Lesson Five: Wolfsbane Potion

[font=arial]A small cauldron was sitting on its stand, a fire burning hot and high beneath it. A witch was bent over it, hair pulled up into a messy bun from which strands of hair were escaping as though they had a will of their own, deliberately wriggling their way out of it. The potion inside the cauldron was bubbling merrily, steam rising from it; steam that made a few loose strands of the witch’s coppery hair curl up and cling to her moist forehead.

The witch was none other than Professor Isabella Giordano, Potions Mistress extraordinaire, brewing a special potion for someone in desperate need of it. It was a very intricate and delicate affair to brew this potion, which was why she did not leave this task to Madam Pomfrey.

Completely absorbed in the process of potion-brewing, Isabella barely noticed her sixth-years filing into the classroom. Only the scraping noises of several chairs and desks scratching over the cold stone floor made her snap out of her almost-trance and acknowledge the presence of her students.

“Sit down,” she instructed and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand as she straightened up and extinguished the fire. Her back was aching, naturally, since she had spent the better part of the morning brewing this exceedingly difficult potion.

Soon, a steaming goblet was sitting on Professor Giordano’s desk, containing a murky-looking liquid whose beneficial nature equalled its horrid taste.

(Enter Lupin, in all his pre-full moon splendour ;))

“Professor Lupin (or Remus? First-name basis?),” Isabella greeted her colleague. “Just in time.” She indicated the still steaming goblet to her colleague. By now it was obvious that the steam was not caused by high temperature but was rather a side-effect of some of the ingredients.

(Exit post-potion Lupin. Doesn’t that stuff just taste nasty? I could make a fortune if I developed a version of that potion that isn’t rendered useless by sugar. Heheheeeee!)

“Well!” she spoke up when her colleague had left. “Unfortunately I spent the entire morning brewing this potion which is why I did not have the time to prepare a proper lesson for you.”

Collective grin of the student body.

“Ah, but never fear. I always have some valuable information to share.” [i]And some emergency aces up my sleeve.[/i]

Collective groan of the student body.

“We won’t be brewing it together since it is such an advanced potion that I would not trust anyone who hasn’t yet passed their N.E.W.T.s with it. So this will be a lecture, however a short one.”

Collective desperate sigh of the student body.

It was one that the professor stubbornly ignored. Years of teaching experience had by now taught her that, while reluctant to listen to a lecture, many of the students enjoyed learning about new things, even if it was only in theory. She could also understand their disappointment about a non-practical lesson. If anybody thought that this would change her mind, however, they were sorely mistaken.

“You do want to know what it is that I am talking about, I presume?” [i]Probably a rather foolish presumption, but who gives a damn…[/i] “Well, I do think that the majority of you is familiar with Professor Lupin’s condition, so it will be of little to insignificant surprise to you that the potion that he just imbibed was his daily dose of Wolfsbane Potion that he has to take for the week preceding the full moon. Now while this potion cannot cure a person from being a werewolf, it does prevent the extremely dangerous dementia that accompanies the transformation. You see… The process of the transformation is not only a physical ordeal but also goes together with a mental strain that is hard to bear for the afflicted. This potion allows the affected human to keep their reason during those dreaded full-moon nights and allows the wolf to quietly sleep those nights away without feeling the urge to hunt. They will think human and be totally harmless. You see, it suppresses the desire for human flesh. Since this miracle potion has been in existence – we’re talking about a timeframe of about twenty years here – the number of new werewolves to be registered with the Ministry has been steadily declining, even though some werewolves associate with the darker side of magic and deliberately seem to seek to create new ones. But that is such a dangerous process that the victim more often than not doesn’t survive the attack.”

Professor Giordano waved her wand and caused some writing and symbols to appear on the blackboard.[/font]

Insert picture: werewolfstatistic.jpg

[font=arial]“As you see, during the last twenty years the number of attacks and victims has been steadily declining. The invention of this potion is one factor of it; the sudden involuntary “absence” of the Dark Lord Voldemort is another, however slightly less important one. I will refrain from going into detail about this since it is something that rather fits the Defence Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic curricula. Of course it took a few years for the knowledge about the potion to spread sufficiently, but nowadays you’re rather safe from werewolves for as long as you don’t seek out any renegade ones on purpose. Who knows? With the Wolfsbane Potion handy, we might be able to put an end to lycanthropy forever. That is a sure indicator as to the success of this concoction and—.”

The bell rang, interrupting Isabella mid-sentence. The sounds of rustling parchments indicated that the students were preparing to leave.

“Just one more thing before you go,” the professor spoke up. “This potion has led to a revolution among people’s view on werewolves. They are now socially not as outcast as they were before the potion was invented, even though there are still prejudices. But remember: Even though someone transforms into a wolf during the time of the full moon, the thus afflicted person is purely human for more than ninety-five percents of their life. Dismissed.”

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Homework: Post your attendance for an O and have a good week.[/font]