Author's Note: I had this chapter and part of the next at work and forgot to bring it home over the weekend. Sorry about the wait. Enjoy! Redfrog
Chapter 39: Back to Work
Things were calm back at Hogwarts once the holidays were over. Hermione was already bothering everyone to start studying for their NEWTs. The boys had thought she was going to go easier on them since she only had 4 classes to study for, but no such luck. She had even moved on to badgering ALL the 7th years within the first week of being back! "Come on Hermione, we have plenty of time left to study!" Ron whined to her as she scolded Harry and him for wasting their time playing chess.
"NEWTs are only 4 months away and you have 7 years of notes to review!" She said getting frustrated with them. "These tests could be the difference in whither or not you get the job you want. How can you think they are not important?"
"We know they are important Hermione," Harry said covering for his friend who was about to put his foot in his mouth, again. "We just need a break. I promise that we will spend at least an hour every other night studying and will study more once they are closer."
"Thank you Harry," Hermione said with a smile. "I just don't want you guys to do badly. You've worked so hard that it would be a shame to fail at the end."
"You actually got them to promise to study for an hour a night?" Severus asked her with a raised eyebrow as they were researching.
"An hour every other night," she told him with a shrug. "It's more than I hoped for at least."
"What about the rest of your friends?" He asked her.
"Most of them have started revisions. Draco and Gabrielle are revising together and Hannah, Justin and Susan have a study group going with the other Hufflepuffs." She said with a smile. "I'm sure the Ravenclaws have been revising as long as I have."
"I doubt that," he told her with a smirk. "From what I hear you started revising for NEWTs the minute the OWLs were done."
"And if I hadn't there is no way I would have aced 7 of them early," she said as they prepared ingredients for the base potion they had decided upon. They were going to make up a very large amount of the base potion and then add ingredients from there to see which ones react the best.
"I got the new ingredients that Neville grew for us," Severus told her and showed her the very nice specimens he had picked from the greenhouse at headquarters. "These should help with maintaining regularity. If we use ingredients from the same batch for all our tests this month we can make sure that the results are error free."
"I think we should have a Valentine's Day celebration this year," Albus told them at the staff meeting. The proclamation was met with the customary grumbles from the staff that would have to chaperone.
"Why would you torture us so?" Severus sneered. He hated social occasions. The students were over active and he had to take way to many points. "Can we not just wait until the end of term?"
"I fear that the war will hit full force before the end of the year," he told them sadly. "I also fear that we may loose students and many of the students may loose family members. I think we should give them every opportunity for merriment that we can before that happens." Albus was afraid of how many of his students he would loose. There were so many in the DA that they had a good chance of destroying the death eaters, but casualties are inevitable in a war zone.
The professors were all silent at the thought of loosing any of their pupils. "I think it would be a good idea," Professor Sprout told them. "It will boost morale if nothing else. Give the 5th and 7th years something to look forward to other than studying for exams."
"Any ideas of what kind of celebration?" Minerva asked knowing that it would happen since Albus never backed off of any of his ideas.
"Perhaps another dance as the last one went over so well," Albus told them.
"The reason it went over so well was because you let them dress in costumes," Tonks told them with a grin. "Everyone likes dressing up, well everyone other than Severus that is." They all laughed at the brooding look on the potions master's face.
"What about a masquerade ball?" Hermione asked them. "No costumes, just masks to hide the identity of the person. It should make it a little more interesting."
"That way students would not have to have dates," Remus pointed out. "And it would be fine for the younger students as well."
"We could have a dance contest as well," Professor Sinistera spoke up with a sly smile at Severus who was still grumbling.
"Yes, and then at a certain time everyone takes off their masks and reveals who they are," Albus was happy with the idea. "Do you think the students will like it Hermione?"
"I can check with the prefects but I know they will enjoy it. This way you can surprise the entire school when you announce it. If the prefects know it's hard to keep it from the rest of the school." She said with a smile.
