Chapter 81: The Guide to Hogsmeade
Draco Malfoy seemed in good spirits when he appeared at the door of Honeydukes Candy Shop.
As he walked in, he spotted the man with the messy brown hair.
Hermione Granger.
She stood alone in front of a shelf in the corner of the candy store, studying a plate of suspiciously bloody lollipops, her expression looking a little hesitant.
"Oh, I guess they won't like it. It's for vampires." Draco walked over and said slowly.
She turned and saw him, and the smile lines under her eyes immediately appeared, no longer the reserved demeanor she had in front of the Hogwarts school gate. "Draco! Thank God you're finally here. I'm really a little dazzled."
The magical road that took an hour to walk from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade changed Hermione Granger's attitude.
Originally, that road should be long. If you walk silently, stumbling along the muddy road, wondering when you will reach that distant, unfamiliar, purely wizard village that exists only in rumors, you will feel that this silent road filled with morning mist seems endless.
If someone on the road keeps talking in a casual tone about the issues that interest you: the tricks for mixing shrinking potions and alternative methods to neutralize the toxicity of potions, or the magical abilities of bird snakes, shapeshifting lizards, and Swedish short-nosed dragons, or discussing whether Professor Trelawney, whom students admire, is a fraud seeking fame... you will certainly feel that the road is unusually short.
"I still think Lavender is making too much of a fuss about the rabbit." She tugged at his sleeve as if walking on thin ice, complaining as they walked on the foggy road. "Although Professor Trelawney said that 'the thing she feared would happen on October 16th,' there are several doubts here. First, she only received the news on that day, which doesn't mean the rabbit died on that day. Second, her fear that the rabbit would die is nonsense. It was a baby rabbit, not an old rabbit. Moreover, even if she was afraid of the rabbit's death, she never expected it to be killed by a fox..."
"I see what you mean," he said, leading her, still in high spirits, around a puddle. "From the perspectives of time, cause, and manner of death, it's all very inaccurate."
"Do you think so too?" She just looked up at him and let him lead her away, not noticing the puddle.
"Hmm." His expression froze for a moment, and he calmly led her away from a passing Thestral. He agreed, "Your analysis is quite rational. It seems to me that your roommate is a bit paranoid, and he's trying to tie it into the prophecy."
"That's right." She said with a hint of joy, completely unaware that she had just brushed past a black winged Pegasus and almost stepped on its long black tail. "Few people think so. They all think I'm unlovable or something."
"You have no love?" Draco paused, nearly choking on his own saliva. "Who said that? Are you blind? I don't think there's anyone in Hogwarts who is more loving than you."
Look at how helpful she is every day! She's almost taking care of all the poor people in Hogwarts!
"Ron said that to me. He felt sorry for Lavender and said I didn't take other people's pets seriously," Hermione said, a little hesitantly.
In fact, Ron's exact words were:
"You and Draco are exactly the same, neither of you taking other people's pets seriously! You really are a perfect match—" He took a breath, thought for a moment, and added a few words, "—study partners!"
"Why is Ron breathing so hard?" Hermione thought with some embarrassment, tightening her grip on the boy's sleeve.
"Don't listen to him! He was furious the last time I sent his rat to Azkaban. You can't argue with a pet lover like that." He consoled her, his grey eyes glancing at her gently, seemingly sweeping away the dust of sentimentality that had settled on her heart. "The masses are blind, and truth often lies in the hands of a minority. Isn't that right, a minority?"
Her heart felt comfortable with his eyes and words, and she regained her previous sense of rationality and order.
Then she became happy again, and the inexplicable feeling of shame and anger that had risen up in her heart temporarily subsided.
She began to tug at his sleeve again, peppering him with questions. "What exactly is that alternative solution to neutralizing toxic substances you just mentioned?"
"Oh, about that." Draco seemed to have thought of something funny, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "Regardless of the effectiveness of the shrinking potion, from the perspective of toxicity alone, just stuff a fecal stone into your mouth and it will be fine."
Hermione's eyes widened, and she was speechless for a long time.
