Tutoring of sorts {Steve}

[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

Potions, probably the only subject she didn’t feel comfortable in. She found it rather ironic that both of her parents loved the subject and she had no real talent for it. She managed to pass her OWLs with a lot of effort, but she still needed to work about ten times harder in Potions than in any other class. It wasn’t like transfiguration, charms or any other class that came easily to her. Maybe it was why her mother had never let her cook, because she wasn’t very good at it. Either way given her weakness in the subject, she had decided to ask for help from someone who was better at the subject. That was how she had ended up being somewhat helped by Steve Amethyst. It was rather odd because she had never thought she’d somewhat get along with a Slytherin just because of their reputation. But he had been a huge help in the time that he had been her partner and helped her. She was thankful that someone had the capability of helping her out, for some reason she always ended up putting too much or too little of the ingredients and ended up messing up the potion.

Currently she was getting ready to head down to the lake where she would be meeting Steve. She dressed warmly, because the October air was chilly but she decided that she wouldn’t rely on the cloak. The sleeves of her top were long enough that they would keep her warm if the wind started to get chillier as it tended to get when you got close to the lake. She grabbed her wand and her book because she was certain that they would be looking around for potions ingredients. She wasn’t running at all late, so she had no problem stopping to talk to a few people in the Ravenclaw common room. Of course she got sort of distracted and ended up taking longer than she expected so by the time she ended her conversation with her housemates she was already running late. So she obviously did her best to pick up the pace, and she was glad that the staircases were cooperating on her way down. She hurried along, greeting people who said hi to her on the way and she took the familiar path down to the lake. She wasn’t sure what part of the lake she would find Steve, the one thing she had forgotten to ask. Luckily for her she didn’t have to look for long he was in a spot she frequented often and she felt relief. She hoped that he really didn’t mind that she had run a little late, usually she was a very punctual person. But of course the conversation ended up taking longer than expected, she really needed to start avoiding people when she left the common room. Either that or she had to learn how to cut conversations short when she was supposed to be somewhere at a specific time.

“Hi, sorry I’m late” she said as she greeted him with a wave.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was just content sitting there in the middle of the clearing he had found within the lake, of course he had planned to meet up Layla out here. Sure, he had been friends with her for a while, but he was sure that something more could work in between them. For now he was content just being friends, as that was all he really needed to discover for the moment, and even when he had first found her, it had been during a potions class where she had failed miserably. Steve had merely offered to help increase her grades as he knew that anything she touched merely blew up within a few seconds, or so he teased.

Wearing nothing special today, he had chosen a nice thick long green sweater with the Slytherin logo on the shoulder with a brown coat to cover it seeing as it was a little chilly out. A blue stocking cap was worn on top of his head, and there was no traces of snow yet, however, it was still really cold. Not that it couldn't be helped after all, but he knew fully well the seasons definitely needed to get straightened out. Winter was soon to come, and he then brushed back his brown hair lightly, even as he parted his full lips while his eyes looked out towards the person approaching him. Wearing the normal black dress pants and dress shoes that were Hogwarts standard since he didn't feel like finding anything special for this venture.

Layla was obviously getting used to him being out here a lot, since this was one of his favorite spots to sit down and actually get some studying done. Plus, the lake usually had all the herbs or whatever they needed growing right by the lake. What looked like three frog's eyes were laying beside him, a severed snake tail, and some wolf hair that he had obtained from the potions teacher earlier. Surely, it looked gruesome, but honestly you would have to stomach this to get past the class. "Hey Layla, how are you? I'm guessing you brought your books and stuff, I doubt you'll need a wand for this besides to use it for stirring," he mused to her and smiled as he then stood up finally. There were books and papers scattered everywhere, thankfully there was no wind though.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She smiled as he stood up, and she spotted the ingredients on the floor. Her nose wrinkled slightly, whenever she had seen stuff about potions on television when staying with her grandparents she had always been under the impression that the potions having disgusting and gruesome looking ingredients had just been something muggles made up. After all her mother had never really shown her what ingredients she used in her potions and Layla had never had much interest in it. But when she arrived Hogwarts, and much to her horror the muggle’s weren’t' that wrong about their depictions of potions. Of course over the years she had tried to get used to the idea of using the sometimes disgusting ingredients but sometimes it just got to her. Obviously it was a silly reaction because she would always be surrounded by potions, sadly there was no way to get away from it, and she had to get used to it. But maybe it was just because she wasn’t even good at potions, it was maybe this reason that she still couldn’t accept the gruesome ingredients that sometimes were needed to make the most efficient of potions sometimes. She was curious as to what they would be doing that day, just because she didn’t remember what potion they would use those ingredients for.

