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+------- Thread: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 (/showthread.php?tid=552)
Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Emil Roan - 10-09-2025
Friday, October 15th, 1920
Hogwarts
Potions Classroom
10:02 a.m.
Hogwarts
Potions Classroom
10:02 a.m.
The last few months of potions were woefully uneventful relative to the first lesson. There was nothing to do, Emil figured, than to start the foundation of potions from the bottom up.
And a rocky foundation it had been.
Divisive gaps in the student's knowledge left exposed by the odd attendance left in the castle proved to be a problem. What the last professor had taught thm seemed to be surface level, and while that would have sufficed at any other point in the castle's history it would not suffice now. Everything was under a new level of scrutiny. The students would have probably been less willing to drink strange potions ever since the first class, and so it stayed basic. Brew and notes. Brewing and notes. Ingredients and prep work and then more brewing and notes.
Learning methods, curriculum. Word around the block was that the Ministry was keeping a special eye on the castle from non-disclosed avenues as well. Add to that all the castle mishaps that kept students and staff equally busy, the simplest time of Emil's day was actually teaching his classes. That and eating his grilled cheese sandwich, which had become a fan favorite of his since the opening feast.
But today's class would be slightly different. A change of pace was always necessary in teaching.
"Come in. Close the door behind you, if you would. We've got a bit of a unique lesson today."
As the last of the students filtered in and the door closed promptly shut, he moved over to the table at the front of the dungeons that had once housed a dozen different potions and effects on the first day. This time, there seemed to be a lot more under the cover of a cloth, but they were all organized in three columns. As soon as all eyes were on him, he slowly waved his wand at the wall behind him to reveal three large cauldrons bubbling. The scent from each were similar, only differing slightly in the color of smoke that rose from the concocction.
"I've spoken to your Divinations professor, those of you who've opted not to skip the class like a bad habit. The overall level of divining is particularly low this year, no doubt for the lack of stable teaching. Perhaps, of course, there remains a low level of interest in it. When I was a student, it was pretty similar. If it couldn't ignite something, it wasn't a school of magic worth learning."
And then, he lifted the sheet. The columns revealed tiny vials, at least 10 in each, matching the color of the smoke lifting from behind the professor. The rightmost cauldron, a pale pink smoke. The cauldron on the lefthand side was a sort of darker blue. The middle cauldrons smoke puffed lavender.
"Today I've decided to give you a preview into the powers of divinations. Each one of these potions will augment and enhance a certain type of divination magic for a short while, allowing you to... audit the magic I suppose you could say.
Please decide which type of magic you'd like to try out and gather in front of the table. And don't get any ideas about taking more than one. One is perfectly safe. Two... not so much."
OOC: Welcome to Lesson 2! A little late on the opening, but we're here and with a nice little twist on potions class!
Throughout the first months of school, the lessons have been pretty basic, cookie cutter. Going through the textbook, the teacher instructs. Occasional deviations and notes from the standard, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Now, however, you've been asked to choose one of three potions to consume.
The rightmost cauldron, a pale pink, will augment your Aura Seer by one level.
The middle cauldron, lavender colored, will augment your Spiritual Communication the same.
The leftmost cauldron, darker blue, will augment your Seer level.
If you have up to Basic Foresight invested in Divination, taking any will bring you to Enchanced Perception and ever so slightly will you be able to teeny-tinyly fathom the tree. But not by much.
If you have NO levels invested into Divination, it will bring you up to Enchanced Perception. But going from zero to enhanced has a physical and mental cost. It won't be a great experience, but I'll go over it more on the next update.
For now, have your student come in, listen, ask questions maybe, and discuss which tree they'd like to explore. The next update, 5 days from now (Oct. 14th), will go into the effects that each drink will give you more specifically.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Oilibhéar Ó Coigligh - 10-10-2025
Bear was a firm believer in giving himself credit for the little things. Today he was giving himself credit for going to potions. He'd give himself more credit if he managed to get out of the class without causing something to explode. As while potions was more hands on it was harder to focus on liquids than things one could manipulate like gears.
He went and took a seat in the front but off to the side.
