Ilia waved at Henric gently, but he didn't seem to notice her......did he look right past her? He didn't look quite as peppy as he usually did. Something seemed off and she was a bit concerned. Was he upset? Was he hurt or sick? What was wrong? She watched as he trudged off to a back corner, all alone. Class hadn't started yet, so she took her bag, parchment, and quills, and walked over to Henric. She purposely sat right beside him , and since he was the farthest in the corner he didn't have a choice about it. She set her stuff up and made her desk neat, then looked over at him.

"What is wrong?" There was a soft , concerned frown on her face as her bright blue eyes searched him over for the source of distress.

It was time for potions and that made AJ one very happy lion. This was one of her all time favorite classes, and the professor was pretty awesome too. AJ strolled into the classroom and spotted the professor. "Hi, professor." He seemed to be in good spirits... not that she ever really saw him any other way.

So many people were already here, and that was a sight that AJ was used to because she was almost always running behind. She had yet to be late to any classes as of yet, but the year was still young. AJ spotted her boyfriend and gave him a warm smile. Lux was also there, and AJ chose to sit by her this time. "Hey," she half whispered when she took her seat next to the older puff.

Potions was NOT one of Noel's tolerable classes. He was just not good at it and it frustrated him. This was in fact one of those subjects he knew he was going to do bad at in OWLs this year.

There was no escaping it sadly.

At least the professor was nice. So though he was sulking, he managed to direct a small smile at the professor and a hello before finding himself a seat and dreading it all.

Potions was.........alright. To be honest, Maggie preferred the magic-y type lessons. Like where you had to use your wand a lot. And not only to clean your cauldron. But Potions was okay. If they didn't have to dissect any worms or anything. Then it was okay.

Walking into the classroom, Maggie smiled at the professor. "Hello, Professor." There, all polite and stuff. Go her, yeah?

She'd already decided that she was going to sit with Dante (just in case there WERE any gross things to cut and stuff) but made a little detour on her way there. She walked all the way around the classroom so she could move behind where Noel was sitting and....quickly ruffled his hair in passing.

Hehehehehe.

And then she quiiiiickly made her way over to sit next to Dante. "Hey." Yes. She wasn't looking at him though. Instead she was smirking over at Noel.

Hellooooo.

Err.

Spotting a shadow approaching her, Natalia crouched even lower to avoid confrontation of any kind.

Oh Merlin, it's ADI! Did he have to poke his nose at everything?

Recognizing him as an ally, Natalia slowly arched her back straight to face the Oh-So-Great-Hufflepuff-Prefect. She curved her lips into a sheepish smile (no one could see it through her face mask, of course) before nervously glancing up at the front of the classroom. No one saw her, right?

"I'm not fighting a battle. Not interested, thank you very much, Adi." Natalia's mumbling was barely audible through her pink-swirly-designed face mask. Maybe she should have worn a less conspicuous mask, but Nat really didn't have much choices. It was either this one or the really discernible Micky Mouse one.

Now this class he knew he'd do well! Torie entered the classroom, excited to be able to do potions on his own now. He helped mum and dad a lot with the potions and knew the basics, and how most of the ingredients were shaped and how to open, slice, squeeze and anything else for the most part! He smiled and waved to the professor as he passed the desk and moved to find a spot immediately, and set his bag down by it before moving to wash his hands in the basin. Finally, he took a seat by his bag and grinned as the cushion formed to him.

The blonde sixth year walked along to potions class with a big smile on her face. She was in a really good mood and she had no idea way. She had gotten a PERFECT nights rest for the first time in a few months and with no nightmares! No nightmares were a really good thing right now and just sleep was a really good thing right now too! Before walking into the classroom Emmylou made sure that she hadn't forgotten anything back in the common room. Nodding to herself Emmy had everything she needed for todays lesson well minus the common sense of potions because she wasn't the best person at doing potions but she made sure that she did her best. In her eyes she thought that at the very least and showing effort in a class was very important.

Emmylou beamed at Professor Culloden at his desk. "Good morning professor!" The sixth year said cheerfully. "I hope you had a good summer and congrats on the baby!!" She beamed. "Bart showed me pictures but I haven't met her yet. I'm sure I will in the future." It was so exciting! EPP! Well her best friend/sister/cousin was dating Bart so of course Emmy was going to meet Bart's little sister soon or at some point in her life.

