*Okay time for the next step, the slugs. Rubbing his gloved hands together he smiled then went to the slugs.
Wait for another minute and cut the slug vertically into two in the meantime, add the pieces and stay away from the cauldron as far as you can. If you’ve done everything correctly, the surface should explode harmlessly and start burning. Put it out with your breath ONLY, so you’d better hurry before the fire spreads to the whole surface.
After adding the slugs he moved back and waited. A BOOM went off in his cauldron and the burning started. Blowing like mad into the cauldron the burning potion was soon put out.*
"Cool..."

Did the man just say EXPLODE?!

Alec, who was on his way to scribble down some more notes on his parchment, paused and looked up at the Professor. Explode. He glanced over at his cauldron, trying to imagine what it would look like if it actually did explode. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised. This was a fire-breathing potion after all. And this was the most important step, yeah?

Silently hoping that it would be at least a little bit cool and mostly harmless, the boy scribbled down the rest of the instructions before straightening up again. They had to wait a minute, yeah? And in that time, he had to cut up the slug. Picking up his knife, Alec gave it a quick "Scourgify!" before holding the slug in place. Vertically in two. The boy started slicing the slug in two vertically, as if he was slicing a salmon.

Once that was done, he placed the knife down and held up the two pieces. Add and step back. It wasn't a hard task, just one that required skill and... a fast execution? Yeah. The slugs were added and, as quickly as he could, the boy stepped ba--

BOOM!

Eyes widening, the boy looked on to see the surface exploding -- EXPLODING! -- and then burning. AWESOME. THAT was more like it! A grin flitted across his face as he watched the burning continue. ... Wait... he was meant to be doing something else, right? Looking away from the burning surface, the seventh year looked over at his piece of parchment. Blow it out? With his breath? That was... probably a good idea.

Taking a deep breath, Alec started blowing out the fire that was burning on the surface of the potion. Maybe this was practice for when they tried out the potion themselves and had to breathe out some fire. That is, if he wanted to try it out. ... Maybe it was a good idea if he didn't try any of the potion himself. Maybe. He continued blowing, taking deeper and deeper breaths as he did so. Once the fire was put out, the boy heaved a sigh and continued looking over at his potion. That... had been AWESOME.

Text Cut: Parchment

Fire breathing potion
Alec B. Summers

Ingredients:
- 3 goose feathers (chopped well to look like powder)
- 5 centimetre square of parasites (mycosis fungus)
- 2 centimetre square of fire crab shell (size depends on how much you want to brew)
- One fire slug
- 8 drops of salamander blood
- Flobberworm mucus (depends on how much rigidity one wants)


Instructions:
1. Clean and cure cauldron
2. Fill cauldron 1/3 of the way with water
3. Add 3 powdered goose feathers and clockwise with a wooden stick until it looks homogeneous
4. Turn heat to high
5. Add 5 centimetre square of culture of mycosis fungus into mortar -- use gloves! Also, clean mortar
6. Crush for thirty seconds then add water
7. Shake mortar a little then add calmly to potion
8. Stir 7 times counter clockwise
9. Turn off heat and let it cool until no vapour can be seen -- should take about five minutes; if it goes more than six, vanish potion and start again
10. Place 2 centimetre square of fire crab shell on a spoon and lower it into the potion just inside the surface -- no splashing!
11. Stir once clockwise, then once counter clockwise -- do this twelve times in total; each stir should take ten seconds
12. Take shell out and place on some tissues
13. Wait a minute -- cut slug vertically in two in the meantime
14. Add pieces to cauldron and stay as far away from cauldron as possible -- surface should explode harmlessly and start burning
15. Put fire out with your breath

Cosgrach walked to the centre in front again and clapped his hand for the last time that day, hopefully.

"Last two steps, everyone. Please add 8 drops of salamander blood. Alternate between two stirs counter-clock wise, two stirs clock-wise. Repeat that for four times, so in the end, you should have stirred for 16 times in total. Once done with stirring, the potion should be dark blue like a night sky. If it is so, you potion is ready." He grinned at them excitedly. They had made it!

"Now, Alice and Bart have already volunteered to demonstrate and share the feeling," he said as he looked at them, "and I want one more volunteer. Someone not from Gryffindor, please." Who was that courageous?

"Those who don't want to volunteer may add flobberworm’s mucus to keep it in their mouths better--it will solidify the potion. It's up to you how much or if, really, but don't add more than a tablespoon of it, and it's not my responsibility if you don't add and swallow some while breathing." So he was warning them. The rest was their responsibility.

"Please wait for the volunteers to share the feeling before trying the potion."

So, the third volunteer?

All Caleb heard was volunteer so naturally, his hand shot up. "I can do it Professor, I'm not a Gryffindor," he reminded him with a grin. Yes, he could do it!

He then turned back to his potion as he waited for the Professor to decide, and dropped his eight drops of blood into the potion. He took his wand and stirred two times counter clockwise before doing two stirs clockwise. Then he repeated that three more times. There. 16 stirs!

And there is was, his beautiful night blue potion. It looked pretty close to the professor's, so for Caleb, that was a job VERY well done!

Ok. He wasn't TOO bad this guy. No Lafay, but not bad.

Five minutes. That was five minutes, right? Right.

