Potions ((6th and 7th year NEWTS))

[Professor Severus Snape]

Snape's steps echoed as he made his way through the damp corridors of the dungeon. His black cloak rustled behind him in his haste. Another school year had already seemed to come faster than he'd have liked. As if he wasn't busy enough with all that had transpired over the summer with the deaths of Harry Potter and Voldemort, he now had to worry about teaching and looking after bratty students again. Snape wouldn't mind as much if they actually showed some potential. It was lack of skill and apathy that irked him the most.

In his hand, he clutched a letter from the Ministry of Magic. Apparently, the ministry was working with St. Mungo's in an attempt to replenish the necessary healing related potions that had taken a hard hit as of late. They had sent him a list of at least a dozen potions that they were in dire need of. When he read it, he gave a haughty huff of resentment. Didn't they have enough potion brewers working for them? Just another task to add to his already full plate. Nonetheless, he'd easily be able to brew the majority of the potions. Plus, he figured it might be interesting to see if some of his supposed NEWT students could fare with a few of them. After all, some of them weren't the most difficult potions to brew. Snape would do the more challenging ones himself and give one of the intermediate ones to his NEWT class.

***

With the directions for the class written on the board, Snape sat at his desk looking over the list of potions needed for the Ministry. In the first few days of the new school year, he had already managed to complete the majority of the list. He left one in particular for his first NEWT class: Blood-Replenishing Potion. Shortly, the students began to file in. It was a class of about a dozen or so. He recognized a few of them as fairly decent students, and there were a few others who he wondered how they managed to get in to his NEWT level class. Still, today would sort the capable from the not-so-capable.

"Directions are on the board," he said in his normally dull voice. "Begin." Snape was never one to waste time with long tirades. He'd rather observe and let the students make their own mistakes. They learned better that way, he reasoned.

Ingredients:

• Essence of Belladona (1 palmful, ground)
  
• Fluxweed (3 sprigs)
  
• Pomegranates (2)
  
• Ashwinder Eggs (4)
  
• Leeches (3, chopped)
  

Directions:

• Mix together the following ingredients: the Essence of Belladona, the two Pomegranates, and three of the Ashwinder Eggs. This should result in a reddish-orange paste. Stir for about five minutes, or until it reaches the consistency of mud.
  
• After stirring the paste, add a sprig of Fluxweed every three minutes. Be sure to break the sprig into pieces to allow the moisture from the plant to seep into the mixture more quickly. With each sprig, the mixture should smoke and begin to turn yellow gradually.
  
• Once the potion is done smoking and is a golden yellow colour, add the three chopped Leeches. Do not stir. Wait for the potion to begin bubbling.
  
• Once the bubbling has started, watch for it to increase and then start to diminish. As soon as you notice the bubbling begin to slow down, add the last Ashwinder Egg.
  
• Once the bubbling has stopped completely, the potion should be a rust-like colour. Stir it for about four minutes until it resembles a blood-like substance.
  

[Bryce Alexander]

It was his last year. Bryce had promised himself (for what was at least the sixth time however) that this year would be one of improvement. It was the year that meant the most, with his graduating and all. He was determined to do his best academically; not that he was terrible otherwise, he just knew there was always a lot of room for improvement on his part. He wasn't afraid of a challenge though, he simply leaned more toward the side of having little self-motivation. Perhaps it was his laid back attitude, or maybe a tinge of laziness.

Luckily, Potions was one of his more favored classes though. It wasn't often that a Hufflepuff, or even anyone outside of Slytherin for that matter, could put up with Snape to the point of actually enjoying Potions class, but somehow Bryce had managed. He figured it was maybe his ability of simply blending in during the class that helped him slide through all the way to the NEWT level of the class. While others made terrible examples of themselves or were critiqued extra hard by Snape for doing quite well, Bryce managed to just do what was required and not stand out on either end of the spectrum. Somehow it had managed him a spot in this class.

Sliding into the room unnoticed, Bryce was one of the first students there. He didn't talk to anyone and was sure to avoid contact with Snape; again, he was in his mode of simply blending in. Since Potions was one of his favourite classes, he enjoyed the chance to work with the practise of brewing the interesting concoctions and wanted to keep that privilege.

Before long, the class was underway with a grunt of instructions from Snape. Hesitantly, Bryce copied down the list of ingredients and directions from the board. Blood-Replenishing Potion was a somewhat rare mixture for them to be working with. He did have to realize though that this was the highest level of Potions class that the school offered though. If he remembered correctly, Bryce could have sworn that the one supplemental Potions book he had in his room, The Basics of Brewing, rated this particular potion an eight on a scale of ten. It wasn't the hardest of all potions, but it wasn't an easy one either. He recalled at least a page of precautions that came along with the process of making it, if he could only remember the specific details of the book's warnings.

