Nodding towards Professor Bentley as she continued to work on her pot, Kurumi was honestly surprised that the woman's head had not gone bouncing off her neck like one of her bouncing blueberries.

Eyes back on her pot for now, Kurumi scanned her parchment again for the next step and wrinkled her nose. Ew...this bit. With a swish and flick of her wand, Kurumi opted to levitage the lacewing flies into her pot and allowed them to seep there for a few moments before she scrunched up her nose and removed the lid on her bubotuber pus and the smell of petrol filled her nostrils.

Did all the horrible smelling things have to be in one place?!

Plopping a large glop of the stuff into her pot, Kurumi placed both hands on either side to feel the temperature. Good, still heating.



Once the pus was in, Kurumi picked up her spoon and gave the concoction a timid stir as Professor Bentley spoke again. Task Force mission? Oh right. Making a mental note of this, Kurumi returned her gaze to her parchment and checked out what she still had left to do.

Not to much more now...

He set the stirrer down and allowed the concoction in the pot to simmer then cool. In the meantime he had quite a bit to clean and put away from his work area. He grabbed the ingredient vials and returned them to the supply cabinet, then scourgified his work area of any debris or messes from when he was making the mixture. And out of habit he scourgified the strainer and the spray bottle as well before setting them aside. He drew his notes to himself to review what they've done in class as he waited for the concoction to cool.

After a while he peered into the pot and lifted his glove from one of his hands to feel how warm the pot still was-- it has gotten cool enough to the point that he probably didnt need to wear gloves anymore to protect himself from scalding, but he was still wearing them anyway, at least until he has transferred the mixture into the spray bottle. He set the strainer over the bottle then carefully ladled the concoction through until there was nothing left. Lifting the strainer out he set it aside into the now empty pot and eyed the spray bottle, now just slightly steaming with the warm liquid within. This was for the next Task Force project the Herbologist just mentioned.

Letting the Minsecticide cool a bit further he moved to dispose of the dregs from the strainer and cleaned it up along with the pot before returning them to the supplies area. He returns to his work area and the bottle has now sufficiently cooled enough that it was safe to screw the sprayer/cap onto it.

Simmer stir and let the pot cool. Simple enough.

Wooden spoon back into the pot, Kurumi stirred the somewhat lumpy concoction until the pus has completely dissolved into the bubbling liquid and all creepy traces of the lacewing flies was gone. Once it was back to being an crisp dark amber color, Kurumi removed the spoon and tapped the side of the pot to get any of the excess liquid off it before casting Scourgify on it and setting it aside. Wand now directed at the pot, Kurumi removed the heating charm with a swift Finite and then turned her attention to her work station and began to gather up the empty containers that had held ingredients earlier and returned them to the shed once she had cleaned them.

Returning to her station, she glanced over at Laura. "Everything going alright?" Kurumi had a lot of time to wait now, seeing as her pot was really REALLY warm right now and waiting for it to cool down could take awhile...

Which made her wonder...

"Professor? Can we use Glacius to cool our pots? Or does that do something bad to the minsecticide?"

Five to Ten minutes? Jeez that was a long time. "Thanks Jayden. Well done on getting it finished." Orr said as she stirred once again and checked her muggle watch noting that only a couple of minutes had go still.



Looking at her notes she decided to get the fluxweed and knotgrass ready to be added as soon as the colour was dark.

After stirring once more- she noticed that the colour had finally darken and she quickly added the fluxweed and knotgrass and gave it a stir.

Now on to the next task...

"You could..." she paused brieflly, "but you'd need to be careful the solution doesn't become icy otherwise it's far less effective."

Then again, she was talking to a seventh year, and one of her best at that. "I'm sure you could handle it."

Orr took her garlic bulb and with her wand pointing at it said "Diffindo" and voila the bulb sliced in half. She could never get over how useful magic was!

She dropped the pieces into the pot.

