Potions Lesson 1

[Severus Snape]

He could hear the sound of the students chattering as he drew nearer to the door. The dreaded first day of class. The older students were better. They knew what to expect. But the others... they probably thought that this class would be like the rest. Severus threw the door open hard, making it slam against the stone wall before the force sent it banging closed again. He quickly walked to the front of the room and turned, looking over the faces of those who would belong to him for the next year.

"Wands away," he said in a stern voice. He walked directly to the chalk board, picking up the closest piece of chalk, and tidily wrote:

Ingredients

Instructions

1/4 cup Flobberworm Mucus 1/4 cup dried nettles 4 snake fangs 3 horned slugs 1 jar porcupine quill

1. Fill your standard cauldron half way with water. Place on fire at medium heat until water is simmering. 2. While waiting for water to simmer, with mortar and pestle, crush snake fangs. 3. I will come around and add 1 tsp of wormwood. 4. Heat potion until turns red. 5. Increase heat slightly and heat until potion turns green. 6. Pour Flobber Worms into the cauldron and brew until potion is pink. 7. Mix in dry nettles, stir slowly until potion turns green. 8. Raise to high heat until potion turns blue. 9. Mix crushed snake fangs until potion turns pink. 10. Remove the cauldron from the fire and add porcupine quills. Mix until potion turns orange. 11. Place the cauldron back on the fire. Pour stewed horn slugs into potion until it turns turquoise. 12. Mix until potion turns red. 13. Pour potion into vial and turn in to me. 14. Clean up your cauldron and work station.

"There is to be no talking at this time," he said, silencing some Ravenclaws in the back. "For what I am about to say requires complete attention. In this classroom, you will be dealing with materials and substances that the Ministry and our headmistress have deemed dangerous. As such, it is necessary that each and every one of you operates with caution. Anybody caught making a mockery of this subject by making an utter fool of yourself will be removed from this classroom, and if possible, removed from this school."

He set the chalk down, rubbed his hands to wipe the residue off, and walked to his podium. "Of all the subjects taught at Hogwarts, Potions is the most exact, the most versatile, the most complex. To master it requires discipline, desire, and practice. Few of you possess what is necessary to succeed in the subtle art and science that is potion making. Be that as it may... it is my responsibility to ensure that all of you leave Hogwarts with at least a basic knowledge."

He assumed that served as a sufficient introduction to his subject. "Behind me you will find the ingredients and instructions to what is called the Boil-Cure potion. It should be obvious to most of you what this does, but to our more challenged students, I shall spell it out for you. The boil cure potion is an elementary potion that is used to cure boils. Shocking, I know. I feel it redundant and therefore unnecessary to explain how it is made when I have clearly written the instructions for each of you on the board. You will be working in partners for this assignment, so quickly pair off and get this done. For the diligent students who will be finished before lesson is over, I should tell you now that before next lesson, I expect a six foot essay done on parchment on the boil-cure potion. You may begin now."

[Christopher Zhou]

Potions class was becoming his guilty pleasure. He was even beginning to find something rather incredible about how Professor Snape took charge of every lesson. Machiavelli would have tons to say about his methods of leadership, but Christopher happened to respond better to those who demanded respect rather than just hoped you would give it to them. It was the sort of arrogance that he could relate to and admire. Eager to impress, he quickly turned his head to look at his best mate and perhaps the one person he could stand to work with without snapping somebody's head off.

"Shall I get the materials while you start heating up the cauldron then?" he asked with an excited grin. He could barely contain it.

[L. Ebron Ruh]

Ebron sat with his bag on his lap, rustling through various books and already ruffled feathers, to pull out fresh parchment, slightly bent from being thrust hurriedly into his school bag when he woke up late that morning. He couldn't sleep last night, giddy with freedom yet a bit homesick, he missed having his own room…

Smoothing out the parchment carefully while pulling out a feather which he had stuck behind his ear, an old habit he got from somewhere, Ebron scribbled down the instructions and ingredients. The potion seemed simple enough as he scanned through it again, but the professor seemed... how he should put it, egotistical. He heard many praises from other Slytherins about Professor Snape, and Ebron understood that each teacher thought their subject was most important. He had learnt that hard way from his own tutors after badmouthing the subject of a particular, old school Transfiguration instructor. But it seemed he had yet to love this potions master.

Looking up, Ebron searched the room for someone to partner up with; a fellow Slytherin would be nice. There was one, maybe a first year too, sitting near him, "Hello. Want to be partners?" He ventured.

[Bella Chimere]

Walking into class before it started, Bella had gotten her things together on her desk. It was her first potions class that she didn't know what to expect. She had her wand out on her desk as well as books and other necessities such as parchment and quill. She waited patiently for other students to come into the classroom.

Bella heard someone ask if they could sit next to her. She knew that if that happened, they would have to be partners. She looked at who it was and realized that it was a Slytherin. Bella was known to be some kind of loner. She dislikes Slytherins but she is one so those that she would want to be friends with, dislikes her. She was in a box- but what could she do? "Sure," she said, and she looked back at her things.

