Alchemy: An Express Evaluation [7th years]

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This class was going to be slightly more complicated. On one hand, Nazirah was going to be dealing with students that were actually partially trained in the art of Alchemy - it would certainly help to not have to teach them from scratch, walk through every step of the basics, all that - but on the other hand, she had absolutely no idea what they would've learned last year. Did their previous professor teach them the absolute basics? Delve into the more advanced topics? Touch on Spagyric, the three goals of Alchemy, or? What did they learn?

It certainly didn't help that her own experience in learning Alchemy wouldn't be at all comparable to theirs. At Uagadou, they learned Alchemy from their very first year, up until they had a choice to continue, or not. Naturally, she chose to continue, and many people did as well - it was one of the core courses. Here, it was merely one of the electives, and even then, it wasn't offered since third year, but not until sixth year. How was she supposed to prepare them enough to go out into the world with their knowledge of Alchemy, with such little time? Great Britain was so lax at protecting their students, and then, all of a sudden, Alchemy was too advanced, or too dangerous? Utterly rubbish. They could do potions, they could do this.

Breaking off the mental rant that she seemed to delve into far too much, the woman sighed, glancing at the board. Professor Riyad. It worked, as much as she was struggling remembering to answer to it, the woman cast a quick Tempus charm. Perfect, almost time. Stepping over to her desk, she opened one of the drawers, pulling out a stack of parchment, each of them consisting of a test on the very basics of Alchemy. If they glanced at it and could know it all easily, she had more, but hopefully, coupled with this and their own explanations, she could figure out where to start the students...

Clad in her light green robes, cutting a striking figure, she stepped to the front of the classroom, waiting. Almost time.

@samuel @corianderpepsi @desirae @maryn @carcerronaldhagrid @mercy @crystal2

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Alchemy. Now this would be one of those classes that Sam often found himself spending a little extra time on. It wasn't as if it was the most awful class in the world, he truly found the importance, it just didn't always stick with him as well as some of the other classes. Sure he could read the book and he'd memorize the words, but that wasn't all there was to it. He liked the challenge however, it was a main reason he stuck with it this year. He had taken the class last year, and he knew this year may turn out to be a bit different. He was looking forward to it though, it wasn't as if he was being forced to take the class after all. He could have taken various other classes, but he chose this one. He liked challenges, he liked keeping busy, and he certainly didn't like taking the easy way out of school as some students did. He knew many that would take the easiest classes they could find.

A back pack swinging from his shoulder he walked into the Alchemy classroom. He had heard there was a bit of a new Professor this year, and walking in he was taken a little by surprise. The Professor was not at all how he'd have expected, but he was eager to see what they had to bring to the classroom. His eyes scanned the classroom a bit and noticing he was the first to arrive his face flushed a bit red. Sam always tried to time it to where other students were around so he could just sneak to the back, avoiding eye-contact, or any awkward alone time, or awkward conversation with a Professor, or the other students in the class.

Yet, sometimes that caused a problem considering he also liked to be a bit early as well so he could get situated for class. Clearing his throat a bit awkwardly he gave a smile to the Professor. "Hello," he said in a very small voice, looking at the wall rather than her. Running a hand through his hair he quickly walked to the back of the class, his head hanging low, as he sat in the far back corner. His eyes making certain not to look at the Professor as he pretended to busy himself with getting ready for the class.

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Alchemy was a mixed bag for Carcer Hagrid. The course—at least as it was taught last year—was a specialized mix of Potions and Transfiguration, whereby the ingredients of the former interacted uniquely with the spellcasting of the latter. Carcer was by-the-books when it came to making potions. He did not innovate in that field, because he didn’t really understand why the mixtures did what they did. Of course, he understood that one substance could properly dilute the effects of another when mixed at the right heat for the right time, but he didn’t get the underlying why of it, not the way a real potioneer or herbologist would. But Transfiguration….oh, he understood that. He loved that subject, and he would read into the meaning of its spells, sometimes on instinct alone. The subtle matrix of magical energies, the weave of the spells…he loved it. And the wandwork for alchemy had been no different for him…last year. This year, they had a new teacher though, and not just any teacher—Carcer had learned that she had learned alchemy in Africa, which was easily the best place to learn it. It would be interesting to learn from someone closer to the source of alchemy.

Carcer took the moving stairs three steps at a time, noting with annoyance that the one he needed wasn’t positioned right. No matter. He merely grabbed the next staircase, hauled himself up, and then jumped, sailing ten feet through the air to the doorway he wanted. Ah, the perks of being half-giant. He continued down the sixth-floor corridor, grinning when a student rolled her eyes at his shortcut. Yep, the day was starting out nicely.

