Chapter 97: An Unconventional Idea
When Sirius Black woke up in his bed in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, he found a boy with platinum hair standing by the window.
He stood with his hands behind his back, facing the scenery outside the window. He looked thin and seemed to be worried about something.
"Draco Malfoy." Sirius said without surprise, "What a rare visitor!"
"I believe you have heard it." The boy turned around, his face looking a little pale.
"Are you referring to Peter Pettigrew's death? Or Quirrell's escape?" Sirius leaned on the pillow of the hospital bed, his lazy tone as if he was discussing what to eat for dinner.
"You don't look afraid at all." Draco's tone was slightly surprised.
"Afraid?" Sirius laughed loudly and said arrogantly, "Can being afraid solve the problem?"
"No. But you have to take it seriously," Draco said coldly. "Behind Quirrell's head is the soul of the Dark Lord. That's not something to be amused by."
Sirius raised his eyebrows lazily, but didn't make any more drastic movements. He was wrapped in bandages, so his movements were still a bit awkward.
"Compared to this, I'm more curious about how you knew this." He looked at the boy with an inquiring look, "After all—I thought only Harry and the others knew these things."
"I have my own special channels." Draco tightened his jaw and said briefly.
"Oh, yes, you seem to be quite close to Hermione Granger." Sirius seemed to remember something, raised his eyelids and looked at him, saying with a smile.
"It's none of your business." Draco replied coldly.
"Of course, this is none of my business. However, I'm very curious if Narcissa and Lucius will scold you for being an unfilial son for hanging out with Muggle-born wizards when they find out." Sirius's mouth twitched slightly. "Just thinking about it makes me think that scene is quite wonderful."
"I thought I was here to discuss serious matters with you." Draco said with a twitch of his mouth.
"Okay, okay." Sirius smoothed his black hair and said lightly, "My answer is that we have achieved a partial victory. We have eliminated the Death Eater Peter Pettigrew, and Voldemort has lost a dirty follower. Isn't this a good thing?"
"Don't call that name!" Draco said subconsciously.
"As for Quirrell and Voldemort's escape..." Sirius insisted on calling Voldemort by his real name without hesitation, with an arrogant look of "What can you do to me?" He continued, "I have to say, I don't have any good solutions. But I think their bodies must be very weak. Quirrell already needs to drink unicorn blood to stay alive, and he has been petrified for two whole years. It's a miracle that his body didn't collapse immediately. He can't hold on for much longer."
Originally, Draco was extremely resistant to hearing him call out "Voldemort" by name; but thanks to Sirius's analysis, his attention was quickly diverted and he entered a state of thinking.
"Yeah, I agree. Quirrell is almost finished. But that doesn't mean the Dark Lord is finished." Draco frowned. "After Quirrell dies, the Dark Lord can confuse another wizard to possess him and continue playing those little tricks with the back of his head..."
"I'm afraid his situation isn't as optimistic as you think," Sirius said calmly. "Perhaps Voldemort won't die, at least not before all the Horcruxes are destroyed. But at this stage, he definitely doesn't have the magical power to squander."
"What does this mean?" Draco asked, confused.
He gave up on correcting Sirius for calling "Voldemort" by name for the time being.
At this moment, Sirius's perspective on "waste of magic power" interested him more.
"For Merlin's sake, I thought you understood everything. Has your brain been clouded by slugs?" Sirius glanced at him and gestured in the air with his hands in frustration. "The wand! The wand!"
This completely confused Draco.
"Neville Longbottom's wand! Why didn't he take it away but left it behind?" Sirius grinned, a gloating expression appearing on his handsome, thin face.
Draco looked at him with wide eyes.
"Because he can't control that wand! That wand is just a twig to him. His magic power is so weak now that he can't even control an ordinary wand!" he announced proudly.
Draco's spirits lifted. He had never imagined that he could think in such an unconventional way - Sirius Black was truly a genius.
But if you think about it carefully, it makes a lot of sense.
