14 Sept - Lesson 1 - Boil Cure Potion

[Prof. Brayden Mellor]

Professor Brayden Mellor was anxious for class to begin, or rather he was anxious for the class to be over with. Today was the first day for the new set of first years and that was never a pretty picture. He'd never gotten through a single first day's lesson without some mishap caused by incautious first years. As a consequence, as each year had gone by, the first lesson had gotten progressively easier and easier until Professor Mellor just didn't know how to dumb it down any further. He couldn't help but grumble a little as he watched as the students started to drift in.

Some ten minutes later when the classroom was sufficiently full, Professor Mellor drew himself up from his chair and brushed back his black professor's robe. There would be no waiting for stragglers today. He surveyed the students warily waiting for them to stop speaking then turned to write on the board:

Turning back to his students, he spoke for the first time with a faint but recognizable Scots lilt.

"Students, this is potions class. Those of you not ready for hard work and lots of it should plead with the headmaster to put you in a different class. Though being as I'm the only potions master at this school, you may be hard pressed to find one. I do not expect you all to pass this course and, as such, hope you'll all take this opportunity to decide whether or not you're ready for the commitment that a life of potions will bring.

"That having been said, today we will start with a potion that is easy enough for Muggle toddlers to make. Most of you, I should hope have passed that stage in life and so shouldn't have too much trouble. Please turn to page sixteen in your textbook which I hope you've remembered to bring with you. The supplies you need are lying on the tables in front of each of you. I'll be coming around for questions and to keep an eye on you all. You are not excused until I've taken a look at your potion. Now begin!"

Excerpt from Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Boil Curing Potion.

Ingredients -- 7 dried nettles, 4.0g crushed snake fangs, 3 stewed horned slugs, 5 porcupine quills
(Be sure snake fangs are fresh crushed. Snake fangs crushed an hour or more before use in potion may have unwanted consequences.)
NOTE: the symbol g stands for grams.

Procedure:
1. Light the fire beneath the water-filled cauldron, being careful not to burn anything or anyone except the timber.
2. Once cauldron has come to a bubbling boil, add in the pre-measured dried nettles, crushed snake fangs and stewed horned slugs. Stir for five minutes.
3. Take cauldron off of fire. Add porcupine quills. (CAUTION: if cauldron is left on fire, potion will produce acid green smoke and melt through cauldron and anything else it may come into contact with)
4. Stir until potion turns a deep green colour signaling it is ready. Carefully ladle potion into bottle and place stopper in the top...

[Duncan Mowbray]

Duncan had picked a front row seat with a good view of the board and the professor. He took out his book, ink quills and parchment. The parchment was sat carefully away from the fire and had been charmed with an anti-burning charm.

Duncan was pleased with the attitude of the professor, but was sure there were students there squirming in their seats. He did think that the professor was a bit arrogant, but he had teachers like that before and knew to just take it in stride.

He moved his ingredients away from the kettle, fill the kettle 3/4 full with water. He rolled up his sleaves to keep them away from the flames and set the fire carefully. He knew it would take longer to boil the water than to prep the ingredients.

Seeming very methodical and organized, more like a Ravenclaw than the Gryfindor uniform he wore, Duncan prepared the ingredients. He took the fresh snake fangs and crushed them thourghly then measured and set aside 4 gm. He made a stack of seven dried nettles and another of 3 stewed horned slugs. He set these three stacks together as they were to go in together. He counted 5 porcupine quills on the other side to keep ingredients from being mixed.

He watched for the boiling to begin and after the boiling began he waited for the second hand on the clock to be at almost 12 and dropped the ingrediants in exactly at that time. He smiled as he began to stir. At five minutes he removed the potion from the fire and added the five porcupine quills. He then began to stir again and wait for the color change.

When the potion became deep green he laddle it into a bottle and placed the stopper on it and sat it safely to the side beside his books.

Duncan raised his hand. When the professor acknowledge him he asked "Sir, should we bring these to you or would you be collecting them ?"

OOC: any student in the class that wants to be at Duncan's table is able to join him. Lilah ? Mist ? Katie ? Brooke ? are there any guys here ?

[Prof. Brayden Mellor]

True to his word, Professor Mellor began to wander amongst the tables and cauldrons. He was wary of any student who appeared to no know what they were doing knowing all to well that that's usually where one found acid green smoke more often than not. Finally, after what seemed ages, Professor Mellor saw a hand and what appeared to finished product. Upon hearing the question, he answered.

"I will be collecting them so please leave your finished product on your desk. This goes for all of you. Thank you Mr. Mowbray. You may leave once you've cleaned up your work space. Don't forget to put out your fire."

