Books And Aconite: The Adventures Of A Potions Apprentice by JAWorley
FeatureSummary: Uncle Vernon’s acting weird, and Snape has designs on making Harry the most obedient student Hogwarts has ever seen. Harry just wants a quiet summer to himself and to earn the money he needs for his school supplies, but he could only hope for something so simple. Entry into the Bingo Card Fic Fest.
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape, Master Snape > Apprentice Harry, Fic Fests > Bingo! Fic Fest, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Hermione, Original Character, Other, Ron
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Canon Snape, Snape Comforts, Snape is Controlling, Snape is Kind, Snape is Stern
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Canon, Drama, Fantasy, General, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Hospitalization, Injured!Snape, Runaway, Snape-meets-Dursleys, Werewolf!Harry, Werewolves
Takes Place: 5th summer, 5th Year
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Bullying, Emotional Abuse, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Physical Punishment Non-Spanking, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 25 Completed: No Word count: 176255 Read: 71137 Published: 05 Nov 2022 Updated: 29 Dec 2022
Aconitum by JAWorley
Severus had taken Potter back to his relatives and picked him up again several more times, usually taking him for at least three days at a time. At first he'd been taking Potter for a week and then leaving him in Little Whinging for a week, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the boy was apt to get himself into trouble when left with his relatives (that was one of the reasons he'd taken him on as an apprentice after all). Now he was taking him for three days, and leaving him home for only two. It was more work on his part to apparate back and forth with the boy on a more regular basis, but it seemed to be working out as Harry had not come back to him with any more bruises, black eyes or broken bones.

Severus still didn't understand why the fifteen year old hadn't told anyone that his arm was broken. The child insisted that he just hadn't realized, but Severus knew from experience that broken bones hurt too much to let them heal on their own. It was more likely that the brat had been doing something he shouldn't have when he'd broken his arm. His black eye from the start of the summer had already told Severus that the boy had been fighting someone, likely his cousin or other neighborhood kids in Surrey, and the broken arm seemed to prove that to be the case.

There was also a possibility that the child was just too stubborn or proud to ask for help when he needed it, but that didn't match up to the weeks Potter had been with him doing apprenticeship work. When he didn't know the answer to a problem, he asked questions. When he needed more paper to complete his school work, he told Severus exactly what he needed. So not stubborn or proud, just a troublemaker. In Potter's days with Severus, he made sure the boy didn't have too much of a chance to go out on Camden Alley on his own. If he was always with Severus or completing a specific task out at the Apothecary, he'd have no chance to fight with the children that lived in the nearby buildings. Severus was grateful that there were no children that lived in the flat below, or the flat on the ground floor of his building. Below him was a little old lady, and below her a young couple that liked owls too much and were thinking of moving to the country to start an owl breeding business.

For now Severus would keep doing what he had been until the start of the school year: picking Harry up for a few days at a time and then taking him back to Little Whinging. There would come a point when he would need to go back to Hogwarts, and he was considering taking the boy with him when he did so he could ensure the brat stayed out of trouble. He would be busy preparing lesson plans and grading rubrics, getting Slytherin house ready, and brewing potions for Poppy, but he could get Potter to help with brewing. He needed to make sure the boy was confident with brewing as quickly as possible. There was a test apprentices had to take at the end of their first two years and there was no way he was going to let the boy flunk it. Apprentices couldn't go on to their second two years apprenticing if they didn't pass the test, but more than that, Severus would be laughed out of the potions community for letting an apprentice fail it, especially since everything on the test was basic knowledge.

* * *

Harry wasn't expecting Snape back so soon, but Uncle Vernon seemed pleased. At first his uncle had grumbled about Harry being returned every three days, but once it was apparent that it was a pattern, and that Harry would only be home for two nights at a time, he said, "That's more like it boy. Can't learn what you need to if you're here with us."

Harry had grown comfortable with the routine too. He didn't want to go with Snape at all, but he could handle three days at a time as it meant Snape kept him busy hunting for ingredients, buying and selling supplies at the apothecary, and taking notes on the things he'd been told instead of sitting around in awkward silence with the man for a whole week. Three days on, two days off... this was the way it was supposed to be because it had been for weeks now, but here was Snape at the front door unannounced when Harry had only been off for one day.

Vernon had opened the door, looked surprised to see Snape there, looked at his watch to check the date, and then said, "Come to take him again have you? He must be doing well then? Or are you back a day early because he needs extra tutoring?"

"An unexpected opportunity has arisen. I will need him for the day and the night. He will return in the morning."

"If you had kept the schedule you would be picking him up in the morning," Vernon reminded him.

"He will stay with you for two more days before I take him again. I have not yet decided, but there is the possibility that he will spend the last two weeks of summer with me. I will let you know if that is the case."

"Can't complain about more time to learn can you?" Vernon said, turning to Harry with a smile. He rarely smiled at Harry and it was disconcerting to see him doing so now.

