On an ordinary Friday evening at the end of March, Hermione Granger finally finished reading the last page of that massive book, The Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles.
She sighed contentedly, closed the book, leaned back on the sofa by the window in the common room, tilted her head, and looked at the layers of rosy light brought by the setting sun outside the window.
The weather was gradually warming up, and so was the atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room. Fred and George were juggling Butterbeer bottles, drawing cheers from the crowd; they were also handing out flyers to the students watching, selling the latest products from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
She closed her eyes, repeatedly turning over the description of Muggle electricity in that hefty book in her mind, pondering for the thousand-and-eight-hundredth time what room there was for revision in her essay.
Just then, she overheard Angelina Johnson, the Chaser of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, excitedly asking Fred, "Can we order your WonderWitch products anonymously by owl post?"
"Of course, all products are available. From Puking Pastilles to Love Potions, everything can be ordered by post," Fred said with a grin. "You can also just tell me what you want. Look, I have some samples with me; if you are interested, you can try them out first."
"I want to see too!" Ginny Weasley's excited voice came from halfway across the room, abruptly interrupting her brother's sales pitch.
"This is not something a girl your age should be looking at!" George's voice drifted over. The voice grew closer, seemingly landing on the sofa next to Hermione along with the struggling Ginny.
She opened her eyes to find George placing a bag of Peppermint Toads on his sister's lap.
"Have some sweets, Ginny. Sit here quietly for a bit. We cannot sell those things to our own sister, or Percy will tell Mum, and Mum will come after us. Oh, hello, Hermione, how are you doing? Still afraid of those Dementors?"
"Oh, of course not." Hermione smiled and said easily, "I can already conjure an otter!"
"That is right, we saw it that day. It is a pity we did not bring our wands, otherwise we could have turned into magpies too. Thanks to someone's private instruction, was it not?" George beamed, winked at her, and walked back into the crowd.
Ginny grumbled resentfully, unhappy about being "specially treated" by her brothers.
She frowned, watching George resume his sales pitch in the crowd, then turned to Hermione, her eyes suddenly lighting up, her tone brightening again.
"Hermione! You must have been to their shop, must you not? You even brought me back a Pygmy Puff from there last time..."
"Oh, is it all right?" Hermione asked cheerfully.
"It could not be better, it is so lively!" Ginny beamed. "The Pygmy Puff in the next dormitory is always listless; they all say it is because they did not choose the right one. How did you pick mine? That is amazing. I used to think only children from wizarding families would know about Puffskeins and Pygmy Puffs..."
"Oh, I asked someone for a little help," Hermione mumbled, her face slightly flushed.
"Who?" Ginny asked curiously. "It cannot be Ron. He is not interested in this sort of thing."
"No," Hermione said casually.
"It is not Harry, is it?" Ginny asked sceptically.
"No. It is not him," Hermione said quickly.
"Fred, or George?" Ginny said. "It must be them. They were the ones you asked to bring it back for you."
Hermione shook her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Do not guess, you will never guess."
"All right." Ginny shrugged, abandoning her aimless speculation, and steered the conversation back to what interested her more.
"Hermione, tell me quickly, what products do they have in their shop? Especially the WonderWitch range!"
"Oh, there is this Patented Daydream Charm that is rather interesting. You just need to say one incantation to enter a high-quality, incredibly realistic thirty-minute daydream by script. But they do not sell it to anyone under sixteen," Hermione recalled.
"Oh, what a shame. Anything else? Love Potions? I heard Fred talking about them over there. He never tells me about those kinds of products in private," Ginny said with interest.
"Do you remember what my mum said on the first morning of term, about how she made her own love potion when she was young? She said she could never forget the smell. I really want to get some and smell it."
"Yes, they do sell them," Hermione said. "They have the highest grade of Amortentia, and I have seen a lot of older girls buying it."
"Have you ever tried smelling Amortentia? What does it smell like?" Ginny moved closer to her and noticed a ginger cat lying on Hermione's other side, its eyes wide open, looking her over.
"I have smelled it once before... it is enchanting," Hermione whispered, a blush of lingering pink spreading across her face, just like the sky at that moment.
"You are so lucky. The girls in my dormitory have decided to club together for a bottle. You know, it is just because we are curious what it smells like," Ginny said, rubbing her hands together excitedly as she watched George and Fred handing out flyers in the crowd.
"But I am afraid they will not sell it to me. I shall have to find a way to get a flyer and order it anonymously by post or something."
"Yes." Hermione was lost in thought, idly stroking Crookshanks' fur.
"Or, Hermione, could you buy us a bottle next time you go?" Ginny leaned closer, shook her arm, and said in a pleading tone, "Just one bottle, all right?"
"Of course." Hermione was trying to recall the scent, casually brushing off the little girl who was trying to get closer to her.
The next second, she snapped out of her daze, looking at Ginny's overjoyed expression in surprise. "What?!"
She pointed to her nose, looking astonished and terrified, and asked, "You want me to buy it?!"
"That is right!"
"Can I refuse?" she asked with a pained expression.
"No chance!" Ginny said gleefully. "You have already agreed! You cannot go back on your word!"