So…they were going to do this on their own? This class was getting weirder by the minute. First, it was his Head of House not being herself, and even asked to throw her questions about anything related to Potions. This time, she told the class to start brewing their final potion. And how fitting was it to have it named “Essence of Insanity”? Mordred briefly looked at Lafay who returned to her seat and watched her class. Was she just going to sit there and not give out instructions? Had she been brewing this potion lately and has caused her to be a tad insane? She better not blame them for blowing up her classroom—although on second thought, she might.



Having that theory up in his head, he opened his Potions book and looked at the potion that they were about to brew. And would you look at that? The book just mentioned the potion and that was that. He looked at Lafay again with uncertainty on his face and went back to his book. “Ooookay. Looks like I’m on my own.” He murmured to himself and gripped the sides of his work table, looked around his desk and contemplated on what he should do next. Since the book was slightly of no help, he got his journal and quill out and copied the ingredients off his book and cross checked it with Lafay’s notes on the board.





He looked at his notes once more and got his book again. Since he was working on his own, he figured that he must reference every single ingredient to get an idea on how to harvest its essences. Mordred started off with the first ingredient which was Alihotsy Leaves. It said on the book that such leaves cause Hysteria. He wrote it down again and pondered whether it should be chopped, crushed or to boil it with water. He wrote down his three methods of harvesting its juices and decided to have it chopped then crushed before adding it to the water by encircling the chosen words. Next was Lovage leaves. This particular leaf is said to inflame the brain. Mordred nodded and decided that it too should be chopped and crushed finely to get the effect. He eyed each and every ingredient on the list and checked it over and over in his books scribbling notes beside each item, occasionally crossing out processes that he thinks are not necessary. He had a hard time researching for the other ingredients, either it’s because it wasn’t in the book or it had vague descriptions. He placed his quill down and went over his made up steps while trying his very best to ignore his classmates…well, weird behavior.







Cracking his knuckles, he looked and studied his process over and over again, and started with the first step. He took the cauldron, cleaned it with a cleaning spell and placed it over the burner and filled it with water half way. He took his wand and murmured “Incendio” and went back to his list. While waiting for the water to boil, he took the mortar and pestle that was on his desk, and also a small knife to aid him with the chopping. Mordred cleaned his “kitchen” utensils with a cleaning spell and started to chop both the Alihotsy and Lovage leaves making sure that they don’t mix. He placed the first mound into the mortar and pounded it with the pestle. A strange smell came off it and he wrinkled his nose as the vapor reached his nose. He fought the urge to giggle since it would be weird to be laughing while doing the potion…or maybe not? His cauldron made a bubbling sound which prompted him that the water was already boiling. He looked at his instruction again and lowered the flame. He dumped the crushed Alihotsy leaves and its juice and added the chopped and pounded Lovage leaves. It made a hissing sound as he added the juice and a thick vapor came out of the cauldron. He debated with himself if it was a good or bad thing—but really, he wouldn’t know since this was his first time to brew such potion.



The next step came easy, which was the Re’em’s Blood. He added 5 drops to the solution, “1,2,3,4…5.” And went back to his list. Next was Bursting Mushroom. Before hand, Mordred knew that this was going to be tricky. How in Merlin’s underpants will he be able to slice the mushroom if it said ‘bursting’? He reached for the box of Bursting Mushroom and the ingredient started to move. Mordred opened the lid and the mushroom started to move violently. The ingredient started to swell and it prompted Mordred to stand up, grab his wand and pointed it to the box. “Merlin, it’s going to EXPLODE!” he heard his panicked voice inside his head, and waved his wand to cast a Freezing Charm. “IMMOBULUS!” The mushroom remained in its swelled state but it did stop moving. “That…was a close one.” He muttered to himself and got back to his list. He placed a note beside the ingredient and scribbled: Cast a Freezing Charm to BURSTING Mushroom.



He tossed his quill to the side and got five of the frozen mushrooms and sliced it thinly diagonally and tossed those in the cauldron. It made bubbling sounds again as the mushrooms hit the bottom of the cauldron. Mordred didn’t hear it though since he was too busy placing the rest of the Bursting Mushrooms back on the supply tray. He looked at his modified instruction and started to mix the solution counter-clockwise five times with a ladle and moved on to the next step.



