Potions: Lesson One

Vera stood in front of the class of students, beaming. She was so thankful for Aniva and the opportunities it gave squibs. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would be able to teach magic, and to other squibs, at that! When she heard about the Aniva Institute, she immediately quit her Muggle job, and went to chase after her dream.

"Helloo class!" She grinned, unable to contain the excitement she felt. "I am Vera Alkaev, but you can call me Ms. Alkaev, or Vera, or whatever you'd prefer!" She didn't mind labels, as long as she could teach.

"I had originally planned for us to make the Forgetfulness Potion, but I forgot," she let out a little giggle at her own joke, "how long it took. So, instead, your assignment is to create the Cure for Boils. The recipe can be found in the book you were required to bring, Magical Drafts and Potions. If you create it correctly, pink smoke will be rising from the top of your cauldron."

"Oh! And I almost forgot! I've paired you up with someone else in the class, just so that you all can get to know each other better." She pointed to a list on the wall, "Go and check it out!"

Maria Mikhailovna and Annora Oliver
MacKenzie Young and Lisette Lach-Leon
Ronja Solberg and Callahan Kyle
August Kach and Anastasiya Viktorovna

((OOC: Dice roll out of 10 (final result of your potion, which only one person in the partnership will do)
1-3: Failed potion, start over
4-6: Failed, but potion salvageable
7-10: Success!

This activity is for developing your character and their relationships with others. The spells lesson gave the readers a look into each characters past and history, but this post is about the future. What are your characters goals? To do well in school? To make connections and friends? Both? Please manifest these in your characters movements, dialogue, ect. Whichever way you want! ))

Instantaneously as project partners were announced to have been decided, Lisette looked over at the list. She smiled, getting up and keeping it together to not rush over. She crossed her fingers and mumbled under her breath, 'Someone new, someone new, someone new,' in hopes of knowing more than just two people in the class.

"MacKenzie Young," She accidentally read out loud, and liking the name. The only faces she recognized in the room about her were Masha's, August's, and Ana's. Three figures eliminated from who could be MacKenzie. She waited for the rest of the class to assemble into partners, rocking back and forth on her feet in a slight, patient way while waiting by the list.

MacKenzie heard her name, and she turned to look at a short, blonde haired girl staring at the list. She assumed she was her partner. She quickly glanced at the list, reading the name next to her own. "Um, are you Lisette?" She smiled, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly.

"Yes I am!" She said, admiring the girl's freckles. "Elsie, for friends. What might you prefer?"

She scanned the cauldrons and ingredients about the classroom, each one as fascinating as the next, but also presenting danger for the smallest of mistakes.

"So, we'll just give it our best, yeah?" She said, with more motivation aimed towards MacKenzie than herself. Flipping open the book on her desk, she squinted her eyes and read, "So, snake fangs first?"

Masha looked around the room carefully, scouring for an 'Annora Oliver.'

Оливер...она не из России. Имя, как салат Оливье, может быть? Мне смешно.

"Annora?" she called out definitively. "I'm Masha!"

Annora heard her name and looked around the room for the creator of the sound. Her gaze rested upon a Russian girl with a kind smile and glossy blonde hair who apparently went by the name of Masha.

"Hey!" She smiled. "I'm Annora, but some people call me Ann, others call me Nora, some Annora. Just don't call me late for dinner," she shyly laughed.

"What even was that?' She thought. 'Annora the lame, everybody.'

"So..." She looked back towards the girl. "Cure for boils."

MacKenzie grinned, seeing Elsie's statement as an opportunity for friendship. "Well Elsie, I go by Kenzie, or Ken. Whichever is fine."

She leaned over the girl's shoulder, peering at the book and reading the directions for the Cure for Boils. "Yeah, snake fangs sounds right. So, we crush them into a powder, yeah?"

Ana heard her name aired alongside someone named August Kach. She vaguely remembered meeting August by the boat on the first day of classes. He seemed nice enough.

"August?" She asked openly, hoping he'd hear his name and respond. "I guess we're partners."

August was nearly unconscious before he heard his name being called. His head jolted up, and his eyes looked wildly around. He awkwardly cleared his throat, hoping that no one had seen his return to reality.

