Second Years, Lesson Four

Gabrielle shook her head looking over the semester plan for her second years. It seemed like all the other years got to go on excursions out of the castle, except for the second years. She gave the students a sympathetic smile as they entered. "Morning, everyone. Another lecture today, I'm sorry, but this is the last big one you'll have for the semester." Gabrielle at least hoped that helped them feel a little better about it. "We're talking about the historical study of alchemy today." She had her water in hand, cleared her throat, and looked over the students to see if they were ready to take notes before getting started.

"So when you cross chemistry and magic, what do you get? Alchemy." And Potions, kind of, but that was besides the point. "It's the study of the mix of chemicals and minerals with magic. Alchemists, you might remember from looking up information on Paracelsus, hint hint, were trying to do things such as turn lesser metals into gold. They wanted to cure every disease, they wanted immortality. In short, they were...let's just say ambitious and leave it at that." Gabrielle raised an eyebrow, before continuing. "It is believed that it was founded and first studied by the Arabs - so, in and around the south-west Asian northern African region, think Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine - although it was refined and studied all around the world."

"In the late 1500s, the world's leading alchemists were hired to work in Prague, the capital of what we now know as Czechia, or the Czech Republic. This lead to Prague being known as 'The Metropolis of Alchemy'. But of course, greed and ambition are a dangerous combination. A British alchemist, Edward Kelley, was unable to create gold and was thrown into the dungeons by the emperor. Even Queen Elizabeth the First wasn't able to free him through diplomacy. Poor old Edward died trying to escape."

Gabrielle cleared her throat, pausing to take a drink and give the students a chance to catch up, before continuing. "Of course, there were many frauds about, as you might expect. A man arrived in Prague claiming he would multiply the gold of the wealthiest men around, who, naturally, were greedy enough to say yes. So this man created a mixture that merely turned out to be a stinkbomb, and when everyone was distracted, ran off with all the gold." Gabrielle smirked. "You have to admire the guts, if not the actions. But also, I'm contractually obligated to advise you not to try such a thing on any of your professors," she added, joking. She certainly hoped they wouldn't try anything, not that being a professor meant she had a surplus of money from which to steal. Better luck with some of the others, by the looks of it.

"On a different alchemical note now, who here has heard of the Philosopher's Stone?" Some students raised their hands, though she wasn't surprised not that many of them had. It was distant history now and many of the students may not have had a magical upbringing. "The Philosopher's Stone was the Holy Grail of alchemy - you may remember that term from learning about Merlin and King Arthur. It was believed to be able to create gold from base substances, and had the capacity for rejuvenating life, allowing one to live on as long as they pleased." Gabrielle shook her head. "Naturally, people lost their lives searching for such a miraculous object. And if they didn't lose their lives from that, the fact that their means of creating gold was through using sulphur and mercury - as sulphur was a very yellow substance, or so the logic goes - probably meant that they'd be in some sort of danger of getting sick from chemical exposure." Gabrielle was no scientist, she was a quintessential liberal arts student, but she knew of the consequences of prolonged experience to mercury. Not to mention the smell of the sulphur. Though she had heard whisperings about it perhaps being a compound of ambergris...not that she was going to get into that right now.

"Alright, that's enough from me for today. Thanks for being patient. Homework," she paused as a couple of students groaned, and she shook her head with a smirk. "Homework is to look up Nicolas Flamel in the library and write a short essay on him, please." Gabrielle waved her wand to open the doors, letting the students go free.

Homework
RP the lesson. Extra credit if you write a short essay (1-2 paragraphs is fine) on Nicolas Flamel. Would prefer the real one, but if you write about the fictionalized version from the books I'll allow as long as it makes sense! As always, please cite your sources!

