House: Lions

Class: Transfiguration

Category: Standard

Prompt: [Emotion] Homesick

Word Count: 1079

Other: I was going to have Hermione comforting Harry over his reverse-homesickness. That… sort of happened...

Normality and Morality

"You ever feel homesick, Hermione?"

Hermione glanced up at Harry, who was staring out at the Black Lake, spinning a thin, flat stone in his hand. He looked like he might skip it at some point, but for now, it stayed with him.

The two of them were sitting under one of the trees by the lake, Hermione with a book, Harry with nothing, just sitting pensively and enjoying the sunshine. Their exams had finished, they'd saved the Philosopher's Stone, and they'd be going home in a few days.

"I suppose so," Hermione agreed, wondering what brought this on. "But it won't be much longer now before we're going home ourselves. Isn't it a bit of a moot point?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted, a frown crossing his features. "I've never really been homesick before. If anything, I'd think I'd be homesick for Hogwarts. But… I guess, sometimes, I do miss the time before I came here."

Hermione, sensing this was going a bit deeper than their normal conversations, closed her book and tucked her legs under her. "Do you miss your family, Harry?"

A brief expression of disgust flitted over his face before it was gone. "No. No, that's not it. Not sure it's possible to miss the Dursleys. Seems like they're barely family, anyways."

And, well, that said a lot about Harry's home life. Hermione made a mental note of it and tucked it away. She'd have to talk to Ron about it later. "What do you miss, then?"

Harry leaned his head back as he considered it. "I suppose… being normal."

Hermione snorted. "I thought you said you'd turned your teacher's hair blue once. That's hardly 'normal', Harry."

Harry did crack a smile at that. "Relatively speaking, then. I'd never known I was famous, and suddenly everyone wants to know me. Either they idolize me or they despise me, and they've never even met me. There are all these expectations heaped upon me, because I'm the 'Great Harry Potter', and they don't seem to care that I'm just a normal kid. Haven't you ever wanted to be normal?"

"I don't believe so," Hermione admitted. "I'd always rather wanted to change the world. To make it a better place for people. I don't think me happening to have magic is going to shift that much."

"I guess not," Harry agreed, leaning his head in a hand that was propped against his knee. "The grass is always greener, right? I used to dream about being somebody special, but now that I am…"

"All you want is to have things go back to the way they were?" Hermione finished.

"Something like that. Maybe not the Dursleys. And I do love magic."

"So you're homesick for the anonymity, not the people," Hermione summarized.

Harry considered that. "That's a good way to put it. What about you? You said you got homesick?"

Hermione nodded. "I miss my parents, of course, but it's more than that. Sometimes… Sometimes I think I actually miss living in a world without magic."

Harry's eyes widened as he turned to her in surprise, appropriately horrified. "What?"

"Don't get me wrong, magic's amazing!" Hermione added quickly. "I do love it! But before Hogwarts, life made sense. Things were normal. Logical. Orderly. Cause proceeded effect. And now we can wave a piece of wood and make the laws of the universe take a break while we have our fun. Our very first transfiguration lesson, we manipulated things at an atomic level, Harry. Do you have any idea how insane that is?"

Harry looked a little lost. "I'm not sure I understand the question-"

"And I get that wizards and witches hide themselves because things got nasty with the burnings and the like, but even if they didn't reveal themselves, have you ever considered what magic could do to the technological industry? Maybe magic and technology don't exactly mix, but preservation charms, heating and cooling charms, water cleaning charms, do you realize how much good those kinds of things could do for the world? How many lives could be saved if we were willing to try and help people out in the world? How many people die of influenza each year that could be saved by a few Pepper-Up potions? How much good could be done by a few magicals transforming waste from landfills into something usable?"

That was a lot more than Harry had ever considered. "Exactly what year were you in school before Hogwarts?"

"It's awful, Harry!" Hermione continued, ignoring the question. (He wasn't sure if that was purposeful or not. He was leaning towards not. She seemed pretty worked up.) "I want to bring it up, but at the same time, isn't it probable that someone already has? And even if they haven't, what are the chances anyone would actually listen to me? A no-name witch from a family without magic who will always be looked down on, because she wasn't given the enormous fortune to be born into a family that can trace their magical blood back who cares how many generations!"

"Okay, yeah, Slytherins are terrible people, Hermione, but that doesn't mean-"

"And sometimes I just want to give up and go back home and pretend that none of this exists so I don't have to feel guilty and be constantly wrestling with moral relativism!" Hermione finished with an explosion of sound, arms waving wildly. "So, yes, I think I get homesick sometimes!"

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them.

"I'm pretty sure that's not normal homesickness either," Harry finally told her.

Hermione humphed and slumped back against the tree. "No, I don't think so. Do you think Ron ever gets homesick?"

"Half of his family is here," Harry pointed out. "Probably not the best candidate for a normal homesick kid."

"Good point," Hermione sighed. "I get what you're saying about missing your time before Hogwarts, though. I think that was the point I was trying to make before I got sidetracked."

"Thanks for trying," Harry said, shooting her a crooked smile. He looked back out over the lake. "It's a beautiful day."

"It is," Hermione agreed, leaning back and running her fingers over the book in her lap. "Like magic."

Harry nodded. He finally drew back and threw the stone in his hand, which whistled through the air and into the lake, skipping against the water four times before it was swallowed by the dark liquid. "Like magic."