A piece of paper floated onto Clara's desk, and she glanced at it.
Potion 1.
This Potion is blue in colour.
This potion gives off a pink odour.
Ingredients include, but are not limited to: Snake Fangs & Dried Nettles
Easy, she thought. Cure for boils. She'd known that one even without the hints. It was a simple beginner's potion, and because of this, she'd used it in a lot of her theoretical experiments.
Questions:
- What is the Potion before you?
The Cure for Boils, she penned down confidently. This was a good start.
- What is a critical part of brewing this potion, that if missed, can result in melting cauldrons and foul odours?
She thought for a second, then, Taking it off the flame before adding porcupine quills. Her book had said that that was one of the most common errors when making that potion. She'd later discovered that the porcupine quills and the horned slugs had an exothermic chemical reaction when combined, which heated the cauldron almost to the melting point. If it was still on the fire, it would get even hotter, and the cauldron would melt.
- Name the missing ingredients, as per the Magical Drafts and Potions textbook.
Horned slugs and porcupine quills. She'd also memorized the recipe from the Book of Potions, but since the Professor had specified the other textbook, she figured it probably wouldn't help her.
Potion 2.
This potion is golden in colour.
This potion gives off a foul odour.
Ingredients include, but are not limited to: Doxy Eggs
Ooh, the Girding Potion! She always remembered this one because it used flying seahorses. A few years ago, she'd seen some older students fishing for flying seahorses in the Black Lake, and when she asked them what they were doing, they said they were going to make the Girding Potion. A week or so later, one of them ended up in the hospital wing because he'd taken more than two vials, the maximum dose. Self-reference Effect, she thought absentmindedly.
Questions:
- What is the name of the potion?
The Girding Potion.
- What does the potion do to the drinker?
It increases the drinker's endurance for several weeks.
- Name the missing ingredients.
Flying seahorses, fairy wings, and... Clara paused for a moment, knowing there was one more thing with wings. She'd used the Von Restorff Effect with this one too, because there were so many winged things. Oh! Dragon fly thoraxes! She wrote it down with a smile.
Potion 3.
This potion has no set colour.
The effects of the potion are temporary, at best, and must be consumed frequently to keep the effects in place.
This potion is one of the longest brewing times known in the Potion industry.
Ingredients include, but are not limited to: Leeches and Fluxweed.
Polyjuice. She hadn't been certain just looking at it, but the hints made it obvious. She'd actually read about this one in a history book about the Second Wizarding War. Apparently it had been used several times in defeating Voldemort.
Questions:
- What is the name of the potion?
Polyjuice potion.
- What does the potion do to the drinker?
It allows them to assume the image of another person for a short time.
- Name some side effects if the correct ingredients are not used.
Clara hadn't heard of any instances where incorrect ingredients were used, except for the accounts of people using non-human or half-human DNA. She guessed that must be what the professor was asking about, so she wrote, A piece of human DNA is required from the person whose image is to be assumed. Polyjuice does not work with non-human or part-human DNA, and side-effects can include partial transformation, and loss of the temporary nature of the potion. While polyjuice can change bone-structure, and temporarily alter genetic codes, it cannot add or subtract chromosomes entirely, so it cannot be used to change a person's species. Those who have attempted have found themselves in a state of half-transfiguration, which, in extreme cases, can be permanent.
- Complete the list of ingredients.
Clara remembered these ingredients because they all made sense, in a weirdly poetic way. They all had something to do with duality, shedding skin, taking from someone, changing, and binding together. Lacewing flies, bicorn horn, boomslang skin, knotgrass, human DNA.
- Comment, briefly, on the legality of the potion.
Polyjuice is a form of identity theft, and is often used without consent from the person whose identity is being taken. However, despite this, it is not technically illegal. The Ministry of Magic mostly relies on the difficulty of the brewing process to turn off potential abusers, and ministry officials, especially aurors, use it themselves from time to time.
Potion 4.
This potion has a mother of pearl sheen to it.
This potion has spiralling steam coming out of the top of the vial.
If you smell the potion, this should aid you in your findings.
Clara took the vial and unstoppered it, wafting like a good chemist. Immediately, a warm feeling spread through her, and her nostrils were filled with the scent of old books, pencil graphite, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, her mother's hand lotion, and pine smoke. Amortentia. She felt her shoulders relax as she was flooded with memories of home. She took one more deep breath before stoppering the vial again and returning it to its place.
Questions:
- What is this potion called?
Amortentia.
- What does the potion do?
It provokes deep infatuation and obsession in the drinker toward the person who administers it.
- What does the potion smell like?
Its odour varies from person to person. It smells like whatever that person finds most appealing.
Clara glanced down the page and saw that she only had three questions left. As the smell of home lingered in her nostrils, she felt more relaxed than ever.
Potion 5.
The potion is of a light gold colouring.
The potion is thick, like medicine, swirl it around the vial to see.
Take the stopper off the vial, smell it.
Clara took the final vial, swirled it, and wafted. It smelled faintly of carrots. Her brow furrowed. She honestly had no idea what this was--she hadn't read about it in any of her books. Actually, no...a memory stirred. She'd been asking around about the treasure hunt--she herself hadn't dared to participate, but she'd been curious, so she'd asked some people who had completed it what they'd had to do. They'd mentioned a thick golden potion that tasted like carrots and made writing appear before them. This must be it. But what was it?
Questions:
- What is the potion set before you?
An illusion potion, or a potion of altered sight. She didn't know it if had a name, but if it made people see writing that they hadn't seen before, then it must affect vision, or produce an illusion of some sort.
- Who was the creator of this potion?
That was a weird question. None of the other potions had this question. Clara wondered...she hadn't read anything about this potion before. But if it wasn't in any books, how did Professor Balan know how to make it, unless...? He has created his own potions before, hasn't he? If she was wrong, it could be a little embarrassing, but she had nothing else to go off of, and it explained a lot of things if it was true.
Professor James Balan, she wrote hesitantly.
- What are it's effects?
It makes the drinker see messages that are otherwise invisible.
Clara sighed, agonizing for a bit over her last couple answers, then deciding she couldn't come up with anything better. She set her quill down, and turned the paper in.
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