SPOILER!!: Kodee and Nina

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Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Nina looked around the room, noting how ridiculous some of her peers looked with their glasses already on. Not only was it rather funny, but it also made her worry a bit too. She didn't want others to look at her when she was made to wear them. It didn't help that the room was so well lit today either. In fact, she was sure that Professor Noble had done all of it on purpose so that he could see them look ridiculous and have a laugh about it later. She was sure of it.

She did, however, bring her attention back to the front of the room when Professor Noble began to address the class. His first question was honestly insulting, in her opinion. Practically every potion they worked with had some animal component, and as such it was hardly impressive that others could name them. She wasn't planning on answering a question anyway, but this fact also helped.

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Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

The roll of Noble's eyes were as good as a "hey bestfriend, welcome back to my class, you good? Good. Cool cool" in Kodee's book. In fact, that's exactly how he took it and it caused a wide grin to spread across the boy's face as he sunk into a seat right next to that Nina girl. All the stuff he had was thrown recklessly onto the table, taking up both his side and hers. She didn't have to worry, he didn't mind sharing the whole space with her. Her stuff could fit, too.

Despite Noble's suggestion--that's all that was, see?--Kodee chose to keep on his glasses. They made him feel like he was neck deep into an experiment and not like he was trying his hardest to sit still and listen to unnecessary discussions.

It was always easier once the actual lesson began.

"Unicorns are good for harvesting. The horns anyway. The blood's useful, too but I don't reckon anyone would cop to harvesting that. Are we going to need partners? I might have to change my seat."

No offense to Nina, just she was a pain when she got whiny and he still hadn't decided how seriously he was going to take this brew. Couldn't sit next to a wet blanket. No thanks.

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Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

........ No.

Nina watched as Kodee began making his way over and no no no no no no no. He was NOT going to sit here. No. She even bent down to grab her things in order to place them on the seat next to her so that he couldn't, but before she had the chance to do so... He was already sitting. If there was one person in this entire castle that she did not want to share a workspace with, it was him. She had seen first hand, during their internship, how careless he was. And she did NOT need to be sat next to him for potions of all classes. If any!!!

She look at him in acknowledgement, however, because she did have manners, but did glare when he took up all of the table space.

A glare which only intensified when he told Professor Noble he would need to change his seat??????? She didn't want to be sitting next to him, either!!! For the record!!! But she took MAJOR offense to his words nevertheless.

He sensed trouble was on cards as soon as this grin spread across Kodee’s lips, and Noble could only but sigh as the Gryffindor’s shared desk was soon strewn with stuff. “Keep your workspace organised, Kodee,” he said in the warning tone Kodee was probably all too familiar with by now. He answer, however, was decent, and Noble nodded. “As long as they’re responsibly sourced, yes, the horn can be a useful ingredient. The blood is most commonly used in dark potions…and only at a cost, both monetary and in the form of a cursed life. And no, you won’t be needing partners today, unless you so choose.”

So Nina could stop her glaring.

And yes, he’d sensed the girl’s distain at the question, and Noble was less than impressed. He knew she could answer easily enough, should she choose. The fact that she didn't, however? That got on his wick, and his gaze narrowed on her. He had his reasons for easing them in gently today, and it never hurt to establish some context. If Nina was only here to judge and not partake to the ability he knew she possessed, then she’d find that she wouldn’t be welcome in his classroom much longer. She’d wasted enough of his ingredients.

SPOILER!!: dragon

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Originally Posted by Fireheart

Thank goodness Professor Noble started out with a relatively easy question. Avalon was not really in the mood for looking stupid this morning. She thought back to her standard potion-making kit, and a few animal ingredients came to mind, particularly snakes and unicorns. She could think of quite a few uses for dragons in potions as well. Plus her brother had a potions closet that was full of weird dragon parts. "Dragons contain a lot of potion ingredients. I think that the horns and livers are most common. But I've heard that powdered dragon claw can also be useful." She couldn't remember the exact potion that it was used in, but she knew it was an ingredient nevertheless.

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Originally Posted by Weasley174

Tom raised his hand. "Professor you can harvest dragons bloods." Tom would love to have some of that but apparently it was really rare and very hard to come by he had heard.

