Eden loved Potions. Ever since she had decided to risk a little rulebreaking over the summer holiday and practice brewing in her bedroom, she'd been hooked. The focused, measured, and meticulous nature of brewing suited her fine. It was meditative more than anything else. She'd spent many early mornings studying recipes over toast, writing notes in her special not-diary, How to Become A Scary Menace-Witch. Her vials were always pristine, her knife sharpened, her simmering anger placed on a backburner.

So when Eden walked into the Potions classroom she tried to leave everything else behind her. And oh boy, was there a lot to leave behind lately. But distraction came quickly - why did the Potions lab look like a menagerie? Why was there a caged owl on her workstation? Eden didn't have any pets herself, and eyed the owl curiously from the doorway.

"Good morning, Professor Varma," Eden said, silently appreciating the professor's fashion sense. And potions knowledge, of course. But also fashion sense.

She was one of the first to arrive, as per usual, and settled at her desk. She took out her textbook, parchment, quill, wand, and dragon-hide gloves, all while making awkward eye-contact with the owl. "Hi there," she greeted the animal, too. For good measure. She got an ambiguous hoot in return. Neat.

At first glance, Nem had assumed that the caged animals on the desks were all creatures that had been provided solely for the purposes of the lesson, whatever that would be. That was until they saw the message on the board, of course, specifying that these were pets. With this information in mind, they looked directly at their desk, only to find a sleek barn owl, fast asleep. Good.

After allowing themselves a look at the covered cages at the back of the room, Nem went over and sat at their desk, getting out some supplies while the owl slept on. Only when they'd set their dragonhide gloves on the desk, next to the cage, did Nem look up towards the front of the room once again, and fixed their eyes on Varma.

"Morning."

Their general bearing was calm, still, unaffected. Inscrutable. The way this term was turning out, however, relaxed unobtrusiveness was in the process of being turned on its head, and had become more conspicuous than ever.

But that was fine.

As he entered the potions classroom, Devin was worried as always about what horrible thing about muggles they would be forced to learn today. ”Good morning, Profe- BABS!” He hadn’t even properly finished greeting the professor yet when he spotted his beloved tawny owl caged on his workstation. Beaming from ear to ear, Devin practically ran to get closer to Babs. Sliding into his seat, he leaned in closer to the cage to talk to his owl. ”I've missed you, Babs. I was worried you were dead.” Devin slipped one of the owl treats he had still been carrying around in his robe pockets all term into the cage for Babs to eat, still respecting the instruction to keep Babs in her cage. It hadn’t said that you couldn’t put things in the cage. The treat probably wasn’t very fresh anymore, but hopefully it would still be tasty enough for Babs to enjoy. He doubted whoever had been keeping these animals alive this whole time was offering them extra treats or giving them love. But why was Babs here in potions class? Obviously Rosier and The Hoods didn’t want students telling their parents about the cult takeover of the school. Surely they would have killed all the pets like they did to poor Mollywobbles though if they didn’t have a purpose to spare them for. As relieved as Devin was to see his owl alive, he was deeply suspicious about what they would have to do to their pets. Maybe The Hoods had spared the pets only so they could make all the students test potions on them or force everyone to feed their own pets to whatever was making those noises in the back of the room. Whatever was going on, he didn’t trust it.

He had actually gotten more sleep last night than that he had in a while. So why was he still so tired? Minjae stifled a yawn behind his hand but failed in doing so. He entered the classroom behind a young Gryffindor , nodding a greeting at the Professor when the kid in front of him suddenly shouted.

Alert and wide awake now , Minjae’s hand went to grab his wand but then realized what the kid had been shouting about as he saw ….their pets in cages on their desks. The Hufflepuff gave a quick look around and found Brownie his brown owl and his day suddenly got a lot brighter . Although he looked composed as he walked to his desk and sat down , Minjae was actually screaming in his head with joy right now. ”I thought they killed you, Brownie” he said softly and his owl gave a quiet hoot. As happy as he was right now, he also had a terrible feeling about this.

Let’ s just hope his feelings were wrong for once...

Quinn wasn't exactly expecting for a zoo to have opened up in the Potions classroom, but it appeared that that was what happened. He scanned the desks, seeing an array of animals, though mostly owls. He also scanned the students—there weren't many, but the ones that were here... he wasn't too excited about. Two of them, at least. "Good morning, Professor," Quinn said, pointedly not looking at either Eden or Nemesis (though he doubted Nem cared much either way).

He made his way to his workstation and found an owl in a cage sitting atop it. "Good morning to you, too." The owl gave a small hoot back. Quinn was glad he had met Waful over the summer, or else he might've been more intimidated. But why did they need animals for the potions lesson?

