Toby was much more on the ball this week, after the scare of the previous Wednesday when he'd ALMOST gone way over time for the next step of his potion. No. Today Toby was here EARLY, with all his stuff set up and ready to go and, most importantly, clean. He fidgeted around where he sat, and kept a close eye on his watch, waiting for the seconds to tick around. And then, HUZZAH! 12:14 arrived. Time to get on with this.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Toby cast, levitating the remaining seven Jobberknoll feathers he had set out ready to add. Once those were dropped into the potion, Toby pointed his wand at the fire beneath the cauldron and twiddled it in a very specific way, bringing the flame up to medium.

Okay, BILE TIME. Toby set his wand down on the desk top, and reached for the bottle of Armadillo bile. He was mostly concentrating on the cauldron though, so when his fingers brushed the bottle they nearly knocked it clear off the desk. NEARLY. Nearly. Toby caught it, though. KEEPER REFLEXES. Or something.

He grabbed the teaspoon, too, that he'd already scourgified while prepping before the time ticked down, and set to work caaaaaaaaaarefully pouring the bile onto the teaspoon and then that tipping the contents of the teaspoon into the potion. It was tricky work, fiddly, especially for someone like Toby who had real issues staying still and steady. He had to lean aaaaaaaall close and move veeeeeeery carefully but if he got TOO close then the smell made him want to flail and he couldn't DO that with a bottle of bile tipped precariously over his complicated Wolfsbane Potion.

But Toby kept at it, and then there it was. He'd added seven teaspoons of the Armadillo bile.

After stoppering that bottle and putting it away, Toby picked his metal stirrer up. Once again, it had already been cleaned...................... but it couldn't hurt to clean it again. The Hufflepuff picked up his wand again and scourgified the metal... stick... think, before lowering it into the potion.

And then he stirred, anti-clockwise this time, one... two... three... four... five... six... seven!

Toby set his stirrer down and quickly checked his notes. He knew there was a waiting period coming up. Was it now, or... oh, WAIT. First the Runespoor egg. Merlin, yeah. Let's not forget a vital ingredient NOW, Fuller-Thompson. It was unlikely that he'd be able to start again.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Toby cast once again, directing the swish-and-flick motion of his spell at one of the Runespoor eggs from his potions kit that he'd already set aside, and levitating it right into the potion. He made a note of the time, RIGHT down to the second... and now he just needed to wait.

... Maybe he'd clear his workstation up a bit, so he didn't get TOO fidgety for the next seven minutes. Yep. Good plan. Toby did just that.

"Yeah," Kate agreed. "Check out this step." She pointed to the one that read 'seven minutes and seven seconds'. "That's pretty precise. I wonder if this'll work for us?" They'd find out soon enough. Kate had read up on her potion and figured out that if all went well, she'd have a faint, blue smoke at the end.

While she talked to Angel, Kate grabbed a metal stirrer that she'd cleaned a bit earlier while cleaning the other tools she'd use. She stirred exactly seven times in a counter-clockwise direction. Kate laughed lightly at Angel's comments on the potion. "I guess you have to be pretty dedicated to figure out how to create your own potion. Especially one like this."

Kate set the stirrer to the side and headed to the desk to collect a Runespoor egg. Bringing it back, she added it into her cauldron then checked the time. "Now I wait for precisely seven minutes and seven seconds," she told Angel. Only a few more steps, and she'd be done.

Angel checked out the step Kate was on about. "Seriously this person is hung up on the number Seven." Angel giggled as she took the clean metal stirrer and would you guess she stirred the potion seven times counter clockwise, how many more sevens could someone fit into a potion.

Angel the added the Runespoor egg, and she looked at her watch and started to wait for seven minutes and seven seconds. She just hoped that the potion would be okay. "Could you imagine going wrong with this Kate?" Angel sighed. "I'd lose my marbles if I went wrong."

Kate laughed along as she continued to check the time. The seven minutes and seven seconds still weren't up yet, but she liked to keep an eye on things anyway. "Well, seven is the most magical number," she reminded Angel. "It's almost like magic just understands the number seven and works in these really powerful ways when connected with it." That sounded so Ravenclaw. Heh.

Kate checked the time again and noted that she had thirty seconds to go. She drew her wand as she waited for that very last second to pass. She wanted to be ready. At the exact time she was meant to, Kate drew a circle over her potion. "Recordo!" she said, thinking about how that circle represented the full moon. Kate collected the seven aconites' roots and began adding them one at a time.

"Well, I'm done," she told Angel. "Now I wait to see if that faint, blue smoke will appear..."

The crumpled parchment on which the rest of the steps and the potions recipe had been written was laying flat out in front of Cutty for easy reference.



"Scourgify...Scourgify." He uttered the incantation in a low voice as he cleaned first the metal stirrer and then then the teaspoon. He held up the latter and admired his upside down reflection for a moment. Oh yeah. It was good to be Cutty Mordaunt.

He was about to place the measuring instrument down and reach for the rest of the jobberknoll feathers when he heard a small and familiar little voice. The shinning metallic surface of the teaspoon he still held twisted in his fingers so that he was using the reflective surface to confirm that it was indeed Traulton who was asking for the teaspoon. He couldn't separate Traulton from her comments towards Eden and thus his image of her character tending to be one not unlike a pirate bird or any other creature of predation that knew how to spot the weak and the sick as well as he could. Now, in any other circumstance. He might have asked for collateral if not immediate payment to touch let alone borrow anything that belonged to him. But as he wanted to see more of her character, he thought a more fluid approach would yield a better harvest here. "Sure yer can, Traulton." He began with a smile. "Joost clean it oop when yer through with it."

And with that, he set the teaspoon on the surface of her table and slid it over to her small hands. Cutty then turned his attention back to his potion adding the last 7 jobberknoll feathers to it and with his wand, adjusting the heat to medium. He could see the faces, one piled up upon the other of the apparent family of salamanders that had moved in to his flame whilst he he'd been away from it.

How dare they. Blasted freeloaders.

Angel smiled as she saw that Kate was enjoying doing the work together and she was glad. "That is true." Angel had forgot about that though seriously she didn't think she could have waited for so long.

Angel noticed that her seven minutes and seven seconds were just about up, when it was she casted. "Recordo!" Making sure to get the wand movement right it would be really bad if it went wrong.

Angel then grabbed the seven aconites' roots and added them in one by one making sure she was doing as instructed. "I've finished as well." Angel smiled as she watched both their potions to see what would happen next.

GOOD! He knew who she was at least. Good for him.

His accent was ridiculous though. Like, no. Maggie wrinkled her nose slightly, which could be attributed to the fumes and smells coming from all the cauldrons though. Hopefully he would do that. He was lending her things after all. So she smiled instead of pointing it out and reached for the teaspoon. "Thanks."

Actually there was still the issue with having to ADD the bile herself.

However a quick glance at her watch made her frown a little. Uh oh. Okay, she had to go back NOW to add the feathers. Else the potion would be off. And after all that effort she'd put into it she most certainly didn't want that. So there was no time to play on his sense of chivalry (if it existed??) and make him do the gross bile thing for her. There was no time. THERE WAS NO TIME!!!!

So, looking really annoyed for a split second, Maggie eventually made her way back to her own workstation.

And just in time too. Setting down the spoon, she then proceeded to add the last Jobberknoll feathers. Phew. Okay. She might have been a few seconds late but who was counting. That really COULDN'T make a difference, right? Yeah. No. It wouldn't. At least she'd added them within the minute. That should be close enough. She turned down the heat a little so it was set to medium.

Bile.

Armadillo bile.

That was the next step.

Ew.

Maggie used scourgify on Cutty's teaspoon and then...didn't do anything else. That bile looked so gross. She tapped the teaspoon against her palm. Then looked back over to Cutty. Hmm. She didn't want to ASK him for help again.

As the little snake girl's nose wrinkled in disgust, Cutty recognized that face instantly. It was one he made plenty of times before and would make plenty of times again. She didn't like getting her hands dirty. Poor little Magdalena Traulton. It would be interesting, he noted to himself, to watch her brew...anything really. Spotting the arrangement of phials upon the lab room desk filled with a sort of faintly aerated yellowy substance, he figured that they must have been the runespoor egg. He pushed against his desk to rise to his feet and went up to fetch one of the bottles keeping a portion of his thoughts and peripheral vision devoted to the scene that would be Traulton adding the bile to her potion. This oughta be goooood!

