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Post by Prof. Charlotte Mandelstein on Mar 17, 2007 10:34:25 GMT 10
“Very good Miss Helcy, but it is Mr Zander who shall take the cake for the most in depth and correct answer, five points to each of you,” she smiled and looked at the Alihotsy leaves before her and ripped one of them off to hold it up, “Alihotsy can indeed cause hysteria if eaten or breathed in,” she said holding the leaf towards her face but careful not to breath in the smell, “When it grows in the wild, it can be dangerous if one comes in contact with it, fortunately though, for reasons under study, the plant in its natural form does not affect muggles at all,”
“However it has come to light that when made into a paste, or in the illegal sense, a pill, the leaf’s magical properties can affect anyone who takes it,” she said as she put the leaf back down on a tray in front of her. She pulled out her wand and tapped the tray. An image of the leaf (close up) appeared on the green house wall behind her. “This is the Alihotsy leaf, please copy it down into your books and label, if you know them, where each part of the lead is,” this information was pretty stock standard, so she would not be awarding points for it, “These parts of the leaf are as follows, The Intermarginal Vein, The lateral Vein, The Mid Rib, The oil dots, the Accuminate tip, and of course the stalk,”
”Now it is the oil dots themselves that we are interested in. When the leaves are heated, the oil cooks and the dots burst, the oil can vapourise at that point and the gas, as I am guessing you would all be aware, will cause mass hysteria. Fortunately the only one time this occurred was during illegal tests and the only wizards affected went straight to prison once the effect wore off. Though I don’t think I need to tell you, it has been believed for quite some time that Alihotsy leaves have been utilised by private ministry organizations as a form of weapon,”
“But enough on that, we wouldn’t want to dwell on the bad properties of the plant, as t can be used equally as innovative as a painkiller,” she smiled and looked at Alex who had given the information. “Which is the primary reason we grow it here, Dr. Cartwight had probably treated quite a few of you with alihotsy at one time or another,”
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Post by Barnak Pengryffin on Mar 19, 2007 22:29:18 GMT 10
Barnak began copying all this information down with relish, including all the parts about hysteria, his ire at his classmate momentarily forgotten. His quill scratched neatly across the page, sketching the various important parts of the plant's anatomy, labelling them in impossibly tiny capitals. As he finished the page he raised his wand to it and projected a gentle stream of cool air to help the ink dry, at the same time raising his hand. He waited until he had caught the teacher's eye and then quietly cleared his throat.
"Professor, you've mentioned that the oil dots in the leaves have some interes... *ahem* nasty effects but what about the other parts of the plant, for example the roots? What can they do? And how is the Alihotsy safely turned into a painkiller?"
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Post by Andreas Mark on Mar 23, 2007 14:54:36 GMT 10
Andreas looked at the teacher waiting for the answer, he was beginning to wonder about her as he saw the excitement that floated through the air on the wings of Barnak’s voice. He wondered if the Professor might be aware that this was possibly not the best topic to be discussing at this point. He scratched his chin as he thought on that.
“Professor, if someone was to hear that Alihotsy could be used as a substance of abuse, how easy would it be for them to discover a way to change it to a drug from its natural form, I only ask because I think it might be a bad idea to study this in class?”
He didn’t mean to tell the teacher how to do her job, though it confused him as to why she would think it would be appropriate to share this information with a class of impressionable youths.
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Post by Barnak Pengryffin on Mar 23, 2007 22:17:01 GMT 10
Barnak narrowed his eyes at the filthy little Ameraid who was trying to prevent him from accessing knowledge.
"I happen to consider ignorance to be more dangerous than a little knowledge. I would have thought that" (there was a slight pause as a sneer crawled across Barnak's face) "an Ameraid such as yourself would agree."
He returned his most innocent attentions to the teacher.
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Post by Andreas Mark on Mar 24, 2007 12:37:18 GMT 10
“Knowledge is a powerful tool, Ruberagon, and some are not capable of wielding such power, nor should they have the right to that which could be used against others,” Andreas returned with the air of someone who was apparently quite polite, though all the same he was insulting the Ruberagon by insinuating that he was not the kind of person that should have such knowledge, not because he didn’t trust him, but because as a foolish Ruberagon, Andreas was only helping him from hurting himself.
“To people that understand the whole vision, of course knowledge is safer then ignorance, but in the case of some it is better to remain as ignorant as you are any other day of the week,” it wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
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Post by Barnak Pengryffin on Mar 28, 2007 23:55:45 GMT 10
Barnak's eye twitched: the only outward sign that he had even noticed the Ameraid's lack-subtle suggestions. Inwardly he seethed, his blue blood broiling, the very smell of the Ameraid offending his sensitive nostrils as it wafted across the table.
