Chapter 23: Granger is full of fighting spirit
Around three in the morning, the famous giant squid of Hogwarts was floating drowsily in the swaying black lake, preparing to take a nap in its favorite place.
It quickly found the semicircular crystal structure—the dome of the Slytherin common room. It happily spread most of its body on it, and soon became motionless.
Most of the creatures living in the Black Lake fell silent. Even the bioluminescent plankton retreated, hiding among the dense water plants at the bottom of the lake.
Perhaps Draco's private bedroom was an exception - the crystal window still had a rare dim candlelight flickering in it.
"Then, the centaur named Firenze came. He was guarding Harry Potter and the little girl named Hermione. I guess he was protecting them." Dobby opened his round eyes wide and gestured to his little master with his hands and feet.
"Tell me something I don't know." Draco said impatiently. He got up lazily from a dark green leather chair with snake pattern and paced on the carpet.
"Big Hagrid came with a boy named Neville and the timid dog. Later, many professors came - Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Dumbledore. They took the motionless Quirrell away and temporarily placed him in the dungeon of Hogwarts." Dobby said with unsatisfied emotion, "Great little master! Wonderful spell!"
"You weren't discovered?" Draco asked uncertainly.
"Dobby stayed away when the professors came!" the elf squeaked.
"Good. Where's Potter?" Draco yawned.
"Professor McGonagall sent him to the school hospital! The great Harry Potter was willing to walk to the school hospital by himself, refusing the professors to use the levitation spell, and also refusing Hagrid to carry him there! He was obviously in so much pain, but he was so strong!" The elf said with tears in his eyes.
Draco shook his head and continued, "Where's Hermione?"
"She? That friendly little girl? She accompanied Hagrid to bury the dead unicorn and then returned to the Gryffindor common room. What a great girl! She said 'thank you' to Dobby even though she knew he was a house-elf!" Dobby said happily.
"Well done, Dobby," Draco said gratified. "No mistakes."
"So, next—" Draco had just started when Dobby shouted fiercely, "No! Dobby hasn't spent all his money yet! Dobby doesn't want so many rewards!!"
"How about giving you a vacation? You've had nothing to do lately." Draco rubbed his temple and waved his hand lazily, "Visit old friends and see what they're doing. Have a vacation or something."
"I don't—" Dobby argued pathetically.
"Those are my orders," Draco said, yawning impatiently.
"Oh! Noble, great little master! You are so generous to Dobby!" With a loud bang, Dobby, with tears in his eyes, suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Draco finally fell asleep contentedly and had a good night's sleep.
After spending nearly a year exploring, calculating, and planning, I finally reaped the rewards tonight.
The cold chains around his heart finally loosened a little, making it less suffocating.
Now that the Dark Lord's soul was in Dumbledore's hands, the mission was half successful. Dumbledore was very powerful and would definitely be able to restrain the Dark Lord. Next, he would find out the secret of the crown and nip the danger in the bud. Then he could put aside those terrible memories of his past life and become a carefree young master of the Malfoy family again.
The next morning, Draco Malfoy stood in front of the dressing mirror, looking at the ambitious boy, and finally revealed a faint smile.
He seemed to be about to touch the door to freedom.
As long as he tried harder, he could pry open Ms. Grey's mouth.
Try harder, Draco thought, sitting at the Slytherin table, staring at the brown-haired girl with an unfathomable expression.
"Oh... come and look at Gryffindor's gem hourglass! Is there something wrong? How could so much be added overnight?" Pansy Parkinson shouted in the hallway.
"That's what Professor Dumbledore added for us!" Longbottom shouted from the other end of the hall, his voice thick with pride. "Last night, in the Forbidden Forest, we captured Professor Quirrell!"
"Professor Dumbledore?" "What do you mean Professor Quirrell was captured?" "Forbidden Forest? You went to the Forbidden Forest?" The students gathered around him and asked questions to the round-faced boy, trying to get some clues.
