POTIONS LAB: Open Studio Laboratory
 

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/o.../potions-1.jpg

A disused room next to the ancient runes potions classroom has been converted into a potions laboratory for this term. There are several large workstations available, complete with stands and burners for standard size 2 cauldrons and plenty of room to work.

Along the walls at the sides of the room are additional stations holding alembics, distillation trains, calcination equipment, Florence flasks, a large jar of clean glass stirring rods, funnels, empty jars and more -- in short, all the equipment a potioneer would need to do his or her work.

Along the back wall of the class are jars and bottles containing a host of standard potions ingredients. Each container is marked clearly with a parchment label bearing the details of its contents (including the date of expiration), written in Professor Kazimeriz's shaky but legible hand. Several of the larger jars house foul-looking ingredients: there is one jar that appears to be filled with pickled toads, another houses what appear to be large eyeballs from some creature in pale blue syrup, and still others seem to contain the visceral organs of animals - rat spleens, newt tails (which are still wriggling in the jar), and whole flobberworms. One jar of some sort of greenish sap is bubbling lazily, and another opaque bottle keeps trembling, clinking against the others.

There is also a large cabinet that has been triple-locked and charmed. Through the unbreakable glass front of the cabinet, you can see vials, jars, bottles of various size, shape and contents. These are the Professor's private stores. You must receive assistance from the professor to access these ingredients, as all the poisons, rare items like unicorn parts and truly dangerous ingredients in the lab -- including dangerous potions such as veritaserum and amortentia-- are housed in this cabinet.

There is a large chalkboard at the front of the classroom near the Professor's sturdy mahogany desk. On it reads this note:

ooc notes: Come on in and get creative! :) This is an independent lab, not potions class... this is the place to let your character practice potions, do class labwork, and experiment. For the purposes of the RP please presume that Kazimeriz is in the room at all times unless I specify otherwise. Obviously, I am not really here at all times, but I will be monitoring this thread closely throughout the term and will do my best to respond to posts directed toward Professor Kazimeriz quickly and efficiently.

Please RP responsibly! I'm cool OOC with potions-gone-wrong-RPs (accidentally blowing up cauldrons and such-- stuff happens in a lab!) but just make sure that you are ready to face the consequences IC for any actions you take. For instance, if you have a vat of lethal poison explode all over you, it is quite possible your character WILL die, and if you are irresponsible IC, expect Kazimeriz to react accordingly. Please exercise good sense and remember to follow the site rules at all times.

Also, if your character is addressing the professor or needs attention, please put PROFESSOR KAZIMERIZ in your subject line for your post, just so I don't accidentally miss it. :)

If you have any questions, please PM me at XanaSnape. Oh... and most important: HAVE FUN! ~Xana~ :D

Aaron walked into the new potions room looked around. Tehre were a lot of bottles and weird looking things around the room. He went over to one of the many empty seats in the front-middle of the classroom and sat down. He then took out his cauldron and his scales and all of his other potions materials. He then said to the professor, "Good day, professor. It's too bad we have to have potions in here. I was looking forward to have potions in the dungeons." He then saw what was written on the board, so he wrote down the class rules. Okay!

Cordova looked over at the other boy who wasn't his partner but watched him as he took a seat closer to the Professor and pulled out his personal class utensils. "Umm," he said from the back of room, trying to gain his attention. "This is not a class," he said kindly to the first year. It was natural that first years would end up in random places and constantly be confused about what exactly was going on. "You see," he continued gesturing towards the label on the door and towards the board. "This rooms purpose is for students to create and perfecting their potion skills. If this were a lesson, it would be in the room across the hall, and might I add filled with students. "

He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a book from his side pack he had been carrying his potions materials in. He flipped through it quickly, found the potion him and his partner would be making. "Where the heck is he," were the words that floated swiftly out of his mouth as he checked his watch for the time.

Iris walked into the class room shortly after Aaron, and looked around, examining the room, before saying "Hello Professor!" and sitting near Aaron. She looked at the black board and read the rules. Her face was full of nervousness by the time she'd gotten to the bottom. Iris hadn't realised that this wasn't going to be a proper lesson, so she moved up to Aaron and said, "Can we work together on this? We might come up with something better than if we worked alone." As she waited for his response she opened her text book and began flicking through, looking at bad combinations of ingredients and such.

"Good day to you." Kazimeriz said. "What will you be working on today?"

"Precisely. As he said, this is the potions lab, where you can work on your potions projects -- class projects or personal projects for practice. Class will be held across the corridor, in the former Ancient Runes classroom." Kazimeriz nodded at them both, continuing his writing.

"Good day, Miss Beaumont." Kazimeriz said, nodding politely to the girl and smiling. It was good to see so many ambitious students planning on working in the potions lab independently. It would also help him to start to see who the true talents were in the discipline... He kept a watchful eye on the students, while tending to his paperwork.

Lucy entered the new Potions room, slightly nervous. Potions wasn't one of her great subjects, in fact it was her worst. Whenever she tried to make a potion, she would mess up, either by putting to much of something or not enough. Or she would stir the wrong way! How pathetic. But hopefully she would do better this term.

Lucy walked over to one of the workstations and set her bag down and sat down on her stool. "Good day professor." She said smiling over at Kazi. "Do you like your new classroom?" Lucy asked chuckling a little.

holey moley its getting late... 20 past 1 :/ ... I'll carry on tomorrow I think.
 

As Iris was looking through the text book, she remembered the fireworks potion that Girl had mentioned on the train. Mystic her name was. The idea of fireworks made Iris smile, but then she realised that the instructions for it were in her trunk, in the dungeons, underwater. A little dishearted Iris kept on flipping through the pages, looking for something, anything, to do that was simple enough to do, but who still teach her something. Iris settled on a simple potion, a Boil-Cure Potion. She read the ingredients several times, then read through the method. Seems easy enough. she shrugged as she began to get the ingredients and equiptment she needed, and gave Aaron a supportive smile as she got up.

"Good day, Cullack. I am quite well, and thank you for asking. What do you plan to work on today?" he asked from his desk.

"Miss Porter, good day. It remains to be seen, though I believe the accomodations -- both in the classroom and this lab -- will be satisfactory to our needs." And never mind all those stairs. It wouldn't do to complain to the students, after all. A gentleman always found a way to make a difficult situation workable.

Aaron looked out of the room. There was another room across the hall. He laughed at his own humility. Ugh... SO embarassing. "Oops, sorry!" He pickd up his stuf and walked across the hall.

Rhea wandered into the potions classroom. She decided that this year she would approach the subject with an open mind and give it her best and most importantly, try not to fall asleep or blow anything up.

She walked to the front of the class and smiled at the professor.
"Good day Professor Kazimeriz," she said politely before walking to a stole not too far from the front. She was already tired from climbing all those stairs up to the new potions location.

She flipped through her potions book and drew the cauldron close to her getting ready to blow stuff up....uhh..make a potion.

Of course Anna was going to show up in this Potions lab at one point and time during the school year. True, today's trip to the lab was her first, but she imagined she'd be visiting quite a few more times before graduation. She'd received notice that there was to be an analysis of the food waters to take place here in the lab, and she wanted to make sure to be a part of that. She thought it'd give her lots of good experience before heading right into the Potions industry upon graduation. As she waited for the others to show, Anna read the rules posted on the chalkboard in the front of the class.

Though rarerly found in the common room, Lawliet had indeed heard rumours floating around about a small group of people getting together in order to do further research of the flood water. The boy made his way to the Potions Lab and he noticed a girl was already there, reading the rules of the lab.

Lawliet approached and gave her a small smile before directing his attention to the rules which were posted on the chalkboard in the lab. Once he was done reading everything, he made his way to one of the workstation and lifted himself up on the table.

"Are you here because of the notice in the common room?" he asked, while flipping randomly through one of the Potions books he grabbed off one of the shelves.

Selena walked into the Potions lab, giving curt nods of acknowledgment to other students in the room as she passed by them. Heading straight to an empty work station, she pulled out her copy of a potions book Rena bought for her in Diagon Alley - after reading through the class rules - and began flipping quickly through the pages. It must be recorded here somewhere, the way this flood is behaving. We better stop this before there are any casualties.

Kazimeriz eyed the group of students that had entered the lab, overhearing one mention 'the notice'. He wondered where Miss Entelequia was, and if this group was a study group or people who had shown up due to her notice. "Good afternoon, students... Are you working on a particular project today?" he asked from his place at his desk.

Diane did not mean to be late for the project she herself started. So to speak. So when she got to the Potions Laboratory, her cheeks were hot and possibly of a red color to see the professor behind his desk and other students were already there. Possibly waiting.

"Good afternoon," she greeted rather shamelessly, though, holding two labeled bottles of water (one clearly labeled 'lake'), which she ended up placing in the first surface that she could find... which was a workstation table. A couple of vials sitting in the stool knocked each other with a pleasant bell-like sound.

After getting rid of that weight, she lowered her backpack which was bigger than her, or certainly looked so. It seemed it would be unneeded with the equipment provided here. Looking around, she saw at least three students standing as if waiting. One of them she recognized, and there was this other she remembered from History class. But I digress.

"Thank you again for the opportunity, professor," Diane said again, smiling, now properly free from all weights and rocks strapped to her back. Her eyes moved to the other students, "Oh I thought we would be a larger-merrier group." This was a clear reference to her talk with the professor.

"My name is Diane," and so with a smile the first year introduced herself.

