The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 22 - The Potion

"Grace? Are you ready to leave?" Paula Thorne asked, yelling so that Grace could hear her from her room. "Remus is here!"

"I'm coming!" she replied as she exited her room and walked towards the kitchen, where she found her mother and Remus waiting patiently. "Hi Remus."

"Hi Grace."

"Grace, how much stuff do you have in that bag?" Paula asked. "You do realise you're only staying at the Potter's for five days, not a year."

Grace looked down at the bright blue muggle suitcase that her grandmother had found in the cupboard that was currently filled to the brim with clothes and toiletries, but most importantly, ingredients for the potion that they would need to make with the mandrake leaves.

However, she couldn't tell her mother that, so instead she told her "I just wanted to be prepared. I don't know what we're going to be doing at the Potter's yet so I made sure I had everything I could possibly need."

"Even though you forgot your toothbrush," William Thorne, her grandfather, said, walking into the room from the bathroom with her toothbrush in hand.

"Oh yeah, my toothbrush. Thanks, Grandpa," Grace replied as he handed it to her. She unzipped the tiniest part at the top and pushed the toothbrush through, making sure not to reveal the contents of the bag to anyone.

"Okay, now that's done, let's go!" Paula exclaimed, grabbing Remus' and Grace's arms before apparating them to the Potters' house. Yet it was more of a small mansion, as Fleamont Potter's success with his hair potion meant that the family was quite financially comfortable.

Peter, James and Sirius were already waiting outside. Peter and Sirius had arrived three days earlier, and Grace and Remus would've done the same, but there had been a full moon two nights ago, so it was easier for Remus to transform in the familiar territory of the forest and then recover at home, rather than at the Potters'.

"Grace! Remus!" The others cheered as they walked over to wear they had apparated.

"Hi Professor P Thorne," Peter greeted.

"Hello Peter. You do realise that you can call me Paula now," she replied. "We're not at school."

"I know, but I feel like it would be weird to call you anything else. You're a professor!"

"Ah, Paula, how nice to see you again!" Fleamont Potter greeted. "No Alexander?"

"No Alexander, sorry Fleamont. One of his crups back at the school is giving birth, so he had to go back and deal with that. I'm sure he'll be back again to pick these two up later."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Well, anyway, I should probably get going. Try not to cause too much havoc, okay?" Paula added.

"Of course not, mum. Bye!"

"Bye!"

There was a loud cracking sound as Paula disapparated.

"C'mon, let's go inside," James said, walking towards the house with his friends in tow.

---

That afternoon, James, Peter, Sirius, Grace and Remus were gathered around a collection of miniature cauldrons, bubbling away as Grace added more and more ingredients to them.

They had told Fleamont and Euphemia that they were going for a walk to the river at the back of the property, which is exactly what they had done. It turns out that the middle of a field was the perfect place to brew potions undetected.

"Okay, now we need to add the leaves," Grace instructed, referring to the book she had brought with them.

James, Peter and Sirius wasted no time in taking the mandrake leaves out of their mouths.

"Oh, that feels so much better!"

"I can talk again!"

"I can eat again!"

Grace then took out her own and plopped it into the cauldron in front of her, the other copying her moves. Remus stood behind them, watching curiously.

The potion rapidly flashed from blue to pink to brown before settling on an odd dark green.

"Is that it?"

"That's it," Grace replied, closing the book. "Now all we have to do is drink it."

Grace then reached into the backpack she had brought with her and pulled out four small flasks. She handed one out to everyone before dunking her own in the cauldron and filling it with the potion.

Once the others had filled their own flasks as well, Grace lifted hers and asked "On the count of three?"

They all nodded. "Okay. One... Two.... Three!"

Grace winced as she tipped the foul tasting potion down her throat.

"Gah, that's awful!"

"So now what?" Remus asked from behind them. "Can you transform now?"

"Technically, yes," Grace replied, standing up. "But the book says that it can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to successfully transform."

"Wait, so we might be able to transform in a few days!?" James exclaimed excitedly.

"Maybe. Or maybe not. It depends on how hard you try I guess," Grace explained. "You've just got to picture the animal that you're going to become, in you case, a stag, and just... I'm not really sure actually. The book isn't very specific about the actual transformation process. It says you should be able to feel a weird sensation, and when you focus hard enough on that sensation with your animal in mind, you should be able to transform. Hopefully."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's give it a shot," James suggested, standing up as well.

They all spread out and closed their eyes.

"So do what do we have to do again?"

"Shut up, Wormtail. I'm trying to focus."

They all fell silent. Now the only noises in the field were the river, birds and the wind blowing through the leaves of the few trees that were scattered around the place. Remus just stood and watched.

Grace took a deep breath in and pictured her Patronus - a mountain lion. She imagined becoming that animal, her body morphing into its shape, fur sprouting, teeth growing. She then began to feel an odd tingle, starting in her stomach and spreading outwards the more she focused on it. Her skin suddenly felt like it was on fire. Her head was pounding. There was a pain in her lower back.

"Merlins beard, Grace!" Remus cried, causing Grace's eyes to snap open and her concentration to break. The tingling sensation slowly faded from her body.

"What?"

"Oh my..." Sirius trailed off opening his eyes as well.

Grace followed their line of sight. They weren't staring at her, they were staring at something behind her. She spun on the spot, only to see something long, and furry in the corner of her eye.

"What in the.... I have a tail!?"

---
So i have no idea what that was, I basically just made it up as I went but then again I do that for basically everything so....

Luckily, I managed to borrow my brothers laptop again and write some more, but I haven't had much of a chance bc it's school holidays and my family is always busy, but apparently we're not doing anything this week so there's a chance that y'all will get another update soonish.
10 MORE DAYS TILL I GET MY NEW LAPTOP
-Grace