He let out a huff that oddly mixed with a chuckle as he smiled when the professor insulted the stability of divination teaching. Though he'd consider divination itself such an unstable subject that it didn't stand a chance with the current castle conditions. Seriously, he had a hard time believing some of the mishaps he saw in the castle already this term. He only could imagine gazing into crystal balls and caring about what one saw would be worse. As admittedly he only looked into divination enough to make appearances he was following along with the lessons.
He definitely agreed with Professor Roan's philosophy of if it wasn't practically applicable it wasn't worth learning. Even if describing being able to ignite something as the root of applicability was odd - though entertaining to consider about the man.
He stood up and walked towards the tables considering the potions and said " Professor which one are you taking? " The question more a curiosity.
As he knew enough about divination to know most of it had little use to him. To him talking to spirits was irrelevant as they'd already had there shot at life, and they had no consequences if they lied. Making spirits untrustable to him, thus not worth hearing. Then there was Aura related magics which meant one had to care more about people in general than he did. Though perhaps it could be useful if he ever really had to sell stuff - not a consideration for the current time.
So he choose the leftmost cauldron (Seer) as seeing the future would be the most interesting of the bunch and stood there. Though he didn't take one of the potions deciding to let someone else try it first.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Sienna Miller - 10-12-2025
Sienna was reluctant at first and with arms crossed and slightly furrows brow she did not go to the table immediately. She chose to watch instead. While watching, she noticed that the classmates moved forward slowly; some with eagerness, some with caution, and all with the same mixture of curiosity and skepticism that was a usual occurrence before Emil's "experiments".
The pale pink smoke was her first impression. The delicate curls and the light, almost sweet smell promised help with the understanding of the subject without too much disorder. But she still lingered and measured it. Then her eyes moved to the middle where the lavender smoke was. It had a peacefulness that, a steady rhythm which was quite perceptible... strategic maybe. Yes, that, she thought, might be interesting.
At the end, she took a step forward, her movement was intentional and she waited for the swirl to subside that was going on behind the chaos of the students. Some of them had already taken the vials they wanted—some blue, some pink, and now the lavender was the only one left. One of them she carefully took and with the same assumption as with a small glass vial that it is going to bite- she looked closely at it.
“Lavender,” she said softly to herself and then louder so that Emil could hear, “I’ll try this one.”
With a swift glance, Emil’s smirk appeared as if by magic. “A cautious yet calculated choice, indeed,” said he, while tapping a finger against the table. “Not the most noticeable, but subtly is often where the real strength lies. Very well, I think, quite suitable for you.”
Sienna, without uttering a word, lifted her eyebrow and put a non-verbal reply. She did not speak; Emil seemed to be satisfied only with the silent marking of the note in his internal notebook.
She uncorked the vial cautiously, allowing the lavender-colored potion to sparkle under the torchlight, and then brought it to her mouth. A glow spread in her stomach once it hit her tongue and it expanded from there. The cellar looked more crisp—the noise of the bubbling cauldrons, the stamping of feet, the whisper of the far-off portrait—yet she most of all felt… more aware.
Her sight was divided at the margins, seeing combinations where there were none before, faint spots of magic intertwining the chamber, small heartbeats that were almost legible like a pulse. She blinked slowly to allow it to take effect.
So, this was divination and not prediction, not giving obscure signs about the future. Just seeing. Understanding. Patterns.
Sienna despite it all, smiled slightly. This class indeed could be fun for her someday.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Ruth Elliot - 10-12-2025
Rae had no expectations as she walked into the potions classroom. Fresh out of Dark Arts and no longer so sleepy, the girl was in the unfortunate predicament of being too awake to pass out. It would've been the perfect time, too. After the horror that was the first lesson, they'd been having rather tame classes. Nothing over the top, nothing exciting, nothing worth having her think too hard as she walked into the room.
"Come in. Close the door behind you, if you would. We've got a bit of a unique lesson today."
Word she didn't want to hear.