Draco walked out of the Great Hall and glanced at the round-faced boy surrounded by the crowd. He was gesturing happily, "Professor Quirrell hurt a unicorn. We were looking for it when we went to the Forbidden Forest for detention service... and then Hermione caught him red-handed!"
"What did you and Potter do? How could you let a little girl steal the limelight? At first I thought it was you two who added the 50 points!" said a senior Gryffindor boy in disbelief.
"McLaggen, don't say that! Harry and Neville certainly helped too!" said Weasley on the side, "They each added 20 points!"
"You speak as if you saw it with your own eyes!" The boy named McLaggen curled his lips at Weasley, turned his head and ordered, "Longbottom, tell me more, how did you find out? How did you catch him?"
"Harry and Hermione were in a group. Hagrid and I were in a group. We saw the signal halfway and went over there." A confused look appeared on Longbottom's face. "I can't say what happened at first. Anyway, Professor Quirrell was caught in the end."
"And how do you know for sure it was that girl who captured Quirrell?" McLaggen asked scornfully.
"That centaur said so!" Longbottom's round face flushed red.
"Centaurs?" two Gryffindor girls asked in surprise.
"Yes, Lavender, Parvati, I think, he is a centaur. There are many centaurs in the Forbidden Forest." Longbottom said with a little lack of confidence.
"You're getting more and more outrageous! Unicorns? Centaurs?" Pansy looked at him suspiciously, her eyes sharp as she asked, "Longbottom, you sniveling coward, what can you possibly accomplish? You're not making this up, are you?"
Over the next few days, rumors spread like wildfire. Hogwarts students were eager to discuss the matter, with many different theories circulating. Everyone tried to guess what role these Gryffindor students had played that night in the Forbidden Forest, and how they had earned so many extra points.
However, the parties involved seemed very low-key, and the students did not even have the opportunity to question them.
Hermione Granger only appeared during class. When the bell rang, she would retreat to the library. Except for a certain Slytherin boy, not even Merlin knew where she was studying.
"I had to hide. Professor Dumbledore asked Harry and me to keep it a secret," she told Draco, flipping through a large book in his private quarters. "He said some of the news might cause panic among the students."
Harry Potter was lying in the school hospital, closed to the public. Madam Pomfrey always stood at the door of the school hospital with her hands on her hips, turning away those enthusiastic visitors.
Only Neville Longbottom was easier to catch. He was never very clever and would answer whatever was asked. However, he himself was confused about what happened that night and could not explain anything new except repeating the few words he had said in the hallway.
In fact, because of his usual timid appearance and poor memory, students always think that his words cannot be used as real evidence and their authenticity is inevitably discounted.
"Today, some Hufflepuff students, based on that idiot Longbottom's nonsense, made up new rumors!" Pansy Parkinson wrinkled her nose in disgust and said to Blaise Zabini, who was playing wizard chess in the Slytherin common room. "Some say that Granger tied up Professor Quirrell and handed him to the centaurs that night in exchange for a unicorn; some say that Potter defeated twelve centaurs with his bare hands, which is why he was lying in the hospital wing for several days; and still others say that Longbottom and Hagrid were looking for unicorns in the Forbidden Forest when they encountered Professor Quirrell dating a centaur and caught them red-handed!"
Brace, a tall boy with prominent cheekbones, dark skin, and narrow, slightly slanted brown eyes, shifted his elephant and said dryly, "It's clearly getting more and more exaggerated—they've turned this into a form of entertainment, haven't they? A competition to see who has the more vivid imagination?"
"Who told the real boss not to speak out?" Pansy shrugged, picked up her newly received "Wizard Weekly" and flipped through it casually.
"By the way, Draco, aren't you friends with Granger?" After a moment, she suddenly looked up from behind Witch Weekly, looked at Draco playing wizard chess across from Blaise, and said excitedly, "Isn't she your class partner? And she often says hello to you?"
"That's right." Draco moved his "Queen" and said lightly.
"Then why don't you ask her? During the Transfiguration class?" Pansy asked relentlessly.
