Alex didn’t mind the outdoors, she just seemed to have little time for it unfortunately nowadays. Though when she was at younger, she and her siblings used to enjoy going to the beach during the summer. One year their parents even took them to Portugal for the summer though Alex unlike her siblings had decided to stay in the resort and not really ventured into the nearby towns. In fact the only town she really ever ventured into was Hogsmeade, however she only used to head into the village to get school supplies and the occasional sweet treat. She had really been somewhat a recluse when they were at Hogsmeade. She just didn’t have much in common with the other girls in her dorm or with anyone really in her grade. In fact now that she thought about it, the only person she really talked to in school apart from her siblings was Ryder, she only spoke to others when they had to work on group projects and such and to be friendly in their dorm. The witch arched a brow as Amaris mentioned of going hiking a couple of days ago. “Must have been a rough trail” she commented in reference the number of cuts the other woman had on her arms and legs. Sure the weather must have nice unless it had rained the night before and Amaris slipped a shitload of times. “Did you go on your own?” she questioned, assuming that answer would have to be yes. If she had had company, she wouldn’t have been so cut up and even then the other person could have healed them for her.


Her suspicions were raised when Amaris spoke or returning back just last summer. If her former dorm mate was indeed a werewolf by some accident then it was only normal for her to retreat away from the world and to escape their ordinary lives. Travelling was the perfect example for this and very common so Alex had learn when she had studied them when training to become a healer. “Really, I’ve thought about travelling, where did you travel to?” she asked with a smile gracing her face. She assumed that Amaris had travelled a bit, since she had barely seen her for a number of years. She hadn't exactly lied about her desire to travel but needed to come across as having some interest in the life of the other witch. Though there a fair few magical folk in England it was still very easy to run into former classmates here and there.


“I see, well anyone who prefers to brew their own potions instead of buying them, is crazy in my opinion, although I have access to many at St Mungo’s” she admitted with a little laugh not that she ever abused that privilege. It was odd if she thought about it, at the present moment, she couldn’t recall if all the ingredients Amaris was holding made a pepper-up potion. She would have to look into that when she got home.

It would have been a hell of a lot easier, she knew, to not go into the forests during transformation. She had her Wolfsbane, after all, which meant that she really could just stay home and not hurt anyone—namely, Dorian, since she lived with him. However, she hadn’t felt at all comfortable doing that. It wasn’t fair to him to have a wolf in the house every day, let alone when she was actually in wolf form. Besides, although Wolfsbane had worked for her thus far, Amaris didn’t trust the potion completely. One small screw up in brewing could send it off course and render it useless, and they wouldn’t know that until it was too late. There was also the fact that the landlord would probably evict them straight away if they ever found out about it. She was sure the only way that they were still there had been because Dorian had the apartment under his name only, as they surely would have been denied anyhow. The last thing she needed was Dorian feeling obligated to live with her and them having no other options but Knockturn Alley. So she’d just been making the decision to go out to the forest, whatever one, really, and running about there past the time a hell of a lot quicker than lying around did. She found she never could sleep while in werewolf form, Merlin knew why. “Oh, you have no idea,” she said, laughing lightly. She didn’t exactly go trotting down any trails, after all, preferring to stay as deep in the forest as possible. It wasn’t as though there was anything in there more treacherous than she was, “Yes, by myself,” she confirmed, wondering if this story was becoming less believable as she went on. Who just went hiking by herself? Who just went bloody hiking, got themselves cut up and didn’t heal themselves? Apparently her, which sounded a little flimsy.

Traveling had been the best idea she’d made since becoming a werewolf. It kept her away from Dorian, whom she hadn’t wanted to hurt, even if he had managed to track her down. Her parents didn’t want to speak to her, and being away had lessened how horribly she’d felt about that. It had seemed a bit like running away from her problems—Dorian had certainly called her out on that, but it had worked for her. Being registered at the Ministry meant that all of the different foreign ministries did know what she was, which made it a bit hard to get even temporary employment—but she hadn’t needed much money back then. “All around, really. Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Switzerland. Romania for a bit, Russia for quite some time actually. I was in Thailand for a while, and Singapore.” It had gotten to the point that she hardly even remembered everywhere she had been, only recalling the more eventful trips, or the longest ones. Sometimes she did contemplate if it would be best to fall off the grid again, but the day that Dorian let that happen would be the day the word bloody ended or something.

It seemed that perhaps Alex was believing her statement about Dorian and his potion-making. She didn’t look to be suspicious at all, and Amaris was beginning to believe that she might actually be better at lying to people she knew than she had thought. “That’s what I’ve been telling him—bloke won’t listen,” she replied, shaking her head. Maybe she would get out of this conversation without Alex thinking anything was amiss. That would be quite the success.

