Kurumi made her way into the classroom, nervously, but for once it wasn't because she was afraid of Professor Lafay. Now she was more nervous about what sort of conversation was going to be had...and was it worried that it was going to have something to do with poisons...

"Good day, Professor Lafay," she said bowing her head.

So Cedric had decided to join the Potions for Muggles club. He'd been hearing a lot of things about it and he thought it was great to be a part of something that was set up to improve mankind. He's not running to be a Minister of Magic, mind you.

He walked inside the classroom and a round table inevitably got his attention... so that's where they would sit? Cedric's eyes flickered faintly. He noticed Professor Lafay. Alone. He was the first student to go?

"Good day, Professor." Cedric greeted her, later managing a forced smile. He then eased himself into a seat of the round table.

Emily entered the Potions for Muggles Club and took a seat at the table.
"Hello Professor", she said nodding to Lafay.

After setting her bag on the floor beside her, Emily raised her wand and allowed the teapot to pour her a cup of tea. She added sugar and a dash of milk.

Sierra stood just outside the door to the "Potions for Muggles Club," her eyes scanning a couple of pieces of parchment she'd taken a great deal of notes on. She and Treyen Lockhart had been working on a potion for muggles with Alzheimer's, and although they were very far away from being anywhere near finished, she'd thought to bring along her notes just in case.

She folded the parchment, stuffed it deep inside the pockets of her robes, and then gently pushed open the door to the classroom. "Hello, Professor Lafay," she greeted as she found an empty seat and sat down. Her eyes moved from the blackboard to the food and drink setup on the table before her. She raised her wand for a cup of tea. If nothing else, she'd just use it as a distraction before the others arrived.

Helena entered the room, a bit nervously. She had the report with her, but she was not sure whether it was good or not.

"Hello, professor," she said, smiling at the woman. The girl sat down at the round table, then looked around at... everything. She also raised her wand, so the teapot would come to pour some tea.

"Hello everyone... let's get to work shall we?" She asked turning to the student closest to her left. "Did you want to present?" She asked, though by her tone you knew it wasn't a question.

Witsy slipped into the room finding that Emily was right there and sat down quietly.

He was running a little late, he knew that, but he wasn't going to miss this. Not after having worked so hard or not on those ingredients with a Miss Sierra Greingoth.

It was a good thing that the Dungeons were somewhat close from the Kitchens and he didn't have to rush down from the Towers or something.

And they were already starting? Aww, man!

"Good day, Professor," Treyen said, with a nod, as he slipped into an empty seat near Cedric without realizing who he was. He had all the notes scribbled down in his Potions journal or whatever the notebook was about.

The eyes wandered off to Sierra and he nodded towards her as well.

So, er, was Lafay asking for volunteers?

Presentations... wonderful. Emily hadn't put in as much effort into her presentation than she would have otherwise, but was still keen to get started.
"I'm ready to present Professor", she said.

Emily smiled at her new Gryffindor friend.

Present? There are presentations? Witsy was semi concerned. She recently overheard a student talking about this club and didn't think to come till now. Witsy came today for the first time to check it out hopefully able to bounce into it. Not wanting to disrupt the flow of the lesson she kept quiet and attentive.

She smiled back at Emily quizzical about what she was to present. She looked forward to the rest of the meeting.

"Very well, Miss Browne." She said with a smile to the raven claw seventh year. Good. Someone was taking this seriously. "Let's hear it."

Emily stood from her seat, a singlular peice of parchment on the desk is front of her. She looked down at it. After clearing her throat she began her presentation... butterflies rattling about in her stomach.

"I've chosen to do my presentation on a condition called Perkinsons disease..." she said somewhat nervously. Public speaking wasn't her forte...
Deciding she would treat the presentation as if she was just in class on any normal day, Emily pressed on.
"This condition is best described as a degenerate disorder of the central nervous system. It's caused by the death of dopamine containing cells in the region of the midbrain, the cause of death of these cells is still uknown.

In the early stages of these conditions the symptoms clearly affect the body and its movement, including shaking, rigidity, slowness and difficulty with movement and walking. As the disease progresses behvioural, sensory and sleep problems may arise.

Parkinsons Disease has a significant impact on the qaulity of lives of many muggles. Impacting on the way they live, what they may do and no doubt impacts on their ability to communicate effectively with others and form relationships.

Though this disease is most prevaliant in the elderly I believe it is important to acknowlegde this condition and the ways in which we could help. Potions could in fact be developed to help combat the symptoms of the disease, we may also be able to develop a potion to cure it. By creating and distributing a potion that is able to regenerate the brain tissue that has died, Parkinsons disease could be managed and eliminated. It would not be like playing the role of god, in that we would not provide the affected muggles with longevity or powers of any kind, but it would enable them to live out the rest of their lives without having to deal with the physical symptoms of the condition."

Emily came to a close... had this been what Lafay was looking for?... she was nervous.
It seemed to go well... she stated her case for Parkinsons, and why it was important to help the muggles... perhaps she should have found out how many people were affected by Parkinsons.... Emily sat down.

He wasn't used to being late. Ever. But the very proposition of the meeting and its subject matter had him without sleep throughout the night and without rest in the nap he tried to steal in the library, leading him to a rather slow an energetic progression of his day. Now a little more than embarrassed and completely ruffled, Sabel did his best to slip into the class unnoticed and as silently as possible.

