First Night - Great Hall - Hogwarts

Carol walked into the Great Hall and took a seet at Gryffindor table to watch the sorting ceremony of the first years. She remembered her first dinner at Hogwarts, she was so scared of the place she could hardly eat a thing. The sorting hat scared the hell out of her, she had been the only student to scream was the hat started talking in her head. She was still puzzled as to why the hat put her in the house famous for bravary and Heroisim.

She was rather used to Hogwarts now, as she sat and drank her pumpkin juice paticently she looked around the hall, there was the hum of students and a few ghost floating around chatting with Students or pestering them. The Bloody Baron seemed to be enjoying making afew first years squirm as the waited their turn to be sorted.

She chuckled a bit, egerly awating the new year to start..

Gabriel "Gage" Hall, ex-auror (among a few other careers), and newly-appointed professor of potions sat at his designated space at the Professor's Table. 'So this is what the Great Hall looks like from here,' he mused to himself with a hint of a smirk. Sapphire pools tended to gravitate toward the familiar - the Ravenclaw table. Precisely how long ago had it been since he was a student here? Gage felt old just thinking vaguely about that number despite being a young thirty-seven.

A small pile of books were stacked before him, with a golden plate that matched the other ones on the table directly on top of said tomes. Sticking out from the end of the table was the foot of his cane: all-black with exception to the flames creeping up the sides. The handle was shaped like a raven's head and plated with silver. Beside him, where no one sat for the seats had been exhausted, floated a couple of potion phials. One contained what appeared to be soda: orange, bubbly, and happy. The other, in stark contrast, was green, smoking, and ominous.

The Start of Term Feast was one of the most crucial appearances he had to make as a professor. And with an exam for one of his instructors coming up he couldn't afford to miss at least some studying tonight. Merlin knew Gabriel would be too stuffed later to even think about using his brain. Therefore, the professor decided to compromise: he would study as he ate, the moment after the Sorting Ceremony ended and the Feast had officially begun.

Appearing to hold back a chuckle, Gage eyed the other tables and the remaining First Years to be sorted. He was looking forward to the challenges he would be facing this year, between teaching professionally for the first time as well as striving to acquire officially-documented Mastery of his subject. The wizard wondered just how the older students would take to a new professor in their midst, and if they were ready for what he was going to throw at them...

Carol looked up at the staff table and looked at some of the new faces one was notibly the new Potions professor, and he certainly seem absorbed in his subject, potion vials and books all around him. Never before had she seen a professor actually bring his books and studyat dinner time, she'd seen students do it, but not professors. She tiled her head to the side wondering what the different coloured potions he had beside him. One looked like it might be a simple beverage or lighthearted potion like a Babbleing potion. The other could be a poison or a even a healing potion. She was only guessing of course, she have to inspect them with a closer eye to even be remotely sure..

She decided to ask him what he'd been doing in his first class, and she was curious over the potions he had. Potions was her favorite subject afterall, much like cooking like her mum had taught her to do over the years. She was so deep in thought a firend if her's tapped her on her shoulder asking her to pass the potatos for the fifth time.

After passing the food to her firend she looked at the head table curiously again wondering what the new professor would be like..

After handing a fellow professor the shepherd's pie, Gage immediately loaded up his plate and arranged a new floating item at the ready near his head: a quick-quotes-quill and parchment. He opened one of his textbooks to a marked page and also set that afloat. So as not to ruin his class materials, Gage took to holding his plate in one hand while using the other to eat. The floating items made his life a lot easier than if he were doing this the muggle way! Reading, eating, writing, examining... Merlin, Gabriel loved magic! Every so often he would lean toward the quill and mutter something for it to jot down without regard to whether his mouth was full or not. The mutterings would earn him an odd glance here and there from the lady professor sitting next to him. For the most part however Gage appeared to be oblivious to her stares.

