Re: Lily @ Potions contest
Belby loved the creativity of it, and thinking outside the box of what a potions contest allows. Too many people seemed to think potions were limited to things to drink. But to go practical and tactile...brilliant!
While he was gushing out loud about all this, he failed to notice Harry grabbing a hold of his (clearly very nice) maroon robes to demonstrate the paint in question.
Belby looked down at Tiny Harry, who looked back up at him, and they held a long gaze as the intern chasing after the judge arrived and held his breath once he saw the tiny handprints all over the star guest's robes...
Tension was in the air and the hapless intern could feel his knees start to go weak...before Belby suddenly crouched down next to Harry, grabbed a handful of paint from the pot beside him, and began smearing it on the ground in what looked like some kind of shorthand.
A sigh of relief could be heard from the hassled intern.
Belby, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to theorize out loud to a baby about how he thought Lily might've done this potion while using the paint to work through some of the math. After a minute he stopped and rubbed his chin in thought, not noticing at all that he'd now left fresh paint smears all over his face that matched Harry's.
"You know," he told Harry as he plopped down onto the ground in the middle of his crowd of onlookers "I knew a girl who tried to do something similar to this. Recreate colour charm effects using potions. Very admirable, creative, longer lasting. Poor charmwork has ruined the longevity of many a product." He wagged his paint covered finger to make his point. "Now unfortunately she made a grave error and the whole thing went up in a truly divine pear and cocoa smelling plume of smoke. The walls of her house wouldn't stay one colour for months. Of course one thing led to another and I think she ended up briefly on the run from the Swiss of all people...or was that because of the experiment with the chocolate, either way, her hand is still blue, she's stuck in little more than an outhouse in the Alps, and worst of all her prize cauldron is a truly ghastly shade of puce!"
He turned to Harry seriously, making sure the baby knew this was really an error to never make, then he reached out to bop Harry's nose, leaving a blue dollop of paint on it.
"And That...is why we never use solid measuring cups for liquids! Imagine...puce!"