My favorite! on Potions

Professor Fawcett

June 25, 2013 12:25 AM

Intermediate Potions I (3rd-5th Years!) by Professor Fawcett

“Good afternoon, everyone,” John said, putting his roster down on the desk as he noted a last face slipping in, recognized it, and tapped the blackboard behind him with his wand to wipe it clean of the notes he had written during the beginners’ discussion. This was, he knew, the last class the Intermediates would have today, and if his own memories of school served, that often served to make the double period seem more painful than it really was. He tried, accordingly, not to make things more difficult by leaving up distractions, and he had a charmed quill which replicated what he wrote on the board during classes so he would have a record of what had transpired in class. He had begun to suspect that his filing system was showing his age and amount of time on staff, getting looser and looser, but he did try to keep records of everything. It was only sensible, and rearranging filing cabinets was very helpful when he either needed to work through a complex problem or was having trouble sleeping.

“I hope you had a pleasant weekend, but it is, I fear, time to return to work,” he informed them. He had never been quite sure if Mondays or Fridays were more difficult to teach on, though he thought Monday afternoons were at least marginally better than Friday ones. “As I’m sure you’ve been hearing all day. Another subject, which you will hear about often over the next few years, involves the interconnectedness of magical disciplines. Today, we will look at a point of convergence between Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

He pointed his wand at the board again, and this time, a rough picture appeared, showing one witch pointing her wand at another, who was clutching her eyes. “The Conjuctivitis Curse is a fairly standard spell for self-defense – by damaging your opponent’s eyes, you give yourself an opportunity to flee, to Stun or immobilize your opponent, or…so you follow,” he said, feeling slightly as though he were treading on Erika’s toes and so moving along. “Now, I hope you all never need to exercise those options, but it is somewhat more possible that you could encounter this spell in less mortal contexts. If that occurs, a simple finite - “ he performed that charm himself, and the drawings vanished from the board; he had to surreptitiously flick his wand again to reactive the board spells which would allow the directions to appear in a moment – “may not reverse the inflammation of the eye – it will stop its progression, if the spell is powerful enough to have continued doing damage, but here is where Potions enters our tale. There are several curses which respond best to a potion, in this case the Oculus Potion, which you can see…here.”

The ingredients – wormwood, stewed mandrake, powdered unicorn horn, and crystalized water – appeared, along with a list of directions. “This should be a deep orange when completed correctly, and you should have enough time to complete it in class.” He suspected that if Aria objected to the mandrakes and unicorn horn, the others in class might envy her, as her preparations would be perhaps five minutes shorter than theirs, though the anemone essence was a bit tricky to combine with powdered moonstone in correct proportions and the apple seeds had to be cut just so.

“Once you have completed your potion, you may work in twos and threes to begin brainstorming for your homework,” he said. He wanted them to find at least two other offensive spells with potion remedies and analyze the similarities between them. “I encourage you to make use of the bookshelves and periodicals,” he added, as he knew he had a few books and more than a few articles touching on the subject. The library would have more, and the textbook would do, with his resources falling in the middle of the spectrum. “Until then, however, begin your brewing.”

OOC: Creative, realistic, and detailed posts and threads get the most points for your Houses, and remember to follow all the posting rules! The Oculus Potion is borrowed from here. Tag Fawcett if you need him, and have fun!

Subthreads:

My favorite! by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari with Carter Browning, Teppenpaw, Waverly

I know this one! by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw with Clara Abernathy, Pecari, Aria

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

0 Professor Fawcett Intermediate Potions I (3rd-5th Years!) 0 Professor Fawcett 1 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

July 04, 2013 7:46 PM

My favorite! by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

In the last four years, Waverly had proved to be quite a poor Potions student. She had barely pulled an E in this class all four years and she wished she could change that somehow. It just so happened that, though she was an excellent baker, she was a terrible potioneer. She had no idea how that could be, but she hoped it didn't hurt her in the pursuit of Head Girl.

She had been spending a lot of time in the Potions classroom this year to try and work on improving her skills, or lack thereof, and for the Baking Club meetings. It was ironic that her favorite activity took place in her least favorite classroom. It wasn't like it was Professor Fawcett's fault. She just couldn't get Potions like other people.

Mondays were terrible and Waverly had always felt that way. A piece of advice her Brandon had given her when they were still dating was to pretend like it was the best day in the world. A lot of their dates had been on Mondays during the summer to make it seem better, but the memories just made it a sad day now. Still, Waverly was dressed up nice and pretty because she still wanted to have some reason to like Mondays. They could be her dressy days. She sat down in class, feeling pretty though dreading the Monday afternoon all the same, and prepared to begin taking notes. Professor Fawcett started talking about a DADA spell and she couldn't understand the connection until he started talking about the potion. The thought of needing to stun somebody in order to protect herself was frightening and somehow led to thoughts of forbidden magic and then to Brandon so she didn't think about it anymore and focused on her notes.

She squinted to see the ingredients and instructions better from her desk near the back and wrote them all down. She would have to double-check to make sure she got it all right. With that done, she brought out her cauldron, the second in her four years here after she had accidentally melted her other one two years ago, and put it down on her desk.

