Potions, Lesson 1: (Years 6 & 7)

It was the beginning of another year, and Mycroft was already exhausted. His summer consisted of helping Teagan to rebuild Salem's walls and try to cope with the death of students. It was a daunting experience, one that tired him out in all aspects of his life. Now it was time to look forward, to try and forget the negative and try to continue the task.

At least Hogwarts needed no improvement. It was the most stable thing at the moment. The room was bright, the summer was still prevalent and helped light the classroom from the lake's reflection. He wanted to do two things today for his class, but the deciding factor would be the number of students. At this age, he figured that they could take on harder things.

Potions. Tess descended the stairway in a quick pace. Potions had always held a special place in her heart, and at this very moment it would help her be able to concentrate on something useful, instead of dwelling on things that had been done. Her year had started off with the realization of how this was her last chance at perfection. And with the chances of Ben now ended, she needed a new future, one that probably meant arranged marriage and children right after. It was a horrifying realization, but the truth.

Pushing the door opened, she realized she was third in class. Nodding towards her brother, she sat on her usual seat, preferring to avoid spontaneity by choosing another.

Rhian walked down to Potions with a strange, out-of-body feeling. All around her, young students, first and second years, were eagerly clumping together with kids from their dorms, shifting this way and that like a flock of birds. Never stray too far, lest they get lost in the fray of the crowd and never find home again. The Gryffindor's steps were slow as she moved from her tower, down the levels one by one, to her first class. Her last class...

She wondered if it would seem so surreal if Conner was still here. But he'd left for Unseen a few weeks earlier, needing time to get settled in the flat he and Ben would be sharing. They owled all the time, and Floo'd when they could, but it wasn't the same. She couldn't sneak small moments with him in between classes, or lay with him out by the lake. It was these moments that got her through the last year, which had been the hardest without Tess.

Thinking on this, and their talk after the Prefect meeting, Rhian opened the door to class. Mycroft was a welcome sight, and she smiled openly at him. Looking around, she found Tess, and her stomach twisted in nerves. Trying to calm herself, she walked over to the Slytherin's table.

"Mind if I join you?" It was quiet, even for the already silent room, but she didn't want to push the tenuous relationship they had now.

Alyson was glad that she wasn't late for this class like she was DADA, she made sure she watched the clock like a hawk and was on time for her class. She knew that the Professor doesn't start class right away, he waits for students to join in before he begins. Alyson walks into the class and gives a polite smile to the Professor before she takes a seat at a station and waits for her Professor to begin. She just looks through her potion's book waiting patiently, there were some potions in the book she hasn't heard of before so this was something she made sure she stopped and read while she waited for the class to start.

Bryson made his way to classes and saw that there were a few people there already. He wasn't completely sure a lot of people had heeled when the battle went down, Bryson had been visiting his family when that battle went down and he regrets ever going home. He could have protected those who were lost but there was nothing he could do now and that sucks. He has beaten himself up everyday since that night that he had gotten an owl from a fellow classmate telling him what had gone down. Bryson took a seat and waited.

Ryan made his way inside potions and took a seat towards the back. It wasn't that he was entirely shy... well he was but he just didn't want to be towards the front, he had issues with the front of the class and he didn't want to experience them again in the long run. The Gryffindor pulled out his book for potions and waited to see what he would learn for that day. Ryan knew that Professor Holmes wasn't someone you wanted to mess with so Ryan just kept to himself and said nothing.

As students came in, he couldn't help but notice something that stood out to him over everything. For one thing, Tess had arrived with an aura totally different, next was Rhian sitting beside her. Hoping to be not too obvious he looked away.

Thankfully, seeing that a fair amount of student had arrived Mycroft figured that he could begin the lesson. Clearing his throat, he signaled, he wanted the attention to be solely on him. Getting up, he studied the three students and wondered if they could handle the potion.

"Welcome to the first lesson of potions for the year. You know me as Mycroft Holmes ,and I want to inform you that from now on there would be a separation between six and seven years together for this year we will be doing even more advanced potions before your NEWTs. Can anyone tell me what the Wound-Cleaning potion is used for and don't be obvious please. Next tell me its coloring or any defining features."

Lucy had overslept, quite a bit more than usual. She swore to herself as she hurried to get ready, jumping out of bed, changing quickly and sprinting out of her dorm, and down to the potions classroom. She saw that the class had already started and stopped for a moment at the door as Josh answered the question, before she silently slipped into the first seat she found, knowing that Professor Holmes most likely noticed, but hoping she didn't cause too much of a distraction to the others in the class.

