LEX WAS NOT BOUNCING OKAY???? She was merely walking three steps in one bound which actually wasn't very possible but excitement made a person do strange things. She was SO ready for this. EXTRA ready for this! She and Kat were gonna go in there, punch a plant or two, whip up a quick potion and BOOOM done!

Her overly excited steps slowed only as they approached what looked like a cave. This was the time to exercise 'extreme caution' or whatever the heck it was that Ravenclaws called it.

Pffft, she had this. No getting eaten alive today. Not this Gryffindor. Alexa gave a short glance to Kat, making sure she hadn't lost her pseudo!sister somewhere in all the excitement of man eating plants. Good, she was there. Slowly she made her way into the cave, noting all the plants in it--HOLY KNEAZLE WAS THAT A SNARGALUFF?? She had to be dreaming! NO ONE pinch her!! Eeeeep!!! The other plants were duly noted, yeah, Herbology student, had to know and all that jazz but SERIOULSY, the snargaluff. Did Alice see? COULD Alice see?

She...wanted to get closer...just a little but then a rustling sound drew her attention. Her eyes landed on the aloe plant, just behind it a--sweet circe! WHAT happened to the eeeelf??? Her eyes widened as it made it's way to...a cauldron? Right, this thing involved potions too...right, she didn't forget, nope.

...."The elf's suffering Kat." CLEARLY. Just LOOK at it. "What do you think's wrong with him?" If she had to guess she'd say someone slipped him a swelling solution. Not hard to tell. Just...just look at hiiiiiim. He would get cuddles when this was all over.

For now, strategy. This was mission: help the house elf. Poor, POOR elf.

Kat totally did not want to eat during lunch, after West and Alec's task. She'd been watching them and all, which made her feel a bit more... nervous. Okay, so yes she was nervous because she knew that, if she messed up, it would be horrible. She didn't want to reflect Professor Lafay as a failure for a Professor. It only made things worse because Lafay was her head of house, so it definitely mattered to the Head Girl. Kat went with Lex for their task. At least she had her pseudo!sister with her in this task. It made her a bit relieved and, well, much more comfortable really. The next thing she knew it, they were inside some sort of cave. Merlin, here's to hoping that they don't get lost inside. She was pretty much glad that there was sunlight, even if it looked like it was just a few.

... Hmm. There didn't seem to be anything dangerous in here. Yet. Who knows? Maybe the Quiz Bowl people had placed a dang man-eating plant in here, so Kat was hoping that Alexa knew how to strangle one if they encountered one. There were lots of plants... some Kat recognized but some she didn't know. And then something just made a sound. "That wasn't you right, Lex?" Don't try scaring her, please? It already worried her that safety wasn't guaranteed in here.

Kat took a few steps forward to peek on whatever was making that sound. "Oh......... Merlin." A bloated house elf, for Merlin's sake. Well, sheeeesh. That was cruel. Did they know that Kurumi Hollingberry would be so disappointed (or even more) if she saw this? But then, something sort of hit her. She had to do something. Like, real quick... before the swelling got worse. Inhaaaaaaaale... exhaaaaaaale. Kat pondered a little bit more, for a potion she could brew to cure that.

"I feel like... this was caused by a swelling solution. So, we needed to brew its antidote." The antidote had a name, though. She racked her brain a bit more. COME ON, KATRINA. THINK. Uhmm... she had read this in her potions book, and she KNEW it. She bit her tongue... and looked around the cave. Herbs. They had to brew something using only herbs, because that clearly was the only things she saw in here. But... the herbs. She can't recognize them ALL.

Clearly, that was the reason why Alexa Cambride was with her, right? She was representing Hogwarts for Herbology. "Do you recognize the herbs and plants in here? Please tell me what you see." She was hoping that the herbs in here could be ingredients for a potion she could brew. Teamwork, you see.

She never realized how hard it was gonna be until she saw the little guy all swollen. That was just meean, for whoever set this, just mean BUT, at least one of THEM wasn't given a swelling solution and the other forced to brew something up. That's what Kat said they were doing. They were gonna make it a cure. Honestly, she thought it could've been solved with a neat trick or too but then she remembered this had as much to do with Potions as it did Herbology. When West and Alec were at it, she was almost sure they had a mix. Somethings were hard to tell from where she'd been standing playing with the Beauxbaton lady's hair but she knew.

So potion brewing was. Hopefully it wouldn't take TOO long. What if he was in PAIN??

There was just one problem. Lex didn't know most of the things or any, let's go with any for the sake of honesty reasons that went into a unswelling potion thingy, whatever it was called.

She nearly sighed in relief when Kat took charge and started asking about the herbs in here. She knew what she was doing. They wouldn't lose. EEEeep! "Sure thing." She said with a nod BECAUSE SHE'D STAYED UP TIL 3 AM READING BOOK AFTER BOOK OF HERBOLOGY. Ones she'd gotten from the library nonetheless. It came in handy. Before last night...this morning...whatever you wanted to call it, she wouldn't have known that was a snargaluff. Don't get her wrong, she still didn't find reading a joy and wouldn't be making a habit of it but she admitted it had it's uses. Like now. Now she KNEW these herbs and began making her way around the cave pointing them out.

