"Isn't she?" Gerard cooed, pleased Sassy would have an owner that would appreciate her and probably not step on her as he stumbled out of bed in the morning.
Then Gabe started eyeing his workbench, and Gerard grinned, bouncing on his heels. He'd heard of the shit Gabe had managed during the war, whipping fantastic potions out of random ingredients around him, and he'd always been curious to see the guy in action -- he'd only gotten a glimpse during the whole house-elf disaster, and he hadn't exactly been in the mood to appreciate it then anyway. This was gonna be awesome.
"Oh man, don't mind me, I love wild experimentation! I mean, I always got in trouble for it in Potions, 'cause I'd fiddle with the instructions in class and shit would explode, but that's different. I didn't know what I was doing, you know? How was I supposed to know that stewing lovage roots at a raised boiling temperature would make them fucking vaporize? Snape was such a dick over that, I had detention for months just 'cause everyone got crazy high off the stuff." And had grown antennae, but that was besides the point. Antennae were awesome. Gerard was still a little miffed they'd fallen off after a week. "And I don't think anyone's worked on rice wine and crypsitoxins before, probably, but I don't keep up with the literature. Kinda... been busy with my own shit."
Medical journals covered some advanced Potions developments, but very seldom went into details, or when they did, it was waaay over his head. If it turned out that Crypsicobra scales were key ingredients in all basic potions or something, he was gonna be a little abashed.