But when she sat there and didn't add anything to her cauldron disappointment began to slowly bubble up. The disappointment however did not last long and was soon replaced by it's more ignorant cousin, impatience. He glanced at the measuring spoon and then at her cauldron and then her and then all three in quick succession again.

Finally he could take it no more.

To begin, he exclaimed that it was for an inappropriate sake and then he went on to use terrible words to describe what the substance she was meant to add next. Did it matter, though? Cause whilst he did it Cutty had also taken hold of the spoon and was measuring out the armadillo bile into Maggie's potion. One teaspoon became two, three, four, five and then six. Lastly, the seventh teaspoon of the bile was added as well. It may not have been chivalry that got that psychopath to do her whim, but he did eventually do her whim.

Turns out Maggie didn't HAVE to ask him.

Her damsel in distress act had worked. Presumably. Although she would have hoped for his reaction to contain a lot less cursing. She didn't like it. But then again he was doing exactly she wanted him to do so naturally she didn't say anything. Instead she just smiled. A liiiiiittle smugly. Slightly. She couldn't help it. Although she wasn't entirely sure what had made him help her it was definitely because of something she'd done. So....SUCCESS!

"Thank youuuuuuuu." Maggie chirped, giving him a biiiiiig smile.

She then reached for her wand to scourgify Cutty's teaspoon again. There you go. As good as new. Now the stirring she could do herself. After cleaning the metal stirrer again just in case some cobwebs had suddenly appeared – it was a thing lately – Maggie picked it up and began stirring the potion counter clockwise. One....two....her eyes were still on Cutty....three...four....five...it had been way too easy to get him to add the bile really....six...seven.

She'd expected more of him.

After cleaning up, Toby still had a few minutes to spare (he worked quickly, thank youuuuuuuuu excessive energy), and he figured that since the next step would be to perform a spell at precisely the right SECOND, it was best to quickly practice the spell and the incantation and wand movement and intent and all that before the moment (or the SECOND) of truth came.

So that was what he did. Checking his watch every few moments and practicing the spell - particularly the incantation - in the time in between. Until, of course, the seconds began to tick sooooooooo very close that it was a better idea to be poised and READY. Except... did he start casting just BEFORE the second ticked over, or did that second mark when he STARTED casting the spell? Did it matter? Toby thought, given how hard it was supposed to be to get this potion right, that it must absolutely matter. But he had no longer to dwell on it, because at last his watch told him that the time was now 12:39pm, and the second hand was just hitting the 53 mark. NOW OR NEVER.

"Recordo!" Toby quickly cast at the potion, drawing a circle over the potion with his wand and trying to get the incantation said and the spell cast before his watch had a chance to read '54 seconds'. And the memory he chose? Well, it hadn't taken long to decide on one; choosing a memory for this had been easier than choosing one for a patronus, because it just had to be STRONG, whereas before in DADA, Dakest had asked them to use a memory that couldn't be shaken by anything. When he'd tried to do that, all those months ago, Toby had started to overthink everything and stressed himself waaaaaaay out. But NOW he had a memory, it was happy and it was strong; getting adopted. He'd decided it wasn't suitable for a patronus before... for reasons.

Toby didn't know if the spell had done what it needed to do, so didn't dwell on it for much longer, preferring to just get on with the rest of the brewing process quickly.

Seeing as his wand was still in hand, Toby used the levitation charm to add each of the acconite roots, going one by one and dropping each onto the surface of his potion, watching as they sank to the bottom of the cauldron. And then, after the seventh and final root... he was done. Finished. Huzzah!

So, if he'd done it right, that faint blue smoke would appear. Fingers crossed.

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

The clock was ticking down and getting closer and closer towards the seven days mark. The mark where he had stopped off the potion seven days ago. Hard to digest the fact that that weird joint lesson had taken place three days ago. MAN, where had the time GONE?!

Not that he wasn't happy to be doing some extra potions brewing but DUDE, time, chill.

The seventh year headed into the laboratory and immediately made towards his favourite workstation. There were brains behind this pretty face so OBVIOUSLY, he had whatever he needed with him. He arranged everything according to his taste before starting the cleaning process. Pretty big rule in potions making and whatnot.

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

The Jobberknoll feathers were ready to be added into the cauldron but he still needed to wait a minute or so. The seconds seemed to drag on, almost, which only made the Slytherin become more and more impatient. Merlin, this was about as interesting as watching paint dry. Come oooooooo--

TIME'S UP!