"This ones's aloe...the one right there is wood sorrel," She glance just a few feet over then pointed again. "Galangal...basil, I think this one right here is fluxweed." Lex squinted a bit, having some difficulty remembering the one she was now suddenly facing. Ugh! Come on brain, she read, wooork. Squiiint--"Parsley! Yes and that one's banana." She stopped walking, deciding it best to keep a good distance from the next one but a grin slowly formed on her face. "THAT is a snargaluff. You're not going to want to get too close to it but PLEASE tell me it's in the potion!!!" PLEASE! She'd been preparing JUST for something like this!!!

As much as Kat wanted to hurry up, help the poor house elf, and leave the cave immediately, she couldn't do that. This task was gonna take a lot of time and it definitely required a lot of thinking and a lot remembering what to do in brewing the potion she had in mind. Her eyes fell on the house elf once more. Merlin, she had to do this quick. As Alexa enumerated the herbs she saw in the cave. In Kat's head, she had a checklist and the herbs Lex had been identifying were being checked off the list. "Whoa. How long did that take for you to remember all of those things?" Like, seriously? Kat wouldn't have known that plant over there was holly.

And once THAT was done, some sort of light bulb lit up in her head. "I got it. Looks like I'm gonna brew a deflating draft," Kat said and BEAMED. Because, heck, she knew it. All the reading of her potions books and even the other resources in the library paid off. "First, could you bring me... uhmm..." PONDERING. How much measurements did she need of these ingredients? "A handful of wood sorrel and... a galangal." She'd let Lex take an aloe leaf later, because she remembered that they needed it fresh. As for the galangal... Kat needed powdered galangal.

... Oh, so now they were facing a problem. "Got any ideas on how we could powderize the galangal? And what we're supposed to use to stir the potion?" Not that they had a stone in here or a ladle. Or anything they could use to powderize it and stir. Did they have their wands, even? "And would you be able to strangle that snargaluff over there later? We'll be needing two snargaluff pods in the potion too." A competition like this couldn't be easy, right? It was a battle of the bests, and one thing Kat wanted was to make sure it was Hogwarts who came out victorious.

Then a few more side glances for the house elf. Her Slytherheart was feeling all sorts of pity for it with every glance.

Lex's excitment was getting to her head. Kat was impressed that she knew that many herbs and honestly she was just as proud of herself. She didn't think she would have been able to learn that many and chances were, she'd forget half of them by the next week, but for now she knew them and this was when they were most important. "Stayed up til 3 reading anything I could on herbology. I haven't learned everything but I have enough." Lex glanced down and noticed something she hadn't before. Holly. Would they need that? Kat didn't say but if she did later on Lex would let her know they had some of that too.

Also no more looking at the elf. It was making her feel all kinds of bad. Focus on the task at hand, the task being the deflating potion. It sounded familiar but only barely so.

Lex walked over to the wood sorrel and grabbed a good fistful, this should be enough but she grabbed another bit just in case something happened. You never know. Next the galangal...

Wait what?

Herb in hand, Lex straightened and gave Kat a curious look. They...would need this thing...powdered? Um...well then. She was set to give that some thought when mention was made of the snargaluff. Strangling it? Nooooooo. Nope nope nope. "That's not how you get the seeds out." And that wasn't nearly as fun anyway! "We're gonna have to subdue it then I'll stick my hand inside the opening and grab two of them. You're gonna have to help me get my hand out though on account of I'll need it even after this task is done. It's kinda strong so we'll have to be ready." Being eaten wasn't nearly as exciting as living with all you body parts.

But back to the powder. Lex tapped her chin thoughtfully. "What if...." She turned the herb in her hand a few times, still thinking it over even as she spoke. "What if we used a rock or something to crush it." They were in a CAVE afterall, "then cast tergeo on it...you know to get rid of the water inside. That'd make it powder...wouldn't it?" Yes? No? Kat was the potion expert here, she was only making logical guesses...if it was logical.

Alexa walked over to the cauldron and handed what she'd gathered to Kat. "Should I add the water to the cauldron? Get you another herb?" She was ready to help.

3am? Really now. Kat wouldn't be able to handle that at all. The latest she'd probably went for was 11pm, and that already seemed too early compared to Lex sleeping at 3 in the morning. The Head Girl blinked a few times. She couldn't imagine how it felt like to sleep by that time and wake up a few hours later. Like, really? That was possible? "That seems pretty tiring. I'd never be able to stay up that late," she said. 3am was technically early, but it was still late at the same time... if that even made sense, you know. Imagine how awful her eye bags would be once she woke up? Horrible. But then, she wasn't supposed to think of that. Kat then shifted her attention back to the task they were supposed to finish before the other schools.

