Making a Potion for a Pretentious Pureblood Prick
Jack couldn't believe he was doing this. Not that he couldn't believe he was making the Volubilis Potion, but that he couldn't believe he was making it for some pretentious, Japanese pureblood who looked down on him for being muggleborn. He was only doing it because he'd been paid to, of course, and fair was fair, but it was still absurd to him. However, he and Ginyami Midorimori knew very well that the Mahoutokoro student couldn't make the potion himself. At least not while at Hogwarts, he couldn't.
Despite having access to a great many plants due to his family business, there were many other ingredients that were a lot more plentiful in the Hogwarts potions storeroom than anywhere in Japan where Ginyami lived. Flying Seahorses, for example, which were found in Scotland and notoriously difficult to catch. As a pureblood, Ginyami was, of course, quite rich, but he was also frugal in certain instances like this and preferred to spend less money by obtaining potion ingredients from the source rather than having to import them from overseas to Japan. Then, though, as if that wasn't enough, he claimed he didn't have permission or the supplies to brew potions himself, so he offered to pay Jack to do it as if he was cheap labor, and Jack would simply agree to it just because he was a poor mudblood.
Well, it wasn't like Jack would have turned down the chance for some pocket money, especially in the quantity that Ginyami was offering it. But that also meant he couldn't do a half-assed job; not even out of spite. His pride as a Hogwarts student was on the line, not to mention as a muggleborn. And Jack he was determined to brew the potion batch better than even Ginyami, who had been studying plants and potions ingredients almost since birth, could have done so himself.
Poring over his potions textbook, he quickly read over what he was supposed to do to try to get everything done as soon as possible, but also as accurately as he could. He was a perfectionist, after all.
First, he had to pre-heat his cauldron, which he had done while reading over his potions book, preparing the other ingredients, and falling into a train of thought involving questioning how he had managed to end up doing the dirty work for an elitist-seeming pureblood in the first place. Then he was supposed to pour half a bottle of wine into the cauldron. Simple enough. He even measured out the full amount of the bottle before carefully dividing the quantity mathematically and pouring as close to exactly half of that amount as possible.
Then he was supposed to pit two cups of cherries - something he had done while waiting for his cauldron to preheat - and discard the pits before dumping the whole lot of cherry fruit flesh into a mortar to grind it with the accompanying pestle. It didn't take long for him to grind the cherries into a paste, but given how juicy they were, it did get quite messy. Gradually, though, he succeeded.
Adding the four Palomino horse hairs was next and gave him no trouble at all. He mixed them into the cherry paste he had made before adding the whole paste mixture with the hairs to the cauldron. The strong, heady scent that resulted from the end result of mixed wine, hairs, and cherries made Jack think he might have started to feel dizzy. Best to hurry things along. He stirred four times clockwise, wondering how on Earth any wizard or witch learned exactly how many times to stir any potion brew and in which direction as well as what impact it had on the potion. before leaving the brew to sit for 20 minutes as instructed from the book.
While waiting for the mixture to sit, Jack diced the dog's tongue and tried not to feel ill as he did so. Then he returned to the mixture in his cauldron when time was up and added in the diced meat. After that, he stirred once more clockwise and tried not to think about everything. Almost there, it seemed like.
Next, he added the cup of woodlice, gaining some satisfaction while thinking of Ginyami having to drink those, and included a fourth of the wine from the bottle to the cauldron. Then he stirred five times counter-clockwise.
Afterward, he raised the heat to medium high as instructed and waited for 24 minutes after, stirring clockwise every four heartbeats for the first six of those 24 minutes. While he stirred, he slowly transferred the last fourth of the wine from the bottle - all that was left of it - into his cauldron before allowing it all to simmer for 90 seconds. It was only after that that he thought he had done something wrong and decided that he shouldn't have stirred clockwise every four heartbeats for the first six of those minutes, but rather for the first six minutes after the 24 he had been supposed to wait.
Cursing to himself and the book for not making things easier to understand, Jack added to the notes he had been making off to the side the whole time in order to give himself tips and tricks for the process in the future to make things easier on himself. Then he vanished the ruined mess he had made of his potion - how sad he had come so far already - and started over.
