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Originally Posted by MadAlice (Post 12509255) So, it was Wolfsbane potion instead. No help to her, but it would be challenging to brew even a version of it, Violet thought. "Besides being difficult to brew, the ingredients are expensive to buy, so a lot of werewolfs can't afford it, even if they knew how to brew it."

Javier knew that Violet enjoyed his class - her potions work was evidence enough of that, so he was not surprised that she was one of the first to answer. "Excellent point. Wolfsbane remains one of the most expensive potions to brew, as well as being one of the most difficult to get right."

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Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 (Post 12509152) And the lesson was off to a start. Warily, Claudine shot a look at the vines. Not for the first time, nor for the last, was she wondering if they would spring to life at any time. As a matter, she thought it was only a matter of time given all the craziness that occurred at Hogwarts. So… the Wolfsbane potion. Or a modified version. This was going to be a super interesting lesson. The seventh year’s hand went up. “It can be disastrous to anyone who consumes it if the potion is brewed incorrectly. That’s because aconite is rather poisonous.” As her hand was lowered, Claudine resisted a shudder. She didn’t envy anyone who had to take that potion.

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Originally Posted by Chelliephone (Post 12509161) Evan had entered the classroom with the rest of his classmates, finding an open seat towards the middle and pulling out his materials as he eyed the desk as class began. He had not yet deduced what they would be talking about for the day, but as Professor Hernandez stated it, he felt a little ridiculous for not knowing immediately. But no matter. What did he already know about Wolfsbane? He raised his hand and waited to be called on. "The potion in it's full form requires the use of Aconite, which is a very poisonous plant. The potion is one that is really dangerous for it to be brewed incorrectly, as you could conceivably poison the intended recipient."

"Correct, the both of you. Even just a gram or two of error when it comes to measuring out your aconite can be disastrous," he explained with a nod at Claudine and Evan's similar answers. It was just part of the reason this potion was so advanced.

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Originally Posted by Cassirin (Post 12509163) The professor had a nice face, but Phoebe was NOT going to take the time to look at said face. Or smile back when he gave her such a friendly expression. Nope. She was Serious James, the Potions machine. Phoebe studied the ingredients and wondered how many people knew that those indicated Wolfsbane. Probably everyone. Probably every single person except Serious James. "Umm, Wolfsbane is used by lycanthropes to alleviate their symptoms during the full moon. But they take it before the full moon. The potion, I mean." Ugh, she was NOT doing a great job at being the Very Serious James.

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Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl (Post 12509174) Wolfsbane Potion, interesting. There was a lot to be said about that particular potion, though Ivy was curious about a modified version. Was it just an example to make it easier to learn in a classroom setting, or would this actually work? Had they finally found a less difficult but still effective way to make it? She doubted it, since she was certain she would've heard about it before. That was the kinda thing that would be newsworthy. So she supposed she'd stick with her first assumption for now. "Like Phoebe said, a person has to drink it before the full moon," she said, raising her hand, "once a day for a week prior. You can't miss even one day of it, or else it'll be completely ineffective."

It was a good thing for Phoebe that Javier wasn't a Legilimens and couldn't read her thoughts about his nice face, so he just focused on her answer, which Ivy piggy-backed off of shortly afterwards.

"Correct. The potion needs time to build up in the system, otherwise it isn't strong enough to offset the affects of the curse," Javier elaborated. If even just ONCE dose missed, and you were out of luck!

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Originally Posted by Stefan (Post 12509187) Noah thought it odd to see milk among the ingredients, but as it was going to be a modified version, it all made sense. Milk was a good base, in his humble opinion. Anyway, Wolfsbane Potion. The Gryffindor raised his hand and waited for him to be called. "Wolfsbane Potion helps lycanthropes maintain their human rationality while they are in their werewolf form. It doesn't cure them of their condition, however." Perhaps that was the reason why it contained runespoor eggs and armadillo bile, correct?

"Excellent point Mister Mordaunt. Nothing has been found to stop the transformation process completely - but it goes without question that being able to keep your wits about you, instead of succumbing to the disease fully and giving in to the animalistic nature of it all, is far more important," he added. That had to be obvious though, yes? Who cared if you were transformed into a wolf so long as you knew who you were and understood what was happening?

