Tom caught up with Hermione.
"Where have you been? Why did you take so long?" Hermione grumbled playfully, but there was no complaint in her tone.
"Just doing a little task," Tom said with a genuine smile. "I just came up with something. That Time-Turner the pharaoh gave us, the time it stays in the past is related to the speed of the sand flow, so what if I completely block the mouth of the Time-Turner?"
Hermione was astonished. The sands of time flowed and returned to the original time, so if the passage was closed midway through the journey, couldn't they stay in the past?
"Would you like to go back in time, take a little break, have a vacation?" Tom had a tempting suggestion for Hermione.
"Linguistic communication is a big problem. We're not sure which era we'll travel back to. After traveling back, we'll become deaf and blind." Faced with Tom's suggestion, Hermione felt tempted. The Time-Turner loaned to them by the Ministry had a big drawback—it could only travel in time for five hours, and even the place where they appeared wouldn't change, so there was no way to ease their minds by traveling back in time.
Pharaoh Menes had given them a very different one, and if they used it properly, they could cut short a vacation in time, and Hermione needed a vacation.
As for communication, Hermione and Tom looked at each other and couldn't help but remember someone...
"Let's go see Pharaoh Menes again," Hermione said excitedly, "Even if it's just to have a conversation with him for a while, it would be great."
"Of course," Tom nodded, taking out the crystal ball Dumbledore had given them. "I had the impression that there was a mission for the Guild that had something to do with him, let's do it on the side... we need to level up, if we don't achieve it by the end of September, we'll lose a month of benefits!"
"What's the mission?" Hermione was curious.
Tom held the crystal ball in his hand and smiled without saying anything. Hermione realized and sat under a tree with Tom leaning against it, and Hermione leaning against him as they tried to fall asleep together.
After a while, Hermione's ears twitched.
"Tom, are you asleep?"
"No."
"Me neither."
"... "
Tom couldn't help but roll his eyes: What are you doing here with me? But it was normal, both of them had such a long morning that they were wide awake. Many times, if you wake up early in the morning, if you look at your phone, you won't fall back asleep. Plus, under the tree was not a good place to sleep, so it was a miracle that Hermione could sleep.
"I'll fall asleep if you give me a kiss." Hermione pouted.
"Fine."
...
The two of them couldn't fall asleep anymore.
"Tom, tell me a bedtime story. When I was little and couldn't sleep, my mom always told me a story, and I would fall asleep after listening to it."
Tom: !!!
Tom thought about it, and countless stories crossed his mind, but either they were too long or not suitable for bedtime. Finally, he found a good bedtime story.
[Once upon a time, there was a little kitten who lived carefree in the forest, who had never been in love and wanted to know what it was like to be in love.
She loved reading, and the book said that if you liked someone, even if they just looked at you, you would get nervous, excited, and distracted. But it also said that if you fall out of love, it's like getting stung by a bee, it's not that bad, but it hurts. It hurts for a long time.
So, Kitten packed her bags and set out to discover what it was like to be in love.
First, she met Miss Seagull, who told her, "Love is not good at all, it's as bitter as medicine."
The kitten left thoughtfully.
Then she met the little fox, who told her that love was like a snowman in winter, no matter how much you gave, when the sun came out, there was nothing left.
The kitten became a little depressed.
Then she met Fat Bear, who told her that love was like a vanilla cake, and it was incredibly sweet.
The kitten was completely confused, she no longer knew what love was.
Then she felt something licking her head, and as she looked up, she saw it was the little dog. The little dog patted her head and said, "Love, like the little stories I tell you every day, as long as you like them, I'll tell them to you every day."]
Tom gently stroked Hermione's slightly messy hair, feeling a sense of peace. Hermione grumbled twice and shifted in his arms.
"You little dirty dog..."
The story didn't put her to sleep, so she wrapped her arms around Tom and told him a story too.
[Miss Rabbit was the most famous elf in the forest, her fur as white as early winter snow, but it seemed that God didn't want any creature to be too perfect, she was born blind, she couldn't see the colorful flowers, she had never seen the bright moonlight or the blue sea.
How strange the world is without light! Loneliness is her greatest fear.
Luckily, she has Ash to keep her company. Ash is her best friend, Ash says he is a super, super big gray rabbit, and with Ash's company, Miss Rabbit's world has light, no more loneliness, no more fear.
They have been through many things together, they lived adventures with each other, they told each other everything, and it seemed there were no secrets between them.
Until one day, Miss Rabbit went to buy carrots at Granny Goat's store.
"Why do you always buy so many?" Granny Goat smiled kindly.
"Because I want to eat them with Ash."
"Ash? You mean the big bad wolf? How can he like carrots when his favorite food is a white rabbit like you?"
"How can he be a wolf..."
"I saw it with my own eyes the other day, Miss Rabbit, so be careful!"
Miss Rabbit left with a big bag of carrots.
No wonder Ash always hid when there were strangers, no wonder Ash had such a long and big tail, no wonder Ash always knew so many strange things...
Mr. Wolf's heart was breaking as he witnessed all of this.
...
Miss Rabbit pushed the door open and entered, carrying the bag of carrots in her hand.
"You... you already know everything... actually... I'm not a big gray rabbit, I'm..."
"I'll go make your favorite carrot soup." Miss Rabbit interrupted Mr. Wolf and walked towards the kitchen while whispering softly, "I don't care if you're the Big Bad Rabbit or the Big Bad Wolf, all I know is that I like you.
That's all that matters...]
As the story progressed, Hermione's voice grew softer and softer, and finally, at the end of the story, she had fallen asleep.
Tom silently held her, a tear slipping from the corner of his eye. Soon, he fell asleep too.