Hello everyone,
Unfortunately, FFNet seems to have a bit of a backlog and I can't read any of your comments *desperately crying*.
I really hope I'll be able to see them soon. I am also open for DMs if you want to leave me a line!
Although I have no idea how you liked chapter 6, I still decided to put up chapter 7 now. I hope people are happy with where the story is heading.
With that said, chapter 7 deals with some Charms and Potions theory. I hope the things I have outlined make sense. Let me know what you think of the approach!
And once again, I will reply to all your comments once I can see them. Please don't stop giving me feedback. I am so neeeeedy for it and it's literally the biggest motivator!
Thank you all and enjoy chapter 7!
XXX
Song Recommendation
MAYBE - BIRDY
As soon as Severus' feet hit the ground he felt incredibly unwell. He felt as if all life was drained out of him, as if he was only a corps. There was a numbness right under his sternum and it spread through his thorax, down is arms and legs. The woman next to him moved away and he grabbed her arm for stability.
She lured you into a trap you fool, she's not going to help you!
He grasped for his wand, but something was completely off. It didn't feel like anything, it was just like a normal stick of wood between his fingers. Something was wrong, something was terribly, terribly wrong.
He looked at her, his face contorted with murderous frenzy.
Hermione's eyes widened in shock at his sight.
"I am so…"
She didn't finish the sentence, but hastily pulled her wand out, swiftly flicking it at him and a slight tickling sensation seemed to run through his veins, replacing the numbness.
"I am so terribly, sorry! I should have -"
She couldn't finish her sentence again, because a spell shot out of Severus wand right into her direction and she had to block it. She looked at him terrified. His face were filled with rage. He rushed towards her, dangerously furious, and shot two more curses at her.
"Please, listen", Hermione begged him.
He stopped in his movements, but still had his wand pointed at her. When she submissively dropped hers to the floor he couldn't hide a surprised glint in his eyes. She slowly raised up her shaking hands. She was in mortal fear. He lowered his wand slightly.
"Take my wand", she said, her voice shaking.
He didn't. He didn't move at all. He tried to recollect himself, and noticed he felt perfectly alright again. No more numbness, but still a slight tickling in his fingers. He looked at her and her wand on the ground.
"Take it!", she suddenly screamed, sounding much more resolute, but the look of deathly terror still on her face.
He lowered his wand completely and took a few steps towards her to pick up her wand.
"Please, listen", she whispered, a pleading, horrified look in her eye. She was still afraid, her face was white as chalk. He didn't know what to do and she clearly didn't know what to say, he could see the thoughts racing behind her eyes.
"I should have apparated us onto the street outside, I am sorry for what you just experienced", she said slowly, calculating every word. "I have put rather strong wards onto this property, I guess you have just experienced a lack of magic."
It took him only a second to understand, but he still had to repeat it: "A lack of magic?"
She took a deep breath.
"Yes, you have been temporarily stripped of you magic via a charm that I have placed upon this property. You probably felt very uncomfortable and weak and -"
"I know what a lack of magic feels like", he snapped and she shut up immediately.
"Are you telling me you created a spell, that strips a witch or wizard of their magic?", he asked in an icy tone.
"I just use it to ward my parent's house against any magical danger. I didn't mean to -"
"Have you created this spell, Miss Granger?", he asked again with more vigour.
"Yes, sir."
His face fell. How could she possibly be capable of creating a spell like this.
"Don't call me that", he snapped at her. He put his wand away and he could hear her breathe out in relief.
"I am so sorry", she started again, letting her hands fall onto either side of her body. "I should have remembered. I just really didn't think of it anymore. It doesn't affect me, you see. Only other wiz-"
"It doesn't affect you?" He knew he sounded completely stupid, repeating everything she said, but he simply could not believe what she had done. He handed over her wand and she put it away.
"No, I worked on the spells for years to refine them like this. I am so sorry that I caused you such pain. I -"
"Would you shut up a moment?", he snarled and she immediately went silent looking like a beaten puppy.
"I believe you haven't registered this spell with the ministry?"
She looked ashamed. "No, I haven't."
"Does anybody else know of its existence?"
