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Potions Seminar #3 - Charm Your Own Cheese
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Ashley nodded once at the professor person as she walked in. "Hey. Do we have to address you formally like "Hello all-powerful professor sir"? Please tell me we don't need to do that." She was tempted to say 'sup' but she thought she might get detention for that. Stupid rules. She took an apron and safety goggles and walked to her workstation. She hoped that someone nice would sit next to her, or at least that the professor wouldn't be totally irritating. Why was there a fridge? Why? Was that a normal fridge or could it kill them? she rubbed her wrist with the bracelets. Mental calm. Not everything wants to kill you. Well, that wasn't really true, but that was not the point. |
ANOTHER new not-professor teaching potions? When would it end??? It was kind of fun AT FIRST, but then Kinsay Cassandra James quickly came to realize that when there were new not-professors teaching classes, it was very difficult to establish systems. There was no consistency! It was difficult to form lasting opinions when the person teaching them didn't last long themselves! She! Did! Not! Like! It! And so she fixed their newest not-professor with a skeptical look. "Hi." She was judging him a little bit. He looked nervous. "Are you old enough to be teaching?" He looked no more than, what, 20something? Some of the seventh years looked older than him. It was a Hogwarts requirement to have gray hair before you taught a class. Look at Mr. Williamson! He'd confirm it. Was he qualified? Is that why they needed aprons? Were they making dinner instead of real potions? Kinsay had so many questions. Instead of asking them though, she chose to watch him with ALL the skepticism as she grabbed an apron, safety goggles, and made way for a place to sit. |
Emmerson was skipping in right behind Kizzy, mostly because she was the best person in the entire world to follow around...and partially because even though the school year was well underway, Emm STILL felt it ABSOLUTELY necessary to make sure everyone knew Kisnay James belonged to her and she would NOT share. Just, y'know, pay attention everyone. On the way in, the First Year grabbed an apron and goggles, sticking close to her Gryffindor pal while she fitted them on. Truthfully, it was Kizzy's question that finally made her look up at who the not professor who couldn't give them detention was. Answer? He was... G O R G E O U S~ "Kizzy. Kizzy." No further explanation. Emmerson grabbed firm hold of her friend and dragged her along to stand riiiiiight in front of the gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous man. "You have THE most BEAUTIFUL eyes EVER!!! Doesn't he, Kizzy? Huh?" The 11 year old stared up at David Truebridge in awe. "You think he'll marry us??--Both of us, I don't mind sharing if it's y--" GASP! "Sammy! Oh no, I forgot. I'm a horrible girlfriend--but I don't think he minds sharing either, honest. We can....um...we can all be married, right Kiz?" R I G H T?????? "Can we touch your face?" |
The first seminar was still her favourite. The second? Well, it had been way too Muggle-y for her; there had been more muggle equipment that she had been unfamiliar with and that had thrown her off. Still, Claudine was looking forward to this one. “Hello,’’ the fourth year said, briefly glancing up at the adult who was to be hosting the seminar. But that was all she said before nodding to him and grabbing the required and goggles. That done, Claudine made her way to the very last row to choose a workstation. It was interesting that there were two cauldrons per station. |
This new pseudo-professor MIGHT be young and kind of dishy, but the first years were being EMBARRASSING about it. Like Emm was always embarrassing, and Phoebe had just come to expect that she was going to say whatever little thought came into her mind... but Kizzy knew better! "Kinsay James, don't be rude. And Emmerson... we do not ask to touch people's faces." You just did it, and made it look like an accident. Honestly, amateur hour. "Good day, sir. I like your cauldron." And glasses. And face. Phoebe set her goggles and robe on her work station. |
I haven't been playing but i obviously have to now! Sitting by phoebe Flynn was quiet but it was in an obvious kind of way. His introspection was visible on his face and the ever-growing fourth year barely registered the existing occupants of the room when he first stepped inside - not the new teacher person, and not even his pre-Hogwarts primary schoolmates. He didn't notice what was on the board either so it was lucky when the unfamiliar adult voice telling them to grab goggles and an apron said it out loud. Flynn doubled back to grab them and then joined Fifi at her workstation. He put the apron and goggles on, careful not to mess his hair up and then just kind of stared at the cauldron. Cauldrons were great for staring at. You could imagine all sorts of things in their depths. Hey, at least he was here! |
+ phoebe + sorry + i give up SPOILER!!: Emm lol Kizzy liked that Emm made it a priority to remind everyone that the best friend slot was taken. It helped ease all her fears about the potential that a new best friend would come and swoop Emmerson away. Despite the incredibly low likelihood that such a thing would happen, Kiz still worried about it sometimes. But, uh, best friiiiiiiiiiiiend? What are you doing? The arm grab took Kiz slightly by surprise, but the moment she saw her Gryffindor counterpart's face... she knew. Sometimes a single look was worth a thousand words and Emmerson's were usually worth a million. So she let herself be dragged up to the front and tried to give the "Yeah, can we?" She echoed in a quieter And only to make matters even MORE embarrassing, Phoebe walked in to witness the whole thing. Um. "I wasn't rude," she was working on being incessantly polite, remember. But all the sudden, and with worry, she turned back to Emm (though the question was really for the not-professor). "... Was I rude?" |
Violet entered the potions classroom, read the message on the board, and took an apron and pair of safety goggles. As she did so, she heard the teacher repeat the instructions to her and glanced up. David Truebridge--another new potions teacher, the third so far this term. Well, that was fine with her, having different teachers meant they could learn different methods, and Violet wanted to learn as much about potions as possible. Not that Miss Howard hadn't taught her a lot already in her lessons back home, before Violet came to Hogwarts. Violet was going to greet the new teacher and introduce herself, but that Emmerson and her entourage was clustered around him, gawking at the poor young man, so she decided to just to to a table and set up her supplies by her cauldron. If Emmerson was latched onto him, Mr. Truebridge had troubles enough already to deal with. |
