Capítulo 74: Chapter 70: Wolfsbane Potion
-Potioneers Meeting Hall, SWI, Salem, Massachusetts, USA.
-18 December, 1976
As he was talking to the different guests at the potioneers' meeting, Severus ended up talking to a potioneer called Damocles Belby.
Mr. Belby was a very respected potioneer but also a very nice and gentle person, he was like a Horace Slughorn but without any interest in the elitist class of the wizarding world, his only real interest was potions and Severus could respect the man for this.
The two of them talked about many things, apparently, Damocles Belby was very interested in the new potions that Severus had been making and selling at the Prince Potions Factory.
And Severus was quite interested when the man told him about a potion he had been working on for several years now, Democles called it Wolfsbane Potion as it was an innovative and complex potion that relieved, but did not cure, the symptoms of lycanthropy.
If Mr. Belby was successful then many werewolves could live better, of course this didn't really matter to most of the wizards, which was a problem for the man as the ingredients he was working on to create the potion were very expensive and with only his money he couldn't finish the potion..., in fact, the man had already spent almost all his money over the years so he had no choice but to look for other economical alternatives or delay the development of the potion.
This would be a pity since Democles was convinced that the development of the potion was almost finished and that he only needed to make several tests with werewolves to complete the potion.
But this required a lot of money, more than Democles had even spent in all these years.
Why so much money?
Well, the staffing was extremely expensive as one had to hire wizards specifically trained in werewolf control..., well..., unless one wanted to risk being killed in the process and as much as Mr. Belby wanted to finish developing his potion he was not someone who wanted to die for it.
It also required a place with the optimal testing facilities, a place where the werewolves could be safely contained, and finally all the necessary ingredients for the potion in large quantities so that the potion could be developed and perfected as the tests were done.
All of this cost a huge amount of gallons.
For this reason, Democles was here to see if anyone was interested in financially supporting his work in the creation of this potion, he knew that it would not be easy to get financial support from wizards for something that would help werewolves but in this meeting with so many potioneers, there was a better chance that someone would be interested in his work and decide to help him at least with some money.
It would take years for Mr. Belby to raise the money on his own and at the same time focus on the potion, something that could take him only a month to do now with financial support could take him years without it, so the best thing to do was to find a sponsor, pity that so far he hadn't had any luck.
Severus remembered that he, as Snape, had gone through a very complex situation with a werewolf, yes, with Remus Lupin.
The poor Snape had been very scared since that day, not only he feared for himself, but also for Lily who used to hang out with Lupin, Snape believed that the boy was a danger that should be kept away from Hogwarts.
But Severus now realised that it was not Lupin's fault, his condition was not something he could be judged on, even though he was still dangerous, although not to him currently.
On the other hand, Damocles Belby was a good person who loved what he was doing and Severus decided that maybe he could come to an agreement with the man.
Severus understood everything the man explained about the potion he was developing and he was sure that if Mr. Belby was given all the necessary resources he could finish the potion in a short time.
However, it was a great amount of money to pay for all the necessary staff, facilities, and supplies, but if the man was successful he would probably be awarded an Order of Merlin award.
And if the Prince were the sponsors of the man they would also receive a lot of recognition from the entire wizarding community around the world, increasing sales and public favour.
Besides, Severus could make an agreement with Mr. Belby to be the only producers and sellers of this potion, which would make things even more profitable.
That was how Severus reached an agreement with Mr. Belby, the conditions of the agreement were simple, the Prince would be their sponsor and they would be in charge of paying everything that was necessary to finish the potion as soon as possible, but once it was finished, they would have the rights to make and sell it.
Naturally, Democles Belby would get a percentage of the sales for being the creator as well as the recognition of the achievement.
Still, the man doubted for a moment but finally agreed with Severus, after all, Democles might not be far from finishing his potion, but without financial backing, it would take him years to collect the money and do the necessary tests.
Severus called Hermione to take care of the matter, he told her about the deal he was making with Democles Belby and to his amusement, she was very excited about the whole arrangement.
In fact, she was so excited about the deal that she personally offered to go through the whole process and get started immediately.
Severus just shook his head at the exalted witch in front of him, but he didn't bother to calm her, he didn't care why she was so determined to put so much effort into the matter, as long as things were done right and done quickly it was better for him.
...
The Pottioners' meeting continued into the evening and it got to the point where everyone had already been talking to everyone else present.
Even Severus got to talking to Gomez Addams again and he introduced Severus to his mother, Eudora Addams, while Severus introduced them to Hermione who greeted them politely and courteously but ran off as soon as she could to talk to some of the others present...
Yes, it turned out that Hermione didn't feel very comfortable with the Addams.
The conversation Severus had with Gomez and his mother was really strange, especially since Eudora Addams kept staring at him as if there was something wrong with him..., but even so, it didn't make Severus uncomfortable, in fact, he could even admit that he felt better talking to the Addams than to most of the potioneers and wizards present.
At least with the Addams the conversations never bored him.
....
....
-Evans' home, Muggle London
-19 December 1976
"So... sis, when am I going to meet this boy you're dating?" asked Lily with curiosity and hope that she would finally tell him.