Okay so Cam wasn't REALLY sure why he came here in the first place but the two main reasons was one, he knew Anna was coming (he just haaad a feeling) and two, 'cause he hadn't talked ever to that Diane girl... since the flood. So maybe the third reason was that he was EXTREMELY curious about the flood and how the heck it made the Great Hall into an ice rink or how that Quidditch Pitch flooded. He didn't know how all of it happened but... well something CRAZY happened every year.

It was a very well-known Hogwarts fact now to Cam, last year the ghosts and this year the flood?? Next year, aliens'd probably abduct students and eat their braaainsss! Huh who knows, anything could have happened by now.

And he'd even read his Potions textbook waaaay up last night so he could impress Anna with his KNOWLEDGEEE! Yuppity yup and he'd even ate some of the chocolate his fellow Gryffie friends to be even mooaarrr smarter-ish and all-ish... yesh.

Ah yes, Cam was gonna TRY not to sound dumbbbb. He was actually good at Potions a bit well... for his age...? Hmph. Walking into the laboratory, he noticed that Diane was already there, with a few other students too. And ANNAAA. Was he late? He shrugged it off and just waaaved hello at Anna first and then Diane second and then finally at Kazi.

"A project. That we are," Anna answered the professor, strolling over a little closer to his desk. "You wouldn't have happend to have seen..." Anna trailed off as she took notice of Diane walking in. Oh, good! Just the person she'd been looking for! "Nevermind, sir." She smiled at him, then turned to talk to Diane.

"Thanks for getting this little group together," she told the girl. "I'm Anna Greingoth, by the way. I don't think we've ever actually met. Diane, right?" She glanced down at the two phials the girl had brought in, taking notice that one of them was clearly labeled 'lake'. "So what do you have there?" she asked, pointing at both of them. She turned and motioned for Lawliet and Selena to join them if they'd alike. "Lawliet? Selena? You two joining in?" she asked. She waved at Cam, then motioned for him to come over, as well. "Oh, hey, Cam! Come join us. It'll be cool..."

Diane was just in the middle of waving back at Cam, maybe exchange a few words of greetings, when this older student came in. Yes, Diane recalled her from one of the classes. "Why, thank you, that's very kind - Anna, you said? I knew I remembered you from somewhere. You were involved in the guess game in History of Magic recently, weren't you? It's nice to see you again."

She turned where Anna was gesturing and returned to her, "Oh that. Initially I meant to compare the water from the lake to the water from the flood." She turned the other bottle around to reveal the label that read 'dark / flood'. What she meant by that, it was not clear. "One of the hypothesis is that the water odd behavior is caused by the water's inherent magical nature as mysterious as its origin; the other theory is that it's controlled magically by exterior forces but it remains normal lake water."

Her eyes moved momentarily to the professor in a gesture of indication and she proceeded to tell them, "With Professor Kazimeriz' help, we might find the source of this abnormality - Have you heard," her expression changed suddenly, becoming quite more curious and decisively more serious, "that the water flooded all the ground floor but stopped at the broomshed abruptly? Oh, which reminds me," she added, brighter, "We may be able to exchange some theories. Have you any? I look forwards to that."

Diane walked a little to the side, and stood on tiptoes to have the professor at view range and to address him, "Professor, would you say SpeRevelio for starters? I'll prepare a sample for each of you from both waters."

Professor Kazimeriz
 

Daniel walked up to the ancient runes classroom. Well, he knew that this is not ancient runes anymore, but it is potions. He opened the door of the Open Laboratory. He then walked to the Professor's table and said, "Good day, Professor. Can I work here?" he said and gestured looking around.

"I wanted to try a special bug repellant." he said. "My mom's special dragon tulips are bugged by does." he said looking gloomy.

Flood talk/conversation for Diane and Professor Kazimeriz
 

"Yup, it's Anna...the girl from the guessing game in History of Magic," she said to Diane, a tiny hint of laughter escaping her. Diane seemed friendly and fun to be around. She also seemed really intelligent, something Anna gathered from her participation in class and from this Potions project. "It's nice to see you again, too." She listened as Diane discussed her theories...very intelligent and well-thought out theories...about what could be causing the flood. Anna definitely agreed with the whole 'normal lake water that had been charmed by magic' idea.

She spoke up when Diane asked if anyone would like to share any theories. She loved theory talk, especially when it came to mysteries such as this one. "Well, for starters, I completely believe that it's regular lake water that's been charmed through magical means. Actually...," she said, trailing off a little on that last word. Should she bring up Myrtle? Myrtle was just a thought she'd had...no real proof. "Well, okay, so you know Myrtle? The ghost normally hanging out in the girl's bathroom? Anyway, I was having a conversation with her the other day, and I happened to ask her if she'd seen anything abnormal around the castle. Myrtle knows everything, you see. Or, at least, from my experience she does." Anna paused and took a deep breath. She was talking a million miles a minute, just as she tended to do when she got over-excited about something.

"Anyway, Myrtle said to me...'I haven't seen anything. Seen...it was just the way she stressed that one word that made me think...maybe...she's heard something instead. I really wish I knew where to find her. I'd love to ask her to clarify that. Although, come to think of it, she probably wouldn't actually tell me anyway," she said, growing quiet and turning to the professor when Diane asked about SpeRevelio.

Aislynn slipped in the potions lab not looking at the Professor. She was having a very rough day. She decided to read up a bit on potions and pulled out her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. She was surprised by all of the students who were in there. She decided just to take a seat kind of away from the group and if she came across an interesting potion maybe she would take a crack at it.

Kazimeriz nodded in acknowledgment. "Well... Do you think Scarpin's Revelaspell would be the most direct way of analyzing at the contents of the sample?" he asked with a tiny smile of encouragement. He would oversee, and he would assist, but he wanted the students to do the leg work -- the thinking out the process part -- themselves.

Kazimeriz listened to Greingoth, eyeing her like one might eye a counterfeit galleon. "How interesting it is to me, Miss Greingoth, that you always seem to insert yourself into the thick of things, be it this experiment, gossip with a ghost... or the floodings... Yes. Intriguing, your knack for always being at the wrong place at the right time." He said very softly, pursing his lips.

"So, Miss Entelequia... as you initiated this study group, what do you think should be done first and why?" Kazimeriz asked.

ooc: Just so you all know, please feel free to post any experimental attempts/charms/spells freely but please do not RP the reaction of the water samples to your spells and experiments. In order to maintain continuity within the global school plot, the narrator will RP the reactions of the water samples to indicate anything that you do or do not see in the water samples to keep it consistent with our storyline. Thanks! :)

Diane put a thoughtful face as if in consideration of the question. "A spell that does not affect the composition of the water would be best so further experimentation can be carried out with the same sample," Diane reasoned. She tilted her head. "But we also may want to figure out if there won't be any adverse reactions. So, for safety measures, we should expose this water to various substances and enviromental effects: heat, conductivity of electric current, volatility... so to be certain it won't explode on our faces or other such factors of risk."

Diane nodded, as if she had been lectured by her own words. "I will set a sample especifically for treatment of this sort."

Diane's eyes lit at the mention of Myrtle. "The ghost," she nodded. Once again, she was brought up. "Some students mentioned her at the beginning of the term. I've heard -- no, rather, I know she was in the dungeons when the detention area flooded up. I'ven't had the opportunity to make her acquaintance, though," she said this while pouring some of the water from the lake in a vial for Anna and handing it over, "Please, label this one as lake so there aren't any confusions." She proceeded to pour the flood water in another vial for her.

"We begin with safety precautions, I believe," Diane offered. However, this might also mean the most dangerous part of the experimentation. "Best to proceed as a group for this part of the proceedings, so not to waste water and to attend to odd reactions one at the time. Do we perhaps count with an hermetic compartment that we can use?"

With a sample of flood water in a vial, she set the two bottles aside, put on gloves and took out a little notebook for notations.

Cam blinked his eyes wildly at Diane and Anna. Why did girls have to be so smart most of the times?! They used... large words but somehow, he understood most of it. But he had to agree, the water from the flood was "magical" because it just seeeeeemed to flood that Quidditch Pitch and made the Great Hall an ice rink...? And then like Diane said, it stopped at the broomshed which quite made the water "magical" or just plain right weeeeeird.

Theories. He had TONS of theories but he was too scared to say 'em all. Most of his answers were all so silly sometimes and he didn't wanna make a fool of himself in front of Annaaaa, and a few other people in the laboratory. Eh, his ideas ranged from the squid being a double agent, secretly behind all of it to the Selkies of the lake revolting out to Hogwarts and using their mermaid skeeeelzzz to bewitch the lake water and make trouble on ALLL.

Right. Crazy ideas. He zipped his mouth and looked at Diane, and then at Kazimeriz and then at Diane and then back at Anna and then finally at Diane.

"Ya think we should try the Prior Incantato spell on the flood water?" he suggested, staring at the samples of the two different kinds of water.

Professor Kazimeriz
 

Daniel was looking at the Professor and was waiting for the response on the approval of his request. He then looked around and looked for a place where he could set up and wait.

Diane turned to the boy with a bright smile... and stayed like that for a while. There was this kind of warmness in her eyes that was rather self-explanatory. And it gave out the impression that being looked at with that warmness in the eye could melt your cornea. "That is a most wonderful idea," she finally said. "I love it. That is a harmless enough spell and it may be two birds with one stone. Don't you agree, professor?"

