Toil and Trouble - Graham

[berkley appleyard]

Berk felt like his eyes were falling out of his head and he didn't just mean his regular ones but his third eye too, that is you believe in that stuff and considering his ability he wholeheartedly believed it. The problem was that it was not so much keeping him awake but it was invading his dreams so much that he never actually thought that he was sleeping. He felt like what a muggle would call a zombie and he was amazed that he get through the day and teach as well he had been.

He had tried the natural root in meditation, he tried the muggle root in medication and supposed it was time to try a magical root in the form of a potion. The problem was that he was no good at potions, never had been. It was time, however to suck it up and visit the Potion Master of Hogwarts. He had not gotten along with the one that taught him and he have expected not to get along with the current one. Like potion making and him Potion Masters and him tended not to mix.

He didn't particularly like the dungeons either. It was not because they were subterranean either. He was a badger and they lived in a subterranean environment as well. The basement was friendly and welcoming and the dungeons were not but then they wouldn't be dungeons if they were. He arrived at the potion masters rooms and knocked.

"Professor Avery," he called trying to thinking of his first name, they were colleagues after all. A name popped into his. "Ned are you there?"

000 WORDS

@graham

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Despite that Graham was doing a lot better than two months ago, he still has some lapses back to the bad. He'd been through a lot in his life and some experiences left traumas. Often he had trouble staying away from the liquor, especially when he was doing important things. He'd locked himself in his dungeon, he always did this when he was making the wolfsbane potion. It was the largest amount he'd ever seen or made. Many students and two teachers including himself depended on it. If he messed up, the entire school was in trouble and innocents could die. The potions master was so focused on his potion that he hadn't even heard the knocking.

When he reached the stage of letting the brew stew for an hour, a name was spoken which he hadn't heard in years. Nobody alive called him that. The hairs on his arms stood right up. In some sort of weird trance he walked towards the dungeon door and opened it. The door shrieked adding to the expression on his face. Graham looked as if he'd seen a ghost. He needed a moment to realize it was not someone of the past. "Don't ever call me that," he spoke in a low even tone. "What do you want, sir?"

tag: berkley appleyard

[berkley appleyard]

A small dimple popped into Berk's check and he was sure that all his eyes were twinkling for the first time in what only Merlin would probably know. He had not fully grown out of doing what he was told to do by those older than himself and though this man might not be much older than himself, maybe less than 10 years older, he would probably continue to call him Ned just to yank his wand a bit and also because he didn't know what his name actually was. He looked like a Ned to Berk anyway and if there was a name that Berk thought suited you better than your actual name Berk would probably choose to use it rather than their actual name.

The older also looked like he might has seen a ghost though that was not difficult at Hogwarts considered there were 4 permanent resident ghosts and others that popped up every now and again. Then there was Peeves also but he wasn't really a ghost but close enough. Berk however didn't think that the Bloody Baron had come as Ned would probably be used to the Slytherin ghost down here in the Dungeons. This made Berk a little curious as he wondered what the Potion master was seeing and Berk wondered if the man was a seer like him. He doubted it but you never knew these days.

"Sorry to disturb you at this hour, Ned," he said. "But I was wondering if you had a sleeping potion around. Maybe that one that lets you sleep without dreams. It's probably asking a lot but I haven't slept properly in days. Oh and I'm Berk by the way. Berkley Appelyard, Charms Professor and Hufflepuff Head of House."

He held out his hand to the shaggy looking Potions Master.

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@graham

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THANK YOU MALIA TATE FROM ADOXOGRAPHY

[Deleted]

The Potions master calmed a little. His eyes narrowed and looked over the red headed male in his door opening. He didn't know him so why did he think he had the right to call him by his second name. Only close friend and family called him that of which he was none left. And this guy didn't fit the category either.

Graham rubbed his forehead and checked his pocket watch when his colleague apologized for the hour. Oh... He'd completely forgotten about the time. Well it was not like he'd sleep anyways. "Are you deaf, sir? I requested you not to call me that. You can either call me Mr. Avery or Graham. I don't know you and we're certainly not friends. We're colleagues I'd like to keep things professional," he told the younger Professor with an annoyed look on his face. Perhaps it was the time that made him extra grumpy. Or the fact that the full moon was near and he felt itchy and uncomfortable in his own skin all the time. "Mr. Appelyard..." The Slytherin started and took a deep breath. His eyes shot to the hand that was being held out.

Fine he wasn't going to be a rude mean man. So he accepted the handshake with a sigh. "Shouldn't you ask the matron for such matters?.... Ugh I guess you're here now. Come in, don't touch anything especially not the potion I'm making," he warned the younger Professor as he opened the door to let him in. The werewolf went through his private cabin of potions he made for personal use. From it he took a vial with a purple looking potion. "This will help against the dreams," he told the man. "It'll also help a little getting drowsy but I always drink two glasses of this to ensure sleep," he said as he closed the cabin and went to his liqour stock and handed him a good bourbon. "Although I prefer not to give this away just like that."

berkley appleyard

[berkley appleyard]

"Oh no, I am not deaf at all," Berk said with a slight grin on his face. "You just look like a Ned to me and I tend to go with my instincts in that sort of thing. Ned is not such a bad name. It is better than say Wilbur or Hortense."

He had not thought to go to the matrons office but then the dungeon was so much closer to the basement and he really didn't want to climb all those to the third floor at this time of night. He was tired and it seemed to be a waste of the little energy he had. He followed the potion master into his office and looked around curiously at the various bottles and ingredients that lined the shelves. He sniffed the air and there was something in the potion that he was brewing that Berk found familiar but didn't know why and where he had smelled it. Sometimes his visions could get so intense that he was also about to catch whiffs of the surrounding as well. He had a feeling that that is where he had smelt whatever potion he was concocting.

He was handed a vial of purple colour potion and was also advised to drink some booze as well and Berk shook his head at that. He had been drinking a glass or two a night to help him get to sleep lately. His metabolism however seemed to have adjusted itself to it and it was now not helping him sleep at all.

"Doesn't do it for me anymore mate," he said. "Why do you think I asked for a potion. Speaking of potions what are you brewing there? I don't recognise it from potions class but then I wasn't a good potioneer. Sure I have smelt thought I don't know why. Maybe it was from…" he stopped talking. He didn't like to talk about especially to people he did know well.

000 WORDS

@graham

SHORT NOTES

THANK YOU MALIA TATE FROM ADOXOGRAPHY