Falling Through: Hogwarts

Breathing through my mouth hadn't helped much. The store was dimly lit enough that my senses had tried to compensate as my eyes tried to catch up. Particularly my sense of smell. Apparently, smells could come in waves. Coating my tongue and the inside of my nose. You couldn't escape. It hit you full-on in the face without any warning. Each wave being distinct and more disgusting than the last. All with an undercurrent of spoiled eggs and cabbages left to rot. How anyone worked here was beyond me. Finally with the adjustment of eyes to the dimness of the shop I could start moving.

Inside the shop had a small set of stairs leading down into the pit where everything else besides the barrels was kept. It was the least organized shop we had come across. Several strands of things hung from the ceiling capturing my attention. Bright colored feathers, dangerous-looking claws, and grotesque fangs overhead. Below were barrels containing various ingredients. Beetles crawling over each other in one and leeches in another. Casks of lacewing flies and Flobberworm mucus blew more scents into the air. They stood next to ones containing dried flowers. The contrast was jarring to my senses. If there was any kind of order to this madness I couldn't see it. It was as if they had designed the store with the purpose to make you want to run from the sight of it. The only way to get from one end to the other was to bob and weave through all the randomly placed products. This would not be a fast trip.

As I walked through the shop my eyes were drawn to the walls. You had to pass awfully close to them to make any headway. Sitting on shelves were bottles and jars of all shapes and sizes. Some only had the label visible, sat on dusty shelves. It was clear that they were not purchased as often as others. Others weren't so nicely displayed. Jars that housed blood from various creatures were housed on the shelves. Beside them were their organs. Things like bat spleen and dragon liver. Wiped down meticulously. I almost threw up at the number of jars that I could see. There were just so many, it was unsettling.

Focusing on jars of a different hue then blood red I spotted Acromantuala venom. It was the most expensive item in the shop I'd seen. Sitting at 100 galleons a pint, it was also the smallest jar. Considering the difficult to acquire some, I wasn't surprised. Lethe river water sat on the shelf below it. Maybe I would buy some to forget the sights and smells from here.

We finally got to the counter after navigating the floor of slime and sludge and sticky substance. In the dimly lit room sat a clerk behind the counter. He seemed to be working on something with a mortar and pestle. He asked us to wait for him to finish this before he could help us. Little puffs of smoke came from the opening as he turned whatever it was into powder. I tried not to focus too much on it. Instead, I turned my eyes to what looked like the only safe place to look. The wall behind the desk.

Behind the counter were neatly labeled drawers. They seemed to hold all kinds of things in them. Everything from unicorn horns to mistletoe berries. Two of the drawers caught my eye. One of them was peppermint. I'd need some if I was ever going to banish this smell from me. Or at least give me something more pleasant to smell. The other was marked bezoar. It was listed at 10 Galleons. I was surprised by how much it cost. Even though it was a cure-all for most poisons, it still came from a goat. A bezoar was just an undigested mass. Goats eat everything. Wouldn't more stones form in their gut because of this? I'd imagine opening up one could net you a few. They certainly shouldn't be worth 10 Galleons. My mind was trying to focus on that instead of other thoughts threatening my brain. Knowing my luck I would need one in the future. Probably more since my life was supposed to get 'interesting'.

I pulled on Charlie's sleeve trying to get his attention. I asked him to buy a dozen of them with our order. Along with a few springs of peppermint. Half would go to me, the other half would go to Charlie. Considering he was going to work with dragons in the future it was a safe bet. Lots of them had poison in their claws or breaths. Best to leave a quick way out for him too.

Speedily enough the clerk collected our requests. You could tell that they were used to people coming in for school shopping. A small stack of boxes came tied together. In explanation the clerk stated. "The larger box contains the basic potion ingredients. The other smaller boxes have the instruments you've asked for." Turning around he quickly opened and shut drawers and placed things in small neatly wrapped bags. Each bezoar got its own packaging but the peppermint was bundled together in one. He was efficient and precise in everything. Perhaps the shop's messiness was from all the customer and their stock. Not from lack of cleaning, just too much was needed. Keeping everything magical in here stable must take a lot of work.

A drifting mind will get you into trouble. Charlie had tried to get my attention and I was just zoning out right in front of him. A rosy red color once again graced my cheeks. Charlie handed down the packages to me as the store owner counted all the coins. I had paid in Galleons so there was a considerable amount of change to be doled out. Both men were distracted as I shoved everything but Charlie's half of the bezoars and the peppermint in my bag. Peppermint went in my own pocket for later. The bezoars went into Charlie's. I didn't want to argue with him again about the money so I decided to just slip them in. He had finished getting my change and handing it over. It was finally time to exit the apothecary. Nearly running out the door I was glad when I broke free from the noxious cloud of smells.

Quickly I shoved peppermint in my mouth to get rid of all traces. Chewing it released a refreshing feeling for my tongue and nose. When you have a bad taste or smell around peppermint is good for that. Also for headaches, which apparently I had. It must have come from the putrid stench in the shop. Charlie didn't seem as affected as I was, but then again he's been there before. This must be like a walk in the park for him. He didn't rush me as I tried to get my senses back to normal. When I finally got them under control I looked at Charlie and gave him a thumbs up signaling I was okay now. "That store was unpleasant." I breathed out.

With a pat on my back Charlie started taling "Our next stop might be a bit better. we need to go to Eeylops. That's where we can buy you an owl. We also need to buy a cage. Muggle train stations hate it when you don't have them properly secured on your trunk. They're afraid the owl will get loose and terrify passengers." Speaking of trunks reminded me I hadn't purchased one yet. My bag could store everything I needed so it never occurred to me to get one. I didn't want to stand out or forever be pulling things from my bag. We were going to be in a magical school but everyone else had trunks to put their luggage in. I needed one too to set at the end of my bed.

Turning towards Charlie I said "I need to purchase a trunk. Do you know where I could get one here? They sell them in the muggle world but I wouldn't know where to get on that wasn't a suitcase. Besides the fact that if I get it here then it can be magicked just in case." Pondering for a moment on where to go Charlie answered with " We'll have to put off buying you your owl. It would be best to purchase the trunk before we go to the Eeylops. Considering the bird will likely want to go straight home. They don't like cages and you'll need to transport it in one to get back." Happy with his logic, knowing that once I purchased my owl I too would want to go home, I nodded my head in agreement. Nodding his head in reply " I think I know of a shop that has the kind of trunks you're looking for. We should probably go quickly since it's getting a bit on in the day. We wouldn't want the shops to close before we're done" Stepping quicker than before we headed down the street to our next stop. To the magic luggage shop.