Harry and Ron followed Hermione to their dormitory, giving each other bemused glances on the way.

Really, though, it was nothing new for Hermione to have strange (yet, usually correct) ideas. If anything, it was new for her to share them with her friends.

Harry had often wondered how his adventure in the Chamber of Secrets might have played out had Hermione told him and Ron about her basilisk theory, instead of leaving them to pry the paper out of her hands. Not to mention, the three of them could have fit beneath his invisibility cloak at that time...

"I want to research advantaged transfiguration relating to snakes," Hermione explained, once they had checked to make sure all the beds were empty.

"Another side project for fun?" Ron asked, grinning at her.

"This isn't for fun, Ron! This is about the horcrux," Hermione said, and she looked like she was trying hard not to roll her eyes at him.

"What does snake transfiguration have to do with Nagini?" Harry asked, sitting down on the side of his bed.

Hermione did roll her eyes, then. "What would be easier to destroy? A giant snake controlled by Voldemort, or an inanimate object containing the horcrux?"

"I've only ever destroyed one horcrux," Harry pointed out, "but I'd reckon the object."

Not that it would be easy either way, but he reckoned it would be a whole lot easier to destroy a stone or something than an enormous snake.

"Precisely. However, there are specific laws of transfiguration, and I don't know all of the specifics regarding their application to reptiles," Hermione pointed out. "You can't just go around transfiguring anything into anything."

"Well, we can't," Ron pointed out.

Hermione laughed, but her cheeks flushed red at the compliment. "Yes, there's experience involved, but all the same, there are rules around transfiguration. At any rate, what I would like to do is spend some time at the library and looking up anything regarding snakes."

"Why do you need my cloak for that? You don't think the answers will be in the restricted section, do you?" Harry said, dubiously.

"I'm not making any assumptions about where I can find the answers," Hermione explained, with determination. "Anyway, I don't want people asking questions, since you know that Dumbledore doesn't want people to know about the horcruxes, so I'll be using the library late at night." At Ron's look of concern, she added, "Not very late, just after the library closes for the evening. I'll be fine, I'll get enough sleep."

Wanting to avoid an argument, Harry nodded. "Sure, you can use my cloak. But, look, since you're just going to ue it in the evenings, how about I show you where I keep it, and you can return it after you use it? I'm supposed to keep it on me at all times, you know."

Hermione nodded her agreement. "Yes, I can do that. Thanks, Harry!"

She hugged him quickly, and then Ron, and then left the room.

"You know," Ron noted, once he was sure she was gone, "it's hardly the worst idea she's had."

"Sure, but even if we learn the spell to transfigure Nagini into a piece or wood or something, we'll still need to get near enough to her for her to kill us," Harry pointed out, grimly.

"Maybe the Aurors can do it?" Ron asked, hopefully, taking a seat next to Harry.

Harry laughed. "Likely as not, that will be us. Mind you," he added, "if it takes that long, we'll have nearly enough training to give it a fair go."

"You speak as though you didn't go up against him several times and destroy him nearly as many," Ron pointed out.

Harry shuddered. "Luck, outside help, and my mum's protection in my blood. The last of which I don't have anymore, since..."

He swallowed. "I'm not taking anything for granted, Ron. Especially not after I nearly got all of us killed last year when Sirius wasn't even in danger."

"You couldn't have known, mate," Ron assured him.

Harry thought otherwise, but there was no point in dwelling on it.

The three of them went down to dinner, and afterwards, spent a good portion of the evening going over Harry's notes and the textbook's lack of explanation of Golpalott's Third Law. Hermione had come armed with two other books, borrowed from the library, that provided a slightly more expansive definition than their outdated Potions book provided, but it was nothing compared to the notes Harry had taken with Sirius.

Ron, in particular, looked at these notes as though they were a lifesaver.

"Snape was a terror in class, you know, but he likely would have lectured us for a good twenty minutes about this wizard before setting us to work on a blended potion," he observed, reading over the notes for the third time.

"Not last year, he didn't," Hermione reminded them. "Mostly, he set the instructions on the board, and left us to our own devices."

Harry snorted. "The Slytherins, sure. Not the rest of us."

Hermione made a noise that could have indicated she agreed, or simply that she was clearing her throat.