It sounded like this lesson they would be working alone, but she still wanted to make conversation with her deskmate. "I've never really liked working with mandrakes. The way they look kind of gives me the creeps. Do you, um, do you know how to crystallize water?" she asked as she lit the fire under her cauldron and poured water into it as the base.

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari My favorite! 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

July 05, 2013 1:07 PM

I know this one! by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

Aria really enjoyed Potions. She felt that out of all of the professors here at Sonora, Professor Fawcett respected her the most. He never questioned her beliefs or gave her a hard time for it. He simply, set aside a different set of ingredients for her and treated her like the others. That, of course, wasn’t meant to slight any of the other staff members. Professor Skies had also given her additional options, but she felt that she didn’t really understand where Aria was coming from. Aria felt that Professor Skies did what she had to as a school was not allowed to discriminate against a student for their religious or spiritual beliefs, but didn’t really take the time to listen to what Aria was trying to explain about the use of animals in Transfiguration. So far, none of her other lessons had directly affected animals for her to have an issue with. She still had a difficult time dealing with using her wand against her peers, but they were at least willing participants and no one was getting hurt.

Aria took her usual seat near the front and plopped her cauldron on top of her desk. She pulled out her parchment for Potions and her quill to take notes. She had read ahead in all of her classes, but she always took special care for Potions. She was going to be the Medicine Woman for her community when she completed her full schooling and potions was a necessary talent to have for the job. She had grown up helping her mother collect the ingredients as well as brew the potions, so she had confidence in her abilities, but since the potions book laid things out differently than her mother’s many potions recipes that she had, that over the summer, Aria had begun writing helpful tips in her potions’ book for certain ones that she knew already and for ones that her mother sat with her to explain the alternatives to. She already discovered how helpful that work had been for her.

The start of the lesson was about a curse. Aria was a little confused as she didn’t know why they were discussing that, but it dawned on her when he stated the inflammation of the eye. Aria instantly grew excited. She had brewed this potion and similar de-inflammation potions with her mother plenty of times in the past. Working on a community where people preferred using their own hands to their wands, inflammation happened often. Especially with the older community members. Arthritis was as common as the stars in the sky. Unperturbed by the idea of an essay, Aria was really excited for the day’s lesson.

Smiling, Aria pulled her short curls into a small braid filled curly small tail at the back of her head and set to work. She found that Professor Fawcett had already provided her with the alternative ingredients to the Mandrake and powered Unicorn horn (poor Unicorn!), which had her instead grabbing her powdered moonstone and anemone essence. But she didn’t seem to have any apple seeds.

Humming quietly to herself, Aria set the fire under her cauldron and began to prepare the ingredients for potion. “Excuse me, do you have any apple seeds that I could use for my potion?” Aria asked the person beside her. “I seemed to have run out.” If the other classmate had not known Aria by now to know that she used only Vegan ingredients in her potions, they might have been confused as to why she was using apple seeds in her potion when it was not required.

6 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw I know this one! 0 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

July 07, 2013 2:56 PM

I hope so because I sure don't...please help me by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara made her way to Potions class and shifted her bag on her shoulder to accommodate the weight. She was an okay student went it came to potions. She wasn’t very excited about them, but at least she could do them now without them blowing up in her face. She had Waverly to thank for that one. Since Clara had joined the Baking Club and had been learning to mix batters for baked goods she had been able to make better potions because of it. They didn’t all quite turn out how she hoped, but at least they didn’t completely flop. She found herself a seat in class and waved hello to Waverly as she sat down. She put her book bag on the floor and pulled out her notebook and quill pen. She waited for Professor Fawcett to tell them about their assignment for the day and began taking notes when he told them about the assignment. Clara sighed a bit when he explained that they would be working with a curse and a potion to counteract it. She was bad enough at the curses mostly because she didn’t really like using them on people. She knew eventually she might have to use them to protect herself if need be, but she still didn’t like using them.

Clara looked over the list of ingredients as she was writing everything down and looked them over carefully. She had to admit she really had no idea what to do with the stuff on the list without blowing it up or flopping it altogether. She heard someone asking her if she had some more apple seeds they could use and smiled when she realized the person asking had been Aria. She remembered Aria from the costume party and still loved the outfit she wore. She hadn’t really had much of a chance to speak to Aria again since then and was looking forward to speaking to her again. “Absolutely,” she said cheerfully. She handed Aria the apple seeds and watched her closely. She had no idea what she was supposed to do with them and it appeared that Aria did. “I hope you don’t mind my watching you prepare those,” she said politely. “Its just that you seem to know what to do with them and I’ll be completely honest…I am soo lost with this one,” she admitted openly. She smiled sheepishly at Aria. “I was hoping you might be able to help me figure out how to prepare this potion,” she inquired politely.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari I hope so because I sure don't...please help me 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

