Chapter 1
It had been seven years since the Battle of Hogwarts. At first, everyone was cautious. Abundantly so. But as time passed, people relaxed and conducted their daily lives as if there was no threat to the wizarding world whatsoever. Including Hermione Granger.
Hermione got a job working for the Ministry of Magic researching and creating new potions, though her employment with them was confidential. As such, she often tested her new creations on herself, when she could. Other times, test subjects were required, which her colleagues helped procure. She couldn’t very well test a potion meant to reduce the effects of lycanthropy when she didn’t have lycanthropy.
During her time as a master of potions, she had created a number of coveted and unprecedented potions, making her one of the most valuable employees to ever work for the Ministry. However, very few knew she was the one responsible for the recent advancements in magical potions. The Minister for Magic was concerned her safety would be in jeopardy if she was publicly credited for her achievements.
Harry and Ron often asked about her current projects. She downplayed her work when she could and flat out lied to them when she couldn’t. There were times even her lab partners and assistants didn’t know what she was working on. As was the case with her current project—a potion that would allow the drinker to apparate to a safe location regardless of the presence of anti-apparition lines or magical wards. The potion would also allow the drinker to apparate alone even if someone was touching them at the time. If she was successful, the potion would be useful for witches and wizards to escape capture if another wizarding war were to occur. However, the potion could have devastating ramifications if it fell into the wrong hands.
Due to the top-secret nature of the potion, Hermione was finding it difficult to test. While she had wards protecting her home, they were her wards, designed to let her pass through them freely. She considered asking Ginny for help. She knew Ginny would gladly set up an anti-apparition line around her home or change her wards, but Hermione couldn’t bring herself to ask. Both of those tasks were time consuming, and Ginny was busy caring for her two small children.
Sure, Harry would have helped, but that would mean telling him about the potion, which would mean telling Ron. Harry didn’t like to have secrets between the three of them. If he knew something, he made sure Ron and Hermione did, too. It wasn’t always that way. But after Hermione and Ron broke up, Harry implemented his new rule. She thought it was his way of keeping the Golden Trio intact. But the friendship between Ron and Hermione had never been the problem. They were great friends, but they weren’t a great couple. It hadn’t taken as long as she thought it would for them to readjust to being friends after being in a long term relationship, which is why she found Harry’s no secrets rule so irritating.
Sighing, she tried to come up with another way to test the potion. She couldn’t think of anywhere that still had anti-apparition lines in place. Well, not anywhere that she was willing to go anyway. Anti-apparition lines were mainly used during times of war, as an added line of protection. After racking her brain for hours, she finally realized she would have to test the potion on her own. She could rent a remote cottage for the weekend and set up temporary anti-apparition lines and magical wards. It would consume her entire weekend, but she thought it would be worth it if the potion was a success.
Three days later, Hermione stood inside the cottage she rented and downed a vial of her newest potion. It needed a name, but she always waited until she had successfully tested a potion to give it a name. It had become somewhat of a superstition for her.
She waited a few minutes to make sure the potion was fully in her system before she inhaled deeply and tried to apparate. Seconds later, she appeared in her living room with a pop. It worked! She could barely contain her excitement. “Okay, Hermione, don’t get too excited yet,” she told herself. But it was hard not to. She knew the anti-apparition lines and defensive wards had been set up flawlessly.
Exhaling slowly, she closed her eyes and tried again. She squealed with delight when she landed in the cottage. “Now, I can ask Ginny for help,” she said to herself.
Once again, she apparated to her living room. She took a moment to compose herself before she floo called Ginny. When Ginny answered, she realized she hadn’t taken the time to come up with a reason to ask for Ginny’s help, aside from the real reason, which she couldn’t tell her until they were face-to-face in case someone else was in the room with Ginny.
“Hey, Ginny,” Hermione stammered. “Uh, I was wondering if you could come over to my place? I need help with, um, I need help picking out an outfit for, um …”
“Do you have a date?” Ginny asked excitedly. “You do, don’t you?” Before Hermione could answer, Ginny shouted, “Harry! I need to go over to Hermione’s. The semen demons are your responsibility until I get back.”
“What’s a semen demon, Daddy?” James asked.
“Ginny!” Harry shouted.
“Gotta go,” Ginny said and stepped out of Hermione’s fireplace moments later. “So, who do you have a date with? Do I know him? Never mind. Is he hot? Tell me everything.”
One thing was for sure, Ginny did not have any ill feelings toward Hermione after her break up with Ron. If she had any ill feelings at all, they were for Ron, but she hid them well.
Hermione grimaced. “I don’t actually have a date.”
“What?” Ginny asked and lowered her voice. “So, what are we doing? Hiding a body?”
“No, for Merlin’s sake,” Hermione said. “I’ve been working on a secret potion, and I need your help testing it.”
“Oh,” Ginny said, not bothering to hide her disappointment. “It’s the weekend, Hermione. You’re supposed to take a break from work on the weekends.”
“I know, I know. But I needed to test this new potion, and my options were limited.”
“All right,” Ginny sighed. “I’ll help, but only if it tastes good.”
Ginny knew that all of Hermione’s potions tasted good. She made sure of it. After drinking polyjuice potion in all its disgusting glory, Hermione vowed to make her potions pleasing to the palette.
“It tastes like strawberries, but you don’t have to drink it,” Hermione told her.
