Violet had copied the instructions, collected her ingredients, cleaned her cauldron, and set the flame to going on high in record time. Brewing was becoming second nature to her. Teachers and friends were encouraging her to go into that as a profession, indeed, some people seemed to assume that was what she was doing, but Violet was not quite sure yet that was what she wanted to do. She had wanted to discuss it with Jane over the winter holidays, but her ex-governess had not been easy to engage in conversation. She mulled all this over as she ground the Snakeweed leaves into a powder.

Once the water reached a boil, Violet interrupted her reverie to add the powdered leaves to her cauldron and turn it down to low. She added the 10 drops of dragon claw ooze (which she handled without a qualm, having become so used to unusual ingredients that she barely gave them a second thought now) and once she spent the next minute stirring the potion 6 times counter closkwise, she saw that it had indeed turned the desired faint yellow. After 3 minutes, she added the Adder's tongue, then began methodically cutting her Wiggentree Bark into strips. While she did this, she began to think again about Jane Howard's recent strange behavior. Quite her usual cool and methodical self, Miss Howard had seemed agitated and her conversation somewhat illogical. She also drank quite a lot of water--Violet wondered if she was perhaps ill or something; yes, that might account for it. Still, it was a pity her friend had to be under the weather during the one time a year Violet had a chance to sit down and really talk with her.