(*￣￣*) Vacation's Over
On the night before the new term began, all the students returned to Hogwarts Castle. Naturally, that included Annie and Hermione.
That was right!
Hermione had been staying at the island castle in Annie's home until the day before term began—today at noon. Only then did they use a Portkey to reach Diagon Alley, travel through a fireplace in Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade, and finally walk from Hogsmeade back to Hogwarts Castle.
Since they did not want to waste too much time, they had not gone to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to take the Hogwarts Express back to school.
Although that way of traveling was fast and novel, the only thing Hermione was dissatisfied with was that traveling to Hogsmeade by fireplace had been even worse than her first experience using a Portkey!
She had been covered in ash from head to toe. And because they had used Floo Powder, that stuff had magical residue that even Scourgify could not remove?
So after returning to school, she had no choice but to rush to the washroom immediately after putting down her luggage. By the time she had bathed, washed her clothes, and put everything in order, it was already nearly evening.
At that moment, the Gryffindor common room was brightly lit and filled with warm, cozy air.
Naturally, many students began gathering in groups of two or three to discuss all sorts of interesting things from the holidays.
There were also some lazybones frantically rushing to finish their homework. For example, Ron and Harry, whom Hermione spotted at a glance?
Clearly, the two of them had gone wild playing during the holidays. Now they were desperately cramming at the last minute, furiously copying homework that they had no idea who had lent them!
"?!"
Hermione had originally