Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Vacation at the Granger home (Edited)
Unlike the usual wooden structures in the United States, the walls of the Granger house are built with high quality bricks and stones. Wooden houses may have an advantage and a disadvantage, but they have an unavoidable disadvantage: poor sound insulation. If the master clapped his love on the first floor, the hostess on the third floor could hear him. But a house with brick walls has no such disadvantage, and their house is so well insulated that Hermione was bathing diagonally across the hall and Tom didn't hear a sound.
That was not good for him. If he could hear the water, the sound of body wash rubbing against her skin, and the moans of comfort, but not be able to do anything about it, it would be torture like the company drinking parties the social animals had to attend after work. The only difference was that one wanted in and the other wanted out.
Hermione took a nice bath, put on a bathrobe with bare feet, wrapped a towel around her head and exited the bathroom. When Hermione finished, Tom walked into the bathroom still fogged up; he too had a habit of bathing every day.
The bathroom was damp and smelled strongly of soap, with a bit of bubbles and a few long brown hairs still in the tub. Tom took off his clothes as well, and just as he was about to hang them on a hanger, he froze....
Hermione jumped out of bed and threw the tiger doll she was carrying on the floor, rushed towards the door of her room but suddenly slowed down and pushed it with the lightest of movements, making sure Tom had left the bathroom before rushing into it with the grace of a cat.
As she entered, her eyes were instantly riveted on the hangers, and she was relieved: they were still there, undisturbed except for a bit of dampness. She grabbed those beauties like a thief and slipped into her bedroom, pretending nothing had happened.
The next morning, Tom woke up suddenly, with a feeling that something was going to happen. He ran to the window and as he looked out he saw a beautiful little car pulling into the Granger garage: the Grangers had come home!
Tom panicked, parents come home from overtime, only to find that their daughter had brought home a classmate....
He was already thinking of hiding in the closet like a plumber fixing a faucet, or would it be a good idea to just turn into a phoenix and fly away? No way to escape by land, but by sky.
At that moment his door burst open.
Hermione poked her head in and warned Tom, "Mum and Dad are back, so get dressed, and if you turn into a phoenix or something and run away, you're dead."
Hermione: ヽ(●-`Д′-)ヽ
"I told Dad earlier that you were coming this year."
Tom: ┗(0﹏0)┛
So when the Grangers got home, they found their daughter and her classmate in the living room-Tom Yodel.
Tom: good boy.
"Yodel!" exclaimed Mrs. Granger, rushing over and wrapping her arms around Tom, "It really, really has been a long time!"
Mr. Granger also nodded with a smile and greeted Tom.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Mr. Granger looked a little tired: he had worked late into the night yesterday on his old friend's operation, and had ended up staying at his old friend's house, before returning this morning to make sure he was okay, and now he was exhausted.
"Old Hal is still so impatient that I've pulled four wisdom teeth and a bad one all at once, and he's going to be on a liquid diet for the next few weeks." Mr. Granger told him briefly of his old friend's condition and then took his wife to bed with him. Before leaving, he reminded Hermione that they could go out if they were bored or, if they preferred to watch television at home, to turn down the volume.
When the Granger's footsteps disappeared, Tom and Hermione looked at each other, the decision was made: television, of course! There were no stores open on Christmas; did Tom and Hermione have to go for Chinese food or Kebab?
Christmas is the Western equivalent of Chinese New Year, and most stores are closed. The stores that are open on Christmas Day are mostly restaurants, mostly Chinese and Central Asian, since Chinese and Turkish immigrants don't have Christmas vacations.
Tom turned on the TV and there was a bespectacled man talking, bombarded by an embarrassed-looking presenter.
Tom recognized the man.
"Oh, Jim Hacker!" Hermione also recognized the man on the screen.
Tom: ???
"Jim Hacker, Minister of State, newly elected Party Chairman (CP)" Hermione thought Tom didn't know him and gave him a brief introduction, "He used to be editor-in-chief of the paper, I remember writing to Dad before, and then he resigned as editor-in-chief. He quit his job as editor-in-chief to go into politics and never thought he'd make it to this position."
Tom: !!!!
"How does your dad know everyone?" he really couldn't help but want to groan.
"My father is one of the top dentists in London, so he knows a lot of people." Hermione made a smug face, folded her arms proudly and said with her head held high, "But it's quite a surprise, I didn't think Jim Hacker would make it to the PC, Dad thought he was quite unsuitable for politics."
Tom: ...
Just then the doorbell rang and the Grangers received a letter: it was a Christmas card from Hacker! Although it was full of platitudes, it was still a shock to Tom.
The TV screen presenter waxed eloquent: "So you have no attitude to the European sausage standardization scheme proposed by Mr. Morris of the EC?"
Hacker: "I..."
"Even if next year we have to call our sausages 'high-fat emulsified haggis cones'? Jesus, just think, we're going to introduce all those crappy European sausages: the Italian garlic sausages, the German mash, the British sausages might as well be off the market!"
Hacker was tempted to say: an item can't compete with the competition because it's not good enough! He had read the report, which said that the standard English sausage contained 32.5% fat, 6.5% pork skin, 20% water, 10% dry bread, 5% seasonings, colorings, preservatives and 26% meat: gristle, heads, leftovers, mechanically deboned meat scraps.
Who in their right mind would eat this list of ingredients? It's almost as good as Russian black bread.
But if he dared to say that, his career as a minister would be over, and he could only dryly explain, "I have a duty to promote the European Community...".
"And that's why you swallowed it?"