Tobias finished adding to his notes, sat up, and blinked at his potion for a moment, unsure of how exactly he was meant to check the temperature. In the end he decided to tentatively touch the side of the cauldron (with one of his now gloveless hands) which was, in fact, cool to the touch. Just to make sure, the boy hovered his hand just above the surface of the potion, making sure not to touch the liquid inside. Seemed cool enough to him, so that was good. He didn't need to start over.

Okay, so now he needed the metal spoon, which Tobias extracted from his potions kit. The Hufflepuff grabbed his wand again to clean it, 'cause that was important and all.

"Scourgify," he cast, and was about to set his wand down before also casting "Tergeo," just to be sure. Useful spells were useful.

The fire crab shell when onto the spoon, and the Tobias began the process he'd kind of been dreading. This part required one to be steady and slow; two things Tobias was not. So yeah... concentration was required.

Once the shell had been s l o w l y lowered into the potion and was beneath the surface, NO splashing whatsoever, Tobias started to stir. First clockwise, stirring slowly and deliberately to make sure it lasted ten seconds... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10... then anti-clockwise, and the slow stirring again... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10...

It was painstaking work, especially for Toby who had a constant and inexplicable need to be moving, and moving quickly, at all times.

That was probably the hardest part, and when Tobias was done and he'd set the spoon down on a tissue he had to take a moment to kind of shake his hands and waggle his fingers and stuff just because in that couple of minutes alone the energy that had built up was ridiculous. But this was a potions classroom, and it wasn't like he could properly bounce or flail about, AND he had work to get on with, like the slug he was meant to be cutting.

Tobias grabbed the slug (Alreadydeadalreadydead, the boy thought firmly to himself, Wasn'tkilledforthisclass. Alreadydead.) and the knife from his potions kits and set to work cutting the slug in half, vertically. Toby couldn't help but make a face when he did it; this was awful this was a dead animal oh dear oh no.

Once the minute for waiting was up, Tobias added the two segments of slug and stepped back as instructed, eager to once again have the opportunity to get to his feet and move some more. He moved as far back as he could without actually climbing onto the desk of the student behind him.

...

...

... why wasn't it doing the thing?

Tobias frowned, started to take a step forward and-

BOOM!

Ahhhh, there it was.

Toby rushed forwards again and hurried to put out the flame, taking a big breath and blowing it out as though it were a candle on a birthday cake.



Aaaaaaand moving on!

Crucial ingredient, right? Salamander blood.

Tobias grabbed it and put eight drops in, then grabbed the stirrer again. At least these were normal speed stirs, right?

Clockwise, clockwise... anti-clockwise, anti-clockwise... Clockwise, clockwise... anti-clockwise, anti-clockwise...Clockwise, clockwise... anti-clockwise, anti-clockwise...Clockwise, clockwise... anti-clockwise, anti-clockwise...

The Hufflepuff had been watching the potion slowly turn colour, biting his lip and willing it to get to the right shade. By the time of that last anti-clockwise stir, it was, in fact, a nice deep dark blue. Score.

Wait. WAIT. Volunteers?

Tobias threw one hand straight up in the air, eager to please. "I'll do-... oh." Never mind. That Slytherin boy over that Tobias vaguely recognised had volunteered frst, so Tobias raised his hand, but still went on smiling. Because it looked like his potion had worked, and that was reason enough to be happy, for him.

Alright so he had to cut the slug vertically. That shouldn't be a problem. He got his knife out and then placed his slug onto the table. He cut it vertically into two. It was two thing long pieces, so he did it right. Then he added the pieces into his cauldron. One thing long piece of slug.....then the second piece. He stood as far away as he could, what his long legs could let him reach.

Then he saw the surface explode! WICKED!!! He smiled and it did start to burn. Then he put it out with his breath. He huffed and huffed and blew. He just made it before the fire reached the surface. That was a close call.



So now Kace had to do the 8 drops of salamander blood? That should be simple enough. 1 drop....two counter clockwise stir...2 clockwise stirs. Then he added the 2nd drop and 3rd drop and stirred two counter clockwise stirs and 2 clockwise stirs. He continued to do that, so he counted 8 drops and then 16 stirs all together. He wiped the sweat off his brow from all the hard work.

He wrote down the steps into his notebook and then looked at his potion.

He saw his potion look dark blue like the night sky. He smiled and knew he had done it right. Wheeww....that was a lot of work. Then he heard the professor ask if he wanted volunteers.

Kace raised his hand and said, "Umm Professor I will volunteer!" But then he realized the slytherin and Tobias was ahead of him. But he still held his hand up because he knew the professor may give him some credit for showing bravery.

Volunteer? Adi would love to! But he was too late in expressing his willingness out loud as Caleb had already swooped in. He grinned at the other boy's eagerness as he turned to continue the steps in brewing the potion.

Adi counted out the eight drops of Salamander blood as he added it to the cauldron. Next, he grabbed the wooden and Scourgified it again. Just in case because he had no intentions of starting his potion all over again. He began to stir. Two stirs counter clockwise, two stirs clockwise. And repeat. Repeat until he had stirred the total of sixteen times. Indeed his potion was now the dark blue colour. Success!

So the flobberworm mucus was optional? Hmmm. Adi wasn't sure if he wanted to use the thing so until he made up his mind, he passed the time by scribing the instructions in his book.

Last step, FINALLY!

And just in time, too. Since the fire was now out of her cauldron. And she was more than so ready to get this thing over with. Rhodes' attention was right back on the Professor man as he explained the last and final steps, and after making sure everything was written down, not that she knew why she was writing it all down. It wasn't like she ever planned on making this boring potion again, she began dropping in the salamander blood.

