Potions OWL's ((4th - 5th Years))

[Professor Severus Snape]

Professor Severus Snape walked up and down the rows of the classes lazily dragging a finger along a desk or two. He looked down with scorn at the smudges this inflicted on this desk. The beginners simply did not know how to keep the potions in their cauldrons. Luckily he had had them make a cleaning solution so it wouldn’t be too difficult for the detentionees to finish cleaning that evening. The sooner they got finished and out of there the sooner he got to stop supervising those clowns. Right now, though, it was time for his OWL class. They would be working on a beautifying potion – as if those teenagers needed to focus anymore on their appearance. Honestly, they worked so hard and yet they all still ended up gangly and awkward looking. One by one the students filled into the room and Professor Snape sat down at his desk waiting for them all to arrive.

On the board the instructions for today’s potions were written for the students to begin when they sat down:

1. Stirring constantly bring to a boil 7 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of bubotuber pus.
2. Lower heat to minimum and add a 1 inch section of rat tail.
3. Allow potion to simmer for 10 minutes.
Solution should be a thick dull yellow colour.
4. Carefully add 1 pinch of hellbore powder. The powder can be attained at the front of the class as students would not have any.
5. Stir potion clockwise 6 times.
6. Insert 1 tablespoon of pomegranate juice.
7. Bring potion to a boil once more. Then simmer for 8 minutes.
The potion should have become less creamy and changed to a grey colour. This potion is not to be ingested.

“You may begin.” Professor Snape said without preamble to the class in general when the time came for the lesson to begin.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona smiled as she walked down the stairs to the dungeon. She knew that her favorite class was about to begin and that was enough to make her ten times happier. Potions was all she cared about and she would do anything to make sure she was in the class. She walked quietly into the classroom. She was the first. Looking around the familiar dungeon classroom Fiona smiled brightly. She darkness and the smell was so inviting for her. It was one of her favorite things int he world. The dank dungeon was incredible and she restrained her glee at the prospect of beginning potions for her 4th year. "Good afternoon, Professor," Fiona said with respect as she took a spot at the front of the class. She pulled out her potions book and her supplies. Setting them in front of her Fiona looked up at the board to see what potion they would be working on that day.

Fiona began to take out the necessary supplies she would need for the lesson. She retrieved the 1 pinch of hellbore powder from the front of the class that she would need during the making of her potion. She opened her book to the page with the beautifying potion on it just to be sure she had all of the necessary things. Looking back up at the board she sat her cauldron on the burner and added the cups of water. She was delighted to begin making the potion.

Fiona poured seven cups of water and three tablespoons of bubotuber pus into her cauldron and stirred constantly. Lowering her heat when the water began to boil she added a one inch section of rat tail. She then allowed the potion to simmer for 10 minutes. She reread the instruction during the time allotment. She looked down at her potion and smiled at the dull yellow colour. She love potions. It was her fortay. Fiona carefully added the 1 pinch of hellbore powder and stirred the potion clockwise 6 times. She checked the instructions uickly as she inserted a tablespoon of pomegranate juice. She turned up the burner and brought the potion to a boil. Letting it simmer for 8 minutes she reread the instructions making sure she had done everything correctly. After the eight minutes she looked down at her potion and smiled at the grey colour that it had.

Fiona had done it right and she knew it. She raised her hand high into the air and smiled at Professor Snape. "Professor Snape, my potion is finished if you would like to take a look," Fiona said with arrogance and confidence. She sat down in her stoll waiting to see what Professor Snape would say about her potion. She hoped it was perfect.

[cleo]

Loud music was blasting away in Cleo’s ears as she sang along to it while covering her nails with a deep-green nail-polish. Being careful not to smudge the nail-polish in any way as she finally finished. Not minding the slight wait Cleo leaned on the pillows on her bed and let her nails dry. Finally being satisfied with them Cleo pulled over a thick sweater – the dungeons were cold! – and a pair of pants that was part of hte unfirom luckily.
Pulling the robe over her clothes and closing it tightly, so her sweater didn't show from under it, Cleo pulled the brush thourgh her hair basent-mindedly as the red hair was looking as nice as ever. Grabbing her potions book Cleo left her dormitory and sauntered down the staircases towards the potions classroom. She reached the room about 5 minutes early and sauntered just as calmly into the room. Cleo wasn’t especially good in potions. But she didn’t really care either. Who would wnat to be constantly surrounded by foul-smelling entrails and powders and whatever other things. Not Cleo most certainly. At the very least Snape dind’t bother Cleo – after all, he didn’t play any significance to her!

