In the quiet potions laboratory, Damocles watched the changes in the liquid inside the cauldron with painstaking care.
Ever since he'd started working for werewolf wizards, he'd been given a potions lab of his own, fully stocked with equipment.
And working in Knockturn Alley wasn't a bad deal at all. Britain's largest black market was here; no matter how rare the ingredient, you could buy it. Better yet, he didn't even have to pay for it himself. As long as he showed interest, a werewolf wizard would procure it for him.
The only downside was the odd rumor now circulating among potion-makers: that he'd become a werewolf himself and could only serve werewolves.
Damocles didn't care. Even before this job, hardly anyone ever saw him in the first place. When he'd been researching the Wolfsbane Potion, similar rumors had gone around. He was used to it.
He knew his own situation. A steady monthly salary, research costs reimbursed… wasn't that far more comfortable than fighting alone the way he used to?
Most days, he either taught a few werewolf wizards about potion-making or brewed potions himself. The benefits were almost too good to be true.
Damocles was thinking this over when he picked up a small vial of rue essence from the table, preparing to drip a few drops into the cauldron.
At that exact moment, the door to the potions lab was kicked open.
Damocles's hand jolted, and he poured more than ten times the intended amount of rue essence in at once.
"Bang!"
The cauldron exploded on the spot. Thick, acrid black smoke blasted up and smeared Damocles's face.
Damocles grabbed a towel and wiped the soot away, but his expression turned dark.
"Mr. Belby!" Midgard burst in. Seeing Damocles covered in soot and glaring like thunder, she looked a bit awkward. "Uh… sorry, Mr. Belby. I interrupted."
"It's fine," Damocles said wearily. "But please knock next time before you come in."
The person in front of him was technically his boss. Even if the werewolves under her command couldn't function without him, he still had to give her some face.
Besides, just the occasional Aconite Fruit she brought over was enough to make him swallow his pride.
Aconite Fruit. In all his decades of practice, Damocles had never seen such perfect material. Wolfsbane Potion brewed from it greatly reduced the side effects of the original formula.
If he kept pushing, maybe he really could develop something that completely resolved the werewolf curse.
Damocles gestured at his own sooty state, then looked at Midgard. "Madam Greyback, what is it?"
"Oh, I found two Aconite Fruits that are… a little different," Midgard said, placing two prepared Aconite Fruits on the worktable. "Their potency is stronger than ordinary Aconite Fruit."
"Different Aconite Fruit? Stronger potency?" Damocles froze. He leaned in, frowning at the processed fruits, then cut off a tiny piece with a small knife and put it in his mouth. His other hand was already holding an antidote, ready to down it at any moment.
What he found nearly made him doubt his senses.
This new Aconite Fruit had no toxins at all, and its potency was several times higher than the Aconite Fruit he'd seen before.
Aconite Fruit was already strange enough as it was. Now he was looking at something completely detoxified yet even more powerful. It felt like he was seeing a ghost.
How was that possible? This was practically a perfect ingredient born specifically for the Wolfsbane Potion.
"This is unbelievable!" Damocles blurted, eyes bright with excitement. "I've never seen a potions ingredient this perfect. It's tailor-made for the Wolfsbane Potion, as if the Creator personally shaped this absurd, impossible, yet flawless fruit!"
"Mr. Belby?" Midgard was startled by how intense he'd gotten.
"Sorry. I got carried away," Damocles said, drawing a deep breath to steady himself.
"Madam Greyback, you have an outstanding… no, a perfect Herbology master," he said, cradling the two Aconite Fruits like treasure. "Something like this could never occur naturally. With this, my Wolfsbane Potion will definitely break through again!"
Midgard watched him, her long eyes narrowing into a dangerous curve, sharp as a blade.
"Mr. Belby," she said coldly, "I hope you understand that the patent rights to the Wolfsbane Potion no longer belong to you. Also, I don't want you talking carelessly about this 'Herbology master.'"
Damocles showed no surprise at all. He waved a hand. "I understand. Confidentiality, right? I don't care. Just don't short me on what you owe."
"Good." Midgard's tone didn't soften. "Then as usual, Mr. Belby: develop a new Wolfsbane Potion formula based on these new Aconite Fruits, and you'll receive a bonus of five hundred Galleons."
"Mhm. Got it," Damocles said absently, already focused on the fruit again. He shooed her with one hand. "Now get out. Don't bother me."
Then he added, without looking up, "And knock next time. I don't want my work ruined halfway through because someone burst in."
"Don't worry, Mr. Belby," Midgard said as she closed the door behind her. "Until you achieve a breakthrough, absolutely no one will disturb you."
Her presence vanished the moment the door shut.
...
Deep in the Forbidden Forest, inside the Botanical Garden.
Leonard took out a handkerchief and wiped the maple syrup from Claudia's lip, then glanced back at Midgard as she appeared. "How did Damocles react?"
"He was so excited he practically lost his mind," Midgard said as she sat down beside Leonard. "Looks like he really does care about improving the Wolfsbane Potion."
Leonard gave a soft, amused huff. "Step up surveillance on him. Damocles has always behaved normally, but we can't rule out him suddenly going off the rails and taking the improved Wolfsbane Potion to the Ministry of Magic as a new patent."
"Would he really do that?" Midgard frowned. "We pay him plenty."
"Don't assume people are tame," Leonard said, his tone cooling. "A potions master might not care about money, but he'll care about reputation. We bought the original Wolfsbane Potion patent rights and cut off his path to fame. Back then he needed money. Now he doesn't."
His voice turned icy. "Once people have money, they start wanting other things. If he tries to slip around us and file for a patent… then we don't keep him."