Open Keeping Your Wits About You

[Aine Thompson]

The wit-sharpening solution. This was exactly what Aine needed. Sure, she knew she couldn't use it for exams - maybe she could in fourth year, but they'd find some way of substance testing for OWLs - and that wasn't a path she necessarily wanted to go down. She'd seen enough sports stories on the news back home to put her off. She'd stick to energy drinks and sugar there. But the potion was right there - in fact, brewing it was something they'd probably have to do in the exam. And if she was going to be persisting in this notion of taking all the classes (at this point as much out of misplaced competitiveness and a desperation to prove herself as it was an interest in actually learning), then a little bit of a jolt to cut through her exhaustion and keep her mind switched on wasn't going to hurt, surely.

And okay, maybe she probably shouldn't have seemed quite so suspicious brewing the potion, looking around anxiously between cutting the ginger (which she had been careful about measuring), stirring the potion, and now sitting and waiting for it to cool and be ready to consume. There was no reason she shouldn't be allowed to practice brewing a potion, right? Besides, the ingredients weren't going to be wasted if she could use it. And she wasn't giving it to anyone else but herself to drink. But now she was pacing, looking between the door, the clock, and the cauldron, trying simply to count each minute until the potion was ready. She hoped desperately that it would work. All she needed was a refreshment to focus on her studies.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen was so tired of being in her OWL year. Not only had the lessons gotten more difficult, she also had twice the amount of exams now at the end of the year. She truly didn't understand why they couldn't split it in two like they normally did. Now she had to take difficult exams on subjects she hadn't even taken for half a year. She was unusually frazzled, and it bugged her. Her hair seemed less shiny lately and she knew she had dark circles under her eyes. She couldn't wait for this mess to be over, she needed a break.

The Slytherin was making her way to her common room when she smelled something. She frowned. It smelled like potions class. She hesitated for a moment. She should go to the common room to study some more, but this seemed like something interesting. She glanced down, reminding herself of her prefect's badge. It was more a status symbol than anything else, but she reminded herself she had the right to investigate suspicious smells. It could be something dangerous. She straightened up, then followed her nose until she spotted the cause. A younger girl brewing a potion by herself. Gwen frowned, watching the girl for a moment before clearing her throat. "Ahem. What are you doing?"

 

[Aine Thompson]

Everything was fine, now she just had to wait a few more minutes for it to finish brewing. Aine hoped it was right, though her hands were shaking as she put in the drops of bile and maybe the measures were off. Droplets were a weird measure anyway, she knew it fit the aesthetic but for precision maybe they were better off measuring in millilitres? Aine was sure she'd be looked at like she was a lunatic if she suggested such a thing, though. No compromising on aesthetics for improvement. Even though witches around a cauldron was rather an unattractive visual and usually brought to mind hags.

She was getting off course again, and had to plant her feet firmly on the ground so as not to jolt at the sound of a voice and knock over all her hard work. She recognized the older girl, but there weren't many people at the school who didn't know of Gwen Goodwin. After all, she was everything Aine wasn't - pretty, stylish, sociable. Also, she was a prefect, which didn't help matters right now. Relax, she told herself. Just make up something convincing. "Me? I, uh..." Aine floundered. "Just getting some extra study in! I, uh, needed to redo a potion because there was...an accident, cauldron got knocked over." Not untrue...but that had been in second year, not fourth. "You know how it is with potions," she gave the most painful forced laugh as her palms began sweating. Lying shouldn't have been hard, after all, she had to lie back home all the time, about her school, about her life, everything. But in actuality, she tended to just avoid it instead.

Great. I'm going to get in trouble and it's going to be for the most pathetic reason. It could have at least been for drinking or smoking, something that looks edgy, not for this. Like I needed help looking like more of a loser.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen didn't pay a lot of attention to the younger students, but she knew this girl was the one who had won most points last year. Aine.. something. She also knew the girl was in Hogwarts Monthly, which meant it was probably a bad idea to make a complete enemy out of her. A scathing comment in an article could do a lot of damage. But still, Gwen clearly had the upper hand here. She tilted her head as the girl scrambled for an excuse, watching her closely. She raised her eyebrows just slightly, looking surprised. "The professor told you to redo a potion?" She asked, looking around with some exaggeration. "Without supervision?" She asked, frowning now. "That's strange, isn't it? Are you sure that's what she meant?" She asked, still playing innocently confused, even though she was sure the girl wasn't being entirely honest. Gwen wasn't even sure if there was a rule against brewing a potion unsupervised, but Aine clearly thought she needed a good reason to excuse herself. Gwen looked from the cauldron to the girl, waiting to see what she would say next. This was amusing, at least.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron hated this time of year he already knew how his exams were going to go so it was frustrating sitting around waiting for the P's and D's to start rolling in, not to mention how busy Accio got. Now Accio was even making him follow after Gwen, annoyed when she'd taken a detour away from the common room when he needed to ask her something and now didn't have the luxury of a quick escape to his dorm. Following Gwen into an altercation with Aine of all people however might just be what cheered Cameron up today.

