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Old 07-15-2018, 06:31 PM   #64 (permalink)
hermygirl
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Stuck inside with Sirius | *Splish-Splash* | bamBAM | ☁ Spooktacular ☁

SPOILER!!: Daisy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ginevra View Post
Goodness, this potion was starting to get a tad complicated but Daisy was determined to stay on top of things as she wrote down yet more notes.

Daisy wasn't taking any chances so she passed her glass stirring rod twice through the blue flame of her burner. Once she had sterilised the stirring rod, Daisy stirred her potion once clockwise, followed by once counter-clockwise. It soon became murky-green in colour, much to her inner delight. She then cleaned and sterilised her stirring rod.

Daisy then grabbed her pestle and mortar, using a Cleaning Charm before placing the three dried leeches inside her mortar which she carefully crushed to a powder using her pestle, ensuring that the powder was devoid of any large lumps. She then sprinkled the powdered leeches into her potion.

Daisy then grabbed her knife and sterilised it via passing it through the blue flame twice. She grabbed her dittany leaves and rolled them together to avoid any mishaps as she carefully shredded the leaves. She didn't add the dittany to her potion but instead measured three inches of Wiggentree bark and made a little nick with her knife on the side just like Professor Noble had demonstrated. Daisy then grated her Wiggentree bark until she reached the nick she had carved. Once that had been completed, Daisy added the dittany, immediately followed by the grated Wiggentree bark to her potion. Daisy then cleaned and sterilised her knife.

Daisy then used her syringe to measure 250ml of salamander blood and slowly poured it into her potion using a figure of eight motion and then she added her ¼ teaspoon of powdered silver to the crossroad part of the figure of eight. Daisy grabbed her stirring rod and stirred her potion thrice in the shape of the figure of eight and soon the colour of her potion became a pale, silvery grey. The Hufflepuff cleaned her syringe and stirring rod and she sterilised the stirring rod.

Daisy turned off the heat and measured and added 250ml of boom berry juice via her syringe. Using her stirring rod, Daisy stirred her potion in a clockwise direction until it was thick and white just like ointment.

Daisy then cleaned her equipment, except for her cauldron because it needed twenty-four hours to brew. Daisy stayed in her seat until she was allowed to go by Professor Noble.


Having finished his own potion and left it to cool at the front of the class, Noble now wandered to inspect how everyone was proceeding. He crossed his hands behind his back, a stern look on his face not giving away any clues as to how he thought they were doing. Inside though, he was actually somewhat impressed. Did he expect any of their efforts to function at full potency? Not particularly. But it least there hadn’t been any catastrophic failures so far.

He headed over to the quiet Hufflepuff first, who had a quiet focus about her disposition. “Looking promising,” he told Daisy, peering into her cauldron as she stirred in the figure of eight shape. Her work showed the precision and accuracy he strived for in his classroom, and the silvery grey wasn’t far off his own. “Keep it up.” She’d have a good result if she did.
SPOILER!!: Emmalyn
Quote:
Originally Posted by Birchwoodmom View Post
She almost had a moment of rest, but Professor Noble plodded right along. It was the never ending potion. Leeches were next. She grabbed the three and put them in her mortar then used her pestle to crush them. She wasn’t exactly sure how to crust them not too fine, but fine enough, so she just did a best guess.

After the leeches were sprinkled in, it was on to the shredding of the dittany, nice and fine, and the grating Wiggintree bark. After the knife was sterilized, she almost cut too far into the bark, which would have resulted in blood loss, but stopped just before the halfway point and was able to hold onto the end to get the tree inches grated.

Dittany and wiggintree were in, one immediately after the other. The end was in sight. Her stomach was protesting the lack of food and she was more than ready to be finished. A figure eight of salamander blood later and she was ready to sprinkle the silver powder on the crossroads and stir in a figure eight exactly three times. With great relief, the potion turned a mostly silvery grey color.

She turned the burner off, added the boom berry juice, and started stirring clockwise. She stirred and stirred, all clockwise, waiting for the potion to turn all face creamy looking. Just when she thought her arm may fall off, the potion finally started thickening and turning white. Done!! She stepped back and did a little dance. It was her best potion of the year. Probably her best position of her entire Hogwarts career. No fingers were cut, nothing was set on fire, and it looked super close to the way Professor Nobles potion looked. She was beyond thrilled.

Glancing around, she noticed other students finishing up and cleaning their stations, so she did as well. A clean workstation was a happy workstation. She showed great care in keeping the area around the cauldron sterile while she cleaned her supplies, no need to contaminate the potion so close to it being ready.

It was a good job she hadn’t verbalised that thought about this potion being never-ending, else Noble might have been tempted to award her with a month or even year long date working on a truly longwinded potion. The second year was starting to show promise with her potioneering though. “Next time, pound the leeches a couple more times,” Noble said as he watched her beat the potion. It eventually had turned – but it had taken a lot more arm power than his own. “I suspect you had a couple of lumps left hindering the reaction.”
SPOILER!!: Maddie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Banana View Post
Maddie was pretty proud of herself. Things were going pretty well for her, which gave her a boost of confidence she didn't know she needed. It seemed like the brewing process was nearly done, too, so she shouldn't have that many more steps. The third year reached for her stirring rod then repeated all the steps to sterilizing it a second time. When that was done, she stirred her potion once in a clockwise direction then once in a counter-clockwise direction. She paused then looked over her potion. Murky green---yup.

She moved on to dropping three dried leeches (ewww) in her mortar then crushed them with the pestle. When there were no large lumps, she sprinkled the crushed pieces into the potion. Well-prepared for the next step? Ouch. That sounded like something she could really mess up on. Mimicking the professor, she ran her knife through the flame, laid out the dittany leaves before her, then rolled them together. She shredded the leaves then left them to tend to the Wiggentree bark. She measured out three inches of the bark then marked off her measurements with her knife.

She then began grating just as the professor did, and she didn't even cut anything important---ahem, her fingers---in the process. She then added the dittany, immediately followed by the Wiggentree bark. Maddie then took the time to measure out 250 mL of salamander blood, and then she checked her measurements twice before pouring in the blood slowly in the shape of an eight. When she'd poured a sufficient amount of the blood into the potion, she looked at the figure-eight shaped substance just floating there on the top of things. Hmm...

Having gotten herself slightly overwhelmed with all the steps, she sighed softly before moving on. With exactly 1/4 teaspoon of silver powder measured out and ready to go, she added in the substance to the exact part she had been instructed to add it to. It was funny how potions worked. One false move in the wrong direction, and it was all over. Just like that. She stirred three times on the path the figure eight had made. She watched as the potion turned a a pale silvery gray.

SUPER AWESOME.

With a sigh indicating to herself that she'd reached the final stretch, Maddie turned off the heat. At that point, she added the 250mL of boomberry juice and stirred clockwise until the potion was thick and white. DONE. Well, done with everything except waiting out the twenty-four hours. On that note, the third year began cleaning up her tools and work station while she waiting on dismissal.

Was it a surprise the Hufflepuffs seemed to be doing the best job? Not particularly. They were known for their work ethic, after all. He halted behind another Hufflepuff now, his eyes on her measuring. Clearly she’d learnt her lesson from the joint Herbology class, and a small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he watched her double-check the measurement of the salamander blood. Students might not like his methods in the moment, but it did get decent results. Noble was confident of rising standards under his watchful eye. “Good work, Maddie,” he said with a nod before moving on. The white ointment was looking promising indeed.

SPOILER!!: Jessa
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo View Post
Right. Don't be late. Easily done. Why give him one more thing to frown about while she was around? On time she could and would do.

Remembering all the times she'd gone ahead and awoken the man's ire, Jessa chose to fall in line with him as he explained the steps. Nevermind they were all in the textbook, he seemed to have a problem with anyone stepping outside the grain. Luckily, this wasn't a problem for the young girl. She hated standing out and found it much easier to simply fit in line with whatever was being expected--in most cases. The 6th year reached for her glass stirring rod and knife then ran them twice through the hottest part of the flame on her burner--didn't need him telling her it was the blue part but she assumed that was for the benefit of others. One then the other, carefully she took them through the flames until she felt it was enough.

Jessa carefully set both instruments down then reached for her rosemary. As suggested, she started at the small end, and pulled the stalk through her pinched fingers to get all the leaves off at once.Huh. It really was easy. Surely not as easy as charming it to do the task itself but she'd let the man have it.