July 07, 2013 3:46 PM

I wish I could say the same thing by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Carter glanced at the clock in the Teppenpaw common room and his eyes widened a bit when he realized that he was going to running late for Potions class if he didn’t hurry. He snatched up his bag and after making a cursory check to make sure his Potions book was in the bag headed out of the common room for class. He knew that Professor Fawcett was very strict on punctuality and wanted to make sure that he didn’t wind up being late. He arrived to the Potions room with enough time to find a seat and put his bag down before Professor Fawcett blocked the door for class. Carter had gotten used to the blockade the Professor used by now because he had seen it in action. He was just glad that it hadn’t been used on him…yet. Carter had been notorious for being tardy in school before he arrived at Sonora. Mostly because he had been goofing around with his friends and had missed the bell for homeroom. Carter shook his head at his own antics and was glad that he wasn’t that immature here at Sonora. He actually managed to make it to class relatively on time here for which he was proud of himself. He pulled out his textbook and notepad preparing to take notes if need be.

He caught sight of the ingredients on the board and tried listening pretty closely to Professor Fawcett’s lecture. He was intrigued that they apparently were going to be working with a curse and a potion remedy. He wasn’t entirely certain he knew of other spells that required a potion remedy since he hadn’t really read that far into the textbook. “I am soo gonna fail this class,” he lamented to himself as he tried flipping through the text looking for any mention of them. He wasn’t entirely certain he found anything worth mentioning in his essay and kept skimming through the book as Professor Fawcett explained their assignment. Carter shook his head slightly when he realized he was going to have to figure out how to make the ingredients for the oculus potion do what he needed them to do. He knew his grades for Potions class were okay, but they weren’t that good. He flipped a few more pages into the textbook trying to find any mention of the essay information and after a couple of pages gave up for the time being. He was fairly certain he would find the information he needed, but he knew that he needed to get to work on his potion now if he wanted to have it completed by the end of class. He looked at the list of ingredients on the board again ( wormwood, stewed mandrake, powdered unicorn horn, and crystalized water) and the instructions underneath them. He sighed a bit as he tried to gather up the ingredients.

He was just getting started when the girl sitting next to him began talking about the mandrake. He chuckled at her description and had to admit they did look a little creepy. He had never really seen a plant before that seemed to have a face. Not just any face either. A grumpy old man face. Carter turned towards his deskmate and was surprised to see Waverly, Wendy’s sister sitting beside him. “Hello Waverly,” he greeted politely. “I have to agree. You make an excellent point. The mandrake roots do look pretty creepy, don’t they?” He laughed a little. “They kind of remind me of a bitter, wrinkly old man,” he joked trying to make it seem less creepy for her. When she asked him if he knew how to crystalize water he grew silent for a moment. He picked up the textbook and flipped through it until he was pretty sure he found the right spell. He watched her put the water in her cauldron and setting the book down, open upon his desk, he pointed his wand at the water. After looking over the spell in the book again, Carter cast the spell to crystalize the water. He glanced hopefully at Waverly. “I think that should do it,” he said, trying to sound as confident as possible about it. He glanced into the cauldron to see if the water was actually crystallizing. When he spotted what might be crystals forming in the water, Carter grinned up at her. “I might not fail this class afterall,” he joked lightly. He turned his attention back to the ingredients. “Okay…what do we do next?” he asked her.

0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw I wish I could say the same thing 0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw 0 5

Waverly

July 07, 2013 8:44 PM

I was just being sarcastic... by Waverly

The boy Waverly had found herself next to happened to be Wendy’s best friend. She had never talked to him in person, but she had spied on him just a little in classes when she noticed her younger sister working with him and hanging out with him. This was definitely an older sister moment to meet the younger sister’s best friend. He made a funny comment and she laughed. “I can totally see it! Really grumpy old men.” Waverly would never be able to look at mandrakes the same way again. She could see one reason why Wendy liked him as a friend so much.

Carter was much more resourceful than she was, apparently, and Waverly watched as he cast a spell on the water she had just put into her cauldron. She peered in, green eyes wide, and then looked over at him. Technically they weren’t supposed to add crystallized water yet, but she had always been confused on how one was supposed to create these kinds of supplies without using another cauldron.

When he asked what to do next, Waverly smiled. “Can we use your cauldron? We’ll let this water crystallize and add it to the solution on step…three and nine.” That was according to the directions, anyway. “First we need to add the ground unicorn until the potion turns green. I was just using the water as a base to throw everything into it.” She frowned suddenly. “Maybe that’s the reason why none of my potions seem to turn out well?” Waverly shrugged. “Anyway, let’s add the ground unicorn horn. Do you have any pre-ground horn with you?” Did it matter if it was pre-ground or did unicorn horn seem fresher when it was freshly ground? All this baking knowledge didn’t really help much in potions.

She looked into the cauldron where the water had fully crystallized and broke off a bunch of pieces. Once there were enough pieces, she vanished the rest of it. “I’ll stew the mandrake in my cauldron and we can use the crystals for later. Good?” She smiled, hoping he would be able to put in the ground unicorn (or grind it himself) till it turned green and stir it till it turned purple.

