Anna followed the professor back into the classroom, ready to begin work on her Aging Potion. She approached the area she would work at and then began to read the instructions that had been posted on the board. The potion didn't seem too difficult to brew. In fact, Anna was pretty confident that she would have success with it. She'd worked with all those ingredients before, just not together as part of an Aging Potion.

Okay...step one was to prepare, weigh, and measure all the ingredients listed. As soon as she'd gotten the red wine, prune juice, hairy fungus, tortoise shell, caterpillars, and bat tongue (ewww) together, Anna started on step two---heating and then stirring the red wine and prune juice. Anna stirred clockwise over and over again, watching the ingredients as they heated and tempted bubbling. The more Anna stirred, the closer the ingredients got to being a purplish-brown color. Soon enough, bubbles rose to the surface. Step two was complete.

Referring to the instructions on the board, Anna added the hairy fungus to the mixture she'd created. When it was safely in the mixture, Anna began stirring clockwise once again, counting the seconds in her head until she reached ten minutes. She'd never much been a clock kind of person. "Nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds...ten minutes," she thought to herself, smiling when she saw the lighter color she'd produced. With her non-stirring hand, Anna dumped the tortoise shell into the cauldron, watching the mixture to wait for it to turn a creamy color.

When it did, Anna waited for eight minutes and then removed the cauldron from the heat. Anna concentrated deeply on her potion, trying to ensure that it'd turn out just as it was supposed to. This type of work would one day be her career, and she wanted to make sure she learned as much as she could now. Anna continued to stir clockwise as she dropped the caterpillars and bat tongue into the cauldron. Anna tapped her finger against the table as she watched her potion, waiting for it to turn the milky white it was supposed to turn. When the potion was its true color and eighteen minutes had passed, Anna moved the potion from the cauldron and into vials. Raising her hand, she said, "Professor, I believe I'm done."