[Katie Carter]

Katie came in and set herself at the table beside Duncan's table but next to him. That way they could chat before classes, but she didn't want to keep the other girls from being able to get to her surogate brother.

She listened to the professor and felt her stomach turn. She felt sweat drops form on her forhead. She listened closely and put here supplies in a pile. She saw Duncan roll up his sleaves so she took off her robe to keep them away from the fire.

She took a deep breath and started the fire under the cauldron. She gathered the 7 dried nettles and 4 stewed horned slugs before crushing the snake fangs. She crushed the snake fangs and measured them, but because she was a little nervous she accidently poured a touch more, 4.12 gm, and put it in her pile. She sat the 5 porcupine quills to the side.

When the water came to a boil she tossed in the crushed snake fangs, dried nettles and stewed horned slugs. She looked at the clock and began to stir. SHe watch the time very closely. At 5 minutes of stirring she took the cauldorn from the flame and added the 5 porcupine quills. She began to stir.

And stir and stir and stir.

The potion turned green, but not really deep green. Katie stirred the liquid but it got no greener. She realized that it was futile and bottled her potion.

She wasn't surprised that Duncan had finished. She looked at his and saw that it looked perfect. She sighed and put the stopper on hers and cleaned her area. "at least I didn't melt the cauldron." she muttered.

[Prof. Brayden Mellor]

It wasn't long before another student had finished their potion... or at least tried to. It didn't look quite right. The green wasn't quite the right hue. But having seen the potion made hundreds of times before, Professor Brayden Mellor had a pretty good idea at what had been done wrong. Stopping by the Hufflepuff girl's cauldron, he peered inside and began to speak.

"You seem to have added one too many slugs, Miss Carter. You needed only to add three. You're very lucky the potion didn't boil up over the rim. That could have had some very nasty consequences. And next time you add too much crush snake fang, do you and your classmates a favour and let me know. I'm sure someone could have used that little bit extra. Potions is a precise science and should be treated as such. Clean up your space and you may go."

[Alice Chain]

Alice walked into the dungeon room clasrrom getting the feeling of cold despair in the room. The fact the calss was in the dungeon was enough to scare a few students, but this awful cold sent shivers down Alice's spine. She placed herself near a torch in the room where she could keep a little warmth in the roomm while class was in session in which the professor talked in an almost similar manner to the dungeon in which the class was in.

It was the first day of school and she was to make a potion right away which was a surprise for Alice since she is muggle born she is not used to things like this so when she saw the intrusctions on the board she quickly looked at her ingredients making sure she had the right ammount of ingredents; 7 dired nettles, 4 grams crushed snake fangs, 3 stewed horned slugs, and 5 porcupine quills.

Alice then took her caouldren filled it about half way with water and started a small flame below the caouldren where she took a spoon and stired the water thinking maybe a bit of evenly boiled water would help the potion. Alice then took her nettles and added them carefully to the mixture making sure each landed in the water without making a spash. Alice then added the slugs making sure they too didn't spalsh the potion and when she finished with the slugs she quickly crushed her snake fangs and added them to the potion. Alice then stirred the potion in a counter-clockwise motion for five minutes.

After the five mintues Alice carefully took the caouldren off the fire and place diton the table where she added the quills where she once again stirred the potion, but this time in a clockwise motion. The potion did an amazing color of green that seemed similar to slytherin robes a emerald green color Alice didn't really know if this is what the professer wanted, but she then laddled her potion into a bottle and put a stopper in the top of the bottle where she then awaited for the professor to exaime her potion.

---

Professor Mellor wandered over to the sole Ravenclaw's cauldron and took a look. It seemed satisfactory, but rather than say anything about the potion he opted for a pair of raised eyebrows and a wave of the hand. Turning away, he said...

"Clean up and you can leave."

[Laelia Lule]

Laelia had strolled into the Potions classroom on time. Located in the dungeons, it was easy to reach it from the Slytherin dorms. She placed her textbook, quills and parchment away from her cauldron. Her eyes looked closely at the supplies close to her.

Hearing her Head of House start speaking she focused her attention on him. From first impressions, she labeled him a dour faced and intimidating man. Instead of nervousness, she felt excited and confident.

She moved her belongings around the table. Her bag along with miscellaneous things towards the edge of the table. Away from possible cauldron catastrophe.

Quickly, she turned to page sixteen of her textbook, her dark eyes following the instructions of the boil curing potion. She read, and re-read the directions, making sure noted the important details of the potion. Thankfully, it did not seem overly complicated.