One drop. Two drops. Eight drops, there.

Then, the stirring. She cleaned off her wooden spoon, and placing it into her cauldron, moved it two times counterclockwise, then two times clockwise. It was a boring step. And a long step. But soon enough, that was done as well and.. it was time to wait. Rhodes peered even closer to her cauldron, to make sure the color was exactly how it was supposed to be.. or.. close enough to what the color was supposed to be. That was dark blue, right? It looked like that other kid's so, good enough!

She dropped in a little less than a tablespoon of flobberworm mucus into the cauldron because she was so not volunteering for that.

Last two steps! You know what that means? It means that her potion was almost finished and she could FINALLY become a dragon temporarily. It was so exciting that Astrid tried not to bounce a lot. Instead of bouncing, she expressed her excitement by beaming a lot. YES. Beaming. A biiig grin on her face. But, ahem... anyway. She was supposed to finish her potion up now so that she could try it out so she could be a DRAGON. RAWR.

Astrid took the salamander blood and carefully added eight drops of it into her cauldron. OOOOH. ALMOST THERE. She then took her wooden stirrer and stir the potion counter-clockwise twice, then clockwise twice, repeating the process until there was a total of sixteen stirs. And... she squinted at her potion. It looked like the night sky. Dark blue and stuff. Did that mean she got it right? The brunette looked around at her classmates' cauldrons and compared it with hers. They were dark blue too. YEP SHE GOT IT RIGHT YES SHE WAS ONE STEP CLOSER TO BECOMING AN AWESOME DRAGON.

And yeah, she sort of added flobberworm mucus to her potion, only 1/4 of a tablespoon, she measured. She did want to be a dragon, yes, but NOT swallow fire. She didn't want to have a literal heartburn over here.

Ooooh... volunteers! Astrid was gonna volunteer herself before... meh. MEH. Someone volunteered right before her. Awww. The girl sort of pouted before directing all of her attention to the Professor and the volunteers in front. She'd be able to see her Mama Hulk breathe fire, everyone. That was A-W-E-S-O-M-E, did they know? They should know.

Merlin's beard, everything was going so quickly that Theo worried he had forgotten a step. He needed SLOW, okay? At least the next part was only focused on stirring. Stirring was relatively easy. The Slytherin grabbed his wooden spoon and began stirring anticlockwise, and he counted in his head up to seven. There, just five minutes to wait now. He could chillax, but actually, he was counting it out EXACTLY in his head, because apparently six minutes meant something was wrong.

.....

He accidentally yawned which almost messed up his counting, but Theo was good at counting, so he saved it.

After five minutes had passed, Theo's eyes squinted at his potion to check if the vapour had vanished. And it DID. Wow, he was getting good at potions after all these years, it seemed. Uh oh, the next step of the potion looked like it would be a tricky one. Theo went to the front to get his fire crab shell, then returned to his workplace.

He placed it gently onto his metal spoon, then with a steady hand lowered into his cauldron. His eyes were squinting the whole time, since this kind of concentration often gave him a headache. He stirred it slowly, making sure at all times that it didn't touch the water, until he had counted a full 10 seconds out into his head. Ugh, right, now it was time to do the same but anticlockwise.

After about 5 stirs, Theo's arm was getting extremely tired and there was definitely a few near miss water splashes. He'd managed to save them all, though.

A whole twelve SLOW stirs later, Theo sighed heavily and carefully pulled the fire crab shell out and placed it on a pile of tissues, as they were instructed to.

Could he have a break now, please?



THIS was the most important step?

It had better not be hard like the last one. Noooope, it was just disgusting. This was the main reason why Theo didn't like potions, because he had to handle disgusting ingredients that made his stomach churn. SLUGS. Bleuuuuuuughch... He pulled up his gloves and then went to get a slug. It made him shudder to look at it, but he figured that the quicker he did it, the better. He chopped it vertically, then made a noise of disgust.

He dropped them into the cauldron and pounced backwards because OH MY GOSH, no way was anything exploding in THIS beautiful face.

He waited for a few seconds and KABOOOOOOOOM.

YES. Theo was most pleased with himself and couldn't stop beaming, but oh, it was burning! He rushed forwards and blew really hard against the cauldron to put it out.



Okay, he was almost finished. This was exciting. He couldn't wait to volunteer to try this thing out.

Theo got his salamander blood and gently dropped 8 drops into his cauldron. More stirring, really?! He was sick of doing that, but grabbed his wooden spoon nonetheless. He stirred it twice counter-clockwise, then twice clockwise and repeated it four times as they were instructed. It wasn't actually so bad in the end. At least it wasn't stupid stirring, like 12 flipping times and slug speed.

He peeked over the top of his cauldron and grinned at his dark blue potion.

SUCCESS.

The Slytherin lifted his hand high into the air to volunteer, but some kid got there first. Just because he was a KID, huh? Totally not fair. Theo pouted a little, but was still thinking about trying it out anyway, because he didn't fancy touching flobberworm mucus. For now, he just waited and watched the volunteers.

