Prompt: Lost your keys? Alohomora. Noisy roommate? Quietus.

Feel the need to shatter

windows for some reason? Finestra. Create your own spell, charm, jinx, or other means for
magical mayhem. How is it enacted? Is there an incantation? Does it involve a potion or other
magical object? If so, what's in it or what is it? What does it do?

Tabula Raserum - Potion of Collective Truth

Etymology: The name comes from the Latin tabula rasa, meaning "clean slate", and the Latin
serum which means "fluid" or "liquid".
Ingredients:
- Two feathers from a blind owlet
- First shredded skin of serpent
- West African spider’s webs
- Powdered horn of goat-fish chimera
- Lotus stigma
- Water from the top of the highest mountain
- A hair strand from each person involved in the event*
- A drop of blood from the brewer
**Side note** The more individual’s hair strands are collected, the more effective the potion’s
ability to create a whole truth will be
Preparation:
- Feathers must be given from a blind owlet, as it is a symbol of wisdom, seeing through
the darkness of ignorance instead of being blinded by its own perspectives.
- Shed skin must be the first skin a serpent shredded, as it represents the first rebirth of the
pondering snake.
- A hair strand is needed from involved parties as there can exist no collective truth
without the inclusion of everyone’s perspectives
- The brewer must sacrifice a drop of blood as the price for the recreated truth
Procedure:
- Pour three cups of the mountain water into a silver cauldron. Stir three times counter-
clockwise, then seven times clockwise until the liquid turns purple.
- Add chimera’s powdered horn and one owlet’s feather.
- Add three spider webs and a tablespoon of lotus stigma.
 - Stir until the liquid turns red as blood; add a clockwise stir after every fifth counter-
clockwise stir.
- Add the second feather and the serpent’s shredded skin.
- Add hair strands one by one, from darkest to lightest shades.
- Add a drop of blood from the very brewer.
- Stir until the liquid turns clear as water again.
- Chant the incantation “I vow to see through dark, stagnant waters into the enlightening,
objective truth.”
Nature:
Tabula Raserum is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless serum distinguished
from water by its lower density. With as little as one cup, the potion can recreate the most
complete, objective truth of any past events or situations, regardless of the drinker’s subjective
perception. Essentially, the potion temporarily clears the drinker’s mind of their personal values
and beliefs, allowing them to see a whole, collective truth.
Applications:
Unlike Muggles’ polygraph tests, Veritaserum or other truth serums, Tabula Raserum is not
affected by drinker’s sanity or perception. This makes it reliable and fair to use in court cases,
but it needs authorisation and approval from all parties. Tabula Raserum provides the whole,
collective truth that is normally almost impossible to acquire because people recount and share
things in different ways--what one person chooses to include, another may choose to ignore.
Thus the potion is of great use in controversial legal cases where retold stories from the plaintiff,
the defendant, and/or witnesses are contrasting and unreliable, whether unconsciously or
intentionally.
Tabula Raserum will also prove helpful in researching events of the past. A more complete
history will unveil itself not only from the tales of veterans and suggestions of classified
documents, but also from the magical but concrete power of the serum of truth. History is no
longer a complex intersection of truths, bias and hopes, but finally what-really-happened.
Humans might finally know if there was ever a Trojan War as the great Greek poet Homer
described, how JFK was actually assassinated, or who exactly initiated the attack in the Gulf of
Tonkin. As a side result, historical textbooks and recreations will be able to depict the full and
unvarnished truth on a global scale, instead of having diverse and sometimes contrasting
variations of one truth taught in different places.
Above all, Tabula Raserum serves to satisfy humans’ endless curiosity. It answers questions and
provokes new ones. It is the portal through which humans can finally uncover the accurate
picture of what did happen to shed light on what is happening. The potion essentially is not in the
end a key to the past but the present, because to change people's vision of the present and the
future, one must begin by altering their perceptions of the past. World War II was the result of
misunderstanding history, and to avoid such mishaps, to protect the future, Tabula Raserum will
assist the bitter fight over what-really-happened.
Limitations:
Tabula Raserum cannot be used for trickery, only pure reality. The potion only takes effect if the
drinker is conscious and aware of his or her intentions and actions, as well as their consequences.
The potion is also unable to offer either an explanatory insight into natural phenomena or
concrete predictions of the future. It only applies in past mysteries involving human actions.
Some side-effects include a temporary judge-like or reporter-like voice and intonation, and
unconscious wake-walking as the drinker is under the impression that he or she is participating in
the recreated scenario.
Resistance:
Tabula Raserum is not infallible, as with almost all other potions. Though it requires the
drinker’s complete awareness to take effect, it can be resisted by Occlumency, the skill of
protecting one's mind from external penetration.
Author’s notes:
Although the potion is challenging to brew and possesses a powerful effect, the use of Tabula
Raserum is not strictly restricted. Everyone deserves to understand the truth, and such
understanding is essential in guiding and shaping their lives. However, when retelling the
recreated scenario, the person drinking Tabula Raserum is obliged by magic to state the truth and
only the truth.
Tabula Raserum naturally nurtures curiosity. It does not kill, but fuels debates. After exposing
the unadulterated truth, the potion still leaves much to interpretation such as motivations and
intentions, or why the truth was misinterpreted by different individuals. The truth might be that
there would still be a war over Troy, but it might also end up a very different Trojan War.