In Diagon Alley, the clamor of the night never truly fades.
The guest room window above Weasleys Wizard Wheezes shut out the noise.
After the lie came a long, thick silence.
Hermione lay with her back to Lia, her body curled up, her shoulders straining to remain steady, not betraying even a hint of a tremble.
The wet patch on the pillow, rapidly cooling, was the only evidence of her roiling emotions.
Her kitten was protecting her in the clumsiest way she could think of.
And she had learned to accept this "protection" in silence, only to then use her own methods to dig out the heartbreaking truth buried beneath the lies.
The night finally dragged on, inch by inch, between two souls each harboring their own secrets.
The next morning, sunlight pierced the glass, casting bright spots of light on the wooden floor.
Hermione woke up as usual, washed up, and changed into clean clothes.
Her expression was calm and her eyes clear, as if the undercurrent of testing from the night before had never happened.
When Lia sleepily nuzzled over, Hermione's heart skipped a beat, but she immediately reached out and stroked the soft cat ears atop Lia's head more gently than ever before.
The warmth of her fingertips was a deliberate effort, masking the lingering chill deep within her heart.
Everything was as usual; she had to make everything look normal.
Lia narrowed her eyes in relaxation, a satisfied purr vibrating in her throat.
She rubbed her cheek against Hermione's palm, confirming that the scent of "suspicion" and "heartache" on Hermione had completely dissipated, leaving only the reassuringly familiar warm fragrance.
Her lie had succeeded.
Lia thought so, and her heart, which had become steadfast due to "Resilient Spirit," felt a soft flicker of secret joy at this small "success."
So this was what it felt like to protect Hermione. Her tail wagged happily behind her.
Downstairs, Weasleys Wizard Wheezes had already opened for business. Fred and George had huge dark circles under their eyes, yet they were exceptionally high-spirited.
"Good morning, our esteemed partner!" George gave an exaggerated bow when he saw Hermione and Lia come down.
Fred was excitedly tossing a silver coin engraved with a coiled viper.
"I must say, Lia, this is the best payment we've ever received! An internal commemorative coin from the Malfoy family! I bet if we melt it down to make molds for our joke products, Lucius's old face will turn a proper shade of liver-purple with rage!"
Hermione only gave a faint smile and took the hot milk and bread George handed her.
"We're moving out today," she announced while taking small bites of the bread.
"What?" the twins said in unison. "Is it uncomfortable here? We can swap out that hiccuping pillow!"
"No, it's great here." Hermione shook her head, her gaze falling on the constant stream of people outside the window. "It's just... I have some things to do. For the rest of the holidays, we'll be staying at the Leaky Cauldron."
The Leaky Cauldron was the hub connecting Diagon Alley and the Muggle world of London.
It was a place with many eyes and ears and high turnover, making it an excellent spot to hide one's tracks and gather information. It was much more convenient than staying at The Burrow, where the atmosphere was too warm and everyone knew each other.
She needed a place to investigate the secrets Lia was hiding without attracting the attention of any of their friends.
Lia tilted her head, looking at Hermione in confusion.
She didn't understand why they wouldn't stay at the livelier Weasley home. But Hermione's decision was her direction; she nodded obediently, sat down next to Hermione, and lightly hooked her tail tip around Hermione's wrist.
The twins exchanged a look and shrugged. They never questioned Hermione's decisions; they only provided help.
"Alright, use the Two-Way Mirror to contact us if you need anything!" Fred said, stuffing a large bag of various joke products into Hermione's hands. "New items, enhanced versions—they're particularly effective against those Malfoy brats!"
After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic twins, just as they were crossing the crowded Diagon Alley to head towards Flourish and Blotts, a familiar figure stepped out of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
Platinum blond hair, a pale face, and a set of well-tailored black robes.
Draco Malfoy.
He looked even gloomier than at the end of the term, with dark circles under his eyes that almost rivaled Fred and George's.
He wasn't accompanied by his usual lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle; instead, he was alone, warily scanning the surrounding crowd before hurrying off into a dark side alley.
"Where is he going?" Harry immediately became alert.
"Where else? Probably to buy some disgusting Dark Arts junk," Ron muttered with a dismissive curl of his lip.
"Follow him," Hermione said without the slightest hesitation.
Lia's intel echoed in her mind—Draco had been assigned a task by Lord Voldemort, and Lucius had spared no expense in launching a media attack just to cover for him.
This task was definitely of no small importance.
Harry and Hermione quickly pulled out the invisibility cloak, and the four of them slipped inside in pairs, following Draco silently.
At the end of the side alley lay Knockturn Alley.
The air was thick with the scent of damp mold and decaying souls. Shop windows displayed skulls, withered hands, and even cursed jewelry... Draco walked familiarly into a Dark Arts shop called Borgin and Burkes.
Hermione's group followed closely behind. Lia pressed tightly against Hermione's leg, her snowy-white cat ears pricked up alertly, her nose twitching as she differentiated the various dark auras mixed in the air.
