Oh good, they were finally getting to the potion-making part o the lesson. Adrienne couldn't wait to actually get to breathe fire, real or not. It would be beyond awesome just to see it happen. That is, assuming she didn't manage to mess up terribly and breathe ice or something. Admittedly, that would be pretty cool too. She didn't much care about the history of it, but she jotted down a few notes along the lines of 500 AD, honouring dragons, can cure the flu.

And now things were actually happening, so she got out her cauldron,mortar and pestle, stirring stick, and everything else and cleaned it all with a quick "Scourgify!" Adrienne figured that was probably enough (it wasn't like it was unclean before), and then cast "Aguamenti!" to get some water in there. She stopped paying attention for a moment as it filled up, so when she looked back it was slightly over a third of the way full and closer to halfway, but she dismissed it easily. No big deal, right? A little extra water could just boil away if it had to.

Powdered feather? That was... well, that was just bizarre. Adrienne wasn't sure how one would even go about reducing a feather to powder, but thankfully they didn't have to, as they were preprepared. And fungus, oooh, that was exciting. This was already the best lesson she'd had this year, and the professor was certainly a promising one.

She added the powdered feathers somewhat uneventfully, stirring until it looked... what had Professor Culloden said? Homogenous? She wasn't sure she'd heard that word before, so she just kind of assumed it meant 'like it's all one thing' and left it at that. What was the worst that could happen? Adrienne lit a fire beneath it and then moved on to the fungus. Pulling on her gloves and wiggling her fingers dramatically, Adrienne headed up to the front of the classroom to put a culture of fungus into her mortar. She wrinkled her nose at it, because it was not nearly as exciting-looking as she'd expected, and instead was weird-looking and smelled faintly yeast-y.

Back at her seat, she sank into the chair and squished the fungus around with her pestle, peering into the mortar every few seconds to see if it was sufficiently crushed. "Aguamenti!" she said, once she'd decided that it was close enough, anyway, and then swirled it around a bit to make sure it was all mixed up like it was supposed to be. Adrienne poured it into her cauldron eagerly, then sat back and clasped her hands together, something she always enjoyed doing while wearing gloves. It made her feel... nefarious.

Ella did glance over at little beehive boy after she'd helped and was pleased to see that he seemed to be getting it now. That was good. It could be tough going into lessons when you hadn't had a chance to practice as much as the older students and she would've hated to fall behind too.

What she hadn't expected was the points. She was about to explain that it wasn't necessary but then she figured she shouldn't. Hufflepuff would appreciate the points and really, it was nice that the Professor encouraged helping each other out. He got a thankful smile form the head girl. Mhm.



And moving on again. Okay, she was ready for the notes.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.



After cleaning her wooden stirrer again, Ella placed it back into the potion and stirred counter clockwise. "1..2..3..4..5..6..7." Seven times, done. Then, when the flame had been extinguished, the blonde watched the potion as it cooled. She did her best to keep track of time and not get distracted. That meant absolutely no looking at the boyfriend. Big old distraction right there, the boyfriend was.

After about what Ella had timed as 4 1/2 minutes, she couldn't see any more vapor rising from the potion. That...was a bit earlier than she'd anticipated but it also meant she didn't need to start over so she didn't question it. Time to move ahead, then.

Fire crabs. N'aww. Ella handled eyed the shell and thought of Taco, the fire crab she'd worked with in creatures. She'd grown quite fond of him. Missed him too. Anyway, after cleaning the spoon, Ella carefully picked up the shell and placed it on the surface. She didn't splash or anything which was a relief. She'd been sort of worried about that.

Then stirring happened. Alternating between clockwise and counterclockwise each time until she'd reached twelve times stirred. She timed it too, counting out the ten seconds in her head and making sure to stir slowly. When she was done, she reached for tissues with her free hand and smoothed them out before fishing the shell out with the spoon. She then carefully set it down.

So far, so good, yeah?

Ha. Ha! He thought she thought his question through well! That was funny. She smiled at the professor, thinking he was nice to appreciate her sense of humor. Unless... it WAS actually a really good answer? Sophie was surprised to find out that it was pretty on course with the whole tribe stuff and honoring of the dragons. Cool. She scribbled notes all the while, enjoying the explanation and history behind the potion, while copying all the ingredients. Fungus? A slug? Part of a fire crab shell? Mucus? Ew. No. She was not going to be one to volunteer to drink the solution - though she grinned over at Bart, who seemed to think it was a good idea. Funny kid. She admired his bravery.

When she was done copying the ingredients, Sophie scurried up to collect the necessary ingredients and returned to her chair, a bounce in her step. This potion was going to be FUN. She did a scourgifying of the cauldron and mortar, both inside and out, then did her gloves, the tabletop, her stick, her book, her quill, and eyed the wand itself but figured that wasn't going to work out. She would've done it if she could've, though, then she cast, "Aguamenti!" into the cauldron to fill it roughly a third of the way. "Finite." Close enough. Then, she poured the measurement of finely chopped goose feathers into the cauldron as the professor instructed, then gently stirred it with her stick clockwise, bringing the stick toward the walls of the cauldron to scrape some of the stray powder back down into the mixture. She listened to further instructions all the while and... may have made another face when he explained that the fungus was harmful to them.