"Don't make it difficult for him. Let him take the initiative to talk to a Muggle-born? Besides, he doesn't talk much." Blaise's face showed a look of arrogance.
"It has nothing to do with being a Muggle. I don't think it's a good idea to gossip in Professor McGonagall's class," Draco said. He rarely said a long sentence, which made Blaise and Pansy look at each other with a surprised expression.
Draco ignored their skeptical looks. He continued to move his "queen" around the chessboard, revealing the "king" behind him, and said happily, "Checkmate!"
Blaise snorted regretfully and looked at his wizard chess piece in dejection as it surrendered.
"In short, the school can't sit idly by and watch this nonsense." Pansy flipped through the magazine and said casually, "Someone has to come out and explain this."
Draco frowned slightly.
Pansy was right. Rumors were spreading like wildfire, and the scores were added unclearly. A reasonable explanation was necessary.
That night, faced with the outrageous rumors that were spreading like wildfire, Professor Dumbledore had to come out at dinner to refute them and set the record straight: Hermione Granger was awarded 50 points for discovering Quirrell who had harmed the unicorn; Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were each awarded 20 points for bravely facing and running towards danger instead of abandoning their friends and running away.
Dumbledore didn't reveal the full truth. Draco knew that both the secret on the back of Quirrell's head and the fact that "Potter's scar hurt" were too sensitive. Revealing only half the information would explain the sudden increase in Gryffindor's points without being too dangerous—the Death Eaters probably wouldn't smell anything.
Dumbledore had said very little about it in his previous life. Draco knew what was happening behind Quirrell's head because his father, Lucius, had told him—in the summer after his fourth year—shortly after the Dark Lord's resurrection.
However, the old man was really biased. Potter didn't do anything at all, just rolling on the ground and having a headache! As for Longbottom, he wasn't even there at the time.
Every time Draco passed by the huge scoring hourglass and saw the sudden increase in the number of rubies inside, he couldn't help but complain in his heart.
But, let him be! Since the Dark Lord was successfully imprisoned by Dumbledore, Draco decided to magnanimously let Potter and Longbottom go.
Just based on Hermione's wonderful petrification spell, it would not be an exaggeration to give her a hundred points.
He knew she was not without fear. She collapsed to the ground afterwards.
But at that time, she withstood the pressure and did a great job.
A 12-year-old little witch could accomplish such a feat! Even with fear in her heart, the wand she cast the spell was steady, without a single shake.
How many people could possess this kind of mental strength? Draco inexplicably felt a sense of pride.
All in all, no one can ignore the 50 points Hermione added to Gryffindor. She finally overcame the ridicule and regained the friendly smiles of her classmates in the college.
She was back to sitting in the front row of every class, actively answering questions—acting just like the smug know-it-all she always was.
This was a relief to Draco. He was used to her flamboyant energy, downcast, timid, and evasive ways, which was nothing like Hermione Granger.
Since she has talent, she should be recognized and seen, not buried. His indifferent gray eyes were motionless as he looked at the back of the girl who was jumping up and down and raising her hand in front of Professor Binns, thinking so in his heart.
Next comes the busy days of reviewing lessons.
Draco spent most of his time tutoring the two idiots Goyle and Crabbe.
For them, the entire academic year's course content is more of a preview than a review.
"Goyle, there's still a rat's tail on your cup." Draco said with a smile, "Focus a little and have some faith, okay?"
At this moment, he was in an empty classroom, preparing to help Goyle practice the Transfiguration spell.
Suddenly, Hermione's fluffy little head popped out from the doorway and she waved to him quietly.
"What's the matter?" He walked over and glanced at her casually, "Hogwarts heroine, who has offended you again?"
Hermione pursed her lips and said nothing. She pulled his sleeve straight ahead, pulling him into an empty corridor before stopping, letting go of him, and looking at him with scrutiny.
Draco Malfoy! The boy who tried to stay out of it!
Look at him, looking at her with such a relaxed and innocent look, as if he had never experienced that scene in the Forbidden Forest. Hermione thought, who could have imagined how big a thing he had done?