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Originally Posted by Lady of Light (Post 12509203) Valentina had been staring at the ingredients, trying to figure out what they were going to be learning - but lost interest after a couple of moments. Oh, well. She was going to be finding out soon enough anyway. Ahhh. Wasn't that a very difficult potion to make?? Lesson had barely started and she wanted it to be over. She raised her hand after a few moments. "Doesn't it taste really bad??"

"While I am fortunate enough to not need this potion - and I hope all of you will be as well - I have heard that it is very bitter, yes," he said with a soft reassuring smile at Valentina's answer.

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Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie (Post 12509213) The professor was most welcome. Truly. Atlas was about to offer up the suggestion he even go ask about borrowing some spare dragonhide gloves in case his own were too tattered to be effective...but he could sense a vein twitch from a respectable distance. As to the ingredients on display, there was little that Atlas could make heads or tails about. Other than strawberry milk was superior to chocolate milk and then above all that was almond milk. But, irrelevant information for the moment and asking about the potency of almond milk in a potion would veer him incredibly off topic and make him a Kinsay James. Which, speaking of, she had been...weird recently. Off? Weird. As for what he knew about this potion, well, it was only everything base level. That it was something for werewolves and blah blah blah full moon and, well, this was not a particularly useful potion for himself. He also had no plans on being bitten by werewolf any time soon. "Something with sugar." Was about all he could offer up in the moment. "...uh...to help with the taste?"

...was...was that an answer? Javier could never track where Flamsteed's thoughts were going. There was nothing sweet added to the potion to help with that...in fact, it would dilute the important bits and make it completely useless. "Nothing that they've found can make the taste any sweeter, I'm afraid. A small price to pay, though, in the grand scheme of things," he added.

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Originally Posted by Emzily (Post 12509279) Wearing multiple layers underneath her robes to keep herself warm, Remy was feeling rather calm and kinda unsociable today, not noticing many of the familiar faces around her. She sat quite close to the Professor to make sure she could hear the potion steps very clearly, especially after finding out the potion they were doing today. Remy really didn’t know anything about Wolfsbane potion, so she opted for an answer that was really obvious. Or, she thought it was obvious anyway. “It probably tastes disgusting… especially to werewolves.” Hopefully they wouldn’t be brewing it to try it. Could non werewolves even consume this potion? Sounded totally toxic.

They had already touched on the taste, but Remy had brought up a good point. "If you are not afflicted with lycanthropy, you should NOT be attempting to taste this potion. The ingredients in it are highly toxic, and at the LEAST you'll get very sick and be bedridden for a few days - but it can even be deadly depending on how much you ingest," he warned the class.

Granted, if they were going to try and be sassy and taste the potions they would be making TODAY they'd probably just find themselves stuck in the bathroom for quite some time - he'd make tweaks to the potion to make less lethal because you could never tell when a kid was going to try and eat something they shouldn't.

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Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12509297) Ash tried to ignore Kinsay looking at her. It had been well documented that they just made each other feel horrible, and Ash didn’t know how to fix it(was there even a way?). It wouldn’t be fixed by a change of seating. So... she focused on the lesson and pretended that Kinsay James was somewhere else. Or tried to. “Adding onto what Atlas said,- another person who didn’t like her - “If you add sugar, the potion won’t work, I think. So werewolves just have to deal with the nasty taste.” If they could afford it. If they had a place to get it. That was kind of sad to think about, especially when she thought about her werewolf friends. She didn’t like it when her friends(or people in general, excluding pureblood supremacists) suffered in any way. She tapped her fingers on the desk, then raised her hand. “What did werewolves do before the potion was invented... or what if they can’t get it?” Or were allergic to the ingredients? Were there organizations that have werewolves these things for free? Ash had questions.

"Good point, Miss Fox," Javier gave the Ravenclaw a soft smile as she circled back to the point he'd made earlier. "And to answer your question - they just had to suffer. Many would lock themselves away, even chain themselves to something, to prevent them from breaking loose and attempting to harm others. In fact, our very own Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade was made specifically for this purpose while Remus Lupin was in school," he explained.

