I don't smell so good

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Smelling like a cauldron had fallen on top of her, Kat entered the Library. She smelled like a cauldron had fallen over her... because a Cauldron had exploded in her face. It wasn't entirely her fault, the recipie had stated that a squeeze of flax juice would have sufficed. Maybe she had put in just a squeeze too much.

So, Kat had made her way to the Library, ready to spend an afternoon pouring over books. The librarian gave her an evil glare, daring Kat to touch her precious books. Kat was used to that, she often came in smelling of whatever concoction she had created that week. A simple covering charm eased the smell making her smell rather neutral instead.

Pulling a large selection of books off the shelves, Kat began to look through them, if it wasn't a squeeze what was it? Consistencey of the flax juice? Or had she made a mistake earlier in the process?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a chair being scraped across the hard floor and someone sit opposite her. Then, she was poked in the head.

'Oi watch it!'

If it was a first year, Kat would jinx them into oblivion for interrupting her. It wasn't a first year though.

Tag: Anna Porter

[Anna Porter]

Anna had been planning on spending the afternoon in the library to work on her Ancient Runes homework. She had two rolls of Hålsinge runes to translate in two days. It would probably translate into information they would need in that next class period if she knew the Professor well enough. When she entered the library, she saw a familiar ginger walk over to a table with a large selection of books in her arm. Anna smiled, knowing that she could at least study alongside Kat if nothing else. Perhaps they could work on other assignments for the classes they shared.

Kat had sat down and began pouring over the books. Anna grabbed a copy of Runic Lore; a Practicum from the shelves, along with A Guide to Staveless Runes and Old Nordic to English, a Guide to Translation. She grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it over to Kat's table. When Kat didn't seem to immediately notice Anna, she poked the redhead in the head. "Oi! Watch it," Kat said.

"Well hello to you too," Anna said with a laugh as she sat down with her Ancient Runes work. She briefly sniffed the air and smelt a faint aroma of flax juice. "So what were you trying to make? I know I smell flax juice on you."

[Deleted]

Of course it was... Anna. Anna, for whom Kat often competed on Potions work with. Anna who Kat knew wanted the Potions job once she finished up at Hogwarts. Well... Kat wasn't going to jump in and demand that she wanted it instead. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to do at all.

'That's a great way to greet people that is.' Kat grunted, do they teach you that in Prefect school? Poking people in the head while they're working?'

Of course, she was joking and hopefully Anna would see that. Nevertheless, she didn't look up from her work as she spoke.

"So what were you trying to make? I know I smell flax juice on you."

'You're incredible you are. You know it's virtually odourless right? Right?' Kat gave Anna a fleeting look then said 'Trying to increase the strength of a De-intoxication Draught. The basic one's just aren't good enough. Then I'm thinking I'd sell it around school for people who have a bit too much to drink. Unless I'm going to get in trouble for that?'

[Anna Porter]

"That's a great way to greet people that is," Kat grunted, "Do they teach you that in Prefect school? Poking people in the head while they're working?" Anna smiled and shrugged, leaning back in her chair. Anna could easily tell that the Ravenclaw was joking.

"Nope," Anna replied, popping the 'p' at the end. "Just something reserved for you, Kat. I'm allowed to joke around with my friends, right?"

"You're incredible you are. You know it's virtually odourless right? Right?"

"The only reason I know what flax juice smells like is because that one time in fourth year when my partner managed to get a bunch of it up my nose. I still fail to see how he misread the instructions that badly," Anna said, recalling the event. When you were stuck with flax juice up your nose for three hours, you learned how to identify the very, very faint aroma it gave off. Anna doubted many other people could know the smell.

Kat gave Anna a fleeting look then said, "Trying to increase the strength of a De-intoxication Draught. The basic one's just aren't good enough. Then I'm thinking I'd sell it around school for people who have a bit too much to drink. Unless I'm going to get in trouble for that?" Anna bit her lower lip and thought for a moment. The Head Girl in her should have immediately said yes, she would get in trouble. But honestly, such a draught could be useful in the school. After all, it would ensure that students were sober for class or tests. Sober students were a lot easier to manage than drunk ones. More than once during duties Anna had come across drunk or high students in the corridors after hours. It was enough to ensure that Anna would probably never get high (on purpose, accidents happen in the potions lab) or get drunk.

"As Head Girl, I should probably say yes," Anna said. "But realistically, it would probably solve way more problems than it would cause. Just don't get caught by the Professors and you'll be good."

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"Just don't get caught by the Professors and you'll be good."

