"Harry." Hermione called from the potions room down to the foyer where she heard the front door. She waited for his footsteps to get to her landing before she continued, knowing he could hear her. "I can't find anywhere in Wizarding texts where wizards use non magical plants or muggle remedy ingredients to create potions."
"I guess. I know I bought lavender and rose oil; eel eyes are non magical. I'm sure there are uses." Harry leaned against the door frame to avoid the static from the magic in the air because his hair was rowdy enough already.
"But what about mint? Or Lemon grass? All the herbal medicines of the world where our ingredients just replace them. There's all the things so many cultures use as teas and everything and it works! I wonder what it would be like if I tried to make potions with them." Hermione was excited now, it was something new and within her grasp because she had muggle money she sometimes allowed her parents to give her and she could buy those without feeling like she was getting sub par ingredients.
"Okay, so did you want to head to the market?" Harry scratched his chin as he thought; Hermione could see he was tired.
"I can go alone, I have money saved up." Hermione patted her ever present beaded purse and smiled. "You should rest."
"I was going to ask you if you wanted to come to Diagon Alley with me." Harry smiled, trying to reassure her that he wasn't too tired. Hermione lit up at the suggestion and then frowned a little. He was pushing himself.
"Oh! I can restock your ingredients!" She hesitated, even as Harry smiled at her. "I don't have to go if you can put it off. Is it important?" Hermione tried to deflect. Harry had a knack of being so selfless sometimes, he'd look like a dead man walking.
"Hermione, let's just go." Harry half laughed and made a sweeping motion with his arm out to the door. "No, don't say I look tired, this is how I always look."
Hermione groaned and lifted herself to her feet and felt her bones ache from her repeated movements of bending over a cauldron and her notes all day. She would have to start taking walks again, she felt like she was twenty years older than her age.
Grabbing her beaded purse, she followed Harry to the front door and they walked to the bus stop. They didn't apparate to the muggle market, Harry and Hermione took the bus. Sometimes, it grounded them back to the muggle world and made them feel at home, simply because of nostalgia.
"What's at Diagon Alley?" Hermione asked as she watched the blur of green go by the window. It was overcast today, all the colours were muted as though the sky had leaked their grey into otherwise vibrant colours.
"Bill needed my thoughts on something." Harry said unintentionally vaguely because he had his eyes closed and gave Hermione the impression he was running on a power saving mode.
"We could probably split up then? Get you home sooner?"
Harry grunted. Hermione smiled and resumed her gaze to the outside world. A slight drizzle dotted the glass and she watched as the world refracted in tiny upside down spheres until she heard their stop and woke him. The market was not busy as it was the middle of the week.
She made short work of finding herbs and spices, and Harry picked through apples and fruit to purchase. After finding enough muggle money without calling it to her hand in the bag (because magic surrounded by muggles was a terrible idea), they walked to the nearby park to get to the designated apparition point. They couldn't muggle bus to Diagon Alley, and neither one of them wanted to take the Knight Bus.
With the freshly bought ingredients stuffed safely in her bag, she grasped onto Harry's elbow and felt the sharp tug behind her navel as they whipped away and landed at Diagon Alley. It didn't take long for people to stare at them as they walked together. Hermione ignored it as best she could but admired Harry for seeming completely unbothered. He was so used to it.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked, realising she was walking with him but with no sense of purpose of her own. She wanted to go to the apothecary, which was in the direction they were currently headed. But Harry had said he was going to meet Bill.
"Joke Shop." Harry said shortly. Hermione froze and he stopped walking. "I was going to suggest we split. You get the things at the apothecary- on me, of course- and maybe go to the library? Research the muggle ingredients."
"Yea, I'll go do that." Hermione squeezed his arm.
"Sorry, I should have mentioned." Harry gave her a wary smile.
"It's fine, I'd have wanted to go to the library anyway." She smiled reassuringly at him and took his arm again. The library was near the joke shop and only a few stores away from the apothecary.
