Brewing up trouble on Potions

Marian Connell

December 03, 2004 5:40 PM

First Lesson by Marian Connell

Professor Connell sat in her desk, tapping a quill as the first year students filed in. Once the last had sat down, she stood, and began to talk.
“Welcome to First-Year Potions. My name is Professor Connell, and, for the record, I am not one to be crossed.

“Now, Potions is the only combination of magic and muggle talents. It does not matter here how pure your blood is, or how well you can do other types of magic. Potion-making is an art of its own.”

She looked around. “In some classes, mistakes do not matter. If in Charms, for example, you pronounce an incantation wrong, at worst the spell will not work. Here, if you make a mistake, it could cost you your life. Therefore, if I see any horseplay whatsoever, that person could be asked to leave, and perhaps never to come back. Consider yourself warned.”

She walked around the classroom, meeting the eyes of every student. “Today we’re going to be making one of the simplest potions, a relaxing one. Judging by the facial expressions of some students, you lot need it.” Nervous giggles were emitted, but were quickly followed by more silence. Connell continued, “The ingredients and instructions are in your book on page 12 in your copy of Potions, Level 1. You may chose your own partners, and you may chat, as long as you attempt to work.

“Also, it is a tradition in my class for one student to come up and make a potion at the front of the classroom. Every student has to do it at least once per term. When you do it, your potion is graded particularly closely, and house points are given accordingly. Who would like to be the first victim…sorry, volunteer.” She finished with a wolfish grin.

(OOC- points for how well you do depend on how well you write your post, the details, the logic, and all those other fun stuff.)
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Subthreads:

Would love to by Mathilda with Rose Withal, Sally

In need of a partner by Zack Dill with Sally

Brewing up trouble by Sorrel and Ash Craven (Picari)

Lookin' for a partner... by Kaylie Brockert (Teppenpaw) with Dillon

0 Marian Connell First Lesson 7 Marian Connell 1 5

Mathilda

December 04, 2004 12:22 AM

Would love to by Mathilda

This is the class that Mathilda had been looking forward to the most. She didn't know why it was her favorite, she wasn't even sure if she had any talents in this subject. It just fascinated her.

She was fascinated by the idea that you can take all these individual ingredients, items when by themselves don't do anything, and combine then in varying ways. And once combined they can heal the sick, help the blind to see, or ease the pain of someone who is suffering. The possibilities of what you could do were endless.

So much could be accomplished just because of a cauldron and a handful of ingredients.

Mathilda couldn't wait to try her hand at brewing a potion. She eagerly raised her hand, gladly volunteering to be the first victim. If everyone has to brew a potion in front of the class sometime, might as well do it now and get it over with, she thought. Besides, it's the first day of class, Professor Connell wouldn't be expecting perfection from them anyways, right?

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0 Mathilda Would love to 0 Mathilda 0 5

Rose Withal

December 04, 2004 11:23 AM

Re: Would love to by Rose Withal

Rose sat quietly. Secretly she was eager to be the one up front brewing the potion. She desperately wanted to prove herself to the teacher and her classmates. Maybe if she did well they would wat to partner with her in future. But she was too painfully shy to raise her hand. She just sat in her seat in the back of the classroom, waiting for someone to ask her to be their partner. She was afraid that she would end up working alone.
She wished she had been able to get up the courage to raise her hand. She silently cursed herself for not having the guts to volunteer. She immpatiently flicked her curly brown hair out of her eyes and gazed at the ingredients on the table in front of her.\n\n

0 Rose Withal Re: Would love to 0 Rose Withal 0 5

Sally

December 04, 2004 12:38 PM

Hey by Sally

Sally looked around. SHe didn't want to pair up with the same people she had met during the feast. She was always trying to meet new people.

SHe saw a girl with curly brown hair in the back who was sitting by herself, and grinned. She walked over there and asked, politely, "Do you have a partner? I'm kinda partnerless, so would it be okay if we paired up? I'm Sally Porter, by the way."\n\n

0 Sally Hey 0 Sally 0 5

Jenna Howard

December 04, 2004 4:18 PM

a recluse student by Jenna Howard

Jenna loved everything about potions. But she was afraid if she made the simple potion in front of the class (one that she had made before at home) she would look like a know-it-all, or a show off. She did not want to look like either, her brothers were show offs, and she didn't want to be like them.