Dark eyes flickered to the front of the room, where the professor had once again laid out offerings for them to sample. She didn't need to tell him what a hard pass it would be for her. Rae had been adamant after the first lesson to never put a vial to her lips that she didn't watch herself brew in the potions classroom. That resolve had been easy to maintain in the last month or so. With the lessons being mostly lectures and brews that weren't necessarily up for consumption, the young Slytherin girl had slipped into a wonderful sense of security.
That was being threatened now by the very idea that she was meant to take one of these vials and consume the contents.
"I've spoken to your Divinations professor."
She didn't have one.
Rae didn't take that class, and for good reason. That the professor thought to offer her such an education anyway was unnecessary. She wasn't the sort to gaze into flames looking for omens, or sip tea then try to find patterns within the dregs left behind. Palm reading, scrying, crystal balls, Rae left those things to the people who had the patience for it. She dealt in the things she could see immediately, with her naked eyes, not the things she would have to sit silently and contemplate to even catch the faintest glimpses of.
Rae followed behind Bear up to the front, taking for herself one of the pink vials. It didn't matter what it did for the girl who had no intention of ingesting it, but the colour was nice. Soft. Just the sort of colour she liked to put in her hair when it came in the form of flowers or cute clips.
This potion? Nothing more than a hand warmer until the professor was ready to give her something else to do.
She wasn't drinking it.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Evander Whistler - 10-14-2025
"Come in. Close the door behind you, if you would. We've got a bit of a unique lesson today."
"Shit," he mouthed only loud enough for Rae to hear. Of all the times he would bother to make the effort to make it to potions, possibly his worst course and the one most people probably preferred him to miss, Evan would have to show up to the one that wasn't going to stick to the usual, boring book reading and potion making. He shifted in his seat, unsettled. Pale eyes flicked to the door as he wondered if it was worth gathering up his things and leaving.
Then, the professor actually spoke on a topic that perked his interest. If there was a course that he did manage to understand and engage in, it was divination. Most of that was hereditary. Whistlers were renowned for their ability to apply the art of perception, of foresight, and of communing with the dead. Even as far as Evan had been tossed from the family tree, even he could apply most of what was taught to him.
The possibility of amplifying his gifts was hard to pass up. He was one of the first to stand and approach the vials and their smoke. The different colors, a series that went from all the extremes of cotton candy flavors, had him pause only long enough to look back at Rae. She had grabbed one of the pink bottles to the far end, but she didn't look at all interested in taking part.
That was probably the right choice.
"You afraid, Elliot?" He cackled, prodding at her before taking the vial in the middle, a soft lavender, and uncorking it before holding it out for her, mockingly. Rae was fun to goad. Evan knew how to push just enough to keep him safe. He held the vial as if he was pausing to hear a toast before downing it.
He almost went for a second one before hearing the professor warn against it.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Matilda Nordstrom - 10-16-2025
Walking into potions, Matilda was always slightly on guard. While she didn’t think Professor Roan was evil, anyone with the ability to create potions then instruct his students to drink with no questions put her on edge. Whenever this happened, her mind went straight to poison. Thankfully, as of yet, no one had died.
Yet.
Walking to her desk she deposited her bag near her feet and got out her notebook, quill and got ready for the lesson. And apparently, she was going to hate this one. Divination was NOT her favorite subject. In fact, she skipped it on more than one occasion. She wasn’t proud of it, but she would much rather be working on something productive, like plants. Plants were predictable, there was a science behind keeping them alive. Water + sun + fertilizer = growth. Sure, there were variables that would cause problems, but the basic equation was the same.
Divination did not have such certainty.
"Today I've decided to give you a preview into the powers of divinations. Each one of these potions will augment and enhance a certain type of divination magic for a short while, allowing you to... audit the magic I suppose you could say. Please decide which type of magic you'd like to try out and gather in front of the table. And don't get any ideas about taking more than one. One is perfectly safe. Two... not so much."
Walking up to the potions bubbling at the front of the class, the pink and lavender liquids seemed to be the most popular. Instead, not really caring what one she drank, Tilly chose the leftmost cauldron, with a darker blue potion.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Emil Roan - 10-19-2025
The dungeon was quiet, unnaturally so. The potions began to take hold. Emil stood behind his desk, quill in hand, the faint scratching of parchment as he observed the students down their potions one by one.
