potions class RP
Attired in standard faculty robes, Stephen Maturin stands behind a long table at the head of the potions classroom, waiting for the class to come to order. He is in no great hurry, but when one or two conversations trickle over into the silence that otherwise falls over the room, he gives the assembled students a look that raises a "shhh" from the students near those who are still talking.
The professor begins.
"As we have several new students, I may as well give the standard explanatory speech. Those of you who were present for my previous class may use the next minute for woolgathering or for sketching pictures of the giant squid in your notebooks or somesuch. The rest of you would be wise to listen.
"You are in Potions class. If you are in the wrong class, please leave now, though how that could be possible I cannot imagine, as to my knowledge this is the only class held in the school dungeons." He waits for a token moment to see whether anyone will leave.
"All students are welcome here, regardless of ability or house affiliation, provided they are willing to learn. Those who evince a lack of genuine interest will be asked to leave the course. If you feel you are within the latter category, you may as well leave now." Again, he waits for a token moment to see whether anyone will leave.
"I will have order in this classroom," he resumes, and he's dead serious. "Student questions are welcome, if they are relevant to the subject matter at hand. Those who have genuine difficulty completing their potion will be required to schedule a make-up session with me at a later date, and may be assured that their grade will not suffer if they make up the work. I believe this is a sufficiently clear policy that I need not take questions on it at this time. Students are welcome to owl me with class-related questions, and I will of course be available for office hours. Students who wish to waste the class's time with questions that are not relevant to the class material will be referred to the educated Messrs. Nny and Teatime." As he invokes the dreaded names of the caretakers, the professor favors the class with a kindly smile.
"Now, to the business of the current session. You will work in assigned groups of three or four. Please reseat yourselves according to the following list:"
(( Here Stephen recites the pairs that the players have OOCly agreed upon in the sign-up comments or elsewhere, or that I've assigned today for those who didn't specify a group choice before today:
1. Cox, Lily, Sirius and Yang
2. Haruhi, Ayumu (Osaka), Ed Elric
3. Robin, Michael, Jack Aubrey, Sarah Williams
4. Janet, Daniel, JD, Nessarose
5. Hermione, Valentine, Marius
6. Christine, Jack Harkness, The Doctor ))
Stephen waits for the class to reorganise itself in the groups specified. He allows ample time for the students to become acquainted with one another, knowing that for most this may well be their first meeting, especially with the student body's composition so frequently fluctuating.
When everyone has taken their new seats and settled down, he calls their attention to the equipment already laid out at each workstation. The equipment is, by and large, standard, with a notable exception: pairs of spidersilk gloves.
"First, let me say that safety precautions are most needful in the making of potions. If you are not already fully covered by robes, you may borrow some. Certain items are provided by the school. Those of you who already own dragonhide gloves may put them away. We will use spidersilk gloves in this class, by and large. You may rest assured that their protective powers are no less than that of the dragonhide. They are reinforced with leather for thickness, but the spidersilk itself is roughly 260 times stronger than steel, and impervious to the vast majority of substances. No questions on this subject will be entertained." Stephen waits for those already wearing dragonhide gloves to remove them and put them away.
"In today's class we shall be making a sleeping potion. There are more than one known to the wizarding world, of various degrees of difficulty and strength. This one is but a sedative, and does not banish dreams in the way that Dreamless Sleep Potion does.
"The primary ingredient with which we shall work today is Mandragora officinalis.* Those of you who are relatively advanced students, or who have been conducting your own studies, will recognise the mandrake as a key ingredient in several antidotes, notably a tonic which cures sufferers from petrification. It has its more mundane uses, such as the potion we shall make today, and that in spite of its strange reputation, about which I shall just say a few words. It is said to grow beneath the gallows of murderers, and to emit a shriek when dug up that is fatal to the hearer. Some sources also warn that one should avoid contrary winds when digging for mandrake root. Curiously, the mandrake root one finds in the Muggle world resembles nothing more exotic than a parsnip, while the mandrake used in wizarding potions has a root which indeed resembles a small human-like form, and does indeed cry out with a most dreadful shriek. The harvesting of these is a matter belonging to Herbology, with which we will not concern ourselves today. At your workstations you will already have whole chunks of mandrake root to use.
