--blowing it up, jon!

[hazel]

potions was never one of briar's better classes. standing in front of her cauldron, she peered down at the bubbling mess inside. while everyone else had a smooth and sweet-smelling mixture to pour into a vile, she wound up with a sticky goo that smelled like week-old sneakers and the floor of a taxi cab. pinching her nose, she glared at the liquid, if you could call it that, and huffed. her brows furrowed and she shook her head when her professor approached. she didn't want to hear it. she knew she was bad, really. backing away from her cauldron, briar released her nose and folded her arms over her chest, giving the desk a stare that could equivalate death. she sniffed, and stared down at her shoes, wondering what went wrong.

she was supposed to add one toadstool. she did that. holding her breath, she reached close to the pot for the directions. grabbing them, she kept her distance from the ugly mistake. the partner at her table had backed a few paces away as well, looking quite startled by the smell. ignoring her and skimming the directions, briar found her mistake in a moment. instead of adding ten nettles like she should have, she added eighteen. a smudge on the page made the 0 look like an 8, and wha-la, briar found herself with a failing project. she dropped her hands against her side and clenched her fists, crumpling her paper. she had enough of stupid potions class. she didn't want to fail anymore. not that she'd let anyone know, but she was crumbling inside.

dad would be furious. mom would be indifferent, just telling her to get better and maybe taking her cell away for a week or so. dad would throw a fit, with that abusive nature of his. she'd get chewed out and called an idiot and worse, maybe. it would depend on the mood she caught him in when she told him. he always seemed layed back after a few firewhiskey's on the weekends, so maybe she'd wait until then. nibbling on her bottom lip, she didn't notice the bell had rang, and the students were beginning to pack their books up, a few early birds already filing out. about to follow suite, briar was stopped. apparently the professor had other plans. stiffening, the curly haired fireball grinded her teeth together and trudged resentfully to the large desk in the back of the room. she waited there, sending a hateful glare at the ground. ugh.

[/size][/center]

[jonathanhardcastle]

Potions had always been one of the subjects in which Jonathan excelled. In his mind it was simply following directions. That wasn't exactly a difficult task in his opinion. As long as one was able to read something carefully and just do exactly what it said then there really shouldn't be a problem. But for some reason, there were a lot of people who loathed the subject. Maybe he found it easy because it was something which interested him and always had. When he was younger he'd go into his father's study and pour over the numerous potions books he had, as well as the herbology ones. It had been in those younger golden days that he'd made the decision to become a Healer. As a Healer, he'd get to concentrate on both of those subjects. He had at one point toyed around with the idea of becoming a Historian because of his love for history but that desire didn't have a long lifespan.

Moments after he finished his potion, the professor came up to him with a serious look on his face. Jonathan had never really seen this expression on his face before and wondered what on earth he had done to provoke it. After giving the professor a confused look, he explained himself. He was practically forcing Jonathan to help out another student. Jonathan had done a few tutoring sessions before, it wasn't really out of the usual for him, but he normally did it out of his own free will. Also, the people he helped out weren't generally people that made him nervous. Briar was one of those people who just made him incredibly uncomfortable. She was scary, which was a funny way of describing a Hufflepuff. He knew she was prone to violent outbursts and yelling and she just didn't come off as a friendly person.

But, given that the professor threatened to give him no credit for his potion that day, he had little choice. As the students began to billow out of the room like wild animals, he made his way towards the back of the classroom where Briar was already standing. He flashed her a weak smile with obvious insincerity as he began to set his things down. What was he supposed to help her with exactly? Reading directions? His awkwardness showed clearly as he began, "Um, well I guess you need to try this potion again. What went wrong before?"

tagging && briar
words && 406
notes && sorry it's short!
credit && ashybomb @ caution 2.0

[/size][/font]

[hazel]

briar raised her gaze as footsteps approached, and scowled when she recognized a smartass ravenclaw from her class. lifting her chin in an effort to appear haughty, she eyed him as he set his books down with reluctance. a familiar twang of hurt panged in briar's chest, but she pushed it back. people weren't worth getting to know. they were all the same, anyway. either cowards or bullies. inwardly, the brunette was facing a struggle. she knew she needed help, but it's not like she wanted to admit that. in all honesty she wouldn't have cared about potions, if not for her dad and his crazy mouth. pressing her lips together, she continued to watch jonathan with a critical stare. she needed this. but she didn't want it- no well, she did. kind of. conflicting thoughts whizzed in briar's mind. she'd have to accept this. one furtive glance at the professor made that clear- she wasn't getting out of it. she was getting tutored by jonathan hardcastle. whoopee.

