| Dwarf
Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: #8000FF
Posts: 35,308
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Amelia "Mia" Adair
Slytherin Sixth Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Leigh Upstead
Hufflepuff Fifth Year  x11
|  be curious, not judgmental
Text Cut: Culloden Quote:
Originally Posted by StarShine  Oh, Sophie B answering S.N., and Vesper B. joining in. Cosgrach listened to all three girls with a content expression, HAPPY that they were discussing, and in the end, he was smiling. "I have to agree with S.B.," he said, "because for me as well, 'manipulation' has a negative meaning. It is changing the body or mind," he glanced over Vesper, because she'd directly said mental or physical, "in an evil way. So, with this mindset, it really is hard to use a curative potion to manipulate, as Miss Brown has put it. But an elixir to induce euphoria or calming draught can be used for both: to manipulate or to help." Was that a bit clearer now? "As for the laws, Sophie N, I meant the mortal, legislative laws." No more answers? Okay. Time to move on, then.
"Thank you for the great answers, everyone," he said as he started walking around the class slowly, "as some of you were confused, I must say: I use the word 'manipulation' with a negative meaning and I wanted to hear the potions or spells that aim to change the subject physically or mentally so that it benefits someone else.
"So, some of these potions and spells are regulated by rules, and some aren't. Today, we will focus on a potion whose usage was prohibited ages ago, and it is still forbidden to use it for formal courts and interrogations." He deliberately stopped by Sophie Newell's desk and fished out a vial of potion for her. He didn't explain anything, though - this was almost a sort of test to see how ambitious she was: would she keep listening, or would she be too distracted? Well, the professor wasn't distracted at all, and his explanation continued at a medium pace in case people were taking notes: "Its name is 'Cabeza de Turco' - meaning, a scapegoat in English. The exact date of creation is unknown, but it was created some time between 1542 - the creation of Spanish Inquisition and 1689 - the Signing of International Statute of Secrecy. For those who don't know the Spanish Inquisition: It was one of the most cruel court the world has ever seen - created by the Roman Catholic Church to punish people whose religious beliefs were considered wrong. Guilty or not guilty, the people denied their supposed sins, because..." His shuddered. The punishments WERE harsh. "As you can guess, there were also fanatic wizard priests in the court, and they came up with this potion: Take a cup of this, and you will spill the beans! It made you confess the sins you have, they said, but that wasn't the truth: It made people feel guilty. Lots. And it was extra powerful on muggles," he didn't even feel the need to explain why, "so people started confessing things they didn't do. They even -" He made a face, and skipped that part. It was nasty. Anyways. "Well, then the Statue came into effect, and it was forbidden to use on muggles. So, it was taken to las Americas." Because who would listen to the law? "These part of its history isn't very clear, but it is thought that it was used on muggle locals there for their enslavement. The rest, you know." Hundreds of thousands, dead or assimilated. Well. "But it was used for wizards. Until they've finally understood the mechanism. Now, as I've already said before, it's forbidden to use in courts."
That was some information, wasn't it? Cosgrach'd reached the front of the classroom, and took a breath.
"As West has already pointed out, some emotions are universal whereas some people just lack the others. Guilt is so, as well. Some people feel guilty a lot, some just don't care. As this is a manipulative potion, it won't affect everyone the same. Some will think that helping the elderly is a terrible thing to do, whereas the others will hardly be convinced making someone cry is bad." He looked at them. "It depends on how strong your will is, and whether you have a conscience to begin with. If you don't, it will be harder to manipulate you." He smiled then - he was curious to see who was strong and who was weak.
"And now, we begin. Please grate half a unicorn horn." Yeah, her intentions of commenting on what the other Sophie had said hadn't been entirely pure and innocent, and certainly Culloden knew that, but at least he didn't give her away by giving her any knowing sort of looks. He was playing it cool, and she appreciated that - and she also appreciated Vesper chiming in. Good on you, Ves. Grinning as she was referred to as "S.B.," Sophie didn't look at all surprised that the professor was agreeing with her. Obviously he was. And then when he told the other Sophie which kind of laws he meant - ha! Made her look dumb, didn't they?
Was everyone paying attention? Did they see who the superior third year Sophie was? Made them think twice about their previous life choices? Hm? Yeah, she showed them.
As Culloden got into the pre-potion making lecture, she scooted her parchment and self-inking quill in front of her, taking notes as he spoke and not even noticing the potion he gave to Slytherin Sophie. It was interesting to hear all this history and insight to its former uses, but the potion itself was kind of... disheartening. She didn't want to be made to feel guilty, assuming he was going to have them try it. She rarely experienced guilt over anything, really, since she usually believed things happened for a reason and didn't always realize if she hurt anyone's feelings - it wasn't that she was careless, but she was... strongly opinionated and strong-willed and felt no regret for putting someone in their place. Heh. Oops.
She wondered how Culloden would react to the potion, then. Had he taken it before? She... didn't think he was a particularly guilty person, as they were a lot alike. He definitely had to take it with them. FOR SCIENCE.
With her workstation, materials, and utensils already cleaned, Sophie just had to move her parchment and quill aside once she was done writing the ingredients and used her wand to clean her hands and the tabletop in front of her again. And her gloves once more, while she was at it. No such thing as too clean. She set her wand aside and slid her gloves on, eyeing the ingredients she had written down as she did so. Hippogriff feathers? That was a cool ingredient. But the Fwooper voice chords? THAT... was something else. She'd never heard of that used in a potion before. Sort of cool, but... strange. Very strange.
Sifting through her potions kit, Sophie picked out a unicorn horn and marveled at it for a second. For all her materials, she tried not to peek at them too much when she bought them, for she wanted them to be as untouched as possible before using them - but now she thought it was cool to be holding half a unicorn horn. She certainly knew the value of it. Another one of those ingredients to be super careful with, just like the dragon's heart from the last class. Though... maybe not QUITE as valuable as the dragon heart. But. Still an expensive ingredient that she knew better than to mess with, so she was careful to measure out and grate half of it into her bowl with as much precision as possible, even though she was cringing a little at the sound it made. NO MISTAKES HERE.
__________________  |