(text) un: man's greatest treasure

[reparo]

Hello, this is Hermione Granger - you will hopefully excuse me for not using the video component of these fascinating crystals, but I find it easier to string my thoughts together in writing.

I have been thinking about potions. In the world that I come from, we have a number of them that are capable of doing many things, from healing to sobering up to allowing someone to be someone else for a few hours. They were developed by very fascinating and smart witches and wizards, however it was with local ingredients, shall we say?

I would wish to try and write down the ones I remember by heart, by dint of having brewed them so much. The question is, once remembered, would they be of any use, if the ingredients here are not the same? And more importantly, how would I test them for efficacy if not on myself?

Maybe a better use of time would be to learn to brew the ones that the local witches came up with, but I am not fond of their brand of magic - and there is the matter of cost, of course.

On that note, does anyone want completely useless corsets? Wear them or burn them, at this point I doubt anyone would care, but as tensions towards magic-wielders grow I reckon I should start pretending to be that bloody modiste.

Comments

[in_theworks]

How is this NOT like regular chemistry?

[no, seriously, please tell him, because he imagines potion-making to be just that. maybe the herbs or whatever are magic, somehow, but the process should be the same, right?]

[reparo]

It has hardly evolved the way chemistry has - potion makers are still making the same potions developed by the same wizards centuries ago, and those didn't believe in quality control or testing in a laboratory.

Besides, the type of effects some potions have are hard to measure on animals. How do you question a rabbit if it's feeling lucky?

[in_theworks]

[okay, that much is fair, but]

Throw it off a balcony and see if it survives?

[that would be lucky, right? also a little extreme, but scientists gotta science, right? don't mind him and his apparent lack of concern for small, fluffy animals. he's a Slytherin at heart had a bad experience with them as a child that's left him irrationally paranoid when it comes to puppies and kitties and the like]

[reparo]

[That is such a Slytherin solution.]

No, Wrench - Felix Felicis doesn't make you actually invincible, just fills you with bravery. The rabbit would die and you'd have no conclusive result.

[in_theworks]

Oh.

Well.

That's lame.

[and also kind of dangerous?? like, if it doesn't actually make you lucky, what stops you from jumping off of something, feeling like you'll survive, and then you just get dead, like the rabbit?]

[reparo]

I'll make sure to pass it on to Zygmunt Budge.

[in_theworks]

Great, thanks!

But okay, so. If the old guys didn't believe in labs or testing or whatever, how'd they come up with the potions in the first place? Like someone had to sit down and be all 'Okay, if I put these things together, something should go boom', right?

[reparo]

I honestly think that's how they went about it. Wrote down everything, too, and possibly tested the effects on themselves. And as much as it pains me to admit it, luck might've had a lot to do with it, too.

But that's good! That means I could get lucky too.

[in a POTIONS MAKING KIND OF WAY.]

[in_theworks]

We're up all night to get lucky~♪

Sorry. Had to.

Anyway.

Okay, uh. Do you need help documenting things that go boom or whatever? Like, if that's how we're doing this? [look, chemistry and engineering are kind of his jams, and he's still desperately trying to make potion-making the former because it's something he knows, something he can contribute]

[reparo]

[She does remember, vaguely, all those little quips from him while they attempted to siege that tower. So she gets it - wanting to contribute. It's why she's doing this. And since Wrench asked...]

I need help finding supplies, if you're up for it. I've been wielding magic around enough that the guards have started to pick up on it, so I might not have an easy path into the markets where you'd find most ingredients...

But if you want to document potions' reactions, you can help with that.

[in_theworks]

Yes.

To both of those things.

You're gonna need to gimme a shopping list or whatever, for the first part, though.

Preferably with pictures, because what I call poison ivy might not be what you call it. [that and he's a city boy, so plants aren't really his strong suit]