The witch crossed her arms and looked around the dinghy shop, it was so dusty and cramped in here, it was any wonder anyone was able to find the ingredients or potions they sought. That was perhaps another reason why she rarely ventured in here, the state of the place, maybe her being a healer made her more pedantic about cleanliness. That was something that didn’t surprise Alex honestly, when she was younger her room was always clean and the bed usually made. This didn’t change much at Hogwarts. Nowadays at her flat if someone was to venture in, they would think the occupant rarely lived there since things were so ordered. It was partially the truth, though if they opened her fridge it would change their mind as they saw the food she had in there. She nodded her head as the other witch confirmed the state of the trail she had ventured on a few days back. “Well hopefully next time you head out you know the dangerous parts of the trail. Or else I might find you as patient of mine” she kidded with a smirk on her face. Although Alex had figured during her training she would at one point run into someone from school at St Mungo’s. It seemed like at one point everyone found themselves at the hospital, whether it be a sprained ankle or something more severe like Dragonpox. “And you didn’t fix up your cuts and scrapes?” she asked a little too condescendingly. “Sorry I didn’t mean it to sound so harsh” Alex apologised almost immediately. Sometimes she surprised herself in how she spoke.

“Wow! That certainly is a wide array of places, Europe and Asia” she remarked, surprise lacing her voice. But Amaris’s answer had certainly confirmed her suspicions. She just wished that her former dorm mate would just come and admit she was a werewolf. After all healers were the last ones to judge on such…..afflictions. They saw so much that they became immune to a lot of well…shit. Focusing back on the conversation, Alex wondered briefly on how Amaris would have kept track on the phases the moon given the different time zones. But she supposed it wouldn’t have been too hard to do. “That must have taken a toll on your body, with all the different climates and time zones” she commented as she held back speaking again.

The healer knew that full moon had been a few nights ago, she had been working that night after all. Alex chuckled as she spoke of Dorian not listening. “How does he fit in brewing potions with his work? What does he do for work anyway?” she questioned. The woman knew roughly how long Wolfsbane took to brew and that pepper-up didn’t take anywhere nearly half that time.

She never did understand why she was the one to go and get the potions ingredients for the Wolfsbane when she didn’t have the slightest idea what to look for. Yes, she knew what the ingredients were, what they looked like, and how much to get. But there had been occasions when she brought back the supplies only for the potioneer who made it for her to say that they were poor quality or the wrong color or scent, indicating a bad batch of product. Then, she just had to find her way back here to buy more. Sometimes, Amaris thought that he really did only do this to amuse himself, since he knew that she’d do it without complaint. He got far too much enjoyment out of it. If it hadn’t been at his request that she get the ingredients today, she wouldn’t be finding herself in such a predicament. Luckily, she was hopefully doing a decent job at remedying that by her semi-believable impersonation of how she used to act. “I will, though now that I have someone on the inside, I might have to take advantage of that,” she replied, laughing, though she knew that she’d never find herself at St. Mungo’s after a full moon. It was one of the Minister’s new decrees, after all. She shrugged slightly at Alex’s question, though it directly correlated with what she had been thinking. According to the Minister, anyone had the right of knowing that they were talking to a werewolf, and thus he had made strict decrees on their uses of healing and concealing charms. As far as he was concerned, injuries helped to show people just what they were dealing with. “It’s fine,” she stated, shrugging, as she wasn’t at all put off by the question. They had magic for a reason, after all, it didn’t make sense to someone who didn’t know just why she didn’t use it for that, “Sometimes I just like to let things go its natural course. It’s not like they’ll scar,” Amaris added, though she knew she couldn’t heal it even if it had the potential to scar.

Traveling had been a good idea for her, as it kept her moving and away from her real life back here. Granted, she didn’t always have Wolfsbane during those years, so she knew she did have a fair bit of scarring though it was all quite faint—but sometimes she did find herself in similar positions as the one she was in now, able to get the potion for a price. “I didn’t even make it to half the places I wanted to go, really, but it was a start,” she told the woman, though immediately she regretted the wording of the statement. It could come off in a way that would make her curious as to just what had stopped her from continuing and saying that Dorian had finally tracked her down as hardly an answer she could give. While she had been gone, she really hadn’t paid much attention to the timezones, only enough to know when the full moon was. “I adapted well enough,” she replied, though the woman was more right than she knew as far as climate was concerned. Russia in the winter on a full moon was not at all a pleasant experience, and even with her fur coat and warmer blood she recalled being rather chilly. Amaris hadn’t had Wolfsbane then, though, so she’d been far off into the wilderness to avoid running into any people.