"I want to know, why? I mean, why do you know there is a human face on the back of Quirrell's head?" She raised her head and looked at him, puzzled.
That night in the Forbidden Forest, so many strange things happened that she was exhausted and slow to react that she didn't notice anything unusual immediately. After a few days, she gradually got over the shock, her life returned to order, rationality and logic returned to her mind, and she felt that something was wrong.
One night, as she stared at the burgundy hangings on her four-poster bed, trying to fall asleep, her mind kept flashing back to Draco's platinum hair.
At first she just thought that he had held her hand in the dark, which made her feel safe.
Later, his sudden departure left her feeling somewhat lost and bewildered.
As she thought about him, she suddenly realized something more important: his every move when facing Quirrell was so perfect, and his predictions of certain moments were so accurate that it was suspicious.
After all, her agreement to take Draco to the Forbidden Forest secretly did not mean that she completely believed that Quirrell would show up. It was just a half-belief and half-doubt cooperation.
But what he predicted actually happened exactly, which is surprising and even terrifying when you think about it.
"And the spell you used, I've never heard of it before. What is it used for?" she asked pointedly.
"I thought you would say 'thank you' to me for helping you deal with Quirrell and protecting Harry's safety." Draco interrupted her.
"Okay, thank you." The brown eyes were still staring at him, as if he was some potion material that needed to be dissected.
This was not an attitude of "thank you" - she was suspicious of him.
Draco almost forgot that Hermione Granger was not only smart, but also an overly smart girl. Sometimes, she was so smart that it left people with no way out.
"Can't you just let it go without asking any questions?" Draco sighed and asked distractedly.
"I can't. Draco, you cast a spell I've never heard of and killed Voldemort." The inquiry in Hermione's brown eyes was so obvious that she stirred Draco's gray eyes like a potion stirring stick.
"Don't say that name!" Draco said angrily.
"That's not important at all! You defeated him, but you don't dare to call him by his name? That's ridiculous!" Hermione said disapprovingly, "When did you become a coward? Draco Malfoy has never been a coward in my eyes."
"You don't understand..." Draco frowned. Hermione was afraid she had misunderstood him.
He's always been a coward. He's been a coward for a long time.
Draco Malfoy has never been known to be brave.
He withheld his temper and shied away. He was hesitant.
He only dared to move carefully in the dark, rather than attack directly in the sun.
"You left me alone in the Forbidden Forest! I was scared! Didn't you say you would always be with me? Inseparable?" Hermione felt angry when she thought about it, and her voice became a little sharp.
"Don't be silly! Although I was invisible, I didn't leave until Hagrid showed up! And I left Dobby with you... If there is any danger, Dobby will take you away." Draco said expressionlessly.
"Is he that powerful?" Hermione said in surprise, forgetting that she was still angry.
"Dobby's magical power is not weak. He is better at concealment magic than I am." Draco explained patiently, "Professor Dumbledore can see through the invisibility cloak. Am I staying there, expecting to be discovered?"
Hermione was dumbfounded. "Professor Dumbledore can actually see through the invisibility cloak? How can he be so amazing?"
"There's so much you don't know!" Draco sighed, a hint of impatience in his tone.
The sentiment seemed to sting Hermione.
"Then why didn't you tell me earlier? Why did you have to be forced to tell me the truth? Draco, sometimes I feel that you don't trust me at all, that's why you always hide things!" She suddenly felt aggrieved, and then she was furious. "Everyone thinks that it was my petrification curse that defeated him, but I know in my heart it's not that simple! I even lied to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall on your behalf! I think I deserve an explanation!"
"Okay, I surrender!" Draco looked at her angry face and felt her anger.
He raised his hands lazily. "I'll explain it to you someday, but not now. Not yet. I can promise you that if there's a question I can answer, I'll tell you."
Isn't this still the same as him not saying anything? Hermione pouted, feeling frustrated by his obvious rejection.