"Ah, I ate a sausage this morning!" The presenter's swallowing the sausage was a double entendre, as it meant both swallowing the sausage and passing on the proposal, a play on words by Hacker to deflect the conversation.
Hermione didn't mind having changed stations, she didn't eat British sausage anyway.
Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Return to Hogwarts (Edited)
On another channel they were broadcasting the Finance Minister's speech and Hermione was about to change the channel when Tom stopped her: the man who had just been there looked familiar and, on reflection, Tom realized that he had actually appeared in Chris's memory.
He saw that the news headline read Eric, the Minister of Finance, and Tom's gaze turned dangerous.
But that's when Hermione changed the channel.
"It's all boring shit," she said as she changed the channel again and, seeing nothing to her liking, she just turned off the TV.
"What should I do?" She was bored for a while, but when she saw Tom her eyes suddenly lit up, "Let's go fishing!". she suddenly suggested.
"I remember when I first met you, you used to go fishing in that lake."
Hermione said, and Tom remembered when they first met.
He sketched a small smile, "It's not very good for fishing in winter, and it's a bit cold outside."
"Never mind!" Hermione jumped up from the couch, ran quickly to the third floor storage room and brought down a fishing rod. Then Hermione and Tom went out together.
In this part of London, while it is rainy and wet all year round, there are still very few temperatures below freezing, in December the average daily minimum temperature is 3°C and the average daily maximum temperature is 8°C. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't comfortable either.
On the way to the lake, Tom gave Hermione some insights into winter fishing.
Winter in general is not a good time to fish because the water is so cold that the fish become inactive and unappetizing due to the low water temperature. They don't want to eat the bait, so they won't take the bait. However, it's not impossible to fish in winter, you just have to do it the right way, and there are plenty of anglers who go out fishing in winter.
If you open your mouth on a frozen lake, for example, the fish will gather around you for air. Or the weather can be an important factor, on a cooler day the cold air will pull heat out of the water, causing the top layer of water to cool and the cold water to sink, creating convection with the warm water below, when the fish in the water will feed and store their energy.
Tom and Hermione arrive at the lake. It was a time when everything was dying, the shadow of the lake was gone and the grass was yellowing. Tom was in no hurry to stop and fish, but walked around the lake.
When fishing in winter, it is also important to choose a place with stable water temperature.
Finally, he settled on a place where the sun was falling and where there was one more notch in the lake, where the water was almost still.
Here Tom sat down and cast the bait. Hermione sat beside him, the tip of her hair sweeping her nose in the wind, tickling him. She shook her head gently, resisting the urge to sneeze. It was a little uncomfortable, but Hermione's shampoo smelled oddly good.
Blue skies, a quiet vacation, a peaceful lake and a lovely girl, if only time could freeze at that moment....
Life at the Granger home was pleasant, although Tom felt a little uncomfortable the first day when he met the Grangers directly, but gradually relaxed. During his stay at the Granger home, Tom even became an "other people's child," which was an unusual experience for Hermione.
"Hermione, you're in bed again..."
"Hermione, look at Tom, he's studying early in the morning..."
"Hermione Granger-!"
Hermione: ((((;???;))))
Seeing Hermione's expression, Tom thought it was very likely that he would not be invited next year.
As the days passed, the Christmas holidays disappeared in a flash and it was as if they had never existed. After the Christmas vacations, the calendar jumped to 1993.
Four months had passed since the Battle in the Common Room and life at Hogwarts was back to normal. In March, the mandrake that Professor Sprout had been cultivating for almost half a year had a lively, noisy, and dangerous dance for the humans in the third greenhouse.
The mandrakes were approaching maturity and their scream was deadly.
By the time they wanted to move on to other pots of mandrakes, they would be fully mature. At that time, the petrified "Tom" in the infirmary will be revived.
Along with April came Easter.
There are two major vacations in the school year at Hogwarts: the Christmas vacation and the Easter vacation. Easter is a major holiday in the Western world, falling on the first Sunday after the full moon of the vernal equinox, and since the date of the equinox varies from year to year, the exact date of Easter is not certain.
In 1993, Easter fell on April 11, which is a Sunday.
During the Easter vacation, all the teachers would give homework, except Tom, who had exams after the vacation, so all homework was waived and you just had to review. To be honest, most students would rather have a paper foot or so left for them than face an exam.
Second-year students have to think about one more thing than the rest of the year: choosing their classes. The Hogwarts curriculum is somewhat similar to that of other British schools. There are only seven compulsory classes: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and, of course, one compulsory class: Flying, which is only open at a certain time. In the third year, students also choose at least two of five electives: Divination, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes Studies and Care of Magical Creatures.
In the 5th year, after taking the O.W.L. exams, students can take the subjects of their choice from the teachers, as well as special subjects such as alchemy.
Young wizards, including Tom, had to choose their third year courses, something that Hermione felt needed to be done carefully.
"Really, you'd better keep Lockhart's identity and keep teaching." Hermione gave Tom an unreliable suggestion as she studied the new curriculum.
"Forget it, I'll send this year's students to their exams and quit." Tom was determined never to teach again as Lockhart, not to mention the curse and the impending maturity of the mandrake, just the stress of the job left Tom breathless: a veritable 24/7, seven days a week almost without a break! If he became dean, he'd be James Bond: Professor Snape doesn't even have time to wash his hair.
"I've looked into it, and this election will, of course, affect our entire future." Hermione said seriously to Tom, "What do you think? what classes do you want to take?"
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