Happy with the notes he copied from the board, Bryce took out his cauldron and Advanced Potions Kit that he had picked up before the start of the school year. He sorted through the ingredients, taking out what he needed. The only thing he lacked were the ashwinder eggs. Usually Snape would just assume that they'd retrieve the ingredients they lacked from his personal store, and so Bryce went to the back cupboard, looking for the eggs.

He found them beside a jar of pig snouts; both were chilling in a pool of cooling liquid. Scooping out four into an empty flask, Bryce took the ashwinder eggs back to his desk and looked over his ingredients once more, assuring himself that he was ready to begin the actual brewing process. Reciting the directions ones more in his head, Bryce went forward with the first step.

As he tossed the palmful of powdered Belladona into his cauldron, along with the two pomegranates and three of the ashwinder eggs, Bryce took his wand and watched as the ingredients turned a rusty shade of orange. So far, so good. He used his wand and began to stir the paste. A few minutes later, happy with the potion's viscosity, Bryce added the first of the fluxweed sprigs. He was sure to break it into pieces as Snape's instructions said. In three minute increments, he added the other two sprigs. Gradually, the rust colour faded to one of a golden hue. Bryce smiled, pleased with his work so far. That was what he liked most about Potions: you could actually see your work in progress and check to see that you were doing it right.

Just after he finished chopping the slimy leeches, preparing to add them to the mixture, Bryce smelled something that seemed smoky. He sniffed the air again, and then realized that the flask beside his cauldron was spitting flames! The lone ashwinder egg that he had left in the flask had spontaneously caught fire and was starting to smoke up the area around him. Instantly, his mind went back the book's list of precautions for working with this potion. One of the very first items on the list was the warning about leaving ashwinder eggs unfrozen for too long a period of time. With a quick watering charm, Bryce doused out the small flask of flames, hoping that nobody else had noticed. Turning his gaze around the room, Bryce silently went back to the supply cupboard and grabbed another frozen ashwinder egg.

Bryce's face was now a fiery shade of red itself, and he felt as though everyone must have realized the smoke by now. Still, he concentrated on his work, hoping that nothing was lost aside from some time and a bit of his pride. He finished adding the chopped up leeches, and watched as the potion began to bubble. He paid close attention, trying to pinpoint the exact moment that the bubbling began to cease. Deciding it had, he dropped in the last of the eggs, this time avoiding the mistake of leaving it at room temperature for too long. The bubbling stopped eventually, and Bryce looked into the cauldron to see a coloured mixture that resembled what the potion first looked like in step one. It seemed fair enough, or at least he thought so. Bryce couldn't help but wonder if the potion was actually supposed to resemble blood itself, because his sure did.

Quickly, Bryce bottled a sample of his mixture and then began to clean up. The first thing he took care of was the charred flask that was the result of his flaming egg. He thought he heard some snickering as he washed out the flask, but ignored it all the same. Bryce was pleased that he had at least succeeded in making something, whether or not it was a successful potion, he was sure Snape would be more than willing to explain what might have went wrong if it wasn't. Finishing up, Bryce took a seat and waited for the rest of the class to finish and for Snape to make his rounds.

[Ariane Chan]

Ariane didn’t need to rummage through her bag for her new lessons timetable to know what class she had next. Potions. Ariane did wonder at times during these days why she had decided to take Potions even though she knew Snape had never taken a liking to her, and the feeling was rather mutual. However, Ariane was not one to back down from a challenge, nor was she the type to give up on a subject she enjoyed just because the teacher was hard to tolerate. Ariane had told herself before her sixth year began that if she wished to do what she wanted to do, and if she planned on passing her Potions NEWT well, she would do whatever it took to do so. Exiting her Charms lesson and waving goodbye to Aurora, who left for Muggle Studies, Ariane hurried down the corridors towards the dungeons. Part of her looked forward to Potions, another half dreaded seeing Snape again. Ariane had always held back some sort of affinity for Potions, and had managed to survive five years of the subject, even gaining an Outstanding in her OWL (for which Ariane was relieved, because otherwise she doubted she would’ve been allowed to continue it onto NEWT level as she was doing today). Aurora, on the other hand, had just barely scraped an Acceptable, which Ariane found rather amusing.

Ariane entered the dungeons silently, one of the first students to arrive, and seated herself with a blank expression on her face. The routine was one she followed without much debate, having settled into it swiftly since the start of her sixth year. It was true when people said NEWTs were much harder than the OWLs. Ariane had found herself buried in homework during her first week back at school; poor Aurora had barely survived, if it hadn’t been for Ariane’s help. The workload as well as the learning level had risen highly; no wonder they didn’t like to accept students who had at least gained an Exceeds Expectations in their OWLs. Ariane gazed around expectantly as more students began to file into the dungeon, recognising most of the faces. It was a mixed group of sixth and seventh years, Ariane noticing a Slytherin girl from her year, India Nightingale, taking a seat just in front of her; Ariane noticed subconsciously the amount of subjects she shared with the black haired girl. Scraping her hair into a high ponytail so her black locks wouldn’t get in the way, Ariane waited for the lesson to begin patiently.