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Originally Posted by Harron Peasley (Post 12509298) Listening to everyone as they answered, Florrie couldn't help glancing over her shoulder every so often, just to make sure the vines weren't encroaching on the classroom even further whilst their attention was elsewhere. Annoying as they were, and as distracted as she found herself by them, they were still kind of pretty in a weird, vine-y way. Raising her hand, the sixth year waited until she was called on before speaking. "I don't really have anything to add, Professor," she started, given that all she knew was that it was a) difficult, b) tasted funny and c) used by werewolves to stay in control, and all of this had been mentioned by her classmates already - "But I was wondering - what about it is modified? And what's the point of the modified potion - like, what does it do?" Rude, maybe, but Florrie was curious. And it was kind of pointless, like a lot of theoretical schoolwork, if it didn't do anything, in her opinion.

Javier chuckled a little. "To tell you the truth - a modified potion like the one we will be doing today won't really do much. But I want you all to try brewing it for yourselves, even if I've made it a bit easier in places, to see exactly how meticulous it is and help you understand why it is so important to be precise in this potion and all others as well. Do take note, though - the ingredients we are working with are still very finicky and also very toxic if brewed incorrectly, even with my adjustments."

"Now some of you have touched on how difficult this potion is to brew, and how badly things can go WRONG if you are not paying attention to each detail. I'd like you all to get with a partner now and brainstorm using what we just discussed - what could possibly go wrong when brewing this potion? What about when you're taking the potion itself? I want you all to understand exactly what we are dealing with here before we move on. So - grab a friend, and get to brainstorming," he instructed them before giving them a look that clearly said they were free to begin. [/COLOR]

OOC: Onto the mini activity! You heard the man - partner up and start brainstorming all the terrible, awful, very bad, no good scenarios that one could face brewing / ingesting this potion. You'll have at LEAST 48 hours and then we will move on! As always, if you have questions, let me know!

... How had he missed that Claudine had already mentioned the aconite? Evan usually tried to pay close attention to other's answers, the older Slytherin's in particulars since she was always rather insightful, but apparently he'd gotten momentarily distracted and missed it. He blamed the vines and their essential take over.

But oh well, it was time to move on anyways. Apparently they were going to be brainstorming the effects of a misbrewed potion. There was... a lot that seemed like it could go wrong for this in particular. He pulled out a clean sheet of parchment to start a list, and glanced around as his peers began to partner. "Anyone still need someone to partner with?"

... Was it rude to start his list before discussion too? Probably. So he willed his hand to be still for the mean time.

Evan
 

Violet heard someone looking for a partner and turned to see it was Evan Nam. Finding a partner in class was probably her weakest skill, next to flying, and, in keeping with her resolve this year to try to volunteer to partner with as many different people as possible, she said, "I do. I need a partner."

Pulling out a piece of parchment and taking up her quill, she moved over toward him, ready to begin.

Partner?
 

Hearing Violet speak up regarding also needing a partner, Evan pivoted a bit in his seat to locate her and give a small smile. Grabbing his items, he stood to move closer towards her so that they could actually confer better with brainstorming. "Hi Violet." She wasn't someone he knew very well, but had noticed enough she was also smart and took coursework seriously so.. this was promising.

"Any ideas right off the bat? I was thinking like Professor said, someone could get sick if they took it and it was brewed incorrectly. It could also not work on a werewolf if brewed incorrectly, which could lead to them potentially biting someone." How tragic would that be? Not just for the victim, but also for the poor soul who accidentally attacked.

Claudine?
 

Partner?
 

Ohh, great partner brainstorming. That wasn’t fun at all. The Gryffindor turned around to view the potentials.

As IF Atlas Flamsteed chose to partner up with Claudine instead of asking her. She couldn’t help but frown in his direction, as it felt like her heart had been shattered into a thousand pieces. Remy looked around desperately, then noticing that the second cutest guy (Evan Nam) in class had already been claimed as well.

