Post by Sirius Black on Jul 19, 2013 22:41:34 GMT
And just like that, Bevin was laughing along with his jokes and playing along with his games as if nothing had happened. Sirius was a bit baffled at what caused this switch back, but he much preferred it this way, so he didn't call her out on it. Girls were weird like that sometimes; he'd had enough experience with them to know that by now. And to think he understood them more than most other males. He listened intently to her dramatic new way of asking for his help - dramatic, yes, but nice, like he had requested. He smirked, clearly enjoying the flattery a lot, and with an ego like his, how could he not? But he finally decided to cave in and give her help; he found he couldn't resist after she gave that warm smile and winning look. "Why didn't you just say so?" he asked as if it was her first time requesting his assistance, but smiled to let her know that he was again just messing with her. He got up from his seat and moved to stand at her other side, leaning onto the table so he could look over her shoulder at the instructions and the steps she was taking.
As Sirius got up, he spoke. "I know what your problem is already. You follow the directions too much. And no, I'm not just saying that," he added immediately, as if anticipating a reaction already. Something along the lines of, oh but Sirius you never follow the directions, so of course you'd say that. Yeah, he knew that already. "These books are written for students, not pros. Sometimes they're outdated or simplified. Don't get me wrong, they'll get you a decent potion - or at least, they should..." he corrected with a wary glance at the mystery substance in the discarded cauldron. But he went on quickly, so that her temper wouldn't flare up again. "It really takes an understanding of the magical properties of your ingredients and how they react with one another. Then you can deduce for yourself what to do, with these steps as an outline," Sirius said simply, gesturing to the book open to the page on antidotes to common poisons. "You know, those essays we get that I never write? It's not always using the most intelligent-sounding words or writing the most. Concepts," he said in a simple one-word explanation. Some people were so grade-focused that they skipped over the actual understanding part. But he thought Bevin was pretty smart, so she would probably get that. "The top people in here... James, Evans, they get that."
At the mention of the more studious people in the class Sirius realized just how odd the words coming out of his mouth sounded. He wasn't used to helping people like this, explaining academic concepts and... yeah, this was weird. But he was just saying the thoughts that crossed his mind, as always, and they just happened to be... intelligent sounding. Wow, could he sound like a nerd if he got himself going. It was vaguely reminiscent of running into the aforementioned redheaded potions star in the north wing and finding themselves wrapped up in his arithmancy work. This was happening way too often for his liking, but he had promised his help, and his help she would get. "Let's look at this one for example..." he said once he had regained his thoughts. "The first ingredient is a bezoar." He took one of the small shriveled objects in his hand. "Makes sense, right? This in itself is an antidote to poisons." Which made a defiant mind like his own question why you'd even need to make a potion in the first place, but that was beside the point. "So it's the most important factor. They say to crush it into a fine powder... also makes sense, because the healing component is inside, past this outer shell, which is really unnecessary if you think about it, so if you can, don't add it in. They don't say stuff like that in the directions." he finished with a nonchalant shrug, still feeling a little uncomfortable doing the helping in this situation, as he waited for her to do the first step.