The fifth year raised her wand again and lowered it, and said, "Apto pressura" as per the potion's instructions. She was glad she took detailed notes, or else she would've forgotten this step entirely. Moving a little closer, Althea began to heat the cauldron; the Hufflepuff referred back to her notes before adjusting the heat so that it would be 100°C - why so hot? - and made sure to keep it there. Glancing over at Olivia again, she watched her for a bit before returning to her work. "Ah, Love and Hate. So appropriate for this term, don't you think?" She'd done her fair share of loving and hating, she was too tired from it all. "I'm doing an Emotional Change potion. One for happiness," she said this while chopping the sprigs of lovage, "ironic, considering." Her smile left her lips as she added the lovage to the cauldron and waited for five seconds before adding in the mistletoe berries.

"Makes sense," her smile returned, because Liv was always fun to be around, "we live for all of that drama." Althea moved on to cutting the fluxweed leaves into three pieces and added them promptly after. Well, this wasn't so bad, was it? The girl scanned the area before picking up a stick and stirring clockwise, then counter-clockwise, and continued this way until she'd stirred it fourteen times. Again, this was her issue with Potions: there were too many oddly specific instructions that made no sense whatsoever. Peering into the cauldron, Althea squinted her eyes and got a good look at the color of her potion. It was muddy, alright, and she thanked Helga that it didn't smell or else she would've gave up altogether.

Next, she added the boomslang skin and then sat back to wait before putting in the remaining ingredients.