o800 hours, Potions Dungeons
Lesson #1, Ingredients


Professor Naceri leaned back against the large oblong table at the front of the Dungeons classroom, overlooking the rows of cauldrons as students began to arrive in a sleepy trickle. It was the first lesson of the day. Leyla felt sure that the second years - who usually had a study break in this hour - would not appreciate this morning's grouping.

"Good morning," her small, quiet voice somehow managed to fill the room. "And welcome back. I am Professor Naceri, your new Potions Mistress. I expect stillness when I speak, if you would please. There will be no repetition." A pause as she let the murmurs fade and moved to reveal the front table in full, which had been cleared of its routine apparatus.

Shallow open crates had been laid out, each sub-section filled with various ingredients.

"We do not, ah, hit the ground running this term." Leyla traced a delicate finger along one of the crates as she smiled gently at th-- at her students. "It is easy, your task. On this table you will find a myriad of ingredients that have not been labelled." True to her word, none of the dividends features tags and many of the components resembled each other. It would take a careful eye to discriminate.

This was potions at its most elementary stage and yet one that many found difficult, spoiled by the ease of labels and obliging Apothecaries. Leyla would have none of that.

"You are to brew a potion, functioning. A Boil Cure[1], for our first years and a Shrinking Solution[2] for our older pupils. Some of the ingredients will be obvious. Others, will demand patience to pinpoint."

With a mild, sweeping wave of her wand, the witch motioned for them to begin approaching the table.

"Questions will be answered but I will not personally help you distinguish any of the ingredients, yes? Begin at your leisure but you have only until the end of this lesson."

Lesson Objective

1. Your ingredients have not been labelled.
2. Bear in mind that there are several fruitless ingredients that resemble the correct ones.
3. Brew either a Boil Cure (1st years) or a Shrinking Solution (2nd years).
4. Accomplish this by the end of the hour.
5. Points will be taken for delays and potions that do not function.

1.	Ingredients: dried nettles, 6 snake fangs, 4 horned slugs, 2 porcupine quills.
2.	Ingredients: minced daisy roots, peeled shrivelfig, sliced caterpillars, a rat spleen, a dash of leech juice.

They had a new professor.  She was young like their old Potions Master, but Frank noticed she was very different right away.  She didn't want to know their names or anything.  Frank found that he had to listen carefully and stay sharp because she moved right into it!

And it wasn't long before she was having them begin.  Frank hesitated for a moment and kind of looked at his fellow classmates dumbly.  They should start.  Now? Eek!  He pushed his chair back and in a rustle of little bodies, he approached the front. 

Up at the table there were boxes, bowls, bags, vials and vats, all filled with liquids, powders, pills, dried leaves, and unidentified animal parts... there were smells as well: aromas, odors, musks, and a trace of mint.  And as soon as Frank got to the front he realized he couldn't remember what was in a Boil Cure Potion.

From the middle of the knot of students at the table, he raised his hand.  "Um Professor Nas.. Professor? Can we use our books? For reference? "

Pax allowed himself a shy sort of smile. He'd been a little worried about this class for a few reasons. Firstly, it wasn't their usual period, and he was hoping it didn't shake up the schedule too much. Secondly, they were being grouped with the firsties, whom he generally liked on the whole, but he hoped the class wasn't too large for the professor to keep track of. Thirdly, he had no idea what to expect from this new teacher, Professor Naceri. Fortunately, his ability to perform well in class was not one of Pax's concerns. Making potions was actually something he could do quite well. So when Professor Naceri explained today's task, Pax was quietly confident.

He decided he liked this new teacher. (Granted, he liked most people unless they gave him a reason not to, but still.) She wasn't as accommodating as some teachers he knew, but at least she wasn't as scary as some others. There was something soothing about her soft-spokeness, and he quite liked how she got straight to the point. Once instructions had been given, Pax wasted no time in approaching the table of ingredients at the front of the classroom, finding himself next to a first-year who could only be Figaro Sellaphix's little brother.

Pax had himself been wondering if they could look up their ingredients in their textbooks, so he gave Frank an encouraging grin to let the younger boy know he wasn't the only one who wanted to know the answer to that question. 'Oh, and as well, Professor,' Pax added tentatively, 'is it okay to smell some of the ingredients? To help tell what's what?' He couldn't see why that would be a problem, but he decided it was better to ask just in case. He still didn't know very much about Professor Naceri and her standards. He started scanning the table, paying particular attention to the vials. He'd need leech juice, he remembered that much, but there were a few different vials that looked like they could contain the liquid.

Potions was Rowena's favorite class. Or it had been, before they'd brought in a new teacher. Professor Naceri seemed nice enough, though, and Rowena started up towards the table when they were motioned to do so. Boil cures were something she could remember. It seemed that a lot of the older girls used the cosmetic potions, and if Sophia ever needed any she was going to make sure she knew how. Maybe with finding one to keep her own hair properly in its braids, as well.

When they'd first studied the potion she'd even found that if she waved her wand just so at the end, that it turned out even better! A detail which she'd immediately shown Sophia, of course.

For now, though, she had a potion to make. There were a bunch of dried leaves in the compartments she went to first, and she brushed her fingertips across the bits of plant for a second before pulling them back. The texture was all wrong! Whatever it was, it was certainly not dried nettles.

She paused in her searching at the second year's question, though. Turned her head towards the Professor. It seemed as if smell might be important to telling some of these apart, but Rowena didn't want to be the one sniffing herbs while Professor Naceri told them they couldn't. 

Leyla surveyed the small faces staring back at her with questions in their eyes. She brushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear, sighing softly.

"I would hope, Mister Sellaphix, that you would already know the method to such an elementary concoction..." the disappointment was not harsh though it was clear that she had expected more. Inconveniently, textbooks comprised of information regarding their required ingredients. "You may not use your textbooks," she answered. "But I will issue the the listed instructions."

It took nothing but a swish of her wand to send lumps of chalk scratching at the blackboard.

As they scribbled down the necessary ingredients, Leyla glanced at the Hufflepuff boy with a kind look in her eye. "I wondered who would ask. Yes you may smell them," the witch turned her gaze to the table. "Smell, touch. Even test, if you know how."

"I would advise against tasting," she added with a smile.

Annette was not the most amazing student when it came to potions, but Jim had helped her make this potion when she started breaking out earlier last year. When you'r brother's best friend is a potioneer, it helps a bit with school. Annette already knew the potion by heart, and set about looking for the right ingredients. The jars were much dustier than the ones James had bought for her.

Nette hadn't decided if she liked, or didn't like the new potions professor, she seemed strict, which was a small disappointment on the fun front. But she was also curt and got to the point, which Nettie liked very much, sort of the way her father spoke to her, but softer and less...masculine. She grabbed a jar of what she thought was snake fangs, but after a bit of observation, she decided they were of some other critter and put them back, knowing she could easily find horned slugs.

She grabbed a jar of the slugs, and shook a few jars around near her ear, waiting for the perfect sound dried nettles made, a little trick James had taught her.

Alice smiled as she walked into the classroom. Potions was easy. She loved it. All she had to do was memorize and follow steps. She was always quite good at following directions. "Good morning Professor." Alice said with a smile walking into the class and withdrawing her materials for class. She looked up at the board and smiled. She knew the potion by heart and quickly started to hum the song she used to remember the ingredients. "First you get some dried nettles, then 6 snake fangs. 4 horned slugs and 2 porc-pine quills. Now you're ready to cure boils." She sang to the tune of ba ba black sheep.

She then went to the ingredients where she started to withdraw different ingredients. She wafted each scent towards her nose to check what they were. After a few different potion ingredients she was able to pinpoint the correct ingredients needed for the potion. She carried each ingredient to her desk where she started on her potion, spreading the ingredients out in the correct order that they were needed.

"Save cake for hiding. 10 weeks, 45 homes on peninsulas. 5 worlds." Alice repeated. It was another memory charm. SC4H10W45HOP5W. She jotted down the steps.  Snake fangs, crush, 4 measures, heat 250 10 minutes, wave wand, 45 minutes to leave, Horned slugs, Off fire, Porcupine Quills, 5 times stir, wand.

Alice followed each step, waiting the 45 minutes, and preparing the potion to perfection. She then raised her hand happily, saying quietly. "Professor! I'm finished." She called, pouring some of the potion into a bottle, and bringing it to the professor with a bounce in her step. She held it out proudly.

It was early in the morning, and for today the first years were sharing their Potions class with the second years. And, they had a new Professor. Indeed, another new face around the castle, as if all of the faces were already well-known by now. Potions, like all of his other classes, wasn't a class that he found easy in the slightest. He did alright, but he certainly had to work for it.

