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Chapter VI: How to Market Your Potions 101
Vaughn and Giuliana's debate about when to get back in touch with Teddy ended the next morning when a brown and white spotted owl flew in with the other delivery owls in the morning to drop a letter in front of Vaughn just as he finished his black pudding and pancakes. The letter only had his name and Giuliana's on it. Confused, they opened the letter together, the ink still fresh on it and the writing done hastily.
Let's all meet today.
Come to the Armoury during the Lunch hour.
Plenty to discuss :)
-Teddy
Vaughn looked across the Great Hall to the Hufflepuff table, hoping to catch Teddy's eye. He wasn't looking, instead engrossed in some conversation with three other Hufflepuffs.
"The smiley face is a fun bit." Giuliana commented.
"Those touches are his style." Vaughn replied, folding up the letter and folding it into his robes. A pitcher of juice passed by and he grabbed it, refilling his glass before letting it go to continue on its route down the Slytherin table.
"You know, I've never actually been to the Armoury." Giuliana said.
"It's on the Fifth Floor. I think."
It was actually on the Third Floor next to the trophy room, a location that neither Slytherin had ever been to. What use did they have to gawk over the school time accomplishments of Witches and Wizards long since gone from Hogwarts? But, thanks to some help from a choir of singing women in a portrait, the Slytherin found the Armoury, looking in awe at the rows of pristine medieval armor on display. Upon closer inspection, most of them were inlaid with runes. The Armoury was empty except for a figure dressed and the black and yellow trimmed robes of Hufflepuff.
"Did you guys get lost?" Teddy asked.
"Only a little. We've never been here before." Vaughn replied, taking a seat next to Teddy. He made enough room for Giuliana to sit but she instead preferred to stand.
"Your owl is cute." She said, looking over the armor set in front of them.
"Megan will be happy to hear you compliment Hera."
"Sorry?" Giuliana asked, turning to look at Teddy, worry in her eyes.
"Sorry, I had to borrow Megan's owl. Good thing she wasn't there in the morning to see Hera fly by with a letter to you two."
"That wasn't your owl?" Giuliana asked, eyes wide with shock now.
"No, I'm from a non-magical family, remember? We didn't exactly have the Galleons for an owl from Eeylops. I ended up getting a salamander instead. Odd little guy, but he's fun."
"So, you told Megan about the potion?!" Giuliana accused.
"No, bloody hell, no! I keep my promises." Teddy assured them. "I borrow Megan's owl all the time to write home. Freaks the neighbors out though whenever they see the owl in our yard, but so far nobody's realized the owl carries letters."
Giuliana posture relaxed, the threat to their secrecy over. Vaughn hadn't realized that his body had tightened up as well and took a moment to breath and relax.
"That's good at least. But why are we meeting in such an odd place?"
"Well I assumed you didn't want people to know you were becoming drug dealers!" Teddy commented. "Not that you're actually drug dealers or anything. This is nothing like that."
Both Slytherins were confused by that. "Drug dealers?" Vaughn asked, assuming it was some muggle thing he was unaware of.
"Good one." Teddy laughed, thinking it was some sort of joke. "But listen, I reckon we should be careful with this. But I'm sure you guys have already thought up everything, right?"
That gave both Slytherins pause, with Giuliana looking at Vaughn to take the lead. "Well, I've thought up a general idea, yes." Vaughn began.
"So, you really haven't thought up a plan then, huh?"
Vaughn looked sheepishly back at Teddy. "I have a plan." He muttered, though Teddy just laughed.
"I'm sure you do." He said, "But maybe we should focus on something more concrete. So, what was your plan?"
"Giuliana and I would focus on the production aspect of the potion. Since you're more popular, you could focus on the selling aspect of it."
"Really?" Teddy asked, thinking it over. "Well, I could certainly think of people who might want it."
"I was thinking of upper level students." Vaughn continued, knowing that Giuliana would be upset by that. Sure enough, Giuliana did not seem thrilled by the prospect, though Vaughn could guess it was because she wasn't consulted about it.
"Upper level students? So, like Seventh years?" Teddy asked, which Vaughn nodded. "I know some Seventh Year Hufflepuffs, sure. But I'm not sure that I could get Seventh Years in other houses to come along."
"Well, we can give it time." Vaughn encouraged. He also thought that selling the potion to other Seventh Years would be difficult. Still, if Teddy could deliver the Seventh Years in his house, who were eager to pass their N.E.W.T.s then that was good enough for Vaughn.
