18 Dec 2024, 12:29
First Dizzy, Then Drowsy
After some brainstorming and a brief discussion, the three of them had settled on the Drowsiness Draught, a potion the second years had learnt at the beginning of term. For this one, Elisa was going to go first, followed by Kaito, then Pyxis.
The young Slytherin girl came back to their fireplace and laid everything down next to the cauldron, and took the grounded bdellium. Putting it all inside the clean mortar, she spent the next couple minutes crushing the resin until it became a sort of sticky paste. Its fragrance reminded the young girl of a forest after the rain. Trying not to get too much on her hands and to get all of it into the cauldron, she finally managed with the help of the pestle and a few shakes.
All while wiping the little left overs of bdellium away with the cloth, she glanced at the open potions book beside her. Nodding, she took a single chamomile leaf from the little pile of ingredients - nor too big nor too small, exactly the average size (she had in fact been very picky while taking ingredients from the shelves). Putting it inside the now clean mortar, she picked up the pestle and crushed it until it became fine powder. Measuring again to make sure there was exactly one measure of chamomile powder, she poured it into the cauldron. Another glance at the recipe told her that her part was done, and it would be Kaito who would heat the cauldron.
Elisa verified a last time, peeking inside the cauldron. Bdellium crushed into sticky paste? Yes. Chamomile powder? Yes. "Well, that wasn't so difficult, was it?, she said brightly. She looked over at the two boys, motioning Kaito to come forward for his turn. She would then wait, sitting not too far away from their fireplace, looking around to see what the others were doing all while keeping an eye on their own potion.
The easiest part, brewing, was done. The next and final step of the championship, however, made Elisa slightly nervous.⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤
Elisa Wagner | Clément Guillaume Cantegrel
SHOP | GALLERY
sta 6 | eva 10 | str 3 | wis 9 | arc 8 | acc 10
SHOP | GALLERY
sta 6 | eva 10 | str 3 | wis 9 | arc 8 | acc 10
26 Dec 2024, 18:05
First Dizzy, Then Drowsy
@Elisa Wagner @Pyxis Hellebore
WC: 467
The Drowsiness Draught was something taught to the second years earlier that term, but Kaito didn’t have a good grasp on it yet. He felt like he was probably the least prepared of his trio for this potion, but he couldn’t argue with the choice. It hit all their requirements. They’d just have to be careful to avoid its radius when throwing the bottles. Would they even throw the bottles, or uncork them and pour the gaseous fumes onto the Red Caps? He shrugged silently, deciding to worry about that when the time came.
For now, he felt like he’d taken some of the Draught himself. Stemming from their lengthy wait to complete the Dizziness Draught, the Gryffindor’s eyelids were already feeling heavy. In some ways, this competition thing might have been worse than classes, because at least he had a desk to rest his head on. Here, he hardly wanted to disturb the brewing process and his teammates, and he also didn’t want to get any woodlice crumbs in his hair. Thankfully, Elisa was doing a bang-up of keeping their workspace clean, so there was no chance of woodlice or spider legs accosting him now or later.
Continuing with the hard work, Elisa made her way back with the ingredients just after he prepared the cauldron for brewing. He drew out the sheet of paper that he had previously used to record Elisa’s steps in the last potion and continued to take notes, but he was sure it wasn’t going to be as meticulous as hers. Nothing he did was ever meticulous. Not since coming to Hogwarts, anyways.
“Can’t complain,” he replied to Elisa as she finished up her part. As the last bits of her crushed chamomile leaf were poured into the cauldron, he turned the heat up to medium. In the following twenty-five seconds, he passed the sheet of paper to Elisa for her records and turned off the heat once the time had passed. After counting five seconds in his head, he added two measures of the standard ingredient and turned the heat back up to medium. Unfamiliar still with wands and their movements (how had he made the duelling team that one time?), he tried his best with the waving of the wand and stepped back. Lastly, he set the timer for sixty minutes and plopped his behind on a stool. The fatigue washed over him almost immediately and he had to restrain himself from falling asleep on one of his teammates shoulders.
“Easy peasy,” he yawned. He knew there was a very small chance of anyone complaining if he took his leave right there, but the Gryffindor did learn a little something about team spirit during his stint on the duelling team, so he would be sticking around till the end.
| — STA 9 — EVA 5 — STR 1 — WIS 10 — ARC 5 — ACC 5 — | Part-Veela — Alluring |
27 Dec 2024, 20:48
First Dizzy, Then Drowsy
As Elisa and Kaito completed their bits, Pyxis reflected on the fact that brewing potions didn’t seem too hard when he had two others to rely on. It was a smart idea to split the steps up in the way that they did because each person had much less to focus on and thus, much less to mess up. In fact, the hardest step the snake witnessed today was Elisa scooping out the sticky bdellium paste into the cauldron. He remembered his messy try at it during class and was happy that someone else elected to do the job. But the rest of it was strikingly easy — just adding ingredients and turning the ladle, with the occasional intervention from a knife or mortar and pestle. Had he been biased against potions this whole time? I’ll admit to that when it’s as easy doing it by myself.
The brewing time was even lengthier for the Drowsiness Draught, but Pyxis busied himself by looking at what the others around their station were doing. Some of them were already on their last steps while others were just getting started with the second potion. Such was the range of skill level when it came to potions. The snake usually thought of himself as on the lower end of that range, but with two competent partners, it was possible that his threat level had been elevated ever so slightly.
The timer went off and Pyxis reached out with one hand to stop it and the other to drop their last measure of the standard ingredient into the bubbling cauldron. Next, he turned the heat up to high and watched the clock on the wall as two minutes counted down. The two valerian sprigs were already in his hand when the wait was over and he simply dropped them into the cauldron and collected the ladle. His last few steps were just technical items, but they were easy to mess up, so Pyxis snuck a look into Elisa’s textbook to make sure he was doing it right, then stirred three times counter-clockwise and reversed the direction for one stir. After a single wave of his wand, the potion was complete. He spooned out the hopefully pink liquid into the provided vials and regarded his teammates while corking them.
“If it were up to me, I’d just Flipendo the suckers… but let’s hope these potions work, aye? … How’s your aim?”
STA: 10 | EVA: 7 | STR: 3 | WIS: 12 | ARC: 10 | ACC: 9 |
Perfectionist | Stat Relevant | Spell Spread |