The Return to Hogwarts

Even Hermione couldn't concentrate on her lessons in such terrible conditions; like everyone else, she was so cold she wanted to curl up into a ball.

The only cheer in the entire class came when Professor Sinister announced the end of the lesson. The young wizards shakily wrote down their assignments to be submitted before the next class on the parchment they used to record the planetary positions, and then they rushed off the observatory one by one.

"Oh!"

The Hufflepuff students needed to return to their basements. Ron waved goodbye to Ernie, then casually wiped Harry's nose. The sudden pain startled Harry, who clutched his nose and glared angrily at Ron, bewildered by his antics.

"Your snot--"

Ron shrugged innocently and showed Harry an icicle.

"I just helped you take it down--"

"Thank you!"

Harry said angrily,

"But I can easily find a torch and heat my nose!"

Hermione was so amused by the scene that she laughed until her waist hurt, and she was still giggling while clutching her stomach even after the Gryffindor students behind them had passed them.

“There’s nothing funny about this, Hermione—”

Harry said irritably, his nostrils burning as if Ron had ripped his upper lip off while wiping his snot.

.

"Everyone's gone, let's hurry back and warm up in the common room, so Ron won't take anything from your nose later!"

"Oh"

Ron was still all smiles, but when Hermione heard Harry's greeting, her smile vanished, and her eyes flickered.

"Ahem, you guys go back first, I still have some things to do—"

"You're not going to tell us you're planning to go to the library now, are you?"

Ron tossed the slightly melted icicles out of the passageway, wiped his hands on Harry's robes, and exclaimed in surprise,

"No way, you'll freeze to death out there."

"I've already told you the reason—"

Hermione had no intention of listening to advice. She slung her heavy backpack over her shoulder, pulled her stiff, frozen hands back into her sleeves, and said firmly,

"I plan to go home for the Christmas holidays, which means I won't be able to do any research for several weeks. Also, I can't stay home and study the strange noises inside the golden egg, or I'll scare my parents. So I have to hurry up now, or I'll fall too far behind!"

After saying that, before Harry and Ron could speak, Hermione hurried down the stairs that Hufflepuff's classmates had just taken.

Watching Hermione's retreating figure, Harry felt a strange unease for some reason. As he pondered what the problem was, a sudden gust of cold wind blew in from the corridor beside him, freezing his thoughts in place, while Ron shivered violently.

"Damn, she's completely insane—"

Ron's voice trembled from the cold. He gave Harry a look, and then the two of them, heads down, hurried quickly towards the Gryffindor tower.

"If you ask me, she doesn't need to work so hard, does she? This isn't a final exam where she has to get first place. As long as she figures out what the hints are before the second competition, there won't be any problem at all—"

"At least she'll have more time to prepare, if they still want her to deal with something as dangerous as a fire dragon—"

Harry stated objectively,

"Obviously, Hermione has always believed she cheated in the first match, and you know, Ron, that thought must have tormented her terribly, so she's desperate to prove herself—"

That's why I said she didn't need to—

After turning a corner, Ron shook his head and said in disagreement,

"If finding out beforehand that we're facing a fire dragon is considered cheating, then Cedric, Krum, and Fleur aren't innocent either. Didn't Professor Moody tell her that gathering intelligence is part of the competition—"

"Hermione's concern isn't the dragon, but the winter... Wait, Ron!"

Harry was about to tell Ron that Hermione was concerned about Dom drugging the Chinese fireball dragon she was supposed to fight, but the moment he mentioned Dom, a bolt of lightning struck Harry's head, and he froze on the spot.

"what happened?"

Ron stopped and asked, puzzled.

"Hermione told us she's going to the library?" Harry frowned deeply.

“That’s what she said—” Ron blinked, “Aren’t we discussing this right now?”

"But that's not the way to the library. She followed the Hufflepuffs; that's the way down to the first-floor lobby."

Harry said blankly. In the drafty corridor, the two boys looked at each other, and then, suddenly, in a split second, they both jumped up and rushed back the way they came.

Chapter 649 Sneaking into the Kitchen

2023-12-15

It was almost ten o'clock. Under normal circumstances, the castle wouldn't be so empty at this time, because there are always some young wizards who like to wander around the castle after the designated time to return to their dormitories. But perhaps it was because of the cold weather, Hermione, who had been lingering on the second floor for a while, did not notice any young wizards or professors in the hall below.

Da da da--

After confirming that no one was around, Hermione hurried down the stairs. The draft blowing into the deep hallway billowed her robes into a cloak. She didn't linger there, but instead clutched her jingling satchel tightly, determined her direction, and quickly ran to the left side of the hallway, entering a door leading to the basement.

