Lesson 3- Transforming Stones to Jewels (Cont.) (All Years)

The last lesson, Alexander realised that he had gone off on a bit of a tangent with his explanations. This time, he would get straight into the practical for the students. He had come in early and set up cauldrons on each desk, for the students to work in pairs, and had begun to write the instructions up on the board, so he wouldn't have to waste anytime with his ramblings. He felt that he had adequately explained the theory last lesson, and this lesson, he was going to help the students stimulate the conditions with which stones turn to jewels using magic.

Aphrodite walked into the Alchemy classroom and was a little stunned when she saw she was the only person there. She didn't really understand this subject but she was going to learn about it now. She had heard nothing but great things about this class from her younger brother. The Belladonna smiled. "Hi Professor" she greeted.

The last lesson of Alchemy had been a disappointment, seeing as they had run out of time before getting to the prac part. But he was eager to complete the task, so he returned for the lesson. He walked into the classroom, seeing the desks already set up with cauldrons, and one other girl already there. Clearly the Professor wasn't wasting anytime going through the background of it this lesson. He nodded at the Professor in acknowledgement and took his usual seat.

Henley walked into the classroom and saw two younger students there, she rolled her eyes and took a seat. She had heard about this class before and thought it sounded really dumb, but then again all classes were and that wasn't her fault it was the Professors faults. The Nightshade waited for the damn thing to start.

Before going to class, Mary hastily finished her Potions paper and hoped Professor Holmes would forgive a few grammatical errors because honestly, she really didn't have time for that. She rolled up the parchment, downed the rest of her coffee quickly and set out for Alchemy. The last lesson wasn't particularly exciting, but Mary liked Professor Hamilton and hoped this lesson would be more hands-on.

"Morning, Professor." she greeted him and smiled at her classmates before taking a seat at an empty station.

Annie thought that this class would be interesting, she didn't know much about what this class was about but she would learm. The Nightshade made her way to the classroom and pushed open the doors and entered. Annie thought that the class was a good turn out and hoped it stayed like that. "Hi Professor" Annie greeted. Annie saw two girls she had talked to before and gave them both kind smiles before taking a seat.

Alchemy. This was a class that she wasn't to familiar with but she was determined to know all about it before she graduated at the end of the year. The red head walked in and was instantly met with familiar faces. The Wormwood gave a kind smile to everyone before taking a seat and pulling out the supplies she'd need for the lesson. Charlie wondered what would be learned that day.

Diem knew very little about Alchemy and decided to give it a shot. She walked into the class and saw that there was a pretty good turn out so far and took a seat. She gave a small smile to the Professor so she didn't seem rude or anything and waited for the class to begin. The Nightshade took out the stuff she'd need for the class.

Brayden heard from Ares that the class was pretty good and agreed to meet him there, Brayden walked inside the class and saw no Ares there but saw his older sister. Brayden took a seat and waited for both his friend to show up and for the class to start. The Belladonna was a patient person so he could wait.

He had come to the last lesson and they never got to the lesson but he had heard that this was a continuation of the previous class and was excited for it. The last lesson seemed cool and it was a bummer that they didn't finish but he would that day. Ares took a seat next to Brayden and waited for the class to begin.

Apollo walked in and instantly saw Ares sitting with his friend. He was glad that Ares was actually making friends and not just pranking people every now and then when they least expect it. The Nightshade was grateful for that and decided to sit next to his sister. He sent a small grin in her direction and waited for the class to begin. He didn't know much about what they were going over so he just waited.

Sierra walked in and saw one of her best friends at Salem, Apollo. She walked over to him and took a seat beside him. "Hey, Apollo." She smiled and remembered their little trip to the kitchens. She giggled at the memory. She saw the girl sitting on the other side of Apollo and smiled, wondering who she was.

He greeted everyone warmly as they entered the classroom, surprised that even more people had come to his class. "Okay, so for everyone that didn't attend last lesson, a quick recap," he began his token, absent pace "So we were learning about the natural processes on the formation of gemstones, and how the two main components were pressure and heat. So today, we will be stimulating those conditions to form jewels," he grinned and walked back to the board.

He waved his wand and the chalk began to write neatly and quickly the process and ingredients.

