Auror Gamp would not go to the White Wyvern pub on Knockturn by choice. It had sticky floors. Wonky tables. A lingering smell of dog. Stale pipe smoke hung like fog. She was not in uniform. Not herself. Younger. She had short mucky brown hair. Green eyes. Grey cloak. Freckles. Deep shadows under her eyes. Gaunt.

It was early Friday evening. The sun would be high in the sky for hours yet. But the moon was fattening every night. Andromeda's persona was fearful. Desperate. She looked about the pub. She had to meet someone. He had to be here.

Andromeda knew exactly who they were looking for. But she had to pretend to be unsure. A stranger here. She was not alone. But only one witch knew that. Andromeda was not going to look for Tara. They were under cover. She trusted Tara to watch her back.

"Lookin' for Buckles." She asked the hag like witch behind the bar. She twitched what was left of her fingers in the direction of a nearby table. The greasy haired girl nodded thanks. Approached the wizard she knew well to be Buckleby. They had watched his comings and goings.

"Buckles?" Andromeda asked. "Garvie said you could set me up." She fumbled a coin purse from out under the cloak. "For the moon. Right?" The sight of shiny galleons caught the wizard's attention. He gave the instruction on when and where to meet for the goods.

Tara was on babysitting duty, it was not as if she had to really babysit Andromeda, but it was needed to be the muscle on this type of job, after all she couldn't just let the other woman go off on her own about this type of job, not just because she was being paid for this either! She enjoyed being around Andromeda enough that she didn't really want her to get into a tricky situation pretending to be a werewolf.

She still felt herself would of been best for this sort of thing, after all, she was an actual werewolf, Andromeda was not, but she supposed she was just the backup muscle and was there to help with the arrest and if there was others who would jump on the Auror if anything was to go wrong at all, it was always good to have backup, although as much confidence as she had in herself, she was pretty sure it would of been better to not have a werewolf backup on this.

Tara drank gently at the bar, sighing as she listened to the disguised Auror ask for Buckles Buckley. The only reason Tara was on this mission was that the target they were after was selling fake Wolfsbane.

She waited a moment after the two left the building, trying to not look conspicuous and like she's following them, while also checking that Buckles didn't also have his own backup, she kept her distance and did her best to not be seen as she stalked behind them, it was the first day of the blue moon buildup, she didn't take her transformations badly...but this was unnerving to her nonetheless.

Soon after making sure things seemed to go smoothly, Tara moved off to the meeting location, she'd chosen a small park with tree coverage that she sat underneath, looking at the sky and the newly expanding moon.

"How'd it go? They buy you being a werewolf?"

Andromeda lifted her cloak. Revealing she had something hidden beneath. It was the wolfsbane dose.
"Argued about the price more." Said Andromeda. "It is a good thing we only need one dose to test." She put her cloak back. "They took ten galleons. To guarantee the second dose tomorrow." Andromeda frowned. She had not changed her appearance back yet. Careful. If anyone here knew Tara and knew Tara was a werewolf then it would just look like two werewolf witches talking. "Thanks for watching me. I should get it to St Mungo's. You want to come?" Andromeda did not need guarding to go to a hospital. "I owled ahead. Lix is expecting it." They were all friends.

"Yeah, I'll come. You think I'm going to let this go?" She asked in a somewhat sterner tone. "Its one thing to sell illegal wolfsbane, if it ends up being fake..." She didn't feel like she needed to say it out loud, but the soft growl in her tone of frustration would of easily aided in her point as her frustration was revealed in her tone, she gently moved up to the other girl and looked down at her with a sigh.

"Ten galleons is perhaps too much for an underground ring, I've heard of one dealer doing dead drops for money and delivery, only a couple at the moment from the sounds, we should try hitting them up sometime." She said a bit quieter as she inspected the bottle herself, it didn't seem that interesting by itself so with a sigh she nodded before stretching out.

"Yeah lets go see the doctor."

Pop! Pop!

Andromeda and Tara apparated to St Mungo's. The reception was always busy. They did not wait in line. They knew where to go. As they climbed the stairs Andromeda's face changed back. And her hair to black. She looked like she normally did again. Apart from her clothes. She would change them later.

They passed a wizard covered in what looked like pink chewing gum. Head to toe. He was trying to peel his feet off the floor and you could only see one of his eyes. Andromeda exchanged looks with Tara and headed on.

Tara followed closely after the apparition, it was weird to be with a Metamorphagi, she was just getting used to her new appearance then in the blink of an eye she was back to her usual self, she wondered if it did help with losing weight however, after all if you can alter your body to your will you won't ever have to go out to the gym would you? It must of been a blessing but she wasn't sure now was the right time to ask.

She stretched herself out as they walked through corridors with her, a small smile creeping onto her face. "You reckon Lockhart is still here somewhere? Or did he get released once he seemed adjusted back enough into the magical world?" She asked in an attempt at small talk with the other woman, as much as she liked the brooding silence, she wasn't sure if she could listen to the patients.

How Elixa managed to stay sane was anyone's guess.

“Hej!” Lix exclaimed, stepping out from one of the ward doors. She thought she had seen them pass by through the glass, and she was right. She was dressed in her green healer’s robes, her loosely curled black hair pinned up atop her head with help from a charm. Some of the strands had begun to descend down the back of her warm, clammy neck. She blew air out of her lips to dislodge some strands plastered to her clammy forehead. August in London was always a bit too warm for the Swede who had gone to Durmstrang.

