#4 - Morning Potion-Making

When MJ looked into her cauldron, she was pleased to see the vivid orange colour the recipe had called for. She felt confident enough now to move onto the next step.

Having to peel an apple was definitely a lot easier than a pumpkin, the skin came off with ease and MJ could slice it up. She thought about how her granny would peel and slice apples for her during the summer when they were ripe and sweet from the trees.

Once she was done with that part of the step, MJ added it to the cauldron. Then picked up the spoon again and stirred her potion once more -- this time anti-clockwise and she was careful to count out two stirs and no more.

She opened her jar of honey and, since the recipe didn't call for a specific measurement, poured the entire contents into her cauldron. Surely this had to be correct? MJ hoped so since it would be pretty unfortunate to make it this far and then mess up her potion. She then turned up the intensity of the burner to high so the potion could heat for three minutes.

MJ grabbed a timer and set it to three minutes, waiting for the potion to be ready before she could (hopefully) move onto the final step. She sat on her stool and watched the timer count the seconds.

The timer rang out and MJ was quick to turn off the heat, as directed by the next step. She grabbed the spoon and stirred her potion anti-clockwise again. It said to just do so until the mixture was smooth.

She thought about mixing gravy granules or chicken stock cubes at home when she helped with dinner preparations. MJ could feel the subtle difference in the resistance of the spoon through the mixture as she continued to stir.

Eventually, she could tell the potion was as smooth as it was going to get. She allowed it then to cool.

While that happened, she cleaned up anything that was on the counter to get it done. It would be a big help for after her potion was done. MJ would check on the cauldron every so often until it was cool to the touch.

She picked up her wand and waved it over the potion and grabbed a ladle to put it into a vial. Now she was free to clean up her cauldron too. MJ took her time since she wanted to brew a second potion and didn't want to cross-contaminate it. The counter she had used was completely wiped down as well, with any equipment cleaned and put aside (she wasn't sure what she'd need again).

Once it was spotless and dried, she placed her cauldron back on the burner for her second potion but took a moment to check the Pumpkin Juice she had just bottled.

MJ was glad to see nothing weird happened to her vial! Pleased with the result, she tucked it into her satchel and got out the ingredients she needed for making a Ginger Tonic.

She added fresh water to her cauldron and set the burner on to a low heat since the recipe called for it to be gentle.

She grabbed her Citrus Pepper and sliced it up into even pieces. This was added to her cauldron and she noticed the warning about washing hands. MJ went to the sink and washed her hands very carefully after handling the pepper. Coming back to her cauldron, she picked up the spoon to stir it anti-clockwise as instructed.

So the colour she was looking for this time was a vivid purple? MJ watched closely to see if the mixture would take on the right shade while she continued to stir.

She moved onto the next step once the mixture turned the colour she had been hoping for. MJ smiled as she cut up an apple from her Potions Kit. She made sure to make the pieces even as directed by the recipe. She added this and stirred clockwise, once.

Next was the ginger. It was a bit harder to work with but MJ did her best. The recipe didn't say if it had to be even or not but MJ chopped it up as neatly as possible regardless. She added this to the cauldron and grabbed a timer. MJ made sure the burner was set to medium and set the timer for twelve minutes.

She sat on the stool and watched the timer -- sure, she could do something else while she waited but MJ didn't want to risk missing the right moment to move on. She entertained herself by watching the mixture or double-checking the next step of the recipe.

The timer signalled the end of the twelve minutes and MJ jumped into action. She reduced the heat to the lowest setting and picked up the spoon again. She had to keep stirring clockwise until the red fumes evaporated? She could surely manage that!

MJ made sure not to lean into the fumes or try to breathe them too deeply. She didn't know what they would do to her and she wanted to focus on completing the Ginger Tonic.

The fumes started to clear and MJ turned off the heat.

She picked up her wand and waved it over the mixture to complete the recipe and then ladled it into one of her empty vials. She had hopefully completed the Ginger Tonic! MJ set it off to the side and cleaned up her counter and put away any extra things she had used.

Then she scrubbed her pewter cauldron completely clean. She planned to come back soon and brew more things but this would have to do for now. MJ made sure everything was spotless so Professor Snape wouldn't be mad and checked on her the vial.