J.K. Rowling owns the characters and setting.

Potions assignment #7: This assignment you MUST have a bezor as a cure to a poison. Keywords: bezor, poison; Prompts: Shock, "Yikes"; Characters: N/A; Word Count: Min: 200, Max: 1000; Restrictions: MUST use BOTH prompts.

Combined classes to provide practical experience for the seventh and eighth year students that have returned to Hogwarts. Lets attend a combined Herbology/Potions class.

Watch the Mushrooms

For practical use of the information learned in classes, many of the combined seventh and eighth year classes were also combined by topic. Currently the students were doing a combined Herbology/Potions class where they were learning where to gather which plants that were best used fresh in making Potions. Since few students had survived the war and fewer of the older students had returned to Hogwarts, the combined seventh/eighth year class had students from all four houses.

"Today's potion will require fresh young mushrooms from the fungi in the division Basidiomycota and adult Chanterelle mushrooms. Can anyone tell me what these look like?" asked Professor Sprout.

Neville Longbottom raised his hand and when called on replied, "The Basidiomycota or Puff-ball mushroom is round, white and close to the ground. It has no stem and closely resembles the poisonous Amanita at this stage."

Professor Sprout then called on Luna Lovegood to continue, "The Chanterelle is a bright orange and is found in the open. Its underside has veins rather than the true gills of the Jack-O-Lantern mushroom which grows on wood. Both open upward so the stem is in full view."

"Five points each to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Please refer to your book and notes often so that you do not get the poisonous mushrooms instead of the edible. Now each of you need to gather fifteen to twenty of each kind for your potions class. When you are done gathering take them to the Potions classroom.

The Forbidden Forest had provided a wealth of samples and the students were in the Potions classroom in short order. When Seamus Finnegan and Ron Weasley straggled in, Professor Slughorn began the instructions, "You will need your scales because you will be adding the ingredients by weight. Depending on the size of the specimens you have gathered you will need more or less of each." He seemed hurried and didn't bother to check to see if the mushrooms were the correct varieties.

Once the potions were brewed, Ron remarked that it looked like the gravy his mother served over meat and stuck his finger in and licked it. "Hm-m-m-m. Not bad."

The class continued with the background for the next potion for which they would be gathering fresh ingredients. Ron was turning green and his stomach began cramping. Suddenly he began vomiting into his cauldron. His breathing became labored and he started having respiratory problems.

"Yikes!" shouted Seamus. "Ron get up!"

Hermione shouted, "Professor Slughorn, Ron is going into shock. He is having trouble breathing. I think he may have gotten poison mushrooms in his potion."

Professor Slughorn questioned, "Seamus, where did you pick your mushrooms? Do you have some left that I can examine to see if they are the right kind? Ron, did you realize that the wrong kind could be fatal? You should never taste something from your cauldron, it is not a mixing bowl and you are not making a cake."

"Oh, shut up," Hermione chastised the Professor. "Can someone quickly get me a bezor out of the supply cupboard?"

Harry handed her the bezor which she promptly pushed down his throat. "Doddering old fool." "Merlin help us because this only the first week of classes." "Why do I miss Professor Snape?" Mutterings from the students were the undercurrent as the drama unfolded.

"Well done," Professor Slughorn applauded as Ron sputtered back to normalcy. "15 points from Gryffindor for insubordination, Miss Granger."

She just shook her head, helped Ron back to his seat, and whispered to no one in particular, "It's going to be a long year!"