"I can give you a clue, it's also the brightest star in the constellation Lyra; if you guess it, I'll tell you a story about it." Tom thought for a moment and offered an additional condition and reward.
"It's Vega!" Hermione quickly exclaimed, "Or you can call it Alpha Lyrae. The brightest star in the northern hemisphere is the Big Dipper, and Alpha Lyrae is one of the brightest stars near the Sun, along with the Big Dipper and Sirius... It's the star that gives its name to the sought-after man, an extra simple question, and now it's your turn to tell the story."
Hermione was so delighted that she not only answered the question but also covered several points, all of which could have been used as exam points!
Tom: ...
He had forgotten that the girl cradled in his arms was a university nerd who had scored almost perfectly in astronomy! There was no way he could beg her to tell him a story when the girl couldn't even decipher it...
The star Tom was referring to was the legendary Vega.
"Actually, I'm more used to calling it Vega," Tom said slowly.
"The Weaver's star?" Hermione wondered, what a strange name for a star, and why did it have something to do with weaving? The galaxy it was in looked more like a seven-stringed lyre, didn't it?
"Listen," Tom said as he leaned closer to Hermione's hair, took a deep breath, and whispered an old story in her ear.
"In ancient times, according to legend, the Weaver Maiden, granddaughter of the Emperor of Heaven, was so skilled at weaving that she grew tired of the tedious life of weaving every day and secretly descended to Earth to marry a cowherd. How could a mortal marry a fairy? So the Emperor took the Weaver Maiden back to the Celestial Palace and allowed them to meet only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Their faithful love moved the magpies, so on the seventh day of the seventh month, countless magpies would use their bodies to build a bridge of magpies across the celestial river, allowing the cowherd and the Weaver Maiden to meet on the river."
"So..." Hermione looked at the star Vega in the night sky and pondered. The story touched her heart, and she was somewhat glad that her father wasn't the Emperor of Heaven, but just a relatively wealthy dentist.
Suddenly, two questions came to her mind, "Tom, how did the cowherd manage to get the Weaver Maiden? And why does the Emperor hate the cowherd but allow the Weaver Maiden to see him once a year? Shouldn't they be forbidden from seeing each other forever?"
Tom scratched his head, thinking that if he told how the cowherd won the Weaver Maiden, the fairy tale would turn into an adult story. As for the Emperor allowing the Weaver Maiden to see him once a year, it was normal: one day in heaven, one year on earth! If we consider this earthly timeline, then the cowherd will see the Weaver Maiden once a year, and she will see him once a day, which is not a difficulty for the Weaver Maiden but rather a test for the cowherd: a long-distance relationship where he can see her once a year but is not allowed to call or text her throughout the year is undoubtedly a difficult test to endure. In a few days, the cowherd will be old, and the Weaver Maiden won't be able to see him again.
If it's a year in heaven, it's even worse. One year in heaven, then three hundred years on earth, three hundred years and the cowherd is still on earth, still a young man, then this man is a suitable immortal, with good cultivation, then he is worthy of the Weaver Maiden.
Hermione found Tom's strange comments amusing.
"So, what would you do if you were the cowherd?" She looked at Tom with sparkling eyes.
"If I were the cowherd, I would ascend to Heaven and fight the Emperor to make him give me the Weaver Maiden!" Tom offered a whimsical ending.
"Speaking of stars, look at the star in front of Vega," Tom pointed to the three stars in the constellation Aquila, whose line points toward Vega, "It's called Altair."
Of course, in the West, they call it "Altair," which in Arabic means "the flying vulture."
"The star Vega was named so because four stars in front of it are connected in the shape of a diamond, resembling the shuttle used for weaving, and that's why it was named Vega. It happened that there were three stars in front of it, and the ancients, using their imagination, thought they were the cowherd carrying a pair of children, and that's why the star was named Altair." Tom explained a bit more about the origin of the names Altair and Vega.
"So, that's it." Hermione's doubts were answered by Tom.
The two chatted for a few more words, and Hermione suddenly became surprised and pulled out her wand. "Expecto Patronum!"
A bright three-headed puppy leaped out of the wand tip. It turned into a silver ball in Hermione's arms, and the three dog heads eagerly licked Hermione's neck and face.
"Let's go!" Hermione threw it on the ground and happily ran on all fours. It looked chubby and didn't have the ferocity it had when driving away the Dementors.
Tom: ???
"Filch." Hermione's Patronus Charm was also used as a precaution against Filch. Just because she didn't want to go back to the common room for a while didn't mean she wanted to be caught by Filch, so she released it a little early.
The Patronus had all kinds of uses, and Hermione had developed a new one: a puppy to vent her emotions.
"Does your little Patronus have a name yet?"
"What kind of name is there for a Patronus?"
"Well, now there is one. Winter Solstice? Or maybe Granada?"
"Why not Granada Solstice?" Hermione looked at Tom, not understanding, thinking he was really bored of naming Patronuses.
While the two argued about the name of the little Patronus, the silver mass ball came running back.
"Oh no! Filch is really here!" Hermione's expression changed, she jumped up and ran towards the common room. She didn't believe Filch would be patrolling the Ravenclaw tower on the first night of class. Even if it's a patrol, he should be on the Gryffindor side! Hermione was a little puzzled.
She dragged Tom to the door's ring and knocked on the door.
The eagle-headed door knocker asked the usual question, "6.07 times 9.19 equals?"
Tom and Hermione: !!!
Are they trying to pick a fight? Filch is right behind them! They could hear Filch's footsteps!
"55.7833!" Tom said on a whim, taking out his five-star quill and writing on Riddle's piece of diary: 6.07 times 9.19 = 1, with the 1 quickly transforming into 55.7833. Of course, Tom knew the answer to 6.07 times 9.19, so when he deliberately wrote it wrong, the quill corrected it.
They rushed through the door and closed it behind them. The next moment, Filch emerged from around the corner of the staircase and almost saw the common room door closing for a moment, but he couldn't see who it was.
Irritated, Filch could only stomp his foot and turn around.