Potions - Lesson Two (First to Fourth Years)

Guest

James had not been in the slightest bit happy about the lack of participation in his previous class, he'd had half a mind to put all of his students in detention for their lack of enthusiasm, only to remind himself that he would have to see the pitiful students more than he had already.

So, he decided to play ground hog day.

On the board was the potion he'd discussed the previous lesson, but he would skip the theory side. Instead, the board instructed that the students get on. James himself sat behind a copy of the Daily Prophet, throwing back the disinterest his students had shown him in the previous lesson. The students had better impress him this time, because James was not in the mood for idiocy.

Method:

Guest

Naomi and Finley walked into the Potions classroom, taking up their customary seats in the back of class. After scanning the board and glancing at the apparently disinterested professor, Naomi turned to Finley. "Well, I guess we should just... Start then? Do you want to start crushing the first ingredients while I grab everything else we'll need from the cabinet?"

Grabbing the extra ingredients took a mercifully short amount of time without everyone else vying for the space at the same time. Starting right as they got into class had its uses after all. Returning to the table, Naomi spread out their ingredients on the table and started the fire under her cauldron, filling it with water.

It didn't take long for Finley and Naomi to finish the first half of their potion, working in tandem, as always. Naomi set a timer for 17 minutes, as her cauldron tended to be temperamental, heating slightly faster than it should. She'd check it periodically after the timer rang to make sure it wasn't over boiling.

Guest

When the first thing that greeted Lux was the sight of the professor reading the Daily Prophet, she smiled. Interesting. She already liked how the class was starting and there were precious few things she liked in life. She could probably count the things she liked all on one hand.

Not bothering to greet the professor since he was occupied, Lux made her way past the other two students to a free cauldron. She turned her eyes to the board and read through the instructions once before heading to collect the ingredients she would need and returning to the cauldron.

She double checked each instruction before carrying it out and made sure her measurements were exact. She knew what a disaster potions could be when they weren't done properly so she took her time to make sure she followed what was written on the board.

She glanced at the clock and noted the time. Since the instruction was 20-30 minutes, she took the middle value of 25 minutes. She kept one eye on it and sketched in her notebook while waiting. Once the time was up, she read through step two and started working, taking extra care. After coming this far, Lux wasn't about to let one tiny mistake destroy her potion.

A wave of her wand and she was done. Satisfied with her work, Lux leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

Guest

Once again, Finley followed Naomi in to class, wondering what they would be doing in Potions today. As they stepped through the door to the class, Finley could already tell Professor Balan was not in a good mood. Moving to the back with his best friend, Finley took his seat, only momentarily before the two Ravenclaws caught on to what they needed to do.

As usual, Finley took up the part of weighing the ingredients and preparing them in the manner that the instructions stated, happily handing them to Naomi to carefully place in to the potion. They worked well together, and Finley was more than a little upset that this would be the last year they could before he moved up to the higher year's class. Of course, it would only be for one year, but Finley knew it wasn't going to be fun.

After they finished the first half of the potion, Finley sat back, waiting for the time in between to hurry through so they could continue. In the meantime, Finley stayed quiet, not wishing to anger the professor who never seemed very happy in his job.

When the potion had brewed through enough, Finley continued through the steps, first passing the standard ingredient to Naomi and watching it carefully heat through for another minute. Checking the colour, Finley carefully dropped four slugs in to the mixture - his nose wrinkled at the disgusting thought of being boiled like the slugs were in that moment.

Stirring the mixture together seven times, Finley smiled to himself as he stepped back, allowing Naomi to finish the spell off with the magic that was necessary. Beaming at his best friend, Finley peered in to the cauldron and then back at his book. "W-well, it looks the r-right colour!" He told Naomi, looking highly relieved, despite knowing they never ever messed up when they worked together.

Guest

To say that Bennett liked potions would be a terrible lie. He hated potions. More so, he hated the professor. Nevertheless, Bennett had to miss a few of his lessons since his silly cousin, Oliver, had somehow managed to get himself engaged to his girlfriend and Bennett just had to be there for the event. Of course, Bennett didn't care in the slightest if he missed any of Balan's lessons; he could always read the textbook and practice on his own and the result would be - usually - better than it was in class. Upon arriving to the Potions classroom, Bennett was greeted by the not-so-friendly sight of Balan reading a newspaper. A freaking newspaper. If the man thought THAT was a good way to teach and get the students involved, he was certainly wrong. On the bright side, Bennett wasn't going to have to hear his arrogant voice for the remaining class time! Walking over to a spot on the middle of the classroom, he greeted Finley and the girl who was always around him with a smile. They weren't exactly friends, but Bennett liked them to an extent. Rather, he liked talking to Finley from time to time, and even though he hadn't met the girl yet he figured Finley wasn't one to pick friends recklessly.

