with heavy feet that he dragged himself through the corridors and on to his next lesson. Potions. Grah, he could almost groan at the thought. It had to be one of his least favorite subjects, with all the fumes and stuff. How could anyone tolerate being in one room with so much smoke for so long was beyond him. He didn't care it was a 'delicate art', and he certainly didn't care of all the power that could be with the simple adding of 'runespoor venom'. Seriously! Who cared about that? Potions, in his opinion, were only for the weak-minded. For those who couldn't throw off a Cruciatus even if their life depended on it.

It had come as a surprise (and a bit of a low blow, really, since Ariadna's favorite subject was Potions) when his father had asked him--no, demanded him was more accurate--to take Potions. He'd jabbered on about how good it would be for his future career and so on and so forth, and it was all Ethan could do to stop himself from blasting the room. Seriously, what was his father thinking? Didn't he know? Or was he just pretending? Was he so oblivious to his son's past as he made out to be? How could he forget Ariadna so easily? Not to be shaken, though, Ethan had nodded his head, his lips pursed tightly. After all, there was absolutely nothing to be done, right?

Right.

And so there he was, trudging towards Potions, his head bowed and his feet dragging. The school tie hanging askew on his neck, because let's face it, Ethan was never a morning person, and in general, looking like a walking disaster. But that was what made Ethan so nice to other people. Because he was always a mess, he made other people feel comfortable around him. It was as if his unkempt appearance made other people relax at the obvious-ness of his laid back personality.

Finally arriving at class, Ethan dumped his bag into the desk and taking a seat a few moments after, grumbling an insincere "Morning," without even bothering to look up.

[bellatrix]

Robes were ridiculus. It was as simple as that. Bloody uncomfortable, and completely unecessary, Bellatrix felt like they were just a small part of the bane of her existance. Which, after half-bloods and muggle traitors, was Hogwarts. It was totally laughable that this facility could be considered a proper and well respected wizarding school. There were so many of them[\i] around that one couldn't concentrate. Too many things were floating about in Trix's little mind that potions was the last on her list. However, she certainly was not going to let her grades fall because of a few.....new expectations that had been laid on her in the last few weeks.

Trix walked briskly through the dungeons and into the potions classroom, where she saw a potions teacher she had never seen anymore. It's not as if it came as quite of a surprise, considering the recent lacking number of staff in the school. Her dark brooding eyes bore into him, like they did with every new face that she came across. After standing just a few feet from the doorway, at a stand still to study the professor and try to learn his weaknesses, she dismissed it and went to the desks. He seemed suitable, but then looks were often decieving. If he wasn't of pure blood she wasn't going to stand for sitting in here any longer.

Bellatrix only had a notebook of partchment and her quill with her today. Most of her classes that day weren't in need of books, so why bother? Pausing in front of Ethan, her nose so far up in the air you'd think it could get stuck there, she shrugged indiferently at him. "Cartier." A rather significant thing for Trix to say to you, especially if you were in that distasted house. In public, he was lucky if he recieved that much from her each day. When they were around one another without prying eyes, she was more willing to talk. Forgiveness, though, wasn't ever or rarely given out. Sitting down stiffly in her chair, she crossed one leg over another, the slit in her robe from the beginning of the school year apparent.

[kalib]

OOC: Sorry about the late entry in signing up; I thought I had gotten him in here...may he be added?


Potions was probably the only other class, coming in second next to Defense Against the Dark Arts, that Kalib could stand to be in. Hating school was a passion of his, like a rebellion against his teaching mother, and therefore on a normal standard loathed all work related to school. That said, he wasn’t exactly in any hurry to make it to class on time. He took a casual stroll down the hallways, occasionally interchanging a few words with passer-byers – more often then not they were girls. Self satisfaction covered his expression as he went along his way.

Kalib started to descend down the stairs, noticing the casual drop in temperature as he did so. He was used to it, the Slytherin Common Room always slightly a few degrees less then the rest of the castle. It didn’t faze him or his thoughts, ranging far between subjects. One that always caught his attention again and again was Mariella, other time drifting to his father and the letter he was waiting for in reply. He momentarily cursed his darn owl again, his last visit there being one where Kalib was sure he was going to loose a finger. Stupid bird had snapped at him for being woken up and decided the best way for revenge was to make him only have nine fingers. He rolled his eyes at the memory as he continued to descend.

He finally made it – surprisingly not late – and took a seat towards the back, not willing to make conversation with Ethan as they weren’t exactly on friendly terms and wasn’t really in the mood to deal with Bellatrix either. With the limited selections of on-time students, he would choose the back any day. Lazily he pulled out a parchment and quill, tapping his utensil in rhythm with the ticking clock. Class hadn’t even started and he was ready for it to end.

