The Trials of the Talented

Vivianna Varnes loved brewing wolfsbane. It was tricky enough to require a good eighty to ninety-nine percent of her attention at any given time, which was something of a blessing, because it took a lot to distract the witch. While terribly tedious, Vivianna would never tire of the rush of pure pride every time she brewed the potion correctly. It was difficult enough that the potion would never get old, the redhead often thought. The girl could still remember the first time she'd brewed it, simply to prove to herself that she could.  Vivianna had done nothing with the completed product, simply bottling a sample and letting it sit in her chest until it spoiled. The witch probably could have sold it for a handsome sum, but really didn't want to deal with the questions that would swiftly follow. After all, some of the ingredients weren't, strictly, something a girl her age should've had access to.

Her most recent batch of wolfsbane had reached its final stage almost an hour ago, but Vivianna had run off to shower and change before delivering the vials. Now wearing cargo pants and a tank top, because it wasn't like Jack would be wearing anything to make her look underdressed, Vivianna grabbed her largest potions bag. Carefully placing an entire caldron's worth of wolfsbane, bottled into exact single portions, into her bag, Vivianna strode over to her potions cupboard. The teenager wasn't particularly neat, but the contents of her potions shelves could not have been more organized. Bag clutched in one hand, Vivianna added potion after potion into the bag. Some were potions Jack had specifically requested, and others draughts that Vivianna knew she'd never need, but perhaps Jack would put to use.

Grabbing a handful of floo powder, Vivianna stepped into the flames that would take her directly into Jack's home. Apperating onto the woman's doorstep probably would have been much more polite, but Vivianna wasn't stupid enough to try that with the number of different potions she was carrying.

Eyes connecting with those of her fellow redhead, the teenager smiled and stepped out of the fireplace, stumbling a little as she did so.

"I've got wolfsbane, pepperup, blood-replenishing, a common antidote, and a big jar of my healing paste. Oh, and I threw two vials of wiggenweld in here, because I sure as hell wasn't gonna use them," Vivianna said with a grin, hefting the sack off of her shoulder. Vivianna hadn't bothered with a proper greeting, but Jack wouldn't mind. She never did.

Jack knew Vivianna would be stopping by today or the next day, as the recent graduate had always beep pretty prompt on delivering her potions, and last Jack had heard, the wolfsbane had been close to ready. Ever since werewolves had become apart of her life, back when no day was complete without confused thoughts concerning a certain Greyback, Jack had not been able to turn off her concern for the wolfish population. The tradition of housing werewolves had begun back when she had shared a place with Nemo Omara. Now, with children scampering about, Jack redirected her wolfish visitors to the room in Satan's that she had reserved for her own needs. But she still had her monthly dealings with wolves, so large supplies of wolfsbane had always proven helpful.

It was also nice for Charlie to have extras.

It was a Saturday, which meant Sunny, Lize, and Max were outside playing pirates, Charlie was out with friends, and Goose was sprawled out across the top of the couch, a large textbook hanging above his nose. Jack was irritably pouring over some paperwork from the Ministry when a gust of ashes signaled Viv's entrance. Jack quickly closed the file, tapping her wand atop it to magically seal the whole thing. Only her fingertips could get the folder to unseal now. It was nifty little spell she had worked out.

She stood up and crossed to the fireplace, helping Viv with the sack, which was pleasantly heavy - meant good things for her. Goose had glanced up and was watching with feigned disinterest as Jack dropped the sack on the coffee table, beginning to take out the vials.

"Rock on, Viv. This is excellent." Goose had slid down off the couch and was inspecting the potions as Jack sifted through them. "Charlie's got some nightshade, fluxweed, and a bunch of other stuff in the greenhouse for you. There's also some slugs in there, Sunny can help you collect. I also, lucky you, found two very long unicorn tails." Jack quirked an eyebrow, smirking a bit. "You can take those with you. I'm going to need more wolfsbane, of course." She rolled her eyes. "I always do. And that pepperup stuff is great. It clears out Goose's sinuses so well."