we'll move on in idk 30 hours and fyi I did my best w/the metric system LOL Text Cut: Greetings! "Okay." David lightly flicked his wand toward the door to close and seal it, not that it really mattered if anyone was late to a potions seminar, since they were... er, optional? Still, it was time to start and if anyone DID come in late, he would want them to knock so as not to interrupt. "Let's begin by gathering the ingredients we will need for today's lesson. I would like you to tell me what you think we will be making today as you gather your supplies... and why we would want to make this for use in Potions." So, what supplies would they need? Well that was now posted on the board, as Davie flicked his wand toward the chalkboard and it began listing the ingredients in his neat and tidy printing, taking a step back to again The milk was in the refrigerator in two litre bottles and the other ingredients were laid out on the counters near the sink. Of course, students would need to weigh and measure the citric acid and water using beakers... but surely even beginner potioneers could manage that! He wasn't giving them too much credit, was he? Quote:
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"Good. Because I'm not going to call anyone all-knowing professor sir unless I'm being ironic. Ever. Even if I'm supposed to. Especially if I'm supposed to. But Mr. Truebridge is cool I guess." She looked at him amusedly. This dude would make a good professor, if he could handle the class. Which was, at the moment, behaving rather strangely. She grabbed the ingredients and did the appropriate potion stuff. She did not, however, know what they were making. She raised her hand embarrassedly. "Those are some of the ingredients used to make Mozzarella cheese in the muggle world. My best friend taught me that. He is good at cooking stuff. But I don't know why that would be helpful for potions, so I'm probably wrong." That was the only thing she could think of. Her best friend, he had taught her that in the muggle world. Not that she enjoyed making or consuming cheese. She did know how to. But, she reminded herself, this is not the muggle world at all. |
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She was making a few notes on the ingredients when she heard the next question. Looking up again, she smiled--she knew what those ingredients made. Raising her hand, she said, "Cheese! We're going to make...um..." now what was the name of that cheese her father always cooked with? oh yes... "Mozarella, I think." But why they would make this for potions, Violet wasn't so sure. "I guess it would be useful for potions because of the fermenting? That would be something it would be good to know how to do." |
(Started writing this before we moved on) Been here all along! ^_^ Heath’s eyes darted around the room, taking in his surroundings upon walking into the potions classroom. So far, so good… no family members teaching the seminar and no frogs! He had intended to say hello to the guest lecturer, but on seeing so many of his classmates congregating around the man, he’d opted for a polite nod in greeting instead. Noticing the instructions written on the board, he put on an apron and goggles. There was just enough time for him to join Claudine at the back workstation and greet her with a smile and a quiet, “Hi” before the seminar started. Heath looked up, ready to pay attention to Mr. Truebridge as he spoke. Gathering ingredients… okay, got it! His curiosity was piqued as he read the list of ingredients written on the board. The only thing he could think of that these could be used for was cheese making, but someone had already said that. It didn’t need repeating, and besides, he had no idea how cheese related to potions unless… As he considered the question and the list carefully, he remembered a small tidbit of information he’d read somewhere, and his hand went up. “There are cheese-based potions, which as the name suggests, use cheese as a main ingredient,” he said. “Does making one’s own cheese make that type of potion more effective?” The more Heath thought about it, the more out there that answer sounded, but it was the only idea he had! Before he could make an even bigger idiot of himself in front of everyone, he set about gathering his ingredients. He retrieved the 2L of milk from the fridge, then carefully measured the water (using 2 different beakers, as there were 2 different quantities listed on the board), citric acid, and rennet. He double and triple checked his measurements, and only when he was satisfied that they were accurate did he move on to the kosher salt. Wait, how much did they need? There was no exact amount listed on the board. Maybe that meant it didn’t matter, but just in case, he supposed it couldn’t hurt to ask. At the risk of sounding dumb again, his hand went up, and he asked, “Is there a specific amount of kosher salt that we need?” |
Claudine had pointedly ignored most of the students in the room though she had spent some time observing the childish behaviour of some and silently judging them. As the other times? She passed it by getting her writing materials out and doodling in the corner pages. Needless to say she got very engrossed in the latter and forgot where she was. It was only the sound of Heath's voice that she came back to earth. "Hi,'' she returned the greeting quietly. Claudine wasn't really in the mood for talking. Right. Gathering supplies. The fourth year watched the writing appear on the board with interest. Before she started on the gathering, she glanced at Truebridge. Was he hiding behind that cauldron? If so, Claudine could understand that. After all, she hid in her own way by always choosing to sit at the back of classes. Anyway. He hadn’t told them where the supplies were but observing the room carefully, the Snakette was able to figure out where things were or might be. The milk was found in the fridge already measured out. Using beakers, the water {both the 100ml and 10 ml separately} were measured. The rennet and citric acid were weighed. As for the salt? Well, a generous helping was collected as she wasn’t sure how much was needed. But what were they making? Claudine didn’t have a clue. Cheese really couldn’t be it as was suggested by Violet, Heath and Know-It-All Ashley… could it? |
"It's rude to ask someone's age," Phoebe muttered to her sister, although she was much more distracted by the appearance of Flynn. He was scarce and distant, and it was SO NICE to see him that Phoebe put a quick arm around him and gave him a side-hug. Besssssssst friend, hello. "Cheese?" Wait, was that what they were making? Phoebe tried to quickly make note of the ingredients they needed, but she was very distracted by the idea of making snackies. "I mean, cheese is delicious. Why would you need other reasons?" Milk. Water with stuff in it. Salt. Where were the eyeballs and things? |
Wait what? Emm twisted to get a better look at Phoebe when she entered. "How come? If we ask nice enough, I don't think they'll mind." It was polite. SO polite. That's why when Kizzy asked if she was being rude, the only answer Emmerson had to give was "Of course not." Rude? THEM??? "We're...we're the most polite people I know!!" Too bad the gorgeous professor wasn't having it. He looked like he'd gotten a good look at that old ghost floating around and wanted to sink into the ground before he got possessed, too. "It's not unsanitary." She insisted, glad she had Kizzy here to back her up. "I wash my hands regularly, honest." The little girl huffed LOUDLY when it seemed he really wouldn't respond to her marriage proposal, tugging on her friend once more to get them to a station. "He must be too focused on the lesson right now. We'll have to ask him again later." She decided for them both. That was just how it was. Emm looked to the board for the ingredients. What were they making? "Glitter. Everyone loves glitter. That's reason enough." It was a clever tactic. See, even if they WEREN'T making glitter, he would hear her say it and decide THAT was what they NEEDED to do and the class would turn to glitter. "I'll go get the milk." Said to her obvious partner, because this was obviously pair work and Kisnay was her obvious other half. In the fridge, was it? |
Been here alllll along The apron and safety goggles always made the fourth year feel like she was playing pretend, did the seminar dude know? And while she wasn't sure the look suited her, it did help her get into the potions making spirit every time. Also, ALSO, Cecelia was having a REALLY hard time masking her amusement over Emm's comments. Like, she'd masked a giggle with a cough, but it wasn't one of her most convincing recoveries, and she didn't dare look too long at the younger girls and Feebs in case it got her laughing all over again. Emmerson wasn't wrong, the instructor was nice to look at, but Cecelia wasn't sure it was appropriate to point that out so loudly. The poor guy looked VERY uncomfortable about it. Also, he was no Kale Trent. Kale's hair was way nicer. His everything was. Ahem. What were they doing again? ...The blonde looked around and then realized she was meant to be gathering ingredients, so she hopped up to do just that. "Maybe we're making a special kind of tea?" Her mum liked a splash of milk with hers. |
Sometimes Kinsay wished she could make like a demiguise too and if the not-professor had only just said that he was uncomfortable, she might’ve taken it a little easier on him. Because he didn’t, however, Kizzy still gave him a look of absolute skepticism. And another thing! If he was so qualified, then couldn’t he be their professor for real? She was tired of all the switches. She gave her older sister a big pouuut. Technically she hadn't asked for not-professor's age. Only asked if he was old enough to teach, which was a very different question. Maybe. But Emm said it wasn’t rude and this is the information Kiz was choosing to believe today. So, um. ”Most polite I know too! Except for Teddy, maybe. But he's my brother,” she added thoughtfully as she looked back at their not-professor so he could stay informed too. ”Me too! We scrub really well.” In case he was skeptical she held her hands up and demonstrated. See? Squeaky clean. Sometimes she washed for twenty whole seconds. And though Kizzy wasn’t as disappointed as Emm when the not-professor refused to answer their apparent marriage proposal, she was still a little offended that he thought they weren’t hygienic. That was so rude, you know? And she was ready to sit down, so she let herself be tugged over to the work station. ”Is there a way to make glitter less messy? … Is that what the rennet is for?” In truth, she had no idea what rennet was, but it was the only ingredient she didn’t recognize. Best guess? ”I’ll get the other stuff!” She added helpfully, hopping up and moving towards the counter where she didn’t bother measuring everything out exact. If they were making glitter, then it’d be helpful to make extra. She had run out of her own stash and there were still birthdays left before the end of the school year, you know? So Kizzy made the executive decision to take extra amounts of ALL the ingredients that were laid out on the counters. No one had to know. Except for Emm, who would surely agree that it was a great idea. |
Violet had gone to the refrigerator to get her 2L container of milk, then returned and set it carefully down on the counter. She listened to the other students' comments as the class went on while she carefully measured out beakers of water and citric acid, and got her 0.6 ml of rennet ready for the next step. |
Thanks for coming? Of course, this was optional. He could be using the time to practice his latest routine but.... well he could do with more potions practice, especially if he wanted to impress his potioneer dad with his grades. "Oh um... you're welcome sir." Flynn flashed a quick, albeit still distracted smile at the teacher and did his best to pay attention when the lesson began. Was Flynn supposed to know that this stuff was for cheese? Because everyone else seemed to know it was for cheese. Flynn didn't have a lot of cheese since his mum had considered it unhealthy ever since he was a little kid and even now there was never any at home unless Fin decided he wanted some. He returned Fifi's side hug then extracted himself to fetch the ingredients for both of them. Milk, salt, whatever rennet was, citric acid, warm water. His arms were carefully full so when he ran into Cece also fetching things he only gave her a smile and a gentle hip bump before returning to his table and laying out all the things whiiiiiich they had to measure now. "Measure with me, Fifi?" Teamwork made the |
"I guess it doesn't have to be cheese," Phoebe murmured under her breath, but she was willing to draw in the milk and measuring cup and get to working on it. She could measure all day, especially these very non-disgusting ingredients. Food ingredients. "But I really hope that it is. How'd you keep from flattening your hair with your goggles? It's still so big," Phoebe only just managed to refrain from touching the hair with her now clean hands, but it was SO tempting. She set the measured milk to the side. "Look, a wild Cece. Hi, Ceeeece. You do the warm water stuff, Flynny?" She was already reaching for that salt. |
Text Cut: Responses, rearranged slightly So, one student had correctly guessed the purposes underlying their mozzarella-making mission today. "Making or charming your own cheese," did anyone recognize that title, "can make your potions more potent if you use it for that purpose. Of course, you can always eat it instead, which most of you will prefer. But you can decide what to do with the cheese you brew today at the end of the lesson." He finished his mini-lecture with a nod. "Today we're going to start by warming the milk over low heat. Combine your citric acid with your 100 ml of water. Then add the water/citric acid into the milk and stir gently." He demonstrated this by using his wand to turn down the flame on his own cauldron, and gently poured the milk in and the citric acid water with it. A wave of his wand stirred the entire potion smoothly. "You will bring your milk to 40°C eventually, so I recommend getting a thermometer to periodically check it. While that's going, you can dissolve the rennet in your beaker with 10 ml of water, and ah, suggest to me a spell we could use to speed up this rather Muggle process." He, meanwhile, would walk around to observe their work, after, of course, posting the directions on the board again. |