Finally the class was underway with a terse order from Snape, and Ariane set to work diligently. One good thing about Snape was, despite his general open dislike towards any house besides his own, was that he left the students to try the potions mixing to themselves. This method of teaching suited Ariane well, because she had always been an independent person, not one to ask for help but rather struggle on by herself, whatever the result. Harmony on the other hand failed drastically in Potions classes. First off, she had never been naturally good at the subject, and always needed some sort of assistance. Then, she wouldn’t be able to complete the work because no one, especially the teacher, was willing to provide any aid, wanting to see how the students fared at the end of the day. In Harmony’s case? Badly.

Ariane glanced up at the board for instructions after collecting her needed ingredients, placing them on the desk beside her cauldron. The first task was simple enough; not much skill needed there. Ariane eyes skimmed the rest of the instructions twice, before grabbing the Fluxweed first. Using a simple spell, Ariane broke the plant into little pieces, each sprig’s contents lying in a small bundle on the desk, waiting to be used. She then set about chopping her Leeches. Ariane always read the instructions thoroughly first, did the correct preparations, before calmly concocting the Potion. She may be slower than some students with her methods, but they usually brought about the right results.

Finally ready, and with a grim face of determination, Ariane carefully deposited two Pomegranates and three Ashwinder eggs into the cauldron, sprinkling the right amount of Essence of Belladona along with it. Ariane began to stir it slowly with her wand as the first command ordered, her eyes fixed on the clock on the nearby wall, though her hand was waiting to feel the written description of a consistency of mud in the mixture. The substance in the cauldron was indeed an interesting red-orange shade, one which Ariane didn’t find particularly endearing. Finally, after about five minutes of constant stirring, and deeming the mixture to be mud-like enough, Ariane used her wand to lift the small pieces left of a sprig of Fluxweed and popped it into the cauldron too. As Snape had written on the board, the substance started smoking, but Ariane didn’t panic as she watched it quietly. The shade of the mixture hadn’t changed much, but the board did insist that it was a gradual occurrence. ”Three minutes…” Ariane watched the seconds hand tick by fixedly before adding another chopped sprig, her eyes sometimes darting towards the concoction with curiosity, interest and hope.

Ariane was glad she had prepared enough chopped Fluxweed; her concoction was finally a rather nice golden yellow, and no more smoke wisped around her cauldron. Not one to stand around and be proud of what she had done just yet, Ariane moved swiftly onto the next command as she read it over again on the board. Carefully Ariane’s wand lifted the chopped Leeches into the mixture, and she looked on blankly, waiting for a response. A minute or so soon had the concoction bubbling away rather nicely. Nodding to herself with a slight crease of determination along her brow, Ariane patiently waited for the bubbling to decrease, and then added the last Ashwinder egg. After some more silent waiting, Ariane’s cauldron’s contents had stopped bubbling, leaving behind a rusty orange colour. Ariane tilted her head to one side with a slight frown, hoping this was right. It matched the description on the board, and she had done it all perfectly. Not bothering to look up to Snape for any confirmation, for she knew she would not get any until the end of the lesson, Ariane did as the board instructed and began to stir the mixture with her wand again. Her eyes counted the seconds ticking by, until after just less than four minutes, Ariane’s potion was indeed a blood-like colour. Happy with her end result, she quickly bottled it and moved to clean her workplace up. As usual, she was one of the latter students still at work. The Nightingale girl was sitting stoically in front of Ariane, having finished a while ago. Refraining a roll of her eyes, Ariane’s wand quickly took care of the clean up business, before seating herself again, waiting for Snape’s judgement moment. So far in her Potions lessons, Ariane hadn’t done a single concoction that wrongly yet; she hoped her record streak would not come crashing down today.

[cdc]

Jamison shut the book finally, as he saw that it was nearly time for Potions. Jamison didn’t mind Potions really. He found it a lot less challenging than NEWTS Defense Against The Dark Arts, for some reason. He wasn’t completely gifted at the subject, but Jamison was fairly confident that he could receive a decent mark in it during his final year at Hogwarts. It was weird really, Jamison would be graduating at the end of the year. Jamison had always seen Hogwarts as his home and soon enough he would have to leave it. Jamison sighed, standing up and leaving the DADA book on the table in the Prefect’s Lounge. He was pretty sure that it would be there when he returned from Potions. If not, Jamison could use a finding spell.

