Disclaimer: I didn't write Harry Potter; a girl can always dream though ;)

Note: Only a short chapter today, I couldn't fit any more in without interrupting the flow. Plus a few of you really wanted to hear from Severus.


The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca


Hermione made a point of hanging around downstairs after dinner. It took discernible effort to do so. Her mind had been whirling non-stop since they'd left Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. George had no idea what sort of breakthrough he'd come across. Hermione was itching to add this to her notes, to factor it into her equations. This could change everything. This could be the answer.

Glancing across from the corner of the living room, she watched the Wizard in question engage Ron in Exploding Snap. Sensing her gaze, Ron turned around and beckoned her over.

"Settle an argument for us. We were just talking about the boxes." George said quietly as she sat on the floor, his voice almost drowned out by the blast of a pair of twos.

Ron tucked his arm around her waist, leaning forward slightly so their conversation was shielded from Molly, sitting just a few feet away.

"Okay. George is all for putting instructions on the box, and letting people sort themselves out."

Hermione nodded, not entirely following. The process didn't seem too difficult after all.

"Well that's how dad's tapes work." He paused, clearing another bank of cards with a large bang. "Worked, anyway." Ron nodded, as if to acknowledge this.

"But what if, we sold the globes, got people to put in their memories, and then we developed them?" Ron punctuated his idea by blowing up a set of fives.

"It sounds cheap, mate. Making people fork out twice." George obviously seemed unsure of his younger brother's reasoning. When Hermione thought about it, nothing in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was dramatically overpriced; nothing to what Zonko's usually charged anyway. It was almost utilitarian, in a promoting mischief among all classes sort of way.

Hermione stared at Ron, frankly amazed.

"What?" He squawked, alarmed.

"Ron, you're right! George, this is revolutionary. This is completely different from photographs. I mean, if someone's taking a photo of you, at least you're aware! You have some form of consent. This?! With this, anything and everything you do at any moment can be used against you! Imagine the blackmail! No, not even blackmail! Imagine the damage ex-lovers could do with this sort of technology! This could shred privacy within the magical world to pieces!"

Hermione gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth.

"Imagine this in the hands of Rita Skeeter!"

Both Ron and George paled considerably at this.

"No. You need to completely control the rights to production and development. Get Percy to bring home the relevant forms. You'll need to copyright it, and draw up regulations!"

George's face fell further. Hermione wasn't sure he was ready for the day Percy got to enforce regulations at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

Ron didn't seem troubled by her predictions at all. If anything, he seemed mollified she'd agreed with him. She supposed it was a bit of a novelty in their relationship.

"Well, yeah! That's what I thought, you see. I just don't explain it as well as you, 'Mione." Ron gave her a soppy smile before capturing her lips with his own. Hermione endured the kiss, wondering what Ron would do if he knew she'd read the entire contents of Ten Ways to Charm a Witch.

Still feeling guilty about their conversation earlier that afternoon, Hermione followed Ron up to his bedroom. He'd be asleep within the hour anyway, and then she could continue her research with a clean conscience.


It was the longest Snape had ever spent in his new basement laboratory. It was the most frustrated he had been in it as well. Nearly 24 straight hours and he had nothing to show for it but a shattered decanter and a horrendously expensive waste of Dittany.

He simply refused to examine the witch's formula. No. If know-it-all Granger could do it, without a Master's training in the subject, Severus Tobias Snape would conquer the process eventually. There had to be some key element that was used during the decantation method. It was the only explanation. The reduction of sediment and aeration alone wouldn't alter the basic magical principles of the extract.

He'd tried both magical and Muggle decantation, as well as a mixture of the two. He'd attempted straining it manually, and he had ultimately come to his wits' end.

Marching up the narrow stone stairs, black wool robes flaring dramatically behind him, Severus Snape decided he had to know. Picking up the watermarked (or whiskey marked) magazine from where he'd last left it, he read through the process meticulously.

Ahh.

Murtlap Essense.

It was rather brilliant. Not that he would ever knowingly admit it. Murtlap Essense was possibly the least reactive ingredient in existence. Most trained Potioneers wouldn't give it a second thought. But when magically configured into a sort of sieve, it would remove sediment while tiny particles were absorbed into the now improved Dittany, reducing the pain and scarring involved.

Damn her.

You probably wouldn't have come up with it, old man.

Severus stared silently down at the now wrinkled image of Hermione Jean Granger. It was still his initial idea. She would have been nowhere without him.

Your research would be nowhere without her, you fool.


Note:

Thank you all so much for your reviews! I'd like to clear up some issues dujbrought up in their review, that dittany is used in canon for the treatment of scars. That's correct, but my interpretation goes more along the lines that 'Its use makes fresh skin grow over a wound, and after application, the wound seems several days old.'(that's taken from the Harry Potter wiki page) So I figure that if a wound is properly treated, as Snape treat's Malfoy's wounds in HBP, then the application of Dittany will completely remove scars. However on the flip side when Hermione uses Dittany on Ron's splinched arm, with no other healing spells, the wound isn't perfectly healed. I'm not sure if I'm 100% right on this, but I thought i'd share my logic in case anyone else was questioning the same thing.

Moi, your review was utterly fantastic, my fangirl senses are tingling. I hadn't thought about it in length, but after that review I think a few grudge bearing goblins might find there way into the story ;)

Thank you all so much for your reviews, it's so odd to think of people reading this and taking the time to make my day!