Approximately an hour later, Jack managed to get back to the same spot he had been in before realizing his mistake and was glad his ruined batch hadn't included the most expensive ingredient of Flying Seahorses. Adding three of those to the mix, he lowered the heat to low and left the mixture to brew for three minutes. Then he waved his wand to complete the potion and transferred it to vials as instructed. If Ginyami had anything to complain about, Jack would have loved to hear it.
Despite having access to a great many plants due to his family business, there were many other ingredients that were a lot more plentiful in the Hogwarts potions storeroom than anywhere in Japan where Ginyami lived. Flying Seahorses, for example, which were found in Scotland and notoriously difficult to catch. As a pureblood, Ginyami was, of course, quite rich, but he was also frugal in certain instances like this and preferred to spend less money by obtaining potion ingredients from the source rather than having to import them from overseas to Japan. Then, though, as if that wasn't enough, he claimed he didn't have permission or the supplies to brew potions himself, so he offered to pay Jack to do it as if he was cheap labor, and Jack would simply agree to it just because he was a poor mudblood.
Well, it wasn't like Jack would have turned down the chance for some pocket money, especially in the quantity that Ginyami was offering it. But that also meant he couldn't do a half-assed job; not even out of spite. His pride as a Hogwarts student was on the line, not to mention as a muggleborn. And Jack he was determined to brew the potion batch better than even Ginyami, who had been studying plants and potions ingredients almost since birth, could have done so himself.
Poring over his potions textbook, he quickly read over what he was supposed to do to try to get everything done as soon as possible, but also as accurately as he could. He was a perfectionist, after all.
First, he had to pre-heat his cauldron, which he had done while reading over his potions book, preparing the other ingredients, and falling into a train of thought involving questioning how he had managed to end up doing the dirty work for an elitist-seeming pureblood in the first place. Then he was supposed to pour half a bottle of wine into the cauldron. Simple enough. He even measured out the full amount of the bottle before carefully dividing the quantity mathematically and pouring as close to exactly half of that amount as possible.
Then he was supposed to pit two cups of cherries - something he had done while waiting for his cauldron to preheat - and discard the pits before dumping the whole lot of cherry fruit flesh into a mortar to grind it with the accompanying pestle. It didn't take long for him to grind the cherries into a paste, but given how juicy they were, it did get quite messy. Gradually, though, he succeeded.
Adding the four Palomino horse hairs was next and gave him no trouble at all. He mixed them into the cherry paste he had made before adding the whole paste mixture with the hairs to the cauldron. The strong, heady scent that resulted from the end result of mixed wine, hairs, and cherries made Jack think he might have started to feel dizzy. Best to hurry things along. He stirred four times clockwise, wondering how on Earth any wizard or witch learned exactly how many times to stir any potion brew and in which direction as well as what impact it had on the potion. before leaving the brew to sit for 20 minutes as instructed from the book.
While waiting for the mixture to sit, Jack diced the dog's tongue and tried not to feel ill as he did so. Then he returned to the mixture in his cauldron when time was up and added in the diced meat. After that, he stirred once more clockwise and tried not to think about everything. Almost there, it seemed like.
Next, he added the cup of woodlice, gaining some satisfaction while thinking of Ginyami having to drink those, and included a fourth of the wine from the bottle to the cauldron. Then he stirred five times counter-clockwise.
Afterward, he raised the heat to medium high as instructed and waited for 24 minutes after, stirring clockwise every four heartbeats for the first six of those 24 minutes. While he stirred, he slowly transferred the last fourth of the wine from the bottle - all that was left of it - into his cauldron before allowing it all to simmer for 90 seconds. It was only after that that he thought he had done something wrong and decided that he shouldn't have stirred clockwise every four heartbeats for the first six of those minutes, but rather for the first six minutes after the 24 he had been supposed to wait.
Cursing to himself and the book for not making things easier to understand, Jack added to the notes he had been making off to the side the whole time in order to give himself tips and tricks for the process in the future to make things easier on himself. Then he vanished the ruined mess he had made of his potion - how sad he had come so far already - and started over.
Approximately an hour later, Jack managed to get back to the same spot he had been in before realizing his mistake and was glad his ruined batch hadn't included the most expensive ingredient of Flying Seahorses. Adding three of those to the mix, he lowered the heat to low and left the mixture to brew for three minutes. Then he waved his wand to complete the potion and transferred it to vials as instructed. If Ginyami had anything to complain about, Jack would have loved to hear it.
PC: Jack Burnett | iNPC: Ginyami Midorimori