Last two steps and then they would be done. Bart was ready for this so ready!!!! Let’s do this! He listened to the professor and then did his drops of blood. 1…2…3…4…5…6..7…8.. So since he was drinking this did that mean he was part vampire, hehe, not really since it wasn’t human blood, but still he could just say it was so.
Now it was time to stir again. Grabbing his spoon he started with the counterclockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, clockwise, and then he stopped. Did he just do clockwise or counterclockwise he couldn’t remember. Finally he decided it was clockwise and moved his spoon counterclockwise twice. So was that it, was he done. He looked into the cauldron and saw a blue. Was it the right dark blue that he wasn’t sure about but it was blue so it had to have worked.
His eyes shot to pretty when her name was called. He was drinking the potion with Alice how cool was this. See she was brave too not a wimp like most people. Plus he was going to drink the fire breathing potion he was so ready for this. READY!!

“I’m done professor should I just drink it or come up there to drink it or what?” The very impatient second year was ready to do this and he was bouncing with excitement. Someone other than Gryffindor ha because all the lions wanted to try it most likely and he knew the wimptastic book boy wasn’t going to do it. He shot the boy a look and grinned. What a wimp.

Last two steps? So they were nearly done, then?

Slightly happy about this tiny little fact, Alec picked up the dropper and gave it a quick clean using his wand. Squeezing up some of the salamander blood, the boy held the dropper filled with the blood over the cauldron and bent down. This had to be done carefully, yeah? Because two drops together could look like one large drop and he'd miscount and...

... he really didn't want to start again.

One... two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight! Eight drops. The dropper was placed down again before Alec looked over at his set of instructions. Stirring sounded easy enough, remembering to alternate between every two stirs did not. He picked up the stirrer again and, after giving it a quick clean, stirred the potion twice counter clockwise. Pause. Then the potion was stirred twice clockwise.

... This... was hard.

One... two stirs counter clockwise. And then one... two stirs clockwise. He continued stirring the potion, a little slowly, up until the total number of stirs stood at sixteen. His age minus two. There. He glanced over at his piece of parchment quickly before looking back at his potion. Dark blue? Check! GRIN.

Since he wasn't even a little bit brave and had been beaten to the punch by a younger Slytherin boy, Alec grabbed a spoon and cleaned that too. How much did he want to add? He... had no idea. Maybe half a tablespoon? Nodding to himself, the Hufflepuff measured out half a tablespoon of the mucus before adding that into his cauldron. There. Done. Now he could just watch the volunteers, yeah?

Text Cut: Parchment

Fire breathing potion
Alec B. Summers

Ingredients:
- 3 goose feathers (chopped well to look like powder)
- 5 centimetre square of parasites (mycosis fungus)
- 2 centimetre square of fire crab shell (size depends on how much you want to brew)
- One fire slug
- 8 drops of salamander blood
- Flobberworm mucus (depends on how much rigidity one wants)


Instructions:
1. Clean and cure cauldron
2. Fill cauldron 1/3 of the way with water
3. Add 3 powdered goose feathers and clockwise with a wooden stick until it looks homogeneous
4. Turn heat to high
5. Add 5 centimetre square of culture of mycosis fungus into mortar -- use gloves! Also, clean mortar
6. Crush for thirty seconds then add water
7. Shake mortar a little then add calmly to potion
8. Stir 7 times counter clockwise
9. Turn off heat and let it cool until no vapour can be seen -- should take about five minutes; if it goes more than six, vanish potion and start again
10. Place 2 centimetre square of fire crab shell on a spoon and lower it into the potion just inside the surface -- no splashing!
11. Stir once clockwise, then once counter clockwise -- do this twelve times in total; each stir should take ten seconds
12. Take shell out and place on some tissues
13. Wait a minute -- cut slug vertically in two in the meantime
14. Add pieces to cauldron and stay as far away from cauldron as possible -- surface should explode harmlessly and start burning
15. Put fire out with your breath
16. Add 8 drops of salamander blood
17. Alternate between two stirs counter clockwise and two stirs clockwise -- repeat four times; should have stirred 16 times in total; potion should be dark blue
18. Optional: add flobberworm mucus, as much as you like but no more than a tablespoon

Okay. Easy enough. And there would be a cool explosion to punctuate having done it right? That was an extra bonus. Sophie slid off one glove to pick up her wand and cast "Scourgify!" at her potions knife. With her gloves back on, she placed the slug in front of her and picked up the knife. She prodded at the slug a few times with a gloved finger, wrinkling her nose when it squished. It was a juicy little thing. It was kinda cool, but it would be less cool if it squirted all over when she cut into it, yeah? Only because she had come so far in trying to keep a neat station to impress this new professor guy who seemed to prize cleanliness above all else. But, looking around, everyone else's slugs didn't seem to be squirting them when they cut into it, so Sophie took her knife and made a very precise incision down the middle of the slug from its head to tail, no slug guts flying. Still, poor little guy.

Most important part, she heard Culloden's words ring in her ears, her expression determined. Had it been a minute? Yes. Good. Right. Leaning away from the cauldron but with her arms fully extended, she added the two fire slug pieces and quickly took her hands away thereafter, suspense building...

BOOOOOM!

Coooooool. Her face now an image of delight at the burning surface, Sophie looked on at it mesmerized for a moment before leaning toward the cauldron to blow out the fire. It took her a few long seconds and she tried not to panic when she couldn't get one part to extinguish, but soon enough, everything was in order.

The Ravenclaw took a second to scribble down the new steps as the professor spoke, already eyeballing the salamander blood. That was the most disgusting part, in her opinion, even moreso than the fungus. At least the fungus stuff had been burned and was, at least in her mind, less disgusting that way. But the blood? As one of the last ingredients, Sophie couldn't help but feel like those measly eight drops would taste poorly. Even though it wasn't like any of the ingredients were particularly pleasurable to the palette, she imagined.