Okay, that was what you call teamwork. While Lex looked for the herbs and all that stuff, Kat imagined the things inside the cave. It looked... empty. Empty except for the poor house elf (stop looking at it, Katrina), cauldron, herbs, and Kat and Lex. Nothing else but that.

A stone. Yeah, that could work. "I don't see any stones. Try summoning one?" Maybe they could like, let stones fall out of the sky? Kat didn't care if she got bruises from raining rocks as long as she had something to use to powderize the galangal. Falling mortars and pestles would be much more helpful though. Just saying. Kat pondered on other things. Alternatives and all. She didn't know any charm that they could use to powderize it. Nothing from their surroundings looked helpful either. Like they could totally use a basil to powderize the galangal, right? Then she looked at her feet. SQUINT. "Or maybe the heel of our shoes. We could clean it with Scourgify and start... uhm, powderizing it?" Kat's shoes had some sort of heel which could be useful. She knew it seemed a bit gross and yeah, but it didn't seem like they had another option right? It was like a survival kind of thing. Kat wasn't good at that though, but she kept an open mind right now.

As for the snargaluff, Kat just listened to Lex. She knew more Herbology-related things than Kat did, anyway, so the information she'd be able to get from her pseudo!sister would be quite useful. She was sort of relieved that they wouldn't have to strangle the plant. But then, trying to stick your arm inside its mouth was fifty times worse. If that was the only way, though, then Kat would gladly do it. "Alright, I think we can start brewing in a bit. We'll just have to powderize this galangal first and measure 5 grams." How do people even measure 5 grams without a spoon? And 500 milliliters of water? Could measuring cups and tablespoons fall out of the sky now?

But before thaaaaaaaat, she needed to clean the cauldron. "Scourgify... Tergeo." 5 C's of Potions, ain't it?

Lex gave a small shrug, her eyes landing on the snargaluff again. "Not that tiring, not for me. I go to bed at 2am usually, an extra hour was nothing, especially when I had a few extra sugar quills and chocolate frogs to wake me up." She was LITERALLY running on sugar at this point and she didn't even CARE. The task at hand was most important. Professor Bentley legit thought she could do this...she...didn't want to let her down, you know?

Kat didn't see any stones. But this was a cave, it was made of rock. Lex paused in thought. "We could blast a chunk of the wall out, that'll give us plenty of rocks 'cause I don't have heels." Frightful things to try walking up and down a moving set of staircase in. NO THANKS! "Oh, unless you have heels? We could use those." So long as they crushed it and extracted the excess water leaving only the powdery stuff, but...couldn't they hurry? Suffering elf over there.

Oh good, they were gonna start brewing!! Lex gave a firm nod.

"I have an idea." She walked closer to the cauldron. "We can't actually measure right? But aren't most measurements of water in potions the same?" 500 ml...or something like that. "I think we can just fill it until it looks like what it would in a potions class." Alexa had a selective memory, but if she did something enough it would be hard to forget it. "We'll...just estimate the 5 grams. You should have an idea of what it'd weigh, yeah?" Kat should. Mhm.

"I guess I'll fill it then..." Lex pulled the wand from it's holster. "Aguamenti!" A jet a water shot out and began filling the cauldron. She kept her eyes fixed on it until it seemed like the normal amount. "This is it, right?" It LOOKED about right. "Finite!" Kat could add more or remove some if she felt it was off.

But now there was another problem. "How are we going to get this thing lit and ready to boil?" Could they maybe gather leaves and twigs and such...just something they could light on fire and get this potion going.

... Seriously. 2am. Nope, just no. Kat wouldn't even dare try to stay up that late, even if her life depended on it. And of course, chocolate frogs made people a bit hyper so... that might explain Lex's attitude most of the time. "You probably had a lot of chocolate frogs today." Because that was Alexa Cambridge and chocolate frogs. Nothing else could compare.

Blast a chunk off the wall. To be honest, that made Kat laugh a bit. Not in a bad way, but because thinking of it was amusing. Could you imagine two girls whacking their heels on the cave's wall? That'd be priceless, but Kat considered that though just in case their other options didn't work. "My shoes have heels," she nodded. So they might use her shoes. What Kat could imagine after this task, is her shoes all broken and useless. She could fix that with Reparo though, so she was willing to break her heels anytime now. But just to give it a try, you know. Summoning something wouldn't be bad. "Accio stone," Kat said with an arch hand movement.

And Lex had a point. Most of the potions had the same measurement for water. "Yeah, 500 millimeters." Lex had the honours of filling up the cauldron though. Kat didn't mind and she peered in the cauldron too. Yeah, that looked just about 500 ml now. They didn't have a measuring cup or whatever useful measuring tool in here so their best option was to trust their instincts. As for the 5 grams, Kat nodded too. "Five grams is equal to one heaping tablespoon." The Slytherin visualized it in her head and made sure that later on, she'd estimate that too. However, she still hoped that measuring cups would fall out of the sky.

