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They ended up in the very hospitable pub, where Hermione ordered the house special of fish and chips with boiled peas and carrots. Millicent went with her age-old strategy of ordering the same - a trick she'd learned after years of her mother's nagging and hypocrisy. (If her mother ordered something, and Millicent ordered the same as her, her mother had no grounds for critique).

The food came, and was significantly more than either of them could eat together.

Hermione didn't pay the least bit of attention to that, instead ploughing through it while talking up a storm about what she'd been reading in the bookstore. "So the point was," she concluded, pushing away her half-full plate, "One of the primary objectives of the nazileen potion is to act as a filter, similar to the aqualimus, though clearly this one goes in the nose, whereas the other is meant to be dropped into water."

"Right," Millicent responded, and looked down at her clean plate soberly. She'd eaten every damn morsel, and now all she wanted was Hermione's leftovers.

Hermione seemed to pick up on this, and pushed her plate a little bit closer to Millicent, not saying anything about it, but barreling on in her thoughtful musings. "So there's a few things I noticed in the development of the nazileen potion that might be applicable to the aqualimus. First, the methods of stirring are very similar. Second, while they're clearly both aimed in a similar direction in terms of their theses, they really do the opposite things - one expands and diffuses, and the other contracts and effectively replaces the mucus in the nose, clogging it."

Millicent tentatively stabbed her fork into Hermione's leftover fish, and looked up questioningly. Hermione nodded succinctly, and then continued, "Third, they were both invented by the same person - did you know that?"

"No," Millicent said, tucking enthusiastically into the remaining food.

"Neither did I," Hermione said, "but it makes sense when you think about it. The nazileen potion just isn't used much anymore, not since other alternatives like Bramson's Clog have been brought into use. But the nazileen potion is the result of Phineas Roviticus' experiments during the mid-1800s. And to this day, no one has improved the recipe of the aqualimus potion substantially enough to change the recipe."

"And why is that?" Millicent asked, since she supposed Hermione had an answer.

"It's not frequently used, first of all," Hermione said, "and second of all, it's mostly been used as a didactic tool for classes who are in the process of learning about the expungiency theory. As we were doing," she noted, "but for whatever reason, people are really shite at synthesizing information and applying it in unusual ways."

It took a second for Millicent to realize that this was a backhanded compliment, and she blushed. What was it about Hermione that made her turn as red as a dirigible at the slightest provocation?

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she'd finished all her food at this point, and she'd really overdone it. She was quite full, and she sipped her oakmead carefully.

Hermione, intelligent witch, picked up on Millicent's slight discomfort, and asked quietly, "Are you all right?"

"Oh, erm, yes, quite," Millicent said, a satisfied smile on her face. "I just need to finish my mead."

"Of course," Hermione conceded graciously, and she continued to prattle on about her thoughts about the potion.

MIllicent contributed to the conversation as she could. Mostly, she was overwhelmed with comfortable pleasure. They were cozy together in the pub, Hermione was engaged and bright and interesting to listen to, almost like reading a book. Millicent couldn't stop herself from continuing to turn the pages, gluttonous to know more about this mysterious girl who somehow was interested in spending time with her.

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