Kat laughed 'Of course not. I mean, I'm not going to be the one selling it. I'm just making it. And people of age only. I'm not going to go around and encourage under age drinking.'

Kat had a fleeting vision of a first year walking into Transfiguration completely hungover, she didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

Returning to her work Kat was silent for a moment. The passage she was reading on 'Sub Mediterranean Gazing Plants was passing through her head and leaving without making any impact. She looked over the paragraph again. "...the effect of this most calming herbs can relax a patient easing headaches, puking and help recall things that a patient may have forgotten."

This was it. This was the herb she needed. Now, what was it called, he moved her head to the left to find the name of this herb but it wasn't there. Instead, there was a burn mark as if someone had shot a spell at the book. She flipped through the pages of the book trying to find any more reference to it but there was none. Cursing whoever had the gaul to deface a library book with their stupid spell, Kat stood up and dropped the book next to Anna.

'There! See it? Read it. I need to know what it's called. This will drive me bloody nuts if I can't find that herb.'

[Anna Porter]

“Of course not. I mean, I'm not going to be the one selling it. I'm just making it. And people of age only. I'm not going to go around and encourage underage drinking,” Kat said with a laugh. Anna laughed too, knowing her friend complete understood that Anna wasn’t accusing her of encouraging underage drinking. The two briefly returned to their own work. Anna had translated about half of a paragraph of the staveless runes when Kat came up and dropped a book next to her. “There! See it? Read it. I need to know what it's called. This will drive me bloody nuts if I can't find that herb.”

Anna looked down at the page and read the last line of the paragraph. “…the effect of this most calming herbs can relax a patient easing headaches, puking and help recall things that a patient may have forgotten." Anna briefly lifted the book to see the title of the book. It was from Sub-Mediterranean Gazing Plants. Anna looked at the top of the page to see that some idiot student burned a hole on the page, blocking the name of the plant.

“I swear, when I find out who left that scorch mark…” Anna muttered. Not only was she not a fan of defacement of literature, but this defacement was of some very important information that her friend needed. “It could be barbed skullcap, but as far as I know it doesn’t do anything for memory. Do you know if there are any other books on Mediterranean plants? We might find another mention of it and I'd really rather not ask the librarian."

[Deleted]

'Can't be skullcap. Every time it's added to a potion it gives the user weird visions, least it did when I last used it.'

Kat moved away from the table and into the Herbology section. The herb must be in here somewhere, she started pulling books down at random, anything that may mention Mediterranean plants. Then, with her armful of books she made her way back to the table and started pouring through them.

'Can't be Ilam, that stuff's poisonous as anything... Potsweed... no... junkweed causes massive itching.... wait, here!'

She almost pushed all other books aisde and dragged the book over to Anna. 'So Coxak. It does exactly what the other one said it did...blah blah blah... cures headaches... oh... dammit.'

She thrust the book towards Anna and pointed at the sentence that read '...Coxak is classed as a dangerous item and is illegal to trade in Britain.'

Sighing, she slumped back into her seat, her hands holding her head up. There was no way she would be able to get that herb now and she doubted that whatever leniency Anna had with her making a hangover cure potion would stop whenever she mentioned importing an illegal item into the castle.

'Sorry... I know you came here to work.' She sighed then started to clear away the books she had thrown out everywhere, for the librarian's eyes were wide in shock and seemed to be on the warpath, heading straight to Kat.

'Yeah I know I'm tidying them away.' she muttered before the librarian could even say anything.

[Anna Porter]

"Can't be skullcap. Every time it's added to a potion it gives the user weird visions, least it did when I last used it. Can't be Ilam, that stuff's poisonous as anything... Potsweed... no... junkweed causes massive itching.... wait, here!" She almost pushed all other books aisde and dragged the book over to Anna. Anna looked down at the passage and read through it as Kat muttered the words aloud. "So Coxak. It does exactly what the other one said it did...blah blah blah... cures headaches... oh... dammit." She looked to sentence Kat was pointing at. Coxak is classed as a dangerous item and is illegal to trade in Britain, it read. Anna sighed and shook her head. Yeah, the hangover potion would be great for the students, but it wasn't worth getting arrested and expelled over because it required an illegal herb.

"I'm sorry, Kat," Anna said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Sorry... I know you came here to work," Kat said.

"It's cool," Anna said. "Runes homework is easy once you have the key in front of you. It's all a matter of determining how it needs to be translated." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the librarian storming towards the messy desk that Anna and Kat took over. Anna helped Kat tidy up the books as Kat grumbled to the librarian about how they were cleaning up. She loved the library, but the librarian scared her sometimes.