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Originally Posted by Cassirin

Phoebe grinned as she shoved the goggles off her face and up into her hair. She was pleased at the professor's response, the lovely old grump. He was one of her favorites, did he know? She watched that box of his with interest before finally paying attention to the answers around her.

There were a TON of creature parts they used. Eyeballs and liver bits and shredded toenails and things. She raised her hand. "Professor, there are twelve uses for dragon blood. Are those twelve uses in potions, or is 'potions' just one of the uses?"

Moving on, Noble nodded at the various mentions of dragons by Avalon, Tom and Phoebe. “Yes, dragons do offer up a number of potions parts, and of course, we use their hide for gloves and protective equipment too.” He offered the barest of smiles at Pheobe’s question too. Astute, that one was. “The latter…there are many more than twelve uses in potions alone, so it counts as just the one.”

SPOILER!!: insects

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Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

"OK Professor!" he said, clearly audible right now as he took a seat. School could be very confusing sometimes. And he was not just talking about the subjects. In his opinion he should have earned House-points for whispering because one; it was done quietly and two; he was still being respectful by greeting the professor. But he guessed he didn't make the rules around here. Yet... One day he was going to buy Hogwarts and turn it in to a awesome resort and he'd be even more loaded with money than he already was! haha!

Grinning rather sheepishly at his thoughts, Minjae realized that he had almost missed the first question but luckily he still got it. His hand went immediately in to the air. "Billywig stings are used in several potions as well so it would be good to harvest them" he said as he lowered his hand but continued talking. "On its own, the sting of the Billywig causes you to become giddy and you start to float and i know its used in Hair-Raising Potion. And six dried Billywig stings are used in the wideye potion and ...uuuh..." he thought for a second or two. "Antidote to uncommon potions !"

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Originally Posted by LilFox06

Valencia raised her hand. "Insects, Professor. Beetles and Lacewings for example." She had an abundance of knowledge in this field, for once it didn't come from books, but instead she knew properties of insects due to her older brother.

It wasn’t a surprise that after dragons, insects were also a popular response; after all, beetle eyes were one of the first ingredients they came into contact with in their first year classes, and billywig stings had been known to be used for pranks. “Good examples, the both of you,” he replied to Minjae and Valencia with a nod.

SPOILER!!: amphibians

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Originally Posted by Bazinga

Having sat in the middle of the room she was able to people watch for a little bit. Taking in the seats people had picked, at least the ones in front of her. She carefully made sure everything was there that she would need and thought a moment about Noble and what they might be doing for the day. He always had them doing interesting things, so she figured today wouldn't be any different.

His first question though turned her stomach. Chloe liked potions, but she really liked not thinking about the poor animals they used. It was kind of like cooking, she liked meat, but she didn't want to fully think about the poor animal she was eating. It was easier to just see it at food without a face, just as potions ingredients as that not the face of what they used.

Lifting her hand she thought about the different animals, 'We use newts and frogs. Their eyes and legs as well as blood from many." Not that she needed the visuals that were now in her head, but it was part of the class so she ignored the stomach turning and focused on what other answers were said.

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Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Isla hadn't put on her safety glasses yet, so nothing to take off over here. There seemed to be a lack of small talk, but she'd learned to expect that from this professor. Not everybody was a big talker, and that was okay. Sometimes it made the first year a little scared of them, though. In other words, Noble was one professor she did not want to cross the wrong path with.

Anyway... They had moved on to talked about animals they could harvest ingredients from. It only halfway made Isla shudder. She was still a little unsure about collecting something from an animal. Potions class was getting here more used to it, though. She tried to follow along with what her classmates were saying. Mainly because she was supposed to be paying attention, but also because she didn't want to repeat anything.

"What about the spleen of a newt" she suggested, her hand in the air. She didn't think anybody had suggested that one yet, and if they did, she'd missed it.

Moving on from the creepy crawlies, they turned to what muggles assumed were the stereotypical potion ingredients – and there was fair reason why that was the case, as Chloe and Isla pointed out. “All correct: eyes, legs and blood are all commonly found in potions…though we actually can use pretty much all of a frog or a newt in one potion or another.” As they might be finding out a bit later.

