Aubrey finished taking stock of what was in ingredient storage, making a note to order more yew berries. They only had half a jar left. Granted, their jars were large enough to comfortably store a bowling ball. Prince Apothecary not only served the witches and wizards of San Agustín, the oldest European magical settlement in North America, but most of Florida too. Sure, the magical scene in Orlando had grown over the past few decades, mostly due to the “most magical place on Earth” being headquartered there. The first time she causally mentioned visiting the House of Mouse as a way to enjoy a day off, she was subjected to the longest rant ever by Doc. He droned on about how irresponsible it was to place a muggle theme park on magical ley lines and have the audacity to charge an arm and leg for admission.
The lecture, while enlightening, was worst than the one she received for using shaved unicorn horn instead of shaved bicorn horn for a strengthening solution. And that one involved writing lines about triple reading instructions, memorizing every single potion under the sun that uses a bicorn horn, and making strengthening solution until she could do it blindfolded (which took 18 days). She would repeat that terrible two and a half weeks a hundred times over listening to her mentor ruin her childhood dream again.
The door to the shop dinged, pulling Aubrey out of her ruminations. “One moment please!” she called out as she double-checked the ingredients list on the parchment. With a tap of her wand, it rolled up and shot off to the desk on the other side of the room. Her mentor would review it later before sending it off by owl.
She wiped her hands on her apron as she rounded the doorway that led to the counter. A young man, about her age, with short silvery blond hair and gray eyes stood in front of the cash register.
“Hi, what can I get for you?”
“Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy, and I’m with the Wizarding Red Cross.” He gestured to his navy robes, which had a Red Cross logo stitched on over his heart. “I’m here to pick up some potions.”
“Did you place an order with us?” Aubrey reached for the clipboard stored under the counter, which had upcoming orders written in spindly hand. She didn’t recall them being on the list. That being said, she wouldn’t mind having a longer conversation with the man. It wasn’t very often that a cute guy with an accent came into the shop.
“We’re going to every shop our organization has a contract with to see what you can bear to part with. You’ve heard what happened in New Orleans, right?”
“Of course. It’s on the front page of every newspaper, both magical and no maj. Pretty much the whole city is flooded.” The devastation was all anyone talked about.
“It’s so much worse than what the government is letting the press publish. The stockpile our organization had is almost completely wiped out. Any potions you have, specifically Pain Relief, Wideeye, and Fever Reducer would be beneficial.”
“Of course! Anything I can do to help. Let me just speak with the owner first. Give me five minutes, please.”
“Thank you!”
Aubrey went back through the swinging door to the back of the shop. She went to the opposite wall to the plain wooden door. The entrance to the Potion Lab. She knocked to warn Doc that she was coming in, and stepped down the stairs. She made her way over to her mentor dressed in black robes with his silver-streaked hair tied away from his face. He was counting rose petals as he dropped them one by one into the swirling pink mixture. “What is it, Miss Tulane?”
“There’s a guy upstairs from the Red Cross asking for any spare potions. Things are quite dire in New Orleans.”
Doc nodded. “Did you read today’s paper yet? They have to evacuate the Super Dome because it’s falling apart. But the city’s still flooded. They have to go door to door to check in on people and rescue them.”
“They’re saying that the levees failed.”
“It’ll make the clean up efforts take even longer.” Doc tapped the cauldron, and a ghostly yellow timer appeared above it, counting down from 15:00. “Let’s go see what the man wants.” He gestured for her to lead them to the store front.
As Doc closed the door to the Lab, Aubrey mentioned, “It’s funny, the Red Cross guy is also British. I wonder what brought him to the US?” Her mentor faltered behind her. “Doc, are you okay? I can go grab your cane!”
Doc waved her off. “No, I’m fine. It’s just an old memory resurfacing.”
Aubrey stepped in front of the counter first. “Thank you so much–”
“Professor Snape?” the Red Cross liaison incredulously interrupted her.
“Didn’t you read the sign on the door before you came in? This is Prince’s Apothecary. And this,” she pointed behind her, “is Potions Master Prince, although he prefers I call him Doc.”
Doc sighed heavily and came around to stand next to her at the register. “Thank you for defending my honor, Miss Tulane, but I’m afraid the gig is up, as the no maj like to say. Snape is my former last name.” Facing their customer, he said, “Hello, Draco.” Of course her boss knew the only other British guy in the state.
“Hello, Professor. Fancy seeing you here.”
“Did you also get run out of England?”
“No, Harry helped a lot to make sure I wasn’t too much of a pariah once everything was said and done. I’m here as part of the Wizarding Red Cross. I work in the logistics portion of the Healers division.”
“Wait, you used to teach Potions?” Aubrey exclaimed. “I didn’t know there were any wizarding colleges or universities in the UK!” Despite her education, there was so little that she knew about the greater Wizarding world.
“That’s because there are none. I never taught an adult how to brew Potions until I took you on as an apprentice, Miss Tulane.”
“They let you teach children?!” Aubrey couldn’t help but think back to all the times he brought her to tears over some mistake she made and shuddered thinking of how his demeanor wasn’t exactly nurturing. For christ’s sake, he berated how she held a knife so much her first day that she almost quit right then and there. Doc then spent the next three weeks teaching her the proper way to cut potion ingredients.
“Professor Snape is one of the youngest Potion Masters ever! I learned so much from him.”
“No need to defend my past actions, Draco," Doc insisted, waving his hand to clear the notion away. "I was never suited for teaching.”
“Why did you change your last name?” Aubrey asked.
“For the same reason I always wear long sleeves even though this heat is a humid hell.”
“Oh." She understood immediately. "Sorry for prying.”
Doc waved her off. “No need to apologize. You wouldn’t have known. We can discuss this at a later time. What potions do you need, Draco?”
“Mostly Pain Relief, Wideeye, and Fever Reducer. If you have some Dreamless Sleep, I’ll take that too.”
“I have 40 Pain Relief and 27 Fever Reducers that I can give you. I would have to brew some Wideeye for you. The same goes for the Dreamless Sleep.”
“I’ll take the whole lot and be on my way. You can charge everything to the Red Cross account.”
Doc nodded. “Miss Tulane, please start packing up the potions.”
Aubrey grabbed one of the milk crates they kept for bulk orders and unshrunk it before heading over to the Fever Reducers. She carefully placed each one into the crate, the rune on the bottom of each bottle made it so it couldn’t tip over and accidentally spill the potion. That plus the unbreakable charm placed on the glass bottle itself meant that the potions were pretty much indestructible. Once the crate was filled to the brim, she carried it back over the counter. Thank god for featherlight charms, or else it would’ve weighed at least 50 pounds. She set it down and slid it over to Draco.
“Here you go. I hope this helps.”
“It definitely will. Thank you, Severus.” He took the crate and hefted it against his hip.
“It’s no trouble. I’ll have the rest for you tomorrow.”
Draco nodded in agreement and exited the shop.
Aubrey turned to face Doc. She had so many questions for her mentor. “What are we brewing for the Red Cross and how exactly did you end up in San Agustín?”
Doc wearily sighed in defeat and waved for Audrey to follow him. “I’ll answer all your questions while we brew.”
Aubrey let out a squeal as she followed him down the stairs. “I can’t wait to unlock some more of your lore!”