Lily Evans had been asking her sister Petunia that question ever since she came back from Hogwarts and found out from her mother that she was dating a boy.
And it seems it was serious since he and her sister were going to spend the whole summer together, clearly, Petunia's boyfriend Vernon's parents were smart and scheduled a trip for their families to go together.
However, Lily couldn't go as she had the Order of the Phoenix meetings during the holidays and these were extremely important, her parents already knew about these "meetings" so they agreed to let her stay at home this time, after all, Lily was always very responsible and they trusted her completely.
Lily had always wanted to fix her problems with her sister but since she entered Hogwarts everything went from bad to worse and now they hardly ever talked, they only argued, but finally, now that her sister had a boyfriend, she had a way to talk to her again...
Or so she thought...
"You're not going to meet him if I can prevent it. Why do you think Vernon's parents proposed a trip all of a sudden..., yeah, I convinced them, I knew you and your freaky friends were having your meetings so I took the opportunity to avoid you," Petunia said coldly.
" Turns out I really like my Vernon as a human, normal, thank you very much," she added dryly.
"You...!, who said I'd do anything to him? All I want to do is meet him. What's wrong with that?" asked Lily in exasperation at her sister's behaviour.
Every day that passed Petunia was treating her worse.
"Just because you can't get a boyfriend, doesn't mean I'm going to let you ruin my relationship, Lily"
"Tuny, all I want to do is get to know him or at least hear something from you..., talk like sisters, you know..."
Petunia looked surprised.
"Ha, dream on, that'll never happen!" said Petunia and walked away to her room.
Lily just sighed and looked at her sadly, she tried and tried to fix things with her, but things only seemed to get worse and worse between them...
In fact, she was pretty sure this had been one of their longest conversations since she had received her Hogwarts admission letter.
Her parents had told her that Petunia was just jealous..., that sooner or later she would get over it.
Lily believed it at first, but with each passing year, she doubted it more and more.
Her sister was a bitch, but that didn't stop Lily from missing her and wanting to fix everything between the two of them.
Lily on her own decided to go back to her room and think about some things...
Nothing in her life seemed to be going as she would like, everything seemed to be going horribly wrong...
Her relationship with her sister,
With Severus,
Her sleeping problems,
The... the kiss...
Her head had too many different things to keep thinking about and to make matters worse she could never really figure anything out.
And that kiss only made everything harder for her...
Lily was very confused and to add to that, she still remembered that Severus had confessed to her...
Well... maybe it wasn't exactly a confession of love,
But he had told her that a part of him still loved her...!
Sure, he had also said a lot of horrible things when he said that, but it was quite clear that he felt very strong emotions and feelings for her...
Yes, that day Lily finally knew that Severus loved her more than just as a friend, he had deep feelings for her and ever since then she had been trying to process it all unsuccessfully,
Her own feelings,
Everything that happened with Severus,
The whole thing about him being a Prince now and that he has two cousins in Hogwarts and the two of them in Gryffindor.
And how Severus had changed so much for the better...
Back to that day in Hogsmeade with the Dementors and that Patronus just like hers, that Patronus brought back so many memories, so many thoughts, all the beautiful things
She also had the strange feeling that the Patronus was from Severus himself.
And now on top of all this, there was that kiss again...
Just thinking about it made her face turn red all over with embarrassment and so many other feelings...
Her heart felt so strange that she didn't know why this affected her so much.
She had already decided to go on with her life without him, but that was because he had left her no choice in the matter.
But now everything seemed to be changing and he had changed...,
Yes, everything was completely different now.
Lily felt so strange, her head was a mess, she didn't know what to think or do, and it was so hard to process it all.
She spent a few hours lying in her bed silently thinking about all of this, trying to conclude what the bloody hell she should do.
"Lily!" the voice of Mr. Evans calling from downstairs interrupted her thoughts.
"Lily, we're leaving now, Vernon's parents warned us that we had to be on time so we wouldn't miss our plane !!!"
Lily jumped out of her bed and quickly went to say goodbye to them.
She ran to the top of the stairs and slid down the banister.
Her parents were waiting for her in the hallway, her father already had the car keys in one hand and her sister had probably already gotten in the car.
" So I guess Petunia doesn't want to come and say goodbye?" asked Mrs. Evans, looking towards the car outside the house.
"I really doubt that," Lily replied with a soft snort.
"Come on my child, don't be like that with your sister, just give her ...time..." said Mr. Evans.
"I know, I know, just... just have a good trip, I'm going to miss you," Lily said forcing a smile on her face.
"Oh dear, we'll miss you too," said Mrs. Evans giving her a bright smile along with a tight hug.
"Yes, it's really a pity you can't come with us sweetheart, have a lovely time with your friends this Christmas, but..." added Mr. Evans.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll be responsible, don't worry dad," replied Lily with a more natural smile, despite all her problems she still knew she could always count on her parents.
"Come on, hurry up!" Petunia urged from the car.
Lily just shook her head, sighed, and said a warm goodbye to her parents.
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