He had been expecting this shift. Divination potions didn’t hit like a Polyjuice. They pried open senses opened, like giving thhe blind sight for the first time.
The Aura Draught — Pale Pink
It would began as nothing more than discomfort. Students blinked, rubbed at their eyes, or frowned as the light in the room seemed wrong. A shimmer, faint, danced at the edges of their vision like a floater or an eyelash in their eyes.
Slowly, the shimmer darkened into soft gray veils surrounding each figure. With each passing moment, those veils started to bleed with the suggestion of color. Gentle, hesitant, as though the world had always contained this colored dimension and they just failed to ever see it.
It wasn’t true sight yet. Just the first adjustment to a spectrum that had always been there. Most squinted as if it would make the colors settle into focus, unaware that doing so made them stronger.
Emil’s gaze drifted briefly toward the Slytherin rows. Elliot, among them, silent, still, observing more than participating. He made a note but said nothing. Some lessons, he’d learned, did not require interference.
The Spirit Draught — Lavender
The lavender drinkers went pale soon after. Emil’s eyes flicked to the shadows along the ceiling as several of the castle ghosts, at his earlier invitation, drifted silently through the room.
To the untrained, their presence would be little more than a cold draft or a flicker of movement, but those under the potion’s influence heard something more personal. The voices came not from the air, but from within? Words without form. Echoes that might have been their own thoughts rebounding through some invisible chamber.
One ghost passed straight through a student’s desk, the candles guttering as its misty form rippled through the air. The whisper that followed made a few flinch.
“Don’t respond,” Emil said mildly, arms folding. “The dead aren’t accustomed to good manners.”
He watched Evander carefully. The boy’s connection to divinatory craft ran deeper than the other students, seemingly. His pulse steady despite the chills that would trickle down his arms. Sienna, on the other hand, seemed actively focused. Head tilting, slightly as if listening between the world’s layers.
The Seer’s Draught — Dark Blue
The air around the last group shimmered faintly, light bending oddly around their cauldrons. Emil had brewed that one with care.
For them, time fractured. Their senses stretched a second too far. They reached for quills they hadn’t yet grasped. Turned pages before their fingers touched them. Every movement doubled: one in the present, one an instant ahead, overlapping like reflections in disturbed water.
The result was nausea, disorientation, and quiet awe.
Emil moved among them, steady and deliberate, voice low enough to anchor rather than alarm.
“Breathe. Calmly. The sight comes before the mind can handle it. Let it settle, and it will pass.”
He paused by Matilda’s desk, setting a calming hand on the surface to anchor her back to the present. “Blue always burns a little before it enlightens.”
He paused beside Oilibhéar, who stared at his parchment as if trying to decide which line he’d already written. “A second ahead,” Emil murmured, “is still a second too soon.”
When the air began to still again, he tapped his quill against the edge of the desk, the sound sharp enough to reorient the room. The ghosts had gone, the light normalized, but something lingered—an aftertaste of knowing too much.
“By now,” he said, tone measured, “you’ve seen enough to understand why most avoid Divination altogether. Knowledge is rarely the problem. It’s the burden of it. Or that it doesn't come in a giant fireball. People really like fireballs.”
He let the silence sit for a heartbeat.
“Write down what you experienced before you lose the thread. Interpret what you saw or heard, even if it made no sense. Especially if it made no sense. That, and what other senses could possibly be opened with potions. Maybe we'll manage to create something new together. Either way, you’ll hand them in next week.”
He turned, snuffing out the nearest cauldron with a flick of his wand.
“And for those of you still seeing double, don’t panic. Your perception should correct itself… eventually.”
OOC: Update #1 came! About time, and I'm super sorry about the late update. My body didn't agree, so I buried myself in my first love, Nintendo.
The potions are starting to take effect, and although there's been some set up depending on the potion, you can take it in any direction you'd like.
The next update will be on the 23rd, and things will escalate a bit on the next update, so try not to overwhelm your students too much.