She handed out the sample vial in her hand to him. "As it was you idea, I think you should try it," she said. "I don't think any odd reactions will come out of it. But please use the protective gloves and goggles and stay a good distance from the sample when you do, just to be safe."

"Hi there, you came to experiment on the flood water as well?" Diane asked a boy that was standing by them.

Daniel smiled as the Slytherin talked to him. He hesitated a little and then spoke "Ahmm, actually, I came to make an experimental slug and bug repellant for my dragon tulips." he said with a pause, "but that sounds cool. Count me in on that." he said and then joined the group.

Kazimeriz was about to give the boy approval on his repellant work when he decided to join the experiment group. He nodded to the boy in approval, then shook his head at his suggestion.

"Actually, prior incantato is a spell cast specifically on a wand to find out what previous spells were used. Scarpin's Revelaspell would be more effective to find out the contents of the samples. And as you said, Ms. Enetelequia, the first step for you all is to don your gloves... keep in mind that the floodwater sample will likely contain a minute quantity of dangerous potions ingredients, as it was contaminated when the dungeons flooded. Unless your sample came from the herbology professor or flying professor's office, that is."

Selena made her way over to Karimeriz, Anna, Diane, Cam and an unknown Gryffindor. She listened quietly to the debate on which spells they should use, then also reached out for the protective goggles and gloves. Touching that water again was soooooo totally not an option because she had an armful of that since poking into the water in Bunbury's office.

WOOHOO!

So Diane thought it was a good idea and he felt a lot better than before actually. It was Professor Kazimeriz though, that outsmarted him and told them that the Prior Incantato spell only worked on wands. NUUU. His moment of smartness had been gone in less than 10 seconds. Bleh. Cam frowned and now wearing his gloves, gently passed the vial of flood water back to Diane.

"Soooo Scarpin's Revelaspell then?" He waited for either another student or the professor to do the spell on the flood water because obbvvioously, he didn't know how.

"Dragon tulips, you say? How nice," Diane commented. "Can you show them to me -- Ah, but welcome to our study group first. What's your name?" Which reminded her...

Diane turned to the Gryffindor girl from before at that point, "That's right, I don't know your name either. I'm Diane." Her eyes moved where hers were. "Is that a friend? You can invite her over, if you wish."

"Ah, I see," Diane said without a flinch in her smile. "No, I'm afraid it's water from the dungeons. That's most unfortunate, but not to be discouraged!" Diane said patting Cam in the back, (even knowing how this boy was to demonstration of affection from girls...) "We may find another way to produce the same results to that the Prior Incantation spell.

"I'm thinking... Finite Incantatem can be used in objects other than a wand, correct?" she was looking at the professor, "then if we inspect and compare the flood water with two samples, one before Finite Incantatem, and one after Finite Incantatem, we may find differences that may prove the water has been affected by a spell."

"Ah, but I suggest that experiment for after we go through the safety precautions and Scarpin's Revelaspell. Finite Incantatem will alter the water composition almost surely. And I still hold some belief that the water composition has been altered or isn't the lake's at all. The worst case scenario first," she said with a bright smile.

As she took the vial back, she leaned over to whisper something, "The professor mentioned a previous step. Do you reckon is the gloves only?" She was doing a lousy job at being inconspicuous. You could not tell if she actually meant to be or was just playing.

Better to get things going. She put that vial down and brought a standard 2 cauldron... then walked to a station furthest from them to get the fire going, poured flood water to fill a vial, labeled it: 'flood a'. Then she explained, "I want to try heat first." Then she repeated the process with lake water.

She took another vial, labeled 'flood b' and poured water on it. Then from the utensils took a thermometer, and put it on the vial. "Then I do the same with regular lake water. We can test alkalinity, acidity, gravimetric and electrochemical tests, microorganisms. Please, tell me what other experiments you would like to carry out."

"But first," she said suddenly, taking the first vial with flood water and adding a "X" to the label, putting a drop of it down on the table on a glass sheet and bringing her wand out, "is it okay if we try Scarpin's Revelaspell?" she asked the professor.

Kazimeriz nodded. "You may indeed. It could not hurt to determine what is in the water samples... And may prove to be quite intriguing." Kazimeriz eyed the dungeon water sample, curious to know what secrets it held.

ooc: Just a friendly reminder- once you guys cast the spell, the narrator will decide what is in there if anything and whatever the results of the spell or any tests on the waters will be. :D

Grace had just seen the notice board and had run to the experimental area immediately. She wasn't a bit as smart as Diane and she was now hesitating at the door. She wasn't as smart and she didn't want to be surpassed. But she still thought she shoukd go in and she went in.

However, they had already started. She was very angry with herself that she hadn't checked the board earlier. She was still panting and asked "Did I... did I miss enfin? Can I... joyn?"

*plays catch-up*
 

Gloves. She needed gloves. That had been a practice stressed by a good many of her professors lately, so Anna had taken to shoving a pair into the pockets of her robes every morning before leaving the Common Room. As she pulled out her gloves and pushed her hands into them, she caught site of a familair face nearby. "Hey, Aislynn. You're welcome to come join us if you'd like. We're looking into a few water samples from the flood and from the lake," she said. "We're really just getting started, so you haven't missed a lot at all."

...then she suddenly had the weird feeling that she was being watched. Her eyes flickered away from Aislynn and then met with the eyes of the professor. She'd gathered that he didn't trust her, but really, what'd she do now? She wanted to sort of fuss with him, but she opted to keep her mouth close and just nod at him instead. The fact remained that Anna was only trying to help, not only as Head Girl, but also as just a student with the school's best interest in mind. She really did need to comment in some fashion, though. "You're right, sir. I do always seem to pop up in the most unusual places. It's just...I've been here for seven years, and I love this school and the people here. If something's wrong, then I want to try my hardest to help make it right," she said, eyeing him for a few more seconds, then turning away.

"We need to make sure everything's documented, too," she said, looking towards the group as a whole. Maybe we should document exactly what we started with, how much of the samples we've obtained, and...exactly where the samples were gathered from," she suggested. Diane had already taken out a notebook, though, so the girl seemed to be on the ball and ready to go. She smiled over at the young girl, impressed with her vast amount of knowledge at such an early age. She accepted a phial from her and, as she requested, labeled it 'Lake'.

As she listened to the conversation about the porssible usage of 'SpeRevelio', Anna noticed a Slytherin girl (Grace), one she didn't really know, enter the room. "Hey there, would you care to join us, as well?" she asked, nodding towards the rest of the group. Jumping back into the conversation regarding the experiment, she said, "Professor Kazimeriz mentioned that the potions from the dungeon mixed with the flood water, so maybe SpeRevelio would be best to see what traces of potions we have in that phial..."

Gasp! Head Girl Anna Greingoth had just talked to her! It was just for some seconds but still... 'OK calm down now Grace.' Being a successful Head Girl was Grace's biggest dream so she simply adored Anna Greingoth. It was true that she didn't know her well, but she saw how people around her treated very gentle so Grace literally adored her. And-she-was-so-successful!

Grace realised that she'd better answer rather than just stare. "I--I--yes." she stuttered, then blushed with anger to herself. She couldn't talk properly. How nice. She decided to shut up and carefully listened to their ideas. And while listening also realised she didn't know much things... She suddenly wanted to leave. But she stayed and continued listening to them.

With a nod, Diane was about to do as she had said with the professor's permission, when somebody came through the door. She paused for a second to gather who she was, and so she spoke. "Miss Enfin? I wonder who may that be," Diane said obviously to herself, looking around for the aforementioned. Now that another person showed up from her house, she started to wonder if the girl she owled had any chance of posting the notice in the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff common room. She observed their exchange, hers with the Prefect Anna, then she added herself: "Welcome there. I'm Diane, you? Come forwards. We are about to begin with the first experiment."

Not wanting to delay this any further, Diane took a step backwards and pointed her wand at the glass sheet with the sample from the flood. She could be closer, admitedly, but since volatily had not been tested, better not to take chances. Then recited, "SpeRevelio!"

"Oh, I'm Grace." Grace introduced herself and she approached to them and watched as Diane did the spell.

Turning her head, Anna checked to see if the girl she'd made the offer to was going to agree to join the group. She certainly hoped so. This flood was serious business, and they needed the assistance of anyone willing to lend a helping hand. She smiled warmly at the girl when she stuttered a little. She was probably just nervous, a trait Anna tended to have, too, when it came to meeting new people.

"Oh, excellent," she said, happy to hear the girl had agreed. She listened as the girl, who identified herself as Grace, talked with Diane. "Nice to meet you, Grace. I'm Anna Greingoth. I'm glad you decided to join us." Then Diane was casting the spell, so Anna turned to watch and wait and see just what mysteries would be revealed inside the water.

The water stirred... a hue or vapor above it displayed a history of potions that had been spilt in it, glass fragments, algae, lake kelp, hair potions, the remains of a dead fish, ink, green soot from the slytherin fireplace, lamp oil, muffin traces and the shedded skin of a grindylow.

Aislynn looked up, startled that someone actually knew her name. But, with all the commotion she seemed to be stirring these days she wasn't surprised. She looked over and noticed it was Anna. They had rarely spoken, but jumped at the opportunity to get involved in whatever they were doing.

She slammed her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. "I would be delighted to join you," Aislynn replied. She moved from her seat gracefully and sat across from Anna. "What exactly are we hoping to discover in the flood water?"

