FLEAMONT POTTER’S interest in potions had started out as more of a necessity rather than anything he would call an affinity or a hobby –– his hair, from birth, had always been thick and untamable, unruly and resistant to all manner of attempts to smooth it down or cut it or tie it back or shave it off.
It seemed to have a mind of its own –– but what his disagreeable head of hair didn’t seem to know at the time was that Fleamont Potter never backed down from a challenge.
SO ––– he spent hours in the library, reading through his own potions textbooks, his upperclassmens’ textbooks, and anything in the restricted section he could get his hands on without a reprimanding look from the librarian or a sharp nip from the irritable hardcovers. Once he’d gathered enough information, crammed enough notes scrawled on parchment and stuffed between the pages of his trusty potions textbook... and then been temporarily banned from the library once the librarian had seen the way he’d disrespected a book in her realm ––– he began to brew.
His FIRST batch of what he privately called his ‘myracle elyxr’ turned his hair a terrible shade of chartreuse.
His SECOND batch, operating under the code-name ‘luscious locks’, once cooled, was more solid than the stone excalibur was still firmly lodged in. To this day, he uses it as a door-stopper.
His THIRD batch, which he refused to name during the entire month it took him to brew it and swore every time he forgot to stir it three times clockwise, then one time counter-clockwise, then two times clockwise, then four times counter-clockwise ––– er... well. Ask him about it, and he’ll throw his hands in the air, harrumph, and stomp away, muttering something about ASIAN DRAGON HAIR under his breath.
His FOURTH batch was far more promising than those that preceded it. He’d gotten the idea to crush the GOMAS BARBADENSIS with the flat side of his knife’s blade, rather than grind it up with a mortar and pestle. The resulting potion tamed his hair, but straightened it completely –– making him look, in his opinion, like an afghan hound. It was not a desirable look.
His FIFTH batch was the one. He’d known it from the moment he’d woken up that day ––– he’d woken up unseasonably early, eager to go back to sleep, only to roll over and see one of his muggleborn dormmates smoothing some kind of thick substance onto his hair. He called it PETROLEUM JELLY. All it had taken was a charming smile and a few galleons and Fleamont had been able to buy it off the bloke, which had then set him running down the halls toward the still-empty potions classroom, in his sleeping robe, in order to test out his latest idea. AND. IT. WORKED.
There were a fair few moments in his life that he looked back upon fondly, memories he’d cherish, happy moments that brought a grin to his face just to think about ––– but the feeling of succeeding at something that no one had interfered with or poked or prodded him into doing beforehand was.. precious to him. The feeling of elation when he finally smoothed the potion over his dark locks and saw the markedly positive difference was rivaled only by the quiet gratification he’d feel a few months later, when he made his first hushed sale of SLEEKEAZY’S HAIR POTION & SCALP TREATMENT.
Then, of course, after a year or so there were the quiet meetings he held away from his father’s watchful eye, the hands shaken over cups of proudly brewed spiced chai, and finally the arrival of an AMERICAN NEWSPAPER one morning that featured a small if not prominent advertisement for his potion, which had apparently found fans in AMERICAN WITCHES.