“I’m great, how are you?” at his question about her books she nodded, “Yes I have everything we need. Even my wand which is just something I carry anyway”

She always carried her wand, it was more of a habit now because you really didn’t know when you would need it. Especially the older you got, the more spells you learned and the easier things became if you knew specific spells. The other day she had tripped and broken her telescope, which of course had scared her just because she wasn’t used to breaking things, but she ended up mending it with magic. So many issues and problems could be avoided with the right kind of spell, and even though she could live without magic, it tended to make life much simpler. She brushed a strand of hair from her face as she put her books on the ground, she wasn’t sure if they would be searching for any more potions ingredients or just going over some review. Steve always surprised her, it was probably one of the reasons that she actually paid attention when he helped her. Well that and the fact he was cute, but she obviously wouldn’t be admitting that to him anytime soon because he was her tutor obviously. Plus they made really good friends, and she was certain that the little flirting thing between them was just for fun and nothing more. After all many of the sixth years tended to flirt with each other it seemed more like instinct than anything else. Even for her, and she was usually a very tactless flirt and she had been told that quite a few times.

“Okay so what are we doing today, because you definitely have a lot of papers” she noted.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve obviously was used to waiting for this long,k but she was normally faster than this, unable to stop from commenting on her tardiness usually. Since he usually arrived at the destination previously to scope out the many ingredients they would need if they couldn't find the ones that were needed right away as the Potions classroom wasn't always the most reliable source. Perhaps he'd be able to get someone else to help him with the more complex potions later on, even as he considered just relaxing for a bit before even getting started. Sure, with his intellect, he could have been a Ravenclaw, but potions just sort of came natural to him.

It was like the back of his hand, he knew where everything was, however, he wasn't going to be chastised by anyone else about the way he did things. It was up to him how he put the ingredients in, and there had only been one potion he had actually messed up on before. That was in the past and he wasn't about to relive the moment any more than he was when Layla finally arrived, dragging him out of his thoughts. Looking up towards her, he raised an eyebrow for a moment, nodding his head as he gestured for her to sit down opposite of him. Sure, she was immensely cute, and he wasn't about to reveal that to her, however, he did continue to think it usually.

As for being good friends, well he didn't want to ruin what they had by dating as it seemed a little cliche while he was in his sixth year too. Yet, more fifth years were flirting than them, not that it mattered at the moment. Smiling warmly up towards her he soon tugged his coat back around him to keep him snug in the spot he was sitting at. Many different ingredients did indeed surround him, "No idea, really, I just chose a random bunch of potions to pick from to see if we can get you making one, but we'll have to avoid the ones that require heating a cauldron up or anything. Of course, I suppose most of them need to be brought to boiling point. So, I suppose we'll have to move over to a cauldron nearby or something just to get the full effects...I did bring mine though, just the matter of having a fire going now," he said to her, continuing to smile.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

Okay so Layla actually never arrived late anywhere, she hated being late. She was one of those people who if they were five minutes early, they felt safe and secure. Plus it made you seem responsible if you showed up to places before you did. So her being late had been a rather rare occurrence and it had only happened because she had stopped to talk to a few housemates. Next time she would do her best to try to leave earlier but she had a feeling she would never beat Steve. He always ended up beating her everywhere that was because he got there way earlier than Layla ever did usually to scope out potions ingredients. Though she had made it her mission to one day beat him somewhere, just to see what his face would be when she arrived somewhere before him. It obviously couldn’t be somewhere outside, but the library would work if she was there early enough. Either way that was beside the point, she was there and that was all that really mattered. It would only have been an issue if she wouldn’t have bothered to show up at all, that actually would have made her look very bad.

He arched an eyebrow at her and motioned for her to sit down, and if where a bit girlier she would have been afraid of the ground was damp. But given the fact she was wearing jeans, well she really didn’t care if they got dirty in the first place. She put her books in a pile next to her a she looked towards the lake, she really could understand why he liked this spot. It was nice when you started talking about spots that faced the lake, it wasn’t too close but it wasn’t too far away either. She could definitely find herself coming outside to read for a few hours to kill time and just choosing this spot. But of course this meeting was not about reading for pleasure, it was about making potions. She really didn’t understand why she was so bad at it. You’d think that it would be a piece of cake, but for some reason she always did something that made the potion unusable. Obviously things had been different now that Steve was helping her, but she was still reminded on a daily basis how had of a potion maker she was. But at least people couldn’t say that she didn’t try, and who knew, maybe she could get better at it. Didn’t they say that practice made perfect, and well if she practiced enough she could probably perfect the art of potion making. He answered her question as to what they were going to do, they had no specific potion in mind which would make things more difficult because she sucked at creative potion making. But maybe if she looked through her book and found a potion that would be easy enough for them to do out here, with the potion ingredients they had, it could be okay.

“Fire I can do, so we don’t have to worry about that” she said, “As for what potion we make, wouldn’t it be better to look through the book to see which potion would match up with our ingredients and go from there?”

