"Kind of random."

"It came up at dinner that I'd wanted a leaf and the professor wouldn't give me one. I didn't desperately want a leaf, but he got me one anyway." She pulls it out, blows across its edge, gets a pleasing whistle.

"Oh, cool!"

"Yeah. I could just pretend he knows when my birthday is and felt like getting a jump on that, but you probably would know how he likes to be thanked for stuff?"

"I think he's just planning to have done every single person he knows such an enormous pile of favors that when he's like 'do you accept me as ruler of the planet' we're all like 'yep, sounds perfect'."

"I am harder to buy than a singing mustard leaf, I require a continent."

"Then you should tell him that! Both because he'll appreciate knowing it and because it's by far the best way to get a continent."

"Ooh."

And then Charms starts and he reluctantly stops chattering.

They are making teacups and shoes dance! It is a silly charm but they can get the teacups and shoes to dance quite prettily if they concentrate.

And they are a very studious bunch!

And then it is lunchtime. Timothy is probably surrounded by people, he's very popular.

He is!

So she doesn't ask about a continent right then, but after classes she lurks in the common room and waits for him to walk by.

"Miranda!"

"Hi! Thank you for the leaf." She can play a little tune on it now, it's a very cooperative leaf. She demonstrates.

"That's impressive! You're quite welcome. Perhaps we can start a house band. Everyone will be wondering what it's secretly cover for but it's actually just a singing mustard harmonic band - which, of course, would make it on some level secretly cover for my finding it entertaining to drive people up the wall wondering what I'm up to, so..."

"I have been told both by you and by Minor that what you are up to is world domination, is that not it?"

"Doesn't count as a secret plot because it's not secret."

"I asked him how you prefer to be thanked for things and he said he thought you were accumulating goodwill to make world domination easier and I said I was worth an entire continent and he told me telling you that was a good way to get a continent."

"What would you do with your continent?"

"Which continent do I have and how much do I have it?"

"Hmm, dunno, the Americas and you're equivalent-of-Minister of Magic and have a majority in their equivalent-of-Wizengamot unless you try to do things that are exceptionally radical - and I have a veto - and the statute's not in play but most Muggles still don't know about us and are governed by Muggle governments."

"Abolish the American slave trade, by quietly bribing the agriculturist factions with magic substitutes for the labor if necessary. The colonies are all divided up into their several bits still, right, anything less obvious than that one can be tried in some of the states and expanded to the others if it turns out nicely. We still control Canada though, so whoever's administering England will wind up being heavily involved on that through the Muggle government unless it winds up being important to disentangle there. I don't know hardly anything about the Spanish colonies, I'd have to read up on those - same with South America if you meant to include it."

"Yeah, all right, you can be on the candidate list for continents when I rule the world."