Working Lunch, <Tara>

[Byron Grant]

Byron was done with his Saturday morning lab time while Miles worked on his own projects. He had told him about Tara and that he would be meeting with her in Hogsmeade to talk about some potions ideas.

He gathered his notes that he’d been working on for months and heads up to the entrance hall so he could go out the front doors. He smiled at the portraits lining the passages and managed to dodge Peeves along the way.

The walk down to the village was pleasant enough for early March, but spring had definitely not sprung yet. His robes flapped around his ankles and he was very glad he was wearing his leather pants and dragon hide boots. A bright blue scarf he got in Cape Town was wrapped around his throat and flapping in the wind.

At least it wasn’t a school weekend, so the kids wouldn’t be in the village that weekend. The walk was a brisk one and the chill was enough to make him hurry.

He entered the Three Broomsticks and took a seat near the fireplace, hoping that Tara wouldn’t take too long go get there. He ordered some coffee (it was too early for anything else) and leaned back in the chair to enjoy the heat from the fire.

[Tara]

Tara put on her typical Yancy-face, though this time she allowed herself the fancy of fun coloured streaks in part of her hair. Just green and blue, understated, really, but it pleased her. Her eyes seemed to be an ambiguous shade between those two colours.

So sue her, but if she was going to have to wear a glamour, she might as well enjoy the variations upon a theme that she used. Her hair was down, and though her face was perfect looking, much of her hair fell down her left side.

Her notes are tucked neatly into a portfolio that she carried in her neat bag that held a lot more than it looked like it would, and she apparated to Hogsmeade a few minutes early and made herself to the establishment she would have spent time in as a girl if she’d had the privilege to attend Hogwarts.

She tamps down those feelings and smiles, and a man passing by automatically smiles back. It makes her feel good.

She enters and easily sees Byron – it’s early yet and not many people are here just now. She flips her streaked hair back and smiles and walks over. “Hello, Byron. Nice to see you again,” she says.

[Byron Grant]

Byron sips his coffee as he waits for Tara. He was a bit early and started perusing his notes again. The coffee wasn’t of Jax’s standard, but he could live with it. He needed to smooth things over with Jax some more, even if they could never be close friends.

He was running his eye over the new copy of Potions Quarterly when he sees Tara enter. Her hair had subtle streaks of blue and green in it, and he thought it looked good on her. He gets up as she nears him and pulls out a chair for her.

“Good to see you, Tara. This is surely a bit more comfortable than chatting in the aisles of the Apothecary,” he says with a smile. “Would you like something to drink?” he asks as he taps the menu for another coffee.

After their beverages arrive, he leans back in the chair. “I like your hair," he says, making some small talk before they jump into discussing the potions.

He was stumped by the way the transformation for a werewolf could be made more bearable, but also some way to decrease the destructive effect it had on females during pregnancy. It became his pet project for Jani and he would succeed, even if it meant months and months of research.

[Tara]

She flashes him a smile as he pulls out her chair for her. Only her due, after all, but it’s a show of nice, pureblood, gentlemanly manners that she appreciates as a woman of good breeding. She smooths down her robes and neatly crosses her legs, showing briefly a smooth expanse of calf set off nicely by ankle boots.

“Oh yes, definitely more comfortable. This way my feet don’t have to suffer in heels for any longer than necessary.” Her smile belies her words a little, for she is obviously fond of her footwear. She gives her order of beverage and sits back comfortably.

“Thank you. I figured it would put me in a more spring like mood.” She smiles prettily again, fingering one of the coloured strands that fall across her left cheek. She purposefully does not finger any of the scars that lie under her impenetrable glamour. “It will be nice to move on from winter, though it’s still so cool.”

She pulls her portfolio of notes out of her bag and sets it on the table, away from their respective drinks. “So what area of the Wolfsbane are you focusing on? I figure we’r eprobably taking different approaches, but perhaps if we discover similarities and such we’ll both have a better idea of what needs to be done.”