I'll be doing that for you.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Oilibhéar Ó Coigligh - 10-19-2025
He watched as his classmates made their potion choices. Some drank them and others didn’t. He was happy he wasn’t alone in just drinking the potion that was handed out. At least some of his classmates were smart to hesitate. Especially with all that was happening in Hogwarts he wasn’t just going to jump into anything.
"You afraid, Elliot?”
With a smirk he said “ Better you a test subject than us Whistler “. He never thought that Rae would be one of the ones hesitating to drink a potion in class, but it did make him think she was smarter than he had before.
Then he watched Evander down the lavender colored potion. His only observation on the lavender potion was both who grabbed it had drunk it quickly. He still held his darker blue potion in his hand from the leftmost cauldron. Which made him watch Tilly as the girl had chosen the same potion he had making her a better test subject than his other classmates.
After much hesitation and seeing his classmates not immediately convulse needing to go to the Hospital Wing he drank his potion. He regretted his choice immediately as his senses seemed to go wonky as he sat at his desk looking at his parchment.
“A second ahead, is still a second too soon.”
He responded “ The only time is now. “ to Professor Roan. As he considered the parchment before him. As he considered the fact he saw his quill write before his hands physically moved. It was an odd sensation to say the least.
Still he wrote what he saw like he was instructed. Though as he watched his parchment the line between what he was writing and what he already wrote blurred in his mind. He didn’t panic as he was confident in the end things would correct themselves or he’d adapt. He blinked as he looked around the room seeing the movements of others similar to his own movements he’d observed so at least he wasn’t the only one impacted.
He didn't need this lesson to understand reasons why people avoided divination.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Matilda Nordstrom - 10-19-2025
Being magical was a funny thing. Sure, it had its rewards, but with those came some really gnarly side effects. While in Primary school, taught in the muggle world and at home with her Mum, Tilly was never subjected to dangerous situations or mind altering lessons.
Sure, there was that one time, during an art lesson, where the boy next to her hit her hand for taking the blue crayon, but that was about the extent of her negative situations. Here, at Hogwarts, it was a thing of beauty if she didn’t leave every class in some sort of pain or discomfort. Today, was one of those days it seemed.
Sitting at her desk, quill, parchment and book all in front of her, Tilly took the potion and shut her eyes. The burn was not soothing, or pleasant in any way. Yep, didn’t like that feeling at all.
“Blue always burns a little before it enlightens.” Roan said in what she assumed was supposed to be a calming voice. It missed the mark. “Well the blue can go to hell,” Tilly mumbled under her breath. Opening her eyes, was a very bad idea. It felt familiar in a way, like the time at the bonfire when got a little tipsy. The room swayed, or was that her? At first, she felt like she was seeing double, but it wasn’t that. She could see the now, and then what was a few seconds ahead.
Looking around the room was a bad idea, too much to focus on and too many things trying to show her what would happen next. Instead, she looked down at her tabletop and hands. Seeing her hands grasp the quill before it was felt in her fingers was a mind trip.
“Breathe. Calmly. The sight comes before the mind can handle it. Let it settle, and it will pass.”
Matilda took deep measured breaths. It really didn’t help at all.
“Write down what you experienced before you lose the thread. Interpret what you saw or heard, even if it made no sense. Especially if it made no sense. That, and what other senses could possibly be opened with potions. Maybe we'll manage to create something new together. Either way, you’ll hand them in next week.”
Matilda, with quill in hand… possibly, began to write, but she was already writing, but she wasn’t. Wow, this was WEIRD. She didn’t bother to write coherent notes, it would be too difficult, that and apparently her future mind had already decided, so NOW matilda just went with it. Scratching short sentences and words about what she had, and was experiencing, observations, how her body felt, how her mind was pounding. Hopefully, when she was back to herself later, it would all make sense so that she could write her paper.
“And for those of you still seeing double, don’t panic. Your perception should correct itself… eventually.”
“Seriously?!” She said with a bit more bite to her voice. She had Astronomy class after this, which would make it all very difficult to pay attention. Just fabulous.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Ruth Elliot - 10-19-2025
"You afraid, Elliot?"
