The library was, after all, not a lawless place. The two hadn't been chatting for long before the librarian, Madam Pince, followed the sound and found them.
The little eagle and the little snake were thus chased out together.
It wasn't until they were driven out of the library, looking somewhat disheveled, that the two exchanged a glance and tacitly burst into laughter at the same time.
"I was so happy to run into you that I forgot this was the library," Cho Chang shrugged helplessly, smiling wryly.
Kate had been smiling too, but she froze slightly upon hearing those words. "Happy to run into me? Why?"
She and Cho Chang had seemingly only met a few times.
Generally speaking, reserved people from China would refer to such a shallow intersection as a 'nodding acquaintance.'
As the name implied, if they met, they would at most nod their heads; there would be absolutely nothing to say.
Could it be that Cho Chang was also one of those isolated individuals within her House?
That shouldn't be right.
In terms of beauty and knowledge, even in Ravenclaw, Cho Chang was surely a unique existence, right?
While Kate was still secretly speculating, she saw Cho Chang blush, a shy smile appearing on her childish face.
"Because, I really like you, Kate."
"...Huh?"
Facing a twelve-year-old girl, Kate certainly wouldn't steer the topic in an adult direction.
However, this answer still astonished her greatly.
Cho Chang looked at her with a beaming smile. "I said I like you very much. Even though we've only met a few times, I feel like we're old friends at first sight."
In truth, Cho Chang couldn't quite wrap her head around it herself.
The first time she saw Kate, she had already been attracted by that exquisitely looking, friendly, and polite girl.
But such a girl couldn't go to Hogwarts with her.
Throughout the entire past year, whenever Cho Chang was at Hogwarts, she would unconsciously think of the girl she had met in Diagon Alley.
She would think: If Kate enrolled too, how happy she would be here.
She would also wonder what kind of loneliness Kate felt, being all alone, able only to imagine her peers laughing and playing at Hogwarts while she studied in solitude due to poor health.
Could it be that even when Kate cries alone in her room, there is no one to comfort her?
Whenever she thought of that lonely figure in her imagination during her own happy moments, Cho Chang would have the illusion that her current happiness wasn't quite as happy anymore.
So, in the second year, when she saw this silver-haired girl again in Diagon Alley and learned she could finally attend school, the joy in her heart simply overflowed from her chest.
Even later, when she saw Kate at the Sorting Ceremony and learned she wouldn't be attending second-year classes, she didn't feel there was anything wrong with it.
As long as Kate could come to school, she was happy.
"By the way, since you're already attending school, your health should be fine now, right?" she remembered Kate's previous words and asked hurriedly.
Still immersed in the complex emotions of a suspected confession, Kate's cheek twitched as she nodded vaguely. "Mmh... probably fine."
Except for the need to undergo a physical examination every month.
"That's good then," Cho Chang's eyes curved into crescents as she proactively reached out her hand. "Although it's a year late, I am very happy you could enroll, Student Kate."
Looking at the friendly girl before her, Kate forced herself to toss the inexplicable speculations from her mind and generously shook her hand in return.
"Actually, you should call me Junior now."
She blinked, speaking with a relaxed expression.
Cho Chang couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh out loud, then raised her hand to stroke Kate's smooth hair. "Alright, Junior Kate."
...
It had to be said that chatting with someone from Ravenclaw was truly satisfying; Cho Chang's rich repository of knowledge was enough to keep up with most of Kate's topics.
The two jogged and chatted along the castle corridors, and it wasn't until just before dinner that they realized how much time had passed.
Cho Chang was also exceptionally considerate of her; knowing that the Snake House had some exclusionist traditions, she walked her to the entrance of the Great Hall before parting ways.
It wasn't until Kate sat down at the Slytherin long table to prepare for dinner that she saw Hermione hugging her books and hurriedly rising from the Gryffindor long table.
She didn't even spare Kate a glance before leaving on her own.
Kate blinked, feeling somewhat dazed. Why did she feel like Hermione was even angrier than before?
Did someone in Gryffindor bully her?
Almost instantly, Kate thought of a certain freckled younger brother in the Golden Trio.
In the original story, before the Golden Trio had undergone the baptism of the Troll incident, Ron had always been not very friendly toward Hermione.
Casting her gaze toward the red-haired boy who was still stuffing his face, Kate narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
"Hey, Shafiq," Malfoy swaggered over to sit opposite her, leading his lackeys. "Do you want to go to Gryffindor that badly? You're staring over there even while eating?"
Shut up, little dragon-boy. I don't have time to amuse you right now.
Kate turned her head, looking at him with a calm gaze.
For some reason, the smile on Malfoy's face began to stiffen under her scrutiny.
After a long while, he stiffened his neck and stammered, "Wh... What are you looking at!"
Don't think you can do whatever you want just because your eyes are scary!
Kate let out a soft chuckle, lowered her eyes slightly to look at the table full of food, and suddenly lost her appetite.
She immediately ignored Malfoy's fierce appearance but weak interior, stood up, and walked over to the Gryffindor long table.
Harry and Ron were originally still shoveling food. Catching a glimpse of her approaching out of the corner of their eyes, they hurriedly looked up, so anxious they didn't even have time to wipe their mouths.
Still mindful of the fact that his good friend had upset Kate before, Harry put his hand under the table and gently pinched Ron's leg.
Then he looked up and asked, "Student Shafiq, is there something you need?"
Ron, jolted by the pinch, immediately sprang up from the bench. "R-right! Shafiq, I have something I want to... to..."
He held it in, but couldn't get the second half of the sentence out for a long time.
Kate completely ignored his current performance and asked in a low voice, "Is Hermione in a bad mood today?"
Harry was stunned. "Why do you ask that?"
"She earned fifteen points for Gryffindor in class today; how could she possibly be in a bad mood?"
As soon as she was mentioned, Ron sat back down with a look of speechlessness.
Clearly, he was very dissatisfied with Hermione showing off.
Kate frowned slightly.
This was strange. If no one provoked Hermione, why did the little one look even angrier than during the day?
She had no intention of listening to Ron's complaints any longer. Without even eating, she hurriedly walked out of the Great Hall.
"Appare Vestigium!"
Drawing her wand and chanting softly at the entrance of the hall, a trail of glowing footprints immediately appeared on the ground.
A Tracking Spell, homologous to the one Newt had once used.
The difference was that the Tracking Spell Newt used displayed traces of magical activity in an area.
This Tracking Spell, however, could display non-magical activity traces. Its downside was that it could only query activities within the last five minutes; anything beyond that time could not be shown.
Following the footprints, Kate followed the trail all the way.
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