Seven of the Jobberknoll feathers were added into the potion and........ that was it. He had to wait seven days to complete the next step. Jeez, talk about anti-climatic, man. Nothing even happened. Grumbling slightly, Grayson took a note of the hour and minute before packing up his things. Everything was cleaned and ready to take with him so there was only one thing left to do: leave. In style.

SEE YA LATER, SUCKERS.

Text Cut: Notes

Wolfsbane Potion
Grayson Whitlock

Ingredients:
- 1 glass of regular cow milk
- 1 measure of fluxweed (picked on full a moon)
- 1 handful of a tame dog's neck fur
- 14 Jobberknoll feathers
- 7 tea spoons of Armadillo bile
- 7 grams of a well-whisked Runespoor egg
- 7 aconites' roots

Instructions:
1. Heat a glass of milk for 3 minutes on medium flame (seperately)
2. Fill the cauldron fully with water and add the milk
3. Set the cauldron on low flame
4. Chop the fluxweed well and add it
5. Stir 7 times clockwise with a metal stirrer
6. Sprinkle the dog fur evenly (in about 10 seconds)
7. Wait for exactly 7 days (note the hour and minute and do the next step at the exact time)
8. Add 7 of the Jobberknoll feathers
9. Wait for exactly 7 days again (note the hour and minute and do the next step at the exact time)
10. Add the other 7 of the feathers
11. Set the burner on medium heat
12. Add the Armadillo bile one tea spoon at a time
13. Stir 7 times counter clockwise with a metal stirrer
14. Add the Runespoor egg
15. Wait for 7 minutes and 7 seconds
16. Cast 'Recordo'
17. Add the aconite roots one by one[/s]
18. If done correctly, it will exude a faint blue smoke

Magdalena Traulton had reached for her wand...and then was pointing it in his general direction. So when she hit the spoon dead on with a cleaning spell Cutty couldn't help but realize that this was not the risky move he initially thought it was. Random dueling could cost them time with Culloden. But it wouldn't have been the first time (and probably wouldn't be the last time) Cutty had been there with some witch or another. With what he knew of Magdalena Traulton, though she didn't seem the type. Something about her sort of reminded Cutty of Agatha Hapgood. But she knew what gratitude was. Almost too much. With her high-pitched little 'Thank youuuuuuu'.

It confirmed his notion that Maggie Traulton was good at what she did, that is to say never getting her hands dirty in both a literal and figurative sense. Though he still did not assume that she had tried to use her wile upon him to avoid bothering with the armadillo bile.

Speaking of which, Cutty held up the clean spoon smiled at the now gleaming surface and perhaps also his reflection in it then plopped it into the container of armadillo bile letting it create a soft splatter in the immediate surroundings releasing it's gassy, chemical like smell. One teaspoon and then another and another plopped into his potion, then a 4th was added. Followed by a 5th, 6th and 7th measuring of the substance. He let the spoon rest on the countertop, the remnants of the liquidy bile being pulled by gravity from the spoon surface to the desk top. He then took the recently cleansed metal stirrer and stuck it into his potion giving it 7 clockwise stirs. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Cutty removed the stirring tool and reached for the frothy runespoor egg. He held it up and saw that it was measured to the 7 grams line. Why so many sevens, Damocles? Why so many sevens? Sure it was one of the most mystical numbers in all of Arithmancy, but he didn't see the correlation between it and how it would help werewolves who ingested the potion.

Turning the container of runespoor egg, Cutty added it to his potion and leaned in to the sniff the concoction he'd thus far made. Not a pleasant smell, but definitely an interesting one. He casted a glance up at the clock. 7 minutes and 7 seconds. He marked the second hand by drawing the face of the clock and then putting small arrows where the second hand ought be when the time was up. In the meanwhile, though he took a moment to clean up after himself by scourgifying the stirring and measuring tools as well as getting the Professors flask that had held the runespoor egg in it. He had uses for it. Cutty took out his wand and used Carpe Retractum on a salamander disjointing it from it's herd. It scurried...Fast! But before it could pick up too much speed, Cutty slammed the emptied and cleaned flask onto the small beast. It tried to escape almost immediately, but the flask was too heavy for it it seemed. One down. He could harvest the blood later

Cutty checked the clock. This was the hardest part for the boy who was in need of constant stimulation and patience without immediate and grand reward was difficult to say the least. It wasn't something he would've brewed on its own for its own sake. Perhaps if it were presented as a challenge. Only that didn't seem like what Culloden was after. The little second hand ticked off, until it surpassed the last of the minute. Seven seconds to do and Cutty gripped his wand handle to make sure it remained securely in his hand and yet would be comfortable enough to do the wand motion. When the last of the seconds had ticked off, Cutty waved his wand in circular motion over the potion and said, "Recordo."

