Breakfast, 20 April 2011

Frank Sellaphix stood at the foot of the Slythern table in the Great Hall, mustering the courage to take the walk down the gauntlet. He shouldn't be so intimidated. Ravenclaw was adjacent to Slytherin. It was just. Just. It didn't matter. He had to pass Potions. His family were apothecaries. He had a responsibility to his mum and dad to come out of Hogwarts with a N.E.W.T.  in Potions so he could help with the family business. He lifted his chin, held his books tighter, and moved himself forward.

Wait. Where was she?

He'd been told there was a fifth year named Celene Oglesbee who was best in her class at Potions. He'd asked around Ravenclaw and they'd all said, "oh, yea, Frank. Get Celene."  When they described her, he couldn't remember ever seeing her. But then, he was a second year and she was a fifth year and they were in different Houses.  But they said, look for the short red hair. Can't miss it.

Walking slowly down the aisle between the tables, he was...kind of missing it? Where was she? He'd made it almost to the end of the table and he hadn't seen her. He doubled back, self-conscious that everyone would notice some kid wandering around.

"Oh!" He'd missed her halfway down on the far side of the table. She was much shorter than he thought and he hadn't spied her between her taller friends.

He made his way over and cleared his throat.

"Hi, are you Celene Oglesbee?" 

Celene looked up, startled. Who would be asking for her? Celene was not the kind of person that other people asked about.

She was surprised at the face that greeted her. Celene recognized the shaggy blond hair, and the too big ears; he was a second year, she was sure of it. Celene had a very good memory, especially for faces. Names on the other hand, those often escaped her. She squinted, racking her brain. Timothy? Lucas? Those didn't really sound right.

"Nope, I've got nothing."

She looked again at the Ravenclaw in front of her. While she couldn't remember his name, she did recognize the look on his face. The mild panic in his eyes. The way he gripped his books tightly to his chest. It was the same way she looked when she need someones's help.

"Yes, I'm Celene. How can I help you?"

Frank waited through the few seconds of the older girls looking him over. Mercifully, it was Celene Oglesbee after all and she didn't send him on is way outright.

"I'm Frank," he said, just so she knew. "Frank Sellaphix." To be more precise.

"The consensus seems to be you're a good hand at Potions," he said, hoping to sound intelligent on the subject of Celene Oglesbee being intelligent.  "I was wondering if you'd be willing to provide some...supplemental tutoring. I'm not failing; I'd just like to the best I possibly can."

He didn't want her (or her friends) to think he was stupid and needed remedial help. 

Celene blushed, incredibly flattered. She was pretty sure she was decent at Potions, but it was nice to hear someone else say it.  And she was proud to hear that she even had a reputation for being good at Potions!!! She could have melted.

She composed herself. This was not the time to go giggling like an idiot. She had a job to do.

 She had helped younger students before; getting to classes, pointing out troublesome ghosts, that sort of thing. But tutoring? Was she up to the task?

She decided that she was, and so she nodded to the boy.

"Yes, I can tutor you. We can start tonight, if you like. How about we meet in the library after dinner?"

Frank's eyebrows shot up and he smiled. He hadn't expected it to be so easy! Slytherin House had a reputation for not being the most helpful, especially when it could mean a loss of advantage in house points.  But Frank wasn't going to second guess it - "Thanks! Yea! That'd be great. I'll see you then."

He moved to walk away, but suddenly turned back.

"Actually, if you have a moment, there's this one part..."  He quickly opened his Potions book and laid it on the table next to the marmalade. Then he took out a notebook and poked at it with his quill. He didn't wait for her go ahead.

"It's this business with tincures. Like, how are you supposed to know how long to let it go before it's ready? This chart has it in minutes, but this one has it by odor? And what about the vapor temperatures? Professor Vaillaincourt said something about that being a good indicator, but how are you supposed to convert that to ... odor?"

He looked up Celene expectantly.

"Uuuuuhhhh..." Celene was taken aback. She hadn't really expected Frank to want to start right now. But whatever, the question was an easy one, and she a few spare minutes.

"Yeah, sure. Take a seat" she said, gesturing to an empty spot on the bench next to her. She pulled Frank's Potions book closer to her, and looked over it one more time to make sure she understood his question.

"This is an easy one. You'll get it in no time." she said pointing to the chart in his book. "Tincture preparations take a little finesse. You'll have to use all three methods to properly judge whether a tincture is ready or not. Are you with me so far?" She asked.

Frank nodded solemnly. "OK then. So for the most part you are just going to follow the time table and vapor temp table listed here." She again pointed to the tables in Frank's book, looking at him closely to make sure he was understanding what she was saying. "When your tincture has been heating for the recommended time and has reached the appropriate vapor pressure, you then switch to the odor table" She said, turning the page. "Time and temp will get you 90 percent of the way. You'll have to follow your nose the rest of the way".

She smiled at her joke, and then continued. "You'll have to watch the preparation very closely at this point. It can be really easy to miss the odor you're looking for and ruin your preparation. I suggest smelling your prep every 30 seconds or so, until it smells right. Then immediately kill the heat and bottle it. If you do it this way, you should have a perfect preparation every time."

She looked at him, trying to see if he had understood any of what she'd just said. "Does that make sense?" She asked.

Frank nodded. "You explained it better than the older kids in Ravenclaw!"  Ravenclaws were, well, Ravenclaws. They tended to really enjoy intricate detail, but weren't always good at going back to the basics so the more complex stuff made sense.

"And so, for cold-brewed tinctures - you know, the ones were you just let it sit on the shelf - you just go by color and odor."  It made sense now. The measurement strategies weren't supposed to replace each other, they all worked together. "Brilliant."

Celene's friends were watching the odd pair quietly.  There was a fair-skinned girl with smooth brown hair slightly smiling at Celene. Frank wondered what her secret was.  It was about then that the sounds in the Great Hall grew as students started to stand up and gather their things. It was almost time for class. Frank looked up. He had another question.

"Okay, okay, one more one more." He flipped rapidly through his notes until he landed on a page for a poultice to cure burns.  "For this one, it says to keep it boiling but mine always gets so thick and it just gets scorched and stinky - but if I add more gnome's oil[1] it won't set."

He looked over his shoulder at everyone leaving. He didn't want to be late or make Celene late, but he really wanted to know how she did it.

1.	Not made of real ghomes.

Another easy one. Celene began packing up her things, as a signal to Frank that this would be the last question. She wanted to help this kid, but she was not going to make Laura and herself late to History of Magic because of an overly eager second year.

"OK, listen close. This tip isn't in any of your books, but it's never failed me. Not once. All you have to do is substitute moon flower nectar for the gnome oil. If used in the daytime, moon flower nectar works as a really good stabilizer. It will keep your poultice from scorching, and as an added bonus, it i'll make it smell wonderful."

Then she turned to him, her demeanor suddenly stern. "But never forget that moon flower nectar is useless at night, unless your goal is to make something similar to what the muggles call "super glue". If you use moon flower nectar at night it will make your potion so sticky you won't be able to get it out of your cauldron."
 
"So you know, no midnight potion shenanigans. " She shrugged.

"I have to go now, but come find me if you have any more questions. And if you can't find me, find my cat Cricket and stuff a note in his collar."

Celene smiled and headed off to class.