Wow, it's been a while since I've posted, well, anything.
To tell the truth, my recent inactiveness is not entirely due to being swamped.
It is, rather, due to a severe case of writer's block.
I've just seemed to have lost my creative spark.
Some of it, however, has wandered back.
So, perhaps, I'll finally be able to update some of my other stories soon.
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"This," Hermione stated with brows furrowed in confusion, "wasn't suppose to happen." She looked up from the cauldron, gaze inward as she tried to theorize the reason behind their most recent setback. "Didn't our research," she mused aloud, "indicate that the liquid would turn clear?"
"Yes, it did," an equally perplexed Terry murmured beside her.
"So what the bloody hell," Michael huffed as he glared venomously at the smoking contents, "is this?"
"That, Corner," Anthony replied while peering closely at the solution, "is a very good question."
The brunnette witch ran a frustrated hand through her slightly frizzy curls. I can't believe we botched this up so close to its completion! she thought angrily. How could we be so bloody daft!
They'd been working on this shielding potion for nearly a month, and they'd been so close to finishing it, so close to providing Order members with some protection from surprise attacks.
And now this happened.
The Order needed this potion. Now that Voldemort was gone, his diminished followers had taken to employing guerrilla tactics. Instead of the direct assaults of their earlier days, they now relied heavily on surprise attacks and ambushes; their usual victims being lone members or small groups.
Many members of the Order, taken by surprise and hexed in these attacks before they could so much as draw their wands, had been killed as a result.
And they'd been so close to remedying the situation, so bloody close.
But then they'd somehow managed to fuck it up.
Taking a deep, calming, breath, Hermione closed her eyes and mentally, and unhurriedly, counted to five. In her present state, there was no way in hell she was capable of resolving anything; so, in order to fix this, she first need to clear her mind.
One.
Anger's not going to solve this.
She forced her tense shoulders to loosen and rolled them slowly to get rid of any remaining kinks. Hearing the tell-tale sound of soft pops, she allowed them to simply relax.
Two.
I have to focus on what could have gone wrong.
She gently craned her neck in both directions, letting the soft pops release her pent up frustration.
Three.
Study the facts, Hermione, there's got to be something you're missing.
She lightly drummed the desk before her with her fingers, using the repetitive rhythm to fall into a self-induced meditative haze.
Four.
Review the brewing process, how did it differ from methods found in our research?
She mentally envisioned every step they'd taken and compared it to the findings from their research. Meticulously sifting through the data banks in her mind, she carefully analyzed their procedures.
Five.
Find the cause and fix it.
She felt herself sink deeper into the recesses of her mind. It was on the tip of her tongue, she almost had it. Hermione forced herself to burrow deeper.
Almost there, almost there, almost there, almost there, almost…
There.
Amber eyes snapped open, their owner already calling herself a million kinds of stupid for not realizing the problem sooner.
A bemused Terry viewed the angrily muttering female as she bustled around the room collecting ingredients. "So," he questioned in a laughter laced tone, "did you discover the problem?" He didn't move to help her or push for the solution to the problem, knowing all too well that it was wise to just let her vent for a while.
She didn't give any sign of having heard him; whether from true or feigned inattention, he wasn't certain.
"Of course she has mate," Goldstein replied cheerfully beside him, "why else would she be throwing such a hissy fit?"
Michael chuckled as he viewed Hermione violently dicing a hapless pair of roots, "you know she never gets like this unless she feels she's been played the fool." He smiled fondly as he heard her mumble a particularly foul curse, "never mind the fact that this potion's never been done, she's still pissed we didn't get it right the first time."
Terry's question, though it had been answered, had really been a rhetorical one. He had worked with Hermione long enough to familiarize himself with her thought process and work habits.
He wouldn't still be her partner if he hadn't.
He allowed his mind to momentarily wander as he studied the still fuming Gryffindor. To think he mused it's been nearly four years since I started working with 'Mione.
He still wasn't quite sure what had caused her to include him in her work. Regardless of the reason, however, she had in the second semester of their third year.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that she didn't have to explain everything to him; all she had to do was give him a general direction and he would quickly understand what she was trying to do.
At first, it had just been Hermione and him, but, someway or another, Goldstein and Corner had gradually wormed their way in as well.
Terry looked at their little group with warm eyes. We he thought it good natured self-mockery are unalterably nerdy.
And they were proud of it, the four had become so accustomed to one another, so reliant, that they planned to continue their work by opening a research and development facility after their graduation.
They just meshed so well academically and personality wise that they couldn't bring themselves to disband their team. That, added to the fact that their work was often groundbreaking in one or more fields of study, just made it illogical for them to split up.
After shaking his head lightly to reign in his wandering mind, he noticed that Hermione had finished her tantrum.
Cautiously approaching the significantly calmer witch, Anthony hesitantly questioned her. "So," wary eyes regarded her still cross expression, "where did we go wrong?"
The brunette female, in typical Hermione form, refused to just hand over the answer; she wanted them to come to the same conclusion themselves. She wanted them to think.
"Where," she asked curtly, completely disregarding the earlier question, "are the only areas where water hemlock, nightshade, water drop wart, and laburnum bark have been brewed with nontoxic results?"
Knowing better than to doubt the importance of the seemingly random question, Michael promptly answered. "In wizarding communities in Atacama, Zin desert, Dasht-e Lut, the Sahara…" he trailed off as his quick mind made the connection between all the locations.
"They're all deserts," Goldstein softly whispered as their error finally dawned on him.
"Of course," Terry mumbled to himself, "those ingredients didn't brew properly because there was too much moisture in the air."
"And that botched the entire potion up," Corner added absently
Hermione nodded in confirmation.
Michael groaned as he ran a hand threw his raven locks. "Which means," he grumbled, "that we have to start the whole bloody thing over."
"Cheer up chum," Terry's blue eyes twinkled cheerfully, "at least we know what we're doing this time around."
Quietly muttered curses were his only response.
"Bloody hell!" Three heads turned quickly towards Anthony, startled by his outburst.
Thinking that he'd discovered another botch up in their potion, Hermione urgently asked, "What's wrong?"
Grinning sheepishly, he waved off their concern. "It's nothing really," he assured them, "I just hadn't realized how much time had passed by."
Glaring slightly at him for the false alarm, the other three checked their own watches.
"Bloody hell!"
Time really had flown.
They madly dashed to store away their supplies and gather their book bags, none of them wanting to be late to class. "Next time," Hermione grumbled while putting away the potion ingredients, "we're setting a timer."
The others, caught up in their own tasks, distractedly grunted their agreement.
Finally done, the frantic quartet dashed to the door, a faint hope of making it to class on time in them. Something, however, brought them to an abrupt halt.
Or rather, a someone.
oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Still not sure who I'll end up pairing Hermione with.
My stories tend to have a mind of their own, so I usually don't even try to predict what they'll do.
So feel free to give me your input, I'm open to persuasion.