*Gobbledygook*
~Parseltongue~
-April 28th, 994-
Alex ducked as a curse flew over their head, twisting around as they dropped. They withdrew their bow and fired off an arrow directly at Ric, sending a stunner to either side of him. Ric ducked under the arrow, rather than dodging it into a stunner like they had planned. They twisted out of the way of another spell that Godric sent at them as they placed their bow back on their back. They continued to send spells at Godric without their wand, still finding it easier to use their magic without a foci, such as their wand was.
Alex twisted again, dropping low before jumping up and into the air to dodge the spells being sent at them. They pulled out two of their knives and threw them towards Godric, aiming not at him but a bit in front of and bit off to the left of his feet, making Ric step back slightly and to the right, directly into a cutting curse that they had sent there, not seeing it until the last second when it was too late to dodge. Godric managed to get a shield up just in time to avoid getting hit with the majority of the spell, but still getting hit with the backlash, a cut appearing on his arm; Alex had called first blood.
The duel continued back and forth, with both Alex and Godric being hit by some of the spells they couldnt dodge, continuing to twist, turn, duck, jump, shield, and, in Alex's case, use daggers to deflect the spells, to avoid being hit by the spells being sent their way. Alex suddenly had an idea and quickly made a few steps back and creating a strong shield to prevent any spells hitting them for a moment. They created a small fire in their hand, having gotten a lot of control over both fire and air through their lessons with Merlin – water still almost completely evaded them despite having an affinity to it – making the fire smoke more than flame, while creating a wind around them, making the smoke swirl around both them and Ric to obscure his vision. They closed their hand, extinguishing the flame and let the wind die down, casting a temporary invisibility spell on themself while still holding their shield up to stop the spells Ric was casting at where they had previously been; the invisibility would hold until they moved.
They watched as Ric looked around cautiously, trying to work out where they were. He knew the spell they had just used, having been the one to teach it to them, but had no idea where they had moved to while the whirlwind of smoke was hiding them. Alex stayed still for a moment longer as Godric kept sending stunners around the room, trying to hit an opponent he couldnt see. As soon as he turned far enough that he wouldnt see them, Alex moved. They pulled their two short swords and rushed at Godric, who noticed them coming out of the corner of his eye and turned, pulling his sword just in time to deflect their oncoming attack.
They fought back and forth with their blades, for a short while until Godric was able to pull away far enough to send a spell at Alex, which they deflected with their short swords, moving back to give themself more room from Ric, giving themself more room to move and time to counter Godric's spells. Alex sheathed their swords and waved their hands, sending a blast of pure power at Godric, flaring their aura out so it acted as a mix between a shield and a ward. Godric dropped to the ground to avoid the blast of magic, rolling to the side as he did.
Godric conjured up clay plates and sent them spinning at Alex. The plates slowed down as they hit their aura and they waved their hand transfiguring the plates into small birds which they sent towards him to attack. Alex sent a freezing spell at the ground around his feet, freezing him in place as he sent a wave of fire towards them, getting rid of the conjured birds as the flames pushed towards Alex. Alex didn't blink as the fire engulfed them, instead sending stunners and binding spells at where Godric was frozen to the ground, hoping they would hit while they were engulfed in the flames – thanks to their phoenix form and their affinity to fire, all fire (apart from Fiendfyre and other extremely Dark, cursed fire) was basically harmless to them.
As the fire died down around them, they found Ric lying on the floor opposite them, stunned and bound in ropes, his wand lying just out of his reach. To be on the safe side, Alex summoned his wand, slipping it into the second pouch next to their wand in their wand holster, before flicking an enervate at Ric. He stirred and tried to sit up, which didn't help at all. If anything, struggling made it worse; they had used a transfiguration based binding spell, which caused the ropes to tighten if the person in them struggled.
"Well done, Flame. I was not expecting those spells to come out of the fire like that," Ric said. "But do you think you could let me up?"
"Yes, well done, Little Snake. And you were the one who sent fire at a wixen who can control fire and who is a creature of fire. What did you expect to happen?" Salazar asked.
"I don't know. I just didn't think that would happen," Godric said. "I haven't been beaten. Ever."
"Well now you have. And by our own 14-year-old prodigy," Merlin said. "Well done Little One. And that was a brilliant use of aura manipulation. I hadn't seen you use it in a duel yet."
"Thank you, Old Man. I hadn't used it in a duel before, but I have been practicing with is, especially pushing it into a mix of a shield and a ward like that," they replied, flicking their hand towards Godric, banishing the ropes that were wrapped around him.
"Yeah, yeah, rub in the fact that the first time I lost a duel it was to a fourteen-year-old," Godric grumbled, getting to his feet, and sending a quick wandless wrapping spell at his arm where the cutting hex had hit – it was still bleeding.