"That's right." She suddenly realized, "It is indeed so."
"Oh, by the way, why were you a little nervous earlier?" Draco finally couldn't help but ask when they were about to reach the gate of Hogsmeade village.
"I'm not." Hermione suddenly denied hurriedly, "When did I get nervous?"
He said nothing, but raised his eyebrows at her.
"Well, maybe a little," she said, feeling guilty, choosing her words carefully, hiding her nervousness towards him and only daring to show him the surface of her emotions. "I've never been to Hogsmeade. I don't know where to go -"
"What are you afraid of? I'll be your guide," he said calmly. "I won't let you get lost."
"Really?" She suddenly became cheerful. "I thought you didn't like to join in the fun, didn't like to go shopping—"
During the summer vacation, every time I took him to walk around the busy Muggle streets, he would be in a dilemma for a while.
"I don't like it, but I can make an exception today. We're here—" Draco stopped, smiled slightly, and said to the surprised girl, "Welcome to the only purely wizarding village in the UK."
Hermione finally saw the legendary cast iron gate of Hogsmeade village.
Above the door hung the Hogsmeade village sign, a hollowed-out wolf-like shape; behind the door was a winding cobblestone road, with rows of small Gothic houses with gray walls and white roofs crowded together on both sides of the road, and colorful lights flashed in the windows to attract overly excited little customers to come in and take a look.
The students were holding all kinds of strange candies and prank products in their hands. They walked in groups of three or five, coming out of one store and rushing into the next.
"Wow, the architectural style here is quite different from Diagon Alley." Hermione looked at the pointed roofs, slender chimneys and stepped gables with interest.
"That's right. In terms of the general structure of the commercial center, it's similar to Diagon Alley, but the architectural style is unique. I see you've noticed the iconic features of Scotland, which are different from the architectural styles of England." He said casually, "Actually, the architecture here is also quite different from where I live."
"Where are you from?" she asked curiously. "I remember you have a place in London."
"Oh, it's just a place to stay." Draco said smugly, "My ancestral home is in Wiltshire. It's a manor. If you go and see it, it -"
He glanced at her face, which was as delicate as a rose petal, and suddenly stopped talking.
In her previous life, she had been to Malfoy Manor once. In his house, she was tormented by blades, cursed, and treated cruelly by Bellacrite.
A vibrant English rose almost withered, broke and turned into dust at Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire.
"What's wrong with it?" she asked, with a glimmer of innocence in her clear pupils.
"Nothing," Draco said, a look of disappointment in his eyes. "Nothing worth mentioning. Just a place to live."
Can this beautiful and peaceful place at this moment escape its fate and no longer be stained by filth?
At this moment, she has no knowledge of the world in her eyes. Can she continue to be the same as before and no longer be broken and desperate?
"After all, it's your home." Hermione, seeing his suddenly dejected look, tried to comfort him self-righteously. "Some people might complain that old houses aren't modern enough, that maintaining the facilities takes effort, and that new houses aren't as worry-free. But the word 'ancestral home' sounds very historical, so I imagine it must be very beautiful."
Since it's an ancestral property, Draco's house must be very old and need constant repairs. A Muggle friend of my parents' is like that; he often has trouble renovating his ancestral home.
Is it the same for Draco's family? Hermione looked at him quietly, thinking: Look at him, he becomes listless when the ancestral home is mentioned - he must have put a lot of effort into it.
"Maybe." Draco forced a smile at her and abruptly ended the previous topic. "Hermione, I have to go see Harry's godfather first. Is there any place in particular you want to go? I can take you there first."
"Oh, I want to go check out Honeydukes' candy first," Hermione said hastily.
She had to buy some candy for Harry and the others to take back to comfort their hearts which had been hit so hard by Professor Snape.
Draco quickly brought her into Honeydukes, placed her in front of the shelf with over 700 flavors of Beebe's Every Flavour Beans, and left in a hurry.
"Take a walk around and take a look," he told her before leaving. "There are so many candies to choose from, take your time. I'll be back soon."
