Kate, having rested all morning, soon pulled herself together and stopped dwelling on the Mirror of Erised.
She went back to her routine—studying when she needed to study and grinding spells when she needed to grind, working even harder than before. However, for some reason, Hermione spent much less time going to the library with her. Halfway through their reading sessions, the little girl would often make an excuse and leave.
Maybe she had made new friends in Gryffindor. Kate believed that a little girl like her should make more friends, so she let her be.
The peaceful days of first year were truly leisurely, and unknowingly, Halloween arrived. Urged by the System, Kate had started thinking about how to handle Hermione's personal quest a few days prior.
Originally, she wanted to accompany Hermione to class and walk her back to the Common Room every day. But thinking of the malicious rumors Malfoy had spread earlier, Kate hesitated for a long time and eventually gave up on that idea.
Since her previous life, Kate knew she liked girls, so she was naturally more sensitive to these rumors than others might be. She really couldn't understand why brats at this age were so idle that they would spread such things. Even ignoring the age of the subjects involved, shouldn't they at least consider their gender? Two girls playing together every day meant they were dating? It seemed ridiculous no matter how she thought about it.
Are all Slytherins a bunch of yuri fans?
For Hermione's sake, since she had already heard the gossip, it was better not to let it intensify. In the original works, Hermione was mocked by Ron, fell into a bad mood, hid in the girls' bathroom, and happened to encounter the Troll deliberately released by Quirrell.
As for why a Troll would appear at Hogwarts, it was because Dumbledore had set it as a hurdle to protect the Philosopher's Stone. However, Quirrell intended to cause chaos, so he secretly released the Troll from the checkpoint he was responsible for.
Now, if she wanted Hermione to avoid encountering the Troll, there were only two methods. One: stay inseparably by Hermione's side to stop her from hiding in the bathroom due to low spirits on Halloween. Or two: take the Troll offline in advance so it wouldn't crash into Hermione.
Since Kate had no intention of letting rumors run wild again, the first plan had too many restrictions. She considered the second plan. This approach also had two solutions: either solve the Troll problem ahead of time—which carried a high risk of running into Quirrell possessed by Voldemort—or lie in wait, waiting for Quirrell to release it and taking it out before it barged into areas where students gathered.
Hmm... facing Voldemort right now would be suicide. It was better to let the Savior take the lead.
Kate decisively chose the conservative plan of lying in wait. At the same time, she would keep an eye on Hermione to prevent any accidents. With the mission plan set, Kate waited for the Gryffindors to finish class just as she usually did.
The corridor wafted with the sweet, tempting aroma of roasted pumpkin. Kate held a book, standing outside the Charms classroom, waiting patiently. She heard Professor Flitwick teaching them the Levitation Charm inside. Feeling a sudden itch to practice, she drew her wand and cast a Levitation Charm on a floating pumpkin lantern in the corridor.
Now that her Levitation Charm had been practiced to Level 9 Specialization, it had already derived extended usage. She wondered what reward the System would grant when she reached Level 10?
The bell rang for the end of class. Kate put away her wand and waited happily for Hermione to emerge from the crowd of little carrot tops. But unexpectedly, Hermione walked through the crowd with her head down, clutching her books, not noticing Kate's existence at all.
Behind her, Ron grimaced as he covered the shoulder Hermione had just bumped past, whispering a complaint, "I thought she was pretty decent, but I didn't expect her to be so unbearable!"
"What did you say?" Kate frowned, moving against the flow of the crowd to block the two of them.
Ron stopped in surprise as soon as he saw her. "Kate... no, Shafiq, why are you here?"
Kate had no intention of tangling with him and turned to look at Harry. "Did you provoke Hermione again?"
"Well..." Harry rubbed his nose awkwardly. "Ron, he said..." Subconsciously, he didn't feel that telling her this was a very good choice.
Ron spoke up somewhat uneasily, "I just said that no one can stand the way she shows off her knowledge."
In fact, aside from his hurtful tone, what he said wasn't entirely wrong. Even Kate knew that the reason Hermione didn't have many friends in the Muggle world before was because she often explained knowledge to others as if showing off. Except for Kate, whose own knowledge was superior to Hermione's, no peers liked her.
"But that isn't a reason for you to speak sarcastically to a classmate, Student Weasley. That is not gentlemanly behavior." Kate's expression darkened slightly. "I think you'd better consider how you're going to apologize to Hermione later."
She spoke and turned to chase after Hermione, but then thought of something and took two steps back to add a sentence.
"As a friend, I can stand her. And because she treats you as a friend, she cares so much about those malicious words that might seem insignificant to you."
Having said that, she cast a Tracking Spell and chased after Hermione following her footprints.
Ron remained where he was, exchanging glances with Harry for a while before asking hesitantly, "Hermione... she treats me as a friend?"
"Otherwise?" Harry shrugged. After the events of the Flying Class, not only them and Hermione, but even Kate could be considered a friend.
He watched Ron's face turn green then white, looking quite miserable, before speaking up, "Let's follow and look for her together. After all, Hermione is our friend."
As soon as his voice fell, Ron walked quickly in Kate's direction. Fortunately, both Slytherin and Gryffindor had no classes for the rest of the morning, allowing them to search all the way.
Until Kate stopped at the entrance of that fated girls' bathroom.
At this moment, she actually felt somewhat fortunate that she had found Hermione in the morning, so the little girl wouldn't have to stay there until nightfall to be discovered by the Troll.
She turned to look at the two brothers behind her who were fidgeting with their hands and feet. "Together?"
"No, no, no, no need!" The two shook their heads hurriedly. "We'll just wait outside!"
Kate raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Then you'd better prepare your words of apology first."
Under Ron's embarrassed and uneasy gaze, she pushed the door open and walked into the bathroom. As soon as she entered, the smell of an uncleaned public toilet hit her face.
Kate frowned, checking the stalls one by one with patience, finally stopping before the last door. She knocked lightly.
"Hmm... is no one here? Then we're coming straight in?" she said to herself, making a gesture as if to push the door open.
But just as her hand touched the door panel, Hermione's voice came from inside, choked with sobs: "Don't come in!"
Kate smiled. "But I lost a little kitten. Can you help me find it?"
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