"Sue, are you going to say it or not? If not, I'm going to sleep."
Sue felt like his brain had split into two warring sides.
The dark side had a tiny Harry floating overhead, yelling at him to spit it out right now—miss this chance and you'll never get another!
The bright side had a tiny… wait, why was it a tiny Tom?
Tiny Tom was mumbling something about friendship and bonds, rambling on and on until Sue couldn't understand a word.
Anyway, just go for it.
Right here. Right now.
"Tom, I want to ask you something. Do you… only see Hermione as a friend?"
"What else would I see her as?" Hermione asked, genuinely confused. "Do we look like anything else to you?
Look at us—we fight or argue every single day. She's just weaker right now, but once she gets stronger it'll probably be even worse… What exactly are you trying to say?"
"I mean… if I asked Hermione to be my future dance partner, would I have a chance? I'm talking about… you know… she's from a Muggle family, and I'm pretty much the same. I think we'd be a good match."
A confession?
Hermione curled up a little on the bed.
To me?
But we barely know each other! All I know about you is that you're a little idiot.
What would Tom say in this situation?
"Lady Luck isn't on your side, Sue. Give it up. Hermione isn't right for you. You deserve someone better." Hermione fired off like a little pea shooter. "Hermione only has room in her heart for studying. Really, only studying. That's all she cares about. She's not interested in this kind of thing at all."
With that, Hermione dove under the covers.
Sleep time!
Then she suddenly popped her head back out. "But tomorrow I can take you to find Hermione. You can tell her yourself—like a man. No more of this nervous, wishy-washy stuff."
This time she really did lie down.
Just thinking about it was hilarious.
She wondered what kind of answer Tom would give when Sue confessed to the real Hermione.
Would he reject him politely… no, ladylike? Like a proper lady?
That didn't sound like something Tom would do at all.
With that delightful image in her head, Hermione drifted off to sleep.
…
The next morning.
Bright and early, Hermione dragged Sue out of bed.
"Let me sleep a little longer…"
"Sleep? Keep sleeping and Hermione will go out with someone else. Up! Now! Immediately! Get up!"
She yanked him up by the ear and watched him stumble off to wash.
"Can you do something with that hair? It's a mess!
Oh my God, why are your socks two different colours? And there's a hole in the toe…
Wizard robe? Just because you wear a robe on the outside, you think the clothes underneath don't matter?!"
Sue's head was spinning.
Why… did it feel like Tom wanted him to succeed even more than he did?
Did Tom really only see Hermione as a friend?
Then… did he actually have a chance?
Maybe he should prepare a bouquet of roses and propose while he was at it?
"Tom, do you think I have a chance?"
No chance. I just want to watch you crash and burn.
Of course Hermione didn't say that out loud. She cleared her throat. "You know Schrödinger's cat? Put a cat and a bottle of poison in a box. Until you open it, the cat has a 50% chance of being alive!
So I don't know if you have a chance either. As long as you haven't tried, it's still 50%. But in a lot of things in life, 50% equals 0%!"
Sue thought about it for a second, then nodded. "I get it. How do I look now?"
"Not bad. Come on, let's go catch her."
"Catch?" Sue blinked. "Isn't that word a little… strong?"
"Stop overthinking. Let's go!"
…
"Today Madam Mona is making her special burgers. Hermione, can you bring me back two when you come back…" One of her roommates mumbled sleepily from the next bed.
Every weekend, the two girls in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory slept until the sky turned dark.
According to them, weekdays were torture enough—they had to make up for it on the weekend.
And they really did.
"I'll see when I get back, but can you two even stay awake that long?" Tom checked the time—it was barely past seven. He probably wouldn't be back until noon.
Wouldn't they starve?
"We'll manage… Thanks, Hermione. We're going back to sleep."
They face-planted again. Tom soon heard two sets of steady breathing—they were already out cold.
Light snow drifted down outside. Tom pulled on a pair of thick red snow boots, leaving crisp footprints in the white blanket.
"Ha—"
Tom suddenly ducked.
"Bang!"
A snowball flew right over his head and landed nearby.
If he hadn't dodged, the fine snow would have slid straight down the back of his neck.
He turned around and saw Hermione grinning triumphantly.