[Byron Grant]

His gestures and manners come from years of his mother and father teaching him good manners. Hold a door or chair for a lady, speak courteously unless really provoked and even then don’t use profanity unless needed. Small things like that. Compliment someone when they have made an effort to look good.

Byron grins at her words. He could see she liked shoes from the good quality she has on her feet. “I prefer my dragon hide boots most of the time,” he says, scuffling his feet under the table.

“Well, I think its working,” he says, pulling a strand of his own hair he was wearing a bit longer to cover his ears. “I am so done with winter,” he agrees wholeheartedly. "I grew up in temperate climes and sometimes miss it terribly.” The visit to the house in Darling had done its job and he had put it all to rest. “I can’t wait for spring to be here for good, but I guess another month before it really arrives.” He unties the scarf at his neck and lets it drape around his neck.

He shuffles through his own notes before looking up. “I’m a little concerned about the whole transformation process. It’s quite painful and Wolfsbane only helps with the mental aspect of keeping the user’s memories intact. There has to be a way to alleviate the pain somewhat. Then of course I looked into some documented cases, the very little there are, and found that taking the potion almost always aborts a fetus in a female that has been bitten.” So he was fudging his sources a little, but he couldn’t quote Jani as a case – he did promise to himself and her that her secret would be safe.

“The other problem, apart from aconite being regulated, is the ingredients are quite expensive, making it difficult for those bitten to get their hands on decent quality potions.”

Byron leans back in his chair. “What were you looking into?”

[Tara]

“Dragonhide is wonderful,” Tara says. “But it’s heavier than what I wanted today. I had a pair of boots I wear when it’s raining out though. I hate shoes that let my feet get wet when it’s all icky out.” She makes a cute little face, wrinkling her nose with distaste.

“I’m England born and raised,” she says. “So it’s mostly normal for me. Though sometimes the endless rain just gets so … blah and boring.” She rolls her eyes. “I take the occasional holiday on the continent or such, but there’s nothing like a nice summer at home too.” She’s attached to the UK, and it’s her only place that she can claim any real love of.

“Well, there is a slight painkilling side to the Wolfsbane, but yes, I’ve heard that isn’t as good as it could be.” Not like the pack would be caught dead complaining about such trivialities. It could be seen in the way they moved, though, after the moon was over.

She cocks her head and listens as he lists off the aspects he’s interested in. “Well, it’s not much looked into because there aren’t actually that many female weres in the world,” she says musingly. “Mostly in Germany, I believe … born weres. Most female weres either die straight off or go insane and kill themselves or get themselves killed within a handful of years. Except for the born weres, you very rarely find a female were.”

Though the registry at the ministry claims that there is one living in London. One Janira Pejay, owner of the Menagerie. It was good to keep up with thigns, especially when you were in charge of a pack that roams a lot of London – it is public information, after all.

She leans forward. “I’m mostly interesting in lessening the brewing time and complexity, if at all possible, as well as lessening the price of ingredients. It’s more than absorbient, it’s ludicrous, especially since aconite has gone up in price almost exponentially since that little catipillar thingy started eating some of the more productive growing fields.”

She has a sizable pack on her hands, and has for a long time. Fenrir Greyback and his pack had run unchecked for a long time during the war, and Fenrir’s specialty was children. Not even the Death Eaters were exempt from it some times. When Tara had been cast out onto the streets, so had countless turned children, and many had found their ways to the beginnings of the Malafactum. Even at such a tender age, Tara had seen the usefulness of cultivating a pack that would do her bidding.

[Byron Grant]

Byron laughs at her little moue of distaste. “Wet feet are quite unpleasant indeed.” There were ways to make shoes waterproof, but it was wearing on the material.

“Well, South Africa is a tad closer to the equator, so winter was more wet and windy than anything else. Somewhat like the south of France actually.” He smiled with fond recollection Miya and Raoul when they visited there. Of course, he and Blaise didn’t quite get off to a good start, but he hopes to smooth that over.

