November 2001
The end of November saw Hermione finishing up the first round of drug trials and studying for her end of term exams. She and D had split up the first round of experiments so they could judge the simple interactions before creating more complex formulations. On Sunday evening of her last week of classes, she decided to see if her co-researcher could upload his results over the coming week. She wanted to be able to study all the trials before she began her brewing over the break. She was pleasantly surprised to find that he had loaded his results earlier that day.
H:
I have uploaded the results from the UPMC trials. I know that your exams are this coming week, but if I could request that you upload the results of your trials as soon as practicable, I will conduct the analysis of all the trials over the holiday. I'm sorry to impose upon you with the timing of your studies, however, I have a personal obligation concerning the results of our trials over the term break and would be much obliged if you could expedite this task.
On a personal note, I wanted to express my deep appreciation for all the preparation and timely work you have made for this project. The considerable progress that was made over this term has shaved a year from my personal project's timeline. I expect that when the Lent term begins, I will have additional information available for our joint project.
D
He had a personal project! And he needed the results before the winter solstice! Hermione mused that he must be a wizard, and if she could meet with him over the break, perhaps they could compare their brewing notes and actually come up with a potion that would work on the first try! She had to know.
D:
I was pleasantly surprised to find that your trial results were already uploaded when I went to upload mine. You see, I too have a personal project brewing over the coming weeks regarding the trial results. I have set a personal deadline of 22 December, so your quick work has also been extremely appreciated. I was wondering what your schedule might be over the holiday and if I might be so bold as to ask if you would like to meet in person to discuss our personal projects. I have nothing on my calendar for the entire break, but as mentioned, I do need to meet my personal deadline.
Thank you for sharing all your work so readily. It has been very nice to work with someone as equals.
H
There! She gave all the hints necessary for him to figure out that she was a witch, but without it being obvious to a Muggle. She checked her email every five minutes for the rest of the evening while finishing some of her organic chemistry revising. She was about to go to bed when she got her response.
H:
I have taken the liberty of booking two fireplace rooms in the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris from 10-24 December. I figure that a fortnight will allow us to attend to our mutual projects. I have also made dinner reservations for 20h on 10 December at La Bauhinia, which is inside the hotel. Both reservations have been made under "H. Cambridge." Let me know if these arrangements are amenable to your schedule. I will take on the task of obtaining all necessary equipment. There are several high-quality stores in a nearby arrondissement.
I look forward to our mutual accomplishments.
D
She had it! He had to be a wizard! Why else would he have mentioned that he booked her a fireplace room? And he had agreed to meet with her. She was certain from all their previous interactions that she would have the right potion mixtures and preparations in order to restore her parents' memories that summer.
She was now too giddy with excitement to sleep, so she flued to the London apartment and stepped out much to GInny and Harry's surprise.
"Oi! Sorry to interrupt."
Harry flushed, but Ginny just laughed. "Um, yeah. We, uh, weren't expecting anyone," Harry stammered out. Ginny just straighten up a bit and got up to make tea, still with a grin on her face.
"Well, obviously it's important. Spit it out, then. I want to hear what made you leave your room at this hour when you would normally have your head stuck in your texts."
Hermione was still blushing. "Sorry, sorry. It's just that, well, D's a wizard! I'm sure of it! I asked if we could meet over break noting that I had something brewing, and then he booked me a fireplace room at some hotel in Paris through the solstice. I am absolutely positive that we're going to have this potion right. I might have my parents back this summer!"
"That's great!" Ginny exclaimed while bringing over the hot tea. "A whole year before you were expecting too. And maybe," she said with a wink, "he'll be hot and you'll have found yourself a boyfriend too."
"Ginny!"
"Seriously, Hermione. From how you gush about his brilliant mind to how he has just as hard of work ethic to his skillfully worded email, you should flirt with him a bit. Tell me your heart doesn't do a little flip every time you see one of his email pop up?"
"Okay, okay. I do. But this is about more than that."
"But this could be about that too. Do you think that he actually finds stimulating people to date over in Paris? If you haven't found anyone at Cambridge that can keep up with you, how many people do you think he's found?"
Hermione sighed. "Okay, so I've thought about it. We'll see what happens. I mean, he could be 40 years old. How many other wizards or witches do you know who have gone to a Muggle university? It's possible that he's only there because he's exhausted every other possibility in the magical world and this is his last resort."
"Or, he could be some hot, young quidditch player. He could be as sexy as Harry, here, with his seeker build."
Harry blushed again. "Um, Ginny, " Hermione replied, "I'd rather not think of Harry as sexy if you don't mind."
Ginny just laughed. "Alright, Hermione. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I'm so happy for you though! I'm sure that it will work out brilliantly."
Having finished her tea, Hermione kissed both Ginny and Harry. "Tell Ron I'm sorry I missed him. I hope that he and Eugenie are still doing well."
"Oh, they are," Harry broke in. "I'd have never thought there'd be someone so well suited for Ron, but there she is. Loves quidditch and Molly's food and gets along well with all his family. Goodnight, Hermione."
"Goodnight." She flued back home to finish her week of exams and dream about possibilities.