Striving for Perfection. on Potions

Professor Fawcett

July 09, 2013 10:17 PM

Advanced Potions I (6th-7th Years) by Professor Fawcett

The weeks leading up to midterm were a time of tension in a school generally, and John did not think he had done a very good job of making his classroom an exception to the rule. The students wished to go home and take a break, and he frankly did as well, but there were midterm exams before midterm and always, always more work to do. In theory, it was perfectly possible to cram everything young witches and wizards would need to know to function in society into five years and everything they would need for further study in a particular field into seven, but, as John had discovered time and time again until he eventually learned it, students seldom proved educational theories. Indeed, the creatures sometimes seemed to live to mock educational theories.

There was nothing to do, though, but soldier on, so he did. “Hello, hello,” he said, a touch distractedly, to the Advanced class as he determined which of two stacks of essays belonged to them. “Please be seated.”

He returned papers as the students arrived, using this in lieu of taking attendance on the theory that he could tell who, if anyone, was not present based on how many papers he still had in hand at the end of the exercise, and then returned to his desk, standing in front of it and looking out over the group. Not a bad group, not at all, but he seemed to think that about all of them in the end; either the quality of students at Sonora was very high, or else he was very sentimental, he supposed. Based on comments Allison had made over the years, he suspected his wife would attribute it to a combination of factors but perhaps mostly the second one. He doubted, however, that another group of Aladren seventh years would have the athletic successes of this one any time soon, but perhaps that was not for the worst.

“By now,” he said, “you should all be in the final stages of your six-week potions and narrowing down your options for your second-semester research projects.” He supposed, too, that he could make his own job somewhat easier by simply packing in material and getting them through the RATS, but having two extended projects, one for sixth and one for seventh year, on their resumes would improve his students’ presentations to those who would supervise the next steps in their lives. “Today is a work day. Complete your six-week potions and begin looking through articles and taking notes for the research projects. The past eight years of The Pioneering Potioneer are on the blue shelf.” Odd to think he had been at the school when the first of those was published. Odd to simultaneously feel comfortable with the routine at Sonora and to still feel much newer to the place than he was at times.

“Two at a time may go to the library, if you wish.” As they had a substitute now, he could allow that, which was a relief; it would have been difficult to run this class without a fairly consistently open library. “If you had particular difficulty with one of the first semester exam potions – “ the list of potions he had compiled from a number of publications about which potions they were most likely to see on the RATS – “then you may try it again as well. You may consult with me or your classmates, but I will be keeping an eye on the room to see that you’re all on task.” He had done it often enough himself at sixteen and seventeen, but would be irritated if he caught his students doing their Transfiguration papers or reading magazines under the table, especially with the seventh years. “I’m sure, however, that I will look for the distracted in vain,” he assured them. Some might honestly wish to work, and he doubted many signed up for his class without at least the willingness to do so. “You may begin.”

OOC: You all know the posting rules; follow them and points will follow! The more creative and realistic, the better, as always. Tag Fawcett if you need him and have fun!

Subthreads:

Striving for Perfection. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan - Aladren

To sleep, perchance to dream by Michael Grosvenor

0 Professor Fawcett Advanced Potions I (6th-7th Years) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan - Aladren

July 15, 2013 1:51 AM

Striving for Perfection. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan - Aladren

It was no secret that Potions was Josh’s favorite class as well as his favorite subject. As an aspiring Potion’s Master he wanted to learn all he could before he was released into a world he had no control over. He had always prized academics as the one aspect of life he could control and potions was a medium he could control as well. He studied hard and had learned so much outside of this class that he was, naturally, he had very high marks. The advanced class had been his favorite so far. Josh had been a grade higher than his classmates in the intermediate classes, but here he felt the freedom to do what he wished. The last six weeks had been spent on perfecting an Everlasting Elixir that would never run out. It would have the same effects as a Calming Draught and a Cheering Charm combined. Getting the potion to never run out was tricky, but Josh had experimented and failed so many times outside of the classroom that he was sure this brew had to be right.

When he walked into the classroom, he immediately went to his cauldron where the potion was currently a deep, clear blue. He smiled, seeing how smooth and perfect the potion was, like glass. It even seemed to gleam under light. Josh put down his book bag and dropped in the last pair of shredded fairy wings needed to complete the potion. Coming by those fairy wings would not be easy in the real world, but he was thankful he had the necessary ingredients at school. Three counter-clockwise stirs later, the potion turned a brilliant lavender and smelled of honeysuckle. He took a whiff and smiled, pleased with his work. It looked exactly as it was supposed to and he hoped it worked just as well. He scooped his potion into two phials: one to turn into Professor Fawcett and the other for his own use. He would experiment with perfecting it even more if he tested it and found it lacking.

He marked his phial and put it to the side in order to turn it in later. Now he would have to look for his research project. The year before he had researched the difference between wet puffer- fish fins and dried ones and how completely dried-out puffer fish fins enhanced the bone re-growth process rather than somewhat moist ones. It had been a successful project, but one Josh had been influenced by a journal. He wanted to come up with something extraordinary this year, something no one had ever thought of before, but that was a little difficult in the vast potion’s community. He stood and retrieved the latest Potioneer from the shelf. The journal he preferred was the The Apothecary, but he did not discredit any other potions journals or magazines.