"Get your supply kit and jacket," Snape instructed.

"Yes sir."

Harry frowned as he went up the stairs to his room, got the wooden box with his supplies, his worn hoodie, and came back down the stairs a minute later. What was Snape taking him to do? Why did he need Harry to spend the last two weeks of summer with him?

They went through the house into the back yard, where Uncle Vernon stood and watched them apparate away this time since Dudley wasn't there to do it. Harry had heard his cousin telling Vernon that it was ‘amazing' to see them disappear into thin air. They reappeared not in Snape's flat in London, but on the edge of bog swamped in soupy thin fog.

"Put your jacket on and get your gloves out," Snape instructed. He knelt down next to a wooden crate which had his own harvesting tools in them, and put his own gloves on. "Leave your gathering tools here in the crate."

Harry did as he was told and then took a large gray silk sack with a drawstring that Snape handed to him.

"You are to be on your best behavior. We have been invited to gather Aconite from a private crop. The potions master who owns this crop had a bumper harvest and has more than he can preserve. He is allowing us and another potions master and apprentice to gather it on the condition that we do not sell it and only use it for potions we will be brewing. You will be polite and respectful at all times. If either of the other two potions masters here ask you questions or try to teach you something, you will answer their questions and listen to what they have to say. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. "Yes sir."

Snape took a step forward, then turned and put a hand out to stop Harry from following him. He gave him a serious look and said, "Remember what I told you about other potions apprentices earlier in the summer. Not all information given to you by them is to be trusted. Any information given to you that you are not certain about you will ask me about when we are alone."

"Yes sir."

Snape gave a nod, looked wary and tense, like the first time he'd sent Harry to the apothecary on Camden, and then steeled himself before turning and leading Harry off into the fog.

"Is that you Edric?" came a voice as they approached another wooden crate.

"It's Severus," he said and as they walked, two dark figures came into view through the chilly fog.

"Ah Severus, I wasn't sure when you'd be back. Edric had to fetch his apprentice from Wales and should have been back by now."

"This is my apprentice, Harry Potter." He sounded bitter when he said Harry's name.

"Mr. Potter," said the man, moving to shake Harry's hand. "I'm pleased to meet you. Quite surprised to hear that you've chosen to become a potions apprentice, but pleased all the same. You couldn't have a better potions master to get you through your first two years of apprenticeship. I suppose Severus couldn't have picked a better first apprentice than The-Boy-Who-Lived either. All eyes will be on the two of you to see what comes of it now."

"You've had his hand for a while now," said the other man with him. He was older than Harry, but Harry wasn't sure by how much. He might have been twenty.

"So I have," the man said, letting go of Harry's hand. "Haven't even had the decency to introduce myself either. I'm Rand Scothern, and this is my apprentice in his fourth year Leighton Bidwell. We're just waiting on Edric and his third year apprentice Soren Spofforth."

He turned to Severus and said conversationally, "Soren's made quite a name for himself these last three years for going to any length to get rare ingredients. I expect he'll be quite wealthy by the end of his first two years as a Potions Master. Just came back last week scorched across his left side because he'd been gathering fallen scales from a dragon in its own den while it slept!" He turned to Harry then and said, "Is that what you'll be doing Harry? I heard you had an encounter with a dragon not that long ago during the TriWizard tournament."

Harry shook his head. "No sir, I don't think so."

A few moments later they heard a man call out through the fog, "Ho!"

"Ho! Here Edric!" Rand shouted in return, and after a minute they heard Edric and his apprentice Sorren slushing through the edges of the bog towards them, appearing through the soupy fog.

Edric was an older man who looked grumpy. His hair was mused like Harry's, and slowly losing its brown color as it turned gray. Soren looked to be about Leighton's age, maybe twenty, and looked about as unkempt as his potions master.

"Sorry we're late," Soren said. "Took master Edric a bit to find me. I was out on The Skerries collecting feathers from the Roseate tern."

Harry watched the three potions masters and the other two apprentices interacting with curiosity. They were older than him, but he was interested to see that some apprentices were sent out on their own to gather ingredients. While Edric seemed grumpy, he and his apprentice acted as though they were friends, and joked about how Soren had had to save Edric from falling into the sea when he'd come to find him earlier that day. Rand seemed friendly enough, and while his apprentice Leighton hadn't said enough yet for Harry to get a read on him, he seemed to know Sorren and Edric, and Harry wondered if the four of them got together to do this sort of thing often. Did Snape get together with them frequently too?

Introductions were made again, mainly the introduction of Harry to Edric and Sorren, and then they set off into the mist, fog clinging to them as they went into the aconite fields.

"Third year has been our best," Rand said. "Careful not to trample them or they'll be useless. Don't pull them up by the roots. Snip or pinch them off at the base but be sure to leave about two inches of stem so we can find the roots again. We need to divide the roots so we'll get an even bigger crop next year." He turned to Harry and asked, "Have you worked with aconite before? Have you harvested or preserved it?"

He shook his head. "No sir."

"Go with Leighton and Soren. Wear your gloves and don't touch your face. Aconitum is highly toxic and can be absorbed through the skin. It will kill you if you get it in your mouth."

"Yes sir."

Leighton and Soren seemed to be waiting for him, so Harry went to them and hoped they'd give him truthful information. Snape would be mad if Harry ruined any of the aconite they harvested or wrecked Rand's crop.

They led Harry quite a ways from the group of potions masters through the fog before they stopped and knelt down in a huge patch of purple aconite flowers.

"Gloves on," Soren reminded Harry. "Nasty business getting aconite into your system. We've got potions to counteract the toxins, but if you get nicked with a fingernail or something that has aconite on it, one of the masters will have to go in with a clean blade to dig the infected flesh out. Then we'll never hear the end of it for letting a first year apprentice get aconite poisoning."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, but was consternated when Soren laughed. Leighton didn't laugh but he was grinning.

"Will you listen to him?" Soren said with another laugh. "Cut that out. We're not a sir if you're not our apprentice. I've got three more years ahead of me before I can take the test to become a potions master, and Leighton's got two. Besides that I'm not old enough to be a sir yet. I'm only twenty. Are you old enough?" he asked Leighton.

Leighton did laugh at that. "I hope not. Only twenty four. Think I have to be married or forty before I become a ‘sir.'"

"Got it," Harry said, cheeks heating up.

The two older apprentices set their bags on the damp grass and sat down on them and motioned for Harry to do the same. They seemed in no rush to start working.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked. He didn't want Snape to come searching for him and find him with an empty bag.

"We've got some time," Leighton said. "They're over there talking. It'll be some time yet before they start gathering aconite themselves."

Harry frowned.

"This is your first joint gathering isn't it," Leighton said, giving Harry a bored look. "We're here to get aconite, but the masters like to meet like this to talk."

"They're just... chatting?" Harry asked, brows raised.

"Potions talk," Soren said. "Talking about whatever they're working on, talking about us, or about whatever news there is from the latest potions journals. Waste of time writing letters and owling each other when they can get together two or three at a time and talk while they work. Could be making deals with each other to brew potions they're known for or to trade rare ingredients or things they have too much stock in. Talk today will probably be about you. No one really realized you were master Snape's new apprentice."

"So this sort of thing happens often? Getting together to gather ingredients? We've been out gathering things on our own all summer," Harry said.

"Not every week," Leigton said, "but often enough. Once a month maybe. Masters Rand and Edric get on well together so Soren and I see a lot of each other too. Whoever your master is friends with is who you'll see most often. I haven't seen master Snape in a year at least."

"Me too," said Soren. "Year and a half maybe. Think master Edric and I were out with master Jigger harvesting mandrake from Jigger's greenhouse and they needed master Snape's help. That was around Christmas that year."

Leighton and Soren talked for a few more minutes, mostly about what Soren had been gathering that morning before Edric had found him and brought him here, and then their attention turned to Harry again.

"It's unusual to see someone so young in an apprenticeship. First two years aren't all that hard, but still. You usually see new apprentices coming into the field after they graduate Hogwarts. Most take a year off, or even two before they start or a space opens up with a potions master."

"My grade in potions wasn't the best. I wanted to get an apprenticeship with the aurory after I graduated and I need a good grade on my potions NEWT. My uncle and Snape set it up between the two of them."

The other two apprentices were quiet for a long moment. "So you don't even want to be a potions master?" Soren asked.

"It's not that," Harry said, hoping he hadn't offended them. He actually had enjoyed learning about fungus and other things they'd gathered over the last five weeks, and it had been interesting learning to barter with the apothecary owner on Camden Alley. "I didn't mean to say it's not interesting."

"What do you mean your uncle and master Snape set it up?"

"I live with my aunt and uncle. They're Muggles. My uncle said I needed to make sure everything was set up so I could get the apprenticeship I wanted after I graduate. He told Snape and asked him to take me as an apprentice to make sure I got a good grade on my potions NEWT. Snape agreed and I've been doing this all summer. I go with him three to seven days at a time and then he takes me home."

Soren and Leighton were staring at him as he talked but didn't question him much further on it except for Soren asking, "You like being his apprentice though, don't you?"

"Yes," Harry lied. There were things about it he liked, but being with Snape was below his last choice. He still thought it might have been better to be apprenticed to Voldemort if given a choice between the two, though he kept his thoughts to himself.

Soren and Leighton exchanged another look, and then Leighton said, "It's master Snape."

"Hm?" Harry looked up at him.