Awesome.

When the concoction looked well enough, Sophie laid the stick down, turned the burner on high with a quick "Incendio!," and moved over to put her gloves on, eyeing the my-whatever fungus stuff wearily. "Creepy," she murmured under her breath, concentrating hard as she measured out the five square centimeters before adding it to the mortar and crushing it with the pestle. If the fungus was harmful to their skin, why would it be okay to put into their mouths? She considered asking, but maybe someone else would. Or if no one else did, maybe the answer was obvious? So she didn't ask - she would just watch carefully when the first person tried it later on to see if there were any adverse side effects. She kept her thoughts to herself for the time being and peered into the mortar at the crushed up parasites, not having counted out how long she had done it for while she got lost in her thoughts, but she was pretty sure they were crushed thoroughly enough.

She exchanged the pestle for her wand - she removed her gloves first, not wanting to get the nasty stuff on her Hermione!wand - and helped the parasites to a little bit of water, set the wand back down, put the gloves back on, and picked the mortar up with both gloved hands to swish it in a circular motion to mix them better with the water without it jolting over the sides of the container. When it looked good, Sophie carefully, calmly, and sloooowly poured the fungal mixture into the cauldron.

So... far so good? Sophie tried to seem totally cool and collected when the professor came around. She saw how quickly he had vanished all those other kids' potions. How embarrassing. She didn't want that to be her, especially not in front of all the older students - she wanted to prove she could keep up with them just fine.

Counter-clockwise, seven times. Right. Okay. She removed her gloves and gave them a good scourgifying on the tabletop with her wand, so the fungus wouldn't spread all over the surface, before picking up her stirring stick and counting aloud to herself as she gently stirred the mixture counter-clockwise, "1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7." Good. She switched the burner off and... sat back to take a breather while the potion cooled, eyeing the vapors and her watch every now and then to gauge how much time had passed.

Fiiiive minutes. That was a long time to wait. She took that time to copy down all the steps she had done so far, then picked up her wand and cast "Scourgify!" a few times to clean the fungal residue from the mortar and pestle in the meantime. He would approve of her cleaning up after herself as she went, no?

Crap. She was so going to be in trouble. He had said not to waste the schools money, and here she was with a mess of a potion. She shrugged a tiny bit. "I'm not really sure. I'm not a good cook. One time I accidentally put a cup of cinnamon into the coffee cake instead of a tablespoon." She was babbling now. Time to focus. What had she done exactly?

"Um, maybe I did the water thing wrong? I watched everyone else, and tried to copy them?" Or maybe it had been the cauldron? "Also I didn't know how to clean my cauldron, but I didn't think it mattered because I just bought it, so it was clean already, right?" Gwen wrung her hands together, waiting for the response. Could it be saved? Or had she just wasted valuable resources?

Adelaide nodded and listened, taking little notes along the way. She loved the whole bit of story behind the potion. Reminded her of her prized mythology stories. She took notes on it because who knew if that would be asked on the NEWTs or not. Wouldn't hurt to have notes.

As soon as he made the ingredients appear on the poor, Addi scribbled them down on her piece of paper. She would just add the instructions below as she went on.

SPOILER!!: ingredients & instructions

Dragon Potion

•3 goose feathers (chopped WELL that they look like powder)
•5 centimetre square of parasites (mycosis fungus)
•Roughly 2 centimetre square fire-crab shell (prepared)
•One fire slug
•8 drops of salamander blood
•Some flobberworm mucus (depends on how much rigidity one wants)

MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CLEAN BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!

1) Fill your cauldron 1/3 with water and don't light a fire
2) Add the powdered feather and stir clockwise with a wooden stick until it looks homogenous, then turn the heater to high
3) Put gloves on and add culture of mycosis fungus into your mortar
4) Crush them with the pestle for 30 seconds, add water, and shake a little to mix better with water. Then add them calmly to the potion
5) Stir counter-clockwise 7 times with wooden stirrers and turn off the heat
6) Let cool until no vapor is seen. So for five minutes, if it takes longer than six: start over
7) Get fire crab shell but do not add. Put it on a metal spoon and lower it slowly into the water just inside the surface. NO SPLASHING.
8) Stir one time clockwise and one time counterclockwise for twelve times. 10 seconds for each stir.
9) Take shell out and put it on some tissues so the desks don't get messy

She listened as he explained further, taking little notes. Culloden sure knew his stuff. Then again, he was teaching the class. Addi nodded and filled her cauldron with water and waited for further instruction.

...and cleaning her cauldron? Of course. Adelaide kept all of her potions stuff as clean as her baking things which was spotless. She added in the powdered feather as instructed, stirring it clockwise. There. That looked...right. She turned the heater on high and turned back to the professor.

Gloves. She dug around in her bag pulling them out. She did not need a fungus growing on her hand. That would horribly effect her quidditch playing capabilities. She quickly cleaned off her mortar and pestle before moving on. Addi picked up the fungus stuff and put it in the mortar. She used the pestle to powder it for about 30 seconds. She added some water to the mortar and shook it around a bit. She then went to pour it into the potion as slowly as she could manage. That was calm right?

