Patrick came rushing in. These stairs from the Gryffindor common room was absolutely brutal. It was no wonder all those gryffindors were in better shape than he was. He was always sweating in his classes, he missed the chill of the dungeons. He was always worried about being late, yet here he was early.

He slid into a seat and looked at Nobel and his cauldron in his arms. He was confused but not offended by his short tone. “hullo” he said as he grabbed a sheet of paper out of his bag not wanting to pester their professor with idle chit chat

Despite it being a rather long and exhausting stroll from the Ravenclaw common room to the duelling arena, Analiese walked through the doorway at a normal pace and not at all out of breath. She quietly greeted Professor Noble, whilst speaking with a stutter. Previous events had pushed the stutter into her. "H-hello, sir." Unfazed by his horrible tone, she slid into a seat and peered curiously at the five cauldrons in the room. She let her imagination decide the contents of each one. And then her mind travelled to the mist. The horrifying creature she witnessed in there. The ghastly beast that had tried to attack her innocent soul.

Daisy was slowly getting used to travelling some distance from the Ravenclaw common room to where she wanted to go and arrived a few seconds after Analiese. "Hello, Professor Noble," she greeted before quickly finding a seat and sitting down. Usually, she was very excited about Potions class but this time her stomach was in knots.

Professor Noble may not have shown his frustration by the recent upheaval--though Nina was almost certain this was due to his demeanor usually being quite grumpy to begin with--this particular Slytherin fourth year DID show her frustration. Though perhaps this wasn't much out of the ordinary either, as she typically entered this particular lesson space with a subtle frown. Something, which, stayed quite consistent even after the castle lockdown.

Nina made her way to the dueling arena, slightly annoyed by how often she was forced to use the stairs now, even on her way to Potions lessons. She paused briefly to acknowledge her Professor with an empty sort of look (she was still polite) and slid into a seat next to Patrick Dooley. Because he was pretty. And hopefully had some intelligence when it came to potions, as she planned on carrying her act through this lesson as well. It was standard behavior by now.

One thing that he prided himself on was that he had not been late to any class since his fourth year (the SORE training had really afffected him) so when he made his way to the duelling area and heard the Professor's telling them to hurry up he quickened his pace despite being on time.

As he entered, a feeling of guilt went over him as he remembered that he had nearly given Rylee a concussion by accident in this room and he scratched his arm before he nodded at the Professor, his blue eyes looking at the cauldron he was stirring with a hint of curiousity. But like always he did not bother asking what ir was. He disliked it when someone would ask a question which would be answered later anyway. No patience some had. "Despite the circumstances, i hope you're doing well, Professor" he said with a small smile before he found himself a working station to stand behind.

Luckily for the Ravenclaw, the long distance from the common room to Potions class was a familiar one. In fact, the duelling arena was even closer to her dorms than the dungeons were - you could say it was a silver lining to the mist problem... it was difficult to stay optimistic at times like this. However, the new arrangement did not make her any lazier, and Jade made sure to arrive early to class.

"Hello, Professor," Jade greeted as she moved to take a seat. She wondered what Headmaster Trent would say if they made a mess in this room.

Potions had nearly become a class he resented. Nearly. But he also refused to let anyone take his admiration for the subject from him and thus he was, mostly, looking forward to class. There was some frustration still manifested in his knitted brow, however, that one of his master plans for the term was unlikely to come to fruition. It wasn't so much that his plan wasn't going to get the follow through it deserved more so that he was loathed the fact that ingredients and time had now been wasted.

......because of this stupid mist.

He had initially assumed that this lesson would be a joint one with Defense Against the Dark Arts seeing as it was in the Dueling Arena, but his arrival proved otherwise. Unless the headmaster would be coming later. A cursory look was given to his surroundings but soon enough he had found himself a seat, as instructed. His usual polite nod of the head offered to Professor Noble and nothing more.

....though his thoughts were loud about what he should do come the conclusion of today's lesson.

It was lucky that Archer had decided to keep up her exercise regimen despite the fact that there was no Quidditch this term as the Ravenclaw common room was farther away from pretty much everything. It was so irritating, but she was actually trying to be a good prefect and not complain too much. And she still wasn't acting much like herself, but then again, neither were a lot of people in this castle.

