The girl next to him went to get the potion ingredients from the cupboard nearest to them and returned a minute or two later with a piled tray.
"What's on the tray" asked Adam.
The girl pointed to the board and then back to the tray.
"Uh".
"Six snake fangs, dried nettles, horned slugs, advil and porcupine quills" said the girl huffing in a highlands Scottish accent even more intense the Professor McGonagall
Open his potions book to the right page he asked, "So I'm Adam".
"Ah, Morag, Morag MacDougall, now potion focus" said Morag barely taking her eyes off the instruction.
'She's in her own world' thought Adam turning his eyes to his own potions book.
----
Recipe: Cure for Boils
Add 6 snake fangs to the mortar.
Crush into a fine powder using the pestle.
Take the cauldron off the fire before adding the next ingredient.
Add dried nettles and horned slugs and Advil.
Add 2 porcupine quills to your cauldron.
Stir 5 times, clockwise.
----
'Seems easy enough'
Adam grabbed 6 snake fangs placing them in the mortar quickly crushing them into a fine powder.
'Success, now what, take the cauldron off the fire'.
Adam took his cauldron off the heating element that was placed beneath the cauldron and added the assorted pile of nettles and dried slugs.
Adam wiped some sweat off his brow from the heat and concentration. He quickly added the porcupine quills, the colour changed from a pink to a deep orange.
Reading the next line Adam's brows raised in confusion.
'Stir five times, clockwise'.
"Hey, why does the direction of stirring matter matter" he asked Morag who laughed a little at how confused he looked.
"I don't know that's just the way it does although my seanmhair when I watched her brew as a toddler always said that the symbolism mattered, perhaps doing the reverse, reverses the effect".
'Adam that's a flag if I ever saw one' butted in Calcifer, 'you thinking what I'm thinking'.
'Shush Calcifer, you act more like a poltergeist than a daemon, you should go ask peeves for a career change'.
"Thanks, so what class have you got after".
"Charms I think" replied Morag.
"What a coincidence so do I ... I'll see you there" said Adam giving Morag a cheeky elbow.
"Hey careful," said Morag almost knocking over her cauldron as Adam smiled.
Adam not wanting to push Morag too far returned to his potion.
'Okay, where was I stirring clockwise, which way does a clock go round again' Adam had seen them before but hadn't payed attention.
Adam just made a guess picking a direction only for the potion to begin bubbling aggressively.
Snape began to walk towards him from across the classroom.
'Stop, stop, potion stoooopp'.
Thought Adam realizing he had stirred the potion the wrong way, quickly attempting to stir it back the other way, only for it to turn a violent shade of red. Snape was almost close enough to see.
Adam used the warp his eyes flashing purple.
The potion calmed down, returning to the deep orange it was before.
"Potter it se... Times running out" said Snape confused, sure he had seen Adam stir the wrong way.
Snape made eye contact with Adam only to flinch a second later as if he had hit his head against a low beam, before angrily cascading away like a great bat, whipping his cloak as he turned on a dime.
Morag was looking at him astonished.
"How did you do that"?
"Do what ... I just stirred it as I was supposed to ...hmmhhhmm" said Adam humming away innocently.
"Know you didn't, when I said maybe it would reverse the potion I didn't mean it, it would take a complete reconstruction of the ingredients to balance for a reverse stir ... You can't just unstir a stir" stated Morag exasperatedly.
"I don't know what you're talking about" said Adam putting on the most radiant smile he could, "maybe I'm just talented".
"This isn't the end of this," said Morag smouldering at him.
Adam held his hands up in surrender, swivelling back to face his potion.
Adam stirred it five times watching as the potion turned a vibrant red.
"See Morag I'm not so bad" said Adam pointing at his potion Morag having finished hers a few seconds before him.
"Mmmhhmm ... Surrrre" said Morag giving him a criminal side eye.
Adam took a potions flask out of his kit, poured a measure with a saddle into the flask, grabbed a label and wrote his name on it
"Could you bring mine up as well?" asked Morag sweetly.