Aislynn was a bit lost when it came to what was going on with the flood, she was too wrapped up in her studies. She supposed she should be concern, it was quite a crisis and seemed to be spreading everywhere.

Cam gave a look at Diane for a moment and then at the new person coming into the lab and then at Anna. Ooooh more people. Yay, it meant less thinking! He took a step back when Diane placed her wand in front of the flood water. Like, something could have malfunctioned and all! That was when another person came to join the group, it was that--that person Reese was going out with. What the heck was his name again? He eyed him whispering something towards Anna and just to be all safe and careful, he took a step towards her just to see if well ya know, he wasn't doing anything to her.

Hmm.

He remembered about the Revelaspell and payed his attention back to Diane who just said the spell. Observe. Observe. Observeeee. Vapor. Ahhhh interesting. Heehee. Cam looked at the things that had "contaminated" it or whatever and payed even close attention.

"I see... dead fish," awweeee, "some potion thingies, and some soot. Huh. I don't really see anything out of the ordinary..." He stared harder.

Grace watched the vapor. Nothing seemed out of normal. And Grace understood just one thing from the vapor--lake was groooss! From now on she'd prevent anyone who wanted to swim in that filth. Eww!

She continued watching and thought maybe more thing would be revealed. But she couldn't see any. "I agree to--" She didn't know the boy's name, so she just gestured to him (Jack) "--to him. All I can make out that no one should get in that water." She was almost sick with even the thought of dirt.

Kazimeriz watched as they did the spells and the ingredients of the potion hovered, ghostly, above the sample. "Well. That was most enlightening. Sometimes what we do not see is as informative as what we do see. Does anyone care to make a hypothesis based on what was revealed, and suggest the next test?" He eyed Greingoth and Entelequia, then the other students in the experiment, waiting to see what his students would come up with. He found himself oddly entertained, but then he always did like potions lab, even as a student.

Anna continued to focus on the upcoming results of the SpeRevelio until she heard her name being called out from someone who'd apparently just entered. She tore her eyes away from the water for a split second to see that Jack Fritzera had decided to take her up on her offer and come and join the group. "Oh, hey, Jack! I'm glad you decided to come along. Look," she said, pointing to the water sample. "Diane's just casted SpeRevelio..." Her attentione moved from Jack back to the water then, and she waited to see what the results would show.

...then suddenly, a vapor rose from the water, and it showed a wide variety of different ingredients. Anna wrinkled her nose in disgust over a few of those said ingredients. The history of potions was expected, as were the glass fragments. Hmm...algae and lake kelp were, of course, expected, as well. "Dead fish," she said aloud. "ink, soot, and...eww. Is that skin?" She shivered a little, the thought alone just creeping her out.

Aislynn was questioning possible discoveries now, though, so Anna turned from the icky water to reply. "We're testing the samples to see if the flood water is any different from the regular lake water. We're hoping to maybe find some infornation that will help us understand this flood a little better," she explained. Her eyes flickered up to Professor Kazimeriz then, who was inquiring about the next step.

Hmm...what should they do next? She glanced to each of the groupmates, looking for a hint of realization on any of their faces, then looked down towards the water. She really didn't know what to try next, as anything she could think of would be tainted by the traces of potions found in the water. "I know what I would like to find out," she said. "The flood water...it stands up all on its own...but how? I'm just not sure how to find that particular missing link."

Diane took her notebook and wrote down the ingredients. While she did so, she answered, "An ingredient or spell that is affecting the water making it act in an unusual way. Personally, I was going for bones, tissue and dead skin material..."

This was odd. "I don't see the presence of water... in the water." She stared with a puzzled expression. "Neither has any spell been identified by the spell (ooc: just checked that the lexicon says the spell reveals both the ingredients of a potion and spells that affect an object - water being the object in this case)."

She took her notebook once more, underlying those ingredients only found inside the castle. "The test did not reveal substance on a molecular level - I mean, I get the impression there are particles that are not listed." That can't be right. Suddenly, she was a lot more anxious as, as if something bothered her terribly. Diane started looking through her bag and notes, "Maybe we should repeat this step, I may have I made a mistake in my incantation."

"Maybe we're looking at this all wrong," Aislynn suggested. "It has the normal properties of water. It looks like water, but it doesn't act like water." She was very nervous about speaking up. She was terrified of feeling foolish. "What if this isn't water, but something else disguised as it?"

She probably sounded like a lunatic. Everything led to it to be water. "If we add white crystals of anhydrous, also known as copper sulphate, to the water sample and a blue solution is obtained, the substance is water. If not perhaps we have something else. It's a simple chemical test the muggles use to..." She stopped, she realized how ridiculous she was sounding. A muggle technique, she thought, No one would trust it.

"Just forget it," Aislynn said. "It's a silly notion. Forget I mentioned it. It's a stupid idea." She shook her head.

"Aislynn, your notion isn't silly," Selena said with the most soothing voice she could muster. "But I think this probably won't go right, because the water might have been contaminated enough that the level of real water have been lowered to a minimum. And besides, we don't know how the chemicals will react as this flood water have been contaminated with various potions." She stopped for a breath, waiting for someone to say that she could be entirely wrong.

Grace looked at Diane in amazement. She would never realise that it didn't reveal "water." Then she looked at Aislynn and Grace wondered again that what she was doing here? Why couldn't she never come up with such ideas, like checking if it was really water or that there wasn't water in water? And that girl (Selena) was probably right. "The water level must have been very low that the spell didn't reveal.Though, I suspect that it really is water.I mean it doesn't act like water and the spell didn't reveal too.But then it came from lake...What else can it be?" she trailed off, fully aware that she sounded like a stupid.

I know the order is changed, but this way is easier for me :P
 

"It could also have been my mistake," Diane told them. She pocketed her wand and knocked vials together as she moved things around. It was human to err. At least, it could only be that from her point of view. There weren't great quantities of any other liquid mentioned, and the water certainly couldn't be... could it?

"Ink," Diane asked, "Could it be ink?" She shook her head, "No, no, it cannot..." From that moment, she got to pacing from side to side. "It would not explain the appearance of lake material. The fact that there is lake kelp means it has been in contact with lake water at the very least. The presence of water is a must. And there was no alcohol from the ink listed. Truthfully, is as you say, it is possibly it has been compromised by the appearance of stronger liquids. Maybe it is an spongue effect." She was following the other's logic, but decidedly confused, when somebody else spoke.

"On the very contrary," Diane said smiling brightly. "It seems brilliant - and that is not a problem, I will provide," she assured the other girl (Selena). Her eyes returned to the first (Aislynn). "Let me make you a sample." Diane moved over and poured flood water in another vial, which she labeled FLOOD C.

She brought the vial to Aislynn. "It is a vial quantity of water, I hope it will be enough. This way, it will not matter if it gets contaminated by the anhydrous crystals. Ah, as you know the proceedings, please, carry them out as well." She handed it to her.


"Speaking of it... I also need to test for finner details of this water properties. Would somebody like to try heating both waters and time their vaporisation? But be very careful about adverse reactions," she added, and sighed. "Though, I suggest to test corrosion. It is probably better to priorize that."

She looked troubled, even now. "Nevertheless, I will try again with Scarpin's Revelaspell." She brought up her wand. "I had noticed before but, I was meaning to judge by the level of salt and minerals in the water, if it was ocean water running underground. I will try to get some more details, and another time to identify the spells affecting the water."

Her wand was finite incantatem the revelaspell, and pointing her wand again. Now you looked at it, she had also placed a second sheet of glass while she talked and had set an sample of normal lake water, or so she expected. Thus, she pointed her wand to target, one time each: "SpeRevelio... SpeRevelio..."

"Hmm," Anna said, thinking carefully about what Diane had said about the lack of water in the water. She brought up a really good point, but from what Anna could tell, there was definitely water present...the spell just hadn't revealed it. "The substance really does resemble water, though," she said, leaning over and closely examining it. "Does SpeRevelio just reveal what's been added to a substance, or does it reveal every single component? I'm thinking it just told us the ingredients that had been added to the water." Anna shrugged, not really sure of either option. She glanced towards Professor Kazimeriz, wondering if he had an opinion one way or the way other. If he did, she doubted he'd speak up and share it. He seemed to really want the students to lead this while he did the supervising. "I guess...maybe we could try the spell again. You looked to have done a really good job to me, though."

Anna blinked at Aislynn's suggestion, then glanced up at her with a rather expressionless face. Aislynn must be incredibly gifted in the art of potion making to be able to come up with an answer like that. Anna hadn't even understood half the words she'd said. It sounded like a really good idea, though. "No, no, wait. I don't think we should just forget that. It sounds like a really good idea," she said, nodding her head in approval. "Where would we obtain those materials, though?" she asked, glancing up at Professor Kazimeriz. If he had some in stock, he'd have to agree to let them use some of it. Selena and Grace seemed to be okay with Aislynn's idea, too, as did Diane who was currently trying SpeRevelio again. Anna turned to watch and wait for the ingredients to once again be revealed.

"Well we could separate the water molecules from all the other substances," Aislynn said. "All we would have to do is heat the lake water and use the perspired substance to test to see if it's water or not."

Aislynn took the vial, but she was very nervous about testing her theory. She looked at the vial of water and it almost seemed like a bomb to her. She was nervous about trying something wrong--actually, she was nervous about failing.

Aislynn smiled. She was shocked that so many people were up for trying her idea. "It's really all about chemistry," she said. "It's muggle science. Maybe that's what we've been missing though. We've been so focused on a magical solution, perhaps it's more of a hands on answer." She grabbed a burner and got it started. "We could try evaporating the water or substance, whatever it may be. Couldn't we also test the water with gillyweed?"

