Marauder's Map

When dinner was over, Loren still had a croissant left. It was cold, and the brownish-red crust was a bit hard and difficult to eat.

In front of him, Hermione took out brown paper, wrapped the bread tightly, and put it into the pendant space.

Loren's expression was strange. "You're not going to save it for me to eat again tomorrow, are you?"

"What are you thinking about?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's for Hānhan. School has been in session for a week or two, and I'm planning to write home. This is a package for Hānhan to eat on his way home."

"Oh, oh." Loren suddenly realized.

"Oh, right." Hermione hesitated for a moment, glanced at him, and tentatively said what was on her mind, "Why don't you not wait until the end of the month to write the letter? Write it with me and send it out tonight."

As was Loren's habit, he would write home at the end of the month.

Actually, this wasn't the time for Hermione to write letters home. She had originally planned to write a few days before her birthday so that she could receive replies from Wendell and Monica on her birthday.

Loren paused, looking at the little Witch, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips, "You thought I'd be sad, so you came up with the idea of inviting me to write home?"

"Hmm," Hermione responded softly, carefully observing his expression. "I think it would be better if you wrote to Mr. Bates."

"Give me a hug."

"What? Hmm..."

Loren stepped forward and embraced the girl, wrapping his arms around her slender waist and burying his face in the crook of her neck. Between slow, quiet breaths, mixed with a few strands of hair, he could smell the girl's fragrance, the lavender scent of detergent on her clothes, the lemon scent of shampoo in her hair, and the aroma of oil from dinner.

It wasn't a particularly amazing flavor, but it was exceptionally comforting, filling my empty chest with a soft, warm feeling.

Hermione's face flushed red instantly, and her body seemed to be bound by Binding Charm, stiffening and turning to stone.

Her voice was muffled and soft, like a kitten's. "The Great Hall, this is the Great Hall..."

"Nobody will pay attention to us."

Hermione twisted her stiff neck and checked around. Few people come to the Great Hall for dinner on Saturdays, and they arrived quite late; the Great Hall was indeed nearly empty.

Then, let's hug for a while...

The world seemed to quiet down. The dome of the Great Hall mimicked the sky outside the Castle, with dark clouds gathering and even the dim candlelight appearing somewhat gray.

After a while, Hermione suddenly asked, "Why do you smell so bad?"

"Huh? You're disgusted with me?" Loren squeezed her hard.

"It's smelly to begin with."

The scent of the Rafflesia hadn't completely dissipated. Loren cursed the idiot who had been so impulsive in his heart once more, then released his arms from her waist and smiled, "Let's find an empty classroom to write the letter, then go to the Owlery to give it to the Hānhan. We can still make it back before lights out."

"Oh." Hermione was a little lost in thought, and surprisingly felt a bit of regret.

The two found an Abandoned Classroom, wrote the letter, and delivered it to the Owlery in the dark. When they returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, it was still early.

The lounge was very lively on the weekend night, with laughter and chatter that could be heard outside the Portrait Hole.

To the right, Harry and Ron were pestering Wood about recruiting for the Quidditch team, spitting as they talked, their faces flushed with excitement; a little further on, Seamus was battling someone with Exploding Snap, getting wiped out from all sides.

On the left, next to the sofa, George and Fred were surrounding Lee Jordan, relentlessly trying to trick him into eating a strangely colored candy.

"Try it, Lee, this is a new product from Honeydukes." George brought a black, purple and brown blob to Lee Jordan's lips.

Lee Jordan's lips were pressed tightly together, unmoved, his eyes glaring at the two men with resentment.

Fred poked his cheek with his finger. "Yeah, yeah, it's so hard to buy, try it."

Lee Jordan let out an angry, stammering sound, "Ugh! Ugh!"

If his eyes could breathe fire, the Twins brothers would surely have been burned to ashes.

"George, Fred, I'd like to borrow that map again." Loren patted George on the shoulder.

Hearing the noise, the three turned to look. Lee Jordan's eyes lit up with surprise and gratitude. He took the opportunity to push the two men aside, jumped off the sofa, and ran a safe distance away. Pointing at them, he angrily accused them. "That's too much, you two! You tried to force yourselves on me after I saw through your trick! Luckily, Gryffindor protected you..."

Upon hearing these awful lines, Loren and Hermione both fell silent.

The Twins, their good time interrupted, weren't annoyed. They chuckled and looked at Loren, noticing Hermione beside him. George and Fred both let out a drawn-out teasing sound:

"Oh, George, doesn't this seem familiar?"

"Yes, Fred, it was around this time last year too."

The two men, one on each side of Loren's shoulders, leaned in and whispered:

"Love is paramount, but we do not recommend that you go to Hogsmeade through the Secret Passages. This year is different from last year; the Dementor ' patrols have made the merchants and residents there very nervous."

"Last time I—" Fred stopped abruptly, his eyes darting around a few times, and changed his words, "I heard from our acquaintances that the activity week this semester has been postponed, and if we show up there early, we might get caught and the professor will be notified."

"It sounds like you guys went there less than two weeks after school started," Loren muttered under his breath.

George chuckled and said, "We just checked out the Secret Passages around here before school started."

"That's right, that's right, Loren." Fred nodded with a smile, then his face turned serious. "You don't know, the Secret Passages behind the hunchbacked, one-eyed old woman statue on the Third Floor leading to the Honeydukes has been blocked, and the Secret Passages behind the mirror on the Fourth Floor has also collapsed."

"Although the Secret Passages behind the flatterer Gregory statue is still usable, I think most of the Secret Passages in the Castle are blocked," George chuckled. "Let's find a safe place to meet in the school; it's for Hermione's own good."

Upon hearing the information from the two, Loren silently pondered that this was probably the influence of Wormtail Peter.

"I have no intention of going to Hogsmeade." Loren shook his head. "I borrowed the Marauder's Map to find someone."

George and Fred exchanged a glance. The sentence was short, but they sensed something unusual in it and refrained from asking any further questions.

George pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Loren, then turned and chased after Lee Jordan with Fred without looking back, laughing and joking as if nothing was amiss.

They were stunned by T1's attack; there's another chapter coming at midnight.