Having finished her potion with over an hour left before class ended, Kate simply sat down and began to carefully flip through her textbooks.
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions were considered introductory Potions texts. She had already memorized the former backwards and forwards, and she had brewed the potions recorded in the latter at least once or twice at Newt's home. Aside from these, she hadn't yet tried her hand at the more advanced Potions textbooks, Most Potente Potions and Advanced Potion-Making.
In the path of Potions, she truly had no talent to speak of. She could only complete tasks by following the book to the letter, hardly comparable to a true master like Snape. Oh well, better to leave this subject for more talented people to research. As long as she could successfully pass the exams, that would be enough.
Just as Kate was thinking this, a cry of alarm suddenly came from Neville behind her.
She turned around just in time to see that he had melted Seamus's cauldron into a twisted lump, and the potion inside was splashing onto the stone floor.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Before the cauldron could completely tip over, Kate immediately drew her wand. She suspended the entire cauldron, along with the potion inside, in mid-air using a Levitation Charm.
"Idiot!" Snape strode over, waving his wand to vanish the suspended potion. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills without taking the cauldron off the fire, didn't you?"
Though he had escaped the fate of being splashed by the potion, Neville's eyes still reddened, sniffling.
Snape frowned, checking him over. Seeing he wasn't injured, he turned to look at Kate.
"Shafiq stopped this in time. Five points to Slytherin!"
Once the dust settled, Kate helped Neville clean up the cauldron again, then heard whispers from Harry and the others.
"The Levitation Charm can actually make liquids float?"
"I don't know. If it were me... well, I couldn't do it to that extent."
Of course. She had nearly practiced the Levitation Charm to Level 9. At this level, it could barely be called "making all things float." If Harry Potter could achieve her level just by relying on his protagonist halo, then all her grinding would have been in vain.
Kate turned back silently, wanting to see Hermione's reaction, but found that the girl had turned her back at some point.
A class passed quickly. Harry and Ron ran out in a hurry; judging by the direction, they were likely heading to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to find Hagrid.
The afternoon brought a double period of Flying Class, again with Gryffindor. Before that, she had to make things clear with Hermione.
Seeing that she was already packing her things, Kate stepped forward quickly and grabbed the girl's thin arm. "Hermione, come with me."
Almost forcibly dragging the person out of the dungeon, Kate didn't let go until they reached the grass outside the castle.
"I wanted to find you all day yesterday. I went to the library, followed you from the Great Hall all the way to the Gryffindor Common Room, but never found a chance to speak to you."
"Hermione, you're avoiding me on purpose, aren't you?"
Facing Kate's direct question, Hermione frowned and awkwardly turned her head away. "Who said I did it on purpose? You just didn't catch up to me."
"Fine, my legs were too slow." Kate smiled helplessly, pulling her by the shoulders to face her. "But I haven't spoken to you properly all day. I missed you."
Under the sunlight, the brown-haired girl's face seemed to burn red, as if sunburned.
"W-What nonsense are you saying!"
She flusteredly shook off Kate's hand, walked quickly to a nearby shaded spot, and secretly fanned her hot cheeks with her hand.
Strange, why did her heart feel like it was beating fast enough to jump out of her throat?
Kate chased after her anxiously. "I'm telling the truth. You've been angry with me for the past two days, angry that I wasn't sorted into the same House as you, haven't you?"
She worried that Hermione would run off again without hearing her out like before, so she simply let it all out in one breath.
"Actually, I was worried about this before school started, but I didn't know how to tell you. It's my fault for not telling you in advance."
"Later, I asked the Sorting Hat during the Sorting Ceremony. I said I wanted to go to Gryffindor, wanted to be with you, but the Sorting Hat said... Slytherin would suit me better."
"I don't know why it made that judgment, but... but my mother was in Slytherin too..."
Kate's voice paused. Her fingers carefully reached out, hooking Hermione's pinky and tugging gently.
"I wanted to see the House my mother lived in. Hermione, can you forgive my selfishness?"
Back when she first met Hermione, Kate was still a silver-haired little moppet less than a meter tall.
It was then, while doing homework at her house, that Hermione casually asked about her parents and learned that Sister Kate, who was only a year older than her, was an orphan whose parents had both passed away.
Since then, Hermione had never brought up the topic again, afraid of touching Kate's sad memories.
In reality, although Kate wasn't particularly heartbroken about it, recalling her deceased biological parents would occasionally make her feel low for a while.
Hermione never knew her mother was a Slytherin student. Seeing her mention this taboo subject, she panicked for a moment.
"Kate, I didn't know your mother was also..."
She swallowed the rest of her words, unwilling to mention it further, so she squeezed Kate's hand tightly.
"I'm sorry. I only knew how to be angry with you blindly, but I didn't consider your feelings."
Thinking back now, Kate clearly hadn't wanted to be separated from her either, yet she followed the Sorting Hat's advice and went to Slytherin.
Hermione had also heard that on her very first day there, she had gotten into a conflict with others and was almost attacked.
Under such circumstances, Kate still had to consider her feelings and wanted to apologize to her.
But Kate hadn't done anything wrong.
What was wrong with a child wanting to go to the House where her mother had lived?
"I'm sorry, Kate. I shouldn't have been angry with you. Can you forgive me?"
In an instant, the positions of the two swapped, becoming Hermione asking for her forgiveness.
Kate blinked, realizing this belatedly, and asked somewhat dazedly, "Hermione, shouldn't I be the one apologizing to you...?"
Not knowing which part of this poked Hermione's funny bone, the little lion cub, who had a face full of apology just a moment ago, suddenly laughed out loud.
She gently patted Kate's shoulder and sniffed hard. "Then let's forgive each other. No more getting angry at each other in the future."
"Mhm," Kate finally breathed a sigh of relief. "But Hermione, I don't think I was ever angry with you, was I?"
"...I don't care, anyway, no getting angry in the future!"
"Okay, whatever you say."
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