Potions 3 and Final

[StarShine]

The class is the same with the proper chairs with soft cushions to sit and lean back on, and they are still are charmed to take the most comfortable shape and height once a student is seated. The walls are still a soft, calming blue. There are one big, grey rubbish bin by the door and a white, porcelain washbasin with a tap for those who wants to wash their hands before/after the class and who can't perform 'Aguamenti' charm.

The only addition to the classroom is: cobwebs everywhere. One wonders how to brew potions, because surely something would fall into the cauldrons...

The door is open 15 minutes before the class time. Professor Culloden is sitting at his desk and looking glum, no wonder given the state of the classroom.

OOC: If you are going to RP your characer use the washbasin or the bin, you don't have to take Cosgrach's permission. Just assume he has granted it.

Lesson progress
First question (http://www.snitchseeker.com/11774250-post15.html)
Second question (http://www.snitchseeker.com/11774458-post29.html)
Third question (http://www.snitchseeker.com/11774683-post45.html)
Information and mini activity (http://www.snitchseeker.com/11774876-post61.html)
Main activity (http://www.snitchseeker.com/11775127-post78.html)

[Daydreamer11]

It was time for Potions and Janelle arrived at the classroom with plenty of time to spare. Once she got inside, she was not surprised to see cobwebs everywhere. Why would this class be any different from all of the rest? Being such a stickler for cleanliness, Janelle knew that this had to be very irritating for Professor Culloden.

The first thing Janelle did was wash her hands. Then, since she had her choice of seats, she headed toward her favorite one. 'Hello Professor", Janelle said with a smile. He didn't look to be in the best of moods today for some reason. Reaching her seat, Janelle made herself comfortable and began to prepare for the day's lesson.

[FearlessLeader19]

Potions Final!

Adi was READY for this!

Not even the silly cobwebs were going to get him down. Nope, nope. "Hiiii, Professor! It's a brilliant day to be looking so depressed.'' The look didn't suit you, Mister. He gave the man the most cheerful smile that he could muster. "Have you got any Antillergen Potion with you? I think Benny would definitely be needing some. He's allergic to the webs. They make him go ACHOOOO all the time.'' The poor bestie.

Adi waved his wand here and there, helping to clean some of the webs. Just enough so that they wouldn't bother students. "It's a little better, I think,'' he told Culloden before shuffling off happily to find a seat... which he had to Scourgify too. Plus, the workstation.

Drat these webs!

Oh, heeeeey, Mini Jasmine! Adi waved to his friend.

[Lissy Longbottom]

This term had been SUPER HARD when it came to potions, even harder than the OWLs. It was really making Caleb nervous for NEWTs...and he could feel that anxiety kicking in. It didn't help that BEANS WAS STILL GONE ugh. He was starting to lose hope. Poor guy had probably accidentally gotten turned into an owl's midnight snack in the owlery...

"Hey Professor," he said with a smile to Culloden, before plopping down next to his fellow prefect Adi. He smiled at him and began to pull out his things. "Hey Adi - doin' good?" he asked with a friendly smile. Being social helped him take his mind off of his missing rat and his anxiety about being just a YEAR away from NEWTs. A WHOLE YEAR! THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH TIME.

[lemon]

POTIONS. Sup, Potions. Dima was ready for you.

Or..... maybe he wasn't, because today was the day of the final, yeah? He had a few guesses to what Cupboardbin Culloden's tests might entail, but he could never be sure. It was best to just study EVERYTHING and hope it was the right stuff.

"Hi, sir! Morning! I think you have a cobweb in your hair." And SO NICE as Dima was, he actually reached over and plucked it out (probably along with a few of the professor's gray hairs, but who was counting?).

With that, the fourth year bobbed along to his usual seat.

Come at him, final.

[Felixir]

Toby had taken to casting the Impervius charm on himself every single day, on account of all the cobwebs and SPIDERS that were all over the school at the moment. As a highkey arachnophobe, it was all he could do not to turn and run the other way whenever he saw either of those things, which was an ISSUE when he had CLASSES. In his rational mind, Toby knew the spell made absolutely zero difference, but Toby wasn't very rational these days, and he was good at convincing himself of things that made him feel better. SOOOOOO the charm was in effect. In any case, it was probably a good idea when it came to working with potions, right? In case of cauldron explosions and splash damage.

Actual genius Tobias Fuller-Thompson.

Though when the boy himself entered the classroom now, he seemed to not even notice the cobwebs or the professor's mood or any of that; he was off in his own little world. The Hufflepuff set himself up at his usual table and instantly began drumming his fingers on the desk and his cauldron, finally looking around the classroom before his eyes fell on Culloden. He BEAMED.

"HI SIR!" Toby called out, giving him a wave and then going back to taptaptapping. "PRIME potion brewing conditions today." He looked up to the ceiling as though checking the sky, where he suddenly saw ALLLLLLL the cobwebs. Which he promptly ignored.

Disappearing animals. Cobwebs and spiders. NEWT stress. Impending graduation. They'd all done a number on Toby's brain, and not quite knowing how to process and deal with all the different stressors and such, Toby had simply gone a little bit weird...er than usual. Eccentric. It was much better than cracking under pressure, that was for sure.

"I am ready to potion."

[Kolyander]

It was time for Potions. Adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder Hady silently entered the classroom inwardly cringing to see more cobwebs in here. Her gaze instantly swept around the area in search of spiders.

She couldn't help it. Pulling out her wand the third year softly muttered several 'scourgify's' about the area as she walked. "Morning Professor," she greeted quietly giving him a polite smile while making her way to her usual seat. Before she say though she made sure to cast the cleaning on the chair, table and everything else that was close to her. There wasn't anyway she was taking anymore chances. Things were going to be clean...or well at least as clean as she could get it for the moment.

After several well placed cleaning charms were cast and she was somewhat happy enough with it Hady sat down placing her bag on her lap. How exactly were they going to be making a potion today with all these cobwebs everywhere?

[griffin]

Cobwebs, there were were cobwebs everywhere. No matter how much you cleaned the cobwebs always came back. Were there more spiders than usual in the castle? It was amazing that the spiders could make new webs so fast. "Hello Professor Culloden. What would happen if a spider or a cobweb fell into a potion?" That could be a serious problem. It never turned out well when things that shouldn't be in the potion ended up in a potion. After scourgifying the desk and the chair, Penelope took a seat. The chairs in here were always comfortable. She was ready for the potions final.

[Sararara]

Ew. EW. Norah did nothing to hide her wrinkled nose and scrunchy forehead as she entered the potions classroom, on account of the cobwebs that had apparently taken over the whole entire universe. The corner of her mouth twitched at the sight of Professor Culloden, whose funny little wrinkles were back between his eyebrows, but she quickly went back to frowning. She had to keep up her IMAGE, okay? Frowny Norah, adversary of meanie spiders and scary things. And finals. GRRRRR. She stopped in front of Cullodens desk and gave him a silent salute with one hand, using the other to cover her mouth because those little wrinkles were ever better up close. The little frowny face ones, OH MAN. Heheheh. Heh. Wait. Grrrr. Right.

She added a little bit of stomping to her steps as she made her way over to a seat in the front row. Just in case nobody got that she was 300% not okay with these cobweb things existing all over the place, y'know? They needed to KNOW. The fourth year used the sleeve of her robes to clear off the seat before sitting down and fidgeting as she eyed the mountains of those THINGS that were still very much there despite her efforts to clean them off. Sigh. SIGH. This was even worse than the time they were stuck inside for 87 years.

[MudInMyBlood]

More cobwebs, and AJ still wasn't able to collect anymore spiders. Where were they all? Didn't they know it was RUDE to have your homes set up everywhere, and not be there? Bad manners it was. The fourth year was in a really good mood as she entered the classroom.

This was the most cobwebs she had laid eyes on inside of a classroom. Had Culloden given up on them because AJ got it. After a while it had to feel like a lost cause. Might as well embrace it, yeah? She got it.

His sad look though. AJ rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out the unicorn charm that Otis actually didn't eat. She still felt bad for blaming the innocent owl, but he was the last one there and had been in a nasty vindictive mood. Who could blame her?

Anyways, she walked over, and laid the unicorn charm on the professor's desk and gave him a warm smile. "I think you need this more than me." Turning on her heel, she went to find a seat next to Norah. Everybody in the class got a wave.

[Holmesian Feline]

Potions final!

That meant only one thing...last potion he had to brew. Which while he didn't hate the subject as much anymore and actually was halfway decent in the subject matter, Benny was somewhat happy for. At least this time the exam wasn't in the form of an OWL or NEWT. No...this was an ordinary final. Hopefully that meant it wouldn't be quite as hard to brew. The wolfsbane had been difficult enough and he had had to to brew that twice.
Well one and a half times.

Entering the classroom, Benny realized that Professor Flamsteed's sneeze hadn't been the worst he had to worry about while brewing. The cobwebs were EVERYWHERE. The chances were far higher of one of them getting into his cauldron then cookie crumbs from the earlier lesson. "Hello Professor," he greeted Culloden, doubting it was that good for the man by his expression. He then looked around for familair faces before making his way towards Adi.

"Hey," he greeted, taking a seat besides his bestie. Yep...he needed his brewing buddy.

[hermionesclone]

What time was it?

IT WAS TIME FOR FREAKING POTIONS!

Grayson skipped -- yeah, that's right, skipped -- down the corridor and towards the Potions classroom. It sucked that this just so happened to be the final which meant his last lesson with his favourite prof but whatever. He wasn't thinking about that now. Nah! He had a lesson to outshine other people in.

The skipping came to a halt near the door of the classroom, which gave the seventh year enough opportunity to bop his collar and put on that familiar strut of his. "Heeeeeeeeey, Professor Cullo--" And........... head!tilt. What was with the look on Culloden's face? "You alright there, sir?" He gave the man a smile before glancing around at some of the others in the classroom. Alright, which one of these lunatics had annoyed Culloden and made him upset? 'Fess up and you might not get hexed that--

.............. HOLY FREAKING MERLIN WAS THAT DIMA TOUSSAINT???

The Slytherin made a beeline towards the younger Ravenclaw and plopped down next to him. "Dude, where in the freaking name of Merlin have you been?!" It felt like the last time he'd seen the guy properly, he was just a second year or whatever. How did he end up looking so....... grown up?!

And the cobwebs were gonna be ignored. Though, if they dared to ruin his potion, he was gonna be mad beyond reason.

[Samia]

Cobwebs. Cobwebs everywhere ...

It was getting really annoying now. Ruffling his hair again for the 100th time probably to get rid of any in his hair, the fifth year entered the class. Noticing the professor looking glum as ever, Noel made a 'sigh' face. Because it was really just THAT kind of day.

To look glum, be glum and do glum.

Dropping his bag, the puff took his seat. Time to potions.

[Weasley174]

Angel was moody, she was very moody... The Professor had better now give her any strange looks today or she might just scream the room down.

Angel looked at the Professor. "Hello Professor." Angel gave him a weak smile. "I hope that you are having a great day?" Angel hoped that it was better than hers anyway.

[StarShine]

The first thing Janelle did was wash her hands. Then, since she had her choice of seats, she headed toward her favorite one. 'Hello Professor", Janelle said with a smile. He didn't look to be in the best of moods today for some reason. Reaching her seat, Janelle made herself comfortable and began to prepare for the day's lesson.
Cosgrach looked at Janelle, who happened to be the first person to arrive and bitterly laughed at her cleanliness measure in his head. Washing hands was futile in these conditions. At least they weren't going to brew a real potion...

He just nodded at her and looked at the next person.


Not even the silly cobwebs were going to get him down. Nope, nope. "Hiiii, Professor! It's a brilliant day to be looking so depressed.'' The look didn't suit you, Mister. He gave the man the most cheerful smile that he could muster. "Have you got any Antillergen Potion with you? I think Benny would definitely be needing some. He's allergic to the webs. They make him go ACHOOOO all the time.'' The poor bestie.

Adi waved his wand here and there, helping to clean some of the webs. Just enough so that they wouldn't bother students. "It's a little better, I think,'' he told Culloden before shuffling off happily to find a seat... which he had to Scourgify too. Plus, the workstation.
Cosgrach just... looked at Adi. Maybe the boy was blind, or he loved spiders; Cosgrach didn't know. Whatever went through the boy's mind clearly didn't cross this one professor, so he just kept looking at the boy with a dead expression. It might be a brilliant day, but these bloody cobwebs obscured his vision and mood, so he just grunted something, and said "Why doesn't he have?" in a dead tone. If Benny was so allergic, he ought to carry his own potion...

Cosgrach didn't try to stop Adi when he waved his wand to clean the classroom a bit, but what the house elves couldn't clean would not go away that easily... or... probably forever.


"Hey Professor," he said with a smile to Culloden, before plopping down next to his fellow prefect Adi.
Cosgrach muttered a reply at Caleb too, and marvelled at his smile. So the boy could still smile while he drunk a soup with cobweb? Because this man certainly wanted to abandon this castle and live in his clean house forever.


"Hi, sir! Morning! I think you have a cobweb in your hair." And SO NICE as Dima was, he actually reached over and plucked it out (probably along with a few of the professor's gray hairs, but who was counting?).
Oh look, a Dima!

The corners of Cosgrach's mouth triiiiiiied to travel towards his ears, but what the boy said and did made them OPEN instead to wail shout: "WHAT GET IT OFF -" okay he was - "OWWW, DIMA! Was that necessary?" HE was counting, as he felt each hair leaving his head, and half-glared-half-looked-in-gratitude at the boy.


"HI SIR!" Toby called out, giving him a wave and then going back to taptaptapping. "PRIME potion brewing conditions today." He looked up to the ceiling as though checking the sky, where he suddenly saw ALLLLLLL the cobwebs. Which he promptly ignored.
...
"I am ready to potion."
Ugh, clearly only Cosgrach seemed to hate these... conditions they were in!

He looked at Toby incredulously while the boy was beaming at him and blinked at the over-enthusiastic greeting. "Yeah," was all he could say - yeah the conditions were just brilliant to brew a potion. Ugh... at least Toby was ready to 'potion', which Cosgrach acknowledged with a nod. Good, these kids weren't disgusted. Cosgrach found that weird, but it also meant that they would focus.


"Hello Professor Culloden. What would happen if a spider or a cobweb fell into a potion?"
. . . did she ask that question seriously?

"Disaster," he said simply, dryly, and turned to look at the next student. Hadn't they learnt the no contamination rule yet?


She couldn't help it. Pulling out her wand the third year softly muttered several 'scourgify's' about the area as she walked. "Morning Professor," she greeted quietly giving him a polite smile while making her way to her usual seat.
Cosgrach watched Hady, and at last he could manage a tiny smile.

"Hi," he croaked and just... watched her try to clean the stupid nasty things. This classroom was a lost cause. He wished Annie could see it and relocate him to the second or third floor. He bet those classrooms were more shiny than the whole glitter in the world.


She stopped in front of Cullodens desk and gave him a silent salute with one hand, using the other to cover her mouth because those little wrinkles were ever better up close. The little frowny face ones, OH MAN. Heheheh. Heh. Wait. Grrrr. Right.
"Madam," he greeted her - although his voice sounded dead, he still had a sense of humour. She had proven to him that she was done with puberty at the beginning of the term, so she became a 'madam' now, see?

Hehehe...


Anyways, she walked over, and laid the unicorn charm on the professor's desk and gave him a warm smile. "I think you need this more than me." Turning on her heel, she went to find a seat next to Norah. Everybody in the class got a wave.
Need something? What? He blinked at that was offered, and said "Thanks." He'd deal with it later...


"Hello Professor," he greeted Culloden, doubting it was that good for the man by his expression.
"Hi," was the only thing that got out of the man... for now.


"Heeeeeeeeey, Professor Cullo--" And........... head!tilt. What was with the look on Culloden's face? "You alright there, sir?" He gave the man a smile before glancing around at some of the others in the classroom. Alright, which one of these lunatics had annoyed Culloden and made him upset? 'Fess up and you might not get hexed that--
Oh look, Grayson!

The man returned the smile - his first genuine smile that day to be honest. "Just hoping we won't be eaten," he half joked (though the spiders COULD eat human flesh, so he also very much meant it too) and watched him find a seat.

Grayson, man. Might as well call him Cosgrach Junior, because he was the mini Cosgrach.


Noticing the professor looking glum as ever, Noel made a 'sigh' face. Because it was really just THAT kind of day.

To look glum, be glum and do glum.
Finally, a student who didn't look like the spiders were the best creatures in the world.

Cosgrach wanted to thank the guy for looking glum like him, but he didn't and instead just nodded at him. GOOD to know he wasn't exaggerating this cobweb stuff, y'know?


Angel looked at the Professor. "Hello Professor." Angel gave him a weak smile. "I hope that you are having a great day?" Angel hoped that it was better than hers anyway.
Did he look like he was having a great day?

Cosgrach was almost amused with the idea. Still, he said "I'm not." He wasn't a man to humour anyone and to be honest, he didn't think anyone had a good time in these conditions.
He got uuuuuup, checked his clothes to make sure he was still clean, and started walking among the aisles as he made eye contact with whoever looked at him.

"Two terms ago, we covered how to safely brew an already existing potion and what the safety means were. Today, we're going to learn about how to protect yourself against potions with bad intentions, whether they are dark or a regular potions gone bad and means of safety while experimenting."

He stopped to take a breath and asked: "How can you protect yourself against poisons?"

OOC: The class starts at this point, so please don't announce late arrival. Instead, assume your character has been in the room since the beginning. :)

You can be creative with the answers. ^_^ But please say only one way in your post.

I'll post again around 20 hours later.

[Daydreamer11]

Nichelle gave a wave back to Adi as he came in. Then she took note of the Professor. He certainly seemed to be in a foul mood today. That could not be a good sign.

Then it was time to begin and Professor Culloden explained what they would be doing today. "This should be interesting", Janelle thought. As the first question was asked, Janelle raised her hand to respond. What could they do about poisons?

"Bezoar", Janelle said. "You can use bezoar, just in case you accidentally, or not accidentally come into contact with poison." She wasn't sure if the Professor wanted to know what you do to prevent poisoning, but Janelle decided to go with the antidote.

[Lislchen]

After cleaning the desk, Maggie quickly sat down next to Noel, her nose slightly wrinkled. This was seriously getting out of hand. Big time. Like. The cobwebs. What were those house elves doing? Chilling somewhere with a house elf sized sombrero on their hats?

Seeing as the class started right after she'd taken a seat, Maggie simply smiled at the Hufflepuff next to her. And then reached over to pluck a cobweb off his robes. Yes she even touched it. She was SUCH a good friend, seriously. Now it was ON HER FINGERS though and it wouldn't come off. Not even when she shook her hand.

EW!

Ah. There. Now. Good. All was well. Ugh. She shuddered a little in disgust before raising her hand to answer Professor Culloden's question. "Stay away from people you don't trust." Maggie suggested. "Or at least don't accept any food or drinks." That seemed like a good plan in theory, no?

[Weasley174]

Angel had no idea what to say to that, the Professor was in about as good mood as she was. "I hope it gets better Professor." Angel wished that someone would do something about the cobwebs or she would go around the classroom and get rid of them herself.

Angel raised her hand. "Professor you can use a bezoar right to get rid of the poison out of your system right."

[Felixir]

WELL. Someone was a mister grumpy gills today, wasn't he?

Spoiler alert: Yes.

Well, if it was about the cobwebs, maybe he could try doing what Toby did and ignoring all bad and unhappy things in the world ever, including cobwebs. It really was a very healthy way to LIVE one's LIFE, y'know? Toby thought so.

Aaaaaand Culloden was talking to everyone else, AAAAAAND they were starting, so Toby didn't have much time to pass on that stellar advice. He just sat there BLATANTLY IGNORING ALL COBWEBS AND SPIDERS. They did not exist to him. Nooooope.

And then the question came, and Toby let out an audible GAAAASSSPPPPP because he KNEW a good answer for that. It was a measure he'd taken TODAY.

... Of course, Toby had to wait a moment to answer, because in GAAAASSSPPPPPing, he'd ended up inhaling a piece of cobweb. This was not the first time it had happened, either. Lots of coughing happened, but Toby did eventually raised his hand.

"Impervius Charm!"

He offered no explanation, believing it to be quite obvious.

[ArianaBlack]

So uh... The cobwebs. Could they talk about that? Or actually, could they not talk about that?

Because Zander was getting real sick of Cobwebs, real quickly. Like seriously. What the heck was going on at this school!? And he couldn't even blame the House Elves because they were friends now. Or at least he was pretty much friends with Toddles now. Or were they frenemies? Or wait what was the question again?

These were the thoughts that were occupying the Gryffindor's mind as Professor Culloden addressed the class as a whole. How come they were talking about stuff... Did that mean they weren't going to do a potion because Zander hated theoretical lessons even more than the normal kind.

Also maybe Professor C hated them too because why else was he looking so glum? Though, it could have something to do with the cobwebs. The cobwebs that Zander didn't want to talk about anymore. Which brought him all the way back to square one.

So uh, how bout them poisons?

[MudInMyBlood]

When AJ gives someone a unicorn charm that she made with her own blood, sweat, and tears, she expected a little bit more than a forced thanks. Like, what could be better? Okay food and a real unicorn, but let's be for real right now.

Mr. cranky pants was going to get a pass this time because maybe something bad happened to him and that was why he was acting like somebody stole his bowl of cheerios.

Poisons... everybody pretty much covered the basics. Some even repeated answers. Um. Um. Um. Really, she didn't have anything else to add. "Sniff test?" Yeah, it would have been better if she would have just stayed silent. She was working on that.

[Samia]

Noel had deliberately placed his potions book on the side of his seat just ensure others knew it would be taken later. And so when Maggie arrived, he subtly moved it so she could sit.

The glum-ness wavered a little as she smiled and so he smiled back. And oh cobweb check! Eh, stupid things. Noel gave Maggie a once over as well but nope, she was fine. But who knows what will happen the next time he looked. These cobwebs were just weird like that.

Okay question time.

"Perhaps a charm that you can cast which indicates the potion is dangerous?" Noel offered. He didn't have any better answer, nope.

[SilverTiger]

The cobwebs had almost made Brooklyn turn back around once she’d stepped into the Potions classroom. Except, it was nearly impossible to get away from them lately, and it had only made her paranoia worse. She didn’t particularly feel like getting bit by invisible spiders again, getting sick and missing lessons again. Plus, Professor Culloden looked hardly any happier about the state of his classroom than she was, so she’d headed for her desk quietly, taking her usual seat seconds before the lesson had begun. Even with her thoughts about leaving, she wasn’t late, and she’d given the professor a smile as he’d begun speaking. She remembered that lesson. She remembered that lesson quite clearly, actually, and her blue eyes looked toward Adi for a moment before she’d turned her attention back to the discussion.

