Transfiguration class was Obi-wan's favorite. Professor Jinn was good and all--he made it very interesting--but the subject itself was what really caught his interest. The fact that you could change one thing into something completely else? To him it seemed more magical than a hovering or disarming charm, yet it was rooted in exactness, which was something Obi-wan liked.
He'd almost managed to change his tortoise into a trumpet (though it still had a tail, so there was no way he would be persuaded to play it) and was rather put out when a younger student ran into class with a note for Professor Jinn.
Qui-gon nodded at the young boy, and then put the note on Obi-wan's desk. The younger student had left, but Obi-wan read the note immediately, and then sighed. He stood to leave. Given the contents of the note he might be missing quite a bit of class, which would probably result in more homework. At least he was good enough at transfiguration that he knew it wouldn't affect his NEWT scores.
Many moving staircases later, he slipped into the potions room in the dungeon. Professor Luminara Unduli was grading papers at the front of the classroom. It was still early in the year, so the students were reviewing with a pepperup potion before starting on things more difficult, the ingredients and instructions written neatly on the blackboard, as well as in the textbooks scattered across desks.
Professor Unduli noticed him come in and waved him to her desk. "Thank you, Mr. Kenobi, for your prompt arrival. I'm sorry to disturb your classes but I know you can have some gentler influence here where I can only discipline."
Obi-wan smiled wryly. "The trials of being head boy, ma'am, as well as the reluctant friend of Anakin Skywalker. I'll see what I can do."
He moved across the room, past his fellow Ravenclaws. He stole the empty stool from next to Barriss and clunked it down next to Anakin, who was doodling mechanical designs on a piece of lined note paper using a ballpoint pen (Obi-wan was jealous of the pen. Anakin and some other Muggle-borns had introduced the school to it a few years ago and it had really taken off--too bad Obi-wan had appearances to keep up). After getting his broom designs suspended, Anakin had moved onto something else, but Obi-wan had such limited knowledge of how muggle machines worked even after years of muggle studies that he had no idea what the new designs were.
Other than the slightly neglected potion in the cauldron, which had clearly been stirred lackadaisically so drawing could be given priority, everything looked to be in order. "So, Anakin, what seems to be the problem?"
The "problem" popped her head up from under the table, knocking it on the underside of the surface and jostling the potion dangerously. "Oh hi, Obi-wan! Are you joining our class today?"
Ah. That's why he'd been called down here. He rubbed his forehead with his finger and thumb. "No, I'm not joining the 5th year potion class, and neither should you, Ahsoka. Don't the 4th year Gryffindors have charms right now?"
She shrugged and picked up the ingredients she had been chopping (why she'd been chopping them while sitting on the floor was a completely different question, but he suspected it had something to do with the potion splatters all over Anakin's textbook. Or Ahsoka's general quirkiness). "Well, the 5th years have Herbology during my potions class, so it switches nicely. I figured I'd just do it this way."
"Why not just do it the normal way?"
She handed the mandrake root to Anakin, who put down his pen and dumped it in the cauldron. Obi-wan winced. It was supposed to be added much slower than that. The potion turned an odd blue-brown, which was totally wrong.
Ahsoka sat on her stool. "Because the normal way is boring. You know I went to Skyguy's potion and Charms classes last year as well, so if I went to the 4th year classes again it would just be repetitive. Much better this way."
Barriss spoke up from behind Obi-wan, rolling up her sleeves to show the blue inside as the potion simmered. Hers looked correct, and nearly done. "What about the other classes? You went to Anakin's care of magical creatures class last year too. Won't you be bored in that class?"
Obi-wan shot his fellow Ravenclaw a bit of a glare. He didn't want this to get more complicated than it needed to be. Ahsoka sighed. "I'll just have to deal with that because of how the schedules work out. I'm sure Professor Fisto will understand. And we're dealing with magical creatures. It's never truly boring. Besides, Professor Fisto has bright green dreadlocks, so that helps with the boredom too."
These two were an eternal headache.
"Fine, stay here for now, but I'll be talking to your teachers and figuring this out." he pointed a finger at the two of them as they high fived. "And I don't switch around any more classes."
He stood to leave, replacing his stool next to Barriss. Anakin waved as he left. "See you at lunch, Obi, don't forget that Rex and Cody will be saving us seats!"