 I don't think Wes will be brewing glory anytime soon...
Wesley was trying very hard to pay attention. Unfortunately, Potions felt specifically designed to make his brain short-circuit. He winced at the professor's words and tried to give a confident smile, but it felt more like a grimace.
His eyes bounced constantly between the blackboard, the ingredients, and the bubbling cauldron while the noise of the classroom kept dragging his attention elsewhere. By the time he added the Flobberworm mucus, he was already second-guessing which direction he was supposed to stir.
Clockwise first. No, counterclockwise.
Wait.
That was after the Billywig powder. Right?
"That is revolting," he muttered while stirring carefully.
The potion developed a faint golden sheen before Wesley began adding the Billywig powder. Pale sparks crackled across the surface. Then orange. Wesley immediately winced and lowered the heat.
"Brilliant start," he muttered under his breath.
Trying to recover, he added the gum arabic and essence of reed grass before staring directly into the cauldron. Three minutes without stirring.
Easy. Without thinking, Wesley grabbed the spoon and absentmindedly gave the potion one quick swirl.
He froze. "...You have got to be kidding me." Trying to pretend that hadn’t happened, Wesley hurried onward with the aloe vera gel and mooncalf tendon shavings before beginning the figure-eight stirring. "Row, row, row your boat..."
Halfway through, he realized the tendon shavings were still sitting untouched beside him. "Oh, come on..."
He tossed them in quickly, and the potion immediately thickened hard against the spoon. Encouraged, Wesley carefully added the syrup of hellebore drop by drop, until he lost count after another cauldron hissed nearby.
The potion suddenly lurched upward in a long silver-blue strand. Wesley recoiled instantly. "Absolutely not."
Quickly throwing in the knotgrass, he watched the potion settle again before sprinkling the Jobberknoll feather ash carefully across the surface. At least it still vaguely resembled an Elasticity Elixir. That felt close enough to success for him.
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