Remy, still frowning, quietly announced. “I still need a partner.”

Remy?
 

I-- can't even. We need a partner, pleease?
 

Scarlett?
 

Partner?
 

Hiii, and thanks!
 

An older girl looked her in the eyes and so she took the chance.

"Alright." She said in a heartbeat, jumping up and moving to where the other girl was. She was older so that would be helpful when it came to brewing the Potion, she thought.

What were they supposed to discuss again? Something that could go wrong when taking a badly brewed Wolfsbane? "You could die." Scarlett said casually as she finished sorting her new workstation.

Meep :3 (pre-v day bcz lulz)
 

Wolfsbane Potion was a hard one to brew, and to be honest, Noah wasn't that hopeful to get it right the first time, despite acing his Potions OWL. It took talent to get these highly advanced potions to work, but all he had was skill. At least, he's got something.

Quickly jotting down notes for later, Noah looked ahead from his spot to see if anyone was free to brainstor--

"Hey." Noah grinned at his fellow sixth year and sat next to her. "I hope this seat isn't taken." because it'll be super awkward and...yeah.

Anyway. "So, thoughts?"

Partner?
 

Max looked around. Who would want to be his partnet? Hopefully someone who’s s grade higher then him. He didn’t know much about potions so a partnet would help.

Oh, thank MERLIN.

Someone cool had asked her to be their partner. Remy sighed a breath of relief and smiled at her friend. “Cool.” She replied coolly. Cool was one of her favourite words at the moment. Giving one final glance to Flamsteed and Claudine, Remy soon gave all of her attention to her partner, although the discussion was one that she wasn’t too sure about. Sorry, Ash, you’d be doing all the work here.

She scribbled everything Ash had mentioned down in her notes, pretending to be an active partner and mouthing the words as she wrote them.

“Uhhhh…” Remy sounded as she subtly flicked through her textbook. “Cows milk?” Huh, she wasn’t expecting that. Was she looking at the right potion? “Dangerous for lactose intolerant people.” She added to her notes.

When it was announced that they would be focusing on the Wolfsbane potion, Kins immediately had several questions come to mind. Like, what if someone's animagus took the form of a werewolf, would they be considered a real werewolf? Would they change during the full moon too? Was that even possible?!

But just as she was about to raise her hand, she remembered she wasn't asking questions anymore. So. Um. Nevermind. Maybe she'd do independent research instead.

She didn't care very much about the potion itself, to be honest. So rather than entertain the actual question posed for the class, Kins took out her journal and began working on one of the sketches she had started earlier that day. It was important to get started on Halloween costumes well in advance, especially seeing as she was planning to make her own again. So. Potions, who? It was for this reason that she felt all sorts of lost when she realized everyone else was partnering up ... and though she would never willingly partner with a first year (who she didn't know!!!), she had no choice, but to walk over to him anyway.

She nudged him gently, "Do you need a partner?"

Evan
 

Violet nodded, also taking notes. "Yes, I think that's really why people are so afraid of werewolves--because it's something that could conceivably happen to anybody if they were unlucky." Violet thought for a few minutes about how awful it would be to never be able to go out and look at the full moon any more, as a human, and felt very sad.

"Aconite--one of the main ingredients--is both a heart and a nerve poison, and you can poison yourself just by using the slightest bit too much. The symptoms include irregular heart rhythms, numbness and tingling, and nausea." Violet knew these well enough, because Miss Howard had once made her list them all three hundred times when she'd caught Violet experimenting with some aconite she'd pilfered from the potion cupboard at home. "I think the ancient Romans used to execute people by making them drink it."

Ash was flattered that Remy thought she was cool. Ash was not cool. She was a polarizing person. She was interesting(in a good way) most of the time, but in terms of popularity, she was not cool. Remy was much cooler than she was.

Ash flipped through her potions book. Jeez, some of these ingredients were expensive... expensive enough for her to know they were expensive, as rich as she was...

