It would be on the very top shelf, wouldn't it?

Giving a huff, the new recruit to the library of glass jars and funny smells placed her hands on her hips and eyed the tall jar about eight feet off the ground. Grabbing her wand from her apron pocket, she tucked a stray piece of black hair behind her ear and waved it neatly above her head, as if conducting the back row of flutes of the orchestra in a merry little melody.

Above her, the jar of aconite root shuffled itself off the shelf, hung in midair and then quivered before eventually descending into the arm of the witch waiting below. She cradled it one arm, shoved her wand back in the still relatively pristine St Mungo's issue apron and returned to a chopping board and cauldron.

It was mid-morning and a cup of tea sat the other side of the chopping board to the cauldron, half drunk. Since starting out in the hospital the previous week, she was finally starting to feel like she was back in the swing of things. It was a bit different to managing a commercial apothecary, where profit margins were king. Here at the hospital it was more about delivering accurate measures on time to save a life, and keeping the bills down were a happy incident.

Measuring out the desired quantity onto the scales, Elixa continued to hum to herself, only interrupted by the ting of a bell somewhere within the room. A sound that came at regular intervals as people came and went.

Tilting her head, she realised that the other staff on duty were probably out on runs to the other floors, which meant she was the only one available to answer. Popping everything down beside the board, she navigated rows of coloured bottles on shelves, and tall, sealed glass jars filled with the base ingredients for the remedies used in the hospital.

"Good morning." She called as she rounded the last corner to the counter, adopting a friendly, well practised smile of customer service. Keen to recognise those regular faces, she was about to find out whether the bell ringer was a healer looking to have her quickly locate something, or perhaps a member of the public, hoping for something for their cold, or even pick up a prescription.

"What can I do you for?"

"Leeches." Anyone he was passing by would have heard him mutter the word with some vitriol; a few had already scuttled off in alarm at the healer's disgust as he made his way down to the apothecary. "Why does it have to be leeches?"

Despite his disdain he just wanted to grumble for the sake of it. It was a popular potion ingredient, after all, and considering the particular concoction that needed it he didn't really have many objections. Poison Measurement Potions[1] were in short supply of late and that meant leeches - as well as other ingredients, but it was still the leeches that got to him anyway.

He arrived at the apothecary counter, mentally preparing the usual greeting he kept for apothecaries in general. Regardless of how disgruntled he was for whatever reason he always had a smile for the people who had to put up with his and everyone else's demands. It paid to be polite and kind, and there was no utter reason why he would need to shift his annoyances onto innocent parties.

If there were any innocent parties to begin with.

He stood there with his mouth open for a few seconds before looking around. The lack of a visible apothecary was not hard to miss, but Arcturus wanted to make sure. It was St Mungo's. The hospital eventually caused a few people to become a little weird; he was probably one of them.

He tapped the bell and patiently waited for someone, glancing around at the hustle and bustle around him, and taking in the general busyness of the place that was the life of the hospital. When he could take a moment to just enjoy the normal atmosphere of a hospital--

"Good morning." Someone, a woman he did not recognise, appeared in front of him. Arcturus blinked at the sight of her, trying to place her appearance. It wasn't coming. "What can I do you for?"

Regardless.

"Hey there," he said, brushing the brief sense of unfamiliarity. "Could I get four leeches, four measures of honeywater and two halves of rat spleen? We're running out of Poison Measurement Potion on third, if you need any reason for those ingredients," he added as he observed the lady in front of him. He really had never seen her before, and no one had said anything to him about a new apothecary.

1.	Wiki article

The chap stood in front of her had black and white hair, and was dressed in healer's robes. The sight of him made her eyes widen ever so slightly - he'd been described to her only a couple of nights ago.

"Hey there. Could I get four leeches, four measures of honeywater and two halves of rat spleen? We're running out of Poison Measurement Potion on third, if you need any reason for those ingredients,"

"Certainly!" The apothecary confirmed, "Hold on a moment and I"ll be back." She flashed him a grin, glad to meet a new face, and vanished a moment into the forest of bottles and jars, retrieving them to the front desk. They flew through the air before her, clinking together and then landed with a bump.

"Four measures of honeywater..." She nimbly measured out the request into smaller glass jars, sneaking a look at the healer.

"Third floor you say?" She asked, reaching a hand in for the leeches without flinching. "Forgive me for the assumption, but the name's not Hollingbury, is it?"

The leeches landed with a wet patter, and she wiped her hands briefly on the tidy apron.

"Merlin, that's going to sound like a stalker! Haha, sorry," she extended her hand over the counter, "Elixa, Elixa Mordent, I've just moved here to work at the hospital. You're looking for a room, right?"

Arcturus watched as the bottles thumped onto the counter in front of him. For a new face, she was fast; he was guessing she wasn't new to being an apothecary. By Circe, her professionalism was making a good impression on him. He liked an apothecary who worked fast.

The leeches distracted his thoughts before they went any further. His eyes briefly narrowed at the sight - and sound - of them, but he didn't say anything. It was all part of being a healer and a potioneer, handling gruesome ingredients that would eventually become a life saviour.

"Forgive me for the assumption, but the name's not Hollingbury, is it?"

"Yes, it is," he said, somewhat surprised that she knew his name. "Arcturus Hollingbury. Wh--"

"Merlin, that's going to sound like a stalker! Elixa, Elixa Mordent, I've just moved here to work at the hospital. You're looking for a room, right?"

Oh. It still didn't explain how she managed to match his name to his face, though - he was certain that he hadn't attached his mugshot to any of the documents he'd signed on, especially the instructions regarding Johann Storm's appearance plastered on the wall of the apothecary.

"Uh...hi, Miss Mordent," he managed. "Nice to meet you. Yes, I'm looking for a room...and I don't think you sound like a stalker, but I don't ever remember meeting you casually? Um. How do you know my face?" More like who told you?! but Arcturus wasn't going to say exactly what he was thinking.

"Yes, I'm looking for a room...and I don't think you sound like a stalker, but I don't ever remember meeting you casually? Um. How do you know my face?"

Phew! He didn't think she looked like a stalker. This being pleased to meet people and make friends malarkey wasn't always so smooth. Hollingbury probably hadn't come to have that said to him, but too late to take it back.

"Uhm, no, uhm..." There were a few more clinks of the glass as she measured and replaced lids. "We haven't met, but, I saw your note and took a copy - and a shall we say, 'mutual acquaintance' described you to me earlier this week." She grinned, sealing the jars and making a note. He'd actually described the hair, but that was enough. Elixa wished he'd described the rest. She'd like to recognise that, perhaps over a drink.

"Third floor was it?" The quill twitched without being touched and began to note the items in neat handwriting as Elixa read them back to it, taking her dictation. Fixing her eyes back on Arcturus she explained,

"Only thing is, I haven't got a room, I'm also looking for one. Here, let me write down where I'm staying, and I'll keep looking for places, give you an owl if I find somewhere you might want to share the bills for." She dusted her hands off and sought a piece of parchment Elixa Mordent, c/o Edwin Glass... Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire.

"But as you point out, we're complete strangers, heh, but hey, I'm willing to change that if you are!" She gave him a wink and put his requested items the other side of the counter within easy reach, having to tiptoe to reach far enough due to the width of the distance.

Dropping to her flat feet again the other side, she lowered her voice, and cringed.
"I'm doing that whole stalker thing again, sorry."

Arcturus watched and listened to her in complete silence, unsure of exactly what to say to her and taken aback by the sheer levels of friendliness. It wasn't until she cringed and lowered her voice that he realised he had a stunned expression on his face. Her cringing reminded him of the multiple awkward conversations he had had in his life; her expression was a picture of exactly how he had felt in every one of those occasions.

"No! No, I-I mean...you're okay," he hastily replied. He wasn't going to tell her that her abrupt cheerfulness was like opening an oven door; it was a wonder his hair hadn't frizzed. "I, uh, okay, I mean, it'd be nice of you if you could let me know, I didn't expect that you would. Like you said, we're perfect strangers, right?" He chuckled, awkwardly.

The latter part of that statement - "But hey, I'm willing to change that if you are!" - had hit a spot somewhere in his mind, and he could feel the blood rushing to his face. This being Arcturus, the only way anyone could not notice this was by being completely blind. He picked up the ingredients, which required a fair amount of careful handling while he kept his face turned away from her - a feat that possibly only a healer could achieve.

"I'll tell you what," he said, checking the bottles so that she wouldn't see his face, "if I find a place that can take one more in, I'll let you know as well, okay? Send an owl and all that."

He found himself staring at the leeches, but anything, anything to prevent her from seeing his face right now. Leeches didn't matter anymore.

Merlin, she'd embarrassed him now, made it all awkward. Well done she chastised herself internally as she saw his expression change and he avoided looking at her directly. She winced ever so slightly and adopted a friendly smile as best she could, still self-conscious that it looked a bit too friendly or forward.

"That sounds brilliant!" She replied to his offer brightly. "Its a deal. Two sets of eyes looking will have it done in half the time." Elixa chuckled.

