Alyssa sat up and listened as the Professor gave them their instructions and then she gasped. They were supposed to brew the potion without any directions from her??Alyssa studied the ingredients in front of her. Were they supposed to be chopped up? Grounded up? How many times to stir? Counter clockwise or clockwise? How long to let each ingredient simmer? All those thoughts were running through her brain that it felt like it was about to explode.

Explode? Alyssa had to first protect herself just in case, her potion misfired and its contents melted the cauldron or worse yet, it exploded all over the classroom and her classmates!! She quickly looked into her backback and dug out her safety goggles, fire retardant apron and dragon hide gloves from it. She tied the apron around her waist and then studied the ingredients again. Alyssa decided that she would first write down the steps she would be taking to brew her Essence of Insanity Potion. She still couldn't believe it. She knew that the Professor was capable of anything, but insanity was not one of them. Then she wondered whether maybe the Professor had sampled some of her own Essence of Insanity Potion.

But back to the task at hand. Alyssa began writing down the steps on how she was going to brew her potion. Reviewing her potions journal and the ingredients she had written in them, she picked up her quill and started writing them down.



Now that she had written down the steps that hopefully would help her make the Essence of Insanity potion, Alyssa made sure that she had the ingredients ready in the order that they were going to be used. Once she had done that, she then cleaned the utensils that she would be using. Taking out her mortar and pestle, a knife, a cutting board and a wooden spoon, Alyssa placed them on the work desk in front of her and pointing her wand at each of them, said, "Scourgify". She then holstered her wand and inspected them to make sure that they were clean and ready to be used.

Alyssa was now ready to prepare the potion. Putting on her safety goggles and dragon hide gloves, Alyssa reviewed her journal again before reaching for the knob of the burner and lowering the fire so that the water was just simmering in the cauldron. She then picked up the 5 pieces of Ailhotsy leaves and dropped them in one at a time into the simmering water. One...Two...Three...Four...Five. Then she let the leaves stew in the potion for about 20 minutes as she kept watch over it. Once the last minute hand hit 20, Alyssa picked up her wooden spoon and scooped up all traces of the leaves from the water before placing them on her work desk. Then she turned up the heat on the burner until the water began to boil again.

Next she added the 5 lovage leaves into the water and began to stir clockwise until the water began to change color. When it did so, Alyssa then turned the knob of the burner down again, until the water was at simmering temperature. She did this because the next ingredient she was going to add was Re'em's blood and she knew how volatile it could get. Picking up the vial of Re'em's blood and slowly dripped it into the mixture. "One..Two...Three...Four...Five"Alyssa counted as each drop was added in. She made very sure not to stir the mixture just yet. While she let the mixture simmer, Alyssa placed the 5 bursting mushrooms on a cutting board, picked up the knife and slowly sliced them up into little pieces. Then she picked up the cutting board, placed it over the cauldron and scraped the bits into it adding them into the mixture. She watched as the mushroom bits sank and blended in with the mixture. Now to add the 5 inches of asphodel root.

Alyssa placed the 5 inches of asphodel root into her mortar and picking up her pestle, pressed down hard on it, grinding it down and breaking up the root into pieces. She continued to grind until she had ground all the pieces down to powdered form. She then poured the powdered Asphodel root into the cauldron, adding it into the mixture. Turning up the heat on the burner again until the water began to boil, Alyssa picked up her wooden spoon and began stirring the mixture counter clockwise 5 times. "One...Two...Three...Four...Five." When she had finished stirring, she put down the wooden spoon and added the 5 tablespoons of chooped Fwooper voice box into the mixture. Next she picked up the 5 Flowers of Brungmasia, and shredded them over the cauldron, adding the bits into the simmering mixture. Picking up her wooden spoon again, Alyssa stirred the mixture clockwise 5 times this time. "One...Two...Three...Four...Five"

Next she had to crush the snake fangs. Dropping the 5 Snake Fangs into her mortar, Alyssa picked up the pestle again and adding pressure to it, broke the Snake Fangs into bits, and then started grinding it down until it turned into powder. Alyssa then slowly poured the powdered Snake Fangs into the cauldron adding it to the mixture. Picking up her wooden spoon again, she stirred the mixture first 2 times counter clockwise and then she switched direction and stirred it clockwise 3 times.

Alyssa then added the 5 ounces of wormwood and as she started to drop them in, she continued to stir the mixture in a clockwise direction until the 5 ounces of wormwood were thoroughly mixed into the potion mixture. Now for the last ingredient. Alyssa picked up the 5 sneezewort petals, and as she did so, she started to sneeze. "Ahchoo...Aaaahchoo...Aaaahchoo" It was then she realized that she had forgotten to hold her breath while picking up the sneezewort. She belatedly remember that one of the side effects of getting too close to that specific flower, sneezing uncontrollably. Alyssa quickly dropped the flowers into the cauldron and as they sank into the mixture, her sneezing stopped. She rubbed her nose with her robe sleeve before picking up her wooden spoon and stirred the boiling mixture counter clockwise 5 times. "One...Two...Three...Four...Five" Alyssa counted them off.

Then picking up her wand, she concentrated on what she wanted the spell to do and tapping it once over the cauldron, said,"Essentia Furor". Her potion was done...or least she hoped it was. Only time would tell. But for now, Alyssa reviewed the steps in her journal to make sure that she had followed them as accurately as possible and at the same time checked off her list of ingredients.



All she had to do now was to turn down the burner and let the potion simmer in the cauldron until the Professor made her appearance. As she kept watch, Alyssa decided that she would start clearing up her workstation. Cleaning up the utensils she had used, she waved her wand over them and said, "Scourgify".

Picking up the remnants of the Ailhosty leaves with a piece of tissue, she walked over to the trash bin and dropped it in, before walking back to her workstation and sitting down. She then kept watch over her brewing potion.