Violet entered the Potions classroom, her favorite class, feeling in a slightly better mood than usual. At least she could get some work done for a while and try to forget activities at the school. "Professor Varma," she said, nodding at the teacher on her way to her seat.

As she settled in, Violet looked around the room and saw that most of the other students were sitting in front of the pets that had brought to school. Violet looked back in front of her eagerly, but was dismayed to find an unfamiliar brown barn owl sitting there in a cage instead of her magpie, Machiavelli. Her heart sank--what had happened to him? Had he escaped, or was he hurt, or d..... Violet cut off that train of thought sharply; she was not prepared to go there.

"Well, owl," she said to the bird under her breath, "I guess it's just you and me today." The owl looked solemnly back at her with large, golden eyes.

Ash walked into the potions room. She immediately noticed Maggie, and rushed to the table where her eagle owl was. "Maggie! Wait.... Where is scar? Whatever, I'll think about that later." She took a seat. "Hey professor. We aren't going to kill our pets, are we? This is potions class. Genuine question." She felt nervous. Where was scar? Were they dead? Who knew? But she chose not to think about it. Instead, she said some rude words under her breath that nobody could quite make out.

Bernadette did not do any excessive reading typically unless it was completely unrelated fictional texts that had nothing at all to do with her schoolwork. Sometimes 'excessive reading' was defined as the chalkboards in the room. Sometimes those times were today.

She breezed into Potions as though she hadn't a care in the world, ignoring the little kids that were early, and began to set up at a station next to Nemesis, as though she actually knew what she was doing. (She did not. She was maybe only average at Potions, at best.) But Nem was always a reliable bet to watch during lessons, and so... here she was.

Muttering a "Henlo," their way before clearing the frog in her throat, and adding a clarifying, "Hello," Bernie zoned in on the fact that this place smelled differently. She squinted around then, finally picking up on the fact that there were... animals. Everywhere. She paaaaaaaaaaaaaused for moment of Gryffindor confusion, then decided to keep her mouth shut for a change and instead just watch the other kids. Petting their animal. Cooing to it. Loving on it.

Oh, so they all knew their animals. Cool cool. They were pets or something or maybe familiar from that Creatures class she no longer took. Even better. Everyone else was in on the experience and here she was with.... what.

Bernie bit her lip and looked down at her station, where there was a plain and boring bird, an owl she supposed, presumably property of the NeO-ALLiAnCe now. She shrugged at it and then kept messing with things on her desk, also not looking at the professor, who was very pretty and often intimidating.

“Hi, Professor,’’ Claudine greeted the exotic-looking woman. After a previous Astronomy professor wore colourful saris to her lessons, the Snakette had almost expected to show up to lessons to see Varma wearing the same. Dark eyes shifted to the board. Pets? Only then did she quickly look around the room. Cats, owls, toads and… Sammy the rat! She brightened up considerably then rushed over to the station on which her rat in a cage sat.

“Hi, Sam. I’ve missed you.’’ Claudine risked putting a finger through the cage to pet his head for a second. How she had missed him! Samm chittered a bit, seemingly happy to see her. The fifth year had only eyes for the rat right now, not paying a bit of attention to the back of the classroom.

When Ivy entered the Potions classroom, she certainly didn't expect to see a bunch of cages containing animals sitting on the workstations. Cats, owls, rats, toads... Oh! The looks on some of her classmates faces and the writing on the board confirmed it; they were the pets and school owls that had gone missing at the beginning of term.

It was one of the only times Ivy was glad for her indecisiveness that prevented her from having a pet to bring to school. They had their family cats at home, but they were getting old and she hadn't wanted to stress them out by bringing them to Hogwarts. But she also could never decide on what pet she wanted when she went to Diagon Alley every summer. Since they could only bring one, and there were sooo many cute and cool pets to choose from, it was hard to decide, you know?

But for once, that was a good thing. She'd been worried enough about the school owls, at least she hadn't had to worry about her own pet too. And at least now she knew they were alive.

Unless there was some nefarious reason for the animals being present in this lesson, like...

...Anyway.

"Good morning, Professor." Ivy offered the professor a small smile then took her seat.

The little screech owl at her workstation was quietly dozing, so she tried to quietly pull her things out of her school bag and set them up on her station. It looked so happy and peaceful, she didn't want to disturb it.

Aboli entered Potions with a stoic face, her gloved hands wrapped around her schoolbag straps tightly. Her entire body was tense. She had been having such off-putting dreams that her sleep was utter garbage; she probably had baggy eyes, too.

