“Good morning!” Verine waved as the first years started poking around on the Monday classes started.
“Bags in the back please! All you need today is your quill and some parchment!”After giving the students some extra time to find the room, Verine stood up to greet the new batch of students. Before each student was a small setup: a potions vial with a marked number and a small clear cup with a line marked on it.
”Welcome to Hogwarts! Here is where you will develop your magical skills, and here in particular is where you’ll learn to brew and bottle magic into potions, drawing upon magical properties in herbs and parts of magical creatures to create magical effects. My name is Verine Winchester– Professor Verine, Professor Winchester–whatever is fine! I will be your potions instructor for the first three years. Now, I’m sure that you’ll have plenty of time today to do proper introductions and get to know your peers and professors, so I had a fun idea for this morning:
“First, introduce yourself to the person next to you! Chat a little bit about yourselves: What’s their name? What house are you in? What classes are you looking forward to? What’s their favorite color? That kind of thing.” Verine picked her wand up and tapped a piece of chalk sitting in a basket by the chalkboard: the chalk flew up to write a few notes on the board as she continued introducing the activity:
“Then, when you’re ready, take a gander at the potion in front of you. Observe the potion. What does it look like? What color is it? What does it smell like?” she demonstrated a gentle wafting motion, but didn’t go all into the technique of that quite yet– they would get plenty of safety and technique training in the weeks to come, but for now she wanted to start them off excitedly.
”Then, pour yourself a small amount. Observe that it tastes like and then try to figure out what the potion’s effect is.
“Please be careful not to take too much! The line marked on the little clear up is the absolute maximum you should take. There is also water over here to wash down the taste if it’s not to…well, your taste.” There would be no adverse effects from any of these potions, but downing potions recklessly was a poor habit to get them into.
”If anything comes up, or if there’s an accident, please don’t hesitate to call me over!””Board: Introduction to Potions and Observations”
Introduce yourselves
Observe the potion
Carefully taste a bit. What do you think the potion does? Why do you think such a potion would exist?
Take notes, and turn in your observations by the end of class.
1.A /
Volubilis potion: / Honey-yellow colored, smells sweet, and changes the drinker’s voice.
1.B /
Fruit smoothie / Chunky texture and light maroon color, tastes like berries. Cools the throat and body.
1.C /
Babbling Beverage/ Somewhere between red and yellow in color, smells like something playful, and causes the drinker to speak nonsense for a little bit.
1.D /
Plum juice syrup Smooth, thick, richly purple potion that smells of chocolate and plums. Causes the drinker to be a little excited and warm. /
1.E /
Pompion Potion/ Orange colored, smells like pumpkin, turns the drinker’s head into a pumpkin for a while
1.F /
Laughing Potion (diluted)/ Pale with a very slight yellow tint. Odorless. Causes some giggling.
1.G /
Jasmine Green tea/ Deep brown color, with a rich light and grassy smell and earthy tea. Calming effect, but not immediately discernible.
1.H /
Hair-Raising Potion / Vivid green colored, odorless, and raises the hair up on end.
1.I /
Estallos/ Stars in their Eyes (diluted)/ Deep blue color with shimmering bits of silver in it. Odorless, but tastes like something metallic. Shows the locations of where stars and planets would be like a transparency overlay in their eyes.