Jenna watched as people paired up around her and sighed. Social skills always seemed to come into play here at Sonora, and Jenna simply didn't have them. Staring down at the cauldron in front of her, she wondered if she would have to work alone.\n\n

0 Jenna Howard a recluse student 46 Jenna Howard 0 5

Tally

December 04, 2004 4:38 PM

A friendly face by Tally

"OUCH!" Tally cried out as some of the boiling water splashed her when she dropped in toe nail clippings of some weird named beast. She growled under her breath. She hated potions, absolutely hated it. For some reason she couldn't brew anything properly.

She sighed and whipped her long hair away from her face in frustration. She looked around the room. Why was she working alone, she wondered. She say people partnered up and even envied the girl who had volunteered herself. Obviously she had no problem with Potions.

Suddenly Tally noticed Jenna, a girl she had met at the feast and who Chrissy was friendly with, sitting by herself. Tally stood and made her way over to the sad-eyed girl. Smiling she said,

"Hey Jenna! Fancy seeing you here." She laughed nervously, "Listen, I'm really terrible at Potions and was wondering if you'd take pity on me and be my partner?"\n\n

6 Tally A friendly face 0 Tally 0 5

Jenna Howard

December 04, 2004 6:07 PM

Making the potion by Jenna Howard

Jenna remembered who Tally was from the feast last night. She laughed and smiled at her, "I'll take pity on you. The first thing to do would be to open the textbook to page twelve."

Jenna quickly read over the directions, "okay, we nead two nargle claws, three ounces of phoenix tears and powdered dragon scales. Stir until simmers. Sounds good to me,"
said Jenna, as she started getting some ingredients out.

OOC: I just made that complete potion up, I hope that's okay.\n\n

0 Jenna Howard Making the potion 46 Jenna Howard 0 5

Tally

December 04, 2004 6:30 PM

The potion by Tally

Tally laughed and sat down beside her, opening her textbook to page twelve. She listen to Jenna read off the page at the ingredients. Jenna was so sure of all this, which Tally was happy about because then she wouldn't feel so lost.

Tally took out her own ingredients and read off the page for what to do next.

"I think we're suppose to add the nargle claws first and then only one ounce of phoenix tears. Then we stir until blue. Once it's blue we add the powdered dragon scales and the rest of the phoenix tears. We stir until simmers and turns a nice shade of aqua. Er-am I reading this right?" Tally asked, this potion seemed harder that she would have thought first years were to do.\n\n

6 Tally The potion 0 Tally 0 5

Jenna

December 04, 2004 6:58 PM

slice and dice by Jenna

"Hmm," Jenna furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the instructions hard. She could tell that Potions wasn't Tally's best suject, and really wanted to help her to understand. "I think you have it right. But we're supposed to slice up the claws evenly before putting them into the cauldron."

Setting the claws down on the table she pulled out the knife. The only part about Potions Jenna didn't like was cutting up parts of animals. Carefully, she cut up the claws and was glad to drop them in the cauldron.

Turning to Tally, Jenna asked, "Do you want to do the next step?" \n\n

0 Jenna slice and dice 0 Jenna 0 5

Tally

December 04, 2004 9:18 PM

Phoenix tears and the color blue by Tally

Tally had watched Jenna carefully slice the nargle claws with such precision that Tally had been fascinated. However, now she returned her eyes to her own materials and nodded to Jenna who had asked her if she wanted to do the next step.

Tally pulled out an empty measuring cup and set it flat on the table. Next she took the top of the jar of Phoenix tears. Bending down so that she was eye level with the measuring cup, Tally poured in the phoenix tears, being careful so that it was exactly on ounce.