"You were the one who sent fire at me. You know most fires, magical or not, don't affect me. Now let me have a look at your arm. I know you won't go to Helga to get it healed, no matter how many times you promise you will, and it will get infected if you leave it like that," Alex said, moving towards Ric and pulling their wand out, since healing magic was one of the only magics that they couldn't control enough through wandless magic, pulling his wand out at the same time. They handed his wand over and waved their own over his arm, vanishing the wrappings he had just put around it with their other hand.
Alex ran their wand along the air above the cut, assessing the damage, before shooting a disinfection charm at it, causing Godric to hiss slightly at the sting of it. Alex rolled their eyes at that; honestly, the man could handle a whole manner of animals, could duel, and could go hand to hand and with blades and not care about his injuries, but he got uncomfortable at a slight sting from a disinfection charm. They twirled their wand before jabbing it at the middle of the cut and it began to close over, a second jab causing the scab to disappear, completely healing over.
"Thanks Emerald. You know Helga wouldn't let me live down losing a duel to you, especially with you calling first blood."
"You're welcome Ric. And you wouldn't have gone to Hel either way," Alex replied, fixing him with a look that just dared him to argue.
"You do know that I will keep reminding you of this as well, don't you Godric," Salazar said.
"You both are very mean to me," Godric decided.
"Of course, we are," Salazar replied dryly.
"Don't aggravate him too much Zar. He's already had his head deflated today," Alex said, flashing Godric a grin as they turned to look at Salazar.
"Very well Snakelet. We have a brewing session to get to," Salazar said. Alex nodded, pulling their emotionless mask down as they did so; it was the quickest way for them to calm down, and they needed to be calm in the lab when brewing.
"You are making your potion today?" Merlin asked.
"Yes. I've gone over all my notes and all the theory works out and we are making it today. If it brews like I am expecting, we should be able to test it tomorrow," they replied. It was their first potion that they had made from scratch, and they were very excited about it; they had edited a lot of potions, but this would be their first from scratch.
"Are you getting a tester from the Azkaban testing unit, or are you self-testing?" Godric asked as they left the duelling room.
"Helga is going to collect a tester tonight for Snakelet to test the potion on. They wanted to self-test, but I refuse to let our prodigy self-test, especially with a potion like this that interferes and changes hormones and other parts of the anatomy in such a way," Salazar said. "And if, after a month, the potion is found to be unharmful and effective, then Snakelet will be allowed to use it on themself."
"What is the potion meant to do?" Merlin asked as he followed them through the corridors leading down to the dungeon, Godric having split from them on the fourth floor, having a class of apprentices to teach.
"It should stop menstruation. It is designed to cause the lining of the uterus to dissolve and sink back into the body, rather than shedding and bleeding out over the course of a week," Alex said.
"Created for yourself?"
"Yeah. If I can get this to work, and find something to stop my period, it'll help with my dysphoria. And then I can try to find something to block puberty altogether, although that's not as desperate since most of the changes are pretty androgynous for me, and I have my binding wear. And once I have found ways to work with and change the way the body naturally works and changes, then I can try and work on finding something to help my godfather and change the way the werewolf curse effects the body," Alex replied.
"Very ambitious Little One," Merlin said.
"Thank you. Sal is often saying that I would be a perfect fit for his house."
"You would be Snakelet. You would be a perfect Snake when you go to Hogwarts back in your own time," Salazar said.
"I know. I also know that the way the houses are viewed has changed a lot over the years, and you know I can't tell you how. And I've told you that I believe I'll either be in your house or Row's house," Alex replied – the way that Slytherin was viewed these days really made the main trait of the house seem to just be evil, rather than ambitious and cunning.
"So our Little One will either become a Snake or an Eagle," Merlin said.
"They are already my Little Snake and Rowena's Little Raven," Salazar said, as if that settled the issue, as they reached the lab that the two of them always used – the one at the end of the corridor of labs and was connected to his office.
"That is true. I will leave you here and wish you a good brew. I will see you both at dinner," Merlin said turning and walking away, letting the two of them enter the lab. Salazar stepped into the lab, Alex following close behind him, heading straight to the bench they favoured while Sal headed to his desk – he was going to mark some of the essays that the apprentices had handed in, and keep an eye on what they were doing, while they brewed.
Alex pulled out their potions book, which they had all their research and planning for all their edits and for the creation of the potion they were making now; it also had the final copy of the recipe they were going to be using. They flicked it open to the page with the finalised recipe and started collecting their ingredients, from both the public stores and their private ingredient box. Once they had double checked that they had everything they needed, they filled their cauldron halfway full with water before lighting a small fire under the cauldron. They started preparing their ingredients while they waited for the water to come to a boil, slicing and dicing some of the ingredients, crushing and juicing others.