The underground passage leading to the Hufflepuff common room was completely different from that in Slytherin. The passageway was warm and comfortable, and the spacious stone corridors were brightly lit with torches placed every few steps along the sides.

Hermione stood under a torch for a while until her limbs were no longer stiff before taking a nervous breath and cautiously moving forward.

Thud--

The sudden sound behind her startled Hermione. She turned around and looked back, but there was no one in the bright stone corridor. After thinking for a moment, Hermione figured that the sound was probably caused by the howling wind that had caused her to open the door that she hadn't closed properly.

This conclusion was a huge relief to Hermione; she wouldn't know how to explain it if she ran into a Hufflepuff student here.

In fact, Hermione had considered bringing an invisibility cloak with her, but the one Hagrid had hastily made for her during the match had become tattered afterward. If she were to borrow the cloak from Harry, she would have to explain to Harry and Ron what she wanted it for. Hermione didn't want to tell them until things were settled.

The little incident made Hermione realize that she shouldn't linger too long in the stone corridor. She left the stone wall and walked quickly forward, looking up at the oil paintings hanging on both sides of the corridor.

These oil paintings depicted glistening, colorful food; some looked delicious, while others were so bizarre they were unappetizing. Hermione didn't stop to study the enigmatic paintings; her gaze swept over each one, muttering to herself as she looked at them.

"A large silver bowl, fruit, and then a large, bright green pear—where are they?!"

After walking another hundred or so feet, Hermione finally found her target: an oil painting depicting a silver bowl and many fruits, gleaming under the bright light of two torches.

Hermione ran over excitedly, took a closer look, and then a smile spread across her rosy cheeks.

"Then... well, Fred said, I should."

“You should scratch this pear with your finger—” a voice suddenly said from behind.

"Oh, thank you, Harry. Yes, I should. Oh!"

Hermione, snapping out of her daze, jumped aside in horror. She turned her head and stared wide-eyed at what was behind her. Then, Harry yanked off the Invisibility Cloak from his head and appeared in front of Hermione along with Ron.

In the stone corridor, where only the crackling sound of torches could be heard, three people stared at each other.

"You're following me!"

Suddenly, Hermione angrily threw her backpack into Ron's arms, glaring at them both, "I can't believe you two dared to do this!"

"We never expected you to lie to us—"

Ron ripped open Hermione's bag, pulled out a badge engraved with the word 'vomit,' held it up under the torch to examine it closely, and hummed in disapproval.

"Oh, to the library. To make up for lost time during the Christmas holidays. Your lying skills have improved considerably, Hermione. Luckily, Harry was quick-witted enough to realize that the path didn't lead to the library—"

Hermione glared at Harry, who was awkwardly laughing, and finally realized how she had been exposed.

"Now that you're here!"

Hermione said arrogantly,

“Then come in with me. I need to talk to Ruijia, who is Dom’s mother. You can help me promote our philosophy to the house-elves in the kitchen—”

That's your philosophy--

Harley said in a mournful tone that he was now somewhat regretting following Hermione.

But Hermione ignored their complaints. She grabbed their arms and pulled them to her side, then swallowed hard and scratched at the green pear on the silver bowl with her index finger.

Fred and George were frequent visitors to the kitchen, but Harry, his two companions had never ventured inside before. Under their tense gaze, the bright green pear began to wriggle and then suddenly transformed into a large green doorknob.

"Should we put on an invisibility cloak?"

Seeing that Hermione had already grabbed the doorknob, Harry said nervously,

"There's likely more than just elves inside; there might even be a professor—"

Before Harry could finish speaking, Hermione had already opened the door and, without saying a word, dragged both boys inside.

The three people stood behind the door, nervously watching the world behind it.

In a fleeting glance, Harry saw only a room with a high ceiling, as large as the Great Hall above, surrounded by many gleaming copper pots and pans piled up along the stone walls. At the other end of the room was a large brick fireplace, and on either side of the fireplace was a row of equally brick stoves. Just as Harry was examining the four long tables in the middle of this large kitchen, an excited scream suddenly came from the other end of the kitchen!

"Hi, Harry Potts!"

The sudden scream startled Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry even saw a small black shadow rapidly approaching him and quickly pulled his wand from his pocket. This did indeed make the approaching shadow slow down considerably. It braked by pressing its heels on the ground and, after a long braking distance, finally stopped in front of Harry and the others!

"Do-Dobi?"

When Harry saw the little creature's face, his expression froze. He asked blankly, and his question surprised Hermione and Ron, who were already on edge.

Dobi?

Ron blinked, staring at what was probably the strangest-looking creature he had ever seen. This was the same Malfoy elf who had blocked the wall leading to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters in their second year, forcing him and Harry to use his father's illegally modified car to get to school, and who had tried to throw Harry off his flying broomstick during the Quidditch match that year.