A Huge Loss

Hermione couldn't help but repeatedly rub her cheek pouches against the inside of her mouth with her tongue. She had never paid attention to that place before, but now that she realized there was a "Small Pouch" there, she felt something was off.

Loren went to get food for Hermione, and although Hermione felt she was full, Loren felt she wasn't.

Hermione sat in her seat, her mind filled with all sorts of hamsters.

Hamsters are not Fantastic Beasts, but Hagrid sometimes uses them as snacks to feed other animals, and dried hamsters are also used as an ingredient in Potions class.

Live hamsters always stuff their cheek pouches full. If you gently shake them, they'll spit out handfuls of beans, corn, and wood shavings. The first time you see this, it might seem a bit disgusting, but after watching it a few times, it actually feels quite relaxing.

Hermione touched her cheek pouch with her tongue and found that it was only a thin layer and probably couldn't hold much. She felt a little uneasy.

As Loren walked over from the bar, he casually fed Hermione a piece of golden-fried fish. "Try this Fried Fish, it's fresh out of the fryer!"

When Hermione saw him, her mind started to wander, thinking about the Human Transfiguration, the cheek pouches and the hamster, the French kiss...

Hermione felt her heart beating slightly faster. Worried that Loren would notice something was amiss, she lowered her head and silently ate her Fried Fish.

The method of making fried fish with the Three Broomsticks is a bit rough, but the large bones of the Cod are still removed. The fillets are from the middle section of the fish, so there is basically no need to worry about bones. The only problem is that the crispy batter coating is a bit hard. When you take a bite, the fish meat is shredded and the hot steam comes out. The fat, carbohydrates and proteins are combined in a rough and simple way, bringing the most instinctive and primal pleasure.

After lunch and finishing the last glass of Butterbeer on the table, Loren took Hermione back to Honeydukes. Hermione tried all the candies and pastries that she couldn't eat before because of the Mandrake Leaf.

Loren and Hermione went to Zog's Joke Shop after their bellies were bulging, and played until the sun was setting before slowly walking back to school with the rest of the young wizards.

On the way back, Seamus and Dean kept pestering Neville, shouting loudly around him, so loud that Loren, who was lagging behind, could hear them.

Seamus tugged at Neville's sleeve and shook it, drawing out his words: "Show us again, just one more time, just one more time..."

"Yes, yes, we'll just look and promise not to touch!" Dean agreed.

Neville looked helpless. He felt awkward agreeing, but being a gentle person, he couldn't refuse directly, so he just walked forward silently without saying a word.

The three of them kept arguing on their way back.

"..."

Loren was taken aback by Seamus and Dean's lewd words, and it took him a few seconds to realize that the two of them were probably trying to see the lion Patronus, not some other nasty thing, because they wanted to see Neville.

He looked back at the sky Hogsmeade Village; the Dementor that had lingered there for so long last year were gone.

I haven't seen it since returning to school for the new semester. It must have been taken down after Bellatrix Lestrange attacked Diagon Alley. Thinking back, I didn't see any signs stuck to the street when I was shopping today.

Based on this reasoning, the lockdown measures implemented last year to shut down schools must have been lifted.

"You mean those tunnels in the Castle have been reopened?"

Loren didn't expect Hermione to answer, and continued to mutter to himself, "For the safety of the students, those tunnels shouldn't actually exist."

"But perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore intends to leave it for future young wizards to explore?"

"He's definitely capable of doing something like that, and he might even give hints to some junior wizards..."

Loren muttered to himself for a long time without hearing Hermione's response. He looked at her in confusion. Hermione had been somewhat absent-minded ever since they started their journey back to school. He waved his hand in front of Hermione's eyes and asked, "Why do you seem so listless? Are you hungry?"

"No, it's nothing..." Hermione replied.

She was still thinking about the joke Loren had made in front of the Three Broomsticks.

Actually, give it a try...

Hermione looked up and glanced at Loren, meeting his gaze. She then looked away in a fluster, her lips pressed tightly together.

"There's one more thing..." Loren poked her cheek with his finger; it was soft and bouncy, and felt wonderful to the touch.

"Be aware of the time limit of the Transfiguration. It will probably expire before you go to sleep, so you still need to be careful when you sleep. Until the Full Moon Night when the Secret Potion is brewed, if you want to make things easier, it's best to learn this little trick of Human Transfiguration yourself."

