Chapter 52: Matching Quill Pens

After the two left the Great Hall together, John finally let go of Hermione's hand.

"Thanks to you for saving the day, Senior Hermione."

"Otherwise, I don't know if I'd still be pestered by that guy Ryan."

Seeing that he had gotten rid of Ryan, John breathed a sigh of relief and smiled helplessly at Hermione.

"I heard that you are kept behind by Professor Snape to do dirty work every Potions class, and you're getting more and more enthusiastic about it."

"I thought you liked those bizarre things."

Hermione looked at John's fearful expression and found it quite funny.

"That's different."

"Professor Snape's tasks have a certain amount of value in them."

"But that guy Ryan, he just wants to disgust me."

John waved his hand and said irritably.

Professor Snape did indeed always leave him some dirty work to do.

But there was no lack of gains after finishing it.

Every time, Professor Snape would leave John a special piece of knowledge not found in the textbook.

Those pieces of knowledge were more like experiences Professor Snape had summarized himself.

And the dirty work he did was often an essential step in processing materials, helping him accumulate a lot of experience in material processing techniques.

"Alright, let's not talk about this. Here, this is for you."

Hermione smiled, stopped discussing that topic, and handed the bag in her hand to John.

"This is a gift I picked out for you in Hogsmeade."

"A gift?"

Now that she mentioned it, Hermione had indeed said yesterday that she would bring a gift for John.

"Thank you, Senior Hermione."

John didn't act coy, directly took the bag, and said with a happy smile.

"Open it and see if you like it."

Hermione put her hands behind her back, looked at John with a smile on her face, and said.

Inside the bag was a long box.

Opening the box, inside was a well-crafted quill pen.

This quill pen was silver-white all over, and the tail was a beautiful silver-gray feather.

A hint of nervousness permeated Hermione's smile; she carefully observed John's facial expression.

Seeing the surprise and joy on John's face after he opened the box, which didn't seem fake, she also breathed a sigh of relief.

When giving a gift face-to-face, the most frightening thing is seeing a disappointed or perfunctory expression on the other person's face.

Fortunately, John seemed to like it quite a bit.

And John did indeed like this quill pen very much.

At first glance, this quill pen was no different from an ordinary quill pen.

But the silver-white luster on the pen barrel, the matching silver-gray feather, and the overall design all made John like it at first sight.

"Thank you, Senior Hermione, for specially bringing me a gift; I like it very much."

John showed a happy smile to Hermione again.

Hermione looked at John's undisguised joyful expression, felt a sense of relief in her heart, and the smile on her face became more natural.

"As long as you like it," she said softly, her tone carrying a hint of satisfaction.

"But since you've accepted this gift, you have to accompany me to the library to study more often from now on."

Immediately afterward, Hermione blinked and said half-jokingly.

"After all, this pen isn't for you to collect, but for you to use with me."

Use together?

Hearing Hermione's description, John was puzzled for a moment.

But Hermione immediately gave the answer; she took out another quill pen from her bosom.

This quill pen was almost identical to the one in John's hand, only the colors of the pen barrel and the feather were swapped.

Hermione raised the quill pen in her hand, her tone carrying a bit of teasing.

"I specially chose this pair; if you don't accompany me to use them together, wouldn't I have chosen them in vain?"

Hearing Hermione's words, John was also stunned.

He looked at the quill pen in his hand, then looked at Hermione's quill pen.

He was silent for a moment before slowly saying.

"This isn't fair; the pen in your hand is clearly better looking."

"......"

Hermione was speechless for a moment.

She had originally wondered if John would feel awkward, embarrassed, or even resistant to using matching quill pens with her.

For this, she had prepared several sets of rhetoric, but the focus of this guy's attention was actually which pen looked better?

Hermione was speechless for a moment, then was amused to the point of anger, and directly retorted.

"Nonsense, otherwise why would I use it myself?"

"?"

Was she being this direct?

Shouldn't she politely ask me if I wanted to exchange them or something, and then I would pretend to be magnanimous and politely decline?

The two stared at each other, clearly both stunned.

However, after a brief silence, they also realized how funny the conversation just now was.

As soon as the two met eyes and noticed the smile at the corner of each other's mouths, they couldn't hold it back and burst into laughter together.

"Pfft, hahahaha!"

Originally, they were actually both forcing themselves to speak and laugh in a natural way.

After all, whether it was giving a gift face-to-face or being alone like this, it gave them a subtle feeling, making the atmosphere more or less constrained.

But now, that last trace of constraint dissipated in their laughter.

The atmosphere between the two became completely relaxed.

They sat together chatting and laughing, listening to Hermione share her experiences in Hogsmeade today.

They were getting along just as they usually did.

And in a corner they didn't notice.

Several sneaky figures were spying on everything here.

"What do you think?"

Titus only revealed half his head and one eye by the wall, watching the situation on John's side, and asked in a low voice.

"Watching while squatting."

Ryan rubbed his thighs that were numb from squatting and complained.

Titus: "......"

"Seriously, don't you think this Senior Hermione is too good to John?"

"Is she? Isn't Senior Luna also very good to us?" Ethan asked curiously.

"It's different, the feeling is different!"

Titus slapped Ethan on the back of the head, feeling like he was failing to live up to expectations.

"Senior Luna is just an elder taking care of a junior, but this Senior Hermione is already beyond just taking care of John."

"Where is it different?"

Ryan and Ethan still couldn't see where it was different and asked curiously.

"The look in her eyes is different."

"The look in Senior Hermione's eyes when she looks at John is different."

Titus said very affirmatively.

"Hmm, it is indeed different; just now, the look in Senior Hermione's eyes when she looked at John was like she was looking at an idiot."

Ryan nodded in agreement.

Titus: "......"

"You guys... sigh, forget it."

"Let's go back."

Looking at these two wooden heads, Titus gave up on the idea of explaining it to them.

He could only wish John all the best.

Afterward, they quietly left the scene without attracting anyone's attention. ===== CHAPTER 53 =====