Chapter 8: Scientific Breakthroughs

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Many thanks to the lovely VIVAvivacious for all of her hard work beta-ing this story.

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I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.

– Marie Curie.

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Greenwich, Ipswich: 12th August, 2009

The sand in the timer seemed to almost slow to a stop as it trickled through the hourglass from the top to the bottom. It seemed as though the longer he spent looking at it, the slower the sand moved. Snape had been waiting for so long that he could barely stand the anticipation any longer. He closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over them wearily. He heard the door at the top of the stairs leading down to the lab open and the footsteps that followed.

He looked up just in time to see Hermione enter the room. It had been two weeks since he had stopped thinking of her as Granger, since they had come to an agreement on calling one another by their first names. She flashed him a nervous smile. He wasn't surprised. He was just as anxious about the outcome of their potion.

'How much longer do we have to wait?' she asked, walking over to the window to open it after a brief pause to check that the wards surrounding the potion were intact.

'Just a few more minutes,' he answered. 'Are the test subjects ready?'

Hermione nodded. 'I left them upstairs in their cage. I didn't think it would be prudent to bring them down here. They seemed to sense something this morning and have been a little on edge.'

Snape snorted. 'They're rats, Hermione,' he replied. 'They have no idea what is in store for them. I assume you have performed the memory charm on them?'

'Yes,' she answered with a nod. 'They are all quite barmy at the moment, hence their current state of irritation.'

Snape shook his head and turned back to look at the timer. He watched with bated breath as the last few grains of sand fell through and joined the rest of the sand at the bottom of the hourglass. He sighed in relief and walked over to the potion, taking the protective charms off it and putting out the flame beneath. Hermione joined him and put a hand on his arm, practically grabbing it and shaking it in her excitement. She smiled at him in a way that made his heart almost come to a halt.

Together they decanted the potion into a row of flasks, putting stoppers in all of them, save one. As Snape labelled all the jars, Hermione went upstairs to collect their test specimens. When she returned, he had finished putting the spare flasks on the shelf near the sink and was placing a security ward on it so that no harm would come to the potion. He hadn't noticed it before, but the potion was a crystal clear jade colour. He attributed it to all of the herbs and organic extracts they had used in its creation.

He waited as Hermione picked up each of the rats and inspected them. She made a noise of triumph when she found the one she was looking for. He stepped up behind her and relieved her of the rodent, holding it up by its tail.

'Why don't you prepare the serum to be administered to the rat, and I will prepare the confinement container,' he said, taking it over to a row of small containment boxes they had pre-arranged on the benches beside the sink.

Two minutes later, Hermione joined him at the bench with an eyedropper filled with the serum. 'Can you pry his mouth open for me?' she asked after her failed attempt to entice the rat into opening its mouth of its own volition.

Snape gently pried its jaw open, and Hermione immediately inserted the point of the eyedropper into the rat's mouth and pumped the contents in it.

Once they had finished with the first one, Snape secured the containment unit it was in so it was unable to escape, and they proceeded to test the rest of them. Once they had completed their work, they tidied their workspace and made notes in the journal before sitting down to watch their subjects. Neither of them knew how long it would take before they would see results, let alone if their potion would work at all. It was all based on theory, but Snape hoped all their hard work and time had not been a waste.

When nothing had happened after the first hour, Snape went upstairs to the kitchen to make tea as Hermione continued to observe.

He was glad for the time alone. There was nary a day that he had not spent in her company over the past two and a half months. It was more time than Snape was used to spending with another person in such close quarters. Yes, he had been a professor at what was essentially a boarding school, but it was different when there was someone constantly in his personal space. When he had been living at Hogwarts, there was rarely a moment when he had allowed a soul into his personal chambers. Of all the staff that worked at the school, only Albus had been there more than once, and he had only visited a handful of times himself.

Once he had brewed the pot of tea, he grabbed two mugs and levitated it all down to the lab with him.

Hermione looked up at him when he entered, and she shook her head. Nothing had happened while he had been away. He poured their tea, and they sat side-by-side to watch their experiment as it progressed.

After three hours, Snape heard the first rat start squeaking a lot more often, and move around in its confinement unit. He got up immediately and walked over, taking the charms off the box and picking the rat up to examine it. He just barely lit the tip of his wand, and he held the light up to the rat's eyes, watching its pupils dilate and become smaller. It appeared to be slightly more aware of its surroundings. He performed Legillimens on the specimen, and while it was confusing to dig around in the memories of the rat, it appeared that the potion had been successful in retrieving its lost memories.

