The howling wind rushed past her ears as Kate leaned low over her broomstick, eyes locked on the figure ahead that had already left her far behind.
Cho Chang swept swiftly through the castle's longest interior corridor, shot out through a wide-open window in one clean movement, and in doing so triggered the wind-chime device they'd set up beforehand.
A bright peal of chimes rang out — and with it, the race was over.
Kate pulled to a sharp stop, and in the same motion caught Hermione, who had been following close on her heels.
The two exchanged a deflated look, then steered their broomsticks lazily down toward the lawn.
Cho Chang was already waiting there, bouncing on her heels and waving at them with great enthusiasm. "We said best two out of three — and I've just won the second round!"
"Your technique just keeps getting better." Kate hopped off her broomstick, shaking her head with a rueful laugh. "Looks like the two of us really aren't cut out for broomsticks as a mode of transport."
Beside her, Hermione set her broom down in silence, wearing an expression of complete resignation.
She was competitive by nature — that much was undeniable — but even she had to admit that flying was simply not her gift. No matter how much she and Kate practised, they could at best manage to stay airborne without falling off. Any further improvement than that seemed firmly out of reach.
"I can only bully you two, really," Cho Chang said with a modest laugh. "It's not as though I became Seeker in first year like Harry."
"Even so, if you ever faced him on the pitch, you wouldn't let the fact that it's Harry rattle you," Kate said, genuinely pleased.
Cho Chang gave a confident nod. "Naturally. We haven't gone up against each other yet, but I trust that the technique I've worked so hard for won't lose to anyone."
That was true enough. The Seeker position was certainly a test of skill — but luck played just as large a role. Plenty of Seekers lost matches not because they lacked ability, but simply because fortune hadn't been on their side.
And as the protagonist, Harry's luck when it came to finding the Golden Snitch was practically maxed out. There was no arguing with it.
"Then as agreed — you're welcome to visit our library and read whatever you like." Kate clasped her hands behind her back and announced the result of the contest with a serene smile.
Then she glanced sidelong at Hermione, whose mood had clearly taken a visible dip, and gave a small cough. "Of course, for everyone else, getting into the library isn't entirely off the table either."
Hermione's head snapped straight up at once. She grabbed Kate's sleeve immediately. "How? How do we get in?"
"Well... the losers prepare dinner in the kitchen. After we've eaten, I'll take you both to find some books. How does that sound?"
"Deal! And you absolutely cannot back out!" Hermione agreed on the spot, already seizing Kate's hand and marching her toward the castle.
"Why are you dragging me?"
"Hmph, you're a loser too — get in the kitchen with me, and don't you dare try to escape!"
Kate was so amused by her urgency that she burst out laughing, and quickly pulled her back. "Alright, alright — but it's still early. Wait here a moment, you two. I need to go sort things out in the kitchen first."
At least for now, she had absolutely no desire for Hermione to see the house-elves and immediately set about founding some committee or another on their behalf.
It wasn't that she thought there was anything wrong with that — it was simply that it would be far too much trouble.
As someone who had happily stayed home for over a decade, she had a deep and abiding hatred of anything that might invite unnecessary complications.
Hermione hesitated, glancing back at Cho Chang, who was still turning her broomstick over in her hands with evident affection, and wavered.
If Kate left, it would just be the two of them alone.
The thing was, whatever familiarity existed between her and Cho Chang was essentially built entirely on their shared connection to Kate. Simply put: without Kate present, they hadn't quite reached the point of being comfortable on their own.
But compared to Hermione's hesitation, Cho Chang was entirely at ease. "Go ahead," she said straightforwardly. "Hermione and I can rest here for a bit."
Kate didn't think too much of it, and turned to head into the castle.
She needed the house-elves to get dinner ingredients prepared in advance, then ask them to make themselves scarce for a while.
It was only after Kate's figure had disappeared through the castle's great doors that Hermione let her gaze fall away, slightly forlorn, and turned to find Cho Chang still standing where she'd been left, at something of a loss for words.
Cho Chang set her broomstick aside and simply sat down on the grass, then looked back and waved Hermione over. "It's a bit cooler over here in the shade — want to come sit?"
Most girls weren't fond of sitting in direct sunlight. Hermione glanced at the sun-drenched patch of ground she was standing on and didn't hesitate for even a moment before retreating into the shade.
