The Time Kaycee Tutored Levi in Potions

[Levi Ward]

Spring, 2023-ish...

Levi hadn't ever done very well at Potions class. It was always a challenge to get every singe little detail correct for him- details were just impossible to get exactly right. The little things were always what got Levi down, he was more of a big-picture type of guy. He'd crush up an ingredient in a way that didn't exactly concur with the instructions, or something would distract him for a few moments and then the entire potion would be ruined. Of course, he wasn't half as bad as Hugo Weasley, but still, he was pretty awful at potions. He'd managed not to melt any caldrons so far, which was a rather big achievement.

Locating Kaycee O'Malley the day before hadn't been too difficult. Levi had heard he was rather good at potions from someone whose named had escaped him, and had actually worked up the courage to ask him for help. And in a little bit, he'd actually get some help with Potions- he wasn't sure whether it was going to be on his technique(which wasn't all that great, either) or tricks to get the nit-picky little details right. He'd managed to actually find his Potions book from his backpack, which was now clutched against his chest.

Locating the older person, Levi walked over, and nodded, not exactly wanting to speak at first. He was nervous, sure, but quite grateful to finally be getting help. Payment was one thing Levi was pretty sure he had negotiated, but he couldn't exactly remember how much he'd promised. Just in case, he'd taken the remainder of his pocket money down with him in the pocket of his pants.

((ooc- sorry this is so short! :S I hope it's okay! )

[Kaycee O'Malley]

Kaycee was taking a break from his all-important NEWT revision, his feet up on an armchair as his upper body lounged on another one. He was currently flicking little paper balls towards a variety of victims, alternating from his best friend Camden Philips ("Go the fuck away, Kayce"), Rowan Lascari (who was steadfastly ignoring him), Madeleine Ashcroft (who was also ignoring him, but every so often Kailen would surface from his textbooks to glare at him), and Roxanne Weasley (who had started off with retaliating and was now not even looking up and was instead flipping him the bird).

He sighed, looking around the common room for more people to annoy (Kailen had finally given him the one finger salute while scowling at him, and he knew he had to lay off Maddy or the younger boy would pitch a fit and would probably annoy him immensely when he was studying) when he noticed a fourth year he hadn't really ever talked to approach him.

The little he knew of the boy was his name, Levi Ward, he was in fourth year and shared his common room, and that he seemed nice enough. The younger boy was clutching his Potions book and he seemed nervous - Kaycee remembered something about Potions tutoring. Pulling his legs off the other armchair, he cleared some space on his table. He turned to give the other boy a small smile. "Hey, you alright?"

[Levi Ward]

Levi looked slightly confused as Kaycee asked if he was alright. Of course he was alright- just slightly nervous for the whole thing. Older people normally intimidated the boy, seeing as some tried to take advantage of him because it was hard for him to stand up for himself. To be honest, Levi was worried that Kaycee would start trying to annoy him, like he'd been doing to people in the common room. If he did, he'd just try his best to ignore him, which was a rather good tactic.

"I'm fine," he admitted, opening up the textbook. He wondered why Kayce had agreed to tutor him right in the middle of NEWT revision- Levi made a mental note to thank him for this. He probably wouldn't remember, but oh well. "So, um..." Levi trailed off. Where was this going to happen? The common room? Of course, Levi had no idea, probably because he'd been too disorganized to think about it. They'd figure it out, hopefully, or else it wouldn't happen. He heard a slightly older guy- Thompson- cursing loudly, which Levi tried to block out.

"Er, thanks for this, in advance," He said awkwardly.

[Kaycee O'Malley]

The younger boy looked at him with a bemused expression, and Kaycee wondered briefly about it before the boy answered and Kaycee stopped caring. Levi looked nervous and Kaycee idly remembered talking to older students when he was young himself. Ack, he was sounding like an old biddy. "Good, good." He cleared his throat, glanced at the potions textbook in the younger boy's hands, and asked, "So... were you wanting help with theory or practical?"

He could see that the common room was a bit distracting at the moment to be tutoring in, considering the state of nerves everyone seemed to be in, and the less-than-friendly looks Kaycee was attracting because of his manic spate of paper-ball flicking earlier. He looked around the room amusedly before realising that they'd better be off maybe in a Potions classroom. He struck that thought out just as quickly, because no way could he be arsed to walk all the way down there from the tower, so he just resolved to go into the first empty classroom and tutor him there. He sincerely hoped his aunt wouldn't mind. She usually didn't, if it was for a good cause, but if Levi was as bad as he professed he was, that might be a bit of a problem.

Kaycee shrugged internally. Not his problem. "It's kind of distracting here - d'you wanna go to a classroom?" His point was proven when the next moment, PJ Thompson started swearing away and Kaycee could see Levi was trying to block him out. He glanced at the younger boy out of the corner of his eyes, not really used to the quiet, shy, sincere types. "No problem," he replied, trying not to sound too stiff.

[Levi Ward]

Levi shrugged. "Well, to be honest, I think practical. I make too many little mistakes, like stirring five times instead of four- that stuff," he admitted. Admitting that he wasn't perfect was easy. There was no such thing as the perfect human being, he thought, there was no such thing as it. Though, what was the perfect human being? If no one was perfect around him, then how could his mind picture a person who was perfect? He supposed it was from knowing the faults of everyone around him. Flicking himself to get out of the philosophical thoughts, Levi frowned. "I guess some help in Theory wouldn't hurt, either."

"Yeah. That'd be great," the boy agreed with a nod and "Where, though? Are there any empty ones that you know of?" He wasn't too sure about Kaycee, judging from the antics he pulled earlier. Was this all a scheme to prank him? Levi concluded that it'd be illogical for that to be the case, he'd never really done anything to anger Kaycee before. Nor had they ever spoken, really.

Maybe he could trust Kaycee. He didn't really seem like the type to scare fourth years for fun, or anyone, really. He'd seen Kailen Irving with him a few times. If a smaller kid could trust Kaycee, so could he.