Noble sighed, even though he was much more comfortable talking about the science of it than engaging in risk-analysis of his behavior with his brother. “Well, it was definitely a lot stronger than it should have been, by rights,” he said, tilting his head as he thought about it. Before today, he’d half-thought that maybe this whole thing was somehow caused by Mrs. Crouch’s pregnancy — but no, he’d definitely poisoned her.

“But I brewed it the way everyone brews it, nothing inventive. Which makes me think that one of the ingredients has gone off a bit?” he said; he was definitely thinking out loud, now, and tapped his thumb to the top of his forefinger as he did. “Which doesn’t make sense either. I guess it could be cross-contamination. I store things carefully, but — there has to be something there.” He shrugged. “It’s a Draught of Peace, right, it’s supposed to make you more relaxed — a few of the ingredients there can be a little delicate. It has to be one of those, I just don’t know how it can have gone off.”

Valerian root, moonstone powder, hellebore — all of them could be hard to predict. It could have been something as simple as a vial not being fully sealed, but he would have caught that — so there was something else at play, and Noble was determined to get to the bottom of it.

He shifted in his seat. “I’ll have to get into the literature and talk to one of my healer friends, see if they’ve experienced something similar. But that’s what I’m thinking. Sorry, that’s a lot more information than you asked for, isn’t it?”

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