It took only a moment longer for him to find the right door. The massive Hufflepuff knelt down on one knee, opened the door, and half-crawled through, eyeing the ceiling before he even tried to stand. Oh man, gonna be a close one. He got to his feet, rising up, and as he approached his full height, he slowed down carefully, not wanting to crack his head. Or the roof. Finally, he stood up fully, feeling a few hairs on his head brushing the ceiling. Sweeeeet. Assured that he wasn’t going to smack into the ceiling, Carcer turned to nod at the teacher. “Professor.” He turned to the class, noting that Sam Davis had beaten him here. The shy Ravenclaw seemed to be in the opposite boat as Carcer—where Carcer was always noticed, Davis never was. And yet sometimes the half-giant thought he could see a faint flash of melancholy in the Ravenclaw’s features, like he was resigned but unhappy about something. Either way, he moved to the back, nodding and smiling at his fellow student without speaking up. He would rather avoid making Samuel uncomfortable if he had any choice. Carcer also tended to sit in the back, though in his case, it was simple courtesy for everyone else. He pulled his wand and flicked it, absentmindedly engorging a desk and a chair, and sat down, elbows on the desk, fingers interlaced and supporting his chin.

[OoC: I am so, so sorry, this is horribly late And badly written ]

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Desi loved alchemy. Which was surprising because she didn't really like anything. She walked into the room, excited to meet their new teachers. She whistled a low whistle in the doorway. She could appreciate beauty, whether the person was a teach or not. She approached the front, passing that adorkable little Sam as she did so. "Hey Sammy, what's cooking?" she winked at the shy boy from her house as she passed him, punching him lightly on the shoulder. She knew he'd hate that, just like she didn't respect people who didn't make a name for themselves. They were just bound to be enemies, but of course she wouldn't say that to his face. No, Desi was sweet to everyone she met, at least at first.

Then there was Carcer, the half-giant. She didn't really think the dude was that bad, except for the whole mixed blood part. Which was kind of a deal breaker in terms of friendship. She just gave him a little wave as she passed him as well, still making her way to the front. She dropped her bad in the front and center row before walking up to the teacher. She was careful to keep her distance, it wasn't like Desi to get in teachers faces. She respected their superiority over her, at least in a classroom setting. She offered a hand to the teacher, "Hello! I'm Desirae," she smiled.

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Cori was more of an ancient runes kind of girl, but alchemy suited her as well. Seeing as she didn't even know what she wanted to be after school, it was just best to get a little bit of everything. She also didn't like Desirae Rousseau, so she left the common room before the girl in order to beat her to class. The only problem was, Cori got distracted along the way.

As she passed the trophy room, she paused as a name caught her eye. Finley Mason Abbot. He had been one of her closest friends and had graduated the previous year. She smirked at his plaque, remembering the insane stunts he pulled on his broomstick. She tore herself away from it and made her way back towards the Alchemy classroom. She arrived just in time to see Desirae give Sam an extremely awkward greeting and march up to talk with the teacher. Knowing Desi, she would probably try to be best friends with this teacher, just like all the others.

Cori rolled her eyes and watched Same take his seat at the back. She cocked an eyebrow as Carcer conjured his own chair. The three had experienced this problem before, always wanting the back row. Carcer wasn't really that shy, but he was pretty tall so Cori guess he did is as a courtesy. She shook her head and smiled, that was a nice thing for him to do. Desi was busy capturing the teachers attention it seemed, so Cori didn't bother saying hi just yet. She crossed over to Sam and sat in the seat in front of him. She turned to give him a gentle smile and waved at Carcer.

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It seemed this class had quite the variety of students. A quiet Ravenclaw who got there first - to whom she gave a nod of greeting and a "Hello." in return. A rather large half-giant - whom she had known about, but she was still a bit taken aback, blinking up at him in surprise as he walked by. A Ravenclaw girl who slipped in, a few Slytherins, another Hufflepuff... A variety of students, but the one that most surprised her was the one who marched straight up at her to talk. Carefully, the woman took her hand, giving it a quick shake. "A pleasure," she responded briskly - though a surname would have been appreciated, she wasn't going to call her by her first name - before she gestured towards the board. "Professor Riyad. Please take your seat, class will be starting momentarily."

And it would - the last bit of students were shuffling into the classroom, less than she had in her sixth year class (which did make sense), but more noisy. Good. Waiting until the exact moment that class started, Nazirah flicked her wand at the door, letting it close gently, but with a distinctive noise that quieted the murmuring going on throughout the room. "I am Professor Riyad - you may also call me Professor Christina, if you wish. Your preference." Stately, she walked, slowly but surely making her way around her desk, to stand in the front. "I will likely not teach like your other professors - I never attended Hogwarts. I attended Uagadou School of Magic in the Republic of Mali - in Africa, for those of you not skilled at geography. Things are different there - we teach Alchemy from the very start."

