"Whoa!"
Hermione let out a small gasp. Amanda had suddenly turned and lunged into her arms, which truly caught her off guard and made her heart skip a few beats.
Even the fake expression of fear she had just put on vanished because of it.
Amanda's shoulders trembled slightly as she curled into Hermione's embrace, her voice soft and shaky as if she were truly terrified. "Hermione... something just grabbed my ankle, and I didn't even see what it was."
Hermione quickly regained her composure, realizing that Amanda had started acting, and felt a flicker of gratitude toward this Haunted House in her heart.
She unhesitatingly wrapped her arms around Amanda, who had proactively thrown herself into her embrace, stroked her back, and resumed that same look of panic.
"It's okay, it's okay. It's just... just a bunch of NPCs. They're all fake, all fake."
Hermione, who took everything seriously, was incredibly convincing in her performance of fear. Her way of speaking, her tone, and her pitch all sounded undeniably frightened.
The element of self-consolation in her words even gave her portrayed fear a higher level of credibility.
The Haunted House manager watched the surveillance monitors from the back. Seeing that the Haunted House, which they had put so much effort into redesigning and rebuilding, could finally scare these two young girls, he finally showed a gratified smile.
As they walked along, various mechanisms and NPCs appeared one after another, and Amanda and Hermione were "scared" out of their wits.
Of course, they didn't pretend to be scared at every single spot; that would have been a bit too fake.
While Amanda appeared to be shivering with fear in Hermione's arms, her eyes were actually constantly scanning the front and both sides. Combined with her hearing, she could determine the location of every mechanism and NPC setting with nearly 100% certainty.
Then, based on these mechanisms and NPC settings, she would assign a Comprehensive Horror Index to each scare point.
Only when they reached a place with a relatively high Comprehensive Horror Index would she let out a scream, followed immediately by Hermione.
In any case, the gap between their two screams was less than half a second, so no one would be able to tell the difference.
One thing that surprised them halfway through was that, after two years, the young lady who had previously pretended to be a Witch brewing mung bean soup in the Haunted House was still working there.
Perhaps it was because the salary and benefits at this Amusement Park were quite good, so she was reluctant to leave?
Whatever the reason, Amanda and Hermione eventually managed to walk out of the Haunted House successfully.
Feeling the stinging sunlight shining down, Amanda squinted slightly to adjust before reopening her eyes.
Straightening up, she looked at Hermione with a faked expression of relief.
"It's finally over."
"Yeah, so scary," Hermione nodded vigorously, a look of fortune also hanging on her face.
"How was the renovation of our Haunted House this time?"
The Haunted House manager walked over and asked for the two girls' opinions with a hint of pride on his face.
Many of the creative ideas in this renovation were personally designed by professional designers he had sought out.
"Very good, it's really, really terrifying!"
Hermione raised her hand in approval and gave a thumbs up. To be honest, given the design of this Haunted House, if she weren't a Young Wizard...
If she hadn't experienced the events of the past two years, including everything from this year, she really might have been scared.
"Exactly," Amanda also nodded as if she still had lingering fears. "If your Haunted House were to be rated, its Comprehensive Horror Index would definitely be very high."
"Hahaha, thank you for the compliment. We will continue to keep improving."
"With those words from you two, we'll have much more confidence when we officially open the Haunted House tomorrow."
"You're welcome," Amanda's face slowly returned to its usual calm. "We're just telling the truth."
The Comprehensive Horror Index of this Haunted House should indeed be quite high. Unfortunately, both she and Hermione were Young Wizards; it was impossible for them to be scared by these fake things.
In fact, any Young Wizard from Hogwarts wouldn't be scared by this.
Who hadn't studied Werewolves in Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Who hadn't studied Vampires?
There were pictures in the textbooks, and the Professors had taught them how to tell the difference in class. With just one look, how could they not distinguish between a real Vampire and a fake one, or a real Werewolf and a fake one?
As for witches... they were Witches and Wizards themselves. It wasn't as if they were going to be afraid of their own kind.