„Professor,“ Cleo said coolly as she dropped her things on the table in the middle of the class and reached her legs calmly in front of her. She didn’t care about the bat in the dungeons but he was a professor after all. Cleo should at least appear somewhat respectful. Bt Cleo didn’t really wish for the professor to have a good day.
Wondering how on earth she was supposed to stir and measure ingredients at the same time, Cleo sighed and transfiguring a few of her possessions into small glass jars measured out all the ingredients out.

Starting the fire finally Cleo stired with her right hand while she dumped the 7 cups of water into the cauldron as well as the bubotuber pus. Cleo didn’t realyl want to spend much time thinking what exactly it was so she wa sjust glad she didn’t have to see it anymore. Lowering the heat again Cleo grimaced with distaste. Being careful only to touch the rat’s tail by her nails Cleo dropped it into her cauldron before gladly sittin back and letting the cauldron simmer, while she burshed her left hand with a kleenex. Rats carried around plague. Who knew what exactly Snape had in all of those sotrage-rooms here.

Raising up, Cleo grabbed a small cup to go and walked into the fron to fthe class her heels clicking too happily in the silent class-room. „Hellbore powder,“ Cleo muttered looking at Snape’s table before noticing the jar and measureing out a pinch of it. Returning to her seat Cleo placed the cup with the powder on the table and almost missed the 10 minutes mark. Luckily she went over time only by about 10 seconds, so Cleo poured the hellbore powder into the cauldron calmly before starting to stir. Clockwise and 3.. no, 6 times. Wondering if Snape would mind if she drank some of the pomegranate juice herself, Cleo dropped a spoonful of it into the cauldron none the less. Wondering at what heat she should boil it now – small, medium or high heat Cleo smirked sarcastically and raised the heat to 100 degrees by Celsius and left it there for 8 minutes.

Finally 8 minutes passed and Cleo flicked her wand sharply to turn the fire off. It was only now that Cleo glanced in the cauldron. It looked icky and a dull boring gray. Like storm-clouds. Perhaps it was a bit clotted, but you weren’t luckily supposed to swallow the potion. Raising up the ladle Cleo destroyed the bigger clots and then stirred it some so it started to look more like a smooth liquid, even though she was sure Snape wouldn’t like it too much. Well, tough luck for him. At least all the inredients were in, the potion was ready and it looked as bad as ever. Boring colour. Cleo even prefered pink and orange to this boring old grey this potion was.

[aubree]

Aubree walked gracefully through the dungeons. She was delighted to be attending her favorite subject. The other subjects bored her. They were too simple. Any idiot could receive good marks in Herebology and Charms. Potions was different. Aubree had to work at it. To master the potion being made, you have to follow the instructions completely without errors. This task was hard but Aubree liked a good challenge. It made her feel strong and powerful when she completed a potion. She liked to accomplish things. Aubree always liked to stand out, to be known. Being an excellent student was one of the things that made her stand out. Another thing that made her stand out was her beauty. Aubree was naturally beautiful and she loved to show it off. She was wearing her clean Slytherin robes and her hair was perfect as usual. She smiled a bit excited to be attending a useful subject.

