Royston Idle

No wonder the Beauty Potion kept defying expectations during testing, Manus thought. It wasn't entirely a problem with my testing methods.

The Beauty Potion itself simply fell short of expectations. It wasn't the abstract, universal kind of "beauty" he had imagined.

Staky, of course, disagreed.

After reading Manus's letter, she had written back to say he was talking complete rubbish. He had no idea how much effort went into dressing up and weighing every choice, and a potion that could produce results in line with mainstream tastes was already remarkable...

In any case, Staky had gone silent for two weeks since that letter.

She was probably trying out all the Beauty Potion's little uses. Each batch of Beauty Potions needed only one drop, and Manus had given Staky a large bottle. In exchange, she was supposed to share her test results with him.

Manus had also sent her his test results for the Curling Potion as a template to follow.

At the time, Manus had only worried that Staky's usual wizarding habits would make for a poor test report. It seemed he had underestimated the Beauty Potion's appeal to her. Now the question wasn't whether she could write a report...

"Dumbledore isn't just going to stand by while an old classmate keeps skipping work, is he?"

With that thought, Manus glanced at Dumbledore, who had made a rare appearance at the High Table.

Dumbledore had seldom been at Hogwarts this school year, showing up only when his presence was required. Manus had even started taking his applications and reports to Flitwick or McGonagall.

McGonagall might have handled most of the work before, but at least Manus had still submitted his documents to Dumbledore...

The talk about Staky lasted only a short while. Once everyone had eaten their fill, they returned