He was content to lurk near the doorway at first, wondering if it would feel good to see someone put Aine in her place for once. Seeing Aine so frazzled didn't bring the rush of catharsis he was expecting, instead reminding Cameron far more of a conversation they'd had last year that he liked to quietly pretend never happened. If Aine seemed destined to only see Cameron at his worst, at least it seemed like it went both ways, even if it meant Cameron found himself stepping forward now to intervene.

It wasn't like Aine needed his help, she was annoyingly capable, but Cameron wasn't one to turn down a chance to bother Gwen either, which is really why he was doing it, he figured, crossing his arms as he looked at her dubious. "What, you get bored of lording all the younger Slytherins so you had to go hunt someone else down? Aine's just a weirdo who likes doing extra credit work all the time. I think she'd break out in hives if she tried to break school rules so you can shove off," he said shortly, stepping into the room properly and giving Aine a disparaging look to hide the way his stomach clenched at the idea he might be sticking up for her or something.

 

[Aine Thompson]

It was ridiculous to let a girl who wasn't that much older than Aine herself intimidate her, but that's exactly what she was doing. Somehow, her brain jumped to the idea that she'd now get busted for using illicit substances - although it was a potion they were actually taught how to brew, and it wasn't as though anyone had ever said they couldn't brew them unsupervised, right? Probably just that they shouldn't. And if she said something about how much she needed this potion just to get through study and exams, then she'd probably sound like an absolute basket case. Which she kind of was, but she didn't need to hear that from anyone else.

"Well, I...I mean, in the real world, it's not like we'll be supervised anyway, you know? I..." And yet, just as Aine opened her mouth to say something, Cameron spoke up instead. Aine felt her stomach twist into knots. He really just seemed to have a habit of seeing her at her worst. And now he was standing up for her? No, berating her some more. Half of her wanted to agree, the other half wanted to fight back. "I wouldn't put it like that..." she retorted, although it probably just fell flat. Now she wished it had been an invisibility potion, as she looked between the two trying to regain composure even being a bit weirded out. But simultaneously a little more inclined to try and boost her own case, not needing to be beaten down more. "It's my right to potentially poison myself if I want to, it's not like I'm making anyone else drink it." Wow, not helping at all.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen hadn't actually accused the Hufflepuff of anything against the rules, but she had sort of wanted to see her squirm. She was surprised when another voice piped up, but wasn't all that surprised it was Cameron Roswell, the annoying kid from the yearbook. He was just the type to stick his nose where it didn't belong. Gwen looked at him coolly, raising one eyebrow. "I wasn't lording." She said calmly. "I was asking her a question." She tilted her head slightly. "If you're not careful, you're going to lose points for being so rude." She added, turning back to The Hufflepuff girl. She was about to dismiss her words when she realized what the girl was implying when she said she had the right to poison herself. Gwen frowned. "I thought you were making this for practice. Why are you drinking a potion you're making for practice?" She asked, glancing at the potion again and trying to remember what potion looked like that. Fourth year was only a year ago, it wasn't that hard to put the pieces together. Gwen's eyes widened slightly. "You're making a wit-sharpening potion, in secret, right before the exams?" She asked, her lips tugging into a slight smile without her permission. "You know how that looks, right? Are you planning to cheat?" Gwen asked, wondering if she had really stumbled on some rule-breaking.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine kind of wished she'd brewed something that corroded the floor instead, so she could knock it over and let the ground swallow her up. If she wasn't so frazzled she was sure she could've maybe not blurted out too much information, but now she was feeling dizzy and overwhelmed and incredibly foolish. Maybe that whole meditation thing was actually useful, but Aine couldn't keep her head together to appropriately do it. "No..." she lied, half heartedly. Just a few more moments, and it would be drinkable. She ducked her head, but a small smirk played on the corner of her mouth. "It's an aging potion. I was going to make myself look about 40 and go out drinking in Brightstone." She couldn't even get that sentence out without a nervous waver, like she wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. Which would've made her seem even weirder.

