Ah, yes! Been wondering which potion you should use to fit the theme of this particular month's SOUP? Of course, you are. What a stupid question. Perhaps you're looking to expand your knowledge about potions? At last, the Potion of the Month article is returning as a regular monthly column. Excited? Exuberant? Shouting at the top of your lungs? Of course, you are!
As you may know, this month's theme is Alternate Universes. Ever wondered what potion you could consume to imagine almost-realistic scenarios with characters from the book you've just read? Thinking what would happen if Loki from Avengers met Paul Atreides from Dune? Well, you're looking at the right article. This month, we're gonna be discussing - *drumrolls* - AU Potion.
The creator of the potion, Washington Halloway just could not come up with a better name than AU Potion. For those of you who don't know, AU's full form is alternate universe. So AU Potion literally means alternate universe potion. Now you may be wondering what exactly this potion does; well, it's rather difficult to explain. This potion basically lets you imagine scenarios in the world of a film or book you've read recently.
You must be able to imagine what type of universe the film or book is set in, what it contains, and anything that's a defining characteristic of the universe or world you choose. Then you can put some character from some other universe in the imaginary world you choose. You should imagine the character's pesonality, characteristics, etc. to make the character be like themselves. You can also put yourself in the imaginary world. Though, if you're putting yourself in the situation, then you don't need to visualise yourselves and your personality. It basically works like one of the... um... those innernet video games (I think that's what they're called) the Muggles play! Sorry, those internet video games the Muggles play.
Now, you may be wondering where the history of this potion is? Of course, you're wondering. As stated above, Washington Halloway, a Durmstrang student (yes, he was a student of that big baddie school with the big baddie headteachers), invented the AU Potion for the Wizarding Schools Potions Championship in which he was second! The judges were shocked by his performance and had nominated him for the first place, but when Washington wouldn't tell the judges what ingredients and methods he used, he was demoted to the second place. But he didn't give a damn; he went his way home and after graduating, he opened his own apothecary in one of the wizarding communities of Bulgaria. In six years, he had earned enough money to open two more apothecaries! And, the primary part of his money, he'd earned by selling AU Potions.
Now, I've already provided a little blurb in a paragraph above on how to properly use this potion, but there are other steps: first, take a teaspoon of the potion in a towel. Then, rub the portion of the towel smeared with the potion over your eyelids (it would've made more sense to smell the potion, I guess, but potions are weird, after all). Third, go to a place to lie down as, when this potion kicks in, it is rather abrupt - one second, you may be standing, and the next second you may be lying on the floor. This is just a suggestion that is recommended unless you want to hit your head on the floor. 
I should remind you that this potion is not easily available in Britain, and you'd have to look in posh stores; better have those pockets loaded and jingling with galleons the next time you go shopping for the AU Potion. And we've at last reached the end, Slytherins. Hope to see you in another issue.
Hope you have a pleasant day and farewell from your newbie writer, Aditya.