The shopkeeper, Mr. Borgin, immediately came forward upon seeing Draco.
"Young Mr. Malfoy, you've come."
"Cut the chatter," Draco's voice carried an irrepressible tension and arrogance. "Where is the item I asked you to keep?"
Borgin led Draco toward a tall piece of furniture covered by a dust cloth in the depths of the shop.
He glanced inconspicuously toward the door. "Of course, of course. It's just... are you sure you want to talk here?"
Draco impatiently pulled back the dust cloth, revealing a tall, black wooden cabinet.
"This is it." Draco reached out, stroking the cold surface of the cabinet. "How is the repair going?"
"Er, well... repairing it requires great skill and... some special materials," Borgin's tone became hesitant. "Moreover, it is very dangerous. You know, its counterpart..."
"I don't need you to lecture me!" Draco snapped, rolling up his left sleeve to reveal a patch of skin on his wrist that was still slightly blackened, like a half-healed brand.
Borgin's face turned deathly pale the moment he saw the mark.
"I... I understand, Mr. Malfoy. But this cabinet, its transport path is very unstable, I need time..."
"I don't have time!" Draco growled, grabbing Borgin by the collar. "Listen, you must fix it as soon as possible! Otherwise, you can expect a 'visit' from Fenrir Greyback! He seems to have taken a liking to old bones like yours lately!"
At the mention of Greyback's name, Borgin's teeth began to chatter.
Satisfied, Draco let go, dropped a cold final word, and turned to stride out of the shop.
Under the invisibility cloak, Harry and Ron looked at each other in shock.
Lia, however, kept her eyes fixed on the massive black wooden cabinet.
From the moment Draco pulled back the dust cloth, an extremely peculiar "scent" had entered her nostrils.
It smelled like ozone from a lightning strike, mixed with a sharp, acidic scent like metal grinding together after magic had been forcibly torn apart.
Even more terrifying was that this scent carried a dizzying sense of displacement, as if space itself had been tied into a knot here.
She suddenly looked up and whispered into Hermione's ear in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Hermione... that cabinet..."
"What about it?" Hermione replied softly, maintaining her composure.
"Its scent... the other end is at Hogwarts."
The black cabinet was reflected in Lia's blue eyes.
"The Room of Requirement! I smell it, the same scent of spatial distortion as last time. It can send people from here directly into the Castle!"
Hermione's heart sank abruptly.
A passage that could bypass all of Hogwarts' defensive magic and send people from Knockturn Alley straight into the Castle!
Voldemort's purpose in having Draco repair it was self-evident—to send Death Eaters, or even himself, into Hogwarts silently!
This was Draco's true mission!
Searching for the diadem was just a smokescreen put out by Lucius, or rather, it was Plan B!
"We have to tell Dumbledore right away!" Harry whispered urgently.
"No," Hermione immediately rejected his proposal, her voice frighteningly calm.
"Why not? Hermione! This is too dangerous!" Harry couldn't understand her reaction.
"What good would telling him do?" Hermione countered. "Dumbledore is busy executing another plan."
He was eager for Snape to perform a great service to win Voldemort's trust.
He might have known about this cabinet for a long time; perhaps it was even part of his plan!
If he could even gamble with his own life, did they really expect him to disrupt his entire grand design for a bit of 'possible' danger?
Hermione didn't explain the details of the "Death Plan" to Harry, but the information in her words was enough to stun both him and Ron.
They had never seen Hermione like this, her words full of skepticism toward the Principal and a maturity in judgment that bordered on cold-blooded.
Dumbledore had his big picture, but that big picture was full of sacrifices. She would never allow Lia to become any kind of sacrifice.
"Then... what do we do?" Ron stammered.
Hermione's gaze fell back onto the pitch-black cabinet, her eyes as steady as iron.
"We'll solve this trouble ourselves." She tugged at the invisibility cloak, signaling Harry and Ron to leave first. "You two go back to The Burrow and pretend you didn't see anything. This involves Voldemort's core mission; it's too dangerous for you to get involved. Harry, take care of yourself, don't be impulsive."
"But..."
Harry wanted to say more, but Hermione interrupted him.
"Don't worry, I have Lia."
He glanced at Lia, who was standing quietly beside Hermione, and remembered the figure who had clashed with Voldemort that day.
Fine, he couldn't compete with that.
After seeing Harry and Ron off, Hermione didn't leave Knockturn Alley.
She took Lia and stood in the shadows opposite Borgin and Burkes, waiting quietly.
"Hermione, are we going in?" Lia asked.
"Yes," Hermione nodded, "but not yet."
She was waiting for the right moment. Waiting for Borgin and Burkes to close, waiting for the night to fully descend upon Knockturn Alley.
She looked at the shop radiating an evil aura; there was no fear in her eyes, only a calm and resolve like a hunter locking onto their prey.
Draco had his mission.
Dumbledore had his plan.
Now, she had hers.
Tonight, that vanishing cabinet must find a new owner.
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