0 Waverly I was just being sarcastic... 0 Waverly 0 5

Aria

July 07, 2013 9:33 PM

... I suppose I could. by Aria

Aria never sat beside Clara before and she wondered why the girl was there now. Normally, Aria had Liam or Jay nearest to her in Potions and Clara was off with her own group of friends. Aria took this to mean that Clara had opted just for a seat and not for the company. Aria was fine with that. She worked better on her own anyway. It was something she was growing more accustomed too. The lessons that needed partners always made her nervous as Aria truly felt that she would always be picked last with her peers because they looked down on her for being different. As much as she was trying to keep her head up and keep her faith, things like that hurt.

“Thank you. I shall repay you when I order my supplies.” Aria commented, taking the offered seeds from Clara and beginning to work on them. Aria remembered Clara from the party. She could claim that she had been nice, but Aria had been put off by her too. It was the way in which she had spoken to Aria, like she was making fun of her. Aria hadn’t liked it at all. There were things that Aria did not understand and had been raised to ask questions, but that seemed to just put people off for some reason. Aria hadn’t really spent much time after that with her. Sometimes Rupert would talk to her, but they were very different and that came out pretty easily when they spoke.

Aria’s blue eyes looked over at Clara when she asked to watch her cut the seeds. “You aren’t using the seeds for your potion.” Aria stated, confused for a moment. “My beliefs are against using animal and insect products, so Professor Fawcett provides me with an alternative method for creating the same potion.” She explained. “Your potion is with the Mandrake and Unicorn Horn and those I would not be able to help you with.” Aria stated. She was not saying anything with emotion, but rather, she spoke rather matter-of-factly about the whole thing because this was what she knew about it.

“I help my Mother brew potions, we make inflammation potions all the time. Mostly for arthritis, but they are all of the same basics. The eyes are a little different because you have to be aware of the effect on the eyes.” Aria cut up the seeds as she spoke and set them off to the side to be added in later. She checked the fire and the water to make sure they were okay. “You do not want to damage the eyesight any, so it’s a delicate potion to brew. I can help you prepare by showing you, but you will have to do the work directly with the animal ingredients.” Aria advised her. “To start, you have to set up your cauldron and set the fire low so that it heats the water without boiling it.

Aria pointed her wand into a glass jar and filled it with water. Taking that water, she whispered the spell to crystalize the water while she waited for Clara to get started. “It’s easier to have all the ingredients ready before you actually begin the potion. Potions are tricky because you have to do it exactly as the steps state or it won’t work. So, if you don’t have your ingredients ready, you might miss a step or take too long preparing while in the process. Does that make sense?” Aria asked her. She didn’t want to help the girl by confusing her. This information might already be known to the girl and therefore, irrelevant to say, but she felt it was best to say it anyway.

6 Aria ... I suppose I could. 0 Aria 0 5

Clara

July 08, 2013 3:33 AM

I would appreciate it greatly by Clara

Clara smiled when Aria didn’t seem to mind her watching. She had never seen anyone use apple seeds for a potion before and to be honest she was a tad worried about using the mandrake root again. She clearly recalled the last time she had attempted to use it on her own. Her dad and just about every relative she had referred to her as the walking, talking booger for about three days solid. Clara had been afraid to use the root without supervision since then. She was glad that Aria seemed willing to help her, but Clara had a strange feeling that the girl didn’t really like her all that much. She knew from what she saw of her that Aria seemed to be pretty distant with most people and she didn’t really understand why. She had heard that Aria was from somewhere different from the rest of them, but she didn’t really understand what that meant. She was curious, but debated on whether or not she should ask about it. She was a little afraid that if she did ask, Aria might get angry with her for prying. She sighed a little bit as she decided what to do. Since her curiosity was soo great she figured it couldn’t hurt to ask at least a few questions.

She listened intently, cocking her head to one side as Aria told her a little bit about her beliefs and methods for potion making. Clara had heard of people who used different ingredients for their potions to avoid using what they called “animal products”, but she had never seen one of them in person. Aria sort-of reminded Clara of Angel. He was still incredibly fascinating to her. Having been a talkative person pretty much all of her life (well since she began talking anyway) she had never before seen anyone who was as quiet as he is. She had also never seen anyone as pale either. The only reason she had ever heard about the people who are, as Lucy once put it, “magical vegans”, was because her nanny Lucy mentioned that her sister Graciella was one. When Clara had asked what that meant Lucy had simply said that her sister used potion ingredients that didn’t come from animals. Clara was a little confused, but she accepted what Lucy told her. She had only been 6 yrs old at the time so it was understandable that she was a bit confused. Clara didn’t really understand why Lucy’s sister chose to make potions that way. She didn’t really see the difference in using animal products as opposed to non-animal products. When Clara asked Lucy what, if any, difference there was she simply told Clara that it went against their beliefs to use animal products. When Clara asked what that meant Lucy merely smiled at her and said she would understand when she was older.

