Potions Lesson 2

[Horace Slughorn]

Potions Lesson 2:

Professor Slughorn entered the classroom a bit late; most of the students were already there.
“Please excuse my tardiness, I had some urgent matters to attend to that took much more of my time than expected.”
He walked to the desk and turned to face them, his mustache twitching up as he smiled.
“Welcome back. As you recall, the last lesson was a no-brainer as it was to get to know you and find out where you’re at. I’m sure you’ll find this lesson much more of a challenge.”

Turning quickly, he tapped the chalk with his wand and it floated up, ready to write on the blackboard beside him.
“We are going to have a practical lesson today. This lesson, and the five following it will not only be practical, but a lead up to your first test of the term. The next two after will be a lead up to your first essay of the term. In other words,” he added with a chuckle.

“Playtime’s over.”
The floating chalk began writing the next words as he spoke them.

Wit-Sharpening Potion

Effect: Enhances the clarity of the thought of the drinker.

Ingredients:

1. Ground scarab beetles
2. Cut ginger roots
3. Armadillo bile
Equipment:
1. Standard sized pewter cauldron
2. Stirring spoon
3. Wand (I doubt you’ll need to use it but it’s always handy to have it out)

Directions:

1. Have a standard sized cauldron filled with 2 3/4 cup warm water.
2. Mix in Ginger Root until lime green.
3. Mix Armadillo Bile until blue.
4. Mix Ground Scarab Beetles until red.
5. Remix Armadillo Bile until red liquid is yellow.
6. Remix Ginger Roots until brew is lime green.
7. Mix Armadillo Bile until the potion is purple.
8. Let stand for 10 minutes.

“As you can see, these are the ingredients for a Wit-Sharpening Potion. The effects, ingredients, equipment and instructions are described on the blackboard. If you find there is something required you did not come prepared with, there are cabinets along the right and left walls that contain everything and anything you need. You have until the end of class to finish. Do your best, you will be graded on effort and attention to detail. And of course, feel free to ask me for help if you need it. Begin.”

There was a collective shuffle as the class got started and he sat down to go over some other paperwork and write down a few notes.

{OOC-IMPORTANT NOTE: There will be a grading change this lesson. Instead of being graded ten for ten, you will be graded twenty for ten. In other words, twenty possible points for quality role-playing and ten points for detail as in getting the ingredients and sequence right, etc. Have fun and be nice.}

[Joanne Jordan]

Joanne took the only spot available in the slightly cramped space that was the Potions classroom (which was in the front unfortunately). She set down her "standard size" cauldron on the rack above the burner. She then proceeded to pull out her basic set of ingredients, and put each test tube in the little rack in front of her on the table.

After Professor Slughorn explained the Wit-Sharpening Potion they were to make that day, Joanne looked at the labels on her ingredients (which she wrote in her small, neat handwriting). "Let's see....I have the beetles and the ginger roots, but I do not see any Armadillo Bile. Hmm.....strange," She said softly to herself.

She started looking through the nearby cabinets (which were to her left) until she came across some tubes labeled "Armadillo Bile" and picked out one rather fat tube of it and went back to her work area.

She rummaged around in her bag until she found her measuring cups, one of the few treasures she kept with her from the house she grew up in, since her mother loved making potions. She went over to the sink and filled the 1 cup and the 3/4 cup with water. She poured the water into her cauldron, as the first step said she needed water in the cauldron first. She then filled up the 1 cup again and emptied it into her cauldron.

Getting the burner to light was a bit of a challenge for her. In order to get it lit, the gas knob had to be turned on (but only a little bit). The next part was to take the spark lighter and scratch one of the arms against the little bowl-shaped end (which she had read somewhere was called the 'rasp') until the gas caught the spark.

After several tries, Joanne got a flame going. While the cauldron was heating up, she pulled out her rather large spoon (another "treasure" from her childhood) and laid it next to the test tube rack. When the water was sufficiently warmed up enough, Joanne took the stoppers out of the three items needed for the potion and started adding the ingredients.

When she poured (with some difficulty) about 1/3 of the tube filled with the small cut ginger roots into her cauldron, the water started changing colors, so she took her spoon and stirred the contents until the shade of green was satisfactory, then set the tube back into its slot in the rack. Next came the bile, so she trickled some out of the tube into the lime green mixture, stirring all the while until the color changed to a nice shade of blue. Trading the bile tube for the ground beetles, she continued stirring while she shook the powder from the glass container until the color switched to a red-orange color. Feeling she was on the right track, she set the beetles back into the rack.

