"We should put on a cloak and a scarf ......"

Ning An felt that he was about to freeze, Hogsmeade Village was covered in snow, and the wind at night was not so cold at this time, but as the snow on his body melted, there was still some ice and snow stuffed into the collar of his clothes, which made Ning An feel as if he was wearing nothing, as if he was naked in the ice and snow.

"Both...... It's all about what you have to play...... Snowball Fight...... Stupid...... Stupid. ”

Hermione's lips were also a little blue from the cold, and she couldn't help but shiver when she spoke, it seemed that she wanted to stop talking like this, but accidentally bit her tongue, so she glared at Ning An fiercely.

Ning An laughed instead, and they crossed the main road and passed by the literati's quill shop, all the small huts and shops covered with a layer of crunchy snow, and the doors of each house were garlanded with holly flowers, and enchanted candles hung in bunches from the trees.

"Hey, don't be angry, haha, it's funny, isn't it? You didn't say it was stupid when you shoved snow into my neck. ”

Ning An said as he pulled Hermione's hands, and the two frozen palms came together, feeling the temperature again.

Hermione struggled angrily, but she didn't break away, and let Ning An lead her, and her heart began to bump like a fawn again, but she felt that she was able to gradually control it.

"I refused at the beginning, it was you who got an inch, and it was just a small revenge, who told you to hit me with a snowball first."

"Alright, alright, I can't tell you - let's find a warm place and drink something hot."

Ning An smiled bitterly and spread his hands, signaling surrender and admitting his mistake, while Hermione shrugged her shoulders and snorted and tilted her head to the side, but in a blink of an eye, Ning An took her hand and walked forward.

Beyond the quill shop, on the corner of the main road, the two stood in front of the door of Lady Padiv's teahouse, Hermione was in a daze, she was going to take her to three brooms or a pig's head bar or something, but Lady Padiv's teahouse?

It's a popular place for couples, but – why did he bring me here, do we count as a date?

Hermione felt her heart beat happier at the thought of that word, and the cheerful fawn seemed to really want to pop out of her heart, she was not such a dull person, but she had never thought about it carefully today, because once she thought about it, her brain would only become more and more chaotic, as if it was down.

Is this a date? Hermione asked herself, they came out together, just the two of them, from the tunnels of the One-Eyed Witch to Duke Honey, from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, chatting in the moonlight, playing in the snow, just remembering that the corners of Hermione's mouth began to rise, and she asked herself repeatedly as if she was not sure, was she dating Ning'an?

And the answer seems to be so sweet that she wants to say it in her mouth first, unwilling to answer so early, just want to taste more of this taste, but the girl didn't find it, which became an idea hidden in the subconscious.

Ning An reached out to push open the frosted glass window door decorated in pink, but was suddenly pulled by Hermione.

"Huh?"

He looked back at Hermione a little strangely, and there was a faint sense of loss in his heart, could it be that she didn't want to come here with him?

Yes, maybe Hermione thought it was like dating, maybe she thought it was too early to go on a date, or maybe she still didn't think it should be ......?

"You ......"

Hermione looked at Ning An in a complicated way, her eyes flowed over the corners of his eyebrows, as if she had something to say but couldn't say it, and hesitated for a while before she said slowly:

"If you are recognized, you will be in trouble."

Oh my God, Hermione? Granger, are you crazy? Why did he say such a thing, is this helping Ning An? Why should I do this?

Hermione felt as if she had split into two people, one constantly scolding her in her ear, reprimanding her for not sneaking out of school at such a time, not watching Ning An take blood from Laurel, and not coming to such a place with him...... Appointment!

The other, like a little devil who taught her to do bad things, kept instigating and pushing her

"Come with him—"

"It's just this day."

"Look how much fun you're having with it."

"It's not a big deal, is it?"

"You'd love to stay with him, right, you're happy, right now, you've never been happier than you are now!"

She wished she could ba/ open her head, there had never been anything that Hermione felt so brain- and mind-draining.

"Are you worried about me?"

