As she sat on the table, Sloane watched as the Professor kicked the lesson off without any fuss or buildup. Just straight into it. No messing around. She wasn’t sure if she’d noticed it before or not but Sloane appreciated it. The sooner they started, the sooner she could start her work and the quicker time would go. She wasn’t hungry this morning. Honest.

Without waiting to be called upon, Sloane simply called out “I just say whatever it is on my mind out loud so I don’t forget. So, if I’m doing homework like a potions supply list, I’ll just learn the list and say it over and over so I have no choice but to focus on it.” Did it always work? No. In fact, it hardly ever worked because she’d usually get distracted and stop saying the words out loud, but no one needed to know this. She did briefly consider some of the other answer but decided to ignore them. There was something to be said about getting a snack or just steering into the distraction but generally, those weren’t things that she traditionally did. It didn’t matter to her if she was in her common room full of people or alone in the library, she just did what she needed to in order to get her work done. Case and point, shouting out in the middle of class before she forgot her answer and got distracted.

More engulfed in his book as more people entered the potions classroom, Roman barely looked up when Sloane took a seat next to him. His fellow first year hadn't gotten Roman to talk much so far this year, but as she asked that question about his reading choice, his eyes left his novel for the first time. "Oh, this?" he flashed her a smile, a rarity for him. "Have you ever heard of Agatha Christie?" Because that was the first place to start. If she didn't know, he would explain THAT first.

Even if class was starting, it seemed, because class WAS starting, and he didn't want to stop reading OR talking about his book. He stuck his nose back in his book as the discussion started. What did Roman do to keep focused? Ironically enough, he wasn't focusing on the lesson at hand, but the sentences from his novel, " '-assure you that there is a reason.' - 'Then perhaps you will give it to me.' - The Commissary rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a minute or two without speaking."


What lesson?

ROMAN HAD TO KEEP READING!

When Maxine spoke first, this was one of the answers she expected to be most common, as music was generally a very healthy and calming coping mechanism. She nodded as she wrote that on the board. Solomon offered an energetic answer next, and although ideal it wasn't always practical. "Yes ideally only working on one task at a time, but sometimes it can't be helped." Professor Adara cautioned.

When Aryan suggested a potion it actually made some sense given this was potions lesson. "Yes I'd say that a calming draught could be super useful." And probably more ethical but also why the ingredients for today's potion were kept secured. Emmeline gave a lengthened response, offering two different scenarios and she had to wonder if Emmie recognized the parallels in her mechanisms to her aunt. Although probably not since sometimes kids liked to deny family parallels.

Desiree broke her thoughts though by offering up snacks as another suggested mechanism. "Some of my favorite snacks, yes. Nuts, dark chocolate... ". She smiled at Jonah with his answer, because there was something about his raw honesty. "Sometimes yes it's okay to let the distractions run its course." Which tied in well to what Aurora had offered next about doing something else and coming back. Rowan offered too about listening to music, although elaborated a little more. Walking around and snacks was suggested by Moe which was already on the board. Bryony's coping mechanism caught Amelia off-guard since it was oddly specific and as sports-minded as she grew up, she had to admit she was curious about it but now was not really not the time to delve into ninja warrior training. Sloane had an interesting perspective and Amelia wasn't sure if it would work especially if you were adamantly distracted by all the things, she wasn't sure that forcing yourself to hyper focus was good, but if it worked for her.... Roman was distracted and not focusing on the lesson and for the moment, Amelia wasn't bothered as students did have their own learning mechanisms, but once they started brewing, that was when he would really need to be paying attention. Although she wasn't on board with him distracting his fellow students. "Roman... Sloane... please avoid all further discussions of leisure reading until after the lesson." This was a warning.

Coping mechanisms
Music
Don't multitask
Calming draught
Yoga exercise
Meditation
Snacks
Let the distraction run its course - do something else
Walking around
Ninja warrior training
Repetitive readings


"Okay enough about coping mechanisms. But you all had some excellent and healthy ways to cope when feeling unfocused or stressed. So I'm impressed." Truly, she was. "So if you haven't guessed by now ... there's distinct potion ingredients that we'll be working with today that give a clear indicator for today's potion. Wit-sharpening potion, which a potion designed to make one think more clearly and can be useful as an antidote to the confundus charm."