"Not directly. I have asked Filius on some advice on it at a very early stage. He wasn't too enthusiastic…", she went silent.
"I think you know, as well as I do, why that is." Snape looked at her but she didn't look back. "This is some rather dark magic. I haven't heard of a single instance where a spell like this was successfully created, or executed. If you were to register this, they would probably lock you up in Azkaban for creating another Unforgivable."
She looked deeply ashamed, but tried to defend herself.
"It is not that bad! Or is it?" She sounded horrified.
"No, it isn't", he replied truthfully. "It is neither painful nor unbearable. But stripping a wizard or witch of their magic is breaking fundamental law."
"It is intended to only stop those with bad intentions in the first place. Only stop them, not cause them any significant harm", she argued.
"You're wandering the legal limbo. This is a very dark grey area."
"A lot of magic is very dark grey", she said defiantly.
He knew she had a point, and he knew she wasn't bad at heart. But he was shocked to discover not only the extent of her ability, but also the way she decided to use it.
"Who would have thought the rule abiding Gryffindor Princess would ever start wandering off to the dark side."
He tried to make a snide remark, but it lacked its usual venom.
"People change, you should know that", she said coolly. "And not everyone changes for the better."
He regarded her for a moment. He could tell there was immense pain and sadness in her eyes. She was so easy to read.
"You don't have it in you. Badness", he said matter-of-factly. "You couldn't do bad things. This charm is the best proof. If you can create a charm like that, you can also easily create something truly bad. Which you don't have the guts for."
Her expression changed instantly, but not for the better. Her face went blank and her eyes cold.
"I would kill for the people I love."
There was no need to question her statement, he could feel she meant it. They stared at one another for a few moments and he felt like he had learnt a lot about Hermione Granger in that moment.
He wondered how she managed to make him feel so calm, although she was like a trembling volcano herself. Sleeping calmly under the surface, but having destroying qualities when triggered.
Why he even thought that, he didn't know. He didn't care about knowing anything about anyone. But for some reason he found her extremely interesting, on an intellectual and platonic level. He decided to let this thought rest for now and broke their eye contact by taking in his surroundings.
They stood in a garden. It was rather wild with flowers and bushes growing everywhere, but it had charm. The sun was standing low, but hadn't quite started to set yet, and it tinted the surroundings in a warm orange.
He looked at Hermione who was watching him. Her eyes still glinted slightly with the past turmoil, but her face had its colour back making her cheeks rosy. The sun was reflecting in her warm chocolate eyes and stray strands of golden brown locks had escaped her bun, framing her slightly freckled face. She looked lovely and he wondered how he deserved to be in her company.
Why did she talk to him, why did she willingly spend time with him? Severus enjoyed their academic discussions, and hoped she did too. He didn't mind having somebody to talk to, especially if they liked the same things he liked.
He put on his bored expression and straightened his back.
What a ridiculous thought.
"Care to elaborate your thoughts on the Homorphus charm?" he asked her. Her relieved and warm smile tucked oddly somewhere in is chest.
"Let me get us some drinks and snacks first", she replied happily and headed towards the back door. He followed her, inspecting the house and the garden. It was a lovely place and he thought the Grangers had to be rather wealthy to afford it.
"Please sit down", she said when she came back out carrying a jug of something. She noticed his glance and placed the drink on the table.
"I don't have wine or anything, but I made this lemonade yesterday."
She gestured towards the table telling him to take a seat. A moment later she came back with a basket full of bread and a cheeseboard. He waited for her to settle down and they began talking whilst they ate.
"I believe Tremeau's theory of dissecting the Homorphus spell and picking out the transfiguring components is very well thought through", she started. "However, I think the reason why she is not progressing past the theory is the same reason why you can't use her research results on your potions."
"I can't use her research on the potions, because I need something practical to apply to it. She just needs to find an opportunity to turn her theory into practice", he explained to her.
"And I think, that will never happen. Not because there is no opportunity, but because it is approached in the wrong way", she said.
He raised an eyebrow in question and buttered a slice of bread.
"You obviously know that the Homorphus charm is transfiguring a werewolf back into a human temporarily…"
"Thank you for giving me that much credit", he sneered sarcastically.