She smiled a bit as she heard what Remy was saying. "That's an interesting point," she said, distractedly bringing out the potions notes that Dustin and Alex had painstakingly made for her. "Do you think that lactose intolerance would still affect people while it milk is mixed with all these other things? And if they had lactose intolerance or a dairy allergy, would that make them unable to take this potion? You should ask." It was... not a question that Ash would have ever thought of, but that did NOT mean it was a stupid question.

"What about werewolves that suck at potions? They'd have to go somewhere else, if they can afford it... but what if the brewer hated them... or was using subpar ingredients... or made an honest mistake?" Ash's brain was splitting up into a million different stressful, tangentially-related directions... they were making it very hard to focus on the brainstorming.

Max looked up at the girl. Need a partner?
"Yeah, I do actually," he said and smiled a bit. "I'm Max by the way.

"It's also just something that seems impossible to understand unless you've been through it. People are afraid of what they don't understand." So even if there was less concerns with the very complicated potion, Evan would hazard a guess people still would have been concerned. But perhaps that was just him being his cynical self. And that wasn't really the purpose for this discussion anyways, so he gave a soft cough to clear his throat to get himself back on task.

... Oh. She was quite the wealth of information about this particular ingredient, and he was thoroughly impressed. Jotting down her responses as well, which he hadn't actually known most of, Evan couldn't stop himself from asking. "Do you have aspiration of being a healer? You sound well versed in side effects." Though maybe she also wanted to be a potioneer and that's why she was.

He didn't know much about side effects of the other ingredients, but would stood out to him was the expense of the potion - and the sanctions needed to even be allowed to brew the potion itself. "I would think another potential complication in creating the potion would be the quality of the ingredients. Because of expense, I'm sure there are some that go to the black market to try to get a better deal or fly under the radar with creating it. Buying poor quality ingredients could mess with the effectiveness of the potion as well."

Kins offered him a small smile too because Jameses are incessantly polite. "I'm Kinsay," she replied, taking a seat next to him and briefly looking around the room. "Can you write our list? I left my notebook at my workstation." And in any case, her notebook was for sketches and not for notes.

She tucked her feet under her bum, leaning onto Max's desk as she thoughtfully looked towards the front of the room. "The biggest complication is that you can brew it wrong and get poisoned and die." Which seemed pretty obvious (and dramatic), but seeing as Professor H was asking them to brainstorm, they might as well jot that one down too.

Florrie was absolutely elated that she didn't have to move in search of her partner, and that feeling was matched by the happiness she felt that he was a sixth year who was probably quite good at potions. The idea of being stuck with, Merlin forbid, a first year was entirely too daunting.

The only problem was that it was Noah, and his face was rather distracting.

"And what if it is?" she teased lightly, trying to inconspicuously shift away from him ever so slightly. Because as well as his face, whatever cologne he was using was just as distracting and, well, she didn't want to be completely obvious.

So. No staring. Turning her attention back to her parchment, she shrugged one shoulder. "Poisoning is the obvious place to start," she offered, hoping that Noah could come up with something else because beyond that... Florrie had nothing.

"Then we'll be in an argument," Noah shrugged nonchalantly as he shifted in his seat, as if to properly claim it. He, too, was not in the mood to partner up with the younger ones today. They tend to have too many questions, Potions-related or otherwise, mid-brew, and that was properly distracting. He cannot afford to disappoint nowadays because a lot was at stake...namely his modelling career AND the upcoming summer holiday.

Gotta impress the folks, you know. Good grades meant an increase in his allowance, and he needed that extra galleons.

Obviously oblivious with what was going on with his partner, Noah took out his notes, and jotted down her idea on his parchment. "Poisoning, for sure...we can also add temporary and permanent damage to internal organs, maybe even affect one's mental state...worse, non-reversible transformation? I suppose that's possible." he said writing everything down as he spoke, "I'd rather be dead...so we'll put death, too." Noah sat back, biting his lower lip in thought, thinking of all the possible scenarios that might happen while brewing the potion. "Explosions...oh, maybe we should add intoxication due to toxic gas from a poorly brewed Wolfsbane potion. That can happen since this potion uses poisonous ingredients." Nodding, Noah passed his notes toward Florrie with a grin, "Did I miss anything?"