Chapter 219: Christmas Carnival in Diagon Alley

An appointment.... It was another date!

Hermione was red in the face and remembered the last time she was alone with Ivan. The two of them went to Hogsmeade on the last day of last semester, spent a whole day there, and even went to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop....

Hermione's heartbeat increased slightly, and her thoughts drifted back to the Lovers Tea Shop, which was all pink with its air full of sweet scents.

She thought about what Ivan was going to do to her under the big Christmas tree, he was about to kiss her, and almost succeeded.

When it came to Ivan's actions, Hermione didn't know if she was surprised, expecting o....

Anyway, her heart was pounding harder and harder, and her face was getting redder.

In fact, she didn't expect Ivan to be so bold at that moment as to kiss her, and if he did, she didn't know what to do.

Fortunately, he didn't succeed at that moment, and reason told Hermione that it was the right thing to do.

It was undeniable that she really liked Ivan. But Hermione wasn't sure if Ivan liked her, or if he was just influenced by the Tea Shop atmosphere.

She was overwhelmed at the moment, and there were so many couples doing that.

In that atmosphere, no one could help but do something stupid.

In Hermione's opinion, Ivan was so good, very magically gifted, always the center of people's conversations, and there were many girls at school who liked him.

For example, Cho Chang, from Ravenclaw, was much prettier than her.

Hermione was a little frustrated. She was just a bookworm who could only read. She wasn't very good-natured, nor was she very pretty.

She was nothing like Cho Chang, all boys should like girls like her.

Every time Cho Chang passed by them, Ivan, Harry and Ron, all three of them looked at her.

Therefore, Hermione had always been unsure if Ivan really liked her.

But after that, they had experienced this series of events together.

Whether it was the horrible werewolf attack, or the next one when Professor Lupin was accused by Ron, Peter Pettigrew's plot, Sirius' rescue, Regulus' search for him in a dangerous cave, and so on. The things that kept happening in the last few days seemed to have gone on for ages for Hermione.

Many times, they had been close to death.

While maintaining a high degree of mental stress, Hermione and Ivan became increasingly close.

At all times, Ivan continued to protect her, regardless of his own life.

As Hermione was moved, she trusted Ivan to the depths of her heart, and other unclear emotions became stronger and stronger.

She suddenly regretted not having taken the opportunity to clarify their relationship at Madam Puddifoot's last time, perhaps she should have been more extroverted....

It was really a shame to miss that opportunity, and one thing was certain, that she had absolutely no courage to go there again with Ivan.

But there was still a chance for her, with the Christmas party tonight.

They were all in festive Diagon Alley, where the atmosphere was even better than Hogsmeade, and there should never be disturbances from monsters like werewolves and Inferi.

Hermione hoped more and more that tonight would be a real date with Ivan.

She looked at Ivan, and if there was a chance like last time in Madam Puddifoot's tea store, she would take it.

The atmosphere in the small, cramped courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron was something different.

Neither of them knew how it started, but Ivan and Hermione suddenly calmed down. They were talking about Regulus, and then neither of them spoke.

Ivan scratched his head awkwardly, his heart pounding.

Through the neon lights of the bar, he saw that Hermione's face showed an appealing pink color, like a ripe apple, ready to be bitten.

He unconsciously took a half step forward and moved closer and closer to Hermione.

His palms were all sweaty, and the strange atmosphere was getting more and more intense.

Ivan looked carelessly into Hermione's eyes, and found that the girl's fascinated gaze held a hint of anticipation that seemed particularly appealing.

He and Hermione glanced at each other and both hurriedly looked away. Ivan couldn't explain why he felt Hermione looked particularly beautiful tonight.

Just as he plucked up his courage and was about to say something, the stone wall in front of him suddenly began to move, startling them.

Ivan and Hermione hurriedly turned their heads. In front of them, a small hole appeared in the middle of the stone wall leading to Diagon Alley. The hole grew larger and larger, and before long, a wide archway appeared in front of them, just enough to let them pass through, leading them to a street of winding, invisible cobblestones.

"Merry Christmas, children" A group of wizards dressed in festive red and green costumes came out and greeted Ivan and Hermione cheerfully.

They hurried past the two people, ready to have a drink in Diagon Alley.

Ivan and Hermione looked at each other, slightly embarrassed, and Ivan was so awkward he didn't know what to do or where to put his hands.

Seeing his nervous look, Hermione suddenly smiled. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly, her smiling eyes bent into a beautiful crescent shape.

She bit her lip, took Ivan's right hand and took a step into Diagon Alley.

Tonight, Diagon Alley had a special charm, almost every store was lit up.

The streets were filled with merry Christmas songs. There were rows of Christmas trees on both sides, which were covered with various Christmas decorations and gifts. Some of them had small icicles of ice with sparkling crystals, and some trees were filled with hundreds of candles. Through the Christmas trees, you could see that behind the brick wall there was also a special magic, hanging with holly and ribbons of mistletoe flowers, changing color.

There were also those grotesque mascots, each looking extraordinarily strange, some dressed as wizards and others transformed by the Transfiguration.

The scent of sweets perfumed the streets, and the whole street was filled with revelers, dancing and celebrating the coming of Christmas.

"Look over there, Ivan," Hermione said happily, a sweet smile on her face and she looked very happy.

Following the direction of her finger, Ivan saw a small square in front of Gringotts, with a red Christmas hat, a 20+ inch paper dragon flew over the crowd's head, above which was an elf who kept throwing Christmas presents to the crowd below.

Those gifts were shiny golden galleons; many wizards were clutching these gold coins from below, who occasionally burst out laughing.

Ivan knew that those gold coins must be fake, or else the goblins would not have done such a thing with their greed and stinginess.

Instead of joining the carnival crowd, they walked aimlessly through the bustling streets and chatted merrily.

Every store had a celebration and free Christmas gifts.

The sound of magic fireworks echoed overhead from time to time, and was not muffled like ordinary firecrackers, but made explosions like artillery bombardments, enveloping the crowd in multi-colored smoke.

Inside the smoke from the fireworks, there were various kinds of gifts.

Ivan took an admiral's hat and put it on his head, it was especially funny.

Hermione wanted a straw hat that looked especially pretty in pink, and they ran down Diagon Alley with other wizards.

They followed the direction of the firecracker landing and picked up presents everywhere on the ground.

At the door of Gambol and Japes' joke store, a gift box popped open with a bang, a burst of drifting green smoke. Ivan saw the pink hat fall into the alleyway not far away, and quickly pulled Hermione and ran towards it.

Ahead of them, there was a lonely, quiet alley, and there was no one entering. As outside, there was a Christmas tree in the alley with mistletoe and dozens of candles hanging, giving off a dim, misty light that seemed very romantic.