Back to Hogwarts
‘What else did Harry say?’
‘Andromeda is acting Minister of Magic. It will take a few days before we’ll know how Umbridge and Shacklebolt died. They are recalling the specialists as we speak. But some of the cross-cultural experts are difficult to get hold of.’ Severus sneered. ‘They all seem to favour extremely exotic destinations for their vacations.’
Hermione reacted the way he’d hoped, with a small huff of a laughter—a definite improvement on the pale, white-lipped stillness that had gripped her before.
‘Where are they?’ she asked. ‘In Las Vegas?’
His lips curled with a slight smirk. ‘That wouldn’t surprise me.’
Of course he hadn’t expected to be able to distract her for more than a few minutes. He wasn’t disappointed.
‘The bodies are in the Department of Mysteries now, aren’t they? When will they know…what happened, what do you think?’
‘Monday or Tuesday, probably.’
She bit down on her lip, hard. Had she done this already as a student? This—sometimes near desperate—attempt to keep her emotions bottled up and under control? Not that it really mattered with that Gryffindor face of hers. She was, he concluded, easier to read than a Muggle dictionary.
‘Then you’ll…’ she trailed off; swallowed hard.
‘Harry and I will go beyond the Veil Friday night,’ he confirmed. ‘Harry has already talked to Andromeda, and she will allow us to use the Death Chamber.’
At her wild-eyed look, he forced a soothing smile upon his lips. ‘A short-cut, if you will. From Life directly to the Ninth Gate.’
‘Goodness, Severus.’
They stared at each other.
Finally he sighed. ‘Hermione—it will save my strength. Harry is no Necromancer, for all that Ignotus Peverell is his ancestor and despite his escapades with Voldemort. I have to carry him “piggy-backâ€, you could say. If I have to wade down the River of Death with Harry in tow…I—Hermione, when did you start thinking of me as all-powerful?’
She attempted to glower at him and failed. ‘I don’t,’ she said in a small voice. ‘Not really. I mean, I know you aren’t.’ Unconsciously she rubbed the palms of her hands against each other. Even two years later, they were still sensitive. Just like his throat did for him, her hands let her know when the weather was about to change…
Then Hermione raised her head and met his eyes with a wry grin. ‘But I would like to, you know? I love you. I want you to come back to me alive.’
He stared at Hermione. He’d watched her grow up. There shouldn’t be anything there to astound him. To…shake him like that.
And she certainly didn’t look good today.
He remembered a long ago evening at Hogwarts, a short, breathless moment of staring at her, at the promise of a beautiful woman within the gentle curves of a girl. How had that pretty blossom of a girl turned into this thin, pale woman with such serious, sad eyes? And that hair. If she’d only asked him for his opinion before going to that Muggle hairdresser. She looked like…like a bloody dandelion seed now. Hair like weed. Unruly. And it emphasized her slender neck, highlighted the sculpted bones of her face—he didn’t like how fragile she appeared. Those dark smudges under her eyes…
Again, they stared at each other, wordlessly.
Suddenly there was so much he wanted to say: How much she had come to mean to him, since she had sneaked and bullied her way into his life and into his heart. How, for the first time since he could remember, Spinner’s End felt like a home and not a prison. How…Irritably, he shook his head. There was no use deluding himself. There was no future for them. They would not live at Hogwarts happily ever after to return to Spinner’s End for holidays or weekends ‘away from it all’.
If he returned from beyond the Veil at all, it would be as a ghost…He mustn’t forget his appointment at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on Thursday to sort out the legal ramifications of that particular problem…
oooOooo
Later: ‘Let’s go back to Hogwarts today. I don’t think that Minerva will turn us away, what with Shacklebolt and Umbridge dead.’
‘No,’ Severus agreed. ‘Under the circumstances I think even Minerva will relent.’
‘Winky?’
‘Yes, Madam Apprentice?’
‘We are going back to Hogwarts today. Will you take care of Woodstock while we’re gone?’
Winky scowled. She still didn’t like the phoenix.
Hermione glanced at Severus. It was obvious that Winky preferred to get her orders from ‘Master Professor Sir’. Her husband sighed. ‘What she said. Take care of the phoenix and the house. And do not question Madam Snape’s orders again.’
‘Very well, Master Professor Sir,’ the house-elf squeaked. ‘I is going ironing my hands at once, Master Professor Sir.’
‘No, you will not,’ Severus ground out. The pressure he put on his voice indicated how close he was to losing his temper. ‘Unless I or my wife tell you.’
Winky bowed and disappeared with a plop.
‘Thank you,’ Hermione said. But the smile felt thin and unreal on her face.
‘I may not support your SPEW,’ he smirked. ‘But believe it or not, I do not believe in unnecessary punishment.’
