"So you're saying that this is actually a thing in Brazil?" Hermione asked, flabbergasted by what Clarissa just said.

"It is! I mean, no one really believes that it works and most people do it just for laughs, but some are that desperate. They see it as their last resort."

Clarissa was her former co-worker in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She came from Brazil three years ago and quickly proved herself as one of the most efficient employees in the whole ministry.

She immediately broke down Hermione's walls with her graciousness, humor, and intelligence. She'd proved to be an amazing roommate as well, besides the fact that she always left her wet towel lying around their flat.

They still lived together, but while Clarissa was now the front-runner to become the head of the DRCMC , Hermione had been called by Kingsley to move to the Department of Mysteries. She had yet to become an Unspeakable, but had already started working on her first assignment: Brazilian Ancient Rituals.

And that's how she'd found out about the tarot ritual that apparently brought your loved one back to you in the span of three days time.

Except it wasn't exactly a ritual. It was more like a...ceremony invented by muggles in a desperate attempt to fix their failed relationships.

Whatever its origins, however, it seemed promising and would serve Hermione well. She had just broken up with Oliver Wood, captain of Puddlemere United, and hadn't gone on a date ever since.

Things with Oliver had started out as a mere fling but had evolved into something more. It started at an afterparty during the Quidditch World Cup. A couple of firewhiskeys in and some small talk, and soon enough she was kissing the former Hogwarts Gryffindor Captain. Their romance went on for a full eight months, but he decided to end things after a rather unpleasant family holiday.

Her parents always felt left out of her life, which increased significantly after the war. When she rescued them and restored their memories, the first weeks were rough. There had been a lot of bad blood, tears, and remorse, but they were able to work it out.

When she showed up at Christmas dinner, however, with a boyfriend that had absolutely no connections with the muggle world besides dating a muggle-born witch, things hadn't gone smoothly.

He wasn't a pureblood bigot, far from it. But his fascination with the smallest muggle things and the fact that he couldn't hold a conversation with her parents for more than 2 minutes without slipping quidditch in, or making comparisons with the wizarding world didn't help their acceptance of him. Oliver didn't mean to remind them of how different Hermione's world was, but it definitely struck a nerve.

She wasn't pining like a schoolgirl, but she missed being in a relationship. She never thought of herself as a romantic, but after being looked after and having someone to return to when she got home from work… Hermione felt lonely.

"I wager it's like a love potion, then?" she asked, drinking her butterbeer.

"No, because it doesn't work. It's a muggle thing, Hermione. I have never been to one, but there's this Brazilian fortune teller here in London that I'm willing to visit, just to see how it is. It's a shame that in all of my twenty-six years living in Brazil I've never been to one."

"And what are you going to do there? You don't have any lovers to bring back, as far as I know."

"Well, that's true. But this isn't the only service that she has to offer. Besides, that's why you're going with me. You do have a lover that you wish to bring back." Clarissa said with a smirk, sipping her own butterbeer.

"I'm not going to use magic to bring Oliver back to me. It's wrong. Did you know that Riddle's mother used a love potion to get together with his father? Amortentia. The side effect of a potion-based relationship is the absence of true love. I'm sorry, but I'm not trying to mother the next dark lord."

"Woah, woah, woah. Let's stop for a moment here. How did we get from visiting a muggle fortune-teller to being pregnant and birthing the next dark lord? Misericórdia, mulher." Clarissa put her cup on the counter and put her hands on Hermione's shoulder blades. "You're seeing problems where there aren't any. It's a muggle thing, Hermione. Don't be a prude. It's just for laughs, come on! You're in desperate need of some."

Hermione tapped her nails against the counter, contemplating what her friend had just said. It had been a while since she'd done anything without a care in the world, instead of just burying herself in work. And it's not as though this was too far from her line of work. She was researching Brazilian rituals, after all. Her consciousness could deal with that.

"Fine. I'll go with you. But I can't promise anything about using any of her services. I will be an observer, for research purposes only."

Clarissa squealed and hugged her friend. "Yay! We're gonna have so much fun, amiga!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled at her antics. "So, when is this appointment?"

"Let's go tomorrow. And don't try to get around this and delay because I know you don't have anything for tomorrow night. We'll leave the ministry together and apparate to an alley nearby. I'll call the number that was on the flyer after lunch."

"Do you have it here?"

"What?"

"The flyer?"

"Uh, yes. I didn't have anything with me to copy the number, so I made a copy of it. It's somewhere down here, wait." Clarissa started searching in her purse- on which Hermione had cast an undetectable extension charm- and finally found the flyer. "Here."

