Brewing Potions

Date December 1, 2025 Time (morning) Location Potions Classroom, Hogwarts Tags pv @Aurora Coleman

Reducio Any color-coded text (red/blue/green/yellow) is intended to represent the speaking/thinking character's house or former house, other characters or characters with their house unknown to me will be grey. Colored italics are thought; colored "quotations" are spoken. Uncolored italics are usually books or songs etc., while uncolored quotations are usually meant to emphasize the included word or make it sarcastic.

It was the start of December, Robin's favorite month. Partly due to his birthday being towards the end of it, but mainly because his favorite season is winter and "the end of a year" just has a certain fascination tied to it. Everything's over, yet they'll start again.

The soothing scent of herbs and the indescribable odor of less pleasant ingredients filled the air as Professor Asmaralaya stood in front of his station and gestured towards two labeled glass jars. He listed today's agenda, learning how to make "Bruise Removal" and "Burn Healing" potions.

As the professor started arranging ingredients and warning students of their potential dangers, a flash of strawberry blonde entered his peripherals. Robin turned his head almost instinctively to make sense of what's going on, seeing a shorter girl smile at him right before he averted his gaze. It was a very short eye contact, but the girl's brows were slightly furrowed, making the smile seem more awkward or apologetic than random friendliness. The girl, a Gryffindor by the looks of her robe, then started scribbling what seemed like notes on her textbook, and Robin too turned back to focus on the lesson.

With Professor Asmaralaya's mention of "teamwork", Robin felt a set of eyes observing his side profile. He flinched a bit, but didn't return the look and kept listening to the professor. I haven't sat next to her before, she's probably just curious about who I am. Robin reassured himself that nothing was wrong with his robes or glasses and continued to observe the demonstrations.

After a few more minutes, the practical section of the class began. The previously quiet classroom now turned into a crucible of boiling conversations.

"Uh, hi. I'm Aurora. It's unfortunate you have to partner up with me." Robin turned to his side and saw the girl smile at him, awkwardly like when she first slipped in. "But I promise you I'll be helpful!"

Robin looked away and shook his head, "I'm not perfect at potions either . . . I think you'll be fine. Oh, name's Robin Lockett by the way." To be honest, he said that mainly out of politeness. Robin didn't have any memory of the girl's performance in this class, so it's likely not disastrous. On the other hand, she was late for some time . . . that could be explained by many things, but Robin still felt a bit uneasy. She came before the critical information was explained, so she knows what she's doing, I assume? Robin hoped she didn't miss anything important enough to lead them down the road of failure.

"Would you prefer we split the potions and work separately or make them together? I'm fine with either."

Robin thought for a moment. "Well, Professor Asmaralaya said that teamwork is important, that might imply we should do them together . . . that being said, we each have a caldron so working on them both at the same time might be more efficient." He paused for a moment, then concluded: "I think it's best if we each take on a potion and brew them separately." Robin looked at the two recipes, comparing them. "I uh . . . I'm really fine with doing either of them, but since you seem fine with either too . . . eh, I'll just do the Bruise Removal Paste if that's okay?"

Reducio

Hallo, sorry for narrowing down the date without asking you, please tell me if there are any time conflicts with other rps on your part. I mainly just wanted a specific date for the sake of recording a day-to-day timeline on my ency.

Mentions: @Robin Lockett
Word count: 440

“I uh... I’m really fine with doing either of them, but since you seem fine with either too... eh, I’ll just do the Bruise Removal Paste if that’s okay?” At the boy's hesitant words, Aurora nodded eagerly, her eyes bright with a competitive spark.

“Of course! I guarantee you, we’ll probably finish early and snag those prizes from Professor Asmaralaya,” she chirped. In a sudden burst of restless energy, she nudged the poor boy’s shoulder a bit too forcefully.

“Alright, let’s get started.” Though her hair was short, only a choppy bob that barely grazed her jaw, she still managed to tie it back into a stubby, sprout-like ponytail using a spare elastic from her wrist. It was a practical ritual, her mother’s voice always echoed in her head: always protect your hair before doing anything dangerous. In a Potions class, "dangerous" was the baseline.

Gathering the ingredients, she peered at the recipe once more. She appreciated how detailed the instructions were. While Aurora often came across as a clumsy, foolish girl, she possessed a hidden, sharp talent for following a sequence to the letter. When a recipe was in front of her, the world narrowed down to measurements and timing. Just like making cupcakes.

As she began crushing the dried seaweed pieces into a thick paste, a wave of nostalgia washed over her. The rhythmic thump-grind of the stone pestle against the mortar was the soundtrack of her childhood. Every weekend morning had been spent helping her mother prepare jars of Burn Healing Paste. Back then, the "small jobs" like crushing ingredients and stirring until her arms ached were hers.

