Upon seeing Crookshanks walk away, Hermione remarked, "I didn't expect even Crookshanks to receive Christmas gifts."
"Oh, please, Crookshanks has been a great help to Sirius," Tom shrugged. "But speaking of gifts, aside from what I gave you, what else did you receive?"
Hermione's gaze wavered for a moment, and she mumbled that she didn't receive anything else.
It was a lie. Of course, Hermione had received other Christmas gifts. The Grangers, naturally, didn't need to be mentioned. They had given their daughter a set of toothbrushes similar to Tom's, with no difference except for the brush's color.
But that gift wasn't the important one. The important ones were the gifts from Hermione's roommates, one more inappropriate than the other. Sue Li had given her a bottle of perfume with a rather inappropriate name: "Man Killer." It was said that when sprayed, it could leave men completely captivated.
Hermione didn't hesitate to put that at the bottom of her suitcase. With her good knowledge of potions, she knew very well what such a perfume meant.
On the other hand, Padma Patil had given her a book, a bestseller in her homeland: "The Art of Love." It was an ancient Indian text on philosophy and psychology that talked about different postures, secret tricks, and advice. However, Hermione found the content filled with colorful images a bit biased. Surprisingly, the purpose of that book was to prevent divorce.
The book's logic was "making lovers happy makes marriages happier." In its descriptions, sex is sacred and requires complete physical and mental unity between lovers. Apart from some flashy positions and acrobatic gestures, the Love Sutra is above all a manual that presents the complete relationship between a man and a woman. It addresses the social relationship between men and women, emotional closeness, and finally, physical pleasure.
Padma included an explanatory note with the gift, so Hermione decided not to put the book and the perfume bottle together but stored it in her backpack.
Tom understood Hermione; he could easily see that she wasn't telling the truth. But if she didn't want to say it, there must be a reason, and he didn't have to force her. In time, he would find out; after all, the list of people who had given her gifts wasn't that long, and it wasn't difficult to guess.
After dealing with the Firebolt and the cat food, they continued with their tasks. The previous incident had cost them a lot of time, and they needed to make up for it as quickly as possible.
Soon, it was lunchtime. Mrs. Granger descended the stairs while combing her hair, preparing lunch for the whole family.
Tom saw with his own eyes how Mrs. Granger took the leftover turkey and bread from the fridge, so he decided he couldn't wait any longer and went to see Hacker.
"I have something to do; I have to go," Tom said, and before Hermione could react, Tom was already at the door.
"Let's have lunch first—" Hermione reached out, trying to hold him back, but it was too late. Tom didn't hear her words, or perhaps he heard them clearly.
Bam!
There was a loud bang, and Tom disappeared.
Hermione: ...
Frustrated, she covered her forehead: You should have taken me with you!
Hacker stood by the window, smoking his pipe. He frowned, seeming to have some problem bothering him.
"Support Duncan or Eric?" Hacker was at a crossroads. Duncan was the Minister of Finance, Eric the Minister of Foreign Affairs; both were powerful competitors for the new position of Prime Minister.
The resignation of the former Prime Minister was already a certainty; since his Christmas speech, everything was irreversible, unless a large-scale war suddenly broke out, no one could stop his resignation.
For Hacker, the most important thing was to stand firm in this new round of reorganization, not only seeking benefits but at least not losing his current position.
If he wanted to gain benefits, he would have to ally with one of the two, Duncan or Eric, and support them to become the new Prime Minister. That was the simplest method but also the most difficult. Because in this game of choosing between two options, if he made a mistake, he would lose his entire investment.
Even more curious, both of them extended an olive branch to Hacker. But here was the problem, Hacker ended up expressing his support to both...
When he finally realized what he had done, he felt distressed.
"Dear, lunch is ready," came the voice of Annie, Hacker's wife, from inside the house.
"I know, wait until I finish my pipe," Hacker replied and took a deep puff from his pipe. At that moment, there was a loud bang, which startled Hacker so much that he almost dropped his pipe.
Hacker's first reaction was that someone was shooting. Someone was aiming at him! In the instant he heard the bang, Hacker felt time slow down, although his body couldn't move, his mind filled with a thousand thoughts.
I'm a complete idiot, I really am. I knew I shouldn't have driven the convertible, but I didn't consider that smoking on the balcony was also dangerous.
After I die, what will Annie do? I don't even know if Humphrey and Bernard, those two guys, will feel sad about my loss... I'm sure my funeral will lead to the implementation of countless policies. Only at a funeral do bureaucrats show maximum efficiency.
A few days ago, I was thinking about which high-ranking official should organize a grand funeral, but I never thought I would be the protagonist...
If I had crouched down behind the potted plant, I could have dodged the bullet, right?
Wait a minute, why am I not dead yet?
Hacker regained his composure and realized he was unharmed, but in front of him stood a handsome young man, silently on the other end of the balcony, looking at him as if he were a marble statue. His eyes were incredibly serene and deep, not seeming like those of someone his age. Looking into those eyes was like gazing into a deep, dark lake.
The wind brushed a strand of hair from his forehead, and the young man said in a very pleasant voice, "Good afternoon, Mr. Hacker."
Hacker made an effort to recall this young man's image in his mind but realized he didn't actually know this person at all.
"I'm Lockhart, or rather, my name is Tom Yodel. We met in the embassy district earlier," Tom said, and then memories flooded Hacker's mind like a tide. He remembered the experience of that night.
"Aren't you going to invite me in?"
"Oh, oh, of course, come in," Hacker snapped out of it as if from a dream and quickly invited Tom into his house.
At that moment, Annie arrived with a plate of turkey sandwiches and approached both of them.
Tom: ...