Everything seemed to be good so what next. Addi went up and grabbed a shell, her gloves still on her hands. She just picked one at random because it honestly didn't matter. She went back to her station and placed it on the spoon. Adelaide lowered it slowly into the water so there would be no splashing. Then she started to do the turns as she had been instructed.

Adelaide went to pull the spoon out of the potion and noticed there was no longer a shell on it. Uh oh. "Uh professor...I think my shell fell in." Total accident but that wasn't going to ruin anything right? She really hoped not.

After using Scourgify on his pestle and mortar, Adi quickly added the new instructions to his notes. Now to follow them. With the wooden spoon (which he had cast the Cleaning Charm on), he stirred seven times counterclockwise and then turned off the heat. He knew the tricky part was next and he seriously hoped that he won't have to start all over again. Glancing at his watch, Adi began his countdown to five minutes. But he need not worry for coming towards the five minutes, the vapor coming out of the cauldron lessened considerably. Yes! His potion was cool now and it was just a few seconds after the five minutes.

Moving on! "Scourgify!'' the second year said casting the charm on the metal spoon. He put the fire crab shell onto it and carefully and very gently he lowered it into the potion. No splash. Perfect. This was such a tricky potion to make! Right, now for the stirring. One time clockwise for about ten seconds...one stir counter clockwise for about ten seconds...and repeat until twelve stirs were completed. Done now, Adi removed the shell and set it on the tissues on his desk.

The young ravenclaw behind him seemed to be a little distress. Didn't she? Yep. He turned around and smiled at her. With a whisper he said. "Scorgify, that's a good cleaning spell." He turned back around again.

He quickly wrote down steps 4 and 5 for him self to keep up. He turned back to the girl. He winked and handed her the copy of his notes. "I think this can help you catch up too." Now he had to get back to his.

So step numbero 4 stir 7 times counter clocwise. "1..2..3..4..5..6..7.." He counted out loud but mostly to himself. Turned off the burner. Now time to let the vapors disappear. Hopefully with in the five minute span.

"Tick, tock, tick tock." He started feeling like a crazy person lost and alone on a deserted island ticking and tocking. So he stopped. Instead of ticking and tocking he could be doing something else like cleaning that metal spoon. He grabbed it up and cleaned it using his wand.

It the mean time the vapors a gone, and it was under five minutes. Perfect Where was Alec for the fist bump. Oh there next to him. Later, bro later.

With the fire crab shell on the spoon he carefully placed it down just below the surface. No splashes? Check. Now he had to stir 1 time clockwise and 1 time counter clockwise 12 times, and allowing the ten seconds for it to spread. Asher grabbed a tissue and spread it out. He took the fire crab shell out of the potion and put it away in the tissue. He was done and ready for the next set of instructions.

Alec smiled back at the boy and nodded. "Anytime!" Could he call him mate? Were they mates? ... Erm...? "Happy to help. And... no, not silly." And they were moving on so... the boy shot the younger Hufflepuff another smile and a thumbs up before turning his attention back towards the Professor.

Scribble... scribble... scribble...

Parchment updated. First, he had to stir the potion. He held up his stirrer again and, after cleaning it -- you never know, right? -- started stirring the potion. One... two... three... four... five... six... seven! Seven times. That was that done. He tuned off the heat and glanced down at his watch. Five minutes, the man had said? Five minutes... Alec really hoped that the vapour wouldn't vanish after six minutes or so. He really didn't want to start this potion over again.

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

The vapour was thinning. The eighteen year old was starting to grow more and more anxious as the clock ticked on. Five minutes wasn't a long time when you were playing Quidditch but it was a long time when you were waiting for that strip of bacon to cook or when you were waiting for the vapour of a potion to vanish. Come ooooon. The vapour could vanish in time, right?

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

YES. Under five minutes. The boy resisted the urge to start showing any signs of celebration, including a fist pump in the air or a cheer. None of that. Instead, he GRINNED at the potion before looking back over at the piece of parchment. ... Right. This was where things got hard, yeah?

Alec picked up his spoon and cleaned it using his wand. Then the eyes went back to the piece of parchment. Two centimetre square of fire crab shell and lower it. The fire crab shell was placed onto the spoon and lowered slowly into the potion, trying not to cause any splashing. Once the shell was just inside the surface, the Hufflepuff let out a deep breath before looking back at the parchment again.

Stirring. Clockwise then counter clockwise. Twelve times. Nodding to himself, he looked back over at the potion and started stirring. Once clockwise, all the while counting to ten in his head. Once counter clockwise, the counting was still there. This continued all the way up until he reached a total of twelve times. There. Awesome.

Retracting the spoon, he took out some tissues and placed it down on the table before placing the spoon on top. Now he was done.