After waking up, he had nothing and the only wand that could save his life was thrown away by him like a worn-out shoe and left there. He didn't even kill Neville Longbottom who ran into him head-on, but just managed to knock him unconscious and then slipped away hurriedly and quietly.
With the Dark Lord's cruel personality, he didn't even use his Killing Curse - this in itself meant extreme weakness.
There was a long pause before Draco found his voice.
He asked without much hope, "Will he stay like this?"
"Of course not!" Sirius sipped his hot tea and laughed maliciously. "He will definitely do everything in his power to find a way to recover as quickly as possible! What we have to do is find that method in advance and destroy it, or just sit back and wait for it to happen."
Sirius, this dangerous and rampant man, Draco found his charm at this moment.
He is sharp, intelligent, insightful, and comes from such a prominent family background.
If he had not been sent to Azkaban when he was 22, how energetic and vigorous would he be now?
It will definitely achieve great things, Draco thought.
"Very feasible." Draco leaned against the windowsill and thought absentmindedly for a while, "But, is there any way to make him recover?"
"This requires careful research. I guess it involves some profound dark magic, which you probably won't find in the Hogwarts library." Sirius stroked his slightly bearded cheek with his hand, thinking hard about something.
After a moment, he made up his mind. "I will talk to Dumbledore. I also want to help. I have to tell him that I know about the Horcruxes. Of course, I won't betray your little secret, I promise. Our cooperation will still remain confidential."
"Whatever you say." Draco glanced at him and said slowly, "One more thing, who are Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?"
Sirius suddenly smiled widely.
"You've made it very clear, haven't you? Yes, that's the shorthand for me and James, Remus and the others when we were young. I'm Padfoot, Remus is Moony, and Prongs is James, Harry's father."
He didn't mention Wormtail, but Draco guessed who it was.
"Are you all Animagus? To accompany Lupin during the full moon?" Draco couldn't help asking.
"Yes. Any other questions?"
"Why does Professor Snape hate the Shrieking Shack so much?" Draco continued to ask.
"Oh, that's my fault." Sirius scratched his nose, but he didn't look very sorry. "You know, Lupin would hide in the Shrieking Shack when the full moon came. I liked to play pranks at the time, and I was a bit careless. I wanted to play a joke on him and trick him into coming here to scare him or something, and I almost killed him. It was James who stopped it at the last moment..."
"It's more than just careless. If you're not careful, someone could die." Draco's face quickly darkened.
He actually thought of tricking a student into going to the Shrieking Shack to face a werewolf!
No wonder Professor Snape seems to be severely allergic to the Shrieking Shack and gets angry with anyone who mentions it.
No wonder Professor Snape was so afraid of the werewolf transformed by Lupin and his fighting ability was so low!
In his previous life, when he faced Greyback, his fighting ability was not that low!
Draco didn't believe that he didn't have some psychological trauma.
Draco knew all too well how long-lasting the pain of old acne from school days could be.
It is reasonable that Professor Snape would be afraid, fearful, and have low fighting ability.
Draco even wondered why Professor Snape hadn't poisoned Sirius yet.
Sirius Black - so arrogant and rude that he ignores the life and death of others - just like Draco Malfoy in his previous life - is a heartless troublemaker.
"So, I'm very grateful to James." After a pause, the carefree troublemaker said affectionately, "He always gives me a hand when necessary."
This was the first time Draco had seen Sirius look like this.
He was once numb, tired, and down and out; he was also lazy, arrogant, and unruly.
But like now, he showed a rare tenderness, which surprised Draco.
Sirius and Harry's father, James, must have been very good friends, he thought as he hurried towards the Hippogriff's territory.
Hermione was already waiting there.
She looked healthy and full of life as she stood under a large oak tree, carrying a few dead ferrets and feeding them to the hippogriffs.
The large birds were all different colors: dark gray, shiny chestnut, even a sandy color with pink tinges. She didn't seem afraid of them at all—she always had a way with "getting close to marginal species," Draco thought with a smile.
Buckbeak was chained up alone.
