Mid-Autumn Festival and Detective Hermione

Transfiguration class had just ended when Hermione cornered Harry and Ron at the door and asked them.

"Why didn't Oren come to class today?"

Ron spread his hands. "No idea. I thought you weren't talking to us anymore."

Harry thought, Exactly. Oren's whereabouts weren't something little brothers like them could inquire about.

"Aren't you his roommates? How could you not know?"

Harry explained, "We really don't know where he goes. Sometimes he doesn't even come back to the dormitory."

The young witch tugged at her hair. "As his roommates, how can you care so little about where he is?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Who do you think Oren is? Fred and George told me he's the kind of hardcase who can make Filch back off during a nighttime stroll. What could possibly happen to him?"

"You should worry about yourself instead. Don't lose to Oren on the exams."

With that, Ron grabbed Harry and ran off without looking back.

Hermione stamped her foot in frustration and began searching the castle for Oren. She had the nagging feeling that he was being suspicious today, as though he was planning some prank that could wipe out their House points.

After searching for ages without finding him, Hermione returned dejectedly to the Gryffindor common room with cobwebs all over her hair and threw herself onto a soft sofa.

When she looked up, she saw Neville staring down his essay as if they were in a duel.

"Neville, have you seen Oren today?"

Neville stopped scratching his head. "No. I've been here almost all day. Other than Lee Jordan coming back once, no one else came in."

The young witch irritably tugged at her hair. "Then do you know anything else? Even a clue would do."

"Oh, Oren should still be in the castle. Whenever he leaves the castle, he asks me to save him some dinner."

"What?! He's left the castle before?!"

Neville was a little frightened by Hermione's bristling state. "Yes... I think... Hogsmeade... Only upper-year students can go there. I don't know how he managed it."

"But it should be fine. Oren has a phoenix feather from Dumbledore. Even if he gets caught, he should be all right."

Hermione could no longer sit still. Who knew how much authority that feather carried? What if Filch caught Oren pulling pranks and wiped out Gryffindor's House points?

"No!" The young witch sprang off the sofa and rushed out in a panic.

Thirty minutes later~

Hermione returned to Gryffindor Tower covered in ink. There were not many people in the common room at the moment.

Neville asked, "What happened to you?"

The young witch stared blankly at the ceiling. "I ran into Peeves."

"What happened?" Harry asked. "Are you still looking for Oren?"

Hermione nodded.

"Why don't you ask George and Fred? They're always discussing some kind of business plan together."

Light returned to Hermione's eyes. After going back to the dormitory to change clothes, she rushed out again.

After wandering around for quite a while, she finally intercepted the two of them at the Quidditch pitch.

"Have you seen Oren today?"

"No. We spent the entire morning in the common room, aside from delivering a brooch to Malfoy in Slytherin. We didn't see Oren."

Back in the common room again, Hermione sat on the sofa looking like she was about to become The Thinker.

Harry asked, "Hermione, didn't the twins tell you where Oren went?"

"No. They said they spent the whole morning in the common room and didn't see Oren."

Neville said uncertainly, "Um... I didn't see them this morning."

Hermione!!! Fine, fine, fine! You two thick-browed, big-eyed liars actually tricked me!

"Then who would know about them delivering a brooch to Malfoy? I can't exactly go to Slytherin and ask Malfoy himself."

"You could ask their roommate, Lee Jordan."

Ron spoke as he checkmated the little lion general across from him, sending it off the chessboard.

Hermione looked around and found Lee Jordan near the fireplace.

"Lee Jordan, do you know about the twins delivering a brooch to Malfoy?"

"Oh, of course. Why would they specifically go deliver something to a Slytherin? They were just passing by, probably around lunchtime."

The young witch clutched her empty stomach. Gritting her teeth, she decided to do it for the House points and rushed out again.

At the Quidditch pitch, Hermione found the resting twins and said,

"Fred! George! Your secret's out! Tell me honestly, where did you go this morning? Did you see Oren or not?!"

Fred said, "Tsk~ As expected of Gryffindor's top student."

George agreed. "As expected of Miss Know-It-All. I didn't think we'd be exposed so quickly."

"Hmph~" The young witch folded her arms and raised her chin at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Early this morning, Oren dragged us out of the dormitory."

"What did he make you two do?" Hermione scrutinized them.

"He had us buy some kind of cake for him, what was it called, George?"

"Mooncakes, Fred. You should ask Professor McGonagall to give you detention and knock some sense into you."

"George, don't interrupt. And Firewhisky."

Hermione asked, "So you went and bought them?"

"That's right. He paid us far too much. Our little Oren has changed, wouldn't you say, George?"

"Yeah, Fred. He's become Young Master Black now, a cold and ruthless but rich pure-blood young master."

The two of them wiped away nonexistent tears in an absurd manner, making the young witch's eyelids twitch wildly.

"How did you manage it? I mean, how did you buy them?"