Hermione nodded in agreement. She only knew he was going to bring a few words to Harry, but she had no idea he would be gone for so long.
She memorized all the flavors of Bibi Every Flavour Beans, passed by a whole shelf of Chocolate Frogs, and stared at a lollipop quill for a while. She wandered aimlessly between the colorful shelves, no longer caring what she saw.
She began to worry about him.
She was thinking about him and why he hadn't come back yet. The more time passed, the more she thought about it, and she had no motivation to choose the candy.
She was lost in the anticipation in her heart and got lost in the gaps between the shelves.
Then his voice finally appeared and freed her soul that was locked for no reason.
"Oh, I guess they won't like it, it's for vampires," he drawled - someone who didn't know him well would probably just hear a hint of arrogance - but Hermione heard the tone of "he's in a good mood", at least in a better mood than when he left the shop.
She didn't know why she made this judgment, but she was very sure of it.
She turned her head and found a faint smile on his face - just as she had guessed.
So she was content, "Draco! Thank God you're finally here. I was really a little dazzled."
"It's okay, I'll show you what's in the store first, then you can decide." Draco suggested to her.
They walked toward the center of the candy store, looking at the best-selling items.
At this moment, Honeydukes had more and more customers. Hogwarts students only accounted for a part of them, and there were also many ordinary wizards who came here to shop.
Customers were shoulder to shoulder, pausing in front of the various shelves to exclaim in amazement. They pushed and shoved, making a commotion that packed the candy store like a can of sardines.
However, Hermione was oblivious to the crowd and didn't feel overcrowded at all - the boy had her half-held in his arms, protecting her securely.
Even in such a cramped environment, he still maintained a certain gentlemanly demeanor that might have been left over from the Middle Ages. He put his arm around her, but his arm didn't touch hers, keeping a subtle distance from her body, which gave her a strange and reassuring feeling.
At this moment, the clamor of the crowd drowned out the sound of her chaotic heartbeat. She was dazed and under his protection, the dazzling array of candies in her eyes overshadowed the tension in her heart, and even reaped a hint of inexplicably sweet happiness.
Like an experienced guide, he led her across rows of shelves, allowing her to admire the delicious and juicy candies amidst the bustling crowd. He whispered in her ear the special features of the candies, his gentle voice melting her ears:
Hundreds of Peppa Pig Every Flavour Beans and various chocolate products, lollipop quills, mint toad candies, fizzy bees, sherbet balls, Blowing Super Bubble Gum, licorice wands, jelly slugs, crispy feather candies, pepper urchins, furry mints, Fudge Flies, sour pops, molasses toffee...
"How is it?" After walking around, Draco asked her loudly amid the noisy background.
"Too many! I can't pick one! The candies you mentioned are all very interesting, but I haven't fully understood them yet! The only thing that is certain is that I may never want to eat fizzy honey candy..." Hermione fell into an anxious situation of difficulty in making a choice.
She turned around eagerly and asked him. Amidst the noisy crowd, she had to get close to his ear and even amplify her voice, "Draco, tell me, what candies do boys like?"
"Are you going to buy it for Harry and the others?" Draco suddenly realized, leaned closer to her and asked loudly.
At this moment, more people poured into the candy store, and a new wave of congestion occurred. Caught off guard, several excited students rushed over like Riem bulls, crushing Draco's folded arms. Like dominoes, the girl in his arms also pressed against him.
Hermione exclaimed, and under the ruthless influence of external force, hugged him tightly.
In an instant, my heart twisted into a ball like a shriveled fig.
Oh my God! Her worst fear had happened!
Her stomach cramped instantly, her belly button tightened. Her heartbeat suddenly stopped, then suddenly intensified, racing to a frequency she couldn't comprehend.
She might have had a breakout of some kind of "heartbeat syndrome."
She's finished.
The distance she had carefully maintained from him over the past month was now completely null and void.
The pretentious handshake, the pulling of her sleeves through her clothes, his arms around her instead of touching her...all these deliberate efforts were completely declared invalid.
