"Wait here." Malfoy told Harry and Ron, pointing at two empty chairs by the fireplace not far from Su Yu. "I'm going to get something. My father just sent it to me."
Harry and Ron sat down uneasily, not knowing what Malfoy was going to show them. The fire in the hearth burned brightly, roasting their faces red as they tried their best to make themselves feel at home.
Ka-jie even had Egg Beater bring them each a cup of hot tea. Seeing how enthusiastically they kept exchanging pleasantries, Ka-jie became even more certain that they were not Crabbe and Goyle. The real Crabbe and Goyle would only pick up the cups, drain them in one gulp, then grin stupidly and ask whether there was anything to eat.
But she said nothing. Su Yu had not spoken yet, so she let them keep playing. She enjoyed a good show too.
A minute later, Malfoy returned. He was holding something like a newspaper clipping, which he shoved beneath Ron's nose.
"You're guaranteed to laugh at this," Malfoy said.
Harry saw Ron's eyes widen in horror. Ron skimmed the clipping quickly and let out a helpless laugh before passing it to Harry.
It had been cut from the Daily Prophet. It read: Investigation into the Ministry of Magic.
Arthur Weasley, a manager at the Ministry of Magic, was fined fifty Galleons today for enchanting a car. Mr. Lucius Malfoy, an official, called for Mr. Weasley's resignation today after the enchanted car crashed at Hogwarts earlier this year.
"Weasley has brought disgrace upon the position of Ministry of Magic law enforcement officer," Mr. Lucius told reporters. "Clearly, he is completely unfit to make our laws. His ridiculous Muggle Protection Act ought to be repealed at once."
Mr. Weasley had no comment, although his wife told reporters that they should either retract the reports or she would send the ghosts in their house after them.
"Well?" Malfoy said as Harry handed the clipping back to him. "Don't you think that's funny?"
"Ha, ha!" Harry laughed miserably. His laughter was even drier than Ron's, like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing together.
"Arthur Weasley likes Muggles so much, he ought to snap his wand and go join them," Malfoy said disdainfully, lifting his chin even higher. "You'd never know the Weasley family were pure-bloods from the way they act."
Ron's—or rather, Crabbe's—face was filled with vengeful fury.
"What's wrong with you, Crabbe?" Malfoy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Stomachache," Ron muttered.
"Oh, go up to the Hospital Wing, then. And give every one of those idiots who's annoyed me a kick for me."
"Ahem, ahem." Su Yu truly could not listen anymore. He coughed lightly to cover the laugh that had nearly escaped him. Beside him, Ka-jie had lowered her head, her shoulders shaking.
Malfoy continued, "You see, I find it very strange that the Daily Prophet hasn't reported everything." His gray eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I suppose Dumbledore is trying to smooth things over. If this doesn't stop immediately, he'll come under attack. My father always says Dumbledore is the worst thing that ever happened to this place. He likes Muggle-borns. No proper headmaster would let useless trash like Colin in."
Malfoy began taking pictures with an imaginary camera. He shaped his hands into a camera and held them to his eyes, making clicking noises with his mouth.
"Potter, can I take a picture of you? Hm? Potter? Can you give me your autograph? Can I lick your shoes? Huh? Potter?"
He lowered his hands and looked at Harry and Ron.
"What's wrong with you two?" he asked.
Harry and Ron forced themselves to laugh. Though it came a little late, Malfoy still seemed quite satisfied. Perhaps Crabbe and Goyle had always been slow to react, so he did not grow suspicious.
"Sacred Potter," Malfoy said slowly. "Him? He couldn't even touch my feet, yet everyone thinks he's Slytherin's heir. Slytherin would crawl out of his grave and beat Harry's ass to pieces if he heard that. How embarrassing."
Harry and Ron restrained their anger. They were certain Malfoy was about to tell them the truth. But Malfoy merely said arrogantly, "If only I knew who his heir was. Then I could help them."
Ron stretched out his jaw to make Crabbe's face look even stupider than usual. Luckily, Malfoy did not notice. Harry's mind raced as he said, "You must have a guess, though?"
"You know perfectly well I don't, Goyle. How many times do I have to tell you?" Malfoy said, a trace of impatience in his voice. "My father told me the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago. Back then, a Muggle-born student was killed, and another student was expelled."
Harry then asked Malfoy whether he knew if the person who had opened the Chamber of Secrets had been caught. Malfoy said he did not know. Maybe he was still in Azkaban now...