"That night, he fought bravely and engaged in a desperate battle with the werewolf, and he was injured the most seriously. I had to separate him from his companions and give him special treatment every day." Hagrid said to Draco, handing him a string of dead ferrets. "Your job is to feed him."
Draco took the string of dead ferrets and carried it carefully without saying a word.
"Listen, Malfoy, Hermione told me that you protected her from the werewolves. You're a good child," Hagrid whispered, looking uneasily at the noble young master of the Malfoy family who "looked out of place in the Forbidden Forest." "But don't make Hermione cry again. She's a kind and good girl who has been helping me generously and selflessly. No one should bully her."
Draco glanced at him in surprise - Hagrid's face looked a little serious under his shaggy beard.
"I know what the Malfoy family thinks of Muggle-born wizards, and I also know what kind of man your father is." Hagrid frowned and said to Draco, "But Hermione insists that you are a good wizard, and I am willing to believe her. However, if you dare to deceive her, hurt her, or do anything excessive to her... I will deduct many points from Slytherin and tell Professor Dumbledore."
Draco was convinced that Hagrid—something had gone wrong—was abusing his privileges as Care of Magical Creatures teacher to threaten him.
However, he couldn't help but give Hagrid a slight nod.
Nodding did not mean that Draco approved of this unruly teacher; what he approved of was "protecting Hermione from harm."
On this matter, they strangely reached a kind of consensus.
Hagrid looked very pleased. Then he called out to the girl who was feeding them, "Hermione, I have to take care of those Bowtruckles. I've left Fang here to protect you!"
Hermione waved to Hagrid from a distance. Hagrid glanced at Draco warily and strode away.
Draco smiled disdainfully at Fang, who was staring at him hungrily.
Fang? Who can it stop? It's just a coward with a fierce appearance.
He turned and went to feed the hippogriff named Buckbeak.
Slowly walking forward, he gazed at the animal that had hurt him in a past life - this time it was saving him.
"We are really destined to meet." He said to it lazily; it tilted its head and looked at him curiously.
Today, Draco decided to show it some respect, as it deserved.
He already knew the process by heart, but he just hadn't had the chance to try it out:
Maintain eye contact, salute the Hippogriff first—it shows good intentions—and wait for them to salute back.
He saluted flawlessly, raised his head gracefully, and looked directly into its orange eyes, waiting for its reaction.
Buckbeak seemed in good spirits.
It also curtsied gracefully to him - now they were friends.
This is a kind of reconciliation with the past life, Draco smiled slightly and threw a dead ferret in front of Buckbeak, thinking silently.
"Well done, Draco." Hermione had stood beside him before she knew it, saying approvingly, "I told you it wasn't that hard to bow to Buckbeak."
Yes, this was all thanks to Hermione's encouragement day after day. Lately, she would be next to him almost every day, nagging him for at least two quarters of an hour, asking him to try "bowing to Buckbeak."
"Where's Harry? Why is he avoiding labor?" Feeling a little embarrassed by Hermione's gaze, Draco pretended to concentrate on picking up a dead ferret that was still bleeding, and quickly threw it away in disgust.
"Oh, he... he went to see Professor Lupin. We heard that Professor Lupin was going to resign." Hermione said sadly, "He was very sorry about what happened that night and felt that he was not fit to continue working at the school."
Draco said nothing. Deep down, he approved of his resignation.
No matter how kind Lupin is, his cruelty after turning into a werewolf is unbearable.
But not everyone is so lucky that someone can accurately make a wolf howl for him at the last second before he is attacked by a werewolf.
"By the way, Draco, I haven't thanked you yet--" Hermione patted the ferret fur on her hands and turned around to sit on the big rock.
Her face suddenly flushed slightly. She remembered that they had once held hands beside this stone.
The boy was looking at her suspiciously, his gray eyes so focused that they seemed to have some kind of magic that was sucking away her sanity.
Hermione was stunned for a few seconds, then came to her senses and added hurriedly, "I mean, you rushed out to protect me that night... I'm really grateful to you. Not everyone can be as selfless and brave as you. But, there is one thing I'm curious about - how did you get there in time?"
