When the Hogwarts Express arrived at its final destination, King's Cross Station, Lin Yue and Hermione said goodbye to a group of friends and walked out of the passage together.
Passing through that wall, the two girls left the magical world they had inhabited for an entire school year and returned to the Muggle world.
"Hermione! Lin Yue!"
Not far from the entrance, Mrs. Granger waved her hand happily, calling out to her daughter and her daughter's future girlfriend.
Yes, she had already decided that Lin Yue would be Hermione's future girlfriend.
Of course, the final confirmation of this would depend on Lin Yue herself, once she fully regained her emotions.
However, from the perspective of her and Mr. Granger as Hermione's parents, they were more than satisfied with Lin Yue as their daughter's partner.
First of all, Hermione herself liked Lin Yue, which was the most important point.
Secondly, Lin Yue valued Hermione enough and clearly cherished her, which satisfied the second important point as well.
With that being the case, what was there to hesitate about?
"Mom, Dad!"
Hermione shouted excitedly, pulling Lin Yue into her mother's embrace.
Of course, she moderated her strength; both she and Lin Yue were no longer the little kids they used to be, and jumping into her mother's arms had some weight to it.
"Good afternoon, Auntie, Uncle."
Lin Yue was held in Mrs. Granger's arms and politely nodded to the couple.
"Good afternoon."
Mr. Granger smiled gently and naturally took the luggage from the two girls' hands.
Although the children had reached the age where they should be independent, it was the first day back home, so a little special treatment was perfectly fine.
"Oh," Mrs. Granger looked down, rubbing Hermione's little head with her left hand and stroking Lin Yue's hair with her right, "You've both grown taller, very nice."
"Just a bit too skinny, you both need to eat more."
"Mom, my weight is already very standard."
Hermione quietly protested about her own weight, and as for Lin Yue's weight... sorry, she shared the same thought as her mother: too thin, she needed to eat much more to be healthier.
Lin Yue, who had been pointed out about her weight, tilted her head in Mrs. Granger's arms. According to the index published by the World Health Organization, her weight indeed fell into the underweight category.
This was truly a fact.
"I will try to adjust my weight," Lin Yue said obediently, while being embraced by Mrs. Granger along with Hermione as they walked towards King's Cross Station.
After exiting King's Cross Station and getting into their car, Mrs. Granger turned around eagerly to look at her daughter as soon as she fastened her seatbelt.
"Hermione, how was school this year?"
"You never say much in your letters."
Mrs. Granger was genuinely worried about her daughter being in a completely unknown world, especially after all the thrilling experiences she had gone through in the first two years. She was really afraid that Hermione would only share good news and not the bad.
"Mom, this year has really, really been very calm."
Hermione giggled, signaling her to calm down, and then began to recount the events of the year.
From the Dementors on the train, to discovering that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a werewolf, then going to Hogsmeade, and finally uncovering the truth about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, clearing the innocent and sending the guilty to prison.
"Well..." Mrs. Granger pursed her lips, looking into Lin Yue's eyes with more concern. What must that child have seen when she was tormented by those Dementors? It must have been so difficult for her.
"Mom, don't worry. I have already mastered the spell to deal with Dementors, so I can protect Lin Yue in front of those guys in the future!"
Stolen story; please report.
Hermione's face broke into a confident smile, perfectly embodying what it means to be radiant.
"Well done."
Mrs. Granger raised an eyebrow and playfully poked Hermione's nose, signaling her not to be too proud.
"However, the calm you speak of is really quite different from what we consider calm."
Mrs. Granger remarked, reflecting on how last school year they had cleared a major case—was that really calm?
It seemed to her that in her daughter's eyes, only events that could threaten their lives counted as not calm.
Listening to the discussion between Mrs. Granger and Hermione, Lin Yue's mind was still occupied with the news she had received two days ago.
Peter Pettigrew had successfully escaped from Azkaban.
She wondered what Fudge was thinking, knowing full well that Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus and that Animagi could evade the Dementors' pursuit.