Laura looked at the Professor and sighed. "I just lose my cool sometimes Professor." Yeah it wasn't her fault she was misunderstood was it, it was the Professor fault they didn't listen to her or anything, she listen to the Professor and smiled. "320 Professor?" Laura thought she would like to guess the answer and that she thought was a good guess

Laura listened to the Professor go on and on about asking if anyone had anything missing and well it wasn't her fault Professor Bentley seemed to want to rush through her lessons, maybe she was missing her pets and that is why she was rushing though the lesson so she could visit them again.


Laura looked at her list well that was good she didn't even have a pot of water so she couldn't start to make it boil the water without water, that was simple right, hadn't she already told the Professor that once and now they were expecting her to boil an empty pot. "I think so?" Laura looked at Kurumi. "Want to check?" Laura asked showing Kurumi the empty pot. "Is this right?" Laura would love for her to say it is.

Now Orr added 3-4 whole dried lacewing flies before adding a small thick plop of bubotuber pus. She let out a little giggle as it hit the water since for some reason she found it to be hilarious.

Once that was done- she checked the list again.

Sarah glanced down at the next set of instructions... yes the mixture did seem to be darkening... SHE WAS DOING IT CORRECTLY! That was surprising. She reached over and took a handful of fluxweed...Was it not used in the Polyjuice potion. Well flux did mean to flow or constant change... She then unclenched her hand over the pot.

Next knotgrass... She took grasped a handfu with her wand hand and let it flutter over the brew. Things were great. Now she needed to stir it. Thankflly it had ceased saying stir occasionally... Sarah liked direct instructions.

So she stirred it and stirred it. Five clockwise stirs, five anti-clockwise stirs... great moving on

After recovering from touching the insects and holding the pus's container. Cassia reached for the parchment again. Hoping that no more disgusting things were to be found there. She actually needed more time to recover from this ,but it might take a long time and the lesson would've ended. Cassia usually didn't care of course but she wasn't going to leave this solution they were making. Not after she sliced the garlic with her bare hands. Bare wand actually. And added the insects and the pus. So she was continuing until the last step. YUP!

Simmer. Actually Cassia did that unintentionally. She was recovering and meanwhile the solution was simmering on its own. She reached for the spoon and started stirring and looking around her at the other students. Some were working in partners. Cassia liked that but when it came to her it wasn't so guaranteed. Because she might forget what they were doing and keep talking and chatting. So not safe to have partners unless they reminded her every now and then what they were doing. And they better be patient.

The second-year put the spoon aside and started closing any jars ,containers and stuff. And she gladly put back everything she didn't use. And anything left. Not like she'd like to keep any.

She glanced down after having moved the ingredients. She kinda made a mess. You know when you drizzle liquids fast and push garlic and other things, a biiiit of a mess might happen. She looked around and found a piece of cloth. Is it for cleaning? Well, it is now. The slytherin started wiping whatever drops and traces she had left. Oh this was so generous of her to clean . she did make the mess but it was still generous of her.

See Professor, though we don't like the greenhouse we are cleaning. Because we are cool awesome snakes. And we don't like to be punished too.

Next Orr simmered the solution and gave it a stir before leaving it to cool.

She started to clean up her work station before she heard a question being directed at her by Jayden.

"Oh sorry. I didn't hear you. Um...yeah my parents are muggles so me coming to Hogwarts was a shock to them. They're cool though. I haven't yet shown them what magic and the wizarding world has to offer. Do you know of any wizarding plants that might be okay to grow in a muggle environment."

After having cleaned the mess she made. Cassia put the piece of cloth were it was and returned to her parchment. She crossed out the previous steps and nodded at the last. Touching the outside of the pot,Cassia paused deciding whether it was cool enough. Well, her hand didn't burn and she was able to keep it for a while. So it was cool.

She looked around her searching for a bottle. And instead of looking for it she found herself watching other students. Wow, some people worked with skill and passion. Pffft. Why waste those. She shook her head not being able to understand how people actually liked doing this. Wait, why was she watching people and wondering about stuff? Oh she was looking for a bottle.