"This...maybe it's a coincidence." Draco felt extremely guilty. He tried his best not to look at the silver light flashing between her fingers.
"Can I understand that you came all the way to see me that day?" Hermione raised her bright eyes and stared into his eyes defiantly.
Her heart still beat wildly just by looking into his eyes.
But she had to look closely into his eyes so as not to miss any fleeting changes of emotion in his eyes.
"Indeed—I was a little worried about you." He turned and continued tossing the dead ferret, finding that no matter where he threw it, Buckbeak could pick it up accurately. This job was surprisingly easy.
"Then how did you know? I'm not in the castle, but in the Forbidden Forest?" Hermione rested her hands on the rocks, swinging her legs, looking comfortable and relaxed, but her words were unforgiving. "You promised me in the Astronomy Tower that you would be honest with me."
Draco sighed helplessly and looked back at her.
He remembered her whispering to him under the starlight in the Astronomy Tower, "Draco, I want to do this with you. I hope I'm the first person you want to talk to when you encounter difficulties. We're not just study partners, but also partners fighting side by side, right? I hope I can also help you and protect you, rather than just being protected by you behind your back."
He remembered how deeply moved he was by these words, and nodded and promised to be as honest with her as possible in the future, and at least to answer her questions properly.
Now, she asked him directly - "hiding" and "escaping" were not the solutions.
Draco suddenly realized that he had no way out.
"I can tell you. But can you promise me first that you won't be angry when you know?" He sighed, threw the last ferret, and finally walked to the rock and sat down next to her.
She looked at him suspiciously, studying him for a moment.
He suppressed his inner panic and tried to look back at her calmly.
Finally, Hermione nodded at him, "I promise."
"Let me think about what to say." Draco took a deep breath and said softly.
In order to ease his panic, he slowly took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands clean; then he pulled her hand over, took out another handkerchief and wiped her hands again.
He was delaying. But he couldn't delay forever.
Hermione didn't care about his hand-wiping. She was too busy observing him with her big, round eyes, hoping he could give her a reasonable explanation.
Draco couldn't delay any longer until everything was done.
"Tell me," she stared at him, "what method did you use?"
"Do you know the Locating Charm?" Draco whispered.
"Oh, I've read some books that introduced—" She suddenly stopped talking, shocked by a certain possibility.
"I have to admit one thing - I put a locating spell on your ring. That's why I was able to find you so quickly that day. I was just worried about you at first, you know, Peter Pettigrew, Dementors, and werewolves..." He lowered his head and studied the tip of his shoe.
Hermione said nothing.
"I'm ashamed, and I don't want to defend myself. I just want to say that I never used it before, until I found you were missing..." He said nervously, feeling like Crookshanks who had damaged Hermione's parchment, sneaky and guilty.
There was silence all around, which made him even more afraid to look at her.
"In short, this is not what a gentleman should do." His ears flushed, but he continued stubbornly, "If you want to be angry with me, blame me, or even punch me again, you have every right to do so."
If Draco had looked up at Hermione, he might have seen her face flush.
When Hermione first heard about the "locating spell", she was very annoyed.
Who would like to be monitored like this while unconscious? She wears it every day!
Draco Malfoy! He was probably the most controlling boy in Hogwarts, and he also lacked a proper sense of boundaries.
Oh, what a terrible job he had done! For control freak Hermione Granger, being watched like this by another person was like stabbing her in the gut.
However, when she heard him express his concerns, Hermione suddenly felt a little happy.
Did he care about her that much? To this extent? She suddenly felt a little happy, although she knew that her emotions were a little morbid and perhaps not very healthy.
Perhaps he wasn't hopeless. Hermione looked at his ashamed expression thoughtfully. After all, he had honestly admitted his mistake and his attitude was quite good.
He had saved her by accident. He had jumped in front of a terrifying werewolf and saved her.
Besides, he looked so cute with his red ears! How could she be angry with him?
Draco looked at the tip of his shoe for a long time, so long that he couldn't help but look up and peek at her before he heard Hermione's answer.
"I—I really don't like being watched. I'm quite surprised by this," she said slowly, a little shyly. "However, I can probably understand your worry about me, because I was also worried about you before I found you in the Astronomy Tower that day. If there had been a magic like a locating spell, I might have wanted to try it too. Besides, I'm glad that you're willing to admit your mistake."
Her voice didn't sound as angry anymore. Draco couldn't help but glance back at her, noticing a smile in her eyes. "We could cancel this spell and cast a new one, one that can send signals to each other. How about that? That way we can contact each other."
Draco's heart finally settled down.
He suddenly found that his previous guilty conscience seemed quite funny compared to his current ease.
At a certain moment, he did not feel that he was a reborn person with a withered mentality.
He felt like a nervous and naive child again.
He should have been honest. She hadn't lost her temper at all.
She was very tolerant of him, even a little too tolerant. Yes, she might bear grudges, but she was also very soft-hearted.
"We could make a spell that would light up each other, to guide them in the right direction. We could even make a spell that could transmit sound, you know, like the Muggle phone you used during the summer vacation." Hermione said with interest, admiring the ring between her fingers. "The only problem is, I don't know if there is such a spell."
"Oh, about that," he looked at her with his soft grey eyes and smiled slowly at her, "we'll find a way around that."
After feeding Buckbeak a few more times, exam week was approaching.
Draco Malfoy walked leisurely into the Arithmancy classroom, which was still empty.
Recently, students who are busy reviewing often rush to the classroom at the last minute.
Perhaps he and Hermione were the only ones who would still actively come to the classroom on time to prepare.
He looked at the empty desks, a rare smirk appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he turned around and sat next to his usual seat.
He placed the pocket watch in his hand on the table in front of him, counted the hands on the dial, and waited quietly for that moment to happen.
Plop! The brown-haired girl suddenly appeared in his arms and landed on his lap, as if falling from the sky.
She seemed confused by the situation, startled, and subconsciously hugged his neck.
Then she turned around and said in disbelief, "Draco!"
"Hmm," he said with a smile on his face as he put his arm around her, showing no intention of letting go.
"What are you doing? Did I sit in the wrong seat?" Hermione was extremely surprised, her lips slightly open in confusion.
"No, I sat in the wrong place." Draco raised his eyelids and hugged her contentedly.
She smells nice.
"We never sit in the wrong seats, Draco! It's always been you on the left and me on the right for a whole year -" Hermione said with a frown.
"I did it on purpose." He said in a normal tone.
"Why?" she asked with wide eyes.
There was a glint of pride in Draco's grey eyes. "To scare you, of course, Hermione."
"What do you mean?" Hermione came back to her senses. "Are you saying that you went to so much trouble to sit to my left in every class for a whole year, just to scare me on the last day of the semester?"
"Yeah... I've been wanting to do this for a whole year, just to see your surprised expression right now." He suppressed a smile and hugged her tightly, as if hugging a lost treasure. "... It's totally worth it."
He watched as Hermione's cheeks began to turn red.
"Draco Malfoy! You're so boring!" she said fiercely.
"Yes." He suppressed his laughter and said solemnly.
"Wait!" Hermione managed to regain some of her ability to think amidst her pounding heart. "When did you find out about the Time Turner?"
"It's just—it's quite early," Draco said, quietly playing with a lock of her hair.
"You're so boring!" Hermione slapped his hand away in embarrassment and annoyance. "You've been pretending to know nothing. Do you feel particularly proud of yourself? Seeing me carefully carrying a secret?"
"I didn't want to burden you." His expression was innocent. "You looked very hard-pressed back then. You didn't get enough sleep every day, and you carried a thick stack of books... Every time I tried to bring up this topic, to talk to you, you acted like a frightened rabbit... or like a cat ready to scratch at you at any moment... I could only watch silently."
And now, whether it was a rabbit or a cat, she was in his arms, with nowhere to escape, Draco thought happily. Her bright eyes looked at him, reflecting the warmth of the afternoon sun.
The voices outside the classroom gradually became louder.
