Here, finally, was someone who wasn't a student from another house, idly wandering around the tower, a Gryffindor who hadn't left the common room, but someone who was entering. Some curly-haired guy with a film SLR and a bulky flash.
"Fortuna Major!" he said to the portrait in a loud whisper, looking around.
"That's right," the Fat Lady in the portrait answered in a deep voice, and it moved aside.
That's it. Top-secret information received.
With a clear conscience, I went about my business. For example, I needed to visit the library—Cedric recommended several books about the magical world and various animals, and I needed to take fiction for the next lesson, even though it was only on Thursday.
In the evening, right after dinner, I went to the Hogwarts kitchen, where the house-elves greeted me again with great enthusiasm. They solemnly, as many as four of them, brought me a not-so-big, but quite beautiful cake with chocolate cream, and the inscription in the middle of the artistically decorated decorations with a girlish twist said: "Happy Birthday." Well, I asked for it without exaggeration.
"There you go, young wizard," one of the house-elves gushed joyfully as the others placed the cake on a chair. "Just as you asked."
The brownies covered the cake with a box, tied it with ribbons, and generally made it look like a chic gift.
"You did a great job, thank you."
With these words, I released neutral energy into space, and it was immediately absorbed by the house-elves, who had entered a kind of narcotic high. Without stopping them from enjoying life, I took the package and left the kitchen. Looking around, I saw no one.
Having concentrated neutral energy around myself, I made it change the distinctive signs of my uniform to Gryffindor, and make myself unremarkable to the eye, not catching attention, not arousing interest. Of course, if under such an effect I show up in a clown outfit to a shareholders' meeting of the company, they will definitely pay attention to me because of the discrepancy, but that is why I changed the symbols.
Having reached the entrance to the Lions' faculty common room without any problems, I looked around—from above and below on the stairs, every now and then, someone was making noise, running, walking; in general, life was in full swing, but specifically here it was quite quiet, and there was no point in waiting for anything.
"Fortuna Major," I said, and the portrait of the Fat Lady immediately moved aside, opening a passage.
The long and low stone corridor ended in an outrageously noisy round living room in scarlet colors. Here and there, sofas and armchairs were randomly placed, a fireplace was burning, students were talking loudly, someone had settled down on the floor by the fireplace and shamelessly hugged and kissed. A normal theme. Look, some of the older ones were excitedly playing something, occupying a table, a sofa, a couple of armchairs, and a windowsill, while now and then slamming something from dark bottles. A typical dorm.
Without lingering in the aisle, I walked as if I knew where I was going. But as soon as I took a couple of steps, I saw Hermione. She was sitting in a chair and reading a huge book. To her left was a table, and on the other side of the table, ignoring the girl's existence, sat Weasley and played chess with Potter. It seemed as if they had never communicated before, and now stubbornly did not notice each other's existence.
I walked boldly towards her, keeping a smirk on my face from what was happening. But, why should I care? Children. They tend to get angry at others over little things, but at the same time, they fervently consider themselves adults. It's charming and sweet; it makes you want to give them some kind of tease.
"Hi," I leaned over Hermione, placing the box of cake on the table to her left.
"Um…" She reluctantly tore herself away from reading the book, and clearly wanted to give some kind of rebuke.
"Happy Birthday, Hermie," I placed the bracelet on the open pages of the book. "And this is from Flitwick. Congratulations, and assurance that the bracelet works as it should."
"Hector," she whispered loudly, looking at me with shock and surprise. "Where did you get the uniform from… And how did you get here…"
"Is this important?" I grinned. "Look…"
I took the bracelet and put it on my sister's left hand. As soon as it was in place, it immediately shrank to the right size.
"It will protect against the evil eye and weak curses that they love to play with at school," I began to tell about the bracelet, while Hermione continued to look from me to the bracelet in surprise.
"It will help you take care of your health, washing out all that is unnecessary and superfluous from your body. And it also creates a comfortable temperature around you. Within reasonable limits. I don't recommend walking around naked in winter."
"Hector!" she continued to whisper indignantly, blushing slightly. What, is she playing around or something?
"Read the note from Flitwick."
"Professor Flitwick," she corrected, as if reflexively.
"And try the cake. You can make peace with your friends with its help."
"Where are you from…"
"Hogwarts is full of rumors. Don't be sad," I kissed her forehead, which made her blush even more. "Happy Birthday."
"Thank you…" she muttered quietly, but I had already turned to leave.
I left the living room as quickly as I had entered.
"And who are you?"
A girl's voice on the staircase made me turn around. As I had guessed based on the voice, it was a girl of about twelve or thirteen. Fiery red hair, a wary look in her swamp-green eyes, regular facial features—a very bright and "correct" image.
"And who are you?"
"Answering a question with a question is impolite," the girl folded her arms across her chest, looking at me with an extremely serious gaze. Ugh, I sense a wild temper. No need for manners here.
"Hector," I looked at the girl expectantly.
"Ginny. Ginny Weasley."
"Oh, very nice to meet you," I extended my hand, and the girl shook it purely automatically, only pulling it back a moment later.
"I haven't seen you among the Gryffindors before."
"There is an explanation for this," I moved my hand from my neck down, changing the color of the tie and other accessories on the robe, including the color of the lining. "I'm from another faculty…"
The girl clearly wanted to scream or something like that in order to raise the alarm.
"…came to congratulate my sister on her birthday."
"Sister?" This "Ginny" looked at me doubtfully.
"Yes. Hermione Granger."
"Ah-ah-ah, so you are Hector Granger," only slight traces of suspicion remained in the fiery red-haired girl's gaze. "I've heard of you."
"I hope only good things. To brighten up our acquaintance…"
Having created a clot of air around my hand, I took out my wand, which made the girl nervous, and released a stream of a mixture of neutral energy and life energy, embodying one of the "flower" contours from the fragments of the elf's memory.
A flower of many fiery red petals formed on my hand. My memory told me it looked like a Mexican zinnia, but it wasn't quite like that.
"A fiery star, Astra Ignis. You need to keep it in water, like a water lily," I handed the flower into the hands of the girl who looked at it with fascination. "Living in water, it seems to bloom with fire in spite of the circumstances."
I touched a petal with my finger, and waves of real, non-scorching flame passed over it.
"How?" the girl asked, not taking her eyes off the flower.
"Magic, Ginny," I shrugged. "I'm not asking, but I hope my visit to your living room will remain between us."
I disappeared into space with a smile like a Cheshire cat, and the girl looked around, looking for me.