Cedric returned to the Hufflepuff common room to find Fred sitting at the table with a pink streak across his forehead.
George was examining a tin of cosmetic powder, while Adrian had spread a sheet of parchment between them and was drawing what looked like a face with an unusually complicated set of instructions around it.
Cedric put his bag on the floor and pulled out a chair.
“Do I want to know what you’ve been up to?”
“Nothing yet,” Adrian said, shifting his elbow so Cedric could see the drawing.
“We’re trying to figure out how to make this work.”
Fred pointed at the pink mark.
“This was research.”
“You put powder on your own forehead,” George said, closing the tin before his brother could reach into it again.
“We’ve established that you can manage that much without magic.”
Cedric looked at the other tins, then at the square of padded cloth lying beside Adrian’s drawing.
“What’s the idea?”
“A pad that puts makeup on for you.” Adrian turned the parchment around, showing him the arrows he’d drawn around the cheeks and forehead.
“You load it with whatever colours you want, press it against your face, and it applies everything in the right places.”
Fred leaned across the table.
“Or the wrong places, if you’ve bought the interesting version.”
“That’s the version you’re interested in,” George told him.
“Other people might prefer to leave the room looking respectable.”
Cedric picked up the square of cloth.
It was soft on one side, with a thin strip of tougher material sewn around the edge, and Adrian had marked three sections on the back in pencil.
The compartments weren’t sealed yet, and a little powder had gathered along one of the seams.
“How’s it supposed to know which bit of your face it’s touching?”
“That’s what I’m working on.” Adrian retrieved the pad and placed it over the drawing.
“I can enchant the cloth to spread something across a surface.
Getting it to stop in the right place is harder, especially when there are different colours involved.”
George had obtained the powders from an older Hufflepuff who’d listened to the idea with interest until Fred explained the proposed prank version.
She’d supplied them with a few nearly empty tins on the condition that they didn’t try anything on her face until they had something worth testing.
She’d also wanted to know whether a finished pad could apply makeup evenly in poor light, which had given Adrian another problem to add to the page.
Cedric looked over the drawing again.
“Why not start with one colour?
You’ve got three different things to go wrong before you’ve even worked out how to make the first one behave.”
Adrian rested his pencil against the parchment.
He’d been trying to design the whole pad at once, which had left so many arrows crossing the face that the sketch was beginning to resemble a map of London.
“Yeah, okay.
One cheek to start with.
We can add the other parts after that works.”
Fred took the pink tin from George and held it beside his own face.
“I’m happy to volunteer.”
“You’ve already volunteered,” George said.
“That’s how you got the mark on your forehead.”
“And look how much we’ve learned.”
Cedric reached for his Transfiguration notes and moved them away from the open powder.
“You could use something that doesn’t have eyes for the first few attempts.
I don’t particularly fancy explaining to Madam Pomfrey why you’ve enchanted Fred’s eyelids pink.”
“That would be quite difficult,” George said, studying his brother’s forehead.
“She’d probably want to know why we stopped there.”
Fred gave him a shove, and George caught the edge of the table before the tin could fall.
Adrian took the powder out of their reach and made a note to find a proper practice head before their next session.
They spent the rest of the afternoon working through the design.
George suggested keeping the colours in separate compartments so the pad could be refilled without disturbing the enchantment.
Fred wanted interchangeable patterns, including an impressive collection of moustaches that Adrian refused to draw until they had managed a cheek without making a mess of it.
Cedric added a wider untouched area around the eyes and made Adrian mark it clearly on the parchment.
When they packed up, they had a design for a single-colour prototype, a list of materials and more questions than they’d started with.
Fred was still trying to persuade George that a bright green moustache ought to be included among the standard options.
By Tuesday, Adrian had cut the cloth and worked out how he wanted the powder to move, but keeping it evenly distributed inside the pad was proving awkward.
It collected around the stitching whenever he folded the material, and he wasn’t convinced the first enchantment would improve matters.
He brought the problem to Potions, though he left the prototype in his bag and concentrated on the Shrinking Solution Snape had assigned.
The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins had already begun preparing their ingredients.
Across the aisle, Cassius Warrington was examining the contents of his cauldron while his partner searched through a pile of roots for one that hadn’t been cut too thickly.
Cedric was working beside Adrian, quietly arranging his ingredients so he wouldn’t have to reach across the burner once the mixture began heating.
Adrian had cut the final batch of roots more finely than the instructions required.
He weighed them, checked the measurement against his notes and set them aside until the proper stage.
When Snape reached their bench, his gaze moved from the prepared ingredients to the instructions on the blackboard.
Snape stopped beside Adrian’s bench and examined the finely cut roots.
“I see you’ve decided the instructions require improving, Mr.
Clarke.”
“The last batch took too long to break down, Professor.
I cut these a little finer, but kept the weight the same.”
