The Prince Hotel had been built, by some ancestor of the Shafiq family—no one knew which generation—because one of his children was a Squib who could only be set loose to live in the Muggle world, so he spent a fortune establishing a Muggle hotel to provide for him.
Later, because this Squib ancestor had a rather good head for business, he even developed it into a hotel chain spanning all of England, and it had been passed down ever since.
When Kate first learned her family owned such a hotel chain, she nearly laughed out loud, and then swiftly settled on it as their lodging.
There was no other reason than wanting to see how Snape would react to a hotel that shared his surname.
Now she had seen it, and the reaction was satisfying: the old bat, who already couldn't stand a crowd of students chattering away, now wore an even more livid expression.
With nearly a thousand students checking in, the other guests had naturally been cleared out in advance. Now, apart from a few essential Muggle staff, there were also a dozen-odd Aurors standing guard.
On top of that, the hotel had temporarily set up a series of spells to prevent any Muggles who wandered in by mistake, or anyone with ill intent, from entering.
When it came to security, Kate naturally left nothing to chance.
"Rest here tonight, and assemble at eight o'clock tomorrow morning in the Great Hall on the second floor!"
Having finished handing out room cards to the Prefects, Snape coldly reminded everyone in a loud voice.
Once the Prefects had finally finished distributing the room cards, the students noisily rushed to the elevators, filing in one by one under the lead of the Muggle-born students.
Waiting in the crowd, Kate suddenly felt a prickle on her scalp. She turned to look and met Snape's cold eyes.
Tsk... no wonder Harry always took you for a villain in the original works.
She ducked down, swiftly slipped out of the crowd, and made her way to Snape's side. "Head of House, did you want something with me?"
He narrowed his eyes and pressed a small vial of Potion into her hand. "Take it before sleep."
Weighing the vial of Potion in her hand, Kate roughly understood what it was, and at once nodded with a smile. "Yes, I understand."
On the other side of the crowd, Hermione and the others were already calling out loudly to her. Kate hurriedly bowed to Snape and quickly dove back into the crowd.
In no time, that conspicuous white mop of hair appeared beside the brown head, riding up in the elevator along with the crowd.
Snape stood rooted in place, hands behind his back, still wearing that black suit he wasn't quite used to.
"Severus, how do you tie this necktie?" Flitwick said as he passed by, still fiddling with the crooked tie around his neck.
He looked down at the other for a moment, was silent for a while, then said, "Perhaps you could go borrow a different set of clothes from a student."
With that, he stepped into the elevator along with the last batch of students. He stood there for ages before a student finally worked up the courage to press the button, and only then did the elevator doors slowly slide shut.
From its very founding, the Prince Hotel had been famous throughout England for catering to an upper-middle and high-end clientele, so even a standard room was considerably larger than an ordinary one.
Of course, that was because every room had an Undetectable Extension Charm cast on it.
But when she actually saw that a single room could neatly fit four beds, Kate still nearly lost her composure.
Even so-called family rooms, or the gaming rooms of later eras, all had their own layouts—who would just plonk four beds straight into a room?
Afraid people wouldn't be able to tell the room had been enchanted, were they?
Still...
"Kate, the beds here are so soft!"
"And there are two bathrooms!"
"The sofa's all squishy..."
Standing in the doorway, watching the three girls dart about all over the room, Kate took a few deep breaths.
Fine—she shouldn't expect underage young wizards to notice anything unusual about the room.
"Each of you pick a bed, then wash up one at a time. Tomorrow's going to be tiring, so we need to rest well tonight."
She walked over to a bed and sat down casually. Looking up, she saw the fully transparent glass of the two bathrooms.
...Seriously?
Instinctively drawing her wand, she pulled two tissues from the bedside, enlarged them, and stuck them over the outer surface of the bathrooms. Only after confirming that the inside couldn't be seen did she nod with relief.
Even though they were all still underage, basic privacy still had to be protected.
Glancing back at Hermione, still rolling around on the bed, at Cho Chang, who had switched on the television and was curiously watching the programs, and at Luna, who had flopped straight down on the sofa...
Kate suddenly felt that tonight would probably be quite lively.
"I'll go shower first, then." she muttered to herself, then took her toiletries and headed straight into the bathroom.
As she undressed, she noticed the vial of Potion Snape had given her in her pocket. From its weight and black color, Kate could tell it was a draught that could put a person into a temporary deep sleep.