Aubree walked into the potions classroom. She looked around it. It was a shame the dungeons were dirty and cold. The eeriness made it seem like a scary subject. Aubree wished others appreciated the subject like she did. Other pure-bloods Ravenclaws and Slytherins that is. Those Hufflepuff and Gryffindorks could just die and Aubree wouldn't care at all. That would actually make her life nicer and easier. Without them, she wouldn't have to take time out to scream at them. Aubree wouldn't have to scream at them if they were polite and decent. but, they weren't. Aubree walked further into the room. She first went to the professor. "hello professor." She said giving him a respectful nod. Aubree then went to find a seat. She spotted Fiona. "Hello, Fiona." She said. Aubree then took a seat near her and started on her potion.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

God, why did it have to be potions? Cass walked down the hallway with a frown on her face. She hated potions. There was no way to make Snape happy, and if just seemed fruitless to go through this every semester. Cass' cauldron and potion suppllies clinked together in her bag. Did she really need all these things for every potions class. It would be so much easier if Snape would send out the potion assignement a couple of days in advance so they wouldn't have to lug all this around. Of course, that would defeat the point of potions. If they knew what they were brewing, they wouldn't get the chance to get frustrated searching for the correct indredient.

Opening the door to the potion's classroom, she found an empty able in the middle of the room and sat down at it. She emptied her bag of her supplies and began to set them out in front of her. Looking around the room, she only saw two other Slytherins and another Ravenclaw. Two of the girls she had never met before, but the other was Aubree Montague. Cass had recently just had a run in with her, and didn't relish seeing her again. Keeping her head down, she decided to keep her mouth shut and not start anything in class.

[crane]

Gary had to admit that he was rather exited. He didn’t really like professor Snape. Gary often found his comments mean and he wasn’t fair. But Gary liked Potions. And it was a good thing that he liked them and was good at them. He wanted to become a medi-wizard one day so Potions was compulsory for him to take on in NEWTs level. He had already done some research and new that professor Snape didn’t take anyone in his NEWTs class than people who scored an ‘O’ in OWLs. That was partially the reason why Gary already spent so much time learning Potions daily.

Entering the potions classroom Gary muttered a greeting to the professor looming in front of the classroom as always. Choosing a seat in the frontal part of the classroom Gary put her things down and first of all looked over what they would be doing today. It didn’t sound like a healing option so Gary was a bit disappointed for a moment. But a potion would still be good practice! Going to take some hellbore powder from the front of the class Gary returned to his seat making sure not to drop any of the powder. He liked having all of his things at ready before starting to brew.

Starting the water to boil Gary measured and put into the cauldron 3 spoonfuls of bubotuber pus. Lowering the heat Gary added the rat’s tail with a bit of sadness. He liked animals and didn’t like using parts of animals inside potions. It just seemed so cruel. Letting the potion simmer Gary made VERY sure that only 10 minutes passed. Picking up the hellbore powder Gary slowly and carefully distributed it over the potion before grabbing the long spoon and stirring the potion 6 times making clockwise circles.
Pouring in the small amount of pomegranate juice Gary turned his attention back to the heat and brought it up to boil then watched as it slowly become more liquidy and lost it’s yellow colour. Turning the fire off after it had been 8 minutes Gary smiled happily at the dull gray colour of the potion. It looked just right!

[ryan]

Uh oh. That was the main phrase that was rolling around in Ryan’s head. Uh oh summed up potions rather well. It most certainly wasn’t Ryan’s favorite class because he never did well in it. Sometimes Ryan was just grateful he was in Ravenclaw not in Gryffindor. Snape didn’t pick nearly as much on Ravenclaws as he did on Gryffindors. And Hufflepuffs now that he thought about it.
Rummaging rather frantically in his bag Ryan managed to find the Ravenclaw tie and docking into a bathroom tied it on. He did NOT want to loose any points for looking dishevelled. Potions class was the only reason why he had carried the tie around in his bag for the whole day. Wihtout potions and Snape his Ravenclaw ties would be cumpled somewhere under the bed or the cupboard back at home.

Exiting the bathroom as abruptly as he had entered it Ryan took off towrads the dungeons with a small sigh. At the very least he could think of something happy during class. Like quidditch. Chuckling lightly and shaking his head Ryan decided to just lve thorugh the lesson. He should better pay as much attention as possible to avoid his potions blowing up in his face.
„Hello,“ Ryan mumbles quietly as he entered the classroom and chose one of the middle seats and bringing out his stuff as the instructions for today’s potion were already on the black-board.