Getting things lit up and boiling. "Aren't some of the leaves flammable?" Just because, well, they were surrounded by herbs and plants. "That plant over there..." Kat pointed at the long and evergreen ones. "It looks like a palm." Was it a palm? The Head Girl looked at Lex for verification. Kat knew that palm leaves were flammable and capable of starting a fire, so maybe that would be helpful?

Lex grinned sheepishly. "That depends on what you call a lot. I must have had six with my breakfast, four sugar quills and a pack of jelly slugs." Candy was an essential waker upper and like...it was also the easiest way to crash but she'd tried to avoid that with the candy she had for lunch. After this task they would be breaking again. She could crash then...or was that dinner? Okay, a quick dinner, crashing THEN watching the last task of the day. Yup, she had this all planned out and seriously needed to focus on this again.

She nodded to Kat. The girl had heels. If no stone came even after she accio-ed one then they would use the shoe...or Kat would. Lex would just aim her wand at the closest cave wall and help herself to the debris that would come after. Bound to be some decent rocks in that.

From what she was hearing Kat knew the estimated measurement. They would be fine. Nothing would blow up today unless they told it to.

...Huh? Lex looked in the direction her psuedo!sister was pointing. OH! Now she saw what she was on about. "Mhm, palm. These should be do just fine." Lex walked over to the plant and stripped a couple leaves off it. These were enough...yeah? Also....wait, the ground by the tree was uneven......? "KAT! LOOK!!" Why hadn't they checked over here before? Glancing down she found a few small rocks. They could use these too. "Rocks! They aren't like huge but we could use them to prop the cauldron on and start the fire."

It took her two trips but the leaves and rocks were now by the cauldron. She set them in a circle, placed the leaves over them then...."Incendio!" She said, pointing at the leaves. A fire sparked almost immediately. YES! one step closer. Next up getting this thing on the fire....or getting Kat straight to work first. Lex picked up a rock, about the size of her fist and handed it to Kat. "Start crushing, I dunno if that rock is coming but the cave was nice enough to share." Not that it had much of a choice.

Back to the cauldron. Lex grabbed both ends and gave a heave, struggled with it for a second before plopping it atop the rocks. Her breath caught when the fire beneath it began to flicker but she let it go as the flames went on burning. Phew!! "Now we leave that to bowl. Once you're done crushing the galangal and it's started boiling, we'll add the wood sorrel then tackle the snargaluff. How long will we have from the moment we put it in to get the snargaluff seeds?" It had to bowl for a certain amount of time she assumed before they added the seeds, in that time, the would harvest them so they'd be fresh.

Heh. So Kat and Lex looked like they were lost and all, with a bloated house elf with them inside a cave. That was creepy but then, well, this was a Quiz Bowl and she didn't exactly expect the easy potions to come out. A little but of resourcefulness and all, because that's what they were expected to use. Once they got all the ingredients with them, they could start start brewing and that'd be great. And... Merlin, that was a lot of sugar. Kat said no further comment though, because she was trying to focus more on the task they had at hand.

Hmm? No stone came flying back at her, so that was cool. Maybe it was just taking time and probably flying towards her any moment now. But then, it was a good thing that Alexa found a few rocks from trying to pull some palm leaves. "Great," Kat said with a grin. Well, at least they found a rock or two? They'd start in no time. The other schools might've finished their task already (Kat somehow doubt that though because the potion might take an hour or more to brew) but she and Alexa took their time to accurately brew the Deflating draft and helping the poor house elf. It still got some side glances though, out of pity.

Once Lex had started the fire, Kat then tried to remember what to do next. "We'd have to wait for the water to boil, yes." They could start crushing the galangal while waiting for the water to boil so as not to waste time. Kat took the rock from Lex and started powderizing it. Yeah sure, it didn't look like anything difficult but people could see her outside even if she can't. She was kinda getting conscious but Kat was more conscious on the time. She continued to powderize the galangal but also glanced at the cauldron they had just in case it started boiling without them knowing.

"Done," Kat announced as she finished the powderizing up. Well... it would be better if it was already powdered but this was pretty much okay with Kat since they had to powderize it themselves. "After the water boils, we'll have to add the wood sorrel and make sure it's submerged and let it boil for... 10 minutes. That would mean that, while we let the wood sorrel boil, we'll have to tackle the snargaluff. You think we can do that in ten minutes?" Kat was confident, but she wanted to ask Lex. Not that she doubt her and all, but because she wanted to hear her say that she was up for the challenge. Lex did seem pretty excited about it earlier, so it was her time to shine.

Alexa was idly watching the steam from the cauldron rise while she waited on Kat to be done powderizing the galangal. The fact that the girl wasn't complaining and hadn't thrown the rock away half way through the process told her that it most likely WAS working and they'd have this ingredient ready in no time. Until then she'd decided to continue not looking at the elf. She couldn't even imagine how painful it might have been.

Like the older girl was saying, they would need to wait for the water to start bowling. She had the wood sorrel in her hands, waiting to see the first sign of bubbles in the water. How long would this take? Was there a way to make the fire blaze more? Another spell? No?

