Professor of Potions

Professor Leela Tamboli, 31, she/her/hers

[leelatamboli-blog]

Challenge #3

Leela had a lot of crushes when she was younger, but not more than any of her friends. However, when her teenage years came around she realized that her crushes were just a bit different than the ones her friends had. While her friends talked about how ‘hot’ or ‘attractive’ their crushes were, she would be talking about how intelligent or funny hers were.

Her first real crush was when she was twelve. He was her best friend and, though he didn’t really understand her religion, they got along really well and had a lot of fun together. She told him everything - he was one of the few people she trusted with her family issues - and he would tell her jokes to cheer her up. They slowly fell into the dating thing and would see each other every night. She barely saw her other friends but she didn’t really mind at the time because she thought she was in love.

One night, they were hanging out in a secluded corner of the school and he slipped his hand under her shirt. She pushed him off of her and shook her head. She felt weird for not wanting that because a lot of her friends did, but she just didn’t feel like it was a good time and she told him that. He got angry and started yelling about her religion and how she must not love him, and he stormed off leaving her crying on the floor.

[flynngodfrey-blog]

Flynn always liked making sure all of his i’s were dotted and his t’s crossed before the weekend, the idea of spending the whole weekend entirely with either Noah or his books. And sometimes, both. Tamboli hadn’t been there the entire time Flynn had attended Hogwarts, her predecessor is whom originally got Flynn into potions. But she was a close second, her personality was often fun to be around. He had a few questions regarding the following year, he hoped she could answer them. “Professor Tamboli?” He opened the door carefully, but then walked in at her request. “Hello, I just had a few questions.”

Tamboli put Love, Leela at the bottom of her letter and looked up to see the student that had entered. She smiled at Flynn, knowing that he was a pretty good student on his own and he probably only had minor questions. She nodded and gestured toward a seat in front of her desk. “Go ahead and sit down. Ask away.” She stowed the letter and her quill away as he came in. “What would you like to know?”

[ted-thelupin-deactivated2016071]

Teddy had only been awake 5 minutes before a student had stopped him, asking him for advice. Him being him had listened and helped, but by the time the student had finished, the great hall was emptying and Teddy had to make his way towards the kitchen. He smiled softly as he saw a familiar face. “Hey.”

[leelatamboli-blog]

Leela had been working late on grading papers and completely missed dinner without realizing it. She knew the Great Hall would be empty soon if it wasn’t already, so she decided to skip a stop and just go straight to the kitchens. She brought a couple of the papers with her to read along the way and didn’t notice there was another person going to the kitchens as well until they spoke. She looked up to see who it was and smiled softly when she saw a fellow staff member. “Hi,” she replied. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the difference in accents between her and almost everyone else there, even with one-syllable replies. “Running a little late getting to dinner as well?” she asked. She did this quite often - she very frequently got caught up in her work - and didn’t normally see other people doing the same thing as her.

[leelatamboli-blog]

Leela normally rose quite early every morning to get all her religious practices in before she had to teach hordes of students. It wasn't required to get these prayer sessions of sorts in, but old habits die hard, especially ones that originated in childhood. Her body had grown used to staying up late studying - now grading papers - and rising early, and she no longer felt like she needed a solid eight hours of sleep.

Every Friday, when she finished up her rituals, she sat down at her desk and wrote a letter to her parents, detailing her week of classes, prayer, and grading. She couldn't imagine it would be exciting to read but she knew her parents enjoyed hearing from her and knowing she was doing alright. That was their main concern when she went off to learn magic: that she would be alright on her own in a new environment. Well if her parents thought Salem's School for Witches was a new environment, working at a school halfway across the world was a whole other universe.

She was nearly finished with her letter when she heard a knock on her office door. "Come on in, I'm nearly finished."