Anti-Paralysis Potion (2nd year)

Rainecourt sat at her desk, reading over the complaints from the sixth years. She already assigned them an essay. So, naturally, she had many written complaints. She sipped her tea and threw away the complaints. She didn’t care.

”Come on in and have a seat,” she called out to the second years, who seemed a bit confused. They trickled in and took their seats.

”Um...where’s Professor Aitken?” a brave Hufflepuff asked her.

”I’m not sure. But, I’m your new potions master, Professor Rainecourt. I will try to be a fair professor, but I am very strict and I expect higher standards since you are no longer first years. I will definitely not baby you, so don’t expect it. Now, turn your book to page 25, and we will begin with the Anti-Paralysis Potion,” she explained, walking around.

”Now, can anyone tell me what can cause paralysis? This will be 15 percent of your grade, so when I ask a question, be eager to answer,” she told them. No one responded as she walked around. Was she too intimidating?

”Anyone even have a guess?” she asked, hoping for someone to participate. She hated quiet classes.

[[OOC: since the potion was only used in video games I'm not really sure how to answer the question, so I'll let you take it.]]

Arya already hated this new professor. Which really sucked, since Potions was her favorite class; it was her strongest subject. Although, Aitken was terrifying as well. Why were all Potions teachers miserable sods?

Does she want to know the spell or a natural cause? Arry wondered. Surely everyone knew the spell.

Rather than risk being snapped at, she pulled out her book and quietly opened it up to page 25. It didn't look too difficult; lots of stirring, several ingredients, but no weird measurements or anything. Even Jon would be able to make this.

Kolby punched Osmond in the arm, but he was smiling too. At least he had broke the awkward tension in the class. Professor Rainecourt, being the Head of Slytherin, seemed to let the joke roll off her shoulders, knowing how Slytherins picked on one another.

"Anything else?" she asked again, writing the people's names down that answered her question. There's more? Kolby thought. Surely not. Maybe another creature? Like, Medusa? What was she again? Kolby thought. He raised his hand.

"Don't Gorgon's cause paralysis too, like Medusa?" he asked.

"Medusa is a myth, Kolby, meaning that Gorgons aren't real" Jane, a snooty Ravenclaw, rebutted.

"That's not true! Gorgon's are definitely real," Alec stood up for Kolby. The class then got into a debate as to whether or not Gorgon's are real or not. Kolby looked around, hoping someone would put an end to the debate before the professor did.

Rainecourt appreciated a lively debate and honest questions. But, not when it begins to get out of hand.

"Alright everyone. Calm down. Gorgon's are very much real, although they mainly reside in Greece. And, all of your answers are correct. Also, don't forget that paralysis can be caused by charmed suits of armor," she instructed. The class seemed to focus in and settle down. She smiled and then, cleared her throat.

"I hope everyone has their book open to the correct page. I will read over the instructions very quickly. Then, I will give you and your partner full reign to complete the potion. If you require assistance, please let me know and if something bad happens, I must know immediately," she told them. She cleared her throat again and then read the instructions.

" In a cool silver caldron, mix the Syrup of Hellebore and stewed Mandrake thoroughly
• Place over a medium flame and heat until the mixture begins to bubble slowly
• Stir pulverized Unicorn Horn into the thick mixture clockwise until completely dissolved
• Immediately stir Moondew into the caldron and wait for the thick cloud of steam to dissipate
• Slowly pour Honeywater into the caldron, stirring consistently in a clockwise direction until all has been added
• Leave to boil until the mixture thickens to resemble dark amber honey
• Cool and pour into a bottle for storage" she read, watching as some student began working. She walked around, watching as they worked.

Arya decided to partner up with Jon for this lesson. He was surprisingly good at Potions, as dim in the mind as he was in every other class. This would be an easy job with the two of them working together.

"Okay, so mix the syrup with the Mandrake," he said, doing just that.

"Will you be narrating the whole time?" Arya remarked snidely. "Just wondering what I can expect for the rest of the class."

Jon rolled his eyes and set the mixture aside to light the flame. Arya placed the cauldron over it and they watched. And watched. And watched.

"Here, pulverize the horn," he said, handing her the mortar.

"Yes, sire," she saluted.

The talk of gorgons made Adele shiver; she knew firsthand how real some mythological creatures were. When Professor Rainecourt told the class to partner up, she quickly looked around for a familiar face. Marigold was already with Edwin, and Arya with Jon. She spotted Deirdre just in time and hurried over to her.

"Let's partner up, shall we?" she asked with a bright smile.

She nearly hugged the poor girl, she was so excited to see her. But there would be time for that later.