Joanne reached for the bile again, this time pouring it a little more confidently into her cauldron. When the mixture turned a very pale yellow that it was almost white, she quickly turned the tube right side up and replaced it in the holder. "I hope I'm doing this right," she worried out loud to herself.

Reading the next step to add more ginger roots, she looked in a side pocket of her bag and found her mini-tweezers. She used these to pick up some of the pieces of root that had stuck to the side of the tube and dropped the pieces into the off-white concoction. After putting in about half a dozen little chunks, she stirred again and saw the color change back to the lovely shade of green she had before. Placing the root tube into it's slot again, she picked up the Armadillo bile one last time and poured the last third of it into the almost full cauldron. Needing little stirring at this point, the potion turned a deep shade of purple, dark enough that it looked more like navy blue than purple.

She then put the stoppers back on the uncovered tubes, taking the one that was full of bile back to the cabinet she found it in. When she got back to her table, she started putting the rest of her materials back into her bag. Suddenly she smelled something burning, and looked into her cauldron. The potion was changing colors again!!!! Hastily, Joanne turned the burner off by turning the gas knob to the 'off' position. Looking at her potion again, she saw it had turned a shade of fuchsia. She groaned out loud, then covered her mouth and looked around. Everyone else in the class was too busy working (in some cases, in a futile manner) on their potions, and were not paying attention to her. She turned back to hers, and thought maybe she should stir it and see if it would go back to the dark purple it was before.

Taking it slow, Joanne moved the spoon in a clockwise direction. The color became lighter, then instantly turned black and blew dark smoke in her face. She stepped back in surprise, knowing that she had failed the assignment.

RP grade: 25/20 *Extra 5 points for such an improvement!
Assignment grade: 8/10
Total: 33/30

Excellent work, Miss Jordan!

[Dastan Cross]

*I have permission to use Snape*

Dastan stepped into the classroom, eager for the promised practical. So far, Slughorn was his favorite teacher, followed by the Headmaster. He couldn't stand Divination or Astronomy, and Herbology was just...kind of there. He knew he needed to take that one, and he liked the simplicity of it, but it didn't change the fact that it was just a spare class that MIGHT come in handy when he went on to become an Auror.

"Wit Sharpening Potion?" he read aloud, not caring that he was interrupting the professor. He just couldn't contain his excitement; it was exactly the potion he could see helping him succeed at his goals. Even more eager now than ever, Dastan took even more meticulous notes than usual when they appeared on the blackboard.

Once he had written everything, he opened his text-book for even more instruction. He wanted to do this perfectly. "Aguamenti," he muttered, and water flowed out of the end of his wand and into the cauldron. He made sure that it was just enough before ending the effects of the advanced charm. Lord Alex had taught him at least a couple of useful spells, many of which wouldn't be taught to him until sixth year and up.

"Incendio," he said, and fire shot out of the wand and underneath the cauldron. As the water warmed, Dastan began meticulously chopping up his ginger roots, which he had gotten out of one of the cabinets, then added them to the potion. He grabbed his spoon and began mixing it.

He mixed. And mixed. And mixed, until his arm got tired. Finally, after what felt like eternity, the potion turned a light green. It wasn't exactly lime, though, so Dastan sighed and continued mixing before it turned the shade he wanted.

Next, he thought, glancing at his notes. Armadillo bile? Disgusting. Even so, he had to do it, so he grabbed one of the vials, pouring the contents in. The book told him exactly how much to add, and he made sure it was just that much.

Fighting down his OWN bile at having to handle such an unpleasant material, Dastan mixed the potion. Almost instantly, it turned a shade of sky-blue. It was actually rather pretty.

"Hey, how did you do that!?" one of the students said suddenly. Beaming with pride, Dastan turned to tell her just what he had done when he saw that...well...it wasn't him that had gotten the praise.

It was another young Slytherin named something that started with an S. Slape? Slappy? Sniffles? Agh, what was it? Severus! Severus Snape.

He glared at the other boy, who seemed to be ducking his head, embarrassed or something. What did he have to be embarrassed about anyways? The boy had not only done a good job, but had created a PERFECT Wit-Sharpening potion. It looked even better than the picture of the one in the book.

Thoroughly annoyed, Dastan got back to brewing his own potion. He wouldn't be beaten. He tossed in the Scarab Beetles in and then followed the rest of the directions to a T, making sure he did everything to perfection. But even when he finished, it didn't look as amazing as Severus Snape's.

He glanced over at a Ravenclaw girl and saw smoke billowing out of her cauldron. "Ah, well," he sighed, "At least I didn't completely fail."

RP grade: 20/20
Assignment grade: 10/10
Total:30/30

Good job!

