The snow outside was not falling very heavily.
Hermione lay curled up beneath the covers, staring blankly at the snowflakes beyond the window for a while, when her mother's call came from outside the bedroom.
"Get up quickly. Breakfast should be eaten on time, or it'll be bad for your stomach later."
"Got it."
She dawdled as she changed out of her pajamas beneath the covers, pulled on wool socks, and shuffled off to the bathroom in fuzzy slippers, her slightly messy, voluminous hair hanging loose.
By the time she reached the living room, Mr. Granger had already finished breakfast and was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper.
"Go eat breakfast. Once you're done, you can open your presents."
Hermione suddenly perked up. Her slippers went thump, thump, thump as she ran to the little Christmas tree in her home.
Sure enough, a small pile of presents lay beneath it.
Mrs. Granger's voice came from the kitchen.
"Hermione! Eat first!"
Hermione called back loudly, disgruntled.
"Mum, I'm not opening them. I'm just looking!"
As she spoke, she counted the gift boxes of varying sizes beneath the tree on her fingers.
"Dad's, Mum's, Grandpa and Grandma's, Grandpa and Grandma's, Auntie Percy's, Uncle Colson's, Uncle Mike's, Cousin Senior's, Nancy's, Helen's..."
Once she had finished counting, she became unhappy.
She stamped her foot and stormed off to the dining room for breakfast.
Mr. Granger lowered his newspaper and looked curiously at his daughter, who had inexplicably started throwing a tantrum. "What's wrong? You have more presents this year than you did last year."
The little girl viciously cut the fried egg on her plate into four pieces with her knife.
"Nothing. I just didn't see a certain liar's present! And I even prepared one especially for him. I was going to give it to him when he came back..."
Her voice grew softer and softer, until Mr. and Mrs. Granger could no longer make out what she was saying.
Even when she opened her presents after breakfast, Hermione found them tasteless and dull.
The adults' gifts were more or less the same every year, and there were no real surprises from her school friends either.
"I'm heading out!"
After putting away all the opened gifts, Hermione changed into her shoes by the door and called out loudly.
"Take your gloves, scarf, and hat! Don't lose them while you're running around outside!"
"I know, I know!"
The cold air outside made Hermione shrink her neck. She tightened her scarf, bounced twice on the spot, then ran through the light snow toward the neighboring yard.
When she reached the gate, she skillfully pulled a small bunch of keys from her pocket, swiftly picked the right one, and unlocked it.
She first ran into the garden to check on Lynn's most precious flowers.
Unfortunately, because of the season, Hermione had not been able to save them. They had all withered in autumn, and now only a few dead branches remained.
Several little mounds of earth now stood where the flowers had once been planted. They were the flowers' graves. Hermione thought that even if the flowers had died, she had to give Lynn an explanation when he returned, so she dug several holes and buried the withered stems in the soil.
Only after making sure those "grave mounds" had not been dug up again by mischievous stray dogs did Hermione unlock the door and enter Lynn's house.
It was still spotless, just as it had been when Lynn left.
Just as she had promised herself, Hermione came here once a week to clean.
At home, her mother always complained that she never took the initiative to help with the housework, but when it came to cleaning Lynn's home, she was remarkably diligent.
She picked up the mop with practiced ease and began this week's cleaning from the innermost room on the second floor.
By the time she had more or less finished, it was already close to noon.
She looked over the neat, spotless rooms and let out a long breath. Then she rubbed her slightly reddened cheeks, put her scarf, hat, and gloves back on, locked the living room door, and walked out of the yard.
As she locked the gate, she saw the snow piled up in the yard and thought that she would have to come back in a few days to clear it away. Otherwise, when it melted, Lynn's lawn would be ruined.
On her way back, the little girl's mood shifted as unpredictably as London's weather, and she suddenly grew angry again.
She was angry at herself.
She had busied herself for half the day, yet that person had not even sent the present he had promised her.
Hermione, Hermione, you really are an idiot!
She returned home in a sulk. Mrs. Granger was already making lunch.
"Where did you run off to all morning?"
"Nowhere."
The more Hermione thought about it, the angrier she became. She listlessly replied, then ran upstairs to her room.
She threw herself onto the bed and buried her face in the covers. The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt, and the more wronged she felt, the more she wanted to cry.
Just as she pouted, her eyes reddening as she was about to secretly let out a sob, a sudden tapping came from outside her bedroom window.
Hermione forced her tears back and turned to look outside.
An owl was staring at her through the glass.
Seeing that the little girl had noticed it, it pecked at the windowpane again with its beak.
Hermione was startled at first, but then she became excited.
Because beneath the owl's claws, she saw a small yet elegantly wrapped gift box.
She immediately threw herself at the window, opened it, and let the owl fly inside.
The owl from Hogwarts elegantly shook the snow from its wings outside the window before flying into Hermione's room and dropping the gift box into the little girl's hands.
Hermione eagerly opened the gift box.
Just as she had expected, the gift had been sent by Lynn.
Inside was a pendant bearing an extremely tiny crystal ball. There was a castle within the crystal ball, and just like the weather outside, magical snowflakes drifted inside it as well.
"H-Hogwarts?" Hermione held the crystal ball close to her eyes and only with difficulty made out the sign on the castle.
At the bottom of the gift box was a note Lynn had left behind. It read:
This is your future castle.
When she saw those words, Hermione's cheeks suddenly reddened. She felt that Lynn was indirectly calling her a princess.
What a smooth talker!
She secretly scolded him in her heart, then could not help looking once more at the pendant in her hand before happily putting it around her neck.
The owl that had traveled from afar circled above Hermione's head for quite some time. Watching the little girl alternately giggle foolishly and get angry, it realized she had no intention of giving it any payment for its hard work and flew irritably out of her room.
Hermione was rolling around on the bed while clutching the pendant, and she did not even notice when the owl left.
After a while, she felt that she had gotten a little too excited and could not help scolding herself in her heart once again:
Hermione, Hermione, you really are an idiot!
Before you continue