ILater that same afternoon that Sirius had gained his legal freedom, he had returned to Abbott Manor escorted by Amelia.
"I'm legally free, " said Sirius happily to Harry, Amy, Susan, Hannah, and Heather.
"That's wonderful, " said Heather warmly.
"That's not all, " said Amelia happily, "The Wizengamot voted to allow Sirius to adopt children when the time comes. Sirius will be adopting Harry and Amy down the road."
"Excellent!" chroused Harry and Amy.
"We're going to be staying here for awhile, " said Sirius matter of factly, "But I'm grateful I can be part of your lives going forward."
"So, " said Heather clearly, "With that out of the way, I'm going to do a Liveliness Potion lesson with the Yellow Quartet this afternoon."
"What is Liveliness Potion?" asked Harry curiously.
"Liveliness Potion is used to give energy to lethargic people and is popular with witches and wizards who aren't morning people, " explained Heather.
"Ah, I get it now, " nodded Harry in understanding.
"Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah?" asked Heater politely, "Would you four please kindly go retrieve your cauldrons and meet us in Potions Room?"
"Yes, Heather, " replied Harry, Amy, and Susan while Hannah replied, "Yes, mom."
And so, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all went to their respective rooms and met Heather, Amelia, and Sirius in the Potions Room a minute and a nanosecond later.
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah each took a place at a table with the ingredients they needed set out for them.
"Now, " Heather told the Yellow Quartet, "I've decided to take a different approach to teaching you the Liveliness Potion than I have in our other Potions lessons. Rather than write the instructions out for you on the board, I'm going to read you the instructions form the Liveliness Potion one line at a time and have you do that one line of instructions before moving on to giving you the next line of instructions. "
"I think this alternate teaching method will work well," Amelia told Heather approvingly, "Focus on one thing at a time and not try to do too much at once."
"That's my theory, " confirmed Heather, "The thing is, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah have all shown reasonable competence in Potions, but all four of them have had varied results across their Potions lessons. One observation I've made about Harry's, Amy's, Susan's, and Hannah's Potions skills is that while they all have the ability to do it, there have been too many times where one or more of them have "blown" a Potion by forgetting something here or forgetting something there. Therefore, I am choosing a new approach of only looking at one step at a time."
"So, are you going to start them, then?" asked Sirius.
"Yes, " said Heather, "Remember, if made correctly, the Liveliness Potion will be sun yellow when it is done."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah nodded in understanding.
"Your first step, "Heather instructed the Yellow Quartet, "Is to fill your cauldrons three fifths full of water."
So, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah, all listening attentively, filled their cauldrons three fifths full of water.
"Now, " continued Heather, "Put your cauldrons on the heat until they reach three hundred and fifty degrees."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all obliged and put their cauldrons on the heat.
Once all of their cauldrons had reached three hundred and fifty degrees, Heather said in a very serious voice, "Remove your cauldrons from the heat. You MUST remove your cauldrons from the heat before putting in the next ingredients. If your cauldrons are still on the heat when the next ingredients are added, explosion can occur. You must be INCREDIBLY careful at this step."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all took their cauldrons back off the heat.
Heather looked closely at Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah and made absolutely sure that they had removed their cauldrons from the heat before giving out the next instructions.
"Next, " piped up Heather, "Add one ounce of dragon liver. "
So, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah measured out an ounce of dragon liver and added it to their cauldrons.
"Now, " went on Heather, "Add two tablespoons of juice of the firefly. Juice of the firefly contributes to the energy of the Liveliness Potion and also starts to brighten its color. Your Potions should be orange after this step."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah each carefully measured out two tablespoons of juice of the firefly and carefully poured it into their cauldrons.
Just as Heather had said should happen, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all saw their potions turn orange after adding the juice of the firefly.
"This is going really smoothly so far, " observed Amy.
"The perfect shade of orange for this stage, " said Heather in a satisfied voice, "The next step is to add one cup of crushed sunflower seeds. The nanosecond the crushed sunflower seeds are added, that is when your potion should turn sun yellow."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all looked excited at this.
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all crushed some sunflower seeds and measured out a cup's worth. To their amazement, all four of their potions went sun yellow the nanosecond they added the crushed sunflower seeds.
"Brilliant!" piped up Harry, "It's really amazing how well the whole process seems to be working! The sun yellow color is making me feel more alive just looking at it!"
"Me too!" chroused Amy, Susan, and Hannah.
"Now, " said Heather wryly, "You've got to let your potions sit for ten minutes. The old saying about patience being virtue is absolutely a truism of Potions!"
Ten minutes later, Heather resumed, "Wave your wands clockwise over your cauldrons three times to stir the mixture."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all waved their wands over their cauldrons clockwise three times. They could hear their mixtures simmer a bit after doing this.
"Now, " said Heather in a crisp and clear voice, "Now for the last and key ingredient. Add two dried billywig stings. Billywig stings are what give Liveliness Potion the majority of its liveliness and energy, though the juice of the firefly also contributes."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah each dropped two dried billywig stings into their cauldrons. Upon the dried billywig stings hitting the mixtures, the mixtures took on a highly active essence, seeming to constantly flow and stir themselves at an extremely rapid rate.
"Now, " finished Heather, "At this stage the Liveliness Potion is actually TOO energetic. To tame a bit, one more round of three clockwise stirs with your wands must be given."
Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all gave their potions these three final stirs and the potions calmed considerably though still flowing noticeably.
"Congratulations, Yellow Quartet!" said Heather glowingly, "All four of you have made perfect Liveness Potions!"
At this, Harry, Amy, Susan Hannah, Heather, Amelia, and Sirius all burst into applause.
"That was a really well run lesson, Heather, " said Amelia approvingly, "Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah are in good hands with you teaching them here."
"Much respect to Heather for self criticizing and self evaluating her own teaching method and trying an alternate method, " said Harry respectfully, " That took a lot of humility for her to look in the mirror and say, "You know what? Maybe there's a better way than the way I've been doing it and then going on to find and implement that way."
"Speaking for myself, " said Amy clearly, "I found it quite helpful to have Heather vocalize the instructions instead of just reading them from a board or book. Hearing the instructions out loud really helped me to focus on and remember what I have to do."
"I thought that might be the case, " smiled Heather, "As an extra tip, if you make potions alone, reading the instructions out loud to yourself may be helpful."
"Yep, " agreed Harry, "I also found it easier to focus and concentrate on what I had to do with the one line at a time approach."
"I Totally agree with that, " added Susan, "I felt it was less likely for us to make a mistake, especially a mistake of omission, because we had less on our plates at a time."
"Yeah, " said Hannah warmly, "I think doing it the way we did it today, both the vocalization and the one instruction at a time approach, slowed everything down for me and helped me to be locked in."
"I take it this is the way you will continue to teach the Yellow Quartet Potions?" asked Sirius.
"Yes, " said Heather at once, "I chose to use the alternate method today in the hopes it would help Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah with the Potion making process. As it clearly did, I'm sticking to it."
"Heather, " said Harry gratefully, "Thank you. Thank you for self criticizing yourself and being open to trying different things. I, Amy, Susan, and Hannah really benefited as students from this new method."
"I'm very proud of the Yellow Quartet and am sure they have more successes to come, " said Heather proudly.
Harry, Amy, Susan, Hannah, Heather, Amelia, and Sirius just smiled.