Forever Bloom [Sienna]

[aurelia edith flint]

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August 7th, 2028

"So, I have a bag of Venemous Tentacula leaves and was wondering if you wanted to buy them off me before they dry out." The pouch containing the carefully plucked petals of her now-deceased Alexander was more of an emotional toll on her than holding her parents' urns had ever been. Alexander may have tried to poison her a few times over the years, even coming close once or twice, but it never actually meant harm. Not like her mother. The two would have hated one another if they had ever had the chance to meet. If Azkaban hadn't done Pansy in, Alexander definitely would have. The perfect way to murder too.

Aurelia had decided that the best way to turn a negative into a positive was to try and recoup some money from her plant's demise. Sienna was the perfect person for that, and stopping into Slug and Jiggers was such a common occurrence for Aurelia that it made sense to bring the leaves by. She really didn't need a whole lot for the pouch. Heavily discounting the normal cost was the price of doing business when trying to offload parts of a poisonous plant. "There are about fifteen, so I'm thinking fifty galleons is fair enough." That was a crazily low price, but Aurelia really didn't want to deal with the plant anymore.

The other alternative was exchanging goods for goods, which Aurelia had done in the past with other shopkeepers. An almost credit-like system where she traded plants for various things. Plants to the bakery for a week's worth of pastries in the morning, or decking out Blishwick Matchmaking with whatever theme Jimbo wanted, for free blind date assistance. Blishwick was making a profit in that manner, because she had gotten nowhere with the dating. She was starting to think it was her. "That basically gets me enough to buy seeds for a new one. For some reason they've gone up in price lately," she explained her reasoning to Sienna. "But I'm open to anything at this point..."

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

7 August 2028

It sounded like a normal business transaction, the kind of conversation they’d had a million times before in the apothecary, but Aurelia spoke like she was inviting Si to a funeral. They had swapped stories about wrestling with a Venomous Tentacula, and those were rare enough that this was probably the same murderous plant. Si herself had never formed an emotional attachment in the brief time that Slug and Jigger’s had hosted one before it’d gone to be re-potted in a greenhouse, but she supposed it must be different for Herbologists. Terry had named all the sprouts in their balcony garden, even though most of them would eventually end up in Si’s cauldron.

Still, offering condolences seemed like a bit much. Si raised an eyebrow at the ridiculously low price Aurelia was offering, and her eyes immediately wandered down to examine the leaves critically for signs of yellowing or flesh-eating slug damage. But they just seemed like normal, healthy leaves. “We could use more,” Sienna agreed thoughtfully, “The apothecary always seem to be sold out.” Despite the price, it was ridiculously easy to sell any part of a Venomous Tentacula. They were a crazy useful ingredient, and not just in poisons or other Dark potions. No, they were used all the time for cleaning products (especially the heavy-duty stuff) and Herbologists always seemed to buy back the finished potions for agricultural purposes. Those Flesh-Eating Slugs and all. And besides, most wizards weren’t willing to risk their lives for the sake of a few leaves. That was where vendors like Aurelia came into the picture.

The explanation for the low price came a moment later, and Si nodded sympathetically. “Tell me about it,” she groaned, not quite managing to keep the frustration out of her voice. “Prices seem to be going up lately and I can’t even see why. There haven’t been any moonstones on the market for a couple weeks, and they’re only selling silver and gold by the bar.” That meant she had to buy whatever there was whenever she could, because a lot of potions called for powdered silver or gemstones. And she’d only managed half of their usual output for Aware Wolf since the moonstone shortage had started. All in all, she wasn’t going to say no to an easy delivery of Venomous Tentacula now. “I have some potions in the back if you want to take a look,” Si offered – since that was one way of doing business with Aurelia whenever the register was looking particularly empty. “Rob just finished a whole week on revitalization potions, you might find something useful.”

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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Hearing that the apothecary could have used more had Aurelia kicking herself for not pruning the plant more frequently. She hated to admit that with money never really being a 'problem' until recently, she failed to think about the extra money she could have been making off of Alexander. With the next plant, she would definitely do just that. There was no harm in trying, at least. A single plant could only produce so many leaves, and padding her Gringotts account with galleons could never hurt...

"I'll try to bring more by once I get the new one fully grown." Or if there were more lucrative plants that she could grow and reap the benefits from. Virtually everything is a use when it came to magical flora, Aurelia simply didn't care to do the selling herself. If a customer wanted to purchase in bulk just to turn around and resell themselves, she wasn't going to stop them. A lot of it came down to space, and trying to carry enough non-magical plants to run a regular florist shop on top of the rest was difficult. Horizont Alley was not known for its space.