She hoped she made sense. She almost felt like she was confusing herself. This whole experiment really depended on Professor Kazimeriz, whether he would allow it and whether or not he had the materials to test it.

Kazimeriz listened to the students theorize and discuss, a little burst of pride welling up in the centenarian's heart. Bless them, they were using critial thinking. Thinking about process. It pleased the professor greatly.

"You are all analyzing the situation well, though remember that in a laboratory setting, to do a true test you need to compare and contrast the difference between the lake-water and the flood water. To do this, you need to perform the same tests upon the control subject-- in this case, the lake water - as you do the test subject. Also, if you would like to confirm the presence of water in the potion, you could simply perform a hot air charm on a small sample from both the control and test subjects. This would evaporate any actual water content from the samples." Kazimeriz was fairly certain that there was water in both samples, but it seemed to interest the children and it was a good thing for them to learn.

He contemplated for a moment. "What is most interesting to me at this juncture, however, is not what is revealed- namely, the contaminants in the flood water- but rather what is not present. Specifically, Scarpin's Revelaspell shows not only ingredients in a potion but any spells, charms or hexes that have been incorporated into the substance by any wizard's wand at any time. Keeping in mind that many of your professors were down in the flood waters, attempting to battle them with various charms and spells to no avail... And yet, there is no direct evidence of those attacks in this sample. Fascinating." Kazimeriz said. "What is this telling us about this sample?" He looked to the students for their thoughts.

"Yes," Diane said, blinking with amazement. "Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking." Her more edginess was showing again. That something troubling her became more evident. "Or maybe not exactly, but close enough."

Her eyes moved away... then she just chuckled, shaking her head. "The water has a neutralizing effect. It nullifies magic." She was back to calm, back to smile, and back looking at the professor. "Gringott's waterfall."

She let that speak for itself and now turned to observe the glowing of her spells, as they were still deciphering the components of both lake and flood water on their respective glass sheets. She did not mean to scare the others, but that could mean extremely bad news.

No - she shook her head. "A magic-concealing charm maybe." Hopefully. She had been wrong before.

"Professor," she turned to him, suddenly. "I heard the water passed to solid state-- I mean, was frozen over at the Entrance Hall. Do you happen to know if any of the professors were involved in that?"

Kazimeriz raised an eyebrow. Gringott's waterfall, indeed. Magic concealing charms, or neutralizing? Hm... Perhaps. Perhaps. Or perhaps something far more insidious. "I was not present in the entrance hall and regrettably, I do not know if the frozen state was created or a naturally occurring phenomenon. But it is a very good question to ask, Miss Entelequia. Miss Greingoth- you were undoubtedly in said hall at the time of the flooding, if your track record for being in the right place at the right time bears out. Do you know the answer to Miss Entelequia's question?" And just as important: where were Lawson and Truebridge when the hall iced over? Or when it flooded? And what were they up to?

Wow. Maybe she really did have a record for always being in the right place at the right time. No wonder Professor Kazimeriz was so leary of her. Even though she did mean well and was only trying to help, she indeed was always near the scene of the crime, so to speak. She glanced over at him, then slowly nodded her head. "I---I was indeed in the Great Hall during that time, sir. Only, I arrived just after the water froze. It remained in that state for quite a while, and my friends and I were even able to assist a few students during that time. There were a few quite unlucky in getting their feet stuck in the water when it froze over," she replied. "Once it melted, though, the water rose at an unbelievable rate. There were grindylows. It was horrible, sir." She shivered and closed her eyes, trying hard to block out the memories of the grindylow attaching itself to her robes and trying its hardest to pull her down. Thank Merlin Cope and Rob had been there to pull her safety.

"I have a few ideas as to what's causing this flooding, though," she said, opening her eyes again. "Myrtle was in the Great Hall during the time the water was frozen over. She and I briefly talked, and I ended up asking her if she'd seen anything unusual that may be associated with the flooding. She told me that she hadn't seen anything, but she had heard something," she continued. "It was just the way she stressed the word heard that made me think the answer to this flood lies within something we can hear better than we can see."

She took a deep breath, then added, "A few days ago a sort of loud wailing noise could be heard from down by the lake. I remembered what Myrtle told me, and I thought that maybe...just maybe...she's heard the wailing sound, too. It's hard to explain, but there were cries...and a sort-of...maybe...a word. I've been thinking about this a lot, sir, and...I think we need to search the lake. Only, we don't need to search the lake for water...we need to search the lake for a creature. Why would a creature make such horrible wailing sounds in the lake? I think...because maybe it doesn't belong there. I think the lake is currently a home to a creature it's not meant to serve as a home to. I think that's what's causing the flood." She grew quiet and simply stared at him. He probably thought she'd literally lost her mind at this point. "Will...will you all come search with me at some point? Maybe after we finish in here?" she asked, looking at all the students and at Professor Kazimeriz.

Diane tilted her head. Myrtle again. And there was that other fact. Wailing, wailing... "What if," she began, "It is not water to begin with indeed. What you said about a creature, what if it is... body fluid?" She paused in consideration, but just noticed it could be read either way. She gave a little cough and elaborated: "Tears, that is."

Which, again, could be confirmed by the presence of salt in the flood water. Her eyes turned again to the two glowing samples. When troubled like this, the spell seemed to take an eternity to finish up.

"Ah, miss," she addressed Aislynn again. "What about the hot air charm the professor mentioned? Could you perform it? It would need to be 100 degrees celcius exactly. Or use your method, I am sure the professor possesses anhydrous crystals. Whichever way is easier for you."


ooc: Just a reminder, I am waiting the narrator again to confirm again the no-water part, and for the results on lake water.
(Also, people, we are bouncing ideas back and forwards, so those who are silent, dont be intimidated to participate.)

The water stirred again... another hue of vapor hovered above the water. Again, it displayed many of the potions that had been spilt in the dungeons, glass fragments, algae, lake kelp, hair potions, the remains of a dead fish, ink, green soot from the slytherin fireplace, lamp oil, muffin traces and the shedded skin of a grindylow which seemed to be shredding to pieces.

Kazimeriz raised an eyebrow, feeling a why-am-I-not-surprised bit of disdain. Of COURSE the girl had been there. She was always at the scene of every crime, and perhaps even had a hand in this whole mess. Still... It was an interesting story, to be sure. And an interesting theory.

Unless of course it was Greingoth herself... who did she hang out with? Was she close to Truebridge or Lawson? Could she be possibly even under an imperius curse, working for them to undermine the investigation and continue this mad flooding?

!!!

That was it! The Greingoth girl was there, at the scene of every crime...er... flooding. She was interested in DADA, as he had recalled when he taught her. Lawson and Truebridge could easily have coerced her -- knowingly or magically-- to assist them. It all made perfect sense. And here she was, perhaps attempting to undermine their investigation with talk of wailing creatures in the lake!

He considered Greingoth's story coupled with Entelequia's theory. It would be good to humor Greingoth, lest she suspect he was on to her, Truebridge and Lawson. And perhaps she was an unwilling victim, under the imperius curse. Truebridge possibly even had been the one responsible for the killing of the Avis child last term... Perhaps he had unwittingly learned too much about Truebridge's plan, and had been about to let the headmaster know of it...?

One thing was clear: there was something truly insidious afoot. Truebridge was the most obvious suspect. Perhaps the former actor was 'acting' even now, while gathering his forces to try to take over the school and ...perhaps he was even seeking a magical archaeological artifact, something truly dark so that he could gain power. That would explain why he had taken Kettleburn under his wing, arranging for his internship... It all makes sense. the potions master thought.

Perhaps Truebridge had visions of himself as the 'next' dark lord. Many had tried to bring the Death Eaters back over the years, perhaps he was another of these ambitious fools. But he wouldn't succeed. Not on Kazimeriz's watch!

Kazimeriz furrowed his brows. He could 'act', too. And it would be necessary if he were to stop Truebridge's ascent as an evil leader. He watched the spell reveal the contents again, thinking quickly.

It would be best to investigate all angles... besides, perhaps there was a creature in peril, crying, somehow involved in this as Entelequia and Greingoth surmised. It was never good to eliminate possibilities in an investigation, even if he was certain in his heart that Truebridge was behind it all.

"The contents reveal what we already knew: this substance is lake water, contaminated due to flooding. But your comments about odd sounds and Myrtle's observations intrigues me; I suspect we are dealing with something sinister here... something dark. I suggest that you form a search party and seek out Myrtle. Bring her here, that we might..."Interrogate her."interview her." He waved his wand, returning the water samples to their respective phials. "She may be the key we need to solving this mystery."

He nodded; this was the most logical course of action. In spite of the possible danger, Kazimeriz began to feel like his younger self again, excited at the prospect of action-- of facing down a potential dark foe and conquering him. Just as he had so often when he had been young-- when he was an Auror.

Hogwarts needed him. And he was ready to fight for the school-- for the students.

For the first time in a long time, the old man truly felt alive.

Don't be scared! It's just an overly-long post...
 

OOC: For the lake water the same, then? I'm guessing so.


Diane turned at seeing the raising vapour display the components and affected-by-spell results. She sighed, feeling a bit disappointed. "I don't suppose the water - or whatever it is - can be analysed in any more depth than this."

