There was no way Hermione was going to fall—even if Glenn himself fell, he'd never let Hermione fall. His quick reflexes caught the tottering girl in one swift motion.
"Be careful. Hold on tight."
Glenn steadied Hermione, who looked down at the scenery below with lingering fear.
"I couldn't help it. I was afraid of pulling Euclia and hurting her, so when she swayed just now I wasn't paying attention and nearly fell..."
Glenn said nothing, just silently held Hermione a bit tighter.
"I have reason to suspect you just wanted me to hold you closer," Glenn said calmly after a moment of silence.
This time it was Hermione's turn to fall silent. The girl held back for a long time, not knowing how to answer Glenn.
That's right—Glenn had guessed correctly.
This guy's directness and perceptiveness were both lovable and infuriating!
Fine, no more pretending.
After all, there was no one else around at this altitude.
"Y-yes! I just wanted to cuddle with you! So what—is there a problem?" Hermione tried to respond boldly, but her voice still sounded rather small.
"You could have said so directly."
"Hey, I get embarrassed, you know."
"Hmm... This makes you embarrassed? There's no one else around."
"Whether there are other people around doesn't matter much. It's mainly that the surrounding space is too big and open—it feels a bit unsettling."
"You mean if we were cuddling in a small, enclosed space, you wouldn't be embarrassed?"
"Smack!"
Hermione wordlessly slapped her hand to her face. Sure enough, Glenn's thinking was different from ordinary people. The girl now felt like she had a massive complaint stuck in her throat that she couldn't spit out.
"Hermione, you're not frank enough," Glenn suddenly said.
"?"
"Your heart is clearly beating very fast right now, and your body temperature is also rising. You obviously like this kind of behavior."
"If that's the case, why worry about the surrounding environment?"
Glenn didn't quite understand this. Since she liked it, shouldn't she just do it? Everything else could be pushed aside—no need to care about it.
Hmm, couldn't figure it out. He needed Teacher Hermione to explain.
"...Maybe I want to monopolize you? Don't want to share how you look when you're cuddling with me with other people?"
"To be honest, I can't really explain it clearly either... but I like it that way."
Hermione was also stumped by the question. After careful thought, she couldn't get a very detailed answer, so she could only give her vague thoughts and end this nonsensical Q&A with a statement she knew Glenn would definitely accept.
In any case, it was because she liked it.
"I see."
Glenn nodded, modified his understanding of this aspect based on Hermione's explanation, then began enjoying the exhilarating feeling of soaring through the sky on a hippogriff with Hermione.
Because Hermione wasn't very good at controlling this horse-like creature, Glenn quietly controlled Euclia's movements, creating a comfortable and wonderful flight journey for them.
"...Glenn, why do I feel like your riding skills are so good?"
Hermione sensed something was wrong. Compared to other young wizards riding their hippogriffs with bumps and jolts, they had two passengers here but were flying even better...
There must be some external factor at play.
So Hermione noticed Glenn's subtle movements and discovered this guy was actually commanding Euclia's flight.
When did you secretly evolve behind my back?!
"I once learned and rode horses. I tried it out, and it seems the methods for controlling horses are similar to those for controlling hippogriffs."
"When did you learn to ride horses?"
Hermione searched through her sea of memories but found no related recollections.
This was impossible!
...
Could it be that Glenn secretly went out to play behind my back?!
Absolutely unforgivable!
"Mm, a long time ago. This is somewhat complicated to explain. You can choose a time to come to the Room of Requirement and I'll tell you about it."
"A long time ago? How long ago?"
For Glenn to say words like "a long time ago," it would have to be at least before they encountered the magical world together...
So the question was, before encountering the magical world, Glenn and she were almost always together, so when did he learn horsemanship?
"Before I met you."
Glenn spoke calmly. His words were not wrong.
He indeed had learned horsemanship, except that was in his previous life when he was still Number Thirteen, mixing in the assassin world.
He never intended to hide from Hermione the fact that he had memories from a previous life—it was just that Hermione had never asked him about it.
"...Glenn, you really do have many secrets."
Because she was facing away from Glenn, he couldn't see Hermione's expression. The girl was silent for a long time, then spoke softly and leaned into Glenn's embrace.
To say Hermione hadn't noticed the abnormality of Glenn as an individual would be absolutely impossible. As Glenn's most intimate person for over ten years, if she couldn't discover these things, then Hermione wouldn't be Hermione.
Moreover, Glenn had no intention of hiding things from Hermione, which made it even more impossible.
It was just that Hermione had no desire to ask in detail.
Everyone has their own little secrets. To rashly speak up or secretly pry into others' inner secrets is impolite behavior and very likely to cause the other party's displeasure.
Even though Hermione believed that even if she relentlessly pursued Glenn's secrets, this guy who was incredibly tolerant and caring toward her probably wouldn't feel dissatisfied or disgusted because of it.
But Hermione didn't want to gamble on something with even a 99.99% success rate, so she chose to suppress her curiosity and not inquire.
And now? The two were in a romantic relationship. Hermione was also certain Glenn liked her, and she liked Glenn. During their interactions, compared to their previous ambiguous state before confirming their relationship, they had become much more intimate. Hermione had also unconsciously slightly relaxed her suppression of her curiosity about Glenn's secrets.
"And I accidentally ended up pursuing the matter!"
Hermione closed her eyes, lying peacefully in Glenn's embrace with her hands folded, looking sacred—as if she was about to achieve enlightenment.
But beneath her calm exterior, the turbulent waves in her heart were beyond what words could describe. When she asked that question, Hermione had already begun to regret it.
Fortunately, Glenn didn't seem to mind her knowing his secrets and was even willing to actively share them with her. This really made Hermione breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Hmm... Should I also share with Glenn the little secret I'm hiding in my heart right now?
...
Ah! No, no! That's too embarrassing! I can't possibly say I want to...
"Hermione, your heartbeat is starting to accelerate again."
The voice by her ear interrupted Hermione's thoughts.
"Ahhhhhhh! You're so annoying!!"
Better forget about it.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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