Chapter 27: Classes begin

Monday, June 25, 1976

Severus got up early (6:00 am) and left his dorm room to do morning exercise as he always used to do since the merging of their souls.

He had decided to do an hour workout regimen every morning to improve his lean and tall physique.

Breakfast was in the main SCoP room at 8:00 am, so he had plenty of time.

Upon returning to his dorm at 7:15 am, Severus noticed that his roommates were still asleep.

He decided to shower and then get ready to go to breakfast.

When it became 7:30, Ethan and Sasaki were already up.

"Good morning, I trust you slept well" Severus greeted both of them as he finished changing into his black robes.

"One day" Sasaki greeted dryly.

"Hello, looks like you at least have some manners to greet properly" Ethan scoffed because yesterday they had both ignored him.

"Yeah sure, whatever you say, I'm going to head to the main hall for breakfast, see you later," Severus said goodbye quickly so he wouldn't have to start an unnecessary argument with Ethan, every time Severus saw or heard him he felt that he was a lot like Potter and Sirius.

"Tch, maybe I should ask for a dorm change" Ethan complained as he watched Severus leave without even following the conversation and Sasaki being in his own world, ignoring the others.

Even though all students in the SCoP summer program are considered Salem students, they are not yet officially part of the institution, so Severus and the others don't have to wear the institute's regulation dress so they can wear their own robes.

Upon entering the main hall where breakfast would be spread out, Severus noticed that unlike Hogwarts which has only four tables, one for each house, at SCoP there were several tables spread throughout the room and one could sit wherever they wanted as long as there was room at the table.

Severus wasted no time and sat down to read at an empty table waiting for breakfast, luckily there weren't many students yet because it was so early so he could choose where he wanted to sit.

By 7:45 the room was already starting to fill up with people.

"Severus!" a young witch was heard to say.

Severus who was concentrating on reading a book suddenly heard a female voice so familiar call his name and immediately looked up only to see Freyja who was the one who had called his name.

"Good morning Freyja, it's good to see you, I haven't seen you since we parted on the ship" Severus greeted.

"Yes, well..., I looked for you but you were gone and then I fell asleep for the rest of the trip," Freyja said shyly and embarrassed, but happy to see Severus again.

As Severus was about to answer her, another young woman spoke first.

"Oh, you two know each other already?" asked a young witch standing behind Freyja.

Severus looked at the young woman who suddenly spoke and was surprised to discover that it was Gwen Stacy, the dean's daughter.

"That's right Gwen, Severus and I met at the port, he's the friend I told you about who explained a lot of things to me on the trip to the institute" Freyja answered him a little embarrassed to have called him a friend, she really hoped they were.

"Severus this is Gwen, my new roommate, and friend" Freyja happily introduced.

"It seems that we didn't find Prince again, first with my mother and now with our new mutual friend, it seems that destiny is wanting to tell us something, don't you think so?" said Gwen amused.

"Yes, it seems that way, miss Stacy, although I'm not good at interpreting or guessing, maybe you'd like to tell me what you think about it," answered Severus playing along.

"Mmmm too bad, I'm not good at those things either, that's why I was hoping you would tell me" replied Gwen feigning frustration while smiling slightly.

"Uh, this... Severus, Gwen do you two know each other?" asked Freya confused by the turn of things, but happy to hear that the two of them also consider her a friend.

"Well, yes, Miss Stacy is an exemplary student of this institute and you could say that yesterday she offered to give me a tour of the institute's facilities" Severus answered her.

"Of course, as he said, we met yesterday, and to clarify, I didn't have much choice at the time but to agree to give you that tour. By the way, I didn't expect him to be that friend you told me about Freyja" Gwen said smiling as she looked at him.

"That means we are now officially a group of friends" Freyja commented extremely happy as she looked at both of them and waited for their responses.

Severus and Gwen were a little surprised by what she said.

They never mentioned that they were friends, they had barely spoken a little yesterday, you could say they were good acquaintances, but nothing more.

Whereas Freyja was the exception because they both felt that she was too pure and good to deny them their friendship, they had both accepted her as a friend even though they had only known her for a day.

