The two of them stood at the edge of a shrub-lined clearing. In front of them stretched a rge patch of nd, covered in a type of magical grass that looked ordinary at first gnce, but unlike regur grass, each bde glowed softly at the tip with a faint yellow-green light.

  It looked as if thousands of fireflies had nded on the grass, gently swaying in the mountain breeze, left, right, a ripple of light and motion. It was utterly enchanting.

  Hermione stood frozen in awe, while Anne watched her reaction with the smug satisfaction of someone who’d expected just that. After letting Hermione soak in the scene for a moment, Anne gave her hand a tug, signaling her to follow.

  They walked along the edge of the low shrubbery until they reached the far end of the grassy clearing. This side was free of brush, but the trees were enormous, thick-trunked, towering, ancient.

  Clearly familiar with the area, Anne led Hermione straight to the base of one massive tree and pointed upward.

  Hermione followed her gesture, squinting up through the moonlight, and gasped in surprise. Between the branches of two great trees sat a treehouse, nestled almost invisibly in the canopy. She turned to Anne with delight, pointing upward as if to ask: How do we get up there?

  Anne grinned and led her around the back of the enormous tree, its trunk so wide it would take three people to wrap their arms around it. A soft rope dder hung down, hidden from the front.

  They climbed up into the treehouse. Hermione was the first to push open the door, her excitement bubbling over. Moonlight illuminated the interior clearly: a single bed, a wooden wardrobe, a table, two chairs, and a long wooden sofa by the window.

  Anne led Hermione through the cozy space to a door that opened onto the treehouse balcony. Outside, a telescope was set up, pointed toward the stars.

  “Hold on,” Anne said, shifting the telescope to a corner of the balcony. Then she disappeared inside and returned with two bnkets and a padded mat, all pulled from the rge wardrobe.

  She id the mat down on the balcony floor and handed Hermione one of the bnkets. “It’ll get cold up here ter…”

  Anne wrapped herself in her bnket and y down on the mat, eyes fixed on the glowing grass below. When Hermione didn’t move right away, Anne turned and beckoned to her.

  “You’ll stand out too easily if you stay upright. Lying down’s better, trust me.”

  “Wait, there’s more to see?” Hermione asked, wrapping herself in her bnket and lying down beside Anne.

  “Of course! This pce isn’t just about the glowgrass. There’s also a magical creature living here, really rare. I begged Uncle Aaron forever before he agreed to give me a few. You won’t find them anywhere else in Britain,” Anne said, puffing out her cheeks in mock frustration. “He even cimed they’d die if released into the wild. But look, they’re alive and thriving, and they’ve even built a huge nest.”

  “What kind of creature is it?” Hermione asked, clearly intrigued. She knew Aaron rarely said no to Anne.

  Anne raised her eyebrows dramatically. “They’re called Shadowbees, native to America. Super fast flyers, and really rare now, even in the U.S. Not many people know this, but besides collecting nectar from magical flowers, they can also extract nectar from grass.”

  “Wait, grass? How?” Hermione asked, surprised.

  Anne shook her head. “No one really knows. Shadowbees hate being watched, so every time I try to get close, they fly off. Eventually I figured out that this is the best way to observe them, from a distance.”

  “But Anne,” Hermione said, gncing at the telescope in the corner, “you could use that to watch them.”

  Anne blinked, then smacked her forehead lightly. “Oh my gosh, right… how did I not think of that?” She ughed at herself, then perked up. “Maybe tonight we’ll finally figure out how they do it!”

  She got up carefully, still wrapped in her bnket, and tiptoed over to the telescope. She brought it back to the mat and y down again, peering through the lens.

  Through it, she could clearly see the soft, luminous glow shimmering on the tips of the glowgrass.

  “Amazing…” she whispered. Then she tilted the telescope toward Hermione. “Your turn. Take a look!”

  Hermione eagerly took the telescope. Just a few moments ter, a faint humming sound emerged from the quiet forest, growing louder and louder.

  “They’re coming…” Anne whispered, leaning in close to Hermione’s ear.

  The balcony was narrow, so the two of them y side by side, their shoulders touching. Anne had only to tilt her head slightly to speak into Hermione’s ear.

  A cluster of small, dark bees appeared, swarming like a tiny storm cloud. The glowgrass responded immediately, its light intensifying.

  The shadowbees spread out above the grass and began to descend, each one heading toward a separate patch.

  “I see one!” Hermione whispered excitedly. “One just nded on a glowgrass bde, right in front of me!”

  Her excitement made Anne’s heart flutter with anticipation.

  “Wow… so that’s how it works…” Hermione murmured.

  Anne puffed her cheeks again, watching Hermione’s profile intently.

  “The bee… it started glowing after it drank the nectar…” Hermione said softly.

  Anne didn’t look away. She was still staring at Hermione’s side profile. It struck her suddenly, she had never seen Hermione like this before. Her damp hair smelled faintly of floral body wash and fresh grass. Her headband held her curls back neatly, exposing her slender neck. She looked… delicious.

