With so much free time between the five classes he had, Phillip had more than enough time to get some quids or galleons from some sad finny. So, like every other Tuesday and Thursday he "set shop" on the abandoned corridor on the third floor. Fortunately no wankers, ninnies or professors walked around this ranky, old place, and only his target clients were around. Besides, those that wanted his services, had to be clever enough to find him during work hours first. It all made it more bangin', really.

He took his time to shrink all the potion batches he'd made that week, mostly just tutty and girl-stuff and such. But those were the money-makers, sadly. He put them all in his small wooden box, grabbed his orders notebook, for his other activities -involving lots'a booze, a bunchload of stogie decks and the occasional objects of dubious nature. Then he set off for the corridor and settled himself right in the middle leaning nonchalantly on the wall, gasping for a fag and hoping he'd have some clients today.

"What are ye skenning at, ye spanner?" he said to a dubious fellow in Slytherin colors that walked into the corridor looking an awful lot like he was abut to do something manky. He  looked younger and just creepy looking, if ye asked Phillip. "Come on then, on yer way. Off ye go" he told him as he gestured to the other exit of the corridor. He waited until he was out of sight, and leaned his head on the wall, already bored out of his napper. If only CD players worked in the castle... He'd have to ask Rick if there was anything he could do about that.

Thirty minutes later he was about to bugger it all to Hell and back and just go by the lake to have a fag and whatever booze was left in his stock, when he saw someone walking decidedly towards him. A client maybe?

Curiosity killed the cat. Well, curiosity certainly got Philo in more dubious situations than he ever intended.

From ill timed omnioculars modifications to sneaking into the Room of Hidden Things or the Kitchens or wayward Egyptian excursions on behest of a magic rug, most of these were rather accidental transgressions. Philo only realized when it was far too late when he was in over his head.

However this time, Philo had clear apprehensions beforehand. It had been overheard conversation that, in a slightly different context, Philo would have ignored or reported to a professor. He had been in the library looking for a last resource for a report when he overhead two older students talking in the next aisle. A whispered conversation he could hear because they had thought they we isolated enough in the library.

Philo's eavesdropping amounted to him learning that, this evening, there was an older Gryffindor who would sell hard to find things. Most of it mild contraband smuggled into the school. But, and this was the topic that had caught Philo's intrest, the speciality was harder to find potions, be it advanced brews not learned until NEWT or other potions smuggled in.

Philo simply should have forgotten about it. But curiosity itched.

So now Philo was doing his best to look inconspicuous as he skirted the part of the Third Floor nobody lingered by anymore.  Inconspicuous as a boy nervously clutching his satchel and frequently glancing over his shoulder could be. Maybe he wouldn't find this person at all or he would get lost.

Neither happened when Philo noticed the much older boy. It must be the guy. Although with bleached hair, a few piercings and a very dangerous look, Philo considered it might be best to leave him alone.

Well, he could at least ask. And then run like hell to resume being a sensible student.

Clutching at the shoulder strap of his bag, Philo felt his face grow hot as he walked near. "Um, y-y-you wouldn't happen to do-have any, um, love potions?"

Something squirmed in Philo's bag. The young Ravenclaw quickly jerked a hand inside to close the mouth of his pet Swear Frog Arlaug before he croaked anything to make the situation more hazardous.

He almost whinged when he realized his possible client was just a laddie barely out of his nappies... But he itched to take the mickey at him, seeing as the boy was obviously ladged. But when he mumbled through his request, Phillip couldn't help but cackle. The boy was seriously off his trolley or a bit too precocious.

"Ee ar yo, little Ravie" he said laughing, still gobsmacked at his request. "Well I'll be jiggered... Love potions you say? Sure, I got some" he said as he opened the lid of the wooden box. "I have a don't ask, don't tell policy usually. But this is all a bit dicky mint. Aren't ye a little young for love potions?" he asked the boy with an arched brow, while looking for the bottles.

He extracted a dozen of tiny crystal phials, all identical but with distinctive tags and settled them in the lid of the box. He was glad most of his potions had a long shelf-life otherwise he'd always have to throw away half of the stock that was left unsold.