So, this Haunted House could only be very effective against Muggles; for the Wizarding community, it was completely useless.
After chatting for a while longer, Amanda and Hermione finally left the Amusement Park.
They had already been to this Amusement Park before, and they didn't have much desire to ride those attractions again.
Moreover, they had to rush home to do their homework. The upcoming holiday would be spent watching the Quidditch World Cup Final, and they didn't want to drag their homework out until then.
Under the full effort of Amanda and Hermione, the two true top students, all the assignments from all the Hogwarts Professors lasted less than a week before being wiped out.
And this was despite the fact that the workload for Third Year Young Wizards was significantly larger than that of the first and Second Years.
Otherwise, given the workload of the first and Second Years at Hogwarts, Amanda and Hermione probably could have finished everything in two or three days of full effort.
Of course, while there was more homework in the Third Year, it was only relatively more. It was absolutely impossible for the workload to reach a point that would make a Young Wizard worry.
Learning is progress, not torture; the Hogwarts Professors would never make such a mistake.
After finishing their homework, Amanda and Hermione became completely leisurely. Amanda was "banned" by Hermione, just like during the previous holiday.
She could only start thinking about studying once the book list for the new school year arrived.
Before the arrival of the new school year's book list, she wasn't allowed to think about anything related to studying at all.
Amanda obediently nodded in agreement to Hermione's request. In the following weeks, she weeded the garden with Hermione, went fishing by the river, and sketched in the park—doing whatever was most relaxing.
With nothing to worry about, the girls leisurely went through almost every kind of slow-paced relaxation.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger expressed great satisfaction with the girls' living arrangements.
Their daughter had put down her books, and Amanda wasn't entirely focused on studying anymore; both children were out being active and playing. They were truly gratified.
The slow-paced life actually went by very quickly. It wasn't until Harry's letter was delivered to the Granger Residence that they realized the Quidditch World Cup Final was approaching so soon.
Opening Harry's letter, Harry said that Sirius had already bought the tickets for Amanda and Hermione. He asked if they could arrive at The Burrow—Ron's house—at any time tomorrow if it was convenient, so their three groups could go to the Quidditch World Cup Final together.
"When do you want to go, Hermione?"
Amanda finished reading the letter at a glance and turned to look at Hermione, her voice mechanical and devoid of emotion.
"Hmm... if it's any time tomorrow, how about in the morning? We should try to visit early, but not so early that we'd disturb their rest."
"Okay, that's reasonable," Amanda nodded in agreement.
"Mom, Amanda and I plan to go to Ron's house tomorrow morning. I told you before that Sirius invited Amanda and me to the Quidditch World Cup Final, so everyone is meeting at Ron's house before we go together."
During dinner, Hermione reported her and Amanda's upcoming itinerary to her mother in advance.
Although her parents truly trusted her and gave her a lot of freedom,
neither she nor Amanda were adults yet. For a trip like this, which wasn't just for a single day, she still had to report it to them.
"Alright," Mrs. Granger nodded. "I'll prepare some cookies for the two of you tonight. You can take them as a gift."
Mr. Granger also gave Hermione a smiling reminder, "Remember to stay safe while watching the match."
"Mhm, don't worry, Dad."
Amanda added expressionlessly from the side, "Don't worry, Uncle. I won't let anything happen to Hermione."
Furthermore, the main organizers of this Quidditch World Cup Final, besides the Ministry of Magic, were the businesses under her command.
So, in addition to the Ministry of Magic's Aurors, she had also arranged for dozens of qualified Wizards to act as security.
Presumably, safety wouldn't be a major issue. If something occurred that even the Aurors and her arranged security couldn't handle, she was still there.
Regardless of what happened, she would always be able to block bad people and bad things from reaching Hermione.
No matter what needed to be done, no matter how it had to be done.
Having communicated with Mr. and Mrs. Granger in advance, Amanda and Hermione headed for The Burrow the following morning.
