OOOH, Culloden was getting right to business today, wasn't he? Good, Caleb wasn't complaining. The question and answering bit was always so boring, and Caleb wanted to get to the actual brewing because after all, THAT is what he was going to be tested on in his OWLs, he was sure of it.

"Scourgify," he muttered, cleaning his cauldron with his wand as he always did before starting a new potion. After that, he walked up and gathered the ingredients from the tray that Culloden had provided and then headed back to his station with his arms full. He didn't have any chopped parsley - darn - so he had to do it himself. Sigh.

He pushed the rest of his ingredients to the side and grabbed the 3 pinches of parsley. He then took out his knife and started to chop. Chop chop chop...he wasn't sure how fine he needed to chop it up, but he had a bunch of little pieces so he was sure he had what he needed.

Next, the water. He measured out 3 cups of water from the basin - mainly because he was lazy and didn't want to do Aguamenti and try and measure that all. Then he dumped it in his cauldron and started a fire. "Incendio," he muttered, before plopping the thermometer inside the cauldron and waiting until it got hot enough to stop the flame. And now we wait...

LOOK AT HIS STUDENTS! None of them got these rather easy steps wrong, so he walked up to the front with a smile and told them the next set of instructions:

"Put the fire out once your thermometer shows some number between 61 and 69 degrees Celcius. Then, steep the green leaves for 30 seconds and take them out, but do not throw them away yet." Clearly, they would use them later.

Easy, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

3. Put out the fire when the water is 61-69 degrees Celcius
4. Steep the green leaves for 30 seconds and take them out (don't throw away yet)

HEEEEEEHEHEHEH. Sophie grinned cheekily at his gasp and the words that followed, offering an innocent shrug. "Same. Happy to be here. Y'know." He did know, which is why she didn't feel the need to boost the man's large ego any more. Heh. Then Dot joined her, Soph had just finished cleaning all of her supplies and the Slytherin got a smile and a friendly nudge - she would've gotten more out of Sophie, but Culloden was starting class, so she'd have to save the chitchat for later.

It was good that most people seemed to be in a good mood today, Culloden included, but it only took one turn of her head to catch the main person who was not having a good life - Zander. He received a sad look from the fellow fifth year and wished she could go back and sit with him, but Culloden was talking and she was missing things he was saying, so she regretfully turned back around to face the front and listen to the instructions. She didn't actually catch the description of what they were making today, but she assumed Dot would write it down and she could catch what they were doing, so for now, she set to work sliding her clean gloves onto her hands, extracting parsley from her potions kit, then chopping them up on her clean workspace with her clean knife.

Chop, chop, chop.

Once it was all nicely chopped, she glanced up at the board before removing the glove from her wand hand and scooped up her wand, casting, "Aguamenti," into a glass and filling it three times, each time pouring the contents into her cauldron. She peeked over the brim of her cauldron to check out how full the cauldron was, which really wasn't all that full at all, then lit the burner under her cauldron with, "Incendio." Aaaaand now to wait for the temperature to rise enough. She used this time to take notes, writing down the ingredient list and the steps they'd taken so far, and every now and then she'd check the water with her thermometer to make sure it didn't go over 69 degrees Celsius while she multi-tasked. By the time she was done writing everything down, the temperature of the water was creeping up to 63 degrees Celsius, so Sophie went ahead to remove the thermometer and extinguish her flame under the cauldron.

Glancing up at the instructions once more, Sophie kept a curious eye on Culloden as she went ahead with the next step. It was so funny to see him smiling and happy in the classroom - he'd come a long way since his first term where blow-ups were the norm. Heh. With her gloved hand, she took three TOP QUALITY green leaves and, checking her wristwatch before she started, went ahead to steep the leaves, counting the seconds carefully and trying not to get distracted as she waited for the thirty seconds to expire.

