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The blackboard laid out the day’s undertaking, three distinctly unpalatable tasks for anyone who had been hoping for a bright spring lesson-- a day to breathe between those heavy bookends of midterm exams and exit N.E.W.T.s.

Already, students were finishing up the first task and queueing to begin the second. Potions cooled, empty vials were nervously filled and carefully labeled. Work stations were scoured one by one, as murmurs of ‘scourgify’ echoed.

The clock marked the halfway point of the lesson, but the fun had not yet started.

As teens of varying shades of confident handed over their samples (also in varying shades, despite the singular directive), Juliette paid them with an identically sized vial of Veritaserum, a charmed quill, and a randomized questionaire— the most straightforward magical version of a Lie Detector Test. She might or might not have employed her husband one late night to help her come up with the interrogations.

“Remember to fill two vials before you clean up. One to hand in for grading and one to test with your partner.” It was a simple instruction, but already one poor soul had short changed himself. He would have to make due with half an antidote before he was grilled by his unforgiving classmate. The partner in question could barely contain his glee.

One by one, students returned to their seats and performed all sorts of rites of fortitude before downing the mouthfuls of Truth Serum. She knew they’d be feeling that floaty, indulgent, forthcoming buzz. “Give the Veritaserum a minute or two to settle into your system, and then try your antidote. You’ll take turns asking each other questions[1]. No two sets of questions are exactly like, though there are a few running themes…” Juliette smiled mildly, and perhaps a little emphatically. “The quills have been charmed to record your partner’s answers. Green means they’re telling the truth, and red means they’ve successfully lied[2]. If your ink is yellow, your antidote is weak. Every red answer will contribute towards a high mark.[3]”

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1.	You can come up with these questions yourself! They can be funny or serious. Make your partner sweat!
2.	Please note that a successful antidote does NOT mean that your student is suddenly a good liar/actor or has a good poker face. It just means they've cancelled out the Veritaserum. He or she might pull off a lie (marked with red ink), and still look miserable or like a plain faced liar. Have fun with grilling each other!
3.	Feel free to do this or anything in between. Maybe someone manages to produce purple ink. Who knows what that might mean?

Jordyn’s stomach was in knots.  This lesson was going to be horrifying. 

Veritaserum was one of the potions that made Jordyn the most nervous.  Having to tell the truth no matter what?  She knew some of her classmates did not have any shame (Ravenclaw’s dismal house point numbers were an indication enough), but Jordyn did and she liked to keep her personal things personal. 

But, she wanted to pass potions.  Correction, she needed to pass potions and with either an O or an E on her NEWT in order to secure her position at Mungo’s.  Professor Vaillancourt was not the type to give out grades, so Jordyn exercised great care in the first half of class, brewing the antidote to the best of her ability.  She followed directions to a T – exactly as it was written (if there was one thing Jordyn could do it was follow directions). 

So, holding up her antidote, she hoped it was the right color and consistency and tried her best to look confident as she walked up with her and her partners’ vials for marks.  Each was clearly marked with a label – Jordyn had insisted she write their names in the neatest handwriting she could muster – just in case her partner messed up.  (Jordyn couldn’t afford low marks).  The other vials were still sitting on their stations, and Jordyn knew which one was hers.  She would not be stuck with a faulty potion for this.

Well, she hoped her antidote would stand up to her partner’s interrogation.[1]  Letting out a deep breath, she took her questionnaire from the professor and the clear, odorless potion just sloshed in the vial – like water[2].  She walked back to the station while trying her best not to drag her feet. 

Placing the vials in their holders, Jordyn readjusted herself on her stool, smoothing her skirt over her thighs and placed the papers and quills on the desk between them.  “I’d prefer you go first,” Jordyn said crisply, “I’ll ask the questions and you can answer.  If you’d do the potions…” she motioned at the veritaserum and THEIR vial of antidote which was vastly different from hers.  (Jordyn hoped she was right).[3]

1.	This can be anyone, feel free to assume you are – the worse this goes the better!
2.	Veritaserum
3.	Feel free to assume either Jordyn’s potion is correct and her partner’s wrong, or vice versa.

Marco never claimed to be a fantastic potions student, but he was good enough to get into NEWT level. People who cooked were able to do okay in potions-- generally. It wasn't a particularly difficult subject-- all you had to do was follow the rules precisely and you probably won't blow anything up. Sometimes, despite his best efforts, he still failed-- just like how some recipes failed because you missed a step or two.

