+ Friday Potions Lesson + -RESERVED for SKYE-

[sohviet]

The day was Friday; The exact date nobody really cared to know - for it had been certainly observed that if you attended a school, whatever really mattered was how far till the weekend - not necessarily what day of the month it was. Unless of course, one really cared.

Again, it was last lesson of the day; another Potions class yet again. The class had bustled into the room, a few with books in their arms, wands in pockets, and all engaged in light conversation resting only upon passing moments. The hubub however died down simultaneously as the mix of houses arrived in the familiar Potions class. It was a dank and dark laboratory - if that was such the word to describe the room in the dungeons.
About the desks laid out this particular lesson were half as many cauldrons as normally would be seen; each placed in between two desks as if this lesson was some sort of particularly important practical lesson.

Blaise Zabini, near the back of the crowd that had shuffled unwillingly into the classroom, was a tall boy of dark skin and shocking hazel eyes. His facial expression was fixed upon a slightly surly but otherwise completely unreadable motion. A perfect poker face, his lips pressed loosely together in silence. He had wrapped about his tall, muscular frame a dark green cloak; just barely showing the standard uniform beneath. This however, more oft than not got overlooked by the teachers; and so he seldom bothered to remove said cloak.
Surely enough, the part Italian boy found his seat, and sat down near gracefully upon it, caring nothing else for the people around him sitting in a soft lull of light conversation being self hushed.

At once, the Professor, tall and surly though he was at the upper end of the classroom, introduced the lesson as being a complicated and dangerous exercise in concocting a Comacotii Draft - he later explained was an expensive potion, that when brewed incorrectly would send the person into an everlasting unwakeable sleep. In other words, complete death. However when brewed correctly, would merely stop the blood flowing about one`s body and freeze their heart for several hours. Even then however there was great risk of death, as unless exact to the recipe would be disastrous.
The Professor seemed somewhat doubtful he should even teach this lesson, but did so nonetheless being it on the curriculum.
However it was indeed a job for two people per cauldron. Never let it be said however that he would let partners choose each other - which was just waiting to be messed up by people choosing their friends and not concentrating.

There was an annoyed murmur at this, but people seemed mostly resigned and did not make so much of a bother as was expected, as the Professor marched up and down the aisles of the class, placing people in random partners.
"Hannah, Alphonse..." he snapped, placing two people together.
"Draco, Oliver... Blaise, Autumn-"
Blaise`s head turned to glance in the direction of the young lady he`d been paired with.
He knew her well enough; enough to know her name was Autumn Marilynn Lauville, and she had a good reputation for being an amiable beauty indeed. But those thoughts aside, he was still as unreadably, silently, powerfully passive.

[Skye {Autumn Lauville}]

Autumn Lauville stepped slowly into the potions classroom. It was the last class of the day, as always. Seeing as how it was Friday, the Slytherin girl was plenty ready to be finished with her schoolwork. But, that wouldn't happen for another hour. She had sixty minutes left. That was all. And, from the looks of the classroom, as Autumn glanced around, it appeared as those sixty minutes would be rather interesting.

Autumn shifted the long, brown curls of her hair back into place. She had been bumped into rather hard in the hall, and didn't want anything to look flustered. Before her classes had began that morning, she had applied a long lasting mascara, eye liner, and a natural brown eyeshadow to her eyes. She usually preferred to have some sort of makeup on them, to make sure they stood out. Autumn had always thought her best feature was her large, amber eyes. Besides that, the girl was wearing a thin coat of lip gloss, to put off a simple and natural look. There wasn't much more Autumn could do with her appearance during the school days, since they had to wear those boring uniforms. But, she still thought she looked rather presentable anyway.

Autumn wore a calm expression as she found a seat next to a few other Slytherins, and listened to the professor begin to speak to the quieting class. He explained their lesson for the day, and how they would be making a dangerous potion. Because of the complications of said potion, the students would be partnered up. This somewhat caught Autumn off guard. Lately, the Hogwarts Seventh Years hadn't really worked in partners much. So, it was surprising to see they'd be doing otherwise today.

Next, the professor called the names of those being paired up. Of course, he would never allow them to work with their friends. That was a given. Within a moment, Autumn heard her name. "Blaise, Autumn." She turned her head to catch eye contact with her partner, Blaise Zabini. Blaise was a male student that was also in Slytherin. Autumn knew him as being rather quiet most of the time. She knew enough about him to be grateful that she had been partnered up with someone she was familiar with, rather than a random Gryffindor or someone of the like.

It wasn't really that Autumn has as much of a prejudice against those in other houses as some of the other Slytherins she knew. No, she could tolerate some of them, and wouldn't even mind talking to certain students. It was just that they usually didn't get along. There was always that barrier up, especially with Gryffindors. It was a rare case if she met someone that didn't worry about talking to a Slytherin. But, Autumn didn't care. They could think whatever they wanted.