Jamison never would have thought during his first year that he would be Head Boy in his seventh year. No, the thought never crossed his mind. Wendi, however, had been saying it for years, but Jamison had told her that it would never happen. Of course, Wendi disagreed like always. Jamison walked through the halls, nodding to the people that he knew and smiling all the same. Things didn’t seem much different now that he was Head Boy, nope. His friends still treated him the same and Jamison still had to work hard in his classes. Jamison did like the comfort of the Prefect’s Lounge, though. It was a lot easier to study there than in the common room. At least he didn’t have to worry about those silly love potions that the fourth years were fond of in the Prefect’s Lounge.

Jamison walked into the Dungeon, casually. He noticed the board straight away and walked over to a cauldron. After taking down the notes from the board, and as Professor Snape gave them permission to begin, Jamison gathered the necessary ingredients and placing them on a near-by desk. After eyeing his notes again, Jamison took a few steps closer to his cauldron. Jamison had to chop the leeches before he could begin. After chopping the three slimy creatures into pieces, he eyes his notes he had taken form the board yet again. Jamison then began making the potion.

Jamison first added one palmful of ground Essence of Belladona as instructed. He then dropped in three Ashwinder Eggs one at a time as lightly as he possibly could. After glances at his notes again, Jamison added the two pomegranates and began to fix them slowly together. If he did this correctly, the mixture should first resemble a reddish colored paste. Jamison smiled thinking that it looked as the description said that it should. He continued to stir the mixture as it had to have the consistency of mud or so his notes said. After five minutes, the paste finally seemed to have a mud-like consistency.

Jamison then grabbed one sprig of fluxweed and broke it into several pieces as instructed before adding it to the mixture of ingredients in the cauldron. A mist of smoke emerged from the cauldron and fixture began to lighten in color. After three minutes, Jamison broke another sprig of fluxweed and added it. Again, the cauldron smoked and the mixture began to turn a yellow color. After waiting another three minutes, Jamison added the last sprig after breaking it into piece. After three minutes of letter it sit, the mixture seemed to be yellow and was smoking a good bit.

After the mixture stopped its smoking, Jamison began to add the three chopped leeches. He didn’t stir the mixture as instructed, but waiting for it to begin bubbling. After this process began, it came to a large boil, almost to the point where the mixture seemed as if it would overflow the cauldron, but it calmed down. As the bubbling began to slow down a bit, Jamison added the final Ashwinder egg to the mix. Jamison took the next few minutes looking about the room at the other student’s as he waited for the bubbling to stop altogether. The potion was an orange-like, rust color at this point. The finals tep was to stir the potion for about four minutes with Jamison did.

As Jamison finished the potion, he began to clean up his area before walking back to his potion. He assumed that he had done a good job as the potion looked very much like blood. Jamison hoped it was acceptable to Professor Snape as he really needed to pass the class with a rather good mark for the year. Jamison sighed. Potions wasn’t his favorite subject, but he felt like he had done his best with it. Jamison stood by the cauldron waiting for Professor Snape to examine his work and give any critiques that he might have had.

[Zara Phoenix]

Zara sighed softly to herself as she shouldered her bag and headed towards the dungeons at a leisurely pace. She was in no rush to get to Potions; there was plenty of time until the lesson began. Potions was one of Zara’s least favourite subjects, but she had been forced to take it, because she wanted to become an Auror after she graduated, and it was a necessity. How it was needed for the job of an Auror, Zara could never figure out; she was just glad she wasn’t doing eight NEWTs, as Sapphire was. Slipping through a crowd of first years giggling excitedly, Zara wondered what they would be concocting today. It wasn’t just Snape she wasn’t particularly fond of as a teacher; Zara had never really enjoyed Potions that much. She worked hard to achieve her high scores, that was all. Her natural affinity lay in Transfiguration and the like.

Zara entered the dungeons and looked around the classroom. She noted some sixth years, recognised Jamison from Ravenclaw, and moved to sit down. She remembered having a conversation with her fellow classmate on the train ride home a few months ago, and wondered if he had had a boring holiday just as he had stated. Dropping her bag by her feet, Zara made herself comfortable and waited for the lesson to start. As usual, she just made the bell. Soon, Snape had set the lesson underway, and Zara went to collect the necessary ingredients stated on the board. It seemed an easy enough task, she decided as her eyes skimmed over the words quickly.

