The last few months were doing terrible for business, it wasn't so much as he had no customers, he was running out of them, but the most annoying part was he was running out of supplies, his potions were getting more limited as he struggled to make more complicated potions, he couldn't make polyjuice potions to sneak about and buy ingredients, any suppliers he did have were giving up on him.

He had to do something, and he was pretty sure he knew who was doing it.

Lochlainn walked up to the store, he knew who the most likely culprit was for what was going on, she had come to confront him after all, and over time he had learned she had influence around Knocturne and parts of Diagon, he had little chance of standing against someone established like that, he needed to figure out some sort of deal with her so that he could continue his business.

The store seemed quiet for now, so he made his chance and entered, going up to the counter, he took it slow, not to show any panic at his situation, or any intimidation as he had no doubts she would want the chance to defend her store against him, she would enjoy the chance to hang him upside down against a wall.

"Hey there, how's business? Better then mine it would seem."

Rafe and Frank had gone to gather food and between them it could take hours. Zelda would rather leave them to their endless choice-making and tend to the shop, so here she was during a lull, keeping the books in one of the many ledgers and inventories kept in the hive of cubbies and slots in the shelves behind the front desk.

Sellaphix Apothecary wasn't a shop that greet you merrily upon your entrance or asked you any questions, or at least, Zelda didn't. So she didn't pay Lochlainn O'Keeffe any mind until he was under her nose.

"You must be mad," she said with a steady look over her reading glasses. "To come in here. Have you come to say thank you, for saving us both?"

Yes. Zelda and Rafe had, indeed, took efforts to ruin the potion-making business of Lochlainn O'Keeffe. She'd asked him nicely first, back in February,[1] to stop making Wolfsbane Potion. He hadn't. So he'd have been in serial dropped as a client by any herbologist, gardener, beetle farmer, mushroom hunter, and alchemist she'd ever had dealings with.

1.	10 Feb 2012 - Tourists to the Gutter

"And what shady schemes are you up to if anything I'm doing can get you in trouble? You're in the entrance to Knockturn, if you don't want Auror foot traffic then you're in a very poor spot, wouldn't you say?" He asked casually as he took a chance to look over what was on sale on the shelves, he wasn't planning on buying, that would be absurd, but he would take a look. Make him look somewhat more confident.

He knew he had little chance to get what he would truly want out of this encounter, he wanted to keep selling Wolfsbane, but it was getting harder to in general, he'd noticed that some dealers were getting caught recently and it wasn't making him much money at all, but he couldn't sell much else as he had very little else to sell, he couldn't get any ingredients to make more potions thanks to her.

"So, I'm going to guess that you're not likely to make it so I can work again, so what are your conditions?" He asked as he looked towards the woman, leaning delicately onto a shelf as he crossed his arms, he doubted she would give an option that wasn't just go out of business, but he needed to try to find a way for himself to get back into business. He needed to project a sense of strength, even as he was struggling to make any money he needed to make himself look like he had the upper hand.

The shop itself was quite nice, quaint, it was the type he would like to have, if he wasn't doing dodgy selling out of his living room, and of course he would require several licenses and to pay taxes. Which to him was a bigger crime then illegally selling potions was the tax rate.

Zelda shook her head and smiled mirthlessly. Imagine thinking the Ministry was only a threat to those who were breaking the law, that they didn't harass anyone they disliked! What Loch had said wasn't an uncommonly held belief, and certainly an easy card to play in an argument, but Zelda truly hoped he was more clear-eyed than that.

"It's simple," Zelda said, perfectly happy to answer his question. It had been awhile since they'd last spoken. "Stop making undertable Wolfsbane Potion, or leave London. We don't care that you're competition," she said the word charitably as no one, Zelda believed, was a competent competitor to her family's business. "It's your recklessness that's the problem. Brew protions, sell herbs, I don't care."

Frankly, she didn't know why that was so hard. Brewing Wolfsbane Potion was difficult and the cost of failure were high.

He gave a dark laugh at her demands, he called it, slowly he moved away from the shelf he was near and looked over at her, crossing his arms as he took in her demeanor and seeing as to her resolve, he doubted he'd see any form of crack in her as she had been at this far longer then he had likely been alive, she was better set up then him and he wasn't going to get anything from this properly.

"If you've not noticed, I've been unable to make any or sell any, they're cracking down quite a bit." He doubted she actually paid any attention to him other then checking to see if he was homeless yet or not.

"So taking into consideration I can't get any supplies and I'm out, I think I'm already meeting that side of the bargain, would you not say so?" He said as he moved over towards the counter to lean down on it face to face. He wasn't confident in this exchange, he had no real bargaining power here, he knew it, but he did his best to hide that, even if it wasn't foolproof.

Zelda removed her reading glasses as the young man approached. She worked to relax her left hand which still felt at times to have a mind of its own, which had once acted in hostility to a foe and she always worried would do so again even though the Pentral had long-since been banished.[1] Perhaps the sensation these days was only her imagination, or perhaps it was her conscience cautioning her against her darker impulses. What she wouldn't do to protect her family...

O'Keeffe was moving into her space, but not brazenly and not in a way that Zelda found threatening. It was all her space really.

And then, he made a sensible point. It was true. He was no longer selling Wolfsbane Potion. The reason why was not as important as the fact that the streets were clean of it again. Zelda was a sensible witch. She closed the ledger from wandering eyes and settled onto her stool.

"I would have to say," she said slowly, but the admission didn't need to be forced out of her. O'Keeffe was right. "I'll call off the embargo."

1.	19 Aug 2011 - It Wasn't Me

She was agreeing, he was genuinely amazed that it managed to work but he wouldn't look a gift potion seller in the bottle. And so he relaxed and stood upright. Although he had a feeling there would be more to this ultimately he was happy, but he still doubted she would just...lift the embargo.

"Just like that?" He asked. "I suppose I'll likely owe you something in the future?" He didn't wish to push his luck but he didn't fancy some random visit from her with him caught unawares where she demands he owes her.

He took out a small little pouch of money and placed it on the counter. "Or perhaps this would be sufficient?"

Zelda made to look as if she's smelled something awful, almost recoiling from the little pouch.

"Stop," she said, almost disappointed. "I don't want your gold. I don't want favors. All I want is quiet, understand. Keep your head low and your brews clean and we won't have a problem again."

Zelda had been about to claim that she wasn't a mob boss, but couldn't deny she'd been happy to use her substantial local industry connections to unilaterally elbow someone out of business she didn't like. The claim would not have held up.

"Take it," she gestured at the pouch he'd put on the counter. "And go now."

To his surprise she just seemed to want...nothing? Just to return to normal, he didn't quite believe her, he knew there had to be a catch, but he supposed that was to be something he'd find out later on, for now he was excused from the place and he would oblige her.

He picked up the money and nodded.

"Oh don't worry, I don't want unwanted attention either." He said bluntly as he moved back towards the door, squirreling away the money pouch for now as he looked back at the woman.

"Hopefully we won't see eachother again then." He said before exiting the little shop to make his way home once more.