“Evidently the painkilling properties are not enough. I’ve browsed the Potions Quarterly and I think I saw something about using Blue John stone to help with that.” He flips through the magazine to find the article. “I will have to investigate to see how easily it is available.”

Byron nods since what she told him is what he knew already. “But for the few out there, it would be a real boon.” He had to tip-toe around the subject a bit, because although Jani’s registered with the Ministry (he thought it was actually degrading), it wasn’t general knowledge and one would have to look it up to get the information. “If we want to improve the potion, then all should benefit, right?”

He leans slightly forward as well, her intensity quite compelling. “I agree. The potion is hellish to brew and takes forever and a weekend. Ingredient prices are ludicrous too – since weres have trouble getting work they can’t afford the spiraling costs of the potion.” Neville was lucky that the greenhouses didn’t get hit by the pest that was eating the aconite, so his supply was still intact.

[Tara]

Tara is quite a charming young woman, truth be told, especially when she’s putting forth the effort. She’s not quite sure how she can use this new connection beyond help with the potion, but she figures something will present itself at some point. Tara is always open to opportunities.

“The south of France can be quite lovely at times,” she says. “I used to visit when I was little.” Before everything fell apart. Before everyone died and she was turned into some sort of ugly freak. She smiles as if there’s nothing wrong at all. She’s good at pretending.

She nods as she thinks, filing that thought away to try. “I think there’s another rsort of stone that might help … can’t remember it just this second, but I’m sure it will come to me.” Her smile now is apologetic. “Painkilling properties can be improved then. That is something I should look into a little more.”

“True,” she muses. “But what if improving that part of the potion lowers its efficacy in other areas? Is the lowering in that part of things worth it for such a small percentage of the overall population? From a purely logistical point of view,” she amends, figuring that this female were was his friends.

Tara doesn’t even recoup the regular sort of profits from making Wolfsbane – her profits are more intangible, the loyalty and protection of an entire pack who will do practically anything for her. Derrick is out in Hogsmeade somewhere, she knows, making sure she’s not in any danger.

“I’ve not had any major success yet, but there are ways to slightly shorten the brewing time. But I think if some of the ingredients could be replaced with cheaper ingredients with subtly different qualities, the time could go down much more significantly. Which would be a blessed relief.” About a week or so every month is taken up brewing the incredibly complex potion. It gets old, fast.

[Byron Grant]

“I never really went to the south of France, I lived up in Paris for about two years before moving on.” Two years he’d rather forget because he missed his family the most then.

Byron nods. “I’ll look through Professor Snape’s notes and books, there might be something there we can use. So pain-killing is a go,” he smiles.

“I agree if it lowers efficacy then it can be brewed separately for the small market-related population. There would surely be need at some point.” Score one for logic. “So, yes, I’m with you on that score.”

Byron tilts his head to one side as he thinks, a habit he’s picked up from Jani and Miles. “I’m not that bothered about the brewing time, but you’re right – a week is just too much for one potion. As long as we don’t sacrifice effectiveness for economy – can’t have the potion not work as good as the original when one needs it to.”

He sips the coffee that’s getting cold in his cup. “Have you ever thought of developing a way of preventing the transformation completely?” He’d been trying to figure it out, but without knowing everything there is about how weres transform and whatever else there is on the subject, his thoughts would remain just that.

[Tara]

“I haven’t been in a long time. My mother loved it, though.” Which was why her father had always tried to bring them for at least a week out of the year. They might not have had quite the money of the Malfoys, but her father was more than well off and he worked at the Ministry. She’d been a little pampered when she was little.

She neatly wrote ‘pain-killing’ on a small pad she’d pulled out of her bag, and then quickly wrote out the first few ingredients that came to mind in the margin as she listened to him talk some more. Love multitasking.

“Hm, true, true, but that is almost an entirely different and lone change to make to the potion. I almost suspect that you might have to research it by itself, separate of other changes, either before or after the other research.” It was a very specific thing to deal with.