"… and that is exactly where the mistake is being made."
She leaned back and examined him. He furrowed his brows. Did she dare question his knowledge?
"Lycanthropy is a curse", she simply stated.
He thought about this for a moment but couldn't work out what she was trying to say.
"Explain", he ordered and she smiled excitedly.
"The Homorphus charm is a charm, not a transfiguration. Yes, its effects are close to a transfiguration spell and that is why most wizards approach it as such. And whilst that doesn't drastically influence the effectiveness of the actual spell, it is essential if one tries to understand the spell. If the Homorphus is supposed to counteract a curse, is has to be a charm."
He was absolutely stunned. It made perfect sense. He thought about it and then said: "The Homorphus charm doesn't break the curse, but it counters it temporarily. It's a counter curse not a transfiguration."
"Correct. And if you dissect it on that basis, it should be possible to apply the counter curse components to a potion. There is a reason why it is called a charm, you can't just treat it like a transfiguration, even though it might appear to be one."
She jumped up from her chair and ran into the house.
Severus thought about what she said and he suddenly had an incredible thought. Right in that moment Hermione came back with papers and pens.
"I need to write this down", she mumbled and started scribbling onto some paper.
"If one could apply the charm work to a potion, it could potentially be optimised in a way to extend its effectiveness", he said and she scribbled away.
He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen himself and wrote down some quick ideas about calculations and methods that came into his mind.
They sat like that for a good few hours, discussing and writing ideas down. It was exciting, exhilarating and frustrating at the same time. But they eventually came to a dead end.
Hermione uttered a distraught groan and threw her pen onto the table. Severus gave up shortly afterwards and rubbed his eyes. It was rather late now and the night was pitch black, the only light coming from inside the house.
Severus suddenly realised that if he left now, he had no more reason to see her again. There were no more talks to attend and therefore she wouldn't come to Arraxy in the morning to pick up coffee and a pastry in the bakery.
"When did you say your parents will join you here?", he asked casually, trying to hide his chagrin.
"They should be arriving around noon on Monday."
"Any plans?"
She shook her head. They were silent again for another while, and he wondered if she was thinking the same as he was. He wondered if she wanted to see him again, talk to him again. Why would she? She's probably happy that the week is over and she'll be perfectly content spending the next week with her parents.
He stood up and picked up the notes he made.
"It's late. Thank you for the invitation", he said sincerely, but coolly.
She looked at him confused. "Oh, erm… no problem at all."
"Will I just disapparate from over there?" He pointed at the corner that they had landed in hours earlier.
"Erm… yes, sure."
He nearly ran towards the corner. He suddenly felt a rush of anger. Why was he so upset? Just because he enjoyed a couple of conversation with bloody know-it-all Granger didn't mean he needed to have them every day from now on.
But you like it, and you want it.
"Sev-… I mean, wait!", she sputtered.
He turned around to her, feeling rather excited on the inside, but showing nothing but indifference on the outside.
"Maybe, erm…" She was nervous and he could tell. Stupid Gryffindor trait. "Maybe we could discuss some of this…" She waved the papers in her hand. "I mean, I always find that sleeping a night over something helps me refocus and find new ideas and… well, maybe, if you like, we could have another look at it sometime soon."
He nearly smiled at her, but restrained himself. "That would be acceptable", he said.
A faint grin adorned her face and she got up to accompany him to the apparition point. He threw her a quick glance and then looked into the distance.
"Severus will do, if you like."
It triggered one of those moments, where her face went through multiple emotions in three seconds. First she looked stunned, then tender (he nearly didn't believe his own eyes for that one), and finally happy.
"And Hermione will do, too", she replied. "I'll see you … soon then?", she carefully asked.
"I shall send you a letter, once I had time to think through some of it."
"Alright, then. Goodnight."
He inclined his head in reply and she smiled at him. It was the last thing he saw before he disapparated.
Hermione spent all of Friday lounging in the garden, reading a book and writing down some ideas that she had regarding the Homorphus Charm. She didn't really get anywhere though, and decided to give it a break and go to Paris on Saturday. She apparated to the café she and Severus used to have lunch at and had a look around some of the shops.
