Well, here he was, doing this Potions thing.
Toby set himself up at a workstation, propping his cauldron up onto a stand and getting out all the ingredients and equipment he'd need for today's session; the first installment of making this potion. Okay, cleaning, then heating.
"Scourgify," Toby said, pointing his wand at the inside of his cauldron and repeated the spell a few times to really make sure he got the inside of it nice and clean. Then he redirected his wand to the firepit beneath the cauldron.
"Incendio."
With a spark from his wand, the fire was lit and soon a flame burned beneath. While that heated up, Toby prepared the goats milk. He used 'scourgify' again on the inside of a measuring beaker, and poured the milk from its bottle and into the flask until it reached the little '1L' line. He looked back to the cauldron.
Uh... 150 degrees celcius. It was totally at that heat, right? Toby wasn't entirely sure how to tel- WAIT. He had a cauldron thermometer in his potions kit, bought during his last trip into Hogsmeade. Toby dug it out and held it up to the side of the pewter cauldron. When it read 150 degrees celcius, he carefully poured the goats milk in, making sure none of it splashed out and was lost. Every little drop could be totally crucial in potions, after all.
Milk, DONE. Next? Strand of thestral hair. Toby found it strange that he could see the hair, but not the creature itself, but was thankful for it nonetheless. Made his job brewing this potion wayyyyyyy easier.
"Wingardium Leviosa," the Hufflepuff cast, swish-and-flicking his wand and levitating the strand of hair right into his cauldron.
And now... to wait. For two hours.
Toby briefly considered wandering off for that brief period, but decided it might be best to wait here, write out notes for this potion, and do some studying for his Potions OWL. In any case, he was notorious for wandering off and forgetting he was in the middle of something, one of the reasons he was absolutely NOT allowed to cook things alone when he was at home. Yeah, best to stay here.
After checking his watch, Toby readied the next set of ingredients and equipment, lining it all up in the order he'd need it, before writing out his notes. After that, he'd grab his textbook and study some of his favourite potions, and analyse the ingredients and methods of brewing; it was one of the best ways he'd found to study this subject, Toby had found.
SPOILER!!: Notes
Toby Tempus
Fifth Year
Hufflepuff
Potions Year-Long Activity
Un-Felix Un-Felicis
Ingredients
-a litre of goat milk
-1 strand of thestral mane
-bicorn horn
-full, undamaged mussel shell
-one black cat's fur
-caterpillar
-13 rose thorns from 13 different roses (plucked ripe from the branches)
Instructions
1. Pre-heat the cauldron to 150 celcius degrees
2. Put one litre of goat milk
3. Add the thestral mane
4. Wait for two hours
5. Put out the fire and wait for it to cool down
6. Crush the bicorn horn into a fine powder in the meantime and add it once the potion is cool enough for you to touch
7. Check point: it should be cool in maximum 15 minutes
8. With a wooden stick, stir it five times clockwise, four times counter clockwise, three times clockwise, two times counter clockwise and once clockwise.
9. Light a fire and bring it to maximum. Let it burn for a full week. Make sure the fire is always at maximum.
10. Clean the mussel shell gently, make sure there is no moss on it. open it, remove the mussel itself and clean its inside too, then add into the cauldron after a week is up.
11. Put out the fire and wait for one Moon cycle
12. Check point: the colour should be silver
13. Sprinkle half of the fur
14. With a metal stick, stir vigorously 13 times counter clockwise
15. Sprinkle the other half of the fur
16. Stir slowly 13 times counter clockwise
17. Check point: it should smell like your least favourite flower
18. Wait for a week
19. Slice the caterpillar into five equal pieces and add the one by one
20. Swirl your wand slowly over the cauldron while telling an event you think is unfortunate (the number of swirls doesn't matter, just don't stop until the end of the story)
21. Light a low fire and wait for 13 days
22. Get 13 rose thorns from 13 different roses in the gardens and add them all at once
23. With a metal stick, stir once clockwise
24. Wait until it changes colour from green to brown
25. Label it and leave a vial it on the desk