"I'll tell them you said 'hey'?" Harry hesitated at the door before Hermione nodded, they waved and she disappeared into the apothecary.
Using her mental notes and stock of potions already on the go, Hermione gathered ingredients to restock for the potions room keeping within the budget of the few Galleons Harry had left with her. She still felt guilt, spending his money on things she would use, but she knew it was how he expressed his love for her.
It was on her way to the cashier as she was awkwardly balancing everything against her chest in a tangle of fingers that she almost dropped everything.
"Hermione, let me help-"
Hermione's head whipped up and met Zabini's imposing figure. She didn't have to look around to know he was alone. His tone was urgent and quiet. He had followed her. She didn't let him help, instead she stared steadily at him.
When he said nothing she cocked her head to the side, "You wanted a chance to explain, I assume this is it?"
Relief bloomed across his face and he half gestured at her overladen arms before she allowed him to take some ingredients from her.
"Listen, I was told to back away from Gin, okay?" Hermione listened to him and his eyes had gone a little sad. "I really liked her, and honestly I'd love to remain friends. But, I was told to back off."
"By who?" Hermione asked quickly, only half shocked by the news. It would explain his quick departure and far destination.
"He's going to kill me." Zabini groaned and swiped his hand across his face. "He said Gin was still hung up on Potter, and I swear, I was willing to wait. But he's loyal, Hermione. It took a bit of convincing and I thought the best way to end the -" he hesitated, "-the relationship, was a clean break."
"You hurt her, you know." Hermione heard what he was saying and she knew who the he was, but she couldn't make sense of it. He was protecting Zabini? "Malfoy, right? He's who convinced you to break it off?"
"Fuck- sorry- yea. Yea, but you can't tell him you know. You can't tell him I told you. I don't think he wanted you to know, or something." Zabini rambled a bit and Hermione felt sympathy flow forward. She hated him for hurting Ginny, but that hate was being redirected quickly now toward none other than Draco Malfoy.
"I'm going to kill him when I see him." Hermione said politely. The colour drained from Zabini's face.
"No, no, no. You can't tell him I've said anything. Or that you know. I just need Gin not to hate me." Zabini looked desperate.
"Are you afraid of Malfoy?" Hermione asked, curiosity drove her to ask because he wasn't acting afraid of Malfoy, but he was acting afraid.
"Hermione. He was there after the war. He's my best mate. I'll do anything for him. If he knew what I've told you, I'd hurt not only Gin, but him too. I can't hurt him."
Hermione softened. "I won't mention it if I ever see him. But I can still hate him freely, can't I?" She gave him a sly smile and started placing things on the countertop at the cashier. The witch was clicking her tongue impatiently, and Hermione ignored her. Zabini helped and she slid the Galleons across the counter, waited for a Sickle and a Knut in change before she fit them into her beaded purse. Zabini watched everything in fascination.
"Should I ask what else you have in there?"
"Everything, and none of your business." Hermione smiled widely. Zabini was very charming, and his company was never unpleasant. Her heart broke again for Ginny and the potential happiness her best friend could have had, and she reminded herself to get Ginny to extend an olive branch, if it were possible.
"Where are you headed now?" Zabini asked as they broke into the bright bustling cobblestone pathway that was Diagon Alley. Hermione gestured vaguely at the library. "Ah, word of advice. Avoid Theo. He's bad news."
Before Hermione could ask why, Zabini had disappeared, briskly walking toward Gringotts before disappearing in the flow of bodies. She walked toward the library and paused when she saw Harry break into the street, quickly followed by Bill, Fleur, and Fleur's little sister Gabrielle.
She hesitated for a moment, staring longingly at the library before she heard her name and she plastered on an automatic smile.
"'Ermione!" Fleur swooped in and kissed both her cheeks, the smell of lilies filling Hermione's airspace. Gabrielle smiled shyly from behind her sister, though she was nearly as tall. Bill and Harry broke their conversation and came to the small party of polite greetings.
