Dark Potions for Kerry

Here you go, Kerry. Your own little patch of darkness.

Now get to work!

And so it came time to brew again . . ..

Gathering all the ingredients Kerry was reminded of their first potions class. He and Annie and another girl had made their potions work, and Kerry . . . he liked potions. How he was going to do a dark arts potion was anyone's guess.

Pouring the spring water in and starting to add the dandelion Kerry was concerned about Annie. He knew how much she wanted to make this class work. The whole thing with Professor Sladen had been spooky, and he could tell it bothered Annie--but at the same time, as Professor Lovecraft said, these weren't suppose to be good things to play with. He wanted to tell Annie about Sith Lords, but doubted she'd understand. He wasn't sure he did himself.

Anyway you look at it, he thought as he put the cauldron on the fire, is that this class will never be boring. Very scary, but never boring.

He relaxed as he the cauldron started its boil. The rest of the class did the same. He looked towards the back of the class. Emma was there, working away, concentrating hard. He'd hardly spoke 6 words to her since the Madness, but he knew that was temporary. He had a feeling he'd have plenty of opportunities to talk in the future.

As for the Penny Dreadfuls . . . Ella had been sullen ever since her slapdown. Kerry had no used for people like here; he'd met a lot of gay people from the BBC, including a few actors, and couldn't understand why people wanted to hate them so. Some of my favorite actors and authors are gay, so I'm really limiting myself if I start hatin', he thought as he started to simmer his mixture. Everyone, he guessed, knew about Professor Sladen when they started the year; he didn't think it all that strange that Professor Lovecraft was a lesbian as well. What was it she said when she first told Annie and him about going to Salem? "A very dear friend found us a home--" No need to figure out who the dear friend was.

He looked in the mixture. Yep, looked like water boiling--





Makin' the killer Draught of Submission
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

82

Kerry had busied himself separating the henbane into units; he was used to a digital scale and not an analog one, but he knew how they worked and learned to adjust. Once he had the four containers set up with 100 grams each, Kerry began the process of getting each segment mixed in.

This is where being methodical paid off. In Transfigurations and Charms you needed to feel the magic; here, it was still like chemistry. Except for that one part . . . Well, that would come soon enough. Right now it was proportion and mixing and timing--taking your time and doing it right.

After almost five minutes Kerry watched the mixture carefully, hoping to notice the color change that was suppose to come--





Makin' the killer Draught of Submission
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

67

And there it was: a very pretty yellow, very soft, like saffron. He wasn't sure if that was the color he was suppose to have, but it's what he got.

So back on the boil . . . he checked the small dropper vial of dragon's blood that Annie and he shared. He needed to get the mixture up to a " vigorous boil" and after a minute the 3 drops of dragon's blood. He wasn't very sure about what any kind of blood was suppose to look like, but dragon's blood looked a little like maple syrup.

Getting it up to whatever he thought "vigorous" was suppose to look like looked a lot like what he had now. Checking a minute on the clock . . . and in went the drops of blood. He was careful to get 3 drops only, and caught another before it went in.

While the boil continued Kerry looked over the next step--and was confused. They'd not discusses these sopophorous beans in Potions and he wasn't sure how to proceed. Professor Erywin--who was really rocking her witch's hat, and it made Kerry want to see Annie in one--was passing by, so Kerry raised his hand. "Professor, could you help?"

Erywin was feeling better now that she was in her own realm of sorts. Potion making always calmed her. The time they spent in the back, talking... Erywin felt every sliver of pain that dripped from Helena in those moments. My pretty girl, she thought. How she suffers so. If only she'd let me take away her pain....

Just then a hand shot up. Oh, Kerry, my little potions master, she thought. Even now, weeks later, she still marveled at how he and his pretty girl, Annie, so killed that first spell. Incredible feat. Then again, to hear people speak, incredible seems to be the term that follows them both around.

She wandered over. "Kerry... how can I help?"

As so as she was close he asked, "Professor, I'm not sure how to get juice from these beans--" He motioned to the sopophorous beans before him. "We haven't gone over this in your class, and . . ." He looked back to where Professor Lovecraft was giving another student the evil eye. "I though you could help."

Erywin smiled. "That a very good question," she said. Leaning over his workspace she said in her quiet instructor's voice, "When I was a student my instructor had most everyone cut them in half, but...."

She picked up the bean and gave it a squeeze. "These are very hard, and cutting can be a problem." She picked up his knife. "Lay the blade flat against it and crushed it, then you can cut it open and get at the juice better."

Erywin handed back the bean. "Anything else you like, Kerry?"

"No, that's--" Kerry couldn't help what came out of his mouth next. "Are you okay, Professor? With . . ." He swallowed. "What happened?"

For maybe 2 seconds Erywin considered a smile as her only way of answer, but as the smile formed she lowered her head closer to Kerry's and whispered, "Oh, don't worry about me, lad. I've been through worse--much worse."

