Capítulo 7: Ch 6 - Musical Potioneering
December 31, 1989
Many thanks to Lord Verdilak and the Mirror Eye Family,
I recieved your Hanukkah gift, the ornate Zither. This is my first time participating in Hanukkah, so I hope the European treats were well received by your family.
Your note about learning a musical instrument while I'm young, is something I read in the past. While I'm sure I'll learn to play the Zither, as my next destination is probably going to be China, I'd appreciate some clarification: Why is it considered important that magicals learn a musical instrument?
Your friend,
Lord Silverwood
*** John ***
"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death."
The first class of the day was potions with Hufflepuff and wow... he underestimated Snape. He underestimated just how full of himself the man was. He made a stuffed turkey look hollow with how full of himself he was.
He put on a show that implied potion masters like him were amazing people, then went on to berate the class. He looked like one of the many greasy haired salesmen that sold things out of their pockets in Knockturn Alley. Just no warts or missing teeth. When he finally shut up, his face relaxed into a displeased frown. His natural state.
John saw the students starting to pair up and quickly stepped beside Padma. He didn't really know, or care, about the other students. Padma had proven to be a delightful conversationalist, which was more than what he could say about most of their house mates.
"Any potion making experience? I can brew up to third year potions and know N.E.W.T. level potions theory."
John had been working on potions since he first stepped into the wizarding world in order to get money. Money became irrelevant once Shyarly displayed that she could loot sunken ships easily. His potion making skills never dulled afterwards because there is always something that needs making or utilizes potioneering. Like Alchemy and rituals.
"I can probably make any of the first year potions but why is there such a discrepancy between your theory and experience?" Padma asked in a tone that conveyed her surprise and confusion.
"Starting third year, potions require spellwork. While I know a lot of spells, that doesn't make me very proficient in casting them."
He didn't lie.
He had a knack for Runes, Arithmancy, Potions, and even Astronomy, but any subject that required actual spell casting took significantly longer to learn. Another weakness was his casting speed but he would likely get faster with more experience.
"Didn't Snape say there would be no silly wand waving? Or did he just mean for our first year?"
John shrugged. It was possible that he meant it for all their Hogwarts career, but why would he? It would be like trying to solve a calculus problem with only addition and subtraction. It could probably be done, but why would you?
"I don't know. Guess we'll find out in our third year."
He grimaced at the thought. On the board behind Snape was a recipe seemingly out of order. That was a trick. Like most things with magic, there are multiple ways to do them if you're knowledgeable enough.
Padma saw the disorganized recipe and began writing it the way it should be done, based on her knowledge. She wrote it out according to how long it takes to prepare each ingredient, then do each step, like a cooking recipe.
John nodded his head. That was the correct first year way of doing recipes, and would get them done a little before class ends. However, there was a faster way some of the students probably would have realized if they weren't rushing.
"John what are you doing?!" Padma asked in whispered concern when he started boiling water in the cauldron.
"Padma, prepare the ingredients in the order they'll get used. The time spent stirring and waiting during each step is just enough time to prep the next ingredient needed. Recipes are written like that on purpose, because the highest quality potions needs the ingredients to be added as soon as their finished prepping." John explained that while this is true for simpler potions, advanced recipes are constantly being improved.
The longer the ingredients sit, the more they'll deteriorate and degrade. Entire books of Advanced Potions Theory are dedicated to getting most out of every ingredient used based on how the recipe is written.
Since they brewed and prepped simultaneously, they finished in half the time as the rest of the class. By the time class ended, they were done their potions homework as well, much to Padma's joy.
*** Tsunade ***
"Mag-ic t-eory states tha mag-ic es multi-facEted. It mean tha evEry use of mag-ic falls un-der evEry cata-gory." Chidinma spoke with a thick accent as she lectured Tsunade.
