April 14th, 1888 — Headquarters of the Potioneers’ Guild

They stood back to back with the other group he was to be judging, an easy way, the healer thought, to separate the novice potioneers from one another. Although, he supposed, he could not rightly call any of them potioneers in this place, where the title was so diligently worked towards.

Before each of the competitors sat a cauldron, the fires below yet unlit, and the directions for their first potion—a Herbicide Potion—were already scrawled upon the blackboard.

Informally, as he had done before, Charles explained how the competition would work—they had up to two hours per brew, and a bonus would be issued to the first to complete. After each round, their number would be halved, and in time their victor would be merged from that of another group at the same level.

With a bit more pomp, Charles flipped over the large hourglass that would monitor their progress.

It was time to begin.

You have 72 hours to post.
@"Helga Scamander" Yasmina Khatri Burton Beasley Porphyria Dempsey

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lady makes pretty things <3

Yasmina thought it'd be a lark to enter a Potion Brewing Competition. That is until she turned up and realized she was shit at potions and hadn't made a speck of effort to try and brush up on her skills. Woops.

Dubiously, she began work on a herbicide potion, not entirely certain she knew what the word 'herbicide' even meant. This could only go well. After a while in which nothing thankfully blew up, Yasmina raised a hand and then gestured at her cauldron. "That's as good as it's getting." She thought it looked okay but she couldn't see that anyone else was done and started to second guess herself.

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OUTFIT

  

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Sometimes you just had to do something different. The novelty of mixing up ingredients had worn off in her seven years at Hogwarts, but it had been a long time since then, so perhaps she was nostalgic. Perhaps, indeed, this had just been a good excuse to skip out on a social call her mother had been nagging her about.

Either way. She had no idea how it was going - she never could bear following instructions too closely - but she felt relaxed enough to fiddle idly with the lionfish spines spilling out of her jar as she waited for her potion to brew. Why could it not bubble faster?

Once she had gotten to the end of the recipe, Porphyria squinted at her attempt, hmmed for a moment, shrugged and then stepped away from her cauldron.

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a sublime set by Lady! <3

Helga had always known she'd never been the best at Potions, but she scoffed at the notion that OWL scores were the best indicator of skill level. Not everyone was a skilled test-taker (even if that's exactly what a potion brewing competition was), so she shouldn't let a few letters indicate how she lived her life!

She'd patiently waited for the competition to start, eyeing her opponents while also trying to figure out the correct recipe. While she was the youngest of the group, that could prove advantageous; her Hogwarts years were more recent than the others', so she should remember it better.

Except she didn't (but she didn't tell herself that). She took her time to brew her potion, and, upon announcement of the round's completion, stepped back to await judgment.

  

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— set by MJ! <3 —

Bewildered by the environment he was now placed within, Burt feared his inexperience in magic and a lack of education would prove to be detrimental to his progress during the tournament. Nonetheless, his motivation to show he was of an equal level to his peers kept him standing and forced his ability to be observed before everyone in attendance.

After little introduction, the competition was set to begin. Burt stared at the ingredients for a brief time, wondering just how they should be added to the cauldron to produce the desired potion despite the instructions being displayed before him. Carefully, he began to construct his brew and, after what felt to him as an eternity, stepped back to view whatever it was he created.

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One never would have guessed that this was a first-year potion by looking at the results of the witches and wizard involved. While Miss Dempsey's brew was adequate, her competition was so abysmal that Charles yearned to be allowed to simply save them all some time and declare the near-spinster victorious. The foreigner's, at least, smelled a bit better, and so he settled upon her to join the other witch.

"Next," he said after he had vanished the contents of all four potions and dismissed Miss Scamander and Mr. Beasley, "you will be crafting a Wideye Potion. Your time begins now!"

At the now, the instructions on the board shifted to reflect the new objective.

KHATRI 3 | DEMPSEY 6 | SCAMANDER 2 | BEASLEY 1
Porphyria Dempsey Yasmina Khatri

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lady makes pretty things <3

Somehow she hadn't failed miserably. Fancy that! Almost feeling cocky, Yasmina set to work on the next potion though in reality she wasn't sure her chances were all that great unless the other woman blew her cauldron up.

After what felt like half a century, she decided to call it a day and declared herself finished.

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Aha! Porphyria couldn't say how well she had done, but her competitors seemed a motley crew, judging by their offering and the judge's face when he surveyed each in turn.

She hadn't had any aspirations of progressing in the competition, but she was rather pleased to have another go of it. Offering a quick grin to the other girl who'd gotten through, she descended back into as much focus as she could muster to brew the Wideye potion. She'd finished slightly behind this Miss Khatri, though - perhaps she'd already gotten complacent?

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a sublime set by Lady! <3

Miss Dempsey's potion was exemplary. It was, however, overshadowed by the exploding cauldron of her neighbour. Charles had to put out the small fire that had begun to spread before he could declare Miss Dempsey the winner.

"You will, later today, face off against the winner of the other group for the grand prize," the wizard explained. "Best of luck!"

KHATRI 0 | DEMPSEY 8

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lady makes pretty things <3