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"One Gold Galleon can be exchanged for five pounds. Hermione, are you really not going to buy anything?"
Harry called back over his shoulder to the gloomy-faced girl behind him as he dug coins out of his pocket.
He'd taken a liking to a toy gun in the shop—something that might be a little childish for a kid of three to five, but just right for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old student like him.
"That's right, this shop has loads of novel toys—are you really not going to come have a look!" Ron, too, was staring conflictedly at the toy in front of him. He hadn't brought much money, so he had to budget carefully.
Hermione glanced without interest at the toy shop overrun by students. She just stood at the door and shook her head.
She still had no idea how Kate was doing—how could she possibly be in the mood to put her worries aside and go shopping?
And it wasn't just her. Cho Chang and Luna, who shared a dormitory with Kate, had also been affected to some degree—only they didn't show it as plainly as Hermione did.
Snape stood in the distance in a suit, arms folded, his eyes sweeping back and forth among the students.
Although he could clearly see the low spirits of these three girls, he never let slip even the slightest hint about Kate's condition, saying only that she had already been sent to St. Mungo's for treatment.
When that little one came back, he was going to charge triple the cost of materials—no, at least quadruple.
"Everyone, free-activity time is almost over!" The flashy Lockhart was also among the chaperoning professors on this trip.
For him, being able to help manage these students was the best opportunity he could get to show off his Charisma.
Sure enough, a cluster of girls came up to him first, standing in line in order to set the example, and with someone taking the lead, the others obligingly filed out of the shop one by one and queued up as well.
Snape watched coldly as Lockhart organized and rallied the students. Though he was the leader of the group, in most cases he only had to stand there to keep the whole scene in check.
In the chaotic moment of this lining-up, his eyes narrowed. His gaze passed over the dense crowd of students in front of him and met, just so, the eyes of an old man emerging from the shop.
Rand Jones...
Since he had shown up, it meant the matter back at Hogwarts ought to have been settled.
That it could be settled smoothly—he'd long expected as much. Powerful as the Basilisk was, it wasn't likely to come out on top; he just hadn't expected it to be over so quickly....
The old butler gave him a slight nod, and in the blink of an eye vanished from where he'd stood, as though he had never appeared there at all.
Snape lifted his chin, swept his gaze over those few girls in the crowd, then walked over to Lockhart's side and murmured a few words.
"Really?"
Lockhart put on an exaggerated look of astonishment, and seeing that Snape had no reaction to his performance, he gave a heavy cough and pointed at Hermione: "You, come out for a moment."
Singled out so suddenly, Hermione squeezed out of the crowd, baffled. But when she saw the subtle change on Snape's face, she seemed to realize something.
"Miss Granger," Lockhart flashed his signature smile, "Student Shafiq has just returned from the hospital and needs someone to look after her..."
"I can!" Hermione blurted out before she could think.
Lockhart raised an eyebrow slightly. "All right then, we'll head back to the hotel together."
Glancing reflexively back at the other two girls in the crowd, Hermione hesitated for a moment, then turned and followed him off at a brisk pace.
Her eagerness to see Kate was beyond words, and she had no attention to spare for the once-idol prattling on beside her. After only a couple of steps she asked, "Professor, can you do Apparition?"
Lockhart's voice caught, and he tried somewhat awkwardly to cover himself: "That sort of spell is far too dangerous. I could manage it on my own, but if I had to bring you along..."
Which meant he couldn't.
Somewhat disappointed, Hermione lowered her eyes and kept walking forward.
Soon—she'd be able to see Kate soon.
It was called Lockhart escorting her, but it was more like she was leading Lockhart, taking the subway all the way back to the hotel entrance.
Before even going in, Hermione turned and gave him a slight bow. "Professor, this is far enough."
With that, she trotted off inside and got on the elevator.
Leaving Lockhart alone outside, it was quite a while before he was seen ambling over to the front desk, flashing a smile at the receptionist:
"Hello there. Might you be willing to ride the subway with me?"
...
"I'm back, Kate!" Dashing all the way to the room door, Hermione frantically fumbled in her purse for the key card. She rummaged for ages without finding it and was nearly driven to tears with anxiety.
Just as Hermione was about to draw her wand and use the Unlocking Charm, the door swung open on its own.
"What's all this racket...."
Kate, looking thoroughly drowsy, opened the door from the inside. Before she could even make out who it was, a soft body threw itself into her arms.
That familiar, warm scent made her eyes fly wide open, and her hands instinctively settled on the slender waist of the person in her arms. "Hermione, shouldn't you be out right now?"
"It was Professor Snape who told me to come back!"
Hermione stepped back two paces and, somewhat flustered, began patting her down starting from her head all the way to her chest. "How are you feeling now? What did the hospital's diagnosis say?"
"Hsss... y-you, stop touching first...." Kate, a little unable to handle it, hurriedly tried to stop her, finally managing to grab the girl's hands. "Don't worry, there's nothing seriously wrong with me.
Besides... if you want to touch, can we close the door first?"
With a rather complicated expression, Kate closed the door, then pulled the girl inside to sit at the edge of the bed, and even spun herself around in a circle. "See? I'm perfectly fine now, aren't I?"
But Hermione still hadn't gotten over her fright. "But the way you looked this morning was really terrible. I thought you..."
"I just ate something bad last night, so my stomach hurt when I woke up this morning, and I was having a nightmare I couldn't wake up from." She fabricated the lie with a perfectly straight face.
As she spoke, she burrowed straight under the covers. "I just got back from the hospital, and the doctor told me to rest well for a day. I was still sleeping just now, until you woke me up."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...." Hermione bowed her head, full of guilt, her fingers unconsciously twisting together.
Kate gave a soft laugh, slowly lay down, and turned her head to look at her. "So you came back because you wanted to take care of me?"
"Mm!" Hermione shot to her feet and nodded with great enthusiasm. "If anything still feels off, just tell me—I'll do my best to take good care of you!"
Looking her up and down, Kate suddenly smiled and shifted to the side, making room for her. "Then come keep me company for a little sleep."
"Wh-what?" Hermione's little face flushed crimson, and she took a flustered step back.
Sleep together with Kate? She'd clearly come back to take care of Kate—how could she...
"Is that not allowed?" Kate's lips curved up slightly. "Sleeping alone is too cold. I want someone to help warm up the bed for me."
Cold?
Hermione instantly forgot all about her embarrassment and leaned in to touch her face, then began muttering worriedly to herself again. "It does seem a bit cool...."
"That's right," Kate gazed at her pleadingly, her lashes fluttering, almost sweeping right into her heart. "I'm so cold all over—won't you still keep me company for a little sleep?"
The main thing was that she didn't know how to explain this morning's incident to Hermione.
The explanation just now had been full of holes, and with Hermione's cleverness, the moment she pressed even a little further, Kate would expose the fact that she'd never gone to the hospital—and then things would get awkward.
So it was better to just pull the girl into bed and sleep together—sleep until heaven and earth went dark—and by the time they got up, Hermione would probably have all but forgotten to ask her about it.
So, what she needed to do right now was play up an image of being weak, innocent, and pitiful with all her might, and lure Hermione into bed.
Mm... "lure" seems like a slightly odd word?
Never mind, forget it—getting the girl into bed counts as success!
".....All right then." After who knows how much inner struggle, Hermione finally agreed, her little face red.
She went to the bathroom and changed into a set of pajamas, then carefully lifted the covers and lay down bit by bit.
Kate watched her tense little manner with some amusement and simply tugged her further in. "Sleeping that far over—aren't you afraid you'll fall off later?"
"I will not!" Hermione retorted reflexively, and the moment she turned her head she ran straight into Kate's smiling eyes, so caught up in the sight that she forgot even to speak.
Looks like the effect isn't bad.
Kate observed Hermione's reaction with satisfaction. Probably because the little girl was shy, the moment she heard about sleeping together she'd blushed to death.
Even though the two of them had slept together before.
Sure enough, now that the little girl was older, she wouldn't cling to her the way she used to.
Privately speculating about Hermione's thoughts, she feigned a wave of sleepiness, wrapping the girl up with both arms and legs, and even nuzzled her head into that warm hollow of the neck along the way.
"I'm a bit sleepy now. Goodnight, Hermione." She said it softly, and closed her eyes.
It was a long while before she heard Hermione's reply, in a breath even fainter than her own: "Goodnight."
Soundlessly curving her lips, Kate slowly withdrew the hands and legs she'd draped over Hermione and turned over a little.
As if—holding a little girl while she slept, there was no way she'd actually be able to sleep.
Though while holding her she had indeed felt certain places where Hermione had begun to develop, after all she was still a child; to keep from accidentally becoming some sort of cradle-robber, it was better to keep her distance.
