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"Excellent work, Miss Black," Professor Clay observes as he walks past me, sniffing my cauldron. "Needs a bit more work, Mr Chambers."
Ryan scowls at his pot in response, but doesn't say anything. Once the professor moves on to another table, I can give him a helping hand on the sly. Except that I can't. I need to avoid any possible contact with him or I'm only going to confuse myself even more.
I stir my potion, watching it turn from a dark blue colour to a more striking turquoise.
"What's this one supposed to do again?" Daphne whispers, tucking a strand of pink hair behind her ear.
"It's supposed to help you work out what you want the most," I respond quickly. One thing I've never worked out about this class is whether we're allowed to talk or not. Normally, it's pretty clear, but the moment the cauldrons and ingredients come out, everyone seems to go silent.
"I know a few people who could use this."
"Yeah," I agree, only my thoughts won't stray from the fact I might be one of the people who benefits from this kind of potion. I clearly need help deciding what I want.
Actually, not true. I know exactly what I want. It's my secondary wants which are a little less clear, but I'll deal with them in time.
Ryan's pot begins to vibrate, a vile green smoke rising from it, filling the room with the stink of unwashed socks.
I wrinkle my nose. He needs to get that under control or we're all going to leave the room smelling awful.
"Mona, little help here?" Daphne prompts as she drags Ryan's cauldron off the heat.
I sigh. I'm trying to stay out of his way so I don't confuse myself, but I can't very well ignore the fact his potion is about to explode.
"Here." I push the rest of my ginger root towards him. "Peel it and drop the rind in. I'll get some chilli seeds," I instruct, already heading towards the storeroom.
"We're not making a curry," Daphne mutters.
I snort but otherwise ignore her. Potions is probably the one subject she's not good at. It's not worth explaining they're not cooking chillies. At least, I don't want to eat them in my food. They'd blow my head off, and not in the metaphorical sense either.
Pulling the jar off the shelf, I head back to my friends.
"You really are going to put a chilli in there, aren't you?" Daphne asks.
"Yep." I grab the biggest one I can find. Ryan's potion is getting more dangerous by the second, he's going to need all the help the seeds can give him.
And then probably some more too.
I wish I had time to clean my knife first, but it's only had ginger on it so far and that's already in Ryan's pot. Deseeding the chilli takes a minute at most, and I barge through them all to come face to face with the monstrosity he's been brewing.
"Do I even want to know?" I ask him.
He shakes his head. "This isn't my strong suit," he admits sheepishly.
"You don't say," I mutter as I scrape the seeds in.
The smoke flickers in front of us, wisps of it smelling sweet like they should, but the rest still reeking of socks. Not the best combination. But that left me with the dilemma of what to try next.
"Don't put anything else in that pot," I warn the twins. From experience, I know the two of them will try anything once my back is turned. Their parents must have had a handful when they were small.
I search through the store cupboard, hoping to find some inspiration. This is where it might have been useful for us to have some more theory lessons before diving straight into the potion brewing. But I like making things with my hands, I'm not going to complain about the teaching methods too much.
"What to put in it?" I ask myself as my hand brushes over a jar of newt eyes. I grimace. That's a slightly less savoury part of potion making, but I don't have any control over what ingredient does what.
My thoughts are interrupted by a loud bang from the main room. "Oh Ryan," I sigh. And not in the dreamy-want-to-make-out way either.
I abandon my search for something that will help his potion. There's no point in me doing that now and we all know it.
It takes about thirty seconds for me to realise our bench is almost completely destroyed. At least Daphne has my notebook in her hand, only a small amount of potion covering the corner of it.
