Potions - Lesson 2

[Ace]

Ace was late, again. He had stayed up far too late and almost missed his early potions class, which was not a good thing as they were studying one of his top five favourite potions - the Polyjuice Potion.

"Good morning everybody, sorry I'm late, settle down and shut the hell up because we have a lesson to get on with," he said as he swept into the room, grinning at the class.

He stood at the desk and gestured to the ingredients that were laid out before him. "I know you all know what these ingredients are for - the Polyjuice Potion. I realise that this potion has had some popularity within this school, and that some of you might have already taken it illegally." He paused and looked around, bright green eyes seeking out the guilty faces. "I, however, don't care one way or another. You will still be taking this lesson because I believe that this potion deserves a lot more respect than you might have given it."

Ace looked around, and smiled again. "To make it a little more interesting, at the end of the lesson you may drink your Polyjuice Potion, with a piece of whomever you choose to become. Still not interesting enough?" He grinned, and pushed a small dish forward. On it were a small pile of small, blonde hairs. "I spared a few of my golden locks for this lesson. You don't have to use it, you can choose to be each other if you like, but I thought this may be more of a novelty this way. Once you are done, there are a few questions I want you to answer and hand in before you leave."

Ace pointed to the blackboard then relaxed back into his leather chair, waiting in case anybody needed any questions answered.

Questions:

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an imposter taking the Polyjuice Potion?

3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it? (This is confidential, I won't get you in trouble. Promise.)[/b]

www.freewebs.com/acerbusaecus/index.htm

[Katrina Summers (retired)]

Katrina had listened carefully to Ace's speech about Polyjuice Potion, after all, Demitri had used it before and went as her to a costume party. Maybe this was the reason why she was so interested in the potion? Either way, she payed attention in this class. If there ever was one thing that interested her, it was potions and how to make them.

She sat down and wrote the questions first, while looking around to see if anybody else had started on their assignment yet. She didn't notice anybody that had done it yet, still she finished her own; better to be done with it right away.

Katrina Summers,
Slytherin.
Potion Lesson 2,
Polyjuice Potion.

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?
If I could add a piece of anybody and why, it would have to be something from Lothani or Mái, I envy their beauty!

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an imposter taking the Polyjuice Potion?
If the imposter do something the real person wouldn't have done, you could tell them apart, but you'd have to know the real person very well first...

3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it?
I have never used it myself, but I've witnessed a friend of mine use it; he went on a costume party dressed as me.

[Rezna Lardale]

Rezna raised her head as their professor entered the classroom. She had been catching up on her sleep and now had to focus on what he was saying, something about a potion. Well, of course, Rezna was in Potions, at least she was awake enough to figure that out.

"A polyjuice potion?" she whispered to no one in particular. Surely, she heard wrong. No, she wasn't. the name of it was on the board. But still, Rezna couldn't believe they'd be allowed to make it, but she wasn't about to complain. Actually just the thought of being someone else for a day was enough to erase all trace of sleep from her face. She wondered who's hairs she wanted to put into the brew. It would probably be someone from the class, seeing as she didn't carry spare hairs around just for the heck of it.

Still, deciding that she could think while writing, she pulled out a clean sheet of parchment and dipped her quill into her black ink bottle and looked at their assignment. The first question was definitely problematic.

Rezna Lardale
Hufflepuff
Potions, lesson two

1.) I don't exactly know who'd I'd pick. I think it would be interesting to be someone who'd you'd never be again. I guess someone from a different house or a Professor would be interesting.

2.) I think it would be easiest to tell an impostor from the real person if you knew the person in question. After all, if you know the person, you can ask them a question that only they would know the answer to and see if the impostor answers correctly. Otherwise, little character traits from the real person would not transfer to the impostor.

3.) No, I have never been under the potion or met anyone under it's influence.

Now that she was done, she stretched and stifled a yawn. It was dreadfully early and cold that morning, a bad combination. And seeing as she had slept through seeing all the other arrivals, she didn't even know who was in her class. Looking around now, Rez wondered if she would see any possible victims.