“Taste testers,” she said once the question had been made to the class as a whole. All royalty did that, after all. Considering they all had enemies, which meant food could be tampered with without their knowledge. Besides, it made just as much sense as smelling things, and she didn’t think someone could cast an impervius charm on their insides. And enough people had talked about bezoars. She wanted to be unique.

[Anna Banana]

Kate was just about to greet the professor and give him a hopeful line or two to cheer him up, when he suddenly began class. She'd have to skip the hello's for now and get right on what the lesson was about. She wasn't here two years ago, so she had no idea what they'd covered. She did know a little about poisons, though.

"There's Golpalott's Third Law," she said, raising her hand. "It's really, REALLY confusing, but it teaches us that the antidote to a poison needs to be equal to MORE than what the antidotes to each equal ingredient are." She lowered her hand then looked up at the professor with a really confused expression. "I think I said that the right way..."

Kate just knew that when dealing with poisons, you couldn't just look at each ingredients antidote. you had to find something that was bigger and better than all the antidotes combined. Confusing, it was.

[FearlessLeader19]

GOSH!

Adi didn't like Culloden's mood one bit. Who was this man and what had he done with the regular Culloden?! Hmph. "Er... good question. Maybe it's because I've been a bad best friend lately and didn't make him any.'' After class, the Puff would be finding himself in the lab brewing that Potion. Mhmmm.
.....................

More arrivals to the class. This was excellent because it kept Adi’s attention away from the sticky webs. He thought he was starting to develop a slight phobia for the things. Ever since he had walked/ danced/ shuffled into that lot in front of the Hufflepuff Barrels… bleh. He hated the feel of it on his skin.

“Hiya, Caleb!’’ Yay for the Snake prefect sitting with him. “It’s going really good. What about you? All set for this final?’’ His friend seemed to be happy with that big smile on his face. Oh, heyyy, AJ! The boyfriend waved and sent her a smile at the exact moment Benny entered the class. Smiles for the bestie as he took up a seat next to him. “Someone wants to see you.’’ Adi let the little form that was Gus peek out a bit out of his robe pocket. Shhhh. Professors didn’t know he took his toad to classes.
...................

The Hufflepuff stuffed Gus back into his pocket when Culloden got up. Over the years, his toad had become used to this so Gus was realllllly quiet. Thank Merlin or Adi would definitely be forced to stop bringing him to classes. And at this time around, he was keeping him close.

Hand up, an answer was provided after some of his classmates had replied. "By using an antidote, Professor, such as the Antidote to Common Poisons.'' There was another one but someone else could name that, yes?

[lemon]

Oh look, a Dima!

The corners of Cosgrach's mouth triiiiiiied to travel towards his ears, but what the boy said and did made them OPEN instead to wail shout: "WHAT GET IT OFF -" okay he was - "OWWW, DIMA! Was that necessary?" HE was counting, as he felt each hair leaving his head, and half-glared-half-looked-in-gratitude at the boy.

Oh. Oops. Someone WAS counting.

Errr. "Just look at the bright side, sir! The cobweb's gone!" Yup. Never mind that a lil' bit of hair went with it; that was the perky outlook on the situation for sure. He beamed at the professor once more before turning and traversing to his seat.

.............. HOLY FREAKING MERLIN WAS THAT DIMA TOUSSAINT???

The Slytherin made a beeline towards the younger Ravenclaw and plopped down next to him. "Dude, where in the freaking name of Merlin have you been?!" It felt like the last time he'd seen the guy properly, he was just a second year or whatever. How did he end up looking so....... grown up?!

AND it seemed like he wasn't going to be alone for long. Because GRAYSON!

Where had he been? Uh... "Well, earlier, I was in the Great Hall eating. And then I went upstairs to get my bag. And then I went downstairs and ate some more." Because, like, WHAT was puberty??? Dima must have eaten half of the castle by now, honest. "And now I'm here."

But anyway. "Where have YOU been?" HUH? That was what he'd like to know, Grayson Douglas Whitlock.

Not that he really cared what Grayson had been doing in the morning, but it was polite to ask back, right?

"Two terms ago, we covered how to safely brew an already existing potion and what the safety means were. Today, we're going to learn about how to protect yourself against potions with bad intentions, whether they are dark or a regular potions gone bad and means of safety while experimenting."

He stopped to take a breath and asked: "How can you protect yourself against poisons?"

When Cupboardbin started talking, Dima turned his head away from Grayson (sadly, because Grayson was interesting to look at— his face moved all funny during conversation) and towards the professor. Protection against poisons? Huh. He heard answers about bezoars and Golpalott's Third Law and antidotes, but no one had stated the OBVIOUS.

"Acquire a pet phoenix and use its tears to heal any ailments, poison-induced or otherwise." Duuuh.

[Kolyander]

Cosgrach watched Hady, and at last he could manage a tiny smile.

"Hi," he croaked and just... watched her try to clean the stupid nasty things. This classroom was a lost cause. He wished Annie could see it and relocate him to the second or third floor. He bet those classrooms were more shiny than the whole glitter in the world.
Aww. Professor Culloden seemed so depressed. This wasn't fair...wasn't fair for anyone. Student, staff or house elf. Everyone was having a hard time with all these cobwebs, spiders and pets gone missing. What exactly was going on around here this term?

Hady sniffled a little bit trying not to sneeze the dust and such bothering her a bit. Making sure her desk was check still she pulled a sheet of parchment and a quill from her back as she began to take down some notes. The question asked was already being answered by her fellow mates so she didn't see a point in repeating them as she couldn't think of a different answer. So note taking it was for the time being.

[griffin]

If a potion got contaminated there would be a disaster. Penelope was still curious about what exactly would happen and why, but she didn't really want to find out through experience. Maybe she could find a book that had the information she wanted.

Protecting yourself from bad potions. That seemed like an important thing to learn about. So, how could you protect yourself from poisons? There were definitely antidotes to poisons, but could you do anything to prevent yourself from being poisoned? "Is there a potion that you can take to prevent bad things happening if you are poisoned?" If there was that could be useful.

[StarShine]

"Bezoar", Janelle said. "You can use bezoar, just in case you accidentally, or not accidentally come into contact with poison." She wasn't sure if the Professor wanted to know what you do to prevent poisoning, but Janelle decided to go with the antidote.
Angel raised her hand. "Professor you can use a bezoar right to get rid of the poison out of your system right."
Cosgrach looked first at Janelle, then Angel since they both said the same thing and nodded at them.

"It doesn't work with everything but it's still very useful," he said - normally, he would also have smiled but he noticed the nose of his shoe was covered with cobwebs just at that moment, so he looked disgusted instead.


"Stay away from people you don't trust." Maggie suggested. "Or at least don't accept any food or drinks." That seemed like a good plan in theory, no?
Oh. THIS was the best answer, truly. Cosgrach pointed at her for everyone to see.

"Magdalena gave the best answer, people," he said, "don't consume anything given by people you don't trust." Though, sometimes even by the people you trusted . . . but that wasn't the point of this class.


And then the question came, and Toby let out an audible GAAAASSSPPPPP because he KNEW a good answer for that. It was a measure he'd taken TODAY.

... Of course, Toby had to wait a moment to answer, because in GAAAASSSPPPPPing, he'd ended up inhaling a piece of cobweb. This was not the first time it had happened, either. Lots of coughing happened, but Toby did eventually raised his hand.

"Impervius Charm!"
Gaaaaaaasp?

COUGH? Cosgrach looked at Toby, alarmed. WAS HE OKAY? Oh, okay he was. Good.

"I... don't think that would work with potions," he said and made a face. He wished it was as easy as that, but alas.


"Sniff test?" Yeah, it would have been better if she would have just stayed silent. She was working on that.
Sniff test?

Cosgrach looked at her. "The brewer has to be an amateur for that to work." Like, mess up big time and all for it to smell.


"Perhaps a charm that you can cast which indicates the potion is dangerous?" Noel offered. He didn't have any better answer, nope.
"I believe you mean Scarpin's Revelaspell," he said as he pointed at him for the whole class to hear him too, "and that certainly works not only to say it's a poison, but it also shows which ingredients it is composed of." So that certainly went in their list!


“Taste testers,” she said once the question had been made to the class as a whole.
Okay, Cosgrach liked this idea. However, he was a professional professor, so he couldn't really say that.

"I meant that 'you' in general," he said, "like... without hurting a human being, y'know?" He knew she knew.


"There's Golpalott's Third Law," she said, raising her hand. "It's really, REALLY confusing, but it teaches us that the antidote to a poison needs to be equal to MORE than what the antidotes to each equal ingredient are." She lowered her hand then looked up at the professor with a really confused expression. "I think I said that the right way..."
"Not exactly what I asked," he said, since he wanted to hear about the ways of protection, "but that's still correct."


Hmph. "Er... good question. Maybe it's because I've been a bad best friend lately and didn't make him any.'' After class, the Puff would be finding himself in the lab brewing that Potion. Mhmmm.
...................
Hand up, an answer was provided after some of his classmates had replied. "By using an antidote, Professor, such as the Antidote to Common Poisons.'' There was another one but someone else could name that, yes?
A bad friend? Not make him lately? Well, Benny was a capable boy who could brew potions better than Adi, so the man didn't even know why Adi felt the need to brew him one, but he wasn't going to question their friendship dynamics.

"That's right," he said simply. Antidotes, the obvious answer, although . . .


Errr. "Just look at the bright side, sir! The cobweb's gone!" Yup. Never mind that a lil' bit of hair went with it; that was the perky outlook on the situation for sure. He beamed at the professor once more before turning and traversing to his seat.
...
"Acquire a pet phoenix and use its tears to heal any ailments, poison-induced or otherwise." Duuuh.
Cosgrach muttered something under his breath that showed how bright he could look right now. He liked Dima, but he'd like the boy more if he kept his hair intact.

Okay, this was funny, so Cosgrach chuckled.

"Right," he said, "just like that."


"Is there a potion that you can take to prevent bad things happening if you are poisoned?" If there was that could be useful.
"If you know the poison, you can take its antidote. If you don't, you can take a general antidote and hope the best or seek professional help." So there were ways, unless the poison was so potent as to kill on the spot.
While they answered, the blackboard updated itself with the answers they gave.

How can you protect yourself against poisons?
Antidote/bezoar
Scarpin's Revelaspell
Pet phoenix
Taste tasters
Smell/general appearance of a liquid or food

. . . and in the end, it added two more answers they didn't give:

Moly
Lugal

"You may have heard of moly," he said, "but lugal is most likely new. First, let me talk about Moly. It's a powerful plant that can be eaten to counteract some dark enchantments and is used in Wiggenweld Potion. Moreover, if a poison requires a spell while brewing, it'll alleviate the effects of it. It's not a real cure and you still need to find the antidote, but it'll help you. You can identify it by its distinctive black stems and white flower."

He let them write it down while he cleaned his shoes that got cobwebs on them, and cleared his throat to address them again.

"'Lugal' means 'king' in Sumerian, a nation that lived in modern Iraq around 3000 BC and as the name indicates, it's a 'king's plant'. It was probably common to poison kings back in those days as well, I don't know, but this plant must have been used to save them. It's a very powerful antidote and I can see some clever wizards earning money with it..." If there had been wizards back then. Who knew? Not this guy! "But over the years, it was forgotten as it became almost extinct due to human greed. They thought it can cure their illnesses, but it only works with magical poisons. It was rediscovered - some 10 years ago. It's a very useful plant." He held it up in his palm for everyone to see. The plant looked like dry, yellow grass; but it was very soft and wet to touch. "You differentiate between regular dry mundane grass and lugal by touching it. Here, let's pass this around for everyone to feel it..." He gave it to the first student next to him.

"Eating a handful is enough, and if you eat too much - like a kilo or something - you start to vomit. Nasty stuff." That would kill someone even if the poison wouldn't. "You can see it in any season in Mesopotamia. Experiments to grow it somewhere else are still going on. So far, they have been successful in Egypt and around as well. It has one more use which I'll mention later."

He paused to take a breath after that loooooong explanation and watched them pass it around for a while, then spoke again.

"Please note that all these fail in a completely dark and very well brewed potion so if you're still suspicious, just don't drink/eat like Magdalena had mentioned earlier. All clear? Completely dark poisons affect too quickly to even blink." He looked at them for that to sink in. "Now, answer this: how can you stop someone taking your hair or another body part to add to a potion?"

OOC: I'll post about 20 hours later again. :) You don't have to take turns with touching lugal, just assume the previous student passed it to your character.

[FearlessLeader19]

Of course his answer was right. It was Potions 101. Adi patted his pocket to make sure Gus was there (lately he had become paranoid about the toad leaving his pocket) then proceeded to make notes.

Moly? Lugal? Sure, he had read about them but he was paying MUCH more attention to the two now that he didn't have to stareee at a book's pages. When the Lugal was handed to him, the Hufflepuff took some time examining and getting the feel of it before handing it to Benny.

Oh, what a simple question. The Slytherin side in Adi rose. "You fight them off with a cricket bat or you hex them if one of those isn't around. But it also depends on the person trying to take your hair or whatever else it is. If it's a friend you could simply convince them not to but if it's someone you really don't like, hexes would work, I should think.'' Most likely the bat wouldn't be around so spell work was best, yes? Also, Culloden had asked in general about how to stop 'someone' not a particular type of person, hence his answer.

[Weasley174]

Angel raised her hand as the Professor spoke, how did you stop someone from taking your hair. "It's simple Professor you ask them nicely and if that doesn't work you use the body-binding curse." Angel thought that would stop them moving and then if she felt like it she might take their hair though she wouldn't let the professor know that.

[Felixir]

Well, not with that attitude, Professor Culloden.

Toby made a face of his own in return, just for funsies, said, "YEAH, but if they SPLASH you, it might be helpful," and lowered his hand again to see... it... covered... in... cobwebs.

:mellow:

So THAT had him further occupied for the next few minutes, with Toby flailing his hand to try and free himself of the clingy little webs. Merlin. How. How did they get everywhere. WHERE WERE THEY COMING FROM. WHY WEREN'T THEY GOING AWAAAAAAAY.

Ahem. Anyway. Back to the lesson, back to ignoring the potential spider homes. Yep. No cobwebs heeeeere.

Oh wow, Culloden wasn't messing around with this topic today, was he? The man launched into a spiel about moly and lugal and Toby just sorta stared at him like 'wooaahhh'. Notes were happening too, because they were preeeeeeeetty important in this class, after all, but it took a few moments before Toby realised exactly what he was writing down. He stopped, stared at his notes, then at the professor. When the lugal reached him, Toby took hold of it, glanced at it for a second, then passed it on before raising his hand.

"Professor... WHY would someone try to poison us anyway? Or anyone? People don't DO that," he said, really quite convinced. Pshhh. Poor confused Culloden. "You mean, like, on accident, don't you?" Toby nodded as his spoke, encouraging the professor to answer in the affirmative. Because people didn't DO stuff like that unless it was ACCIDENTAL.

But anyway, yes. As for the actual question.

"Hairnet." For the hair or the other body parts, obviously. Toby thought about adding IMPERVIUS CHARM! for funsies, but wasn't sure Culloden would appreciate that. Best to stay schtum on that front.

[Sararara]

Heheheh MADAM. She was a madam! If she wasn't so busy being grumpy about those dumb cobwebs she would've curtsied. The only problem was that she WAS grumpy, so all that came out was an extra huff of air. Sorry, Professor C. This was what happened when you didn't clean enough. Who knew she'd ever be one to say something ridiculous like that.

Norah's note taking was accompanied by periodic nose-wrinkling at all the cobwebs that were still very much there even though she'd tried to get them off. As if it wasn't hard enough to concentrate in the first place, they all just had to be THERE. Sigh. SIGH. What a LIFE she was having. She did put a hand in the air, though. Culloden had sounded pretty dead inside which probably wasn't very fun for him either, and that wasn't very nice of the universe but there you go. At least she could participate or something, 'cause Professors usually seemed to like that. It was like they enjoyed the boring question-and-answer stuff. Weirdos. "You could run away real fast or wear lots and lots of clothes or use a spell to keep them away. Or all three at the same exact time, if you think ahead enough." That....constant villainous thing. Was that what it'd been?

[MudInMyBlood]

Her sniff test answer didn't go over too well, and honestly she hadn't expected it to. But, like surely some poisons had a smell to them? Apparently not. That was fine. AJ didn't expect to go around drinking random things anyways. And why would her friends poison her?

"I think a quick karate chop to the throat will get the job done, or use your wand. It's mighty good for whacking." Or magic. Probably magic. She couldn't help that muggle ways still seemed second nature to her.

[Samia]

Well what do you know. His answer made it to the board. Noel was feeling rather proud, even if his answer was kind of a collaboration with the professor. They basically brainstormed together.

He scribbled as the professor spoke, one hand under his chin. Man, there was so much to memorize, so much to practice. The OWLs were officially the worst.

Upon the next question, Noel's hand went up again: "A spell to keep your hair stuck to your head?" THAT spell can possibly work with other body parts as well, yes? Lets brainstorm again, professor.

[Anna Banana]

Kate frowned as the professor replied to her answer. Not what he asked? Way to call her out on the wrong answer in front of the whole class. She knew she shouldn't feel that way, though, so she just shook it off and listened to the discussion. So how could she protect her hair from somebody just walking by and plucking it right off her head? Or getting a spare piece off her pillow or something?

Kate didn't know, but she really wanted to get the right answer this time. Maybe it was the Ravenclaw in her that was still being a spoiled sport from her last answer. She didn't know, but she thought carefully about anything she might have ever heard that would work here.

"What about protective enchantments?" she asked, raising her hand. "There's a number of different ones, but I think there's one called Repello Inimicum. That one puts a magical barrier around a certain place someone is trying to protect." Then there was Protego Totallum, which pretty much did the same thing.

[feeheeheeny]

As fun as brewing was, Sophie loved this part of potions - the discussion of the history and the ingredients themselves was incredibly fascinating. It was like putting the pieces of a puzzle together, y'know? The Ravenclaw took avid notes and squinted and examined EVERYTHING they were shown and allowed to touch with great interest. PLANTS, MAN. So cool.

Culloden looked kind of like he was going to die from all his talking, didn't he? She couldn't help but grin at the him when he paused to catch his breath, but then looked back down and pretended to be very interested in her note-taking, as to not draw attention to the fact that she was amused by him.

The question he posed was an interesting one, though, and Sophie quirked an eyebrow at him. Funny question, wasn't it? She raised a hand and remarked thoughtfully, "Well... realistically, y'can't. I mean... I know Headmistress Truebridge taught us about having 'constant vigilance' last term, but there's literally no way you can realistically keep someone from standing in a group with you or something and stealing a piece of your hair from behind. There just isn't. There's ways to try to be as careful as possible... and to MAYBE catch them after they've done so, but just bein' honest, there's no guarantee. If someone really wants your hair that badly, they're gonna get it one way or another, y'know? Whether it means Imperioing your friend into retrieving one or casting a full-body bind curse on you and taking it by force or what - it's just something we've all gotta be cautious of and see as a real possibility. I guess... don't make enemies and lay low and don't give anyone a reason to target you for that kinda reason in the first place, that's my advice to keep it from happening. Y'just can't realistically prepare for that kinda thing, right? Unless y'wanna live your life as a paranoid worrier."

She gave a simple shrug and went back to jotting down a few notes. She didn't think things could ever be THAT clear-cut. There was always danger on the horizon.

[Holmesian Feline]

Benny had just settled down when Adi got his attention. Some one wanted to see hi-- Oh! "Hi Gus," he said quietly for the toad's benefit and so as not to draw attention to the pet in class. It was comforting to see the amphibian safe, just like when he checked on Conrad, with all the mysterious stuff happening. Soon enough Culloden stood up, seeking their attention as he walked around the room. The Gryffindor obeying and listening but not answering the first question posed to them.

The rest of the class did a fine job supplying.

He'd certainly keep them in mind as well as the suggestion of just not trusting unknown stuff. Or common stuff that seems off. Eyes to you, Aditya.

Accepting the lugal from Adi as it was passed around, he took his time touching it. Yeah...he supposed it did feel different then regular grass. Not that he would have thought at first but it did grow on him. As for the question of protecting his hair and other bodily things, Benny had to think harder as he passed the lugal onto the next person. Both physical and magical defenses seemed like the way to go, but already said by a number of fellow students in a variety of ways.

And Sophie was right...it was impossible to keep watch all the time without going insane.

Or falling asleep.

[Govoni]

.

.

Gabe was about to offer up a jerky answer. Were they ready for it?....Okay, to be fair, it wasn't wholly jerky. It was actually very logical and thought out. Gabriel himself had even considered this solution at one point.

"The most logical course of action, if one was paranoid enough, would be to decide to go bald."...as for the hair solution. Where body parts were concerned, however...Well...there wasn't really anything to be done about that. Magic was a peculiar thing...and because it was literally impossible to protect yourself at all times, it stood to reason that you should prepare against those outcomes. Travel in pairs. Be aware of your surroundings....Attempt to stay on all Slytherins good side.

...and a select few Ravenclaws.

[Daydreamer11]

Moly and lugal, check. Janelle wrote them both down in her notes. She listened as Professor Culloden explained the detaila about each one. Then she carefully added the information to her notes. Wouldn't want to miss some important fact. That could be a disaster.

As the lugal was passed around, Janelle took her turn to touch it. It did indeed feel soft and wet. Weird. She wondered if Jasmine learned about this plant in her Herbology studies. Probably. The professor went on to explain the limitations of moly and lugal. When suspicious, avoid the potion at all cost. Janelle would definitely remember that.

Janelle knew that another question had to be coming soon and she was not disappointed. When it was asked, she raised her hand. There has to be some kind of spell that can repel hair stealers, doesn't there? I mean other than that, you'd just have to wear a lot of hats. That wouldn't really be practical though." As for the body parts, Janelle didn't want to think about anyone being evil enough to try to take those. That was just creepy.

[Kolyander]

Hady listened silently as she took down the needed notes putting a * near Moly and Lugal. Those she would need to remember surely. Placing her quill down for a moment she accepted the lugal when it was passes her way studying both it's looks and texture before passing it to the person beside her.

The next question puzzled her slightly for a moment. Just a moment as it seemed a bit odd but she knew hair was used in potions sometimes. Raising her hand she gave her answer, "Well I'd start off nicely by just saying no and it that doesn't work I'd move on to something that would." Whatever that might be she didn't know just yet. It would probably depend on the person trying to get her hair and what she had around her to defend herself...when all else fails though she could always just hit the person with all her might.

