Term 5, Year 1, Lesson 1

Lucia walked into the storage room of the dungeons and looked around, finding the necessary ingredients to the potion the first years would make today. She smiled, waved her wand and maneuvered the ingredients onto her desk. She sat down behind the desk, waving her wand again, but this time at the blackboard which quickly wrote down her name and the name of the class, as well as the potion they would make.

Blackboard:

She leaned back in her chair, waiting for the students to assemble in a soft silence, very patiently.

Lyrica went down into the dungeons for her potions lesson, she loved the art of potion making and hoped to do good in her first year. She sat down close to the blackboard, where it said Prof. Lucia Henley, Potions, Forgetfulness Potion. She couldn't wait for class to start.

Thank Merlin for potions in the dungeons where it was easy to locate. In fact, you had to walk right past the room to even get to the Slytherin Common Room, so for once, Selwyn was not lost. One might think growing up in a large house himself, he would find it easy to get his bearings inside Hogwarts, but not so. Besides, the architecture of Sìth Brugh didn't keep changing its mind all the time.

On the blackboard, just in case anyone had forgotten why they were here today, was spelled out very neatly the teachers name, the class and the words "Forgetfullness Potion." Selwyn stared as he stumbled into a seat. Was this woman really mad enough to teach them how to brew one of those, or was this just a theory class?

Please don't let it be a theory class.

Lucia smiled happily as she noted her first Hufflepuff being in this class. She really loved that house. She beamed at her two students and straightened up, ready to start the class.

"All right, hello you two. My name is Lucia Henley and I'll be your professor in Potions. Now, today we'll be studying and brewing the Forgetfulness Potion. But first, who can tell me the four essential ingredients in this potion? Does any of you know that? Also, do you know what the effect of this potion is?" she asked, not really expecting them to know the ingredients. After all, this was their first potionsclass ever. Quite possibly. But maybe they could think themselves to answering the last question at least.

Lyra herd the professor ask question on the potion and quickly raised her hand to answer.

"Professor, the four essential ingredients for the Forgetfulness Potion are um 2 drops of Lethe River Water, 2 Valerian sprigs, 2 measures of Standard Ingredient and 4 mistletoe berries, Oh, and The Forgetfulness Potion causes an unknown degree of memory loss in the drinker."

Selwyn stared at the girl.  What was with her?  He had yet to be in a class where she didn't (a) beat everyone to all the questions and (b) get every answer right.  

The first couple of times it had been okay, but now even Selwyn was beginning to feel embarrassed for her.  It made her look like her parents had got her coached before she even came to Hogwarts.  Which begged the question, why would she need to be coached?

Since she had taken the burden of the teacher's attention all on herself, Selwyn didn't bother to speak up. Between this and colouring in for Magical Creatures, he had a feeling this was going to be a cruisy year.

Lyra lowered her hand embarrassed. you idiot, why didn't you let the other boy have a chance at answering the question?, stupid know-it-all, he probably thinks your a freak, no wonder you cant make
any friends.

Lyra lowered her head and stayed quiet, she didn't plan on answering questions for today, all she wanted to do is lie down. Hopefully her optimism wouldn't plummet.

Alyssa stumbled through the door to the potions classroom, sighing in frustration as she saw that class had already begun. She had just gotten lost somewhere on the second floor on her way out of charms class, and had rushed to the dungeons as quickly as she could in order to make it to her potions lesson. Apparently, she hadn't been fast enough.

She didn't mutter an apology, but did give the professor a slightly sheepish look as she took a seat behind a Hufflepuff girl that she had seen in other classes. Her eyes traveled to the Slytherin boy whose name started with an 'S', although she couldn't remember it completely. She set her bag on the empty chair behind her and fished out her parchment, copying down the words on the board.

Ryder was late to potions - as usual. He entered the room casually and took a seat a few back from the front. He looked up to the board to see what they were going to be working on - a forgetfulness potion. He grinned at the thought, his mind wandering to different ways that he could use such a potion to assist in his pranks. He began to jot down what was on the board in quick, lazy writing.

Lucia smiled at Ms. Hexem. "Quite correct, though the standard measures aren't a part of the main ingredients, five points to Hufflepuff!" she said, very pleased that the girl had known the potion so well. She then looked up as one Slytherin after the other came into the classroom. She frowned.