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steven really didn't know what to say, but as peaceful as the lake had been at times, he knew there was much more to potions than just knowing the ingredients you had to put in. Today he as thinking of making a polyjuice potion, however, that was too mundane and it was probably one of the easier potions out there to this day. No one made real potions anymore, the ones that brought extreme amounts of luck, for example the fenix thing-a-ma-jig one. Not really one to pay attention to details much, but this time he was zoned in, plus this was his subjec.t No on else could actually master it besides him, and he knew that Layla admired him for it. Not that s boasting about his ego or anything just then in his own mind.

Taking a few short breaths of air, the wood he had set up now held a cauldron over it as he set it up, smiling effectively towards her, and then spoke to her. "Don't play with fire too much, you'll end up getting burned, that's my advice," he said cautiously towards her. Soon, he started to stir the contents in his hand around a little crushing some snake's fangs. Pausing deliberately to let her see what he was putting into the cauldron with each little ingredient, as the dried nettles he had found had gone in first. There was no evidence of him stirring the water within the thick goop that was starting to spread out. Steve didn't trust her just yet with making her own potions as he didn't want half of his face scorched like last time when he had teamed up with her.

Usually using that as a joke to tease her at how she was, but stopped when he saw it hurt her feelings. That was just like him though, to tease and be a smarty-pants about everything. "A boil cure potion, just in case you ever get those boils when you're cooking some dangerous food, first you need dried nettles, then crushed snake fang, then follow that up with stewed horn slugs..and then take the cauldron off the fire after these three things have been put in. Porcupine quills are the last ingredient," he said to her dumping in the stewed horn slugs. Letting her finish the last task since that was the most important one.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

“Oh someone considers himself a zen master” She teased lightly.

That metaphor, if it was one, sounded like something her grandparents often told her. After all they were muggles and so they were huge on metaphors. Apparently the idea behind that one was to never play with things that you couldn’t handle. Not that Layla had found things that were her fire, well apart from potions, but she tried her best at those. Actual fire was no problem for her, she was very controlled at her magic, and well she practiced a lot as well. She had always been one of those perfectionists when it came to learning spells, pronunciation was key and of course you had to wave your wand just right. She just wished she had that kind of skill in potions, but that’s what she had Steve for. He was the potions expert, while she could pull off being expert at anything else. History was more her thing, transfiguration and charms things that didn’t really require a specific amount of some really gross ingredients. Now if you asked her about what each potion was made up, and the name. Well that was more or less her territory then, because those were facts more than actions and therefore it was hard to get those wrong.

She watched as he made the potion, he obviously didn’t want her to touch it just yet. After all the last time they had worked on a potion together, she had ended up making it blow up. Not an easy feat, according to their professor, but she had made it happen. It had actually been kind of embarrassing, no one really expected a Ravenclaw to be rubbish at anything and here was Layla who failed at potions. Well the actual potion making, essays and other things were cake for her. She made a face when he said if she ever cooked dangerous food, there was no way anyone in her house let her near the stove. She had attempted to cook eggs for her grandparent’s one day and well that had been a complete disaster. After that she had been told that she had no business in the kitchen just yet, and even now that she was sixteen she wasn’t allowed to cook. As he listed off the ingredients she nodded, remembering each one from what the book said. She watched as he put in the ingredients as he said them out loud and then there was only one thing left, but you had to take the cauldron off the fire first. The last thing she wanted was to put the quills in before she took it off the heat, with her luck it would not go well. She had her gloves in her pocket so she put them on as she moved the cauldron off the fire and set it aside. Taking the porcupine quills, she put them into the concoction and she hoped that this potion wouldn’t be a complete disaster.

“I’m pretty sure I won’t be cooking any dangerous food in the first place, but if this potion turns out okay I can always use it for other things. I’m sure we can find about a dozen other things that cause boils” she noted.

OOC: I think I read that right let me know if I didn't haha because then she totally did the wrong thing.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

"I try to do everything with a swift ease and yes you are right. I am the zen master, obviously." he teased her as she had said this to him. Now it was up to him to actually see what was going his way at this point in time. No one could actually sneak up on him now and if they did they risked getting hexed as he hated being caught off guard. Not that this was the time nor place for such actions to be considered, but as he watched Layla, he found himself mesmerized by the grace she moved when she put the porcupine quills into the concoction. Of course, as it started to boil over, he realized he may have put the wrong ingredient in. Then shook his head as the cauldron itself settled a little bit.

Nodding towards her he then used his wand to stir it slowly watching the liquid change colors to a perfect mix of a potion to cure boils. Now, to test it one would have to actually get a boil on their body or have one previously. Steve didn't like the idea of giving himself a boil, but he'd rather be the test for her experiment than to have her blow herself up. Luckily she had help putting stuff into the potion this time, but he was going to let her repeat the process to complete it by herself as he had brought more than enough ingredients. Many of the other potions he had his eyes set on weren't menial at all, however, he was sure she could do it.