"You shouldn't encourage Albus in his schemes," Severus told her as they headed down to the lab later that afternoon. "You could have talked him out of it."
"He's right though," Hermione said sadly. "There is a very good chance that some of us will not survive the war. We should cherish the time we have left."
"Yes, and now I have to spend more of my precious time chaperoning hormonal teenagers," he grumbled.
"I will do my best to see that you have a good time that evening as well," she told him shaking her head. "You realize that you are overly stubborn sometimes right?"
"That is how I prefer it my dear girl," he said with a chuckle. "These potions look finished," he informed her. "We should vial them off and test them tonight."
They had a rather large supply of lab rats they were testing. Hermione hated the idea of testing on animals but there was no other way to test its effectiveness on the nervous system. They would first feed the potion to 'good' rats and see if they could withstand the curse. They would also administer it to 'pre-tested' rats to see if it would ease the suffering of those suffering after effects.
The first two potions had no effect on any of the rats, but at least they didn't kill them like some of their other attempts had. The third potion had no effect on the curse but seemed to help greatly on the rats suffering form previous curses. It was the first real breakthrough they had. The last potion actually helped the pain of the curse. The rat did not twitch and squeal nearly as much as the others. They tested three other rats to be sure it wasn't just a 'strong' rat. The potion did not seem to help with the after effects though.
"We need to research the effects of the last two potions," Severus said. "If we can increase the effectiveness of the last one to completely block the pain and combine it with the third test that heals the after effects I think we will have a winner."
"Even if we are unable to combine them into one potion we should see if they can be used together. If we can get one potion to block the pain during the curse and a separate one that can heal you from it, it will still be a huge breakthrough." Hermione commented, she was very proud of their achievements for the night.
"I will inform Albus of our progress, why don't you look over the formulas again and see if you can find any promising leads before dinner." He told her as he headed off to the headmaster's office.
"That is a wonderful breakthrough Severus my boy," Albus said with a smile. "If you are successful in your modifications we will have everything we need to launch an offensive."
"True," he replied. "With the potions to ward off Imperio and Crucio and the spell to take down the dark lord we have a distinct advantage. The Order members are all fully trained and with the aurors and other magical law enforcement personnel on our side I believe an offensive could work."
"What troubles you about that?" Albus asked reading him too well.
"We would not have the advantage of numbers in that game." Severus told him. "If we were to draw the dark forces here to the school or at least near by, we could use the advantage of the DA. He is completely unaware of the powers the students wield and we would overwhelm them with the number of students fighting for the light."
"I fear involving the students," Albus told him. "They are too young to experience such a war."
"They will experience it either way if our offensive is unsuccessful." Severus reminded him. "If we fail in the initial attack they would launch a counter on Hogwarts and many of us may not be around to protect the younger students. If we lure him here we can have the younger ones safely protected or even out of the castle."
"Where do you suggest hiding the students?" Albus asked him as it was something he had been thinking on himself.
"I am not sure, that is the last piece of information we need before we can plan an attack of sorts," Severus said. "I can mislead the dark lord into thinking we are weak and ready for the taking. I can disable the wards and we will be poised for a counter offensive. It should surprise them and we have every advantage by fighting on our own turf. Besides it will give white squad access to the hospital wing for injuries."
The two men spent the next few hours going over the pros and cons of having the last battle take place on Hogwarts grounds.
"How's the potion coming?" Severus asked Hermione when he got back from the headmaster's office.
"Just fine," she replied, "What were you discussing that could have taken that long?"
"Battle strategy," he replied as he headed to his potions cabinet for a headache cure. "I was convincing him of the advantages of drawing the death eaters here instead of launching an offensive to one of their hideouts."
"You mean because we have the DA here and he wouldn't be expecting as many fighters against him. If you went to him you could only use the Order and Ministry people." She half commented half asked.
"Precisely," he said. "Albus is still worried about exposing the students to a war as well as worried about the safety of the younger students."
