| Demiguise
Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Winterfell, yo
Posts: 24,206
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Natasha Shenoy
Slytherin Fourth Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Andrea Bowen
Gryffindor Fifth Year |  SUMMER FOREVER
Etta watched the tree freeze the second she cast the spell, her face clearly showing relief. Honestly, if that spell hadn't worked, she would have probably been seriously injured. Giving the tree another look, she quickly made her way to where the cauldron was and picked it up before hurrying back to where the stone was at the front. She wondered what the note was for, though. What did that have to do with anything? She was not clear on whether she had to find the passage or focus on the brewing the potion.. but she decided to go with the latter. Might as well finish it before moving on the next task, yeah? Although.. she kneeled down next to where the ingredients were, looking more than a little worried. This potion was difficult to brew.. and now that she was almost freezing with a crazy tree looking to attack her at some point, it was going to be even more difficult. Could she even do it? She had to give it a try, though. She absently stared at the vials for a few long seconds before deciding to go for it. There was no point in just waiting, anyway.
From the ingredients that were available, it looked like the only potion that she could make was the concentration concoction. She remembered, having made it a while ago.. so she tried to recollect every step of the procedure, hoping against hope that she didn't miss even a step. As far as brewing a potion was concerned, if there was a mistake, even the tiniest of mistakes, she would end up messing up the entire potion.. which only made her panic a little. First, she decided to cast a hot-air charm on herself. The cold-breeze was only making her shiver so a little warmth would be nice and help her concentrate as well. Once she was settled comfortably on the ground, her gaze momentarily flickered towards the Willow for a second. Yes, still frozen. So, now that she had some time.. she quickly moved her vials and the cauldron to the work-station. Time to start brewing the potion. What was the first step again? Oh, yes. Water. This potion required a lot of water. But first, she used Scourgify to clean the cauldron completely. It looked clean enough but it was always better to be careful. Next, she casted an aguamenti in the cauldron.. and stopped until she felt that the water was sufficient enough. She peeked into the cauldron for a second. Yeah.. about one liter of water. She couldn't measure the water, unfortunately. She casted a heating charm next and waited for the water to come to a boil.. meanwhile, she went through all the glass vials, making sure that she had everything necessary to brew the potion.
Soon enough, the water was boiling. Right.. now, what? What went in next? She racked her brains for a moment before realising that she had to soak the Ginkgo Biloba seeds in hot water first. She grabbed a small bowl and a spoon that had been made available on the work-station, thankfully. The girl poured the seeds into the bowl first before adding two teaspoons of the hot water from the cauldron and let the seeds soak in the water for a while. Moving on.. She opened the vial containing the Ginkgo Biloba leaves and dropped them on to the surface, studying them for a minute. They had to be sliced carefully.. and the strips should be about 2mm wide? Or was it 3mm? No.. 3mm would be too wide. Confusion and panic flooded her face for a second, her eyes widening. Oh, gosh. She wasn't sure. Tick, tock. Etta glanced at the tree before giving a small shake of the head. She had to continue.. as fast as possible. She decided to go with 2mm. Her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, she carefully sliced the leaves at about a width of about 2mm approximately. Once she was done, still feeling the panic rising inside of her.. Etta proceeded to add them to the boiling water. Now that the seeds were properly soaked, she put them in the mortar and quickly started to grind them to a paste with a pestle, her gaze still occasionally flickering towards the Willow to make sure it hadn't started moving yet. Within a couple of minutes, she had a fine paste. That didn't take long.. phew. She immediately added it to the cauldron as well, making sure she didn't end up splashing the hot water on her.
So far, so good. It was time to add the leaves now, yes? She counted the Hyssop leaves first to make sure there were exactly twenty before adding them one by one carefully. Once she was done, she moved on to her next bundle of peppermint leaves. Counting once again to make sure there were eighteen leaves, she slowly added them to the mixture as well. Next.. her sixteen basil leaves, fourteen rosemary leaves, 12 citrus leaves, ten lavender leaves and finally eight lavender buds. .... OH. There was a tea candle too.. along with the ingredients. The candle was THE most important ingredient honestly.. the potion literally wouldn't work without it. She set it up on the work-station.. but it needed to be near eye-level, didn't it? She lit the candle using incendio before kneeling down on the ground, her eyes completely focused on the flame. She let her mind go blank as she meditated, taking deep breaths, trying to concentrate as much as possible. She kept her gaze and attention completely focused on the candle, not letting her mind divert at all. After what felt like forever but it was only about fifteen minutes or so.. or maybe a couple of minutes less.. she stood up and got to work again. She reached for the candle and carefully held it over the cauldron, pouring the wax into the brew.
She picked up her wand, her mind suddenly feeling blank. Wait. Wait. WAIT. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the incantation that was to be used.. oh, GOODNESS. Oh, goodness. Oh, she knew it but for some reason.. her brain just wasn't responding. Or maybe she genuinely forgot. After wasting close to five minutes, she finally remembered. Mentis Apertus Okay, okay. She slowly moved her wand in a circle around the cauldron and said, "Mentis Apertus." She repeated it another couple of times before setting her wand down. The panic and the stress was starting to make her sweat.. UGH. Gross. She wiped her forehead, already feeling exhausted. Using a spoon, she carefully fished out all the leaves and flowers from the cauldron. This was taking so much time.. Hurry, Etta. Finally, she put them all in the mortar and used the pestle to grind them into a paste. Thankfully, it didn't take very long. Within a minute, it had formed a very smooth paste which she added to the potion.
Etta was pretty sure she was almost done with the concoction at this point. She gave an audible sigh of relief although she was still very nervous about getting hit by the Willow any second. But, she could cast another freezing spell the second it woke up so.. she was still quite safe for now. She stirred the potion slowly for about twenty times.. or was it thirty? She was never sure about these things. Did it even matter? What if you stir less? Did it make a difference to the potion? Unfortunately, she couldn't find out the answers to these questions at present. Once she finished stirring about 20 times, Etta finally turned off the heat. FINALLY. She picked up two of the empty vials and placed them next to the cauldron and used scourgify to clean them. She slowly filled one vial with the completed potion, then the other.. and there was still some left. WELL. She cleaned another vial before she filled it with the remaining brew. She secured their lids tightly and stared at the contents through the glass. Uh. ............ UH. Hold on. Did she just hear something? She took a couple of steps backwards, dropping the vials into her pocket for safety before raising her wand. Was it the Willow? Or had she just imagined it?
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