"Now I want you to try making it without my help this time," he challenged her as he was already tilting the potion that was just recently maid into a vial to save it for later use. The worst she could do is make smoke fly out of this potion, and if she under-boiled it at all, well that was just another reason they were having these lessons. So that it didn't actually happen in class, and outside was just fine for shards of glass to go flying everywhere if she happened to. Although he was more concerned about the cauldron ramming up back into her face when it explodes since it was one of those little portable ones.

Steve would gladly give his life for her, but he wasn't going to tell her that as he then nodded to her, "I have to say, good job on using the correct ingredient and doing exactly as I informed," he congratulated her, hoping it would give her ego that boost it needed.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

“Well don’t expect me to bow down” she said, “Because it’s definitely not happening”

She kept her gaze on the cauldron, feeling a bit scared when it started to bubble over because that meant that they had put the wrong ingredients in. Which was weird because it wasn’t like she had done it on her own, Steve had added the majority of the ingredients so the only way she could have messed up was if he had given her the incorrect ingredient. That was something she seriously doubted, and she felt better when she saw it start to settle. Okay so that was something she had to make sure to note if she ever tried to make this potion herself. Don’t freak out if it starts to boil over when you put in the last ingredient it should settle down in a few minutes. But really you couldn’t blame her for being afraid because putting the wrong ingredients could end up being potentially deadly and that was one of the bad things about potion making. Luckily when you were in school you didn’t really get to make potions that could go deadly, and she was thankful for that because given her track record with potions, well let’s just say it was a good thing that the worst thing that could happen would be a small explosion.

She nodded when he said that she was going to try and make the potion on her own. It seemed simple enough, her memory was not lacking so she knew that she could remember which ingredient went first, and so on. She was getting better at making potions, each time she made less mistakes and there had been a few potions that she could actually make without doing anything wrong. She hoped that this one would be one of the ones that came out as they should, because it always made her feel better when she did it correctly. She was a perfectionist, and even though it was hard to be perfect at potions when you failed at it, she always tried to give it her best. Either way she recalled what the ingredients were, remembering that the quills would go in last. She mouthed the ingredients to herself, first the dried nettles, then the crushed snake fang, after that it’s the stewed horn slugs, you have to take the cauldron off the fire, and add the quills. It seemed simple enough, all she had to do was remember the exact order, and then she would be golden. She continued mumbling to herself, it wasn’t audible but she was sure that if Steve noticed he would think she was losing her mind but this was just the way she functioned when it came to remembering ingredients for potions.

“Well following directions has never been my problem, at least I can't say I've never purposefully ignore them” she said with a small laugh.

She felt confident enough that she could at least somewhat pull this off, so she started adding the ingredients remembering their specific order. Her mumbling had turned into repeating it over and over in hear head so that she would be successful. She added the dried nettles first, then the crushed snake fang, followed by the horn slugs. Even though she still found it completely creepy to touch these types of things she had to do it to make the potion. She took the cauldron off the flame as she had before, and added the quills hoping that she hadn’t messed anything up and messed the whole thing up. She looked up Steve, hoping that she hadn’t misheard him or something like that.

“Okay I think that’s how it’s supposed to go” she said.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve wasn't going to tell her otherwise as he merely nodded in return towards her, letting her finish the potion at her own pace. After all, it wasn't a race to see how fast she could finish the potion as it only added stress to many people's lives. Even though he really wanted to just end the lesson before it began just to talk with her. This did give him an excuse to work with her, and he knew fully well that she wasn't ever going to give up looking towards him for advice. Watching the cauldron intently as she entered the first three ingredients with ease, and noted that she was rather cautious about it.

"Say those enough times, and you'll be making the same potion over and over. Just try not to do that in class, or you might space out as usual, dork," he said to her. He meant that in a good joking way, but he doubted she'd take it any other way than that considering his sarcastic nature at times. Even now, while they could have set the entire forbidden forest on fire, he was sure someone would just aquamentia it out or something along those lines. It was an easy spell to remember, and it did exactly what it was intended for. Even with all of the rumors going around that he and Layla were going out. None of them were true, as they were just tutoring.

Steve would hardly consider this a date, but in his own defense. Layla had been so horrible at potions the first time he had met her, and had tried so hard not to laugh when it blew up in her face at times. To play a joke on her he picked up the cauldron as the ingredients were bubbling over a little, but not exiting the cauldron itself. Then he set it down on the ground, looked up at Layla, using his left hand to block his right hand to prevent her from seeing something. Turning around he looked at it as if examining a rock.