Clara watched as Aria cut up the apple seeds she gave her and shook her head when Aria offered to replace them. “I appreciate the offer, but that’s not necessary,” she assured Aria, smiling politely. “I was glad to be of help.” Clara watched and listened as Aria explained that her potion would work better if she had everything she needed already set up ahead of time. When asked if she understood, Clara nodded. “That makes a lot of sense,” she agreed. She began setting up her cauldron and ingredients, but hesitated at the mandrake root. “This may sound a little silly, but I’m really not comfortable working with mandrake root. Mostly because the last time I used it, it sort-of blew up in my face. I ended up looking like booger for about three days. Just the color of one really…not an actual booger. It was awful.” She shook her head at the memory. She was really impressed to hear that Aria did this sort of thing with her mother all the time. She envied her a little for that. “It must be really nice being able to spend time with your mother like that. You must really learn a lot from her,” she commented lightly. Clara was finding it a little hard to keep her voice from cracking. She began missing her mother more now that she was close to 16. Her mother had apparently been a vegan as well although that meant more that she ate vegan food as opposed to made vegan potions. Her dad had told her about that when she was ten. “I wish I could have done that with my mom, but it wasn’t meant to be I suppose.” She gave Aria a curious look when she mentioned Clara using her “animal product” ingredients and that she couldn’t help her with that part. In a way Clara understood why Aria couldn’t help her with those. Well…she did and she didn’t.

“I don’t want you to think I’m trying to be rude or trying to pry or anything,” Clara began. “But why is it against your beliefs to use “animal product” ingredients?” she asked curiously. “Do the potions work differently if you don’t use the animal products for them?” she inquired. Clara had never really known any other way to make potions than with the ingredient lists she had been given. She wondered why they didn’t teach them alternate ways of making potions than just what could be considered the “standard” way. “If its not asking too much…do you suppose you could teach me how to make the potion your way? Without the animal products?” Clara quarried seriously. “I would really like to learn.” She really meant that too. Clara had always liked learning how to do new things, in new ways. She just hoped that Aria might be as willing of a teacher as Clara was as a student.

0 Clara I would appreciate it greatly 232 Clara 0 5

Carter

July 08, 2013 3:36 AM

Sorry...I thought you were being serious by Carter

Carter smiled when Waverly laughed at his comment about the mandrakes. He was glad that she could actually visualize what he was talking about. He had heard Wendy mention her sister a few times and was a little nervous about talking to her. She was after all Wendy’s big sister. If Waverly didn’t like him, she might talk her sister into not wanting to be friends with him anymore and Carter hated the idea of that. He was hoping he could be charming enough to make her at least tolerate him if nothing else for the time being. He figured he could at least pull off that much. She seemed intrigued and maybe even a little impressed when he actually managed to make the crystallization spell work on the water in her cauldron. He frowned a little at her assessment that she must be putting the water in too early or something and that was why her potions didn’t turn out right. Carter shrugged a little. “I honestly couldn’t tell you for certain,” he admitted. “I have trouble with my potions as well a lot of the time so I’m not really the best person to judge that.” He gave her a small grin as she asked if they could use his cauldron for the rest of the potion while she stewed the mandrake root in hers. “Sure…sounds good to me,” he assured her.

Carter glanced over the instructions for the potion and was only half-way paying attention when Waverly asked him another question. He glanced up from the instructions and frowned slightly as he thought about her question. “I’m not sure…let me check,” he replied, digging in his potions bag for any ingredients he may have brought to class. He put his potions bag up on his desk and fished through it. He examined a couple of bottles and grinned happily when he found the one he was looking for. “Thank you mom,” he mused to himself as he pulled out the bottle of ground unicorn horn and placed the bag back down on the floor beside the desk. He held up the prized bottle for her to see. “We hit pay dirt,” he grinned. He listened to her as she explained when they were to add the crystallized water and about the unicorn horn. He nodded, adding the unicorn horn to his cauldron and lighting the fire underneath it. He poured the amount of unicorn horn they needed into the pot and he watched it while she stewed the mandrake. While he waited for it to turn green he decided at try and attempt small talk with her. “Congratulations on making prefect,” he told her while he waited for the stuff in the cauldron to turn green. “From the stuff I’ve heard about you from Wendy, you’ve definitely earned it.” He tried to sound as complimentary as possible without making it seem like he was trying to kiss up to her.

Carter glanced back towards the cauldron and nodded approvingly when he saw the ground unicorn horn had turned a grassy kind of green. He wasn’t sure it was the right shade of green they were looking since the instructions didn’t specify so he went ahead and started stirring it on the off chance that it was right. The worst that could happen was the horn didn’t turn purple right away. He had more horn if they needed it to try again. “I hope that you don’t think its weird or anything that your sister is best mates with a boy,” he said diplomatically, as he stirred the contents of his cauldron. “To be honest outside of my cousin McKinley, Wendy’s the only actual mate I have here. All the rest of my mates are back in England where my family is from.” He didn’t know if Wendy had told her sister about where his family was from so he figured he do it himself. He stirred the contents of the cauldron a little longer and was about to ask her if she had any idea when it was supposed to turn purple when the contents began turning purple (well purple-ish anyway). “Does that look about right to you?” he asked, glancing curiously at the lavender-purplish substance inside his cauldron. “Should we go ahead and add the next ingredients?” He was asking, not necessarily because he was hoping for her expertise on the subject, but because she might have a better idea of the shade of purple they were looking for.

