harry potter book of crimes

"Oh, no...really...is this really necessary?"

"Of course, it's very necessary - please, Neville! Or...are you actually busy tomorrow? If that's the case, I'll have to ask someone else..."

"Well, I won't be... okay tomorrow. I mean, this thing is so strange, I think I won't be able to cope with it..."

"Oh, be confident! Neville, I think you're fine!"

On the stairs outside the dormitory, two figures, Neville and Ron, were sneaking close to the window, muttering in a low voice. It could be heard that Ron was asking Neville for a favor, but Naville

Wei kept pushing away.

Of course, this shy and introverted boy has never been good at rejecting others, so he just tried every means to find reasons to try to get Ron to withdraw his request.

But that doesn't seem to work easily, does it?

"Neville, my good buddy! You see... we have lived in the same dormitory since the beginning of school. What a great fate. I say, we can be friends for life! Now your good brother

I'm in trouble, and you have nothing to do tomorrow...can't you try to help me?"

Ron was still begging Neville, as if this was a very important thing to him.

"And, to be honest - this matter is actually not as bad as you think," he tried hard to explain, "With Maka's potion here, the probability of revealing the secret is definitely zero! How about, think about it carefully,

You'll be fine for sure!"

"Oh -" Neville hesitated for a while with an embarrassed look on his face, but in the end he shook his head as if he was exhausted, "I'm afraid I can't do it. Well... I still can't, probably... I don't dare, I really can't complete what you are doing.

Task."

After Neville's many ambiguous refusals, Ron seemed to finally understand the firmness hidden behind Neville's euphemisms, and finally couldn't help but sigh.

"Okay...yeah, I shouldn't force you like this." Ron said helplessly, "But seriously, think about it again! I'll go find someone else to ask now - if anyone else

If I can’t find it, I think I’ll have to come and beg you in the end.”

After that, he stopped pestering Neville and turned around to walk to the common room.

Neville looked at Ron's leaving figure, but he felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart. In fact, it was not that he didn't want to do Ron a favor at all, after all, Ron also gave him a lot of care on weekdays.

In the final analysis, it was just his lack of confidence that was secretly at work.

"Neville Longbottom...you really can't do anything!"

After giving himself a complaint, Neville immediately slumped his shoulders and left gloomily.

…

The classes this morning were full of divination lessons, history of magic lessons, Snape’s Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, and other content that ruined people’s interest. After finally getting to the noon break, Harry and

Ron was about to ask Hermione if they were going to the Great Hall for lunch together, but before they could ask, Hermione walked out of the classroom alone without looking back.

She didn't go anywhere, she just came to the foyer of the castle, and then stood by the gate without saying a word and waited silently.

"What's wrong with her?"

"who knows!"

Harry and Ron were naturally a little strange when they saw this.

In the past two days, Hermione's state was not quite right. She seemed to have something on her mind. Although it was not to the extent that everyone could notice it, Harry and Ron could feel some disharmony.

At first they didn't want to stop Hermione and ask directly, but after some worried thinking, they decided to follow her secretly.

"She seems to be waiting for someone?" Harry, like Ron, hid behind the doorpost of the side corridor and looked over there from a distance. After observing for a while, he said softly, "Ron,

Who do you think she is waiting for?"

"It's definitely not the two of us anyway..."

Ron seemed quite uninterested. He was still worrying about his own affairs! He responded to Harry's soliloquy inquiry rather perfunctorily.

One sentence.

"Ron, why don't we go over and ask directly?" Harry suddenly said, "I always feel that this is not quite right. Hermione usually doesn't put on that expression... I think she must have encountered

What’s so difficult?”

"Well, I think it's best not to disturb her." Ron came back to his senses after hearing this, "Hermione always has her own reasons for doing things, and...if I disturb her at this time, I

I think we will be in trouble!"

"I have to admit, you seem to be right." Harry nodded with deep understanding.

It was already lunch time, because the auditorium was right next to it, and there were people coming and going in the foyer. Guys like Harry and Ron who were sneaking around and peeking behind the pillars naturally became a center of attention.