And she did find a spray bottle on one of the tables. Making sure it wasn't anyone's Cassia claimed it to herself. And skipped to her pot. Nope she wasn't worried that it was someone's else and she stole it. What made you think that?

Looking from the pot to the bottle, Cassia finally decided the best technique to pour the solution into the bottle. She will tilt the pot obviously. Was there any other ways? Fixing the bottle with one hand after having opened the cap ,Cassia tilted the pot making sure that most of the liquid got IN the bottle.
Sticking her tongue out in concentration. Cassia managed to do that with only a few drops of the liquid wasted. Which she didn't care about of course. She closed the cap and took a deep breath that now this was OVER.And she was still alive. No plants tried to eat her.

She straightened and grinned smugly because she was so proud of her awesome self. Cassia searched for Professor Bentley, "I'm done Professor!" She announced triumphantly. Wanna taste it? Oh wait this wasn't for drinking. Well, any plant wanna taste it? Not now?

Cassia gathered her belongings and slid her bag over her shoulder. She was a member of the task force meaning she needed to keep this bottle. Standing by the exit she looked around at the other students. She wasn't leaving alone, she would for someone to go with.

Next Sarah took up the garlic bulb. That reminded her of something she read once. Onion was called onion as it had one bulb not two, while a garlic had two bulbs.

She then transferred the bulb to her left hand while with her wand hand she casted, “diffindo” on what she thought was the even point that divided it in half. She put her wand down for a second to examine her handiwork. No... as usual she never cut it in half... infact she cut it into four-sixth on the right side, while it was two-sixth on the left side. She was going to do it again when she remembered what Bentley (like the car) had said. It was not potions... it did not have to be perfect.

So with a sigh, Sarah debated which side to use. In the end she did “inny, minnie, munny, moe” to see which side to use. The bigger half (well as it was bigger it was not exactly a half) was chosen.

She then held it in her gloved hand and PLOP heard it fall into the mixture.
This time there was no stirring

Waving her wand over her station and casting Scourgify, Kurumi cleaned her table and then placed both hands on either side of her pot again to test the temperature. Hmm...it still felt rather warm...probably too warm to strain and all that... The Gryffindor was usually a very patient lion, but waiting 30 minutes when she had a Laura working nearby was...dangerous? Scary? Unpredictable? All of the above was probably the proper answer...
Oh, that was a relief. "Thank you, Professor Bently," Kurumi said as her cheeks flushed slightly at the compliment hidden in the woman's words. Feeling rather confident with the spell, the seventh year rolled up her sleeves and then performed the charm very carefully on her pot, checking the temperature every few seconds with her hands until the pot felt about the same temperature as her hand. That should do it!

Picking up her strainer, Kurumi began to pour some of the minsecticide into her spray bottle when Laura spoke up.

"Just a second," Kurumi smiled as she poured the rest of her solution through the strainer and into the spray bottle. Once she was done and had cleaned the strainer and pot again with magic, the Gryffindor moved closer to Laura and and blinked in confusion. "Laura...what happened to the water I conjured?!" Honestly, how did Laura always manage to find herself in these situations? She HAD to be doing it on purpose.

Wand out again, Kurumi cast a silent Aguamenti and fill the pot half way. "There, now you better get to work. I'll stay behind until you are done, okay?" Since Kurumi had offered to help her and all. She would be a horrible person if she just left the Hufflepuff now.

Reading over his notes a bit while he waited, Dylan hummed to himself. Whatever was going on around him didn't too much matter to the Slytherin. He had been out of practice with school work...and because of that, he now needed to get super focused. Meaning massive catch up and studying.

Ick.

Good thing he'd been suddenly inspired again...

With a small yawn, Dylan refocused on his work, rereading the next step for the tenth time...

2) As the colour of the water turns amber, add two generous pinches of cayenne pepper, a generous drizzle of neem oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Stir occasionally.