"If you're going to get through this two year apprenticeship, you'd better call him master Snape, or master Severus, whatever he prefers. You could probably keep calling him professor when you're at school, but when talking about him to other potions masters or potions apprentices, or even to people from the Ministry, you should call him master. He told you everything you do and say reflects on him and you, right?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Eh," Soren said as though Leighton was making it a bigger deal than it needed to be. "He's got more leeway as a first year. They'll really start to call you out on things in your second year though, and once you're past that it's expected you'll follow all the rules of decorum."

"What are the rules?" Harry asked.

"What did master Severus tell you?" Leighton asked.

Harry explained about all he'd been told about going to see the apothecary to barter.

"That's all true," Leighton said, "plus what we told you. He's earned the title of master, and whether you want to be his apprentice or not, he's taking his time without pay to teach you what you need to know, so it's expected you and everyone else in the potions community will call him master. And it's expected that you'll call our masters master as well."

"I will."

"Other than that," Soren added, "it's all pretty basic. Give credit where it's due, don't say you're capable of something you're not, don't try to pass off sub par ingredients as high quality, and in general just be respectful."

"There's something else," Harry said, and Soren and Leighton looked up at him. "Master Snape," Harry said, trying out the title, "he said not to listen to what other apprentices tell me because some will try to give me misinformation. He said it's all a competition to set ourselves apart and some will try to make me look bad. Not that- not that that's what you're doing," he added quickly. He really just wanted to know what they thought about what Snape had said because up to this point they seemed to be pretty straight with him about the rules... helpful even.

Leighton and Soren shared a look. "That's true. We could tell you we're not the kind of apprentice that would do that sort of thing, but I don't suppose you'd listen to us after what your master told you. Our masters told us the same thing when we were first year apprentices. I have seen it happen to others though. With you being who you are... The-Boy-Who-Lived, other apprentices will definitely see you as a threat. It'll be hard to set themselves apart and above you with your fame. But even if Soren and I were the type to try to make you look bad, you just told us that you don't want to be a potions master... at least not yet. Your aim right now from what I can tell is to just make it through the next couple of years. Knowing that, you'll probably find that a lot of apprentices will relax around you."

Soren nodded, looking down at his hands as the fog grew thicker. "You're not exactly what people expect anyway. With your fame people expect you to be pompous and full of yourself, and then you show up calm and quiet and calling us sir."

"There is that," Leighton said. "Throws people off. Once they meet you they probably won't see you as enough of a threat to try to make you look bad. All the same, keep an eye out for the competitive ones."

"You're not?" Harry asked.

"Oh we are," Soren said. "I'm going to be the potions master everyone comes to for ingredients no one else cares to risk themselves to gather. And Leighton's aiming to brew potions with volatile bases that almost never turn out for others. Leighton's got competition from an apprentice over in Blackpool who's mastered brewing wolfsbane, but no one wants to risk their lives for dragon scales and other things like I do."

"Well don't look at me," Harry said with a little laugh. "I've only just learned about fungus this summer and that's easy enough to gather."

"That's one of master Snape's things," Soren told him. "He has patches of fungi sown across the isles, and probably up in the mountains above Hogwarts. It wouldn't surprise me if he's got things growing out in the Forbidden Forest as well."

"I didn't know that," Harry said. He'd been quite pleased with himself becoming a master of fungi, but if that was Snape's primary source of income and ingredients it made sense that that was what he'd be learning the most about.

"I think that's been enough time," Leighton said, looking down at his watch. "We should get started." He didn't move to get up though and instead pulled his gloves back on and pulled out his shears and snipped off a stem of aconite.

"This is aconite," he said, showing it to Harry. "Remember what we said before. Keep your gloves on. Don't touch this stuff with your skin or touch your skin or face with your gloves. If you have to scratch an itch, pull your gloves off first and use your bare hands. When you're done harvesting today you or your master will have to use a special potion to cleanse your clothes so you don't accidentally get toxin on you later on."

"We store the aconite in special satin bags that have been dipped in a class three preservation potion," Soren said. "The potion isn't to preserve the aconite, but the bags. It ensures the bags won't get toxin on them. You won't even have to wash these bags out when you're done with them before using them on another ingredient. Master Snape will make you wash it anyway, but you won't have to in order to avoid cross contamination. You know what potions aconite is used in?"

Harry shook his head.

"It's a poison, so a lot of poisons have it in them, but the toxin can also counteract other poisons. In the wolfsbane potion there's hemlock, which is used to suppress the infection that turns people into werewolves three nights a month, but hemlock is poisonous, so we have to add aconite to counteract it. There are other ingredients that do the same thing, but aconite is also known as wolfsbane amongst other things, and it also suppresses the werewolf infection."

Leighton began listing off the other names for aconite, and told Harry to look it up later because he'd be tested on it at some point. "Aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, mousebane, women's bane, queen of poisons, blue rocket, and devil's helmet."