"MÃE MARINA

BRINGS YOUR LOVE BACK IN SEVEN DAYS."

"How did you get that flyer again?" Hermione inquired, analyzing the paper. "It looks odd."

"Of course it's odd, Hermione. She's a liar. And I discovered her because my aunt Patricia went to the fortune teller's mother, Sandra, back in Brazil. They were chatting and the woman said her daughter was working in London and was a hit."

Hermione continued to wear a skeptical look and then sighed in defeat.

"Don't be late. I don't wish to waste too much time on this."

"You've got a deal, sister." Clarissa winked and stood up. "See you tomorrow."

— • —

Hermione and Clarissa were on the doorstep of Mãe Marina, holding hands to fight off the sudden nervousness.

Hermione scolded herself for being silly before raising her knuckles to rap on the door. "Okay, I'm gonna knock on the door on three. One, two.."

"The door is open, ladies!" A female voice hollered from the inside. The two women startled, sharing equal looks of astonishment, trying to think of how she could possibly know they were at the door.

Hermione blinked twice and started looking around her surroundings, finding something that looked like a hidden camera behind a plant jar.

"Of course." She rolled her eyes, beating herself once more for thinking this woman actually had some kind of power.

They stepped into a room that could have doubled as a Hogwarts greenhouse if you ignored the intoxicating blueberry incense and the blue lighting.

"Come in, come in!" The voice said again, this time in a lower tone. "The first door to the left."

They followed the path, being guided by a caramel coloured dog. The door was open and the room wasn't very different from the first one. With yellow lighting and red and purple curtains all over the place, this one looked like Sybil Trewlaney and Pomona Sprout had decided to combine classrooms for a lesson. Creepy.

"Oh, welcome! Have a seat, my friends." A young woman with long jet-black hair with whelks in her braids said. "My name is Marina, but you can call me Mother Marina or Mãe Marina - it depends on your stylistic choice. But if I'm being honest, Mãe Marina has a special mystic flavor to it, don't you think?"

The woman suddenly stopped and realized that she was getting lost in her character, due to the sudden change of tone in the next sentence.

"Be ready to start the search for the unknown! Discover what the future and the cosmos have prepared for you and clean yourself from the bad energies from the ones that envy you. And most importantly, bring your loved one back in seven days. - I must warn you that we don't work with necromancy or any kind of ritual to bring back the ones who have departed from the realm of the living. Understood?" When both women nodded, she proceeded. "Great. But first, we need to discuss what the procedures are that you two intend on doing today and how you're going to pay for it."

Mãe Marina smiled and Hermione was trying her absolute best not to snicker. She decided to leave the answers for Clarissa, which proved to be a terrible idea later on.

"I want to do a palm reading."

"And what more?"

"Nothing more, thank you." Hermione smiled at the disappointment in the fortune teller's face, which lasted about three seconds. "And what about your friend over there?"

"I'm not in need of any of your services, ma'am. Thank you."

Mãe Marina smiled and joined her hands, resting her face on top of them, surprising Hermione.

"Oh, dear… I can tell that's a lie. You've been suffering in the past weeks… and this is related to your love life. I can feel it in your aura that there's something there."

Both girls were left speechless, with Hermione gulping audibly and Clarissa smiling in disbelief at what had just happened. This woman was good.

"I can't see how my love life relates to any of your services. Let's go, Clarissa. This is hogwash." Hermione stood up and grabbed her purse, stopping when her best friend called her name.

"Hermione…" the brown-skinned girl stood up and took Hermione by the arm to the door. "One second."

Mãe Marina just nodded and smiled, still resting her face in her hands.

"Don't fret over this. She's just a muggle that made an assumption and you fell completely into her trap with this little show. You promised that you would give it a try just for laughs." Clarissa whispered and Hermione had the decency to look down at the floor. "Come on… you are way too stressed. Let it go."

"Fine. I'm sorry."

"That's my girl." Clarissa smiled and they both returned to the table, sitting on the chairs while Mãe Marina admired her own blue-painted nails.

"So?"

"What do you suggest, Mãe Marina?"

"Well, I can do a ritual to bring your love back in seven days. It's a must for our clients and will do wonders for you." Both girls nodded, already expecting this answer. "However, I'll have to accept the payment in advance. You see, it's a very tiring ritual, and right after I have to be alone in my room to align my chakras."

Hermione almost rolled her eyes but stopped when she felt a pinch on her thigh courtesy of Clarissa. Her eyes clearly said 'Shut up. Don't get us in trouble.' They nodded again and Mãe Marina made the arrangements for the payment - via credit card - with Clarissa, while Hermione stared out the window.