Taking his seat, Bennett sighed as he looked at the board. He would have to start, as it seemed everyone else was already starting, Finley and the girl obviously working together. Glancing at the board, Bennett walked over tot he cabinets to gather the ingredients needed for the potion. Lavender, Standard Ingredient, Flobberworm Mucus, and Valerian Sprigs. For a second, he had trouble finding the Valerian Sprigs until he looked under the Lavender. With all of his ingredients gathered, Bennett headed back to his cauldron and began separating each ingredient in the order the instructions declared. Picking up a mortar, he added the four sprigs of lavender, along with the two measures of the SI. He didn't understand the purpose of Standard Ingredient but he was insanely grateful for it as had the SI not been invented (discovered?) there would have probably been a thousand other ingredients in the potion. Bennett crushed the ingredients into the creamy paste the instructions described and set the mortar aside.

He continued the potion by adding the Flobberworm Mucus to his cauldron, Bennett's eyes narrowing at the look of the green sticky thing. Flobberworms and their mucus were disgusting. As the mucus fell into the cauldron, Bennett made himself yet another reminder of why he should never be a potioner. Adding another two measures of Standard Ingredient saved the day, at least, as he didn't have to look at the mucus as much since it was covered with the SI. Turning up the heat with his wand, Bennett let it sit gently on the fire for 31.2 seconds, exactly. He hadn't thought about the time it would take to turn the heat off, so he had accidentally added another 1.2 seconds. Picking up the mortar again, he added the three measures of the mixture into the cauldron and waved his wand. The next line of instructions told him to let the potion brew for 20 to 30 minutes, so Bennett assumed waiting 25 minutes instead was the best option. He leaned back in his chair and waited for a few minutes, but the he got restless. His knee started shaking up and down, and after noticing it he worried it would bother other students who needed a completely silent environment to perform well.

Sitting up, Bennett took out his Ancient Runes textbook and began to read the chapter he hadn't had the chance to finish last night. Taking a piece of parchment from his book bag, Bennett wrote down his own version of the textbook - his notes, to be exact. There was so much about Ancient Runes that amazed him, that he was seriously considering the Cursebreaker courses at the University for when it was time to choose his career path. Of course, his ultimate goal would be to be recognized for something, but until he figured out what he wanted to be recognized for, Bennett wouldn't mind studying Ancient Runes and the likes. After the twenty-five minutes were up, Bennett pushed his other textbook and notes aside and leaned in to look in his cauldron. Everything seemed right, so far. Bennett wasn't perfect when it came to potions, but he was alright.

Adding yet another two measures of Standard Ingredient, Bennett turned the heat up to the highest temperature and let it sit for a minute, more or less. The Valerian Sprigs made it to the cauldron as soon as Bennett dropped them with his free hand while the other ones stirred the potion seven times, clockwise. With a wave of his wand, Bennett leaned in once again to check his potion was alright before walking to the cabinets to grab a vial and slipping some of the potion into it to hand over to Balan, writing his own name on the label. With the vial in hand, Bennett made his way to the man's desk, "It's done. I'm not 100% sure I made it correctly, but here you go." He said, setting the potion on the table. Hopefully his potion was good enough so that he could be let out early from class, because honestly, who wanted to sit in the room with his pissy mood around and look at his angry face for the remaining time? Nobody, and most certainly not Bennett.

Guest

James had been reading an interesting article on a new potion that had been found recently, thoroughly engaged in the work of the author of the piece, the Professor basically wasn't keeping an eye on any of his students. If they hurt themselves, well, perhaps he could teach them a lesson in the art of repercussions for actions.

However, he was just getting to a rather interesting point when he was interrupted.

"It's done. I'm not 100% sure I made it correctly, but here you go."

Looking over his paper, James raised an eyebrow at the Hufflepuff who had disturbed him, and then returned to his paper. His displeasure with the boy had been clear on his features, and he didn't need to say it.

The next time James looked up, he noted the time, and smirked a little to himself. "Everyone out. You're already ten minutes late for your next lesson." He growled, laying his paper down on his desk. "And I expect every single one of you to come to my next lesson ready to engage in learning. I will not have my time wasted." With that, he waved them out.

Class Now Closed.

House Points
Bennet Fox = 10 points for attendance + 15 points for participation = 25 points.
Finley Allen = 10 points for attendance + 10 points for participation = 20 points.
Naomi O'Hare = 10 points for attendance + 10 points for participation = 20 points.
Lux Bailey = 10 points for attendance + 10 points for participation = 20 points.

TOTAL:
Gryffindor: 0
Hufflepuff: 25
Ravenclaw: 40
Slytherin: 20

» Potions - Lesson Three (First to Fourth Years)
» Potions Lesson One - First to Fourth Years
» Potions Lesson Two - First to Fourth Years
» Potions - Lesson One (First - Fourth Years)
» Potions: Lesson Three - The Practicality of Potions (All Years)