Harry emerged from the Honeydukes basement. He oriented himself a bit and found an opportunity to escape from the candy store's basement.
He opened his eyes wide and stared at everything in the shop without blinking.
There were shelves full of tempting sweets: cream-colored candies, bright pink coconut ice creams, toffees in barrels, and most importantly, a shelf dedicated exclusively to chocolate with over a hundred different flavors.
Harry was amazed and excited, feeling the thrill of when he first arrived at Diagon Alley.
He left behind the worries that had been on his mind; it was worth coming to Hogsmeade even if he got punished.
Of course, he had to be cautious and didn't take off his invisibility cloak since many people knew he didn't have permission to visit Hogsmeade. If anyone saw him here, it would cause him a lot of trouble.
Harry believed that Draco Malfoy, after seeing him, would reveal his whereabouts to Snape in less than five minutes, which would send him back to Hogwarts and into detention for the next semester.
So, Harry carefully wrapped his invisibility cloak around him and made sure to cover his feet as well to prevent his shoes from giving him away. As for footprints, Harry felt relieved when he saw through the window that thanks to the little wizards visiting Hogsmeade that day, the snowy ground was a mess and wouldn't leave obvious marks when he walked on it.
At first, Harry was cautious and stayed in a corner without moving, but he soon felt more at ease. The store was so crowded that no one would pay attention to strange sounds, and even if they did, they would think it was some kind of peculiar magic.
With his mind more relaxed, Harry began to carefully select the sweets. As a good kid, Harry was definitely not stealing. He reached behind the shelves and took the candies from there, also leaving some silver coins. What Harry did was quite clever; by taking the sweets from behind, the surface of the shelf showed no signs of change, and customers were less likely to notice the money left there.
"Chocolate frogs... Candied pineapples... Pepper Imps..." Very soon, Harry's robe pockets were filled with candies.
While enjoying his candy stick, he saw Neville approaching with a large, freshly unwrapped candy stick.
Suddenly, Harry became interested and took advantage of a momentary lapse from Neville to quickly snatch the candy stick from him.
Neville: ???
Where's my big candy stick!?
He blinked his eyes, looking innocent and confused. Neville panicked: was this some kind of ghost playing a trick on him?
At that moment, the sound of candy being chewed reached Neville's ears. He froze, and his face showed panic. Fortunately, the sound of chewing gradually faded away, and Neville could breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that the evil spirit that had been haunting him had finally gone away.
But do evil spirits really steal people's candy sticks? Could it be Peeves? But can Peeves leave Hogwarts? Neville pondered.
Meanwhile, Harry enjoyed his candy stick, following an older student out of Honeydukes. Aimlessly, Harry wandered the streets under his invisibility cloak.
When he was inside Honeydukes, he didn't realize the problem, but upon leaving the lively candy store, he noticed how different he was from that place.
The other students, walking in groups of two or three, listened to laughter and cheerful voices all around them. Some couples even held hands and didn't miss the chance to show their affection as they walked.
Most of these couples were more reserved within Hogwarts, but upon leaving school, they seemed to let loose, and their love filled the air with a sour aroma for the single kids, as if they had bitten into a lemon.
Harry was the only exception. He was alone amidst the cold and snow, wearing an expression of abandonment on his face. He even felt like causing some commotion so everyone could see him.
Of course, that was just a personal desire.
Harry hadn't made enough preparations. It could be said that this "operation" was purely accidental, and it was all a series of coincidences. Even after arriving in Hogsmeade, he didn't even know what to do. He felt like he was suffering from a bout of indecision in an amusement park.
Harry decided to simply wander. As a result, he got lost.
Harry decided to wander aimlessly. However, he realized that the streets around him were becoming increasingly deserted, and he began to feel a bit nervous. Had he already ventured too far from the central area of Hogsmeade?
At that moment, he heard the voices of a man and a woman.
"Throughout Great Britain... the Haunted House..."
"Come closer!"
He recognized Tom and Hermione's voices. So, he quickened his pace and ran toward the source of the sound. What would happen when he got there and how the situation would change, that was beyond what Harry was thinking about at that moment.
...
Hermione was awaiting Tom's response. At that moment, her thick scarf covered half of her face, hiding the blush on her cheeks. But her eyes gave her away.
Those watery eyes were clearly screaming at Tom: say yes, say yes!
Hermione wore a red woolen hat, a black fur coat, and a Ravenclaw-striped scarf around her neck. Her beige pants failed to hide her long thighs, and the trousers extended to her ankles, covering most of her snow boots.
Seeing that Tom didn't respond after several seconds, Hermione grew restless and nervously shifted her handbag over her shoulder. She reflected on what she had said a moment ago, and it didn't seem like she had said anything wrong, so why wasn't he accepting right away?
Perhaps the movement of her handbag interrupted Tom's thoughts, and he snapped back to reality, accepting Hermione's proposal.
"Of course, I have no problem with it; I'm just afraid someone might regret it. After all, it's the scariest haunted house in all of Great Britain!"
Seeing Tom accept, Hermione felt relieved and was not willing to lose at all. "We're wizards, how could we be afraid of ghosts? Instead, you took so long to decide; are you scared?"
"I'm not afraid; I was just thinking about how to get in."
"Get in?" Hermione froze. "Are you going in?"
Then she began to panic. Her intention was to get closer and take a careful look at the Shrieking Shack, not to go inside! In reality, Hermione was afraid of the Shrieking Shack.
This was the recognized haunted house in the wizarding world! And wizards had seen ghosts before. If even wizards considered what was inside to be terrifying, then it must be truly terrifying.
Hermione hesitated.
Seeing Hermione's expression, Tom was surprised: Was Hermione really afraid of this?
"You're scared," he said.
"I'm not scared!" Hermione shouted as if someone had stepped on her tail.