Halfway through the allotted time for it, Soph had the sense to get a clean bowl from her kit and set it on her tabletop so she'd have somewhere to set the leaves when they time was up. And, just as the thirty second mark passed, the Ravenclaw carefully extracted the steeped leaves and let them rest safely in her bowl.

So... far so good?

Agatha has been in a really bad mood as usual lately and her face showed nothing else but annoyance. For a good observer, however, a glimpse of frustration could also be seen in her eyes, but no one looked at her close enough, so she was safe.

Besides, glaring was her specialty so that would happen every time someone looked at her for too long. Just DON'T, alright?? Hmph.

Being hungry didn't help either and honestly, if professor Culloden was implying something by making them brew a weight loss potion then it was obviously NOT towards her, because she was REALLY FIT. Like, proper fit, mind you, because no body fat is allowed in ballet. NONE.

Agatha would flip her hair at this thought, but today she didn't. OWLs were getting closer by the second and all of her confidence was vanishing because there was no such thing as a dance OWL, was there? No.

At least professor Culloden was saying the steps aloud.

...

Sigh.

Gathering the ingredients she would need for now, the girl scourgified them all then started chopping the parsley as the man had just instructed. She imagined it as being a certain someone's head so she got the job done in no time. Some glares might or might not have been shot at the parsley in the process, but whatever. Stupid parsley. Stupid OWLs. Stupid school.

The Slytherin performed one of the few spells she could get right and filled a glass three times to add the content to her cauldron. Incendio was no longer a problem for her either, so so far so good. Hm.

She kept watching the thermometer and when it hit the temperature professor Culloden has said, she put the fire out and put three green leaves in there to steep. What a stupid potion. Leaves? REALLY? Agatha rolled her eyes but kept staring at the leaves and when she was done counting to 30 she took them out.

Was that right? That'd better be right.

They were starting with the potion right away. Awesome. As she listened to Professor Culloden, Lux cleaned all of her equipment - even the thermometer which she hardly ever used. Cleanliness was something that had been beaten into her very well and was especially important while brewing potions.

She didn't need weight loss potion for herself, but it was definitely handy for other people who might! Diet and exercise didn't work so great for everyone and even though people were beautiful the way they were, it was an issue that made some sad. Lux didn't like anyone to be sad.

Looking at the ingredients, everything was listed in threes. She wondered if that was a coincidence or not and raised her hand. "Professor, is there a reason why there is three of everything in the potion?" Maybe her mind was overactive, but she always had loads of questions.

After putting on her gloves, she grabbed some parsley and began chopping it up. Three glass fulls of water were carefully added to her cauldron, then she lit the burner. The water needed to reach a certain temperature, so it was important for Lux to monitor it carefully. Taking this opportunity to record the recipe in her book, she checked every so often to see if the water was just right. As soon as it reached 64℃, she extinguished the flame and removed the thermometer.

Extracting three TOP QUALITY green leaves from her potions kit, Lux steeped them for EXACTLY 30 seconds before placing them in a clean bowl that was nearby.

SPOILER!!: Lux's Notes

EASY-LOSE

Ingredients:

• 3 glasses of 61-69 degree Celcius water
• 3 green leaves (top quality)
• 3 pinch of chopped parsley (prepare before starting)
• 3 leeches
• 3 cherry stalks

Procedure:

1. Chop the parsley
2. Heat the water until it's 61-69 degrees Celcius
3. Put out the fire when the water is 61-69 degrees Celcius
4. Steep the green leaves for 30 seconds and take them out (don't throw away yet)

With the thermometer in place in the heated cauldron, Benny kept an eye on it so he was ready for the next step. He didn't want it to be too hot or to have it all boil away into nothingness and have to start all over because he then didn't have all the water that was needed for the potion down the line. It seemed horrible to fail at something that seemed so simple in comparison to other tasks they had had to complete during the course of different potions brewing.

