Eva DeLuca's Individual study

So that was one Individual class down. Katie Knight was over and finished, and Tuesday morning seemed devoted to Seventh years. Next up..

Chase went to her cabinet and pulled out Eva DeLuca's folder, which she set on the desk and picked up her mug of lukewarm tea. She grimaced and set it down before looking at the file. Outstanding in class, wonderful, she did well in most of her classes. Then again she was also the eldest of anyone she'd seen at Hogwarts. At nineteen she'd disappeared from school one day, to suddenly appear again, talking of being tortured. It had sent the Wizarding World into a frenzy, but her memories were so harmful she'd had them removed as far as Chase remembered.

Looking at past grades, Chase was curious to see if she still remembered what she'd learned two years prior, and if she'd be up to the challenge that Chase would put upon her. Katie had just left and Second Period was just about to begin, so Chase read through the file patiently while she waited for Eva to arrive.

Eva might have been the oldest student that currently called Hogwarts her school, but she was probably the best one currently at potions. During her last attempt to finish before she had been kidnapped she had been allowed to play around with potions to see what she could come up with and had delved into some pretty heavy research on trying to make a stronger version of the wolfsbane potion. Sure she had disappeared at the age of seventeen before she had been able to finish, but at this current time she still had to finish school if she wanted to pursue her dream career.

Walking into the office, Eva looked at Chase, “Professor Moor, I’m here for my individual study.” To say that she was only slightly nervous was an understatement. Chase hadn’t been the professor there the last time she was in school, so unless she had looked at the entire file of her potions grades, she wouldn’t know what all Eva had been capable of doing. Granted, she really could make the simplest of potions blindfolded, it was this one class that had been holding her back from becoming not only a potion maker, but continuing studies into becoming a potion master.

Chase had just lifted her mug to her lips again when Eva entered. She spluttered for a second on the lukewarm liquid with a grimace, having forgotten it was that cold, and nodded for her to come in, waving her in. "Ah! Come in! It's great to finally meet you face to face, Eva." She said, standing up and holding out her hand to shake Eva's, before sitting back down.

Pulling her chair in closer, Chase looked down at the file she'd been reading and pointed it out to her. "So, I've been reading up on your file! You were an extraordinary student so far as I can see. However, numbers and letters can only tell me so much about you." Chase picked up her wand and flicked it lazily. A tea tray floated next to her, with a second mug, and a teapot of hot water on it.

There was also a tin of cookies next to it. Chase waved her wand over her own cup and the liquid inside vanished, while the teapot poured some more, scalding hot liquid and two cubes of sugar into her mug. Chase stirred it lazily and nodded to the tray. "Would you like some tea? Cookies? Anything you want really, it's fine. Tell me about yourself Eva. I'd like to know more than numbers so we can figure out what we need to do for your education."

Eva made her way into the room, a little hesitantly. Not that she was nervous, she had always been an almost shy type of person, especially with people that she didn’t really know. Professor Moor hadn’t been an instructor when she was in Hogwarts and her studies had almost been completed. Had she not wanted to actually be a potioneer, then she would have decided not to finish, but she knew she needed to complete her final year of school, although now it was more important than ever.

“Well, in potions, that’s pretty much all you really need to know I guess.” She said, “I’ve liked potions since I was little and I was planning on becoming a potioneer after I finished school which is why I’m back now.” Eva waved the tea away, “No thank you I think I’m quite good for now.” She added. It seemed to her like Professor Moor actually seemed to genuinely care about her students and what they wanted to do with their lives.

She had heard from Landen about his individual studies with her and she thought it strange that someone other than their head of house would be advising them on their careers. However, with what Eva wanted to do in life, in complete and total honesty, Professor Moor would be the one she would want to advise her. “I was actually attempting to make a stronger version of the wolfsbane potion during my individual studies a few years back, but I was taken before I could really accomplish much with it and finish the potion to completion.”

Chase listened to Eva speak, and nodded along with her, taking small sips of her now hot tea, careful not to burn her tongue. The girl was reluctant to open up to her, that much was sure. She was a Slytherin, and normally Potions teachers were the Slytherin head of house, but Chase had stepped outside of that natural boundary, so it was expected that this girl would be nervous about her.

Chase glanced down at the file when she mentioned making a stronger version of the wolfbane potion. It was marked in her file that was what she'd been working on, and had invested a lot of time into it too. However, Chase only knew so much on that topic. "Stronger version you say? What were you hoping your potion would accomplish? It's an interesting topic, that's for sure, and a noble cause. Werewolves were rarely treated with respect until Remus Lupin, and now many potioneers spend their lives working on the same cause."

Chase took a cookie from the tray and nibbled a little bit off as she read over something on the file, before glancing up at her. "What do you wish to do after school, Eva?" Chase set her mug down and leaned her elbows on the desk with a smile. "It's all well and good to work on a potion like that in school, but that's not really what we need to focus on at the moment. Do you wish to open a shop, or work under a larger potioneer, doing experiments? It's important to work on the skills they wish to see in their employees, and set up a life for yourself before working on goals that may be impossible to attain. As well as get the experience a goal like yours requires. You don't want to make a potion like that in your early twenties, and realize you have nothing else to do with your time." Chase was talking in a kind and gentle voice, with emotion in her words.

She had seen it all too often, someone set out for a goal, and worked so hard to achieve it, that when they finally did, they had burnt themselves out, and had no idea what to do with the rest of their lives. Chase had nearly been the same way, until she was offered a teaching position, and now she finally felt she had some purpose left to give to the world.