Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  Warner Brothers bought me out.

Harry had settled for sitting next to Hermione and Ron for meals, but there wasn't much conversation.  Basically Harry and Ron stared at each other angrily.  Harry was about ready to leave after yet another silent dinner when the walls of the Great Hall burst with color.  Harry grew amazed at what he was seeing.  It was the inside of the Defense Experimentorium; Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan were talking to a copy of Dumbledore.

"Please sir, just let us!" Ernie pleaded.  The students in the Great Hall grew more puzzled.

Dumbledore, or at least the Experimentorium's version, seemed to contemplate this.  Finally, with a quirky smile, he said, "Alright.  But I must warn you, you will have to face some interesting consequences."

"Fine," Ernie said, beaming.

Dumbledore disappeared, and the same translucent sphere descended from the ceiling, although it looked to be a bit bigger than the one Harry had seen in the defense class.  The point of that was made clear as both Ernie and Hannah entered.

Suddenly, the view on the Great Hall walls shifted.  It no longer showed the inside of the Experimentorium, but a sunny field.  The wind was gently tossing the grass, and there was a thick purple quilt lying on the ground.  Ernie and Hannah both sat down on the quilt, and Ernie said, "I've been trying to do this for a long time."

Several of the students broke out in laughter, figuring out what was going on.  Several others hissed, "Quiet!  I'm trying to listen!"

Hannah looked at Ernie and said, "I never knew."

Ernie looked down and honestly said, "I was afraid."

"Afraid?"

Ernie took a moment, and before he could respond, Hannah placed her hand on Ernie's.

"Go Ernie!" yelled Dean and Seamus from the Great Hall.

Ernie and Hannah's faces inched closer together, and both of them closed their eyes.  But when there was barely a sliver of space between their lips, Dumbledore's cheery voice called out, "Are you two enjoying yourselves?"  Ernie and Hannah immediately pulled apart and blushed.  The majority of the Great Hall groaned.

"Please, sir," Ernie pleaded, "Can you leave us alone?"

"Yeah, leave them alone!" shouted Fred, grinning from ear to ear, which caused the real Dumbledore at the staff table to chuckle.

The duplicate headmaster calmly said, "Of course.  I just want to show you one thing first."  Suddenly, an image burst forth in front of Ernie and Hannah.  It was of the Great Hall, with all the walls plastered with images of themselves.  The shock and embarrassment on the pair's faces caused the Great Hall to burst with laughter, which only made Ernie and Hannah's mortification worse.  Sure enough, within ten seconds, the Defense Experimentorium was empty again, and the Great Hall was rife with mirth.

Dumbledore stood from the staff table and said, "I take it there will be no more romantic sorties in the Experimentorium?"  However, nobody had time to respond because at that moment Ernie and Hannah burst into the hall.  Immediately, everyone launched into cheering; Fred and George loudly yelled "Way to go Ernie!"

The two looked mortified, although Ernie had a bemused grin as well.  Seeing nothing better to do, Ernie turned to Hannah and gave her a quick kiss, which made the room redouble in applause.

Hermione and Harry packed for their Halloween trip.  Ron declined to go with them, although Harry suspected it was because he was going.  The pair walked along the path to Hogsmeade, but instead of going to the variety of shops like everyone else, they made their way to the public fireplace.  Hermione tossed in some floo powder and called out "Exeter Public Fireplace."

Harry followed closely behind, and when he arrived, he was in a small shack.  Besides him and Hermione, there was only a wizened old man in orange robes sleeping by the fireplace.  "I didn't know Exeter was a magic town."

"It isn't," Hermione replied offhandedly, smoothing out her robes from the trip.  "But every major city has a public floo node."

"Ok," Harry said as the left the shop, "Where are we going?"

"Pretoria's.  It's only a couple of blocks away."  Harry and Hermione walked down the streets of the South England town, but the walk was far from memorable.  The sky was a complete gray overcast, and there was a cool fog which blocked vision past a kilometer.  To make the atmosphere complete, it was lightly drizzling, and Harry pulled his frayed muggle jumper tight about him.