“A little finer?” Snape picked up one of the pieces.
“Do you intend to measure your ingredients, or shall we rely on your remarkable powers of estimation?”
“The pieces are about an eighth narrower, Professor.
I weighed them before cutting.”
Snape picked up one of the roots and examined its edge.
“And what evidence have you that this alteration will improve the potion, rather than merely provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your ingenuity?” Read the latest chapters at g.com.
“I tested a small batch before class.
It broke down more evenly after I lowered the heat.”
“Then you will record the result accurately and refrain from presenting a single successful attempt as a discovery of great significance.” Snape returned the root to Adrian’s board and inspected the surface of his potion.
“Your preparation is acceptable.
Do try not to ruin it through carelessness.”
Adrian nodded and reached for his quill.
Snape remained beside the bench long enough to check the developing mixture before moving to the next station, where a Slytherin had allowed his cauldron to boil too vigorously.
“Reduce the flame, you dunderhead.
You are brewing a potion, not preparing dinner.”
The boy hurried to adjust the burner while Snape examined the contents of his cauldron.
Cedric waited until the professor had moved farther down the aisle before glancing at Adrian’s preparation board.
“You could’ve asked him before changing it, you know.”
“I wanted to see whether it worked first.” Adrian made a brief note beside the measurements and checked the surface of his potion.
“He might’ve told you why it wouldn’t.”
“Sure, but I had enough ingredients to test it myself.
If it failed, I could’ve just followed the original instructions.”
Cedric accepted that with a small nod and returned to his cauldron.
Adrian finished recording the result, moved his notebook away from the burner and continued stirring.
Their finished potions were bottled and submitted before the end of the lesson.
While Cedric gathered their belongings, Adrian cleaned his station and checked that the last of the ingredients had been put away.
Snape was already inspecting the submitted samples when Adrian approached his desk with the folded design for the makeup pad.
“Professor, could I ask you something about powdered ingredients?”
Snape didn’t look up from the vial he was examining.
“If you must, Mr.
Clarke.
I have no intention of spending the remainder of the afternoon listening to you speculate.”
“I’m trying to keep cosmetic powder evenly distributed inside enchanted fabric.
It keeps collecting around the seams, and I haven’t found anything that’ll hold it in place without making it clump.”
That earned him a look.
Snape set the vial aside and held out his hand for the parchment, which Adrian unfolded to reveal the drawing of the pad, its separate compartments and a list of the powders they intended to use.
“A cosmetic applicator,” Snape said, studying the design.
His eyes moved to the proposed enchantments, and his expression darkened slightly.
“I presume the Weasley twins have had a hand in this.”
“They’re helping me make it.”
“How reassuring.
I trust their contribution extends beyond finding new and inventive ways to make a nuisance of themselves.”
Adrian decided that explaining the prank setting wouldn’t improve the conversation.
He waited while Snape examined the ingredient list, occasionally turning the parchment to follow the arrows Adrian had drawn between the compartments.
“Powdered arrowroot may be suitable as a base, although that will not correct a poorly constructed enchantment.” Snape tapped the list with one finger.
“You haven’t identified the contents of every powder.
Until you have, none of them is to be used near anyone’s eyes, and you will test each ingredient separately before attempting to combine them.”
Adrian took out his notebook and added arrowroot beneath the ingredients he’d already considered.
“Would it help if I tested the mixture on plain cloth before putting it into the pad?”
“It would establish whether your proposed binding agent works with the fabric.
I should have thought that was obvious.” Snape returned the design, but Adrian had barely folded it when the professor added, “And if you have any intention of introducing experimental potion residues into that contraption, abandon it now.
I will not have Madam Pomfrey treating students because you and the Weasley twins were too foolish to examine what you were putting on their faces.”
“We’re keeping the tests off people until we know it works, Professor.”
“A rare display of good sense.
See that it lasts.”
Snape reached for the next sample, and Adrian took the hint.
Cedric was waiting near the classroom door with their bags, though he’d been close enough to hear most of the exchange.
They were halfway up the dungeon stairs when Cedric glanced at the folded parchment in Adrian’s hand.
“I wouldn’t tell Fred you’ve been asking Snape for advice.
He’ll want to put the professor’s name on the packaging.”
Adrian laughed, imagining Fred presenting a cosmetic pad bearing Snape’s signature.
“Yeah, we’re not doing that.
I like being alive.”
Cedric adjusted his bag on his shoulder.
“Then perhaps don’t show him the drawing, either.
He’ll only ask what else Snape suggested.”
Adrian slipped the parchment into his notebook before they reached the next landing.
He could already hear students coming down the stairs towards them, and Cedric moved aside to let them pass.
On Thursday afternoon, George set a porcelain practice head on a desk in an unused classroom and adjusted its stand until it stopped wobbling.