She was an African born shaman that had traveled the world honing her medical craft. She was also Tsunade's teacher during her medi-witch journeyman period. The theory she was starting to teach Tsunade was that there are no true categories of using magic.
Casting a spell could be explained through terms of a charm, a curse, runes or even potions. Tsunade had recently finished Chidinma's lessons on medical paradoxes and was looking forward to this new subject.
"You-r first le-son, potion-Earing heel-ing."
She didn't mean making potions for sick patients, she meant treating patients like poorly brewed potions. When a potion is brewed incorrectly, more ingredients can be added to make a final product with the desired effect. It won't be exactly the same because it was made differently. Maybe it'll be weaker or take longer to begin its effects, but the potion's purpose can still be salvaged.
Chidinma lead Tsunade through St. Mungo's second floor. This floor was for patients dealing with magical afflictions like Dragon Pox. The first patient was a little boy who looked fine on the surface, though a bit concerned.
"Hello Tyler, I want you to relax and follow my instructions. Can you do that for me?"
While Tsunade wasn't fond of the 'psychology of healing' lessons, she followed through and spoke to her patient before doing anything. With the child's acceptance, everything would be easier, and the silent nod from Chidinma was always promising.
Tsunade began the three part check-up she was taught. First, she cast twenty different diagnostic spells from least invasive to the most, not that the child would notice anything from any of them. Some particularly nasty curses react to the standard medi-witch diagnostic magic on purpose, so the weaker spells are made to safely detect that.
Once she was clear on his current status, she questioned him to explain what's wrong in his own words. Several spells were still observing him as he spoke. A lot was still unknown about the mind and wouldn't be detected by diagnostic spells. Funny thing most people didn't know, was that those spells only detect what medi-witches know to look for. So new diseases, specifically unlike any other aliment, can go unnoticed and spread for disconcerting amounts of time.
The third part of the check-up was the muggle style physical check. As with the first part, there are nasty curses designed to be undetected by medical personnel. However, due to social stigmas, medi-witches don't tell patients the origin of this muggle made check-up.
"Appears to be a Flutterfly bite. His hormones are imbalanced, he sees illusory butterflies and the bug bite mark was detected on his shin."
"Agreed"
Tsunade was able to speak to Chidinma without the boy hearing because of the shaman's telepathy spell. Patients would get anxious if their alimentary were discussed in front of them. Especially if the medics are uncertain about the aliment or how to cure it.
"Thank you young man. Now just lie down and sleep while senior medi-witch Chidinma fixes you right up." Tsunade spoke to the child one last time before putting him to sleep with magic and focusing on the telepathy.
[Vloei Rigting]
Chidinma cast a spell that showed the direction and flow of different things in the body: blood circulation, electrical signals, bladder, etc. The images were overlayed on the boy so it was as if they were looking into his body. The images disappeared until only three remained: blood circulation, major hormone glands, and abnormal magic sources.
The bite mark was a source of magic directly affecting the pituitary gland and pineal gland. Those glands were secreting an abnormal hormone that was absorbed into the blood stream and feeding back into the bite mark.
'The textbook method of treatment is to cut off the area of the bite and 3cm of flesh around it. Then treat the damaged area with standard healing spells. But with Chidinma's original spell, I can see why that works. It would literally break the cycle.'
"Tsunade, treat what you are seeing as a potion. The bloodstream is the concoction, the major hormone glands and bite mark are the ingredients constantly added, and the way the blood flows, pools, and spins are the body's ways of stirring the potion. How do you correct this flawed potion?"
There were several ways, but what would work safely with a human body was the real question. Couldn't just vanish the blood or replace the organs without making this a much bigger procedure. Changes to how the blood 'stirs' could cause all sorts of problems. Leaving her the only option of adding more ingredients to the concoction.
"Three-eyed toads are the natural predators of Flutterflies. I'd suggest crushing and distilling the fluids of a few of those toads to see if they counteract the bite mark. If so, we just need to direct a safe amount into the bloodstream and have it counter the source of this affliction, until it dies from the cycle being interrupted."