He reached for the his dragonhide gloves and slipped his hands into them eccentrically as if they could snap as do muggle surgical gloves. Before tucking away his wand he used it to scourgify a pair of metal tongs and then heated and cooled the tongs to destroy any microbial lifeforms that might have been lurking. Aconite, afterall was a principle ingredient in this potion and he didn't want contamination. The first was added, then the second root, which Cutty tried to keep a relative size to the first one. Three, Four..."Khamsa.....Sitta.......Sab'a." He watched the roots sink into the liquid in his cauldron, then pushed it aside to clean up and leave the laboratory. He'd been inside of it more often than he'd ever been in any other term even when brewing overnight potions.

It had been SEVEN DAYS. Seven days since the PAD lesson...where they'd been forced to partake in werewolf tag. It had been slightly traumatizing for the Ravenclaws...as the forest setting had brought back some pretty disturbing memories. But Gabe hadn't walked away with nothing. His notes were excessive and complete now that he had the entirety of the potion written down.

...and Flamsteed and Dakest had imparted some very helpful wisdom, too. About recognizing signs and that handy spell...

However, finishing a potion was the focus today. Wolfsbane. Supposedly one of the most difficult, advanced potions in the history of the subject. The stress of NEWTs had siked him out a little, as Gabe was a headcase at the best of times...So, he'd been anticipating completing it since leaving it to brew. Had he done everything correctly up until that point? Had all the ingredients been prepared properly? Had the amounts been right? Typical neurotic psychology. He'd even came to check it twice a day...This involved getting up early to check the flame before lessons and then before dinner each night. Neurotic, indeed.

Entering the potions lab, Gabriel found his station and began removing utensils and notes. Flipping to the proper page, he ran his finger over the writing and muttered. It WAS meticulous...Many things needed to be exact. Times needed to match up. It HAD been precisely seven days. Down to the minute.

Of course, there was only one step to get through today and then ANOTHER waiting period; an additional seven days. Jobbeknoll feathers needed to be added after each period...which was interesting to Gabe. But it was also an interesting ingredient. With several properties and uses.

....which brought them to the here and now.

Slipping a glove on, Gabriel carefully counted out seven of the feathers, careful not to touch any of them with his bare hands. He wasn't sure if that would have a negative effect and wanted to be mindful. Overly so. As Gabe were prone to do.

Then each feather was added in. One by one. With no stirring or other prep to speak of, that was it for now.

............and after ANOTHER seven days of worrying and fretting, and mother!hovering over the flame...Gabriel added the remaining feathers. Down to the hour and minute of the previous step. All very meticulous and exact. Very Ravenclaw and Gabe-ish.

HE WAS BACK, SNITCHES.

Just like last time, dude was more than ready to continue with this potion. It didn't feel right to have left it midway like that last time, even if it was part of the instructions. The waiting kinda took away the fun of it all and it meant that he had yet another thing to worry his pretty little head about.

ANYWAYS. He was here. And just like last time, he was by his favourite workstation again. His potions equipment was taken out and he cleaned and arranged everything to his own taste because, you know, that mattered and all. Frequent checks were made to his watch to make sure he wasn't missing the time but you know what? Time was a freaking troll sometimes. Like now, with the way it was dragging on. Jeez.

..............

When the time was finally up, Grayson added in the other seven Joberknoll feathers into his cauldron. A quick glance was made to his notes before he set the burner to a medium heat. Alright. Simple enough. Nothing too complicated here. Neither was the next step, actually. A teaspoon was taken up and, after cleaning it, he added a teaspoon of the Armadillo bile into his potion. And then a second............ and a third........... and a fourth......... a fifth.......... sixth.......... seventh!

DONE.

