Cris was waiting patiently for Professor Cullodeen to give his next set of instructions when he noticed a young Gryffindor girl, working nearby, looking confused. Concerned, he leaned over to whisper to her.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong? Do you need help with your potion?" Cris asked the younger girl.

Angel looked at the boy and sighed. "I have no idea what I'm doing." Angel really didn't like the fact. "I am totally lost." Angel had totally mislaid her notes and now she was struggling to even figure out where she was to go from where she was which wasn't very far. "I really wish they made potions a lot easier." Angel had no idea it would be so hard.

Cris frowned. He empathized with the girl recalling his very first attempt at potions making. "No worries. Maybe I can help you catch up. What was refs last thing you did?" Cris asked as he reached over to his workstation and pulled his journal over and referred to his notes.

Angel looked at the boy and smiled. "I cleaned my cauldron and the measuring cup." Angels mind had gone totally blank after doing that. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to add the water or the unicorn tail hair first and I have no idea where the taps are to get the water." Angel was confused or did she have to use her magic stick to make the water appear from no where.

Check...check...check.

Okay. Everything looked perfect with his potion to Gareth Striker of Slytherin. Like the OLD man professor said this seemed to be a pretty simple and practical one to brew. Still, it was potions so the Slytherin boy kept it in mind to be careful with what he was doing since a little mistake could ruin the whole potion and he didn't want his potion to be vanished by the professor only to start over and fail again like an idiot.

Yeah, he was pretty much positive that that happened only to idiots.

Using his wand, Gary lowered the source of heat below his best quality, super expensive cauldron to medium and left it there to take care of the rest of the step. Picking an empty bowl obviously an expensive one he cleaned it then poured the desired amounts of Re'em and Salamander blood inside it. To mix it, he picked his already and always clean stirrer and stirred and mixed the two different kinds of blood five times clockwise and five times counter-clockwise. Just like it was written on the black board.

When he was done with the stirring, the Slytherin cleaned the stirrer with a simple incantation and placed it back in its cover. Now, it was time for the griffin claw. Ignoring everyone around him, even though those who talked annoyed him, he silently went on his work by picking the mortar and pestle and cleaning them. Then he dropped the griffin claw in the mortar and started working on crushing it with a determined expression.

No one had better mess with him while he was performing his favourite activity.

If only they would just shut up.

So...he didnt haave a spare pomegranate for her. How sad...Somehow the brunette felt like she wasnt exactly earnign brownie points...but this was potions. Who ever gained brownie points in potions? She'd gain hers in history. Yeah.

Vinnie looked at the blackboard to see what the next step was.Okay, easy...why so easy?! She put the heat on medium and waited and waited and waited. 5 minutes had never seemed so long. Sigh.

Cris first blinked in surprise and then in dismay when he realized how much catching up the girl had to do. "Okay. You have to add the water first. You can use magic or the taps are over there." Cris whispered pointing them out to her.

"I'm Cris by the way. If you want I can teach you the water spell?"

Angel smiled, she was glad that he was there otherwise the Professor probably would be yelling at her. "Okay so I have to add the water first." Angel then bounced up and down. "I'd love to learn the water spell." Angel beamed. "So do I get to use my magic stick?" Angel then heard the boy give his name and decided she should reply. "Hi Chris, I'm Angel."

"Yes you'll get to use your wand," Cris smiled down at Angel. "The wand movement is point. That's the easy part. The incantation is Aguamenti...A-gua-ment-i," Cris pronounced the incantation slowly and clearly for Angel.

"The hardest part is getting the spell to work. For that you need to concentrate. Visualize water streaming out of your wand. Once you have that image in your mind concentrate in that while you cast the spell. Why don't you try it? Point your wand inside the cauldron." Cris suggested to Angel.

There was no warning or nothing, the boy just flicked his wrist slightly and BAM there was fire under the cauldron. He didn't even SAY anything! "How did you do that?" Not just the fire, but the fire without saying anything! He thought only adults could do that! If Kyroh had known how to do that the sorting hat would have been lit on fire the moment it was lifted off his head.

"Incendio. Mo." He nodded a few times. Both were easy enough to remember. Although the whole controlling the heat thing sounded difficult."Nice to meet you!" LOOK a new friend and everything!

