Transfiguration Classroom 2 days later

"Why won't this work?" Harry grumbled as he waved his wand in what he thought was the proper manner for the Switching spell. He scrunched his face up and consulted his notes but shook his head as he just couldn't remember if it was a flick to the right or the left. 'What about that counter-clockwise twist I thought I saw?' Puzzled, he let out a frustrated groan and raised his wand once more. Just as he was about to go through the motion again, Hermione's hand appeared over his and guided him on the proper positioning. He glanced over at his girlfriend and was rather surprised to see her still reading through her notes whilst simultaneously helping him.

Professor McGonagall smirked at the scene. It was a pleasant change of pace from the earlier years when Harry used to get cranky if he couldn't figure out the methodology and sulk before raising his hand. Heaven help the girl when she tried to help the youngest Weasley. The sneering attitude was palpable even up at her desk; it had gotten so bad at one point that she was forced to assign a detention to the boy.


As they were leaving the class to head to lunch, Harry pulled Hermione off to the side and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Thanks for the help today, Hermione. I couldn't figure out for the life of me that particular wave of the wand."

Hermione blushed and waved off the compliment, "It's no problem, Harry."

As they walked through the corridors, Harry spotted Draco Malfoy gesturing widely and practically growling at Crabbe and Goyle. He wondered what it was this time that set off the blonde ponce but didn't want to go investigate and get dragged into another 'adventure in pureblood idiocy.'


Great Hall Lunch Time

Harry was building his lunch plate when he started smelling something like fertilizer. Glancing off to his left, he spotted Neville approaching and waved the boy over.

"Hey, Nev. Did you just come from the greenhouses?"

Neville Longbottom's face registered surprise. Harry was known for great insights at the weirdest times but this took the cake. He slowly nodded, "Yeah…how'd you know that?"

"You smell like fertilizer. I could smell it the moment you got near me." Harry chuckled.

Neville grunted and sniffed at his hands and arms, the distinctive 'aroma' of dragon fertilizer was clear as day, "I could've sworn that I scrubbed my hands."

Harry patted the other boy on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it too much, mate. It's just one of those things that is distinctly you. Like red hair for the Weasleys." Neville relaxed as he laughed.

"Speaking of the Weasleys," Hermione interjected, "Did you notice that Ronald is actually studying?"

Both boys' heads immediately swiveled in Ron's direction where he was in fact reading from an open textbook whilst simultaneously writing notes down and eating a sandwich.

"Huh," mused Neville, "I wonder what it was that caused Hell to freeze over?" Both Harry and Hermione giggled at that. Hermione noticed where the Twins were sitting. She cocked her head in thought as she witnessed them appearing to take notes over Ronald's behavior.

"I think the Twins pranked Ronald but I'm not really sure as to how," she murmured just loud enough for the two boys to hear. Harry tilted his head to see Fred glancing at a pocket watch and write something down in a journal while George was examining a sheaf of notes. Harry picked up his wand and sent a mild Banishing charm, something akin to nothing more powerful than a poke in the arm, at George causing the older boy to look up. Harry waved him over…


Plunking themselves down across from the trio, George and Fred's faces had that legendary smirk of theirs. The one that promised no end of frustration in McGonagall when she would be forced to deal with the fallout of whatever had been accomplished.

"So what is it…"

"…the Great Harry Potter"

"Requests of us…"

"Can you two quit with the twin pong thing, guys? Be nice and I'll introduce you to Padfoot," Harry grumbled at their antics. At the mention of the nickname of one of the Twins' heroes, both redheads immediately settled down.

"Now," Harry began, "What did you do to your youngest brother? He and books are like oil and water, normally."

George (at least Hermione thought it was George) chuckled, "We secretly gave him a bag of sweets that have been…altered a bit. They have an addition that compels the eater to act in a certain way. In this case, we've compelled Ron to believe that if he doesn't study, he won't be allowed to eat anymore. It's not super powerful; after all we don't need to turn him into another Hermione." He smirked sweetly at the now scowling girl.

Neville burst out laughing, "How long does it take to wear off?"

Fred shrugged his shoulders, "At this dosage, about an hour but we can tweak it to get him to study for up to six."

Hermione shook her head, "You know your mother is going to complain, don't you?"

Both twins grinned evilly as they shook their heads, "Funnily enough, it was mum who gave us the idea. She got our reports when they last came out and complained about Ron's low scores. She made an off-hand comment to Dad about how she wished there was some way to get him to think about studying more often as opposed to thinking about stuffing his face. We just took that idea and ran with it. If she does find out, we'll remind her of that day."

Neville remarked about what McGonagall would think about this sweet compulsion if she were to ever find out about it and whether or not she'd make it mandatory for all students who were failing their courses because of laziness. The twins looked contemplative while Hermione looked scandalized and Harry snorted and took another bite of his stew.

