Yuletide Potions XI
Title: Yuletide Potions
Team: Spy for the Order of the Phoenix
Word Count: 8 x 100
Rating: G
Challenges: Broken Memory Charm
Characters: Severus, Hermione, Wendell and Monica Wilkins/Granger
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10
“Now, Monica. You agreed we’d hear her out,” Wendell said reproachfully.
Hermione turned to look at her father. “Are you all right?”
“We’re hoping you can help us figure that out.” Wendell eyed the tall, dark figure standing on the back patio. “I’m guessing you’re Severus Snape. You might as well come in and be comfortable.”
Severus was relieved to feel the blast of cold air as he entered the house and followed Wendell to a cream-on-cream toned lounge room with a picture-window looking out onto the ocean. He wasn’t really dressed for the searing heat of Gerringong in mid-summer.
…
Hermione sat nervously on the pastel, floral sofa beside Severus. Her father was projecting his usual, steadying presence, but her mother’s tension was palpable.
“We’ve tolerated your nonsense long enough, Miss Granger. It’s time for you to start explaining yourself. Who are you, what do you have to do with us, and what do you know about our memory problems?”
“‘Our’?” Hermione asked. “The letter only mentioned Wendell.”
Monica glared at her. “Would you prefer to discuss your bizarre postal arrangements? We’re all ears, here.”
“Look. I promise I will explain absolutely everything. But first, please, tell me what’s happened.”
…
With a calming hand on his wife’s arm, Wendell told Severus and Hermione his story.
“Who’s the new fella?”
“This is Jaidyn. He’s our Sharon’s bloke. They’re down from Sydney for the week. Thought I’d show him what a real pub’s like. Oi, Wendell. Keep him company for a bit, will ya? I need Greg here to ‘ave a look at me car.”
Jaidyn was a general practitioner, and his father-in-law had asked him to come along to check out what was wrong with his friend.
“He reckons it’s some kind of dementia …”
“Alzheimer’s,” Monica interjected, tight-lipped with worry.
…
“Now I told you, dear. It’s not Alzheimer’s. The symptoms are wrong.” Wendell turned to Severus. “You’ve had medical training to be a pharmacist, right?”
“Of a sort. But I’m hardly qualified …”
“No, of course not. But still. You understand that there are different sorts of dementia.”
Unable to contain herself any longer, Hermione interjected. “If you could just tell us what your symptoms are.”
“He’s lost all his memories. And so have I,” Monica stated bluntly.
Shaking his head and patting her arm, Wendell said, “That’s not quite true. Just all the ones before we decided to come here.”
…
“Once we started thinking about it, we realised that neither one of use could remember a single thing before the day we filled out our visa applications to come here. Only, with Alzheimers, you lose short term memory first, and then recent events; it’s the old memories that last the longest. I’ve had no trouble remembering anything that’s happened in the last year and a half.” He looked at Severus. “You take coffee first thing in the morning, black, strong, no sugar, and weak tea in the afternoon.” Then he turned to Hermione. “You wrote about that in August, right?”
…
Hermione nodded. “That sounds about right.”
Severus quietly considered that bit of information. It seemed Hermione had done more than simply mention him in her letters.
“It’s exactly right. I can dig it out for you if you like.”
“And there’s another thing,” Monica added. “We have every piece of paper that’s come into this house since we moved here, all neatly filed and cross-referenced. But not one blessed scrap from before. We’re not the sort of people to lose things, but when Wendell went to see a doctor, we couldn’t find our medical records from England. Or anything else.”
…
With a deep breath, Hermione launched into her story, from the receipt of her first Hogwarts letter to the day she had arrived in Australia to discover that she could not reverse the memory charm. “I’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong, but none of my theories have worked out,” she concluded.
As Hermione spoke, Severus watched the Grangers. They listened carefully, asking pointed questions here and there, but never doubting her account. They only asked for one demonstration of magic - a simple levitation charm. It was easy to see where Hermione got her intelligence, and her focus.
…
“All this talking has me thirsty,” was Wendell’s only response when she was done. “Severus, help me set up the drinks.”
It was not a request.
In the kitchen, Wendell got out a tray and began loading it up with a bottle of Mundurra Hunter Valley Chardonnay and glasses, noting that they’d “sprung for the good stuff” in honour of their guests.
Severus waited.
When the tray was filled, with the addition of some grapes, a box of water crackers, and a cold wedge of brie from the fridge, Wendell finally spoke.
