Hermione's Changes

Hermione had recently been busy calculating something as well, and with the increasingly heavy schoolwork as Christmas approached, Harry could barely exchange more than a few words with her except at night—

Not to mention Tierra, who had been even busier than Hermione from the start. These days, aside from Professor Tierra barely maintaining the most basic appearances, the other Tierras—

Including student Tierra, had vanished without a trace.

If Hermione had not told him that there were forty or fifty Tierras performing all kinds of calculations and experiments in the various Chamber of Secrets within the Room of Requirement, Harry would have thought that every Tierra had abandoned Hogwarts, even the Ministry of Magic that he had worked so hard to seize.

Harry usually met Hermione in the library, because she needed to look up information there and use the alchemical machines Tierra had recently purchased—one placed in the Dark Magic Classroom and another in the library—which could assist with complex calculations and three-dimensional construction of magical structures.

Even amid the relaxed, festive atmosphere before Christmas, Hermione refused to slacken even a little. She did not want to sit by the Gryffindor Common Room fire with a book, reading while chatting with Harry, Ron, and Tierra as she had during previous Christmases. Nor did she want to sit in the Great Hall, reading books on all kinds of magical knowledge as if competing with Tierra while loftily criticizing Harry and Ron for playing Wizarding Playing Cards. Hermione's refusal to relax meant none of that was possible, and Harry could only accommodate her by meeting in the library—

Which meant they could only speak in whispers.

Fortunately, Harry now had books he liked to read too. Sitting beside Hermione, he took out the Half-Blood Prince's copy of "Advanced Potion-Making" and