[Severus Snape]

((OOC: YES, I have permission to use Professor Slughorn. ))

After having read through half the Potions book in his spare time, Severus had real confidence in the abilities he had not yet fully tested. He walked into the Potions classroom for his second lesson with the same half-sulkish air he usually did, but inside burned a bright optimism. He took his usual seat a few seats down from Joanne again and listened to the instructions, not needing to take notes physically, instead they mapped themselves out in his head, as naturally as his thoughts. He didn't need to grab any Armadillo Bile like the others, as he had some already, so he quickly took out his cauldron and got to work.

He lit the flame underneath and poured the proper amount of water, careful not to go out of order but almost tempted to, just to see if he could and achieve the same result. He poured a little more ginger root in than was required and was rewarded. His potion was lime green within moments and he didn't have to mix the armadillo bile as much to achieve the desired shade of blue.

I wonder...

He paused and looked over the ground scarab beetles and added a little less than needed. With a poof it turned red, without mixing! Excited now, he poured in more bile and stirred gently until it turned yellow. He performed the next few steps and the liquid changed from lime green to purple. A PERFECT shade of purple. Pleased, he turned off the heat and began making notes in his potions book.

Professor Slughorn had been watching the class thoroughly. He gave Joanne a pat on the shoulder as he passed. "Don't fret, m'dear."
He moved onto Snape's chair with an expression of mixed surprise and admiration. "My dear boy, where did you learn that?"


Severus blinked.
"I..uh...I...I used to brew Potions at home," he answered, blushing and looking down.

Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together. "Well! You've done more than marvelously! Twenty points to Slytherin! Keep that up and you'll go far, m'boy." He winked and moved on to examine Dastan's, which didn't look half bad, either. Compared to the Snape boy's, it wasn't outstanding, but it only came second to his. "And you, Mr. Cross! Very well done, indeed! Another twenty points to Slytherin. My, my, these are simply wonderful!" With a chuckle and marveled shake of the head, he continued inspecting work.

RP grade: 20/20
Assignment grade: 15/10
Total:35/30

Good job, Mr. Snape!

[siriusblack]

- Yeah, I have permission to use Sluggie. -

Sirius was glad he'd been to Potions already; at least he hadn't had to traipse all over the castle for this one. Although Hogwarts undeniably had an amazing view, he felt all dizzy and turned around. Still, that wasn't about to stop him. He entered, and was greeted with a smile by Professor Slughorn. He returned it with a half-smile of his own and sat down next to a pretty Ravenclaw girl named Joanne.

He nodded to her and smiled before looking up and listening carefully to Professor Slughorn's instructions. Wit-Sharpening Potions? He perked up. Maybe this would be useful...if he could manage it. He looked at the sequence and gulped; something told him he had to approach this with utmost caution. Getting out his kit, cauldron, stirring spoon and wand, he got to work:

After several minutes of toiling, he finally managed to get the potion to turn green, though it was more of a forest green than lime green. He frowned, adding the disgusting smelly substance that was the armadillo bile and tried not to vomit as he plugged his nose and poured it in. "Gross," he said out loud, and caught a questioning glance from the professor. "Ehehehe...uh...ahem," he babbled, clearing his throat and turning back to the potion. "Ack!"

It was now a dark navy, and something told him it wasn't supposed to be that blue. Darn it! Desperately he tried to fix it, stopping now and again to wipe sweat from his forehead. He did everything else as was required and for a moment was relieved to see it turn purple. Then...

*puff* Sirius coughed and sputtered through a cloud of smoke and, to his dismay, looked down to see that his potion had all but blown up inside the cauldron. He slumped down in his seat, dissapointed, just as he heard a girl exclaim, "Hey, how did you do that!?" Looking over, he saw the gangly kid from earlier ducking his head as the professor approached him, stopping to comfort a Ravenclaw girl whose potion looked a lot like his. Craning his neck to see, Sirius discovered that the potion the boy-Severus was it?- had brewed looked absolutely perfect. A Slytherin boy who looked foreign was looking at the appraised kid in dislike as Slughorn beamed.

"My dear boy, where did you learn that?"

The boy blinked before answering.

"I..uh...I...I used to brew Potions at home," he answered, blushing and looking down.

Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together. "Well! You've done more than marvelously! Twenty points to Slytherin! Keep that up and you'll go far, m'boy." Sirius couldn't believe it; bested by a Slytherin! He sank further into his seat.


"And you, Mr. Cross! Very well done, indeed! Another twenty points to Slytherin. My, my, these are simply wonderful!" Bested by two Slytherins?! Sirius fought not to groan as another few points were added to their house roster and sighed. Well...there was always next time. He had never really expected Potions to be his forte' anyhow.