Text Cut: Parchment

Fire breathing potion
Alec B. Summers

Ingredients:
- 3 goose feathers (chopped well to look like powder)
- 5 centimetre square of parasites (mycosis fungus)
- 2 centimetre square of fire crab shell (size depends on how much you want to brew)
- One fire slug
- 8 drops of salamander blood
- Flobberworm mucus (depends on how much rigidity one wants)


Instructions:
1. Clean and cure cauldron
2. Fill cauldron 1/3 of the way with water
3. Add 3 powdered goose feathers and clockwise with a wooden stick until it looks homogeneous
4. Turn heat to high
5. Add 5 centimetre square of culture of mycosis fungus into mortar -- use gloves! Also, clean mortar
6. Crush for thirty seconds then add water
7. Shake mortar a little then add calmly to potion
8. Stir 7 times counter clockwise
9. Turn off heat and let it cool until no vapour can be seen -- should take about five minutes; if it goes more than six, vanish potion and start again
10. Place 2 centimetre square of fire crab shell on a spoon and lower it into the potion just inside the surface -- no splashing!
11. Stir once clockwise, then once counter clockwise -- do this twelve times in total; each stir should take ten seconds
12. Take shell out and place on some tissues

Seeing how the professor didn't come over to her, she must being doing alright. Bri smiled, Potions wasn't too hard, kind of like cooking, and she helped her mom a lot with that.
She listened as Professor Culloden told them the next steps to the potion, she wrote them down quickly in her notebook before starting on them.

She started to stir the potion, after using the new spell she just learn to clean the wooden spoon, counter-clockwise seven times, before she turned of the heat. While she waited the five minutes for it to cool of, she glanced around at her fellow students, then at her notebook, re reading her notes. When the five minutes were up, she checked the potion, and to her delight it was cooled off.

Before she started on the next task, she laid down some napkins, before very slowly lowering the shell into the potion. Making sure to keep her hand nice and steady she started to stir clockwise, then counterclockwise for ten seconds each stir. She almost pulled out the tenth time, before she remembered to do it two more times, after she pulled it out,she placed it on the napkins, and said "Scourgify!''. When she was finished, she sat back and waited for the next set of instructions

At least this professor knew which information Alice would actually find useful.

She grinned a grin that hinted at the mischievous ideas swimming around in her head and jotted some more notes down. Thanks for that, Culloden.

And as he continued to speak, the seventh year's quill kept on moving, her hand taking care not to smear the ink. Once she was satisfied with her notes, Alice pulled her long hair back into a ponytail and tugged on her gloves, rising to gather her ingredients. Never good to put bare hands near those, right? Even if she hadn't begun brewing yet.

She arrived back at her workstation with an armful of things and dumped them unceremoniously on the table, wand already being drawn to clean her cauldron. No fires today. After performing a quick "Scourgify," and a cleanliness inspection, she started to fill her cauldron up. "Aguamenti!" That was a third, yeah? Did it look like a third? It seemed like a third. Yeah. Fractions. Fun.

Casting another scouring charm on her wooden stick before adding the powdered goose feather to the mixture, she commenced stirring. Clockwise, right? That was what the professor had said, and it was what the Gryffindor had copied down in her notes, so she did as instructed industriously until the stuff in her cauldron appeared to be of the same consistency.

Next, it was time to turn up the heat and clean her mortar and pestle, and then Alice added the fungus to her mortar with gloved fingers. She counted to thirty under her breath as she crushed the parasites- crushing was SO fun, why didn't all potions require this step?- prior to casting another "Aguamenti!" into the parasite clump. Shaking? Did that too, and then the mycosis bits were slowly scooped into her cauldron as well.

Stirring was less fun than crushing, but the brunette managed to not look too bored while completing the step. After turned her wooden stick counterclockwise for the seventh time, she turned off the heater and waited for the vapor to disappear. Five minutes. That was a really long time for Alice to be patient, did Culloden know? She passed the time by cleaning her metal spoon for the next step and holding conversations with herself under her breath, until finally the 300th second had passed.

Fire crab shell was the next ingredient on her list, and she got it onto the metal spoon with no problem, easing it just under the surface of her potion. Trying to avoid splashing at all costs, the captain stirred once clockwise and once counterclockwise, sure that her potion was spreading for about ten seconds before continuing. After a total of twelve stirs, she removed the shell from her cauldron and set it on a tissue with the spoon.

Whew. This was exhausting. More reasons why Potions wasn't her favorite; there was FAR too much work involved.

Also. "Professor? I'm going to drink the potion after we finish, too." Not want to, going to. And if he wouldn't allow it, Alice would sneak a vial out with her... but he would like it better if it was done under instructor supervision, right?

He got totally innocent but sincere looks from her. Cool, professor? Cool. Thanks.

Sander was surprised when the Professor awarded points to him for helping to explain what the word homogenous meant. He hadn't expected it but he wasn't going to give it back either.

He listened as the Professor told them what they needed to do next. He sure had a way with words. Nicely, Calmly. Did those two actions make a difference in the effects of the potions? Sander made a mental note to ask the Professor the next time he had a chance to. But for now he quickly noted the next steps into his journal. Picking up his quill, he started writing.



Putting down his quill, he replaced it for the wooden spoon and he began stirring the mixture in the cauldron counter clock-wise and counted down the number of stirs required. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7 and at the last stir, he reached down and turned off the burner.

