Chapter 106: Hermione's Birthday Present (Edited)

Just after putting the box away, Tom saw Hermione come out of her bedroom, rubbing her eyes.

Hermione looked like she hadn't been awake long and had probably just brushed her teeth and washed her face. She was wearing her hair down and a wine-red robe, the hem of which revealed two smooth, dainty legs and her feet were covered by a pair of plush, dog-shaped slippers.

Hermione had just come out of the washroom, still a little groggy, and was about to make herself some tea in the Common Room, but when she saw Tom sitting near the window, she woke up completely.

The young man was sitting in an armchair by the fire in the fireplace, looking out the window, a perfect subject for a painting.

Hermione was a little stunned.

"You're up early." It was Tom who greeted Hermione first, snapping her out of her brief daze.

"How can you say that, when you're in the Common Room before me?" Hermione rolled her eyes, "Are you studying?!".

"No," Tom hurriedly clarified at Hermione's suspicious look, "There are no books on my desk!".

Indeed, there was nothing on the table, just a steaming pot of tea and a cup of tea.

Hermione's eyes narrowed, and with a sharp turn she pulled a bag of books out of the blind spot between the table and the armchair, shook it and there was a clatter of books inside, "There are no books on the table, someone's rhetoric is very accurate."

Tom was surprised: you shouldn't be able to see it! Why is he so slick?

"I suppose you've done this sort of thing quite often?" Tom had a hunch: Hermione must have hidden books like this too!

There was even such a scene in his mind: the brown-haired girl was reading a book, hearing footsteps, she quickly hid the book, because if she was secretly seen reading a book, her classmates would tease her again.

"Don't change the subject!" Hermione gently placed the bag on the table, and kicked Tom with her dog slippers.

"I haven't actually read them! I just borrowed them from the library!".

"You went to the library?" Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, "You said you weren't going yesterday!".

"Would you like a hot cup of tea?" Tom picked up the kettle, "Let's go for a walk in the fresh air after tea, shall we?"

"Mr. Yodel, you are a master of changing the subject!" Hermione went back to her bedroom, "Wait for me!".

Hermione was going to go on about Tom's "non-compliance", but when she heard that Tom had invited her for a walk, she decided to change her clothes before giving him a good lecture along the way, to remind him how to keep his word.

Tom didn't see Hermione again until the tea in the kettle was finished.

When Hermione returned to the dormitory, she fetched an eyebrow pencil and traced her eyebrows to make them look thinner and longer, then drew on very light eyeliner and put on lip polish.

Most of the girls in the dormitory were already up, lying on their various beds unconcerned, groggy or under the covers.

When Padma Patil saw Hermione return and sit down at her desk to apply her makeup, her heart immediately burned with gossip. She tiptoed up to Hermione and said coolly, "You don't usually put on makeup, but you do it today, on a weekend."

Hermione's hand trembled and lip gloss ran down her chin.

She wiped the polish off her lips with a handkerchief as she said in a bit of a panic, "Yeah, a bit of makeup for the weekend, to learn..."

"Aww~" Padma smiled a meaningful smile, and by now the girls in the dormitory, except for the girls who were actually asleep, were coming back to their senses in a hurry, the ones who were groggy had serious things on their minds. Everyone had their little gossip radar on full blast.

"The girls have to learn how to put on makeup." Padma stated, "How can you make boys' hearts beat faster without makeup?".

Padma: "I have a copy of the Love Sutra I brought from home, too bad you're not old enough, otherwise it would be good to read it..."

Hermione: "I don't understand what Love Sutra, Padma, you're talking about."

"Makeup for the weekend, there must be something weird." Sue Li, on the sidelines, saw Padma's conversation drift and joined in.

"You're not going out with any older students, are you?" Sue Li asked the question that worried her the most. Sue Li was, simply put, a "CP head", and she really didn't want "accidents" to happen: after all, Tom was very popular in Ravenclaw: a Quidditch prodigy, a House smart, and the incident at the end of last term had given him an aura of heroism.

Sue Li said, "Do these two match? they're perfect for each other!

"It's not Percy Weasley from Gryffindor, is it? I remember he was very close to Penelope from our house."

Hermione had some memories of Penelope: a proud girl with beautiful curly hair. She had good grades and was said to be a likely Prefect.

"No? She's actually with Percy..."

"We'll talk about that later." Before she knew it, Hermione was surrounded by four girls.

Hermione got along quite well with the girls in her dorm, thanks to the strong Ravenclaw study environment. It was a place where smart received more respect. Also, the girls and boys play together all the time, so they get to know each other quite well.

On the other hand, these days it's rare for Tom to survive past the third round of a werewolf game as a citizen or god. Thanks to his uncanny instincts, Tom guesses werewolves very well, and if he gets a witch or a hunter, the wolf team will lose by one, and if he gets a guard, he has a record of three turns in a row.

The consequence of this is that the wolf side usually knifes this problem on the first night.

So Tom is now more of a moderator, watching a bunch of newbies peck at each other.

They all laughed as they questioned Hermione, and finally determined from her: Hermione is going for a ride with Tom Yodel!

There was much commotion.

Everyone gathered to pick out Hermione's clothes and help her with her makeup.

"Great, little sunshine is finally getting serious!"

Since Tom's name was a nickname for Thomas, the Sun God, the girls in the dormitory used the term Little Sunshine to refer to Tom.

"I heard at the beginning of the term that the new pretty girl at school knew Tom, which really freaked me out." said Sue Li to Hermione as she rummaged through the pile of skin care products.

"What?" the atmosphere perked up with the new gossip: it was worth not sleeping during the day and eating popcorn while listening to juicy gossip!

