Having set a weak little ward to alert him to the arrival of owls, Severus meets the flock in Minerva's yard, with a box of mice she'd understandably drawn the line at eating. "Set them down gently or you'll get none," he warns them, loudly but calmly. He probably sounds to them, he thinks, like the overlarge raven his less obnoxious students sometimes take him for. "And don't imagine I don't know Black will have paid you on reflex. You'll be fed here so long, and only so long, as you perform with careful expedience and do not leave undue traces of your presence as you wait. Which is why you only get half these on arrival. Spread that."
He hover-charms the packages inside, snorts at the note, and inspects the new arrivals.
Black,
All items accounted for. Zoological ingredients good quality, as are majority of herbological. Ginger root half-rotted, rosemary dried, and all items brought by rufous whiskered screech owl somewhat withered. Majority of silicate ingredients somewhat adulterated. Useable, barely (with exception of ros. & gin., but I understand a local muggle grocery declines pesticides); advise against continued business from those vendors.
Both sets of vials of use. Scalpels fall under the category of knives. Had I suspected it necessary to specify 'assortment of sizes,' of course I should have done so.
At 3G/h excepting unattended simmering/cooling time, estimate personal labor at: bone coaxer: 5 days time total, 22h labor ligament salvant: 6h time and labor bandaging salve: 1.5 days time total, 29h labor Total labor, allowing for processes which may run simultaneously, 42 hours, ± 10 allowing for potential overwhelming fatigue and resultant assistance from Quirrel at 15S if practical assessment satisfactory. Cannot currently be more precise. As stated, brewing logs are habitually kept.
You shall be informed if the potions are completed within six days, but may certainly pick them up on the seventh unless notified otherwise.
S
He seals this with a sticking charm that's particularly mulish about being resealed, and goes back outside with it and the rest of the mice. After a brief but thorough scan of the yard, those owls which deserve treats are given them, the rest are and one smallish one is given the parchment to return to Sirius. When they've gone, he cleans up as delicately as possible; while he gets on with most animals, plants tend to die in self-defense around him, and it's worse when he uses magic around them.