Good morning/evening/afternoon/night (go to bed) everyone! :)
The next couple of weeks Al fell into a routine. Every now and then the Carrows would try and take her into a spare classroom, but all she had to do was raise her wand and they'd lay off her. She had her first couple of apparation lessons, where she, Neville, and Ernie ignored Malfoy, so he was forced to talk to Amycus who had accompanied them with their instructor. They were going well, and Al found that she was becoming more and more accurate with her apparation.
More students were coming to her after detention with injuries everyday, and Al couldn't help but wonder why they didn't go to Madame Pomfrey. But she didn't mind helping them. Something just seemed off.
The room had provided her with a separate space to brew potions, and she had six cauldrons now, two workbenches, and a huge store cupboard full of previous potions and all kinds of ingredients. There were nine hammocks now too from people that had stayed the night, but thankfully no one had needed to permanently take up residence like she had. The blue and bronze Ravenclaw eagle, and the yellow and black Hufflepuff badger had joined the Slytherin and Gryffindor banners.
It was when Neville returned from a detention one night, shaking and being sick everywhere, Al realised regular potions weren't enough. While she could make him feel better, and heal any physical injuries he had, she couldn't ease the long-term effects of the cruciatus curse. She gave Neville all the usual potions and put him into a dreamless sleep for the time being, while grabbing potions theory books from off all the shelves.
Dittany and mandrake leaves were the obvious ingredients to start with. Murtlap too would be helpful. But then she had to overcome the problem of mixing murtlap and mandrake. Bubotuber pus? But when was she supposed to add it? Before the murtlap, definitely before. Bicorn horn to give them a bit of strength...but powdered or sliced? Sliced. Slower release to ease long-term effects. Peppermint to chill them out again and balance the side-effects of bicorn.
But how much of each should she add? And how many stirs in-between? She looked at the recipes for other healing potions to base it off. Stew the mandrake leaves first - she wrote that down on a bit of parchment. Then add the dittany at perfectly spaced-out points in the cauldron; she'd have to calculate those. Bubotuber pus and stir, murtlap essence and stir. Sliced bicorn horn, stir again, peppermint sprig and simmer.
So the quantities - someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" Al called.
"It's Potterwatch!" It was Anne.
"Thanks Anne," Al said, "Let me know if there's any important news. And don't wake Neville." Anne nodded and rushed to join the others that were listening to it - Luna and Ginny. Al would loved to have joined them, but this really couldn't wait.
Quantities. Thirteen mandrake leaves seemed like a good, common base. Four drops of dittany, always good. At the poles as well - where was her compass? Ten millilitres of bubotuber pus would work fine if she only added twenty millilitres of murtlap essence. That meant she had to add extra bicorn horn - fifty grams should do it. But then she had to leave it simmer for longer...she could always adjust the time until the peppermint was fully absorbed.
So when she stirred...oh she could always just improvise that. She began stewing the mandrake leaves while she prepared and measured all the other ingredients. There was another knock at Al's door. "Yeah?" she asked, while crushing her bicorn horn. In walked Daphne, to Al's surprise. "Oh," she said, before smiling, "Hi." It was then that she noticed something was very wrong. Daphne's eyes were red and puffy, and she kept sniffing.
A wooden chair appeared next to Al's workbench, and she sat Daphne in it quickly. "What's up?"
Daphne burst into tears, and Al cursed herself for being so tactless. "Th-Theo broke up with me!" she sobbed, and a box of tissues appeared next to her at Al's request. She rubbed her back until Daphne stopped crying and was left just sniffing. Al continued her crushing.
"Did he say why?" Al asked carefully while she added the dittany at the compass points.
"Oh, he was trying to do some stupid noble Gryffindor thing!" Daphne scoffed, her voice hoarse, "'My dad's a Death Eater and I don't want you to be in danger.' Git,"
"Git," Al agreed, stirring the potion clockwise three times, anticlockwise once, and clockwise again.
"What are you doing?" Daphne asked with a frown.
"Oh the Carrows keep using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville...and one or two others," Al explained, "I'm trying to make a potion to counter the effects, but it's really tricky - I'm missing Potterwatch."
"What?" Daphne asked, sniffing again.
"Potterwatch," Al explained, "It's this radio station that's anti-Death Eater. They're listening to it in there - go and have a look if you want." Daphne nodded and stood up, heading out the room and the door swung shut behind her. A few minutes later, Al heard her laughing with the others and smiled to herself.
The potion was a clear pale blue now, so she added the peppermint sprig and decided to record its progress while she wrote up the instructions in neat. Four and a half minutes in and it was a neon yellow colour. Al took a bit out and put it in a vial labelled four and a half. Three minutes later it was a deep plum purple, and Al did the same. Five minutes after that, and it was a shimmering sunset orange, and Al decided to take it off the heat. She knew you shouldn't really simmer for more than ten minutes usually.
Al placed a few drops of the yellow potion onto a spare bit of parchment and it shrivelled up and burned away. She vanished the vial immediately. The purple potion didn't burn the parchment away, but upon exposure to the air it solidified into a crystal. Not great for consumption then. The orange potion didn't seem to do anything to the parchment, even when Al wiped it away after twenty minutes of observation. She dabbed a bit on one of the boiled mandrake leaves she'd used, and it instantly became fresher and brand-new.
There was another knock at the door, and it opened to reveal Ginny. "Neville's awake," she said frowning and looking panicked, "He's in a really bad way." Ginny was right. Luna, Daphne and Anne were gathered around him, and he was pale and shaky and had his head between his knees.
"Alright," Al said soothingly, rubbing his back, "Neville, I need you to look at me." He did, and beads of sweat littered his brow. "I'm not sure what the side-effects of this potion are, but if you want to try it, it might help ease the pain."
Neville nodded shakily. "You understand I don't know what it will do?" He nodded again and put his hand out. Al hesitantly gave him the orange filled vial, and he drank it. She watched nervously, knowing she had a beazor in the cupboard, just in case. But as they watched, the sweat seemed to be pulled back into his skin. His face grew more colourful again, and he stopped shaking so much. And then he smiled.
"That's brilliant, Al!" Neville exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "I feel loads better - it's like it was never used on me in the first place. Thanks!"
"Excellent," Al said, grinning broadly before going to bottle up the rest of it. It was probably the most complicated healing potion Al had ever brewed, but it was still fantastic, and definitely worth it.
She headed back out into the main area, where the five of them were gathered around the now turned-off wireless, talking among themselves. "Anything on Potterwatch?" she asked, wiping her hands on her robes.
"Not really," Anne said, "Apart from this one muggle - oh god it sounded awful. He was a politician - Cruciatus by the sounds of it."
"He's dead?" Al asked, wide-eyed. Anne nodded. The sooner this was over, the better.