Venom & Virtue

chapter 49

A week later, I pushed Snape's office door open, stopping in my tracks once I found Draco already inside.

He was standing at the desk, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he poured a thick liquid into an empty vial.

His head snapped up at the sound of my arrival, his movements pausing a moment as he appraised my form slowly.

The gesture felt intense as usual, like being under the lens of a microscope.

"You're here already," I stated, trying to conceal my surprise at his eagerness.

"Yes, I thought I'd better get started early, catch up," he looked away, continuing to fill the vial.

I nodded in response, closing the door and strolling over to the desk as I placed my bag down on the floor.

My eyes trickled over him for a moment, taking in the agile form of his body.

It appeared that he'd been working for a while, his Slytherin robe and tie discarded on the chair behind him, a few of his shirt buttons left open.

A strand of blonde hair had fallen across his eyes, a subtle change from his normally uniform appearance.

It took everything in me not to reach out and smooth it back into place, my hand keen to feel the silky texture again.

Whilst I observed him, it occurred to me that I'd never seen him so domesticated, not even when we'd brewed things before in the library.

He looked different in the privacy of Snape's office, relaxed but concentrated, a faint furrow between his brows.

I tore my gaze away, directing it towards the strange white liquid as he put a lid on it.

"What is that stuff?"

"Granian hair, liquidised and thickened," he carried it over to the shelf, placing it back carefully before picking another.

I didn't reply, glancing at the empty box on the floor, the packages already spread across the desk.

I shrugged off my own robe, throwing it over his before rolling up my sleeves and choosing the package labelled Baneberry.

He rejoined me at the desk, silent as we each unwrapped packages and began to prep the ingredients inside.

The berries didn't require much work, simply needing to be plucked off the stalk and placed inside the vial gently.

Once I'd finished, I returned it to the shelf, scanning along the wooden levels and their contents.

They were curious objects, seemingly plain glass to the eye, but I knew they had to possess powerful enchantments to preserve such complicated ingredients for up to a year.

"What exactly has Snape done to these containers?" I looked over my shoulder, curious to see if my companion had an answer.

"Conservation charms I suppose, although they must be much more complicated than the type ordinary wizards use."

"Where could he have learnt such a thing?"

"There are books, and a lot of potion masters study the art of ingredient retainment, it's a necessity after all," he closed his vial, coming to stand next to me as he replaced it on the shelf.

"But there must be countless different charms for such a thing."

"Hundreds I imagine, everything from dehydration to freezing to chemical preservation," he shrugged, pondering the rows of glass.

"It seems awfully complicated," I muttered, noting the differences in the internal environments of each jar.

They varied greatly, some iced all the way through, others filled to the brim with murky liquids, as well as countless methods that I assumed were invisible to the naked eye.