Book of You and I

King's Cross

The first time Hermione Granger used polyjuice potion was in her second year at Hogwarts. Admittedly, it did not go according to plan. The cat hair was not a variable that she had anticipated.

No matter, because for the second attempt at the potion–tucked away in an old dusty storage closet, away from prying eyes–she took extra care to identify the selected hair beforehand. This trial was a smashing success, and Hermione transformed into Neville Longbottom's mirror image for one hour, much to her satisfaction. Not that she needed to be successful at everything... but the embarrassment from months before still stung. Finally, she felt some of that uneasiness fade away.

After the second attempt, Hermione felt the need to brew the potion again. She couldn't determine the why behind it... you see, every once in a while she was seized by an idea. The idea could be trivial one day and absolutely monstrously difficult the next, but the commonality between them was that she became simply obsessive. When Hermione Granger got something into her head, she could not let it go.

So, the story starts like this:

When Hermione Granger was thirteen, she decided that polyjuice potion, now over half a century old, needed to be perfected. If one got the timing correct, the potion was really very simple, but to be frank, the timing is what really pissed Hermione off. A month? An entire month to brew a potion that only lasted a maximum of twelve hours? It was a disgrace to wizard-kind, and she would not stand for it.

During the summer holidays after her second year at Hogwarts, she spent her free time researching. After an initial attempt to find answers in magical sources, Hermione gave up and turned to her local public library. The muggle library, of course. Wizards knew very little about modern science, so it was time to turn elsewhere for answers.

The answer to her inquiries was found in the biochemistry and synthetic biology section. When certain chemical reactions needed a little boost to get started, muggles often added something called enzymes. These enzymes lowered the energy needed for activation and allowed reactions to sprint forward–which was exactly what she was looking for.

Two weeks later, Hermione ordered a variety of enzymes over the phone to be delivered to her home. Thankfully, the package arrived while her parents were at work, so she was able to hide it in the back of her closet until she was ready to test them out.

Waiting the three-and-a-half weeks until term began was torture. Her parents left early in the morning to open their flourishing dental practice, and they never returned until after seven or eight o'clock in the evening. Often, they went to the pub with colleagues and potential sponsors, and Hermione would be off to bed before they came home. If she was lucky enough to catch them in the mornings or for dinner, the conversations were relatively short.

Mum! Dad! You know, I was reading something rather interesting last night–

Hmm? Yes, yes, that's wonderful, dear. Your mother and I will be off in just a moment.

You're going already? But it's over twenty minutes before you usually leave.

Oh, love, you know how it is. The early bird gets the worm! Now be good today, kiddo. Lunch is in the fridge.

And then she was left on her own in the empty house with her books and her thoughts. She supposed she could turn on the telly, but television had never been one of her preferred hobbies. The backyard had a few painted metal chairs, but there was hardly any shade so in the summer months, they grew hot enough to burn your skin right off. There was an old piano in the sitting room that her mother played occasionally, but no one had ever bothered to teach Hermione any of the notes. Most of the time it just sat there collecting dust.