Lex looked to Kat who'd just announced that she was done. Great! Crushing taken care of! OooOOoo and not a moment too soon. Bubbles were happening in the cauldron which signaled the official start of the brewing. Alexa gave it another minute just to have it legit boiling then she dropped a handful of wood sorrel into the cauldron...Kat said they needed to be submerged but not all of them seemed too keen on going below the surface. She walked back to a bush nearby and yanked at a small branch which she took back to the cauldron and used to poke them beneath the boiling water. There. Submerged.

Ten minutes though...er...how would they know? Lex nodded. "It's doable, I think so, yup, doable." Time estimating NEVER went well...but what choice did they have? "You'll take care of the vines and I'll reach in and grab the seeds we'll need. Sound good?" COULD THEY TACKLE THEY SNARGALUFF NOW???

Yup! They could! Without wasting anymore time, she gestured for Kat to follow then slowly approached the snargaluff, ready for the moment it would spring into action. Kat better be ready too...never know with this thing.

Just to make sure that the galangal was really powdered, Kat powderized it a bit more until it did look like powder now. Alright, that was good. Kat smiled a bit at their progress because, well, they did work together which was the main idea of this task. Two heads were better than one and all of that, right? She took another palm leaf and collected the powdered galangal and placed it on the leaf. Because it had to be held for a moment before they added it to the potion, right? Kat didn't wanna pick it up later from the cave floor even if they didn't have much choice. Cleanliness reasons.

And hey, the water in the cauldron started boiling. Awesome. Kat was gonna add the wood sorrel in but then Alexa beat her to it. That didn't matter and at least the handful of wood sorrel would be submerged.

"Alright, I'm game. I'll knot the vines and... you get the pods. Right. " Safety was definitely NOT guaranteed, but they'd have to do this in order to get this done. And they only had ten minutes. "I have a watch." She wore it on her left wrist all the time because she had schedules to take in account. She never knew that this would be THIS useful in this task. "... Ten minutes starts... now." Kat said once Lex had placed the handsful of wood sorrel in the cauldron, submerged and all.

SNARGALUFF TACKLING TIME. Cautiously, Kat approached the snargaluff and eyed each of its vines just in case it whipped her without any notice, which is what it usually did.

VINE VINE VINE. It was coming. "Watch out!" Kat said to Lex and, with her super frickin' awesome Keeper skills, she caught the vine with her right hand. THANK MERLIN SHE WAS STILL ALIVE. And the other vine, she caught with her left hand. "UGH," she groaned as she struggled with the vines. Honestly? People were trying to kill them here, but all Kat could do was wish they would be alive after this encounter. "Could you do the other vines?" She was ONE person against 7353495073459734 snargaluff vines. Help would be appreciated. Kat then started to pull the vines together to knot them... with a lot of struggling. But then she knotted them in the end. Success. Two vines down, a LOT more to go. Yeah? Yeah.

KAT HAD A WATCH!!! Brilliant!! That was just about the only thing that had gone completely right since this whole thing started. A watch! Yes! Yes! YES!!! If she weren't so preoccupied with watching the vines of the snargaluff she might have gone really excited about it. No guessing the time, no margin for error and definitely knowing how long they had to waste on this thing.

They even had their strategy planned, meaning Kat was agreeing with her. Good. Of the entire task, this was the only thing that really motivated her, sticking her hand inside a snargaluff. Kat wasn't about to take that from her and she appreciated that.

WHOA!!

The older girl was suddenly shouting a warning but Lex was ahead of it and this plant in general. No way did she get pumped just to have her butt get kicked and possibly eaten by this thing. Alexa didn't reach for another couple vines to knot, she lunged forward, trying to get as close as she could to the centre of this thing. The opening was where she'd find the seeds they would need.

Just. A little. Closer!

The moment she stuck her hand inside she felt something wrap around her middle and the plant jerked her forward. Ignoring this for now she yanked the first seed from the opening and held it up with a grin. One seed down, one to go!!!--"Kat look out!!!" Another vine had swung down toward the girl that was otherwise occupied with a few others. She felt the thing give her another jerk, bringing her back to the task at hand. Lex stuck her other hand inside while hugging tightly to the first seed so she wouldn't lose it in all this confusion.

"I think...I think I got the other seed but I can't get my hand out from this angle." Heeeelp Kat, she was NOT plant food and did NOT wanted to be treated like it. Team work this waaaay, practice that awesome duo thing they had over heeere and get this thing away from her.

Kat totally kept looked back at her watch after knotting up more snargaluff vines. She couldn't HELP it, honestly, because they had only 10 minutes to tackle that friggin' flesh-eating plant. As she struggled with more and more snargaluff vines, Kat placed even more force and wanted to strangle knotted the vines even tighter for safety measures. Right, they didn't want or need whipping vines because that was just not cool.

