Hermione couldn't bear to watch any longer. From her hiding spot, she saw Pansy's face lose color with each page she turned. She instinctively wanted to look away, but some unseen force seemed to be encouraging Pansy, making her stubbornly continue reading.
So Hermione could only remain frozen in place, afraid to move. The small mercy was that Pansy only read there and didn't take the book back with her, giving Hermione some hope.
Hermione watched numbly as Pansy flipped through the pages of "Powerful Potions," one by one. As time passed, Pansy's reaction became less intense, though her eyes still held a hint of revulsion.
Suddenly, Pansy's hand stopped turning the pages, making Hermione breathe a sigh of relief. She thought Pansy had finally lost interest in the book.
But events took another unexpected turn. Hermione saw that Pansy, who had been pale with fear at the terrifying illustrations, now had a sickly blush on her face, her eyes shining as she stared at the page before her.
Then, as if making up her mind, Pansy took a deep breath and grabbed the page.
With a "rip," Hermione saw Pansy tear the entire page out and carefully fold it many times before putting it in her pocket.
Hermione suddenly thought the people who had enchanted these books were fools. Had they never considered that there were purely physical ways to damage a book?
She conveniently forgot that she herself had torn a page from a book about the Basilisk the previous year.
Pansy was about to casually tuck the book back into the neatly arranged row when she suddenly stopped. As if remembering something, she quickly flipped through the pages again, scribbled on one with a quill, and examined it carefully before sighing in relief. Then, after looking around to make sure no one was watching, she buried the "experienced" book beneath a pile of large volumes and hurried away.
Almost as soon as Pansy left, Hermione rushed out of her hiding place. She didn't care if the sound of her running would give her away; her immediate goal was to retrieve the book.
Reaching the old bookshelf, she gently removed the obstacles Pansy had placed to hide the book. Hermione picked up the large "Powerful Potions" and slowly walked away, heading towards the Restricted Section.
She couldn't imagine what Pansy had seen that interested her so much, that it would make her wear such an expression.
Driven by curiosity, Hermione opened the "Powerful Potions," which was now missing a page, and began to browse, but found nothing.
Hermione guessed that Pansy had scribbled on the book's index with a quill to erase any trace of the missing page.
Hermione could only reluctantly put the book back where it belonged.
After all this commotion, Hermione looked out the window and realized that too much time had passed. The sun was about to set, and she didn't have much time left to study. Hogwarts Library closed at eight o'clock every day.
Leaving the Restricted Section, Hermione randomly chose a spot, removed her Invisibility Cloak, sat down, and began to study her textbooks diligently.
After all, overthinking it was useless. From her perspective, she didn't believe Pansy could brew any of the potions.
The Time-Turner had been taken away, and Hermione couldn't get it back even after asking Professor McGonagall. She could only accept this reality. The current courses were still not very difficult for her. The recent exhaustion and busyness were only because Hermione's choices had been too broad, and she couldn't handle it all.
But she still held herself to high standards. Since she had chosen fewer courses, she had to work harder on these subjects.
Unlike Harry and Ron, Hermione took every assignment and every class seriously, even Potions taught by the detestable Snape. She hoped to get high marks in every subject.
She absolutely did not condone the dishonest attitude of the two of them occasionally copying homework.
"Achoo." Ron suddenly sneezed, rubbed his nose, and nudged Harry's back with his elbow. "Harry, do you think I'm allergic to cat hair?"
He and Harry were rushing to finish their homework in the Gryffindor common room. Crookshanks's intelligent eyes were fixed on them, as if they were committing a crime. His usually grumpy face now seemed genuinely angry.
"Stop staring at us like that. Your owner isn't here right now." Ron seemed a little guilty and reached out to pat Crookshanks's head to appease him, but Crookshanks nimbly twisted his chubby body, avoiding Ron's hand, his yellow eyes filled with disdain.
Defeated, Ron could only say to Harry, "If Crookshanks had just killed that rat back then, that would have been great. I can't believe Peter Pettigrew had the nerve to try and deceive everyone."
"By the way, when are you going to see your godfather? There shouldn't be any problems this time," Ron continued.
Harry just shook his head. He planned to ask Professor Lupin after Defense Against the Dark Arts class tomorrow.
He wanted to see Sirius, but he didn't know how to arrange a meeting.
He guessed that Sirius might be flitting from speech to lecture, just like Peter Pettigrew had before.
Stretching lazily, Harry shook off his distractions and continued to rush through his homework.
While many students were focused on their assignments, Pansy had excitedly returned to her dormitory. Her roommates were gone, which was perfect for her. The only difference from the boys' dormitory was the addition of some decorations that girls liked, such as a pink wind chime. When the breeze from outside blew in through the window, it would sway and ring with a clear, melodious sound.
But when Pansy actually hung up the decoration, she realized she had made a big mistake. The wind chime never rang.
Because the Slytherin dormitory was underground, where would the windows and wind come from?
Now, Pansy was dragging a nanmu chair to her desk, then she threw herself onto her bed, grabbed her favorite oval cotton pillow, and hugged it to her chest. This made her feel at ease. She carefully unfolded the paper that had been folded many times and laid it flat on the table. Then, she pulled out a blank piece of parchment from the desk drawer and began to write and draw on it, her eyes constantly glancing at the densely folded paper. If someone were behind her, they would clearly see that, in addition to large patches of dense text, the most conspicuous thing on the paper was a heart-shaped pattern printed in pink ink.
"Frozen Ashwinder eggs... the name alone sounds expensive," Pansy murmured the name of one of the ingredients, her face immediately falling.
"This price is worth it," she thought, comforting herself, extremely grateful that she hadn't spent too much money this semester and could barely afford the potions.
It was actually hard to find places to spend money at Hogwarts. Plus, she had passed out at Hogsmeade that one time, and the second time she was punished by someone and couldn't go. Having not spent much money, Pansy's little treasury was still quite full.
They might have bought a lot of candy before going to the bar, but those expenses were just a drop in the bucket.
You should know that while a girl's stomach is limited, her pursuit of beauty is infinite. As long as she doesn't buy cosmetics, the damage to her wallet won't be too great.
"Luckily, I passed out that day and didn't spend much money." Thinking of this, Pansy's face flushed again, and she wondered if she had done anything crazy while drunk.