Potions, Chan discovered rather quickly, was not his strong suit.  This of course didn’t make any sense to him.  How could he be bad at this when all he was doing was putting ingredients into a big pot and stirring?  All he had to do was follow the directions, which he swore he did.  But for some reason, it turned out to be a disaster every time.

Now here he was, the first weekend of his new life and he was sitting in the potions room with the professor for private lessons.  Mr. Lee was not only his professor, but also his House Advisor, which meant he saw the man more than he liked for not being on his best side.

“Alright, Chansung,” Professor Lee sighed heavily.  “Let’s try this again.  What is the most important ingredient in a Calming Draught?”

“Lavender,” Chan answered immediately, “combined with two or three amber flowers depending on the strength you need.”

“Very good,” Professor Lee nodded and leaned over the cauldron to inspect the work.  “Now gently cut the aqua root into how many pieces?”

“Three equal pieces,” Chan looked up at his teacher for reassurance.

“Correct, there you go.  Add them in and stir clockwise exactly ten times.”

Chansung did as instructed and on the tenth turn of his spatula, the potion turned, not light blue like it was supposed to, but a vibrant red.  Sliding down in his seat, he banged his head on the table in defeat.

To his surprise, Professor Lee was laughing in bewilderment.  “I have never seen anyone struggle with this quite like you have, Chansung.”

“But I was doing it right wasn’t I?” Chan whined.  “You watched me, I did it just like you said.”

“You did.  I wonder what you made…”

Taking a ladle, the professor pulled a scoop out and placed it in a vial.  He murmured a few words over it and the ingredients separated, showing everything Chan had put in the potion.  After careful inspection, everything looked correct, but once it was put back together, it turned bright red again.

Chan waited patiently as the professor made the potion himself using the same ingredients to see what the problem was.  However, his potion was the normal blue and Chan felt hopeless. 

“Well,” Professor Lee scratched his head.  “I have never encountered this before.  There is really only one way to test it though.  Chansung, in that cupboard on the third shelf is a little gold bottle.  Bring that here.”

Chansung found the bottle and carried it over.  There was a small label on it that read “Universal Antidote- test 109”. 

“Are you sure this is safe, Professor?” Chan asked a little nervously. 

“I assure you I have tried much worse.”

“Is this the 109^th antidote potion you have made?” Chan eyed the bottle warily.

“It is the 109^th successful antidote I have made.  There were a few that were…shall we say, more like your potion here.  Now, I will give you a continual thumbs up as long as everything is going well.  If, however, I begin getting ill, convulsing, foaming, fading, or growing other limbs, please immediately force me to drink the antidote.  Understand?”

Chan’s eyes were as wide and fearful as they would go.  “Perhaps you should do this in the hospital building, professor?”

“Nonsense.  This is fine.”  The man lifted the ladle to his lips and took a deep sip, his free hand in a thumbs up position.  Chan waited, frozen in place watching for any changes in his reckless teacher.  Each heartbeat passed slowly.

“Excuse me Professor Lee,” Professor Oh, the herbology teacher burst into the room.  “I was -what are you doing?”

Professor Lee held up a finger, telling her to wait.

“The professor is trying my potion because it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to,” Chan explained in a breathy whisper, his eyes never leaving his instructor and his hands turning numb from holding the antidote so tightly.

“ByungHyun, how many times are you going to put yourself through this?” Professor Oh exclaimed exaggeratedly, stomping forward.  “What potion is it?”

“A Calming Draught…I think,” Chan whimpered.

“Oh it is a Calming Draught alright,” Professor Lee grinned, and then began to go limp.  “I feel so relaxed right now.”

“Great,” Professor Oh rolled her eyes.

“Professor?” Chan asked as the potions Master began to slide down to the floor.  “Is this still a thumbs up?”

“I would if I could.  This is really potent.  How many amber-”

The professor immediately slumped to the side and began snoring.  Chansung stared for a moment before turning to the other adult.  “I swear Professor, he was watching me make it the whole time.  Do I give him the antidote?”

Professor Oh frowned, her lips pursed out.  “No, let’s get him to the hospital rooms.  Lady Zhang can fix him up.  It’s not the first time this has happened.”

Chan nodded as the woman pointed her wand at him and he floated up off the ground.  She mumbled curses under her breath the whole way out of the classroom and down the paths to the hospital building.  Less than gentle, she let his head hit a couple posts on the way for her trouble.

It did not go unnoticed by the students and word spread like wildfire that Chansung had poisoned the professor.

