"Uh... I was just passing by..." the little girl stammered.
I was too embarrassed to admit that I'd been lingering here for quite a while.
I'm just waiting for Silan to come out so I can bump into her.
Here, near the courtyard, the corridor was drafty, and the cold wind mixed with snowflakes fell on Hermione's head, making her look as if she were wearing a thin white veil.
"Are you cold?" Silan reached out and brushed the snow off Hermione's shoulder, asking softly.
"And..." Hermione trailed off, "Uh... it's a little cold."
Seeing Hermione's hands were red from the cold, Silan covered Hermione's hands with his own and rubbed them.
The warmth of her hands made Hermione's face flush, but she couldn't bear to pull her hand away.
It seems they felt that this method wasn't very effective at warming their hands.
Silan frowned, waved his wand, and transformed a piece of Parchment into a thick glass bottle.
With a gentle tap of the wand, a small flame appeared inside the glass bottle.
Silan thought for a moment, then realized that holding it directly in his hands might burn him, so he made a fluffy leather cover out of Parchment and put it over the outside.
He bought a lot of Parchment last time and is now familiar with using Parchment as a basic material for Transfiguration.
"Here, take this hand warmer." Silan handed Hermione the hand warmer she had made.
"Silan," the little girl said, but her eyes kept glancing at Silan's hand.
I feel that Silan's hands are warmer.
The little girl thought to herself.
The two walked downstairs together, and on the way Silan casually asked...
"Is the Christmas holiday coming soon?"
"It's only a few days," Hermione nodded. "Let's go back together then."
"OK."
The two chatted as they walked down the stairs. Just as they reached a corridor next to the courtyard, they saw George and Fred building a snowman in the yard.
Watching the abstract snowman slowly taking shape under the Weasley Twins' hands, Hermione asked with a puzzled look, "What are they building?"
"It's probably... a lion?"
After staring at it for a long time, Silan could barely make out a trace of the Gryffindor lion in the unrestrained, rugged, and bold lines of the snowdrift.
Hermione stared speechlessly at the strangely shaped snowdrift.
You can't tell it's a lion at all...
"Hey... it looks like they're making snowballs."
Hermione saw George and Fred hiding behind that oddly shaped snowdrift, secretly making snowballs.
"What are they trying to do?" Silan looked over curiously.
George and Fred quickly revealed the answer to them.
After making a few snowballs, the two of them used the Gryffindor lion they had just made as cover and threw them at a passing Slytherin student.
"Who? Who did this?!"
The chilling snowball crawled down Flint's neck and into his clothes, causing him to shiver and let out a strange cry.
Although George and Fred had snowdrifts for cover, Flint still managed to spot them.
"Oh, damn Weasley!"
Flint cursed and immediately summoned several passing Slytherin students, who then began to make snowballs to attack George and Fred.
They outnumbered and outgunned, and under their concentrated fire, George and Fred were powerless to fight back.
Having gained the upper hand, the Slytherin even started throwing snowballs at other passing Gryffindor students.
This really ignited a powder keg.
The Gryffindor who was accidentally injured immediately joined George and Fred's team.
The two groups started having a snowball fight in the courtyard.
The Gryffindor and Slytherin students who happened to be passing by were drawn to the spectacular scene and joined the battle.
"Throw it down their necks!"
"You guys make snowballs, we'll throw them!"
"Get cover! Get cover now!"
The two groups fought back and forth fiercely, with George and Fred even managing to sneak Dungbomb into the snowball.
The Gryffindor students beside them, their eyes bloodshot with rage, shouted questions.
"Hey, Weasley. How much are your Dungbomb?"
During a lull in the attack, George and Fred exclaimed in unison, "Three Silver Sickle!"
To be honest, under normal circumstances, I doubt anyone would spend three Silver Sickle buy their Dungbomb.
But this is during wartime.
Military spending cannot be cut!
"I'll buy them! Give me two!"
"I want one too!"
After exchanging a glance, George and Fred, the instigators of this battle, instantly switched from combatants to support personnel.
The two of them carefully crouched on the ground, ducking around behind the others, and began to provide them with ammunition support.
But it wasn't a snowball; it was Dungbomb.
So Silan clearly saw that the snowballs thrown by Gryffindor contained bits and pieces of Dungbomb.
A Dungbomb traced a graceful arc through the air and slammed into a Slytherin student's face with a "thud."
I gave him a perfect face mask.
After the Dungbomb exploded, it even affected several students around him, who screamed and fled the battlefield.
Undoubtedly, a few more people have developed a phobia of Dungbomb.
After delivering their goods, the arms dealers George and Fred quietly slipped away.
The two slipped into the corridor, and when they saw Silan, their eyes lit up, and they ran excitedly toward him.
"What a coincidence, we just happened to run into you. We were just about to look for you, Silan," George said first.
"What's wrong?" Silan turned her gaze away from the intense snowball fight.
Fred took a letter from his robe. "Mom wrote this morning saying she hopes you can come home with us for the Christmas holidays."
"Stay at our house for a few days," George continued, picking up where Fred left off.
Hearing this, Hermione tensed up instantly, suddenly feeling that the snowball fight in the yard wasn't so interesting anymore.
She had originally planned to invite Silan to her home to spend Christmas together.
The sudden appearance of George and Fred disrupted her plans, making the little girl uneasy.
"But we probably won't be able to spend Christmas together this year," George continued regretfully. "Mom and Dad are going to Romania to see Charlie Weasley."
"So their plan is for us to go home for two days first, and then we'll go back to school before Christmas, while they go to Romania. Is that convenient for you?"
Hearing this, Hermione suddenly relaxed again.
Although we'll have a few less days to spend together, it's fine as long as I can spend Christmas with Silan.
Silan nodded. In any case, she had to meet her aunt.
"Okay, I'll go back with you guys when I have the holiday."
George and Fred laughed happily, each patting Silan on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, our mom is very easy to get along with."
"She almost never hits anyone."
"Oh, of course." George touched his ear. "She'll twist your ear when she's angry. Sometimes I really suspect she wants to twist my ear off."
"That way she might not mistake us for someone else," Fred said.
As they spoke, the battle in the courtyard had reached a fever pitch.
Gryffindor had the Dungbomb and briefly gained the upper hand.
But the Slytherin weren't to be underestimated; they wrapped small stones inside snowballs.
Its power instantly increased, causing Gryffindor retreat in defeat.
The chaotic situation caught Filch's attention, and he rushed over angrily, shouting at the students in the courtyard.
"Oh no, we have to go."
Noticing Filch approaching, George and Fred waved to Silan and Hermione in unison before making a hasty retreat.
It seems they are aware of their reputation.
If I stay here any longer, Filch will probably drag me to solitary confinement.
Watching the Weasley Twins walk away, Hermione took a deep breath and mustered her courage to speak.
"Silan... I... I'd like to invite you to my home for Christmas this year."