Chapter 176

Chapter 176

Suer waited all day, but Hermione never came downstairs to find him.

There was nothing else for it. If Hermione would not come to him, he would go to Hermione.

At precisely eight in the morning, the Grangers’ car engine started. Once Suer was certain Mr Granger would not turn back halfway, he crept quietly into Hermione’s house.

Wait — why was he sneaking about as though he were doing something wrong?

Suer promptly straightened up and approached Mrs Granger with perfect confidence. “I’ve come to see Hermione, Mrs Granger. Is she awake?”

“Not yet.” Mrs Granger was turning bacon in a frying pan. “She’s upstairs. Would you mind helping me call her down?”

“Of course, Mrs Granger.”

With permission granted, Suer went upstairs as though he knew the way by heart.

“Knock, knock…”

“Coming, Mum.” Footsteps sounded behind the door, accompanied by Hermione’s clear voice, unchanged after a month and a half away.

The lock clicked open.

“Morning, Hermione.” Suer smiled at the girl standing there in her pyjamas, her bushy hair a complete mess.

Perhaps she had only just woken, because Hermione looked rather dazed. A moment later, however, her eyes widened.

“Aaaaaah!”

Her scream was loud enough to reach the garden. Then the door slammed shut so hard that Suer felt the floor shake beneath his feet.

He rubbed his ears miserably. How could such a small body produce so much noise? His eardrums felt ready to burst.

“What happened?” Mrs Granger hurried upstairs in alarm, still holding her spatula.

Suer continued rubbing his ears and gave her an innocent look.

Not long afterwards, Hermione sat at the dining table with a flushed face and her head bowed, refusing to say a word. Suer was still rubbing his ears; that soul-piercing shriek had left his entire head ringing.

Mrs Granger stood nearby, scolding Hermione for being so reckless.

“Oh, I know, Mum!” Hermione finally protested in a low voice. She even glared at Suer. “He startled me… I thought it was you calling me downstairs.”

“And you’re still arguing?” Mrs Granger said sternly.

“All right, all right…” Hermione pursed her lips, unconvinced.

Mrs Granger’s lecture continued until Hermione had finished breakfast.

While Mrs Granger washed up in the kitchen, Hermione secretly glared at Suer again.

“You got Mum to scold me. Happy now?”

“You nearly deafened me,” Suer replied helplessly. “Surely I’m not more frightening than the ghosts at Hogwarts?”

“You knocked without saying anything!” Hermione retorted with complete conviction. “You can’t just knock on a girl’s bedroom door like that!”

“We have slept together before…” Suer muttered.

“What did you say?” Hermione’s face turned scarlet. Ignoring the fact that her mother was in the nearby kitchen, she clapped a hand over Suer’s mouth and hissed through gritted teeth, “Who… who slept with you?”

“Mmmph…”

In the kitchen, Mrs Granger had been listening closely. Her hands froze. Surely she had not heard that correctly?

“What did you just say, Hermione? You two…” Mrs Granger dropped the sponge and hurried out of the kitchen, an indescribably strange expression on her face. She stared at them both. “Did you sleep together at school?”
“Mum!” Hermione’s face blazed crimson.

“No, no, I was only joking, Mrs Granger,” Suer explained hurriedly.

Quite some time later, Hermione dragged Suer out of the house. No matter how they explained, Mrs Granger’s expression remained peculiar.

“This is all your fault.” Hermione stamped on the top of Suer’s foot. “Now I can’t even go home!”

“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t screamed,” Suer grumbled. “And I wasn’t wrong. You slept while hugging my Animagus form. What difference is there between that and hugging me?”

“You’re still talking!”

When Hermione lunged at him, ready to pinch and bite, Suer hastily retreated several steps. “Wait, wait… I said I was sorry!”

“Aren’t you curious why I came to find you?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be anything good!” Hermione’s cheeks puffed with anger, and her ears were still bright red despite the healthy tan she had acquired while travelling.

“It is important.” Suer’s expression turned serious.

“We’re going to Hogwarts in four days. We haven’t bought next year’s textbooks, and we still need some ingredients for the Animagus process. Besides, Harry and I arranged to meet everyone at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley this afternoon.”

“You managed to contact Harry?”

“Yes.” Suer nodded. “Harry even stayed at my house for two nights. Then, for some reason, he moved into the Leaky Cauldron. I received his letter the day before you came home.”

“What happened? Doesn’t Harry live with his aunt? Why did he stay at your house for two nights, and why is he in Diagon Alley now?” Distracted from her anger, Hermione began firing curious questions at him.

“It’s a long story, and even I don’t know why he suddenly appeared in Diagon Alley. We can ask him this afternoon.”

Unwilling to face Mrs Granger at home, Hermione stayed at Suer’s house. It was immediately obvious, however, that Mrs Ellison had already heard what had happened from next door.

When Hermione was not looking, she gave Suer a thumbs-up, her expression full of delight.

There was little Suer could do about that.

Mrs Ellison was fascinated by Hermione’s experiences abroad, particularly the volunteer dental work near an African village.

Suer took the opportunity to ask whether the local people had really come for treatment wearing grass skirts.

“Of course not!” Hermione said. “Africa has schools and cities too. Many people still prefer to remain close to their own communities, but grass skirts were abandoned long ago. Our volunteer clinic was set up at the edge of the forest.”

“The people there live perfectly modern lives. Everyone except some of the youngest children wore ordinary clothes.”

Hermione went on to describe something amusing that had happened during the trip.

“One night, an elderly woman brought her grandson to us because he had a toothache. The community preferred lighting fires to using electricity, but it was already very late and the fire had burned low. At first, all we could see clearly were the white teeth of the grandmother and her grandson.”

“My father was terrified. He thought he had encountered an African version of a tooth ghost.”

“It was a fascinating place. There were simply far too many mosquitoes at night.”