She did not greet the professor besides a head nod and was about to take a seat next to Nem for the heck of it, but Bernie had seated herself near them. So she pulled the note she had written from her pocket and set it down in front of Bernie without really looking at her.

Ivy. Hello. Aboli chose to sit next to her.

Emmerson Cambridge positioned herself at the very back of the potions classroom. Out of sight, out of the way should the professor decide to pick on kids to provide responses. If she could get away with it, Emm would be outside the classroom altogether.

Somewhere else.

The Gryffindor sank into her seat, paying no particular attention to the reunions taking place around her. She didn't have a pet and hadn't really been paying attention to which might or might not have been around. Artemis was only a toy, a toy that thankfully had chosen to sleep through the ransacking.

"Good morning, Professor Varma." It was uncertain the woman could hear her over all the animals but Emmerson didn't have much more in her.

Emm hated being here. The wind had entirely been taken from her sails and she didn't want to deal with a smelly owl. Weren't these things gone anyway?

Phoebe was dragging just a bit, although she'd been trying to keep her chin up for weeks now. She gave the professor a polite smile, but her attention was immediately drawn to the owls on many of the tables. Owls? That was pretty cruel, wasn't it? Just keep reminding them how close they were to freedom... but they weren't really close at all.

And then she saw Beans, her own little tabby, tail tucked between quivering legs. "BEANS. Oh, sorry, Professor. Beans. My baby." It was a light at the end of a very long tunnel, and Phoebe actually cried into her beasty's smelly fur. But if they had to injure their pets... it wasn't fair. She couldn't be asked to sacrifice anything else. Beans got another cuddle.

Mamie was feeling very...okayy about potions today. It was kind of like cooking, which she wasn't great at...but she could follow directions, so...she wasn't the worst at potions. She noticed the collection of caged animals on all the workstations...interesting.

"Good morning, Professor Varma," she said quietly as she took her seat far from Bernie and next to Quinn, giving him and the owls a nod of recognition. She eyed the barn owl sitting on her workstation. Birds were weird.

Quinn nodded back at Mamie as she sat down. Their last interaction was... strange. It ended strangely. He hoped Mamie would just forget about it. He awkwardly picked at his pant legs.

Kinsay bolted into class and quickly made a beeline for the first seat she saw. She didn't even stop to say hello to Professor Varma (an uncharacteristic move). She didn't go to sit with her best friend (an even more uncharacteristic move). She actually didn't go to sit with anyone at all (the most uncharacteristic move all all). Once sat at the workstation, she looked up to find one of the school's owls and though she'd normally try to take it out of it's cage for SNUGGLES or to pet it, she simply gave it sad looks and then slumped onto the work desk, causing the little owl to hop to the side in its little cage.

Everything was terrible. When would the year be over?

Kale didn’t rightly remember how loud owls could be when they were fussing and he was, like, so glad for it. The endless twittering brought some life back into the castle. Owls. Who’d have thunk that such a small part of wizarding life could be so sorely missed?

He was too busy beaming at the smell and the sounds to really acknowledge Varma, sorry Professor, but who could blame him??

OWLS! HERE! AT HOGWARTS! What a GIFT!!!

Dahlia had barely stepped foot through the doorway of the classroom and her bright blue eyes had already fallen upon someone very special to her. It was as if she didn't see anything else at all in the room, her feet moving quickly straight towards the workstation that had the cage of her companion on top of it.

"Hello, Professor," she chirped almost excitedly. This was going to be a great lesson. There was no possible way that it could be anything other than that. Except for the simple fact that she had caught sight of the message on the board that said NOT to take the creatures from their cages. While that was a little saddening, the eleven year old could wait a little bit longer.

"Hiya, Sir Frederik," she hummed, sticking her fingers through the small slots of the cage so that she could smooth his fur a bit. Soft words of affection were whispered to the rather old but very sweet pink pygmy puff which were met with a series of different sounds that caused her to giggle.

It was really only when she had settled down into her seat that she noticed who was sat at the workstation beside her. The look on the other girls face instantly alarming to her. There was no smiles, no chatter and no exclamations of wanting to cuddle the owl in the cage on the workstation. It was all so confusing. "Kinsay, is everything alright?" The question was asked quietly with a look of concern, as she took out her things for the lesson, placing each on on the workstation neatly.

For some strange reason, Camryn was feeling pretty good as she headed for Potions class. Of course she knew that could change at any moment what with this being Hogwarts. She entered the room feeling almost.....cheerful? “Hello Professor”, she said as she passed the Potions Mistress.

