Perfecting Potions in Pottermore

     Potionmaking is one of the best ways to get points in Pottermore. It may have a reputation for being hard, but if you know the right tricks it's the one truly fail-safe way to gain points for your house. In order to brew a potion, one must obtain the necessary ingredients and follow the instructions as written in the potions book. Mastering these techniques will set you well on your way to becoming a potions master.

The instruction book as seen in
Pottermore. Source

     The instruction book: You will always have a book that tells you how to correctly prepare the potion you wish to brew. If instructions are not followed correctly you may ruin your potion and sometimes even destroy your cauldron; if your cauldron begins to smoke or leak or you know you messed something up,  you should refresh the page or press the back button as quickly as possible.
     However, some instructions can be rearranged to your advantage without consequence. Here is a list of useful alternate instructions:
 - In the first part of the Forgetfulness Potion and the second part of the Sleeping Draught, you may add the Valerian Sprigs and stir the cauldron while it is still heating to save time.
 - In the second part of the Herbicide, while the cauldron is still heating, you may not only add the flobberworm mucus, but you can also begin stirring the potion as well to save time.
     You can do any trick like the ones stated above as long as the mortar and pestle is not involved; any change of instructions involving the mortar and pestle will cause your potion to fail and will usually explode your cauldron, regardless of if you add the mixture to the cauldron at the correct time (I blew two copper cauldrons trying to see if you could mix a mixture while heating a cauldron instead of before heating it).

An example of all three types of ingredients
on Pottermore. Source

     Ingredients: There are three kinds of ingredients, small ingredients, large ingredients, and "bottled" ingredients.

     Small ingredients include those found in bags and also the mixtures from the mortar (the clay bowl to the left of the cauldron), as well as any other small objects that are bunched together. They can be pulled from the bag with a single click and should be dropped into the mortar or cauldron directly over the center of the opening. The ingredients should be pressed as close to it as possible to the top of the mortar or the cauldron before they are dropped so they won't spill over the sides.

     Large ingredients will lie by themselves on the table without any container. They should be grabbed on one of the sides so they will swing into a vertical position. This is important as some of these ingredients will come apart into several pieces when released. They should held as close as possible to the center of the cauldron or mortar's opening without touching it. Do not drop ingredients into the mortar unless they are vertically aligned, or some of the pieces may spill out over the edges and the ingredient will not count!

     "Bottled" ingredients can be found in jars, vials, and bottles. To get such an ingredient into the cauldron, carefully lift the jar by the neck and press the section between the top and the middle against the right side of the cauldron. Continue to press the jar against the cauldron and lower it cautiously, but not too slowly, until ingredients begin to come out. Once you almost have the desired amount of ingredients poured in, raise the jar slowly as to let the last few necessary ingredients get in the potion but prevent any additional ingredients from falling into the cauldron. To pour bottled ingredients into the mortar, lift the jar by the neck and rest it on the left side of the cauldron about half a jar's length from the edge, then tip it towards the mortar in a similar way to how you would tip ingredients into a cauldron. Once you are done, move the jar back to the table without letting it tip over. It is safe to drop a jar from twice its height to save time as long as it is mostly perpendicular to the table.

The Mortar and
Pestle. Source

     The mortar and pestle: The mortar is the bowl on the left of the cauldron and the pestle is the crusher inside of it. To get small or large ingredients quickly to the mortar, grab them and just barely skim over the the top of the cauldron on the way to the mortar, then move  then make sure that they are aligned as stated above and drop them in. To crush ingredients quickly, click the mortar (the bowl), not the pestle!

A Pewter Cauldron. Source

     The cauldron: The cauldron is what the actual potion is brewed in, and all instructions will somehow relate to it. If you mess up a potion, your cauldron may explode, so be careful!
     To cause the cauldron's temperature to rise, press the orange button in the middle at the bottom of the cauldron. To cause the cauldron's temperature to rise really fast, press the red button on the right with the big fire on it. To turn off the heat and ultimately cause the cauldron's temperature to drop, press the blue button of the left. Keep the temperature in between the lines while the timer is going. You should use the red button to get the heat up to the right temperature to save time.
     If the instructions say to add ingredients and/or stir the cauldron after you heat the cauldron, you can actually do these steps (in order) while the cauldron is still being heated (see the instructions section for a list of times that you can use this trick). Do not add mixtures from the mortar to the cauldron while it is being heated, as I stated before, or you will ruin your potion.