The snargaluff looked like it was starting to close and eat Lex's arm. After handling the last two vines of the snargaluff, Kat then went to help her pseudo!sister. Right so... she was supposed to force the hole to open up even more. Really now? NOBODY WAS GONNA GET EATEN. The Head Girl tugged the vines even more and pulled then harder just because she needed Lex's hand out of there. The hole opened a bit wider and hopefully Lex's hand was free. "Okay now?" No bruises? Injuries? They'd have a Healer after this task, hopefully.

Time check. 10 minutes already? Perfect timing. Kat added both the pods (they didn't need to open it anymore cos she remember that it said WHOLE pod) in the potion. They submerged too, just like the way the wood sorrel submerged earlier. Excellent. "Snargaluff pods in. Great job, pseudo!sis," Kat said and lifted a hand. She expected a high-five, by the way. "We'll have to let it boil for 5 more minutes, lower the temperature a bit and then we add the 10 drops of fresh aloe." Lex would know when to get it right? Probably a minute before the boiling was done. Kat checked her watch to make sure of the time.

"Anything we can use to stir the potion though?" A twig maybe... or a branch. Twig would be better though because branches were just too big. They were almost done so Kat was sort of getting filled by excitement deep inside. They'd get this DONE. But first... Kat went to look for a concaved rock or something to hold the galangal powder so that they can light it up on fire. And yes, they were speaking Lafay's language. FIRE.

These vines weren't going to make it easy were they??? Lex tried tugging her hand free while struggling against the rogue vines. Luckily Kat got her way to the middle and pried the thing open enough for her hand to slip out. LUCKILY. A digested hand wouldn't have been the best thing. As stated earlier she kinda needed them both.

How much time did they have left?? Alexa maneuvered her way out of the very much alive vines and watched Kat add the fresh seeds into the boiling cauldron. Just another 5 minutes of waiting now. Lex glanced over at the watch. Kat was watching the time, she would focus on the next ingredient, the aloe, but they had to be fresh as well so she'd let that go for now. In the mean time she searched the floor for the branch she'd used to to submerge the wood sorrel with.

Ah hah! Here we go. Lex reached down and picked up the small branch she'd broken off earlier. "Here. I have this. We can use it to stir when it's ready." So that part was taken care off.

She kept watching the cauldron then Kat's wrist and back again. It seemed like she'd been waiting forever before she finally said. "Is it time yet? Should I get you the aloe...or will you get it? They're right over there." She said pointing just across from them in case the girl did want to just get them herself.

"And are we almost done with this potion?" Th eeeeelf, the POOR elf!!

Waiting.

Kat was exactly the patient kind of girl because honestly, who liked to be kept from doing something? Definitely no one, right? However, this was a potion so Kat was pretty much alright with the thought of waiting. Five minutes wouldn't even last that long. It was nothing compared to an hour. Speaking of time, how long had Kat and Lex been in this cave? She hadn't kept track of the time since they entered here.

Five minutes was almost over. The aloe should be needed now. "Hand me an aloe." Kat wasn't going to leave the potion out of her sight. And it was good, because they had a branch. Well... Kat would do some necessary charms on it because she wanted it to be clean. "Tergeo... Scourgify." Just because. She'd done the same to almost everything, she Scourgify'd and Tergeo'd the cauldron and now the branch too because the quiz bowl people totally didn't provide them with necessary equipment or something. She couldn't complain though... because it was part of the test.

Almost done with the potion. Kat thought of it first. She mentally listed the steps in her head. "We're... half-way through, I guess. Just a few more ingredients to add in the cauldron and we're good to go." And they could FINALLY help the poor house elf.

At Kat's order she walked back to the aloe and swiped one from it's spot. "Here you go." Lex handed her the herb before allowing herself another glance at the elf. Naturally it still wasn't saying anything and probably couldn't see by the looks of it.

While she waited on any further instructions from Kat, she looked to the snargaluff again. It had been fun while it lasted.

Could she get a sapling as a prize? She didn't know how the other schools were doing right now, in fact, they might have already finished but no matter what she was gonna ask. What did it matter who finished first anyway--unless they were actually leading right now in which case it TOTALLY mattered. Not being biased or anything. Nooope.

She smiled abit at the clarification that they were nearly through. Just a few more ingredients. Shouldn't be long now...or will it? Did the potion have much more waiting times?

"When do we use the galangal?"

Kat was pretty much glad of this teamwork thing and that none of them complained about this task just yet. Not like Kat was gonna complain though because they had a house elf to help. Complaining wasn't necessary when you decide to lend a hand to someone/something in need. "Thank you," she replied to Lex and then checked the time. 5 minutes already. Okay, good. Kat took her wand out first to lower the temperature. Like... she could use water to lower the fire and as well as the temperature right? That worked? "Aguamenti..." she said, focus much on the intent which, for her, would be a little but less than normal, and did the hand movement which looked like an S lying down. She sprinkled the water a bit on the fire under the cauldron, which let the flame lessen too. That would lower the temperature, yeah? "Finite." It was a lower flame now, lower than before.

