Can we make a pound of it? on Potions

Professor Fawcett

February 05, 2013 7:40 PM

Lesson I for Intermediates (3rd-5th Years) by Professor Fawcett

John Fawcett suspected he was, on the whole, too old and too old-fashioned to be a favorite of many outside of his own House and probably of some within it, but he thought he still did an adequate job of picking up on what was going on in the student body. At the moment, he thought the teams they had recently been divided into seemed to be one of the bigger topics of interest, which was something he was not displeased about. For one thing, it prevented the whole year from being a long, agonizing buildup to the ball, and for another, it had reminded him to keep a closer eye on his fourth years for the next few months. He thought he would have remembered anyway, as they were a bright, ambitious group and it was going to be difficult to offer his recommendation about which should be prefect, but it never hurt to be reminded.

His one concern, as it was every year, though it usually was not as pronounced in the first half of the year as it was now, was that they would become distracted from their studies. As for that, though, all he could do was do his best to keep them on task when they were in his classroom and intervene if the Aladren common room got too noisy at night, which, thankfully, it did not seem to be in much danger of doing.

“Hello, class,” he said when the time had come for the intermediate class to begin, closing the door and waving his wand toward his blackboard, which began to cover itself in the directions for the potion of the day. “Let me take this opportunity to remind any of you who may have forgotten to do so before class to place your homework in the intermediate basket by the door before you go out – I look forward to seeing all of your thoughts on Everloss and what evidence you use to support them.

“Before I have that pleasure, however, we will begin a brief unit on potions aimed at preventing certain effects,” he continued. “Today, we will look at a potion which would be quite sensible for anyone who left this campus on foot, though I strongly discourage all of you from doing so.” The desert was, after all, rather large, and there would be other difficulties besides the one they were learning a potion to prevent. “This draught is designed to help prevent the body from succumbing to heat, increasing resistance to it for short periods of time.

“For this potion, you will, as you see, whole lavender, juniper berries, a small – I do repeat, very small – amount of Spanish moss, and half a teaspoon of salamander blood.” Miss Yale and anyone else studying nontraditional potions would be provided with alternative directions involving the juice from within venomous tentacula seeds, which would have to be heated to a precise temperature to make it safe. “These will be combined several times, in several different orders and amounts, and you will need to pay very close attention to your stirring. Too much or too little, and in the wrong direction at the wrong time, can be disastrous. At the end, you will finish off the potion with a sprinkling of powdered moonstone, until you have a potion of a shimmering bluish-white. You should just be able to complete this in the class period, and for homework start on your paper on the properties of moonstone in potion-making. You may work in pairs today, and begin.”

OOC: Standard posting rules apply, and tag Fawcett if you need him. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Prevention is better than cure by Henny B-F-R, Aladren with Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

So, when I fail my CATS, what happens? by Sullivan Quincy, Pecari with James Carey, Aladren, Sully, Jay Carey

Can we make a pound of it? by Lucille Carey, Teppenpaw with Thaddeus Pierce, Aladren, Lucille Carey

How happy is the blameless vestel's lot by Michael Grosvenor with Alicia Bauer

0 Professor Fawcett Lesson I for Intermediates (3rd-5th Years) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Henny B-F-R, Aladren

February 07, 2013 2:38 PM

Prevention is better than cure by Henny B-F-R, Aladren

Henny dropped her homework into the basket on the way into class and took a seat in the front row. She found the idea of memory potions intriguing but also a little disturbing. Admittedly, the Potions they were concocting in class were only very mild variants but some of the things she had come across in her essay research had been quite alarming. In less informed times, strong memory potions had frequently been used in the treatment of people with mental health disorders – especially post-traumatic stress disorders and anxiety issues – in the belief that ridding them of the unpleasant memories at the roots of their problems would cure them. In the many instances where this had failed to alleviate their sufferings, it had been assumed that a strong enough dose had not been given, and many had been forcibly given stronger and stronger doses until no troubling thoughts had remained. Unfortunately, nor had many others by that point. She was very much glad to be living in more enlightened times where problems were talked through. The thought of someone using magic to tinker with her head until they felt it was right was appalling. The human brain was a very complex thing and using magic to meddle with it was rarely worked out well. This thought caused her to instinctively glance around for Josh before remembering that he would not be in this class any more. At least they were in the same house, so she could keep an eye on him in the common room. Calming potions weren't exactly messing with the mind but depending on them wasn't healthy either.

Whilst the memory potions had been interesting, academically, this term's work sounded like something Henny could wholeheartedly get behind. Prevention was better than a cure, so the saying went, and she enjoyed it most when they studied things that clearly had a beneficial impact on people's lives. The potion also sounded fairly complex, which excited her. The key with complex potions was preparation. She read carefully over the instructions in her text book, adding useful notation in pencil (she was all for writing on academic books, or volumes one was studying, but not in a way that would permanently deface them). Using her wand to colour some of the annotations, she added a little key for herself. Lavender for the lavender, dark blue for the juniper berries, green for the Spanish moss and red for the salamander blood. Next to each step of the potion where ingredients were added, she used this to show her which ones and in what order they would be put in. Although she would read each step carefully as she did it, it helped to have quick visual references.