"On the board you'll find find the required measurements of each of the four ingredients. So I'd like you to come collect and measure out your ingredients. The carboy contains distilled water, which I prefer when potion brewing as I find I get more accurate results when compared to using the aguamenti charm or obtaining from the tap. Your results should be adequate with the water charm or tap water if you prefer."

Ingredients
water (500mL)
scarab beetles (coarsely ground; 2)
ginger root (cut; 5g)
armadillo bile (9 drops)

1. Bring the 500mL water to a delicate simmer in your cauldrons



ooc: okay let's start potion brewing!! We'll add a couple more steps tomorrow, but for now just have your characters measure out the four ingredients and simmer the water

It hadn’t even crossed Solly’s mind that they would be practising potions relating to coping mechanisms, but it seemed so obvious when somebody mentioned a calming draught. He could do with one of those every so often to help with his endeavours. Or liquid luck would be more appropriate, and he made a mental note to have a go at brewing it in his own time. He hadn’t really heard of a wit-sharpening potion but it sounded cool, as did every potion.

He was already sharp when heading up first to grab the necessary ingredients, and he was pleased that there were only four. Easy. He also opted for the distilled water over the water charm, mostly because he wasn’t too confident with it. Always doubting himself, he was, however measuring exact amounts seemed just as difficult to him.

It felt like he had taken forever to measure everything out, but he had soon brought everything needed back to his station and he placed 500ml into his cauldron, which he let boil while he ground up 2 scarab beetles. Poor little things.

Jonah was only half listening to the lesson at hand. Though it looked like he was taking notes (not something he was purposefully aiming for), he was sketching in his notebook and it was nothing to do with potions. He only looked up when he caught that one answer - Ninja Warrior Something? That was definitely made up. If Jonah cared more, maybe he'd say something about it. As it was however, he didn't give a flying fwooper.

Staying just tuned in enough that he could catch the instructions, Jonah set his pen down across his notebook (he'd be coming back for it later) and moved to the front of the classroom to gather his ingredients. Quietly, he measured each one out. Two scarab beetles, the nine drops of armadillo bile which he kept in a vial for later use, and the ginger root. He'd opt for using his wand when it came to the water, so he returned to his workstation to measure that out with a stream he cast using the aguamenti charm.

Then, placing his cauldron over the burner, he cast a simple scourgify charm to start himself off, poured the water inside, and lit the burner with incendio to bring it to a simmer. While he waited, he returned his attentions back to his notebook and pen.

Let the brewing commenese, Maxine thought in her brain. Joting the ingrients for to have on hand.

water (500mL)
scarab beetles (coarsely ground; 2)
ginger root (cut; 5g)
armadillo bile (9 drops)

Maxine went to collect everything she needed, double checking her notes several times since she always seemed to forget what felt like 100 times inbetween the reading the paper and the actual colletion. Once she had everything she needed she returned to her desk, placed the distilled water into her cauldron and began the waiting game of bringin it up to to a simmer. Potion making and cooking were really the same thing. But hurry up and wait. She had a hard time not sulking about it.

There were so many methods that his classmates used to pull themselves out of their funk that it blew Ary’s mind. There were a few he understood like Bry and her Ninja Warrior training and the eating {that was Dad Adi’s method}. But when it came to the potion they would be working on today, Ary could not help being disappointed that his guess in response to Bry’s question had been incorrect. Pushing his disappointment away, the firstie followed Adara’s instructions by measuring out the ingredients.

With glances ever so often to the board, they were as accurately as possible put into their respective portions: 500 ml of distilled water, 2 coarsely ground scarab beetles, 5 g of cut ginger root and 9 drops of armadillo bile.

The water was tipped into his cauldron {after it was magically cleaned} then the burner was lit with a mutter of Incendio. Ary practically stared into the depth of his cauldron since he was looking to ensure the water simmered and not bubble and boil like cray-cray.

A wit-sharpening potion sounded extremely helpful especially when Rowan was to take her OWLs next year. Although usually focused, her attention did tend to waver at times in the common room when it was busy and noisy.