She shakes her head, her hair swishing gently. “No, no lowering the efficacy, but I am seriously getting tired of brewing as much potion as I do for that long. I’m almost literally confined to my lab with a lot less sleep than I’d prefer during the week before the full moon.” A series of cauldrons set up along one wall in order to brew enough for a ten member pack plus a little extra. Some of her pack had others they tended to on the outside – for favours, for bribery, for whatever reason.

Her eyes narrow slightly as she thinks, and she can feel the scar tissue that bisects one brow – so artfully covered by her skilled glamour – pull a little tighter. “You’re basically asking for a cure there,” she says, one practically trimmed but manicured nail tapping her full lower lip. “Completely circumventing a process that is, for all intents and purposes these days, to be natural. Dampening its effects is one thing – completely stopping the process is an entirely different plan of action.”

[Byron Grant]

Byron just smiles as Tara reminisces – he didn’t want to talk about his parents today. “Must’ve been nice,” he comments.

He nods at her logic. “Yeah, very niche market indeed. I’ll investigate it on my own, though I might pick your brain if I get stumped.” He casts a quick eye over her ingredient list and sees one or two he doesn’t recognize. He makes a mental note of their names.

He smiles in sympathy. “Seems a lot of potions makers are busy that week before full moon – to the point that other potions have to be put on the back burner. Miles calls me a cranky bear with a sore paw that just woke up from hibernation. The kids all tread lightly in class too.” He has been known to be a little less pleasant in class during Wolfsbane brewing week. A few have tried to push the boundaries, but they quickly found there is very little tolerance from him.

Byron can’t help but grin. “You can’t accuse me of small thinking. I guess it sounds like a cure, but it would be more like chronic medication – stop taking it and the full moon is not your friend.” He pouts at the empty cup and orders another one. “It was a thought that crossed my mind. Maybe one day when I’m old and wrinkled I will have it figured out.

“So, other than pain-killing properties and making it a faster, more economic process, what else did you have in mind?”

[Tara]

Nice. Yes, it had been, but her grief and anger stirs in her heart. She shifts to the next topic without a twitch of face or twinkle of eye, knowing it is in her best interest to not dwell on all of that.

She nods. “Please, feel free … I love a challenge. I just don’t feel like it’s one I want to follow up personally at this moment.” She smiles at him brightly. It’s true – she only has so much time that is her own for her experiments, and she’s already risking some amount of ire from her colleagues for not working on more drugs or such. But she’s put off some of her personal research for awhile now, and she deserves time on her own. Sometimes her responsibilities that kept her going got in the way of things she would rather do.

“I do have to put most things on the back burner,” she leans back and sips her coffee a little sulkily, obviously displeased by the fact that she has to do so. “I cater to many wolves, and I have to brew with staggered cauldrons. And I don’t trust any one to help out anymore, not after some fool made six weeks’ work blow up months ago.” Her disgust is palpable and she expects he’ll be disgusted as well. Just what someone needs, their work on the floors and ceiling, ruined.

She snorts delicately at his admission. Too bad this man is gay, she thinks … no way to use feminine wiles shold she need to for whatever reason might come up in the future.

“It’s a huge idea and I’m tempted to say you might be better off starting from scratch. But would recommend that you might want to ask the werewolves if they want to stop turning, especially if we manage to up the pain management. They’ll still have the wolf in their heads, after all. It’s not just going to disappear if it’s not longer given a body once a month, or that is my understanding of the matter.”

She doesn’t think Derrick would take anything that would totally stop the change. It had been ten years or so now, and he said he liked the wolf body every now and then.

“I think that’s a pretty good set of ideals to start out with. Oh, and maybe finding a substitute for aconite. It’s part of the expense problem, and it’s harder and harder to get it in good, uncontaminated quality and quantity these days.”

[Byron Grant]

Byron grins at Tara. “I’m sure you have other avenues of investigation that you want to pursue. This is mostly personal at any rate.” His other project was creating a potion like the one Miles got from Miya, but with its own subtle differences. He’s not quite sure what he wanted it to do, so he was just trying out different things. No spectacular explosion as yet.

