beaweasley2 – Comet Chaser

Disclaimer: All for JKR!

Hermione offered Severus a hand up, although she was checking the street at the same time. "We have to get out of here."

He shook it off on principle as he jumped up on his feet and then dusted himself off, quickly making an assessment of the street himself. Not that he expected to see anyone. Whoever it was had obviously left; however, Miss Granger remained antsy. "I realize that," he said a bit curtly. He recognized the well-honed instincts she was displaying now and felt his own fight or flight instincts kick in. He drew his wand discreetly, about to question her about Disapparating when she did the unthinkable.

Hermione raised her wand arm to summon the Knight Bus. "I've no idea if he's gone or lingering," she replied. "I didn't tell anyone where I was going..."

"You have got to be kidding," Severus grumbled as the bus suddenly appeared. As a means of transport, this was his last choice, and thankfully, he'd never set foot on the monstrosity before.

She only smiled and beckoned him with her hand. "Just follow me, will you? I'll tell you what you need to know, but not here on the street," she replied, jumping onboard.

Reluctantly, he followed, letting her pay the fare. She asked for Diagon Alley and led him through the maze of well-worn, mismatched chairs, half of which were surprisingly occupied, to the back of the bus. "End of the workday for Ministry personnel. Do you trust me?" she asked, turning to face him.

"No," he replied disdainfully, still berating himself for having been coerced into being seen on the treacherous magical transport.

"You're going to have to," she said, grasping his hand quickly and then Disapparating, taking him with her just as the bus took off.

They landed in a small entry of a home. "You will unhand me this instant!" Severus snarled as he pulled his hand free.

"I'm sorry!" she replied, blushing apologetically. "But if whoever attacked me was around, I wanted him or her to think we took the bus. It makes quite a racket when it jumps off, and I hoped that would cover the sound of the Apparation."

Her explanation was paranoid, but reasonable. He had a few seconds to take in his surroundings, the soft buttery-cream walls, antique hutch with hand-painted china, and vase of flowers. The room to his right was a comfortable sitting room with ample bookshelves, a comfortable-looking sofa and armchairs, and a small piano. A beige kitten with white feet wandered into the room and rolled onto its back, extending its paws, attacking the hem of her robes. She knelt down and scratched the animal's chin for a second before standing up.

"Sorry, she's new. She showed up one day and adopted me only a few weeks after Crooks died. This way," she said, leading him deeper into the house to a well-appointed Muggle kitchen with a scrubbed wood table, six sturdy oak chairs, an antique sideboard, and dish cupboard.

Her home reflected warmth he'd expected, but some of the furnishings he'd seen so far looked like they might've been family heirlooms.

"Tea?" she asked and smiled at him.

The radiance of her smile shocked him momentarily. Her manner was warm and friendly, as if he'd simply stopped by for a visit.

"No thank you," he replied and shook his head. Her efforts to be as polite as possible amused him.

Hermione opened a drawer of the cupboard and pulled out a thick file. The bothersome kitten jumped up onto her chair, and Granger picked it up, speaking to it softly while scratching behind its ears before setting it on the floor. She sat at the table, and Severus sat across from her as she searched through the folder.

Severus watched her organize the papers in front of her, taking in her relaxed poise and economy of movement. She'd matured from the girl he'd known, and her self-confidence was evident now that she was in a place where she felt comfortable.

Suddenly, Granger became all business. "For now, I have to keep the actual site of the lineament confidential, but I will tell you that it's one of the strongest magical locations we've encountered," she started to explain as she pulled out a notepad and fountain pen.

He smirked at the Muggle device, but she was unfazed by the expression, another sign of her maturity.

"I'll eventually have to show you where it is after we've discussed some of my findings. However, the Ministry of Magic has issued a diktat that all wizards and witches attempting to enter the lineament must report to Magical Law Enforcement prior to entrance, so I'll have to get clearance. Unless they are a registered resident, but there are only a handful that live anywhere near it. That gave us the excuse to place tracking and detection spells on the areas we think he or she will hit and the dissuading enchantments and repelling charms... well, as much as we could considering the size of the area."

"Fortuitous," he admitted. Which explains her reluctance to say the location.

"Necessary, I'm afraid." She pulled out a long sheet of parchment next to the notepad, both covered in her precise script. "Here is what I know so far," she started to say.

"You've said she twice. You think the mole or culprit may be a witch?" He hadn't meant to interrupt.