The use of distilled water was familiar to the transfer student. It was a staple in her muggle chemistry class due to it's purity, and she preferred to use that rather than tap water or a charm.

She went up to collect the ingredients, carefully measuring each out. 500ml of distilled water, two scarab beetles, a small 5g measure of ginger root and 9 drops of armadillo bile. She wasn't phased by either the beetles, and having to crush them, or the animal bile.

She set the water to heat in her cauldron with incendio – a gentle flame to slowly bring things to a soft simmer. While the water was preparing, she took a mortar and pestal and crushed up the beetles coarsely, preferring to do this by hand instead of with magic for more precision and control. She then waited attentively for what do no next. She took out her notebook and pen and scribbled down the ingredients and the first step of the potion, an eye on the cauldron the whole time to make sure things didn't heat too rapidly.

After giving the Professor her answer, Sloane had turned back to Rowan, actually curious about the book. what could be so interesting that it would keep him from answering a question from a teacher.

As she was about to answer however, the voice of Professor Adara caught her attention and her face snapped back around to her. Biting her tongue, a personal favourite coping mechanism of hers, Sloane glared daggers at the Professor for the longest of moment before pointedly turning back to Rowan, choosing to ignore the instructions in favour of her conversation.

“As I was saying. I actually have heard of her.” Peering down at the book to get a closer look, Sloane had a quick glance at the title of the book and nodded, confirming her suspicions. “It looks like a Poirot book. He’s the detective, isn’t he? Big moustache,” her hands moving to her top lip now traced the outline of a huge moustache. “I’ve never actually read one of her books but seen them in a few of the libraries back home. We used to go there in the summer when they had special events on,” although if she was being honest, that most had to do with the free food and the warm library.

Oh.. Solomon's pointed silence and lack of chatting with Aurora as he actually got on with his task was met with a slightly disappointed expression on the young Ravenclaws face. Yes she might have been a rather large distraction in lessons but her interactions were ultimately harmless and she seemed to do better when she had others to work with, likely as they’d keep her grounded and prevent her from completely veering off in the wrong direction.

Still, even though she wanted to talk to Solly again, the thirteen year old proceeded to go and grab the ingredients which she brought back to her station. “Aguamenti” she spoke, filling her beaker up to 500ml before pouring it into her cauldron and lighting it up with Incendio. Her tongue may have migrated out between her lips a little as she concentrated on the board, reading over the ingredients list again and again and not really concentrating on the cauldron that was currently bubbling up over the sides.

This was fairly simple instructions so far and nothing too complicated, so Amelia just observed as Solomon took care to take ingredients back to his station, setting it up.... contrary to Jonah who it was clear he didn't really want to be there but nonetheless she was grateful that he was participating and seemingly not sabotaging anything. Maxine, Rowan, Aryan respectively obtained their supplies and set up their stations.... If she could read minds she would agree with you, Maxine. Her patience was often tested when it came to cooking and potion brewing, but fortunately it was something that got easier over the decades.

So far so good. Except ... what was that look Sloane gave her? "Miss Knott. I do believe I warned you further discussions about leisure reading. That will be 3 points from Slytherin for blatant disregard of my instructions. Now I suggest you follow the suit of your classmates and obtain your potion ingredients."

Speaking of potion brewing, time to move on. "So as the ingredients state, the potions recipe requires two scarab beetles, coarsely ground. If you have not done so, please ground them now before adding to your cauldrons and stir the potion five times clockwise. And then let simmer for 5 minutes. While that's simmering you can cut your ginger root up if you have not yet." She was about to ask another question for them to ponder but they'll have a longer period of time coming up.


Ingredients
water (500mL)
scarab beetles (coarsely ground; 2)
ginger root (cut; 5g)
armadillo bile (9 drops)

1. Bring the 500mL water to a delicate simmer in your cauldrons
2. Add scarab beetles and stir 5 times, clockwise
3. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes




ooc: next set of instructions up! as always please ask if your character needs help with a task... and keep up the good work !!