But no spell nor specifically nature-altering ingredients? That left them with little to work on. "Could it be the mix of potions are affecting the results? If the ingredients for one and another got mixed and made a new potion, capable of blocking the analysing magic, it would work the same as Gringott's Thief Downfall: nullify."

She asked this and made hand gestures to accompany her thoughts, but her eyes and expressions were somewhere else altogether.

There was a strange glint which Diane did not know how to read in the professor's eyes. She exchanged a look with the Gryffindor Prefect, and her eyes returned to space. "We can do that," she offered and asked around, "Does everyone agree?" To be quite honest, she preferred staying to work more on the potions, but guess for that she needed more information.

Diane tilted her head suddenly, with a deep frown that did not go with her face. “The ingredients fused together… Why some of them did not and remain separate from the main flood mix, and those are the ones listed by SpeRevelio? Why didn't the lake kelp fuse, or the remains of that dead fish, and some of the potions?”

She was kind of pacing back and forwards by now. "If some obvious components of lake water, like water itself, mixed together forming a new potion, is that why water is not listed? If the water of the potions listed doesn’t show either, is because they are ingredients inside ingredients… Is that why?”

She was kind of asking these questions half to herself, scratching the side of her face pensively. "Some spells affect the water, some does not. Some ingredients show, some does not. Something is affecting the water, however. Even if it's not us."

Diane stopped suddenly and tilted her head the other side, looking at them. "Are you following me? Ah, sorry to bring you to go through this once more but, bear with me for a second," she said. "If we identify the ingredients that should be there, but are not shown, we may identify which are the ingredients of this bigger mix already fused."

However, she was not very optimistic. That would work if the lake sample would have showed results different from the one of the flood... and if the spell would have showed with more detail things like, which potions exactly were there - other than hair products - in the dungeon mix.

... Or it may be the exact opposite way round. The common thing would be to think those listed were the ones that made the 'potion'. That if the corrosive nature of the water did not eliminate the components to begin with.

It was difficult to tell with this 'water'. Normal rules did not seem to apply.

"Ah, somebody else may want to try SpeRevelio and find out what potions are there." She wasn't very confident in her performance any more. "Provided we know that, we may come up with a counter-potion, we may know what ingredients to suppress, or what spells may work against the water. That’s the theory of it, at least– Professor, I'm afraid we need your help for that. We would need a complete list of potions in the Dungeons. Is that... possible?

“You will have time to gather that while we look for Myrtle." She had the impression catching a ghost would be like… well, yeah.

Kazimeriz smiled gently at the girl. "Your critical thinking skills are excellent. However, I am afraid you are encumbered by the limits of your year. Specifically, your youth and inexperience limits your ability to draw the necessary conclusions." Firstie.

"Scarpin's Revelaspell is a wonderful tool, but it is only a tool- it is imperfect. If simply waving our wands over the potions revealed every nuance of whatever we were analzying, well, every potion master and apothecary would be out of business. Specifically, what we are unable to account for by Scarpin's is all of the variables that are described in Golpalott's Laws of Potioneers. When you advance into N.E.W.T. level studies -- and I have no doubt with your talent that you will -- you will learn more about this. As a N.E.W.T. student, Miss Greingoth is no doubt familiar with the many Laws of Golpalott... One of these is Golpalott's third law, which focuses on antidotes and compound potions but which can easily be applied to this experiment."

Kazimeriz surveyed his students. He knew some of this might be over the younger students' heads, but he felt the need to at least introduce the concepts. "Golpalott's third law states that "The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components." Simply put, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts in a poison-- in fact, in any compound potion, this is true. Therefore, in working with antidotes for blended poisons or while resolving any compound potion, we must consider a fifth element, known as quintessence, that is borne of the secondary interactions of each individual blend of ingredients coupled with the source of magic itself-- that is, the potioneer brewing the potion in question. The nature of this quintessence is something that will never be revealed by Scarpin's or any other analytical tool; this is why it is so important to educate yourselves on the nature of each ingredient and how they interrelate."

"Further, if this sample has, by nature of its components or by virtue of dark magic, produced an effect like the Gringott's waterfall-- nullifying magical attempts to break down its initial purposing -- we would be unable to discern that through a simple test like Scarpin's Revelaspell. We would need to utilize much more intensive methods of magical investigation."

"As for a complete list of potions in the dungeon, as much as I would like that to be possible, I cannot give this to you. First, there are too many variables to consider- contaminants and such-- that could be considered 'ingredients' but are not, strictly speaking, part of my catalogue. Second, there were things being brewed in my lab that were highly sensitive and confidential; I simply cannot divulge them to this group at this time. I assure you, however, that the potions in question - in single ingredient or blended form - would not have altered the magical behavior of the water in a way consistent with the floodwaters."

Kazimeriz contemplated for a moment. "I am only here in the capacity of an advisor; my interest is in seeing you experiment and learn, not to do the work for you. However..." Kazimeriz drew his wand. He uncorked the flood water and poured a bit of the sample out, waving his wand slightly as he did so. The sample hovered in the air, an amorphous blob of water, levitating as though in some sort of amoeba-shaped invisible trap. He analyzed it, his hands and wand mere inches from the subject as though he were holding it without touching it.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and then narrowed sharply. He returned the same to its phial once more.

"Find Myrtle." was all he said, his voice urgent.

Kidnap Myrtle >d
 

Cam was silent for most of the time. His brain just went dead from all of the complicated and long, long, long words the students and the professors were using. DID THEY EXPECT HIM TO UNDERSTAND ALL OF THIS?! Yes, this lab was just packed with smart people so all he could do was stay quiet really, he didn't want to be some sort of a nuisance in their work, right??

He looked at Anna when she talked about a wailing scream. His first thought was Myrtle. Eugugh. She was sosososooooo annoying--he was glad she barely even knew him. Then again, why would Myrtle tell Anna she heard it too? So it couldn't have been her really. "Could've been a Selkie," he snickered, though he took his guess quite seriously. AH! They were REVOLTING! Why else would there have been Grindylows at the tables?! 'Cause they sent 'em there, duhh duhduhdudhuuhhhh. That DADA homework proved to be some help with merpeople and he quite already knew Mermish was some sort of a screeching sound above water.

Yup. Yup. Or maybe he was just plain crazy.

Diane did another Revelaspell, so he focused his eyes on the sample of water again, wondering if anything new would show up. Nope. Same thing. He looked at the professor to see what he would say. Find Myrtle? MYRTLE?! He was still a bit scared of ghosts. They were flesh-eating monsters. But he liked stalking people, even ghosts!

Yes, Cam was a master of stalking. He smirked and looked back at Diane and then straight at the professor. So... many... words... to... comprehend!!! So the Revelaspell couldn't reveal all of the things that was in the sample? WHY DID MAGIC HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED.

"Off to kidnap--ah--I mean find Myrtle then?" Now? He looked at the others.

Find Myrtle

Daniel had felt a tap on the back. Not the tap that saying congratulations but much more of a wake up. He had felt that he was petrified and was revived by the voice of Kazimeriz ordering to find Myrtle.

And get her to him? How could he expect us to find a moaning ghost and worst, to bring her to him.

Daniel cleared his throat and spoke, "I think we should split up." he said, "Myrtle is often in the Prefects bath or the girls bathroom." he added.

"Yes, you are right," Diane agreed with a complacent smile. "It is because I am lacking on academic experience." She said this, but, it didn't hold all true; she was a tad bit more familiar with Golpalott's third law that she cared to disclose at this minute.

Nonetheless, it was brilliant to listen to the explanations. She paid the attention a todder would have for a fairies story... that is borne of the secondary interactions of each individual blend of ingredients coupled with the source of magic itself... It was absolutely facinating. Of course, you do not need to nullify the whole of a potion to change its effects, but not knowing the ingredients and attempting an antidote could cause... fatalities. Indeed.

...there are too many variables to consider- contaminants and such-- that could be considered 'ingredients' but are not, strictly speaking, part of my catalogue. Yes, yes, which was why it would have been helpful to have the sample for the lake be different to the sample from the flood. But, of course, it was a little bit more complicated than that. Second, there were things being brewed in my lab that were highly sensitive and confidential; I simply cannot divulge them to this group at this time. Now here, that had her raise an eyebrow. She said nothing. She only watched as the professor performed another kind of spell... what a handy thing, she will need to learn that one too--

Diane was momentarily startled by the professor's urgent call, which got her moving even before realizing where she was supposed to go. "We split alright, but first we need to go through the DADA professor's offices. We need a spell to hold a ghost," she told then, getting her bag over her shoulders.

"NO!" Kazimeriz said, his eyes wide. "Do not attempt to capture or contain Miss Myrtle. You must convince her to come willingly." And for Merlin's sake, do not involve Truebridge or Lawson. "This is a mission of finesse, and one that must be handled delicately. I ask that you merely seek out Myrtle, and politely bring her to us for a small conversation."

So we will not kidnap Myrtle.

One confusing thought. why do they need Myrtle. "Professor, may I ask? Why do we need Myrtle?" he said valiantly.

And to think that we need her to come with them in a graceful manner. That would be a blast if she would come in with them with just a simple plea.