Once it was measured out, she poured it into the cauldron and stirred it. It took nearly ten long minutes before it had finally turned blue. Tally sighed with relief and turned back to Jenna,

"Well, at least we know we're on the right track. What's next?"\n\n

6 Tally Phoenix tears and the color blue 0 Tally 0 5

Rose Withal

December 05, 2004 11:20 AM

Oh yes please! by Rose Withal

"Oh, yes please!" Rose gasped almost breathlessly. Seconds afterwards she could have hit herself. She had not had time to analyze this situation. She didn't know this girl at all. But she looked friendly enough, and it wasn't as if it were an assasination attempt or anything. Realizing that they had not been introduced, she held her hand forward slightly.
"My name's Rose. Rose Withal." She wondered whether or not the girl would take her hand, or if it would just hanf there. Maybe the girl was having second thoughts about partnering her, maybe she should have just done the potion herself as she had planned.\n\n

0 Rose Withal Oh yes please! 0 Rose Withal 0 5

Sally

December 05, 2004 11:54 AM

Thanks by Sally

Sally smiled as she took the other girl's hand. "Do you know what we're doing? I'm a muggleborn, so I'm probably hopeless. Although I am rather good at chemistry. Maybe that will help."

As she sat down and got out some of the ingrediants, she turned back to Rose. "So, anything interesting about yourself? I'm in Aladren, have got 2 older brothers and 3 older sisters, and live in Texas. What about you?"\n\n

0 Sally Thanks 0 Sally 0 5

Zack Dill

December 06, 2004 3:35 PM

In need of a partner by Zack Dill

Zack Dill listened to the teacher intently, his red 69 cent spiral notebook open in front of him. He took careful notes that anybody looking over his should would have a very difficult time reading - unless they understood both Klingon and Elvish as well as English. The other two languages didn't make the notes any less precise and perfect a study guide than if it had been entirely in human languages, but he'd had his notebooks stolen before by people who would rather read his concise notes than the dry text book.

From what he heard so far, this seemed to be the subject most like a normal class, so old habits kicked in. He wasn't too worried about the 'costing you your life' bit; his reading teacher had given equally dire threats for the people who refused to improve their literacy. He did not horseplay and he did his work. The threats did not apply to him.

He turned to page twelve when instructed and was somewhat dismayed by the types of ingredients listed. Otherwise, it looked a lot like the lab procedures he'd had to write about for his oldest customers in his homework selling ring. As he read the steps again, he was more and more certain that this was wizardly chemistry - which meant that by going from mundane school to magic school, he skipped at least three grades in the sciences. That was excellent.

Feeling very smug for his further academic superiority over his brother, he looked around for a partner, as it sounded like they were required. "Hey," he asked the student sitting next to him, so as not to require either of them to move, "You got a partner yet?"\n\n

1 Zack Dill In need of a partner 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Sorrel and Ash Craven (Picari)

December 06, 2004 3:46 PM

Brewing up trouble by Sorrel and Ash Craven (Picari)

It was tempting to drag Ash right up to the front, just to get him back for having done the same to her in Defence Against the Dark Arts. But Sorrel had to weigh the discomfort she would cause him against the discomfort it would cause her. She hated the front row. It was for geeks. And she knew he knew she thought that, so he wouldn't even be that bothered by it. Well, he would, but he'd lay back and pretend to be enjoying it whilst watching her eyes for signs that she wasn't getting pleasure out of knowing she was secretly torturing him. They knew each other too well, she thought with a grin, as she dragged him to the middle row.

As the teacher finished her ‘I am a hard ass, so behave yourse- YAWN' speech, Sorrel stood, setting out her cauldron on the desk in front of them. Her hair was in its usual bunches, bound from top to bottom with criss-crossing wool, though for Potions they had been pulled back behind her head and tied there with a spare band.

"Partner..." she muttered, stroking her chin in mock though, "Now who could I ask to be my partner?"

"Perhaps you three girlies should make a three?" he suggested in an undertone, nodding at the girls who were freaking out over touching icky Potions ingredients. And then, because Sorrel looked like she was about to return the favour he'd paid her in Defence and (almost) knock him out, he swallowed his pride and added, "Or work with your darling brother who you know can't pass this class without you? Do you also know your hair looks stupid like that?" he asked, for the sake of rubbing ointment on his bruised ego.

"At least I can change my hair, do you know that your face looks stupid all the time? Anyway, shut up while I read this," she said, flapping at him, as she turned to page twelve.