The chopping though....would definitely be magical. She was aware she'd never get it finer than she could if the knife was animated to do this job specifically. It could not be distracted, it would not make mistakes so that was what she did. Jessa leaned against her table and watched the knife work. That done, she measured one tablespoon of the stuff. It amused her that he felt the need to emphasize the "table”[/b]. Showed just how much faith in had in them and their own reading abilities. She sprinkleed it over the top of her potion and began stirring clockwise--just the two stirs.

Jessa reached for her murtlap tentacles and again charmed her knife to get to work cutting them in halves lengthwise as the man--and her textbook--instructed. It was much more efficient this way and allowed her to give more of her attention to the Professor despite any real need for this. Next she added the 10 drops of honeywater and and charmed the whole thing to toss itself about in like fashion to salad making or whatever it was the Professor had been doing. This achieved a more thorough job. The whole pile was added to her cauldron, just before she added the tea tree oil.

Oh, they were back to sterilization? Right. Jessa sterilized her stirring rod once more then stirred her potion once clockwise, then another stir in a counter-clockwise motion. The 17 year old stared down into her cauldron for a colour check. It wasn't so much that she thought it wouldn't be the way it should be, but rather it was good practice to assess your potions as you went along, so she did. Yep, murky green, all good here.

The three dried leeches were levitated into her mortar just before she animated the pestle to start its crushing. This was also sprinkled in.

With the warning about the next step, it was also another she felt more confident carrying out with magic. Copying the man, Jessa ran her knife through the flames again while she charmed her leaves to roll themselves. The knife she charmed to begin its work of shredding.

Before adding it, she measured out three inches of Wiggentree bark. While Professor's tip was 'useful', Jessa wouldn't be grating herself and disregarded it as a result. Much like everything else, charms were again heavily at work. It just gave the job such a polished feel to it. The Ravenclaw added her dittany, followed by the grated Wiggentree bark.

Again with the emphasis, Professor.

Her 250ml of salamander blood was already measured out. Yeah. So. Slowly, she poured it into her cauldron in the figure eight the man had mentioned. Next she added ¼ teaspoon of silver powder to the section in the middle of the eight where things crossed and stirred three times following the figure of eight shape. Unsurprisingly the colour began fading to a pale silvery grey.

Jessa turned her heat off then added boom berry juice. Here she stirred clockwise until the potion became thick and white.That made her finished and in no danger of remaining here for lunch.

No thanks.


SPOILER!!: Notes
Ingredients
  • 500 ml of water
  • 500 ml of horklump juice
  • 5 drops flobberworm mucus
  • 10 blue-bottle fly larvae
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
  • 100g pickled murtlap tentacles
  • 10 drops of honeywater
  • 5 drops tea tree oil
  • 3 leeches
  • 2 cups of shredded dittany
  • 3 inches of Wiggentree bark, grated
  • 250 ml salamander blood
  • ¼ teaspoon powdered silver
  • 250 ml boom berry juice

Recipe

Remember to work with aseptic techniques throughout.
1. Clean your cauldron with Scourgify, and then sterilise it using Incendio Tria
2. Add 500ml water and 500ml horklump juice and bring to a rolling boil
3. Add 5 drops of flobberworm mucus
4. Drop in the larvae one at a time
5. Strip the leaves off the rosemary (leaving the woody stalk behind), chop finely, and sprinkle into the potion. Stir twice clockwise.
6. Slice the murtlap tentacles lengthways, toss with the honeywater, and add to the cauldron.
7. Add 5 drops of tea tree oil.
8. Stir once clockwise, once counter-clockwise.
9. Crush the three dried leeches in your pestle and mortar and sprinkle it in.
10. Add two cups of finely shredded dittany, and immediately add in the grated Wiggentree bark.
11. Slowly pour in the salamander blood in a figure of eight motion.
12. Add ¼ teaspoon of powdered silver and stir three times following the figure of 8 shape you made with the salamander blood. The potion’s colour should fade to pale grey.
13. Turn of the heat. Add the boom berry juice, and stir clockwise until the potion resembles a thick white ointment. It now needs to be left for 24 hours at room temperature before it’s safe to use.


