"—oh, yeah, I guess those would be handy."

"Were you thinking of something else?"

He gets to the end of his recipe, which is basically glorified body wash that is extra good at its job for the mana he put into it. The whole cauldron's batch is meant to last a while, if you ration it well and don't use too much of it. And there are still ten minutes before the first period's bell but if he looks away from his desk and makes sure to not pay attention to it the school might give him the options for the second period's assignment before that.

"Yes but never mind that," he says, half-smiling. "The girls get their period potions as mandatory assignments here, too. I wonder if there are contraceptive ones? I heard that contraceptive spells don't work great, but don't know about potions."

Fenris still is labelling his work, but it's possible he is going for extra-credit? Or doing it semi-automatically. It certainly requires a level of practice, given the look Scorpius is getting from him.

"They don't. Even if you don't account for how most parents aren't comfortable with the topic in general, I don't think it's part of a misinformation campaign. Mom didn't expect to get pregnant both times she did." Pause. "Your family didn't educate you on that?"

"My mother told me in no uncertain terms I was 'not to give her any untimely heirs' in here," he says, with air quotes, "and then said that if I must be the degenerate that I am even in here I should stick to boys only." He sounds like he takes some glee in being called a degenerate. "Given all of the above, you will excuse me if I don't extend Magistra Rhys the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what she has or hasn't told me about how good contraceptive magic is."

"Oh."

Well, he already suspected that Magistra Rhys was not the best example of parenting. Add that to the pile of evidence.

"I see. That is a reasonable suspicion given the circumstances." Pause thinking about whether he should mention that his maternal grandfather did give similar advice, but better framed - to think they reacted badly to that. "I was more concerned that your upbringing was less cosmopolitan than being from New York implies. I am sorry about your mom. But contraceptive magic really is considered impossible to make reliable. Supposedly, it's one of the few things where adding mana causes efficiency to go down. That part I am less sure of my source, but condoms made with magic are allegedly less reliable."

"I got the standard spiel about how the magic gets your intent all mixed up, doing a baby-making activity while terrified that you'll make a baby will not be good for a spell to stop babies from happening, but when I asked people about whether alchemy was better for that—since it is easier to not be terrified of making babies while making potions—there was a lot of hand-wringing and looking at Magistra Rhys and Magistra Rhys looking at me the way she looks sometimes when I get away with something I shouldn't and then she said it was a terrible idea and I should keep my dick in my pants."

"That is good to be aware of."

"I'll still, you know, avoid it, there are boys around and also the kinds of sex that make babies are just a tiny fraction of the kinds of sex you can have with girls anyway, but you see why I do not fully trust Magistra Rhys's advice on the matter." Oh there he did get distracted enough that his second period's assignment options are on his desk now. He starts looking through them absently; the bell for second period hasn't sounded, yet. "She does want more heirs eventually, though. I am sure I would have led a whole litter of little Lakes if my father hadn't died when I was like three months old."

"I am sorry about your father. In Sex Ed I got told it is extremely easy to get carried away during any kind of pleasurable activity, which is dangerous because mals love distracted targets. And also it's easy to do the fraction of sex you shouldn't." He shrugs. "Your mother's advice is definitely laced with her own intentions, so I understand the suspicion."

He has since finished his labelling and is waiting for the second period.

"In my experience it's just really not that hard to stick only to the sex I want to be having, people keep talking about getting carried away but I think they're just making that up."

Fenris gives a meaningful shrug. "I don't expect it to be that hard either? But teen pregnancies are a thing that happens to mundanes."

"I'm sure they'd happen a lot more often to us in here too if we weren't afraid for our lives all the time. Being constantly malnourished can't help either."

Ah there's the bell, Scorpius starts actually properly looking through the descriptions of his assignments now.

"True."

Fenris looks over to find his previous assignment gone and his new options waiting for him. He doesn't take long picking one. Liquids go into beakers and the bunsen burner is lit.

"Now on the other hand," he continues, picking his own assignment and starting on his own work, "the downside of boys is that we need extra lubrication and hygiene, which is closer to what I meant when I was wondering about some other types of general-purpose potions."

"Aha. My parents are pretty liberal, but not that liberal. But it sounds like a solvable problem."

"It's a problem that has been solved by mundanes but here and now hygiene is unfortunately at a premium when everyone is afraid to tempt fate by going to the bathrooms too often and getting eaten by a swarm of amphisbaena. Maybe spells are better. I wonder if I can ask the Void for something or if the school is going to be puritanical at me, too."

"Worth trying, just be very specific about all the failure modes you want to avoid. Or you could trade with upperclassmen."

"True! Maybe Trevor and I could go hunting for other likeminded people." Sluts. Scorpius means sluts.

"Don't get my brother into danger. I am sure there are like-minded people around, but not everyone is from accepting backgrounds. And some people will want discretion."

"Yes, sir, I'll take good care of him."

"Great. You're a great conversationalist, but I didn't forget everything we talked about, I am just waiting for," he checks the note, "our fifteenth conversation."

Scorpius snorts. "This whole thing only counts as one."

"Of course."

The rest of their double lab is spent in much the same spirits, and once they're done with their respective assignments they have enough time to take them to their dorms before going to the cafeteria for lunch. Since this is true of pretty much everyone in the room, though, they can move in staggered groups away—they don't want a repeat of this morning.