Haddie nodded knowingly. "So they were like old tortoises? That donated their shells to you?" Like the unicorns did. Just go with it Art. And then it was drinking the potion time. Hadley took the antidote as if it was something filthy and yucky. For a whole minute she just stared at it with a sour face as she clutched the unicorn's horn protectively. Whether she was protecting it or it was protecting her wasn't clear.

"I don't like taking medicine." The disgusted look on her face intensified. And then she downed it, gasping and gagging in disgust until, "That wasn't bad, actually." The little girl passed the empty vial back to the Professor and went back to playing with her horn. Nothing happened.

"How long is it supposed to take?" She asked curiously. Then she belched suddenly, covering her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry. I feel tingly." Yet still nothing happened. Physically at least. But the child was scrunching up her face, like she was getting a headache and when she opened her eyes again, there was recognition in them. "Professor?" She almost sounded surprised to see him, until realization dawned on her. Hadley glanced down at herself, still clutching the horn. Her mind was back, but she was still seven. It just felt, weird. "I don't think it entirely worked..." Pretty sure that was an understatement.

What else had she done wrong with the potion? It seemed so long ago, and not just a few hours before like it had been. "I may have also stirred the potion the wrong way a few times at first. But I caught the mistake quickly and stirred it in the right direction!"

Art kept listening to what she was saying, giving her his complete attention. He nodded, and smiled. "No, it.. you're right about that," he said. Dedication and hard work were often required for good things. "It's why not everybody b-becomes an-an animagus. Too much work. Time better sp-spent elsewhere." He chuckled at that "It could be... troll bogies!" A mandrake leaf really wasn't as unpleasant as lots of things, she was right. Art was enjoying this conversation, but more than that, he was enjoying the time he was given now to get to know Miss Lynch better. She had a very positive outlook on life, and Art knew that would open so many doors for her.

Art nodded,"Good, I'm glad," he said. His door would, of course, always be open to all students, but he was glad she knew she could come to him if she needed any extra help. Art's eyebrows lifted as he took on the new information. "Ahhh, do-do they really?" Well it made sense, really. "H-have you cast a corporeal patronus?" he asked her. A difficult spell, of course. It had taken him a long, long time to be able to cast one, himself.

Art took a moment to pause and think about what she had just asked him. He didn't like to lie. "Err w-well yes, somewhat. So-sometimes the younger ones die of... of elements. Being too cold, or.... or sick, or... hungry. But... yes, I think it's good t-to think of like that. Shell donation," he nodded and chuckled. Art watched her with a Healer's eye, watching for any changes or disasters. He noticed her clutching of the unicorn horn. Was it better? His eyes widened at her reaction, but was very relieved when she realised it wasn't too bad. The gasping and gagging wasn't a reaction to the potion, then. He chuckled at what she said, and waited a bit longer to see if anything would happen.

"err... it could take a few minutes, or up to hours for the full effect. But we sh-should see something soon if it works." Even just a small change. He gave a big belly laugh when she belched, and shook his head. "No-not to worry! Better out than in."

Tingly? Tingly was good! He watched her with an analytical gaze. He was having mixed feelings. He relaxed when he realised that she recognised him, but confused as to why she still looked the same, young. "Miss Denaker! Welcome back... sort of." He watched her turn from confusion to knowing. "Hmm no... th-that's okay! I'll keep brewing." He added a few more bits to his cauldron, lifted a few vials and read the label, sniffed it. He put some back down, and put some inside the cauldron. Stirring it clockwise as he went.

He felt the realisation dawn on him. "Ahh... wh-when you stir it, the-the forward, clockwise stirring direction s-symbolises time moving forward. Th-the anti-clockwise stirs mu-must have put the potion BACK a bit. Fascinating," he said. "H-how are you feeling?" he got her a goblet of water and a few squares of chocolate to eat. He wasn't sure if the chocolate would help, but her brain might need a bit of sugar after what it had been through.

Art looked up from his ingredient preparation and saw Miss Kennedy walking into the lab. He smiled and said "Hello Miss Kennedy," assuming she was here to see him, or practice brewing a potion. But... no. He frowned at her. "Wh-what are you looking for?" he asked. What on earth...?

This was certainly proving to be one of the tougher things in life but it was one she wanted to accomplish. There was noway she would be turning back now. Hadleigh nodded her head in agreement. "I agree it is a lot of work and it does take a large amount of time." Which is why this wasn't for everyone. A lot of people especially young ones such as herself completely lacked the motivation and focus for something like this. Art's next comment caused her to laugh softly as well as make a face in disgust. "Eeww, now that would just be gross and might sway my feelings towards this transformation process." Maybe. Who really knew.

