As soon as George stepped into the room, he was hit with a whiff of fresh bacon, new leather, and some sort of flowery scent he had smelled before but didn't know what it was. He looked in the direction of the smell to see a glowing fountain in the middle of what otherwise looked like a potions lab with some equipment that he didn't recognize. George, however, was focused on the fountain. "Why do you have a fountain of amortentia in here?"
Thea rolled her eyes. "The ministry used to study the effects of amortentia on people as if that would tell them the effects of love. Ever since I came here though we've changed tactics. I've been working with the University of Cambridge on scientific studies to determine the effects of love-things like how Lily Potter's sacrifice created sacrificial protection for Harry, and how Harry's sacrifice at the end of the war protected everyone else."
George blinked at her, clearly confused. "And how exactly does science relate to magic?"
"Well, science and magic are intertwined. It's easiest to see with potions...or with joke shop products." Thea offered him a small smile. "While there's a chemical formula to achieve the desired effect with a potion..."
"Or joke product," George interrupted her, grinning.
Thea chuckled. "Yes, or joke product."
"But there's no chemical formula for love," George pointed out, serious now, because he really wanted to understand.
"Well, yes, and no," said Thea. "You can't create love in a test tube-I mean, amortentia is about as close as you can get to that, but that's not real love-it's just a cheap manufacturing of it. What you can do is measure brain waves, measure chemicals in the brain-dopamine, serotonin...and use those to understand the scientific basis of love. That can give you a chemical formula. Right now, it does little more than explain what love looks like in the brain, but my hope is that once we understand how it works, we'll be able to harness it."
"Okay, that all makes sense," said George, nodding along with her. He had never heard of dopamine or serotonin, but he didn't doubt that she knew what she was talking about. "What doesn't make sense is what that has to do with magic."
Thea nodded. "Well, the more we understand about the science, the more we can use that to understand how the magic works. Magic doesn't work independent of science and vice-versa." She shook her head. "It's hard to explain."
"Yeah, I got that." But she clearly had an understanding of the magic of love...did that mean that she understood the magic of death, the mysteries that Liam was trying to solve? George looked over at her hopefully, but before he could voice his question, she was turning away from him.
"Liam can't bring Fred back," she said softly.
"But could you?" George pleaded desperately. She knew more about this than anyone he knew...if there was any hope, any hope at all, she would be the one who could give it to him.
Thea turned toward him, shaking her head and planting her hands on the table, palms down. "No. No one can because life and death aren't things that we should be messing with. There are consequences when you mess with the grand design."
"But in theory..." She had to know something. He knew that Liam was a fraud and an idiot, but Thea knew what she was talking about-she understood the science of it, the magic...
Thea didn't say anything at first, but turned to face him and closed the distance between them. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug. "I'm sorry about what happened to your brother," she whispered.
It was like a dam breaking. Two-years-worth of grief came pouring out, and all George could do was cling to Thea like a life raft in the middle of a flash flood.
He didn't know how long he stood there crying on Thea's shoulder, but finally, he came back to himself and pulled back, noticing as he did, that flowery scent again. While the scent from the amortentia had been overwhelming—this was subtle and seemed to be coming from Thea's hair.
George blinked, turning his focus back to Thea. "Sorry. I don't know where that came from." He wasn't one for huge displays of emotion like that. In fact, he had barely cried after Fred had died. What was it about her that all of a sudden seemed to bring everything up again?
Thea shook her head. "It's all right. Do you at least feel a little better?"
"Surprisingly, yes," said George. "Even so, I didn't mean to fall apart on you. Does Liam believe our act?" he asked, quickly changing the subject. His grief over Fred was not something he wanted to discuss right now, and somehow; he didn't think that Thea wanted to know that the flowery scent from the amortentia was the scent of her hair. She had enough things to worry about.
"Yes," said Thea. "He thinks he can take you for every penny you've got and then some." She glanced toward the door. "We should probably get back out there though."
George nodded and started to follow her in that direction. She pulled out her wand to unlock it, and George grabbed her arm to stop her for a moment. "Thea? Thank you for listening. Even though you can't bring him back, you were still there for me, and I won't forget that."
Thea offered him a small smile. "Of course."
And then they continued out the door, so they could head out to see the demonstration.