First, she browsed a stationary shop and got herself a high-quality quill and some lovely brown ink. She would use it to correct student's essays at Hogwarts, and she thought brown looked less aggressive than red or black.
She also couldn't resist getting herself two new set of robes in a fancy boutique. The first ones would be her new teaching robes. They were more like a dress, made of a sturdy material and with a stand up collar, but they were open in the front from the waist downwards and she would need to wear trousers with them. They were very dark purple and had only a few golden details around the button holes and on the cuffs. She'd look professional, but would be able be moving around comfortably in them, due to the open front. They were traditional, but had a modern twist to them and she just simply thought that they were perfect.
The second set she bought were new dress robes, and they reminded her of something a Roman empress would wear. She didn't want to buy them at first, but she thought it was time to splurge a little bit. The gown was of a very dark crimson red; she did not want to appear biased in a professional capacity, but at an event that required dress robes, she certainly would do her house pride some justice. It was full-length and had a boat neck collar that was nearly off shoulder, but not quite. A cape was falling down the back and was fastened around the shoulders with a golden chain. The fabric was as sturdy as that of her teaching robes, but the cape had the additional feature that it looked like dragon scales. Hermione felt extremely regal in it and she thought she would probably never wear it.
After all that girly shopping she decided to head into muggle Paris and do some typical touristy things. She went to the Louvre and spent most of her afternoon in there.
All in all, she had a very enjoyable day and that was only made better by George waiting for her on the balcony handrail when she came home. His feathers looked like a mix of silver and gold in the setting sun.
"Hello, old friend. Long time no see."
She walked up the external steps to the balcony and entered the house through the bedroom door. After she dropped her shopping bags on the bed, she went downstairs to get some nectarines. However, George would not even look at them.
"I am sorry, I really don't know what to give you."
She sighed and ate the fruit herself. She opened the letter that was on the table.
Hermione,
I will start brewing a new batch of the wolfsbane potion on Sunday. You might find it helpful for your Charms research and if you like, you can come and observe the brewing process. The first stage of brewing takes four hours. Let me know if you are interested, and I shall plan to start after noon.
S
Hermione loved the idea and told Severus exactly that in a short note, also telling him to expect her on Sunday at noon exactly. She handed the note to George who took off with no further fuss.
Full of new motivation she went downstairs and sat down at the kitchen table, spread all her notes around her and started working again. She would even occasionally google some chemical reactions that she wasn't sure about. She might ask Severus about some of those. She knew muggle chemistry did not always apply to potion making, but she had a hunch that some of the ones she was looking at would be good to know for the wolfsbane potion and specifically its confluence with Charms.
She spent the rest of her evening hunched over her notes, eating some cheese and bread and later on she decided to eat the chocolate mousse she had bought for her parents. She would simply get them some more, because she really needed that sugar boost.
It was two in the morning by the time she went to bed and sleep came easily after such a long day.
She woke up at half past ten and was happy with her natural timing. The balcony door was open and she could tell it was going to be an extremely hot day. She had some breakfast before taking a shower, and decided to put on a light floaty summer dress to battle the heat. Then she grabbed all her papers, jammed them into a notebook, shoved it into her bag and apparated to Arraxy.
It was quarter to twelve and she went to get some coffee before entering the pharmacy at exactly noon.
The young man behind the till nodded his head towards the door that led into the work room.
"Septimus said he is expecting you. Head in, he's in there."
"Thanks, erm… what was your name again? I am Hermione."
"Jerome. Pleased to meet you, Hermione."
They smiled friendly at one another and she walked past him into the work room. Severus stood with his back to her, stretching up to reach a box that was stored at the very top of a shelf.
"I presume these must be very delicate ingredients, or you would just swish and flick your wand?", she greeted him.
He turned around and threw a ghastly glance at her. Then he pulled out his wand and deliberately emphasised the wand movement to levitate the box of the shelf.
"Why are you dislocating your joints to get to that box?", she laughed.
She had decided, that his expressions were most of the time a way to cover up what he really thought, and therefore she didn't pay much attention to his growl.
"I am stuck in this room twenty-four hours seven days a week. I'd rather dislocate my joints than get rusty."
He looked at her annoyed.