“I guess we're working together?” she asked her neighbour in a friendly tone. “I was planning to set out everything before beginning, as it sounds like the brewing will keep us on our toes,” she explained. Ideally, she would have set each set of ingredients out in their groups on the bench beside her, but she lacked enough receptacles and space. Thus she would add up the amount required in total for the potion and set this out, along with her scales and measuring spoons to take the required amount at each stage. The lavender was to go in whole, so that needed no further attention. Some of the berries went in crushed, some didn't. She added the weights for the crushed ones and separated this amount into her pestle, lightly grinding them with the mortar.

13 Henny B-F-R, Aladren Prevention is better than cure 211 Henny B-F-R, Aladren 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

February 08, 2013 8:36 AM

Although a cure can be helpful too. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

Cepheus wasn't doing very well keeping up with his homework this term. He didn't want it to affect his opportunity to be a Prefect, but he found it difficult to keep up with the workload. The essay he'd written for Professor Fawcett had been done last-minute, and it was clearly not his best work. He had edited and added to his essay during lunch and his hurried scrawls had stained his fingers with ink. It would wash away eventually, but he was proud that he had, at the very least, finished his work.

He dropped it into the basket, hoping the ink wouldn't smear under the others, and ran a hand through his wind-swept blonde hair, unknowingly smearing touches of black ink into it. He looked for someone to sit by and spotted Henny, one of the Aladrens Alicia hung out with. He thought he would be seeing more of her lately now that Alicia seemed to be bringing her around more. He had never actually spoken much to Henny before and he made a point to do that now.

Cepheus dropped into the seat next to her and slung his bag onto the desk. "Hi Henny," he greeted her before taking out his textbook and notes. His eyes scanned the room for Theresa, but he didn't let himself linger too long on her. He didn't want to be that sort of lovesick schoolboy, though he was dangerously close to it.

One good thing of having loads of friends in Aladren was that they were studious and knew what they were doing. He enjoyed potions, but they were becoming more difficult and he sometimes had a bit of trouble multitasking. Cepheus thought the potion they were going to brew for today would be helpful. Arizona was unbearably hot most of the time and he wouldn't ever want to swoon from the heat or something ridiculous like that. In his fourth year, however, he thought he'd done a good enough job of adjusting.

Henny took charge of the process and Cepheus was glad. "I suppose we are," he replied. "You're a step ahead of me, that's for sure. What would you like me to do?" It would be easier to be an assistant in this sort of thing. Cepheus wasn't going to be brewing potions for the rest of his life, but he did need to know what went in them to ensure the medicinal potions he purchased for the hospital in the far future were legitimate. That's where Potions class came in and his more knowledgeable classmates.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus Although a cure can be helpful too. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Henny B-F-R, Aladren

February 08, 2013 12:47 PM

I would like to think both are available by Henny B-F-R, Aladren

“Hi,” Henny greeted Cepheus. They had talked at Alicia's picnic – or rather, had been in the same conversation. Seeing as Alicia had this scheme for them all to spend more time together, Henny was glad of the opportunity to get to know the Crotalus a little better. Although, like Thad and possibly Alicia herself, she rather suspected any friendship they struck up would only extend as far as the end of their school days. After that, the world would simply move them in different directions.

She also didn't mind Cepheus as a work partner, having the general impression that he was quite precise and capable. As she didn't know him, she wasn't entirely sure where she'd got that idea from. Perhaps the fact that he was a Crotalus, and that they tended to care about fine detail. Or something as trivial as the fact that he had carefully styled hair. Perhaps it was even so general as him not being responsible for any large explosions, to her knowledge.

“You have ink in your hair,” she informed him, wondering whether she needed to reassess her ideas. Her tone was friendly and she was not laughing at him – in fact, she figured he would rather know before someone did. “Would you like me to..?” she gestured with her wand. She knew the charm to syphon the ink away and it might be easier for her, as Cepheus could not see his own head without a mirror, and then everything would be reversed.

She skimmed the list when Cepheus asked for directions, a little surprised to be given the lead but equally glad that he didn't seem to be interpreting her organisation as being bossy, or see her taking a lead as being a bad thing. She tended to be quietly confident in her skills. Thus, if someone needed and wanted direction, she could easily supply it. She would also try to contribute equally if she found herself partnered with someone of roughly equal or greater skill. However, she wasn't one to get into a power struggle just for the sake of being in charge.

“The moss needs to be shredded and half of it – that's two grammes,” she added, reading from her own notes. Potions directions, she found, tended to have an irritating tendency to use relative terms like 'half' and so her scribblings always included the amount that actually meant, “needs to be made into a paste with three drops of the salamander blood. If you would like to,” she added. Even though Cepheus had asked for things to do, she wanted to leave him enough room to have some say if he felt particularly strongly about any of it.