Annnnnd there was a big surprise. Animals everywhere. There was an owl on her desk and Cam was immediately intrigued. What did the owl have to do with Potions and what would they be doing in class today? She wondered this as she spoke softly to her new friend. Was this possibly going to be an uneventful class?

Ahhh!!! Potato was here! The cutest cat in Ravenclaw Tower!

Before making a beeline for her brown tabby, Irithel first stopped to greet Professor Varma, who was looking super beautiful as always. "Hi, Professor. I love your jewelry, they're very - " she suddenly paused and looked around the room to check if the hooded guys were present, "they're very magical and pure ...?"

Yeah, good try. She smiled awkwardly and power walked to her workstation, where she dropped her school bag and extended her hand into the cage to give Potato a pat. She hoped they would get to play with the animals in this lesson, though she wasn't sure how it would fit the subject of Potions. She had noticed the hidden cages in the back of the classroom and wondered what they contained. They sounded really creepy!

Delaney shuffled into potions rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She had only rolled out of bed moments before, much later than intended, and had been forced to skip out on breakfast. Luckily the potions classroom wasn’t located far from the Slytherin dorms meaning she had managed to make it to class on time.

“Morning Professor Varma,” She directed towards the professor as she fought off a yawn. She glanced at the desks laid out across the room until she made contact with one in particular that contained a Chartreux can sitting silently in its cage. Ignatius! What was he doing here? Delaney, with considerable more energy than previously displayed, beelined it to the desk. She stuffed her fingers through the cage to scratch at her cat’s head as she took note of the other animals in the room, specifically the owls. Were they back for good?

Heath's dark eyes were immediately drawn to the cages on the workstations as he entered the potions classroom. At first he thought all of caged animals were owls until he saw the message on the board. Pets? If these animals were pets, that meant Rey was here somewhere! He wasn't sure how to feel about that. Any joy he felt at the thought of spending time with his little Jedi cat was tempered with fear that he'd be forced to do something like dissect his own cat or feed her a deadly potion.

He was so lost in thought that he almost forgot to greet Professor Varma upon his arrival. "Good morning, Professor," he said, giving her a polite nod of acknowledgment as he passed. He searched the rows for the gray striped bobtail cat until he came to his usual spot. A familiar meep stopped him in his tracks, and a pair* of big blue eyes stared at him from inside the cage.

"Hi, Rey," he whispered as he sat down. He wanted nothing more than to reach through the bars and pet her, but he didn't dare. Instead he neatly arranged his supplies in front of him and waited for the lessson to start.

Valencia tilted her head to the side seeing all the animals -- including OWLS! She briefly wondered if one could be smuggled out of the classroom. How close were people paying attention?

"Hello Professor." she greeted, distracted, as she passed.

She then took her seat, smiling at the owl in the cage in front of her.

Shreya lingered in the doorway for a few moments, peeking down the corridor to make sure there weren't any stragglers. Once everyone had arrived, she closed the door, clapping her hands together excitedly as she made her way to the front of the room. Her robes billowed behind her. "Hello, everyone! Thank you for being respectful of the rules and keeping your pets in their cages." Really, she had been expecting at least one student to disregard the message on the blackboard. She was delighted that everyone was on their best behavior. They needed to be, if they wanted today's lesson to go as planned.

"The Neo-Alliance has graciously granted us permission to use pets in today's lesson." Though graciously wouldn't be the word Shreya would choose, if she wasn't afraid that they were listening in on the lesson as she spoke. Getting permission to uncage the owls was a lengthy and difficult process, one that had required a lot of research and forged anti-Muggle sentiments on her part. "I trust that you will all be responsible and respectful, given this lesson opportunity." Shreya hated to sound strict, but she just wanted the students to know the severity of the consequences if anyone were to try anything—with the owls, especially. There was a reason the Neo-Alliance wanted them caged away in the first place.

"But before we get started..." She leaned against her desk, smiling at her students. "Let's talk a bit about animal communication. What are some ways that animals communicate with us? Or vice versa—what are some ways that we communicate with animals?"

OOC: Phew, thank you everyone for bearing with the little hiccup yesterday. One more time to be clear, only the owls were seized by the cult at the beginning of the term. Though it is reasonable to expect that students haven't seen their non-owl pets as frequently as normal....due to constant supervision by the Inquisitorial Squad. So if you posted a reunion with your non-owl pet, that's totally fine. Thanks for being understanding of my mistake!

Anyway, the first question is up! The lesson has now started, so if you're just joining us, play along as if you've been here all along—or else there may be IC consequences. We'll move on in about 24-30ish hours.