RP grade: 25/20
Assignment grade: 10/10
Total: 35/30

[Astin Descartes]

Astin looked over the directions. This couldn't be too hard, could it? After all, all he had to do was follow the instructions and it would be fine.

Okay, first off. "Have a standard-sized cauldron," check, "Filled with 2 3/4 cup warm water." Astin peered into the dark black pot, squinting. It kinda looked like there was some water in there. He shrugged. Water, check.

"Mix in Ginger Root until lime green." Astin raised his eyebrow. He was no expert, but how did ginger root and water combine to make green? He shrugged and threw in a handful of chopped ginger. The professor knew best, after all.

Astin stirred his pot, but he quickly grew bored with that. After a while, it turned a rather pale, chalky green color. Hm, I wonder if this is what he means by lime green. Astin shrugged. Good enough, right? Next step. "Mix Armadillo Bile until blue." The sequence of colors was really bothering Astin. He knew that he wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box, but he also knew that green and black simply did not make blue.

He shot Dastan and Severus, two Slytherins, a dark look. They'd already finished, somehow, earning even more points for their stupid arrogant house. Astin sloshed some disgusting, viscous bile into his cauldron and let out a decidedly unmanly shriek as the whole apparatus burst into flames.

"Professor Slughorn," he shouted, "I don't think it's supposed to do this!"

"Indeed it's not, dear boy!" Professor Slughorn replied. With a quick wave of his wand, the flame went out and all that remained were slivers of smoke. "Better luck next time." He gave him an encouraging smile and was about to continue to grade when he couldn't help but feel he needed some encouragement. They all did.

"5 points to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for very hard work and good effort. Chin up. You'll do better next time." Satisfied, he continued to grade.

RP grade: 25/20 for a very creative post.
Assignment grade: 8/10
Total: 33/30

[Peter Pettigrew]

Glad he remembered his kit today, Peter entered the Potions classroom for the second time. He saw that the room was set up for actual potion making. He took a seat in the front of the room and started setting up his supplies. Professor Slughorn came in a few minutes later, apologizing for his tardiness. He enchanted the piece of chalk again and it began writing what Peter assumed was the lesson for the day. “We are going to have a practical lesson today. This lesson, and the five following it will not only be practical, but a lead up to your first test of the term. The next two after will be a lead up to your first essay of the term. In other words,” he added with a chuckle.

“Playtime’s over.”
The board next to him had the following written on it:

Wit-Sharpening Potion

Effect: Enhances the clarity of the thought of the drinker.

Ingredients:

1. Ground scarab beetles
2. Cut ginger roots
3. Armadillo bile
Equipment:
1. Standard sized pewter cauldron
2. Stirring spoon
3. Wand (I doubt you’ll need to use it but it’s always handy to have it out)

Directions:

1. Have a standard sized cauldron filled with 2 3/4 cup warm water.
2. Mix in Ginger Root until lime green.
3. Mix Armadillo Bile until blue.
4. Mix Ground Scarab Beetles until red.
5. Remix Armadillo Bile until red liquid is yellow.
6. Remix Ginger Roots until brew is lime green.
7. Mix Armadillo Bile until the potion is purple.
8. Let stand for 10 minutes.

“As you can see, these are the ingredients for a Wit-Sharpening Potion. The effects, ingredients, equipment and instructions are described on the blackboard. If you find there is something required you did not come prepared with, there are cabinets along the right and left walls that contain everything and anything you need. You have until the end of class to finish. Do your best, you will be graded on effort and attention to detail. And of course, feel free to ask me for help if you need it. Begin.”

Peter looked at the board and pulled out what he needed. Then he filled his cauldron with water and got to work. Dumping out a few ginger roots on the table, Peter inspected them, and trimmed a few of them to a better size and shape before adding them to the cauldron. Adding the bile was easy, seeing as how it was already a liquid. He then mixed these ingredients until the mixture turned a medium shade of blue before he continued. While he was mixing the scarab beetles, Peter sneezed and accidentally poured more of the powder in than he had expected. Hoping it wasn’t going to affect the color, or the final outcome, Peter stirred the potion. When it turned a dark, blood red, he sighed in relief and continued. He started adding more bile, when he looked up and saw Professor Slughorn looking at him with intense interest, which made him nervous and he started shaking a bit, which resulted in some drops of the bile landing on the counter space in front of him. Hastily cleaning it up while stirring at the same time, Peter almost didn’t notice that his feverish mixing was turning the potion a greenish-yellow color. He stopped suddenly, took a deep breath to attempt to steady himself, and dumped out more roots than he had intended, which turned the potion more of a Kelly green than lime green. Adding the last of his armadillo bile, the potion started bubbling at a slightly alarming rate. Before he could stop it, the potion (which at this point had turned a light pastel purple) bubbled over the edges of the cauldron, melting holes in the counter top (not to mention his shoes) and boils appeared where it spilled a little on his hands. Crying out in pain, Peter quickly turned down the burner before running from the room, desperate to find the hospital wing.