Hermione managed a snort. ‘Says the man who holds the record in subtracting house-points and doling out detentions.’
‘And every single one of those punishments was necessary for one reason or another.’ He had the audacity to wink at her. ‘Are you ready to leave?’
‘I just need to go and shrink our luggage.’
oooOooo
The garden and the house—her house—looked grey on this first day of January. Only way above the roof, Hermione spotted a bit of blue sky. And still she didn’t want to leave. For all it had been such a strange, uncomfortable Christmas, she’d been almost…happy…in this shabby little house.
oooOooo
Sempiternal Solution, The
Etymology:
sem•pi•ter•nal – \ËŒsem-pi-ˈtÉ™r-nÉ™l\
Middle English, from Late Latin sempiternalis, from Latin sempiternus, from semper ever, always, from sem- one, same (akin to Old Norse samr same) + per through
Date: 15th century
: of never-ending duration : eternal
so•lu•tion – \sÉ™-‘lü-shÉ™n\
Etymology:
Middle English solucion explanation, dispersal of bodily humors, from Anglo-French, from Latin solution-, solutio, from solvere to loosen, solve
Date: 14th century
: an act or the process by which a solid, liquid, or gaseous substance is homogeneously mixed with a liquid or sometimes a gas or solid
History:
A Master level Charmed potion of Gallo-Roman origin. Linked with the Goddess Epona, this potion has clearly much older roots and can indeed be traced to the coven of witches that created what is nowadays known as the White Horse of Uffington. Literary evidence for the potion is scarce. Rumour has it that the Sempiternal Solution is referenced in one of the Flamel manuscripts stored in the Flamel archives of the ‘Koninklijke Bibliotheek’ in the Netherlands and in the only extant complete copy of the works of Pierre Pomet (1702–1798), which is a part of the private collection of Ollivander & Ollivander, Diagon Alley, Great Britain.
Uses:
The Sempiternal Solution is the recipe for a magical ablution or polish that is supposed to create an eternal connection between magical objects which in turn is supposed to withstand eternity and even separation by Death. According to one—and possibly the oldest—of the Peverell legends, it was the Sempiternal Solution that allowed two of the Peverell brothers to pass beyond the Veil and back unharmed while the third brother stayed on holy ground and kept his brothers magically tied to life. However, there is no proof that the Peverell brothers even knew of the existence of the Sempiternal Solution. Considering that the Solution was a secret passed from one generation to the next of a very exclusive coven, this seems rather unlikely.
Ingredients:
for the fire:
- the substance the objects that are intended to be linked by the potion
- coltsfoot and mallowsweet
- hoofclippings
As is the case with all ancient potions, the symbolism of each ingredient is of the utmost importance. In this case, coltsfoot and hoofclippings represent Epona’s horses, the leaders of the souls in the afterlife. Theoden E. Rohan (London, 1654) presented a theory that the mythical horses of Epona are actually Thestrals. If this is the case, it may be that not hoofclippings of horses, but of Thestrals are required to create the magical fire necessary for successful brewing.
for the brewing:
- an outer cauldron made of iron
- an inner cauldron made of gold
The iron cauldron in antique recipes represents Persephone, the ‘Iron Queen’ and ‘Mistress of the Labyrinth’, the Goddess of the Underworld. Gold, naturally, is the symbol of eternal life and the divine.
for the solution:
- 7 drops of blood and 3 memories of the persons who are intended to be linked by the potion
- 1/2 cup Phoenix and Augurey Tears dissolved in 1 1/2 cup of spring water from a hallowed well
- 2 1/2 cup of turpentine (equal parts Arborvitae and Upas Tree)
- 1/2 cup of Pomegranate and apple juice
- 8 ounces of unrefined beeswax of wild horse roses, from fairyhives
- 2 ounces of dried and grated Bundimun secretion from a holy place
- 3 drops of oil each of: vetyver, ginger, lotus, rosemary, sandalwood
All ingredients of the potion represent life and death, in order to form a truly eternal connection between the objects to be treated with the solution.
Blood is the essence of life while the silver substance of Pensieved memories symbolizes ‘life lived’, or death.
Phoenix tears have always meant healing, life, and rebirth in magical lore, while Augurey tears are symbols of mourning and death. Similar meanings apply to the turpentine made from the tree of life and the tree of death.
Bundimun secretion is traditionally used in wizarding households for emulsification processes. The demand for the secretion to be taken from Bundimuns native to a Holy Place may be due to superstition only. Substances of ‘holy’ origin have always been held as especially ‘clean’ and therefore more powerful in potion making. Recent studies in America (Porcator & Gambler, New York 2005) seem to indicate that there is actually no difference in the efficacy of a potion that is made without ‘holy’ substances.
