James raised his eyebrows in admiration.
"I suppose Potions is a forte for you as well?" he asked stupidly. Of course it was-she was brilliant. His face flustered slightly at her compliment.
"Thanks," he muttered. He rummaged through his bag and began measuring his aconite. He measured 4 ounces(or grams) and began dicing them up as well. He turned his head and muttered under his breathe a couple lines from his potions book. He poured half of the aconite into the cauldron, then began twirling his wand above it clockwise. The potion began to stir itself. After six clockwise turns, he poured the rest of the aconite inside. This time, the potion went from a vibrant magenta to a dense navy. The drastic color change shocked James slightly, but he shook it off and smiled to Xana.

Xana smiled and said nothing; she didn't want to be unsupportive even though she suspected that the first year's theoy had been disproven already. But hey- you never know. Instead, she asked gently. "That's a big leap, as a first year to be taking on something like that- very ambitious. Have you had significant potions experience prior to school in some way?"

Xana smiled back, noticing his potion's secondary potion shift as she turned her attention back to her work. "Yeah, you could say that-- potions and herbology are my passions, so I spend a lot of time on each of them, especially potions. I love the discovery involved in finding new methods and new potions, and I have a lot of ideas to explore and goals to fulfill."

"What are you hoping to do when you graduate?" she asked, holding a test tube of antimony powder up to eye level to ensure her measurement was accurate before adding it to the cauldron, first casting a quick shield spell over the cauldron to prevent inhalation of the toxic substance.

"Yeah, I don't do so well in Herbology." he said glumly. "I like it-" he added. "it's just not my favorite. I'm really into Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration because I want to be an Auror when I graduate." he answered her question. "But if I don't get that job, there's always Quidditch." he smiled.
"Do you play?" he asked her. He turned back to his potion and flicked his wand again. The potion stirred six times clockwise then one turn counter-clcokwise. He did this for a few minutes before he began adding the two key ingredients to his potion: wormwood and wolfs bane. His cauldron shuddered slightly. James flicked his wand again to stabilize the potion.
"Woops," he said, after peering down at his potions book. His glasses slid down the bridge of his nose slightly. "Oh, never mind, it's ok." he said more to himself. The potion turned a brilliant shade of gold. Then it turned a deep midnight blue. He began stirring it once more and it turned a deep, dark black.

Xana noticed Reese run in and go straight to the supply closet, and then dash out of the room. Something wasn't right about that at all. She glanced to the professor to see if he'd noticed, praying he hadn't. She decided to go after Reese later and find out what was going on.

"A little- I'm going to try for the team but I'll be shocked if I make it, honestly." She watched the potion shift colours out of the corner of her eye as she worked, cringing inwardly when she saw the potion turn gold, then blue and finally black... knowing that he'd added too much wormwood, and had he not it would have released blue steam, then shift to blackcurrant, lilac and finally, turn clear. She wondered if she should tell him... she didn't want to be rude but they were supposed to help each other... "Um... James? I don't want to be nosy, but I think you added too much wormwood-- the gold shift should've been blackcurrant, actually. You might be able to salvage it if you add about 1 fluid dram of crushed sopohorous bean juice-- it could counterbalance the wormwood."

he entered the classroom quietly and sat down at a desk. he then took out his potions textbook and decided to look through some of the potions they would be studying that year.

"Yeah, same with me," James said. "But I tried out last term, but I didn't make the team."
James felt his face fluster when Xana pointed out his mistake. He looked down at his potions book and gave a small groan.
"You're right," he said. "I did add too much." he rummaged through his potions kit and pulled out a sophorous bean. He also pulled out his silver knife and placed the bean on the table beside his cauldron. His black potion bubbled feebly. James crushed the bean with the flat side of his knife and poured the bean juice into his cauldron. The black cauldron immediately puffed out blue steam and turned a blackcurrant. Relieved, James turned to Xana.
"You're a lifesaver," he said to her. He gave her a thankful smile and turned back to his book. He flicked his wand, like before, and the potion began stirring itself.

She smiled. "No problem... I did the same thing the first time I drew up a smiliar potion... wormwood is such a difficult thing to work with, even the tiniest bit too much or too little it messes up the whole potion." She poured out her distillate and capped the vial closed. One down, two to go. "I played as an alternate on the team last year- a last minute substitution. It was fun- I'd never even seen a game before that weekend, so it was educational. I hope to make the team this year but there seems to be a lot of talented players trying out..."

"Darn wormwood," he said. "I hate, yet I love, how complex potion making gets." he said happily. He looked at his potion, it had become clear. Satisfied, James filled a vial and put a stopper into it. He placed the filled vial on his desk and turned to Xana.
"What do you suppose I should make next?" he asked.

"Make that one again-- but this time..." she grinned at the prospect of putting forth a challenge... "See if you can figure out how to do it without any wormwood. There's a way to do it... but it's tricky-- complex. " She raised an eyebrow, wondering if he could figure it out.

Having completed my ptiion I nodded to Kai, saying,
"See you later." And headed to the common room.

James' brow furrowed slightly. He was obviously pondering on Xana's challenge.
"Ok," he said happily. He set up his cauldron once again and began flipping the pages of his potions book furiously.

Posy walked into the potions lab, completely out of breath. "I made it." She murmered under her breath.

She walked down the rows of seats and picked one closer to the front. She started to unload all her supplies unaware that the class had already started. Posy didn't know what to do. She looked around to ask someone but everyone was already busy with work.

When no one answered, she packed up her things and headed for the common room.

Xana grinned at the boy as he started working out her challenge, amused. It was a trick question, sort of, and she was curious to see if he could work it out... she thought back fondly to when Slade had posed the puzzle to her in the labs. Good times.

"Remember, herbology and potions are sister disciplines..." she dropped a clue, smiling as she cleaned her equipment and packed up. "I'm late for class, but I'll be back and look forward to seeing what you come up with as a solution. Ciao!" she grinned, waving to her new friend as she sped out the door.