Just as Hermione thought they would need to take the knight bus, Amanda pulled her toward a black sedan parked on the street.
"Thank you, Amanda. Is this a car you arranged?"
Hermione watched as the young lady acting as the driver opened the car door for her. She thanked her first, then turned to ask Amanda curiously.
"Yes," Amanda nodded affirmatively, her expression unchanged. "The experience of riding the knight bus is too poor and would make you very uncomfortable, Hermione. So, I bought a Magical Car in advance and hired this driver."
"Oh, I see."
Hermione answered hesitantly, still feeling vaguely that something was not quite right with this driver... specifically, the feeling she gave off didn't seem like that of a simple driver.
But Amanda said she was a driver, and she was indeed doing a driver's job, so what else could she be?
Shaking her head with a smile, Hermione lamented to herself that she was being a bit too sensitive, and then she got into the car.
Amanda followed her into the car. The driver closed the door, her eyes consciously scanning the surroundings and nearby high points before she walked back to the driver's seat, got in, and slowly started the car to leave.
On the other side, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were driving to work at the dental clinic, completely failed to notice that behind and to the side of their car, another vehicle was following them in a protective stance—and had been for nearly two months.
The functions of a Magical Car were actually similar to the knight bus; it could squeeze through small gaps that ordinary Muggle vehicles couldn't, possessed a speed incomparable to ordinary Muggle vehicles, and Muggles would not notice it at all.
However, it was significantly better than the knight bus in terms of comfort.
It was unclear if Amanda had performed special magical treatments on this car, but sitting inside, one couldn't feel any bumps or the car's acceleration at all.
Furthermore, the space inside was unusually large, with a television, a refrigerator, and even a writing desk. One should note that from the outside, it didn't look like a stretched luxury car, but just an ordinary small sedan.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If nothing else, if this kind of car entered the Muggle market... I don't think any of the existing models could compare to it."
"You think so too, Hermione?" Amanda turned her head and handed Hermione a bottle of chilled juice.
"Yeah." Hermione took a sip of the juice, then as if realizing something, she raised an eyebrow and looked at Amanda.
"Based on your tone, are you planning to actually let this kind of car enter the Muggle market? That wouldn't comply with the statute of wizarding secrecy, would it?"
Amanda took a sip of the cola in her hand; she still liked this drink the best, as it was the first one she had shared with Hermione.
"It only doesn't comply with the current statute of wizarding secrecy," she corrected Hermione's wording expressionlessly.
"The current statute of wizarding secrecy?" Hermione frowned, not quite understanding what Amanda meant.
Amanda turned to look at Hermione, her eyes full of cold calculation.
"There is a ninety-five percent probability that Peter Pettigrew's escape was to go search for Voldemort."
"This will greatly accelerate the speed of Voldemort's resurrection and return."
"Hmm..." Hermione nodded thoughtfully; she had also thought of this long ago.
Compared to having no one usable by his side, although Peter Pettigrew wasn't very capable, having him with Voldemort would certainly speed up the progress of his resurrection and return.
"Based on an analysis of Fudge's personality, he will certainly not admit the fact of Voldemort's resurrection when the time comes. We just need to let him deceive everyone in the British Wizarding World first."
"Then, when the truth is revealed to everyone in the British Wizarding World, Fudge will inevitably be forced out. At that time..."
Amanda slowly pointed her hand at Hermione, her voice still as flat as water. "Hermione can formulate a new Statute of Secrecy. As for the International Confederation of Wizards, they are completely unimportant."
"I'll become the Minister for Magic?" Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "If it really happens as you say, I might not have even graduated from Hogwarts by the time Fudge is forced out."
"Mhm," Amanda took an indifferent sip of cola, the corners of her mouth curling into a brilliant smile. "The first Student Minister in history. It's great, right?"
Hermione looked closely at Amanda, and after determining she was serious, she nodded solemnly. "It's great. But in that case, I need to hurry and prepare even more seriously."
"I have to do well enough to be able to hold onto the position of student Minister for Magic when the time comes."
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