"Tomorrow is Sunday. If you've finished your homework and don't happen to need to discuss social issues with certain professors, we can find a place to practice Human Transfiguration and answer any questions you've been holding onto."

Hermione looked at him with delight, a hint of surprise in her eyes. "Didn't you tell me not to continue learning Human Transfiguration?"

"Just to dispel your evil thoughts, so you don't keep thinking about turning me into a cat..." Loren rubbed her face, like giving a cat a massage, making her speech a little slurred. "Human Transfiguration is very useful in many situations, like now... it can also be used when taking the Secret Potion to Animagus Transformation."

"Oh!"

Hermione was in a good mood. She grabbed his mischievous hands, took one of them by the hand, and shook him vigorously as they walked toward the Castle.

"Do you understand? Practice Human Transfiguration properly and seriously."

"Know."

"Stop thinking about turning me into a cat, okay?"

"..."

"Hey! What do you mean by staying silent? You're still up to no good!"

"..."

"What are you laughing at? Say something, hey!"

"..."

"Granger, say something!"

Hermione hummed an off-key melody, shook someone's hand, and strolled in the early spring sunset, listening to the chattering noise around her.

A slight chill lingered on the path outside the school, but as the sun set, its golden rays seemed to melt away some of the cold.

After dinner.

Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville walked into the Gryffindor Common Room from outside, chattering about Neville's mighty lion Patronus. Harry immediately spotted Hermione doing her homework by the window.

Hermione sat with her head down at the small table, writing with her quill pen incessantly, occasionally flipping through a book to look up some information. Most noticeable was a white cat lying on her lap, its eyelids drooping lazily. Whenever the white cat tried to struggle away, Hermione would hold it down and give it a good rub.

Harry thought for a moment and realized that they had probably been too busy playing in Hogsmeade today and hadn't finished their weekend homework. Actually, Harry and his friends had even more homework to do, but they preferred to leave it until tomorrow night.

In Ron's words, Sunday nights are Magic Power, making them more efficient.

Most of the young Gryffindor wizards agreed.

Harry and Ron went over and glanced at her cryptic Arithmancy homework, and they felt dizzy.

"Good evening, Hermione ..." Harry and Ron shook their heads to wake up, then squatted down to look at the white cat. "Is this your new pet? It's much prettier than Crookshanks."

Ron, who had just uttered those foul words, was immediately targeted by an ominous gaze. Crookshanks, who was lying next to him, got up and, before Ron could react, slowly raised his paw and left several dirty paw prints on his pants.

Ron patted his trouser leg, grabbed Crookshanks and shook him for a while, scaring him, "You little thing, you want to get revenge on me? Can't you see your owner doesn't want you anymore? You're going to be a stray cat!"

Harry: "..."

"No, this is someone else's cat. They just asked me to look after it for a while." Hermione smiled, and as she spoke, she couldn't help but scratch the little white cat's chin.

The white cat, Loren, raised its eyelids slightly, then quickly lowered them again, seemingly too lazy to give any reaction.

That wretched Hermione! She promised to teach her Human Transfiguration, but now she's the one who has to keep her promise.

Harry reached out to touch the white cat, but was startled by its bared teeth and claws and took several steps back, reluctantly withdrawing his hand. "This cat seems to have a bad temper."

"Yes." Hermione ruffled the little white cat's petting, then looked down and said with a smile, "A bad-tempered kitten needs to be disciplined properly, don't you think, little kitty?"

Harry saw the white cat roll its eyes, and felt that expression looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before. Hermione's expression was also a little strange...

Harry glanced at it a few times but didn't notice anything wrong. He then turned around and went to wreak havoc on Crookshanks with Ron.

Loren the white cat yawned, kicked away the mischievous hand with his hind legs, and also kicked Hermione's leg to make her behave and do her homework.

Only half an hour has passed.

The woman said it would take at least two hours, no less.

The Arithmancy and Ancient Rune homework will take about an hour, which means that after she finishes writing, she will be played with for another half hour, and she will probably be plucked out of several patches of Cat Hair.

It's such a shame I didn't get to French kiss during the day.

The little white cat sighed, utterly dejected.