"That's a lot," Harry commented, sure he would never remember all the names for it. He'd heard it called monkshood before, and was sure he could remember wolfsbane and aconite, but the others would take some studying.

"Aconitum is part of the Ranunculaceae family," Leighton continued. "There's around 250 species of flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae family, a lot of which are used in potions. Pretty much all of the aconitum species are extremely poisonous, so be careful handling them. Master Rand and I planted this patch three years ago and have been tending to it ever since. Aconitum likes its roots to be moist and its leaves to be exposed to the sun. This bog is foggy all day some days, but most of the time it's in full sun, and as you can tell the ground stays moist year round."

They showed Harry how to snip the stems off, leaving a couple inches of the stem in-tact so they could find the roots later, and then the three of them set to work harvesting the patch of aconite.

A few minutes into it Leighton said, "Tell me a fact about aconite."

"Most species are poisonous," Harry said.

"Tell me a fact about monkshood," Soren said.

"It grows where its roots can stay wet," Harry answered.

"And a fact about wolfsbane?" Soren asked again.

Harry listed another fact, and the two elder apprentices asked him a new question each time but using one of the other names of aconite. When they'd gone through the names, Leighton began telling Harry about how to preserve what they were harvesting, but each time he spoke he used an alternate name. At the end of an hour of harvesting Harry thought he actually had a pretty good handle on all the names for it and appreciated that they'd taken the time to teach him.

"Bonus points," Soren said when Harry's large silk sack was half full. "They don't expect you to know this but it'll impress the potions masters if you ever get asked. The English name for aconite is monkshood, and that refers to the cylindrical helmet that distinguishes the flower."

"Teaching him to show off already," Leighton said.

"He's our mini-apprentice," Soren said in a teasing voice. "He called us sir. Why shouldn't we teach him to show off how well we taught him?"

"Fine then," Leighton said. "I know master Rand will try to tell you this since he specializes in growing aconitum. When growing in the wild aconite flowers are very dark blue or dark purple. When cultivating them in a garden the shades are much lighter. Look at how dark these are since we've grown them here in the bog."

Harry looked closely. "They're almost not even purple," Harry said. The purple was so deep it was reaching towards a deep dark gray like the night sky.

"These are very potent. The deeper the color the more potent for use in potions. That's why you can't sell them. We grow these to sell as no one else has aconite of this quality. After today you and master Snape, and Soren and master Edric will have enough to last you quite some time though. You'll have to come up with something really special to brew with it to sell. Potions made with our midnight aconite should fetch a pretty knut."

"Midnight aconite?" Harry asked.

"That's what we call it. We also have another patch not too far from here we harvest only on full moon nights. That's called moonlight aconite. It's a lighter color and when you harvest it on the full moon it turns a pale yellow as soon as it's cut. Master Rand and I have been experimenting with a stronger wolfsbane potion. Someday we'll be able to cure lycanthropy altogether. We believe the key is in the type of aconite used."

"That'll be something," Soren said. "Talk about setting yourself apart. That apprentice over in Blackpool will have nothing to show for his apprenticeship if you create a newer better wolfsbane potion."

"Moonlight wolfsbane," Harry said.

"Hm?" Leighton asked.

"You could name the new potion moonlight wolfsbane. Or if you mix the midnight and moonlight aconite together you could make midnight moonlight wolfsbane."

"Could do," Leighton said. "We'd discussed it, but we'd have to breed the two strains together and then harvest on a full moon. Can't just mix different types of aconite together into a potion because they cancel each other out and then they don't cancel out the hemlock and we'd just end up poisoning whatever poor person drank it."

"That's good to know," Harry said, snipping several aconite stems off at once as they were in a cluster together.

"It's a one to one thing in potions," Leighton said. "Put hemlock in, cancel it with aconite or something else that cancels poisons. Put one type of aconite in, you can cancel it with a second type. Add a third type of aconite in and you'll just have poison again unless you add a fourth thing to cancel that third type out."

Leighton and Soren chatted for another hour while they worked about the various things they'd been doing since they'd last seen each other (it had been almost two months since their masters had gotten together to harvest ingredients). When they seemed to have run out of things to talk about they began quizzing Harry on aconite to be sure he had all the information down.

"Best way to learn it," Soren told him. "You learn about it, you talk about it, you answer questions about it, you quiz yourself about it, and if you really want to cement the knowledge in place you write about it or tell someone else about it."

"That's what master Snape has been doing. And the apothecary we sell to quizzes me on whatever I sell to him as well."

"That's the way it's done in the potions community. Apprentices have been learning this way for hundreds of years. As a first and second year apprentice you'll be quizzed by every potions master you come across. It happens sometimes as a third or fourth year, but by your fifth and sixth year it won't happen at all unless your own master is testing you to get you ready for the mastery test."

