The Sallow Saga - Vol. 2 - In the Shadows of Memories [A HL Fanfiction]

Chapter 2. A Blast from the Past

There were two things about potion brewing that Cassy disliked. Standing over a hot stove in the heat of mid-August, and the exactness of the recipes. Her father had warned her before she'd embarked as an apprentice under Gareth Weasley's mentorship, that a potion and a poison were just one breath away from each other. Thankfully, as September rolled through, J. Pippin's Potion's shop started to cool down as the autumnal weather settled in. She'd been working as a potion's apprentice for one whole month now, her main task was to brew the occasional wiggenweld potion for the weary traveller, Gareth refused to let her near any of the more taxing recipes until he was certain she could handle the pressure. Cassy sighed as another customer walked out the shop, thanking her for her tenth wiggenweld potion that week; no doubt they'd be back for a stock up in the morning.

Gareth emerged from the back room, carrying an unstable tower of boxes.
"Don't suppose you could help me out here?" he strained.
"Of course!" Cassy hurried around and helped levitate the topmost boxes down to the floor. It wasn't until she could see her mentor's smiling eyes that he continued with stacking the ingredients up, independently.

Gareth wasn't too bad an employer, she supposed. He was somewhat unorthodox, especially when he would purposefully turn a blind eye to some of the younger Hogwarts students stuffing their pockets with small handfuls of ingredients; but there was no denying he was a competent potions master. One thing Cassy had noticed, was that certain customers received special attention from him – even when they approached her first; Gareth would suddenly appear out of nowhere sometimes and hurry them away from her. Whenever this happened, Cassy would simply shrug and put it down to her mentor's quirkiness.

"What are these for?" Cassy queried as she observed the boxes, she'd never heard of some of the ingredients labelled on the cardboard.
Gareth grinned impishly and hurried her over, "can you keep a secret?"
Cassy huddled closer to him, this was the part of her job she really enjoyed; whenever Gareth approached her with a devilish grin and a twinkle in his eye – she knew he was about to start experimenting. She knew some of the concoctions he brewed weren't exactly trialled and tested, however Cassy could not help but get caught up in the thrill and excitement when her mentor would temporarily close the shop "for lunch" and start concocting some wild and new potion. Most would result in a controlled explosion, but for those that didn't, she would be provided with the first batch of something unique and wonderful.
So far, to date, she had received a small vial of the stunning powder that was kept in a bowl by till. She'd only ever seen it used once on a less than desirable wizard who'd ventured in to the store and had drunkenly accused her of blowing up his brother at Hogwarts. Cassy had been taken aback by the accusations and before she could try and correct the man, Gareth once again, appeared out of nowhere, marched over and thrown a handful of the dust into the man's eyes! The man had staggered blinded out of the shop, glistening from head to toe with a fine glitter; tripped over one of the many cats that roamed the streets of Hogsmeade and hadn't returned since. Gareth had insisted that she take a handful of vials, filled with the stunning dust, home with her that evening when they were closing shop.
She'd also been given several tiny bottles of a thick, paint like substance. Gareth had illustrated how the paint showed no trace on her fingers when applied but would tingle and sting (not unpleasantly) if she was handed a drink that had been tampered with, by a stranger. Cassy admired the idea, although the Three Broomsticks, there were a few unsavoury characters who roamed the streets after a certain time in the evening, so she never left the shop without applying a coating to her small finger. Not that she ever found the time to go drinking alone, there was rarely an instance she wasn't left in her own company, her carer Ominis would wait for her outside the shop, at exactly four o'clock; before accompanying her home and sleeping on the ground floor bed in her cottage.

"Of course, I can..." she whispered back.
"Brilliant!" Gareth hurried to the front door and locked it tight; it was a little before lunch time, however Cassy wasn't about to correct him when his excitement was so contagious.
"What would you say, if I were to tell you that I have an idea in mind for a poison that will temporarily blind your opponent?" he rubbed his hands together with a wicked little giggle.
"I would say, so long as I won't get into trouble with the law, sign me up!" Cassy bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement; "so what does this potion include?"
Gareth slapped a scrap of parchment on the till's counter with a few scribbled notes.
"Just a small number of doxy eggs, fwooper feathers and an abundance of poison ivy," he checked each item off on the parchment as he detailed them.
"Fwooper feathers? Again Gareth? You're obsessed!" Cassy laughed.
"Whatever do you mean?" Gareth chuckled innocently.
"I mean every time you use them in your recipes, there's an explosion, it's like you're desperate to blow the shop up at some point. It's like that one time at Hogwarts, where you... you..." Cassy trailed off and her eyes glazed over.
"Cassy? Cassy?!" Gareth stopped everything and hurried over, he gently shook her shoulders; his face pale with concern.
"I'm fine Gareth, sorry. I think I had another moment where I slipped away with the fairies." She sighed and shook her head, these moments happened more times that she cared to admit; it was part of the reason Ominis rarely left her on her own. Her memory was far from being her greatest asset.
"Are you sure?" Gareth watched her carefully, "I'm sure this can wait until you're feeling better?"
"No! No, I'm okay – so, doxy eggs, fwooper feathers and poison ivy?" Cassy furrowed her brow as she worked on recalling each item.
Gareth slowly returned to his more casual self, "yes! So, in potions we normally use the contents of the doxy eggs as a binding agent. Well, I thought to myself, the dust from the crushed shell of a doxy egg can cause irritation to the eyes, poison ivy causes irritation to the skin; and as you said, fwooper feathers offer just the right amount of a bang to make life a bit more exciting!" He winked at her, his jokester demeanour in full swing.
"So, what makes it a spray? Surely a spray would suggest moisture, these are all dry ingredients." Cassy mused.
"Well that's the beauty of this idea, Cas'!" Gareth beamed, "water! It waters everything down so that the effects of each ingredient are not as violent as they would be with just the natural oils of the fwooper feather!"
Cassy mused on this for some time before nodding, "it sounds genius Gareth! As always!"