Hi everyone, here is the next chapter and the following two are almost done as well. Thank you so much for the positive reviews and kudos so far I hope you enjoy my take on how Hermione could have used the time turner to her full advantage. I am having a lot of fun with this story and I feel like I can't stop myself from adding more and more each time I sit to edit this. I hope you enjoy it! -Dayin
Re-examining her schedule she noted her current time and location, she had left an instruction for herself to remove the large batch of Wiggenweld potion from the boiling stove that had been brewing since yesterday. She then cast a quick charm that would alert her in 3 hours when she had to leave so the potions room would be available for one of the other Hermione's who had a fourth-year wit-sharpening potion on the bubble she would be collecting. She remembered having done so before using the time turner to go back to this morning so she knew the bottling would go successfully.
Later today she would attend the end-of-year feast and tomorrow she would give her time turner back. She was the final version of herself that she had to keep track of and while she was going to miss the benefits of time travel she was not going to miss the very detailed scheduling and journaling she had had to keep up with to avoid disaster. She wanted to get a last bit of practice and preparation in before leaving for summer as her OWLs were only two weeks away. She was feeling very positive about her chances of getting good results. She had been ambitious in signing up for all the available owls except for divination but she wanted to keep her options open for her NEWTs. She was not sure how she would go about handling her studies at Hogwarts once she had her OWLs but she would work that out once she knew what her results were.
She quickly bottled the Wiggenweld potion making sixty vials and storing them away in the potion storage compartment in her trunk.
She then took out the first of her sixth-year book set. The glinting cover of advanced potions-making looked back at her. She flicked through the first few chapters reading up on the first potion and making notes. It was an advanced form of the Wide-Eye potion they had learnt to brew this year in their third-year classes, it was a lot more complicated but the addition of Lungwart made it worth the extra effort as it decreased the negative side effects from frequent use.
The ingredients had been a large expense at first before the small potions shop in Hogsmeade had offered to sell her ingredients at a lower price in exchange for her supplying them with a few batches of her potions each time she made them. There had been an increased demand for healing potions with the increased panic over Sirus Black's escape and studying potions like the wit-sharpening potion were always popular around exams. The room and time turner made it possible for her to make large batches so once she realised that she was able to keep up a regular supply of popular potions she had reached out to other potions suppliers with the offer of her preprepared batches for a reasonable fee.
It had become a very lucrative business so far and with the end of the year looming she was hoping to make a huge surplus stock to keep the business running once the time-turner was taken. She had already used a small portion of her profits to buy a large trunk with a potions lab compartment she was able to work inside, a large store compartment and industrial-size cauldrons to make larger batches at a time.
After around an hour when she was sure that she had a good grasp on the updates for the potion she closed the book and headed over to the small potions station the room had created for her. Taking off her jumper she cast a quick warming charm to keep the cold at bay while she brewed, before looking over her supplies. Noticing the recipe had called for a larger chop on the Billywig stings she realised that the small scalpel she had on hand would take far too long.
"Heidi?" She called, a loud pop filling the room a few moments later.
"Yes, Missus Mione?" Heidi questioned looking up at her. Hermione was still not a fan of the elf calling her Miss, however, it was a long road to changing cultural norms and she would rather have the chance to get to know the elf who was quickly becoming a close friend rather than spending their time together correcting Heidi and unintentionally insulting her culture.
"Would you be able to get me a large chopping knife you would generally use for vegetables?" Hermione asked gesturing towards the potions table in the corner of the room.
"Yes of course Miss Mione, Heidi will be getting that right away. Would you like some hot cocoa too? " the small elf offered with a cheeky smile knowing her affinity for sweet things as of late.
"Ooh yes please, but only if you will sit and have some with me, that is, if you want to?" She shyly questioned not wanting to force the small elf into an uncomfortable position
"I think Heidi can do that ma'am" she agreed, chuckling and then disappeared with a pop.
It was not long before she returned with a chopping knife in hand and two mugs of cocoa floating beside her. Hermione quickly transfigured two comfy chairs from nearby stirring sticks. And a potion vial into a small table. Heidi levitated the hot cocoa onto the table before placing the knife at the potions station and then sitting in the smaller seat.
Hermione sat down and picked up her mug to sip, enjoying the warm feel of the mug in her hands and the sweet liquid on her tongue. Another recent change was the more she used the time-turner the more she craved sugar. Her dentists would definitely not have approved of her now-standing Honeydukes order that arrived every second week with her fix of sugar quills.