Upon being given the go-ahead, she added the eight drops of salamander blood to the cauldron, then slipped off her gloves to pick up her wand. She scourgified the gloves on the tabletop - still just cleaning up after herself to please the cool new professor guy - before following his instructions, switching between two stirs counter-clockwise and two stirs clockwise until she had stirred the potion sixteen times total, her eyes focused on the potion's color as she went. When she was finished, she was beyond pleased to find that the surface had morphed into the deepest shade of blue, almost black, even. She considered it for a moment - the night sky was almost black, wasn't it? So maybe this was the proper color?

Volunteer? Nah. Not her. Maybe with a less disgusting potion in the future.

So, she set off to pluck a tablespoon from her potions kit, cast another quick, "Scourgify!" at it, then measured out the flobberworm mucus. Still gross. She added it to the cauldron, observed as it settled into the potion, and sat back to first clean all her utensils, then she began to make notes and further observations.

All in all, it had been a fun potion to make. Did she want to try it, though? Not particularly. She did stay quite focused on the three volunteers, though, a grin playing upon her lips in curiosity as to how their potion-drinking was going to go.

Sander's hand immediately went up when the Professor asked for a volunteer. "I would like to volunteer too, Professor" he spoke up....but then was disappointed when someone else volunteered instead.

"I need to learn to be faster at volunteering." Sighed. But he was still optimistic. Maybe the Professor would consider allowing a 4th volunteer.

But until then, he would continue finishing up with his potion. Sander picked up his quill and began writing down the final steps to making the potion.



Sander chuckled at the part where the Professor had written down enjoy. Oh he was definitely going to enjoy trying out his potion, if not here in class then back somewhere else.

First to add the drops of salamander blood to his mixture in the cauldron. Sander picked up his dropper cleaned it using the Scouring charm and then slowly siphoned up the drops of Salamander blood, adding them into the mixture.

1 drop...2 drop...3 drop...4 drop...5 drops....6 drops....7....and 8.

Then he picked up his wooden spoon and started stirring twice in a counter-clockwise direction and then changing directions, he stirred twice in a clockwise direction. Then he switched again, alternating between 2 stirs in a counter clockwise direction and then clockwise. He repeated each step four times until he had stirred the potion 16 times total. He smiled when he saw his potion turn color from clear, to light blue...to night blue...and that meant that he had made it correctly.

Sander decided that he would hold off on adding the flobberworm mucus until the Professor confirmed whether he would accept another volunteer. So while he waited he picked up his quill and updated his journal.



Then Sander sat back and waited for the volunteers....which hopefully included himself...to drink the potion.

Minutes passed and when Benjamin checked the cauldron once time was up, he was relieved to see no steam appear. So far so good. Now onto the fire-crab shell. The directions were pretty specific and delicate and Ben did his best to try not and freak. This was where he was most concerned, where the danger to mess up was most possible. But it wasn't like it was avoidable so he had to give it a shot.

Taking out a metal spoon, the second year got a good grip on it and places the shell piece securly onto it. He then slowly lowered it towards liquid's surface...down...down...finally slipping it beneath the brewing potion. Now the stirs which needed to be made as to NOT drop the shell piece in the process. So Ben moved the spoon slow but not too slow, glad to see nothing dropped from the spoon once he gently pulled it back out. Into tissue....check. Cue sigh.

When was this going to be over?

Not quite yet it seemed for the Professor was ready to move on once more with the next steps. One minute later, he had a vertically sliced slug ready to add into the potion. Standing back, he tentatively added both pieces inside before stepped even further away in preparation for the flume that Ben was seeing throughout the classroom. The burn and flame that resulted from the procedure. He certainly didn't want to get caught in that.

However nothing happened. No smoke....no flames...no nothing.

Had he done anything wrong? He took one cautious step closer to his work. The Gryffindor looking over his notes on the process and what he remembered he had done and nothing stuck out.He took another tentative move closer to check on the potion before looking back up in search of help. "Um...professor?"

Oh, a Slytherin was faster than Hufflepuffs! Cosgrach wished it was the other boys that wanted some pain, then remembered he shouldn't be favouring any house now, and pointed to the Slytherin boy after a moment or two.

"You are our third volunteer, then." Nod.

"Sorry, but three will be enough," he said to the other Hufflepuffs who wanted to be a volunteer too. He wasn't going to stop them if he still wanted to try it, of course.

"If the volunteers could drink one tablespoon of their potion, and describe the feeling to the class. Come in front if you want, or stay by your cauldron, but please get up so everyone can see you."

Then, he moved to the back of the class and watched with excitement.

He... probably had to apologise to Alice. Probably.

Lana frowned as she saw all her work go poof. It was a mistake that she really could have avoided but there wasn't time to fret over it now. She just would have to start all over again.

Taking her cauldron, she again cleaned it thoroughly along with all her other needed tools.

Cauldron...Check
Pestle...Check
Mortar...Check
Stirring rod...Check
Knife...Check
Metal Spoon...Check

Once she had content and sure of the cleanness of equipment, she rushed to gather all the things she needed to re-brew the potion. There was supposed to be time at the end of the class, but she didn't want to waste any time either way.