The voices around them suddenly stopped, and only their embrace remained.
A refreshing scent wafted from his neck, so good it made her head spin and her soul tighten.
Suddenly, she seemed to understand how Crookshanks felt when he sniffed catnip.
"Oh, sorry." Hermione leaned her chin on his shoulder and spoke into his ear, not daring to look up at his face.
She couldn't even look up; she was pinned firmly in his arms by the crowded crowd.
She felt a warm sensation on her back. It was his hand. He seemed to be slowly clenching his flat hand into a fist. This made her feel flustered and lost, and her body trembled slightly.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't thoughtful enough," Draco said, somewhat dumbfounded by the situation.
His ears felt a little hot from her words, and his cheeks felt a little burned from being swept by her thick hair.
Anyone who is hugged tightly by a sweet-smelling little girl - even by accident - will have his heart beating abnormally for a second or two.
Besides, she was none other than Hermione Granger. She subconsciously put her arms around his waist, her cheek pressed against his shoulder and ear, as if she had complete and unconditional trust in him.
Of course he knew it was just an illusion - she probably didn't want to hug him, nor did she completely trust him.
He didn't ignore her recent attempts to distance herself from him.
She seemed to be gradually becoming wary of him, just like in her previous life. He could sense that sometimes, when he got closer to her, her expression would become uncomfortable and her body would begin to stiffen.
They shouldn't have gone beyond a safe distance. He shouldn't have been greedy and thought too much.
It's enough that she's not hurt, isn't it? As long as she keeps smiling, that's enough.
He was just a study partner she occasionally thought of, a Slytherin friend she could talk to. That was all.
She didn't like him. He couldn't take advantage of someone's misfortune.
Draco clenched his fists, resisting the urge to hug her tightly, and whispered to her, "It's getting crowded here, let's go to a quieter corner..."
"That's right." She said in his arms with a trembling voice, "Let's do it this way."
Draco continued to hold Hermione and led her away from the crowded area.
They were both busy. He was busy using his back and elbows to carve a path through the frantic crowd of customers; she was busy burying her increasingly red face in his shoulders and neck, her fingers clenching the fabric of his back, her heartbeats increasingly rapid, not daring to look at the people around her, just letting him lead her away.
Only when they returned to the shelf of bloody lollipops did they have space to loosen up and no longer have to stick so tightly together.
"You're safe now." Draco let go of the sweet scent with a sense of loss. He didn't dare to look at her carefully, for fear of seeing any distant expression that would make his heart ache.
"Yeah." Hermione lowered her head, hiding her flushed cheeks in her thick hair. She didn't dare look up at him, for fear that he would trigger more abnormal heartbeat symptoms.
"Hermione," he said, looking back at the noisy customers, his tone tinged with irritation, "Since you don't have any ideas about the candy, why don't you let me decide?"
"Okay." She nodded blankly, blinking awkwardly, staring at the pile of lollipops in a daze.
"Wait for me here." After he said that, he resolutely re-entered the crowd, regardless of whether he hated the crowds, noise and chaos.
Draco decided to make a quick decision.
He shoved aside several hesitant students at the counter, slapped a pile of coins in front of the burly, balding man, and said loudly, "Mr. Frum, give me some of the best-selling candies! Less of the less popular ones... and some of them are packaged separately..."
By the color of his hair, Mr. Froome had recognized Draco, the wealthy regular who often patronized his business through mail order. He praised the Malfoy's decisiveness and quickly packed for him. In a short while, he stuffed a pile of colorful candies into Draco's hands.
Hermione was waiting obediently in the corner for the boy.
His hair was very conspicuous, and she could clearly see him squeeze to the front of the counter in a few seconds. Then, she watched him force his way through the crowd, squeeze out, and come back to her.
"Take out the beaded bag," he said, helping her stuff the large bag of candy into her beaded bag. "These are for Harry and his friends." Then, he grabbed a bag of Fluffy Teeth mints and a bag of assorted lollipop quills and stuffed them into her hands. "These are yours."
"How did you know I wanted—" she asked in surprise.
"You looked at it several times," he said calmly, "I guess you would be interested."
Hermione was at a loss for words. He had thought of everything!
How could he do everything so perfectly? How could he even notice if she looked at something a few times too long?
There was probably no boy in the world who was more caring than him. How could she have thought he was cold before? He was clearly gentle and focused. He was solely focused on taking care of her, not anyone else.
This strange thought made Hermione feel strangely happy. She finally dared to look up at him. Her face flushed slightly, and her brown eyes became bright. "Thank you, Draco."
Draco glanced at her—making sure she didn't look uncomfortable at the moment—and finally pulled out a fairly satisfied smile from the corner of his mouth, "Come on, let's go shopping somewhere else."
"Where are you going?" She asked with some curiosity in her tone.
"Lunch." He took out his pocket watch, checked the time, and waved it in front of her, kindly reminding her, "It's almost noon, and all the hungry students will want to find a place to fill their stomachs. If you still want to get a seat, you'll have to hurry."
"Oh, let's go!" Hermione quickly packed up the candies, carefully pinched his sleeve, and followed him back to the cobblestone road.
The Three Broomsticks were already within sight. When they walked in, the customers had already begun to increase, and they only found a small table in the corner that was relatively clean.
"What would you like to drink?" After ordering the main course, he handed her the drink menu on the table.
Hermione held the drink menu in her hand, playing with it absentmindedly, her eyes lingering on the "Butterbeer" for a long time.
She had heard it was amazing and was eager to have a drink, but she was still recovering from her heartbeat syndrome and didn't think it was a good idea to drink beer when she was alone with this boy.
"Maybe, a glass of sparkling water." She glanced longingly at the diagram of the butterbeer on the drinks menu and secretly decided that next time she came with Harry and the others, she must buy a glass to try.
Draco raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Why would Hermione Granger choose something bland instead of Butterbeer? Wasn't that her favorite drink in her past life?
Every time he met her at the Three Broomsticks, he would see her drinking butterbeer with a mouth full of foam.
"Are you sure?" Draco confirmed again, earning her a distracted "hmm".
He looked up at her and found her eyes still fixed on the picture of Butterbeer. There was something endearing about the way she wanted to drink it but didn't dare. Her thoughts were as clear as an open book.
He stifled a laugh and slowly rose to the counter to place his order. A moment later, Madam Rosmerta arrived with a tray carrying their lunch, a glass of sparkling water, and a frothy butterbeer.
She casually set aside the clear glass of sparkling water, clearly more interested in his Butterbeer. Draco saw her pretending to study a map of Hogsmeade, her eyes glancing over the map at the glass.
"Would you like to try mine?" he suggested kindly. "You can give it a try."
"Is it okay?" Hermione asked in a low voice. She was attracted by the golden and translucent color of the beer and the dense and delicate foam, and felt a little excited.
"Okay," Draco said calmly, pushing the glass towards Hermione.
"Then I'll have a sip." She said solemnly, picked up his cup and took a sip delicately.
Then her eyes widened. "It tastes good."
Hermione was surprised to find that it tasted completely different from regular beer.
The bitterness of the beer is completely neutralized by the rich aroma of the butter, but its light aroma still suppresses the richness of the butter. No wonder they say that when you come to Hogsmeade, you must try the taste of butter beer.
"You can drink some more. It's okay, I don't feel thirsty now." Draco said to her lazily, with a smile in his eyes.
Hermione glanced at him and saw that he was unconcerned, only focused on his chips, so she took another small sip. The foam had just the right sweetness, and she loved it.
While savoring the sweetness, she heard Draco ask her, "Which shops are you interested in? I can introduce them to you in advance. We can't visit every store in Hogsmeade in just one day. We have to be targeted."
"So, what is Wenrenju for?" she asked, sliding her finger across the map.
"Oh, that's a feather pen shop. Their pheasant feather pens are quite famous, and they also have turkey feather pens..." He introduced it to her in the tone of an experienced person.
"I've also heard the legend of the Shrieking Shack. Is it really that weird?" She took another sip of the sweet wine and looked at him with curiosity.
"I can't guarantee that there is nothing there. It is said that some people have heard wolves howling..." he said cautiously.
By the time Draco finished briefly introducing the relatively famous shops, his mouth was already dry.
However, his glass of butterbeer was already empty - Hermione had completely drained it in a few sips.
"Like Butterbeer?" he asked, with a look of 'as expected' on his face.
"Oops! I'm sorry—" Hermione finally realized what was happening. She said shamefully, "I accidentally…"
She wasn't sure if she even liked Butterbeer, just as she wasn't sure if Draco's food was particularly good.
She only knew that she was too embarrassed to face him again. This guide who had tried so hard to introduce her to Hogsmeade not only had to endure the noisy atmosphere he disliked, but was also exploited so thoroughly by her that she even drank all his wine!
For Hermione, it was the first time in history that she drank someone else's food without any self-control.
"Oh! God, this is so embarrassing. I am so annoying." She covered her slightly red face and said, "I will buy you another drink——"
"No need to bother. If you don't mind, give me your sparkling water." Draco chuckled and made up an excuse, "I - I quite like sparkling water."
She is not annoying in this way, but rather seems straightforward and cute.
"Of course," she said hurriedly, pushing the cup towards him.
Draco smiled and took a sip to moisten his throat.
"Have you decided where to go?" He calmly changed the subject, not wanting to embarrass her any further.
"Well, Zuko, you can tell Harry and the others about it when you get back." She thought seriously for a while and finally said.
"Okay," he said easily, "I have no problem with that."
So they finished the rest of their fish and chips—Draco drank his sparkling water—and headed to Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop. As they neared the entrance, a Dementor suddenly emerged from the alleyway and approached them.
"Draco! Dementors!" Hermione was startled and forgot her reserve and grabbed his hand again.
"It's okay, it's okay," he said, holding her hand—quickly dragging her into the joke shop—his face also turning pale as he comforted her, "Those are Dementors responsible for patrolling Hogsmeade. They are under the control of the Ministry of Magic, and generally speaking, they won't deliberately attack wizards."
"But they're everywhere! And they're so dangerous. How could the Ministry of Magic do this?" Hermione whispered, absentmindedly watching the overly excited boys buying Stink Bombs, Burp Powder, and Screech Bugs at the counter, not realizing she was crossing her fingers with a boy.
"My father didn't approve of this either, but there was nothing he could do," Draco said gravely, holding out a bar of chocolate for her to break off and eat. "Cornelly Fudge, the Minister of Magic, and his staff insisted on doing this. They'd do anything to get Peter Pettigrew back."
"Yes, Peter Pettigrew." Hermione ate the chocolate without any taste, looked at him worriedly, and her heart suddenly felt heavy.
"So what? Anything you're interested in buying?" Draco asked her, wanting to let go of her hand—respecting the safe distance she was comfortable with—but feeling her hand had a mind of its own.
Hermione shook her head, still holding his hand. She held it tightly. Worry overwhelmed all other emotions at this moment.
She was worried that the boy in front of her might be being chased by a rat.
Peter Pettigrew is an adult wizard after all. He even has the ability to escape from Azkaban. How could he be an ordinary person?
She knew that Draco had caught him before, but looking closely, there was also a certain element of luck in the process - they happened to catch Peter Pettigrew when he was off guard.
Now that Peter Pettigrew was on his guard, Draco might not be able to catch him again. The rat was still extremely dangerous and might very well take revenge on him.
Draco had no idea what she was thinking. Her tightly held hand aroused a strange sense of joy in him, and this joy also led to a desire to share.
So he asked her mysteriously, "Want to see something different?"
"What's different?" His rare lively expression aroused her curiosity.
"A place you wouldn't expect." He chuckled, took her hand, and led her forward in twists and turns, avoiding the Dementors from a distance.
"Wait! This is the route to the Shrieking Shack, right?" Hermione hesitated.