A brewing Sleeping Draught. Source

     Brewing time: In the middle of the instructions there is a period of time in which you must wait for about a half an hour to a little over hour for the potion to brew. This is the longest but also the easiest part of the potion. During this time you can collect and buy more ingredients, duel other houses, or even leave for a while and eat lunch. You can continue the potion once the brewing time is up, and you have double the time it takes to brew the potion to return to it. Pewter cauldrons will brew slowly, brass cauldrons will brew 15% faster (rounded up by the minute), and copper cauldrons will brew 25% faster than pewter cauldrons (also rounded up by the minute).
     Maximizing your potion: Potions will gain your house points and can be given as gifts to friends. If you want to make a lot of potions as quickly as possible, the Antidote to Common Poisons has the fastest brewing time. If you want to make the most points in the fastest time possible, also brew the Antidote to Common Poisons. The Cure for Boils is the cheapest potion, and if you want to make points and save money, the Sleeping Draught should be your potion of choice.
     Another way to save money is to get potion ingredients in the various moments of the books instead of buying them from the Apothecary. Here is a list of useful ingredients as they appear in each moment:
 - Bezoar - Book 1, Chapter 17, Moment 2, Zoom 3
 - Dried Billywig Stings - Book 1, Chapter 8, Moment 3, Zoom 1
 - Horklump Juice - Book 2, Chapter 3, Moment 2, Zoom 3
 - Horned Slugs - Book 1, Chapter 10, Moment 3, Zoom 2
 - Mistletoe Berries - Book 1, Chapter 12, Moment 2, Zoom 3
 - Wolfsbane - Book 1, Chapter 8, Moment 3, Zoom 1 and Chapter 15, Moment 2, Zoom 2

Secrets of The Chamber of Secrets - Chapters 1-4

Chapter 2, Moment 2: A simple yet ridiculously fun game.
Source

     The chapters released for The Chamber of Secrets in Pottermore already have a plethora of fun surprises and new experiences (as well as, you guessed it - secrets), and they've only released the first four chapters! Here is a little guide that should help you through your journey as you continue your exploration of the world of Harry Potter.

Items For Your Trunk

Chapter 4, Moment 2, a moment rich in items you can
collect and put in your trunk. Source

     As you explore the first four chapters of The Chamber of Secrets, you will find a variety of new objects for your trunk - many of which, oddly enough, are individual Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans. While you journey through these chapters, stay on the lookout for at least 6 of these delicious jelly beans, as well as some fire tongs, floo powder, a hairpin, a mask, some pruning shears, a key to the Burrow's scullery, and of course, your second year shopping list, which is required. Keep in mind that some of these objects may unlock previously inaccessible areas in moments you have already explored, so once you've gone through every moment once, I would suggest going through them all again.

     And keep an eye out for the chocolate frog cards detailing Bertie Bott, Cornelius Agrippa, Ignatia Wildsmith, Miranda Goshawk, and Newt Scamander.

     Don't forget to look for the following books: Charm your own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, Encyclopedia of Toadstools, Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, Magical Me, and One Minute Feasts - It's Magic! Don't waste your time looking for the comic book The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle, like I did; unfortunately, it's not collectible. Don't forget, more books are available to buy at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley once you have collected your shopping list; these books are all required.

     Also, you may find a few more Galleons then you are used to...

Potion Ingredients

There's more to this garden then meets the eye... Source

     There is no scarcity of potion ingredients in these chapters, and throughout them the following ingredients are scattered: flower heads, a jar of honey, dried nettles, rose thorns, horklump juice, a dragon liver, and a sprig of peppermint. Keep a close lookout and remember to hover over any suspicious-looking plant, shelf, or cupboard, and the non-suspicious looking ones too, if your not very good at reading the facial expressions and body language of plants, shelves, and cupboards. 

Games/Puzzles

De-Gnoming the Garden, my favorite game so far. Source

     The newly released chapters also include several more fun games, the most sophisticated of which is De-gnoming the Garden, in which you must throw four gnomes over the hedge bordering the Weasley's Garden in 98 seconds. You get a bonus if you manage to throw a gnome past the stump outside the garden, and your farthest throw is recorded until you beat it.
     Another strange but wonderful game is Aunt Petunia's Pudding (see first picture), in which one must keep Aunt Petunia's "masterpiece of a pudding" afloat in the air for 14 seconds before watching it fall to the ground with a satisfying splat.
     In Chapter 4 one must play a memory game to obtain the second-year shopping list. It can be solved in three ways; through logic, through quick thinking and memory (using the hint), or by reading part of The Chamber of Secrets. You could cheat, too, of course, but what would be the fun in that?

Recap

     All in all, I would say The Chamber of Secrets has been even better than The Philosopher's Stone was, so far. It was more interactable, and the exclusive content was much more detailed and, to put it simply, much more exclusive. There were more games and puzzles, and the art was fantastic, including even more detailed images of the main characters than the first book this far in, although we still haven't seen Gilderoy Lockart yet. So, if you haven't done so already, go and explore the first chapters of The Chamber of Secrets, and if you have, explore them more!

