Notes

Boil : infection. Muggles cure : days. With potion : minutes to reduce the boil. After burst, apply desinfectant and keep area clean until it's fully cured.

Storage :
- needs in amount of light vary between potions
- temperature
- Cure for Boils : 4 years at room temperature

Essay

Prompt

I would like you to write at least 250 words reflecting on your experience in lab today. You have a good deal on which to draw to make minimum word count:

• Describe the lab setup as you found it today.

• Describe the brewing experience.

• Mention anything interesting you noticed in brewing, or any small or large errors you may have made.

• Discuss how your Potion turned out as well as how you will store it.

• Feel free to leave any additional comments about the lab or anything else as we head into the midterm.

I was a bit nervous getting closer to the Potions room for my first lab. Excited, too, because for the first time I was going to practice brewing instead of discussing its theory.

When I entered the room, some students were already taking out their equipment, and Professor Batyaeva was writing the directions on the board. I carried my cauldron to the next free table, and started bringing out all of my tools. I had a little panick attack when I thought I'd forgotten my goggles, but they were just hiding in one of my dragon-hide gloves. Everything I needed was on my table : my mortar and pestle, my measuring cups and spoons, my wand and a phial.

I read the instructions sheet twice, slowly, to avoid missing any important information. When it was done, I went to the storage room to get all the ingredients used in the recipe. Some of the other students had already rushed to get them, but at this point the room was still crowded with people. As I was looking for the snake fangs, the first ingredient, an Hufflepuff boy playfully wiggled an horned slug in front on my face.

- Ewww, Justin ! I protested, but he was already back into the lab room, still laughing.

I sighed and went back to finding all the needed ingredients. A few minutes later, I was back to my table, with 6 snakes fangs, 4 horned slugs ("ewww", again), 2 porcupine quills and some flobberworm mucus.

I put the snake fangs into my mortar and started to crush them. I was relieved to see that they quickly turned into a fine dust, as I was expecting it to need more efforts. With my spoon, I added 4 measures of my snake fang dust to my cauldron. Since the first two steps were completed, I heated the cauldron to 121°C and counted 10 seconds before turning the flame down. I then wave my wand once clockwise. The compound had a pink hue, as it was supposed to.

Since I had 22 minutes to wait until the next step, I put my wand on the table and started to relax, while often peeking in my cauldron to check if my compound wasn't doing anything unusual. I took the time to answer some questions the Professor Batyaeva was asking to the class.

- What would be the first instruction you'd give to a beginner in Potions ?

- I think the most important rule is to always wear your protections : dragon-hide gloves and goggles. Even for an experienced brewer, something can go bad during brewing, and you can get injured. Next, I would advice to always carefully read the instructions before starting to brew.

Soon after that, my 22 minutes of waiting were over. I added the 4 horned slugs into the cauldron. I almost forgot to take the cauldron off the flame before adding the 2 porcupine quills. It would have been awful : the compound would have emitted a terrible smell and melt my cauldron. I sighed in relief and put the cauldron back on the flame. I waved my wand 5 times clockwise, brought the heat down to 113°C and left it brewing for 17 minutes.

I decided to prepare my label right away. I wrote : 
Name of the Potion : Cure for Boils
Effect : cure boils
Ingredients : snake fangs, horned slugs, porcupine quills, flobberworm mucus
Date brewed : 29/09/2014
Expiration date : 29/09/2018
Usage : apply on skin the boil will reduce in a few minutes (do not apply on sensitive areas of skin)
Warnings : if in contact with eyes, flush your eyes out immediately and seek medical assistance. Possible allergic reaction (symptoms : irritation and minor rash)

I was focused on my label but didn't miss the time to take my cauldron out off the flame. I was really proud to see that my compound had the right color : a sky blue color. I waited a bit for it to cool down, and added the last ingredient : 3 measures of flobberworm mucus. I waited about 5 more minutes before stirring the potion until it had an uniform consistency. I asked a fellow student for some help to transfer the potion into a phial, since I wasn't sure I could do it alone, and didn't want to spill my seemingly successful Cure for Boils Potion on the floor. I labelled the phial and proudly starred at it until the bell rang. I was very pleased with how this first lab turned out !