One thing was for certain though; his antidote looked different from Jordyn's. One of them was horribly, horribly wrong. At least he was partnered with someone respectful and reasonable like Jordyn rather than someone who was prone to ask chaotic and embarassing questions... Like Amherst.

So, he drank his vial of veritaserum, waited a few moments for it to settle and set in, then drank his vial.

"Alright. Ask me questions." Marco said with a casualness he didn't feel.

Having methodically filled up his pair of vials with the brewed antidote, Virgil was still blinking away some of the distastefully divulging sensations provided by the Veritaserum. He had little doubt that his own concoction would perform seamlessly now that he'd just consumed it but was interested in seeing how the Gryffindor would make out.

"Shall we?" his hands reached beneath the seat for a bundle of pale blue wool and knitting needles, but charmed for the questionnaire parchment to float within view. "I'll begin."

They had gotten through the first half of the lesson with about as much talkativeness as one might manage without being distracted from the important task of brewing. This activity seemed to promise more meat for conversation however...

Virgil eyed the first on the list of questions; fingers busily pulled knots on silky strings and a thin smile made his expression soft with wryness. The first few were reasonable ones. "What is your star sign?" he asked Bevans.

If there was one thing in the world Sophie had confidence in (besides the adorabiity of her backside anyway) was her potion skills. She'd been helping Nanny Flickwick brew since she was tiny. Of course in February of your seventh year you couldn't be too careful. Professor Vaillancourt had proved to be an excellent teacher over the last two years, no matter how heavy the workload. A bigger problem in the foreseeable future was that having partnered with Eli[1] meant she had a bit of a wildcard on her hands.

She eyed her work closely, trying to decide if the aged glass made it appear slightly cloudy or if she'd somehow rushed herself and buggered everything up. She rubbed her thumb over the side of the vial but decided that only left smudges and she'd have to risk it. She certainly didn't like the feeling of the Veritaserum, she had a hard enough time keeping her mouth shut in general. She didn't really need much prompting from potions.

Still feeling a little light in the headspace she motioned for Eli to turn in their vials with a weak and slightly apologetic smile, nose wrinkling as she rested her head in her hand, eyes wandering to his back as he walked away, smile turning to a smirk. Cute Buns Amherst should have been his actual name.

1.	approved by Kelly <3

Eli was happily paired with Sophie-- she was good at potions, and she was patient with him when he was having a hard time understanding what was being said. Plus, she shared his appreciation of spicy foods and could speak some Spanish! That meant that they could talk about people without them knowing.

His vials looked mostly good. At one look around the room, Eli realized his antidote didn't... Quite look like everybody else's. Maybe he was the only one who got it perfectly right-- or maybe he only got it partially right. Either way, you only live once. He drank the veritaserum. Holding the vial of the antidote up, he toasted Sophie and downed it like the vodka at Gracie's summer party. Sophie drank first-- and he wanted to ask the first question.

"Who is the best looking person in this room?" Let's face it, everybody in their year was attractive.

 Looking at Marco as he drank his potions, Jordyn couldn’t help but feel nervous.  She didn’t have any ill will toward Marco.  But, she really did hope that his potion was wrong. There was just… they were too different for both of them to be right.  Potions needed to be consistent, they should always look the same. 

So, holding her breath and fumbling with the parchment in her hand, she set it down on the desk, lifting the quill.  It zipped out of her hand and hovered above the line with the first question.  Jordyn looked one more time, just to make sure she was asking the right thing.

Lifting her brown eyes from the paper, Jordyn uncomfortably cleared her throat.  It was an easy question, by all accounts but it was kind of a definitive moment for both of them.  If he was correct and could lie, she was wrong.  Otherwise, it was anyone’s game.  “What house are you in?”

Zinnia was gleeful. The potions classroom was her happy place, and today was the perfect time for her to show off a bit and make her partner squirm. Today, that partner would be Mac. Normally, Zinni would be with Sophie, who equalled her skill in potions, but she felt the need for a challenge today. That and she was just more comfortable actually speaking to Mac[1], at least out of the people who weren't partnered up. She still didn't talk unless she had to, and potions was still the only class she would actually volunteer information in.