She moved closer and said, "To be honest I was warned this demonstration could turn ugly, but..." She chucked softly. "I have never been one to take advice."

She looked up over Kerry's shoulder and affixed her gaze upon Helena. "I told her a very long time ago that I would never give her up, that I would... never remove her from..." Erywin began to choke up just a touch, then moved past it. "I'd die before I would ever say I didn't love her--" Her eyes twinkled as she added, "I proved that today, didn't I?"

Erywin reached out and lightly touched Kerry's hand. "But, for a moment... I remembered something wonderful, Kerry. Something from a most wondrous time." Her face took on a wistful appearance while remembering a shared dance in the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower so long ago... "Don't dwell on the bad, Kerry. Keep your good memories close to you, here--" She touched her heart. "They'll always keep the darkness at bay."

She stood up, looking over his work. "Almost time, Kerry." She nodded at the beans before him. "Remember what I told you." She lowered her eyes as if there was more she wanted to say, stepped back and let him continue working.

Realizing it was time to put in the next batch of ingredients, Kerry set to work. He took the large blade and lay it against the first bean, then smashed down on it hard. There was a satisfying crunch. He then turned the knife on the bean, cutting it easily. He repeated the same with the second bean, then added their juice together.

The syrup of hellebore had a strange smell, but Kerry ignored it, breathing through his mouth as he added it to his mixture, stirring as required before waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting. Kerry stared at the timer, not saying anything, only counting off the minutes until it was time to add the next ingredient--





Makin' the killer Draught of Submission
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

94

Of course he didn't just spend 10 minutes doing nothing: Kerry divided up his arnica into 50 gram units, and with the long after-simmer finished he began stirring in the ground arnica. 6 times he added his units to his mixture, and the 3 minutes spent adding it were followed by another 3 minutes of simmer . . ..

After which it was time to cool. Kerry getting up and stretching, but thought it best to sit and spend the time getting a little deeper into his dark arts book while he waited to see what color his mixture was going to turn--





(4 of 6) Makin' the killer Draught of Submission
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

85

Kerry kept switching attention from the book to the potion and back again. For 15 minutes nothing happened, then, over the last 5 minute the mixture began changing . . . turning . . . blue.

Kerry was unsure how to feel. Am I really going to make a dark potion? he thought. And do to someone what Professor Lovecraft did to Professor Sladen? Despite trying not to feel excited, Kerry felt a tiny surge of power run though him. Two more steps and then I'm done. But first--

He held up his hand once more. "Professor? I need my wand."

Helena was in the back of the room helping out a totally lost boy from Ceridwen; Erywin had already explained he was completely lost, had no head at all for potions--

And then Kerry Malibey requested his wand.

This should be interesting, she thought as she made her way to the storage cabinet. She unlocked the cabinet and retrieved Kerry's wand. She handed it over in a nearly reverent fashion when she arrived at his work space. "I'll wait until you're finished," she said before taking a step back, thinking, Because I want to see how you do....

Setting his wand aside for the moment, Kerry added the tiny amount of bloodroot to his mixture and folded it in as the instructions specified. 90 seconds of slow counterclockwise stirring . . ..

It was done. He waited for the mixture to come to a rest--'cause now comes the interesting part, he thought.

Kerry stood, taking his wand in hand as he did. Professor Lovecraft had said to place just the tip in the potion, which he did. And to say the incantation aloud--

Wand in mixture, Kerry closed his eyes and calmly said the words that truly set the potion: "Hoc erti tibi." He then pulled his wand from the mixture and waited to see if it turned the proper color--





(5 of 6) Makin' the killer Draught of Submission
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

61

Helena watched, without comment, as Kerry's potion turned the proper shade of semi-transparent blue in a matter of seconds. She held out her hand. "Thank you, Kerry," she said, taking his wand. "Carry on."

As she returned the wand to the cabinet Helena thought that unless Kerry completely blew the final step the next step after this--testing--could be very interesting.

And now for the last step . . . Kerry swung the cauldron back over the flame and adjusted both so he could produce a "slow simmer". He sort of thought of that as being some of the lazy bubbling he'd seen in a pot or two of his mother's cooking, so he tried to get that.

Once he had it in went the hillwick and the vigorous counterclockwise stir for 15 seconds--and then he had to wait. This was the part he hated the most; just finishing up the potion before allowing it to cool; maybe 20 minutes total. He began to clean up, and when the 10 minutes of simmering was over and he had his cauldron off the fire he started putting things back and setting aside containers to be cleaned later.

Kerry let the potion cool, watching it, looking for even the slightest change in the color . . ..





(6 of 6) Makin' the killer Draught of Submission
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

91

Kerry saw that the color stayed the same--there was no change. He took that to be a good sign. Or maybe it was a not so bad sign--

Either way, he'd finished.

Holding up his hand once more, he caught Professor Lovecraft's attention. "I'm ready to bottle," Kerry said, and sat back, strangely pleased with himself.