Ning An chuckled and looked at Hermione, but his hand was not withdrawn

"Rest assured, there are not people from the Ministry of Magic everywhere here, not to mention, you see how much I have changed from two years ago?"

As soon as this voice appeared, the quarrel in Hermione's mind was silenced, and she subconsciously raised her head and looked at him steadily, indeed, he had changed a lot from the appearance of the boy two years ago, as if he had gone through a lot of wind and frost, and his face was much more mature, no longer like a child, but more and more like a ...... Man.

There was still a gentle, delicate feeling between her eyebrows, which made Hermione's heartbeat unprovoked, and it accelerated again.

"Let's go, let's go in."

Ning An pushed the door open, Hermione was pulled by him, and walked in with her head down, the two looked a little embarrassed after the snowball fight, but fortunately, there was no one here now.

The couples of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang were having a hot fight at the Yule Ball, who would come to Hogsmeade on a cold night, and there seemed to be two or three people drinking tea in the teahouse, probably from the village of Hogsmeade.

It was a cramped teahouse, foggy, with small round tables at intervals, all decorated with cheesy lace, and Ning and Hermione chose a round table by the window to sit down, and the two of them were the only ones in the vicinity.

"Merry Christmas, dear, what would you like to have?"

Lady Padiff was a fat witch, dressed in a pink English dress, with her glossy black hair in a bun behind her head, coiled high, and stood like a hill next to Hermione and Ning'an, smiling and asking.

Ning An endured the slightly pungent smell of perfume into his nose, and casually ordered a cup of hot black tea and crème brûlée, Hermione glanced at Ning An and said lightly

"Thanks, I'm just like him, ma'am."

Lady Padiv apparently did not recognize Ning An, smiled ambiguously at the two of them, and turned away, muttering quietly as she left

"Young people's love, oh, always so good."

Hermione's face turned red all of a sudden, Ning An coughed twice in embarrassment, and after a while, two cups of steaming black tea flew over, followed by pudding on a delicate porcelain plate.

Lady Padev used a levitation charm, as if she was afraid to disturb them.

"Phew, I'm going to freeze to death."

Ning An hurriedly picked up a cup of black tea, nestled it in the palm of his hand, warmed it, and then slowly handed it to his mouth, took a few sips, the hot and sweet black tea slid down his tongue into his abdomen, and finally relieved the chill on his body a little, Hermione was obviously not lightly frozen, sitting opposite, taking small sips of tea.

"Whoever made you think of a bad idea, you can only blame yourself."

"Oh, I'm sorry that bad idea pulled someone into the water, and I'm sorry that this bad idea made her laugh all the time."

"You're sarcastic about me!" Hermione had an angry look on her face.

"How is that possible, I like you too late-"

Ning An blurted out, and then Hermione was stunned, holding the teacup at a loss, and even forgot whether she should pick it up or put it down, but rather forgot that she was going to drink tea just now, or if she had already drunk it.

"Ah, relax, relax, that's not a confession, it's a joke, Hermione, I'm sorry - it's a bad joke, I'll admit it."

Ning An couldn't wait to pull his hair hard, could it be that he was too happy tonight and let himself get carried away? How could he say such a thing casually, he and Hermione definitely didn't get to that stage, and it was terrible to say it at this time.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, put down the teacup, looked at Ning An coldly, and said, "Sha/melon will make fun of this." ”

"I'm sorry, I messed up, my fault, let's talk about something else, say something happy, it's Christmas Eve-" Ning An tried to change the subject.

Hermione sighed softly, she couldn't tell what complicated feelings she had in her heart, she was also dizzy, she didn't understand what the relationship between herself and Ning An was, probably some kind of dating relationship, for Ning An to say that it was just a joke, she always felt a sense of loss in her heart for no reason, she couldn't understand, she didn't want to think about it, she simply didn't want to, so she took the initiative to jump out of this topic.

"Do you know how many house-elves there are at Hogwarts?"