Steve knew he was going to be hit for this, but it would be well worth it as he tried stomping on his hand screaming in agony. Then, as he turned back to look at her, gave her that stupid grin telling her it was a joke, "Just kidding, your concoction was great, I wish I had the same ski-oh wait, no I don't, but you know what I mean, I'm trying to compliment you," he rubbed the back of his head shyly hoping he hadn't said the wrong thing or shown the wrong side of humor just then.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

“I resent that because I am not a dork, and I obviously remember the differences in potions” she noted,“It is one thing to not be the best potion maker, but I have a good memory”

She knew that he was just teasing her, but she got defensive sometimes. She knew that just because she wasn’t good at making potions, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t recall them all. She had a pretty good memory, though it always ended up being better for other subjects. Even though she did try a little harder now that Steve was helping her out, just because she liked to impress him. She wasn’t sure why that was, it was just this idea she had and she couldn’t break. She liked the idea of him realizing that she wasn’t as hopeless as she seemed. Yes she was pretty bad at potions, but at least she was getting better now. Plus there was a part of her that understood that this was a sort of pretense for her, albeit it was a very good pretense, but she was pretty sure she could manage on her own as she had in her first years at Hogwarts. She would never say this out lout because she was glad to have someone to help her, especially because Steve was fun to be around, even if sometimes she did want to smack him.

And what Steve did next definitely gave her reason to want to hit him. He managed to scare her, because she had not been expecting him to do anything. She was innocently watching her potion, glad that she had obviously done everything right and she was actually starting to feel good about it. She had made her first potion of the day, on her own, and she had managed to do it well. That definitely deserved a pat on the back, of course she wasn’t even allowed that before he did his stupid joke. She had been smiling as she watched him pick up the cauldron, for a minute she thought that he was going to dump it, because maybe she had done something wrong. She was confused as he used one hand to block the other, and she could feel herself becoming alarmed when she realized what he was doing. She was about to learn over and stop him, when he got that stupid little grin on his face which only meant that he had been joking. Her smile was clearly gone now, and she was giving him a death glare. She was sure if the expression, “if looks could kill” would be very appropriate because that had been far from funny. It had actually been scary for her because she had no idea what could have possessed him to even attempt that.

“You moron, why on earth would you scare me like that?” She asked, “Did you want to give me a heart attack? Because believe me you were close to doing that, then you’d be dealing with thinking up ways of how to revive me thanks to your lame attempt at a joke”

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was just smirking at Layla as she was freaking out due ot him pretending to make it look like the potion had back-fired on him despite the death glare she had given him. Oh yes, he was going to play with this a little longer to the point of no return, but he knew that he should stop teasing her a little bit. After all, he knew when to quit and accept the fact that she was a little too pissed to keep doing this with him. It was just in his nature to be a little playful and then retorted slyly, "But luckily, you made a successful enough potion to heal anyone in need of help, we can donate these to the hospital wing obviously, that's why I chose it. I don't do these things without thinking of a good consequence to our actions, not there were any bad ones to begin with," he said ot her simply. Brushing himself off, as he then poured the potion into another vial scooping it up into four different ones as her concoction had been thicker than his.

After all, he had done the initial joke he was now serious after wards, and then walked up towards her, thinking on what he could do to make up for it. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around her waist in a hug after making sure the vials were tucked away within his belt that he had brought for this original purpose, but even potions wasn't an easy task to be had. Right now, he was just measuring the next ingredients for what else he wanted to make, but first wanted to make sure Layla wanted to continue lessons with him. Finally, he got the last of the contents into the vials, and now after hugging her broke it softly as he blushed slightly. It wasn't like him to do that out of nowhere, but if felt slightly right as he whispered into her ear at that very moment, "Oh, I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean to scare you and you smell lovely by the way," after then smiling warmly towards her in return.

Of course he wasn't going to tell her he liked her, that would be beyond the point, and he considered them good friends at this point. I mean, he didn't just help her study potions at times, as when she mixed the ingredients he would sneak peeks at her beautiful face. Even those cute teeth of hers whenever she smiled, and that's what made Steve smile all the time was her face. Well not only that, but it was part of the reason he did like her quite a bit. "You can choose a potion for us to do next." he said to her pointing to the books on the ground.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]

[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She gave him a look that it had not been funny to her at all, even if he had found it to be. She had been worried, especially because boys were sometimes dense enough to actually hurt themselves for no particular reason. Either way he knew her enough when it stopped being cute, and when she was dangerously close to hexing him because he was being a moron. Obviously those times were few, just because he did know when to stop but she still hadn’t found his little act funny at all. She appreciated that fact that she had made the potion successfully enough and that it would be put to good use, just as long as she didn’t have to use it on him. They always needed extra potions in the hospital wing anyway, even if she didn’t always provide the best ones for them. But of course given that she had extra help usually, well now anyway, she had managed to donate a few pretty good ones to the hospital wing for which she knew they were grateful for. She watched him as he poured the potion into vials, and then turned her attention away from him momentarily. She knew that he could turn that smile into a charming one, and she’d probably stop being mad at him. She couldn’t stay mad at him for long, for some reason she had yet to identify, but it tended to happen. Usually he did something that made her stop being mad, and sometimes it just happened because he smiled at her a certain way.

“Still that wasn’t cute at all” she noted.

