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This suffering, she couldn't just bear it alone in silence. Hermione was in a very good mood.
You think you can cross the abbess and just walk away?
This was the ultimate Polyjuice variant she had spent an entire year researching on and off, using the Reality Stone to develop. From now on, you'd better behave yourself and stay a good little girl.
Draco wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come.
She never imagined a single Boggart incident could make Hermione petty enough to nurse a grudge for a full year.
Hermione patted Draco's shoulder and said, with great sincerity, "Trust me. With that face and that body, your relationship with Harry is absolutely going to skyrocket. Better than ever."
Draco: "..."
...
The next day.
Hermione ran into Harry again in the castle courtyard.
"Hermione! Come look!" Harry waved at her excitedly, tugging along a platinum-blonde girl who was shyly hiding behind him.
Hermione took a closer look and nearly lost it.
The girl was wearing a Slytherin robe that clearly didn't fit quite right, her face fair and delicate, her large eyes glistening and dewy, one small hand timidly clutching the hem of Harry's robe.
"Let me introduce you," Harry said, beaming. "This is Draco Malfoy's little sister! Turns out the Malfoy family has a younger sister in Slytherin — third year — and we never even noticed!"
Hermione: "..."
Absolutely flawless.
The moment Draco spotted Hermione, her whole body gave a violent shudder. A tiny, barely audible whimper escaped her throat. She shrank almost entirely behind Harry, leaving only a pair of tear-filled, terrified eyes peeking out, staring at Hermione with pure, helpless misery, exactly like a startled little rabbit.
Harry quickly patted her on the back. "Don't be afraid, Draco. Hermione can look a bit fierce sometimes, but she's a good person. She won't hurt you."
He assumed Draco's reaction was just a Slytherin's natural wariness of a Witch.
Hermione swallowed her amusement and gave a cooperative nod. "Hello, Draco."
Just then, a bright, clear voice rang out.
"Harry! Hermione!"
Ginny came running over, face lit up with a happy smile.
Then she got close enough to see the exceptionally pretty girl hiding behind Harry, one hand lightly clutching his arm, and her smile froze solid.
Harry sensed the shift in atmosphere and quietly withdrew his arm.
Ginny's gaze landed on Draco. She looked her up and down, eyes filled with undisguised wariness.
Draco, sensing the hostility, instinctively shrank even further behind Harry, expression going even more innocent and pitiful.
The air between the three of them went strange and thick.
Hermione stood to one side, watching the scene unfold before her, a scene worthy of a full-blown soap opera, and had exactly one thought:
Holy shit. What kind of plot twist is this?
This is fun. This is so incredibly fun.
Ginny's brow furrowed as she studied the girl.
"Third year? How come I've never seen you before?"
Even for a Slytherin she'd had little contact with, two and a half years at the same school should have left some impression.
Harry was suddenly at a loss for words.
It was just that this morning, in the courtyard, he'd seen her standing there all by herself, staring at him with a lost, dazed look in her eyes, and for some reason a strange sense of familiarity had welled up in his chest.
They'd clearly never met. And yet it felt like they'd known each other for years.
Could it be because...
Harry's heart gave two sudden thumps. He was just opening his mouth to explain when "Draco" got there first, speaking in a thin, feeble voice. "I... I just transferred here. That's, that's why you haven't seen me."
She absolutely could not let it slip that she was actually Malfoy. If word got out, her entire lifelong reputation would be obliterated.
Turning into a girl was already miserable enough. If people found out she was Malfoy on top of that... Draco shuddered and refused to let the thought finish.
"A transfer student?"
Harry and Ginny both blinked.
Ginny's brow furrowed tighter.
First day as a transfer student, and she was already this close to Harry? Pulling on his arm?
That sat very uncomfortably.
Still, her natural kindness won out. She pushed down the irritation, reached over, and took Draco's hand, pressing a friendly smile onto her face.
"Ah, I see, welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Ginny Weasley, Gryffindor. Since you've just arrived, you must not know the school very well. I'll show you around. Harry's about to compete in the tournament, so we really shouldn't disturb him while he's preparing."
Draco was completely bewildered. Before she'd even processed what was happening, Ginny had taken hold of her with a grip that left no room for negotiation and pulled her clean away from Harry's side.
She looked back at Harry, eyes pleading for rescue.
Harry's expression was equally lost.
Hermione couldn't hold it together anymore. If she stayed one second longer, she was going to crack completely.
"Right, I'm heading off — see you at the competition!"
She turned and bolted, leaving the three of them standing in confused silence.
...
The time for the first task finally arrived.
The venue was set beside a cliff, ringed on all sides by temporarily constructed stands. The crowd was roaring, students from all three wizarding schools packed in their house robes, waving flags, cheering with barely contained excitement.
Dumbledore and Bartemius Crouch stepped up to the platform and delivered brief, solemn opening remarks.
"I now declare the first task of the Triwizard Tournament officially begun!"
Crouch's booming voice fell, and the entire venue erupted in thunderous applause.
"The champions," Dumbledore's voice carried clearly across the grounds, "must retrieve a golden egg from a dragon guarding its nest. Inside the egg is a clue about the second task."
"Be warned, dragons are extremely dangerous. Champions will need wisdom and courage. Failure means elimination."
A wave of gasps swept through the crowd.
A dragon. It was actually a dragon.
The draw results were announced:
Fleur Delacour would face the Welsh Green. Viktor Krum had drawn the Chinese Fireball. Cedric Diggory drew the Swedish Short-Snout. And Harry Potter had the misfortune of drawing the most savage and dangerous of the four, the Hungarian Horntail.
The competition got underway.
Krum went first. He disrupted the Chinese Fireball's line of sight with a precisely aimed spell, then dove in and snatched the golden egg clean away. The Durmstrang students erupted in deafening cheers.
Fleur was next. The Beauxbatons champion appeared somewhat nervous, but she employed a hypnotic charm with quiet cleverness, attempting to send the Welsh Green into a deep sleep. The effect wasn't perfect, the dragon only became drowsy, but it was enough. She found her opening and retrieved the golden egg with graceful ease. Applause rolled through the Beauxbatons stands.
Third was Cedric Diggory.
Hermione walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and gave him an encouraging smile. "Go get 'em, Edward."
Cedric looked at her. "That... my name is Cedric."
"Got it, Edward." Hermione blinked.
Cedric's mouth twitched.
➤ Next: That Dragon Was Raised By Me
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