Luckily for her, and this story she was spinning, Dorian’s work and potion-making didn’t actually seem that ridiculous. Although he had a bed in St. Mungo’s with his name on it, as all hit-wizards did, occasionally he did brew potions to keep at home. “He’s a hit-wizard. I’m surprised you haven’t seen him around St. Mungo’s since he has a bed and all,” she said, shaking her head, “Maybe he’s too good to need it, but I’d never say that around him and expand his ego."

Luckily for Alex she didn’t have any plans on tonight or she would have been late to whatever by now. She had well lost track of how long she had been talking to her former dorm mate so far. Oh who was she kidding, she never had any plans. Okay well now she had some plans organised with Ryder and she kept telling herself it wasn’t a date. How could it be a date, the two of them were only friends……right? Okay yes perhaps she was slightly excited at the prospect of seeing him again but more so she was nervous. She couldn’t even remember when she had played putt putt last. She as was sure if she asked Ryder for some pointers, he would happily help her after all he had said he would help her whenever he could and that did apply to mini-golf too she figured. But right now she zoned back in on the conversation. "Well if you did, I’ll make myself available just for you” she told the other woman sincerely. After all treating people she had gone to school with had become her ‘thing’ off late. Not that she minded that in the least. Working at St Mungo’s she had come to meet and treat a wide range of people. However if she was right in her suspicions she knew that she would never see Amaris there ever for her affliction and that didn’t sit well with her. In her opinion it was horrible what werewolves were going through. ‘If you say so’ Alex replied in her head rather sarcastically to Amaris’s statement about not fixing her cuts. “I know they won’t hence why we have concealment charms in case they do but they could have become infected, especially out in the forest” she told the other witch in tone she hoped would convey the importance of treating cuts and grazes immediately especially when they were so numerous. But Alex knew that when the next full moon came around again, it would be the same story for Amaris. 

“Oh well there’s still plenty of time, where else do you still want to go?” Alex asked curiously. She herself had hardly been anywhere only having been to three countries in mainland Europe. Definitely nowhere near the extensive list of where Amaris had travelled to. But she knew that in time she would see more of the world, for sure. “I suppose people who travel frequently have that advantage over those of us who travel once in a blue moon” she laughed, knowing that she had used some random muggle expression. “Did you see the beaches in Thailand? I hear they are amazing” she had read in enough of travel magazines to know this. Plus her brother Ethan had travelled there this past winter.


“Well unless he’s come in on my rare days off I haven’t seen him” the healer replied knowing that hit wizards like Aurors had a bed reserved for them should they ever find themselves in the place. “Oh I know right, my older brother is a bit like that too, his ego can go sky high at the worst of times” she commented in response.

Amaris was getting slightly antsy at how long the conversation had been focused in on her visible injuries, though she did thank Merlin that she’d found someone to make Wolfsbane for her. Otherwise, there really were very limited excuses that would sound believable for the injuries she’d obtain during a full moon. Situations like this only made her want to contemplate wearing more layers even in the summer to avoid questions or people getting suspicious. However, it really did get far too bloody hot for that, and even if she did decide to do that, Amaris knew that certainly wouldn’t fly at work. Though so far she’d just remain optimistic that Alex believed her story, and she was surprised at her own ability at lying to the witch. She was an excellent liar, for the most part, but she hadn’t known how well it would work with someone who had known her back in school. After all, she really hadn’t had much experience with this kind of situation. “Much appreciated,” she said, lightly, knowing that she’d certainly not be in St. Mungo’s anytime soon. But, of course, it was a better idea to play the part of someone who didn’t have that mentality. A normal witch wouldn’t, but she was getting very used to the restrictions placed on werewolves under Durant’s reign as Minister. From her work in Knockturn Alley, she had quite obviously heard about the non-violent group fighting for Death Eaters’ rights. It was well talked about in the White Wyvern, though less known out of that area. It was more about a group for the people, whereas she’d also heard about Dimitte, and that seemed to be more respectable members of society also fighting for equality. There were no groups for werewolf rights, though that was a thought that didn’t offend her or surprise her in the slightest. But it simply meant accepting the aspects of her life would either never change, or would only get worse. “I’ll make sure to heal them next time, you’re right. Can’t argue with a healer,” Amaris replied, jokingly. More than likely, it would be easier to just agree and act as if that would change her inability to heal her own injuries or conceal them.