Tristan quietly entered the classroom and smiled weakly and mouthed the words "Sorry" to her professor. She amde a beeline for Ryan and sat beside him. She smiled at him and rested a hand on top of his before taking out her materials to take notes. She felt guilty for being late, but she would apologize to professor Holmes for that later.

As usual Mr. Murray was the first to answer, signaling him to give him his response he nodded and looked around to see if anyone else had anything new to say. Seeing as they didn't he sighed.

"Very astute response, five points to Slytherin"

As soon as he gave out the points, he noticed two Slytherins coming in late and glared at the pair. First a prefect, shame on her and next another one who was more interested in a boy in his class rather than the lesson itself. Clearing his throat he placed his hands behind his back and looked at the two girls.

"I hope that this won't become a usual thing for the pair of you Miss Waters and Miss Lycanthe. A prefect should know better, and as for you Miss Lycanthe, we're here to learn, not to find ourselves a boyfriend. I won't remove points, the only reason being your Head Boy saved your house from losing more. Next time, don't even bother coming."

Turning around he didn't even bother to introduce the potion, instead waved his hand and the writing began to for. It was clear that this was an assignment that would be challenging, one that would mean working alone.

Wound-Cleaning Potion

1. Place one liter of purified water into your cauldron and put it to medium heat.
2. Grab one bezoar and put it in mortar, to make it as close to a powder as possible. * Keep an eye out for the water not to boil too much*
3. Carefully remove boomslag skin from jar and use a scalpel to take exactly one ounce of skin to place in the water. Make sure that it is pushed to the bottom.
4. Add one cup of Ptolemy, *careful it stains. Immediately mix together (pay attention to the chemical reaction between the boomslag and Ptolemy. If measured correctly, the skin will harden and break into pieces in water. The color should be a burgundy color).
5. Cover potion for 5 minutes, low flame.
6. Within those five minutes, grab a spine of lionfish and place in mortar *poisonous* next add half a cup of moonstone powder and seven droplets of syrup of hellebore and begin to make to a paste. (caution: Lionfish is highly poisonous, avoid breathing in any powder)
7. Once five minutes have passed, remove cover and place paste inside the liquid. (Suggestion: Place in the middle of the cauldron as best as possible, it creates an even distribution when stirring.).
8. Turn off flame.
9.Add one fresh fire slug, and immediately cover. You should feel a vibration in the cauldron, make sure nothing gets on your clothes.
10. Once the heat has died down, leave it covered, you may leave.

Lucy absolutely detested being late to things, and it was only exemplified at Professor Holmes' chip at her and the other girl when she entered. "Sorry Professor, it won't happen again," she promised as she read what was written on the board and got to work immediately. She turned the heat on under her cauldron after adding the amount of water needed, and then prepping the bezoar in the mortar. Once that was done, she readied the boomslang skin, adding a careful measurement to the water. She kept following the steps on the board carefully until she had finally finished the potion.

"Mind if I join you?"

Tess turned her head to see Rhian there; she had to admit she was a little surprised that the girl bothered to not only come close to her but talked ot her. It was one step forward she figured. A small twitch of her lip was as close to a smile as she could give at the moment, but moved her bag and things from the desk to give her room. She didn't know if it was appropriate to talk when Mycroft just jumped into the lesson. So she simply kept her eyes on her brother and patted Rhian's hand softly to tell her she would try too.

But as the lesson transgressed, she knew it was time for her to really do work. Getting up, she grabbed all the ingredients needed to get the potion starting. The first things first was to tie her hair, in a high bun, not wanting anything to touch what they were about to do.

Turning on the cauldron, she began with the purified water, making sure that the measurement was exact. As she made sure it was medium heat, she grabbed the bezoar and began to grind it as best she could. Her right hand gripped the mortar as best she could as her left one pressed against the stone.

Once she was satisfied, she slipped on gloves and began to dissect the appropriate piece of skin from the boomslag. Having the two items ready, she slid the bezoar powder first, then the skin immediately afterwards. Using the large mixing spoon, she pressed it at the bottom of the cauldron letting the weight help her. Making sure it was right, she took out her measuring cup and placed the Ptolemy into the cauldron, taking a step back as the chemical reaction began to start. The flab of skin in the potion began to look like a crystal that then broke from the ptolemy. Covering the potion as directed she moved on to the dry ingredients.

