Having just come back from exchanging gifts with Harry and the others, Hermione had originally been thinking about how she would spend the remaining two days of the holiday properly celebrating Kate's birthday with her—and then she pushed open the door and saw Kate and Cho Chang locked in an embrace.
She froze. Cho Chang froze too.
Only Kate was still grinning foolishly, and the moment she saw her come back, she let go of Cho Chang and went over to pull her along: "Hermione, are you hungry? Let's have longevity noodles together in a bit!"
Hermione was still immersed in the image of the two of them embracing so intimately just now, her gaze rather unfocused, and it wasn't until Kate came over that she snapped back to herself: "...Eat noodles?"
"Mm!" Kate nodded excitedly. "Cho Chang said she'd help me make longevity noodles to celebrate my birthday, and everyone can eat together!"
So... it was only because of this?
Quietly relaxing the fist she'd clenched a moment ago, Hermione lowered her eyelids slightly and forced a smile: "Sure, I happen to be a little hungry."
She very much wanted to act as though she'd seen nothing, but the strained, forced quality of it was simply too obvious—so much so that even Kate could tell something was off.
"What's wrong?" Kate leaned in with concern, her eyes full of worry. "You look so pale—did something happen?"
If Hermione so much as nodded, she'd go drag Harry and Ron out and get to the bottom of it right away!
"I think she just tired herself out playing during the day," Cho Chang said, coming up from behind and resting a hand lightly on Hermione's shoulder. "She just needs an early night."
Kate narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Is that really it?"
"Mm, Senior Cho Chang's right," Hermione said with a tired smile. "I played a bit too hard today—seems like I'm running low on energy."
Though it sounded a little unconvincing, Hermione had spent the entire day running wild with her housemates from the Lion House, so maybe that really was the case.
"Then you'd better take care of yourself." A little helplessly, Kate stepped forward and supported her, walking her all the way over to sit down on the bed. "You two wait here—I'll go cook some noodles for you."
Cho Chang started, and hurriedly grabbed hold of her. "You're going to cook the noodles?"
"What else?" Kate gave a helpless laugh. "What if you burn another hole through my cauldron?"
Well, uh...
Knowing she was in the wrong, Cho Chang could only obediently shut her mouth.
Briskly rolling up her sleeves, Kate walked over to the induction cooker on the balcony and, for the first time in a long while, took out her extra-large cauldron.
How much could the medium-sized cauldron they used in class possibly cook? This one of hers was far more impressive!
While she busied herself outside, inside the room the two girls each sat on their own beds, for a moment at a loss for words as they looked at each other.
What should they say?
Talk about the awkward business of her embracing Kate earlier, only to be walked in on?
Even Cho Chang, who fancied herself a social butterfly, hardly had the courage to revisit it—let alone Hermione, who looked even more like the "wronged party."
From their very first meeting, Cho Chang had known that Hermione seemed to cling to Kate, though at the time she'd simply thought it was the case of a Muggle-born young wizard newly arrived in the magical world habitually relying on someone.
But as time went on, she increasingly realized that Hermione's feelings toward Kate seemed far from ordinary.
Most of the time it was fine—at most the two of them were just a little clingy—but every time she herself drew close, she could feel that faint, elusive hostility in Hermione's eyes.
This hostility wasn't something Hermione gave off deliberately, because over their long acquaintance Cho Chang understood that Hermione was actually fairly friendly toward her.
But every time she got close to Kate, Hermione's hostility would surface.
This forced her to overthink things, forced her to work out just what kind of feelings Hermione held for Kate.
Because possessiveness exists in friendship too, and she couldn't make someone out to be an imaginary enemy for no reason.
So far, Cho Chang couldn't be sure whether Hermione's feelings for Kate had already surpassed friendship, but of one thing she was certain—
If Kate really did like girls, and one day wanted to find a woman to keep by her side as a partner, then she would most likely choose Hermione.
The reason was none other than time.
They had known each other for far too long—long enough to span almost the entirety of their ten-odd years of life.
Over such an accumulation of time, she understood clearly that both Hermione and Kate had built up feelings for each other so deep they were hard to imagine—certainly not something she could shake in a day or two.
Of course, she had never once thought of shaking the bond between them.
So when she realized she harbored an unusual fondness for Kate, Cho Chang's first reaction was neither delight nor a rush to confess, but to press down that little flutter in her heart.
She had no need to compete—and couldn't win even if she tried.
So... since there was no hope, why not contentedly do what a friend ought to do?
Yes, she had thought this way from the very start: just be a friend, no need to fight over anything—that would only ruin the bond among the three of them.
And so she taught Hermione how to get along with Kate more easily, and was glad to see the two of them growing closer.
But... even though all of this had been kept perfectly under control, the moment alone just now—Kate's sudden embrace—had thrown her heart into turmoil all over again.
The psychological defenses she'd thought she could hold nearly collapsed after just a single moment of intimate contact.
And the crux of it was, this whole scene had been witnessed by Hermione.
For a moment, she didn't even know how to face Hermione.
"...Just now," Cho Chang said, gathering her courage—being the older one, she knew she had to be the one to set things straight—"I said I wanted to make some longevity noodles for Kate, and that's why she hugged me."
Nothing more, and there never would be anything more.
A secret bitterness welled up in her heart, yet on her face she wore a generous smile: "And honestly, just look at me—I can't even boil noodles without scorching them to mush. Seems I'd better keep my distance from the kitchen from now on."
Her expression was so natural—so natural that even Hermione was fooled by it, gradually relaxing her stiff body.
"Actually..." Hermione gathered her words, and her still-somewhat-cold little face finally warmed a bit, "Senior, in the future you could find a partner who knows how to cook."
Cho Chang raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll take that as a good omen—let my Christmas wish be to find a partner who can cook one day."
Both of them tacitly ignored the gender of this "partner."
But in any case, the awkward silence of moments ago, under Cho Chang's efforts to break the ice, finally showed signs of thawing.
Just then Luna came bouncing in through the door, her lively eyes pausing somewhat strangely as they landed on the two of them.
Why... did she feel the atmosphere in here was so strange?
Before she could even open her mouth to ask, Kate walked in carrying a big pot of noodles: "Luna, you're back just in time—come eat the longevity noodles I made!"
"Long...gev...ity noodles?" Luna did her best to imitate the Chinese words. "What's that?"
Cho Chang slung an arm around her shoulders and said with a grin, "Don't worry about all that—just treat it as a midnight snack!"
"Right, right—I want to taste Kate's cooking too!" Hermione added, standing up as well.
Luna blinked in puzzlement.
That strange feeling from before seemed to have vanished—yet it also seemed to linger on.
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