The two of them settled in side by side, and by the time Hermione registered what had happened, she was already sitting right next to Cho Chang.
"You and Kate are really close, aren't you." Cho Chang crossed her legs and regarded her with a thoughtful look.
Hermione nodded on instinct. "Of course — we've known each other since we were little!"
"Is that so..." A rare shadow of wistfulness crossed Cho Chang's bright, pretty face. "That's wonderful. Childhood friends, growing up together — how lovely."
For most people, maintaining a friendship from the very start of school was already something precious. That was what she and Kate had.
But compared to childhood friends who had grown up side by side — it made her and Kate's friendship seem somehow just a little outmatched.
Hermione had clearly noticed the shift in her mood. She ventured carefully, "Senior Cho Chang — do you like Kate very much?"
"I do. Being around her puts you at ease — she always has a way of making people laugh."
Cho Chang said it openly, then turned the question back on her. "Isn't it like that when you spend time with her too?"
"I..." Hermione's voice caught for a moment.
She thought back over the vast majority of the time she and Kate had spent together — reading side by side, or herself asking Kate questions, or the two of them practising spells. Even their evening walks after dinner, the conversations were mostly about schoolwork.
When she thought about it honestly, the amount of time she and Kate had spent doing something just for fun was vanishingly small.
The atmosphere between them could be described as industrious, or warm — but more often than not, it could never quite be called relaxed.
Hermione's feelings were growing complicated.
She had always assumed that her dynamic with Kate was a good one. But going by what Cho Chang had just described, her version of spending time with Kate was an entirely different thing altogether. She was always thinking about how to catch up to Kate and surpass her — so even when they were together, she was thinking about how to get Kate to teach her more.
So had Kate simply been tolerating her, this whole time, with endless one-sided patience?
"Hermione? Hermione?"
Cho Chang's voice drew her back from her thoughts. Hermione blinked, then asked, with an air of someone wrestling with something difficult: "Senior Cho Chang — how do you and Kate usually spend time together?"
"...?" Cho Chang tilted her head, looking faintly puzzled.
"Please — I really want to know!" Hermione leaned a little closer, looking her earnestly in the eyes.
And so...
When Kate came back having sorted everything out, what she found were the two of them sitting together, chatting away happily like old friends.
The slightly awkward atmosphere from before had somehow dissolved entirely.
She didn't know the reason, but it was a good start, whatever had caused it.
"Everything's ready in the kitchen," she said, walking over and bending down with a smile. "What were you two talking about?"
Hermione's face went scarlet in an instant. She shot to her feet like she'd been caught red-handed, bristling as if a secret had just been exposed: "None of your business!"
Even as she said it, however, her hand very honestly grabbed hold of Kate's arm, and she glanced away with a touch of shyness. "Weren't we going to make dinner? Let's go then."
"I'll come along too." Cho Chang brushed the grass off herself and rose to her feet with easy composure. "It wouldn't feel quite right to just sit here waiting to be fed."
Kate had already guessed she'd say that. "Sure, let's all go together."
She reached out of habit to take Hermione's hand — and then, as she turned her head, found her other hand being actively taken hold of by Cho Chang.
She stared at Cho Chang's completely unruffled expression for a moment, blinked, and decided to let the detail pass without comment.
Holding hands among close friends was perfectly normal. She and Hermione were stuck together every single day, after all.
The three of them made their way to the kitchen in a formation that was both affectionate and ever so slightly awkward. By the time they arrived, the house-elves had already left it spotless, with all the ingredients for dinner neatly prepared and waiting in plain view.
In short, all they had to do was cook.
For three girls whose oldest member was only thirteen, however, it was perfectly predictable that their first time in a kitchen would descend into complete chaos.
"Hermione, that's not how you knead dough — don't pour that much water in all at once, it'll go everywhere!"
"Cho Chang, that's not how you defrost a steak either! Don't just throw it straight into the pan from frozen!"
When both of her companions were the genuine article — actual little girls who had never set foot in a kitchen — Kate, the fake little girl, had no choice but to roll up her sleeves and get stuck in herself.
Now she understood why head chefs always seemed to have that permanently flustered, red-in-the-face look about them.
Anyone would have a breakdown with these two. And she couldn't even raise her voice at them.
She'd barely managed to teach Hermione how to knead dough properly when she had to rush back to mind the heat — because if she didn't, Cho Chang would happily burn the steak to a crisp without noticing.
