Then, her expression stiffened slightly, and she imdiately turned her head to look at Ron, who was rubbing his belly and eating mint frog candies. The girl made a mouth shape, and the two quickly completed the exchange of information. Harry could see what Hermione wanted to say, ’Are you sure he’s okay?’
"...Where did everyone go?"
Harry, who could totally guess what the two were talking about, couldn’t help but sigh. He looked around the empty common room and blinked.
"Co on! Today is the first day of holidays, rember?" Ron scrutinized Harry carefully, "It’s almost lunchti, I was about to wake you up."
Harry nodded and sat down on a chair by the fireplace. The white snowflakes were still dancing outside the window. Crookshanks lay in front of the fireplace, looking from behind like a big ginger blanket. Harry reached out to scratch his chin and heard a comfortable purring sound.
"Neville went back too, the only ones left in third year are us."
Ron tossed the Chocolate Frog in his hand into the air, then opened his mouth to bite half a frog leg, stuffing the still-flapping back half into his mouth, and mumbled unclearly.
"You haven’t finished yet?"
Looking at Hermione, who had her head down over her quill again, Harry couldn’t help but swallow—every ti he saw Hermione, George, and Fred floating in their sea of books, Harry was always imnsely grateful that he didn’t choose Muggle Studies.
"...Almost."
Hermione lifted her head once more and tugged at the chain on her chest in so frustration. Ever since William started restricting her use of the Space-Ti Turner, the ample ti she once had began to fall short, forcing her to catch up on howork during Divination, but even then she was falling behind.
Demon! That Professor Graves must be a demon!
Where exactly did he co from, with so many entirely different questions?
Regarding this, a certain "Graves" professor had sothing to say. Obviously, third-year students insisted on learning everything up to graduation in one go. If your assignnts aren’t many, whose are?
’...Honestly, these O.W.L. exams don’t cover this.’
However, Hermione seed to have forgotten what the professor said at the ti.
She originally thought the questions were limited until Professor Graves would haul over a pile of textbooks each ti.
What is calculus? What is college physics? And what’s this about now not even professors knowing, leaving to self-study?
Do Muggles really have to learn all these things?
Thankfully, I chose Magic School back then, really lucky... Wait, didn’t I still not escape?
Looking at the seemingly endless howork in front of her, Hermione fell into contemplation.
A mont of silence, Crookshanks stretched lazily, flexing his paws, as Ron’s pocket trembled.
"I say," Ron said, "it’s the holidays! It’s almost Christmas! Let’s go down and see Hagrid, we haven’t visited him in a long ti!"
"Alright."
Hermione rarely agreed to the idea of having fun.
"No."
But Harry also uncharacteristically shook his head.
"?"
The sudden refusal left Ron and Hermione, who had already relaxed, looking at each other for a mont. Then, Ron coughed lightly and uncertainly said, "I rember, you said you weren’t going to look for Sirius anymore?"
"Yeah, Harry, Sirius is definitely waiting for you outside now, no, we should best stay in the castle..."
Hermione nodded and seed to suddenly recall sothing, hurriedly said.
"No, I’m planning to find my senior, I have so questions to ask him."
...
Upon hearing it was to find William, Hermione didn’t stop him and even raised both hands and feet in support—as long as he didn’t wander off and avoid giving Sirius a chance, she didn’t mind what Harry did. So, he walked alone to the tapestry on the eighth floor, and the next mont, the stone door slowly appeared.
There were things he wanted to talk about with William, especially the one that, whenever he thought of ntioning it, would mysteriously slip his mind.
That "dream?"
"Please co in, Master Potter!"
Dobby’s trembling voice ca from behind the door, and Harry walked to the end of the passage and changed his shoes. He looked up, slightly taken aback.
"Professor Lupin?"
"Good afternoon, Harry, would you like to eat sothing?"
Professor Lupin, sitting at the dining table, was surprised for a mont, then put down his chopsticks and invited him.
Harry, who hadn’t had lunch, obviously did not refuse. He sat in the chair opposite Professor Lupin, accepted the two wooden sticks Dobby handed over, and then stared in a daze at the steaming copper pot on the table... Where’s the food?
"The food is at the bottom—"
Lupin skillfully used chopsticks to pick up beef from the bottom of the pot into Harry’s bowl. In 1993, although there were already quite a few Chinese restaurants in London, this was a foreign land, not to ntion the "isolated" Magic Realm, so of course, Harry hadn’t seen this standard... no, the authentic old Beijing style hot pot.
Heavy snow was also swirling outside the Room of Requirent, and even though it was noon, the gloomy gray sky exuded a coldness.
"Why are you here?"
Harry, unfamiliar with handling the chopsticks, blew hot air onto the mutton. Actually, he and Professor Lupin were quite familiar, as the professor had been tasked by William to teach him Occluncy and Expecto Patronum, naturally making the boy very familiar with Lupin.
"That kid asked to watch the house."
Lupin gently said while putting mutton into the copper pot.
"Watch the house? The senior isn’t here now?"
Harry seed to choke on the mutton, and Dobby quickly put down his chopsticks to help him—William forcibly required Dobby to sit at the table and eat.
"He’s gone out, apparently quite far. He might already be there now—" Lupin nodded and then asked, "Do you need him for sothing?"
"...Nothing, it’s almost Christmas."
Harry shook his head, not sure why he didn’t want to ntion his "dream," except in front of William—how should he bring it up? Say he saw a vast forest? A snake? A... Voldemort?
The laughter he’d nearly forgotten suddenly resurfaced vividly in his mind, his hand holding the chopsticks slightly pausing.
He looked up at Lupin, gazing at the face that, despite its youth, was covered in wrinkles.
"What’s the matter?"
"Professor, do you... know my dad?"
Yes, he almost forgot, in the photo where his parents stood with others, it wasn’t just Sirius Black.
...
...
Greece, Thessaloniki.
Red, green, and white adorned the romantic city by the Aegean Sea, with the majestic Olympus Mountain Range standing quietly at the city’s edge, enveloping everyone walking the streets in a Christmas atmosphere.
"Mom, a bird with six wings!"
On the street paved with stone, the little boy holding a burger suddenly pointed at the gray sky above with a shocked expression.
"What nonsense, hurry up and eat!"
The boy’s mother didn’t look up, naturally missing the rare sight of the... big bird.
"Chirp chirp!"
On the back of the "big bird," Kabuda pressed its map underneath with its bottom, carefully studying while glaring with eyes like black beans.
"Roar—"
Nobert, curled up sleeping, let out an annoyed howl.
"Caw—"
The big bird’s cry instinctively silenced the two animals who were about to quarrel, looking at each other defiantly, snorting softly.
"Chirp chirp."
Suddenly, Kabuda approached the edge of the big bird’s wing, raised its paw, and excitedly pointed at a spot below.
Thus, the big bird looked down, gently flapping its six wings, and the next mont, its originally yellow feathers began changing to be the sa gray as the sky. The next mont, its figure vanished into the air, seemingly leaving no trace.
Only the faint sound of thunder could still be heard a little.
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