16 October 2011 @8pm
Outside of Lexus Dale's flat in Diagon Alley

Oh my god, did this witch ever come home? Young Nemo was leaning just inside the little archway that served as a portico to the entrance of a second-floor apartment.  Night had fallen and she was beginning to get bored. She was dressed all in black, with a long pointed stocking cap and red fingerless gloves.

"She's that werewolf. You know the one - whats-er-name? Alexa, or sommat. Rumor's she a regular on Sellaphix's list. Got a den near mine in Diagon. I seen her going in and coming out. Try bugging her.

So it turned out, Nemo's early magical education had been scant on brewing. She might have learned more had she stuck around for her last two years of high school, but uh, screw that? How was she supposed to know that a detailed potions education would be a pre-req for getting chummy with all-time dark wizard man of mystery Draco Malfoy? Her curiosity had been one step quicker of her better logic, so here she was.

Awaiting a werewolf.

It had been a long day, which really was something Lexus could say about any day. Thankfully though she had the rest of the night off and wasn't required to be back until late afternoon the next day. Which meant she could hopefully get some sleep. Saying she was rough was an understatement. The past Full Moon had been nearly a week ago but it had stuck with her. The night of her transformation just happened to be the anniversary of her husband's death and as she spent the night pacing in wolf form with nothing but her own thoughts (thanks to the wolfsbane)  she was feeling overwhelming amounts of guilt and frustration. Feelings that were still haunting her.

Lexus slogged up the steps to her apartment above one of the Diagon Alley shops, pausing near the top as she spied the figure waiting outside her door. She didn't entirely know her neighbour. The two apartments shared a wall and not much else. Lexus was rarely home and kept mostly to herself, her neighbour seemed to like it that way. However, she knew this person - whoever they were - was not her neighbour, nor did they seem like the sort of company they would have entertained. Which meant, for some Merlin Forsaken reason, this vagrant was here for her.

She wiped at her tired eyes and moved past the figure to unlock her door before looking back to them, "So, what is it you want?"

Oh. She was pretty! Weary-worn from a long day, surely, but young and tall with silver streaks in her hair.  Maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise how she looked, but admittedly Nemo has been picturing a much more fairy-tale encounter.

Nemo straightened up off the wall and smoothed her hair a little bit.  "Don't worry, I'm not selling anything," she said.

"You won't be too freaked out if I say I'm looking for some information? About potions. Call it homework or something."

It would have seemed a bit disingenuous to try and come up with some apology or excuse for waiting outside someone's home at all hours, so Nemo didn't bother. Her instinct was confirmed when The Werewolf words indicated she was not interested in trifling.

"If you've got a minute, it won't take long."

Despite herself, Lexus chuckled at the girl's assurances that she wasn't selling anything. She wasn't sure if that was a relief or not. The kid certainly looked like the type but standing outside people's houses, waiting for them to come home from work wasn't exactly the best sales tactic. She had once sold Energy Potions on the Platforms at Union Station, that was the sort of place you wanted to sell things.

"Homework?" Lexus repeated back to her, looking over the girl and trying to gauge her age. She didn't know too much about the schooling system in the area, other than that her cousins attended the 'local' Wizarding School. The girl looked to be about the right age to be a student, "Did Ayla send you over?" She hadn't been in as much contact with her cousin as she would have liked but she did her best to Owl when she could. There weren't too many around that she knew of that would know of her talents otherwise.

She entered her flat, flicked her wand and the lights came to life. She crossed the small living space into the open concept kitchen area and put a pot on the stove. She had left the door open as an invitation and called back to Nemo, "Cuppa tea?"

She moved about, decompressing a bit from her work day as she started to fix herself a drink, "What was it you needed?" Given the girl's age and the assumption that she went to school with family, Lexus didn't think twice about letting the stranger in. All things considered if this 'meeting' went south, she was a trained witch and her Lycanthrophy gave her resistance to many spells. An attack wouldn't be the wisest move for the other girl.

Well, this was going better than she'd thought. Nemo blinked when the werewolf's suspicion seemed to dissipate. She'd half expected to do a little more song and dance, but there was something about this witch that gave off a vibe of confidence that didn't require being bothered by a little girl. Nemo couldn't argue with that.

Ayla?  Never heard of her, but Nemo thought it best try and slip past answering that one. Instead, she followed the werewolf into her apartment, which looked normal.  The werewolf went about her Getting Home From Work business, and Nemo looked around a little. Nemo didn't wander far, just a few steps. She touched a small photo hung on the wall. It was the muggle kind, the kind that didn't move.

She agreed to the tea. Nemo had been pretending to like tea since she got here because it seemed to put everyone at ease, but she'd yet to find one that didn't just taste like watered down leaves. "Sure."