Cleaning? "Oh I did that already! I think it worked but i'm not sure." He THOUGHT it looked cleaner but that of course could have just been his imagination. Kyroh raised his wand once more at the tools as Mo left and focused before uttering Scourgify on each item. He only did it again because Marcus said so. Marcus Braxton the helper.

When the other Ravenclaw returned he had the heart in his hands. The dragon heart. Sigh. Poor dragon. Kyroh flicked his wand around a couple of times and the heat went up. Although he wasn't too sure what he did, but LOOK MO he could do it himself!

As Mo dropped the heart into the cauldron, Kyroh hopped off his chair. Since he had to wait till everything started to boil, and he was already behind Kyroh knew exactly what he had to do.

So what if things were being done a little out of order? He was still doing them correctly......at least he hoped.

Making his way to the front and measured out a cup of re’em and a cup of salamander blood. Blood. Blood. BLOOD. HEARTS. He was not a vampire. "Don't think this potion will taste good at all." Because...they had to drink it right? Ew. He would not drink it. He wouldn't. Pouring both cups into his bowl he began to stir. First clockwise four times- no wait FIVE times. And then counter-clockwise five times as well. Once that was done Kyroh pushed the bowl aside and peered into the cauldron. BOILING!

Grabbing the pomegranate he plopped it into the mixture.

Nooow he had to.....turn to medium! Right! Waving his wand a few times until the heat went down. Five minutes starting......NOW. Grabbing the griffin claw Kyroh placed it in the crusher thing. Which he HAD cleaned thank you very much. Trying his very best Kyroh began to crush the claw.

Heh. Claw.

CRUSH.....CRUSH.....CRUSH.... He only stopped once his arms started to hurt and powder had started to float up into the air.

"ALRIGHT, TIME'S UP!" Cosgrach yelled to get all of their attention, "all the blood mixture sloooowly, and the claw AFTER the bloods immediately!"

Clear? EASY?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

5. Add the blood mixture slowly and THEN, the powdered griffin claw IMMEDIATELY.

Watching as the next step appeared, Dylan read it aloud to himself under his breath. Oh, okay. Nothing too difficult, all they had to do was wait for the water to boil and add the pomegranate. He stood there, watching his cauldron and waiting to see some bubbles. He drummed his fingers on the table as he waited. It took a while, but when it finally did start boiling, he added the pomegranate to the cauldron, just as the professor was telling the next step. Ah, good timing.

Listening to the professor's instructions, the badger lowered the heat to medium. Luckily, he had a watch on so he didn't have to go bug someone for theirs. He glanced at his watch and while he waited, he quickly jotted down the rest of the instructions into his notebook, then mixed the re'em and salamander blood in his bowl, making sure to stir clockwise five times then counterclockwise five times. He then crushed the griffin claw. Looking back at his watch, he saw that the five minutes were just about up. He was making pretty good time today. And now that he had been up and moving about doing things, he was a bit more awake than he had been when he walked in. He glanced back up as the professor told what to do next. After writing that down, he added the blood mixture and then the crushed griffin claw right away. He stirred it all in a bit and then looked up, awaiting further instructions.

Time was up? Derry eyed her watch... apparently she'd started a few seconds later because she still had about five left to wait...
...

There. Derry started to pour the blood mixture in slowly... caaaareful not to spill anything - which was a feat for her, since she was clumsy as a baby thestral - and managed to safely get all of it inside the potion.

QUICKLY!! Derry dumped in the powdered griffin claw. .... Now what?

The moment the Potions Mastee began to so peak, Cris motioned that he would be returning to his workstation for a couple of minutes. Picking up his quill, he began writing down the next steps required in his journal.



Putting down his quill he, picked up the bowl of mixed blood and slowly poured the contents into his cauldron. He watched as the blood dripped out and immersed into the water. Once the last drop was emptied, he quickly picked up his mortar containing the crushed griffin claw and added that into the cauldron.

Keeping watch over the cauldron, he sat back and waited for the next instructions.

Last part then. West carefully emptied the contents of the bloody bowl into his cauldron, making sure he did it slowly. He used his clean scraper to get every last possible drop from the bowl's surface, then put both aside, and added the crushed griffin claw immediately after.

... no stirring or anything no?

