Bab 255: Chapter 255 Intrigue (Edited)
Fudge left the Leaky Cauldron with a sense of calm. He was thinking about an interview with a journalist from the Daily Prophet to clear his name of incompetence.
"Rita Skeeter shouldn't be invited." This was Fudge's initial reaction. The woman was so vicious that even good things tasted bad in her mouth. But Fudge's good mood disappeared the moment he saw Dawlish. Because standing next to Dawlish was Albus Dumbledore.
...
Having been cut in line by the Minister of Magic, Tom had no choice but to sleep in the same bed as Hermione.
He smiled apologetically at Hermione, telling her that he was also defenseless.
Old Tom disappeared for a moment and reappeared with Harry's suitcase and cage in his hands, followed by a slightly confused Harry.
"Everything okay?" Tom winked at him.
Harry was a bit confused. "I wasn't punished, but I don't understand-"
"Well, go back to your rooms and rest a bit. You have the whole vacation to talk!" Old Tom interrupted Harry and led them up a wooden staircase, first taking Tom to a door with a brass number "7" on it. Old Tom unlocked it and opened the door for Tom and Hermione. Inside the room, there was a soft-looking bed, some shiny oak furniture, and a fire in the fireplace, emitting the scent of wood and crackling flames.
Harry stepped back, expecting Yodel to help Hermione with her luggage and leave as soon as he put it on the ground. But to his surprise, Yodel entered the same bedroom as Hermione in front of him, closing the door behind them.
Harry: I couldn't understand it, but I was so surprised that I couldn't move for a moment, as if I had frozen.
Tom entered the room, placed his suitcase on the floor, and was about to open it when Hermione pulled him away from the suitcase.
"Go take a bath! I'll take care of the suitcase," Hermione smiled unnaturally, pointing to the bathroom and urging Tom to shower first. She didn't want him to look at her clothes.
Tom scratched his head, "Alright then? Are you sure you don't want...?"
"No!"
The next thing Tom knew, a pair of soft and tender hands were pushing him towards the bathroom.
After settling Tom, Hermione opened her suitcase and quickly gathered her outer clothes, underwear, shoes, and socks. When she grabbed a shirt, she realized it looked like a man's shirt.
"This looks like Tom's shirt." She set the shirt aside, but when she placed it on the floor, she picked it up again.
"This is Tom's shirt..." She held it in her hands and unconsciously brought the tip of her nose closer to it, sniffing it twice. It smelled of lavender laundry detergent.
"Hermione, can you bring me a change of clothes...?" Tom poked his head out from the bathroom, and both of them froze.
After a second of freezing, Hermione handed Tom the shirt and a pair of shorts from her old clothes with such naturalness that she thought she had just seen it wrong.
When the bathroom door closed again, Hermione's face turned red, steam seemed to come out of her ears, and she felt her heart beating as fast as a machine gun. The sound of water dripping from the bathroom and the steam with the scent of shower gel made it even harder for her to calm down.
In the end, she needed a glass of cold water and the chilly breeze from the window to regain her composure.
"No!" She decided. She was too competitive to just fall into Tom's hands like that. So, she came up with a brilliant idea.
What's the best way to deal with a colleague catching you slacking off at work? Incite a colleague to do the same! So, Hermione set up a little trap.
She waited in silence.
Soon, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped. Hermione set up the trap and then called from the bathroom door, "Tom, I'm going for a late-night snack. Do you want anything to eat?"
Tom's muffled voice came from inside, "How about some cookies and hot tea?"
"Sure thing," Hermione said as she left the bedroom and hurried down to the bar.
Tom dried himself off and emerged from the bathroom in clean clothes. The bedroom was empty; Hermione had packed up and placed the suitcase in a corner of the room.
There was only one spot in the room that was slightly messy: the bed. Hermione's changed clothes had been thrown on top of the bed, and her thin black stockings rested on one side of the bed, while her little brown boots were on the other side, in front of the bed.
Tom's heart pounded as his eyes moved from the nearly transparent part to the slightly darker tip of the stocking.
He couldn't resist taking a few steps closer and reaching out...
Squeak!
The door opened.
Hermione entered, carrying a silver tray with some small cookies and a teapot of black tea.
Tom recoiled like a startled rabbit and jumped towards the nightstand.
"The cookies are freshly baked, and for the tea, is black tea alright?" Hermione placed the tray on the table, outwardly smiling but inwardly disappointed. She had arrived a bit too soon! The fish had almost bitten, but she had scared it away!
"Why is your face red?"
"The bathwater was very hot."
"Ah, well... I'm going to take a bath too, so don't look," Hermione said, grabbing a cookie, crunching it in a small bite, and then grabbing the teapot and taking a sip of black tea directly from the spout. Then she turned her head and entered the bathroom.
When she came out of the bathroom, her eyes nearly popped out. Tom wasn't doing anything! He was sitting at his desk studying!
Hermione clenched her teeth: I'm in the shower, the bathroom walls are so thick that you can't see anything, and yet you're studying? Are you studying behind my back?
Hermione immediately sat in a chair, put on her headband, and started studying, even though her hair was still wet.
...
The next morning, Harry woke up from his sleep. He felt a sense of freedom he had never experienced before. He could sleep for as long as he wanted, without anyone barging into his room, pulling back the curtains, or lifting the blankets. And most importantly, he could study magic outdoors!
He descended the stairs to old Tom and ordered a hearty breakfast, something he couldn't have gotten at the Dursleys'. Once seated, Harry started looking around.
"I don't see Miss Granger or Mr. Yodel. Did they leave early in the morning?" he asked old Tom, who approached with a large plate of meat and a bowl of fruit cereal with milk.
"Well, I haven't seen them either." Old Tom shook his head and walked away slowly.
It was nearly noon when Tom and Hermione came downstairs with bags under their eyes, and Harry rubbed his face upon seeing them.
"Tom, pay attention to your body..." he said vaguely.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone