Potions (1st-3rd)

James was a bit nervous at the prospect of being up in front of so many people, but Zalea had asked and he would do just about anything for his pseudo-sister, especially since she'd helped him after he came back. Even if that was standing up in front of people and talking for a while. Besides, it was only a few hours, how hard could it be?

The classes at Hogwarts were set up like those at he remembered Salem, a few years to each class, which was comforting. Before the students had a chance to come in, he turned around and wrote 'Professor James Reonalds' on the board, wondering a little at how it looked. Beneath it, he wrote 'Wiggenweld Potion' in the same script, then sat at the desk and waved his wand, opening the door for students.

Spoiler:

Skye shuffled into potions, his hair was spiked with orange tips, and his eyes were violet. Sitting in the front row Skye pulled out his utensils and looked at the board.
"Hello Professor, how're you?" It was a new person, and Skye liked meeting new people. Skye flashed the prof a dimpled grin.

Now this was something that had interested him, and he had been looking forwards to this particular class since he saw it on his timetable. He was intrigued by the Professor, who seemed like he could have been a student himself. Since this subject had caught his attention, he headed towards the front, but hesitated. Everything he had learnt on the streets had been about blending it, and if he sat in front, he would stand out.

At least he wasn't the only one there, he thought, deciding to make a compromise and sit in the second row. Removing his writing things, he set them neatly on his desk before looking up at the Professor and giving him a nod.

Natasha decided she would probably love potions. She figured it'd be similar to muggle chemistry, just with less numbers. Well, still numbers, just no equations. Which made it far easier and tonnes more useful, with so many more real-life applications. She slipped into the classroom and took her seat, getting all her books and equipment ready for the lesson silently.

Potions. Violet loved potions. She really was passionate about it. There was something intriguing and she was just drawn to it. She walked through the dark and dingy dungeons, she preferred the dungeons over any other part of the castle. She slipped through the door to the potions classroom and quietly took her seat and began to get her things out of her bag.

James smiled in return at the boy who greeted him. "Hello. I'm well thank you, and yourself?" He watched more students file in, choosing their seats with care, most of them quietly. When the flow of students from the hallways seemed to be done, the blonde decided that he would start class, though he left the door open for any latecomers.

Standing up, James clapped his hands, smiling at the class. "Good morning. As I'm assuming you've read, my name is Professor Reonalds. I'm taking over your Headmaster's classes for a short time while he is away on business. Now, can any of you tell me anything about the potion we will be brewing today, the Wiggenweld potion? Properties, ingredients, uses? Anything is acceptable."

"I'm fairly well, professor" he said while idly doodling.

Skye knew this one, he'd heard about it from one of his old fairytales.
"It's a healing potion that can wake a person from magically induced sleep. It's fairly difficult, and there's an old story about a prince using it to wake a princess after she took Draught of Living Death. When it's properly brewed, it's a green color,"
Skye smiled at the professor.

"Good morning. As I'm assuming you've read, my name is Professor Reonalds. I'm taking over your Headmaster's classes for a short time while he is away on business. Now, can any of you tell me anything about the potion we will be brewing today, the Wiggenweld potion? Properties, ingredients, uses? Anything is acceptable."

She remained quiet as Skye answered his question first. It seemed he always had to answer the question before her, which did slightly irritate her, though she didn't let it bother her. Well, she tried not to. "Ingredients I know of are yummy salamander blood, delicious flobberworm mucus, and tasty lionfish spines." As useful as potions were, the ingredients were disgusting.

Natasha sat quietly in the class as the others posed their answers to the Professor. She had wanted to answer, though the others had said all she could think of before she could say it. That had always been a problem, she was naturally quiet, but there were some things that she always did want to answer, and it frustrated her when she couldn't. She looked back to the Professor for further instructions.

James couldn't help but smile at Violet's derisive tone while she described the ingredients, though he managed to control himself quickly. "Very good. Five points to Hufflepuff for each of you. Now, this is a relatively simple potion. I want each of you to begin making the potion today in class, turning in whatever you have done to me at the end of class. You may begin." He sat back to watch the young students begin their preparations.

He listened to the students give their answers, adding in his own opinion is his head, not daring to say it aloud.

"Now, this is a relatively simple potion. I want each of you to begin making the potion today in class, turning in whatever you have done to me at the end of class. You may begin."

Brining a list of the ingredients along with him - he had copied them out along with the steps from his textbook while waiting - he went over to the cupboard and gathered them. Once back at his desk, he reread the instructions so he would know the overall process. Going back to step one, he picked up the vile of salamander blood and carefully poured it into his cauldron until it turned red. He picked up the wooden spoon and stirred it, waiting for it to turn orange. Once it did, he poured even more blood into it and it turned yellow. Stirring it again, he stopped once it was green. Becoming bored with these repetitive steps, he sighed, but picked up the blood and poured some in until the thick potion became a beautiful shade of greenish-blue. He sat back and waited for the fire to turn the entirety of the potion indigo and then added the last of the blood, watching it turn into pink.

Once the heat had changed its colour to a deeper shade of red, he added five lion fish spines into the mix, careful not to let them prick him. Another few minutes passed before the potion turned yellow, and he immediately put the other five spines into the cauldron. Picking up the bottle of green mucus, he poured the disgusting ingredient in, stopping when the yellow became purple. He stirred it and watched, with some satisfaction, as it turned red. So far so good, he thought. Adding more flobberworm mucus, he watched it turn orange before stirring it back to yellow. This was followed by more mucus turning it, once again, orange.

Honeywater was called for next, and he was so used to the thick ingredients that he tilted the bottle a bit too fast and the water spilt onto the table. The potion had already turned the required turquoise, and he hoped he hadn't used too much of the honeywater. He leaned back and waited for it to turn pink, realizing it took longer than the previous time. He worried that it was because of the amount of water he put in, but he would find out once he let the professor check his potion. He crossed off the last step and emptied the remainder of the salamander blood into the potion. If it didn't turn green, it meant he had done something wrong, and he watched intently. As the last drop of the blood hit the potion, it changed into a light green. It wasn't as dark as he expected, but it made him smile to know that he had gotten it mostly right.

Pleased with his efforts and the fact that he found a class he was actually good at, he extinguished the flame and sat down. He figured there were only a few more minutes of class and he was quite happy that he managed to finish in time. Leaning back, he looked around to observe the other students.

Skye smiled at the points for his house, he hoped they'd win the house cup this year. When the Prof gave them permission to start brewing, he looked at his instructions again and then started laying out his supplies.
Being very careful follow every step correct Skye set out to brew a perfect potion. After all, this was a teacher Skye wouldn't mind being noticed by.

Violet gathered all those pleasantly-tasting ingredients and set off to make a potion. She made sure to set up her cauldron, as instructed, and opened the book to read the steps. She was going to make a remarkable potion and absolutely stun the teacher. She began with the Salamander blood, pouring what was needed into the cauldron, and she stirred it, and added more. And so on, and so forth, until she finished the steps. Everything seemed to be going well.

Natasha got started on her potion quickly. She gathered all of those ingredients the Hufflepuff girl had mentioned and opened her book to read the instructions and get to work. She needed to make everything perfectly, sometimes perfection became an obsession, but she just needed it to be awesome.

She started with the Salamander blood, stirring when needed until she was sure it was the precise colour it needed to be. She was a very precise person. She kept brewing and brewing for the required time, and added the lionfish spines, flobberworm mucus, and then the honey water and even more salamander blood. When it turned the shade of green, as the textbook said it would, she looked pleased with herself.