When it was at the right point, roughly 63 degrees Celcius, the Gryffindor put out the fire as instructed to do so by Culloden. Benny then added the leaves to the hot water to let them steep, counting out 30 seconds in his mind. 1 Merlin...2 Merlin...3 Merlin...4 Merlin...5 Merlin...6 Merlin...7 Merlin...25 Merlin...26 Merlin...27 Merlin...28 Merlin...29 Merlin...30 Merlin.

"Scourgify," he cast at his spoon before using it to take the leaves out of the water. The fifth year setting both aside for later for whatever it would be needed for.

Zhenya watched the thermometer as the temperature gradually increased, and extinguished the fire once it reached 66 degrees celsius.
Once that was done, she noted the next instruction. Steeping the leaves. She picked up her three top quality leaves from the collection, steeped them in the water whilst watching the time on the clock, and removed them carefully after 30 seconds. She didn't throw them out, as instructed, and out them aside on a clean dish.

Alright potion brewing time. So this was a weight loss potion? He snorted and he didn't think he needed it. But he would make it anyways. He needed to do the first step first and chop the parsley. He began to put his parsley on the cutting board and began to chop chop chop it up. Once that was done and he didn't injure any fingers, he measured three cups of water for his cauldron. Which reminded him he needed to clean his cauldron. He got his wand out and said, "SCOURGIFY" and then it was squeaky clean. Then he cleaned out his glass and poured water into one of his glass and poured it in. Then he did it two more times and then he heated it up with his wand and said, "INCENDIO!" and then it warmed up and he cleaned his thermostat.

He waited a bit then it warmed up and he put his thermostat in and it read the exact the temperature the teacher said. He stopped it with "FINITE" so it wouldn't get any hotter. Now he needed to steep the green leaves for thirty seconds? What did steep mean? I guess it meant float?

He watched other students and went with the flow. He put his leaves into his cauldron, put the three best leaves and looked at the clock. He counted thirty seconds on the clock and took them out. There easy enough. He waited for more instructions.

Lose weight? She had to skip breakfast because she was gonna take something to make her lose weight? Lame. No feast or anything. Her mum wasn't gonna be happy about this, y'know. Even though Norah ate every chocolate frog she could get her hands on, she was still apparently underweight, which her mum blamed on how much running and the fact that she refused her green vegetables. They were gross, alright? She had no desire to be big and strong if it meant eating spinach, but it didn't mean she needed to be doing the weight-loss thing. At least she wouldn't have to take the blame for this one.

Once she'd recorded the steps and ingredients in her notes, the third year picked up her wand and got right to the cleaning, casting "Scourgify!" on her knife, "Scourgify!" again on her thermometer, then again on her gloves and cauldron. "Scourgify! Scourgify!" BOOM. She was getting good at that spell thanks to this class, yep. She pulled parsley towards her and began to chop with her clean knife, taking an extra moment to make sure they were nice and even. Alrighty. Water time. 3 glasses? Norah removed a glass from her materials with a soft tinkly sound before picking up her wand again and casting, "Scourgify!" to clean it. She proceeded to fill it with water with a decisive, "Aguamenti!", and poured it in her just-cleaned cauldron. Phew. She'd been in class for no time at all and she'd already cast scourgify a bazillion times. Twice more she repeated her 'Aguamenti' and pouring, glancing at Professor Culloden and wondering if he remembered when she'd messed the incantation up at the beginning of term. She remembered. It was EMBARRASSING, y'know?

She placed her scourgified thermometer in the water, then performed "Incendio" on the burner beneath her cauldron. Once the mark on her thermometer told her it was at 62 degrees, she looked up to see more steps already there. Cool beans. Norah pointed her wand at the burner and said, "Finite!" before slipping her gloves back on her hands and picking up three beauteous green leaves. and placing them in the cauldron. During the 30 seconds her leaves were in there, the thirteen year old pulled a small bowl towards her and cast a quick "Scourgify!" before taking the leaves out at the 30 second mark and placing them in the clean bowl. PHEW. That was a whole lot of stuff for just a couple of steps.

