Messing around (Open)

Lily had been known ever since she was young to mess around with potions and such, forever having fun with them, she enjoyed the way that with one simple ingredient change she could change the whole aspect of the potion. But due to her age, most people didn't like her messing around with this stuff on her own. So it was rare for the youngest Potter to get some alone time with her hobby. Currently, she was trying to make a potion that would help her see better in the dark, she was kneeling on a stool since she was so short and she hummed softly as her curly red hair was tied back into a tight ponytail. Just as she was about to put in one of the last ingredients she heard someone coming and she quickly dived under the desk hiding and holding her notebook in her arms.

This particular notebook held all her recipes for the potions she was slowly working on, most a failure but there was no success without a bit of failure. So Lily had written everything down and she held it close to her chest, it was her most prized possession outside of her wand. Lily sat there praying and hoping that whoever had ended up coming in would leave soon, she didn't need her potion over boiling or something. She could only pray that it wasn't one of her brothers or cousins coming in. She would be dead meat if they told her dad or mom. For some odd reason, everyone of her family saw her as a glass doll and Lily hated it. But then again there was nothing she could do. At least not yet. So there the youngest Potter sat waiting and hoping for the person to leave. Her potion still on top, seconds from over boiling.

As of late, James' grades had been slipping; he found it hard to pay attention in classes due to everything that was going on in his love life. He decided that he needed to find ways to improve his grades as he honestly would feel too embarrassed to ask one of his professors for help. He also didn't want his mother to get concerned with his grades as she had been with just about everything since his father was arrested and placed in Azkaban out of the blue.

He found himself outside of the potions classroom hoping that he could try to improve in this class by trying to brew a potion he had learned recently. James entered the classroom and was quite surprised to see his sister. Walking over to her, he greeted, "Hey, Lils." If there was one thing he knew his sister was good at, it was potions.

Lily looked up at her brother and bit her lip waving ever so slightly. She loved her brother to death but dammit he was messing with her plans. She got up and started fiddling with her potion once more. ”Hey James, sorry trying to figure out this potion, hopefully if I made it right it should increase someone’s ability to see in the dark” She explained grinning as she added a few more things before letting it simmer. It would sit for a few moments before lily removed it from its spot to pour it into a bottle. ”Now I just have to let it sit for a while and if I’m correct it should change from blue to purple, oh...you won’t tell mum will you? You know how she is with me fiddling with this stuff on my own”

Lily may have been only 12 but given who her parents were and her aunt, well lily grew up to be very bright, even if she didn’t use her brains for the best of stuff sometimes. She was like her aunt hermonie but with her uncle George’s love of pranking. ”Wait...what are you doing here James? You hate potions. Well you hate school in general but still.” she questioned her brother with a raised eyebrow curious as to why her eldest brother was here and not in his room. Or snogging his...whoever the fuck he was with currently.

"You're brewing a night vision potion, sis?" James wondered as he observed the process. "That's interesting. Don't worry, I won't say a word to  mom or dad next time I see them. Us siblings do sick together when it comes to hiding our interests." He smiled wanting to see the end result of his sister's more interesting potion. So much for the whole plan of practicing so he could improve his grades...

He opened up his notebook of potions notes feeling rather out of place as he usually isn't caught dead in a classroom outside of class time. James wondered how Albus was doing when it came to his grades due to the stress of just about everything lately; if anything, James didn't want his younger brother to crumble as much as he was. "My grades aren't that great, and I need to get them up before mum gets so concerned to the point of trying to take me to therapy." He was hoping to at least score some sort of date with Evelyn so he could, at least, have something good go on with his life after the whole thing with Azazel.

Rutuk decided to go to the potions classroom. He had a brief encounter with the enhanced substances, but didn't have much time to really analyze them. His curiosity was piqued by the way they enhanced the one who ingested it. He walked in and saw that a pair of siblings were there. They belonged to the Potter family if he was right, or was it the Weasley family? Didn't matter, he walked over to a table and placed a machine onto it. He reached over for a potion which he put on a support the machine had. He pressed a couple of buttons and the machine started to scan the potion. Rutuk took a second to think, hopefully those two would mind their business, last thing he needed were curious twins. He stood between them and the machine listening, and trying to not look more suspicious than he already was.