"I make note cards on new things I'm learning and put questions on the front and answers on the back and quiz myself in my free time," Leighton said. "If you go for a second apprenticeship when you're done with this one you'll appreciate how little you had to work to memorize facts because masters all around you had been quizzing you and re-teaching you when you forget answers. As an older apprentice you have to do it all yourself."

"I thought they were just testing me to make sure I'd learned what I was supposed to."

"That's for your master to do," Soren said, "because if you don't know what you need to after he's done teaching you then that's his fault. Other masters do it for you though, to help you get all the information down and sort it all out. They all sorta consider it their responsibility to make sure you succeed. It's possible to fail and have to repeat two years of an apprenticeship, but only if you're daft at it or if you just really don't want to learn."

"Or if you quit," Leighton said.

Harry was quiet. "You can do that?" he asked.

"An apprenticeship is a contract, usually between someone of majority and the master taking them on, or in your case between master Snape and your guardians. Occasionally the contract has to be broken, but that requires going to the ministry, and both the apprentice and the master have to agree to it. It happens sometimes, but not very often. I've never seen it happen."

"Usually it's because the apprentice and master aren't getting along, though that looks really bad on both of them," Soren said. "Sometimes something happens to the apprentice or master and one of them can't complete the apprenticeship. Like if someone got into an accident and couldn't be healed well enough to do the work."

"Is it that way with all types of apprenticeships?" Harry asked. "Like in the aurory?"

"No," Soren told him. "The aurory works differently. All types of work have their own social structures and values as well as different ways of doing apprenticeships. I heard apprenticeships in the aurory only last six months so you go through two a year and you do that for two years to get an auror license. I don't think you're a full fledged auror at that point, there's more to it than that, but I've never talked with an auror or an auror apprentice so I'm not sure."

"Then there's teaching apprenticeships," Leighton said. "Master Snape will have had to do one of those to teach at Hogwarts. No idea how that works. There's also apprenticeships for experimental magic and other types of jobs at the Ministry."

"So all jobs have apprenticeships?"

"Nah," Soren said. "Plenty of things you can do after graduating if you get good grades on your NEWTs. Some things you can do with just good grades on your OWLs."

They collected Aconite for another few minutes before Leighton had Harry recite the many names of the plant back to him and Soren had Harry "teach" them a lesson about Aconite so that he'd have to recite all he knew about it. By the time their sacks were full and they started back through the fog to find the three potions masters, the two elder apprentices had also taught Harry the names of a dozen potions that Aconite was in and described what they were used for and how hard or easy they were to brew.

Snape was setting three small wooden tables up by the wood crates full of their harvesting equipment and Rand was pulling things out of one of the crates when they found them.

"Leave your bags with your masters'," Rand said, and Harry went to the crate he'd left his supplies in and set his bag of aconite down next to Snape's.

"Set the items from our crate out on this table," Snape told Harry, and Harry gave a nod in the fog and set to work. There was a mortar and pestle, various glass jars with lids, metal tins with lids, white linen cloths, knives and a few other things used in preparing or preserving ingredients. While Harry set their supplies out, Leighton and Soren were doing the same at the other two little tables. The three tables had been set up in a triangle so everyone could work facing each other.

Edric came out of the fog with three jars of bog water and set one on each table and went to stand next to Soren.

"Harry," Rand said, and Harry looked up at him. "Be sure to keep your gloves on while you work and don't breathe any powder of wolfsbane in. We'll be preparing our Aconite here as it's best preserved or used when it's fresh."

Harry nodded to show he understood and Rand kept talking.

"It can be preserved in water, but only in the water it was grown with. When preserved this way it will keep like it's fresh for potions that require fresh aconite. It will keep this way for years. You'll know it's gone bad because it will lose all its color and turn brown. Simply pack as much aconite as you can, stems and flowers into the jar of bog water without crushing them." He pointed to indicate that Harry should do this now and Harry retrieved his bag of aconite and pushed two handfuls of the flowers and stems gently into the jar of bog water.

"That's it. Now be sure they're completely submerged and screw the lid on. Few potions require fresh aconite which is why we don't preserve very much of it this way. Most potions require crushed or dried aconite, and a few powder of aconite."

Harry looked to the other tables and realized that everyone else was already preserving their wolfsbane in this way. Even Snape had started crushing aconite in the mortar with a pestle.

Rand seemed to be done instructing him for now and Snape quietly took over, showing him how to crush aconite into a purple paste that needed to be scooped into the metal tins with lids for storage.

After filling up several tins, Harry and Snape moved on to using the linen cloths to press the water out of purple aconite flowers so they could start the drying process. Later after a few days had passed they would need to take the dried flowers and crush them into a purple powder. For now the two of them set to work drying dozens of sheets of purple flowers pressed between linens, which quickly became stained purple.

