The Forgotten House

Felix Felicis

We arrive at the dungeons and walk right into the potions room.
"So where is it all?" I ask Jason, searching each shelf to find the missing ingredients.
"It should be at the back somewhere. They're usually used less so there should be enough," he walks over to the back of the classroom and rummages around. "Look! Here it all is," and he was right, there along the shelves were tall glass bottles of powdered common rue, horseradish and tincture of thyme.
"So what do we do with it?"
"What do you think? Pick it up and take it! I'll get a cauldron and we can start right away." And so I collect up the ingredients and we head back out the door on our way to the store room to find the very last ingredient.
Shortly after, we arrive and sneak right in. Jason clambers up right to the top of the cupboard and picks up a round glass with the Ashwinder egg inside. He comes right back down again and we rush quickly out, closing the door gently behind us. Just as we are leaving, I hear heavy footsteps following close behind. We start to quicken our pace and and turn into an empty classroom. We rush behind a dusty chalkboard and wait for the footsteps to fade. They get louder and then stop. My breath starts to quickens and my heart beats faster. Jason grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes. He puts his figure on his lip gesturing for me to be quiet. The footsteps start again and they get closer once more. My breath got heavy again and Jason squeezed my hand tighter. The footsteps stop once again but this time right in front of the chalkboard. Neither of us move an inch as we wait for the mystery person to leave and finally they do. I sigh in relief and we carry on down the hall.
"We should make a start on brewing this now so we can return the ingredients before anyone notices they're missing," Jason suggests as we walk out into the chilly evening air. "We better get it set up quickly though we have to be back in time for dinner."
I look up at the clock and notice that it is almost 6 o'clock, "And where exactly do you suggest we do this?"
"A place where no one knows."
I think... hoping that it isn't a terrible place he is leading me to, "Where is that?"
"Why the forgotten common room of course!" And so we keep on marching right to the astronomy tower and once again find ourselves face to face with Adelaide Foxtail.
"ASHLEY! JASON! YOU CAME BACK!" Adelaide says in a song-song voice.
"Yes of course we did! We would like to do some studying here. But it'll have to be secret. It's not exactly..." I pause, "in the curriculum."
She looks at us, concerned, "Should I call for Mr Filch?"
Jason butts in, "NO! We are doing this for you. We want to help free you from your portrait."
Adelaide gleams with excitement as she swings open the portrait for us and we enter the dusty common room. We set down the cauldron and the potions on the table in front of the fire I had just started to get going and I start to read the ingredients I desperately copied down. We begin with the Ashwinder egg and horseradish and heat it over the fire. Jason juices the squill bulb and adds it to the cauldron whilst I mix it all together. The next instruction says to:

𝟹. 𝙲𝚑𝚘𝚙 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎-𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝙼𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚙, 𝚊𝚍𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝.

And so that's exactly what we do. We keep following the ingredients until the very last step.

𝟺. 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝚊 𝚍𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚢.
𝟻. 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝙾𝚌𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚢 𝚎𝚐𝚐𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚍𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎.
𝟼. 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚗.
𝟽. 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝚊 𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚞𝚎.
𝟾. 𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚛 𝚟𝚒𝚐𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎.
𝟿. 𝚆𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 '𝙵𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚡𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚊!'

"Felixempra?" I say curiously. "What if it doesn't work? I haven't even heard of this spell before. How do we even know how to do it?"
"Ashley relax! Trust me it'll work. I can cast it if you'd like but I think you should."
"Why should I do it?"
"Because you're a powerful witch and I know you have it in you."
"You think so?"
"I know so. Now are you gonna do it, or should I?"
"Fine. I'll do it," so I wave my wand over the potion in a figure of 8 just like the instructions say, and as clearly as I can, I say the word: "Felixempra." And with a fizz, the liquid sparkles and changes from a gooey clear liquid to a glistening gold formula.
"You did it Ash!" Jason exclaims as he pours a small amount of it carefully into a tiny vial.
"But what do we do with it?"
"Well I guess we test it."
"But how do we know it'll work? What if it's not safe?"
"I'll take my chances," Jason picks up the vial, pops the cork, and raises it to his mouth.
"STOP!" I scream at him.
"What?"
"You don't know what could happen. It could poison you!"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," he ignores my warning and touches the glass to his lips.
"WAIT!"
"What now?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why? Because we both want our friends back, you want Adelaide rescued and I want..." he stops. "I want my free time." He doesn't even try to see what I have to say next and picks up the vial once more, and chugs the whole thing down.
He looks at me, perplexed.
"How do you feel?" I ask hesitantly.
He doesn't say a word. His hands start to shake. His eyes drift out of focus. He starts to sway back and forth.
What have I done?