Double checking that everything was measured out and ready, she set the cauldron atop its stand and raised her wand. "Aquamenti" Watching it closely, she filled it back up to the needed 1/3 full and "Finite". With her clean stirring rod in one hand and the measured out powered goose feather in her other, she slowly added the feather into the cauldron; ever so gently stirring in a clockwise motion. Once it was all in, she took notice of the appearance. It looked very similar to how her first attempt looked and she moved on. Taking her stirring rod, she quickly cleaned it again before reaching for her wand. Aiming for just under her cauldron, she cast "Incendio" like before to achieve the needed high temperature.

With her gloves on, she turned to her clean mortar and pestle. Carefully, she placed the parasites in the mortar and began to crush them for the needed time. The roughly 30 seconds seem to pass a bit faster than before. Then she added the water to the mortar and gave it a shake to incorporate it thoroughly. Once it looked to be fully fixed, she calmly and carefully added it her cauldron and the potion.

Reaching for her clean stirring rod, she began the counter clockwise stirs again.
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...
As she finished her last stir, she extinguished the heat and set a timer for the cooling. Her first attempt had cooled in the needed five minutes and she hoped that this attempt would as well.

As she waited, she continued on cleaning her equipment after each use. Her mortar and pestle was just drying as the timer went off. Taking a look at the potion, she noticed no vapour and continued on.

Carefully, she set the fire crab shell on her clean spoon and slowly lowered it nicely inside the surface of the potion; taking great care to not splash at all. Once it was just inside the surface, she began her stirs. This was where she should have asked a question her first time around. But she wouldn't mess it up again.

Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Counter Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Counter Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Counter Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Counter Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Counter Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10
Counter Clockwise 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10

With her final twelfth stir, she slowly removed the shell and placed it atop tissues as instructed; before cleaning her spoon and stirring rod again.

Seeing as all looked well, she moved on and pulled her gloves back on to cut her slug in half vertically. With one half in each hand, she held them over her cauldron at arms distance and waited until the needed minute passed before she added them to the cauldron.

BOOM!

Taken aback for a moment, Lana blinked before she noticed the small yet quickly growing flame atop the surface of her potion. It appeared that she had done things correctly this time around. Leaning in, she quickly and firmly blow at the fire and extinguished it before the fire spread across the complete surface.

Reaching for her newly cleaned stirring rod, she added the 8 drops of the salamander blood and began to stir, counting to herself again.

Counter Clockwise... Counter Clockwise... Clockwise... Clockwise...
Counter Clockwise... Counter Clockwise... Clockwise... Clockwise...
Counter Clockwise... Counter Clockwise... Clockwise... Clockwise...
Counter Clockwise... Counter Clockwise... Clockwise... Clockwise...

With her last stir, she slowly removed the stirring rod. She was actually a bit nervous about things now. Had she messed up once again or was this time right. Taking a moment, she quickly cleaned her used instruments and get up the nerve to look at the colour of the potion.

It was.......DARK BLUE!

Sighing in relief, she picked up the clean spoon and measured out a small amount of flubberworm mucus. Adding the mucus to her potion, she watched it solidify before her eyes as she reached for her journal. There were enough volunteers and this gave her the opportunity to finish writing everything down in her journal; along with any observations that she felt was needed.

Once she had finished with her journal for now, she cleaned up her station and all her supplies and instruments as she waited for the volunteers. Her journal was just beside her, ready for any observation to be take down.

SPOILER!!: Potions Journal of Lana K. Hyde: Seventh Year, Ravenclaw 2082-2083

Lana Kalen Hyde
Ravenclaw 7th Year
Potions Lesson #1 Fall 2082

Fire Potions

• Used in holy rituals to honour the dragons

Five C's of Potion Making:

1. Color
2. Content
3. Concentration
4. Cleanliness
5. Care

Fire Potion

• 3 goose feathers (chopped WELL that they look like powder)
• 5 centimetre square of parasites (mycosis fungus)
• Roughly 2 centimetre square fire-crab shell (prepared)
• One fire slug
• 8 drops of salamander blood
• Some flobberworm mucus (depends on how much rigidity one wants)

Preparation
▲ Check for cleanlinesses of the workstation
▲ Check cauldron - clean; using Scourgify
▲ Set up cauldron and workstation
▲ Gather ingredients

Steps

1. Fill cauldron 1/3 of water ; using Aguamenti
2. Add powdered goose feather. Stir clockwise until it looks homogenous
3. Light cauldron, using Incendio
4. Using pestle and mortar, crush parasites for 30 seconds. WEAR GLOVES: Can leave permanent white stains on skin.
5. Fill mortar with water, shake to allow it to mix fully
6. Calmly add to potion
7. Stir counter clockwise seven times
8. Remove from heat.
9. Allow to cool. No vapour seen Should take five minutes. If still not cooled after six minutes. Vanish potion and begin again.
10. Using a CLEAN metal spoon, slowly and nicely lower fire crab shell inside the surface. DO NOT ALLOW TO SPLASH WATER
11. Stir 12 times total; clockwise and then counter clockwise, each stir should approximately take ten seconds to spread thoroughly.
12. Remove fire crab shell. Place in a clean place atop tissues.
13. Let sit for a minute
14. Cut slug vertically
15. Add slug pieces to the cauldron KEEP DISTANCE FROM CAULDRON AS YOU ADD PIECES
16. Blow out with your breath ONLY
17. Add 8 drops of salamander blood
18. Stir counter clockwise twice; stir clockwise twice; repeat four times for a total of 16 stirs.
19. Potion should be a dark blue colour
20. Add flobberworm mucus to potion Amount varies depending on the desired rigidity

As usual Bri listened to the professor as he list off the next steps, and wrote them done in her notebook, she paused for a second at the end. 'Explode? Oh dear...'