Grabbing a metal stirrer, Grayson gave that a quick magical clean before dipping it into his potion and starting with the stirring. Seven counter clockwise stirs. Jeez, what was up with the number seven in this potion? Sure, it was the most magical number or whatever but this was getting kinda suspicious. Seven.

And it didn't stop there either.

When he was done with the stirring, the seventh year had the opportunity to look over at his notes only to deadpan at the next instruction and ingredient to be used. Seven grams? You serious? MAN. Grayson cleaned up his scales before measuring out seven grams of the well whisked Runespoor egg. Merlin knows why seven was so important in this and he had every intention of asking Culloden.

Once the seven grams were measured out, he added it to his potion and took a note of the time. Seven minutes and seven seconds. Alright, then. He could wait.

Text Cut: Notes

Wolfsbane Potion
Grayson Whitlock

Ingredients:
- 1 glass of regular cow milk
- 1 measure of fluxweed (picked on full a moon)
- 1 handful of a tame dog's neck fur
- 14 Jobberknoll feathers
- 7 tea spoons of Armadillo bile
- 7 grams of a well-whisked Runespoor egg
- 7 aconites' roots

Instructions:
1. Heat a glass of milk for 3 minutes on medium flame (seperately)
2. Fill the cauldron fully with water and add the milk
3. Set the cauldron on low flame
4. Chop the fluxweed well and add it
5. Stir 7 times clockwise with a metal stirrer
6. Sprinkle the dog fur evenly (in about 10 seconds)
7. Wait for exactly 7 days (note the hour and minute and do the next step at the exact time)
8. Add 7 of the Jobberknoll feathers
9. Wait for exactly 7 days again (note the hour and minute and do the next step at the exact time)
10. Add the other 7 of the feathers
11. Set the burner on medium heat
12. Add the Armadillo bile one tea spoon at a time
13. Stir 7 times counter clockwise with a metal stirrer
14. Add the Runespoor egg
15. Wait for 7 minutes and 7 seconds
16. Cast 'Recordo'
17. Add the aconite roots one by one
18. If done correctly, it will exude a faint blue smoke

It really hadn't been about Cutty per se. Maggie had just been practicing her charm on older students. Older boys, obviously. It definitely didn't work on girls. As far as she could tell anyway. So now naturally she was extremely proud of herself. She'd gotten a sixth year to do her bidding.

She obviously was the most remarkable being in the whole world.

But to keep that position Maggie had to finish her potion first.

So once she was done stirring, Magdalena reached for the Runespoor egg and added it to her cauldron. Noting the time, she wrinkled her nose. They really needed something for their noses. Was their a spell for that? That made you lose your sense of smell for a little while? That would DEFINITELY come in handy. She'd have to look it up. Or ask one of the ravenclaws. They knew everything after all. Yes she definitely preferred that to going to the library herself.

While letting her thoughts wander for a moment, her eyes had come to rest on Cutty again, simply because he was there.

Wait. Had he just- EW! Gross!! What even???????

Maggie almost missed her seven minutes seven seconds (lots of sevens??) time thing because she was too busy staring at the fellow slytherin. As it were though he apparently was a few seconds ahead of her so when he pulled out his wand to cast a spell on his potion, she remembered that she was supposed to be working on hers too. Oops.

Right. Wand. That. Spell. She drew a circle in the air with her wand right over the cauldron and said, "Recordo." Hopefully that had worked. She hadn't been 100% focussed. But she was good at the magic thing so it probably had. Seeing as she had been wearing her gloves since the beginning, Maggie now simply reached for the aconite roots, adding one after the other, all seven of them, to her potion. What were they making again?

Actually she didn't care because she was DONE! Finito!

So as quickly as she could she packed up her things, made sure to wiggle her fingers at Cutty and then moved to leave the potions lab. Finally! Byeeeeee!

Moving forward, Gabe adjusted the burner flame. Medium heat...as the notes clearly stated...and set about preparing the armadillo bile. There were meant to be seven teaspoons...and he floundered over the accuracy of what that entailed. Would the teaspoon be more than full? As in...dripping down the sides...? Or would it be just an even application? Straight across the top of the spoon?

Hmm.