"Really?" Ashley was thrilled. She gave the professor an enthusiastic smile. "Cool." Contrary to Claudine's opinion, she did not think she knew everything. So it had been a bit of a gamble, and she didn't pay attention to her friend's cooking, so it was even more guessing. She raised an eyebrow at the professors dude's joke/pun/whatever. It was not bad. Not bad at all. And you know what, she liked this dude, Mr. Truebridge or whatever. He didn't even belittle her once, and it was what, five minutes into the lesson. "Um, are you talking about a spell to heat up the milk professor? I mean, Mr. Truebridge. Because then you could use... a heating spell. That sounds like a stupid answer sorry. I usually cook stuff with no magic, so I don't think I learned." She flushed. She didn't remember the name of the heating spell(had she ever learned it?), and she wasn't about to cast incendio on a glass of milk, for obvious reasons. She had been set on fire on the first day of school, y'know. She looked at the professor? Was he gonna tell her what the spell was, or was he gonna just be like 'wow you're useless' like the headmaster? She looked at him piercingly, half expecting to be ridiculed. Here was a fun test to see if he was an actual good teacher. |
Okay, so it was something to do with cheese indeed. Claudine wasn’t sure of how to feel about that; cheese was something she felt neutral towards, anyway. However, the potency of cheese in potions came as a surprise to her. She’d have to ask Heath later if he had more information on this fact. And if he wanted to join her in the kitchen to make some cheese-based goodness. Claudine was in no rush to start her own brewing and instead watched Truebridge do his thing first. It was helpful to have the steps on the board. Low heat. Using magic, Claudine ignited the burner then adjusted the flame beneath the cauldron of milk. The citric acid and the 100 ml water were combined into one beaker before the combination was added to the cauldron. Using the stirrer, all three ingredients were stirred. Thermometer… ah, there it was. Claudine kept it nearby so that she’d be able to check for the right temperature. “A Self Stirring Spell perhaps?” came her suggestion, as she raised her left hand with the fingers wiggling slightly. Her right hand, and most of her attention, was focused on dissolving the rennet. “The same spell that is infused on Self Stirring Cauldrons, I guess.’’ |
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His mind wandered again immediately after that thought, so it was a good thing that Phoebe had a question for him, even if it took a moment to process it. His hair? He looked up as though he would be able to see the top of his head somehow and then glanced down at Phoebe (she had shrunk even more recently, did she know?). "I think its on account of I don't have hair on my eyes." He said, though said eyes weren't twinkling as much as they might usually have done to accompany that brand of gentle teasing. Flynn was still distracted, though he had begun measuring out the two lots of warm water - 100mls for the citric acid, and 10mls for the.... Wait a second. His hand went up gracefully. "Mr Truebridge, what is rennet? Can you stick it in any non-cheese potions?" Had he missed a whole discussion on this topic already? HE was definitely missing the instructions that were coming fast now. And...... his mind was drawing blanks when it came to suggesting spells, so he found himself half nodding along to Claudine's suggestion. Sounded legit to him. |
Her hair wasn't in her eyes. That was so rude! Phoebe paused and tried to stare up into her own hair, which was absolutely in her eyes when she didn't make a concentrated effort to pull it back (and why would she do that for Potions?). Okay, maybe it was a bit in her eyes, whatever. She poured their milk into the cauldron and set it over low heat. Thermometer? Was there one in the kit, or... maybe nerd!cute professor man had some provided? She glanced around vaguely, since things tended to work out the way they were supposed to. "You seem sort of down, Flynny. If you're worried about not outshining me in class today, I can assure you that you are gonna be impressive. Because I blow up cauldrons like no one's business. This one probably won't blow up; I bet it just melts all the stuff into a goop that stinks like the bottom of a bin." |
Violet had gotten the milk warming in her cauldron and then added the mixture of water and citric acid to it and started stirring it gently as she listened to the class go on around her. A stirring spell? Yes, Violet supposed that would make things go faster, but why would you want to go faster? Violet could brew potions all day, she didn't want to get through faster, and besides, she was not convinced that a stirring potion worked quite as well as stirring by hand. Finally she was satisfied with her mixture and left it to heat up to 40 degrees C while she turned her attention to dissolving the rennet in the remainder of her water. |
mini-activity pt. 1.....I think Text Cut: Replies! Well, no one had guessed the spell yet and that was fine. David just assumed no one had checked out Charm Your Own Cheese for a bit of light reading then. Perhaps someone would after this seminar? "The spell we'll be using is caseum celeri, the cheese charming spell used uniquely in magical cheesemaking," he explained, flicking his wand over his shoulder toward the board so that the incantation and an illustration of the wand movement would appear there. It was a simple circular motion, a bit like a spiral that should be cast over top of their cauldron. "Now normally, we would need to let your warmed milk set for thirty minutes for curds to form. But today we're going to speed up the process." They were, after all, on a schedule for their seminar. "First, check the temperature of your milk so far. It should be nearly 40°C ." He demonstrated temping his own cauldron contents. Thermometers should have been a standard part of their school potion-making kit, no? "Turn off the flame entirely. Then stir in your diluted rennet and stir for two minutes." David again demonstrated this, using his wand and a nonverbal to get the potion stirring itself. After two minutes, he cleared his throat. "Here's where we want to use our spell. The pronunciation is caseum celeri, cas-e-um-cel-eri, and as you can see from the board, you're making a spiral with your wand over your cauldron." Again he demonstrated this as he spoke. "If you do it properly, your milk should set into curds before your eyes, and then you can use your potions knife to cut a cross-hatch pattern into the curds." Magic, right? It was dead useful. "I'll walk around to assist you with the spell, but I do recommend practicing the incantation and movement before casting it over your cauldron." Because they did only get one shot at that, after all. |