[SlytherinSistah]

This was interesting. It was almost entirely an untapped market, really. Protecting ones self against sympathetic magic. Sure, they had things that would guard against theft, like the Thief's Downfall enchantment at Gringots, but if that could be applied here it would only be an after the fact. Although, Cutty still thought of this as preventative measure. One could use that well toward humiliation and thus through the ancient art of emotional blackmail effectively guard against further incidents. His hand went up and offered something different, though and not related to potions, exactly. The question could've been asking for anything to his mind. "In addition to the practical approaches that have been mentioned, if yew were clever enough yer could also use remote or touch-sensitive disillusionment spells on the most susceptible parts of yerself so that when someone took them they'd blend right into the background and they'd have trouble finding them."

Was Gabe gonna lose all his hair? Cutty briefly imagined the Ravenclaw Prefect and fellow businessman without any hair whose hair was pretty thick and dark. Maybe he'd have an entirely pale white scalp.

[lemon]

Dima tried to imagine all the girls in the classroom without hair, as Gabe's answer suggested.... and LOL. Best response to Culloden's question so far. How was he supposed to contribute after that?

Rather than trying, he figured he'd just HELP. "There's a curse for that, hair-loss. Calvorio."

Just in case anyone wanted to try now.

He was going to go back to imagining.

[Lislchen]

Oh. THIS was the best answer, truly. Cosgrach pointed at her for everyone to see.

"Magdalena gave the best answer, people," he said, "don't consume anything given by people you don't trust." Though, sometimes even by the people you trusted . . . but that wasn't the point of this class.

-------

While they answered, the blackboard updated itself with the answers they gave.



. . . and in the end, it added two more answers they didn't give:



"You may have heard of moly," he said, "but lugal is most likely new. First, let me talk about Moly. It's a powerful plant that can be eaten to counteract some dark enchantments and is used in Wiggenweld Potion. Moreover, if a poison requires a spell while brewing, it'll alleviate the effects of it. It's not a real cure and you still need to find the antidote, but it'll help you. You can identify it by its distinctive black stems and white flower."

He let them write it down while he cleaned his shoes that got cobwebs on them, and cleared his throat to address them again.

"'Lugal' means 'king' in Sumerian, a nation that lived in modern Iraq around 3000 BC and as the name indicates, it's a 'king's plant'. It was probably common to poison kings back in those days as well, I don't know, but this plant must have been used to save them. It's a very powerful antidote and I can see some clever wizards earning money with it..." If there had been wizards back then. Who knew? Not this guy! "But over the years, it was forgotten as it became almost extinct due to human greed. They thought it can cure their illnesses, but it only works with magical poisons. It was rediscovered - some 10 years ago. It's a very useful plant." He held it up in his palm for everyone to see. The plant looked like dry, yellow grass; but it was very soft and wet to touch. "You differentiate between regular dry mundane grass and lugal by touching it. Here, let's pass this around for everyone to feel it..." He gave it to the first student next to him.

"Eating a handful is enough, and if you eat too much - like a kilo or something - you start to vomit. Nasty stuff." That would kill someone even if the poison wouldn't. "You can see it in any season in Mesopotamia. Experiments to grow it somewhere else are still going on. So far, they have been successful in Egypt and around as well. It has one more use which I'll mention later."

He paused to take a breath after that loooooong explanation and watched them pass it around for a while, then spoke again.

"Please note that all these fail in a completely dark and very well brewed potion so if you're still suspicious, just don't drink/eat like Magdalena had mentioned earlier. All clear? Completely dark poisons affect too quickly to even blink." He looked at them for that to sink in. "Now, answer this: how can you stop someone taking your hair or another body part to add to a potion?"

OOC: I'll post about 20 hours later again. :) You don't have to take turns with touching lugal, just assume the previous student passed it to your character.

'Magdalena gave the best answer, people'

'MAGDALENA GAVE THE BEST ANSWER, PEOPLE'

'Magdalena gave the best answer, people'

:evil:

Maggie was definitely smirking. Proudly. Had they all heard the professor? Her answer was the best. Which clearly proved that SHE was in fact the best. Sucks to be anyone but Magdalena Natalie Traulton. Sorry not sorry. Not everyone could be as awesome as she was. Clearly. Because she was the one true awesome person. There was no one more awesome than her. No one.

There was a new question though. One that was quite tricky.

Raising her hand after examining the lugal thing, Maggie suggested, "Well, once again, make sure you only let people you trust touch your hair-" As if to demonstrate her point she reached over to ruffle Noel's hair real quick. "-and other body parts." Not demonstrating that. What other body parts could you use for potions anyway?? Arms?? "Unless of course they're not who they say they are." OMG. That was a creepy thought!! "So maybe if you think someone's out to poison you, always check if your friends are ACTUALLY your friends and not someone in disguise." Eh. This was getting a bit creepy.

"Also maybe just make sure you don't upset someone in a way that makes them want to poison you."

[StarShine]

As they offered ways - some were very creative indeed - the blackboard updated itself with the answers Cosgrach approved of.

How can you stop someone taking your hair or another body part to add to a potion?
Attacking your attacker first
Not having enemies
Only letting your friends touch your hair
Making sure your friends are still your friends
Protective clothing (hats, full-body clothes, hairnet etc)
Going bald (Spell: calvorio)
Disillusionment spells on the susceptible body parts to trick the attacker
Protective enchantments (eg. Repello Inimicum)
The Capillum lotion
"The most logical course of action, if one was paranoid enough, would be to decide to go bald."
"There's a curse for that, hair-loss. Calvorio."
"Good thinking," he said, even though Dima looked like he thought it was a joke. "There are hair growing potions anyway, so no big aesthetic deal." Especially if your life was concerned.


"Professor... WHY would someone try to poison us anyway? Or anyone? People don't DO that," he said, really quite convinced. Pshhh. Poor confused Culloden. "You mean, like, on accident, don't you?"
Cosgrach wasn't sure if that 'us' referred to Toby himself or was a general word. Either case...

"They may, if . . . it benefits them," he said softly. They sadly did still poison people, so Cosgrach had to prepare his class.


Angel raised her hand as the Professor spoke, how did you stop someone from taking your hair. "It's simple Professor you ask them nicely and if that doesn't work you use the body-binding curse." Angel thought that would stop them moving and then if she felt like it she might take their hair though she wouldn't let the professor know that.
"I . . . highly doubt asking people nicely will work," he said to her and to several others who suggested more or less the same. If these people could be persuaded so easily, they would never have tried to take body parts in the first place.


"Well... realistically, y'can't. I mean... I know Headmistress Truebridge taught us about having 'constant vigilance' last term, but there's literally no way you can realistically keep someone from standing in a group with you or something and stealing a piece of your hair from behind. There just isn't. There's ways to try to be as careful as possible... and to MAYBE catch them after they've done so, but just bein' honest, there's no guarantee. If someone really wants your hair that badly, they're gonna get it one way or another, y'know? Whether it means Imperioing your friend into retrieving one or casting a full-body bind curse on you and taking it by force or what - it's just something we've all gotta be cautious of and see as a real possibility. I guess... don't make enemies and lay low and don't give anyone a reason to target you for that kinda reason in the first place, that's my advice to keep it from happening. Y'just can't realistically prepare for that kinda thing, right? Unless y'wanna live your life as a paranoid worrier."
Cosgrach thought what she said for a moment... "I don't agree," he said at last, "you can go bald like Gabe suggested, and wear the right clothes. Not to mention there is a lotion just for that." Which he'd mention in a moment. "I mean, these sound extreme, but they'd work."

Although, he wasn't outright dismissing her theory. Of course a good . . . hunter would always get his prey.


Janelle knew that another question had to be coming soon and she was not disappointed. When it was asked, she raised her hand. There has to be some kind of spell that can repel hair stealers, doesn't there? I mean other than that, you'd just have to wear a lot of hats. That wouldn't really be practical though." That was just creepy.
Upon the next question, Noel's hand went up again: "A spell to keep your hair stuck to your head?" THAT spell can possibly work with other body parts as well, yes? Lets brainstorm again, professor.[/color]
"There isn't a spell specifically for it, although Kate suggested a good one that can be used also for that," he pointed at the blackboard, "but there is a lotion . . ." he said, made a gesture that indicated he liked their answer, and turned to the class in case people missed what they had suggested.
"I liked your answers," he said, "most of you know how to protect yourself. It's nice." He smiled for the first time that day despite all the cobwebs. It really was good to know they would be able to protect themselves. "You know the other ways," he said as he gestured at the blackboard, "you can pick the one that suits you most. What might be new to you is the Capillum lotion, or quite literally, Hair Potion." He hoped they had never heard it before, because it was a paranoid's work. Students aged 11-18 shouldn't be that... scared of an attack.

"It's a lotion specifically for hair loss - any hair on your body. It's rather easy to brew, and it's created specifically for this purpose: you can apply it on the hairy skin and even though you'll still lose hair normally, it'll stick to your skin and it won't fall down - though it also won't bother you at all. It's also resistant to someone else's pulling - the only way to get rid of that hair is waiting for the lotion to wear off. It's effective for a full day." He brought out a vial containing a white liquid from his pocket and held it for everyone to see.

He didn't go into more detail because he still wanted to believe they didn't have such problems, so he put the vial on his desk and asked the last question before the fun activity.

"Lastly, what safety precautions can we take while experimenting, apart from the standard ones like wearing protective clothes, always minding cleanliness and the like? I'm more interested in spells and that sort of things, you see. Any ideas?"

OOC: I'll post 24 hours later. You can be creative with the answers. ^_^

[Felixir]

*squint*

Toby was squinting at Culloden. Proper narrowed eyes, squinting, screwed up face of concentration, the works.

"No," he said simply. "No they wouldn't." Toby had just now decided that his original question had been rhetorical, now that he'd heard the answer and realised he didn't like it. NOPE, SIR. REQUEST DENIED. Toby shook his head, smiling a little in an 'oh, you!' kind of way. "That doesn't happen, don't you worry, sir." Poor, misguided Culloden. But now Toby had set the record straight and he wouldn't fret about people randomly going around POISONING others, because that didn't happen. Ever. Nope. NO.

Ahem, yes then. Moving on.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. More questions, that is. Toby raised his hand super duper quickly, unwittingly getting it caught right back in the cobwebs again. "Can you still get a haircut if you use the potion?" Or would it, like... make the scissors SHATTER? IRON HAIR.

And as for the professor's question, yep... of course. "... Impervius Charm?" Toby said it as a question this time, though. And also added clarification... again. "For splash damage."

Were they allowed to use the same answer twice in one lesson? Seven years and Toby had never wondered that. Well... it was happening.

He lowered his hand again and resumed the mad flailing to shake the cobwebs away. Merlin. So clingy. He could relate.

[FearlessLeader19]

Yeah, asking nicely not to taking hair or body samples may not work with strangers but with friends, there was at least a shot. Adi was looking on the positive side, peoples! Agggh! Looky! Culloden was SMILING! THAT was the Potions Professor Adi knew!

WHAT a potion, yo! So this mean he could save those awesome stand of his for a day if he were to use it for fun? Hehe. Such an innocent white looking potion. Another question! Adi had an answer ready, of course. Hand up! "The Shield Charm for exploding cauldrons... explosionary purposes.'' That was specifically mentioned with Benny in mind. When last had he blown up a cauldron, anyway, hmmm? The Hufflepuff could do with another one of that!

[Deezerz]

As always, Beverly hung to Culloden's every word. Said words were shortened and jotted down on her parchment. Mostly it was quick notes seeing as this was more review to her. Before setting her quill down she wiggled it to get rid of the cobweb that tried claiming it. It was lucky she was in class or she'd set it on fire.

Once her quill was cobweb-free, she raised her hand. "The Vanishing Charm. Rather than dealing with--sometimes toxic results--you can simply vanish it before it does any harm." And avoid explosions. Her dad and she would know.

[Daydreamer11]

More notes were taken, as Janelle learned about the Capillum lotion. Magic was awesome. There was always a spell or a potion or something to counteract just about anything you could think of. Then the topic moved on to precautions that could be taken while experimenting.

She had an idea, but then the professor said that he was thinking of answers related to spells. So much for that idea. Fortunately, Janelle had another thought and she raised her hand to give her answer.

"You could use Tergeo if you needed to suck up something that you accidentally spilled. That way it wouldn't hurt anyone.......if you did it quickly, that is."

[Anna Banana]

Hmm. Kate was pleased with how the professor responded to her answer this go round. It wasn't a direct response, but at least he didn't tell her she was wrong. He commented on her response to another student, which pleased Kate for the time-being. She didn't know about the lotion, but she made a mental note of it just in case she needed to know about it later.

So what could she do to protect herself while experimenting? She thought that one over then raised her hand. "You could use the Containment Charm on your cauldron," she suggested. "It's designed to keep the contents of something where they belong. You wouldn't want an experimental potion spilling on you or anywhere else for that matter."

[Jessiqua]

He got uuuuuup, checked his clothes to make sure he was still clean, and started walking among the aisles as he made eye contact with whoever looked at him.

"Two terms ago, we covered how to safely brew an already existing potion and what the safety means were. Today, we're going to learn about how to protect yourself against potions with bad intentions, whether they are dark or a regular potions gone bad and means of safety while experimenting."

He stopped to take a breath and asked: "How can you protect yourself against poisons?"

OOC: The class starts at this point, so please don't announce late arrival. Instead, assume your character has been in the room since the beginning. :)

You can be creative with the answers. ^_^ But please say only one way in your post.

I'll post again around 20 hours later.

Zhenya was so tired, her brain so full of information, she couldn't possibly begin to sort through it to come up with an answer. She fought the desire to lay her head on the table and have a nap; that would be rude. Besides, she didn't want to miss anything. She listened to people's answers to the question, and wrote down some dot points from the board once Professor Culloden had put them there.


While they answered, the blackboard updated itself with the answers they gave.



. . . and in the end, it added two more answers they didn't give:



"You may have heard of moly," he said, "but lugal is most likely new. First, let me talk about Moly. It's a powerful plant that can be eaten to counteract some dark enchantments and is used in Wiggenweld Potion. Moreover, if a poison requires a spell while brewing, it'll alleviate the effects of it. It's not a real cure and you still need to find the antidote, but it'll help you. You can identify it by its distinctive black stems and white flower."

He let them write it down while he cleaned his shoes that got cobwebs on them, and cleared his throat to address them again.

"'Lugal' means 'king' in Sumerian, a nation that lived in modern Iraq around 3000 BC and as the name indicates, it's a 'king's plant'. It was probably common to poison kings back in those days as well, I don't know, but this plant must have been used to save them. It's a very powerful antidote and I can see some clever wizards earning money with it..." If there had been wizards back then. Who knew? Not this guy! "But over the years, it was forgotten as it became almost extinct due to human greed. They thought it can cure their illnesses, but it only works with magical poisons. It was rediscovered - some 10 years ago. It's a very useful plant." He held it up in his palm for everyone to see. The plant looked like dry, yellow grass; but it was very soft and wet to touch. "You differentiate between regular dry mundane grass and lugal by touching it. Here, let's pass this around for everyone to feel it..." He gave it to the first student next to him.

"Eating a handful is enough, and if you eat too much - like a kilo or something - you start to vomit. Nasty stuff." That would kill someone even if the poison wouldn't. "You can see it in any season in Mesopotamia. Experiments to grow it somewhere else are still going on. So far, they have been successful in Egypt and around as well. It has one more use which I'll mention later."

He paused to take a breath after that loooooong explanation and watched them pass it around for a while, then spoke again.

"Please note that all these fail in a completely dark and very well brewed potion so if you're still suspicious, just don't drink/eat like Magdalena had mentioned earlier. All clear? Completely dark poisons affect too quickly to even blink." He looked at them for that to sink in. "Now, answer this: how can you stop someone taking your hair or another body part to add to a potion?"

OOC: I'll post about 20 hours later again. :) You don't have to take turns with touching lugal, just assume the previous student passed it to your character.

And... Moly and Lugal.

Of course!

Zhenya had read about Moly and Lugal, and had written dot points down about the two plants during one of her study sessions. She listened to what Professor Culloden spoke about, suddenly very interested. She didn't write any of it down because most of it was jogging her memory. Zhenya was very keen to have a feel of Lugal, and she did when it came to her. It was interesting to touch, and she passed it to the next person. It looked dry but it was soft and wet. Interesting...

And now they were speaking about how to stop people taking some of your DNA for a potion. Like Polyjuice. Well, defence against the dark arts would be good. Zhenya just didn't feel like speaking at the moment, her throat a bit sore and her voice a bit raspy, probably too many late nights catching up to her. So she listened to people's answers.

As they offered ways - some were very creative indeed - the blackboard updated itself with the answers Cosgrach approved of.




"Good thinking," he said, even though Dima looked like he thought it was a joke. "There are hair growing potions anyway, so no big aesthetic deal." Especially if your life was concerned.



Cosgrach wasn't sure if that 'us' referred to Toby himself or was a general word. Either case...

"They may, if . . . it benefits them," he said softly. They sadly did still poison people, so Cosgrach had to prepare his class.



"I . . . highly doubt asking people nicely will work," he said to her and to several others who suggested more or less the same. If these people could be persuaded so easily, they would never have tried to take body parts in the first place.



Cosgrach thought what she said for a moment... "I don't agree," he said at last, "you can go bald like Gabe suggested, and wear the right clothes. Not to mention there is a lotion just for that." Which he'd mention in a moment. "I mean, these sound extreme, but they'd work."

Although, he wasn't outright dismissing her theory. Of course a good . . . hunter would always get his prey.




"There isn't a spell specifically for it, although Kate suggested a good one that can be used also for that," he pointed at the blackboard, "but there is a lotion . . ." he said, made a gesture that indicated he liked their answer, and turned to the class in case people missed what they had suggested.
"I liked your answers," he said, "most of you know how to protect yourself. It's nice." He smiled for the first time that day despite all the cobwebs. It really was good to know they would be able to protect themselves. "You know the other ways," he said as he gestured at the blackboard, "you can pick the one that suits you most. What might be new to you is the Capillum lotion, or quite literally, Hair Potion." He hoped they had never heard it before, because it was a paranoid's work. Students aged 11-18 shouldn't be that... scared of an attack.

"It's a lotion specifically for hair loss - any hair on your body. It's rather easy to brew, and it's created specifically for this purpose: you can apply it on the hairy skin and even though you'll still lose hair normally, it'll stick to your skin and it won't fall down - though it also won't bother you at all. It's also resistant to someone else's pulling - the only way to get rid of that hair is waiting for the lotion to wear off. It's effective for a full day." He brought out a vial containing a white liquid from his pocket and held it for everyone to see.

He didn't go into more detail because he still wanted to believe they didn't have such problems, so he put the vial on his desk and asked the last question before the fun activity.

"Lastly, what safety precautions can we take while experimenting, apart from the standard ones like wearing protective clothes, always minding cleanliness and the like? I'm more interested in spells and that sort of things, you see. Any ideas?"

OOC: I'll post 24 hours later. You can be creative with the answers. ^_^

Capillum lotion sounded very interesting, and it was the first time Zhenya had actually thought about how to protect her DNA from other people. This way, they wouldn't be able to get a hand on her DNA through her hair. What about some flecks of dry skin? Or some stray hairs on the back of her robes? Zhenya looked at the white liquid, hoping she would never have reason to brew such a thing.

Zhenya had a think about what spell she could use for extra safety, but came up blank. HEr brain had just turned to mush and she couldn't think. She yawned and wrote the dot points down from what the others were saying. They were all good ideas, but Zhenya still couldn't think of any suggestions.

[Cassirin]

There were some very graphic mental pictures happening, and Dot screwed up her face in response to so much of it. Taking body parts? Like an arm? She'd totally notice if someone was trying to sneak off with her ARM, professor.

Hair was a different story.

"I suppose you could be bald, yeah, or you could always wear your hair tied back. But that's just so someone doesn't take something without you knowing. Pretty sure if they tried to take much more than that, I'd notice." She paused. "My mum used to banish the hair she cleaned out of our hairbrushes, and she did that to old toothbrushes too. Zipped it away so no one could steal it. She's sometimes a little paranoid about weird stuff."

As for his second question... Dot considered it with a head tilt before raising her hand. "Oh, professor!" Best friend. "Could we use a shield spell so we don't have to keep CLEANING everything? Keeps stuff from splashing and burning us too."

[MudInMyBlood]

Was that a smile? It was because of the unicorn charm wasn't it? AJ could tell. Plus, she was pretty sure he was just playing it off. He didn't want to seem TOO happy about it, so he acted like it was nothing at first. Look at him now. So cute. AJ beamed at him, and gave him a knowing wink.

For her next question she actually had no idea. Everybody had taken her answers, and since he was looking for spell answers, she had nothing. Instead she listened to her classmates, and took mental notes. Her favorite kind of notes.

[ArianaBlack]

As if potions wasn't already hard enough to keep up with.

Zander was lost. Well not completely lost. He had some stuff written down. Like a bunch of doodles... And something about going bald... And something about avoiding poisons at all costs. Just a lot of somethings... It was really hard trying to take notes while everyone was answering questions and throwing out there own.

Also, Zander had no idea how to answer any of these. He had never really been all too good at this theory stuff. For any class, really. That's why he like Herbology and CoMC. 'Cause as far as those two lessons were concerned, it was all mostly practical stuff in the first place. And that's what potions was supposed to be too. So hopefully this last question thing meant they were going to start brewing soon.

He'd have to ask Sophie Brown for her notes later. Because his were an absolute nightmare. Ahem.

[Weasley174]

Angel looked at the Professor as he said you couldn't ask them nicely, what if she gave them her best puppy dog eyes maybe that would work and if not then she'd just get her boyfriend to protect her, seeing as she wouldn't be going anywhere without him.

Angel raised her hand and smiled as she looked at the Professor. She was going to try and make him smile, come on Professor you could smile if you wanted to. She knew that for a fact after that weird smile he had given her the first lesson. "How about wingardium leviosa for if there is something wrong with the fire, you can save you potion whilst someone else sorts out the fire that went wrong and then you don't have to restart your potion from scratch."

[Holmesian Feline]

Benny was paying attention...he swore it. He just wasn't having the best answers come to mind or at least faster then those speaking up before them. The latest question had him thinking though he was distracted as he heard Adi's question. Why did he have that feeling there was a connection to him there in that inquiry? Not that he had exploded anything lately though he had feared the Flamsteed-ruined potion was going to go in that direction.

"How about an extinguishing spell to put out said fires," he suggested going off Angel's suggestion. Teamwork for the win. So what if they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

[Govoni]

.

.