Catching sight of Mooberry made her narrow her eyes at him, and with a renewed determination, she took to making the potion. Overall, her movements were slow but methodical. More than half of the cauldron was filled with water. She placed it on the stand, and lit a medium sized flame right under it.

She waited for sometime, reading the notes for the potion while keeping an eye on her cauldron. When steam rose like wispy strands through air wafting on to her face, she gathered her snake fangs into a mortar and crushed it with the pestle. With the cauldron bubbling furiously, she stopped crushing it, carefully measured out 4 g of the crushed substance. Unknown to Laelia, she had brushed an extra 0.o1 g to it.

She separated the measured amount of crushed snake fangs, and gathered the rest of the ingredients. She took 7 dried nettles, added 4.o1 g of crushed snake fangs, and 3 stewed horned slugs, and added it to the boiling cauldron. She keep stirring it quickly, and kept her eyes on the clock while counting down the minutes in her head.

Once five minutes passed, she took her hot cauldron off the fire carefully, and waited a minute till it cooled down. She put out her flame. Would the porcupine quills react to a hot cauldon? With a stirrer in her right hand, she added the 5 porcupine quills in two groups, and started stirring vigorously.

Laelia squinted at the potion. Was it deep green? It looked close to it, and it did seem runny. She stopped stirring, and took a bottle and ladled it slowly in it. It was filled close to the top, by which then she placed a stopper on the top.

Hearing the Mooberry's question and Professor Mellor's further instructions, she placed her filled bottle on the table, and started to clean up her desk.

[Prof. Brayden Mellor]

Professor Mellor was somewhat eager to see how someone from his own house was going to fare with the potion. And it so happened that his only Slytherin student had just finished up her potion. One look into the cauldron told the professor that it wasn't quite right. There was a bit too much snake fang, if he had to venture a reason. Not much too much, but enough to make a visual difference. But then the old Slytherin pride and favouritism perked up and he decided to ignore the small flaw.

"Very good, Miss Lule. Seeing as you've already cleaned up, you may go."

[Duncan Mowbray]

Duncan was cleaning up when he heard the professor examine Katie's potion. He could see that his freind had been nervous because of the professor. He made a mental note to talk to her about class.

As he left he couldn't help but peek at other people's potions. He has seen Lealia's and when he heard the professor praise it his estimation of the professor immediately diminished. He knew that her potion was not quite the right color, but apparently her uniform was the right color. He was grateful that the professor wsn't totally biased and didn't award Lealia points for the potion.

He waited in the hall for Katie and any of his other freinds that were in potions.

OOC: Can students know who else is in the class, like a class roster ? or do we just wait and see who posts on the board ?

OOC: I suppose I could put up a roster. I did have other plans similar to that. Be sure to look at the homework board.

[Oliver Hughes]

Oliver slunk into class a little bit late. He was feeling pretty embarressed about sleeping in so late. He gave Professor Mellor a sheepish smile. Oliver took an empty desk at the back and took out his Notebook and pulled his cauldron onto his desk.

Okay, you can do this Oliver, He thought to himself. It's a simple potion. Reading what was up on the board, Oliver pulled out his ingrediants and began to follow the instructions. Waiting for the water to boil was the hardest part of Oliver. It just seemed to take to long. Like the instructions said Oliver put the nettles in next and then the snakes fangs and the horned slugs. He kept stirring, but he got impatiant and took the cauldron off the fire a little too early. After he had added the porqupine quills and stirred it for a bit, he watched as the potion turned an odd purply colour. His eyes opened wide as it started to bubble.

"Oops," He said out loud. The potion didn't really do much, but Oliver knew he hadn't done it right. "Sorry Professor Mellor," Oliver said sheepishly.

---

The sounds of a vigourously bubbling potion reached the ears of Professor Mellor just seconds before a cry of, "Oops". Taking a deep and somewhat flustered breath, he turned to see who had just made a mistake, a big one by the sound of it. He spied the culprit, the Hufflepuff boy who had obviously found better use of his time than coming to class on time. Professor Mellor was less than surprised and not at all amused. In the blink of an eye, the cauldron, on the verge of losing its contents, vanished from the classroom only to appear a moment later, its contents missing. Professor Mellor rounded on the boy, his brow furrowed.

"If it weren't for the fact that I saw you reading, I would think you didn't know how. Following directions is the most important thing you will do in this class. So, I expect that in future you'll try a little harder, yes? Do it again, and this time do it right. The directions are right there in your book. Page sixteen. Focus on each word by itself if you have to."

