Chapter 20: Brewing
"So you're still not going to tell me who she is?" said Ariadne for probably the third time that night, while rummaging through her personal store of potions ingredients.
"That information isn't necessary for you to know until we arrange a time to speak with her," answered Sirius, who was examining a greenish-brown jar of pickled bat spleens.
"You just really enjoy knowing something that I don't and lording it over me," said Ariadne, locating the jars, sachets and bottles that she wanted and bringing them down to the table.
"Considering that you generally make it your business to know more about everything than everyone else, can you really blame me for enjoying this one moment of advanced enlightenment?"
"Is that your eloquent and suave way of calling me a know-it-all?"
Sirius' face broke into that roguish grin Ariadne was coming to know all too well. "Perhaps."
"Well, that 'know-it-all' is going to show you how to brew a double-batch of long-lasting Polyjuice Potion to take down some dark wizards, so you might consider being a little nicer to her," answered Ariadne almost teasingly.
It was well after midnight in the potions classroom in the dungeons. Ariadne and Sirius had snuck down there after most of the castle was asleep, as this was the only time that they could brew an illicit potion in secret and the only place that contained all the ingredients they needed. Sirius had "borrowed" James' invisibility cloak (insisting that James wouldn't mind) and refused to let Ariadne examine it more closely when she expressed her shock that James casually owned such a rare and powerful magical object. Ariadne was still periodically casting it suspicious glances as it lay crumpled in a corner of the dungeon classroom. She had also refused Sirius' suggestion that he carry her under the cloak so that they would both fit, meaning that had to hunch down and stay very close to one another in order to remain hidden, which still made the journey down to the dungeons somewhat more intimate than Ariadne would have preferred.
"I have nothing but utmost respect for your potion-making talents, Morrigan," said Sirius in his voice that always seemed tinged with a hint of insubordination.
Ariadne simply sighed and began sorting the ingredients according to the order they would need them.
"So how long do you reckon this is going to take us, Morrigan?" asked Sirius, indicating the organized rows of sachets, jars and bottles.
"One month," responded Ariadne, still focused on measuring and sorting.
Sirius barked out a laugh, which caused Ariadne to look up. "That wasn't supposed to be a humorous comment, Black."
"A month? You can't be serious, Morrigan."
"Have you not been paying attention since fifth year? Polyjuice Potion takes one month to reach full maturity."
"We can easily do it in three weeks."
"No, we can't."
"I've done it in three weeks."
"And how did that work out for you?" Ariadne asked rhetorically, crossing her arms.
Sirius looked evasive. "It was perfectly fine. I transformed into Potter for one hour exactly. I looked and sounded just like him."
Ariadne raised her eyebrow. "Is that so? And everything went fine? No…unusual side effects, for example?"
Sirius sighed and set down the jar of bat spleens he had been examining. "I swear on Merlin's grave, Morrigan, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were raised from birth by Minerva McGonagall to grow up just like her."
"You're avoiding the question."
"All right, there were some minor side effects from boiling the lacewing flies at higher heat. But my point is, the potion worked. And time is of the essence if we are going to nip this Death Eater nonsense in the bud."
"Your nose was randomly engorging and shrinking for a week. Half the time it would look normal, and then it would morph into Potter's nose and back again." James had a notorious record of broken noses from playing Quidditch, which had left him with an unusual nose shape.
"At least it wasn't something else engorging and shrinking," muttered Sirius.
"What?"
"Never mind, Morrigan. My point is that it's possible to brew it faster."
"That's your problem, Black," said Ariadne, now measuring and cutting lengths of boomslang skin. "You're impatient. You think there are shortcuts and that only you are clever and brave enough to try them. Have you ever considered that sometimes it simply takes time to do things properly?"
Sirius' eyes glimmered in the dim lamplight that served as their only illumination. "I'm more familiar with that concept than you might realize, Morrigan."
Ariadne tried to hide that the knife she was using had slipped a little, or let on that Sirius's words had any deeper meaning to her. She wouldn't indulge his games. Normally, she thought that there was nothing about their exchange that seemed anything but innocent, but in the semi-dark room, late at night, knowing that they were perhaps the only two people awake in the entire castle, things felt slightly different, somehow.
Sirius got up from his stool to examine the ingredients she was measuring and sorting. "Boomslang skin? Powdered bicorn horn? I didn't realize you were also dipping your hand into the Potions master's personal store."