Sander then waited for the mixture to cool down. He watched as it stopped bubbling and then slowly it stopped steaming. Sander kept a close eye on his watch and as the second hand ticked off 5 minutes, he was glad to see that there was no more vapor rising from the mixture.

He reviewed his journal again to ensure that he was following the steps as instructed. Now he needed to add the fire crab shell but first he had to clean his metal spoon. Taking out his wand again, he said, "Scourgify" to clean the spoon and ended the spell, when the spoon was spotlessly clean. He holstered his wand before delicately picking up the fire crab shell and placing it in the center of the spoon.

"Carefully, Sander...No splashes allowed." Sander told himself as he held the spoon with both his hands and ever so carefully lowered the shell into the potion, just low enough to have it lying just below the surface of the potion.

Then he moved the spoon containing the fire crab shell 1 time clockwise, slowly moving the spoon around inside the potion while counting down 10 seconds. Then he switched and moved his spoon in a counter clockwise direction, again counting down 10 seconds as he stirred it one time around the cauldron.

He alternated stirring directions each time stirring for 10 seconds until he had stirred a total of 12 times. Glad that he had successfully completed that part of the process, Sander quickly grabbed a couple of tissues out of his pocket...yes it looked clean and straightened them flat on his work desk. He carefully took the spoon out of the potion and placed whatever was left of the fire crab shell on the tissues before placing the spoon next to it.

Then he picked up his quill and scratched out the steps he had completed.



Then Sander waited for the next set of instructions while keeping an eye on his potion.

Robin smacked her forehead, visibly this time.
"sorry sorry sorry!" Now she'd done it. she stared at her cauldron and its now empty inside, she had to start over. She cleaned it thoroughly- she admitted she took a bit of her frustration out on the cauldron, poor thing, well if it was dirty it would definitely be clean now! She did the same with her mortar, glaring at it as if it was its fault she had to start over. She sighed- it was her fault, not the cauldron. She used 'Scorgify' (well at least she learned a spell from this) to make sure everything was clean and brooded again. Where did her common sense go? She returned the cauldron and mortar to her station and re-gathered the ingredients, going through the checklist again.
Cauldron clean- check, 1/3 water added- check, feathers- check,stir clockwise,heat- check. Now she put her gloves on again and placed the fungus in the mortar, crushing it before mixing it with water like she had done before and adding it-she took a breath- calmly into the cauldron. Taking the spoon she stirred counter-clockwise 7 times counting under her breath- she couldn't afford any more mistakes. She turned the heat off~ now was the waiting period. 5, 6 minutes max.
Ugh I'm probably behind

After putting on her gloves, Haruka gathered the ingredients off of the Professor's desk and brought them back to her station. She should clean her things before she got started, and she was going to go get some water. But then she remembered a spell her father often used on his favorite coffee cup in the morning. She pointed her wand at her cauldron, "Scourgify!" and watched as her cauldron became clean. She repeated the spell with her wooden stick and mortar and pestle.

With her things clean, she pointed her wand at her cauldron again and said, "Aguamenti!" She waited until it was filled 1/3 of the way with water before uttering a "Finite!" She'd learned that spell from reading one of her textbooks over the summer. Then she added the goose feathers and stirred clockwise until everything looked mixed evenly. She turned on the heater to high manually.

Next, she grabbed her mortar and pestle, added the fungus, and crushed it for 30 seconds. Then she added some water, shook slightly to mix, and slowly added the mixture to the cauldron. After she re-cleaned her mortar and pestle, Haruka grabbed her wooden stick and stirred the contents of the cauldron 7 times, counter-clockwise. She turned of the heat and waited 5 minutes for it to cool down.

Once it had cooled down(and her metal spoon and wooden stick were clean), Haruka gently placed the fire crab shell on the surface of the potion, careful not to splash. Then she stirred 12 times, alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise for 10 seconds each, until things were spread thoroughly. She fished out the shell and placed it on a laid out tissue, careful not to get any on the table. She washed her used utensils again and waited for more instructions.

History lessons as part of the Potions lesson? Mo scribbled notes like a mad man, making careful notation of the source of the Potion and all the various uses suggested by his classmates (legitimate or not) before jotting down the ingredients. Parasites, though? What was that, even?

Mo gathered his ingredients and lined them up neatly across his work station, as he always did. He liked to see the full batch as he worked, especially because it helped him keep track of where he was. With a little groan, Mo cleaned his work station and cauldron with a careful Scourgify. He hated that part... it suggested he didnt' keep his equipment clean and maintained on his own.

But he did it.

Now then. "Aguamenti." Mo needed an Alice to make sure his cauldron was really filled ONLY a third of the way, but he eyeballed it as best he could.



The powdered feather was interesting, and Mo almost asked about the cutting technique to get it like that. He poked at it with a gloved finger, marveling in the texture, before recalling what he was supposed to be doing here. He cleaned his wooden stick, mortar, and pestle before dumping the feather into the cauldron and stirring.

Clockwise, of course.

