On this Friday morning, the third week in January, a Potions lesson might be the last thing on your minds before the weekend. But at least when you enter the dungeon corridor towards the potion classroom you'll be greeted with the customary warming charms in both the corridor and the classroom. Not too warm as it could impact potion brewing, but a comfortable 22-23 degree celsius. And of course the bright colours and portraits that Professor Adara worked hard to adorn the walls with over the last 18 months to try to make the dungeons less dreary.

The potions mistress can be found near the front of the classroom. Don't underestimate her cheery, bubbly personality as she won't tolerate tardiness. "Good morning, go ahead and set up your brewing stations. We'll get started shortly."


Lesson Progression
Q1: Provide a joke or funny anecdote
Potion Brewing: Steps 1-6; Steps 7-12; Steps 13-16

Quick clarification

Q2: Some possible uses for the laughing potion?

ooc: this may be the first IC lesson, but not the first OOC lesson. Come post your arrivals and we'll get started officially in about 24-25 hours from now Lesson has started !!!

With Christmas and now her thirteenth birthday behind her, Sloane strolled into the classroom early and of course she was wrapped up warm. Upon opening the door however, the temperature of the classroom made itself apparent and with it came the shedding of layers as she walked towards one of the brewing stations. She did, however have her school robes on as she wasn’t eager to receive another detention for that.

“Morning Professor. What’s on the cards today? Can we brew some Polyjuice potion this year?”

Why Polyjuice potion, you may ask? Well, that was a story for a different day.

With her emerald green cloak folded neatly, her gloves tucked in the pockets and her hat on the cloak, Sloane set out to get ready for the lesson. As she did so however, she couldn't help but day dream slightly about her winter break, the ski slopes in Europe and how much fun she'd actually had with her mothers, something that surprised her deeply. Much like everything in her life however, this also left the second year Slytherin feeling a mixture of emotions. To those around her however, the same scowling face could be seen, dimly lit by gentle flame underneath her cauldron.

How was it January already? How was it halfway through his second year?

Ary could not quite understand why the time was rushing by. But since it waited for no one, he now found himself stepping into the dungeon classroom where Potions lessons were held. This hadn’t been a long trek for him from his dorms.

Spotting Adara, he gave her a finger wiggle wave before beelining for the station right beside Sloane. Ary gave his friend a [/i]wide[/i] smirk. “Why the frown, friend?” Also. he was so going to keep an eye on her should she want to cause any trouble during this lesson. Yes, this was the sort of friendship these two Slytherins had.

Potions wasn’t Aurora’s best subject but it was one she would be trying her hardest in considering that a decent grade would afford her better opportunities in the future. The problem she found in potions was in the waiting. The Ravenclaw had a serious lack of patience when it came to such a thing, she was all go-go-go and waiting around for her cauldron to brew didn’t align with that. She was working on it though with exams coming up the following year it would be important for her to at least try.

Bright and early as always, a soft smile on her perky face as she sauntered her way into the classroom and plopped herself down in a random seat in the middle somewhere. It was a long trek from the Ravenclaw common room to the dungeons but Aurora appreciated that Adara kept the environment bright and cheery and didn’t bring any of the doom and gloom that a typical dungeon did. She, of course, gave the Professor a greeting in the way of a big beam and a quick ‘hello’ before setting up her things at her station.

Potions was not this second year's best class but Bryony still enjoyed it all the same. There were times when careless mistakes were made, but normally she really did try her very best. This was a class that required serious control and focus and well.. while she had focus (when doing things she loved), control could be tough. Sitting still was hard! So was waiting. Needless to say, it was a class that she needed to be watched in a lot of the time.

How it was the nearing the end of January, this little blonde didn't know. But what she did know was, her holiday break had been beyond EPIC! She was another year old and the owner of the bestest Griff ever! And the excitement of it all still hadn't settled down for her. Life was great!

Entering the Potions classroom, Bry first gave the Professor a warm smile. "Good morning, Professor." Cue the customary wiggle fingers as she looked for a station closest to Ary as per usual. Sliding into an empty seat she gave both him and Sloane bright smiles and wiggled her fingers at them before beginning to take out her things for the lesson.

