Above the stuff

Wally never got emotional in these transactions, acting almost as a vending machine for these drugs. She received money and dispensed the product - it was that simple. So she always kept her explanations short and simple. "The medium quality is the stuff most people buy. It gives you less of a high, and your eyes are less blue. The higher quality gives a thick high, the eyes turn a slightly unnatural blue, though not as bad as when you take Spice, and you can smell it on your breath."

How well it kept? For once, an intelligent questions. "For maximum potency, the first three days are the best to use them. It's not advisable to have some now and save some for later. If you keep it safe, however, it can keep wonderfully. The second it's exposed to air, it begins to weaken. After those first three days, it weakens slightly, but will keep for a few days. Two weeks in, it's very weak. I would not suggest taking either drug after a month. "

"Brilliant," Vivianna murmured under her breath, she'd been hoping that the drugs would keep for longer than that. "Stasis charms? Nothing?" the Slytherin queried, left foot tapping against her right ankle.

"Can I get a sixteenth of an ounce in Sugar, or just an eighth?" the Varnes heir asked, aware that her numerous question were probably starting to drive Wally up the wall. "Oh, and I'll definitely take an ounce of Spice," the girl added, having decided upon that the moment she'd heard the quantities. Now all she had to do was figure out how much of each Sugar she'd be getting. Because the teenager would most certainly be getting a little of both.

Wally shook her head. "The potion doesn't hold well with preservatives. You apply any sort of charm like that and it affects you when you take it. We tried it and had third years with a three week high. It's the issue with every drug on any market, muggle or magic. Something you have to deal with."

Wally quirked an eyebrow. "A sixteenth won't give you much. I'll give you whatever you want, but you're not going to get much out of a sixteenth of an ounce." She wouldn't judge - money was money, but usually only some of the more frightened students ordered such small quantities. One first year had asked for a sixty-fourth of an ounce. Wally began to search her bag and measure out an ounce of Spice.

"That's perfect," the Slytherin stated. It truly was, if she ever pulled out a small amount of the weaker Sugar, it would be easy enough to pretend that she'd already had some herself. Bingo.

"I'll take a sixteenth of the lower-quality Sugar, and a quarter of the higher-quality. Plus the Spice," Vivianna announced after a single moment of thought. That should set her up for pretty much anything she wanted to do.

Wally began to do the calculations in her head as she measured out the proper quantities, being careful to do all the work inside her bag. She had perfected this maneuver when she had been dealing on her own in Australia. If anyone walked in, she would pull out some makeup and offer it to Vivianna. It would look absolutely casual.

"That will be an even twenty-five galleons," she declared, carefully slipping the drugs into a little cloth sack, pulling the twine drawstrings closed. It looked like an average money bag - inconspicuous and ordinary. She placed it on the desk, awaiting her payment.

Vivianna froze for a moment, eyes narrowed. Wally had gotten the price wrong. The Slytherin had figured it out in her head while the other girl was collecting the drugs, and the price should be twenty-nine galleons. Damn, and this was why Vivianna hated dealing with non-Slytherins. Wally was smart, a Ravenclaw, and capable of drug creation, surely the girl wouldn't have messed up with simple addition? It was entirely possible that the blonde was factoring in some sort of quantity discount, or it could be a test to see how trustworthy the sneaky Slytherin truly was.

Bloody hell, maybe she was just over-analyzing things again. In most circumstances, the redhead wouldn't have said a word. But damn it, Wally would be an inordinately good ally to have. Besides, it wasn't like Vivianna didn't have the money to spare. Deciding to go for the quieter approach, the OWL student reached into her pocket and withdrew a midnight black money sack. Forking out twenty-nine galleons, the older student placed the stack of coins right in front of the other girl, and grabbed the bag of drugs.

Wally took the coins and immediately counted the coins, for she always liked to make sure she was not being conned. She found an extra four coins and looked up at Vivianna. "Two galleons for a sixteenth ounce of basic Sugar. Twelve for a quarter ounce of higher quality Sugar. Eleven for the Spice. That's twenty five."

She took four coins into her hand and placed it before Vivianna, right next to the bag of drugs before her. The girl took the bag and Wally asked, "Anything else?"

Vivianna felt the urge to bang her head against the wall. A feeling she'd been getting a lot lately. But dang, that was embarrassing. Wally wasn't the one who'd miscalculated, she was. Merlin's pants, was she really that distracted?

Every cell in her body immediately screaming that she needed to save face, the Slytherin made no move to retrieve the coins. "And four galleons for experimental funds towards trying to figure out how to preserve the damned stuff," the redhead added smoothly, thanking the heavens that life had honed her to come up with things to say on the spot as it had. Sliding off the desk she'd been seated on, Vivianna cracked her neck and stated, "Sugar and Spice is a complete waist of your talent, you know."

Wally felt strangely, no matter how vaguely, pleased at the girl's addition. The four galleons would go to good use - she and Keith put much of the profits towards the continued creation and distribution of Sugar and Spice, and he allowed her to continue her experimentation to tweak and perfect their recipe. It was as though they had gained an investor - and one who was smart enough to actually appreciate their work.

The following statement surprised her, however. If Vivianna's intention was to break apart the recipe, she would eat those words. The creation of it was not simple, and Wally had fixed tons of problems with the original recipe. "My talent needs an outlet, and this outlet is as good as any," was her simple response.

Raising an eyebrow, Vivianna gave Wally a look that clearly said whatever you say. "I'm not denying that talent should be used, but if you honestly think that Sugar and Spice is as good an outlet as any, you're mistaken. I'm not saying the stuff isn't impressive within it's own right, but mind-destroying drugs are hardly the best thing that you could offer the world," the Slytherin stated, words sliding of her tongue like honey.

"Then again, in accordance to Ministry law, what you're doing is practically legal, so I suppose there are some pro's in there somewhere," the elder witch added with a smirk, fully aware that she was alluding to her own incredibly non-legal hobbies. It was hardly the smartest thing to do, admitting such things to a practical stranger, but all Vivianna could think about was the brilliance the two females could accomplish together. Not that such cooperation was ever likely, it would take a small miracle for the two students to ever trust the other.