Chapter 1005: Professor Hermione (Patreon)

These things are very cumbersome, and Ron kept complaining.

For example, when they were supervising the decoration of the castle or putting up tinsel, he said Peeves had got the other end and was trying to strangle him.

When watching over first and second years, he would complain that they were cheeky little snotrags, and he was definitely not that rude when he was in first year.

While patrolling with Filch, Ron's evaluation of him was that the guy had dung for brains, and was dedicated to having trouble with students.

Hermione didn't complain, but was equally annoyed because she didn't have time to free the poor house-elves!

She had high hopes for this, although so far there had been no success.

Christmas was approaching, and D.A. meetings would have to stop over the holidays, as nearly everybody in the D.A. would be spending the time with their families.

This made Harry unhappy because he had nowhere to go and for the first time he very much wanted to spend the holidays away from Hogwarts.

Somehow, Hermione's parents decided to take her skiing this year, and they also invited Evan.

In fact, it wasn't just Evan, they also invited his parents.

It was only then that he discovered that since the last meeting, both parents had been in private contact very frequently.

So under the decision of both parents, they were going to spend the Christmas holiday skiing in a secluded town in Austria.

It was undoubtedly inappropriate to do such a thing at this time, but Evan had no way to refuse.

It was a joint family activity, and there was no option for Evan to decline.

Ron, meanwhile, was going home to the Burrow. Harry endured several days of jealousy before Ron said, in response to Harry asking how Ron was going to get home for Christmas, “But you’re coming too! Didn’t I say? Mum wrote and told me to invite you weeks ago!"

Harry’s spirits soared: The thought of Christmas at the Burrow was truly wonderful, better than being alone at Hogwarts or Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, although he actually wanted to be with Sirius, the Burrow wasn't bad, and he hadn't spent Christmas at the wizards’ house yet.

On the last night before the holidays, Hermione was happily flipping through the travel guide to an Austrian ski town that the Grangers had sent her.

After leaving Hogwarts tomorrow, they would gather at Evan's house and then take a flight to Austria.

Surprisingly, Hermione did not bring up studying; instead, she focused on discussing the snowy mountain scenery and skiing with Evan.

She didn't know how to ski, and neither did Evan, but Evan thought it shouldn't be too difficult if they secretly used magic.

Next to him, Harry was talking to Ron, Colin, and Neville about Cho.

He didn't want to talk about it, but not long ago, before the last D.A. meeting, when he was alone with Cho in the Room of Requirement, they were accidentally discovered by these three. They witnessed the embarrassing scene of Cho crying uncontrollably on his shoulder.

It was really awkward; Harry swore he didn't say or do anything.

Cho had been crying recently and was very emotionally unstable since the game with Hufflepuff ended.

"What did you do to her?" Ron asked with interest. "Scared her to tears?"

"I didn't do anything!" Harry said wearily, then hesitated a bit. "It might be because of me."

"Of course not," Hermione said casually, without raising her head, still looking at the travel brochure in her hand.

"How do you know?" said Ron in a sharp voice.

“Because Cho spends half her time crying these days,” said Hermione vaguely. “She does it after class, at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place. Don’t you understand how Cho’s feeling at the moment?"

"We don't understand,” said Harry and Ron together.

Evan shook his head too. In his impression, Cho was a girl who loved to smile, always full of joy. He still remembered the first meeting with her in Hogsmeade.

Of course, it was also because of Cho that Evan and Hermione entered Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop for the first time.

Such expensive tea and cakes, but the two of them did nothing at that time. What a pity!

Now thinking about it, that place had a nice atmosphere; they might consider going there again.

“Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of what happened to Cedric," Hermione sighed and laid down the brochure, preparing to explain to these emotionally clueless guys.  "Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best."

"You say she might like me?" Harry said in surprise.

"Yeah, as long as you're not blind, you can see that you two have been getting closer lately. She's trying to accept you and has good feelings for you," said Hermione. "Otherwise, why do you think you ran into Cho alone before the D.A. meeting? There aren't so many coincidences; she definitely asked about your whereabouts."

"Cho was actually waiting for me?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"Of course she was. But it seems like you missed that chance!" Hermione said.

There was one thing she didn't say. In fact, Cho had some feelings for Evan as well; but probably only to that extent.

There had been no substantial progress between the two, and Cho almost gave up after the relationship between Evan and Hermione was made public.

After that, she seemed to want to accept Harry, but was still hesitant.

"Besides confusion, she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings toward Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric disappeared," said Hermione. "So that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly. You all saw the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff; the Golden Snitch was right under her nose, and she couldn't catch it."

Hermione's words seemed to stun all the boys present, especially Harry, who couldn't articulate what he was thinking.

Then, Ron suddenly said, “One person can’t feel all that at once, they’d explode."

“Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her skiing brochure again.

"What should I do now?" Harry hesitated and decided to humbly ask Hermione for advice.

After all, she seemed to know a lot and was more reliable than Evan, Ron, Colin, and Neville combined.

"The answer is obvious. You should take the initiative now and ask her out on a date," said Hermione indifferently, buried in her brochure. "Go to the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade village, a late-night classroom, or even inside a cauldron. Spend a few hours alone with her and seize the opportunity. After all that has happened just now, she will naturally expect you to ask her out. You’ll have plenty of opportunities; whether you can seize them depends on you! "

“What if he doesn’t want to ask her?” said Ron, who had been watching Harry with an unusually shrewd expression on his face.

“Don’t be silly,” said Hermione vaguely, “Harry’s liked her for ages, haven’t you, Harry?"

Harry did not answer. Yes, he had liked Cho for ages, but he had no idea how to face the sobbing Cho.

He was used to Cho’s smiling face, but had no experience dealing with her when she was upset.

Maybe he should ask Hermione for more advice.