Yet, he only used Dementors to guard Peter Pettigrew, without assigning even a single wizard guard to Azkaban.
As a result, two nights ago, Peter Pettigrew had brazenly slipped away from Azkaban.
Perhaps even he couldn't believe that after such a grand effort to capture him, it was so easy for him to escape while being held.
Fudge's office was still trying to suppress the news, knowing that once it got out, the backlash from the magical community in the UK would be overwhelming.
However, Lin Yue had learned about this news right away from a Ravenclaw graduate working in the Ministry of Magic.
Considering that everyone was immersed in the joyful atmosphere of the upcoming holiday, she decided not to share the news with anyone in advance.
She didn't want to ruin the happy mood, and Lin Yue understood that now.
After all, this news was something Fudge couldn't keep under wraps forever; not every staff member at the Ministry was tight-lipped.
Sure enough, on the third day after the holiday began, while Lin Yue was focused on enjoying the breakfast she had prepared, she suddenly heard Hermione, who was also having breakfast and reading the Daily Prophet, exclaim in shock.
"Merlin's trousers!" Hermione put down the spoon she was using to serve egg custard, incredulously staring at the Daily Prophet.
"Peter Pettigrew has escaped from Azkaban and is missing?!"
She read the headline word by word, feeling herself getting increasingly agitated.
"Is Fudge an idiot? He knows Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus, yet he just locks him up in Azkaban without increasing the wizard guards!"
"Isn't he essentially helping Peter Pettigrew escape?"
"Given that Fudge is solely focused on consolidating his own power," Lin Yue swallowed the smooth and delicious egg custard in her mouth, "he wouldn't do something so reckless as to deliberately let an unstable factor go free while giving the public a reason to criticize him."
"Well, then he really is foolish."
Hermione raised her hand and rubbed her forehead vigorously; she really felt quite angry. Lin Yue had worked so hard to analyze and capture Peter Pettigrew, only for him to escape because of a mistake by Fudge. It was really...
Lin Yue gently tapped Hermione's cheek, her voice incredibly calm. "Hermione, don't worry. Peter Pettigrew will eventually show up again."
"When he does," Lin Yue paused slightly, "I won't give him another chance. He'll be sent to Azkaban."
It was clear that Peter Pettigrew had a strong desire to resist, and when dealing with such an enemy, Lin Yue would act decisively at the first opportunity. Without hesitation, she would implement her strongest measures to completely eliminate the threat, firmly preventing any potential harm to Hermione and her friends.
"Just make sure Fudge's people don't see you."
Hermione decided to stop thinking about these frustrating matters and affectionately pressed her hand against Lin Yue's head, rubbing it gently.
"Yeah, don't worry. They definitely won't see us," Lin Yue replied, nodding very seriously, though her tone remained unchanged. The outcome of not being seen by Fudge's people and not having Fudge's people see them was essentially the same, so they were really just two sides of the same coin, right?
Thus, achieving the final result through these two options would be quite easy.
Just as Lin Yue and Hermione finished their breakfast and hadn’t had the chance to clear the table, Mrs. Granger quickly walked into the dining room.
"Hermione, Lin Yue, there's someone outside claiming to be the manager of the haunted house at the amusement park looking for you. It seems they said they had arranged to invite you again once their haunted house upgrades were completed."
"That is indeed the case," Lin Yue and Hermione nodded in unison.
"Go answer the phone. I'll take care of the cleanup here," Mrs. Granger said, urging the two girls to take the call while she started to clear the dishes from the table.
Picking up the phone, Hermione tried her best to greet the person on the other end politely. "Hello?"
Lin Yue stood by, calmly watching Hermione communicate with the haunted house manager, and they ultimately confirmed that the two would experience the newly upgraded haunted house tomorrow. They would also be among the first visitors to the newly upgraded haunted house.
After hanging up the phone, Mrs. Granger wiped her hands and walked back from the dining room to the living room.