Ashley smiled. "Cool." This dude would make a good professor. Or at least a better one than the headmaster. He didn't even say 'really, fox. How useless are you?' in a stupid voice. She practiced the spell. "cas-e-um-cel-eri" Once she figured that she could cast the spell, she did all the required steps. And she did them just fine. Take that, Trent. "Professor, do we have to actually ingest the cheese we're making? Like in a potion, or by just eating it or whatever?" Because she wasn't too keen on drinking random potions, or eating cheese. Still, it was far from the grossest thing that she'd ingested. |
Claudine thought that she saw Flynn’s head bobbing to her answer. If that was the case, then he obviously was in agreement to her reasoning. She herself wasn’t sure as she had only given a guess. Unfortunately it was wrong. [i]Whatever.[i] At least now she and the others knew what it was. Moving on. Claudine quickly made a note of the new information on the board then rushed to check the temperature of the cauldron’s contents. Merlin knew that she didn’t want to overdo the temperature because that would mean there would be time spent waiting for it to drop back to forty. Following Truebridge’s lead, the girl tested her cauldron. Yes, 40 degrees. This meant that the flame got put out before the diluted rennet was added. As before, she used her stirrer to stir for two minutes, keeping her dark gaze on the contents and listening for her timer to go off. “Cas-e-um-cel-eri. Cas-e-um-cel-eri. Caseum celeri.’’ Reaching for her wand, Claudine braced herself to try the charm. But only after the movement was practiced a few times. “Caseum celeri.’’ Cue the appropriate movement and as much concentration that could be mustered. Oh wow. Curdling really did happen and Claudien was super amazed as she watched it happen. It was really that fascinating. What came next? Oh yes. Cutting the curds in a cross-hatch pattern. |
Had Phoebe sanitized the cauldron? Flynn just kind of assumed, mostly because he had no plans on trying what they made so it didn't really matter to him and she could probably survive anything. He added the citric acid and water mix into the milk and gave it a stir. "I'm not down." he assured Fifi, wondering when he would need to know how to brew cheese. It was a welcome distraction from his distractions. Another distraction: finding out what rennet was. Did he look grossed out? Because it sounded gross. An enzyme from a stomach. Okay. Who even found out that could be used to make cheese? Maybe his mum was into something with restricting this kind of food at home. It was about 40 degrees right? Flynn checked. 39. Close enough? He would just keep stirring. Stir duty. |
Of COURSE she'd sanitized the cauldron. She almost always remembered to do that, obviously. Phoebe clucked over their cauldron, watching as Flynn checked the temperature, and then dousing their flame and adding the rennet while he stirred. It was nice to do this with a partner, since she always sort of felt like she was short a few hands in this class. "You're not up either. I think that professor is in love with me, don't you? Look at how he stopped to make sure I wasn't blown up yet," Phoebe whispered, her tone playful. She was JOKING, but she wanted him to smile, just once. Just the one time. For her. "Was that two minutes? I lost track. You were counting, right?" She grinned at him and spun her wand in a spiral over the top of the cauldron. JUST KIDDING. "Caseum celeri." |
Violet was peering at the thermometer at the moment and saw that it had just reached 40 degrees, so she cut off the flame. Then she took her dissolved rennet mixture, added it to her cauldron, and set her timer for two minutes as she began to stir it. A cheese-making charm, who knew? Violet had never heard of such a thing, though her grandfather didn't like her to hang around in the kitchens much, so she didn't know that much about cooking and housekeeping spells. See, now she needed that--she'd be sure to write him and tell him so. 'Caseum celeri,' she repeated in her head, to make sure she remembered the pronunciation. |
“2 minutes." Probably. He just kind of.... rolled with it but then he next comment caught his focus. In love with her? What? It was only now that Flynn looked around that he noticed there were a few moon eyes in the direction of the seminar professor. He told himself he wasn't going to look close enough to check if they were right on the money because the last thing he needed was more of that. "One day you'll joke like that but it will turn out to be true, Fifi." Flynn managed a bit of a smile since she was trying so hard for his benefit, and in spite of himself, snuck a searching, curious look at the man teaching them. He had No Opinion™ and Wasn't Looking Like That Anyway™. Was she going to pra--nope. Still, Fifi was better with spells than he was. If Flynn practiced it twenty times it would likely still be a disaster. He did make a slight effort to repeat the incantation and echo the wand movement a few times but he would need to go and work on it outside of class if he had any hope of doing it right. What he could do though, was the cross hatching. He picked up the silver knife once Phoebe was done making curds and obligingly cut cross hatches in the top. He was glad the spell worked and all but..... it was cheese, how exciting could cheese be? But they were caught up, weren't they? At least? |
Kinsay needed to know if they could use the cheese for eating too and not just potions. Unfortunately she had very little time to raise her hand and ask the question though because they were moving on very quickly. She spared a look at Emm before reaching to warm their milk over low heat. Since Kizzy had taken the liberty of grabbing extra ingredients (thinking they were making glitter), she shrugged and added all the citric acid and water into the milk even though it wasn’t the actual proper amount. Um. Grabbing a thermometer, she began impatiently checking the temperature (which did not change as quickly as she would like). It was nice that they had other things to keep them busy though. Dissolving the rennet was a good way to pass time. Since she had extra of that too, she decided to use more than 10 mL of water. See? Smart. Everything was going fine until she heard they needed to use spells. Kizzy deflated a little bit at that. She wasn’t very good at those. So after turning off the flame, she stirred in ALL the diluted rennet and stirred for more than two minutes (because at this point she had to take her own liberties with the instructions). She also only pretended to try the spell. This was something she had become an expert at. Pretending to do the practical part of lessons and getting away with it. “Cas-e-um-cel-eri,” she mumbled. She even pretended to practice the wand movement! |
The timer signalled that the two minutes were up. Violet had practised the incantation and she had practised the spiral wand movement, and she thought she was ready. She carefully pointed her wand over the cauldron, made the spiral, and pronounced: "Caseum celeri" in a confident voice (incantations always worked better if you sounded confident, even if you weren't, or at least Violet thought so). And in this case, that seemed to be the case, because before her eyes her milky potion begin to form into curds--just like magic! (Well, Violet supposed that was because it was magic). This was nearly as much fun as watching that caterpillar come out of a cocoon transformed into a butterfly. Contentedly, she picked up her potions knife and began cutting the completed curds into a crosshatch pattern. |