The machine would take some time to analyse the substance, but it made an awful lot of noise. It was gonna take a lot of time likely due to the bizarre ingredients. Rutuk sighed hearing it's faint beep and started tapping his foot.

Lily nodded at her brother smiling slightly as she kept going, her potion sat there slowly like Lily had predicted changing colour from blue to purple showing how her potion was working. Lily then spotted another boy come in and she raised an eyebrow, what was he even doing? The weird contraption peeked Lily's interested and when something did that, it was hard to get her mind off of it. Getting off her stool she walked over tilting her head in curiosity.

"Excuse me? What are you doing? Your machine is making an awful lot of noise and it's hurting my head. How come you even have something like that in a potion's classroom?" She asked quietly watching him as she tilted her head. Looking back at her brother with a raised eyebrow, silently trying to ask him if he understood what was going on. Walking closer she pulled herself up to watch the machine. "My Uncle says that strange things are good, but this is a very strange machine. Is it to help you brew a potion? Cause ya know I could just help ya, I don't mean to brag but I'm really good at potions, one of the best in my family actually" That wasn't actually true, but the odd boy didn't need to know that.

James watched as the potion turned from blue to purple and smiled. "Is it supposed to do that?" he wondered as he figured his sister would know more than he did. His found his direction directed somewhere else when a rather strange kid came in with a rather odd machine. Looking towards the kid, he raised an eyebrow.

"What even is that? How did you even manage to bring it into school?" James questioned crossing his arms. Guess it seemed as if his plan to improve his potion skills went off the rails. He glanced at Lily and shook his head no shrugging. "I have about as much of a clue as you do," James whispered to her. Focusing his attention back on Rutuk, he asked, "Uh, who are you?"

Rutuk was in a panic as the young girl started looking at his machine. He threw his arm and hand over a small screen and dial on the machine. Hopefully she didn't notice. Rutuk began to wish he waited on this. He was collected enough to listen though, which was all he needed. "Yes, it is for research, I'm currently trying to better understand something through this machine. It can analyze nutrients and other such components of what it scans. Sorry about your head, I could leave and analyse it later if you wanted." Then a glisten came into his eyes as he realized something. "You could help me actually, I'm sure if you're talented you can describe the intricate properties of potions that I'm looking to analyse, after all, the machine isn't as talented as the... body?" He let that out hoping it slipped by, he forgot the bloody word.

Luckily, or unluckily, the brother came in as well. Rutuk turned to James, and kept his hand and arm over the dial and screen. "How I got it in is none of your business." Rutuk took a second to breathe and regain his composure, that was an uncalled for answer. "Apologies, I did come in and interrupt your conversation, allow me to answer your question. My name is Rutuk Skelter, at your service. (Unless you irritate me.)" Rutuk kept his eyes on this older one, he was much more experienced with people, the fourth year guessed.

Hope heard him and started grinning, of course, she could help someone understand potions, she started nodding quickly and sat down smiling widely at the older boy. "Of course! What do you need help understanding? Just ask and I'll do my best to understand. Of course, I'm currently waiting for my own potion to be done, hopefully, it will help improve eyesight in the dark. I've also been working on a potion to have people have better stamina. This was more my brothers asking. Not sure why he needs a potion for stamina and endurance when he doesn't even do any sports"

Lily then saw her brother walk over and she smiled slightly watching him before turning back to the other Gryffindor boy. "I'm Lily by the way! Lily Luna Potter!" She exclaimed grinning widely at the older boy. "And that's my brother James" She smiled and looked at the machine, with ease she got up onto the table and moved closer to it. "So what's it even trying to analyze"

“Do you even know what you're asking?” James questioned unsure of how to deal with whoever this guy happened to be. ”I believe it is my business as I don't see anyone in this school carrying large, odd machines like it's an everyday thing.” What was up with him? Did the boy not realize just how strange he was acting?