Things you'll need:
-Water
-Stones
-Cauldron

Method:

1. Fill up cauldron with water, and light the fire underneath
2. Place stones in water
3. Place lid over cauldron, leaving a tiny gap (Note- probably best to use a sticking charm to keep the lid in place)
4. Perform the 'hot air' charm through the gap to increase the pressure in the cauldron, and keep pressurised for 15 minutes.
5. After said time, remove lid, allow to cool.
6. Crack open stone and the insides should be jewels. The type of jewel will depend upon what minerals were in the stones.

Begin.

Mary grinned up at Victoria and told her that, of course, she wanted to work with her. She looked at the young girl and wondered when exactly she had become such close friends with the Newbury siblings. She had no idea when it happened, but she was extremely glad that it had. They were good people and reliable friends and when Mary thought of not seeing Victoria every day anymore, she got a nasty feeling in her stomach. In moments like that she had to remind herself that she could still owl her and remain friends. It won't be the same, of course, but not all change is for the worse.

The Head Girl got so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even acknowledge when Professor Hamilton started the lesson and when Victoria got up to get the ingredients. Not sleeping the night before might have contributed a bit to her tired and day-dreaming state, though. The sound of a glass jug being set on the table had Mary snap out of her thoughts and she blinked up at Victoria. "You should have told me to help!" The witch jumped on her feet and gestured towards the jug of water and the bag of stones, trying to convey that it was too heavy for Victoria to carry alone.

When the younger Wormwood was finished pouring water in the cauldron, Mary carefully put in the stones. Hopefully this will work and they'll end up with jewels. Pink ones, the Head Girl mused and looked sideways at Victoria, picturing her excited face. Perhaps Mary should look into pink envelopes to write the young witch next year. That'd be nice.

"Can you do the sticking charm so the lid won't fall off and then I'll do the hot air thing."

Aphrodite watched as a Belladonna girl who was around her age greet her brother. She smiled politely to the girl and reminded herself to talk to her big brother about it later. They were assigned something and she decided to focus on that for now. "I'll do water" Aphrodite said as she filled up the cauldron with water and lit the fire for it. She placed the cauldron above it.

Ares listened to the Professor as he said what to do and wrote on the board. The Wormwood looked to Brayden. "I can do water and we can use this for pranks" he said the last part in a whisper so only Brayden could hear. He grabbed the cauldron and poured water into it, he then lit the fire and placed the cauldron over it. Ares knew that he'd enjoy this lesson since they didn't get to finish before.

Sierra nodded at the girl on the other side of Apollo and watched as she filled the cauldron with water. She leaned over to grab the bag of stones. She handed them to APollo, "Here. I dont want to mess it up." She smiled weakly rather embarrased at her lack of self confidence.

Apollo watched closely as Aphrodite filled up the cauldron. "Be careful Aphy" he said. He didn't want his sister to get hurt. Sierra then handed him the stones and he chuckled. "Okay and by the way, Sierra meet my little sister Aphrodite, Aphrodite meet Sierra" he introduced them. Apollo then put in the stones. The Nightshade made sure he put them in carefully so nothing bad happened to either of them and so that they didn't mess up.

Sierra smiled at the girl known as APhrodite, "Lovely to meet you. I've heard greatb things about you from APollo over here." She smiled and nudged APollo playfully before blushing nervously. "So, is your brother in this class to APollo? I remember you mentioning a brother at one point or another."

When Sierra asked about if their brother was in the class Aphrodite was the one who answered. "Do you see that Wormwood boy with the dark hair that is working with the Belladonna with dark hair? The Wormwood is our brother Ares" she pointed to her younger brother Ares before taking out her wand and placing the sticky charm on the lid to keep it settled onto the cauldron. "Would you like to try the next step Sierra?" Aphrodite asked.

Sierra looked over at Ares and smiled and waved shyly. She turned back to Aphrodite when she asked her if she wanted to try the nexxt step. "Um, I dont know. I will probably mess it up and blow it up... I'm very bad at Alchemy. But I can try. What do I have to do?" She asked nervously as she pulled softly on her hair.

Mary watched as Victoria performed the sticking charm and chuckled at the girl's comment. "Oh well, we can always re-apply it if won't work." The Head Girl then proceeded to wave her wand and think the incantation. She watched as hot steam moved out of her wand into the cauldron and sighed with relief. She really didn't want to mess this up, especially because she wasn't working alone and knew how important grades were for Victoria.

"We have to keep this up for fifteen minutes, right?" she asked absent-mindedly, glancing up at the board for confirmation. "Should we take turns performing this spell?"