| Details for A New Study Partner |
| Summary: | Beauregard invites Andara to study with him before end-of-the-year exams. |
| Date: | 1941-05-05 |
| Location: | Great Hall, Hogwarts |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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It's getting closer and closer to exams even with the Hogsmeade weekend this weekend. Not that going to Hogsmeade matters much to Beaurgard as he's just a first year. He sitting at the Slytherin table with a book open studying up Herbology which is one of the subjects that he is not quite excelling at, but he plans on getting better at it. He's set up a study group and opened it to the other houses as well, ignoring the looks he getting from the other Slytherin. He made sure to invite more then a few Ravenclaws in hopes at least one will show up.
Andara had been in her fair share of classes with Slytherin, and she had actually found a few of them to be pretty nice people. When she was invited to a study group, of course she was eager to accept - she would never turn down an opportunity to brush up on her subjects, especially after the promise she had made to a certain Ministry employee to do her best and excel. When she saw Beauregard sitting at the table by himself, she waved and gave him a cheerful smile as she hurried over to meet him.
"Hello! Um, my name is Andara.." she looked around carefully, chewing her lip a bit. "Oh.. did no one else show up? That's okay. I'm sure we can a lot done together anyway." Taking her seat, Andy smiled a bit nervously. To be quite honest, she wasn't sure how people would react to a muggle-born sitting at the Slytherin table, let alone studying with one. But thankfully, the hall seemed pretty empty at the moment. "Are you on Herbology?" she asks, leaning a little closer to peek over his textbook. "Neat! I need a little help there, myself.."
Beauregard stands up as Andara approaches the table and he nods, "Yes this is the study group. Not yet, but I'm sure they will. If they don't then it is there loss. I am Beauregard Zabini. Please have a seat. Yes I had just started. I was just reviewing the care and maintenance of the Devil's Snare."
"Devil's Snare?" Andara frowned a little as she tried to remember. "Ah… That's the viney one, right? I know that it can crush you to death like a boa constrictor.. Um.. As for taking care of it, I'm stumped." Reaching into her bag, Andara pulls out her textbook: One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Flipping through it, she lands on the chapter regarding this particular plant and starts reading out loud. "Devil's Snare, regarded as one of the most dangerous vines on the British Isles, can be safely cultivated under specific conditions. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, the vines must be kept out of all direct sunlight, as this damages its cellular structure and will quickly kill the plant if exposed for too long. Huh," she says before she grins a little. "I hadn't remembered that. Useful, no?"
Beauregard nods, "Yes the Devil's Snare." He takes out a sketch pad and he opens it up. He has to flip back some pages and he holds out a picture of it that he drew. It's not as good as the book illustration, but it does look like the one that they saw in class. "Yes and it resembles the Flitterbloom. It will stop moving in bright light and recoils from flames."
"Oh, neat!" Andara leaned closer and inspected his drawing. "Whoa… You drew that? It's really good! Do you draw a lot?" She had never been particularly great at drawing, so it was easy to impress her.
Beauregard nods, "Yes it is very neat. I just hope that all this is on the end of year tests." He ohs, "Yes I did my mother insisted that all of her children be well rounded, not only educated in magic, but also in the fine arts as well. Sketching and drawing as well as playing the piano were my strength. Now what else would Professor Whittle test us on?"
"Hm.." Andara thinks for a moment, flipping through a few more pages of her book. "Um.. I think we have to know all the different kinds of plants that are used in potions? There should be a list in here somewhere.." She smiles a little nervously. "I have my notes, too.. That's all the way from the beginning of the year, though…"
Beauregard puts his sketchbook to the side and he takes out his own notes that are written in very neat hand writing. "Let's see we started with Aconite which is otherwise known as…" He says as he waits for you to supply the answer as he's looking down at his notes and he has them covered with his hands so you can't see them.
Andara's eyes light up slightly and she starts to fidget. "Oh! Erm.. I know this one, I know it..! It's…! Um… She frowns and pinches the bridge of her nose, reaching far back into her memory. "Monkshood! Or Wolfsbane.. Both names are used.. Is that right?" She grins slightly. She was pretty sure that remembered correctly, anyway..
Beauregard hmmms as he slowly lifts up his hands so he can see the answer, "Yes Monkshood or wolfsbane. They are used by both names." He says, "All right it's your turn to question me." He says as he closes his notebook, but keeps a finger in to save his place.