Confident that their preparation was as thorough as it could be, she began the first stage of the potion. As usual, this was to put water into the cauldron, light a fire and wait for it to boil.

“We'll need two sprigs of the lavender to go in once it's bubbling and to stir three times clockwise,” she informed her partner.

13 Henny B-F-R, Aladren I would like to think both are available 211 Henny B-F-R, Aladren 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

February 11, 2013 6:06 PM

If not, I have faith in our abilities to make some. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

It was embarrassing trying to make a new acquaintance and being found with ink in one's hair. Cepheus felt his face turn red, but he wouldn't allow himself to be consumed by his embarrassment. "So I do," he said, laughing it off. "Last minute touches to my essay, you know," he said, rubbing the ink stains in his fingers. If he couldn't get them off completely, then at least he could rub them dry. "If you could, thank you." He bent his neck a little so she could see it better. His blonde hair was probably a mess right now. This class meeting was going quite well in the most sarcastic way possible.

Usually Cepheus enjoyed taking the lead as he had been bred to do in nearly all situations, but he didn't mind following someone when he knew they were more capable. His father had warned him against following pride which could lead a man to his downfall. He watched Henny as she read the directions of what he needed to do to him, and he nodded agreeably. "Certainly. I wouldn't mind."

He took the moss dutifully and began shredding it. It was difficult work, doing this all by hand, but he knew with potions there had to be careful separating of the ingredients especially with more temperamental potions. As he did the tedious work, he allowed his mind to wander a bit, allowing Henny to concentrate on the rest of the preparation. Cepheus knew he needed to get himself and his work back on track so he could focus more on getting through this year without losing his mind and his marks at that.

Once the moss was completely shredded, he measured it to two grammes as told by Henny and began to mash it into a paste along with the salamander blood. It was easier to follow directions when he wasn't needing to constantly refer back to the textbook.

When Cepheus had finished his satisfactory paste, it seemed as though Henny had already finished the first stage of the potion. "Brilliant," he stated, and picked up a sprig of lavender and twirled it between his fingers. "I can drop in the lavender and get the mutilated asphodel leaves ready to put in after you're done." His supply of asphodel leaves came ripped apart, helpful for very little except for potions such as these that required the leaves to be separated as such. It did save him a bit of time, though it was one of the least used ingredients in his kit. "I'm better at dropping things than stirring them in," he joked, though in all honesty most of his mistakes occurred because of a stirring mishap.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus If not, I have faith in our abilities to make some. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

February 22, 2013 10:27 PM

So, when I fail my CATS, what happens? by Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

Sully hated potions. He wasn't that great with wand-work, either, but charms, at least, seemed a little more forgiving than potions every had. Even with Professor Olivers being a little harder than his first instructors, he could usually manage a mediocre grade in that class. Not so Potions. Not only was he bad at the practical stuff, but Professor Fawcett was not lenient on the written work either. It was just bad all around.

At least he had remembered to do the essay on Everloss this time. It didn't quite meet the minimum length requirement, even after using larger than normal handwriting, but he had repeated everything he could find in the textbook about it and even a couple of personal (if not very creative or original) thoughts on the process of brewing it and tried to show how the textbook facts supported those ideas. It wouldn't earn him an E, no doubt, but he thought it should be better than a Dreadful anyway.

The lesson grade was not going to be any better and might be worse. Unlike horseshoes and hand grenades, 'close' never really cut it in potions and 'close' was the best Sully could usually manage. He groaned aloud when the professor warned them that even the stirring technique mattered for this one. As if chopping and timing and order weren't hard enough to keep track of.

He looked over to his neighbor and hoped the other student hadn't chosen him to sit with because he was a fifth year, and supposedly more experienced at this sort of thing. The other fifth years would know better than to do that, and even the fourth years should, too, but the third years were newly elevated to Intermediate Potions and had only had a few weeks so far to determine who was a potion brewer and who was a potion bungler.

Sully definitely fell into the later category.

"I can chop and stuff, but you're stirring if you want to pass," Sully told the unfortunate soul stuck with him as a partner.

0 Sullivan Quincy, Pecari So, when I fail my CATS, what happens? 0 Sullivan Quincy, Pecari 0 5

Lucille Carey, Teppenpaw

March 03, 2013 12:35 AM

Can we make a pound of it? by Lucille Carey, Teppenpaw

How wonderful life would be, Lucille thought wistfully as she put her thin paper in the basket for them, if students could dictate their papers to someone, who would then take them to an in-school printing press to be prepared for submission. She would have settled for just someone to dictate her papers to, but since most people who would be taking dictation rather than dictating would be poorer than she was and thus most likely not as well educated, she doubted they would have very clear handwriting, so it would be better if the press printed all their papers up prettily like the print of their textbooks instead of making the professors read anyone’s handwriting at all, or making her write all that. Lucille did have a good, clear hand, her tutors had made sure of that long before she started having to write essays for classes, but she had never really gotten used to using it so much, and her hand started cramping after a paragraph or so when she wrote out her longer assignments for class.