"Hello, professor," was her greeting as she entered the dueling arena. It was odd having a potions lesson here, even knowing the reason behind it (the mist). The stupid stuff had sent everything into chaos and even she, who loved chaos, was ready for it to go back to normal.

Ugh, couldn't Noble have held this lesson somewhere , anywhere else?! Tina knew the answer must be no, but that knowledge did nothing to make her feel better. Being in the dueling arena made her nervous! Noble may be the one conducting the lesson, but they were technically on Trent's turf and she wanted nothing to do with him. This place was nothing but a bad reminder anyway. It was here where she learned just how toxic Hogwarts could be, student turning against student, professor against professor. It was disgusting!

She shook her head to clear the memories of that disaster of a school assembly. After that, she hoped she'd never have to set foot in the dueling arena again, but here she was. She'd been here more in the past weeks than in her first 1.5 years at Hogwarts combined! Despite everything, she was careful enough not to let her aversion show on her face as she walked in. "Hello, Professor," she greeted, her voice a little quieter than normal so as not to distract Noble from the potion he was stirring. Any other time, she would've wondered what was inside the cauldron, but recent events had sapped her curiosity. Unless it was a potion to make them impervious to the mist outside, it didn't matter what it was.

Noble's command went in one ear and out the other as she hurried to the nearest available seat and began organizing her supplies around her in an almost robotic manner, hoping the menial task would distract her thoughts. No need to tell her to hurry… the sooner class began, the sooner it would be over and she could get out of here!

As Gunnar stepped into the dueling arena, he wondered if they'd be having Potions class in here for the remainder of the term. Or at least until the mist was taken care of, because hopefully that would be any day now, right? All this displacement was just weird and unsettling, and while he could relate to Professor Noble's plight, he still liked to use the dueling arena for what it was actually intended and he hoped that wouldn't come to an end.

He gave an acknowledging nod to the professor as he passed him and went to find a seat. Uh. Just where he was supposed to sit, he was unsure with no chairs in the room. But he waited over by one of the tables on the opposite wall, giving a bored look to the cloth covering some sort of objects, and waited for further instructions.

This was........ weird.

Not the weirdest setup for a classroom he'd been in but, y'know, still weird.

Lucas stood somewhere by the door, looking around with a mixture of confusion and curiosity on his face. The rearrangement was a little...... weird? Again? Yeah. It made him feel even more antsy than he was currently feeling and he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because, as much as Noble had tried, none of this looked like it belonged in here.

He slowly walked further into the room, trying to look at everything as he went before his eyes finally landed on the Professor himself, just as he told him to hurry up. Uh. Okay. "Hello, Professor." He wanted to ask what it was the man was making but something with the way he'd been speaking told him not to. Maybe not now. Not yet.

He also wondered why there were only four other cauldrons but, again, he wasn't asking. He was just going to go and sit somewhere over-

........ Oh. No chairs?

Lucas paused, taking a moment to just look around the room in confusion again, before shrugging and plopping himself down on the floor. This would have to do.

Another day, another class. Eni was perpetually tired at this point in the term, but potions was enough to make her wake up. "Hello Professor." she said with a smile as she went to take her usual seat.

The duelling arena didn't look like a duelling arena today, just like how it should be since it was potions class, but it threw Drewett off for a moment. He was still somewhat adjusting to the changes that had to happen because of the mist, especially with how crowded the Ravenclaw tower was now that the Hufflepuff were bunking with them.

"Good day, professor," Drewett greeted with a little nod before making his way into the room. He...had no idea where he was supposed to sit down, considering their desks were all pushed against the walls. The fifth year instead decided to wait by the table beside Gunnar's and offered half a smile in greeting to his friend.

Were kids these days so unbelievably spoiled that they couldn’t just simply sit cross-legged on the floor in the absence of chairs? That had been what he’d told them to do, no? Sit down? Two perfectly simple words that most two year olds could understand. What in Merlin’s name was this sliding nonsense? Noble had thought it quite obvious that in the expanse of wooden floor in the middle of the room, they should simply just find a space to sit in. “Just find a space on the floor, and sit still in it before I take points,” he said brusquely, watching them repeat the action one after the other like sheep. Patrick, Analiese, Daisy, Nina, Tina…

Grumble.

