Preparing For The Year Ahead

[Mania Athanasiou]

Set in the break between Y48 and Y49.

Mania had done pretty terribly in most subjects during her first year. In her defense it was a lot of sitting and note taking which lets be honest wasn't Nia's strong suit. She'd wanted to try do better in her second year and for this reason she'd contacted a tutor she'd heard about from another student. Mr. Pendleton. The Gryffindor was anxiously kicking her feet back and forth in her seat, she'd never had anyone teach her at home except her mum who well hadn't been the kindest of teachers, especially not to Nia who had struggled focusing even back then when she was being home schooled. Looking at the man and then towards her mother, looming in the door frame watching as Mania was getting ready for whatever this studying with a tutor session might look like. Her mama had already chastised her in front of the man and she was half scared he'd decide not to help her based on that. Her mum had even told him that she could be a handful and difficult to teach, not that she'd ever tried to play into her strengths.

"Do you like tea sir?" She blurted out before pursing her lips closed, but eventually failing at keeping it shut. "Honestly I always liked making tea so I thought potions would be fun because it'd be similar. Just brewing things but turns out the first year is full of taking notes, sitting around and listening and I couldn't really focus. Also because everything was just so new and different and exciting. It's not that I'm being difficult on purpose sir, I just had a hard time focusing at school. The older students said we'd be able to brew potions ourselves in our second year? I'm sort of looking forward to that and I wanted to like revise before going back, because admittedly not much of the information from last year stuck." The word vomit was inevitable in her case. Nia didn't even get a breath in during the whole rant, but she couldn't help it. She had kept these thoughts to herself, not daring to argue back to her mama who suggested she'd done poorly on purpose, she hadn't, she just didn't know how to stay focused in a classroom setting. Glancing nervously to her mum's direction she noticed the woman gone, immediately relaxing a little further in her seat when there was no judge around.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Did Monty like tea? He laughed. It was the accent, wasn't it? He had been putting it on a bit - he wasn't anywhere near as posh as he pretended to be - but still, you couldn't go around asking people if they liked tea just because they were British. At least she hadn't mentioned crumpets. If Monty had a galleon for every time he'd been asked if he liked tea and crumpets, he'd never have to tutor another day in his life...

... And he still would, because he loved it. Children like Nia weren't uncommon: eager, intelligent, but easily distracted. Monty's job wasn't just to teach them the difference between wormwood and lovage. It was to help them find ways to concentrate - to show them that there were other ways to learn besides reading from a book or listening to a lecture. Every student had their strengths. Nia's tangents, while often rather hard to follow, were helping him narrow hers down. "Ah," he said seriously, or at least with the illusion of seriousness. "Well, we can certainly do that. But first, I think we ought to address the very important question you asked a moment ago. Yes, I do like tea. Although I daresay potion-brewing is a tad more involved. Have you ever made soup?"​

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

The first thing she noticed was that Mr. Pendleton hadn't gotten up and left the room after her word vomit. No he was still sat precisely where he had been when she started and furthermore he was answering her question and actually considering what she had just told him. Mania grinned, very wide knowing her mum wasn't there to tell her to tone it down, and leaned forward. "Yeah you are probably right, I mean you do have to focus on potion brewing a bit more than just making tea? Normal tea won't actually blow up on your face just because you added too much of chamomile in." She said with a giggle, not that she'd ever made anything that had blown up in her face.........yet.....

"No I have never made soup, mama would have an aneurysm if she saw me anywhere near a stove nor even a pot. Though I did make like potions outside in a little bucket with water from the sea and flowers?" Honestly maybe her mum was thanking her lucky stars she'd never have to witness Nia making a potion. She'd once dared to go and use her mum's cauldron and wasted her ingredients, all three leaves of nettle, before she'd bee caught. It was not a fun summer after. "What is your favourite tea then?" Perhaps she'd get him a little gift for next time to show her appreciation.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

There probably was a magical tea out there that could blow up in your face if you brewed it the wrong way, but Monty had been fortunate enough to never encounter it. He offered Nia his best sympathetic smile. Twelve was quite old enough to use a stove, he thought. She'd have to learn eventually. Then again, if her attention span in the kitchen was as poor as in the classroom, perhaps her mum had made a good call.

"Well," he said, adjusting his glasses, "all the best potioneers started out with a bucket of water and some flowers. I would know." He grinned, then leafed through some of the worksheets he'd brought with him. There were a few they might go over today, but he had a feeling they wouldn't help much by themselves. They were going to have to make things a little more practical. Alas, he hadn't brought any of his ingredients today - after the chat he'd had with her mother, he'd thought it prudent to meet Nia first - but next time, he would be quite content to brew with her. She wasn't destructive at all. Distractible, yes, but that was why he supervised very closely.

His favourite tea. "English Breakfast," he said. "No. Well, yes - I'm partial to a fruit blend. Cranberry and apple. That sort of thing." Anyway - they had better get on with a bit of work. "Right. Let's see. Did you study last year, by any chance, some common ingredients? Wormwood? Asphodel? A-ha!" He found the sheet he was looking for and set it in front of her. It was a rather pretty diagram of the seven plants she might've covered last term. "Sorry about the stain. It's tea, funnily enough. Any of those look familiar?" Monty went back to leafing through his sheets, not because he was looking for something else, but to take the pressure off a bit.​