Setting his plate down briefly, the wizard reached into an inner pocket of his robes and produced a small box. Placing this on the corner of the table, Gage opened it and removed a canister of cyan-colored powder. He also removed a stoppered flask of liquid that was so beyond a canary hue it could very well have been neon yellow instead. Once he selected his items he once again returned the box to his pocket. Realizing the professor next to him had said something, Gabriel leaned toward the woman and asked for a repeat. "No, I don't believe my studying at table is distracting to everyone else. You, on the other hand, are distracting me," he said rather frankly before digging back in to his meal. The wizard completely ignored his colleague's reproachful and indignant glare. Prior to his comment they had gotten on somewhat amicably.

Free to work on the last leg of his task, Gage took the last bite of his steak and kidney pie and picked up the cyan powder canister. Removing the lid, Gage reached in with a pair of fingers to retrieve a small measuring spoon, and placed two spoonfuls of powder into the smoking green potion. A smirk accentuated the lines on the wizard's face as the potion mellowed immediately into a placid lavender after four stirs clockwise, and three counterclockwise. Satisfied, he stoppered this potion and set it on the corner of his section of table. Gage tucked the cyan powder into the same pocket he had stashed away his box.

Next was the other potion. Gage bit his lip, not entirely certain he had the right ingredient this trip. With confidence nonetheless he picked up the flask and measured approximately thirty milliliters (two tablespoons) into a small beaker produced almost out of thin air, and added it to the happily bubbling concoction. Without even needing any stirring the potion immediately went from orange to red, and from pleasantly bubbly to irately fizzing. The angry bubbles formed a foam, and subsided once the foam created a thick barrier between the air and the potion itself. Gabriel grinned this time, and like the potion before stoppered and placed this phial on the table. Packing up his satchel the wizard muttered a few more things to the quick-quotes-quill. One would almost think he and the quill were best of friends as Gage glanced at the written words the quill produced. "Excellent!" he beamed at the quill, snatching the parchment from beneath it and rolling up said papers. Those as well as the quill tucked themselves neatly into his bag just as the desserts started to appear.

Getting the feeling he was being keenly watched, Gabriel glanced across the way for any students that had taken an interest in the teachers' table. Orbs of deep blue settled themselves upon a young woman at the Gryffindor table. If he had to guess her age, Gabriel would ballpark it at around 17 or so. 'One of the more interesting class schedules, then...' Gage mused, yet another smirk twisting his lips. He nodded to the teen and glanced down at his plate to accept some treacle tart. The wizard contemplated for a moment, glanced back to the student that had been watching, and then back to his plate.

Smirk still on his face, Gage pulled the strap of his bookbag over his head to rest on his shoulder, took up his cane, and stood. Gabriel ignored the hiss of "What are you doing?!" at his right. Without a word to any at the table Gage grabbed his plate of treacle tart with his free hand, charmed the phials to tuck themselves neatly away into his bag, and made his way over to the Gryffindor table. Too proud to appear to hobble, Gage maintained as normal a stride as he could all things considered.

"I couldn't help but notice from all the way over there that expression of curiosity on your face, and the suspense is killing me... Care if I sit here a moment?" he asked the young lady, gesturing to a nearby seat.

Carol continued to be curious by the new professor, even when one of her friends made a cheeky comment about her having a new crush on the new teacher. She blushed, saying it was nothing like that.

"More like I have a crush on his subject" she muttered as she watched him add the ingredients in to his two potions. After he finished them her opinion on both changed, the one she that was harmless looked mean and devilish looking, and the one she thought was deadly looked more harmless. But again she couldn't completely judge a potion by appearance.

Then it seemed like he was getting up to leave, she started to gather her bag along with her friends, but then he seem to be heading towards her.

Then many of her friends looked on in wonder as the professor walked up to their table.

"I.. of course sir, have a seat" Carol said blushing at been caught staring.

"I umm.. was curious about what you were doing..." she started but then trailed off and decided to introduce herself before she embarrassed herself even more.

"Carol Jennings Sir, will be in your NEWT level potions class" she said hoping that would be reason enough for as to why she was so curious about his activity.