"I have some Potions questions. Are you American?" she asked. She sounded like it.

It hadn't taken long for the water to boil and Lexus poured it into two large mugs before dropping a tea bag in both. She wasn't exactly fancy about drinking tea like some of her colleagues were but she certainly preferred it to coffee. She opened her fridge, splashing some milk into one of the mugs before dropping some sugar in as well. She glanced over at the younger woman, "Do you like anything in it?" She once had a casual conversation with one of the Welcome Witches during a lunch break about how the 'Proper' way to drink tea was black. Lexus had always preferred hers sweet.

After fixing the other drink for her guest she crossed into the small livingroom, handed over the mug and sat down into the couch. The whole area had an air of freshness, as if everything within it had never been used.

She gave a soft shrug, "Canadian actually. People mix it up all the time though." After having lived in London for just about a year now she had become used to people thinking she was American. Her own accent wasn't exactly distinctive and was really only noticable when she said certain words.

"What sort of potion help did you need?" Nornally Lexus would have been rather standoffish and dismissive but she was working under the impression that this young woman was friends with her cousin. Not to mention the company was much more agreeable than being alone with her more darker thoughts. Not that she was willing to admit that.

"Lemon, if you have it."

She took the warm mug and leaned against the edge of the table. She took off her wide-brimmed hat and set it down behind her, then tousled her shaggy blonde hair.

"I'm American," she said, then had a polite sip. Yup. Hot leaf water.

"So yeah, I'm looking for something rare. Could be anything, but like an ingredient that would be really impressive to get a hold of. Like, 'holy shit, girl, how'd you get that? You're like, amazing.'  You know?" She wiggled her fingers and widened her eyes.

Nemo braced herself on the table and hopped up to have a seat. "What do you think?"

Lexus gave a nod and a lift of her shoulders in a sort of 'yeah I figured that out' sort of way when her guest mentioned she was American. Then again she could have been more local than Lexus first thought as well, given the fact that unless you were Quebecois or an East Coaster, most other accents were the same as many of the American ones.

She placed her mug on the coffee table and leaned back into the couch again with a wide smirk on her lips, "So . . ." She drew out the word before continuing, "you're looking for something but you're not really sure what it is you're looking for?" She tried hard not to laugh. The girl definitely sounded her age with the expressions she used, "what kind of homework is this for again?" She had a sneaking suspicion that the other woman was looking to make an impression rather than a grade.

She glanced back over to the hallway that led down to her bedroom. Her brow knitted together as she thought something through, "Most of the ingredients I work with these days are at the hospital but I do still have a few local pieces from back home that are a little harder to get shipped over." She looked back to the girl, "think something like that would impress your friends?"

Nemo winced sheepishly as the other witch sniffed out the true nature of the mission, particularly that it wasn't academic in origin. She grit her teeth and shrugged. Mercifully, getting found out didn't seem to stop the conversation.

"Yeah, it just needs to be, like, rare and cool," she confirmed.  She wasn't ready to part with the ten galleons sitting in her bag, so Nemo hadn't mentioned them yet. Nor did it seem like the exact right time to reveal this was for the Draco Malfoy, heir of a dark legacy, prince of angst and mystery.

She followed the older witch's gaze down the hallway. Was there something here? Better than she could have hoped for. When the option of prize-by-mail was brought up, Nemo shook her head.

"I don't have time to wait for something to be shipped. What kind of thing do you have here? Like, dragon eyes or something?"

Nemo's ignorance probably showed in her uneducated guess. She knew there were rules about killing dragons and well, each dragon only had two eyes. But really, what was at all useful or potent about an eyeball. 

"Unicorn blood?"

Nemo didn't know anything about unicorn blood other than it seemed, again, rare and suitably impressive.

There was humor in Lexus' expression as she listened to the younger woman. She didn't deny that she was looking to impress. Lexus decided not to dwell on it for now. She remembered being a teenager and wanting to prove herself. Despite the fact that blood purity didn't hold as much stock overseas she had spent most of her teenage years feeling as if she needed to prove herself, being no-maj born.

Lexus narrowed her brow in thought, trying to remember what she had tucked away in her personal stores, "I have some ice gnome toenails and some Yeti hair." They were ingredients that were Native to Canada but also easy to transport as they didn't degrade, "Not as impressive as say, an Ice Lord tear but those are mostly used in wand magic anyway."

She raised her eyebrows when the girl asked about Dragon Eyes. She held back a scoff. Once again her companion was not only showing her age but her inexperience. While dragon parts weren't unheard of in potion making, typically you'd use scales or crushed talons. Pieces you wouldn't have to kill the beasts to collect. Even dragon heartstrings were rare but again were mostly used in wand magic and from what Lexus understood, only came from Dragons that were already dead.