He stopped near the door as he realized one of the students was giving a presentation. All his attention was on her and her words, listening quietly, the knowledge of what they were doing here, in this meeting bringing a heavy weight on his shoulders once again. He had to give her credit, she had picked a very powerful disease and a good argument.

Once the girl was done presenting, he slipped over to the table, stealing into an empty seat beside Lafay. Perhaps not the best way to enter a class unnoticed, but all his attention wasn't exactly focussed on remaining unnoticed.

Sierra reached deep into her pocket and pulled out the folded piece of parchment. She unfolded it and quickly reread some of the notes she and Treyen had taken. They hadn't gotten far in their attempt at an Alzheimer's Potion, but she thought they at least had enough to discuss.

She wasn't seated directly to Lafay's left, though--she was seated directly to her right, and so Sierra peered over and looked expectantly at the student being addressed.



She happened to catch sight of Treyen Lockhart, and she nodded toward her piece of parchment. She was silently letting him know that at some point in the meeting, she'd like them to discuss what little progress they'd made so far. Hopefully Puffer knew how to take a hint.



When the Ravenclaw stood to speak, Sierra leaned back in her chair and turned her attention to the girl. Ten seconds into the discussion, and Sierra was already blinking in half-confusion.

"...death of dopamine containing cells in the region of the mid-brain."

...What?!

Shortly afterward, though, Sierra started piecing together various facts, and she was already thinking about which ingredients would combat things like shaking and movement issues. Working with Treyen had put her in the right kind of mindset to figure out which ingredients should be used and when. When the Ravenclaw sat down, Sierra gave her a small smile before turning back to Lafay. She wanted to hear what her professor had to say before she shared her own thoughts.

Nika nodded her head as the girl spoke. She was unsure about presenting her own findings.

Helena listened carefully as a Ravenclaw girl spoke. She was a bit nervous, because the ailment she chose to talk about was a bit similar to this one. So she looked at professor Lafay. "Can I present next?"

The sooner, the better.

Emily smiled as Emily sat down. Her muggle granmother had died from that. If there had been a cure...
She quickly raised her wand for some tea and added some honey, staring into space as she did.
Could she present last?

Oh, well, by this point, Treyen had already taken out two pieces of parchment. One will all the info about the disease, and the second one...the Greingoth-Lockhart collaboration piece.

However, he was still not sure which one of the two will be talking about the disease itself, he was certain that that was an individual activity, no? Perhaps Lafay could think it unnecessary for them to address the disease twice and they could do the whole presentation together? Yeah, he didn't know. But he was waiting to see what Lafay will say about the very nice research the Ravenclaw girl did...and...if the next one will be the other girl who'd volunteered after the older one was seated.

"Very good Miss Browne." She told the girl. "Do you know anyone who has Parkinson? "


"Of course, She said with a nod.

"Infact, you don't have to ask permission to go next, answer as you would in class." and she sipped her tea.

Emily nodded, looking down at her teacup breifly before returning her gaze to Professor Lafay.
"My muggle Godfather's brother has it... it's horrible, I couldn't imagine living like that, it would be a nightmare."

That was... nice.

But... anyway. Report to present.

Helena stood up nervously, leaving her report on the round table. She tried to learn everything she was going to say, but juuust in case, the notes were there. "The ailment I chose is the Huntington’s disease." The girl glanced around, feeling her knees as they started to shake slightly, but took a deep breath and continued. "It is a genetic disorder that affects the muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline and dementia." It was a bit similar to Parkinson’s disease, but maybe worse.

"The symptoms commonly become noticeable at middle age, usually between 35 and 44 years, but they can begin at any age, from infacy to old age. In early stages, there are subtle changes in personality and physical skills. The physical symptoms are usually the first ones to be noticed, and those would be the uncontrollable movements. Common consequences are physical instability, abnormal facial expression and chewing, swallowing and speaking difficulties. Another consequence from the eating difficulties cause weight loss and even malnutrition."

"Muggles have no cure. There are only treatments that reduce the severity of some of the symptoms. For many of these treatments, comprehensive clinical trials to confirm their effectiveness in treating symptoms specifically are incomplete. As the disease pregresses and a person’s ability to tend their own needs reduces, carefully managed caregiving becomes increasingly necessary."

"I believe that by creating a potion that could completely cure this disease, we could save many lives. As I already said, muggles have only treatments that reduce some of the symptoms, but not cure it."

The girl looked around once again, then sat down and looked at professor Lafay, waiting for... something. Anything.

Emily sipped her tea, listening intently to the first year Slytherins presentation. The ailment the girl had selected was very much like her own. Very similar and still no cure. It would be amazing if we could help muggles over come these terrible diseases, though it wasn't likely to happen for some time- what with the Statute of Secrecy.

Emily smiled at the young girl and gave her an encouraging nod. She did well.

"I would agree with you there..." She said and jotted down some notes.

"Well done," she told the girl, "it disgusts me that we could fix these problems if the ministry would just... stop living in the 90s."

"Next...?"

ooc: Go ahead and give your presentation if you have it, you don't have to wait to be asked. I will be closing this thread tomorrow, so get in your presentation.

As she sat down, Helena spotted the girl who was the first to present, smiling at her. Did that mean that she did... okay? She smiled back, then looked once again at professor Lafay.

... and that was everything she needed to hear.

As for the woman's last comment... she was right. Maybe they weren't the best potioneers, but there were others who could make potions for all those diseases. And Helena was pretty much sure that professor Lafay was one of them as well.