And then there was Dorian, Gunnar and Drew, standing at the tables at if they knew something he didn't. “Butt. Floor. Now.” He was starting to feel like the topic of today’s lesson was going to be a terrible idea if they couldn’t follow one simple instruction.

Yes, he knew it was different. Yes, he knew they had been through a lot of changes recently. They weren’t the only ones. More than half of Noble’s stuff was still stuck downstairs, beyond the mist. He was doing his best to continue as normal...and this lesson was one he taught at this time every year, usually in the Great Hall.

It was almost a relief when Lucas easily plopped himself down on the floor. “Good morning, Lucas,” Noble said with a nod. Thankfully others had been listening too, and once Noble had put down the cauldron he’d been stirring, he saw that Jade, Eiji, Archer and Eniola had also joined.

With a purposeful stride, Noble went to the door, and after checking for stragglers, closed it. It was time to start, and he now raised his voice. “What different ways are there of fastening or attaching things to something else? …can you give me some of their pros and cons?”

It was a small 'sacrifice' to sit on the floor rather than a stool - though in private Eiji rather preferred the floor as it gave him a more intimate setting with what he was brewing - and the Slytherin had no real problem with doing so. His only problems with the subjects were lost in the mist, which was very very irritating.

Irritable as he was, Potions was providing him the distraction he needed. Even if the topic, and everything really, still someone spun back around to his angst. "There is the Permanent Sticking Charm," he offered after raising his hand. "The pros are that it is extremely effective. The cons being that it is so proficient, lasting indefinitely."

Seemingly like his sour mood these days.

Daisy quickly sat down on the floor because she didn't want to get points docked from her house. She raised her hand at Professor Noble's question and replied with, "There is the Sticking Charm. One pro is that it is reversible. I honestly can't think of a con, sorry, Professor."

Sitting in a cross legged position wasn't THAT uncomfortable, but of course Nettie had chosen to wear her skirt instead of her slacks today, so she was sitting with her legs off to the side. More lady like, of course. It wasn't the most comfortable, though, and she hoped that soon they'd be up and moving around. How hard was it to conjure up a couple of chairs, honestly? She made a mental note to look it up later.

She raised her hand when he asked the question, her brain going in a TOTALLY different direction than Eiji and Daisy's. "Epoximise, Professor. It's a transfiguration spell that basically changes the makeup of one of the two objects you're casting on to a...sticky substance. The pro is that it sticks to just about anything - the con would probably be that it's kind of hard to reverse, since it's a transfiguration spell, not a charm, you could conceivably mess it up and fuse them together, and you don't want to touch the sticky object," she explained. At least, from the small amount she had read on it, that was what she had gathered.

Were there potions available to fasten or attach things together? Was that what they were going to learn about today? These were the thoughts that immediately popped into Jade's mind at Professor Noble's question. She knew about the spells that the older students mentioned, but not a potion that served a similar purpose. Even if there was one such potion, she would probably prefer to use the Sticking Charm, because it was much quicker. Other than those spells, hmmm...

"You can use glue, which is a Muggle substance that you can apply to objects to bind them together. An advantage is that it's easy to use, even by Muggles and Squibs - obviously - and young witches and wizards who cannot cast spells. But it may not be as strong as other magical methods," the second year said, her hand raised. The professor was probably not asking about non-magic ways since this wasn't Muggle Studies, but he did not specify that in his question and she couldn't think of anything else, so that was the answer she gave.

There might've been a silent sigh from the Hufflepuff prefect as one of of the students who remained standing had been one of their own. It wasn't as if Professor Noble was asking them to sit on the ground after all, and there were ways of sitting on the floor in a skirt and remaining a lady. But, she kept those thoughts to herself.

As for the question....."There's staples, though you might not want to use them on anything other than paper. And finding them or a stapler in the wizarding world might be nigh on impossible." Since they were muggle and plenty of wizards had an aversion to such methods. "But on the plus side, it's not a permanent method as long as you don't mind small holes or minor tears in your paperwork."

Butt. Floor. Now.

