Old School Week Quiet Consideration

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Kahurangi's life had felt empty for a long time. There was no secret in that, and it was an emptiness she had tried hard to fill with work and friends. Holding her newest nephew over the holidays had cemented her feelings though, and there was no denying it anymore. She wanted to be a mother, and that clock was ticking painfully fast. She had never felt old before she started thinking seriously about motherhood, but now... the thought that she might have lost her chance already made her heart ache. She had taken to going on walks around the castle to keep her mind off it, as the more time she spent alone in her office, the more depressed she grew about the whole thing. So she walked, keeping an eye on the students around the school, making sure all was well as she patrolled the halls.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot knew he should stop carrying around the stupid vial of Felix Felicis he'd gotten last semester, but he couldn't shake the paranoia that the second he didn't have it in his pocket, he would need it. But if he hadn't kept holding onto it, he wouldn't have managed to drop it heading upstairs and now wouldn't be desperately chasing it across the floor. It would be just his luck if someone stepped on it, and Elliot let out a string of curses before he was able to slide down on a knee and grasp it, letting go a sigh of relief before glancing up at whoever's feet he'd nearly thrown himself to. "Oh uh- Hi Professor," Elliot said with a weak smile.

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

As deep as she was in her thoughts, Kahurangi was well and truly distracted from her worries by a sudden flurry of language far more colourful than she was used to hearing in the halls of Hogwarts. She watched as Elliot made a frankly impressive dive for whatever he had been chasing, smiling slightly when he finally realised who he had nearly crashed into. "Mr. Briar, that's quite an impressive vocabulary you have." She teased, offering him a hand up. "But in future I reckon you should stick to more family friendly language in public. Prefects are supposed to be good examples, remember?"

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot felt his ears burning as Professor Josephs teased him about his language, accepting the hand up and immediately apologizing. "Right, of course, sorry Professor, won't happen again," He said in a rush, hoping she wouldn't say anything to Professor Carter. "Hope you're uh, having a good day," He said. With any luck they could both pretend he hadn't just done that.

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

It was hard not to laugh at Elliott's clear fear, but Kahurangi kept her face composed. "I am, thank you." She said with a small grin. "What was causing you so much grief that you dipped into such creative language?" She asked, unable to totally keep the amusement out of her voice.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot knew Professor Josephs was teasing him, but he still couldn't help feel embarrassed about the whole thing. It didn't help that he really liked Professor Josephs, the last thing he wanted was her to think he did this sort of thing regularly. "Oh it's um. A vial of Felix Felicis. I keep waiting for the perfect time to use it but I just- I don't know if it's coming," He said with a defeated shrug. "Would almost be a relief if I did drop it, maybe."

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Kahurangi nodded as Elliot explained his situation. "Ah, that's a tricky one." She nodded sympathetically. "If you want my advice though, just give it a go. If you wait for a day that feels special enough, you'll be waiting forever. But the luck it gives you could make any ordinary day into a special one, so don't worry about waiting for the right moment."

 

[Beckett Harrington]

Beckett was passing through the Entrance Hall, he was not usually the one to eavesdrop but this time he felt compelled to intervene "I'm sorry to interrupt Professor Josephs but did I just heard someone mention Felix Felicis?" he said trying to keep his enthusiasm controlled but failing miserably "Do you have one? Do we get to brew one?" he said give the other boy a look.

 

[Elliot Briar]

As embarrassed as Elliot was about his encounter with Professor Josephs, he did genuinely appreciate her advice, nodding slowly. "Is it bad that the idea of that still stresses me out?" He asked sheepishly, looking over when another student joined them, clearly excited about the mention of Felix Felicis. "Uh yeah, you'll learn about it if you stick with upper year potions," He said, showing the younger boy the vial he had.

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Kahurangi smiled as a younger boy approached them, giving him a kindly nod. She addressed Elliot's question first though, chuckling softly. "I think it's a good thing, actually. Means you take the responsibility seriously." She said gently, before addressing the younger boy. "Felix Felicis is a very powerful potion, and from my memory, quite difficult to brew. You'll need to keep working hard in Professor Mowry's class to get your chance." Truth be told, Kahurangi had never been the strongest potioneer herself, but she was fairly sure about that part.