Harry and Snape worked quietly like they had been for weeks now, but Harry didn't find the silence to be as awkward this time as he was able to listen to Rand and Leighton talking to each other and Edric and Soren conversing in low tones. Harry's earlier assessment of Edric and Soren seemed to be true. Edric was a little grumpy and Soren boisterous, though they both seemed to get along well together. At the other table Rand chatted happily away and seemed friendly, while his apprentice Leighton seemed to be nothing but business. Leighton listened and occasionally answered a question from Rand, but otherwise was fully engaged in his work of preserving aconite.

Over an hour passed this way before the three tables ran out of aconite to process and the tables were cleaned up.

"That's that then," Rand said happily. "Another happy harvest. The only thing left is to divide the aconitum roots, but that will have to wait until after dinner. We get the best results when the roots are divided and replanted after dark.

Dinner sounded like a good plan to Harry who was starving after working through lunch. He hadn't had breakfast that morning either, and wondered if Snape would be apparating away with him to go back to the man's flat to get something to eat.

Instead, Snape made Harry wash his hands twice in a jar of clean water, then once with a potion, and then once again in the clean water, and then led him through the fog a little ways. It was still daylight though it was nearing seven, but the dense ever present fog made it seem later in the evening.

A warm glow appeared as they walked over the damp clumps of grass, and a moment later a warm fire came into view, circled by stones to keep it contained and radiate heat. Leighton and Soren were sitting next to each other and had appeared to save Harry a seat on one of the empty upturned crates. Snape sat down next to Rand and Edric, who were busy cooking sausages over the fire.

"Here," Leighton said, pushing a cup of something hot into Harry's hands, and Harry was surprised to find it was hot buttered rum.

He looked up to see what Snape had to say about it, as he'd never had any sort of alcohol before, but the man was determinedly looking away from him.

"Go ahead," Soren told him quietly as Rand started to ask Severus questions about the upcoming school year.

"I'm allowed?" Harry asked.

"Not much of a gathering without hot buttered rum," Leighton said. "At least not a gathering put on by master Rand."

Soren laughed when Harry took a sip and choked a little. "Sausages, cheese, berries and hot buttered rum are the norm when coming to harvest with master Rand," he said. Harry tried an even smaller sip and enjoyed the warmth and the flavor of the hot drink, though he enjoyed wrapping his hands around it even more.

"Cheese," Leighton said, unwrapping a block of hard white cheese wrapped in a cloth and cutting off a piece. He handed a piece to Snape first, then Edric, then Rand. Next he gave one to Soren and then finally Harry before cutting off a piece for himself. The flavor of the cheese was strong, but on Harry's empty stomach he appreciated it nonetheless.

By the time he was done with his cheese and had taken a few more sips of his hot drink, Edric had handed him a hot sausage fresh off the pan and Rand seemed to be done talking with Snape. Instead he turned his attention to Harry as they all settled in to finish their meal.

"Harry, do you know why our aconite flowers are so deep in color?"

Harry gave Leighton a smile and a look out of the corner of his eye and said, " Aconite's usually dark in color when found in the wild, but lighter when cultivated in a garden. Yours was grown in wild conditions though in a bog so it's very dark."

"Ah, see I can't fault Leighton," Rand said with a smile. "Thought I could come up with something he might have forgotten to teach you. Smart as a whip, can't trip him up."

"How can you tell if someone has slipped aconite into your drink?" Edric gruffed, not looking up from his sausage, and Harry paused, drink halfway to his lips, mind whirring into action as he looked down into the hot buttered rum. He looked up at the group, eyes full of panic.

"He's not having you on," Soren said, "and he didn't poison you either. It's a genuine question."

"I don't know sir," Harry said, still not bringing the mug any closer to him.

Edric and Rand both looked at Severus, who looked across the fire to Harry and asked, "What does aconite smell like?"

"It's woodsy... damp... dark, like a forest." They all smelled of aconite since they'd been chopping it, mashing it, and drying it. Harry quite liked the smell.

"Do you smell that in your drink?" Harry sniffed the drink but could only smell the buttered rum and the aconite hanging in the air around them. He shook his head.

"Touch your lip to your mug and tip it back so only a small amount touches your bottom lip," Snape instructed.

Harry did so and was careful not to let any more of the rum get into his mouth.

"Do you feel anything other than wetness on your lip?"

"No sir."

"Aconite produces a tingling or burning sensation when touching your lips. While tasteless, you would know if you had ingested any as it would produce a burning and tingling sensation in your mouth, on your lips, and all the way down your esophagus. You should always test your drinks before you consume them. Use all of your senses. Look first to see if what you're about to consume looks off in some way, smell it, touch it to your lip, and finally taste it before you decide to swallow it."

Harry's heart calmed down a little and Soren slapped him on the back. "Take it easy," he said. "We all learned the lesson the same way. First gathering an apprentice goes to with poisonous ingredients being processed, someone always asks and the new apprentice always gets the same panicked look you did."