Judging by the dose, if she drank it before bed tonight, she'd sleep right through until just before lunch.
That way she'd miss the morning assembly and would have no choice but to stay behind alone at the hotel.
Having figured out Snape's intentions, Kate tucked the vial back into her pocket and stepped into the bathroom.
As the sound of water rose, Hermione, outside the bathroom, was the first to come to her senses. She looked up but could only see an enlarged sheet of tissue blocking the outside of the glass.
At a glance, it looked rather crumpled.
Even though she hadn't seen anything at all, somehow her little face suddenly flushed red, and she hurriedly got up from the bed. "I... I'll go shower too!"
With that, she went into the other bathroom.
Cho Chang, still flipping through the channels, tilted her head and shot her a glance, then set down the remote while suppressing a laugh, and walked over to the small sofa to the side.
"Luna, wake up—sleep after you've washed up."
As the youngest of them, Luna had grown visibly weary after several hours of being shuttled back and forth, and lying on the sofa she was already drowsing off.
Helpless, Cho Chang had no choice but to rouse her. Watching the little girl sit up groggily, looking like she wanted to sleep but didn't dare, she couldn't help laughing.
Before the ones in the bathrooms had even come out, the hotel delivered dinner for four.
When Kate emerged from the bathroom, she saw the two of them huddled by the sofa, tucking in with great gusto.
She was just about to go over and have a taste herself when she saw Hermione come out in a cartoon nightgown, her hair still dripping wet, and give two sneezes.
"Why didn't you dry your hair before coming out? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?" Kate hurried over and draped a bath towel over her head, then turned up the room's heating a little.
Hermione rubbed her reddened nose. "I couldn't find a hairdryer."
"I saw there's one in my bathroom," Kate said, and with no other choice, took her by the hand and led her in. "Come on, I'll dry it for you, and then we'll go have dinner."
"Okay~" After her bath, not only was Hermione's hair limp and soft, even her voice had gone soft.
Kate found her a little stool, plugged in the hairdryer, and gently began to dry her hair.
Come to think of it, in all the time they'd known each other, this was the first time she'd ever dried Hermione's hair.
The hairdryer hummed noisily, her fingers kneading through the damp strands. Hermione leaned comfortably against Kate, eyes half-closed, savoring this cozy moment.
Once the strands were about seventy or eighty percent dry, Kate lowered the airflow and tidied her hair, which was beginning to fluff up.
"All done." Switching off the hairdryer, Kate idly pinched a few strands of her hair. "Take a look—how's the style I gave you?"
Hermione opened her eyes and looked at her own hair in the mirror, her gaze drifting unconsciously to the fingers with which Kate was pinching her hair.
"I never noticed before," she said admiringly, almost without thinking, "your hands are really pretty."
Kate started, and her fingertips drew back a little.
Though she knew Hermione was simply paying a compliment, to an adult—an adult who liked girls—the words sounded a little odd.
"—Don't go!" Seeing her about to dodge away again, Hermione spun around and seized her hand, fingertips stroking that slender, fair palm.
Purely from an aesthetic standpoint, Kate's hands were long and clean, smooth and tender; though still a touch childish, in her eyes they were admirably perfect, and she couldn't help wanting to play with them.
By contrast, her own hands, though they too had begun to lengthen toward that slender shape, still hadn't shed their lingering baby fat, and there was no telling how long it would take to fade.
Little did she know that the soft sensation of being stroked sent wave after wave of jittery alarm through Kate's heart. Only once Hermione had played to her heart's content did Kate manage, with effort, to pull free of her grasp.
"Ahem... I'm a bit hungry—let's go out and eat something first."
Turning around somewhat flustered, she saw Cho Chang and Luna poking their heads in, one above the other. Seeing that they'd finally finished fiddling about, Cho Chang asked with a mischievous look, "All done?"
The ambiguous words left Kate momentarily at a loss; she nearly choked on her breath and couldn't help coughing a few times.
Hermione was far more innocent; she stood up without any fuss. "Mm, all dried. Cho Chang, do you want to use the bathroom?"
"That's right, we've already eaten—we were just waiting for you two." Cho Chang said, not forgetting to wink at Kate, as if mocking her for letting her mind wander.
Honestly... how mortifying!
Who'd have known that Cho Chang, despite being about the same age as her, would understand such things?
