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Miranda and Sadde were both promising enough in Potions last year that Slughorn has consented to run a junior alchemy tutorial for them, once weekly, on top of their other course load. He informs Sadde that if Sadde's other grades are as uninspiring as they were last year, the alchemy tutorial will be the first thing to give to allow him more time to complete other work; but since Slughorn thinks this is a failure of motivation and not competence they can try with the Alchemy section anyway. (Miranda's coursework is impeccable.) One other second-year from Hufflepuff and two third years also fold into the class to make it somewhat more worth Slughorn's time. They are supposed to read four chapters of a book called Ye Alchymeste's Waye before their first class on Friday evening and the entire book is written like that, but then on Friday they are going to - without any direct wandwork - turn a whole oyster into a pearl, so.
This year also sees the two of them invited to something called the "Slug Club".
chanuphis
always_and_forever
Grumble grumble fine he promises he'll study more this year.
As for the "Slug Club"—what.
As for the "Slug Club"—what.
chanuphis
According to the letter, it's a selective dinner party.
Karen and Willow don't have invites.
Karen and Willow don't have invites.
msmaxwell
Willow is not bummed out by this. At all. Nope. She is very glad her friends get to go and be special and have fun with all the other special kids. Really.
planetarium
"My mum used to go to the Slug Club when she was in school and she says it's not that interesting, literally just dinner with different food."
msmaxwell
Willow is not sulking. She really isn't! She's just really busy with whatever-it-is she's doing right now. Very focused. Yes.
chanuphis
"I'm gonna guess Slughorn thinks he can predict who's going to be important for some value of important after school and he wants to ingratiate us? I'm not sure why he thinks he can predict that."
msmaxwell
"Surely he knows you two are going to take over the world, it's gotta be obvious by now."
always_and_forever
"I'm... pretty sure Miranda and I are not the first twelve-year-olds to say they're going to take over the world."
chanuphis
"It's more likely the interest in alchemy that caught his attention."
always_and_forever
"And here I was thinking it was my looks and your charming personality."
msmaxwell
"Don't worry about it."
She doesn't need help doing it she'll get in all on her own and no one can stop her they'll see, they'll all see!
She doesn't need help doing it she'll get in all on her own and no one can stop her they'll see, they'll all see!
always_and_forever
Okay now what exactly are they supposed to do with the oysters and other materials?
chanuphis
They're supposed to guess based on the principles in their reading and then Slughorn will correct them from there. You can't learn alchemy recipes by rote.
Miranda starts writing.
Miranda starts writing.
always_and_forever
...well that sounds like fun. He cracks his knuckles and gets to it.
So, they're supposed to turn an oyster into a pearl. There are several possible layers of metaphor he can work with here: creature to non-creature, rough to polished, manufacturer to manufactured... hmm.
No, that's too broad. Something more specific to the matter at hand. Pearls—he has read up on those—are generated when a minuscule irritant finds itself trapped within the oyster's folds. They create a "pearl sac" around the irritant and start depositing certain chemical compounds inside it in an immune response.
From that stuff like irritation, threat, immunity, trap, chemical compounds...
What materials does he have to work with?
So, they're supposed to turn an oyster into a pearl. There are several possible layers of metaphor he can work with here: creature to non-creature, rough to polished, manufacturer to manufactured... hmm.
No, that's too broad. Something more specific to the matter at hand. Pearls—he has read up on those—are generated when a minuscule irritant finds itself trapped within the oyster's folds. They create a "pearl sac" around the irritant and start depositing certain chemical compounds inside it in an immune response.
From that stuff like irritation, threat, immunity, trap, chemical compounds...
What materials does he have to work with?