'Wait, are there directions on how to make the potion?' she wondered as her eyes scanned the board as well as the other students. She had read about it, but never made it herself. Had she slept through that part of Ace's speach? No one else seemed to be starting their potions, at least. If they did, then she'd be in trouble.

[Michelle]

Michelle had been in her seat early, and more awake than she usually was at this time of morning - she knew this would be her first Potions lesson with Professor Ace, the mysterious teacher who had helped her in the library. When he strode in, she noticed that she was not the only one paying more attention than usual to the handsome Professor - and she was not the only one who grinned with delight when the teacher pushed a small tray of his own hair forward for them to use if they wanted to.

Michelle walked up to get the ingredients for her Potion and smiled at Ace while she collected everything. She got back to her seat, opened her textbook and followed her instructions carefully. She saw that most people were doing their assignment first, but she didn't see the point, wouldn't the potion have to cool before you could drink it? She completed the potion perfectly, making sure she followed the book exactly, and then looked up. Should she take one of his hairs?

She decided not to decide yet. She would do her assignment and then decide.

Michelle Westwood
Hufflepuff House

1) If I could be anybody, I would want to be a Prefect so I could use the Prefect's Bath!

2) Well, the Ministry's leaflets last year stated that the best security measure would be to arrange a set question that only that person would know the answer to. But of course this is still a difficult situation as you never know who or why somebody would use Polyjuice Potion, and might not be able to set up questions in time.

3) Me and my friends once took Polyjuice Potion back in Australia - the guys changed into the girls and the girls changed into the guys. Let's just say it was a weird afternoon!

[Aylen Hawkins]

Aylen held back a large yawn as their vampire professor entered the classroom. The redhead had been out practicing Quidditch all night—again. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open, though the subject today would certainly be interesting. At least he had managed to nap for a bit before the professor had shown up. Dreaming for a moment about the things he would do as someone else made him grin a little. Maybe he could go around as a Ravenclaw and get some points docked. Their House Points were getting uncomfortably close to Gryffindor’s. Then again, the Hawkins family had been in Ravenclaw for years. No doubt his older brothers and sister would not be happy with the idea. Sighing, Aylen gave up the idea. It wouldn’t be fair anyway. That was the Slytherin approach.

Digging in his bag, Aylen managed to discover some parchment that was miraculously unstained from his leaking inkbottle and labeled the top corner with his name and house.

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?
I’m not sure. It would be fun to go gallivanting as anyone else, though I suppose if I held a grudge against someone, I would like to go around as him. I could do all sorts of things and act as dumb as I like and...well, you know what I mean, right?

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an imposter taking the Polyjuice Potion?
As far as I know, the potion doesn’t affect anything other than appearance, so any tests that involve personality or memories could reveal the person’s true identity.

3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it?
Not that I know of.

Blowing the ink dry, Aylen headed towards the desk to turn it in. Gathering the ingredients he needed while keeping a careful eye on the leeches, he laid them out on his desk. Tossing the stewed flies and the bloodsucking slugs into the cauldron first, he coughed in disgust. He supposed if he were really desperate, he would drink the nasty stuff, but not otherwise. Taking the horn and the grass, he began mashing at them, sending bits of liquid flying. The Gryffindor never was a very patient person. Scraping the mess into the cauldron, Aylen went for his stirring stick. However, he never did get to it. The pewter pot began belching dark black smoke and emitting several small explosions, though they were getting bigger by the minute. The redhead stopped just short from cussing vehemently. The fact that he was not able to speak while choking on the smoke might have contributed to that somewhat. “Of all the bloody...” Aylen managed to get out as the smoke cleared. All that was left in his cauldron was sticky black goo. “Great...”

[Sylph]

"Mmmmm, looks yummy Aylen."

The violet haired girl known as Sylph grinned at her fellow Gryffindor as his potion smoked and turned black. Hers was already stewing nicely, Sylph having followed the instructions in her text book to the letter. The tall girl looked down at her cauldron and looked at it thoughtfully. It looked as the text described, but Sylph ran a long finger down the instructions anyway, checking off the ingredients. Lacewings. Check. Leeches. Check. Bicorn horn and knotgrass, both crushed. Check. Sylph had never discovered what people found so difficult about potions, all it involved was following a recipe, nothing more than a smelly variety of cooking really, except experimentation with different 'flavours' usually led to disaster.