"Okay! Hm.. Oh! Asphodel is a flower commonly used in potions. Where does it grow, and how do you recognize it?" She grins slightly at this one. It was by chance that she remembered anything about this plant at all, if only because it had been of particular interest to her for some reason.
Beauregard hmms as he has to pause for a moment to think on this one. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as he tries to walk backwards in his mind to the book. "Asphodel is found all over the world and on Hogwarts grounds. You can recognize it by it's long slender leaves…and…and it's white with a stripe running along the length of the petals."
Andara's eyes widened slightly before she grinned broadly and nodded. "Yes! Great job, Beauregard! You have a fantastic memory. One more! This one's a pop quiz: What other ingredient besides Asphodel is used in the Draught of Living Death potion?" Even /she/ knew this one - but Potions was also one of her favorite classes. It was because of Potions class that she retained what she did about Herbology.
Beauregard smiles, "Thank you. Just to clarify do you want something relating to herbology like the infusion from the Wormwood plant or just anything like the sloth brain." He's a boy, the fact that you use sloth brain in a potion is amazingly disguising to him and it stands out as something to remember.
Andara quickly made a face at the mention of a sloth brain. "A sloth /what/? That's.. gross!" she said, even though she was laughing. "And yes, I meant the Wormwood.. But ewww! Sloth brains!" Another giggle, and she turned her eyes back down to her book to see if anything else stood out to her. "I don't even know where you heard THAT one.. I think I prefer making potions with magical herbs."
Beauregard smiles, "But it's true if you look up how to make it. You need to use sloth brain. It's probably to help slow the activity in the brain as sloths are known to move very slowly so must their brains. I wonder if we'll have to harvest them ourselves." He says in a teasing manner, "All right my turn to give you a question. Since we are mixing subjects. When making the Pompion Potion what do you have to do to the foxglove and what color does the potion have to be when you add it?"
Andy grins a little bit, closing her Herbology book and sitting up a little straighter. This was one of her favorite potions, if only for the absurd effect it had on the drinker. "The potion has to be red, first. Then you have to slice up the Foxglove, which will then turn the potion orange. And then you drink it and your head turns into a pumpkin!" She snickers a little bit. "I've actually considered slipping it into someone's pumpkin juice as a prank on April Fool's day.. Or maybe Halloween…"
Beauregard smiles, "That is correct on all counts. I saw a couple of people going around with pumpkins for heads on those days. Best not to drink anything that looks like pumpkin juice on those days." He hmms, "Go ahead it's your turn to ask a question." He says as he's starting to view this as a game and he hates to lose games.
"Alright. Umm… Oh! How many Bloodroots are needed per 32 ounces of water to make an infusion of appropriate potency? Keep in mind that the number changes if you are using fresh roots or dried roots." Andara winks playfully at the boy. Would he be able to get it?
Beauregard takes a moment as he has to think back to both Potions and Herbology. He takes a deep breath as answers are eluding him. He holds up his hand, "I've got it. Just give me a moment." He bites his lower lip as he's just on the verge of giving up when it comes to him. His eyes pop open. "Lucky 7… you need 7 fresh bloodroots per 32 ounces of water…if they are dried you'd need 14." He whews softly as he barely got the answer to that one out before admitting defeat.
Andara laughs before she nods quickly. "Yep! Man, and I thought I almost had you.. You're actually pretty good at remembering things, Beau. I'm sure you'll have no problem on your exams.." Her voice drops a little, eyes flicking up to the boy's face. ".. Are you nervous at all? I sort of am.. I'm.. kind of new to all of this.."
Beauregard nods, "I was about to give up. I hope not I plan to bring home excellent grades. I am not I plan to be prepared which is why I started the study groups now. I plan to ace all of my exams and get E's on them all. To do so I'll need to study as hard as I can. You kept up with me so I'm sure you'll do fine."
Andara flushes slightly, happy to have heard acknowledgment like that. "Thanks.. I really hope so." Picking her book back up, she stows it away in her bag and starts to stand with a slow stretch. It was already getting late. "Maybe I'll see you in class? And we should compare our marks after exams! That would be a fun little contest." Andara grins slightly, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
Beauregard waves as he picks up his herbology book to continue to study. "I shall see you in class. We can once the term is over. Perhaps next week we can study again. Hopefully we'll get more people then just us."
Andara laughs. "Yeah, hopefully. See you around, then!" Turning, the girl starts a quick jog out of the hall for the stairs. She had to make it back up to the common room before lights out so she could catch someone for a game of cards!