At first, Gabriel wasn't sure he'd understood the question. See, he'd ducked his head down at the recognition from his previous answer, busying himself with the customary note-taking. Purely logical...and Dima[/B] earned a small smile after his assist with the hair-loss curse. That was more efficient, for sure, than buzz-cutting your own hair...and less painful than drinking a foul potion. Ingredients pending.

...but then, others were offering up answers...and the following question made a bit more sense. Gabe-brain was a strange thing.

"A bubble-head charm? To protect oneself against noxious odors." If someone was experimenting, then accidents were expected to occur. And a potion-gone-wrong could give off some pretty deadly fumes...aaaaaand if the bubble-head charm could keep someone breathing safely underwater for an extended period of time, then it could protect under these circumstances.

^^

Nailed it.

[Lissy Longbottom]

All Caleb could think of when it came to protective measures was...well, the protective clothing that Culloden had already described. Ugh. This required THINKING outside the box.

Finally after a few minutes of deliberation, he was pretty sure he had a good answer and he raised his hand. "Could you use the bubble head charm to protect yourself from fumes? Or others around you?" he suggested.

[SlytherinSistah]

Nearly everything from shield charms and other protections to what to do afterward had been suggested in the name of stopping harmful things that could sometimes happen when experimenting. He had some experience experimenting with magic. It was one of the things that helped to keep him focused, although that wasn't why he did it. And depending on the dosage of Whimaway he'd taken that day or how far away from a dosage he was he might not use much precaution at all. However on one or two occasions before he had done the thing he was going to suggest.

Hand went up and the following words ensued. "Before yew even begin puttin' things in yer cauldron, yew can use a revealing charm to sus out the quality of the ingredients yew'll be usin'. Make sure it's definitely what it appears to be and that no other enchantments have been placed upon it." Or you could also use a scale, of the type that tell you the properties of the item being weighed. Like they do with wands. Cutty couldn't remember what the market name for those was at the moment, though and Culloden did say he wanted something in the way of spells.

[feeheeheeny]

He... didn't... agree?

Well, then, he was wrong.

Sophie simply shrugged at Culloden's dismissal of what she had to say, and replied back, "I just think the principle of it doesn't make sense. Like, if someone's gonna try to take a hair from you, you're not gonna know about it ahead of time, right? So how can you prepare for something like that... without just living your life paranoid that someone's gonna do that to you? Y'know what I mean? I mean, I guess if you wanna go throughout life completely free of hair to prevent someone from MAYBE deciding they want to use one of your hairs for malicious purposes... then..." she shrugged, "more power to you, I guess. But that just sounds overly cautious to me, and worrying about what might or might not happen so extensively like that just sounds... exhausting. I think it says a whole lot more about a person the way they respond and react to facing that kinda problem when it arises more than living a life of fear for what could or could not happen. That's all I'm sayin'."

The Capillum lotion was cool enough in itself, though, and Soph made avid notes about the potion and its general properties as described by Culloden. A full day of that sounded mega useful, but she still didn't see the practical application of it. And plenty of people offered up safety precautions, but she was still reeling over the fact that he DISAGREED WITH HER. So she kept silent, disgesting this curious turn of events.

[StarShine]

"No," he said simply. "No they wouldn't." Toby had just now decided that his original question had been rhetorical, now that he'd heard the answer and realised he didn't like it. NOPE, SIR. REQUEST DENIED. Toby shook his head, smiling a little in an 'oh, you!' kind of way. "That doesn't happen, don't you worry, sir."
...
"Can you still get a haircut if you use the potion?" Or would it, like... make the scissors SHATTER? IRON HAIR.

And as for the professor's question, yep... of course. "... Impervius Charm?" Toby said it as a question this time, though. And also added clarification... again. "For splash damage."
No they wouldn't.

Cousgrach opened his mouth, but then changed his mind. It would add nothing to the discussion, and he didn't really want to argue. So, instead, he answered Toby's question.

"You can," he said, "but again, it won't fall to the ground." So, it would actually be funny.

So, Impervius was added to the list on the blackboard.
"I suppose you could be bald, yeah, or you could always wear your hair tied back. But that's just so someone doesn't take something without you knowing. Pretty sure if they tried to take much more than that, I'd notice." She paused. "My mum used to banish the hair she cleaned out of our hairbrushes, and she did that to old toothbrushes too. Zipped it away so no one could steal it. She's sometimes a little paranoid about weird stuff."

As for his second question... Dot considered it with a head tilt before raising her hand. "Oh, professor!" Best friend. "Could we use a shield spell so we don't have to keep CLEANING everything? Keeps stuff from splashing and burning us too."
Cosgrach chuckled. "I guess you would," he said, "and your mum was wise." Cosgrach had only recently stopped taking such measures . . .

"I'm not... really sure that's how the shield charm works? It doesn't really envelope the... well, whatever it is used on, does it?" So... not really. But Shield Charm was useful in other aspects.
"How about wingardium leviosa for if there is something wrong with the fire, you can save you potion whilst someone else sorts out the fire that went wrong and then you don't have to restart your potion from scratch."
Cosgrach shook his head. "You can't save the potion by lifting it," he said, "you shouldn't change the fire unless it's in the recipe." Just so she knew.
Julia's post here
Cosgrach listened to her intently. She understood what she was saying but - ugh, why did she have to be such a trusting child?

"No, Sophie," he said, "I don't mean that you should use it every day of your life. What I meant was, it's handy if you think you're in danger. But I agree that fear is very dangerous, and feeds itself." Did he... make sense? Yes? No?




Cosgrach liked the answers he was hearing and it showed on his face: he didn't mind the cobwebs so much now, and looked happy.

Safety charms while experimenting
Impervius Charm
Shield Charm
Vanishing Charm
Tergeo
Containment Charm
Extinguishing Spell
Bubble-head Charm
Scarpin's Revelaspell
Cosgrach looked at the blackboard and nodded to himself.

"The list is almost complete," he said, "I'd like to draw your attention to the bubble-head charm before teaching you a few more new things. While experimenting, we always use it, clear? Always." He paused for them to note bubble-head charm, then began talking again.

"The cardinal rule of experimenting is, of course, knowing. Know your ingredients and potions theory. Have an idea about amounts and opposite materials. Learn. Without having a good knowledge of potions theory and ingredients, none of these spells would save you."

All clear? He didn't expect all of them to become inventors, of course. However, he did want them to have an idea, and he knew a few of them would follow that path.

"Second, learn these spells and the few I'm going to teach in a moment. Third, wear the right clothing etc - the standard procedures. Fourth, use bubble-head charm. Then, do not panic. Panic only adds to the chaos. If you suspect mixing two - or more, the number doesn't matter - ingredients might be dangerous, mix them in another bowl first with small amounts and observe. Proceed with adding them to the main potion only after you're sure they're not dangerous. A good way to ensure that is using lugal again. It cures the effects of most of the magical poisons when eaten, and it changes to green when it contacts with poisonous liquids. Of course, before lugal was rediscovered, you'd use the revelaspell and a few more things, but now the humankind is saved!" Dramatic? No, not according to a potions enthusiast as Cosgrach Culloden.

KNOW what you are doing
Mix suspicious ingredients in another bowl and test with lugal (changes to green if the liquid is poisonous)
Aresto momentum liquor: Same wand movement as the 'aresto momentum' (waving wand). Stops a flowing potion. Requires stronger intent.
Excito animans (http://www.snitchseeker.com/8064389-post79.html): Controls inanimate objects, almost as though it were a puppet. Wand movement is pointing wand at whatever object someone wants to bring to life, and concentrate on that object hard and imagine the object doing what is desired. This is used when you don't want to touch the ingredients. Not necessary, but recommended spell throughout the whole experimenting to avoid contamination.
Vitare crepitus: Stops small scale explosions. Cast at the beginning of the every experimentation session. Wand movement is a wide circle around the cauldron.
Congregrabit: Vacuums and concentrates poisonous gas in one place to be vanished. Wand movement is drawing an S in the air while pointing the wand at the said vapour. It can also be used to clear the air after an explosion.

He looked at the blackboard, then back at the students.

"You must be familiar with excito animans and aresto momentum itself," he said, either in transfiguration or in charms, he wasn't sure but SOMEWHERE, "so I'll skip those - unless you are really uncomfortable with it." Were they? The younger students maybe? He paused to hopefully see those who could do with some more practice. "Now, let's work on 'vitare crepitus' incantation without wands first. It's vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos. Vitare crepitus." He gestured at them to repeat it and listened intently to them. Was there a mistake there?.. Hopefully not.

"Now, the wand movement..." He didn't have a cauldron in front of him, but he pretended that there was, and drew a circle over it.

"Now, combine both if you are comfortable with it... you'll see a small flash of white light when cast correctly." THAT was how they would understand.

"And Congregrabit without wands first... it's 'cong-reh-grab-eet'. Congregrabit." He listened to them again. None stood out... "And now the wand movement..." He drew an S at an imaginary vapour, then observed the class.

"Now, here, coloured vapour for you to practise this spell." He shot a good amount of green vapour from his wand. It wasn't poisonous or anything, of course. It was just for them to see if they managed to cast 'congregrabit' correctly. "I'll give you..." He checked his watch, "fifteen minutes to practise every spell you see on the blackboard now. At the end of the fifteen minutes, we'll move onto the main activity which will be an imitation of an experiment. You can use the tap over there for 'aresto momentum liquor'. Older students may help the younger ones and all that." They knew what to do, he bet this wasn't the first time they were practising spells. He sat down on his chair to observe them.

The revised list of spells to be practised
Impervius Charm
Shield Charm
Vanishing Charm
Tergeo
Bubble-head Charm (http://www.snitchseeker.com/9417746-post66.html)
Aresto momentum liquor
Vitare crepitus
Congregrabit

OOC:
Practise the spells in this last 'Blackboard' quote.
One post is enough. There is no maximum amount, but please have mercy on my eyes. :)
You can work in pairs or alone.
The spells that your characters must practise are 'Vitare crepitus' and 'Congregrabit'. They are welcome to practise the others, but it won't earn you any extra credit.
You have about 22-24 hours to finish this part - practically, until I post again and I can't give an exact time for that, so don't worry about the time much. You can also catch up later (for a little less credit).

[Daydreamer11]

Janelle's quill was flying, as she tried to keep up with Professor Culloden's lecture. There was so much information to be written and it was all very important stuff. Janelle tried to make sure that her notes were up to date, but as soon as she caught up, more information was presented.

Janelle looked at all of the spells on the board. She did not know all of them, but she would practice the new ones first and then the ones she was familiar with. Those others.........well, she would have to search out a friendly older student for that.

First she would try Vitare Crepitus. If there was a way to stop explosions, Janelle was all for it. As always, the incantations would be practiced first. Janelle said the words slowly at first. "Vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos, Vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos, Vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos." Once she got the feel of the incantation, she said it faster. "Vitare crepitus, Vitare crepitus, Vitare crepitus." The wand movement seemed much easier. Janelle made a circle around her imaginary cauldron. That part was a piece of cake.

Now it was time to put everything together. Janelle made a circle with her wand and said, "Vitare crepitus". She hadn't really expected to get it right on the first try, but a flash of white light told her that she had done it. Just to be safe, Janelle gave the spell a try again.......just to make sure the first time wasn't a fluke. Fortunately it was not.

Checking her notes, Janelle went on to try the other new spell. Repeating her pattern, she said the incantation. "Cong-reh-grab-eet, Cong-reh-grab-eet, Cong-reh, grab,eet, Congregrabit." "Got it", Janelle thought to her self. With her wand still in hand she practiced the wand movement. She made the S movement several times and when she felt comfortable, Janelle was ready to try the spell for real.

Since Professor Culloden had created a colored vapor for them, Janelle focused her attention on it. Raising her wand, she made and S in the direction of the vapor. Then she carefully said, "Congregrabit." Janelle watched as the vapor kinda sorta flowed into a stream. It wasn't as concentrated as she had hoped and if it was toxic, kinda sorta was not going to cut it. Janelle concentrated and tried it again. "Congregrabit" And the S was made with her wand. This time though, the vapor all came together much better. She decided to kill two birds with one stone and practice the vanishing charm on her vapor. "Evanesco", she said and beamed as the green smoke disappeared.

Janelle checked her watch. She was running out of time for practicing spells. Which one should she try next though? Making her decision, she went over to the faucet and turned on the water. She gave her wand a wave in front of the running water and said, "Aresto momentum liquor" The water stopped, just as Janelle had hoped. It was a good thing that she had practiced Aresto momentum the regular way. That must have made it easier to get the liquor spell right. Now, she just needed someone to help her with the spells she did not know. Janelle looked around for for an older helper.

[Cassirin]

Oh, spells for EXPLOSIONS? That made loads more sense than some willy nilly use of a Shield Spell? Why did best friend Culloden even put up with her dumb answers sometimes? Dot eagerly picked up her wand, which she generally didn't need this often in the class period, to practice the spells.

She ought to focus on those ones she didn't know, just in case there wasn't enough time to practice everything. Vitare crepitus? Vit... ary creepypants? That didn't seem right, and Dot glanced back at the professor for clarification. "Vit-ar-ay crep-i-tus. Vitare crepitus. Vitare crepitus."

Over and over, Dot tried out the spell until it rolled easily off her tongue, and it wasn't until she was an expert did Dot try out the wand motion. Circle around her cauldron, and again and again. Merlin, Potions was kind of easy when there was Charmswork involved. She tried them together, the motion and the incantation, "Vitare crepitus," and there was a flash of light. Oooo, pretty.

Now for the second one. Congregrabit, which seemed like it should be easier to learn to say. "Con-gre-grab-it. Congre-grabit. Congregrabit." Easy as pie. Or... pie was actually pretty hard, so maybe easy as pudding. Pudding was both easy and delicious. The motion was just an S, facing her, rather than a backwards S facing the professor.

Her wand sliced through the air in a snakey sort of S-shape. This spell would make that vapor disappear? Or would it just clear a little hole? She ought to try it out and see what happened. "Congregrabit," she spoke the incantation and made the S-shape. The vapor immediately in her vicinity was sucked up into the wand, leaving the air clear and her vision unhindered. Whew!

[Anna Banana]

INFORMATION OVERLOAD.

Kate was a Ravenclaw, and by default, she was supposed to be good at these kinds of things. However, she got lost somewhere in the super long discussion and as a result, she lost all the information about knowledge and the spells she needed to know. She did pick up on a few that she absolutely had to practice, though. She'd start there, since she was certain of that.

"Vitare Crepitus," she said. "Vitare Crepitus." Vee-tar-ey Cré-pee-toos. "Vitare Crepitus." Okay, she had that incantation down pat. Now, what was the wand movement? All the facts were getting mixed up with one another now, but she was sure she remembered this one. The S? No, no, no. That was the other one, the one she would practice next. The circle! That was it! Kate drew her wand and moved it in a circle, as if she was circling a cauldron.

Now there was another one he'd demonstrated, which Kate needed to practice next. "Congregrabit," she said, grinning at the sound of the incantation. It was kind of like that flipnsnipwitit incantation. It just seemed kind of made up to the point where she couldn't help but smile. Cong-reh-grab-eet. "Congregrabit," she said again. She'd just reminded herself of the wand movement, which was the one that made the shape of the letter S. She drew her wand again and made the shape of the letter S over an imaginary cauldron.

Now, he'd given them a vapor to practice on, so Kate turned her attention to it. She kind of thought she was ready to really try the spell instead of just practicing the incantation and wand movement separately. She aimed her wand at the vapor then made the shape of the letter S. "Congregrabit," she exclaimed. Nothing happened, which didn't surprise Kate. It was only her first try with the spell, so she hadn't expected immediate success. Nevertheless, Kate decided to try again. "Congregrabit," she exclaimed again. She made the shape of the letter S with her wand, also focusing deeply on the vapor and it condensing into one place to be vanished.

Was it just her imagination, or did the vapor really seem to start to do what she intended it to do? She really thought it had!

[FearlessLeader19]

More notes on Adi's part. He wasn't missing a single thing. Nuh uh. Especially when he was going to be inventing more potions in the future along with Lux and Ilia probably. Always used the Bubble Head Charm, huh? He wrote that down and underlined 'always' twice. And yesh, he also knew this cardinal rule from all the research he had to do last term for the potion he had invented. Gosh, the HOURS and HOURS of research that went into that! But it all all been worth it.

On with the notes! Adi's personal favourite by far was not panicking. This was something he was good at... unless it involved someone he cared about being hurt. Anyway... gosh! What a ton of notes! The Hufflepuff's left hand was practically speeding along his parchment as he tried to write everything. Who knows but a few years from now he could be referring to them.

But it was time for practice! "Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus.'' Not so bad. Adi took a minute or two longer to ensure he got the incantation right. And the wand movement was a circle? "Vitare Crepitus!'' Circleeeee with the wand! HEYO! A flash of white light! AWESOMEEE!

One spell DOWN!

"Congregrabit, Congregrabit, Congregrabit.'' This took a whole lot longer because Adi has a bit of difficulty with the incantation's pronunciation but soon, he got over that. He pointed his wand at the vapour. "Congregrabit!'' Cue the S shaped movement! And there went the vapour Culloden had produced! It was all going in one place.

Next up, the Puffer practiced the list of spells on the board. It didn't take him long because he was familiar with practically all of them so it was like a brush up for him. He did follow Janelle over to the tap to practice that particular spell, though. "Heya, Janelle. Need any help?'' he asked as he took his turn. The always-so-helpful Adi was hereeee!

[laurange]

Brian had a real talent for zoning out when there was important information being presented, and then wondering what on earth he had missed and whether or not the material had been taught when he was answering exams. This was one of those times when his talent was extremely polished. The Hufflepuff was off in his own head, nodding off and waking up every time his head dropped. Whoops.

He'd come back to the land of the living just soon enough to hear something about stopping explosions. Hmm, sounded useful considering Brian's general inability to do things right. Anyway, if he wanted to avoid explosions, this would be a good time to tune back in, which he did. And they were practicing incantations. That was always his favourite part, because he knew pretty much immediately when he got it wrong. Everything else just had a tendency to not tell him what he was doing wrong and just not work.

"Vitare Creepytus," he said, testing out the incantation. "Vitare Crapitus. Vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos." There. Third time's the charm! "Vitare Crepitus." Now that he'd kinda gotten it, it was time for the wand movement. WIIIDE CIRCLE. He could draw circles but he was really never sure whether drawing something somewhat oblong would take away from the success of the charm. And he was overthinking it again. Magic was supposed to just work. He wasn't supposed to have so many questions. That was for Ravenclaws. For now, he'd just draw wide circles.

And now it was time to put them together. "Vitare Crepitus," he said, focused super duper hard and drawing a circle around his cauldron. And there wasn't a burst of white light or a flash of it like there was with people around him but Brian was pretty sure he'd seen a flicker. A FLICKER. It wasn't his imagination, right? It kinda worked! He was getting better at the whole magicking thing.

[MudInMyBlood]

Ah, the bubble head charm. Very nice. That was something that AJ would love to master. It just sounded cool, didn't it? And she liked the fact that the professor was okay with them experimenting as long as they took some precautions. Normally AJ want the precaution type, but she wasn't in the mood to sprout an extra ear or something. Sounded like more drama than she was willing to deal with.

Now, this sounded like she needed to take a little more than mental notes. The lion actually put forth the effort to make notes. This was some stuff that she definitely wouldn't remember days from now. Okay... let's be honest. A few hours from now it would be long gone.

Vitare crepitus. It wasn't exactly a flowing sort of spell. She was going to need to break this down. "vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos" Pee was there. Hahahaha. Sorry, she was really a child at heart. "VEE tar ey cre PEEEEEE toos." Hehehehe. Get it together, Valentine. "Vitare crepitus" She drew a circle with her wand. WOOT. It worked. Did everybody SEE?

Congregrabit. What's up with the spells being hard to say? It was like they wanted them to fail. She was halfway done though. Better get on it. "cong-reh-grab-eet" Not too bad. Not bad at all really. "Cong reh grab EET." Practice time was over. "Congregrabit" She had an S shape with her wand and was super amazed to see that she had confined the vapor to one area.

Victory was hers. Now, did anybody need any help because AJ would be totes helpful.

[Weasley174]

Angel now had to practice a couple of spells, did this have anything to do with the homework that they had been given last lesson, were they going to finish of the potion and if so surely that would mean that they were going to make a right potion, but they wouldn't be allowed to use it, or need it so why were they making it. She was very confused about that.

"'Vital crepitus!" Angel decided to practice the wand movement. "'Vital crepitus!" Angel was totally finding this very hard to say and she was looking around for Benny maybe he'd know more about this spell because she had never heard of it. "'Vital crepitus!" Angel sighed this was just not her day today.

Angel practiced the wand movement making sure that she was doing it right, it was an circle, she drew three circles making sure that she had this down right.

Angel then looked at the next spell on the list. "Congregrabit!" Angel smiled this sounded much easier to say. "Congregrabit!" Angel was sure she could do this spell better than the other spell that she was practicing.

Angel then did the wand movement an imaginary S in the sky. she wondered why the incantations couldn't be as easy as the wand movement, she wished that they were because it would make it easier for you to be magical.

Angel know had to put them together. ""Congregrabit!" Angel did the S shape wand movement at the vapour and smiled as she realised that it had worked now for the harder spell she was struggling with.

Angel know took a couple of deep breaths and tried to concentrate. "'Vital crepitus!" Angel then did the wand movement, but nothing happen, She shook her head trying to figure out what was going wrong.

[Jessiqua]

Alright, alright, bubble head charm when experimenting. Tick tick tick. Zhenya wrote down the dot points onto her piece of parchment. There were certainly a lot of spells they could use for extra protection, besides general protective clothing. Zhenya underlined the part about the bubble head charm. This was all vital information for Zhenya, who wanted to continue studying potions. Would. WOULD continue to study potions. It was just what she was going to do; potions. Healing, specifically. By the end of writing everything down, Zhenya's wrist was starting to ache, and she was almost at the bottom of her piece of parchment. Excito animans and aresto momentum, yes, Zhenya knew those spells well.

But now they needed to practice a different spell; vitare crepitus. Zhenya didn't have her wand in her hands, so she commenced with practicing the incantation. "Vee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos," she said a few times, getting a feel of the spell. Once she felt comfortable enough with that spell, it was time to practice the wand movement. She retrieved her wand from her robes, and 'drew' a circle with it, over a 'cauldron', just as Professor Culloden had. And voila, there was a flash of white. So, that spell was to be cast at the beginning of an experiment, to prevent small explosions.