"So, why did the haunted house invite you to experience it right after the upgrade?" Mrs. Granger asked, looking curiously at her daughter and Lin Yue.
Upon hearing Mrs. Granger's words, Lin Yue's expression remained unchanged, while Hermione next to her showed a hint of embarrassment.
"Um, that's because... their previous version of the haunted house didn't scare us two kids at all, which was a bit disappointing. So at that time, they promised that once their new version was ready, they would invite us to come and have fun again."
"They didn't scare you two?"
Mrs. Granger looked at the two girls, both amused and exasperated. Not to mention whether Lin Yue could truly feel fear, just the fact that they were both genuine little witches made it hard to believe that a fake haunted house could scare them.
"Hermione, you're a big girl now," Mrs. Granger said, brushing her daughter's hair. "You also need to learn to take care of others, right? You're a little witch, so you definitely won't be afraid of the haunted house. But if that haunted house is really well done, then its operators and designers still need to be recognized."
Hermione bit her lip and nodded obediently, "I understand, Mom. If their haunted house is really well done, I will... pretend to be scared."
It definitely wouldn't be like last time; that was a bit disheartening. But back then, they were still quite young.
Lin Yue also nodded expressionlessly beside her, and when the time comes, she will give a comprehensive score in her heart for the layout of the haunted house, the setting of the traps, and so on. If the score is high, she will use her knowledge of performance to fully engage her facial muscles and body movements to show a fearful expression.
After giving a gentle kiss on the foreheads of the two girls, Mrs. Granger put on her coat and went directly to work.
The next morning, Lin Yue and Hermione arrived at the entrance of the haunted house as agreed.
The person in charge of the haunted house had been waiting there for a long time. "Welcome!"
He walked up with a bright smile, gesturing towards the haunted house, which was quite large in the amusement park. "This is our haunted house, redesigned and rebuilt over two years. It guarantees excitement and thrills. As promised, as soon as the renovation was completed and it was confirmed safe for use, I called you."
"Thank you, sir."
Lin Yue and Hermione politely nodded in thanks, and then without further ado, the two girls held hands and walked into the haunted house.
As soon as they entered, the infrared devices detected their presence, prompting the entire haunted house's facilities to start operating.
Accompanied by eerie background music, the backstory of the haunted house began to play in Lin Yue and Hermione's ears.
Listening to the backstory, Lin Yue blinked indifferently, quickly analyzing the story's intrigue in her mind. The story cleverly combined elements of witches, vampires, and werewolves from horror tales, enriching the plot while increasing its playability and scene-setting.
Regarding the backstory and background music, Lin Yue would give it a perfect score of ten, rating it nine points.
Continuing deeper into the haunted house, Lin Yue's gaze swept over the walls, the floor beneath her feet, and the ceiling above her head.
There were clearly sounds of machinery operating within the walls, indicating that there was a trap there. Not far from the ground, there was an NPC with half of its body hidden underground, and overhead, there was an infrared sensor light that a person would find hard to notice in a state of fear.
For the traps and NPC settings, Lin Yue could give a perfect score of ten, rating it eight points.
In summary, if the subsequent parts of this haunted house are similarly well-designed, then its design and construction have been very thoughtful. Therefore, she should pretend to be scared to encourage the designers and operators.
Reaching a final conclusion, Lin Yue slowly activated her facial muscles to make her fear appear more natural, transitioning from calm to slightly tense, and then to fear, showcasing a smooth and natural process.
Standing beside her, Hermione was also acting scared, as she too felt that the design and operation of this haunted house were genuinely thoughtful.
After fully engaging her fearful expression, Lin Yue's face showed no flaws in fear, while inside, she remained calm, shaking her hands as she hugged Hermione's arm.
If one looked closely, they could see her shoulders trembling slightly.
In the next moment, an NPC hidden well in the dark ground suddenly grabbed Lin Yue's ankle.
"Ah!"
Lin Yue instinctively screamed, turning around and diving straight into Hermione's embrace, her hands tightly wrapping around Hermione's waist.