SPOILER!!: serpents

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Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

Cole was pleased that he hadn't put on the safety glasses like some others of his peers. It was evident from Professor Noble's tone that he wasn't fully content with that. Considering his track record in potions, he was glad to not be zeroed in on just yet. Class started with a fairly easy question which was a relief. An animal immediatly came to mind so Cole shot his hand up in the air to answer with some confidence to his tone. "Frozen eggs from the Ashwinder serpent is used as an ingredient in many love potions and most notably the Felix Felicis. The eggs can also be used if swallowed whole as an antidote to augue."

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Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

For some reason, the word harvest was icky to Bernie. It made her squirm in her seat and feel reluctant to answer the question. She felt like she should feel bad for the animals they had harvested? Should they like, say a prayer of thanks for all the dead beasts?

Finally, she thought of one that didn't necessarily involve MURDERING the animal, since it hadn't been born yet, and raised her hand.

"Ashwinder eggs?"

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Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Oh. No safety goggles?

That was...... embarrassing.

A sheepish look spread across his face as he slowly removed the goggles and set them down in front of him. While Noble didn’t address anyone directly - and there were lots of people taking off their goggles too - he couldn’t help but feel as though all eyes were on him. As if he was under a spotlight, which was only made worse by how bright the room was.

He didn’t have to wait long for a distraction, causing him to look up again. Some animals that are used for potion ingredients? Uhhh........ that was a broad question, wasn’t it? Or one that had a lot - a LOT - of answers. Lucas paused to run a hand through his curly hair, mentally running through as many animals that were used for potions ingredients as he could remember until he landed on one that-

Oh.

His hand shot up. "What about Occamies? Their egg shells are used in Felix Felicis, the lucky potion." Pause. "They’ve been used in shampoos as well." Shampoos were just a type of potion, right? Right??

It was reassuring to hear the wide variety of animals being covered, Noble nodded at the trio of answers covering serpent eggs. “Yes, Cole and Bernadette, ashwinder eggs have multiple uses…as long as they’re looked after appropriately, usually with a freezing charm. They have a tendency to ignite and cause untold amounts of damage otherwise.” Lucas too got a nod for his answer about occamies. “They are. And the yolks, as is the case with most eggs, are particularly nourishing. In shampoo, this adds a luscious quality…in other potions, it can add enrichment or thickening elements.”

SPOILER!!: horse hair

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Originally Posted by love-for-HP

Blake slid his glasses up to the top of his head ... he probably looked pretty cool... but that's what neither here nor there. Paying close attention to what the professor was talking about he tried to think what animals they had previous used in class.

Raising his hand he replied. "Well Unicorn Horn is used .. and maybe their hair to." Blake couldn't remember for sure about the hair part .. but he horn ... that was a sure thing.

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Originally Posted by GD2204

The smile on his face quickly dissipated as Noble replied to offer for help with a scowl. So much for being helpful. He wouldn’t bother next time. Leaving his safety goggles on defiantly, he listened to the rest of the instructions, a scowl on his face too now. Maybe if his instructions were a little clearer, the class might have known what to do. Reluctantly, Ewan just offered a small answer. Sure, he could have gone into detail but he didn’t feel like it. “Abraxen’s for their hair and beetles for their eyes”. There, that would do.

Sure, Kodee had already mentioned unicorns, but it didn’t hurt for Blake to mention another part. “More commonly used as a wand core, but yes, unicorn hair can be found as an ingredient too. Abraxan tends to be the equine hair of choice in potions.” As Ewan had said. Though if the prefect thought he was being defiant in leaving on his glasses…it was really his discomfort. Noble didn’t particularly care.

SPOILER!!: flobberworms

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Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Ooookay, so no safety glasses yet. Cecelia casually removed hers as if she'd never been wearing them at all and set them to the side, giving them a little glance before turning her attention back to the professor. She wasn't TOO excited about the whole harvesting subject matter, did he know? Not 'cause she was squeamish when it came to guts and stuff, but 'cause she was a BIG creature lover. Like her mum that way, Cecelia was.

"Professor, does getting the mucus from flobberworms count as harvesting? It helps make potions thicker." So it was kind of useful, even if it was really gross.

