[Cl: P] T1: Lesson I: Introduction

[The Sorting Hat]

Professor Wigglyfish could hear all the class chatting away, and grinned in excitement at the prospect of her first lesson. She was standing in the store cupboard strangely enough, just finding the last few ingredients for her demonstration.

'Ah ha.' She muttered to herself, as she pulled out the vial she wanted. She put her hand on the doorknob to leave the store room, when suddenly she gained a mischievious glint in her eye, as she slowly non-verbally lowered the lights in the potions classroom.. the class banter died down slowly in interest..

She put on her most fiercesome scowl and slammed the door open with a loud CRASH. Half the class almost jumped out of their seats.. whilst she swore she saw a particularly young girl literally pale before her eyes. She let out a loud snort of laughter, and couldn't help but chuckle at the numerous sighs of reliefs that simultaneously occurred.

'Welcome to the first potions lesson of the year!' She announced in her usual charismatic tone, the whole room magically brightening up again. 'I must apologise about the entrance.. couldn't resist.' She said with a grin. Moving to the center of the room, she stood by a cauldron and patted it slightly. 'Now, can anyone tell me what this potion is and how you recognise it?' She nodded at the first person that put their hand up, indicating them to answer.
[OOC: You can say its any potion, just remember to add how you know!]

[Brian Chase]

"its the forgettfulness potion, I once took one and it looked like it so it must be it"

[The Sorting Hat]

'Exactly Mr. Chase! Five points to Slytherin!' The Professor said positively beaming. 'Recognisable by its unusal shade of purple, that will send even the greatest of wizards into a state of forgetfulness! It is quite a complicated recipe.. and if not brewed correctly, has terrible side affects.' She added with a note of seriousness in her voice. 'It has quite a simple antidote that we will be looking into on a later lesson, which was probably used on our young friend Mr. Chase here.' she added.

Professor Wigglyfish peered round the room. 'Now, who can tell me anything about Felix Felicis?' Several hands were raised, and she gave a slight nod to a different student.

[Brian Chase]

Brian was so angry, he knew almost every question.

[deborah]

Deb raised her hand. "Felix felicis is a potion that grants temporary good luck to the drinker."

[The Sorting Hat]

'Excellent, Miss. Grace! 5 points to Ravenclaw!' the Professor said smiling around at the class. 'Recognisable-' she started whilst pulling out a vial from her cloak. '-by its colour of molten gold, and if you would be so kind as to take a whiff of its aroma Miss. Grace - what can you smell?' She asked looking geniunely interested as she held out the small vial.

[deborah]

Frowning, Deb sniffed the vial delicately and thought for a moment. "It smells kind of like candle smoke, and grapefruit..." Glancing worriedly at the professor, she added: "But I might be wrong, I've just had a cold."

[Brian Chase]

Brian couldn't help but wonder what it was.

[The Sorting Hat]

'Interesting. Interesting. I always find the answer to that fascinating. You see there is no right or wrong answer.' Professor Wigglyfish smiled at the confused looks on some of the students faces. 'The scent of Felix Felicis is of things you most desire.. or of things you most enjoy.. for example I smell the gorgeous scent of these particular muggle chocolates-' She paused. '-amongst other things.' She added with a cheeky grin.

'You must think the two potions I have shown so far are quite light hearted... firstly the forgetfulness potion... great for when you need your mum to "ignore" the fact you got home at three o'clock in the morning - not speaking from experience of course-' She said gaining a few smiles. 'And Felix Felicas.. bringing the drinker luck! Has allowed many wizards to ask out their crush before now!'

She sat down on her desk, a took a more serious outlook. 'However. Forgetfullness.. imagine if you "forgot" that you told the other side, ministry secrets. Or that you had so much luck that you become completely reckless.' The many smiles that she had previously gained had now disappeared as they digested the professor's words.

'Just remember. Potions are the most wonderful things - just make sure you use them properly.' She regained her usual cheery grin and the class' mood seemed to immediately pick up.

'I now move onto my final example of potions for today.' She moved back to her desk, and picked up a particularly unusual looking flask. 'Take a close look. Its colourless and odourless... just looks like plain water I hear you say.. any ideas what it actually is?'

[OOC: its a specific potion this time. Mentioned in the books sufficiently for you to know.]

[Brian Chase]

Brian raised his hand. "Is it the Aging Potion?"

[The Sorting Hat]

'Nice try, but I'm afraid not.' The Professor replied, once again scanning the room for raised hands. 'I'll give you a clue.. it causes people to tell the truth!' More hands shot up as she gave the clue, and she nodded towards, yet again at a different student.

[Helia Ollivander]

"Veritaserum." said Helia. " It is used to make the drinker answer any questions put to them truthfully."

[The Sorting Hat]

'Exactly! Couldn't have put it better myself - another 5 points for Ravenclaw!' said Professor Wigglyfish once again beaming.

'Veritaserum... A Truth Potion so powerful that three drops would have the drinker spilling his or her innermost secrets!' she added with a touch of mystery in her tone. 'Highly dangerous, highly useful... just another example of the amazing things created by potions.' She said with a small wink.

'The potions I have shown you today are highly advanced.. and just a taster of the sort of things that can be achieved in this wonderful subject.. ahem..' She paused. 'Not that I'm biased at all!' She gave a small chuckle.

'Right! Onto the practical! Turn to page 4 in your books - Shrinking Potions! Something reasonably simple to get you back into lessons!'

With a graceful flick of her wand, a board appeared at the front of the classroom. Before another sound was made, words began to appear in wonderfully old-fashioned hand writing...

Ingredients:
- chopped daisy roots
- skinned shrivelfig
- sliced caterpillar
- one rat spleen
- dash of leech juice

'All the ingredients in the store cupboard! Instructions in the book! ..Oh, did I mention.. there's a prize!' She held up the small vial of Felix Felicis and grinned at the wanting faces of the students before her. 'Well off you go!'

[OOC: Yeh I know Slughorn did it in HBP - but I thought it would make a very interesting RP if someone had some Felix Felicis at their disposal!]

[Helia Ollivander]

She walked to the supply closet and grabbed a daisy root, a shrinking fig, a caterpillar, a rat spleen, a bottle of leech juice and a small knife to prepare the ingredients. She opened her book and began to chop the daisy root into one inch blocks like the instructions indicated.

[deborah]

Leaving the textbook open on her desk, Deb fetched the ingredients from the cupboard and hurried back. She read the instructions through to make sure she knew it, and started work, even more focused than usual due to the added incentive of the Felix Felicis.