When the class was full, the professor came out. His first demand was to put wands away. Bella quickly grabbed her wand and placed it into her robe pocket. Guess I don't need that one, she thought. He began to talk about today's potion which was the Boil-Cure potion. Bella nodded her head to see the instruction that were given. She looked at the guy who's her partner and sighed. "Are you good at this?" she asked. Bella didn't know if she would be good at something like this considering she's never made potions before. Although, she hoped that she did have a knack at it.

[Kaia Doyle]

Ugh. Great. Kaia had been dreading her first potions class. She begrudgingly tossed her potions book with a rather careless ease at the table before sitting down and glaring at the board. Professor Snape was... well... Snape. The same old. The supplies were at the front of the classroom which of course would require for her to move. Which would in turn require some amount of energy and determination. Both of which she lacked. Her energy was at the lowest possible point and her determination was practically non existent. With a drawn out sigh, she stood up and dragged her feet (both of which were coincidentally unresponsive) over to the table at the very front of the class.

The only matter that helped her was that she was genuinly not bad at potions. Despite the fact that she loathed the subject and the teacher, her grades did not suffer much. She saw Chris' eager expression and rolled her eyes before setting her ingredients into the bottom of the black cauldron. She picked up the rather heavy object and carried the whole thing back to her desk, looking around with about as much enthusiasm as Oliver Wood after been told to shake Flint's hand before a Quidditch match. All she needed was a partner and then hopefully the class would be over soon.

[Mira Noth]

Mira hated potions. Half the time she wondered what she was even doing here, especially now being that she was currently a sixth year. Yet Potions was fun, if not amusing, and she always enjoyed giving one back to the class some mayhem or another, though that was mostly due to some laziness in the potions class or a freak accident.

Today it was one of those simpler concoctions, the Boil-cure potion. Mira went ahead and gathered the materials and carefully returned to her seat in the second last row, the back being taken up by some chatty Ravenclaws. She sorted the various ingredients before turning to her partner, "Well, might as well get the water since I got the stuff," she grinned thinly at the Slytherin before staring across the room to the board. The water wasn't even in the pot yet but Mira found a mortar and pestle and started grinding up a small pile of snake fangs while she waited for the water. Occasionally poking the horned slugs with her wand wondering what would happen if she tried to transfigure them.

[Stephen Nesterjean]

Stephen never really gathered why he was still here in potions class. After all, they apparently were to begin the year with a first year concoction, which in Stephen's case was way too easy.
Sighing in exasperation as Snape performed his ceremonial routine of the Banging of the Door, he sat down quietly and looking instinctively for a partner around the room. Well really he didn't have to, after five years in Durmstrang, you would expect that a such simple potion wouldn't be so hard that you'd require a partner. Pfft.

With his cauldron already present and accounted for on the table, all he had to do right now was to wait until the Professor with a nightmare for hair completed his droning so that he could begin.

When that - eventually - happened, he groaned and stood up, got his ingredients steadily and prepared, having already made up his mind on this partner-thingy. Thus, he turned for the Slytherin girl somewhat next to him and was amused to see that she was playing with her wand and the horned slugs. Promptly he gave a dry cough and asked: "Shall I lend you an arm?" Smiling, he then gave his introduction briskly, "István Nezstérzsyánsky. Though most of the people here know me as Stephen."

[L. Ebron Ruh]

Ebron shrugged simply, sticking his eagle quill back behind his ear as he smiled innocently, "I am alright. Never made a potion by myself, per say, but I more or less got the theory of it down." His voice was still slightly eloquent, but at the very least he got rid of most of it after the first guys he talked to pointed it out ever so politely. He rustled the parchment, busily reading the instructions again. "At the very least it can not be too hard," He pointed out, turning back to the Slytherin girl. She didn't look too happy...

"Oh, yes, manners," he said mildly, "I'm Ebron. Ruh. Ebron Ruh." The new name felt strange, short and concise, and starting with an E like... other short and concise words that started with an E. He liked it. Smiling happily Ebron stood up, "I'll go get the ingredients." He walked up to the where the various potions stuff were stored. How good it felt to be amongst a bunch of other kids.

With an armful of materials Ebron returned, humming softly, dumping the things on the table, catching those scattering here and there, "Right, ready to start?"

[Mira Noth]

While wiping the tip of her wand from horned slug residue, Mira heard a dry cough over her shoulder, and looking up from the table she saw a fair headed Slytherin. She had seen him around, never really face to face as per usual that she didn't really associate herself too much with other Slytherins, but this one had the oddest eyes, one green, and the other blue. Mira smiled carefully back, "I'm not sure we're going to need an arm for this potion, Nester... uh, I'll just call you Stephan then? But we could partner up."

Mira slid her arm across the table, making room for Stephan. Once things were sufficiently out of the way she added, "I'm Mira Noth, by the way, and I hate potions. Nice to meet you." She picked up one of the slugs with a pair of tongs, squishing it slightly, “So shall I start?" Mira asked, while with her other hand, she fiddled with the fire, forging ahead anyway.

Throwing in the ground snake fangs she watched the powdered material slowly sink into the water as Professor Snape headed around the room, spooning wormwood into potions that were ready for it. All the while the slug in the tongs, oozing slightly and would probably be wondering if it could, what Mira was thinking of doing to it.