the candyman can, 'cause he mixes it with love

[cleverness]

Although she'd easily accumulated a rather full library over the years, Hermione Granger wasn't in the habit of keeping a great deal of knick-knacks in her possession. Magic made it a great deal easier to store and rifle through a large quantity of belongings, but Hermione had spent her years well-divided between the Muggle and the magical world, and in the former, clutter only became troublesome, and occasionally a point of contention between herself and her parents. So when the island had decided to gift her with a series of hourglasses of various shapes and sizes, Hermione had sighed, for she wasn't sure of their purpose and felt relatively bad about the rarely used conche she kept tucked away in a corner of the hut. By its side rested a large basket of cocoa beans she'd harvested some time ago.

Perhaps it was time to donate both to the Compound.

While the conche had been equipped with wheels for ease of moving, its heavy weight still had Hermione huffing for breath by the time she reached the Compound, cheeks bright pink from the exertion. She glanced briefly from the main building to the bakery across the path, before seating herself down on the beaten path, drying her forehead with the back of a hand. "Leave the chocolate to someone else," she reasoned to herself.

Comments

[cleverness]

"Oh my god," Hermione breathed, quickly raising both hands to cover her mouth at the realization, cheeks immediately blanching in shock. While it was understandable that people could be made nervous by their tendencies and propensities, that they could be a legitimate danger to those around them, Hermione could imagine neither consenting to kill part of her brain as a coping mechanism, nor being unable to solidly set aside whatever knowledge or technology had been considered so nervous in the first place. She enjoyed being whole too much to have trouble cutting back on her work and research.

"I hate seeming insensitive, but... yes, that does. That does worry me," she nodded slightly. "But you seem, if distracted, far more even-minded now."

[king_ofcups]

"Well, I've had time to adjust. And I have Agent Dunham to keep me focused. At home, I had my son, but here, I've had to muddle through without him," Walter said with a faint smile, "And I assure you, the dangers involved in the use of a conche are comparably minimal."

[cleverness]

"Oh, I'm not suggesting that I believe you'd somehow hurt me," Hermione shook her head, keeping to herself the fact that she highly suspected that she'd be able to handle herself if push came to shove. "It's more your welfare in general; I can't imagine what it's like trying to come back from such an experience. Did your son know what you were planning before you made the decision?"

[king_ofcups]

"Oh, no. He was hardly more than a boy, at the time," Walter admitted with a pained smile. What memories he had of Peter's childhood were all quite bittersweet, at best.

"During his adolescent years, he and I were not close." Walter, of course, knew why. He never blamed Peter for being angry or for hating what Walter had done.

[cleverness]

"Understandable," Hermione said quietly, still unnerved by the entirety of the situation. With how calmly Walter spoke on the topic, she had no doubt that there were any number of details that she hadn't been made aware of, greater pressures pushing him towards the decision. And maybe it wasn't either her responsibility or her right to pry.

"Well, regardless," she said instead, trying for a smile. "We'll only be making chocolate, and fortunately I don't think that puts any of us at great risk. Indigestion at most."