Now, to compound on that, Professor Naceri seemed to be a no jokes, strict, and rather impersonal Professor so far. She didn't even bother to try to learn their names. She wasn't going to repeat anything. A definite sink or swim type of atmosphere. One where Michael would have to pay attention in, so he wouldn't sink. But, she was giving them ingredients with no labels. Merlin. At least she gave them an ingredients list.

So, the Boil Cure...

Michael sighed, and approached the crates that were in the front of the room. He grabbed a jar of slugs that he was able to spot immediately, since they were harder to miss. The other three ingredients would be harder to find. Snake fangs ... Snake fangs. After observation of several jars, he was finally able to distinguish the snake fangs and took six of them. Immediately, he began searching for the porcupine quills, as the nettles would be harder to spot.

By Helena...

No notes or textbooks for this potion? Philo wasn't perturbed but surprised. He was so-so in potions, the practical portion. If the book was in front of him he wouldn't need it. The moment the professor said there were no books he began to doubt his ingredients. Shrinking Solution needed Shrivel fig and rat spleen, no, mouse spleen. Toad spleen. It was a spleen from a Hogwarts permitted pet, wasn't it?

Yet how was he supposed to remember all the ingredients to Shrinking Solution...hang on a tick, Durmstrang had to complete shrinking solution for the Second Task. He remembered that from the highlights. The first section made things red, then acid green. So the stuff needed was Minced Daisy roots, Leech Juice, caterpillars...

He faltered at the ingredient bins. The smell of various sized shriveled spleens and what smelled like mushrooms reminded him that the ingredients were not going to be labeled. Oh bother.

Surprisingly Heliotrope knew one potion by memory. It had been from last year's final.

She needed Horny Slugs, Poke Quills and Snake Teeth. And water, of course. The resulting potion would smell like bleached dead fish and have the consistancy of Kelpie snot.

Within minutes she had brought back to the second year's tables 6 Snake Teeth[1], 4 Horny Slugs[2], 2 Poke Quills[3] to eventually dump into her cauldron.

1.	5 golden rings
2.	3 french hens
3.	and a partridge in a pear tree!

Obderedria much agreed with the suggestion to not try tasting the ingredients. For one thing, she had never eaten flowers or spleens (kidney and liver at times) or anything in potions that looked like juice because it wouldn't be a proper tasty kind of juice like pineapple or pumpkin.

You did not eat things in potions! There might be a repressed memory or two in there.

If only she could remember what went into Shrinking Solution. It had always sounded like just the kind of potion she would like to use, if it didn't have such a low time of effect on humans.

She passed Heliotrope going the other direction from the ingredients -- something was off but she couldn't put her finger on it -- and found Philo looking ill next to the stuff for potions.

She contemplated the various bins. "I think we need to find a fig. Not a real fig. Well, the nonmagical kind." Or Fig, the loudmouthed older student in her house. She picked up one fruit. "Can't be this, it's a plum."

Rico still sat at his table. Wondering the the heck he was suppossed to do with himself. He had always struggled with potions, he could manage a few healing potions for injured hippogirffs back at home, but that was it, they were probably more advanced than a Boil Brew, but the bottles were labled, in Spanish.

These had no labels at all. He looked at the blackboard and he stood up from his table. He stretched his back, and made his way to the jars and containers. Didn't the professor know she would have to re-label thesse after this class? Or maybe she was one of those professors who made your avery existance a struggle. Rico could easily find the slugs and fans, the quills wouldn't be all that hard either.

But dried nettles? He had never even heard of a regular, not dried nettle before today. He watched as the others carefully picked a few walnut looking things from a jar. He looked around o see if anyone was watching, then snagged a few and went about collecting the other ingredients.

He got back to his table and looked at his cauldron. "What now?" He said to himself, looking at the knife and then at the other pupils around him. He saw Hunter crushing the snake fangs, so he followed her example. At least it's a start...

Frank set his jaw when the new Professor gave him a gentle admonishment for not having the recipe memorized.  He was kicking himself and sometimes even a small correction from a teacher was enough to steel him to do better.  He hated being wrong or having others think he didn't know what he was doing. 

But he'd just have to get the potion right, then wouldn't he?