Draco knew that perhaps, soon, professors and students would walk into the classroom and see what their posture was like.
"Draco, let me go," she whispered, nervously checking the door.
"No." He held her tightly in his arms, "Unless you tell me what that kiss was about?"
He was very concerned about this matter, but no matter how many times he asked her, she just kept a straight face and refused to answer.
She avoided talking about it. He had no choice but to resort to this last resort.
The holiday was only a few days away. He couldn't let this misunderstanding last the entire holiday.
"It's nothing really." She said quickly, not wanting to recall the kiss that made her heart sour.
"Okay, then just continue sitting like this," he said lightly, hugging her tighter.
Hermione was going crazy.
This posture is quite suggestive! She completely fell into his arms and sat on his lap!
His face was so close to hers, his bewitching grey eyes fixed on her, yet he still managed to force her to confess that heart-pounding kiss with a relaxed look.
This bad boy has gone too far!
It was his inappropriate behavior that always caused her to misunderstand!
"You're always like this, you always make people..." She muttered softly, unable to continue.
"What?" He moved closer to her, trying to hear more clearly.
"Please," Hermione said tremblingly, feeling her heartbeat quicken again. His proximity made her doubly embarrassed, and she felt like a bewildered insect caught in a Venus flytrap, unsure whether to flee or stay.
She gave up complaining and just gently pushed the front of his collar, hoping that he would release this addictive and gentle grip, "I——"
"Tell me. At least let me know what I have done. I don't want to be so unclear and have any misunderstandings with you." He looked at her seriously, frowned slightly, and spoke in a firm tone.
"Okay." She was bewitched by his somewhat melancholy face and couldn't help but say, "That morning, the morning you didn't go to class all day, I ran into you in the corridor, you came out of the principal's office... and then... and then... you kissed my forehead."
She looked away, her voice trailing off.
"Oh." His eyes changed from surprise to understanding, and his ears gradually turned red. "I...it seems that this really happened. I...I thought I was dreaming...I stayed up all night at that time and was a little confused...I thought it couldn't be real...How could you be in such a place at that time..."
I see.
Hermione suddenly understood.
Harry did say that they had destroyed some Dark artifact in the Headmaster's office that day; and in the Astronomy Tower, he had further confessed to her that it was a Horcrux of Voldemort.
That thing took up too much of his energy. He wasn't deliberately forgetting it, nor was he teasing her.
He was just too tired.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forgotten such an important thing. I, I thought I was dreaming... I, I'm really sorry." Draco held his forehead and spoke incoherently, the redness of his ears spreading to his face.
Merlin, this is great.
He did deserve a beating, he deserved it.
How could he not distinguish between reality and illusion in such a matter?
How could he have been so conditioned to believe that all his kisses with her were just dreams or fantasies?
"Okay, I'm done." She said softly. When she heard some movement at the door, her face gradually became panicked. "Let me go. I've decided not to be angry with you anymore."
He automatically let her go, startled to discover that he had indeed kissed her forehead.
She jumped off his lap with a red face, hurriedly sat in his seat, and pretended to be interested in a skylark preening its feathers outside the window.
Students walked into the classroom in twos and threes with tired steps, complaining about the heavy homework.
Amid the noisy background, Hermione regained some of her sanity and decided to change the subject in a nonchalant tone: "Draco, I've decided to return the time converter."
"Really?" His face flushed slightly, his eyes staring at her stubbornly.
"You're right, there aren't so many perfect things in the world. I used to be a perfectionist and wanted to do everything well; but now, I'm willing to admit my imperfections and admit that I'm a mortal with limited energy. I made a choice. I decided to spend my limited time on more important things." Hermione stared at him, a happy smile on her lips.
Draco, he was doing great things, and she was willing to accompany him to do it.
"Relax, take your time." He thought she was still thinking about her lessons, so he comforted her softly, "Take one step at a time, and one day you will have walked the path you want to walk."
"You too." She sat in the already noisy classroom and looked at him seriously.