0 Carter Sorry...I thought you were being serious 0 Carter 0 5

Waverly

July 12, 2013 12:18 AM

The fumes are getting to me... by Waverly

Carter seemed to have saved them tons of time by, firstly, crystallizing the water for them and secondly by having pre-ground unicorn horn. Waverly felt like she had been saved from sure failure. If they were lucky maybe their potion would actually turn out well. Waverly probably shouldn't touch it too much. She smiled at him, glad he had found the bottle of ground horn and, took out the mandrake root she was supposed to be stewing. The stewing process itself was not very clear to Waverly, but she simply looked it up in the index and found instructions on what stewing was. Instructions she probably should have had down her first or second year.

As she began heating up the water to drop the root into, Carter started a conversation. "Thanks," she said, looking up briefly from her cauldron to smile at him. Waverly wasn't quite sure what sort of things her little sister could have told Carter, but she didn't think it would be anything terrible. "Wendy's a character," she said with a little smile. "She thinks well of almost everyone." Still, it felt nice to hear that Carter had heard good things about her.

It was interesting to find yet another person at Sonora from England. Waverly thought it was funny how many there were. Her dad's family was from England, but it was a few generations back and her dad considered himself a full-blooded American. She thought it would be really cool to live in a different country like England. It would be so different.

Carter's comments made her smile a little. She wondered what brought on his thoughts on being "best mates" with a girl. Waverly wouldn't have thought it weird and she didn't think Wendy would think it weird either. Her dad might, though, but he didn't need to know everything about their school life. "I don't think it's weird at all," she replied. "In fact, I'm glad you're friends with Wendy. I don't think she has very many friends here besides you either." One big difference between the sisters was while Waverly tried to make as many friends as possible and get a hand in everything, Wendy was content on living her own life and doing what she wanted. She didn't care about peoples' opinions or the number of friends she had. She just did what she wanted and Waverly envied that carefree attitude a little.

Waverly looked into Carter's cauldron and saw the lavender color of his potion. "Maybe wait till it's more of a violet," she said without having any idea of what the correct color was. "Does the textbook say?" The mandrake root had stopped fussing and was now stewing quite nicely. It still gave her the creeps. "Stir it a couple times more and see if it gets darker. The mandrake root is almost done so we can drop that right into yours." Waverly was glad she wasn't with someone who was really anal about potion ingredients and what things looked like. People like that probably wouldn't like her touching the cauldron at all.

0 Waverly The fumes are getting to me... 0 Waverly 0 5

Carter

July 13, 2013 5:51 PM

Would you like to take a breather? by Carter

Carter was glad to hear that Waverly didn’t think it was weird that her sister had a best mate who was a boy. He was fairly certain that by now he won at least a few brownie points with his best friend’s sister. That was kind of important to him. He really wanted Waverly to like him and it appeared that his plan was working. Hopefully I won’t do anything to screw that up he told himself as he watched Waverly stew their mandrake root. She seemed to be doing well with it despite her fears that she was no good at that sort of thing. When she looked over at his cauldron and suggested that maybe he stir it some more, Carter nodded. When she asked him if their textbook gave any indication as to the shade of purple it should be, Carter mutely shrugged. Honestly he hadn’t thought of that part. “Now why didn’t I think of that?” he mused aloud, reaching for his open textbook. He grinned to himself as he flipped through the book looking for their particular potion. He skimmed down the page looking for any mention of the shade their potion should be. Thinking he may have found it, he read the passage out loud so she could hear it as well.

Before adding the stewed mandrake root to your potion, the heated unicorn horn must turn a deep, eggplant purple. Carter glanced back into his cauldron and took a guess as to the color that the horn had turned already from their stirring it. Since he had gone back to stirring it, the color appeared to have darkened considerably. If he had to guess he would say that it was just about as deep eggplant as they were going to get. “I think we’re good on the color now,” he told her. “Lets go ahead and drop in that stewed mandrake.” He waited for her to drop in the mandrake root, hoping that they stewed it for long enough. Once it was in, he looked over their ingredients. ’Okay…so what should go in once the stewed mandrake is added?” he asked her. “Is it the crystallized water or the wormwood?” Carter stopped for a second at the last part of his question. Did their potion need wormwood? He honestly couldn’t remember. He almost felt stupid when he gave her a sheepish look and asked, “I can’t remember…does our potion need wormwood?” He knew he probably (if nothing else) just elicited a laugh from her over how confused he just sounded. Better to ask and see than to add it and have their potion blow up he figured.

0 Carter Would you like to take a breather? 0 Carter 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

July 18, 2013 9:00 PM

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

Since Cepheus came from a family who owned at least three magical hospitals, he knew quite a lot about medicinal potions. Antidotes and poisons had interested him especially as a child. Potions had always been his favourite class though Cepheus was not as fond of Professor Fawcett's strict class structure. He sat down in class, on time as always, and prepared for a lecture with his quill in hand.

