Well hello, again my lovely readers! It seems like the season of love and romantic interventions from the heavens have scrambled the normally somewhat sensible minds of my dear editors. What possessed them to think that someone like me would have a clue what to write about when it comes to stars and moons and such I do not know. I hated Divination and Astronomy while I was a student and I do not feel much differently about it now (And no. I am not going to tell you about the time I "accidentally" made Professor Sinistra's telescope fly off the top of the Astronomy Tower.) While I appreciate the beauty of the night sky as much as the next creative witch, it is not my favourite thing to write about.
However, for the love of the furry and scaly ones I call Boss, I will endeavour to come up with something to entertain you all. So that is precisely why I am head down, bottom-up in a storage chest as I dictate this little article, searching for a long-forgotten potion recipe dear old Grandmama once came up with on one of her many ramblings into the realms of prophecy and such. The slightly eccentric matron of the Grey family believed herself to be a "Seer" of sorts, or so mummy dearest tells me. I personally don't remember much beyond that she always wore far too many scarves on her person to seem comfortable and that she regularly smelled as if she had imbibed a little too much cheap moonshine. But what do I know? I was only 5 when she shuffled off this mortal coil, leaving this trunk of goodness knows what behind.
I had asked mummy where to start and she recommended this quest to me, and as my fingers close around a stained and frail-looking notebook, I have to admit she was right. Sitting back on my haunches, I examined the possible treasure now clasped in my grubby and dusty fingers. As soon as I opened it, my dark eyes fell on the perfect thing to share with you all. For on the first page in a moderately legible hand was the following:
Sweet Dreams Potion:
Ingredients:
2 spearmint leaves, crushed
2 chamomile flowers, shredded
5 small rosebuds
1 ladle full of fresh orange or lemon peel
4 sprigs of lavender
4 large measures of Standard Ingredient
2 blobs of Flobberworm mucus
4 valerian sprigs, finely chopped
Directions:
1. Place the Standard Ingredient and the Flobberworm mucus into a small pewter cauldron (Not brass as this well weaken the potion) and gently bring to a steady simmer for 3 minutes.
2. Add the spearmint leaves, chamomile flowers and valerian roots and stir slowly and continuously in a clockwise direction for approximately 7 minutes or until the potion begins to turn light pink.
3. Next add the rosebuds and lavender to the center of the cauldron and let them sit for 1 minute. Then increase the heat to a fast boil and stir quickly, 5 times anti-clockwise and 3 times clockwise, until the potion turns a deep mauve color.
4. While it is boiling, add the fresh peel and stir once in a swirl that moves anti-clockwise from the center of the cauldron to the outside. Then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer again.
5. Let the potion brew for approximately 30 minutes and then turn off the heat and decant into a mug. The finished potion should be a semi-translucent dark purple color when brewed correctly.
6. Add a little sugar if needed and drink while still warm.
There was also a note added to the bottom that I read with growing curiosity, "If you pick the ingredients during a full moon and store them in a chilled box made of willow, they will increase the potions ability to make you dream prophetically by at least half!" The very idea that such a potion could induce divination dreams to rival that of your average centaur intrigued me. So needless to say, in the continued quest for knowledge, I must at least try this wonderful tea and see if it gives me inspiration for another article I know I should write or something entirely different. Who knows? It may even show me the solution of how I am going to get out of the blind date that my ever "helpful" roommate Tabitha somehow talked me into.
Until next time my dear snakes, please wish me luck! - Nikita