The warmth of the Christmas holidays, like the fire burning all night in The Grangers' fireplace, left an inextinguishable mark in Lia's heart.
When Lia wore that silver bell collar engraved with the words [Lia, Hermione's.] and Hermione wore the cat hair bracelet on her wrist as they stepped back onto the Hogwarts Express, the whole world seemed to have changed.
The crowd was still noisy, the whistle still piercing, but the hand holding hers was warm and steady.
Lia could also respond slightly to the classmates greeting them; although it was just a tiny nod, it was already a huge improvement.
Back at the Castle, Harry and Ron were excitedly sharing their experiences of staying at school.
"You'll never guess what Christmas gift I received!" Harry lowered his voice, his face filled with irrepressible excitement. He pulled a silver-gray, liquid-like flowing fabric from his bag.
"An invisibility cloak!" Ron announced for him, his tone full of envy.
Hermione's eyebrows shot up. She reached out to touch the fabric, feeling a silky texture that didn't belong to any known material. "This is incredible. It's very ancient and priceless."
Lia the Cat leaned in curiously and sniffed it; there was no scent on it, as if it didn't exist in this space at all. She extended a paw and touched it gently. A wave of ethereal coldness came from her fingertips, making her tilt her head in confusion.
"And this!" Ron pulled a blank piece of parchment from his robes like a treasure. "Watch closely!"
He tapped the parchment with the tip of his magic wand and recited solemnly, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Ink lines, like living vines, rapidly spread and intertwined on the parchment, outlining a detailed map of the entire Hogwarts Castle. There were also countless moving ink dots on it, labeled with everyone's names.
"The marauders map!" Hermione exclaimed. "Fred and George gave it to you? merlins beard, this is definitely contraband!"
"That's right. Those two guys said that even without the marauders map, with their knowledge of Hogwarts, even Dumbledore couldn't catch them!" Ron said triumphantly.
Lia's eyes widened. She saw an ink dot representing herself, right next to an ink dot labeled "Hermione Granger." She reached out a finger and poked the name belonging to her, but the ink dot on the map didn't react. She tried to scratch the moving "Ron Weasley" with her claws, but only left an air scratch on the parchment.
Lia suddenly lost interest in this. This piece of junk paper could neither be eaten nor played with; it wasn't as good as the pumpkin pasties Mrs. Granger gave her on the Hogwarts Express yesterday... "Cerberus," Ron muttered in the Gryffindor Common Room while playing Wizard chess with Harry, "what on earth is it guarding?"
"Hagrid must know!" Harry slapped his thigh. "He's always been very knowledgeable about Magical Creatures!"
Hermione was spreading out a thick copy of advanced potion-making, while Lia the Cat lay on the blank space of the pages, her tail tip flicking occasionally over the complex Potion recipes. Hearing Harry and Ron's plan, Hermione's brow furrowed.
"You shouldn't go prying into things in the forbidden area. It's too dangerous."
"But Hermione, don't you think it's strange? There's such a big fellow hidden in the Castle; Dumbledore must know!" Harry argued. "And do you remember? During the Gringotts break-in last year, Hagrid took a mysterious little package. I bet that thing is right under the trapdoor guarded by the Cerberus!"
Hermione didn't argue further. She just reached out and scratched Lia the Cat's chin soothingly. Lia the Cat let out a comfortable purr and rubbed her head against Hermione's palm.
Over the next few days, Harry and Ron became regulars at Hagrid's hut. Lia was also taken there once by Hermione. When she transformed from a human into a cat in front of Fang, the poor hound tucked his tail and hid in the pumpkin patch, refusing to come out no matter how they called.
Finally, under Harry and Ron's persistent pestering, Hagrid's mouth, which couldn't keep a secret, let something slip.
"Oh, I'm telling you two little fellows, stop asking!" Hagrid's voice was rough and helpless. "That thing... it has to do with Dumbledore and Nicomellor, alright!"
"Nicomellor?" Harry and Ron looked at each other; they had never heard of this name.
"Shh!" Hagrid As if realizing that he had let something slip, immediately put his index finger to his lips. "I shouldn't have said that name! Forget it, forget it quickly!"
The more he acted like this, the more Harry and Ron's curiosity was ignited. Carrying this key name, they rushed back to the Gryffindor Common Room in a hurry.
"Hermione! Hermione!" Ron's voice arrived before he did. "We have a clue! Nicomellor!"
Hermione was leaning on the sofa with a blanket over her legs, and Lia the Cat was curled into a furball, sleeping on her lap. Hearing Ron's loud voice, Lia's ears twitched, and she opened one eye in dissatisfaction.
Hermione made a "quiet" gesture, carefully moving Lia to the armrest next to her before standing up. "Keep it down, Ron, you'll wake her up."
Harry repeated what Hagrid had said.
"Nicomellor..." Hermione mused, searching through her vast database of knowledge. "It sounds familiar, but I can't think of it right now."
"Then how do we deal with the Cerberus?" Ron threw out another difficult question.
Harry looked at Lia, who was stretching on the sofa armrest, and his eyes lit up: "We have Lia! Didn't she make that big fellow fall asleep last time?"
"That's different!" Hermione immediately countered, her tone more severe than ever. "Last time was an accident. I will never allow Lia to be put in danger!"
Harry and Ron's eyes were full of expectation and trust in "Miss Know-It-All." Hermione sighed. Thinking about their reckless natures, it was better for her to take control of the direction than to let them act rashly on their own.
"Alright," she finally relented. "I'll go to the library to check. But you must promise that until we figure everything out, you are absolutely not allowed near that corridor."
"We promise!" Harry and Ron said in unison.
So, starting from the next day, a peculiar sight appeared in the Hogwarts library.
Miss Granger's figure moved between the rows of towering bookshelves, and on her shoulder, there was always a snow-white little accessory.
For the first two days, everything was harmonious.
Lia the Cat lay on the thick books Hermione had spread out, sleeping soundly and occasionally letting out a few light snores. Hermione would smile and pet her head before continuing to browse through the materials.
But as time went on, Hermione looked through "Important Modern Magical Names," "Notable Magical Names of Our Time," and even found "First Steps in Alchemy," but the name "Nicomellor" remained as elusive as a ghost.
A week passed with nothing found.
Hermione's brow furrowed tighter and tighter, and the time she spent holding Lia decreased significantly.
She began to grow a bit anxious, her mind repeatedly echoing Harry and Ron's expectations and the danger that the Cerberus might bring. The handwriting in her notes also became slightly messy.
Under the high dome of the library, the atmosphere was quiet to the point of being oppressive. Lia the Cat, lying on the History of Magic next to her hand, flicked her tail irritably.
Lia didn't like it here.
The air was filled with the smell of old parchment and ink; it was too quiet, so quiet that her ears were buzzing.
Most importantly, Hermione hadn't scratched her chin for an entire afternoon! All of her attention was on those inanimate, speechless pieces of junk books.
Lia didn't understand why those "junk books" were more important than her; she could feel the change in the aura around Hermione.
Lia felt she was being neglected.
She leaned over, rubbed her furry head against Hermione's wrist, and let out a pleading, soft "Meow~," her tail tip also hooking around Hermione's finger.
"Shh, Lia, I'm thinking." Hermione didn't even look up, just subconsciously offering a word of comfort while her eyes remained fixed on the pages, searching continuously.
Lia wasn't satisfied. She changed her strategy, extending a soft paw pad to gently pull at the quill Hermione was using to take notes. The tip of the pen drew a glaring ink mark on the parchment.
"Don't be naughty, Lia, just a moment." There was a hint of helplessness in Hermione's voice. She moved the quill away without even looking at her, only using her free hand to rub her aching temples.
Waiting, more waiting. Lia's deep blue eyes were filled with grievance. She saw Hermione reaching to flip through that book as thick as a brick again; that book looked more hateful than anything she disliked.
Finally, she could take it no longer. She stood up, trotted to the center of the book, and with a "plop," her whole body flopped onto it. She used her body to pin down the page Hermione was turning and stubbornly tilted her head, trying to meet Hermione's eyes with her own.
"Lia!"
Hermione's voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of irrepressible sharpness and impatience.
She wasn't truly angry at Lia, but she was frustrated by the days of fruitless investigation, the worry for her friends' safety, and the sense of failure regarding her own incompetence. This frustration found an untimely outlet at this moment.
To Lia, however, this shout was like a clap of thunder.
She trembled all over in fright, her claws retracting like lightning as her body froze in place. That familiar, comforting warm aura from Hermione seemed to be blocked by a cold membrane in an instant.
Lia the Cat's ears drooped weakly, and her tail fell as well. She stared blankly at Hermione for a few seconds, but those intelligent eyes failed to grasp Lia's current mood.
Hermione remained focused on the book she was pinning down, her brow furrowed. She didn't look at her at all, not even realizing how hurtful her tone had just been.
A surge of immense grievance and a tiny bit of panic at being abandoned welled up in her heart.
She jumped off the book, circled Hermione's feet twice, and for the last time, gently and tentatively rubbed her head against Hermione's ankle, as if making a final confirmation.
However, Hermione still didn't move. That heart that relied on Hermione finally sank.
She walked away, step by step, leaving the reading room on her own in disappointment.
In the empty corridor, only the faint, lonely, and receding "ding-ling... ding-ling..." of the bell around her neck remained.
Hermione was also stunned for a moment by her own sharp reprimand. Looking at Lia frozen there, a wave of regret immediately surged in her heart.
But before she could apologize, Lia had already jumped down. She felt Lia rub against her ankle and only thought she was being sulky, so she decided to solve this damn problem first and then coax her properly.
She took a deep breath, trying to refocus her attention on the pages.
However, the surrounding silence became somewhat wrong. That tiny warmth and soft weight belonging to Lia had vanished. The air no longer held that light breathing and occasional purring.
It wasn't until Lia's figure completely disappeared from the reading room entrance and that last faint sound of the bell reached her—like a needle piercing Hermione's eardrum—that she finally snapped out of it.
She turned her head sharply. Beside her seat, on the books, on the carpet... everything was empty.
The only thing related to Lia was the cat hair bracelet on her wrist, which was still constantly transmitting warmth to her.
"Lia?" she called out tentatively, her voice carrying a tremor she didn't even notice.
The only answer she received was the eternal silence of the millions of books in the library.
A wave of panic and fear, a thousand times worse than failing to find the information, seized her heart in an instant. She stood up, her chair making a sharp scraping sound as it was knocked back.
She had lost her kitten.
No.
She had lost her Lia.
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