But she had a small cup at the ready, and in one movement she reached over to scoop some of the brew into the cup. "It's not for exams. It's...personal. Bottoms up." She pinched her nose with her free hand, gulping it down and shuddering, making a face that truly expressed her opinion of the taste. Only the warmth of it managed to make it slightly less disgusting, by virtue of singing her tastebuds. "God, that's awful." Aine blinked a few times, looking between her hands, the cauldron, and the two Slytherins in the room with her, an expression of clarity crossing her eyes after a few seconds. It was almost like enlightenment...almost. "...what am I doing?"

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron just scoffed at Gwen's denial, rolling his eyes at her threat. "Does that mean you're gonna dock points from yourself too?" He muttered, comeback somewhat derailed by Aine stumbling through some weird explanation about what she was doing. Maybe he really should have just left the girls to it, he mused, since they both seemed to like the sound of their own voices, it'd certainly be a lot easier than trying to help someone like Aine.

The realization of what Gwen was saying Aine was doing however had Cameron double-taking, expression caught somewhere between delight at finding out Aine's dirty little secret and confusion that she would bother with something like that, it wasn't like she seemed to need it. Though he rethought that thought when Aine kept talking. Maybe she really was that stupid.

"Something monumentally stupid apparently," Cameron said dryly, wondering if it was too late to excuse himself from the situation, though no doubt that would be practically handling Gwen a win here. "Clearly there's something wrong with her brain, irreversible probably, so I can just take her to the Hospital Wing," Cameron said to Gwen, sure he could just shove Aine out of the Dungeons and out of mind once Gwen shoved off herself. He'd already been around for enough of Aine's weird little break downs, she could have this one on her own as soon as he was sure she wasn't about to get expelled or something.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen ignored Cameron’s silly response. She focused on Aine, sure she had caught the girl doing something so horrible she could get her in trouble. The Hufflepuff denied it, saying she was making some other potion. Gwen frowned, glancing over the ingredients again while trying her best to remember what the aging potion was like. She shook her head. “No, you’re not.” She snapped. “You’re- wait!” Gwen had been so convinced the younger girl was making it for the exam that she hadn’t counted on her drinking it. She watched in horror as Aine drank the potion. It looked gross, and apparently, it tasted gross too. Gwen stared at her in disbelief. At her question, she scoffed. “You’re cheating, for the exams!” She said, though she realized that made no real sense if the girl was drinking it now. She frowned in confusion.

Then Cameron piped up again, Gwen turned on him with a glare. This was annoying enough to figure out without him here. “Look, it’s almost cute you’re trying to make some sort of excuse for your nerdy little girlfriend here, but this has nothing to you.” She snapped at him. “If she needs the hospital wing, I’ll take her. I’m a prefect.” She said, glancing back at Aine to see if she hadn’t turned purple or broken out in horrible boils or something. If that were the case, Cameron was free to take her away.

 

[Aine Thompson]

It was almost blissfully silent for a change, and Aine could tune out most of what was going on around her as for once she could think clearly. "Oh, please," she muttered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "As if I need this cr*p to improve my marks. The only thing it could help me with is Transfiguration, and that's my own mental blocks and issues with the subject inhibiting my ability to perform the spells successfully. This isn't going to suddenly change my ideological opposition to it." A wave of nausea threatened to spill over, but she swallowed it down, gripping a table as she sweat a little. She couldn't tell if it was the caffeine rush or if it was just how gross the potion was.

