Term 9, lesson 1, years 5-7

Lucia had decided that having a joint class might actually be a good thing after thinking a lot about it during the summer. Now it was time to start one, and she had decided on a pretty complicated potion. Amortentia. This was going to be an interesting class. She wondered how they would all cope. One mistake, and the potion would turn into a lethal poison, or smell like a trolls nickers. She was really looking forward to the look on the students faces. Because it was doomed to happen to one or two of them. She'd be very surprised if it didn't.

She enchanted the calk, and it started writing up the name of the potion. She then smiled as students started filing in. She looked on as they took their seats and then she cleared her throat. "All right, class! Today, you'll be brewing the potion Amortentia. Can anyone tell me the effects of this potion and what it is?" she asked the class, and pointed to the first one raising their hand.

After the question was answered, Lucia looked over the class once again. "And can anyone tell me what the ingredients are to this potion?" she asked. She smiled as the question was answered.

Blackboard:

[OOC: Please, do not rp as if you were late. Or you might do so, but you will lose points, pending on the severity of your interruption. Also, answer only one of the questions, preferably the first one first
If you only know the answer to the second one, rp as if you have heard the answer to the first one already.]

Morgana walked into the Potions classroom, seeing she was the first one to enter. She sat down near the front. Dragging forth her books, she found that she was very ready for this new year and the Potions lessons. They were challenging enough. Her eyes drifted to the blackboard, hoping that would be a tricky one. She saw the name of the potion and raised an eyebrow. That was one potion she didn't have any use for. But it was a difficult potion to brew.

She listened to the professor and raised her hand at the question. "The potion makes the drinker grow wildly infatuated with the designated person. It is an infatuation very strong, but it is not real love. True love cannot be forged," Morgana said calmly. "That's also why the scent of the potion is different to everyone, as it smells of what you find most pleasurable in the world."

As she finished, Lucia asked a new question, another thing that Morgana knew the answer to. She sat back in her chair, however, and wondered if anyone else would take that question.

Deirdre entered the classroom on time with a few other students, and quickly set to finding a peaceful seat in the back. Professor Henley was already there, looking glad about something that was probably only hers to know.

When she was seated and with her books out, Deirdre turned her attention to the black board, where the name of the potion was already waiting for the students. Amortenia. That wasn't a potion Deirdre was likely to use, but she knew it was hard to brew, and that the tiniest mistake could ruin it completely.

Professor Henley asked a question about the essence and effects of the potion. An older girl, who Deirdre recognised as Morgana Gaunt, someone she'd never talked to, but couldn't help feeling wary of, raised her hand first. Her answer was full and detailed, but it was an easy question that Deirdre could've also answered to.

The next one, though, was harder, and Deirdre had to remember everything she'd read about that potion to be able to pick her answer. She raised her hand, only slightly, and said,"Are they an Ashwinder egg with 7 rose thorns, dried peppermint, Moonstone powder and a few petals from a Belladonna flower?", she hoped she was right, otherwise it would be a big embarrassment.

Lucia wasn't surprised that Morgana had the answer she did. She nodded along to the description the Slytherin girl gave and smiled. "Indeed. Ten points to Slytherin," she said. She didn't have to wait long for the next question to be answered either, by Deirdre. Lucia nodded at her reply to. "Excellent. Ten points to Hufflepuff!"

Lucia waved her wand and the chalk started dancing around the blackboard. "Turn to page 207 in your books. You will find the recipe there. Fair warning, one mistake and you might make the deadliest poison known to man. So be careful, and read the recipe at least a couple of times before you start to brew it," Lucia said. "Also, when you add your ingredients, be careful. A wrong amount of petals, and it might blow up. Make sure all the petals are full and fine. Also, take with you a few drops of Honeywater, in case you fail on the 6th step."

Lucia smiled kindly at them. She didn't think either one of the students would blow up their cauldrons, but she was very prepared for it. Her wand was in her hand, ready to shield the students from the droplets of an exploding cauldron.

Finally, a challenge. Morgana smirked as she opened her books to the correct side. She had made quite a few disturbingly complex potions during the summer, and she was glad to see that this potion was equally as difficult, if not more. Love potions... Who would've thought they would be so difficult, considering how easily fooled people were? She read through the instructions thoroughly and went to get the ingredients, as well as the honeywater, like professor Henley had suggested.

Considering the precision in the potion, Morgana had her wand at the ready so it would count time and tell what heat the potion was on to the dot. She had learned such spells from Mordred, as his job and research often included potions of the most intricate and difficult levels. She then started making the potion, and the first five steps went smoothly. The sixth one was a bit more tricky. She hovered right above her cauldron, her eyes staring intently at the distance between her hands and the surface of the potion. A heated bubble broke the surface and a drop hit her wrist. It burned and etched, but she ignored it and let go of the petal and thorns. She smirked satisfied again as the potion maintained it's white simmer. She also ignored the pain where the drop had landed.

The next few steps proved to be unproblematic and she was soon leaning back during the break at step 14. She had the last thorn ready in her hand, twirling it around when it broke her skin. A few droplets of blood escaped and fell on the thorn. Shit...! Morgana got out of her chair instantanously and stormed over to the cabinet and plucked a thorn from one of the roses. And then her wand brightened and she grit her teeth, dashing back to her potion and dropped the thorn into it before the wand's light went out. She breathed out, but her moment of distress got her distracted and she had to read the next instruction.

Let it boil? Morgana frowned. And then she remembered that the next instruction was in the same one as the rose thorn. 100 degrees! She heated the cauldron and looked on anxiously as it boiled, looking for that mother-of-pearl sheen. She grit her teeth as she waited. If she had failed this potion, she'd be furious. Unable to brew a love potion? Well, wouldn't that be ironic?

But then the potion paled and the smoke rising was being all weird. Morgana hadn't understood the characteristic thing at all. And then she smelled the smell. Morgana blinked as she felt herself drawn to it. It smelled like home. And the sea. And the forest. She couldn't quite define the last scent. She supposed it was some sort of a creature smell. Maybe of her snakes? She hadn't really smelt them intentionally, so...

She turned off the heat and took a sample. She walked up to professor Henley with it and reached it out for her to take. That was when she noticed the burn on her wrist. And placebo being what it is, the pain was noticeable now. What had happened to her skin? It was all blotched and prickly. She frowned. "Seems I got myself burned," she said in a nonchalant way.