She looked at the next step. Add the fluxweed. Shooting another reassuring and sympathetic grin at her red-haired friend, the violet haired girl strode over to the Professor's desk to fetch the freshly plucked plant, and, on impulse, picked up one of the single golden hairs that also lay there, shooting a cautious smile at her teacher. Returning to her seat, she placed the hair very carefully on her notebook, added the fluxweed, and, staring intently at her watch, ensured that she performed the stirring part of the assignment perfectly.

She shrugged towards Aylen, nodding towards the blonde hair upon her desk with a look that plainly stated this; should I go for it?

Completing the potion and bottling some of it up, Sylph sat for a moment, pondering her answers. Eventually, she dipped her quill into her orange ink and began to write.

1)I often feel that I am far too inside my own head to want to be anyone else; she wrote in spiky handwriting, smiling ruefully as she did so. However, if pressed, I would use the polyjuice potion to transform into a being with talents far different from my own, to see if I could master them myself simply by assuming their physical appearance, even if that is considered unlikely. Alternatively, I would choose to be a fairy, so I could know what it would be to have wings!

2)The polyjuice potions only affects physical appearance, so any behavioural deviations would help you to tell impostor from original, though you'd have to know the real person fairly intimately first. Also, a simple test, such as asking the person to describe a memory only the original would recall would serve this purpose. Finally, if all else fails, prevent the person for drinking the potion - or anything that may contain the potion - for one hour to see if the person transforms back into themselves!

3) I have never before taken the potion, and, to the best of my knowledge, have not encountered anyone under its influence.

Sylph lay down her quill and sighed. Now was the time to make her decision. Being a vampire, if only for an hour, would certainly be interesting...

[Carmen]

Though the girl gripped onto the top of her head as if she was to lose it if she ran any faster, it didn't get her there on time. Bustling through the door, the girl gathered her composure, and smiled toward the teacher. She remembered this one, mostly because of his carefree nature and his flawless looks. But before she could get enticed by them, the girl shook her head and shuffled over to Rezna's left.

"Hey!" she greeted with a smile as she pulled out her muggle biro pen and parchment. Once she realised that they were making a polyjuice potion, whatever that was, the girl got up from her seat and wandered over to the teacher's desk to get the ingredients. First, the flies. Scooping a bit, she held that in one hand, and a hand-full of leeches in the other, and ran back to her cauldron before the blighters could get a bite of her.

Then going back to the desk, the girl pulled up some Powdered bicorn horn and Knotgrass and stepped lightly over to the table where she sat, and begun to grind the two ingredients. It was a lot harder than she thought, considering the horn still had chunks she had to get rid of. But eventually, it was done, a small liquid being formed at the bottom of the bowl. Gently, the girl added it to the leeches and flies, careful not to spill anything, and a very loud 'pop' sounded.

Was that an explosion?

Shrugging with a little frown on her brow, the girl wandered over to the desk where the teacher was, and grasped a bit of the Fluxweed from the bowl and dropped it into her cauldron (how many trips between desks she made, she lost count!). And since it was going to take fifteen minutes to complete the part she was up to, the girl decided to work her biro.

Carmen Thompson
Hufflepuff
Potions, Second Lesson.

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?
-I would have to choose, though it's a tough question, either the Ministress of Magic, Kiki, or the headmistress Wilting Rose. Both of them are quite the porceilain beauty, and both have jobs I would be amazed to experience. Meeting new people, learning new things. That kind of thing. But I must say I want my own job at the moment, as secretary, so I wouldn't stay long as Kiki or Rose.

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an imposter taking the Polyjuice Potion? It was then when Carmen turned back to her potion and continued to stir for just a few more minutes.
Perhaps have the imposter and the original complete a task that only the original is good at, say drawing or a duel, and compare the two. Also, you could wait until the potion finished, but that would be too long to wait!