It’d been how many months he’d had Jessa in his class now? As per usual, he eyed her use of magic for every. single. little. single. step. He was all for precision and reproducibility in brewing, stressed it to the point of becoming a broken record as a necessity for beginner training, but potions was most accurately described as an art. It required a little passion, a little soul.

It seemed that the Ravenclaw had neither, at least when it came to his lessons. Magic was imbued in the brewing process, in the way ingredients were prepared and finessed. Ingredients by themselves didn’t make a potion, else any muggle would be able to concoct something. And the overuse of magic in preparation of ingredients could taint particularly finicky potions to the point of rendering them useless. “Next lesson,” he said as he watched her finish up and the white ointment appear, “You’re to hand me your wand at the start of class. I want you to get a proper feel for your ingredients. For the process. If a magical automaton could brew, I would have been out of a job a long time ago.” And for the last year, that’s all she’d been: a robot. For as clever a student as he’d been told she was, it was a complete and utter waste.

SPOILER!!: Chloe
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassirin View Post
It made sense to keep cleaning the stirring stick as they put it back into the cauldron, especially since it was so easy to sterilize it in the blue flame beneath the cauldron. Chloe cleaned her stirring stick and dropped it back into the cauldron, stirring it once clockwise and then once in the opposite direction. She sterilized it again before dropping it on the counter.

The dried leeches were gross, and she didn't bother to school her features as she dropped them into the pestle and tapped their desiccated bodies lightly with her mortar. Half-hearted crushing wasnt going to get the job done, so Chloe buckled down and managed it, although she made faces the whole times. Just so the professor knew she was being particularly brave. Once the leeches were essentially gross bug powder, Chloe sprinkled the contents of her pestle into the cauldron.

Next up, the dittany. Chloe watched the professor carefully as she sterilized her knife in her flame, and then she did her best to mimic his motions in shredding her dittany. The pieces were mostly the same size and shape, and Chloe dumped them into her cauldron once she reached two cups. Another cleansing, and she grated the Wiggentree bark into even finer pieces. Also roughly the same size and shape. Very roughly.

Merlin, there were a lot of ingredients in this potion. Chloe added the salamander blood, trickling it out slowly as she drew a figure eight over the surface of her cauldron. Drip drip drip driiiiiiiip and drop. How was anyone even good at potions, when it didn't seem intuitive at all? She could still generally see the figure eight from the blood, and Chloe sprinkled the powdered silver over top of it all before tracing the line with her cleansed stirrer. One. Two. Aaaaand three.

Was it gray? Was it... turning gray...? Chloe leaned closer and decided it was definitely... chalky. Sort of light and gray. She turned off the heat and immediately added the boom berry juice, whispering "boom" as she did so. It mattered. It really did. Another cleansing of her stirring stick, and Chloe stirred the whole chalky gray mess. It was goopy and pale, and maybe that was as good as it got.

A student that wasn’t a robot, however, was Chloe Kettleburn. Yes, he’d seen that look at the dried leeches, and he was mildly intrigued as to what her reaction might have been with live ones. Unfortunately, she could have done with a little more accuracy in her work, and by the time he’d reached her workstation, it was a tad late. A thick, bright white ointment the gloopy mess was definitely not. Noble grunted. If he had to hazard a guess, it’d gone wrong somewhere after adding the salamander blood. With it so close to the end of the lesson though, there wasn’t much point to telling her to start completely over – and he did appreciate her enthusiasm. [b]“Next time pay a bit more attention to what you’re doing with the salamander blood and silver powder. It’s not bad though, for a first attempt."

He wandered around the other students, before heading to the front of the class. “When you’ve finished brewing, tidy up your workbench and you’re free to go. I’ll mark your potions tomorrow afternoon, and you can come reclaim your cauldron after dinner.” Anyone who was unsuccessful would find it empty when they returned. The others would be allowed to keep their results if they so chose. “If you’re still brewing…then, what are you waiting for? Chop chop!"


ooc: Thank you SO much for joining Noble and I. It's been so fun being a part of your creativity :3 And what a shocker, not a single exploded cauldron! I'll leave the thread open for a few more hours in case anyone wants to finish up.
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