'The supreme arrogance of that boy must be repaid in equal measure,' he thought to himself. 'And I will gladly be the one to do it.'
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Post by Belle Carter on Apr 26, 2007 8:43:08 GMT 10
Belle watched th elittle argument that transpired between the boys in the class. She didnt expect an Ameraid to be so upfront about his feelings of Ruberagon's. Weren't Ameraids usually shy by nature? But then she had seen that seventh year girl arguing with Godric the other day, what was that all about? Perhaps Ameraid's were growing more and more testy these days? Belle wouldnt get between them though, leave them to their little argument, in the meantime she was learning loads.
"It is a good question though, Professor, do the roots have other kinds of value?" she asked, not because she thought the Ruberagon had the right to know, but likely because they could find it out in books anyway, so why should she not just tell them instead of allowing the Ruberagon and Ameraid to fight.
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Post by Barnak Pengryffin on Mar 25, 2011 8:13:53 GMT 10
One of Barnak's eyebrows raised itself slowly and a bemused expression spread itself across his face as he watched the Ameraid. 'Self doubt,' he thought. It was something he recognised well. 'Certainly something to encourage in an Ameraid. I really am learning a lot in this class.'
For good measure, he raised his wand just as high as the table, pointed it at the other boy's notes, and muttered a couple of quiet words. Then he tapped the corner of a book that was poking out of his schoolbag.
Ameraids were useful for something after all: as long as there was one in each class, he might never have to take any notes of his own.
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Post by Prof. Charlotte Mandelstein on May 18, 2011 11:59:47 GMT 10
Charlotte sighed perhaps a little dramatically as she looked upon her class. Barnak had a fair question though Andreas had an equally fair point. It was however in the curriculum to share what was legal with the class, and while she was certain the Ministry would not appreciate her telling the class how to use it as a drug the method was fairly simple and she knew if she did not sate the curiosity of the Ruberagon, he might experiment which would be disastrous in its own right. She chewed on her top lip just a little contemplating this thought before she interrupted the two hormone infused teenagers.
“As much as the drug itself can be considered harmful, the method itself if quite simple,” She said as she raised a different leaf of no magical properties to her mouth, “As simple as this in fact” she opened her mouth and popped the leaf beneath her tongue, “There is little more you need to do, very slowly the casing around the oils will dissolve releasing trace amounts of the drug directly into your system through the veins beneath your tongue. The result is very slow, and this is where most go wrong” she removed the leaf from beneath her tongue and cast it into a compost bin nearby.
“It can be used thus for medical reasons when caught in a bind, that short length of time would be enough to momentarily dull the brains connections with pain throughout the body, medics used it thus in times of war,” she said looking around the class at the eagerly attentive eyes of her students “For those of you who pay attention in History of Magic, you would know it became one of the main anaesthetics used during the war with the Giants, as it requires no preparation. The dangers of using the leaf so are that a moment of misplaced attention, the leaf remains too long and instead of dulling the mind; hysteria is induced,”
“Other methods have been attempted with no positive result, crushing the leaves for example and using them in a draught is extremely dangerous, the oil is released far too quickly into the body and hysteria is almost as instantaneous,” she said, pressing on boldy. The Alihotsy leaves in her care were scrutinised at every lesson, her students wouldn’t dare try and steal one under her watch, “To effectively use the oil in a draught, one should consult their potions master, many other magical qualities are required if you hope to avoid dangerous results,”
‘Beyond this of course the leaf need only be heated to release a toxin in the air that would cause hysteria to whomever breathes it in,” she said pressing on, “the oil in a single leave would be enough to fell two… maybe three wizards, depending on their proximity to one another’s, its effects on muggles however are a lot more severe, and it effects their numbers ten fold to our own, hence the reason the plant is generally destroyed if found in the wild near muggle settlements,”
“The roots themselves are the only way of successfully destroying the plant in its basic form, a peculiarity of the plant to say the least, the bulb of the plant has two coloured sections,” she said as she dug her hands into the try in front of her and retrieved one such bulb, the bottom half of the bulb was maroon in colour while the top of an off white, “The bottom only, diced and boiled, poured upon the remainder of the plant it neutralises the oil completely,”
“This is not, however, to be mistaken as an antidote, the boiled root could strip paint, it will not harm a human being in any way, as it is incapable of penetrating human cells,” she said cutting off a small portion of the root and squeezing some of the juices onto her wrist. The liquid coagulated and tumbled off into the tray where it landed on one of the leaves; the liquid reformed again and the leaves changes colour to a bleached white, “Instantly disabled” she demonstrated, putting the leaf into her mouth and chewing on it, before spitting it out also into the compost bin at her side.
‘Does anyone know what the only known antidote to Alihotsy is?”
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