His expression slightly withered. He knew what she meant - destroying the Dark Lord and his Horcruxes could not be done hastily or in one fell swoop.
He knew she was right.
Besides, he no longer needs to bear all this unbearableness alone like before.
He had friends, allies, and her.
The day of the exam soon arrived, and the contents were the same as before. They reminded Draco all the time that the gears of fate were still running according to the predetermined track.
Professor McGonagall asked them to turn the teapot into a turtle as they remembered; Professor Flitwick still tested them on the Happy Charm; Professor Snape asked them to brew the Confusion Potion with a stern face, and Draco noticed that his attitude towards Harry was still very harsh; Professor Binns asked them to write a paper on medieval witches; then, the students had to go to Professor Cosprot's Herbology class under the scorching sun in the greenhouse, and Draco felt that he was about to be dried into a herb.
Of course, some of the exams were different from what Draco remembered. Instead of caring for Flobberworms, the Care of Magical Creatures exam required students to remove a small branch from a Bowtruckle's tree - which required students to offer fairy eggs or ground beetles to the Bowtruckle.
There were only a few minor issues:
Hermione ran out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam room screaming, and her boggart was Professor McGonagall who came out and told her that she failed all the subjects - Draco said innocently: "I told her a long time ago";
Seamus Finnigan exploded a cauldron during the Potions exam, sending shards flying into the cauldrons of the students around him, triggering a chain reaction that spread in all directions, leaving Professor Snape's face as black as the bottom of a pot;
In the Arithmancy exam, Ernie MacMillan completely ignored his middle name when interpreting his own name, and calculated a completely wrong set of personality numbers, spiritual numbers, and social numbers. When Professor Victor pointed out this problem, he said in despair, "Oh, no... I always thought it was these numbers... Merlin..."
During the Transfiguration exam, Neville Longbottom couldn't find his wand again - of course, this time it seemed to be an accident - Draco heard Professor McGonagall sigh outside the exam room: "Mr. Longbottom..."
Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly.
On the last open day of Hogsmeade, Draco and Hermione did not go to the busy streets to join in the fun. They chose to hide away and spend time under the big oak tree by the Black Lake.
"Be careful!" The brown-haired girl looked up at the oak tree worriedly - the platinum-haired boy was crouching on a thick trunk, trying to place a turquoise-like bird's egg in a bird's nest that was barely visible among the leaves.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine soon." He said loudly with a smile in his tone.
When he jumped down from the tree, dusted off his hands, and raised the corners of his mouth happily to the girl, she said in a sweet voice, "Draco, it's a good thing you're here, otherwise this bird egg would be in trouble."
"You're not wrong." He raised his eyebrows smugly. "But I believe that even without me, you will find a way. Use your smart brain, right?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and gave him a smug look, as if she had an alternative plan in mind.
With a mysterious smile on her lips, she returned to the grass under the shade of the oak tree.
Then, just as they had done last holiday in the gardens of Bath Spa, he would lie on his back on the lush green grass, reading a newspaper, while she would swing her legs and lie beside him, reading a book.
Sometimes they chatted quietly for a few words, and sometimes they stopped talking and closed their eyes to listen to the rustling of the oak leaves in the breeze.
Time seems to go back to the distant yesterday, and seems to extend to the distant tomorrow.
"Oh, by the way, the reason Peter Pettigrew escaped Azkaban was simply because he turned into a rat?" Hermione flipped a page and said casually, "I don't believe he's the only Animagus in Azkaban. I haven't seen anyone else escape either."
"The most important thing is to stay clear-headed. Dementors can't tell the difference between Animagus and animals. They think Animagus are not human. They only attack humans." Draco said, "So Sirius Black, who can also become an Animagus, can stay clear-headed."
"I see. Becoming an Animagus is difficult, isn't it?" Hermione asked.
"It's very difficult," Draco said. "My father still hasn't mastered it in a year."
Hermione sighed.
"It's okay." Draco smiled and comforted her, "Hasn't your Patronus Charm been practiced very well?"
"That's right." She looked at his face worriedly. "But yours hasn't appeared yet, has it? Draco, think of something happy and try again, okay?"