“What? Then why am I here?”
“I’ll explain when we get there.”
“Where are we going?” Ginny asked.
Instead of answering, Hermione clasped her arm and apparated them to the front yard of the cottage.
“I’ve set up an anti-apparition line around the cottage. The potion I’m working on will give you the ability to disapparate regardless of anti-apparition lines and wards. The drinker will also be able to disapparate alone even if someone is holding on to them,” Hermione explained.
“So, you want to leave me alone in a strange cottage in the middle of nowhere while you vanish into thin air and make history?”
“Precisely,” Hermione deadpanned.
Ginny clapped her hands together. “Let’s do it.”
Hermione knew their routine well. Ginny liked to pretend to be inconvenienced or disgruntled, before she readily agreed to help Hermione. She was always supportive when it came to Hermione.
When they entered the cottage, Hermione didn’t waste any time. She instructed Ginny to grab on to her arm. Moments later, Hermione disappeared, leaving Ginny standing alone in stunned silence. Almost as quickly as she’d gone, Hermione reappeared with a loud pop.
“It worked!” she shrieked.
Ginny screamed with her as they held hands and jumped up and down.
“Hermione! Do you know what this means?”
“Yes! We’ll be able to save so many lives if another wizarding war breaks out.” They both knew one eventually would. They’d heard the rumors about the Death Eaters rebuilding their forces. It was part of the reason Hermione had been working so hard on that particular potion. So many of her friends and classmates would still be with them if they’d had a potion like the one she’d created during the last wizarding war.
“What are you going to name it?” Ginny asked.
“I was thinking Gingerbread Juice.”
Ginny’s forehead wrinkled with confusion. “I thought you said it tastes like strawberries.”
“It does.”
“Then why do you want to call it Gingerbread Juice?”
Hermione smiled. “Like the nursery rhyme. ‘You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man.’”
“What in the name of Merlin does that mean?”
“Oh, right. It’s a muggle nursery rhyme about a gingerbread man who runs away and no one can catch him. Well, a fox does catch him, but that’s not the point. His famous line is, ‘Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man.’ I thought it was fitting since the potion will prevent the drinker from being caught. I also didn’t want the name to be too obvious. But I’m open to other suggestions.”
“Obvious name or not, everyone will know what it does once it’s out there.”
“Not necessarily,” Hermione countered. “If another war breaks out, the potion can be given to fighters without them knowing what it is or what it specifically does. They will be instructed to disapparate if they are in danger regardless of where they are or who is touching them. They’ll return to their designated location safely and alone. They don’t need to know the specifics.”
“Giving wizards and witches a potion without telling them seems unethical,” Ginny said.
“I suppose we could tell them it’s a protection potion and not go into the details of how it works,” Hermione said. “We’ll figure something out.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Ginny said. “This is such a huge accomplishment. I wish more people could know about it, and you could get the credit you deserve.”
“Thank you,” Hermione said. “I kind of like not getting credit. It keeps me from being inundated with potion requests, and it keeps me out of the spotlight. I had enough of that when the war ended.”
Ron enjoyed being on the front page of every wizarding newspaper, but Harry and Hermione didn’t. Hermione preferred to live a quiet life away from the media, as did Harry.
“Do you need to do any other testing?” Ginny asked. “Do you want me to drink a vial and see if it works for me?”
“I want to make sure there are no unexpected side effects before I ask anyone else to try it,” Hermione said. “Otherwise, I need to see how long it takes to wear off. The current formula is supposed to last two hours, but I’m hoping to extend that in the future.”
“How long has it been since you drank it?”
Hermione looked at the clock on the wall. “Almost ninety minutes.”
“Perfect,” Ginny beamed. “Let’s have a snack and talk about your love life.”
“I don’t have a love life,” Hermione huffed.
“Exactly,” Ginny said. “And that’s fine if you’re happy, but I don’t think you are.”
Ginny was right. Hermione wasn’t completely happy with her life. While she enjoyed her work immensely, she also longed to have a family of her own. Even though the Weasleys included her in all of their family events as if she was one of their own, she often felt lonely. She sometimes found it difficult to spend the day with a large, loving family only to return home alone, which is why she often avoided the emptiness of her house by working late.
“I’m not unhappy,” Hermione said, skirting around her unasked question.
“When was the last time you went on a date?”
“I don’t know,” Hermione said honestly. “Maybe six months ago.”
“I’m not saying a man is the answer, but I do think you need to get out of your lab and do something for yourself,” Ginny said. “Promise me you’ll make that a priority after you’ve put a cork on the Gingerbread Juice.”
Hermione laughed. “Nice pun.”
“Nice avoidance.”
“Fine,” Hermione sighed. “I’ll make an effort to prioritize myself when I’m finished with this potion. But enough about me. Anything new with you and the kids?”
Ginny chuckled. “Well, James recently learned a new phrase.”
They continued chatting about Harry and Ginny’s children until it was time to see if the potion had worn off.
When Hermione tried to apparate from the cottage living room, nothing happened. She beamed at Ginny. “Well, I think that concludes my potion testing for the day.”
“So, you just needed me to stand here?” Ginny laughed.
“No, I needed you to stand here and hold on to me,” Hermione deadpanned.
“I’m glad I could help,” Ginny said genuinely.
With that, they walked outside and past the anti-apparition line so they could disapparate to Hermione’s house.