[megazostradon]

Sirius Black opened up the door to the spacious classroom, his head turned to face back out into the corridor. “Hurry up, Prongs,” he said with a friendly smile to his messy-haired friend in the hallway. Sirius didn’t wait for James to catch up and walked over the threshold into the classroom. He gave a grin to Professor Reinard, “Morning Professor!” The Gryffindor boy hoisted the strap of his book bag farther up his shoulder, and then turned to the sets of desks in the classroom.

He started down the rows of desks to choose a seat. Inwardly, he groaned as he took in the most unwelcome sight that he could have found in the grounds of Hogwarts: Bellatrix. Sirius glowered. Why couldn’t she have been born one year before? Then she would be GONE, and he’d NEVER have to see her ugly face ever again. Sirius didn’t spare a glance for his cousin as he walked past, fighting the desire to use his book bag like a blunt murder weapon.

Thankfully, there weren’t only Slytherins in the classroom. His eyes feel upon a fellow member of the quidditch team and another smile broke across his face. “Hi Ethan,” he said in a quiet, but cheerful tone. He took a seat in a desk adjacent to Ethan’s and hoisted his book back up onto the desk in front of the chair beside his to save it for his best friend. As he rummaged through the bag to pull out the text book, he thought of what a shame it was that Remus wasn’t taking this class. This meant he’d actually have to take notes himself. What a pain!

[celestedeluca]

It was time for her favorite class to begin. Potions. She had been eagerly awaiting the ringing of the bell since she had first wearily arisen from bed, listening to the bellyaching of the other Slytherin girls. Celeste did in fact agree with them in some cases, but her love for Potions soon erased all her complaints and fatigue, filling her with only a bubbling enthusiasm to get to her class, that was now threatening to boil over. It was odd that a student could become so anxious over a simple class, but that was exactly how she felt. She enjoyed mixing together various vials of who knows what and braving out the possibly horrible outcome. She even enjoyed chopping up bunches of random ingredients into tiny pieces, but perhaps that was just her malicious side. Nevertheless, she was thrilled to finally hear the bell ring, announcing her movement to Potions class with none other than Professor Reinard.

Stepping into class, her eyes immediately fell on the students that currently occupied her haven. She gave a friendly nod to Kalib and her fellow Quidditch teammate, Bellatrix, then turned her attention to the Gryffindors. She had forgotten that they were to have class together today. Though she didn't mind a few of the Gryffs, she did keep up her Slytherin pride and kept to her House. Squeezing out of her thoughts, she returned her attention to the Gryffindor Quidditch players. Black and Cartier, a Chaser and a Beater, just as she was. She smirked at the thought of going against Gryffindor in their first match, wondering if Cartier could challenger her. Hopefully, he was, she couldn't stand beating a team where no one could satisfy her hunger for competition. What fun would that be?

Finally finished with her inner thoughts, Celeste cheerfully smiled at the Professor, "Good morning, Professor Reinard." She merrily made her way towards a seat by the far wall, sitting in the center row of desks, and set her bag on top of the wooden furniture, extracting her textbooks, parchment and a quill. Her excitement to begin class had returned once again, making it hard to control the urge to bounce eagerly in her seat. A new Professor with a new year, wonderful. She couldn't help but wonder about her new Professor, his personality, what he was like. He was handsome to a certain degree, but the lingering smile on his face intrigued her to as what he was really like. Well, she would find out soon enough, wouldn't she?

[severussnape]

((Sorry for being late - I didn't see this thread.))

Sev watched the clock with weary eyes - tick, tock, tick, tock - surely the second hand must be getting somewhere by now? It almost seemed as if it were teasing him, constantly ticking but never getting any closer to the end of the lesson. He was sitting in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Diable swooping about like a great bat with many a tut and shake of the head as he leaned over to inspect work. Severus had finished his piece on Banshees about a quarter of an hour ago - while everyone else scribbled on and, like him, stole wistful glances at the large clock above Diable's fireplace. Sev averted his eyes away from the mantelpiece and concentrated hard on his desk. After all - what had his grandmother always told him? "A watched pot never boils."

At long last, the bell rang out for the end of class. Sev scribbled down the homework and hastily smudged out the little heart he had been inking onto his desk.

L.E

A quick glance at his timetable told him that he had Potions next. Potions wasn't a particularly favourite lesson of his, but he had always been very good at it. In fact, contested really only by the likes of Lily Evans, Sev was the best in his year. Potions also allowed him his luxury doodling time. It was then he could scribblelittle notes here and there, some of which had nothing whatsoever to do with Potion-making. Snapping out of his daydream, Severus joined the rush of students leaving the classroom and walking out on to the corridors. Most were still looking at timetables with knitted brows or stuffing spare pieces of parchment into their bags. Sev however, was walking at full speed, head down. He really wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody, and just wanted the day over with.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs that led down to the dungeons, he gave a little push on the door. Peering inside the classroom, he could see the class was already full, and he took his usual place next to Trix. "Alright?" he asked with a smile, but still almost yawning. Stealing a glance at Reinard, it wasn't hard to work out that he looked in a pretty good mood. Well, at least someone's feeling happy.

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