Draco took out his wand, held his breath, and searched for the few happy things in his memory.
A little silver-white mist swayed from the tip of the staff, and then disappeared.
"Not happy enough," he said flatly, raising the newspaper again to hide the shadows on his face. "Still not enough."
Just as Hermione was wondering why Draco wasn't happy enough, her luggage had already been neatly packed. The Hogwarts Express, puffing clouds of smoke, sailed off towards the long-awaited summer vacation.
They sat side by side in a compartment on the train, trying out the Muggle Walkman and headphones that Hermione had given him for his birthday.
"I remember you liked this thing, so I asked Mom to get me the latest model." She said hesitantly, "I can listen to all kinds of songs just by changing the tapes inside. But, do you know where to buy it?"
"Don't underestimate a Malfoy's ability to explore." Draco said, leaning leisurely on the seat with her head against hers, listening to music. The woods, the winding river, and the dark green hills passed quickly outside the car window.
Harry and Ron were noisily playing some kind of wizard card game in the seats across from them, but they were completely immersed in a song called "Bressanone". They were moved by the quiet, ethereal and narrative atmosphere, and their hearts were filled with sadness of parting.
Through the window, Hermione could see the billowing steam from the roof being left behind by the speeding train. The scenery outside the window gradually changed as the sun set in the west, the barren fields turned into neat farmlands, and then into fields full of cattle and sheep.
London is almost here.
"Promise me you'll write me more letters, okay?" Draco said, gazing down at her before getting off the car.
Hermione's cheeks flushed.
He began to look at her with that focused gaze again, not at all like before.
"As soon as I have time." She yawned half-heartedly and said to this "ordinary friend from the outer courtyard", "You know, I'm very busy."
Draco looked at her departing back with a mixture of laughter and tears, feeling that these words seemed familiar.
Wasn't that what he'd said to her at the end of freshman year?
Typical Hermione Granger, the girl who holds grudges.
He stepped off the train and walked towards his parents on the platform filled with steam and smoke, head held high, just as he remembered doing.
In the eyes of some girls on the platform, he was undoubtedly the most dazzling young man in the crowd, whether it was his hair color, appearance or his inherent temperament. They were secretly sizing him up.
Draco admitted that in his past life he had been complacent about this, thinking he was the center of the world; but now, his mentality was calm. He was no longer at the age of ignorance and arrogance.
He already understood that they were not looking at him as a person, but at his last name and his appearance.
They were not like her. Few were willing to see what his soul looked like, as she had.
Lucius and Narcissa were already waiting on the platform.
They were as dazzling as he was, young and arrogant, elegant and noble.
Draco hoped that they could always be like this. He hoped that he could protect this brilliance.
And her.
She had already walked away from Harry and the others.
Following his parents silently, Draco turned his head to look at the blurry figure, with inexplicable emotions stirring in his heart.
He suddenly recalled the brief exchange he had with Professor Lupin after taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam.
"Mr. Malfoy, your Boggart is quite surprising. I must say, I had no idea it would be Miss Granger."
That was the dead Hermione Granger with "Mudblood" carved on her arm and tears in the corners of her eyes.
This was Draco's Boggart, his most secret fear and deepest worry at the moment.
"I didn't know you had a penchant for prying into other people's secrets." Draco looked at him coldly, trying to hide his inner surprise and uncertainty.
"You know, although I can't control my thoughts when I'm a werewolf, I can remember everything that happened afterwards. As early as that night, when I transformed back, I realized one fact: you have a close relationship with her." Lupin said gently.
Draco said nothing.
His cold mask was cracked by Lupin's words, and an uneasy atmosphere emanated from it. He watched Lupin's lips move, calmly revealing his thoughts.
That was the truth that Draco wanted to avoid, and also the thoughts and unspeakable concerns he tried to seal deep in his heart.
The cruel Remus Lupin looked directly at Draco Malfoy with his penetrating eyes and said in a firm and clear tone:
"You love her. Love her enough to die for her.