So... she was gonna let that simmer for a while. Kat waited for a bit and peeped on the ingredients inside the cauldron. Well, it did look simmered enough. The Slytherin held the aloe on top of the cauldron and squeezed it a bit. So ten drops, that was it. One... two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten. Alright, done. Kat set the aloe aside and then peeped again inside the cauldron. "Okay, we'll have to wait again cos we have to let it simmer for not more than an hour." Exact time, she didn't know. The book vaguely stated 'not less than an hour', if she could remember it correctly.

Waiting again. Yeah, this potion took long to brew but Kat would be patient. She leaned on the cave wall as she waited for the potion to simmer for a bit, eyes still looking at the cauldron with their potion brewing. At least no one died in the process of tackling that snargaluff. Kat would like to tackle it again though, just for the fun of it. Dangerous yet fun.

"Uhm... we'll use it after we let the potion simmer, then we light the galangal powder on fire. Wait for it until it looks browned enough and then add it to the cauldron." Kat realized that they were going to be DONE any minute now, and they could finally help the poor house elf. She was excited, did they know? Could the audience SEE?

Was it just her or did this potion have them doing a lot of waiting when they weren't busying themselves tackling a snargaluff. Kat had only just lowered the fire to allow the solution to simmer and added the aloe, now she was saying something about them needing to wait for no more than an hour? Seriously? Even with the watch they couldn't be very sure about this? How much exactly when they say no more than an hour??

Lex flopped to the floor near the cauldron and idly traced shapes on the floor of the cave with her index finger while she listened. Lighting the galangal until it turned brown. "Mmkay."

She sighed, trying to remain as patient as possible. Potions were an exact kind of thing. They couldn't afford to have it get messed up simply because she wasn't willing to wait. This though...this was hard. How did people do this? She should have brought something in here with her. It might have made this wait a bit more bearable.

Finally when she felt she could start hearing the thoughts of the plants around her in the cave (a sure sign that she'd been sitting there waiting for too long) she got up and got the galangal powder Kat had made. "Would this be an okay time?" She waited on Kat's confirmation before finding an exceptionally smooth part of the floor and placed it there. Think small fire...smaaall fire. "Incendio." Lex watched the powder catch fire and watched it, brows furrowed in concentration. When it was all brown she began gently blowing at it so as not to displace the powder even while she put out the fire. Water was a no, they needed this to stay powdery.

Lex walked back to the palm tree and plucked off another leaf. This she scraped the powdered galangal onto. Hmmm...Kat said they'd need the equivalent of a tablespoon. She tried to visualize one as she shaved off bits and bits of the powder. Finally it looked roughly like a teaspoon, she glanced at Kat, figuring she'd stop her if it was wrong before emptying it into the cauldron.

Next??

Indeed time WAS slow when you weren't doing anything fun. Waiting wasn't fun, but for this potion she would do it. Kat didn't know what it felt like to be in the house elf's shoes. He looked like he was in pain and all, but she wasn't sure. Like stated before, she didn't know. She had never used the swelling solution on herself. What kind of a person WOULD, anyway? Probably a really dumb one. Did she look like she was dumb? No.

And Lex looked like she was getting bored. Oh well, Kat didn't like waiting either. "You look like you could use a chocolate frog or two," she said. "I have loads when we get out of here. They're piled up in my trunk in my dormitory." Did that help with Lex's enthusiasm? Did it? Kat hoped it did. She didn't want to mess this potion up and repeat it all over again. That would be a waste of time.

Kat kept looking from the cauldron and then to her watch and then to Lex, who was handling the galangal powder. See? Teamwork. "Yeah, it's time. The potion looks simmered enough, plus we've been waiting for... more than 30 minutes now." Whoa, okay. Really? They've been in this cave for a long time. She wanted to get out and all, so she was giving her all in this task.

She examined the approximation Lex made of the galangal powder. "A little bit more. 5 grams is equal to a heaping teaspoon." Right? Kat nodded and all, because that was it. She could add it in the potion now then. And then... after this, they would be like 95% done. So close. SO CLOOOSE. "Then we stir it vigorously counter-clockwise... for 5 minutes." More time, but they can't stop because they were ALMOST DOOONE. "You wanna stir it?" Kat offered, so that Lex wouldn't be bored. I mean, Kat could wait.

And observe the snargaluff.

And glance at the house elf. But yeah, not now. It needed help.

Kat had chocolate frogs back in her dorm that she was offering to share. Lex perked up immediately. The moment they got out of this cave she would be justly rewarded with candy and honestly she LIKED the sound of that very much. Mhm, she did. "Woot! We can have them with dinner, I'm starved." It was like an afterthought. The whole time they'd been actively trying to get everything to work she never thought much about food or eating but they HAD been in here a while and things were slowing down, giving her more time to focus on her stomach that was apparently grumbling....when did that become a thing??

Oh boy, she could stir! Something to do!

Lex gave a quick nod before grabbing the branch they'd been using earlier. "Five minutes? You'll just have to let me know when to stop." Until then she HAD THIS!!!