Ethan carefully adjusted his thermometer to see that the water was not hot enough yet. The Slytherin let go of it, letting it sit comfortably inside his cauldron and got his notes out. Huh. Clever isn’t it? Whoever invented the potion, she or he clearly made it so simple so the potioneer can brew it anytime. It made Ethan wonder though. Have witches and wizards been eating unhealthily this past decade and saw the need to invent one?

Hmm.

Eyeing his thermometer again, which read 62.94 degrees Celsius, Ethan dumped the green stuff inside his cauldron...and let it steep for 30 seconds. Wait. Question, professor! Ethan raised his hand and got Professor C’s attention. “Sir, will the effect of the potion increase if we let it steep for more than 30 seconds, or...will it do the reverse?” Obviously they’re extracting the good stuff from the parsley, right? It took him 15 seconds to ask his question...waited for another 15 seconds, and collected the semi-soggy chopped leaves out of his cauldron.

The longer the Gryffindor waited, the lower his face fell. There was a small part of him, a silly part, that secretly hoped that Kevin would show up anyways. He was never one for rules right? So what if the Headmistress couldn't manage to kick him out? It could happen. If anyone could do it, it'd be Ke-- His head popped up in false hope as he felt someone taking a seat beside him. To say that he was disappointed that it wasn't Kevin would be an understatement. But Adi was really nice, so he didn't let his face fall completely.

Ahem. He was totally smiling, no matter how forced it may have been. "I-uh-sure, Adi." Kitchens would be nice, he wouldn't deny food. Still, he wished it would've been Kevin. And then soon enough Benny came to join, which wasn't a surprise considering Adi was here. Throwback to the days when he could sit with his best mate ha ha ha. Sigh.

He also managed to catch Toby's smile, but before he could even do much to even show he acknowledged it, the boy was off. So erm. Potions then. A mope-y Zander turned his attention back to his parchment and began to scribble down some notes. Hard to stay focused, but OWLs. Anyways, once the general notes were done he began chopping that parsley stuff. AHEM after he had scourgified the knife clean. And then filling the cup three separate times. "Aguamenti," TIMES THREE.

Then he made sure to gently heat the water with "Incendio," watching the temperature the entire time as to not overheat it. Still hadn't forgotten about that one traumatizing time third year. Nope. Never forget. Once the temperature rose to about 65, he extinguished the flame and glanced up at the board all the while. Leaves. Right. He could do this. He was totally paying attention. One. Two. Three. Now uh, watching the clock AND counting just to be extra safe.

And once the time was up, he quickly managed to remove them from inside his cauldron and set them aside for the time being. Phew. That was a lot.

Of course Adi hadn't expected Zander to be all bubbly, cheery and red like he normally was. Imagine being separated from your bestie. Adi KNEW he would suffer a whole deal if that happened. But he smiled at his Gryffindor friend. "Great! We'll hit there as soon as we get done here.''
....................

Updating notes, updating notes annnnd... done!

Time to check that thermometer. Adi stood up since he had taken a seat to document his notes to check the thing. Excellent! Sixty three degrees celcius. That meant he could take off the fire. The Hufflepuff did just that.

Taking the three green leaves, he placed them in the water and carefully kept and eye on his watch the moment they were in the cauldron. "One, two, three... twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty!'' Adi counted in his head with each tick of the hand of one of his many watches.

After removing the leaves, they were placed in a magically cleaned bowl. More steps down! Now to just update his notes...

In spite of the professor's refusal to think out of the box and move the lessons outside, Dot still grinned at him happily before returning her attention to her cauldron. And her Sophie-daisy friend. She hip-bumped Sophie even as she went about expanding the cleaning regime. Not just the cauldron, but the cutting surface, the little cutie thermometer she had, her little cutting knife. Her stir sticks, all of them, and her little glass bowls for holding things. And her hands, because why not?