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Originally Posted by littledhampir

Wearing a lab coat was fun. It made him feel all fancy and official. He could be a professional potioneer or a doctor or something. Or an evil scientist. Yes, that one was much more fun. He tried to think of how an evil scientist would answer this question. Someone had said unicorns, and that was a good one. Unicorns were so good that evil scientists were probably the only ones who wanted to use them for potions. Except he was pretty sure that taking their horns didn't kill them. But it still seemed mean. Taking some of their hair was probably fine, though. Acromantula also seemed like a pretty good evil scientist answer. Those were creepy. Just the kind of animal you'd expect an evil scientist to love.

In the end, he came up with an Alexandre answer instead of an evil scientist answer. He raised his hand. "Uh, worms, professor. Like flobberworms, I mean. Those are used in potions sometimes."

“Interesting you should ask that, Cecelia,” Noble replied to the young Gryffindor. “And yes, the mucus definitely counts. There are plenty of ingredients we use that creatures shed or exude, and we can collect with no harm to the animal, often long after the creature has safely left from the area.” Though Alexandre wasn’t wrong either. They could be used whole too.

And then there were a whole host of other answers too…clearly some of them had really thought about this. He nodded at Jillian’s answer first. “Acromantula venom is very rare, and therefore expensive ingredient.” Even moreso than unicorn horns. “In theory it can be collected from a live animal, but that’s much easier said than done…and after death, it has to be collected quickly, because it dries up so quickly.” And it seemed pretty apt to follow a venom with an antidote. “The bezoar is both an ingredient, and an antidote by itself, and therefore incredibly useful when working with poisons,” he expanded on Naya’s answer.

Claudine was next, and, in some ways, Noble was a little surprised by her choice. Not that there was anything wrong with it; far from it in fact. “Griffin claws, as well as many other animal claws and horns, such as the graphorn horn Catherine mentioned, tend to be powdered, yes. They take up less room to store, and the extra surface area to volume allows their effects to be more easily absorbed.” Something else that had claws? Crocodiles. Carsyn got a nod at her mention of them. “Yes,. Not particularly common, but as a less potent alternative for dragon heart in some potions, there’s been growing research on them in recent years.”

And finally…bats. Noble nodded at Heath. “The spleen, notably, for the draught of living death. But yes, wings can be used too.” And though Eiji might not have said a word just yet, there was a glint of excitement in his eye that told Noble he had a good idea where this lesson was headed. There was another important question to consider before then though, and Noble moved straight on to it as soon as he saw no more hands raised.

“Clearly there are a wide range of animal-derived ingredients that can be used in potioneering, including major organs and bodily secretions…and more uses are still being discovered. So, my next question is an important one…what are some of the advantages, and in particular, the challenges of animal ingredients?”


ooc note: thank you all for joining! This is an open question, so feel free to be creative with your answers.

Austin thought of this answer for a second. He knew that Pheonix tears weren't necessarily used in a potion but was it not technically an animal ingredient? He raised his hand anyway. Worth a try he supposed.
"Wouldn't Pheonix tears be used as an advantage as healing powers?"

"You got it, Professor!" Kodee saluted the man before....marginally shifting things.....a little.....sorta.....mostly. He tried, okay? "You can go ahead and set your stuff here." Kodee supplied helpfully to Nina. So generous. "We don't need partners so you can keep sitting there, too. I don't mind." THE MOST GRACIOUS TABLE BUDDY EVER.

His hand shot up at the next question, ready and rearing to go once the whole shared space thing was worked out. As it so happened, he had an answer for this, too.

"For a lot of the potent ingredients, you need the creature already dead and it's not always easy to make that happen--forget legal, that's a whole other quidditch game. So if you need like.....a dragon heart, you're as likely to be stuck as you are to get one unless you've got the right contacts. They're not like plants you can grow in your backyard and harvest ethically. Reckon you wouldn't even have a garden left after a few dragons got done with it."

Things got a more complicated when you added properly living things. And yes, even he knew that plants were "living things", too, but that's not what he meant nor was it where he cared to go. He just had that one answer and thought Noble needed to hear it.

There were so many ingredients in potion making, both mundane and magical. Claudine wondered how many times potioneers tried a particular recipe before perfecting it with the right ingredients. Ten? Twenty? Hundreds? Who knew? She didn’t feel the need to make detailed notes as this was just a basic topic and she had some knowledge of ingredients already.