Looking around for a seat, Emmylou also looked to see if she knew anyone. The happy and hyper blonde gave Lux a smiled and a wave. "Hello." Just a simple hello was good enough for now. She wasn't going to sit with her because she still didn't think being friends again would be a good thing but Willa was her aunt now and she really loved Willa. Emmylou beamed at her new housemates; Yoongi, Natalia and Jackson. She had met them at the start of term feast and she had seen them a few times in the common room. "Hi guys!" She waved at the three of them. Would they remember her? She wondered if she had a face that people remembered.

Angel walked into the potion classroom and smiled as she looked at the Professor. "Good morning, Professor." Angel was totally looking forwards to the first potion lesson of the term. "How was your summer?" Angel hoped it was good.

Angel washed her hands before she went and found a seat, she couldn't wait to see what potion they were going to be studying today, she thought it would be awesome if it was the ageing potion but she doubted the Professor would let them learn that.

Well, hopefully this class would be more enthralling than Charms because Evie didn't want to fall asleep... again. It shouldn't have been a problem, though, because she was more awake now than she had been in charms class and she didn't see Damien yet which means she couldn't lean on his shoulder like she had last time. Heh.

In fact, she really didn't see any of her friends... so Evie picked a seat close to a window in one of the middle rows and waaaaited for someone to sit by her.

Potions. She definitely had love/hate relationship with this subject. Had... Apparently she now liked the subject more than ever. Thanks to her very good OWL scores. She was very very proud of herself. Even her grandmother who was a former Uni potions professor. She was always very critical of her. She had been Cinna's teacher when she was homeschooled. So grandma being proud of her was the best thing ever.

So she decided that she likes potions now. The walk down to the classroom however she hated it way to much walking for her. She walked into the classroom. She seen Cossy. She walked past him on the way to a seat. "Good morning, Professor Cossy. " Yeah it was perfectly fine for her to call him that, right? She had gotten used to calling him Cossy now. She was totally blaming Bart for that. She spent to much time with them this summer. Yeah, okay in her opinion is wasn't enough. "How are you?" She smiled.

Now where to sit. She seen Lux and have her a little wave. She spotted Emmy and flopped into the chair next to her. Bart was coming right? This was potions class after all. So he would be there she knew it. "Hello Em and Emmy." She totally giggled that was what her little brother Chase called his cousin. Hehe she had to show Emmy what he drew for her. Chase was quite the baby artist. She would show her after class it was in her bag right now.

Potions Class.

He was wondering when Professor C was going to hold a lesson. He was curious to know what was going to happen this term. I mean last terms lessons were fun and such. As he made his way to the classroom and opened the door and he saw others beat him to it. He saw his girlfriend Emmy at first. He smiled and then he saw Cinna and Lux. He waved to all of them. He went over to sit next to Emmy because why not? As he made his way over to her table, he greeted her with a, "Hey Emms.." and kissed her cheek. Then he took out his notebook and quill and he saw Professor C was in the classroom.

He smiled and gave him a polite nod. "Hello Professor I trust you are well?" I mean it was the first lesson he should be happy to see his students right?

It was POTIONS time...and with it being one of Gabriel Banner's best subjects, that clearly meant another front row seat.

Entering the room with an almost smile on his face, he bypassed most of the people already situated and spoke directly to Professor Culloden. "Hello, Professor." Most...as people like Evie Shacklebolt, Hugh, Zeke Rogers, and Rowan Fields (the strange little redhead who'd given him the gemstone he was still afraid to touch), received a nod of acknowledgement. Was that considered respectful?

There were, of course, things he needed to discuss with the Potions Master...but it could wait until after the lesson. Nbd.

Potions. POTIONS. Now HERE was a lesson he was actually looking forward to.

With a smug smile on his face and a small skip swagger in his step, Grayson headed down the dungeons towards the Potions classroom. He was READY for this. Had even done some studying and all, which was very surprising to anyone who knew the boy well. It was just one of those subjects that he was dead determined to get an O in for his NEWTs.

"Heeeeey, Professor Culloden," he said as he entered the classroom and spotted the man. BIG smiles for the favourite professor. He kinda needed to talk to the man about things that were gonna remain private for now. It was a matter of ego and uncertainty and all.

Where to sit? Somewhere faaaaaaar away from people he didn't like, which left very few options considering the number of people he liked and got along with. Besides, they were scattered around everywhere so he was BOUND to sit near someone who was gonna annoy him. Jeez, way to make his life difficult.