"So, are you daring to enter this house?"
Hermione: ...
She expressed her concerns to Tom. Tom smiled. Of course, he knew the truth behind the Shrieking Shack, and he understood that its reputation had probably been spread by the inhabitants of Hogsmeade. The purpose was to attract more visitors.
It had been so many years since they graduated, but the popularity of the Shrieking Shack had not diminished at all. Tom didn't believe there wasn't a hand behind this. Besides, how could a house that had only emitted a few screams be considered the scariest haunted house in Great Britain? Wasn't that a bit exaggerated?
But in this situation, talking about promotion would be a bit discouraging.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely protect you," Tom said as he squeezed Hermione's small hand. His hand was covered in gloves and was soft and tender.
"Tom..." Hermione murmured softly, her lips slightly parted. Tom leaned in and sealed those parted lips.
At that moment, Tom and Hermione were face to face, Hermione's face slightly lifted, Tom's bent downward, and through the gap between their necks - if one could see through the invisibility cloak - stood Harry, who had just arrived, standing not far away with an astonished expression.
Snow fell from the sky; it was the white season again.
Harry felt like he had arrived at the wrong moment.
But someone else had even worse luck than him.
"Granger, Yodel—" a drawling voice echoed from the distant bushes. Harry immediately recognized that voice; it was Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy and his two cronies leaped out of the bushes, running into the distance while shouting, "Granger, Weasley, I suggest you button up your pants, your butt will freeze in this weather, how will you explain it to Madame Pomfrey? Ah!"
Malfoy and his two companions jumped out from among the bushes, running off into the distance while yelling, "Granger, I suggest you button up your pants, your butt will freeze in this weather, how will you explain it to Madame Pomfrey? Ah!"
Malfoy dared to do this because he maintained a safe distance from Tom and Hermione. The distance between the three of them and Tom and Hermione was more than ten meters; at this distance, the accuracy rate of a spell was quite low, and once they started running, they went from being "sitting ducks" to "moving targets," almost impossible to hit with a spell.
Given these circumstances, why not taunt Tom, who had made him swallow a bitter defeat in the past? Malfoy had already endured Tom and Hermione for a long time. Although his relationship with Tom wasn't as tense as Ron and Harry's, after those two direct confrontations, their relationship was strained. He could only swallow his pride because of Tom's superiority.
Malfoy had big hopes, but unfortunately, his escape route passed right by Harry. So Harry stretched his foot...
With a dull thud, Malfoy fell to the ground, dumbfounded.
His two lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, were loyal and didn't abandon him; they turned around to try to help him up.
At that moment, two bright red beams shone.
"Stupefy!" ×2
Tom and Hermione instinctively made the same move. It can't be said whether they hit the moving targets, but they definitely hit the stationary ones. Crabbe and Goyle fell unconscious.
Malfoy struggled to get up but was brought down by two red beams closely following him.
Tom rushed to the three of them and used the Memory Charm on each one. He didn't want them to spread any malicious rumors about having seen them with Hermione in Hogsmeade. Tom decided to modify their memories so they would forget encountering him at that place.
Harry was scared and stood frozen in place, not daring to breathe, afraid of being discovered and experiencing the Stupefy-Obliviate combo.
After dealing with Malfoy and the others, Tom dragged them aside. Within a few minutes, they would wake up and forget what they shouldn't have witnessed.
Tom straightened his back, and his gaze became intense. Harry's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he also realized a problem. Following Tom's gaze, he saw a series of footprints winding down from the hill.
There were footprints from Tom and Hermione, those from Malfoy and his two companions, and a set of footprints that stopped halfway with no signs of returning. Those footprints were very close to Tom, almost inches away.
Harry felt his heart stop, and his blood ran cold.
Tom's initial reaction was that someone was standing in front of him. Realizing this, he instantly jumped back while casting the Stunning Spell towards where the footprints vanished.
Tom's instinctive counterattack startled Harry. The spell grazed his ear and knocked him to the ground, causing his invisibility cloak to come off.
"Harry?" Tom and Hermione exclaimed in disbelief. Seeing Harry Potter here was utterly incredible, like encountering a polar bear on the African plains.
Hermione, upon seeing Harry, displayed an astonished expression on her face. She exclaimed, "Harry, what are you doing here? Why are you here?"
Harry thought to himself, wasn't it because he was watching them? But his survival instinct made him change his mind. "I saw Malfoy and his friends acting suspiciously, so I followed them, and then I saw them in conflict with you."
These words reminded Hermione that the current issue wasn't how Harry got there but the fact that he was present.
Hermione narrowed her eyes and observed him for a moment, gripping her wand even tighter in her hand. Her gaze sent shivers down Harry's spine.
How had he not realized before that Hermione was so aggressive?
Fortunately, after careful consideration, Hermione put her wand away, and her expression softened. Her voice was as pleasant and gentle as ever.
"So, please keep our secret. We don't want others to find out that we knocked out Malfoy and the others."
Harry felt relieved and replied, "Of course."
He wanted to say more, but suddenly he closed his mouth, opened his eyes wide, and his lips trembled. Finally, all his emotions turned into one word that he involuntarily uttered, "Grim!"
Following Harry's gaze, Tom saw a large, scruffy black dog turning to enter the Shrieking Shack.
"Did you see it?" Harry exclaimed excitedly, his face completely flushed.
"We saw it," Tom and Hermione nodded.
Something unexpected happened. After receiving an affirmative answer, Harry felt revitalized and ran towards the Shrieking Shack desperately.
He didn't take the time to look for an entrance in the fence; he simply grabbed the wire fence and jumped over it.
Tom watched Harry chase after Sirius Black in a frenzy and sighed. "Let's go!"
He also ran towards the Shrieking Shack.