Stirring the potion Ryan tried to keep his mind at the work. However dull it was raising only once to get the hellbore powder. Who would name a plant hellbore? It sounded so unearthly and not inviting at all. On that note was Ryan even sure that hellbore was a plant? Ryanm dropped the ramining part of the powder quickly into the potion glancing at it after it was supposedly done. It was... grey... at least... But was it really supposed to be so runny? A bit like slime really. Ryan stared at the cauldron a bit horrofied. What had happened?
Looking at the black-board again Ryan groaned and let his head hit the table with a thump. 3 spoons of bubotuber powder. He had only put in 2! Muffling a groan Ryan raised his head and waited to see hwat Snape would have to say about it.

[livinghope1986]

Mandi looked around the eerie dungeons as she began a slow walk toward her next class. She hated the dungeons they were dark and scary. All she wanted was to shine a bright light through them. She held her potions book close to her as she walked all the while taking deep breaths. Thinking about her father and the life he had chosen, the same one she was going to choose, the worry and tension melted away. She took a deep breath and forced a smile. 'It's only a dungeon. There is nothing down here that's going to get me,' she thought to herself as she took a deep breath. As she walked she saw a familiar door not far in front of her. It was the potions room and before long she would be safe inside, although she wasn't sure if she would actually be safe. With Professor Snape and a ton of Slytherins in there she was sure to get herself in trouble. Though she was decent at potions, not great, but her father had some talent in the subject and he had been teaching her over the summer. She still wasn't sure if it was going to help her, but she was willing to think she would somewhat decent at it this year as apposed to her first year here when she nearly failed the class. Now she needed to get an O on her OWLs so she could continue the subject into NEWTs. She wanted to be an Auror and she would need potions if she wanted to do that. Mandi paused as she found herself at the door of the classroom. Taking a deep breath she entered the room slowly.

Mandi saw other students in the classroom already setting up and getting ready to make the potion listed on the board. She walked quickly toward her normal seat and took out her things from her bag. She quickly placed 7 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of bubotuber pus into her cauldron and turned on the heat stirring constantly. She moved through the ingredients slowly and precisely, making sure she never put too much in or too little. As the class drew to an end she peered cautiously into her cauldron. A stormy grey colour met her eyes and she wondered if it was the type of grey that Professor Snape wanted. She turned to look up at the Professor as he made his way through the aisles of potions. She waited patiently to see what her score would be.

[Professor Severus Snape]

As the time neared the students began to trickle into the classroom. Professor Severus Snape simply sat at his desk observing, making sure nobody started fooling around. They all set to task rather diligently though apparently having learned in their prior years that he could not stand their chatter. A few were a little clumsy with the hellbore though – they must not have done that essay on poisonous plants in second year very well. They didn’t seem to comprehend that hellbore was an extremely toxic substance. “As lovely as it is that you are finished Ms. O’Reilly I do not need to be summoned. If you are finished than you can sit and wait patiently for the rest of the class.” Professor Snape responded when Fiona called to him.

A few minutes later when a few people seemed to be finishing up Severus decided to rise and check on the potions. “Very good Ms. O’Reilly. 15 points but do try to work on your patience.” He said finally coming up on Fiona. “Ms. Hardwick, would you like to put this solution on your face? Because if you put Ms. O’Reilly’s on it would help your skin where as this…” Severus said with distaste pulling up a ladle full of the clumpy paste. “You needed to simmer it Ms. Hardwick not just let it boil away at the end there. I will be generous and give you 5 points for this though I doubt anyone would ever dare use your cosmetics.” Only 3 others were complete so Severus went over to Gary Crane and scooped out a ladle of his solution. “A little runny Mr. Crane but generally a fine potion. 10 points.” Next was Ryan Wilkinson who Severus did not have extremely high hopes for. A spoonful of the grey liquid proved it to be just that – a liquid. “Something tells me you have not read the instructions Mr. Wilkinson.” Severus said while emptying Ryan’s cauldron with a swish of his wand. “You now have an option. You may accept a fail or try again in what time is left” he said before walking away. The only other person complete was Mandi Aspden. “Again, a fine potion but not perfect. 10 points” Severus said before walking back up to his desk.