"Well, one also needs to regularly practice one's wand movements, or your charm work will get rusty just as quickly, if not even quicker!" She said it a lecturing tone and walked over to his desk to place her bag on a chair.
"I never thought I would say this…", he contorted his face in disgust, "… but I would love to be teaching at Hogwarts again, just to see you bossing around those dim-wits like that."
She scrunched up her nose at him and took a sip of her coffee.
"Luna always says that in every joke there is an ounce of truth", she said and looked at him curiously.
"What is that supposed to mean?", he asked irritated.
She just shrugged her shoulders and turned away from him so hide a complacent grin. She was pretty sure she'd hit right on the button, but wouldn't dwell on it for now.
"Would you like me to assist you with anything?", she asked.
"No."
She wasn't very upset about it, but she would have loved to do something and couldn't hide a small pout. He sighed pointedly and joined her at the work desk.
"I suppose you can cut some of the ingredients, if otherwise I have to deal with your immature sulkiness for the rest of the afternoon. This is a very complicated potion in its original state. I have simplified many of the steps, but my developed version still needs the highest level of accuracy. If incorrectly concocted, the effects are disastrous. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." It was pure reflex and she immediately apologised. "Sorry. Yes."
He scoffed at her purely by the means of a glance.
"You will do exactly as I say at any given point. You will not be able to leave this room for four hours once we start."
She nodded.
"If I say don't breath, you won't breath. If I say clap your hands three times, you will do so."
"Yes."
"Turn around."
She did.
"Turn back."
She did, and when she looked at him again she saw a mischievous grin on his face. She hit him on the arm, ignoring the shocked look that gesture conjured on his face.
"Would you not do that! I am trying to prove myself worthy!"
The expression faded from his face, but left the shadow of a smile on his lips.
"You don't need to prove yourself worthy. I wouldn't have asked you to come, if I didn't think you capable enough." He then sneered at her: "And you're not brewing anyway, every other dunderhead can chop ingredients according to instructions."
She raised an eyebrow, not realising how much she imitated him.
"You really lowered your standards then, if every other dunderhead is suddenly good enough to be your minion."
"Life is rarely perfect", he lamented theatrically, then he rolled his sleeves up and took out all sorts of potions utensils. "Close the door, dim the light and start powdering these dried dittany leaves as finely as possible."
She had noticed the absence of the Dark Mark but immediately turned away to hide her face and to do as she was told. She closed the door and darkened the room with a flick of her wand. When she started working on the dittany leaves, he began quizzing her on everything they did.
"Why did you close the door and dim the light?", he asked.
"The temperature in the room needs to be controllable at all times and we want to minimise draught and air exchange", she answered.
"And the light?"
She had to think about this a little while.
"The full recipe has never been disclosed, but as far as I know, the original one does not specify when the wolfsbane has to be collected, it only says at moonlight, or the potion has to be bathed in moonlight. My guess is, that you changed this detail and that there now is an indication as to when in the moon circle the plant has to be harvested", she explained her thought-process. "To preserve the moon magic, it seems only logical that other sources of natural light would influence the transformational magic of the moonlight."
He nodded in approval.
"Take a quarter of an ounce from the dittany powder and put it in a separate vial. Then squish one valerian root in a bowl and mix it with one vial of the chamomile extract. Cover the bowl with a large mandrake leave."
He gave the instructions without taking his eye of the cauldron and she made haste to follow them.
They were about one and a half hours into the brewing process, and it started to get very hot in the room. Hermione had tied her hair up, but single strands were sticking to her face. She paid close attention to Severus's every move and saw that he was just as hot.
His hair looked extremely greasy and she wondered for a second, if they had done him injustice all those years by calling him a greasy git. Not that she had ever called him that! But she now understood that it was probably impossible to not look greasy if one had to spend the majority of one's day in a potions lab.
He seemed to notice that her thoughts were straying and started asking questions again.
"When do I harvest the wolfsbane?"
She sat down on a high chair and brushed the hair off her sticky face, thinking about his question.
"Think loudly", he ordered brusquely.