She highly doubted that Dorian would let her travel anywhere alone anymore, which put a limit on the ‘plenty of time’ she had to travel. He’d probably just offer to take time off so they could both go, and that was a bad idea on many fronts. First and foremost being that she wouldn’t have Wolfsbane while traveling, and that was a clear reason why it would be best for her to go alone. For the time being though, she doubted that she’d be going much of anywhere. “I was pretty determined to go to all of Asia, and then finish up Europe—clearly I’ve a long way to go where that’s concerned,” Amaris stated, shrugging. It probably wouldn’t happen, but she wasn’t one to complain. She hadn’t exactly left to go sightseeing. “Hit the beaches once or twice,” she added, with a nod, "They are quite beautiful," she agreed. At that point, she’d been more apt to go straight to bars and clubs to start drinking; but she had at least stopped by a beach once… if she recalled correctly.

“Could be. He doesn’t tell me when he gets injured anyhow, so I wouldn’t know,” she said, though she did know that he was good at his job. He was Dorian; he was irritatingly good at everything, after all. Except knowing when to give up on her, apparently. “Older brothers and egos, it’s just a true stereotype.”

As their conversation progressed, Alex of course had noticed a few things about her former dorm mate. For one she saw that other woman was more reserved than she remembered and also she was only offering short succinct answers to her questions. Of course Alex wasn’t asking questions that required extensive answerers but still she remembered that Amaris talked much more than she was doing so now. But something that the healer had learnt from her training and had such perfected in her work was going along with someone’s lie, because she knew that eventually it all unravelled. At least that was the case with her patients. Even those she had treated before. The woman had also noticed that even if Amaris was covering up, she was actually putting quiet a bit of effort in actually speaking with her, it must be part of the act Alex figured. Obviously she didn’t blame the other woman for her behaviour, given the current environment it was a lot safer. Alex arched brow at her answer but didn’t pursue the topic any further. Despite rarely speaking to Amaris very little back at Hogwarts, they had at least been friendly and she hoped to retain that. And it wasn’t like she could speak further on anything with werewolf rights or the health of werewolves even if they happened to be the only people in the store right now, since the cashier was Merlin knows where. But she didn’t wonder if with all the cashier had seen from working here could they put two and two together and work out what potions someone was about to make based on what ingredients they bought. “Well no, it’s best you don’t” she laughed. “But you’re welcome to, Godric knows I get enough patients arguing with me about something or rather” Alex added. Those arguments even they annoyed here, they did also amuse her slightly.


Travelling had been so far down Alex’s list, she wasn’t even sure she would ever get around to it. Hopefully one day she would, for now she had other things to focus on. “Yes, I suppose there is much more to see than what is featured in the guide books…..well hopefully you get to complete your travels at some point.” She said, as she wore a convincing smile. After all if she was a werewolf it was unlikely that Amaris would be able to travel again, especially for the new conditions the minister had put in place for werewolves. “My younger brother was there in January and said the same thing, I was jealous of him” which was a lie, since Alex had been quite content on staying in London and working. If her work had been completely swamped since it had been winter.


“Oh do you see him often?” she asked, wondering. It was quiet possible they lived separately and just hung out a fair bit as siblings did or perhaps they lived together since Amaris as spoke extensively about his love of brewing potions at home. “Are you taking all that then?” Alex asked to all the vials of ingredients she was carrying since she hadn't yet paid for it and figuring she must be growing tired of carrying them all.

There was no reason for the Ministry to put any kind of restrictions on werewolves as far as healing and concealing spells were concerned. It had made no sense to her at the time, and it made no sense to her now. Of course, she was used to that and far worse, and pretty much just rolled with the punches at this point. Next, he would want werewolves to wear name tags or damn buttons or something to clearly state that they were a dangerous creature to be wary of at all times. Then Amaris probably would leave her apartment far less than she did now. Hopefully it didn’t come to that, but it seemed that even the most ridiculous ideas that came to her mind could come to the Minister’s, only he would be being serious about it. All that did was remind her on a daily basis how lucky she was that she had someone to make Wolfsbane for her, or she was sure that the situation only worsened. She wouldn’t be surprised if the Minister knew what werewolves had the potion and what ones didn’t—in fact, she really wouldn’t be surprised if they started putting restrictions or some kind of ridiculous tax on some of the ingredients just to further impair any werewolf’s attempt to be a functioning member of society. “I would argue if I had any logic behind it other than laziness and occasionally liking to do things the Muggle way,” she replied, shaking her head. It was obviously easier to pretend that she agreed with the witch—which, well, she did, but there was nothing she could do about it. “I’ll just take your expertise into consideration and attempt some actual healing next time.” Amaris added, jokingly.