 

[Jonah Edogawa]

Jonah slumped in his chair, chin resting on his hand. It was a relief that Jonah hadn't encountered the noisy ghost again today or he would have been late. Again. It messes up his schedule and his plans for the day. He listened as the professor started to discuss... huh... alchemy. He didn't know much about Chemistry though. Was that a muggle thing? Mixing muggle science and magic. Such an odd thing to do he thought, but also something his dad would probably be interested in. The scam artist story made him perk up at least, lips twitching faintly at the thought. The Philosopher's Stone however, that he was vaguely familiar with. Immortality. Turning lead into gold. He wondered where one would be able to find one. He held back a groan at the mention of another homework as he wondered if Sayuri would be willing to help him search this time.​

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice sat in the middle of the classroom, arms crossed and chin resting on her hand as the professor spoke. History wasn't really a class that interested Eury much, not that the professor was helping in any way to make it less boring. Still, she tried to keep her attention fixed on the professor, on occassion taking notes, her quill scratching against the parchment as she jotted down notes. The Philosopher's Stone was perhaps the most interesting bit that had been discussed today. Alchemy. Longevity. Immortality. She wondered how true it actually was since everyone knew that some parts of History held a bit of exaggeration. Victors being the one to write it and all that. She wrote down the name Nicolas Flamel as part of the homework, wondering if Tizi-nii would be able to help in making the research go faster being the librarian and all.​

 

[Winnie Calida]

Winnie walked into the history of magic classroom and took her usual spot in the room. She glanced at the professor as she took out her books and notes and placed them down in front of her. She glanced up at the woman as she got started, and could admit of all subjects they’d covered so far, alchemy was one she was definitely interested in. Winnie took her quill and began writing down what the professor was telling them about it, about where it was from, the figures in it, ending the lecture with a focus on the philosopher’s stone. She had to admit that was a pretty cool thing. The lecture was drawn to a close and then she headed out of the room and right to the library to get started in learning about nicolas flamel.

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie never minded a History lecture. It was an opportunity to flex her note-taking muscles, and to the Hufflepuff, that was almost a game. How quickly could she get the gist of it down? She’d even learned a bit of shorthand, although mostly she filled in the gaps with little doodles that would jog her memory later. It helped, because her handwriting was barely legible anyway. The stinkbomb story gave her a great idea for a prank she could play on her brothers, so she wrote that down as well, lest she forget come the holidays. Finally, she took some notes about the philosopher’s stone and circled the name ‘Nicholas Flamel’ for some further research in the library.

 

[Sayuri Edogawa]

Sayuri didn't mind long lectures, sometimes she found the monotony of it relaxing. She knew her brother and cousin weren't up for it much but she was surprised by how... well... awake... Jonah still was as the lesson went on. She took notes efficiently, short-handing some of the sections. Sometimes, she wished could switch between hearing English and writing in Japanese fluidly. Unfortunately, she doesn't even think her kanji is up to par. She'd have to ask her parents about it sooner or later. At least the topic was mildly interesting. Alchemy. She wondered why they didn't teach the class here. It would have been interesting to learn. She had to sigh though at the mention of homework. Nicolas Flamel. Sayuri tapped her quill against the parchment as she repeated the name in her head. He was a well-known name in Alchemy but that's about all she knew. A trip to the Library would be in order and if she was lucky it would not be Tiziano manning the place. She was sure she wouldn't be but a girl could dream.​

 

[Nox Walden-Cade]

Nox slipped into the History of magic classroom and slumped into his seat, twirling his quill between his fingers as he prepared to take notes. Alchemy seemed to be the subject today and so he made notes as he went, making sure he didn’t miss anything. Immortality was the thing alchemists seemed to keep chasing, but as far as Nox understood, only one person had ever really succeeded and he was dead now anyway. Would the stone even exist anymore? It was probably destroyed after the whole Harry Potter thing. He made a note about the homework and then quickly headed out of class.

 

[Kanako Kurosawa]

Kanako really wasn't into this - lecture after lecture. It wasn't interesting, though Kanako couldn't help but have a begrudging admiration for the professor and that was the sole reason she didn't act out or anything. Well, that and it'd get back to Kyousuke, who'd tell on her to dad. Ugh, brothers. She barely paid attention to the lesson but did take a few notes down. She made a note of the homework on the off chance she'd actually do it, but that was up in the air.