Girls Are Strange Creatures

"Ah...

The entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

The Fat Lady was holding a mirror and loudly practicing her singing, lost in some kind of self-indulgent state.

"Um, could you open the door?" This was the seventh time Harry had interrupted the Fat Lady.

He was afraid that if the other person continued singing like that, it would attract the entire school.

The Fat Lady finished singing the last note and finally stopped.

"Where have you all been?" the Fat Lady asked, squinting. "That little wizard is quite bold, staying up all night like this."

"Stop asking," Harry said impatiently, "Pig nose, pig nose."

"Hmph, I'll tell Professor McGonagall sooner or later," the Fat Lady muttered, as the portrait rotated forward.

The group stumbled into the common room and collapsed into the armchairs, trembling. For a long while, no one spoke.

"What are they trying to do? Locking that thing up in the school!" Ron finally said angrily.

"We were almost eaten. Did you see that dog? It was so ugly, the scariest animal I've ever seen besides a spider."

Hermione wasn't too angry; she had just been examining the map, and it was clearly a high-level one.

Ron was still complaining, and the girl, annoyed, snapped back to her bad temper. She slammed the map shut. "What are you guys doing with your eyes? Can't you see what it's standing on?"

"On the floor?" Harry guessed. "I wasn't looking at its feet; I was too busy looking at its head."

Hermione was utterly disappointed in the Boy Who Lived. "No, not on the floor. It's standing on a Trapdoor, and there are other gates below it."

"It's like you went down there yourself," Ron muttered unhappily.

"Whether I went down there or not is none of your business!" Hermione glared at Ron and snapped, "You've all been fooled by Malfoy, and you're still clueless."

A midnight duel? If it weren't for me tonight, you'd already be captured by Filch!

Hermione stood up and glared at Ron and Harry.

"I hope you 'Gryffindor's interests next time. If you're not capable, don't overestimate your abilities and break school rules. It's better for everyone!"

Okay, if you don't object, I'm going to sleep now.

Hermione spoke rapidly, tossing her hair as she finished, turning to leave, but after a few steps, she turned back and said:

"Also, Fluffy isn't ugly at all, it's just..." Hermione struggled to find the right words.

"It just looks a little different from other dogs. Among Cerberus, it's considered handsome!"

Ron stared at her retreating figure, his mouth agape in astonishment. "What kind of nonsense is this? It's like we dragged her there by force."

Harry seemed thoughtful. Hermione knew the three-headed dog; otherwise, why would she call it Fluffy?

He recalled what had just happened in the Restricted Section; Hermione had mentioned seeing Cerberus with William... Could it be that they had already entered the trapdoor?

So what's down there?

What did Hagrid say? If you want to hide something, Gringotts is the safest place in the world—probably besides Hogwarts.

He believed he had figured out the whereabouts of the dirty little package in Vault 713.

Hermione hesitated for a moment as she walked up the spiral staircase and almost reached the dormitory door, then whispered, "William, come out quickly, I know you're here."

But after waiting for thirty seconds, nothing changed; apart from the sound of the wind, there was nothing else.

The girl had an expression that said, "You've seen through everything." She said seriously, "If you're thinking of using the Disillusionment Charm to sneak into the girls' dormitory with me, you'd better not even think about it."

This area is under magic; boys are forbidden from entering!

Hermione looked around, but no one paid any attention to her.

She seemed truly certain no one was there, and after much effort, she moved to the doorway, turned around, and said, "Then I'll really go in."

Still, no one spoke.

Hermione went inside, and after a while, the door suddenly opened, and a small head peeked out, furtively looking around.

Hermione's eyes darted around, finally realizing she'd been outsmarting thin air; the other person had given her the map and left. She could only sigh and close the door.

Hermione sneaked back to her dorm room, lifted the curtain, and plopped down on her bed, feeling somewhat annoyed.

"Damn it! The professor will catch us sooner or later and deduct 10,000 points from Ravenclaw!" the girl said angrily.

William was unaware of what happened later that night; he was happily admiring the recipe in bed, having received it from Professor Snape.

The next day, Hermione didn't mention returning the map.

William didn't want it; after all, it wouldn't take much effort for him to make a new one.

However, according to Hermione, this map was her birthday present, and she told William that he didn't need to send her any more birthday presents.

Ha~ Only an idiot would believe that!

Hermione's birthday is September 19th, which is still ten days away.

For girls, gifts given three days before their birthday can still be considered birthday gifts.

Before that, it was just a gift from you, it had nothing to do with your birthday, let alone ten days ago, which was something from a past life.

If anyone actually believes this and obeys without giving gifts, they will definitely be remembered for a lifetime.

Even during every argument, someone would bring up these old, trivial matters, saying you're stingy for not even giving me a birthday present.

But the reverse is not true.

If someone gives you a gift and you ask for it again on your birthday, they might say, "Didn't I give you one a month ago? Look at how stingy you are, wanting two gifts for your birthday!"

The world is full of wonders, and you should never underestimate a girl's thought process. After all, they are a group of strange and adorable (and scary) creatures.

William certainly wouldn't make such a sophisticated mistake.

So on her birthday, William gave Hermione an owl.

It was a forest eagle owl, with prominent ear tufts on its head, black and white in color. Its upper body was dark brown, with buff-white horizontal stripes... a very beautiful bird.

Hermione had planned to buy a pet during the summer vacation, but the Gringotts incident happened that day, so this can be considered his compensation.

William suggested that Hermione name the owl Rhaegal, which would be a good match for Anne's owl Drogon.

When William buys another owl, he'll name it Viserion.

Anne also gave Hermione a gift: a collector's edition stamp collection of Magical Creatures.

This cost her all the pocket money she had recently saved, and she now owed William a huge debt.

Hermione was all alone, squatting in front of the bed counting her birthday presents.

Although the number was small, even pitifully small, she was still very happy and checked it repeatedly and patiently.

The girl sat on the ground, placing the stamp collection Anne had given her on her lap. She looked at it with increasing delight, unable to put it down, humming a tuneless little tune. The owl at her feet cooed, begging for snacks.

A shallow dimple appeared on her face.

(Thanks to "Zhili Yulan" and "Benbang Caifan" for their generous donations (//?//))