[Ashley Hill]

Ashley walked down toward the dungeons for her next class. Potions....Meh was the only word Ashley could think of for this subject. She wasn't any good at the class. Another thing she can fail in. Ashley was slightly improving thanks to her older sisters help over the summer. Potions and History of magic weren't her strong subjects. Charms, herbogly, and Ancient Runes were the classes she could succeed in. Everything else was just OK in or sorta failing. But this year was her fifth! The most stressful and important! Ashley remembered Elina in her fith year. She never even saw her sister the whole school year because she was locked up in her dorm studying and doing homework. Normally they would go into an empty classroom and practice dancing. Ashley didn't want be like that.

Once arriving at the Dungeons Ashley looked for a familiar face. Seeing that Ryan was by himself she smiled and set her books down on the table. Ashley gave Ryan a small smile before staring up at the chalk board. Taking out a piece of parchment Ashley set it down on the table and began to write the instructions with her quill. Once they were all copied down she set it down toward the end of the table to make sure it was out of the way. "Stir constantly bring to a boil 7 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of bubotuber pus." she whispered under her breath while turning on the fire underneath the cauldron. Purring seven cups of water Ashley stirred it once with a wooden spoon waiting for it to boil. Measuring the bubotbuber pus Ashley than added it in and stirred.

The water was soon boiling in five minutes. Turning the nob down to minimum Ashley measured one inch of rat tail and dropped it in. Looking to the side of her notes Ashley saw that she had to let it simmer for ten minutes and it was to change to a yellow color then add a Hellbore powder. Looking up at the front of the class Ashley began to walk toward the table and collected a tiny bit of the powder very carefully and walked back to her cauldron that looked almost reading. Ashley stared at the yellow color that water was looking. Giving out a great sigh of relief she added a pinch of the powder and stirred once again with the wooden spoon.

Ashley's hand was getting a little tired of all the stirring. She now know how her mother felt when cooking all day. Once after the sixth stir Ashley stopped and measured a tablespoon of pomegranate juice. Once it was added in Ashley sat back down in her seat and waited for it to simmer for eight minutes. What if it didn't turn a grey color than she would have to start the potion all over again. Hufflpuff just had to get some house points to win the cup. Looking over at Professor Snape Ashley watched as he began to judge some students potion. Her stomach knotted up as he made Ryan do his potion all over again. Looking at her potion it turned a slight grey color but she hoped it was good enough.

[ryan]

„I’ll do it again!“ Ryan almost shouted glad that Snape hand’t taken points. Jumping up Ryan almost pushed over the chair, awkwardly stumbling ot keep the chair upright. Grimcing and feeling a light red tint his cheeks as he blushed Ryan gave a smile at Ashley before going to the front of the class to get hellbore powder once again.

Sitting back in his seat Ryan cleared her cauldron and started. 7 glasses of water and then puptuber pus. Lower heat and add rats tail. At least most of what he had to do had been recorded in Ryan’s mind. He was payin much more attention now as well. He still didn’t like Potions but he most certainly didn’t want to screw up again in front of Ashley. So Ryan spent the next minutes sending shielded glances towards Ashley, glancing at the blackboard and his potion and sometimes towards Snape hoping that the old bat wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity. TO a bit of surprise – and Ryan’s relief – in the end the potion turned out alright after all.

Perhpas a bit runnier than desired – well, perhaps one of those stirs had been a bit uncompleted as Ryan was glancing at Ashley – but it was a dull gray colour. Taking Ryan’s poor potions abilities into account – the potion was rather good! Hopefulyl Snaep would feel so too.

[maddiemalfoy]

Madison strolled along the dudgeons, heading for the Potions Classroom. Finally, it had come to that time of day, when she would actually learn something rather useful, and keep her interest alive, all at the same time. The teenage girl glided through the classroom, and immediately spotted Fiona, and another Slytherin fourth year, Aubree, that Maddie knew fairly well. The girl glided across the room, and took a seat beside Fiona, after placing her bag on the floor beside herself. "Hello Fiona, Aubree." she greeted, acknowledging the both of them.

Maddie looked to the board, where precise instructions were scribbled across it. Maddie took out a piece of parchment, and wrote every direction down, exactly as it said on the board. She liked it better, when she wrote down the instructions, and kept them right next to herself, so she wouldn't have to keep looking up to the board every five minutes.