“What exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?”
Part XII
Team: Spy for the Order of the Phoenix
Word Count: 8 x 100
Rating: G
Challenges: Broken Memory Charm
Characters: Severus, Hermione, Wendell and Monica Wilkins/Granger
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10
“Now, Monica. You agreed we’d hear her out,” Wendell said reproachfully.
Hermione turned to look at her father. “Are you all right?”
“We’re hoping you can help us figure that out.” Wendell eyed the tall, dark figure standing on the back patio. “I’m guessing you’re Severus Snape. You might as well come in and be comfortable.”
Severus was relieved to feel the blast of cold air as he entered the house and followed Wendell to a cream-on-cream toned lounge room with a picture-window looking out onto the ocean. He wasn’t really dressed for the searing heat of Gerringong in mid-summer.
…
Hermione sat nervously on the pastel, floral sofa beside Severus. Her father was projecting his usual, steadying presence, but her mother’s tension was palpable.
“We’ve tolerated your nonsense long enough, Miss Granger. It’s time for you to start explaining yourself. Who are you, what do you have to do with us, and what do you know about our memory problems?”
“‘Our’?” Hermione asked. “The letter only mentioned Wendell.”
Monica glared at her. “Would you prefer to discuss your bizarre postal arrangements? We’re all ears, here.”
“Look. I promise I will explain absolutely everything. But first, please, tell me what’s happened.”
…
With a calming hand on his wife’s arm, Wendell told Severus and Hermione his story.
“Who’s the new fella?”
“This is Jaidyn. He’s our Sharon’s bloke. They’re down from Sydney for the week. Thought I’d show him what a real pub’s like. Oi, Wendell. Keep him company for a bit, will ya? I need Greg here to ‘ave a look at me car.”
Jaidyn was a general practitioner, and his father-in-law had asked him to come along to check out what was wrong with his friend.
“He reckons it’s some kind of dementia …”
“Alzheimer’s,” Monica interjected, tight-lipped with worry.
…
“Now I told you, dear. It’s not Alzheimer’s. The symptoms are wrong.” Wendell turned to Severus. “You’ve had medical training to be a pharmacist, right?”
“Of a sort. But I’m hardly qualified …”
“No, of course not. But still. You understand that there are different sorts of dementia.”
Unable to contain herself any longer, Hermione interjected. “If you could just tell us what your symptoms are.”
“He’s lost all his memories. And so have I,” Monica stated bluntly.
Shaking his head and patting her arm, Wendell said, “That’s not quite true. Just all the ones before we decided to come here.”
…
“Once we started thinking about it, we realised that neither one of use could remember a single thing before the day we filled out our visa applications to come here. Only, with Alzheimers, you lose short term memory first, and then recent events; it’s the old memories that last the longest. I’ve had no trouble remembering anything that’s happened in the last year and a half.” He looked at Severus. “You take coffee first thing in the morning, black, strong, no sugar, and weak tea in the afternoon.” Then he turned to Hermione. “You wrote about that in August, right?”
…
Hermione nodded. “That sounds about right.”
Severus quietly considered that bit of information. It seemed Hermione had done more than simply mention him in her letters.
“It’s exactly right. I can dig it out for you if you like.”
“And there’s another thing,” Monica added. “We have every piece of paper that’s come into this house since we moved here, all neatly filed and cross-referenced. But not one blessed scrap from before. We’re not the sort of people to lose things, but when Wendell went to see a doctor, we couldn’t find our medical records from England. Or anything else.”
…
With a deep breath, Hermione launched into her story, from the receipt of her first Hogwarts letter to the day she had arrived in Australia to discover that she could not reverse the memory charm. “I’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong, but none of my theories have worked out,” she concluded.
As Hermione spoke, Severus watched the Grangers. They listened carefully, asking pointed questions here and there, but never doubting her account. They only asked for one demonstration of magic - a simple levitation charm. It was easy to see where Hermione got her intelligence, and her focus.
…
“All this talking has me thirsty,” was Wendell’s only response when she was done. “Severus, help me set up the drinks.”
It was not a request.
In the kitchen, Wendell got out a tray and began loading it up with a bottle of Mundurra Hunter Valley Chardonnay and glasses, noting that they’d “sprung for the good stuff” in honour of their guests.
Severus waited.
When the tray was filled, with the addition of some grapes, a box of water crackers, and a cold wedge of brie from the fridge, Wendell finally spoke.
“What exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?”
Part XII