The school wasn’t so courteous, or maybe just not so rich, though, so she had to hand in her handwritten paper and then go find a seat, which was an even more nerve-wracking prospect, in the still new-seeming intermediate classes, than getting back grades was. In first year, she had gotten used to her year and the one above it, and then last year, she had been older than the first years and so not very nervous about them, either, but this was almost like starting first year over again. Pulling herself up onto a stool, she offered her neighbor a tentative smile, expecting that she would be allowed to sit but hoping the person didn’t mind her doing so, and then busied herself with her things until it was time to listen to what they were going to do today.

Preventative potions. Well, those sounded very useful. She liked the thought of learning those. She took notes carefully even though she had no intentions of ever leaving the school on foot or in any other way which wasn’t fully authorized and approved by authority, then looked up at the person she supposed was likely to be her partner. "Shall we work together?" she asked.

0 Lucille Carey, Teppenpaw Can we make a pound of it? 0 Lucille Carey, Teppenpaw 0 5

James Carey, Aladren

March 03, 2013 12:42 AM

You strategically avoid Fawcett for two years? by James Carey, Aladren

As he got his paper out to hand it in, Jay crossed the fingers of his right hand and touched them to his lips for a moment before using that hand to put the paper in the basket without even noticing the gesture, one his mother had a habit of making for good luck. He wasn’t sure how far he believed in superstitions, especially one Mother had never actually explained, but on this paper, he thought he was going to need all the luck he could possibly get. He had started working on it early, he had, but he had gotten distracted by a topic he found more interesting than the one he was supposed to talk about for the paper while doing his research and had only remembered that he hadn’t actually done the assignment he was supposed to do at the last minute. Almost literally. He thought some of the ink on the last page might still be wet, though he hoped not, or at least that if it was, it wouldn’t blot itself in a way which made his hastily-scribbled conclusion completely illegible.

This, he thought as he went to find a seat, seemed to be something which happened to him a lot now that he was in intermediate classes. It had happened in his first and second years sometimes, too, but he’d had less actual work, or at least easier work, to do then, so he had had more time to get back on task, and he thought it was happening more often now for sure, too, on top of the level of quality in his final products needing to be higher now. He didn’t mean for it to, but it just seemed to happen, and he was beginning to think he might know why. The class introduced him to something, and whatever he was supposed to write about was interesting enough as a starting point, but then there was just so much more which was also interesting, and then he…got distracted.

He didn’t, though, want to have to explain that to the whole family, which was what he had always imagined happened to people who didn’t do well in school, so he really hoped that the thing he had just handed in was better than he thought it was. He had a much better paper, a really good one, in his notebook in his dormitory, but it was too far off-topic to wrangle around, and after some consideration, he had decided not to submit it alongside the actual assignment in an attempt for clemency, to show why he hadn’t done so well on the thing he’d been given to do. Maybe that would have worked, but maybe it would have just made him look like a suck up, which wasn’t him. There was a difference between being nice to the adults so they would be nice to him and actively currying favor, trying to get ahead, to make grades he didn’t deserve because he was liked or good at flattery or whatever.

Getting his things out, he took notes over the potion of the day, thinking that this unit did sound like it was going to be interesting and useful, which was a great combination, especially for the in-class work they did with an actual cauldron and fire and assorted plant and animal parts.

He looked up at the end of the lecture when he was spoken to by the fifth year in the next seat, then took a second to digest what he had heard. "Okay," he said after he had done that, deciding to just go along with it. A fifth year wasn't a bad partner to have, even if he couldn't stir, or said he couldn't. It was almost certainly more of a risk for him to work with a third year than it was for Jay, anyway. Besides, it was rude to turn down someone as a partner. "I'm James Carey," he added since manners had crossed his mind. "I don't think we've met before."

0 James Carey, Aladren You strategically avoid Fawcett for two years? 0 James Carey, Aladren 0 5

Sully

March 05, 2013 1:28 PM

That sounds too easy by Sully

Oh dear God and Merlin. Not only had he managed to sit next to an Aladren, but a Carey one at that. He dearly hoped this would not be the class period he mistook dragon blood for salamander blood or hawthorne berries for juniper berries again. He much preferred partnering with other Pecaris or Teppenpaws because they tended to have lower grade expectations. Well, at least Jay Carey might - third year or not - bring up their average skill enough that Sully might get a decent mark for once. That was the advantage to suffering through the higher demands to succeed.

"Sully," he returned habitually by way of introduction, then second-guessed himself and fretted that maybe he should have tried out his new legal name, but Carey hadn't given his branch, so was that because the guy was more informal than some of his relatives or was it because he assumed Sully didn't have one? While his brain panicked over this social dilemma, his mouth resolved the issue on its own as he qualified, "Er, Quincy. Sullivan Quincy. But everyone calls me Sully." Which still offered neither his new branch affiliation nor his new adopted surname, but at least it hit some middle ground on the casual-formal scale. And changing his introduction for a third time would just make him sound like he had no idea who he actually was - which wasn't entirely wrong since Mom's wedding had only been two months ago and he was still getting used to the changes that meant to his own identity - but he really didn't need to come off as any more incompetent than he actually was.