 

[Beckett Harrington]

If Beckett didn't knew what classes to choose he knew now. Being able to know how to brew that potion would basically give him everything he ever wanted. He knew it wouldn't be that easy or else every student would be drinking Felix Felicis. "How come have you not drank it yet? I would drink it and do all my homeworks after. Straight Os guaranteed." he said smiling, even though it looked like a joke it wasn't.
He looked at Professor Josephs and chuckled "Hum...isn't hard work what Ravenclaw is all about? Ravenclaw has the smartest people and you can't be smart without hard work, at least that's what my parents told me and they were also Ravenclaws" he finished saying with a shrug.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot ducked his head at Professor Josephs' response, nodding gratefully. He wasn't sure he totally believed her, but it was nice to hear either way. "I hope so, Professor," He said sheepishly. He felt a bit more embarrassed by the young Ravenclaw's question, scratching his cheek. "Uh, I wasn't sure if I'd need it for something else. Non-homework related," He said, waving a hand vaguely, deciding to leave the assessment on Ravenclaw to Professor Josephs.

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Kahurangi chuckled softly at the younger boy's suggestion for how to use the potion. "Well, it wouldn't be very wise to use it all up on one batch of homework, as far as I see it. What happens when your professor expects another exceptional O-worthy essay next week and you're all out of potion? Consistency is far more important when it comes to schoolwork." She said with a small smile, a little surprised by the younger boy's expounding on the nature of Ravenclaws. "Well, that can certainly be the case, but no amount of hard work can make a person wise, that comes from inner thought." She said calmly. "And sometimes part of being clever is figuring out ways to do things without working as hard as you might have needed to otherwise. It's all a balance." Kahurangi could feel a little bit of her own Slytherin biases sneaking into her answer, but she tried to stay as on topic as she could. "Intelligence and wisdom aren't the same things, and they can take different forms for different people and different circumstances."

 

[Beckett Harrington]

The young Ravenclaw shrugged "Well, I honestly don't think there will be a perfect moment and even if there was you don't know when that moment will be, it might take years from now to find that moment. So my suggestion was using it on trivial things, like homework, and if you needed more you could just brew some more. Right?" he said a bit uncertain, he didn't knew if it was a simple as that but if the other boy had the skills to brew it then why not brew more if he actually needed it?
He turned to his Head of House with a confused look "So you are saying that wisdom and intelligence are two different things?" he said not sure if he got it right "and that we should be both?" he added scratching the back of his head.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot scratched as his cheek as the younger boy touched on the exact issue he was struggling with. Who knew when the right moment would be to use the potion. He'd appreciated Professor Joseph's advice, but Elliot knew it might take him awhile to actually take it. "Well uh, it's not the easiest potion to brew. I only have some because Professor Warrick gave us some," He admitted sheepishly. The discussion about cleverness and wisdom was interesting, cementing in Elliot's head just how much he appreciated Professor Joseph's input, but Elliot didn't think it was a conversation he could chime in on.

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Kahurangi listened to the younger boy's advice, smiling slightly, and nodded in agreement when Elliot spoke. "Felix Felicis is quite difficult to brew properly. But I do stand by my earlier advice, use it to make an ordinary day special. If you hang around waiting for a special day, you might be waiting forever." She smiled slightly when the young Ravenclaw asked about wisdom and intelligence, nodding slowly. "Exactly. You could read all the books in the world and never gain any wisdom, and someone who's never read a book in their life might have far more wisdom than you expect. It's important to cultivate both wisdom and intelligence to make yourself a well-rounded person."

 

[Beckett Harrington]

Beckett lit up as soon as he heard both the boy and the head of house saying it was a hard potion to brew. Perfect!, he thought to himself, finally something that would be a challenge for him "In that case I'm going to start studying the potion and its brewing techniques right now!" he said excitedly.
Before leaving he gave a questioning look to Professor Josephs "And how do we obtain wisdom if not by books? There wasn't a problem that either books or the library were ever unable to solve" he said to her.