Digging into his kit, Gabe searched for his measuring spoons; casting a sound Scouring charm before setting them to the side. It was the most explicit way of calculating the right amount...and this potion didn't allow for any guess work. So, very carefully, he double-checked the concoction before filling the individual spoon up with the desired amount and delicately added it into the mix. In fact, Gabe repeated this process seven times. A teaspoon apiece. After adding the last, he repeated Scourgify! and set them aside once more. Just to keep things very meticulous and cleanly.

It was also a clear indication that Gabriel Banner was an uncertain, stress-filled ball of anxiety. As per usual.

See, the Ravenclaw was still uneasy about the difficulty of the potion. Subconsciously, he knew he wasn't making any mistakes...but there was the sinking fear that he was going to fail...and he didn't want to fail this. He didn't want to let Professor Culloden down. Difficulty was where he lived. It was something he handled best. It shouldn't have been an issue...but it was. An issue.

Selecting a metal stirrer, it too was cleaned before being slowly dipped down into the mixture. Seven times. Counter-clockwise. Lots of 'sevens' in this potion's steps and procedure. Taking a deep breath, Gabe blinked, moving the stirrer gingerly around the cauldron. His hand shook slightly as he did this, concerned that he was going to fumble and ruin the entire potion. Ruin weeks of hard work. Suffice it to say that the stress was real.

After the allotted strokes, he removed the metal rod and cleaned it; replacing it in his kit. It had no further use and he was attempting to keep his station clean as a product of his anxiety. The stress only worsened as Gabe realized he didn't have the next ingredient...and he mentally flailed. Where was be meant to get runespoor eggs?!

FLAILING. FLAAAAAAAAILING.

...but then, not even two minutes later, he caught a glimpse of the bowl on his desk and blinked. Had that been there since he'd arrived? Where had it come from? Slowly approaching the bowl, Gabe glanced down into it and BLINKED again. Oh. So...there was the runespoor eggs. Well, that was....that was okay then. Yes. Ahem. Crisis adverted.

Deciding not to assume it was the right amount, Gabe measured the contents of the bowl (only to learn that it did come to seven grams), before adding them in. With no stirring to accompany this action, all he could do was wait...

...and practice the spell some more. MORE STRESS.

Seven minutes and seven seconds was a freaking long time to wait. Not as long as waiting seven whole days but MAN, cut 'em some slack.

What was he doing in the meantime? Practising the required spell. Recordo. Re-core-DOH! He remembered practising the spell two weeks ago during that freaking crazy lesson but practise and all. Besides, according to his notes, he needed to come up with a strong enough memory, whether happy or sad.

.........................

And cue some internal swearing. Why? Because he couldn't remember most of his overly happy moments and his sad moments were........... well he didn't wanna think about any of THOSE. See his predicament? Maybe if they could think about something they want to happen, all of this would be a lot easier.

This was gonna be added to the list of questions he wanted to ask Culloden.

Man, time was ticking! And he was gonna have to settle on the strongest memory he had, which just so happened to be one that happened a little before his sixth year. Thinking hard about the feeling behind that memory, Grayson took out his wand and stood poised. Recordo. Recordo. "Recordo!" he called once the time was up, drawing a circular motion above his potion to symbolise the full moon. This was the Wolfsbane Potion after all.

The Slytherin's expression seemed to have grown cold and slightly detached but he marched on with the potion. Only the aconite roots left to add, now. And surprise surprise, he needed to add seven of those bad boys. Picking them up, he added the seven aconite roots into the potion, one by one.

Now............ it'd better exude that faint blue smoke. Just saying.

Text Cut: Notes

Wolfsbane Potion
Grayson Whitlock

Ingredients:
- 1 glass of regular cow milk
- 1 measure of fluxweed (picked on full a moon)
- 1 handful of a tame dog's neck fur
- 14 Jobberknoll feathers
- 7 tea spoons of Armadillo bile
- 7 grams of a well-whisked Runespoor egg
- 7 aconites' roots

Instructions:
1. Heat a glass of milk for 3 minutes on medium flame (seperately)
2. Fill the cauldron fully with water and add the milk
3. Set the cauldron on low flame
4. Chop the fluxweed well and add it
5. Stir 7 times clockwise with a metal stirrer
6. Sprinkle the dog fur evenly (in about 10 seconds)
7. Wait for exactly 7 days (note the hour and minute and do the next step at the exact time)
8. Add 7 of the Jobberknoll feathers
9. Wait for exactly 7 days again (note the hour and minute and do the next step at the exact time)
10. Add the other 7 of the feathers
11. Set the burner on medium heat
12. Add the Armadillo bile one tea spoon at a time
13. Stir 7 times counter clockwise with a metal stirrer
14. Add the Runespoor egg
15. Wait for 7 minutes and 7 seconds
16. Cast 'Recordo'
17. Add the aconite roots one by one
18. If done correctly, it will exude a faint blue smoke

