Clairvoyance
"We decided to switch to fluoride free tooth paste about a few months ago," her mother explained as the three of them sat at the dinner table.
Hermione listened as her mother talked about the prevalence of the substance often found in modern dental care. She looked across where her father sat, nodding his head in approval to what her mother was saying. She glanced outside through the window behind her dad's head, looking through the glass observing the overcast sky.
It was more than two years since the Hogwarts battle took place. The muggle-born witch momentarily turned her attention to her thoughts, and reflected on how grateful she was to be here with her parents on this calm evening. After the loss of so many lives during the epic fight, it made her truly appreciate the value of life. When Harry defeated Voldemort, it dawned on her how short life really was; and after going through the experience of returning her parents' memory of her existence, she made it a new personal goal of hers to spend more time with her parents.
Every Friday evening, the three of them would get together and have dinner and tea, catching up on the latest events to happen in their lives. Though, her parents were not utterly immersed into the on goings of the wizarding world, they were pleased that Hermione took it upon herself to finally open up to them about what was going on in the magical community. They were furious when they got their memories back, that their own daughter would use witchcraft on them; even if it was to protect them. It still stung them a little to this day, that they were not there for their girl when she needed them most. She took away their free will. Though, there was a lot of tension between Hermione and her parents after the Hogwarts battle, as time went on they talked out their grievances and made it their focus be a little closer as a family. They weren't the type of family to be particularly emotionally expressive, but they made it a new rule to talk about anything major going on in their lives. This ranged from the more non-magic changes, such as muggle politics, to the latest news on the ex-Death Eater trials.
Hermione was also pleased to have frequent dinners with them to keep updated on what was happening in the muggle world. While attending Hogwarts, it never dawned on the young witch that she learned relatively little about contemporary muggle news.
As her hand reached for her tea cup, an internal creeping 'PANG!' struck her.
She took in all she was seeing: from the yellow stripe on her white mug, to the eye sore floral pattern on her mother's table mat, to her dad's coffee stain he got just moments ago. It was so mundane, yet so strange. All of these little details felt so...familiar. She knew that she had experienced this very moment before, but she just didn't know where or when she had seen it.
Her father must have noticed her dazed expression, because he gave her a questioning look. Her mother was still talking in the background, and she vaguely registered her saying the end of her sentence "...studies have found that adding fluoride to toothpaste can actually be more harmful to the teeth. And don't get me started on its association to..."
"Honey, is everything alright?" her father interjected. Her mother paused and they both looked at her.
Darting her eyes from her father to her mother, she told them, "Sorry, I had one of those weird moments again...I could have sworn I have experienced this moment before."
"Are you experiencing a déja vu?" her mom chimed in.
"I believe so,"
It had been years since she last felt one. When she was younger, she used to get them frequently. Every few weeks she would get one, and when it happened she would feel momentarily stunned. Because she was aware of already experiencing the moment, it was as if time slowed down so that she could analyze every second and drink in all of the visual and auditory stimuli around her.
She quickly shrugged off the strange feeling, snapping back to reality. "Sorry...what were you saying, mum?"
"Are you sure everything is alright? You looked really dazed for a moment there."
"Yes, I'm alright." Hermione responded and smiled to her mother; then gave a reassuring look to her dad. "I just haven't experienced one in a very long time. I almost forgot I even got them." She no longer wanted to talk about it. It was something so strange, but it was something that happened to a lot of people.
"So what other harmful things have they found in association to fluoride?" she attempted to change the subject back on course, trying to take the attention away from herself.
"Well, studies in various countries are finding more results that fluoridated water doesn't reduce overall tooth decay. Compared to other citizens who live in areas where the water is not fluoridated..." Hermione continued to listen as her mother discussed topics related to dentistry.
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As the night wore on, she learned more and more about the controversial subject of fluoride on health, and thought it was interesting to research about it when she got home. Seeing as her new mission was to get back to her muggle roots, she thought she could research the subject on her new laptop her parents bought for her last birthday.
Wafts of jasmine gently filled her nostrils as she stirred the hot beverage. She concentrated on the words before her on the glow of her computer screen.
"Fluoride effects and calcification of the pineal gland" the headline read. Interesting, she thought. Curious of what the role of the pineal gland in the human body might be and what it's functions were, she looked further into these articles.
"The pineal gland is located in the middle of the brain. It is responsible for the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates natural circadian rhythms, such as sleep and wake cycles..." she read on. As she got deeper into the research, she noticed she was deviating away from the scholarly articles and started to venture onto web pages with headlines such as "Governments are fluoridating the water supplies to calcify your pineal gland (third eye)!", "Pineal gland is the third eye!", and "Learn how to open your third eye!".
She thought that was a far stretch and was not supportive of these conspiracy theories.
'Ha!' She thought. How do people make claims of something to be real without supporting evidence to prove it is real? That was the one thing she loved about magic. Magic was a form of energy where wizards and witches could channel their power through a conductor like a wand, or help refine it through spells, charms, and potions. But all this crap about the pineal gland being the third eye was a bunch of nonsense, because no one had documented proof that it is true. Unless a person could somehow scientifically or magically explain that this organ was really a mystical third eye, she couldn't hold any value to what these nut jobs were claiming.
Realizing that she went too far down the rabbit hole, she focused her attention back to the academic journals with solid evidence that fluoride was not the healthiest option for teeth, or the rest of the body. She concluded by the end of the night that she would make a solid effort to reduce her intake of fluoride in her system.