"Ere we go. Now I think Amortentia's a bit of yer league and yer pockets, might I add" he said pointing to one tiny crystal phial with the classic mother-of-pearl sheen "but I have some Weasley knock-offs, some Montmorency recipes and a few brews of my own. How about you tell me what's yer budget, yer long term plans with the girly -or is it laddie?- and I'll get you sorted, ey?" he asked grinning.

"If money's a problem I also deal in barter, but something tells me ye ain't got nothing to offer me. Correct me if I'm wrong tho" he said arching his brow again.

Heavens to Helena why had he said anything?

Philo's ears took on the coloration and consistency of beets[1] the the shady upperclassman had a good laugh at what Philo had just uttered.

"Well, yeah, at real stores I'm too young. That didn't stop my sister from making me buy her a love potion once. She was busy and there was a note with the money and everything, and when the clerk did find the order legit," Philo hoped some relevancy would come at the end of this story, he hadn't intended to babble, "they thought that it was for a big night with her girlfriend, in the not gal pal sense, it was just a double date or whatever it's called, that was missed in translation, err, me trying to explain why she made me buy a love potion for her."

Philo managed to zip his lips long enough to see some of the wares laid out before he was grilled with questions. "No, it's a girl, I mean, not that I judge," BABBLING! "but not for what you may be thinking it's just that," pause for deep breath "It's a girl in my year, but she's really shy and I'm, well, you can hear it. I was just curious if there's anything that would help us, um, converse freely. Nothing weird, you know, inappropriate."

Of course, it sounded weird when you phrased it like that, Falkin.

"I've got my allowance saved up." He let go of Arlaug's mouth as his hand scrabbled in the bottom of the bag. He inwardly cursed himself. "I've only got a Sickle and 3 Knuts on me but I've got 16 Sickles and 28 Knuts in total,[2] what would that get me? I could, maybe, give you what I have as a down payment and get you the rest in...ten minutes?"

That was the shortest amount of time Philo estimated he could get to his room in Ravenclaw dorm and back after he emptied all the money he kept in a pair of socks he never wore.

1.	I'm not quite sure myself how this is actually working
2.	He's basically 1 Knut shy of a full Galleon, sometimes estimated to be £4.93 or $7.35

He laughed throughout the ninny's story about his sister, but couldn't help but arch a brow and shape an 'o' with his lips at the 'girlfriend' part... But he couldn't just ask a laddie about that, could he?

"Raz, buzzin really. But ye know kid, a galleon'll get you nowhere... You don't really know yer prices, do ye? For my cheapest luuuurve potion" he cackled "you're almost 2 galleons short. Ingredients are expensive for these things, ye know?" well, he never actually paid for them, but that was another thing altogether.

He returned to look through his box, almost going sken-eyed at digging so hard, until he finally extracted one tiny crystal phial. "Now, ye say -erhmmm, eh... attraction and feelings aren't exactly the problem, ey? 'Sides, love potions are tricky, ye know, and if the girlie got an antidote and realized what happened, it would all go bollocks, ye know? I mean tha'd mither a boathorse till it dropped in t' cut..." he said scratching his head.

"Buuut, since ye're a new customer, and I don't really see much of those, I'm willing to make ye a fancy deal. Now, ye see, I have a few brews of my own, I'm planning to start a line when I get out of this hovel. The catch is, they're experimental. Buuuuut, precisely because of their... nature, you don't have ta pay anything for 'em, instead you're gonna have to record their effects, possible side-effects and other such things. You're a Ravie, you gits like these things, ey?" he said laughing.

He took the small vial in his hand, with a distinctive black label, as opposed to the others with white labels and shook the light lilac liquid in it. "Now this tiny thing thing right here" he said rolling the vial between his thumb and his index, before casting an enlargement charm "-well, not so tiny really, there's 100 milliliters in here, just like all my other potions, so enough for quite a few uses, but I'm deviating... what the bloody hell was I saying?" he rubbed his head. "Oh! Yes. The potion's working title at the moment is Smooth Talking Potion, rather barmy, innit? Meh, still working on it. Yeah, so this thing's supposed to get your... language barrier out of the way. It's based off a few other potions, and includes some ingredients of each of them. Basically, it will calm you down like a Draught of Peace, but not the creepy sorta calm, so you have yer anxiousness out of the way -anxiousness, is that a word? Now, there's a bit of the Babbling Potion, in 'ere, so you're gonna talk, but yer gonna talk with purpose and to ensure your smooth talking skills go well there's a tiny, tiny, tiiiiiiny drop of Felix Felicis and, a some Ashwinder eggs, to ensure it goes romantically." He took a deep breath, shook his head and gave a small laugh. By Gods, he always started rambling when he was talking about his potions.

