i'm all bite, no bark (lazar)

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The majority of classes were exam prep at this late on in the year, so the fifth-years were going over Potions they brewed at the beginning of term. They had been instructed to divide into pairs of groups of three to a cauldron, then try to brew the Draught of Peace: a notoriously difficult and complex potion for them all at this level. The first time they had brewed Draught of Peace, which must have been back in early November, Comarth and his partner at the time hadn't succeeded in getting it exactly the right.

That's why, this time around, he was determined to change that.

Just as he was finishing up writing a list of everything he needed to fetch before looking for a partner, he looked up from his bench and realised the majority of his classmates had already got together. The only one that didn't seem to have one was...

"Afternoon, Lazar." The boy wasn't the first on his preferred list of brewing partners, but at least he was a Ravenclaw. That had to count for something? "If you get the mandrake, I'll get everything else and we'll meet back here." Apparently he didn't want to go through the process of asking him to be his partner, given that their options were extremely limited at this point.

@Lazar Tremlett

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Lazar stepped back slightly, giving his wand a small break. This potion was stressful! He hoped it only got easier from now...

"Yuh-yuh-you wuh-would?"

This was getting even weirder. Some would even say Selwyn was acting peculiarly to him. Any other pureblood would probably transfigure him into a newt or some sort of toad before offering lunch. "Oh-okay. Um, I-I-I luh-like nuh-nuh-nuh-noodles..."

@Comarth Selwyn

"Miso Good. What a coincidence... that's one of my favourites too."

Moving through a few more steps until they got to the mandrake, Comarth began shaking it vigorously. This gave him a chance to look around the room. Some had elected to stew their own mandrake in another cauldron by using the raw version, but it costed a lot of their time. Others were a few more steps ahead: he definitely saw powdered unicorn horn being added to one cauldron, but that didn't deter him.

The potion turned red as he added the mandrake.

"Now stir again - we want orange."

The red and the orange colours listed in the colour chart looked very similar. There also seemed to be a lot of steam blowing up in their faces making it difficult to see: Comarth could feel the dew prickle across his cheeks and forehead as it condensed.

@Lazar Tremlett

"Oh-oh, thuh-thuh-that's guh-guh-good..."

At least they had that in common: noodles. Lazar didn't know if Selwyn's politeness was some sort of ruse or if he was just different from the other purebloods in this school.

As the potion got steamier, his glasses constantly fogged up no matter how much he attempted to stop the fogging. Lazar started to aim his wand around the top of the cauldron. Why wasn't it in there already?? It wasn't like cauldrons were complicated!

@Comarth Selwyn

It seemed as though all the steam was flowing right into Lazar's face, so much so that he couldn't aim. Comarth dropped the mandrake onto the desk in its container, grabbed his wand and started stirring. The potion started turning orange. But because he was crossed over Lazar and all the bottles and containers were threatening to fall off the desk, he didn't think he left his wand inside the cauldron to save the mandrake.

It was all a bit of a mess. From half way to the floor and grabbing onto the table for support, he handed Lazar the container of mandrake.

"Quick, add it!"

Why had the making of this potion turned into something so dramatic?

@Lazar Tremlett

Panicking internally, Lazar feared that the cauldron was about to blow up on them, and that would be it. Why was it steaming so much??? Wasn't it just simmering?

Then the mandrake was shoved into his hands, and Lazar looked down at it and at the cauldron stupefied. Although it appeared to be asleep, he was afraid that simply holding the container would wake it up. Oh no. Oh, no, no, no. That mandrake was definitely going to attack the both of them now.

Lifting the container right over the cauldron, Lazar looked away and closed his eyes, struggling to open it until he flicked open the notch.

"Ih-ih-is it in thuh-thuh-there?"

@Comarth Selwyn