"What do you want to read all that for?" asked Ash, staring at the mile long introduction, "Just skip to the instructions already!"

"I find it interesting," said Sorrel haughtily, pulling the book clear of his grabbing hands, "And I want to show you up good and properly by making it perfect whilst you struggle along in my wake." She half filled their cauldron with water and set a light under it whilst she absorbed herself with the book. With no other option, Ash pulled out his own book, and began to try and get his head round the instructions whilst he waited for Sorrel to finish her reading.

‘Relaxing potions have a number of applications, most notably as tranquillisers in medical situations. They are not recommended as a solution to homework stress, as - as with any potion - it is easy to become dependant on the quality they provide, so that you become even more deficient in dealing with it yourself than you were when you took it because you were having trouble with that aspect of your life (see Chapter 22, Potions and the effects on the human mind and body for more details).
There are many different strengths of relaxation potion, some of them using minute amounts of poisons, diluted right down, because of the slowing effect they have on the body. The risks of this type of relaxation potion are obvious, and they are rarely attempted by anyone other than experts or the mildly suicidal.
As you will see from the recipe overleaf, there are many other less harmful ingredients which can be used to slow the body and mind down.'

"Ok, ready," said Sorrel, the water in her cauldron was coming up to the boil, "Try not to scald yourself or break anything while I get the ingredients," she told Ash, "All it involves, is sitting relatively still and keeping to yourself for two minutes." Book propped on her arm, she strode over to the student supply cabinet, helping herself to Streeler shells, slug slime and... poppy seeds? That seemed so.... non-threatening.

"First step?" asked Ash, when she returned. He was being suspiciously well behaved...

"What have you done?" she asked sceptically.

"Nothing, sister sweetest, would I?"

"Yes." She took a good careful look round everything. "Ash!" she exclaimed, as she leant near the cauldron for a closer examination and felt the heat more strongly than before. "That's not funny! You could have blown it up!" She turned the heat back down. "If you're going to mess around, you can find a different partner."

"Aw come on Sorrie, you know I wouldn't have let you blow yourself up. That's my job." The corners of Sorrel's mouth twitched, but she tried not to let herself smile.

"Beg my forgiveness," she said, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh most wonderful Sorrel, I implore you to help me pass Potions, otherwise there is no way in hell I'm steering you through Defence," he grinned, elbowing her.

"Good enough," she grinned back, shoving his arm. "The first step says to add two scoops of the slug slime to thicken the mixture, followed by half of the ten grammes of poppy seeds. So five grammes then... Is it me," she asked, as she slime scooped, and stirred the cauldron with a slender glass rod, "but... Well, Streeler and slug bits I get. Relaxation and slowing - they go hand in hand. But... Poppy seeds?"

"Opium," replied Ash, as he weighed out about five grammes, "Dulls the senses. And it's made from poppies."

"Ahh," said Sorrel, sprinkling the five grammes in, having adjusted them slightly. That was the problem with Ash. He could be good at Potions if he were more exacting. He assumed a half gram over or under, or a dash extra to make the colour correct would work out. No matter how many times Sorrel had punched him in the arm, it still didn't sink in. Possibly because she punched him so much anyways...

"Stir for a while I crush the shells," she instructed. "Not too fast!" she added. Ash whizzed the stirrer around a couple of times at double speed just to annoy her. "Seriously!" she snapped, punching his stirring arm. She began to crush the Streeler shell. The ingredients came in their rawest form, and for this Potion, the twins needed it powdered.

"Don't drop it!" Ash said, lunging at her as she held it up to check for lumps. She elbowed him hard in the ribs, crushed out a last lump and poured it in clockwise as Ash sprinkled the rest of the poppy seeds in anticlockwise. This action was supposed to bind the ingredients together as one. It seemed to work, as the two opposing spirals interwound, melting into one colour that was halfway between the two of them. Because of the nature of the Streeler's shell, it shimmered about every different colour of the rainbow for a fraction of a second before turning shimmery grey.

Sorrel drew her wand to perform the final stage, she touched the end to the surface of the liquid and stirred, reading out the incantation from Ash's text which was open in front of her.

