bacchusnovels Chapter 529 Life, the future
Chapter 529 Life, the future
Chapter 525 Life, the future
"Hermione, you and Professor Phillips get along very well. Are you aware of his recent love life?"
"What?"
Meeting Hermione's surprised gaze, Ginny said with concern.
What I mean is...
"Professor Phillips and Professor Tonks seem to have a good relationship, but is there any possibility that Professor Phillips might be having an affair?"
It's not that Professor Phillips cheated, but rather that a third party interfered in their relationship.
These words were like a thin veil to Hermione; involuntarily, she thought of herself.
Am I the third party?
From the perspective of future inevitability, no. In fact, Tonks is the third party.
Let's start from now. Without a doubt, she is the other woman.
Should we follow the cause to the effect, or reverse the effect to the cause? This is a philosophical question.
Hermione kept herself from thinking about the problem, trying to let things take their natural course.
Braking? She'd long since missed her chance.
But when Ginny brought the issue to the forefront, she was still inevitably shocked.
""
Could it be that—
Hermione stared at Ginny with a complicated expression.
Did she know something about her relationship with the professor? Is that why she's using such subtle language to remind her of this?
Reflecting on Ginny's unusual behavior these past few days.
That must be it!
Besides this, there seems to be no other reason. So when exactly was her relationship with Professor Phillips "exposed"?
I don't know. Maybe it was that night?
Have you told anyone about this?
"No." Ginny shook her head decisively.
How could I possibly tell anyone about something like this?
Ultimately, that's Professor Phillips's own business, even if he did something wrong.
And then again, how could she possibly tell anyone she was eavesdropping on others?
So, this secret has been hidden in her heart for almost a month, and it's driving her crazy!
However, Ginny still admired Hermione's keen insight.
I only made the first move, and the other party quickly understood what I meant.
He truly deserves to be called the class leader!
"That's good." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Ginny's reply.
She couldn't even imagine the consequences if others found out—if the news unfortunately leaked out and became public knowledge, not only would Professor Phillips be severely affected, but she herself would also be—
At that time, she didn't know how to face the gossip and strange looks from the outside world.
She had no idea how to face Tonks.
Maybe I'll drop out of school? Maybe I'll find a place in the Muggle world with Professor Phillips and live in anonymity for the rest of my life?
However—when Hermione thought about living like a normal married couple with Sean, a longing arose in her heart.
Perhaps, that feeling is quite nice?
"You absolutely mustn't tell anyone," Hermione warned again.
Ginny nodded solemnly again, even patting her rather well-endowed chest to assure everyone, "I know what's important."
"I know this is wrong. But you also know—"
66
"
So, the two started chatting across servers.
Strangely enough, although the two people thought completely differently, they were able to connect on some points.
Even so, during the chat...
Ginny had a vague feeling that she had grasped something, yet also felt like she hadn't.
What exactly is it?
Meanwhile, Sean had already brought Tonks back to the office.
Prior to this, the "special training" between the two had produced many female characters, including but not limited to Hermione, Luna, and Penelope—but today's character has once again lowered Tonks' standards.
It was Susan!
The niece of Deputy Director Burns, who had just returned to the Ministry of Magic and become her superior.
Tonks intended to refuse.
Susan and she barely interacted outside of classes, so how could she possibly impersonate Susan?
However, Sean did not hesitate to exercise his veto power, rejecting Tonks's attempt to veto the decision. In his words, it was a matter of accepting the consequences of a bet.
Calling it gambling isn't really an accurate description.
It's a spinning wheel.
To determine Tonks's disguise target, Sean made an alchemical prop, a large spinning wheel.
On the turntable are witches of all ages from the school.
Of course, there are conditions for these witches' names to appear on the wheel; they must have an appearance and figure score of 60 or higher.
As for the scoring criteria and the judges, that's naturally up to Sean to decide.
This isn't the first or second time something like today has happened—randomly encountering an unfamiliar witch, which led to the task Sean assigned to Tonks:
Become on good terms with the witch, get to know her, and then imitate her.
After a few days of getting to know each other, Sean's test came.
Isn't that a rather "interesting" thing to do?
Now that the role has been chosen, Tonks needs to develop a plan for it.
But these are things to do tomorrow.
Now they have to endure Sean's torture!
In other words, toughness training! This is a form of torture training undertaken by the Director of the Magic Law Enforcement Division to ensure that the female Aurors under his command will not betray him in times of crisis, given the special circumstances!
The next morning, the little ones all got up exceptionally early.
This was partly thanks to Mrs. Molly and Mrs. Black's relentless daily morning arguments. The intense "morning exercise" during those few weeks of summer vacation unexpectedly helped them develop a regular routine.
"Oh my God."
On their way to the auditorium, the three little ones stopped in their tracks.
On the bulletin board of the common lounge, a large new notice had been posted, with bold and eye-catching lettering, as if it had been put up that morning when no one was looking:
Huge amounts of Galleons!
Is your allowance not enough to cover your expenses?
Want to earn more gold?
Please contact Fred and George in the Gryffindor common room to join our after-school temporary worker program!
Simple, easy, and painless!
(All risks are borne by the job seeker.)
"They've gone too far."
Hermione said with a stern face, and tore the notice down.
The notice was pinned to another announcement, which originally listed the dates for the first Hogsmeade weekend—October.
"We need to talk to them, Ron."
She said angrily, folding the notice in half again and again, clutching it tightly in her hand, and even forgetting to eat.
But this anger vanished completely when a sleepy-eyed Ginny walked down the stairs from the girls' dormitory. In fact—
It was a bit awkward.