Another smile was given. She did know she could count on the professors assistance should she need it. Not that it meant she would run to one of them for everything all the time as she enjoyed doing things herself but it was good to know. "Yes Sir. From my understanding a Patronus is supposed to be like a protector of sorts and an animagi form is something like a deeper form of yourself." Similar but not entirely the same which was in rare cases the two could be different. "I can. It took me a really long time and I was coached by both Adi and Lux until I was able to get it." Proud grin.

Hadley raised the unicorn horn to her eye level, and twirled it around in her fingers. She might have been thirteen again in her mind, but she felt strangely attached to it. Like she's had it since she was seven, despite it only being about ten minutes max. "You're good with kids, you know that?" She curiously wondered if Professor Newton was a father. If he wasn't he should have been.

Beneath the table, her little seven year old legs swung freely in a very childlike fashion. Her stirring it the wrong way reversed the aging direction? Or maybe it reset the age to zero and aged up from there. She'd taken seven drops after all, one for each year she wanted to age. From thirteen to twenty, but ended up seven instead. Maybe that was it? "I guess that makes sense. Why does stirring direction matter so much in potions?" It was after all just stirring, right? A way to mix the ingredients.

How did she feel? She was a teenage stuck in her body from when she was seven. "I feel..." Her mind searched for the right way to express it. "Being a seven year old physically, but myself mentally, is just...weird."

"Well all th-this time and... and work you're putting in will pay off with a wonderful ability." He hadn't really looked into it himself but he was sure that being an animagi was highly regarded in certain professions. Surely. Art chortled at her comment about the troll bogies, also glad that people didn't have to work themselves up to doing something disgusting like that. "N-no... it's bad enough i-ingesting a potion with d-disgusting ingredients."

Art listened attentively to what Miss Lynch was saying about the patronus and animagi forms. He was very interested in continuing his own education, and where better than from his students? "Well th-that's very interesting," he said. Hearing it like that. It had been SO long since he studied DADA and transfiguration that he didn't remember the specifics. Art noticed her proud grin and gave her a big smile in return. "Fantastic work Miss Lynch."



Miss Denaker's comment sort of caught him off guard. He paused and looked up, taking a moment to take in what she had just said. And then he smiled. "I..." he closed his mouth. "Th-thank you, I d-do... I do very much enjoy the discussions I have with the... the younger folk." He returned to what he was doing, adding bits and pieces, gently inhaling the aroma of the bubbling potion. "I have a-a grandchild on the way, actually," he said, very proudly.

"Hmm... w-well it depends on th-the potion. Some potions, like the aging potion, is-is... well it's a symbolic thing. B-but other potions i-it uh.. if combined with a certain spell it-it can err.. we-well, activate a certain effect, so to say. S-so you do the spell and stir it the specific way." He was impressed she was so interested in the theory behind potion making.

Art nodded slowly, trying to imagine what that would be like. "Y-yes I imagine it's very weird." He checked the colour of the potion and took a big sniff, then put some of the taupe coloured potion into a glass for her. "I just need to cool it for ten minutes," he said, putting his timer on. He pulled out his Potions journal and jotted down some notes, both from what Miss Denaker was saying, about having stirred it the wrong way, and about what he had done in modifying the antidote in hopes that it reversed the botched potion she had ingested.

Once ten minutes was up, he slid the glass forward to her, and got himself a goblet of water. Just so she wasn't drinking alone. "Bottoms up," he said, taking a few big gulps of his own water.

That was the main reason she was continuing to put forth all her hard work into this. In the end no matter how long it took she would be able to change into an animal at will. Something she had dreamed about doing since she was a very small child. Hady smiled brightly at Art in agreement. "Thank gosh because just the thought is enough to put some people off of trying thing," she laughed softly shifting her attention back onto her potion for a minute. Adding the next set of ingredients into her cauldron.

Now her wording could have been off on the ways people understood the difference between the two but this was how she saw it. "I don't know for sure if that's truly how it works but that's my understanding of it," the sixth year admitted. When it came to things of this nature people took to it all differently. "Thank you Sir!" Casting a patronus was a very large step forward for her and she had worked at it everyday for nearly two years before being able to cast one properly.

Hadley grinned at that. "Your grandchild will be very lucky to have you as a grandpa." The young girl watched with interest as he worked, absently playing with the unicorn horn in her hand. "If they ever need a babysitter for your grandchild, I'm pretty good at it." You know, when she didn't look like she needed one herself.

She listened intently as he answered her question, nodding her understanding now and then. It was fascinating to Hadley how easily and flawlessly he was able to brew the potion. It was like watching her mother cook. So natural looking when for her it was the complete opposite of natural.

When the potion ready, Hadley wasted no time downing it. She was immensely grateful that Newton made a show of drinking with her. A small gesture that meant a lot. Then came the awkward lengthy, at least it felt lengthy, wait to see if it'd work. Throughout the wait, her little legs swung absently beneath the table as if they had a mind of their own. It took ten minutes "I think it's starting to work. My skin is crawling." Sure enough, she was starting to look older. A pinch at a time. Maybe around eight years old one minute. Nine the next. After a few minutes she was 10 again. It was as if her potion was still fighting to keep hold of her, making the ground the antidote won hard-fought and at the pace of a crawl.