[Ceta Nightingale]

Ceta stood outside the classroom door for a moment and took a deep breath, this was it - her first ever class at Hogwarts. She was excited, yet nervous as the potions Professor was obviously in Slytherin and she wondered whether he would show bias towards his house and the students who dwelled within it.

But never the less, Ceta was determined to do well while she was at Hogwarts and to come out with the best Owls possible.

So she pushed open the creaky door, and looked around as she entered. The room was filled with candlelight and all the students were chatting among themselves as class had not yet started.

Professor Mellor was in a chair by his desk, and Ceta smiled at him as she found an empty seat next to someone she had not yet had the privilege to meet.
"Hi" she said confidently with a smile to the person sitting next to her "Im Ceta - nice to meet you".
But before her companion could answer Professor Mellor spoke up,which took her attention immediately.

Class had begun...

She took out her book and turned to the page Professor Mellor suggested, then she began following the recipe to the best of her abilities.
Ceta wondered to herself if being good at cooking made you any good at brewing potions, as she wasn't a bad cook. But like her mother always said, some recipes allow you to experiment and others require precise following - Ceta imagined this was one of those times!

She followed the recipe exactly, 7 dried nettles and 4.0g of crushed snake fingers etc.
The third step in the procedure made her a little nervous "CAUTION: if cauldron is left on fire, potion will produce acid green smoke and melt through cauldron and anything else it may come into contact with" - but she was very careful to take the cauldron of the fire at what she expected was the exact moment in time to do so.

To her delight once the potion had finished brewing and turned a lovely emerald green, Ceta sighed a sigh of relief and ladled the liquid of her hard work into a bottle - placing a stopper firmly in the top.

She tidied up her equipment, and waited for the Professor to come have a look as she watched the others continuing or finishing their own potions.

'Not bad for my first attempt at potions making' she thought to herself in amusement as watching Oliver brought a smile to her face.

[Prof. Brayden Mellor]

The sight of a Gryffindor girl just sitting about lazily made Professor Brayden Mellor curious. He looked down his nose at her as he walked towards her cauldron all the while trying to gauge whether she was being lazy or was just quick. It seemed to be the later of the two, he noted as he took a good look into her cauldron. It was the perfect shade of green and seemed to have the right viscosity and all. If he knew how to be impressed, he would be. But rather than show any sort of emotion at all, he merely raised his eyebrows and turned away.

"Seeing as you've already cleaned up, you may go, Miss Nightingale."

[Laelia Lule]

Laelia had seen Oliver's disastrous attempt at the potion. She winced strongly. He needed help, and a lot of it now. A pity, she had finished her potion already. With her things gathered, she quietly exited the classroom mindful of the other students working on their potions.

Since she had nothing much to do, she decided to wait for Oliver outside. She caught sight of Mr. Mowbray. If he deigned to greet her, she would condescend to reply to him. However, she decided wait outside with an expression of contemplating a heavy subject. It might keep people away from her.

[Oliver Hughes]

Oliver hung his head in shame as Professor Mellor commented on his lack of potion making skills. He began to prepare his ingrediants again, while boiling his cauldron. This time, Oliver made sure to do every step correctly and he ended up with a potion that was green and had no bubbles.

Oliver felt like crap. He was so embarressed about his first potion. He knew that this would be his most difficult class and that he would have to try a lot harder. He just couldn't help getting distracted; there was so many interesting things hanging about in the class room.

While Oliver was distracted, he left his potion on the boil a little too long. Once he took it off, it was green, but a little brighter than it was supposed to be. At least it wasn't bubbling. Oliver added the porqupine quills and then stirred it some more.

When it was finished, he noticed it was still that sort of bright green colour. Oliver put it in the small bottle anyways and put it at the front of his desk, hoping that would do. At least it wasn't purple like his last one.

[Prof. Brayden Mellor]

Professor Mellor had walked back to his desk and sat in his chair while he waited on Mr. Oliver Hughes to re-do his potion. He was already beginning to suspect that this class may not be the best sort for the small Hufflepuff boy. The boy was constantly looking everywhere but at his potion which could turn out to have disastrous consequences. Professor Mellor was more than ready at this point to vanish the cauldron completely and give the boy a failing grade for the day were the potion to messed as royally as the time before. So, when the boy suddenly appeared to be finished, Professor Mellor was slightly surprised that nothing at gone wrong. He got up from his chair and walked over to the boy and his cauldron.

"That's not quite the right shade of green, is it? It would be much better for you in the future if you were to concentrate more on your potion and less on everything else in the room, yes? Right. Clean up and you're excused. I expect better from you next class, Mr. Hughes."