Cheers! [Beginners] on Potions

Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

January 16, 2021 3:02 PM

Cheers! [Beginners] by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne

OOC: I didn't realize I did the link wrong before, so this has been updated with a resource in the post-class OOC as of January 23. BIC:

Tea was weirdly important in Mary's life, especially seeing as she didn't particularly enjoy the beverage herself. There were some that were okay, and there were some that could be used for her own purposes - a mint teabag in a cup of hot chocolate made pretty decent mint tea, for example - but on the whole, tea was Tabitha's realm, and Dorian's realm, and Killian's realm. As such, it had become important to her. It was magical in the muggle sense at the worst of times, and in a much realer sense at others. It was this idea that brought her to the lesson she planned for the Beginners today.

When the students had gathered and taken seats around the classroom - stools were set at desks as usual although Mary had had Anya Delachene in enough classes to know chairs were hardly the only place to sit - Mary smiled at them from behind her desk. A kettle of water sat on each of the students' desks but the one on her own was whistling happily and she prepared herself a cup of Earl Grey as she spoke.

"Potions is defined as 'the art of creating mixtures with magical effects'," she began, quoting from their textbook. "And while true potions in the modern sense of the word do always require some degree of wandwork, history tells us that that was not always the case. For centuries, even Muggles purported to be able to make potions: tonics and other concoctions intended to cure ailments, create love, grant immortality, and more. Witches and wizards throughout history have been able to create potions and mixtures from their understanding of herbology and magical creatures, and there have been brews throughout time that we may now deem less than potion, although there are similarities. Tea has, in many cultures and many eras, been one such example."

She took a sip of her drink (which wasn't very good because tea wasn't awesome, but it wasn't terrible). "We have evidence that shows that certain plants and ingredients have properties to promote health, nutrition, anxiety relief, sleep aid, and more, and that is all possible without the use of a wand. Oils and more solid ingredients may be used as well. After all, I think most of us are familiar with the healing properties of a good cup of soup. Today, I want each of you to use your textbooks, turn to page 41 in the English edition, to prepare your own unique tea blends that you'll sample in class. You should all be competent with the spell required to heat the water in your kettles to the necessary temperature for the brew you create, and you'll find various possible ingredients in the drawers of your desk. They can be as simple or as complex as you want but they should all have at last three ingredients.

Your homework will be to write a paper analysing the properties of the ingredients you chose and a brief explanation of the history of that ingredient in use. You should also be sure to touch on the effects of the experience - a warm drink, hopefully a nice flavor, the steam in your face, the smells, the experience of sharing a cup of tea with someone and sharing in conversation - and so to that end, please do work with at least one other student today. The healing properties of a good cup of tea are not limited to the ingredients you select. If anyone has any questions, please let me know. Otherwise, get to it!"

OOC: Hello! Please enjoy this hopefully relaxing lesson in which I'm sure nothing at all could possibly go wrong. For a reference to ingredients and their likely properties, check out this resource.

22 Mary Brooding-Hawthorne Cheers! [Beginners] 1424 1 5

Billy Cobb

January 20, 2021 6:31 PM

Hooray? by Billy Cobb

As usual, Billy was one of the last students into the classroom. It wasn't that he didn't like the learning and such that they were doin' here, he just really didn't like all the sitting around inside while they was doing it. He missed the outdoors and roaming around the forests at home. Some classes weren't to bad, but potions was one of the worst. Not really 'cause of the subject matter or the professor, she was an awful nice lady. The class was the longest one ever. So, he waited as long as he could until he had to go into the room, and dashed out as fast as he could when it was done.

The only thing that could be a downside to this way of doing things was that he rarely got to pick who he wound up sittin' with. He just got to take whatever seat was left when he arrived. That was alright though as well, we wasn't to particular about who he was sittin' next to. Today was no different, he plopped down into the closest empty seat to the door with really even looking and sighed a long drawn-out sigh. His leg was already bouncing up and down from sitting still. This was going to be another long class.

Professor Broodling-Hawthorne began to talk. He perked up a bit when she talked about Muggles making tonics and concoctions to cure ailments. That was what Ma did. Though he was pretty sure she'd never created love or granted immortality. Then she started talking about tea. Although she did seem to agree with Ma on the soup thing. From the sounds of it, today they were making tea. He shrugged, if that's what the teacher wanted, he could do that. Sure, he was sure the teachers had perfectly good reasons for the strange things they taught. Like the time they'd learned to light their wands on fire.

Billy looked at his book and rooted around in the drawers a bit. Most of the stuff there he recognized. He looked at the person next to him, they were supposed to work together. "So, we're just going to pick some random stuff, boil it up and drink it?" Admittedly, none of the ingredients he'd recognized looked poisonous, but you never knew. Plus from all the schoolin' he'd gotten so far, he'd learned that mixing things together could make for some 'interesting' results. "What're you thinkin' of usin'?"

