A Date at the Shrieking Shack

The two of them had not seen each other for over a month. When they met again, they tacitly realized that they had both underestimated how much they had missed each other.

The feeling had not seemed especially apparent in their daily lives, but now that they were together again, it sprang forth one after another like bamboo shoots after rain.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. This must be what that feels like... Sean thought silently as he stroked Stephanie's long hair.

They were still out on the street. Though no one was paying attention to them, it was not appropriate to profess their longing for each other in public. They wordlessly pulled apart, exchanged smiles, and headed toward the other end of the alley.

Considering that every shop in Hogsmeade belonged to classmates he knew, Sean simply took Stephanie to one of Hogsmeade's "famous attractions."

"The Shrieking Shack? You seem quite familiar with it." Stephanie held Sean's hand tightly as they walked, her steps light.

She did not care in the slightest that their date, or something even more intimate, was taking place in a famous "haunted house." To her, the person beside her was what mattered. Everything else could be ignored.

Sean smiled. "I wouldn't say I'm familiar with it, but hardly anyone goes there. A friend told me about the place. There aren't actually any ghosts there, though something interesting did happen inside back then."

The Shrieking Shack had been where Lupin transformed during his school days, and Hogsmeade's residents had mistaken it for a haunted house—though Sean had never quite understood that. The Wizarding World seemed to rarely speak of ghosts in that way.

Weren't ghosts all over the castle?

After walking down two narrow paths, the famous "Shrieking Shack" appeared before them.

It stood