"Mind how you go with those, and erm," she lowered her voice and leaned forward a little, resting her elbows on the counter and glancing either side, "I make a decent cup of tea if you fancy pouring over the room vacancies in the Daily Prophet... stranger."

Standing up properly she gathered the larger bottles of the ingredients he'd required, her dark eyes keenly examining Hollingbury as he gathered the smaller bottles and went to leave her counter. Seriously, you're going to have to tone it down her conscience told her, but it wasn't often that a tall, dark, handsome healer rang that bell. Well, at least not one that was looking for a room and blushed like that. Perhaps she ought to drag Johann away from his wife-to-be again and quiz him on more detail, though she had a feeling it wouldn't be too difficult to find a few more excuses to visit the third floor in the coming days and weeks...

"That sounds brilliant! It's a deal. Two sets of eyes looking will have it done in half the time."

"Uhm. Yes." He nodded weakly, still not looking at her, as he gathered up the ingredients. The blood was leaving his face now; his moments of embarrassment did not last. He had things to do, one of them being not dropping the bottles he was carrying.

"Mind how you go with those, and erm, I make a decent cup of tea if you fancy pouring over the room vacancies in the Daily Prophet...stranger."

Arcturus had never exactly been flirted with before. Most of the time he was usually oblivious to it, but Elixa's body language made him feel incredibly awkward and in a vulnerable position. He gave her a nervous, quick smile and left the apothecary counter with a hint of speed in his step; whether she noticed this or not he didn't care. He just wanted to get away.

But for the rest of the day he would hear her cheery voice and be reminded of what he'd got himself into, and he would wonder...

...why did it have to be him.

---

After tackling a small pile of paperwork, Hadley decided she was done with the cough that was pestering her. For the past two days, she'd been fighting off a minor cold that would fade out occasionally... and then there would be an annoying tickle in her throat a few hours later. After rooting through a few drawers to look for cough drops, she discovered they were out. Maybe the apothecary would have a cough potion or some cough drops on hand.

She made her way to the apothecary and tried to hold back a cough, failing in her attempt to do so. Noticing a woman inside, she walked up with a smile. Oh, she knew who she was. Ellie? Ellen? El... it started with El and ended with something, a vowel? Eliza? Elixa! Hadley wasn't positive about it though so she just held the name in her mind, hoping to figure it out in her proposed brief interaction.

"'Scuse me? Do y'a-" She caught herself, internally reprimanding herself to tone down the accent to sound a bit more normal. "Do you all have any cough drops 'round here? I've got an annoying cough and I can't find any cough drops." She smiled, "I'm Hadley, by the way. Not down here often, if you were wondering."

Elixa's smile broadened as Hadley addressed her.

"Good to meet you," She gave a nod, extending her hand to someone with a cold seemed somewhat unwise for a moment.

"Elixa, think I got a roundabout introduction from a colleague when I came up to your floor yesterday, but good to meet you properly."

Giving a friendly wink, she leaned back ever so slightly to regard the first few shelves visible to the visitors to the counter, which held the most common remedies that could be dispensed safely without any prescription. There were three versions of cough drops, including the sweetest that Elixa knew that children would quite often like as much as sweets, and pretend a cough was prolonged to continue receiving. Giving them the rather more herbal adult ones the second visit would always put a sudden end to a cough..

"Cough drops? We've got enough to shake a stick at." She gestured with her left hand to the jars.

"Why, how long's it been troubling you?" She asked, putting her hands on the other side of the counter and leaning forward, her eyes examining Hadley for any visible symptoms, any croak in her voice.

"Could find something that'll sort it out properly."

Hadley smiled back, knowing that it wasn't that Elixa didn't want to shake her hand. Heck, Hadley wouldn't shake Hadley's hand if she were sick. She despised having a cold and just wanted it gone.

"Really?" She said, leaning forward as Elixa was looking at all the cough drops. "You do have a lot of cough drops, it's impressive." She looked at the three different kinds, "Which one do ya' think will work the best?" Hadley asked.

"Hasn't been long," she remarked. "Only a day or so. I think it's just a nasal drip causing irritation in my throat. Typical head cold," she said with a shrug. "It should pass within a day, I just needed some quick relief from the coughing. Unless you've got somethin' better in mind. I don't get sick often, and besides, whenever I heal something, it tends to be some magical virus that doesn't heal like a normal head cold."

She was glad that Elixa seemed willing to help her out, even if Hadley had just asked for a few cough drops. "If it's not too much trouble, ma'am, I'll gladly accept anything you've got to fix me up." Absent minded-ly, she fixed the blue ribbon in her hair that was feeling a bit loose. It would be really great if she could get rid of this cold.