Next spell was Congregrabit. "Cong-reh-grab-eet," Zhenya said a few times, just as Professor Culloden had demonstrated. It took about four times for her to feel confident with the incantation, before she picked up her wand and practiced the 's' shape movement, over pretend vapour. This spell was used for poisonous gasses. Zhenya smiled as Professor Culloden conjured some green vapour for them to practice on. That was cool! "Congregrabit," she said, pointing her wand at a patch of green vapour, doing the 's' shaped wand movement. It seemed to thin out around the area Zhenya was pointing to, but one area became more concentrated. So... that was good. There was an area of high concentrated 'poisonous' vapour, but it was contained.

Once she felt comfortable with those two spells, she went on to revise over the other ones on the board, working from top to bottom. "Anyone need any help?" she asked, to no one in particular. The offer was there if anyone needed it.

[Daydreamer11]

More notes on Adi's part. He wasn't missing a single thing. Nuh uh. Especially when he was going to be inventing more potions in the future along with Lux and Ilia probably. Always used the Bubble Head Charm, huh? He wrote that down and underlined 'always' twice. And yesh, he also knew this cardinal rule from all the research he had to do last term for the potion he had invented. Gosh, the HOURS and HOURS of research that went into that! But it all all been worth it.

On with the notes! Adi's personal favourite by far was not panicking. This was something he was good at... unless it involved someone he cared about being hurt. Anyway... gosh! What a ton of notes! The Hufflepuff's left hand was practically speeding along his parchment as he tried to write everything. Who knows but a few years from now he could be referring to them.

But it was time for practice! "Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus.'' Not so bad. Adi took a minute or two longer to ensure he got the incantation right. And the wand movement was a circle? "Vitare Crepitus!'' Circleeeee with the wand! HEYO! A flash of white light! AWESOMEEE!

One spell DOWN!

"Congregrabit, Congregrabit, Congregrabit.'' This took a whole lot longer because Adi has a bit of difficulty with the incantation's pronunciation but soon, he got over that. He pointed his wand at the vapour. "Congregrabit!'' Cue the S shaped movement! And there went the vapour Culloden had produced! It was all going in one place.

Next up, the Puffer practiced the list of spells on the board. It didn't take him long because he was familiar with practically all of them so it was like a brush up for him. He did follow Janelle over to the tap to practice that particular spell, though. "Heya, Janelle. Need any help?'' he asked as he took his turn. The always-so-helpful Adi was hereeee!

Janelle's eyes scanned the room from left to right. She was hoping to find an older student who didn't look too busy. Just as she was about to give up hope on practicing more charms, Adi came to her rescue. Smiling gratefully, she said, "I need some help with the bubble head charm. "Thanks so much for helping me."

Since the Professor said that this charm was always used when experimenting, Janelle knew that it was important to get it right. She turned to Adi and gave him her full attention. She could use all the help she could get.

[FearlessLeader19]

Janelle's eyes scanned the room from left to right. She was hoping to find an older student who didn't look too busy. Just as she was about to give up hope on practicing more charms, Adi came to her rescue. Smiling gratefully, she said, "I need some help with the bubble head charm. "Thanks so much for helping me."

Since the Professor said that this charm was always used when experimenting, Janelle knew that it was important to get it right. She turned to Adi and gave him her full attention. She could use all the help she could get.

Awhh, Janelle DID need help and help was what Adi was going to do. He had promised Jasmine to look out for her sister. So far, he would like to think he had done a good job.

The Bubble Head charm? This was one that Adi was reallllly familiar with, having gotten used to it on the last summer's field trip. "Here's what you need to do, Janelle,'' he told he cheerfully. "Move your wand in a counter clockwise direction over the area you want to cover which would be literally your entire face. The incantation is 'Viseo Ebullio'.'' How about a demonstration?

Adi did exactly as he had told Janelle so that a moment later there was a bubble surrounding his big head, covering from his chin to his hair. He grinned at her from under the thing. She could still hear him loud and clear, which was a pretty cool trick of the bubble. "It's not that hard to do. When you want to get rid of it, just tap it and say 'Finite'.'' Again Adi demonstrated and with a POP! the bubble was gone. "Your turn, Janelle.'' He nodded encouragingly.

[Daydreamer11]

Awhh, Janelle DID need help and help was what Adi was going to do. He had promised Jasmine to look out for her sister. So far, he would like to think he had done a good job.

The Bubble Head charm? This was one that Adi was reallllly familiar with, having gotten used to it on the last summer's field trip. "Here's what you need to do, Janelle,'' he told he cheerfully. "Move your wand in a counter clockwise direction over the area you want to cover which would be literally your entire face. The incantation is 'Viseo Ebullio'.'' How about a demonstration?

Adi did exactly as he had told Janelle so that a moment later there was a bubble surrounding his big head, covering from his chin to his hair. He grinned at her from under the thing. She could still hear him loud and clear, which was a pretty cool trick of the bubble. "It's not that hard to do. When you want to get rid of it, just tap it and say 'Finite'.'' Again Adi demonstrated and with a POP! the bubble was gone. "Your turn, Janelle.'' He nodded encouragingly.

Janelle listened as Adi explained about the incantation and wand movement for the bubble head charm. She made sure to add the information to her notes, then she watched he gave her a demonstration. It looked so easy when Adi did it, but Janelle was pretty sure that the charm was not that simple.

"OK, I'll give it a try", she replied. Janelle gave the incantation a whirl first, just to make sure she had the words right. "Vee-say-oh E-boo-lee-oh, Vee-say-oh E-boo-lee-oh, Viseo Ebullio" That part wasn't too bad.....by itself anyway. She had kind of gotten used to the crazy, tongue twister words used in incantations. Now Janelle took her wand and made a counter clockwise movement around her face. If she could just put the two parts together, maybe she could make this bubble head happen.

Janelle concentrated on the bubble that she wanted to make around her head. Then she made the counter clockwise circle around her face and head. "Viseo Ebullio", she said with as much authority as she could muster. Before Janelle knew it, there was a bubble surrounding her head. It didn't look quite as good as Adi's, but it was a start.

"I did it! Thanks Adi. You're a great teacher. Now I just need to keep practicing until my bubble looks as good as yours." Figuring she needed to go over the charm again, she pointed the wand at her bubble and said, "Finite"

[FearlessLeader19]

Janelle listened as Adi explained about the incantation and wand movement for the bubble head charm. She made sure to add the information to her notes, then she watched he gave her a demonstration. It looked so easy when Adi did it, but Janelle was pretty sure that the charm was not that simple.

"OK, I'll give it a try", she replied. Janelle gave the incantation a whirl first, just to make sure she had the words right. "Vee-say-oh E-boo-lee-oh, Vee-say-oh E-boo-lee-oh, Viseo Ebullio" That part wasn't too bad.....by itself anyway. She had kind of gotten used to the crazy, tongue twister words used in incantations. Now Janelle took her wand and made a counter clockwise movement around her face. If she could just put the two parts together, maybe she could make this bubble head happen.

Janelle concentrated on the bubble that she wanted to make around her head. Then she made the counter clockwise circle around her face and head. "Viseo Ebullio", she said with as much authority as she could muster. Before Janelle knew it, there was a bubble surrounding her head. It didn't look quite as good as Adi's, but it was a start.

"I did it! Thanks Adi. You're a great teacher. Now I just need to keep practicing until my bubble looks as good as yours." Figuring she needed to go over the charm again, she pointed the wand at her bubble and said, "Finite"

Such a Ravenclaw Janelle was! Adi approved of her taking down notes. Those were bound to come in useful for later on. Also, her paying attention to him was very encouraging for him too for it actually made him feel useful.

He waited patiently as she practiced the incantation, nodding at intervals. Yep, Janelle had this down! Adi was sure of that! "You can do it.'' Now he would just shut up and let the second year concentrate. Go, go, go, Janelle!

And went, went, went she did! Sort of. Hehe. The point was, she now had a bubble over her face! WOOOOT! "Awesome job, Janelle! You're a lot better at spell work than I was when I was a second year.'' This was true. Awwh, don't make his head swell. "It was nothing but you're welcome.'' It was great to hear he was a good teacher because this was part of what he wanted to do for his career. "I think you've got a pretty good looking bubble.'' He grinned. "If you need help with anything else, I'm right around here.''

[Felixir]

Culloden was talking a lot, but at least he was no longer basically insisting that there were bad people going around poisoning everyone. Toby counted that as a win for himself in THIS discussion. Huzzah.

In any case, Toby WAS getting all this down, because regardless of how he felt about all his professors being super paranoid, he still loooooooooooved potions, and the theory about experimenting was super exciting, and WOULD THEY BE EXPERIMENTING TODAY???

Well. Not yet, obviously, because apparently they would be doing an IMITATION experiment and that was enough for Toby. He quickly scribbled down the spells and notes from the board, ready to get started. As soon as Toby put his quill down, the wand came out and he was ready to practice. Hopefully the fact that he had the Impervius Charm on him wasn't cheating or anything. OKAY, SO... green smoke stuff was a GO, so there was no time like the present.

Bubblehead charm first, of course, because Culloden was on about how important that one was earlier, and Toby had learnt how to cast it recently, and somewhat perfected the spell during his NEWT studying.

"Viseo Ebullio," Toby said, drawing his wand in a counter-clockwise circle around his entire face, protecting his eyes, mouth, and nose. The result was amusing, as always, and Toby felt like he'd just stuck his face inside one of those muggle blowing bubbles, except super big.

"AaaaaAAAAaahHHHHHH," the Hufflepuff intoned, trying to see if it would make a weird echo-y noise, before remembering his ears were still outside the bubble, so he didn't get the full effect. WELP. Next time he'd bubble up his entire head. Nevertheless, the green vapour was kept away by the bubble, so the spell totally did its job. Nice.

That done, Toby pressed the tip of his wand into the bubble, hoping to pop it, forgetting that it never actually worked that way. "Finite," he said instead, and the bubble POPPED, and his face was free.

Next up, one of the newer spells. There was no explosion to practice on, or poisonous gas, but OBVIOUSLY he was going to practice them. Because... that's what they'd been told to do.

"Vitare Crepitus, Vitare Crepitus," Toby muttered to himself, checking his notes to make sure he was getting the pronunciation right. And circling his wand over an imaginary cauldron, right? Okay. Here goes, then. "Vitare Crepitus."

...................... There was... a very long pause. Long enough that Toby reasonably figured that the spell hadn't actually worked. He was just opening his mouth to say the incantation again when small but BRIGHT flash of white light happened. HEY! SUCCESS! Well... kinda. Toby knew that in an actual situation with an exploding potion, that delay would be significant enough that the spell may as well not work. It needed to be instantaneous. BUT. BRIGHT SIDE. IT HAD WORKED.

He'd get back to that one in a minute, and try to get it so the spell happened a little quicker, but for now Toby would try the other new spell. How did it go again?

"Cong-reh-...grab-eet..." he said, again reading from his notes before speeding up the incantation until it was at normal talking speed. "Cong-reh-grab-eet... Congregrabiiiiiit. Congregrabit." Now he had that down, Toby drew an S in the air at the green vapour, sans incantation at the moment. Yeeee, that wand movement was simple enough. Altogether then.

"Congregrabit!" Toby made an S shape in the air, and then dramatically brandished his wand at the vapours around him, unable to stop himself from making 'VVVRRRRMMMMMMM' vaccuum noises at the same time. This time, the spell worked instantaneously, and kept working right up until a few seconds later when Toby lost concentration. COOL. Now he should... probably work on those other spells.

[Holmesian Feline]

Alright so some of the questions had been accepted, though his appeared to have fallen short because Professor Culloden had seemingly ignored it. Oh well, he was still learning this subject after all. Benny copied the latest addition to the list down into his notes before paying attention to what was being said on the bubble-head charm. The Gryffindor remembered that spell from the field trip over the summer, the older students like himself having cast it on themselves so they could swim underwater.

Then there was the cardinal rules of experimenting and Benny was sure to write them down all as well. Who knew if they would be lucky to have even if one wasn't experimenting? Especially with his experiences in brewing. Knowing...learning...right clothing...bubble-head charm. They seemed pretty straight-forward and the sixth year absently nodded as he understood what was being talked about.

When they moved on to more spells, he couldn't help but wonder of this was going to be the entent of their lesson and final. All these questions and practicing spells. "Vitare crepitus," Benny said aloud, his wand still secure in his pocket as he tried to get the incantation right. "Vitare crepitus...ee-tar-ey cré-pee-toos... Vitare crepitus," That was the small explosion spell stopper...right? A quick glance at his notes confirmed it and the sixth year deemed this the potentially more important spell of the two.

"Vitare crepitus."

Now he had to do a circle over the open space. Oh wait...this was potions...and they had done circular motions over cauldrons before. He slipped his wand out of his pocket to see if he could get it to work. "Vitare crepitus," he cast again, this time moving his wand in a circular motion up over his cauldron.

White flash.

[Samia]

Noel found himself grinning when Maggie oh so suddenly ruffled his hair. Well then. However, THAT still didn't mean potions was not annoying him right now. It was much information and how were expecting the students to memorize all this for the OWLs. This was just stupid ..

So despite the ruffle making him smile a while ago, Noel was back to his glum-ness and moving his quill as fast as he could to note down whatever the professor said. It wasn't like Hayley was going to help him later, she was too busy these days. Every man for himself, apparently.

He just knew Potions was going to be a problem for him. He just knew.

After noting down all the spells from board, the sixteen year old pulled out his wand. Okay then, lets do this. What was the incantation again? Vitare Crepitus How do you say that with a straight face? Merlin. Mumbling under his breath, the boy repeated the incantation again and again and again until he thought he got it right. Okay. Lets do this. Oh no, wait. What was the wand movement? Looking around, he saw other students practicing it and got it. A circle, yes.

With a clear voice, the boy said the incantation: "Vitare Crepitus!" and did the circle movement. A flash of light appeared and Noel grinned wide. Take that, potions! He was good at charms, he just was.

Onto the next part. Eh. This seemed a little harder to pronounce. "Cong-reh-grab-eet, Cong-reh-...grab-eet..." While trying to pronounce it, Noel remembered the wand movement so he tried that as well. Okay set.

Eyeing the vapor, the puff started to speak as clearly as possible "Congrege -" Eh, was that a cobweb in his cauldron? Yeeeesh ugh. Poking it with his wand, the boy got it and waved it off. ONCE AGAIN, "Congregrabit!" Noel spoke yet again clearly and his wand sliced in the air with an 'S'

HAH, look at the vapor thin away and go.

[Deezerz]

A list of useful spells was jotted down onto her parchment. There was several times she shrugged a wisp of cobweb. Beverly managed to concentrate, but only because she understood what was being said. Had it been Astronomy...she'd be screwed. Once her notes were done and Culloden gave them an assignment, the Prefect traded her quill for her wand.

Time for practice.

These were some cool spells to learn, seeing as she was planning to do lots of experimenting after she graduated. Potions ran in her blood. It was a must.

Glancing down at her notes, she repeated, "Vitare Crepitus." It reminded her of an ancient Greek building. Interesting. Back to practicing. "Vitare...Crepitus...Vitare Crepitus." Sounded right. Sounded the same way Culloden and enunciated it. Close to it seeing they don't have the same tone. "Vitare Crepitus." She firmly nodded at her notes.

She had this.

As for the wand movement, that was the easy part. A circle over the cauldron with her wand. The Slytherin did just that, tracing it carefully at first, then with more confidence. That down, she did both. "Vitare Crepitus." Her Aspen wand traced a circle, as precise as she could, and was rewarded with small flash of white light. One down, one more to go.

She had to repeat the second spell in her head a few times. Beverly always did better with two or more word incantations than single long ones. It didn't mean she couldn't do it, it just took a bit more of practice was all. "Con...gre...gra...bit," she murmured, hitting the notes as Culloden had. "Congregrabit," she said, putting it all together, but still saying it slowly. She was getting the hang of it. "Congregrabit...Congregrabit...Congregrabit." Wow, okay. She was saying it too much now that it was losing its meaning.

Wand movement next, which was a piece of cauldron cake. An S at the vapor. Waving her hand at the actual vapor Culloden had produced, Beverly cast, confidence and intent clear in her voice. "Congregrabit." The S was drawn at the vapor, her wand breaking through it.

Smirk, smirk. She had this.

[StarShine]

Angel know took a couple of deep breaths and tried to concentrate. "'Vital crepitus!" Angel then did the wand movement, but nothing happen, She shook her head trying to figure out what was going wrong.
Cosgrach had been walking among them and heard Angel not saying the spell right. He waited for a while to see if someone else would help her, but when no one did, he approached her.

"It's vee-tar-ey," he said slowly for her to get it, and repeated again. "Vitare. Go on, try to say it again." He checked his watch. They still had some more minutes, so he wouldn't leave her side until she got it right.
He checked his watch... time was up. He walked to the front of the room and clapped his hands once to draw their attention.

"Alright, time's up!" he announced, "now, we start our main activity: trying these spells in case of real danger." Would he really put them in danger? DUNDUNDUN. "I want you to divide into three groups as evenly as possible, so get up and pick either the front left or right corner, or the back of the classroom." He waited for a minute or so for everyone to pick their group. Once everyone was away, in a corner, he muttered a spell and all of their belongings were pushed to the walls to protect them. Then, he enlarged three cauldrons a little and placed them in front of every group. He finished the arrangements at last by tapping the blackboard and a recipe appeared.

Fill the cauldron with water, set on high flame and add 5 Sopophorous beans, then stir 9 times clockwise with a wooden stirrer
Add 2 Porcupine quills
Stir 5 times counter-clockwise
Add 4 mistletoe berries
Add one root of aconite
Add a one jobberknoll feather
Add a sprig of Peppermint
Wave your wand three times to complete

"There are 8 steps, and every group consist of roughly 8 people. This is a recipe I haven't tried yet, I just figured these ingredients with these amounts will make a recipe to cure pimples." MHM. HAHA. What a joke. "These cauldrons are charmed to stop in front of every person for only ten seconds so the next person should do whatever they have to do in that time. I'll give you... 2 minutes to organise all as a group. Get in a line, get your ingredients and mentally get ready. Like I said, this is an experiment, so get ready to cast these spells we've just practised. The group who" stays alive "finishes first will get" to live a long life "chocolate frogs from me. I'll even give you a hint: wear your gloves and everybody casts bubble-head charm. Those who can may help who can't."

What they didn't know was that this recipe was completely made up and would surely end disastrously, so this was a test to see who stayed calm and who practised the spells well.

OOC:
This is the main activity!
Everyone pick a group and title their post with its number (either 1, 2 or 3). I would appreciate it a lot if you guys tried to divide it as evenly as possible. I don't ask you to count the group members before you, but it's nice if you just take a really quick look at the post titles before you.
Keep the titles during the whole activity (which requires only two posts anyway).
Just skip the 'getting ready' part and act as if Cosgrach has started the cauldrons' movement. RP as if your characters are so ready to carry out their part etc.
For full credit, you need to post twice and twice only:
a. Doing the next step in the recipe
b. Tidying up after the person before you via these spells
So how does this work?
This isn't a 'real' recipe, meaning every step will end in chaos.
1. Someone (the first person in the group) carries out a (the first) step.
2. The second person to post has to quote the person before them, i.e. the first group member and fix the problem..
3. The third person to post quotes the second person and carries out another step.
4. The fourth person to post quotes the third person in their group and fixes the problem.
5. And so on until EITHER everyone got a chance to both post a step AND fixing a problem, OR there aren't any more steps (then I'll step in and create more steps, don't worry).
The possible 'disaster scenarios' are at the end of this post. The fixer gets to choose what happened and how to fix it.
Obviously you don't have to stick to the first posting order at all. You can post anytime you want without looking for any RPing order.
If two (or more) people posted fixing the same step at the same time, the latter CAN and should edit accordingly. IF the edit means they are going to post twice doing the same thing (eg. your first post was carrying out a step and you posted the next time at the same time with another fixer), you can ask for the post to be deleted and look out for another such (eg. fixing) opportunity.
This sounds hard, but it's honestly easy! No RP order, only two posts (one for carrying out a step and the other for fixing the disaster). Title your posts with the group number. Quote the group member before you. Edit accordingly if you posted the same thing with another person.
The FIXER CAN fail at the spellwork. This just means the next person after them have to fix what your character failed at. ^_^ If the fixer decides to fail the spell 'vitare crepitum' and has an explosion, the group has to start over.
You have until July 15, 23.59 GMT+1/18.59 EST+1 (daylight saving time) to finish two posts. I may not be able to call it time then, but I won't accept posts after it. This also means that if all of your group members are finished with posting before you, you can either join another group that haven't finished OR post a step AND the fixing spell in the same post.
This whole lesson is worth 30 points=no homework, so the more ridiculous your posts are, the more you'll get.
Any questions? You can ask me! Have fuuun!

The disasters that can happen with these steps

The potion overflows
Two of the ingredients are poisonous (hint: use another bowl and lugal, but Cosgrach didn't specify WHICH two ingredients so you're free to pick which)
The potion emits poisonous vapour
A SMALL SCALE NOT AN IMPORTANT explosion happens (hint: the cauldron may shake/vibrate/whatever before it and it's up to THE FIXER if their character is successful with 'vitare crepitus' so if the fixer decides to fail, the group STARTS THE POTION OVER).
The FIXER can creater their own scenario, but remember that it should be something that can be fixed with a spell in this post (http://www.snitchseeker.com/11774876-post61.html).

[Anna Banana]

Kate had only thought she was really good at potions. There were two possible scenarios here, though. One was that she was really, really bad at potions and had just thought otherwise her whole life. The other was that there were so many directions she just got lost along the way. For her sake, Kate hoped it was the second one. That one was easier to fix.

Kate randomly chose the group to the left side of the room and automatically regretted it. Ugh. She was the first to arrive. Did that mean she had to go first? Because she was so unsure of herself that she really didn't want to FIRST. What if she failed right off the bat? She took a deep breath and reminded herself that this assignment seemed destined for doom anyway. With that thought in mind, Kate decided to go ahead and take the plunge. She'd go first for the left side of the room.

Fill the cauldron with water, set on high flame and add 5 Sopophorous beans, then stir 9 times clockwise with a wooden stirrer

Okay, that seemed easy enough. Kate double checked that she had all her protective gear on, and then she quickly circled her wand around her head. "Viseo Ebullio!" she said, casting the Bubblehead Charm for protection. Kate slooooowly raised her wand toward the cauldron and cast a spell to clean it. No use in TRYING to fail. With that out of the way, she raised her wand toward the cauldron again. "Aguamenti!" she said. She filled the cauldron with water then ended the spell. She turned the flame to the setting of 'high' then reached for the five sopophorous beans. She added them in one at a time, counting as she did this just to make sure she had exactly enough. Finally, she picked up the wooden stirrer, cleaned it, then used it to stir the brew nine times in a clockwise direction.