*** John ***
"Since you know a lot about potions, could you explain how people come up with all these crazy ingredients. I assume people aren't just throwing things in pots and seeing what works." Padma asked as a means to try and stay awake during a very boring lecture.
Considering they were in history class, it seemed proper to go into the many instances of when that actually happened. But for brevity, he mentioned only a couple of those humorous happenings much to Parvati's enjoyment. He spoke while sitting between the twins during their shared class with Gryffindor.
"Creating new potions requires an in-depth knowledge of the ecology of the magical world. How plants and animals interact is crucial information. If two ingredients are from animals constantly fighting and killing each other, then they're going to do that in a potion. Also, if some ability of the creature is to turn blue, it may have that effect on the potion's drinker. Turning parts of the recipient blue is a commonly used method when testing new potions and seeing what parts of the body are actually being affected."
The two girl's listened intently as he explained the theoretical reasoning for why the potion they made in class works and how it came to be made.
Partway through his explanation he noticed another lion trying to listen in, but she was halfway across the classroom so he doubted she heard everything. While most of the class quickly learned to sleep through professor Binns exceptionally boring monotone lecture, John used the time to catch up with Parvati.
"It's true. Professor Snape spent the entire first class degrading Potter and Longbottom, it was so weird. And everyone was just, like, fine with it."
Parvati talked about her classes so far and first impressions of each classmate, displaying just how much of a socialite she is. Padma was far more bookish by comparison.
When class ended, both houses traveled together for their third class of the day, charms. It was designed the same as their history class, a lecture hall with long elevated wall to wall desks. The biggest differences were the lack of desk graffiti and the piles of books their professor was using to elevate his diminutive self.
"Hello students, I'm Charmed to meet you."
John barely suppressed a groan. Professor Flitwick was the Ravenclaw head of house, but that wasn't enough to make anyone laugh at his pun.
"There will be lots of silly wand waving in my class, as I teach you to wave with purpose and precision. In fact, that's exactly what we will be doing for the next few weeks. Now, a show of hands, who knows how to play an instrument?"
About half the class rose their hands, the twins and John included. Most magical families knew that there is some crossover between playing music and casting magic, so it is encouraged for children to learn something.
"Wonderful. On each of your desks is a parchment with the twelve standard keys of music. Beside each, is a standard wand motion and its proper name." He waited a few moments for everyone look over the parchment before continuing.
"Now repeat after me: Swish, Flick, Slash, Whisk, Brush, Snap, and Swipe. These are the seven main motions. The five supplementary motions are: Draw, Point, Twist, Spin, and Break."
Flitwick demonstrated each wand motion as he said it with deft grace. He was immediately made most students favorite teacher with his easy explanations and clear demonstrations until he mentioned the homework. He wanted his students to have a solid theoretical knowledge of the spells before attempting them.
'After class I'll tell Padma about the crossover between the seven cauldron stirring techniques and these main wand motions. I wonder if she's ever heard any theories about all the categories of magic being interconnected?'
*** Tsunade ***
Tsunade expected her teacher to inject the properly measured essence of the three-eyed toad directly into the bloodstream of the boy to safely cure him. That's kind of what happened. But not exactly.
Chidinma injected everything into the child without measuring. An amount that was certainly not safe. After the bite subsided, it would do more harm than good.
Then she began to sing. Tsunade wasted the first minute trying to understand what Chidinma was saying before it became abundantly clear the words were of no consequence. She was focused on where the essence was moving through the blood stream. Changing her pitch as the flow changed, and stopping to breathe when it was in areas like the bite mark and affected glands.
After five minutes the bite mark was gone and his glands were back to normal. As the bloodstream traveling essence reached his bowels, her tune changed drastically and it disappeared.
"He wi-ill hav to poop, later. He es health-y now."