For anyone tracking her mood, Mona looked calmer in general these days. For one, she wasn't upset at her brother anymore. She'd come to the terms with the fact that all he tried to do was to help her, and she also realized that life was easier when someone was helping her homework. He had to acknowledge he had been a little too protective, and he only helped when Mona needed him to... or so he tried to stay out of her business. The other big revelation she had was that although Logan Paton was cute, he was going to be graduating very soon and Mona didn't want to waste her time on someone who would be leaving her. She wasn't all about long-distance relationships and looking forward to the Hogsmeade trips, no sir. Therefore, she now had her eyes on... Reuben Albert Darcy-Stemp, fourth year from Hufflepuff. Although she wasn't into long-distance, she also was not going to date someone her age! 12-year old boys were too immature and gross, and Mona-Dee had standards. Therefore, although potions wasn't her favourite class... she still looked forward to it in case she might see Reuben and have a chance to talk to him.

"Hello professor!" she chirped, and looked around. Reuben wasn't here yet... she was visibly disappointed, and sat somewhere with lots of empty seats around so that he might - maybe - choose to sit around.

Thank goodness, this hallway is heated.

Meandering through the corridors of the dungeons, with that single thought in mind, was Archie. An imaginative third year Slytherin, but one who absolutely hated the cold. Being more of a spring or summer person, when the weather is at least somewhat nice and warm, there would still be an air of gratitude about himself while making his way over to the Potion's classroom. Seeing as this was quite literally the lowest floor of the castle one could get to combined with the natural fact that hot air rises, without the charm that was currently in place on the hallway...it would be, extremely frigid otherwise. But, Archer didn't need to worry about that and was very thankful for the fact that the place was nice and toasty.

Getting into the classroom, it would be the same. As such, the mood of the O'Brien snake would be reflected in a similar manner. Smiling and waving while making his way to one of the desks towards the middle of the room, he'd greet the Professor "Good morning Professor Adara!" Several other waves to his housemates, Sloane, Ary, and Bry as well. That wasn't to discredit anyone else in the room either, those were just the first few people he'd offer the non-verbal hello to; also giving a like-minded enthusiastic wave to the others (Aurora and Mona). Before class would begin, he'd go about setting up his gear.

How was it already January? It seemed as if Desiree had just blinked, and her last year at Hogwarts was half over! Thoughts of the impending goodbyes to her friends and professors reared their ugly head, but she pushed them aside. There would be time to get emotional later. Now she still had half a term’s worth of classes, and she needed an O on her Potions NEWT to get into a decent university healer program.

She entered the classroom, perking up immediately at the warmer temperatures and bright decor. “Good morning, Professor Adara,” she greeted, giving the professor a polite smile and wave. More smiles and waves followed for the other students as she claimed an empty workstation. “Hi, everyone!”

Desiree neatly set out her cauldron and other brewing equipment, looking to the front of the room as she finished. Hmm, not many clues to what they’d be brewing today, but she supposed she’d find out soon enough!

After a few more moments, it seemed as though everyone had made it to potions class on time this morning, so it was time to get started. "Good morning everyone, so lovely to see you all bright eyed today. I know we all are probably looking forward to the weekend, but before we can get there, time for another Potions class." She smiled broadly, having not given away any clues as to today's potion. But they would learn soon enough, as just like many of them she too didn't like to wait.

"Today’s potion is one that is a rather advanced level and pun completely intended, but it’s no laughing matter." Professor Adara began, looking around at the lot. "I have full confidence that with enough focus, you all have the mental discipline to brew an adequate potion. Before we begin, let’s lighten the mood in here with some jokes because you’ll need to be prepared to snigger several times for todays potion. And often some jokes will have a lingering effect of making you smile."

"So in an effort to keep the mood uplifted, let's start with telling your best joke or sharing a funny anecdote."


ooc: Yes the question is as simple as that, not quite potions related .... although the jokes can be. Obviously they must be kept SS-appropriate, but share a joke / something funny !! Oh and we'll continue in about 22-24 hours <3

The professors reply, whilst making the second year smile ever so slightly but it didn’t go unnoticed that she didn’t reply to her second question. She did however, let it drop as Ary had just turned up.

“Oh, nothing really. My birthday was the other day and…” but as she went to elaborate, Bry turned up to join them. Offering a smile to Bry, Sloane quickly turned towards Ary and whispered “I’ll tell you later.” With a small nod towards Archie who’d also just arrived, Sloane turned her attention to the professor who was starting the lesson.

