Unspeakable

Chapter 28: Double Double Toil and Trouble

Diane lay in bed restlessly that night, letting out sighs as she tried to get comfy in bed. She rolled back and forth, but no matter what she did she couldn't seem to get comfortable.

She felt a pillow hit her back and looked up to see Poppy sitting up in the next bed beside hers, smiling in amusement at her.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Diane whispered, taking the pillow off her head.

"If I didn't know better I'd have thought mooncalves were dancing on your bed over there." Poppy giggled.

Diane laughed softly, turning toward her. "Sorry, I'm having a hard time sleeping."

"Having a hard time sleeping alone?" Poppy asked in a whisper, her dark eyes knowing.

"Y-yes." Diane blushed softly, looking away bashfully.

"Take that pillow and put it between your legs, then hug your spare pillow." Poppy said softly.

Diane blinked in confusion and shrugged. Poppy knew best. She tried that and let out a happy sound at how much better that was.

"There you go." Poppy smiled at the sound she'd made."goodnight, Diane."

"Goodnight, Poppy. Thank you." Diane said, smiling happily against the pillow in her arms.

She was so lucky to have Poppy here for her. She was even more excited to hear that she might be staying around after school ended.

———————-

The next day Garreth was getting his cauldrons ready for another semester, setting out the new ones he'd bought in his private room. He'd gotten quite the assembly line going, planning on spending the semester not only working for J Pippin on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but building his stock for the shop he wanted to open. He just had to figure out where... and that took research with the locals.

He looked up in shock at the sound of the door knocking.

"What. The. Hell." He whispered, wondering who it could be. The only people that knew about this place were Ominis, Diane and Poppy. It had to be one of them, right?

He walked over to open the door, shifting his hand through his hair to make sure it looked good after lifting heavy cauldrons around.

"A-Anne?!" He said in surprise when he opened the door to see her leaning against the door jam while she waited.

"Hello, Garreth." Anne smiled up to him, her smile turning amused at how shocked he was.

"How did you know about this place? Did Ominis tell you?" He sounded rather annoyed about that.

"No, of course not." Anne rolled her eyes. "Garreth, no one can knock out 20 wiggenweld potions for third year finals in two days like you did. I knew you had some secret room somewhere, and I just followed my nose." She tapped her nose with a wry smile. "You can smell it from down the hall."

"I... suppose that makes sense." Garreth said, glancing back to the pot of rank polyjuice potion bubbling thickly in the corner.

"So, for what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from Anne Sallow, then?" He asked, smiling down to her.

Anne glanced away from the smile with a strange expression, looking perplexed for a second before she recovered. "I wanted to ask if you could make me a potion... or figure something out for me." She asked softly.

"Well, you came to the right place. Come on in." Garreth opened the door and stepped aside so she could walk in.

She looked around with wide eyes at the rows and rows of cauldrons around her, but it was obvious he was just setting up. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of the cauldron in the corner, peering into it curiously as she moved around the room.