So Sue Li shared the rumors she had heard with her friends.

"Doesn't sound like much..." Mandy Brocklehurst muttered.

"What?! she's a girl is a schoolgirl! She's a dangerous creature," Morag MacDougal immediately retorted, "Be sure to watch out for this schoolgirl."

He began to admonish Hermione.

But their mouths didn't stop, neither did their hands, Tom was still waiting in the common room, and they were doing Hermione's makeup, they were all young and didn't need heavy makeup, it was all skin care and maintenance stuff.

"Here, this oil will soften your hair."

"A magical scent that will make the opposite sex feel good about you, don't worry, it's not a love potion."

...

Within minutes, Hermione was being dressed by the girls in her dormitory. At first glance she looked like she wasn't wearing any makeup, but she looked better than usual, and even her hair wasn't as disheveled.

"Bring some gold jewelry," Padma said, pulling out a box and placing it on the table with a thud, "A girl can be frowned upon if she doesn't wear enough gold."

Hermione declined her offer and Padma left a little disappointed with the box of gold bracelets.

"There's not much room to play with wizard robes over there," Sue Li, the Commander-in-Chief, put aside a clean wizard robe, "The gray blouse and white shirt will do. Put it on, though you'll look like you're going to class."

"With the scarf on?"

"Not a good idea!" Sue Li flatly rejected the proposal. She looked at Hermione for a moment and said, "I think you have a pair of those... Yes, that's what you're going to wear."

Hermione blushed and pulled out of her suitcase a pair of gray socks with a cute cartoon on them: a little dog on the left foot and a kitten on the right. After putting on the socks, he put on a pair of knee-high black boots, plain and unadorned, with only a small strap around the ankle and a small gold buckle.

The boots were just the right length, slightly below the knee.

Sue Li smiled and nodded.

"Ready to finish!"

As Hermione was about to leave the bedroom, she suddenly admonished her, "Hermione, remember, don't confess your love suddenly, wait for Yodel to do it, remember: Love is war!".

Hermione's face instantly turned red, "What confession...why can't I understand? It's just a walk." Then she hurried down the stairs, the soles of her boots hitting the floor with a crunch.

Behind her, there was a group of her dorm mates with smiles.

Tom almost thought Hermione had stood him up, but when she appeared from the entrance to the stairs, he was stunned.

The girl in front of him looked familiar and unfamiliar: She looks good, but I can't tell where she looks good.

"Come on." said Hermione to Tom with her head bowed in embarrassment.

"Okay."

The two walked out of the castle together.

It was a nice sunny day, the sun was beating down on them, but it wasn't hot,

The two walked slowly across the castle lawn, Tom watching the grass cut the hem of her robe and brush Hermione's feet.

Tom and Hermione crossed the lawn and arrived at the Black Lake. The two of them strolled along the Black Lake.

"Why do you want to walk with me all of a sudden?" asked Hermione with her hands behind her back.

"Since I came to Hogwarts, I haven't had a chance to explore it." Tom pulled out a sandwich wrapped in paper towels that he had just taken out of the Great Dining Hall.

Hermione took the sandwich, and the two walked around the Black Lake in silence for a while. As they walked, Hermione frowned a little suddenly, when a large tree with branches stretching out over the lake appeared in front of them.

"This would be a good place to fish." said Tom, pointing to the shady lake, and then they both burst out laughing at the thought of the pond where they first met.

The two sat together under the tree, watching the sun reflect off the lake, enjoying the cool breeze that brought a pleasant smell: it could be flowers, or....

"Look!" Hermione poked Tom in the ribs, making him jerk.

Following the direction Hermione pointed in, Tom saw Malfoy leaving the castle with a Slytherin girl named Pansy Parkinson, the two holding hands as they walked together across the lawn and walked in another direction.

"Speaking of fishing, everyone says there's a big squid in the Black Lake, I wonder if it's true." said Hermione as she looked at the lake.

"Of course it's true, I've also heard the legend that this big squid is the animagus form of one of the four Founders, Godric Gryffindor, and he's been living in the lake ever since, until now."

"That's false, isn't it?" Hermione was obviously unconvinced, "There's no such thing as a squid that lives for a thousand years!"

"Yes, immortality is a curse..." Tom sighed, throwing the last piece of bread into the lake.

Soon, a tentacle appeared and dragged the bread down.

"Look!" he pointed at the tentacle, "That's the big squid in the lake, the students love to feed it."

Hermione was also excited and threw her breakfast into the lake to feed the squid.

"Why do you think immortality is a curse?" Hermione was curious, in the Muggle world immortality was as coveted as the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

"Behind immortality is infinite loneliness, you watch as your familiar friends fade away, grow old, die, and even those who survive wear out with the long years, are forgotten.... Now do you still think immortality is a good thing? It is said that Nicolas Flamel has decided to stop taking immortality potion from the Philosopher's Stone."

The things mentioned were a bit sad, and the two kept silent.

Tom took out the gift box and handed it to Hermione.

"Happy Birthday, Hermione."

Hermione was a little surprised.

"We've known each other for almost two years, and I only recently found out about your birthday: I'm not going to make up for the last present." said Tom with a smile, "I know, your birthday is September 19th, but it might be too late then..."

"Too late?" asked Hermione, taking the box.

"Nothing. It's just that if something happens to me in the future, don't worry, I'll be fine, you have to trust me."

"What accident?" Hermione set the box down.

Tom shook his head, "It's my mission. Don't worry, you know my 'little secret'."

With that Tom said, Hermione was relieved.

Then she opened the box carefully.