It was another ten minutes before Hadley was back to the way she'd been that morning. The first thing she did was take stock of herself and noticing her shoeless feet looked up at the professor sheepishly. "I can't remember where I lost my shoes..."

Art added more of his own laughter to Miss Lynch's. How unfortunately true that was. "I've had a lot of students refuse to try a potion out because of the taste or... ingredients used," he said. He couldn't blame them, of course, but they did miss out on a fun, and sometimes very educational experience.

"W-well yes, you're very right. And all you can do is f-find a way of explaining it so that it makes sense to you. It makes perfect sense to me." He put away a few bits and pieces that had been left out; cauldrons, measuring cups etc. "Do you mind if I ask what your Patronus is?"



Art almost felt the prickle of tears in his eyes at what Miss Denaker had said. "Oh..." he said, about to brush her compliment off. But he thought better of it. "Thank you Miss Denaker," he was very excited to meet the child, when they arrived to the world. He nodded to her and said "I'll pass that on to my son," with a smile. Everyone could use a list of babysitters, couldn't they?

Art looked at her with half a clinical eye and half a concerned eye, hoping that the potion would have the effects they wanted. And soon enough, she announced that something was working. Art watched as Miss Denaker slowly transformed back to her proper age. He smiled at her, and then laughed as she announced she couldn't remember where she lost her shoes. "How are you feeling?" he asked, bending down to take off his own shoes. "I'll walk you back barefoot when you're ready," he said. Hopefully she had more than one pair of shoes. Another pair being in her common room.

That made more then enough sense to the teen. It was the same way with food. If people didn't like the way it looked or smelled they were less likely to even try it. "It's true but also silly. That's why I don't always want to know what's inside something until afterwards," she answered with a soft laugh. Her father used to never tell her the ingredients of a meal until after she had already eaten it.

Hadleigh smiled at Art. "I'm glad it makes sense. I have trouble sometimes coming up with a way to explain my way of thought." Everyone understood things differently and at times it could be complicated if you were trying to get a point across or explain something that you didn't normally have to. A bright smile crossed her face as she added the last ingredient into the cauldron for her potion. "Not at all. It's a Fennec Fox." If it suited her she wasn't entirely sure but she did feel as if some aspects of the animal were like herself.

"Please do," she said smiling. "I can always use the extra money." That wasn't the only reason she liked to babysit though. She actually enjoyed being around young kids. Almost as much as she enjoyed being one.

Speaking of... "You might want to write down that antidote recipe. You know, just in case." And it might not be a bad idea for her to have a copy of it herself in case Professor Newton wasn't around to brew it.

She watched Newton take off his shoes and giggled. "Why thank you. I'll enjoy the company. And I can pick your brain about potioneering on the hike up to the tower." It was a long way, but Hadley wasn't about to say no the company. Nodding to the door, Hadley followed Professor Newton out.

>.< Sorry!
 

"Good method there," Art said with a laugh. "I think it's probably very safe that way." No gagging, vomiting or mess.

"I know what that feels like. Well... y-you seem to be able to adapt your uhh... your approach to different people. A good trait of a teacher." Just to add, inconspicuously. "A Fennec Fox?" Art's face had a huge grin on it. "Say the Fennec Fox is such a... uhh... a lovely looking creature. Have you seen one in real life before?"

Art gave a nod. "Money is important, definitely. Well... I'll see what I can do," he said with a tap of his nose.

"Of course! Yes, w-well it was a success and all potions should be documented. Whether they work or not. Keep that in mind Miss Denaker, in case you ever get to have a play with some potions you make yourself. That way you can... can improve on them easier. But tha-thank you for the reminder." He jotted some things down quickly, to serve as a reminder of what he did.

Art grinned "Ask away my dear, we have a long walk!" And off they went.

Hadleigh agreed with a small laugh and a nod of her head as well. "I certainly believe so. Unless I was to get sick afterwards but normally that isn't the case for me." She wasn't one to get sick very often or for just any reason thankfully. The teen also had a rule for always trying something at least once unless there was a very good reason for not doing so.

Another smile. "I do my best to. It helps having friends of in different years with different abilities." Makes learning and explaining things all the more fun. A teacher though? Nah, she didn't think so. A tilt of her head confirmed she wasn't so sure on that part but she didn't ask for Art seemed really excited about the Fennec Fox form of her patronus. "Yes Sir, they are really lovely and rather smaller then one tends to think. I have seen one a few times when I was much younger back home at a zoo a few hours away." Sadly it was in a large enclosed area and not out in the wild but in this case it counted.