“Have you got it?” She asked, recalling Andromeda’s owl about the wolfsbane. “Great, come this way,” Lix beckoned back down the hallway, and through a door marked laboratory. Inside was, as to be expected, a very well stocked potions lab with cauldrons, bottles and all manner of ingredients in what seemed to be a vast cupboard. Another healer was in, but once disturbed, took a look at the trio and sniffed to himself, before leaving.

“He was only hiding,” Lix shrugged, collecting a handful of glass test tubes into a pretty yet functional wood rack. It looked like it had seen a thousand potions from the marks and stains on the grain. “But he has been here since like midnight.” She grinned. “Right then, hand it over. You want to know if it’s genuine?”

This was like being back at school. Andromeda clearly remembered Snape's potion lab in the dungeon. She would have enjoyed potions more if Lix had taught it. For one she was prettier. Two less greasy. Andie handed over the bottle.
"Yes. Paid enough for genuine. If it is fake what is it?" She did not want people drinking strange potions that made them more aggressive come full moon. She folded her arms. "What was this dead drop thing you mention?" Andie asked Tara. Now they would not be easily overheard.

She nodded gently at Elixa as she appeared from a ward door, she was glad she got the owl ahead of time so it didn't just seem like they were showing up and demanding her help, and it was quick that they were ushered away down to a testing lab, it felt somewhat like home, or atleast like Hogwarts, she didn't like to think of it often but she got nostalgia for dungeons with where her house was.

She looked over at Andie now they were in private and she was being asked about it, she shrugged lightly with a sigh. "I've heard talk of someone selling Wolfsbane with Dead Drops, there's been some mixed reports on them, it seems unstable." She said with a faint growling noise while she speaks, she hated the idea of dangerous wolfsbane being on the streets perhaps more then fake.

With her arms crossed she leaned back on a counter with her eyes locked on Elixa working away.

“… if it’s fake, what is it?” Andromeda asked, and then turned to Tara, keen to continue their discussion while Elixa got on with it.

The two dangerous witches continued their conversation as the healer uncorked the bottle. A convincing whisp of blue smoke climbed from the neck of the glass. She wafted it towards her with a wave of a hand, and sniffed. She wasn’t convinced already, but she didn’t spend her days sniffing wolfsbane potion. Carefully, she decanted small measures into the test tubes and in turn dropped small amounts of other potions or herbs into them.

“… it seems unstable.” Tara’s assessment wasn’t about this particular sample, but it wasn’t far off. One of the herbs sizzled, and the smoke had turned thicker from the tube Lix was heating over a flame. She pulled it out, and lit the smoke with the flame. It gave a loud pop and a purple burst of light.

“Where did you get this from again?” Lix asked, setting the tube back in the rack. “And were they really expecting you to come back?”

"The Wyvern." Said Andromeda. They could trust Elixa Mordent. "Poison?" She walked closer. Intrigued. She had a NEWT in potions. But she could guess. "What is it?"

Tara watched the purple smoke pour from it and a scowl immediately went over her face as she watched, the question seemed rhetorical and Andie immediately jumped to what was on her own mind, they were selling poison to werewolves.

A growl left her as she tightly clutched at her wand, her energy going into not immediately storming out to go after the people they had just bought from, her eyes shot over to Elixa for an explanation, she would of asked for an explanation but she knew if she opened her mouth even the slightest, all that would leave her lips would be a lot of very colourful words that would leave several ears bleeding.

Instead she stared, her face as if thunder as she waited for the explanation, her body shaking with the desire to storm right out and break several laws until she found out what it really was.

“Short answer,” Lix replied, a frown on her face, “not wolfsbane.”

Neither of the other two witches appeared pleased at this assessment. Tara looked like she wanted to smash up the lab. Lix wondered what outcome would have made them happy, possibly nothing. If the brew was fake, it was a scam, or worse, dangerous, and if it was real, then it was unlicensed.

“Long answer… I’ll need to do some proper analysis. It could be just poorly made, best case.” She seized a strand of black hair from her neck and attempted to weave it back into her up-do. “Be… two, three hours if I have a quiet shift, or tomorrow if all hell breaks loose. You know how it is.” The hospital was unpredictable when it came to cases.

“Is my word enough to go back and arrest them?” She asked, suddenly doubting herself. She was sure this was fake, wasn’t she? Somehow someone being arrested on her assessment felt awfully responsible.

"They will be long gone." Andromeda shook her head. "But..." she looked to Tara. Changed her face completely. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Upturned nose. "We could always try again." The hitwitch looked like she wanted to do damage.

"They're claiming its wolfsbane, so they're already attempting to sell it illegally, the fact its not actual wolfsbane...." Tara said with barely contained rage, she was somewhat relieved she was doing this with Andie, otherwise it would be Tara getting locked up after this and sentenced to life, although if she can keep herself this tame was going to be another matter once she meets them again.

"We have that as enough to arrest, if it turns out to be poison, then we have them on a much bigger charge." She looked up at Elixa, she gave a weak and quick smile to try to tell her its okay and she did good, but it was difficult to keep herself composed in such a way.

She looked back at Andie in her disguise once more and nodded at her, she was not going to just sit idly by and let them sell it, even if they got released the next day, its a day they won't be able to peddle this swill.

"Lets get them."