Chapter 638: Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang Compared with Hermione, who had been completely shaken by passively enduring everything, Draco, the one who had taken the initia |
Hermione never would have dreamed that Ginny had seen it.
She did not know how much Ginny had seen, but judging from how she felt like her whole body was about to catch fire, there was no way she could convince herself that Ginny had only seen a little.
She saw all of it, did she not?
Hermione parted her lips slightly.
She had wanted to ask that, but in the end, the sheer embarrassment made her swallow the question.
At the same time, she was annoyed with herself for forgetting Ginny had even been there.
If she had remembered, she could have stopped Draco's shameless and audacious behavior.
Probably. Maybe she could have stopped him.
In any case...
Maybe she was in a decent enough state of mind, or maybe she had simply given up and accepted it. Once Hermione realized the outcome was already fixed, she was instead able to face Ginny, who was still pretending not to know anything, with surprising calm.
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, the tips of Hermione's ears still faintly pink, she asked her question again in an irritated tone...
"What I meant to ask was, why was Draco there in the first place? Did he go because he got an invitation from Lovegood?"
Ginny froze for a second.
Then she turned to look at Hermione beside her with a very strange expression.
You can steer the conversation back to that?
Ginny's look almost shattered the composure Hermione had only just recovered.
Annoyed, Hermione shot a fierce glare at her friend, who had suddenly become so dense.
Were they really supposed to start discussing that philosophical question of tongue against tongue?
"Why are you staring at me? I am asking you something!"
"Invitation? Oh, right... that."
Ginny had no idea how, after going in circles for so long, she had somehow ended up as the one in the wrong, but for the moment she shoved those complicated feelings aside.
And so...
The two girls who, just moments ago, had not even been able to hold eye contact for long were suddenly whispering head to head under the strange gazes of the people around them.
And honestly, this warm little scene was what things should have looked like all along...
...
Come to think of it, after Ginny parted ways with Draco that day, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had taken her back with them.
For safety reasons, Ginny had not returned to the home called the Burrow, but had instead been taken to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
But when it came to the matter Ginny had always wanted to understand, what exactly had gone wrong with Ron, she ran into an unsolvable obstacle. Almost everyone, including her own family, seemed to be deliberately hiding it from her.
In fact, during the entire holiday, she had not had a single chance to see Ron.
As for her brothers, every one of them claimed not to know anything.
Whether they really did not know or simply did not want to tell her was impossible to say.
In other words.
Although Ginny had indeed been staying with the Order of the Phoenix during that time and had seen several familiar faces coming and going, she really had no chance to come into contact with any deeper secrets.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, Ginny was just a young witch who needed their protection.
In short.
The only thing Ginny could be sure of right now was that something had definitely happened to Ron...
"You mean that guy... I mean, your brother. He really seemed like a completely different person?"
For various reasons, Hermione did not think much of Ron Weasley, but at least she had not forgotten that Ginny, sitting right in front of her, was his family. The moment she realized she had let something slip, Hermione hurried to patch it up.
Ginny, who more or less knew what was going on, only rolled her eyes helplessly.
To be honest, Ginny had already given up on the idea of helping Ron's chances along. His opponent was simply too strong, and Ginny genuinely could not see any opening at all.
So when it came to Hermione's attitude, Ginny had no intention of speaking up for Ron either...
"Mm. Actually, that article was already detailed enough. Even the dialogue in it was basically no different from what I remember."
"Then you..."
Knowing what Hermione wanted to ask, Ginny shook her head. "I do not know. And no one is willing to explain it to me."
"I see."
"If there is anyone who really knows what is going on, it is probably only my parents and... Dumbledore and the others."
"And George and the others...?"
"I do not know about them, but you probably will not get a chance to run into them. With my parents' permission, George and the others already graduated early. I heard they are planning to open some kind of joke shop."
"They graduated early?"
At Ginny's reminder, Hermione finally realized that over on the Gryffindor side, she really had not seen the Weasley twins or heard their laughter anywhere.
It seemed that, just as Ginny had said, they would not be appearing at Hogwarts this year...
Just as Hermione thought the trail had gone cold, Ginny's slightly hesitant voice reached her.
"But if there is still someone else who might know the truth, then maybe..."
"Maybe?"
"Maybe Harry knows something?"
"Potter..."
That was true.
If there was still someone who knew Ron's current situation, then the most likely person was Harry Potter, the one Dumbledore valued, and also Ron's best friend.
If it was Harry Potter, then maybe he really did know something.
Still, compared with that information, Hermione was even more curious about Ginny, who had suddenly and inexplicably grown dejected.
That conflicted expression on her face made it seem as though she wanted to say something but was holding herself back.
"You have not tried talking to him?"
"...I have, but..."
"If it were you, he would probably tell you. Besides, you care a lot about Pot..."
After Ginny shot her a glare, Hermione quickly stopped with an awkward expression.
Just as Ginny cared about Hermione's love life, Hermione also knew very well which wizard Ginny cared about.
Though Hermione did not think it was a good idea.
Then, just as Hermione was still feeling puzzled, Ginny quietly voiced what she had noticed...
"I feel like Harry has seemed a little off lately."
"Even if you say that, I am not that close to him."
Things in this world really were strange.
A few years ago, they could still be called friends, but now they did not even get the chance to speak.
Hermione could not help feeling a strange mix of emotions at that thought.
