From the Mind of Dr. Keith Nicholas

Spice
[spahys]

A highly addictive, highly magical substance created by Keith Nicholas in his second year.

This is a journal meant to track the development of Spice creation and the effects it has on users. Classified: FKSO (For Keith's Eyes Only)

Creation: For security reasons, the exact formulae for Spice cannot be written here. The key ingredients however, are listed below.

1 cup of pixie blood
6 chopped mandrake roots
2 cups of crushed snake scales
4 crushed Belladonna leaves

(Will create 2o vials of Spice)

Pixie blood creates the initial euphoric reaction, which is amplified by the affects of Belldonna leaves. The snake scales are a precautionary measure - subjects given Spice without the scales got a longer, more intense high, but were prone to suicide and other such dangerous measures. Mandrake roots serve to intensify the rush given by the amplified pixie blood by breaking down certain chemical barriers in the brain (Keith's Note: Is this possibly related to the way Mandrake Roots help revive petrified victims? More research is warranted)

Upon completion, Spice is a liquid with many of the same properties as water. It glows blue flecked with silver, depending on how much Pixie blood was used.

Ingestion Unlike many muggle drugs, Spice is created in liquid form and must therefore be taken orally. Work is currently being done on creating versions of Spice that can be taken by more traditional muggle means, but work has so far been unsuccessful.

Effects A high will result nearly immediately after ingestion occurs. Users are advised to retreat to a safe place before ingesting. Once the high has begun, users will begin to feel light headed and dizzy, yet very much in control. Lowered inhibitions and motor skills are common, though not universal. Certain users have even reported visual hallucinations, though study shows that this seems to be a personal issue rather than a problem with the creation of the Spice itself. A notable side effect of Spice is during the high, a user's eyes will begin to change color to a dark blue. Color will fade after the high, but studies on the long term effects of this (if there are any) are still ongoing. Work is also being done on how to correct this problem.

Withdrawal: Before withdrawal is discussed, a brief note on the workings of Spice must be explained.

Despite Spice being rather mundane in affect, it is still, at it's essence, a magical drug. Studies done indicate the Spice works by highjacking the user's magic system and then stimulating portions of it, resulting in the effects mentioned above. This is confirmed by muggles and squibs, who are unable to get high from Spice. Prolonged exposure to Spice results in the Spice actually mingling with the user's magic system. (Imagine the magic system is a river, with Spice being a red dye that goes through it. After prolonged exposure, small pieces of red dye will remain in river long after the dyeing)

Spice withdrawal is a multi step process. As noted above, Spice is also a highly addictive drug, and addiction will usually occur after a week of sustained ingestion. Addiction levels vary from person to person.

Phase One: When the body of an addicted user is denied Spice for a certain period time, (amount varies on the user, but the average is 2 days) the user begins to feel an un-scratchable itch that slowly spreads over the user's entire body. After several hours, the itching shifts to an intense burning, rendering the user unable to do anything for several hours.

Phase Two: Phase two begins a few hours after the burning of Phase one ends. If the user still refuses to ingest Spice, the body will begin rejecting food, lowering the user's appetite and throwing up anything the user may have in their stomach. The user will then go into a deep sleep.

Phase Three: The final phase of withdrawal, the user will not wake from their coma unless magically assisted. Even then, the user will have difficulty staying awake and will fall back into unconsciousness within the next half hour. While sleeping, the user's body ransacks their own magic system to find the aforementioned pieces of Spice still remaining. The user will begin to waste away as the body feeds upon it's own magic system. It is unknown if the body will eventually stop, but the predicted hypothesis is that it will continue until the user's death.

For these reasons, it appears to be impossible to quit Spice "cold turkey". A user must be weaned off of Spice over a period of roughly a month.