she snorted when he began speaking, not impressed by the weak and unsure tone. he was obviously feeling awkward and was not pushing his authority. he was the tutor. narrowing her eyes, briar folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. "nothing went wrong before!" she snapped, rolling her eyes as she shot a glance at her cauldron, still bubbling a wrong-looking goo. immediately backtracking, she realized how rude she sounded. and that she lied. briar was many things, but she wasn't a liar. "well, nothing that i can't fix next time. some stupid smudge on the paper made me read the directions wrong, and i messed up." she explained shortly, lifting a hand a hand and pointing to her cauldron just two tables down. she scanned him, eyeing the ravenclaw up and down, and leaned forward, pressing her hands down on the table and with a sneering look on her face. she'd tell him what's what.

"okay look. first of all, you're the tutor-in-authority so start acting like it. second of all, don't ask questions that i can't answer, like why you're tutoring me, because i don't know. and third of all, don't be wishy washy just because i'm a bitch. grow thicker skin and get over it." she barked the three policies of hers without pausing to listen to what she was saying. briar was a hufflepuff, and though she hated to admit it, she was really a good person deep down. she just slobbered her 'rose petal' with thorns so no one would get close to her. or something like that. the message behind her words was meant to help jonathan, and she really was trying to. like, meaning it. the words just came out bitchy and cold. briar had been this way for so long she forgot why she even started to act so mean in the first place. well, she'd forget and then remember her father. oh, that's why. she was smart, you see, and she awsn't about to let another person like him let her down.

[/center][/size]

[jonathanhardcastle]

Did she really just snort at him? His eyes narrowed involuntarily as he looked at her. What had he possibly done to her that could evoke her behavior? He'd hardly spoken a handful of words to her throughout the six years they'd gone to school together. She had no reason to dislike him, that he was aware of anyways. Maybe she was just upset that he had to tutor her or just the fact that she was having to be tutored in the first place. He had never really paid her much attention during class but if the professor was that forceful about getting her a tutor she must be pretty terrible at the subject. He'd never actually been forced to tutor anyone until that day.

At her words his eyes glanced towards the cauldron with her potion and back towards her. Obviously something had gone wrong before. He raised his eyebrows in an exasperated sort of way. This was going to be a more difficult task than he'd foreseen. After looking back at her cauldron he could tell that she had added more nettles than necessary. How could she have mucked up something that simple? The directions were pretty clear. Then she explained how a smudge or something had caused her to misread the directions. A likely tale. "Well, obviously this isn't your first time messing up a potion or you wouldn't be needing a tutor," he replied, his tone easily reflected that he wasn't exceptionally fond of her. She was being rude, very rude. And from what he could see, he had done nothing to deserve that. Though he'd heard about her somewhat violent outbursts, so he probably should be a little nicer or she just might have one of those. "I'm going to guess the smudge was on the line about the number of nettles needed?" he asked rhetorically. He already knew the answer to that.

Jonathan's jaw dropped slightly at her little monologue. Who the hell did she think she was talking to him like that? "If I'm the one with authority here then you really have no right to speak to me like that. So let's keep your outbursts to a minimum, alright?" he began, trying to keep his collected demeanor. "And I think we know the answer to why you have to be tutored. You're obviously having problems with Potions, that's easy enough." Jonathan was taking himself by surprise. He was never really this upfront with someone, especially with someone who was practically a stranger. He decided not to comment on her third statement as he wasn't about to call her a bitch to her face. That just wasn't his style. He gestured towards the mess in her cauldron, "So why don't you go ahead and clean that up so we can get started."

tagging && briar
words && 468
notes &&
credit && ashybomb @ caution 2.0

[/size][/font]

