Last Man on The Earth

a w a k e n i n g

"How is he?" Hermione panted, her crazed eyes flicking up from the brewing cauldron in front of her as Theo strolled into the lab.

For the past two weeks her schedule had consisted solely of working on brewing an efficient draught of wolfsbane, and also failing miserably at it.

The perfectionist inside her was practically screaming at how many failed attempts she'd had, having trudged home every night seemingly no closer to the final product.

But Hermione Granger never backed down from a challenge, and like hell was she gonna let this one defeat her. Especially when that challenge involved the well-being of Draco Malfoy.

She'd never been given the chance to personally thank him for saving her from Greyback, with Theodore Nott being the only wizard to have visited him since the war.

The scream he'd let out when he was attacked had lingered within her soul ever since, and the guilt that burdened inside her was practically burning away at her.

And so she had to get this potion right.

She owed it to him.

"Draco's not great, to be honest. The wolf's getting restless." Theo responded with a sigh, his fingers pulling at the tie around his neck as he placed his bag down with a low thud.

Hermione frowned at his words, chewing on her lip as she watched the dark liquid swirl from within the cauldron. It wasn't looking promising.

"How's the wolfsbane coming along? Any break throughs yet?" Theo puffed out as he rolled his sleeves up, inspecting the scruffily written instructions as he too examined the potion.

"No." Hermione pouted with a sigh, staring down at yet another seemingly failed batch in front of her. "That's why I called you back. The shadow flowers just aren't co-operating with me, I don't know what I'm doing differently than the brewer but every time I think I'm close it just gives up. I've honestly tried everything."

She stared down at the mixture as it began to separate, the flowers floating to the top in defeat.

"Have you tried contacting the brewer to ask him?" Theo flicked his wand to begin to clear the mess up, reorganising the bottles to start again.

"Yes. I asked him every question I could think of, every detail, and all he could muster is that the 'wolfsbane is specific'. What's that supposed to even mean?! It's a bloody potion, not a person, I don't understand why it's so hard to brew!"

Hermione glared down at the desk, angrily vanishing the remnants of yet another failed draught.

There was a pause between them as they both stared down at the cauldron, wondering how on earth they were going to get through this.

"As long as we can get it right before the full moon." Theo cleared his throat as he broke the silence, catching her eye as he did so. "That's all I ask."

"We'll be able to. I'm sure of it... right?" Hermione's voice came out as a small squeak, the fear beginning to play in the back of her mind that she would fail Draco.

She could only imagine the torture he was going through right now without a single drop to of wolfsbane to ease the pain, wincing at the thought of him suffering alone.

"We will." Theo nodded as he sighed in determination, rolling his shoulders back as he began to set up the ingredients. "Let's try this again."

The pair struggled and worked together well into the night, but it seemed even then they were no closer to solving the puzzle.

Hours turned into days, and days turn into weeks, time quickly running out as the full moon drew closer and closer.

Theo's patronus began to hear less and less from Draco as the days went on, eventually returning with no news at all when the deadline was a mere 72 hours away.