"...so, I'm running out of juice. Any obvious ideas I've missed?"

"Mmmm." Miranda closes her eyes. "You know what else can dispense liquid and change things at a touch? Wands."

Blink. "Yes. Yes they can. And I really do not want to burn a wand unless I'm really really sure it'll work."

"I'd want to ask the professor about that too for sure. But not everything has to be set on fire to alchemize, why are you so fixated on setting things on fire? And it wouldn't have to be one of ours, I imagine."

"...think about it. Are you sure you don't know why I'm so fixated on setting things on fire?"

"Because you're a pyromaniac?"

"I object to 'maniac'! I'm more of a pyro-enthusiast. A pyrophiliac, if you will."

"You're a pyromaniac."

He sticks his tongue out at her. "I'll have you know, I've never set anything on fire that wasn't meant to be set on fire!"

"Meant by you and your pyromania?"

"And validated by an objective third party!"

"Like who?"

"Mum! And Professor Slughorn!"

"All right, fine, you're a high-functioning pyromaniac."

He ponders this for a second before shrugging and nodding. "Yeah, I'll take it."

"Aaaanyway! Okay, not setting wands on fire, but they're a very good metaphor things, and oh look we both have two of them isn't that convenient. I wonder if the Stone was in fact a transformed wand."

"I wouldn't want to use my own wand, either one, for alchemy as an ingredient. I'd owl that secondhand shop and get another."

"Yeah, definitely, but if that Mr. Ollivander is anything to go by it's very unusual to consider a wand as a possible ingredient, so I think it's probably worth exploring."

"Maybe Slughorn'll know."

"I think I might be tapped out for now."

"Mm, yeah, same. But I think we got a good starting list, anyway, and hopefully will have more ideas when Slughorn teaches us new things."

"Yeah!"