"Yes, but it's also the gateway to a new world." Draco said proudly as he led her around the last corner, "The most popular shop in Hogsmeade!"
The next second, the words "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" flashed with colorful lights, suddenly bombarding Hermione's retina.
George and Fred had given the place a brand new look. The windows were decorated like a fireworks display. The sight of all sorts of spinning, twitching, flashing, leaping, and screaming merchandise was a feast for the eyes, attracting the passing students.
This store makes the surrounding shops pale in comparison.
"Is this - is this driven by George and Fred?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Yes," Draco said, a hint of pride hidden in his tone. "This shop just opened in Hogsmeade not long ago. I heard that it is very popular."
"Come in and take a look!" she said with interest, pulling him into the shop.
The shop was bustling, no less lively than Honeydukes. Fred stood behind the counter, looking around, completely overwhelmed. While packing a customer's instant skipping candy, he loudly introduced it to a fourth or fifth grader: "A telescope for hitting people? You need to bring some anti-inflammatory ointment..."
Hermione looked at the shelves, which were packed with cardboard boxes all the way to the ceiling.
Products such as fast-acting skipping candy, nosebleed nougat, and magic wands all have a place here.
There were also boxes of quills with words like "Auto-Ink," "Spell Check," and even "Quick Answer," as well as some odd-looking Muggle gadgets.
At this moment, George rushed over, patted Draco on the shoulder, and asked enthusiastically, "How is it? Isn't it good?"
"Very good." Draco nodded reservedly.
"That's incredible!" Hermione said enthusiastically, smiling at George.
George's eyes moved to their clasped hands and he smiled meaningfully at them.
Only then did Hermione realize that they had been holding hands ever since they encountered the Dementor!
"Ah, I'll go take a look over there." Like a frightened rabbit, she let go of her hand and walked towards the large display case next to it - where products such as the Daydream Spell were displayed.
"Don't run around and don't leave the store." Draco, with his hands empty, couldn't help but give her some extra advice.
"I know, I'm not a child!" Hermione blushed and said impatiently, moving closer to the cabinet, pretending that she didn't care about George's joking laughter beside her, what Draco said, or the look Draco cast on her.
"Rebellious phase?" George glanced at Hermione with interest, then looked at Draco. "Honestly, you shouldn't talk to girls like that. No one likes to be bossed around. You're a bit overprotective."
"You don't understand," Draco said, following George towards the counter. "She just had an encounter with the Dementors and she's a little scared. I think—"
"Oh, that's all right, Fred will take care of it," said George knowingly, and whispered in his brother's ear, "Fred, keep an eye on somebody's girl..."
"As you wish." Fred smiled wickedly and handed a product to the customer in front of him. He took the time to wink at Draco and said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets it all."
Draco always felt that the brothers' smiles were malicious. He glanced back at Hermione. She seemed very interested in the products and was studying something carefully. He shook his head, temporarily putting aside his worries. "Let's talk about the store."
"You have to come up with me and see! We finally finished the second floor! Dobby helped a lot! Many of these shelves were cleaned up by Dobby, and upstairs..." George led Draco up the stairs and showed him the tidy staff dormitory and the studio used for developing new products, which was filled with all kinds of strange and weird things.
Draco glanced around the somewhat cluttered studio. There were several long tables, one of which was piled with rusty daggers from the Black family home and crystal bottles filled with unknown liquids. Animal claws and coiled snake skins were hung on the wall. A cupboard over there held a large collection of dull, blackened silver boxes.
There were several licenses hanging on the wall. Draco looked at the seal of the Ministry of Magic's Funny Products Patent Office and asked George, "Have you completed the registration of the invention and the application for patent authorization for the funny products?"
"It's done. The approval process took quite a while." George curled his lips. "They're so inefficient. We had to go back and forth several times before they finally got it done for us."
"Didn't Mr. Weasley find out when we went to the Ministry of Magic?" Draco asked with interest.