She needn’t bother however because they were going to be telling jokes? With a slight frown on her face, Sloane put her hand up instantly. “iS this a joke, Professor?” It wasn’t that she minded not doing any work per say, it was just…well, she did mind. It was Friday afternoon and the sooner they started the actual work, the sooner she could head back to her common room and relax. Despite her question, something told her that it in fact wasn’t a joke and that she was actually expected to come up with some funny joke or anecdote.

“wELL, I was in this lesson one time and the professor actually asked us to come up with a funny joke or anecdote and well…” she figured she didn’t need to finish her sentence. It would have been mean to say the lesson was a joke, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t suggest it and then deny it later.

Kion had slipped in with the other students before class began officially. He took the time cleaning his cauldron before starting it up when class started off. Sharing something funny? Kion could occasionally say funny things, but put on the spot made him unsure what to say.

Kion did blink though at the younger girl insinuating that this lesson was a joke itself. After a moment, something did pop into his head, "What did the Sickle say when the Galleon said they could fit 493?... He was Knuts."

It had been Sloane’s birthday recently? And she hadn’t said anything to him? Hadn’t Ary known what Sloane’s personality was like, he probably would have been offended. Since he wasn’t, he whispered ‘happy belated birthday’ to her then nodded about her telling him stuff later. “Okay, I’ll be all ears when the time comes.” Ary set down his potions textbook on one corner of his workstation as Bry arrived. He gave the girl bestie a huge smile in response to her wiggling fingers. As did Archie and Desiree.

An advanced level potion was today’s focus? Ary unintentionally arched an eyebrow slightly with wonderment and interest. For this lesson, he would need to do his best to channel his dad Adi who was a whiz at Potions. But what was this about a joke? Er… no thanks? Jokes were not his thing because Ary certainly hadn’t an ounce of talent when it came to telling one or delivering the contents of it. Kion’s though got a chuckle from him.

Ooo how fun. Not only would the lesson prove to be something more advanced that could provide a nice challenge as stated by Professor Adara, but the first question was a bit of the opposite while still being equally as fun of a task; telling a joke. Cause who didn't love a good joke?

Certainly not Archie. He considered himself to be a bit of a jester or class clown to a certain extent of the word/phrase. While the lad certainly was no comedian, nor had any real plans to be one, he still did know a good setup followed by an even better punchline. For that was the key to good comedy and joke-telling, timing. Jokes couldn't just be a long-winded story to close with a one-word, be-all-end-all catchphrase. However, they also couldn't be the reverse of that; a non-descript opener with a long punchline. Listening to what all was being told currently, the jokes would get some chuckles out of Archibold for they were good and showed that they could also have a vast amount of depth to them. Sloane's was something more dry and a bit sarcastic, which, the O'Brien personally loved that kind. Then there was Kion's who gave a classic, one-two-punch kinda joke following what's considered to be a normal 'joke format'.

So, with those two in mind, Archie would go a different route, further showcasing the plethora of ways one can go about doing so. Hand raised, the Slytherin would speak up. "There's a very fine line between a numerator and a denominator..." The Scottish accent would start to fade off. While the joke was all said right then and there, he still wanted to add more to it. "I'm willing to bet only a fraction of people will understand that joke." Maths, in general, was something of a funny subject to him, so why not make it out to be a literal funny subject since the moment called for it.

Oh no.

Any mention of the word ‘advanced’ was not good in this Ravenclaws book. She was barely keeping up with anything considered simple. Or rather anything that required an intense amount of concentration that the fourth year clearly lacked in or an event occurring such as a particularly pretty colour of potion that would attract her attention over what she was supposed to be doing. She certainly didn’t have the ‘mental discipline’ that Adara was describing so who knew how this was going to go.

Sharing something funny, although a strange start to a supposedly intense lesson, was a lot easier for the fourteen year old. What she found amusing and what others would however might not align with one another. For example, the third-year Slytherin’s maths related joke flew straight over her head, the older Gryffindors joke was a teeny bit easier to understand and received an amused smile from Aurora but the youngest Slytherin’s blatantly RUDE response to the Professor resulted in a slightly shocked expression on her face.

Aurora didn’t have a joke that she could reel off for the class but she did have plenty of stories of amusing events that had happened to her. “Well there was this one time that Anna and I were in the kitchens trying to make ice cream sundaes and we are both pretty short so I climbed on the worktop to reach the sprinkles whilst Anna levitated the ice cream and I kinda knocked it off and Anna slipped up and for a few minutes it was raining ice cream and we were trying to catch it in our mouths.” Which at the time was incredibly entertaining. “I don’t think the house elves found it very funny though.” They did try and clean it up but their magic skills were less than to be desired and it likely made the situation worse for the poor creatures.