Ary saw the look Sloane gave professor Adara, and he fixed his Housemate with one of his own. It wasn’t a reprimanding or accusing one, just one of wariness. Had she not heard a word of what he had said about rude behaviour when they had had their talk at the Portraits some weeks before? Withdrawing his gaze with a slight shake of his head in disappointment, he focused it on the scarab beetles which he had only just finished crushing with the mortar and pestle {also magically cleaned}; Ary had figured that staring at his cauldron wouldn’t help the water simmer any faster. But by the time the crushing was done, the liquid was all simmery. This meant that the beetles could be added. With the cleaned stirrer, the contents of the cauldron were turned clockwise one, two, three, four, five times.

While letting the mixture simmer, Ary pulled the ginger root towards him and began to carefully cut it up. Carefully because he was being mindful of cutting himself; it was a task he could manage, not to worry. So far, Ary was rather pleased with himself for being able to follow the instructions.

Phoebe didn't have enough arms, so she collected her four ingredients in two trips. She was so excited to make a wit-sharpening potion! First she measured out 503 milliliters of water, 2 crunchily ground beetles (this made her feel sad), 4 grams of ginger root, and 9 drops of armadillo bile. She was TRYING really hard, but she just kept messing up the measurements and not noticing. She even measured them out a few times for precision!! She just measured them completely wrong. She brought the cauldron to a... delicate-ish simmer? She was too focused on that to notice her dormmate losing points for hurting the professor's feelings by talking instead of potion-ing.

Next, she dumped all the crunchy beetles into the potion and stirred it four times clockwise and then a little bit in the wrong direction. "Professor? Am I doing this right?" Spoiler alert: she was NOT, but it was an A for effort. She peered over the shoulder of the nearest classmate to see what they were doing. "I think I cut my finger a little by accident when I was chopping up the ginger root..."

She knew all about getting distracted….like flittering around like a snitch flying just out of reach. But Nadia decided to stay quiet and simply listen as her classmates entered into the discussion. Trying to ground herself and be ready for the brewing that was to come was enough then trying to think of an answer herself. See….she could focus on something at times. Though unlike a certain Slytherin boy standing nearby, the Gryffindor was focused on the lesson. So, writing the generated list into her notes as well as the potion and ingredients they would be working on today. NOT his own reading which the professor brought up and took points for.

Poor Snakes.

Nadia got up from her workstation and gathered her ingredients as instructed, carefully measuring out everything including the water from the carboy. Returning to her spot, she set it all aside, giving a quick “Scourgify” on her cauldron to double and triple check its cleanliness as had been drilled into her. She then poured the distilled water into it and set the heat on underneath to bring it to a simmer with an “Incendio.” When they moved on, she cleaned the mortar and pestle and her stirring rod as well before crushing the scarab beetles coarsely, adding them to the cauldron as well when done.

One…two…three…four…five stirs clockwise.

Then a glance to her watch to start 5 minute countdown before getting to work on the ginger root.

Whoops... Maxine had been day dreaming and had not done anything her beetles yet. Good thing she still had time to catch up. How ironic she was day dreaming during a class about distractions. None the less, she ground her scarabe beetles.

She then added them to her "stew" get it .. referencing her cooking metaphor from earlier - she giggled to herself a little hoping no one else noticed and then stirred the potion 5 times...... but wait a second .. did she do it counterclock wise or clockwise - Maxine knew what the instructions said ... but couldn't rememeber what she did. She hoped it was clock wise ... they'd find out soon enough.

While it was simmering she began to cut up her giner root to. Still pondering the previous step.

Bry practically beamed at the look on the Professor's face when she brought up ninja warrior training. No one ever really seemed to know what she was talking about when she spoke about it. It was alright though, she would be more than thrilled to fill Professor Adara in about it all when there was time. "I can tell you all about it, Professor, it's really really fun."

Now wasn't the time to be chatting about being a ninja though. She had heard the warning that was given to her fellow house mates about not paying attention. She was going to do her best. And if she struggled.. at least she had Aryan at her side and he knew what he was doing! When he got up from their workstation to collect the necessary ingredients, Bryony did too. Carefully. She even triple checked that she had measured everything out correctly, asking Ary to quickly check for her too.

500 ml of distilled water, two coarsely ground scarab beetles, 5 grams of cut ginger root and 9 drops of armadillo bile. Done, done, done, and DONE. Now back to the workstation.