“Oh come on, it isn’t that bad,” Taec laughed at dinner that night.  Other students kept sneaking glances at their table, but no one paid it any mind except Chan.  “It isn’t the first time Professor Lee has done this and they will forget it soon enough.  Here, have a squash.”

“Yeah,” Fei nodded.  “Last year, he tried a new brew and grew a couple toes off his head.”

“That explains his comment earlier,” Chan huffed and slumped in his seat.  “But I swear I did it right! He was watching me the whole time with his laser eyes! This is hopeless!”

Minjun patted his shoulder.  “You worry too much, Channie.  Everyone has things they are good at and things they are not so good at.  So you at potions, no big deal.  I bet you are amazing at something else.”

Chansung looked at their encouraging faces.  Maybe they were right, but it still felt a little hopeless.  He didn’t like being bad at anything, especially a subject he would be forced to take for the next four years.  But as usual, his friends were right.  Despite his spectacular failures in potions, Chansung found he was rather talented in charms.

Standard Book of Spells, Year One was the assigned text and his parents had bought it new for him.  But now, four weeks after cracking it open on the train, it looked abused.  The pages were folded over and scribbled on.  Sticky tabs poked out in all colors.

“You are a bigger nerd than Wooyoung is,” Junho before Charms class one day.

“Hey!” Wooyoung protested.  As much as they pretended not to get along, Wooyoung and Junho were best friends.  They even had the same streaks of red in their hair.  But where Junho was more bratty and outspoken, Wooyoung was studious and serious.  They were the same, but not the same.  Twins, but opposite.

“Just because I like a book, I am a nerd?” Chan raised his brow.

“You don’t just ‘like it’,” Junho finger quoted the words.  “You are obsessed with it.  I would bet you even sleep with that thing.”

Chan pouted.  “I don’t sleep with it.  Besides, it is what I am good at.”

“Don’t let him bother you, Channie,” Wooyoung said from behind his own stack of books.  “He is just mad because he can’t read.”

Junho threw a pebble at his friend but was saved any retaliation as the teacher walked in.  Professor Yoo was the strangest out of all their teachers hands down.  He had big coke-bottle glasses and everyone called him Grasshopper behind his back.  He taught Muggle Studies, but knew absolutely nothing about the muggle world.

“Settle down class!” he beamed at them all.  “Today we will pick up our discussion of muggle transportation…”

Chansung tuned him out, certain he understood plenty about the muggle world.  He had already finished the week’s assignment on the differences between planes, trains, cars, and boats complete with matrix and footnotes.  All in all, he was a decent student and finished his assignments on time, even if his grades were average. But aside from Charms, which Chan couldn’t figure out what to do with, he was not substantial at anything.

“Not everyone knows what field they will go into in their first year, Chan,” Taec sighed and set his book down to comfort the fretting kid.

“But you do, and Minjun hyung does.  Even Junho and Wooyoung have a plan.”  Chan slumped lower.

“But they have been in this world since they were born.  Junho’s parents work at the Ministry, so of course he will end up there.  Minjun hyung has this obsession with broomsticks so there is no wonder he will be designing and crafting them.  And to be honest, I don’t really know what field I will go into and neither does Wooyoung.  We have some ideas, but it isn’t something you have to worry about until your fourth year.”

“Why then?”

“That is when you sit down with your advisor and decide what classes you take for the next 3 years.”

“What if I wanted to work in the real world?” Chan squeaked out.

Taec looked at him as though he had grown a handlebar mustache all of a sudden.  “Why would you want that?”

“I dunno, it is all I know.”

The older student snorted and shook his head.  “You are just starting out.  You have years of adventures first.”

“Dear Mom and Dad,

Classes are good and it turns out I didn’t actually poison Professor Lee.  I am not very good at potions.  But, I am really excited to show you some of the charms I can use now! For the most part, classes are fun. 

It looks like we are getting a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  Our old professor suddenly got very sick and will be out for the rest of the year, but no one else has caught whatever he had so that is good.

Professor Yeoh is teaching us how to change water into other liquid and back again.  She said that Jesus was actually a wizard and Junho didn’t come to class for three days because he was so mad.  Wooyoung hasn’t let him live it down yet.

Oh, and it looks like someone is sending me weird love letters.  I keep getting these “secret admirer” notes in my books.  I think the guys are pranking me again. 

Anyways, I am glad your trip to Jeju was nice!

Love,

Channie”