'So, what is the diagnosis, Professor?' Hermione asked, her eyes as wide as saucers in anticipation.

'From my professional perspective, it would seem to me that this rat, after enduring severe memory loss and amnesia, has recovered its memories due to the potion we have created,' he said, smirking in triumph.

'Yes!' she exclaimed before jumping towards him and wrapping her arms around him in her excitement. 'We did it!'

When she finally released him and murmured an apology, he relaxed and put the specimen back in its container. 'It is indeed a great triumph for us. However, we still need to achieve the same results with the other eleven rats we have before we can begin testing it on humans. We will also need to alter the equation to find out how much we will need to administer to each person based on their overall height and weight,' he added, his mind defensively switching to logic in his nervousness.

Hermione smiled and shook her head. 'Ever the scientist,' she said, although her tone was tempered with a fondness he had not picked up on before. 'Can't you just take a moment to step back and enjoy our victory?'

'It is not easy for me to be so optimistic,' he answered, surprised at his own honesty.

'Well, I will be the optimist for the both of us,' she said, moving over to check on the second rat, which also appeared to be making more noise than it had earlier.

By the end of the day, all the rats had been cured of their amnesia and were as healthy as they had been upon purchase. He walked Hermione to his front door to see her off as usual, and the two of them parted for the day, both with a little spring in their step, pleased at what they had managed to achieve.

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St. Mungo's, London: 26th August, 2009

Two weeks passed in a blur as Hermione and Snape continued to do rigorous testing on as many magical and non-magical creatures as they dared.

They were careful to make certain to test on larger animals as well as the small, though none so large as an actual human being. All of the tests had been positive once they had begun using the special equation for the amount of potion that would be required per dosage. The thick journal they had been using to write down all of their notes was nearly full, and they had only one step left to take before they would submit their paperwork of the potion and the patenting rights information to the Ministry of Magic for approval.

They needed to test the potion on two living human beings of incapacitated mental states.

This was the reason for Hermione's visit to St. Mungo's that day. She was there to recruit a volunteer, someone she had high hopes would acquiesce to their request. She caught the lift from the lobby to the Janus Thickey Ward and made her way to the main desk on that floor. As she approached, she could see the confusion in the eyes of the ladies sitting there. She knew why. What possible reason would Hermione Granger have for visiting that ward?

'I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of Frank and Alice Longbottom's room, please,' Hermione asked upon reaching the front desk.

'They are in room 609, just down the hall and to the left at the end,' answered the youngest witch, a blonde who seemed to be intent on examining her fingernails rather than gaping at Hermione like the others.

'Thank you for your assistance,' she said before making her way to the end of the hall.

Upon reaching the correct room, she paused at the door and knocked a couple of times, then opened the door to enter. She peeked around the door and was surprised by how cheery the room looked in comparison to most of the rooms within St. Mungo's. She supposed it was different in the long-term ward, as most of the patients would be interred there for life.

'Hello?' she said, looking around the room to see if there was anyone in the room other than the two Longbottom patients.

'Hey,' said a voice from behind her, causing Hermione to spin around quickly, her wand in hand. She had never really been able to change her immediate reaction to being surprised after the war.

'Neville!' she exclaimed when she saw her friend standing behind her with a grin on his face.

'It's good to see you too, Hermione,' he replied, looping an arm around her shoulder and ushering her into the room properly. 'Have a seat wherever you like.'

'How have you been, Neville?' she asked as she sat in one of the chairs between Neville's parents' beds.

'Oh, you know, I have actually been pretty good. Luna is taking care of the twins at home at the moment, so I decided to pop in and see how my parents were faring today,' he said, cheerful despite everything he had been through in his life. 'They are much the same as usual, I fear.'

'I suppose you are wondering what I am doing here,' Hermione said, getting straight to the point.

Neville chuckled lightly. 'Well, I suppose some sort of explanation might be nice. It's not every day I come to see my folks and find Hermione Granger lurking in their doorway.'

Hermione laughed at that also. 'Well, I suppose I will get right to the point, then,' she said with a smile. 'I have some pretty amazing news that will hopefully mean the return of your parents to you. I have been working with Professor Snape for the past three months, tirelessly trying to perfect our mind restoration potion for magically-induced amnesia and brain damage.'

'You and Snape? Together?' Neville managed to stutter out, utterly in shock. 'You think you've found a potion that will cure my parents?'

'We certainly have, Mr. Longbottom,' said a deep, familiar voice from the doorway.