As Bri waited for the minute to be up, she cleaned her knife and cut the slug vertically. When the minute was up she stepped as far away from the cauldron as she could, while dropping in the two halves of the slug. Bri jumped as it exploded. Bri hurriedly breathe on it so it went out. Bri smiled, but she eyes her cauldron warily, while she cleaned her knife.



The last steps? They were already almost done? Bri wrote down the last steps of the potion making. Then as she counted out she added the 8 drops of salamander blood "...6...7...8" Next after she cleaned the wooden spoon she started to stir it counter-clockwise two times, then switched it to do it clockwise two more times. Her arm was growing tired by the sixteenth stir. So she was glad it was done. After cleaning the spoon,she peered into the cauldron, and to her delight it looked exactly what Professor Culloden had described.
'Volunteer to demonstrate the potion? That sounds like fun.' She was a bit disappointed seeing how other people already volunteered to try it, but it never hurt to try. So the young girl raised her hand before saying " I would like to volunteer, please."

Adelaide breathed out. Thankfully her mistake was simple enough to fix. She didn't want to have to start over again. Double the work for one stupid little accident.

"All right. Thank you professor." Addi put the spoon in the potion, feeling around until she found the shell. She pulled it out and set it one the tissue she'd set out earlier. She began to stir it the way he'd described for about two minutes. Better safe than sorry.

Adelaide waited for the next set of instructions. She nodded, cutting the slug in half while she waited. Once she was done waiting, she stepped back a bit and carefully dropped the pieces into the potion...and BAM. Little mini-explosion. She leaned forward to blow it out before it spread. Once it was out she looked at Culloden for further instructions.



Adelaide grabbed the salamander blood and added in the 8 drops. She picked up her stirring stick. One, two counter clockwise. One, two clockwise. One, two counter clockwise. One, two clockwise. One, two counter clockwise. One, two clockwise. One, two counter clockwise. One, two clockwise. There. That was done. She had her fingers crossed, hoping everything turned out all right, even after her little mistake. She looked down at her cauldron and beamed at the deep blue color.

Addi was in no way going to volunteer for this one, so she was glad to see when others already did. She grabbed her flobberworm mucus and added about half a tablespoon to the potion. She did not want to swallow any of it. Now to wait for the volunteers before she got to breathe fire.

Sander was disappointed that the Professoe had stuck with his three volunteers...but wait, he didn't say that others couldn't drink the potion. So Sander decided he would do it after the volunteers had drunk their potions and did their demonstration.

He waited eagerly to get the opportunity to try out his own potion. He wondered whether the other students would do so too.

Couldn't form shells anymore? Was she reading between the right lines here because that sorta put her off the potion a bit. Not enough to have her give up on this potion altogether, certainly not, 'cause see, she'd already come this far and it'd be a waste BUT she was still offended by this on behalf of the firecrabs that had to suffer. There was a reason they were in reserves you know.

Lex added the 8 drops of salamander blood then did the very complicayed stirring--and that was another thing. WHY was the stirring so complicated? What ever happened to simply stirring a few times in one direction? Merlin!

Two clockwise....two counter-clockwise....and repeat and repeat until she'd gotten up to 16 in total.

And what was that? For those who didn't want to volunteer? PFFFFT, she was pretty sure he didn't WANT anymore Gryffindors, she couldn't volunteer even though she REALLY wanted to. Well that was pretty much whatever for her. She didn't NEED volunteers to tell her how well this potion worked, thanks.

As for the flobberworm mucus...she'd pass on that. No way was Lex going to swallow anything. Her throat had better control than that. Nothing left to do but wait then, huh? LAAAAAME. The Gryffindor sucked at waiting.

Ben was glad he was still not too close to his cauldron. For as the potions master made his way towards him in response to the call for help, the potion decided then was the time to finally explode. The reaction happening just centimeters away from his face, the second year having barely managed to pull away in time. Clearly rattled, he quickly racked his brain for what he was to do next to stop it.

Oh...right. Breathe.

The Gryffindor was doing so, the potion calming down as the professor was beside him. "False alarm I guess," he answered making a face. Would the man be mad? "Um...Would a delayed reaction mean anything, Professor?" It had certainly exploded a good bit AFTER the slugs were in. Not immediate like the man had said or seemingly alluded to. A couple of minutes given first he had had to react and then the professor.

Ella was just eyeing her fire crab shell curiously and thinking about Taco, the crab-not the food, when she heard a frazzled Fern whispering to her. The blonde glanced over at the younger badger and then into her cauldron, noting the lack of spoon and fire crab shell. ...Whoops.

"It'll be okay, yeah? We'll just scoop it out and see what happens? It is in there, right?" The shell and spoon, that is. "Here, take my spoon and scoop them out quickly and carefully. Maybe it'll still work." And after cleaning her spoon, the head girl handed it over and gave the younger girl a reassuring smile.

The potion still looked the same as Ella's so perhaps it was still salvageable.



Moving on. Ella's gaze moved from Fern and fell on the professor once again, ready to add to her notes when it was time. He'd said the step was important so all her attention was on him at the moment. She paid special attention to the warning to stay away from the cauldron. She'd look ridiculous with no hair and eyebrows so yeah, she'd follow that one exactly.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.