"Ah of course we are Freyja, we are a group of friends now" Gwen quickly replied to keep Freyja from getting depressed.

She noticed right away that Freyja was very excited about having a group of friends and Gwen already knew that Freyja didn't understand much about friendships and only seemed to know what she read or was told.

Severus noticed this too but was slower to react so Gwen gave him sly nudges so he would hurry to answer in the affirmative.

"This... cough, yes, yes, yes, sure Freyja, a good group of friends " Severus finally replied making the smile on Freyja's face grow bigger than it already was.

"Great, it's my first group of friends!" Freyja told them cheerfully.

"But this... what do friend groups do?" asked Freyja a little lost on how the supposed group was supposed to continue.

"Well, friend groups tell each other things about their lives, support each other and do different activities together, like studying for example," Gwen said as she elbowed Severus again for confirmation of her words.

"Exactly, as Gwen says, it's supporting each other, so if you need anything Freyja don't hesitate to tell us" replied Severus.

Freyja nodded happily having understood that he was making a group of friends.

But the truth was that neither Severus nor Gwen had ever had a group of friends, so neither was speaking from personal experience.

Gwen didn't directly have friends, she maintained a good relationship with everyone else but nothing very close.

And Severus was friends with Lucius and Narcissa, but it wasn't a group or anything like that, they were more individual friendships like the one he had with Lily but less deep.

As for his group of fellow Slytherins he used to hang out with, they weren't friends, they just had ideas and interests in common and supported each other.

That could be said to be the closest thing to a group of friends.

And like Benedict, he used to be a nice guy who got along with everyone, but he didn't have very close friends.

"Now that we're friends, you can call me Gwen," Gwen commented to Severus.

"Very well Gwen, then..." began Severus.

"Oh no, no, Prince is fine with me, I like calling you that" Gwen interrupted him.

Severus looked at her for a few seconds feeling cheated by having him call her by her first name but her still calling him by his last name.

"I guess that's fine, whatever you like" Severus replied downplaying what they called each other.

'If I get into an argument over this I'd be no different than Hermione" Severus said to himself remembering how serious Hermione had been when it came to what to call each other.

Gwen nodded smiling as if things had gone her way.

"So Severus, do you mind if we sit with you for breakfast?" asked Freyja.

"Not at all, sit wherever you like, it's always good company" Severus replied kindly.

"Especially when we are two beautiful ladies no?" Gwen said jokingly.

"Of course, that scores points" Severus replied smiling not caring about the joke at all, after all, it had some truth to it.

They both blushed a little but said nothing more and took a seat.

Then they continued talking about random things for a while until finally, it was time for breakfast.

To Severus' surprise, breakfast was not appreciated at the table like at Hogwarts, instead, each witch and wizard had to stand up and go get what they wanted and then return to their seat.

After the three fetched their breakfast, they returned to their table and continued to chat as they ate.

Then a female voice was heard throughout the room which Severus could distinguish as Dean Stacy's.

"Good morning dear students, I hope you are enjoying your breakfast. I am passing by to let all those students in the SCoP summer program know that you will be able to find your class schedules at the entrance to the main hall. Greetings and have a great first day of school," commented the Dean's voice to everyone in the room.

After finishing their breakfast, Gwen, Freyja, and Severus left the room and looked at their class schedule.

Monday

-10:00 - 13:00 am: Types of Potions.

-15:30 - 18:30 pm: Recipes and Techniques of Shaking and Bottling.

Tuesday

-10:00 - 13:00 am: Study and Properties of Magical Ingredients.

-15:30 - 17:30 pm: Magical Chemistry.

-19:30 - 20:30 pm: History of Potions and Potioneers.

Wednesday

-10:00 - 13:00 am: Poisons and Antidotes.

-15:30 - 18:30 pm: Potions Preparation.

Thursday

-10:00 - 12:00 am: Magical Physics.

-15:00 - 17:00 pm: Magical Metaphysics.

-19:00 - 20:00 pm: History of Potions and Potioneers.

Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off Students may choose to stay at the school or take a boat to Boston's Magic Harbor. The ship sails from the institute to Boston Harbor on Friday at 9:00 am and returns to the institute on Sunday at 17:00 pm.

"It looks like today we have Potions Types first and later Recipes and Stirring and Bottling Techniques, pretty basic at first glance to start with I suppose" commented Severus.

"At first glance?" asked Freyja.

"Yes, I suppose they want the program to start with the basic subjects so as not to scare off the trainees with those more advanced ones, although they all have their own complexity and importance, these first two are more applied to what one has to know to start brewing a potion so it may seem somewhat simple at first glance, but it is most complex when looking to innovate a technique, recipe or potion. You could say it's the easiest step, but it ends up being the most difficult," Severus explained to an even more confused Freyja.

Freyja was a great potioneer, not leaving her house much, she enjoyed reading and making potions to pass the time, now she even makes her own potions to keep the change in her ears, but she lacks in what is specific subjects and studies in potions, so all these subjects are quite new to her.

"Don't listen to him Freyja, that's how all potions obsessed people tend to be" Gwen told her as she saw his confusion.

'Funny to think that when I asked my mother why the order of subjects, she told me exactly the same thing he did' Gwen thought smiling at how alike he and her mother were.

Freyja just nodded.

"Right, now that we are a group of friends it is Prince's responsibility as a potions lover to help us both in the program," Gwen said tentatively.

"Well, this... I don't want to take up Severus' time or bother him" said Freyja unable to fully agree with her friend Gwen.

"Oh but Prince is a potions genius from what I hear, I'm sure he would make a great teacher, how about practicing your teaching skills with us, it wouldn't be bad would it?" insisted Gwen making pleading eyes at him.

"I suppose we could do a study group, but for the record, you owe me one Gwen," said Severus making Gwen nod quickly while smiling triumphantly.

"This... and me Severus?" asked Freyja shyly, she wanted to be included.

"You don't owe me anything Freyja, I would have helped you anyway without you asking, but since Gwen specifically asked she owes me one," Severus said amused as he watched Gwen's smile slowly fall off.

"Hey, that's unfair" complained Gwen feigning anger.

"So you'd rather no study group then?" asked Severus raising an eyebrow.

"Alright, fine, I accept, cheapskate" agreed Gwen sticking her tongue out in mock anger.

After arranging the schedules of the study group the three of them were going to do together, they continued chatting until the start of the first class of the day.

Once they entered the classroom for Potions Types class, the three of them sat in rows in individual seats.

After a while, the class teacher entered.

"Good morning dear students, I am Professor Caroline Spilman, I will be teaching the subjects: Types of Potions, Poisons and Antidotes, and History Potions and Potioneers, today it is our turn to see Types of Potions, let's begin," said the teacher who appreciates being a witch of only 30 something years old, with brown hair and a calm and kind attitude at first sight.

The first class was just a general explanation of the subject and the basics of what he would be doing in the course of the program.

For Severus, it was nothing new, but for many others, it was, among them were Gwen, Freyja, and Ethan who were not entirely clear about everything She said they would be doing on the subject.

After the first class which ended at 13:00, they had lunch at 13:45, so they decided to go straight to the main hall to wait for lunchtime.

As with breakfast, for lunch the system was the same, everyone had to get up and get their food.

When they finished eating, they moved on to their next class.

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Katrina Scott and I am the teacher in charge of teaching you the subjects: Recipes and Techniques of Shaking and Bottling, Study and Properties of Magical Ingredients, and Preparation of Potions," said the teacher of about 40 years old, with dark hair, critical eyes and a green dress who spoke sitting at her desk and crossing her arms as she spoke to the students in the program.

"Pleas leave your wands put away you wont need them for today, In today's class you will learn the correct way to prepare potions following specific recipes and using different magical ingredients to create them," continued the professor, giving more than one to understand that, unlike Professor Spilman, she was much stricter when it came to teaching her classes.

Once the class was over, Gwen decided to give Freyja a tour of the institution, while Severus, who had already taken the tour, decided to stop by the Dean's office to finish yesterday's unfinished business.