"I'm super clean today, Sophie-daisy. Basically a cleaning machine." Now that her station was clean, Dot needed to retrieve some of her ingredients from Culloden's trays up front. Why were all their ingredients mundane today? Was it something specific about the potion? Did that mean it worked on Muggles?

Chopping. Pinches weren't exactly a science, were they? Dot pinched the parsley onto her cutting surface - once, twice, three times. Once everything was chopped into itty bitty pieces and dropped into the first clean bowl, she turned her attention to the cauldron. Empty cauldron needed water, yes it did. "Aguamenti," she filled one of her cleaned glasses, again once, twice, three times, and dumped each carefully into her cauldron, avoiding splashback.

"Incendio," Dot lit her cauldron and watched thoughtfully before turning to distract the never-distracted Sophie. "I did all my spells myself today. Do you need help now? Because I could help you." And get house points since she wasn't the dumb one this time. It didn't need to be said out loud. Without waiting for a response, Dot turned back to her cauldron to check the temperature. It was almost... almost... okay, just hit 61 degrees. She waited a moment longer before putting out the fire.

"Only the bestest leaves for my potion." The three leaves went into the potion, and she found that she was intrigued by this pattern just like some of her classmates. One two three over and over again. How strange... and mundane ingredients... was the professor playing a joke on them? How could it really be so precisely mathematical?

Oh, counting! Dot blinked and caught up on her counting, fishing out those leaves the moment she hit 30 seconds. The leaves went into one of her clean bowls, and her eyes went back to where the professor was instructing. Did he see she did her spells perfectly this time?

Wooooop! He wasn't too late. GREAT! "Awesome, I'll have those to you soon Professor," he beamed in reply. Yep. He just wanted to look over them ONE last time, just to double check, and then the man could have it.

BUT.

Lesson!

Parsley was one of those things that you either liked or you didn't... and he was still of the mind that less was more, so he was perfectly content with only three pinches of the stuff.

Silver blade in hand, Zeke first cleaned it with a quick scourgify and then set about chopping it up. His chopping was fairly neat, but considering they didn't receive instructions on HOW neat that it really didn't matter in the end. Did it? Probably more about the surface area of it than anything else.

Once that was done, he lit a fire beneath his CLEANED cauldron and added the three glasses of water. The thermometer also received a quick "Scourgify," before being dipped into his cauldron to check the water temperature.

50.......................... 55.................. 58.................. 60................ 63!

It was in range!



Looking up as they received their next set of instructions, Zeke gave the Professor a firm nod and then did exactly that. Out went his fire, and in went his chopped parsley. He watched it curiously, counting out the thirty seconds in his mind.

.... twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, THIRTY!

Like a ninja - with a great deal of finesse - Zeke used his freshly cleaned instruments to fish out the blanched leaves. Weehee. Of course he quickly cleaned one of his small bowls before placing them into it... but really, he was done and ready to move on.

Were they going to light their fires again???

Hady picking up her quill and pulled her parchment to her jotting down in her light neat script the next two steps. Might as well do that while she waited on the water in the cauldron to heat up. Note aside she glanced at the thermometer inside the cauldron. Perfect.

64 degrees Celcius. Removing the thermometer she cleaned it with a 'Scourgify' setting it aside on a 'Scourgified' plate. Pointing her wand at the burner underneath her cauldron she cancelled the flames with a soft murmured "Finite".

Hady then cleaned her gloved hands, three green leaves and another plate with a quick 'Scourgify'. She carefully set the three leaves into the cauldron turning her attention to the clock and watching as exactly thirty seconds ticked by. Removing the wet leaves the second year set them aside in her previously cleaned plate.

What was next?

Everrrrryone seemed to be doing splendidly again! He smiled to himself, and tapped his wand at the blackboard to reveal the next steps.

"Light a low fire and once the colour of the potion is green, add the leeches." The easiest step, right?

The Professor was at least trying to be nice! Margo nodded in his direction. She doubted she was ever going to like this stupid class!! Ugh, Okay, so lets' get started.

