"And all of them are just... temporary. The tournament will be over at the end of the year. We'll defeat Voldemort somehow... I'm sure of it... before we're twenty. I'm not sure if I could be the only thing for you to dedicate your life to, Harry. I want to stand beside you, not hold you up."
Once again, Hermione was talking concepts that he'd never thought of before and was having a hard time understanding, but he knew that this time it wasn't just because he hadn't read the same books as her. "How about you, then? Could I get some examples from you?" he asked for clarification.
"Me? I want to change wizarding society completely. Bring it up to modern muggle standards. Get rid of the bigotry and racism, equal rights for sentient beings instead of just labelling them as 'creatures', oh, and learn as much as I can, of course."
Harry was stunned. Hermione had such lofty goals... a few of which she might not see within her lifetime, but they were certainly goals she could strive for her entire life. He didn't have anything that came close. "I'm... going to have to think about that for a while."
"Thanks, Harry. That's all I really wanted for now. I didn't expect you suddenly decide to build a city on the moon or something right now... I just want to know that you'll be thinking about your own life a bit more." Hermione got up, dispelling the wards she had set up earlier. "We should go to breakfast. Are you coming to Potions?"
"No, I have to actually study my potions." Harry had spent most of the last few weeks of potions deliberately getting on Snape's nerves, and had actually learned more about potions in the process. While the rest of the class worked on theirs by following the textbook, Harry had often deliberately made mistakes in his. Sometimes he stirred too quickly or too little, other times he would drop ingredients out of order, or vary the temperature here and there. While initially it was to both annoy the professor and waste a few ingredients, Harry soon began taking notes as he discovered some of his intentional mistakes had consistent and predictable results. Brewing wasn't nearly as dangerous as Snape had implied, and Neville must have been some kind of genius to make his potions keep exploding, because Harry only managed it once, despite his efforts. He was beginning to learn far more about potions with his little experimentation than simply following the recipes. In fact, it was a lot like cooking, which he did a lot for the Dursleys. It was odd coincidence how both Potions class and cooking for two tubs of lard were both the most distasteful routines in his life.
"What?" Hermione cocked her head to the side, with a smile. She was glad that Harry was still able to make a joke after such a serious discussion. She did also learn to enjoy Harry's potions experiments, after he began to take notes, at least.
"The next task is the Trial of Earth. And Bagman gave us a hint. He just said 'study your potions.' I'll be going to the library," Harry explained. "I actually need to learn the potions instead of learn about brewing in general, so I'll be reading some textbooks." It would also give him a nice, quiet place to think if he got bored of reading, and Hermione had given him a lot to think about.
"Alright then. I'm still looking forward to what you've planned for Valentine's, Harry."
"You're going to love it," Harry assured her.
The potions research was actually a lie. Partial lie, at least. He intended to sneak out to Hogsmeade that morning and study potions later, when he got back. He had a particular piece of jewellery to buy, and if they didn't have it, then he'd pay them to make one. Taking the passage through the one-eyed witch into Hogsmeade, he stayed under his invisibility cloak until he was at the jeweller's. Navigating through town was far simpler on a school day- Harry never noticed before, but the students made up more than three-quarters of the pedestrians during Hogsmeade weekends.
"Hello there... oh, you're a Hogwarts student. Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" the owner of the shop, Henry MacCullan, said with a quick glance from his newspaper.
"Not if I don't want to," Harry answered.
"You're gonna regret skiving off class when you're looking for a job in a few years, kid," the man said. "You'd better not... Oh! Mr. Potter!" He finally put down his paper and got a good look at Harry. He was the one from whom Harry had bought Hermione's earrings.
"Yes, I'm back. I'd like a locket. Two of them, in fact. They need to be able to hold a small photo inside." Harry had the picture of the New Year's Ball in mind.
"Why didn't you come here yesterday? I'm sold out of little love-lockets. Seems like the French boys all wanted to buy one for their belles. Not that I'd turn down their business, but they could use a little more independent thinking, you know."
Harry hesitated, wondering if this was a problem. He didn't think he was being especially creative, but he also didn't think that everyone else had been buying lockets as well. Still, he had already received the extra copies of the photos from Colin and a locket would be a nice place to have a copy. "Then could you make me one? I guess I might as well stick to birthstones... Hermione's is sapphire, mine would be... rubies?" For the next hour, he and Mr. MacCullan discussed what Harry wanted. They would be two golden lockets that mirrored each other with a lion and lioness. A single ruby or sapphire would adorn each one, and they opened up to contain a picture of their kiss at the ball. The jeweller initially balked at the idea of completing both by tomorrow, but agreed to it when Harry paid him up front.
Finally satisfied, Harry realized this was the perfect time to ask a few questions that had been on his mind. "Do you know about storing magic inside gemstones?"
"You can use a wand to charge it up, for sure. If you just force some random magic inside, they'll sparkle brighter, o' course. I could do that for you, free o' charge. It's not too difficult."
"Well, what about storing magic and releasing it later, for casting spells?" Harry asked.
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