Obviously she wouldn’t stay mad at him long, given that he was now hugging her. Any time he came into her personal space, like he did now, she tended to get flustered and it wasn’t something she really understood. She normally was fine around boys, never getting nervous or anything like that. But Steve managed to make her both nervous, and annoyed which was an annoying quality in its own. But right now all she was really focused on was the fact that he was hugging her, and she felt like some idiotic little school girl. She was almost seventeen years old, this really was not a rational way for her to act. Still she couldn’t help but turn a bit pink, especially when he let go and complimented her. She had no idea what on earth would make her smell nice, she didn’t really use perfume that was strong, and unless it was her shampoo there was no reason for her to smell nice. Either way she appreciated the compliment, though it would probably leave her thinking about the possibilities later on. She muttered a thank you, not really bothering to speak up. When he let go, she gave him a small smile as she wondered if they were going to continue. He spoke saying that she should chose next, which excited her a bit because that way she could chose something she was more familiar with or more comfortable with. She had to take note of what they had with them, before she could chose something though. But she wanted to make something fun, and something that wasn’t too complicated either.

“How about Draught of Peace?” She asked as she flipped through the potions book.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve knew that Layla was good at remembering all of the different potions as he realized that the hug from earlier had probably embarrassed her a little. Not that he had been able to see it, but he sort of knew she would have done the same thing he did. After all it was a second nature even for those that didn't blush or thought they didn't. There was always a way to get you to blush, but if you were of dark nature it was hard to see it. None-the-less, that's what made it the more exotic when you can actually see the blush on a darker-toned human being. Funny as that sounded in his mind, he just kept his attention on Layla once more keeping the contents of the potion within his hand in the vials. Even the ones in his belt would be good for a while, and could easily donate it to the potions teacher if they could actually catch her at a decent time usually.

It wasn't like him to keep himself cornered within a room, but right now he was near the lake. Obviously, the easiest place to make potions without the wind blowing things away since the trees from the forbidden forest normally blocked it. Today he could tell there would be no wind, but it was getting chillier since it was getting closer to winter. Even as he attempted to make the most of the weather half the time, he wasn't going to let her get the upper hand by besting him in potion making. After all, if she could remember the order of the ingredients, and he did it slowly with her over and over. She was sure to get it, "Oh you forgive me anyways, and you know it," he said to her. Listening to her as he let out a hearty chuckle at that, but it was a sincere one. After all, he doubted she would trust him to hold her potion like that again, but what if he had indeed gotten burned or something worse. Then again, it was easy to drop a potion, and if it was stirred correctly wouldn't effect him much.

"What tired of making poly juice potions?" he teased her again, as he had taught her how to make it and then made her drink it. Steve had entered one of the seventh years girls hair into the concoction and hit on her no stop. Steve obviously could remember the girl's name, but he wasn't going to tell Layla who she looked like. That would have made her incredibly no doubt, but it must have felt even better having turned into Maharet Rosier. One of the few he had a crush on, but had grown past that stage as soon as he had met Layla. What were with Ravenclaws and their beauty along with the smarts they got? Oh well, it didn't phase him anymore as he then looked at the potion, "I'm guessing you want me to give it a try first?" he asked her as if he needed. Steve just liked to make sure she was paying attention instead of day-dreaming or what not.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She reined in her blush, because really it was kind of ridiculous to act like that over a hug anyway. He was her friend, there was no need to get embarrassed because he hugged her. Obviously it wasn’t the same as when Jayce hugged her, even though ideally it should have been. After all both of them were her friends, and even though they were of the opposite sex they both didn’t make her blush. She was obviously thinking too much about this now, but could you really blame her. After all half the school was obsessed with pairing you up with someone once you got older. She had been accused of dating Jayce quite a few times over the years, and even though that was far from the truth it didn’t mean that people still didn’t think they were right. Even though it was a well-known fact that Steve was helping her out with Potions, she had already been asked if she was dating him. Obviously she had denied over and over again that there was nothing more than a friendship there, it did make her think sometimes. But that wasn’t really the topic at hand, and she gave him a look that said he took the fact that she always forgave him for granted. It really was weird just how easily she did forgive him sometimes, some people would say they were something there, but Layla just thought it was because he was her friend and she found him charming at times.


“I sometimes wish I didn’t, then maybe you wouldn’t be such a jerk to me at times” she teased.

Oh really he was bringing up the stupid polyjuice potion thing, that had probably been one of the most irritating moments of her life. She had no idea who on earth he had turned her into, and it was the one time she had wished she carried around a mirror like the rest of the girls. She wasn’t sure what had been most irritating that he had seemed to enjoy the fact that she had no idea who he had turned her into, or that he loved to remind her about it. She really just hoped to never repeat the experience, because it just had been weird to look like anyone else for a period of time. Though he had obviously enjoyed hitting on her, even if she hadn’t really enjoyed it because she wasn’t used to it. She wasn’t used to the idea of someone trying to hit on her, but he had obviously chosen whoever it was for a reason. It had probably been some crush that he had, and she probably had no idea who it even was. Nonetheless she knew they would not be repeating that game, and if they did, well she’d make him drink it next time not the other way around. At his question, she thought about it for a bit, it would be fun to let her try a potion first just to see if she could. But she was also certain that he didn’t trust her enough to let her try it on her own.