"Heh, we stocked a dozen types at the apothecary I worked for before, but we've more important things to stock here." Elixa smiled, but stepped back to retrieve one of the tall jars, pulling off the lid as she listened to the description of Hadley's symptoms.

"Its almost impossible to avoid something or other working here, but I wouldn't want to catch anything on your floor, certainly." She scooped out a dozen drops into a paper bag, eyes constantly returning to Hadley's face.

"Ma'am!" Elixa chuckled, humouring Hadley, smiling coyly.

"Let's see, probably some rumex[1] will help speed things along." She trotted away a moment and returned with a small pot which she took tiny little pale chalky pills from and slid into a small glass jar.

"Try these, every four hours while you're awake, and mind cold air when you go out, it'll only make your cough worse." She placed both the bag of cough drops and the little bottle together in a standard apothecary bag with the St Mungo's crest with a nimble twist of her fingertips.

"What's the latest disease up there that I should avoid catching?" Elixa asked, popping the bag on Hadley's side, maintaining eye contact and a smile to the pretty young healer-in-training.

"If you come down with something entirely different in a few days, I want to know what to expect." She added in a low voice, raising an eyebrow.

1.	Winter Ailments

Hadley eyed the cough drops as they were plopped into the bag and laughed as Elixa smiled when she called her 'Ma'am'. She couldn't help it! It was second nature for Hadley to be polite, and addressing Elixa as ma'am just seemed to be the best thing to do at that moment in time. She was glad the apothecary was being good-natured about it, because sometimes people could be strange when shown politeness. It was odd.

"You're a lifesaver," Hadley said as she gratefully accepted the bag with the cough drops and pills. Maybe the combination of cough drops and pills would be enough to vanquish the annoying cold.

"It's strange, really." Hadley said, playing with the bag in her hands. "We've 'ad two cases of vanishing sickness. Both should be easy to cure, but it was odd to see them happening within a short period of time."

She looked back up at Elixa, "So, if I come back to visit and I'm missing a couple limbs, there's no cause for alarm." She said with a giggle.

"What about 'round here? Nothin' too exciting going on in the apothecarian department?" Hadley said, making up a name for where she was.

"You're a lifesaver,"
"No, those are the healers, like you." Elixa replied without missing a beat and smiled brightly.

"… So, if I come back to visit and I'm missing a couple limbs, there's no cause for alarm."

"I'd like to see that, but not on you." Elixa admitted, eyes alight at the account.
"Limbs vanish, can you get them back? Are they just invisible, or are they… amputated?" She asked, tilting her head.

"What about 'round here? Nothin' too exciting going on in the apothecarian department?"

"Not vanishing limbs, that's for sure." Elixa nodded. "Nothing more than the common cold and dispensing, though I've a batch of aconite remedy on the go back there, hospital goes through a vat of if every week by my estimation." She shrugged, it was a common remedy for many shock related symptoms.

"I've not been here so long, so perhaps I've yet to accumulate enough interesting stories, sorry. Seems its all happening on your floor though. Not when you want a cold." The older witch stood straight and gestured with a hand to Hadley and the bag she'd just dispensed. Remembering, she nudged a quill and quickly listed out in a quiet voice what she had put so it was noted in the big record book on the desk.

"What made Bugs and Diseases your choice, if I can ask?"

Hadley enjoyed that Elixa was ready with a snappy comeback, snappy in the sense that it was quick and well-spoken. "Don't worry, most of the time they come back. From the cases I've seen, they're just sort of amputated, like a phantom limb. I don't really know how to explain it because this is one of my first times seeing it."

"Trust me, it's not all on my floor," Hadley said, in a rather thankful tone. "These days, I think the creature-induced floor is a bit more exciting than ours. Not in a good way, really. But ya' know, they seem to get more attention. But don't you worry, I've only been here a handful of years, but trust me when I say that the interesting stories will come rather quickly."

"That was going to be my question," Hadley said as she scrunched up her nose. "Takin' the words out of my mouth, why dont'cha?" She joked.

"But to answer it, my mother worked there for quite a few years, so I knew before hand some of what I was dealing with. And my paternal grandfather works at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, that's back in the United States. I guess I'm just attracted to diseases." She said with a grin.

"I guess I better be off, it was nice meeting you Elixa! I'd shake your hand, but I don't want you to catch whatever it is that I've got. Catch you later!" She said excitedly as she pushed back from the counter, resisting the urge to skip down the long hallway, and settling for a brisk walk.

---