Blinking a few times, he tried to think about what a pinch might be..and a drizzle and splash. With his Potions background, those weren't things the Slytherin was too familiar or comfortable with...Lafay would've had a heart attack at these kinds of measurements...

Oh. Color change!

Once the water had turned the required Amber color, Dylan pulled his notebook...again...eyeing the instructions. Gah...The Slytherin couldn't even properly explain why he was so annoyed at the moment...Anyway...

...Two pinches of cayenne pepper...Moving his fingers into the jar, he did just as it said, pinching the powder between his thumb and forefinger. The pinches were as generous as his long, slender fingers would allow...After they had been added...Neem oil. Generous drizzle. BLEH.

Grabbing it from his ingredients, he opened the top, carefully tipping it over into the boiling water. Allowing it to carry on for a moment, he replaced it's lid and set it back down...Merlin, could you tell he was uncomfortable with this type of...brewing? Concocting? Yes, well...

A splash of the apple cider vinegar later, which made Dylan want to throw up, he began the task of stirring once more...occasionally.

*STIRRING STIRRING*

Now on to the next step. dried Lace-wing flies. Sarah had seen them sold in Diagon alley. There one had to catch them themselves... She wondered who had caught them? Her head of house? That was nice of her... If it had been Lafay or Bellaire they would have made the students catch them themselves.Well had it been the latter too, they would have first driedd the flies and then killed them

Again it gave them a choice... three or four? Sarah did not know which one to choose. Then she smiled when she remembered what Bentley had said... it was not potions. So now, being a very just person and a methodical one too, Sarah decided to go for the smaller amount as last time she went for the bigger amount.

Plop, plop, plop.. three dried lacewing flies later Sarah changed her mind. According to ratio... would it not be better if there was more garlic that they increase the amount of a different ingredient? After a moment of thought Sarah decided to add a fourthdried lace-wing fly. It looked like they were making polyjuice potion... lacewing flies and fluxweed... what else.

Oh yeah, bubotuber pus. Sarah was rather relieved that the bubotuber was a plant and not a worm. Plants are organic you see. She again had to hold her breath for a moment as not smell the putrid odour that smelled like she was in a muggle petrol station.

Plop went the thick, yellowish green thing as it hit the surface of the liquid... Sarah then breathed again... Although some wafts of the stuff came from other students... Maybe she should ask Bently for some to use for her pimples.

Orr finished cleaning up her station and putting away her unused ingredients. She next got her strainer and slowly strained the Minsecticide into a spray bottle.

She looked up when Professor Bentley announced the final instructions for the day. Oh so the Minsecticide was for the task force? Orr couldn't wait to get started.

She turned to Jayden "Are you in the Task Force? It should be interesting. Thanks for waiting for me to finish by the way."

Kat's pot filled with water was boiling already. Yey. One sign. The blonde then took the chrysanthemum and the nettle tea leaves and dropped them into the pot. She took the stirrer (or whatever it is) and stir the mixture. Phew.

After that, she noticed the water turning to the shade of amber. Oooooohh. Lovely. She then dropped 'two generous pinches' of cayenne pepper. Then a drizzle of neem oil and a splash apple cider vinegar and stir it again.

Stir, stir, stir.

Cardigan stirred up the pot a little more, waiting for it to turn Amber. She couldn't do the next step before that, seeing as it might mess everything up. Wouldn't want a fault in our minsecticide! It might do the opposite of protecting: it could make the plants even more vulnerable!!

Not cool.

She waited a little longer, and it finally turned the right shade of amber!! Setting her stirrer aside, she began to pick up the next ingredient, a pinch of cayenne pepper. She plopped it in with flourish, and did two more, as it said to do a few, but was not specified. Then, she had to put in....Neem oil??

Got it! She located it near thr corner of her workspace. Taking the bottle up in one hand, Cardigan carefully drizzled out the oil lightly in the pot. Didn't want to put top much!!

