Ben walked briskly to class, disliking the fact, not for the first time, that he had to walk farther to his favorite class, living in the Head dorms now. On top of that, he wasn't delighted by the fact that Professor Holmes had vacated his position as Potion Professor. He could care less about Dueling, since it wasn't his thing, but the man was the only one worth learning from in this Merlin-forsaken school. Lucky for him, the Headmaster had agreed to teach him privately, allowing his apprenticeship to go through as intended.
Walking into the dark room, he inhaled the all too familiar scent of ingredients, wet, and other dark things that lurked in these rooms. The smells invaded his senses and he wondered for a moment if his dose this morning had been slightly off. He'd practically perfected it now...Well, the one for daily use...but any slight variation could leave him queasy for the whole day. As it was, he was glad to see he was the first to arrive.
Taking his usual seat at the front of the room, the Head Boy gave a slight nod to the new professor and started getting his things laid out. Every movement was meticulous, a study in control. Control is everything. Control is safe. With that done, he glanced up at the board, finally giving his attention to the lesson and the man standing before him.
Golpalott. Hmm. He'd read about him before, but only in theory. He'd done experiments on his own, as with everything he came across. But he'd had no safe ways to test his antidotes, as he wasn't keen on dying just yet. The off-handed thought brought a slight twitch to his mouth, his unconsciousness playing jokes with itself.
Ben opened his text book to the correctly dog-eared page. Chicken scratch littered the margins and the spaces between the lines. He idly wondered if his work partner would show. He hadn't heard from the Hufflepuff all summer, though the thought didn't trouble him as much as it should.
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