He glanced over at Lily raising an eyebrow. Why did she have to bring that potion up instead of something more normal? It certainly didn't help that she mentioned his lack of athletic activities. James gave an awkward chuckle and said, ”Er, yes, for stamina…” How did he manage to get himself stuck in this situation? ”Rutuk Skelter… That’s quite, uh, an interesting name.”

Rutuk returned his attention to the young girl after her offer. It was some comfort knowing someone was willing to help him. So much so he felt a little dirty asking a young girl. Rutuk decided he wouldn't push too hard on it. His device would analyze and explain the rest. "Thank you, Lily, let me think on a question real quickly." Rutuk tried to think of something simple the child could understand. "So, with potions, is it just a manner of combining various components, or does it need magic to actually create the effects of the potion. Or would it be both?"

When James spoke, Rutuk knew he was looking suspicious. He took a deep breath as he thought about how to answer to him. "I forgot, this place tends to be not as technologically advanced. Still, I just wouldn't feel right without this technology." Rutuk let in a breath and thought about how terrible of an excuse that was. Forgot? He's been surrounded by history ever since he got here. "Look at it like this, your sister is sitting very close to it and nothing is wrong with her aside from the headache from the noise. I'll put it away after this." Not like he would need it.

Rutuk duly noted James's reaction to the stamina potion, what caused that type of reaction. He wasn't actually sure if he wanted to look into that. He was also distracted by the reaction to his name. The odd fellow wasn't sure about it himself at this point. He was almost certain he had misheard it before, but he couldn't let that show. Maybe it was just a rare name, yeah, that must be it.

Lily paused and listened to the boys before finally thinking for a moment, tapping her lower lip it was obvious the young girl was trying to conjure up an explanation for how potions would work. After a moment it would seem like she almost grew brighter before sitting up fully and turning to look to the elder Gryffindor. Her words suddenly spilling out of her mouth as if she couldn't stop.

"From my understanding of potions it's a mixture of both. It's both the combinations of items in the pot and the magic you use to create the potion. That's why you have to work hard to make the same potion every time. One little mix-up and you could have a potion that helps you grow your hair instead of helping you grow in height."

After rambling on for a few moments the small redhead finally seemed to be done talking. She sat back and looked at the elder boys before laughing softly. "Sorry mama says I ramble a lot" She whispered softly watching the two boys.

For someone who was raised to have quite a few Gryffindor values, James couldn't help but look down on Rutuk for his oddities. Sure, Hogwarts was odd itself for having a hat that sorts people into arbitrary categories, but Rutuk just seemed to take weird to another level. What kind of name was Rutuk anyway?

"Don't those Muggle inventions emit these things called radiation?" James wondered. There was a reason why he wasn't in Ravenclaw although one could argue that he was smarter than his father when he attended Hogwarts. "I've heard those can be quite dangerous."

He glanced over at his sister and chuckled. "Well, mom isn't wrong about that. You've been rambling since you've come out of her womb," James replied letting out a louder laugh.

Rutuk was glad that the little girl was so kind as to explain even a little of these potions. He even sub-consciously smiled. Not that he knew. "Thank you Lily," Rutuk turned off the machine seeing as he knew what it was for the most part. "Glad to meet someone as polite as you. My own mother taught me quite well, not that most would understand it." The strange fellow picked up his machine still careful to hide the dial.

Then there was that James. "How in the world do you come to that conclusion. I've done scans, my equipment is Radiation free." He examined his scanner. "Yes, there are machines with radioactive material, and, regrettably, some used for that radiation. However, I've looked over various objects of the technological quality, and they aren't radioactive. You've got phones, don't you? Maybe slightly different, but it's the same idea. Then again, I'm not too familiar with this place." The fellow let in a breath and sighed. He really didn't like when people got their tech wrong. Just a pet peeve of his.