"I didn't steal these. I was given permission to purchase my own store of rare ingredients for advanced potion-making."
Sirius looked slightly miffed. "I was never granted permission to buy rare ingredients."
"Well, did you ask?" replied Ariadne, now measuring out and weighing the proper amount of leeches. Sirius reached for the strips of boomslang skin and she smacked his hand away. "No touching the boomslang with bare hands. The oils on your fingers contaminate the hide and break down the natural membrane."
"Are you going to let me be involved in the brewing of this potion at all?"
"I thought you'd never ask. Start the cauldron at low heat and boil two quarts of distilled water."
Sirius saluted her sarcastically but did as she asked. In the meantime, Ariadne was struggling with two bundles of particularly tough knotgrass. The knife was too dull to chop them and her severing charm couldn't cut through the thickest knots. She was so occupied by her task that she hardly noticed Sirius come up behind her. He wrapped his fingers around the hand holding her knife and set it aside. "Let me show you a little trick I learned while working with knotgrass for swelling solutions," he murmured, very close to her ear. "Do you have any detangling potion around?" In the next second he was gone, opening and closing cabinets in search of the potion.
Ariadne took a second to recover herself from the surprise of his proximity and his sudden departure. "Yes, there should be some on the top right shelf of my cupboard," she told him, looking over her shoulder.
Sirius returned with the small flask of deep purple liquid. "I figured you might have some since it's common for girls to have some on hand for their hair, though I can't imagine that you in particular would really need it," he said. Was that a slightly admiring glance at her silky, wavy hair, or was Ariadne imagining it?
"Sometimes my friends ask for some, and it's easy enough to make," Ariadne quickly explained.
"Anyway, I picked up this trick from reading some very old potion-making books that have ended up in the restricted section."
"Is it safe?" asked Ariadne, immediately suspicious.
Sirius put down the bottle and looked at Ariadne. "You really do need to learn to trust me if we're going to be working together this much," he said in a lower and gentler tone than usual.
Ariadne couldn't deny that she felt lulled by his deep, husky voice. But she wasn't sure if it was a sense of security she felt, or something else. She tried to relax, despite a different sort of sensation that was stirring inside her.
"All right, I trust you. I was just worried when you said 'restricted section.'"
"Not everything in the restricted section is cause for worry. A lot of perfectly fine medieval wizarding tracts end up there because they didn't use to make such a clear distinction between light and dark magic, back in the day," said Sirius, now pouring the detangling potion over the knottiest portions of the knotgrass, and gently running through the blades of grass with his fingers. The knots instantly unraveled and smoothed themselves out. He then took the knife and easily sliced through them.
"That's a pretty neat trick," she conceded, now taking a backseat to the potion preparation as he continued cutting up the knotgrass into evenly-sized sections.
Sirius was absorbed in making sure that each bundle of knotgrass was sliced into precisely even portions, giving Ariadne an opportunity to observe the intent focus in his dark eyes, his long hair hanging down to partially hide them, and his hands handling the knife skillfully and gently. She unexpectedly recalled the night of the Quidditch party, when he had pressed drinks into her hand just like he had grasped her hand to put aside the knife. It now seemed like they were practically strangers then. Yet that night they successfully worked together to conceal a massive and raucous party from right under McGonagall's nose. Working together seemed to come so naturally to them…at least, when they weren't arguing, Ariadne thought.
"Morrigan?" Sirius's voice broke her deep reverie. He was looking at her with slight concern.
"Sorry, I must have zoned out. I'm tired."
"Understandable, considering you spent all day studying. Do you ever take a break for anything else?"
"Just secret nighttime illegal potion-making."
"And Gryffindor common room parties."
"That was one time."
"I predict it won't be your last," he said, grinning. "Anyhow, I was just asking if you think the water is ready for the first batch of ingredients. It's been boiling for seven minutes."
"Yes, that's perfect. Add half of them now and stir four times clockwise. Then we have to wait another seven minutes and add the second half."
They gathered the measured ingredients and dumped them into the bubbling cauldron, which instantly turned swamp green. Then, it was time to wait.
"How long do you think we'll have once we've transformed into our savory characters using this delectable beverage?" asked Sirius.