In went the Essence of Belladonna, the two Pomegranates and three Ashwinder eggs. Zara stirred it thoroughly, doing her best to concentrate on the job at hand. She did not wish to fail Potions. She wanted to prove to Snape that she could pass this subject in her final year, and she would be able to become a satisfactory Auror. The mixture in Zara’s cauldron was a shade of orange-red, and nodding to herself, she proceeded to add in the Fluxweed every three minutes. The smoke it gave off was cool, Zara smiled, as she put in her third sprig of Fluxweed after shredding it to little pieces. The potion seemed to be turning yellow, to Zara’s relief. Finally, the substance stopped smoking, leading Zara to realise she had forgotten to chop the Leeches. Quickly doing so and cursing her inability to read instructions carefully before the start of the experiment, Zara added the Leeches in too, almost stirring the concoction with her wand. She held back at the last minute, stopping her sudden urge. Zara always had the impulse to stir anything in her cauldron, it was reflex.

The potion began to bubble, and Zara stared at it anxiously as it did so, waiting for said diminish in activity. Finally, she deemed it suitable to add the last Ashwinder egg, and waited again for the rust like colour to seep out. Finally the potion turned an orange-like shade, and Zara began to stir it slowly, watching for the blood colour to appear. After four minutes of continuously stirring, Zara noted that her concoction was a reddy-brown colour, and was changing no more. Hoping it was suitable enough, she bottled it quickly and cleared away. There were still quite a few students at work, so Zara sat down and stared absently at her result. She hoped it would pass Snape’s judgement.

[Professor Severus Snape]

As the students busied themselves with their work, Snape looked up only periodically at first. How hard could it be, he figured. Part of his wished he's have given less instruction when writing up the directions, but at the same time, he didn't feel like having to brew a bulk mixture of the potion for the Ministry. If the students could do some of it, it'd be less he had to worry about. With a sigh and a bored stare, Snape scanned the room, noting that many of them were well into their assignment. Time to do what he was best at...

Bryce Alexander
The first student was one that Snape didn't know too well. He remembered him being fairly competent though when it came to Potions. For a second, he observed Bryce and then stepped in to examine the final project. Snape took the bottled potion in his finger and examined it closely. The clolour indicated that the timing was fairly decent. It wasn't perfect, but it would work. Still, he left the potion on the desk, for only the best could be sent to the Ministry.

"Fair enough, Mr. Alexander." Snape noticed that the boy was cleaning out a flask which had black streaks lining the neck. Snape gave an amused smirk, but maintained his cold tone. "Can you tell me, Mr. Alexander, what happens when ashwinder eggs thaw?" He looked at the boy who seemed crushed to realize that Snape had realized what happened. "Five points for sheer luck."

Ariane Chan
Moving forward, Snape found a sixth year Gryffindor next. It was her first NEWT level class with him, and he was curious to see how she had fared. Again, he took the time to examine the contents of the bottle. The colour was even more accurate than the potion he had just examined.

With a steely glare, he eyed up the girl and then pocketed the potion. "Fine job, Ms. Chan" he managed. "Ten points to Gryffindor." Snape never liked giving points to Gryffindor, but she had brewed a blood-replenishing potion that would surely be good enough for him to submit to the Ministry.

Jamison Parson
Stepping to the next student, Snape noticed the 'Head Boy' pin on his robes. "Ah, Mr. Parson," he commented, quickly snatching the bottled work that Jamison had finished. "Head Boy means nothing if you can't live up to the honor," he added with a sneer. He couldn't say much wrong about the potion though. It seemed that the final product was accurate enough.

Again, Snape pocketed the flask and gave a bored look. "Ten points for Ravenclaw. Next time we'll see if you are as fortunate." It never failed that the Ravenclaw students seemed to follow the directions to the letter. He always wondered how they'd do if he just told them to make a potion from scratch- pure knowledge. Then he'd see just how brilliant they really were.

Zara Phoenix
Another Gryffindor student awaited his interaction next. She was one he recognized. Not a natural at Potions, he recalled she was on the list of students who were hoping to continue on to earn Auror status. It never failed there were a few of those students in his classes that frankly wouldn't have been there had they not wished to become an Auror.

Swirling the potion in his hand, Snape noticed that the colour wasn't quite right. It wasn't completely wrong, but indicated slight deviations in the precise timing needed to make this potion perfect. "Perhaps your timing will not be as flawed next time," he said, sitting the potion back down on the desk. Only the best could be used for the Ministry. "Five points for simply completing the task," he mumbled apathetically.