Sienna went on to explain that there seemed to be a shortage in moonstones as of late, and that definitely piqued her interest. "Aren't those used for love potions usually? And...draught of peace?" The latter would make sense, considering everything that had occurred over the last several years, but if it was an influx of love potions being made then things could get rough. She remembered there being a small incident while at school where one of her classmates had been drugged with one through the fall term. And that it may or may not have been done by one of her roommates at the time.

"I could use a restock of those...yeah, I'll take a look," she agreed. Anything to keep her plants growing and happy. The better they did, the more she sold, and the more often she returned to Slug and Jiggers to purchase more ingredients and potions. Not to mention that she frequently told her own customers what she used to keep everything so vibrant and alive.

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Starting the process of caring for a Venomous Tentacula all over again sounded exhausting, and Si winced in sympathy at the thought. She’d discovered the field of Herbology more by accident than intention, since she’d found that it was extremely limiting to rely on other people for quality ingredients. So Si had stumbled through the process of learning her herbs, identifying by sight all the different classifications for the most common plants she used in her potions, and that was how their quarterly work trips to the countryside started (and a more intimate understanding of manure than Si had ever wanted). But it didn’t beat getting an expert’s opinion and that was one of the reasons that she liked Aurelia’s frequent visits to the apothecary. That and the secondhand stories about the crazy magical plants that she handled sometimes.

“Or once it starts to flower,” Si suggested as Aurelia reflected on the next time she’d be able to bring more leaves. “I’m interested in testing the properties of the pollen, but that’s even harder to come by than the leaves…” Mostly because it wasn’t a common ingredient for potioneers and so far nobody had thought to ask themselves what qualities it might have. But Si was an inventor at heart and didn’t mind accidentally melting a cauldron or two in the name of science. That was one of the joys of Slug and Jigger’s – sure, the basic function of an apothecary was to sell the ingredients, but they were always looking for innovative ideas too. So in between the buckets of Cure for Boils and the healthy stock of Pepper-Up Potions, Sienna occasionally found the time to continue her experiments.

She nodded along in agreement as Aurelia began to list off all the different potions that used moonstones. “Yes, they have an incredibly strong stabilizing effect. We use them in Aware Wolf actually, we found that mixing the powdered moonstones with dittany helps to calm the wolf during the transformation. So it strengthens the human mind and keeps it protected, it’s actually so fascinating how it reacts with the other ingredients…” Si trailed off and gave a sheepish laugh. She could start to ramble so easily when it came to potions, but usually Rob was the only one who appreciated it. So she shrugged and silently mourned the sudden change in market value. In the meantime, Si waved Aurelia into the backroom and left the shopkeeper alone behind the counter so she could rummage through the cabinets. She started to pull out out a number of oddly colored vials for Aurelia to inspect while she continued to hunt for more of Rob’s tried-and-true strengthening solutions.

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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At this point in the year, anything she started to grow now wouldn't be done until spring time. Even in her tiny greenhouse. Trying to afford space to a Venomous Tentacula would be...difficult. Putting it all the way at one end would still mean she would have to crowd the rest of her plants. Being within striking distance of a young plant she barely knew also had its own set of drawbacks. Waiting until spring seemed like the most logical choice at this point. At this rate, she wouldn't have any more leaves until a year or more from now. Sienna brought up the idea of testing the pollen, and that definitely had Aurelia interested. "I'll make sure to keep an eye out for it. I don't recall Alexander having any that was noticeable...but I also didn't too close to it often enough to really look." Getting whipped, poisoned, and stabbed sounded like a great way to end up at the hospital on a relatively average Tuesday evening to her.

So it was because of their new use in Aware Wolf! Aurelia disliked thinking that someone would hoard moonstones for the specific reason of keeping them away from werewolves and potioneers, but she had seen plenty of malicious witches and wizards. Merlin, she was raised by two of them. "Its a genius discovery the two of you made," Aurelia said as she watched the potioneer beckon her towards the back room where the potions were held.

