Hermione clenched her lips and smacked Tom twice while nervously glancing at Hagrid; fortunately, he was crying so loudly that he didn't hear Tom's words.
Finally, after shedding a large pool of tears, Hagrid recovered. He pulled out his handkerchief again and blew his nose. "You're right, I need to cheer up. I'm sorry; I haven't been doing too well lately..."
"Don't worry, Hagrid, I'll help you, and Tom will too, right?" Hermione looked into Tom's eyes, trying to compel him to take a stance.
"Uh, yeah, sure," Tom replied, looking away.
But he wasn't lying; he did intend to help Hagrid.
"We can start by reviewing several files..." Hermione quickly calculated, got up from her seat, and hurried away.
"Hermione is a good girl," Hagrid said while rubbing his reddened eyes. "I'm going to go back and make sure Buckbeak is well taken care of. I can't leave him alone in the snow at Christmas."
Then Hagrid also left.
Tom was left alone in his place, tidying up the messy desk they had left. When he was almost done organizing, Hermione returned with a stack of files that reached her height.
"These are the files that Madam Pomfrey recommended we review," she said as she placed the mountain of dusty files on the table, creating a large dust cloud.
"Achoo. This needs cleaning! Achoo," Tom was irritated by the dust and sneezed several times.
"So, these are the files you want to review," he asked with growing concern as he looked at the files.
"Of course!"
"What about the assignments? And the essays? And the group projects?" Tom was getting more alarmed.
"We can sleep a little less and wake up a little earlier," Hermione said, staring intently at Tom. "We can make a small sacrifice to save a life."
Tom couldn't refuse as he looked into Hermione's eyes. He tried to look away, but Hermione suddenly grabbed his face, immobilizing him on the table and forcing him to look at her.
"Help me; I need your help. I want to help Hagrid win this case."
Tom: I mean no, but I can't refuse!
"It's not just a legal issue... trust me, I'll eliminate the external factors. What if we set aside the files?"
"Really? Have you found a solution?" Hermione looked at Tom somewhat incredulously. "You're not tricking me, are you?"
"Of course not, how dare you think that! Get up quickly!"
Hearing Tom speak like that, Hermione released Tom and got up from the table. She straightened her wrinkled robe and said, "Great, hearing you say that reassures me. Also, the location of your wand is quite strange; you just poked me with it."
"If you hadn't pushed me onto the table, my wand wouldn't have poked you!" Tom sat in the chair and turned away, giving Hermione his back.
Hermione: ???
"So, are we going to eat?" Hermione circled around Tom from behind and hugged him, rubbing her cheek against his ear. "I'm hungry."
Tom felt a warm sensation on his back and Hermione's warm breath in his ear. His cheeks visibly turned red.
"Wait... wait for two minutes."
...
Hacker was a little hungry, and as he and Dumbledore took their seats, he noticed that the dishes on the table were still empty.
Maybe it's not time for the meal yet, Hacker thought, unsure of what lunch at Hogwarts would be like.
Before the meal was served, the professors were chatting casually.
"This year, there's no student left," Professor Flitwick sighed as he looked around at the people seated. "So why are we still here? Why not go home?"
"Because they feed us here?" Professor McGonagall pondered for a moment and thought it was better to stay at school. Not only she, but all the present heads of houses were in the same situation. Instead of spending Christmas alone at home, it was better to spend it at Hogwarts with their former colleagues.
The professors fell silent. They thought Professor McGonagall's words made a lot of sense. Why go back home? Cooking for oneself was too much work. Having to wash, cook, and wash the dishes was a task they had to do themselves. It was better to enjoy the pre-prepared service at Hogwarts.
As for why the students didn't stay... maybe it was because they had heard that many of their peers were going back home? Think about it; if a student stayed, they would have to have lunch with the headmaster, the teachers, and their own head of house. It would be impossible to eat like that!
"Speaking of which, why didn't Professor Scamander go home during the Christmas holidays?" Professor Sprout looked curiously at Newt, who was listening quietly on the side.
Newt was slightly surprised; he didn't expect the topic to suddenly focus on him.
"Oh, mainly because there are too many interesting animals to study in the Forbidden Forest. I really don't want to leave," Newt said aloud, although in his heart, he had another answer: his grandson had recently returned home, and the boy was making a lot of noise. If he went back home, he would surely be bothered by him. It was better to avoid the trouble and find some peace outside of home.
At that moment, Tom and Hermione also appeared at the Great Hall's entrance.
"Great, come here quickly!" Dumbledore greeted them with joy, snapped his fingers, and a large number of Christmas crackers appeared on the table. "Crackers! Christmas holidays aren't complete without crackers!"
Apparently, despite the fact that Christmas crackers had already popped during the Christmas Eve dinner, Dumbledore was still excited about them.
Hacker was no longer surprised. He just thought nostalgically that wizards also enjoyed these things. Popping Christmas crackers was one of the most beautiful memories of Christmas when he was a child. But unfortunately, as he grew up, he lost interest in those little plastic toys and low-quality paper hats.
However, upon seeing the Hogwarts crackers, he suddenly felt some excitement, as if his beautiful childhood memories had been awakened.
Tom took a cracker and opened it together with Dumbledore, but instead of producing a soft pop, there was a loud bang like a cannon, and blue smoke came out, startling Hacker. From the cracker emerged a flowery woman's hat and several chubby squirrels.
Hacker took one of the squirrels and looked at Dumbledore, who was putting on the hat with a big smile.
Tom and Hermione found empty seats, and Dumbledore smoothed his white beard, pointing to the crackers on the table and saying, "Everyone gets one!"
Dumbledore was so enthusiastic that it made people suspect he had too many crackers in stock and needed to clear out some inventory.
Tom and Hermione opened some crackers and got a bag of glowing balloons, a statue of a giant, and a magical chess set. As for the creatures, they were magical products and disappeared shortly afterward.
Tom and Hermione were not the last to sit down, and shortly after, Madam Pince and Professor Trelawney also arrived.