Potions Lesson 1

Letting her hand fall, Rowan looked over at Malphas as she was beat by him to answer the question at hand. She could only hope that this wasn't the last question of the day. She really wanted to earn her house some points.

Malphas nodded, and then spoke calmly and firmly, "The sprigs of Valerian are used as ingredients for the Forgetfulness Potion. They are usually used in pairs, and are added to the cauldron after the heating process is done with," he finished, and then winked at Kain who stood next to him, before looking up at professor Snape, waiting for him to evaluate his answer.

Listening to the answer, Severus nodded to himself thoughtfully. "You are inded correct, Mr Gaunt. Five points to Slytherin." he told him before turning to face the class again. "As Mr Gaunt correctly stated, Valerian sprigs are used in the Forgetfulness Potion. But there is another potion in which this ingredient is commenly used. Who can tell me which one?"

Yes! Another question! Rowan shot her hand into the air as quickly as she could. This time, this time for sure she would get called on.

Severus raised his brow slightly at the fast response of one of the Ravenclaws. "Yes, Ms Avery?" he called her on.

Rowan's heart began to race as Professor Snape called on her almost as quickly as she had gotten her hand into the air to answer the question. "Valerian Sprigs are also used in making Sleeping Draughts," she answered a little on the shy side. She could only hope that he would approve of her answer.

"Correct, Ms Avery." Severus nodded at her, satisfied with the girl's answer. "Five points to Ravenclaw." With that he turned to face the class again to continue is lecture. With a flick of his wand, the name of a potion appeared on the blackboard. "As mentioned before by Mr Gaunt, the Forgetfulness Potion also requires Valerian sprigs. This will be the first potion you are going to brew this year, so I advise everyone to pay close attention."

Here, Severus threw a special glance at the Gryffindor part of his students before continuing with his speech. "The potion itself is rather simple to make, but do not take this as an excuse to work sloppily. I will mark you for your work and I am sure none of you is keen on failing this class, as you will have to take it at least till your fifth year." he smirked slightly, even if the thought of having to teach some of these children for several years was not exactely a pleasant one.

"Now, who can tell me the main ingredients used in the Forgetfulness Potion, besides valerian sprigs?" he shot off another question. As Severus had said, today was a purely theoretical lesson.

David finally felt brave enough to answer a question for Professor Snape, so his hand lifted into the air. He knew Snape would probably not give him many points for his answer, but he would have to give him some right?

Severus turned his sharp eyes on the Gryffindor and raised his brow in slight surprise. Who would have thought that there were Gryffindors that could actually participate in class without causing trouble.
"Well, Mr Shutter, let us see if you came prepared." he drawled and nodded his head to let the boy know that it was his turn to answer the question.

He was not surprised when the Professor did not pronounce his name right "um.. it's Shuter Professor. The forgetfulness potion consists of Lethe river water, 2 drops to be precise, Valerian Sprigs, as was already mentioned.. it takes 2, and 4 crushed mistletoe berries." he paused, trying to think if he had missed anything "I believe something was mentioned about a 'standard ingredient,' but i can't remember.."

Severus was truely inclined to tell the boy that his name would best be Shutup, but as that would be decidedly childish and not worthy of a professor, he simply choose to ignore the remark and focused on his student's answer which surprisingly was right.

"Correct, Lethe water, Valerian sprigs and Mistletoe berries are the main ingredients used in the Forgetfulness Potion. The so-called standard ingredient is actually a mixture of a few basic herbs that can be used for many different potions." Severus explained shortly, his gaze still resting on his student.

He knew that the boy had actually deserved some points for his answer, but Severus just hated to award points to someone that had not only been late, but then didn't even apologize for it.
Finally, he pulled himself together. "Five points to Gryffindor. Not that it will go far in earning back the points you already lost, but at least you make an effort."


Letting his dark eyes glide over his class, Severus made sure that all of them were copying the information down because they would need them in their next lesson. "This will be all for today. I want you to read up on the Forgetfulness potion as homework. Next week I expect you to be able to brew the potions without your notes or textbooks, so be sure to memorized the steps and measures." he told them, then flicked his wand to let the door fall open. "You are dismissed. Except you, Mr Thompson." Severus pinned the boy to his seat with a cold stare, waiting for the class to get out.

He could tell it took everything in Snape to keep himself from not giving points, so felt triumphant when he gave David 5, which meant he had only lost 5 points for Gryffindor. When he dismissed the class, David was first out of seat, flashing a 'good luck' smile to Thompson, and made his way out of the classroom

With a sigh, Ian pulled himself up and quickly collected his supplies before heading out of the classroom. He was actually a bit sad that the first lesson was already over, it had been very informative and he had even managed to earn five points for Hufflepuff.
Ian smiled to himself and walked up the stairs towards his common room. Maybe he could read up on the Forgetfulness potion before dinner.

Neville snapped out of the daze he had been in during most of the lesson when he heard that the class was dismissed and started to gather his supplies to stuff them into his bag. He hadn't even wrote down most of the information about the potion and he was already close to a panic when he thought that he would have to brew it next time without any help.
That would be disastrous, he knew and Neville hoped that he could sit next to someone who was talented and could help him out a bit.

Mio sighed in slight relief that the lesson was over. And although the start had been a small disaster, there had been no blood-shedding of his fellow Gryffindors, so Mio could count todays lesson a success. He pulled his bag up and smirked slightly at his father to let him know that he had enjoyed the lesson.
Next time, he might even participate, he thought grinning, as he headed outside. On his way up the stairs he met his housemate, Neville and started chatting with him, to lighten up his mood a bit. Mio had noticed that the boy had been quite scared of his father.

Rowan listened as the ingredients were listed and then heard that the next lesson they would need to brew this potion without the use of their notes or text. She let our a small sigh as she thought about how badly this could go, but she was going to give it her best shot. Packing up her notes and supplies, she smiled at Emrys and Professor Snape before making her way out of the classroom and heading off to her next class.