Mischievous Hermione

Brook looked toward the Black Lake.

With a casual wave of his hand, he sent a Cutting Charm slashing into the ice.

The ice sheet split open instantly, revealing its considerable thickness—definitely more than ten centimeters.

"Let's go skating."

"S-Skating..." Hermione covered her face with her hands. This was far too embarrassing.

"What's wrong, Hermione? Don't you want to play?"

Brook was rather confused.

What was with that reaction?

"N-No." Hermione hurriedly waved her hands.

Then a sly glint flashed through her eyes. "But I don't know how!"

"It's fine. I'll teach you."

Brook had learned how to skate in his previous life.

His skills had been average, but they were more than enough to teach a beginner.

"Okay!"

So they stepped onto the Black Lake.

Hermione Transfigured two sharp skate blades onto the soles of their shoes.

Brook's Transfiguration was considered outstanding even among the entire year.

But compared to Hermione, he still fell a little short.

Especially after Hermione had read Dumbledore's notes, her Transfiguration had undergone a qualitative leap.

If Brook had been the one to do it,

the skate blades definitely would not have been so evenly shaped and sharp.

"Hermione, skating is actually very simple. Don't be scared." Brook first helped Hermione steady herself on the ice.

"Come on, spread your legs a little, bend your knees slightly, like this."

Brook held Hermione's little hand and demonstrated the movements.

Hermione pressed her lips together tightly, fighting back her laughter.

"Now, let's try slowly gliding one foot first. It's like walking, but lighter and slower."

"Very good, Hermione. You're doing great!"

"I'm letting go now. Just follow the feeling from before and slowly alternate your feet."

He released her hand and stayed at her side to protect her.

Hermione pretended to nervously glide forward a few steps, then suddenly accelerated and shot across the ice.

She spun and jumped.

Her movements were smooth and graceful, like those of a professional figure skater.

Brook's eyes widened.

He had been played!

"Thank you, Professor Brook. You taught me so well. I've learned it."

Hermione's smile stretched so high it was harder to suppress than an AK, and her eyes curved into crescents.

She even elegantly performed a professional figure skater's bow.

"Oh? You actually dared to trick me."

Brook pushed off with his feet, accelerating as he charged toward Hermione.

"Come on! Catch me!"

For a while, Hermione's cheerful laughter and Brook's mock-angry threats echoed across the ice.

Although Brook was far stronger than Hermione physically, he was ultimately only a mediocre skater.

Hermione changed direction one moment and spun the next, nimble as a little fox. Brook simply could not catch her.

In the end, Hermione deliberately slowed down, allowing him to catch her.

Brook stretched out both hands and gave Hermione's head a thorough "ruffling."

"Let's see if you dare do that again."

"Spare me! I won't dare again, I won't."

Hermione begged with her mouth, but she still wore a playful grin.

Playing around was playing around.

Hermione still regarded studying as her top priority.

Sure enough, that evening, Hermione dragged Brook to the library again, pulling and tugging him along miserably.

In Hermione's words,

Brook had already wasted too much study time because of the farm.

Now that An An had taken over the farm work, he had to make up for the time he had fallen behind on.

What else could Brook do?

He could only obediently submit.

After all, Hermione was still doing his homework for him.

If Hermione got angry and quit, he would be the one suffering.

They had barely sat down in the library when Harry came running over with Ron, both of them panting.

He plopped down right in front of Brook and Hermione.

The excitement on Harry's face was impossible to contain.

"Harry, what's wrong with you?" Brook looked at Harry curiously.

This was clearly the sign of some juicy gossip!

Harry glanced around. Only after confirming no one was paying attention to them did he lower his voice.

"I discovered a huge secret. Snape was the one who let the Troll in!"

Ron did not react much. Clearly, Harry had already told him beforehand.

Brook, meanwhile, wore an expression that said, What the hell?

Hermione looked utterly shocked. "How did you find out?"

"Do you remember the night before Halloween? Ron and I followed you, and we saw Snape hurrying upstairs."

"Just now, I wanted to get back Quidditch Through the Ages that you borrowed from me, and I saw Filch helping Snape bandage his leg. Snape also mentioned three heads.

"I'd bet he wants to steal whatever Fluffy is guarding. Letting the Troll in was just to distract everyone!"

Brook looked at Harry and almost wanted to applaud him.

That little brain, that imagination—what a waste it would be if he did not write novels.

"He's a professor. He probably wouldn't do something like that, would he?"

Hermione frowned slightly, still finding it hard to believe.

"So what if he's a professor?" Ron immediately jumped out to support Harry.

"Look at how he usually treats Harry, how he targets Gryffindor. I agree with Harry."

At the same time, he looked at Brook, who had not said a word.

Hermione and Harry both looked at him as well.

Brook spread his hands. "Don't look at me. I'm not interested in this kind of deduction game. Whether Snape wants to steal something or not has nothing to do with me."

He did enjoy gossip, that was true.

But he liked ready-made gossip.

Gossip that required him to rack his brain and reason things out simply could not interest him.

"How can it have nothing to do with you? Snape is trying to steal something Dumbledore collected!"

Harry retorted anxiously. He did not understand why Brook was so calm.

That was why Brook did not like hanging around "brats."

His mental age and way of thinking simply could not get what got brats so worked up.

"Harry, you said the thing Fluffy is guarding belongs to Dumbledore, right?"

"Yes. When Hagrid took me to Gringotts to withdraw money, he took something from Vault 713 and said it was Hogwarts's greatest secret."

"It's important, anyway, right?"

Harry nodded frantically.

"Then tell me, is it safer on Dumbledore's person, or in a place guarded by a Three-headed Dog?"

Brook's single sentence left all three of them completely stunned.

Hermione, having been influenced by Brook for more than a year, reacted a little faster. "You mean it's bait."

Harry and Ron still looked utterly bewildered.

Their little brains were still tangled up in figuring out whether Dumbledore or Fluffy was stronger.

Seeing that the two still had not caught on, Hermione could not help facepalming.

"Headmaster Dumbledore is the greatest White Wizard of this age. There's no question about his combat ability. A creature like Fluffy? Brook might even be able to beat it, let alone Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Hey, hey, hey! Hermione, if you want to say Dumbledore is awesome, just say he's awesome. Why compare him to me?" Brook protested.