Knowing that her cauldron was already clean (she had a habit of doing that first thing since she tended to forget otherwise), Bry poured the water into the cauldron slowly. Wand in hand she cast 'incendio' to light the burner beneath her cauldron, this may have taken more than once to achieve but she managed it all on her own. Now all she had to do with that was let the water simmer for a bit. While she was waiting on that, she took her mortar and pestle to crush up the two scarab beetles.

Once she had finished crushing those, she checked to see how the water was doing. It was simmering nicely and that meant she could add the crushed scarab beetles into the cauldron. Which she did, slowly so she wouldn't dump them all over. Now it was time to stir everything with a clearer stirrer. One, two, three, four, five times. Clockwise.

So far, so good! Nothing had exploded and it was time to start cutting up the ginger root. She actually knew what she was doing!

After scowling at the student who had lost some house points for Slytherin, Solomon stopped himself because he felt it was lame to get upset over a measly 3 points that he could earn back himself. He made it his mission, in fact, to do a fantastic job in todays lesson. Although the whole situation had made Solomon also curious about this book.

Hmmm… but oh yeah, he was rubbish at reading. SoooOooo, back to it…

The next step of the potion was to add the scarab beetles, which he had already crushed up plenty. The stirring was often the part that caught Solomon out, them being so precise. He always lost count, so it required huge concentration.

Five turns later (he hoped), Solomon watched it simmer for at least a minute before remembering he was supposed to be busy during this part, too. Busy doing what, though??? Without referring to the board, Solly looked around at his fellow students instead to see what they were up to. He saw a first year (Bryony) cutting the ginger root and quickly remembered! He did exactly that until that big distraction he was talking about before was doing her thing.

“Rora!” He hissed quickly then pointed to her cauldron. He was SUCH a good friend.

Roman looked up at the professor's sharp warning and nodded. She had said to stop their discussion, but she hadn't said anything about not reading, so as she began to write some instructions on the board about the wit sharpening potion. Oh, good. Roman didn't need to brew that! He was already witty enough, he thought.

He nodded at Sloane, but put a finger to his lips. "After class we can discuss more. For now, if you could go get both of our ingredients, I can continue reading," he whispered as he turned his gaze back to the words on the page of Christie's masterpiece. Sloane had lost them a few points, but Roman shook it off. 3 points wasn't too bad, right?

And once Sloane got their ingredients, he'd start! See? He was using his time wisely, Professor.

It was ironic really that this lesson was on concentration considering that Aurora was doing anything BUT. The hustle and bustle of watching the other students getting on with their potions was much more interesting than watching her own cauldron boil. It wasn’t until a hiss came from beside her that she even snapped back into reality. “Hmm?” she turned to Solly with a huge grin, glad that he was acknowledging her existence again. Her eyes followed his point to the cauldron, eyes wide. “OH! Umm..” she grabbed hold of the cauldron only to remember how hot it was. “OWW! Hot!” Duh. She shook her hand and blew on it a couple of times as if that was going to help. “Aguamenti!” she put out the fire with her wand first before plunging her hand into a beaker of water she had just filled.

DON’T WORRY FRIENDS! Crisis averted!!

That whole debacle had meant she hadn’t paid any attention to the next set of instructions and was relying on copying whatever Solomon was doing rather than bothering to read the board. With one hand still submerged in the beaker, she picked up the poor Scarab Beetles and dropped them in one by one before realising they were supposed to be crushed and having to fish them back out using the ladle. She crushed the slightly soggy beetles with her pestle and mortar and plopped them back into the cauldron hoping that her earlier mistake wouldn’t have affected the potency of her potion.

Stir, Stir, Stir.

What was next? No wait.. two more times.

Stir, Stir.

It was fair to say that Potions wasn’t her strong suit but she enjoyed it nonetheless.

For the first few minutes of the lesson, it might have been difficult to tell whether or not Charlie was engaged or bored or unimpressed or anything else, given everything about his bearing was completely neutral, unreadable, inscrutable. The only fact that anyone need concern themselves with was that he was here.