"The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department is on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic, and the Funny Products Patent Office is part of the Department of Magical Games and Sports on the seventh floor. As long as you don't run into anyone you don't want to see in the elevator, there won't be any problems," George said lazily. "We usually wear disguises when we take the elevator."
Draco smiled approvingly. Walking to the corner, he curiously lifted the lid of a huge iron cage covered with black cloth and looked inside, only to find piles of unconscious vixens locked inside.
"Merlin, how much have you saved?" He put down the black cloth with disgust.
"Those fox spirits are pretty good... They can be used in the venom research of fast-acting skipping candy..." George said with a smile.
"All right," Draco shrugged, and cast his gaze over the boxes of wands and the pile of oddly shaped hats beside him, wisely refraining from touching them.
"We're working on a new trick wand, the kind that gets its user spanked..." George saw his interest and introduced it passionately, "and a hat that protects against evil spells, just for fun..."
"That's pretty good." Draco's tone finally turned a bit more positive. "Keep making that hat. It might be very popular."
In his past life, the Ministry of Magic had placed large orders for those curse-proof hats, so there was definitely some profit to be made, he thought pragmatically.
The store was packed with people, and Fred soon couldn't handle it anymore. He shouted upstairs, "George, come down quickly!"
"Then you take a look here by yourself. I have to go help." George smiled at Draco and went downstairs to sell goods.
It was no easy task to prepare Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It took them a full year to get the place up and running.
Draco didn't know how many days a week the Weasley twins buried themselves in their research at Wizard Wheezes, but judging by the studio—he guessed that the secret path to Hogsmeade must have been well-traveled by them by now.
They were currently only open on weekends. This was Draco's request; he didn't think the two of them needed to neglect their studies. During the week, the brothers would sometimes do some mail ordering or develop new products.
"Two people are still too few." Draco said softly to the coiled snake skin, "We need to hire some help."
The snake skin was silent, but the iron cage covered with black cloth began to flap its wings.
Faint lights were on in the nearby houses; it was getting late.
He walked slowly down the stairs and saw Hermione at a glance.
She looked like she was having a great time, with no trace of the Dementor's fright left on her face as she bent over the little balls of pink and purple fluff that rolled around in their cages, emitting shrill screams.
"That's a pygmy puff," Fred was introducing it to her in a friendly tone. "Miniature puffs. They just arrived today. You can touch them, they don't bite. I can give you two if you want."
"They're so cute." Hermione touched them excitedly, then said disappointedly, "No, I already have Crookshanks, they'll be eaten."
"What a shame." Fred shrugged. "Ginny loves these things. Can you help me pick out two to bring back to her?"
"That's no problem." So Hermione lowered her head and picked and chose among the little things.
At this time, a group of senior girls rushed into the store and grabbed George in front of the shelves in the "ladies' section" and asked him all sorts of strange things. There were some special acne medicines, magic makeup tools, fast-smoothing hair sprays, love potions and so on...
"Fred, come over and help!" George said in a panic.
"I'm busy!" Fred winked at him.
"Oh, he's coming down, you're not needed anymore!" said George with a grin.
Fred's eyes flickered in Draco's direction and he smiled warmly at the girl. "Then I'll be off to work, Hermione."
"Oh, of course, go ahead and do your work, Fred." Hermione was very puzzled. She didn't understand why the store manager would come over in his busy schedule to accompany her to look at a pile of miniature cattails.
Fred, as if he had been pardoned, rushed over to greet the group of excited girls - they were laughing non-stop at a row of dazzling pink products - he introduced them to them with a beaming face: "Look, look, this is the most advanced love potion produced by our store, you can't find it anywhere else! Each time the effect can last up to 24 hours, depending on the boy's weight and the girl's attractiveness..."
"What are you doing?" The boy with platinum hair suddenly appeared behind her, his tone somewhat relaxed.
"Draco," Hermione glanced at him and asked cheerfully, "where have you been? Help me pick one out!"
"As you wish." Draco smiled happily, and with Fred's enthusiastic introduction in the background not far away, he fiddled with the pile of small balls and helped her pick them one by one.