She and Heidi chatted for the next half hour just enjoying each other's company. Once they had finished their Cocoa the small elf took their mugs, bid Hermione farewell, and popped away leaving the young witch to work on her potions.
Her hands worked with practised precision as she chopped up the billywig stings for her Wide-Eye potion. It would be wonderful to be able to brew the potion to stay awake so she would be able to occasionally work through the night to regain more time and keep up with orders once the time-turner was taken back. She would have to be careful not to overuse it though as even this advanced version would eventually have side effects if abused.
The potion was a long process to brew but she found that she rather enjoyed getting lost in the repetition of steps. Timing when to stir, chop and add ingredients to the potion helps her keep her mind from wandering to other topics. Soon the potion was ready for its resting phase and her alarm was going off to let her know her time in the lab was done for the day and that the other Hermione would be around soon to finish and bottle her potion.
She headed to the door and updated her timetable and room registry so that the other versions of herself would know it was safe to enter. Casting a quick tempus she noticed it was just about time to go get ready for the end-of-year feast.
She began her walk from the room of requirement up to Gryffindor Tower seeing the other students goofing around and having fun. She let out a small smile as she moved along her way.
She was greeted by an empty dormitory quickly realising the other girls from her dorm must have already gone to dinner. She hurried to get ready not wanting to be the last one to arrive. She changed into a soft school dress and jumper set and cast her eyes over her things making sure they were neatly packed before turning to observe herself in the nearby mirror. Casting a few neatening charms onto her hair that kept her curls looking a tad more manageable she decided she looked presentable and headed out in the direction of the great hall.
As she neared the staircase that led to the great hall she was stopped by a loud cheerful voice crowing "Hey, little Mione!" behind her before a hand began to ruffle her hair affectionately.
"Hi Cedric, how are you?" she chuckled knowing who it was without needing to look before, swatting at his hands until they left her hair alone. This had been a new development; she had gone to one of Cedric's study groups that he hosted and asked him questions about a fourth-year tangling jinx she had found. He had assumed that the curse had been used on her messy locks and attempted the counter jinx only to find to both of their embarrassment that that was just Hermione's hair.
To make up for his accidental insult he had invited her to sit with his study group of friends and went over the spells she needed to practice with her. The older girls had even gently offered to teach her a few hair neatening charms to keep her curls in line which she had timidly accepted. In the end, the whole thing had become a bit of a joke between them all and he now made sure to ruffle her hair whenever he saw it to return it to its messy state no matter what neatening charms she may be using.
"I am good Mione-bee, excited to be home for the summer even if I will be missing you," he said with a sad edge to his voice that she echoed in a returned look of sadness. Cedric had turned out to be a really good friend to her over the past few weeks as she was figuring out how to be more herself.
"I will miss you too, promise me you will write?" she asked in a small voice. His eyes softened even more as he looked at her and then gathered her in a hug. His scent was lovely and she found his clothes to be so warm and soft against her.
"Of course, I will write to you all the time, take care of yourself okay? No skipping meals missy!" He commanded her only slightly joking, the small voice inside her that liked authority giving a small spike of what felt like approval at his firm tone.
"I will try my best, take care of yourself too please! " she agreed returning the order back to which she could have sworn he let out an annoyed growl before chuckling.
"I will, I am mostly going to be hanging out with my dad he wants to show me more of where he works at the ministry, I think he is hoping to convert me into a life of politics," He said pulling a sour face at the thought.
Secretly Hermione thought Cedric would make an excellent politician, he was certainly likeable enough with a tendency to captivate those around him and he tended to stick to his guns when he believed in something strongly enough.
"Aw I am sure that will be plenty interesting though, and maybe you will get to see some of the cool stuff at the ministry" She said trying to cheer him up.
"I don't know maybe, at least he is taking me to see the World Cup game in the ministry box with him that should be very cool!" He said a lot more enthused, this time.
"See? There's something!" she said with a grin, while she might not be the biggest quidditch fan Cedric's love for the game was infectious.
"You were right", he agreed with a chuckle, "now we better head over to the leaving feast or Dumbledore will be starting without us" He said walking alongside her towards the great hall. He pushed the large doors to the hall open for her waiting for her to enter first before following closely behind her.
When they got there they quickly said goodbye again before heading over to their respective tables. Hermione took her usual place next to Harry with Ron sitting across from both of them.
Thank you again for the comments and Kudos they really keep me inspired to write more! Please let me know what you think of this chapter! I have the next chapters just about ready to post. Any ideas on where you would like to see this story go are appreciated.-Dayout