"Why can't you just breach the outer wards of the castle and leave the ones around the actual school building in tact. The only buildings vulnerable then would be the greenhouses, Charlie's hut and the Quidditch pitch. If we hole the younger students up inside even stronger protective wards inside the castle they should be fine even if every one of us is taken down." She was pacing as she rambled and he had to smile at how focused she was.
"Hermione calm down. I already told him all this. He agreed that it would be the most advantageous to have the battle happen here. We are to have an Order meeting to discuss protection of the younger students. We are also going to have to talk to every member of the DA and inform them of the risks of entering the battle. Anyone not wanting to fight will remain behind to protect the younger years. Only those willing to die for the cause will be allowed out of the castle when it happens." Severus had walked up next to her to keep her from pacing.
"I'll look through Hogwarts: A History again to see if I can find an appropriate place to hide the younger years. I would say the Chamber of Secrets but our enemy knows about that location." She said with a smile and headed back to the potion. "This needs to simmer for 15 hours so I'll be back tomorrow and we can test it then. I'll let you know what I put in it after we see if it works or not. The idea just popped into my head as I was removing ingredients. So we'll see!"
"Hermione Granger put down that book and get your arse moving! We are late to meet the others already." Ginny yelled looking her patience with her friend who had insisted on finishing her chapter before they went into Hogsmead with the other girls to buy outfits to wear to the valentines dance.
Hermione looked up to see that Ginny was right and that if she didn't want to experience the wrath of the youngest Weasley she better hurry up. They rushed out of her common room and met up with Gabrielle, Luna, Susan and Hannah. "About time!" Hannah said with a wink at Hermione who they all knew was too involved in something to be on time. They knew Ginny would never be late when shopping was concerned.
"Remember that you can change the colors of things with charms so we only need to concentrate on finding the right fabrics and styles," Gabrielle said. "Besides, that way we can make it a custom piece and we won't know what the others are wearing."
"I just love the idea of a masked dance," Susan said with a smile. "It won't be too hard to pick Ron out with his red hair but it would have been cool to see if I could have found him."
"We could have them charm their hair and we could as well," Gabrielle suggested.
"I have an even better idea," Hermione said with a mischievous grin. "I just finished working on the formula for my latest hair care product. It's a shampoo that will color your hair. It won't run out or be effected by magic. You just have to wash it again with the shampoo."
"How does it work?" Ginny asked curiously.
"It has a build in charm in the potion that absorbs whatever color you tap on the bottle. If you tap the 'normal' space on the bottle it will remove the potion from your hair and it reverts back to normal. You can even use it in addition to my other potions as well." Hermione told them. "It doesn't change texture or length, only color."
"Great idea!" Luna said with a grin. "I have always wondered what I would look like with Weasley red hair!" She was fingering her blonde locks as she spoke and they all laughed.
"And I always wondered what I would look like with anything other than red hair," Ginny giggled.
"It's not like Tonks trick shampoo either; the only hair colors you're going to find are natural ones. No pink, green or blue." Hermione said and they all laughed before heading into the clothing stores in town.
"It works," Hermione barely whispered as they tested their final version of the anti-crucio potion. The rat had just stared at them when Severus performed the evil curse on it and the one suffering from after effects was completely normal after taking some of the potion. The two researchers just looked at each other with both amazement and relief. They had found a way to stop a second unforgivable curse!
"Now we have to have human testing," Severus told her quietly. "We have to make sure it will work on us as well as rats."
"Who do you suggest we ask to help us?" She asked not looking forward to having to test it on herself or any of her friends.
"We will mention it at the order meeting tonight. I hope to have someone volunteer. As much as I hate casting that curse on rats I would hate even more casting it on a person again. I will not do it unless they volunteer. I am hoping Moody or Tonks or ever Harry wouldn't mind helping." He told her. "They do have auror privileges."