Zinnia pilled her hair (today, a bright and kind of annoying aqua) on to the top of her hair, into a messy topknot, while eyeing the two glass vials of her antidote. The color disturbed her a bit, being that it wasn't perfectly clear. She decided she probably just didn't strain it well enough or that there was dust in her vial, or that it was completely out of her control. She almost never doubted her skill as a potion maker, but today was awkward. Antidotes where her thing, but she felt off, not being able to have her usual partner, or maybe it was her lack of sleep last night after the owl from Daddy, who said that her grandfather wasn't getting any better and they were moving him to St. Mungos.

Something inside her pulled her away from the panic that she might have failed and she eyed Mac with a bit of a suspicious gaze. Though she trusted him, he wasn't Sophie, and she wasn't sure she was ready to have someone hear her deepest darkest secrets. Her nerves made her jump and she was sure that she would drop her vials, so she made a beeline to turn, both her's and his in.

"Bottoms up, Mac?" she offered him a shy smile as she downed her antidote in one gulp. A pleasant warmth filled her and she smiled.

1.	1 hey there, SJ!

Mac took their assignments up, carefully labeled as which belonged to whom in his compact printing. He took his time, glancing over the other vials and trying to reassure himself that his was clear enough. Of course it was. It was easy to get caught up in the impending doom of N.E.W.T.s but Mac knew what he was good at. Potions was one of those things. Arguably he was better at the food aspects of gastronomy but still. Potions and cooking were basically the same thing.

He gave the professor a crooked smile as he took the questionnaire and returned to his seat. Zinnia was a hard nut to crack. She was so skittish about things, people it seemed in general. He liked her though, there was something earnest about her that he couldn't put his figure on. Clinking vials with her he downed the concoction and winced a little. Was it supposed to burn going down? Maybe that was a bad sign too.

He snorted as Eli's voice carried from the table in front of them and Sophie gave an indignant "That question is not on there! It's completely subjective, how would the pen even know if I'm lying? You just hope I say your bum is nice. Ask me another." He couldn't kill the laugh that bubbled in his throat though he tried to cover it with a cough, rubbing the back of his neck as he turned toward Zinni, "So, you want to ask or answer first?"

"Answer, please. Let's just get this over with. You know I'm not one for words." the answer tumbled out of her mouth as she looked up and caught him laughing at their classmates antics. She hope he didn't slip a in a 'do you think I'm cute' question in there. Zinnia might die of embarrassment if he did.

She hung her head, and pulled at her hair. She did not like giving up control in any means, and she had handed it to Mac in a crystal vial, so to speak. Her hands moved deeper into her messy bun, which started to change back to a darker brown at the roots, and she pulled her knees up to her chest, balancing precariously on the her stool. Her whole demeanor changed, and she felt Soph throwing glances at her back, and knew her friend was concerned for her. Her skin paled a shade, but that was more from nervousness, and she eyed Mac, wondering if her was enjoying seeing her squirm.

Zinni hated that her safe, favorite, comforting place in school was about to become a place of torture, but, she so badly wanted to prove her skills as a potion maker. She had had the choice to stop taking potions as it wasn't needed for a career in magical law, but she couldn't have stopped. It wasn't in the cards for her. She'd never give up the comfort this place provided her.

"Should I employ you to write these for next year's class, Mr. Amherst?" Juliette raised a light brow, but it wasn't entirely void of amusement. She wasn't going to give detention to anyone who went off script-- not yet. Amherst, despite his intentions, was providing a real world element. She only wished he'd be a little more serious about it. Objectivity, of course, was a bar too high. Her eyes moved to Sophie, waiting for the answer-- or even the quill's reaction. She was a good student. Her potion had not been the unique color of Amherst's.

Juliette was pleased with her counter argument as much as she would have been pleased with a glaring red response.

Attention returning to Eli, the professor continued in a measure of agreement with Sophie, "Remember that the quills are charmed to work precisely with the questionnaires." It was a warning for all, her voice carrying further now. "I can't guarantee the charms work off script. They're made by the same people responsible for the Anti-Cheating Charms on your N.E.W.T.s." Juliette let that sink in for a moment. And then, more quietly to Eli, with a slight smile,  "I'm sure you don't want to be responsible for an erroneous mark for Miss Flickwick. Try to complete the actual questionnaire, too."

Carrying on, Juliette glanced over fields of red and green ink. Some tabletops were heavier on red, others were a disaster of green that would have had more luck decorating the lawn than earning a passing mark.

Soft, sheer material swished gracefully at the potioneer's ankles as she came to a natural pause beside Nettlebottom. The boy had always been a strong student, and was one of the handful for whom Juliette would gladly write letters of recommendation should he choose a potions apprenticeship or career path that required strong skill with a cauldron.

"Go on then, Mr. Nettlebottom. Let's hope we see a lot of red ink from Miss Kinley's answers." Juliette's eyes migrated to the Slytherin, for whom she also had high hopes. Like Dimbleby or Whitman, the pair were likely to fair much better than others with their exit exams.

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• Remember, you can make up any sort of question you like! It's safe to say Juliette had fun with these, so there might be a few saucy or auror-level interrogative questions on the questionnaires. She's preparing you for your future.
• As previously mentioned, a successful antidote does NOT mean that your student is suddenly a good liar/actor or has a good poker face. It just means they've cancelled out the Veritaserum. He or she might pull off a lie (marked with red ink), and still look miserable or like a plain faced liar. Have fun with grilling each other!

Mac frowned, not at Zinnia exactly, but definitely about her. She was so small and she seemed literally terrified of him. He knew, given the last six and a half years it wasn't actually about him, but he still worried that somehow he'd acted in a way that made her uncomfortable. He didn't like the idea of it the least little bit. She was so skittish it was sad.

He was actually surprised when she asked to answer questions. That didn't seem very in character at all, but also he was pretty sure she was the most miserable he'd ever seen her in all the years they'd had lessons together. He glanced up at Sophie and gave her a bit of a what am I supposed to do now expression but the petite Gryffindor was already deeply engaged with Eli about what the quills could or couldn't know.

And then Professor Vaillancourt was there and he felt even more awkward and like he was literally being forced to torture the poor girl next to him. Still he gave the professor a wane smile and a nod of his head, "Right then, first question, in what year did you begin your education at Hogwarts?" He decided it was best to lob a fairly easy one at her right off the bat, though her anxiety was a bit contagious.

As far as Nicholas was concerned he was an open book, so he wasn't worried about what questions might be asked.  The whole exercise would be more about his pride in getting the potion correct than anything else.

He felt quite confident that his antidote would work.  He followed the instructions perfectly.  Thankfully, the antidote didn't have to brew over an entire lunar cycle. Or today's lesson would have been way too long and Nicholas would have lost interest about two weeks prior.

"Bottom's up."  He drank the tiny amount of veritaserum they'd been given.  So much for testing it out on his roommates.

He let the truth serum take effect before chasing it with the antidote. His mind cleared a bit, but not nearly back to what would be called normal.  Then Virgil was asking a question.

"What is your star sign?"

His mind said Aquarius while his mouth decided to instead to say the truth, "Scorpio." Followed by a very loud, "Damn it!"

He glared at the list of questions picking one off the list, "Who is your favorite professor?"

Virgil took a moment away from his knitting to down his own antidote while Bevans answered the question and examined the list for one to shoot back - the Slytherin had a brief moment of doubt in which he considered the possibility of his brew not working. But he had been working hard at the subject and decided that being of uncertain mind wouldn't help in either case.

A curious glance towards the parchment to verify its green ink as he reclaimed the twin needles, smirking at Nick's loud swear. ""Who is your favorite professor?""

That was an interesting one at least - almost a shame that Virgil found he could quite easily lie about it. He had many favourites anyway (Rick was his favourite to annoy, Duerr his favourite to watch) and paused thoughtfully to name one that he rarely gave mention to.

"Butler." The History of Magic teacher had never taught his year, so of course the quill scribbled away with lurid red ink. Virgil didn't look down at the list, attention shifting from wool to Nick's face as he picked off a question from thin air. "What was the last school rule you broke?"

His prefect badge gleamed in the vague light of the dungeons.

Nicholas gritted his teeth when red ink spread across the parchment in response to Virgil's answer.  This lesson would have provided plenty of interesting insights into his partner. Instead all he was going to get was red ink while providing plenty to Virgil.  There were certainly worse people he could be divulging the last school rule he broke to, but in his current state of mind, he couldn't quite pinpoint who.

"I broke curfew," he stammered. The ink turned yellow.  And it was close enough to the truth that the pressure to answer the question disappeared.  Technically he'd broken more than just curfew, and he hadn't been alone while he did it. 

He breathed a sigh of relief before looking again at the list.  He didn't see a question he liked.  After all, if he wasn't going to get truthful answers he was at least going to get lies to fun questions.

"Who in this room would you shag?"