As Hermione considered whether she should sleep in the bathroom tonight, a pair of feet suddenly appeared in her field of vision.
"Please don't mind me. Let me stay here alone!" Hermione said stubbornly.
She had already run into several people like this all afternoon. It was bad enough that they had not come to comfort her; they had actually come to enjoy her misery. They were awful!
No one truly cares about me anyway. I don't need their hypocritical comfort, she thought.
"I think you must be hungry. I heard you've been here all afternoon. This isn't a good place to rest."
To Hermione's surprise, the voice that reached her ears belonged to a boy!? She looked up in astonishment and saw Bell standing before her.
Σ(°D°;)
"Bell!? This is the Girls' Bathroom. How could you come in!?"
"What does it matter? No one will come here at this time. Everyone has gone to the Great Hall for the feast."
Bell did not know whether it was an illusion, but he felt like something about what he had just said was a little off. An illusion! It had to be an illusion!
After staring at Bell in shock for a while, Hermione lowered her head again and said despairingly, "Don't mind me. No one cares about me anyway. Everyone can't stand me. They think I'm annoying and too nosy. I don't have any friends."
"I see."
Was it Hermione's imagination, or did Bell's voice sound somewhat dejected?
"I thought I'd finally made a friend. So I was just being sentimental all along?"
Hermione raised her head in surprise again and watched Bell's retreating back.
"Wait, y-you... What did you just say?"
"Nothing. I was just talking to myself. Don't mind it."
Bell continued walking without slowing down.
"Wait! Bell!"