They concluded their study session around eight that evening, and as Ron put it, they'd done all they could to prepare, and Slughorn was unlikely to give them a test, at any rate.

Even Harry, who had spent hours on the theoretical and practical side with Sirius, felt more at ease than he had earlier that day.

After dressing for bed and performing the necessary silencing charm, he took out his mirror to talk to Sirius. He'd been itching to tell his godfather about Hermione's plan ever since she told them, but having just left Grimmauld Place, Harry certainly didn't want his friends to think he was snubbing them.

Tuxy ignored the closed curtain, and jumped up into bed, planting himself directly on Harry's lap mere seconds before he spoke his godfather's name.

"Yeah, yeah, all right, you can stay," he allowed, grinning.

The cat yawned, stretched, and closed his eyes, purring loudly. Harry removed his left hand from the mirror to give his cat a rub behind the ears.

"Sirius Black," Harry said, speaking clearly.

His godfather's face appeared, smiling at him. "Hello, Harry."

They made small talk for a bit-Sirius had found a new recipe for treacle tart and was planning to make it the next time Harry came over, and there was an Order meeting in a few days' time-before Harry launched into his explanation of Hermione's plan.

"Smart one, your friend," Sirius praised. "I'd been wondering the same, myself. I rather expect that the general rules of transfiguration wouldn't prevent a snake from being turned into an ordinary object, but with the horcrux element, we can't be too certain."

"Does this mean that we won't know until we're close enough to Nagini?" Harry asked, a bit let down.

Sirius sighed. "Like Hermione, I'll scour the Black library to see what I can find, but I expect that we won't go into the battle knowing much more than we do."

A dark thought occurred to Harry. "Was it a mistake, then, removing my scar as soon as we did?"

"No." Sirius' tone was definitive. "Even if it hadn't been a horcrux, a mental connection to Voldemort was never a good thing, pup. Even if it had only gone one way. We did what we needed to do by removing it, and don't let yourself convince you otherwise, all right?"

Harry nodded. "I suppose it's not like I would have been able to control the snake, anyway," he added.

"No, your abilities seemed limited to simply conversing with them," Sirius said, with a bit of a chuckle. "You'll have to learn the language the hard way, now."

"Do people actually learn...?"

"No, I was teasing you," Sirius answered, grinning broadly. "It's an innate ability. You can't learn it. James and I tried, once. Remus thought we'd gone off the rail, but Professor Binns was teaching a particularly dreadfully boring lesson, and we'd already finished all of our homework for the next couple of weeks..."

Harry laughed. "I dunno, Sirius, I might be with Remus on that."

"Cheeky!" Sirius retorted, but his grin, if anything, increased. "Well, we got precisely nowhere with it, aside from showering each other with spit. Your father ended up thinking that the book we were using as a guide was written to be humorous, rather than instructive."

Harry could see the scene in his head, thanks to the many memories Sirius had shown him. Wormtail, falling asleep in class, and not aware that this bizarre lesson had taken place. Sirius and James, consulting the book and trying to practice under their breaths. And Remus, trying to be a good student and take notes, all while casting them a side eye, and likely relieved when they gave up that particular academic cause.

Which he told Sirius, and Sirius agreed that the scene Harry had created in his mind likely wasn't far off from what had happened.

"I can't begin to tell you how much I regret going after Wormtail, and not holding my ground and hexing the light out of Hagrid when he tried to take you from me, pup," Sirius said, his tone now somber, even mournful. "Not that it would have made up for losing your parents, but you wouldn't have spent over a decade with those vile relatives."

Harry felt a lump in his throat. "Really, it's okay, Sirius."

Sirius shook his head. "I was hotheaded and impulsive, pup, and I wake up most days regretting it. Reliving it, even."

"I wish you wouldn't," Harry told him. "It's in the past."

Sirius managed a smile. "Well, I'm glad we have this time, now, eh?"

Harry nodded. "I wouldn't trade it for anything, Sirius."

They said goodnight a bit later, trying to end the conversation on a lighter note. Really, there was little point in lamenting what had or hadn't happened in the past. It wasn't as though they could do anything about it, now.

As far as Harry was concerned, Sirius was alive, and he was spending more time with him this year than he would have dreamt possible after he'd been forced to flee.

That counted for more than something.

Up next: Just another average school day at Hogwarts? Also, Sirius has an idea for the Easter holidays.