Elleon picked up the piece of paper on his desk and read it through, almost rolling his eyes when he saw that the colour of the potion was written down. He was deaf, not blind; he could tell what colour the potions were. If only the clue telling him about the colour of the potion was replaced with something more useful. That would make everything easier. And where's the challenge in that?
Pushing aside his thoughts and not wasting any more time, Elleon began with the first potion. A few potions he knew of were blue so that told him nothing. He moved on to the next clue, pink smoke. One of the first potions he'd learned was the Boil Cure potion and he remembered thinking how strange it was that a blue potion gave off pink smoke. The next clue listed two ingredients and confirmed his answer.
Picking up his quill, he began answering the questions.
"- What is the Potion before you?
- What is a critical part of brewing this potion, that if missed, can result in melting cauldrons and foul odours?"
Potion 1 is the Cure for Boils. You have to take the cauldron away from the fire before you add the... here, Elleon paused. Was it before the slugs or before the porcupine quills? Elleon closed his eyes, recalling the memory of him making the potion. Being Deaf gave him this advantage: he was good with his hands and his sight. He'd long forgotten the recipe for the Boil Cure but he could picture what he'd done. Opening his eyes, he continued from where he'd left off. the porcupine quills.
"- Name the missing ingredients, as per the Magical Drafts and Potions textbook."
At the next question, Elleon frowned. Did he have to list the number or just the ingredient? There was no way he could remember how many of each went into the potion. At least he could name the ingredients. The missing ingredients are horned slugs and porcupine quills.
The first two clues for the second potion didn't help Elleon much in identifying it. He'd come across a few potions that smelled terrible and he couldn't quite remember which foul-smelling potion was also golden. Based on the last clue, he made a guess that it was the Girding potion. It was the only potion he knew of in which that particular ingredient was used, mainly because, when he first read through the recipe, he had no idea what Doxy Eggs were and had to ask Professor Balan about it.
"- What is the name of the potion?
- What does the potion do to the drinker?
- Name the missing ingredients."
Quill in hand, he wrote:
Potion 2 is called the Girding Potion, and it gives a person more endurance. The missing ingredients are: flying seahorses, fairy wings, and dragonfly thorexes. Elleon paused after writing his answer to the last question. He was quite sure that he was right - it was a recent potion he'd learned and there were only four ingredients, but something about that last one looked wrong. Would marks be deducted for spelling errors? He had no idea, but he could only hope not.
Moving on to the next potion, Elleon read the clues, identifying the potion when he came to the third point. The Polyjuice potion, he knew, took one whole month to brew, not the mention the fact that it was a highly advanced potion to make. It was something he would've liked to make successfully one day.
"- What is the name of the potions?
- What does the potion do to the drinker?
- Name some side effects if the correct ingredients are not used.
Putting the quill to the parchment, he answered the questions:
This is the Polyjuice Potion and the person who drinks it can change their appearance to look like another person. If the wrong ingredients are used, the drinker might transform into something they don't want to be. Depending on what they turned into, they might not be able to turn back as quickly as they like.
Reading the next question, Elleon paused for a moment, knowing that he would not be able to answer this fully. He knew the importance of memorising ingredients - Professor Balan had said as much when they were doing the Wiggenweld Potion - but he hadn't expected this particular potion to come up. Ask him for the complete list of ingredients for the Wiggenweld and Elleon could've listed it all without hesitating. He'd only read through the Polyjuice Potion recipe a coupld of times, not enough to memorise everything. He would just have to make do with what he could recall.
"- Complete the list of ingredients."
Something of the person you want to transform into, most of the time, hair; knotgrass; lacewing flies. That was as much as he could remember. Disappointed in himself - but also knowing that it would be quite and amazing feat to memorise the ingredient list for every single potion in his textbook - Elleon moved on to the next question.
"- Comment, briefly, on the legality of the potion."
The Polyjuice Potion has potential to be used for both good and evil. In the hands of the right person, it can bring about much good. One example is was when ten people used the potion to transform into Harry Potter in order to get him to safety. However, in the wrong hands, it can be used for evil. One example of that was when Draco had two other people drink it so that he could carry out his part in the plot to kill Albus Dumbledore.
The potion therefore, has been made illegal unless one has the necessary license obtained from authorities. It can only be made, bought. or sold if you have the license for it. Although the ingredients can be obtained, one cannot make the potion without proper authorisation.
Elleon read through what he'd written, unsure if his answer was acceptable. Whether it was or not, he could do nothing about it now; he was running out of time.
He guessed Potion 4 based on the first clue but just to make sure, he picked up the vial and held it to his nose, noting the smell of paint and that fragrant perfume Amber used, jasmine. It brought a smile to his face as he put the potion back down and began writing.
"- What is this potion called?
- What does the potion do?
- What does the potion smell like?"
The potion is called Amortentia and it makes the person who drink it obsessed, romantically, with the person who gave the potion. It smells like whatever the person loves.
Sighing with relief as he reached the last potion, Elleon read through the clues and frowned. Even after smelling it and detecting the smell of carrots, he had no idea what the potion was. He'd done pretty well on the last four potions. Would the fifth one be his downfall? He had no idea what the potion was but he just couldn't leave everything blank; he had to try. The first two questions he didn't answer but guessed the last one. Carrots were thought to enhance eyesight. If the potion smelled of carrots, Elleon assumed that the purpose of the potion was to make the drinker's eyesight better. It was a wild shot in the dark, but Elleon answered it.
"- What are it's effects?
This potion enhances the drinker's eyesight and helps them see better.
With the last five minutes, Elleon read through everything he had written before writing his name and submitting it. He knew he could've done better, but what was done was done and there was no changing that. At least he had to comfort of knowing that Potions would still remain the subject he scored the highest in. That had to account for something.
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