Mended

Twenty-Four

 Severus stands behind the counter at Primrose Apothecary, his fingers drumming on the aged oak counter. Behind him, lined neatly on shelves are all of his wet specimens that he had stored in his office at Hogwarts, which he had never had a proper place to store after leaving. He found them to be fascinating, intriguing, and oddly satisfying. To be completely frozen in time, even after death, yet still so lifelike. He could still remember the first specimen he had collected; he was only sixteen years old and spotted the mooncalf fetus suspended in a pale green liquid on the front counter of Borgin and Burkes while strolling through during Christmas holiday with Lucius Malfoy and his father, Abraxas. Much to his surprise, on Christmas morning, Severus unwrapped that very mooncalf as a gift from Abraxas Malfoy, who had watched him study the thing with great interest as Lucius swaggered throughout the shop with Narcissa on his arm.

Abraxas had always treated Severus kindly; allowed him to stay summers and winters at Malfoy Manor and had even funded Severus' potions ingredients during his early days with the Death Eaters, before The Dark Lord began funding them himself. The old man had seen something in Severus, though he never divulged what it may be that he had seen. He mentored him, taught him to never stray far from potions, as he was truly gifted at it.

After that Christmas, Abraxas indulged him frequently, often for no reason at all. There was countless times while at either Spinner's End or Hogwarts, that Severus would be woken by a sharp rapping at the window by Abraxas' black-banned owl, Belladonna, delivering yet another creature suspended in liquid. These gifts continued until Abraxas' untimely death due to dragon pox during the summer of 1994. Severus had taken his death rather hard, as Abraxas had been the closest thing to a father figure he had ever had. He had been a short tempered and intimidating man, yet incredibly insightful and powerful. He had been, at the time, who Severus looked up to the most, the type of man Severus had aspired to be while he was a mere teenager.

The old man had left Severus a handsome amount of gold, his personal collection of specimens, several silver scales, and two golden cauldrons in his will. One of the cauldrons was on a high shelf in the attic brewing room at his wife's house, the other stored securely in her vault at Gringott's with a note detailing the significance of the piece. Though, Severus doubted seriously that his wife would understand the significance of said cauldron.

The Malfoy family acquired their riches from Malfoy Apothecary, which began operating in the fourteenth century when Nicholas Malfoy took the opportunity to swindle innocent Muggles and naive wizards alike out of their meager pay to protect themselves against Bubonic Plague. The Malfoy family kept this business in their name until well into the seventeenth century, when certain ancestors believed it wiser to be as close to the Ministry as possible. Abraxas, however, confided in Severus on more than one occasion that he wished to have had the opportunity to own the shop himself.

The golden cauldron stored safely at Gringott's belonged to none other than the first Lucius Malfoy. Why Abraxas had left it to Severus and not his own son, Lucius' namesake, Severus still had yet to understand. The second cauldron, the one Severus chose to brew in more often than not, belonged to Abraxas himself, and was a gift from his father, Septimus. Whether the later Lucius knew that Severus possessed these heirlooms was another story. Lucius had never mentioned them, and neither had he.

In the end, despite his best efforts, Abraxas succumb to dragon pox. Severus had been too late, much like he had been on countless other occasions. His mind drifts back to nearly three weeks ago, when Danu had been splinched returning home after one of their frequent squabbles. If he had not been there, if he had taken Lorna to the apothecary as he had briefly debated on doing that day, she would have lost her life there in the garden, alone and scared. A chill runs down his spine as he breaks out in a cold sweat. Severus ceases his strumming on the bar and strains his ears carefully to listen for any signs on distress from the back room. He can hear Danu's soft, sweet voice and Lorna's high-pitched giggle. He had not wanted Danu to come, not because he did not value her company, he simply wished for her to stay home and rest. Danu, however, insisted that she be present on opening day.