.

Whenever someone passes by here, they will look at the two of them hesitantly.

"Harry, I think we should go-"

Ron looked around and found that many pairs of eyes had turned to other directions under his glance. It was obvious that those eyes had been looking here just now.

"No, wait!" Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's sleeve, "Hermione moved, she seems to have found the person she is looking for..."

Just when Ron looked over there again following Harry's words, Hermione had already reached the entrance of the castle.

"Luna, do you have time now?"

At this moment, the girl with waist-length blond hair just walked to the steps outside the door. When she heard someone calling her name, she looked up curiously and covered her head.

The dazzling sunshine at noon.

"Hermione?" She said with dim eyes, "I'm going to the auditorium to have something to eat. Do you want to come with me? I heard there is milk pudding today..."

"Of course... you can," Hermione hesitated for a moment, but quickly nodded, "But before that, can I have a word with you? Well... that won't take too long."

Hermione seemed a little hesitant at this time, but she didn't seem to be affected by the wavering in her heart, and the words that needed to be said still flowed out of her mouth smoothly.

Under the sunlight outside the door, she squinted her eyes slightly, but still looked stubbornly straight into Luna's gray eyes.

One of the two girls was standing inside the door, and the other was standing outside. Their appearances and personalities were completely different. But somehow, when the two girls stood together, they didn't give people a strange feeling.

A sense of coordination.

Perhaps it will be difficult for them to become friends who talk about everything because of their different views on things, but the reason of one and the innocence of the other will tolerate each other, so that there will never be any dispute between them.

"Really?" Luna touched her belly naturally and said in her soft and erratic voice, "As long as it doesn't take long enough for your stomach to growl, then there's no problem..."

"I don't think so."

Hermione pursed her lips, then stepped out of the gate and pointed towards the lawn on the side of the castle.

"Please come over here...just a few words."

Luna looked at where she was pointing, then for some reason looked up at the clouds on the horizon, and then followed up with brisk steps to Hermione who walked over first.

"The weather is nice today, it's perfect for sunbathing..." As she walked, she inexplicably brought up an irrelevant topic, "Dad would never have thought of this, he is too busy."

"Maybe you could write him a letter and tell him."

Hermione responded in response, as if she wanted to lighten the atmosphere. But she didn't know that the only person who felt a little depressed at this moment was actually just herself.

"That's a good idea." After Luna heard this, she seemed to really start to think about it, "If the owl flies faster, he should be able to get home before the sun goes down... Well, I wonder if dad is at home today?

"

"Well... we can think about sending the letter later." Seeing that Luna had a vague tendency to take the topic further and further, Hermione had to interrupt her running thoughts, and at the same time, she immediately felt sorry for what she had just said.

"Luna, actually I have a question... No, let's forget about this first. I want to say, can I ask you to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow? There are some things I want to talk to you about."

Let’s talk carefully.”

"Hogsmeade day?" Luna nodded at that time, "Okay! I originally wanted to go to the magic equipment store. I heard that there are new products there, and you can find monster-proof glasses for harassers! You must

You’d also like a pair, right?”

"Oh, um... maybe?" Hermione felt that it was really difficult to have a normal conversation with this girl. She couldn't help but worry about tomorrow's reservation. "So, did you agree?"

"I think so..." Luna blinked slightly, and she didn't know whether her misty eyes were looking at Hermione or somewhere else, "We can go together... Where do you want to go first?"

Take a look around? Honeydukes?"

She was talking to herself, as if she was very happy to be able to spend a Hogsmeade day with Hermione. Or maybe she was actually happy that Hermione could take the initiative to invite her... But anyway

, she just didn't pay half attention to what Hermione said about "talking carefully".

Hermione listened to Luna's erratic words and stood there not knowing what she was thinking.

"...Oh, Hermione...Will Harry and Ron come together? Then we can go to the magic joke shop and have a look. They seem to like those..."

"No, we won't be with them this time." Hermione said suddenly, "It's just the two of us who will go to Hogsmeade tomorrow and have a chat alone, okay?"