"The moon is associated with the concept of transfiguration due to its phases. The moon is also directly linked to the human mind and I remember having read, that the human mind and emotions peak during full-moon. The aim of the original wolfsbane potion is to retain the human senses and mind during the transformation and possibly aid as a tranquiliser. This would indicate, that for the original potion the wolfsbane would preferably be harvested at full-moon."
She looked at him for a sign of approval or disapproval, but he simply continued brewing. It looked incredibly complicated. He added some ingredient bit by bit in a steady rhythm, whilst stirring the potion in a different rhythm. She continued her elaborations.
"Harvesting the wolfsbane at full-moon is a very obvious choice and I guess, that in order to achieve a significant change of effect in the potion, a different harvesting process would be necessary. I can't think of a way, where both the transformational moon magic and the peak full-moon magic are ensured to affect the potion."
She looked at him again and didn't say anymore, hoping he would explain. He did so once he had finished adding the ingredient and was only stirring for a while.
"Picking the wolfsbane during the waning moon phase, preferably during the third quarter of the moon and before the final waning quarter moon phase, ensures that highest transformational magic is retained in the plant. The plant then should be dried and put outside during the full moon to absorb the full-moon magic qualities."
Hermione looked at Severus, but her eyes were unseeing. He noticed her strange expression, and when she started speaking, her voice had a timid I-have-a-thought sound, that he didn't know from her. She usually just recited from books, and he wondered if this meant that she had an actual original, intelligent thought.
"What if one tried to obtain the full transformation quality of the waning moon to the point of new moon and applied that to the potion."
"Write it down", he ordered harshly.
She jumped up and found paper and pen. They both knew this was an interesting and substantial idea, and could be of good use at some point. She started scribbling away whilst Severus carefully added the valerian root and chamomile mix to the potion. He was nearly done with the first part of brewing and concentrated on the last heat adjustments and stirring rhythms whilst Hermione tried to work out a way to capture the magic of half a moon phase.
Once he was done, he cleaned his utensils and put a shield charm around the cauldron. He stood next to Hermione and looked over her shoulder to read her notes, whilst cleaning his hands on a towel.
He stood extremely close to her and she could smell him. He stank.
She knew that the wolfsbane plant had a particular smell and many of the herbs they had used had strong odour, but he also just smelt like a sweaty Potions master. She tried to move away a tiny bit and noticed that her own legs were sticking to the chair. She probably didn't smell much better herself, she thought, snorting quietly.
He didn't pay her much attention and picked up her sheets, carefully reading what she had written down and muttering under his breath. His pacing made her nervous and she started to explain some of the things she had thought about.
"I am not sure how feasible it is, to collect wolfsbane on each night of one moon phase and combine it in a potion. I am concerned that one magical effect might cancel out the other, rendering the potion useless."
He scratched his chin and played with his beard. It was oddly endearing. Then he sat down next to her and explained: "I think it is worth a try, the worst case scenario is in fact ineffectiveness. There is a small chance of magical overactivity, but I doubt it."
"I have printed out a number of relevant chemical reactions, that you might be interested in."
She fished the papers out of her handbag and handed them to him. He eyed them sceptically, and she remembered he probably didn't know the concept of a muggle printer.
"Do you think, if one can capture the full magical cycle, one can apply it wholly to the potion?", she asked.
He understood her question and answered: "There is no cure for lycanthropy."
"Not yet." She shrugged her shoulders.
"It is rather insolent to assume this could become a cure", he chastised her.
"Wizarding-kind or humankind would have never made great discoveries if they hadn't dared to aim high and dream big."
He had a deadpan look on his face as he considered her for a moment. Then he said: "The potion has to rest now for thirty-six hours. I shall be starting the second phase on Tuesday at four in the morning. I don't expect you to join me that early."
She smiled at him and collected her things.
"Open the back door for me, I shall be here." Before she left the room, she turned back to him and grinned. "I have been given a problem to solve now."
He waved her off annoyed, but secretly he was inspired and motivated by her ambition. He knew it was practically impossible to create a cure for lycanthropy, but there was still huge room for improvement in his potion.
Once she had left, he immediately sat down with a pen and notebook and went through her chemistry papers, her notes on moon phases and transfiguration magic, and he didn't stop working until he fell asleep in the early morning hours.