“Can I try first? Or are we going with the, ‘for safety reasons I have to make the potion first to make sure that you know how to make it properly’ route?” She asked.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was just glancing over at Layla as he raised an eyebrow and was slightly shocked that she wanted to try this potion out by herself for a change. The first thought he got was she'd turn into a toad if that happened, but he wasn't going to stop her from taking the ingredients herself. Smirking in her direction he was starting to rub his hands gently together flipping through the ingredients as he wasn't going to just let her do it without the proper instructions. Maybe it would be better if he was just directing her instead of letting her follow the book. It seemed odd, but that was usually how the teacher did it in the class too. What made Steve so special? It wasn't like he was the superb guru at potions at all times, but he figured that he had more experience than a lot of people.

"Oh, well, I promise not to remind you of anything else again, but anyways, I'm fine if you want to make your own potion. Although, if you do manage to screw it up, don't expect me how to cure it, although I doubt anything bad could happen with this one. At least your potions don't explode like that one kid's," he said to her, but he really did have confidence in her, and sure if he had been hitting on her she really wouldn't have noticed much. Steve wasn't really one to do so, but he was sure if he actually did use his bravado on her, that she would easily fall victim to his charms. The timing had to be right though for when he asked her out, but he wasn't planning on doing it right now.

After all, he took the tutor job seriously and wasn't about to let her know that he liked her right there on the spot. It was confidential half the time, but only his best friends knew about his crush on her. At this point, she was considered his friend, and as far as Slytherin's went, he knew he was the nicest one out of them. Yet, he got along with Albus, Theresa, and Scorpius too, so that was the kind of crowd he found himself surrounded by at times.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She wasn’t completely handicapped at potions, okay maybe she was a little bit but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to try. Yes she was pretty bad at potions, but at least she couldn’t say that she didn’t try, even if her tries weren’t all that successful sometimes. But what could really go wrong if she made a tiny mistake with Draught of Peace, it wasn’t like its counterpart so it wouldn’t blow anyone up or something along the lines of that. But of course she had a feeling that Steve would still be a little hesitant, because she’d always be reminded of that one time she accidentally blew her potion up. She couldn’t even really recall what potion it had been, but she had made the mistake of adding the wrong ingredient, well it had been the right ingredient just not in the right order, and the concoction had blown up. Obviously she had learned her lesson, always double checking the ingredients and their order just because she wanted to avoid incidents like that again. Either way she kind of wanted to impress him, just because she wanted to show that him helping her wasn’t a complete waste of time. Plus if she managed to make this post without making a mistake she would look like she was supposed to, the smart Ravenclaw.

“I’m sure you would bail me out, even if you say you won’t cure me” she teased with a smile.

She knew that Steve always had her back, because he was just that good a friend. No matter how much he frustrated her sometimes, like he had with his earlier stunt, she knew that he cared. Just like she cared about him, and she sometimes thought she cared a bit too much. His teasing sometimes made her blush, and of course close contact with him flushed her too. She felt like a twelve year old at those times, which was ridiculous because no rational sixth year acted that way around guys. She was supposed to be all calm, relaxed, and flirty but the closest she got to flirty was usually unintentional. She knew that she just wasn’t the typical type of girl, and well she really couldn’t bring herself to care. She wore minimal amounts of make-up, hardly did stuff to her hair, and she spent most of her time in jeans though she did wear remotely girly tops. Either way she knew that she wasn’t the stereotypical girl but she didn’t wish to be. Brushing the thoughts away she turned her attention to the Draught of peace, she knew that they had the ingredients they would need, and she knew that it would be tricky because she had to be exact with this. You needed powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, powdered porcupine quils, valerian root, and powdered unicorn horn, which they all had. She also had to make sure to remember that the potion had to be stirred seven times clockwise and counterclockwise before she put in the hellebore. She made a mental note of that, because she didn’t want to mess it up.

"Okay I think I got it, and I promise this one will not blow up” She said as she settled back down in front of the cauldron to start her potion.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve was fine with Layla taking control of this potion and if she knew what she was doing he would let her. Not really needing to look at the book in the long run since he was a potion's expert guru, but he was so tempted to just walk up to Layla to hug her again. Was it just the way she acted around him or was he pretending to be serious as he was slightly complimenting her at the same time, and soon enough he was now just leaning against a tree. Putting his hands into his pockets as he was pretending to look at the sky but he was obviously worried that something would happen to her potion.