Once the chaos was properly underway, Hermione and Cho Chang had actually started to find cooking rather enjoyable. Kate, meanwhile, was so run off her feet that she was sweating profusely and desperately wishing she had two extra hands.
"Kate, Kate — for the mashed potatoes, do I just mash the potatoes until they're soft?"
"Kate, how do you bake the bread? Does it need butter?"
Having thoroughly wrecked their own assigned portions, the two of them began cheerfully encroaching on Kate's.
"You two are going to be the death of me — go and rest outside, I've got this under control!"
Kate had no energy left for another round with them. She ushered them out of the kitchen one by one, and only then was peace finally restored.
What an enormous undertaking.
She looked at the kitchen — reduced to absolute devastation before her eyes — and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
Not long after, with the help of a few well-placed spells, Kate finished dinner at speed and finally carried the food she'd managed to salvage through to the dining room.
"Is this the pizza I made?" Hermione picked up a slice with curiosity. "Why does it look a bit different?"
"Come to think of it, this steak does seem a bit more tender than mine." Cho Chang poked seriously at her portion in analysis.
Of course it did — she'd put them all through a second round of cooking.
Kate grumbled about this privately, and kept her expression pleasantly bland as she explained aloud: "I gave everything a bit of a second pass, so the flavour should be a little better."
"That's strange — how come I've never heard you say you could cook before?" Hermione asked, genuinely curious.
"I was too young before, Grandpa Rand wouldn't let me near the stove," Kate said with a perfectly straight face, spinning a story without blinking. "But I watched him over his shoulder every single day and managed to pick up quite a few tricks."
Only the heavens knew that the old butler's cooking skills were only marginally better than his Potions — a competent hand at best, nothing more.
And in the early days, before he'd even gotten that far, she'd had to eat his half-raw pizza.
She gave a light cough and pushed those less-than-fond memories firmly aside, then poured a little cola into her glass and raised it.
"The process was a bit of an adventure — but this is still our very first time cooking, and for a first attempt, I'd say the result is quite something. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
And with that, a warm and lively dinner began in earnest.
Compared to the subdued atmosphere of lunchtime, now there were only the three of them, and after an afternoon spent together, everyone had gradually started to settle into the rhythm of being a trio.
So after a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, it was only natural that Kate brought both girls along to explore the family library.
For anyone who loved knowledge, an entire building filled with the Shafiq family's books was nothing short of irresistible. Especially entering it for the very first time — the awe it inspired was even more dramatic than Kate's own reaction when she had first come here, years ago.
They lingered in the library for a full three hours. Apart from listening to Kate explain the history of the collection, even the reading they did was just a brisk skim through — barely skimming the surface of what was there.
In the end, Kate had to physically drag Hermione and Cho Chang away. Left to their own devices, the two of them genuinely might have stayed the entire night and never left.
"So it's settled — for the next month, mornings are for reading in the library, afternoons are mainly for practising spells or exercise, and evenings are free time."
"On weekends, we can go out together into the Muggle world for a bit of shopping, or if you'd rather stay back and ask the professors questions, that works too."
Kate didn't want to schedule every hour of her friends' time, but they were still students at the end of the day — they needed to put in some effort towards their studies.
Fortunately, both Hermione and Cho Chang were top students, with self-discipline that put Harry and Ron to shame in ways too numerous to count.
The suggestion was met with approval from both of them the moment it was put forward.
The moon hung pale in a sparse scattering of stars. It was getting late enough that everyone should head back to their rooms.
Kate walked them each to their guest room doors, then turned to head upstairs to her own room.
"Wait," came Hermione's voice — a small head poking out from behind her door, calling to her quietly. "Come here a moment."
"What is it?" Kate noticed that her little face had gone rather pink, and turned back with a slightly puzzled look.
Hermione waited until Kate was standing right in front of her. Then, face flushed red, she reached up and tugged Kate gently down by the collar, and her slightly trembling lips came infinitely close to Kate's ear.
"Th... thank you."
Perhaps the warmth had carried through the air between them — Kate felt as though her own ear had started to burn, and stood there for a moment, quite dazed.
Hermione's face was burning scarlet. She yanked herself back into her room all at once and shut the door behind her with a resounding bang.
A cool night breeze swept through the corridor, and at last it pulled Kate back to the present.
She reached up without thinking and touched her own face.
Hot.
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