"Strip the root of its bark; shred the root; powder it finely. You shall then infuse an ounce of the powdered root in a quart of pure-distilled water, which we have provided for you in flasks. Had you been using muggle mandrake, you could as easily employ wine for this purpose rather than water; with the present mandrake, the magical variety, you must use water, though you may administer to the patient a glass of wine separately from the potion with no ill effects, should his nerves require it. You must take care when making this infusion not to boil it too short a time, nor too long a time, lest you affect the potency of the resulting medicine. Too strong a dose of mandrake will do harm rather than good; indeed, it may poison. If you have occasion in future to brew a sleeping potion unsupervised, and you doubt your ability to judge correctly the concentration of a mandrake infusion, you should refrain from the use of mandrake at all, and substitute green extract of henbane.
"Once you are satisfied with your infusion, do not strain it, but transfer it to another cauldron. To this you will add ten grains of grated nutmeg. Ah, yes, you shall have grated the nutmeg first. I do not counsel this in order to improve the taste of the decoction, as the taste ought not to be pleasant at all. Your patients should know they have been dosed. Rather, the nutmeg serves to settle the stomach should the mandrake unsettle it at all. It is something of an anti-emetic.
"Finally, you shall suspend this in the mucilage of the slippery elm. This is a plant known in the New World, and not to be found naturally in Scotland, but I assure you the difficulty of procuring it is well worth undertaking. The mucilage is produced by adding twenty grains of the powdered bark to two ounces of water, and should form something of a jelly. Soothing as it is, it shall further buffer the stomach against any upset the mandrake might have caused.
"When you have quite finished, you should have produced a sort of thick gel, which can be easily administered by the spoonful. Its color should be a thin clearish brown. That is if you have used mandrake, which we are to do, of course; when you use the green extract of henbane in its stead, obviously you will end with a greenish gel.
"You may begin."
(( * Since Stephen's time the species has been classified as Atropa mandragora due to its relationship to nightshade. ))
The professor begins.
"As we have several new students, I may as well give the standard explanatory speech. Those of you who were present for my previous class may use the next minute for woolgathering or for sketching pictures of the giant squid in your notebooks or somesuch. The rest of you would be wise to listen.
"You are in Potions class. If you are in the wrong class, please leave now, though how that could be possible I cannot imagine, as to my knowledge this is the only class held in the school dungeons." He waits for a token moment to see whether anyone will leave.
"All students are welcome here, regardless of ability or house affiliation, provided they are willing to learn. Those who evince a lack of genuine interest will be asked to leave the course. If you feel you are within the latter category, you may as well leave now." Again, he waits for a token moment to see whether anyone will leave.
"I will have order in this classroom," he resumes, and he's dead serious. "Student questions are welcome, if they are relevant to the subject matter at hand. Those who have genuine difficulty completing their potion will be required to schedule a make-up session with me at a later date, and may be assured that their grade will not suffer if they make up the work. I believe this is a sufficiently clear policy that I need not take questions on it at this time. Students are welcome to owl me with class-related questions, and I will of course be available for office hours. Students who wish to waste the class's time with questions that are not relevant to the class material will be referred to the educated Messrs. Nny and Teatime." As he invokes the dreaded names of the caretakers, the professor favors the class with a kindly smile.
"Now, to the business of the current session. You will work in assigned groups of three or four. Please reseat yourselves according to the following list:"
(( Here Stephen recites the pairs that the players have OOCly agreed upon in the sign-up comments or elsewhere, or that I've assigned today for those who didn't specify a group choice before today:
1. Cox, Lily, Sirius and Yang
2. Haruhi, Ayumu (Osaka), Ed Elric
3. Robin, Michael, Jack Aubrey, Sarah Williams
4. Janet, Daniel, JD, Nessarose
5. Hermione, Valentine, Marius
6. Christine, Jack Harkness, The Doctor ))
Stephen waits for the class to reorganise itself in the groups specified. He allows ample time for the students to become acquainted with one another, knowing that for most this may well be their first meeting, especially with the student body's composition so frequently fluctuating.
When everyone has taken their new seats and settled down, he calls their attention to the equipment already laid out at each workstation. The equipment is, by and large, standard, with a notable exception: pairs of spidersilk gloves.
"First, let me say that safety precautions are most needful in the making of potions. If you are not already fully covered by robes, you may borrow some. Certain items are provided by the school. Those of you who already own dragonhide gloves may put them away. We will use spidersilk gloves in this class, by and large. You may rest assured that their protective powers are no less than that of the dragonhide. They are reinforced with leather for thickness, but the spidersilk itself is roughly 260 times stronger than steel, and impervious to the vast majority of substances. No questions on this subject will be entertained." Stephen waits for those already wearing dragonhide gloves to remove them and put them away.
"In today's class we shall be making a sleeping potion. There are more than one known to the wizarding world, of various degrees of difficulty and strength. This one is but a sedative, and does not banish dreams in the way that Dreamless Sleep Potion does.
"The primary ingredient with which we shall work today is Mandragora officinalis.* Those of you who are relatively advanced students, or who have been conducting your own studies, will recognise the mandrake as a key ingredient in several antidotes, notably a tonic which cures sufferers from petrification. It has its more mundane uses, such as the potion we shall make today, and that in spite of its strange reputation, about which I shall just say a few words. It is said to grow beneath the gallows of murderers, and to emit a shriek when dug up that is fatal to the hearer. Some sources also warn that one should avoid contrary winds when digging for mandrake root. Curiously, the mandrake root one finds in the Muggle world resembles nothing more exotic than a parsnip, while the mandrake used in wizarding potions has a root which indeed resembles a small human-like form, and does indeed cry out with a most dreadful shriek. The harvesting of these is a matter belonging to Herbology, with which we will not concern ourselves today. At your workstations you will already have whole chunks of mandrake root to use.
"Strip the root of its bark; shred the root; powder it finely. You shall then infuse an ounce of the powdered root in a quart of pure-distilled water, which we have provided for you in flasks. Had you been using muggle mandrake, you could as easily employ wine for this purpose rather than water; with the present mandrake, the magical variety, you must use water, though you may administer to the patient a glass of wine separately from the potion with no ill effects, should his nerves require it. You must take care when making this infusion not to boil it too short a time, nor too long a time, lest you affect the potency of the resulting medicine. Too strong a dose of mandrake will do harm rather than good; indeed, it may poison. If you have occasion in future to brew a sleeping potion unsupervised, and you doubt your ability to judge correctly the concentration of a mandrake infusion, you should refrain from the use of mandrake at all, and substitute green extract of henbane.
"Once you are satisfied with your infusion, do not strain it, but transfer it to another cauldron. To this you will add ten grains of grated nutmeg. Ah, yes, you shall have grated the nutmeg first. I do not counsel this in order to improve the taste of the decoction, as the taste ought not to be pleasant at all. Your patients should know they have been dosed. Rather, the nutmeg serves to settle the stomach should the mandrake unsettle it at all. It is something of an anti-emetic.
"Finally, you shall suspend this in the mucilage of the slippery elm. This is a plant known in the New World, and not to be found naturally in Scotland, but I assure you the difficulty of procuring it is well worth undertaking. The mucilage is produced by adding twenty grains of the powdered bark to two ounces of water, and should form something of a jelly. Soothing as it is, it shall further buffer the stomach against any upset the mandrake might have caused.
"When you have quite finished, you should have produced a sort of thick gel, which can be easily administered by the spoonful. Its color should be a thin clearish brown. That is if you have used mandrake, which we are to do, of course; when you use the green extract of henbane in its stead, obviously you will end with a greenish gel.
"You may begin."
(( * Since Stephen's time the species has been classified as Atropa mandragora due to its relationship to nightshade. ))