"As this is our first lesson together, I won't deduce points for your tardiness, but if it happens again, you will lose points," she said calmly, a bit harsh, but not very. They were first years after all.

"Now, you're going to brew the forgetfulness potion for me. So turn to page 15 in your books, read through it, and come up here to fetch the necessary ingredients," she said softly.

Page 15:

"Now, begin," Lucia said, as she felt the students had enough time reading through the ingredients and how to make it.

Aoife listened carefully to the Professor, smiling as she awarded Hufflepuff some points. The girl was determined to earn some points for her house soon. She was going to be great at Hogwarts, do incredibly well and bring glory to her house.

After reading briefly through the instructions, Aoife bounced up and rushed to the front, eager to start. She got the ingredients and returned to her seat, grinning. The Gryffindor glanced at the first instruction before adding some drops of the fancy water. Potions was so boring. She couldn't keep still as she waited for the water to heat.

Boooooring...

ooc - I posted as though she's been here all along. Do you want me to edit or is this okay? I don't know how you feel about lateness but I just got sorted.

Alyssa glanced up at the professor again as she acknowledged her late arrival, but remained silent. She pulled her potions textbook from her bag and opened to the page that Professor Henley had specified, glancing quickly over the ingredients. She jotted the ingredients down on a small scrap of parchment and carried it with her to the front to collect what she needed. Returning to her desk with an armful of ingredients, she began her potion.

She added the River Water confidently, and put her cauldron over heat. She had never brewed a potion before, but how hard could it be? It was no more difficult than cooking, right? She removed the heat one second late, but imagined that it wouldn't make a difference, and added the rest of the ingredients in the proper order, stirring correctly when necessary. She crushed her mistletoe berries quickly - possibly not crushing it into fine enough of a powder - and stirred it into her potion. She waved her wand over the cauldron to complete it, smiling confidently. She wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like, but she thought she had done everything right - how could the potion not turn out right?

Ryder glanced at the ingredients listed in his textbook for a moment before leaving his seat and casually joining the group of students at the front of the classroom. When he had what he needed, he returned to his seat and began to mix his ingredients. He read through the recipe once before pushing his book aside. It wasn't a long recipe, and he was sure that he could remember the steps.

He poured the water into his cauldron and heated it precisely. He continued to add ingredients, crushing and stirring occasionally, but stirred the potion two times more than necessary on the last step without noticing. He flicked his wand lazily over the cauldron, sure that he had completed it correctly, and leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

They were. They were brewing forgetfulness potion this lesson. Well, things were looking up, assuming it worked. Selwyn could certainly use some people forgetting certain things about him.

Although, as he read the instructions, he began to see that the brewing would be more difficult than he had anticipated. Since when was "gently" a temperature?

Lucia looked at them all. She could see that they thought the subject would be an easy one. She didn't smile gleefully, she didn't look forward to their failures, but she knew there'd be many. But she also knew they'd do great. She was extremely glad that their wrongdoings in this potion was so little, as she walked around and looked into the cauldron. Some of them weren't quite done, some were done, but had gone wrong.

She started at Ms. O'Donnell. The girl seemed to think nothing of Potions at all. Lucia could easily see the word 'boring' drifting above the Gryffindor's head. "You will have to focus to be able to make such a potion as this, Ms. O'Donnell," she said, so only the Gryffindor could hear, "But I hope it'll come with time. Five points to Gryffindor for your participation."

She moved on to Ms. McLennen. "Your potion is almost perfect. Very well done. But your potion has turned a yellow color, whilst it should be a thin, silvery one. You seem to have overheated it for merely a moment, and the powder might have been a bit too lumpy. Potions is a very precise art. The slightest misdoing will lead to its destruction," she said softly, "However, you've surprised me with your talent. Ten points to Slytherin for your work."

She then walked over to Mr. Andersen. She smiled. "Very well done, Mr. Andersen. It seems your ingredients have all been put in correctly, however, you too, have gotten a bit more thicker potion than it is supposed to be. It seems you've stirred one too many times," she said, "But it is indeed excellent work. Ten points for your work."

She reached Mr. Thorfinn and gave a nod. "You seem to be a bit confused, but you also seem to have done a good job. Might be we'll try something else that is easier to understand, process wise. But five points to Slytherin for your participation," she said with a smile.

She looked around and clapped her hands together. "Class dismissed! I'll be looking forward to our meeting again over the summer. Enjoy your holidays!" she said happily and walked back to her desk.