It. Was. Not. Working.

Minutes had already passed. It seemed like hours had passed. Days, even. But Jaemin was extremely sure it had been more than minutes, and minutes was what the professor had promised. The small boy lifted his head off the table (not without difficulty) and looked at Elliot blearily.

"I think... potion's wrong..." he mumbled, putting a hand to his throat. He was thirsty... he felt at his pockets, fumbling around for his wand. "Need water..."

He was going to have to brew the potion himself, so that both of them could take it... the small boy pushed up to his feet again, still shaking as he tried to figure out where the ingredients were. He wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but by Merlin he was going to.

Until he took three steps and fell down into a Small Pile of Sad again. The way things kept swaying was not making this easy... he whined loudly from where he was on the floor, his hand moving to grip at his head. "Professoooooooooooor..."

Lying on the floor, Esme curled up into a ball and tried to get comfortable.

She still felt so nauseous and the feeling wouldn't go away. It was so hard not to vomit again, but she closed her eyes and tried to keep the feeling at bay. Rat man might get mad if she got sick on his floor, and Rachel would DEFINITELY get mad if she got sick by her feet.

Keeping her eyes shut tight did help, however, as it kept the blurry and moving images away from her. Rachel could be heard nearby; she was saying something about brewing faster. What did that even mean? Esme was confused and wanted to sleep so that she would feel better. She was getting tired of being sick and tired FROM being sick.

After giving a big yawn, she drifted off to sleep not even realizing that her friend had joined her on the floor.

ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Mason felt sorry for Azura. That poison elixir looked about as appealing as toilet-water. She didn't envy the girl one bit. She just wanted to see what I would do to her. And of course she wanted to brew an antidote.

Mason still though that it was a waste of time to brew a potion instead of just shoving a bezoar down Az's throat. . . but she loved Potions, so she's make an exception.

She placed the disgusting little ball into the mortar and started grinding it with the pestle. She tries using all of the strength an elven year old could muster, trying to pulverize the bezoar as best she could. She inspected the residue over and over, making sure that there were no lumps. She wasn't about to let anything ruin her potion. . .

When she was satisfied with the powder, she turned towards her cauldron and carefully scooped out just a fourth of the content, before dumping it inside. Perfect!

She grabbed one of the little bags of Standard Ingredient and added some of it to the powder laying at the bottom of her cauldron. She poured the two cups of water in as well, watching as the ingredients pooled together in the cauldron.

Mason gave herself a mental high-five and smiled victoriously. The first part had gone very well, so obviously this was going to be super easy. . . right? She just hoped nothing terrible ended up happening. . .

"No I'm not okay! I'm flying!" Kitty shouted this in answer to Professor Art's question. But then her senses temporarily returned and with embarrassment she let go of Tia. For a brief moment she forgot what was she doing, but then she remembered that she was supposed to be brewing an antidote.

What was the next step? Oh right, smashing the bezoar. Kitty shakily tried to do just that, but her arms were weak and it wouldn't break. The harder she tried the more the feeling of floating came back to her, and soon there were tears running down her eyes from frustration and fright.

"Please help me Professor I can't do it!" Kitty sobbed and smashed her bezoar down into the desk, smashing it into pieces.

Elsa kept rocking her body under the table, trying to muffle the sounds around her with a portuguese lullabye her dad used to sing her. She kept hearing voices shouting, some male some female. She could have swore she heard the words love, princess, alien and something foreighn.

Then water started to pool around her as it dripped from the table. Why was it raining? Maybe she was on a ship after all. That thought alone made her squeeze her arm around her legs harder, afraid to me thrown overboard.

I DON'T WANNA MEET THE MERMAIDS she shouted in panic. They didn't look friendly, Hady had warned her about them. She started crying into her knees. Why wasn't the professor doing anything? Was she the only one still under the effect of it? It couldn't be... she felt like the class had started HOURS ago. She dared not to allow herself into slumber again, too afraid not to wake up.

A lot of kids seemed to be going nuts, and Dima was insanely grateful he'd not consumed anything. Slipping his socked foot into his now somewhat sloshy shoe, he forced a wince and rubbed his head. Total fake headache going on here. He could make it into WADA on this sort of acting, no?

"My head hurts," he told Penelope in what he thought was the best weak voice ever.

Definitely nailing this poisoned pretense, he was.

She was meant to be doing something, wasn't she? What was it again?