"So, wha' ye saying, laddie? Does this interest ye?" he asked smiling charmingly with an arched brow.

Philo's stomach, already churning with nerves, shrunk to the size of a shrivelfig upon hearing how expensive love potions were. The reduction in price wasn't that much compared to actual prices outside of school. The love potion buying fiasco had cost a pretty amount of Felicia's hard earned galleons. Figures it would be an amount he couldn't afford.

"Attraction? Oh no, it's there." Kind of. At least, Philo was immune to the 'cootie factor' and was attracted to Drea. But did she even think about him the same way, or was he just a classmate? A classmate that was the only one to show up to the surprise party for Helio's birthday that Drea wanted to throw. A classmate that had asked if the house elves could cook a turkey dinner because that was her favorite on her birthday. Not that she knew that. And the solution he had thought of to help them talk was a love potion? Philo didn't think Drea would have an antidote or know what the antidotes were. A small part of him did think that using a love potion was always in a way deceitful.

However, there soon appeared a method to get a sample of love potion that didn't involve Philo getting pressed into slavery. The school-age shopkeeper described a love potion brew of his own design. Administer a test of the samples? Philo had never been part of independent research before although the Ravenclaw in him could think of at least two different kinds of tests off the top of his head.

"Most people say anxiety." If Philo could be counted on anything it was having a answer ready like a dictionary. Though his inner skeptic was at work all during the explanation of the experimental love potion. Based on Draught of Peace and with a drop of Felix Felicis? Even if it was only 100 ml those were very complicated potions to brew, needing long stewing times and expensive ingredients. Philo had never brewed them before, as they were advanced grade, but he had glanced ahead in the potions textbook. Powdered unicorn horn and Ashwinder eggs weren't easy to come by. And he was giving it away for free?

Well, not free, if Philo had to record their effects, and a bit of extra work was far easier payment than money. But still, would Philo risk drinking an experimental potion himself? Would he risk Drea drinking it? Should he tell her?

"So, I just have to observe the effects of your potion if I take it? Nothing else?" And trust that you haven't brewed anything I could die from. But Philo couldn't say that.

"Yes, I actually 'ave these little cards I made for this sorta business" he said grinning as he stuck the tip of his tongue out, trying to extract one from his back pocket. "I had to make 'em for some ninnies that  were pretty much bang out of order on research and experiments. But they came in handy after that—Aha!" he exclaimed as he finally extract the little card.

He straightened the wrinkled corner and shoved in it the bloke's face. "Look 'ere. There's some stuff that's more for marketing than anything. Like taste and consistence. Ye know how 90% of potions have this horrible taste? Well, I'm trying to change that—sneak in some ingredients that alter the taste without altering the actual potion. Then there's immediate effects, like if ye feel any different the second ye ingested it. Then there's the actual effect, if it does what it's supposed ta. Then long-term effects. Then side-effects. And by side-effects I mean, if ye even feel a tingle in yer toes or a slight pain in yer back—anything, anything at all, you write it down, even if ye think it might not be from the potion" he said seriously while tapping the small card where it read Side-effects.

"Ta, now if yer little girlfriend is also taking it, I want her input as well—whether she be giving it knowingly or not. You'll be doing yer napper in if she ain't knowing, tho. Ye might as well tell her yer helping a senior with an experiment, without actually telling her it's also fer yer own skenny little interests" he laughed, but kept a serious look on his face. "Nowt. Seriously, trying to record effects without knowing what to look for— is hard work" he said while clutching at his head, imitating a severe headache -or maybe an explosion of a head.