"All right," he said, figuring they might as well get started. He hoisted his cauldron up onto the table and began filling it with water. This was the one part of potion making that practice had managed to perfect for him. Sully was awesome at the water charm.

"Do you have any Salamander blood?" he asked, assuming the easiest way to avoid confusion with any of the other vials containing thick red liquid in his kit was to have Jay retrieve it. "I think I forgot to restock that over the summer." It was only kind of a lie. As a newly minted California Pierce, most of his newest ingredients were now organic and plant based. But he was pretty sure most of his blood vials from last year were still at least half full.

0 Sully That sounds too easy 0 Sully 0 5

Thaddeus Pierce, Aladren

March 06, 2013 1:50 PM

Do you expect to be exposed to a lot of heat? by Thaddeus Pierce, Aladren

As a rule, Thaddeus preferred to work with other Aladrens. It was the surest way to raise the odds that his partner would take the class as seriously as he did. Now in the middle year, of both the Intermediate class and the school as a whole, he was often able to choose not only House affiliation in his partner, but whether they were older or younger. He found, almost surprisingly, that he preferred younger.

This was, at least in part, because helping younger students would help him stand out when it came time for the professors to decide which of his year would be best suited for prefect. However, that was not the whole of the matter. While he obviously enjoyed working with his own friends, there was something that he genuinely liked about working with younger students as well. Maybe it was the joy of discovery as a young mind grasped something new for the first time. Maybe it was the reward of altruism that made him feel useful and appreciated. Maybe it was the extra challenge to overcome when one of the team was working above his or her level.

Maybe it was because it meant he was the undisputed leader in most cases.

Whichever was the case, when Lucielle Carey indicated she wanted to take the empty seat next to Thad, he only hesitated a moment before he decided 'third year' and 'Carey' were positive enough qualities for him to overlook 'Teppenpaw' and nodded and gestured his welcome to the neighboring seat.

Professor Fawcett soon drew his attention by reminding them to turn in their Everloss essay. Thaddeus had already done so went he arrived. He felt he had done well with it. He still had almost two years before he had to take his CATS, but it was never too early to start reviewing, and Merlin and the staff only knew what they'd need to know for the challenges, so he had compared Everloss to select previous units, noting how each earlier potion had built upon one another until they had everything they needed to concoct and understand the ingredient interactions occurring during the creation of Everloss. He had additionally added a bibliography of his reference materials at the end, which hadn't been required, but he felt should be included for completion's sake. It would help him later when he really was studying for his CATS, if nothing else.

Soon enough, Professor Fawcett moved into new material, for which Thaddeus took meticulous notes, including some questions that he might research later or ask Fawcett about outside of class. As most class exercises took most of the allotted time period, Thad found putting off his multitude of questions until after the assignment was done generally worked best unless one of them was preventing him from doing the actual brewing.

As none of the ones he had wondered about during today's lecture met that level of urgency - what to do was clearly explained even if why the given methodologies were so critical was not - he turned to Miss Carey just as she addressed him.

"It would be my pleasure, Miss Carey," he agreed politely to her question of partneship for the lesson. "You may use Thaddeus to address me," he added, seeing little use to standing on ceremony while they brewed a tricky potion together.

"May I ask how confident you are in your potion skills?" he asked, not quite sure how to divvy the workload without having some idea of her level of competence. She had been a first year the last time he shared a potion class with her, and he trusted she had improved since then.

0 Thaddeus Pierce, Aladren Do you expect to be exposed to a lot of heat? 0 Thaddeus Pierce, Aladren 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

March 06, 2013 3:03 PM

How happy is the blameless vestel's lot by Michael Grosvenor

Michael's potions essay was not noticeably longer than his usual attempts, nor much better organised or argued – it was, as most of his work was, a general regurgitation of what he had read, without a lot of comment or discussion. However, although it would be invisible to Professor Fawcett, this essay had been completed somewhat more promptly and with more enthusiasm than most of his written work. He liked potions anyway and the subject had kind of drawn him in. Cos... cos memory was like who you were and stuff, and it seemed kind of interesting and weird that you could get right inside people's brains with a potion. The idea had particularly gripped him owing to the fact that he had several rather painful memories from the last year, and the idea of being shot of them seemed pretty appealing. Weighing it up, the highs probably beat the lows and he wouldn't have opted to erase the whole year, but then one book had made a tantalising reference to something called Mierzwiak Variation – a Potion for removing your memories of a specific person. Most of the books, however, indicated that attempting to mess with large chunks of your memory was probably a bad idea and, in terms of detailed recipes and instructions, they only really went up to the level of mild befuddlement. He expected that anything more serious was in the restricted section, if it was anywhere in the library. He was realistic about his chances of accessing such volumes and of succeeding in not poisoning himself even if he did. He would just have to forget about Brianna the old-fashioned way, even if that was slow and painful.

