Oh sweet Merlin, stop the presses. Phoenix Harrison Toros was first into a class. What was going on with the world? Well, probably that he hadn’t been to sleep yet... so he hadn’t spent time getting ready and ended up late. He looked about as tired as he felt, his already unruly hair pushing the boundaries of acceptable frizz, but hopefully he’d be able to stay awake. Yep.

“Hi Prof- oh...” Wait, what? Where was the teacher? What was going on? What was under that sheet..?

On any other day, Phoenix would have peeked under it, but right now he just wanted to sit in one of those comfy chairs and relax. So he did. He even managed to remember to get out his quill and parchment for note taking... not that anything he wrote in lessons ever made sense, but it was the thought that counts...

He was freaking out. Very much freaking out.

Finals.

FINALS.

If exams or tests or assessments weren't scary enough to his ears, FINALS was at the top of the list. It was just so, finite. Like. FINAL. Meaning, NO MORE CHANCES THIS IS IT!.............. Just, WHAT, was he going to do?!

Zeke had entered the room, swallowing nervously, still tasting the Bertie Botts beans he'd shoved in his mouth earlier - the after taste of which was actually not very satisfying. Though the room looked normal, it was odd not seeing the Professor there, and it unsettled him a bit.

After these considerations, Zeke meandered to his usual seat in the from row, and started unpacking his things.

He'd be fine.

He'd be fine.

No pressure.

None at all.

She wasn’t worried. In fact, Brooklyn had munched on an apple the entire way back down to the dungeons from the Great Hall, just to show exactly how not worried she was about the concept of her first final. She knew she’d pass. Royalty never failed, even if technically they did. People would just cover for them, so she was perfectly calm and confident as she dropped the apple core into the rubbish bin near the door and then made her way to the seat she’d claimed as hers way back in the first lesson. Nobody would dare take it from her anyway, and she set her things down on the table as she settled into her seat silently.

There wasn’t any reason to talk when the professor was obviously not there. The blanket-covered thing on his desk got a bit of a speculative look though. She doubted he was hiding under there.

It was time for Potions and Jasmine was ready, at least she hoped she was ready. Still bothered by the careless mistake she had made in one class, she vowed not to let that happen again. Hopefully there wouldn't be any trolls or anything crazy to disrupt the class.

Jasmine entered the classroom and stopped to wash her hands before things got started. Then she headed for her favorite seat. She was about to greet the Professor when she noticed that he was not there. Sitting down in the comfy chair, she wished she could take it along to all her classes. It shouldn't be long before class started so she sat back and enjoyed her chair.

His second best class. Well, second favourite then.

Adi was very much looking forward to the Finals. Was he nervous? Duh. Who wouldn't be? But he was also confident in himself. Mhmm. Confidence was a good and important thing. He stepped into the classroom, all set to greet Cosgrach but...there was no Professor there.

Oh well. He grinned at Zeke and Jasmine as he took his seat. One Puffer ready here. Hehe.

No Happiness potion...no troll (hopefully)...just a final.
Benny was nervous, but not his usual nervousness about the class. He had promised Professor Culloden he would try to relax and just do his best. And now was the time to try and show that. However he was nervous because a final could mean a few things, one of which was remembering things from previous lessons and the fourth year wasn't sure he wouldn't blank on something.

Stepping as calmly as he could into the classroom, the first thing he noticed was the returned arrangement. The second, the absence of the professor. At least his bestie was so he could try and relax with Adi for now. "Hey," he said simply as he sat down beside him, his bag of supplies rested on the workstation in front of him.

It was too early for potions. Most days it was too early for Potions but Lex dragged her feet to the dungeons anyway. It was strange to think how much less time she spent down here now, what with Cassia being gone and her having no reason save for Potions classes that lasted maybe an hour or so. The place almost looked different--'cept not really.

Just as she entered, her lips parted to give a greeting but they closed once more as the lion stopped. No Professor? Things covered in cloth on the table? No one to tell her 'no'? Did the Professor even think this one through?

Lex walked right by her seat and up to the Professor's table where she drew Professor Airey's wand and proceeding to poke at whatever it was through the fabric. First test, was it alive and could it move? If no movement came she'd probably just flip the cloth off for a minute. Only a minute, no more.