Margo had some Parsley already chopped so that saved her from having to do step one, thank goodness. Margo pulled out her wand and pointed at her cauldron, and the thermometer [B]"Scourgify"/B] She said cleaning all of her tools she was going to use so that wouldn't cause any problems for her later on down the road.

Pointing at her cauldron and added three glass of water to it. She raised her wand once again and stated "Incendio" And stoked the fire slightly. She needed to keep an eye on the temperature. She dipped in the thermometer in and watched the numbers climb. 29.......35...........47..........55..........66..

Whew, okay she made, Margo put out the fire in to stop the temperature from climbing any higher. Okay, what's next......Margo looked up at the board. What was next? Margo looked around okay, she needed to put the green leaves in. So she did. Margo plopped them into the basically boiling water and watched the clock waiting for exactly 30 seconds. When the time had hit she removed them and seat the now water logged green leaves off the side. The Professor had said to save them. So clearly they were going to need them for later.

The next steps, ok ready to move on again. Margo brought her wand up again and said again "Incendio" And was looking at the fire to make sure that it was just low. She was watching her potion....she prayed that it would turn green! And IT DID!!! whoop whoop! Margo was pretty excited. She had a huge smile on her face!! It was going to be a good day. She then added the 3 leeches to the potion and waited for the next step

Only moments after having setting the wet leaves onto a clean plate Hady heard the Professor moving onto the next steps. Good timing she praised herself ready to move on.

Taking her wand lightly in her hand she pointed it towards the burner beneath the cauldron once more whispering a soft "Incendio" as she watched the flame jump to life. She took a moment to ensure the fire was kept low like instructed. Getting the three leeches ready she cast a quick "Scourgify" on them and her gloves while waiting for the potion to change color.

Waiting. Waiting...waiting was boring. Hady lightly tapped her foot on the floor as she waited. Luckily it didn't take long before her potion inside the cauldron was turning green. Once it was a vivid green she carefully added the three leeches into the cauldron then "Scourgified" her gloves clean again.

There done for now... time to update her notes.

At the sound of Professor Culloden's wand on the blackboard, Norah looked up quickly. More steps! Cool. Picking up her quill, she recorded the next steps before setting it down and picking up her wand instead. "Incendio!" She lit a small fire under her cauldron and made to scourgify her gloves again, 'cept she didn't really want to pick up the squishy leeches in her hands even WITH gloves on. So she'd just be levitating them, thank you very much.

The third year watched until her potion turned green before pointing her wand at the first leech and performing a swish and flick movement. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She guided into the liquid with a soft 'plop' before repeating the spell twice more on her remaining leeches.

Almost... almosssttttt... alllllmooooo- THERE.

The water had reached 61 degrees exactly. Toby thought that maybe it would be a better idea to let it keep heating up until it was juuuuuuust under 69 degrees, because he wasn't sure if the potion would be better if it stayed in that range for longer while he followed the rest of the instructions.

But, though Toby just bounced there for a while as he waited, it soon became clear that he was far too fidgety to just be idle, and so decided to just proceed. He extinguished the flame when the thermometre read at around 65 degrees, and got his three green leaves (nice ones, acquired from the tray Culloden had brought out earlier when Toby was waiting for the temperature to rise) and dropped them into the water. DOOP DOOP DOOP.

AND NOW WE WAIT.

Except waiting while in this energetic state was more like puRE TORTURE. Though Toby still managed to stare straight at his watch while his bouncing continued. Merlin. MERLIN. WHY WAS TIME GOING SO SLOWLY. WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT. WHA-

Aaaaaaaaand that was thirty seconds. WOO.

"WingARdiom LeviOsa!" THAT was the sound of Tobias levitating his three steeped green leaves back out of the cauldron. He made sure to keep them to hand as he lit a LOW flame under the cauldron. While he waited for the water to change, Toby added MOAR notes to his parchment, and by the time he looked up again? GREEN.