"Stooop," came the quiet growl from Goose, who had opened up the stopped to one of the wolfsbanes and was sniffing it with curiosity.

Vivianna chucked a little at Goose's whine, barely holding back a snort. Children had always been something of a weak spot for the witch, almost always bringing out a part of her that rarely saw the light.

"Careful with that, buddy," she warned, warily eyeing the open vial of wolfsbane clutched in the child's hand. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was just that his age wasn't even in the double digit yet. If Goose spilt any, Jack's living room would smell like wofsbane until the next full moon, and the potion really didn't have the most pleasant of aromas.

"Oooh," Vivianna said after a moment's consideration, mind already spinning with how many potions containing unicorn tail she'd been wanting to make, "the good stuff." The recent graduate felt her mouth curl into a wicked grin, but didn't bother to stop the expression in its tracks, allowing it to grow.

"I've been wanting to brew the Elixir for-" Vivianna cut herself off abruptly, eyes flickering over to Goose. "Euphoria," she continued, after only the slightest of hesitations. Jack would know better, for there was no reason Vivianna would be exited about the brewing for that particular potion. A potion to which one certainly could add unicorn tail hair to increase the potency, but Vivianna certainly wouldn't. After all, the addition of a few basic herbs could have the same effect, and unicorn parts should never be used in anything but the most complex and impressive of brews. They were far from easy to come by.

Almost positive that Goose hadn't noticed her slip, Vivianna felt the tension fall from her shoulders. Talking about brewing illegal potions in front of impressionable children probably wasn't the best idea. Her excitement had taken over the logical part of her mind, for a moment.

"What do you even need all this stuff for?" the witch asked, unable to reign back her curiosity. If Jack deflected or gave some sort of excuse, Vivianna would back off. If it was anyone else, the teenager would have kept picking until something came to the surface, but this was Jack. The rules changed, when Jack was involved.

Goose raised an eyebrow, pursing his lips in the most comical expression of sass that a young Russian boy could muster. The boy slowly set the potion on the table still staring down the girl, though it was all in good fun. Viv had been exposed to Goose's dry humor more than once before.

Jack was glad to see that Vivianna seemed happy with her payment. Jack knew that the potions weren't too much of a hindrance, as Jack only gave suggested deadlines and never pushed the younger witch. She was happy to get whatever she got, and she tried to gather ingredients that would cause the same sentiment in the Slytherin.

And Vivianna's instant excitement about the unicorn hair proved she had done so. Jack could also tell that Viv wanted it for less than innocent reasons - which was fine by her. Jack straightened up and stepped over to living room desk, pulling out one of the drawers and fumbling through it, looking for the long vial that contained the two hairs. They looked great, long and pristine. They had both been given to her by a werewolf who had found them when running through the Forbidden Forest, given to her as a thank you for letting him recover at Satan's.

She crossed back to Vivianna, and handed her the vial as the ex-Slytherin asked Jack the question that the elder had been expecting. There was one moment of hesitation and then Jack released the vial, turning back around. "Goose, could you go find those ingredients Charlie left out for Viv?" He heaved a sigh, even though she knew he was fine doing it. He hopped up and headed out, while Jack flicked her wand. "Tea? Soda? Firewhiskey?" Jack smirked.

Jack flicked her wand and she could hear the clinking of glasses in the kitchen as their drinks prepared themselves. Typically, Jack was a lot more hands on, preferring to do things on her own rather than with magic. But she did not want to stall this conversation, having sort of been secretly toying with the idea of bringing Viv in on her... well, scheme was just an ugly word. She preferred to think of her little organization as a club. Not a scheme. That wasn't fair to all of the righteous work she had put in. So what if it was secret and probably going to get her in trouble.  

Not a scheme.

She scooped up her file and walked it over to her desk, slipping it into the drawer and locking it as she said, "Well, I don't know how much you know about me... but I'm bad with rules." She smirked a bit and two glasses floated in from the kitchen, looking a bit wobbly. She snatched them up and handed off the tea to Viv. "Hope you like it strong. I can't stand weak, sweet tea. I like it strong and bitter. I'm a bit egotistical that way." She snorted - oh, look at her, managing to make jokes. It was a great sign that she felt like she could joke with Viv.