He busied himself cleaning the bowl and mortar and pestle and such while he waited for more instruction.

Huh? What was that at his ea- oh! Mikey!

Hi Mikey!

Dima tried to flick him back and ended up almost falling out of his chair. "I'll ask you for help next time!" 'Cause obviously, there would be a next time. Nobody had taught him how to do ANY of the spells needed. Crash course on cleaning and fire and water magic before the next lesson please?


"I didn't want to ask you," Dima said matter-of-factly, sitting up somewhat straighter in his seat. Yeah. He wanted to ask GRAYSON, 'cause that guy was nice and shared Bertie Bott's Beans with him and gave him a cool nickname and didn't LIE to possibly get him in trouble.

Not upset? Did this LOOK like not upset? Hmph.

.... she was apologizing, though? He paused, then peeked over at her. "I guess.... if you're sorry..."

But no more tricks. That was uncool.

And Grayson was leaving. "Bye Grayson!" Dima waved enthusiastically and almost fell out of his chair again.

It seemed that with talking to Mikey and Lex and Grayson, he'd killed enough time to have his potion boiling already. The bubbles were already there when Dima peered back into his cauldron, and he grabbed his pomegranate. Did they have to... open it? Just the seeds? No? Nothing? Okay then.

Plop. Pomegranate in.

He noted the professor's answer to what Maddie had asked about that ingredient in particular as he jotted down more things on his parchment. Per Culloden's next instructions, Dima located a glass bowl and began measuring out the blood needed. Marcus Orion had asked about the blood too, hadn't he? Did it hurt animals too? He would have asked, but the way the professor had yelled at Kyroh... he wasn't keen. No thank you.

So he got a cup of re'em blood and the amount of blood that was in a mature salamander and dumped them in his bowl together. Voila. Since he still didn't know the cleaning spell and couldn't pick it up just from watching others, Dima waddled over to the washbasin again on his little legs and sterilized his wooden spoon. He brought his mortar and pestle along as well, scrubbing it spotless before returning to his station with his materials.

THEN he began stirring. First he went one... two.... threefourfive times around clockwise, and then the same number of counts the other way. Once he was finished with that, he set his spoon to the side on a napkin and pulled the mortar closer. Dima daintily placed his powdered griffin claw inside.

And took up the pestle and CRUSHED the contents of his mortar. Yeah! CRUSHCRUSHCRUSH.

Raaah! Who needed a strength potion? He was SUPER STRONG already!

But he crushed anyway. As soon as the Potions Masterannounced that the five minutes were up, he dumped the blood mixture into his cauldron. Immediately after that, the crushed up claw went in as well, and Dima examined the weird looking potion so far. ... he didn't wanna drink that.

It was still cool, though!

Marisol stared at her potion, which was a deep crimson with gray specks. Was that normal? These were the strangest ingredients to use! The first year wasn't wimpy or anything, but they smelled quite badly. One of the snake fangs had snagged on her finger as she clumsily wiped blood off of her desk, and she was bleeding.

She'd deal with that later. Right now, she must continue her potion as not to screw up. She saw other students add the bloods, so that was what she did. Maybe a little too fast, because her potion smelled weird now, even with the pomegranate. The eleven year-old quickly put in her griffin claw. It helped a bit, but Marisol covered her nose with her robes anyway.

Moving along with the lesson again Cinnamon couldn't believe how easy this was. Her nana really didn't have her brew many potions when she a
homeschooled her. When she did things normally ended up bad. Well it was just one time. She couldn't help that the potion boiled over that one time. Once the instructions were on the board she wrote it down.



So working in the task at hand, first she cut down burner to medium. For five minutes. Just enough time to mix up the re’em and salamander blood. She measured the blood out in a bowl. First she stirred it five times clockwise. Then five times counter clock wise. Then she started to crush the griffin craw. Crush. Crush. Crush. She looked up was the five minutes over yet?

She caught that smirk, she did, and Jeremiah received one right back. Beverly wasn't distracted from her potion, she was done with the crushing and she was still waiting for the timer to go off, so side-eyeing the boy next to her and grinning wasn't a distraction. Much. Besides, she was just checking the timer that happened to be between them and--

HOLY JUMPING BEARS!

