It Only Takes Once || Benny Bear

Once the door opened Rabastan looked over his shoulder to see a Ravenclaw boy he was all too familiar with in the potion labs. Benjamin Myers, or as his close friends called him, Benji. Rabastan wasn't exactly too certain on where he stood with the guy, but he was a pureblood, both of them were. Not that it meant anything to him it was just a thought that crossed his mind. Smiling quietly, Rabastan looked up as the boy passed him, room ereily silent and it almost made a pounding noise in the ears.

Turning his attention back to the cauldron in front of him, Rab stirred quietly trying to make sure Ben couldn't see any of the bottles or the like. The one person in the entire school and it was Ben Myers, the only other person that was on his level when it came to Potion making. Sitting back as the pot bubbled, Rab started to clean up his utensils by hand. Something he's learned to do since he was younger. Magic was fine and all, but when it came to mixing potions the wear and tear was valuable, some residue in the bottom wouldn't effect the outcome of ingredients. At least that was what he learned. When it came to magic, Rabastan felt that it was scrubbing away years of hard work in such a short time, while cleaning by hand made that experience more personal.

Once Ben returned to his spot at the back of the empty classroom, Rabastan couldn't help but take notice. Things were packed away and he had a few hours to kill now that the potion was brewing idly. Looking over the ingredients laid out Rab nodded. "Working on tomorrow's potion, yea?" Polite conversation wasn't lost on Rabastan, instead he used it to his power, it seemed more effective than nagging and bickering as he'd seen it all too many times. "I found that if you crush the dried newt eyes with the bulbadox juice it heightens the consistency of the potion making it much more superior than basic brewing. Just a hint if you want it."

Nodding again Rab turned to look his potion over again, the faint perfume rolled from the surface but it wasn't quite ready. The younger Lestrange was a hard worker when it came to personal concoctions. Creation was his favorite part of being a champ at brewing, and if you didn't experiment once in a while you would always be at the top, but you wouldn't get any better. School potions were fun, elementary basics everyone needed to know, whereas if you challenged yourself to become better in the field no one could scrape the surface.

"No problem at all mate." Shrugging his shoulders deeply Rabastan smiled. Another aspect he had picked up was if you didn't teach others to be better then there was no point being a great. It should feel as though the two, Ben and Rab, should be at each other's throats for being top class students, but Rabastan never felt as his position was threatened. Severus was a great potion student, as was Ben. It almost seemed like they were part of clique. Certainly there were similarities between the three of them. Ben and Severus were devoutly bullied, Rab and Ben were very secretive, the three of them didn't socialize nearly half as much as the next person, but improvements were being made.

Finally came basic conversations. Rab looked up from a muggle novel and blinked for a moment. "You're making it sound as though we are both prisoners in Azkaban. Or perhaps consumers." Rabastan couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the notion and only covered his smile with his hand as though his happiness was a sign of weakness. "Honestly I've been working on a alternative to the Draught of Living Death. Something that isn't quite as powerful, but still has the basic principles. All I've managed to do is drive transfigured rats insane. Still a good reaction, but not one I'm looking for."

"Very much so Mr. Myers, very much so." Rabastan was able to smile as he flipped through a few more pages of the book he was looking over. Sure he didn't need to talk to Ben, but if he could forge something that would be great. Why exactly was he making an alternative to an already well known potion. Some of the ingredients were illegal and hard to get so an alternative would be a better way of securing something difficult to make.

Looking back up from his book Rab nodded slightly. "It's a toned down version really. It's not as intense and it's not supposed to have such harmful effects if used. So more like a sleeping potion." And then the question of 'why' came up. The only response he had was 'why not', but that wouldn't be very effective. "Curiosity more or less. And the rats are fine, if they do die they just return to the objects they once were. I couldn't bring myself to kill such a harmless creature in all actuality."

Rabastan let Ben get to work for a while, reading over the properties of certain ingredients memorizing the stalks and stems. "Hey, Benjamin, you're friends with that Hufflepuff girl who outed my brother aren't you?"

Crossing his feet at the ankles and focusing in on the boy quietly he grinned shaking his head. "You've got it all backwards, really. I know you know her, I know you and that Muler kid are best mates or whatever, and I know your know Joram, so let's face it, anyone saying that they don't know a Hufflepuff is lying. There is a reason I don't talk much you know." Laughing, he knew that Ben didn't want to tell him and he respected that, but he would get him to talk eventually.

Lifting the book up and reading across the cover he nodded. "It's an advanced potions book that was gifted to me by Professor Slughorn a few months ago. Every time I finish one I start on the next one. There are things in here that we won't learn so I figured I may as well learn them while I'm here." Shrugging his shoulders quietly. "I'll let you borrow it once I'm through if you'd like. Some of them I even find challenging, but they're fun to try." Flipping the book over again to read through the pages of different kinds of plants that he couldn't exactly get his hands on through the school's supply he thought better of asking for anything else. Maybe a trip to Diagon would be in his best interest, but he tried.

Bringing his hand to his nose rubbing quickly and looking at his watch, he nodded. Still thirty more minutes left on this particular brew. "This waiting is killing me."

Rabastan couldn't help but brush back his hair back, it was starting to get long again and it was becoming bothersome. Not long enough to tie back while working over a cauldron, but not short enough to keep it from falling into his eyes. The last time he got his hair cut was in October so it was no question that it was already at the length it was at.

Locking his foot behind the bar of the stool, Rab looked back up at Benji. "You sure? I was surprised Slughorn even had this book to be honest, let alone let me borrow it, but if you don't want to I'm not one to force." Rabastan had that quiet tone in his voice, he knew Benji was a pureblood, that he was hanging out with Caitlin and Eddie who were both of mixed bloods. The only thing that was different happened to be that Rabastan never developed the hatred toward those deemed 'lesser' by those above him. It was something that had been kept very hush hush through his entire life.

"I usually read, but I've finished my last book and it needs to be returned to it's owner." Thinking for a minute as if it hadn't clicked right away, the boy reached into his bag and pulled out 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and flipped to the front flap. "Speaking of, I think you could do that for me actually, you see her enough. It's Adeline's book, here." Standing up Rab moved over to Ben and set the book down lightly on the table next to him. Not one bit of the cover was dog-eared, the pages were still in pristine condition and the last name 'Giovanni' could be clearly read on the inside cover.

Trying to think of something to do Rab thought for a minute. "You want to play cards or something, anything to pass the time?"