"Oh, so you want a snowball fight, huh? To be fair, how about we both throw away our wands?" Tom tossed his aside first.
"Hmph, fine. You just missed your only chance to beat me." Hermione did the same.
Sue, who had been holding a rose and preparing to approach, froze on the spot, too stunned to move forward.
"I'm throwing!"
"That's all you've got? Watch my super-giant snowball!"
"Hey! You used magic?!"
Tom cast silently. For him the wand was just a bonus—lots of spells worked perfectly fine without one.
"You're cheating!"
"Heh." Tom crooked a finger and several snowballs orbited him like satellites. "The battle for the throne is never fair. Let me see that arrogant look on your face—take this!"
A barrage of snowballs rained down on Hermione, leaving white marks all over her head and shoulders.
…
Sue stopped walking. He tucked the rose he'd been clutching back into his robes.
He took a deep breath. The white mist from his exhale floated up and slowly faded into the sky.
Terry appeared out of nowhere and patted his shoulder. "Sue, I told you— no chance means no chance. You saw it. Look how close Hermione and Tom are. Just let it go.
My guess? For the next few years, Hermione's dance partner will only ever be Tom."
But Tom might not be.
After all, he's the guy who gets candy from Senior Cho. Maybe he'll have several dance partners in the future?
"Let's head back. Tonight I'll keep you company with hot red tea."
"Why not hot mead?"
"Because I hate alcohol." Terry shrugged. "And that Hermione Appreciation Club of yours—drop it already. I can already see how it ends.
No one except Tom can handle Hermione. If you don't believe me, throw a snowball at her."
"Will I get beaten up?" Sue asked, confused. "They won't both gang up on me, right?"
"Exactly. Let's go." Terry patted his shoulder again and led the heartbroken boy away from the scene.
The snowball war between the other two grew even more intense.
—Well, one-sided intense, anyway.
Tom was being a total cheat, silently conjuring snowball after snowball until—
"Bang!"
"Ow." Tom scratched the back of his head as a cold clump of snow slid down his neck. He jumped and shook himself like a wet dog.
"Senior? Why are you on his side?"
Cho smiled apologetically. "I was trying to help you."
"Then hit her! That last one was clearly aimed at my neck!"
"Less talking, take this!"
A righteous two-against-one battle was now in full swing. Hogwarts really was full of cheerful energy.
…
After the thoroughly satisfying snowball fight, the three of them plopped down in the snow.
"Hermione, Tom, it's rare to see you two actually free enough to play like this." Cho hugged her knees, blowing warm air into her cold palms.
Tom: "She started it."
"Obviously you cheated with magic first."
"Cheated?" Tom muttered under his breath. "When did I cheat? I only said throw away the wand. Did I use mine just now? Nope!"
He turned to Cho with a grin. "Senior, the weather's perfect. Let's go out and have fun. Tom's probably going to find Professor Snape anyway, so let's ditch him."
"I'm not going to see him today!" Hermione declared fiercely. "Wherever you go, I'm going… Okay, fine, I do have to find Professor Snape."
She grabbed Tom by the collar and pulled him close to whisper, "Listen up. You are absolutely, positively not allowed to do anything weird with Senior Cho!
Otherwise I'll step on you and expose everything!"
Tom laughed. "Do I seem like that kind of person? I just want some alone time with Senior. Go on, hurry up. Professor Snape's moods are unpredictable—don't get scolded.
Also… watch out for Quirrell. Even though he's been kicked out, he definitely hasn't given up. If you run into danger… actually, you probably won't. We're off."
Hermione nodded, suddenly serious. "You two be careful too. Every time you run into You-Know-Who you're using my body. He's probably got his eyes on me now."
Tom lifted his chin proudly. "He can't beat me anyway. What's there to be afraid of? Let's go."
He took Senior Cho's hand and waved goodbye to Hermione.
Cho watched the two of them, feeling a strange sense of dissonance she couldn't quite place.
She knew Tom and Hermione shared some secret they wouldn't tell anyone.
But that odd feeling of something being… off—how did she explain that?
"Senior, come on."
"Oh—right, coming."
Tom cleared his throat. "This way. I'll take you to Hogsmeade."
"Huh?" Cho looked surprised. "We can go there too?"
"Of course. Once you know the secret passage, anyone can. Keep up."