The ten-odd days of Christmas holiday passed in the blink of an eye, and Kate had a genuine, solid vacation—one where she didn't have to grind spells.
Fortunately, now that she knew the old butler was also a golden thigh worth clinging to, she wasn't quite so anxious anymore.
On Christmas Day itself, the old butler sent a whole pile of things to the hotel—all gifts she had prepared in advance. Besides a few special presents, there were also all sorts of candies suitable for handling ordinary classmates.
Somehow, when Malfoy received the candy gift package Kate personally delivered to her door that evening, she blushed and trembled all over.
Kate had meant to kindly remind her to keep warm, but the girl snatched the gift away with a whoosh, then slammed the door shut with a bang.
Right afterward, the sound of what seemed to be Miss Malfoy's giggling drifted out of the room.
So this fellow loved candy that much? Then next time she'd better send her some Tooth-Strengthening Potion.
As for the others—what she gave Hermione was a Wizard Chess manual; Hermione had recently become obsessed with Wizard Chess, dead set on contending with Cho Chang for supremacy.
What Cho Chang got was a new athletic outfit that could protect her from injury to the greatest extent during matches.
For Luna, it was a small moon-shaped night light, enchanted so it could follow her around at any time—very convenient.
Every time she saw Luna, Kate was always reminded of that curved crescent moon up in the sky, which was why she'd thought to give the moon lamp.
None of the gifts she gave this time were especially expensive, but each was full of heartfelt sentiment.
As she walked through the corridor, she saw Pansy just stepping out of the elevator, so she stuffed a packet of candy at her too.
"By the way," she said, struck by a thought, "does Malfoy really like eating candy?"
Pansy shook her head, baffled. "Crabbe and Goyle like it. As for Draco... I've hardly ever seen him eat this kind of thing. You know, the Malfoy family's upbringing isn't exactly lenient."
Fine then.
Kate stroked her chin thoughtfully. Most children loved candy; perhaps it was only because the upbringing was so strict that Malfoy had never had much chance to eat these little snacks.
"Then here's some more for you." She pulled two more packets of candy from her pouch and pressed them into Pansy's hands, leaning in to whisper, "Pass them to Malfoy for me when the time comes."
Pansy's eyes widened in some shock; once she grasped Kate's good intentions, she couldn't help asking mischievously, "Didn't you break off your friendship with Draco a long time ago?"
"Break it off?" Kate raised an eyebrow. "When was I ever on good terms with Malfoy?"
With that, she breezed past her and walked into the room.
"Tsk..." Weighing the two fairly hefty packets of candy in her hand, Pansy smacked her lips. "The pair of them—both stubborn types who won't admit defeat with their words!"
And now she was being put to the trouble of running back and forth as the messenger.
Brimming with helplessness, she finally walked over and knocked on the door of Malfoy's single room.
The moment Kate returned to her room, she smelled a burnt odor drifting from the balcony. Startled, she immediately hurried over and used a spell to instantly clean the blackened, mushy thing out of the cauldron.
"Ah, my noodles!" The instant Cho Chang came out of the bathroom, she saw Kate holding her cauldron with an exasperated look on her face, and rushed forward in alarm.
But she was still a step too late.
"Is this your cauldron?" Kate planted her hands on her hips, out of patience, and reached up to switch off the still-running induction cooker. "Everything inside is burnt."
Cho Chang lowered her head sheepishly. "I think I... didn't add enough water..."
Burning noodles while boiling them—you're really something.
Kate sighed, cleaned up the surroundings, then opened the window to air the place out. Right now both Hermione and Luna had gone off to other rooms to deliver gifts; if she hadn't come back, the place really might have gone up in flames.
"Cooking noodles at this hour—are you hungry?" she asked, barely managing to keep her tone calm and even.
Cho Chang lifted her head, glanced at her cautiously, then let her gaze drop to the cauldron in Kate's hand—so badly burned its bottom was practically gone—and laughed bitterly. "Mm... I'm just a little hungry..."
As she spoke, she let out an unexpected, full burp, without even time to cover it up.
Seeing this, Kate helplessly reached out and rapped her on the head. "At tonight's Christmas feast, you ate more than anyone. Try a different excuse."
"Then..." Hearing that, Cho Chang actually started thinking it over in earnest. "Then it's that I was too cold and wanted to cook something to warm myself up... Ow!"
She clutched her forehead, which had just been rapped again, and rubbed it in pain.
"Today I added three Warming Charms to each of you." Kate mercilessly exposed her lie, then lowered her head and frowned at the nearly ruined cauldron in her hand.
Ruined to this degree—she had no idea whether a Mending Charm could fix it, or whether she'd just better buy a new one.
Seeing that Kate said nothing, Cho Chang assumed she was still angry, and in a flustered moment grabbed her arm. "Actually... actually I wanted to cook the noodles for you to eat!"
"Cook noodles?" Kate looked up in surprise, blinking. "I ate plenty tonight too; there's no need for more."
She even patted her own little belly.
She hadn't deliberately exercised during this stretch, and the toned abs she'd worked so hard to develop were no longer very noticeable.
"That's not what I meant..." Cho Chang pressed a hand to her forehead, at a loss. "In my hometown, on your birthday you always eat longevity noodles—they symbolize a long and healthy life. Kate, I want to make some for you."
Kate's expression froze for a moment.
She really hadn't expected that Cho Chang wanted to make noodles for her.
Because even in her previous life, she had rarely celebrated a birthday or eaten longevity noodles. Back then her family's circumstances were poor, and there was no spare money to throw a birthday for a child.
After she grew up and was busy scraping by, she had even less inclination to observe the day.
Later, even after coming to this world, at most she would eat some cake and accept a few gifts.
The longevity noodles she had once most yearned for as a child were more like a trivial little wish, abandoned somewhere behind her memories.
No one had ever brought up that wish, and as time wore on, she stopped thinking about it too.
But today, on the day her birthday was about to arrive, a girl from the hometown of her previous life told her she wanted to make her a bowl of longevity noodles.
"Are... are you okay?" Seeing that Kate's expression seemed off, Cho Chang nervously clung to her arm. "Actually, longevity noodles are just a custom from my hometown—if you don't like them, you don't have to eat them..."
She didn't finish her words, because she was interrupted by a sudden, warm embrace.
"No, I really love your gift." Kate had all but buried her head in the crook of Cho Chang's neck, her voice unusually tender and lingering. "Little Cho, thank you."
The atmosphere in the room fell silent in an instant.
Cho Chang's eyelashes trembled violently, and that secret, unspeakable thought deep in her heart burst forth anew.
She curled the corners of her lips, and, heart pounding with excitement, moved to wrap her arms around Kate in return. But at the very instant her fingers were about to touch that slender back, the door of the room opened.
Hermione stopped in the doorway.
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