She supposed she had nothing to complain as far as her traveling was concerned, since she had been able to do quite a lot of it—more than others got to, certainly. Amaris could be content stuck in London, since it was the best way to keep others safe from her and to keep Dorian from having to track her down again. If she left, he wouldn’t hesitate to take time off to find her and then she’d feel bad if he lost his job while he was away, or just that he wasn’t getting any pay. “I’m sure I will; it’s nice to take a break back here, I suppose,” she stated, which wasn’t exactly, since having to deal with all of this every day was hardly much of a damn break for her. “I should have gone in the winter, it was so bloody hot when I was there,” Amaris said, offhandedly, thinking that Alex’s brother had the right idea and he hadn’t even had to take into consideration a coat of fur during Thai summers.

Amaris had no idea if it was normal to live with a sibling, though she supposed it probably wasn’t. Most people lived on their own, with a roommate, or the person they were in a relationship with at this age. She would have been fine with that, though she would have had to live in Knockturn Alley, which was something that Dorian would not agree with. It wasn’t just that her only option would be living down the same alley that she worked in that was the problem, because Amaris was also pretty convinced that he just wanted to keep an eye on her. “You could say that. My salary could only afford an apartment in Knockturn Alley, which he flat-out refused,” she replied, laughing lightly. “So I live with him. For now, at least,” Amaris added, shrugging. Eventually, she was sure that he and Gemma would move in together, or something, though no one ever really knew what was going on in either of their heads, and she would have a reason to unburden Dorian and get a place of her own. “Yes, luckily they had everything I needed—but I live just a few doors down, so I should survive the journey,” Amaris told the woman, though she was actually quite glad that the apothecary was so close to her apartment, because these trips were normally relatively painless.

Of course Alex knew of the consequences that would ensue if Amaris were to reveal herself as a werewolf. The healer was pretty confident that she was right in her assumption. She would straight out ask the witch but they were in public place even if the Apothecary was rather deserted at this time. From experience she knew the shop was only ever flat chat when there was some outbreak of colds and flus in the population that caused everyone to start frantically brewing their own remedies to cure them. And there were many different types of potions for those ailments. But Alex did keep up to date with the goings on at the ministry in regards to the whatever the Ministry had planned, who knew if he had any plans with St Mungo’s but she couldn’t think of reason why he would. Perhaps she would ask Ryder about it since the guy worked there. Alex could have laughed at Amaris’s response about being lazy, she treated many patients who put their poor health down to laziness as well. “Muggles do have some interesting ways of doing things” the woman nodded. She knew this because her parents lived in Muggle London and she often visiting places in the muggle world. “Everything doesn't work for everyone” Wolfsbane included. Especially if it wasn’t brewed correctly. She hoped that Amaris wasn’t in that category

It wasn’t that Alex didn’t want to travel; she was just far too dedicated to her job. It was another thing in which she lacked her supposed bravery. Her brave actions were limited at present to making decisions on how to treat patients. Some of them required more complex treatment than others. She nodded as Amaris spoke of it being nice in London. “Yeah London never changes too much” she smiled. It wasn’t entirely the truth, something or rather was always going on in the muggle or magical parts of the city. “Yeah Ethan loved it, I think if he didn’t have a job to come back to he would still be there” she laughed. Her brother was a hard worker but he knew how to balance his life out much better than she did.


Living on her own worked well for Alex especially being a healer. She was single and work was her life. However she was committed to changing the second factor more and more, she didn’t know how but she would be changing it. The single part well she had no idea what to do where that was concerned she didn’t want to get too hung about it either. She was glad that the girl didn’t live in Knockturn Alley, working there was bad enough. But she supposed that others just worked where they worked. “Well good much better to not live there if you work there too I suppose, you know for a change of scenery and all” she shrugged. Even that reasoning sounded lame in her mind. “That’s great that they had everything you needed” Alex smiled. It was odd how she said ‘I needed’ instead of ‘everything Dorian needed’ considering he was the one supposedly brewing the pepper-up potion. But she didn’t think to bring that up. It was rarely heard off that someone was unable to find an ingredient in the Apothecary since hardly anyone came here; it was unlikely like they would ever run out. “I should head off, it was nice to see you again Amaris, next time tell your brother to just buy the readymade potion and take care Amaris, I’ll see you around, maybe” the healer smiled before turning and heading out the door and on her way home.



*END OF THREAD*