[Jasmine Anderson]

“Come on Sapph!” Jasmine whined as she began to pull a comb through her dark hair. Looking across the room at her friend, Jasmine rolled her eyes playfully turning to her own school bag. She had set all her class book inside for the day, which wasn’t much. Since this was her last year at Hogwarts, Jasmine only took the courses that she mainly needed to become a healer. She already knew that she had to take five courses before entering her training next summer. Only three out of the five classes where Jasmine’s strongest areas: Potions, Herbology, and Charms. Transfiguration and Defense against the Dark Arts were the classes she struggled with the most. Luckily, with a lot of hard work, and study hours, she had received fairly good OWL scores on her fifth year exam to continue in those five subjects. Luckily Sapphire was quite talented at Transfiguration, and Brantley was excellent in Defense against the Dark Arts. The only difference that put a lot of pressure on Jasmine to do well this year was her title as Head Girl. She was personally quite shocked when she read about the news in her letter. Jamison had always given the title, but Head Boy. “Ready?” Jasmine asked as she pulled on the ends of her dress robes. Sapphire nodded as Jasmine collected her school bag. The two headed out the common room and down the familiar dudgeons where Potions was.

They made it to class with almost five minutes to spare. Jasmine took a seat next to her friend, dropping her bag down on the ground, under the desk. She took out her kit that held all her supplies for the year, setting it on the table next to her parchment and quill. Hearing the dull voice of Professor Snape as he started class, Jasmine looked up at the board. She quickly copied the ingredients and directions onto her parchment before taking out all the materials. The only thing that made Jasmine gag slight was the dead leeches in the small container. Taking the Essence of Belladona and putting it into the cauldron, she quickly added the Pomegranates, and three of the Ashwinder Eggs along. Turning the knob of cauldron on, she recorded the time from the clock, before taking her wooden spoon out and stirring. She looked occasionally at the clock, glancing back down at her parchment that had her starting time. With only one minute left to go, Jasmine took out a handful of Fluxweed, breaking the twigs in pieces. When five minutes was up, Jasmine then began to add the first sprig, continuing to stir with her left hand. Her arm was slowly growing tired with each rotation, but she ignored the slight pain.

Light smoke began to rise from her cauldron, which was a good thing. The directions had clearly said that smoke would rise with each sprig of Fluxweed added every minute. Three minutes flew by, as the liquid in her cauldron turned a yellow color. Sighing with relief as everything seemed to be going well, she took her chopped leeches, adding the cut up creatures into the liquid. Gazing back at her handwriting, Jasmine sighed as she leaned back into her chair, waiting for the bubbling to begin. It slowly began to rise to a point which made Jasmine nervous that it was going to boil over. She almost reached out for her spoon, but stopped noticing the bubbles decrease. That was a quick save. Adding in the last of the Ashwinder egg, she watched the egg dissolve into the bubbles. Once the boiling had ended, Jasmine picked up her spoon again, stirring at a slow pace, her eyes watching the clock. The only thing that Jasmine really didn’t like about potions was the constant stirring. Most students used their wands, but not Jasmine. Maybe it reminder her off cooking?

Her potion soon turned into the same rusty color of blood. Smiling, Jasmine turned off the heat. Grabbing a small flask to contain potions, she added her potion inside, closing the top off tightly. Setting her sample down on the table next to her directions, Jasmine then started cleaning up. She first threw all the extra string ends of the Fluxweed into the waste bin, before putting all her materials back into her kit. Jasmine left her kit on the table though as Professor Snape began to make his round. He frightened Jasmine a little, but she knew how to get on teacher’s good sides. All you really had to do in class was be quiet, and do you work. Looking over at Sapph, she smiled slightly, looking back around the room as everyone began to clean up.

[amberr]

NO, NO, NO! These were the only thoughts occupying the sixth year's mind as she raced down the stairs toward the dungeons. How could she let herself be this late?! Usually she was late because the class before Potions was up on the fifth floor... That is quite a bit to walk in only five minutes. Professor Snape never understood. In fact, he wasn't even close to understanding.

NEWTs had the perfect name... Nasty! She hated her classes and the fact that it was all for her NEWTs next year. They were incredibly hard and gave her frequent headaches. The worst part of all, was the fact that none of this was helping Amber achieve her career goal. She wanted a career in journalism. So, how was a NEWT in potions going to help her? Lucky enough, she had acheived an E in potions for her owls, but that was the only one. How she had gotten such a score was beyond her... Sitting the NEWT class, with Snape sneering down his hooked nose at her, was not the way she liked to spend her Fridays...

However, there she was, every Friday before Lunch. Being one of the only Gryffindors in the class. Snape had this way of favoring every Slytherin who entered his dungeon classroom and despise every Gryffindor. This was entirely unfair, for sure, and it got on Amber's nerves more than just a little. She wasn't very good at Potions... although her test scores show otherwise. In truth, she had just been incredibly lucky! The day of OWLs, only one year before, she had been told to make the one potion she was really good at. The Draught of Peace was Amber's specialty. It was a mystery as to why she was good at that one potion, but she was. The moment Snape asked her to brew it, she somehow did it perfectly. Whether it was because she followed the rules in the book all too well, or she just... got lucky...

