In the Gryffindor Common Room that day, the fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, making light crackling sounds.
Keeping the scent of winter at bay outside the door.
The air was filled with the dry scent of parchment and old books.
Harry was nowhere to be found, while Ron was fiddling with wizard chess by himself.
In the art of wizard chess, no one in the entire common room was worthy of sitting across from Ron.
Hermione let go of Lia and walked straight toward their exclusive sofa in the corner, which was covered with soft cushions.
She didn't speak, but simply picked up a heavy ancient book with a dark brown leather cover and flipped it open.
Lia followed obediently, first transforming back into her cat form and skillfully jumping onto the sofa to let Hermione have her fill of petting, before transforming back into a girl and naturally resting her head on Hermione's lap.
She reached out and toyed with the silver bell tied to the Phoenix tail feather ribbon around her neck, making a crisp, faint sound.
The common room was very quiet, with only the rustling sound of Hermione turning the pages.
This was no ordinary reading.
Lia lay on her back, her sky-blue eyes reflecting the magical starry sky on the ceiling, as she began to recite ancient and evil incantations in a matter-of-fact tone.
"'Twisted Grasp,' infects the target's bones through magical power, causing them to snap from within. The magical structure of the spell is like a coil of thorns; the key nodes are at the third and fifth syllables, where the magic flow is reversed..."
Hermione's quill moved rapidly across the fresh parchment; she wasn't recording the spells themselves, but deconstructing them.
She drew out the structural diagrams of those spells, as if solving an incredibly complex math problem.
Then, using red ink, she drew large crosses over the magical nodes representing 'mental pollution' and'soul erosion.'
Tom Riddle's magic was full of malicious ingenuity, but it was also stained with whispers of madness.
Using them directly was no different from drinking poison to quench one's thirst.
What Hermione needed to do was extract the 'toxicity' she could use from these poisons and then eliminate all the side effects.
It was a massive undertaking, but she relished the process.
Suddenly, the common room door was pushed open violently, and a figure stumbled inside.
It was Harry; his hair was a mess, and his face still bore traces of water and the paleness of lingering shock.
"Hermione!"
He rushed over with long strides, pausing when he saw the two on the sofa, but he still pulled over a chair and sat down heavily opposite them.
Immediately after, Ron followed him in, his face looking equally troubled.
"You absolutely won't believe what I heard!" Harry's voice was very low, yet it carried an uncontrollable shock and anger.
Ron looked astonished, while Hermione merely lifted her eyelids, her hands never stopping the deconstruction of the magic spell.
Lia also stopped her recitation and blinked curiously.
Hermione and Lia exchanged a glance, and in that moment their eyes met, a suspicion surfaced in both their minds.
Could what Harry was saying be the secret they had uncovered through Lia in Dumbledore's office last time?
"Snape!" Harry leaned forward, almost squeezing the name through his teeth, "He made an Unbreakable Vow for Malfoy!"
"What?" Ron blurted out, looking from Harry to Hermione with a face full of disbelief.
It happened.
Hermione thought to herself as her quill drew the final period on the paper.
What Harry heard was exactly what Lia had'smelled' back then—the fatal agreement between Snape and Narcissa Malfoy.
Neither she nor Lia spoke, quietly waiting for Harry to continue.
"I saw Snape acting suspiciously when I was passing the Hospital Wing. I followed him with my invisibility cloak and hid behind a screen," Harry said rapidly, pouring out everything he had seen in one breath. "I heard Snape tell Malfoy that he had sworn to protect him! To complete the task for him! He admitted it himself!"
After Harry finished, he panted heavily, his chest heaving as he waited for his friends' reactions.
He expected to see the same shock as Ron's, but he only saw Hermione's calmness.
"Do you think... we should go and tell Dumbledore immediately?" There was a hint of hesitation in Harry's voice; he knew better than anyone how much Snape meant to Dumbledore.
Hermione finally put down her quill.
She reached out and stroked Lia's long silver-white hair soothingly.
"No need, Harry."
Her voice was flat, yet it was like a block of ice dropped into Harry's boiling rage.
"Lia and I have already told Professor Dumbledore about this."
Harry's expression froze.
"When...?"
"Last time, after Ron was poisoned," Hermione said succinctly.
"Then Dumbledore..."
"He knows about Snape's vow." Hermione looked up, her gaze meeting Harry's directly. "But he still chooses to trust him."
"Dumbledore knows?!"
He paced back and forth, the anger on his face gradually replaced by a deeper reflection and unease.
"If that's the case... Dumbledore can't be relied on, then on my godfather's side... the Order of the Phoenix must know about this!" Harry stopped, his eyes filled with struggle.
Dumbledore was his elder; the previous inaction could be seen as trust in Snape.
But if he continued to trust him even after an Unbreakable Vow was made... Ron also nodded heavily, the confusion on his face fading, replaced by gravity.
"My mom's recent letters have been very strange too," he said dully. "Their operations to hunt down Death Eaters don't seem to be yielding results; most of them have disappeared. She stopped using Howlers to scold me and just repeatedly tells me to be careful. I feel like... something big is about to happen."
The air seemed to freeze.
The Death Eaters lying low, Snape's vow, Dumbledore's 'trust'.
All clues pointed toward an approaching eye of the storm.
Suddenly, Harry clapped his hands, a light flashing in his eyes.
"Hey! I have an idea!"
Hermione and Ron's gazes converged on him.
"Let's go back this weekend!" Harry seemed a bit excited. "To Grimmauld Place! We can tell Sirius and Lupin about these things in person! And... and everyone was so busy during Christmas, we didn't really get to have a proper get-together."
By the end, there was a hint of longing in his tone.
Hearing this suggestion, Ron's eyes subconsciously drifted toward Hermione, carrying a hint of inquiry and concern.
"But... what about the classes?"
Hermione naturally knew what Ron meant.
As she spoke, her fingers were idly rubbing Lia's pointed cat ears, causing the latter to tremble slightly with comfort.
"It's fine."
Her answer was crisp and decisive.
"Lia and I have very good grades. As long as our O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s mock exam results are all Os, Professor McGonagall won't make things difficult for us."
After speaking, Hermione gave Ron and Harry a meaningful look.
"Lia and I are fine."
She paused and added the second half.
"As for you two... I wouldn't know."
Ron and Harry's expressions instantly became a bit stiff.
Their grades were certainly decent, even considered excellent in their entire year.
However, to say "all exam results are Os" with such nonchalance and absolute confidence like Hermione, they really didn't have the assurance.
But those were minor matters.
Harry quickly reacted, clapping his hands to settle the matter.
"Then it's decided! I'll go write a letter to Sirius right now!"
Ron also stood up, his face carrying a hint of urgency to pass on the information.
"I need to go to the Owlery too. I have to tell my parents about Snape."
The two seemed to have found their focus and hurriedly left the common room together.
Quiet returned to the sofa by the fireplace.
Hermione picked up the dark magic book again, and Lia rolled over on her lap, burying her face in Hermione's arms and speaking muffledly.
"Hermione."
"Hmm?"
"I miss Aunt Molly's pumpkin pie a little."
Hermione looked at the little one in her arms, showing only a fluffy back of the head, and the corners of her mouth, which had been tense all night, finally couldn't help but curve upward.
She let out a laugh with a "pfft," the vibration of her chest making Lia move discontentedly.
"Don't worry."
Hermione lowered her head and whispered in Lia's ear.
"We're going too."
[Help! My stomach has been hurting all night!]
[No one told me that Orange Juice + AD Calcium Milk would cause a stomachache!]
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