After raising the temperature and jotting down the notes on his parchment, Mo tentatively picked up the PARASITE. Why hadn't he just called it fungus? Why PARASITE? It made Mo feel a bit like there were worms crawling on him (which wasn't that bad, but in this case... ew) or like there was something wrong under his skin. Parasite. Mo gingerly placed the mycosis fungus into the mortar and held his breath as he crushed it for 30 seconds. Who knew if the stuff could go airborne?

He added water and rotated the mortar until the powdered PARASITE was mixed well. What was calm pouring? Did it mean the parasite was excitable? "Professor, shouldn't we be wearing masks if we're working with this fungus? I believe inhalation of the spores can be dangerous." Somehow, Mo managed to ask the question through his sleeve.



Mo reached to turn off the heat before checking his notes. No... no, wait. He needed to stir clockwise 7 times prior to turning off the heat. Although he'd already cleaned his wooden stirstick, Mo gave it another scrub down before carefully circling the cauldron seven times. Seven was a number of completion, so that was pretty appropriate. He felt like he wanted to be done soon.

Once the heat was turned down, Mo was quick to clean up his mortar and pestle while he waited for the potion to cool. There was no way in Hades he was gonna stand there and breath in PARASITE. Nope. It was so extremely unsanitary. At the five minute mark, on the dot, he checked the potion for vapors, and Mo was pleased to find it was exactly on track. No vapors, and now he got to move on to the fire crab shell.

"No fire crabs were injured in the making of this potion," he assured himself while he cleaned the metal spoon and placed the shell into the bowl of it. "None. None were injured." They were already dead. Or maybe they changed shells as they got bigger, like hermit crabs. Yeah, that sounded good. This was just really fancy recycling. Mo lowered the shell into the potion with his non-wand hand and stirred with the other. Once clockwise, once counter. Back and forth, slowly moving the potion around the cauldron and up over the shell.

Twelve. Twelve uses for dragon blood. Twelve days of Christmas? Twelve was another number of completion. Mo lifted the shell out of his potion and studied it carefully. Pretty. Still shiny. Mo stacked it on top of a tissue and waited for the next instruction.

*Stirring the number he was told Romulus. He then turned off the heat and grabbed a tissue setting it aside for the next step. Once five minutes hit the vapor was gone. Picking up a metal spoon he placed the shell on it and slowly put it into his potion. He then did the right amount of stirring and then placed the shell on the tissue. Now to wait for what to do next.*

Now counter clockwise. Well alright, seven times with the wood stirrer. Once complete with that Nigel turned off the heater and let it cool. This was the worst part the five minute wait. So after exactly five minutes it looked cool.

Hey punny.

Do not add Fire crab shell.Right. Nigel picked up his metal spoon and held the shell with it. The Prefect then slowly lowered it into the potion. Just inside the surface. There. Stirring 1 time clockwise, 1 time counter clockwise for ten seconds each. So many numbers. Nigel slowly raised the shell out of the potion and with his other hand out out a nice and clean tissue, laid it out, and put the shell out the tissue. What next?

Bwaha!!

Oh Merlin. The people in this class were so funny, with the way they didn't pay attention, and with the way they just had their cauldrons cleared out of everything. Rhodes had been watching, and trying her absolute hardest not to burst out laughing at them ALL. Thankfully, hiding half her face behind the collar of her robes seemed to do the trick. And if Professor man asked her what she was doing, she would just say she was blocking the smell. Of the potion. Even though she didn't know if the potion smelled or not.

She wasn't about to sniff it to find out, of course.

And.. moving on! Rhodes slowly lowered her robe from away from her face, and certain that her laughing had stopped, for the moment at least, wrote the next bit of instructions down onto her parchment. She then picked up her wooded spoon, and gave it another good cleaning before sticking it right into the cauldron to stir the stuff inside. "Clockwise, seven times." Okay.

1, 2, 3, 4, 567.

The spoon went right back onto the table and the heater was then shut off, and since she had five minutes to let the thing cool, she stood from her seat to go collect the Firecrab shell. And it was prettttttty. She wondered if she could sort of, kind of, slip one into her pocket. But that might just have to wait until the way out.

She moved back over to her station since she noticed there were no more vapors coming from out of her cauldron. She hadn't realized she had been Firecrab shell staring for so long. And cleaning off her metal spoon this time, she set the shell right down on and carefully lowered it right inside the surface of the potion. It was.. kind of hard to see, so there was a bunch of shifting in her seat, but finally she was at the right position to start stirring.

One stir clockwise, one stir counterclockwise. Repeat a lot more times.

Eeeesh. She pulled a napkin closer to herself once the stirring was done and set the Firecrab shell down right on top of it. How much money was a Firecrab shell worth??

What? It took Gwen a second to realize that he was speaking to her, and also helping her with her problem. "Scourgify," she repeated, cleaning out the cauldron now that professor...what was his name again? Anyway, now that the professor had vanished her potion, she might as well clean the cauldron. And notes!! This boy was super-helpful!! Gwen grinned. "Thanks," she said, looking over his notes. Where had she gone wrong? It had to be with the water. That was the only thing she could see, because according to the boys notes, and the instructions on the board, she'd done everything else. "Excuse me?" She hated to bother him again, since he had been so nice, and he did have his own potion to do, but she had to ask. "What's the spell to make water?"