Right! She was meant to be getting un-poisoned and then making an antidote for Oliver here. Except, he wasn't here. Sam scratched her head, confused as to where he was gone. Probably a good job she didn't notice he'd scooted back and why, really.

But why was her head still feeling so thick? It was as if someone had poured a load of custard where her brain should be. The thick almost solid sort, not the runny stuff that looked like yellow snot. Her eyes were also still refusing to focus properly. It was making reading the potions recipe rather difficult. She squinted at the board with one eye, finally working out that she needed to do something with the bezoar.

Where did she get one of those then? They didn't seem to be any on her desk. Huh. Did Oliver STEAL them when he disappeared? Fiiiiiine. She supposed she could go get them from the front.

Walking was a thing she could totally do. Just not in a straight line.

When was this supposed to end? This was torture, he hated this sick feeling, the nausea and the dizziness. Why did he suggested to drink the elixir? WHY? Oh yeah because you Mister Slytherin Prefect is no good at Potions.

He gave a thumbs up to Janelle "I'm... okay" not really, can you tell? He drank poison. POISON. What would his parents say about this? Well, mostly his mom. She would be yelling at Newton for sure. He was glad she wasn't here to do that. "I like Marigold, a former Hufflepuff prefect" why were they talking about this? Has he said something before? Probably but he didn't remember.

"Is it ready?" and thankfully it was but now they had to wait for professor to give the okay. AGAIN. It felt like yeaaars to finally be able to drink the antidote and once the professor told them to drink it Hugo was beyond happy to get this nausea feeling away "Thank you. Cheers!" okay okay quickly antidote do your thing.

But it didn't. IT DIDN'T. "Umm...you said you were good at Potions" said to Janelle. Did you lie? Why?? He was going to die. "I still feel sick and..." Merlin the vomit was coming. He covered his mouth. He didn't wanted to throw up but just in case he started to look for a bucket or.... an empty cauldron. He grabbed one from another table which was hard 'cause he felt too dizzy to walk. He turned around but there was no sight of Janelle. Where was she? "Janelle?!"

The dizziness had started soon after she drank the poison. This had not been a good idea. Could be worse though. Dima was brewing the antidote that was supposed to counter the effects of the poison. Everything still seemed like it was spinning. Was the antidote ready? Did someone say something about it raining? She could tell that something was wrong with the rest of the class, but was having difficulty deciphering what exactly was happening because the room was spinning.

Somewhere far away, Janelle heard Hugo's voice. Was she dreaming or was he really there talking to her? He was telling her what girl he liked. "Awwww, you like Marigold. I remember her. She was niiiiiiiice." In her head, Janelle was talking louldly. In reality, she may or may not have been loud enough for Hugo to hear her.

Oh good. Hugo had taken the antidote. He'd be brewing her a fix-me-up any minute now. Then Janelle couldn't believe her ears. He wasn't feeling better? "I am good at Potions. I'm sure I did everything right. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." If Hugo was still sick and Janelle was sick.........they were in big trouble.

Then bad turned to worse. What Janelle had been afraid of, happened. Just like after the carnival ride, a wave of nausea hit her........hard. It took everything she had not to start moaning. It felt as if her last five meals were trying to fight there way out of her stomach. Maybe if she stayed very still, the feeling would go away. Maybe. Then, Hugo was talking to her again. Was he looking for her? Didn't he see her on the floor? Janelle was afraid to talk again. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, something other than words would come out. Finally, she took a chance. "I'm here." Then, with a little more effort. "Hugo, I'm down here. Why isn't the antidote working?"

Elliot was getting short of breath. It was unbelievably hot in this classroom. He was clinging to his last ounce of decorum to keep him from ripping off his robes. "Why's s'hot? Hurts." He wanted to try and help his partner but he could barely form words. He gave an undignified sound trying to find another beazor. Maybe if he just...swallowed it? Would that work? What was going on? He was so good at potions there was no reason this shouldn't be working. The long-legged boy slumped across the table, his chest starting to hurt from the heat he felt inside.

Yep... so... he wasn't feeling much still, but he was thirsty. Like, thirsty thirsty... too thirsty in fact that he felt the need to drink something NOW. Professor wouldn't mind, right? A good spritzing to the face wouldn't harm anyone - but himself, if it came to that.

Wand out, Zeke aimed it at his face and cast the Aguamenti charm, opening his mouth to catch whatever water he could. Cause gosh, THIRSTY.