"Yes, hi." He nodded, just going along with what the girl said. For a moment, he had forgotten what class he was in. But, the cauldrons gave it away, and he asked. "Forgive me, but what potion are we making again?"

"Yeah..." She answered, her thought process running on to the next thing. She hadn't brought her own mortar and pestle, and began to look intently about the classroom, her eyes scanning about them and her mind caught between calling MacKenzie Kenzie or Ken.

"Eureka, Kenz!" And she'd literally caught herself between the two names. She grabbed the pair of tools and snatched some snake fangs, then began on the task, and halfway through, still intently powdering the ingredient, asking her partner, "What next?"

Ana refrained from laughing at the boy. He seemed to have just awoken.
"Cure for boils," she responded to his question.

Masha shrugged. "Quite true. You know, there's a salad, famous in Russia, called the Olivier Salad. Kind of like your last name. You should try it some time."

She shrugged and began to slowly collect the potion ingredients in order.

Annora looked blankly at the ingredients.

"Potions is not my element," She laughed nervously. Why did she keep laughing? "Not super positive what we should do to create this."

August rubbed his eyes, blushing slightly at the fact that his nap was so obvious. "So, we start with snake fangs, yeah? I'll crush 'em and you can collect the rest of the ingredients. I think we need horned slugs? And porcupine quills?"

MacKenzie grinned, she LOVED the nickname Elsie had given her. Her heart fluttered at the chance of friendship, but she didn't want to get ahead of herself. She always made assumptions about people, but when they really got to know her and her situation, she usually ended up disappointed and alone.

However, she shrugged it off. 'Aniva is a new start, you can't dwell on the past!' She mentally reminded herself. "I think we put them in the cauldron to heat," she smiled. 'Oh, please don't mess this up as well.'

Masha took the intuitive to make this a new friendship. "Okay, Annora. I'll give you a deal. If you help me with spells, I'll hep you with potions. This is my area of talent. Back in..." She paused, trying to think of a way to explain it. "Whatever, back where I lived, we really just did a bunch of potion-making for everything!"

"So, listen carefully. There's actually three ways to do this," she announced, pulling out a copper cauldron. "So, the first way is the most known. It's the way they're doing it," she said, jabbing a finger in the direction of August and Lisette.

"That's what the 'Magical Drafts and Potions' handbook says. But there's also the 'Book of Potions' and then the quick spell version of the 'Book of Potions.' I suggest we don't do the quick spell version, just because there are too many variations, and though I tend to get it right fifty-percent of the time, I don't want to risk my grade on luck."

Magical Drafts and Potions, page 78:
Add 6 snake fangs to the mortar.
Crush into a fine powder using the pestle.
Add 4 measures of the crushed fangs to your cauldron.
Heat the mixture to 250 for 10 seconds.
Wave your wand.
Leave to brew and return in 33-45 minutes.
Add 4 horned slugs to your cauldron.
Take the cauldron off the fire before adding the next ingredient.
Add 2 porcupine quills to your cauldron.
Stir 5 times, clockwise.
Wave your wand to complete the potion.

According to Book of Potions, page 12:
Add crushed snake fangs to your cauldron and stir.
Slice your Pungous Onions finely and place in cauldron, then heat the mixture.
Add dried nettles.
Add a dash of Flobberworm mucus and stir vigourously.
Add a sprinkle of powdered ginger root and stir vigourously again.
Add pickled Shrake spines.
Stir gently, so as not to overexcite the Shrake spines.
Add a glug of stewed horned slugs.
Add porcupine quills.
Finally, wave your wand over the cauldron to finish the potion.

"I suggest taking the 'Book of Potions, page 12' route. Quicker than waiting thirty-five minutes. However, we were supposed to bring the other book, since it's our required textbook..."

Masha considered the route.

"If we take the other route, we'll end up finishing quicker than everyone and there's potential house points, I assume. However, if we fail, Professor Vera will know, and we might get in trouble. What are you up for Annora?"

Annora pondered the possibilities for a moment. She enjoyed the idea of potential house points, but did she really want to risk a grade? Masha did seem to know what she was talking about, though, so maybe it would work and they would prevail.

Or maybe it wouldn't and they would fail.

