Sunday 6th October, 1889 — Hogsmeade Hall

It was the time of the month when Morwenna felt at her strongest, both in body and mind, which was a crying shame because rather than getting something productive done she had instead been drafted in to oversee potion brewing - why on earth had she told anybody she had a NEWT in the blasted subject?

At least it wasn't the real novices. Morwenna didn't think she possessed the patience to be cleaning up whatever exploded out of their cauldrons, although a cursory glance at the assembled brewers did little to lift her spirits: Merlin, even the oldest of them had to be twenty years younger than she was!

Lifting her wand to her throat Morwenna amplified her voice, having no intention of straining it by shouting, and bid them all to create an antidote to uncommon poisons.

"You may begin."

You have 72 hours to post.
Julius Scrimgeour Wendell Banges Bella Scrimgeour
Guinevere Lukeson Benedict Sterling Charles Operine

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

Julius was distracted as he prepared his antidote. How could he not be, with his sister a mere two stations away?

He had not seen Annabelle in such close quarters since his resignation from the auror office followed their father's imprisonment and later death. Though he had checked on her well-being in the months that followed, knew she was well, to see her here, now, had come as quite a shock—so much though that he had stopped in his tracks and been bumped into from behind. Now, the wizard worked away on his brew will casting surreptitious glances in his sister's direction.

(Was she ignoring him, or was it only his imagination that saw her look pointedly away?)

She was probably here, Jules realized, because she needed the money.

(Should he send her some? Would she accept? Would it make things worse  for the scandal-ridden Scrimgeour family?)

When he finished his potion and raised his hand, Julius had little hope that it was much good: he scarcely remembered preparing the ingredients, combining them together. That he was first to finish, the wizard thought, was likely not a good sign, either.

  

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— graphics by mj ♥ —

While Potions certainly wasn't Ben's pride and joy, he was quite good at them having observed Ari for so long. He found his heart jump at the thought of the competition where Ari had also said he was going to be competing - in the Professional round thank the lord. There was no scenario against Ari and potions where Ben would outwardly win. As much as he wanted to turn to Ari and wink, the Auror kept his gaze on the moderator and nodded respectfully once bade to start.

While an easy potion to brew, it wasn't the easiest getting the Chizpurfle carapace to crack enough where Ben could throw it into the potion, and soon he stepped back to admire his work. No doubt, he'd hear what he did wrong from Ari later that night.

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   Ari Fisk

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Potions were something Wendell did have a lot of fun making, but he was a stickler for making things by the recipes he'd memorized in school, the ones he'd earned high marks by. Wendell was always proud of his Potions mark, even if he recognized that it was a little silly to have such a focus on such a material thing. He'd made this one just in case, and usually had at least a vial or two at work, he was grateful for that. Some of the things in the store weren't so great to swallow, but of course, children would if not watched.

Wendell recalled the recipe for the antidote, hummed as he searched for fire seeds and graphorn horn. Not pre-powdered. Well, Wendell could deal with that. He watched the progress on the rest of the potion while he ground up the graphorn horn. He wondered a little about the other participants, but didn't care too much about it. This was all good fun, and if he won, Wen would be donating some of the prize. He checked to make sure the potion was the right color, and then added the now-powdered graphorn horn. As he finished up the rest of the potion and communicated that he was done, he could only hope that he had at least done well.

  

It was competitions like these that Bella waited so patiently for as the months rolled on. There was nothing difficult about potions—challenging, yes, but not difficult—and the prizes were always decent. Unlike some of the people who entered for the mere thrill (much as she had before she had been disgraced), Bella had financial needs that needed meeting, so she made sure to flip through all her old potion books before taking the stage.

Prepared as she was for the competition, Bella was not prepared for this. Julius stood but a mere ten feet from her, his own cauldron set up parallel to hers with only a competitor between them. Bella wondered if the person knew what emotions, and what tension, flowed through the space that they stood—and Bella herself wondered if the emotional energy could act in the same way as a confundus charm.

All the preparation she'd made flew right out the window as the timer began and the instructions were given. She murmured the steps aloud, having to vocalize her actions so the presence of her brother wouldn't completely overtake her mind. She needed to win. She needed the money.