It seemed like it was helping, that all was well, and for the most part he wasn't thirsty, but he still didn't feel... right. Frowning a bit at this, Zeke glared at the people around him. Like, HE WASN'T OKAY, OKAY? Where was this antidote then? Also, he was kind of beyond caring if Bella was okay, because HE was the priority now.

Get. To. It.

Dima had finished the antidote? Penelope took the cup of antidote from Dima and drank the potion. "Thanks Dima." Why was the room still spinning? Maybe it would take a few minutes for the antidote to work. She waited a few minutes to see if the dizziness would get any better. "Dima? I don't think it's working." How was she supposed to brew an antidote for Dima when everything looked like it was moving? She was in no state to be brewing a potion. Why wasn't Dima's antidote working? Penelope was pretty sure that he had brewed it correctly. This was not how the lesson was supposed to go.

Colt knew Ava was counting on him. He heard Ava complaining about the illness. He even snipped at her, "Hey! You didn't get to brew this potion under the side effects. Give me some time!" Jeez she was so annoying right now. To get away from her, he went to the front of the room to get some ingredients. He got the one Bezoar, 2 measures of Standard Ingredient, 1 pinch of unicorn horn and 2 mistletoe berries. What did he need to do with this? He saw the instructions of the board. Woaaahh he could not see well. He walked up[ to the front and tried to copy down the notes. His hands felt sore because his cure didn't work yet. He tried hard to concentrate. He made out the one step with his scribbly hand writing. He needed to add his bezoar to his mortar. He went back to his station with his notes all copied and started to crush the bezoar into a very fine powder. Well at least this task he could do.

Grumpy... he feeling grumpy. Like, could they just get this over and done with? He was getting a headache. Ugh.

"How much longerrrr?" he groaned impatiently to his partner. "I'm sick of this, ugh... just... my head. Stop it."

Honestly he was feeling a little precious. WHY WAS NOBODY CARING FOR HIM?! Ugh... ugh, ugh, ugh. In a bit of a huff, Zeke swept his arm across the table, resulting in his notes book and a few ingredients flying to the floor. Not that he cared.

HEADACHE.

Good news, the antidote that she had brewed for Colt wasn't working.

That was great

"I am 200% sure that I have followed EVERY SINGLE direction that Professor RAT MAN had written on that DAMN board." Ava was so upset now. Not sure if it's because of the poison effect or the antidote had failed. Maybe both.

And now her head was spinning. WHOAAAAAA....

"Professor, did we just experience earthquake?" The young lioness asked. "And why the heck there are four of you now? Are you doing some cloning charm or something like that? That's cool, well maybe you'd better fix this damn or I'm gonna tell my parents about this! And maybe you're gonna get fired soon!"

Oops?

Well, she was under the poison effect right now.

People were going a little crazy all around her, and Dot tried not to be distracted by all the antics. Didn't anyone have a respect for class anymore? And didn't the professor... well... he had his hands full, didn't he?

Her five minutes was up, and Dot was quick to add her pinch of unicorn hair and slide her stirring stick into the cauldron for one clockwise turn. She'd debated the wooden versus the metal stick before opting for the metal. Easier to clean.

Two berries, and she turned twice counterclockwise, and... that was it, right? Just a two minute wait, and she could heal Kaycee. Kaycee... who still seemed to be doing just fine. Or she hadn't keeled over yet, so that was something.

It didn’t matter how it was coming with the brewing from David because Olivia was more distracted with her own symptoms. She only hoped that her partner would be finished soon because she really wasn’t feeling well. The first year Ravenclaw laid her head down onto her hands which rested only slightly above her lap as she sat. “Oh…..” This was not good. Not good at all. The young girl couldn’t even register which came first anymore, the nausea or the headache.

It was all meshed together to make a discombobulated eagle.

Eventually David was trying to get her attention, and the antidote was offered to her. She gingerly straightened up as she took it, and let out the breath she had nearly been holding before chancing a sip. Tentative at first before she drank the whole dose. Olivia settled back in her chair as she waited for the negative effects of the earlier elixir to abate.

How long was it supposed to take?

And why did it seem like it wasn’t working for anyone?

Kaycee flopped her head back on the desk. "Doooot." she whined. "How much longer? I'm starting to get a headache with all the noise."

Of course. That could be due the room as she said and not at all related to the poison. But if the antidote helped with the dizziness, it could do something for the headache too, right?

Hopefully.

UGH. STOP being soooo loud people. It was getting on her nervessss.

"If it does take a while...we should just suck on those stones" she nodded as she grabbed the potions from the work station and handed one over to Madge.