Picking a random seat near the front, Grayson flopped down and took out his things. Ready to learn, yo.

WELL would you look at that. Potions looked different.

Last time he'd been down here Lafay was the Potions professor and it hadn't been this, er, calm looking. First year potions had been intense, and it had been one of the few memories he'd retained from Hogwarts. Though the one good thing about being slightly frightened at all times was that you rarely messed up your potion, and he wasn't quite so certain that these blue walls would have the same effect.

Let's hope Culloden was nicer than Lafay though. He'd heard a little about him from Cutty though, and wanted to see if what he saw was accurate to his friend's descriptions. So far he'd been rather accurate. "Hello Professor, I'm Benzi," he introduced himself with a smile and a nod of his head before turning to the classroom to look for a place to sit.

Spotting a few people that he knew, Benzi debated for a few seconds before figuring if he sat by Evie, he'd be relatively close to Noel and they could whisper and things if need be. So, seat by the pretty Evie it was. "Hey," he grinned at his yearmate as he put his bag down and prepped for class.

Marsha was pretty sure that one of these days she was going to find a class that she didn’t like - but so far, she loved them all. Sure, the Professors were all different and eccentric and she was learning EVERYTHING as she went, but that was what school was all about. But most importantly, she loved every minute of it.

Following Rusty into the class, she took the seat next to her dorm and good friend and took a few things out of her bag as she got ready for the class to start. She had no idea what to expect - only that she was nervous and excited all in one. ”Are you okay?” She asked Rusty as her fellow red-headed Gryffindor stayed remarkably quiet. That wasn’t like either of them.

Looking to the front of the classroom, the Professor (who’s name she didn’t know yet) got a smile and a wave. Maybe if she was nice right from the get-go he would like her? Who knew, but it was a good thought regardless.

Rowan was contemplating the coming lesson already, wondering if the man with the lovely smile really was a nice person or he was about to make her use animal parts in a potion when she didn't really need to and the poor animals need them more, when she heard Marsha's question.

"Oh... yeah... think so. Just wondering about the ingredients..." Had the girl read their textbook? Cause some of it was gross. Poor eyeless beetles and wingless flies, Rusty felt sad for them.

Potions wasn’t really his subject much to the disappointment of his father who happened to own a very successful potions company. He would have dropped the subject but he was having thoughts of becoming a Healer and knew that one needed to know their potions.

Michael also wasn’t one for sitting up the front but he really did need to concentrate in this class. ”Hello Professor.” He gave the man a nod before taking a seat beside Grayson.

”Alright there Whitlock?” They had only talked a few times before he had gone to Durmstrang but the guy seemed okay. And he was Ruby’s boyfriend and Ruby was Zahra’s best friend so it was probably good if they got along.

Yes, Dante saw Maggie enter the room and wondered if she was going to sit near him. Not that it made a difference. He was wondering what Professor C was going to make them make today. Though he noticed that Maggie was not really paying attention to him or where they were sitting.

She was just smirking

"Hey and You know, you smirking makes me fear for my life. That's a compliment "

It really was.

Usual desk, yep. Getting all set up, sure. Things being cleaned in preparation for the lesson, absolutely.

The only thing missing from Toby's arrival and first few minutes in the class was a greeting for the professor. Not that he meant to be rude or anything, He was just distracted, see. But not sad distracted, just 'mind is almost completely elsewhere' sort of thing. He was basically throwing himself into setting up for the lesson, very much one with his own thoughts, accidentally picking up, cleaning, and setting down the same beaker no less than three times.

Thinking. Cleaning. Ready for potioning. Yes right okay.

Potions. Not Ophelia's best suit, as she always had trouble with direction following, but not her worst either. Certainly not Divination or Transfiguration. Those subjects were rough and tough. Like reading a book the size and shape of a brick within a day. Rough and tough and almost impossible.

And yet, there was always that little hope upon hope that one day they would blow something up, or create a spark. Do SOMETHING so fundamentally awesome that it blew the thirteen year old's mind every time she retold it to her family and friends. Have her siblings who graduated wish that they were there in class to do this potion. A potion so monumental that it could only be described through flailing hand gestures.

