Dumbledore led Harry to a portrait where a rather plump lady was dozing. Hearing footsteps, she reluctantly opened her eyes.
"Good evening, Fat Lady," Dumbledore greeted her warmly.
"Oh! Headmaster Dumbledore, what brings you here? I swear I haven't been slacking, the little wizards are all inside!" The Fat Lady then moved forward, revealing the hidden passage. Inside the common room, only one figure was visible.
Hermione was sitting on a sofa, waiting anxiously. Hearing the portrait open, she looked up and exclaimed in delight, "Harry, you're ba— Oh! Headmaster Dumbledore!"
"Oh, Harry, it seems your friend was quite worried about you," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.
Harry, ignoring the eccentric old man, walked straight into the common room and promptly closed the portrait door in Dumbledore's face.
"Harry, are you hurt? Did Malfoy give you trouble?" As soon as Harry was steady, Hermione quickly pounced on him, checking his body over, even trying to pull off his robes to find any signs of punishment.
"I'm fine, it's all sorted," Harry said with a yawn, his voice lazy.
Seeing Hermione's continued worry, Harry couldn't resist teasing, "You're acting just like my girlfriend, you know."
"Drop dead!" Harry deftly dodged Hermione's indignant punch, then quickly explained what had happened in the Headmaster's office, though he omitted his conversation with Dumbledore, simply stating his detention was over.
"You can't be so impulsive next time, Harry. Dumbledore won't always be able to smooth over complaints." Hermione wanted to continue her lecture, but Harry yawned again, and Hermione couldn't help but follow suit.
Finally, Hermione gave up on lecturing him, led Harry to his dormitory door, then bid him farewell and left.
His roommates were all asleep; Ron was even snoring. Harry quickly washed up and lay in bed, feeling like he'd forgotten something important. "What did I forget...?"
Dumbledore returned to his office with a spring in his step. He glanced at the memories in the Pensieve, deciding to put them away and deal with them later. The Sorting Hat, perched nearby, suddenly spoke, "I told you, Headmaster, the boy has no ambition."
"You were right. Harry truly isn't Tom; he still has love in his heart," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Hurry up and climb, we're almost there!"
"Oh, they smell so good, I'm starving..."
"All of you, shut up!"
Late that night, Harry was woken by noise in his sleep. He felt like many voices were speaking in the dormitory. Just as he was about to tell them to quiet down, he looked up and saw Humphrey slithering out of his trunk. It turned out the sounds he was hearing were Humphrey's hissing.
That's it, I knew I forgot something yesterday! I forgot to feed Humphrey! Thinking this, Harry got up and checked that his roommates were still asleep. He then picked up Humphrey and went into his trunk. A Runespoor in its growth stage needs to eat multiple times a day, so Harry had simply bought a cage full of mice to keep in his trunk, but hadn't considered if Humphrey could actually get inside.
"Master, you finally remembered me! I'm practically starving!"
"Great Master, those dead mice in the cage? These two did it! I haven't touched a single one!"
"You didn't want to touch them, did you? You couldn't even reach them!"
"Alright, this one's my fault. I didn't consider your size, and you couldn't drag the mice out of the cage." Harry interrupted the fierce bickering of the three snake heads. As soon as he opened the mouse cage, Humphrey eagerly pounced. Harry watched Humphrey gobble them down, knowing he was truly famished this time. All three heads were eating now, no longer fighting.
"Master, you can't forget us again. We're not little snakes who have to sleep to digest anymore; we're in our teenage years now!"
"Don't worry, in a while I'll get you a much bigger nest in here, so you can hunt for yourselves," Harry promised, giving Humphrey a grand vision to comfort him.
After spending some time with Humphrey, fostering their bond, Harry glanced at the mechanical clock next to him and decided to go back to sleep for a bit.
When Harry woke again, his roommates were still sound asleep. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and dressed on his own, then picked up his trunk and left the dormitory. After Humphrey's unauthorized trunk opening last night, Harry dared not leave his trunk alone in the dormitory until the new nest was built.
In the common room, many students were already up. Hermione was sitting in an armchair, reading One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.
"Oi! Hermione, come on, let's go to the Great Hall for breakfast."
"Good morning, Harry." Hearing his call, Hermione put away her book and came over. They walked to the Great Hall together. Everyone they passed looked at them with surprise.
Harry walked straight ahead, then turned to Hermione and said, "Hermione, do we have any classes today?"
"Oh, oh, I forgot to give you the timetable. Gryffindor doesn't have any classes on Monday morning."
"Perfect then. I've got a little surprise to show you later."
In the Great Hall, Malfoy was boasting to his friends about how powerful his father was, but when he saw Harry walk in, his face immediately changed. "Impossible! My father said you were in detention!"
"Well, I'm telling you now, detention's over."
"Draco, Potter's taking advantage of you," a dark-haired Slytherin boy reminded Malfoy.
"Potter! You..."
"I trust you gentlemen are not arguing!" Professor McGonagall stood up from the staff table, her gaze stern on both parties.
Harry shrugged and walked away. Malfoy's face was as dark as a brewing storm.
After quickly finishing breakfast, and before more people could swarm him with questions about last night, Harry pulled Hermione out of the Great Hall.
"Phew, phew, phew, Harry, slow down! I can't keep up," Hermione panted.
"Honestly, Hermione, with your fitness level, how did you survive in a British primary school with all that bullying?"
"I was top of my class. I never got bullied," Hermione said after catching her breath.
Harry took Hermione to the edge of the Black Lake, but to his surprise, many people were already there. Seeing couples showing affection everywhere, Hermione's ears flushed. Harry turned to leave, a little annoyed.
"Harry, perhaps we should go to the library instead? I heard it has the largest collection of books in all of Britain," Hermione suggested.
"Perhaps, we could... Hi, Hagrid!"
"Good morning, Harry!" Hagrid suddenly emerged from the trees, leading a large dog. "I'm just patrolling the Forbidden Forest, you know, lots of couples like to stay in the trees!"