  “Anne, I just saw, ” Hermione turned to speak, but froze when she met Anne’s eyes. There was something unfamiliar in Anne’s gaze, soft, intense, unmistakably intimate. Hermione had only ever seen that look in her mother’s eyes when she watched her father.

  Before either of them could think, Anne leaned forward and kissed her.

  Her heart thundered, louder than ever before. Her mind felt like it was going to burst, but her lips, pressing gently against Hermione’s cool, soft ones, made her never want to pull away.

  Hermione flinched slightly. Anne noticed her tension, and truthfully, she was nervous too. But when she saw no resistance in Hermione’s eyes, she leaned in a little deeper, emboldened. She traced her tongue along Hermione’s lips in a light, tentative motion.

  Above them, dozens of shadowbees, their bellies glowing green with nectar, rose into the air like drifting fireflies. The grass below dimmed significantly as the bees, full and content, flew off into the deeper forest.

  Breathless and red-faced, Anne finally pulled away. Her face flushed from embarrassment, and the rush of blood to her head. Hermione, too, was blushing, slightly breathless.

  Anne licked her lips, grinning. The joy blooming in her chest was sweeter than any cake she’d ever eaten, like biting into the softest, warmest dessert in the world.

  She turned her head and noticed that the glowgrass now emitted only the faintest light. The bees were gone.

  “Uh…” Anne sat up, still clutching her bnket. After a moment, she mumbled, “Shadowbees really do fly fast, huh…”

  Hermione burst out ughing. And when she ughed, Anne couldn’t help but ugh too.

  When they had packed up the mat and stowed the telescope, they climbed back into the treehouse. Anne froze at the sight of the single bed. She hadn’t pnned this part, honestly! She’d been so focused on showing Hermione the glowgrass that she completely forgot there was only one bed.

  “I can sleep on the sofa!” Anne said quickly, pointing toward the hard wooden bench by the window.

  Hermione looked at the bed, it did look comfortable. Then she gnced at Anne, then at the unforgiving wooden sofa. Sleeping on that thing? Her back would never forgive her.

  “Actually,” she said, “the bed’s big enough for two. It won’t be cramped.”

  Anne’s eyes lit up instantly. “Really?!” She nearly jumped in excitement, still holding her bnket.

  But she quickly held up her right hand like she was taking an oath. “I promise I won’t move around in my sleep!”

  A moment ter, the two girls y side by side under their bnkets. Anne stared straight up at the ceiling, motionless. She told herself it was the bright moonlight that kept her awake, not the fact that Hermione was lying just inches away.

  After a few minutes, Anne whispered, “Hermione…”

  “Hmm?” Hermione hadn’t fallen asleep either. She y in the same position, staring at the ceiling, bnket pulled to her chin. They were barely a fist-width apart. One slight turn and they’d feel each other’s breath.

  “It’s the moonlight,” Anne said. “It’s too bright. I think I’ll pull the curtains.”

  “Okay.”

  Anne reached out of the bnket, felt for her wand on the bedside table, and whispered, “Curtains down.”

  Bamboo blinds dropped over the three windows, dimming the room instantly.

  Anne exhaled, closing her eyes. Now I can sleep, she thought.

  But as the curtains fell, the sounds of the forest faded too, leaving only the sound of breathing, hers and Hermione’s. And now those breaths seemed loud.

  Anne had to admit it: maybe she shouldn’t have drawn the curtains after all.

  She could hear her heart pounding, and Hermione was right there. So close, she could just reach out and,

  After a few more restless minutes, Anne sighed quietly in defeat. She turned toward Hermione.

  “Hermione…”

  “What is it?” Hermione turned slightly too, but before she could finish her sentence, Anne slipped under her bnket and pulled her into a warm hug.

  “I had two little people in my head,” Anne whispered. “A white one and a bck one. The white one said I should keep my promise and not touch you. But the bck one said if I didn’t hold you, I wouldn’t sleep tonight, and I’d definitely regret it tomorrow. And then the white one agreed… and turned bck too.”

  “So, you see… both little people insisted,” she said. Then added nervously, “Though, I mean… it’s your fault for falling in love with a wicked little Slytherin like me. Hermione… you don’t regret it, do you?”

  Hermione’s face was flushed, but in answer, she leaned forward and pced a soft kiss on Anne’s forehead. “Of course not,” she said gently, wrapping her arms around Anne’s waist.

  Anne giggled and adjusted her position so they were both more comfortable.

  The warm scent of their matching body wash mingled with the faint smell of grass. With Hermione in her arms, Anne felt completely at peace.

  “Goodnight, Hermione.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Soon, the two of them drifted into sleep. And just before she faded into dreams, Anne’s st thought was:

  No matter what I dream about tonight, it won’t be better than this.

  ??━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ? ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━??

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