With step one out of the way, Kate stepped back to let somebody else have a turn, just in time to see the potion emit what looked like a poisonous vapor.

[Deezerz]

Kate had only thought she was really good at potions. There were two possible scenarios here, though. One was that she was really, really bad at potions and had just thought otherwise her whole life. The other was that there were so many directions she just got lost along the way. For her sake, Kate hoped it was the second one. That one was easier to fix.

Kate randomly chose the group to the left side of the room and automatically regretted it. Ugh. She was the first to arrive. Did that mean she had to go first? Because she was so unsure of herself that she really didn't want to FIRST. What if she failed right off the bat? She took a deep breath and reminded herself that this assignment seemed destined for doom anyway. With that thought in mind, Kate decided to go ahead and take the plunge. She'd go first for the left side of the room.

Fill the cauldron with water, set on high flame and add 5 Sopophorous beans, then stir 9 times clockwise with a wooden stirrer

Okay, that seemed easy enough. Kate slooooowly raised her wand toward the cauldron and cast a spell to clean it. No use in TRYING to fail. With that out of the way, she raised her wand toward the cauldron again. "Aguamenti!" she said. She filled the cauldron with water then ended the spell. She turned the flame to the setting of 'high' then reached for the five sopophorous beans. She added them in one at a time, counting as she did this just to make sure she had exactly enough. Finally, she picked up the wooden stirrer, cleaned it, then used it to stir the brew nine times in a clockwise direction.

With step one out of the way, Kate stepped back to let somebody else have a turn, just in time to see the potion emit what looked like a poisonous vapor.

It was time to get into groups. Something Beverly disliked because she'd rather work on her own. That way she didn't have to depend on other's work or worry they'd mess up. Apparently this was testing something else rather than just brewing skills.

Approaching the front left of the classroom, Beverly stood behind a Ravenclaw girl (Kate), but before stepping any further, she cast the bubble-head charm on herself. Nooo way she was going to inhale any sort of fumes. Spell or no spell, she was going to be prepared.

After the 'Claw step away from the cauldron, Beverly was ready for the next step when she noticed the vapor. Hell no. She was taught how to deal with this. Making a curling motion with her wand, she traced a S at the vapor as she cast, "Congregrabit!"

There!

[Holmesian Feline]

Benny had just been about to work on the next spell when Culloden called time. Shoot...he had lost track of time on his spell practice, not having made it through the list. Oh well, no time now to do it as they all had to move onto this main activity the professor was talking about. The first issue being the whole dividing into groups. The Gryffindor glanced at Adi, figuring they would work together like they tended to always do in potions so whichever of the three they picked it would be together.

Front right, it was, the sixth year moving in the direction and expecting at least one person to follow.

Eventually there was three groups and three oversized cauldrons in front of each. Not to mention a recipe posted on the board. Eight steps to be exact as both seen and heard from Culloden as he moved on to explain the actual activity. New potion, bound to react wrong each step and they had to work together to both brew and fix things. Pretty self-explainatory but that didn't mean it was going to be easy.

Their group lined up and Benny found himself up first by some sheer dumb luck. Geez...no pressure. At least he supposed he didn't have the harder spellwork. His gloves on, and a bubble-head charm cast and in place, he did as the professor suggested and prepared himself. Water...hot heat...Sopophorous beans...clockwise stirs. He grabbed the beans as everything else was already accessible by the use of his wand.

So here it went.

"Aquamenti!" he cast first and foremost, filling the cauldron. Benny then set the flame on high and set that to heat up as he added the 5 Sopophorous beans one by one. One...two...three...four...five. "Scourgify," came after, cleaning the stiring rod in his possession and dipping it cautiously into the water. One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...ei ght...nine times clockwise.

Now to see what happened.

[Daydreamer11]

It was time to get into groups. Something Beverly disliked because she'd rather work on her own. That way she didn't have to depend on other's work or worry they'd mess up. Apparently this was testing something else rather than just brewing skills.

Approaching the front left of the classroom, Beverly stood behind a Ravenclaw girl (Kate), but before stepping any further, she cast the bubble-head charm on herself. Nooo way she was going to inhale any sort of fumes. Spell or no spell, she was going to be prepared.

After the 'Claw step away from the cauldron, Beverly was ready for the next step when she noticed the vapor. Hell no. She was taught how to deal with this. Making a curling motion with her wand, she traced a S at the vapor as she cast, "Congregrabit!"

There!

This was definitely going to be interesting. Janelle hoped that it would be interesting in a good way, but she had a feeling...... The first thing that she needed to do was choose a group. Her classmates were all heading in various directions and she hoped that she would make the right choice. She decided on the group at the left side of the classroom. Janelle walked over and found Kate and Beverly already there. "Hi you guys. Mind if I join your group?"

Janelle put on her protective gloves and now she had to do the bubble head charm. Hopefully her practice had helped because it was now or never. She waved her wand in a counterclockwise manner and said, "Viseo Ebullio" Janelle's bubble appeared and she hoped that it would hold up until they finished the potion.

Janelle watched her classmates as they started the potion. Kate was doing well and then things started to go very wrong. There was a vapor that appeared as soon as she stirred the potion. Thank goodness Beverly was able to contain it and Janelle's bubble seemed to be holding up so far.

When everything was under control, Janelle cautiously stepped up to the cauldron to try the next step. She looked through the supplies and found two porcupine quills. Then she dropped them into the cauldron. For a second, she though everything was fine. Unfortunately things were only fine for a second. All of a sudden, the potion started to get higher and higher in the cauldron. If it didn't stop soon, it would overflow onto the floor and that would be very bad. Janelle knew that she must not panic. She tried to think fast, but all of the spells were spinning around in her head.

[Cassirin]

If Dot could choose, she wanted to be in the same group as Sophie Brown. They were BLOOD BROTHERS or something. Or... something. POTION SISTERS. She desparatley wanted to wait for her buddy to be ready. But also... the clock was ticking and Dot was eager to jump into a group. She had this mortal dread that groups of 8 would form without her and she wouldn't have a chance to participate and she'd fail potions and have to be a fourth year forever.

Totally normal things to worry about, y'know?

There were already groups congregating at the other cauldrons, so Dot hurried to grab a spot at the one in the back of the classroom. Since she was already there and everything. She hopped around, eager for the cauldron to be set in front of them and for the big exciting experiment to begin. Should she clean the cauldron really quickly before things got underway? Was it already clean? Ten seconds was barely any time at all, and she had to do a whole STEP in that time.

Um um um. "Scourgify," she actually whispered the incantation, in case they weren't supposed to be doing magic yet, and none too soon... a moment later, they were to begin, and there was Dot at the front of the line with her wand out. "I SHALL BEGIN." In her super dramatic voice. "Aguamenti."

He hadn't said how far up to fill it, but 'fill' meant... mostly full. Almost all the way full. She waited until the water was lapping about three quarters of the way up, and then, "Finite. Incendio." This was going well, right? Not out of time yet? Nothing exploding? But heating water almost NEVER made stuff explode. Add in the 5 Sopophorous beans, and then Dot plunked the wooden stirrer into the cauldron and began to stir clockwise.

Only... had she remembered to clean it? The stick? Was it clean? She took a shaky breath as the cauldron zipped away from her.

[FearlessLeader19]

Benny had just been about to work on the next spell when Culloden called time. Shoot...he had lost track of time on his spell practice, not having made it through the list. Oh well, no time now to do it as they all had to move onto this main activity the professor was talking about. The first issue being the whole dividing into groups. The Gryffindor glanced at Adi, figuring they would work together like they tended to always do in potions so whichever of the three they picked it would be together.

Front right, it was, the sixth year moving in the direction and expecting at least one person to follow.

Eventually there was three groups and three oversized cauldrons in front of each. Not to mention a recipe posted on the board. Eight steps to be exact as both seen and heard from Culloden as he moved on to explain the actual activity. New potion, bound to react wrong each step and they had to work together to both brew and fix things. Pretty self-explainatory but that didn't mean it was going to be easy.

Their group lined up and Benny found himself up first by some sheer dumb luck. Geez...no pressure. At least he supposed he didn't have the harder spellwork. His gloves on, and a bubble-head charm cast and in place, he did as the professor suggested and prepared himself. Water...hot heat...Sopophorous beans...clockwise stirs. He grabbed the beans as everything else was already accessible by the use of his wand.

So here it went.

"Aquamenti!" he cast first and foremost, filling the cauldron. Benny then set the flame on high and set that to heat up as he added the 5 Sopophorous beans one by one. One...two...three...four...five. "Scourgify," came after, cleaning the stiring rod in his possession and dipping it cautiously into the water. One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...ei ght...nine times clockwise.

Now to see what happened.

Wheeee!

Activity timeee!

And of course Adi was going to join Benny. They were each other's shadow, yo! "Hi,'' he said excitedly to his best friend as he sidled up next to him after getting the jist of the activity. He had already donned his gloves and was now repeating the spell he had just shown Janelle. LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!

Adi was practically hopping from foot to foot as he waited for his turn. And he WAS watching Benny do those steps, ya know. Mhmmm. This is why he noticed the cauldron was not Scourgified. EYES on you, bestie! How could that be forgotten?

By the time the first step had been done, the ten seconds were up and it was Adi's turn. HE STAREEED at the object coming his way. Was it just him or was that cauldron shaking? :blink: It came closer. Oh yeah. DEFINITELY shaking going on there. Actually, the shaking increased and the cauldron was swaying dangerously from left to right and then back to front as though trying out some dance moves.

"Stand still, you crazy cauldron! You'll spill the stuff in there!'' Crazy, excited and surprised Adi flapped his arms urgently at the cauldron. But what did it do?

HISSSSSSS!

The Hufflepuff expected smoke and was all set to cast the spell but noooooo. There were OTHER weird sounds coming from the belly of the cauldron. At first Adi actually thought it was someone's stomach giving that loud rumble that stomachs liked to make when they were hungry. He even laid a hand on his trying to decide if it were him but then he realised it was the cauldron.

RUMBLE!RUMBLE!RUMBLE!

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" he said dramatically though he wasn't sure anyone would hear him because they were much too focused on their own work. Except his group, of course. Quick, what was the spell to prevent explosions?! Congregrabit? No! Oh, he got it!

''Vitare Crepitus!'' Cue the wiiiiide circle of the wand around the cauldron! Adi held his breath and the cauldron relaxed; it stopped dancing and the contents settled back down. PHEW! Calamity AVOIDED! As the cauldron moved on to the next person, he turned his attention to Benny. "That near explosion had your name written ALL OVER it.'' Hehehe.

[Jessiqua]

There was a clap, which got Zhenya's attention, and she looked up to see Professor Culloden at the front, ready to address them all. Ooh the main activity! Were they going to be experimenting on things? Practicing their spells and use of protective spells? Zhenya stood up and walked the few steps to the back of the classroom. She lived in a magical castle, but she was always impressed at the everyday-ness use of magic from some of the Professors. She watched Professor Culloden clear away their belongings, and enlarge three cauldrons, one for each group. What? It was impressive.

Seeing as she didn't have her belongings, she couldn't write the instructions down. Don't worry, once the activity was finished she would be. Notes for revision. He... figured? Zhenya smirked; uhh so the potion may or may not end up in disaster? They could really be formulating some kind of explosion or potion which didn't actually cure pimples. Cool!

CHOCOLATE FROGS>!?!??!

Even cooooooooooler. Zhenya knew her sister was going to love being at Hogwarts next year, for that reason alone. NOM!

Zhenya had all of her protective gear right near her, so on it all went. And now the bubble head charm, which she performed. She was protected now, against whatever potential disaster the lesson was going to produce.

Once she was done, Zhenya stood next to Dot, who was person #1.

If Dot could choose, she wanted to be in the same group as Sophie Brown. They were BLOOD BROTHERS or something. Or... something. POTION SISTERS. She desparatley wanted to wait for her buddy to be ready. But also... the clock was ticking and Dot was eager to jump into a group. She had this mortal dread that groups of 8 would form without her and she wouldn't have a chance to participate and she'd fail potions and have to be a fourth year forever.

Totally normal things to worry about, y'know?

There were already groups congregating at the other cauldrons, so Dot hurried to grab a spot at the one in the back of the classroom. Since she was already there and everything. She hopped around, eager for the cauldron to be set in front of them and for the big exciting experiment to begin. Should she clean the cauldron really quickly before things got underway? Was it already clean? Ten seconds was barely any time at all, and she had to do a whole STEP in that time.

Um um um. "Scourgify," she actually whispered the incantation, in case they weren't supposed to be doing magic yet, and none too soon... a moment later, they were to begin, and there was Dot at the front of the line with her wand out. "I SHALL BEGIN." In her super dramatic voice. "Aguamenti."

He hadn't said how far up to fill it, but 'fill' meant... mostly full. Almost all the way full. She waited until the water was lapping about three quarters of the way up, and then, "Finite. Incendio." This was going well, right? Not out of time yet? Nothing exploding? But heating water almost NEVER made stuff explode. Add in the 5 Sopophorous beans, and then Dot plunked the wooden stirrer into the cauldron and began to stir clockwise.

Only... had she remembered to clean it? The stick? Was it clean? She took a shaky breath as the cauldron zipped away from her.


Zhenya watched as Dot completed the first step, and stood at the ready. Step 2; adding two porcupine quills. She had two of them at the ready, to put into the potion, but... wait...

VAPOUR!

POISONOUS VAPOUR!??!?

Zhenya was momentarily stunned. What? It was just water and Sopophorous beans! How was that emitting a vapour? At least it wasn't... exploding? "Whoa," she said, quickly putting the porcupine quills down and pulling her wand out of her robes. That was what... 3 seconds? "Congregrabit," she said, pointing her wand at the vapour spreading from the cauldron. She drew her 'S' shape through the air, watching as the vapour contained itself into an invisible blob, suspended in the air. Now time for vanishing; "Evanesco," she said, pointing her wand at the vapour ball.

*POOF*

Bye bye vapour.

[Weasley174]

Angel looked up as the Professor came closer to her. "Vitare!" Angel sighed as she said the incantation that he told her too. "Vitare!" Angel did think that made more sense than what she had been saying.

Angel looked around the room as the professor started the main section, she wasn't feeling so good, So before the professor went back to his desk she suddenly asked. "May I be excused?"

[MudInMyBlood]

There was a clap, which got Zhenya's attention, and she looked up to see Professor Culloden at the front, ready to address them all. Ooh the main activity! Were they going to be experimenting on things? Practicing their spells and use of protective spells? Zhenya stood up and walked the few steps to the back of the classroom. She lived in a magical castle, but she was always impressed at the everyday-ness use of magic from some of the Professors. She watched Professor Culloden clear away their belongings, and enlarge three cauldrons, one for each group. What? It was impressive.

Seeing as she didn't have her belongings, she couldn't write the instructions down. Don't worry, once the activity was finished she would be. Notes for revision. He... figured? Zhenya smirked; uhh so the potion may or may not end up in disaster? They could really be formulating some kind of explosion or potion which didn't actually cure pimples. Cool!

CHOCOLATE FROGS>!?!??!

Even cooooooooooler. Zhenya knew her sister was going to love being at Hogwarts next year, for that reason alone. NOM!

Zhenya had all of her protective gear right near her, so on it all went. And now the bubble head charm, which she performed. She was protected now, against whatever potential disaster the lesson was going to produce.

Once she was done, Zhenya stood next to Dot, who was person #1.




Zhenya watched as Dot completed the first step, and stood at the ready. Step 2; adding two porcupine quills. She had two of them at the ready, to put into the potion, but... wait...

VAPOUR!

POISONOUS VAPOUR!??!?

Zhenya was momentarily stunned. What? It was just water and Sopophorous beans! How was that emitting a vapour? At least it wasn't... exploding? "Whoa," she said, quickly putting the porcupine quills down and pulling her wand out of her robes. That was what... 3 seconds? "Congregrabit," she said, pointing her wand at the vapour spreading from the cauldron. She drew her 'S' shape through the air, watching as the vapour contained itself into an invisible blob, suspended in the air. Now time for vanishing; "Evanesco," she said, pointing her wand at the vapour ball.

*POOF*

Bye bye vapour.


Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Group work sounded like fun because not everybody was a potion whiz and AJ was pretty much counting on someone blowing something up. Really, she was hoping that would be the case. She wouldn't even be mad if it was her that go to do the honors. Not wanting to waste anytime, she headed to the back of the classroom and joined some folks that she never got to play with. They looked like a group of cool cats.

Safety first was apparently something that she had to be aware of. A quick bubblehead charm, and some clean gloves had her ready to go...

AJ watched as the younger girl got them all started. It was pretty cool to see someone else go first to kind of get to gist of it. Not that it really mattered because THINGS were happening. Vapor. Deathly vapor. No, she wasn't panicking. If anything she was mildly interested.

Zhenya was on it. She watched the older Slytherin took charge. "Great save." Nice use of their new spell they just learned.

Okay. All she had to do was complete the next step on the board. She could totally handle that. It would be pretty hard to mess that up, yes? Reading the board she saw that only two porcupine quills were needed. Easy peasy. No messing that up. No sir.

AJ added the two quilla and beamed at the others. SEE? She was a total asset.

SIZZLE.

ERM... yeah, that's right... she was on fire. Cauldron sizzling was totes normal.

[Stormdancer]

Marsha was writing. And writing. And writing.

Everyone was talking so quickly that she hardly had enough time to write down one person’s ideas before someone else was adding to it or giving yet another example. Gosh, they never did this much writing in Potions. SIGH. She knew that she didn’t have to sit any major exams this year, but they did have to complete their finals… so she wrote and wrote and wrote and hoped that anything she had missed hadn’t been important.

Then, just when there was a gap, she looked up to see that the Professor had added a list onto the blackboard - so she added that underneath her “class” notes, drawing a bubble around it to show that it was important and Professor approved. Apparently a lot of charm work was needed with potions. Hmm… She didn’t know that before - but that was why she was here to learn! Hehe. Bubble-head charm seemed to be one of the most important… Huh. Well, who knew?

Oh, more notes! Marsha once again took to writing, her teeth biting her lower lip as she alternated between looking at her parchment and the blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. She wrote down the list of spells and felt a little shy as the Professor said they should be familiar with spells that she had never heard of before. Looking around for anyone else who was as confused as she was she put her hand in the air slowly. ”Professor, I’ve never heard of those two charms… if I come back later or stay after class could you teach me them?” She asked when called on, after all she didn’t want to disrupt the class when it was in full flow.

Vitare crepitus. ”Vi-tar-ay Cre-pi-tos.” Marsha repeated, nodding slowly as she wrote it down on her notes. Picking up her wand, she drew a circle in the air… that was easy. Why were the wand movements the easiest parts? Surely the incantations should be easier too. Pffft, silly wizards. ”Vi-tar-ay Cre-pi-tos.” she repeated to herself, reading it off her parchment. Okay, together now! ”Vi-tar-ay Cre-pi-tos.”, and circle! ANDDDD nothing. Marsha frowned and shook her head. Nothing. NOTHING. Frowning, she listened to the other around her and wondered which part of the incantation she had gotten wrong.

Congregrabit. That sounded easier to get right. Hopefully. ”Cong-reh-greb-et. No… Cong-reh-grab-eeet.” She said, having listened to the others around her. Right, grab it. Hehehehehehe. COUGH. Grown up face. The Welsh Lion paid attention to Culloden again, as he showed them the wand movement for it, which was to draw an S while pointing at the vapour that you wanted to help clear up after any potions or explosions… Apparently. Okay. This one she could do, surely? Right? ”Cong-reh-grab-eeet.” She repeated once more as drew an S in the air. … And she couldn’t see anything other than green mist. She guessed that meant she had done it wrong too. Darn griffins.

Okay… so she knew her wand motions were correct for both of the spells so she must have written down the pronounciations wrong. Sighing once again she repeated the charms again and again, trying lots of different variations… if she couldn’t get these right this was going to end so badly… she just knew it was. Incorrect charm work and potions didn’t mix - hadn’t Professor Culloden just finished telling them that? Urgh. Brain, work.

Okay… she felt thick. She had no idea about half of these charms and it was now time to work together in groups? Oh gosh. This wasn’t going to end well. She could tell, and she’d make her whole team fail. Nooo…. SIGHSIGHSIGH. DRAMATICS.

Okay… Groups? Who did she know that was older and might be able to help her. She took a look around and noticed that Adi and Benny had moved towards the front of the classroom. She skipped over to them - carefully to miss the desks and potions and gave them a small wave. ”Can I work with you both?” She hoped they said yes, as she didn’t want to miss out on this… whatever this was.

As they lined up and people started to use their bubble-head charms the girl looked around and sighed. AGAIN. ”Adi? Is there any chance you can cast it for me? I’ve never heard of it before today… I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Obviously, with a grin Adi had helped her and then they had gotten set up for the activity.

Okay, so Benny (but not her Aunt Benny) was starting… so he stepped up and did the first step on their list. Water, flames, beans, clockwise turns. Griffin. She wasn’t even adding anything right now and her heart was still in her throat. What was she going to be like when it was her turn?


Wheeee!

Activity timeee!

And of course Adi was going to join Benny. They were each other's shadow, yo! "Hi,'' he said excitedly to his best friend as he sidled up next to him after getting the jist of the activity. He had already donned his gloves and was now repeating the spell he had just shown Janelle. LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!

Adi was practically hopping from foot to foot as he waited for his turn. And he WAS watching Benny do those steps, ya know. Mhmmm. This is why he noticed the cauldron was not Scourgified. EYES on you, bestie! How could that be forgotten?

By the time the first step had been done, the ten seconds were up and it was Adi's turn. HE STAREEED at the object coming his way. Was it just him or was that cauldron shaking? :blink: It came closer. Oh yeah. DEFINITELY shaking going on there. Actually, the shaking increased and the cauldron was swaying dangerously from left to right and then back to front as though trying out some dance moves.

"Stand still, you crazy cauldron! You'll spill the stuff in there!'' Crazy, excited and surprised Adi flapped his arms urgently at the cauldron. But what did it do?

HISSSSSSS!

The Hufflepuff expected smoke and was all set to cast the spell but noooooo. There were OTHER weird sounds coming from the belly of the cauldron. At first Adi actually thought it was someone's stomach giving that loud rumble that stomachs liked to make when they were hungry. He even laid a hand on his trying to decide if it were him but then he realised it was the cauldron.

RUMBLE!RUMBLE!RUMBLE!

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" he said dramatically though he wasn't sure anyone would hear him because they were much too focused on their own work. Except his group, of course. Quick, what was the spell to prevent explosions?! Congregrabit? No! Oh, he got it!