Desiree had no idea where this lesson was going just by looking around the room, but jokes were the last thing she expected! Hmm, maybe they were brewing the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, or perhaps a Laughing Potion, if Professor Adara's pun was any clue. Either potion could be useful!

She listened to her classmates’ jokes while trying to recall one of her own. Most of the jokes she knew were corny, childish, and full of Disney references which the others probably wouldn't understand. Probably best not to use those! As she thought, she remembered a joke a friend had told her years ago. She raised her hand and said, ”Why did the quidditch player bring a ladder to the game?” She paused a moment before giving the punchline, ”Because he wanted to reach new heights in the sport.”

Once it seemed as though enough people had offered their funny anecdotes and jokes, Professor Adara decided it was time to get moving or they'd never have time to finish the potion. Which was the whole point of the lesson, after all.

"Excellent jokes and hopefully they'll come in handy for today's potion because one of the ingredients that we need is laughter." Which was half the problem for why today's potion was on the more advanced side since laughter could be rather subjective. And you couldn't really measure it. "In case you haven't guessed it, we'll be brewing the Laughing Potion today."

Flicking her wand at the board behind the main desk, the ingredients appearead on the board:

Laughing Potion
Ingredients
500 mL Spring water
3 Alihotsy*leaves
4 Billywig wings
3 Knarl quills
5 strands Puffskein hair
(a pinch) Horseradish*powder
Laughter

1. Add clear spring water into your*cauldron.
2. Chop your*alihotsy*leaves and add them to the*water.
3. Stir slowly. (If you stir too fast you damage the leaves' mirthful properties)
4. Snigger at the potion.
5. Grind up your Billywig wings and add them to the cauldron.
6. Stir slowly.


"Come ahead and collect the ingredients and bring it back to your workstations. I've provided the first six steps to get started..."


ooc: we're brewing laughing potion. Any questions please ask, we'll continue with more steps to the potion in about 22-24 hours from now. Catch-up posts allowed, as always

Desiree’s joke too made Ary chuckle. See? There were loads of others who could tell better jokes than he could. The reason for that initial question was revealed and it made sense as to why Adara would have wanted to start the lesson off on such a note. What was perplexing, once Ary had read over the list of ingredients, was how they were going to be adding laughter. Would they be required to laugh over the potion? The thought amused him. All would be revealed eventually, of course.

Following Adara’s verbal instructions, the second year collected the necessary ingredients (minus the laughter, obviously}, set them on a tray then returned to his workstation. As usual, all his equipment were magically cleaned; only then was the 500ML of spring water was added to the cauldron. It was then that he frowned at the instructions on the board.

“Professor,’’ he began, hand lifted. “The flame? Should we have one on high, medium or low?” Ary, since his single digit days of age, had learnt that potion brewing was meticulously precise. And with the level of complexity for this particular potion, Ary wanted to do his best. If this entailed asking a ton of questions, then so be it.

The belated birthday wish by Ary, whilst not unnoticed, didn’t get a response from the Slytherin girl. Instead, she tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear and focused on the Professor. She would talk to him once the task had been set so that there was less chance of them being overheard.

“oH, I don’t know, I thought it was funny,” her voice with an air of indifference as she smiled at the professor innocently. “I guess we all find different things funny though,” she added at the end.

Whilst she did listen to the other jokes, sort of, most of her attention was spent pulling the same lock of hair from behind her ear and then twisting it around her finger until it resembled a spring. Even when the lesson was being explained, Sloane still couldn’t focus on the lesson at hand. Instead, her mind wand kept going over her birthday and the conversation she’d had with Faith and Zoryn.

Looking up just as the ingredients appeared, Sloane sighed loudly and began writing them out on a piece of parchment. She knew she didn’t have to but it always helped her remember what she needed and the steps it took to actually brew the potion itself. Luckily for her, it didn’t take her long before the ingredients were down and the instructions just underneath, all written in her slanted, slightly messy handwriting.