Professor Culloden's booming voice startled the fourth year, taking her off guard so bad she even gave a little jump in her seat. DON'T DO THAT. Merlin! Her heart was raising...almost as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't be. Which she hadn't! She was a good witch when she wanted to be. Regaining her composure quite quickly, she drew out a breath before adding in the mixed bloods, then the powdered griffin claw.

There.

Time was up? Whoops, Ezra had turned his attention to watch Kyroh working with two older boys, one of them the Hufflepuff who'd told everyone how to do the cleaning spell. They seemed to be doing pretty good too. Maybe next lesson he'd roll on over there. Not ROLL but...well maybe he would.

But the Professor had urged them to move on and he had to be QUICK! The first year certainly could do that. He poured the mixed blood into the cauldron and then as quick as a flash dumped the crunched up griffin claw.

Now what?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

Last part then. West carefully emptied the contents of the bloody bowl into his cauldron, making sure he did it slowly. He used his clean scraper to get every last possible drop from the bowl's surface, then put both aside, and added the crushed griffin claw immediately after.

... no stirring or anything no?

He busied himself cleaning the bowl and mortar and pestle and such while he waited for more instruction.

As Ezra looked around the room to find the Professor and see what else he needed to do he noticed an older boy, a Slytherin, nearby washing his bowl, and CRUNCHER and spoon. "Do we need to clean this stuff again or do the House Elves do it?" He hoped the Elves would so he could see them again.

More instructions! Back at his own workstation now, Adi grabbed the bowl with the disgusting blood mixture and very slowly and carefully poured it into his cauldron. He didn't really have a problem with blood. It's just this was waaay too much at once.

Anyway, with the blood now in, he quickly added the powdered griffin claw. Excellent! He was on track. While Adi waited for the next step, he cleaned the bowl, spoon, cup, mortar and pestle before updating his notes.

MERLIN!

The professor startled Sophie, and for a moment, she was reminded of their old age last year and how everyone had started yelling to get others to hear them. Nevertheless, she took note of the next steps in the process.

She collected the blood mixture and slooooooowly added it to her cauldron. Afterwards, she very quickly added in the griffin claw.

Was that it?! Potion brewing could be nerve-wracking sometimes!

Simple, simple, simple, and AJ sure did like simple. The whole idiot proof instructions was a nice though however there were some people that were in this class that she thought still might mess it up considering they were having problems with the third step. Oh well, no her drama. She was pretty impressed that she had managed to calculate the time without the use of of watch. Your girl had skills!

She slowly added the blood mixture and watched as the thick substance dripped every so slowly into the cauldron. There was no way that she was going to be accused of adding it to fast. After it was finally all in there she added the crushed griffin claw practically throwing it all in there. If you wanted quick results then Aubrey was your girl! All done. She looked over at her sister, and she had no idea why she was having so much trouble because the steps were simple enough. There was an older boy that was helping her so AJ went back to kicking her feet back and forth.

When the Professor called time, Jasmine listened to the next set of instructions. Retrieving her bowl, she slowly poured the blood mixture into her cauldron. Quickly grabbing her powdered griffin claw, she poured dumped it into the potion. After that was completed, she took a moment to clean the items she had finished using. Peering into her cauldron Jasmine watched as her potion simmered. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it would turn out OK.

"You just learn how to do it," Mo shrugged in response to Kyroh's question. Not really so simple, but he'd been working on it for ages and didn't really feel like confessing that to a first year. Better to let Kyroh believe it came easy or something.

"Marcus, actually, but no one calls me anything but Mo. So... all good? Or do you..." Mo leaned over to check on the boy's work, but he didn't seem to need any assistance. Good deed for the day? Or something?

Merlin! That was his thanks for helping a classmate, apparently. Mo groaned quietly at the disappearance of his blood, and he was left to quickly Scourgify his cup and bowl and spoon again before refilling the cup with re'em blood and the bowl with salamander blood. This time around, though, he over contemplated the instructions on the board before stirring five times CLOCKwise and then five counterclockwise.

Ugh, he was falling behind. The last of the stirring coincided almost exactly with the end of his five minutes, and Mo carefully poured the blood mixture into his cauldron. If he'd gotten it wrong again... well. Hopefully nothing dire would happen. Once his bowl was empty, Mo immediately added his griffin claws.

No stirring? Erm. "Alright, Ky?"