Anyone who knew his situation might have expected that Potions might have been a lesson with the potential for disaster for Charlie, what with the emphasis on reading and following recipes closely (not that it needed to make much of a difference to him, at least where testing the potions was concerned). But, as it turned out, Charlie had a real knack for this subject, a natural flair. Once he learned the theory on the individual ingredients, the necessity for different materials in the brewing equipment, and the thinking behind the number, pace, and direction of stirs, he was set. Already Charlie had discovered, in the brewing of simple potions, that he could combine intuition with critical thinking and arrive at a correct concoction even if something went awry when following the recipe. That was the real trick to it, understanding the many aspects of potion-making, rather than simply memorising the steps for each potion some other witch or wizard had published.

At Adara's initial question, Charlie had kept his thoughts to himself, focusing instead on turning his attention to each student who gave their own answer. Better for everyone; 'if you don't have anything nice to say', et cetera, et cetera.

When it was time to get started, Charlie slid off his stool and went up to collect the ingredients. A couple of scarab beetles, a ginger root, and some armadillo bile. For the water, he went to the sink, his gathered ingredients in one hand and a glass beaker in the other, knocked the tap with his elbow to get the water running, and then again once the beaker had plenty inside. After tipping some out and checking the level a few times to be sure he had the required amount, he took it all back to his work station, where he tipped the water into the cauldron and turned the heat up. While he waited for it to simmer, Charlie turned his attention to the other ingredients - but not before staring at the board for a good few moments. He had the nine drops of bile ready, and knew the beetles ought to be ground up, but had to stare at the line about the ginger root a little bit longer until the words resolved themselves and stayed that way, and he could start getting to work preparing it all.

While his hands were busy, and his attention on the work of brewing, Charlie could keep his impulses more or less tempered. But once the scarab beetles (already ground) were added, the potion had been treated to the five requisite clockwise stirs, and the exact time noted down, those hands - and that mind - suddenly found themselves idle once more. The root was already cut up, so for a moment, Charlie just stared at the simmering potion, drumming his fingers, impatient, restless.

But in the next moment, he looked towards Adara, and his voice rang out through the classroom.

"Professor, what about people who find they're all distractible, but are sharp-witted and clever already? What if that's why they're getting distracted? Would it just make them think even faster and more clearly, only still about the next thing that gets their attention? Could it backfire like that?" Charlie, for one, had a lot of firsthand (and secondhand, for that matter) experience that told him wit and focus were not always so closely intertwined. For him, clarity of mind was rarely the issue; the problem lay with the task, not with him. His mind would sometimes drift and jump around, especially if he skipped the healer and all the stuff he was supposed to be doing was wicked boring, but rarely was he muddled or slow or confused, or anything less than sharp-witted (if he did say so himself... and he did). "Is there another potion that's better for those times?" he asked, punctuating his final question with a smile, now the picture of sparkly-eyed engagement, even as he played with an empty phial, rolling it back and forth across the surface of the workstation with his fingertips.

Rowan fixed her cool gaze on the reader and the chatterer for the rude behaviour and for getting points deducted from Slytherin.

She looked over at the Professor who was handling it, so far, with calm sophistication, and then went back to concentrating on her own potion. She added the coarsely ground beetles to her cauldron and stirred five times clockwise, counting in her head. Measurements had to be accurate in chemistry, but the stirring of an experiment never had to be quite so precise. The two could be dangerous, but she supposed a simple error of stirring too many times could cause magical concoctions to fail.

So far, this lesson was proving to be simple, just following steps, and Rowan was finding it relaxing. She glanced over at Aurora and Solly to find Aurora busy fishing out whole beetles from her cauldron. She couldn't help an amused, affectionate, smile.

She left her cauldron to simmer and got to chopping up the root ginger.

Wait, a WIT sharpening potion?

Uh, WHERE had this been LAST term when he'd been studying for OWLs?!

Moe was instantly in a bad mood. Maybe if he'd had this potion on board when he'd been reading his History of Magic notes, he wouldn't have bombed the exam so badly. He knew it was silly to think it would have helped on the actual exam - that seemed like a blatant violation of the exam rules - but while studying, it might have been a game changer!

Now he was cranky. Scowling a little to himself, he waved his wand and wordlessly cleaned out his cauldron before filling it with 500mLs of water. A delicate simmer wouldn't take too long, so he waved his wand against and wordlessly started a low flame under his cauldron. He watched the water start to show signs that it was warming up before he moved on to the next bit. two scarab beetles, coarsely ground. Got it.