3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it? Actually, I was muggle-born, so this is the first I've ever heard of the polyjuice potion (you've no idea how many times I tried to spell that right). Who knows, maybe I have met someone under the influence... It really makes you think, doesn't it?

Once the girl had completed her piece, she lifted the paper and wandered over to the teacher's desk, and placed it there in front of him. Then, she gathered up the last of the ingredients other than the person's identity; Shredded boomslang skin. Upon adding it, the mixture bubbled and faded to a dirty black colour, then to brown. For just a second there, she'd thought she had it wrong! "Phew!"

Letting it brew, Carmen, considering the knowledge that she had no one to turn into, scooted back over to the handsom teacher's desk and plucked up one of his hairs. Once it was placed into the bubbling potion, the whole thing turned a violent green, bright on the eyes enough to make her squint.

(OOC: Apologies for the lengthy post ^.^')

[Rezna Lardale]

Muttering to herself about her own stupidity, Rezna reached for her book under her desk and began to read up on their assignment.

"Live leaches, great!" she added with a loud groan. The one thing she couldn't stand were slimy gross insects. And although a leach was not entirely an insect, she hated the thought of throwing the live ones into the cauldron.

Hearing someone sit next to her, Rezna looked up to see Carmen. "Hey yourself," she added as she offered a smile to her fellow Hufflepuff, before getting up to collect her ingredients.

Shuffling over to the desk, Rezna quickly picked up the lacwing flies, powdered bicorn horn, fluxweed, knotgrass, and shredded boomslang skin first. Then, with a hesitant hand, she plucked up the leeches as she threw them on her ingredients plate. After getting the goosebumps and shivers to leave her body, Rezna stopped by the plate of the blond hairs of their Professor.

Then, remembering her last meeting with him, she knew that she'd not want to be in his situation. And besides, she didn't exactly approve of his behavior in the forest. Perhaps that was why she avoided making eye contact with him. Deciding against his offer, she left the hairs be and hurried to her seat.

Sliding past Carmen, she quickly moved her cauldron off the heat plate, in case she had the urge to light it. Then, throwing in the flies, Rezna used a stirring rod to push the leaches to their death. Some of the poor things stuck to the plate and made the blond girl poke them with a stick to let them fall in. As a shiver went down her spine once more, she let the now empty plate clutter to the ground.

"Sick," she muttered as she reached for her stone pestle. Putting both the bicorn horn and the knotgrass on it, she crushed them as best she could. Wanting the entire process to end sooner, Rezna waited long enough to see a few gray specks on the grass before dumping it into the potion along with the rest.

And as soon as the contents mixed a series of rapid explosions rocketed in her cauldron. Gasping, Rezna moved back in her seat until she was against the desk behind her. Fireworks were great, but not exactly favorites of the blond.

Once that was over, she threw in the fluxweed while glancing on her watch. Fifteen minutes would be at thirty past. With a sigh, she went off thinking of who's hair she was to put in the potion. Stirring every time she remembered to do so, at two minute intervals, the blond continued picking off the people in her class as if it were a game show.

[Renfield Remington]

A long tear and an obnoxious sigh informed the class quite blatantly that Renfield Remington was actually doing a class assignment. And while he put up the facade of being bored as hell with Potions on principle - anything his father made him take was hated on principle - he was actually quite interested with the Polyjuice Potion, as it had many of the dastardly effects of one of the Unforgivable Curses without quite so much time in Azkaban Prison.

Also, Renfield was happy that there wasn't yet any ingredients and messy mixtures involved that he could accidentally dip one of his innocent, gorgeous white-blond (perfectly natural) locks in. This, he admitted, was doable. And he did so love any opportunity shown to him to brag.

Renfield Remington
Slytherin 5 Year

1. Who I would choose to turn into under the influence of the Polyjuice Potion depends on several different things: who I'm hiding from, who I'm spying on, or who I'm trying to impress. However, on a typical day I'd opt to turn into someone of high ranking power. The leading editor of the Daily Prophet, for instance, would be a heap of fun to live in for a while. I could bring the entire wizarding population to it's knees into a new light of understand, or introduce them to things that I actually thought was interesting.

