Fever Diminishing Potion

Chapter 5

Fever Diminishing Potion

Estimated Brewing Time:
Pewter cauldron: 45 minutes
Brass cauldron: 41 minutes
Copper cauldron: 39 minutes

Ingredients:
Seven hundred and fifty (750) ml water
Two (2) valerian sprigs²
Four (4) yarrow leaves¹
One (1) peacock feather¹
Sixty (60) ml pomegranate juice²
Three (3) Shrivelfigs²

Instructions:

Part One:

1. Bring 500 ml of water to 363 Kelvin (90°C/194°F).
2. Add two sprigs of valerian to the cauldron.
3. Add two yarrow leaves to the cauldron.
4. Add thirty ml of pomegranate juice to the cauldron.
5. Stir once counter-clockwise.
6. Immediately stir twice clockwise.
7. Bring the heat up to 383 Kelvin (110°C/230°F) for five seconds, and then reduce heat again to 363 Kelvin (90°C/194°F).
8. Leave potion to brew in your pewter cauldron for twenty minutes (this would be 18 minutes in a brass cauldron and 17 minutes in a copper cauldron).
9. While your potion is brewing, peel three Shrivelfigs and add them to your mortar. Crush them with your pestle so that you get as much juice out of them as you can. Put this to the side for use in Part Two.

At this point, the potion will be a deep purple color, and the steam will not have any notable color.

Part Two:

1. Add 250 ml of water to the cauldron.
2. Add one whole peacock feather to the cauldron.
3. Stir twice clockwise.
4. Bring the heat up to 383 Kelvin (110°C/230°F) for ten seconds, and then reduce heat again to 363 Kelvin (90°C/194°F).
5. Add thirty ml of pomegranate juice to the cauldron.
6. Measure out sixty ml of the Shrivelfig juice and add it to the cauldron.
7. Allow the potion to brew for 45 seconds uninterrupted before adding the final ingredient.
8. Add final two yarrow leaves to the cauldron.
9. Stir once counter-clockwise.
10. Leave potion to brew in your pewter cauldron for 15 minutes (this would be 13 minutes in a brass cauldron and 12 minutes in a copper cauldron.)

As you take the potion off the heat and allow it to cool before siphoning it into a phial, it should be an eggplant purple with streaks of gold running through it. When consumed, the potion tastes a little like a moldy apple.

To Store:

The Fever Diminishing Potion should be kept in a cool place. It can store for up to one year, at which point it should be safely discarded.

To Use:

The most common way to use the Fever Diminishing Potion is orally, adding 15 ml to tea or consuming it directly. It can be taken every six hours until the fever is diminished. This potion is not habit-forming, so it can be used as often as needed.

In more recent years, the potion has occasionally been injected instead. This is not nearly as common as oral consumption, but in the case of extreme fever, especially in the very young and very sick, it has been used as an emergency measure. Only a licensed healer should inject the Fever Diminishing Potion, however, and all allergies should be disclosed before this is attempted.

Effects:

While the Fever Diminishing Potion does not eliminate the illness associated with the fever, it does work to bring down the temperature of the person suffering from the ailment. Within about twenty minutes after the potion is ingested, the patient should see their temperature begin to fall back to a normal level. When the potion is injected, this reaction takes closer to five minutes.

Side effects include the chills and some have reported their saliva freezing in their mouth after taking this potion.

Allergic reactions are not severe when the potion is ingested, and typically include dry mouth, hives, and chartreuse pustules. When the potion is injected, however, those who are allergic to the potion - and particularly those with Shrivelfig allergy - have experienced violent and painful outbursts of these chartreuse pustules all over the body. The pustules have a deep violet head, and ooze a pink pus when popped.

Caution:

Excepting for potential allergies, the Fever Diminishing Potion is considered safe for all witches and wizards to consume, regardless of age, gender, or alternative health problems. In fact, this Fever Diminishing Potion is recommended for pregnant women who come down with a fever to help mitigate alternate effects that the fever may have on the mother and unborn child. Children under the age of five should only begin to take this potion with permission of a healer.

An overdose of the Fever Diminishing Potion can lead to a dangerous drop in body temperature, so if very young or very ill patients are taking the potion, their intake should be monitored closely. There have even been unconfirmed reports of overdoses leading to witches and wizards being found frozen solid in their beds. While these reports say that it was also possible to thaw and revive them, it was still a very unpleasant ordeal, and most developed head colds on top of their other illnesses after the fact.