Gage surveyed the rest of the students, nodded to Carol with a nod, and set down his bag and treacle tart. "Gang way, cripple coming through..." he murmured with a continued smirk to a teenaged boy not far from the seat on the bench he had gestured to. With a quiet grunt the potions professor situated himself, and crossed his bad leg over his good one. He picked up his plate, and a fork that materialized out of thin air, and broke off a piece of the tart. "Curiosity's always a good quality to have," Gage remarked, taking a bite of his desert. With a wave of his wand and a nonverbal spell he summoned both phials he had been working on to settle themselves in front of Carol for her and the rest of the students to peruse.

"You could say that's my homework: The Transmutation Property by Abstract Supplementation. It's a bit advanced, but if I ace my exam tomorrow I should be able to teach it," Gage explained. Another survey of student faces and the professor saw exactly what he expected: a couple of smiles, a few grins, although in each set of eyes there was a confusion therein. A few accepting faces caught him slightly off-guard, but pleasantly so.

Brown eyebrows jumped with intrigue at the level at which Carol would be studying this year. He still had his touch at guessing age, which was more than he could personally say for being able to race any of these kids to the double doors and back on his bad leg... "Ahh, NEWTs... Merlin bless those buggers all to pieces..." the wizard replied with a grin and a laugh. "I go by 'Gage'. Although, if you prefer a more formal introduction, my name is Gabriel Hall," he said, offering his hand to shake.

"Looking forward to the start of term?" Gage asked, genuinely interested in a Gryffindorian consensus despite hailing from the House of ravens.

Carol laughed a little, "Sometimes is can kill ya though" she said a bit cautiously as the Professor sat down and continued eating his desert. She blinked at the two potions as he explained what they were.

She was intrigued, when he mentioned he was taking an exam the next day, so he was learning and teaching his subject at the same time?

"Thats awesome" she said still examining the two potions as he talked. "What do they do? if you don't mind my asking Sir.. are the finished now?" she asked having not really gotten much out of the "The Transmutation Property by Abstract Supplementation" answer not really knowing what it meant.

She laughed sheepishly at his comment about NEWT's, though if she had to say it made her all the more curious about the class. "We'll see sir".
A few of her friends shock their heads knowing there was little any professor could say to scare Carol away from her favourite subject.

It would have been awkward to call a professor so causally with there first meeting of him, though she vaguely wondered what he would have thought of a combo of the two.

The Gryffindor in her called for her to be bold and so she asked, "How about Professor Gage?" she asked.

Carol laughed and nodded "For the moment Sir, it is mostly freshly back at school, and doing homework and learning feels exciting." she answered, knowing that in a few months she would be glaring at her books and being unable to wait for school break.

Gage chuckled appreciatively in response to Carol's comment about curiosity.

"Asking questions is your job, and answering them is mine," he replied, making a vague gesture to those assembled at the word 'they'. The wizard's upper lip twitched and stretched in a further expression of amused enthusiasm. "They are if I choose them to be. That's the beauty of the property. This one..." Gage took a moment to point to the ominous, red-foamed potion, "used to be Amortentia when I started the project three days ago. Minutes ago, it was a Babbling Beverage.

"The previously green and smoking one was a highly acidic poison, and a nasty one I can't tell you how many times I've seen before. Three days ago it was a Strengthening Solution, and now it's a sleeping potion," he explained. By the tone of his voice alone, it was obvious the wizard was proud of himself. "The Transmutation Property by Abstract Supplementation reasons that you can change the composition of a potion, keyword 'mutate,' into another form by adding an ingredient that is not within the normal parameters of the prescribed procedure."

Gage smirked at her response about the NEWTs, and the shaking of heads from the girl's friends. It turned into a full-blown grin at the Gryffindor's suggestion. "Works for me."

The wizard gave a slight nod. "Good, good. Enjoy it while it lasts. I don't get a break until December, and my term started in June." A look of confusion crossed Gage's face as though he just remembered something he had forgotten to mention. "To clarify, I'm in the process of earning my degree for Potions Master. However my background is loaded with enough experience to teach the lot of you all you need to know, and then some."

