January 25th, 1895 — Hogsmeade Hall

It was quite the combination of ladies before him, Gideon thought. Some, like Miss Farris, were young and fresh faces to the season. Others, like Miss Clarke, had attended Hogwarts with the healer himself—perhaps a new honorific was needed for spinsters. Then there was Miss Russell, who Gideon had never heard of and never seen before. Regardless of the contestents, though, the wizard knew this would be much the same as any other competition he had judged in his capacitiy as a member of the London Potioneers Guild.

"Your first brew, ladies," Gideon voiced once the general niceties had been observed, "will be a calming draught. You will have unti the last grain in the hourglass falls."

As he spoke, the ingredients and directions had appeared on a small slate at each witch's station, that they might follow it.

"Begin!"

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Lycoris Dempsey Dorothea Potts Idris Oakby Matilda Farris Effie Clarke Arabella Russell

  

A potion competition sounded exciting, and Idris had been happy to enter it. She wasn't fully confident in her abilities to win, but at she'd try her hardest to do so, if only to add it to her list of accomplishments in life. She examined the slate before her as Mr. Browne went over the mundane things like rules and expectations. A calming drought wasn't the hardest brew, yet Idris knew not to rush through the process. (She remembered some of her fellow year mates getting hurt when their potions exploded in their faces back at Hogwarts.)

Once instructed, Idris stepped forward to begin brewing her potion. She was pleased none of the ingredients were disgusting smelling as she picked up the first one.

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MJ made me something beautiful<3

Lycoris had always done rather well with Potions though her skillset was definitely in spell casting as had been proven by her accomplishment in the Misses and Matrons competition. Still, she was here for a fun time mostly. A calming draught felt an easy enough brew to concoct. It was something some of her family had needed this past Christmas. She set about brewing and stepped back from her cauldron once she had done the final step.

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Miss Adebayo was in the other bracket, Mattie noted, just a little disappointed. But the Miss Dempsey who had beaten her at the spellcraft competition was here again, so perhaps she ought to do her best to compete with her, if potioneering was another of her strengths?

Although a Calming Draught was really straightforward enough, Mattie hoped, that she could perhaps also afford to eye Mr. Browne and his movements around the room from time to time as they worked – she had made sure to smile breezily at him once or twice, so that it looked like she was having a good time, and perhaps so that he remembered her later.

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   Aldous Crouch

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She had signed up for this competition under the influences of that damnable sweet, but Effie felt much less bold than she had then now that she was standing here. The prize value would never hurt, and nor ever would distinguishing herself better in society, but... she did feel rather out of practise at Potions. If she had been better at them, she would have become a healer.

So by the time her Calming Draught had taken shape, she could rather use one herself – Effie was well aware that she had been slower than some, and strands of her hair kept escaping and getting in her eyes, feeling a little flustered from the heat of the cauldron fire and from the strong smell of peppermint. Merlin, she hoped this had been worth the trouble.

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To be perfectly honest, Ara wasn't sure why she was there. Clearly, she had not been in her right mind when entering herself into this competition. She didn't remember getting drunk any time recently, so it must have been a bender of truly epic proportions that led her here. At any rate, an attempt was made. Because she was here now.

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Dorothea didn't often enter these competitions, they had never been her thing and perhaps she just felt them a little bit unladylike but here she was and she was excited. She smiled at her sister Millie who sat in the audience ready to watch as part of her Hogsmeade excursion from school, perhaps it was the younger Potts that had rubbed off on her.

The first potion was one that as a governess she was very familiar with, whipping up a little brew to calm the nerves of a distressed ward, or even one of the Lords or ladies of the house was an essential thing to help things go smoothly. She had brewed it many times, but never in front of an audience, so that would certainly be a factor. She carefully adjusted her sleeve cuffs and began in earnest.

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The witches set about their brews with varying degrees of deftness, though none appeared immediately as disastrous. The cracks, though, began to show when the finished potions were held up to more scrutiny.

Gideon approached first Miss Oakby's cauldron, the debutante having been the first to finish. It was wholly adequate, he thought, though as he held up a small vial to judge it more critically, the wizard noted some particulate in his sample.

"A good effort, Miss Oakby," he murmured to the witch with an encouraging smile.

Miss Dempsey's cauldron was a formidable effort, but it was the pleasant Miss Farris who proved quickly to be the frontrunner.

"Were I a healer destined for house calls rather than the hospital halls, Miss Farris," he praised the witch with a charming smile, "I should be grateful for my livelihood that you had not chosen to enter the healing field. This is, I must say, exemplary work!"

A last smile at Miss Farris before Gideon moved on to the remaining would-be potioneers. Miss Clarke's efforts were standard enough, but it began to fall apart from here. Miss Russell's cauldron emitted a foul smelling odour.

Miss Potts', however, was on fire.

"Miss Potts, you seem to have added wormwood stalk instead of root." His words were offered apologetically, his countenance surprisingly mild given the small fire before them. Deftly, Gideon vanished the contents of the cauldrons before him before bidding Miss Russell and Miss Potts depart.

"Your next potion," the healer addressed the remaining young ladies, once their cauldrons had been emptied and their former competition dismissed, "will decide which among you will proceed to the final stages of competition, and which will have to content themselves with having done this well. A cure for boils," Gideon declared. The directions, once more, inscribed themselves upon slates as he reminded the competitors where to find their ingredients. Unnecessary, likely, but better to be overprepared than under.

"You may begin!"

You have 72 hours to post your response.
Please do not assume success—that's what the dice are for ;) First to post will get a small bonus.
Lycoris Dempsey Idris Oakby Matilda Farris Effie Clarke

OAKBY 5.5 | DEMPSEY 8 | FARRIS 8.5 | CLARKE 6.5 | RUSSELL 4 | POTTS 3

  

Lycoris was glad to have made it to the next round. She began the next potion they had been instructed to brew. She was doing her best to do this one perfectly because she did not relish the thought of sporting boils.

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Oh, well that went much better than expected. Idris returned Mr. Browne's smile before waiting for the rest of her competitor's to be judged. Once the cauldrons were empty and the next potion was assigned to them, Idris took a small breath and stepped forward to begin brewing the Cure of Boils.

Hopefully this round would go as well as previous had.

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MJ made me something beautiful<3

Oh, well! Disaster averted, at least. It could have gone far worse than it had.

The cauldron fire nearby had not made her any calmer in time for the next round, but. A cure for boils, then – it had been years since she had brewed one of these, but it seemed straightforward.

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Well, either her potion had been as exemplary as Healer Browne said, or her casual attentions had paid off. Mattie’s smile inched a little broader still.

But she was hardly content with how far she had gotten, so she had better manage this cure for boils just as well. Particularly now that the rather handsome young judge had sung her praises... but how did anyone possibly manage to look good when handling horned slugs?

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   Aldous Crouch

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The failures—no, that was too harsh, let him call them shortcomings—on the second potion were rather more subtle than they had been before. Though Miss Dempsey had finished quickly, the steam from her cauldron, where it connected with flesh, had actually caused a small cluster of blemishes to form, suggesting her efforts had not been successful.

Once again,  Miss Oakby's concoction had a bit of particulate remaining in the sample Gideon drew, but seemed otherwise quite servicable. It simply paled ever so slightly in comparison to very good efforts indeed from Misses Clarke and Farris.

"Miss Euphemia Clarke and Miss Matilda Farris," Gideon announced, eyes lingering a beat too long upon the latter, "will both progress to the final round of competition. Nonetheless, you all should feel quite good about your accomplishments today."

After all, Gideon thought, punctuating his words with a smile, it was no small thing to put oneself upon display for all to see.

Matilda Farris Effie Clarke, you will be tagged again when the next round is live!
DEMPSEY 4 | OAKBY 4.5 | CLARKE  5.5 | FARRIS 5.5