"But what happened?" she asked confused.
"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I thought he might not be able to go back to the Malfoy's since I, er - kind of own him now. He said something about it feeling the same as it did there. But then again, Ginny was sitting on top of something called a wardstone, which Mrs. Weasley said is supposed to be really magical."
"And really rare," Hermione said.
"You've heard of them?"
"Of course, they're mentioned in Hogwarts, a History . They're one of the main reasons the school is said to be one of the safest places in Britain - the school is surrounded by them, more than any other place in the country. The entire area is protected by them."
"But what do they do?" he asked, suddenly curious.
"I don't know," Hermione said, sharing his curious excitement. "But they're one reason I'm looking forward to taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy next year - Well, the year after this upcoming one," she clarified. "If we're interested in something, I don't see why we should have to wait until Third Year to begin learning."
"From what I saw at the Weasley's, what you can do with them looks really interesting," he said with a gleam in his eye. "They've got this clock that tracks every member of the family at the same time, and it has to be how racing brooms are made."
"Maybe that's why he couldn't find out what the Malfoys were up to," she said quickly, mind whirling to make connections between things.
"Wait - what?" Harry asked confused. "You mean the clock, or the wardstone?"
"It could be both. If it's old and rare, I could see the Malfoys having a wardstone, even if it's just to brag about it. And even if they don't, perhaps the sheer amount of magic in a magical household prevents Dobby from being able to tell the difference between one house and another. Hm, I wonder if that's the reason house-elves don't want to leave," she said curiously. "Maybe it's the magic in the house - not the people - they need to survive."
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"Oh, sorry," she said chagrinned. "My dad and I were talking about house-elves last night, trying to figure out why they were the way they were. We managed to come up with a bunch of theories to go on but neither of us knows enough to come up with anything definite. And then Mipsy turned up to add her own complications."
"You met Mipsy?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Yes," she smiled, "She said 'Mister Lichy' sent her over because 'she deserves more work than he can give her.' She calls me 'Miss Knee.'"
"She called me 'Mister Hairy Pots-sir,'" he said, starting to chuckle.
"How do you grow hair on a pot?" Hermione asked, cheeks coloring.
"That's what George asked," he smiled. "I said I must be some kind of Chia Pet."
She started to giggle. "Is that supposed to be better or worse than a teddy bear with a scar?"
"I don't think I want to find out," Harry said with a shake of his head. He was still smiling though. "The last thing I need is these people making a line of children's toys about me."
Even laughing silently it took some effort to get herself back to a normal color. It felt strange being so relaxed around anyone; a good strange, but still strange. And it just wasn't right to laugh when tangentially talking about slavery.
"You ready?" she asked, gesturing to the remains of Harry's food. "Tom said Professor McGonagall has a meeting room rented upstairs starting around noon so I figure we'd better get started."
"Right," Harry said, getting to his feet as she stood.
She smiled at Tom as they made their way to Diagon Alley proper. Things were going even better than they had yesterday. If the bank didn't kidnap them again, she might even consider this a date.
...