The lights in the Room of Requirement had been turned off, plunging the surroundings into tranquil darkness.
On the bed, Glenn and Hermione lay side by side under the covers, staring fixedly at the ceiling.
After the girl had fidgeted for a while about whether to lie closer to Glenn, he caught her small hand, and she snuggled over.
The temperature under the blanket began to rise with their body heat, and beside each other, they could clearly and easily feel each other's warmth.
Strangely, this actually calmed both their somewhat nervous and restless hearts.
Though only their emotions had calmed—their heartbeats were obviously still faster than usual.
"So, shall I begin?"
After a brief silence, Glenn, who had originally been waiting for Hermione to ask questions, decided to start the conversation himself.
"Mm, go ahead," Hermione whispered softly, shifting slightly beside him.
Well then, here goes.
"About the secret I carry—simply put, I have memories from my previous life."
"I can clearly remember everything from my past life's seventeen years, from when I became self-aware onwards."
Feeling Hermione squeeze his hand a bit harder, Glenn stopped speaking. After a moment, Hermione spoke quietly, her voice carrying the relief of long-held confusion finally being resolved.
"So that's why you seemed so mature about certain things. If I'm not mistaken, you were from the Dragon Country in your previous life, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"No wonder you had such a natural talent for the Dragon Country language. I always wondered about that—in my memory, you never systematically studied that language, yet when we were very young, you could already read those Dragon Country books at your house by yourself."
"Not only that, you learned to read much earlier than I did. You were always the one telling me stories back then. When I grew up, I wondered why that was—I almost suspected I was an idiot. Turns out you had so much more experience and memories than me."
"Don't you find this whole thing strange?"
Glenn was somewhat puzzled by how quickly Hermione was accepting this revelation.
"Ah, when I first heard this news from your mouth, I was indeed confused. I thought I'd accidentally fallen asleep and was dreaming."
"Then I pinched you and found you responded, and I had normal tactile sensations and feelings too, so I knew it was all real."
So that pinch earlier was to confirm whether she was dreaming.
"Though it's surprising, after digesting this information a bit, I'm not so confused anymore."
"After all, in this world, even magic—something I once thought only existed in stories and legends—truly exists. So it's possible for someone to have memories from their previous life too."
"Moreover, you said yourself that you would absolutely never lie to me, and I believe you. So everything you're saying must be completely true."
"In that case, I should just accept it, shouldn't I?"
The melodious, soft voice that only rang in his ear, accompanied by warm breath entering Glenn's ear, calmed the inexplicable unease he'd been feeling.
Yes, unease—Glenn had only felt this trace of anxiety after revealing his secret.
After all, his situation seemed to have no precedent in world history. Unable to reference any information, Glenn felt uneasy about the unknown future after speaking these words.
Though Glenn himself believed Hermione would accept this, it was precisely because this matter now involved Hermione that he felt anxious.
Fortunately, Hermione had accepted it.
"But I still have some confusion that hasn't been cleared up... so please continue."
"Don't feel nervous or anxious. No matter what your past experiences were like, you're still Glenn, and I'll properly accept all of it."
The perceptive Hermione sensed Glenn's mood and comforted his slight unease with such words, making this promise.
Glenn was Glenn, and only Glenn. Though he had seventeen more years of memories than her, this was simply an indispensable part of what made up the current Glenn.
And she was full of curiosity about those memories she hadn't shared with Glenn.
She felt regret at not being able to accompany him, and wanted to know.
She also felt sad, because Hermione understood that Glenn's true personality and thoughts, including his perspective and attitude toward things, were somewhat... different from what the masses called "normal people." And human experiences were often what shaped these things.
So what exactly had Glenn experienced before to make him that way?
That way he was before meeting her in this life, as well as his parents, her parents, friends at Hogwarts, and the professors?
Though she didn't know what those experiences were like and didn't want to speculate wildly or arbitrarily define them as bad things, Hermione always had a premonition that Glenn's past experiences must have been unimaginably...
...painful.
She couldn't say why she had such feelings—perhaps from her observations, perhaps from her intuition.
But if the truth turned out to be very different from her judgment, or even completely opposite, that would be wonderful.
Hermione, who loved uncovering truth and gaining satisfaction and joy from the process of discovery and its results, had never hoped so much that her anticipated answer and the truth could be completely at odds, utterly unrelated.
Because regarding Glenn's past that had already happened, she, as Hermione, was powerless to change it.
But this mindset didn't represent avoidance. Hermione hoped she could participate in Glenn's past as a listener, to make up for not accompanying him through those seventeen years of his previous life.
Don't advise others to be good without experiencing their suffering—Hermione had never interfered with Glenn's own thoughts on important matters. She had more or less sensed some things Glenn never spoke of, but kind-hearted Hermione didn't interfere, only accepted by default and quietly warmed Glenn's cold heart with her actions.
Understanding and tolerance—this was what she wanted to achieve and was striving to do.
Hermione didn't want, and wasn't willing to let Glenn be alone.
She wanted Glenn to know that no matter what, no matter what happened, no matter what decisions he made, at least beside him, there was still her presence.
She wanted to know about Glenn's past, wanted to become a witness, wanted to accompany that "part of Glenn" she had never seen with her own eyes through this method.
"I see."
"Then I'll continue."
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