Next ingredient....apple cider vinegar!! She located it quite quickly, since it was right near her pot. Picking it up, she opened the top and put a splash in, quickly picking it back up and closing the top. It would be bad if more than enough spilled in!! She then picked up her stirrer, and proceeded on with stirring the pot, every now and then.

Stir, stir, stir.

Then Sarah was rather puzzled as of what to do next as she had already used all her ingreidient. A quick glance at her notebook showed that she was basically done.

Now she had to let it simmer and STIR? More stirring.... why she was building muscles and that was good. Her brothers called her the weakling.
So she stirred and let it cool off while she got to work, first making note of the time. She put back all the ingreidients she did not use. Back and forth to the store cupboard she went until the surface was clean. Then she cast scourify on the surface, which cleaned up the mess. Then she looked at her watch again... only ten minutes had gone by. So meanwhile she took out her note and textbook and passed time that way

She was glad that somebody finally did something with that Laura girl. She felt like she could automatically concentrate more without all of the whining going on. Focusing back on the task at hand she looked once more towards her notes and to her dismay it was time for the garlic. She hated the way that garlic smelled and she didn't want that smell on her hands at all. It wasn't easy to get that smell off. Maybe if she did it really fast?

She grabbed the whole garlic bilb and placed it in front of her. She needed to cut it in half. She grabbed her wand. "Diffindo." she said while pointing her wand at the offending piece of garlic. Once it was split in two she picked up the pieces and placed them in the solution. She sniffed at her hand... Ugh! They smelled like garlic and she felt as if she might be sick. Mind over matter Hannah...push through this. You are not going to let garlic make you sick!

After stirring the mixture, the color began to darken. Knowing that she was on the right track, Kat smirked. Now, she took a handful of fluxweed and placed it inside the pot. Then she took another handful, expect it was knotgrass. Then she placed it inside.

Blek. Who knew this things smelled so disgusting?

After many checks at her watch, about twenty minutes later Sarah ooked at her watch, finally she only had one minute left. She watch the longest hand move in a circle, those sixty seconds were long. Yet finally she was ready to continue.
She felt the side of the pot... yes the mixture seemed to have cooled down enough. Straining the mixture was easy as she had to do it usually back at the farm with milk. She then poured the mixture into the sprayer, having unlidded the thing. She then recapped the spraybottle. She then noticed that she had spilled some on the floor and she quickly casted tergeo to clean it up. Good girl Sarah... keeping things the way you found it.

Casting scourify on the materials was easy, as there was little to do. Then she heard the professor’s announcement. She was finished now anyway.

“Thank you Professor” she said beamingly

She was on the way out when she noticed Cassia who had seemed to have finished a while before. What was the girl waiting for, “Hey Cassia, what is up? Why are you just standing here looking pretty?”

Minerva was starting to smell the cooking ingredients from the other pots as well and it didn't seem to smell very good at all. She was hoping she could almost be finished when she heard Professor Bentely say they could go once they were all done. The task force team.. Oh no, she forgot to sign up for that this year. Minerva shook her head, well can't do everything she thought.

Looking back at her notes she looked for the next step:

Why were all these ingredients so weirdly names or just gross, in potions as well. She wanted nothing to do with pus, but yet she had to use it in both places. Well there was one thing she knew for sure, Minerva could never be a Hocus Pocus Witch that brewed horrible potions all the time like the movie.

Turning she took the lacewing fliced and added four of them. The picking up the bubotuber pus she drizzled some in her pot as well. Then she stirred those with the rest of the ingredients. Surely she had to be close to being done now, Minerva thought.

Stirring lightly, Ethan peered into his pot and noticed that the mixture seemed darker than before. Time for the next step. He glanced up at the board again.. handfuls. He glanced down at his hand.. hmm, maybe 1/2 a cup?

The boy rummaged through his workstation and found a couple measuring cups. Measuring out 1/2 a cup each of the fluxweed and knotgrass, Ethan dropped those ingredients into his pot. After a stir, he jotted down a few notes in his journal.