mini-activity pt. 2 and taking some wizardy liberties here heehee Text Cut: Reacts & Replies Speaking of time.... David checked his watch as he returned to the front of the room again. Twas high time they got on to the last bit of the spell. "Alright, once you have your curds, you need to heat them up again and separate the curds from the whey--- the whey is that watery substance you should see beneath your curds if you give them a stir." Again he used his wand to nonverbally flit about here and there, the instructions appearing on the board as he spoke, a small flame lighting beneath the cauldron again, and the curds starting to stir themselves gently as they bobbed around the cauldron. "We're going to cheat time by again casting the cheesecharming spell, but not until your curds have reached 40°C again. You'll see them start to look like they're on the verge of melting." But this wouldn't take long, maybe five minutes. "And please stir your cauldron occasionally but gently as it warms up again." After a few minutes, David checked the temperature of his pot, and decided it was time to cast the spell. "Caseum celeri." He again moved his wand in a spiral over the top of the cauldron, this time watching as the whey began to evaporate in a way, just leaving the cottage cheese looking curds behind. "Don't be alarmed if your curds break up a little and start to look like cottage cheese. That's a sign you've done it properly. Once all your whey has drained, turn up your flame, and bring your cheese up to 80°C. We're going to melt it slightly so we can get to the fun part of streeeeeeeetching the cheese." He paused to give the class a cheeky grin. "I hope you're having as gouda time as I am here." Ha! ooc: for a fun link on how to do this IRL, click here or here; if you're following along on the kitchn site, we're on like step 12/15 but using magic instead of mircowaves. :upside: |
Ashley nodded. Good. She would probably give it to someone else. It was done right, so she assumed that it would be edible. Even if it did involve rennet. She was following instructions. Doing all the stuff to make cheese. Etc. And then she made a very strange sound at the professor's pun. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to laugh or snort, so what happened was something akin to choking. She coughed a couple times until she was fine, died of embarrassment, and pretended she hadn't just done that. She went back to doing the cheesemaking stuff. |
If Mr. Truebridge must know, Potions was one of Claudine’s stronger subjects but not as strong as CoMC or Charms. It also helped that she was good at following directions. She acknowledged Truebridge’s nod with one of her own, very pleased with herself. However, just because she was good at Potions, it didn’t mean that she got confused at times. For the next set of instructions, this was exactly as to how the fourth year felt. A small frown appeared on her face. Did she have curds and whey? Check and check. Small flame? Using magic, the burner was relit and adjusted appropriately. Check. After ensuring that the thermometer was nearby, the contents of the cauldron were occasionally stirred. Finally, it all seemed to be approaching the 40 degrees {plus the curds did look like they were melting}. "Caseum celeri,’’ Claudine commanded, doing all the things to make the spell happen correctly. Colour her amazed as the whey evaporated. And yes, the remainder did look like cottage cheese. Next step? The heat. Up it went. All she had to do was keep an eye on the temperature. Was she having a good time? Um… it was no CoMC lesson but it was alright. At least the frown had left her face. |
asdfjkl!!! *catches up on all the things* SPOILER!!: pre-mini activity catchup Oh, they were using a cheesemaking spell? Heath supposed he should’ve seen that coming! He wasn’t sure he’d ever use that spell outside of a classroom setting, but he supposed it was good to know anyway. At least he was learning a spell that he didn’t already know! He quickly jotted down the incantation, pronunciation, and wand movement in his notes before turning his attention back to the thermometer, which now read 40 degrees exactly. He turned off the burner and after setting his timer, he added the diluted rennet and stirred for two minutes. As he stirred with his left hand, he used his right to practice the spiral wand movement. “Cas-e-um-cel-eri,” he said under his breath. “Cas-e-um-cel-eri, caseum celeri…” He kept practicing the spell and wand movement separately until his timer went off. Had it been two minutes already? Wow, that was fast! Time to do the spell for real now… Aiming his wand at the mixture in the cauldron, he made the spiral shape and cast, “Caseum celeri!” For a fleeting instant, Heath worried that his spell wouldn’t work, but as he looked into the cauldron, he saw curds forming. Good, it worked! Now what? He glanced at the board. Oh, right… cut the curds in a crosshatch pattern. He picked up his knife and made a series of careful, decisive cuts forming a crosshatch pattern in the curds. By the time Heath had finished doing that, it was time to move on to the next steps. He blinked, slightly confused as he listened to the instructions. So they were to heat the curds to 40 degrees, then cast the cheesemaking spell again? Okay, then… He reignited the burner, adjusting the flame to low. As the mixture reheated, he stirred occasionally, peeking at his thermometer as he did so. Almost there… and 40 degrees exactly! “Caseum celeri,” he cast, again making the spiral wand movement. He watched the curds break up into a cottage cheese-like state and the whey drain. Once all the whey had drained, he turned the flame up, watching the thermometer as the temperature climbed. A slight smile appeared on his face as he heard Mr. Truebridge’s last sentence, Nice pun, sir! |
So, back in the cauldron went the curds, to be heated up again to 40 degrees. Violet watched the thermometer carefully, and when it was time, she got out her wand. "Time to drain away the whey!," she said to herself--hey, it rhymes! This time she felt more confident when she cast Caseum Celeri, since it had worked before, and indeed, so it did again. Magic was wonderful, wasn't it? She watched as all the whey began to drain away. Soon it would be time for the last step. |
"Oh, he hmm'd at you," Phoebe muttered quietly, keeping her face over the cauldron to watch exactly what their potion!cheese was doing. "I think that means he's in love with you, actually. You can say what you want, Flynny, but I have no hope of inspiring great love and admiration in anyone, now or ever." She was always second choice. Sometimes third. And it was okay. "Oh, we have curds. How exactly are we meant to separate it from the whey? Why don't they call it cheese juice? That's what it is, right?" She fussed with the fire so the whole concoction could start reheating. "How about I take over stirring and you can do the casting this time? And the separating, however we do that. Just pour it off, do you think?" Her attention caught on Kizzy being quietly instructed by the professor, and she went still and watchful to make sure she wouldn't have to punch the man or something. |