''Vitare Crepitus!'' Cue the wiiiiide circle of the wand around the cauldron! Adi held his breath and the cauldron relaxed; it stopped dancing and the contents settled back down. PHEW! Calamity AVOIDED! As the cauldron moved on to the next person, he turned his attention to Benny. "That near explosion had your name written ALL OVER it.'' Hehehe.
Honestly, she had no idea but she watched as the cauldron started to shake… and hiss and rumble. Oh gosh! If Marsha’s heart hadn’t been in her throat with her heart beat racing a thousand miles a minute, it was NOW. PROFESSOR CULLODEN!!! Are you trying to give us all heart attacks? Griffin.

Taking a deep breath, Marsha focused as the cauldron turned around to her. Okay… So step one had been done, now they needed to add porcupine quills okay… she could do that. She could do that and not ruin their potion before it had started. As it stopped in front of her, the twelve-year old took a deep breath and dropped the TWO - not one, not three, two - quills into the cauldron…

WHEW. All done, that was perf-...

No… no that wasn’t perfect. WHAT? How did she muck that up? All she had to do was put in two quills. SIGH.

Today, was really not her day.

[Holmesian Feline]

Benny had stepped aside so Adi had access to the potion next. Though as he watched it react, he couldn't help but be more than a little nervous. It reminded him so much of his own earliest potions, including the one that had exploded in the end. First it was shaking...then it was hissing like a snake...and then it was rumbling like he expected a volcano did before it was ready to errupt.

The Gryffindor swallowing at Adi's dramatic but unnecessary pronouncement. Sure it was going to blow...if the Hufflepuff didn't fix it in time. He silently willed his friend to be lucky and get it right as well as hoping deep down the potion would behave regardless. Benny just wasn't a fan of explosions, even if it was Professor Culloden's expectation, to show what to do in case of them.

He let out a sigh of relief as the spell worked and the potion calmed down. One step down and fixed, now they had to make it through the rest. The cauldron passed onto Marsha, the first year whom they had welcomed into their group at her askance. Were they really going to turn her away? A housemate and the friendliest prefect ever? However as she moved to do her step, Benny was distracted by Angel's question to the professor.

She wanted to be excused?

Was she feeling alright? Or sick again.


Marsha was writing. And writing. And writing.

Everyone was talking so quickly that she hardly had enough time to write down one person’s ideas before someone else was adding to it or giving yet another example. Gosh, they never did this much writing in Potions. SIGH. She knew that she didn’t have to sit any major exams this year, but they did have to complete their finals… so she wrote and wrote and wrote and hoped that anything she had missed hadn’t been important.

Then, just when there was a gap, she looked up to see that the Professor had added a list onto the blackboard - so she added that underneath her “class” notes, drawing a bubble around it to show that it was important and Professor approved. Apparently a lot of charm work was needed with potions. Hmm… She didn’t know that before - but that was why she was here to learn! Hehe. Bubble-head charm seemed to be one of the most important… Huh. Well, who knew?

Oh, more notes! Marsha once again took to writing, her teeth biting her lower lip as she alternated between looking at her parchment and the blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. Parchment, blackboard. She wrote down the list of spells and felt a little shy as the Professor said they should be familiar with spells that she had never heard of before. Looking around for anyone else who was as confused as she was she put her hand in the air slowly. ”Professor, I’ve never heard of those two charms… if I come back later or stay after class could you teach me them?” She asked when called on, after all she didn’t want to disrupt the class when it was in full flow.

Vitare crepitus. ”Vi-tar-ay Cre-pi-tos.” Marsha repeated, nodding slowly as she wrote it down on her notes. Picking up her wand, she drew a circle in the air… that was easy. Why were the wand movements the easiest parts? Surely the incantations should be easier too. Pffft, silly wizards. ”Vi-tar-ay Cre-pi-tos.” she repeated to herself, reading it off her parchment. Okay, together now! ”Vi-tar-ay Cre-pi-tos.”, and circle! ANDDDD nothing. Marsha frowned and shook her head. Nothing. NOTHING. Frowning, she listened to the other around her and wondered which part of the incantation she had gotten wrong.

Congregrabit. That sounded easier to get right. Hopefully. ”Cong-reh-greb-et. No… Cong-reh-grab-eeet.” She said, having listened to the others around her. Right, grab it. Hehehehehehe. COUGH. Grown up face. The Welsh Lion paid attention to Culloden again, as he showed them the wand movement for it, which was to draw an S while pointing at the vapour that you wanted to help clear up after any potions or explosions… Apparently. Okay. This one she could do, surely? Right? ”Cong-reh-grab-eeet.” She repeated once more as drew an S in the air. … And she couldn’t see anything other than green mist. She guessed that meant she had done it wrong too. Darn griffins.

Okay… so she knew her wand motions were correct for both of the spells so she must have written down the pronounciations wrong. Sighing once again she repeated the charms again and again, trying lots of different variations… if she couldn’t get these right this was going to end so badly… she just knew it was. Incorrect charm work and potions didn’t mix - hadn’t Professor Culloden just finished telling them that? Urgh. Brain, work.

Okay… she felt thick. She had no idea about half of these charms and it was now time to work together in groups? Oh gosh. This wasn’t going to end well. She could tell, and she’d make her whole team fail. Nooo…. SIGHSIGHSIGH. DRAMATICS.

Okay… Groups? Who did she know that was older and might be able to help her. She took a look around and noticed that Adi and Benny had moved towards the front of the classroom. She skipped over to them - carefully to miss the desks and potions and gave them a small wave. ”Can I work with you both?” She hoped they said yes, as she didn’t want to miss out on this… whatever this was.

As they lined up and people started to use their bubble-head charms the girl looked around and sighed. AGAIN. ”Adi? Is there any chance you can cast it for me? I’ve never heard of it before today… I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Obviously, with a grin Adi had helped her and then they had gotten set up for the activity.

Okay, so Benny (but not her Aunt Benny) was starting… so he stepped up and did the first step on their list. Water, flames, beans, clockwise turns. Griffin. She wasn’t even adding anything right now and her heart was still in her throat. What was she going to be like when it was her turn?

Honestly, she had no idea but she watched as the cauldron started to shake… and hiss and rumble. Oh gosh! If Marsha’s heart hadn’t been in her throat with her heart beat racing a thousand miles a minute, it was NOW. PROFESSOR CULLODEN!!! Are you trying to give us all heart attacks? Griffin.

Taking a deep breath, Marsha focused as the cauldron turned around to her. Okay… So step one had been done, now they needed to add porcupine quills okay… she could do that. She could do that and not ruin their potion before it had started. As it stopped in front of her, the twelve-year old took a deep breath and dropped the TWO - not one, not three, two - quills into the cauldron…

WHEW. All done, that was perf-...

No… no that wasn’t perfect. WHAT? How did she muck that up? All she had to do was put in two quills. SIGH.

Today, was really not her day.

Their group moved again and Benny found himself the fixer this time around, pulling his attention from his girlfriend. "Wha---" It was his turn again? The Gryffindor tried to quickly access what was going on. It didn't seem quite as bubbly and grumbly as before. That was good...right? No explosion to deal with. But he wasn't out of the woods yet as he reached for his wand once more.

No...that potion was certainly reacting.

...certainly moving.
...certainly overFLOWING!

Quick Atreyu, do something!!

He paused for but a moment or two to think back to the list they had to work from. "Evanesco!" he finally cast, vanishing the excess that came over the lip of the cauldron so they were left with just what they were working on. Phew....that seemed to work.

[Samia]

This was definitely going to be interesting. Janelle hoped that it would be interesting in a good way, but she had a feeling...... The first thing that she needed to do was choose a group. Her classmates were all heading in various directions and she hoped that she would make the right choice. She decided on the group at the left side of the classroom. Janelle walked over and found Kate and Beverly already there. "Hi you guys. Mind if I join your group?"

Janelle put on her protective gloves and now she had to do the bubble head charm. Hopefully her practice had helped because it was now or never. She waved her wand in a counterclockwise manner and said, "Viseo Ebullio" Janelle's bubble appeared and she hoped that it would hold up until they finished the potion.

Janelle watched her classmates as they started the potion. Kate was doing well and then things started to go very wrong. There was a vapor that appeared as soon as she stirred the potion. Thank goodness Beverly was able to contain it and Janelle's bubble seemed to be holding up so far.

When everything was under control, Janelle cautiously stepped up to the cauldron to try the next step. She looked through the supplies and found two porcupine quills. Then she dropped them into the cauldron. For a second, she though everything was fine. Unfortunately things were only fine for a second. All of a sudden, the potion started to get higher and higher in the cauldron. If it didn't stop soon, it would overflow onto the floor and that would be very bad. Janelle knew that she must not panic. She tried to think fast, but all of the spells were spinning around in her head.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

Noel was HOPING that that was all they had to do. Since they were so close to their exams, maybe the professor would be nice and just give them a few more notes to go over and dismiss the class but NOPE. Activity time.

Noel didn't really care who he paired up with. A group of 8 people, surely he wouldn't have to do much. Just stir a little maybe and things will work out. Moving toward the first group he saw, he stood near the three girls who he had seen around but never really talk to. Ah well, time to mingle as well then?

He watched as one by one they took turns. When the first mishap happened, Noel forwned. On the first step? That was probably bad luck. But when it came to potions, Noel was all bad luck. Thankfully though one of the girls performed the charm the professor had just taught and fixed the thing. That was good thinking, yes.

Onto the next step. He watched as the next girl carefully dropped the porcupine quills in and it was all going good. Noel's eyes turned to the board to see the next step one more time to be sure and he was about to perform it when the potion started to bubble up to overflow. What in the ... fudge????? He was pretty sure they weren't performing the steps wrong then WHAT WAS HAPPENING?

Actually no ... WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING?

Ever the pleasant one in times of panic (not), Noel frowned before pointing his wand toward the couldron. Oh he knew this one. The professor had just talked about it. Without any hesitation, the fifth year said the incantation clearly, while moving his wrist to perform the wand movement: "Aresto Momentum!"

He was bad at potions but good with charms. Oh yes. So there you go, the overflow stopped. For now. Now can someone do the next step please?

[FearlessLeader19]

Benny had stepped aside so Adi had access to the potion next. Though as he watched it react, he couldn't help but be more than a little nervous. It reminded him so much of his own earliest potions, including the one that had exploded in the end. First it was shaking...then it was hissing like a snake...and then it was rumbling like he expected a volcano did before it was ready to errupt.

The Gryffindor swallowing at Adi's dramatic but unnecessary pronouncement. Sure it was going to blow...if the Hufflepuff didn't fix it in time. He silently willed his friend to be lucky and get it right as well as hoping deep down the potion would behave regardless. Benny just wasn't a fan of explosions, even if it was Professor Culloden's expectation, to show what to do in case of them.

He let out a sigh of relief as the spell worked and the potion calmed down. One step down and fixed, now they had to make it through the rest. The cauldron passed onto Marsha, the first year whom they had welcomed into their group at her askance. Were they really going to turn her away? A housemate and the friendliest prefect ever? However as she moved to do her step, Benny was distracted by Angel's question to the professor.

She wanted to be excused?

Was she feeling alright? Or sick again.




Their group moved again and Benny found himself the fixer this time around, pulling his attention from his girlfriend. "Wha---" It was his turn again? The Gryffindor tried to quickly access what was going on. It didn't seem quite as bubbly and grumbly as before. That was good...right? No explosion to deal with. But he wasn't out of the woods yet as he reached for his wand once more.

No...that potion was certainly reacting.

...certainly moving.
...certainly overFLOWING!

Quick Atreyu, do something!!

He paused for but a moment or two to think back to the list they had to work from. "Evanesco!" he finally cast, vanishing the excess that came over the lip of the cauldron so they were left with just what they were working on. Phew....that seemed to work.


Awwh, little bouncy Marsha! Did she know that Adi ADORED her upbeat attitude? Mhmmm. He did! “Of course you can, Marsha!’’ How could one say no to her? Oh, she needed help. What she got was a broad grin and Adi’s Hippogriff feathered core wand to her face. “You don’t need to ask twice. Here’s what you do. Move your wand in a counter clockwise direction over your face which is where you want to cover. As you do that, you say 'Viseo Ebullio'.’’ The Hufflepuff did the action as he said the incantation. Presto! There was a bubble on the Lion’s head, covering her face. “There you go!’’
……………………

The Hufflepuff’s attention was now on Marsha again as it was her turn to do another step. In went two porcupine quills! YAY! But UH OH! POTION OVERLOAD!!! Gosh, Adi! Dramatic much?! But it was Benny to the rescue! The quick actions of his friend saved the overflowing potion.

PHEWWW! Another calamity avoided. Cue the thumbs up to Benny! Now it was his turn with a step. “Scourgify!’’ The wooden stirrer was cleaned and so the stirring began: One… two… three… four… five stirs counter clockwise! That was done under the ten seconds, thank ya very much. Onto the next student! So far, everything was going okay. He hoped they could keep it up.

[Deezerz]

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.

Noel was HOPING that that was all they had to do. Since they were so close to their exams, maybe the professor would be nice and just give them a few more notes to go over and dismiss the class but NOPE. Activity time.

Noel didn't really care who he paired up with. A group of 8 people, surely he wouldn't have to do much. Just stir a little maybe and things will work out. Moving toward the first group he saw, he stood near the three girls who he had seen around but never really talk to. Ah well, time to mingle as well then?

He watched as one by one they took turns. When the first mishap happened, Noel forwned. On the first step? That was probably bad luck. But when it came to potions, Noel was all bad luck. Thankfully though one of the girls performed the charm the professor had just taught and fixed the thing. That was good thinking, yes.

Onto the next step. He watched as the next girl carefully dropped the porcupine quills in and it was all going good. Noel's eyes turned to the board to see the next step one more time to be sure and he was about to perform it when the potion started to bubble up to overflow. What in the ... fudge????? He was pretty sure they weren't performing the steps wrong then WHAT WAS HAPPENING?

Actually no ... WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING?

Ever the pleasant one in times of panic (not), Noel frowned before pointing his wand toward the couldron. Oh he knew this one. The professor had just talked about it. Without any hesitation, the fifth year said the incantation clearly, while moving his wrist to perform the wand movement: "Aresto Momentum!"

He was bad at potions but good with charms. Oh yes. So there you go, the overflow stopped. For now. Now can someone do the next step please?

Dude in the yellow prevented the overflow. Good. She didn't blame Janelle, the 'Claw was young and learning. Besides, she sort of had a soft spot for her. Not that she'd ever admit it.

Tugging on her gloves and glancing over at her notes, Beverly read the next step. She was calm and concentrating, but at the back of her mind she remembered their tasks were being timed. So without wasting time, she cleansed the stirrer and dipped it into the cauldron, stirring five times counter-clockwise.

There that should...why was there liquid spilling over the cauldron? She had not stirred hard at all. She glanced at the person next. Her turn was over, she was fully expecting the next person to clean it or something. Not contamination here, please.

[Felixir]

"Viseo Ebullio," Toby cast, drawing a circle around his face all anti-clockwise, and then... ta-daaaaaa, a cool bubble appeared. Then the gloves were pulled ON and Toby was READY for ACTION. Kinda. Hopefully. YES. ACTION.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Group work sounded like fun because not everybody was a potion whiz and AJ was pretty much counting on someone blowing something up. Really, she was hoping that would be the case. She wouldn't even be mad if it was her that go to do the honors. Not wanting to waste anytime, she headed to the back of the classroom and joined some folks that she never got to play with. They looked like a group of cool cats.

Safety first was apparently something that she had to be aware of. A quick bubblehead charm, and some clean gloves had her ready to go...

AJ watched as the younger girl got them all started. It was pretty cool to see someone else go first to kind of get to gist of it. Not that it really mattered because THINGS were happening. Vapor. Deathly vapor. No, she wasn't panicking. If anything she was mildly interested.

Zhenya was on it. She watched the older Slytherin took charge. "Great save." Nice use of their new spell they just learned.

Okay. All she had to do was complete the next step on the board. She could totally handle that. It would be pretty hard to mess that up, yes? Reading the board she saw that only two porcupine quills were needed. Easy peasy. No messing that up. No sir.

AJ added the two quilla and beamed at the others. SEE? She was a total asset.

SIZZLE.

ERM... yeah, that's right... she was on fire. Cauldron sizzling was totes normal.

He was ready, so ready, READY READY READY.

"Oh, uhhh..."

Not... not ready. Not as ready as he'd thought he was. Um. UMMMMM. HOW DO FIX SIZZLE? WHY WAS SIZZLE? WHAT HAPPEN?

Okay so clearly AJ's step had been faulty TOO, just like the other one, and it made Toby wonder if maybe Culloden had been suuuuuuuuuuuper super tired when writing up this recipe. "You're on... fire." As... as was the potion. RIGHT. OKAY. HE HAD THIS.

Sizzling sounded an AWFUL LOT LIKE an explosion was going to happen, and so Toby had to CONTAIN IT. Well. Here went nothing, then. The last time he'd tried this spell it had taken a moment to do anything, and he'd already delayed enough AND his ten seconds were ALMOST UP.

"Vitare Crepitus!" Toby quickly cast, drawing a circle over the cauldron. The fact that he was ACTUALLY having to possibly protect other people made aaaaaall the difference, because the spell totally worked. There was a flash of white light and... "Oh, look! It did the thing!"

Even the fire had died right down, so... an explosion didn't seen imminent. NICE. Toby watched as the cauldron moved away. DISASTER AVERTED.

For now.

[Anna Banana]

Dude in the yellow prevented the overflow. Good. She didn't blame Janelle, the 'Claw was young and learning. Besides, she sort of had a soft spot for her. Not that she'd ever admit it.

Tugging on her gloves and glancing over at her notes, Beverly read the next step. She was calm and concentrating, but at the back of her mind she remembered their tasks were being timed. So without wasting time, she cleansed the stirrer and dipped it into the cauldron, stirring five times counter-clockwise.

There that should...why was there liquid spilling over the cauldron? She had not stirred hard at all. She glanced at the person next. Her turn was over, she was fully expecting the next person to clean it or something. Not contamination here, please.

Bubblehead Charm still in place, Kate turned toward Janelle and smiled and nodded when the girl asked if she could join. Well, that made three group members, so all they needed was another five to finish out the potion.

Hopefully they'd finish it out.

With all the poisonous vapors and the such around them, who knew what might happen next. At least Beverly was able to fix the poisonous vapor problem Kate created. She gave both girls an apologetic look. They probably knew she didn't cause the vapors on purpose, but she still felt bad anyway. What if somebody's Bubblehead Charm wouldn't have worked? She didn't even want to think about that. Causing a person's dreadful death at only thirteen years old wasn't on Kate's 'To-do List'.

She shifted her line of thinking back to the potion as Janelle gave step two a go. She added two porcupine quills, which Kate knew to be the correct thing to do. Whew. She breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like everything had gone just as planned. Could it be that they'd actually finish this?! Kate raised her hand to give her group a high five...

...and just as quickly lowered it back down. A movement out the corner of her eye caught her attention, and Kate turned toward the cauldron. "AHHH!" she shrieked, losing her cool for just a second. She hunched in the corner and put her hands over her head. ... Oh, wait. She was supposed to be doing something about that, wasn't she? Kate flailed about a little before getting her bearings and retrieving her wand. "Sorry, sorry...I got this," she said.

...but somebody else was already on it. A new group member! Kate breathed a sigh of relief as the group was able to work through the second disaster. She'd already done the first step of the process, so she stepped back to allowed somebody else a turn to do that. She'd be on the lookout, though, and she'd be more prepared this time when and if another disaster happened. Which it would, she knew.

Now their little group had half of its members--four. Kate watched as the Slytherin prefect, the one who'd fixed her initial step, took a go at the next set of ingredients. Well, this had come full circle. She'd cleaned up Kate's mess, and if there was another mess, Kate would clean up hers. Seconds turned into a few minutes, and soon enough, there it was--the predicted mess. The liquid in the cauldron was overflowing, but Kate WOULD keep her cool this time!

Uhh...what was the spell again? MERLIN, HELP HER! Kate was almost more worried about embarrassing herself in front of her peers than she was solving the problem. ALMOST. "Aresto Momentum Liquor!" she exclaimed. Kate waved her wand in the direction she'd been taught to. Had that been the right thing to do?! This one stopped overflowing liquid, yes? Yes, it did, she thought. She was sure of it!

A moment later, the potion sloooowled down to a crawl then began to decrease in size until it was more and more manageable. Pretty soon, the liquid in the cauldron was back to the level it was meant to be. THANK MERLIN. Kate breathed a sigh of relief then looked toward her group.

Anybody want to have a go at the next step?

[Samia]

Bubblehead Charm still in place, Kate turned toward Janelle and smiled and nodded when the girl asked if she could join. Well, that made three group members, so all they needed was another five to finish out the potion.

Hopefully they'd finish it out.

With all the poisonous vapors and the such around them, who knew what might happen next. At least Beverly was able to fix the poisonous vapor problem Kate created. She gave both girls an apologetic look. They probably knew she didn't cause the vapors on purpose, but she still felt bad anyway. What if somebody's Bubblehead Charm wouldn't have worked? She didn't even want to think about that. Causing a person's dreadful death at only thirteen years old wasn't on Kate's 'To-do List'.

She shifted her line of thinking back to the potion as Janelle gave step two a go. She added two porcupine quills, which Kate knew to be the correct thing to do. Whew. She breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like everything had gone just as planned. Could it be that they'd actually finish this?! Kate raised her hand to give her group a high five...

...and just as quickly lowered it back down. A movement out the corner of her eye caught her attention, and Kate turned toward the cauldron. "AHHH!" she shrieked, losing her cool for just a second. She hunched in the corner and put her hands over her head. ... Oh, wait. She was supposed to be doing something about that, wasn't she? Kate flailed about a little before getting her bearings and retrieving her wand. "Sorry, sorry...I got this," she said.

...but somebody else was already on it. A new group member! Kate breathed a sigh of relief as the group was able to work through the second disaster. She'd already done the first step of the process, so she stepped back to allowed somebody else a turn to do that. She'd be on the lookout, though, and she'd be more prepared this time when and if another disaster happened. Which it would, she knew.

Now their little group had half of its members--four. Kate watched as the Slytherin prefect, the one who'd fixed her initial step, took a go at the next set of ingredients. Well, this had come full circle. She'd cleaned up Kate's mess, and if there was another mess, Kate would clean up hers. Seconds turned into a few minutes, and soon enough, there it was--the predicted mess. The liquid in the cauldron was overflowing, but Kate WOULD keep her cool this time!