2 Billy Cobb Hooray? 1519 0 5

Quincy Wright

January 23, 2021 8:26 PM

Yeah, sounds like. by Quincy Wright

Beginners' potions was after lunch and lunch was one of the few things interesting enough to keep Quincy distracted even when he was supposed to be in class. He'd been eating a slice of pizza, wondering about whether the skin of wizards was different than the skin of Muggles and whether that impacted the way that electronics and magic worked with each group differently, when he remembered he was supposed to be in potions. Potions was one of his favorite classes because it was pretty much chemistry. So he shoved the rest of his pizza in his mouth and made his way to class, the last to arrive. Or, apparently, one of the last to arrive, because another boy took a seat next to him a moment later.

Quincy listened with a bit of disappointment, not initially finding today's class subject very interesting, but he supposed that it was still going to touch on some of his thoughts about muggle and magical brews and such, so it was alright. It fascinated him that potions could be magic even if you didn't add any magic. There were magic ingredients of course, so maybe that was part of it, and there were magic people involved so they probably left some sort of passive magic in what they did. Whatever the case was, Quincy would figure out a way to make it interesting even if he was totally more advanced than this.

"Probably not random stuff," Quincy reasoned when the boy next to him spoke up. "Since we just had lunch, maybe some of the digestion ones?" he suggested, glancing at his own book and finding that chamomile and lemon were listed for those properties. "Any other ideas?"

22 Quincy Wright Yeah, sounds like. 1495 0 5

Billy Cobb

January 25, 2021 6:04 PM

Oh well, now what? by Billy Cobb

Billy regarded the boy next to him for a moment. He'd been in classes with the boy ever since he'd gotten to the school, but he wasn't so great with names. Did it start with a Q? Maybe? Oh well. Official introductions and stuff seemed weird at this point in the year, so he'd just let it slide unless the other boy brought it up first.

He nodded at the digestion suggestion. That sounded as good as anything, and that lunch had been another weird magical thing. Some sort of bread with mashed tomatoes and cheese. It hadn't been bad, but it was odd. "Naw, that sounds fine. At least as good as any." He grinned at the boy, who was already looking in his book. Instead of looking at his own book, he began to dig through the supplies once again. He pulled out something that looked familiar.

"We could try fennel." He suggested, "Ma uses it in most of her 'Digestion tonics'. Not really sure what it's supposed to do, but I know she can go through a bunch of it. She seems to think Pa needs it a lot." He glanced over in the direction of his partner's book. "What's that say 'bout it?"

2 Billy Cobb Oh well, now what? 1519 0 5

Quincy Wright

January 27, 2021 8:25 PM

We may yet have something to celebrate. by Quincy Wright

Quincy eyed the other student a little bit, more surprised than he knew he should've been by the smarts the kid displayed. He didn't mean to assume that non-Aladren students weren't smart, it was just that they were often focused on other kinds of smarts, like social smarts or something, and he just didn't find that as interesting. But this kid seemed to know some stuff that was super interesting, and also had some experience with what maybe sounded like some muggle stuff that was totally applicable, which was Quincy's favorite overlap. He nodded, accepting the idea of fennel and acknowledging that he would find out what the book said.

"'Reduces digestive spasms and gas, and eases symptoms of coughs and colds'," he read aloud, his nose wrinkling a bit. "Digestive spasms doesn't sound fun, let's definitely reduce those," he agreed. "Does chamomile, lemon, and fennels sound good together? Do we need to make it taste good?" he asked, not sure what any of those except lemon tasted like in tea. Then he registered the rest of what Billy said. "My dad farts all the time," he snickered, amused by the boy's mom not-so-subtly suggesting Quincy's dad wasn't the only one. "Is that why your dad needs it too? My dad eats hot dogs and then my mom doesn't want to go to bed in the same room."

22 Quincy Wright We may yet have something to celebrate. 1495 0 5

Billy Cobb

January 30, 2021 11:24 AM

What might that be? by Billy Cobb

Billy nodded as the boy read off what fennel was know for out of the book. "Sounds fine to me," he agreed to adding the ingredient into the mixture. "I dunno about you, but I always prefer things that taste good. But, seems to me most things that's good for you don't seem to taste to good." Before he could continue on about favorite flavors, the other boy nearly laughed while talking about his dad. Billy finally made the connection with the boy's next statement and let out a chuckle as well, "He does!"

This kid seemed alright, some of the folk around the school took themselves and their families far to seriously. Fortunately Billy had been introduced to hot dogs during lunchtime a while back in the hall, so he knew what the kid's dad had actually been eating. Laughing along he responded, "Ma had to stop makin' her special many-bean stew after Pa scared some visitors outta the house after dinner one night!" The whole house had stunk for an hour afterwards that night. He thought for a moment, "I think it was soon after that that Ma sent Pa inta town for as many fennel plants as he could find. Did yer Ma try that?"

He looked back at their collection of ingredients. "As for flavor though," he thought for a moment, "I guess we could throw in some mint maybe? What'cha think?"

2 Billy Cobb What might that be? 1519 0 5