Kate flushed red from holding it in, and hurriedly pulled Hermione out. "Take your time washing—we're off to eat!"
With that, she dragged the bewildered Hermione over to sit by the sofa, and stiffly opened the remaining two portions of dinner.
Glancing back guiltily, she could still hear Cho Chang humming a tune in the bathroom in rather good spirits.
Kate: ...
Pretending nothing had happened, she buried her head in her food.
After polishing off everything on her plate in one go, Kate instinctively patted her own belly—uh-oh, she seemed to have eaten a bit too much.
Just then Cho Chang poked her head out of the bathroom, her hair soaking wet. "Hey, want to come dry my hair for me?"
Two veins bulged on Kate's forehead, and she snatched up a wad of tissues and flung it over—only for Luna, who happened to be coming out of the bathroom right then, to get struck on the head.
Rubbing her forehead with an innocent look, Luna blinked, utterly failing to grasp what had just happened.
"I... I didn't mean to....." Kate stood up awkwardly, explaining in a fluster.
As for the "culprit" behind this blow, Cho Chang was hiding in the bathroom laughing merrily, loud enough for the whole room to hear.
And the target of the mockery, Kate, was speechless for a long moment; she could only go over and comfortingly ruffle Luna's head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you."
"Mm, I know." Luna smiled understandingly, then, before Kate could breathe a sigh of relief, added, "But, Senior Kate, could you dry my hair too?"
Kate started, but quickly caught her meaning. The corner of her mouth curved up, and she grabbed Luna's hand and walked into the bathroom, yanking out the one and only hairdryer.
"Sorry there, Little Cho," she said with a sweet smile, "if you want me to dry yours, then you'll just have to wait a bit—Luna's ahead of you in line."
With that, under Cho Chang's utterly dumbfounded stare, she cheerfully strode off with the hairdryer in hand.
Moments later, the hum of a hairdryer rose from the bathroom next door.
Cho Chang, looking thoroughly put out, planted her hands on her hips and ran out barefoot. "Ka—" te—
Her voice cut off abruptly when she saw Hermione still eating in the little sitting area.
She'd almost forgotten there was a junior here.
She gave an awkward laugh, then turned and went back into the bathroom alone, not forgetting to shout loudly, "Kate, remember I'm still waiting for you to dry my hair!"
Watching the three of them interact, Hermione was so amazed that for a moment she forgot to eat the food she'd already raised to her mouth.
It was a good while before she came to her senses and couldn't help laughing softly.
Even so, it really was such fun.
A different kind of fun from when she was out and about with Harry and Ron—perhaps this sort of joy only existed among girls.
How nice.
Leaning against the sofa, she quietly listened to the hum of the hairdryer mingled with Cho Chang's humming, gazing at the night outside the window that had now turned completely dark.
In the very end, it was Kate alone who dried the hair of all three girls sharing her room before it was finally done.
Hermione, her heart aching for her, kneaded Kate's hands, reddened from all the drying. "You've worked hard—you should get to sleep early in a bit."
Though a bit of awkwardness still lingered, Kate had been doing her best to ignore it.
It was really just her overthinking things—otherwise Cho Chang wouldn't have seen through her.
As for her nightly practice, it didn't seem very convenient to carry out in front of the other girls, so she'd just treat it as a day's rest for now.
"It's way too early to sleep now," Cho Chang said, sprawled on her bed, rummaging for ages in the suitcase under the bed before fishing out a set of Wizard Chess. "Want to play this?"
Only then was Hermione willing to let go of Kate's hand, dashing over to Cho Chang's bed. "Sure, let's the two of us have a round!"
"I'm out." Kate immediately raised her hand. "I'm a hopeless duffer at chess—there's no way I'll give you the chance to crush me!"
As for Luna, being so young, the child didn't have such boundless energy; the moment she touched the bed, she naturally drifted off to sleep.
"Then keep it down while you play—I'll go read the paper for a bit." Kate stretched lazily, picked up today's Daily Prophet, and sat down on the sofa in the little sitting area to leaf through it.
The magical world had been calm and uneventful of late; the only thing worth mentioning was the news of Hogwarts conducting a thousand-strong Christmas study tour.
Besides that, the report also said that Dumbledore would be inspecting and renovating the castle over the Christmas period.
If people knew it was to search for the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk, the entire wizarding world would probably blow up.
Glancing at the two still playing chess with great enthusiasm, Kate gave a soft sigh.
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