Early the next morning, Harry received the latest broomstick, the Nimbus 2000. He was currently immersed in the joy of Quidditch, completely unable to extricate himself.
And when Hermione saw him obtain a broomstick that first-year students were not permitted to have, she surprisingly didn't lecture him about school rules—a rare occurrence.
"I thought you would feel that this was an improper reward he got after violating the rules," Kate said. After finishing breakfast, she walked along the castle corridor with Hermione as usual.
neither House had classes this morning, so they had agreed to go to the library to review their coursework.
"If it were anyone else, I probably would have said that," Hermione spread her hands. "But he was forced to break the rules to help you, so how could I blame him?"
If she knew how to use a flying broomstick, she definitely would have rushed up directly to pull Malfoy down.
Fine then. Helping her versus helping Neville—in Hermione's heart, there were indeed two different standards.
Kate felt a small swell of pride internally, then remembered something. "By the way, since Harry got into the team, the teams of other Houses should be recruiting recently too, right?"
"That is happening," Hermione nodded. "But those are activities that only students in their second year and above can participate in—except for Harry."
She thought Kate was interested in the sport of Quidditch, so she kindly reminded her.
But Kate only brought it up because she had given up on the flight skill spell yesterday, so she had to put practicing the broomstick on her schedule. It was just that her aptitude in sports was truly lacking; after thinking it over, she could only find someone to help give her private tutoring.
And among the people she knew, besides Harry, the one with the best flying skills was Cho Chang.
Hermione didn't hear her speak for a long while, so she tilted her head to look at her, asking hesitantly, "Kate? Do you also want to join the Quidditch team?"
"I'm just somewhat interested," Kate answered vaguely.
In the original works, Cho Chang should have also become a Seeker in her second year, and later even met Harry on the pitch. In that case, since every House team is recruiting recently, Cho Chang must be exerting all her strength, wanting to get into the Ravenclaw team.
To ask someone for help, one must cater to their interests. At the very least, she had to understand a bit more about Quidditch to conveniently steer the topic in that direction.
Thinking this, Kate couldn't help but speed up. "Let's go to the library now and see if there are any books on Quidditch. I haven't properly understood this sport yet!"
Hermione paused for a moment, seeing that Kate had already walked far ahead, and hurriedly followed.
They were among the earliest batch to arrive at the library and secured a decent spot. Originally, Kate wanted to go directly to find books about Quidditch, but under Hermione's gaze, she had no choice but to sit honestly in her seat first, reading senior-year textbooks for an hour.
It wasn't until she finished reading another chapter of the Transfiguration textbook—which was meant for seventh-year students—that she blinked her eyes and looked at Hermione. "Can I go look for Quidditch books now?"
Hermione leaned back in her chair and nodded helplessly, watching as Kate trotted all the way into the bookshelves.
She didn't know why, but she always felt that Kate was much more lively than when she was at home before. True, after all, at home only she alone could keep Kate company, but at school, Kate would have more friends...
Subconsciously, Hermione rubbed her chest. Why did she feel a bit stifled whenever she thought about Kate laughing and playing with other students?
After waiting in her seat for quite a while without Kate returning, Hermione stood up somewhat strangely and found her way to the shelves housing the Quidditch books. There, she saw Kate leaning against a bookshelf, talking to a strange girl.
The other party had reddish-blonde curly hair, and her appearance wasn't particularly beautiful.
"This is the 'Complete Encyclopedia of Quidditch Terms', and this 'Quidditch: An Introductory Guide'." The girl was enthusiastically picking up several books and stuffing them into Kate's hands.
As she spoke, she glanced at Hermione who had come looking from behind, and nodded politely. "Then I'll head back first."
"Mhm, goodbye." Kate nodded with a chuckle. When she turned around, she saw Hermione standing right behind her.
She took the initiative to explain, "That was Ravenclaw's second-year, Marietta Edgecombe. She recommended a few books about Quidditch to me."
So it was just that.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the few heavy tomes Kate was holding in her arms, frowning hesitantly. "Are you really that interested in this sport?"
Even if her personality had become more lively, the Kate from back home was a shut-in who didn't even want to step out the door; her daily exercise volume definitely wouldn't exceed a thousand steps.
For her to suddenly become obsessed with a high-intensity confrontational sport like Quidditch was truly surprising to Hermione.
Kate led her back to their seats and answered casually, "It's just that I didn't understand it much before. Since I have nothing to do today, I thought I'd take a look in passing."
Is it just that?
The doubts in Hermione's heart slightly dissolved, but seeing Kate's high spirits, she still couldn't help but remind her. "If you really want to join the Quidditch team, I think you still have to master the flying broomstick skills well. And stamina—I remember your stamina has always been poor."
Although she was surprised that Kate liked a sport that was sweeping the entire wizarding world, she could accept it. And within seconds of accepting it, she began thinking about how to help Kate join the Quidditch team in her second year.
In Hermione's heart, Kate was already perfect beyond perfect: good-looking, good at studies, with a gentle personality, and always yielding to her in everything. Aside from poor health, she couldn't think of any other flaws Kate had.
But as a high-intensity sport, what Quidditch needed most was precisely stamina.
Kate had just finished reading the book's preface. Hearing Hermione's words, she looked up blankly. "I didn't think about joining the team."
Hermione paused. "Then you..."
"I thought about how Cho Chang wants to enter Quidditch, so I wanted to understand it a bit." Kate curved her eyes in a smile. "Edgecombe just now is Cho Chang's friend. She said Cho Chang is currently preparing for the selection training."
Hermione's small brows immediately furrowed. "You're saying... you just want to go watch Senior Cho Chang play Quidditch?"
"Mhm. If Gryffindor has a match, I'll go watch Harry too," Kate admitted openly, completely failing to notice the tumultuous emotions instantly rising and falling in Hermione's heart at this moment.
"Edgecombe said just now that they would go to the pitch this afternoon and asked if I wanted to go watch. I agreed. Do you want to come together?"
Hermione lowered her head, her fingers holding the book tightening unconsciously. "No... no need. I'm... not very familiar with Senior Cho Chang either."
"That's fine too." Kate wasn't surprised by her refusal and nodded immediately.
The little lion's head suddenly lifted, her lower lip bitten tightly. It was a long while before she spoke: "Let's go together after all."
At least, she had to stay by Kate's side.
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