Harry Potter and the Bucket List

Year 4 - 1

Beta: Cloudy

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

I had put away my homework for the night. I leaned back in my chair at my desk, stretching my arms up wide. To my left was the discarded Daily Prophet. My scandals were dying down. After thinking it over some more, I had to revise my plans of stirring up more scandals in my fourth year. I had already done a lot of damage, but tragically it wasn't going to be as impactful anymore. I was reminded that people could become used to a new norm too quickly and my juicy scandals were becoming dull. It was time to take my victory before I overstayed, the dust needed to settle.

I'd monitor the situation for about a year, then when I was ready to make the killing blow all those scandals that I had brewed in my third year would come raring back to the front page. I had primed the explosives, now I only needed to wait for the right opportunity to unleash the trigger.

A good chunk of my summer, like all the previous summers, had been spent managing Lunar's Orchard, working on the werewolf potion, and stealing. I still had my appearance to keep up as Gentleman Rose, even if most of my efforts now went to focusing on Death Eaters.

The authorities were under the vastly incorrect impression that they were intimidating me into thieving less.

Ha.

Anyo and Odette were fantastic assistants, even if they could not provide much input in the way of potions, their company and ability to methodically and accurately follow instructions made them indispensable.

It was also fun to try and create a sun protection potion for vampires on the side. We were getting better on that front, too! We had a recipe that lasted an hour, but ideally we wanted it to last from sunrise to sunset. It would open a whole new world of possibilities for the vampires, and Anyo had personally reassured me that we would be able to make a fortune selling it to the other vampires.

While I was the one crafting it, Anyo would make the ideal salesman and contact with the vampire community so I suggested we split the profits 70/30 his way. Not only did I have no knowledge over the vampire economy, market, or even connections outside of Anyo's family, but I lacked the time to learn such. He was delighted to accept such, and I was relieved.

Being so busy, though, meant I had to spread out my summer work over several nights. Harry could rush his in a single night and not have to worry about it the rest of his summer.

It also meant that when Remus decided it was time to resume our tutoring in math again I'd be even busier.

I loved my uncle, I really did, and I appreciated that he was doing everything he could to prepare us for future classes.

But goddamn I hated math.

I got it! I understood why it was necessary. I truly wanted to get into Professor Dumbledore's Alchemy class my sixth year at Hogwarts. We'd still need to score a minimum of an E in Potions on our O.W.L.s. I was hella confident in my potion making skills, and by consequence Harry was hella confident I could tutor him over the year.

Alchemy was an ancient science that studied nature's four basic (magical not chemical) elements: fire, earth, air, water, and focused on the transmutation of substances.

I didn't need to know alchemy for my plans. Alchemy rarely related to ritual crafting, and I was doing perfectly fine with my potions. My desire to learn alchemy was purely scientific curiosity—it was something I was doing for myself. There was a bubbling interest in the science of it, and I wondered if perhaps...