She sat up quickly, her expression of shock and concern when unicorn blood was mentioned. She held back a snarl, her lips twitching and her eyes flashed. Her fight or flight instincts suddenly triggering, "Unicorn blood?" She asked quietly, trying to keep the edge out of her voice, "please . . . Please tell me, you don't have an idiot friend trying to get you to prove yourself with unicorn blood."

Nemo's eyes almost glowed and she barely contained a sly smile.

Unicorn blood. It had to be unicorn blood. The werewolf's reaction was enough to show the little urchin that the stuff must be somehow badass. Nemo was young and invincible and defiant of boring adult convention and caution, so naturally she was unfazed by the obvious warning in the werewolf's voice.

"No way, dude. Of course not. This guy's not asking for anything specific. It's supposed to be a surprise, you know?" She swung her legs, her eagerness and curiosity beginning to show. "I'm not going to use it."  Whatever it was actually for.

"So... do you know where I can get some? Is it expensive?"

It didn't seem like there'd be any in the flat, but she obviously knew about unicorn blood.

Lexus couldn't remember the last time someone had called her dude. If there wasn't a more pressing issue at hand it may have even made her feel homesick. No one in London seemed to use the word, everyone just called her mate instead. Something she had become used to years before when she first met her husband.

Lexus sat up straight then leaned forward. The youth's enthusiasm was not a good thing. Apparently Lexus insinuating that Unicron Blood was a really stupid thing to be looking for had only bolstered her up instead of making her back down.

However she did learn one thing, Nemo was looking to impress a guy. Nornally that would have been a regular run of the mill sort of deal for a teenaged girl but this didn't feel like she was looking for a date. Whoever this guy was that she wanted to impress, this felt more like a gang initiation.

She took a deep steadying breath, "Listen kid, unicorn blood isn't something you just go to the local apothecary and buy," somehow she knew the teen already knew this, "unicorns are rare and hard to catch. They aren't trained or bred and they most certainly aren't hunted. Only an idiot would go looking for one to get it's blood."

She took a sip of her tea. Giving her words time to sink in and for her anger to ebb. She sighed and scratched at her hair, "shouldn't you know all this? There's unicorns in the forest next to your school." Assuming the teen attended Hogwarts of course, "this is basic stuff. Unicorn blood is stupid powerful magic but the curses connected with collecting it and using it," she impressed the point, despite the teen assuring her she wasn't going to use it, "are just not worth it."

'Basic stuff.' Crap. Nemo bit the inside of her lip. Basic, but Nemo didn't know it. And there were unicorns at Hogwarta? Gawd, of course there were unicorns at Hogwarts. Her old school had raccoons behind the dumptser.

The werewolf's explanation was helpful but not encouraging. Nemo could tell now that she'd be unmovable on the a-cursed substance. A Canadian werewolf healer with a heart of gold. Who'd have guessed?

She didn't want to give up too early, but the jig was up. Nemo hopped down from the desk and presented a reluctantly contrite look.

"I didn't go to Hogwarts," she admitted. Then sat down in a chair nearer to the pretty werewolf.

"So yeah, I didn't know.  What's your name, though? Mine's Nemo."

Nemo offered her hand. Even if the werewolf wouldn't give up the unicorn blood, she seems like a person worth being properly acquainted with.

Lexus blinked several times trying to process this new information. The little scamp hadn't gone to Hogwarts. Which meant she didn't know Ayla (or the twins for that matter) She watched with narrowed eyes as the girl left the desk and moved closer.

The hair on the back of Lexus' neck stood up. She had invited the other woman in under a load of assumptions that she realized had been on her. She had assumed she was a student, she had assumed she had known her cousin, that the young Hufflepuff had sent her over. The girl didn't even know her name.

She stared at the girl's outstretched hand. She casually ran her own over the side of her Healer robes, looking as though she was wiping something off them, reassuring herself that her wand was in easy reach before accepting the handshake.

"Dale." She offered with the most smile she could muster. She could easily kick the girl out, hex her before she even knew what was happening but there were too many unanswered questions to act rashly here. Who was this girl really and how had she found her?

"What school did you go to?" She tried to take the polite route for now, "Sorry I just assumed you went to Hogwarts. My cousins are there right now."

Something changed about Dale, that was her name, when Nemo confessed her fib. Lesson-learned: not a great idea to walk into someone's apartment under shady circumstances.

"Yeah, sorry. Should have told you, but people don't take you seriously in this city if you haven't gone to the right school."

She laid back in the chair and crossed her legs and drank her tea.

"My school was crap," she went on. "Just a shitty small town magic school. Maybe like a hundred kids total, K-12. We had to go to regular muggle school and then to magic school after. No way my mom was sending me to the big schools. So Pacific Junction Magic Academy it was."

Well settled in her seat, she watched Dale for a reaction. "You want me to go?"