Anna blinked when Diane mentioned the flooding being body fluid. Eww. Did she mean...oh, thank Merlin. "That's good thinking, Diane. Tears...that's a thought," she said, nodding her head. "Do you think maybe the creature may be thrashing about so much that it's unintentionally causing the lake water to spill over into the school? But then...why is it that it sometimes only effects certain areas but not others?" She released a deep sigh, then wrinkled her forehead in a mixture of confusion and frustration. "For example...Mr. Masterson's hut. The water was inside the hut, yet it wasn't anywhere outside the hut. It was like it grew from thin air. Why, Professor Lawson and I had to ride a broom to the hut's roof in an attempt to rescue the groundskeeper."

She diverted her attention to the phial when SpeRevelio started to work its magic. Potions...glass...algae...lake kelp...dead fish...ink...soot...lamp oil...muffin traces...and...*shiver*, grindylow skin. "It's all the same...," she mumbled, shaking her head as she pondered the results. With the sudden feeling as if she were being watched, Anna blinked then glanced up. Of course. She eyed Professor Kazimeriz in an attempt to read into his expression, but she really came up with nothing. He was suspicious of her...but why? Had she really left that ill of an impression on him?

He wanted them to locate Myrtle? But...but...finding Myrtle was usually incredibly difficult, as she only appeared when she typically really wanted to. It was unlikely she'd agree to just merely stroll along. Nevertheless, it was what needed to be done. Just how they'd go about that was beyond her. "I agree," she spoke up, replying to Diane's suggestion that they all head out to find Myrtle. "Myrtle is usually very difficult to convince, though. She has a mind of her own, she does. We'll have to do some heavy convincing. Any ideas on how we should go about asking her? It's unlikely she'll just simply agree."

She listened to her groupmate's suggestions, nodding as they spoke. It all seemed easier said than done, though. Finding Myrtle was one thing, but convincing her to come along to the Potions Lab was another ordeal altogether. "Alright, well, if we split up, I can search the Prefect's bathroom with one group, while the other group searches the girl's bathroom. There's also the lake to consider," she said. "Shall we go and then return to the analyzation once we've retrieved her?"

Daniel nodded at Anna's suggestions. He then considered going with her to ask something or just wanted to come with her.

"Yes, I volunteer to go with Anna." he said. But deep inside he doesn't really want to go to the girl's bathroom. That's why.

"Myrtle was the one who heard ...whatever it is she heard. She may have the answers to our questions, and if properly convinced, she may be willing to help resolve the mystery." Kazimeriz said simply.

Kazimeriz's eyes narrowed. Lawson, again. She is obviously either in collusion with them or being used by them. he thought. "How fortunate it was that you were right in the right place at the right time with Professor Lawson when the flooding occurred. Otherwise, who knows what might have happened to poor Mr. Masterson." Kazimeriz said sarcastically.

"Play to her weakness, Greingoth." Kazimeriz said shortly, looking pointedly at Kaiser and then returning his gaze to Greingoth. He hoped it would be fairly obvious what Myrtle's weakness was.

"Please return to this lab with her and we can go forward from that point. Go now-- do not dally, we have much to learn if we are to solve this. Work as a team, and recruit any students who might be of help to you. Go, go!" Kazimeriz said impatiently, taking the water from the flood sample again and analyzing it further with that same hovering technique.

Cam found it incredibly confusing. Myrtle. That crazy emotional ghost could have been anywhere, he seriously didn't know where she was. He sighed and looked over at Diane when she mentioned talking to Lawson about a spell that could capture ghosts. Oooooh! Oh yeahhhh, they were going to be a group of ghost bustah'ss! All they needed was a vacuum, right? Or would ghosts simply pass through it. Eh.

He jumped at Kazi who told them not to use any spell against her. WHOAH. He never knew the old man could muster up that loud of a voice! Cam didn't know why they couldn't but if it was Kazi's orders, they'd just have to follow it. Bleh. Harder work. Facing Anna and nodding at her suggestions, he stayed where he was. Prefect's Bathroom or the Girl's Loo?!? WHUT?

"Wait... so I'm NOT a girl," well that was obvious wasn't it, "and I'm NOT a Prefect or a Captain." Sooooo... he was confused. He looked at Kazi who nodded them off to go, so... was he SUPPOSE to go or not?! Guh. Cam looked at Anna, deciding to follow her off to the Prefect's bathroom. WELL HE WASN'T GOING TO THE GIRLS' LOO WAS HE?!

Nope he could just not.

Finding Myrtle could be quite a task, as who knows when someone'll accidentally let slip something that the ghost considered an insult. Selena remembered that she once saw Myrtle hovering around as she was walking around the lake, so she said in a quiet voice, "Well, as everyone seemingly is heading to either the Prefects' bathroom or the girls', I'll go towards the lake. I remembered seeing her down there once. Anyone with me?" She glanced around for support, as she was no master of pleading and reasoning with that whiny, crybaby of a ghost. Puppy eyes - Kat's failproof option - probably won't work, nor threatening her with Peeves...

"Actually, I think I might hold off on searching the prefect's bathroom. If I go there, I'll have to go alone...or just with Jack. That's not to say I'm scared to go alone, but rather, I'd like to work with the entire group instead of just by myself or with just one other," she said. She really hoped everyone could get the opportunity to work with the whole team and have everyone involved. After all, working together was so much better than trying everything alone. "You're welcome to come with me wherever I go, though. Thanks, Daniel!"

Great. Just great. She'd unintentionally managed to give Professor Kazimeriz even more reason to suspect that she was the culprit behind all this crazy flooding. She didn't respond to that particular comment, for she sort of believed it would just get her deeper and deeper into trouble with him. So instead, her eyes just flickered away from him momentarily, and she simply listened as he continued to talk.

"Boys," she mouthed, realization dawning of her. Of course! There was nothing that attracted Myrtle more than a boy! Of course, Anna really didn't blame her much when it came to that particular topic, but it was true that the mere presence of a boy was enough to convince Myrtle of most anything. She nodded her head to the professor, indicating that she understood what he'd meant.

"That's alright, Cam. It works out perfectly that you're a boy. I actually have an idea," she said, looking at each person in the group as she talked. "Myrtle...like boys. A lot. I believe we can convince her to come along by utilizing you boys as, well...bait." Idea after idea flashed through her mind, and she sincerely hoped that at least one of them would work. "You boys can wait outside the bathroom, while we girls go inside the bathroom and search for her...and have a little chat with her, of course. But...how will we use you as bait? You could...you know...write her a little poem. We can tell her that you've written her one, and...you'd like to read it to her...in the Potion's Lab."

"You do realize, though, that in order to convince her to actually remain in the Potions lab once she gets here, we'll...have to actually write a poem and then get you boys to read it to her." She glanced around at all the boys, hoping they'd agree. "Dan? Jack? Cam?" As she waited for their reply, she nodded towards Selena, who'd volunteered to head down to the lake. "That sounds like a good idea, Selena. Since we're splitting up, let's meet back here in...half an hour. Does that sound okay? Hopefully one of us will have located Myrtle by then. How about this, though. We're leaving out the prefect's bathroom, though? Do you guys think I should check in there, too?"

Aislynn was listening to the conversation. She had a feeling that Professor Kazimeriz had his own intentions with this whole experiment and getting to the bottom of it she just wanted to know why. She kind of glared at Professor Kazimeriz, and tried to hint in her stare that she was there to do whatever he needed to be done, whatever the cost, he only needed to ask.

But, then her attention turned to Anna. It sounded like everyone was gathering a search party to go a seek Myrtle. What an adventure! She was very determined to help in anyway she could. "Anna, I would like to help. Just tell me what you need done and I'll be there. It's about time we get to the bottom of things?"

She looked to Professor Kazimeriz. "That is unless I'm needed elsewhere," she said as she raised an eyebrow.

I understand thought Daniel as he look and smiled at Anna. He nodded as a response to her last statement on about him free to go with her.



Daniel almost burst into tears when he heard that they are going to be baits. Chivalry is good if the one you are courting is alive. He giggled and said, "We don't need to be writing a poem" he said and then grabbing his back pack, he grabbed an old brown book from it. "I got this Muggle literature from the Library this morning and it is full of poems. We can use one of them for Myrtle." he said giving the book a flip.

"Oh, thanks, Aislynn!" she said, nodding in agreement that it was definitely time they got to the bottom of this mysterious flood. If they didn't, Merlin, Hogwarts could be destroyed beyond repair! "If you'd like, Aislynn, you can go with me to the girl's bathroom to look for Merlin and try and convince her to come back here. I'm thinking we need to try and use the boys as a means of getting her out the bathroom and into this lab. What do you think?"

"We don't?" Anna asked, wondering what idea Daniel had come up with. Apparently he had some sort of suggestion, as he was now digging through his backpack for something or another. A few seconds later, he pulled out an old-looking brown back. A muggle literature book, he said. "Oh, that's excellent! Awesome, Daniel! So, yeah, we can tell Myrtle that you boys would like to read her a few poems. I think she'll come then!"

..."So what do you say? To the girl's bathroom?" she asked, looking around at each of the group members. She grabbed her bag and added, "Well, I'm ready when you are..."

OOC: To the girl's bathroom on the second floor?

"I will follow where ever you go. I am always up for a little adventure." She said slightly hesitant. She wasn't sure if this plan was going to work. It was really out there, but it was better than nothing. She put her book in her bad and slipped her wand in the sleeve of her robe. She didn't think it would be necessary, but what the heck, you never know what might happen in Hogwarts and this little excursion. She followed Anna out to the girl's bathroom.