She took her sweet time, mentally reviewing every action before she permanently altered the state of her potion. By the time she was complete, Bella had withdrawn into herself and stepped back meekly, her hands clasped together in front of her lap to give her a smaller appearance. She did not dare look towards Julius, though she knew he'd finished before her.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Everything seemed far more tense than a potions competition should be, but Guinevere paid no mind. She joined this to get out of her tense home. At least it was not as intense as others, but still.

So the witch rightfully ignored her companions and set to work. Potions were nice, she liked them. An antidote could not be too hard. She worked carefully until she finished her work.

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MJ made Magic!

Whatever had distracted the younger woman Morwenna didn't know but her potion fizzed and burnt through the cauldron, seeping onto the work station before Morwenna spotted it and flicked her wand towards the concoction, vanishing it away before it could do any harm. "Bad luck Miss Scrimgeour." She said with genuine sympathy - the girl looked white as a sheet and as though something had truly rattled her.

Morwenna cast a beady eye on the rest of the competitors, daring one of them to make it obvious they had somehow intimidated the young woman, but none of them looked especially guilty. The two Ministry men were of equal merit, and the older woman - Morwenna was rather smugly pleased to note - had presented the finest potion of the lot, but even though he was a clear fourth Mr Banges had put in a very good effort indeed. If she had been a better potioneer Morwenna might have been able to deduce why it wasn't as perfected as the others but she knew from the look of it that it simply wasn't.

"The next challenge is to brew a wit-sharpening potion. You may all begin."

You have 72 hours to post.
Guinevere Lukeson
Julius Scrimgeour
Benedict Sterling

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

A small smile ghosted swiftly across his face: though he had been trained as an auror, Julius had feared himself to be a rusty potioneer. Plainly, he was not so rusty as he had thought (that, or his competition was sorely lacking).

With a bit more confidence—though he was not about to rest on his laurels—the wizard worked on, and completed, his wit-sharpening potion.

  

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— graphics by mj ♥ —

Well, that had went better than he'd expected. It was now between him, Scrimgeour, and Mrs Lukeson, who - by the looks of it – had brewed a pretty successful potion.

Ben kept his expression focused on the task at hand, and soon completed his wit-sharpening potion.

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It was a wonderful feeling to know that she would be continuing forward to brew another potion. Excitement was clear on her face as she listened to which potion they were to brew.

But still, she had to remind herself, working quickly due to excitement would not be smart or safe. So once more she took her time and was careful in her brewing efforts.

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MJ made Magic!

Mrs Lukeson, once again, had produced a potion so accomplished Morwenna had a vague feeling that really she ought to be the arbiter of this heat - or perhaps even in the higher category. Between the two men it was a little closer, however she had to give it to the young man that had finished first: Mr Sterling's potion had quickly developed a film on the top that turned Morwenna's stomach a little.

"Commiserations Mr Sterling. Mrs Lukeson, Mr Scrimgeour, if you would return to your cauldrons to brew a calming draught - you may begin."

You have 72 hours to post.
Guinevere Lukeson
Julius Scrimgeour

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

A small, satisfied nod was all Julius gave in reaction to his success. In truth, he wanted to leave, to track down Bella, to ask...well, he was not yet certain what he would ask, but he would ask something of his sister.

Julius worked quickly to craft his calming draught, and was, unsurprisingly, the first of the pair to finish.

  

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— graphics by mj ♥ —

Guinevere had never thought of herself as worthy of a higher category of this potions competition, and a few successes didn't change that view point. It wasn't as if she had a job. She just liked potions. Perhaps Sybille got the love of creating things via recipe from her.

Never the less, hard work was her goal. Life drama could be thought of later. It was nice to not think of anything outside of potions and the competition, so she focused and worked hard. Success was a nice idea, surely.

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MJ made Magic!

Both potions bubbled away and Morwenna could scarcely tell between them. Mr Scrimgeour was undoubtedly a skilled potioneer but, for entirely obvious reasons, Morwenna was inclined more towards the woman's efforts and promptly awarded her the victory.

"Congratulations Mrs Lukeson, you will proceed to the next round."

G: 21
J: 20.5

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat