"If you fell in love with someone for the first time, what would your first reaction be?"
On the night of Hogsmeade's open day, a group of older girls chattered about love in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. Their voices drifted to the ears of a girl hidden behind a thick book on the sofa.
"Confess?" Angelina Johnson asked excitedly.
"No," Katie Bell said mysteriously, "it is running away."
"Why?" Angelina asked, puzzled. "I do not understand 'running away.' If you like someone, just go for it!"
"Oh, Angelina, do not bring your Chaser mentality into your first love," Katie said with the air of someone who had been there before.
"First love is sweet, but also bittersweet; it is restless and filled with anxiety. Like a green apple, you crave it, but you worry that after taking a bite, the taste will not be as you expect."
Green apple.
He also loved green apples the most.
He always stared intently at her as he bit into a green apple.
Hermione, eavesdropping on the girls' conversation, hid behind her upside-down copy of Numerology and Symbols, her forehead flushing red.
"Hermione!" A red-haired girl passing by exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as she skipped towards her. "Did you get it? The potion?"
"Sorry, Ginny," Hermione's eyes gleamed enigmatically behind the book. "I could not buy it this time. Er, I shall definitely bring it back for you next time, all right?"
"All right," Ginny said disappointedly. Casually glancing at Hermione, she noticed something odd about her. "Something is wrong with you! What are you thinking about? Why are you so distracted?"
"I am reading," Hermione said.
"Nonsense, you are holding the book upside down!" Ginny pressed the book down further, revealing Hermione's bright red face. Ginny looked her over, asking worriedly, "Are you all right?"
"I am fine," she mumbled.
"Is the potion sold out?" Ginny asked.
"No, there is still plenty," she whispered.
"Did you smell it? Does it smell nice?" Ginny studied her, feeling a strange familiarity with Hermione's expression.
"It smells nice," Hermione said nervously, picking up the book again to hide her face.
Ginny stared at the upside-down book, then finally remembered. Whenever she thought of Harry, she would see that same complex, shy, and panicked expression in the mirror.
Oh! Hermione! Could she have smelled something special... the scent of her crush? Ginny's eyes gleamed.
"You smelled him?" she asked Hermione, just to be on the safe side.
"Yes..." The girl was absentmindedly staring at a chart in the book, trying to shift her attention to academics rather than the boy who loved to bite into green apples.
But she wondered why the chart looked upside down.
"Who?" Ginny asked softly.
"Dr..." Hermione suddenly stopped. Her reason kicked in.
Ginny... that cunning little girl... she is trying to trick her into revealing it!
"I did not smell anything!" Hermione stood up, dropping her book with a clatter.
"Hey, do not run away! Finish what you were saying!" Ginny perked up immediately. She looked up expectantly and asked, "Dr... what?"
"I am leaving! I am going back to my dormitory to shower!" Hermione hurriedly bent down to pick up her book, then leapt up and ran off like a rabbit.
In a state of unease, she felt the common room was extremely dangerous. It seemed anyone could easily see through her thoughts, her panic, and her feelings for him.
So she ran straight upstairs, opened the door to her dormitory, and swept herself back to her bed like a gust of wind.
On the next bed, Lavender and Parvati, who were using Tarot cards to predict their love fortunes, glanced back at her in surprise... the wind from the girl's running had blown one of the Tarot cards off the bed.
"Watch out, Hermione!" Lavender said unhappily.
"Sorry!" Hermione dived behind the bed curtains, hiding herself away like a startled creature.
She was doomed! Just thinking about him made her incredibly shy! She was not herself any more!
Calm down, Hermione, calm down! She took deep breaths against her pillow, trying to bolster her courage.
Lavender glanced at her silent curtains, somewhat bewildered. She shook her head and said, "Parvati, could you pick that up, please?"
"Of course," Parvati reached out and picked it up, exclaiming enthusiastically, "Ooh, it is the Knight of Cups!"
"What does that mean?" Lavender asked with interest.
Hermione lay blankly on her four-poster bed, listening to Parvati rustling through her book, quietly reading the interpretation:
"The Knight of Cups, upright, represents a gentle and considerate partner, wholehearted devotion and unwavering love, and also signifies the beginning of a closer relationship. The reversed version indicates that both parties are currently making a choice, perhaps to take their relationship further, or to remain where they are... remaining is more likely... both are waiting for the other to take the initiative or continue acting, with a strong hint of passivity."
Ugh! These unreliable methods of divination! All nonsense. Hermione thought disdainfully.
But what exactly did they mean now?
Her thoughts raced, and she felt somewhat lost.
After calming down, she remembered more details.
She remembered that many times, he had hesitated to speak to her. Many times, he had abruptly let go of her hand. That time in the Great Hall, when she woke, the space beside her was empty. He had left decisively, without a word, without any hesitation.
They never discussed whether their intertwined fingers in class were too intimate, just as they never talked about whether their embrace in bed that night had been too much. They both seemed to subconsciously avoid these topics.
He always emphasised that he was a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor. He almost obsessively reminded her of this, as if he wanted to distance himself from the word "Gryffindor." So, was she, a Gryffindor, placed on the other side of the boundary he had drawn?
Yes, he always seemed to maintain a subtle distance from her.
Sometimes, when he got close enough to her, he would show a bitter and reluctant expression, and then, like a startled snail, quickly retract his antennae. It was as if one of them carried poison.
Perhaps they should stay at this distance... if that was what he wanted.
Neither advancing nor retreating, just right.
Without taking another step, there would be no risk of loss.
Hermione thought bitterly.
"So, was that card upright or reversed?" Lavender asked in a low voice, intrigued.
"That is the problem," Parvati gave her a strange look and murmured softly, "It was stuck between the bed and the bedside table. It was tilted. It... is somewhere between upright and reversed."
"Oh, so it is just a useless card?" Lavender said, pouting, quite disappointed. "I thought it would give us some proper guidance... let us reread it."
So they reshuffled the cards, rummaging through the troublesome Tarot deck once more, trying to glimpse the unpredictable nature of fate.