Chapter 616: Questions and Answers are Useless (Edited)

The headmaster's office door wasn't the right place to talk, so Hermione hurriedly led Tom to the Hogwarts library.

The library was almost deserted in the afternoon. Strangely, Tom saw Krum there, engrossed in reading a book as if he hadn't noticed two people passing by. Around Krum, there were a few Hogwarts girls gathered, looking at him with shining eyes, completely fascinated.

Krum and his group of admirers were among the few people in the library. Clearly, Madam Pince was not pleased with these witches who had no legitimate purpose in the library, and her gaze roamed around, seeking an excuse to throw them out.

However, these girls had gained enough experience in facing off with Madam Pince in their war of wits and always managed to evade her outbursts of anger.

When Tom entered, the witches stopped looking at Krum and focused their attention on him. Tom felt those looks and observed them in return, but the girls quickly averted their gazes, giggling and biting their lips.

Hermione also noticed all of this, and her gaze became sharp.

Tom sensed the change in Hermione and, putting himself in her shoes, grabbed Hermione's hand and quickly led her to a secluded corner of the library, choosing the seat closest to the wall.

"I've seen that boy several times in the library, and he always has a group of girls chattering behind him," Hermione commented with disdain for those girls who came to the library only to chase after celebrities.

"He's Bulgarian and seems quite absorbed in English books..." Tom took two books that caught his interest from the shelf and handed one to Hermione, keeping the other for himself.

"That's how an intelligent person should be. Hogwarts has the largest library in the world; it's a real treasure here," Hermione said, in love with Hogwarts' library. Here, she could find all the knowledge she sought, even books from the restricted section, and all she needed was a note.

The only regret was that Madam Pince only recognized notes from active professors, so all the notes Tom had written pretending to be Lockhart were invalidated...

After venting about those girls who came to the library without doing anything productive, Hermione got to the main topic.

She stared at him like a little wildcat and calmly asked, "Mr. Yodel, could you tell me about the adventure you had this morning?"

Tom hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should tell Hermione what had happened that morning. If he told her what had happened, she would probably be anxious for a long time, and that would only increase her worries.

"Don't you want to tell me?" Hermione raised one foot and rested it on Tom's chair, right between his legs.

Tom: !!!

"Give me an honest answer!" Hermione raised her tone a bit and applied a bit of pressure with her foot, crushing it. Her foot swayed slightly, and Tom's face visibly reddened.

"Well... alright." Tom surrendered and, overcome by instinct, told Hermione what had happened that morning. Whenever he reached a tense part of the story, Hermione would press her foot to speed up the narrative.

After recounting everything that had happened that morning, Tom seemed to have expended a lot of energy and appeared a bit downcast.

"So, you went to ambush Voldemort in Azkaban?" exclaimed Hermione in amazement, opening her mouth so wide she could have fit an egg in it.

"Yes," Tom nodded, not hiding the truth. Then, he discreetly moved away a bit. Hermione finally realized that her position wasn't quite necessary, so she shifted her posture and moved her right foot to a different spot.

The interrogation had gone quite well today! Hermione thought to herself. She had expected Tom to be stubborn and refuse to talk, but in the end, he spilled everything like a zucchini. Plus, he had provided a lot of useful information, leaving Hermione very satisfied.

"Ah, I'm sorry, it seems like I stepped on something dirty. Let me clean it up." Hermione noticed there were stains where she had stepped and felt a little embarrassed. She took out her magic wand.

"Tergeo!" Magic was truly amazing, and the stains on Tom's robe vanished completely.

Tom blushed in embarrassment and sat obediently as Hermione cleaned up the marks left by her "interrogation."

After solving the stain problem, Hermione comfortably reclined in her chair, looking lazily at Tom.

"You've had quite a success this time with Professor Dumbledore. You severely injured Voldemort and destroyed one of his Horcruxes. Counting the one from the second year, you've already destroyed three; I don't know how many more he has..." Hermione counted on her fingers, realizing that Tom had accomplished a lot without even realizing it.

But Hermione remembered something and became serious. "If Voldemort is injured, you and Professor Dumbledore should seize the opportunity to keep destroying his other Horcruxes. I don't think there are only three. And there's something else... if... I mean, if I'm not bothering you, please, take me with you..."

In the end, a blush appeared on Hermione's face.

Looking at the shy girl in front of him, Tom couldn't refuse. He took the "interrogation tool" that Hermione had used earlier and gently squeezed it. He remembered how she had held that position for a long time, and her feet must have been sore, so giving her a massage would be nice.

Tom suddenly grasped the tip of Hermione's foot, making her tremble twice from the sensation. A blush covered her face, but she didn't withdraw her foot, allowing Tom to massage it gently.

While both of them had their little interaction, they heard footsteps approaching. Quickly, Tom released Hermione's foot and pretended to be reading a book. Hermione, like a startled rabbit, swiftly pulled her leg back and hid her face among the books to avoid the newcomer noticing anything.

The footsteps stopped. It was Krum. He approached the shelf near them, took a book, and left.

During that time, Hermione's face turned as red as a ripe apple.

Once Krum walked away, Hermione lifted her head and glared at Tom with annoyance. "In the future, don't do these things in public places!"

"A few more times, and you'll get used to it, won't you? And besides... wasn't it you who moved your foot first?" Tom smiled and looked at Hermione.

This infuriated Hermione, and she grabbed a nearby book to lightly smack Tom's head, swearing not to... in a week, no, today, she wouldn't talk to him anymore.