[hazel]

briar raised a brow as jonathan replied to her words, and she wasn't stupid enough to miss the not so fond tone of his voice. she didn't say anything at first, merely standing with her arms folded over her chest. he looked like he was going to say more, and briar was not gonna stop him. she got to say what she wanted to say, so it was only fair to him that she be quiet so he could speak as well. besides, briar didn't talk to hear her voice, she talked to say something and something important at that. her mother once told her that every comment is as important as the next, no matter who spoke it. despite her mum's cowardly demeanor toward her dad, she was still a smart woman. briar kind of looked up to her, admiring her more pacifistic attitude. of course, she'd never tell you that.

when jonathan spoke again, he was snapping back a retort to her little array of criticisms. she smirked as he spoke, his tone harder than before. when he was finished speaking and began to move on, she unraveled her arms and clapped her hands slowly. "there we go- that's what i'm talking about." she quipped, and sauntered past him to her cauldron. she lifted the directions sheet and skimmed it over, before setting it down a little farther away and reaching into her robe pocket. whipping out a rather small wand in a light wood color, she held it in her left hand and muttered a single word under her breath. the mess of the potion gone wrong disappeared, and the cauldron was clean once again. satisfied that she could at least cast a spell, she brought the paper closer again and collected the ingredients in a neat row. not taking too long to do this, she stopped and peered over at jonathan.

"well, let's get this started." she pumped a fist in the air halfheartedly and let her eyes wander down to re-read the directions, taking care this time. well, more care than before. that was the thing with briar, or so her father said. she never took enough care, or cared enough to take time. briar, as thorny as she acted, was only harsh on the outside. she was a hufflepuff, how evil could she be? and it hurt, when her dad said that. once upon a time she tried caring very much, almost too much. she was kind of a social outcast. but that wasn't reality, or wasn't now. briar had given up on open affection, choosing to treat everyone as if they were the same as her father. someone who would drop her like a potato when something better happened, or nitpick at her flaws. shaking her head to herself, briar shook the thought away. she was going to get better at potions, so she didn't need to worry about dad's reaction. shifting her gaze to the ingredients, she plucked ten nettles from the pile. ten, not eighteen.

[/size][/center]

[jonathanhardcastle]

May 18, 2010 21:23:33 GMT @jonathanhardcastle said:

The stance which she took, her arms folded across her chest and the raised eyebrow, made Jonathan wonder if she was actually listening to him or if this hostility would continue. He had never had anyone speak to him like that, ever. Even when he had to dock points from other students. But that was mainly due to his fear of confrontation and he normally just stayed away from people who were unless his prefect duties made him do so. But sometimes fate dealt you cards and you just had to go with it. He sincerely hoped his words wouldn't strike up more argument because this wasn't something which he could exactly walk away from. Not only was a grade on the line but also his good standing with the professor and those weren't two things he would throw away willingly.

Her applause caught him off guard. Why would she be doing that? He shot her a quizzical sort of look after she spoke. Involuntarily, a small half smile became present on his face. "Glad we got that whole mess out of the way so we can actually get to work," he commented, his tone much lighter than before now that he saw that the initial confrontation between the two of them had come to an end. Hopefully they could maintain the peace. He watched her closely as she gathered her things which were towards the front of the classroom. At least she was listening to directions, that was a step in the right direction. He'd never really had to tutor anyone for Potions, not because he wasn't talented, but normally students knew what they had done to muck their potions up. He figured he was just supposed to oversee her next attempt, just to make sure she got everything right this time.

He chuckled at her minimal enthusiasm. "Aw come on, you've got to be a little bit more excited than that," he commented conversationally. He didn't want to just sit there in silence but he found that he had no idea what he could possibly talk to Briar about. "I guess I'll just watch over you while you make it, just to stop you from misreading the directions," he began trying not to let his awkwardness show through as to stop the Hufflepuff from causing another scene. "The professor just said as long as you get this done correctly and we drop it off at his office than you'll be free to go," he added, wondering if she already knew that. He wondered if she would initiate further conversation with him or if she was more eager to just get the heck out of there. He wouldn't be offended either way but he'd never been talented at starting conversations, especially because he couldn't think of anything the two of them would have in common. Since Potions class was the only thing he could think of he asked, "So I'm going to guess you don't really like Potions all that much...why did you decide to continue it after OWLs?" Hopefully he wasn't assuming her dislike for the subject, it was always rude to assume.

tagging && briar
words && 523
notes &&
credit && ashybomb @ caution 2.0

[/size][/font][/quote]