Christmas was approaching, and the prospect of a long holiday had everyone in Hogwarts Castle growing restless.
Su Er marked an X on the holiday stay-over form brought by the prefect, Gabriel Truman, then passed it to Justin.
"Oh, Su Er, a little girl from Gryffindor has been asking us about you lately." Justin took the quill and marked an X as well. "She's asked us where you were several times."
"You seem to have been coming back to the dorm pretty late lately..." Morn was next to fill out the form, and added a check mark.
"I've had a few things to keep me busy..." Su Er brushed off his roommates' questions with a laugh. "Aren't you going home for the holidays, Morn?"
At that, Morn gave them both a resentful look and explained in a gloomy voice.
"My dear mum and dad took my little brother to Hawaii for the winter..."
What followed was a lengthy passage of heartfelt wishes from their ever-devoted son, mostly hoping they would stay safe and not have the local Ministry of Magic come knocking, and so on.
His resentment came quickly and left just as quickly.
After a round of complaints, Morn pulled out a brand-new Wizard's Chess set. "My parents gave me my Christmas present early. It's a new Wizard's Chess set. Want to try it?"
"Me, me!" Justin immediately raised his hand.
Sometimes, Su Er couldn't help admiring his determination to keep fighting despite losing over and over.
The two launched into an enthusiastic match, and soon curses rang out across the chessboard.
Oh, this new Wizard's Chess set has quite a few new words in its vocabulary...
After giving the hard-pressed Justin a few pointers to get him out of trouble, Su Er stretched and said to Morn and Justin, who were locked in battle, "I'm heading to the Library..."
"Go on, go on." Morn waved without looking up. He couldn't wait for Su Er to leave; the moves Su Er had suggested to Justin had caught him completely off guard.
He had been just about to take his opponent's king.
A true gentleman watches chess without saying a word, you bastard!
Going to the Library was only an excuse. Su Er's real destination was, of course, the Castle's Seventh Floor.
"Something's wrong..." Su Er walked back and forth in front of the tapestry three times, but the door that should have appeared in the blank wall failed to materialize.
That meant someone was using it.
"Hey, caught you!" A small, pale hand suddenly landed on Su Er's shoulder.
Su Er went white with fright, thinking Voldemort had caught him. A thousand different ways to die flashed through his mind in that instant...
Wait, that voice sounds familiar. Trembling, Su Er turned to look.
"Phew... You scared me to death, Hermione."
"Wait, how did you know I was here?" Su Er took several deep breaths to calm his pounding heart and looked at the pretty little girl before him.
"Hmph..." Hermione puffed out her cheeks. "You've got some nerve asking that!"
Uh... Come to think of it, apart from classes and sleeping, I've been spending all my time in the Room of Requirement lately. I might have neglected a few things...
"Sorry, Hermione." Su Er promptly chose to apologize, sounding perfectly sincere. "I've really been busy these past few days."
"Hmph..." Hermione turned her head away, refusing to look at him. With her chin raised slightly, she gave another quiet huff. Her prickly attitude made Su Er want to laugh.
Having grown up with Hermione, he knew her temperament was rather like a cat's. All he had to do was let her get her little feelings out...
Su Er pretended to ignore Hermione and looked at the tapestry on the wall, secretly watching the little girl out of the corner of his eye.
Sure enough, Hermione was the first to crack. Watching her turn to look at him, her lips jutting out in an enormous pout, Su Er couldn't help chuckling inwardly.
"Hey..." Hermione couldn't resist speaking. "What are you looking at?"
"Huh?" Su Er looked at Hermione, feigning confusion.
"What's special about this tapestry? Have you discovered something? I read in the school history that there are lots of secret rooms in the Castle. Last time, I saw you suddenly disappear here, but this is already the end of the corridor." Hermione rattled off her questions like machine-gun fire.
Heh heh, got her! Su Er's little devil tail was showing.
Su Er glanced around, then beckoned Hermione closer.
Hermione didn't understand, but she moved closer anyway.
Catching the faint scent of sunshine on Su Er and feeling his breath against her sensitive little ear, Hermione couldn't help blushing.
"Want to know? But it's a secret..." After whispering those words into Hermione's ear, Su Er darted away from her, then took off running.
The entire practiced routine took only a few seconds.
"Su Er!!!!" The little girl froze for a moment, her face going from pink to pale with anger, then turning bright red.
Her shrill cry echoed through the quiet corridor on the Castle's Seventh Floor.
Then plenty of people saw a figure running and leaping down the stairs, with a little girl hot on his heels, her teeth clenched, her bushy hair bristling, and her reddened eyes fixed firmly on him.
Back in the now-quiet Seventh Floor corridor, a doorway appeared in a blank stretch of wall, and a figure with a scarf wrapped around his head stepped out.
He gazed toward the place where Su Er and Hermione had disappeared.
Silver flecks lingered at the corners of his mouth, and a faint smile curved across his pale face.
On the Castle's fourth floor, a breathless Hermione suddenly lunged forward and clung to that wretched Su Er like a koala.
"Hah... you... hah..." Hermione panted heavily several times. "Go on, run! Keep running! Why aren't you running now?"
But only silence answered her.
She looked up and saw Professor McGonagall wearing a peculiar expression, while Su Er struggled desperately not to laugh.
"Ah..." She couldn't help letting out a shriek, then scrambled off Su Er in a flurry. Her earlobes, half-hidden beneath her bushy hair, glowed red as she stood meekly before Professor McGonagall with her head bowed.
Professor McGonagall's expression was very peculiar indeed. In all her years of teaching, this was the first time she had seen a first-year girl bold enough to hang herself off a boy right in front of her.
But the slight upward curl of Professor McGonagall's lips spoiled her stern expression.
"Ahem..." She raised a fist to her mouth and gave a small cough.
"Miss Granger, I believe you should be aware of this school rule-students are not permitted to play or roughhouse in the corridors."
"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall." Hermione's voice was barely louder than a mosquito's hum.
"And you, Mr. Bones." Professor McGonagall glanced at Su Er.
"I'm sorry, Professor."
"Hmm... Since this is your first offense, I won't deduct any points this time. You may go," Professor McGonagall said sternly.
Su Er and Hermione hurried away.
Watching the two young wizards leave, Professor McGonagall's lips curved into a smile.
"Ah, youth..." she murmured, a flicker of nostalgia passing through her eyes.
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