"Obviously, we snuck into Hogsmeade. Don't look at us like that. Why do you think we can get goods other people can't?"

Hermione took a deep breath and refused to look at these two of Professor McGonagall's greatest headaches.

"Getting the Firewhisky was easy enough. Fred handled that. The problem was those mooncakes. We really couldn't find them anywhere."

"We searched all over Hogsmeade. Old Flume from Honeydukes patted his chest and guaranteed that from Siberia to the Cape of Good Hope, from all across Europe, Africa, and the Americas, there wasn't a pastry he didn't know. Yet he had never even heard of mooncakes. We had no choice but to grab a few pies and make do."

On the way back to the tower, Hermione kept thinking. It wasn't Europe, Africa, or the Americas, so it could only be Asia. But who would know about such things?

Wait! The truth is always only one! Cho Chang would definitely know.

She hurried to Ravenclaw Tower and waited for a long time before finally catching Cho Chang.

"Cho Chang, do you know what mooncakes are?"

"It's part of a Chinese festival. People eat mooncakes and admire the moon. Are you interested in that sort of thing?"

"Yes, I'm very interested in this kind of knowledge," the young witch lied without batting an eye.

"Really? Then you're quite a studious young witch. You should have come to Ravenclaw."

Cho Chang glanced at the sunflower brooch on Hermione's chest and gave her a gentle smile.

Hermione??? Why did that smile look so much like her aunt's?

Looking at the moon outside the window, Cho Chang mischievously told Hermione, "It's today, you know."

"Ahem, then I won't disturb you any longer."

Cho Chang wore an auntie smile as she waved Hermione goodbye.

Hermione thought, Moon-gazing means going to a tower. There's only one best spot: the Astronomy Tower.

With that thought, Hermione charged toward the Astronomy Tower like an enraged beaver. By now, she no longer cared about the House points. Whether she could catch him had become a matter of her dignity as a detective—no, a witch.

The Astronomy Tower was littered with whisky bottles, and the thick stench of alcohol made Hermione's head spin.

She rushed to Oren, who was lying on the ground, and checked his breathing. Looking at the pile of bottles, she suspected he might have drunk himself to death. Huh?! He was still breathing, so he should still be alive.

"Wake up! It's already curfew!"

The young witch kept shaking Oren.

"Lord Yide! Lord Yide! Wake up! That Lü Bu bastard has forced open the city gates and charged in!"

"Ah! Fuck!"

Oren jolted awake from his dream and immediately blurted out some exquisite Chinese profanity. Like a dying man suddenly sitting upright, he opened his eyes to find Hermione staring at him speechlessly.

"What are you doing here?"

"What else would I be doing? Look at all these bottles you drank! How did you manage not to drink yourself to death? And you're asking why I'm here? If Filch finds this, even Dumbledore might not be able to protect you. I said so."

"Die from drinking this little? Who are you looking down on? Do you know how hard it is for me to get drunk even once? And Filch? As long as it isn't Professor McGonagall, even if Dumbledore himself comes, nothing will happen to me."

Oren swayed to his feet and pulled out another bottle of Firewhisky.

"You're still drinking!" Hermione snatched the bottle away.

"Meow~"

"Oh no~ It's Mrs Norris." The young witch's face went pale.

"What are you panicking for? What can that old Filch do to me?"

"He can't do anything to you, but what about me?"

Hermione grabbed Oren and ran. They had not gone far before Filch's voice came from behind them.

"Oh no, oh no, he's going to catch us!"

"Can you calm down, little witch? Why are you panicking? Listen to me, move the machine gun five meters to the left."

Hermione???

"Burp~ Ah, no. Run five meters to the left. There's an empty classroom there."

Hermione dragged Oren to the empty classroom door, pulled out her wand, and cast a spell.

"Alohomora!"

She opened the door, dragged Oren inside, and shut it behind them in one fluid motion.

Oren, who had staggered from being pulled, had barely regained his footing when he saw Peeves drawing on the blackboard inside the empty classroom, planning one of his evil pranks.

"Look what I found. A little witch running around the school this morning. Oh? And now she's brought another student out for a nighttime stroll. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Hermione was terrified stiff, her face as white as Peeves's.

Oren reminded him, "Ahem, Peeves..."

"Oh, isn't this Oren? What a shame. Tonight, only one little witch can get caught sneaking around at night."

"Five Dungbombs."

"No. Ten."

"Impossible. Six at most."

"If you give me fewer than eight, I'll call Filch over to catch this little witch."

"Isn't that asking for the moon?"

"Just tell me whether you agree or not."

"Fine, fine, fine. Eight! Deal!"

After handing Peeves a handful of Dungbombs, Oren did not let go. Instead, he yanked Peeves close and lowered his voice. "We were never here tonight."

Peeves looked at the Dungbombs in his hand, nodded, and flew out of the room.

"Phew~ That was close." Hermione wiped away a cold sweat.