"What made you guys want to do this anyways?" Teddy asked. "We can obviously get into a lot of trouble for this. Though, I guess it will matter more for you guys then for me. I come from a non-magical family anyways."
"It's difficult to explain." Vaughn began. "Giuliana and I made this potion together and we enjoyed it. It… it was difficult by being able to pull it off and made things special. I guess we just wanted to start something, ya know, special."
"Based off what I've seen, if you can actually make a potion that can make you suffer through Professor Binns History of Magic willingly then it's worth however many Galleons people will pay for it."
Both Vaughn and Teddy laughed together. It was nice to feel relaxed around another guy. Vaughn had spent most of his time at Hogwarts with Giuliana, something he didn't regret at all, but it had been a lot of feminine energy. Perhaps there was more there with Teddy, but Vaughn wasn't sure what to do about it.
"Beyond Seventh Years, who else do you think you can promote it to?" Giuliana questioned.
Teddy shrugged. "I'm honestly not sure. Do you guys know anyone we can promote it with?"
Both Slytherins shrugged at the suggestion. "We were thinking students about to take their term finals. Besides that, we're not sure."
"You two have really plotted this out, huh?" Teddy joked. "Well, before I start selling, I'm going to need to test the potion myself. Just to make sure that when I recommend it, I mean every word I say."
Vaughn had been expecting this and pulled out a phial of the concentration potion, its turquoise colored contents swirling around inside. "This is just the first potion that we've worked on. We have a lot more coming up soon." He said, handing over the phial to Teddy. He looked it over, as if trying to visually decipher any dangers it might pose to him.
"So, what exactly happens?" Teddy asked. Vaughn gave him the run down on the effects and recommendation on when and where to use it. Teddy nodded along as Vaughn explained, hiding the potion inside his robes before giving both Vaughn and Giuliana a smile.
"I'll try it out tonight. But if I die, I swear I'll come back to haunt both of you!"
Teddy did not die. Instead, he stormed into the Great Hall for breakfast and ran to Vaughn and Giuliana in jubilation.
"That was amazing!" he excitedly whispered to them, taking a seat at the Slytherin Table. The other Slytherin's present looked shocked by this social faux pas. Co-mingling between the Houses in the Great Hall wasn't a common occurrence for the Slytherin table. Vaughn and Giuliana looked nervously at their fellow Housemates, trying to calm the excited Hufflepuff down.
"Hold on, Teddy." Vaughn tried, though he felt extremely proud that Teddy thought his potion a success.
More eyes were being drawn towards them, hisses and whispered exchanged between the older students picking up in volume. Teddy didn't seem to care that the majority of Slytherin's thought he was out of place. He was a proud yellow trimmed Hufflepuff robes among a sea of green ones. As a tray of toast floated by, Teddy reached out to grab a few pieces and gobbled them up ravenously.
To avoid any conflict and further attention, Vaughn and Giuliana leapt up from their seats and heading towards the exit with Teddy. Vaughn looked around the Great Hall for eyes on them, but the only ones were from the Slytherin table. They darted off to the side of the Great Hall's entrance only to have to change course as the corner was occupied by Nearly Headless Nick, entertaining a group of excited First Year Gryffindors.
Stepping outside into the chilly November air, Vaughn led the group around the exterior of the Great Hall to a private spot. With no one around, the group began to conspire out loud.
"Alright, how did it go?" Vaughn asked, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Brilliantly!" Teddy exclaimed. "To be totally open and honest, I didn't actually think it would work!"
"You have that little faith in us?" Giuliana asked.
"You never know!" Teddy defended himself, "It sounded too good to be real, ya know? But bloody hell it was fantastic! For two hours I was completely focused on History of Magic. History. Of. Magic! Who would have thought that level of concentration and care could exist for such a bore of a subject?!"
"Only two hours?" Giuliana sounded shocked, shooting Vaughn a look.
"Yeah, which was maybe a bit too long for me since near the end I was reading and note taking for subjects next semester!"
Vaughn could feel Giuliana's eyes burrowing into him. He ignored them though and the accusation they carried. "And what about headache?" Vaughn asked.
"Oh, that was awful, you should work on that. But overall worth it! Do you think I could get another phial for tonight? I want to plow through my Astronomy reading and star charts."