"You should know, I'm awful in this class," she grinned.
"You're already stuck with me, though."

Adele took the liberty of starting the potion, and glanced up at the board. Okay, so, Syrup of Hellebore and stewed Mandrake, she pondered. Sounds disgusting. She carefully poured the ingredients into the cauldron and stirred them until they were well mixed. Placing the cauldron over the flame, she pounded the unicorn horn in the mortar until it was silvery dust.

"Alright, that's boiling so I'll add this," she said to Deirdre. She stirred the powder in the direction she supposed was clockwise. "Then you be ready with the Moondew, okay?"

Mira happily partnered up with Elsa.

"Are you any good at this stuff?" she asked.

"Nope," Elsa smiled.

With a giggle, the two girls got to work. Mira mixed the syrup with the Mandrake, while Elsa lit the flame. The goopy mixture was difficult to look at, and especially to smell.

"I feel terrible about this," Elsa muttered as she pulverized the unicorn horn.

"Maybe unicorn horns grow back magically," she responded hopefully.

As her partner stirred in the powdered horn, Mira poured the Moondew into the cauldron. Just like the instructions said, a thick cloud of steam came wafting out. The girls watched and waited, but it never went away. In fact, it got thicker and smokier. Elsa leaned in to see what the problem was, but inhaled the smoke and started to choke.

"Professor!" Mira called urgently.

Rainecourt cleaned up their cauldron and dropped off new ingredients with the Ravenclaw girl and the Gryffindor boy, Marigold and Edwin. Try to remember that, Rainecourt thought to herself. She did want to know most of the people’s names. Then, she heard her named get called from across the classroom. She rushed over there to see a poor girl choking.

”Anapneo,” she cast on the girl. Slowly, the girl regained her breath and Rainecourt excused her and her partner from the classroom to calm down. She cleaned up the girl’s workspace and then addressed the classroom.

”I cannot stress enough how careful all of you must be when you are making potions. Some of these ingredients are highly reactive and will harm or kill you. This being said, I would like one person from each pair, once you have finished your potion, to go to the board and list a safety measure we all must take in the potions classroom, so that I have a knowledge of what safety measures we have to review at the next lesson,” she added to the lesson. She heard some people groan and she snapped a ruler on the desk.

”Please understand where I am coming from. If I was a mean professor, I would tell you to list all the safety measures and to turn it in for homework tomorrow,” she informed the students. The classroom was quiet, but she did hear a groan from someone in the back.

”Well, all of you can thank your classmate. Tonight, I want all of you to list the safety measures and turn it in for homework. I want it on my desk by noon tomorrow,” she assigned. The whole class groaned and she went to write it on the board.

”Now, all of you, get back to work,” she instructed, as she let the other two girls in the classroom. I try to be nice, but this will be good for them, she thought.

Kolby could have smacked the boy in the back, who caused them to have even more homework. Kolby grumbled to himself, as this class wasn’t going great. Rainecourt was definitely a Slytherin, no question about that.  Osmond and Kolby looked at each other and sighed. They watched what happened with Mira and Elsa and Marigold and Edwin before they got started, as they reviewed the steps. They didn’t want to disappoint their Head of House by getting the potion wrong.

”I’ll light the cauldron,” Osmond offered. Kolby nodded and examined the syrup and Mandrake. He was glad that he didn’t have to stew the Mandrake and that it was already prepared.

”Mandrake….those are the things that yell right?” Osmond asked.

”I think so,” Kolby told him, adding in the syrup and the Mandrake. Osmond lit the fire and they took turns stirring the thick mixture until it started to bubble. Osmond crushed the unicorn horn and added it to the mixture, as Kolby kept stirring, so it will dissolve faster. Osmond then put in the Moondew and they watched the cloud of steam. After a minute, it dissipated and the boys high-fived each other.

”Only three more steps,” Osmond said, as Kolby slowly added in the Honeywater. Then, they left it to boil.

”Good job,” Osmond told Kolby as they sat and waited for it to turn a different color.

The brunette let out a breath of relief when Adele asked her to partner up. Now neither of them would be stuck with someone they didn't know, at least. And they could talk after class was over.

"I would love that." She replied with a cheerful nod.

Deirdre giggled slightly at her friend's assessment of her own skills. "Don't worry, Adele. I'm no' exactly ta best at potions either. I was dreadful last year." It was true. Everyone probably remembered her tendency to ruin potions.

She watched quietly as Adele got the potion started and grabbed the Moondew. "Alright. Ready when you are."

