The Grangers were waving enthusiastically at the platform exit. They were dressed in smart Muggle clothes, their faces alight with the pure joy of seeing their daughter.
Hermione, holding Lia's hand, quickly walked through the bustling crowd, the steam in the air blurring the sound of The Weasley Family's farewells behind them.
"Oh, Hermione, my darling!" Mrs. Granger gave her daughter a solid hug, and then her kind eyes fell upon Lia. "Good girl, I've prepared this season's smoked fish. I think you'll like it."
Lia's eyes lit up slightly, and she thanked sweetly, "Thank you, Madam!"
"Oh! Such a good girl," Mrs. Granger smiled and pinched Lia's cheek. "You look much cheerier than last time."
The drive home was smooth and quiet. Mr. Granger was driving, watching the two girls in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
Everything seemed so peaceful and wonderful.
It wasn't until the following afternoon that the first strange incident occurred.
It was a sunny afternoon, and Hermione was teaching Lia to identify several common Muggle plants in the garden.
Lia was very interested in these flowers and plants that neither moved nor attacked people. She extended a slender finger, carefully touching the petal of a rose.
Just then, the neighbor's fat white Persian Cat jumped down from the low wall with an elegant stride.
It saw Lia, and perhaps out of some territorial instinct, it arched its back and let out a threatening "Haaa—" sound from its throat.
Hermione was about to speak to calm it down, but Lia reacted first.
She didn't even turn her head.
Her deep blue eyes were still fixed on the rose in front of her, but a string of low, strange hissing sounds came from her mouth.
"*Ssssshaaa-kaaa-thsssss...*" (Quiet)
The sound was neither like a cat nor a person.
It was short and sharp, carrying a commanding authority, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, or an ancient, forgotten spell.
The white Persian Cat's threatening sound stopped abruptly.
Its fur stood on end, as if it had seen a natural predator, and its eyes were filled with extreme fear.
It scrambled to turn around, crashed into the low wall, and then fled back to its own yard like mad, letting out a mournful wail from its throat.
The garden instantly fell silent.
Hermione froze in place, her blood seeming to congeal at that moment.
She understood.
That pronunciation, that language... it was Parseltongue.
She abruptly looked at Lia, but Lia acted as if nothing had happened, still examining the rose.
She turned her head, looked at Hermione with those innocent eyes, and tilted her head, causing her soft cat ears to sway slightly.
"Hermione, it ran away."
"Lia," Hermione's voice was a little dry. She crouched down, trying to meet Lia's gaze. "What did you... say to that cat just now?"
"Telling it to be quiet," Lia replied matter-of-factly. "It was too noisy."
"I mean, you..." Hermione was cut off mid-sentence when the neighbor's window was pushed open with a "bang." The neighbor's wife poked her head out and cried in alarm: "Oh dear! Miss Granger! Is there something terrible in your yard? My Snowball is scared senseless!"
Hermione's heart thumped heavily. She immediately stood up, putting on an apologetic, flawless smile.
"I am so sorry, Mrs. Brown! We didn't see anything! Maybe it accidentally saw a car? You know how timid Snowball usually is."
As she spoke, she quickly pointed toward Mrs. Brown and silently muttered: "Confundus."
Since Lia swallowed the soul fragment, she had unconsciously been transmitting magic power to Hermione, which made Hermione's magic and control stronger and stronger, allowing her to gradually master Wandless Casting.
The panic on Mrs. Brown's face immediately turned into confusion. She muttered to herself, "A car? Oh... yes, it must have been a car... that timid, silly thing." She grumbled and closed the window.
Hermione sighed in relief, her palms slick with cold sweat.
She turned around, looked at the still bewildered Lia, and felt for the first time that this was tricky.
This was not a simple magical accident; this was Parseltongue, the mark of Salazar Slytherin, and the symbol of a Dark Wizard.
It was Tom Riddle's ability.
"Lia, listen," Hermione's voice grew serious. "From now on, never make that sound to any animal or person again, understood? No matter what happens."
Lia looked at Hermione's serious face, and although she didn't understand why, she nodded obediently.
She leaned forward, rubbed her cheek against Hermione's arm, and asked softly, "Hermione, are you angry?"
That familiar feeling of complete dependence relaxed Hermione's tense nerves slightly. She sighed and rubbed Lia's head: "No. I'm just... protecting you."
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