Essentially, he had SEVEN MINUTES and SEVEN SECONDS to practice. To be fair, he'd been practicing the spell each night before bed...See, he was so sure he was going to mess it up. SO SURE that he was going to muck the motion up with shaky hands or the incantation with his stuttering.

Setting his watch so he wouldn't miss the mark, Gabe practiced the motion a bit more, getting his hands and arms used to tracing out a circle. That wasn't the main worry, of course. It was his stuttering and nerves that would be the death of this potion, if anything was. So...he carefully enunciated Recordo (ré-core-DOH) beneath his breath. His intention wasn't there...So, the Ravenclaw assumed he was safe from causing an accident with the practice. He also wasn't facing the cauldron, just in case...

Also, there was the business of finding a memory. He'd been working on that, as well. Professor Culloden had made it clear that it didn't matter if it was good or bad...That it only needed to be strong. But the strong memories that belonged to Gabriel were mostly bad ones. They seemed to stick to him like a second skin, cloaking the Ravenclaw in his usual stress and anxiety. Of course, this wasn't to suggest that he didn't have good memories. The past year had been very, very good...but...Well...they didn't immediately come to mind like the bad ones.

Like watching spiders maul one of his peers.

It was probably the strongest memory he currently had. Very vivid. Very terrifying, even though he no longer had the nightmares. And that was only through a combination of potions and experimentation. Trial and error.

So, when his watch went off, he'd need to...1. have the memory firmly in the front of his mind, then 2. draw the circle over his potion...and lastly, 3. say the incantation. He would need to do this quickly and with no errors. However, not trusting himself to perform on the fly, Gabe went through the steps a few times: memory in place, circle traced, and then saying the incantation. Very straightforward. One, two, three. It was helping somewhat; his hands no longer shaking with the circle-tracing...but he wasn't a hundred percent on the incantation yet. He'd been repeating it to himself. Over and over again. Recordo, Recordo, Recordo, Recordo, Recordo....

Taking a deep breath, knowing it was coming any second now...Gabriel readied himself.....Any second....any...se-

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

............

Memory firmly in place at the front of his mind, the Ravenclaw traced a full circle slowly over the cauldron (to resemble the full moon), and enunciated the spell. "Recordo!"

......Blink, blink, blink......

Was that right? Had he done it correctly? His hands hadn't shook...and he didn't think he'd stuttered...Had he stuttered?! Gabe didn't know. He couldn't remember. Even if it'd just happened. It'd been so fast.

Not having much time to deliberate over the matter, he spent the next minute carefully added each of the seven aconite roots; one by one. A second passing between each. After the last root disappeared into the concoction, he slowly began packing up his materials; cleaning the counters, the bowl the whisked runespoor eggs had occupied, etc.

Several moments later, he left....continuing to stress over the success (of failure) of his wolfsbane potion.

When they should be done with the brewing, Cosgrach entered the laboratory to see whose potion would emit a blue smoke. He noted the people in the laboratory, smiled at them and brought out a notebook to note their names. Of course he'd check the vials later as well - he didn't want to kill any werewolf thank you very much. He noted the names and... wow... there was a lot of blue smoke. He tried to quickly scribble the names: Caleb, Toby, Gabe, Grayson, Benny... Zhenya, Magdalena, Jackson, AJ, Lux... his head was spinning a little while trying to get all the names right, but in the end he thought he got them. He was surprised some of the people there failed, but it was THE HARDEST potion after all... it would have been a miracle if everyone succeeded.

"I'll check these again, but thank you for trying and congratulations to those whose potion emitted a blue smoke. Stay tuned for a pleasant surprise." HEHEHE, just when it'd... happen, he didn't know, but soon enough!

"I'll take care of the rest." In case they worried something would happen to their cauldrons and wanted to hang out more. Just a few tests, see those who failed did what wrong, and packaging of the correct ones to be donated.