The lunch bell rang, and the people gathered in the Great Hall began to disperse. Harry turned around and spotted Hermione amid the bustling crowd.
Hermione did not notice him. She was chatting with Parvati and Eloise beside her. The know-it-all girl who had once cared only about principles and not personal feelings had completely changed her style this term—both in appearance and behavior.
Harry suddenly noticed that, sometime during the period when he had not been paying attention, Hermione's signature bushy brown hair had changed. It had become smooth and glossy.
She had grown much taller too, changing from a short little girl into a young woman.
Her face was no longer filled only with the seriousness and stiffness of the past. Right now, she was playing and laughing with Parvati and Eloise, her smile blooming like a flower.
Harry, whose heart already belonged to someone, did not think much of Hermione's changes when he noticed them. He merely silently blamed himself for never having paid attention to the changes in his good friend.
He was glad to see Hermione making more friends, but he could not help feeling melancholy. Hermione had made new friends, but the price was that the Golden Trio was no longer whole.
He sighed inwardly.
When he turned back, Harry found Ron looking in Hermione's direction as well.
But that expression—
"Ron?"
"Hm?" Ron, staring blankly as though he had lost his soul, turned around with a dazed look on his face.
Harry's eyes widened. "What were you looking at?"
Panic flashed across Ron's face. "Huh? I—I wasn't looking at anything—"
Who was he trying to fool?
Harry swore that he had just seen Ron staring dreamily in Hermione's direction like an idiot. He knew that expression far too well, because he had plenty