Putting on her facemask, she made sure everything was in order before carefully taking out the lionfish quill. She broke it in half then quarters, letting it fall in the mortar. She knew it wasn't necessarily in the rules, but it would help the process of creating a powder even easier. Grabbing the half of cup of moonstone, she began to press it into the mortar and smacking against the mortar efficiently. Lastly the seven drops fell into the powder creating a sticky paste, that looked more like a weird tan dough than anything.

She seemed to have had finished this a bit early, for she waited two minutes for the ding to signal it was time to remove the cover. Before she dipped it in, she began to make it become one piece, digging her gloved hands into the paste to make it stick together and not on the mortar. Once satisfied, the dough like substance was dropped carefully in the middle. Lowering the flame, she began to stir making sure to distribute the paste to thicken the potion considerably. This was the part that frightened her the most.

Removing one pair of gloves ,she slipped on the fire-retardant gloves and opened the jar. She wrinkled her nose (not that it could be seen because of the mask) as she picked up the slug. She hated those things, with her left hand she picked up the cover, ready for anything, and with her right threw the slug and immediately covered it. Making sure that nothing was spilling out, she pressed the cover tightly, ignoring the heat wave coming from the cauldron. As it began to stop, she took off the cover and smiled satisfied seeing it look like the book directed. Covering it up once more, she removed the gloves, then followed the mask and let her hair down.

Cleaning up, she slid a note towards Rhian telling her that they should meet outside the classroom later, if she had time, before rushing out.

Rhian's lips tugged up into a small smirk at Mycroft's clipped words to the girls. They were all close in age, but something about the fact that these girls were able to see their boyfriends made the Gryffindor feel wistful. And just a bit mature. They didn't know how easy they had it, just as she hadn't the year before. Now, even thought of Conner would send her whole day into a spiral of longing.

No time for that, Kael. Even with the Holmes name, which she was very proud to have, her inner mind would still see herself as a Kael.

She started moving with the rest of the class, making her way through the crowd to gather her own ingredients. When she was finally settled back at her station, she laid out everything and double checked that she had it all. It wouldn't do to start the process and realize she'd forgotten something. Timing was everything in this class.

Pouring the water into the cauldron, she chose not to heat it yet. While she was relatively skilled in potions, she had learned that a mortar sometimes gave her troubles. As such, she was more careful now, and made sure things were crushed as necessary. Once the bezoar was settled into a fine powder, she lit the cauldron and let it heat.

Her brow quirked as she looked back up at the instructions. They said to grind the bezoar, but not when to add it to the mix. Biting her lip, she took a chance, as others seemed to do around her. Adding it to the heated water, she moved on to the next two ingredients. She wasn't worried about the staining, since it came with the territory, but the Gryffindor always felt a bit off when they had to take apart something that was living. Snakes weren't her favorite creatures, but she had to force herself not to look at the head, instead taking a bit off the tail end.

Watching as the ingredients reacted in the cauldron, she quickly jotted down a few words on her notepad for later review. She found it helpful later on when she was trying to collect her thoughts on the lesson. Covering the potion, she moved on to the next things to prepare.

The poison was nothing new, as they'd worked with various dangerous objects over the years. Rhian had learned to work around the hardship, taking the steps carefully and giving herself time away from the mixture. Odd, though, that the potion to clean wounds would use two poisonous elements. She watched as the syrup dripped into the mortar, stirring it all together thoroughly.

Moving quickly through the last two steps, Rhian rested her hand against the warm outside of the cauldron, dropping in the slug. Just as described, she felt a deep vibration shake the cauldron, as if it was a creature stirring from slumber. Humming in interest, she quickly covered it.

A quick jot of her name on a slip of paper, she slid it under one edge of the cauldron. Wouldn't do to get them mixed up. Noticing a small note next to her notepad, she grabbed it, along with her things, and headed out the door with a small smile towards the front.

This lesson is officially closed. Thank you all, for attending. Points are as follows:

Granger, B = 20 pts (attendance) = 20 pts
Holmes, R = 20 pts (attendance) + 5 pts (participation) = 25 pts
Holmes, T = 20 pts (attendance) + 5 pts (participation) = 25 pts
Lassiter, R = 20 pts (attendance) = 20 pts
Lycanthe, T = 20 pts (attendance) = 20 pts
Montez, A = 20 pts (attendance) = 20 pts
Murray, J = 20 pts (attendance) + 5 (answer) + 5 (participation) = 30 pts
Vise, G = 20 pts (attendance) = 20 pts
Waters, L = 20 pts (attendance) + 5 pts (participation) = 25 pts

Total:
Gryffindor: 85 pts
Hufflepuff: 20 pts
Slytherin: 100 pts