He took a piece of Asphodel Root, and made sure it was 5 inches long. He got his knife and sliced the excess length of the root and placed it inside the cauldron. He wiped the knife with a cloth and started to chop the Fwooper’s voice box. As he chopped the ingredient, weird tiny sounds came out of it filling his head with unusual thoughts. He stopped chopping the voice box and the sound that came from it stopped too making his train of thought go back to normal. He easily figured out what just happened and looked around him if he could find a pair of earmuffs. For obvious reasons he didn’t find any and decided to do the next best thing to chop the rest of the voice box. He hummed loudly as he chopped the ingredient to counter-act its effect. At this point, he didn’t care if he gets weird stares. This was after all, making the Essence of Insanity. Relieved, he scooped 5 tablespoons of chopped Fwooper Voice Box and dumped it inside the cauldron. He wiped his hands with the cloth he found on his table and immediately let go of it as the “cooking” voice box started to “sing” in the weirdest voice. Mordred immediately stuck both of his index fingers in his ears to prevent himself from hearing the sound.



“LALALALALALALA” he said loudly as the voice box continued to make sounds. It gradually toned down and left Mordred sitting there with his fingers stuck in his ear looking stupid. Deeming it was safe to remove his make-shift earmuffs; he got his parchment again and took down notes.



Their classroom was starting to heat up and the boy unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled it up just above his elbows. While rolling his other sleeve he took a peek at his instructions and pressed his lips together. Next was Brugmansia. According to Lafay, this flower is used in Divination. Mordred picked up the flower and studied it. As he brought it closer to his face, he was able to catch the scent of the flower, which actually smelled nice. He sniffed it again wondering whether he should slice it up or steep. As he debated again with himself, he felt woozy and dropped the flower on his desk. He felt weird, but in a nice way. He looked around him and caught sight of their Head of House.



Mordred, for some reason stared at her. “She is looking mighty fiiiiine.” Clearly his thoughts were messing up with him that he caught himself gawking at Lafay with a weird grin and dreamy eyes. It was a good thing that there was still enough oxygen in the room to balance out the effect of the flower. The boy snapped back to reality and hoped that Lafay didn’t catch him. He came to his conclusion that he’d rather steep the flower than slice it up. He guessed that if he wanted a stronger essence, then slicing it would be the best option. He grabbed the sides of his table once more and hung his head to calm his mind. “This potion should never be underestimated.” Simply because it toys with the brewer’s mind. He got his parchment again and scribbled down some notes about not sniffing the flower…or ANYTHING for that matter. He tossed his quill to the side once more and dumped one flower in to the cauldron. Strong vapors came out of it once more and Mordred inhaled a fair amount of it. The same sensation came to him and he looked at the front of the classroom where Lafay was seated. Mordred pictured her to be flaunting and flipping her hair and shaking her head to make her hair fall into place, and then pouting her lips…all in slow motion. “What is happening…?” Confusion came and the boy shook his head violently trying his best to forget what he saw.



That flower was going to be the death of him. He covered his nose with his arm and eyed the remaining flowers on his desk and his cauldron. He can’t take much of what he just saw and thought of a way to accomplish this step. He turned his back against his desk, loosened his green tie and took deep breaths. “Okay, I need a charm to block off the scent…” he thought to himself as he tried his best to forget his previous visions. He came up with another solution and that is to cast a Bubble Head Charm on himself to prevent him from inhaling the vapor, which he did. He faced his desk again with a bubble covering his nose and mouth supplying him with fresh oxygen as he dumped the remaining flowers in to the cauldron. He watched the fumes go up from his cauldron and cringed at the thought of inhaling it. He took his parchment and quill again and scribbled another important note. "Evil flowers."



Inhaling deeply, he eyed the next step and his note. Snake Fangs; crushed but not powdery. He cleaned his mortar and pestle again and dropped five snake fangs in it and started to crush it. “That should do…” he placed the mortar over the cauldron and added the crushed snake fangs in it making hissing sounds once more. He got the Wormwood next and added 5 ounces to the solution then picked 5 petals off the Sneezewort and added it too to the solution. He stood up from his seat and mixed the solution 5 times counter-clockwise and grimaced at the sight of the Brugmansia. He looked down at his instruction, and turned down the burner’s flame to lowest and waited for his solution to settle. He was happy that the solution came out okay..no explosions whatsoever—but the hallucinations were...well, overwhelming. As he waited for the 5 minutes to be over, Mordred re-wrote his own instruction with the important notes and tucked away his writing materials and notebook as soon as he was done.









Standing up again, he got himself a tray and a pair of tongs and started to pick on the Brugmansia flower. He got them off the solution and placed them on the tray. Once he got all five out of the potion, he completely turned off the flame and sat back on his chair. He cleaned all of his tools and placed them back where he found them and did a staring game with the sad looking flowers on his tray.



Angel’s trumpet, huh? Right.



He got hold of his wand and muttered “Evanesco” pointing at the flowers, and it was gone. Simultaneously he muttered “Scourgify” to the tray and placed it back to the side of his work table. He wondered though if he should remove his “gas mask” since he was done with the potion, but thought that it was a best not to take off the charm since he had classmates who are far more reckless than he is. So he just sat there and watched the innocent steam come off from his cauldron.