Eruditus ProfundusWhat would be a good prank, worthy of my heroes, Fred and George?
Of course, one would be a love potion - but they have that already. What about ... what about a potion which caused folks to babble-on. A babbling beverage! Something like what Professor Snape told Harry Potter -- that if he wanted nonsense spouted at him, he'd give Harry a babbling beverage. Except this would be with a twist. The Babbling Beverage causes a person to speak nonsense. This one would cause a person to speak as eruditely as possible, seeking the most learned tomes of knowledge that the 'victim' has read and they start to recite it, on and on and on.
That doesn't seem like much fun, does it. But consider 'when' it would be given the victim. Ah, there's the rub!
There would be all kinds of possible and appropriate moments when a person wants to be still and quiet, as mysterious as possible, and not attract lots of attention. THAT is when you slip them
Eruditus Profundus.
Ingredients:water - 1 gallon
billywig stings - dried, 6
armadillo bile - 4 ounces
bicorn horn - 2 ounces powdered
fluxweed - 7 ounces, dried and crumpled
shrivelfig - 3 dried and powdered
nightshade - 3 dried flowers
doxy venom - 2 drops
unicorn hair - chopped fine, one 10 inch strand
firewhiskey - 8 ounces
Directions:Combine all plant materials in a large pewter bowl - this would be the fluxweed, shrivelfig, nightshade - and grind them with a granite pestle until when you toss the ingredients into the air, they float a bit and then settle back down into the bowl. Set aside.
Combine all animal ingredients in a large copper bowl - this would be billywig, armadillo, bicorn, doxy and unicorn. Using a mahogany spoon, stir and mix using a clockwise motion. Don't worry about bits jumping out, seemingly coming alive and bouncing all over. Just catch them and put them back in the bowl. They should settle down by the 20th clockwise stir. Set aside.
Have a sip or two of firewhiskey.
Put the water into a glass pan and put over a low heat until it is steaming. Do not allow the water to boil. Stir the water in a figure-8 motion. Do not splash it, but just cause the water to be swirling.
Continue stirring with one hand and pour one half of the plant materials into the water as your stir. Stir for two minutes. Pour in the other half of the plant materials and stir for another two minutes.
Let everything sit for 5 minutes, while on the low heat. Let it steam.
Have another sip or two of firewhiskey.
Now comes the dangerous part.
Start to stir counterclockwise, and every 3rd stir, you put in a handful of the animal materials. You are probably safe for the first couple of handfuls, but after that, DO NOT BREATH IN THE FUMES. (You might want to use a bubble-head charm.) Prolonged exposure to the fumes, while they are in the works, can cause you to suffer a temporal shift into reality and cause you to speak only what is true for the rest of your life.
Once you have put in all the handfuls of animal material, stir in the figure-8 again for 3 minutes PRECISELY.
Remove the spoon immediately.
Once you have removed the spoon, the vapours are safe to breath in.
(JUST KIDDING. You are doomed.)
Have another sip of firewhiskey.
Allow the mix to steam for 20-30 minutes. You will know when it is ready when, of a sudden, it appears that all the ingredients have vanished and the liquid has turned a clear lilac shade.
Remove it from the fire (or simply put the fire out).
Let this stand for 2 days. It will turn into a thick syrup. Decant into glass bottles which have glass stoppers. One tablespoon does the job! It is tasteless and the colourless when combined with another fluid.
The effects last for two hours. Enjoy!
submitted by team Arianna & Tarma