Chapter Text
It had been two weeks since Chloe visited her. Since then, Alisa had made plans to go to London again to see her and her friends. Now that she had a new owl, despite his small size, she and Chloe proceeded to contact each other through letters. If they were writing about anything that mentioned where she lived or her secret about her shape-shifting, they had charmed the letters to only open in the hands of the receiver.
Alisa went into her hut, carrying a bag. Setting it on her table that was filled with various creature parts and plants, she pulled out a jar of horned slugs and another containing flobberworm mucus. She had everything that she needed to sell in Banchory. On the table was a rattling box of leaping toadstools, small bundles of plants, and jars of things she had gathered from the magical animals around her. One of them was a small jar of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles.
She couldn't spare much, even if it was a rare ingredient, one that would make a good galleon. Alisa had several jars of Murtlap essence already in her cabinet, but even this was an ingredient she mostly kept for herself and rarely sold with the other items she'd find on her outings. Murtlap tentacles were too useful for her to sell her own stock in Banchory.
Alisa would go out of her way to retrieve this ingredient by flying many miles to River Tay. The river connected to a coastline, and there, she could find these creatures resting along the shore, or half buried in the ground, most importantly, far from Muggles.
She would lure a Murtlap away from the others and use her wand to put it in a temporary sleep. To gather, she had to cut the tentacles close to the base to let them properly regrow. With the spell, it was painless for the animal, and the remaining essence that seeped at the base of the cut assisted in the healing process. Alisa only took a small amount from each Murtlap. Often she had to do this to a number of them to get what she needed.
Alisa placed everything in her suitcase with the help of the extension charm. A bag wouldn't be large enough to put it in, especially with the box of toadstools. Alisa would often sell products used in potions if she couldn't find part-time work. She needed money for school supplies. Putting on her long blue trench coat, she picked up her case and flew to Banchory.
Once she arrived, she changed her appearance into an older, more experienced-looking witch, and entered the potion shop. Inside, there were shelves of potions, and in the back, a counter. In the back of the room was a door with a large "Do not enter" sign. At the counter was an old man with half-moon spectacles and a brown apron. He had a large, white mustache and thick beard that covered his mouth.
"Hello," he said cheerfully. "looking for a potion?"
"No, thank you." she replied. "I came to sell."
"Could always use some things," he looked at her case. "what have you got?"
Alisa opened her suitcase on the counter and he peered inside.
"Mistletoe berries, peppermint, snake fangs, leaping toadstools, salamander blood, horned slugs…I have Murtlap tentacles as well. I know they can be expensive, but I can sell them at a reasonable price."
"How much for the jar of Murtlap tentacles?"
"Twenty galleons," she answered.
Handing her a small pouch of galleons, he placed the jar under the counter. He bought most of the other products for smaller prices, some costing only several sickles and knuts. Putting the remainder of her merchandise in the suitcase, along with two pouches of money, she left and went back to her home. She separated an allowance for Diagon Alley, and another for Hogsmeasde.
After a few days, she decided that today would be a good day to fly to London, and see if her friends were around. Alisa flew her usual route to Banchory and arrived in London. As she and a few others left the Floo Network and entered the bookstore, she went out and ducked into an alleyway. Transforming into a falcon, Alisa went in the direction of Chloe and Elijah's house.
On the way, she spotted them with Jasper sitting near a cafe. After landing in a secluded area nearby, now in her human form, she walked towards their table, greeting them.
"Hey," she smiled.
"Hey, Alisa," Chloe smiled. "Come to join us?"
"Yeah," she replied. "If you don't mind."
"Of course not," Jasper said, pulling up a chair for her. "Haven't seen you all summer. What have you been up to?"
"Not much,"
"Chloe told me she went to visit you in Banchory a few weeks ago." added Elijah. "Did anything exciting happen there?"
"Well, nothing grand, but we both had fun," Chloe explained away as she began to pour a cup for Alisa. "We went around the village, met some of her gri—great relatives there." She turned back to Alisa, who nodded to confirm her story before continuing. "Her cousin does some conservation and rescue in Scotland, so we were able to see some amazing animals—"
"Chloe, I think that's enough tea. It's starting to spill." Alisa said, pointing at her cup, which was now overflowing.
"Oh, sorry!" Chloe quickly placed the teapot back, wiping away the sides of the cup and plate.
"It's alright," Alisa laughed. She sipped some of her tea. "How's your summer been?"
"We went on a small trip to one of the beaches and enjoyed the nice weather." Chloe turned to her brother, chuckling. "And I can see you twitching. Might as well tell her, too."
"Tell me what?"
"You know the Quidditch World Cup is coming up," Elijah said excitedly. "Jasper and I were just talking about it before you arrived. Mum mentioned that she'll be given some tickets for us to go see it."
"And you are invited as well!" Chloe added, ecstatic.
"Wait, I am?" she asked, astonished. "Thats-that's great! Thanks!"
"Belgium versus the United States. I've already got mine," replied Jasper. "We're still figuring out the arrangements, how we will all get there as a group. Don't want to be seen by Muggles on the way."
"Well, our trip there should go smoothly." replied Chloe. "The Ministry has to do many things to hold thousands of us in one place without them coming across it."
They discussed some more about the World Cup and their summer. Though she wasn't really a Quidditch fan like Jasper or Elijah, the upcoming match still piqued her interest. Alisa had never gone to one, but heard they were much more exhilarating than the matches at Hogwarts.
Making plans to update each other with letters, they went their separate ways. Jasper took his bike and waved goodbye, while Chloe and Elijah said theirs and walked home, which wasn't very far. And Alisa flew back to the highlands.
As she awaited Chloe and Elijah's responses, she went to Banchory to visit Colin and Ray. Keeping her disguise as a pyrenees dog, she went over to see that her visits appeared to have been helping Ray, who always gleamed when he saw the dog coming to their house.
After quietly giving them some extra money without their notice, the three went outside to a fresh square of dirt and fertilizer next to the house. Ray took out their horse, connecting it to a plough and began working on the field. Colin buried seeds in the dirt with his wand, planting wormwood and some various crops. Alisa, wanting to help, scared off the squirrels and birds attempting to sneak into the field to take some seeds. Once the planting and watering was complete, using their wands, Colin and Ray gathered some wire from the shed, forming a large cage over the seedlings. After all was done, Alisa left, glad to see them a little better off.