The subject they were learning about today was interesting partially because it dealt with Cepheus's second favourite subject: DADA. Not only did it deal with DADA, but Cepheus had watched his mother brew this potion before. She practised potions recreationally, but also created antidotes for the hospitals when she felt like it. It was easy living, being the wife of the patriarch, when there weren't parties to throw or children to bear.

Cepheus brought out his silver cauldron and set the flame underneath. He had a smaller cauldron in which he began the crystallization of the water and brought out his solid unicorn horn. Collecting these ingredients was a job Cepheus was glad he would never have. The thought of harvesting a unicorn's horn made him feel a bit squeamish so he quickly put it out of his mind. Better to keep his stomach intact. Potions was usually solitary work, but he enjoyed working with his competent classmates too.

"Hi," he said, greeting his desk-mate with a smile. "Would you like to begin stewing the mandrake? I can grind the unicorn horn and begin stirring it in. I have the water crystallizing already as well over here." Providing the ingredients from his own kit was of little consequence; Cepheus could easily get any potion ingredient he wanted from his family storage. Potions was one of those subjects that was supposed to run in his blood along with his prized pure English blood. Much unlike Transfiguration which, Cepheus was loathe to admit, he suffered in.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Aria

July 20, 2013 5:10 PM

I'm sure you would. by Aria

Although Clara seemed to reject her offer of replacement, Aria refused to be indebted to her and would still provide the apple seeds to her at a later date. Aria did not take without giving in return. Since Clara was not a friend of hers for her to give anything of personal value to, the replacement of the seeds would be the balance. As much as Aria appreciated the fact that the girl did not mind helping her by providing the ingredients, Aria was not raised to just take.

Listening to the girl talk about the mandrake, Aria tried not to look too put out by the words in which the other girl chose. Aria found her phrases a little disgusting and immature. She could have simply said that she looked a strange greenish yellow tint for a few days after incorrectly using the root instead of saying she looked like an item that came from her nose. Why her parents allowed her to speak in such a revolting way was beyond Aria. People thought Aria’s upbringing was without structure, but at least she had an understanding of proper conversation tactics. This girl was supposed to be of a ‘Proper’ family, but showed none of the signs for that.

“Yes, I do.” Aria commented. She learned everything of vital importance from both of her parents. Her father, who was once a political man, taught her the passion of what she believed in and knowing when it was okay to step down. He also taught her the love of arts and crafts. Her mother, who was once a Healer, taught her the passion to helping others and the freedom to express herself. They were wonderful people. The best she had ever known and someday, she wished to be just as they are now.

From Clara’s comment, she could only assume that her mother was not with her. Either in death or having left her. Aria had experienced the passing of someone before. Her mother’s patient had died when Aria was young. The loss had affected Aria in a terrible way, but her mother had been kind and patient with her and helped her through it. “I do not know your circumstances with your mother, but it seems to bring you great sadness. Mother says that a loved one is never truly absent from our lives. They are at our sides always to give us comfort, love when we are in need, and support us through our struggles and achievements.” Aria had said this to Liam as well when he was dealing with his mother moving on after his father’s death. “A sadness from a grief may never be fulfilled, but a new happiness could be formed if one were to allow for it. Keep an open heart, keep an open mind and great things can come to you.” Aria said all of this while she worked on the potion, but she did offer Clara a smile. Her mother was a wise woman that was why the community made her the Medicine Woman.

“My spiritual belief is that all creatures are created equal. It is not right for us to take the life of another living soul when we can find nourishment or medicine in other things.” Aria advised. “Not all of us are Vegan, but most of our foods are soy based. We do have a cow that provides us with milk. This is acceptable but we treat her with great care and she needs to be milked regularly or else she will become infected and she will be in pain. So, we are giving and receiving. For all the plants and herbs we use, we always replant and give our thanks to Mother Nature for supplying us with our livelihood.” Aria wasn’t sure if this made any sense, but it was how life was for her. “Our spirit must always be balanced. If we were to take another creature’s spirit on purpose for our own selfish needs, our spirit will forever be in turmoil.”

“No, the potions do not work any differently. The vegan ingredients are just substitutes to the animal products used in most potions.” Aria explained, looking at the crystalized water and checking if the essence has turned the right color before she added in the water. It was during this lull time where Clara asked for Aria to teach her. Aria held back a sigh. She didn’t know if she should be happy someone wanted to learn or annoyed that they only wanted to learn a different method and not because they truly believed in this way of living. “It is your choice to use whatever ingredients you feel comfortable with.” Aria said as she continued to work on her potion. She was not in charge and she didn’t think the Professor would mind Clara using the Vegan ingredients over the usual potion ingredients as long as it was done properly.

Aria put down the knife she was using to chop up the wormwood and faced Clara directly. “If you want to create the potion by following the directions that I use, that is your choice, but I do not want to be used in any way. So, if you feel that my showing you this way of things is so that you don’t have to do your work with the mandrake root and instead will have me doing your potion for you, you are mistaken. This way of living in very serious to me and I don’t like people who don’t respect it to use it for their benefit.” This was not necessarily saying that Clara was like that, but Aria wanted to make it clear that if Clara was using her to do her work and only wanted to pretend to care about the alternative way of it, Aria will not have it.

