"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Granger." At the gate of a small two-story house with a little yard in a middle-class residential neighborhood in London, a tall, very handsome young man with wheat-colored skin greeted the middle-aged man and woman before him with a nervous expression. Their faces bore a complicated mixture of delight, worry, suspicion, and many other emotions.
Behind them stood a girl of fifteen or sixteen with long brown hair, large eyes, and two slightly prominent front teeth. She looked just as nervous.
The girl was naturally Hermione, and the people in front of her were her parents. The handsome young man opposite them was, of course, Jacob Covenas, the former Champion of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Magic Cup Triwizard Tournament, who had long since promised to visit her during the Christmas holidays.
"Hello, hello." The refined-looking middle-aged man-Hermione's father-finally reacted first and nodded hastily. "You must be the Corvinus Hermione mentioned? Come in, come in."
"Please, just call me Jacob, Mr. Granger," Jacob said quickly. Then he gave Hermione a somewhat bashful smile.
"You really came. I thought you were only joking." Hermione followed her parents into the yard alongside Jacob, murmuring to him as they walked.
"Of course I did. If I tell you I'll do something, I'll definitely do it." Jacob's nervous expression vanished, replaced by utter seriousness.
He looked at Hermione, his gaze burning.
Hermione grew a little embarrassed under that burning gaze and quickly turned her head away, wrinkling her little nose slightly.
The four of them entered the yard, then sat down in the living room.
Jacob sat ramrod straight, like a soldier waiting for a general's inspection.
"Well, Jacob." Mrs. Granger hesitated, then asked tentatively, "I heard from Hermione that last year you were... Il..."
She had