Dreading the next few seconds were she would walk into Snape's class, ten minutes late, Amber ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Finally, she made it to the door to the classroom, took a deep breath, and walked in. Everyone was working on their potions, with Snape patrolling as usual. Amber tried her best to blend in with the wall as she made her way to her seat, her heart hammering. She was nearly there when Snape's beady eyes looked straight at her.

[Sapphire Phoenix R7]

Sapphire let the words of her History of Magic extra-reading textbook pass slowly through her head and somewhere into the back of her memory as she lounged on her bed. Jasmine had been busy beautifying herself last time she'd glanced up. Sapphire was already ready, but at the moment she looked as though she'd be impossible to tear away from the book. Most people did not understand why she enjoyed History of Magic. But for Sapphire who had moved around so much, the background and context that it gave her made her feel more based in a culture, because the magical world was steeped in history and a culture as old as the powers that she possessed within herself. So for Sapphire, something that most other students were incapable of was possible for her - she could find History of Magic, even with Professor Binns, highly interesting. Knowing a bit about the topics they were studying beforehand helped - because that way she didn't have to struggle too hard to extract the main points from his drone, which failed to emphasise the most important points. That meant that she had more time to pick up the details that only teachers could tell you properly.

"Come on Sapph!" The words pierced through Sapphire's learning stance, and she shook herself from her concentration. Those words would have gone through into her memory with all of the History of Magic information she'd just learnt, and that was most unfortunate. She didn't want to have a mind block in the exam because 'Come on Sapph!' suddenly popped up in her thoughts. Sapphire noticed her friend rolling her eyes at her, and fixed her with a disbelieving stare. The cheek of it! As though she would ever not be ready! She'd been as good as ready for plenty of time now, while Jasmine had been getting herself looking lovely. Just because she didn't have the appearance of a person waiting to go didn't mean that she hadn't been. Jasmine knew that just as well as she did. Still, Sapphire gave her a grin, swinging her legs off the bed and slipping them into her shoes. She nodded as Jasmine asked whether she was ready, taking the opportunity to get her own back in rolling her eyes as she picked her schoolbag up, leaving the History of Magic book on the bed.

Potions was not Sapphire's favourite, or best subject. She hadn't much liked Herbology, and being good at Herbology was very helpful for being good at Potions. She understood all the theory without problems and found that very interesting, which was why she was doing Potions, but she didn't have a natural affinity for dealing with all of the ingredients just so. Sapphire's strength didn't lie in making things by hand, which Potions involved. She was creative, yes, and she'd mastered Conjuring Spells quite nicely by now, but Potions required more a way of handling magical ingredients than raw magical power. So no, it wasn't her best subject. She had to do everything as best as she could, substituting for natural ability with thorough knowledge of how best to do things. Sapphire in a Potions lesson was totally focused. So while of course she smiled once at her sister as she noticed her and set up her cauldron next to Jasmine's, she then proceeded to ignore her friend until the point when she began clearing up.


Sapphire had always disliked unmathematical units of measurement. A palmful. One person’s palm could be far bigger than another’s. If Professor Hagrid were to add one of his palmfuls according to these instructions, the consequences could be disastrous. But it didn't do to dwell on these things in a Potions class. You just had to get on with the task. Sapphire quickly copied down the notes on the board, as she preferred to work from a piece of paper beside her rather than having to always glance up at the board which might be blocked by someone standing in front of it anyway. She then collected together the ingredients required, trying to run through in her mind everything that she remembered about them. She was anxious not to let any of the troublesome components, which Professor Snape was always glad to have them contend with, bother her today. It was the components that usually caused her the most trouble, so she had to make an extra effort to learn about their properties. She knew the reputation of this potion - it was hard enough to make as it was.

Essence of Belladonna - fairly stable, but also pretty poisonous, so not the best thing to get on your hands considering the associated danger of ingestion. Sapphire didn't really want Professor Snape to have to administer the antidote. Fluxweed - she'd always had trouble recognising that in Herbology because of how different it looked at different stages of its development from a seedling to a mature plant, so not one of her favourite things. Leeches, also not the most pleasant thing on earth, and even less pleasant when cut up. Pomegranates - were supposed to be eaten, in her opinion. Perhaps the potion would be inedible otherwise! And then the most unfamiliar ingredient - Ashwinder eggs. All she could remember about these was that you were supposed to keep them cold. Which would make sense, since they'd come frozen. Sapphire filled a small dish with water and then used her wand to freeze its contents. She placed her flask of Ashwinder eggs on top of the frozen surface, making sure that it was held in place by the sides of the dish and that the icy surface wasn't a slippery disaster waiting to happen.

