Now Hermione truly did not know what to do.
Even after Altair explained it like that, she still believed the leaf was extremely valuable, because she had never once read about this Moon Oak which was so magical in any book.
But judging from the way Altair looked, if she insisted on returning the gift, would that make him unhappy?
"So, are you still refusing this gift? If you don't want it, I'll just give it to someone else."
Altair said it with a smile. Not far away, Pansy, who had been secretly paying attention to them the whole time, instantly lit up at those words.
She had no idea what a Moon Oak was. All she knew was that Altair had given Hermione a birthday present today.
"No~"
Hermione noticed Pansy's little movements, and her heart tightened. She glanced at Altair, then let out a soft cry and turned her head away, her entire face flushing red.
Altair smiled, then personally fastened the earring onto Hermione's ear. He noticed that both her hands were fidgeting unconsciously below the table with the hem of her robes. She was so shy that even her ears had turned bright red.
Once Altair had helped her put on the earring, Hermione cautiously raised her head and realized that quite a few people nearby were looking at them and whispering among themselves.
"Thank you."
Hermione murmured softly to Altair.
"Just a thank you?"
Altair looked at her. It was the first time he had ever seen Hermione this bashful, and all of a sudden he felt like teasing her a little.
Hermione froze for a moment, then gave a small, uncertain sound and asked, "Th-then what do you want?"
Altair said nothing. He merely pointed lightly at his own cheek.
Hermione's eyes widened. With a tiny squeak, she jumped to her feet and cried out in a voice so faint it was barely audible, "I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Then Hermione ran off at full speed toward the Gryffindor table. Altair watched as she sat down, blushing furiously, beside her roommates. The three girls immediately began whispering among themselves, though there was no way of knowing what they were saying.
The girls were laughing very happily, and from time to time they would glance over in Altair's direction.
After finishing lunch neatly and efficiently, Altair headed to the History of Magic classroom on the second floor. He picked a seat in the corner and settled down, preparing to start sleeping, no, preparing to start class.
After resting for two hours, Altair left the classroom feeling completely refreshed.
That evening, Hermione did not eat dinner with Altair. Still, she came running over with a red face to give him a slice of cake. Whether it was a coincidence or not, the strawberry cream on top of the cake formed a red heart.
To Altair, it felt like he was playing some sort of raising simulation game, and he was very much enjoying the feeling.
...
And so the days passed, one after another.
In the blink of an eye, two more weeks went by, and Hogwarts returned to peace once more.
Ever since Professor Snape had resumed teaching, the dark cloud hanging over the students had completely disappeared. The professors of Hogwarts, however, were still on guard against the hidden hand lurking in the shadows.
Dumbledore, too, was setting his plans in motion, preparing to use the Philosopher's Stone to draw out the little rat hiding inside Hogwarts.
Ever since losing fifty points last time, Hermione had stopped spending time with Harry and Ron. Whenever their classes overlapped, she would sit with Altair. When the two houses were not together, Hermione would stay with her roommates instead.
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron had no idea that they were gradually drifting further and further away from the companion who should have become their closest friend. The two of them were still lost in dreams of heroism, stubbornly trying to find out what exactly the three-headed dog was guarding.
That afternoon, Altair stepped out of the Room of Requirement.
By this point, he had already brewed more than three hundred bottles of Orc potion. Looking at those dark green potions lined up neatly inside his system space filled him with a deep sense of accomplishment.
Today was September 30.
Very soon, the system's summoning privileges would refresh.
After leisurely having some afternoon tea in the Great Hall, Altair finally heard the system's notification that this month's summoning privileges had been updated.
He drained the last of his black tea, clapped his hands lightly, and chose item summoning.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have successfully drawn the item: Smaug's Golden Cup!"
"Hm? What kind of thing is that?"
Altair checked it curiously, and then his expression became rather strange.
This item was useless for the One Ring. It had no bond value at all. But for Altair personally, if he could summon Smaug in the future, then it would be quite useful.
Smaug was the last recorded dragon of Middle-earth. Unlike the dragons of the Harry Potter world, the dragons of Middle-earth were terrifyingly powerful, and Smaug ranked among the very strongest of them, at least of those who had remained in the third age
A fire-drake with a wingspan and body length of one hundred and forty-one meters, he possessed not only an incomparably mighty draconic body, but also fearsome dragon magic.
And this golden cup had once belonged to Smaug.
Once any of those treasures were stolen, Smaug would be able to determine their location through his dragon magic. He had dwelt among those treasures for almost two centuries.
No matter how far away it was, Smaug would fly to it.
And then destroy everything.
The golden cup Altair had drawn was precisely one of those marked treasures.
For now, this thing was of no particular use. But once Altair managed to summon Smaug into this world, then no matter where he placed the cup, it would draw Smaug there.
"Not bad."
Altair had never really expected to draw a bond item like an Elven Ring or a Dwarven Ring anyway. Compared to drawing some random feather quill, parchment, or human tableware, getting Smaug's Golden Cup was far better.
"Strike while the iron is hot. System, summon character!"