"If yer little lady's in, as well, I'm giving each of ye a dose, plus a common antidote. 'Cause, ye know, I can't actually work on a specific antidote until I know everything about it, and the brew has almost no effect on me, I'm already a smooth operator if I want ta" he winked at the Ravie.

"Now, I reckon ye might 'ave yer doubts, since yer new to me business, but if ye want, ye can gather some testimonials from the 6th and 5th year girls—frequent clients, 'ose ones" he said with a smug look on his face. "So, laddie, ye having it?"

Study break didn't always mean free time. There was a lot of studying going around though Elian wasn't reading the book in his lap. Swapping out his traditional green and brown hunter's outfit, he chose one in all black today, the hood pulled low. The shadow from the cowl hid most of his face. After a few moments he stood up quiver and bow sliding easily onto the strong shoulders. It was as simply as taking candy from a baby. A walk, head down in a book, a stumble, a reach, a retract. That was all it took for him to aquire the watch from the student. He apologized in suprise as he helped the boy up. Smiling he walked of leaving the watch somewhere else. It was a fun little game he liked to play.

His seemingly aimless wandering brought him to the hallway of the third floor. Before he could yell something to startle Phillip he noticed the boy he was talking with. Something about a new potion. Oh this was going to be good. Making his way over he smirked at the Ravenclaw boy.

"I'd take him up on the offer. Could be entertaining," he said before looking to Phillip. "Now I have come across something that may interest you."

With the card shoved in his face Philo flinched and took it in pinched fingers on reflex. Although the older student's thick Scottish accent made it difficult to determine when he was serious and when he was joking, Philo could see the appeal in trying to make better tasting potions. All of them did taste bade but trying to add any flavor, be it as innocent as peppermint or cinnamon or lemon peel could have horrendous results to the potion.

The methodology and intelligence behind the intent of these brews sold in a dark hallway encouraged Philo a bit more. Though the older student looked a little frightening he was innovating. Maybe with his own business once he graduated.

Alright, Philo would do it. There was the progression of potions knowledge to consider, of course, but this might be his chance to talk with Drea for his own reasons. A common antidote was being supplied too.

Philo opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by another costumer. Another older student. He turned his neck for a panicky look over his shoulder before turning back to the boy promising an experimental love potion at the price of being a test subject.

"S-Sure, I'll help test your stuff," Philo said, waiting for the 100ml and common antidote. "You won't find better notes about the potions effects." Philo wasn't one to brag but he felt he needed to exert some kind of forceful personality. These older years were making him nervous but he couldn't run off until he had the goods.

"Oi, Harris! Wha'cha doing ye daft apoth?" he grinned as he shoved the card in the young boy's hand and grabbed Elian's hand to shake it roughly. "Ye, just a moment mate, lemme get this done with" he winked as he turned his attention back to the Ravie. He skenned at his little box o' potions for a second and extracted a small bag from under them, shoving two vials in it and the common antidote. He tied the strings and threw the small bag at the kid.

"One tea spoon per dose, if ye go any further than that, have the antidote on hand. Supposedly, the effects should last for 30 minutes, so ye can take another dose after—let's say, 45 minutes?" he smiled at him. "Then again it's in the experimental stages, and my Artithmancy is bloody awful, so—yeah, add a 10 minute margin of error in there" he closed the lid on his box o' wonders and shoved it back under hid robe. "Well then, Ravie, yer all sorted. Bob on, ey?" he grinned and waited to see if the kid had any more questions or anything.

It was a bloody awful business day. Of course he got stuck with the kid looking for love potions. And Phillip wore his heart on his sleeve, he couldn't take advantage of the poor lad, so yeah, another experiment deal. It was right time he started hiring test subjects he mused as he looked at the kid.

The toss caught Philo unawares. The bag bounced out of his hands and tumbled down his vest. Philo managed to catch it at his waist before it dropped further.

"One dose, one teaspoon," Philo repeated, memorizing the details. "It lasts 3o minutes, but wait 45 just in case. Um, thanks, again."

Heart pounding, Philo turned to leave, restraining himself from not running pell-mell to the common room because of his nerves. But he still left quick enough to not think about the unknown risk he could be stepping into.

((Philo exits))