Watching all of the vials get placed in front of her, Aurelia scanned the labels to see if there were any she needed. Nothing popped out, but a few reminded her that she needed to add a couple bezoars to her emergency kit. "I realized I could do with a few bezoars if you have any spares laying about," she said as much while waiting for the next round of potions to be brought out. "And I don't need it immediately, but if I could put in an order for a crate of Doxycide, that would be grand. They try to get into my greenhouse during the winter and it drives me up a wall."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee ● 366 ● song by artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

The sudden name drop startled Si, and she spent a moment in silence trying to realize who ‘Alexander’ was before the answer came to her. “Oh, you named it?” she said a moment later, unable to stop herself from giggling. It was strange that in all the months Aurelia had been stopping by the apothecary, she’d never mentioned that her Venomous Tentacula had a name. It never seemed to come up after a dramatic opening like ‘So it tried to kill me today.’ Sienna finally managed to compose herself after a few more breathless seconds and she nodded as Aurelia mentioned that she’d never noticed any pollen before. “I haven’t seen any mention of it in the Herbologist’s Handbook, either. But then I guess it would take a slightly suicidal person to check.” She’d taken out a monthly subscription but honestly never did much more than skim the articles and take the occasional quiz.

Sienna beamed at Aurelia at her compliment for Aware Wolf while she continued to dig through the mess of potion vials. “Thanks!” she said, her voice muffled by the cabinet as she leaned in farther to swipe the last batch of Blooming Tincture from the very back. Some of the hype around Aware Wolf had gone down since it first hit the shelves, but they still had a lot of work to do. Now that there were waves of new patient data to sort through, managing the side effects had become almost a fulltime job in itself. And ever since the value for some of the key ingredients had gone through massive changes, Si and Rob had needed to sit down to have the difficult conversation of scaling back. Just for a while, until the market went back to normal.

“A crate of Doxycide, huh?” Si repeated, shaking her head at the news. It was definitely the season to stock up against doxies now, when they weren’t much of a problem and nobody was paying them any attention. She lined up a couple bezoars with the handful of vials she’d pulled out. “Okay, you have a few options here. Your warm colors--” Si pointed them out with a wave of her hand, “—are more along the lines of strengthening solutions. Cooler colors are preservation potions, mostly. This purple one is a modified version of a Wiggenweld Potion, extra strength.” The deep purple color came from the octopus powder, which had sort of become Sienna’s specialty over the years – but her competition didn’t need to know that.

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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”That’s not weird, is it?” She had heard plenty of customers accidentally let slip their plant names, though often times she had wondered herself if they meant plant, pet, or partner. In a way, Alexander was a pet. Not like Nibs, her cat. Who absolutely had to learn how to stay away from the new plant once it was fully grown. There had been a mutual understanding with Alexander, similar to her own experience with the plant. But the two of them would have to learn all over again soon here.

Watching the bezoars stack up and a set of vials slid next to them, Aurelia contemplated what she actually needed. Preservation potions would definitely be useful if a cold snap happened to roll through during the winter. Despite her greenhouses being magically temperature controlled, every so often they could fail. Nature still had a way of being one of the most dangerous forces on the planet. ”Preservation potions for sure. Just in case. And I could use this as well,” she said as she picked up the purple vial. A modified Wiggenweld had its uses if something more drastic happened to her or Penelope while working.

While she thought about injuries, the realization that she was out of ingredients for the Pepperup potion too. Cold season was right around the corner after all, and customers had a bad habit of bringing their germs into her shop. ”Also, if you have everything for a Pepperup potion. I like to make my own when I need it, so I don’t have the bottles sitting around for months on end.” They tended to weaken with time, and there was always a vial or two that got pushed to the back of a cupboard and escaped her yearly spring cleaning. Nothing tasted worse than an off-color cold remedy, especially when already feeling under the weather.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee ● 312 ● song by artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna waved away the question with her hand while she continued to rummage through some cabinets. “Not for Herbologists, at least. My roommate does it all the time with our plants at home,” Si assured her quickly. It was kind of endearing to see the way that Terry could bond with any plant that crossed her path, magical or not, and the way they grew like nuts around her. But that was her roommate – endlessly compassionate, at one with the world around her, and able to bond with anything that she gave a name to. It didn’t really surprise Sienna to hear that Aurelia also liked to bond with her plants. There were a few traits that set apart the good Herbologists from the great, and of course Slug and Jigger’s would choose the best.