He took his mortar and pistol and dropped the first beetle into it, crushing it up enough that he could add the second one, and then continuing with his motions while monitoring the progress of his water, making adjustments to his flame as needed to make sure it wasn't too hot. Once he had his beetles ground coarsely, as Adara had demonstrated, he dropped them in the water. He stirred the potion five times clockwise, and then leaned back in his chair, looking at his watch and starting to time out five minutes. He kept glancing at the potion to make sure it wasn't getting too hot, making sure it stayed at a simmer rather than get boiling hot.

Desiree beamed at Professor Adara’s reply. Nuts and dark chocolate were some of her favorite snacks too? Who knew? She copied down the list of coping mechanisms on the board, looking up from her notes just as the professor confirmed what she already suspected. They were doing the Wit-sharpening Potion. Hmm, not something she was likely to use day-to-day, but it would be useful to have in her healer’s arsenal.

So Professor Adara believed distilled water gave more accurate results than magically-produced or tap water? That was an interesting bit of information. Desiree usually used aguamenti for potions that required water (Daughter of a former charms professor, remember?), but she was willing to try it the professor’s way. Maybe she’d conduct an experiment on her own time with two batches of potion to test which kind of water produced better results.

For now, she gave her dropper and measuring cups a quick Scourgify and went to the front to retrieve her ingredients. She carefully measured out 500 ml of the distilled water, 5g of the ginger root, and 9 drops of the armadillo bile. After picking up two scarab beetles to grind, she returned to her station. She cleaned her cauldron with another Scougify and poured the water inside, lighting the burner with a nonverbal Incendio.

While the water was coming to a simmer, Desiree cleaned her mortar and pestle and used the to grind her scarab beetles. She had a nice coarse powder by the time the water was ready. Glancing up at the next set of instructions on the board, she added the scarab beetles and stirred clockwise. One, two, three, four, five.

As she set her timer for five minutes, a younger student (Phoebe) caught her attention. Oh no, cut fingers were no fun! She gave the other girl a sympathetic look, but she would wait to offer help until the professor had addressed the situation.

It wasn’t that Sloane didn’t like potions. In fact, she really did enjoy potions. The way the liquid in the cauldrons bubbled away and needed constant watching. The way that every stir needed to be done with intent. It required focus and Sloane could focus like no other. Today however, she was not keen on participating, for one reason or another. All they’d been doing had been talking about a book and the professor had cut them off mid-conversation as though they were doing something wrong! The lesson hadn’t started when they’d started talking so what had been the issue?

As she heard her name being called out, her eyes met the Professors without blinking at once. It had been a while since someone had annoyed Sloane as much as this professor but annoyed her she had. Her eyes narrowed and she stopped mid-breath as the professor took away three points from Slytherin! OUTRAGIOUS! “What! No professor! That’s unfair!”her cheeks flushing red now as she clenched her fists in anger, trying her best not to shout or cry. The looks from some of the other kids didn’t help either. She’d caught the look from Ary and wanted to throw something at him as he sat there and got on with his own potion. It wasn’t until Roman whispered something to her that she actually lost it however.

“NO! I will NOT go and get your ingredients for you Roman. Get up yourself and get them!” She was not about to sit there and do someone else’s work for them while they have a jolly time doing nothing! Getting up without saying another word to him, she quickly walked over to where the ingredients were kept and got the ingredients that were on the board, making sure that she had enough for just herself! Throwing the ingredients down, she quickly got to work, taking out her rage on the ingredients as she diced and smashed them up to the correct size and threw them into her cauldron without a care. It was at this moment however that Sloane had realised she’d forgotten to ignite a flame underneath the cauldron and bring the water to a simmer.

sigh

It was going to be a long lesson.

