| Chizpurfle
Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: underwater
Posts: 10,322
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|  Stuck inside with Sirius | *Splish-Splash* | bamBAM | ☁ Spooktacular ☁
Noble was hardly surprised that scourgify was the first answer; in any other school year, it would have his first choice for cleaning up the mess at the back too. He nodded at Blake. “Yes…the cleaning charm would be a good choice indeed. It should also be used on equipment before brewing, to help in preventing disaster happing in the first place.”
Ewan spoke next, and he too got a nod. It did depend on what you were trying to clean, and Noble hoped to get a little bit into that later. “The vanishing charm is another good magical option, as long as it is carefully and deliberately applied to the mess and not other things around it.” Scourgify tended to be a little safer to use in that regard. “And yes, a brand of Magical Mess Remover may well be appropriate…especially for small applications.” At some point they’d get to brew something similar, but not today.
Noble really did not appreciate Nem’s attitude, and he rolled his eyes. “You might not be so flippant had I not bothered to clean your chair before you sat down,” Noble said. Which, for the record, was exactly what he had done before their class. The mess had previously covered a much bigger surface area, and it was no easy feat to clear it all before class without magic. “Perhaps if you’d rather not have the learning opportunity, you’d rather write an essay on cleaning methods instead?”
Hmph.
Isla pulling faces did nothing for his mood, and Noble grumbled. He’d already covered vanishing, and, although he was hoping to get onto non-magical solutions, her muggle alternative also left a little to be desired. “How are you planning to scoop that into a trash bag?” he asked in response. With her bare hands perhaps?
It was no surprise Nina didn’t say anything…so he moved on to the next raised hand: Juliette. “If you have one to hand, yes, that would be an option.” Funny how they’d started to assume this particular mess, and not just in general, which is what he’d actually asked. Thankfully, Eiji could be relied upon to give a much more practical solution. “Both of which would help with Isla’s problem,” he replied, glancing over to the younger Slytherin. “Cornstarch helping absorb the potion so you can pick it up more easily with the paper towels…or old rags or cloth, as Claudine said. Though I wouldn’t do that with bare hands.” A good answer indeed.
The next answer had Noble momentarily confused, and he looked down at his notes in case he’d had a lapse of memory as to where’d they’d got to. Dikes? It took him a few moments to put together where Jina had been going with her answer. “Preventing overspill into drains can be important, as potions can have some weird effects further down the line if not disposed of properly.” And he could tell a few stories about that from his research days. “So yes, some form of preventing that by digging a channel or building a barrier could be helpful.” The latter of which was what he thought Carsyn was trying to get at. It was a little unclear in the mention of textbooks and homework, frankly.
Back to more expected answers…and Cole gave another useful charm. “Tergeo is particularly good for siphoning,” Noble elaborated, “Which makes it a good choice for things that can be salvaged and reused.” And Cole had made some other good points too, as had Jillian. “A powder cleaner like Ajax or simple baking powder can be helpful…but can often react unpredictably, especially when the mess is acidic or has toxins present.” But it was worth holding on to that thought, whilst he followed up on the point about gloves. Though apparently he didn’t need to, as Islay and Noah had it covered. “Yes, and yes,” Noble agreed with a nod. “Personal protective equipment is always a must when working on an unknown spillage. At least gloves, safety specs and a lab coat…but possibly more. It’s also good to have things around in case something does go wrong…an eye wash is a good example. As might be a variety of antidotes.”
And of all the people to come up with another safety suggestion, it was Bernadette. Well, of sorts. “Spanish,” he corrected, lip twitching. That…was definitely not French. “But you can get ones written in English too.” Which would make much more sense, given they were in an English-speaking country. “And generally it’s best to not overspread them otherwise people might choose to ignore the signs altogether and think they’re fake.”
And, moving swiftly on to Naya and Missa…who both had a very sensible suggestion indeed. “This is so very, very important. Anything you know about the spillage…or can test and find out, will help you in clearing it up.”
Shame Aboli’s answer was…less helpful. “On the contrary,” Noble replied, though it was unclear whether he was responding to curing, cleaning or both. “Bleach is an easy way to wreck many things. Especially fabric items, where it can very rapidly remove the colour. It is also an irritant, and can have unexpected reactions.” An expected reaction? That of Pheobe James. Noble sighed. “I am, indeed. You’ll get used to it soon enough.” Or they could continue covering their noses, like Noah was now doing too. And cue another sigh at Cecilia’s answer. “Paying an expert isn’t a bad idea…but I’m interested in what you think that expert might do.”
Probably the person who’d got closest to where they where headed though, other than Eiji’s cornstarch answer earlier, was Avalon, and her mention of cleaning potions. Really, had she and whatshisface Prefect thought to mention them…or had he forgotten some of them? Still, he nodded. “Yes…cleaning potions. And thankfully, not all of them need to be activated with magic…like the one we’ll be doing today.” He glanced down at his lesson plan…noting that they’d already covered a good chunk of what he’d been planning to ask about next.
“So yes…what do you use when you need to clean an unknown spill without magic? An absorbent potion, which makes it both easier to scoop up the mess, and helps neutralise anything toxic. For the first purpose, we can use a mix of agar jelly and sawdust…and for the latter, powdered silver. To hold it altogether, we’ll also need flobberworm mucus.” Usually he’d take them through a potion step-by-step, and whilst he would still be demonstrating today, he figured with the memory issues, it’d be easier to just have everything on the board all at once. He picked up his chalk and lesson plan and headed over the blackboard…only to flip it over and see the instructions already there.
Well then. Guess he’d done that earlier. He referred back to his notes, checking if there was anything else he wanted to add. “Please use a wooden spill to light your burner from the one at the front, since incendio is useless right now. If you have any questions, please ask. Otherwise, you may begin.”
Quote:
Originally Posted by Recipe Absorbent granules for cleaning up spills
Ingredients:
250g sawdust (absorbent)
5g silver powder (help neutralise toxins)
250ml flobberworm mucus (binding)
50g agar jelly powder (absorbent)
1. Light your burner using a spill and the burner at the front of class
2. Gently heat the flobberworm mucus.
3. Stir in the agar jelly until it has dissolved.
4. Add sawdust and silver powder.
5. Leave to cool.
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