She turned and left with Tsunade following her out of the patient's room. They informed another nurse of his cured status so they could contact the child's parents or guardians. Tsunade listened intently as Chidinma expanded on what she did, and why it worked. The technical skills needed were nothing to look down on.
They went to several more patients and she witnessed repeat performances from Chidinma. Each time Tsunade's potioneering theoretical skills were put to the test, and Chidinma's masterful musical magic would match the tune of her patients body's.
By the time Tsunade went home, she was pleasantly exhausted. She spent all of her late dinner explaining what she had been up too.
"To treat the body as a potion mid-brew is certainly new. Once you are more proficient in that, we'll add it to the Grimoire."
"You seem to be missing a bigger point of interest, John. If she can teach me to look at the human body as a potioneer, then the same should be true for an alchemist." She rolled her eyes and pointed downward, into the basement. "Possibly solving the question for how to fuse the philosopher's stone into our homunculus."
The better the homunculus turned out, the better their future would be. One day people would migrate into outer space, a place magic doesn't seem to work, or possibly even exist. This was a massive hurdle that presented a lot of problems, but if John was correct, most could be solved with one big change.
Changing the human body.
And the homunculus in their basement was possibly the hope of the wizarding world. Needless to say, they all wanted her to turn out as perfect as can be.
"I thought you already had a plan to fuse them?"
"It's not a simple as put socket 'A' into socket 'B'. There are thousands of ways we could fuse them with millions of possible reactions that could occur afterwards. So we have until you get the stone to decide the best way to do the fusion."
It was Tsunade's advice that they not steal the stone yet. If they stole the stone, two very bad things would occur. They'd be trying to hide the theft from the two most dangerous wizards in the world, alerting them both to a third player in their war games. And they would ruin their biggest advantage, future knowledge. The knowledge of what's going to happen is their best chance at succeeding in their endeavors. When they steal the stone it needs to be done in a way that leaves the two players still focused on each other, and has the highest probability of not changing future events.
"Well that makes sense. I'll leave it to you in deciding the best method for fusion. Just be ready with something by the end of the school year."
Tsunade watched John release a long yawn. School life is its own special kind of tiring. He then focused on their quite companion, Shyarly.
"The cloak of invisibility that Harry receives is suppose to be a deathly hallow. It'll probably have tracking wards on it from Dumb-bells, and Merlin knows what else. Have you found a replacement cloak? And the lamp I asked for?"
"There is an invisibility cloak somewhere in the piles of stuff littering the grand foyer, we'll find that soon enough. As for the lamp, I'm meeting the merchant tomorrow."
"What lamp? I feel like I missed a conversation." She probably did. Many days she would work too exhaustion and not have the energy afterwards for any pleasant conversations with the rest of the house.
Shyarly filled her in though. "We plan to reconstruct the deathly hallows like John did with the horcruxs. The difference, is that moldy's soul weakened the magics of the items they were attached too, while the deathly hallows should still be in perfect condition. It we want to transfer the powers of the cloak to a lamp, we will need a suitably powerful lamp to hold those magics."
She vaguely remembered the conversation about possessing and hiding the hallows. He was able to transfer the powers of the resurrection stone into his glasses because he used some extremely rare glass from Slytherin's locket. This lamp was apparently an artifact that recently went on the black market in the middle-east. The best place for buying things from questionable origins.
"Well good luck with that. Last time we went to the black market Shyarly was almost kidnapped and sold. Sending her in alone is a recipe for disaster I want no part in." Tsunade chided.
The rest of the evening was spent listening to them discuss Shyarly's black market trip and subsequent safety measures. Her safety was a lot better than in the past.
After all, Yoruichi would be with her.
** Important Note ***
I make no guarantees for chapter release frequency in December. Chapters will come out when they come out. Life is just too busy this time of year.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
lumini
lumini I was mostly done writing this chapter before it dawned on me that I hadn't planned to get this analytical with the magic system. Oh Well :/
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