Leighton and Rand laughed, and even Edric cracked a smile. Harry's cheeks tinged red and Edric said, "Don't forget about your gut sense," he said. "If you're amongst friends you're probably fine to eat and drink whatever you've been given. Take a look around you and be sure no one's acting odd before you sit down to a meal though."

"But people don't get poisoned often do they?" Harry asked.

"It happens more than one would think," Severus said. "As a potions apprentice it would look bad for the potions community as a whole if it were to happen to you because those working with potions should know better."

"Yes sir. I'll check from now on."

After their meal Rand took Edric and Harry, and Leighton took Soren and Snape and they went out to the spots they had harvested from earlier that day. Rand showed Harry and Edric how to carefully pull up the roots of the harvested wolfsbane plants, how to divide the roots, and then how to replant them. They worked on their hands and knees for another two hours this way, getting dim light from the jars that previously held bog water but had now been charmed to radiate light as though they had fireflies in them. It was after eleven pm when Snape finally collected Harry to gather all of their supplies and jars and tins of aconite into Snape's wooden crate.

Snape thanked Rand for allowing them to gather aconite from his private patch, and then apparated Harry back to his flat.

In the light of the flat above Camden Alley, Harry realized how filthy he was after crawling around in the bog all day. Even his neck and face were dirty.

"Take a shower," Snape told him. "There is a change of clothes for you in the bathroom. Your clothes are contaminated with wolfsbane. Once you remove them in the bathroom, put them in the black bag on the floor and wash your hands with the potion sitting on the counter. Shower thoroughly and when you are done wash your hands with the potion on the counter again and then change into the fresh clothes. Be quick as I must also do the same."

Harry gave him a nod, went into the guest room and found the clothes Snape was talking about, and hurried into the bathroom. After he was done with his shower and getting dressed, he wondered about the clothes he was putting on. They were new, or at least he thought they were. He had been given a black t-shirt and a pair of soft gray drawstring sweatpants and a pair of socks and underwear.

As soon as Harry emerged from the bathroom, Snape told him to eat what was on the kitchen counter and go to bed. Snape disappeared into the bathroom for his shower, and Harry was surprised to find a piece of fruit and a muffin on the counter. Wary of poison now that he'd been warned about it, Harry looked at the food, sniffed it, thought that Snape probably would like to poison him, and then ate the food anyway. Snape was too content on torturing him to poison him, at least for the time being. Harry hadn't felt too tortured that day though. He'd enjoyed the time with the other apprentices, even though they were already adults. He'd learned a lot about apprenticeships and had enjoyed the dinner around the campfire. It was one of the few fun things he'd ever been allowed to do during summer holidays, and he wondered if he'd be allowed to attend a gathering like that again.

* * *

In the morning after they had eaten breakfast, Severus and Harry brewed a simple potion which they then poured into a large container and soaked all of their clothing from the night before in.

"Smells musty," Harry said. "Is that the potion or the clothes?"

"It's the hemlock in the potion. Now you know what poison hemlock smells like and will know what to look for in your food."

"Yes sir," Harry said, once again reminded that someday someone might try to poison him.

"Why did we use hemlock in this cleansing potion?" Snape asked.

"To counteract the wolfsbane," Harry said. "Because wolfsbane is used in potions to counteract hemlock. One toxin to cancel another out."

"Yes. A basic cleansing potion with hemlock added in. The two poisons cancel each other out and we are left with a basic cleansing potion."


Snape quizzed Harry for almost twenty minutes on what he'd learned the night before from the other apprentices, and then declared that everything Harry had been told was true.

"You said they'd try to trick me."

"I said some apprentices will. Just because they did not this time does not mean they won't in the future."

"How is anyone supposed to make friends if they have to be on the lookout all the time for people lying to them?"

Snape gave him a wary look, as if to say, ‘how could you be friends with someone without vetting them first?'

Harry never found out the answer because a few minutes later, Snape apparated him back to his relatives, telling him he could have his clothes back in three days when they were done soaking in the potion. "I will pick you up on Tuesday morning. Do not bring any of your things."

"Yes sir."

Snape apparated away from the back garden, not bothering to check if the Dursleys were home. As a result Harry found himself locked out of the house all day and for the night as well. His uncle had taken his aunt and cousin on a holiday since Harry had been gone with Snape, and hadn't thought to leave Harry a key or even a blanket to wrap up in at night. He shouldn't have been disappointed to come back and find the Dursleys missing, but he was. He wished at least he had access to his owl for the summer so he could write to Ron and Hermione and tell them about the bog full of aconite, and the apprentices who were nicer than they should have been.

To be continued...
End Notes:
What does everyone think about the potions community Harry is discovering? Are you all finding the actual potions brewing/ingredient gathering/etc to be too informational, too boring, interesting, or something else?


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