Carol looked at the potions in fasication, smiling as he explained them further, so she'd been right about them.

"Wow that be handy knowlegde to have eh, like how to turn a posion into something harmless" she said with a smile.

There were a couple of snickers and smiles over the name their new Professor had been bestowed with. There were few professor's indeed that allowed causal reference to their name or the title of which students called them.

"Pleasure to meet you Professor Gage" Carol said glad if not still a little bewildered the professor desided to sit and chat with them like this. But it was about potions she supposed so it couldn't have seemed that odd.

Carol blinked having though most professors already had their masters in the subject they taught.

"What did you do before this then?" she asked. She supposed her needed to remind herself Teachers had other lives out of school aswell. When she had been a kid she thought her muggle teachers lived at the school they taught at.

Gage smirked at the young woman's answer and nodded. "Precisely. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you all know, it can also work the other way around. The basics are covered in post-Seventh Year curriculum, but anyone interested is more than welcome to take on the basics of the theory for extra credit."

A silent chuckle left the wizard's lips at the snickers going about the table. 'Interesting group,' he mused in silence. "Likewise," Gage replied, slightly amused by the fact he had caught perhaps quite a few of the students off guard. He humorously, and mentally, dubbed that his new informal job description.

"I did a lot of things..." Gage hedged slightly, scraping his bottom lip with his upper teeth in thought. Precisely how much of his answer was relevant to her question? "Directly before this, I was a Poisons Specialist and headed the poisons division in Saint Mungo's. Prior to that I held positions at various locations, though I preferred the apothecaries. However, before all of that, I was an auror and headed a similar poison task unit within The Department," he explained. Without even thinking Gage's free hand went to rub a spot on his bad leg.

"Depending on how the rest of the class takes to the idea... the Sixth and Seventh Years will be delving into some things in potions this term that aren't at all a part of the typically-prescribed syllabus and have everything to do with potions in the working world out there," he explained, gesturing to a stained glass window with the point of his chin.

Carol nodded excited for the year a head, " Sounds interesting, don't think any other teacher has even touched on stuff like that" she said.. "Our last professor was very by the book" she said with a thoughtful look on her face.

Carol blinked at the list of jobs he had and the fact he used to be an Auror was really cool, thought she assumed to her self he had retired from the job because of injury.. from the look of the cane... but it would be rude to point that out.

"Wow that is a lot, always thought about going into the potions department at St. Mungo's, was gonna try for intern ship after I graduated" she said "Had no idea you were the head" she found it hard to imagine why a head division of the most prestigious magical hospital would change Careers for no reason.

She smiled at what he planned to the older classes, "Sounds interesting to me... but I suppose my opinion is biased" she said sheepishly. A couple rolled eyes at the table, proved that they couldn't agree more.

Gage couldn't help but grin at the comment about the former professor. "Yeah, I'll bet. Probably the same one I had when I was here, by the sound of it," he chuckled.

He nodded attentively and with interest about Carol's plans for the near future. "Awesome. It's good to see a student that has an idea of what they'd like to do. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up," Gage replied. "I might go back there someday, but for now I'm here."

The professor pressed his lips together in an attempt not to even so much as chuckle at the other students he'd seen roll their eyes. "There will be a school-wide vote on it. I've no doubt there will be a few Ravenclaws that share your enthusiasm," he remarked, glancing fondly at the Ravenclaw table.

"Speaking of votes, I'd like to offer the lot of you a no-pressure assignment right now. In my syllabi, each class will at some point get to pick a potion to make based on a vote. I want all of you," Gage explained, and took a moment to look each of the nearest students in the eye, "to take some time and think up with some really cool ideas for something we can concoct in class. I don't care what it is so long as it doesn't harm anyone and isn't some kind of love potion. We got a deal?" The professor punctuated the question with his cheekiest grin.