"Hey! I haven't seen you in ages, Hermione. You look good!" Bill said as he swooped in and gave her a kiss on one cheek, manners Hermione assumed was instilled from being around French in-laws for so long. She noted that his scars were hardly noticeable and wondered if Fleur's Veela magic was in effect.
"You look great too, Bill. Fleur, magical as always." Hermione gave a tiny wave to Gabrielle who radiated.
"Gabrielle loves you, 'Ermione." Fleur said as she pushed Gabrielle forward. Hermione was confused, they had met a total of three times in their lifetime that Hermione could remember.
"What my sister means, is zat you helped 'Arry Potter defeat 'e-'ho-must-not-be-named. Your talent and brilliance has reached all over ze world, and I would love to learn from you." Gabrielle held a steady gaze on her sister, who blushed and then promptly pinched Gabrielle's cheeks.
Hermione was flattered. She knew because of her involvement with Harry in the war had allowed her and Ron's names to reach parts of the world otherwise untouchable. But being admired by an almost family member would always be odd for her. She was just Hermione. She was highly logical and liked to read.
"Say, Mione." Harry was looking between them. Hermione felt the pit of her stomach drop. "Could you go with them to the library? Bill and I have to go to Gringotts to figure out this thing."
Hermione spared him a split second sharp look so that he knew she really didn't want to, but if it's what he needed, she'd do it. The library was big enough that they could get lost, and she was sure they would get bored long before she would be. Gabrielle had immediately lit up at the prospect.
"I wanted to go zere! Merci, Harry." Gabrielle beamed at him and Harry gave Hermione an apologetic shrug having caught her miniscule death glare a moment ago. Fleur looked reproachfully at the front of the library, as though the old exterior would physically rub off on her before she smiled down at her sister and adoration overtook her features.
"How long are you visiting for, Gabrielle?" Hermione asked as she parted yet again from Harry.
"I don't know." Gabrielle said brightly. "Possibly until ze end of summer!"
"Maybe I'll see you around, and I can certainly tutor you on anything of your choice." Hermione offered, but secretly she hoped that Gabrielle would be gone before there was time to take her up on the offer. Only because Hermione didn't want to accidentally run into Ron at any point, and this was a risk even if it were just a sister in law.
It was silly to avoid him, but until Ron was ready to talk or accept that their break up was necessary, being in the same room would remain painful.
"Zat would be brilliant!" Gabrielle said. Hermione pushed in through the double doors and let the smell of old magic and parchment, mixed with leather and ink completely fill her senses. The low murmur of voices was just muffled enough that Hermione knew there were silencing charms everywhere.
It didn't take long to lose Fleur and Gabrielle to witchy romance novels, so she meandered through the shelves. Her ears perked whenever she heard a clerk's voice, but none of them were Teddy. It played in her mind what Zabini had said and she filed that curiosity away for later.
It turned out there was a small collection of books, ten, written by a muggle born witch about her experiments with the exact thoughts Hermione had had, and they came with results. She gleefully borrowed them all and ignored the desk clerk's eyebrows as they disappeared into her wild bangs. Hermione had to cast a feather light charm on them before she tucked it into her beaded bag. Most everything had a charm to lighten their weight in her bag and Hermione wondered exactly how heavy this little purse would be without magic.
She disappeared again into the shelves to find seating where light flooded the aisle so that you saw the dust swirl like sparkles in the air. At the end of the aisle, secluded at the window was a small window bay that served as a reading station. She sunk into it and sighed in relief, her bones settling into comfort as though it were her bed. Finally, after finding a book from the pile she had taken, she opened it on her lap. This space was unusually quiet, the charms especially thick.
Soft footsteps on the wooden floors didn't pull her attention in the stillness though, but her heart clenched and skipped a beat when the deeper scent of aged leather wafted around her. Then the green, earthiness that reminded Hermione of Dean's Forest followed; she knew who it was before she looked up.
"Granger."
She stared at his dragon hide boots and swallowed.