Beeswax of horse roses is very difficult to find in any degree of purity due to the rapid movement of the herds. However, since the early 1980s fairy-charmers in Cornwall have had more success by employing children in the harvest of the honey. The problem of the I.D.B.i.F.* syndrome usually sets in only after the children start school. However, the MoM is closely monitoring these businesses due to concerns by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement/Restriction of Underage Wizardry Commission regarding child labour.
The Brewing Process
The brewing process takes three days, to allow for periods of cooling and settling, and for infusion with the sacred Charms. The fire itself already poses a problem for the potions maker, since two ingredients are known as vision inducing hallucinogenics (coltsfoot and mallowsweet).
If the potions maker can keep his concentration on the task at hand, the procedure would likely contain the following steps:
- the beeswax would have to be melted slowly in the inner cauldron
- once melted, it would have to be removed from heat, and the turpentine would have to be stirred in gradually, along with the Pensieve substance
- it is likely that at this stage the first Charms would have to be introduced into the Solution
- afterwards, the base of the potion would have to be set aside to settle for a certain period of time
- then the mixture of water and phoenix and augurey tears, along with the pomegranate and apple juice would have to be brought to a boil
- the dried and grated Bundimun secretion would have to be added and stirred (the number and Arithmantic formulae of stirs, or the kind of stirring rod required are unknown) until the Bundimun melts and dissolves
- again, it is likely that the next step of the process would call for an infusion with Charms, whereupon a cooling and settling period would follow
- the wax mixture would have to be reheated, then the mixture of juices and tears would have to be added very slowly, in a fine stream to avoid curdling and explosions, while the cauldron is stirred constantly (again, there is the problem of which stirring rod is required, and that the stirring patterns are lost)
- finally, the essential oils and the blood should be added and blended in well
- the last stage would be another infusion with the proper Charms
- afterwards, the mixture should be sealed and allowed to cool and settle before it is used on the objects that are supposed to be joint
The Connection
The technique of the joining is not recorded. It seems likely that it needs to be done by hand and not with magical means. For example, if wands should be connected, one would take a soft, dry cloth, dip it into the polish and spread a small amount on the wands in small circular motions. Then the wand would be wiped and buffed with a second dry cloth. If there are any spells necessary at this stage of the procedure they have not been recorded.
*‘I don’t believe in fairies.’
Dragons, Badgers and Other Animals
Oh how i would love to have a magic tattoo! Or two or three! *grin*
I am still astonished at Draco’s lack intelligence here. If he eels something is wrong and that something is going on at the MOM why doesn’t he say something about it?
He is a Slytherin for Merlin’s sake… *rolls eyes*
OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Surprise, surprise! Someone was using polyjuice!
And she is dead! Oh…i’m sorry for that!
I wish Hermione could have had the pleasure of some revenge first and that the frog would spend the rest of her life in Azkaban!
Oh well…there’s always the After Life…
Draco’s point of view was amazing. Sweet.*sigh*
Back to Hogwarts
Hermione, when did you start thinking of me as all-powerful?’
Hmm that must be a bit scary! But what is worse at this moment?
That she has so much faith in his strenght or that he has so little?
Sorrow Like a Precious Treasure
I believe i would have the same problem. Good or bad some memories are too precious to be lost.
And he doesn’t believe he will return alive…that doesn’t help either!
Damned situation…
Twisted Branches Upon the Beach
This was bittersweet!
And i know i keep saying this, but i do feel sorry for them!
I am letting you know that I am here prematurely because OWL is down and both you and zauza have totally piqued my insatiable curiosity regarding *impending ebils*
Since neither of you would tell me what it was, but I have been assured that you are, in fact, evil, I hereby declare that your punishment-in-advance is that your reviews are being stockpiled…you will have to post on OWL to get them!
That’s right. I am withholding reviews. 😛
*hugs and kisses*
*hopes the ebil doesn’t make me cry*
YOU should be studying!
LOL
A Short-Cut of Death
Oh… i had totally forgotten about Colin’s words! *DOH!*
I should have thought about it, it was there so clearly!
Of course. I like it when things start to make sense!*grin*
Customary Gryffindor Courage
I love this chapter, i love all that goes in Harry’s head at this moment.
Above all ,i love that he is so lucid about all this , what it means and his reasons for doing it!
A Meeting of Wands
Wow! That ceremony was just amazing!
Their bound brings hope!
And the explanation for the “origin of all those wand jokes” eheh
I am thinking…how it must have been with the Peverell brothers…AHAHAHAHA! *very naughty thoughts*
Vitae Summa Brevis…
Trust Ron for a bit of humor.
And Ginny is so fierce, fortunately for Hermione. She needs to believe, she needs all of Ginny’s conviction!