Once the water started to boil, they lowered the heat and added the giggling-bean juice, stirring twice clockwise before sprinkling in the diced bat spleen and adding one counter-clockwise stir and then an infinity stir. They let it simmer for three minutes, combining the crushed beetle eyes with sopophorous juice and a few drops of murtlap essence. Alex then brought the heat of the potion up again, watching the bubbles increase in size as it started to boil again before letting the mixture of beetle eyes, sopophorous juice, and murtlap essence drip slowly in, adding a clockwise stir between every five drops of the mixture. They waited for one minute before adding the sliced unicorn horn, stirring three times counter-clockwise, and adding the diced mandrake root, seven drops of dragons blood, crushed snake fang, and a single sliced rose petal, one after the other.
Alex slowly lowered the heat from boiling point down to a stewing temperature, flicking a potions shield up around the cauldron – in case it exploded while it was stewing, as explosions were more common when it was sitting at one temperature for a long period of time – and setting a timer for 3 hours, the floating numbers that were the count down floating just above their right wrist – much like a watch would on their left. They cleaned up their station, packing up the rest of the ingredients they didnt use and sterilising their knives with a small flame that hovered over their finger. Once their station was cleaned up, they flicked to the next page in their potions book and started writing down their observations about the potion and the brew, including the different reactions, such as colour changes and the sparks that flew across the surface when they added the unicorn horn.
They spent about half an hour making notes and observations about the brew, glancing over at the potion that was stewing every few notes to make sure that nothing bad was happing to it while it stewed. Once they had finished with their notes and observations, they got Salazar's attention.
"Are you done Alex?"
"Almost. The potion just has to stew for just over two more hours," they said, holding up their right wrist so he could see the countdown hovering over it.
"Very well. Shall we head up to dinner? We can come back down after we have eaten to finish off the potion."
"Alright Sal," they said, walking calmly out of the lab, only to start bouncing slightly in excitement as they walked through the corridors and up to the Great Hall; they really wanted this potion to work, and they were ecstatic that they had just brewed a potion they had made themself from scratch.
"One would think that you're excited Snakelet," Salazar said, walking a few steps behind them as they half-walked half-bounced through the castle.
"Of course, I am Zar. I just brewed the first potion I've made from scratch, and it's a potion I made for totally selfish reasons to help myself," they replied.
"At least hide the fact that you are practically buzzing Snakelet," Salazar admonished. Alex stopped and let out an exaggerated sigh before nodding and pulling on their mindscape, letting the calm that sat at the front of their mind to envelope their body, pushing the excitement further back into their mind – it was still there and they were still definitely experiencing it, but it wasn't influencing their actions anymore. They stopped bouncing and continued walking towards the Great Hall, actually walking now rather than half-bouncing, appearing the epitome of calm.
The two of them entered the hall, finding that only Godric wasn't there yet, both of them taking their seats at the table with Merlin, Helga, and Rowena.
"Did you have a good brew Little One?"
"I did Old One. Everything went well, but we won't know until it has finished stewing."
"How long does it have left to stew?" Rowena asked. Alex glanced down at the wrist and the time floating above it.
"Just under two hours left now."
"This is your own potion, yes? The one I am getting a tester for tonight?" Helga asked.
"Yes. And thank you for getting a tester for me Hel. Sal won't let me self-test, even though I'm sure it will be fine."
"Of course, X."
"And I will tell you again Little Snake, you are not self-testing a potion that will mess with your hormones and other parts of your anatomy," Salazar said.
"Yes Salazar," Alex said as Godric entered the hall. The meal began once Godric had sat down, and Salazar didn't even wait five minutes into the meal before speaking.
"Helga, Rowena, did Merlin tell you about our duelling lesson with our Little Snake?"
"He did not. Why, what happened?" Rowena said.
"Snakelet and Godric were duelling, and Snakelet won."
"Well done hatchling," Rowena said, before turning to Godric. "You were beaten by a fourteen-year-old Godric?"
"That fourteen-year-old is a prodigy who has been taught by all of us and is immune to fire," Godric grumbled.
"And Alex was the one who called first blood," Merlin added.
"Oh, well done X. And why didn't I see you in the infirmary after the duel Godric of Gryffindor if X called first blood?"
"Flame healed me," Godric said.
"Yes, because I know you wouldn't have gone to Hel to get it healed, and you would have gotten it infected just wrapping it the way you did," Alex added, rolling their eyes as Godric grumbled under his breath.