Reaching out with her wand, she tapped the stack of parchment sitting on the desk next to her, so that it rose up into the air, beginning to distribute itself so that a piece of parchment floated down mechanically, setting itself on a desk in front of each student, until all of them had one. "Given this, I am uncertain of what your previous professor taught you - so you will be taking a test." The remainder of the tests, a handful of them, landed back on her desk, and Nazirah stared out at them impassively, eyes flickering around the classroom. "This will not count towards your grade - I am simply asking you to write as much as you can on these questions, and if you never encountered one of the topics featured, inform me of that on your test. However, you should also do your best - every correct answer will count as extra credit that you can apply on any test or piece of homework you want."

It was a good compromise, if she thought so herself - most students wouldn't have preemptively studied their past material for this class, so she got to see what they had covered, what the students retained, and reward those who kept on top of their previous learning. Furthermore, it gave them incentive to actually try hard on the test.

"When you have completed your test, bring it up to me, and then you can work on the homework listed on the board until everyone else is finished." She gestured towards the reading listed, as well as the questions to answer based on it - covering the basic safety procedures in Alchemy, that was something she wanted to re-emphasize, just in case - before returning her gaze to the class. "If you do not have any questions, you may begin."

Tagging: @maryn @mercy @crystal2 holly proserpina mcgonagall

Note: Feel free to do this how you want - I'm deriving a lot of the Alchemy straight from the page on the HP Wiki, so check out that if you want to fuss over a certain topic. Can your character answer anything? Is their test mostly blank? Can they even remember the specifics of what they covered? Your choice, I leave it up to you - let's try to only have one or two posting rounds with them taking the test, though, it's more of an overview than anything specific.

Note Two: If you haven't posted with your character, they can be already in the classroom, or late. Your choice.

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Alchemy now this was a fun subject, or at least it was to Maryn, simply because it involved turning something into something else. So in a round about way it was just another branch of transfiguration. Today Maryn had decided that she would go into class completely different from how she normally looked, it was a simple task for her, because all she had to do was barely think about it and now her hair was an auburn color and it was longer than her normal hair was, while she changed her eyes to be a turquoise color. There was only one reason for her to show up to class like this, it was a test for the teacher, to see if she could tell that it was Maryn. And if so she would stay looking this way the whole class period. But then yet again she would just change back to her natural look, and look like her realself, once she sat down.

She had been told by Walton that Christina would more than likely be a tough teacher when it came to Alchemy but that was neither here nor there. Maryn was just ready to learn, and plus another reason as to why she wanted to test Christina was to see if she was right about Walton, Christina and also her own sister Sasha, that they were all part of the International Aurors. And this would also explain a few things like how all of these people knew each other and were such good friends.

Stepping into the classroom Maryn took a seat in the back next to Carcer, her fellow Badger, but she took the seat that was on the side of him that was near Cori. Out of everyone in the room only Carcer and Cori were the only ones who knew about her being a metamorphagus, but then yet again she had a sneaking suspicion that Christina knew as well, and had probably been told by Walton. As she listened to their Professor talk about where she had gone to school Maryn paid attention and made eye contact with Christina several times, albeit it was unintentional. When the test landed in front of her, Maryn transfigured a piece of paper into a self-inking quill. As she worked on the test or quiz, or whatever you wanted to call it she changed her hair and eyes back to their normal colors and length when no one was looking except for maybe Carcer and Coriander. After a few minutes of pouring out her knowledge on the topic of Alchemy into this quiz, which when looked over it would show that Maryn had learned more than their previous professors had taught them. And the reason for this is because she say Alchemy as a sub class of transfiguration, and so she had studied up on it and had even been talking and learning about it from Walton.

Once she had finished the quiz a few minutes later and noticing that she was the first one done, Maryn went ahead and looked over her test and marked which things she had encountered, which included, a Panacea, which was a cure for all diseases and prolong life. It was a rare substance and Walton had taught her about it, granted it wasn’t something that she wanted to try and make, and of course everyone had heard about the Elixir of Life or Philosophers Stone. And there were some others that she had learned about and had even seen, one time when she was in her family vault, that her dad had shown her.

Maryn got up and went to the front with her paper “Professor Christina, here is my finished quiz.” Maryn said as she handed the quiz to Christina, and then she walked back to her desk and got out the book and began reading what was assigned, and began answering the questions that were on the board. It was always a good thing to review the standard safety one must take when dealing with Alchemy.