5 years later...
Wolfric crept through the undergrowth as silently as possible. He saw the antlers moving just a few feet off the ground. He saw an ear twitch and stopped moving immediately. After waiting a few moments with bated breath, he resumed his slow journey forwards. He was close enough now to see the whole creature. The silver fur of the jackalope shone in the morning sunlight which filtered down through the canopy of leaves above. Carefully drawing his wand, Wolfric prepared the spell. He took careful aim, then whispered "Diffindo!" The jackalope's antlers fell off its head, leaving only small stubs.
The jackalope didn't seem to notice, even after they fell to the ground behind it. It continued chewing on the enchanted carrots Holly had left in the clearing. Wolfric sighed, then stood up and entered the clearing. Still, the jackalope remained oblivious. Wolfric leaned against a tree and waited for the creature to finish its meal. Once it did, it gave a cute little burp/hiccup, raised its head, turned around, blinked at Wolfric, then scurried off into the forest. Wolfric collected the antlers and made his way home.
Wolfric started pulling things out of his bag and placing them on the table in his workshop. After they were all out, he began the process of recording them on a sheet of paper off to the side.
"6 jackalope horns, 3 Clabbert horns, 4 Diricawl feathers, 2 Nogtail tails, and 5 Granian hairs," he read aloud as he wrote them down.
"Welcome home, sweetie," came a voice from behind Wolfric. Holly wrapped her arms around his middle, giving him a peck on the cheek.
"Hey, honey," Wolfric responded.
Holly chuckled and said "You still snuck up on them, huh?"
"How'd you guess?" asked Wolfric.
"This wasn't here when you left this morning," she said, tickling a hole in his shirt on the right shoulder, "or this," she tickled another hole on his left side with her other hand, "or this," her right hand moved down to a tear in his pants on the right thigh.
"Alright, I get it," said Wolfric. "You don't have to take all the fun out of it, though."
"It's quicker this way, though, and that means you get home sooner," Holly replied.
"How'd you manage with the Clabberts? We didn't leave bait for them, did we?"
"Delayed sleeping potion. Fed it to some of the lizards, so when the Clabbert's ate them..."
"I still can't get over your delayed potions discovery," Wolfric said, turning around at last to face his wife.
Holly's eyes twinkled with something close to mischief. "Speaking of which..."
Holly took her husband's hand and led him into the living room. She picked up a letter from the table and handed it to Wolfric. As he read, Wolfric's mouth got wider and wider, until finally he embraced Holly in a huge hug, lifting her off the ground for a moment.
"Congratulations!" he said, his voice full of emotion.
Holly giggled and said "The ceremony's next month. It's in New York, so we could visit your parents if you want."
"Whatever you want, darling, it's your nomination."
"Let's invite Jason and May, it's been a while since we saw them in person."
"You got it."
It was difficult for Wolfric to focus on making wands that afternoon; he just couldn't get over how happy he was. The Kowalski Award was only given to witches or wizards that showed outstanding levels of innovation and provided something of grand significance to the magical community. True, Holly hadn't won yet, but the more Wolfric thought about it, the more sure he was that she would. Being able to delay the effects of potions would surely help with more than just obtaining ingredients for wand cores.
And what other discoveries had been made this year? There was that guy that made tracers that could snag onto Snitches, so if any got lost in a casual game of Quidditch they could be retrieved before getting unwanted No-Maj attention. There was the wizard who managed to make printers work with magic, which has certainly helped increase productivity in the magical world, though many people noticed the technique used was almost identical to Wolfric's smartphone design. Wolfric didn't mind all that much, but he would be pretty peeved if that got chosen over Holly's completely original potion design. Other than that Wolfric couldn't think of and potential competitors that would stand a real chance against Holly.
That night, Holly fell asleep in Wolfric's arms, her mouth curved in a wide smile. Wolfric couldn't help smiling, too, and after a while, he, too, fell asleep.