She looked up and smiled at him again. Her smile was lovely, if he'd consider admitting it to himself. "I'm not the only female working in the Department of Mysteries," she replied. "Now... so far there has been evidence that he has collected: asphodel, wormwood, valerian roots, sopophorus beans, and moonstone, which are the primary ingredients for the Draught of Living Death. But we found a site where fluxweed had obviously been harvested two months ago, as well as One-flowered Wintergreens and Dark Red Helleborines. We also know Dittany was harvested. Fluxweed is used in common Healing potions and in Polyjuice Potion, but we don't think the perpetrator is using Polyjuice. Although, I'm not ruling it out."

"The ingredients, while expensive, are not hard to come by," he said. "Any apothecary carries them, and they don't need to be of heightened magical efficacy to work. Wintergreen is used in diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, and an astringent, and in analgesic potions... but Helleborines, it's a weed and has no value that I know of."

"That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure," she said, turning the page. "We also found a nest of dead Re'ems, we think for the blood, which gives the drinker immense strength... but harvested on a lineament... would triple its effect. There was a slain unicorn, too. The unicorn and the Re'ems had both been exsanguinated."

"The potion that kept the Dark Lord alive from the time Wormtail returned to him until he could be reborn consisted of unicorn blood and snake venom milked from Nagini," he said, and she wrote that down on her notepad.

"The Potion in the graveyard had the bone of his father, blood of his enemy, and flesh of his servant...Pettigrew. Harry told me," she added when he raised an eyebrow. "We've found evidence that he took soil samples...several holes dug all over. I collected several myself and analyzed them. The soil of the area along the lineament is basically metamorphic rock, rich in black carbon deposits, and has high concentrations of phosphorus. At one of the sites, it seems he found amber. I remember from Potions with you, it draws out negative energy, allowing the body to heal itself. It is also used in memory potions." She took another piece of parchment from her folder and handed it to him. "I made a graph of all the ingredients and tried to match them up with the potions they are used for. I found several that match up most of the ingredients but not all of them."

Severus scanned the graph. The ingredients and minerals were listed across the top, one column for each, and the potions were listed down the sides with check marks for which ingredient was in which potion. It was a quite logical and efficient way to compare them.

She handed him the notepad, meeting his gaze openly with a soft blush on her cheeks. "I made a list of the ingredients' main properties, active elements and compared their interactions. I even tried combining them with disastrous results."

She sat in silence as he read through her notes. He was not at all surprised that she was this thorough, considering what she had been like as his student, but unlike her essays at school, she summarized, hypothesized, and extrapolated her findings, and presented her opinions, theories, or speculations precisely and briefly. It was amazing how her mind worked, and he could see her thought process in her writing. She really has tried to view this from every angle, he thought with a subtle smile. He was actually quite impressed despite himself.

"On the last raid, the perpetrator left behind a sacrificial altar constructed out of the surrounding rocks. The formation was made from Grossularite, a type of garnet found in the Scottish Highlands. I found several raw topaz crystals. I also found this poem." She handed him a soiled piece of parchment.

The poem was not well versed, nor did the rhyme flow well, but its message was clear.

Amethyst, to aid the soul that journeys, left behind struggling,

So shall you come to me, your journey renewing?

"I also found this where we discovered the unicorn," she added when he set down the poem.

Severus took the scrap of brown wrapping paper. "This is a common type of paper used in several shops in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley," he stated, not surprised when she said she'd recognized the paper as well. The writing was only four lines, in the same vertical slant as the poem, only this time small indentations indicated that the quill had been pressed firmly when writing, which indicated an outgoing, self-assertive personality (unless the person used a Dicto-quill to purposely hide their writing). After each line, Granger had added her impression of what the line meant.

A bird that never flies – dodo, chick that never hatched, a chick that dies after birth

A fish that never swam – eggs, unhatched, toy fish, fish kite

She looked at him imploringly. "And that's where I'm at a loss. I have all these ingredients, but I cannot tie them together into a single potion or in two that would do what he claims. I only have one more full moon to catch this guy. After that, well, in less than two months, he'll be ready to bring Voldemort back."

"So we need to act with celerity because the next moon phase is coming," he stated, trying to remember when the next full moon was.

"Twenty-two days, precisely," she stated.

End notes: This is week two of the Intergalactic Quidditch Cup Tournament! We hope you've enjoyed our second chapter. Remember, please help us out by leaving a review, even if it's just to say "Thanks!" or "Update!" please. And a poll has been placed on Potter Place's LJ Community. If you liked the chapter, please vote for us!

Link:

http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1486306

The word prompts we were given for this week were:

1. celerity

2. diktat

3. cynosure

4. kitten

5. wand

6. Knight Bus

7. password

See you next Sunday with a chapter from BrenaMarie, our Asteroid Beater!