Lex stuck the small branch into the solution, took an extra second to figure the counter-clockwise way then began. STIR STIR STIR STIR. Merlin, she was gonna grow extra arm muscles by the time she was done. The fourth year focused everything into the stirring. Had to get it right, Kat trusted her enough with this part.

And now she would wait to be told to stop.

Dinner? Kat wasn't exactly sure if chocolate frogs would satisfy her tummy after this task. She will had to watch Alice and the Hufflepuff boy later in the evening for the third task in the first round of this quiz bowl thing. Chocolate frogs would be okay for like... desserts or something. Maybe she'd bring it with her when she gets up in the stands later and she could share them with Lex. She was apparently running on sugar right now so the best way was to feed her a bit more of it later on. Not sure if that was even a safe thing to do. Was it? "It's alright. We're nearly done."

... Waiting. Tiktoktiktok.

Just keep stirring, Lex. Five minutes was almoooost about to end. It was gonna end in fiiiiive, foooooooour, threeeeeeee, twoooooooo, oooooone. "Okay, stop." Kat couldn't help but let a smile grow on her face. That was the second to the last step. Time to take the cauldron off the fire. Given how heavy it was, the Head Girl didn't wanna CARRY it off the fire. So instead, she'd turn the fire off with water. "Aguamenti," she said and she let the water spread on the fire until it went out. "Finite."

OKAY. Fire gone. "Let's wait for it to cool down a bit before we apply it on the house elf. Don't think this potion is safe for consumption." Or they could like... dump the poor thing in the cauldron because sure, why not? It was easier. Excitement. EXCITEMENT. Kat was radiating all her good vibes right now.

Just when she felt like her hands would become jelly, Kat gave her the go ahead to stop stirring. With great relief she yanked the branch from the cauldron and tossed it aside.

She gave her arms a break while Kat put out the fire--

Wait whaaat? SIGH. Of course they would have to do MOAR waiting. Why wouldn't they???? She was over this potion. Could she go play with the snargaluff some more while they waited? This was a discipline that required patience and a patient person she was NOT.

Lex glanced up, not seeing anything but the opening of the cave. People were still watching. They could see everything she couldn't. Was her father there? He promised he'd come to watch just for her but she hadn't seen him during lunch. Merlin help him if he lied. Not that she figured he would. A Cambridge always kept their word. He taught her that therefore he was there, she simply couldn't see him.

Lex walked around the cave a bit, essentially circling the cauldron a few times, just trying to pass time. Occasionally she would glance over to see if the solution was still steaming. When she could no longer see any steam rising...she walked on a bit more, idly swinging her feet. After a bit longer she walked back to the cauldron and cautiously stuck a finger in it. Don't burn. Don't burn. Don't burn. AHA!!! IT WAS COOL!!

Lex whipped around and flashed a toothy grin at her psuedo!sister. "It's done!! It is!!!" She turned to the house elf, grin still in place. He should grin too. Did he know. "C'mere." She said, beckoning him over, but she was done waiting, so she scooped her hand into the solution, scooping some up then walked over to him and began rubbing it on GENTLY incase it hurt. Kat should get some too. She got the solution all over the swollen areas then stood, holding her breath.

Would it woooork????

Kat couldn't actually... sit straight. Because all they were doing was waiting for the potion to cool down. And after that, they'd have to test it on the house elf. She paced around the cave while waiting, because that's what she'd usually do if she had a lot of things in her head. Like... what happens if the potion worked? What if it didn't? What would the house elf do? Would this be the last thing they'd do in this arena? Her mind was filled with questions that were soon to be answered. Really soon. Just a little more patience, yeah? Kat could still handle that. She could.

She quietly thought about the other schools. They were probably done already. Were they? Kat would never know unless she came out of the cave. She kept her confidence high, though, that they'd be able to finish this task before the other schools. She occasionally checked her watch for a quick time check. They've been here for almost an hour, however Kat didn't really notice how quickly the time passed by.

But then... it was cool already? Potion was cool? About time, though. Kat had been pacing for a long time in the cave and, well, she was glad that she could stop and feel a bit relieved. "Great!" she said and went to check on the potion they'd brewed. She dipped a finger in the potion and... YEAH, it was cool! Alright, so now all they had to do was apply it on the house elf right. Oh... well. Lex looked too excited and just scooped a handful of the potion. Kat couldn't blame her, because they were done and then... YES, they'd get out of this place soon. Excitement indeed. She too was proud that they'd finish the potion together, and she could only hope that the potion would work its magic. Kat applied a bit more deflating draft on the house elf, especially the part where Lex had forgotten to apply on. She wanted a cured house elf, yes. Not a half-cured one. They could've just dumped it in the cauldron to make sure all the swells were applied on, but no. They were too kind and careful, which was good right? Careful was good.

Then she stood back. "Hey..." Kat said and sort of waved a hand at the house elf. Did the potion work? Could it speak now? Above all, would Kat FINALLY be able to look at it without feeling bad? She could only hope. Fingers crossed.