They bottled 50 vials of the potion and carried them to the meeting in the ROR. They had discovered that if you required it you could summon a fireplace that they could floo to so no one was ever seen walking through the halls save those that should be at the castle. They discussed the battle plans first and it was unanimously decided to bring the final battle to Hogwarts.
"Severus and Hermione have completed their research for a cure to Crucio," Albus told them, which was met with wide enthusiastic applause. "Now before we congratulate them too much for this magnificent discovery they have a request to make."
"We need to test the potion on humans," Severus told them. "It has been extremely successful in our test rats and we have complete faith it will for humans. But without testing we cannot be sure."
"We need some testers to take the potion and then be subjected to the curse and see if they experience any of its effects. That is the easy part; the harder one is that we need a few people to subject themselves to the curse to see if the potion will help with the after effects as well." Hermione explained looking sympathetically at everyone gathered.
"I'll do it," Neville said while not taking his eyes off his parents and standing. "If this will prevent anyone else from growing up without their parents, then I will do anything you need." His parents look both petrified and proud at the same time.
"We'll do it too," Fred and George said nodding towards Hermione. "We subjected unsuspecting 1st years to worse things to test our products while we were in school. This is the least we can do to make up for it." George added with a smile at his mum.
"Who is willing to help us with the first test then?" Hermione asked them all. Ginny, Draco, Minerva and Kingsley all volunteered. Moody offered to perform the curses for them much to the relief of Severus who didn't want to show off how proficient he was at it in front of all the people who actually trusted him.
Minerva volunteered to go first and downed the potion; the other three did as well but waited their turn to be subjected to the curse. After two full minutes of the curse being on her she still felt nothing and Moody lifted it. Draco was next followed by Kingsley then Ginny and none of them had any effects. Draco volunteered to keep being tested to see how long the potion worked for. They kept testing him every 10 minutes and it wasn't until 2 and a half hours later that he even felt the first twitch of pain. They stopped the test after that.
Neville went first with the painful part of the testing. He told his parents not to look and sat himself on the floor first so that he would not fall and hurt himself more from the curse. Moody only left it on for 30 seconds but everyone in the room could hear his first whimpers then screams. Hermione rushed to his side the second Moody lifted the curse to administer the potion, Hannah and Poppy right behind to check him over. The potion worked perfectly. He went from gasping on the ground and twitching to smiling and telling his mum he was just fine.
Poppy and Hannah pronounced that he was in good health before allowing Fred and George their shot. They were under the curse for almost a minute before Molly yelled for it to stop and they were given the potion. The twins were unusually quiet after that but none the less in good health.
"It seems your potion is a success," Albus said as they all congratulated Hermione and Severus for their accomplishment. "I knew that if we got the two best potions minds I've ever seen together we could accomplish what has always been seen before as impossible."
"We will start brewing large quantities of the potion as soon as possible." Severus told them, "We will need another supply of vials."
"We'll get those for you," George told them. "No one ever suspects anything we buy; they just assume it's for another one of our products." He explained with a shrug.
"We'll charm them ourselves so you just need to make sure they are good quality glass," Hermione told them.
"What are you going to name this potion?" Ginny asked with a smile. She loved potions and hoped they would ask her to help brew the supply they would need for everyone.
"We haven't discussed that yet," Severus said allowing a small smile. "We were concentrating on getting it to work. Now we can sort out the details."
"With this second successful potion, it makes the two of you the most successful potions masters in the world," Gabrielle told them. "And Hermione isn't even a master yet. There is no one else who has even come close to accomplishing in a lifetime what you have achieved in less than a year."
"She is correct," Albus told them with a huge smile. "Thanks to your brilliance we will have an advantage that no one could ever suspect." Before they could call an impromptu party Severus excused them back to the lab.
"That was close," Hermione said with a laugh as they headed back down to the dungeons. "I was afraid they were all going to start singing our praises and shower us with gifts! Now we just need to sort out the rest of the details and get brewing!"