She watched Aurelia study the rainbow collection of potion vials, more curious than anything else. Their relationship usually went the other way, with the Herbologist bringing a few options while Si and Rob discussed between them – what did they really need versus impulse buys based on a passing whim. Si couldn’t help but give an excited smile as Aurelia picked up the Wiggenweld, though. Octopus powder had become her signature when it came to modifying potions and Si had found that in most cases it wildly strengthened the potion’s effects – which could be a bad thing when it came to experimenting with Babbling Beverages, but could only be a bonus in the healing realm. “These two are the best we’ve got,” Si pointed out two vials of preservation potions, one of them a brilliant turquoise and the other a soothing pastel green.

“Already thinking about Pepper-Ups? You’re not one of those people who manage to get ill in the middle of summer, are you?” Si could speak from experience – it didn’t matter what time of year it was, if something was going around then she’d get it. Hag’s Fever had also started to spread in the spring and she’d gotten sick in the first wave. But she nodded along with Aurelia’s request and started hunting for the ingredients. The bicorn horn was out front, but the herbs were all dried and hanging from various shelves around the back. “We’re out of mandrake,” Si confirmed as she finally came back from the front room, “It’s a little out of season right now, but we’ll get more from our supplier in Argentina soon if you’re willing to wait a couple months.” It was always possible to simulate the conditions with magic, of course, but Sienna had always noticed that magic-grown plants lived less time and were just less effective overall compared to their natural counterparts.

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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”Thank Merlin,” Aurelia laughed. Except the only difference between her named plants and the ones Sienna’s roommate had, was that hers could quite literally kill a person in at least a dozen different ways. Not to mention whenever she happened to have mandrakes in. Then she could take out an entire block of unsuspecting shoppers. That was easily the fastest way to make the front page of the Daily Prophet these days. It did get her thinking though: Sienna’s roommate was apparently a herbologist as well. ”Who’s your roommate?” she asked. The field was so small that everyone knew everyone, for better or worse.

Leaning closer to take a better look at the two vials of preservation potion, Aurelia studied the clarity of the liquid. It was fascinating how the light played off of both. But she knew they would be quality. ”What does each do? I think I’ve maybe used this green one before…” Some distributor had dropped several vials off early on in her shop being open. It had been…okay. She trusted whatever Sienna made infinitely more, and Aurelia was sure that there would be modifications in it to help boost plant growth.

Aurelia was sort of ashamed to admit it, but she was frequently sick after any long holiday period or shopping season. She worked herself into exhaustion, and having all the kids coughing in and out of her store before the fall term started and then Christmas was basically a guaranteed viral infection. ”My parents didn’t let me get all those kid germs or whatever,” she half-joked, though the reality was that it was absolutely the truth. Pansy and Marcus wanted them all prim and proper instead of sniffling and feverish. Her trips to the Hospital Wing during her first few years at Hogwarts were legendary. ”Figures…remember a few years ago when I had that pallet of mandrake saplings delivered on accident? I should have just kept them and started a side gig with them.” She and Penelope had dealt with the problem swiftly, and while annoying at the time, it would have helped to have a local mandrake dealer.

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

It was only at Aurelia’s question that it occurred to Si that she might know Terry too. Herbology was a relatively tightknit community, all things considered, but they also tended to be all spread out. And anyway, Sienna had always seen Terry as more of a Healer than a Herbologist. As in, she had a ridiculously talented green thumb that helped her be a better Healer. “Terry Poole. Actually, you might know her from Hogwarts?” It had always seemed strange to Si that Terry had chosen Hogwarts over Beauxbatons, especially once Terry began to write her about all her crazy stories from the British school. But it hadn’t been all bad, and she’d even done one of those exchange programs for a term in the spirit of ‘building bridges across the magical community.’ And since Sienna had moved to London herself after graduation, maybe Terry had been on to something.

Sienna picked up the turquoise potion to study it while Aurelia squinted at the green preservation potion. Once upon a time, Slug and Jigger’s had been immaculately organized and labeled. But demand had gone up, the backroom became more cluttered, and the filing system became a distant memory. But it didn’t matter – Si could recognize most potions just by sight these days. “This one’s for reviving dead seeds,” Si decided after a couple moments, “We experimented with mallowsweet seeds after a fire in one of Hogwarts’ greenhouses, soaked them in this for three weeks. They didn’t all sprout, but most did.” The potion had never caught on in Britain, but her world tour had done Si more good than simply giving her heart a break from all the drama in London. Some magical communities were constantly coping with wildfires so the preservation potion had gone over particularly well with them.