It was official. She made it her new project to merge her knowledge of witchcraft and knowledge of muggle sciences to successfully extract fluoride from her drinking water.
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"Yes!" She exclaimed. "I've figured it out!" She was grinning from ear to ear looking between the two young wizards.
"What have you figured out?" The red head asked, looking distracted at the moving chess pieces. He watched as the black knight took its sword and destroyed his bishop. Ron stifled a groan of aggravation as Harry made a little gesture of triumph.
"I've finally figured out how to manipulate reverse osmosis through magic. I can now successfully remove fluoride from tap water." She said delighted. "Through this method, I can remove harmful contaminants and ions,"
Ron tried to stifle his groan, but could not contain himself. Hermione gave him a pointed glare and he tried to shy away from the intensity of her stare, but gave in sheepishly.
"I'm sorry, 'Mione. I'm happy for you, I really am...It's just...I've been hearing you talk about this fluoribide for weeks. Now that you've discovered how to remove it, can we please talk about something else?" He tried looking at Harry for support, but the other wizard simply looked off awkwardly to the side; his eyes clearly saying he wanted no part in where this conversation was heading.
"For your information, it's pronounced fluoride. And I'm sorry I have bored you with something I find so deeply interesting. I'll try to remember to not bring up something that is harmful to our everyday habits." She replied, clearly vexed.
Connecting his blue eyes to her brown ones, he took a more gentle approach. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It's just that you have been talking about it almost all of the time. I just don't find it all that interesting." 'In fact it's bloody boring!', he thought, knowing he couldn't very well tell her that.
Without confessing the fact that he would rather watch dishes dry than hear her ramble some more about fluoride and this pineal gland, he continued by saying, "I think it's brilliant that you are so passionate about this stuff and have solved this, problem. I would just like to talk about more, lively stuff...", he ended off weakly.
'Here we go.', Harry thought. He could feel an argument about to happen, and he was just not here for it.
"Well, forgive me for being so invested in making better lifestyle changes to become a healthier person. I just figured, that life is way too short to not care about things that could be harmful to us." Detecting her passive aggressive tone, the black haired wizard, started to get up, attempting to make a subtle escape.
"Where are you going?" Feeling put on the spot, Harry was fishing for a lame reason to leave them alone to hash out their impending argument.
Still awkwardly looking around the room, Harry responded, "I was just about to get some water." and quickly exited the room.
"Now look what you've done. You made it awkward for Harry and now he wants to leave..." Ron said in irritation.
And so the banter persisted, and they had their arguments as per usual.
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Months passed since that night where Hermione discovered reverse osmosis through magic. And so far life was great. During the day she worked at St. Mungos, working hard towards obtaining the Medi-Witch position through her internship. During the evenings, she happily spent her time with Ron. Tonight, they were at his place. Nestled in his lap, she was working a crossword puzzle as he cradled her, listening to the qudditch match on the radio. It was moments like this where she was happy to be alive. Though, they argued frequently, they were never that serious. It was their thing. It always has been, even before he kissed her in the chamber of secrets. They always argued like cats and dogs. Besides, it always made the making up part that much more fun.
"The Deathly Dragons are in the lead, with 100 points. But wait! It looks like Ursula Wigwatch has her eye on the golden snitch!..." They sat listening to the emphatic commentator. The muggle born was partially listening in, yet still reflecting on her thoughts. She was thinking about how much she changed her habits over the last few months. She tried exercising more in efforts to get into better shape. Hermione thought it would be a good way to kill multiple birds with one stone by spending more time with Ron and his interests, exercising, and facing her fears of flying by joining him in quidditch matches. In addition to pursuing a more active life style, she changed her diet by becoming vegan. Ron couldn't wrap his head around the idea, when she told him of her choice to refuse to eat meat about year ago. Much to her annoyance he used to tease her about her refusing to eat or drink anything that came from another animal. However, that was one of the things he loved about her; he loved her gentle nature to other living creatures and her belief that everything had a right to live.
As they both sat in silence, enjoying each others company, she felt the creeping, 'PANG!'. Looking at the old fashioned, magicked radio, then darting her eyes up towards Ron's looming face, she thought, 'This already happened.' She remembered being here, in this very moment, cuddling up to Ron, listening to the animated piercing voice of the commentator.
"Ursula takes a dive, attempting to catch the snitch! Did she catch it?!"
Hearing this phrase before, she uttered, almost quizzically, "She broke her arm...".
"Ouch! She has caught the snitch, but it appears that she has broken her arm!"
Ron looked down at her, confused. After a few moments of eerie silence, he asked, "How on earth did you know she broke her arm?"
She pulled herself up, positioning herself to sit beside him. Looking back, dumbfounded at him, she responded meekly, "I felt like I've lived this moment before." He stared back at her speechless. "I can't really explain it, it's like a memory of an impression. It's strange, really."
The odd feeling still resonated with her.
"Did you just predict the future?"
Still stunned, Hermione was about to open her mouth.
"Where was this ability when I lost the wager against the Swifty Shamrocks!"
Rolling her bright brown eyes, she shook her head, but should not have been surprised. Of course he would think of using clairvoyance for personal gain.
She jokingly smacked his arm and chuckled. Though, her light smile did not fully reach her eyes and she was still concentrated on the bizarre experience felt moments ago.