“If you honestly would like to learn and are willing to do the work because you respect it, than I have no problem assisting you through the process.” Aria told her and she meant it. Helping people was not a difficult thing for Aria, she enjoyed doing it, but not if it was under false pretenses.

6 Aria I'm sure you would. 0 Aria 0 5

Clara

July 20, 2013 11:00 PM

Let the hard work begin...I look forward to it by Clara

Clara regarded Aria with a curious wonder. She had heard of people her father had called “spiritualists”, but she had never met one herself before. She had always wondered what that way of life was like and had tried reading as many books about it as her dad had in their library at home. She had always meant to ask why he had the books, but never managed to ask and just chalked it up to curiosity on his part. Like herself, her dad was curious about how things that fascinated him worked. He had taught her to respect all forms of living regardless of who was doing it and to be as curious as possible. Ask questions he had encouraged her. Always say what’s on your mind . Clara had taken that advice to heart. She never had a problem telling someone what she wanted to say when she wanted to say it regardless of how tacky it may have sounded. She believed in making sure that people knew exactly where she stood on things. She listened to Aria’s kind words about her dealing with the pain left by her mother’s passing and offered her a grateful smile. What she had said made Clara feel more whole about it than she ever had and that alone made her appreciative. “Thank you,” she told Aria sincerely. “I’ve never had anyone say anything to me that made as much sense about it as you have just now.” Clara had heard soo many different words regarding her mother’s death that just made her feel annoyed and hollow. She knew that they meant well, but it was hard to see it most of the time. Everyone had told her stuff like she’s in a better place or maybe it was for the best, but none of that made Clara feel good about losing her mom. What Aria said gave her hope and she felt okay with it finally. She knew she would eventually, but she had given up any hope of that a while back. It felt good to finally speak about it to someone who actually understood.

“My mom died of cancer when I was four. I don’t really remember much about her, but it still hurt to lose her. I kept getting told she was in a better place or it was for the best or some other empty sentiment, but none of it felt right. None of it helped. Until you. None of what you said felt like empty sentiment. Thank you for that,” Clara told her sincerely. She nodded when Aria confirmed that the potions didn’t work any differently regardless of the type of ingredients used. She had a feeling that it wouldn’t, but it was nice to have that confirmation. Clara had only ever used the ingredients given to her because she was always told that’s what you used. Clara had seen Aria using different ingredients than the other students and had always meant to ask her why that was, but she didn’t want Aria to feel like she was intruding upon her and gave her her space. Talking to her in class this time though, Clara didn’t really get the vibe that she would be annoying Aria if she asked so she did. She was amazed at the answer she got. She had never known many people who believed in the things that Aria and her people did. Clara knew from reading that a certain group of muggles known as “Native Americans” believed in things similar to Aria’s beliefs, but wasn’t certain if they believed in the same things. She had also heard of muggles who practiced something called “Wicca” which was supposed to be the worship of nature and the elements, but she didn’t know if that was similar either. She reminded herself she would have to ask.

Clara frowned slightly when Aria appeared to be lightly accusing her of possibly using the girl and her ways to do potions as a means of getting her to do it so Clara wouldn’t have to. Despite her own strange success with the things, Clara had never considered using anyone for their ways to get her work done. If she asked someone about anything regarding their beliefs or ways they did things, it was because she was genuinely curious about learning as much as she could about it and wasn’t worried about putting in the hard work it took to do it. She realized that Aria wasn’t outright saying that she believed Clara was only asking so she could manipulate Aria into doing her work for her. Aria was only making it very clear that if that was Clara’s intention then she wanted nothing to do with helping her. Clara completely understood that. She wanted to make sure that Aria knew she wasn’t asking the girl to teach her so that she could use her. She wanted to make sure she knew that Clara was absolutely sincere in her request to be taught and that she wasn’t afraid to do the work for it herself. “I don’t know what other people might have done to make you skeptical of my asking you to teach me, but I just want you to know that I have NO intention whatsoever of using you or your beliefs for anything. I asked if you would teach me your way of doing things because I truly want to learn and I have no problem doing any of the work for myself. You’re talking to the girl who didn’t fail at learning to fly, I just found 350 ways how not to learn how to fly,” she joked. “Despite broken bones and a possible concussion or two, I can now say (thanks to Lucian) that I can actually fly around on a broom without hurting myself,” she stated proudly.

She hoped that she made her side of things clear and that Aria understood she was not trying to use her in any way. As she waited for Aria to decide whether or not she believed Clara, Clara asked her another question that she was really curious about. “I know this may sound like a strange question, but please bear with me. Can just anyone be like you and your people back home or do they have to be born where you’re from to have those beliefs?” she asked, showing genuine curiosity. She wasn’t trying in any way to make fun of Aria and her beliefs, she really just wanted to know. She only hoped that Aria understood that and wouldn’t be angry with her for asking.

0 Clara Let the hard work begin...I look forward to it 232 Clara 0 5