Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

In the bathroom, Hermione was facing the mirror, slowly tidying her messy, frizzy hair while opening her mouth to feel the strange singing coming from her throat, which could no longer produce sound.

She looked at herself in the mirror and still couldn't believe it.

...She just became mute like that?

What was she thinking about? Why didn't she think about it more before making a decision?

She actually gave up on her voice so easily!

Thinking of this, Hermione couldn't help but tug at her hair, making her neatly combed hair messy again, like a lion with its mane standing on end.

She quickly reached out to comb that section of hair back, but at the same time, she was still inwardly blaming herself—

Hermione, Hermione, how can you rely on external forces to solve your problems? You're a good student! Didn't Professor McGonagall tell you that relying on external forces and taking shortcuts won't allow you to fully master a skill?

If Hermione had been given more time to think, she certainly wouldn't have accepted Professor Victor's proposal.

But it's too late for regrets now, Hermione thought.

As she held the fishbone to her throat and uttered the first syllable, the fishbone strangely lit up—and along with the light, her voice rapidly faded and eventually disappeared completely.

Professor Victor eventually took the fish bone. He also said:

"The necessary rituals have been completed; you may now begin using the conch shell."

"Remember, you must make the same mouth shape when the conch shell makes its sound, otherwise not only will your classmates notice, but you'll also be assimilated by the conch shell—but it's not a big deal; it will disappear immediately once you stop using it."

Before Hermione could press for details about the negative effects, Professor Victor left on his own. It was for this reason that Hermione decided to go to the bathroom to find out the conch's purpose.

When she wanted to try using the conch shell, the idea of ​​singing naturally came to her.

"Squeak—"

While Hermione was still lost in thought about singing, a faint scraping sound suddenly came from beside her, making her freeze instantly.

The door is ringing.

Someone is coming.

She hurriedly tried to hide the conch shell on her chest, but realized it was too late. She could only try to keep a straight face and turn her head to look.

But it would have been better if I hadn't looked at it...

She discovered that two boys were peeping into the women's restroom.

From her perspective, she could clearly see that the wooden door to the women's restroom had been pushed open a crack, and within that few inches of the opening, Harry and Ron's heads were crammed together.

They squeezed together, one on each side, into the narrow doorway, staring intently at her.

Hermione: "..."

Hermione: "???"

In that instant, the panic and resentment in her mind vanished, leaving only shock, which quickly transformed into anger.

She immediately wanted to say—

Are they crazy? They're skipping the party just to spy in the women's restroom? Don't they think Gryffindor has already lost enough points?

She glared at them, but what came out of her mouth was:

"Harry? Ron?"

After she slowly stopped singing, that clear and gentle voice flowed from her lips again.

"Did you come here specifically to see me? Thank you. I thought you didn't care what I thought... But next time, you'd better not push open the bathroom door, just knock."

The sound returned to her ears, startling Hermione for a moment before she quickly shut her mouth again.

That's not what she wanted to say!

The conch shell pendant on her chest rose and fell with her words, its light flickering—but outside the crack in the door, Harry and Ron didn't notice at all, they just stared at her, speechless.

Outside the washroom.

They squeezed a little more into the crack in the door.

"Hermione?"

"You're really Hermione? Good heavens, you never told us you could sing!" Ron asked in astonishment, "And you sing so well!"

"...I only found out today."

A few seconds later, Hermione opened her mouth, and that clear voice answered spontaneously again.

"This shows that people should try more new things, whether it's singing, transfiguration, or spells, it's all the same."

Hermione's voice clearly made Ron's mind go blank, and he even forgot that they had a conflict. Ron just stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing a few times, but he didn't make a sound.

...Hermione's voice is actually this beautiful?

Both he and Harry couldn't help but think to themselves.

But Harry soon found himself struggling to understand it—because he suddenly couldn't remember what Hermione's original voice sounded like.

Hermione's voice wasn't particularly strange, but it was just exceptionally pleasant. And although what she said was still related to studying, she used a different way of phrasing it, making it impossible for anyone to feel any aversion; on the contrary, people just wanted to listen a little longer.

...Listen to Hermione more often?

Good heavens, how could he think that!

This is Hermione, after all. She's practically a fully charged alarm bell all the time. If any student tries to do something against the professor's instructions, she'll immediately start beeping and loudly announcing things like, "I'll tell the professor!" or "You'll lose points in Gryffindor!"

Harry jolted awake, trying to shake the very familiar image from his mind.

He couldn't help but ask again, "Are you really Hermione?"

"Of course. What magic at Hogwarts could possibly replace me?"

Hermione frowned, her voice still gentle, but she gave Harry a look that said, "You obviously haven't been studying hard," which immediately made Harry connect her to the image of Hermione he had before.

"I just think you've changed a lot," Harry said awkwardly. "You know, uh... you weren't like this when you left the Great Hall. What happened to you?"

"I met Professor Victor and talked to him. He told me that I shouldn't be upset by other people's opinions."

"……Feel sorry."

Harry was even more embarrassed.

However, he also noticed a subtle discord—Hermione's eyes were sometimes wide open when she spoke, her expression and tone seemed out of sync, and her lip movements were sometimes not quite right.

Why is that?

But before Harry could figure out what was going on, Ron suddenly said:

"What does it taste like?"

He wrinkled his nose, prompting Harry to do the same.

They smelled a foul stench.

Even Hermione in the bathroom wrinkled her small nose, clearly having smelled it too.

Wait, the stench is unbearable...

Harry and Ron's expressions changed abruptly. They snapped out of their surprise at seeing Hermione and turned to look left and right!

As expected, they spotted a large, ugly creature not far away.

Perhaps Hermione's singing masked its approaching footsteps, causing Harry and Ron to miss it. By the time they noticed it, they were already quite close.

The creature was terrifying. It was twelve feet tall, with dull, gray skin like granite, and its enormous, clumsy body resembled a huge pile of pebbles, topped with a small head the size of a cocoa bean.

Its short legs were as thick as tree stumps, and below them were flat, rough, calloused feet. The stench emanating from its body was nauseating, and it held a thick wooden stick in its hand, which could only drag on the ground because of its long arms.

This is where Harry and Ron went wrong; after they noticed it, they jumped up in terror, which only drew the attention of the enormous creature to them.

"It's a troll!"

Ron immediately shouted.

"Get inside the restroom! Close the door!"