As for the green one in Aurelia’s hands, it was such a staple of the Herbologist’s apothecary that Sienna recognized it instantly. “I bet florists love that one,” she said with a grin, “It slows down the decay process. I tried it on some fruit too, but it tastes terrible.” So better just to stick with flowers and keeping the bouquets looking fresh. Sienna nodded sympathetically as Aurelia shook her head at her decision to return the mandrakes. “I took Divination in Beauxbatons but dropped it after my OWLs. Never saw a single sign from the universe.” It had been a disappointment to learn that Divination wasn’t like it was shown on Muggle TV. Si never saw a single thing in her tea leaves, and she’d shamelessly made up predictions from the tarot cards during her final exam. But it would’ve been nice to simply stroll down to Aurelia’s store whenever she needed mandrake root.

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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Their community, as large as it oftentimes felt, was incredibly tiny. The fact that Sienna and Terry were roommates made so much sense now that she knew that. ”She was actually over last week to look at Alexander,” Aurelia laughed. It had been an interesting encounter, that was for sure. She had personally never seen plants interact with a human the way hers had in the presence of Terry. Not even with druids, who almost always exclusively did well with flora of all kinds. ”It’s funny…I don’t think we ever really talked at school, but I knew of her because we both hid in the greenhouses to escape, I don’t know, life? Our Herbology professor was always bragging about her…” The greenhouses were her only solace back then, and she sort of felt like the same could be said for Terry. No one that wasn’t trying to escape life hung out with plants. Only weird kids were allowed to do that.

Listening to the description of both potions, Aurelia’s eyes widened. She recalled the green one now, having used it once or twice early on when the store first opened, and she needed to keep a few of her plants going. ”Right, I remember this one now,” she said excitedly. It had been a while but having it on hand would never not be useful to her. As for the turquoise potion, that was definitely an interesting find. Holding it up again to see the clarity of the liquid as she rotated it in her hand, she happily put it back down onto the counter. ”And I can definitely use this. I feel like there’s always a few I try to get started and they just…fail. You’d think with how much time I spend with plants, I’d be able to grow everything in one go. But it just doesn’t work like that…”

Sienna’s comment about Divination immediately brought her back to her own experience with the class as well. And it caused her to roll her eyes. ”I fell asleep in almost every single class when I had to take it. My sister ate it all up though.” She enjoyed the practical classes more, for obvious reasons. Using her hands, or wand, just made so much more sense than staring at tea leaves or crystal balls did.

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

The thought of Terry hiding in a greenhouse was so believable that Sienna could instantly picture it, and she laughed a little at the thought that not much had changed. Their apartment looked like a Herbologist’s dream, blooming with green on every available surface and in the little balcony box Si had set up. It was a win-win all around. Terry was surrounded by her plant friends, which grew crazy fast whenever she was around, and Si had a constant supply of potions ingredients. Her professors had always warned her that the best potioneers also needed to dabble in Herbology. It’d started as a chore for her, but over the years Sienna had genuinely come to enjoy it. “If you ever want a change of scenery, you’re welcome over,” Si offered, “Terry’s collected a lot of plants from her trips. She’s been all over, seems like.”

The best part of making potions was interacting with the customers, and Si smiled happily at Aurelia’s close inspection of the two vials. The idea for the Restoration Draught had rattled around in her brain for months until Sienna had finally sat down to start the experimenting process, and watching it revive the mallowsweet seeds had sent her running to Rob to coo over the newly sprouted seeds and wildly speculate about all the different ways it might be used. So watching Aurelia rotate the vial felt immensely gratifying. Si groaned with sympathy though at the thought of failed experiments. “You can never tell with living things. I’ve been trying to grow baneberries for ages and they just won’t take. But I’m sure you’d be able to see what I was doing wrong in a pinch.” It was probably a good thing that Si’s livelihood didn’t rely on being able to grow plants. It would always just be a hobby.

She couldn’t imagine the thought of falling asleep in Divination class, although it did remind her of the extreme aversion she’d taken to Charms. Apparently Si’s inventive streak started and ended with potions, because she’d always been rather timid with her wand and the professor had never failed to tell her so. Charms class hadn’t been boring, but it’d been painful…and part of the required curriculum. “It was sad to graduate, but there are things I don’t miss,” Si decided, shaking her head. Moving to London had opened an entirely new world for her, and it was hard to remember the simple days of being back in school. And her childhood pre-magic? That felt so far away. Aurelia placed the two vials back on the counter with the others, and Si gestured at them. “I can wrap these up if you’ve decided.” She grinned. “I’ve never tried mixing them before but it seems like a bad idea.”

aurelia edith flint