Which meant it was time to add the leeches. And he did, one at a time. One, two, three. Another instruction to cross off his list.

More instructions now? Please? Because antsy Toby was antsy and he thought it would be unwise to start doing star jumps in here right now. Culloden was cool and friendly, but SOMETHING TOLD TOBY that he wouldn't quite appreciate an impomptu mid-class workout session. As they were making a potion for weight loss anyway, after all. Might affect the results of the potion.

Maybe next time.

Everything seemed to be going alright for now, but that didn't mean Agatha's mood was any better.

Though her expression did soften a little bit as she listened to the next set of instructions. The girl immediately lit a low fire and stared at the potion as it slowly changed colours.

...

Morgana, it took its time. Eye roll.

...

Once it was green, Agatha took the three leeches from her workstation and added to the cauldron.

They were relighting the fire?

That seemed relatively redundant to Benny, but he supposed there was some reason they couldn't have simply turned down the heat before. "Incendio," he cast once more, this time being careful to only allow it to remain low as per the instructions given to them by Professor Culloden. Now all he had to do was wait and watch for the moment that what was brewing was the color of Slytherin house.

He took the time to take out the needed leeches from his supplies so that they were all ready when it was time. Before too long the liquid slipped from the color it had been to green and Benny perked up in his seat. The Gryffindor then moved to pick up the leeches with his gloved hand and cautiously added them into his work so far. When nothing seemed to be going wrong he sat back awaiting the potions professor's next instructions to be presented to them.

Angel waited until the cauldron was between 61 and 69 once it was she then put out the fire in to stop the temperature from climbing any higher, she didn't want to get into trouble that would be very good.

Angel now had a few things to sort out with her things, Okay so she put her best leaves in the pot, she counted to 30 seconds before she fished them out and now she just had a few things to do.

Angel listened to the next things "Incendio! Angel now had a few things to do as she made sure that the fire heat was low, she looked around and then back at her cauldron. "Come on... come on green please." Angel then watched and waited for it. "Yeah." Angel smiled as she saw the cauldron content go green.

Angel then added the leeches, now all she had to do was wait for the next instructions.

Having removed the leaves which had steeped for 30 seconds, Zhenya took note of what the Professor had responded to the interesting questions. Then, once the Professor had began talking again, she looked to the blackboard and listened to the next instructions.

Low fire? Well, lucky she wasn't a pyromaniac. She would start the lowest she could, working up if needed. Pointing her wand under the cauldron, she said "Incendio," and watched the potion for a while. It slowly started to turn green, AWESOME, she plopped the three leeches to the potion and waited for the next instructions.

Oh, so there WAS a reason for the number three. Lux had actually been on to something with her question as opposed to seeing irrelevant things as important.

After giving the Professor a nod of understanding, she recorded that bit of information into her notes. This was rather helpful to her at any rate, since her potion she was inventing had mostly mundane ingredients. The number seven was what she usually thought about when it came to the more magical numbers, but it seemed that three had it's own use.

That sorted, Lux used Incendio to light a low fire under her cauldron. Patiently she waited for the potion to turn green, though she couldn't help but notice Toby who seemed rather antsy today. The boy was so energetic lately, bouncing around Hogwarts like a pogo stick. It was rather adorable actually.

Once the potion was GREEN, Lux added one, two, three leeches to the cauldron. Now what?

SPOILER!!: Lux's Notes

EASY-LOSE

Ingredients:

• 3 glasses of 61-69 degree Celcius water
• 3 green leaves (top quality)
• 3 pinch of chopped parsley (prepare before starting)
• 3 leeches
• 3 cherry stalks

Procedure:

1. Chop the parsley
2. Heat the water until it's 61-69 degrees Celcius
3. Put out the fire when the water is 61-69 degrees Celcius
4. Steep the green leaves for 30 seconds and take them out (don't throw away yet)
5. Light a low fire
6. Once the colour is green, add the leeches