Uhh...what was the spell again? MERLIN, HELP HER! Kate was almost more worried about embarrassing herself in front of her peers than she was solving the problem. ALMOST. "Aresto Momentum Liquor!" she exclaimed. Kate waved her wand in the direction she'd been taught to. Had that been the right thing to do?! This one stopped overflowing liquid, yes? Yes, it did, she thought. She was sure of it!

A moment later, the potion sloooowled down to a crawl then began to decrease in size until it was more and more manageable. Pretty soon, the liquid in the cauldron was back to the level it was meant to be. THANK MERLIN. Kate breathed a sigh of relief then looked toward her group.

Anybody want to have a go at the next step?


Noel was dead sure there was something wrong with this potion or the professor had done something to make every step a complete disaster. There was no other explanation. When other members of his group tried the other steps, he gave a look around and EVERYONE was basically a mess.

And when he looked back at his group's cauldron, things were happening again. It was over flowing again. He had fixed it! He was about to do it again but another group member stepped in. He liked how they were sort of handling each other's messes - which they so weren't THEIR MESSES, it was a conspiracy. A pure conspiracy by the professor.

.. a twisted way to teach them all a lesson.

Looking at the board again, Noel read the next step and volunteered to perform it. Seeing as how this may be another disaster, Noel took precaution and cast a bubblehead charm on himself. With gloves on, the fifth year old grabbed four mistletoe berries and took a deep breath. He just knew something bad will happen ...

... Carefully he dropped them in the cauldron.

......

.........

And right on cue, the cauldron started to shake violently. Oh boy. What now???

[Daydreamer11]

[l"QUOTE=Samia;11775331]


Noel was dead sure there was something wrong with this potion or the professor had done something to make every step a complete disaster. There was no other explanation. When other members of his group tried the other steps, he gave a look around and EVERYONE was basically a mess.

And when he looked back at his group's cauldron, things were happening again. It was over flowing again. He had fixed it! He was about to do it again but another group member stepped in. He liked how they were sort of handling each other's messes - which they so weren't THEIR MESSES, it was a conspiracy. A pure conspiracy by the professor.

.. a twisted way to teach them all a lesson.

Looking at the board again, Noel read the next step and volunteered to perform it. Seeing as how this may be another disaster, Noel took precaution and cast a bubblehead charm on himself. With gloves on, the fifth year old grabbed four mistletoe berries and took a deep breath. He just knew something bad will happen ...

... Carefully he dropped them in the cauldron.

......

.........

And right on cue, the cauldron started to shake violently. Oh boy. What now??? [/QUOTE]

Janelle gave a grateful smile to her group mates. It seemed that they didn't blame her for the disaster. Thank goodness they knew what to do and stopped the mess before it got too bad. Janelle gave a sigh of relief as the group moved on to the next step.

The Puff that fixed Janelle's mess volunteered to perform the next step. Holding her breath, Janelle waited for something bad to happen. Why should this step be any different? The others had ended poorly, so she was going to expect the unexpected. She was not disappointed. All of a sudden, the cauldron began to shake......a lot. This was not good. In fact, it had the potential to be very, very bad. Janelle thought back to what the professor had told them earlier. Oh man, it was going to blow.

Janelle did her best to stay calm. Her group members had saved her and now she was going to return the favor. "Don't worry. I've got it this time. Taking out her wand, she made a circle around the cauldron. At the same time, Janelle quickly shouted, "Vitare crepitus" Thank goodness the cauldron slowly stopped shaking and returned to it's normal state. They had dodged another bullet. Now could they do it four more times.?

[Govoni]

So...it was normal to feel pride when simply answering questions in class, right? Because Gabe certainly did feel proud. It was tempering for his mind to focus on something he was good at. Comforting...and it certainly helped that Professor Culloden was among the Ravenclaw's most favorite people. A rather short list, to be honest.

.

.

...and it was time to practice. Good...That was good. The only margin of stress Gabe felt concerning this subject was the probability of fudging spells. His hands would shake sometimes...and stuttering would happen. And if the spell was several steps in...it was like wasting time and hard work. Frustrating. So much.

Jotting down the notes from the blackboard, he carried on with the practicing...There were several spells to get through, some coming to the Ravenclaw more easily than others. Like the bubble-head charm...Gabe was well acquainted with that little life-saver. Even in the name of mundane science, it was an invaluble tool in keeping himself safe. He liked to experiment. Future scientist over here, okay? Logical.

After some time, Professor Culloden announced they were moving to the main activity and Gabe went ahead and retraced his face with his wand, muttering "Viseo Ebullio." When the bubble formed, he took stock of each group, weighing each member and trying to decide where he'd fit best. Naturally, he was drawn towards Dot...and Toby. Also, it was the Prefects' responsibility to split themselves up, yes? The others were present in all but the back group as of now. So....it just made the most sense to his Claw brain. Yay, Claw brain!

Approaching them...but staying back and watching the overall progress, Gabe waited for his turn. Everyone had been on point so far...but it seemed disaster struck with each added ingredient...and that wasn't just in their group. Everyone seemed to be suffering similar issues. Coincidence? Gabriel doubted it. He naturally assumed this was some type of training, for the spells they'd just been told to practice. There was no better practice than practical application. Even if that was terrifying at times. More effective motivation.

After Toby saved their potion from its latest mishap, Gabe took that to mean he was up. Slipping his gloves on, he watched the cauldron bounce for a moment in place and then propel itself to land a few inches away from him. Awesome. It even expedited itself. That was convenient.

Double-checking the cleanliness of his gloves, he went about grasping the end of the stirring rod and commencing with the stirring. Counter-clockwise. Five times...slowly because his hands did that shaking thing from time to time. No need to do one stir too many...because Gabriel HAD done that before. In fact, his scrunched up face was ridiculous as he concentrated on making sure it was the right amount.

"....I believe that's it..." For him. Guh.

Who was next?

[MudInMyBlood]

So...it was normal to feel pride when simply answering questions in class, right? Because Gabe certainly did feel proud. It was tempering for his mind to focus on something he was good at. Comforting...and it certainly helped that Professor Culloden was among the Ravenclaw's most favorite people. A rather short list, to be honest.

.

.

...and it was time to practice. Good...That was good. The only margin of stress Gabe felt concerning this subject was the probability of fudging spells. His hands would shake sometimes...and stuttering would happen. And if the spell was several steps in...it was like wasting time and hard work. Frustrating. So much.

Jotting down the notes from the blackboard, he carried on with the practicing...There were several spells to get through, some coming to the Ravenclaw more easily than others. Like the bubble-head charm...Gabe was well acquainted with that little life-saver. Even in the name of mundane science, it was an invaluble tool in keeping himself safe. He liked to experiment. Future scientist over here, okay? Logical.

After some time, Professor Culloden announced they were moving to the main activity and Gabe went ahead and retraced his face with his wand, muttering "Viseo Ebullio." When the bubble formed, he took stock of each group, weighing each member and trying to decide where he'd fit best. Naturally, he was drawn towards Dot...and Toby. Also, it was the Prefects' responsibility to split themselves up, yes? The others were present in all but the back group as of now. So....it just made the most sense to his Claw brain. Yay, Claw brain!

Approaching them...but staying back and watching the overall progress, Gabe waited for his turn. Everyone had been on point so far...but it seemed disaster struck with each added ingredient...and that wasn't just in their group. Everyone seemed to be suffering similar issues. Coincidence? Gabriel doubted it. He naturally assumed this was some type of training, for the spells they'd just been told to practice. There was no better practice than practical application. Even if that was terrifying at times. More effective motivation.

After Toby saved their potion from its latest mishap, Gabe took that to mean he was up. Slipping his gloves on, he watched the cauldron bounce for a moment in place and then propel itself to land a few inches away from him. Awesome. It even expedited itself. That was convenient.

Double-checking the cleanliness of his gloves, he went about grasping the end of the stirring rod and commencing with the stirring. Counter-clockwise. Five times...slowly because his hands did that shaking thing from time to time. No need to do one stir too many...because Gabriel HAD done that before. In fact, his scrunched up face was ridiculous as he concentrated on making sure it was the right amount.

"....I believe that's it..." For him. Guh.

Who was next?
Okay, so apparently the sizzle wasn't supposed to happen. What tipped her off you ask? Oh, you know... the ALMOST explosion. Good thing Toby was a fast thinker and didn't panic. Although, if she was being honest she would say that she was hoping for an explosion. Not a super bad one, but a small controlled one could be nice. Plus, the had a bubble on their head. How bad could it really be? It was looking like she would never know.

Oh, Gabe was up. He was a Ravenclaw and they didn't mess up by nature? There was a law against that or something. She was sure of it. Whoa, the cauldron bounced. That was pretty wicked. Man, he was like the world's slowest stirrer. What did that do? Did it make the potion better? AJ was intrigued. Oh, the things you could learn by watching a ravvie work. Probably AJ wouldn't have anything fun to do. Taking her eyes off the cauldron for a moment to see what she needed to do next proved to be a bad idea. She wasn't Gabe, all right?

"Looks like I need to..."

But what she needed to do, they would never know because the potion was over flowing. It was then that it dawned on her that Cosgrash was setting them up for failure. Ravenclaws didn't make potions over flow they just didn't.

Sweet baby unicorns. What spell did she need to do? All the while she was trying to gather her thoughts, the potion was at the top bubbling and warning her that the contents were just about to be on the floor. EEP. AJ hopped around a bit. She wasn't quite fifteen yet, and didn't exactly have this whole mature thing down. Plus, the curious little lion in her kind of wanted the potion to over flow just to see what would happen. Somebody would end up fixing it though.

It was starting to spill. Noooo. Okay. Something needed to happen. The liquid was taunting her. Think, Valentine. If they were being tested for how they react under pressure, she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Ohhhh. She had something. A very spell they had just discussed moments ago, "Tergeo!!!" she cried. Please work. Please work. The contents were oozing out, and it was pretty much do or die for her.

SUCCESS.

Victory was hers, and all that other good stuff. The liquid was being siphoned out and she wanted to dance a little jig, buuuut no. She was mature now. Sorta. AJ was excited to see what was going to happen next because apparently they were destined for failure, and she was loving it.

[Felixir]

Okay, so apparently the sizzle wasn't supposed to happen. What tipped her off you ask? Oh, you know... the ALMOST explosion. Good thing Toby was a fast thinker and didn't panic. Although, if she was being honest she would say that she was hoping for an explosion. Not a super bad one, but a small controlled one could be nice. Plus, the had a bubble on their head. How bad could it really be? It was looking like she would never know.

Oh, Gabe was up. He was a Ravenclaw and they didn't mess up by nature? There was a law against that or something. She was sure of it. Whoa, the cauldron bounced. That was pretty wicked. Man, he was like the world's slowest stirrer. What did that do? Did it make the potion better? AJ was intrigued. Oh, the things you could learn by watching a ravvie work. Probably AJ wouldn't have anything fun to do. Taking her eyes off the cauldron for a moment to see what she needed to do next proved to be a bad idea. She wasn't Gabe, all right?

"Looks like I need to..."

But what she needed to do, they would never know because the potion was over flowing. It was then that it dawned on her that Cosgrash was setting them up for failure. Ravenclaws didn't make potions over flow they just didn't.

Sweet baby unicorns. What spell did she need to do? All the while she was trying to gather her thoughts, the potion was at the top bubbling and warning her that the contents were just about to be on the floor. EEP. AJ hopped around a bit. She wasn't quite fifteen yet, and didn't exactly have this whole mature thing down. Plus, the curious little lion in her kind of wanted the potion to over flow just to see what would happen. Somebody would end up fixing it though.

It was starting to spill. Noooo. Okay. Something needed to happen. The liquid was taunting her. Think, Valentine. If they were being tested for how they react under pressure, she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Ohhhh. She had something. A very spell they had just discussed moments ago, "Tergeo!!!" she cried. Please work. Please work. The contents were oozing out, and it was pretty much do or die for her.

SUCCESS.

Victory was hers, and all that other good stuff. The liquid was being siphoned out and she wanted to dance a little jig, buuuut no. She was mature now. Sorta. AJ was excited to see what was going to happen next because apparently they were destined for failure, and she was loving it.

The way the cauldron was nyooming between each of them, AND the way that a million disasters were being averted in the dungeon classroom, had Toby ALERT and READY and ON HIS TOES.

Like... literally. Literally on his toes, because he couldn't quite stop bouncing. Couldn't stop at all, rather. Around the cauldron went, with Gabriel adding more to the potion, which then started to OVERFLOW when it got to AJ. Flailing was happening, kinda sorta. Not by AJ, but by Toby. The excitement was hyping him up and it was difficult to stay still. While that was being remedied, Toby looked up at the steps on the board, to see what needed to happen next.

WHICH... was smart. Because the potion was coming back at him again; perhaps the cauldron felt his urgent need to DO something and was catering to him? Toby liked to believe that that was the case. More likely, though, it probably just happened to be his turn again.

"Good job, guys!" the Hufflepuff called out, to both AJ and Gabe, sparing them both genuine GRINS before the cauldron reached him and his ten seconds started counting down. "We're on a ROLL!" Sure, there were a lot of near misses, but Toby had by now come to the conclusion that that was all meant to happen. That was the connection between practicing the spells and then moving to this activity. Yes. See? Toby was so clever sometimes.

RIGHT-O. He had his mistletoe berries, already set aside in a little (CLEAN) bowl and ready to be added, and that is exactly what the seventh year did. Added the berries. Dramatically. SLAM DUNKING THOSE BERRIES. Kinda.

ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR.

FOUR berries in. Okay, cauldron, GO GO GO! BE ON YOUR MERRY WAY.

On your berry way. HAHA.

[Cassirin]

Eep. Dot watched in fascination as the cauldron slid from person to person, each time it seemed like it was about to be overcome by disaster, someone fixed it. Someone... her team. Merlin, they were all geniuses.

Not at Potions, but at fixing things.

And then Toby went quaffleslamming the berries into the cauldron, and she cringed. Meeeeeeer-lin. "To-by, I don't think you should be so violent with the berries. The potion is already so..." Unsteady. Like now. Like how the cauldron had started twitching and jerking on its stumpy little legs.

Uh uh uh... SOMEONE SHOULD... NO. SOMEONE ELSE. SOMEONE NOT DOT. The cauldron slid in front of her, only now it was rumbling gently, like a sleeping giant baby volcano. "Vitare Crepitus," she tried the spell, drawing a circle around the cauldron with her wand. There was a pop of light, and the cauldron went still.

"I'm not cut out for this kind of stress."

[Govoni]

....and that's what further alerted him to something being amiss. They'd done all the previous steps right...yet, it was mishap after mishap. The fault wasn't with their individual work, but with the potion, itselt. That was the only logical explanation.

Gabriel JERKED his hand away quickly when it began overflowing, prepared to fix his mistake...but the cauldron zipped away; careening towards another member of their group. A Gryffindor this time. AJ...Gabe held his breath as she acted quickly against the disaster, blinking and giving the Gryffindor girl an appreciative nod.

Quick thinking, that was.

With the crisis averted, Toby proceeded with the mistletoe berries; added him just like the recipe stated...but if all the other accidents were anything to go by...this was going to go sour again in....3......2......

THE CAULDRON HAD STARTED TO VIBRATE!...but Dot was there to save the day this time. His teammates were....exceeding his expectations. So, all he needed to do was add one root of aconite.

Easy...and done.

[StarShine]

Angel looked around the room as the professor started the main section, she wasn't feeling so good, So before the professor went back to his desk she suddenly asked. "May I be excused?"
Excused?

Sorry, but no. Cosgrach shook his head. Unless Angel visibly looked sick, she wouldn't be excused.
Cosgrach watched them fail try to brew the faulty recipe, but it didn't work of course. However... they all also seemed to be doing fine with the charms. Everyone got them right (even though some of their preferences could be questioned) and Cosgrach didn't even have to intervene! That pleased him, and he checked his watch... their time was up. He quickly looked at the cauldrons and vanished them. None could complete the recipe, so he made a mental note to allocate more time next time he did this.

"Okay, everyone," he said as he was smiling - definitely no traces of annoyance because of the spiders now. Who could be annoyed when they had such brilliant students? "As you must have guessed by now, this wasn't a real recipe - I wanted to see whether you forgot to clean materials, to read intructions or completely panicked and endangered your and others' lives. As far as I can tell, most of you did everything right." Except, some of them didn't use bubble head charm and he'd noted that.

"You'd make good researchers." He grinned proudly. He'd been teaching for 5 terms now, so he believed he could take most of the credit. He'd taught them well.

"Class dismissed. I won't assign any homework." So enjoy life? Hehehe.

"Oh, everyone can take a chocolate frog on their way out," he said as he brought out a big box and set it on his desk, "since no one could complete the recipe. See ya later."

[MudInMyBlood]

SEEE? It wasn't a real recipe. She knew something was off when the smart house was having problems. It just didn't make sense. Although AJ thought it was bloody brilliant. Good times. Good times. Nothing got her adrenaline pumping more. Okay. That was a bit extreme. She could think of other things that were better.

"Bloody brilliant, professor." And did he say chocolate frog? Because she was all over that! AJ grabbed one and started to stuff her face before she was even out the door. "Thanks for the lesson." AJ out!

[FearlessLeader19]

Yep, Adi had figured out that this potion was totally a dud. They certainly hadn't been making mistakes while brewing it soooo it must have been the ingredients or steps or amounts or whatever else factors. He grinned at Benny, Marsha and other team members. "You guys did great!'' Him too, in his opinion. Hehe.

Stuff back in his bag? Check!

No homework? Check!

Chocolate Froggy? Check!

"Professor, do you need help getting all this cleaned up? Thanks for the awesome lesson and Froggy, by the way. You rock!'' Cue the sign of the horns symbol from him.

[StarShine]

"Professor, do you need help getting all this cleaned up? Thanks for the awesome lesson and Froggy, by the way. You rock!'' Cue the sign of the horns symbol from him.
Normally, Cosgrach would say that he didn't, but his logic beat him: he could head out faster if someone helped, and Adi was already offering it. So, he smiled at nodded. "That'd be lovely, thank you," he said as people headed out, "we just need to move the working stations back in their order and clean the floor in case something spilled." He got out his wand to start with the floor, since it would be easy to clean it while the desks were still by the walls.

[FearlessLeader19]

Normally, Cosgrach would say that he didn't, but his logic beat him: he could head out faster if someone helped, and Adi was already offering it. So, he smiled at nodded. "That'd be lovely, thank you," he said as people headed out, "we just need to move the working stations back in their order and clean the floor in case something spilled." He got out his wand to start with the floor, since it would be easy to clean it while the desks were still by the walls.



Adi was only too happy to oblige. He set his bag and Froggy down on Culloden's desk, his wand in hand. "You're welcome.'' Cheerful smile for you, Professor! Maybe his helping would put Culloden back in his regular spirits. Alrightey! So the floors first, yeah? Culloden was already working on that so Adi hurried to the opposite side of the class to do the same.

Eeeep! It seemed a ton of over flowing had been going on. The floor was soiled with potions. "Scourgify!'' Presto! A clean bit of floor! Adi moved along the room, repeating the spell and also getting a few webs out of the way. He made sure to keep a safe distance so that they wouldn't come in contact with any part of him.

"Scourgify!'' The last bit of spilt potion vanished so the Hufflepuff surveyed the room as best as he could. Everything seemed to be in order. "All done with the floor, Professor.''

[StarShine]

Adi was only too happy to oblige. He set his bag and Froggy down on Culloden's desk, his wand in hand. "You're welcome.'' Cheerful smile for you, Professor! Maybe his helping would put Culloden back in his regular spirits. Alrightey! So the floors first, yeah? Culloden was already working on that so Adi hurried to the opposite side of the class to do the same.

Eeeep! It seemed a ton of over flowing had been going on. The floor was soiled with potions. "Scourgify!'' Presto! A clean bit of floor! Adi moved along the room, repeating the spell and also getting a few webs out of the way. He made sure to keep a safe distance so that they wouldn't come in contact with any part of him.

"Scourgify!'' The last bit of spilt potion vanished so the Hufflepuff surveyed the room as best as he could. Everything seemed to be in order. "All done with the floor, Professor.''
Adi was a fast badger, wasn't he? Eager too. Cosgrach nodded in approval and examined the floor briefly but carefully. All looked well...

"Now, if you could just help with organising the desks..." He walked to the front of the room and pointed his wand at the desks and began muttering "Locomotor," to carry them in their right place.

[FearlessLeader19]

Adi was a fast badger, wasn't he? Eager too. Cosgrach nodded in approval and examined the floor briefly but carefully. All looked well...

"Now, if you could just help with organising the desks..." He walked to the front of the room and pointed his wand at the desks and began muttering "Locomotor," to carry them in their right place.



Awesomeee!

Culloden seemed to be satisfied with his work. Adi was pleased with himself, too. Helping out always felt great. But onto the desk rearrangement! ''Locomotor!'' With his wand raised, the desk that had been targeted also raised so that he was able to move it to set it neatly in place, just as how Culloden always had them set up.

"Locomotor! Locomotor! Locomotor!'' More desks were returned to their positions until at last, the Professor-student team had the class back to normal.

"All done!'' Adi grinned at Culloden. "Don't let those webs get you down, Professor. I'm sure the issue would be sorted out soon.'' However that will be resolved. "I'll see you around.'' With a wave, he grabbed his bag and Froggy before heading out of the class.

[Felixir]

Dot... had a good point, yes. Oops. BUT... well, it was done now. Slam dunking the berries and that, and they'd moved on. So Toby only gave the fourth year a sheepish smile once neither of them had a time-sensitive cauldron in front of them.

Then, all too soon, they were DONE. Toby blinked as the cauldron vanished, wondering if this was some new unique way that a potion could go wrong, but actually it was just Culloden bringing the lesson to a close. Final was over? NICE. No homework? NIIIIIIICE.

Well, since they could go, Toby went ahead and gathered up all his things.

"Fun lesson, Professor Culloden!" he called to the professor, bouncing on his toes. Yep. And he meant it. "People don't poison people on purpose, though," Toby added, referring to the discussion at the start of class. Then the Hufflepuff grinned, waved, and made a quick exit. JUST B.T. DUBS AND GOODBYE.

He. Had. So. Much. Studying. To. Do.

[StarShine]

How nice of Adi helping him. They were done in no time. Sweet. "Thank you, Adi," he said as he smiled, "that's five points to Hufflepuff." He was about to leave when Toby said something... that he would never be able to say it anymore. Suddenly, the man was sad. "I'm glad you liked it," he said in a slightly thicker tone, "people really don't poison others on purpose." Nope, theu didn't. Not when it was Toby's last lesson. He'd still see the boy around, though, so this wasn't a goodbye... yet.

;____;