Flynn did not like that. He did not. "Don't say that." He said, shooting a disconcerted look down at his much shorter friend and tucking his chin in with an air of self-conscious discomfort he rarely exhibited. He even missed the cue to reassure Phoebe of her epic and lovely worth, something he usually did to a fierce degree, he was so thrown. ".... Yeah. Cheese juice." He agreed vaguely. "You're better at spells. I'll just stir." that way, also, he could just stare deeply into the cauldron and nowhere else at all while gently stirring. Did they need a ladle? |
main activity you could say Text Cut: Replies! A short while later, David returned to the front of the room. "Alright, so the last step is to streeeeeeeetch and fold your cheese. Once it reaches 80°C, you can sprinkle the salt over it and then massage it in. You might want to put gloves on for this step, because now you're going to pull the cheese and fold it in on itself until it's smooth and shiny." David demonstrated, snapping on a pair of gloves of his own and beginning to work the mozzarella in his cauldron. "If you wanted to flavour your cheese, you could also do so at this point. Some people use olive oil, tomatoes, herbs...." And those options were laid out in little containers along the counter where they had gathered their original ingredients. As for his mozzarella, well, he was leaving it plain to use in a potion. "If you finish your mozzarella, you can leave it in one ball or break it up into three or four. I'd like for us to try each other's cheeses, if you all are willing. I think they could be... grate?" He couldn't help grinning a bit at that one. "If you want us to sample it, bring a bit up to the front and put it on my cheeseboard here. If you want to keep it, there are containers over by all the seasonings." |
So no one had noticed her choking on air. Good. That would be... embarrassing to say the least. Ashley got to the flavoring part. Should she put anything on it? Nah, what was she gonna do, eat it? She left the cheese plain. No. Thank. You. And she left it in one ball. She brought it over to the cheeseboard. She didn't wanna keep it. "This is definitely edible. I didn't season it though." Then she walked away, having no intention of trying anyone else's cheese unless someone she tolerated and semi-trusted asked her to. Goodbye, plain blob of mozzarella cheese that I made perfectly but didn't season because I wasn't planning on eating it. |
Violet had finally gotten her mixture back up to 80 degrees and then sprinkled on the salt. Looking up for a minute at the teacher, she copied his movements and began folding and stretching the mixture--it was cheese now, she guessed. This was fun! But wait--other flavorings? They were supposed to have flavorings? Violet wasn't sure what you would flavor mozzarella cheese with. Wait--she had some basil leaves in her pocket; she'd picked them when she was on that walk the other day. She pulled them out--they were rather dry by now, but that would be fine, she could crumble them up and add them to the cheese. Violet worked and worked on her cheese until it shone and the texture felt just right. Then she cut off a small corner and put it in her mouth--it felt weird eating potions experiments! And what do you know, it tasted pretty good! So she cut a nice-sized slice from the other end and brought it up to the front of class. "I think mine is ready, Mr. Truebridge." |
So Truebridge hadn’t said anything to her which meant that she was doing okay so far. His nod confirmed it. Confident in herself, Claudine was all set to stretch and fold the cheese. But how did she do this? With Truebridge’s instructions, of course. Eighty degrees? Check. Gloves? Also a go. Once the salt was sprinkled on, the fourth year did her best to copy Truebridge’s actions. Did she want to flavour her mozzarella? Um… yes. Claudine opted for olive oil and herbs, which she collected from the counter. Carefully, the olive oil was added first then rubbed in. The same pattern went for the herbs. The entire cheese was once again folded and folded repeatedly until her hands hurt. At least it was smooth in the end. Claudine hearty sliced a bit for the others and Truebridge [s]and his bad pun[/i] to try. So, um… it was okay to try the few that were up there already, yes? After adding her slice to the mix, the Slytherin proceeded to take tiny chunks of a few of her classmates’ cheeses. |
Phoebe grinned HUGELY at the teacher man, pleased that he felt the need to stop and give them his extra attention, since apparently they were just being ignorant about how the spell interacted with the cheese juice. Ahem, the whey. She didn't stop giving him a big, charming grin, even as she pointed her wand at the cauldron and gave it a little spiral motion. "Caseum celeri. Check on the cheese juice, will ya, Flynny?" Did it bring her joy to annoy adults? Yes. Yes, it certainly did. Phoebe leaned in herself, giving the fire another nudge upward, since they needed to get the whole thing nice and toasty (cheese toasty) before it was ready for stretching. "I'm sorry if I offended you, Flynny. How about I have to give it the salt and stretching to apologize properly?" |
Although Morgan was pretty terrible at potions, or pretty much anything that took an extended amount of focus, he was rather keen on making his own food today. Of course he'd be eating it rather than save it for any future potions. If it ended up edible, of course. He'd stirred and stirred and stirred, then cast the cheesecharming spell. Oh, look at that! Morgan watched as the milk solution started breaking up and curdling. He watched another moment before remembering he needed to heat this up again (unintentionally forgetting the crosshatching cutting). He stirred and stirred as it heated - probably a little too much stirring, but that was partially out of boredom. It took a long time to get to the right temperature, okay? But by the time he looked at the thermometer again, it was past 40 degrees, so that was probably good enough. Morgan cast the spell again and watched as the watery stuff evaporated away and he was left with all the chunky milk bits. He was kinda fascinated with how gross it looked. But would it taste okay? He turned up the heat and started stirring more. Was he supposed to stir more? He wasn't sure, but it was getting harder and harder to stir. He let out a chuckle as he heard the instructor's pun. "Good one, Mr. Truebridge! Do you have a lot of kids?" He eyed him a moment. The man looked older, but not like old enough to have many kids. How many kids did one need before they started telling dad jokes in public? It sounded like something his own dad would say and he had five kids. He was getting distracted again because when he looked down at his thermometer, it was over 80 degrees. Oops. Time to take that off the heat and get some gloves on. Morgan sprinkled plenty of salt over the dough-like substance and started to streeeetch it out. He stretched and pulled and folded it in on itself, over and over, soon forming it into a shiny ball. In fact, it looked so much like a giant bouncy ball that he wonder if it would actually bounce. Without missing another beat, Morgan picked up his cheese ball and bounced it against his table, only to see it bounce high into the air. "Whoa!" That was SO cool. |