Without a word to anyone, she adjusted the heat of her cauldron, collected her ingredients and set off adding the water and chopping and adding her Alihotsy leaves. Needless to say, the slow stir may have come next but she most certainly did not laugh at her potion, even if the instruction was meant as a joke. Finishing the rest of the steps, Sloane turned towards Ary and continued to slur her cauldron slowly.

“It was my birthday last week, when everyone went to Hogsmeade. I met up with my Fa-...my mothers,” her voice quiet amongst the low level chatter of the classroom. With her back to the front of the classroom, Sloane continued to stir, doing her best to actually ignore most of, if not all of the other students and the professor. “Did you go to Hogsmeande?” she added at the end, undecided if she actually wanted to talk about this or not.

There were some good jokes overall, including the one the Professor returned him. Now they were going to be getting the ingredients next before brewing.

Kion quickly wrote down what was on the board in his notes, before getting up to collect the ingredients. He measured the right amount of spring water before pouring it into the cauldron. Wordlessly he diffindo'ed the leaves to be neatly chopped before adding them in next. He stirred slowly while he re-read the rest of the instructions. So he thought over some of the jokes said earlier to lightly chuckle into the cauldron before adding the grounded Billywig wings and stirring once more at a slow pace.

Oh. Whoops! Professor Adara glanced briefly at her notes to double check something before she'd answer the second year.

"I didn't specify about a flame or temperature because you're not to heat your potion just yet. The heat is coming, so for now just the alihotsy leaves and billywig wings will do." A little strange that they're starting off with things at room temperature but that's another piece that made this potion tricky.

Speaking of which, she did catch Sloane out of her periphery adding heat to her cauldron. "Miss Knott. No heat just yet." She non-verbally cast finite at her cauldron. Hopefully it should be okay as she hadn't really had it on too long from what she could tell...

ooc: I'll post again with some next steps in 4-6 hours, but just wanted to pop in and answer the question first. <3

Merlin's...beard...

Archie had to physically cover his mouth with his one hand to suppress the laugh that started when he heard Professor Adara's own sarcastically funny retort to Sloane's anecdote. He always loved those kinds of clapback comments, because if he were in the Potion mistress' shoes, he would've done something similar. Hearing her then do the same and offer a joke back towards the third year's own one was even better. While he wanted to do another pun, the Slytherin would ultimately refrain from doing so.

Not too long after that though, they would have their first instructions on how to start brewing the potion. But upon the young Archie hearing Ary's question on it, he'd pause on getting started, also curious to know. Then the Professor would clear things up saying that it wasn't to be heated yet, which the O'Brien was thankful for because it meant they didn't have to play with fire quite yet. However, he'd still get started.

First, he'd go about adding the water into the cauldron that he had set up. An easy step which would be shortly followed by the sound of the chopping of the alihotsy leaves. Those would be thrown into the batch after Archie felt as if they were diced up enough. Then there was some stirring, but slowly was relatively subjective; so it wouldn't be as slow as molasses, but it wasn't at least a normal stirring speed either. Next would be the laughing. He'd laugh into the still swirling small vat of soon-to-be-laughing potion. It wasn't done in excess, but he still hammed it up a tiny bit. A good laugh had to have some campiness behind it if it wasn't entirely wholehearted. Lastly, the next two steps would be done back-to-back. Grinding up the billywig wings until they were a powder, and adding that into the mix, giving it another relatively slow stir until this part was complete.

A little strange?

It was a lot strange, and perhaps it would have been nice to know before they got down to brewing. Still, better late than never, right? Ary nodded to Adara in response to her, grateful for her quickly clearing up things. He went back to his tasks, moving on to chop the three alihotsy leaves with his knife. The pieces were then added to the cauldron. He picked up his stirrer and began stirring slowly, taking his time as instructed. What frustrated him was that the instructions did not specify which direction it should be stirred and for how long. So, Ary stirred counterclockwise for a minute then withdrew the stirrer.

Already Ary had lost faith in brewing this potion so at this point, he really did not care if it came out correctly. Which was why he rolled his eyes at the instructions and like Sloane, skipped over the instructing of sniggering. Instead, he went right on to grind up the four Billywig wings in the mortar. That was added to the cauldron. Finally, the second year stirred counterclockwise for a minute.

With the instructions completed, he was able to spare some attention to Sloane. Like her, his voice was quiet. “That’s nice. I like spending time with my dads on my birthday. Was yours nice with your moms?” While he spoke, he cleaned up his workstation, putting any spills and pieces of leaves in one corner. Keeping a clean workstation helped him focus. “Yep, I was.”