Hermione looked up and saw that Snape had entered the room wearing his customary black robes and attire. His arms were folded across his chest, and he had a weary but not unhappy expression gracing his features. He crossed the room to stand beside her chair and extended a hand out to Neville in perhaps the most polite greeting she had ever seen from the man who was once her professor.

'How are you, Longbottom?' Snape said as Neville nervously grasped his hand to shake it in return.

'Well, I think I would have to say I am better now than I have been for quite a few years,' he stammered, releasing Snape's hand to run it through his hair, clearly still in shock over the whole situation.

'I understand this is a lot to take in, Mr. Longbottom, but Professor Granger and I would both be very much obliged if you would allow us to test our potion on your parents in the hope that we might restore their minds to what they once were,' Snape said simply. 'We have done extensive testing on a variety of creatures of different sizes and constitutions, and we have one final test to complete before we can finally deem this potion a success.'

Hermione decided to throw in her two cents then. 'Neville, we really want to help your parents, and we've had nothing but success so far. I know this is a lot of pressure, putting you on the spot like this, but the sooner we try it, the better,' she implored. 'I wouldn't ask if I didn't feel it was worth the risk, but at the same time, I can't promise that this will be 100 per cent effective.'

Neville nodded, seeming to come out of his daze. 'No, it's fine. I understand why you are asking me. You know I would trust you with my own life, Hermione. How could I not trust you with my parents' lives?' he answered, finally giving her another smile. 'When do we start?'

'Right now,' Hermione said, pulling a black velvet pouch out of her robes and returning it to its usual size with a wave of her hand.

'We have formulated an equation that has allowed us to calculate how much of the potion will be safe to administer to your parents,' Snape explained.

Meanwhile, Hermione went about the task of filling the syringes they had brought with the potion so they could inject the liquid straight into the IV lines connected to their arms. Snape injected the first round of the potion for Alice while Hermione took care of Frank on the other side. When that was done, they disposed of the used syringes and the waiting began.

After three hours, Hermione immediately checked their vitals and made sure that everything was in perfect working order. Pleased at the level of change in their brain frequencies on the monitor, Hermione and Snape proceeded to administer the second round of the potion to the patients. They resumed their seats and everyone sat around, the anxiousness in the room almost overpowering.

It was nearly five in the afternoon when a soft moan and a sound of disgruntlement coming from Alice Longbottom's bed alerted the room to a change.

Snape jumped out of his seat immediately and went to the woman with Neville hot on his heels. Hermione observed and jotted down notes as Snape checked and prodded her until he was satisfied that the sound was not just a fluke. Neville grasped his mother's hand and nearly jumped up and down for joy when her eyes rolled up to meet his dazedly, and her hand gave his a light squeeze in return.

'Ally,' a soft voice croaked from behind all of them.

Hermione spun around to find Frank Longbottom looking around the room in distress, grasping at his dry throat as he croaked out his wife's name. She walked over to him and grasped one of his hands in hers, drawing his attention to her.

'Hello, Frank,' she said with a smile. 'I am Hermione. We've never met before, but I am here to treat you. Your wife is fine and in the bed beside us. She is experiencing similar confusion to you.'

'Where?' he rasped.

'We are at St. Mungo's,' she answered. 'You've been here for a long time.'

'How... how long?' he asked.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her answer would not please him, she knew. 'You've been here for about 30 years, sir.'

Snape chose to step up beside her at that moment and place a hand on her shoulder. Hermione felt like she was about to either cry or fall over. She had no idea what the right thing to feel at that time was. Elation at having done something that no one else had been able to do before, or sadness for how much of their lives the Longbottoms had missed out on.

'Snape?' Frank said, his brow furrowing.

'Hello, Frank,' Snape replied with a nod.

'You got... old,' he said before crumbling into a small coughing fit.

Hermione immediately rushed to get water for the man and helped him to sip it while Snape sat down in the seat beside his former colleague...and apparently friend. Once she had completed her task, she took a moment to step back and survey the people in the room. Neville was sitting on his mother's bedside, holding her hand and smiling, tears shining on his cheeks. Snape sat beside Frank, and everything seemed to be right for once.

She watched her former professor with a fondness she had felt creeping up on her for the longest time. However, when she turned her attention back to Neville, she found her friend staring at her with curiosity in his eyes.

Hermione ducked her head and stared at the floor. She could not have Neville asking her questions she couldn't even comprehend the answers to herself.

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To be continued.