A few minutes later, one of the sixth year Gryffindor prefects strolled over and whispered in Hermione's ear that Professor McGonagall needed to speak with her rather urgently and handed the girl a note as to where to meet. Curious and also a bit worried, she and Harry abandoned their lunch, made their excuses to leave and hurried out of the Hall.


Arriving at their destination, both could hear Umbridge's annoying faux girlish voice arguing about something.

"I don't care what it is, it's obviously something muggle and therefore needs to go!"

The pair entered the classroom where they found both McGonagall and Umbridge examining the contents of a wooden packing crate. Minerva was holding a keyboard in her hands and examining the construction. Hermione's eyes widened and a smile burst on her face.

"It came! Awesome, now I can get started on my Runes project," she exclaimed causing the two adults to turn to the interruption.

"Miss Granger? What is all of this?" Minerva inquired gesturing to all the equipment.

"They're the equipment I wrote to my parents for; they're used to diagnose problems with computers and other electronic devices. I'm working in conjunction with Harry here to test the sensitivity of his Runic Function Cards," she explained.

Umbridge sneered at her, "Surely you don't think that these muggle contraptions are better than anything magical, even if it was designed by Potter here?" Harry gave the toad a sideways glance at the implied insult to his creations.

"Hermione drew herself up in indignation and gave the toad a McGonagall-worthy glare, "These are top of the line diagnostic tools that I've taken the liberty of improving to my own specifications. Just because you don't understand or appreciate them, does not mean that you get to insult my property."

Dolores gave back a sneer of her own, "Just remember I'm watching you, girl. Any subversive actions and I'll have you expelled and arrested." With a final huff, the toad waddled out of the room.


After the door closed and silence returned to the room, Minerva turned to her favorite students and inquired what the real project was.

"I know that Mr. Potter's cards are just fine. Professor Babbling praises them often enough."

Harry glanced at Hermione who in turn silently gestured with a tilt of her head to Harry's knapsack which contained the Diadem. Silently shrugging his shoulders, he indicated with a cock of his own head that it was up to her. Minerva chuckled internally at the nonverbal communication that was going on.

Finally a decision was reached, "Professor, what I'm about to share with you needs to be kept in the strictest confidence. No one must be told about this. The item is corrupted with Dark Magic that needs to be expelled and until then, it's safer with me," Harry replied solemnly. Minerva's eyes widened a bit at his explanation.

Nodding her head once, Minerva gestured for him to proceed. The look on her face as the Diadem was exposed was priceless.

It had taken the better part of a half hour to explain what it was they found, the theory as to what the Diadem truly was and what the pair's intention was in trying to fix it. At the end of their explanations, Minerva called for an elf to take the crate and its contents to the Runes lab and bid her charges to follow.

"Why couldn't I share the knowledge of this with Headmaster Dumbledore?" Minerva inquired as she nervously examined the Diadem while Hermione was busy supervising the elf where to put the crate.

Harry sighed in frustration at the man's name, "The headmaster seems to be taking an unusual amount of involvement with my life. It's almost like he's testing me for something. I don't like the fact that he's nosing into my business and trying to dictate who I should or shouldn't be friends with, where I should or shouldn't live outside of school and more. It's creepy to think about, really."


Ancient Runes Laboratory

Hermione was clearly in her element as she began uncrating her beloved equipment. She was muttering under her breath as if the oscilloscope and laptop were living, breathing creatures. She carefully examined each and every tool, wire and notebooks as if they were potentially damaged before setting things up on an empty workspace as she wanted. Harry and Minerva watched on in amusement at the behavior of the bushy haired girl.

Hermione happened to glance up and spotted the amused grins on the other two's faces, "What?"

Harry grinned widely, waved his hand negligently and shook his head, "Nothing. It's just funny to see you like this. Keep going."


Once everything was set up, Harry placed the Diadem on the table in front of his girlfriend and stepped back to let her work. He handed her the Function cards for null-space, ambient power tap and function bus. Puzzled, Hermione gestured to the last one and was told what its purpose was before nodding and reaching for her magnifying lenses. Harry attached the card to alter the lighting to the swing arm and waved for her to begin.

"Okay, let's see…" She turned the Diadem over in her hands as she examined it from every angle. The connective pathways seemed to be in good shape, there was a minimal amount of corrosion on the pins holding the jewels that tied them into the rest of the circuit, there appeared to be no evidence of any external corruption. She leant forward and retrieved a set of leads from where they were hanging on a hook and clipped one end to the power input array on the Diadem, the other ends to the power bus card then attached the bus card to the ambient magical power supply card. Next, she attached a set of cables to the Diadem's data input array and connected them to her laptop. She switched her attention to her laptop and reached for the null-space card.