He dragged his attention back to the hear and now as Professor Fawcett began speaking. Luckily, the new topic sounded like it would hold his interest. Intermediate potions seemed to be generally quite cool, and he hoped he would get the grades to carry it on after CATS. Irritatingly, the one thing he thought he might possibly want to maybe do with his life didn't sound like it would involve Potions very much – the summer before he had started Sonora he had visited a Muggle-Magical Technologist, a guy who tried to make versions of Muggle technology that could work in the magical world. He'd sorted Michael with new hearing aids that wouldn't cut out the second he entered The Sonora Zone of Uber Interference. When Michael thought about the future, he thought doing something like that might be neat, helping people from one world ease into the other. He wasn't really sure how you got into it but he expected you had to be really smart. And didn't necessarily need Potions.

As he skimmed the instructions for that day's assignment, he found his enthusiasm dipping slightly. This was... complicated. Really complicated. Like... Where did you even start? Ok, obviously there was a step labelled 'step one' but he wasn't sure he could do things as fast as the potion was going to require him to. Ignoring the terrifying sequence of combinations and stirring instructions, he restricted his attention to the ingredients list. There were numbers and there were things. It was just weighing out. He worked more carefully on this than perhaps he might usually have done. Anyone who didn't know him might have said he was being meticulous; that, entering his fifth year of study, he had finally recognised the precision which one had to achieve in Potions and that he was being a good, conscientious student. Someone who knew him better might correctly guess that he was deferring the moment when he actually had to begin the thing. This impression was confirmed by the fact that he returned to the instructions with a sigh.

“Dear God, please don't let them give us anything this complicated on the CATS...” he murmured, as much to himself as to anyone else. They wouldn't, would they? They would be cruel to give them something so complex when under pressure. He suddenly realised that he didn't know what CATS stood for. He must have been told... He was sure it was something a bit... odd. It used words he was sure Muggle exams wouldn't. Had the C stood for Cruel? Cruel and Awful Tests of... Stuff?

13 Michael Grosvenor How happy is the blameless vestel's lot 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Alicia Bauer

March 06, 2013 9:59 PM

I couldn't deal with being by the world forgot. by Alicia Bauer

At 3:10, Alicia was not setting up her work space in Potions. Instead, she was standing in a stall in the girls’ bathroom, her back against the wall and a compact in her hand, which she moved back and forth to get different views as she carefully touched up her make-up before the double period she had to get through. She had done it well enough for the whole day before breakfast, but had noticed the beginnings of bluish circles under her eyes at lunch and had needed to apply a thin layer of a refreshing potion to the area to keep everyone from noticing that. Since then, she’d felt the need to check up after every class, just to be sure.

Putting up her compact, Alicia dropped it back into her pocket and stepped out, looking at the mirror over the sink and deciding it was good enough. She washed her hands, dried them, and took out her paper for Professor Fawcett with one hand and another peppermint to perk herself up with out with the other as she hurried toward the Potions classroom, getting there just in time to hand in the assignment and offer her friends cheerful smiles before taking the nearest empty seat, particularly pleased to see Henny and Cepheus together. She thought she liked each of her friends better than any of them particularly liked each other, and couldn’t help but hope they all liked her more than they did each other, too, even if she was a little ashamed of herself when she thought of that, but it was good to think of everyone coming together. She had awesome friends, so the closer they all were, the more awesome things in general would be.

Part of her was a little annoyed by the move to preventative medicine as a unit, since the stuff they’d been working on for the paper – whatever she’d written it about – had been more interesting, but she squashed it firmly as she took notes over the day’s assignment. This was useful information, something it could someday be very good for her to know, and besides, from the way Fawcett was talking, it was easy to get wrong, to blow up. She felt like grousing now, but knew, absently, that she’d be entertained enough once she started working on something that could go badly wrong pretty easily. It was like climbing the rock wall, only a bit less stimulating in some ways and with elements of what she imagined it might be like if she were dumb enough to climb without supports or a mat in others.

Her neighbor didn’t seem to agree with her about the positive side of the day’s work. “But that’s the whole point of CATS,” she said lightly, amused by his prayer. “To see what’s the best you can do.” She smiled briefly, then played the reassurance card. “My sister told me they give you all the instructions, though, so it’s just following directions like you were in class anyway.” Alicia had had mixed feelings about that when Rachel and Kate had said it. On one hand, it took some of the pressure off, but on the other, it wasn’t as much of an accomplishment as it might have been. They weren’t relevant feelings either way, though, just as making conversation wasn’t really optional unless one wanted a reputation like the transfer sixth year’s. She pushed her dark brown braid over her shoulder so she didn't forget about it, lean forward for some reason later in the lesson, and end up with it in her cauldron. “You’re in fifth year, right? Taking them this year?”