"Now you're all just ganging up on me."
"You were the one who sent fire at someone who is both a fire elemental and a creature of fire, and expected it to stop them," Alex said.
"That is completely beside the point," Godric grumbled.
"Of course, it is," Salazar agreed dryly.
"What is your potion designed to do Little Raven. I don't believe that you've told us," Rowena asked after a few minutes of quiet as they ate.
"It's designed to stop menstruation. I created it purely out of a selfish desire to help manage my period and the dysphoria it brings with it."
"What happens instead of a period?" Helga asked.
"If it goes as the theory says it should work, the lining of the uterus dissolves and sinks back into the body, rather than shedding and subsequently bleeding out over the course of a week."
"That does sound useful," Row said. Alex nodded.
"I thought so. If it does work, it will help a lot of people, not just me and others in similar situations. And hopefully, the understanding of this potion and how it interacts with the body will lead to me being able to further understand how potions interact with the whole body and hormones, leading to more potion possibilities."
The rest of the meal passed in comfortable silence, none of them speaking as they contented themselves to just eat and enjoy their meal. The dessert had just disappeared off the table, as they had all finished their meals, when Alex's alarm buzzed a 30-minute warning. They glanced over at Salazar before rising from the table, Salazar clearly understanding and rising with them.
Once they reached the lab, Alex headed straight to their bench and their cauldron, which was still stewing steadily under the shield – and not at all exploded. They continued watching the count-down – twenty minutes left – and started setting up their collecting equipment. One batch was meant to make 56 doses, enough for eight weeks – or two menstrual cycles. That meant that they needed fifty-six vials to store the doses in, and they needed enough stands to hold that many phials while the potion cooled down in each vial. They methodically set up each set of seven vials, lining them next to each other so they were all in reach, still watching the count-down as they did so, with only five minutes being left once they had fully set all their vials up.
As soon as the timer reached zero, Alex extinguished the flames and lifted the cauldron off the fire stand, placing it on the cooling stand. Then, one by one, they started filling up each of the 56 vials with the potion, each vial holding enough for one mouthful. It took them ten minutes to fill up all the vials and by the time the last vial was full, the first one had cooled down enough so that it had finally settled on a single, uniform colour that was a mix of dark brown and red.
They let the vials all cool down, flicking open their potions book to note down the colour and the matte appearance of the potion, as well as the way that the colour had seemed to swirl until it had fully settled in the vials. Once they had finished with the final observations, they started slowly corking each of the fifty-six vials of potion in front of them, before opening up the two potions pouches that they had, filling each pouch up with twenty-eight vials of the potion – these pouches they had made with Helga and were designed to hold four weeks worth of the potion, to make it easier to store each round of potions for them.
Once they had packed up all the potions into the pouches, Alex took their cauldron over to the sink, filling it up with warm water and soap, leaving it there to soak – they'd come back and clean it tomorrow after it had soaked, since soaking it for a while made it easier to clean as it drained the magic traces and stains on the cauldron into the water. Once the cauldron was full, they left it to soak, saying goodnight to Salazar before heading up to their room.
The next day found Alex, Salazar, and Helga in the testing room that was next to the infirmary, which made it easier to monitor those being tested. A woman, who looked about Row's age, was strapped to the chair in the middle of the room. Once again pulling out their potions notebook, Alex set it hovering in the air, a dictation that was tuned to them, Hel, and Sal hovering above the page – it would note down anything the three of them said, making it easier to record observations and results from the test.
"Prisoner 493, life imprisonment in the testers unit for child abuse. 34 years of age, 148cm tall, weighing 115 pounds. Resting heart rate 72, blood pressure 110/68," Helga said, the results from a vitals scan resting in the air in front of her. "Testing for a physiology adapting potion, April 29 in the year 994."
"Administering potion, to be taken around the same time each day for 28 days," Alex said, stepping forward towards the woman strapped to the chair. The woman was docile enough, tipping her head back and willingly accepting the potion. Helga went through the vitals again, noting that the potion hadn't caused them to change, and then the three of them talked about the few changes they could visibly see – there wasn't much, but that wasn't surprising, considering it was only the first dose of the potion.
"Well done, Snakelet. Once the 28 days have passed, your potion will be functionally tested and able to be used, although observations about how it affects different people wouldnt be amiss."
"At the moment, the potion seems to be working fine and there have been no adverse reactions," Hel added. Alex smiled.
"Thank you. I have a lesson with Rena to get to, but I'll be back later today to note down more observations and check her vital again," Alex said, knowing that two of their mentors had to get to classes with their respective apprentices.
"Of course. We will see you at lunch X." Alex waved as they walked off, heading towards Row's tower for their language lesson.