Sounds of students rearranging themselves, to sit next to their partners could be heard around the room. Autumn got up, and walked over to meet Blaise. She lifted one side of her mouth, in the half smile that she was most known for. "This works for me," Her voice was soft, and friendly.

[sohviet]

Blaise had risen from his seat, but met slightly more than halfway by his chosen partner, the admirable lady, Autumn. A glance about her person, he took precious note of every small aspect of her, from the way her long brunette curls fell down her shoulder like water, to her half smile as she spoke, to the way she composed herself.

"And myself," he, who by chance had his wand out already, it having been rested on the small pile of two books upon his desk already, had lifted it in it`s black ivory hilt. Flicked it at the chair on the other side of evidentially `their` cauldron, and the chair slid backwards.
He gestured her to sit there politely, if she so wished.
And was that a smile upon his face? Glittering behind those dark hazel eyes his features suddenly looked amiable; for he was handsome when he smiled. His normal stance so surly and ultimately emotionlessly negative it was never warm upon the eyes.

He looked amused about something, it seemed, as he took his own seat. There was light conversation about the echoing classroom already - other partners acquainting themselves with one another politely. And the Professor had turned his back to continue to write on the board. He was etching with his wand held delicately centimetres from the board, chalk marks moved along the board as he wrote. Writing instructions, page numbers to look at and all such related it seemed.
Still that momentarily amused demeanour, he looked back to his Autumn.
"I noticed you`re good at potions..?" he asked, hoping the answer was yes.
He himself considered himself good, good enough to be taking it as one of his primary options this year; however from a previous lesson he found himself just that important bit less confident.
For just that last lesson, his cauldron had melted in a freak accident with his work.
All such since, he sincerely dreaded having to face that embarrassment again; not that it was likely.
If Autumn was good, which if his memory served him correctly she was, this pleased Blaise Zabini greatly.

[Skye {Autumn Lauville}]

Autumn kept her eyes steadily on Blaise to see that he had risen from his seat, probably to walk over to where she had been sitting. Only, she had beat him to his own desk. She glanced over him, only to realize yet again how calm and polite he held himself. Most guys Autumn knew were the opposite of that. She herself was usually a pretty calm and laid-back person, but not nearly to the extent that Blaise appeared to be. It wasn't a bad thing, though. If anything it was the opposite. Something she wasn't familiar with.

Autumn watched as the Slytherin boy picked up his wand, and flicked it at the chair nearest her. It slid backwards, and she took the invitation to sit. "Thank you." She replied, noticing for the first time a smile on his face. Blaise looked pretty different when he was smiling, and to Autumn's delight, more handsome. He looked amused at something, but she wasn't quite sure what. Autumn made sure not to stare, though, and averted her eyes to the professor's writing on the board.

She could hear the other students' murmurs of either approval or not at the potion they were suddenly given the task of brewing. As Autumn read the words on the board, she assumed this project would be harder than she had thought. Still, it wasn't much to worry about. With two people working on it, the assignment surely couldn't be that difficult. If she was working on her own, then maybe it wouldn't be the easiest. But, that wasn't the case.

Blaise's words drew Autumn back out of her slight daze of thoughts pertaining to the assignment set in front of them. She focused her deep brown eyes back on his . The Slytherin had never been one afraid of giving eye contact. If you couldn't do something as simple as look another person in the eye, what could you be expected of anyway? She nodded slightly, sending her brown curls bouncing. "Yes, I suppose this is one of my better classes..." It wasn't a lie. This was one of the few classes Autumn easily excelled at, which would help today.

"You are, as well. Aren't you?" Autumn asked, thinking back to the times she remembered seeing Blaise in class before. He had always seemed to do well on the assignments they were given. If her memory was correct, than today would be pretty easy.[/color]

[sohviet]

Her last question was the most important thing that registered his mind. He nodded, hesitantly so - but it was but a nod nonetheless.
"I guess so.." he retorted with a smile, in a less than matter-of-fact way, his voice trailing off into the wind as the words rolled off his lips.
"We`ll have to see." he finished with, a quiet nod.

But before he had any second chance to start another conversation - or even continue this one, the professor had turned back around to face the class again.
A hush fell, down to little over a few oft murmurs, ultimately each child in the room turned to listen to whatever it was he had to say for himself this time.

"Everything you will need to know is found on page 68... You have fifty minutes to complete phase one; and we shall leave the potions to set over the weekend, returning to them on Monday. All the ingredients and extra equipment you will need at here at the front of the classroom.. You may begin." his voice rung out over the heads of each person in the class.

An instantaneous reaction at his having turned back around, to continue with his work at his desk, and the class started up again in conversation; now set upon the task in hand.

Blaise turned back around to Autumn; before she had spoken he`d risen from his seat - already having flicked his book open on the right page.
"I`ll get ingredients?" he asked the half-rhetorical question; as if she had wanted to get them, he knew not.