"Now dear, give me your hand."

Mãe Marina proceeded with an intricate look at Clarissa's hand, passing her fingers along the lines and stating some obvious things.

"You come from a foreign land far away from here. You work a lot, you have a strong personality, you don't have any trouble in your love life and will have a very long life. Great things await you, my dear. But don't get too hooked up in your job, it won't do much for your health or your beauty."

For the love of Merlin. How could anyone fall for the tricks of this woman? A couple of minutes- which Hermione used to think about what she had to do tomorrow at the Ministry - and some babbling nonsense later , Mãe Marina was finished with Clarissa.

It was her turn now.

"I can see a raven-haired man in your path, my dear… is he the one you wish to bring back to your life?"

Absently, her mind flew to an image of Harry Potter, her long-time friend, smiling upon her in the Hogwarts grounds near the Black Lake. It was a sunny day and the light made his eyes shine so much that it was absolutely impossible to not get caught up in him.

Harry was in Chile at the moment, finishing an internship at a 's branch there to learn some foreign techniques and apply them in the British magical hospital. She hadn't seen him in months.

"Dear?" Mãe Marina asked while Clarissa had a smug smile on her face. Hermione awoke from her trance and blinked a few times.

"Sorry, what?"

"She asked if you wanted a raven-haired boy back in your life, but I guess you got too caught up thinking about Oliver to listen to anything we said. So?"

"Oh, Oliver. Right. Yes, I guess so."

Mãe Marina arched her eyebrow but didn't say a thing.

"Right. Are you ready?" Hermione nodded, still high from the scene that had unfolded in her mind about Harry. Why did she think about him that way? "I'm going to walk around you with this incense and chant to ask magic to bless our purpose. Then, I'm going to roll the whelks and finish the ritual asking for him to come back to you. Understood?"

"Okay."

And so she did. The incense was intoxicating and she was almost hallucinating, with a flash of scenes going through her mind a mile-per minute while Mãe Marina started her chanting. She was speaking in her native language, but Hermione was too dizzy to notice anything. Flashes of yellow roses, honey, bees, bright sun, and a strange green sea flooded her senses and her breath caught in her throat.

It was almost like she was being touched by magic itself, something so ancient and powerful that she had never experienced before.

Suddenly she felt like she was embraced by heat around her torso and was surrounded by the same feeling you got when you come back home after a long journey- cozy and intoxicating that she couldn't even begin to understand what was happening around her.

She heard the whelks being rolled around the table and Mãe Marina asking magic to align the chakras and restore the path of her love, which honestly still sounded like a bunch of Hogwash. But how was she feeling all of this at once? It couldn't be magic, she was a muggle woman.

"Que os búzios do coração trilhem o caminho para sua vida ter de volta paixão."

All of a sudden the room became still again and Hermione was breathing hard, trying to get her head around what had just happened.

"Hermione? Hermione?" Clarissa was kneeling by her side, trying to help her best friend. "Are you okay? What did you do, Mãe Marina?"

"I..I-I don't know! This has never happened before. I think she may be allergic to the incense or something, but it's over now. Here take-"

"Thank you, but I think I better head home with this one." Clarissa said and stood up, holding Hermione's hand. "Let's go?"

The cinnamon eye girl nodded and stood up, finally feeling like she could stand still without tumbling to the ground.

"Thank you."

"Don't forget to rate my work on with 5 stars! Remember that I'm not 100% sure that your love will come back, but I did my best. Wait seven days and in the next seven, the effects will get in action. See you around!" Mãe Marina rushed them out the door and went back to her room, checking her mobile to see that the money had gone into her bank account.

"Não tenho ideia do que acabou de acontecer, mas a sua ração do mês tá garantida, Marcelinho!" the caramel looking dog ran to her arms while she kissed his head.

None of them had any idea of what was to come next. Mãe Marina was about to bring someone's love back for the first time ever, and it had nothing to do with her ritual.

– • –

A/N: Hello! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Here's the translation of some Portuguese expressions that I used on this chapter:
"Amiga" = Friend.
"Misericórdia, mulher" = For goodness sake, woman.
"Que os búzios do coração trilhem de volta o caminho para sua vida ter de volta paixão" = May the whelks of heart bless the path of your life and your love comes back to you.
"Não tenho ideia do que acabou de acontecer, mas sua ração do mês tá garantida, Marcelinho." = I have no idea of what just happened, but now I have the money to buy your food for the entire month, Marcelinho. (her dog)
In case you have any doubts, feel free to ask me. :)