Maddie took out her cauldron and placed it in front of her, after collecting the needed ingredients before hand. She poured in seven cups of water, and then three tablespoons of bubtuber pus, as the directions said. After the ingredients were in the cauldron, she began stirring the liquid, waiting for it to start boiling. After about a minute or so, it did. She lowered the heat, and cut a one inch section of a rat's tail perfectly, then added that to the potion as well.

Now, it was time to wait. Maddie waited for the potion to simmer, for exactly ten minutes. The girl peered over the cauldron, and sure enough, it was a yellow-ish type of color. "Perfect." she told herself, with a satisfied smirk. Maddie then moved to the front of the room, to grab some hellbore powder, and then carefully added one pinch of it to the potion. After that was all finished, she picked up the ladle again, and began stirring it some more. Maddie counted each time the ladle fully went around the cauldron. After the sixth time, she stopped and added one tablespoon of pomegranate juice. Now, the potion was nearly done.

Maddie turned the heat up higher, and waited for the potion to begin boiling again. After it did, she turned the heat down and let the potion simmer for exactly eight minutes. This time, when the girl peered over the cauldron, is was less creamy and now a grey-ish color. Perfect. Exactly how it should look. Maddie took out a small sample flask and poured just a little bit of the potion into it. After doing so, she walked up to Professor Snape's desk and held the potion a few inches away from herself, showing it to the professor, as she waited silently for his response.

[aubree]

Aubree nodded as Maddie entered and then continued with her potion. She read the list because she wanted make make a perfect potion. Aubree strived at being the best because she wanted to make something of herself. Aubree wanted everyone to know her name, but she knew she would have to work for that. Aubree glanced again at the instructions and started working. She first started boiling 7 cups of water and combines the 3 teaspoons of bubotuber pus. Aubree reminded herself to stir constantly as instructed. She let it continue to completely boil and then looked back instructions listed in the front of the class. Aubree then lowered the heat and placed the rat's tail in front of her. She cut the long tail into an inch slice. The sight didn't disturb her at all. Aubree placed the section into the cauldron.

She then noticed the instructions said it should be a thick potion with a dull yellow color. Her potion seemed to fit the description okay. She then headed to the front of class for the hellbore powder. Aubree took a vial of the substance and then went back to her seat. The next instruction said to stir the potion clockwise. So, she picked up her stirring tool and did as instructed. Aubree read the next step and reached into her potions ingredients to find the pomegranate juice. She found the bottle it was in and pinched 1 teaspoon into her potion. Aubree smiled at her concoction. It seems pretty close to the instructions, but not perfect. She then brought it to a boil again and then let it simmer for eight minutes. She casually looked around the class as that time passed. After that, her potion was complete and Aubree was happy with the outcome. She smiled as she leaned back slight making it noticeable that she was finished. Aubree was please with herself, but on the inside, she knew she could do better.

[oliver]

Victoria had walked into class quite late but as she was good at Potions, she expected that the lesson wasn't going to be hard. She was already beginning to finish when she finally added the tablespoon of pomegranate juice. She waited as the cauldron was taking longer than usual to boil.

Victoria stood up so she could keep an eye on it as she hated nothing more than when she had over done a potion. She gazed around for a second to see that Professor Snape was looking at everyone potions and she did not expect anything but praise from him. Professor Snape had always favored Slytherins and in Victoria's opinion, he was doing the sensible thing. She didn't really know why other people from other houses turned up.

Her potion finally came to a boil and she poured the right amount into a brightly colored container and set it upon her table. She then wrote down in her book what she must remember for tests. She sighed when she finished and sat down quietly.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cassandra dug into her potions ingredients with a flourish, and placed them out in front of her in the order. She hated this class. She really hated this class, but she felt that it was a necessary evil. I mean, everyone at some point needed a potion made. It was dead useful if you ever caught in a situation when it was needed. Cass read the ingredients to the beautifying potion to herself silents. Not that she needed a beauty treatment, but I guess it may be needed for those times when a girl wasn't feeling her best. Sighing, she meticulously measured seven cups of water into the cauldron. She wasn't surprised to see bubotuber pus in the list of ingredients. They had learned last year in herbology that the substance was good for the eradication of acne.