"You're welcome." He replied with a grinned, and got down to business with his own.

---------------------------

Asher was done, and he was now waiting for Culloden and the others too finish up. In fact he was thinking about checking in on the girl. Just as he was about to do so, he hear a small voice her voice ask him a question.

He turned back to her. "Aquamenti!" He grinned at her. He knew that she would be fine. Now that she got back on track. "Just remember clean everything that you're going to use."

Sophie, having gotten her spoon cleaned and her fire crab shell ready, checked the time. Well... the five-minute mark had just passed and there were a few vapors emitting from the cauldron, which made her a little nervous, but within the next thirty seconds, the vapors were gone and it seemed to have cooled down well enough to proceed further. So, at least if she had done something wrong, it wasn't an astronomical mistake?

For the next part, the Ravenclaw was confused with Culloden's instructions and had to stop and watch what some of the older kids were doing and how they were doing it for a moment - she only trusted a few's judgment, namely Alec, Ella, and Mo, and she tried to imitate what they had done. But... just in case she messed up, she slid her clean gloves back on before picking up her equally clean spoon. She scooped up the fire crab shell onto the spoon, then slowly and steadily raised it above the brim then lowered it veeeery carefully down into the potion. Scary business. What if it slid off the spoon and fell into the water and splashed on her, and not just on the gloves? What would happen? All that fungus?! She tried not to dwell on that too much and got to work with stirring, once clockwise, once counter-clockwise, taking her time with each stir until she reached the twelfth time.

When she finished, she exhaled slowly, lifting the spoon and fire crab shell from the cauldron, nervous it was going to slip from the spoon and splash down into the potion below - but, with great luck, she brought the spoon down onto her laid-out tissue nearby.

Neeeeervous still. This was the scariest potion Sophie had ever done. The fungus thing was still creeping her out. Hoping they were done soon, she glanced at the ingredients list and was disappointed to see they still had a few more things to add - the blood, mucus, and slug. Blech.

Well.

Now wasn't that just the most interesting story you've ever heard? It was pretty cool to have a story and a different sort of purpose behind a potion. Sophie suddenly wondered if her mother had brewed this before, and if she hadn't, well...why not?

Sophie cleaned her cauldron then filled it with the right amount of water.



Sophie had already gathered the ingredients by this point, so all she had to do was pretty much follow the instructions they were just given. She added the powdered feather then stirred clockwise with her wooden stick. Homogenous? What was that again? Wasn't it just a really fancy word for 'alike'? Why he hadn't said that in the first place was beyond Sophie.

Professors...

When everything looked the way it was supposed to, she turned the heater on high then began cleaning her mortar and pestle. She secured her gloves then added the culture of mycosis fungus into her mortar.



Sophie followed that by stirring seven times with her wooden stirrer then turning off the heater. She watched her potion as she waited until no vapor could be seen. When the time grew close to five minutes, Sophie eyed her potion. She SO didn't want to start over. Thankfully, the brew had cooled.

Sophie assumed this meant she'd gotten it correct, so she grabbed the fire shell and held it with a metal spoon. She lowered it into the potion just as she'd been instructed to do. She moved through the whole stirring process twelve times, counting to make sure she didn't miss a turn. She retrieved the shell then placed it carefully on some tissue.

Caleb was seriously falling behind. Wait New Professor, slow down!! He took his goose feathers, the powdery ones, and tossed them in and began to stir clockwise. What the heck did homogenous mean? Why couldn't he just give him a color to look for or something?

After the potion looked...consistent and stuff, he assumed that was what it was supposed to look like...he took out his wand. "Incendio!" he muttered while pointing at the heater. WHOOSH!! Look at that flame. Burnnnn baby, burnnn. Hehe.

Next step - parasite cocktail. He took them and tossed them in the mortar. He began to crush them, waiting until they were a nice powdery texture. He lifted his wand and pointed it to the mortar, "Aguamenti!" he exclaimed. There, a nice little pool of water to mix the...parasites in. Gross. Once he had made a little batter, he slowly added it into the potion.

And now, we stir.

One, two, three, four...there, seven stirs counter clockwise! He leaned down and shut off the heat with a quick Finite charm. Now was the hard part...waiting. Ugh. Five minutes always felt like FOREVERRRRR in this class!

Finally, it was cool and it was time for him to do the little stirring thing with the fire crab shell. This was weird...adding an ingredient but NOT really adding it. He lowered it in with the spoon as instructed so that it was barely breaking the surface. He stirred it once clockwise, then counter clockwise. Now he had to repeat it eleven more times. Sigh. Second time clockwise, second time counterclockwise...and on and on again. Finally, he'd done it twelve times. FINALLY!

He took the shell out and placed it aside, waiting for the professor to go on.

Ian listened to the professor's new instructions, ready to move on. Having already cleaned off the stick, he re-inserted it into the cauldron and stirred 7 times counterclockwise. He removed the cauldron from the heat and allowed it to cool. He crossed his fingers, hoping that he hadn't made a mistake. He looked around to see what the other students were doing. He was especially excited to see what the Gryffie boy was doing. He turned around and looked at him. How's it going for you?