Other than the two slytherin first years that seemed to want to do anything BUT brew potions, everything seemed to be going alright. It wasn't the easiest of potions, but breaking it down into bite-sized steps seemed to be working. Aryan was diligent with his measurements from the looks of it. Although Adara wasn't much for micromanagement so until the potion was complete she wouldn't necessarily know if they missed a measurement. So when little Phoebe called out to her, she glanced over at the young girl just in time to see her stir in the wrong direction. "Oh ... Miss Calypso, no no!! All the stirs the first time after you add the beetles are meant to be clockwise." Wait what? Oh that was nothing and not all that surprising. "It happens... nothing episkey won't fix, but do try to be careful." She said as she moved closer to cast episkey on the cut. There was Nadia working diligently nearby and much like her younger sibling seemed to be doing alright. Maxine seemed to be still doing alright although she did seem to have a worried look on her expression; had she skipped a step?

She smiled when Bryony said she would tell her about the ninja warrior training. It actually might prove to be useful for aspiring quidditch players and in quidditch training. But yes another time she would chat with her about that. Funny how they were talking about distractions and so many of them seem easily distracted; Solomon being no different. Perhaps she ought to have played some relaxing music during the lesson to help focus their attention. Her attention on Aurora as the young Ravenclaw exclaimed hot and she was about to see if she needed to offer healing assistance to her, but alas she seemed to recover (even if she did fish the beetles from her potion to re-ground them). But course correction and while safe bet that she wouldn't be sampling any of these potions, there would be time for brewing them properly again another time. It was all practice.

Adara was definitely not sure how engaged Charlie was but when he got started he seemed off to a good start. While he was brewing, she was startled by the sound of his voice ringing out with a question. Taking a moment to ponder his question, she nodded. "Actually yes. I do believe there is a potion specifically made to help the drinker focus. It is blue in colour, whereas the wit sharpening potion is likely to be purple in its final colour change. But I will say depending on accuracy in brewing most potions are not ... permanent. Particularly ones that alter ones emotional acuity such as the focus potion or wit-sharpening potion." Healing potions such as pepperup or skele-brew were more potent and lasting.

Rowan and Moritz seemed to brewing just fine and didn't seem to have any catastrophes. As Desiree too seemed be alright (yes she was more than encouraged to use the laboratory to test the water theory. It was also something that might not have made any difference, or perhaps it did with certain potions but not all)

Adara's gaze fixed back on the boy Roman who had seemed to be taking more an interest in reading (and it wasn't even the potions textbook) then brewing. And Sloane decided to counter and argue about the points when it all reality it was only three points. And then shout at Roman that she would not be getting his ingredients for him. "Unfair? I did in fact give you a warning to cease your discussion. Do i need to make it more?" she arched her brow challengingly at the girl. "Please, that is uncalled for Miss Knott" she beckoned for to stop her outburst as she strode to stand in front of Roman, "Mr Gellar. This is potions class. Put the book away before I take it." She considered herself a reasonable woman, but her patience was being tested.

Ingredients
water (500mL)
scarab beetles (coarsely ground; 2)
ginger root (cut; 5g)
armadillo bile (9 drops)

1. Bring the 500mL water to a delicate simmer in your cauldrons
2. Add scarab beetles and stir 5 times, clockwise
3. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes
4. Add ginger without stirring and simmer for 20 minutes
5. Remove potion from heat. Allow solution to cool, stirring 7 times every 3 minutes, alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise stirrings
6. When heat can no longer be felt when a hand is placed above the potion, add the 9 drops of armadillo bile
7. Allow potion to sit for 8 minutes (potion will smell foul)


"Add your 5 grams of cut ginger root and let your potions simmer for 20 minutes. Do not stir. While its simmering, let's take a moment to discuss the ethics of this potion. It is only temporary, but do you think it's an ethical potion to use before exams? Is it falsifying ones true abilities and intelligence? Would it be a useful aid for studying but not for exams?"

"Step five is a little tricky but remove the cauldron from heat. Alternate clockwise and counterclockwise stirrings, seven times, every three minutes. So stir to the right once, wait three minutes, stir left, wait three minutes, stir right, wait three minutes... you may want to use a blank parchment to keep track of how many stirs." She knew it was easy to loose track. "Once it's cooled completely, add the 9 drops of armadillo bile and then allow the potion to sit for 8 minutes before placing a sample in a vial with your name and house for review."


ooc: we meant to split up and make a post with steps 4-5 and then 6-7 but we're running low on time so you get the remainder 4 steps here ... along with a question to consider. We'll be around for further assistance should you need it. Feel free to make one post or three, whatever you need. <3