Maybe today would be that day? Or not. There was no telling. Although, the regular mixing of stuff was exciting too. It was kind of like baking, but with magic, and kind of like being a scientist at the same time. She learned about muggle scientists in school, with their sterilized white lab coats and the mixing of chemicals until something smoked or they found a cure for something or some jazz like that. Maybe Ophelia could find a cure for something one day with potions...


NAH. That was more Austin's path. The short girl would gladly test the potions, but he was more of the maker of such things. He actually knew what he was doing and could follow directions correctly, unlike some little Ravenclaw they knew *cough cough*.

"Hello, Professor." It was a nice day out, what could she say? She was feeling a lot better since she got to Hogwarts, or maybe she was just getting better at ignoring whatever she was suppressing. Either way, something was working and Ophelia couldn't be happier. Which meant everyone got happy, nice Clarke and not annoyed, grumpy Clarke. You did not want the second one. No in the least.

Sitting down, she got out her pen and parchment and waited for the class to being, deciding to sketch a little while she did.

She was late.

Well, she wasn't LATE late, but Sophie had a history of getting to class nice and early to claim her spot at the front. So she shouldn't have really been surprised when she walked in when the majority of the classroom was already full, and Lux, Zeke, Norah, Gabe, Grayson, Toussaint, AJ, Cilla, and others were taking up the work stations at the front of the classroom. The cons of being late, but... it was entirely strategic.

She hadn't wanted to sit at the front this time. She wanted an excuse to hang in the background and get a good view of everything. But Soph still paused, surveying the classroom at large and taking in the current seating arrangements, before retreating to sit at the VERY back, closest to the door.

Just doing her thing. Nothing to see. She DID make eye contact with Culloden just before she started her usual routine of cleaning all of her class materials, and offered him a cheeky grin as her choice of greeting.

That's all. Just a grin. It was a suspicious one, really, but... she just kept working on laying out her materials and cleaning the things she typically needed. Super casual and all.

Dot is in the house. Er... classroom. Dot was definitely in the classroom. She flourished her hands in Culloden's direction, and then in Sophie's... no. Where was Sophie? She was supposed to be sitting front and center, the favorite of the favorites, but she'd been usurped by a buncha pretenders. It was enough to make a girl worry.

She stomped her way to the back of the classroom and took up a seat beside Sophie. HOW DARE SOPHIE BE RELEGATED TO THE BACK OF THE ROOM! It was gross and stupid and outrageous and Dot was going to write a very firm letter to the Board of Governors about this. "Goodness. How can you continue being a favorite if you have to sit all the way back here? I can barely see the professor, and he doesn't exactly blend into the background. You want me to go clear out a seat for you among all those brown nosers?"

'Cause she would totally do it.

Also, HIIIII, Professor.

More people were arriving, and Lux sent smiles and waves to Zeke, Brookie, Hady, Ethan, Nat, Norah, Zhenya, Echo, Adi, Kace, Emmy, Abby, Toby, and Cinna. Wow, there were so many people coming to class and that was awesome. Potions was the best, and she couldn't wait to learn something new. Adi's million questions to Culloden caused her to laugh. Gosh, he got so excited like she did. The lesson hadn't even started yet.

Cilla took the seat beside her, and Lux sent the younger girl a smile. "Hey there!" She hoped that the Snake had a good summer and was enjoying term so far. Then AJ arrived and took a seat on her other side. Awesome, she always liked talking to her because she had so much spunk and personality. "Hey, AJ!" It was so nice to sit by her friends.

Prior to this lesson Beverly had been mulling over her mood. It used to not matter what mood she was in but recently it was something she focused on. She hated it. Walking into the potions classroom, though, she smiled at the sight of Professor Culloden at his desk as he greeted the incomers.

Okay. Yeah. She was going to miss him when she got out of here.

Yep.

Ignoring that little feeling, she approached the front desks, setting her bag down and looking over at the man once more. "Hello, Professor Culloden."

Henric didn't say anything as he watched his bestfriend slide in beside him.She must had not heard about the rumours yet,thankfully, but still she shouldn't sit by him. People might start wagging their tongues about them and it wouldn't be good.He knew he shouldn't cared about it...honestly, he really tried but it was getting harder to think that someone else might be hurt in the process.

Henric sighed,"Nothing...its just potions class..."he replied, giving her an excuse to hide his own predicament. She was concerned for him, and he felt bad again for not telling her the matter. Henric glanced down at his potions book and started fiddling with the pages.He always had the need to do something with his hands if he had something to hide.