Her gaze shone with a different kind of light, and at the mention of this topic, she seemed to regain her confidence and the momentum of that eloquent conversation.

"More than a hundred!"

Hermione gestured, a look of indignation on her face, and Ning An lowered her head and took a small bite of the pudding, looking at her rather interestingly.

"They don't get paid, they don't have holidays, they don't have allowances, they just spend their days in the damn kitchen, enslaved!"

How could Ning An not understand what Hermione was talking about, he knew that this was Hermione's first contact with public affairs, because of her radical goals and somewhat childish methods, which made her unpleasant on both sides, the students thought it was funny, and the house-elves were even more dismissive of her, and even angry at her later for throwing some knitted hats and socks in the castle.

"Did you know that house-elves are treated very unfairly? But why hasn't anyone stepped forward to stop all this!? ”

She was like an orator, a little passionate, Ning An picked up the teacup, took a sip, and muttered in a voice Hermione couldn't hear:

"Oh, what a date!"

I saw her take out a box from an unknown pocket of her robe, and as she put the box on the table, the contents "clicked".

"What is this?"

Hermione answered Ning An's question with action, she opened the lid of the box, revealing the contents inside, about dozens of badges, different colors, with the same letters written on them:

Ning An couldn't help laughing, covered the corners of his mouth with his hand, and said softly: "Vomit? ”

Hermione's face became gloomy, so Ning An quickly put away her smile and became solemn, only then did she get a slightly satisfied nod, and she explained to Ning An:

"It's not vomiting, it's S-P-E-, which means House-Elf Rights Promotion,.. member. ”

Hermione said as she carefully selected a blue badge from the box, took it out, put it on the table, and pushed it to Ning'an's side.

Ning An happily picked it up, and then pinned the badge to his chest, and the blue badge was shining under the light, and the beautiful light of the anti-she/chu was shining.

"Cool, how many members do we have?"

Hermione was very happy about Ning An's gesture of pinning the badge without hesitation, so at this moment her face was filled with a happy smile

"With you, we're four of us."

"Aside from you and me, it's probably only Harry and Ron, right?"

"What do you mean?"

Hermione frowned dissatisfiedly, "We will continue to expand the organization, the short-term goal is to ensure that house-elves receive reasonable wages and good working conditions, the long-term goal includes changing the law against the use of wands, and also trying to get a pokew into the Department of Magical Beasts Management and Control." ”

"Looks like you're interested in being a social activist?"

"It's a concern for the vulnerable!"

"Agreed, but, Elder—" Ning An cleared her throat, put away her smile, looked at Hermione seriously and asked her:

"Does our association allow members to make comments?"

"If it's a reasonable opinion, of course you can say it and use it as a reference."

Hermione supported her chin with her hands, and at the moment she was more of a business elite who came to negotiate than a little girl on a date,.. For the first time in the future, someone was willing to make a suggestion, and she was excited about it, and finally someone could seriously talk to her about it, instead of laughing at her like a sha/melon, thinking that she was just doing the useless work that a fool would do.

And when he thought that person was Ning An, he felt a sweetness in his heart for no reason, and even the corners of his mouth subconsciously hooked up a smile.

"Hmm...... How can I say it......"

Ning An thought seriously, organizing his own language, he spoke slowly, looked at Hermione word by word and said to her:

"I think the idea of helping house-elves is great, but don't you think the short-term goals are a little too aggressive? - No, wait a minute, hear me out first. ”

He watched as Hermione opened her mouth to retort, then slowly reached out and pressed down, motioning for herself to continue

"You've also checked the information, the slave status of house-elves can be traced back to centuries ago, that's quite a long time, and the rules formed over such a long period of time can't be changed in just a day or two, or even a year or two."

"But we're going to keep doing it—"

"This short-term goal may not be accomplished in ten years - Hermione, I don't think it's wrong to want to help the elves, but maybe we need more empathy? Is this kind of help acceptable within the elves? ”

His tone became soft, and Hermione looked at Ning An, her eyes facing each other, her eyes blinking from time to time, as if she was thinking about something.