2. The Polyjuice Potion, while immensely useful in the hands of someone clever and appreciative of the opportunities the potion poses, is downright ridiculous in the hands of an idiot. An idiot ranges from someone who didn't mix the potion correctly and is sprouting their own hair twenty minutes in, to someone who hasn't devoted enough time to studying the person they are impersonating, which can leave enormous gaps between reality and who the person is pretending to be. These are the two most typical ways of discovering when someone is under the influence of a Polyjuice Potion.

3. Last summer when me and my mates were still fourteen, we were vacationing in the mountains and my friend, Benny, discovered an entire leaping vat of it. Needless to say, we had two of the most interesting weeks ever (the escapade as a gymnast from Switzerland, for instance, was an immensely enjoyable afternoon spent with her squad) and since then we've attempted the potion again once before the start of school, but it only lasted in spurts of 10 minutes.

[Ashlle G. Rainier]

After that long meeting at breakfast, Ashlle finally made it to her second potions lesson. Upon seeing the board she'd done a double take, her eyes growing wide. Didn't the Polyjuice Potion take over a month to make? Ashlee had told her that once, hadn't she?

Ashlle had sat herself next to Renfield Remington as she came in, but suddenly took another look at him. He reminded her deeply of her Friend Ashlee's friend Draco Malfoy whom she met once or twice once she'd joined the Wizarding World.

Draco had been exceedingly polite to her, She being the last of the Great Rainier Clan, and had asked her to visit him sometime. Ashlle decided to speak to Mr. Remington after she finished her assignment.

Ashlle G, Rainier
Gryffindor
The Polyjuce Potion

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?


Honestly I'm not so sure. I would never be a Muggle that's for sure, no matter how powerful they were. But I'd definitely like to be someone in power, Not the Minister of Magic she's not exactly my cup of tea. Perhaps Claire or Wilting Rose? Yes I think it would be fun to be them. I could rule the school. But first I'd have to meet one of them and get to know them. It would be too easy to be discovered if I didn't know who I was becoming before I became them.

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an impostor taking the Polyjuice Potion?

A far few. If they were a bad actor, or if they didn't know the person they were becoming very well. If they didn't have the right voice for the 'part' or if they brewed a poor potion - it would soon wear off in that case.

3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it? (This is confidential, I won't get you in trouble. Promise.)

Some Friend's of mine have taken it but I never have. Nor did I actually get to see my friends when they did it, I wasn't in school then. (I actually don't go to their school, I only see them in the summer.)

At the bottom of her page she added this;

Professor, doesn't the Polyjuice Potion take at least a month to brew?

Satisfied with her work and hoping for a better mark this time, she turned it in. When she returned to her desk she leaned over to Remington and asked;

"Excuse me, am I right in believing that you are one of the Remingtons?"

[Teagan]

OOC: My original was deleted because I was automatically logged out while posting it, so I'm not going to be so patient writing this one.

IC: As their vampiric potions master explained in quite a pleased matter, the students were to complete a Polyjuice Potion, one of the several things illegal at their school. Of course, they could all go and blame it on their teacher this time if they were to get caught.

Almost immediately after Professor Aecus's instructions, the prefect began to assemble her ingredients. Most were very simple to gather, but she used magic to deal with the leaches; she really did not have any desire to touch them. Then, she followed the instructions precisely and efficiently. She made sure that each step was followed nearly to the exact; she dropped a handful of the pre-brewed lacewing flies into the unheated pot, transfered the leeches via Wingardium Leviosa, used the mortal and pestle to grind the bicorn horn and knotgrass until they became mixed together as the instructions told, kept her head away with the miniature explosions, added the fluxweed, and eventually put in the boomslang skin. Her stirring was steady, and soon everything was in place. Now, though, she added some of the professor's hair.

Teagan had little desire to transform into anyone. If she had needed to, it would have probably occurred in some odd circumstance. At the moment, she really had no intention to change herself into resemblance of another being. While she had been stirring, the Ravenclaw had also quickly titled her paper; she wasn't going to risk doing anymore and missing her stirring time.