Leave it to Evan. Rae rolled her eyes just about as hard as she could as he friend appeared. He was always so funny, wasn't he? Always had something to say with that smart mouth of his. It was something she had gotten used to long ago, never truly ruffled by her friend's jabs anymore. "Never afraid, Evan. Cautious, like maybe you should be." Had that lesson back in September taught him nothing about wariness when it came to things the professor offered without thorough explanation and prior demonstration on himself?
Apparently not.
“Better you a test subject than us Whistler.“
"Exactly." At least someone else understood the need not to swallow everything placed in front of them. "Someone's got to go first and I don't fancy it being me." Hell, she was unlikely to go even second, or seventh, or twentieth. Rae was no one's test dummy.
Evan wasn't the only one willing to find out what awaited him on the other side of the potion; everyone, even Bear, eventually downed the concoctions. Shame, he'd shown so much promise when it seemed like something he wasn't willing to try.
Back at her desk, Rae set her vial down and waited for them to move on to whatever the next portion of the lesson would be. You know...when they were done playing Russian Roulette with their well-being. This left her in a unique position. She was now the outsider looking in, watching as the effects began to take hold over her peers. A few of them looked dizzy. Something had spooked one of them enough it required the professor to encourage them not to respond.
How...riveting.
Rae leaned forward onto her desk, propping herself up by her elbows and watching the show that played out before her. Where some may have felt curious or left out--perhaps even worried about standing out too much--and hurried to down their potion, the Slytherin felt no such tug. She already didn't think much of divination and didn't think it necessary to wrap herself up in whatever...this was.
“Seriously?!”
Whatever had happened to the redhead wasn't something she was thrilled about. Ah, to not mindlessly swallow things because a professor said so.
Her index finger twined and coiled itself idly around a loose curl that had fallen in her face while the girl waited for whatever came next. She was patient and could certainly wait.
“Write down what you experienced before you lose the thread. Interpret what you saw or heard, even if it made no sense. Especially if it made no sense. That, and what other senses could possibly be opened with potions. Maybe we'll manage to create something new together. Either way, you’ll hand them in next week.”
Next week.
She didn't even have to do it now? The class kept getting better and better. When the time came, if she could be bothered, she would crop something up for the man and be done with it. Now? Later? It would change nothing for her.
RE: Bringing it to the Surface || Lesson 2 - Evander Whistler - 10-25-2025
“Better you a test subject than us Whistler."
"No one asked you, Cough-ling." For what was a running gag that only Evan seemed to find funny, he mispronounced the Ravenclaw boy's name for the hundredth or so time. But he wasn't wrong. If there was anyone that should be used as a guinea pig, who wouldn't be worth the risk, it'd be Evander Whistler. And, somehow, the acceptance of that fact was not met with shame, anger, or self-pity. It was just the nature of things.
His load goading must have influenced others to go about trying their vials. Though, he didn't see anyone else grab the color he had. His gaze shifted to Tilly as she swallowed the blue liquid held in the vial she'd grabbed, pale eyes squinting as he began to feel different. As he looked away, his face bothered and feeling like he was starting to work through a fever, Evan's potion started to take effect.
The chill was the first thing he felt.
The room itself seemed to dip in temperature. His skin began to numb and seemed to cool, but when he held a hand to his forehead it felt hot. His breathing started to grow heavy and haggard, his mouth open to sharply inhale and hold it in as he looked around. That's when they started to appear.
Evan sank into his seat as the room filled with floating, haunting specters. Ghastly forms in different colored smoke. Some were a dim blue, some a dreary grey. One was even green, tossing its severed limbs like juggling pins. The more he saw, the wider his eyes got and the more he seemed to shrivel where he sat.
He'd always felt like he could sense that coldness before. Having it paraded in front of him, ghosts interacting with one another like friends catching up after a summer apart, was a haunting sight to see. Then, almost as they were synchronized, they all tuned to look at him.
It was then that the hand shot up from his desk, incorporeal fingers stretching out towards him.
The fourth-year boy couldn't help but cry out in surprise and he fell back on his seat, his back hitting the floor.