Gavyn Scurloch - Practical OWLs

[MAEVE THORNE]

GAVYN SCURLOCH entered the Great Hall, ready to perform the practical portion of his OWLs. He was a little nervous, but he knew he could do it.

SUBJECTS: DADA, Herbology, Potions

((Please post with the form in How to Post. If you decided to choose an (Academic) question for one of these subjects, remember to PM to Giovanna instead of posting in this thread. This is due March 27th.))

[GAVYN SCURLOCH]

OWL
Name: GAVYN SCURLOCH
Year: 5


DADA

Expelliarmus

The day of the OWL exams were finally upon the fifth years and the air of anxiety was at its highest as they all were let in to see the examiners. Gavyn was still reeling from the written portion, his head throbbing from trying to remember Divination terms and branches of the study. He was pretty sure he had done terribly but at least now it was over and he could move on to the more fun portion of the exams. Performing spells and doing stuff with his hands was way more fun than trying to recall his study materials.

Defence Against the Dark Arts just happened to be the first examiner he had to go see. Strolling over with a bright grin he placed himself in front of them with a cheery hello. This would be the best one of the lot since he just had to cast a spell to pass it. As he looked over the list of ones to choose from he went for the easiest one on it, hoping that would give him no trouble and a good grade to boot. Stepping to the left of the table he faced the target dummies that had been set up for this and breathed in deeply.

"Expelliarmus!" The quick wand movement produced a scarlet light that zipped right to the target and disarmed the fake wand it held. He moved down to the second target so he could show it again, proving that he had the spell down and that the first time was not a fluke. "Expelliarmus!" Gavyn produced the same spell with the same results and felt reassured that things were going well. There was one more target left in the line and he figured the third time was the charm and it would prove he knew the spell completely. "Expelliarmus!"

Again the spell hit the target directly and he came back to the table with a hopeful glance to the examiner. Whether he had passed or not was unclear since the person had such a stoic look on their face that he couldn't tell if he had done well or not. But he stood there until they told him this exam was finished and he could move on to the next. Gavyn thanked them uncertainly and checked his schedule to see which one he had to go and groaned aloud. Herbology and Potions, Merlin save him.

---

HERBOLOGY

Re-pot a Mandrake

The Herbology exam had to be done in several different places because one of the test subjects was repotting Mandrakes. Gavyn fell into this one because he knew exactly what had to be done to pass this particular subject too. So he had exited the main hall to follow the directions to where the Herbology Mandrake crowd had to meet for this portion. Before he entered he picked up one of the earmuffs provided and popped them on, being very careful to cover the entirety of both ears with them. It wouldn't do to pass out before he could finish his practicals after all!

Once sure he wouldn't get knocked out he entered the room with the others doing this portion and took a place at the long table. There were plenty of mandrakes in the room with a variety of pots to put them in which was lucky. What was unlucky was him getting a place closest to the examiner. That was a bit nerve-wracking since any mistakes he made would be really easy to tell. He was fine though, really, he had this! He had chosen mandrakes because he knew how to take care of them off the top of his head, which would make things easy he hoped.

Tugging on his dragonhide gloves he pulled a pot close to him and a much larger post to put his mandrake in. The big pot was empty so he filled it slowly with soil while leaving a nice spot in the center to put the mandrake once he pulled it free of the small pot. Once he was satisfied with how the pot was set up and ready to receive the plant he looked around to make sure everyone had their earmuffs on and that the room door was closed. That done he put his hand around the foliage base and gave a firm yank to dislodge it.

Immediately it started screaming but the earmuffs muted it more than enough to not affect him. Gingely he lifted it up enough to clear the top of the new pot and settled it inside the hole he'd left. It fit like a glove and he breathed out in relief as he took old soil from the pot the mandrake had come from and began to deposit it around it. It didn't take much time at all before it was snugly patted down and his mandrake fell quiet again, happily inside its new home. The examiner gestured to him, yelling slightly to be heard to tell him he could exit the testing area once everyone else was done.

---

POTIONS

Draught of Peace

As soon as it was clear to leave he had exited the Herbology testing room, leaving his borrowed earmuffs at the door, and headed for his last practical. Arguably it was the worst one he had to do. Potions. It was not a topic he was very good in and he was not sure that he had made the right choice in choosing the Draught of Peace. The antidote one might have been easier but in the grand scheme of things he had faith this choice would give him a better chance at a good grade. Or at the very least he was hoping for a passing one.

Coming back to the examination main room he now went toward where the Potions testing place was set up. Everything he would need was already at the station, including the cauldron and tube to collect his potion sample. Blowing out a breath he stood in front of the table and waited for the examiners in charge to tell them to start. In this case, there was little ability to cheat off anyone else as everyone around him was working on a different potion. It meant he was on his own here and that was where trouble could start as they were bid to begin.

Nervously he portioned out half an ounce of powdered moonstone, one ounce of hellebore syrup, and three ounces of chopped lavender. When he was done with that he filled the cauldron with water and set it to boil. As soon as it was he added the half ounce of powdered moonstone and one ounce of the chopped lavender. Lifting his ladle he stirred these counter-clockwise for 90 seconds, added the one ounce of hellebore syrup, and then stirred counter-clockwise for another 30 seconds. He took a moment to look over what ingredients he had left before steeling himself to continue.

The next step was putting another ounce of the chopped lavender in and stirring clockwise for 15 seconds. As soon as he was done stirring he put in the last ounce of lavender, which smelled really good to him, before picking up the ladle for the last portion. Three minutes of stirring the potions clockwise. This was the most important part and he stared at the liquid within his cauldron as he looked for the colour he needed. One minute passed, then two, and finally, with three minutes done, he breathed out in relief to see the light purple colour.

A bright grin stretched his face as he dabbed sweat off his forehead with his robe sleeve before picking up his vial. Very carefully he ladled a very generous sample into said vial and then corked it closed. Placing it in the vial rack he cleaned up his station and put everything away to be helpful before lifting the quill to write on the label he'd been provided. His name and house jotted down he peeled the label and stuck it around his vial before bringing it up to the examiner. As soon as he did that he was told by the examiner to go to his next practical or to exit the hall if he was done. Very happily he left the hall as quickly as he could to go enjoy the sunshine of the lawns.

---

[MAEVE THORNE]

RESULT:
Defense Against the Dark Arts - O (96%)
Herbology - O (98%)
Potions - E (88%)