For Gwydion's next trip he wanted to take the feather he had found on his very first trip and a handful of chicken feathers to Medusa. He had found that the feather was from an eagle, after searching the books of what felt like hours. He also collected some fur that the cat had shed. But Manannan didn't eat fish, so he couldn't take some of the scales like he planned. Gwydion also had no idea where he could get a snake skin, or the dew. He remembered the bear's cottage had a patch of primrose, which would be perfect, but he didn't have anything silver (Rowan had stolen everything, and Manannan had never replaced it). But thinking about the bears reminded him of the tiny thimble he had found near by. When he took it out of the box under the bed and examined it in the dim light of his room, he thought it looked like it might be silver. With a little polish with the corner of his shirt, he could actually make out in tiny letters on the inside rim 'Pure Silver, Childs Smithery' and Gwydion gave a shout of happiness, before clamping his hand back over his mouth and waiting in tense since for Manannan to yell at him for making so much noise. When nothing happened, Gwydion gave a small wiggling dance around his room in celebration.

The night, when Manannan announced his trip starting early morning, Gwydion also made plans to leave early enough that there would still be morning dew on the Bear's Primrose garden. It went without a hitch.

When he arrived at the cottage, the sun was just making its way over the horizon and drops of glistening dew had gathered within the soft petals. Holding the silver thimble beneath a dew-filled flower, Gwydion gently tipped the flower so its dew ran into the thimble. He moved from flower to flower, repeating the process until the thimble was brimming with dew. After that, he quickly made his way to Medusa cave, watching his every step carefully, making sure not to spill a single drop of dew. When he arrived at the door, it swung open for him, and Gwydion could heard Medusa voice call out, "Back here Gwydion!"

After painstakingly navigating the cave to get to the pools, Gwydion called back, "I have the dew! I don't want to spill any! Where should I put it?"

Medusa's distinctive hushing slide signalled her coming from one of the smaller rooms, "In here," She indicated what Gwydion had thought was a kitchen of some kind, the room with pots and sinks.

Gwydion slowly lowered the thimble down onto the bench, and let out a big huff of relief. "I was scared of losing even a drop!"

"I could see that. What else have you found?"

"Oh," Gwydion pulled the feathers and fur from his pockets. "Here! This fur is from the cat, and I have a feather from an eagle and some I got from the chickens. I wasn't sure what would be better."

"The eagle feather is powerful magic, it would be better to save it for other things. The chicken feathers are perfect. The cat fur may work, but if the cat is bound to Manannan I am unsure of how that would affect the magic. It may be better to look for other possibilities."

Gwydion's brow creased in thought, and Medusa's hair hissed, "He's so cute!"
"Look at his scrunched up face."
"Adorable."

Gwydion's face felt extremely hot as he flushed. He couldn't tell if it was pride or something else, but it felt vaguely wrong to get such comments on his looks from Medusa (or her hair). He cleared his throat and said, "I think I could get fur from the storekeepers dog maybe. It seems pretty relaxed."

"And the fish and snake skin?"

"I don't know about the snake skin. I was going to try and get a fish in town, or maybe I can catch a fish myself."

"There are skins in the desert, but you will need to get away from the temple. No snakes will live near here, as they can tell its my territory."

"Oh."

"But before you rush out, come tell me what has happened the last few days."

Gwydion smiled in happiness, and proceeded to tell Medusa about the last few days, his attempts at making a cake, which failed terribly when it didn't raise, and instead ended up as a hard flat almost scone, and finding the cat had made a nest of odd socks in the bottom of Manannan's cupboard. When he had emptied it out he had also found a little vial of rose petal essence that had a delicate, sweet aroma. He had hidden the vial in his own draws, thinking it too girly to use himself. Medusa interrupted, "The essence of flowers often have magical properties. Keep the vial safe just in case."

"Should I bring it here?"

"Only if you want to."

So Gwydion picked up the story again, about the beets which were refusing to grow in his garden. Medusa had some tips about adding bonemeal to help them grow.

"My kin and I have always been in tune with nature. It is why I have the scroll of the potion. Our magics all interest with plants or animals, in understanding rather then controlling or changing against their nature."

"So you magic is very different to Manannan's?"

"Yes. His is about transformation and control. That does not make the magic evil, it is what he does with it that makes it dark and against nature."
Gwydion looked away, "I still can't…"

"Shh, it's alright. Lets no speak of it yet."

"Thank you."

And so Gwydion left what he had collected so far and spent the afternoon walking in the desert. He was careful to always know in which direction was the door, and the mountain (which was easier, as it rose commandingly from the surrounding plains. After a long hot hour or so, he was about to give up when he crested a small hill and stumbled into something from a nightmare.

The scorpion was the size of a large dog. It appeared to be sunning itself in the small shallow space, and Gwydion froze in the hope of not drawing its attention. Slowly he started to back away, when his foot slipped, sending a small cascade of sand into the hollow. The scorpion's tail twitched, and it suddenly darted forward. Gwydion spun and started to run. Years of running from Dudley meant he was fast, but the monster scorpion was closing, its eight legs scrambling over the sand easily. Gwydion's heart pounded in fear and adrenaline. He knew he shouldn't, but he placed over his shoulder to see how close the monster was. He slowed when he saw the scorpion had halted a rise away, waving its tail and pincers threateningly, but no longer following him. Turning fulling and continuing to walk backwards, Gwydion watched as the monster turned and scuttled back away. Unsure, Gwydion stopped and tried to contain his huffing gasps. Hoping the monster hadn't stopped due to an even bigger monster nearby, he scanned the surrounding desert. Nothing stood out among the low sad dunes and occasional cactus. Figuring he had been traumatised enough for one day, Gwydion headed back to the mountain.

It was that night, when he emptied a pot of lard, that he got an idea for trying to catch one of the fish in the small creek. Maybe he could scoop them up using the pot? That left the snake skin. He was just going to have to keep exploring the desert, but he needed to think of a back up plan. But where would snakes stay? Maybe a snake didn't represent his magic, but if not what could he use?

Gwydion went to bed that night thinking of animals and hiding places. That night he dreamed he was a snake, slithering his way in the leaf litter of an old dark forest. He could smell the dirt, the rotting leaves, the tracks of a small rat, but he was hunting for something else, something bigger. Something that scurried on two legs rather then four. He found a hole, only just big enough to fit his body into, and he slid down into the darkness. Popping up into a strange office full of silver instruments which hummed and whizzed and puffed smoke. The room stunk of lemons, reminding him of the cold too clean smell of Before. Voices, distant and thrumming though his body spoke.

"Now Arebella, how is little Harry?"

"Harry? Oh yes, Harry! Petunia has been keeping him inside, there was some scare awhile ago, something about him causing trouble playing pranks or something. Mr Scuffle was sick that week, I had to nurse the poor dear all night. But don't worry, he's all better now."

"Well boys will be boys. I'm glad he is in such good spirits."

"Yes, he's doing well. I could hope to see him put a bit of weight on, he's a bit skinning."

"Yes, well his father was too at that aged. If that was all, I do believe I will talk to you again in 12 months."

"Yes, yes, Albus."

Suddenly, there was aloud screech, and the flash of red and yellow, and he was picked up by long pointed claws. He was flying and he spread his wings and was soaring over the sea, in the distance he could see a cloud which had grass growing on it. He swooped down to see the grass was actually the body of a large three headed dragon, which reared up and tried to bite Gwydion out of the air. He quickly turned and winged away, and the dream fell away from him.