16 Alicia Bauer I couldn't deal with being by the world forgot. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

March 07, 2013 11:52 AM

10 bonus points for spotting the reference by Michael Grosvenor

Michael glanced up at the unexpected response. Unexpected not only because he had been talking to himself but also because the person wasn't saying something along the lines of 'yeah, tell me about it' or 'I don't know which I'm dreading most – this or Transfig.' No, this girl actually agreed that exams should be torture. He couldn't quite believe that even the study-mad Aladrens could feel that way. He guessed though that it was easy for her to say that now. She was a... not fifth year. He strained his brain and recalled various images of her sharing the front row, her hand enthusiastically waving in the air during the previous year. Forth year then.

“Oh... good,” he said weakly when she assured him they gave them instructions, trying not to let his brain infer that that meant they would give them something more complicated.... “Yes, I am,” he sighed, not sounding delighted by the prospect. He had sworn that he would not get into the CATS paranoia until at least the actual term they were in but it seemed to have become the filter through which he viewed all his classwork already, in spite of his resolutions.

He skimmed the instructions again, rather wanting to turn organisation over to the forth year. Unless she was all mouth and just good at theory, he rather suspected she would be better at it than him. However, he was the fifth year, and the one who needed to be able to do this under exam conditions by the end of the year. He had some sense of pride and of taking responsibility, even if neither was a dominant personality trait.

“Set the water to boil. When it is bubbling, drop in one sprig of lavender and three juniper berries. Leave on a rolling boil for one and a half minutes before reducing to a simmer and stirring five times clockwise.” he read. That didn't sound too hard. It was a lot of words but he understood them all and none of them sounded like tricky things to execute. Perhaps this was just going to turn out to be long, fiddly and annoying. Those weren't great features but they weren't quite as bad as complicated.

13 Michael Grosvenor 10 bonus points for spotting the reference 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Lucille Carey

March 07, 2013 11:53 PM

Better safe than sorry by Lucille Carey

Lucille nodded when Mr. Pierce said she might call him by his given name. “You may call me Lucille, if you like,” she said, though she had never really gotten used to hearing boys call her just by her given name. Even her brothers didn’t usually call her Lucille. Mal didn’t do it as much as he once had, but he’d still call her Cilly when he was being nasty, and Baby almost always called her Lu. Boys at school did at least do better than that, even if secretly, she felt more comfortable as Miss Lucille. It kept a certain distance between her and other people, and that meant she was less likely to slip up and do something horrible.

Still, she was happy enough to have been recognized at all, though she hoped it wasn’t because everyone in the school had mothers who talked about the previous generation as much as hers. Lucille knew it was one of the few things that really made her mother happy and that she should, therefore, just deal with it, but it was still awful, sometimes, to have to listen to her. If that was all life was….

“I’m….” Lucille trailed off for a moment, at a loss about how to answer the question. She thought she was actually pretty good at potion-making, but would it be immodest to admit that? Aladrens were different about that kind of thing, she thought, there was a reason why so many from the family were Sorted there, but was she talking to an Aladren or was she talking to someone else from society? This was the awful thing about school. She wished more than anything, sometimes, not to be a girl. Boys only had to lie about what they were bad at.

“I believe I’m…all right,” she said with a smile. “As long as I have all the directions in front of me, anyway,” she added, since that was an important part of things. She wouldn’t trust herself at all to remember things without a guide; that was one thing she was afraid of about the CATS, that she might be asked to remember lots of lists of ingredients off the top of her head. Memorization wasn’t one of the many skills needed for school which came easily to her, and while it was easy enough to write spells over until she had them down, it was harder with the kinds of things she might do it with for Potions.

0 Lucille Carey Better safe than sorry 224 Lucille Carey 0 5

Jay Carey

March 08, 2013 12:27 AM

Do you have a better plan? by Jay Carey

Jay smiled politely when Sullivan Quincy finished introducing himself and didn’t say the first thing he thought, which was that the fifth year’s name sounded like one out of a detective novel. He didn’t think that was necessarily a good or bad thing, just a thing, but he could see how it might sound like a bad thing, depending on how he said it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “My family usually calls me Jay.”

There were, after all, a lot of Jameses – one in every branch of the family, at one time or another, he thought. He had been named after one of his mother’s dead brothers, but no one knew that, and even Mother admitted it was usually better not to bring it up, since having one of their own named after a – she was very emphatic on this point – most heroic Auror was the sort of thing that made Careys’ heads hurt, and besides, James was a common name outside the family, too. One of Jay’s private ambitions in life was to meet a married couple named James and Amelia, just because those names were so very common.

“I think so,” Jay said, looking through his potion-making kit and, after a moment, coming up with the requisite bottle. It was less full than it should have been, since it was actually leftover from last year; he figured it was a little thick by now, but hopefully that wouldn’t make much of a difference. Jay and Henry had gotten a long speech over the summer over how important it was that boys start to notice Theresa, so the rest of them were just going to have to make do a little so more of the shopping money Great-Great-Grandfather had given them could go to making her look pretty.

