Hermione reached into the pouch Harry had bought her, whispered "water" through her parched throat, took out the bottle and drank in great huge gulps.
And then it was still a while before she could talk again.
"We broke the rules, Harry," she said in a hoarse voice. "We broke the rules."
"I..." Harry swallowed. "I still don't see how, I've been
"I asked if the Transfiguration was safe and
There was a pause.
"That's it?" Harry said.
She could have screamed.
"Harry, don't you get it?" she said. "It's made out of tiny fibers, what if it
There was another pause.
"Right..." Harry said slowly. "That's probably one of those things they don't even bother telling you
"You could have gotten us killed, Harry!" Hermione knew it wasn't fair, she'd made the mistake too, but she still felt angry at him, he always sounded so confident and that had dragged her unthinkingly along in his wake. "We could have
"Yes," said Harry, "let's not tell her about this, shall we?"
"We have to stop," Hermione said. "We have to stop this or we're going to get hurt. We're too young, Harry, we can't do this, not yet."
A weak grin crossed Harry's face. "Um, you're sort of wrong about that."
And he held out a small pink rectangle, a rubber eraser with a bright metal patch on it.
Hermione stared at it, puzzled.
"Quantum mechanics wasn't enough," Harry said. "I had to go all the way down to timeless physics before it took. Had to see the wand as enforcing a
Hermione raised her wand again, pointed it at the eraser.
For a moment anger crossed Harry's face, but he didn't make any move to stop her.
"
Harry nodded, though his face was still a bit tight.
"And we still have to stop," said Hermione.
"
"It's not
Then Hermione flinched.
Harry looked away from her, and started taking slow, deep breaths.
"Please don't try to do it alone, Harry," Hermione said, her voice trembling. "Please."
There was a long pause.
"So you want us to study," Harry said. She could tell he was trying to keep the anger out of his voice. "Just study."
Hermione wasn't sure if she should say anything, but... "Like you studied, um, timeless physics, right?"
Harry looked back at her.
"That thing you did," Hermione said, her voice tentative, "it wasn't because of
Harry opened his mouth, and then he shut it again. There was a frustrated look on his face.
"All right," Harry said. "How about this. We study, and if I think of anything that seems
"Okay," Hermione said. She didn't fall over with relief, but only because she was already sitting down.