Josh went back to his desk and flipped through it, reading eagerly about the different hypotheses other potioneers had come up with. There were many about different potions that had been created or findings about certain potions. The Apothecary concerned itself more with particular ingredients than potions as a whole. And rarely did they present daring ideas from potioneers without any prior publications, causing his preferred journal to be called the “Anal Apothecary” by irritated potioneers. However, Josh was still learning about all the different and volatile ingredients, so he put Professor Fawcett’s journal back on the shelf and looked through the journal he had brought to class. One interesting research project would be to create a potion according to Golpalott’s Third Law and it wasn’t going to be an easy task. Perhaps researching Golpalott’s Third Law, a law he knew quite well, would be fruitful if he could successfully create a potion accordingly.

As he skimmed through the journal, an idea by his favorite potioneer came to mind. Alden Clutterbeck had discovered puffer fish juices were useful, though extremely temperamental. His discovery was hard to believe, but had been accepted in both Australia and New Zealand and Josh admired the potioneer’s guts in publishing such an outrageous theory. He smiled. Maybe he could solidify the theory by researching it himself. He closed the book and thought hard of how he would be able to get away with studying a seemingly unimportant ingredient. That was where the research came in. He scribbled down his proposal. He would have to unearth the publication that held Clutterbeck’s findings, but that wouldn’t be too difficult. Though Josh kept all of the journal’s editions, the ones that Clutterbeck was published in had its own pile.

To add onto Clutterbeck’s findings, Josh thought of pursuing his own research with another seemingly useless ingredient: aconite leaves. The leaves were considered to be very toxic and therefore were not used in potions. However, Josh wondered if they were simply temperamental or could be used in antidotes according to Golpalott’s Third Law. He had absolutely no basis for this idea, but perhaps he could research it himself without Professor Fawcett’s knowledge. Then if it came to naught, he would not be graded for it. Satisfied, Josh reached for a textbook to begin his research, quill in hand and clean parchment ready for notes.

0 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan - Aladren Striving for Perfection. 0 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan - Aladren 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

July 18, 2013 5:40 PM

To sleep, perchance to dream by Michael Grosvenor

Michael wasn't really sure that Potions was going to be useful in his future. He planned to work, in some way, with Muggles. Either working on Muggle technology and making it suitable for the magical world, or helping Muggleborns, like himself, adjust to their new world. Potions wasn't really going to be useful for that, and he had never really dared to try any of his concoctions from class, so he couldn't see himself whipping up handy home brews; he'd rather leave that to the professionals. However, Potions had always been his favourite class, and the one he found easiest. Even if it wasn't directly relevant to what he went on to do, a good grade counted for something. His Potions grades were never amazing but they were usually a little better than his others. Even if they all came out 'Average,' he always suspected that his Potions grade was a high average and the others were a low one.

A lot of Potions had piqued his interest over the years – the preventative ones they'd done had been cool, and he really liked how you could bottle personality traits that you didn't have, like confidence. He'd been a bit unnerved, coming into the advanced class and hearing what was expected of him. Taking on a long term Potion and designing his own project both seemed like a lot of responsibility. He'd tackled choosing a Potion first, as that was more a case of looking up long brews and picking one. He'd chosen a Potion for pleasant dreams. They'd previously done the one for a dreamless sleep, as intermediates, and the start of the methodology was similar. However, simply knocking someone out, and subtracting things from them was much less complex than creating new things in their mind. That was where the Potions differed, and where this one took on a much more long and complicated process.

There were two variants; a generic one and a personalised one. He'd gone for the former, mostly because he didn't like the idea of revealing his dreams, even by so subtle a method as Potions ingredients, to other people. The main reason the Potion took so long was that each ingredient, beyond the basic base, needed a long time to assimilate into the mixture. Adding too many things too close together could result in intense psychedelic dreams, which – whether people found them elating or terrifying – could not be described as 'pleasant and relaxing.' The final two ingredients were to be added today. The first was one of the trickiest. It irked Michael that these needed to be left until last as, if he messed it up, the whole thing would have been a waste of time. Why they therefore couldn't have gone in first, so you knew where you stood.... Dirigible plums had the property of helping people accept the extraordinary, so were useful in making dreams have that quality of making perfect sense at the time, no matter how strange they actually were. The plums, once picked, became less prone to floating but could become reinvigorated by the Potion's steam and become 'excitable,' whatever that was supposed to mean. Tentatively, Michael added them to the cauldron, wand at the ready. They bobbed harmlessly on the surface for a few moments but he dared not take his eyes off them. He was almost starting to relax, when one began to bounce, and bob steadily up towards the surface.

“Deflaro!” he cast, as per the book's advice, in order to puncture the over enthusiastic plum. He probably should have practised in the run up to the class, although – in his defence – inflatable objects weren't exactly lying around everywhere. The plum made a slightly rude noise as it spiralled back into the cauldron like a balloon with an untied end, landing with a rather large splash. Michael tensed a little... It hadn't been a perfect landing but it didn't seem to have upset things.

He continued to watch and deflate the plums (with progressively gentler descents) until their half hour stewing time was up, at which point he turned the heat right down. He would have to add a couple of peppermint sprigs at the very end of class, but that still gave him some time to work on his research project. The trouble was he didn't really know what was expected of him, where to begin or what he wanted to do....

13 Michael Grosvenor To sleep, perchance to dream 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5