Now, with all the ingredients prepared, she could begin. She might be a little behind the others, but hopefully her careful preparation meant that things would go okay. Sapphire mixed the first set of ingredients together and judged the colour to be a satisfactory rusty-orange. She began stirring, which she considered to be rather hard work. Sapphire was made for mental, rather than physical exercise. So Potions lessons were her form of workouts. Other than that, her exercise was limited to strolls around the Courtyard, and occasionally in the Grounds. The five minutes seemed to pass slower and slower as her arms tired, but eventually with about 10 seconds to go she decided that the consistency was that of mud (not that she was a Quidditch player who had more than enough experience of that precise consistency. That sort of thing was best left to Zara). Sapphire picked up her first sprig of Fluxweed and broke it into three slightly uneven pieces. In they went. The potion began to give off little wisps of smoke and the colour began to show hints of yellow, just about as quickly as a plant might grow. Sapphire frowned a little, and she left the potion for an additional fifteen seconds as she chopped her other two sprigs into four even pieces each. She dropped these in at their relevant times and was pleased to see that this time the colour crept gradually towards a warm yellow, the tinge growing stronger only just perceptibly. Still a little bit better than before, where she could quite easily have dozed off.

Once she was happy that it wasn't going to emit any more smoke, Sapphire scraped the chopped leeches into the mixture. She peered anxiously into the abyss of her cauldron as much as it was advisable to do, considering the tendency of faulty, and even some correct potions to invade the surrounding environment, in order to see the promised bubbling. She was greatly heartened when she saw the potion beginning to bubble, and watched gratefully as it bubbled away with a swell of intensity a little like she would add to a bar of music when she was playing the viola. It did seem to her today to have a sort of rhythm, and she was able to anticipate the slowing of the bubbling in order to add the last Ashwinder egg. It was all plain sailing from there to bottling a sample of the potion she'd made. There always seemed to Sapphire to be remarkably little produced for the amount of effort required. Oh well... it must just be the tragedy of the 'art' of Potion-making... the best things only came in small measures. The potion in her flask seemed to her to be an almost indiscernible shade brighter than blood that she'd seen... but then again, the haemoglobin in blood was oxidised so quickly on contact with air that she had probably never seen it as the colour that it was actually inside the body, but rather the darker colour. She didn't know whether or not it was even approaching perfection, was the truth. Still, she was done. Sapphire returned Jasmine's smile as she cleaned up her workspace, awaiting Professor Snape's verdict.

[Professor Severus Snape]

Jasmine Anderson
Snape moved to the next student, a bit disappointed to see another Ravenclaw. He had been less than thrilled when he had realized that there was a distinct lack of Slytherin students in his NEWT level class. All the while, there wasn't much he could do to change that now.

"Miss Anderson," he greeted dully. "Have we a potion here that compares to your counterpart's?" he asked, referring to Jamison. It was always his task to make sure that the head boy and head girl never got special treatment in his class. If anything, he might have even been a little harder on them.

"Fair enough," he sneered, taking her potion as well. "Ten points for Ravenclaw, but I do say, please act like you are a witch. Stirring with a spoon is muggle business. You have a wand for a reason... use it!" His snappy voice trailed off as he moved onward.

Amber Hess
The next student was none other than a Gryffindor who dared to arrive late to his class. Snape clicked his tongue and looked down his nose at the girl. "You have better things to do that to attend my class, Miss Hess?" he asked, not even bothering to allow her to give an answer. "Ten points from Gryffindor. I trust that you will not be tardy again unless you wish to be dropped from the course roster." Snape turned, his black cloak swirling in her midst and went to grade the final potion.

Sapphire Phoenix
"And the sister," he retorted, seeing that both of the Phoenix girls had managed to make it into his class. "Well, I'd say that perhaps you can teach Zara a thing or two about proper planning and timing." Snape took Sapphire's potion as well, making at least half a dozen samples that he could use for the Ministry's request. "Ten points to Ravenclaw."


With that, Snape marched back to the front of the room for his final instructions. "Fine work today class, although I do hope you realize that even my beginner students can follow instructions from the board. Next time, expect the lesson to be a bit more challenging. I simply couldn't afford for you all to mess up this particular potion." He waved his wand, and the instructions disappeared, followed by a new set of directions. "Here is your homework. I trust that you will all turn it in... on time," he glared at Amber when adding the last bit. "Off you go then."

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OOC
Homework: Each student should write an essay on a 1-foot scroll that details the five main dangers of improperly using the blood replenishing potion. In addition, remedies and antidotes for the side-effects of the potion should be included. Due Wednesday September 26, 2007. PM to Snape's account no later than midnight GMT Eastern on the given due date. House points will be awarded on a basis of creativity, length, and logical sense. Note: You are allowed to submit the essay with characters of yours that didn't actually make an appearance in class. Simply roleplay that they were in class if you'd like to help your house earn some extra points for completing the homework.