"Ingredients of motions slow,
Into the bubbling cauldron go,
With poppies you shall therein bind,
To slow, relax and calm the mind.
And whilst so dulled, into your mind crawl,
The wondrous truth that Ash rules all?!"

Sorrel didn't even finish reading it. At the word ‘rules' her brain had caught up to the fact that she had just spoken her brother's name, and she had snatched up the book and attempted to hit him over the head with it. So that was why he'd done something so obvious as turn the cauldron heat up! He'd known she wasn't going to believe he hadn't done anything, so he'd laid a cryingly obvious red herring for her! He'd grabbed her wrist, laughing.

"Come on Sorrie, if you've drilled one thing into my head it's that the incantation binds and seals the Potion. I added it at the end, so it won't affec-" He was cut off by a large POP! They both turned to the cauldron. A huge bubble had grown and erupted on the surface, leaving little black marks like scorches floating behind it. Other than that, and where it looked a little runny from Ash's over vigorous stirring, it seemed a good Potion.

"I didn't mean to wreck it," he whispered awkwardly.

"It's not that bad," she shrugged. She guessed it had had a negative effect because the Potion hadn't realised that it wasn't part of the sealing incantation. But, because the real words had been finished, it had been partially sealed against major damage. "But I'm kicking your butt as soon as there isn't a Professor in sight." She bottled the slightly runny Potion with black bits floating in and wrote their names on the label. She was only a little disappointed to have not made a perfect impression. Class didn't matter that much. And, had it been anyone but Ash, she would have admitted that it had been a pretty well thought out prank. Especially as the way in which he'd gone about sabotaging her proved he actually listened once in a while.

OOC - Streelers are found in ‘Fantastic Beasts....' They're giant magical snails. \n\n

0 Sorrel and Ash Craven (Picari) Brewing up trouble 0 Sorrel and Ash Craven (Picari) 0 5

Sally

December 07, 2004 7:07 PM

Re: In need of a partner by Sally

Sally shook her head. "No, I don't. I asked a few other people, but they already had partners. Can I work with you?"

As she looked over the ingrediants, she whistled to herself softly. "Well, this one should be fun. I fail to see how anyone could get confused. It's like getting confused in chemistry or biology, it's damn near impossible."\n\n

0 Sally Re: In need of a partner 0 Sally 0 5

Zack Dill

December 08, 2004 9:27 AM

Re: In need of a partner by Zack Dill

OOC: you're only 11. You should be somewhere around sixth or seventh grade depending on how your birthday falls. So your last muggle school year was, at most, 6th (for sept and oct births), more likely 5th. Unless school curriculums whereever you live are vastly different than New York, you don't see biology or chemistry as individual subjects until high school. BIC:

Zack shrugged indifferently, as if working with her hadn't been what he'd been aiming for when he asked if she had a partner. "Yeah, sure." He paused a second, trying to remember her name from their breif conversation before Miss Jinx started talking about House rules. "You're Sally, right?"

Just in case she wasn't, he added, "I haven't met so many people all at once in a long time." If ever. And in his old school, he never so much as looked at the girls, nevermind introduced himself to them or worked with them. Girls were a foreign species. Like wizards and witches were.

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1 Zack Dill Re: In need of a partner 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Sally

December 08, 2004 5:54 PM

Re: In need of a partner by Sally

OOC- At my school, we actually do start really early. Like chemistry/physics in 6th grade.BIC

"Yeah, I know. It's really weird, isn't it? And it is Sally." Sally responded. Then she looked down at page twelve. There were so many ingrediants. It looked like fun, but Sally knew from experience that things like these, if they weren't done perfectly, would retaliate violently.

Twirling a strand of hair around her finger, she looked over at her partner, Zach. "So, do you want to do the slicing, dicing, and measuring, or do you want to mix everything up? I'm up for either."

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0 Sally Re: In need of a partner 0 Sally 0 5

Zack Dill

December 17, 2004 1:26 PM

Re: In need of a partner by Zack Dill

As fun as slicing, dicing, and measuring sounded, especially with such . . . um . . . interesting ingredients as 'frog eyes' and 'newt tails', he decided that Sally could have the honors. "Uh, I'll mix." While he didn't think he'd throw up if the frog eyes and newt tails proved to actually be real frog eyes and newt tails, he wasn't sure he wanted to test that hypothesis.

