Prodigal A Favor

September 3rd, 2022
Morning

Sophia had frequented the Potions classroom quite a bit as a first year, so it made sense that she'd spend just as much time there in her second year at Hogwarts. Still, to be spending her first Saturday of the year in the Potions classroom was a bit much for even her, especially when she was already struggling with Charms despite only being two days into the school year.

That was part of the reason she was here, actually. She'd found a friend over the summer - a fellow duellist, in fact - who'd agreed to teach her how to duel more effectively, and in return she was to brew a Befuddlement Draught for the girl. The only problem was that Sophia didn't know how to brew a Befuddlement Draught. At least, not yet.

Normally Sophia would have loved to brew a potion for anyone, anyway. Especially an advanced potion such as this one. But this wasn't just for anyone. It was for Regina Miller.

Surely there was a lot that a lot of people could say about Regina's pure-blood family, or about the history of the Millers and their impacts on the magical world, but Sophia didn't understand, or care, about any of that. All she knew was that Regina was everything she wanted to be. She wanted to be half the duellist Regina was, and if she could get that by brewing a simple - well, not simple, but it wasn't too difficult for her - potion, then it was absolutely worth it.

"This is for Regina," she said with a focused nod of her head. All of the ingredients were measured and organized upon her desk, and her cauldron was ready. All she had to do was follow the recipe. This was going to be easy.

...it didn't occur to her to ask why Regina needed a Befuddlement Draught of all potions, but it was a bit late to back out now anyway.

"Okay. I've got this. I am so ready for this. I can brew the heck out of this potion."

Since she wouldn't be allowed to keep the potion she brewed today in her studies, she would have to brew it again later, but that was fine. If she could do it now, she could do it then, too.

Sophia cracked her knuckles and got to work, grinding 2 sprigs of Skurvy glass, a sprig of Lovage, and a sprig of Sneezewort into the mortar. Sophia wasn't overly familiar with these particular plants, but she'd read a bit in the textbook, so she wasn't too terribly worried. She worked the pestle until the plants resembled a nice, fine powder. Beautiful. The mortar and pestle were Sophia's second favorite part of potion-brewing.

Careful to avoid touching them with her hands, Sophia grabbed a knife that had been handy in the Potions classroom and crushed the 2 mistletoe berries with the flat of the blade. She didn't let any of the juices get onto her fingers, well aware of the side effects a bit of mistletoe could have if accidentally ingested. Using the flag of the knife, she scraped the berries into the cauldron and set the heat to medium.

She idly tapped on the table for thirty seconds - it helped her keep track of time - and added 4 fluid ounces of water to the cauldron. It wasn't a lot of water by any means, but it was what the recipe called for, so she trusted it. She set the heat to high and gave 3 clockwise stirs. Stirring the potions was her actual favorite part. It made her feel like a witch out of the stories she'd read as a muggle. But a nice witch. Hopefully.

Sophia set the heat to low and readied her stirring stick once more. Stirring five times counterclockwise, she slowly sprinkled the fine powder from the mortar into the mixture, smiling as she witnessed the reactions as each bit of powder was added. Sometimes potion-brewing made her feel like a scientist, and she loved it.

Offering a wave of her wand, she then sat back and relaxed. The fun part was done, but now she had to wait. 45 minutes, to be exact. Thankfully, as was tradition for her, she'd brought comics.

Regaling herself with the tales of Moon Knight and Natasha Romanoff kept her busy and, before she knew it, 45 minutes were up, and she found herself grinding 3 measures of Standard Ingredient into a coarse powder, adding it to the mixture.

She gave the mixture a clockwise stir with both hands, before taking the stirring stick in her left hand. She stirred counterclockwise - slowly - 3 times, waving her wand with her right hand as she did so, reading the recipe in her book carefully, lest she make a mistake. She had a pretty decent track record with potions, and she intended to keep it that way.

She turned off the heat to allow the mixture to settle and returned to her comic books for 20 more minutes.

After those 20 minutes passed - right in the middle of a super-cool fight, unfortunately - she gave the potion a final wave of her wand.

Now was time for the moment of truth. She compared the potion in her cauldron with the description in the textbook. It was dark red, which matched the description. If she could replicate that in the one she brewed for Regina, that would be perfect since it would match her house!

...this wasn't the time for gushing about Regina.

Sophia had successfully brewed a Befuddlement Draught, and it was time to celebrate!

...then she could gush about Regina.

@Magdalena Wickham-Deakin

Mentioning:
@Regina Miller