While Hermione was in the shower, Kate finished changing and, while she was at it, used a spell to give the room a quick cleaning.
In any case, during a field trip, the Ministry of Magic couldn't use the Trace to detect whether an underage Wizard was using magic outside of school.
By the time she'd finished tidying the entire room—she'd even mopped the floor three times—Hermione still hadn't come out.
This ordinary standard hotel room didn't even have a bathtub; was the girl in there practicing her kung fu?
"Hermione, aren't you done yet?" Walking up to the bathroom door, she knocked. Kate was even prepared to break the door down on the spot if no one answered.
The sound of running water inside gradually faded. She heard the patter of bare feet on the floor, the footsteps drawing nearer and nearer, and then the bathroom door was pulled open from the inside.
Hermione stepped out with her hair pinned up, wrapped in nothing but a pink bath towel, her little face flushed red from the steam in the room and slightly lowered, as she fumbled somewhat flusteredly into her slippers.
"I think I lost track of time just now, sorry..." she apologized to Kate in a low voice, hurriedly slipping past her to grab her change of clothes from the bed.
Kate was momentarily dazed by the sight of her, but immediately snapped back to her senses and at once turned around to give her space to change.
"Just now... were you half-asleep?" She tried a bit of a quip to ease the rather awkward atmosphere.
Hermione hurriedly pulled on her clothes, murmured a single word in reply, and then fell silent.
For the first time, she didn't know what to say.
Pressing her lips lightly together, Kate, facing the steam-filled bathroom before her, subconsciously swallowed.
Damn—that sight just now seemed to pack a bit too much of a punch; it was the first time she'd ever seen Hermione wearing so little.
In the dead of winter, coming out without drying herself off properly—wasn't she afraid of catching a cold!
She'd have to have a proper word with Hermione about it later.
"...Are you done?" she asked carefully.
After a while, she heard Hermione say, "Done, you can turn around."
She rubbed her nose and turned around awkwardly, only to see that Hermione was already fully dressed and tidying her hair.
Kate's steps faltered, then she detoured over to the tea table at the side, poured a glass of cold water and took a couple of sips, finally relaxing. "It's getting late, let's go down to the second floor."
"Okay. I bet Professor Snape has already brought them all back with him."
Hermione finished combing her hair, draped a black coat over herself, and walked over to take Kate's hand of her own accord. "Your face looks a bit red—do you have a fever?"
"Huh? No... I don't!" Kate jerked her head aside, touched her own forehead, and defended herself stubbornly. "It's just that the bathroom was too hot just now—you stayed in there a bit too long."
"So I'm not allowed to like being clean?" Hermione lifted her chin and retorted indignantly.
Kate couldn't help leaning back, forcing a smile. "You are, of course you are."
It seemed that lecturing was not really something she was cut out for.
When the two of them came down together to the buffet restaurant on the second floor, they found it was already packed with people.
"Hey, Kate!" Spotting the two of them, Cho Chang quickly stood up and waved.
Only then did the two of them thread their way past all the various tables, and after some effort sat down, finding that both Cho Chang and Luna were at this long table.
Unlike at school, meals here weren't divided by Academy; you could sit wherever you liked.
"How are you feeling?" Cho Chang pulled out a chair for her and, in a very classic gesture, pressed her hand to Kate's forehead.
Truly a person from China—when in doubt, check the temperature first.
Letting her feel her forehead, Kate then explained, "I'm fine now, and Hermione looked after me all afternoon too—if you don't believe me, ask her!"
Suddenly singled out, Hermione hadn't even reacted yet, but then she thought of the earlier scene of sharing a bed with Kate, and a touch of pink quietly crept up her earlobes.
"Mm!" She nodded quickly. "Kate, she... is perfectly fine now."
Cho Chang looked rather suspiciously at the inexplicably odd attitude of the two of them, yet couldn't tell what exactly was off.
Luna, on the other hand, paused subtly on Kate, her drifting gaze seeming to have finally found something solid to fix on.
"Hey," Cho Chang leaned over and asked her in a low voice, "did you spot anything wrong?"
Luna tilted her head, a faint glimmer in her eyes. "Nope."
"Even you didn't notice..." Only then did Cho Chang withdraw her suspicious scrutiny, her expression softening considerably. "Never mind. After dinner is free time; we can talk it over slowly then."
The two who'd slept all afternoon were by now utterly famished, and naturally didn't stand on ceremony; as soon as the flashy Lockhart finished his showy pre-meal remarks, they couldn't wait to bow their heads and dig in.
Dinner lasted nearly an hour before people gradually began to leave.
Kate polished off the last fry on her plate, casually wiped her mouth, and stood up. "I'm going out for a bit; you all head back to the room first."
When she left, the three at the table were still sitting safe and sound in their places; the moment she was gone, Cho Chang's gossipy gaze immediately fell upon Hermione.
"Had you two just showered when you came down?" she asked mischievously. "It was just the two of you at the hotel all afternoon—out with it, what did you do?"
Hermione froze. "How did you know?"
"Because the hotel's body wash has the scent of rose essence," Luna explained airily. "When you two came down together, you both carried that smell."
Lowering her head and sniffing a little guiltily, Hermione looked up doubtfully. "How come I can't smell any rose?"
"But it seems you two really did shower." Cho Chang leaned back against her chair with a smile and gleefully high-fived Luna.
Only then did Hermione realize the two of them had teamed up to trick her.
She crossed her arms a little crossly. "It's because the heating in the room was turned up too high, and Kate lay in bed all afternoon and worked up a sweat in her sleep, so that's why she went to shower."
"And what about you?" Cho Chang raised an eyebrow. "Did you also sleep all afternoon? Or are you saying... you and Ka—"
"It's nothing like that!" Struck right where it hurt, Hermione shot to her feet. "We—we slept separately!"
And with that, she fled in a panic.
The smile all over Cho Chang's face quickly dimmed after she left.
The two of them had slept all afternoon—and in the same bed, no less.
Although she'd long known the two were childhood sweethearts, close since they were small, actually seeing Hermione so far ahead of her still inevitably left her feeling a little put out.
"It's fine, we're all still young..." she quietly cheered herself on.
What's more, Kate right now was utterly clueless about such things, so she still had a chance.
"Let's head back too, Luna."
She rose to her feet and left the table with an unsettled heart.
Luna followed behind her, her silver-white eyes gazing thoughtfully at her back, then glancing once in the direction Hermione had gone.
Oh my—it seemed she had discovered something quite extraordinary.
Friendly reminder: the bounty is ending tonight, folks!
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