"We're trying to sell it." Vaughn said, "So we probably shouldn't be using it too often."
"Right, that's a good call." Teddy conceded. "Ok, I can for sure recommend it to people. But we have to be smart about selling, of course. So, I don't think we should start in Hogwarts."
Neither Slytherin liked that. "Why not? We brew in Hogwarts and its fine." Vaughn said.
"Ok… even that makes me nervous for you guys. This whole Castle is crawling with secret eyes and ears. How haven't you two been caught yet?"
Vaughn felt his face go red, embarrassed to be reprimanded. Giuliana didn't share that same fears, her tone confrontational. "We're not morons. We have a good spot and are always careful."
"Where is this spot?"
Vaughn was about to say but Giuliana cut him off. "Don't worry about that yet." She replied, eyebrow raised in an open challenge to Teddy.
"We have to be able to trust one another." Teddy replied.
"And we will once you help us sell our potion."
Teddy just shrugged in response, while Vaughn began to feel guilty. Giuliana had put extra emphasis on 'our,' causing him to think about how he presented the potion to Teddy the first time they discussed it.
"Fine, I can live with that." Teddy commented. "But you two need to start brewing quick. Have to make plenty of it and need to fine tune it."
"Can you bring in enough customers?" Giuliana asked.
"I'm a popular guy. So, how much can you two make?"
A debate ensued about that question, along with the logistics that came with it. It didn't take long for all three Third Years to realize they would need far more supplies then what they were working with now. That involved having to place orders to Slug and Jiggers along with the other Apothecaries in Diagon Alley.
"That won't be cheap." Vaughn considered. "If we do that, we all need to chip in. It can be like the P.A.C. fund. Some of the Galleons we make can go towards it in the future."
"Um.. do I need to remind you two about the Salamander instead of the Owl thing I mentioned?" Teddy commented.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I can't just fork over a huge sum of Galleons. How about you two Purebloods cover me for the start and then when we bring in some Galleons I'll pay you both back." Both agreed, though Giuliana looked uneasy about it. "Brilliant!" Teddy continued, moving onto the next subject. "So, for selling I reckon we start on the next Hogsmeade trip."
That took Vaughn by surprise. "That's a month away!"
"So? Gives you plenty of time to brew. Oh, what about other potions? Do you have any?"
Remembering his failure, Vaughn shook his head, but Giuliana chimed in. "We worked on a Calming Draught, but it was a bust. We're going to try again soon though."
Teddy considered that. "A Calming Drought would be good for stressed out O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. students next semester. That's something to plan for in the future if we're successful." Both Slytherins nodded, causing Teddy to grab their arms and attempt to excite them. "You guys, why so glum? This is exciting!"
"What should we charge per phial?" Giuliana thought out loud.
"We'll figure that out after we purchase all the ingredients." Vaughn replied. "Some of the costs could be cut down though just be foraging around the Hogwarts grounds for some of the supplies."
"You've been doing that? That's incredible." Teddy said, shaking his head in wonder. "I love magic."
Megan appeared and Teddy made his excuses and left, the excitement leaving with him. In its place was a tense atmosphere, the unmistakable air of coming conflict shaping it. "Where did he get a potion that only lasted for two months?" Giuliana asked, tone even.
Vaughn didn't see any reason to hide it. "I brewed it myself."
"When?"
"When you were with Lisa the other day." Vaughn said, before shrugging. "I was bored."
Giuliana looked furious but tried to control it. "Vaughn, the only way we'll succeed is if we're open with each other. And if we do it together."
Vaughn was quiet before responding. "I know. I'm sorry too. I was just excited and wanted to keep going."
"I can understand that. I do. But we need to do it together or else things will slip through the cracks. We have a bunch of time to buy and find supplies and then brew. Again, this could spell major trouble for us and if one of slips up, it's all over. We need to do it all together."
"And we will."
"Promise?"
"Giuliana-"
"Promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
Giuliana sighed, forcing her body to relax. "Alright, I'm going to head back in. Get some more pudding before we start class. Do you want to join?" Vaughn nodded and followed her. As they walked in silence back into the Great Hall, Vaughn began thinking once more about the costs associated with their new endeavor. Both Giuliana and him had the money already from their parents to cover a lot of it, but it wouldn't cover all the costs of the P.A.C.
Not all of the costs would be financial, Vaughn began to realize.
Next Chapter: Adventures in Hogsmeade and the Club attempts their first sales!