Ew.

She was sweating.

And sticky.

"Bot-bo....ugh...mmms up" she groaned out as she opened the container and downed her small bottle of the hopeful cure and huddled under the desk. "We should...build...toll-er-ances" she nodded hoping that Madge understood. "i nev...ugh...never want to be poi-poisoned again" she admitted and clutched her knees.

Time for her to drink up now! Ariadne wasn't very confident about drinking up. If Matt's reaction to her antidote was any indication, this...erm...wasn't working. Ariadne figured the professor knew what he was talking about, though, so she decided to be brave about it and go collect the poison she was supposed to drink. Everybody else had anyway.

So here she stood, poison in hand, trying to convince herself to drink up. Then finally, ...she did. She drank all of it in one go before she changed her mind. As soon as the liquid was traveling throughout her body, she instantly regretted it. She got this weird sort of feeling that she was traveling away from her body and mind and was only looking down at herself how she was truly meant to be.

Then there was Matt.

"You ARE going to brew the antidote, aren't you?" she asked, because it seemed like he was TALKING about it but not actually doing it. That was when it hit her all at once. Ariadne stumbled backward and nearly hit the floor. Matt was saying something about aliens, and for all she knew, they could be under an alien attack.

Kaycee wasn't sure how long it would take the antidote to kick in, but any time would help.

She leaned against the table trying to to keep from falling over. But, man, it was difficult. She rubbed her temples then squinted at the board. What did that say? Be--? Be soar? Bezoar. Right. Of course. She dropped said thing into her mortar.

She starts to crush it and nearly slipped in the process. Meep. Okay. She was okay. And the pestle didn't go flying. So... yay? She glanced at the mortar and pressed harder. JUST. CRUSH. ALREADY. Geesh. Was that too much to ask?!

She hit the bezoar several more times before making a face. That was crushed enough, right? She gave it a few more irritated mashes to be sure.

She then quickly cleaned out her cauldron with a quick mumbled "Scourgify." She then unceremoniously measured and dumped 4 measures of the mostly powder into the cauldron.

She squinted at the board again. Whoa. Hello spinning room. What was the next step?

The Professor, he was all over the room and on each corner in each row Tenacius was tailing him. And with all the tailing he did theres something he noticed-- the man was panicking. Being a son of a hotelier and growing up around hotel staffs his whole life taught him a thing or two about reading body language. And if the Potions Master was anything, in-control definitely isnt one of them right now.

If the Professor doesn’t know what to do then how will little ickles like them survive????

Far be it for him to just sit down and cry, he will live up to his name. He will not let Haddie die he wont!

So Tenacius hounded down the Professor until the man finally stopped, looking at the vials. "Professor, do you have any antidote that actually works hidden away somewhere? Like in the stockroom or something? Or maybe the Healer has something too?"

Unfortunately at some point they were supposed to be switching roles. The drinkers becoming brewers and the brewers becoming drinkers. However there were two big concerns on her mind. One…could she brew feeling the way she did. And two…was it even worth it for David to subject himself to it when her antidote would likely not be any better than his? She looked up to her partner as if asking his thoughts on the matter but no words came out. Instead she glanced up at the board only to not be able to see.

Great…just great.

She hadn’t be copying down since she took the elixir so she only had a few things there. What was she going to do? Clean! Olivia remembered that was what the always did first so it was the least she could do. “Scourgify!” she cast at her cauldron after taking out her wand “Scourgify!” she repeated just in case her magic wasn’t working too well with how she felt. A third cleaning spell went into her pestle when she reconized enough of her starting notes to realize it was being used.

So what next?

What went in the mortar?

Carl was happy. He was soaking wet and he was happy. Who didn't like water? He tried to distribute the water evenly so that everybody got an equal amount. He did not favor anybody ... though to be honest, he was probably the wettest right now. Just then, he heard another voice shouting Aguamenti. He turned around to see a Gryffindor join him in his water-shooting adventure. "Aguamenti!" He said one more time before he heard a Ravenclaw girl telling them to stop. Ah well, he might as well continue his potion-making. He gave a weak thumbs-up to his Gryffindor comrade and let his hand drop to his side.

The First Year turned to the instructions on the board. He could see more clearly now ... after adding water was heating the cauldron. Heat. He needed to make a fire. He needed - wood. Wood plus wood equals fire. "Does anybody have any wood?" He asked the class. The only piece of wood he had was his wand, but he knew that was precious. He was not burning that.