Finally, she began writing her answers to the questions asked of the students. Her writing was relatively small, but the letters cleanly formed their delicate selves onto her parchment.



Potions: Lesson 2
Teagan Monolayre
Ravenclaw

1) If I could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, I would choose to add no one. If there was a quality or characteristic I liked of someone else, I'd work to change that part about me instead of trying to be them. If it would be much more convenient and keep me out of trouble, I would probably use the potion to look like someone because of that reason and not because I wanted to be like them.

2) The ways I can think of in which I could tell apart the real person from an impostor taking the Polyjuice Potion are what the real person knows, how the real person acts, and what the real person would do or say in a situation. If you know the impostor in his/her real form, then they may have a habit that you could notice quickly, as well. Then, the impostor could act as if he/she just doesn't feel well; that would be a good time to give them a "cure" for their sickness, and watch what side effects would take place for someone with no need of the cure.

3) I don't recall ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountering anyone under the influence of it. Of course, if someone was under the influence of it, I probably wouldn't know of it, nor would I really care what they were doing. I wouldn't mind as long as I wasn't tricked in their act.

[~Persephone~]

Persephone had spent that morning looking for her long lost potions book. Finally she'd given up on looking for it the old fashioned way, and the prefect used the accio charm to finally get it. She sighed with relief and headed out of the common room, still pulling on a stubborn shoe.

She walked down the corridors, her long silver blonde hair dancing as she raced down the hall. She wouldn't be late, but she just wouldn't be early. She could settle for that, and when she entered the room, she saw an empty seat and sat behind Tegan.

A few seconds after she sat down, the teacher started a speech on the potion they were to brew. She listened intently, and once he was done, she smiled a the thought of it. It would be a fun lesson.

She read the assignment and started to do her own.

Persephone Devone
Ravenclaw
6th year
2nd Potions Lesson

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?

I would choose to be either Claire or Kiki. Claire because although she's headmistress, she still knows almost, if not all, of what's going on. Kiki for the same reason. They're both in the knowing of the most information.

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an imposter taking the Polyjuice Potion?

You could ask the person a few questions that only the real person would know. If that didn't work, you could observe the person for behavors that wouldn't fit the person's regular behavior.


3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it?

I've never met anyone under the influence or intoxicated with the polyjuice potion before. I grew up in the muggle world. I haven't taken it before either, though I've heard students talk about taking it before.

Then Persephone looked at the board. There were no instructions for the potion, and she looked around to see everyone else doing the exact same thing. She shrugged mentally, and decided to wait.

[Zandra Harper]

Zandra slightly raised her brow as Professor Ace entered the classroom.
Doing a polyjuice potion? Spared some of his golden locks? Who the hell does this guy think he is? Zandra thought to herself. Her face not showing her discontent.

-“This is silly”, she murmured as she started whit her assignment.

[glow=red,2,300]Zandra Harper,
Ravenclaw.
Potion Lesson 2,
Polyjuice Potion.[/glow]

[glow=red,2,300]1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?[/glow]
I must say that the thought of turning into someone else is frightening and because of that I don’t have someone in particular that I would choose. But if I have to choose one person it would probably be somene powerful and good-looking like our headmistress Claire.

[glow=red,2,300]2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an impostor taking the Polyjuice Potion?[/glow]
It can be done in many different ways, primary by observing this persons behaviour and the way they carry their self. But if this person has copied both movements and personality very well, a questioning would be at its best place.

[glow=red,2,300]3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it? (This is confidential; I won't get you in trouble. Promise.)[/glow]
No I can honestly say that I haven’t taken the polyjuice potion. Neither have I encountered someone under the influence of it, or what I know about anyway.

[Galanor Rosewind]

Galanor was slightly nervous as she walked into the Potions classroom, moments before she would have been considered late, herself. She hoisted her bag on her right shoulder and brushed a strand of long, raven hair from her eyes with a pale hand. A deep red-and-orange Fwooper-feather quill floated idly next to her head as she walked down the isle toward an empty seat in the more sparsely populated area of the classroom. This was her first-every lesson at this school, and she could tell that it was likely to be a good one. The professor had just begun his speech on the Polyjuice potion.