She remembered a specific regular, a man from a nearby Muggle restaurant who constantly arrived with fresh burns on his hands. Often exclaiming, “It works like magic!” Ironically, it is magic, ha.

She recalled how she always complained, about why they couldn't just use mechanical blenders or "machines" to speed things up. Every time, her mother would remind her. “Every motion is an intention, Aurora. Every step is a vital process to achieve the desired result. You cannot rush the soul of a cure.”

It was hard to believe three months had already slipped by since she’d said goodbye at the station. Every little things reminded her of her mother and her advices. I miss her, I hope she's okay.

After carefully adding the Flobberworm Mucus into the mixture, she stirred with a steady, rhythmic hand. The girl smiled and looked to her side to Robin. “How is it looking over there, partner?"

Date December 1, 2025 Time (morning) Location Potions Classroom, Hogwarts Tags pv @Aurora Coleman

Reducio Any color-coded text (red/blue/green/yellow) is intended to represent the speaking/thinking character's house or former house, other characters or characters with their house unknown to me will be grey. Colored italics are thought; colored "quotations" are spoken. Uncolored italics are usually books or songs etc., while uncolored quotations are usually meant to emphasize the included word or make it sarcastic.

Robin quickly realized—or rather reinforced the idea—that this girl was very energetic. The shoulder bump caught him off guard a little, as physical touch wasn't something he'd gotten used to over these past months. Socializing was relatively easier, but unnecessary brushes of skin are just . . . unnecessary, in his opinion.

As the girl tied her short bob into a tiny puff of hair, Robin also made sure he didn't have any loose strands dangling on his face. He wasn't sure of the exact impact some fallen hair would have on the potions, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. If anything, seeing a strand of hair in your medicine paste would feel very unhygienic.

Aurora was surprisingly very efficient in her craft. Ingredients were prepared precisely and quickly without any visible mistake. Robin focused on his own task and examined the recipe. After putting his cauldron on medium flame and recording the time, he started organizing the ingredients in chronological order—meaning in the order they're supposed to be added into the mixture. There wasn't too big of a problem in this stage, just some occasional confusion regarding the exact amount he should set aside. Three Murtlap Tentacles . . . what if one of them was significantly smaller? Should he add an additional one, or does the number matter more than the actual quantity? Luckily that was just a thought, as the tentacles he was distributed were relatively similar in size.

There was still some time before the ten minute mark when he needs to start adding ingredients, so Robin decided to finish preparing those that would be used later in the process. One such ingredient was sea shell powder. Thankfully his six sea shells were also visually the same size, but there was one little problem.

As someone who appreciates clear instructions, Robin always hated the term "add some" or "cut into small squares". How much should he add? How small of a square should he cut the materials? The recipe told him to crush the sea shells into a "fine powder". How fine? Does it have to be like industry-quality sugar, where you cant see even one lump of solid substance? Also, it later says to add "three pinches of the powder" to the mixture. should these three pinches be all of the powder? It doesn't sound like it, but then why is he crushing six shells?

With a jolt, Robin realized that the time was up. He quickly but steadily followed the recipe's instructions, added ingredients, stirred the mixture a few times, took the cauldron off the fire, added more ingredients, stirred a few more times, put the cauldron back on his fire, waved his wand, turned the fire to low heat, and let the potion sit after recording the time again.

Now Robin had nothing to do, really. He had already crushed the sea shells to some extent, he's now continuing the motion without a clear objective in mind. He liked magical theories better. Sitting in a classroom, reading textbooks, listening to the professor talk about their passion, and possibly test out the spell he was taught. The practical component of spells was more enjoyable for him than potions. One can say that spell books are more abstract than recipes, but Robin would argue that recipes are more confusing. While casting spells often rely on one's concentration and imagination, potions rely on the recipe-writer's clarity. Robin trusts his mind more than the vague words of others, so Potions Class naturally isn't his favorite.

Some more time had passed before Aurora spoke up to him while stirring her potion: "How is it looking over there, partner?"

Robin didn't mind her calling him "partner", he was just unfamiliar. Though they were, indeed, partners in this activity, it still felt odd hearing himself being referred to as something akin to an accomplice.

"I'm fine, just a bit confused." Robin gestured towards the bowl of sea shells he crushed, "Not sure how powdered they should be. Also, how much is a pinch? Three pinches, I mean. Is it all of this powder, or is 'pinch' actually a secret culinary unit like how 'dozen' means twelve?"

Reducio

no worries, my finals are next week (crying)
luckily not all my classes have finals, I got the rather easy end of things, but still