Oh, he had no problem with frogs or newts themselves. He just thought they should have their eyes and tails attached rather than under a scapel he was weilding himself. \n\n

1 Zack Dill Re: In need of a partner 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Kaylie Brockert (Teppenpaw)

December 17, 2004 9:56 PM

Lookin' for a partner... by Kaylie Brockert (Teppenpaw)

Kaylie entered the Potions classroom. It was a subject that never truly excited her. In fact, she was rather bored by it. Potions was exact and precise and Kaylie just didn't pay attention to detail that much. Her potion was sure to be a disaster.

“Welcome to First-Year Potions. My name is Professor Connell, and, for the record, I am not one to be crossed."

Oh goodie, Kaylie thought. She yawned loudly and doodled in her notes.

"The ingredients and instructions are in your book on page 12 in your copy of Potions, Level 1. You may chose your own partners, and you may chat, as long as you attempt to work. "

Kaylie turned to the person next to her and said "You wanna pair up?"

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11 Kaylie Brockert (Teppenpaw) Lookin' for a partner... 43 Kaylie Brockert (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Dillon

December 19, 2004 2:53 PM

Why not? by Dillon

Dillon, who had been reading page twelve of the textbook, slowly looked over at the girl who addressed him. It took a moment to proccess what she had said. He looked around and spotted his sister who was sitting with another girl, talking adimantly with one another.

Looking back over at the girl who addressed him, Dillon shot her a small smile. His curly auburn hair fell into his eyes for the umphteenth time that day and he shook it away, which only caused it to get caught in his glasses.

With a sigh he fixed them and blushed a little. He hated his hair and glasses. With a nod to the girl, Dillon replied,

"Sure, why not?" He grabbed the ingredients needed and set them out along the table. "I'm Dillon Welsh from Teppenpaw. Are you any good at this sort of thing?" He asked with only a slight hesitation.\n\n

6 Dillon Why not? 44 Dillon 0 5

Sally

December 19, 2004 10:56 PM

Re: In need of a partner by Sally

Sally began to slice the newt tails into small, evenly sized pieces. It was weird, but oddly relaxing. She felt very much in control, which was a feeling she didn't often have. She found that she liked it, a lot.

She looked over at Zack, to pass him the tails, and saw that he had a slightly squeamish look oh his face. "Is slicing up tails not really your cup of tea?" she asked, kindly.

OOC I didn't mean to write for your character with teh whole 'squeamish look' thing, but from what your wrote of your thoughts, it sounded like taht was what would be your expression. Sorry if I'm wrong.\n\n

0 Sally Re: In need of a partner 0 Sally 0 5

Kaylie

December 20, 2004 4:47 PM

Re: Why not? by Kaylie

Kaylie's ocean blue eyes brightened and her smile grew. "Excellent! I'm Kaylie Brockert, also of Teppenpaw." She was thrilled to have met another person from her own house. Not that Kaylie didn't want to talk to people from the other ones, she wasn't the least bit an exclusivist. She wanted to make friends with everyone. It didn't matter what their house was or whether they were a boy or girl or what their lineage was. Her own was pure on her father's side and her mother was a half and half.

" Are you any good at this sort of thing?"

"Er,eh,not really." Kaylie replied. "You?"

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11 Kaylie Re: Why not? 43 Kaylie 0 5

Dillon

December 20, 2004 6:58 PM

Not at all by Dillon

Dillon laughed when the girl asked him if he was any good at this. Truth-be-told, he didn't know a thing about potions, only what the books say on the topic.

Looking back over so that his hazel eyes could look into her blue ones, if only but for a second, before he looked back at the cauldron and ingedients, Dillon answered her,

"Unless it's like chemistry, then no." He looked up again and smiled, "Glad to meet someone else from Teppenpaw, there doesn't seem to be many of us around." He had only met Garren and new Jake only by name and face. It was nice to meet someone else from his house.\n\n

6 Dillon Not at all 44 Dillon 0 5