Tom and Hermione were finishing their History of Magic and Potions assignments while Hacker and Dumbledore were talking. Instead of entering the headmaster's office to eavesdrop on their conversation, they went to the library.
That's right, when Dumbledore and Hacker entered the office together, Tom and Hermione headed straight for the library.
As for Dumbledore and Hacker's conversation? Sorry, they weren't very curious. As long as the Magical Secrecy Law was in effect, what they were talking about was pure talk.
Dumbledore understood this very well, so he didn't mention anything about cooperation between the magical and non-magical worlds; instead, he just engaged in casual conversation to get closer to them. In Dumbledore's opinion, establishing a close relationship with the Muggle Prime Minister was the best option in the current situation.
Hacker took the initiative and tried to steer the conversation toward agriculture and medicine. He had realized during their brief encounter that the magical community's combat prowess might not be immediately obvious, but their everyday magic far surpassed that of Muggles: Apparition, Levitation Charm, Cleaning Charm, Repair Charm...
All these spells were very useful.
In addition to these "life hacks," the agricultural and medical sectors in the magical world were far ahead of the non-magical world. As a Minister of Agriculture, Hacker understood the impact of using high-yield seeds and fertilizers in agriculture.
Hacker even concluded that if the magical world's farming methods could be extended to all of Great Britain, he would dare to increase social welfare to the point where meat, eggs, milk, vegetables, fruit, and staple foods would be free. If the magical world's medical methods could be promoted, a ten-year increase in life expectancy per person would not be a problem.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore paid no heed to his various hints.
Hacker summarized the meeting as friendly but futile, though it had served to open his eyes.
As for lunch, he didn't have high expectations. Since he had heard from Director Dumbledore that most Hogwarts students had gone home for Christmas, the cafeteria food would probably be limited, right?
Besides, Hogwarts was still a British wizarding school, so how could he, a Londoner by birth, not know what British food was like?
The layout of Hogwarts' dining hall had changed today; the long tables of the four houses had been moved to the walls and replaced by a table for twelve in the center of the hall. When Dumbledore and Hacker arrived, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were already seated, as were caretakers Filch and Newt Scamander. Instead of his usual brown coat, Filch was wearing a worn-out and outdated tuxedo. Newt wore his usual navy blue coat, but with a Christmas hat on his head to get into the Christmas spirit. Apart from that, there were no students.
"Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore greeted those present, then said to Hacker, who was beside him, "We're not many, and the students have gone home, so it's a bit silly to use the long house table again... Come, have a seat!"
He led Hacker to an empty pair of seats. Dumbledore glanced at the people seated and realized that some familiar faces were missing.
"Minerva, have you seen Yoder, Granger, and the others?"
Professor McGonagall's face looked a bit strange. "When we separated earlier, Yoder said he was going to the library to write his essays..."
Everyone in the room: ...
Hacker cautiously asked on the side, "Is studying in the magical world so stressful?"
"No, no," Dumbledore waved his hands while looking at McGonagall.
"Only gave them a bit of homework, some essays and such," Professor McGonagall interjected in her own defense.
"Well, yes..."
"I also only assigned a bit of homework."
Professors Freeway and Sprout followed suit, saying they had given a small amount of homework as well.
The pressure was now on Snape. Seeing everyone staring at him, Snape grumbled, "Perhaps Miss Granger and Mr. Yoder are taking on too many classes. I've heard they've enrolled in all the courses on the schedule."
The teachers suddenly realized: it wasn't our fault! I told you that the amount of work I assigned was quite reasonable; it was Tom and Hermione being greedy!
Tom and Hermione were still in the library at that moment.
They had thought that the school library wouldn't be open during the Christmas holidays, but it turned out it was. The ever-cold Mrs. Pince bid them "Merry Christmas" and disappeared.
Tom and Hermione were used to her standoffish attitude. They took their own books, found a corner, and sat down to work on their assignments.
It took them more than two hours. Writing two essays in two hours was impossible; even halving that amount would have been an impossible task. But they were nearing the completion of their History of Magic and Potions assignments, and they only needed some finishing touches, which didn't take them too long.
So when lunchtime came around, the two of them had finished their assignments.
"Tom, should we turn them in early?" Hermione rolled up the parchment and put it in her backpack.
"Don't complicate things; if the teachers return them and ask you to revise them in this situation, will you revise them or not?"
The thing with assignments is, it's not a good idea to swim against the tide. The moment you submit an assignment separately, the chances of your teacher reviewing it closely increase dramatically. That would be followed by a whole series of unpredictable world-shaking events.
Hermione pondered for a moment. "But if they return them for a redo, doesn't that mean there's something wrong with our work?"
Tom pondered for a moment, finding it impossible to argue with that.
"You're right, but rewriting two of them would be too much work."
Now Hermione was left speechless.
"Let's go to the auditorium to see if Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Hacker have finished their conversation; if all goes well, we can go home this afternoon."
"I actually would like to stay here; the food is much better than at home, and the library is much prettier..."
The two were talking as they gathered their things. At that moment, they heard a noise behind the nearby bookshelf.
Hermione was drawn to the sound. She went behind the bookshelf and saw that it was Hagrid, the giant of a man, hiding behind the bookshelf with a stack of books and wiping his eyes.