Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Glitter exploded into the classroom ceiling with a fawhoompfh. The fallout coated every desk, student, and turned the Bunsen burner flames flamboyant colours. In the centre, blushing under a frosting of soft pink sparkles, was Keldin. He stared at the beaker that had just turned everything, well, fabulous. Don’t laugh. If you giggle you’ll never hear the end of it.
From the front of the classroom, his dark skin dusted green and blue, the teacher, Mr. Corsair spoke, “Keldin Urthoss, The intention was to create a minor glamour potion. A simple brew one might use to hide a spot of acne or a shirt stain.”
“Well, sir, you can’t see any zits on my face.” He couldn’t entirely keep the smile off his face. The room did look amazing now. And he’d learned to laugh at mistakes; anything with numbers tended to go a bit haywire. Just not in the coating an entire lab in glitter levels at least not most of the time. No one’s hurt, so they can’t get that upset.
“I think he used the wrong measuring spoon for the catalyst. He took a tablespoon, not a teaspoon.” The girl who had shared his lab bench said. She’d been coated in a light blue glitter that Keldin thought made her jacket look awesome. She shifted a step back as if that would help after the explosion had already happened. “And I think he used ground quartz instead of the minced quarkdale meat.”
“How do you get meat and a rock mixed up?” Toldroen demanded. He was part fey, had impeccable taste, and was the head of the drama club. His glitter frosting was puce and fit his personality. He loathed Keldin since this was not the first time something of his had exploded and ruined an outfit.
“I just misread the recipe.” Keldin shrugged. It happened a lot. Sometimes the potion would still work, something they did something spectacular. He went to the supply cupboard and got a broom. The sheer volume of glitter made it seem pointless, but he couldn’t just leave his own mess. “I’ll start cleaning up.”
“I’ll help. Everyone makes mistakes.” Kiki, a small teenage girl with feline eyes said. Most of the class didn’t know she spent a lot of her free time as a tabby cat. She had somehow already shed all the glitter that had hit her. She used a hand broom and dustpan to gather glitter off her lab bench. “Yesterday when I was cooking, I got paprika and chili powder mixed up.”
Under the coating of glitter, Keldin blushed more, and barely managed a stuttered thank you.
“Those are both powders used for cooking, and both are similar in colour. We didn’t even need to get the quarkdale meat. It was at the lab table already!” Toldroen lifted the bowl that held the strange, nearly transparent meat and caused a fresh cascade of sparkles. “Are you stupid or something?”
“Enough.” Mr. Corsair cut the bickering off. “Do I need to remind you of what happened during your final exam last semester, Toldroen?”
The teen’s jaw snapped shut.
“With the exception of Katrina, our transfer student, everyone is in this classroom because they failed the basic potions class last semester.” Mr.Corsair continued. “The purpose of this class is to learn, and we did learn something did we not.”
Jaraden, a tall dwarf who had a habit of knocking their lab equipment off the table, held up his hand. “The extra made it go Pwoooffft” He gestured widely at the ceiling, which was heading a twinkling rainbow dandruff.
Mr.Corsair nodded. “And what would have happened if he’d used the prescribed amount?”
“Less Pwooft?” The dwarf made a smaller gesture.
“Exactly.” The teacher stood and shook out his sleeves. “Messes are a part of potion making, and at least this one was dry and didn’t do any property damage.”
Tolderone sighed and took a broom from the wall. “Fine, I’ll help.”
“Mr. Corsair, what would have happened if someone had put extra catalyst into the glamour potion?” Keldin’s lab partner asked.
“Application would be much trickier, and it would be twice as potent but last half as long. It would not explode like this did.” Mr Corsiar went to a cupboard and brought out Henry, the vacuum. He had a name not because he was alive in any sense, but because several years ago giant googly eyes had been stuck to the front of him. “Anyone who wants to help will get credit for doing so. Otherwise, feel free to use the decontamination showers to clean up before you’re next class.”