He walked over to some of the other huffies and asked about their cauldrons.

Marigold finished cleaning her cauldron FULLY (she didn't want her potion to disappear) before looking at her notes.

Text Cut: Notes

Potion progress
• 3 goose feathers (chopped WELL that they look like powder)
• 5 square centimetres of parasites (mycosis fungus)
• Roughly 2 square centimetres fire-crab shell (prepared)
• One fire slug
• 8 drops of salamander blood
• Some flobberworm mucus (depends on how much rigidity one wants)

1. Fill your cauldron 1/3 with water.
2. Add powdered goose feather. Stir clockwise until it looks homogenous and then turn the heater to high.
3. Get your pestle and mortar, crush the parasites for thirty seconds or so, fill the mortar with water, shake it for them to mix better and add it slowly to the potion.
4. Stir counter clock-wise for 7 times and turn off the heater. Let it cool until no vapour is seen. This should take about 5 minutes.
5. Take the fire crab shell but do not add it! Hold it with a metal spoon, lower it nicely into the potion just inside the surface—make sure it doesn’t splash water AT ALL—then start stirring 1 time clockwise, 1 time counter clockwise for 12 times in total. Each stir should take about ten seconds for it to spread thoroughly. Once done with stirring, get it out and put it away on a tissue

She filled her cauldron up, but accidentally went to about one-half instead of one-third. WOOPS. She looked around to see if anyone noticed, then picked her cauldron up and poured a little onto the sleeve of her robe. She poured a little more out then replaced the now-correct amount of water-filled cauldron to her desk.

Next was the goose feathers. She stirred the feathers into the potion clockwise for another minute and then stopped when it looked mixed enough. Glancing at her notes, she turned the heater all the way to high. She grinned at her potion before moving to the next step.

PARASITES!?!?!? Marigold scrunched her nose in disgust as she put the parasites into her mortar and pestle. She then really OBLITERATED THEM (well, ground them) into a thin dust. Moving on, she poured water into the bowl and shook it. She picked the bowl up and (holding it far away from her) put it into the potion as slowly as she could, though the last bit slid in together.

More stirring. Marigold stirred the potion seven times (clockwise again) while looking around. It seemed like she was still a bit behind the other students, but she was fine and moving forward as quickly as she could without ruining the potion anyway. Once she finished stirring, she turned the heater off and let the potion cool, looking at her watch.

Once the five minutes were up, she was ready for the fire crab. Putting the crab onto a SPOON (?) she gently lowered it into the potion and below the surface. Now for more stirring. One clockwise, one counterclockwise, one clockwise, one counterclockwise,, one clockwise... She repeated the stirring for the twelve times needed, then removed the spoon and put it on a tissue. Now for the next instructions!

Oh. Okay. So... consistent. Well why didn't he just say that. Gosh. Tobias was only 13, they hadn't taught words like that at his old school, and there'd never been any need for being taught fancy schmancy words here.

Though if any of this stuck in Toby's mind for more than a moment, he didn't let it show. Instead the boy just grinned his thanks at those who'd helped him out and kinda sorta looked at Professor Culloden's face again. Yup. Still a face.

But then he was BACK ON TASK and focused on his potion, waiting for it to be all consistent and equal, at which point he stopped stirring and removed the stirrer from the cauldron, tap-tap-tapping it on the brim to shake off any stray droplets. Toby then turned the heat up under the cauldron before reaching for the mortar and pestle.

The boy cast a quick 'scourgify' on the mortar, paused for a second and then shrugged, figuring 'what the hey', as he did the same to the pestle. Then the parasites went IN and Tobias started to crush. He was, of course, still wearing his gloves from when he went to retrieve the ingredients, so that base was totally covered.

Who really knew how long he was crushing them for. Toby had tried to count, but in the end became too preoccupied with leaning back so he didn't breath anything in (Mo had definitely mentioned something about inhaling spores, hadn't he?) and the realisation that he was CRUSHING and KILLING something that was ALIVE (technically? maybe?). The Hufflepuff became lost in trying to convince himself that that wasn't the case, and that to make a fuss was a bad idea, when he realised it must have been slightly over thirty seconds.

So he stopped.

Okay, right... water.

"Aguamenti," Tobias casted, pointing his wand into the water and following up with a "Finite," very soon afterwards, as the mortar was small and didn't need too much water. The Hufflepuff took hold of the mortar and rocked it gently from side to side, making sure not to, you know, spill.

And add it calmly.

CALMLY YOU SAY?

Oh Tobias added the ingredients. DIABOLICALLY.

....... okay no, yeah he added them calmly.

Another 'scourgify' for the mortar and pestle before Tobias set them aside and grabbed the stirrer again. Aaaaaaaaaand a cleaning spell for you too, Wooden Stirrer.

OKAY. NOW. COUNTERCLOCKWISE, SEVEN TIMES. GO!

Tobias STIRRED. Stirred counterclockwise like the world depended on it. Over and over and- oh. Seven times. RIGHT oKAY DONE. He turned off the heater and sat back a bit, ready to wait for it to cool, one eye on the time.