Jay was just relieved that his first thought after Mother started that speech – that he was going to spend the whole year being thrashed every other day because he was in a class with Theresa and would hear the fifth year boys making remarks about her and have to defend her honor – didn’t seem to be true. There was still that Princeton guy, but after a lot of soul-searching, Jay had decided that he didn’t need to do anything about that, since Theresa was still too sulky for anyone to think that had gone anywhere for her. “I’m low on juniper berries, though, I think, do you have any of those?” Jay thought he might, in a pinch, have enough to get on with, and he’d get some from Anthony or one of the twins after class, but he would rather not risk it when his grade and someone else’s was riding on it, especially when he was already using slightly sub-par salamander blood for the potion. They really did need everything else to be pretty good and in the right amount, he guessed, if the potion was going to come out more right than anything else.

0 Jay Carey Do you have a better plan? 0 Jay Carey 0 5

Sully

March 08, 2013 12:22 PM

I never said easy was a bad thing by Sully

Sully made a mental note to call his partner Jay. This was positive on a number of levels. First, Jay was not a stuffy sort of name so they might possibly get through the potion amicably. Second, it meant his muddled introduction seemed to have worked well enough that he wasn't stuck calling the guy Mr. Carey all period. Finally, Jay was a pretty easy name to remember.

"Great," Sully said when Jay produced the appropriate type of blood for the lesson. It didn't look to be any fresher than his own vial of the stuff but it should work well enough.

"I think so, let me check," he answered in response to the query about his juniper berry supplies. He finished off filling the cauldron and set a magic fire goimg underneath to bring it up to temperature while he looked through his kit. Finding the berries, he checked the label three times before taking them out and doublechecking that they weren't hawthorne berries - that was a mistake he only needed to make once - and announced his success. "Got them. Fresh and organically grown, even." He put the full bag down on the desk near the blood vial.

He wasn't sure where he stood on the whole organic revolution thing - juniper berries were juniper berries, right? - but the bag they came in was nice enough to prove these were quality juniper berries. He'd never had a rich family before, and the California Pierces didn't really come off like rich folk, but they did not mess around with their potion ingredients. It was a Thing.

Sully didn't mind showing off a little.

And the labels were way better and easier to read than the ones on his old stuff, which might even lead to a dramatic improvement in his practical grades. Bold letters, in large print, with expiration dates clearly and prominently placed would surely reduce his bad-or-wrong-ingredient types of blunders, which only left timing as a weak point.

"I should have the lavender and Spanish Moss, too," he added, since these were both plants as well and should be in the new bags. "Do you want to read ahead and see how much prep and measuring we need to do before we start?"

He delved back into his kit to find the remaining ingredients, impressed to find them still where they should be, triple checked their labels, and added them to the collection on the desk. Finally, he looked for some moonstone, but that wasn't where it should be, but he thought he located a bottle of it among the leftovers from last year. This label was written in a tiny script that had faded with repeated handling, but he thought it might have once read Moonstone. He showed it to Jay for a second opinion. "Does this look like Moonstone to you?"

Even if it was, it was obviously older and much cheaper quality than the other three ingredients he had brought to the table.

0 Sully I never said easy was a bad thing 0 Sully 0 5

Thaddeus

March 08, 2013 1:21 PM

I suppose that is prudent by Thaddeus

'All right' was a rather vague assessment of potion ability. It could mean they were average with the expected level of skill for their age bracket. It could mean they were slightly below average but didn't want to admit that. It could mean they were moderately above average but either judged themselves harshly or didn't want to sound conceited.

Thad hated trying to guess how to interpret such phrases. It was inexact and highly prone to inaccuracy. He wished it wasn't borderline rude to ask what grade she got on her year-end report card over the summer. That would at least give him a quantitative answer. Stuck with a subjective one, he had little choice but to assume she was competent but not exceedingly so.

"All right," he agreed, as a rallying cry to get started, rather than an repetition of her self-assessment. "We're going to need whole lavender, salamander blood, Spanish Moss, Juniper berries, and Moonstone. I'll get the cauldron set up and you collect those." He pointed to his ingredient kit on the floor between them, "Mine should be well stocked if you're low or out-of-date on anything. It should be sorted by state of matter - liquid, powder, raw plant, mineral, paste, organ - and alphabetical within the type." He'd double-check after class that everything was still where it should be if she did go through it, but he felt no reluctance to let her go through his kit herself if needed.

In the meantime, he put his cauldron between them on the table, filled it with water to the appropriate amount, and put it on heat. These preparations were automatic and well practiced, leaving his mind free to formulate a plan of action.

"I'll handle the stirring," he told her, as he was the older student and that sounded like the part that could go disastrously wrong if midhandled. "We'll do the prep and measuring first, then you'll be in charge of putting everything in at the right time." Thad would, of course, offer reminders as neccessary if it looked like she'd miss a cue, but it was a challenging enough task - especially in this potion - that she shouldn't think he was patronizing her with trivial jobs.

0 Thaddeus I suppose that is prudent 0 Thaddeus 0 5