Chapters 81-90

Life Goes On

As life is wont to do, no matter which upheavals occur below the surface of a person’s existence, life at Hogwarts and Hermione’s apprenticeship continued almost as if nothing had happened.

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On Wednesday morning, May 10, 2000, the hourglass of Ravenclaw House was brimming with sapphires—ready to win the House Cup for the first time in years, with an easy winning margin of 98 points on Hufflepuff House. On Thursday morning, after the mysterious fire in the curtains of the Ravenclaw common room had been extinguished and the evacuated students had spent the night on mattresses in the Great Hall, things didn’t look quite that good anymore, as Ravenclaw had fallen back to the sum of 185 points.

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On Wednesday afternoon, May 10, 2000, Hermione had to give her weekly report about the progress of her experiments to her master.

‘Very well,’ Severus announced. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘Explain what you have done so far and how you plan to continue.’

Hermione took a deep breath. If all went well, she would enter the last stage of her experiments today.

‘My theory is that if you use a non-magical recipe as a basis for a healing potion, it is possible to imbue it with magic in a way that results in a magical draught that is effective, but still mild enough to be used by pregnant women or children without ill-effects and that furthermore decreases problematic side-effects and interactive effects with healing spells and other potions significantly.
‘As an example to illustrate my theory I have been working on a soothing magical bubble bath.’

She glared at Severus. He’d wanted her to leave out the bubbles. She’d insisted that bubbles were fun, therefore relaxing and medically beneficial. She’d even asked Madam Pomfrey, Professor Sprout, Healer Mugwort and Neville for their expert opinions. The bubbles stayed in, Severus smirked, and Hermione knew he’d just been teasing her.

‘The mundane ingredients are: 2 cups of milk, powdered, 1/2 cup of Epsom salt, coarse, 1/2 cup baking soda, 5 drops of rose oil and jasmine oil, 4 of musk oil and 3 of ylang-ylang.
‘So far I have conducted a series of experiments to show if a purely magical substance should be added, or if one of the mundane components should be replaced with one.’

Hermione picked up a scroll and unrolled the parchment. ‘Interestingly, my experiments show that the Muggle combination of essential oils is already extremely potent magically speaking. The only thing this recipe lacks to achieve true healing powers is a spark of magic.
‘Therefore I have concentrated my research on replacing the basic compounds. Any changes regarding the salt or the soda have proven to produce either very volatile brews or results that are much too strong to be of use.’

Except maybe as a biological weapon.

‘The experiments with the powdered milk, however, were successful. A series of stringent comparative tests have proven that the powdered milk of a Behemoth provides a most reliable base potion.’

Hermione spread out another parchment that detailed her process of alchemical substitution. Severus didn’t react at all, but simply watched her in stony silence.

She was doing well! Pleasant warmth spread through her stomach. She knew what she was doing now. There were rules to guide her creativity. She wasn’t floundering and helpless anymore.

‘Now I am about to enter the most crucial stage of my experiment.
‘I need to imbue this potion with magic to elevate it above the magical equivalent of Muggle homeopathy so it turns into a truly magical healing bath. At the same time, I must meet the standards I have set myself: no side-effects and no adverse reactions to other spells or potions.’

She put another piece of parchment put on the stack in front of her.

‘Because of that, Charms are out of the question. Charms or spells as magical agents would elevate the residue of raw magic beyond the tolerable level. Therefore I am going to try an indirect, arithmantic method of instilling magical power.’

Yet another parchment floated up and unrolled in the air behind her at a flick of her wand. It displayed complex diagrams of arithmantic graphs and statistical tables.

‘As an extra-precaution I will not simply guide my magic into the stirring rod, but I will use my wand to channel my magic into the stirring rods. That way I hope to be in better control of the exact amount of magic flowing into the potion.
‘Here I have drawn up a series of experiments that involve different arithmantic patterns for the stirring process with different combinations of stirring rods. As a cauldron I will use a non-breakable glass cauldron again, as that has proven least reactive to the mundane ingredients.’

Expectantly Hermione looked up at her master. She knew that she was making progress. But she couldn’t help feeling just a little queasy as she awaited his judgement. His black eyes glinted as he studied her, the papers on the table, and the parchment floating behind her. The silence lengthened and Hermione forgot how to breathe.

Had she forgotten something? When would he launch into his customary lecture about all the things she had overlooked or overstressed? Her mouth felt dry, and she could feel how her palms were beginning to sweat.

At last Severus inclined his head. ‘You may proceed with your experiments. Don’t forget to bottle a small phial of each mixture you produce.’

‘No, sir, I won’t. And thank you!’ She couldn’t help beaming at him. Her stomach was somersaulting with excitement. She’d been more than good. She’d been brilliant! So far he had never simply allowed her to proceed with just a word of caution. As Severus passed her on his way out of the lab, his lips curled ever so slightly.

‘Well done, Hermione,’ he murmured, his breath soft on her neck.

oooOooo

After the door closed behind Severus, Hermione was hard put not to squeal with delight and triumph.