She definitely took to noticing that Ary and Sloane didn't laugh into their potion, but also she wasn't going to tell them off for that. Part of potions lessons was learning from one's mistakes and following the recipes as they read, even if it felt ridiculous to do so.

Archie was dutiful prepping his ingredients, as did Kion, but she was here to offer guidance. If an ingredient was prepared wrongly, they'd find out in the end result and could learn from that rather than having her constantly correct them along their brewing journeys. She was happy to course-correct if needed if they inquired, such as the heating thing.

"Okay, let's continue with some next steps. Adding the three knarl quills, just whole will do. No need to prep them in anyway. Now you may put your cauldrons to a medium heat for two minutes before removing from the heat and stirring vigorously. Giggle at your potions, and then place back on medium heat for another three minutes. Then add the 5 strands of puffskein hair, just scattered over the surface of the potion for the moment..." She'd pause at that moment to let them catchup up, before adding on the next step to issue them which would provide a nice stopping point, "Stir your potions clockwise, quickly and heat on a high heat for 10 minutes."

Additional steps
7. Add three Knarl quills (no more, no less).
8. Medium heat the potion for two minutes, then stir vigorously.
9. Giggle at the potion.
10. Place back on the medium heat the potion once again for three minutes
11. Add 5 strands of puffskein hair, scattered hair over the surface of your potion.
12. Stir clockwise quickly and heat on a high heat for 10 minutes. (number of stirs don't matter just quickly to mix it)


ooc: some more steps to the potion. feel free to ask if anything isn't clear (either ic or ooc)... we'll continue in about 20ish hours, but catchup posts are of course allowed

Ary was grateful that Adara didn’t tell him and Sloane off, both for not sniggering at their respective potion and for conversing quietly {though one could argue for the latter that the students had completed the required steps so far}.However, since they were moving on, Ary directed his attention back to his potion, even if that attention wasn’t at all full as it should be.

Three whole Knarl quills were added. With a mutter of ‘Incendio’, the burner was lit and adjusted to a medium heat. Ary kept his eye on the clock religiously, and once the two minutes were completed, the heat was removed. Stirrer in hands once more, this time the contents of the cauldron were stirred - vigorously as required. With the instructions more detailed, Ary felt more on track. However, it was far too late since he felt he had messed up the first set of instructions.

Which was a huge reason why he skipped giggling over the potion.

The medium flame was placed under the cauldron once again with Ary seeing it through until the three minutes were up. Five strands of Puffskein hair were scattered atop the potion. Clockwise stirring ensued. Ary wasn’t sure it was as quick enough because stirring feverishly with these skinny arms? Phew! It sure tunkered this guy out! Finally, the high heat was added for ten minutes.

Desiree smiled at the response her joke received. Nice use of puns, Professor! And she caught that giggle, Ary! Her smile remained in place as she heard which potion they would be brewing. The Laughing Potion… she’d guessed it! She took a moment to jot down the directions on the board before getting up to retrieve her potion ingredients.

Returning to her station, she neatly arranged the ingredients in front of her and cleaned her equipment with a quick Scourgify. With her equipment properly cleaned, she carefully measured 500ml of the spring water and added it to her cauldron. Next step: alihotsy leaves. Desiree chopped her three leaves, making neat careful cuts, and added those to the mix. Oh, stirring too fast damages the leaves’ mirthful properties? That was good to know! She’d be sure to keep her stirs nice and slow!

After stirring, Desiree consulted the board for the next step. Snigger at the potion. Okay, she could do that. A thought suddenly occurred to her. Would it affect the potion if the snigger wasn’t genuine? Just in case, she racked her brains for something funny - but not so funny that she’d do more than snigger. Imagining her cat rolling around on his back, she sniggered quietly.

With the sniggering out of the way, she set to work grinding her billywig wings and added them to the mixture, stirring slowly. What was next? She checked the board. Three knarl quills, got it! Desiree dropped the quills into her cauldron, One, two, three. When that was done, she lit her burner to a medium flame using a nonverbal Incendio.

As Desiree set her timer for two minutes, she glanced at the board for the next few steps. So she was supposed to giggle at the potion after stirring vigorously? That seemed fairly easy, but how much giggling did it take? She raised her hand and asked, “Professor, is it possible to giggle at the potion too much?”