"Come on, Hermione, sit at the desk—"
Hermione watched the few Slytherin students file silently out of Professor Breen's office.
Only when she heard Professor Breen call her did she snap back to her senses. She hurriedly smoothed out her deeply furrowed brow, dragged over the three-legged stool Draco had just used, and sat opposite Professor Breen.
"Well then—"
Amosta scratched his head and searched through the mountain of documents piled across his desk before pulling out a stack of parchment.
"I don't want to delay you from taking part in Gryffindor House's traditional welcome celebration for the new students, so let's keep this brief—"
Amosta pushed the stack of parchment toward Hermione.
"I trust you haven't forgotten our conversation before we parted ways in Diagon Alley?"
"Of course not, Professor Breen."
Hermione nodded hurriedly, looking tense.
"You wanted me to take responsibility for ensuring that the study exchange group made up of intelligent magical creatures doesn't cause any problems at Hogwarts!"
"And to encourage more students to set aside their prejudices and participate in the exchange activities."
Amosta nodded. As he spoke, he opened a drawer, took out a money bag, and pushed it toward Hermione.
"Overall, I approve of your approach. I mean, giving some practical encouragement to students willing to join the exchange activities—"
"But I already—"
Amosta raised a hand, stopping Hermione from continuing.
"I know you have a considerable sum of gold from the prize money you won in the Triwizard Tournament. But now I'm asking you to oversee a public activity, and it wouldn't be quite appropriate to demand that you make a selfless contribution. So the school should provide this money.
"But this cannot be made public. If we do it in the school's name, it will provoke even greater controversy—"
Hermione thought