The Snakette’s hand went up almost immediately. “You mentioned one challenge before, Professor. Sometimes the ingredients are rare and expensive like the Acromantula’s venom.” See? It paid to give one’s attention to the professor. The fact that Claudine spent less of her time talking and more observing all her life had more than prepared her for these moments.

Blake thought about it for a minuet. Though he had been making potions for nearly 2 years now... okay okay.. 1 and a half, and had used insects and all other manors of 'animals' to make them he had never really thought about how they got them. What are the challenges?

"Well, a lot of animals or insects, bugs, whatever you are using have to be dead or die in the process of collecting." Blake suddenly felt rather saddened by that. "And if they aren't it could be rather dangerous to collect. I've heard stories of unicorns goring people with their horns." Blake remember seeing pictures of a bull fight once ... and he imaged being gored by a unicorn horn would look pretty similar.

....... Whatever Kodee thought he did to organize was an abysmal attempt at best. There was no method??? He simply... shifted? Again, Nina found herself looking over at him to question whether or not he was actually doing okay in the head??? He was a seventh year, this shouldn't be normal. Mackenzie Motts had the patience of one thousand Ninas, to be quite honest.

...... Nina gave the Gryffindor a tight lipped smile that she did not mean what-so-ever. Trying to turn her attention back to the front when he spoke to her yet. again. "Thanks," she replied sarcastically. As if she were going to be the one to move! She was sat here FIRST. Kodee Chosen had som audacity.

As for everything else, Nina was slightly preoccupied with the Kodee situation at the moment. And the thought of potentially harvesting animals in-lesson. This was something she would be VERY opposed to. Not for the ethical reasons, but because it would be gross. Though she knew there was very little chance that they wouldn't be doing something disgusting. They had on coats and had picked up glasses.

Once again, Kodee had the best answer, in Bernie's opinion, so even though she was still making a squeamish face, she raised her hand to add on to it. "Right, what he said, Professor, and plus, you could get injured in the process of attempting to collect potions ingredients... like, even if you did just want to give a creature a toenail clipping, because that's all you need, they could still maul you in the process." Or ram you, or bite you, or insert awful untimely death here _____________.

Jillian took a swift glance at Eiji when he told her about his parents. She had to keep that in mind because those details at least would be key to narrow down her father's classmate- not that she knew anything. Who knows, it could be a great dinner conversation during the holidays. She did nod and just randomly responded with "Well, send me and my father's regards to your mum and dad" they were after all classmates as he said.




Ahh yes, the dreaded and rare ingredient that is acromantula venom. Jillian has read about it in several books but all stated it was one of the hardest to secrete therefore it is deem impossible to get. Quite expensive too. She nodded at the professor, curious if he had some as well. She's not going to ask right now obviously maybe next time when the topic goes back to this again and hopefully she remembers.

As for the followup question "With my example earlier..." the acromantula venom that is "the challenge is to extract the venom from a live specie however it can be an impossible task so some do it when the acromantula is already dead." and quickly too if they don't want the venom to just dry up.

Okay, so basically, Kodee Chosen just said it all, and there was really nothing else anybody could add. If there was, Isla couldn't think of anything unique to say. She just did the whole 'nodding along' thing while everybody else said their answers, and then, just so the professor would know she was paying attention, she raised her hand.

"Not all animals are native to where we live. There could be lots of traveling involved in collecting ingredients," she chimed in. "There's also the fact that not all animals make it easy for you to get ingredients from them." Like Kodee had mentioned, some of the animals had to be dead in order for you to harvest from them. "There's ingredients like...gnat heads that can't be easy to get."

She couldn't really figure out how to describe what the advantages were. I mean...an advantage is that they work. She wasn't really sure what else to say there.

This conversation was making her so uncomfortable, it was the entire concept of letting her just to go the store and buy the ingredients so she didn't have to meet the poor animal they came from. She messed with her parchment and quill while others spoke and tried not to think of actually killing them like Kodee was talking about.

Finally, she just couldn't stay quiet any longer, she didn't want to talk about the animals, but she did have an advantage answer. It was a huge advantage that she was very happy about and if they were going to be killing or dissecting an animal today she might have to leave. If they were hoping she could have an alternative because puking was not on her list of things to do today.