Rowan/Wiggentree

A Rowan, (a.k.a. Wiggen Tree), growing on a
mountainside.  Source

     The Rowan, also known as the Mountain Ash or the Wiggen Tree, is a tree in the Rose family that does well in the cold and in high altitudes. The Rowan is occasionally found growing on larger trees; such specimens are known as "flying rowans". It has a light grayish bark that becomes rough as it matures and its leaves have a feather-like formation and are sometimes fuzzy. The fruit is red, soft, and juicy, and is an important source of food for many birds, who help spread its seeds through their droppings.
     The name "Rowan" comes from the Common Germanic word raudnian, which means "becoming red". The name "Mountain Ash" comes from the trees resemblance to Ash Trees and the fact that it grows well in high altitudes. The word "wiggen" probably derived from the word wicken, (another name for the tree) which shares roots with the word "wicked" and derives from the Old English word wicca, which means "sorcerer". This word was applied to the tree because of the belief that it protected from witches and witchcraft.
     In ancient times the Rowan was believed by many to have possess supernatural powers and it appears often in folklore and mythology, for example, in Greek mythology the tree is believed to have from the blood and feathers of an eagle.
     The tree's wood is very strong and dense and thus is very useful for making wooden objects such as tools and walking sticks. Because of this, the wood was used by the ancient Norse to make rune staves and was also used by druids and later so-called sorcerers for staffs, wands, divining rods, and other such objects.
     In addition to using the Rowan's sturdy wood, druids used the bark and berries to dye robes black for lunar ceremonies. In some traditions the leaves and fruit were also made into incense that was used for divination, and in parts of Scandinavia the condition of the tree was used to predict various things such as the weather and the harvest, and .
     In the British Isles it was often called the Wiggen Tree, especially in the northern part of Great Britain, and there it was believed by many to ward off danger. Many beliefs held that it protected from specific creatures or things, ranging from lightning storms to witches. Flying Rowans (mentioned in the first paragraph) were thought to be especially protective against witchcraft and sorcery.
     In the Harry Potter series the wood of the Rowan is used for making wands and it is said that they are especially good at defensive spells, and that no dark wizard has ever owned a wand made from Rowan wood. It is often said in the wizarding world that Rowan wand holders are prone to gossip.
     Alternatively, in the Harry Potter series a "Wiggentree" is a seperate tree very closely related to the Rowan and often mistaken for it. It will "protect anyone touching its trunk from the attack of Dark creatures", and its bark is used as a potion ingredient.
     Users on Pottermore may receive a Rowan wand from Ollivanders in Chapter 5, Moment 4. The "Wiggentree" is also mentioned in Pottermore, in the exclusive content of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

Mistletoe

A branch of mistletoe with its characteristic sticky white
berries. Source

     Mistletoe is a shrub that grows on the branches of a tree or a larger shrub and gets water and many of its nutrients from its host tree or shrub. The fruit is white and sticky inside and it usually has a single seed. The word "Mistletoe" comes from the Anglo-Saxon words mistel, which means "dung", and tan, which means "twig". It is so named because the seeds often spread through the droppings of birds who eat the white berries. Mistletoe may cause a formation on its host known as the Witches' Broom, which can bear a resemblance to the mistletoe plant itself.
     In ancient times many cultures throughout Europe valued mistletoe as having mystical powers and properties. The ancient Celts believed that mistletoe could cure sleeplessness, high blood pressure, and tumors, as well as barrenness in animals. They also believed it to be an antidote to any poison. Mistletoe has significance in Greek and Norse mythology as well. It is also traditionally used as a Christmas decoration in some countries and in many of these countries tradition follows that a man and a woman standing under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss.
     In the Harry Potter series, mistletoe has magical properties, and Luna Lovegood claims that it is often infested with nargles.
     In the Pottermore, mistletoe is used as an ingredient for the Antidote to Common Poisons and the Forgetfulness Potion.

Bezoars

A Bezoar stone from Early Modern Northern Europe. Source

     The English word "bezoar" comes from the Persian word pâdzahr, which literally means "to expel poison". The bezoar as an object has gone through several incarnations, many of which together form the basis of the bezoars in the Harry Potter series.
     The belief began in the Arabian Peninsula from folk tales about a stones found by pools of water said to be produced in the eyes of the Bezoar Goat after it ate snakes and dipped its head in the pools to cool the heat that the venom caused. The stone was either ground up or put whole on injuries to help to cure them. The "oriental bezoar" formed in the digestive tract of this goat is still valued by some, and the idea that these goats can cure themselves from snake venom is still believed in certain parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
     Arab physicians later brought the legend to Europe and sold stones formed in the stomach and intestines of several different animals. Some were said to cure any poison while other physicians prescribed bezoars from specific animals for certain poisons. They were either ground up and mixed with other substances or simply dropped in glass to remove any poison that might be in it.
     In medical science today a bezoar is defined as "a mass found in the gastrointestinal system of an animal formed from compressed matter".
     In the Harry Potter series, "beozers" are stones from the stomach of a goat, a reference to Capra aegagrus aegagrus, the aforementioned Bezoar Goat, and are used, mostly in potions, to counteract poison, such as in the "Antidote to Common Poisons" brewed in Pottermore. If you need another one of these in Pottermore just go to the Hospital Wing (Chapter 17, Moment 2), zoom in all the way, and look in the ingredient shelf.