"Twelve hours," answered Ariadne without hesitation.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, Morrigan? The longest-lasting Polyjuice Potion I've ever seen was about eight."
"My Polyjuice Potion is the best. That's why we're not rushing anything or taking any of your shortcuts. Once it's brewed and ready, you'll be able to transform into your chosen person for twelve hours. Don't you trust me?" she couldn't help adding.
"Maybe with the brewing part, but perhaps I should take over when we start the enchantments next week. Some of your stunning spells the other day looked a bit shoddy."
Ariadne almost became indignant until she caught his grin ands realized he was merely messing with her. "My spells were perfectly adequate, as evidenced by the fact that the duel ended with you in front of my wand and both hands tied behind your back."
"I can't say there isn't a certain appeal when a witch ties me up and points her wand at me."
Maybe it was the darkened room, which seemed to make it safer to be vulnerable, or maybe it was the intimacy of being alone together in the middle of the night with no one else around, but Ariadne felt more willing to acknowledge the tension that had been brewing ever since the party and had partly exploded in their duel. But, not all of it had been vented, and Ariadne could feel it surfacing again between them.
"I didn't realize that was the kind of thing you're into."
"I'm not sure I realized it either, until you came along."
They held each other's gaze with the weight of they weren't saying hanging between them. Ariadne wasn't sure where to go with this next.
"You duel well," she admitted. "I really was trying my hardest to stun you."
"I'm not sure if I'm disappointed to hear that or pleased that my countercurses were so effective. Or surprised that Ariadne Morrigan is offering me a genuine compliment."
"Your reflexes are quick and you anticipated the stunning spells almost before I cast them. It's a unique wizarding ability that will make you a powerful duelist. But your stance definitely needs work."
"Ah, here comes the constructive criticism."
"I can show you if you want. Or I can just let you have it handed to you the next time we duel."
Sirius stood up and took his normal dueling stance. "Demonstrate away, Professor Morrigan."
Ariadne walked around him in a circle, surveying his every body part and position. Sirius was tall but not gangly. He had already taken on that slim, solid build of an adult rather than the lanky limbs of a teenager. The heavy fabric of his robes concealed the lean, taut build of his chest, which Ariadne only knew existed because of having slept on it. She tried to refocus her thoughts away from that dangerous line of thinking. Away from the warm, solid feeling of his muscles, and the way they flexed and moved while he was dancing…
She nudged his right foot into a better position and spread his non-wand arm out wider. "Usually younger witches and wizards have the opposite problem, but your stance is too wide. It makes you stolid and vulnerable to losing your balance. You need to be able to shift your foot position easily. You also need to use your balancing arm better."
She got behind him and grasped his wand arm, putting her other arm around him to adjust his balancing arm. Both of his arms were much longer than hers and she could just barely reach. Almost painfully conscious of how close her face was to his, she quietly instructed, "Grip your wand a little tighter. You have a very relaxed grip, which isn't always a bad thing, but too loose means you're susceptible to having it knocked out of your hand."
Ariadne sensed his head turning ever to slightly, almost imperceptibly, to look at her, and felt the ends of his hair brush against her cheek. Just then, the magical hourglass she had set to time the potion went off, humming and vibrating quietly. She broke away from Sirius and began adding the second batch of ingredients to stew. Sirius came over to help her, saying nothing, but still gazing at her in his intense way.
"Where are we going to hide the potion while it's brewing?"
"In plain sight," answered Ariadne. She drew a complicated shape in the air with her wand and swept it over the cauldron. The thick, muddy, greenish liquid appeared to turn the innocent earthy yellow of a swelling solution.
"That's a neat trick, Morrigan," Sirius murmured. They packed away the rest of the ingredients. Then they were technically done for the night, yet something seemed unfinished. Sirius made no motion to leave, simply leaning against the table in his casual way, looking at her.
"It's late," said Ariadne, not looking him directly in the eye. "We should get to bed."
Sirius indicated his agreement with a nod of his head and held up the invisibility cloak for her to slip under.
A/N: So I've realized that trying to update every day was becoming an unrealistic and unsustainable goal, plus I was just writing short chapters to get something out. So expect updates more around every other weekday, but they will be much longer and more satisfying ones! Also, as you can hopefully tell, things are heating up between Sirius and Ariadne, so advance warning of more mature content in the chapters ahead. –A