Waiting, that's what she was doing. And before she handled the fire slug, she cleaned her knife. Then with a wrinkle of her nose, the slightly-disgusted badger cut the thing vertically. Ick. Ella wasn't a slug fan unless they were the edible, jelly kind of slug.

Then she carefully added the pieces at arms-length and kept her distance from the cauldron. Waiting....Waiting...bracing herself until...

BOOM!

All good. Okay. Still had hair and eyebrows. Cool.

Ella hurried over and began to blow on the potion, trying to put out the flame before it got out of hand. She was successful, too. And totally not thinking of the big bad wolf.



Was Fern doing okay? Ella glanced over at the little badger and smiled again, trying to be encouraging. Potions could be tough, she knew, and she'd help where she could. She was still a bit worried about the girl's potion, though.

And then her attention went back to the front of the room. Time for more steps, mhm. Ella reached for her quill and began to add them to her notes.

Scribble. Scribble. Scribble.



Alright, salamander blood. Blood wasn't exactly her favorite thing to handle but she'd do it, mhm. Ella added it in as instructed, letting a drop go in and then alternating between counter-clockwise and clockwise with a clean stirrer. When she'd completed the stirring sixteen times in total, she knew she was done. She bit her lip and eyed the color, trying to decide if it was the right shade of blue. She knew the night sky well and from what she could tell, she'd done an okay job.

She wouldn't be volunteering, by the way. She'd much rather watch and take notes. Seemed safer that way. Plus she wanted to have a good seat for the show. Something told her their reactions to the potion would be entertaining.

And no mucus either. Not a fan. Yuck. No, no, no.

So..she was done, then?

IT... WAS.. TIME....

He was going to get to drink the potion now!! Woohoo! This was cool, no awesome, no epic. He was so excited he couldn't even contain himself. Jumping from his seat he grabbed a clean tablespoon and swooped it into the cauldron then walked nice and not so calmly to the front of the room, because that was exactly where he was going to do this at.

Book boy would see what a wimp he was not.. see he was drinking the potion and it was going to go so well. Easy peasy! Stepping in front of everyone he turned. "AIGHT Looky looky I'm about to drink this stuff." So yeah everyone watch him because it was happening.

GUUUUUULP

Down went the potion, the minute it hit his tongue he fought to spit it back out. That burned, burned his tongue, his throat felt like it was on fire. He fought his face from making faces, but it wasn't going to stay calm looking it twisted and turned in pain.

BUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRNNNNNNN

Forcing his hands in his robe pockets so he wouldn't clutch at his throat as the fire started going into his chest. Steam escaping from his ears and nose. He forced an evil style grin, though it looked like a twisted mess with the pain showing on his face as he opened his mouth to let the steam rush out. It needed to stop.. stop, but no it was still going down in his chest and to his stomach. He fidgeted a bit as it hit his stomach. He was feeling like he was burning from the inside out, but it was an odd pain. It hurt, but not a hurt that would make him double over.

Even though he wouldn't he wasn't a wimp and he couldn't act like one especially in the front of class, but his eyes locked on Alice.. ALICE DON'T DO IT DON'T DRINK IT. He didn't want to see pretty drink this.

Opening his mouth again, "See easy" Steam escaped and his voice sounded horse from pain.

ooohhh pain he then did take his hands and doubled over a bit, that hurt.

Pfffffffffffffffffft

He looked at everyone. Oops well that pain might not have been burning now was it.

Sniff sniff

"Whoa sorry about that" He waved the air around him. That was a stinker, that potion must have rotted him as well as burned him. He wondered if steam came out his bum when he did that. Did anyone see any steam because that would have been awesome.

He headed back to his seat still feeling the burning pain in his stomach.

While she waited another minute Beverly cut the slug in two, vertically. Eyeing the cauldron, then the slugs, she readied herself to add them in. Professor Culloden mentioned an explosion, and it sounded pretty cool, but Bev did not want to risk standing too close to it when it happened.

Taking a few steps back, about arms length, she carefully added the slug pieces. She quickly took more steps back. Bev would have pulled Train Boy in front of her as a shield had she not had enough room to back away, but it was too late. The cauldron went BOOM! and she was still in one, healthy piece.

Gathering as much air in her lungs she blew at the flames. It took another gulp of air to get the job done, but done it was.

The salamander blood was next and it sort of excited her. Her dad keeps that around in his stash and she's had the pleasure to sneak into it. Unfortunately, the stupid elves always told on her and she didn't get to play with it. Now, it was RIGHT THERE. Mwahaha!

She wasn't actually going to play with it, not this time. This potion was too important to her to allow any mistakes. Taking the salamander blood she did as instructed. By the end of the term she was sure her arm would have some muscle in it 'cause of all the stirring. She'd have to even it out, but that thought would be for later.

Sixteen stirs later her potion was the color of the night sky, which meant she was done. Then there was flobberworm mucus. Unlike her cousins, Bev tolerated the stuff. The consistency of it, anyway. But drinking it? She wasn't so sure about that. She decided to wait on it.

In the meantime she turned her attention to the volunteers. HEY! It was that boy from Diagon Alley, the one who melts his toys in ovens! The face he was making almost made her giggle. It looked like he was constipated or something. Then he was steaming. Bev's eyes wandered from the professor to the boy, to the professor, then back to the boy again. He didn't look right. Was that normal?

Okaaaaaaaay.

Bev was now REALLY considering the flobberworm mucus. That little spectacle didn't look like fun. Mellow.