As she looked at him, she noticed something.. different about him. Is he... Is he a vampire? she wondered in awe. Wow... that's... interesting. She smiled to herself, listening now intently to every word. She took out a roll of parchment and opened a bottle of black ink. She snatched the quill from the air--it gave a small struggle and then submitted. It was her favorite quill for this reason--it seemed to have a mind of its own and continuously tried to drift off. She gave a small, inaudible giggle and began to write in a slightly clumsly, but clearly readable, script:

1) I don't know exactly who I'd change into... but I'd rather like to be a.. er.. vampire. She paused, smiling to herself. She'd heard Ace tell the class of his hairs that he'd donated. That's be wicked... but I really don't think I want a sex-change for an hour. She sighed, and, tossing away that previous thought, she poised, ready to begin writing the rest of her essay.

2) Of course. It's rather easy to tell one from the other... but you'd have to know the original rather well--very well, I'd think--to know their movements and stances, how they sit, how they stand, and so on... but these can be copied to the fullest extent, if the copycat wanted to really pursuade someone. And personality is a big part of it, too. I mean, what if one of your friends that is usually serious, never told a joke in their life, and all of a sudden they're making wisecracks all over the place? I'd start to suspect. And if these two elements are perfected... then a questioning could be the way to go. Even this can be pulled off by the imposter, though. They could have fed the original some veitiserum and asked them anything, but I'd suppose that this would only be in the most desperate act of trying to fool someone, eh?

3) No... I've never taken it. But I've suspected others to be rather unlike themselves, sometimes... at my home. I haven't been here long enough to tell if anyone here acts unlike themselves sometimes... This is my first class. And I must say, it's an interesting one, too.

Carefully, Galanor let the ink dry on the parchment, put her name and House on the corner, rolled is loosely and rose from her seat, moving toward the professor's desk. When she let go of her quill, it began floating away quickly. Rolling her eyes, she flicked her dragon heartstring wand at it and said lowly, "Accio fwooper-quill!" It flew disdainfully back to her hand, and she stuffed it in her bag. The cloth of the bag restrained it, but it could be seen trying to escape nonetheless.

She picked up her parchment and stacked it neatly with the other papers on the desk and resumed her seat.

She took out her textbood and flipped to the page. Having the ingredients laid out--except for the bit of someone she desired to change into--and began mixing up the concoction. She followed the recipe to the finest detail, until it began to hiss loudly and slightly spark in the pewter couldron. She yelped slightly in surprise--she'd never had a potion go wrong before--until she realized what she'd done wrong. She gave it three quick counterclockwise stirs and dropped in a few lacewings and a leech. The potion calmed and turned the right color that it said in the book. She sighed in relief and worked down the rest of the recipe, occasionaly glancing to Professor Ace.

[kezza]

He sat in the class looking on to the rest of his classmates as he opened his text book to this lesson. As he looked over them he read the blackboard and the questions. He began to wonder he had indeed run into anyone using the polyjucie potion.

Questions:

1) If you could add a piece of anybody to the Polyjuice Potion, who would it be and why?
I would likely pick someone of a different House then my own just to see what it felt like to be treated as a Ravenclaw or slytherin for instance.

2) Can you think of any ways in which you could tell apart the real person from an impostor taking the Polyjuice Potion?
Information, The polyjucie potion only changes your looks to that of the chosen person but does not give you their memories or knowledge, so for instance turning into a Professor would not give you inside information on that professor or their class.

3) Have you ever taken the Polyjuice Potion or encountered anyone under the influence of it?
To be honest yes once when I was younger a first year at my old school. One of my older friends gave me a vile of it to try out because I inquired about it. I have not tried it sense them. Mind you that in that case my older friend had received the vile from class such as this.

He wrote carefully and decided that his answers were the best he could give under any circumstance. He looked over his book and decided that he should now start on the Potion. He also wondered if maybe he should steal some of the potion for later on just for fun.

He reread over the text and wondered something. "Professor I was under the impression that the potion toke a Month to stew, but this of course is without the already stewed Lacewing flies, is that the reason for it taking so long to stew from scratch?"