How curious.

Angel was a bit worried, the last time she had been in this lesson a troll had come into the room and she didn't want that to happen again... She walked into the room and smiled and was about to say hi to the Professor when she realised he wasn't there.

Angel realised that this was the final exam and she was actually looking forwards to it because it meant summer was nearly here and she wanted to get home and sort a few things out with her sisters.

"Hi Benny... Hi Adi." Angel smiled as she went over to them.

Potions!

FREAKING POTIONS.

It was funny how his mood changed drastically once he started heading towards a class he actually liked and looked forward to. While he would have had very little care for much else, the boy put so much care into this subject and getting here, that he would actually risk getting less sleep for it. Surprising, wasn't it? He thought so.

But anyways. Grayson was here.

And Culloden was not.

Raising his eyebrows, the fifth year cast a glance around the room instead. Had someone done something to his favourite Professor? HMMMM? Freaking rude, that was. And what was that on Culloden's desk, eh? The tray of something that was covered in a white piece of cloth. And were there any overly brave Gryffindors here whom he didn't care for and who would be willing to take a peek? Dude was curi--

OH SWEET MERLIN, WAS THAT PHOENIX TOROS? This lesson had just gotten a million times better!

Smiling wide, the Grayson made his way over towards the Gryffindor and sat down next to him. "'Sup, Phoenix!" he said, taking out his things and setting them down on the table. This was gonna be a GOOD lesson. He could feel it.

Maddie was wearing a rather somber expression as she entered the room, bag slung over her shoulder. This was a final and while she didn't much care about POINTS, doing well on THIS was necessary. Besides, she respected Culloden and she wanted to BE respected by him. Showing she was capable was a good way of doing just that. As if he had any doubts though, RIGHT?

Noting the man wasn't in his usual spot, the second year side-eyed the covered tray and then took a seat towards the back of the room. Jasmine got a smile on the way by and Grayson, a subtle flick to his back, but then she was focused again.

After organizing her things in front of her, the thirteen year old clasped her hands and waited. Could they start SOON?

Phoenix was halfway through a yawn when he heard his name and looked up. Oh, sweet! He looked up at the Slytherin from where he'd sunk down into his chair and sent him a quick wink. "Hey hot stuff." he said, a sleepy smirk spreading across his face.

He watched Grayson put his stuff on the desk, then eyed his own things. Maybe he'd be able to get them to write notes for him, and he could have a quick kip... "You ready for this?" The final, he meant... Phoenix wasn't. he sucked at potions. More than he sucked at cooking... maybe sitting next to Grayson would help though.

Potions was most certainly not her favorite class. At least she was getting outside help from Jun, now, though. She might be able to BETTER follow this stuff, yes. Slipping inside and washing her hands very quickly, she couldn't HELP but feel SO flippin' anxious because potions just DID that to her. Ugh.

And then to make things--worse or better? Depending on how Eden looked at it--PHOENIX was there. She would hardly be paying attention to class, now. And he was sitting with Grayson--so--Eden just tried not to seem ....there. She was trying to be invisible. Didn't want to ruin Phe/Gray time. So. yeah. She just took a seat kind of by them to hear their...general conversation but NOT close enough to annoy Phe. Nope. Eden would not be clingy--NOPE.

Professor Cullodon wasn't in sight. Clara wasn't here--and she just felt so ANXIOUS. Her tummy wouldn't settle. Mehhh. She wondered if she needed a notebook for this or not--didn't matter. She saw Maddie, too, but the younger girl was probably an old hat at potions. Jasmine was there, too, and she gave her prefect a little wave.

Agatha wasn't feeling enthusiastic at all about Potions, but at least this wasn't Arithmancy. As soon as she entered she noticed the odd tray covered with a blanket on the professor's desk and blinked. The man's absence was also noted, but she didn't react to that particular fact and studied the people who were already in the room for a brief moment.

Mostly people she didn't like.

The Slytherin shot some of them - Grayson, Eden and that silly Hufflepuff who had convinced himself she was his wife (urgh) - a superior look and marched to take a seat next to a smaller Slytherin girl she had met during the Opening Feast (Brooklyn).

There was one thing Cinna hated more than a final. A early morning final. Ugh she usually thought better after lunch time. Most of the time. Or maybe it was just her. Anyway she finally made her way down to the dungeons. She walked into the classroom a few people were already there. Culloden however was not. Interesting and so not like him.

Anywho... Cinna spotted a Grayson and a Pheonix. Eden was in there general area as well. She smiled and waved at the three of them. She headed over alittle farther away. Once she found a seat she sat down and waited to get this show on the road. And then she's going to go take a nap. She was not a early morning person.

Finals on top of OWLs and all that might have been enough to tip Tobias over the edge and into another sort of breakdown. But he had more of a handle on things now, and he had his mantra ('My worth is not defined by academic success') to fall back on when stress levels got high. So, all in all, Toby was... okay. Not as totally carefree as usual, but... getting there. Besides, Potions was one of his best subjects.

Upon entering the room, Toby took a cursory glance around to see who was already here and assess the possibly people he could sit by. Phoenix and that other pretty boy, Grayson, were sat together, and for a brief moment Tobias was incredibly tempted to go sit with them. For whatever reason, though, he stopped himself, and a split second later he spotted Eden sitting not too far away from them. Friend. Perfect.

Without further ado, Toby went on over and dropped into the seat beside the fifth year Ravenclaw, giving her a smile as he did so.

"Hi Eden," the Hufflepuff said quietly, though still with a little grin. Hm. Hmmmm. Had Eden been the recipient of one of his folded yellow roses yet? Toby didn't think so. He made a mental note to do so later. "Fancy seeing you here." Here in this class that they both took. Such a shock, y'know.

THE LAST POTIONS CLASS OF THE TERM? Talk about all the sads. Silas had them. He entered the classroom with a BIG smile on his face (despite the breaking of his HEART)... only to have it falter as he noticed Proffy Cosgrach wasn't there. Weird.

Slumping his shoulders he plopped into a seat at the front of the class. Where was his fave? Where was his bestie? Excuse us while we stare into space now.

Ugh it was early in the morning. Kace was not usually a morning person till he had to be. But he didn't sleep much last night since he was worrying about his OWLS and finals coming up. Now today was the day to do the potions final. He can't believe this was the last potions class. He also can't believe the end of the semester came by soo fast. As he walked into the classroom, he looked around and noticed the classroom was back to it's usual self but he didn't see the professor anywhere. He shrugged and went to go sit with Cinna, maybe they could help each other with the final. "Hey Cin.." he began but he saw her sleeping and he was quiet. He chuckled a little bit and he put his head down and decided to catch a few minutes sleep before class begins.

Nervous? Not a chance.

Soph was cool as a cucumber as she strolled into class, not the least bit fearful of how this final would go nor was she even afraid of disappointing Culloden. No, she was long past that now, and she knew no matter what happened, she could always make her mentor proud, whether it was by doing things right the first time or correcting a mistake without so much as a blink of an eye.

This potions business? She had it down.

It was odd that he wasn't present yet, though, which immediately made her suspicious. It was unlikely that something was wrong with him, she thought, but rather that he was doing something tricky and maybe it was something that SHOULD have made her nervous. Especially considering the tray covered by the white blanket on his desk.

Whatever his reason was, what would come to be would happen no matter what, so Soph took her usual spot at the front and got out her class materials, already setting off to cleaning everything down.

Her wand must have hit something hard - most possibly a thick stick or a cylinder. But before she could conduct further experiments, Cosgrach entered the room, in high spirits for today's lesson, looked at every face, griiiinned, closed the door and shooed her away absent-mindedly. Off you go! It wasn't time for the tray yet.

"Hello everyone," he said, "I hope you are ready for your final!" HEHE. "But before we begin, I'd like to discuss poisons and antidotes." He paused, in case they had a question, and went on. "What is a poison? Can you name one poison and its effect?"

OOC: The lesson has started, please do not post your characters arriving late.

There are two parts of the lesson: 1. discussion and 2. an activity. You can jump in anytime you wish.