That would have made Drewett crack a tiny smile. Real mature, he was. But since that was directed towards him and that was also what the potions professor instructed them to do, the Ravenclaw glanced briefly at Gunnar before eventually take a seat on the floor. He didn't mind sitting on the floor. It was just different, but the fifth year chose not to pay too much attention to that since the lesson was about to start.

Giving it some thought, he'd already ran out of charms to offer. Drewett was sure he could think of another but that might take more time. Thinking outside of charms, the Ravenclaw raised his hand. "Th-there's spellotape, sir," he offered. He was aware it was mostly used for fixing, but it was also used for attaching things together. So. "A pro would be you d-don't need to know charms to use it." A kid could use it with ease. No prior charms knowledge necessary. "B-but I don't think it's as effective as the p-previously mentioned charms. Spellotape can be easily removed." Oh right, there were muggle means too.

. . . . He had told them to sit down?

He had heard the 'hurry up' part clearly because it had startled him. But he had not registered the 'sit down' part in his brain at all and for a moment, he thought that the Professor had been too grumpy to remember he had not told them to sit down because he was obviously not the only one standing. Old age, you know. The Professor wasn't getting any younger. But when he turned to look and saw a couple of students had taken their seat on the floor before his outburst he realised that he was in the wrong.

Feeling embarrassed, the Ravenclaw apologised while trying to ignore his ears going red and hurriedly got a bit closer to the rest of the group and sat down on the floor before he could take away points. Anyway, He had not made a dumb mistake like that before ever since Scrimgeour had been Headmaster. So this was refreshing. Not.

He listened to the question and the first thing that came ro mind was the sticking charm but as Swann and Rasting had already mentioned them he kept his mouth shut. Spellotape also came to mind but why bother repeating answers. So for the time being, he stayed quiet.

Nina did not like sitting on the floor. People walked on floors. What if they brought dirt into the room with their shoes? It'd get all over her skirt, which for the record, was also quite difficult to sit with. ON THE FLOOR. And while she was quite unhappy to do so, she didn't protest because she also did not like drawing attention to herself during class. Ironic, yes. Very.

With a sour look on her face, she opted out of answering the question (unsurprising) and instead pretended to be uninterested as the rest of her classmates chimed in with their thoughts. Eiji and Daisy were thinking along quite similar lines, while Trinetta took the question in an entirely different direction. Nina's opinion of the Ravenclaw fluctuated quite frequently, however, she was slightly surprised by the answer the girl gave. For all it was worth, Nina had thought her yearmate to be a complete airhead. So her answer was quite impressive .

She quite liked Drewett’s answer too, it wasn’t the most effective means of binding objects. But it had a certain creativity that the other answers lacked. The Hufflepuff Prefects answer, however, was quite cringe worthy and Nina couldn’t keep a look of judgement off her face. Staples?

It was almost a relief when Noble spoke to him normally and gave him a 'good morning', especially when he seemed...... well. It wasn't enough to make him want to ask about the potion but it was enough to cause a small smile to spread itself across the Gryffindor's face.

Fastening or attaching? Uh. That seemed easy until other people started answering and he found himself.... staring. Going quiet. Lost in his own thoughts now. There was a furrowed brow look on his face as he tried to think of something that hadn't been mentioned before. No sticking charms, no spellotape, no........

.......... huh.

It was then that his eyes found the cauldron Noble was working on. Were there potions that let you stick two things together? It would be gloopy and would go everywhere and....... oh. Oh. "What about superglue?" he asked, his hand up in the air, "I mean, it would be great for sticking two things together that needs something, uh, stronger, y'know? And if you want to stick heavier things together like wood or plastic."

Pause.

"And I guess it's not so great when you get it all over your hands? I mean, you have to be very careful with it." He scrunched up his nose just to show how disgusting it was to have superglue on your hands.

Cordelia had no qualms about sitting on the floor. Actually, she enjoyed sitting on the floor. Chairs were overrated. What things could attach things to other things? "Pins such as the ones that would be used to hold fabric together for sewing or nails that are used in construction are some types of metal fasteners." A lot of the metal ones seemed to be sharp and pointy. The types of adhesives she used frequently were the ones on the medical devices keeping her alive, but people had already mentioned glue, tape, and spells so she didn't want to just repeat everyone else. Were they going to make some sort of adhesive potion? Did they even have all the equipment and ingredients needed available?