#`hw

Potions had never really been his strong point. He’d always been better at Transfiguration and Herbology, both due to personal interest, but Potions had always bored him beyond belief. This particular assignment was even worse. Not only was it an advanced potion that he had very little idea how to brew, but his partner was a Slytherin he’d never met before. She looked intimidating and it rather made him want to hide. He took a deep breath before he scampered over to her, plastering a smile on his face. “Ari? I’m Jeongguk! I’m not very good at Potions, so please excuse me — and, um, I’m not trying to weasel out of doing work, I swear, I’m not, I just don’t want to drag you down —” He pressed a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening. “I’m sorry. I ramble when I’m nervous.” He chuckled sheepishly, hiding his face a little.

Lovely.

Just what he needed, to make even more of a fool of himself in front of a seventh year.

A seventh year! Why had he, a fifth year, been placed with a seventh year?

He wasn’t good enough at Potions to even think about competing with a seventh year — screw this, he would just take the parts that he couldn’t really mess up.

With that, he chirped, “I’ll go get the ingredients!” with a smile on his face, darting off to weave through everyone and line up in front of the cupboards for everything they would need. He came back with his arms full and a worried expression on his face, standing there and waiting for her to carefully remove everything from his arms.

Potion-making was a delicate process, after all, and he hated that he was with someone who really just made him nervous.

“Two flasks of Pomegranate Juice. Alihotsy Leaves, Asphodel Roots, and Daisy Roots. Lionfish spine… I didn’t miss anything, did I?” He reviewed quickly, biting down on his lower lip. The first thing they needed to do was to pour one flask of Pomegranate Juice into the first cauldron — aw, they needed two cauldrons. That only made things more difficult and he quickly separated the ingredients into “first cauldron” and “second cauldron.”

“It… It’s okay with you if I just take the easier parts, right?” He looked worried, he didn’t want her thinking that he didn’t want to do actual work, but he was legitimately concerned about not being able to fulfill the difficulty requirement needed for this particular potion. Carefully, he tipped the first flask of Pomegranate Juice into their first cauldron, making sure the fire wasn’t too hot — medium heat, not high, not low, he reminded himself quietly, glancing over at the Slytherin who was chopping up their leaves and roots. He felt bad — he wanted to help more, but if their roots were different sizes, surely that would have a negative impact on their potion, right?