Adam nodded dumbly, standing up and grabbing Morag's potion, before bringing his and Morag's potions to present to Snape.
Reaching the desk.
"You were only meant to make one between you ...Potter, can't you follow simple instructions".
"Uh sorry Professor ... I didn't hear you say that".
"I didn't say it you buffoon, it's common sense look around you, I've seen doors less dim than you".
Morag was giggling to herself at the back of the class to Adam's predicament.
Snape eventually took the vials with a scowl.
"Barely acceptable both of them" shooing him off.
Adam returned to his seat.
"Haha funny, dropped me in it properly".
"Yes, very funny ... (Giggles) you deserve it though for the voodoo you pulled earlier, I'm a witch and that was too witchy, potions shouldn't work like that" said Morag
'Potions shouldn't work like that' thought Adam agreeing.
'No, wait Calcifer'.
'What'
'Do you realize what this means'.
'No'.
'The warp can affect magic'.
'Don't you get it, when I used the warp I didn't enhance myself I changed the potions perception of itself, I was hoping it was as if I had never stirred and it believed me, mwhahahahaha'.
Morag meanwhile was getting slightly creeped out by Adam who was just staring into space with a maniacal grin on his face.
"Hey Adam stop being weird, the class just ended," said Morag poking him in the forehead.
"Ah, but a wizard never reveals their secrets" said Adam collecting his stuff to follow Morag and the rest of the class who were filing out to go to charms.
----
Sat next to Morag once again Adam found himself before the shirt statutes Professor, Flitwick who was standing at the front of the class on a pile of books exuberantly explaining the particulars of the wand movements for the wand lighting spell Lumos.
"Now everyone repeat after me looo-moss"
Conducting them like a conductor with his wand the class responded.
"Looooooooomooooos-s-s-s".
"Well done now the wand movement; raise your wand up and a small loop".
Flitwicks wand lit up without the incantation.
"Now, before we try .. Terry stop, we must learn the counter curse, nox".
"Everyone nox".
"N-OOO-X" replied the class
"A good effort, now give it a try".
The class began to practice a few glimpses of light appearing here and there.
A sudden foreboding came of Adam who looked down at his wand in its holster which hadn't come out since he had placed it there in Ollivander's.
Morag meanwhile was flicking her wand again and again.
"Loomos, luumos, luemos, work damn thing," said Morag flicking her wand about wildly.
"Mr Potter would you like to give it a try" said Professor Flitwick, causing Adam to jump in his skin, not having noticed the small mans approach over the height of the desk.
"Ms Morag its raise your wand not whip the air, you'll get it, give it another go. Now Mr Potter step one I'm afraid is wand out".
"Uh my wand is a little spirited Sir, I think I might want to sit this one out and just watch for this lesson".
"Absolutely not, your mother was fantastic at charms and you will be to, now wand out I will make sure nothing goes wrong".
Adam gulped tentatively reaching towards his wand.
"It's not going to kill you Mr Potter, a wizard can't be afraid of their wand" said Flitwick encouragingly.
Adam touched it feeling nothing for a second.
'Oh this is fine' he smiled relief pouring out, 'Maybe it was just the first time'.
Pulling his wand up he did the motion, once to practice.
"Good Mr Potter, now the incantation".
"Lumos".
ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRRRKLILLGVIEUP
A cacophony of screams burst into his head as the tip of Adam's wand went off like a flashbang.
FLASH-HHHHHHHHHHHH
Everyone in the room's vision glazed white, only returning, ten or so seconds later as Adam clamped down on his control over the warp, simultaneously speaking the counter curse "Nox" as black spots continued to dance over everyone's eye.
"Mr Potter ... I see, spirited your wand is, ow, that was like a lumos solum ... I think next time with a little less oomph yes, I need to remember my glasses next class ... class dismissed thank you everyone" said Flitwick dazedly too himself before waddling back to his stack of books.
Morag Macdougal