Poppy was pleased to have a Saturday to herself. She’d managed to complete (almost) all her classwork during the week, or at least enough of it to not worry about doing anything more until tomorrow. Today her plans included nothing besides curling up in the Ravenclaw common room with a book and gossiping mercilessly with June and Ida. Poppy didn’t know where her dorm-mate had currently wandered off to though, so she was in search of the Slytherin. There were many places around the castle June could have decided to explore since breakfast, but Poppy figured she might as well start with the most obvious.

Walking along the corridor through the dungeons, she was suddenly assaulted with a repugnant smell. Lifting a delicate hand to her nose in disgust, Poppy followed the scent (instead of moving away from it like a normal person). It smelled suspiciously like a potion gone awry. Poppy herself was distinctly familiar with such smells; she was gifted at potions but it took work and a lot of practice to get right. Poking her head around the corner and peeking into the potions lab, she identified the culprit of the smell: Elijah Urquart, a Slytherin sixth year. (Who he was talking to, she wasn’t sure. Maybe his partner had wandered off.)

Poppy deliberated for a moment about stepping in. She was sure she could assist him if she analyzed the intention and his previous actions, but would that be awfully rude and/or forward of her? Moving her hand away from her nose for only a moment to straighten her dress made up Poppy’s mind quite decidedly. She could not let this continue.

“I don’t know what you’ve tried, but I don’t believe any potion assignment so far is supposed to be quite that malodorous.” Poppy entered the room fully and gave Mr. Urquart a smile, hoping he would avoid offense by her having spoken so freely. “Apologies,” she added. “I could smell you from down the corridor and just thought I’d offer assistance if you’d like.”

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