She closed her eyes - why was everything spinning, suddenly? - as she relaxed into more of a smile, laughing at Cameron's comment. The clear headedness made it hard to argue. "Well, obviously, what kind of idiot takes every class for two years straight? Any person in their right mind would acknowledge that it's too much after one year. Clearly, my brain is broken." She could see exactly why she'd done it, now, and felt a little embarrassed, but mostly all she could do right now was laugh at her own stupidity. Probably a side effect of the potion. "And obviously he can't be my boyfriend, the volume of classes means I haven't had time for a social life even if I was interested in him, and since only I can call myself an idiot, he's not really my type." She slumped over a table, rolling over herself until she was looking up at the ceiling. Nobody would date her unless they were planning to hurt her through it, too, which was a reason to be guarded.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron wasn’t sure Aine knew how to cheat, outside of being best buds with the professors maybe, but he wasn’t able to voice the thought before Gwen made some dumb joke and he could only bristle, spluttering defensively. “What, she’s not-“ He was saved thankfully by whatever he was going to try to say by Aine, who seemed to be having the most composed meltdown Cameron had seen yet, though at least they finally agreed on something.

At least until she kept talking, responding to Gwen’s jab. ‘Not her type’. What was that supposed to mean? Cameron wouldn’t want to date someone like Aine in a million years but he still felt a pit in his stomach at her words, directing a furious glance at the stone floor, feeling a flush creep up his neck. “Fine, you take her to the hospital wing,” he said shortly, not wanting to spare Aine another glance, even if it meant letting Gwen win this one. “Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea,” he added nastily. Sure, let Gwen think Aine was cheating on her stupid exams, just as long as no one thought they actually liked each other or something.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen stared at Aine as she spoke, wondering how the potion had managed to change her whole personality. Or at least her demeanor. She frowned, watching the girl. She didn’t look… well. Maybe the hospital wing wasn’t the worst idea. She could have easily messed up the potion somehow, even if she was pretty smart.

Aine started talking again, she seemed to be doing some self-reflecting. Gwen’s eyebrows rose. “You took every class? Is that even allowed?” Gwen asked, incredulous. "Why?" No wonder the girl kept winning most points. If that was what it took, Gwen wouldn’t do it in a million years. She couldn’t help snorting when Aine admitted Cameron wasn’t her type. She had mostly said it to embarrass them both, but it seemed like Aine had decided to just embarrass Cameron. Gwen glanced at him, grinning slightly. “Aw, hear that Cameron? Too bad, not even nerds with no time want to date you.” He seemed to be pretty bothered.

Unfortunately, it seemed to her that Aine probably wasn’t cheating. At least, she had no real proof of it. If the girl had wanted to cheat she would have saved the potion instead of drinking it, though Gwen still intended to tell a teacher, just in case. They should at least keep a close eye on her during exam time. “What was the point of this?” She asked the Hufflepuff, before sighing. “I guess I should get you to the hospital wing in case you messed up the potion and poisoned yourself.” She added begrudgingly.

 

[Aine Thompson]

"Allowed, but not exactly encouraged. I was going to quit, but Monday kept doing it and for some reason I wanted to compete. Horrible idea." It wasn't as though either of them needed to know that, but Aine was more justifying it to herself. Putting it into words, so she'd be committed to resolving the issue and seeing Professor Carter about what subjects she should take and what she could get away with dropping. Even though she'd probably never run across Gwen again for the year and Cameron would likely avoid her, it felt like they could hold her accountable.

Aine winced, feeling rather terrible about having said the comment about Cameron for some reason. It wasn't exactly a lie - if she was going to date someone, she wanted to date someone who made her feel good about herself and Cameron was dedicated to making her feel miserable, but if she was going to apply more logic to it she liked that he challenged her and gave her stupid, pointless reasons to argue, although even with the clear-mindedness she couldn't really understand why. The colour drained from her face at that realization, but thankfully her mind was too clear to actually say that bit out loud. "That was harsher than I meant," she said, diplomatically. "It was just that I wouldn't want to date someone who doesn't like me. Which I assume is normal." Aine pulled herself to her feet, heading over to the cauldron to dispose of the remnants of potion and clean up.

"No need. I can take myself to the hospital wing. You're in Slytherin, so you have no obligation to my wellbeing," Aine added, dealing with the cauldron in the sink then finishing it off with a scourgify spell, turning around to face the two Slytherins, trying to look confident though the beads of sweat pooling on her forehead probably weren't helping. "I am sorry to have wasted your time, though I certainly hope this has provided some oddly perverse entertainment. I am nothing if not melodramatic." She took a deep breath, swallowing down the bile (possibly hers, possibly from an armadillo) that threatened to spill forth - it wasn't as though she needed to throw up in front of Cameron again. Maybe she could just hide in the dorms until exam time. That sounded like a good idea.