Heath’s eyes flicked from the contents of his cauldron to his thermometer. Was he doing this right? He had no idea, but the nod he received from Mr. Truebridge was an encouraging sign. He liked this teacher! He wasn’t loud or chaotic, and a teacher who threw out cheesy (see? He could make puns too!) puns was much better than one who threw out insults! Could Mr. Truebridge be their permanent potions master? Please? He looked up as Mr. Truebridge spoke again, making a note of the next instructions. Okay, massage salt into the cheese when it reaches 80 degrees, pull and fold until smooth and shiny, add flavor if desired. Got it! But what flavor should he add? As he thought, he remembered a tomato basil cheese his grandma had served as an appetizer last Christmas. Maybe he could try to recreate that! He was so focused on picking the right flavor combination for his cheese that he almost missed Mr. Truebridge’s next cheese pun. Hehe, good one, sir! By the time Heath finished listening to the directions and picking a flavor for his cheese, his thermometer read exactly 60 degrees. He quickly turned off the burner and put on his gloves - because no way was he doing the next part without gloves! He didn’t want to accidentally flavor the cheese with germs! He sprinkled the salt on and massaged it into the cheese. When that was done, he went to the counter to retrieve some dried tomatoes and basil. Once those had been added to the cheese too, Heath began to work the cheese. Pull, fold, pull, fold… As he worked, he wondered if different flavors of cheese produced different effects in potions? For that matter, were some types of cheese better for certain potions than others? Did all cheese-based potions use mozzarella or did some call for other kinds of cheese? Asdfjkl! He had so many questions, but none that he could ask at the moment, as he didn’t have a hand free to raise. Maybe he’d check out Charm Your Own Cheese from the library later. Heath lost track of how much time had passed until his cheese became smooth and shiny. He carefully broke it up into three good-sized balls; two of which were placed into containers to keep for later. He already had an idea about what to do with that cheese! He broke a tiny piece off the third ball to taste. He had to make sure it was edible before letting his classmates sample it. Hmm… it wasn’t exactly like the tomato basil cheese from Christmas, but it was pretty close. Anyway, it tasted better than he expected! Satisfied with his work, he placed his ball of cheese on the cheeseboard up front, breaking off a small piece to take back to Claudine, and took samples from the other cheeses. “Here, want to try mine?” he asked upon returning to his station, offering Claudine the piece of cheese he’d saved for her. |
Evaporation was convenient, Flynn just nodded at Mr Truebridge thankfully, hoping his ears weren't too pink, not that they were likely noticeable since he had outgrown almost everyone now and these days most people didn't see the tops of his ears so easily. Being watched usually came second nature to Flynn, as a performer, but it was different in a classroom setting, especially when your friend had just said stuff to you about said watcher. Thankfully Phoebe had the spellwork under control. He startled a bit when she asked him to check but went ahead. "Um.. yeah sure, Fifi." He could check the cheese juice was gone, no sweat. And.... yeah, no... cheese juice. He gave Mr Truebridge a weakly enthusiastic thumbs up. Yup. Evaporated, just like the man had said. The temperature was going up and Flynn kept an eye on it. "You didn't offend me. Go ahead though, Fifi its 80 now." massaging cheese wasn't really on his to do list. It was a good chance to peek around at their classmates too. Nobody seemed to have mucked up too much that he could tell, but Flynn for sure didn't want to volunteer to taste test anything either, especially not Morgan's giant ball, though Heath's looked kinda fancy and impressive. "Do you want flavours, Fifi? You could send some home to your mum maybe." |
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As for the cheese bouncing. "I will take that, thank you." David silently summoned the mozzarella ball to the cheeseplate for sampling. The boy could have it back at the end of the lesson, provided he could show enough responsibility to take it safely from the room. Quote:
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"Our time together is nearly up. If you'd like to try a bit of your classmates' cheese, please help yourself as the cheeseboard floats around the room." And with a light flick of his wrist, David sent the wooden platter floating off toward the first row of students. "Please be sure to clean your cauldron and take your potions kit, and your cheese if you wish, with you. Thank you for giving me your time and attention today! I think Potions doesn't get cheddar than this." He had to throw in one last pun for them, heh. |
"Because it looks edible and it smells edible and I did it right and if I had any doubts I wouldn't be giving any to my classmates. Here, I'll try some." She took a small bite and laughed mischievously. "Oh, it's edible all right. But it isn't seasoned, because I didn't feel the need to. I would suggest saving it for potions." She smirked as she went back to her desk and packed up. What a fun day. |
Yes, Claudine would suppose she was being brave. The first piece she tried happened to have been made by Ashley. At the first bite, the Slytherin widened her eyes and honestly tried not to gag. Honestly, because she really did end up gagging. Thank goodness she had taken only a small bite and without chewing the entire piece properly, she quickly swallowed the thing while holding her breath so that she wouldn’t taste much more. “Flavourless,’’ the girl informed Truebridge. The next piece {Violet’s} happened to taste much better. “This one’s great though.” Done with sampling {Claudine had chosen not to eat too many bits because cheese could make her feel upset if she ate too much at once}, she moved back to her station to clean up the dirty equipment and to pack away her own cheese. But of course there was space to sample Heath’s. “Thanks.’’ With a small smile, she took the piece to pop into her mouth. “That’s pretty good, Heath. Is that basil? I think that gives the cheese a great flavour.’’ Claudine indicated to the cheese she made all packed into the containers. “Grilled cheese sandwich date later this afternoon in the kitchen?” she asked quietly as she finished her cleaning. As for now? She was all set to head to her next lesson. |
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