It was time for him to carry out the steps, Professor Cullodeen assigned them to do next. Cris quickly wrote down the steps as the Professor recited them making sure he had everything written down carefully. The last thing he needed to do was botch his first potion in his very first potions lesson at this school.



Reviewing what he had just written down, Cris turned to the burner under his cauldron and adjusted the heat, turning the knob down to medium. Now he had 5 minutes to prepare the ingredients. Slipping on a clean pair of gloves over his hands, while keeping a close eye on his watch, Cris pulled out his mortar and pestle, a cup, a metal stirring spoon and mixing bowl.

He first cleaned the mixing bowl. Pointing his wand inside it he said,"Scourgify". Then he moved on to the cup, stirring spoon, mortar and pestle before ending the spell. Holstering his wand, he carefully inspected all five items and once he was satisfied, Cris picked up the cup and walked up the Professor's desk. Picking up the container, he poured the re'em blood into the cup.

Once he had a cupful, Cris placed the container back on the desk and returned to his workstation. Measuring out the required amount of salamander blood, Cris poured both types of blood into his mixing bowl. Next, he picked up the stirring spoon and proceeded to mix the blood, first stirring five times clockwise....one..two..three..four..five...before switching directions, and stirring five times in a counter clockwise direction.

One...two...three...four...five.

Three minutes left....

Picking up the griffin claw with his finger tips, Cris dropped it into his mortar. With the pestle, he began crushing the claw. Crush...crush...pause to inspect...crush again. Once he was satisfied that he had thoroughly crushed the claw to its appropriate consistency, Cris put down the pestle.

Checking his watch, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't think he would be able to do it, but he had everything prepared with a few seconds to spare. Mental pat on the back.

Picking up his quill again, Cris updated his journal.



Putting down his quill, he kept watch over his cauldron while he waited for further instructions. As he sat, Cris realized two things. How the Professor had stressed not using magic while they were crushing the claw and second using a metal spoon. Wondering whether there was any significance, Cris raised his hand to ask.

"Professor, you stressed that we not use magic while crushing the claw. Would using magic somehow affect the effects of the potion itself? You also told us to use a metal spoon. Was it just a matter of preference or does using a wooden spoon, like the use of magic, affect the potion in some way?"