Marigold knew that Rainecourt was right about the safety measures in a potion lab, so Marigold didn't groan in the beginning. Edwin put his head down and Marigold rubbed her temple when the homework assignment was announced. Great Marigold thought.

"Let's just focus on our potion," Edwin told Marigold. Marigold nodded and they attempted the potion over again, being more careful and switching up steps. They watched the cloud of steam from a distance and smiled when it dissolved.

"Much better," Edwin commented. They high-fived and went back to the second half of the potion.

"We're running out of time," Edwin said.

"It's alright. I think she'll make an exception for us," Marigold told him. Edwin nodded and they finished the potion, waiting for it to simmer and cool down.

"So, we just bottle it soon?" Edwin asked. Marigold nodded and opened her healing book, reviewing some techniques. Edwin took a nap, as they waited on their potion to finish.

Adelaine stirred the potion, hoping it was the right direction. She'd seen what had happened to Elsa, and it didn't look like fun.

"Okay, it's nearly dissolved," she muttered.

There were a few flecks of the unicorn horn still floating around, so she decided to keep going. She didn't know what had gone wrong in Mira and Elsa's cauldron, but it could have easily been that they hadn't let the horn dissolve completely...or maybe they stirred it too much. Stop worrying and just do it, Adele, she thought exasperatedly.

"Time for the Moondew," she announced, taking the open bottle from Deirdre.

She carefully poured the liquid in and the cauldron steamed.

"You take over from here, Deirdre," Adele said, moving aside as the steam dissipated.

The disgusting mandrake/syrup mixture was beginning to bubble, so Arya dumped the powdered unicorn horn into the cauldron. Jon stirred it while she uncorked the bottle of Moondew. She poured it in as Jon continued to stir, and a dense cloud of steam billowed up out of the cauldron.

"Alright, you're up," Jon directed, and they traded places.

"You pour, I'll stir," Arry nodded.

Once all the steam was gone, the Hufflepuff carefully tipped the flask of Honeywater and let it slowly drizzle into the mixture, as Arya moved the ladle clockwise.

"And now we wait," she said.

Kolby and Osmond were done with their potion and now they were bottling the potion.

"Ow! Ow!" Osmond exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Kolby kept telling him as they funneled the potion into the vial. Kolby was spilling some of the potion on Osmond's hand by accident. Kolby finished funneling the potion and put the cap on the vial.

"Go wash your hands so there's no potion on you," Kolby told Osmond. Osmond nodded and went to wash his hands. Kolby put the potion on the desk and started on the homework that they just received. He sighed. This had been a long class.

"Right." Deirdre stepped in front of the cauldron, waiting until the steam cleared. Once it had she slowly poured in the Honeywater while stirring the potion clockwise until all of it was in the potion. "So far, so good."

While waiting for the potion to thicken she turned to Adele. "So," she whispered, "how 'ave things been while I was gone?"

The Irish girl wanted to know everything that had occurred when she became ill. There was no telling what adventures she'd missed otherwise.

Rainecourt walked around the class, helping where she could and watching them even more closely. She was glad to see the 2nd years succeeding and being more careful. She smiled and went to the front of the class and wrote the new homework she just assigned. They brought it on themselves, she thought to herself.

"Alright class. It looks like class time is up. Finish up your potions and I will bottle them for you if you didn't finish. If you did, please place your bottles on my desk. Thank you for your cooperation and remember your extra homework that's due at the time of our next lesson. Have a great day!" she announced to the class. She went around and helped the slackers with their potions and if the student were done, she put out the fires under their cauldrons. She started to bottle their potions as they gathered their things and began to leave.

"I don't know how I feel about her," a student whispered to another student a bit too loudly. Rainecourt sighed. She never really was a favorite of anyone......including in her family. She was always the outlier. She straightened her shoulder and continued her tasks. No one was going to get to her. Especially two 2nd years.

But, deep down, the comment stung.

After about thirty minutes had passed, the cauldron felt cool to the touch, so Arya wagered it was ready to go.

"Let's see," Jon said, dipping the ladle into it. "Beautiful."

He pulled the ladle out and let the potion drip back down into the cauldron. It was absolutely perfect! Like the kind of honey she was sure was reserved only for the king and queen. Bloody hell, I hope there's honey at dinner, she thought, her stomach rumbling.

"And we've got ten minutes to spare," Jon told her, glancing at the hourglass.

They carefully poured the potion into a bottle and brought it proudly up to Professor Rainecourt. As soon as the bell chimed and class was dismissed, Arry raced for the door. Food!!

Marigold had just finished bottling the potion when Rainecourt made the announcement that it was time to leave. Edwin woke up and rubbed his eyes.

