After about ten minutes, Hermione finally took her backpack and a bucket of water to walk into the house from the outside, just enter the door, she saw Harry and Ron sat on Hagrid's bed frame looking at her with an odd expression.
"Hey, why are you all staring at me like that?"
Hermione's heart was pounding in her chest, but she tried to maintain a natural expression. She quietly put her backpack by the table foot and slowly approached them with the bucket of water.
"Hermione, did you get lost in the water tank?"
Ron furrowed his brow in shock, watching Hermione's face was soaked by sweat, trying hard to control his breath.
"We just called you several times, Hermione, and... your hair..."
Harry raised an eyebrow too, pointing at a few sparkling objects caught in Hermione's bedlam-like hair.
"Don't mind that, Harry, they're just a few bouncy beans in your hair," Hermione quickly combed her hair.
"Bouncy beans from Bubble-Branch?" Ron and Harry looked at each other in confusion.
Realizing that the more she talked, the more flaws there would be, Hermione interrupted the conversation. She took the dirty handkerchief from Harry's hand and put it in the bucket to wash. Then, with one hand, she pushed aside Hagrid's beard and with the other hand, she wiped away Hagrid's saliva. This might have tickled Hagrid a bit and after taking several gasps like a muscle cramp, Hagrid suddenly sneezed.
"Oh, that's... well, it's a bit... gross."
Ron touched his robe and the shiny, sticky liquid on his face, looking like he was about to throw up.
It took some time for Ron to clean himself up, but after this little incident, it was no longer a possibility to catch the Herbology class with Sprout. When Harry and the other three returned to the greenhouse, there was no one there - not even Sprout. The professor had returned to his office in the castle.
In the morning, there were two classes for the third year of Gryffindor: besides Sprout's Herbology class, they had to take a charm class with Hufflepuff as well. They didn't want to be given detention by both professors on the first Friday of the school term, so they decided to postpone their apologies for a while.
It wasn't until lunchtime that they saw Professor Sprout in the professors' seats in the Great Hall. However, they never found an opportunity to explain themselves, because all the professors, including the heads of the four houses and Professor Lupin, were stretching their necks to face Dumbledore as they seemed to be discussing something extremely serious. They didn't notice that almost all the young witches were captivated by their discussion.
"I'm not quite sure--"
Not until the Great Hall was almost empty did the professors stop their discussion. Harry and his friends had no choice but to leave the hall and find another opportunity. On their way back to the common room, Harry and Ron's roommate, Neville, spoke to them,
"I only heard Professor Dumbledore say a few words, like 'young witch', 'safety', and something about negotiating with the Board of Governors..."
Neville looked like he was scared.
"Maybe the Prophet's Daily today made Professor Dumbledore think that Black might charge into Hogwarts and slaughter us at any moment!"
"Don't be absurd, Neville!"
Hermione secretly looked at Harry, who had a serious expression, and quickly said,
"Black is not going to break into Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore said that the night school started, no disguise can fool the Inferi's eyes, as long as we stay in school, no one can hurt us!"
Neville blinked his round eyes, and from his expression, it seemed that he thought Hermione was the one who didn't understand the situation.
It wasn't until the end of the day's classes that evening, Harry and Ron finally found time to visit Professor Sprout's office. Since Professor Lupin had warned them beforehand, neither Harry nor Ron dared to make up any excuse to deceive Hufflepuff's headmaster. They honestly explained the reasons why they missed the Herbology class, and their sincerity also earned them some luck. Professor Sprout did not impose detention on them, but she asked Harry and Ron to figure out how to cultivate Bubble-Branch and how to safely extract the fruit from inside the pink beans.
"Bubble-Branch and fruits..."
Coming out of Professor Sprout's office, Ron looked at Harry in confusion.
"If my mind wasn't messed up by the smell of Hagrid's beer this morning, Harry, didn't Hermione come with us to visit Hagrid earlier? How did she end up with beans all over her head?"
"And after dinner, she went straight to the library,"
Harry's face showed much confusion as well, and he added,
"She doesn't seem to be worried about being given detention by Professor Sprout at all. This is not her style."
After much discussion in front of the office, they still couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. It was still early, so after a brief discussion, Harry and Ron decided to go to the library to ask Hermione for an explanation.
Professor Sprout had her office on the ground floor of the castle to take care of plants and herbs, which was quite a distance from the library. Harry and Ron were running along the first-floor corridor when they arrived at the foyer. Harry glanced at the Saucy Moonlight garden on instinct, and his step faltered as he felt a shock of suspicion cross his face.
"Be careful, Harry!"
Ron, who was following Harry, accidentally bumped into his roommate's nose with his own and touched Harry's nape. He rubbed his sore nose and complained.
"Look, Ron!"
Ignoring Ron's grumbling, Harry hurriedly pulled him to the side of the door and pointed to two figures conversing under the shade of a lush tree in the courtyard.
Ron looked surprised and asked, "Snape and Malfoy? Why would they be plotting against someone?"
"We can find out about this." Harry quickly took his family heirloom, the Invisibility Cloak, out of his bag and said.
As a habit, Harry usually kept his Invisibility Cloak hidden under his bed in the dormitory, but the failed experience of tracking Professor Breein last summer and Professor Breein's advice before the school term started changed his habit.
The rustling of the wind in the courtyard made the sound of their footsteps over the grass less piercing. Harry and Ron crouched low, moving softly, as they quickly approached. When they got close enough to see Malfoy clearly, Harry's face turned a deathly pale without his control.
"See, Ron, Malfoy is just pretending!" Harry growled angrily.
Malfoy, who had his hand bandaged by Hagrid's giant bird Buckbeak, was hanging down naturally from his neck without a string, and there was no sign of abnormality.
Ron poked Harry's ribs and gestured for him to be quiet.
The conversation in the courtyard was almost over, and Harry and Ron were holding their breath, only hearing Snape's final question from the faint wind.
"If you are still unwilling to tell us who is threatening your parents, Draco"
Although Snape's tone was a bit impatient, it was still much more humane than his attitude towards other young witches.
"Then what should I do to help you?"
Reading Room
