Disclaimer: Of course, I do not own these characters or the world in which I'm writing them.
H
...
When Hermione woke, the sun was high in the sky again. She grumbled. She was usually an early riser, but the time zone change caused her to miss most of the morning. She rubbed her swollen eyes and stared at the foreign sheets she had been sleeping on. Suddenly she felt guilty for taking the only bed all to herself. That is, she assumed she had taken it all to herself as she noticed she was the only one in the bed. A rustling of paper behind her caught her attention and she turned to face into the main room of the cottage. Duke was seated at the dining table with stacks of familiar-looking books huddled around him.
Did he sleep in the bed with me and I didn't realize because he was up earlier? she thought self-consciously. No, one look at the sofa's crumpled cushions brought the memory of last night flooding back. He had let her have the only bed without complaint. Hermione ran a hand through her hair to try to tame her bedhead and approached the dining table. Duke was so deep in thought he hadn't noticed that she had risen.
"Good morning," she murmured as she reached his side. Duke jumped in surprise but recovered quickly and acknowledged her with a quick nod. Hermione waved to the towers of books. "What's all this?"
"Research." Duke closed the book he was reading and grabbed another, leafing through the pages with fervor.
"Research?" Hermione repeated. She peered over Duke's shoulder and recognized the text on memory charms. "Are these my books?"
"Obviously," Duke drawled, rolling his eyes. "You think I just found these spell books in your Muggle parents' cottage in the middle of nowhere?"
An uncomfortable thought struck her. "You went through my things?"
Duke looked up again, but his face was dismissive, not apologetic. "I went into your bag, yes, but I didn't go through your things. Just your books."
Hermione furrowed her brow in objection, but Duke spoke again before she could argue.
"Fine, I'm sorry. But you were still sleeping and I thought I could help with the memory problem." He held her gaze and Hermione decided against an altercation. His motives were well-meaning anyway, so she let the overstep slide. Hermione dropped into the chair next to him.
"Alright. Find anything then?"
Duke nodded again, consenting to move on. "Found? Not exactly. But if we take inspiration from success we've already had, I think I have an idea. Potions class was always my strong suit and we already proved that we could take an existing potion and change it by using some of my knowledge and some of your knowledge to come up with something even more powerful. I mean, we made a potion that helped us catch the uncatchable!"
Duke's speech was coming rapid- fire and his eyes were shining with excitement. Hermione felt herself get sucked up in his energy.
"You think we can alter a memory potion?" She asked. Her heart was picking up speed.
"Better! I think I can create one!" Duke's face was set in a conspiratorial grin. "Can I have a quill and some parchment? I want to work this out in writing." When Hermione didn't move immediately, he added with a snicker, "I would get it myself but I don't want to go through your things again."
Hermione flushed and stuck her tongue out but went to fetch the items. Duke was staring off into space when she returned.
"Last night the moon was in waxing gibbous phase. And it was pretty bright out so I'm guessing tonight is going to be the full moon," he muttered.
"Yes, I think so," Hermione agreed and waited for him to continue but he didn't say anything more. He took the parchment and quill and began furiously scratching some notes. He looked so pensive, Hermione didn't dare disturb him. She turned to her bag again, found the traveling snacks she had packed, and performed a few simple charms. Soon had a respectable breakfast on the table.
"I think the full moon will work in our favor, it will lend us productive energy. That will be a good instigation, so we need to start tonight. Now the bad news." Duke frowned at her.
"What?" Hermione demanded.
"The basics of what I've got here... it's not a quick brew. These kind of ingredients need time to meld."
"How much time?" Hermione felt her excitement slipping away. The rollercoaster of emotions she had been riding recently was starting to wreak havoc on her nerves.
"Best guess? I would say about two weeks," Duke theorized, "which puts us for completion in time with the new moon. It would work out well that way anyway, the new moon energy helps with new beginnings."
Hermione clicked her tongue. "Longer than I would have hoped, but it's not terrible. It's better than nothing. Wait, what's the date today?"
"September fifth," Duke replied after thinking for a moment.
"So two weeks... that's actually quite perfect!" she gushed. Duke raised an eyebrow at her sudden about face. "The potion will be ready two weeks from today? That's the nineteenth. That's my birthday."
...
Flush with renewed enthusiasm, Hermione had greeted her parents and asked if she and Duke could continue to stay in the cottage for another two weeks. Monica and Wendell had agreed amiably and Hermione promised that she and Duke were going out for the day to exchange her currency. The older couple directed the younger how to get to the nearest town and offered them a lift which Hermione gently declined. Unfortunately the mention of a car reminded her dad of her broken down car ruse from the previous night.
"What about your car?" he asked, "Should I go out and try to get it started?"
"Oh, no, no, thanks," Hermione stammered, trying to come up with an excuse. "Erm, it's a rental and it has one of those new things called GPS. When we get to town I'll contact the rental company to take care of it." Wendell smiled, accepting her lie.
An hour or so later, Hermione and Duke were in the nearby Muggle town. She exchanged some money (she still carried Muggle money with her, but she needed to trade for Australian dollars) and then set out to find the local wizarding community. It only took a few minutes of wandering before they noticed a small shack-type building that all the Muggles seemed to look right through. The pair entered and found themselves in what looked like a tiny, sparsely decorated office space, no one there but them two. Across the room was another door, painted a ridiculously bright purple. Duke put out his arm as if to say "after you," and together they stepped through the second door.
When they emerged, they were in a city square lined with shops. A few older witches were ambling ahead. The sign at the entrance announced that they had just been transported to Fairdinkum Square, somewhere in the Muggle city of Perth.
Duke's head looked like it was on a swivel as he tried to get the lay of the land. "I'm hoping to find a book store first," he said, squinting into the distance, "just to confirm some things before we go to an apothecary for the ingredients. You only had one book on potions in your bag, but it didn't have anything on potion theory for me to measure my ideas against."
Hermione followed him through the square until they came to a book shop. She held herself back from browsing like she normally would, but it was doubly hard because she was in a new country and her curiosity over Australian magical culture was piqued. Duke headed to the potions section and quickly retrieved the particular tome he wanted to consult. He chattered to himself under his breath for a few minutes then made an extra note on his parchment before he eventually purchased the book.
Not long after, they were meandering down the aisle at the apothecary. Duke read off his list. "Jobberknoll feathers, at least two; rosemary oil, yes that small vial will do, we should only need a few drops; blessed thistle; blue calcite powder; Mnemosyne River water, that's bound to be behind the counter, it's hard to come by; fresh fenugreek leaves; and fresh sage. On second thought, the fenugreek and the sage should wait until we're ready to add them, so we can make sure they're fresh when they go in." While he spoke, Hermione grabbed each item and they headed to the counter. Duke had been right, the river water was kept in a locked cabinet behind the counter. He paid the smiling merchant for the ingredients despite Hermione's objection, as he said the potion was his experiment. When they were finished, they clasped hands and apparated together back to the cottage, eager to get to work.
A/N: It's shorter than I meant it to be again, but I just can't wait to get to the next few chapters! I've got a big head start on chapters 14, 15, and 16 so you guys should be seeing them soon enough! As always, thanks for the support :) Also, sorry if you notice some typos or some awkward sentences that look like I'm changing my mind mid sentence... sometimes I don't notice editing errors until after I post, but I am doing my best to go back in and fix them.