Finally, the pair stepped into Pertoria's and looked around.  Everything looked pristine.  Glass panes surrounding the premiere gems were glinting from the over abundant lighting.  Each of the gems sparkled intensely, and Harry was amazed that this building was apparently the center of a death eater attack.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

Hermione nodded and whispered back, "The ministry helped restore it."

"Can I help you two?" a nasily woman's voice came from behind them.  The pair turned around to see a tall thin woman with far too much makeup.

Harry's mouth moved wordlessly – how was he going to explain that he wanted?  However, Hermione already had something prepared and gushed, "Yes!  My boyfriend wants to buy me a ring!"

Harry's mouth fell in shock, and Hermione whispered in her usual voice, "Stall her.  Give me some time to look around for jewels."

Harry grimaced and quietly hissed back, "Fine Girlfriend."

Hermione smiled mischievously and started browsing around.  Harry turned and followed the shopkeep, grumbling how he got the worse end of this deal by far.

"How about this one?" the lady asked, pointing to what obviously was the least valuable ring in the shop.  Even Harry could see that the gem was probably fake, and it was set by a material that only barely appeared like gold.

Still, figuring his job was to stall, Harry asked, "How much does it cost?"

"50 pounds," came the prim reply.

Harry was shocked – he didn't think the object was even worth half of Aunt Marge's five pound note.  "Hmmm…" he replied in fake thought, "it's not really what I'm looking for.  I'm actually thinking of something more around 300-400 pounds."

The wiry lady smiled wider and said, "Well, then, follow me."

Yeah, you just go on smiling.  I'm going to get you for this, Hermione.

Three hours later, Harry was on the verge of sleep from boredom.  "Perhaps this is what you're looking for, then?" the tall shopkeep said, pointing to yet another ring.  Harry really couldn't tell the difference between the newest ring and the rest, but was prepared to try to find something wrong with it – after all, he still needed to stall.  However, before he could open his mouth, Hermione appeared behind the saleswoman and gave him a thumbs-up.

"That's perfect!" Harry replied happily, and then realized the shopkeep was going to be mad at them when she found out he had no way of paying for the ring.

Hermione, though, appeared to have thought this out as well.  "That's it?" she replied, looking disdainfully at the ring, "That's the best you could do?  You spent three hours!  I'm glad I mean so much to you!"  She then stormed out of the shop angrily, even rattling the door's window as she slammed it shut.

Harry did his best to hide a smile, and said sadly, "I guess I won't need the ring after all," and quickly ran after Hermione.

"Well?" Harry asked, after they flooed back to Hogsmeade.

"I was right.  There was a conjured gem – topaz, and about 3 centimeters across.  Voldemort must have taken the original."

"Let me guess…" Harry said exasperated.

"I'm going back to Hogwarts.  I'll be in the libarary," Hermione finished.

Harry said goodbye, and then shook his head.  Hermione needs to get a life Harry thought as he entered Zonko's.

---

Hmmm… Harry and Hermione just went shopping for jewelry.  Argh, I can see the shippers coming back in full force.  Help me!

Kaelli: Calm down… Well, at least know you know he was after a 3 cm wide topaz.

Katani: To tell you the truth, I'm confused about the orb thing myself.  I still don't know precisely where I'm going to go with it.

Chaser: Why isn't McGonagall training him?  She is, but not the way you'd think.  To tell you the truth, I got the idea from a Dilbert cartoon (it's a long story)

Lakergurl13: I don't know if it's possible for everything to turn out ok now…

"Ginny," Harry called after the younger Weasley as she yet again fleed his entrance.

"What!" Ginny yelled, finally speaking her first word to him.

"I'm sorry," Harry quietly said, and slumped into the chair behind him.

"Oh, ok.  You're forgiven," Ginny quickly relented, and sat down as well.

"Harry," Ron called out, entering the commons.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, man.  I was a jerk."

"Don't worry," Harry soothed.

"Well, I talked Cho into going with you."

"Sweet!" Harry yelled, pumping his arms in the air.

Somehow, I don't think that would be very good…

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