Four lips pressed tightly together.
Softness. The very first thing Kyle felt was a jelly-like softness, accompanied by a faint hint of sweetness.
And, well, it was a little wet.
The two of them slowly closed their eyes.
It lasted for only a few dozen seconds, but to them, it felt incomparably long—as if an entire century had passed.
In both of their hearts, nothing remained except for each other's existence.
Across the street, no one noticed a figure with blonde braids standing frozen, staring blankly at everything happening inside the Three Broomsticks.
Hannah Abbott sighed sorrowfully as two trails of tears rolled down her cheeks.
Although she had long anticipated that the relationship between Kyle and Hermione would eventually develop to this point, she still couldn't stop the sadness from welling up inside her when it actually became a reality.
Gently wiping away the tears on her face, Hannah forced a bittersweet smile.
Since things were as they were, she could only offer Kyle and Hermione her blessings.
Her figure vanished into the street.
After a long long time, their lips parted.
Kyle shamelessly wanted to lean back in for more, but an incredibly shy Hermione pushed him firmly back into his chair.
Glancing at Hermione's completely crimson face, Kyle smacked his lips in utter satisfaction.
Kyle's lip-smacking action made Hermione's cheeks burn even hotter; her face had never been this red in her entire life.
In a fluster, she scooped up the tankard on the table and took a massive gulp of Butterbeer, trying to use it to mask the embarrassment in her heart.
Kyle propped up his chin, his gaze burning intensely as he stared at the girl.
"Hermione, will you be with me?"
Hearing Kyle's confession, Hermione's hand holding the tankard trembled.
Setting the mug down, Hermione tried her best to look nonchalant, but ultimately failed.
In a voice as quiet as a mosquito, she replied, "Um... yes."
Kyle's eyes curved into a pair of crescent moons.
Walking side-by-side on the path back to Hogwarts Castle, Kyle naturally reached out and held the girl's hand.
Noticing that many of the passersby were stealing glances at them, the girl's cheeks burned slightly.
Feeling a little self-conscious, the little Granger gave her hand a gentle tug, wanting to pull it back, but she couldn't break free. Left with no choice, she let it be.
Both of them were in an incredibly joyful mood. Even when they ran into the gloomy-faced old bat at the castle's main entrance, it didn't dampen their high spirits in the slightest.
Kyle was radiating a repulsive aura of a smug winner in life from head to toe, causing Snape—who had been a bachelor since birth for over thirty years—to furrow his brows in disgust.
Simultaneously furrowing their brows were the two Dementors guarding the left and right sides of the main gate.
This aura of happiness and joy...
It was truly delicious!
(☆_☆)
Slurp, slurp. The Dementors swallowed their non-existent saliva. They really, really wanted to take a soul-sucking gulp of it!
()づ
But when they saw Kyle's face clearly...
Dementors: (°0°;)
The two cowardly Dementors instantly stood their waists up even straighter than students standing at attention during military training. At the same time, their eyes stared straight ahead, not daring to cast even a sideways glance.
This guy was the Dark Lord who had slaughtered over two hundred of their kinsmen that day.
More than two hundred of them had been slaughtered by him like pigs; the two of them would be completely useless against him.
They couldn't afford to mess with him, absolutely couldn't afford to mess with him.
Because the Dementors had stolen the gatekeeper's job, Snape had no choice but to come along and guard the gate with them.
The school administration was mainly afraid that the Dementors might suddenly have a psychotic break and attack the students entering and leaving the castle gates.
The mere thought of this gate-keeping duty taking up a massive amount of his time for researching the Resurrection Stone made the old bat feel thoroughly displeased.
Snape chose to vent his anger on the students who were returning from living it up in Hogsmeade.
"Kyle Grindelwald, I believe you didn't fill out a permission slip, did you?" Snape's voice was extremely quiet, but it carried a chilling, low-pressure field.
Facing the old bat's threat, Kyle fearlessly raised his head to lock eyes with him.
"Professor Snape, you can go straight to my old man to ask for the permission slip."
Snape was instantly choked up.
Who the hell doesn't know that you are the biggest nepotism case in Hogwarts?
Moreover, are you telling me to go to Dumbledore for the slip, or to Grindelwald?
Kyle had two dads, and ghost knows which one he was talking about.
Dumbledore was one thing, but if it was Grindelwald...
Snape still wanted to live a good life until he could create a world with Lily in it.
He certainly didn't want to throw his little life away just for a permission slip.
He was absolutely not being a coward.
The old bat gave a heavy wave of his hand, signaling this pair of dogs who were radiating the sour stench of love to get the hell out of his sight.
Not long after Kyle and Hermione left, a figure thoroughly drenched in the aura of a pathetic loser appeared at the end of the path.
Harry walked toward the castle with a completely devastated look on his face.
Just moments ago, inside Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, Cho Chang had spoken the cruelest words in the world to a simp like Harry: "You're a good person, but..."
The moment Harry heard the word "but," he couldn't hear a single thing his goddess Cho Chang said afterward. Feeling like his entire world had collapsed, Harry was entirely numb.
He didn't even know how he had walked all the way back to the Hogwarts castle gates, let alone remembered to put on his Invisibility Cloak.
Back in Hogsmeade, by the time Ron transformed back into Ron, he realized Harry had already vanished from the village.
Therefore, no one was there to remind poor Harry about the fact that he wasn't wearing his Invisibility Cloak. The Savior classmate, who had slipped out of school without permission, was caught red-handed by the old bat just like that.
"Potter?" Snape swept a scrutinizing gaze up and down Harry's body.
Toward his favorite "Harriet" classmate, Snape naturally wouldn't go out of his way to make things difficult like he did with a certain bastard.
But right now, Harry wasn't in cross-dressed girl's attire. Facing that face that looked exactly like James', the pull-out-and-leave-no-trace old bat couldn't possibly give him a pleasant expression even if he didn't deliberately give him a hard time.
"What is that in your hand?"
Frightened by the gloomy-faced old bat, Harry—who had been immersed in the sensation that all happiness in the entire world had vanished—instantly snapped out of his daze.
Harry looked down at his hand. Damn it, he hadn't put on the Invisibility Cloak.
"Professor, it's just a cloak." Harry did his absolute best to keep his composure.
But this kind of small trick could not deceive Snape at all. He stepped forward and snatched the Invisibility Cloak out of Harry's hand.
The moment the Invisibility Cloak touched his hand, Snape froze.
Having dealt with the Deathly Hallow known as the Resurrection Stone all year round, he could tell at a single glance that this was the Invisibility Cloak. Furthermore, it wasn't the kind of invisibility cloak on the market made from Demiguise hair that would gradually lose its effect over time.
This was a Deathly Hallow!
Combined with the Elder Wand in Dumbledore's possession, all three Deathly Hallows would be assembled!
It truly was a case of wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, only to find it without any effort at all.
Snape had never expected that the other two Deathly Hallows he had been constantly yearning for had actually been right within the boundaries of Hogwarts all along.
His Occlumency kicked into overdrive. Snape suppressed the extreme ecstasy in his heart and handed the Invisibility Cloak back into Harry's hand without showing any emotion, even though he desperately wanted to confiscate it.
But he couldn't do that.
Regarding the fact that Harry possessed the Invisibility Cloak, the old bat was certain that the old honeybee who squatted on the eighth floor of the castle without leaving his room was definitely aware of it.
If he confiscated the Invisibility Cloak, his desire to assemble the Deathly Hallows would be exposed instantly.
Snape had absolutely no confidence in being able to snatch the Elder Wand from Dumbledore.
To become the master of the Elder Wand, one must defeat or kill its previous master.
Snape knew exactly how much he weighed.
If Dumbledore was unwilling to lend the Elder Wand to him, there was absolutely zero probability that he could get it from Dumbledore.
Snape thought of a certain bastard who had just walked past him.
"Go on back." Snape waved his hand, signaling the non-cross-dressed Harry James Potter to quickly vanish. He felt annoyed just looking at that face.
Interrupted by the old bat like this, Harry's melancholy emotions were also thrown completely out the window.
————
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