Or maybe you should stop thinking about maybe and choose what seems good to you now She told herself.

"We should do the Book of potions version," She decided. "Worst things worse she'll probably be at least slightly impressed that we tried to take an alternate approach."

"And oh!" She added. "I'd be happy to help you in spells when you need." The corners of her mouth turned upward into a slight smile that she held for just a few more seconds then she should have.

"So uh snake fangs?"

Anastasiya nodded. "Yeah fangs, slugs, and quills oh my!" She quietly laughed. She opened the book to see how much she needed of each ingredient, but the book opened to a page with a small piece of folded paper tucked inside.

Unnamed daughter,
I know your father is going to tell you how horrible I am,
But just know how much it pains me to leave you.
Though unlikely, maybe one day we'll meet
I love you, but I did what I had to do.
~EKAM

A quick panic rushed through her. She had forgotten that she had placed that note into her potions book. It had seemed like a god hiding spot at the time.

Speedily placing the note back into the book, she opened to the correct page. 4 horned slugs and 2 porcupine quills," She read. "Im on it."

"Yes," Masha said, nodding her head and chopping the pungous onions. "Then these and the dried nettles."

"You know, it really would mean a lot if you'd help me in Spells. I don't even care in real life, I just need to pass the damn class."

"I pretty much feel the same way about this class," Annora responded, watching as the pungous onions were place into the cauldron and the entire mixture was heated. She grabbed the dried nettles and added them in.

"Spells is pretty much all about focus and having your emotions in check," She explained. "A-lot of the time a spell won't come out correctly or at all if you aren't in the proper state of mind."

"Alrighty!" She grinned. "You do the honors, Kenz? Four measures of them," She motioned to the mortar and pestle of powdery fangs, thinking what a horrible thing it was to drink them.

She retrieved her wand, ready to wave it when 10 seconds of heating the fangs were up.

According to Book of Potions, page 12:
Add crushed snake fangs to your cauldron and stir.
Slice your Pungous Onions finely and place in cauldron, then heat the mixture.
Add dried nettles.
Add a dash of Flobberworm mucus and stir vigourously.
Add a sprinkle of powdered ginger root and stir vigourously again.
Add pickled Shrake spines.
Stir gently, so as not to overexcite the Shrake spines.
Add a glug of stewed horned slugs.
Add porcupine quills.
Finally, wave your wand over the cauldron to finish the potion.

"Mmm..." Masha grabbed a dash of Flobberworm mucus while stirring the concoction rather harshly. "Now the ginger root." Again, she stirred the mixture vigourously, as if it were about to splash up out of the pot and hit her in the face. "Now the spines. Carefully... Could you get the stewed horned slugs and porcupine quills?"

"Well, emotions in check is just dumb. I mean, I get it, but why can't I just concentrate enough?" she asked.

Annora nodded and gathered said ingredients. She added a "glug" of stewed horned slugs. What even was a glug? She shrugged and added some porcupine quills to the mixture. Finally, she waved her wand over the cauldron, because that's what the book told her to do.

"I believe we're done..?" She announced with not a-lot of confidence.

To add to the spells conversation, she informed Masha, "The killing curse, for example. DONT DO IT," She laughed. "But you're afraid while doing it, or you don't really want the person you are casting it on to die, the spell is not going to work. Not a great example, but I think it got the point across."

"Fair enough," Masha commented, "but between only you and I, the spells part is why I'm here, and maybe if I can master it, I can get out, you know? I was being tutored at home, and I rather prefer that."

She raised an eyebrow at the potion. "Well, here goes nothing." Masha raised her wand high and completed waving a circle around the cauldron's top.

Maria Mikhailovna carried out 1 launched of one Dice 10 :

1

Masha started cursing as quickly as she could and in hushed tones. The potion started to bubble up, yellow, definitely not the color it was supposed to be. She grabbed it and ran over to the drain, pouring out the concoction, praying that the professor didn't know the difference before the whole thing escaped down the drain.

(((OOC: Side note. What if the entire plumbing, like showers, toilets, etc. now don't work? Wouldn't that be funny?)))

She coughed and brought it back. "Now, start again with the snake fangs. Quickly, we don't have much time."