She'd thought it through quite clearly for herself, but she couldn't help it if someone else had no intention of going along with her plan.
Just as she finally managed to roll over with her back to Hermione, ready to have a lovely sleep, she felt a little movement behind her.
Hsss....
Why is she snuggling up again?
Why is a hand wrapping around me too?
Wrap around my waist if you must—but why are you stroking on top of it as well?
Stroke if you must—but could you please not move upward? She'd only just eaten lunch and hadn't digested yet!
Immediately gripping a certain little lion's hand and squeezing it tighter, Kate leaned forward a little, and at last could no longer feel the breathing of the person behind her.
Phew, now she could finally sleep.
Finally able to rest, Kate—worn out from over half a day's exertions—drifted swiftly into dreamland the moment she shut her eyes.
And behind her back, the little lion who was supposed to be asleep pressed forward too, lips gently brushing against the warm spine of the person in her arms. A moment later, she contentedly closed her eyes.
Kate truly hadn't imagined that even sleeping wrapped up in the covers in the dead of winter, one could be woken by the heat.
When she opened her eyes, the sky outside had turned dusky-yellow as well; she reckoned it must be near evening.
She instinctively let go, only to find that her hand, her neck, and her back had all already been soaked with sweat.
Turning to look again, she saw Hermione still fast asleep in the very same posture as before. There was no telling what nice thing she was dreaming of—that sleeping face even carried a hint of a smile.
Carefully getting up to take a shower in the bathroom, by the time Kate came out she discovered the girl had already woken and was now sitting on the bed reading a book.
The moment she saw Kate come out, Hermione snapped the book shut with a clap, and there was an extra, different sort of light in the eyes she turned toward her. "Good evening, Kate."
"Uh... since you're awake, hurry and get changed. They should be getting back soon." Not quite used to her gaze, Kate instinctively looked away.
Hermione wasn't annoyed. She got out of bed unhurriedly and even stretched. "I was waiting for you."
Aren't there two bathrooms?
A little dumbfounded, Kate glanced back at the bathroom. "Then go take your shower. Once you're done, get ready to go to the second floor for dinner."
"Okay." Hermione's eyes crinkled. As she rose, she deliberately walked up in front of Kate to compare their heights, then couldn't help frowning. "Looks like I'm still a few centimeters short."
It wasn't as if she were the type who only ate and never grew—after all, she was a whole year older.
Measuring with her fingers a little speechlessly, Kate could only comfort her: "It's only five or six centimeters. You'll catch up soon enough."
"Really?" Hermione tilted her head. "How tall do you hope to grow?"
Height was probably a question every child faced during their growing years, so being asked this, Kate didn't find it strange.
"Generally speaking, a hundred and sixty-five centimeters is tall enough for a girl, isn't it?" She stroked her chin, pondering. That figure should be the average height of the English women around her.
And with a pair of high heels on top of that, she might even reach over one hundred and seventy.
In her past life she'd only been a touch over a hundred and sixty; for this life to have this kind of growth already far exceeded her expectations.
Hermione blinked, raising her hand way up high. "Then I'll have to grow just a bit taller than you! At least... I'll have to reach a hundred and sixty-six centimeters!"
"Ha, so you've got your heart set on being taller than me?" Kate laughed despite herself and gave her head a light pat. "Then you'll have to exercise more, and drink more milk."
"Hmph, I know!" The little lion lifted her chin, hands on her hips, looking utterly determined to win.
And then she was laughingly shoved into the bathroom by Kate.
Oh right—she still hadn't asked Hermione why she wanted to grow taller than her.
Stroking her chin beside the bathroom, Kate quickly figured it out: this child had always wanted to catch up to her in every aspect, so it wasn't strange for her to have this notion either.
She shook her head with a smile, then found a new set of clothes from the wardrobe and put them on.
The patter of water rose from the bathroom. Hermione tilted her face up with her eyes closed, feeling the warm stream slide down across it.
Because if she were a bit taller than Kate, it would be more convenient to hug her from behind—this was the conclusion she'd just arrived at.
She lowered her head and glanced at her own still rather flat figure, frowning for a moment in some distress.
Not just height—the other places needed to hurry up and grow too.
She just didn't know what type Kate liked....
Wait a moment?
Hermione's eyes suddenly went wide.
She seemed to have never even asked whether Kate liked girls!
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