"Hermione, take a break! You're overworking yourself again!" Hermione groaned when she heard Harry repeat those words. She waved her hand at him without lifting her head from her stack of papers. Writing her signature on the bottom of the page and folding it neatly into her drawer. She looked up at her fellow Ministry worker.
"Harry, I can't just take a break from being Minister." She let her hands fly in exaggeration. "And trust me, this is nothing compared to last week!" She pointed to the five stacks of paper in the corner that had yet to be looked at.
Harry looked in disbelief at the papers and his friend. Five stacks the size of his three-year-old child was nothing? He wanted to slap himself in the head. "Where's your assistant? Or the Junior Scribe?" He asked expectantly. "They could be doing this for you instead and sorting what is important and what isn't."
"Can't be trusted after the incident five weeks ago."
"Right... Well, it's almost time you get off so we'll go get lunch at the Leaky."
Hermione groaned and muttered a profanity under her breath. "Harry I'm not in the mood for that dreary place."
"Fine! I'll go pick up something from the Leaky, and then we'll go see the twins since you're in such a dreary mood then." And with that, he left before Hermione could object. She gripped her quill tightly and snapped it in frustration, accidentally causing her inkwell to burst, ink dripping out of the broken glass.
"You know what, maybe he's right... I really am in a bad mood." She mumbled to herself, looking at the mess her accidental magic had just caused. She decided, after cleaning up her mess, that she would just lock up and leave—something that was very odd for her to do—and perhaps get a good laugh from the twins would make her mood better. She was never upset when she left their place.
It hadn't taken long for Harry to abandon Hermione at the Twin's shop just after closing time. By the time that she had turned around, he had disappeared and she was left in the presence of the one and only Fred Weasley in the shop's backroom in front of a boiling cauldron of oddly threatening purple goop.
"Hermione, I thought I might take a pick at your brain for a bit, would you mind?" Fred asked her after dinner, leaving George and Harry to chat.
Hermione raised a brow at the twin. "What is this about exactly?" She asked cautiously. "This isn't about that hypothetical scenario you asked about last week is it?"
He laughed and quickly answered no. "Purely hypothetical."
"If you say so, because, and I will not repeat myself anymore, a demiguise is not a house pet and you are forbidden to own one." She told him. As he was about to open his mouth, she continued. "And demiguise fur is a Class-A non-tradeable material." Seeing him laugh after she said these words told her that it definitely wasn't this subject then and she smiled. "Now, what is it you'd like to pick my brain for?" she joked as he led her down to the backroom of the shop.
"George and I have been tinkering with a potion and I need someone's opinion, and seeing that you actually have a mastery, we thought we'd ask you." He explained, opening the door. Immediately, the smell of gunpowder wafter into her nose. Her eyes quickly scanned over the area, taking in the cauldron of simmering purple liquid, the table with various ingredients, and the scorch marks that stained the walls almost permanently. "We've been working with some... things that are in a certain love potion"
"Amortentia?"
"Yes, but, we're trying to make it so that only those who hold mutual feelings of interest are affected. Say... to bring up their feelings to light in a way." He said hesitantly as he sprinkled in some mint into the cauldron and swirled the concoction counter-clockwise twice and looking back to Hermione.
"It's a good idea, great actually." She commented, taking a seat on the chair nearby. "But you seem to know what you're doing. What do you need me for?"
"Well, we're using an ingredient we're inexperienced with." He held up a glowing egg in his hands and Hermione immediately stood up.
"Where did you get a Smoke-Stinger egg from, Frederick?" She asked harshly. Such ingredients were prohibited and were closely guarded. To even get access to one was unthinkable, the amount of galleons it would cost would be only possible for the Blacks or the Malfoys to her knowledge. But for the twins to have one, she was now curious.
"Good try." He told her before safely storing it back into a metal box beneath the table and sealing it closed. "Had to pull a few strings to get one."
"Strings my arse, this can and will get you in Azkaban if you're caught." She told him. "Now tell me why you needed this?"
"Well, its properties are legendary."
Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes. "If you mean revolting, then yes, they are legendary."
"The potion needs to go into the psych of the person to pull any possible romantic feelings and this is the only ingredient we found that was compatible with the others without blowing everything up." He explained. Hermione looked at him in disbelief and back at the potion.
"This is severely illegal Fred! Do you understand this?"
"What part of this is?" He challenged her. She studied his expression, and she found that perhaps he had read the laws surrounding the ingredients and he knew what they said. "Go on, tell me."
"Do you understand what part of the psych this goes to?" She asked. "This connects two people together! There's a reason this is a non-tradeable material. It causes magical bonds!" she watched his face fall briefly. "This was used in an attempt to forcibly bond two people who were unwilling to stay together by being put in their food and drinks. This is illegal Fred." Fred stayed quiet as Hermione finished letting off steam. Hermione continued despite the whizzing sound of the potion beside her. "And in Section 45 of the Wizard's Law, it clearly stated that forcing a bond on two unwilling participants will get you charged with 15 years in Azkaban, for each couple affected." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply before extending her hand. "I'll be taking the egg and disposing of it through the proper channels." She felt a rock drop in her stomach at the blood draining from Fred's face at the mention of the lesser-known details of the rare ingredient. His eyes held much panic, his eyebrows raising high and eyes widening as largely as they possibly could.
It took a few seconds before Fred slid out the ingredient box and held it securely in his hands. "Then... What will happen to us?" He inquired, expression pale as a sheet at the description that he'd just received. The wizard who had gotten him the egg had clearly lied to him and he was not looking for a possible lifetime in Azkaban.
She smoothed her hair back from the frantic frizz that had appeared and she sighed. "I'll assure you're never suspected or asked about this event, your name and George's will never be mentioned or referenced." She stated, only to add at the end. "Only if this never happens again. You clearly didn't know and I would hate to see you placed in Auror Custody for something this severe." she explained. "You must promise me this is the only egg you have." Fred immediately nodded and passed her the secured metal box almost instantly.
"I don't want any part of this then." Hermione shrunk the box and slipped it into her jacket pocket while Fred retreated back to the potion, lowering the heat and covering it up. Then Hermione thought of something.
"You said it was the only ingredient that kept everything from blowing up."
"Correct."
"Why isn't it blowing up right now?" Hermione asked as Fred stepped away from the cauldron.
"That's why I lowered the heat, so it doesn't do that."
"As a Potions' Master, I can tell you right now that it will explode regardless of reducing the heat." As if on queue to prove Fred wrong, the sound of violent bubbling could be heard from beneath the lid. And suddenly, all the sounds stopped.
"See, it's all fine." The lid immediately blew off, splattering the hot purple liquid everywhere as the two quickly dove behind the table away from the large splatters of hot potion. They hid behind the table for a few moments until they could no longer see flying droplets or hear the bubbling from the cauldron and soon came out to half the cauldron having disappeared, its contents everywhere.
" See, it's all fine. " She mocked his voice and made a grimace as they turned the burner off completely and got the separate vials away from the shattered ones. "It better be fine after all this." And in a huge pop from the very bottom of the cauldron, half the potion popped up once again without warning and coated Fred and Hermione once again. Both adults glared at the potion as it wheezed out a low whistle and settled peacefully at the bottom of the cauldron.
"Now it is!"
"Don't you jinx it!"