No one knows what the two talked about last night, or how long they talked.
Since things have come to this, let's eat first.
People gradually took their seats inside the auditorium. Compared to yesterday's dreamy candy decorations, the auditorium had returned to its usual appearance today.
"When is Hagrid coming back?" Harry asked while picking up a piece of bread.
"I don't know." Hermione shook her head. "Dumbledore didn't say how long Professor Grappleland would be teaching."
"Oh—maybe he just doesn't want people to notice Hagrid isn't here," Harry said softly.
"What do you mean by that? Don't want anyone to notice?" Ron chuckled. "With Hagrid's height, how could no one notice him?"
Hermione was about to retort when a tall, dark-skinned girl with long braids strode up to them.
"Hello, Angelina," Harry said.
"Hello." Her tone was light. "How was your summer vacation?" Before they could answer, she said directly, "I became the new captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team."
"That's great!" Harry replied with a smile.
Wood left, having achieved his dream, and with his impressive resume of leading Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup after many years, he smoothly entered a professional Quidditch team.
"Oliver's gone, so we need to find a new goalkeeper," she continued. "The selection is scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m., and the whole team must be there. We'll see if there's a suitable new player who can fit in."
"No problem," Harry nodded.
Angelina smiled at them and turned to leave.
"I'd completely forgotten Wood graduated," Hermione said casually as she sat down and pulled up her bread plate. "That must have some impact on the team, right?"
“Definitely,” Harry said, sitting down opposite him. “He’s a fantastic goalkeeper.”
"However, it would be good to inject some fresh blood," Ron said.
Suddenly, hundreds of owls flew into the auditorium through the high windows, flapping their wings and delivering letters and packages to their owners, while also sprinkling rainwater on the breakfast table.
It was clearly raining outside.
Harry wasn't surprised that Hedwig didn't show up.
Over the years, only a few people have written to him, and Sirius Black, whom he has seen almost every day this summer, has not written as many letters.
"Hey, watch out—" Hermione called out as she hurriedly moved the orange juice glass aside, letting a dog carrying a wet copy of the Daily Prophet into view.
The barn owls have a place to land.
At this point, Professor McGonagall distributed course schedules to each student along the long table.
"Look at today's classes!" Ron lamented. "History of Magic, two Potions classes, Divination class, two Defense Against the Dark Arts classes—"
Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that woman named Umbridge, all on the same day! I really hope Fred and George can get their quick-fix truancy candy out soon—"
"Did I hear that right?" Fred had just arrived, squeezing in next to Harry and raising an eyebrow at Ron. "Our little brother's going to be our loyal customer too?"
"Look how unlucky we are today," Ron muttered as he shoved the timetable under Fred's nose. "I've never had a worse Monday than this."
"
"You're right, bro." Fred took the schedule and glanced at it. "If you'd like, I can get you a nosebleed nougat, on special offer."
"Speaking of your truancy candy," Hermione said sternly, looking at the two of them. "You can no longer post GG on the Gryffindor bulletin board looking for test subjects."
"Who said that?" George asked innocently.
"I said it," Hermione replied.
"You'll change your tune soon enough, Hermione," Fred said, spreading butter on bread. "You're in fifth grade now, and you'll soon be begging for our truancy candy."
"Why do we have to use that thing in fifth grade?" Hermione retorted, unconvinced.
"Fifth grade is 0.WLs year," George said.
"So what?"
"In other words—" Fred chuckled sinisterly, "you'll have to deal with exams every day, like your noses are being rubbed by a grinding wheel until the tip of your nose peels off."
"Half of our grade was going crazy back then," George added. "People started crying and getting angry for no reason, and Patricia Stinson would faint all the time."
"Remember when Kenneth Toller was covered in sores?" Fred said thoughtfully.
"That's because you sprinkled foam powder into his pajamas," George exposed him.
"Oh, right." Fred chuckled. "Sometimes it's really hard to remember which time it was."
"Anyway, fifth grade was a nightmare," George shrugged. "If you care about grades. Luckily, we were both in pretty good spirits."
"Yeah, even though we only got through three 0.WLs each," Fred said nonchalantly.
"But we've already decided that our future isn't in academia," George added with a smile.
"We even seriously considered whether to come back for seventh grade," Fred said with a bright smile. "After all, we already have—"
Everyone knew what they wanted to say.
To be honest, being able to open a shop or have a relatively clear career plan while still a student is something that others can only envy.
"But we won't waste our last year here."
"We need to use this year to do some market research, figure out what ordinary Hogwarts students want to buy from the joke shop, carefully evaluate our research results, and then produce products that meet their needs."
'
These words impressed the three of them, especially Hermione.
Of course, this doesn't mean she would casually allow the Weasley twins to have sex in a place like the common room.
"Do you know what you want to do after graduating from Hogwarts?"
This topic, which concerns life and the future, inevitably came up in the conversation after the meal.
Faced with this question, Ron remained silent, looking as if he hadn't thought it through yet; Hermione, on the other hand, brought up the answer she had already repeated a thousand times in her mind.
"I want to do something meaningful."
"For example, by joining the Ministry of Magic, we could further advance the cause of protecting the rights of house-elves."
"—
But is it really necessary to join the Ministry of Magic to do this kind of thing?
In other words, is it true that this can't be accomplished without joining the Ministry of Magic?
This leads to the question: was her insistence on joining the Ministry of Magic really just for the sake of house-elves' rights?
Hermione kept asking herself the same question.
Perhaps—she was thinking again about the fantasies she had while talking to Ginny last night.
That kind of life isn't bad, is it?
They had just left the auditorium when Tonks quietly approached Susan, who was still eating there.