"Professor the biggest advantage is the fact that we can go to a store or owl a store to get the ingredients we need. This gives us a chance to not have to know the creature we are using for potions. Thankfully ingredients aren't labeled Zoey the frog gave you these legs or anything."

The nod from Noble was only telling him one thing: that shampoos are potions.

And that only made him feel…… weird.

But not as weird as he felt when Noble started talking about BODILY SECRETIONS. He was used to this by now, sure, but there were some words that he was sure shouldn't be said out loud. Bodily secretions were just two of them. It didn't matter what part he was talking about because it SOUNDED disgusting, the Potions professor had to know that, right? Right.

Luckily, the next question had nothing to do with ~ bodily secretions ~. Even more luckily, it was a question that really struck with Lucas in some way. What were some challenges of animal ingredients? A lot. He was sure there were. A lot more than advantages. And it was a part of the question that was a lot more interesting than talking about advantages.

No offence.

After a while, the fifth year's hand shot up into the air. "You can't experiment with some of them." Pause. "I mean, you can, I guess, but some ingredients are very expensive, right? Like, uh....." Uh?? "Acromantula venom, as people have said. And because of that, I guess you wouldn't want to experiment with an ingredient that's so expensive because you wouldn't want to waste it, you know? And because of that, we don't really know aaaaaall the uses in the magical world for an ingredient like that."

Merlin, stop talking.

There. THAT was a smile. Crankypants Noble had sort of of smiled at Phoebe, for whatever reason, and she was unreasonably pleased at her success. Maybe she was his favorite now.

Now then, gathering parts from creatures sounded pretty gross... and interesting! Messy, probably sometimes real unpleasant. Phoebe considered all of that as she took in the nose wrinkles from her classmates and listened to their answers. She raised her hand. "Apparently one of the challenges is the ethical questions it raises in some people. Kinda like how some people are vegetarians, except... this one will get you a failing grade or keep you from healing from dragonpox."

Cole took notes as quick as he could as Professor Noble summarized and added on to the answers given by his peers. Animal ingredients were in an abundance and it was quite fascinating actually how many body parts and organs could be used as ingredients in potions and other accessories like shampoos or make up.

Tacking on to how smart Jillian answered the next question Cole tried his best to deliver an equally good answer. "If you take the ashwinder serpent like in my earlier answer than a few challenges comes to mind right away. Firstly the serpent is almost extinct which makes it very rare to come by and it's XXX rating makes it very hard to handle unless you are very experienced in potions or creature handling. Secondly it's very pricy eggs can if not looked after start fires that can wreck a lot of damage to both people and property. One advantage though i guess is that you can use the eggs for so many different potions and accessories that you can make use of the whole egg where as with other animal ingredients you can only use a little part?" Or was that wrong? Cole didn't know he just brainstormed out loud..

Noble moved and lent against his desk as he listened to their replies. This was an important topic, and he wanted to give everyone the opportunity to speak before he summarised. Unfortunately, other than Kodee’s rather blunt answer, most seemed to be doing a rather good job of missing – or actively avoiding – the point. He folded his arms across his chest, clearly unimpressed as they insisted on talking about the danger and the cost – some of them even spouting his previous responses back at him like he wouldn’t notice. For the record: he did. And what was their obsession with acromantula venom anyways? The question was asked about animal ingredients in general.

He also knew several of them had issues with using animal-derived ingredients, and yet, the one time when he welcomed their protests, they all clamped up. Maybe some of them had less well-defined reasons for finding animal ingredients problematic than they thought...?

Thank goodness for Phoebe following up on Kodee’s bluntness, really. The second year brought up the most important point of all. First though, he needed to address some of those other, less considered answers.

“Phoenix tears have immense healing powers by themselves, yes,” he replied to Austin. That did not mean the boy was right, however. Far from it. The change in the tone of Noble’s voice betrayed exactly how wrong as he continued. “They’re also incredibly rare…and, as such, a complete and utter waste to use as an ingredient in a potion. So no, not an advantage for potioneering.”

Grumble.