"Do you want me to help you?" he offered to Marigold.

"No. I'm okay. This is the easy part," Marigold told him.

"I'll see you later then," Edwin told her. Marigold nodded and kept bottling what they made.

"Here you go Professor. I really liked the lesson today. Have a nice day," she told Rainecourt, handing her their potion. She smiled and walked out of the room, ready to go start her homework, but maybe after a nap.

Kolby closed up his book and packed his bag. He would have to finish the homework later.

"H-h-hi Kolby," a timid voice called out. Kolby turned around and looked at the girl who called out to him. He had never met her before, but it was a little Hufflepuff, who was tightly holding onto her books and looking very scared.

"Hi?" Kolby answered questioningly. The Hufflepuff sat beside him.

"I-i-i'm Amila. I have an issue and I-i-i need help," she told Kolby.

"Hi, Amila. I see you've met Kolby," Mick said, sitting down with the group. Amila nodded and held on tighter to her books. Kolby put two and two together. Mick recommended Kolby and the only reason he would have done that would be if.....

"Let me guess. Slytherin problems," Kolby offered. Amila nodded.

"I-i-it's Sabine. She's been teasing me and stealing my stuff. S-s-she made me f-f-fall yesterday," Amila said, showing Kolby her elbow, where a large bruise was forming. Sabine was a 3rd year Slytherin, who liked to steal and make fun of girls. Kolby thought about Thea and what if someone did that to her.

"Alright. I'm in. Spiders in her bed it is," Kolby stated right away, with very little thought. Amila smiled and Mick nodded.

"See? I told you. He's a good snake. He'll take care of the situation," Mick told Amila. Amila blushed and nodded.

"Alright. Let's go," Kolby said, walking out of the classroom, coming up with his devious plan. First, though, how to get into the girl dorms?

All that was left to do was wait for the potion to thicken, and then they were done. So, Adele took the time to fill Deirdre in as much as possible; she'd missed a lot.

"Well, do you know Davy?" she started. "He's the head of the Ministry of Mischief. He's been out to get us for a while now. And..he actually tried to kill me at the end of the year feast. He's completely psychotic!"

Adelaine continued to tell Deirdre about Davy, then moved on to her little 'love triangle' with Symon and Seamus.

"Symon and I are betrothed, and Seamus is a commoner, so there's nothing to do about it anyway..but still. I can't help it! Maybe I should run away and live the peasant life with Seamus? But I do really care about Symon as well..."

The conversation turned back to Davy as they were bottling up their potion (which looked extra thick..that'd be points off, probably.)

"I know you've had dealings with the Ministry," she whispered to Deirdre, dropping off the potion on Rainecourt's desk and heading out of the classroom.

"As bad as they were then, things have gotten a thousand times worse. At the feast last year, they even staged an ambush in the Great Hall! Davy's out for blood, and we have no idea why."

Mira and Elsa had been working on the potion (from the beginning) extra carefully. Neither of them wanted a repeat of the choking incident. Potion-making really is an exact science, Mira thought to herself as they stared at the cauldron.

"I can't believe all the homework we have," Elsa said, barely audible so Rainecourt wouldn't hear.

"I know," Mira frowned. "She's as bad as Aitken."

The two girls glanced up at the professor, and Mira felt a bit bad for her. It was the very first day and she'd already turned the majority of the class against her. If she really is anything like Aitken, she won't even care.

"Alright, let's bottle her up," Elsa smiled cheerfully.

"Oh..." Mira frowned a little as they ladled the potion into the glass bottle. "It's a little.."

"Brown," Elsa said flatly. "Oh well, let's get out of here."

They dropped the potion off on Rainecourt's desk and hurried out.

Rainecourt was a little shocked when the 2nd year girl complimented her. Rainecourt smiled and told the girl thank you. She did recognize her from the Hospital Wing. She must be one of Cosin's. She's probably a little more skilled in potions, Rainecourt thought. Maybe she could increase the difficulty level.

She said goodbye to the students who were leaving, smiling and waving at them as they walked out. She actually enjoyed the 2nd year class. They were a very exciting bunch. Rainecourt smiled. Not bad for my first day, she thought to herself.

This class is now closed!

Grades and Personal Notes
Arya -- 10, in your words "absolutely perfect"
Marigold -- 6, had right answers but the potion did overflow.
Adele -- 6, good! (but was a little thick)
Mira -- 4, potion was a little brown
Deirdre -- 6, good! (but was a little thick)
Kolby -- 8, had right answer and  knew proper safety!