After several minutes of brisk stirring, she felt that the brown goop was ready to simmer. She brought down the temperature, and looked on with disgust at the rat tail. Cass hated rats about as much as she hated snakes. Touching the tail as little as possible, she cute what looked to be about an inch from it. She scooted the piece of tail over to her ruler with the broadside of her finger. Deciding it was close enough, she took her ruler to lift it into the cauldron.

The liquid automatically turned into a bright yellow liquid. Cass grimaced with the thought that this potion was all down hill from here. Cass continued to follow the directions on the board till the last ingredient was added. Timing the potion with her watch, she slowly saw it change color. Even though it was a grey color, it looked like it had the consistency of oatmeal.

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She was never any good at potions. She hardly survived first year with out burning everything. Second and third years were a slow improvement, but hardly anything truly usable, but at least she had learned that she didn't need to be so afraid of potions she couldn't think straight. Snape was still like a walking nightmare, but she told herself this year was going to be different. And this year, she was going to make a potion that would actually work.

She read the list of instructions carefully, right down to the final detail, even the squeamish part of putting in the rats tail that she measured twice just to make sure. At the end, she sat, starting at the liquid bubbling inside her cauldron, and glancing at her watch just to be sure. Exactly either minutes. She needed 8 minutes to the second! As she stared she saw the thick, creamy texture of the potion soften as it because more liquid and the sick yellow color darken into a grey shade. Finally, the seconds ticking by slowly, the moment was reached and she flicked off her flame, and bit down on her lip as she peered at the mixture. At least it looked right....and that was something she never thought she would see happen to one of her potions.

[Professor Severus Snape]

Severus nodded at Madison as she brought her potion up. “I will be coming around soon just take your seat please.” He said to her before noticing someone walk through the door. “Five points from Slytherin due to Ms. Bailey’s belief that she is too good to be on time.” He said to the room at large. He hated taking points from his own house but in this case his hands were tied. Now it was announced to everyone why they were losing points though he doubted it would happen again – the other Slytherin would not allow it. Slytherin had won the house cup for seven straight years before Harry Potter had started and swung the bar for Gryffindor with his foolishness. He was aghast at the gall of the current Slytherins who didn’t seem to understand the importance of house pride and furthering yourself by putting your house at the top in points. Sheer foolishness seemed to cause them to believe losing points was actually a good thing for them to do.

A glance at the clock told him class was nearing an end so Severus decided it was time to inspect the final potions. First one he got to was Ashley Hill. Absent minded as she tended to be her potion was actually passable. He stirred the spoon around a bit before smirking at her. “Acceptable Ms. Hill. 5 points.” Next Ryan seemed to have finished his second potion beside her. “Better Mr. Wilkinson though next time I would advise you to only need to make one potion. 5 points to Ravenclaw.” Walking over to Madison Kenacheak he peered into her cauldron. “Good job Ms. Kenacheak. 15 points to Slytherin.” Sitting beside her was Aubree Montague who was also finished with a good potion. “10 points Ms. Montague. Though Hellbore is a very poisonous substance – next time it says to take a pinch please do not wander around the room with a whole vile. You could have severely hurt someone had you spilt it.” Severus swept away to where Victoria Bailey seemed to have completed on time despite being late. “Well, glad you decided to do the assignment on time at least Ms. Bailey. 15 points for the potion. But that only means you earn 10 points today considering you lost 5. Try harder next time.” He said to her with a disapproving glace before walking away. Cassandra Blackfire had finished as well. Surprising one she was – first being though a muggle born then turning out being from a terrible sect of a good pure family. Always full of trouble – but then she was from Gryffindor so no big shock there. “5 points Ms. Blackfire. More precision is necessary for the art of potions.” Finally he got to Nokomis Astarra – a Hufflepuff fourth year that hadn’t been showing too promising results so far. Apparently she had improved over the summer though and this potion was passable. “10 points for Hufflepuff, Ms. Astarra.” Was all he said before walking back to his desk. “Class dismissed.”

((This class is now complete. No new students may attend though those here may post leaving))