Although Malfoy did not agree with his father's extreme beliefs—his father wanted to drive out all Muggle wizards—right now, he only wanted to give everyone he hated a hard kick in the ass, whether they were Muggle wizards or pure-blood wizards.
Still, Malfoy might truly never have suspected Goyle and Crabbe. He even revealed the most secret room beneath his family's art studio...
Until Ron's nose slowly began to lengthen.
Then he turned around, his expression utterly terrifying.
Harry and Ron ran the moment they started moving.
"I need stomach medicine," Ron muttered, his voice no longer sounding like Crabbe's but more like his own. They shoved at the stone wall and crashed through the corridor, their robes billowing behind them. They hoped Malfoy had not noticed anything. Harry felt his feet slipping around inside Goyle's enormous shoes. Every step was like trudging through mud, and he had to lift his rumpled robes to keep from tripping.
What they did not notice was that Su Yu had already left his sofa and was no longer in the Slytherin common room.
Su Yu arrived at Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor. He had come to find his kitty Hermione.
The bathroom was quiet, with only the sound of water dripping from a broken faucet. Myrtle was not there. Su Yu opened the bathroom stalls one by one until he reached Hermione's, whose door would not budge.
Su Yu said softly, "Good girl, Hermione, open the door."
"Su Yu? How did you know I was here? No! Go away!" Hermione shouted from inside.
"Be good, it's okay. Open the door and let me see my kitty Hermione. How do you know I won't like you this way?"
"??? How do you know everything?" Hermione stubbornly refused to open the door, gripping it tightly from the inside.
Su Yu had no choice. He used Body Flicker to flash into the stall. He gently hugged his big kitty Hermione—furry cat ears poked out from her hair, their tips trembling faintly. An orange tail protruded from beneath her robes, curled into a question mark. A few whiskers stretched out from both sides of her mouth.
Hermione was so startled by Su Yu's sudden appearance that her fur nearly stood on end. But as she listened to his familiar heartbeat and felt his warm embrace, she slowly calmed down. Her body softened as she buried her face against Su Yu's chest, her fingers clutching his robes.
"Don't look at me, Su Yu. I... I'm so ugly like this..." Hermione cried, her voice filled with indescribable grievance and shame.
"Who said so?" Su Yu's voice was very soft. One hand rested on the back of her head, his fingers threading through her fluffy curls. "Has it ever occurred to you that I quite like you like this?"
As he spoke, he kept stroking Hermione's cat ears. Her ears twitched once, then again. Every time Su Yu's fingers touched their tips, she dodged away.
With a little "Ah!" from Hermione, Su Yu picked her up and kissed her cute little face.
Su Yu draped his wizarding robe over her, covering her completely. Not even the tip of her tail was exposed. Then he carried her out of the bathroom.
"Where are you taking me, Su Yu?" Hermione cried anxiously from inside the robe.
"Of course I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing, silly girl," Su Yu said as he walked. "Don't you know that Polyjuice Potion can only transform people, not animals? If you turn into an animal, you'll be permanently stuck like that and won't change back on your own..."
"What? How could this happen? Wuwu..." Hermione cried even harder.
Su Yu had no choice but to carry Hermione along the ceiling, making sure no one saw them, until he handed her over to Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing.
When Madame Pomfrey saw Hermione, her eyes widened and her mouth opened, but she quickly regained her composure.
Hermione stayed in a side room of the Hospital Wing for several weeks. After the other students returned to school following Christmas, rumors circulated for a while that she had disappeared, because everyone naturally assumed she had been attacked. So many students lined up to pass by the Hospital Wing's side room just to catch a glimpse of her that Madame Pomfrey put curtains around Hermione's bed again, lest Hermione feel ashamed of others seeing her furry face.
Harry and Ron visited her every night. After the new term began, they brought her the day's homework.
As for Su Yu, every night after Harry and Ron left, he would slowly walk to Hermione's bedside, tell her stories, and coax her to sleep. As she listened, she would ask, "What happened next?" He kept telling stories until her eyes gradually closed and her breathing became even.
After all, adolescent girls were sensitive, and Hermione was even more sensitive now. Her cat ears drooped against the pillow, her whiskers trembling softly with each breath, while her tail poked out from beneath the blanket and rested over the edge of the bed. Every time, Su Yu gently tucked her tail back under the blanket, then sat by her bed until she was sound asleep before leaving.
Before you continue