Looking out for her really wasn't his job, but no one else was going to watch her back so he figured he should at least provide some sort of way to comfort her in knowing he was going to be there for her no matter if she messed up or not. Comforting words weren't exactly his forte, but he could try. Trying so hard wasn't his style considering he wasn't sure what it was that made him a god at this class, but he really wasn't as conceited as that to think of himself as an actual god. Plus, that would be kind of demeaning to the gods themselves if he took it upon him to live up to their names. Sadly, Steve couldn't be that great, and right now he was proving himself to just be another follower as he watched Layla doing her business with the potion.

Deciding to encourage her in some way, he walked up to her, hugged her and then kissed her cheek blushing deeply as he did so. This time, he was aware of what he had done, but then spoke into her ear, "Just be careful, I really don't want anything to happen to you," as he had said so many times before. This time was probably the first time he had reveal any real true feelings towards her.

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[LAYLA ROSEMARIE BAILEY]

She made sure the fire beneath the cauldron wasn’t too high as she filled the cauldron up with the water that would be needed. She waited for it to start boiling before she tried to begin, focusing on reading the instructions as carefully as she could. She obviously didn’t have the skill that Steve did, so she had to be a lot more careful when it came to making the potions just because she hated to fail. The perfectionist part of her mind basically had a fit every time she messed up on a potion, it was why she had gladly taken Steve’s help. She needed to be perfect in school, her aspirations were too high for her to not pass every single glass near the top of her class. But obviously she had decided she wanted to be Minister of Magic one day, she hadn’t realized she would be so bad at potions. Either way she needed to focus, because then if she failed there was a small chance Steve would think she was stupid. Well she was pretty sure he wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop her from feeling that way. She pushed away all thoughts trying her best to focus on the potion, she added the quills, remembering to stir it counterclockwise three times. A little smile lit up her features as she checked her watch to make sure that she could count the seven minutes.

“So far so good” she mumbled to herself.

That was when Steve walked over to her, he gave her another hug which felt nice once again. Really how was it possible that one hug made her feel so happy? Sure she had already been happy, but she felt happier now. She was really surprised when he kissed her cheek, just because that wasn’t something she had expected at all. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks, the potion forgotten behind her. He had never done that before, and well it was different. Oh goodness she was starting to feel like one of those stupid girls who lost focus while they were supposed to be doing something important. Especially considering that she didn’t want to mess up the potion, after all she had been pretty adamant about doing the potion on her own and getting distracted would be bad. But of course his words were definitely a distraction, they made something happen in her stomach, something that well she wasn’t all that familiar with. Well okay that was a lie, because she felt it rather frequently with Steve around but that didn’t mean she was ready to admit it. But still his words made her happy, and nervous all at once and she really had no idea what to say to that. Especially given that he had never said anything like that to her either, how did you respond to that in the first place? Well she could make sure to tell him that she was trying to be careful, that she probably wouldn’t be messing up purpose.

“I’ll be careful, I promise” She said with a smile, as she turned her attention back to the potion.

[STEVE TYLER AMETHYST]

Steve realized how much he must have confused Layla just then, after all, it was indeed the first time he had ever done that. Surely, she knew what it meant, but he wasn't about to go around telling the whole world that he liked her. That wasn't what you did right off the bat was tell a girl you liked her, it all had to fall in place, and even now as he was considering just giving up his entire studying of potions entirely for her. Finally he made sure she was going to be doing this right, but now he had to look up the ingredients himself since the Draught of Peace was obviously one in which that many needed to pay careful attention to.

Starting to read over the ingredients slowly, he found himself remembering why he had to do this in the first place. Last time he remembered it just being for his own OWL exam, and then realized this was one of the more difficult potions. Why on Earth was Layla attempting to make this right now? After all it was impossible to get right on the first try normally, and just because Steve was an expert at this didn't mean he could instantly whip up a potion even as he made sure that the text was within the right page. Unable to determine how she would accomplish this, but hoped she followed the instructions to the tea. It was unsure if this was even the right way to do it because there were definitely other ways to go about it.

The first ingredients in the potion to be entered were the porcupine quills that needed to sit in the water so it boiled leaving it a delicate red. Then after stirring the cauldron once while it's boiling to insert the Valerian root. The final ingredients would be entered after the powdered unicorn hair and powdered moon stone were put in.

The directions for making the potion are very detailed. Ingredients must be added in the exact order and amounts specified, and the potion needs to be stirred 7 times, both clockwise and counter-clockwise. Before the addition of the final ingredient, hellebore, the temperature of the flames must be lowered, and the potion allowed to simmer for seven minutes.

If brewed correctly, the potion will emit a silvery vapour, but the possible characteristics of a failed batch seem to be endless.(everything from green sparks, dark grey steam, a sulfurous odour, a cement-like consistency, to a dangerous instability that will cause it to explode and set one's robes alight).

Was what was written in a different book, but he wasn't sure if it was all entirely true. There were many different alternatives, but he was curious as to which ones were actually right. Unable to determine this, he soon just went with it, "I do have to admit, if you know what you're doing, then by all means, I won't stop you. Just remember to stir the potion correctly and you'll be fine," he finished speaking crossing his arms.

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