He doesn’t react when Tara admits she helped a number of weres, but he can’t imagine why as yet. Maybe someday that answer will come to the fore. He just hoped he liked the reason. “I can’t imagine having to face a disaster like that! I don’t know what I would do if someone ruined that much work.” As it is he had his personal potions lab, nothing new or tricky got anywhere near the kids.

Byron just grins at her as she snorts.

“Its more an idle thought than anything else at the moment. Some want to prevent the change, others don’t. It’s a personal thing after all – it’s a choice.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know how it works, I’ve never discussed it with any weres, so its an academic exercise for me.”

He wonders if Jani would ever want something like that – never changing at the moon again.

“I think so too.” He tilts his head again. “Substitute for the aconite? That could be problematic. I think part of the magic goes with the name of the ingredient.” He didn’t let on that he had a supplier of superior quality, Neville was not a resource to exploit and he wasn’t sure if the school could supply to individuals. “But its something to research – shall we both tackle that with our sources?”

[Tara]

She nods, rather certain at this point that the woman on the registry was his friend. Always good to know little things like this … never knew when it might come in handy.

For all Byron knows, she’s doing her work for profit … and after a fashion she is. It’s for the profit of protection and loyalty. Having a loyal pack at her disposal gives her insurance against her enemies, and in addition Derrick, at least, helps to keep her grounded and aware in certain situations, keeps her from losing control when it would be a bad thing.

“Let’s just say I wasn’t pleased in the least.” Displeased was the least of it – enraged and vengeful, violent, all those things. “And that unfortunate person is no longer working for me.” Her smile was sharp briefly, satisfied. It would be taken as satisfaction that the person was out of work. He would never suspect that the person was now very, very dead. And that she had taken great pleasure out of the act.

“Might be something to research … see how many weres around might want that sort of thing. A survey of sorts. You could start in England and perhaps go on to the continent for some of it. The Ministries, or most of them, will have records you can use to find those you want.” Just about the only thing most Ministries were good for. Tara hates the ministry here.

“Just because it’s also called wolfsbane doesn’t mean that it is the only possible ingredient with the appropriate magical properties for the job,” she says. “There are other plants with similar properties. Not to mention that no one has ever looked into the differences in the potion using the various species of Aconite, of which there are at least 100. And some muggle synthetics that come close to the same properties. Or one could back away from the genus/species and go back to the family of plants, which includes buttercups, anemones, and clematis among others.” Her slim hands punctuate the air as she describes the possibilities. Even if she isn’t that fond of muggles, she finds they do have their uses, which is why shementions them.

Her blue green eyes are intense and passion-filled – it’s obvious that potions is her area, her passion, her skill. The possibilities were not endless, but there were many and she could see many of them.

[Byron Grant]

Byron just grins at her statement. He might not know her at all, but he observed enough to know she was most displeased and probably had a huge temper flare at the person who ruined her work.

“I think that’s a good idea. I’ve got some contacts in Europe and the far East, so getting information will not be too difficult.” The idea had only popped into his head a few days before and he hadn’t thought of any definite ways of getting the information he needed to get an educated guess. But I do know some weres might appreciate the option of not changing.”

He makes a face at her mention of the Ministries. “I worked for the Ministry, and to be frank the place doesn’t fill me with confidence. But on this subject they will probably have better records than word of mouth.”

Byron is impressed with her passion for potions. “I’m not discounting the fact that there are alternatives, but you also know that some of the magic is in the name. And you’re quite right that there are Muggle chemicals and other things that will most likely have the same properties and could work even better than aconite.”

He frowns as he thinks a little. “I’ll have to speak to Neville and see what he can suggest on other plants of the same family that would have the same properties as wolfsbane.” Her waving hands punctuate her passion for her craft. He’s impressed that someone so young has talent and skill to pull off things that much older masters would think twice about. But that is what they are there for. To push the boundaries of the craft, not just sit back and cruise along in complacency.