Ginny, who had no idea what Hermione was thinking, spoke in a hesitant, uncertain tone.
"It is just... he gets angry more easily?"
"........"
Seeing Hermione's speechless expression, Ginny rubbed her cheek with a bitter smile.
Was she really supposed to say that she thought Harry might be jealous of Draco...?
...
Compared with Hermione, who had been completely shaken by passively enduring everything, Draco, the one who had taken the initiative, showed not the slightest trace of discomfort on his face.
At least when he was facing Pansy and the others, he did not show even a hint of the guilt one might expect from someone who had just done something bad.
From that angle alone, Draco truly did possess the admirable quality a strong person ought to have, keeping his composure even if a mountain collapsed right in front of him...
And with that, as the feast and the school song came to an end, this year’s Sorting Ceremony was brought to a perfect close.
Although there were no especially noteworthy first years this time, and nothing major happened during the ceremony, Dumbledore's utterly undisguised actions, along with Professor Slughorn's somewhat odd behavior at the end, still became the main subjects the young witches and wizards discussed afterward.
You could tell as much from how lively the common rooms of every house remained even after the ceremony ended, especially the Gryffindor common room...
It was clear that these little lions were not affected in the slightest by the Weasley twins graduating early, nor had Harry Potter's gloomy expression ruined their mood.
At the moment, they were all gathered together discussing the injury to Dumbledore's hand and loudly celebrating the fact that Snape had finally become the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Probably because that meant they would not have to keep seeing that black bat next year.
Besides that, it was worth mentioning that, apart from Harry Potter, who had gone straight back to his dormitory and therefore was nowhere to be seen, there were also a few other students missing from the crowd.
One of them seemed to be the only red-haired Weasley left at Hogwarts this year...
...
Hogwarts had actually changed a great deal this year.
Because this peaceful daily life had not come easily.
Especially at such a sensitive time, that peace felt all the more precious.
It was easy to imagine that behind this seemingly normal surface, far more had been paid than most people could ever guess.
Security in particular had clearly cost Hogwarts a great deal of effort, and several new decisions had been made...
Besides the existing rule that students were not allowed to wander the castle at night, the school had also assigned far more people to patrol duty.
And that seemed to be true both day and night.
They were no longer relying only on Filch, who had absolutely no ability to resist if he ran into an enemy, and his cat.
In a sense, Hogwarts's caretaker had practically lost his job.
As for the people who had taken over that role, besides the professors and prefects from each year, there were also several wizards who had nothing to do with Hogwarts at all.
To be precise, they were neither students nor professors.
They were the wizards who had appeared at the Sorting Ceremony for reasons no one knew, dressed in Ministry of Magic robes...
In fact, the Auror trainees led by Cedric had come to Hogwarts specifically to prevent an invasion by the Dark Lord, and their task was to protect the school's safety.
Rather than protection, though, it might be more accurate to say they were a special presence meant to contact the Ministry of Magic as quickly as possible if anything happened at Hogwarts.
Of course, that was only the Ministry's official explanation to satisfy everyone. No one knew whether they had some other, more important objective or secret mission.
You could even call them open and obvious spies.
After all, given the current relationship between the Ministry and Dumbledore, things were rather delicate...
...
Candlelight.
Moonlight.
Tap tap tap~
Along the corridor where no one should have been appearing at this hour, footsteps could be heard from time to time.
Every now and then, there were even obvious voices in conversation, along with Peeves making merry.
Who would have thought Hogwarts could still be this lively in the middle of the night?
Near the Slytherin common room...
"Why are the two of you here together? This is not even your patrol area, is it?!"
Clinging to Draco's arm, Pansy looked like someone whose good time had just been ruined. Puffing out her cheeks, she glared at Hermione in annoyance, since Hermione should not have been here in the first place.
Oh, and one more...
"If it were Granger, I could maybe understand it, but what is your excuse, Weasley!"
"Me? I am just doing what a prefect is supposed to do."
"......."
There was certainly nothing strange about Ginny becoming a prefect, and as a prefect, she really had been assigned patrol duty by the school.
The only problem was that this place was absurdly far from the Gryffindor prefects' patrol route...
Just as Pansy was about to say something else, Ginny cut her off and looked directly at Draco.
"Even though everyone else says I do not need to, I still wanted to thank you in person."
Compared with Hermione's lack of honesty, Ginny was much more straightforward and did not think there was anything hard to say about it.
Though the way she expressed it sounded more like she was picking a fight than genuinely thanking him.
And what was she thanking him for?
Naturally, for taking her and Luna away from those Death Eaters.
Part of it had been because of a deal, yes, but the fact that Draco had not abandoned them and run off alone was enough for Ginny to say thank you...
Draco glanced at her and seemed completely unconcerned.
"No need. I protected you only because of the deal between me and Mr. Lovegood. There was no special reason."
"...Draco."
Hearing him put it so bluntly, Hermione, who had still been annoyed about what Draco had done to her earlier, quickly reached out and gave his robe a discreet tug.
After all, she was the one who had brought Ginny here, and she did not want the atmosphere to become too stiff...
"Anyway..."
"Oh? If it is not Malfoy. It really has been a long time."
The one who interrupted Draco was a familiar figure stepping out from the other end of the corridor.
A gleaming Ministry badge.
A black robe made from expensive magical materials.
That was... Cedric Diggory, and his girlfriend Cho Chang...