As Halloween approached and the war between the lions and snakes temporarily subsided, Harry, another victim caught between the two houses, also breathed a sigh of relief.
For some time now, Draco and Ron had been having a massive row almost every day, leaving Harry in a difficult position.
In his heart, although Draco and Ron belonged to different houses, they were both his good brothers, and he didn't want them to clash—Harry still remembered the Sorting Hat suggesting he consider Slytherin, and after becoming friends with Draco, he felt a special connection to both houses; he felt it was inappropriate to favor either side, so he had been trying to remain neutral between the two.
Fortunately, two days before Halloween, Draco gave Ron an Agrippa Chocolate Frog card, which made Ron start treating Draco like a brother again; the two even took the initiative to research with Harry and Neville what exactly that three-headed dog was guarding.
Meanwhile, Harry noticed that Hermione Granger's attitude toward them had become very cold; she hardly paid them any attention anymore—or rather, Hermione didn't have the time to deal with them right now.
Lately, Hermione had been getting up early every morning and then vanishing without a trace outside of class hours, only hurrying back to Gryffindor Tower by curfew.
On a few occasions, Harry happened to run into Hermione in the Castle corridors and found her either losing her temper at Slytherin's Pansy Parkinson or gathered with Senior MacFusty around Senior Grindelwald, arguing heatedly about something.
This series of actions by Hermione also inadvertently caused a subtle shift in how the Gryffindor students perceived her.
Originally, Hermione's bossy attitude in giving orders had caused many to keep their distance—however, when she bravely faced off against the Slytherin students, the little lions suddenly discovered that this girl, who usually seemed a bit rigid, actually had a brave and determined heart; this change caused Hermione's popularity within Gryffindor House to gradually rise.
In Charms Class and Transfiguration, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil no longer avoided her as they had before, but instead actively sought Hermione out to partner up; this was undoubtedly a good start, and Hermione seemed to realize this as well, as she began trying to restrain her temper and build friendlier relationships with the students around her.
However, one problem always troubled Harry—for some reason, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall always liked to pair Hermione with Harry, Neville, or Ron during independent practice, and when paired with them, Hermione would lose the patience she had with the girls and become very irritable.
Harry secretly groaned; every time he had Charms Class or Transfiguration, he was on edge, fearing that after being paired with Hermione, he would be harshly criticized by an irritable Hermione for being clumsy.
During Charms Class on Halloween, Professor Flitwick paired Hermione and Ron together again, and they had a significant argument while practicing the Levitation Charm due to Ron's pronunciation issues—
"Please, were you actually paying attention in class?" Hermione said loudly with disdain.
"What's wrong with mine?" Ron retorted indignantly.
"Your pronunciation isn't accurate at all!" Hermione continued to accuse him.
"Humph, do you think you know everything?" Ron's face turned beet red with anger.
Hermione didn't indulge him; she directly cast a Levitation Charm on the feather and succeeded on the first try, earning high praise from Professor Flitwick.
Having lost both the argument and the demonstration, Ron angrily said to Harry and Neville after class, "She's a nightmare, honestly, it's no wonder no one can stand her!"
Neville hurriedly made a shushing gesture, indicating that Hermione was right near them—unfortunately, the words were still heard by Hermione.
Hermione was already in a bad mood because Pansy's interference that morning had prevented her from saying more than a few words to Adelaide; hearing Ron say this now, her anger was instantly ignited.
Hermione drew her wand and pointed it directly at Ron's head, muttering an incantation; Ron's red hair instantly turned grass green, and he clutched his head in terror, looking completely lost.
But that wasn't the end of it; Hermione performed the Levitation Charm again, directing a large cluster of small pebbles to pelt Ron.
Ron couldn't dodge in time and was hit by many pebbles, making him yell in pain; Harry and Neville, who were standing beside Ron, were also unfortunately caught in the crossfire, left in a wretched state by the pelting stones.
The three of them fled through the Castle while dodging the stone attacks, with Hermione chasing right behind them, pelting them all the way; this scene drew loud laughter from other students, who thought it was some kind of Halloween entertainment.
Draco, who had originally intended to give Harry and the others some candy, silently distanced himself from his good brothers after seeing this—from the scratches on Pansy's face these past few days, it was clear that Miss Granger was not one to be trifled with; he'd better stay away.
If she was pelting them, she couldn't pelt him.
After Harry's 'brilliant' team was unilaterally thrashed by Hermione, they mournfully agreed to a series of unequal treaties before a satisfied Hermione finally let them go.
These unequal treaties could be described as extremely harsh, including but not limited to:
A ban on speaking ill of Hermione Granger and Adelaide Grindelwald behind their backs (even though they had never spoken ill of Senior Grindelwald);
When Hermione needed them to stall Pansy Parkinson, they had to step forward without hesitation;
A ban on any behavior that violated school rules or would cause Gryffindor to lose points;
Before doing anything out of line, they had to report to her proactively;
A ban on continuing to investigate what that three-headed dog was guarding.
Harry felt that his joy at school, aside from Quidditch, had been ruthlessly snuffed out by Hermione.
Though he felt some resentment, the thought that Hermione might turn his hair green as well terrified him into not daring to have even a hint of resistance.
Ron was ordered by Hermione not to change his hair color back until he woke up the next morning, and he now walked beside Harry like he'd lost his soul, enduring the stares of passersby; Neville, on the other hand, was quite happy, as Hermione's unequal treaties were hardly restrictive for him, given that his daily goal was simply to avoid making mistakes.
It wasn't until after the afternoon classes ended and they went to the Halloween feast that their moods improved—the various colorful Halloween decorations made this group of simple-minded little lions immediately forget the sorrow of being oppressed by Hermione, as they threw themselves wholeheartedly into the feast.
Meanwhile, Hermione, sitting opposite them, had no heart to admire the Great Hall's decorations; she noticed that Adelaide was nowhere to be seen beside Ravenclaw's Cho Chang.
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