I'll post again about 12 hours later.

Kevin had been feeling a bit down ever since he got up this morning. Nothing serious, he simply didn't feel like it was his day. Everyone had them right? He had been staring at the white blanket on the Professor's desk without really acknowledging it and when a energitic Professor entered the classroom he sighed heavily, hit his forehead lightly on the desk before looking back up.

At least this was his favourite subject so maybe it would cheer him up?

"A posion is a substance that can cause death to someone who drinks or even breathes it. Some are even undetectable" he said lazily without raising his hand. "One of them is the Drink of Despair , which causes the drinker to feel fear and extreme thirst to the point that they can dehydrate from it" was that right? mweh whatever.

Toby was ready. Born ready, or something. But first there was the talky talk bit, which was pretty standard. Aaaaaaand... ah. Poisons. Hm. This was perhaps not a strength of his; poisons were very negative, weren't they? Toby preferred to focus on the healing and fixing kind of potions. That wasn't to say he didn't know anything about poisons, though. He'd done his studying and he knew a bit about antidotes, and you had to know about the problem before you could find a solution, right? It was all necessary. He raised his hand.

"Sir, poisons are basically harmful substances. They can kill you, or they can make you really unwell generally or with specific things. They're super negative," he offered, lowering his hand again and twirling his quill around his fingers as he spoke. As for an exaaaaample... uh, crud. He couldn't remember. Okay... improvising. "There's all kinds, but they're not always specifically brewed to be a poison. For example, if you brew potions super wrong or, like, don't clean the equipment properly or anything your potion could end up poisonous. That's why you have to be super careful with brewing."

Angel made her appearance making the only one missing at the moment AJ, not doubt the other girl bound to be around as well soon enough. He returned the greeting with a simple "Hello," his girlfriend seeming almost as concerned about the lesson as he had originally been. No doubt because of the disasterous ending of the last one. The fourth year was about to offer a word of comfort but was cut off. Alas, there was Professor Culloden as the man entered the room and he was quick to start the lesson and the final once he closed the door behind him.

Yeah...he was ready...not.

Poisons and antedotes was the first topic of discussion and Ben did his best to think of something to give. " A poison is something that when ingested causes negative effects," he answered at first after raising his hand, remembering that at least from a previous mention. "Angel's trumpet is a poison...or source of poison...and can be fatal." Granted as a whole they were plants but they were all poisonous.

"Hey,'' Adi said to Benny, noting the other boy looked a nervous. Oh look. Angel made it. She could help calm her boyfriend down. "Hi, Angel.'' He turned his attention to the classroom's entrance again. Agatha came soon after and Adi did not miss the look she threw him. He grinned and wriggled his brows at her. Heeeeey, wife. LOL. He just loved teasing her.
...................

Annnnd there was the Professor. Was he in such a good mood today because it was their final? Hmmm. Anyway...so poisons and antidotes. The Hufflepuff knew a bit about those. He raised a hand.

"A poison is a substance that causes harm to the person who consumes it. It can either bring about distress or death. Or both. Weedosoros is a poison and is thought to have the same effects as Drink of Despair.'' Which Kevin had just explained about.

Eden looked up when she felt someone sit next to her. Oh no--it was a BOY---oh. Just Toby. That was all right then. NODNODNOD. Toby was cool and very nice and Eden liked him. He was also very helpful for her when she was feeling DOWN and whatnot. "Hiiii Toby--" she said with a smile as she decided to pull out her notebook and open it up. Still trying NOT to be noticed by Phe or Gray. Mostly Phe.

"Right? How WEIRD to find you in our potions class, eh, Toby?" she asked in a snarky but playful tone....and grinning a bit. She felt more comfortable now.

ANNNNNDDD class was starting. OKAY. Here we go. Eden could DO this--she could!. SHE COULD.

Oooooops no she couldn't. She didn't know any poisons. She didn't anything ABOUT poisons. And as usual, Toby was on top of his game. Wow. He was astounding. Eden felt..inferior because, well, she was a Ravenclaw and was SUPPOSED to be smart and whatnot. -___- so she stayed quiet and...took very mediocre good notes.