"I can't stand people who attack others behind their backs. It's the dirtiest, most despicable thing, the act of a coward. But that doesn't apply to criminals. When dealing with them, I don't mind ambushing them either." Moody said gruffly, dragging his wooden leg as he slowly walked into the room.
"I can't possibly follow such rules when dealing with vicious dark wizards," he said.
"Look at that, the poor Potions professor, must have been ambushed." Moody's magical eye swiveled around, taking in the entire room, and he saw Snape lying to the side. "Looks like there's an invisibility cloak too." Moody clicked his tongue at Sirius Black, who was only showing his head and had already fainted.
"And, this is the first time I've encountered a student so young mixing with dark wizards, and a girl at that. Unbelievable." Moody shook his head in disappointment, his magical eye and normal eye both looking at Hermione.
"No, there's a reason for everything you're seeing now. It's because..." Hermione forced herself to endure the nausea and fear, looking directly at the bouncing magical eye in front of her. If she could maintain eye contact while talking, it would increase the chances of persuading him, making her seem more sincere.
"I don't need a third-year student to tell me what to do. You'd better start thinking about how to write your detention essay so you don't get expelled." Moody rudely interrupted Hermione's explanation.
"I won't confiscate your wand. You can even try to ambush me. This is the last bit of face I'm giving Dumbledore. I want him to come and see for himself how his good students are helping fugitives." Moody grinned, but there was no joy in his smile, only mockery.
"I need to stay calm, I need to stay calm," Hermione told herself, desperately trying to calm down, but Moody was in no state to listen to her explanations.
"That's right, I have Veritaserum! I can still convince him with Veritaserum!" Hermione thought. She had learned the truth from Sirius Black using Veritaserum, and it had allowed Lupin to trust Sirius successfully. This was the best way to solve the problem now, so she slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a clear crystal bottle, preparing to hand it to Moody.
"Mr. Moody, this is..." Hermione tried to make her voice sound confident, but she was interrupted again.
A spell accurately struck Hermione's hand holding the bottle.
Hermione felt as if her hand had been hit hard by a hammer. Losing her grip, the bottle suddenly slipped from her hand, falling to the ground with a "crack." The transparent bottle shattered, and most of the clear liquid spilled across the dusty floor, the shards of glass even hitting her calf.
Her body was unharmed,
but her heart sank into despair. Her only hope of gaining Moody's trust had vanished. Hermione unconsciously clenched the wand in her hand.
Hermione hadn't even seen Moody raise his wand. Where had the force that hit her come from?
Just as she was wondering, a pale golden color suddenly caught her eye. Then, gray eyes and a slightly pointed chin combined to form a handsome face.
Hermione saw him smiling, a contemptuous smile.
Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy slowly walked out from behind Moody, then quickly walked to Hermione's side.
"How is it? Is my dorm fun? I didn't think Miss Know-It-All's curiosity was so strong that she'd even be willing to explore under my bed." Malfoy whispered in Hermione's ear. Under normal circumstances, Hermione might have been flustered by the intimate distance, perhaps even a little embarrassed and annoyed, but now she only felt bewildered.
"He… why is it him? Why is he here?"
"Well, admitting that I was defeated by a student and a Squib is indeed embarrassing." Black's words suddenly flashed through her mind.
"Student? Squib?" Hermione seemed to understand everything. A few days ago, she had overheard Ron's two older brothers saying that Filch and Malfoy were getting close. Now, it was confirmed. They were the ones who caught Black. But why did they want to catch him?
Before Hermione could think further, Malfoy's words struck her like a thunderbolt, making her stiffen.
"Hermione, you must understand one thing—sometimes, forcibly taking on responsibilities that you can't fulfill will hurt yourself and others. If I hadn't notified Mr. Moody to arrive in time, you would still be fooled by these two criminals."
"How many years do you think Professor Lupin and Sirius Black will get? No, wait, now that the Dementors have all escaped from Azkaban, maybe no one can keep an eye on them. How about killing them?" Malfoy said, stroking his chin.
Hermione's face turned ashen.
"I think the wizarding society can learn one thing from the Muggles, and that's the introduction of the death penalty." Malfoy's voice grew louder, so that Moody could hear him.
"If there are no willing executioners, then this old bone is still willing to contribute. I'll make sure they go quickly." Moody said with a grin, but to Hermione, the smile seemed inexplicably cruel.
"Impossible, they're innocent. I can testify for them." Tears began to well up in Hermione's eyes. "You must know the whole truth, you must know that Sirius Black and Lupin are innocent, right? Tell Mr. Moody the truth." Hermione panicked completely, instinctively grabbing Malfoy's sleeve and pleading.
"Please stop your illogical remarks, Hermione Granger." Malfoy shook off Hermione's hand. He lowered his voice again: "I have no reason to do something that is of no benefit to myself." Then, he lightly lifted Hermione's chin, and Hermione glared at him with her big eyes.
"Forget it, if you were prettier, I might consider you using a beauty trick, but before that, you still have to fix your teeth and straighten your messy hair." Malfoy quickly put his hand down again.
Hermione's face flushed red, not knowing if it was from shyness or anger, or both.
"You didn't take it seriously, did you? It seems you're not as smart as I thought, Miss Granger. Can't you tell it's a joke?" Malfoy shrugged, expressing his helplessness.
"Shut up!" Hermione snapped, pretending to be embarrassed, then secretly aimed her wand at Malfoy.
Even if I can't ambush Moody, I'll definitely teach you a lesson!
Hermione was now blinded by anger. No girl would be happy to be teased and ridiculed like this. It was a wanton trampling on her self-esteem.
"Stupefy!" Hermione's voice was trembling but firm, and the spell was cast from her wand without warning.
Someone fell.
"Phew, finally solved it." Malfoy watched Hermione being stunned by his spell and breathed a long sigh of relief.
"When I saw you treating her like that just now, I really wanted to turn you into a ferret. I didn't expect you to be so annoying." Moody's magical eye swiveled around as he said with a complex tone, "The little girl can't stand to be scared like that."
"I just wanted to teach her a lesson. She almost tricked me last time, and didn't you say you were going to tell Dumbledore to expel her?" Malfoy shook his head, looking at Hermione on the ground, and smiled helplessly.
"Uh, but it seems like I played it a bit too hard this time." Looking down at the crystal tears sliding down Hermione's eyes and her tightly pursed lips, Malfoy thought to himself.
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