“And yes…some creatures are dangerous to collect ingredients from,” he acknowledged Blake, Bernadette, Jillian and Isla, “and a lot of you have mentioned their rarity…” He looked at Claudine, Lucas, and Cole. “However, none of you took that further…and thought about what that means for us, as potioneers. Because although yes, for the most part, we can purchase what we need…” As Chloe had mentioned, but the rest of her answer? So incredibly naïve, especially for a NEWTs-level student. "That doesn't mean we should."

Did they get where he was going with this now?

“As practitioners of potions, it is our duty to source ingredients both responsibly and ethically, as Phoebe alluded to. Whilst some people just have qualms about using so-called cute animals, there are plenty more important considerations. For example, if a species is rare, we need to ensure that our work doesn’t make it rarer and make it unavailable for future generations. That can mean not hunting them in the breeding season, or developing new harvesting technologies that don’t disturb or endanger the creature…or looking for alternatives, which is a huge area of potions research right now.” He stood up, his gaze serious as he smoothed the front of his robes. “We also can ensure ingredients are from more responsible, reputable sources. Taking Kodee’s example of a dragon heart…rather than kill a healthy wild dragon, it is usually possible to use parts harvested from creatures that have recently died of natural causes in reserves and preservation areas. And you’ll note I said reputable too. There is, unfortunately, a huge black market in potions ingredients, burgeoning with unethically and illegally sourced ingredients…to the extent that often the ingredients are not what they claim to be at all.”

Which brought him nicely to what they’d be doing in this class. “One way we can ensure an ingredient is what it should be is to harvest it ourselves…which, if you haven’t already guessed, is what we’ll be covering in the remainder of class.” And the box beside him contained what they’d be harvesting ingredients from. He didn’t reveal what they were just yet though.

“Now…as you know, potions ingredients from flora and fauna alike can be fresh, or preserved in a variety of different ways – we’ve heard about ashwinder eggs being frozen, but we’ve also regularly used dried ingredients such as beetle eyes or lacewing flies, or ingredients conserved in liquids, such as murtlap tentacles, which are usually pickled.” So hopefully that shouldn’t be too new to them all. “The specimens we’ll be working with today have been preserved with the preservation charm, Conserve condio. This will need deactivating before we start, and reactivated at the end of class.” At this point, he unholstered his wand. “Let’s practice it first. Con-ser-vay con-dee-o,” he repeated more slowly, making sure to enunciate the words clearly. “The movement is just a gentle tap, a slight flick of your wrist, over your specimen, like so… Conserve condio.”. He tapped his wand as he spoke the incantation in demonstration.

“Take a few moments now to familiarise yourself with the spell and give it a go.”

At first, Phoebe was sure that the professor meant they were going to actually harvest some ingredients, but she was soon disappointed to learn they were just going to bring an already-harvested ingredient in and out of preservation. Still cool, and it wasn't like Phoebe wanted to dissect something or whatever.

Maybe a little bit.

So. New spell. She could do that. Phoebe mouthed the incantation as she flicked her wand. It seemed easy, which meant it was unlikely she'd get it right the first couple of tries.

Jina agreed that ethical ingredient sourcing is vital, especially since many species were becoming endangered. Brewing potions is important, but they also had to look at the bigger picture and consider wildlife protection. Potions research was an area she was interested in, and so she was eager to learn how they would harvest ingredients themselves. The first step was to practise the preservation charm.

"Con-ser-vay con-dee-o," she repeated the professor's pronunciation. With her wand, she flicked her wrist slightly and gave a gentle tap. She repeated the spell a few more times to familiarise herself with it. "Conserve condio."

Not that she was expecting to actually harvest something from a creature today because that would be-- well not everyone would love that. Jillian was okay with it, she was actually looking forward to it but maybe next time.

Preserving charm. Something she has never used before, this was worth a try. Conserve condio she repeated a few times in her head and then wrote it down on her small pad just in case. Taking her wand out of her pocket she did the movement that the professor showed them. Tap then flick then specimen then spell. Simple.

Conserve condio.

Tom was enjoying this lesson and now it was time to practice the incantation, he wanted to make sure he got it right so he started with the pronunciation of the word. “Conserve condio ” “Conserve condio ” That sounded right, so now he just repeated it over and over again in his head trying to make sure it sounded right and then he started to practice the wand movement tryin to make sure he did exactly what the Professor had done.