She stared at him with round eyes, like a kitten lying in front of a glass tank waiting for an opportunity to catch a goldfish. Her expression was alert and sharp, ready to stretch out her claws at him at any time. "Why didn't you tell me in advance? You didn't even tell me that there was a scar on the back of Quirrell's head-"
She took one look at Draco's tense expression and decided to respect him for once, "You-Know-Who's on the back of his head! Why didn't you tell me?"
"This is just a reasonable guess of mine. A Malfoy never jumps to conclusions before he is sure of his guess." Draco said slowly.
"And Dobby, where did he come from?" Hermione asked another question.
"Oh, that's our house-elf. Didn't you memorize all the information about the elf rebellion?" Draco said with a sly smile, "If there's a chance, I'll let you see its true appearance. You might like it."
Although he did not agree with her aesthetic taste, he still remembered it clearly - in his previous life, for a while, she seemed particularly fond of fighting for the freedom of house-elves.
She always seemed to be willing to spend a lot of time on some meaningless things, such as helping the disadvantaged groups or species with no status.
Quite an odd habit, Draco thought.
"Then how did you know that Quirrell would appear in the Forbidden Forest that day? Is this another reasonable guess of yours?" Hermione asked relentlessly, determined not to look at the smile on the corner of his mouth, so as not to let her stern face fall.
"You could say that," Draco said, and saw Hermione's red lips purse tightly at his words.
"Listen, I mean no harm to you or Potter, you have to remember that." He said seriously, looking directly at her, hoping to convey the sincerity in his eyes.
"I know," she whispered, her temper subsiding as she was suddenly captivated by his watery gray eyes. "I know you mean no harm."
The boy smiled. A smile flickered in his eyes.
This rare smile is enough to calm the heart of a girl who is burning with anger.
It was enough to bring a strange little blush to Hermione's face.
At this moment, over her fluffy brown hair, Draco saw Goyle and Crabbe chattering at the end of the corridor, looking this way, ready to come over to see what was going on.
The corridor is not a good place to chat.
It is best if these secrets only exist between the two of them. If more people know about them, it will do more harm than good.
So, he gently pushed Hermione, who was about to continue complaining, and said, "Come on, go on, enjoy the feeling of being surrounded and welcomed by your Gryffindor classmates!"
"That's not important at all," Hermione said, blushing. "I'd rather be with friends who stick with me than with those snobs..."
She always remembered that when she was being treated maliciously, only the seemingly indifferent Draco showed kindness to her.
He wasn't even a Gryffindor, but the Slytherin who was said to be the most hostile to Gryffindor.
But this Slytherin boy was not sarcastic like the others.
He comforted her, encouraged her and made her happy.
When she was isolated and miserable, he found her by the Black Lake, just like he had found her by the bookshelf countless times.
She discovered that he was not cold at all, and that coldness was just a disguise.
There is a gentleness in his nature, a precious, rare, and genuine gentleness.
He opened his private study space to her, allowing her to read in peace without having to worry about the cold stares or sarcasm from others in the library a while ago, or the fiery curiosity that the students had recently given her.
Even though some of his actions were very suspicious, she didn't think he was a bad boy.
Draco just likes mystery, that's all.
And she just likes solving puzzles, and wants to see what good things are hidden behind the mystery - just like there is a learning space hidden behind the ruins, that's all.
"I want to know more—" she said quickly, before he could push her away.
"Then go review... continue to memorize your story about the elf rebellion, although I don't think we'll be tested on it... if you rank first in the grade, I'll consider answering more of your questions." Draco continued to push her and said perfunctorily.
"It's a deal!" This time, Hermione finally accepted his proposal.
Like a little lion cub full of fighting spirit, she walked away with her head held high, proudly, confidently and unyieldingly.
She was eager to try and couldn't wait to get the best score in the exam and crush the cunning, dishonest and scheming Draco Malfoy under her feet.
Then, she would pry open his cold and hard shell, dig out his hidden secrets and good things that he didn't show to others easily, bit by bit, until nothing was left.