Fred had borrowed it, with permission, from an older student who used it for hair-styling charms.
It had painted eyes, a clearly defined face and a chip behind one ear that gave it the appearance of having survived a rather unpleasant haircut.
George stepped back to inspect it.
“There.
It won’t complain if the colour goes wrong.”
“Or go straight to Madam Pomfrey,” Cedric added, spreading a clean cloth beside the stand.
He checked the labels Adrian had copied from the cosmetic tins before moving the practice head onto the cloth.
“Have you checked everything we’re using today?”
“Yeah.
The compartments for the other colours were still empty, and he’d adjusted the enchantment so it would only apply powder to one cheek.
“I wanna see if I can get this part working the same way twice before we try anything else.”
Fred leaned over the practice head, turning it slightly to examine the painted features.
“Shame.
I thought we’d at least give it a decent moustache.”
“You can draw one on it later,” George said, pulling the head back into position.
“Let Adrian get on with the test.”
Cedric moved the spare powders farther down the desk while Adrian measured a small amount of the mixture into the pad.
Once everything was ready, George opened the notebook to a clean page, and Fred settled beside the practice head to watch.
Fred inspected the practice head with an expression of disappointment.
“It hasn’t even got proper eyebrows.”
“We’re not doing eyebrows yet,” Adrian reminded him.
He placed the pad on the desk and used his wand to establish the simplest version of the enchantment, leaving the unused compartments empty.
“One colour, one cheek.
If that works, we’ll try the other side.”
He loaded a little powder into the pad and pressed it gently against the porcelain.
Warmth spread through the cloth, and when he lifted it away, a faint pink patch remained on the practice head’s left cheek.
George leaned closer.
“Not bad.
Try it again.”
They wiped the head clean and repeated the test.
The second patch was wider, and the third reached almost to the corner of the painted mouth.
Adrian adjusted the enchantment between attempts while George recorded the results.
Cedric kept an eye on the untouched area around the eyes, occasionally turning the head so they could inspect it from a different angle.
Fred lasted through several nearly identical patches before fetching a handkerchief from his bag.
“Perhaps it needs something else to look at.
We’ve established that it can recognise a face, but what happens if there’s something in the way?”
He held the handkerchief beside the practice head.
Adrian brought the pad towards the porcelain cheek, intending to stop if the cloth interfered with the charm, but a pink mark appeared on the handkerchief before the pad reached the face.
Fred turned it over.
“Well, that’s inconvenient.”
George took the handkerchief and examined the mark.
“It went for the cloth instead.”
Adrian checked the pad.
The enchantment was meant to respond when it touched the correct surface, yet he’d seen the powder move while a small gap remained.
He asked Fred to hold the handkerchief upright and brought the pad towards it again, stopping short of contact.
A second mark appeared.
Cedric moved the practice head farther from the edge of the desk.
“How far away does it work?
You don’t want that happening every time somebody walks past with one in their pocket.”
Adrian retrieved a ruler and repeated the test while George held the cloth steady.
The exact distance varied between attempts, but the powder consistently transferred before contact.
He made another adjustment, reducing the range until the pad needed to come much closer to the cloth before activating.
Fred watched the ruler for a while, then picked up a quill from the desk.
“Could you make it react to somebody reaching for something instead?”
Adrian looked at the quill.
“Probably.
It’d need a different effect, though.”
George set the handkerchief aside and placed the quill in the cleared space beside the practice head.
“What if it moved away?”
Cedric, who’d been helping Adrian clean the last powder mark, looked over.
“You’ve only just got this one working.
Can’t we finish the pad before you start making things run about?”
“We can write the idea down,” Fred said, reaching for their notebook.
“Doesn’t mean we’ve got to make it today.”
Adrian took George’s quill and drew a hand approaching the quill, with an arrow pointing away from it.
A second arrow followed, this one directed towards the hand.
He could already see uses for both directions, although making the charm recognise the intended owner would take far more work than moving a quill across a desk.
George read the notes over his shoulder.
“Scamper Tabs for the first one?”
“And Fetch Tabs for the other,” Adrian said.
Fred examined the drawing before pulling the notebook closer.
“Scamper’s going to be much more fun.”
“Fetch might actually be useful,” Cedric said.
He took the quill long enough to write a note beneath both ideas, then returned it to Adrian.
“And neither of them should keep going forever.”
Adrian read the instruction to limit the number of activations and nodded.
George added the two names to the page while Fred tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade him that the useful version could wait until they’d made a quill escape from somebody’s hand.
The porcelain head remained on the desk beside them, its left cheek still carrying the last pink patch.
Adrian picked up the pad and examined the stitching, then moved it back into the centre of their workspace before the twins could clear the table for their new idea.
“We’re finishing this first,” he said.
“You guys can argue about runaway quills after we get the other cheek right.”