Life seemed to have returned to normal.
With the arrival of November, the Scottish Highlands threw up their arms and announced the coming of winter.
The mountains around the school were shrouded in mist all day long.
"It worked!" Hermione cheered. Thanks to Mr. Filch's vehement protests and the increased difficulty of cleaning classrooms in winter, Su Er and Hermione had been forced to practice magic on the lawn outside the Castle, braving the biting wind.
Practicing magic so openly had initially attracted quite a few young wizards, who gathered to watch, but the bone-chilling wind and incomprehensible techniques soon drove them away.
Practicing magic in near-freezing temperatures was just making life difficult for themselves. Wasn't the fireplace warm enough? Wasn't hot cocoa delicious enough?
A lifelike horse stood on the lawn with a single horn on its head, its golden mane swaying gently in the wind.
Hermione thought they had succeeded. It was good enough to show Angel.
Su Er, however, was not satisfied. "No, Hermione. We're celebrating too soon."
"I think Angel will be very happy with it." Bundled up in a hat and scarf, Hermione rubbed her hands together and breathed out clouds of white mist.
"Do you remember the one Professor Dumbledore made?" Su Er frowned. "It could carry Angel all around the house."
"Besides, this horse will only last an hour at most before changing back. Professor McGonagall warned us that we can't cast spells at home, or the Ministry of Magic will send Aurors to invite us in for a little chat."
"I know you really want to make a 'unicorn' that can move. There's still over a month until the Christmas holidays, so we can take our time. Maybe you could ask Professor Dumbledore for help." Hermione stamped her feet and blew warm breath into her palms.
"I think we should head back to the Castle now. We've been outside for over two hours."
"All right." Su Er glanced at Hermione. The girl was already shivering a little, and there was no point in continuing.
He undid the Transfiguration Spell, then cast a Floating Charm to make the wooden chair, now back in its original form, follow him.
School property had to be returned to its proper place.
"Let's head back," he said.
The two made their way slowly along the path. At the Castle entrance, they ran into Harry carrying a broomstick. He looked thoroughly frozen, his cheeks bright red and bits of grass and white frost caught in his hair.
"Hi, Su Er." Harry greeted them both, then hurried away.
"Why's he being so secretive?" Hermione tilted her head in puzzlement.
Su Er chuckled and carried the chair into the room where they had waited before the Sorting. "It's easy enough to guess. Harry must have joined the Gryffindor Quidditch Team."
"But aren't first-years forbidden from playing Quidditch?" Hermione sounded skeptical.
"Who knows?" Su Er said with a smile. "Where are we going next?"
"The Library, of course!" Hermione decided at once. "I still have homework for Potions Class and Charms."
"Oh... I forgot." Su Er slapped his forehead, then turned to Hermione with a beaming smile. "Then could Miss Granger let me 'consult' her homework?"
"What do you think?" Hermione's eyes curved into crescents as she smiled back. "I don't think you're only going to consult it."
"Professor Flitwick has already tactfully pointed out that he's found quite a few similar, or even identical, assignments lately. Those people all have one thing in common..."
"Huh?" Su Er blinked innocently. "Let me make excuses-no, explain..."
"I promise, I just want to consult it."
"Really."
"You have to believe me!"
But Hermione rolled her eyes, turned, and walked away.
The temperature dropped day by day, and the ice on the Black Lake grew as hard as tempered steel.
Apart from attending lessons, the young wizards mostly stayed in their common rooms, gathered around roaring fireplaces. Crossing the Castle's corridors, exposed to drafts on three sides, to get to class in the bitter cold was nothing short of torture.
Just as when they had first taken Flying Class, one topic firmly dominated the buzz throughout Hogwarts these days: the upcoming Quidditch match.
In second place was the newly created Warmth Bottle. The moment this bottle appeared, it swept through Hogwarts.
Leaving the start of the Quidditch match aside for now, the story of this new hand-warming bottle began during a homework session in the Library.
That day, after finishing her homework, Hermione found a book on fire charms among the Library's piles of books. Its binding was loose, its author unknown, and some pages containing spells were missing, seemingly destroyed on purpose. But one spell on the surviving pages was particularly interesting.
The entire page recording it was written in runes, which greatly piqued Hermione's interest.
"Maybe it's an incredibly powerful spell," she said. "And don't you think its patterns are fascinating?"
"Su Er! Don't take my homework!"
Su Er gave a sheepish smile and withdrew the hand he had been sneaking toward her parchment. Without the slightest embarrassment, he leaned over to look at the book in Hermione's hands. There was a picture on the page, too: a blue flame flickering inside a transparent bottle.
"First of all, we can rule out dark magic or anything incredibly powerful." Su Er pursed his lips and tipped his chin toward Madam Pince, who stood guard with a feather duster in her hand. "Those are all over there."
"But..." Su Er rubbed his chin. "We could translate it. Maybe someone overlooked it?"
That would beat slogging through reference books to write an essay.
Why do homework when there's a finished copy ready to 'consult'?
"This should be runes. I'll finish my homework first, then help you translate it. How does that sound?"
"Then I'll find a runic dictionary. I remember there's one in the Library." Hermione nodded, rose, and left her seat.
Oh? Here was his chance!
Su Er's spirits lifted.
"Don't take my homework." Hermione had only gone a few steps before she turned back and warned him with a stern look.
"What kind of person do you take me for?" Su Er's face was earnest. "Even if I starved to death right here or jumped from this place, I still wouldn't touch your homework!"
Only then did Hermione drop her stern expression and leave, satisfied.
"Yeah, right," Su Er muttered. As soon as Hermione disappeared among the shelves, he reached over, took her neatly stacked parchment, and drew his Wand.
"Geminio..."
Looking at the extra stack of parchment, Su Er nodded in satisfaction. "This is when magic really shows how amazing it is. Heh heh."
He transfigured the copied parchment into the shape of a book, then carefully returned Hermione's homework to its original position and checked it from every angle.
Mission accomplished!
Then he casually took out a blank sheet of parchment and pretended to be writing furiously.
Two minutes later, Hermione returned to her seat carrying a thick book. First, she checked whether her parchment had been touched. Then she cast a suspicious glance at Su Er, whose quill was scratching busily away, completely overlooking the extra "book" beside him.
He'd behaved himself after all. Hermione gave a pleased little hum.
Heh heh, so easy to fool. Su Er caught the change in Hermione's expression out of the corner of his eye. His face betrayed nothing, but inside his head, a black Su Er with two ears and a trident stood with his hands on his hips, roaring with laughter.
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