Diane counted with fingers the people in this lab. From Anna The Prefect's own speech, knowing who was Daniel, thus, she gathered who was Jack, and she knew Cam. She heard someone else address Aislynn and got reminded the girl who was there from the start was Selena. She had lost Lawliet from view. Seven students - no, eight. There was this one girl she did not know the name of. Three boys, five girls. Two prefects. No splitting then, alright.

"Um, I'm not a girl of action but I suggest we leave now." And saying this, she started for the door - though despite her words she was walking as if she headed for a picnic. "Let's ask around if you find another ghost, they may help us."

"You, too, huh?" Anna asked Aislynn, a smile forming on her face. "I've always enjoyed a good adventure, myself. Especially one that's this important to the maintaining of Hogwarts." She gathered her own bag and slung it over her shoulder. She turned towards Daniel, who'd previously showed them a muggle literature book containing poetry. She nodded towards the book and said, "We might want to start searching for a little poem in the meantime, too. Let me know if you'd like me to help glance through the book, as well." She nodded when Diane mentioned leaving, agreeing that if they planned to get a move on, they should do so now. "After you," she said, then followed Diane out the door.

As Diane, Anna and Aislynn walked out of the classroom, Selena too gathered her stuff and put them orderly in her bunny-decorated backpack. What in the name of Usagi Tsukino (ooc: Sailor Moon inside joke.) was Kat thinking when she bought this back pack, the girl had no idea. She walked briskly towards the door, hot on the tails of the three girls.

Kazimeriz watched the group of Floodwater Investigators go out in search of their quarry, putting the sample of water back in its phial. He had just corked the small bottle when he saw Sir Sobs A Lot, The Feathered Wonder Kettleburn enter the room.

"Ah, Kettleburn. Whatever brings you to the lab on this fine day?" he smirked, knowing full well why Mr. Not So Mellow Yellow was there.

OOC: I suck and I got distracted with RL things, but i'm here now for the semi-detention... and if you don't want to do it anymore, just delete this post :P

Varius walked into the Potions Lab, a room he could safely say he had never been in, not even in first year when the lab would have been situated in its rightful place in the dungeons. However, it wasn't like he was exploring this room for the first time out of choice as it was very much under the orders of Professor Kazimeriz.

He moved between the benches within the lab until he reached the century-old Professor. "Erm, Professor Kazimeriz... you said you wanted to speak to me after our first class and..." he stifled a small cough, "and to er... do a detention."

His first detention. Boo! Sad-face!

"Finish my p-p-potion, sir," Copernicus wiped his nose and half-heartedly stirred at his cauldron. "And P-Plymouth is going to fix me." Copernicus sniffled once and then just broke down again. "IF HE EVER SHOWS UP."

He sulked for a moment before wiping his face clear and focusing on his cauldron again.

Aislynn sent her Patronus ahead. It was a beautiful silver unicorn. And it made an announcement in lab, "Everyone, Myrtle is coming and we need to make this lab look like a party for her welcome. If you know any boys bring them! And presents! Myrtle loves presents. Use the party charm to make make this place look magical!" The unicorn began to disappear.

Having just located Myrtle inside the Spirit Room and helped convince her to follow suit, Anna strolled back into the Potions Lab. Hopefully the rest of the little group would be along shortly. Noticing that Professor Kazimeriz was a bit busy with a few other students, Anna stepped to the side and waited for him to have a free moment. Maybe Myrtle would appear soon, and the presence would pretty much explain everything. Anna surely hoped this would work out for the best, too. Hopefully Myrtle knew enough information to guide them to a conclusion that would stop this flooding once and for all. One could only hope at this point, at least.

Aislynn rushed in the lab as fast as she could ahead of Myrtle. She finished up touches to make it look like a party. Balloons appeared everywhere, gold and silver streamers, a disco ball floating in the center. The was some oldies music playing in the background, that of Twisted Sisters. She had a table and it was stacked with gifts. "This is going...going to work," she said trying to catch her breath. Everything looked like a real party. She didn't even look at Professor Kazimeriz, but hopefully it will understand. It was all for a good cause.

It was dark and there were flashing lights going to the beat of the music. There was smoke going on. She was pretty proud of herself for the time that was given her. Now, they would just have to wait for Myrtle.

"Oh, hey, Aislynn! I'm glad you made it! I just heard your patronus' announcement. That was fast thinking," Anna said, speaking quickly as she moved around to assist Aislynn in getting the room ready for a party. Seeing Professor Kazimeriz nearby and figuring he'd pretty much already figured out what was going on, Anna scurried to his side. "We apologize for the interruption sir, but we've done as you've requested of us. We've all worked together to locate Myrtle and convince her to come here...for a party and some poetry reading," she said. "I'm afraid Myrtle was quite upset when we finally saw her, as she'd been crying inside of the Spirit Room."

"She..." Aislynn was breathing heavily, "...I think she's right behind me I sped as fast as a I..." she took in a deep breath,"...I think she should be here any second." She looked over at Professor Kazimeriz sympathetically. She felt like she would serve out the rest of her years here at Hogwarts in detention.

She moved over by Anna and whispered, "Do you think this is going to work?"

Myrtle.

Apparently they kidnapped found her already? Well he saw her at the lake but his luring failed. He was HORRIBLE at luring ghosts. Euughgh. Ghosts. Flesh-eating ghosts. Cam hadn't even seen that ghost or well any ghost at all in Hogwarts eat any students but whoever said they didn't do it? WAS THERE SUCH A THING AS A GHOSTOLOGIST? If so, have they ever said ghosts couldn't/didn't eat people? Hmm? Hmm? HAVE THEY??

Cam skipped back to the Potions Lab, wondering if Myrtle was already there or if she wasn't. Stepping inside the lab, he peeked in and eyed first at Anna and at the rest of the other people already inside. Hmm.

"Is Myrrrrrrtle here?" Cam didn't see her but she WAS a ghost and while the ghosts at Hogwarts as transparent, he always pictured them to be invisible.

Cedric rushed towards the laboratory, "Gah!At last!!" He panted. He heard that Myrtle is going to be here to make young boys read poems for her.He has one though so he was ready.As he arrived he noticed some acquaintances and friends.He walk towards Anna that's always been nice to him,to everybody.He waved and say, 'Hello' to Copernicus, to Varius , To Prof Kazi of course and to the other students he don't know.

And now, Where is Lyra?

Ced wants Lyra, She seemed very nice, He hope that she would come soon.

Selena zipped into the lab, having just dodged and outran their objective ghost outside. Seeing as the room have already been draped in a party-like decoration, she had nothing to do but looked around in awe. Wow - they sure are fast.

Anna
 

Daniel was panting when he reached the Open Laboratory in time for the party that was discussed in the Spirit Room.

He had been strolling the castle and its ground in search of the ghost Moaning Myrtle. And now he is in the starting point of his journey and will be hosting a party which was already been set up.

And they are now waiting for the guest of honor. Moaning Myrtle

He looked around and approached Anna. He whispered to her ear and said while looking around, "Do we still need a poem?" he said.

"Taaaaaaa-daaaaaaa! I'm heeeere now, the party can start!"

Moaning Myrtle floated through the wall of the potions lab and did a twirl to show off her pearly dress followed by two flip-flips of her pigtails.

"Boys... boys boys!" she screeched with glee, immediately zooming through the first three she saw (Cam, Ced, and Dan). "Where's my poems, boyssss?"

Aislynn swept over to Myrtle. "OH Myrtle, how wonderful of you to come!! What beautiful pearls you're wearing!" With a flick of her wand she transformed one of the wooden chairs into a royal throne fit for a queen. "Perhaps you would like to...float on it, so the boys can recite their poems they have graciously made for you at your feet?" She smiled and kind of bowed to Myrtle as though she was royalty.

Wow, this Aislynn girl was way too good at spells! Grace was simply staring at the shiny brand new throne. She wanted to be like her! Grace jumped when she muttered her pearls. The first year had totally forgot her willingness to meet a ghost! She quickly turned to her. Wow, a ghost! How wonderful her color was! She just looked at her and after some seconds, realised that she must say something.

"You are... amazing!" she coplimented, and she meant it.

Anna nodded in reply to Aislynn's question. "Yup, I do," she simply said. Her eyes flickered from Aislynn to the door, as she was watching and waiting for the guest of honor to make her appearance. She surely hoped this plan would work. After all, it was their only hope in getting some answers about this horrible, ever-growing flood. Or, at least, Anna felt as if it were their only hope. Only time would tell, though.

Anna perked up when the door to the lab opened...but the latest guest wasn't Myrtle. Of course it wasn't Myrtle, as she wouldn't have bothered to actually open the door. She'd have flown right through either it or the wall. Cam had arrived, though, which was a good sign seeing that he was among those who were supposed to read the poetry to Myrtle. "Hey, Cam. Not yet, but we're thinking she might arrive soon," Anna replied.

Once again, Anna nodded, this time in reply to Daniel's question. "We told her there was a party...and a poetry reading. So yeah, be ready to read a poem at some point," she whispered back. "Thanks, Daniel." A few of the other students had arrived by now, as well. Anna glanced around the room, smiling at Selena, Cedric, and Grace. Hopefully the plan they'd come up with would work and assist in saving the school.

Just as Anna suspected she would, Myrtle joined the party by flying right through the wall. A smiled widened across Anna's face, and she shot excited looks over towards the other occupants of the room. Step one was complete! They'd managed to get her to come! "We're very excited to have you here, Myrtle! We do hope you enjoy your party," she said. She gently nudged a few of the boys in the side, encouraging them to walk forward and begin reading the poetry.