Even though Frank hadn't remembered what was in a Boil Cure potion, he had grown up in an apothecary.[1]  He was good at identifying things - he'd had to put them away, sort things, label things and he even helped customers sometimes.

He looked over the table of ingredients.  The snake fangs were easy enough to find.  White, curved and very thin.  He carefully took a half dozen into his hand.  The horned slugs were easy enough to spot. At the apothecary, they always came in giant 5 gallon jars suspended in a syrup almost like pickles.  Professor Naceri had them in a smaller jar.  He used the tongs nearby to fish a few out into a bowl.  Porcupine quills were there bundled together with twine so he picked out a few good ones.

The nettles were harder.  There were lots of dried plants on the table in all different shades of reds, greens, browns and purples.  Crispy, cruchy and aromatic.  He stuck his fingers in one pouch the way he'd seen his dad do it, rubbing the brittle leaves between his fingers.  No, that was dittany.  He could smell it.  Those there - that was star anise.  Over there mint, there mandrake leaf, and wooooof!  He suddenly drew back with a cough and covered his nose.  Ew! He'd just taken a big whiff of stinkwort and it was like he had poo shoved up his nose and down his throat. 

"Not that...!" He said to anyone around him.  Ah there.  The dried nettle.  It looked like big, loose leaf tea.  Pale green, flat leaves that didn't curl.  He took what he needed and went back to his station.


There was a cauldron set up over a stone slab on the table, and there were the typical tools they'd used last term.  Mortar and pestle, knives, crushers, graters, tongs, parchment paper, scales...  Frank laid out his ingredients and then set to work grinding up the snake fangs in the mortar first.

And Frank kept at his work step-by-step, carefully carefully.  But he wasn't above looking around the room to see how other people were faring.  He wanted his potion to be the best because he felt like he knew how to select ingredients better than anyone else.  He should know! It was in his blood. 

1.	Frank's family owns Sellaphix Apothecary

Rowena had managed to find the nettles after a bit of sorting, and was now-well, she wasn't going to use just any nettles for her first potion with the new Professor! She had to find the best ones, ones that hadn't started to fade, perfectly dried still-green leaves. Then she started on finding the snake fangs. There were a few other sorts of fangs on the table, but they were too brittle or too large and were easily dismissed. She took six of them, making sure to take smooth, unstained ones.

The horned slugs were easier-she couldn't fuss over them too much in their jars. And the  porcupine quills, well, she made sure not to prick her fingers on them once she'd found them as well.

With all the ingredients collected, she sat down and started to crush the snake fangs in her new mortar and pestle. The dried nettle got crumbled up into fine powder as well, though she was careful to keep them separate. Once this was done, she laid the ingredients out in the order they'd be put in-dried nettles, snake fangs, horned slugs, and finally the quills. Made it easier to remember to get it right.

Their new professor had called the class to order and all around Mairead's work bench, stools were scraping along stone floors as students went to gather their supplies.  The professor had offered instructions but there was no sign of a potions recipe anywhere.  And, the ingredients were unlabeled.  Neither detail boded well for today's class performance.  And, it was a new professor - one who didn't actually know them.  Who had yet to learn to differentiate the brownnoser Hufflepuff from the happy, stoic, goody-two-shoes Gryffindors from the ... well, Mairead-like Gryffindors. 

But, Mairead wasn't concerned.  The Gryffindor would remain patiently in her seat until everyone else had retrieved their ingredients and returned to their spots.  The pint-sized Gryffindor watched, carefully, as each of her fellow second years scurried up to the crates and stressed over their selections of bottles and vials and dried stuff.  She'd continue to watch, patiently, until they returned to their seats, taking a quick survey of each of their selected items. 

The plan was simple.  She'd conduct a quick survey of each of the student's selections and then go retrieve the most commonly selected items.  Mairead had no clue what she was looking for and, chances were, every individual student would make mistakes.  But, the second years as a whole?  As a group, they had to be mostly right.  And, if she'd pay closer attention to certain bird-oriented students than others, she had a good chance of returning with the right ingredients. 

"Hurry it!" Mairead muttered, impatiently, as she watched the second years gathered around the boxes.  The only one to have really committed to a selection was Heliotrope - and Mairead knew better than to follow her lead.  "Bugger It!  Move!" she snapped at Rowena Knight as the first year Gryffindor moved back to her seat, briefly blocking Mairead's view.