"I've been apart of the Order of the Phoenix since I was seventeen years old," Jack said, sitting in her armchair, her small glass of whiskey snug in her grasp. "And it's been fine until... I started to feel like maybe there way wasn't the most efficient. My main goal is to make our country safe, and to make up for my place in making it not so safe. These potions have helped."

She stopped. She really needed to gauge where Viv was at with all of this.

Viviana took a sip of the tea. Jack hadn't been kidding, it was strong. The witch smiled slightly at the other woman's joke, before hiding the grin behind her cup. She liked her tea strong, too. It was why she normally asked for black whenever tea was offered. Most other kinds would end up far too weak for her tastes, but even the weakest of black teas was tolerable. Raising her cup slightly in approval, Vivianna took decent-sized gulp. It scorched her mouth slightly, before she could swallow, leaving her tongue feeling slightly numb when she rubbed it against the roof of her mouth.

"I don't quite understand," Vivianna said, after a few moments of consideration. It was a lie. She understood fairly well, Jack had said just enough. The woman had mentioned the Order, a group Vivianna had sworn to herself that she would never join the ranks of. But in her very next sentence, Jack stated not liking the way the organization did things, meaning that she wouldn't be asking Vivianna to brew for them. However, Jack had then used the present tense when talking about her goal, meaning that she was currently doing something about it. Something Vivianna's potions had helped.

So Jack was a part of, or running, knowing her, some sort of side-Order. That she was telling Vivianna about. Bloody Hell. The redhead felt her back straighten and muscles tense in preparation for who-knew-what.

"No," Vivianna backtracked, "I do. Just, why are you telling me this? What do you want?"

Jack could see the cogs turning in Viv's brain, connecting the pieces but not ready to pass judgement on the tentative assumption she had gathered up. Jack liked that about Viv. She was eager, but she was also shrewd enough to be careful. Jack had learned one too many hard lesson by being careless, forgetting that thinking was sometimes more important than acting. She supposed the early developed trait in Viv was indicative of the House differences between them. Somehow, though, Jack suspected both redheads could have survived best in the house of red or green better than the others.

Jack swirled her whiskey and took a drink, looking into the amber liquid as she considered what next to say. "You've been helping me out with these potions." Jack was curious to see how Viv reacted to this. "That potion that created the noxious gas... helped trap one of James Blood's main men. That potion that created a a weird sticky substance made some really interesting restraints on the fly for some kidnappers."

And here was the big reveal. "We're a small network of people who take down criminals before they can cause real harm. I don't care about people who steal, all of that petty shit." She shrugged. "But people who are dangerous, who threaten the livelihood of my family-" she shook her head. "We take them out of the equation. And, if you don't mind, I'd like you to continue helping me in that effort."

Jack wasn't as nervous as one might have supposed she should have, considering the delicate nature of the information that she was sharing. But somehow, she knew that Viviana was someone she could trust. Even if Viv wanted nothing to do with the Knight's Watch, Jack highly doubted that she would run out and report them to someone. Jack had not picked up on any particular bias Viv had one way or the other, so she trusted that their conversation would stay here, even if the younger redhead had no interest in sticking around to help her out.

When Viv turned around, Jack raised her head and lifted an eyebrow, genuinely curious to know what the girl was thinking. This conversation was making her realize how little the two women knew about each other, which made it interesting that a sort of natural loyalty had formed between them. Naturally, the sentiment probably had root in their shared adoration of the smallest redhead at Layabout Lane. Sunny had an uncanny knack for bringing the most unlikely of people together, and Jack was thankful for it now.

Jack grinned at Viviana's words. "Excellent." She understood Viv's reasons and appreciated how seriously she took the ordeal, how much she understood the weight of Jack's question. "You'll get Patronuses for the times. We always meet upstairs at Satan's." Jack stood and put out an arm, so they could shake on it. "Glad to have your help."