"Harry? Where does this one go?"

He reached around her and applied it to the back of the computer casing. Then he attached a set of leads to the bus card, "There, try it now. You should be able to turn it on." With a flip of a switch, the computer monitor came to life and started running through its own power up sequence.


Minerva sat back in an empty chair and watched mesmerized at the interaction between the two teens. She marveled at the short, clipped conversation full of technical jargon that she had no hopes in translating. Phrases like 'Traceroute,' 'speedtest' and PING utility' were heard and puzzled over. She shook her head and began making plans to get the Muggle Studies class updated.


"So what are you doing first?" Harry asked as unfamiliar information scrolled up on the screen of her laptop.

"I'm running a system information query. Basically what my computer is doing is talking to the Diadem and seeing if there's a common language. Kind of like how when you go to a foreign country and ask a person, 'Do you understand English?' The Diadem can then answer 'yes or no.' If it's yes, then mine will go further and start asking other questions about what sort of BIOS specifications it has, what sort of memory storage capacity it has, stuff like that." Harry nodded understandingly while Minerva just looked lost.

"Assuming that the query checks out, what then?"

"Well, then I get to run a couple of programs to determine what is potentially wrong with it. I can run a start-up test, a run-in test which is a stress test to verify the stability of the system components and finally the hard disk test though I don't have a clue as to what a 10th century version of a hard disk would even look like."

Harry pursed his lips in thought before pointing at one of the jewels, "I'd imagine that these jewels could be the equivalent of a hard disk. Question is; which one? I would hazard a guess that the large central jewel would be the primary CPU while the smaller ones would be the RAM cards? Also, what would you do if whatever this corruption is infects your computer?" Hermione shrugged nonchalantly as she read what came up on the screen.

"If it gets infected, I can easily wipe the memory and reload it with my backups. Interesting, this thing has a lot more capability than I thought was possible for something so old," she murmured.

"Like what?"

"Well, I think this," she pointed to a line item, "Is a version of a network card. If I understand this, the user would be able to 'see' what was going on in the castle remotely."

Minerva perked up at that, "What do you mean remotely, Miss Granger?"

Hermione cocked her head and thought of a good analogy, "You know how you can see distances using that scrying spell?" Minerva nodded, "This might be something similar but using the castle's wards to do so."

"So I'd be able to see within an area like the Slytherin Common Room, for example just by wearing this and thinking of what I needed?"

Hermione shrugged and gestured helplessly with her hands, "I'm not sure, Professor. Most of this is guesswork. We're trying to comprehend a 10th century marvel with modern comparisons. Something might get lost in translation."


"Harry? Let me see those notes you wrote on the separate hardware components." He handed her the stack, "Okay, sound card…audio…optical? Why and where would you even put a CD in something like this? Oh, wait…yeah, I guess that would work." She muttered as she read through the listing.

"Miss Granger?"

Hermione turned to look at Minerva, "Hmm? Oh, sorry professor. These are specific arrays on the Diadem that allow the user to hear and see what's being played back to them. The last one is a method to load information into the device but normally it's a thin disc-shaped object. In this case, the user's mind acts as the disc that the Diadem uses to load information or memories into active usage. Clever really, back then Lady Ravenclaw wouldn't have had the manufacturing ability to create discs I'm used to today so she used a magical method to simulate it."

"Have you figured out where the corruption is and how it interferes with the normal operation?" asked Harry.

Hermione nibbled on her lower lip and shook her head, "Not at this point. I'll need to keep looking."


Later after a dinner brought to them by Dobby, the two teens and Minerva speculated on where they might be able to find clean jewels. Hermione thought that they might be able to find them in the Room.

"I think I need to see this room for myself," Minerva commented dryly, "It sounds like an interesting place."

Harry nodded as he described some of the things they'd seen in there. Old furniture, paintings, sculptures and books were just some of the items they'd recognized from a cursory look the first time through.

"Would you have a problem if I were to include the other professors in this search through this fantastic room of yours?" Minerva questioned hopefully. She really didn't like keeping secrets from the other staff.

Harry shrugged as he glanced over at his girlfriend who bobbled her head in acquiescence, "Who'd you have in mind?"

"Well, at the very least we should include Madam Pince to verify and look over the books. Professors Flitwick and Snape would probably be interested as well. Professor Sprout would most likely come along to provide additional support if it's needed."

Harry gestured in thought with his hand, "As long as they're not told as to why we're specifically looking for these gems other than it's for a Runes project and also to not mention this to the headmaster, I don't have a problem with it." Minerva nodded once and thanked him.


[A/N: Well, there you have it. Too much? Not enough? Heh, sounds like a Goldilocks question. Anyways, please read and review.]