Ugh potions. 
It wasn't that Silas hated the class. He got average grades and did his best...it was the people he was usually paired with that made him dislike the class. He'd admit that he was quite the pushover, doing as they said because he couldn't afford to get expelled for fighting. Silas honestly didn't know if he'd get expelled or not but he didn't want to find out. Once he entered the class he took a seat near the front and waited for the professor to arrive. 

Beside him was a fellow Hufflepuff, one that he rarely talked to anymore. Once they used to be friends, they had been on the Quiddtch team together and Silas felt like they had a good bond. After his accident that ended his venture into the sport, they drifted apart and just stopped talking all together. The light haired male next to him gave Silas a brief glance before looking back to the front of the room. When the professor, a small woman with graying hair tied into a neat bun that seemed a little too tight, entered the room Silas was among a few students who greeted her. She was a wonderful professor, a bit funny and unconventional but she was willing to be patient and listen to Silas when he wanted to complain about his partners. The woman grinned widely and returned the warm hellos before having the students line up to get their books. 
Silas and his partner walked quietly to the small closet that held the books; Silas grunted when his partner none-too-kindly shoved his potions book into his hand. 

Oh this was going to be a fun year indeed. 
He was sure that his sister would cry if he wrote about this, so he' probably leave it out of his letter to her later. Back at their shared table, Silas took out a sheet of parchment and his quill before beginning to write his sister's name in neat script along the top of the parchment. She had always loved his handwriting. The professor was simply going over a few things like the general rules of the class and safety instructions so most of the students seemed to drift into daydreams and a few seemed to totally skip daydreaming and went straight to dreamland. His partner was among some of the few to pay total attention to the teacher. Silas was listening to her, every once in a while he'd drift into his thoughts for a few moments before coming back to reality at the sound of her voice.  

He only looked up when she began asking about the various ingredients that they had learned about over the past six, well now seven years that they had been attending Hogwarts. Silas was silently praying that she'd skip over him once she began calling on students. When his name was called, the blue eyed teen wondered how hard he'd have to hit his desk with his face to go to the Healing wing. 

"Mister Hayward, please tell the class what this is." The professor held up a small clear jar with dried roots in it.

Silas stood up, as had the other students before him, she was stickler for such things, "Valerian root. It's used in the Draught of Living Death." His fingers nervously tugged at the end of his sleeve until she allowed him to sit down, then she called on the boy next to him.

[hr]

What a hell of a way to start school. A mediwitch with curly black hair cut to just below her ears ran into Astana's office and rummaged around for the list of out-patients. There were dark rings under her eyes and she seemed ready to drop over within the next few minutes. One of her own children had fallen victim and she'd be damned if she let another child die of this...whatever it was. 

"Victoria." 

A soft hand on her arm stopped her for a moment. "You need to rest, let us handle it." The woman shook her head and continued leafing through the papers until she came across the correct one. A total of eight students were at Hogwarts and she passed the list onto another mediwitch before rushing to aid the remaining patients. Owls were sent out to the school and the families of the patients. It would be cruel to not notify them. 
Victoria sighed softly and did her round with the more stable patients.


[@Arista]