Claudine was very much inclined to agree with Noble and Chloe about ethically harvesting ingredients. Her mind flashed back to the bird dying during one of the earlier CoMC creatures and she remembered the hurt she felt for the creature. The hurt only seemed to multiply as she thought of some random creature suffering just so that humans could secure some part that creature for potion brewing. And so it seemed that it was harvesting they would be covering today. Claudine was pleased with this for she was very open minded and determined about learning about ethical harvesting.

“Con-ser-vay con-dee-o.’’ Claudine took great care in making sure that she pronounced each syllable correctly. “Con-ser-vay con-dee-o. Con-ser-vay con-dee-o. Conserve condio.” Wand movement? It was copied as Noble had demonstrated.

Hopefully this spell wasn’t going to give her any trouble.

Bernie hurried to write down all the notes the professor was saying, although, for the record, she had also identified that Kodee had a good answer. Okay! Now they were doing a spell, which was a nice way to start a potions class.

Con-ser-vay-con-dee-o, con-ser-vay-con-dee-o, con-ser-vay-con-dee-o. Bernie practiced exactly what the professor had demonstrated. She really hoped this would work when it came time to do it...

Isla had never thought about potions ingredients this way before. She'd just seen her parents with them and used them in class, but she'd never taken the time to sit down and think about the moment they were all harvested. She'd never heard of the Preservation Charm, but it made perfect sense.

When the professor withdrew his wand, Isla did, too. "Con-ser-vay Con-dee-o," she said, trying out the sounds. "Con-ser-vay Con-dee-o." Putting all the sounds together, she added, "Conserve Condio!" That hadn't been too hard. Without saying the incantation, she tried out the wand movements. She started with a gentle tap then added a slight flick of her wrist.

Okay, time to put this into play!

As the class moved on, a second question was presented by the professor. Naya was a little unsure about how to answer, so she decided to remain silent. She did listen closely to the responses that her classmates were giving and took notes as the conversation progressed.

As Professor Noble went into more detail about obtaining animal based potion ingredients, Naya was disturbed. The thought of unethical people harming any creature just to get potion parts was something she could not tolerate. It just wasn’t right.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, Naya tried to focus on the spell they would be practicing. It was imperative that she get this right. How to harvest ingredients the right way was important to know. Anything to protect the animals.

”Conserve condio”, Naya repeated several times, making sure to pronounce the words correctly. When she felt comfortable with the incantation, the Gryffindor worked on the wand movement. With her wand Naya then practiced the tap and flick movement. It didn’t seem too hard, but sometimes the easiest movements could be the trickiest. Now, if she could put everything together successfully, it would be great.

Whitney's silence today wasn't because of a mood as was usual, but utter shock. Shock that her classmates couldn't/wouldn't dig any deeper for their answers than that. The first and second years she could understand, maybe even the third years, but the rest? The shock may have shown itself in her eyes but that's it as the class moved on to the preservation charm.

"Con-vos-e... nope, that's not right. Con-ser-vay con-dee-o." No, she had absoulutely not just almost pronouced the spell wrong. Nnnn-uh. Nope. That was not her. "Con-ser-vay con-dee-o Conserve condio."

Blake frequently wished he was just a wizard genius and didn't have to do all this practicing. Sometimes he just wished stuff would work the first time! But... alas, his life didn't work that way. So doing as the Professor asked, the movement should be easy enough since it was just a quick tap.

"Conserve condio" He said out loud ... did it sound right?? He practiced the sound of the spell several more times and hoped he was right.

The advantages and challenges of using animal ingredients? Avalon's first thought was that you could literally get mauled by the animal if you tried to harvest an ingredient the wrong way while it was still alive. But it seemed like her classmates had covered that one already. She supposed there could also be some problems with storing the ingredient properly. Some of them needed to be dried out, immersed in a solution, or kept at a certain temperature. But Avalon didn't really feel like she could add anything new to the conversation, so she kept quiet.

After jotting down the incantation on her parchment, she practiced in her head, and then out loud a few times. "Conserve condio. Con-ser-vay con-dee-o. Conserve condio." Then, she practiced the wand movement. It didn't seem too difficult. But the real test would be actually trying it out.