RP grade: 25/20 *Extra credit for being so colorful and wonderfully awful. I do so enjoy reading your posts.
Assignment grade: 8/10
Total: 33/30

[Peter Pettigrew]

Upon his return to Potions, Peter noticed that his space was all cleaned up. The room was empty except for Professor Slughorn, who was sitting behind his desk at the front of the room, eating some crystallized pineapple. Peter’s bag was on the professor’s desk, all packed up, so he approached slowly. “Pete, m’boy! How goes it?” he asked in his usual cheerful tone. “U-um, it’s P-Peter, sir, and I’m sorry for running out like that. I should have been more careful,” Peter muttered, tears welling up in his eyes. “Nonsense! It was a good try; I don’t expect you to get it right the first time. How about this? If you feel you’d like some extra help later on, send me an owl and we’ll set up some one-on-one sessions,” Professor Slughorn said, hoping it would comfort the boy. Peter sniffled and agreed, He picked up his bag (with some difficulty) and left the dungeons.

[Griffin Sosario]

Griffin walked into the classroom and took his seat. Professor Slughorn said that they would be doing a practical lesson today. He was exited to get started.

He set up his cauldron and measured out 2 3/4 cups of water taking care not to spill any incase it might affect the potion. He built a fire under the cauldron and let the water get warm while he cut the ginger roots. He took his time to cut the ginger roots evenly before dropping them into the warm water and stiring until the miture turned a bright lime green. Yes, it was going perfectly so far.

Griffin then poured in the armadillo bile, gross, into the solution and mixed until it turned blue. He took the scarab beatles and carefully crushed them into a fine powder before added it to the potion. He mixed it until it turned red. He added more of his armadillo bile until it turned a bright sunny yellow. Then he added more of his carefully cut ginger root until it turned lime green again, this time a little duller than before. Finally, he added the rest of the armadillo bile that he had left. He stired it all together until it turned a very pretty shade of purple.

Proud with his work, he sat there until the Professor could come over and look at his potion.

RP grade: 20/20
Assignment grade: 10/10
Total: 30/30

[Addison Bell]

Addison was sitting at her table when Professor Slughorn shuffled in, apologizing for being tardy, he smiled at them making his mustache twitch, Addison stiffled a laugh, he still reminded her of her grandpa, she was starting to really like this teacher.

Addison watched the chalk float up to the chalkboard, knowing this meant it was time for her to take out something to write with. She began scribbling directions and ingredients, already beginning to worry.

Addison looked at the list of ingredients and started taking out what she needed. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a jar of scarab beetles, a bag with ginger roots and another with armadillo bile. Then she reached into her robe and took out her wand and a wooden spoon.

She opened the faucet and put her finger under the water, testing it's temperature, once it got warm she measured out 2 3/4 cups. Grabbing a cauldron she set it on the table and poured the water in.

Next came the ginger root, she opened the bag and poured it in, mixing it until it turned the appropriate lime green color. She then unscrewed the jar of Armadillo Bile and poured in it's contents, grabbing her wooden spoon she mixed and watched as the potion turned blue, then she opened her jar of ground scarabs, holding her breath, the smell always bothered her, pouring it in she mixed once again and the solution, luckily, turned red.

Addison breathed a sigh of relief, looking down at her notes, next objective, re-mix armadillo bile, but she had poured it all in. Digging through her bag she realized she was out, she sighed, walked over to the left cabinet and peered in, grabbing a bag with the correct label she walked back and poured some in, remixing until it turned yellow, except it didn't, now it was orange.

Addison sighed, of course something would go wrong, ignoring the stink that arouse from her cauldron she continued the steps, remixing the ginger roots and watching as it turned a dark green, then remixing the armadillo bile and watching as that turned a light purple. Well...it's close enough....

Turning her face to the clock she watched the time tick by, her frown growing more pronounce as the potion turned a lighter color by the second. When the time was over she took a deep breath and pushed her self to look inside, it was clear, and it stunk like old eggs, if this is what wit sharpening smelled like, Addison wasn't sure she wanted to get smarter.