Ethan nodded slowly, thinking over Alec's words, and peered into the cauldron. "Yes, I think these ingredients will go well together.. I'm sure there are a few potions that have at least a couple of these ingredients in them." And they worked, right? He looked back at Alec, giving him a smile and confident nod. "I don't think they would counter-balance or anything like that.." And if they did, they could at least say they gave it a good effort.

He started chopping up the daisy roots with his knife and glanced up at Alec as he seemed on board with the whole ointment and taking inflammation away idea. "That's exactly right," he grinned. "Ever make bruise paste? It'll be sort of like that.. now you got the idea.." Ethan was so sure this was going to work now.. he was starting to get excited about it.

Daisy roots were done and he moved onto the mandrake leaves, chopping them up as well. Then he looked up as Alec offered his assistance in that respect. "Oh.. no, I got these.. maybe you could grind up the nettles with the mortar and pestle? It helps to extract the juices." He gestured towards the equipment he had set out earlier, then asked, "Did you bring your own gloves? There are some in my bag if you didn't.. it's best to handle those with gloves." If not, it was quite possible to get stung by the hairs and come away with a rash or inflammation. Ironic, since they were trying to create a potion that would remove that.

"To be honest, I think we should add all the flobberworm mucous.." he started, looking over at Alec to see if he agreed. "We want it to be really thick to use it as an ointment.. plus I think the bubotuber pus will help with that.. and if it gets too thick, the leeches should help in absorbing some of the viscosity.. um, I think anyway." It sounded good to him.. but really, he'd leave that part up to Alec. He could add as much or little as he thought was necessary.

"Hmm?" he looked up from finishing chopping the mandrake leaves as Alec asked a question. "Oh.. well, I'm just learning, I guess," he said with the hint of a proud grin. "I can do Scourgify.. and almost an effective Aguamenti.. but they're easy ones I've been doing forever. Just staring to try to do them non-verbally." He slid all the chopped leaves into a neat little pile and set his knife down. "Um.. sure," he said uncertainly, though he tried to act confident and knowledgeable. Would it turn green..? He wasn't completely sure.

He looked over the ingredients for a moment before turning back to the Hufflepuff. "Um.. I'm not sure what order, that's a good point though.." He thought about it for a moment. "What do you think of this? Water, then flobberworm mucous.. then we'll do the plants - daisy root, mandrake leaves, nettles.. then the bubotuber pus and we'll try the leeches, one-by-one, to see how much suctioning off it'll need.. then the chocolate frog at the end. Though I think it will be more for the smell than flavor if it's applied topically rather than ingested. It might offset the smell of bubotuber pus." He shot Alec a grin, wondering what he thought of his idea.. because, you know, that stuff smelled like petrol and all.

He peered into the cauldron again. "Okay.. the water is boiling. So, you can add the flobberworm mucous if you want.. and whatever amount you think, really.. I'm just making an estimate. Then stir? We should probably stir after each ingredient.." That would mix it all in best, right? "Then I can put in the chopped roots and leaves." As long as Alec was okay with Ethan's thoughts..