It seemed that experience - unsurprisingly, he supposed - had won out amongst the professionals. Mr. Macnair's brew was well done enough, though perhaps a little rushed, for it did not quite match his mother's standard. Mr. Gladstone's was only a hair's breadth worse off in colour; Miss Scrimgeour's and Mrs. Hatchitt's (unfinished) attempt both lacked, comparatively, in finesse.

With the top three through to the next round, Ari waited until their cauldrons and ingredients had been replaced for the next potion. "Now for a Volubilis Potion, if you please," he declared. The results of that would cut another from their number.

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